Looking for some words of Truth to break this stronghold

[LeepForJoy]

HI all,

Over the past several years my wife's health has been declining, disabling fatigue out of nowhere, random pains, anger outbursts resembling a fight or flight response, etc.  We went to every doctor you could think of, even to the Mayo clinic to get some kind of diagnosis, and nothing came from it.  After returning from Mayo, which was sort of our hail mary, and getting no answers, things started to change quickly mentally with her.  Long story short two years later she has this belief that there is a group of people making her, and many others sick, and now most of her time is spent taking pictures of random imperfections around the house, or from something we bought from the store, or a pattern in the sky, and on and on.  Now this taking picture thing basically controls her day to day.  The issue is that she believes that she was lead to all of this by God.  Her surrender to Jesus she says is what drives her to continue to follow what the thoughts in her mind tell her to do.  She believes these thoughts are from the Spirit, or in some cases directly from Jesus and she needs to follow.  I have spent probably the cumulative of several days discussing scriptures, asking about what fruits are being oroduced, etc, it always comes back to, "I have Faith in the living Jesus, the one who was resurrected,  I'm doing these things even though they don't make sense to me because of my Faith that He is asking me to do these things. I can't not do them."  I've went through free will with her, spoke about everyone's duty to spread the gospel, and questioning how this is accomplishing that, but she believes that thsee things that Jesus has told her will be revealed to everyone soon and the faith she had in it before anyone else knew would be for His glory.  I know many will recommend the MH route, and we have went down that road as well, at one point it was too out of control, I was worried about the well being of our children so I had her committed.  Nevertheless, this beliefilm has never relented.  I'm at a point now where I'm just waiting for God to move and doing my best to make it from one day to the next.  I feel like a single parent with an extra adult child, plus I work full time.  Just looking for some help gething through this belief of hers, I truly believe if that could be broken down by the washing of the Word, we might be able to move forward.  We are both lovers and followers of Jesus, just one of us has a different opinion of what that means.  Thanks for taking the time to read this.

[AnOrangeCat]

First off I'm sorry to hear about the situation. I've been through the experience of a relative with mental health issues, a grandmother in my case. It's not an easy path at all and I felt like I was a parent in ways. IMO matters such as these are very, very much in God's hands. You pray and you do what you can and get a good local support network if at all possible. If you find yourself needing a break, take it. Otherwise there's a lot of potential for this sort of thing to sour a relationship. My take is that the final outcome in situations like this isn't about we do, but about what God chooses to do. There's no amount of reasoning or any other human effort that will break through unless it's part of God's plan.

[dhchristian]

1 hour ago, LeepForJoy said:

HI all,

Over the past several years my wife's health has been declining, disabling fatigue out of nowhere, random pains, anger outbursts resembling a fight or flight response, etc.  We went to every doctor you could think of, even to the Mayo clinic to get some kind of diagnosis, and nothing came from it.  After returning from Mayo, which was sort of our hail mary, and getting no answers, things started to change quickly mentally with her.  Long story short two years later she has this belief that there is a group of people making her, and many others sick, and now most of her time is spent taking pictures of random imperfections around the house, or from something we bought from the store, or a pattern in the sky, and on and on.  Now this taking picture thing basically controls her day to day.  The issue is that she believes that she was lead to all of this by God.  Her surrender to Jesus she says is what drives her to continue to follow what the thoughts in her mind tell her to do.  She believes these thoughts are from the Spirit, or in some cases directly from Jesus and she needs to follow.  I have spent probably the cumulative of several days discussing scriptures, asking about what fruits are being oroduced, etc, it always comes back to, "I have Faith in the living Jesus, the one who was resurrected,  I'm doing these things even though they don't make sense to me because of my Faith that He is asking me to do these things. I can't not do them."  I've went through free will with her, spoke about everyone's duty to spread the gospel, and questioning how this is accomplishing that, but she believes that thsee things that Jesus has told her will be revealed to everyone soon and the faith she had in it before anyone else knew would be for His glory.  I know many will recommend the MH route, and we have went down that road as well, at one point it was too out of control, I was worried about the well being of our children so I had her committed.  Nevertheless, this beliefilm has never relented.  I'm at a point now where I'm just waiting for God to move and doing my best to make it from one day to the next.  I feel like a single parent with an extra adult child, plus I work full time.  Just looking for some help gething through this belief of hers, I truly believe if that could be broken down by the washing of the Word, we might be able to move forward.  We are both lovers and followers of Jesus, just one of us has a different opinion of what that means.  Thanks for taking the time to read this.

@LeepForJoy

Your wife is becoming Spiritually tuned into the Spirit world. She is seeing things she has never seen before, and this is a shock to her Physical earthy self. This is the gift of discernment being given to her. What happens, and tell me if I am accurate with this, She is getting more and more antisocial with her old friendships, She is having a hard time trusting that family members have her best interests at heart. She is saying things like  "such and such a thing is a demonic doorway." She sees certain people even in the church that are not who they say they are.

If her symptoms is similar to any of these, she is receiving the gift of discernment. If not, Ignore what I write here as her condition may be illness related. + Ask her about this. ask her if she is feels a burden upon her because of this. It is a burden that No man or woman can bear to carry. Explain to her, that evil is all around us and even those people who you see as not right may one day be led to the right way. Ask her if she sees anything Positive in certain people as well? The gift of discernment is not only seeing the demonic and wicked, But of seeing the righteous and the saints. This is the balance that comes with this gift, and this positive discernment must outweigh the negative in order to bring some normalcy to her life. Have her also read 1 John 4:1-6,and particularly verses 4-6, preferably in the KJV as the modern translations kind of strip the power of these verses.

[BeauJangles]

3 hours ago, LeepForJoy said:

I know many will recommend the MH route, and we have went down that road as well, at one point it was too out of control, I was worried about the well being of our children so I had her committed. 

Hi brother, 

It's a little difficult to read in 'block style' postings due to difficulties with dyslexia and suspected macular degeneration. So, let me see if I'm getting what you're attempting to convey. In spite of your wife degenerative cognizance, she's making all the effort possible to see how the Lord is continuing with her in life in spite of the onset/ongoing mental issues at hand. 

Now the state of exhaustion she's experiencing is very much like Fibromyalgia, which is extremely difficult to ascertain a proper diagnosis and/or treatment. It's an unusual and often mistakenly overlooked disease as to what is really is. Of course I could be totally out in left field about that. The fact that Mayo Clinic wasn't successful in getting to issue is a bit odd to me. 

I take it your wife must have also been either out of reasonable control or perhaps you weren't competent in assisting her medical needs to remain within the home. That's most unfortunate. I hate to mention this, but being in a nursing facility as I am, persons dealing with dementia are often left to their own psychological state of demise.

Unless you have an upscale placement for her where proactive professional therapy is being applied in this aspect of her decline, don't expect improvements for her. It's not likely to happen. Patients with demenative states of being just don't improve. The numbers of our nation's populous are growing in vast statistics. My mother passed away as a result of it. 

I have no idea what the MH route means, sorry.   

1 hour ago, DustyRoad said:

I'd like to ask a question about your wife if I may, @LeepForJoy. Is she middle-aged or older? I'm asking because this bears some similarity to late-onset schizophrenia.

This could well be schizophrenia or possibly Alzheimer's Disease. Again, it's a little surprising the Mayo Clinic was unable to properly address what exactly your wife is suffering from. It does sound encouraging that she sees the Lord attempting to be a strong spiritual influence on her, and that's the most positive thing I can see in what you've posted. May the Lord bless and guide you both. 

Shalom, 

David/BeauJangles

[LeepForJoy]

1 hour ago, DustyRoad said:

I'd like to ask a question about your wife if I may, @LeepForJoy. Is she middle-aged or older? I'm asking because this bears some similarity to late-onset schizophrenia.

Yes, she is almost 40, these things came up around age 37, the psychosis like symptoms, and years before she would have these random bouts of just uncontrollable rage that we tried fighting off with her using a heavy bag, exercise, like sprint intervals, sometimes it would help but it was all too taxing on her, we had a 6month old at the time too.  She would say I just need a release, that was before things went downhill with her energy and health.

[LeepForJoy]

1 hour ago, dhchristian said:

@LeepForJoy

Your wife is becoming Spiritually tuned into the Spirit world. She is seeing things she has never seen before, and this is a shock to her Physical earthy self. This is the gift of discernment being given to her. What happens, and tell me if I am accurate with this, She is getting more and more antisocial with her old friendships, She is having a hard time trusting that family members have her best interests at heart. She is saying things like  "such and such a thing is a demonic doorway." She sees certain people even in the church that are not who they say they are.

If her symptoms is similar to any of these, she is receiving the gift of discernment. If not, Ignore what I write here as her condition may be illness related. + Ask her about this. ask her if she is feels a burden upon her because of this. It is a burden that No man or woman can bear to carry. Explain to her, that evil is all around us and even those people who you see as not right may one day be led to the right way. Ask her if she sees anything Positive in certain people as well? The gift of discernment is not only seeing the demonic and wicked, But of seeing the righteous and the saints. This is the balance that comes with this gift, and this positive discernment must outweigh the negative in order to bring some normalcy to her life. Have her also read 1 John 4:1-6,and particularly verses 4-6, preferably in the KJV as the modern translations kind of strip the power of these verses.

Thanks for the advise and response.  I would say that a lot of things you mention have happened, but I think I've just had a hard time seeing it because a lot of times I have been the target for these accusations of not knowing how to love, not being saved, etc.  I would also say that I have read those verses in 1 John probably 20 times, and even used them in this situation, but for some reason I was reading them wrong until I read your post and went back there.  I had been using that to mean to test her, but she is a devout Christian, and does believe in the finished work of atonement that Jesus did for us on the cross, so, I had a hard time questioning it, but it is her that needs to test the spirit that she feels she is receiving this from.  Would she do that through prayer?  Or would she need to directly attempt to speak, whether outwardly, or in her head and question who this is from?  And how will she know she's getting the answer, I know that Satan can disguise himself as an angel of light, but I guess he can't go so far as to state that through Jesus, and by His work only can we again have fellowship with the Father and the promise of it for eternity.  

Again, thank you for opening my eyes to see that scripture in a different light.  I do believe there is a real phisical ailment here as well, but her attempt and motivation to pursue an answer to it has left ever since the mental side of things, and her perspective on following the Spirit have changed.

[dhchristian]

18 minutes ago, LeepForJoy said:

I would say that a lot of things you mention have happened, but I think I've just had a hard time seeing it because a lot of times I have been the target for these accusations of not knowing how to love, not being saved, etc.

If this is the gift of discernment, she knows you better than you know yourself. Now of course most women would say that of their husbands in the first place, but I am talking about Spiritually, Because her eyes have been opened she sees in you impure motives in spiritual things and sees that as a lack of salvation. This will wear down as she begins to understand the facts that not all believers are called to live Priestly lives. In Other words not all who are called are chosen to be saints. That is why I said she needs to focus on the positive discernment and see this as unique and special amongst those in the church, not as a divider of the faithful and unfaithful, But of the ones who are being prepared to serve him, versus the ones who are not there yet in their walk.

 

[LonerAndy]

5 hours ago, LeepForJoy said:

HI all,

Over the past several years my wife's health has been declining, disabling fatigue out of nowhere, random pains, anger outbursts resembling a fight or flight response, etc.  We went to every doctor you could think of, even to the Mayo clinic to get some kind of diagnosis, and nothing came from it.  After returning from Mayo, which was sort of our hail mary, and getting no answers, things started to change quickly mentally with her.  Long story short two years later she has this belief that there is a group of people making her, and many others sick, and now most of her time is spent taking pictures of random imperfections around the house, or from something we bought from the store, or a pattern in the sky, and on and on.  Now this taking picture thing basically controls her day to day.  The issue is that she believes that she was lead to all of this by God.  Her surrender to Jesus she says is what drives her to continue to follow what the thoughts in her mind tell her to do.  She believes these thoughts are from the Spirit, or in some cases directly from Jesus and she needs to follow.  I have spent probably the cumulative of several days discussing scriptures, asking about what fruits are being oroduced, etc, it always comes back to, "I have Faith in the living Jesus, the one who was resurrected,  I'm doing these things even though they don't make sense to me because of my Faith that He is asking me to do these things. I can't not do them."  I've went through free will with her, spoke about everyone's duty to spread the gospel, and questioning how this is accomplishing that, but she believes that thsee things that Jesus has told her will be revealed to everyone soon and the faith she had in it before anyone else knew would be for His glory.  I know many will recommend the MH route, and we have went down that road as well, at one point it was too out of control, I was worried about the well being of our children so I had her committed.  Nevertheless, this beliefilm has never relented.  I'm at a point now where I'm just waiting for God to move and doing my best to make it from one day to the next.  I feel like a single parent with an extra adult child, plus I work full time.  Just looking for some help gething through this belief of hers, I truly believe if that could be broken down by the washing of the Word, we might be able to move forward.  We are both lovers and followers of Jesus, just one of us has a different opinion of what that means.  Thanks for taking the time to read this.

Most of this is beyond me.   I would assume you have already consulted your pastor, at the Church that you have faithfully been attending.

Aside from this, it does seem as though you are operating like a single parent, with an adult child.

Therefore, I would humbly suggest that you request a meeting with the pastor and elders of the church, and simply lay out as clearly as you can, that you need help.   There is nothing evil or wrong about requesting help, when you really need help.   See if there is someone in your church, who can assist you in taking care of your household.

As for "getting through this belief of hers"... you are not G-d.   I learned over 20 years ago, that absolutely no one anywhere can ever force someone else to change their beliefs.   You simply can't. If she is determined to have a crazy belief system, then there is zero... absolutely nothing that you as a mere mortal man, can do to force her to change.

You need to let that go.

In fact, I would suggest you pray that.   Pray to the Lord, "Lord I now realize I can do nothing in this situation.  Only you can help.  If it is possible, bring whatever hardship is required to get my wife's attention".

Strong prayer.    And then you need to accept whatever the Lord does.  That may mean committing her back into a mental health institution.  Or something else, I don't know.  

[LeepForJoy]

3 hours ago, DustyRoad said:

Ah, now the situation makes more sense. Thank you for the response and let me say you have my sympathy and prayers... I know this is tremendously difficult to bear with. It's a terrible thing to witness in those you love! As soon as I read "we had a 6 month old at the time too" my mind immediately went to the following: postpartum psychosis.

This can be the avenue through which late-onset schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder manifests in some women, @LeepForJoy. It' helpful to understand that the following disorders share some symptoms in common and can sometimes be confused for one another depending upon the circumstances: schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, and bipolar disorder --- I have the latter. In my case I experience a rare type of depression known as psychotic depression so I've come to understand something about delusions and the regard of the Lord toward those of us who are afflicted in such a way.   

I have one word for you, brother: patience. She's relying on you to keep her safe and having been the recipient of such care from another in the past my heart goes out to you... I'm aware of the terrible burden it places on you. I would encourage you both to take advantage of the MH route because the Lord can and does work through such means, brother. Don't underestimate what Christ Jesus might send your way... seize it! 

It might give her the advantage she needs in learning how to first recognize and then cope with her delusions. Bear in mind that at this time she needs those delusions to remain whole and functional... that's the tragic consequence of this illness which is so hard for loved ones and family to witness. I'd share my own experience with you but please bear in mind that each one of us is different. How the Lord works with me might nor be how He lifts your wife up... I don't want to convey a false hope that God's Spirit will do for her as He does for me.

I suffer from relatively minor delusions during depression which are nihilistic in scope. They taint how I perceive things --- my friends become my enemies and the darkness looks like the daytime --- and in these delusions I'm the most terrible man to have ever lived. This leads into the most dangerous as well as unpredictable phase of depression wherein I have to wage war against suicidal ideations (thoughts) and impulses. I'm able to hear the Lord at all times, Leep… even in the midst of these delusions I can hear God's still, small voice.

The Lord started leading me gently out of these delusions whenever I would find myself in their grip until now when I find myself highly resistant to their taint... but I must stress that this wasn't the result of doing this, praying for that, fasting, or whatever else others try in desperation. This is simply what Jesus Christ started doing with me. I didn't ask for anything because I had no idea that I was deluded to begin with.

No, of course I didn't know! Nevertheless this is what I'm praying for brother: that our Father in heaven will relieve the burden on your shoulders and offer your suffering wife respite from her agony. God bless you both!




 

Thanks so much for the response, it helps a lot to hear that someone has faced a similar road as she has and is now blessing others with there own story.  I really do feel like I need to just let go, and just pray and support, it's just when things get really, really bad, I immediately go back to wanting to fix it.  I will say that although this has been beyond bearable of a situation that has gone on now for a few years, I am close to God now than I ever was, and I feel like I understand the truth of the Gospel, wher as before this all started, although at the time I was a youth leader at my church, and then doing worship band, I didn't totally get it, meaning there was some of me mixed in, along with some of how others perceived me, I praise God that he has open my eyes to the true Word now, even though it has taken this unrelenting storm we are in.  

Thanks again, and bless you too Brother,

LeeP

Edited March 20, 2020 by LeepForJoy
Typo

[kwikphilly]

Blessings LeapForJoy

   Welcome to Worthy and it is a pleasure to meet you,I commend your efforts and it's really good to see such a devoted husband/dad.....lots of love in you,Praise Jesus!

   As for your wife I simply do not know enough of what her beliefs nor could I begin to assess her behavior simply by the little information given by you here,it would be a lot of speculation on my part & I never want to "assume" .Firstly,who can know her heart but our Lord? Surely we know them by their fruits but you've not shared much about that except that you mentioned her having outbursts of anger and also fear(people out to make her sick) Looking at that I would say she is getting ideas from someone but it does not sound like Jesus to me

  Just because someone is a Christian does not exclude them from bondage & strongholds as was your initial thoughts.The enemys favorite targets are Christians,there are many Christians wearing shackles & chains and they simply are unaware of spiritual warfare(given the enemy the upper hand at every corner) This is not a Salvational issue but to live that way is very sad,not just for them but it can take it's toll on family & loved ones.I can't imagine how difficult this is for you & you are in my prayers(so is she)

   I'm not one to support the MH theories,the people suffering with these type of strongholds will pop their corks but I'm not trying to tip toe around anyone here....they do need love. support,understanding,compassion ,patients and most of all "Revelation" which only Holy Spirit can Give them so it is not the easiest assignment for just anyone to deal with.After all,sickness & disease is spiritual warfare,be it mental,physical & /or emotional. In saying that I sincerely hope you will go to your Pastor or a Pastor who stands on Gods Word and does not veer off Scripture(by that I mean I'm not talking about exorcisms and phony healing ministers etc...)Perhaps you can look for a Born Again Bible Believing psychologist or therapist but I do believe YOU need help. The Great Physician is the Healer,Praise Jesus-Deliverance awaits your wife,I believe it and she Can Receive it,resulting in her being yet another Living Testimony to the Glory of God

  I've read a little of the post regarding the Gift of Discernment,as I said earlier-I don't know enough about your wife's behavior ( things she thinks & says) & I don't know her at all but I do know that God is not a God of confusion nor does He give a Believer a spirit of fear.....I won't assume anything but I really don't think this is a Gift of God

  How can we help besides prayer and let us jpin in prayer for you & yoyr wife

  Father God it is in Jesus Name we pray.binding any spirit that is not of you ,casting it out & loosing Holy Spirit from the crown of Leeps wife's head to the very soles of her feet that she may be a Living Testimony for your Glory Lord God and by the Power of the very same Holy Spirit Comfort our Brother giving him Wisdom,Understanding & Knowledge in which way to go,lead him,guide him & direct him oh Lord and we give you Praise ,Honor & our Thanksgiving in the Precious Name of Jesus Christ,Lord & Savior!AMEN

                                                                                                              With love-in Christ,Kwik