"It begins slowly, so slowly that I hardly notice at first. My chest tightens and my heart begins to beat a fraction faster. I try to draw breath, but instead I choke on oxygen I can't inhale. As I realize that I can't breathe, the panic wraps itself around my mind. I can't make myself draw a breath." Rachael was just six years old when she had her first suicidal thought. Over the next decade, life would become increasingly fraught with depression and self-harm, and her outlook only bleaker. Before her eighteenth birthday, Rachael would twice try to take her own life. And yet amidst this darkness, a flicker of faith lived on. This is Rachael's story of her journey into, and out of, the darkness of depression. With unflinching realism and complete honesty, she shows us what it looks like to live with mental illness, and how God can find us and rescue us even in the most desperate of places.

Learning to Breathe: My Journey With Mental Illness

Newham, Rachael

Religion & Spirituality

SPCK Publishing

In a life full of highs and lows, choice and challenges, the words 'and yet' can change everything. We are surrounded by darkness and yet there is light. We feel we are lacking and yet God provides. We are broken and bruised and yet there is hope. In the depths of depression and plagued with suicidal thoughts, Rachael Newham never thought she'd find herself writing a book on joy. And yet, if her journey with mental health illness has taught her anything it is that true, deep, lasting joy can only be experienced when we allow ourselves to enter into lament and be honest about our pain before God. With warm understanding, in this lovely Lent book for 2022 Rachael traces how Biblical writers used 'and yet' to bring together joy and lament and invites us to see them not as opposites, but two sides of the same coin. Drawing on her experiences with mental illness, she shows us how we can build a rhythm of both joy and lament into our lives both through the season of Lent and the rest of the church's year. With reflections split over six sections And Yet is the perfect daily Lent devotional for 2022, but its undated readings can be used for periods of prayerful reflection throughout the year. This is a beautiful Christian book on lament ideal for anyone looking for to better understand how the tradition of lament and joy work together, and how they can make them a part of their everyday spiritual formation. We may be living in dark circumstances - and yet with a few simple practices we can experience joy in every season.

And Yet: Finding Joy in Lament

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Books by Newham, Rachael

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Newham, Rachael. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Learning to Breathe: My Journey With Mental Illness

And Yet: Finding Joy in Lament