Christian Mental Health & Divorce: Ash Morrison on Healing Guilt and Finding Faith
In This Episode:
Breaking the Stigma: Divorce, Guilt, and Christian Mental Health
Welcome to the Sunburnt Souls Christian mental health podcast. In this episode, founder Dave Quak sits down with Ash Morrison for one of the most honest and necessary conversations we've had yet: navigating divorce, remarriage, and crippling Christian guilt.
Divorce is rarely an easy topic in the church. For a Christian woman and mother, the shame can be overwhelming, leading to severe mental anguish and a crisis of faith. Ash's story is a powerful testimony that challenges the black-and-white view of divorce often held within Christian communities. She opens up about feeling like an "adulteress" even though she fought for her marriage, and how that internal label crushed her mental well-being. If you are struggling with the stigma of divorce in the church, feeling isolated, or questioning your identity after a marriage ends, this post—and the full podcast episode—offers hope, clarity, and vital faith-based mental health support.
"I Felt Like I Had Baggage": The Isolation of a Christian Mother
Ash was only 30 when her marriage ended, leaving her to parent three young children, one of whom has a disability. In the face of this brokenness, she planned for a decade of singleness.
"With a seven, four, and two-year-old—one disabled—I felt like I had baggage. I thought I would be shelved for ten years."
This feeling of being "shelved" or carrying too much "baggage" is a heavy emotional toll that directly impacts Christian mental health. It speaks to the fear that brokenness disqualifies you from a blessed future. Ash's openness about the reality of single parenting—the screaming child, the financial stress, the overwhelming feeling of a difficult life—provides a necessary dose of reality for a church often quick to judge without understanding the full picture.
Shattering the Guilt: God's Love is Not Transactional
The most intense part of Ash's journey was wrestling with the theological implications of her divorce. She carried the heavy, damaging belief that because her divorce did not meet the traditional biblical exception clauses, she was now an "adulteress." This is an example of how legalistic interpretations can become a direct attack on a person's mental and spiritual health.
Dave Quak emphasized a foundational truth for Sunburnt Souls: God's love is not transactional.1
Ash realized that she needed to shed the Christian divorce guilt by challenging the lie that her brokenness disqualified her from God’s blessing. She clung to the truth that she is first and foremost a forgiven child of God.
"I learned God doesn’t label me that way. It took a year to shed that Christian guilt... God showed me you can be blessed in brokenness."
This is a key takeaway: Your identity in Christ is secure, regardless of the marital status or relationship history on your ID card. God loves the broken, and His grace covers the messiness of life.
Finding Faith in the Unexpected: The "Unequally Yoked" Crisis
Ash’s story took an unexpected turn when she met Zac only three months after her separation.2 While she fell in love, his lack of faith sparked a new crisis of conscience rooted in the biblical warning against being unequally yoked. This internal struggle brought on fresh anxiety and forced her to confront her priorities.
Ash chose not to hide her faith but to be completely transparent: she could not marry someone who merely spectated her relationship with Jesus.
In a beautiful demonstration of faith and commitment, Zac responded seriously, attended a men's group, and found Jesus. The very thing that caused Ash great mental distress—the fear of being unequally yoked—became the catalyst for Zac's conversion. God shattered her ten-year plan, not to punish her, but to reveal a greater, more surprising plan of redemption.
Final Encouragement: Seek Grace and Good Counsel
Ash and Dave are careful to state that her story is not prescriptive—it is descriptive of God's grace working through a messy, broken reality.
If you are a Christian struggling with the mental health impact of divorce, stigma, or shame, remember these key truths:
You Are Not Your Struggle: Your divorce, your anxiety, or your guilt does not define your identity. You are a child of God.
God Blesses the Broken: God is not waiting for you to be "perfect" before He acts in your life.
Seek Wise Counsel: Find someone you trust and godly counsel (like a pastor or Christian counselor) to help navigate the emotional and spiritual complexities of divorce and remarriage.
Life is messy, but God's love is clean, clear, and powerful enough to redeem any situation.
Ready to Begin Your Healing Journey?
If you need further faith-based support for your mental health journey and practical tools to overcome shame and find hope in Jesus:
Click here to learn more about our FREE Christian mental health courses
Subscribe to the Sunburnt Souls Podcast for more conversations that break the stigma of mental illness in the church.
