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One of the battles we fight right now is for our mental health. I have heard of many who struggle to keep a healthy outlook during these troubled times. We face a barrage of information about a virus we’re still learning about. The disruption to our lives causes questions and raises fears. The uncertainty of how long this will go on creates even more strain.

The struggle to gain and maintain mental health is not new. We use different terms today but we can still discover it through the writings of history. The Psalms of the Bible provide us with an open view of this battle. David and other author express their thoughts and struggles in these prayers.

Psalm 42 presents one of many great examples. David is struggling. He’s so disturbed that he’s crying day and night (My tears have been my food day and night). Others mock him for continuing to trust in God (People say to me all day long, “Where is your God?)” He pours out his soul to God. But he not only unloads the trouble from his soul. He challenges or preaches to his soul!

Psalm 42:11 – Why my soul are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God.”

So what is he doing? He questions his soul. He explores why his soul is down and disturbed. Though he does not discover an answer (at least in the moment), he then instructs his soul to put hope in God. In fact, he moves from feeling downcast to a hopeful statement – “For I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God.”

This pattern teaches us a reality that we need to grasp about ourselves. Our thoughts about life or our situation can be incorrect or incomplete. We may look at our circumstances and make wrong conclusions. “It’s all over. Everything is lost. We will never get through this.” If our thoughts or soul comes up with this kind of thinking, we will have corresponding feelings. If I truly believe that everything is lost or we will not get through this, I am not going to feel well. I will be downcast and despairing.

But we can challenge those thoughts with others like “It’s not over. Not everything is lost. We will get through this somehow” Or better yet, we can remind ourselves of God and His care for us in this. “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end.” “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, You are with me.” With these challenges to our initial conclusions, our thinking can return to a healthier place.

So when we struggle with our mental health, following David’s example can help. First, he unloads his thoughts and his soul to the Lord. Just let whatever is there, come out. God can take it. But after we’ve unloaded, we need to recall the Lord’s help and evaluate our thinking. We can learn to preach to ourselves with the truth from God. Then when we find ourselves going down a similar path mentally, we may stop those thoughts with truth and maintain our health.

“Lord God, these times are challenging mentally. There is so much uncertainty. We may be more unsure about the future than we ever have before. Yet You are Faithful and Trustworthy. So when my thoughts go a bit crazy, thank you for being there to listen. But then remind of the truth so I can regain your perspective.”

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