“I know exactly how you feel”

I don’t know about you, but I really hate it when people tell me they know exactly how I feel. I understand that they’re trying to be supportive – but sometimes – people don’t know how I feel.

They might be able to appreciate and empathise, they might even have been through a similar situation, they may have faced things far worse than I have – but they haven’t walked through my life in my shoes.

All except one.

There is one who knows exactly how I feel and who has walked by my side through everything.

Jesus.

He may not have physically walked through 21st century Britain alongside me, he may not have faced exactly the same pain as me, but he did “become flesh and blood and move into the neighbourhood”, and more than that He remains with us.

There is nothing in this world that we face; no nightmare, no agony, no exhaustion that Jesus hasn’t walked with us through. We might not have felt His presence, we might even have doubted it, but He’s been there through it all.

I take so much comfort from that.

When I’m feeling like I have to struggle through the trials of mental illness on my own I know that I’m not alone. Jesus is walking with me and He has conquered it – what I have to do is trust in Him.

Jesus is the most trustworthy friend we will ever have, and He speaks to us through His word and our own friends, family or teachers.

He has been tested to the point of death on the cross, made to be the weakest – and He won’t give up on us when we are weak.

The King of Heaven is our greatest comforter because He has walked through this life and He never leaves us.

And if you ever feel like you have no one to talk to – try to talking to Him – out loud, through art or in words on a page. Talk to the one who reigns over everything and yet has experienced the very darkness that we navigate.

Rachael Newham is the Founding Director of ThinkTwice which offers mental health awareness, training and consultancy. For more information head to www.thinktwiceinfo.org.

Twitter @RachaelNewham90 @ThinkTwiceInfo