Does the Bible speak to the mental health struggles that we sometimes experience? We may often assume that the Bible is primitive and filled with a reductionistic analysis of mental health. Perhaps, because of its time in history, the Church would reduce a mental health struggle to the demonic or a person’s lack of piety. True that modern science has expanded our understanding of mental health greatly, but astonishingly the Bible is far more sophisticated than the oversimplification above.

For instance, in the Psalms, we find the poetry of traumatized people. And throughout the Bible there is no shortage of examples of those who suffer and struggle mentally; family, grief, loneliness, toxic relationships, previous traumas, real addictions and the everyday rhythms of life are all elements we can deeply relate with.

However, that’s not where the story ends. Surprisingly, the Bible possesses a vast range of wisdom, in a holistic approach, for all those who have experienced life’s ups and downs. On the practical side, principles of rest, ritual, relationships, and nourishment. On the spiritual side, we can discover meaning, forgiveness, enduring joy, hope, and love. In this series, we venture to discover a personal and loving God who sees us when we feel invisible in our pain. A God who is with us in our suffering and not distant from it. And a God who is as resolute on healing fractured minds as He is on healing a fractured world.