On the eve of World Suicide Prevention Day, news came out that pastor and suicide prevention advocate Jarrid Wilson had lost his life to this terrible epidemic.
In response to this news, Ed Stetzer wrote an article entitled “A Pastor Dies By Suicide: Three Things We All Need to Know“. Ed writes, “There is a perception, and a deeply dangerous one at that, that teaches that once we’ve been born again or are walking in the fullness of the Holy Spirit, the very real challenges of depression, of psychological struggle, of spiritual difficulty, of mental illness, cease. This is a lie. And when we believe this, we make dangerous assumptions.”
This article speaks truth. There was a time when I was paralyzed by the lie that it exposes, and it was a lie that made a dark time even darker. I desperately went to a wise Christian mentor to ask for help with “spiritual problems”…and thankfully left with instructions to go to a doctor and get a prescription for an anti-depressant. It was only after my brain chemicals began to cooperate that I could pursue other avenues of healing.
Why Getting Help is An Act of Faith
Don’t be guilted or shamed into not getting physical help. Getting help is an act of faith! It reflects a trust that God breathed life into us for the purpose of partnering with us to bring about His will on earth. He partners with doctors. He partners with counselors. Let them be His hands and feet. Their lives have purpose…and thus, so does yours!!!
Recognize that His breath has empowered medical interventions, and that He speaks wisdom to people who have dedicated their careers to studying and cultivating this world He created (and entrusted to us to cultivate!)
People who are not on medication are not more “spiritual” than you are. It simply means we currently have other issues to deal with. Some of those issues require medical intervention, some of them need other forms of attention. But ALL of them involve receiving gifts of care from other image-bearing humans.
The journey to healing comes in our willingness to recognize we need help and confess that need to another human being.
