Serious mental illness needs to be a concern to everybody. However, it is also essential that those without mental illness recognize their daily need for good spirit/mind hygiene.

There are extremely effective treatments being developed combining medications and psychotherapy. It is important to have a thorough medical exam. It is common for an anxiety disorder to accompany other anxiety disorders, or in some cases depression, eating disorders, substance abuse, or physical disorders. Help is available!

I am a husband. I am a father. I am a grandfather. I am a pastor. I am a bipolar. The subject of each of these life’s sentences is the eternal constant of my being me, a child of God. The objective data in each of these life’s sentences is today’s curriculum. I am not the curriculum. I am the worker of the curriculum!

How do we know when to help bear our neighbor's legitimate burden, and when helping diminishes the person's opportunity for greater personal responsibility? How do we know when helping helps, and when helping hurts?

“It is like I'm on a highway without exit ramps and no end in sight. But I love those I'm traveling with and I'm committed to them and them to me. Together we are making this journey one mile at a time. Yes, there are times of real pain and suffering but also real joy. We find joy in our love relationships with God and each other. This joy gives us strength to serve each other..."

... It seemed that Tim was seeing, hearing and understanding things in ways he never had before. For him it was all so “mind-expanding” and spiritually enlightening. He became so positive and certain about his destiny. For me, it just became more disturbing and frightening. I was just hoping that whatever the problem was, it would just go away.

Choosing to memorize and regularly reflect upon these words attributed to St. Francis of Assisi has proven meaningful in assisting me to better present myself to the healing presence of God. As I present myself I experience a re-commissioning to bring a peace (piece) of his wholeness to others.

Bright Tomorrows is helping to train me in, among other things, how to be still. Part of overcoming OCD is to go ahead and feel the anxious feeling without reacting to them. The feelings do fade!! With regular meetings, conversation with others in similar situations, and personal time with my Creator, I can overcome this and be well.

When Jesus Christ left the planet after His few years of ministry, the crowds were gone and only a small band of 120 disciples remained. This small group of individuals, however, had been loved in a way that left them convinced of their sacred significance. The rest is history!

... "I was having nightmarish hallucinations," he said. "I was terrified by what was happening; I couldn't imagine how I could process life." "I thought, how did I get into this hell?"

... There are some things we just need to aggressively “shake [it] into the fire.” In the arena of mental health, the real enemy is not the snake (the disease), but the stigma attached to the one who has been bitten! That person is often quickly labeled “crazy,” “demonized,” “irresponsible,” “manipulative,” a “drug abuser,” “without faith,” or “in sin.”

Faith without right corresponding action tends to set people up for disillusionment and increased suffering. Initially my failure to understand this truth actually resulted in my presumed faith being an ultimately defeating and even debilitating form of denial!

... As a Christian I found myself facing the challenge to forgive. I came to understand my medical treatment need for managing the bio-chemical imbalance; however, I also knew that I had to forgive or I would become permanently poisoned! This was also blocking my ability to fully realize God's love and forgiveness for me. What to do?

... Challenged with bipolar disorder, I have had a lot of failure in my life. I have caused pain and have experienced a lot of pain as well. I have made decisions that have brought terrible consequence, both to me and to the ones I love. It has been very difficult for me to see myself being successful, because all I've really known is failure.

The fellowship of Bright Tomorrows is sweet and I love the sharing and the understanding. I appreciate the education and knowledge that I gain and the fact that it's based upon faith in Jesus Christ.

Don’t try to make this holiday season “the best ever”. Set realistic goals for yourself, prioritize the most important activities, and pace yourself. Remember that the holidays don’t automatically dispel reasons for feeling sad or lonely, so it’s okay for you to have these feelings.

While we who know persistent or recurrent dark nights of the soul would not pretend to enjoy the pain – nor wish it on our worst enemies " many of us are determined to continue mining God's "treasures of darkness" as an on-going proving to ourselves that redeeming grace transmutes what evil would use for destruction into something good and purposeful!

The dictionary definition of the word "unique" is as follows: "being without a like or equal, peculiar, incomparable, singular." As time goes on, it is becoming more and more evident that God is creating something unique in this ministry called Bright Tomorrow.

... “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him” (John 9:1-3 NRSV). ....Tragically, broken people in need of help, hope, and healing have actually suffered forms of torturing punishment and/or purgation at the hands of family, society, religion and science in the name of cure.

.. "Where are the mentally ill in the Bible?" "How does the Christian faith uniquely inform and guide me as I seek to care about the person we love with a mental illness?"