Welcome to Dymphna's Diary

Although I am not Catholic, I find it interesting that "Dymphna" is the patron saint of those who suffer from clinical depression and other mental illnesses. Considering the purpose of this site is to offer inspiration and spiritual guidance to my readers, I felt it was only right I chose her namesake for the title.

In 2010, this site was set up to pass along personal information about how depression has affected my life and the lives of my family. Since then, it has EVOLVED. In 2011, I attempted to present posts that were INSPIRATIONAL to you, my readers. In 2012, I went even deeper with personal stories from people across the United States via touching videos, songs, and interviews. My hope was to show each of you that even when you feel that you are in a situation that no one else could understand, you are not alone. Through it all, my comments have remained to be my personal opinions and spiritual reflections. I will continue to occasionally post information that I feel is beneficial in removing the stigma of mental illness, but regardless I feel blessed to have been given this platform to spread God's love and compassion for ALL people. I wouldn't be where I am today without the strength I receive daily from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. My hope is that this blog will help you find some comfort in your life. It most certainly is helping me find comfort in mine.

I want to make it perfectly clear, though, that when I make generalizations regarding mental illness, I am NOT giving advice to anyone. I'm just passing along information that I have found helpful in my life. I'm writing about MY PERSONAL experiences and thoughts. Mental illness affects everyone differently and your situation may not be reflective of mine.


Sunday, November 7, 2010

Is that your best offer?

When you’re in Gatlinburg on vacation, you should understand that you WILL be approached for a “Time Share” presentation. The lure of this 90 minute lecture is the following – if you listen to everything they have to offer, they will give you free tickets to an area show. I know this because my husband I fell victim to this madness several years ago… and now we are frequent visitors to Tennessee because – you guessed it – we get to use our Time Share. Yep, they got us!

Well, this year’s vacation to the Great Smokey Mountains was no different than any other in the past five years. The moment we checked into our little two bedroom facility, they gave us the directions to the “benefits” room… that’s code for “Time Share” appointment office - or what they now like to call the “Vacation Exchange Program”. Anyway, I headed over there and set up our appointment because we had two other couples with us that didn’t have a “Vacation Exchange Program”, and, to be truthful, we wanted some discount tickets to Dixie Stampede. So, we set up our allotted time and went about our business.

When the time came for our rendezvous, we all headed over to their office… and for an hour and a half we listened to how great this program would be for everyone involved. Then, we got down to the nitty gritty. The manager came to my friends, “This is the best offer I can give you.” he said. They counter offered. Then for the next hour, we heard that manager, come back with his “best offer”, about three more times, until the price was cut in half from the original asking price.

I know that’s the way business is done, but I couldn’t help but think that this is the way we sometimes negotiate with God, too. We start off by offering our best to Him if He’ll just... save so-and-so… pull our loved ones through surgery… let us get that job – and then when we do get what we want from Him, we forget those promises. At first we offer everything and when everything is said is done – He is lucky to get even half of our “best offer”.
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