Nobody does it alone
- Kyle Snyder: Live on Purpose
- September 12, 2022
- 925
“It’s OK, not to be OK.” —Sheila Walsh
I know people — and I’m sure you know people as well — who think they can handle life’s problems on their own. From my point of view, most people who have that mindset doom themselves to failure. I have seen it time and time again. They think their life is working, but it’s not. Most of the time they think they are fooling other people by putting on a show, but the only one who ends up being fooled is them. Without anyone to hold our feet to the fire, we will grow to be a victim of our own unrealistic expectations.
I realize one of the hardest things about people is they have their own opinions. We are not going to always like what they say, especially if it is about a bad habit we need to change. It’s very tempting to just write off people and pull back from meeting with people or just meet with like-minded people. There is a time and a place to go inward and do some soul searching, but if we stay that way, we will be in deep trouble.
There have been times in my life where I just had to pull back and focus my eyes on God. Stacey and I were really hurt by a group we were a part of. We then went after God with everything we had, and we never felt closer to him. However, there came a time when we had to get back to other people. I like to be challenged in my thinking and hear other perspectives besides my own. We finally got together with a new group of people who invested in our lives, and we could invest in their lives as well.
Some people don’t like their views to be challenged. They see it as a personal attack on them, or as one guy with whom I disagreed, he thought I was denying him the right to have an opinion. Of course, I wasn’t. Without other people to keep us on our toes, we would build our own little universe and become little gods. That is not only bad, but it dethrones the one true Lord. I don’t always like to be held to the fire; it burns deeply, but I need some of my errors to be consumed.
For some people the idea of counseling is so terrible because they must admit they need help. Others think if they just pray, read the Bible more and confess sin in their life, all their depression and anxiety will go away. However, we would never tell that to someone with heart disease or high blood pressure.
Sometimes I feel if we need help mentally, we might see it as a lack of faith. I am by no means a psychologist, but I studied it, and the more I learned, the more in love with Jesus I became. I feel the biblical principles are being proved by psychology.
For example, psychology found if we have faith in God, we will have more meaning in our lives. One psychologist was asked what to do if a person feels a nervous breakdown coming on. He said to go across the street and help someone in need. I have no idea how that would not be biblical.
I need to get that out there because I am so afraid that even though churches mean well, they may cause people with mental illness to question their faith. Mental illness has absolutely nothing to do with our faith in God. Sometimes, the greatest act of faith we can do is to get help and trust the Lord in the process.