Send us Fan Mail
Be sure to get Heather's Book "Not Here To Be Nice: The Unvarnished Truth About Who You Are and the Purpose and Power You Have IN Christ by clicking here.
)A listener note before you press play. This conversation includes depression and a mental health crisis.)
Some stories are not for scrolling past. This one belongs to Dr. Heather Burchfield.
She had walked with the Lord for over thirty five years when God handed her something big. Decades of faith did not make the assignment any less terrifying.
Then two other things landed at the same time, one personal and one professional. She calls it the perfect storm. Three fronts hitting at once.
She ended up in a mental health crisis, at the bottom of what she describes as a hole with no floor.
She is a perfectionist, an oldest daughter, type A, academic. She likes to see the end from the beginning. She could not see anything. She just knew God had said do this thing, and most days she could not get off the couch.
Then her mother called.
Her mama is five foot nothing in high heels and a giant in the faith. Up at four thirty every morning, two hours in the Word, the one everybody calls when they need prayer. Heather stopped picking up the phone, because she knew what her mother would say.
So her mother said this instead. I have my car keys in my hand. If you do not do something, whatever that is, I am coming there.
Heather is fifty one. She says she is still a little scared of her mother, and she was scared enough that day to get up.
Her mother pointed her to Ephesians. She started at chapter one and rebuilt her identity from the ground.
Now she writes deep dive Bible studies using original languages, accessible enough for a woman who has never studied the Bible and challenging enough that pastors tell her they did not learn it in seminary. One of them is her own father, an ordained pastor in his late seventies.
Her book is Not Here to Be Nice.
She makes a distinction in this conversation worth hearing all the way through. Nice is a Victorian idea designed to keep people agreeable. It is dishonest, and dishonest is never kind. She gives a picture for it. If your child runs into the road and you are nice, you tell him to have fun out there. Kindness means you scream and grab him by the shirt. It does not look nice from the outside, but you just saved his life.
She says women have been keeping the peace when scripture blessed the peacemakers, and those are two different jobs.
She also talks about what she does when the depression comes back, because it does. She names it out loud to her husband. I am falling down again. Then she goes back to the truth, because her anxiety lies to her and only truth refutes a lie. Psalm 139 verses 23 and 24 she has prayed over herself hundreds of times.
Her advice about scripture is simple. Just get it in there. You do not know when you are going to need it.
Find Dr. Heather Burchfield on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Threads. Her book Not Here to Be Nice and the Not Here to Be Nice Leader's Guide are on Amazon. Her website is heatherburchfield.com.
This is The Calling Table Sessions on the Stuck No More Voices Podcast. One seat. One woman. One story handled with care.
If you are a Christian woman leader with a story that could reach the woman you used to be, there is a seat here for you at theresacroft.com/yourseat.
Share this episode with the woman who came to mind while you were listening.
Subscribe on YouTube. Share on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
Hosted by Theresa Croft, a Visibility Strategist who helps Christian women move from their calling to their story to being found with a message for their ideal audience.
Register Click HERE: The Calling Activation Study; Discover the Story Gold. That Connects Your Calling to the People You're Meant to Serve.
To be a guest on the Calling series: https://theresacroft.com/your-seat
Home TheresaCroft.com
Instagram: https://instagram.com/theresacroft
Facebook: https://Facebook.com/theresamcroft
YouTube: https://YouTube.com/@theresacroft
More Podcast Episodes on Apple and Spotify