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Mental Health and a Biblical Worldview · Equipped for Impact

• 0:08
  Nate: Welcome to Equipped for Impact, the podcast designed to assist Christian parents, leaders, and educators to raise up the next generation, to stand firm in their faith, and influence the world for Christ.
• 0:20
  Nate: We're your hosts.
• 0:21
  Nate: I'm Nate.
• 0:21
  Nate: And I'm Lewis.
• 0:22
  Nate: And we are glad you're with us today.
• 0:25
  Nate: Today, we are tackling a crisis that's creeping into the lives of too many young people.
• 0:33
  Nate: What it looks like, why it's happening, and how the church, parents, leaders can respond in strength, but also with grace and truth.
• 0:45
  Nate: And this is just the mental health crisis that seems to be very pervasive, Lewis, across all of uh young people today.
• 0:55
  Nate: It seems like it's worldwide, but especially here in the United States.
• 0:58
  Luis: And this is this is a tough topic, right?
• 1:01
  Luis: Because it's it's one that we have to face.
• 1:03
  Luis: Um really when you think about it, the stakes are high, right?
• 1:06
  Luis: You're talking about uh eternal stakes, you're talking about generational stakes.
• 1:11
  Nate: Yeah, and and exactly.
• 1:12
  Nate: Like let's let's kind of start with a few things.
• 1:14
  Nate: You know, we're just jumping right into this and and some of the data points.
• 1:17
  Nate: Um, you know, we don't want to go through and bore you with with statistics about things, but it's really helpful to notice a couple of trends that um you know different researchers have have noticed.
• 1:29
  Nate: And here's the thing about this is that these um are not necessarily coming from just Christian sources, right?
• 1:36
  Nate: Um even even secular researchers, you know, as far as we know, not not believers, are noticing trends.
• 1:43
  Nate: And that's the thing, is that, you know, data kills denial.
• 1:46
  Nate: And so just kind of putting a few of these things out there that that you notice is that um between 2010 and uh 2020, rates of major depression among teen girls increased by 145%.
• 2:01
  Nate: And among teen boys, a hundred and sixty-one percent.
• 2:06
  Nate: That is a staggering statistic, right?
• 2:11
  Nate: 145, 160 so let's let's kind of shoot in the middle.
• 2:14
  Nate: So 150% increase in major depressive incidents, right, among teenagers.
• 2:21
  Nate: Um so on top of that, with a mental health, right, young people are reporting struggles with physical health, life satisfaction, meaning, character, relationships, all of that stuff.
• 2:31
  Nate: And notice big point here is this this study went up through 2020.
• 2:35
  Nate: So this was pre-COVID.
• 2:37
  Nate: Yeah, yeah, all of this stuff has happened.
• 2:39
  Nate: Um so so a lot of that is um, you know, it it's only been exacerbated even more since since COVID.
• 2:47
  Luis: And a lot of the data that Nate's sharing uh actually comes from a recent global flourishing study.
• 2:53
  Luis: And so there were over 200,000 adults in 22 countries.
• 2:59
  Luis: So not just here in the United States, right, but globally, that shows this troubling pattern, right?
• 3:05
  Luis: That younger adults consistently report lower levels of flourishing than older adults, and so the oldest cohorts, which were people over the age of 80, reported a flourishing score of 7.36 out of 10, whereas the younger cohorts, those that are in the younger generation was seven point zero five out of ten.
• 3:29
  Luis: And so the surprising thing here is that flourishing increases with age in in many domains, such as like relationships, meaning, virtue, uh, inner peace.
• 3:41
  Luis: And so but but what we're seeing here is that younger generations just aren't happy in life.
• 3:49
  Luis: Like there are things in their circle, right?
• 3:52
  Luis: So the relationships, the meaning of life, virtue, inner peace.
• 3:56
  Luis: All of those things are showing that they're not happy.
• 4:01
  Luis: And so these these are warnings for our families, for our schools, and our churches because the data is only declining for younger and younger people.
• 4:11
  Luis: And Nate, as you pointed out, these studies were done pre-COVID, right?
• 4:15
  Luis: Yeah, yeah.
• 4:16
  Nate: This goes up to 2020.
• 4:17
  Luis: Yeah, and so just think about what's happened in the world over the last five years.
• 4:20
  Nate: Yeah, right, right, right.
• 4:21
  Nate: And that's the thing is that one of the the the points that that this group pointed out, which for for you that care, uh, you know, this is di performed, it was a a co, you know, joint effort between um the Harvard uh, you know, organization for for global human flourishing, um, as well as Baylor University, which Baylor um, you know, is uh historically a Christian university.
• 4:44
  Nate: So they're gonna kind of come with with some of that um, you know, kind of religious motivations behind it.
• 4:50
  Nate: Um but what we've seen in the past is that as far as what they would define as flourishing, you see as you know, uh an individual gets older and goes into adulthood and is really like you know the prime of their life, yeah, that's when their flourishing's the highest.
• 5:06
  Nate: And then it declines as you get older, which makes sense.
• 5:09
  Nate: You know, you're having more health problems, maybe less mobility, um, you know, you're you're retiring, and so maybe you had some of that meaning in your job and that's lost.
• 5:18
  Nate: But that that trend, think of it as like a an upside down U, right?
• 5:23
  Nate: It's the typical bell curve.
• 5:24
  Nate: Well, that's flipped so that nowadays, or at least in the most recent studies, as people get older, their flourishing is going down instead of up.
• 5:34
  Nate: Wow.
• 5:34
  Nate: And then it's the older in life once they're out of work, those people that are just now hitting retirement age, their flourishing is on the highest it's been.
• 5:43
  Nate: And so it's kind of a a flip of what has historically been the case there.
• 5:49
  Nate: And so for you know, our children, um, they're moving towards the middle of that curve, right?
• 5:56
  Nate: Um and and typically like that whole generation, the Gen Z you know, millennials are right in the middle of it, but the Gen Z Gen Alpha, they're getting ready to start going down that decline.
• 6:08
  Luis: And so, like in layman's term, right, like when these children are reaching that time in their life when it's like it's the time when they should be most happy about life, right?
• 6:17
  Luis: Because they're entering adulthood, they're starting to do things that kind of like the American dream.
• 6:22
  Luis: Right, right.
• 6:23
  Luis: But what what this is saying is that's not happening, right?
• 6:27
  Luis: And so it's it's it's taking a toll on their life.
• 6:31
  Luis: So instead of instead of them blossoming and flourishing in life, it's like there's this gray cloud over their lives.
• 6:39
  Nate: Yeah.
• 6:39
  Nate: It's almost like um I don't know about you, but when when I was you know going through college and all of that, you know, the message generally was out there, because I went to a Christian college, so thankfully you know, my professors and you know, mentors and all of that were tailoring things with a Christian worldview.
• 6:56
  Nate: But uh a lot of you know, the the messaging out there was like, enjoy this now, you know, this is the best it's ever gonna get.
• 7:04
  Nate: And it's almost like it's a self-fulfilling prophecy.
• 7:08
  Nate: Like we went through, you know, our generation went through, you know, high school and college years, like this is the best it's gonna get, the most freedom, the awesome.
• 7:16
  Nate: And then it's like, if this is the best it's gonna ever get, yeah.
• 7:19
  Nate: Like, oh my goodness.
• 7:20
  Nate: And then our adult lives, you know, we've we've been hit with cultural crisis after crisis.
• 7:26
  Nate: And if we had that mindset going into it of, you know, the freedom, the do whatever you want, you know, it was kind of the precursor to the you do you kind of idea.
• 7:35
  Nate: Well, yeah, of course we're gonna tank as we hit middle age because we thought that our college years when we had the most freedom was was the best.
• 7:45
  Nate: And now here we are of you know, pandemics and wars and and whatever's going on.
• 7:51
  Nate: It's it's crazy.
• 7:52
  Luis: So when you when you hear this, right, when you read it, um those those numbers, that data, it's heavy, right?
• 7:59
  Luis: Yep, yeah, yeah.
• 8:00
  Luis: And so when we see this kind of suffering, I think we need to explore why is this happening, what what's causing it.
• 8:07
  Luis: But also we need to figure out how do we respond, right?
• 8:10
  Luis: How do we respond biblically, how do we respond practically, and how do we respond lovingly?
• 8:15
  Nate: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 8:15
  Nate: So so let's dive into some of these, you know, possible causes.
• 8:18
  Nate: And then that study that they released that we've been quoting, you know, they they have to take a very objective and kind of, you know, middle of the road, we're just saying what the data says.
• 8:28
  Nate: Um but we can look at this and and you know, come to hopefully a few few conclusions.
• 8:33
  Nate: One of the frequently proposed causes of this is digital technology.
• 8:38
  Nate: Right.
• 8:39
  Nate: Um 2010 was when the the iPhone really started to take off, right?
• 8:44
  Nate: It was it was um people started, it was the the mid-2010s that um more adults uh more p yeah, more adults had smartphones than didn't have smartphones, right?
• 8:54
  Nate: And so with social media, replacing face-to-face friendships and just kind of being immersed in, you know, uh different types of digital environments.
• 9:03
  Nate: Many, many different scholars, we've talked about them on this this podcast before, uh, see one of the most this this digital kind of immersion as one of the most significant accelerants of youth decline in mental health.
• 9:19
  Luis: And when we dig deeper, um we've quoted him quite a bit.
• 9:22
  Luis: I'm a huge fan of his work, is George Barna, who's now with the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University.
• 9:28
  Luis: But what he argues is that much of what we call a mental health crisis among young adults is actually a worldview crisis.
• 9:37
  Luis: And we've actually talked about this before, right?
• 9:39
  Luis: And so in his view, the erosion of belief in God, objective truth, purpose, and moral order leaves young people untethered.
• 9:48
  Luis: And so when you reject these anchor points, um then despair, anxiety, and and emotional volatility are often the result, right?
• 9:57
  Luis: So so when your God is no bigger than the screen on your phone, then of course, right, your world is is gonna crumble when something goes wrong.
• 10:07
  Nate: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 10:07
  Nate: And that reminds me of Ephesians 4, right?
• 10:10
  Nate: Um I think Barna, what you just quoted there was, you know, it leaves the young people untethered, right?
• 10:16
  Nate: And in Ephesians 4, Paul says that that God gave us, you know, the the pastors and the teachers to equip the saints for the work of the ministry, and then he keeps going and he says, so that they can be mature so that they won't be tossed in the wind, in the storms of of culture and winds of doctrine, right?
• 10:34
  Nate: And so when we lose those anchor points in the truth of God's word, we are more susceptible to being tossed with those cultural trends, right?
• 10:44
  Nate: You don't have that truth of you know objective truth outside yourself, meaning being given to you by God, not finding your own meaning.
• 10:52
  Nate: And so then you're just immersed in a phone, in social media, in whatever cultural trends are coming at you through just the constant flow of information, then uh you're going to have issues there.
• 11:07
  Nate: Um so Barna keeps going and he talks about uh the you know, Gen Z and millennials and their worldview, right?
• 11:14
  Nate: And they've talked about only one to two percent of of those two generations uh hold what he calls the biblical worldview, right?
• 11:23
  Nate: Um and so they're not gonna have those anchor points.
• 11:25
  Nate: And um more than half of Gen Z and millennials report anxiety, depression, fear just kind of pervasively in their lives.
• 11:34
  Nate: And he he argues that there's a correlation, right?
• 11:37
  Nate: Um doesn't necessarily mean there is a causation, but I think there's biblical truth that that will tell us that yes, when you reject the foundation of God's word, you're left without a foundation, right?
• 11:48
  Nate: You've built your house on the sand, and so when the winds come and the rain falls and and you're left with nothing, right?
• 11:54
  Nate: The the house on the sand went splat as the little kid's song goes.
• 11:57
  Nate: And so that's what we've seen, right?
• 12:00
  Nate: Um there's a this powerful alignment between worldview and and mental health challenges.
• 12:07
  Luis: And when you add to that some of some of Barner's pr uh prior findings, right?
• 12:11
  Luis: So so things that he has has been telling us about for years, right?
• 12:14
  Luis: Among millennials, so so so our current parent group, right?
• 12:19
  Luis: I mean, most most millennials are now in that stage of life where their parents are or they're or or they're reaching uh kind of the end, right?
• 12:27
  Luis: So like I'm a millennial name.
• 12:28
  Luis: Are you a millennial?
• 12:28
  Luis: I am a millennial millennial right now.
• 12:30
  Luis: So we covered this.
• 12:31
  Luis: And so and so mid-30s, mid-40s, right?
• 12:33
  Luis: And so millennials, our parents, admit 54% of them are admitting to frequently feeling anxiety, depression, or fear.
• 12:42
  Luis: And then you add to that relational dissatisfaction being rampant among that age group.
• 12:48
  Luis: And so what Barna does here is he links this relational breakdown to a generation that doesn't see inherent value in others, they don't they don't value other people, and because they reject the image of God concept that that just underpins human dignity, um they they don't value relationships, they don't they don't value people, and so that's why they feel disconnected, that's why they have the anxiety.
• 13:14
  Luis: Um another study from the Colson Center, they emphasize that Christian formation cannot remain sheltered or silent.
• 13:22
  Luis: And so in the world that we live today, just because you insulate your children from bad ideas, that's that's not enough.
• 13:31
  Luis: But we have to to help them think and resist uh I'm sorry, think about and resist bad ideas, right?
• 13:38
  Luis: And so this is what the Colson Center calls uh immunizing against lies.
• 13:43
  Luis: I I like that term, right?
• 13:45
  Nate: Like we've we've used that before and on previous episodes, right?
• 13:48
  Nate: It's it's the inoculation, right?
• 13:50
  Nate: You go and get your you know, whatever, you know, shots at the doctor, and it's gonna help you build up that resistance.
• 13:56
  Nate: And we need to constantly be, you know, inoculating our children against the lies of the world.
• 14:04
  Nate: Yeah.
• 14:04
  Nate: Um and so when they don't have that foundation in the Word of God, they haven't built up that immunity, so to speak.
• 14:11
  Nate: Um, you know, they're gonna be susceptible to whatever comes at them.
• 14:15
  Luis: And what we see here is is that this crisis, it's not just about feelings and emotions, right?
• 14:20
  Luis: But it's intellectual.
• 14:21
  Luis: It's it's spiritual.
• 14:23
  Nate: Right, right, right.
• 14:24
  Nate: And that's true, I mean, that's an important part because your thoughts drive your actions and they drive your emotions.
• 14:29
  Nate: So if you're constantly dwelling on certain things, it's going to make you feel a certain way.
• 14:35
  Nate: Yeah.
• 14:35
  Nate: Um and so if it dep, you know, what is uh what what's the the diet that you're feeding yourself?
• 14:41
  Nate: And I think that kind of moves us into our next kind of idea here is you know, just developing that biblical framework for flourishing.
• 14:50
  Nate: Like what do we even mean by that?
• 14:52
  Nate: Um, what is flourishing from a Christian lens?
• 14:56
  Nate: Um, and and I think the Bible speaks a lot about this, right?
• 15:00
  Nate: Um ultimately this whole idea of having a life that is flourishing is rooted in our relationship with Jesus, right?
• 15:09
  Nate: Um John 10 talks about, you know, Jesus came to give us uh abundant life.
• 15:15
  Nate: You think of like a uh he talks about I'm the vine, you are the branches.
• 15:18
  Nate: You know, you abide in me, you'll have that life.
• 15:21
  Nate: You'll produce fruit.
• 15:22
  Nate: Yeah.
• 15:22
  Nate: Um you'll bear that fruit.
• 15:24
  Nate: And so being connected to Christ, right, makes us be part of that vine in his vineyard that is just growing and flourishing and producing biblical, spiritual fruit in our lives.
• 15:37
  Luis: Aaron Powell And I recently preached a message on Romans 12, 1 and 2, which which is the passage that talks about right not being conformed, but being transformed.
• 15:45
  Luis: And so one of the parts of that that I really brought out is this idea of being conformed to the world, right?
• 15:52
  Luis: Because our world is trying to shape us.
• 15:55
  Luis: And I use the image of like Plato, right?
• 15:57
  Luis: When you have Plato and you pull it out of the container, it's in the shape of a cylinder, right?
• 16:02
  Luis: Right.
• 16:02
  Luis: Because that's what it's conforming to.
• 16:04
  Luis: But then external factors like my hands or my um tools that I'm using, I can shape that Play-Doh into whatever I want it to be.
• 16:14
  Luis: And so that's what's happening here.
• 16:17
  Luis: And so the idea behind that is we can't be conformed, but we have to be transformed, right?
• 16:24
  Luis: We have to be transformed with the renewal of our mind.
• 16:28
  Luis: And so we see in scripture that that trials, suffering, loneliness, even brokenness is all part of the Christian life.
• 16:36
  Luis: Right.
• 16:36
  Luis: Those are things that we are going to experience.
• 16:39
  Luis: What did Jesus say, right?
• 16:40
  Luis: You are going to have what?
• 16:42
  Luis: Various trials, right?
• 16:44
  Luis: And so and James adds to that, right?
• 16:46
  Nate: You know, count it all joy.
• 16:48
  Nate: Yes, yes, right?
• 16:49
  Nate: Yes.
• 16:49
  Nate: It's a joy when you go through trials because you know what's happening, right?
• 16:53
  Nate: The testing of your faith produces endurance, maturity, right?
• 16:58
  Nate: Um and so it's that that burning away of the impurities in your own life.
• 17:02
  Nate: But because we idolize comfort, we just want to find the quickest off-ramp to get out of whatever discomfort is coming our way.
• 17:12
  Luis: And so as a Christian with a biblical worldview, right, our hope is anchored in a God who redeems, who heals, and who transforms.
• 17:21
  Luis: But when your worldview is twisted and you don't have those anchor, right, then we begin to see what this data shows in our millennials, in our Gen Z, and now in Gen Alpha.
• 17:34
  Luis: And so the goal is to help our kids anchor themselves in Christ, right?
• 17:39
  Luis: Uh, not to anchor themselves in screens, their feelings, or the shifting culture.
• 17:44
  Nate: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 17:45
  Nate: So so we like to get practical, you know.
• 17:47
  Nate: So so for for you listening, you know, um, we want to give you kind of four big ideas that can kind of help you play this out.
• 17:54
  Nate: We've thrown a lot of statistics, some scripture, you know, all these things.
• 17:58
  Nate: But what does this look like in your life?
• 18:00
  Nate: And and if you're a longtime listener, you probably know some of these things.
• 18:03
  Nate: Yeah.
• 18:04
  Nate: If you're new, uh, welcome to the podcast.
• 18:06
  Nate: Uh, you know, we we picked up a few new listeners after last uh the Gen C slang episode.
• 18:13
  Nate: That those are really popular.
• 18:14
  Nate: Yeah, yeah.
• 18:14
  Luis: I think because people want to understand what they're hearing.
• 18:16
  Luis: Yeah, yeah.
• 18:18
  Nate: I don't even know what this is.
• 18:19
  Nate: Yes.
• 18:19
  Nate: Um, you know, the the it just I feel like I'm Dululu sometimes when I hear some of these things.
• 18:24
  Nate: Yes.
• 18:24
  Nate: That was a callback.
• 18:25
  Nate: But um so so we want to give you guys some practical tips.
• 18:29
  Nate: But uh before we get into that, uh, if you could do us a favor, um, we're still a new, you know, pretty young podcast.
• 18:35
  Nate: We're 29 episodes in, and uh we could use some help.
• 18:39
  Nate: If you uh go on whatever podcast, you know, platform you listen to us on, give us a rating and review, share this episode with a friend so that it can get out there because we want to help people, especially this episode talking about mental health and anxiety and and the different things.
• 18:55
  Nate: Um, you know, the more people have access to these tools, uh the better they can be equipped to disciple their own children.
• 19:02
  Nate: So with that, Lewis, let's jump into the first of our four points here.
• 19:06
  Nate: What what's number one?
• 19:07
  Luis: Yeah, so number one, and we've mentioned this before, so so this isn't some sort of like grand idea, but but just reestablish attention and presence, right?
• 19:17
  Luis: And so, parents, find ways to create digital Sabbath windows.
• 19:22
  Luis: We we've we've talked about it, Nate.
• 19:23
  Luis: You you know, your Saturdays, right, are sacred for you and starts Friday night.
• 19:27
  Luis: Right.
• 19:27
  Luis: Starts Friday night.
• 19:28
  Nate: You actually called me a couple weeks ago Friday late afternoon.
• 19:31
  Nate: I did, and I wasn't sure if you were gonna answer.
• 19:33
  Nate: You were like, all right, I wanted to catch you before you started your Sabbath.
• 19:36
  Nate: And you did, you did.
• 19:37
  Nate: We answered.
• 19:38
  Luis: But but you know, that's great, right?
• 19:39
  Luis: Because it allows you to connect with your family, with your children.
• 19:43
  Luis: And so I've talked about how our Sunday nights are sacred and we like to watch TV, you know, no phones.
• 19:48
  Luis: Uh we remove phones at meals, right?
• 19:51
  Luis: And so parents find ways to create a digital Sabbath where where you don't have phones.
• 19:56
  Luis: So whether that's no phones at meals, whether no phones after certain hours, maybe you commit to watching a movie on a Friday and and and you are just watching the movie and just nobody can be on their phone.
• 20:08
  Nate: Don't double screen it, right?
• 20:10
  Nate: This is a time that you can go touch grass.
• 20:12
  Luis: Yes.
• 20:12
  Nate: Yes, yes.
• 20:13
  Nate: There we go.
• 20:14
  Nate: There we go.
• 20:14
  Nate: We wouldn't go.
• 20:15
  Nate: You're getting good at it now.
• 20:16
  Nate: That's right.
• 20:17
  Nate: We're we're hip and with it.
• 20:18
  Nate: Um and I just ruined the credibility.
• 20:22
  Nate: We lost it.
• 20:23
  Nate: No, but that's a good time, right?
• 20:24
  Nate: You reconnect, you reconnect with your family.
• 20:27
  Nate: Don't do double screens.
• 20:28
  Nate: You know, double screening is terrible.
• 20:30
  Nate: Um so don't do that.
• 20:32
  Nate: You know, no phones, just get a time to be together as a family.
• 20:36
  Nate: And that also, like if we're talking about the the anxiety that that causes in in children, especially.
• 20:42
  Nate: Yeah.
• 20:43
  Nate: Um, you know, just the constant flow of information.
• 20:45
  Nate: They just it gives you time to process the week.
• 20:48
  Nate: You know, you've been receiving so much, it just gives you quiet alone time.
• 20:53
  Nate: Um, it also gives your kids a safe space.
• 20:56
  Nate: Yeah, you know, yeah.
• 20:56
  Nate: It's like this is your respite from anything else that's going on.
• 21:01
  Nate: Yeah.
• 21:01
  Nate: You don't have to be connected.
• 21:02
  Nate: You don't have you just get to be right with your family in a safe place.
• 21:07
  Nate: And so this having that rhythm is really important.
• 21:11
  Luis: And as you were saying that, it it just reminded me of something.
• 21:14
  Luis: And I know I've talked about this before, but in our home, we don't allow our daughters to take their phones upstairs or to their rooms.
• 21:21
  Luis: And so phones charge downstairs, phones are in an area where they can't get to at night.
• 21:28
  Luis: Um so what that does is it removes the constant vibration of notifications at night.
• 21:36
  Nate: Have you ever had a phantom like phone vibration?
• 21:39
  Luis: Yeah, where like it vibrates in your pocket.
• 21:42
  Nate: It's like I just felt this out of nothing.
• 21:44
  Luis: There's actually there's actually something about that though.
• 21:47
  Luis: Like I remember reading something about that, something with with our brains.
• 21:50
  Luis: But that way, like our daughters don't have to deal with the constant of like my phone's vibrating or my screen's lighting up, so they have to get up to check it or they have to to look at it.
• 21:59
  Luis: They can just sleep, they can just enjoy being in their rooms.
• 22:02
  Luis: And so um number two is teach young people to think biblically, right?
• 22:08
  Luis: Uh introduce worldview conversations, ask questions like what we've talked about before.
• 22:14
  Luis: What is truth?
• 22:15
  Luis: What what is purpose?
• 22:16
  Luis: Who who is God?
• 22:18
  Luis: Help your child now begin to understand these things because you you need to be intentional about shaping it, because you need to know that TikTok, YouTube, all of these algorithms on social media, um, you better believe that they're gonna be intentional about answering those questions for your kid.
• 22:36
  Luis: Uh, whether it's on Snapchat, TikTok, Instagram, whatever.
• 22:40
  Luis: Those questions may not be asked overtly, but in subtle ways, they're gonna be asked and to consider what is the truth, what is purpose, who is God?
• 22:51
  Nate: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 22:52
  Nate: And and this is where some of these resources we've shared before uh can really help with that, right?
• 22:57
  Nate: We mentioned the Colson Center and they they're kind of resources to help you walk through different things.
• 23:03
  Nate: They've got a YouTube series, um, What Would You Say?
• 23:06
  Nate: Um, and it's like it's these some of these questions similar.
• 23:08
  Nate: If you go back several episodes ago, we had our big question series.
• 23:12
  Nate: Um it's it's a very similar idea of, you know, here's the question, this is a common topic, what would you say, and then here's a couple of resources to think through it, right?
• 23:22
  Nate: Um and and just model the humility if you don't know, right?
• 23:25
  Nate: Yeah, um, because then that allows it gives your kids permission to not have answers and explore the right resources to find quality answers.
• 23:36
  Luis: Aaron Ross Powell And you can wrestle through that question together, right?
• 23:38
  Luis: Because you may not know the answer, but you can help them see like this is how we go find the answer.
• 23:45
  Nate: Yep.
• 23:45
  Nate: Number three here would be to develop some resistance through soul care.
• 23:51
  Nate: Um, this is a time where you can teach your kids to regularly process their emotions biblically, right?
• 23:59
  Nate: Yeah.
• 23:59
  Nate: Um it's okay to be sad.
• 24:01
  Nate: We tell our kids that all the time.
• 24:02
  Nate: It's okay to be sad.
• 24:04
  Nate: Yeah.
• 24:04
  Nate: It's not okay to let your sadness control you.
• 24:07
  Nate: You know, it's okay to be happy and excited, but it's not okay to be bouncing off the walls and letting that excitement control you, right?
• 24:16
  Nate: And so processing these things, um, you know, if you're you're scared of something, yeah, you know, that's fine.
• 24:23
  Nate: Like you're nervous going in, you got a big test, you know some drama's happening at school, you know, you know, whatever it is, and you're scared and you're nervous.
• 24:31
  Nate: Hey, we'll face this together, right?
• 24:34
  Nate: Let's process it.
• 24:35
  Nate: But you don't make your choices based on that.
• 24:37
  Nate: You you still choose to act based on a biblical way.
• 24:42
  Luis: And we see that throughout the Bible, right?
• 24:44
  Luis: So in the Bible, uh, you have a book called Lamentations that's all about lamenting, right?
• 24:50
  Luis: Right.
• 24:50
  Luis: You have passages on Thanksgiving.
• 24:52
  Luis: You have passages in the Psalms where the psalmist is angry, right?
• 24:56
  Luis: Is questioning God.
• 24:58
  Luis: Yep.
• 24:59
  Nate: I love reading those psalms like of David, where he's just like, God, like send judgment down right now and strike my enemies, right?
• 25:05
  Nate: Yes.
• 25:06
  Nate: And he he was processing his emotions with God in a biblical manner.
• 25:11
  Luis: And so emotions are are normal, right?
• 25:13
  Luis: Like people are gonna lament.
• 25:15
  Luis: Like like I would lament if I go somewhere and they're serving breakfast and it's after 10 30.
• 25:20
  Luis: Like, I've got a confession.
• 25:22
  Nate: You know what I had for dinner last night?
• 25:24
  Luis: A confession's a real thing, right?
• 25:26
  Nate: So confession is good for the soul.
• 25:27
  Nate: Confession, I had biscuits and gravy for dinner last night.
• 25:30
  Nate: Oh man.
• 25:31
  Nate: And then I had the leftovers this morning for breakfast.
• 25:33
  Luis: So you had breakfast for dinner last night?
• 25:35
  Luis: And then you had breakfast for breakfast this morning.
• 25:38
  Nate: It was glorious.
• 25:39
  Nate: Oh man.
• 25:40
  Nate: Biscuits and gravy.
• 25:41
  Nate: It was great.
• 25:42
  Nate: In fact, my girls even said, Are you gonna text Lewis?
• 25:45
  Nate: And I did not, uh, because I didn't want to ruin your evening uh with my dinner.
• 25:51
  Luis: I would have gagged, I think.
• 25:52
  Luis: I would have gagged.
• 25:52
  Luis: Back on track.
• 25:53
  Luis: But parents, encourage your kids to to participate in in the spiritual disciplines, right?
• 25:58
  Luis: Silence.
• 25:59
  Luis: Sometimes you just need to be silent and process it, right?
• 26:02
  Luis: One of the most spiritual things you can do is take a nap.
• 26:05
  Nate: Yes.
• 26:06
  Nate: It is true.
• 26:06
  Nate: Yeah, it is on the weekends.
• 26:08
  Nate: It is.
• 26:08
  Nate: Sometimes you're just tired.
• 26:09
  Nate: Yeah.
• 26:10
  Nate: And so you just need to be.
• 26:10
  Nate: You just need a nap.
• 26:11
  Nate: You just need a nap.
• 26:12
  Luis: Or solitude, right?
• 26:13
  Luis: Yeah.
• 26:13
  Luis: Sometimes you just need to be by yourself, whether whether that's going into your room, uh, spending time by yourself, maybe going for a car ride, maybe cutting the grass, right?
• 26:22
  Luis: Maybe gardening, right?
• 26:23
  Luis: Maybe being outside, doing something where where it's just you by by yourself, and or even scripture meditation, right?
• 26:30
  Luis: So teaching your children how to meditate on scripture, reading and praying the psalms, right?
• 26:35
  Luis: So if you're experiencing anger, if your child's experiencing anger, taking them to one of the psalms where David is angry, right?
• 26:43
  Luis: Um if there's a sin to be confessed, taking them to Psalm 51, right?
• 26:46
  Luis: Where David is confessing his sins to God and says, you know, against you and you alone have I sinned.
• 26:52
  Luis: Uh or just journaling.
• 26:53
  Luis: I'm not a good journaler.
• 26:54
  Luis: Um I don't know, Nate, do you do you journal?
• 26:56
  Luis: I do.
• 26:57
  Luis: It's more of a prayer.
• 26:58
  Luis: It's more of a prayer.
• 26:59
  Nate: It was I started it because um, you know, having my quiet time in the morning, I would get like my brain would just wander.
• 27:05
  Nate: Yeah.
• 27:06
  Nate: And so it was more of just a focus activity.
• 27:08
  Nate: Like, and so I'm writing my prayer to God is really what it turns into.
• 27:12
  Luis: I'm not uh I'm not good at journaling, but I know some people that are, right?
• 27:15
  Luis: And so and so they journal their thoughts, they journal their prayers, but teaching your kids to be able to do those things.
• 27:21
  Luis: And parents, here's here's the important thing, right?
• 27:23
  Luis: Is is mental health is the buzzword, right?
• 27:26
  Luis: Like that's what everybody focuses on.
• 27:28
  Luis: But but link mental health to their spiritual health because if they're struggling with something mentally, I would venture to guess that they're struggling with something spiritually.
• 27:39
  Luis: Yeah, and that's how it's manifesting, right?
• 27:41
  Luis: And so it's okay to get counsel, right?
• 27:43
  Luis: Talk to your pastor, talk to your youth pastor, get advice from trusted Christians.
• 27:48
  Luis: Um, if you need to see a biblical counselor, like that's okay.
• 27:52
  Luis: It's not sinful, but make sure that they understand that they're taking care of their soul and their heart more than they are their emotions and their feelings and what's going on in their brain.
• 28:05
  Luis: Right, right.
• 28:06
  Nate: And it it's one of those things where, you know, if you're feeling a way that is not necessarily valid, right?
• 28:14
  Nate: Yeah.
• 28:14
  Nate: Um, it could be that there are some spiritual lies that you are believing, right?
• 28:19
  Nate: Yeah.
• 28:19
  Nate: Um I think I have to perform in a certain way, therefore I'm feeling anxious, right?
• 28:26
  Nate: Because if I don't perform, then I won't be loved, valued, whatever.
• 28:30
  Nate: Like and there's those lies, right?
• 28:32
  Nate: And so you've got to take those lies and like it says, take every thought captive, right to Christ.
• 28:37
  Nate: And so we're gonna take those lies and say, no, this is this is a lie, right?
• 28:41
  Nate: Yeah.
• 28:41
  Nate: The Bible says, right, I am a loved child of God, right?
• 28:45
  Nate: God died for my sins and rose from the dead to give me new life, and I can perform on this test, you know, to the best of my ability, yeah.
• 28:53
  Nate: And no matter what the outcome, I'm still a child of God, right?
• 28:57
  Nate: And so you can work through things like that and confront those lies with the truth of the word.
• 29:02
  Nate: And sometimes we just need help thinking through things that way, which is where our fourth point comes in, yeah, right.
• 29:08
  Nate: Which is having a deeper uh connection with your church community and and just mentors in your life.
• 29:16
  Luis: And being discipled, right?
• 29:17
  Nate: Yeah, being discipled.
• 29:18
  Nate: And so um, you know, the episode that came out last week about grandparents, yeah, right, they talked about that, uh, where, you know, it's just more people speaking truth into your life, either as a parent, to your children, whatever it is, and the church is a great place to have other loving, biblical, you know, godly adults pouring into your life and the lives of your children.
• 29:40
  Luis: And part of that is just helping your child be connected to other believers who may be older, who have been this alone.
• 29:47
  Luis: Yep, yep, who have meaningful and sustained relationships.
• 29:50
  Luis: Um and so the church must care for the caregivers, right?
• 29:55
  Luis: And so provide support groups, soul care, parenting uh classes, whatever.
• 29:59
  Luis: ways to equip you.
• 30:01
  Luis: And so as as the church does this, uh, we become a community of flourishing and one that not only supports our own church members, but but can reach the people who who are lost, right?
• 30:13
  Luis: And so and so I think that's an important part that can't be understated of being connected to a local body of believers that encourages you, loves you, supports you, disciples you, corrects you, and guides you.
• 30:27
  Nate: Yep.
• 30:27
  Nate: Yeah.
• 30:27
  Nate: And that's called back all the way back to like our third or fourth episode where we talked about the role of the church in strengthening you know parents and and families.
• 30:35
  Nate: And this this really fits with just to you know hit you with one last uh piece of research, the American Bible Society uh showed that people unaffiliated with religion, typically they call them the nuns, right?
• 30:47
  Nate: Because they they select religious affiliation nuns, right?
• 30:50
  Nate: They score lower on flourishing metrics in every single category.
• 30:54
  Nate: Wow.
• 30:55
  Nate: And so just get connected to a local church if you're not already.
• 30:59
  Nate: So Lewis as we wrap up, you know what what's one last you know encouragement you would give uh to somebody listening to this podcast today.
• 31:07
  Luis: So I know that this is a heavy topic um but my hope is that it's also been a a helpful conversation, right?
• 31:12
  Luis: Because uh our generation needs the church to rise uh and and to not be just passive observers with what's happening, but to be active participants in promoting what true flourishing in Christ looks like, right?
• 31:26
  Luis: And so we've covered a lot and here's what I would suggest right choose choose one of these things to focus on this week whether it's enforcing a digital boundary whether it's sitting down as as as parents with your children and asking what worldview do my kids see you know modeled in me.
• 31:44
  Luis: What is one way that that I can help them how do you reach out to to one young person uh ask them how they're doing emotionally spiritually and and and if you're listening to this and you're a pastor maybe one thing you do is to schedule a parent equipping event at your church right how do we teach parents because I hear from parents all the time this is great stuff but nobody's ever taught me this.
• 32:07
  Luis: I don't know how to do this and so how do we help them collaborate in a way that churches are helping parents be able to address these things and so let's let's not shrink back right let's let's not look at the data and be like oh this is terrible but let's be bold in in how we approach it.
• 32:24
  Nate: That's right.
• 32:24
  Nate: Uh so and that's great uh for for all of us to remember right that we can uh be in this right be connected with our church we can have these tools and equip uh ourselves and our families just to to better navigate the world that that God has called us to live in today.
• 32:43
  Nate: So thanks for joining us today on Equipped for Impact.
• 32:46
  Nate: If this episode encouraged you please share it with a friend leave a review and subscribe so you don't miss our next episode.
• 32:54
  Nate: But until then keep leading the next generation to stand firm in their faith and influence the world for Christ