While it admittedly isn't always the case, perhaps in some situations, one's faith or belief system becomes the only stable anchor in the midst of the very frighteningly unstable world that overwhelms so many (including myself) who struggle with "mental illness" of any kind. Our own minds become a strange, whirling maelstrom of contradictions, our ability to think and reason our own way out becomes mangled by an unfathomable and inexplicable despair, and we become completely sucked into a level of darkness that few others can even begin to comprehend.

For me, God is the only anchor who never fails to be there with me even in my darkest and loneliest nights when all others have given up on me; it is my past experience of His gentle, steadfast presence and compassionate mercy that keeps me from drowning in my own sea of perceived failures and dysfunctionality.

I don't believe I have ever been brainwashed into believing...and I am definitely not a member of any religious cult. My faith has weathered through decades of dark nights of the soul and I have walked away from Him out of rage and anger because I had just as many unanswered questions as anyone else. His silence has been overwhelmingly and painfully deafening at times.

But the bottom line for me, and many other "mentally ill" people like myself, is that it is first and foremost a personal, intimate relationship, not with a religion or a grandiose illusion, but with a very real and tangible God who for some strange reason loves us just the way we are, even with our mental frailty and inability to function in the "normal" world. When so many others are so quick to relegate us to dysfunctional labels and psych wards, it's comforting to actually have someone on our side, looking out for our real selves (we are always infinitely more than our illnesses)

I still don't have all the answers, and I still struggle with life. But God has been my most (and often only) faithful companion, my consolation through thick and thin, and the best friend anyone could ever imagine or hope for. I wouldn't trade Him and the groundedness my faith gives me in those turbulent mangled times of "mental illness" for anything.

And that's my two cents.