From homelessness to activism, Connie Spurlock-Walcott says art therapy and her faith were instrumental in her mental health recovery such that she now helps craft solutions to America’s homelessness crisis. She recalls standing on a bridge with the intent of committing suicide, when Jesus appeared to her.
“I just remember vividly; it was just so black and there is that shroud of death around me. I was ready to surrender to it. And I just remember the lifting of my head—very gentle. I looked up. And there was just a sliver of separation in the clouds, and I saw Jesus. I see His face. I saw His robe and His sash. I remember vividly putting my foot back down on the ground and turning around and walking back.”
Her dad left; her stepfather abused her; her low income led to bullying at school—and she stuffed it all down without getting the help she needed to heal, Spurlock-Walcott says on “The Thriving Christian Artist” podcast on the Charisma Podcast Network. Although she grew up in church and got saved when she was 8, she couldn’t find peace.
“I lost my home because I couldn’t maintain employment. I was too sick, and I was walking the streets in the South. I was walking across another bridge, blistering hot summer weather. And I remember falling to my knees sobbing and screaming. …
“Just that release of that anger and that first particle of truth to God about how I felt so betrayed and abandoned by him—that’s where the healing began. So this last 25 years has been the healing process of my relationship with Him. Learning to relate to Him. I’m not a fatherless child. I grew up in dire circumstances, but God was with me every step of the way.”
To learn more about Spurlock-Walcott’s journey living with dissociative identity disorder stemming from chronic childhood trauma, and how Jesus has healed her, listen to the rest of the episode here.
