Faith & Mental Health: A Testimony of Freedom

Christian Leader in Media Shares Life-Giving Message in a Culture of Despair

By erin conner, writer and communications associate

Carrie Sheffield, a renowned columnist and broadcaster in Washington DC, released a memoir this past spring entitled Motorhome Prophesies that proclaims liberty is possible for the captives of trauma. Sheffield is a Harvard alumna, a member of Christian Union America, and serves in an advisory role for the Christian Union Washington DC board of advisors. 

Sheffield shares insights with millions of Americans on networks like CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, CBS News, CNBC, BBC, and more. From ABC’s Good Morning America to HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, PBS, and C-SPAN, she brings a voice of virtue to the American communications and media industry through boundless interviews, articles, appearances on television shows and podcasts, and at forums across the nation. 

In her memoir, we learn "Carrie Sheffield grew up the fifth of eight children with a violent, mentally ill, street-musician father who believed he was a modern-day Mormon prophet…She and her seven siblings were often forced to live as vagabonds, remaining on the move across the country. They frequently subsisted in sheds, tents, and, most notably, motorhomes. They often lived a dysfunctional drifter existence, camping out in their motorhome in Walmart parking lots. Carrie attended 17 public schools and homeschool, all while performing classical music on the streets… at times while child custody workers loomed…Carrie struggled with her mental health during college and for most of her adult life." 

Motorhome Prophecies highlights how "she eventually seized control of her life, transcended her troubled past…thanks to the power of forgiveness, cultivated through her conversion to Christianity. By God's power and grace, she evolved from a scared and abused motorhome-dwelling girl to a Harvard-educated professional with a passion for empowering others to reject the cycles of poverty, depression, and self-hatred."

Sheffield writes and speaks poignantly about intergenerational sin and trauma and what this does in an individual's life. She writes about the importance of being honest with yourself about your choices and encourages her readers to not do the Enemy's work through self-sabotage. The first chapter of her book opens with the verse from Scripture, "Do not repay evil for evil or abuse for abuse; but, on the contrary, repay with a blessing. It is for this that you were called—that you might inherit a blessing" (1 Peter 3:9). A thematic component of the book is that true freedom is freedom from sin and the lasting effects of it, not freedom to sin because of the pain of victimhood and oppression. 

Another topic she discusses is idolizing temporal aspects of life. According to a Christian Post article, it was Tim Keller's work, particularly his book Counterfeit Gods, that provided Sheffield with a framework to understand the emptiness of idolizing temporal aspects of life such as money, power and political ideologies. In this article, Sheffield said, “I had also worshiped at the altar of the human intellect, going to Harvard where I'm surrounded by agnostics and atheists, people who had never actually really grappled with faith…the reason why we worship them is because they're good…but once you move into that posture where it becomes your God and your religion, then it becomes toxic." 

Such counter-cultural messages about the reality of sin and the emptiness of the world's promises are powerful ones that can tear down arguments that stand against the knowledge of God. Current sociological research reveals that younger generations in our nation are becoming more secular; as there is a decrease in religious practices, there is also an increase in suicide, depression, anxiety, and other mental health struggles, which Sheffield discusses in "Cultural Crisis" as part of American Thought Leaders on EpochTV. 


photo credit: EpochTV

Sheffield's testimony desperately needs to be heard and shared in the context of the mental health crisis our nation currently faces; her life exemplifies that transformation and healing are possible with God–that freedom, purpose, and hope can be found in Christ. 

As a Christian leadership ministry, Christian Union believes all followers of Christ are called to preserve the presence of God in their spheres of influence. Sheffield's work illustrates how this is done, giving hope not just to individuals but to a nation about the life-transforming power of returning to God.