Episode 58

Starting a Mental Health Movement: Advocating for Mental Health Ministry in Your Church with Dr. Sarah Griffith Lund, Author of "Blessed Youth" (Part 2)

Bishop Julius C. Trimble is the Resident Bishop of the Indiana Area of the United Methodist Church.

Bishop Trimble has the personal mission to encourage all people with the love of Jesus Christ to rise to their highest potential. It is his commitment to his personal mission that led Bishop Trimble to create the “To Be Encouraged” Podcast along with co-host Rev.Dr. Brad Miller.

Bishop Trimble says, “I am compelled by Jesus to share with you an encouraging word or two about Jesus, theology, the Bible, the pandemic, the environment, racism, voting rights, human sexuality, and the state of the United Methodist Church.”

To Be Encouraged with Bishop Julius C. Trimble is to be published weekly and is available at www.tobeencouraged.com and all the podcast directories.

https://www.inumc.org/bishop/office-of-the-bishop/

In episode 058 of To Be Encouraged with Bishop Julius C. Trimble, the guest is Reverend Dr. Sarah Griffith Lund, (https://sarahgriffithlund.com/) an ordained minister in Disciples of Christ and United Church of Christ. Lund is an author of several books on mental health, including “Blessed Youth: Breaking the Silence About Mental Illness with Children and Teens.” 

https://blessedmind.org/

Episode 058 of To Be Encouraged focuses on breaking the stigma of mental health in faith communities, especially in churches. Our guest Dr. Sarah Griffith Lund shares personal stories and other important information on mental health advocacy within faith communities to create awareness and support for those who may be struggling with various mental health issues.

Among the topics discussed are the importance of preaching about mental health to encourage people to seek help and the significance of Mental Health Month in May. Dr. Griffith Lund also highlights the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) as a source for trained volunteers who can share their stories and other helpful information.

Churches can offer educational programs and support groups for those dealing with mental health challenges and caregivers. There is also the "WISE" program, which is a ten-step process for churches to become more welcoming and supportive to people with mental health challenges.

Among the most important issues discussed is breaking the stigma of mental illness and acknowledging that people with mental illnesses are blessed and not forsaken. Mental health ministry can be an outreach opportunity to show the love of Jesus to the community and to create a truly welcoming and supportive environment.

Parents also need to closely monitor their children's online activities to ensure their safety. The Internet can provide such connections, but it can also be harmful. Churches can unintentionally be places where judgment towards children's behavior can occur. Therefore, some churches have created spaces and programs that are welcoming to children who may have ADHD, autism, or sensory issues. Additionally, mental health ministry could be created within faith communities to further address these issues and create welcoming environments for everyone.

To combat the suicide epidemic and gun violence associated with mental health issues, partnerships with other organizations such as schools, social service agencies, and healthcare facilities are necessary. 

Faith communities can provide spiritual support groups for mental health, with guidelines available from the United Church of Christ.

The emphasis is that all people are loved, and mental health issues can begin to manifest even in infancy. Eliminating barriers for people with mental health issues is essential for creating welcoming environments in faith communities. Churches need to be proactive about the mental health of their members and the community they serve. By taking action, mental health ministry can be an outreach opportunity to show the love of Jesus to the community.

Episode 058 with Dr. Sarah Griffith Lund is Part two of a two Part Episode featuring a discussion about Dr. Lund's book "Blessed Youth." Part 1 is Episode 057 about "Breaking the Stigma: Encouraging Mental Health Ministry in Faith Communities  and is be available at https://tobeencouraged.com/episode/057

Dr. Sarah Griffith Lund can be contacted about her books and speaking opportunities at:

https://sarahgriffithlund.com/

Her Ministry is Blessed Mind

https://blessedmind.org/

Transcript
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You. So you provide

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a gift for me as I was reading Blessed Youth,

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and I really would like you to expand on it a

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little bit, Sarah,

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because this is kind of a theological word

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as well. Blessed. I think about the Sermon

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on the Mount and different translations of the word, but the word blessed,

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you, you breathe for me, you breathe new life into that word on

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what it means to be holy as well as whole.

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Whole and holy.

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H-O-L-Y So can you say

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more about what blessed? I said this a few days

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ago in a sermon, that our sacred worth is not subject

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to debate. So God has already blessed us

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to be loved, but there's so many other

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voices that come in. So what does the word bless it?

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How do you breathe that life into

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that as being holy and whole? Thank you so

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much. Mental health is what

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impacts our emotions, our feelings, our behaviors,

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our relationships. Mental health impacts everything.

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And so when we are having a mental health challenge, it impacts our

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moods, how we think and feel about ourselves. And so

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oftentimes, mental illnesses will cause a

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low self esteem, a feeling of worthlessness,

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a feeling of hopelessness, despair. The part of our

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brain that processes mental illness is also the similar

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part that processes spirituality. And so

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one of the side effects of it is feeling like God

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has abandoned us because our brains

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have sort of blocked that spiritual pathway. And so people

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can feel utterly abandoned and forsaken

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by God when they are really in what I call the valleys

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of the shadow of mental illness. And so

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in the midst of that, I want to remind myself

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and other folks that we are blessed.

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We are not cursed, we are not forsaken. As we

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hear Jesus say, blessed are the poor in spirit,

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blessed are those who live with mental illness and

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their loved ones. This reminds us that we are more than

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our illness. We are more than our diagnosis. We are more

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than our label. We are more than what's broken about

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us. We are made in the image of God,

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and we are Jesus's beloved disciples,

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part of God's family. And so I have to remind myself

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because like a lot of folks in my family,

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we have generations of mental health challenges. We have bipolar

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disorder that is genetic. So I can see four

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generations of people in my family that have bipolar

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disorder. And so someone might say, wow, is that a family curse?

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This passed on from generation to generation

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who here sinned? And so that's just

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kind of always there for me, because that's so much how we

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talk in the Christian faith, right?

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Cursed and sin, it's all throughout the Bible.

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But really, would God do that? Would God take God's

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precious, beloved people and curse them with generations of

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bipolar disorder? Not. My God. That's not

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a God of love and grace. My God says,

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you know what? You're human, you're beloved. You have a brain.

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Sometimes our brains are made differently. And so

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I like this idea of neurodiversity.

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We all have diversity in the ways our brains work.

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And when folks like your mother in law get support and help,

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these different brains can be beautiful, can create art,

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new ideas, talents.

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And a lot of our best thinking and original ideas

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come from people whose brains are different.

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And so that's also part of this idea of blessed

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and to really focus on the beauty and the

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giftedness that we all have. No matter what mental

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health diagnosis we have or medications we take.

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It'S so important to realize that everyone has

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a story and also the understanding of

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from birth on, we often think of

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people at a certain age things being noticed or diagnosed.

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But in your book, you talk about even early on as infants

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and mental, some of these things are

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happening. I think back now on some things as a parent,

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looking back, I said maybe we were really missing some

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things that were going on. Or even I think of things,

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language that I confess before God and all of our podcast

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listeners that I think back on words that I used or

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thoughts that I had that really were not healthy. You know why? When we

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said, well, those are bad kids as opposed to good kids,

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bad behavior and all of these things that without

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thinking about it, stigmatize and label,

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when really our stories are maybe a lot more complex than

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we extend enough grace to understand.

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Does that make sense? I know I'm rambling a little bit. But maybe you no,

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it does make sense. Yeah. And I think our church can be

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places where that judgment comes out.

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So I think we all have stories of encounters at church

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with our kids where it's like, oh, is my

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kid being bad or is my kid acting in a way that's

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not wanted here? And so our church has

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a playground. We have a space for kids to be in the sanctuary

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where there's no pews or soft pillows and carpeting.

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And other pastors are starting to create spaces where

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children can be themselves if they have ADHD

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or autism, that whatever way they behave, they're not being bad.

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They're just trying to manage all of their

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sensory stimulation. And so

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to not label kids or punish them

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just because their brains have them acting

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and thinking a little different, too many families that are staying home,

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they're not coming to church because they're tired of being

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judged or having their kids labeled or feeling rejected.

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And so it's really a convicting moment that

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there's more we can do, there's more grace and

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love. We can show people. So to be

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proactive about that. So what would it look like for your

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faith community to have a mental health ministry

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where you create spaces and programming that are

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welcoming of youth who are neurodivergent,

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who have autism, who have ADHD,

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who have social phobias and really don't feel comfortable

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interacting with other people.

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That is so fantastic. I hope those who are listening the

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last church I served before I was elected a bishop had a mental health

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ministry that only came about because laypeople came

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to me. I was a pastor and they educated me and

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they said, Pastor, we are just missing it. There are people in

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our church who are hurting. They're kind of quietly dealing with things.

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And then we linked with Nami and another support group

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and provided space for a support of ministry.

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We highlighted Mental Health Awareness Month and I

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made a public commitment to preach several times

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around this. But it was laypeople who actually came and

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parents and adults. We had one person

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who had been traumatized because she had been in a train wreck

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and that created a whole post

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traumatic stress illness and she helped lead

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us creating this ministry. I'm saying this because I know someone

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may listen to the podcast and wondering, how do

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you get started? This kind of leads to my next question how

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do you become mental health advocates in the faith

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community? How do we think about I've been to several of our churches

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that do have that play space, and I thought I said, boy, I wish

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I would have when I was an active pastor at the time,

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created space for noise in the sanctuary

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or in the same space so parents wouldn't have a

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reason to not come to church. We would eliminate

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those barriers. So what does

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it mean to become mental health advocates and

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how does one get started? Maybe there are people

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hearing this or others who work

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in this area,

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in their work life, but they don't bring that to their faith

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space. Thank you, Bishop, for your

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leadership and advocacy. Preaching about mental health makes a

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huge difference to break the silence from the

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pulpit because like I said at the top of this conversation,

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the stigma is really the barrier that prevents people from

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getting help and support. So preach about mental health. May is Mental

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Health Month. So preach about it. Pray about it out loud in

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your corporate prayer of the people. And then bring in

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Nami. The National Alliance on Mental Illness. They have trained volunteers

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who want to share their story and can share a mission

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moment in worship. Have an educational program

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after church. Our church has a Nami support group that meets

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here. They have family to family support groups,

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the caregivers of people with mental health challenges. They need

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support there's peer to peer support groups from Nami.

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Nami is always looking for good places to meet that are safe and

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welcoming and inviting mental health. First aid is another

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great training in the United Church of Christ. I help develop a

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whole resource called Wise,

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welcoming, Inclusive, Supportive,

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Engaged for mental Health wise.

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And it's a whole ten step process and a church then votes

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to become a wise church. And part of that is

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a covenant, a beautiful promise that

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this church makes to be welcoming, inclusive,

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supportive and engaged. And a key part of that journey to

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be wise is education.

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Learning about what is mental health, learning about

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what would you do if someone comes into your church in a

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mental health crisis? How can we love and support them?

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What does it mean to have a pastor who needs to go on medical leave

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for their mental health? What does it mean to be an advocate in

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Indiana as we try to pass Senate Bill One to fully fund

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mental health crisis support? How can people of faith

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leverage the teachings of Jesus to love our neighbor and

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call our Senators so that they will fully fund mental health care?

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So it really is an exciting ministry opportunity

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and it's also a wonderful outreach opportunity

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to show the love of Jesus to our community.

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And so mental health ministry, if it's something that you all are interested

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in, I would pray that you would start the conversation

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and you can read books to help get the conversation going.

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So Blessed Youth has a free study guide you can

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find on the Chalice Press website.

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Speaking of youth, when we talk about peer to

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peer, is there a way for peers? I can think

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back down. Our oldest son, many years ago was

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really trying to be a friend to a friend who was going

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through a traumatic time and came to me and asked for all

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I remember saying is try to be the best friend you can be. I wish

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now looking back, I was maybe better equipped

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to have to really been sensitive to what he was dealing with because

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it may have been a life crisis situation.

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Is there peer to peer training? Because a lot of times the person that

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someone in high school or junior high might speak to

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might be a friend before, as Brad was saying, they would

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necessarily contact their parents.

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Yes. So there is peer to peer training, mental health First

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Aid has a youth training and Nami,

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the national Ants on Mental Illness is working with schools

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to create these peer support groups. And we have churches

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who their youth group is a mental health peer support group.

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They meet after school to do homework together,

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but they also have check ins and they check in

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with each other about how their mental health is doing.

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And so faith communities can have

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these mental health support groups and like I

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said at the beginning, the spiritual connection to a living

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God. We can have spiritual support groups for mental health

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and the United Church of Christ. We have a whole guideline

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for how to do that. My church has a spiritual support group and

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what it is, is a safe space to check in and

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to pray for each other as part of our holistic care

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for our mental health. Sarah I'm going to stay United

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Methodist, but I sure am liking some of what the United Church of

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Christ is doing. So I hope you're willing to come,

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maybe do some of that training for some of our folks as well.

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We can just work across ecumenical relationships

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and do that. We do have ecumenical partners.

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So if you look at the United Church of Christ mental Health Network,

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it has a synagogue that has used this resource and

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is a wise synagogue. We have Episcopal and

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Presbyterian churches and now we have nonprofits that have

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found this wise model. You can adapt it to your culture and

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context. So it really is just a beautiful model to

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help journey alongside people.

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We can't do this on our own in Silos anyway.

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This is an epidemic, is it not? Sarah we are talking about

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the epidemic of suicide, for one.

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I don't even go off in this tangent too much, but gun violence is

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so often associated with mental health

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issues. I just noticed in a couple of the recent episodes, they're almost a

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weekly deal, but there was obvious social

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media and phone calls reaching out, basically saying,

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I'm going to do this because I'm ending my life, exceed some

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people. But my point is, you have to be in partnership with other

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church, with social service agencies, with our schools,

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with our medical health facilities and all because

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it is a crisis that we need to leverage every resource at

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hand. Am I correct in sharing that?

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Amen. You read my book, because that's what Book of Youth is all

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about, partnering families with faith communities, with schools,

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with mental health professionals. Well, I think my yes,

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my encouragement is that the church pastors

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and lay leaders, you can initiate this in your community

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because there's a historic division between religion

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and the sciences. And so there's a lot of mistrust.

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There is this assumption that faith people just want

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to pray it away, that we just want the Lord

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to save us. Thoughts and prayers don't always cut it all the way,

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do they? Right. So they need us to initiate, say, we realize in

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addition to prayer and Jesus, we need doctors

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and therapists and social workers. So we want to invite you to partner

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with us. We're waiting for that. Thoughts and prayers is one part

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of it, but you got to take action. You got to be physically I love

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what you said earlier about being physically engaged.

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Sometimes it means intervention and other things as well and

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having that going on, and that's awesome. And I'm certainly a

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believer in that. And it all goes back, if I'm understanding you, Sarah, to some

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of your personal stories about your own family, your niece and so on.

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Bishop about your mother in law.

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I've got stories in my family about borderline personality disorder

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that could go off in a big tangent about but it's all very

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personal, but it is relevant to our whole societal health

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at large. And that's what I think. We can do something in the church

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as an initiative point, whatever church we're in.

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And however, the church can have a true impact in society through saying,

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okay, here we're making a stand. And to

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show that encouragement through caring for each other,

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slowing down and asking,

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how is it with your soul? Oh, yeah.

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That sounds a little bit of Wesley and doesn't it? Bishop yeah, that's a little

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Wesley in there. Sarah, I know we're kind of running out

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of time, but you made reference to a book. Was it awakening

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around the brain? And what was the name of that book? And author Dr.

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Lisa Miller at Columbia University wrote the new

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book The Awakened Brain. The Awakened Brain.

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Okay. It's about neuroscience and spirituality, cutting edge

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research, and it's very much affirming of our

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churches, and our whole purpose is to support

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people's spirituality. Little did we know that is mental

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health ministry awesome. Well, friends, I would

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just say, even though you've heard reference to that first book,

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you should get is Blessed Youth. So if you get that, this should

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be a national bestseller. In fact, get the book if

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you read it. If it doesn't bless you, I'll buy back from you

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if you can find me in person. There you go.

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I did have one final question.

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Comment, Brad, before we bring our time together, and that was

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in the book. It makes reference and this is very relevant,

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the role that social media has played. And I've had some discussions

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in my own family around the blessing of social media

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and technology and the multiple digital platforms

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as well as I won't call it the curse, but the downside

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of that and how sure, we understood

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experience bullying, but maybe not at this kind

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of level with social media. Can you say you make reference to

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this in the book in terms of the role social media has played

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in exacerbating this

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pandemic, if you will, epidemic of

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mental stress?

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Yes. We need to watch very closely how our

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children engage online. My niece, who did

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die by suicide, she found the means to die on the

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Internet, and there are resources

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that will alert you to any searches

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like that. So we always need to know, what are our children reading,

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listening to? Who are they connecting to? Because the Internet

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can help us as well. There was research about

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high school students, and it found that students with an authentic connection

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were less likely to have suicidal thoughts,

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depression, anxiety. And it didn't matter if that was an in person

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or online. What mattered was an authentic,

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caring connection. So the Internet can give us that,

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but it also can harm us. And so for

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us as adults, we've got to monitor very closely

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what type of activities our kids are

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doing online. One of the greatest search phrases

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on Google last year, right at the top two or three, was the

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phrase, how can I heal, and I think it's informative to

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us. But in terms of our conversation here and bringing

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it around, Sarah, one of the things we love to do, the theme

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of our whole podcast here is to be encouraged. So would you share

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with us just a thought, an encouraged word, encouraged thought,

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that you have to kind of help us to

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wrap up our conversation here today. Well, I love

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Psalm 23. It's one that a lot of us hear throughout

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our lives. And the reason I love it is because of this promise

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that even though I walk through the valley of the shadows,

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I fear no evil, for you are with me, you comfort

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me. So no matter what you are going through, be encouraged.

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For God, who is a living, loving God, is with

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you through the valley of the shadows and you will reemerge

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into the light of love, with hope, with God's

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promise and with God's love. Thank you

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for sharing that, Bishop. I want you to close us under your own closing thoughts

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in prayer in a moment here. I just did want to say that our guest

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today here on To Be Encouraged is Sarah Griffith Lund

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and her latest book is Blessed Youth Breaking the

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Silence about mental illness with children and teens.

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And you can find her@blessedmind.org

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and at Sarah Griffith.com

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and we'll put links to everything she is about at our website,

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encouraged.com. Bishop, final word

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of encouragement and a prayer, please. Sometimes people are

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looking for a sign and maybe this podcast might be just

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a sign you were looking for that you are loved. Often say

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I try to explain grace in this way, using my spiritual imagination,

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if you will, that God has a printing press in heaven

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and God is making name plates and name

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tags in heaven, everybody's name. And on the back of

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your name tag says, you are loved.

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So I want everyone to know that you are loved. It's not subject to

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debate. It doesn't have to go before the state legislature,

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the US congress or the Supreme Court. God loves

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you, and there's nothing you can do about it but receive

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that love. Psalm 71 says in you, O Lord, I take refuge.

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Let me never be put to shame in your righteousness.

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Deliver us, deliver me, rescue me, incline your ear to

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me, save me, be to me a rock of refuge, a strong

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refuge to save me. We pray that God will be

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your rock and that this podcast may be the sign of encouraged,

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that you need it. For today you

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are loved. And in the name of Jesus, I ask

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blessings upon all who hear.

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And we thank you for listening today to the two

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B encourage podcast with Bishop Julia C.

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Trimble. I'm your co host, Reverend Dr. Brad Miller.

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Until next time, friends. We encourage you to always do

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