If someone you love is battling anxiety, depression, or another mental health challenge, thank you for staying.

Loving someone through a difficult season isn't easy. There are moments when you don't know what to say, when you don't know how to help, and when you wish you could take their pain away but can't.

Have you ever prayed for something to change, go away, or be healed, and it didn’t happen?

Me too.

And we’re not the first.

The apostle Paul knew what it was like to carry something he desperately wanted God to take away.

He called it “a thorn in my flesh” and described it as “a messenger from Satan to torment me.” (2 Corinthians 12:7 NLT)

Loneliness doesn’t mean there’s nobody around you. Often times, it can be the exact opposite.

You can have a full house, a packed social calendar, a church small group, a spouse who loves you, and still feel completely alone. Not because the people in your life aren't trying. But because none of them can see the full picture of what's happening inside you.

What does God say to someone who is depressed, anxious, or struggling to keep going?

Despite what you may have heard, he doesn't say:

Have more faith.
Why don’t you trust me?
Get it together.
Do more.
How’s your prayer life?

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28

It’s one of the most hope-filled promises in Scripture and one of the hardest to understand. All things? That’s a bold claim. Because if we’re honest, we can name so many things around us that are anything but good.