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)
Contribute a letter to Tony’s next book.
Submissions being accepted until June 1.
Season 6 of the Revealing Voices podcast is underway!
New addition this season – a monthly Haikast feature.
Hope for Troubled Minds: My son Jacob by Angie Collier
Angie Collier is a teacher and NAMI volunteer. She quit her full time job in order to be more available to her son. She currently works as a reading specialist online. Dear Jacob, I loved you from the start. Your bright red hair, chubby cheeks and the last of my 3 children. Your brother and sister adored you - holding you, telling you stories, reading to you. You loved lining your Hot Wheels from your bedroom to the living room. You quickly learned to read and you have an incredible vocabulary. At 8 you started hearing voices. We took you to a doctor who put you on medicine, but your depression plunged. In Middle School, you started drugs to self-medicate and later alcohol. At 15 you were diagnosed with Schizoaffective Disorder. The voices, paranoia, seeing things and violence has been too much to endure, but my love for you [...]
Hope for Troubled Minds: For My Loving Sister Ann Marie from Mary Beth
Dear Ann Marie, As I think of the holiday season, the end of the year, and the beginning of the new year, I know how blessed I am by having you by my side. I could not ask for a better sister. You always seem to know when I'm getting close to leaping in the rabbit hole of depression and anxiety and you catch me by the tail. It may be a cup of coffee, a delicious homemade meal, or a walk together to just bring us together to talk and see where I am in my journey. You always look to see how you might help me get out of my own way. I don't know where I would be without your love, gentle nudge, and artful sight. Thank you for being you and for loving me when I feel unlovable. I love you, Mary Beth
Hope for Troubled Minds: My Answered Prayer
My love letter is to the girl who actually loves me ! Her name is Mindy and I distinctly remember praying to God in my misery for a girl who would love me. Here’s our story. We met on a blind double date singing Karaoke. Her friend asked me out and made the mistake of bringing Mindy. I fell right away but didn’t know if our feelings were mutual. She looked like Taylor Dayne and it was in 1989 so that was the style. I fell for her looks and as we got to know each other I fell for her loving and beautiful heart. 3 days of dating and I knew it was serious so I had to tell her my secret. I told her I was a Paranoid Schizophrenic and that if she wanted to end it then, I would understand. She thought for a moment and then [...]
Hope for Troubled Minds: A Daughter and Her Parents Express Gratitude
Dear Mom and Dad, Thank you for loving my battered soul and caring for me when all I could do was hurt and hate myself. Thank you for the care and support. The hours of holding my hand through what we later learned were panic attacks. Thank you for taking me to the ER, and numerous doctors to try to find the cause of my unease. My disease. Which we later learned was called manic depression, or bipolar when we went to a psychiatrist. Dad thank you for the many overtime hours you worked so our family could have a stay at home mom and health care. Thank you mom for being my angel. Thank you for always offering the HOPE that life can get better and that I could be well. I now live a happy healthy life in marriage with a family of my own because of your [...]
Hope for Troubled Minds: Love Letter to Adam
Audrey Auernheimer is a retired hairdresser. She taught Family to Family education classes in Kansas with her husband, Tony, for several years before retiring to Oklahoma in 2011. Audrey has 3 children with M.I diagnosis. Two are deceased due to suicide. My beloved son, Wow! What a journey it has been for the past 31 plus years! I remember clearly the day you were born. You took your time making an entry, and seemed a bit reluctant to leave your safe, warm environment. After the third visit to the hospital with “false” labor, I was again told to go home, and wait awhile longer. I groaned. After a month suffering from gestational diabetes and chronic indigestion, I was feeling every minute of my 40 years. Also, I was growing impatient, waiting to meet that tiny infant who had tumbled around happily inside me for the past few months! [...]
Hope for Troubled Minds: To My Special Husband, from Your Grateful Wife
from the author: "I am happily married to a hard-working and loving husband. A homeschooling SAHM to three beautiful children, one with autism, one with ADHD, and one with both autism and ADHD. A follower of Jesus. On a journey of maintaining my own mental health through it all and sharing my experiences in the hopes of spreading awareness and encouraging others along the way. You can follow me on Facebook or Instagram @lifewiththecouches" Dear husband, Living with depression and anxiety is like a constant battle with myself. The continuous flow of conflicting thoughts and emotions is exhausting. On the one hand depression makes me lethargic, grumpy, depletes all motivation and makes me not care about anything. On the other, anxiety makes me fidgety, unable to sit still, and all the emotions about everything flood in at once and it's s too much to bear sometimes. Feeling these two things [...]
