[Moneyguy1]

My first wife (deceased) was, as mentioned earlier, bipolar. She was very religious, played "Praise the Lord" tapes all day. Went on religious weekend retreats. Received counselling. Took prescription drugs. Turned to alcohol. Never fully recovered although she was "sober" for the last 15 years of her life. She dies of a brain aneurism which is NOT a spiritual problem. But, I am sure that her faith gave her comfort, but it did not cure the problem. Did I share the faith with her? To some extent. At least to the extent that I thought necessary for my own peace of mind. For a few years we even did Marriage Encounter weekends as a "senior couple". What did I learn from all of this type of experience?

I learned tolerance for the pain of others. I learned that God does not always intervene in our petty little problems, but expects us to help ourselves as much as necessary. I learned not to be critical of others beliefs, whether those beliefs are religious, political or any other. But most of all was the tolerance for other people, and the firm insight that everyone I meet can enhance my understanding of the world and of myself; that all people have something to contribute as long as I am open to it. I learned that those who claim to be faith filled and denegrate others are hiding behind that faith rather than living it.

You see, there are always simple answers to complex problems and those simple answers are always wrong.