Compassion, Outreach Needed
for Those with Mental Health Struggles

If you’re reading this, and you’re hurting, you need to know you’re not alone.

That there is a God who loves you more than any pain you feel. Even when you feel that empty, that isolated. That numb. When all you can do is stare blindly at a wall. At a muted television. Or swiping mindlessly through social media.

Another video. Another. You don’t even chuckle at the funny ones.

May is Mental Health Awareness Month. We need to be mindful of those living with depression and other mental illnesses. Our friends – even family – live with battles we might not know anything about. Our children. Our neighbors. Our co-workers.

Those hurting can be loud, or they can be silent – so silent because of the stigmas associated with mental illnesses, and mental health in general.

So silent, that smiles cover most every hurt. Every tear. Every desperate step to just get through a day. You hear all the time how different it is from living with a broken bone, and the attention drawn to that. The compassion for the pain, the questions on how it happened.

The offers of help when needed.

Mental health and mental illness are so shrouded in secrecy that it can oftentimes make conditions worse. The depression, deepened. The anxiety, heightened. We need to be the type of faith community that reaches those hurting.

That asks simple, “How are you doing?” questions when someone becomes reserved. When they miss a gathering with friends, when they’re absent from work for a few days and you know it’s not the flu and they’re not on vacation.

We need to be mindful of the spirit. Ofthe hurting. And not be afraid to approach it.

We don’t have answers – not often. But we can offer our compassion. We can be that community that sits in silence with someone hurting, lending them our arm, our ear, our heart.

We can pray with them and for them.

We can let them know they’re not alone. If you’re reading this, and you’re hurting, you need to know you’re not alone.

There are people here for you. And Jesus – He has never left your side. I need you to believe that with your whole heart.

I’ve seen the darkness. I’ve walked through it. And somewhere, through the vast emptiness that I thought was my life forever – because there seemed no hope or way out – I had to believe God had a plan. Somehow. Even when I couldn’t see tomorrow. Even when I could barely muster a two-word whispered prayer of, “Help me.”

Somewhere, there was a faith so deep, that I knew there would be light at the end of this darkness. And my earnest prayer is that you do, too. That you find your way through the hollowest of times, knowing on the other end is hope. Is… Him.

And the reminder that God never promised we’d be free of difficult paths in our life, but that He would walk alongside us through them. His name, above it all.

Let’s be the community of faith that holds hands. That sits, and doesn’t judge. That listens, and stays silent if needed. That speaks up, if needed. That offers kindness.

Darkness is one of the bravest and more courageous paths to walk through, and when you see someone clawing their way to find hope, stand beside them. Be on the other side as well, when they come through. When they see and feel life again. Because that took work. And that took a lot of faith. And trust, and belief.

If you’re reading this, and you’re hurting, you need to know you’re not alone.

If you need help, text NAMI to the crisis text line 741741.

Frazer Church is hosting a free community-wide mental health summit, Faith Meets Mental Health, on May 14. Information can be found online at www.frazer.church/mentalhealth