Today Family Worship

Mental Health

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

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Series Code: TDYFW

Program Code: TDYFW200037S


00:02 I want to spend my life
00:07 Mending broken people
00:12 I want to spend my life
00:19 Removing pain
00:24 Lord, let my words
00:30 Heal a heart that hurts
00:35 I want to spend my life
00:40 Mending broken people
00:46 I want to spend my life
00:51 Mending broken people
01:09 Hello and welcome to 3ABN Family Worship.
01:12 We're so glad you're joining us
01:13 from wherever in the world you may be watching
01:16 and thank you for being a part of our 3ABN family.
01:18 You know, we truly believe that you are our family.
01:20 So thank you so much for joining us this evening
01:23 for what's going to be a very interesting topic
01:25 and you won't want to turn the channel
01:27 because you are going to absolutely
01:29 learn something new tonight we hope and we pray.
01:31 But anyway, before we get too in depth about the topic,
01:34 I want to introduce myself
01:36 because many of you probably don't know who I am.
01:38 My name is Ben Lingle,
01:40 and normally I work behind the scenes
01:42 here at 3ABN.
01:44 Normally I'm doing the audio.
01:45 So, I would be in the control room,
01:47 running audio for a program such as Family Worship.
01:50 So, I've been asked to host a young person's version
01:53 of Family Worship, and it's just been a blessing
01:56 so far discussing with my friends
01:57 about some very relevant topics.
01:59 So, we're really excited about this.
02:01 And once again, we're glad you're joining us.
02:03 So, before we get into the topic,
02:05 I'm gonna introduce the family here tonight.
02:08 And to my right, I have Daria.
02:11 And, Daria, thank you so much for joining us this evening.
02:13 Of course.
02:15 And I think you're gonna have a lot of good insight,
02:16 but why don't you tell the audience
02:17 a little bit about yourself?
02:19 Sure. So, my name is Daria Hibbler.
02:21 I just recently graduated from Southern University
02:25 with Bachelor's in Intercultural Communication.
02:27 So, I love to travel.
02:29 I love to learn languages, health, fitness.
02:32 That's my thing. So, I'm excited to be here.
02:34 You know, I don't want to put you on the spot,
02:36 but you speak three languages.
02:38 Is that what it is? Yes.
02:39 What's the languages you speak?
02:41 I speak French, Spanish and a little bit of English.
02:43 Yes, I am, yeah.
02:45 Me too, yeah, I'm still learning English.
02:46 That's awesome.
02:47 Well, thank you, Daria, for being here.
02:49 And then to Daria's right, we have Farrah.
02:52 And, Farrah, you're multi-talented as well.
02:54 So why don't you tell the audience about yourself?
02:58 My is Farrah Barry.
03:02 And I like a little bit of everything,
03:05 but I like, I do music
03:09 and I like working out as like an outlet, so...
03:13 Yeah, exercise and health and all that.
03:15 Yeah, it's really important.
03:16 And you're a very talented pianist, multi...
03:18 Actually, multi-instrumentalist,
03:20 you're very talented in many different instruments.
03:22 And, of course, many people
03:24 you may have seen Farrah play on 3ABN multiple times,
03:26 maybe on a parent network,
03:28 which is what you're watching on right now,
03:30 or maybe on the Praise Him Network.
03:32 But she's very talented musically.
03:34 So, thank you, Farrah, being here.
03:36 And, Danielle,
03:37 we've got Danielle here on the end.
03:39 And, Danielle, why don't you tell us
03:40 a little bit about yourself?
03:41 My name is Danielle Babb, and I actually grew up here.
03:44 I worked here at 3ABN for a while and,
03:49 but currently I'm actually deaning
03:52 as a taskforce dean
03:53 at Great Lakes Adventist Academy,
03:55 which is the academy that I graduated from.
03:56 So, I'm super excited about that.
03:58 Get to work with a bunch of great, wonderful girls.
04:01 Yeah. That's awesome.
04:02 I'm so glad that, you know,
04:04 you get that opportunity to minister to people your age.
04:08 I think that's something that's incredibly important,
04:10 you know, so anyway.
04:11 All right guys, well,
04:12 we've got a big topic ahead of us.
04:14 Ooh, yes.
04:15 There is a lot of things about this topic
04:17 that for many people, it's little bit unknown.
04:20 It's a little bit, you know,
04:23 a lot of people aren't sure
04:24 how to deal with some of these things,
04:25 but hopefully we can give some good principled advice
04:28 from Scripture to kind of work our way through some of this.
04:31 And what we're talking about tonight is mental health.
04:34 Mental health is something that affects young people,
04:36 old people, middle-aged people, people around the world,
04:39 people of every race, you know, it's one of those things
04:42 that as humans living in a world of sin,
04:46 we deal with these issues a lot.
04:48 And so, what we want to do tonight,
04:50 as I said, is try to find some biblical advice
04:54 to help sort through some of the weight
04:57 of mental health that we have in our daily lives.
04:59 And so, anyway,
05:01 before we get too deep into the subject,
05:03 why don't we go ahead and invite the Holy Spirit here
05:05 to inhabit this place and inhabit the conversation?
05:08 So, Danielle, will you pray for us?
05:09 Absolutely.
05:11 Father in heaven, Lord, I thank You so much that
05:14 we are able to be here to discuss this topic.
05:18 And, Lord, I just ask that
05:19 You would prepare our hearts and our minds for this message,
05:24 help us to apply the different things that
05:26 we learn to our lives
05:27 and how to be there for those around us
05:30 who are facing these things as well.
05:32 Lord, we ask for Your Holy Spirit
05:34 that You would guide
05:36 our conversation and our thoughts.
05:38 May it always uplift You.
05:40 This we pray in Jesus' name.
05:42 Amen. Amen.
05:43 Amen. All right.
05:45 So, let's kind of open this conversation
05:47 with a little bit of background.
05:49 When we're talking about mental health, mental illness,
05:53 maybe mental distress or instability.
05:56 What do we mean by that?
05:58 What are we talking about?
05:59 You guys have any kind of basis.
06:01 Of course, we're not, you know, doctors or anything,
06:04 so this is not a medical program,
06:06 but we have a, I say a basic understanding
06:09 of what those things are because some of us deal
06:10 with those things.
06:11 So, what are you guys saying?
06:13 What do we mean by mental health?
06:14 Yeah.
06:15 Well, I know when I think about mental health,
06:17 I think about like
06:18 maybe how people navigate their emotions
06:20 or how they navigate their thought process
06:23 along the line of that maybe.
06:24 Yeah, yeah, yeah.
06:26 I think definitely that's a big meaning of that.
06:31 I think also when we talk about mental health,
06:32 a lot of things fall under mental health,
06:35 as we just mentioned mental illness,
06:37 mental instability.
06:38 When we talk about mental illness,
06:40 we're talking about maybe disorders like
06:42 depression or anxiety, or maybe trauma,
06:44 you know, orders like disorders like PTSD
06:47 or something along those lines,
06:49 you know, things that affect people
06:51 on a grand scale in the world.
06:53 And so that's what we mean by mental health.
06:56 And so now that we've kind of established
06:58 where we're going with the conversation,
07:00 let's talk about maybe some things in Scripture
07:03 or maybe some people in Scripture
07:06 that may have gone through
07:08 some mental distress or instability
07:10 or things along those lines.
07:13 What's one character,
07:15 maybe central figure in Scripture
07:17 that one of you think may have gone through
07:19 some of these mental distresses in their life?
07:23 David. David, that's a good...
07:24 Yeah, that's a good one.
07:25 In the Psalms, you see a lot of his ups and his downs,
07:27 you know pleading for God
07:30 to deliver him from his enemies.
07:33 You see him praising God.
07:37 And just, there's a lot of that in the Psalms that we find.
07:41 Absolutely.
07:42 You know, when we read the Psalms
07:44 and, you know, we see David going through
07:46 various emotions, you know, some people
07:48 could look at that and say, man,
07:50 he may have had some form of mental illness.
07:52 Like of course we don't know and we don't wanna, you know,
07:55 assume too many things about that.
07:57 But I mean, there could have been
07:58 something going on there with him, you know.
08:00 And so, I think one of the examples
08:03 we see in the Psalms is in Psalm 64,
08:06 and this is something we can see David,
08:08 he's pleading with the Lord in a way,
08:11 but then there's a kind of a resolve
08:13 and a reconciliation at the end of this.
08:15 And let's go to Psalm 64
08:17 and let's see what David has to say to God here.
08:21 Daria, can you read like
08:23 the first three verses of Psalm 64?
08:24 Yeah.
08:26 So, it says, "Hear my voice, O God, in my meditation,
08:30 preserve my life from fear of the enemy.
08:33 Hide me from the secret plots of the wicked,
08:35 from the rebellion of the workers of iniquity
08:38 who sharpen their tongue like a sword,
08:40 and bend their bows to shoot their arrows bitter words."
08:44 Mm-hmm.
08:46 So, as we can see here,
08:48 clearly there's something big going on, right?
08:51 Secret counsel of the wicked.
08:54 Insurrection, my version says workers of iniquity
08:58 who with their tongues like a sword,
09:00 and bend their bows to shoot their arrows
09:02 even bitter words.
09:03 So not only is there in David's mind,
09:06 maybe something physical,
09:08 but there's something verbal going on, right?
09:10 The words they're like arrows, bitter words, right?
09:14 So, David's clearly going through
09:15 something here, some form of stress,
09:17 maybe emotional stress,
09:19 maybe he's going through an experience
09:21 where he's trying to figure out,
09:24 you know, if he's loved,
09:26 if he's needed, maybe he's a little paranoid,
09:29 maybe there's various things going on here.
09:32 And then, Danielle, can you read 4-6?
09:35 Sure.
09:36 "That they may shoot in secret at the blameless,
09:39 suddenly they shoot at him and do not fear.
09:43 They encourage themselves in an evil matter,
09:46 they talk of laying snares secretly,
09:48 they say, 'Who will see them?'
09:50 They devise iniquities:
09:52 'We have perfected a shrewd scheme.'
09:55 Both the inward thought
09:56 and the heart of man are deep.'"
09:58 Hmm. Wow.
10:00 That's, I mean,
10:01 that's a heavy verse right there.
10:03 The thought of every one of them mine says,
10:06 and the heart is deep.
10:09 So clearly you can see
10:10 there's something going on here,
10:12 encourage themselves in evil matters.
10:14 I mean, think about that.
10:16 Like if you had,
10:17 let's say you had friends, right?
10:18 Let's say you had a friend, multiple friends,
10:20 maybe family members
10:22 who were devising something against you.
10:25 Okay.
10:26 And they encourage themselves in things
10:29 that would be against you, right?
10:31 They not only spoke words of discouragement,
10:34 but they also were maybe planning
10:36 something physically bad to happen to you.
10:38 I mean, that would be a lot of stress to be under.
10:40 There would be a lot of situations
10:42 where, I mean, I would be like David,
10:44 I'd be pleading to God like, Lord,
10:45 I don't know what to do about this.
10:47 I mean, he's scared,
10:48 he even says in the first verse that he says,
10:50 "Preserve my life from fear of the enemy."
10:53 He's scared. I think that's stressful.
10:55 Yeah.
10:57 He's asking for God to remove that fear
10:59 because he may realize
11:01 this is something he has to go through.
11:03 This may be a test.
11:04 This may be a trial in his life
11:05 that he's trying to work through.
11:08 And then as we can see in 7-10, look at this,
11:11 this is kind of a,
11:12 in many ways a reconciliation for him
11:15 or kind of a declaration to the Lord.
11:17 It says, "But God shall shoot at them
11:19 with an arrow."
11:20 Okay.
11:22 Suddenly, shall they be wounded,
11:23 so they shall make their own tongue
11:24 to fall upon themselves.
11:26 All that see them shall flee away.
11:28 And all men shall fear
11:30 and shall declare the work of God,
11:32 for they shall wisely consider of His doing.
11:34 The righteous shall be glad in the Lord
11:36 and shall trust in Him,
11:38 and all the upright in heart shall glory."
11:41 So, David just went from this idea that
11:45 these people are out to get him to,
11:47 oh, man, but I got a strong God on my side.
11:49 Right?
11:51 He's saying, "Look, Lord,
11:52 I get it they have their own arrow
11:54 sort of speak of discouragement with their bitter words,
11:56 but I know you have your own arrows, right?
12:00 And then it says here, as we saw on 8,
12:02 "Their own tongue shall fall upon themselves."
12:05 You know, so the wicked in many ways,
12:08 once we know that God is on our side, right?
12:11 Whatever trial we're going through,
12:12 situations of stress
12:14 or things that are obviously weighing us down
12:17 or things that we can't stop thinking about,
12:19 we know that God is for us.
12:22 We know that God is going to give us ways
12:25 or provide ways for us to deal with those situations.
12:29 So, I think David's a great example of that.
12:32 Do you guys have any other examples
12:34 from the Psalms or may be Proverbs
12:36 that you want to share
12:37 about maybe a situation David had to sort through?
12:39 Well, you know,
12:40 maybe not necessarily a specific Psalm,
12:44 but the Bible does talk about like when Saul
12:48 or when David was running from Saul.
12:52 He had a lot of, I'm sure fear there.
12:56 And a lot of other things
12:58 I know that pastor's kind of brought up
13:00 the fact of Lord save me from my enemies.
13:03 And so, he went and felt a lot of that.
13:06 Yeah, yeah.
13:07 And I know there was even not only David,
13:09 but even going to Saul even, there were situations,
13:13 you know, where Saul was going through
13:15 tremendous amounts of stress.
13:16 And obviously, maybe he had something going on in his life.
13:19 And I remember it talks about
13:21 David playing his heart for Saul
13:23 to kind of sooth Saul's emotions
13:26 and stresses at the time, you know.
13:28 And I think, you know, God has given us a vast array
13:31 of many things to listen to nature.
13:33 I mean, if you go to the ocean,
13:36 even if you go to the mountains, right?
13:39 You can hear the birds, you know, you can see things,
13:42 you can hear things.
13:43 And God has given us so many things
13:44 to like help us deal with things.
13:46 And I know for many people,
13:47 sometimes certain sounds help them de-stress.
13:51 I know some people, you know, like the rain,
13:53 they like listening to rain, or like I just said the ocean
13:55 or things along that lines.
13:57 I know, Farrah, you were sharing
13:58 before we began this family worship that, you know,
14:01 there are certain sounds that help you relax and all that.
14:04 You want to share a little bit about that?
14:06 Yeah.
14:07 So, I mean, you kinda went over like a lot of things that,
14:11 you know, that helped me relax.
14:12 Like sometimes, well actually
14:16 for a while now a few years,
14:20 a lot of years I've struggled
14:24 with sleeping at night.
14:26 So there just be nights that I would just be lying in bed
14:29 for like sometimes until midnight
14:32 or 1:00 in the morning
14:33 or 2:00 in the morning, it depends.
14:34 And I would just, it would either be,
14:37 my mind would not stop going or there was just nothing
14:40 and I just couldn't fall asleep.
14:41 And so, I eventually found on YouTube
14:45 just stumbled across some videos
14:47 with some sounds that would relax me
14:50 or sometimes some rain
14:52 or just any sort of stuff like that.
14:55 Different sounds that helped you
14:57 kind of just de-stress a little bit
14:59 and just take your mind off of the things
15:02 that were racing in your mind.
15:03 Yeah.
15:05 So, it started out like helping me with sleep,
15:08 but I realized eventually, like there would be days
15:11 where I was just really stressed out
15:13 and so I'd be like, ah, do I want to sleep like,
15:16 what I want to do to take my mind off?
15:17 And then I was like,
15:18 hey, you know, maybe I'll go to those videos.
15:20 And so, I put on the video and it was, it just relaxed me,
15:23 like it was like my muscles would...
15:27 See tense. Yeah.
15:28 They're like that. Yeah, relax.
15:29 No, I mean, it's really amazing.
15:31 And, you know, there's even outside of like
15:34 just like reading,
15:36 obviously what the Bible tells us
15:37 about music and other things, noises,
15:39 different things like
15:40 there's tremendous amounts of studies
15:42 that prove what the Bible says about that stuff, you know.
15:45 And so, I think that's really something
15:46 that's amazing when it comes to
15:49 even just something as simple
15:50 as a sound can help people kind of unload
15:53 and de-stress, you know,
15:55 I think that's just really amazing.
15:57 So obviously we just went over David,
15:59 we went a little bit over Saul
16:01 and what they kind of went through.
16:03 There's another character in Scripture
16:05 and obviously we're going to be getting to more.
16:07 But I think one of the biggest examples
16:10 of someone who probably had some type
16:14 of mental health problems,
16:17 stresses distresses and instabilities would be Job.
16:21 Yeah.
16:23 Job was like one of the main people that
16:25 I think of when it comes to like people who,
16:28 someone who has gone through a lot of things and like,
16:32 wow, like how did he deal with all that kind of stuff?
16:34 Yeah. Like how did he...
16:36 And you got to think about this, right?
16:37 I know, Danielle, you said you were recently
16:39 reading through Job.
16:40 That's right.
16:42 And it's really something I recommend that
16:43 if you want to know about
16:45 somebody who went through something
16:46 and wasn't okay, look at Job.
16:49 I mean, he is your man,
16:50 but the interesting thing about Job is that,
16:54 you know, Job,
16:55 he lost a lot of his family, right?
16:58 He got very sick.
17:00 He went through a lot of things,
17:02 stressful things, lost a lot of his livestock.
17:06 There was just a lot of things
17:08 and there was this battle, right?
17:10 That great controversy that we talk about, right?
17:12 Between good and evil, you know.
17:14 And yet Job doesn't see that,
17:16 he doesn't see the behind the scenes.
17:17 He only sees what he's facing. And so, I think...
17:21 Which is how a lot of us deal with like our life issues.
17:23 We only see like what's in front of us
17:25 and what we're going through.
17:26 And we don't like, see,
17:28 God's bigger picture up a lot of times.
17:29 Yeah. Yeah.
17:31 Sometimes we can get so entrapped
17:33 in our own perspective that we don't realize that
17:37 whatever we're going through at the time,
17:39 God may be using that to help us grow
17:42 or to help us mold or to help us
17:43 shift to a different direction
17:45 that He wants us to go, you know.
17:47 And so, I think Job,
17:49 one example of kind of something that Job
17:53 went through was not only
17:54 did he lose a lot of his family,
17:57 but also his wife, his friends,
18:00 they were very kind of nasty to Job.
18:03 Kind of unsupportive.
18:04 Yeah. Kind of like, come on, man.
18:07 You know, it's, you're done, like you should just die.
18:10 Pretty much is what they were saying to him.
18:12 Like literally
18:13 that's pretty much what it says.
18:14 Like one example is in Job 2:9.
18:19 Farrah, do you have a Bible?
18:21 You can look up Job 2:9.
18:25 And basically what we see in this scripture is someone,
18:30 obviously you would take a lot of you,
18:35 you would pour yourself into, you know,
18:38 when you have a spouse,
18:40 a lot of times they become your confident, right?
18:42 Like you work together, you're a team together
18:45 and it's something that's, you know,
18:47 a kind of a teamwork that
18:48 you've got to encourage one another
18:50 and try to be on the same page and all that.
18:52 But we see in this example that Job's wife, as Daria just said,
18:58 wasn't very supportive.
19:00 And so, let's look at that.
19:02 Oh, actually, Farrah,
19:04 if you want to go to Job 8, I'll get Job 2:9.
19:07 So here's what Job 2:9 says.
19:09 It says, "Then said his wife unto him,
19:11 him being Job,
19:13 'Does thou still retain thy integrity.
19:16 Curse God and die!'"
19:19 Oh, curse God and die.
19:21 Like thank you for the vote of confidence,
19:23 I don't know like.
19:27 I would have been like stressed out,
19:29 like, because, you know, as we said,
19:31 Job was going through so much.
19:32 The last thing, if I was going through
19:34 what Job went through, right?
19:35 If I was experiencing the amount of stress
19:38 that Job was dealing with,
19:39 the last thing I would want to hear
19:41 from my spouse is curse God and die.
19:43 Yeah. Like that is the last person.
19:46 Like, He's like the main person that has your back, so.
19:49 Yeah. It'd be like...
19:50 What are you gonna do after that?
19:52 What? And look at verse 11 here.
19:55 Is this Chapter 9? This is Chapter 2.
19:58 We're in Job Chapter 2 still.
19:59 I just want to highlight this in Chapter 2 in verse 11,
20:02 it says, "Now when Job's three friends
20:04 heard of all this evil
20:06 that was come upon him, they came everyone
20:08 from his own place.
20:10 Eliphaz the Temanite,
20:12 and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite.
20:16 Man, those Bible names are crazy,
20:19 but they had made an appointment together
20:21 to come to mourn with him and to comfort him.
20:24 So here it says they had come to comfort him.
20:26 Okay. But notice, Bildad here, right?
20:28 Now go to Chapter 8.
20:31 Notice what happens here in Chapter 8.
20:34 And, Farrah, why don't you
20:36 just read the first three verses?
20:40 Okay.
20:41 "Then answered to Bildad, the Shuhite and said,
20:45 'How long wilt thou speak these things?
20:47 And how long shall the words
20:48 of thy mouth be like a strong wind?
20:51 Does God pervert judgment
20:52 or does the almighty pervert justice?'"
20:56 So, and then it continues in verse 4.
20:58 It says, if thy children have sinned against him
21:00 and he have cast them away for their transgression,
21:03 if that would have seek onto God betimes
21:05 and make this application to the Almighty,
21:08 if that work pure and upright,
21:10 surely now He would awake for thee,
21:12 and make the habitation
21:13 of thy righteousness prosperous."
21:16 So, notice that Bildad.
21:18 As we see blaming him. Yeah.
21:20 So, notice in Chapter 2,
21:22 it said that they had come to encourage Job, right?
21:24 To comfort Job, right?
21:26 But here Bildad, his tune changes.
21:28 And he goes, hey man, he's like, you probably sinned
21:31 against God, like this is your fault.
21:33 You know, your kids died because of you.
21:36 You lost your livestock, you got sick.
21:37 It's all because of your sins.
21:39 Now, if you would just make it right with God,
21:41 everything would be totally fine.
21:45 That's, I mean, that's blunt to put it simply.
21:50 Is that really as Christians who have friends
21:55 or maybe ourselves that are dealing
21:57 with those situations in life,
21:58 the stressful, mentally distressing situation,
22:01 is that really how we should address our friends?
22:05 Absolutely not.
22:07 I think it's important to be, you know, I think,
22:11 I don't remember in which verse,
22:12 but it says like, you know,
22:13 you carry the burdens of your friends,
22:15 you carry the burdens of the people
22:16 who are close to you.
22:18 So, it's important to be that
22:20 like backbone sometimes when they like,
22:22 don't have the strength to stand.
22:24 So, it's just crazy 'cause I'm like, man,
22:26 this guy is like, basically like,
22:27 oh, it's your fault.
22:28 You're not, you know,
22:30 you got to get right with God and then He'll fix it.
22:32 But God doesn't work like that, you know, so Yeah.
22:35 He was like, hey man, I'm here to encourage you,
22:37 but by the way, this is all your fault.
22:39 I was like, wait, what? So, go ahead.
22:42 Actually, something that I as reading through here,
22:47 I've kind of come to see is like,
22:49 in some ways it was the other way around,
22:51 like Job threw all of his distresses
22:55 and the things that he faced, he was praising God.
22:59 He was exalting God, praise after praise.
23:03 He always gave God the glory.
23:05 And like, even though his friends
23:08 were like putting him down and saying, it's your fault.
23:13 But Job was the encourager in here.
23:15 Yeah.
23:16 There was that prayerful attitude
23:19 that Job got, right?
23:20 He held onto that hope, you know, unfortunately,
23:23 a lot of people don't have hope in this world
23:26 because of all of it, you know, all that's going on,
23:28 whether it's mental illness, mental health, whatever,
23:30 there's that hope like I'm never gonna overcome this,
23:33 or I'm never gonna get done with this.
23:35 And though, even though there are situations
23:37 where it may be harder than others,
23:39 like we said, we can look at examples
23:41 like Job, examples like David,
23:43 that despite all the trials they went through,
23:46 at the end of the day they did their best
23:49 to still worship the Lord in that, you know.
23:51 And actually, Danielle,
23:52 if you want to go to Chapter 42, Job 42.
23:56 It's the last chapter of the book.
23:58 We see a good example of this.
24:02 And we'll read the first six verses,
24:05 Job Chapter 42.
24:08 Do you wanna go ahead and read that?
24:09 Okay.
24:10 "Then Job answered the Lord and said,
24:12 'I know that You can do everything,
24:15 and that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You.
24:18 You asked, 'Who is this who hides counsel
24:21 without knowledge?'
24:23 Therefore I have uttered that I did not understand,
24:25 things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.
24:30 Listen, please, and let me speak,
24:32 You said, 'I will question you and you shall answer Me.'"
24:37 So, we look at that, right?
24:40 So, Job's pleading
24:41 to the Lord in that moment, right?
24:43 And notice the response
24:46 of God in Chapter or verse 10 rather.
24:50 I mean, it says, "And the Lord turned the captivity of Job
24:52 when he prayed for his friends.
24:54 Also, the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.
24:58 Then came there unto him
24:59 all his brother and all the sisters
25:01 and all they had been of his acquaintance before
25:04 and did eat bread with him in his house.
25:06 And they be moaned him
25:08 and comforted him over all the evil
25:09 that the Lord had brought upon them.
25:10 Every man also gave him a piece of money
25:13 in every one in earring of gold.
25:15 So, the Lord blessed the latter end of Job
25:17 more than his beginning,
25:19 for he had 14,000 sheep and 6,000 camels
25:22 and a thousand yoke of oxen and thousands of she asses.
25:26 He had also seven sons and three daughters.
25:30 And he called the name of his first Jemimah
25:33 and the name of the second Keziah
25:37 and the name of the third Keren-Happuch."
25:41 Whatever that even says.
25:43 So, as we can see that
25:47 despite Job's sufferings, right?
25:50 There was this reconciliation with the Lord, right?
25:53 Job was honest with God.
25:56 And he said, look, God,
25:57 I can't deal with this on my own.
26:00 And what we see is that
26:02 when Job came to the Lord in that moment,
26:05 we see that God blessed him for doing that.
26:09 Now we're not saying that, you know,
26:12 it's gonna be rainbows and sunshine.
26:15 You know, if you just pray and everything's gonna be fine,
26:18 because sometimes, like we said,
26:19 we only see it from our perspective.
26:22 We see what's in front of us at the time,
26:24 and we don't always see the full picture,
26:27 but what we can know is that God is our refuge
26:30 if we trust in Him and allow Him to do
26:32 whatever is within His will.
26:34 And we pray that our hearts align with His will
26:36 that truly something amazing
26:39 could happen and God could deliver us
26:41 from whatever that may be through.
26:43 I know a lot of people deal with,
26:45 for instance even myself, I've dealt with situations
26:49 in my life that were obviously stressful.
26:51 I've dealt with maybe what I'll describe
26:53 as intermittent depression, you know,
26:56 there was something that was pressing on my heart.
26:58 And especially as young people today,
27:00 you know, we have a lot of stresses in our lives,
27:02 whether it's school, whether it's friends and peers,
27:06 whether it's responsibility,
27:08 dealing with the things of life that,
27:09 you know, get us down.
27:11 And I know for me that as I worked through that,
27:15 one thing that was so important to me
27:17 was being able to, you know,
27:21 trust in God in that moment and just say,
27:24 Lord, I know that I'm seeing it from my perspective,
27:28 but I'm weak.
27:30 And I don't really, I can't do it on my own,
27:33 so I need You to help me.
27:34 And when I prayed that prayer,
27:36 at least for me that helped me a lot.
27:38 I don't know, is there something that,
27:40 was there a situation in you guys' life
27:41 that maybe you went through
27:43 something with your mental health?
27:44 Well, I was just going to say that
27:45 oftentimes it's not even as easy
27:47 to just like, trust God.
27:49 I have to ask God to help me trust Him sometimes.
27:53 You know what I mean?
27:55 Like it's a constant,
27:56 it's a daily thing waking up in the morning.
27:58 I'm like, okay, God, I don't know
27:59 what You have me in this situation for,
28:02 or why You have me in this situation,
28:04 but I'm going to trust You today.
28:06 And that's like about like,
28:08 give me the strength to trust You today.
28:09 And tomorrow I'll ask You again,
28:11 kind of thing, you know, like consistently doing that
28:14 and like pleading with God until He shows you
28:16 and reveals it to you, so.
28:18 Yeah.
28:19 And claiming promises like
28:21 God has given us countless amount of promises.
28:25 For example, in Psalm 62:8, it says,
28:30 "Trust in Him at all times you people,
28:33 pour out your heart before Him,
28:35 God is a refuge for us."
28:38 He's that constant refuge.
28:41 And I think too, and we're going to get
28:42 to this a little later, but you know,
28:43 God has given us the element of community, right?
28:47 Because we have the spiritual refuge in God, right?
28:50 But God knows that as humans, we are social creatures
28:53 and we need that level of support
28:55 from friends, from family,
28:57 not like Job's friends and family.
28:58 Like they were just like, it's all your fault.
29:00 You did this wrong. You did that wrong.
29:01 This is your fault.
29:03 But in the end, they did come and they did comfort him.
29:04 They came around.
29:06 You know, God gave him that community that he needed when,
29:09 you know, he was going through, so.
29:11 And, you know, something interesting is that,
29:13 it's said, Job prayed for his friends.
29:15 Yeah.
29:16 So, imagine going through something,
29:18 depression or anxiety or something going on,
29:21 and you have people surrounding you
29:23 that are kind of just like,
29:24 well, if you would just, you know,
29:26 change your mind to think on positive things,
29:28 you would just not have any problems in the world,
29:31 you know, imagine, you know, having, seriously,
29:33 I mean, that's something that
29:35 I've been told personally before.
29:37 And so, you know, what's interesting is that
29:41 even in that moment,
29:42 when Job's friends were so hard on him,
29:46 he was still praying for them.
29:47 Wow! Talk about a level. Yeah.
29:50 Talk about a true friend, right?
29:52 Like this guy, like he was going through like
29:55 every problem you could think of in his life.
29:57 And he was still praying for the people
29:58 that were basically insulting him.
30:00 Yeah.
30:01 Like, Lord, show them what You have showed me.
30:04 Wow! Yeah.
30:06 And, you know, I'm sure Job felt, you know,
30:08 even though he was praying for his friends
30:10 and even though he was surrounded
30:11 by his friends,
30:13 I'm sure Job felt lonely at times.
30:15 Oh, absolutely.
30:17 Like even, even in the silence, right?
30:19 Sometimes God gives us silence, you know?
30:22 Not because He's not there,
30:25 but just because sometimes we need that silence
30:29 to kind of think through what's going on.
30:31 And I know, you know,
30:32 as young people in this world today,
30:34 you know, social media, everything.
30:36 What's interesting about
30:38 our generation especially is that
30:41 we are such a socially connected generation digitally
30:44 when you're speaking of,
30:46 but I have never seen in my opinion,
30:50 people who are so socially connected online,
30:53 but they're so lonely on the inside.
30:56 So disconnected with themselves.
30:58 Disconnected, yeah.
30:59 From their emotions, from, you know, from their,
31:02 from the reality of life, you know,
31:03 and I know for you were sharing with us like before,
31:06 like there's been situations in your life
31:08 where you felt lonely and just kind of felt like
31:11 you were the only person on earth
31:13 and no one was there for you.
31:15 You want to kind of share through that
31:17 and we can work through that?
31:18 That specific story? Yeah.
31:23 So, I go through times of my life
31:25 where just ups and downs and it's unpredictable,
31:29 but there was one specific time,
31:34 I guess I felt especially attached.
31:39 I'll just say it to my mom.
31:41 Like it was a specific, I guess there was a time
31:45 that we weren't getting along
31:48 and usually it doesn't bother me,
31:52 but this specific time it did.
31:55 There was really nothing that was different,
31:57 but when it, when I felt it really hit me.
32:01 I felt like the whole world
32:04 was like crumbling or something.
32:06 And because this happened at nighttime,
32:09 I started feeling this way
32:11 and I was in my room on the dark
32:12 and I just remember being in my bed.
32:13 And I just remember just sobbing,
32:16 feeling like I was the only person on earth,
32:19 like I was all alone.
32:21 And it was just, I don't even know
32:24 how to explain it.
32:25 Yeah. No, it's a scary feeling.
32:27 And I know I have many friends
32:29 who, you know, who needless to say,
32:33 aren't in church or aren't Christians
32:35 or whatever.
32:36 And so, when they get lonely and sad, it's really, for me,
32:40 it's hard to see it because, for me,
32:43 I want them to have what I have.
32:45 Now, just because I'm a Christian
32:48 doesn't mean I'm perfect.
32:49 Doesn't mean I got my life figured out.
32:51 It doesn't mean that nothing wrong happens ever,
32:53 but at least for me,
32:55 I have this level of understanding that
32:58 this may be a time in my life that God is dealing with me
33:02 as I like to put it.
33:03 And, you know, I think someone who is also lonely and I,
33:07 you know, and I don't think as Christians,
33:09 we highlight this that much, but Jesus.
33:12 Oh, absolutely. Yeah.
33:14 If you look at Jesus in His life on earth,
33:18 there is a level of...
33:21 Obviously He was with His disciples.
33:24 He had developed a level of community there
33:25 because He had people
33:27 who were kind of his support group.
33:28 They followed Him around, they helped Him do His,
33:32 do the things He wanted to do
33:33 and help fulfill the mission that
33:34 He set out to fulfill.
33:36 But there were many times in Scripture
33:38 where I think Christ could have felt lonely.
33:41 You know, there were many times in Scripture
33:42 where Christ was under
33:43 great stress and distress, you know.
33:45 And so, one of the examples that I think
33:47 we look at the loneliness of Christ starts in Gethsemane
33:53 when Jesus was praying in Gethsemane.
33:56 Remember He wanted His friends there, right?
33:58 They just finished dinner and He's like, guys,
34:00 you know, can you be with Me? Can you come and be with Me?
34:02 Community. That community.
34:03 Yeah. That level of community.
34:05 And so, we find that in Matthew 26:36-42.
34:10 Daria, do you want to get Matthew 26?
34:13 And you can start on verse 36. Sure.
34:16 So, it says, "Then Jesus came
34:18 with them to a place called Gethsemane,
34:20 and said to the disciples,
34:22 'Sit here while I go and pray over there.'
34:24 And He took with Him Peter
34:26 and the two sons of Zebedee,
34:28 and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed.
34:32 Then He said to them,
34:33 'My soul is exceedingly sorrowful,
34:36 even to death.
34:37 Stay here and watch with Me.'
34:40 He went a little farther and fell on His face,
34:43 and prayed, saying,
34:44 'O My Father, if it is possible,
34:46 let this cup pass from Me, nevertheless,
34:50 not as I will, but as You will.'
34:53 Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping,
34:57 and said to Peter, 'What!
34:59 Could you not watch with Me one hour?
35:01 Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation.
35:04 The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.'
35:08 And again, a second time,
35:10 He went away and prayed, saying,
35:11 'O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away
35:14 from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done.'"
35:18 Wow.
35:19 So, we can see there, man,
35:21 if you look at that, look, I mean,
35:23 you look at the verse
35:24 where it says where He comes unto Peter,
35:26 and He goes, you can't watch with Me for one hour?
35:30 It's like, you know
35:33 what I'm getting ready to go through.
35:34 You know, I've shared this with you,
35:36 you know, how stressed out I am about this.
35:39 And in that moment, you know, He probably felt really alone.
35:45 You know, all His friends were sleeping
35:47 and His sorrow and his distress,
35:48 your version said distress, and His sorrow and distress,
35:52 there was that level of loneliness.
35:55 Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.
35:56 And it goes even on to say,
35:58 He went again to pray and He comes back again.
36:01 They were still asleep.
36:04 Sometimes I think, you know,
36:06 when we're going through something in our life,
36:08 whatever it may be like we said,
36:10 whether it's, you know,
36:11 a disorder like depression or anxiety,
36:14 or we're just going through
36:15 an intermittent version of those things.
36:18 Sometimes we can feel like people around us are asleep.
36:21 Right?
36:23 We're sharing our thoughts,
36:24 we're sharing our heart to them.
36:26 But sometimes it feels like sometimes they don't get it,
36:28 you know?
36:30 And some of that may just be
36:31 because they're not going through it themselves
36:33 and they just don't know how to comprehend
36:35 what you're going through or to them
36:36 it just may sound like once again, well, you know,
36:40 maybe you should
36:41 just change your thoughts, you know.
36:43 But what we got to realize
36:45 is that even Jesus,
36:49 He wanted that level and that network around Him
36:54 because He knew that in His moment
36:57 He would need that emotional support,
37:01 social support even from His friends.
37:04 And I think that's something that's really important.
37:07 And another example of this
37:09 we see is when Jesus was on the cross
37:13 and He was dying on the cross and Christ cries out to God
37:18 and He says, "God, why have You forsaken Me?"
37:23 So even not only from His humanly perspective,
37:27 His horizontal perspective, as we would say,
37:30 but even from a vertical perspective,
37:31 Christ had thought God had forsaken Him.
37:35 And so, even though Christ was perfect,
37:37 He didn't sin, right?
37:40 He still went through
37:42 the emotions of that loneliness.
37:45 He's been through what we've been through.
37:46 He's been through what we've been through.
37:48 He's been through heartache.
37:50 He's been through anger. He's been through stress.
37:53 He's been through that loneliness.
37:55 So that's what's so beautiful
37:57 I think about Christ as our greatest example
38:00 is that even though we're going through
38:01 a lot of things in our life, what we can remember is that
38:04 Christ went through those things as well,
38:07 and that we can take hope from His example.
38:11 So, I think that's something that's really important.
38:14 And, so, now that we've kind of discussed
38:17 a little bit about people in Scripture
38:20 who may have went through some form of,
38:22 you know, the mental health
38:24 and all of those things that get us down in life.
38:27 Let's talk about some good biblical principles,
38:30 and we've already mentioned some of them.
38:32 Let's get a little bit more in depth.
38:34 Let's talk about some good biblical principles
38:36 that we can apply to our lives,
38:38 whether we actually go through
38:40 some form of mental health or mental illness or maybe,
38:43 you know, we're trying to help someone
38:45 who's going through one of those situations.
38:47 So, one of the biggest things,
38:49 and I've mentioned it a few times,
38:50 we've mentioned it is community.
38:54 Some people may call it fellowship.
38:56 Some people may call
38:57 it a network of friends or family.
39:00 I like the term community.
39:02 I think it's kind of a modern term.
39:03 You know, I kind of like that.
39:05 Yeah, kind of like relevant, you know,
39:06 but I know when I was at academy,
39:08 I'll share this story briefly.
39:11 There was a time when many of my friends,
39:13 of course, this isn't about me.
39:15 This is all to the glory of God,
39:16 but there was time when many of my friends
39:17 were going through something.
39:19 And, you know, of course, academy and college,
39:23 for that matter, if you stay on campus
39:25 is a totally different shift, right?
39:26 You may have lived
39:28 with your parents all your life,
39:29 and now you're here
39:31 and you feel all alone because mom and dad
39:32 aren't here to, you know, cook food for you or, you know,
39:34 whatever it may be washer, laundry
39:36 or something along those lines,
39:37 or you're dealing with people your age
39:40 and maybe you were homeschooled and you're not sure
39:43 how to socialize with people or whatever.
39:45 And I remember there were various examples
39:49 in my academy experience
39:51 where someone would be going through something.
39:54 And the first thing that
39:55 I would do is I would try to be there for them.
39:57 And I would say, "Come to my room,
39:59 we'll talk about it."
40:00 You know, and I would sit down and they would sit down
40:02 and they would share kind of what they're going through.
40:04 And I would listen,
40:05 I would just be silent and listen.
40:08 And at the end of, you know,
40:09 when they were done and they kind of worked through
40:11 and share what was on their heart,
40:14 I remember getting around to them
40:16 and I said, let's have a prayer.
40:17 And we'd all get in the circle,
40:19 put our arms around each other and we'd have a prayer.
40:21 And, you know, for me,
40:22 that was not only good for them,
40:25 as far as having someone there a network of people
40:27 to listen to them.
40:29 But there was also really good for me.
40:31 I really felt like God was giving me
40:32 the opportunity to work
40:34 in a purpose of sharing with people
40:37 and helping with people and just showing His love.
40:39 Now, as I said, community,
40:43 it started straight from the beginning.
40:46 We can find where it started.
40:47 Let's go to Genesis Chapter 2.
40:51 And you want to go to, Farrah,
40:54 you want to go to Genesis Chapter
40:56 2:15-18.
41:01 Sure.
41:03 All right.
41:04 "And the Lord God took the man
41:06 and put him in the Garden of Eden
41:07 to dress it and to keep it.
41:09 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying,
41:10 'Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat,
41:13 but of the tree of the knowledge
41:14 of good and evil
41:16 thou shall not eat of it from the day that
41:17 thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.'
41:22 And the Lord God said,
41:23 'It is not good that the man should be alone.
41:25 I'll make him an helpmeet for him.'"
41:30 Mm-hmm.
41:31 So, right there,
41:33 we see that God said
41:35 it's not good for man to be alone.
41:37 So, from the very beginning.
41:39 Very beginning.
41:40 He sets up a community.
41:42 He sets up a community.
41:43 Not only, and not only
41:45 'cause we already know that, you know,
41:47 God, the Godhead was there for Adam,
41:50 but He gave him another.
41:54 Once again, God knew that
41:55 there not only was that spiritual connection, right?
42:00 The spiritual community,
42:01 when we're talking about Jesus and God and the Holy Spirit,
42:04 but God knew there would be a need
42:05 for human connection, right?
42:08 God, and look at this, look at this, right?
42:10 God had created the earth
42:13 and there were all these beautiful animals,
42:15 these beautiful plants, food, everything, right?
42:19 And even after all that God said,
42:22 "It's not good for man to be alone."
42:25 So, God knew there had to be
42:27 a level of community and connection there.
42:29 Right? I think that's really awesome.
42:31 And I think it's super cool sometimes too
42:33 'cause I know sometimes
42:34 when I'm having like a really bad day,
42:36 God will put people in my life.
42:38 Like He will speak to me through other people
42:40 and it happens all the time.
42:42 Whether I get just a random text message, like,
42:45 "Hey, you know, you're awesome.
42:46 You know, you're intelligent.
42:47 You know, you're a good friend."
42:49 Like, I think it's so cool that God uses other people,
42:51 you know, through every aspect of our lives
42:54 to give us encouragement, so.
42:55 Yeah.
42:57 And working, like I said earlier,
42:58 working in that purpose, right?
42:59 God may be calling on you.
43:01 You know, God may be calling on you
43:02 to speak into someone's life right now.
43:04 You know, the Bible talks about there is,
43:06 there's power in the tongue, so to speak, right?
43:08 You know, power of life and death.
43:10 I think it's in Proverbs Chapter 12
43:12 or something along those lines that
43:14 God wants us to be an encouragement to people
43:18 in some form in some shape
43:19 and to be that community that they need.
43:21 Yeah.
43:22 And you're, you know,
43:24 you have to realize that your words
43:25 and your thoughts have power, you know,
43:27 if God can speak the whole world
43:30 into existence with His voice,
43:31 you don't think that we have that same ability
43:33 to have that power to speak life
43:35 into some, another individual.
43:37 And then it goes into like speaking life into yourself.
43:40 I know another one of the biblical references
43:46 that we have, or the biblical, what you call...
43:47 The verses. The verses, yeah.
43:49 Like is knowing your identity in Christ
43:51 and your intrinsic value.
43:53 So, speaking life into other people,
43:55 but then also speaking life into yourself,
43:57 making sure that you have like a positive outlook into your,
44:02 into who you are
44:03 and who you are in Christ, especially.
44:05 Yes, absolutely. I love that.
44:07 So, let's, hit on, I definitely want to get more
44:11 into that knowing your identity,
44:12 because to me that
44:13 is one of the most foundational things
44:16 as a Christian especially,
44:18 if we're suffering through mental health
44:19 or mental illness or something along those lines,
44:22 knowing where our identity and our intrinsic value lies.
44:25 But let's look at a few more verses
44:27 as far as community goes.
44:29 I'm going to look up Hebrews 10:24-25,
44:36 and this is a really good one.
44:38 I think many of you may know it.
44:41 Obviously there's a lot of scriptures
44:43 that are very memorable,
44:46 but Hebrews 10 and it's chapter
44:49 or verse rather 24 and 25.
44:51 Here's what it says.
44:53 It says, "And let us consider one another
44:56 to provoke unto love and to good works,
44:58 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together
45:00 as the manner of some is,
45:02 but exhorting one another and so much the more
45:05 as you see the day approaching."
45:07 So what we see here is that God wants us to,
45:13 it says provoke.
45:14 That's a really interesting word
45:15 'cause normally provoke
45:17 usually has a negative connotation behind it,
45:18 but here it says provoke unto love
45:20 and to good works,
45:21 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together.
45:23 So, God encourages us to get together.
45:27 My version says stir up.
45:29 Stir up. Okay.
45:30 I like that. Yeah. I like that.
45:31 God encourages us
45:33 to stir up emotions of love and good works.
45:36 He encourages us to get together
45:38 to bind together as a community.
45:40 Right?
45:41 And I think that's so important
45:43 when we're looking at some of these things.
45:44 I know actually just the other day
45:47 I had a friend who was going through
45:48 something in his life
45:51 and he was trying to sort through it, you know,
45:53 he's in school and you know,
45:55 he's looking for a girlfriend,
46:00 I'll just say it that way.
46:01 And so anyway, he was going through
46:03 some stuff and I remember him
46:07 just explaining to me what was going on
46:09 and I just listened, I didn't interrupt him.
46:11 I didn't do anything.
46:12 I was just there to kind of help him
46:16 sort through that,
46:18 trying to be that community for him.
46:21 And he even shared something with me that was interesting.
46:23 He said something along the lines of,
46:26 I need someone in my life, like I need people in my life.
46:32 And he goes through some counseling and stuff
46:34 and he says, you know,
46:35 my counselor and I were going through this
46:37 and they said, you need someone,
46:40 you have a need for that.
46:42 And so, and I don't think there's any shame in that.
46:43 I think that's such a beautiful thing
46:44 that when God calls on us to be that level of community,
46:48 we can help other sort through their problems
46:51 and be that person for someone.
46:53 And sometimes all that
46:54 the person needs is just a listening ear.
46:57 Absolutely. Yeah.
46:59 And maybe they won't even want to talk.
47:01 Maybe they just want to like, go hang out, go get food.
47:04 And like, not even talk about it,
47:06 but like just being there, like being in their presence
47:09 will help them to feel less lonely.
47:11 Yeah.
47:13 Get their mind off of whatever they're going through.
47:14 Mm-hmm.
47:16 There's that level of in many ways
47:17 of just distraction too.
47:19 Like it helps us stop worrying about what we may be thinking
47:24 about, you know.
47:25 And it helps us redirect our attention
47:28 to something more positive.
47:29 Like I know, Farrah,
47:31 you and I hang out all the time.
47:32 I know there's been many situations
47:33 where I may be going through something
47:35 or you may be going through something
47:36 and sometimes we just need to talk.
47:38 And I think what's really cool about our friendship
47:39 is that we make ourselves available to that, you know.
47:42 And I try to do that, you know,
47:44 with my friends and I know you guys do too.
47:46 You try to make yourself available
47:48 to letting God use you
47:50 in whatever capacity He wants to.
47:53 So, let's move on to another biblical principle.
47:56 I think that's important,
47:57 which is love and encouragement.
47:59 Right?
48:00 We were talking about speaking
48:01 positive things to people, right?
48:03 Speaking, positive things to ourselves.
48:05 Love and encouragement in my opinion
48:07 is the foundation of all Christian relationships.
48:10 It should be anyway, right?
48:12 When we're thinking about who we are as a Christian,
48:14 the first characteristic should be
48:17 that of what Christ gave us, which is love.
48:20 And as a top priority,
48:23 it should be something we take very seriously.
48:25 Absolutely.
48:27 So, there's obviously the chapter
48:29 in 1 Corinthians Chapter 13, commonly known
48:32 as the love chapter of the Bible.
48:34 My thought, why don't we just read that?
48:35 That's always a good reminder to go through.
48:39 Danielle, why don't you start
48:40 with the first three or four verses,
48:45 and then we can have maybe Farrah continue and then,
48:47 Daria, you can finish the rest of those.
48:51 1 Corinthians Chapter 13. Okay.
48:54 "Do I speak with the tongues of men and of angels,
48:58 but have not love,
48:59 I have become sounding brass or a clanging symbol?
49:03 And though I have the gift of prophecy
49:06 and understand all mysteries and all knowledge.
49:09 And though I have all faith
49:11 so that I can move mountains, but have not love.
49:15 I am nothing.
49:16 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor.
49:19 And though I give my body to be burned,
49:21 but have not love, it profits me nothing.
49:25 Love suffers long and is kind.
49:28 Love does not envy,
49:29 does not parade itself, is not puffed up."
49:33 So there we can see that,
49:35 you know, it's saying right there,
49:37 Paul is saying,
49:39 you can have all these great things.
49:41 You could have the gift of prophecy.
49:42 You could understand everything.
49:44 You could have all knowledge,
49:45 you could remove mountains if you want it to,
49:47 but if you don't have love, it doesn't matter.
49:49 There's no value in any of that, he's saying.
49:52 And then on top of that,
49:53 it talks about obviously love doesn't envy.
49:56 You know, you don't do what Job's friends were doing.
49:59 You know, you don't do what his wife was doing.
50:02 And so, it's something that obviously is something
50:05 we've got to keep in mind that
50:07 love should be the first approach
50:09 to anyone who's suffering with mental illness,
50:12 mental health, a stressful situation,
50:15 mental instability, any of those things.
50:17 We've got to approach it in love.
50:19 Yeah.
50:20 And love is shown in various ways like
50:21 what can I do to help,
50:23 maybe not always talking to them,
50:24 but like, is there something
50:26 that I can do that takes the stress off of you?
50:28 Or like, how can I be of assistance in it
50:30 literally anyway, so you can be okay, you know?
50:33 Yeah.
50:34 Just being there for them, hey, if you're feeling like this,
50:37 you know, you can always come to me,
50:39 we can go for a walk.
50:41 We can make bread, make cookies,
50:44 whatever, you know,
50:45 helps get your mind off of this and, yeah.
50:49 I know, Farrah, you were talking about
50:51 before that, for you something
50:52 that's really important is you need people
50:56 in your life to help encourage you
50:59 and to affirm you when, you know,
51:01 there's something that's really great happening,
51:04 you know, whether it's some big accomplishment
51:06 or maybe you played a piano piece flawlessly
51:09 or something, you need that in your life
51:11 because you want to know that
51:13 people are there for you and want to encourage you.
51:15 Well, I've always been hesitant
51:19 or worried about feeling needy.
51:22 And so, for a long time, I would just kind of,
51:26 well, actually I'll start back.
51:29 Couple of years ago
51:30 and for a few years before that,
51:33 I was in my own little rut.
51:35 And so, every time someone would try to compliment
51:39 or encourage me or whatever,
51:43 I guess in a way I felt like the world was out to get me.
51:46 So, I didn't believe anybody.
51:47 I didn't trust anybody, so. There was a lack of trust.
51:49 So, I actually thought
51:51 as far as someone was complimenting me,
51:53 it was because they wanted something
51:54 and it was never genuine.
51:56 So, there was a time
51:59 when certain people would come into my life
52:02 and they would validate me.
52:04 And there was that same thing happening again
52:06 where I just didn't believe them,
52:08 but certain people,
52:10 these certain people would do it
52:13 and I could feel it.
52:15 I could feel that it was genuine.
52:18 So, there was a little battle in my head,
52:20 but these people did it,
52:23 I guess you could say over a consistent basis,
52:25 maybe not like every day, every morning, you know,
52:27 that sort of thing.
52:28 Yeah. But they showed, yeah. Yeah.
52:29 And so, it wasn't, it wasn't just like,
52:31 it just ended one day because I've had people
52:32 that have tried to encourage me just for the sake of,
52:36 I don't know, maybe,
52:38 I mean, there's a little negative,
52:39 negativity thing, that's like,
52:41 "Oh, maybe they're trying to make me feel better
52:42 so that they feel better about themselves."
52:44 But 'cause some people have come into my life
52:47 that would encourage me and would try to make me happy.
52:50 And they're like cheer up, like I'm here for you.
52:52 And then after a few days
52:54 or a few weeks, or a few months,
52:55 if I didn't cheer up, they'd be like,
52:57 this person's a negative, whatever by, like,
53:01 but I've had some people that have stayed with me.
53:03 And after this validation
53:09 that I started to accept
53:10 and someone special to me
53:14 told me that I need to,
53:17 well, they told me do this thing,
53:19 compliment yourself, compliment yourself
53:21 when you look in the mirror.
53:23 And you know, I'm like, if I don't believe this,
53:25 this is not going to work,
53:27 like what difference is it going to make?
53:29 But I was just like, you know what,
53:30 I'm just going to do it
53:31 so I can prove this person wrong,
53:33 like I show you that this doesn't work.
53:35 And after a few days,
53:37 I think I already started to believe it.
53:40 I started to see a different person
53:43 in the mirror.
53:44 It wasn't like I physically changed,
53:45 but it was that my perception of myself
53:47 was gradually like "evolving in a way."
53:50 I love that.
53:51 And I think, you know, that's a great segue for you.
53:53 You did a great segue there
53:54 because that goes straight into knowing our identity
53:57 and knowing that we have intrinsic value, right?
54:00 Knowing that even though we may not always see ourselves
54:04 as talented or beautiful
54:06 or handsome or we don't think we're smart or whatever, that,
54:10 despite what we think
54:12 there is an intrinsic value that God has,
54:16 you know, given us, you know, He believes we're valuable.
54:21 I think one thing obviously that
54:23 we need to look at for me is Psalm 139:14.
54:27 Yes. I love this verse.
54:29 And I mean, everybody's heard it.
54:33 So, I mean, it's not going to be something
54:34 that's unusual to hear,
54:36 but this verse especially
54:37 is so beautifully and simply put,
54:40 I don't think we could ignore it.
54:42 So, it's Psalm 139:10.
54:45 And, Danielle, do you have that?
54:47 Verse 10? Yeah.
54:49 Wait, is it, did I say verse 10?
54:50 Verse 14. Sorry. Okay.
54:52 "I'll praise you, for I am fearfully
54:55 and wonderfully made.
54:56 Marvelous are your works
54:58 and that my soul knows very well."
55:02 Wow. I love that.
55:06 God says, you know,
55:09 despite what you think about yourself,
55:11 I know what I think about you and you're fearfully,
55:13 wonderfully made.
55:14 I think it's, is it Jeremiah
55:16 where it says that he knew us
55:17 before we were even born?
55:18 Yeah.
55:20 It even talks about that a little bit in this passage.
55:22 Why don't you keep reading on?
55:24 Yeah, let's look at that. Okay.
55:26 Verse 15, "My frame was not hidden from you
55:29 when I was made in secret and skillfully wrought
55:32 in the lowest parts of the earth.
55:34 Your eyes saw my substance being yet unformed.
55:38 And in your book, they all were written,
55:40 the days fashioned for me,
55:42 when, as yet there were none of them.
55:44 How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
55:47 How great is the sum of them!
55:50 If I should count them,
55:52 they would be more number than the sand.
55:54 When I wake, I am still with you."
55:57 Wow. That's so awesome.
55:58 That's amazing.
56:00 It was like looking at ourselves
56:01 through God's eyes
56:02 is a totally different like perspective.
56:05 And it just like gives you so much like love
56:07 and like for yourself, like that's like,
56:10 you know, you hear that phrase Godfidence,
56:12 like you get confidence in God.
56:15 It was just, it was so powerful.
56:16 I love that.
56:17 And you know,
56:19 when we're talking about self-love,
56:20 we're not talking about a hardy love,
56:21 like a prideful love, we're talking about a love
56:23 that we acknowledge that
56:25 we are intrinsically valuable to God.
56:27 Absolutely.
56:29 And once we know our intrinsic value in God,
56:32 then we can begin to trust Him
56:33 and trust that He will bring us through our trials
56:36 and bring us through our heartache and distress
56:38 and whatever we're going through.
56:40 I love that.
56:41 There's actually a great scripture
56:42 about that, Daria, in Proverbs 3:5-6.
56:45 You want to read that for us? Sure.
56:46 And it says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart
56:50 and lean not on your own understanding,
56:52 in all your ways acknowledge Him
56:55 and He shall direct your path."
56:57 Such a great way to put a bow on the program.
56:59 Thank you guys so much for being here this evening.
57:01 I thought it was a very good discussion,
57:04 very productive.
57:05 And thank you so much for joining us.
57:06 We know that life can be stressful.
57:08 We know there's a lot of situations
57:10 in life where we don't know what to do,
57:12 but we hope that you've learned something.
57:14 And maybe if you apply some of these principles
57:17 we talked about, maybe that will help you
57:20 get through whatever you're going through today.
57:21 We want to encourage you
57:23 to reach out to our pastoral department
57:24 if there's something going on in your life
57:25 that you need help sort through.
57:27 And also, if there's other mental illness problems,
57:30 there are hotlines you can call as well.
57:32 So until next time, friends, keep moving forward in Jesus.


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Revised 2021-01-15