![\"Down,](\"https:\/\/www.thomascreedy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/New-Blog-Book-Review-Graphic-59.png\")
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This is a very honest, very helpful book.<\/p>\n
From near the end of the book, a paragraph that hit me like a sack of bricks, but in a good way.<\/p>\n
“If you break your leg, you can expect to be on crutches for 6-8 weeks. After that, you’ll probably be back to walking and running as before. But if you’re living with depression or anxiety, you don’t get a specific timeframe. You don’t know how long it’s going to impact your life. It could ease after a few weeks or months – but it may not<\/em>”<\/p>\n As someone who’s been wrestling with depression and some related issues for a few years in a row now, and on and off for my entire ‘adult’ life before that, this book has been a restorative read. It is a book that takes seriously\u00a0both<\/em> the importance and skill (not to mention the fact it is a beautiful example of God’s goodness to us) of the medical profession, medication and psychiatry,\u00a0and<\/em> the radical truth that God can and does heal today. This is a practical book – but not one that makes you feel guilty for not\u00a0doing<\/em> anything, or doing ‘enough’. It is a good book for ‘sufferers’ and for those who suffer\/care with and alongside us.<\/p>\n Despite the modern packaging, cool young author, and thoroughly sensible set of endorsements and recommendations, this is perhaps one of the most practically helpful books I’ve read about\/around Christianity and Mental health. There are four reasons:<\/p>\n Let me close with an extended quotation from the last few pages of the book, where Chris closes with this powerful meditation on Mark 12:v41-44, where Jesus is talking about the widow’s mite:<\/p>\n “Jesus’ observations are both shocking and stunning. Shocking, because everyone else is justifying themselves by exterior performance. And stunning, because once again we’re reminded of God’s compassionate, loving heart. Emotionally speaking, you may have just two copper coins to give on any given day. To everyone else, your life may look unimpressive. Others may wonder what’s happened to you. They may even pass judgement. But consider the message of the widow – Christ has such compassion on his children. Honour him with what you have, whether it’s much or little.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n You may spend your two coins by getting out of bed tomorrow\u00a0<\/em>morning and having a shower. You could spend them in five minutes of prayer. Or perhaps it’s making an appointment with a psychologist for the very first time. But know that even with two coins – especially with two coins – your\u00a0opportunities to worship the one who loves you are significant. Slowly and surely, your reserves will build, and with that increased currency your purpose remains the same – to love and worship the one who has given you everything, not least of all life itself.<\/i><\/p>\n You are loved.<\/em><\/strong>”<\/p>\n You can probably tell I liked this book.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This is a very honest, very helpful book. From near the end of the book, a paragraph that hit me like a sack of bricks, but in a good way. “If you break your leg, you can expect to be … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1508,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"kt_blocks_editor_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[87,2,179,125,223],"tags":[717,716,281,718,519],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomascreedy.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1507"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomascreedy.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomascreedy.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomascreedy.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomascreedy.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1507"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomascreedy.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1507\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1509,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomascreedy.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1507\/revisions\/1509"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomascreedy.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomascreedy.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomascreedy.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomascreedy.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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