Celebrating Mental Health Awareness Month as a Christian woman of color is…interesting.

Written By Rachel Ann

Having a coaching practice, two counseling degrees, and a relationship with Jesus as a BIWOC is interesting. How do I hold on to my faith while acknowledging the hardships in this world for people like me? Am I not praying my “anxiety” away? Does God want me to be healed?

The questions are many and the answers we get in the church may be false, judgmental, and insufficient. So as we’re in May, Mental Health Awareness Month, let me remind you of a few things as you incorporate God into your wellness journey as a woman of color.

You have agency

As a Christian who's heard toxic theology about women being silent and having no “important” role, while also being BIWOC in a white world, we never really learned that we have rights. That may sound intense, but when you really think about it - having agency is the right to decide something for yourself and moving forward in that. For many Christian women of color, we’ve heard the opposite of that - either men have all the rights and we don’t, we’ve done something horrible to deserve our mental health struggles, or we need to praise God and be thankful, leaving no room for suffering or wrestling with God. In my humble opinion, those aspects of toxic theology are harmful and false, and leads us to suppress our emotions and internal world.

God gave you agency over your mind, body, and soul. Yes, we know what His will is and our goal is to follow and trust Him. And with that, He also gives us the ability to choose what support we get and when. He welcomes our questions and worries, and meets us in the midst of our swimming thoughts. So practice your agency by allowing yourself to receive the support and care you need with your friends, by advocating for your needs with your doctor, and anywhere else that you have something that needs tuning into.

You can listen and respond to your body

It is not sinful to respond to your needs and to make sure you’re well. I say this because there’s a theory for those of us who hold our bladder too long, which postulates that folks who do that have a history of their needs not being met and have learned to prioritize the needs of others in an unhealthy way. Now I don’t know how far researchers have gone in exploring that but I think there’s some truth to it. For us Christian women of color, we’ve learned to serve others endlessly and tirelessly, and to be selfless. We’re praised for being the backbone of our families, but not given support or thought about how to be appreciated. We learned that strength and speaking up is an admirable quality for men, but an undesirable quality for us. Their anger is valid and a sign of logic, ours is a weakness and a sign that we need deliverance.

In actuality, what we’re called to do is steward our gifts well and be an active, respected part of the Body of Christ. Some of those gifts being our mind, body, and soul. Let’s take our bodies, for example, which are a temple for the Holy Spirit. Listening to your body means you’re picking up the signals of stress and need for care; responding is doing something about it, whether it’s making a plan to rest, going to the restroom for a few minutes, or taking a water break…not waiting until you’re done with your emails or long to-do list, but now, in the moment you’re addressing your body’s needs. Not only does God want you to steward and care for your body well, He also wants you to appreciate and celebrate it, and when we do that, we find that our mind is clearer and our body feels better. Everyone wins!

You can pray and seek professional support, too (therapy, coaching, nutritionist, doctor, etc.)

One of the quickest ways to shut me up and get me to leave a room is to make a spiritual bypassing comment. Another fun and false thing we’ve learned in church is that since God is all we need, we shouldn’t seek support from anywhere else, and if we’re suffering then that means we’ve caused it and there’s no hope for us, so suffer with the Lord and be quiet.

Now, we should use wisdom about who we go to for what, since we want to make sure we’re getting the appropriate wise counsel in our time of need. But that doesn’t mean we’re replacing God with any practioner or professional.

So in case you’re wondering, it’s legitimate (and wise, holy, and healthy) to…

  • pray AND have a life coach

  • read your Bible AND hire a nutritionist

  • worship the Lord AND work with a financial advisor

Getting professional support doesn’t mean God stopped loving you, that you don’t trust Him, or you’re replacing Him with someone else, it means you’re trusting that He has given them the gift and knowledge to help you in whatever you’re dealing with…and that is something to praise God for!

In whatever ways it looks like for you to get support in your wellness journey, do it sis. God wants you to care for yourself well, and is with you in the journey of figuring it all out.🫶🏽

Need more support? Lemme help you sis:

Rachel Ann
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