By Guest Blogger | Current Events , guest post , Mental Health , Self-help
Imagine this: you’ve just built a brand new mansion right beside the ocean. The door is made of gold and the windows are stained glass. It’s three stories tall and designed with the most intricate details. It’s wide open to the public, there’s no fencing. Over the next few days, intruders start vandalizing the house. […]
Read More
By Guest Blogger | Current Events , guest post , Mental Health , self-care , stress management
For Lent, I’m Giving Up Busyness and Numbing BehaviorsMy muscles tighten as I read the word “busyness”, despite it having been my comfortable state of being for as long as I can remember. “How are you?”, they’d ask. “Busy, but good!”, I’d say. This was my compulsive (yet, honest) response for decades, coupled with having bought the lie that my […]
Read More
By Guest Blogger | guest post , Self-help
My dad had plans. As a high school student in the early 1950s in rural Arkansas, he worked to save money for college, joined the Arkansas National Guard, and pinched pennies. He was going to be a lawyer. Turns out, his family needed him to support them financially. While he did earn his degree, law school never happened. But he […]
Read More
By Steve Austin | empathy , guest post , Mental Health , self-care , self-esteem
For Lent, I’m giving up self-contempt.Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay”You’re not enough. No one even likes you. You always screw it up. When will you get your act together?” Are you well acquainted, like I am, with this internal voice that berates, accuses, and condemns?This is the voice of self-contempt. It is the root of […]
Read More
By Guest Blogger | faith , guest post , My Very Worst Day (series) , Religious Recovery , The Struggle With Church
“Besides, I shall perhaps obtain actual relief from writing. Today, for instance, I am particularly oppressed by one memory of a distant past. It came back vividly to my mind a few days ago, and has remained haunting me like an annoying tune that one cannot get rid of. And yet I must get rid […]
Read More
By Guest Blogger | Best of Messy Grace , faith , Family , guest post , Marriage , My Very Worst Day (series) , relationships
I’ll never forget the day I started cursing. It was the day my husband admitted to having an affair.Even though I had suspected for a few months, all I could do was whisper “Bastard” and walk out the door. (I know, pretty low on the cussing scale, but we all have to start somewhere!) It was […]
Read More
By Steve Austin | Featured , guest post , writing
Ready to Share Your Story?For the past few years, I’ve shared my story openly about my very worst day: believing the lie that I was a burden on my family, reading my Bible in a hotel room while writing my suicide notes, and eventually trying to end my life. But my story doesn’t end there. A […]
Read More
By Guest Blogger | Anxiety , Depression , faith , guest post , Mental Health , Religious Recovery , self-esteem , The Struggle With Church
Unworthy. It’s a word that I often use to describe myself….in my own head. You see, I’m a Christian who has mental health issues. I have struggled with panic attacks, anxiety and depression for over 20 years. I’m also a licensed mental health counselor, college professor, worship leader, entrepreneur, wife, and mom. If you were […]
Read More
By Steve Austin | faith , guest post , mindfulness , self-care , Spirituality
We are starved for quiet, to hear the sound of sheer silence that is the presence of God himself.” – Ruth Haley BartonWhiskey & GodI transitioned out of deconstruction and started rebuilding my spirituality at the beginning of 2018. That New Year’s weekend, I sat on the back porch of the beach house we rented, […]
Read More
By Guest Blogger | Best of Messy Grace , faith , guest post , lgbtq , Religious Recovery , The Struggle With Church
“The best advice I’ve been given when I’d failed – was a hug.”-Bob GoffI’ve loved giving hugs for as long as I can remember. My pre-school teacher, Mrs. Upton, first emphasized the power of a good hug. One day during circle time, she taught us how to give “bear hugs.” One at a time, we walked […]
Read More