Before I start, if you feel stress or strain, anxiety or depression that’s affecting your life, believe it or not, you are not alone. According to NAMI, here are the Fast Facts. 1 in 5 U.S. adults experience some form of mental health issue each year. 1 in 20 U.S. adults experience serious mental illness each year. 1 in 6 U.S. youth aged 6-17 experience a mental health disorder each year. 50% of all lifetime mental illness begins by age 14, and 75% by age 24. No matter what your age, background, education level, ethnicity, cultural background, or even spiritual standing in the church, there are times when we all have negative thoughts or feel emotionally drained and mentally exhausted. For some people, it can cause feelings of being broken and it may be difficult to know how to deal with those emotions. People don’t fake depression, they “Fake” being okay and that is not something that is generally talked about in the “church” but needs to be. From the outside looking in, the questions are asked, how is your prayer life, are you reading your Bible, who are you spending time with? I mentioned to a friend that due to the cold weather and the rain, I have battled doing anything, the depression has entangled me. His response was “Trust in God.” My response was, “I do, but it is still a dark place to be.” One verse that encourages me in my times of despair is *Romans 8:38 For I am convinced [and continue to be convinced—beyond any doubt] that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present and threatening, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the [unlimited] love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.* When I feel broken, I still trust God because I know that He loves me. When I feel lost, I still continue to trust God to direct my path because I know that He loves me. When I have moments when I feel hopeless and heartbroken, I still actively try to find joy by thirsting after God because I know that He loves me. And when I feel so desperately tired and want to give up, I still continue to carry the pain I live in and move forward, because I know that the Lord is with me and that He loves me. Charles Spurgeon wrote “I find myself frequently depressed – perhaps more so than any other person here. And I find no better cure for that depression than to trust in the Lord with all my heart, and seek to realize afresh the power of the peace-speaking blood of Jesus and His infinite love in dying upon the cross to put away all my transgressions.”