Noah has a conversation with Katara Washington Patton about depression, anxiety, and worry–how common these struggles are in Scripture and amongst Christians, but how they are stigmatized in the church. They talk about breaking through barriers to reach out for help if you need it, as well as how to be a good friend to someone struggling with their mental health.
Ep. 104: Pieter Valk on Singleness, Isolation, & Being in Community
Noah has a conversation with Pieter Valk on how the opposite of addiction is connection, how our culture grooms us into isolation, and how we need to be very intentional to get out of that rut and find true community.
Ep. 83: Interview with Alan Noble on Suffering, Depression, and Getting Out of Bed
Noah interviews Dr. Alan Noble about his new book On Getting Out of Bed: The Burden & Gift of Living (InterVarsity Press). They discuss the daily realities of suffering and depression contrasted with the church’s tendency to fake it like everything is okay and that if you do things God’s way, he will fix everything.
Ep. 62 Noah’s Story Part 2: Depression
In this episode, he talks about his journey and struggle with depression
Psalm 39 Devotional – When Emptiness Overwhelms You
The pain continues but he doesn’t face it alone. It continues but he doesn’t act like it’s his fight to win. Even in the midst of blaming God for his pain, he knows that God is his hope and deliverer. This may not preach well, but there is a deep comfort in it for those who experience deep pain and deep anguish and pray very difficult prayers to God. When we know God could have prevented a horrible thing from happening, but it happened. When we know God can remove a horrible circumstance from our lives, but it continues. Satan’s temptation and our internal anger wants us to abandon God. To blame God and flee our faith. And if we did so, what would we be left with? Who would be left to win the war for us? Who would be our shelter and refuge? If we make that choice, we are then completely and truly alone, with only our feeble fists and beaten down strength to fight off all the evil that Satan and this fallen world bombard us with. The psalms chart out a better path. A path of hope. A path of victory. Even in your darkest hour, even when all hope seems lost, run to God. Cry out to God. Give him all of your emotion. Blame him if you need to, he can handle it. But keep your hope in him. Keep him as your shelter in the storm and refuge in the war. If you die from the bullets, die in his arms. If the storm overwhelms you, be overwhelmed in his arms.
Psalm 31 Devotional – When Darkness Comes
It’s so helpful for me to hear the psalmist describe the simultaneous reality of his darkness and his refuge. In modern Christianity, it can often feel like results are supposed to come instantaneously when we cry out to God for help. That we are in the darkness, we pray that God would take the darkness away, and the darkness is gone! But time and time again, that is not the pattern we see in the Psalms. Yes, the psalmist is praying that God will take away the darkness, but the right now prayer is that God will be his refuge, shelter, and fortress in the midst of the darkness. This is something I can hold on to. This is something that actually gives my soul peace as I deal with my own seasons of darkness.