Shelley Thody's childhood started great. She went to church regularly and knew that she loved Jesus.
As she grew older, she stopped reading the Bible and moved further away from Jesus.
By the time she was in grade 12, she had moved, met new people and made some unhealthy choices.
"When we moved from St. Albert to Calgary, we kind of stopped making it a regular thing to go to church, and it was becoming a bit distant," said Shelley. "It's interesting because my life started to change a little. I started to feel down. It was not like my personality at all."
As she grew further away from God, she became involved in an abusive relationship. Once that relationship ended, she started to feel depressed.
After three years of dealing with some extreme emotions, Shelley Thody was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
"I was put on lithium, a form of a God send for me at the time. It was just something that balanced me out. I felt kind of what normal would feel like again. I was happy."
Shelley went back to the doctor and told him about the improvements in her health, and he told her she could come off her medication, a decision that would ultimately lead her to a suicide attempt.
She survived and realized that God wasn't done with her yet.
"I am so thankful for that. It was just an incredible time in my life," said Shelley. "I look back, and I think that was part of my journey. That is part of who I am. There is always, even in the darkest times, and in the pain and suffering, there is always a reason."
From that time on, miracles started unfolding for Shelley. She got married, had a daughter and began teaching.
Shelley and her family started attending Evangelical Free Church in Lac La Biche, Alberta. It was there that she realized it was the relationship with Jesus she had been missing, and she started learning how to find this relationship. Soon after that, she gave her life to Christ and got baptized.
Shelley has since gone on to write two books, Melancholy, Mania and Miracles: My Journey with Bipolar Disorder and Miracles Unfolding. She hopes that by sharing her story, she'll be able to help others dealing with a mental illness or a mental health crisis.
Today on Connections, Shelley shares her powerful testimony and how she's using her diagnosis to help others.