October 17, 2023 • 26 mins
Have you ever considered the spaces we retreat to when the world becomes too much? Join me today as I discuss some of the hidden corners of our minds where we often stash away our mental health battles.
We will explore the masks we wear, the distractions we employ, and the ways we deny our struggles. Although we expose the dark reality of avoidance, denial, and substance abuse as desperate attempts to escape pain, it's not all doom and gloom. Alongside these harsh truths is a beacon of hope, a strategy to overcome. We'll walk through recognizing the red flags, seeking help, and the ultimate hiding place – where faith, resilience, and hope reside.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Before we start today , I do want to just pause and
say a prayer or let people knowthat we are praying or standing
with Israel and the viciousattacks that came from just pure
(00:24):
hatred and pure evil and anyinnocent lives that were lost on
either side of the actualinnocent.
But there is a lot of just purehatred and evil that comes just
straight from the pit of hellthat really caused so much of
(00:48):
this, and we know it's part ofthe plan.
That's.
The crazy thing is that this isall part of the plan, that
everything is lining up.
Everything's already beenmentioned and it's playing out
just as it was talked aboutthousands and thousands of years
(01:12):
ago in the Word of God, in theBible.
It is coming to fruition, butmy prayers go out to everyone
involved.
Today, on the episode, we aregoing to be talking a little bit
about some of the things I'vefaced with mental health issues
(01:34):
and some of the places I triedto hide behind some of the
characteristics, I guess, is theword I'm looking for, and maybe
there'll be a red flag for you,maybe not, I don't know, but in
the end, stick around, becausethere is one ultimate hiding
place to hide all your mentalhealth battles, but you have to
(01:59):
stick around to the end to findit All that more happening right
after this.
(02:20):
Welcome back to the when WordsDon't Come Easy podcast.
I am Andy Howard and it is sogood to have you.
I hope that if this is yourfirst time you've ever joined
the podcast, I hope it won't beyour last.
This is a podcast about hope.
It's a podcast about hope.
(02:41):
It's a place where, each week,I'm going to do my best to
encourage and to share hope forreally a busted up and broken
world.
We're all in need of a littlehope, and, whether it's through
having a guest or through meflying solo on a topic, I wanted
(03:07):
to leave you better than youwere before you found this
podcast, and today is one ofthose episodes.
Today is an episode where I amgoing to do my best to describe
some hiding places that you turnto when facing depression or
(03:32):
mental health issues.
I will never pretend to be theexpert or the know it all on the
subject, but I'm just a dudewho is grinding out with you
guys.
I have overcome depression, butit's something that I think I
(04:00):
will probably continue with forthe rest of my life, and now I
have just checks in place tokeep me grounded and keep me
going forward, and now I'm awareof those things that start to
creep in before I fall off theedge, I guess for lack of better
(04:21):
words.
And so today I wanted to try topoint out some hiding places
for those who may be sufferingfrom mental health issues, and I
hope this makes sense to you.
But we're going to bring themto light and maybe some of you
(04:44):
guys are facing some of thesethings and it will help you.
But in the end, I do want toshow you the ultimate hiding
place of where you can take yourmental health and your
depression, anxiety, fear,whatever it may be.
(05:06):
So the first hiding place Iwould mention is denial denial.
In fact, for me, even I didn'tthink I had depression yet per
se.
I thought, I thought I washaving a few bad days, and
what's wild is how those baddays lead to bad weeks, lead to
(05:31):
bad months and before long mywife is telling me I don't, you
don't seem the same, you don'tseem happy.
You need help, you need to seek, you need to seek a counselor,
you need to find someone you cantalk to.
And it started with denial.
(05:54):
You may minimize it, you mayeven deny its existence of
mental health problems oranxiety.
You may tell everybodyeverything is fine, just be
careful, and then maybeeverything is.
And I don't want to be one tomake something bigger than it is
(06:19):
.
Like if you have a hang now andall the something happens,
we're all going to have bad days, right?
In fact, that's a promise fromthe word that we will face hard
times, but we just have somebodyto take them to through Jesus.
But at the same time, if youare in need, you should never
(06:43):
not get help because you'redenying that it exists.
You're ignoring that it exists.
Just if you had a broken arm,if you had a old muscle, if you
are, if you were a diabetic andneeded help from a doctor, you
(07:04):
would not avoid these things.
For whatever reason, mentalhealth has that stigma where,
where it's like a badge of honorto not admit it and it's like
I'm good, I don't need any help,and that comes from the now.
And I think that's like theoldest, the oldest trick in the
book.
The enemy wants to devour you.
(07:26):
He wants to still kill anddestroy you.
That's, that's in the wordright.
But God came, jesus came, thatwe can have life and have it to
the fullest, have the mostabundant life, and you can't get
that unless you get help.
And so it's.
It's the oldest trick in thebook because even like the
(07:47):
animals, right?
Even the predator wants toseparate and devour the prey.
And so don't fall for it thatyou have to do this on your own,
that you have to do it alone.
Seek help, get over the denialpart.
Seek counsel, seek help, and Idid kind of get off my notes
(08:13):
there and jumped into thecircuit when.
But it's avoidance, and that'swhere I was talking about.
You know, the predator and theprey, but avoidance you will
find many people will avoidsituations, they'll avoid other
people, they'll avoid activitiesthat trigger these mental
(08:35):
health issues, they will isolatethemselves from potential
stressors, and that could verywell be a sign of mental health
issues If you find yourselfavoiding things, if you find
yourself sitting alone, if it'seasier for you to stay alone
(08:59):
than with people.
We were, we were built forcommunity and I think 2020, and
I'm not getting political here,just but hear me out 2020
brought this to light all theisolations right, when, when,
when the world was shut down andyou saw the numbers, you saw
(09:21):
the the depression numbersskyrocket.
You saw the anxiety numbersskyrocket and there was a lot of
chaos out there.
There was a lot of stuff wherewe didn't know what was
happening.
There was a lot of otherreasons as well, but I believe a
huge part in that was theavoidance we were.
We were alone, we did not havecommunity.
(09:43):
It was not the same.
Third one would be substanceabuse, and many people who are
dealing with mental health wouldturn to drugs or alcohol as a
means of self self medication.
All in all, I'm trying just tonumb or escape the pain.
(10:06):
Maybe it's caused by trauma,maybe it's caused by real life
issues of a job situation orlack thereof, a job needing a
job.
Whatever the source of pain,you try to block that out by
(10:28):
turning to a substance abuse,and I would even take it a step
further and say even just anaddiction.
An addiction because that couldbe anything.
I have never done drugs oralcohol to this, you know, to
this day, praise God, and I'mnot judging, that's not any form
(10:50):
of judgment or a look at me butpornography, even turning to
food, comfort food, just as bad.
Whatever addiction you turn toto numb the pain or serve as a
(11:15):
distraction could be a sign thatyou're struggling with mental
health.
The fourth one I would bring upgoes along the same line.
You distraction in general.
You're looking for distractions, dissolution that constantly
keeps you busy or preoccupied sothat you don't have time to
(11:40):
think about whatever it is thatyou're struggling with.
Hobbies, excessive use oftechnology to avoid
self-reflection.
Sometimes you see a work ofholics like wow, those guys.
They're dedicated to theircraft, they work so hard.
(12:02):
And then you realize thatthey're working so hard to avoid
dealing with whatever pain orissue that they are struggling
with.
It's easier and even if you'resuccessful, it makes it even
harder, I think because you findconfidence in I am so good in
this area of my life that I candive into this.
(12:28):
I can hide here and not have toface the mental health issue
that I'm dealing with.
I don't have to face thedepression here because I am
really good here, I getcomplimented here, and so it
makes me want to work harder andlonger here.
Wow.
(12:48):
Emotional suppression Sometimeswe suppress or ignore our
emotions altogether, or fusingto acknowledge or express true
feelings.
It's so much easier.
I know there were so many timeswhen I was at the height of my
depression that I didn't tellanybody.
(13:11):
It was so much easier just forme to try to carry it by myself.
I didn't want to bug my wifewith it.
First of all I thought she waslike this hero because she was
handling it like a champ.
I didn't want to feel weak.
I didn't want her to see theman of the house who can't even
(13:33):
deal with our daughter or thesituation that was going on.
It was hard.
Not only did I not tell her, Ididn't tell my pastor, I didn't
seek counsel.
I didn't even want to talkabout my feelings.
Every time there was a chanceand I felt that nudge, I got to
tell somebody, I got to seekhelp.
It was easier for me to try tocarry it and it was actually the
worst thing for me.
(13:54):
I tried to suppress, I tried todo whatever I could, some of
these other things we mentionedabove, to just not face it, just
suppress the feelings.
Procrastination you may delayseeking help or addressing your
mental health needs.
(14:16):
Putting off therapy, puttingoff medication or whatever it is
.
That's a sign that you needhelp, bro.
You hide in procrastination.
The last one I would say thatjumps out to me is masking.
That was very good at this.
You put on a brave face, youput on a smile, you hide behind
(14:39):
a title Everything is just fine.
Have you ever noticed that theword fine, when we ask somebody,
hey, how are you doing?
What's up, man, how's it going?
We don't really expect ananswer.
(15:01):
We're not equipped to hear ananswer.
We're hoping for the word fine,I'm fine.
Then we leave and myencouragement would be to listen
(15:21):
.
I mean people who arestruggling with mental health,
with anxiety.
They leave clues, they tell youif we listen, and even the way
they say fine Most times, if wedouble down on them and say, hey
, are you really?
(15:42):
It's not a bad thing.
Yeah, oh, yeah, I'm great.
I'm great it's because so manytimes, the first time we ask
someone how they're doing, thefirst answer is not the true
answer.
So take that with you next timeyou're greeting somebody.
The first answer I'm fine is isjust the token answer that
they're programmed to say.
(16:03):
But the second answer hey, howare you doing?
The second answer is how theyreally are feeling, because they
are not used to getting askedtwice.
And if they say no, no man, I'mgood and you know.
But I mentioned in thebeginning, there's.
(16:24):
There's another place where youcan hide your mental health,
where you can hide your, whereyou can hide your depression,
your anxiety, your fears,whatever it is.
It all has a name, so it has tobow at the feet of Jesus.
(16:46):
You can hide in Jesus, and theBible mentions the concepts of
hiding in Jesus or God inseveral passages, and I just
wanted to read a few of these.
There's actually four of them,four verses, and I want you to
(17:06):
commit these to memory and holdon to them.
Print them, write them on a, ona napkin somewhere.
Print them and put it up inyour cubicle, in your office or
at your work, on your desk, inyour truck, your vehicle, on
(17:29):
your mirror in your bathroom.
So first thing you see everymorning is this.
Maybe even save it as ascreensaver on your phone,
whatever it takes to be remindedof all these places where you
can hide in Jesus or God.
And first one is Psalms 327.
It says you are my hiding place.
(17:50):
You will protect me fromtrouble.
It's around me with songs ofdeliverance.
You are my hiding place, jesusis your hiding place when you're
hurting, when you're struggling.
And hide with Jesus, hide inhim.
(18:12):
He knows anyway, right.
So one of those we mentionedearlier we're scared to tell
people about.
You can trust Jesus, you canhide in him.
He already knows you, hecreated you, he watches you, he
sees you, so why not bring it tohim when you're struggling?
(18:32):
Colossians 3-3 says for you diedand your life is now hidden
with Christ in God.
I love that.
See, when we surrender, when wegive our heart to Jesus, our
man dies and we live in Christ.
(18:58):
The old man dies and we areborn in new creation and we are
alive in Jesus.
So we can hide in Him.
We can take all of our fears,of all our old self, and give
them to Jesus.
The next verse is Psalms 91.1.
I want you to hold on to this.
(19:19):
Whoever dwells in the shelterof the Most High will rest in
the shadow of the Almighty.
Talk about hiding.
We can hide in the shelter ofGod, in the Most High.
We can take our problems, wecan take our burdens, we can
take all of them and when wegive them to Him, we rest in His
(19:39):
shadow, in the shadow of theAlmighty.
He cares for you, he cares foryou so much and he wants to
carry this stuff.
You were never intended to holdon to it in the first place.
So surrender to Him, give it toHim.
(20:00):
And then Isaiah 32, 2 is verysimilar with shelter.
It says Each one will be like ashelter from the wind and a
refuge from the storm, likestreams of water in the desert,
in the shadow of a great rock ina thirsty land.
These verses, they convey theideal that when we trust in God
(20:23):
and have a personal relationshipwith Jesus Christ, we find
refuge, protection.
With Jesus Christ, we findpeace by holding and by hiding
in Him, by hiding in Him, bysurrender.
You know, when I was a kid andI'd get scared, I would hide
(20:44):
under the blanket, hide, fullyunder the blanket.
I don't know why.
I thought that was going totake care of.
Whatever the boogeyman wasright, I would completely
submerge.
Hide under the blanket.
That's what we're doing Hide inJesus, hide in the Most High.
(21:05):
You don't have to carry thisanymore.
I hope some of this has helped.
If it's caused more confusion,feel free to message me, because
I would love to clarifyanything that I may have thrown
at you in this short podcast.
But know that you are loved,that you have a God who created
(21:28):
you exactly as you are, and hehasn't forgotten you and he
cares more than you can evercomprehend, and there are people
that are surrounding you wholove you more than you will ever
believe.
So don't fall for the lie thatno one cares and they're not
going to help you, that you haveto carry this on your own
(21:50):
because you don't.
That's what I had struggledwith for so long, and I would
hide in so many other thingsthat didn't bring true peace.
It only kicked the can down theroad till I finally had to deal
with it later.
Know you're loved and knowthere's hope for you, so never
give up.
God bless everybody.
(22:11):
Hey, if you're in need of helptoday, first of all, if you are
wanting to harm or hurt yourself, dial 988.
That is a confidential supportto people in suicidal crisis or
mental health related distress.
Simply dial 988, or you cantext 988 and you will be
(22:35):
connected to someone who canhelp you with the lifeline
network Again completelyconfidential.
So there used to be a longnumber for it, a long hotline,
suicidal hotline number.
Now it's just 988.
So remember that number.
(22:59):
Most of all, though, I hope thisepisode has been helpful for
you to find some, maybe some redflags that may lead to
depression or anxiety or evenmental health disorders, and if
you're related to some of those,don't wait till you get to a
(23:20):
desperate situation.
Seek help.
Today you can just check withyour local doctors where I
started, told them a few of mysymptoms, told them a few of the
things that my wife had pointedout in me, and he said let's
take this simple test.
And we did, and you know what.
He provided a great therapistin the area who lined up with my
(23:43):
values Christian godly,christian therapist who helped
me so much.
And it was that easy and it wasthe beginning of the road to my
recovery.
So there's nothing wrong withasking for help.
That's what I want to encourageyou to do.
Don't wait till it's too lateto ask for help.
(24:06):
Don't wait till it's too late.
In fact, I just want to prayfor you, a simple prayer, and
then we'll end this outro.
Or I ask you, I ask you rightnow just to comfort the listener
, comfort whoever it is that maystumble on this podcast maybe
(24:27):
somebody sent it to them becausethey care for them and because
they love them and ask right nowthat you're overwhelming peace.
Just surround them with yourcomfort and with your love and
you let them know that they areimportant, that they were
created for a reason and apurpose, and you're not done
with them yet.
You have such a huge plan fortheir lives.
(24:49):
That only happens when wesubmit to you and we surrender
to you, and I ask, if they don'tknow you, or let them come to
know you Right away.
Provide someone in their lifethat can lead them to you and
help them with whatever they'refacing, whatever stress,
(25:11):
whatever led to this depression.
Help them with that.
In Jesus' name, amen, just knowthere's always hope.
There is always hope.
If you'd like to find out moreor hear more of my story, you
can do that from the book.
When Words Don't Come Easy, youcan find that at AndyHowardcom
(25:31):
or if I'm ever in your area,come see me.
I'd love to connect with youAgain.
That's at AndyHowardcom where Ishow the places I'll be
speaking in the near future andI just want to be a blessing to
you.
I hope this has been a blessingto you.
If it has, please send it tosomebody that God has laid on
(25:52):
your heart.
Send it to somebody who needs alittle bit of hope in their
life.
Thank you, guys for joining.
I'll see you next time.
Thanks so much for tuning in.
If this episode helped you inany way, it would mean the world
to me if you would leave areview and share it with
somebody else.
Thanks so much.
See you next time.
Before we start today , I do want to just pause and
say a prayer or let people knowthat we are praying or standing
with Israel and the viciousattacks that came from just pure
(00:24):
hatred and pure evil and anyinnocent lives that were lost on
either side of the actualinnocent.
But there is a lot of just purehatred and evil that comes just
straight from the pit of hellthat really caused so much of
(00:48):
this, and we know it's part ofthe plan.
That's.
The crazy thing is that this isall part of the plan, that
everything is lining up.
Everything's already beenmentioned and it's playing out
just as it was talked aboutthousands and thousands of years
(01:12):
ago in the Word of God, in theBible.
It is coming to fruition, butmy prayers go out to everyone
involved.
Today, on the episode, we aregoing to be talking a little bit
about some of the things I'vefaced with mental health issues
(01:34):
and some of the places I triedto hide behind some of the
characteristics, I guess, is theword I'm looking for, and maybe
there'll be a red flag for you,maybe not, I don't know, but in
the end, stick around, becausethere is one ultimate hiding
place to hide all your mentalhealth battles, but you have to
(01:59):
stick around to the end to findit All that more happening right
after this.
(02:20):
Welcome back to the when WordsDon't Come Easy podcast.
I am Andy Howard and it is sogood to have you.
I hope that if this is yourfirst time you've ever joined
the podcast, I hope it won't beyour last.
This is a podcast about hope.
It's a podcast about hope.
(02:41):
It's a place where, each week,I'm going to do my best to
encourage and to share hope forreally a busted up and broken
world.
We're all in need of a littlehope, and, whether it's through
having a guest or through meflying solo on a topic, I wanted
(03:07):
to leave you better than youwere before you found this
podcast, and today is one ofthose episodes.
Today is an episode where I amgoing to do my best to describe
some hiding places that you turnto when facing depression or
(03:32):
mental health issues.
I will never pretend to be theexpert or the know it all on the
subject, but I'm just a dudewho is grinding out with you
guys.
I have overcome depression, butit's something that I think I
(04:00):
will probably continue with forthe rest of my life, and now I
have just checks in place tokeep me grounded and keep me
going forward, and now I'm awareof those things that start to
creep in before I fall off theedge, I guess for lack of better
(04:21):
words.
And so today I wanted to try topoint out some hiding places
for those who may be sufferingfrom mental health issues, and I
hope this makes sense to you.
But we're going to bring themto light and maybe some of you
(04:44):
guys are facing some of thesethings and it will help you.
But in the end, I do want toshow you the ultimate hiding
place of where you can take yourmental health and your
depression, anxiety, fear,whatever it may be.
(05:06):
So the first hiding place Iwould mention is denial denial.
In fact, for me, even I didn'tthink I had depression yet per
se.
I thought, I thought I washaving a few bad days, and
what's wild is how those baddays lead to bad weeks, lead to
(05:31):
bad months and before long mywife is telling me I don't, you
don't seem the same, you don'tseem happy.
You need help, you need to seek, you need to seek a counselor,
you need to find someone you cantalk to.
And it started with denial.
(05:54):
You may minimize it, you mayeven deny its existence of
mental health problems oranxiety.
You may tell everybodyeverything is fine, just be
careful, and then maybeeverything is.
And I don't want to be one tomake something bigger than it is
(06:19):
.
Like if you have a hang now andall the something happens,
we're all going to have bad days, right?
In fact, that's a promise fromthe word that we will face hard
times, but we just have somebodyto take them to through Jesus.
But at the same time, if youare in need, you should never
(06:43):
not get help because you'redenying that it exists.
You're ignoring that it exists.
Just if you had a broken arm,if you had a old muscle, if you
are, if you were a diabetic andneeded help from a doctor, you
(07:04):
would not avoid these things.
For whatever reason, mentalhealth has that stigma where,
where it's like a badge of honorto not admit it and it's like
I'm good, I don't need any help,and that comes from the now.
And I think that's like theoldest, the oldest trick in the
book.
The enemy wants to devour you.
(07:26):
He wants to still kill anddestroy you.
That's, that's in the wordright.
But God came, jesus came, thatwe can have life and have it to
the fullest, have the mostabundant life, and you can't get
that unless you get help.
And so it's.
It's the oldest trick in thebook because even like the
(07:47):
animals, right?
Even the predator wants toseparate and devour the prey.
And so don't fall for it thatyou have to do this on your own,
that you have to do it alone.
Seek help, get over the denialpart.
Seek counsel, seek help, and Idid kind of get off my notes
(08:13):
there and jumped into thecircuit when.
But it's avoidance, and that'swhere I was talking about.
You know, the predator and theprey, but avoidance you will
find many people will avoidsituations, they'll avoid other
people, they'll avoid activitiesthat trigger these mental
(08:35):
health issues, they will isolatethemselves from potential
stressors, and that could verywell be a sign of mental health
issues If you find yourselfavoiding things, if you find
yourself sitting alone, if it'seasier for you to stay alone
(08:59):
than with people.
We were, we were built forcommunity and I think 2020, and
I'm not getting political here,just but hear me out 2020
brought this to light all theisolations right, when, when,
when the world was shut down andyou saw the numbers, you saw
(09:21):
the the depression numbersskyrocket.
You saw the anxiety numbersskyrocket and there was a lot of
chaos out there.
There was a lot of stuff wherewe didn't know what was
happening.
There was a lot of otherreasons as well, but I believe a
huge part in that was theavoidance we were.
We were alone, we did not havecommunity.
(09:43):
It was not the same.
Third one would be substanceabuse, and many people who are
dealing with mental health wouldturn to drugs or alcohol as a
means of self self medication.
All in all, I'm trying just tonumb or escape the pain.
(10:06):
Maybe it's caused by trauma,maybe it's caused by real life
issues of a job situation orlack thereof, a job needing a
job.
Whatever the source of pain,you try to block that out by
(10:28):
turning to a substance abuse,and I would even take it a step
further and say even just anaddiction.
An addiction because that couldbe anything.
I have never done drugs oralcohol to this, you know, to
this day, praise God, and I'mnot judging, that's not any form
(10:50):
of judgment or a look at me butpornography, even turning to
food, comfort food, just as bad.
Whatever addiction you turn toto numb the pain or serve as a
(11:15):
distraction could be a sign thatyou're struggling with mental
health.
The fourth one I would bring upgoes along the same line.
You distraction in general.
You're looking for distractions, dissolution that constantly
keeps you busy or preoccupied sothat you don't have time to
(11:40):
think about whatever it is thatyou're struggling with.
Hobbies, excessive use oftechnology to avoid
self-reflection.
Sometimes you see a work ofholics like wow, those guys.
They're dedicated to theircraft, they work so hard.
(12:02):
And then you realize thatthey're working so hard to avoid
dealing with whatever pain orissue that they are struggling
with.
It's easier and even if you'resuccessful, it makes it even
harder, I think because you findconfidence in I am so good in
this area of my life that I candive into this.
(12:28):
I can hide here and not have toface the mental health issue
that I'm dealing with.
I don't have to face thedepression here because I am
really good here, I getcomplimented here, and so it
makes me want to work harder andlonger here.
Wow.
(12:48):
Emotional suppression Sometimeswe suppress or ignore our
emotions altogether, or fusingto acknowledge or express true
feelings.
It's so much easier.
I know there were so many timeswhen I was at the height of my
depression that I didn't tellanybody.
(13:11):
It was so much easier just forme to try to carry it by myself.
I didn't want to bug my wifewith it.
First of all I thought she waslike this hero because she was
handling it like a champ.
I didn't want to feel weak.
I didn't want her to see theman of the house who can't even
(13:33):
deal with our daughter or thesituation that was going on.
It was hard.
Not only did I not tell her, Ididn't tell my pastor, I didn't
seek counsel.
I didn't even want to talkabout my feelings.
Every time there was a chanceand I felt that nudge, I got to
tell somebody, I got to seekhelp.
It was easier for me to try tocarry it and it was actually the
worst thing for me.
(13:54):
I tried to suppress, I tried todo whatever I could, some of
these other things we mentionedabove, to just not face it, just
suppress the feelings.
Procrastination you may delayseeking help or addressing your
mental health needs.
(14:16):
Putting off therapy, puttingoff medication or whatever it is
.
That's a sign that you needhelp, bro.
You hide in procrastination.
The last one I would say thatjumps out to me is masking.
That was very good at this.
You put on a brave face, youput on a smile, you hide behind
(14:39):
a title Everything is just fine.
Have you ever noticed that theword fine, when we ask somebody,
hey, how are you doing?
What's up, man, how's it going?
We don't really expect ananswer.
(15:01):
We're not equipped to hear ananswer.
We're hoping for the word fine,I'm fine.
Then we leave and myencouragement would be to listen
(15:21):
.
I mean people who arestruggling with mental health,
with anxiety.
They leave clues, they tell youif we listen, and even the way
they say fine Most times, if wedouble down on them and say, hey
, are you really?
(15:42):
It's not a bad thing.
Yeah, oh, yeah, I'm great.
I'm great it's because so manytimes, the first time we ask
someone how they're doing, thefirst answer is not the true
answer.
So take that with you next timeyou're greeting somebody.
The first answer I'm fine is isjust the token answer that
they're programmed to say.
(16:03):
But the second answer hey, howare you doing?
The second answer is how theyreally are feeling, because they
are not used to getting askedtwice.
And if they say no, no man, I'mgood and you know.
But I mentioned in thebeginning, there's.
(16:24):
There's another place where youcan hide your mental health,
where you can hide your, whereyou can hide your depression,
your anxiety, your fears,whatever it is.
It all has a name, so it has tobow at the feet of Jesus.
(16:46):
You can hide in Jesus, and theBible mentions the concepts of
hiding in Jesus or God inseveral passages, and I just
wanted to read a few of these.
There's actually four of them,four verses, and I want you to
(17:06):
commit these to memory and holdon to them.
Print them, write them on a, ona napkin somewhere.
Print them and put it up inyour cubicle, in your office or
at your work, on your desk, inyour truck, your vehicle, on
(17:29):
your mirror in your bathroom.
So first thing you see everymorning is this.
Maybe even save it as ascreensaver on your phone,
whatever it takes to be remindedof all these places where you
can hide in Jesus or God.
And first one is Psalms 327.
It says you are my hiding place.
(17:50):
You will protect me fromtrouble.
It's around me with songs ofdeliverance.
You are my hiding place, jesusis your hiding place when you're
hurting, when you're struggling.
And hide with Jesus, hide inhim.
(18:12):
He knows anyway, right.
So one of those we mentionedearlier we're scared to tell
people about.
You can trust Jesus, you canhide in him.
He already knows you, hecreated you, he watches you, he
sees you, so why not bring it tohim when you're struggling?
(18:32):
Colossians 3-3 says for you diedand your life is now hidden
with Christ in God.
I love that.
See, when we surrender, when wegive our heart to Jesus, our
man dies and we live in Christ.
(18:58):
The old man dies and we areborn in new creation and we are
alive in Jesus.
So we can hide in Him.
We can take all of our fears,of all our old self, and give
them to Jesus.
The next verse is Psalms 91.1.
I want you to hold on to this.
(19:19):
Whoever dwells in the shelterof the Most High will rest in
the shadow of the Almighty.
Talk about hiding.
We can hide in the shelter ofGod, in the Most High.
We can take our problems, wecan take our burdens, we can
take all of them and when wegive them to Him, we rest in His
(19:39):
shadow, in the shadow of theAlmighty.
He cares for you, he cares foryou so much and he wants to
carry this stuff.
You were never intended to holdon to it in the first place.
So surrender to Him, give it toHim.
(20:00):
And then Isaiah 32, 2 is verysimilar with shelter.
It says Each one will be like ashelter from the wind and a
refuge from the storm, likestreams of water in the desert,
in the shadow of a great rock ina thirsty land.
These verses, they convey theideal that when we trust in God
(20:23):
and have a personal relationshipwith Jesus Christ, we find
refuge, protection.
With Jesus Christ, we findpeace by holding and by hiding
in Him, by hiding in Him, bysurrender.
You know, when I was a kid andI'd get scared, I would hide
(20:44):
under the blanket, hide, fullyunder the blanket.
I don't know why.
I thought that was going totake care of.
Whatever the boogeyman wasright, I would completely
submerge.
Hide under the blanket.
That's what we're doing Hide inJesus, hide in the Most High.
(21:05):
You don't have to carry thisanymore.
I hope some of this has helped.
If it's caused more confusion,feel free to message me, because
I would love to clarifyanything that I may have thrown
at you in this short podcast.
But know that you are loved,that you have a God who created
(21:28):
you exactly as you are, and hehasn't forgotten you and he
cares more than you can evercomprehend, and there are people
that are surrounding you wholove you more than you will ever
believe.
So don't fall for the lie thatno one cares and they're not
going to help you, that you haveto carry this on your own
(21:50):
because you don't.
That's what I had struggledwith for so long, and I would
hide in so many other thingsthat didn't bring true peace.
It only kicked the can down theroad till I finally had to deal
with it later.
Know you're loved and knowthere's hope for you, so never
give up.
God bless everybody.
(22:11):
Hey, if you're in need of helptoday, first of all, if you are
wanting to harm or hurt yourself, dial 988.
That is a confidential supportto people in suicidal crisis or
mental health related distress.
Simply dial 988, or you cantext 988 and you will be
(22:35):
connected to someone who canhelp you with the lifeline
network Again completelyconfidential.
So there used to be a longnumber for it, a long hotline,
suicidal hotline number.
Now it's just 988.
So remember that number.
(22:59):
Most of all, though, I hope thisepisode has been helpful for
you to find some, maybe some redflags that may lead to
depression or anxiety or evenmental health disorders, and if
you're related to some of those,don't wait till you get to a
(23:20):
desperate situation.
Seek help.
Today you can just check withyour local doctors where I
started, told them a few of mysymptoms, told them a few of the
things that my wife had pointedout in me, and he said let's
take this simple test.
And we did, and you know what.
He provided a great therapistin the area who lined up with my
(23:43):
values Christian godly,christian therapist who helped
me so much.
And it was that easy and it wasthe beginning of the road to my
recovery.
So there's nothing wrong withasking for help.
That's what I want to encourageyou to do.
Don't wait till it's too lateto ask for help.
(24:06):
Don't wait till it's too late.
In fact, I just want to prayfor you, a simple prayer, and
then we'll end this outro.
Or I ask you, I ask you rightnow just to comfort the listener
, comfort whoever it is that maystumble on this podcast maybe
(24:27):
somebody sent it to them becausethey care for them and because
they love them and ask right nowthat you're overwhelming peace.
Just surround them with yourcomfort and with your love and
you let them know that they areimportant, that they were
created for a reason and apurpose, and you're not done
with them yet.
You have such a huge plan fortheir lives.
(24:49):
That only happens when wesubmit to you and we surrender
to you, and I ask, if they don'tknow you, or let them come to
know you Right away.
Provide someone in their lifethat can lead them to you and
help them with whatever they'refacing, whatever stress,
(25:11):
whatever led to this depression.
Help them with that.
In Jesus' name, amen, just knowthere's always hope.
There is always hope.
If you'd like to find out moreor hear more of my story, you
can do that from the book.
When Words Don't Come Easy, youcan find that at AndyHowardcom
(25:31):
or if I'm ever in your area,come see me.
I'd love to connect with youAgain.
That's at AndyHowardcom where Ishow the places I'll be
speaking in the near future andI just want to be a blessing to
you.
I hope this has been a blessingto you.
If it has, please send it tosomebody that God has laid on
(25:52):
your heart.
Send it to somebody who needs alittle bit of hope in their
life.
Thank you, guys for joining.
I'll see you next time.
Thanks so much for tuning in.
If this episode helped you inany way, it would mean the world
to me if you would leave areview and share it with
somebody else.
Thanks so much.
See you next time.
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