book – Delight in Disorder

Hope Remains for Katie Dale: From the Psych Ward to Serving in Europe

Dear Mom and Dad, Do you recall how depressed I was in 2003? It seemed like I was on the brink of the blackest bottoming out. Then, without notice, my mind was a buoy, bobbing on cresting waves of euphoria. Evidently, the changes I went through my junior year of high school lent themselves to my breakdown. I guess the switch to private school wasn’t all I expected it to be. I wanted a Christian education with a Biblical worldview, but it wasn’t black and white that way. I was ignored by my classmates, sidelined for my poor soccer performance, shamed for being late or showing any opposition to the rules, and undermined when I began to have a voice. My actions and behaviors may have been a bit strange, especially when I stalked my class crush, but I don’t think I meant to embarrass him or you. I [...]

Hope Remains for Katie Dale: From the Psych Ward to Serving in Europetonyroberts2025-09-15T08:19:14-04:00

Hope for Troubled Minds: Ripples, Waves, and Heroic Measures

Diane has been a pioneer in sharing her story publicly to a wide variety of audiences including health professionals, students, city councils, church members peers and law enforcement since 2013. "In Sickness and in Mental Health" was one of a handful of biographies on bipolar disorder and is now on the top 100 Bipolar Books on BookAuthority.com. This is her letter to her husband and life partner Greg. Lover, our life together has been like no other and we went through fires before we even met. We have had many challenges, yet so many victories and blessings along the way. I thought that I finally had a grasp on our mental health conditions back in 2013 since it took me seven years of observing our recovery road to write our story In Sickness and in Mental Health: Living with and Loving Someone with Mental Illness. Since then, there [...]

Hope for Troubled Minds: Ripples, Waves, and Heroic Measurestonyroberts2024-08-26T13:03:23-04:00

Prayers Inspired by Psalms with a Friend by George Love

In his book Psalms with a Friend George Love recommends writing Psalm prayers after reading and reflecting on them. Here is my Psalm 18 prayer: God of the Sabbath, my enemies surround me and disturb me. I have been restless and have desperately tried to fight back, overextending myself. I panicked. Then I cried out to you. I asked my friends to pray for me. You heard my cries. You answered our prayers. You delivered me from the deadly ways of desperation and gave me restorative rest. And from Psalm 35: Then I will rejoice in the LORD. I will be glad because he rescues me. With every bone in my body I will praise him. Lord, who can compare with you? Who else rescues the helpless from the strong? (Psalm 35.9-10) ... give great joy to those who came to my defense. [...]

Prayers Inspired by Psalms with a Friend by George Lovetonyroberts2024-08-26T13:03:23-04:00

When Despair Meets Delight: Second Edition Book Launch

The long awaited second edition of When Despair Meets Delight. Of particular note is the new material in the Postscript - pp. 163-166. This material covers the grief I went through over my parents' death in 2020 as well as signs of resurrection hope I witnessed on a psych unit in Februrary of 2021. The complete manuscript is available in .pdf format for those interested and willing to serve on my book launch team. Launch team members commit to read the book, download the Kindle/ebook version during the free promotional period from March 15-20, and then give a verified Amazon rating and review. If you would like to serve on the launch team, contact me at tonyrobertsdelight@gmail.com Also of note, I hope to soon have the audio recording of the second edition available from Audible. Thanks to technical assistance from Stefanie Merrifield and Stephen Planalp, we hope to have it [...]

When Despair Meets Delight: Second Edition Book Launchtonyroberts2024-08-26T13:03:24-04:00

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: A Mother’s Deepening Love Through Strugglestonyroberts2024-08-26T13:03:25-04:00

Book Launch: Disability and the Church by Lamar Hardwick

Lamar Hardwick was thirty-six years old when he found out he was on the autism spectrum. While this revelation helped him understand and process his own experience, it also prompted a difficult re-evaluation of who he was as a person. And as a pastor, it started him on a new path of considering the way disabled people are treated in the church. Disability and the Church is a practical and theological reconsideration of the church's responsibilities to the disabled community. Too often disabled persons are pushed away from the church or made to feel unwelcome in any number of ways. As Hardwick writes, "This should not be." He insists that the good news of Jesus affirms God's image in all people, and he offers practical steps and strategies to build stronger, truly inclusive communities of faith. Editorial Reviews Review "In a time when first-person disability narratives remain hard to come by, Disability [...]

Book Launch: Disability and the Church by Lamar Hardwicktonyroberts2024-08-26T13:03:29-04:00

When 100% is 100% Too Much, Less Becomes Much Better

It's been two weeks now since I returned home from an inpatient stay at the local psychiatric hospital. I can't say I feel 100%, but my improvement is really quite remarkable. In fact, it may be best that I'm not 100% the way I was before going in because that 100% was about 100% too much. I wasn't living well within my limits. I was trying to be everyone for everybody, including myself. In one 15 day stretch, I slept a total of 30 hours. Thank God I had so many people praying for me and ready to intervene when I was willing to ask for help. Being on a psych unit at any time can be a bit unnerving. Being on one during a pandemic is downright frightening. At least it was for me. But the staff did a tremendous job allaying my fears. More than anything, they modeled [...]

When 100% is 100% Too Much, Less Becomes Much Bettertonyroberts2024-08-26T13:03:29-04:00

Hear the Good News: When Despair Meets Delight Audiobook Launches Ash Wednesday

Most pastors would be shocked to know how many people in their church family live with or are directly impacted by mental illness. Stigma continues to keep mental illness silent in the church. Parents who sit in church pews week after week feel completely alone in bearing the pain of their son’s or daughter’s mental illness because they are embarrassed or afraid to say anything. The person sitting next to them may be carrying the same burden but who would know. And they will continue to carry these burdens alone until the church is willing to talk about it. -- Mark Teike, Pastor; St. Peter's Lutheran LCMS (Columbus, IN), from the Foreword of When Despair Meets Delight. Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent. This year it lands on February 17 -- this week! Lent is a season to take spiritual inventory of our relationship with God, others, and self. [...]

Hear the Good News: When Despair Meets Delight Audiobook Launches Ash Wednesdaytonyroberts2024-08-26T13:03:29-04:00

When Despair Meets Delight: Growing Closer Each Day

Things are speeding up as I progress toward the publication of When Despair Meets Delight. This week I have: Messaged prospective buyers about advance orders. Conducted an interview with a local reporter for an feature article. Met with a librarian about an upcoming virtual book launch. Spoke with a Christian radio station about appearing on one of their programs. Scheduled appearances on two Facebook live podcasts. All this while attending to my dying father and coordinating his funeral service. Am I manic? Perhaps. Should I slow down? Maybe. What happens if/when I crash? I don't know. One thing I'm sure of is I'm not manufacturing my mania. I am getting plenty of sleep. I'm taking my prescribed medication on time. I have a relatively good rhythm of work and rest. There are certainly improvements I could make in such areas as diet and exercise, but I'm doing my best. I'm [...]

When Despair Meets Delight: Growing Closer Each Daytonyroberts2024-08-26T13:03:34-04:00

When Despair Meets Delight Goes to Press

The time is at hand. After five years of gestation, and over a year of hard labor (with a week of major complications), I have been assured that When Despair Meets Delight will go to the printers today. From there, it should take two weeks to prepare a review copy. When I am satisfied that all looks good, I will bring boxes of books home. Then comes the delightfully arduous task of mailing out advance orders -- now over 100. On September 3, the print and e-book will be released on Amazon and the audio version on Audible. This has been an incredibly busy week. I contracted with a man from Uganda to design memes for social media. I hired a sound engineer to create a commercial for iHeart radio. I have been reaching out to podcasters, blog authors, pastors, and others to get the message out. I am both [...]

When Despair Meets Delight Goes to Presstonyroberts2024-08-26T13:03:34-04:00