World Mental Health Day
A Prayer 

10th October 2025 
 

For all of us whose battles are deep within ourselves
Whose thoughts, emotions, and behaviours aren’t neatly stored on tidy shelves
Who are afraid to feel our feelings, think our thoughts, or pray our prayers
Who are sad simply that we sad, scared that we’re scared, or can’t care enough to care
 
For all of us from whom our faith, at times, can make it even more tough
Because “we shouldn’t feel/think this way”, “isn’t what the bible says enough?”
Surrounded by the shining and the smiling, the have-it-all-togethers and the healed
Who would shudder in their shoes to know just how it really feels
 
To feel different, to be different, to live with the me I know inside
To hold the pain for what it is, and not the neat narrative others describe
To hide behind a calm face, and to fight silently to hold it all within
To wonder and worry constantly if this struggle is a trial or a sin
 
To question what I’ve done, or not done, to be consigned to this place
To wonder how long I can long for change, or cling on to His grace
To fear the sermons on faith and prayer, churning up my guilt and shame
And in my darkest of moments to dare to ask if I am really saved
 
For all of us whose inner sanctum knows huge shadows of dread and gloom
Who find ourselves stood in Gethesmane, watching others dance by garden tombs
May the One in whom we’ve placed our faith, who yes – enthroned forevermore
But who first knew the anguish of our agony, till blood poured from His pores
 
Whose eyes knows both the light of eternity and the long night of the soul
Whose ears hear blasts of praise and blasphemy, whose heart is can hold it all
Whose hands have held both stars and scars, hold us now within His grace
Whose arms are long enough to reach us, strong enough to keep us, tender enough to bear the weight
 
And in those arms –
may we know that both honesty and hopefulness can become unlikely friends
that doubt can be the starting point of discovery and not faith’s bitter end
may we know that we are seen and known and have never been un-loved
and may we know today, and every day, that for us this grace is enough