A Quiet Mind to Suffer With

Suffering has been made holy by Christ’s proximity to it.

This is the story of Christ’s nearness to my own suffering―my mental breakdown, my journey to the psych ward, my long, slow, painful recovery―and how Christ will use even our agony and despair to turn us into servants and guests of the mercy offered in his gospel.

We cannot answer suffering. And yet suffering demands an answer. If Jesus is the answer to suffering, what kind of answer is Jesus? Everything that could be taken from a person was taken from him. The worst things a person could be made to see and feel were seen and felt by Christ. All of this came to a point in the nails driven into his hands and became a word that cannot be unspoken―his body broken and his blood poured out for us. Suffering has been made holy by Christ’s proximity to it.

1. Opening Credits
2. Glossary of Terms
3. Epigraph: A Prayer in the Wilderness of Mental Illness
4. Foreword by Kathryn Greene-McCreight
5. We Proclaim the Mystery of Our Faith: The Word, the Way, and the Amen | Part I: Word and Understanding
6. Part 1: Word and Understanding | Continued
7. Part 2: Way and Intention
8. Part 3: Amen and Expectation
9. Christ Has Died: Out of the Realm of Ceaseless Cognition | Part 1: Growing Up and Getting Worse
10. Part 2: Entering the Psych Ward
11. Part 3: Leaving the Psych Ward
12. Christ Is Risen: In the Wilderness of History and Affliction | Part 1: The Wrong Expectation
13. Part 2: The Ordinary Life
14. Part 3: The Swimming
15. Christ Will Come Again: At the Table with the Howling Boy | Part 1: The Bike
16. Part 2: The Cabin
17. Part 3: The Beach
18. Closing Credits