Go Ahead and Step on Me
Mental health emergency room visits and suicide rates are up in young adults during the pandemic, according to the CDC. It grieves my heart to know people feel hopeless, alone, and distanced. They can’t see a future or their purpose when they’re stuck in a holding pattern that feels never-ending. For those of us who’ve been around for a bit, we’ve survived ups and downs before. It’s easier for us to have confidence that the sun will rise and the storm will eventually blow over.
People aren’t born with resilience. It’s learned usually through pressure hardships and adversity.
Only those 30 years old and older will have experienced the ’08-‘09 recession Only those 45 and older will remember the Black Monday stock market crash of ‘87. Only those in their nineties would have been impacted by the Great Depression. High school and college-age kids don’t have the perspective to know they won’t always be stuck in the valley and that the fog will lift.
More than ever, we need to pour into those around us: our neighbors, friends, children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, etc. We need to teach them resilient faith. Let them know that this too will pass. They may argue that the circumstances are different. We’ve never been through a pandemic. That is why faith is the “confidence in what we hope for and the assurance about what we have not seen (Hebrews 11:1).” Let them lean on our faith because we know God will take what the enemy meant for evil and turn it for good.
Nehemiah was grieved after hearing about the circumstances in Jerusalem, and he begged the king of Persia to allow him to return to help his people. As they labored to build a wall and faced opposition from the neighboring counties, Nehemiah called his people together and told them, “Don’t be afraid of the enemy! Remember the Lord, who is great and glorious, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes!” Nehemiah 4:14.
It is crucial for us to reach out. We must fight for the next generation, their marriages, their minds, and especially for their spirit. We need to offer them hope and loan them our faith. Let them use it as a stepping stone to lift them above the clouds. By stepping on our shoulders, we can help them rise above the fog.
It’s not in our strength alone. Resilience means believing in something bigger than you.
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