What do you do when mental illness tears apart your child’s heart and mind?
God Placed Her in My Path
If I’m not mistaken, I found out about God Placed Her in My Path: Lessons Learned from the Furnace of Bipolar Disorder when the author mentioned it in a comment on my old blog. Thanks, Dorothy!
It took me some time to start reading it. When I ordered it, my psychiatrist was leaning toward a bipolar diagnosis with me. I was a mess. I wanted to read about Dorothy’s experience and her perspective on her daughter’s struggle, but I was feeling rather raw. I feared that the book would be an unflattering mirror. I didn’t feel up to being confronted by what I might inflict on my family. The fact that Tammy Lynn and I were both adopted made things more difficult for me.
I was in survival mode… Duck and cover and get to the next moment before another explosion knocks you further off course.
So I started with Dorothy’s second book, a devotional, on my Nook.
But I got there eventually.
Tammy Lynn
Dorothy and her husband had high hopes for their beautiful baby girl. It had been an adventure to get to her adoption day; God was clearly at work. And she was perfect.
Until she wasn’t.
It’s almost unbearable for a mother to be helpless in the face of her child’s suffering.
What do you do when your child displays all the hardest symptoms of a serious mental health disorder, but the professionals refuse to diagnose her because she’s “too young” to have it? Many psychiatrists did not believe children could develop and suffer from bipolar disorder, which was then called manic depression.
They were horribly wrong.
Dorothy doesn’t pull her punches when it comes to describing her daughter’s suffering, or her own. Untreated or improperly treated bipolar disorder is a hellish nightmare that drags loved ones along on a ride no one would choose to take.
But love doesn’t run away.
God Placed Her in My Path is not an easy read, but it’s a good read. It’s honest in the difficulty and pain, so you know that if you’re struggling in a similar situation, you can also trust the hope.
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Loving someone who struggles with a severe mood or personality disorder will take its toll on you.
But God is sufficient.
At times you will need to be their voice of reason, and their advocate. When someone is most in need of help, it can be the most difficult for them to seek it. Proper treatment is vital.
Here’s a hard truth about a loved one making unhealthy choices, mental illness or no, unconditional love sometimes also has to be tough love. Sometimes you have to make unwelcome decisions to keep someone safe. One of Dorothy and her husband’s most agonizing choices involved Tammy Lynn’s children.
Because of the difficulty of getting her daughter the help she needed, Dorothy became a strong advocate not only for her daughter, but also for others. And the advice she gives people living with and loving someone struggling with severe mental illness or other chronic issues, is based on experience not theory.
You should read this book
I’d love for you to have a chance to read God Placed Her In My Path, so I’m giving away a copy, signed especially for the winner by the author. To enter, click over to my Fruit of Brokenness Facebook page and like, comment and/or share the book giveaway post pinned to the top of the page. Not on Facebook? Like or comment on this post. Anyone who signs up for my newsletter during the contest will also be entered. Keeping up-to-date on the blog and upcoming giveaways, and receiving weekly encouragement – what’s not to love?!?
The winner will be chosen at random. In other words, one of my kids will draw a name or email address out of a jar, or maybe a basket. Though it could be a hat; there is my favorite cap… Entry deadline is Wednesday, April 27, 2016, 11pm PDT. Winner will be drawn and announced Thursday, April 28. April 28 update: Congratulations, Early Morning Mama Summer Lacy, winner of a singed, paperback copy of God Placed Her in My Path!
This book has much to offer any reader, but is particularly useful for a parent or grandparent who shares Dorothy’s struggle. If you know someone struggling with the effects of a loved one’s mental illness, please share!.
You can purchase a copy of God Placed Her In My Path or Dorothy’s Sixty Days of Grace: God’s Sufficiency for the Journey here or on Amazon.
If you love someone with bipolar disorder, another severe mood disorder, or anxiety disorder, this book is a healthy dose of “me-too” with the hope God gives – the bitter and the sweet.
Meet Dorothy Ruppert here!