Letter From Joyce

I got my Joyce Meyer "Enjoying Everyday Life" magazine in the mail yesterday and finally got a chance to flip through this morning. I found this letter to Joyce, and her answer, really interesting and wanted to share:

"Dear Joyce,

I have a family member suffering from a mental illness and would very much like to know what God's Word has to say about sickness in people's minds.
Sandy"

Here is Joyce's powerful answer:

"Sandy,

The Bible speaks of various conditions of the mind, but I don't know that it specifically mentions mental illness. Jesus did cast demons out of some who appeared to be mad or mentally ill. However, that does not mean that everyone who is mentally ill is demon possessed. They may have a chemical imbalance or have experienced so much tragedy that their mind has simply shut down. One thing is for sure-God understands and He is our Healer.

God expects us to do what we can to take good care of ourselves. We should eat right, get plenty of exercise, get rest and relaxation, and we should work and play. We should not indulge in the sin of worry, anxiety or fear, and we should eliminate excessive stress from our lives. In addition, we should pray and trust God for divine health. It is God's nature to heal, and He uses various methods to do so. He may use a doctor, medicine, nutrition, or He may supernaturally heal an individual.

I am an advocate of nutrition as an alternative to medicine. I take medicine when I need to, but I also seek to learn if I have nutritional deficiencies that may be the root cause of my trouble. For example, I once read that many people in mental hospitals and those with anxiety or depression have serious hypoglycemia, which is low blood sugar, and can be controlled through proper diet. A person may have spent years medicating symptoms but have never known how to treat the real disease.

In some ways the mind is considered to be more difficult to heal than the body, and perhaps that is because it is often challenging to get to the root of the problem. We also want to remember that nothing is impossible with God.

I encourage you to pray and ask God to show you what can be done because I do believe He has an answer for everything. When it appears to us that there is no way, we must remember that Jesus said, I am the Way."

Amen! I couldn't have said it better myself. :)