Weekly Magazine | A Light in the Darkness
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❗ Important Note
This issue contains content related to suicide and mental health struggles.
If you or someone you know is in crisis, please call or text the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988, or visit 988lifeline.org. Help is free, confidential, and available 24/7.
Dear Friends,
September is National Suicide Prevention Month—a time when we’re invited to pause, speak honestly, and offer hope in the face of some of life’s deepest struggles. We know this issue will feel heavy. The topic of suicide and mental illness can stir up pain, memories, fear, or even silence. And yet… we believe it’s too important to ignore.
Because chances are, someone you know is walking this road right now.
Maybe it’s a friend battling depression. A child you’re desperately trying to help. A family member lost to suicide. Or maybe it’s you. Maybe you’re the one fighting to make it through the day, carrying a struggle that feels invisible to everyone else.
Wherever you find yourself, we want you to know this: you are not alone—and there is hope.
In this week’s issue, we’re holding space for real stories, honest questions, and Christ-centered encouragement. You’ll hear from those who’ve walked through mental health crises, loved ones who’ve grieved unimaginable losses, and friends learning how to show up with empathy and grace. You’ll also find practical tools, biblical truth, and resources to help you—or someone you care about—navigate this journey.
We don’t have all the answers. But we know the One who is near to the brokenhearted and who binds up every wound. In Him, there is light—even in the darkest places. May this issue remind you of that light—and help you become a light-bearer to someone else.
💌 Please Share This Issue
We believe this issue is too important to keep behind a paywall. That’s why we’re making it available to all readers, both free and paid.
If something here speaks to you, we hope you’ll share it freely. Forward this email, post the link, or send it to someone who may be struggling. Let’s help shine Christ’s light into some of the darkest places—together.
Encouraging You in God’s Truth,
There Is Always Hope | Kay Warren
Kay opens her heart to parents walking the painful road of loving a child with suicidal thoughts. Her honest words remind us that even in the darkest places, hope can hold firm.
When Parenting Hurts | Nicole Order
What do you do when traditional parenting tools fall short? Nicole offers practical guidance, compassion, and next steps for parents facing the unique challenges of raising a child with mental illness.
When Mental Illness Hits Home | Laura DeNooyer-Moore
Mental illness doesn’t just affect individuals—it affects entire families. Learn how to be a safe, grace-filled presence when someone you know is hurting.
Are You Available? | Marilyn Hunt
What if your willingness to show up—with kindness, consistency, and compassion—makes all the difference? This piece offers simple yet powerful ways to love a friend who’s struggling.
BONUS: Navigating a Mental Health Crisis | Shelly Esser
A deeply personal article with practical steps for walking through a mental health crisis with faith and clarity. Includes a downloadable Mental Health Crisis Guide with a printable checklist and trusted support resources.
🩷 For Your Heart
📖 Bible Verse of the Week
🙏 Prayer of the Week
Our Daily Bread | Strong Women of Faith
There Is Always Hope
Holding On to God While Parenting a Suicidal Child.
By: Kay Warren
Hundreds of people have asked me how to help their loved one—particularly an adolescent or young adult child—who is living with severe mental illness and/or substance use disorder. They have a similar look in their eyes, a similar expression on their faces, a similar weariness that seems to come from their bones. Many weep—mostly against their will—because these brave moms and dads have steeled themselves to not break down in public again over the anguish they feel for their beloved sons and daughters who are barely holding on, cycling through repeated “episodes,” relapses, jail time, rehab, hospitalizations, overdoses, and suicide attempts. These dear parents are doing all they know to do; have done it for years or decades and will do it until their last breath. They recognize that severe mental illness often leaves families with untenable choices—there are few “good” options, only “bad” and “worse.”
The Unfathomable Question
Some parents go even further in what they ask me. A few manage to cobble together the question through tight lips that can barely form words, or in emotion-laden paragraphs via email. “Can you help me face the reality that my child may not survive much longer?”
My initial word to these terrified parents is: “I’m honored that you asked me—and I’m so very sad that you even have to give it a thought.”
I remember the first time I allowed myself to wonder if my youngest son, Matthew, was going to make it. I wanted to extinguish the thought as quickly and unbidden as it had come as if, somehow, even considering the terrible thought could make it happen. I remember the thousand times after that when fear and anxiety and the reality of his determination to die flooded my brain with utter helplessness. Sometimes I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t relax. I couldn’t project positive outcomes. I know this place; I remember it too well. So, to any of you parents in this terrible place of fear for your beloved son or daughter, here are my thoughts.
The Edge of Hell
I call the place you find yourself “Sitting on the edge of Hell.”
It’s the place where you as a mom stare down the enemy trying to destroy your child and know that your superpowers are not enough to guarantee your child’s survival. Your love may not be enough to save him. Your hours of anguished, fervent prayer may not be enough to save her. Your tears may not be enough. Your money may not be enough. Your carefully thought through, researched, and detailed plans may not be enough. There is hardly any place worse as a parent who adores a child and yet recognizes the enemy is relentless, cruel, and implacable.
To Engage or Disengage
Some parents are advised by professionals, family, and friends to disengage emotionally—to choose “compassionate detachment” toward their loved one. I was given that advice. I rejected it out of hand. I mean, it sounds reasonable in a textbook or on paper or in a clinical setting. It’s reasonable for a clinician who must build layers of protection against the pain of losing clients who die while in their practice. For their own well-being and ability to last in their work, they might need to find ways to emotionally disconnect from patients or clients so that work doesn’t follow them home. Adult children tasked with caring for mentally ill parents or siblings might need to find ways to emotionally separate themselves a bit for their own survival.
But parents?
How do parents tell their hearts to stop caring? How do you tell your heart to sit by and merely observe? How do you tell your heart “It’s up to him?” How do you tell your heart to give up on hope? How do you tell your heart not to mourn over what mental illness and addiction are doing to your much-longed for, much-prayed for, much-beloved child? How do you tell your heart not to ache or be ripped apart by his illness? How do you tell your heart to let her go?
I couldn't do it.
Choosing to Suffer with Your Child
So, I chose the path that left my heart completely defenseless to hurt, pain, and anguish. I chose the path that discarded self-protection in favor of remaining soft and tender, exposed and vulnerable. I chose to suffer alongside of Matthew, feeling his hurt, his anguish, his despair, fighting the hopelessness that engulfed him rather than sit on the sidelines, with my heart encased in a steel-lined box.
I chose to believe in the God of Angel Armies...the God who parted the Red Sea...the God who releases prisoners from behind iron bars...the God who makes a way in the desert...the God who is the champion of lost causes...the God who walked on water...the God who made the blind to see, the deaf to hear, the lame to walk...the God who rose from the dead by His own power. I knew that if I ever gave up hope, Matthew would sense the change in me and would fling himself even more earnestly into the pursuit of death.
So, I kept on believing, kept on hoping, kept on asking for a miracle, kept praying Scripture, kept begging others to pray as fervently as we were.
I knew Matthew could die. For years we lived with the knowledge that any given day could be the day he couldn’t fight any longer. I wasn’t stupidly naïve or ridiculously convinced God would deliver. I just knew He could, and I would ask Him to do it until either He delivered Matthew here on this earth or welcomed him home sooner than we expected.
So, to my fellow fearful moms and dads—do what you’re doing. Accept the excruciating possibility that your child will not live very much longer. Pray like a crazy person on your face before God and ask everyone you meet to pray with you for a miraculous intervention of God. And keep your heart open and soft and tender so that your son or daughter never has to wonder what God is really like. Yes, it will hurt you more now. But if something should ever happen, you will know without a shadow of a doubt that you never withheld your heart.
My heart is heavy for you as I write... for your child, your marriage, and your other children. Yet I cannot give up hope. I will not give up hope. There is always hope.
Kay Warren cofounded Saddleback Church with her husband, Rick Warren, in Lake Forest, Calif. After the death of her son, Matthew, who lived with serious mental illness for most of his life, she founded Saddleback’s Hope for Mental Health Initiative as a way to support individuals and family members of loved ones with mental illness and suicidal ideation. Kay is a board member of the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention and is active in mental health/suicide prevention efforts in Orange County, Calif. Her children are Amy and Josh, and Matthew (who is in heaven), and she has five grandchildren.
Learn more at KayWarren.com and follow her on Facebook (KayWarrensPage), Twitter (@KayWarren1), and Instagram (@KayWarren75).
When Parenting Hurts
Real help for moms and dads navigating mental health challenges.
By: Nicole Order
What happens when your child’s mental illness turns your world upside down? When tried-and-true parenting strategies fall short and you’re left wondering how to love, lead, and stay afloat? Drawing from both professional experience and personal pain, Nicole offers guidance for parents facing depression, anxiety, or suicidal ideation in their children.
➡️ What might God want to gently shift in your expectations or approach as you care for your child?
When Mental Illness Hits Home
How to walk with families in the middle of the mess.
By: Laura DeNooyer-Moore
Mental illness doesn’t just affect individuals—it affects whole families. But too often, those families feel isolated, judged, or overlooked by the very communities meant to support them. Laura offers practical, grace-filled ways to come alongside hurting families, especially in the church. From showing up in the hard moments to offering practical help without judgment, her words challenge us to be the kind of friends who reflect the heart of Christ.
➡️ How might God be calling me to show up for someone who’s struggling—even if I don’t know what to say?
Are You Available?
Becoming a safe friend to someone living with mental illness.
By: Marilyn Hunt
You don’t have to be a counselor to make a difference—you just have to be available. In this personal and practical reflection, Marilyn shares how simple friendship, consistent presence, and nonjudgmental listening can become lifelines for someone navigating mental illness. She reminds us that offering stability, empathy, and kindness—even in small ways—can be one of the most powerful forms of ministry.
➡️ What might change if I simply showed up for someone who’s silently struggling?
BONUS: Navigating a Mental Health Crisis
Practical tips for families facing the unimaginable.
By: Shelly Esser
When mental illness erupts into crisis, it can leave families reeling—unsure of what to do, who to call, or how to move forward. Shelly shares time-tested tips drawn from her own experience of walking through mental health crises. From building a care team to preparing emotionally and spiritually, her wisdom will help you stay grounded in the chaos—and remind you that you’re not alone.
📥 BONUS: Download the Mental Health Crisis Guide
Need a practical next step? This printable guide summarizes Shelly’s tips in an easy-to-use checklist—plus includes a curated directory of U.S. and international suicide prevention and Christian counseling resources.
Includes:
A printable crisis response checklist
Suicide prevention and mental health hotlines (U.S. + international)
Faith-based counseling and caregiver support resources
📥 Download: Mental Health Crisis Guide
What if showing up is the most Christlike thing you can do?
Mental illness and suicide can feel like impossible topics to talk about. But behind every statistic is a story—someone’s daughter, son, parent, or friend. As followers of Christ, we’re not called to have all the answers. We’re called to care—to weep with those who weep, to walk with those in pain, and to hold on to hope when it’s hard to see.
This week, reflect on how God might be inviting you to show up with tenderness and truth. Maybe it’s through a prayer, a text, a meal, or just your quiet presence. Maybe it’s in asking for help yourself. Wherever you are, may you remember that God is near to the brokenhearted—and He calls us to be near, too.
Reflect:
Who in my life might be struggling silently—and how can I make space for them?
Do I truly believe that my presence, prayers, and compassion can make a difference?
What does it mean for me to be a light in someone else’s darkness this week?
Bible Verse of the Week:
“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
—John 1:5
In life’s darkest moments, Christ’s light still shines. Let this verse remind you that no matter how deep the shadow, God’s hope cannot be extinguished.
Prayer of the Week
Lord, this topic is hard—and it hurts. I think of those I love who are struggling, and I feel the weight of not knowing how to help. Sometimes I’m the one struggling, and I don’t know how to ask for help. But You see it all. You understand what I can’t put into words. Thank You for being near to the brokenhearted and gentle with those who are crushed in spirit. Help me love like You do—with compassion, patience, and grace. Use me, Lord, to bring light into the darkness, even when all I can offer is my presence and my prayers. Amen.
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Thank you for being part of this ministry. Your membership fuels more than a magazine—it fuels a movement of encouragement. We’re so grateful you’re part of the Just Between Us family.