It’s Okay by Karen Sargent

by Rachael Adams | Jan 19, 2023 | The Love Offering Guest Blog Series

In the summer of 2018, I was hit head-on and fell hard into the world of mental health struggles.

I couldn’t sleep. Couldn’t think. I couldn’t follow a conversation. I got angry at little things and cried at the drop of a hat. I was easily startled. I couldn’t be a passenger—I had to do all the driving. I became terrified of spiders, scanning every room looking for them. I started having panic attacks, and where I used to love walking in the pasture among our cattle, I was now afraid of them.

I assumed all of these symptoms were because of the concussion I’d suffered, but when they persisted long after it should have healed, we turned to professionals who told us they were classic results of trauma, and I was diagnosed with PTSD. I struggled for over two years and thought I would never be right. I fell into depression and grief over the life I’d lost. I finally went to therapy.

I was embarrassed, ashamed, and full of guilt. I didn’t want anyone other than my husband to know. I thought I must not be strong enough or spiritual enough to handle my problems. I knew how Christians talked about those who needed psychological help, and it wasn’t pretty or kind.

But I’ve learned that God does his best refining in the valley. I’ve learned that it isn’t just me. There are many of us who seek professional counseling; we just don’t talk about it in our conservative circles. We hide it like some secret sin. And isn’t that so sad—that the people who need our compassion and understanding the most get scorned, even shunned?

If you asked me four years ago what I wanted my gift—my love offering to the world—to be, I would have said a beautiful voice, or the ability to write meaningful words or make people smile. Instead, God has given me the ministry of “It’s okay.”

It’s okay to not be okay. It’s okay to seek counsel. It’s okay to have trouble handling the big (and little) stresses of life. It’s okay to need help. It’s okay to speak up and voice your needs.

It’s okay to be a Christian and go to therapy.

This is my new mantra, my gift to my brothers and sisters.

It’s not the ministry I would have asked for, but it’s the one that’s been ordained for my life. God says in 2 Corinthians 1:3–4, “Blessed be God . . . who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God” (KJV).

I’ve been comforted by God—not just for my own benefit, but so that I can share that same comfort with others who are hurting. It’s a gift to me that I then give to others.

You may not have a “sing on stage and lead thousands” talent. You may think you have nothing of value to offer. But know this: “the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man [and woman] to profit with” (1 Cor. 12:7, KJV).

God gives each one of us a gift to be shared, something in our lives we can use to encourage, to minister, to uplift others. It may not be the gift we want, but God gives it for a purpose. He created us to be love offerings to one another, and when we use what He’s given us, it is an offering of love given back to Him, and it brings Him glory.