Guest blogger Linda Bunk lives with both high functioning autism and bipolar disorder. Linda is a gifted photographer, and now serves with SALT as a frequent missionary to Ukraine. This is the first of three posts showing how God has uniquely equipped Linda to minister effectively in Ukraine - Editor
Growing Up
As an infant, I slept two hours for every 12-hour period. I never cried and only screamed. I was the left-handed red-headed middle child with a responsible older sister and a goof ball younger brother. My parents were not religious, although we went to church on Christmas and Easter. I didn't like church because of the sitting and standing, and it was too slow for me. Even before I started school, I was diagnosed with ADHD and learning problems. The director suggested that I be institutionalized because I would never learn and would be a hardship on my family, but my mom decided against it. God is using my story so that I can minister to families with children like me.
Elementary school was a nightmare for me. I was that weird child everyone picked on: children, and even parents and teachers. After school, I would take my frustrations out on my sister and brother by throwing them on the ground and beating them. The school system decided to hold me back twice. In third grade, I had a child psychologist who broke through to me and helped me.
Linda in elementary school
During middle school, my parents divorced, and I started to cut myself because the emotional hurt was too much. I got a lot of stitches, and I was always in trouble with my mom. My dad was fun, but also, he was angry with me a lot.
Young Adulthood
In high school, I made an impact on a teacher who refused to enroll me in her writing class. My mom fought with the school and at the end of the semester this teacher’s view on learning disabilities had changed. My dad became a Christian, and he was a lot less angry. After graduation and a misguided choice to go away to college, I was hospitalized with depression and returned home. I went to a local university and found a home in the photography department, but I was still out of place. During college, I lived with my sister and her husband. They were involved in church, but I was her crazy antisocial sister, who just yelled at people when they touched my stuff.
Then I met a family with a lot of kids. I started to spend a lot of time with them building Legos. I think they loved that because I played on the floor with them. One boy started asking me about God, church, and stuff. Finally, I decided to go to church to get him to stop with the questions. I just sat beside him and waited for the service to end.
My journey continued, and I graduated college, but I was still cutting myself and lying. Life was good. I had whatever I wanted. Then, I was diagnosed with bipolar, along with Asperger’s. It was a roller coaster ride in and out of hospitals for several years. Then a lie threw me out of my comfortable life, and I started living in my car. My therapist, who was same child psychologist from third grade, encouraged me to apply to a graduate photography program. I did it and got it. Life was good again. I had an apartment in an art community, but I still felt out of place. During graduate school, I was hospitalized three times my final year, but I finished school on time for once. A neuropsychologist asked me how I did this. I didn't know then, but it was God. Also, I stopped cutting, and that was God too.
Coming to Faith in Christ
After graduation, my sister let me move back home. She had a small family, and I loved being with my niece and nephew. God opened my eyes through John 9:1-3, because the blind man in that passage was created to glorify God. And God created me wonderfully too. Finally, I professed faith in Christ and was baptized. My walk still wasn't firm. I still had a lot of problems with sin. I was half-hearted and longed for things and money. Because of the shame of my scars, I had surgeries to remove them, but they failed. I felt like a failure, but God wanted them for His glory.
Becoming a Missionary
In 2010, I went to Ukraine for the first time. I was completely out of my comfort zone, but I realized I was there for orphans, not me. God called me to this work. I kept returning (now 25+ times). I gave many photos as gifts, and God showed me that my photography can glorify Him. God gave me contentment with my life; being obedient to His plans has been the greatest stabilizing force with my bipolar and Asperger’s. I shared my story that God gave me with Ukrainians. It was humbling to see and hear their reactions because mental illness has a humiliating stigma in Ukraine.
Photo credit: Linda Bunk, wholelotofbunk.org.
My compassion for the plight of the disabled in Ukraine has grown because the disabled are not accepted in society; they are warehoused in institutions until death. In 2019, I worked with Wings of Faith (a local Ukrainian ministry), and McLean Bible Church. I served families with autistic children because God made me perfect for this work. Parents were eager to hear the story God wrote for me, because my family walked a similar path to theirs. I showed them that God blessed me with bipolar and Asperger’s.
A child at the Wings of Faith preschool for children with autism in Ukraine, 2015. Photo credit: Linda Bunk.
On October 6, 2020, I became the Abnormal Missionary sent by SALT, glorifying God by equipping churches, pastors, and ministries to serve those afflicted with mental illness and marginalized people. God is still writing my story!
Look for Linda’s second blog post in October. To view her work, visit her photography website, wholelotofbunk.org, read her photography bio, and visit her ministry website, abnormalmissionary.org.
