People are talking about emotions and boundaries and getting by for one more day. I’m relieved that, as a newcomer, it’s all right if I just listen. Hiding symptoms, pretending I’m OK, has become second nature, a way to go on breathing.

The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC) is encouraging Canadian Christians to interact with their Members of Parliament to share their concerns and grave misgivings about the planned expansion of medical assistance in dying in Canada.

“I can’t quite explain how distressing it was to have to go through the process of discovering I had mental illness while walking alongside well-meaning but ignorant people.”

After working with youth for 15 years in ministry and then in social services, you get used to hearing a lot of the same questions. The first questions I hear usually go like this. From parents: “Why won’t my child listen to me?” From youth: “Why won’t my parents listen to me?” Even from other youth workers: “How do I get parents and kids to listen to each other?”

Psalm 13 begins with these words, “How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?” We do not know exactly what the Psalmist’s circumstances were when he penned these words, but we do hear the agony, the feelings of God having forgotten him, of God hiding His face from the writer.