Surviving Depression, PTSD, Mania, Postpartum Depression, Epilepsy, Stroke & Brain Cancer! Tina's Story of Faith and Redemption

📝 Podcast Show Notes

Episode Summary:
In this powerful episode, we follow one woman’s raw and redemptive journey through decades of mental illness, childhood trauma, sexual abuse, postpartum depression, stage 3 brain cancer, epilepsy, and a massive stroke. From the depths of despair to the heights of hope, she shares how Jesus carried her through the darkest valleys—and how a 75-mile bike ride became a lifeline of purpose and faith.

What You’ll Hear:

• Growing up in a chaotic, abusive home as the youngest of nine
• Battling depression as a child and teenager
• Finding hope through church, community, and movement
• Postpartum depression and the overwhelming pressure of motherhood
• A shocking brain cancer diagnosis and the mental spiral that followed
• How a charity bike ride gave her a reason to live
• Seizures, brain surgery, stroke—and the brutal road to recovery
• The healing power of adaptive sports, community, and worship
• A transparent look at PTSD, bipolar depression, and psychiatric care
• Why she still believes in God’s redemption after everything

Why This Story Matters:
This isn’t a neat Christian testimony. It’s messy, real, and full of both breakdowns and breakthroughs. If you’ve battled mental illness, faced overwhelming circumstances, or doubted God in your suffering—this episode is for you.

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Transcript

00:00:00:07 - 00:00:19:13
Dave Quak
Welcome to Sunburnt Souls. On the show, we speak about life and faith and mental well-being and all other kinds of things too. And I'm your host, Dave Quak and today we're speaking with my friend Tina Bullis, who lives all the way in Massachusetts in the States. Tina has had one of the most incredible rides you can only imagine in her life.

00:00:19:13 - 00:00:47:22
Dave Quak
She has gone through depression and multiple surgeries. She's had brain tumors, chemotherapy, epilepsy, sexual abuse. She's had a stroke. She's had brain cancer. She's pretty much had everything you can imagine. Yet she still kicks on in her faith and loves Jesus. So if you want to figure out how to love Jesus through the hard times and hear a story of God's grace, even when life is crazy, you've come to the right place to listen to some bird souls today.

00:00:47:24 - 00:01:08:10
Dave Quak
So thanks for tuning in and I pray you have a blessed day. Well my friends, today we have teen and bullies all the way from Massachusetts, which is a long way from here. Which means today I'm at. It's 730 here and then on Thursday morning. Now you're about to have dinner on Wednesday night. Tina, is that how it works?

00:01:08:12 - 00:01:09:16
Tina Bullis
Yeah.

00:01:09:18 - 00:01:16:18
Dave Quak
Now, are you having lobster? Because I don't want to do the typecasting. But don't Massachusetts people love lobster? For some reason.

00:01:16:20 - 00:01:22:13
Tina Bullis
We have a tradition to always have lobster on the 4th of July, usually.

00:01:22:15 - 00:01:29:00
Dave Quak
Well, why? Why do you have lobster? Why do Boston people and Massachusetts people love love lobster?

00:01:29:02 - 00:01:37:09
Tina Bullis
We live right on the coast. I live ten minutes from the beach, so we are seafood lovers. My family.

00:01:37:11 - 00:01:50:01
Dave Quak
I love that. And you have an accent that doesn't sound like when someone's doing a Boston accent in a movie like Ben Affleck or something. So are you from Massachusetts or where are you from?

00:01:50:03 - 00:01:55:03
Tina Bullis
I'm actually from, outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

00:01:55:05 - 00:01:59:24
Dave Quak
And what brought you from Philly up to Boston or to Massachusetts?

00:02:00:01 - 00:02:15:01
Tina Bullis
Yeah, I went to college in Massachusetts, and I lived with my husband's sister for a semester in college, and that's how we met. Yeah. So I said I would never, ever stay in New England or live here, and here I am.

00:02:15:03 - 00:02:38:08
Dave Quak
New England, it is the pocket of old cities, right? Is that correct? Like, yes, I do, I do. I always wonder why that was like an old settled area. Because it's cold. Now you listen to somebody and also you know that I can't stand the cold. Why do you why did the original settlers choose the coldest part of the continent to start these massive cities?

00:02:38:08 - 00:02:40:17
Dave Quak
It was like in the 1600s, wasn't it? 1700s?

00:02:40:22 - 00:02:43:18
Tina Bullis
Yeah. They came to a very cold place.

00:02:43:20 - 00:02:45:06
Dave Quak
It's a crazy.

00:02:45:08 - 00:02:52:04
Tina Bullis
Particularly like the cold either. But our friends, our church and our family is all in this area, so.

00:02:52:06 - 00:03:07:06
Dave Quak
Yeah. And isn't it crazy how much friends, family and church matter in life more than our physical comfort, especially when we walk with like some mental ill health? Things like those three things are just so necessary,

00:03:07:08 - 00:03:11:20
Tina Bullis
Yes. It's a. Yeah. Very much needed.

00:03:11:22 - 00:03:23:20
Dave Quak
Yeah. Well, why don't you tell us your story a little bit, Tina. So you've been walking in the mental health space and with your own journey for a long time. Why don't we wind it back to little Tina? How did this all start?

00:03:23:22 - 00:03:29:04
Tina Bullis
I grew up in a family of nine kids, and I'm the youngest.

00:03:29:07 - 00:03:31:02
Dave Quak
Oh, man.

00:03:31:04 - 00:04:05:14
Tina Bullis
So. And it was. It was a really kind of. It was a difficult growing up. We're a blended family and I always tell people we didn't blend. We boxed. So it was it was pretty dysfunctional, really dysfunctional, a lot of anger and just not healthy relationships. And so I started struggling with my mental health very young. I remember as a kid just being tired, all sleeping all the time, all the time.

00:04:05:18 - 00:04:36:02
Tina Bullis
And now look back. I know that's why I started struggling with depression. I had a lot of depression as a little kid, and I gradually got worse. It started with depression and then I had a lot of anxiety. When I went to middle school, I was able to begin to go to some counseling for the sexual abuse that I have gone through as a kid, and, that was really helpful.

00:04:36:04 - 00:05:02:20
Tina Bullis
I also, at that time was part of a really active youth group, and I was close to the youth group leaders, and they poured a lot of their energy into me as well as the pastor of that church. I came to Christ in that youth group, and I gained a lot of confidence and started to understand who I am and who God made me to be.

00:05:02:22 - 00:05:33:19
Tina Bullis
And then I went off to I also during that time had a lot of exercise. My sister and I would go and run and in high school I was on the cross country team with my sister, and she really kept me accountable for getting a lot of exercise, which also helped a lot a ton. With the depression, I was able to to get through the difficult times in high school.

00:05:33:21 - 00:05:53:15
Dave Quak
So that's a lot already, like being a, you know, the loss of nine. I can't imagine you got a great deal of attention, from the parents or good attention at least in said it quite quickly. But it's such a huge statement that there was sexual abuse in amongst that. Like, it's no wonder there was the foundation for some mental well-being issues, right?

00:05:53:15 - 00:06:11:24
Dave Quak
Like, and yeah, you know, with depression, I feel like when I'm depressed, I like to sleep because it's almost like that temporary hiatus from the pain. You know? And do you think that's why you were sleeping so much as well as, like, a break from a bit of a horrible reality?

00:06:12:01 - 00:06:14:20
Tina Bullis
I think so I think it was an escape for me.

00:06:14:22 - 00:06:16:03
Dave Quak
Yeah.

00:06:16:05 - 00:06:25:18
Tina Bullis
Set off all the the difficulty and the overstimulation and just the unhealthy things that were going on in the house.

00:06:25:20 - 00:06:33:05
Dave Quak
Yeah. So as a teenager was, was that when we first met, was that like a Christian church or what sort of church was that you started going to.

00:06:33:07 - 00:06:38:15
Tina Bullis
Yeah, it was a, it was an Episcopal Church. It was a strong church.

00:06:38:17 - 00:06:40:00
Dave Quak
Yeah. Cool.

00:06:40:02 - 00:06:56:21
Tina Bullis
Yeah, it was nice. And they were so intentional with me about really giving me a lot of love and teaching and getting me involved in things, and they were really great.

00:06:56:23 - 00:07:00:24
Dave Quak
Okay, so that's up until high school. So did you graduate high school?

00:07:01:01 - 00:07:04:14
Tina Bullis
I did, that's when I ended up in New England.

00:07:04:16 - 00:07:06:22
Dave Quak
Oh, that's how you got there.

00:07:06:24 - 00:07:22:06
Tina Bullis
Yeah. Yeah, actually, my mother was funny. She told me if I didn't go far away to college, that she wouldn't help pay for a penny of it, which doesn't sound like a very nice thing, but it was actually the most loving thing she could have ever done.

00:07:22:08 - 00:07:23:18
Dave Quak
Okay, so.

00:07:23:20 - 00:07:46:20
Tina Bullis
I went far away to a small, very, loving Christian school. And I had a lot of very healthy relationships. I saw a lot of healthy families, healthy friendships, and I learned so much from that. And I grew so much in my faith at that college.

00:07:46:20 - 00:08:02:23
Dave Quak
Like the whole environment was nurturing, you know, you had your friends, you had your peers, faculty, like it was just. And I can imagine a small, nurturing environment contrasted by a massive family with a bit of mayhem going on would have been such a different experience for you, right?

00:08:03:00 - 00:08:15:07
Tina Bullis
Yeah, it was really healthy for me and I was I was a middle school major and there middle school education, I don't know what they call that in Australia. Maybe junior high.

00:08:15:09 - 00:08:32:11
Dave Quak
Like yeah, middle school would be the same phrase here. We don't do as is usually primary or high school over here or elementary in high school. But so you were focused on becoming a teacher for like years 8 to 10, sort of thing. Okay. And was that good? Did you like that?

00:08:32:13 - 00:09:00:21
Tina Bullis
That was wonderful because it was such a small group of people, and my father was like a second mother to me, very nurturing. So I left college and I got married when I was 24, and thank goodness I married a psychiatric nurse. Nice, loves Jesus and loves kids and loves family. And I'm very close to his family, which has been a real gift.

00:09:00:23 - 00:09:38:20
Tina Bullis
So I had my first baby, my son, when I was 27 and my stepdaughter was six when I got married. So I had my son and then I had two girls after that. So together we have four children, but I had no clue how to plan my life or my mental health. I had, my daughter marry the second, so I have my son, and then I had Mary, and then I had Linda and a third baby.

00:09:38:22 - 00:10:09:07
Tina Bullis
And once I had my second baby, I was so overwhelmed. I was diagnosed with postpartum depression on some medications. And surprisingly, that was the first time I was on medication. I think I waited a long time in life to to be diagnosed. But I, I just never went to the doctor for my depression, but I did after I had my second baby and the medication worked really well.

00:10:09:09 - 00:10:33:01
Tina Bullis
But I tell you, the demands of of being a mom to little kids, having a teenager on the weekend, keeping up the house, and I wasn't working all the time, but I was I was not able to exercise. I didn't have a lot of time by myself. I was totally overwhelmed. I would just have bouts of very severe depression.

00:10:33:03 - 00:10:44:05
Tina Bullis
I mean, there I would there were times where I was fine and I had a lot of fun with the kids, but it was really stressful. My mental health was very stressful on the household.

00:10:44:07 - 00:10:50:19
Dave Quak
It's a miracle you made it that long without the medication. Like, seriously a miracle.

00:10:50:21 - 00:10:56:01
Tina Bullis
Yeah, I look back and I think, wow, I can't believe I got through that.

00:10:56:06 - 00:10:57:10
Dave Quak
It's crazy.

00:10:57:12 - 00:11:27:03
Tina Bullis
So then when I was 31, I was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. My youngest child was ten months old and my teenager was 13. And that led to four and a half years of treatments because it was an inoperable tumor. So I had chemotherapy and radiation. And then the depression got really, really to a level I can't even explain.

00:11:27:05 - 00:12:02:23
Tina Bullis
I mean, I just want honestly, there was so many days, it was so deep, the depression. I just wanted to die. And it was a really scary, really, really scary. So I knew that I needed to get out of bed and do something. And I remember walking up the stairs one day and just this idea popping into my head that I was going to do this bike ride, a 75 mile bike ride with my brother who did this charity bike ride every year.

00:12:03:00 - 00:12:34:10
Tina Bullis
And he's a little edgy. This brother I knew if I told him I was going to do this, that I would go through with it because I wouldn't. I would want to prove myself to him first. I told him that I was going to do it with him and he was thought that was great. And then I, I told God, I said, I'm going to get on this exercise bike every day, and I'm going to pray for her every day, and I'm going to pray for my friends and my family and for people that needed prayer.

00:12:34:12 - 00:13:01:14
Tina Bullis
I became really close to God in that time because I had so much time and prayer. I mean, I started on that bike. I could only do a minute on the bike at first, but gradually, you know, little by day by day, every time I get on the bike, I do a little bit more and a little bit more, and eventually I was able to go on long bike rides with my husband.

00:13:01:18 - 00:13:38:21
Tina Bullis
He trained with me also. There was another difficulty because after the brain tumor I was also diagnosed with epilepsy. I started so I would have these little seizures for like 10 to 12 seconds at a time. Sometimes I would have to sit down or hold on to a wall or standing up for them to pass through my. They would kind of pass through the left side of my body, but I was strong enough that when I would get on the bike, I could stabilize the bike for the amount of time that the seizures went through my body.

00:13:38:21 - 00:13:43:18
Tina Bullis
I know I was crazy and it probably wasn't very well.

00:13:43:23 - 00:13:48:18
Dave Quak
What you were riding and having seizures at once? Is that what you said?

00:13:48:20 - 00:13:50:12
Tina Bullis
Yes I was.

00:13:50:14 - 00:13:57:02
Dave Quak
See, I knew women were better at multitasking than men, but that is next level. Look.

00:13:57:04 - 00:14:20:01
Tina Bullis
It was. Yeah, I was a little nuts, but, eventually we went to my brother's house. We did the 75 mile ride. It was wild. But I can tell you that having that goal, having that regular exercising and having so many people pray for me, I mean, people were praying for me all over the world.

00:14:20:05 - 00:14:21:08
Dave Quak
Yeah.

00:14:21:10 - 00:14:48:10
Tina Bullis
It was and that and those prayers got me through one day at a time. Say yes to being alive. Okay? God, I want to stay alive. Give me the strength. Just for today. And I made it. I made, and that was the most amazing. That was such an amazing experience. That bike ride.

00:14:48:12 - 00:15:06:05
Dave Quak
We'll be back in a moment to hear the rest of the story, but if you need a boost in your mental well-being, we've got an online course called Loving Life with Faith and Mental Health, and we're finding it to be super helpful for a lot of people who just need some encouragement to move forward in both areas. It's 28 bucks for 28 days.

00:15:06:09 - 00:15:13:09
Dave Quak
Go to summer and Salcombe and you'll see the course link. Check it out and let's get back to Tina story.

00:15:13:11 - 00:15:40:11
Tina Bullis
So I came home from the bike ride and I got a job which gave me structure. I worked at a place where they work with adults with disabilities and people had seizures. So I able to work there because, I could just go to the nurse if I got too tired from my meds or I had too many seizures that day, I could just take a rest and then go back to the clients.

00:15:40:11 - 00:16:10:15
Tina Bullis
So I did that for six and a half years, and then I started to having more seizures eventually was having up to about ten seizures a day. And that was getting really dangerous because I couldn't even if I would go for a walk outside, I would need to call a friend and have them walk with me. I was falling a lot and it was really scary because my bones aren't all that strong because of the chemotherapy and I was getting older.

00:16:10:17 - 00:16:51:16
Tina Bullis
So this was, about four years ago, I decided that I needed to do something about the seizures because I was going to get hurt and start breaking bones when I fell. And I did, I took a year of just doing research of the different options to stop some of the seizures, and I finally made the decision that I was going to have brain resection surgery, where a neurosurgeon goes in, they take part of your brain out where the seizures are coming from, and then they replace the part of the skull they took off.

00:16:51:18 - 00:17:18:15
Tina Bullis
So everything back up. Unfortunately, as a result of the surgery, I had a massive stroke, which I knew was a risk, but I was willing to take that risk. So I had a stroke. I woke up, I thought I was paralyzed, I couldn't even move a finger. Some of the swelling, it was caused, by a lot of the swelling in my brain.

00:17:18:17 - 00:17:48:01
Tina Bullis
I was in, an inpatient rehab for a while and then an outpatient rehab. So it took about a year to get better from that, and that I had a lot of depression, especially in the beginning. That was it was really hard for me to accept that. And it was scary. It was so scary to get up on these, like, bars and have somebody say, get up and you're going to take steps on.

00:17:48:01 - 00:18:15:00
Tina Bullis
Yeah. And you feel I felt paralyzed. So, little by little, I mean, I had to hang on to God like, there was nothing I just said it was so realized that I had God and I had to hang on, or I was never going to walk again. I was never going to get my mental health back.

00:18:15:02 - 00:18:42:16
Tina Bullis
But again, so many people were praying for me. Yeah, coming in to visit me, calling me. I've always been surrounded by a good support system. I've always known that I needed that. I've always known how to ask for help. When I had my brain cancer, I told people, if you don't see me, if you don't hear from me, in my front door, don't.

00:18:42:18 - 00:19:16:02
Tina Bullis
If I don't respond to you, you need to come find me. So people would do that, they would call, or they would just come over and sit in my bed and say, Tina, is it okay that I'm here? Can I pray for you? And help you? So I always had that kind of support. So I had the same support when I had my stroke, and I did before I had the stroke.

00:19:16:02 - 00:19:46:15
Tina Bullis
I did a ton of exercise so that I would be really, really strong. Happened. And that was ended up being a really good thing. And I had a friend of mine do a whole schedule for when I came home from the rehab. So there was a person in my house every day for a whole month, people bringing meals, coming to pray, people just to visit.

00:19:46:17 - 00:20:17:08
Tina Bullis
And this was outside of my family and my brother, a lot of, actually a lot of my siblings, which was amazing, came to visit and did things in the house. They watched my kids both times when I had brain cancer and when I had my stroke. So God use those times in my family of origin to to do a lot of healing and bring us closer together, which was really fun.

00:20:17:10 - 00:20:29:15
Tina Bullis
It's just so fun to see how God redeems things. Yeah, is is our struggles to be the God who is a good Redeemer. Oh.

00:20:29:17 - 00:20:52:03
Dave Quak
For you to be able to say that Tina, after like abuse, depression, surgeries, tumors, chemo, epilepsy, stroke, brain cancer. So you still need to be able to call God your Redeemer is actually big. Like you don't seem mad at him. You don't seem mad at you know his ways.

00:20:52:05 - 00:21:15:18
Tina Bullis
I was mad you were. There were times, oh, yes, when I had when I could not raise my own children the way I wanted to. And I was so sick and depressed. I had a, a period of time where I was really mad and I thought, why in the world would you give me this tumor when I have four children and I can't even take care of them?

00:21:15:18 - 00:21:25:18
Tina Bullis
And I had a friend who was pregnant, lost her baby. I God, I don't understand your ways. I'm mad.

00:21:25:20 - 00:21:48:13
Dave Quak
I'm kind of glad you got mad, because there had to be some sort of, like, processing emotions in there, but, like, now you've been forged into this super lovely and kind person. I especially liked how the way you spoke about your husband. You know, how God hooked you up with a psychiatric nurse. Isn't that cool? In his ways, he just knows how to just give us the right partners.

00:21:48:15 - 00:22:18:01
Tina Bullis
He knows me better than I know myself, and he's just been always been amazing. And, you know, a lot of people that have mental health issues, you have shame, right? You know, and you can really talk to, it's just not an easy thing to talk in certain environments. But he's always been I've always been able to talk to him about anything that I'm going through.

00:22:18:03 - 00:22:54:22
Tina Bullis
The worst part. And then I got mad later, too. So what happened after the stroke? My kids were teenagers and I had a really hard time with their new, you know, kids are different when they're teenagers. Yeah. And I had a lot of PTSD, which was very difficult. I had a lot of mania, and when that would happen, I would get really angry and I would just.

00:22:54:24 - 00:23:17:16
Tina Bullis
Yeah, I mean, yeah, and, you know, I just didn't know how to deal with them in an appropriate way. And it got to the point where it was so bad that I called my father in law and I said, you need to take me and check me into the psychiatric hospital. So he came and and that's what he did.

00:23:17:16 - 00:23:36:22
Tina Bullis
We went to the hospital and, I was in there for a week and it was the best thing because first of all, it was really it kind of connected me a little bit to my husband in a different way, because he is a psychiatric nurse, and I saw what he did for a living, and that was fascinating.

00:23:36:24 - 00:24:01:16
Tina Bullis
And God met me in that psychiatric hospital. There were just I could see God all over the things that we were doing, and God was just speaking to my heart, here with you, he was teaching me things, and I was able to listen and accept that and learn a lot of compassion for some other people that were in the psychiatric hospital.

00:24:01:18 - 00:24:35:02
Tina Bullis
And then they changed my meds, because a lot of my symptoms were also like bipolar depression. So they changed my medication. I found another therapist and, then I came home and things were really different. So much better. The shame and guilt I had, though, was really huge, and I had to wrestle with God through that. Eventually I feel like he just took it.

00:24:35:04 - 00:24:43:01
Tina Bullis
I feel like he took the burden off of my shoulders because I. I couldn't do it myself.

00:24:43:03 - 00:25:14:02
Dave Quak
Yeah, it's good when he does that. Like he we cast all our anxieties upon him and he has to take him because we've got nothing left. I want to circle back to something, Tina, you said earlier because I've been doing a fair bit of speaking lately at, like, churches and men's events and stuff, because over here we're in the church community's a little slow to be speaking openly about mental well-being, even though it's just a massive epidemic.

00:25:14:04 - 00:25:35:11
Dave Quak
And I don't want to be the guy who continually only points out the problems, but but doesn't give any solutions because I know what we're doing wrong. But it's hard to know what to do, right? But earlier you said that when you were gone through some of your things, that the people in your life were awesome like that, they did it well.

00:25:35:13 - 00:25:37:21
Tina Bullis
Yes. Many of them were.

00:25:37:23 - 00:25:54:10
Dave Quak
Like, I know they wouldn't have been 100% hit, right? But a lot of them were. What what did the good people do? Well, that you would say, are things that we should just be good at in the church and in faith communities, like what was the good things?

00:25:54:12 - 00:26:22:13
Tina Bullis
They prayed for me. I knew who I could be honest with. I have to say, I've always been very careful and choosy about who I share my feelings with in those dark, dark times. You have to know your people. Careful about the ones who are not going to be compassionate because some people are not. They don't understand mental illness.

00:26:22:15 - 00:26:45:13
Tina Bullis
But I've been asked. I've been blessed, and I've known when I need help, I need help. I, I ask for help because I don't want to hurt my family. Yeah. So I help as much as I can from the people that are safe.

00:26:45:15 - 00:27:03:19
Dave Quak
Yeah. That's good, that's good. So it's just knowing your people. And then what was your way of handling people who were not safe or good for you? But how did you kind of get rid of them? Or, you know, like how did you get them out of your your last year?

00:27:03:21 - 00:27:09:06
Tina Bullis
I have pretty good boundaries, so I just wouldn't have a relationship with them.

00:27:09:10 - 00:27:17:10
Dave Quak
Yeah. Yeah. That's good. That's actually a really simple and clear answer. How old are your children?

00:27:17:12 - 00:27:28:18
Tina Bullis
My stepdaughter is in her 30s. My son Sam is 25, Mary is 22 and Linda is 20. Cool.

00:27:28:20 - 00:27:40:18
Dave Quak
So they're all adults. Do you think them growing up with you as a mama bear has taught them how to handle people with mental wellbeing, issues in a positive way?

00:27:40:20 - 00:28:13:17
Tina Bullis
Yeah, I really think that's the gift for them. They're really good with people that are different. That. Yeah, they. And I can say one thing to them. I can say I'm having a hard time. I'm feeling like I'm going, like I'm spiraling. I'm not doing well. And instantly they know what that means. And they get really, helpful, intentional and compassionate.

00:28:13:19 - 00:28:38:05
Dave Quak
Awesome, awesome. I hope that's how my kids end up in their 20s and 30s, because at the moment they're teenagers, and my idiosyncrasies are probably a little frustrating to them. As you mentioned earlier, teenagers are in their own space and they do. They're amazing. They can handle a lot more than we think they can, and they're a lot more resilient and probably intuitive with this stuff.

00:28:38:05 - 00:28:46:11
Dave Quak
Like my my son actually is one of the only people when I'm really manic and off the Richter who can bring me down out of that.

00:28:46:13 - 00:28:48:10
Tina Bullis
Oh, yeah.

00:28:48:12 - 00:29:12:04
Dave Quak
He's just got this calming. He's a real killer. He's a real relaxed individual and asked the big questions like, dad, does this really matter? Like, do you need to be on a rant about this? Or can we just let this go? And I'm like, actually, buddy, because I love him. I want to listen, you know? And so it has helped shape me as well.

00:29:12:06 - 00:29:20:03
Dave Quak
Your faith is clearly, you know, you can tell by your face and your entire demeanor and your story that you love Jesus.

00:29:20:05 - 00:29:20:18
Tina Bullis
Yes.

00:29:20:24 - 00:29:24:08
Dave Quak
Tell me about your relationship with him for a moment.

00:29:24:10 - 00:29:58:17
Tina Bullis
Well, I say that I'm thankful in one huge way for all that I've gone through. I was also diagnosed with heart failure. Oh, yeah, that made me mad too. But I got over that. Gosh, it's it's just always something with me, I think. And, but I, I have, I feel like I am so close to Jesus.

00:29:58:19 - 00:30:27:09
Tina Bullis
Specially when I get knocked down and I tell people I get people are always, always say to me, Tina, you're so unlucky. So many things happen to you. It's terrible. And I and I say, well, I am an expert at getting back up. And so they have Jesus. Yeah. And I have my family and I have a wonderful community.

00:30:27:11 - 00:30:59:03
Tina Bullis
I'm very I'm just so blessed. I feel like I you there's been times where I've been so low, but I've called. I haven't really been able to pray. But I just call out to Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. And I'm I'm wrapping his arms around me. I feel like I'm part of his soul. I feel like I'm part of the fellowship of the Trinity.

00:30:59:05 - 00:31:07:13
Tina Bullis
I feel like I'm so loved, even in those deep places of shame and guilt.

00:31:07:15 - 00:31:08:13
Dave Quak
Yeah.

00:31:08:15 - 00:31:20:14
Tina Bullis
Through my covering. And that's a gift that I don't think I would have unless I've been through all of these different things.

00:31:20:16 - 00:31:43:21
Dave Quak
Yeah, yeah. You've tasted in saying that the Lord is good, even as you're describing that. Tina, you know, it's compelling me to want more of Jesus, to want more of his presence and his goodness because in all of our brokenness and you've listed a lot today, he literally is the only, you know, solution to us getting through.

00:31:43:23 - 00:32:17:15
Dave Quak
And even as you've testified today, not all of it lifts, but he's there in the mess with us. And I don't know, man, I would love I wish you were a little closer than 17th thousand kilometers away, because it would be so nice to have a prayer meeting with you face to face and just be in the presence of God together, because you can tell you're someone who knows Jesus has been seasoned by some of the perils of this world, but come out on the other side better and it's lovely to be around Tina.

00:32:17:15 - 00:32:19:18
Dave Quak
It really is.

00:32:19:20 - 00:32:21:20
Tina Bullis
Yes, I'm very blessed.

00:32:21:22 - 00:32:36:20
Dave Quak
So he's good. Do you have any more pearls of wisdom that you have on your heart before we start to wind up? And then I'm going to get you to pray. Do you have anything else on your heart today, Tina?

00:32:36:22 - 00:32:41:18
Tina Bullis
I think I've shared pretty well what what God has done in my life.

00:32:41:20 - 00:33:02:04
Dave Quak
He has done a lot, and I pray he keeps taking you into the future with such preciousness. I pray there's no other crazy big things. Like. Like what was the lasting heart failure? Like you don't need any more big ticket items. You can. I pray you are exempt from the big ticket items from now on, but that he keeps walking with you.

00:33:02:04 - 00:33:26:13
Dave Quak
So. And also I quickly did a, conversion. 75 miles is 100. We do kilometers over here and it's 120, which is so far I already knew it was far when you said 75 miles. But that's a long way from not being able to turn your legs around on an exercise bike. Riding that when you got past the finish line, you must have done the craziest dance.

00:33:26:13 - 00:33:44:03
Dave Quak
The anyone of a scene. Yeah, well, Tina Bliss, it is been a pleasure. If you could pray for us, we want to thank you for your time on somebody else. Yeah. And thank you for honoring God.

00:33:44:05 - 00:34:20:03
Tina Bullis
You're welcome. Let me pray for Jesus. I thank you so much for this podcast. I thank you for the people that are listening. I thank you for all these people that struggle with mental health. Lord, we know that you are strong in us, that you love us dearly, that you wrap your love around us and reach inside, deep into our soul, that you have given us gifts or that you give us purpose.

00:34:20:05 - 00:34:49:00
Tina Bullis
That it is not an easy road. Lord. It is. I know it's just not an easy road, but that you waste nothing in our lives. You use it all in some way for your glory, and I praise you for that, that you will do that for each person. Struggle in their life. You'll meet them in their struggles and you will show them your face.

00:34:49:02 - 00:34:54:07
Tina Bullis
Lord, we give you praise and thank you. In Jesus name, Amen.

00:34:54:09 - 00:35:17:18
Dave Quak
Amen. So I need your help. You know, if you listen to some birds souls that were not afraid to just say it as it is, and the truth is, in the podcast world, you've got the podcast that lasts for a few weeks, then die. Then you've got the ones like mine that are in the middle with everybody else, and then rarely you get one that busts out of the middle and becomes one of the 5% that actually reach a lot of people.

Now, we don't want to reach people just because of the fact of reaching people. And for some ego trip, we believe we've got something to say that's actually really helpful. So if you can help us out by sharing this podcast with your mates or or even doing a Facebook post and embedding the Spotify link or doing something to push this podcast out, we'd be super appreciative.

And may God bless you and your week. Cheers!