I Am Rahab… men-tal-health

by, Mary Olivo

men – acronym ‘a person, male or female’ / tal – root word ‘such like this, learning and teaching’

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), mental health is

“a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and can make a contribution to his or her community.”

I believe mental health is a sensitive topic and justifiably so because it is so personal and intimate. I can only define the state of my own mental health; I believe a mentally challenged person represents their mental health as they know it. It is in the eye of the beholder and should be treated with respect and not a point of view.

It took me a long time to take hold of my mental health, learning to filter out circumstances, labels, and seeing myself through the eyes of others and expectations. Have you ever had to keep going crazy, broken, or both?! I have, and I thank God I did! I had a lot of baggage, was messed up in my head, and lived most of my adult life this way too, BUT GOD magnified Himself in me. I was hungrier and thirstier for wellness than I was depressed and hopeless. All The Glory belongs to Him, all of it; my greatest blessing is when someone says ‘I want what you have, what are you doing?’ and I respond, ‘this ain’t for punks, but I will tell you!’ Ha!

I was recently watching a Civil Rights movie where they were reenacting training sessions for the Sit-in Movement. The experience is never the same or old when I watch these, and each time it is moving. This time I found my attention captured by the look on the actor’s faces; they adopted the nonviolent philosophy and took ‘love your enemy’ to another level in hopes of gaining sympathy for change in attitude from those that abused them. In training sessions, their goal was to maintain passivity while food was thrown at them, spit at, derogatory comments hurled at them, and more. With anger and tears falling over their faces, these actors were not acting. Mental Health, dare you, or I measure someone else’s? I have to pause for a deep breath in and then out…

BUT GOD, Master Counselor, and Healer, I testify that He reverses the damage of trauma for our mental health. During my healing, he led me to research the brain’s functions; I didn’t get where this was going at first, but studying the psychological aspect started unlocking doors rapidly. He created the regulatory order of our brain to work for us; this was supernatural and magnificent!

“Self-care is giving the world the best of us, instead of what is left of us.” ~Kate Reed.

We are fearfully and wonderfully made, as God gives me the eyes to see who to speak about mental health and wellness to, I shall because I am Rahab too.