While ringing up the wrapping paper and first birthday card for our nephew, the cashier asks, “Would you like a bag?”

“No thank you.” I respond. “Unless it started raining again…” I add looking out the front of the store at the clouds in the sky.

“Yeah, Mother Nature is so bipolar.” The cashier says with a chuckle. I grit my teeth, quickly take my receipt and head out the door. The weather isn’t bipolar, but I am. I thought to myself as I got into my car.

I really wish people wouldn’t use mental illnesses as adjectives. This has always been a serious pet peeve of mine. Whether it is to describe a person that is acting irrationally or a way to joke about Minnesota’s weather, it is not accurate, and it is not funny. Bipolar disorder is a real illness that real people wake up with and manage every single day. I know I am ultra-sensitive to this. And I know most people aren’t trying to be offensive. I know strangers and
acquaintances can’t tell that my mood fluctuates throughout the day and with the seasons. So, I should just lighten up, right? Well, no. We need to watch our words. We need to be kind. We need to be mindful of the truth that those around us may be struggling or may have gone through something in the past that is still affecting them today.

I usually just let these comments roll off my back. If they know me, I get that side-ways glance, with the apologetic look that says, “Whoops, I shouldn’t have said that.” It’s fine, I think to myself. They didn’t mean anything personal by it. Maybe they just momentarily forgot because I’m doing well, I’m stable. Some would even consider me in recovery from my mental illness, but can you really be healed from a mental illness? Can you be healed from an unpredictable beast that once landed you in a psychiatric hospital and requires daily management to keep you from ending up there again?

Satan wants me to believe that I’m not healed and never will be. He drops these hurtful words off the tongues of man to trip me up. He whispers that my bipolar disorder has a strong-hold on me that will prevent me from living out my dreams. But, guess what, Satan? While I may have the internal scars and three little pills that remind me daily what I’m up against, my heart is healed and I have been made whole. I have been healed by a loving, never failing, powerful God. He has taken my pain, my wounds and my imperfections and woven them together
beautifully to be used for His glory. And the best thing about healing is that it is available to all of us.

We know that the hurts of this world leave scars that can be devastating and life changing. We may feel as though nothing will ever change or get better. We may fear that we will never feel like ourselves again. Don’t believe the lies Satan uses to distract us. If we put our faith and trust in the ultimate healer, we will be made whole again.

“Jesus turned and saw her. “Take heart, daughter,” he said, “your faith has healed you.” And the woman was healed at that moment.” Matthew 9:22