May 8, 2025 • 44 mins
Can the Psalms help with anxiety, grief, and emotional burnout? Rachel Schlesinger shares how reading the Psalms daily became a lifeline during motherhood and loss. Discover how these ancient prayers offer peace, healing, and spiritual grounding for modern mental health struggles. If you're seeking comfort, stillness, or deeper connection with God, this episode will guide you in using the Psalms as a pathway to emotional and spiritual wellness.
Want to dive into the Psalms for yourself? Click here for our Psalms Devotional—on sale for a limited time only!
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Rifle Paper Co. Journal
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This episode was originally published on July 11th, 2024.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Ellen (00:04):
At the Coffee and Bible Time podcast.
Our goal is to help you delightin God's Word and thrive in
Christian living.
Each week we talk to subjectmatter experts who broaden your
biblical understanding,encourage you in hard times and
provide life-building tips toenhance your Christian walk.
We are so glad you have joinedus.
(00:25):
Welcome back to the Coffee andBible Time podcast.
This is Ellen, your host, andtoday we are going to discuss
how the book of Psalms can helpour mental health and emotional
well-being.
You know, the Psalms encompasssuch a wide range of human
(00:46):
emotions, from joy and gratitudeall the way to sorrow and
despair, and they provide thismeans for us to express feelings
that might be difficult toarticulate otherwise.
And they're also just a sourceof deep spiritual insight.
They contain prayers, praisesand reflections that can deepen
(01:12):
one's understanding andrelationship with God.
In addition, they containpractical wisdom and moral
teachings that you can apply toyour everyday life.
They offer guidance on living arighteous and faithful life.
And you know, ultimately thePsalms encourage such deep
reflection and meditation, andthey invite readers to pause, to
(01:36):
ponder and to engage withprofound spiritual truths.
And today I have the privilegeof welcoming back a very dear
friend of mine, rachelSchlesinger, and she is going to
share with us her experience ofadventuring through the book of
Psalms.
(01:56):
So please welcome Rachel.
Rachel (02:01):
Thank you, ellen, great to be here.
Ellen (02:04):
Thank you, ellen.
Great to be here.
I'm so excited to have you backon.
We will put a link in our shownotes because I had the
opportunity to talk with Rachelone other time and you will love
that podcast as well.
But, rachel, for this one,let's start back to the year
that you and I were in Biblestudy together, to the year that
(02:24):
you and I were in Bible studytogether and it was time for our
summer break.
Rachel (02:33):
Share with us how you came to spend your summer
studying the Psalms and how youwent about doing that.
Yeah, so I don't know if yourmemory is any better than mine.
I was trying to place the yearon this and so I feel like it
might have been about 2013,around that time, and one of the
reasons I think I even knowthat is the little journal book
that was given to us by you thatsummer had a copyright date of
(02:55):
2013 on it, so I'm thinkingthat's about the time that it
was.
But, yeah, we had thischallenge and it was to glean.
That was that word to gleanthrough the Psalms.
And I still have everything,and it's such a joy to look back
on that.
And so I have that little paperthat encouraged us to read one
(03:17):
Psalm a day, in any order youwanted, and just to write down
what you learned about God'scharacter and his ways, or write
down a verse or summarize partof that passage.
And that is where it started.
And for me, when I started tolook back on this, ellen, I was
like Psalms was my first love,and you know what they say you
(03:40):
never forget your first love,and that's really where it
started down to me, and so Iended up like writing all
because you know you got to pickany order and so then I was
losing track of where I was.
So I'd write down, like on theback of my paper, every chapter
and mark them off when I hadbeen done and kind of see where
(04:02):
my time was.
Did I have a lot of time toread a bigger one?
Or, you know, not enough timeand read a smaller one?
But you know, I can stillpicture that time in my life.
I lived in my townhome at thetime.
I can picture the chair I satin to read those.
My oldest was, I think, abouttwo at that time.
So I'd have to wake up, youknow, before he him and try to
(04:28):
time that and guess what thatwould be.
But that was the start of itall and you know we'll get
through some of it on thispodcast.
But anytime we've been inconversation or I've been in
conversation with friends,psalms always comes back up
Because, like I said, you justnever forget that first love.
Ellen (04:47):
And I will never forget, rachel, the look on your face
when we met then the next yearand I remember you saying oh
Ellen, I'm so glad we, you know,had that summer challenge to
read through Psalms and it wasjust.
(05:09):
I could tell from just the lookon your face how you had
gleaned so much from it.
Well, as you were going throughit, what recurring themes
related to emotional well-beingdid you notice throughout the
Psalms?
(05:29):
Because so many people rightnow are challenged with
emotional well-being, and whatcan we take from what you've
learned that might help someone?
Rachel (05:44):
Yeah, we take from what you've learned that might help
someone.
Yeah, when I was thinking aboutthe themes of the Psalms, I
kind of put it into three basic,basic categories.
And it's that God's in control,he greatly loves us and there's
a period of waiting, and so youknow God talks about that.
He is our dwelling place, he'snear to us to seek him when
(06:05):
we're troubled.
He hears, he knows, he answersus.
That's prevalent through allthese Psalms and so there's even
time that you know he addressesthere about feeling like we've
been forgotten.
Did God forget about me?
Does God know what I'm goingthrough?
And that even when you're inthose times, that he's still
(06:27):
worthy of trust and praise, andto look back at what he has been
faithful in, to know he will befaithful in the future.
And so that's that part of Godis in control and thank goodness
that he holds us in his handthrough that.
The other part is just the love.
(06:48):
You know that his love enduresforever.
There's nothing we can do rightor wrong to earn or to lose
that love.
And that there's this yearning.
You know, in Psalm 84, it talksabout yearning to be with him,
yearning to be home, and thislove.
(07:12):
That's just not completewithout God.
And so there's times we havethose yearnings in our life.
You know, that's this theme thatGod's talking about to us in
the Psalms, and basic truth isthat I'm loved, I'm dearly loved
, I'm wanted by him, and so, andthen to you know the waiting,
and um, there's so many timesthat he gives examples of this.
(07:34):
You know, psalm 40, verse one,talks about I waited patiently
for the Lord.
That means I had to wait and wedidn't like it.
There's all that through there.
Psalm 27, 14, talks about waitfor the Lord, be strong and take
heart, but wait for the Lord.
(07:55):
And so, when it turns of mentalhealth or mental, emotional
wellbeing, that safety net thatwe crave is control controlling
the circumstances, controllingthe outcome, controlling the
future, the unknown, the thingswe don't know that will happen.
And, um, you know, the Psalmsreally just brings those themes
(08:19):
together that God is in control,that he loves you, and there's
a waiting piece to this.
There's a little more.
I want to cover back into thislater too, but there was a point
in time when I kind of justsurmised what I learned through
all of that, and I think thesereally go strong with these
themes and that's do not fear.
(08:39):
Concentrate on trusting God.
Just do what needs to be done.
Relax in his sovereignty.
Remember that he goes before meand he will bring good.
Ellen (08:58):
Those are such powerful themes that every one of us can
have experienced that.
We can latch on to that.
You know God in his word andhis faithfulness.
It's so hard though in themoment, isn't it Like when we're
just in the depths of notknowing, like you said, feeling
(09:22):
out of control, not knowing whatthe future holds or in some
specific situation that you'rein.
But I love how, in the Psalms,it always draws you back and,
like you said, looking back onGod's faithfulness helps you get
through.
It really is our I can say ouronly hope.
It's what does get you frompoint A to point B when you're
(09:47):
in such a hard state oftentimes.
Rachel (09:52):
Yeah, and if I can just expand kind of on mental health,
what is mental health, mentalwellbeing?
Our mental health is tied tothese themes that are all
throughout the Psalms.
Our mental health as people istied to our sense of security,
our sense of place and belonging, our sense of confidence, our
(10:13):
sense of self-worth.
You know, that's a big part ofour mental health piece.
And it's also mental health istied to your surroundings, your
environment, your basic needs,how busy you are, and when
you're in those times yourmental health can suffer because
of noise.
You can't hear God with thesevoices, these sounds, this noise
(10:35):
.
You know, and so you know sucha common or popular Psalm, psalm
46, 10, just be still.
That's my anthem Always bestill and know that I am God.
Well, why is he saying that?
Because God can and does speakin loud ways.
However, I believe most of thetime he's speaking to us in this
(10:58):
still soft voice.
And so you know, I'm a healthand PE teacher, as you know, and
we have this lesson that we gothrough each year about the ear
and we study that and we studyhearing and decibels, and so
there's this lesson that we talkabout 80 decibels is kind of
this threshold of where noisestarts to become uncomfortable
(11:23):
and over long term periods ofexposure to noise and chaos, at
even just 80 decibels it cancause damage and that noise can
continue to increase and allthese louder and bigger sounds,
and you know, going from justlike a backfire sound or a fire
truck sound all the way to likea building collapsing and
(11:44):
explosion freight train, thosetypes of sounds.
Well, anyway, collapsing andexplosion freight train, those
types of sounds.
Well, anyway, the more thosedecibels go up, the less you can
hear individual voice.
You cannot decipher thedifferent noises that cause
chaos together and that leads tostress, that leads to anxiety,
and that can just be from anenvironmental hearing point of
(12:07):
view.
So when you start to equatethat to mental health, it's so
blatant that when we have toomuch noise we cannot hear.
God, you know.
And what's noise?
It's too many.
We say this with my coworkerall the time.
Too many tabs are open, right,I got all these tabs open in my
(12:27):
mental computer and I haven'tclosed any of them.
That's noise.
Too many yeses in our life,that's noise.
Social media, all those things,opinions, even of family and
friends, that dynamic busyness,scheduling, and so when you have
(12:48):
that extreme noise?
How do you heal the ear?
What would you do after youwent to a loud concert for a
long time?
Amazing concert.
You enjoyed the noise, yet youfelt this reverberation in your
ears after you would be still.
You would be quiet.
And so what can we do to bestill and to be quiet?
We can physically be still andquiet, but we can soak in the
(13:12):
Psalms, you know, and that's forme in that time, in my life too
, of these themes back to God'sin control.
He loves us and we have to waitfor him, and we have to be
quiet to hear his voice.
Ellen (13:27):
That's such an important reminder.
I know I really need that todayand I loved all the tabs open.
I feel like sometimes it doesget out of control the number of
tabs for everything that yousay yes to, and we do need to be
very conscientious and makegood decisions on how busy and
(13:52):
noisy our lives can get.
Well, Rachel, how did yourknowledge of God change and
expand from reading the Psalmsrelated to finding comfort and
hope specifically?
Rachel (14:08):
Well, I can remember back to the beginning of our
time in Bible study thinking,you know, people always talk
about read the Bible.
You need to read your Bible.
Well, how do you read yourBible?
Do you just thumb through thepages and stop where it stops?
You know, do you just pick oneof the books and you know, just
kind of struggling with, likehow do you actually do it?
(14:30):
And I just know that thischallenge is what changed for me
to just write down what I'velearned about God.
That was so easy and so thatbaby step.
When I look back on the journalthat I had of Psalms, it is
literally just those things.
It's passages, it's passages,it's just short summaries.
(14:51):
I really had this need forstructure.
So I made sure I never wentover one page because I knew I
needed to save space in thejournal.
And you know it's nothing morethan a summary of God.
But then when I pick up thejournal of the next book I did
which for me was Proverbs Likewow, well, I did the same thing,
but there's these short prayersI wrote at the bottom and I
(15:14):
started to write some of thosethings back to God, you know, in
there.
And then I pick up the next one.
I did.
I think I started Ephesiansafter that and then I realized,
well, I need another journaljust for the prayers I'm writing
, and so just to see how thisbaby step of knowledge expanded
(15:36):
and grew with every book, everystage, every storm, every step
that I took has grown into whereI am now and who I am now.
And so you know, I just seethat thread throughout.
But also, really, what thePsalms taught me was to dwell
with him and what that meant.
(15:58):
You know, when I started this Iwas a first time young mom, and
there is no more taxing time onyour mental and emotional
health than going fromindependent, self-sufficient,
selfish woman to needed, covered, exhausted, selfless mother,
(16:22):
and that's draining and that'svery taxing on the mental health
and that's very taxing on themental health.
And so I think that time thatGod put this in my life, just
let me fill my bucket.
Not enough that I needed, buthe let that time fill the bucket
overflowing, because he knew Ineeded more than what I had,
(16:45):
just for myself.
So I feel like that I had extrato give during that season of
life when you're so drainedbecause I filled.
The other thing too is when yougo through these storms and how
did this expand from the Psalmsis that you're building this
rock, this foundation that youdon't know you're going to need
(17:10):
later, and to step every daythrough these things the routine
, the mundane, the missed days,the days you got it on and you
feel like you did it right.
Those are building blocks tostand on.
You know when the storm comes,and so this way that we
organized it again just writedown what you know about God
(17:30):
turned into me in one storm inmy life where I started to prove
God was there with me in thestorm, because I wanted to be
able to look back and put littlecheck marks in my writing where
he had shown up.
And that might've been assimple as a timing hey, I have
(17:54):
this going on, this going on andthis needs to happen in this
tiny window I don't control it,that's my prayer and you know,
covered with a hundred otherprayers.
But to go back and be like, ohmy gosh, that phone call did
happen when I needed to, youmiss those opportunities to see
his presence.
And so I just think that whenyou document is what Psalms
(18:18):
really taught me to do.
Ellen (18:19):
When you document, you can go back and see his evidence
, and you can go back and seeyour growth, and that's such a
beautiful thing and you can goback and see your growth, and
that's such a beautiful thing itis, and I love how you pointed
(18:40):
out that it is such a simplething and I think so many people
are so busy that this issomething simple that they can
do.
And, rachel, I was justthinking of my daughter, ashley.
She just had a baby.
He's four weeks old now and itbrings me back thinking back
about what it was like and howhard it is and how you have just
(19:02):
such minimal amounts of time,and that definitely is something
that you can do while you'renursing even is just pick a
psalm and reflect on who God isand what you learn about his
character.
Rachel (19:24):
Yeah, and really quick, ellen, just to say too about
that.
And that stage is this ideaagain of dwell.
Dwelling with him may look sodifferent and feel so different
when you have a four-week-oldbaby.
It may look so different whenyou have kids that are older.
It may look so different whenyou're single.
You know when your career isbusy, when your career is not
(19:44):
busy and all these things.
And so to know that, to notmeasure it against someone else
and to be, I think, if we'rethinking about mental health and
emotional security, to be okaywhen, in your mind, you failed.
I was going to get up early, Iwas going to do this then, or I
was going to do this in bedafter I put baby to bed and then
(20:06):
you fell asleep, or then theywoke up, or then this happened.
It's okay.
These dwelling just meansthere's not a number, there's
not a checklist, you don't haveto get through everything in a
certain timeline, you just haveto dwell when you can dwell with
him.
Ellen (20:24):
Yes, yes, excellent, excellent point, good reminder
for all of us.
Let's talk a little bit aboutKing David, because he was a
prominent writer of the Psalms.
What did you learn from howDavid reflected, how he
meditated on the Psalms, andwhat have you sort of been able
(20:49):
to use to improve mental healthrelated to that?
Rachel (20:55):
Well, david is such an amazing example because he
probably had every range ofemotion and situation in Psalms.
So it is a smorgasbord foreveryone, whatever you're
feeling, wherever you're at, ifyou're feeling great, if you're
feeling terrible.
If youord for everyone,whatever you're feeling,
wherever you're at, if you'refeeling great, if you're feeling
terrible, if you're feelingpersecuted, if you're feeling
you know, sent by God, he's beenall those things, and so what I
(21:18):
really think that David teachesis that anyone, from anywhere,
can be used by God.
They are loved by God.
You can be loved by God.
You can sin against God.
He feared God.
David doubted God and he wasstill identified as someone, as
(21:42):
a man after God's own heart.
And so I just am thankful forthis example.
If you don't know a lot aboutDavid, if you don't know a lot
about the Psalms, you think he'sthis perfect example.
But yet what he teaches throughthat is you don't have to be
perfect, you don't have to haveall the answers.
(22:03):
To be loved by God and to havea heart for God, you're going to
make mistakes, you're going tomess up.
You have to seek him forforgiveness, to free yourself of
guilt, to free yourself ofthese things, and David had to
do that.
David went from being a son anda brother to being a best
(22:25):
friend, to being someone thatwas being persecuted, to being
this great king, to being thisadulterer, you know, to being
this great king, this father andthis whole gamut of the
spectrum of life.
And what David did throughoutall those seasons was just love
(22:46):
God.
And I think back to that worddwell.
You know, dwelling is the giftthat we get right now from God,
for the hope that we have in thegift.
Later, when we're in heaven, wedwell with him for eternity.
And so, to know, dwelling isthis gift.
It can make these other thingsin your life seem a little less
(23:12):
significant or carry a littleless weight when our perspective
is long-term, thisindescribable gift we're getting
later.
When we focus too much on righthere and now and forget our main
goal, our main purpose, we getweighed down in that.
And so, you know, god's got aplan for me.
(23:34):
All I have to do is have aheart for it.
It will find me.
I cannot outrun out, hide outsin, you know, make this mistake
that will ruin this plan thatGod has for me.
His purpose is going to befulfilled, no matter what, and
so I just think that Davidreminds us of that.
(23:54):
His pedestal is not hiscircumstances and his leadership
, it's his heart, it's hishumility, it's his vulnerability
in sin, you know.
And he struggled with thingsmany people struggle with.
Ellen (24:12):
Yeah, absolutely.
And you know, one thing thatyou said reminded me of just I
think one thing that weighs usdown, our mental health down, is
when we don't forgive ourselves.
And the fact that David, inthat sort of whole debacle with
Bathsheba I mean having his, herhusband, killed, I mean these
(24:36):
were very grave sins and hegreatly repented for them, but
you see him throughout thePsalms being able to forgive
himself, knowing that Godforgives him and being able to
move on with his life and not tosay that there weren't
(24:58):
consequences, because theredefinitely were.
But forgiveness is is soimportant.
Yeah, we you know in our house.
Rachel (25:10):
We have this chalkboard right at our garage door for
when we leave and I thought Iwould change it over time and
I've decided to not, because itjust is such a stark reminder of
my unworthiness as a human, mysin, and that God is more.
And it says God can use me inspite of my flaws, and that just
(25:33):
sits there when we leavebecause I mess up, I sin, I see
my sin.
Sometimes I think I'm betterthan my sin, all these things,
and yet God is bigger than thatand I just find that to be such
a free forgiveness when we're sohard on ourselves.
Ellen (25:55):
Yes, and what a great lesson as well for your kids,
right?
Because they get frustratedwith themselves too when they
know they goof up yeah.
Rachel (26:07):
And you can take that on as an identity, right, and
that's the thing with the Psalms, like your identity can be
found in these pages, and whenyour identity says, well, I'm a
troublemaker or I am not good atthis, or I'm that, that's this
lie to who we really are.
(26:27):
And so trying to really groundyour identity in God, in what he
says about you and who you arein him, yeah, so so important.
Ellen (26:41):
Well, for those of you that don't know, Rachel, she
mentioned that she is a teacher.
You're also an incredible wife,mother, friend.
How have you relied on thePsalms to face different
situations in your life, inthese different roles that you
(27:03):
have, and that would encouragesomeone who's listening today,
who is so many things to so manypeople.
Rachel (27:13):
Well, yeah, I mean, like I said, you'd never forget your
first love, and Psalms laidthis foundation in me that I had
no way of predicting or knowing.
We just become a part of who Iam in my life.
And I mentioned, you know, howit carried over in these other
(27:34):
books.
And so the joy again ofdocumenting is that this daily
plodding along in the regularseasons of life grew so
beautifully that you know Istruggled, praying out loud
originally and just rememberingwhat I was saying and I get
(27:55):
sidetracked and all of this.
But when I write my prayersdown I can slow my brain down,
and so to see that grow, it'ssuch a direct line from the
Psalms and when those stormscame, they're what I came back
to.
And so I even think you knowthis little book from, oh, so
(28:19):
many years ago with all thePsalms.
There's so many times that Ihave come back to this and maybe
it's because something wasgoing on in my life, or maybe I
heard a sermon and I was like,oh, psalm 93.
I wonder what I thought aboutPsalm 93, you know, and to kind
of go into that and look, and tokind of go into that and look.
(28:51):
It just was a joy to have thiswhen I needed to go back and see
what he said to me about allthat was going on.
And two, when there's differenttypes of storms that come in
your life and really, I think,the ones that hit you the
hardest about the whole purposethat God has for us, and when is
when it's life and death right,and when we get this
perspective of death rocked withthat.
(29:12):
The Psalms are what I drew backto, because they're this
portrait of this yearning again,this home going, that we're
going to.
And so for me, you know, mostrecently, you know, the hardest
(29:35):
thing that I went through wasthe death of my grandfather, and
you know we had.
He was diagnosis to death in 30days and I'm just so grateful
to God because I got our family,got a gift that I just don't
think anyone else gets thebenefit of, and because we knew
(29:56):
this day was coming for him.
We had this like goodbyeweekend our whole entire family
gathered and we worked togetherwith him his last week and he
was alive, where we could, youknow, tell stories, sing songs.
We sang songs together and praytogether and pray together.
(30:25):
But I really felt led back tothe Psalms during that time
during this time of lament andgrief and hope.
And so you know my grandfather.
He was this faith-filled rockin our family and I always like
to introduce him by saying hewas the greatest example of
God's love to me on this earth.
And so I during that time justfelt God nudging on my heart
(30:48):
about the Psalms, and so I wasdrawn to Psalm 84.
And I even have it like justwritten in my Bible that this is
the Psalm that I read as aprayer to him and my entire
family when we were goingthrough that.
And why?
Because to pray back thesewords that God has for us is
(31:13):
just this depth of feeling knownby him.
You know, psalm 84 says howlovely is your dwelling place, o
Lord Almighty.
My soul yearns, even faints,for the courts of the Lord.
My heart and my flesh cry outfor the living God.
Even the sparrow has a home andthe swallow a nest for herself
(31:33):
where she may have her young, aplace near your altar, o Lord
Almighty, my King and my God.
Blessed are those who dwell inyour house.
They are ever praising you.
You know it continues on.
But to in the crux of that, tofeel like the Psalms are what
draw that strength of beingknown and seen and what God says
(31:55):
is true.
He can be trusted for the stepthat we don't know.
The greatest anxiety we ashumans really face is what he
said true, when I die.
Is this all real?
Is this all true?
And the Psalms?
are this rock that you can go toto be trusted.
(32:18):
And so you know that's my mostrecent, greatest example where
they've showed up in my life.
But, ellen, you know we'vewalked this path together a
while in friendship and there'sjust been so much.
You know my fast highlights forpeople going through different
situations.
You know there was a time whereI was witnessed to a major car
accident you remember this storyand I had to get out and help
someone hurt and I just wasdrawn to them in prayer and
(32:41):
asking to pray over them whilewe waited.
I mean that's the Psalms rootedin me.
You know a big pain, a big hurtin my life, that 16 years I
held on to God walked me throughforgiveness in the most
powerful, incredible way.
I wouldn't have had thatwithout the Psalms.
My dear friend, her brother'spassing was this horrible thing
(33:04):
for all of us and we walked.
That month that we knew for himwas coming with, sending Psalms
to his wife, prayers daily, andtimes in my own family when
crisis, medical crisis, hasoccurred.
Medical crisis doesn't actuallyhappen when it's convenient in
your own life, when you havetime.
(33:24):
A lot of times stuff like thesethings happen when you do not
have time and that'soverwhelming.
But to come back to this, thislittle step that you can take by
pulling these truths about whoGod is will show up for you in
these major ways.
And just to kind of wrap itaround, you know how dear my
(33:44):
grandparents are to me, and mygrandmother died this past year
and it was very hard for her,since my grandpa had passed and
she was struggling to say theprayers she had in her heart.
She could not get them out, andso I would write these prayers
for her and I would send them toher like on paper.
(34:08):
And she had this cardinal prayerbox I got for her to keep them
in, and again they were Psalms,you know.
And so it's just from birththrough death, all that we face
and see, these are the wordsthat God has for us with.
(34:28):
He's in control, he loves usand there's waiting that we may
not like, but he's in controland he loves us.
Ellen (34:39):
That's so beautiful and thank you for sharing some of
those examples with us, becauseit really does demonstrate how
God's word is active and alive,how it is sharper than a
two-edged sword, how it issomething that, once we can put
(35:03):
deep in our heart, we cantreasure it.
We can use it for our owncircumstances, we can use it to
help other people.
I know the one thing I wouldjust encourage any of our
listeners is, if you have theopportunity to memorize one of
the Psalms, to have it so thatyou can just pull it out.
(35:23):
I know for me that's Psalm 23.
I pull it out in all differentcircumstances and it's amazing
how God can just use that onePsalm, or the different verses
of it, to encourage andstrengthen and comfort me in
different ways in variousdifferent situations.
So try to get that, pick apsalm and get that tucked into
(35:48):
your heart.
You know, rachel, I also readthrough the psalms that summer
and summer, and the feedbackthat I had received from you and
from other people in our groupinspired me so much that I
encouraged the Coffee and BibleTime team to actually write a
(36:11):
Psalms devotional, which we cameout with at the beginning of
this past year, and it's a30-week devotional that covers
all 150 psalms and it has bothguided prompts and self-study,
so you can do exactly what we'retalking about here.
You have the opportunity toread it, to reflect, to be
(36:34):
prompted to think about things.
So I want to thank you so muchpublicly just for taking that
Psalms challenge and providingthe feedback, and I wanted
everyone to know that that hasinspired and encouraged us here
(36:54):
at Coffee and Bible Time so much.
Rachel (36:57):
Well, thank you.
Thank you, Ellen.
You know, psalms has just beenmy greatest teacher, when I
really think about it, and it'swhere my deep intimacy with the
Lord began and that's where itwas born and it just started,
step by step, with some ups anddowns and slow and steady, and
that's all you need.
You know, wherever you're at,with whatever you're coming
(37:20):
through, just show up and he cando immeasurably more than you
can ask or imagine.
Ellen (37:27):
Beautiful.
Wow, what an awesome way towrap up our discussion of the
Psalms here.
But, rachel, before we go, Ihave to ask you about some of
our favorite Bible study toolquestions.
What Bible is your go-to Bibleand what translation is it?
Rachel (37:47):
Well, my go-to Bible actually kind of coincides with
the Psalms and my journey intomotherhood right after my
anniversary, right after my sonwas born.
My son was born in June and myanniversary was July, so my
husband had gotten me, um, amom's devotional Bible, and it's
a new international version, um, and so I just feel like this
(38:13):
Bible has grown with me.
Um, I loved the insight Ineeded and the little
devotionals in there formotherhood and the different
stages of it, and so it's justbeen awesome to grow in my
confidence as a Bible reader,confidence as a mom and
confidence as the daughter ofthe King.
Ellen (38:36):
Yeah, okay, excellent.
Do you have any favoritejournaling supplies or anything
that you like to use to enhanceyour Bible study time?
Rachel (38:47):
I love a beautiful journal.
It has to be a beautifuljournal.
A fresh one gets me so excited,it's motivating to me, and so
right now, my current favoritesare the Rifle Paper Company
journals.
They're just so beautiful.
I have some flower and bug ones,so they feel summery.
(39:07):
So those are great, becausethen too, I associate each study
or each point in my season.
I'm like I know what journalthat was that was the, that was
the leather one, or that was theflower tree one, or that was
this one.
The other thing, ellen, thiswas a gift from you, and so now
I still use them is thesepost-it tabs.
(39:31):
You remember these post-it tabsso you could just write on these
clear tabs and I use this allthe time for scripture
references or you know some.
I have tabbed.
That said what I learned,different things that I can use,
so I have found these to be areally great tool.
And the last thing that alwaysaccompanies my Bible and my
(39:51):
journals and my notes and allthat is coffee.
Isn't that the theme here?
Coffee and Bible time they goso well together.
Isn't that the theme here?
Ellen (40:01):
coffee and Bible time.
They go so well together.
You better believe it.
Okay, awesome, Okay.
Lastly, what is your favorite?
Rachel (40:10):
app or website for Bible study tools Right now,
currently I'm not using anyspecific app.
You know I've used Blue Letter,Bible and different things like
that before, so actually I'mreally into, just currently, the
power of Google, and I say thatbecause I just finished just I
was so drawn into the book ofActs, just finished Acts, and
(40:32):
the history behind it and thegrowth of the Christian church
and the faith and separate, youknow, from Judaism to all of
this.
And so I, when I would hearthese historical referent things
, I would sometimes would justlook them up and just started to
become like a researcher, Iguess.
And so you know, I'm in Romansnow, so it's a little bit
different, but I didn't use todo that, you know, if I wasn't
(40:55):
sure about a location orsomething like that.
So never underestimate thepower of just looking up
something if you don't know whatit is yes, Great recommendation
.
Ellen (41:06):
Absolutely Well, Rachel.
Thank you so much for beinghere, for sharing your
experience of being in thePsalms in such an effective way
that I hope people listening outthere are encouraged as it
relates to their mental healthand emotional well-being.
(41:27):
So thank you so much.
Rachel (41:29):
Thank you so much for having me.
What a wonderful thing to talkabout with you, my dear friend.
Ellen (41:34):
Yeah, all right, and for our listeners, we hope you feel
encouraged to start studying thePsalms.
Today we are offering a specialcoupon Psalms Podcast.
So that'sP-S-A-L-M-S-P-O-D-C-A-S-T to get
(41:54):
10% off of our Psalmsdevotional that you can find on
Coffee and Bible Time.
We will have all of thatinformation in our show notes.
We love you all.
We thank you for listening.
Have a blessed day.
At the Coffee and Bible Time podcast.
Our goal is to help you delightin God's Word and thrive in
Christian living.
Each week we talk to subjectmatter experts who broaden your
biblical understanding,encourage you in hard times and
provide life-building tips toenhance your Christian walk.
We are so glad you have joinedus.
(00:25):
Welcome back to the Coffee andBible Time podcast.
This is Ellen, your host, andtoday we are going to discuss
how the book of Psalms can helpour mental health and emotional
well-being.
You know, the Psalms encompasssuch a wide range of human
(00:46):
emotions, from joy and gratitudeall the way to sorrow and
despair, and they provide thismeans for us to express feelings
that might be difficult toarticulate otherwise.
And they're also just a sourceof deep spiritual insight.
They contain prayers, praisesand reflections that can deepen
(01:12):
one's understanding andrelationship with God.
In addition, they containpractical wisdom and moral
teachings that you can apply toyour everyday life.
They offer guidance on living arighteous and faithful life.
And you know, ultimately thePsalms encourage such deep
reflection and meditation, andthey invite readers to pause, to
(01:36):
ponder and to engage withprofound spiritual truths.
And today I have the privilegeof welcoming back a very dear
friend of mine, rachelSchlesinger, and she is going to
share with us her experience ofadventuring through the book of
Psalms.
(01:56):
So please welcome Rachel.
Rachel (02:01):
Thank you, ellen, great to be here.
Ellen (02:04):
Thank you, ellen.
Great to be here.
I'm so excited to have you backon.
We will put a link in our shownotes because I had the
opportunity to talk with Rachelone other time and you will love
that podcast as well.
But, rachel, for this one,let's start back to the year
that you and I were in Biblestudy together, to the year that
(02:24):
you and I were in Bible studytogether and it was time for our
summer break.
Rachel (02:33):
Share with us how you came to spend your summer
studying the Psalms and how youwent about doing that.
Yeah, so I don't know if yourmemory is any better than mine.
I was trying to place the yearon this and so I feel like it
might have been about 2013,around that time, and one of the
reasons I think I even knowthat is the little journal book
that was given to us by you thatsummer had a copyright date of
(02:55):
2013 on it, so I'm thinkingthat's about the time that it
was.
But, yeah, we had thischallenge and it was to glean.
That was that word to gleanthrough the Psalms.
And I still have everything,and it's such a joy to look back
on that.
And so I have that little paperthat encouraged us to read one
(03:17):
Psalm a day, in any order youwanted, and just to write down
what you learned about God'scharacter and his ways, or write
down a verse or summarize partof that passage.
And that is where it started.
And for me, when I started tolook back on this, ellen, I was
like Psalms was my first love,and you know what they say you
(03:40):
never forget your first love,and that's really where it
started down to me, and so Iended up like writing all
because you know you got to pickany order and so then I was
losing track of where I was.
So I'd write down, like on theback of my paper, every chapter
and mark them off when I hadbeen done and kind of see where
(04:02):
my time was.
Did I have a lot of time toread a bigger one?
Or, you know, not enough timeand read a smaller one?
But you know, I can stillpicture that time in my life.
I lived in my townhome at thetime.
I can picture the chair I satin to read those.
My oldest was, I think, abouttwo at that time.
So I'd have to wake up, youknow, before he him and try to
(04:28):
time that and guess what thatwould be.
But that was the start of itall and you know we'll get
through some of it on thispodcast.
But anytime we've been inconversation or I've been in
conversation with friends,psalms always comes back up
Because, like I said, you justnever forget that first love.
Ellen (04:47):
And I will never forget, rachel, the look on your face
when we met then the next yearand I remember you saying oh
Ellen, I'm so glad we, you know,had that summer challenge to
read through Psalms and it wasjust.
(05:09):
I could tell from just the lookon your face how you had
gleaned so much from it.
Well, as you were going throughit, what recurring themes
related to emotional well-beingdid you notice throughout the
Psalms?
(05:29):
Because so many people rightnow are challenged with
emotional well-being, and whatcan we take from what you've
learned that might help someone?
Rachel (05:44):
Yeah, we take from what you've learned that might help
someone.
Yeah, when I was thinking aboutthe themes of the Psalms, I
kind of put it into three basic,basic categories.
And it's that God's in control,he greatly loves us and there's
a period of waiting, and so youknow God talks about that.
He is our dwelling place, he'snear to us to seek him when
(06:05):
we're troubled.
He hears, he knows, he answersus.
That's prevalent through allthese Psalms and so there's even
time that you know he addressesthere about feeling like we've
been forgotten.
Did God forget about me?
Does God know what I'm goingthrough?
And that even when you're inthose times, that he's still
(06:27):
worthy of trust and praise, andto look back at what he has been
faithful in, to know he will befaithful in the future.
And so that's that part of Godis in control and thank goodness
that he holds us in his handthrough that.
The other part is just the love.
(06:48):
You know that his love enduresforever.
There's nothing we can do rightor wrong to earn or to lose
that love.
And that there's this yearning.
You know, in Psalm 84, it talksabout yearning to be with him,
yearning to be home, and thislove.
(07:12):
That's just not completewithout God.
And so there's times we havethose yearnings in our life.
You know, that's this theme thatGod's talking about to us in
the Psalms, and basic truth isthat I'm loved, I'm dearly loved
, I'm wanted by him, and so, andthen to you know the waiting,
and um, there's so many timesthat he gives examples of this.
(07:34):
You know, psalm 40, verse one,talks about I waited patiently
for the Lord.
That means I had to wait and wedidn't like it.
There's all that through there.
Psalm 27, 14, talks about waitfor the Lord, be strong and take
heart, but wait for the Lord.
(07:55):
And so, when it turns of mentalhealth or mental, emotional
wellbeing, that safety net thatwe crave is control controlling
the circumstances, controllingthe outcome, controlling the
future, the unknown, the thingswe don't know that will happen.
And, um, you know, the Psalmsreally just brings those themes
(08:19):
together that God is in control,that he loves you, and there's
a waiting piece to this.
There's a little more.
I want to cover back into thislater too, but there was a point
in time when I kind of justsurmised what I learned through
all of that, and I think thesereally go strong with these
themes and that's do not fear.
(08:39):
Concentrate on trusting God.
Just do what needs to be done.
Relax in his sovereignty.
Remember that he goes before meand he will bring good.
Ellen (08:58):
Those are such powerful themes that every one of us can
have experienced that.
We can latch on to that.
You know God in his word andhis faithfulness.
It's so hard though in themoment, isn't it Like when we're
just in the depths of notknowing, like you said, feeling
(09:22):
out of control, not knowing whatthe future holds or in some
specific situation that you'rein.
But I love how, in the Psalms,it always draws you back and,
like you said, looking back onGod's faithfulness helps you get
through.
It really is our I can say ouronly hope.
It's what does get you frompoint A to point B when you're
(09:47):
in such a hard state oftentimes.
Rachel (09:52):
Yeah, and if I can just expand kind of on mental health,
what is mental health, mentalwellbeing?
Our mental health is tied tothese themes that are all
throughout the Psalms.
Our mental health as people istied to our sense of security,
our sense of place and belonging, our sense of confidence, our
(10:13):
sense of self-worth.
You know, that's a big part ofour mental health piece.
And it's also mental health istied to your surroundings, your
environment, your basic needs,how busy you are, and when
you're in those times yourmental health can suffer because
of noise.
You can't hear God with thesevoices, these sounds, this noise
(10:35):
.
You know, and so you know sucha common or popular Psalm, psalm
46, 10, just be still.
That's my anthem Always bestill and know that I am God.
Well, why is he saying that?
Because God can and does speakin loud ways.
However, I believe most of thetime he's speaking to us in this
(10:58):
still soft voice.
And so you know, I'm a healthand PE teacher, as you know, and
we have this lesson that we gothrough each year about the ear
and we study that and we studyhearing and decibels, and so
there's this lesson that we talkabout 80 decibels is kind of
this threshold of where noisestarts to become uncomfortable
(11:23):
and over long term periods ofexposure to noise and chaos, at
even just 80 decibels it cancause damage and that noise can
continue to increase and allthese louder and bigger sounds,
and you know, going from justlike a backfire sound or a fire
truck sound all the way to likea building collapsing and
(11:44):
explosion freight train, thosetypes of sounds.
Well, anyway, collapsing andexplosion freight train, those
types of sounds.
Well, anyway, the more thosedecibels go up, the less you can
hear individual voice.
You cannot decipher thedifferent noises that cause
chaos together and that leads tostress, that leads to anxiety,
and that can just be from anenvironmental hearing point of
(12:07):
view.
So when you start to equatethat to mental health, it's so
blatant that when we have toomuch noise we cannot hear.
God, you know.
And what's noise?
It's too many.
We say this with my coworkerall the time.
Too many tabs are open, right,I got all these tabs open in my
(12:27):
mental computer and I haven'tclosed any of them.
That's noise.
Too many yeses in our life,that's noise.
Social media, all those things,opinions, even of family and
friends, that dynamic busyness,scheduling, and so when you have
(12:48):
that extreme noise?
How do you heal the ear?
What would you do after youwent to a loud concert for a
long time?
Amazing concert.
You enjoyed the noise, yet youfelt this reverberation in your
ears after you would be still.
You would be quiet.
And so what can we do to bestill and to be quiet?
We can physically be still andquiet, but we can soak in the
(13:12):
Psalms, you know, and that's forme in that time, in my life too
, of these themes back to God'sin control.
He loves us and we have to waitfor him, and we have to be
quiet to hear his voice.
Ellen (13:27):
That's such an important reminder.
I know I really need that todayand I loved all the tabs open.
I feel like sometimes it doesget out of control the number of
tabs for everything that yousay yes to, and we do need to be
very conscientious and makegood decisions on how busy and
(13:52):
noisy our lives can get.
Well, Rachel, how did yourknowledge of God change and
expand from reading the Psalmsrelated to finding comfort and
hope specifically?
Rachel (14:08):
Well, I can remember back to the beginning of our
time in Bible study thinking,you know, people always talk
about read the Bible.
You need to read your Bible.
Well, how do you read yourBible?
Do you just thumb through thepages and stop where it stops?
You know, do you just pick oneof the books and you know, just
kind of struggling with, likehow do you actually do it?
(14:30):
And I just know that thischallenge is what changed for me
to just write down what I'velearned about God.
That was so easy and so thatbaby step.
When I look back on the journalthat I had of Psalms, it is
literally just those things.
It's passages, it's passages,it's just short summaries.
(14:51):
I really had this need forstructure.
So I made sure I never wentover one page because I knew I
needed to save space in thejournal.
And you know it's nothing morethan a summary of God.
But then when I pick up thejournal of the next book I did
which for me was Proverbs Likewow, well, I did the same thing,
but there's these short prayersI wrote at the bottom and I
(15:14):
started to write some of thosethings back to God, you know, in
there.
And then I pick up the next one.
I did.
I think I started Ephesiansafter that and then I realized,
well, I need another journaljust for the prayers I'm writing
, and so just to see how thisbaby step of knowledge expanded
(15:36):
and grew with every book, everystage, every storm, every step
that I took has grown into whereI am now and who I am now.
And so you know, I just seethat thread throughout.
But also, really, what thePsalms taught me was to dwell
with him and what that meant.
(15:58):
You know, when I started this Iwas a first time young mom, and
there is no more taxing time onyour mental and emotional
health than going fromindependent, self-sufficient,
selfish woman to needed, covered, exhausted, selfless mother,
(16:22):
and that's draining and that'svery taxing on the mental health
and that's very taxing on themental health.
And so I think that time thatGod put this in my life, just
let me fill my bucket.
Not enough that I needed, buthe let that time fill the bucket
overflowing, because he knew Ineeded more than what I had,
(16:45):
just for myself.
So I feel like that I had extrato give during that season of
life when you're so drainedbecause I filled.
The other thing too is when yougo through these storms and how
did this expand from the Psalmsis that you're building this
rock, this foundation that youdon't know you're going to need
(17:10):
later, and to step every daythrough these things the routine
, the mundane, the missed days,the days you got it on and you
feel like you did it right.
Those are building blocks tostand on.
You know when the storm comes,and so this way that we
organized it again just writedown what you know about God
(17:30):
turned into me in one storm inmy life where I started to prove
God was there with me in thestorm, because I wanted to be
able to look back and put littlecheck marks in my writing where
he had shown up.
And that might've been assimple as a timing hey, I have
(17:54):
this going on, this going on andthis needs to happen in this
tiny window I don't control it,that's my prayer and you know,
covered with a hundred otherprayers.
But to go back and be like, ohmy gosh, that phone call did
happen when I needed to, youmiss those opportunities to see
his presence.
And so I just think that whenyou document is what Psalms
(18:18):
really taught me to do.
Ellen (18:19):
When you document, you can go back and see his evidence
, and you can go back and seeyour growth, and that's such a
beautiful thing and you can goback and see your growth, and
that's such a beautiful thing itis, and I love how you pointed
(18:40):
out that it is such a simplething and I think so many people
are so busy that this issomething simple that they can
do.
And, rachel, I was justthinking of my daughter, ashley.
She just had a baby.
He's four weeks old now and itbrings me back thinking back
about what it was like and howhard it is and how you have just
(19:02):
such minimal amounts of time,and that definitely is something
that you can do while you'renursing even is just pick a
psalm and reflect on who God isand what you learn about his
character.
Rachel (19:24):
Yeah, and really quick, ellen, just to say too about
that.
And that stage is this ideaagain of dwell.
Dwelling with him may look sodifferent and feel so different
when you have a four-week-oldbaby.
It may look so different whenyou have kids that are older.
It may look so different whenyou're single.
You know when your career isbusy, when your career is not
(19:44):
busy and all these things.
And so to know that, to notmeasure it against someone else
and to be, I think, if we'rethinking about mental health and
emotional security, to be okaywhen, in your mind, you failed.
I was going to get up early, Iwas going to do this then, or I
was going to do this in bedafter I put baby to bed and then
(20:06):
you fell asleep, or then theywoke up, or then this happened.
It's okay.
These dwelling just meansthere's not a number, there's
not a checklist, you don't haveto get through everything in a
certain timeline, you just haveto dwell when you can dwell with
him.
Ellen (20:24):
Yes, yes, excellent, excellent point, good reminder
for all of us.
Let's talk a little bit aboutKing David, because he was a
prominent writer of the Psalms.
What did you learn from howDavid reflected, how he
meditated on the Psalms, andwhat have you sort of been able
(20:49):
to use to improve mental healthrelated to that?
Rachel (20:55):
Well, david is such an amazing example because he
probably had every range ofemotion and situation in Psalms.
So it is a smorgasbord foreveryone, whatever you're
feeling, wherever you're at, ifyou're feeling great, if you're
feeling terrible.
If youord for everyone,whatever you're feeling,
wherever you're at, if you'refeeling great, if you're feeling
terrible, if you're feelingpersecuted, if you're feeling
you know, sent by God, he's beenall those things, and so what I
(21:18):
really think that David teachesis that anyone, from anywhere,
can be used by God.
They are loved by God.
You can be loved by God.
You can sin against God.
He feared God.
David doubted God and he wasstill identified as someone, as
(21:42):
a man after God's own heart.
And so I just am thankful forthis example.
If you don't know a lot aboutDavid, if you don't know a lot
about the Psalms, you think he'sthis perfect example.
But yet what he teaches throughthat is you don't have to be
perfect, you don't have to haveall the answers.
(22:03):
To be loved by God and to havea heart for God, you're going to
make mistakes, you're going tomess up.
You have to seek him forforgiveness, to free yourself of
guilt, to free yourself ofthese things, and David had to
do that.
David went from being a son anda brother to being a best
(22:25):
friend, to being someone thatwas being persecuted, to being
this great king, to being thisadulterer, you know, to being
this great king, this father andthis whole gamut of the
spectrum of life.
And what David did throughoutall those seasons was just love
(22:46):
God.
And I think back to that worddwell.
You know, dwelling is the giftthat we get right now from God,
for the hope that we have in thegift.
Later, when we're in heaven, wedwell with him for eternity.
And so, to know, dwelling isthis gift.
It can make these other thingsin your life seem a little less
(23:12):
significant or carry a littleless weight when our perspective
is long-term, thisindescribable gift we're getting
later.
When we focus too much on righthere and now and forget our main
goal, our main purpose, we getweighed down in that.
And so, you know, god's got aplan for me.
(23:34):
All I have to do is have aheart for it.
It will find me.
I cannot outrun out, hide outsin, you know, make this mistake
that will ruin this plan thatGod has for me.
His purpose is going to befulfilled, no matter what, and
so I just think that Davidreminds us of that.
(23:54):
His pedestal is not hiscircumstances and his leadership
, it's his heart, it's hishumility, it's his vulnerability
in sin, you know.
And he struggled with thingsmany people struggle with.
Ellen (24:12):
Yeah, absolutely.
And you know, one thing thatyou said reminded me of just I
think one thing that weighs usdown, our mental health down, is
when we don't forgive ourselves.
And the fact that David, inthat sort of whole debacle with
Bathsheba I mean having his, herhusband, killed, I mean these
(24:36):
were very grave sins and hegreatly repented for them, but
you see him throughout thePsalms being able to forgive
himself, knowing that Godforgives him and being able to
move on with his life and not tosay that there weren't
(24:58):
consequences, because theredefinitely were.
But forgiveness is is soimportant.
Yeah, we you know in our house.
Rachel (25:10):
We have this chalkboard right at our garage door for
when we leave and I thought Iwould change it over time and
I've decided to not, because itjust is such a stark reminder of
my unworthiness as a human, mysin, and that God is more.
And it says God can use me inspite of my flaws, and that just
(25:33):
sits there when we leavebecause I mess up, I sin, I see
my sin.
Sometimes I think I'm betterthan my sin, all these things,
and yet God is bigger than thatand I just find that to be such
a free forgiveness when we're sohard on ourselves.
Ellen (25:55):
Yes, and what a great lesson as well for your kids,
right?
Because they get frustratedwith themselves too when they
know they goof up yeah.
Rachel (26:07):
And you can take that on as an identity, right, and
that's the thing with the Psalms, like your identity can be
found in these pages, and whenyour identity says, well, I'm a
troublemaker or I am not good atthis, or I'm that, that's this
lie to who we really are.
(26:27):
And so trying to really groundyour identity in God, in what he
says about you and who you arein him, yeah, so so important.
Ellen (26:41):
Well, for those of you that don't know, Rachel, she
mentioned that she is a teacher.
You're also an incredible wife,mother, friend.
How have you relied on thePsalms to face different
situations in your life, inthese different roles that you
(27:03):
have, and that would encouragesomeone who's listening today,
who is so many things to so manypeople.
Rachel (27:13):
Well, yeah, I mean, like I said, you'd never forget your
first love, and Psalms laidthis foundation in me that I had
no way of predicting or knowing.
We just become a part of who Iam in my life.
And I mentioned, you know, howit carried over in these other
(27:34):
books.
And so the joy again ofdocumenting is that this daily
plodding along in the regularseasons of life grew so
beautifully that you know Istruggled, praying out loud
originally and just rememberingwhat I was saying and I get
(27:55):
sidetracked and all of this.
But when I write my prayersdown I can slow my brain down,
and so to see that grow, it'ssuch a direct line from the
Psalms and when those stormscame, they're what I came back
to.
And so I even think you knowthis little book from, oh, so
(28:19):
many years ago with all thePsalms.
There's so many times that Ihave come back to this and maybe
it's because something wasgoing on in my life, or maybe I
heard a sermon and I was like,oh, psalm 93.
I wonder what I thought aboutPsalm 93, you know, and to kind
of go into that and look, and tokind of go into that and look.
(28:51):
It just was a joy to have thiswhen I needed to go back and see
what he said to me about allthat was going on.
And two, when there's differenttypes of storms that come in
your life and really, I think,the ones that hit you the
hardest about the whole purposethat God has for us, and when is
when it's life and death right,and when we get this
perspective of death rocked withthat.
(29:12):
The Psalms are what I drew backto, because they're this
portrait of this yearning again,this home going, that we're
going to.
And so for me, you know, mostrecently, you know, the hardest
(29:35):
thing that I went through wasthe death of my grandfather, and
you know we had.
He was diagnosis to death in 30days and I'm just so grateful
to God because I got our family,got a gift that I just don't
think anyone else gets thebenefit of, and because we knew
(29:56):
this day was coming for him.
We had this like goodbyeweekend our whole entire family
gathered and we worked togetherwith him his last week and he
was alive, where we could, youknow, tell stories, sing songs.
We sang songs together and praytogether and pray together.
(30:25):
But I really felt led back tothe Psalms during that time
during this time of lament andgrief and hope.
And so you know my grandfather.
He was this faith-filled rockin our family and I always like
to introduce him by saying hewas the greatest example of
God's love to me on this earth.
And so I during that time justfelt God nudging on my heart
(30:48):
about the Psalms, and so I wasdrawn to Psalm 84.
And I even have it like justwritten in my Bible that this is
the Psalm that I read as aprayer to him and my entire
family when we were goingthrough that.
And why?
Because to pray back thesewords that God has for us is
(31:13):
just this depth of feeling knownby him.
You know, psalm 84 says howlovely is your dwelling place, o
Lord Almighty.
My soul yearns, even faints,for the courts of the Lord.
My heart and my flesh cry outfor the living God.
Even the sparrow has a home andthe swallow a nest for herself
(31:33):
where she may have her young, aplace near your altar, o Lord
Almighty, my King and my God.
Blessed are those who dwell inyour house.
They are ever praising you.
You know it continues on.
But to in the crux of that, tofeel like the Psalms are what
draw that strength of beingknown and seen and what God says
(31:55):
is true.
He can be trusted for the stepthat we don't know.
The greatest anxiety we ashumans really face is what he
said true, when I die.
Is this all real?
Is this all true?
And the Psalms?
are this rock that you can go toto be trusted.
(32:18):
And so you know that's my mostrecent, greatest example where
they've showed up in my life.
But, ellen, you know we'vewalked this path together a
while in friendship and there'sjust been so much.
You know my fast highlights forpeople going through different
situations.
You know there was a time whereI was witnessed to a major car
accident you remember this storyand I had to get out and help
someone hurt and I just wasdrawn to them in prayer and
(32:41):
asking to pray over them whilewe waited.
I mean that's the Psalms rootedin me.
You know a big pain, a big hurtin my life, that 16 years I
held on to God walked me throughforgiveness in the most
powerful, incredible way.
I wouldn't have had thatwithout the Psalms.
My dear friend, her brother'spassing was this horrible thing
(33:04):
for all of us and we walked.
That month that we knew for himwas coming with, sending Psalms
to his wife, prayers daily, andtimes in my own family when
crisis, medical crisis, hasoccurred.
Medical crisis doesn't actuallyhappen when it's convenient in
your own life, when you havetime.
(33:24):
A lot of times stuff like thesethings happen when you do not
have time and that'soverwhelming.
But to come back to this, thislittle step that you can take by
pulling these truths about whoGod is will show up for you in
these major ways.
And just to kind of wrap itaround, you know how dear my
(33:44):
grandparents are to me, and mygrandmother died this past year
and it was very hard for her,since my grandpa had passed and
she was struggling to say theprayers she had in her heart.
She could not get them out, andso I would write these prayers
for her and I would send them toher like on paper.
(34:08):
And she had this cardinal prayerbox I got for her to keep them
in, and again they were Psalms,you know.
And so it's just from birththrough death, all that we face
and see, these are the wordsthat God has for us with.
(34:28):
He's in control, he loves usand there's waiting that we may
not like, but he's in controland he loves us.
Ellen (34:39):
That's so beautiful and thank you for sharing some of
those examples with us, becauseit really does demonstrate how
God's word is active and alive,how it is sharper than a
two-edged sword, how it issomething that, once we can put
(35:03):
deep in our heart, we cantreasure it.
We can use it for our owncircumstances, we can use it to
help other people.
I know the one thing I wouldjust encourage any of our
listeners is, if you have theopportunity to memorize one of
the Psalms, to have it so thatyou can just pull it out.
(35:23):
I know for me that's Psalm 23.
I pull it out in all differentcircumstances and it's amazing
how God can just use that onePsalm, or the different verses
of it, to encourage andstrengthen and comfort me in
different ways in variousdifferent situations.
So try to get that, pick apsalm and get that tucked into
(35:48):
your heart.
You know, rachel, I also readthrough the psalms that summer
and summer, and the feedbackthat I had received from you and
from other people in our groupinspired me so much that I
encouraged the Coffee and BibleTime team to actually write a
(36:11):
Psalms devotional, which we cameout with at the beginning of
this past year, and it's a30-week devotional that covers
all 150 psalms and it has bothguided prompts and self-study,
so you can do exactly what we'retalking about here.
You have the opportunity toread it, to reflect, to be
(36:34):
prompted to think about things.
So I want to thank you so muchpublicly just for taking that
Psalms challenge and providingthe feedback, and I wanted
everyone to know that that hasinspired and encouraged us here
(36:54):
at Coffee and Bible Time so much.
Rachel (36:57):
Well, thank you.
Thank you, Ellen.
You know, psalms has just beenmy greatest teacher, when I
really think about it, and it'swhere my deep intimacy with the
Lord began and that's where itwas born and it just started,
step by step, with some ups anddowns and slow and steady, and
that's all you need.
You know, wherever you're at,with whatever you're coming
(37:20):
through, just show up and he cando immeasurably more than you
can ask or imagine.
Ellen (37:27):
Beautiful.
Wow, what an awesome way towrap up our discussion of the
Psalms here.
But, rachel, before we go, Ihave to ask you about some of
our favorite Bible study toolquestions.
What Bible is your go-to Bibleand what translation is it?
Rachel (37:47):
Well, my go-to Bible actually kind of coincides with
the Psalms and my journey intomotherhood right after my
anniversary, right after my sonwas born.
My son was born in June and myanniversary was July, so my
husband had gotten me, um, amom's devotional Bible, and it's
a new international version, um, and so I just feel like this
(38:13):
Bible has grown with me.
Um, I loved the insight Ineeded and the little
devotionals in there formotherhood and the different
stages of it, and so it's justbeen awesome to grow in my
confidence as a Bible reader,confidence as a mom and
confidence as the daughter ofthe King.
Ellen (38:36):
Yeah, okay, excellent.
Do you have any favoritejournaling supplies or anything
that you like to use to enhanceyour Bible study time?
Rachel (38:47):
I love a beautiful journal.
It has to be a beautifuljournal.
A fresh one gets me so excited,it's motivating to me, and so
right now, my current favoritesare the Rifle Paper Company
journals.
They're just so beautiful.
I have some flower and bug ones,so they feel summery.
(39:07):
So those are great, becausethen too, I associate each study
or each point in my season.
I'm like I know what journalthat was that was the, that was
the leather one, or that was theflower tree one, or that was
this one.
The other thing, ellen, thiswas a gift from you, and so now
I still use them is thesepost-it tabs.
(39:31):
You remember these post-it tabsso you could just write on these
clear tabs and I use this allthe time for scripture
references or you know some.
I have tabbed.
That said what I learned,different things that I can use,
so I have found these to be areally great tool.
And the last thing that alwaysaccompanies my Bible and my
(39:51):
journals and my notes and allthat is coffee.
Isn't that the theme here?
Coffee and Bible time they goso well together.
Isn't that the theme here?
Ellen (40:01):
coffee and Bible time.
They go so well together.
You better believe it.
Okay, awesome, Okay.
Lastly, what is your favorite?
Rachel (40:10):
app or website for Bible study tools Right now,
currently I'm not using anyspecific app.
You know I've used Blue Letter,Bible and different things like
that before, so actually I'mreally into, just currently, the
power of Google, and I say thatbecause I just finished just I
was so drawn into the book ofActs, just finished Acts, and
(40:32):
the history behind it and thegrowth of the Christian church
and the faith and separate, youknow, from Judaism to all of
this.
And so I, when I would hearthese historical referent things
, I would sometimes would justlook them up and just started to
become like a researcher, Iguess.
And so you know, I'm in Romansnow, so it's a little bit
different, but I didn't use todo that, you know, if I wasn't
(40:55):
sure about a location orsomething like that.
So never underestimate thepower of just looking up
something if you don't know whatit is yes, Great recommendation
.
Ellen (41:06):
Absolutely Well, Rachel.
Thank you so much for beinghere, for sharing your
experience of being in thePsalms in such an effective way
that I hope people listening outthere are encouraged as it
relates to their mental healthand emotional well-being.
(41:27):
So thank you so much.
Rachel (41:29):
Thank you so much for having me.
What a wonderful thing to talkabout with you, my dear friend.
Ellen (41:34):
Yeah, all right, and for our listeners, we hope you feel
encouraged to start studying thePsalms.
Today we are offering a specialcoupon Psalms Podcast.
So that'sP-S-A-L-M-S-P-O-D-C-A-S-T to get
(41:54):
10% off of our Psalmsdevotional that you can find on
Coffee and Bible Time.
We will have all of thatinformation in our show notes.
We love you all.
We thank you for listening.
Have a blessed day.
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