#13 Do The Right Thing and Find The Good

Transcript

0:00

Hey there, welcome to the Mental Refuge podcast. Here we talk all things mental health and Christianity. I am your host, Angela McDonald. I run my website, The Mental Refuge, where I talk about my own personal struggles, mental illness, while also being a Christian and a mom of two. And I help others by giving tips and tricks on what has helped me. To be clear, this is my story. I personally live with bipolar disorder and live with anxiety, so I know what it's like to go through the trenches of life and to feel alone. My goal is to bring you weekly tips and education on how to thrive with your mental health, while giving you real examples from my own life and to also provide you with a much needed dose of Jesus. I hope you stick around and stay awhile. Well welcome guys to episode number 13, do the right thing and find the good, it stays episode. We will be talking about finding the good in every situation, even in the hard situations. And I will give you examples of how we can do the right thing. If you're new here. Welcome. I am Angela M. My wife and a mom of two, and I live with bipolar disorder. I'm also a Christian and I believe that Jesus therapy and medication all go hand in hand. While you're here. I wanted to talk to you about my mental health project. I've been working on the rescued and restored a workbook. This is a 65 page downloadable mental health workbook that is filled with worksheets prompts and scripture to read in times of depression and anxiety. This is not your momma's old fashioned journal. This is a workbook filled with worksheets that you can use to dig deeper into learning more about yourself. You can also bring these sheets with each, your therapist or doctors, they can understand your stressors or triggers better so they can better treat you. It's also filled with anxiety, trackers, mood trackers, and sleep trackers. It is jam packed with stuff. And I don't want you to miss out on it. Simply head on over to my website, the mental refuge.com and check it out. Now let's get on with today's topic. A few months ago, I found myself sorting through some of my kids' clothes on a random Wednesday morning. All of their dirty clothes had just been washed. And my daughter was currently growing out of her school uniforms and quickly running out of things to wear. So I thought that day would be the perfect day to sort through my two kids clothes. I really didn't want to do it. Like I really, really didn't laundry is one of my least favorite chores. I know it seems so simple. And when you think about it, the machines literally do the work for us. They washed our clothes and drive them for us, but even still lack of most moms doing the laundry is one of my least favorite chores. And we all know that about 50 million tiny kids' clothes can fit into a washer and dryer. So they folding things like it goes on forever and a day. Anyway. So I didn't really want to sort through their clothes, but I knew that it had to be done. If I want it proper fitting clothes for my daughter to wear to school, then it had to be done. I just need it to knock it out. So I did what any modern day parent would do. And I have through on and encouraging podcasts in my earbuds while I sorted through all of their clothes. And let me tell you, listening to an encouraging podcast will motivate you to get going because it will keep you distracted. I knocked it all out in about an hour. I ended up with six paper, grocery bags, full of clothes to be given away. Now. I will say in the past, I have tried my hand at posting on Facebook and trying to sell my kids clothes really cheap, like$20 for a whole lot of clothes. Cheap. And no one would take them. It took up a lot of time to sort through all the clothes out by size, take individual pictures, describe each item, post them all for nothing. I had tried it and it had failed multiple times. So this time, my husband suggested that I just post them on our local moms group for free. Now, let me say there was a time in our lives when we were really struggling financially really, really badly. I never want to go back to that place again. And I don't want anyone to have to go through what we went through. So me selling a lot of clothes for$20 would have meant that we could go and put some gas in our tank or that we can go and buy. Our son, some new underwear, because his were so old and becoming see-through things like that times were tough. Really tough. So me letting that go and posting clothes for free, with a big deal for me, you should know that when I posted those clothes for free, we had a pivotal shift in our life. I had left my full-time job of 10 years so that I could be a stay at home mom with their kids. And my husband took a job. He was previously a stay at home dad and he brought in more money than I ever did. So our financial situation had drastically changed. So even though we could post those clothes for free on the moms group, it still felt weird to me to do that. I don't know why, I guess I just wasn't used to that financial freedom yet. So our kids' clothes typically come from three different sources. One part comes from us. Another third of their clothes are given us Christmas gifts from the grandparents. You know, they'll get them. Uh, a couple of t-shirts on their birthday or at Christmas or new tennis shoes when they need them. That's just what they like to give. And the last third of our clothes they receive are hand me downs from a friend at church. They have a daughter that's one year older than our daughter, and she also wear school uniforms. So it works out perfectly that when their daughter outgrows hers, then she passes them on along to us. Yeah, that friend at church, I had no clue what our financial situation was or is no clue. And they had no idea how much they were helping us with giving us those clothes. Especially the school uniforms. We were in a season of life. Where every little bit counted, no matter how small. We were so, so thankful and we still are to this day. I think she just knew in her heart that she needed to give us clothing. And if you ever want to see how God can use you in someone's life after you listened to this episode, go back and listen to the last one. Episode. Number 12, it's titled God can use you. I think it will be really beneficial for you to hear. So, like I said, I didn't necessarily want to give those bags of clothes away for free, just because of our past financial situation. But I just knew I had to, all I kept thinking about was the unknown family that I was going to potentially help out. I was trying to see the good. So I posted the clothing on Facebook marketplace and within like five minutes, someone messaged me. This family had a son who was one year younger than our son. And they also had a daughter who was one year younger than our daughter. So they were just the absolute perfect ages and sizes to pass along to. So the mom's name was Jessica. I might not have met her if I hadn't posted them for sale and had not posted them for free, maybe so, but maybe not. So while I was sorting through their clothes, I kept thinking about the good that would come from it. All I could think about was the other family that we would be able to help that we would be able to pay it forward. So while I didn't have this scripture on my mind while I was sorting through clothes, I'll admit, I found this first while I was doing research for this podcast episode, I did have this idea of a family in mind and that I was going to do good. And I know this is probably such a small example to you. You might be thinking that is such a first world problem to be sorting through your kids' clothes. Give me a break. And I get it. I really do. I'm fully aware that I was privileged enough to be able to stay at home during that season of life and to have the time to sort through their clothes and to even have their clothes in the first place. I am fully aware of that. This is just a very small example of the good that I was trying to see in my everyday ordinary life as a mom. But the verse that I came upon recently, Is from Philippians four eight. It says finally brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right. Whatever is pure, whatever is lovely. Whatever is admirable. If anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things. This first encourages us believers to focus on things that are good and uplifting. When the verse says, think about these things. That instructs us to fill our minds with thoughts that are true noble right. Pure, lovely, admirable. Excellent praiseworthy. Now I know that if you live with a mental illness, like I do. It can be hard to control our thoughts. We might have extreme anxiety when we overthink everything by the way, after this. And after you listened to episode 12, You can also listen to episode number six. Overthinking versus catastrophic anxiety. It's a really good episode if I say so myself. We might also have extreme depression where we have suicidal thoughts and we can't control it when things spiral out of control. We might even have audible hallucinations where we are hearing voices and we can't determine what's good from bad. But I think one thing we can do is reflect on our day and reflect on our thoughts and to think about if we're doing the right thing or not. I said earlier, I did not want to give away those clothes for free. I just didn't because I was still holding on to our past financial situation. Even though I had changed, I was still holding onto the past. But I ended up, all I could think about was a family that I was going to help out. That verse from Philippians four eight is a reminder that we can live out what is good daily. What is right. What is lovely? What is add marble? And we can do those things every single day. If we just listen to God. Another example from my life. And this is kind of a small example, but as of right now in January of 2025, I have around 900 followers on Instagram, on my account, the mental refuge. This is not a personal account. This is like the account that I use for, um, mental health awareness. I like that. And let me tell you, I really, really slack off on posting and I might post four to six times a year. So I really want to start posting again. I just need to motivate myself. I am so caught up. And what if my friends who don't know that I have a mental illness to see this, because I do keep this portion of my life. Semi-private. And I'm worried about imposter syndrome and not being good enough. But I know in my heart that I need to do it. I know it can be scary to do whatever that thing is that you need to do. Trust me. I completely get it. Now I know that not all of my followers on there are Christians and maybe not. All of them have a mental illness. Like I do. But I am somehow in some way, making an impact in their lives. Because I have a mental illness because I have bipolar disorder. I am able to have this platform on Instagram and have this podcast to talk to you about mental health and Jesus. And I pray that I never take that for granted. I feel like I'm rambling on a little bit, but if you stuck around this far, just know that I hope you take this little nugget of information with you. Do the thing. Do the good thing, whatever it is, if it is noble, good praiseworthy, go do it. Don't do it for recognition or for praise. Do it for a heavenly father who loves us and do it to advance his kingdom. When I gave away those clothes, that family, I have a feeling that I really helped them out. Just like we have been helped out for so long. And I don't know that for sure. I'll probably never know that, but I did the right thing even when I didn't want to do it when I post on Instagram. And I'm scared about what others will think of me. I know deep in my heart that I'm also doing the right thing. Find the good in every situation. Father God, thank you so much for giving us Philippians four eight for us to have as instructions from you and also for encouragement. Maybe always do the right thing, even when we don't feel like it. Even when we are tired and beat down. Even we are anxious or depressed, clear our minds during these times, or in mind us to always do the right thing and to find the good in every situation. This is in your precious and holy name. I pray. Amen. I hope you enjoyed today's episode. If you would like to support this podcast, please consider clicking on the link in the description area of either apple podcasts or Spotify or wherever you're listening from. This is a way where you can make a difference and help someone who might be struggling with their mental health. Also, if you will, please leave a review of this podcast. It really helps spread the word about it to others and believe it or not, it actually makes it visible to others so they can find it. I'll talk to you guys next week. Bye.