Our Spirit, Mind, and Body

Over the years, I've observed that people often think good health comes from what we eat. There is truth to that! However, good health stems from so much more than what we eat.

When God created man, He created him not only with a physical body but also with a mind and a spirit. Some people refer to our mind as the place of our emotions. I don't fully understand all that, but I know it's true. Those three things, our spirit, our mind, and our body, are closely interwoven. Because of that, each of those can affect another part of us.  

Some people develop health issues, not so much from what they eat, but rather, due to enormous stress. This is, sadly, very common in our world. Stress has been called the number one killer. 

Our mental and emotional health is just as important as our physical health. If you are down mentally and emotionally, that can affect you physically. The opposite is also true. If you do not feel well, physically, that can pull you down mentally and emotionally. I've experienced both. 

If you know of someone who is sick or struggling with a health issue, encourage them, pray for them, love them, and show compassion to them like Jesus would! (as a side note: children's handmade "get well" cards are one of the best things I know of to help cheer up someone who is sick!) 

Our mental health has a huge affect on our physical health! God's Word encourages us to think about lovely, positive things that are mentioned in this verse: 

"Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things." Philippians 4:8

Going even deeper, man has a spirit at the very center of his being! Man was created in the image of God! When our spiritual state or our heart (the center of our being) is not right or at peace with God, that can also have an affect on our physical health. 

Proverbs 14:30 says: "A sound heart is the life of the flesh: but envy the rottenness of the bones." 

If things like hatred, bitterness, envy, strife, and unforgiveness are in our heart towards other people, those things do affect our health like the verse above states. 

Hebrews 12:14 says: "Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord."

As mentioned in my previous blog post, the greatest decision you could ever make is to give your heart and life to God! God loves you and wants you to be at peace with Him and with others! 

1 John 1:9 says: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 

What a wonderful truth this is! Praise God! 

Hopefully this sheds some light on how our mental/emotional health and spiritual health can play into our physical health. The three are closely tied together, and it's very important to recognize that!

Having said this, I've also heard it said that every sickness or physical problem has some kind of emotional problem or spiritual problem behind it. I do not agree with that. In fact, I strongly disagree with that idea. Not every physical health problem has an emotional or spiritual problem behind it. Sometimes it does, but not always.  

I will use myself as an example. 

As a child, I was relatively healthy. I got the common cold and the stomach flu, and I also had chicken pox once and some ear infections as a child. But for many children in the United States, those things are very common.

My family lived in Michigan until I was 9 almost 10 years old. I remember one summer when I was about 8 years old, running through some sprinklers on a hot summer day with a friend in our little neighborhood. I was running barefoot in her backyard, giggling, and enjoying every minute of it! Until, I stepped on a bee and was stung. That was my first bee sting, and oh, how it hurt! I ran home, crying, where my Dad helped to bandage my foot where I was stung! If I remember correctly, the swelling went down quickly (my Dad made sure the stinger was out), and the only thing I remember was a small red circle or dot on my foot for a few hours. That was it.  

Was there some kind of emotional or spiritual problem behind me getting that bee sting? Of course not! I was a very happy girl that day, having a marvelous time in the sprinklers until I got that bee sting. 

From the age of 9-15, my family lived in California. At the age of 13, on a beautiful, November evening, I was chasing one of our cats to put into a wire cage/kennel that night. We had coyotes that occasionally came around at night, and we lost a beautiful, grey kitten because of a coyote. We were so sad! After that, we tried to keep our cats safe at night by putting them into this large, kennel type cage outside. After awhile, our cats got very smart and tried to run away from us before we put them in this cage for the evening. Such was the case this particular evening! Our cat "Patches" took off running through a church parking lot that was at the top of a hill in our backyard. I finally gave up trying to catch her! I remember standing at the top of this hill, contemplating whether to run down or walk around the long way down to our sidewalk. Being a 13 year old girl with lots of energy, I decided to run down the hill into our backyard. Bad idea! My feet gained more speed than I anticipated, and I tripped on some shrubbery on the way down. As I approached the bottom of the hill into our backyard, I put my right arm out just as I fell down hard. My right forearm jerked back into my upper arm at the elbow! For the first time that I can ever remember, I screamed! My mom was in the kitchen making supper when she heard me scream outside. A trip to the hospital that evening revealed that I chipped off a small piece of the "funny bone" in my right arm! Thankfully, it healed just fine on its own. I wore a half cast for about 3 weeks, and I slowly gained back full mobility.

Was there some kind of emotional or spiritual problem behind that? Of course not! I was simply trying to catch our cat that evening and made a poor decision to run down our hill before breaking my arm. 

When I was nearly 16, my family moved to Colorado which is where we still live. At age 23, I developed something called adrenal fatigue. I was healthy, but I began to feel extremely tired all the time. At first, I didn't know what was wrong. Later, I discovered what I had. (adrenal fatigue)What caused it? Emotional and spiritual stress.

Without going into great detail, my parents relationship has not always been the best. It's been that way for years. Being the firstborn, I took the brunt of that in our home. I began to notice it somewhere around the age of 13 when I saw my mom crying over their relationship. I tried to be there for my mom as a comfort and as a friend. I took that to God in prayer, even at the age of 13, but by the time I reached my early to mid 20's, my adrenal glands were worn out from so much stress. Thankfully, after two years, the adrenal fatigue slowly went away!

Some health issues are, indeed, caused by emotional and spiritual problems, but other health problems are not caused by those things. Hopefully my brief stories help to shed some understanding on that. 

By sharing several posts now, I'm hoping to have laid a “good foundation” for this blog. While the things I share on this blog will be more practical stuff geared towards our physical health, please keep in mind that our mental/emotional health and our spiritual health are equally as important!     

How wonderful it is that our Creator delights to heal our spirit, our mind, and our body!  

Disclaimer: I am not a medical doctor, and I have no medical training. The things I share on this blog are simple, practical things that I've learned help with good health.