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There was a woman I knew long ago, a cook in a holding tank for lost children named Louisa, except she talked funny and added “er” to everything, so her name was actually Louiser. She was very old, long gone now I’m sure, but very wise.
She once told me that I had better learn how to schedule a proper nervous breakdown or else I was going to have a heart attack before I was 20. I was quite a stoic child, emotionally detached and always watching people. It disturbed her and she called me Spooky, but with some affection.
Life is hard, she told me, nervous breakdowns must be scheduled and planned so as to relieve the pressure. I had the impression she had seen a lot of sorrow in her life so she was a big fan of wailing walls, sack cloth and ashes, and renting your clothing. “Don’t delay these things or your heart will burst and you’ll be dead before you’re 20,” she flat out told me.
“Have a nervous breakdown with the Holy Spirit, He can make it fun,” she whispered to me one day. “Make an appointment.”
I’ve never forgotten those words or the way a low wage cook in the back of an institution, who insisted on wearing house slippers to work, helped me more than all the experts, more than all the psychologists, lawyers, and therapists put together. Most of them were actually quite stupid, but Louiser, she was wise.
I took her words to heart and they probably saved my life. Allow yourself to break, don’t try to hold it all together, don’t be strong, don’t try to be tough, let your heart shatter and your brain break. Life is bigger and badder than we are and it will throw you curve balls. Don’t try to catch them, you don’t even have a mitt.
She was right about how the Holy Spirit can make a nervous breakdown fun, about how He can have you singing in prison, laughing in the face of persecution, giving you strength that is so clearly not your own.
Jay Colby said:
Great post
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gourafotadarvolun said:
This is such a good work. I hope it reaches many , many folks. Thank you for sharing!
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TT said:
Reblogged this on 40+/Single/Clueless and commented:
Broken and bewildered….well written 🙂
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irtfyblog said:
hahaha…I love this advice. Thanks for sharing this. A good mental breakdown can help every now and then. Speaking of…I think I’m past due for one. Better get that on the schedule and fast! 😉 lol
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Citizen Tom said:
I think that is the modern way of telling someone to unload all their burdens and their troubles at the foot of the cross of Christ.
Yes, Jesus tells us to take up our own cross and follow Him, but He is always there to help us.
Most of us like seeing ourselves as the Lone Ranger. We want someone else to play Tonto. With Jesus — with God — we are lucky he let’s us serve as His Tonto.
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Lilka Raphael said:
Loved this! Wisdom from an everyday kind of guy (or gal) beats the “experts” any day.
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joyindestructible said:
I agree. Accepting how we feel, allowing ourselves to feel it, and then allowing God to work us through it is the only way to go. Louiser sounds a lot like an woman I knew named Arlene.
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Elizabethan said:
Men specially need to here this!
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Paul said:
Good advise IB. Louiser is the type of person that I always seek out in any organization. I actually wrote a post about such a person = Armand = over at Mark Balczak’s this week https://markbialczak.com/2016/04/17/armands-secret/
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insanitybytes22 said:
Thanks, Paul. 🙂
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ColorStorm said:
Ah yes ms bytes, how God has chosen to use the social ‘outcasts’ as it were, to reach the even ‘spookiers,’ is something that is just so darn endearing. But spookdom is always subject to opinion eh.
Reminds me of Ananais being charged by the Lord to have words with Paul. Who me? he says. ‘Maybe you haven’t heard Lord………what evil this man is doing…………he’s kind of spooky.’ Ha, yeah, like the Lord is not aware. But boy can God work with bits of clay. and btw, Paul was still considered ‘spooky’ after he say daylight, so…………
Love the nickname and the breakdown idea.
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insanitybytes22 said:
Ha! I love Paul’s conversion and the very human response to him. I would have been right there with them, “uh Lord, do you know what you are doing?” Of course He does, always, but we sometimes have trouble seeing it.
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atimetoshare.me said:
I love Louiser. She was indeed wise beyond measure. I have to get an appointment right away!
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Fromscratchmom said:
Absolutely!
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