The Silent Crisis 7 Million Christians Face

Speaker A00:00:32

Millions just pause with me on that word. Millions of believers sitting in churches every week carrying a sadness that no one can see.Seven million Christians in the United States alone battle major depression every single year. That's 7 million image bearers who love Jesus, who pray, who worship, who serve, and yet feel like something inside of them is breaking.Now, here's the part we never even talk about. Many of those Christians are suffering in silence inside the very place that they should feel the safest. Some are teaching Sunday school.Some of those folks pouring coffee in the lobby. Some of them are leading worship on stage with a smile and a heaviness they don't even know how to voice. And maybe that's you today.Maybe you're watching this, you're listening to this, and you've got this quiet ape that nobody knows about because you've learned how to put on the I'm blessed mask. You learn how to push through the heaviness because that's what strong Christians are supposed to do.But behind closed doors, when the worship music stops, when the house is quiet and when the lights go out at night, there's an ache you just can't explain, a weight you can't lift, a sadness that you didn't choose. Have you ever wondered why you can love God deeply and still deeply feel depressed? Have you ever asked yourself, what's wrong with me, friend?Let me tell you right from the beginning. There's nothing wrong with you. You're not weak. You're not faithless, and you're not broken beyond repair. You're human. You're loved.And you're seen by a savior who understands sorrow far more than you've ever been told.And this crisis, and I really believe this is a crisis, this silent crisis 7 million Christians face is exactly what we're going to talk about today, because healing finally begins when honesty begins. Honesty begins when someone finally says, you don't have to hide anymore. I stand firm though the to shift like sand.Your truth, oh, Lord, is where I choose to stand. Truth. Before we go any further, let me introduce myself to those of you who are new here.My name is Ralph Estep Jr. And this is Truth Unveiled with Ralph. This show exists for one purpose, and that's to help you see life through the lens of scripture, honesty, with compassion, and with a little courage.And I created this space because too many Christians feel like they're navigating life with unanswered questions, those hidden struggles and silent battles they believe they're supposed to hide. Well, here we don't hide from the hard things. We talk about them. We shine light on them. We bring them into the presence of God. Guess what?Who already knows and already cares. And every week, we open scripture together. We strip away pretense. We confront cultural messages that confuse or distract us.And we search for the truth that sets us free. And if no one else has told you, today, you belong here. You're safe here, and you don't have to pretend here.This is a place where real people meet a real God who loves them in real struggles. All right, well, let's go a little deeper. Let's talk honestly about the tension we feel inside today's church culture.Because as much as we love our churches, when as much as we value community, as much as we celebrate what God is doing, there's a quiet pressure floating through our sanctuaries, a pressure almost no one names. It's the pressure to look blessed, to look victorious, to look spiritually strong every single week.If we're being honest, most of us have felt that pressure. One point or another. We've learned that to give that quick Sunday answer, oh, I'm good. I'm blessed. Oh, God is so good.Meanwhile, the truth is, we drove the church fighting back tears. We sang the opening song with a lump in our throat. We smiled at people while our soul felt like it was sinking.We've created churches where we feel safer, pretending that then being honest. I know that's a bold thing to say. Walk into most churches today and you'll see something beautiful.You'll see community, and you'll see worship, and you'll see genuine love. And, hey, we need to celebrate those things. But underneath that beauty is something else. A culture of curated spirituality.We celebrate testimonies of healing and breakthrough, but we rarely celebrate the testimony of someone who simply survived the weakness. We praise those mountaintop moments, but we don't know what to do with the valleys.We shout loud during victory, but we whisper awkwardly around suffering. Think about this. Think about the last time someone at church fell and broke their leg. People rallied around it.There was cards, there was phone calls. The lady set up a meal train. There was ride to appointments. Their pain was visible, so compassion flowed naturally.But when that pain is emotional, when that struggle is internal, when someone says, I'm depressed or I'm anxious or I'm not okay, we hear silence. We hear awkwardness. We hear discomfort or worse. This is the worst one. We hear platitudes. Have you ever heard these? You just need more faith.Oh, no, no. You just need to pray harder. Oh, I love this one. Have you forgiven everyone? You must have unforgiveness in your heart. Just choose joy.And this one is the most sinister of them all. Don't let the devil win. So let me say this plainly. Those comments are not compassion. They're pressure.And pressure is the last thing a hurting believer needs. Why do we trust Jesus with our salvation but shame people for needing help with their sadness? And I want you to hear this.This pressure is not always intentional. The people given these comments are often trying to help, but their words lack the depth for the pain that people are carrying.See, we live in a culture where we post our highlights, but we hide our heartbreaks. A culture where we share miracles. But silence.Mental illness Culture where Christians are expected to be joyful all the time, even though the Bible is actually filled with lament. And because of this culture, millions of believers are silently suffering in the very place where they should feel the most supported.Why are God's people afraid to admit they're hurting? Because somewhere along the way, we equated sadness with spiritual failure. See, there's the problem.We treated mental illness like a measure of holiness. We acted as if emotional struggle meant distance from God instead of an invitation to experience his nearness.But here's the truth, and I want you to breathe this in. Your sadness does not make you a bad Christian. Your depression, that feeling of depression does not make you weak.And your mental battle does not mean God is disappointed in you. All of that comes from culture, not from Christ.And until we're willing to confront this cultural tension, millions of believers will keep suffering in silence. Isn't it the time we create churches where honesty is more valued than appearances?So let's break the silence, and let's do it by looking directly at the truth. Because truth is where healing begins.Not the assumptions, not the stereotypes, not the shallow answers people often give, but real numbers, real data. The reality so many believers never hear spoken inside a church building.Because sometimes seeing the truth clearly is the very thing that gives us permission to breathe. According to Lifeway Research. Now, this is a respected Christian organization.35% of Americans and nearly 50% of evangelicals believe that prayer and Bible study alone can cure mental illness. Half, almost half the church believes depression is something you can simply. Anyway, all you gotta do is pray.Can you imagine what that does to someone already feeling ashamed for struggling? It tells them you are the problem. It tells them their prayers aren't strong enough.It tells them their faith isn't deep enough, that their Devotion isn't pure enough, and it reinforces the lie that mental health struggles are spiritual failures instead of human experiences. But there's more.Lifeway also found that nearly half of pastors, and I'm not calling out pastors, but half of pastors rarely or ever preach about mental illness. Not because they don't care, not because they're heartless, but because many of them feel unprepared of saying it wrong.Because culture often oversimplifies what's happening inside the human mind. So what happens? Silence, avoidance. Continual invisible suffering.Seven million Christians struggling every single year, and yet the topic barely make it into sermons or Sunday conversations. Let me put that number in perspective for you. I had to do this from my own mind.7 million believers is roughly the population of Arizona in the United States. Imagine that. Every single person in that state battling a hidden internal darkness, and almost no one's talking about it.In the place where healing should be accessible, how did the church become the last place people feel safe being honest about their emotional pain? Let's go even deeper. Researchers have found that stigma around mental illness is stronger inside the church than outside it. I want to say that again.The stigma around mental illness is stronger inside the church than outside it.Now, I'm not saying this because Christians lack compassion, but because Christian culture has unintentionally created a standard of emotional perfection that very few can attain.The standard says, hey, if you're walking with Jesus, you should always be joyful, you should always be peaceful, and you should always be victorious. So when that believer feels sadness or that believer feels anxiety or even depression, what do they do?They assume something is wrong with their faith. But the truth is, nothing is wrong with their faith. Nothing is wrong with your faith.If you're feeling this right now, there's nothing wrong with your faith. Something is wrong with the expectations we've placed on faith in the first place.Why do we expect Christians to feel emotions the Bible never promises that we're going to avoid? Think about this for a second. David felt despair. Jeremiah felt anguish. Job questioned life itself. And Paul. Talk about Paul.Paul begged God to remove the feeling that tormented him. Even Jesus in Gethsemane said his soul was overwhelmed to the point of death. These are the spiritual giants of our faith.And yet many believers today think that sadness is some sort of spiritual deficiency. No, it's not. The data, the scripture, and lived experience tells us something very different.Billions are hurting, and most of them are hurting silently. And if we refuse to look at that truth honestly, we're going to keep forcing people to hide the very wounds that God is ready to heal.So here's the real question. What does scripture actually say to the believer who feels broken inside? That's where we're going next. We're going to slow it down.We're going to open God's word, and we're going to go see where he says to the depressed, what he says to the weary, and. And what he says to the anxious and the brokenhearted. And I want to warn you, what scripture says might surprise you.Now, before we go any deeper into this teaching, I want to share something personal, because I don't want to ever speak from a place of theory. That's not who I am as a person. I want to speak to you from a place of truth.Truth that I've lived, truth that I've wrestled with, and truth that I've walked through in my real life. There was a season in my life when the world just lost its color.Now, I'd be happy to say there was some big tragedy or a big crisis or some single event, but it wasn't any of those things. It was just a slow fade, just a gradual dimming, if you will, a heaviness settling in one quiet day at a time. And I was leading in my church.I had a family I loved. I was doing work. It mattered to me. And from the outside, everything looked blessed. And, hey, I feel blessed. I feel joyful.But inside, inside, it felt like something was collapsing. I'll never forget getting out of bed. Just doing that felt like lifting cinder blocks. The worship songs I wasn't even hearing.It felt distance to me, like goes bouncing off walls inside of my chest. And prayers. Prayers felt like they were hitting the ceiling and fell back down in silence. Let me ask you, have you ever felt that way yourself?I remember that sense of, I love God, but I can't feel anything right now. I was numb. And I remember sitting in church during a powerful message about victory in Jesus.And people were praising, hands raised, emotions were high in the room. And I remember sitting there and I felt like a fraud. See, I knew the truth. I believed the truth.But it felt like the truth was for everyone else except for me. And that guilt was suffocating. That shame was real. That fear of telling anyone was overwhelming. What would they think of me? Would I be judged?Would I be dismissed? Hey, would I be told to pray harder, Told something's wrong with my faith? So I did what millions of Christians do. You might be doing it right now.I hid it I smiled, I served, I showed up, and I just suffered quietly. But deep down, that silence was eating me alive. I remember one day the pain of hiding became heavier than the fear of being honest.And I whispered to a friend, I'm not okay. And that was the first step towards actual healing.And I wanted to share that today because I want you to know that everything I'm teaching today comes from Scripture and from my experience. So let's get into God's word together, because Scripture is far more honest about emotional suffering than the modern church often is.Here's our first Scripture verse. It comes from the Book of Psalms, chapter 34, verse 18. That's Psalm 34. 18.The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. Let's slow down and feel this. Now, David wrote this while he was running for his life. He was exhausted. He was emotionally freed.He was hiding in caves, pretending to be insane just to survive. See, this wasn't a psalm written from victory. It was written from fear. It was written from turmoil.It was written from uncertainty and even emotional collapse. But what does it say? God is close to the brokenhearted? Close. Just think about that for a second. Not distant, not disappointed, frustrated.What if God is actually closest when you feel farthest away? What if your brokenness draws him near instead of pushing him away? Let's look at First Kings, chapter 19, verses 1. 18.Now, I'm not going to read the whole thing. I'm just going to summarize it because it's a big verse. I'm going to paraphrase it.So after facing death threats from Jezebel, Elijah flees in fear and collapses under exhaustion and despair. And God meets him in rest, provision, and gentle reassurance. So we pick this up where at Mount Horeb.Elijah learns that God is present only in power, but also in quiet moments. And God renews Elijah's purpose and reminds him that he is not alone. And here we go, right to this verse. First Kings 19:12.And after the fire came a gentle whisper. One of the most powerful stories about emotional collapse in the entire Bible is right here.Elijah, the prophet who called down fire from heaven, the man who just experienced a supernatural victory, now is collapsing under the weight of fear and exhaustion. And he runs into the wilderness. He isolates himself. He hides under a broom tree, and he prays a prayer that no one wants to admit.Lord, I've had enough. Take my life. This is depression. This is despair. This is the emotional collapse after the mountaintop. But let's look at how God responds.God doesn't respond with anger. He didn't give him a lecture, not with disappointment. What does he do? He lets Elijah sleep. And he sends an angel to touch him.He sends an angel to feed him, and he sends an angel to comfort him. Bread, water and rest. See, God cared for his body before speaking to his Spirit.Why do you think God rebukes us in our weakness when Scripture shows he cares for us first? Then God meets Elijah. Not in the wind, not in some big earthquake, not in fire from heaven, but in a gentle whisper?Because here's the truth I've come learn in my own life. When you're depressed, you can't handle loud. You can't handle heavy, you can't handle shouting.It's in those moments that you need that whisper of God. And it's a whisper you might miss if you expect him to speak in thunder. Let's look at Psalm 88, verse 1. Lord, you are the God who saves me.Day and night I cry out to you. I want you to brace yourself. Because Psalm 88 is unlike any other psalm. It ends in darkness. It ends with the words, darkness is my closest friend.No resolution, no praise, no turnaround, no. But God came through just darkness. And you wonder, why did God leave that in the Bible? And I thought about that as I was preparing for today.Why did God leave that in the Bible? And I believe he did it to show you that prayers ending in darkness are still holy.I believe he did it to show you that believers who can't feel hope doesn't mean you're rejected by God. And to show you that Scripture makes room for the suffering even when the suffering hasn't lifted yet.What would happen if our churches allowed people to speak honestly before they had their testimony? Let's look at Psalm 42:5 again. Psalm 42:5. Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me?Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. Let's think about that again. Why my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me?Picture this is a worship leader talking to his own soul, confused by his own sadness. He's asking himself, what is happening inside of me? Why do I feel this way? Can't even explain it. See, depression often doesn't have a clear cause.And Scripture gives language to the believer who doesn't understand their own emotions. Let's look at 2 Corinthians, chapter 12, verses 7 to 10. Or because of these surpassingly great revelations.Therefore, in order to Keep me from becoming conceited. I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me so. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.But he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you. Power is made perfect in your weakness. Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that Christ's power may rest on me.That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, that I am strong. This is Paul. And Paul begs God to remove this thorn. Now we don't know what the thorn is.I've heard people talk about it. Was it a physical thorn? Emotional? Spiritual? Hey, maybe it was psychological. But we know one thing, and this is important. It was tormenting him.And he just sat there and he begged God to take it away. What did God say? No, you might say, that's harsh. But it wasn't that God lacked compassion. It wasn't because Paul lacked faith.Hey, Paul was a faithful dude. But because God wanted Paul to experience something deeper. What does it say? My grace is sufficient for you. My power is made perfect. In what weakness?God didn't remove the struggle. He transformed the struggle into the place where his strength was revealed most clearly. Let me ask you this.Could it be that the place you feel weakest is actually the place where God wants to show Himself to you, being the strongest? Now, these passages don't shame your sadness. They actually validate it. They speak to it. They sit with you in it.And now we're going to weave all this scripture together into the main truth that God wants you to hold on to today. Because we've looked at the silence. We've looked at the stigma. We've looked at the scripture.We've walked through the pain and the honesty and the wrongness that God Himself included in His Word. But now let's bring this all together.There are five core truths woven through Scripture that you've got to hold on to when depression or despair or emotional darkness makes you feel far from God. And these truths, these are not cliches. They're not band aid verses. They're foundations. They're anchors. And their lifeline.And my prayer is that we unpack these. The Holy Spirit will breathe them and speak right to your heart. Here's truth number one. Your depression does not scare God.He meets you in that darkness. Just look at Elijah. Elijah collapsed under a broom tree and actually asked God to end his life. He's exhausted. He's terrified.He is emotionally finished. And what does God do? God doesn't say to him, elijah, where's your faith, dude? He doesn't say, elijah, get it together.He doesn't say, oh, you should be stronger, Elijah. God lets him sleep. He feeds him, he nourishes him.And then he whispers to him, why do we think God runs from our darkness when Scripture shows he walks right into it? Psalm 34:18 says, the Lord is close to the brokenhearted. You know, it's not saying he's close to the cheerful.It's not saying not close to the perfect, not to the victorious, to the brokenhearted. See, your sadness doesn't threaten his holiness. Your depression doesn't challenge his sovereignty. And your struggle does not weaken his love.You're not a disappointment to him. You're not a burden to him. Your darkness does not intimidate God. He meets you right there.Here's truth number two, and I want you to hear this, and I want you to hear this loud and clear. Your emotions are not evidence of failed faith. I'm sick and tired of people saying that they're evidence that you're actually human.Go Back to Psalm 42. We're talking about this. A worship leader trying to understand his own sadness. Why are you downcast my soul? Why are you disturbed within me?He's confused. He's overwhelmed. He's emotionally upside down, like he's hanging from the ceiling. This is in the bible.And Psalm 88 ends in darkness with no resolution. This is in the Bible. Also, Jesus himself said his soul was overwhelmed to the point of death. Again, it's in the Bible.So why do we pretend that Christians are supposed to feel happy all the time? Faith is not the absence of emotion. Faith is bringing your emotions to God. Faith is not feeling strong all the time.Faith is trusting God when you actually feel weak. Faith is not hiding your pain. Faith is opening your pain to the one who already sees it. The Lord sees your pain.He not failing at Christianity because you're sad. You're living in a broken world with a very real God who is able to walk you through it. Let's look at truth number three.Seeking help is holy, wise and biblical. And I want to say this with absolute clarity because you will hear this other places, and I disagree with it. Therapy is not a lack of faith.I hear so many people say therapy, oh, you just need more faith. And counseling is not a lack of faith. These things are God's gift of common grace. Think about it for a second. Doctors heal bodies Help.They help bodies heal. Therapists help minds heal. And pastors and friends help souls heal. Think about it for a second.Why do we trust God for physical healing, but shame to very people for seeking emotional healing? I'm a diabetic. I have diabetes. If I didn't take insulin, would that be crazy? Yes, it would. If I had cancer, I'd go get treatment.If I broke my arm, I'd go see a doctor. The brain is an organ, not a spiritual scorecard. Seeking help is not rebellion. It's actually stewardship of what God has given you.You matter too much to walk through this alone. Here's truth number four. God does not waste your pain. Your suffering can become your very ministry.And I know this feels impossible when you're hurting. If somebody said to me, when I was hurting, be like you're crazy. Because when you're depressed, you're not thinking about purpose, are you?You're just thinking about survival. I got to get through today. Sometimes I got to get through the next hour. But I want to speak a truth over your life. God does not cause depression.I truly believe he doesn't cause it, but he can use it to help others in a way that no one else can. Think about Elijah. Elijah was a mentor to Elisha. He became a prophet who understands weakness and can minister to others from a place of empathy.Let's talk about Paul's thorn. Paul's thorn became the testimony of God's grace being sufficient.And you might not be ready to hear this right now, but your scars, the very scars you're having right now, become someone else's hope. And your survival may very well become someone else's strength. And your me, too, becomes someone else's lifeline.Could it be that the very part of your story you're most ashamed of, part you don't want to talk about, the part that you just hide, is the very part God wants to use to save someone else. And truth number five, weakness is not your shame. Weakness is actually your testimony. Let's go back to Paul. Paul begged God to remove the thorn.And God told him no. But he didn't leave Paul with nothing. He gave Paul a revelation. My power is made perfect in weakness. Notice he uses the word perfect.He didn't say useful. He didn't say acceptable. He said perfect. Your weakness is the stage where God's strength is being revealed.And your vulnerability is the doorway to intimacy with God. And your struggle is the place where grace becomes real.What if the place you hate most about your story is the Place God sees as the most beautiful boy. That turns it upside down, doesn't it? Your depression doesn't get the final word. God does. These theories aren't meant to be theories.They're meant to be lived. So now I want to give you a simple practical framework that you can use starting today.A framework that brings together scripture, human experience, and the heart of God. Are you ready for that? We've talked about truth. We've talked about pain. We've talked about the scriptures that shatter shame and invite honesty.Now I want to give you something you can carry with you. Something simple, something memorable, Something you can guide you on the days when the darkness feels a little too heavy.And it's a framework I call light.L I G H T Because when you're depressed, and I've been depressed, when you feel empty, and I felt that when you feel spiritually numb, what you need is not a list of demands. What you really need is light. Now, I'm not talking about blinding light, not overwhelming light, just something gentle, something soft.A light that reminds you that you're not alone. So here it is. It starts with l listen to your pain. Most Christians try to outrun their pain. They suppress it. We distract ourselves.We say, oh, I'm fine, even when we're not fine. But Scripture, and I've showed it today, is full of people who talked honestly to God. David didn't hide his pain. Jeremiah didn't hide his tears.Paul didn't hide the thorn, and Jesus didn't hide his anguish. You don't heal by ignoring your pain. You actually heal by listening to it, by acknowledging it and by naming it.Ask yourself this, what am I really feeling right now? What's weighing on me? What hurts? What am I afraid of? Listening to your pain is not self pity. That's not what I'm saying here. It's self awareness.Ask yourself this. How can God comfort what you refuse to acknowledge? Let's move on to I invite God into the dark.Because depression for me and for many people, often makes you feel like you can't pray. And that's okay. God doesn't need these elaborate prayers. People get stuck on it. Oh, I got to do it just right. No, God wants just honest ones.Things like this. God, I'm hurting. That's a prayer. God, I can't feel you right now. That's a prayer. God, I'm overwhelmed at the moment. God, help me breathe.Two word prayers are still going to move heaven. One sentence. Prayers still carry power. And every silence offered to God is Prayer. Sometimes you don't say anything.Just invite him into the place where you're most tempted to hide. Invite him into the dark. What if God has been waiting for you in the darkness this whole time? Let's look at G. Get the help you need.I want to say this very clearly. Getting help is not a failure of faith. Getting help is actually an act of courage. And getting help is spiritual maturity.That might be therapy, medication, support groups. Talk to your pastor, talk to a doctor, talk to trusted friends. These are tools that God has placed in your life for the very healing that you need.Like I said earlier, your brain is an organ just like your heart, just like your lungs. And when it needs support, you got to give it support. If your mind needs help, get help. Because you matter.Isn't your life worth more than the care you would give anyone else you love? Let's look at H. You got to hold on to one truth. When you're depressed, you can't hold on to 10 Bible verses.I've heard people say, well, just go pray these 10 Bible verses. Sometimes you can't even hold on to one sentence. So pick one truth and cling to it. Just one. Here's some great ones.The Lord is close to the brokenhearted. Just. Just dwell on that. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted. God's power is made perfect in weakness. Perfect in weakness. God hears my cry.God's hearing my cry. I love this one. I am not alone. And when you're feeling that, say it in the morning. Say it at night. Write it on a card. Put it on your bathroom mirror.Set it as your phone wallpaper. Hold on to one truth until hope gains strength. Because it will.And one truth can carry you through one whole day, maybe get you through the next couple days. Tell someone. The enemy's favorite weapon is isolation. I truly believe that if he can keep you silent, he can keep you suffering.But healing begins where silence ends. Tell one person, just one, like I did. I'm not okay. Tell one person I'm hurting. Tell one person I need help. Ask one person. Hey, can we talk?And listen. You don't have to explain everything to them. You don't need solutions. You don't need a plan.You just need someone to sit with you in that dark space until that light returns. And what I have seen in my own life is God often sends healing through community. Think about this for a second.Who needs to hear your four word confession? I am not. Okay, so that's the light framework. And I hope it's Helpful to you. Not pressure, not guilt, not some unrealistic expectations.Just gentle steps to help you breathe again and remind you that God is with you. Now, I want to mix things up a little bit today. I want to pray right now.We're going to come back and talk about some more impactful things, but I want to talk about a real prayer for real people in real pain. But before we pray, I want to invite you to slow down for a moment.Ever you are right now, maybe you're in your living room, you're in your car, maybe in your office, you're in your kitchen. I want you to just take a breath. Just a slow one, a real one. I just want you to breathe because so many people get hung up on this.Prayer isn't about performance. Prayer is about presence. God's presence, meaning you honestly. And today we're going to pray a very specific prayer.I want to pray one for people who feel broken, prayer for one who feels alone, a prayer for one who's been carrying a weight they should have never carried, has said out loud. And if that's you, you don't need to be strong right now. You just need to be open. How about we pray together, Father?We come to you pretending anymore, not performing, not polishing ourselves up honestly, quietly, humbly. And for the one watching this who feels unseen, Lord, see them right now in a way that nothing else can.For the one whose heart feels shattered, Lord, we ask that you would wrap them in your nearness as you promised in Psalm 3418. For the one who has cried in silence, Lord, remind them that every tear is noticed, every sigh is recorded, and every breath matters to you.For that one who feels spiritually numb, remind them that numbness is not distance from you, it's exhaustion, and you draw close to the exhausted.For the one who feels ashamed of their sadness, Lord, silence that lie that says depression is a spiritual failure, and replace it with the truth that you meet us in our weakness with power. That one right now who feels like Elijah beneath that broom tree, feeling overwhelmed, exhausted, just done. Give them the nap they need.Give them the nourishment they need. Give them that whisper that their soul is longing for.And for that one who feels like Psalm 88 with no resolution, no breakthrough, no light yet be with them in that darkness, Lord, until the dawn comes. And Father, for the one who's too broken right now to even pray this prayer, I just ask you, let my words stand in the gap for them.Let your spirit intercede with groans too deep for words, lift the weight, erase the pressure. Bring rest to the restless. Bring comfort to the crushed. Bring hope to the hopeless. Bring peace where peace has not lived for a long time.And above all things, Lord, wrap them in your love so strongly that they can no longer believe the lie that they are alone. We trust you, Lord, even here, even now, even in this. Amen. Now that we prayed, I want to help you take this message to into your everyday life.Because faith is one thing. It's not just something we feel. Faith is something we practice one small step at a time.So let's talk about what this looks like now at home and at work and in the quiet places of your heart. Because we've talked about a lot today. We've covered some deep things, some heavy things, but some honest things.Now I want to help you take all of this out of your mind and into your life. Because healing, like I said earlier, is not often found in giant leaps, but in gentle steps. These are steps that you can take today.These are steps that you can take this week. Steps that remind your soul, I am not alone. God is with me and I am moving forward. So here are the steps I want you to take.Just four simple, doable, life giving Step number one. I want you to tell one trusted person, I'm not okay. That's it. Just four words. I am not okay. You don't need to give them a full explanation.They don't need to hear your life story. You don't need some rehearsed speech. You don't need a 15 point story. Just honestly find one person you can trust.A friend, maybe it's your spouse, pastor, a mentor. And say the words your soul has been afraid to speak. Because like I said earlier, healing starts or silence ends. And I want to say this carefully.A lot of people think this. You're not burdening them. You're allowing them to love you. So now, in your own mind, who's that one person who needs to hear your honesty this week?Or maybe I'll turn it around. Who's that one person that you need to be there for? Here's step two. Schedule just one appointment. Not ten appointments.Not a new life plan, not a whole treatment strategy. Just one. Maybe you need to talk to a therapist. Maybe you need to talk to your doctor. Maybe you're blessed to have a counselor at your church.And maybe you're a member of a support group. I just want you to make one appointment. Because that one appointment can change the trajectory of your healing. Just one phone call. Just one Email.Just one step. You don't have to solve everything. You just need to begin. What if your healing begins with the appointment you've been afraid to make?Here's step number three. I want you to memorize just one verse of Scripture. Not a chapter, not a passage. Just one verse.Just one truth to anchor you when your mind feels scattered. It could be this one. Psalm 34:18, the Lord is close to the brokenhearted. Or I love this one, 2nd Corinthians 12:9, My grace is sufficient for you.Or how about this one? Psalm 42:5, why my soul are you downcast? Put your hope in God. Just pick one. Doesn't have to be any of those, but pick one that speaks to you.Write it down, say it in the morning, say it before bed. Keep it nearby when the darkness creeps in. That one verse can be a lifeline for you. Here's the fourth step.Like I said, there's only four steps to this. Create one moment of quiet. You listen to my show for any time. You know, I feel like we're surrounded by noise all the time.So this might be the hardest step for some of you listening right now. Find one moment this week to just be still. Turn off the noise, turn off the screens. Turn off that pressure all around you.Just sit, breathe, and let God meet you in the stillness. This doesn't have to be for an hour. It can be three minutes, maybe five minutes. Just enough time for your soul to breathe again.Because what do we learn from Elijah? God doesn't always yell. Sometimes he whispers. And that whispers require quiet to hear it.When was the last time you let your soul sit long enough to hear God's whisper? And I just want to encourage you right now. You don't have to fix your whole life this week. You don't have to solve every emotion that you're feeling.You don't have to become whole overnight. Just take those four steps, tell somebody, schedule one appointment, memorize one verse, and create one moment of quiet.Those small steps can lead to real healing. Now, with those steps in place, I want to speak to your heart about something even deeper.Some of you watching this, or listen right now, have never actually surrendered your life to Jesus. And some of you have been walking with Him. But life's pain has pulled you away. I want to talk to you.I want to talk to the person right now who feels that this isn't hurting emotionally, but hurting spiritually. Person who feels far from God. The person who feels unworthy. The person who feels like they've drifted Too far or messed up too much to come home.Maybe right now you've known Jesus, but the weight of life has just pushed you away. Maybe you grew up in church, but something happened that broke your trust.Maybe you've never surrendered your life to Jesus and you're just not even sure where to begin. Wherever you are, whoever you are, whatever your story is, listen to me closely. You're not too far gone. You're not too broken.You're not too messed up. And you're not too late. Jesus is not afraid of your darkness. He's not shocked by your sadness, and he's not disappointed by your weakness.He came for the broken. He came for the hurting. He came for the weary. He came for the overwhelmed. He came for the sinner, and he came for the struggler. Guess what?He came for you and me. And right now, in this moment, he's inviting you back home.Not with religion, not with rules, not with some pretending, but to himself, to his grace, to his rest, to his forgiveness, and to his love. Do you feel that tug in your heart right now? Quiet. Pull that whisper, saying, this is for you. That's him. That's Jesus. He's reaching for you.And if you're ready, if you're willing, I want to lead you in a simple prayer. You can say it out loud, you can say it quietly. You can just think on it. You can even say it in your heart. God hears every word.Jesus, I give you my life, all of it. The good, the broken parts I hide, the parts I don't understand. Forgive me. Wash me clean, make me new. I believe you died for me.I believe you rose for me. And today I choose to follow you. Be my Savior, be my Lord, be my strength and be my hope. I am yours, Lord. Fully, completely and forever. Amen.Now, maybe you're a believer and you've been wondering. You've been hurting. You've been drifting away. I want to pray with you also. Pray this with me, Jesus. I'm coming home. I've been far off.I've been tired. I've been hurting. But today, Lord, I return. Heal my heart, Restore my soul. Walk with me. From this moment, moment forward. I'm yours again, completely.Amen. Well, I just want to congratulate you. If you prayed either of those prayers, I want you to hear this. Heaven rejoices over you. God celebrates.Your story has just changed. Today. This very moment is holy. This moment is real. And this moment matters. And I'll walk with you and take your next steps.I want to Bring everything together. I want to speak a closing word straight to your heart and invite you into something that can support you long after this episode episode ends.I want you to pause right now and let one simple truth settle into your heart. Your depression does not define you. It doesn't define you today, it doesn't define you tomorrow. And it doesn't define you ever.Your sadness that you're feeling is not a sign that you failed God. And your heaviness is not evidence that God has abandoned you. And your weakness is not your shame.In fact, I would like to say that your weakness is often the very place where God's strength becomes the most visible.The God who met Elijah in the wilderness, who sat with David in his tears, who held Paul through his thorn and welcomed the darkest psalm in the scripture, that same God is with you. He's with you right now, in this moment, in this room, in your breath, in your questions, in your ache, and in your journey.And even if you can't feel him, even if you don't sense him, even if all you feel is numbness right now and confusion or emptiness, let me assure you of something. He's here. You are not alone. You've never been alone. And you will not walk another step of this journey by yourself.You are held, you are loved, and you are seen and valued. And your story's not over, not by a long shot.And if this episode has touched something deep inside you, if something in your spirit whispered, this is for me, I want to know that today is not the end of your healing. Today is the beginning. Yes, healing takes time. Hope grows slowly. Light returns gradually, but it does return.And sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is simply refuse to give up. What if the chapter you live in right now is not the end of your story, but it's actually your turning point?If this message resonated with your heart, if you're craving a place where you don't have to pretend anymore, where you can grow, where you can breathe, where you can walk with others who are learning to live with honesty and faith. I want to invite you to join our Truth Unveiled community.It's completely free, zero pressure, just a place to connect, to learn, and to be encouraged and to receive resources that will help you grow spiritually and emotionally. And when you join today, you're going to get access to beautiful free resource called the Family Digital Wisdom Guide.It's practical and helpful and it's a blessing to every family trying to navigate technology and emotional help.In today's world, you can get it right now by going to truth unveiled with Ralph.com join that's truth unveiled with Ralph.com join so go there after this episode, download that guide and step into a community that's here to walk with you every day of your journey. Friend, before we end, I want to speak one blessing over you. May the Lord draw near to your broken heart.May he lift that weight you've been carrying alone. May he quiet the lies that whisper shame. May he surround you with people who care about you. May he give you courage to speak your truth.May he guide you to help you in your need. And may his gentle whisper remind you that you are his fully, completely and forever.And I just want you to know I love you and I'm praying for you and I'll see you again on Truth Unveiled with Ralph. God bless you.