(c)2017 and edited for 2025 Nancy Virden

For ten years now, I have introduced myself as a Mental Health and Recovery Advocate. I changed it to Christ-centered Mental Health Advocate a few years ago to make it more specific. According to a few extreme responses, “advocate” means I must stand for every feel-good whimsy, willing to sacrifice my Christian faith and reality in the process.

The background and perceptions of those who want to find fault in what I do are unclear. Let’s face it, old ideas and stigmas die hard. I, too, am influenced by both informed and uninformed messengers. I have experienced serious inner struggles over whether I am doing the right thing and advocating for what matters.

Each time these doubts rise up, I land on one important point: people need hope, and judgment never meets that need.

Psychology is the study of human behavior. It is neither perfect nor innately wrong. As one who thanks God for the therapists and psychiatrists whose knowledge and medicine helped turn my life around,  I will be an advocate (not an anything-goes pusher) of professional mental health care. 

How could God possibly be against the study of human behavior when the Bible is, in part, exactly that? He provides the answers that I, for one, needed the help of therapists to understand.

As a believer in Jesus’ divinity, I know him as the only Son of God. He is not merely one of many options, but is in fact, as He claimed, the way to God the Father*. The “universe” and creation are not equal to the Almighty Creator. As it says in Romans 9:20,  “But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?'”

I will always credit God as the Highest Power for taking me to the right people at the right time. Because he is an artist who knows us all intimately, he alone truly understands a human heart and the inner workings of each individual mind. He knew exactly what would heal me and deepen my experience with him. 

Mental health and recovery advocacy is not the same as embracing the victim mentality or excusing anyone’s sins. I do not defend addiction, but I do expose stigma against those who are trapped in its hopeless spiral. I do not encourage homelessness, but instead, honestly look at some of the reasons for it besides negative stereotypes.

My softest spot is for people who feel there is no reason to keep living. I want to let each one know that God designed them for a reason, and life can start over on any day.

For me, mental health and recovery advocacy is offering patience and support for the suffering, no matter what causes their pain.  My wish is to increase the number of hands that reach out to people in despair in our churches, especially.  

COMMENTS WELCOME

Today’s Helpful Word

Job 6:14  (Amplified)

To him who is about to faint and despair, kindness is due from his friend, lest he forsake the fear of the Almighty.

If you are feeling suicidal or concerned about someone who is, in the U.S., call 988, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. For a list of international suicide hotlines, go here.

If you are suicidal with a plan, immediately call 911 in the U.S. or go to your nearest emergency room; in the EU, call 112. (For other international emergency numbers, go here.) Hope and help are yours!

Always the Fight Ministries (ATFM) has been displaying compassion for those fighting mental illness, addiction, or abuse since 2012. Nancy is the founder and voice of ATFM and openly shares her emotional resurrection from despair. 

NOTE: Nancy is not a doctor or a mental health professional and speaks only from personal experience and observations. This website is not intended to substitute for professional mental or behavioral health care.

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