Hello & Welcome!

My name is Casey Rife and I’m so overjoyed to have you here with me. I have been praying and praying about why I felt called to create this platform and I’m still waiting to see what God has in store for this all. For the time being, I’m trusting that His glory and His goodness will be glorified.

I do know this; I feel a strong desire in my heart to create a place where the joys and hardships of mental health are normalized and to have a safe place for a community to develop around that. So, that’s my goal. That through stories and experiences, may all our lives be transformed to be more like Christ. That we may be mutually encouraged by one another in a safe and loving space.

I am such a strong advocate for mental health as it is something that I deal with every single day. There are seasons where I’m on top of the mountain and then ones where I’m down in the valley. It’s part of the ebbs and flows of life. Sometimes it’s emotional and other times its circumstantial. Whatever it may be, we all go through ups and downs. We must remember that for some of us, those highs are higher and for others, those lows are lower. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. I promise you.

It’s part of who you are.

It’s part of who I am.

God did not make a mistake when he created me and He certainty did not make a mistake when He created you either. We all have struggles that we deal with on a daily basis. Unfortunately, it’s the reality that we face living in a fallen world. However, what we choose to do with these challenges determines what type of kingdom impact we will make. Will we be able to lay it down each day? Or are we going to try and be the God of our own lives?

Let me be the first to sheepishly admit, that I have a natural tendency to the latter way of living. I think some struggle with this more than others but for me it's something that I wrestle with everyday.

Every day I seem to find a way to make it more about me and less about God. Every day at one point or another I allow the anxiety to creep in and consume my mind. We all fail at some point every single day. But rather than sulk in our iniquities, let us celebrate the goodness of God who gives us so much grace and mercy that we are made new each day!

Now, I feel like it’s important to share that as I became a Christian, I quickly came to the realization that my struggles, trials and tribulations where not going to suddenly disappear. As much as I wished for the fairy godmother to show up and transform me like Cinderella before the ball, it never happened. Instead of my sins being taken away from me, they were suddenly made more apparent. Honestly, it was the exact opposite of what I envisioned happening. I was deeply desiring an instant transformation of my heart, mind and soul the instant that I chose to have a relationship with Jesus. I was confused and didn't know where to begin looking. I started to doubt that God actually wanted to have a relationship with me in return. Why would a God who loves me still allow me struggle with anxiety attacks and depressive episodes? Why am I not getting better? Why does everything right now feel so hard?

Over the decades, I have learned that my walk with Christ isn't going to be a magical transformation. I wish I could say that without a lot of years of failure lingering behind those words, but I can't. You see, I began to seek out spiritual transformation it in the most American way, through materialism. I was drawn to anything and everything that appeared to have the opportunity to give me an expedited result to my lifelong struggle. I would quickly Amazon Prime myself a new book, journal or bible highlighting set to try and finally have that relief. Yet (as we all know) it didn’t bring that comfort to my longing heart. It only made the desire deeper and stronger.

That peace and comfort that I so desperately sought after was only found in the non-material world. In the disciple of surrendering to myself every single day. Surrendering of my plans, disappointments, failures and successes. Dealing with each day as it comes at me and trying my best to do better than the day before.  

With that being said, I think our goal shouldn’t be perfection because that’s not realistic. The only one person that is perfect and will ever be perfect was Jesus. The sooner that we all realize that, the better. So, let’s take that pressure off ourselves and stop feeling guilt, shame or whatever it may be. Instead, the goal should be slow incremental improvement over time. At least in my personal experience, that has proven to be the only sustainable way for true transformation to begin its work. 

So, I ask you this question. What will you choose to do with your challenges/obstacles/circumstances today? Every day we all have a choice to make.  Will we choose to muster the strength and fight? Will we put in the hard work? Will we learn from our mistakes? Will we continue to do the right things even when they are hard? Or will we fall back into our security blanket of negative choices and patterns?

The choice is yours. The choice is mine. Each day, we must choose.

Will we try again?

Try again my friend. Everyday try again. Because we have a God who loves us and is there for us every step of the way. Let’s keep trying and surrender each day to the One who gives us life and purpose. Who allows us to be true to ourselves. Just the way that He created us to be. He knows your heart. He knows my heart. Choose to walk in step with Him.

Every. Single. Day.

 Walk.

“If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit” Galatians 5:25