Not Alone Quotes

“Do you want to be made well? I like this question for all that’s behind it. The healers are asking: Are you willing to have a new experience? You know sickness, but you don’t know wellness. You’ve learned how to manage what you do know. You know it like the back of your hand.”
― Monica A. Coleman, Not Alone: Reflections on Faith and Depression

“There’s a lot of waiting that occurs in the lives of people who live with depression. In between the desire to be well and wellness is a lot of waiting. We wait to feel better. We wait to get better.”
― Monica A. Coleman, Not Alone: Reflections on Faith and Depression

“Those who are waiting are waiting very actively. They know that what they are waiting for is growing from the ground on which they are standing. . . . That’s the secret. The secret of waiting is the faith that the seed has been planted, that something has begun. Active waiting means to be present fully to the moment in the conviction that something is happening where you are and that you want to be present to it. . . . Waiting, then, is not passive.”
― Monica A. Coleman, Not Alone: Reflections on Faith and Depression

“Of course one wants to feel better. But are we willing to have new experiences? Are we willing to work for it? Do we want it bad enough?”
― Monica A. Coleman, Not Alone: Reflections on Faith and Depression

“The road from sick A to well B is not straight or paved. It winds; there are obstacles; you will fall on the path. Are you willing to get back up again? And again? You will feel as if you are groping in the dark. Will you trust that there is light at the end? Until you get there, can you work with the shadows? You will need community. Can you trust those who love you? Can you hold tight with one hand and release with the other? You will have to trust in the process. You will need faith. Do you want to be made well?”
― Monica A. Coleman, Not Alone: Reflections on Faith and Depression

“If you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.”
― Monica A. Coleman, Not Alone: Reflections on Faith and Depression