If any of you have sufferred with depression or another form of what the world calls mental illness then you may have visited a doctor or other professional.

One of the first things they do is to ask you about your past.

– How many were in your family?
– What were Mum and Dad like?
– Were you abused?
– Any history of this in your family?
– When did it start?

So you see, they are very aware that the past influences the present and then often set about medicating patients while offering counselling to make peace with the past.

But imagine if I go to a doctor with a heart condition and then decide to read books about the heart in order to better understand my illness. This will not heal me, I could still drop dead with a heart attack! However it might help me better cope with it!

And so it is with illnesses of the spirit and mind. Understanding why you are sick won’t heal you. Sure, it’ll help you a little but it won’t actually heal those painful hurts.

So what then? God can go where tablets can’t and grace which is like liquid love can melt away the hurts that are stored in your subconscious mind or spirit. Jesus can’t change the past, but he can change the consequences of it.

This is healing from the inside out and is amazing. This weekend I met several people who have been healed in this way after modern medecine failed them.

In conclusion I think it’s worth asking ourselves a question :

What does being mentally well look like?

Is it having a job, car, wife, enjoying life and its pleasures, sex, alcohol, money, success and not caring about God.

Or is it rather meeting God, allowing Him to direct our lives and heal our brokeness. Respecting moral laws and God’s ways and living responsibly while learning to pray and to have a personal relationship with God.

In conclusion, I’d suggest not using the word ‘mental health’ because there is almost an automatic dissociation with the spiritual. Instead why not use ‘health’ which encompasses mind, body and spirit and if you are unwell why not seek out somebody in the inner healing ministry and give God and his team a go as well as doctors!

On a lighter note! Next time you visit your doctor say a prayer for him, in God’s eyes he might be more unwell than yourself!

I’ve always loved driving and well God knows it. As I reflect on my car history over the years I see that God has humour.

Before my conversion I drove a Volvo C30. Worth lots of money, a bit different, show offy, overpriced…..just like I was at the time!!

When converted I drove to the south of France with this car. After a few weeks the Lord said ‘time to let it go ‘…it was subsequently put on the market! Then the Lord introduced me to a French man who was selling a car…..25 years old, no power steering, starter, choke, took 3 goes to start….I took a test drive…I said ‘dear Jesus, you must be joking’. I knew He wasn’t,  sold to the irish clown!

It drove fine for a while, all over the south of France, up and down to Lyon but when I took it to Paris (900 k) the cable for the accelerator snapped on the motorway while I was overtaking a truck! I got it repaired but when the back tyre exploded 3 months later again on the mororway with a monk or someone beside I figured that it was time to say bye bye if I valued my life!!

Then came a long period with no car, this was to learn to trust Jesus as I sat in cars and motorbikes with every sort of lunatic in France from the best drivers to those who had got their licences by collecting tokens from cereal boxes!! It was an enormous mortification for me but with time and grace I quickly got out of the habit of being a ‘back seat driver’ or for that matter driving at all!

For 2 years I hardly drove at all and when I arrived in India that did not change. It seemed like utter chaos…though honestly I would love to have driven in India but nobody would let me!!!

So I arrived in Oz and had no car of my own for the first 8 months until a friend lent me a car!! It made more noise than a chainsaw and 20 years ago I’m sure it’d have been cool!!

God has a sense of humour, I was driving around like a hoot in a police magnet. I got stopped countless times by cops. It made me laugh ‘don’t judge’ is what the Lord said, you never know anybody’s circumstances!

6 months later I had to give the car back and once again I was on my feet. This was to last for a further 3 months until I was randomly lent another car…. 8 cylinder Turbo…yea baby! .

How I laughed a month later when I found all these guys looking at me at the garage in my $20 leather  jacket and borrowed car and empty wallet. I smiled at God and said ‘if only they knew, there is no need to be jealous of me’!!

An ambulance ramming into me as I made a dangerous turn put an end to that car a few months later!

So what have I learnt?!

1. Jesus really likes white!!!

2. Not to get attached to material things, He gives, He takes away..be ready to accept, be ready to part!

3. Not to care what I drive or what other people drive. Image is nothing, God is everything, don’t judge people by their cars or clothes…it may not be what it seems!

4. God protected me countless times and particularly during accidents and breakdowns…angels follow us

5. God is very unpredictable. ..He might give you a merc, He might give you a wheelbarrow…accept all.. trust..  expect the unexpected .. nothing lasts forever!

I wonder what’s next?!