LOVE IN RESPONSE

 Hello there dear gist partner. 

Happy new month!!

How’s the new month looking for you? We’re in the 11th month of 2025!! It seems like time has both sped by and crawled!! It is my prayer that God will guide you through this month and the rest of the year as the year taxis to its terminal. 

Welcome to today’s gist which, by the way, I am writing in the second part of my over 2 hours journey home (everywhere wey person dey go for this Lagos na travel). 

I am currently reading Sharon Garlough’s ‘Shades of Light’ and she explores a concept I’ve always had at the back of my mind and I decided to drop my 2 kobo on it today. 

What is the first reaction you have when you hear that someone is struggling with depression or anxiety or some form of mental disorder? I want you to give an honest answer, then walk with me –you fit no agree with wetin I want talk but still, please hear my opinions on the matter. 

I remember the first time I told someone I was struggling with my mental health, this was years ago, and the person’s reply was how could I, someone who proclaims to be a child of God, suffer from mental illhealth? This view has been expressed on so many occasions in response to the cries for help by various people and there are varying versions of it: “how can you have the Spirit of God and still struggle with your mental health?” “You mean you don’t have faith, you can’t take this thought captive?” “It is a sin to have mental health issues –it means that you don’t trust God!” I really am not going to focus on why people, even those who are christians, suffer with their mental health, what my focus is today is on our reaction to people when we find that they struggle with mental health issues. 

I read someone ask why it was easier for us to pray for people with physical ailments than it was for us to pray for people with mental ailments. I mean, if someone had kidney problems, diabetes, hypertension or even malaria, we’re quick to pray for them and their healing, and we’ll pray quite fervently too! But when we hear that the person is dealing with depression, PTSD, even post partum depression, we begin to ask “wetin dey do the person wey never do another person?” Why should they allow themselves wallow so much in self-pity that it develops into a condition that has to even be named? And why should we take time away from more serious prayer points to pray for a person who simply has to pray harder and they’ll be fine? 

I dare say that this nonchalant approach to mental ailments is not Christian, this one no be “I stand to be corrected matter”, in fact, I do not stand to be corrected! Let’s look quickly at Elijah, that great prophet: he had just seen God perform one of the greatest miracles of all times before Israel(1Kings 18:20-39); he had then strengthened his hands and the hands of Israel to m kill all the prophets of Baal(1 Kings 18:40), and after that, he prayed down rain (1Kings 18:42-45) that had not fallen because he had withheld it for 3 years and six months(1Kings 17:1-7); it was after all of these feats that he went into depression, crazy isn’t it? And when Elijah despaired so much that he asked God to take his life(1 Kings 19:4), watch God’s response: He didn’t come to beat Elijah, He didn’t come to berate Elijah, there was no “you wey I just show My powerful hand as I send fire from Heaven to burn your sacrifice, how dare you despair?!” No, God came to Elijah and brought him food, comfort and knowledge of the return of the reign of Yahweh over Israel (1 Kings 19:5-18). So, if God could respond to depression with love, why do we now as children of God respond with judgment towards people who, ironically, at that moment are in very dire need to love and understanding? The very ‘best’we may now do is try to convince them that it’s all in their head, they are imagining things –as if dem be mad people– and if they could only just stop the train of their thoughts, they would magically become alright (interestingly, the people most filled with opinions on this subject are those who have never had any mental struggles before). 

The truth is that when we alienate people who have mental issues or make them feel foolish or like they’re trying to make mountains out of molehills, we are undermining their pain, which is not a good thing to do, then we are shutting them up because who wants to come again to a place where they’ve been maligned for speaking up about their struggles to speak up again, and when they keep silent about their struggles and feel no one, their illness festers and will probably continue to do so until it consumes them, then we’ll ask what pushed them ‘over the edge’ after they have done something drastic to themselves, the very questions we neglected to ask before whatever tragedy it is befalls them. 

What point am I trying to make, when we see people struggling with their mental health, out first reaction to them must be in love; even if you do not understand what they are going through, react to their plight in love, pray for them and trust God who heals all infirmities to heal them too. 

And if you’re reading this and you struggle with your mental health; I see you. I may not understand, but God does and I pray that He will come to you, touch you and heal you. 

May God open our hearts to love truly. 

TUNES AND THOUGHTS:  our song recommendation for this week is ‘I need you to survive’ by Hezekiah Walker and the love fellowship choir. This song is a reminder of the importance of community among us as believers, of how necessary we are as tools in God’s hands to bless the lives of others; it underscores the importance of intercession and reminds us of the need for a love that looks beyond the surface. May our hearts be rejuvenated to love again. 

Audiomack: https://audiomack.com/hezekiah-walker/song/i-need-you-to-survive?share-user-id=140072136 

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/0ak22I3dEykeH8bwaWLg0k?si=UXppm8erRcabN8304JAG2A 

YouTube Music: https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=JBwUkCYW2n0&si=UYh-6kQI8m_sU2FW 

Well, that is that about that as far as that is concerned, till next week!

 

Love, 

Achenyo. 

 

PS. We’re turning 4 years this month, can you believe it?!