Delight in Disorder Ministries
Tony Roberts, Chief Shepherd
Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.
(Psalms 37:4)
Revealing Voices podcast celebrates their seven year anniversary!
Season 8 is underway with new episodes, Haikasts, and “Healing Stories” – testimonies of the people, places, and things which contribute to a sober, sane, serene life, and the foundation of faith that makes it all possible.
Desert Dispatches – Devotional Emails Launching in March!
Join our mailing list to receive these spiritual reflections. These brief meditations on life in recovery amid dual diagnosis are designed to lift your spirit no matter where you are in your journey. See this page to join the list!
Hope for Troubled Minds: My Heart’s Hero by Tina G.
Tina G. was raised a farm girl near Columbus, ND. She spent many summer weekends at our lake cabin at White Bear Lake Saskatchewan Canada. She has loved the outdoors all her life. She received a B.S. in Criminal Justice/Business Admin. She never cared much for indoor work so she spent about 20 years working with golf course landscaping. During this time she raised 3 kids, a daughter and 2 sons with their Dad. They later divorced. She then met Tim and he has a daughter. They celebrated 12 years of marriage this year. During that time all 4 of their kids graduated high school, their daughters have both married and they now have 2 granddaughters and are expecting a grandson in March! They have 3 dogs that are theirs together! Tina was diagnosed with bipolar disorder 1 and borderline personality disorder at the age of 33. However, she feels [...]
Hope for Troubled Minds: A Letter of Redemption to My Mother, Claudia by Cathy B.
Dear Claudia, As I sit here anticipating the 2022 New Year and wondering what joys and sorrows it will bring, I remember you. Our world is in the midst of a deadly pandemic, that frankly, I never thought I would experience in my lifetime. It’s an experience akin to living in a sci-fi horror movie. I sometimes wonder if I could magically change the fact that you developed a serious mental illness when I was a child, if your brain had remained healthy and you were still alive, would you have been the kind of mother I could call and kavetch with about what a struggle the pandemic is for us all. However, you died seven years ago. You were 74-years-old when you died alone with both serious mental illness and dementia in an Atlanta area nursing home. Even with the dementia, you always remembered both me and Chris (your [...]
Hope for Troubled Minds: A Mother’s Deepening Love Through Struggles
Diane Rabinowitz retired in 2018 from a lifelong career as a teacher. She grew up in New York, but except for a short stint in North Carolina and ten years in Kentucky, has lived the majority of her life in California. She has wide-ranging interests in health, the arts, and fitness, but her main focus since moving from Los Angeles to a small town in Northern California is to make her community more hospitable for the homeless and those with serious mental illness. She has been developing friendships and working relationships with anyone who is similarly devoted so we can create better care for the most vulnerable. Her life-long devotion to Buddhist practice sustains her. Dear Tariq, I want to tell you how much I love you, and how happy I am that you are finally in a care situation where you have recovered much of your self. In [...]
Hope for Troubled Minds: My Miracle Child by Donna Erickson
MY MIRACLE CHILD It has not been easy since day one. Actually, before that. I had fertility problems that required tests, treatments, and lots of doctors visits. What came so easily for others was an uphill struggle for me. I just wanted to have a baby. Jeff and I married young, worked hard, and saved up enough money for a down payment on a house. After we moved in, my biological urge to become a mother really kicked in. But my body was not cooperating. Finally, after four long years, my dream came true. I was pregnant! by Donna Erickson Dear Ryan, I loved and wanted you so much, before you were even born. When you came into our lives, your father and I were over the moon and filled with happiness. But it was hard to raise such a defiant child. Tantrums lasted longer than my friends‘ children, and [...]
Hope for Troubled Minds: A Mother’s Search for Sanity
Michelle B is a loving mother, daughter, and child of God. She is working hard at surviving, maintaining sanity and positive thoughts, staying in the word of God and following his commands to live a good clean life. Dear mom, I’m writing you this letter to tell you how much you mean to me. You have been there for me and for that I am grateful. As you know I have 7 months clean. I want to express how deeply sorry I am for disappointing you with my drug use. You always tried to help me with my mental health even when I was young. I never listened and would suffer. You saw the outbursts, the psych wards, and the melt downs. I felt them. I self medicated through meth use. It was like magic. Now I know this not to be true. After going to a psych doctor and [...]
Hope for Troubled Minds: I Didn’t Marry Bipolar Disorder
Do you love someone who has a serious mental illness (SMI) and want the world to know who they really are? Are you diagnosed with a brain disorder and want to celebrate how much a caregivers love means to you? From now until April 1, I am collecting love letters for my next book - Hope for Troubled Minds: Love Letters from Those with Brain Illnesses and Those Who Care for Us. Send your submission to tony@delightindisorder.org For a sample letter, here is one from my wife Susan. Dear Tony, I love you. I knew from the start of our relationship that you had bipolar disorder. I appreciated your openness and candor about your illness. In the beginning, we talked for hours on end. Your laugh was (and is) infectious. I don't regret that our relationship moved quickly. After being on my own for seven years, I was happy [...]