Mental Health, Identity, and Biblical Truth
In today’s culture of growing mental health awareness, many Christians feel caught between secular psychology and spiritual teaching. In this episode of Honest Christian Conversations, I’m joined by Healy Ikerd, a licensed professional counselor, marriage and family therapist, and host of the Healthy and Redeemed podcast, to explore how believers can pursue emotional health while remaining firmly rooted in Scripture.
Our conversation centers on a struggle many Christians know well—understanding intellectually that God loves us, yet finding it difficult to believe it deep in our hearts. Healy shares her personal journey of confronting long-held lies about her worth and identity, and how studying Scripture reshaped her self-perception. We discuss the biblical distinction between lamenting and dwelling, practical tools for breaking negative thought patterns, and why speaking God’s truth aloud can be a decisive step toward healing.
This episode also addresses body image, shame, and the importance of emotional and mental health to the church’s witness. Rather than striving for perfection, Healy challenges believers to pursue wholeness in Christ—learning to replace lies with truth so we can love others well and reflect Christ authentically.
🎧 Listen to the episode to explore how faith, mental health, and biblical identity intersect in everyday life.
💬 After listening, join the conversation in the community.
Share your reflections, discuss what it looks like to live from your identity in Christ, and connect with others who are intentionally pursuing healing and spiritual growth.
Wife. Mother of five. Podcaster. Fiction Novelist
Ana is the host of the Honest Christian Conversations podcast and a prodigal saved by God’s unending grace.
She grew up in a legalistic Christian home where asking questions often felt wrong. In her early twenties, overwhelmed by confusion and hurt, she walked away from her faith. Yet even then, God’s love never stopped pursuing her. At thirty years old—and after a painful second divorce—He brought her back to himself, and she has never looked back.
As Ana returned to Christ, she began rebuilding her faith from the ground up and asked the questions she once feared to ask. Along that journey, she discovered inconsistencies, misplaced teachings, and even lies woven into the Christianity she grew up with. Instead of destroying her faith, this only deepened it. Out of that discovery, she founded Honest Christian Conversations. Ana's heart is to help others navigate the same tension she once lived with: wanting to know the real Jesus while sorting through the noise of deceptive teachings, spiritual manipulation, and “wolves in sheep’s clothing.”
Everything she creates flows from gratitude for the God who rescued her, restored her, and continues to shape her into who He intended her to be.
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