You need to comfort and support, more than preach.
Sometimes just being there can mean a lot more to them.
Not all situations change or get better by preaching over someone's faith and religion…
Okay so, I know I'm probably going to get a lot of different responses to this blog post... I know I'm going to get a lot of people that agree with me and a lot of people that don't, this is just my opinion and this is just what works for me...it might not work for everybody…in my opinion, not everything works by incorporating faith and religion. For example, if you have a friend or a family member that's taking drugs, but they don't believe in God and they haven't ever, you certainly don't want to say “you just need Jesus,” or “all you need is Jesus...you are messed up because you don't believe in Jesus and he can save you.” Oftentimes, it's comments like that that tend to just make it worse.
I have found this to be a very common one that people believe a lot, especially people of faith and religion. I know a lot of people believe that when someone is going through a hard time and struggling, but aren't a person of faith you feel the need to go and talk to them about Jesus and tell them that that's all they need and that they don't need to worry because they just have to worry because they just need Jesus, and it will all be OK and God's going to step in and they are going to be able to make it because they will be a lot happier.
I have found this to be completely false in my own life...I have found that the problem with this idea is that you are pretty much claiming that they've been doing everything wrong all this time and that's why something is happening. I also feel like when you do that people will start to pull away more and not want to open up about things to you because they feel like you're going to force it down their throats. I also think that when you do that you are also claiming that God is the only thing they need to turn to to get through this hard time they're going through.
Yes, I am a person of faith and I believe everybody does need that, but that's not the only thing. I know a lot of people like to say that a lot. I think something that gets overlooked quite frequently is the fact that maybe they don't need you to do that right now or read a Bible verse to them, or bring a Bible to them. Maybe they need you to love them, support them, be a shoulder to cry on, be there for them at the time, because what a YouTube sermon might not be able to say, a hug can say. They do not need a perfect statement from you...they need you.
When people are going through hell, they need your heart and they need your ear. The apostle Paul said you don't preach to those who weep, you don't sing to those who weep, because what a cute little phrase may not say a tear can say...when you're weeping I'm weeping, when you wake up happy, I'm happy.
I want to give a huge shout out to this Instagram video I found a while ago that really helped me out with this blog post towards the end, It is called if you're hurting, I'm hurting please go check it out!
Video
https://www.instagram.com/tv/B4TOBS9g_C5/?igshid=fg6yup6lns2m
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash