[Introduction]

In this episode of Grace in the Grind, host Jim Burgoon sits down with Jill Nash, a mental health advocate and founder of Looking For Answers, to discuss the intersection of faith and mental health. They explore the challenges faced by individuals dealing with mental health issues within the church community and the importance of compassion and understanding.

Jill Nash

Meet Jill Nash, a driven entrepreneur with a heart for making a difference. As the founder of Elevate, a thriving leadership and marketing firm, Jill has been instrumental in orchestrating events that spark transformation in individuals and communities alike. However, it was a deeply personal event that reshaped her mission. Following the tragic loss of a supporter to suicide just two weeks after one of her leadership events, Jill's perspective shifted profoundly. This tragedy served as a catalyst for her nonprofit, Looking4Answers, where she channels her passion into providing support and hope for those struggling with mental health challenges. With a commitment to guiding individuals from their passions to their purpose, Jill brings authenticity and empathy to her work. As she joins the podcast, listeners will gain valuable insights into her journey and the vital work she's doing to promote mental health awareness and support.

Timestamps

(00:00) - Introduction to Grace in the Grind

(01:26) - Meet Jill Nash: Mental Health Advocate

(03:37) - Faith and Mental Health: A Personal Journey

(05:19) - Challenges and Misconceptions in Mental Health

(07:51) - Equipping Churches for Mental Health Ministry

(09:48) - Supporting Mental Health in the Community

(13:06) - The Role of Love and Compassion in Mental Health

(15:02) - Understanding Scripture and Mental Health Stigma

(20:08) - Personal Struggles with Mental Health

(21:19) - The Church's Response to Mental Health

(23:42) - Trauma vs. Inherited Mental Health Issues

(25:06) - A Miraculous Healing

(26:06) - The Importance of Process in Healing

(28:11) - John Maxwell's Impact

(30:33) - Encouragement and Resources for Mental Health

(33:30) - Final Thoughts and Wisdom

[Key Takeaways]

• Mental health issues are prevalent but often stigmatized in church communities.
• Both spiritual and professional support are crucial for mental health recovery.
• Churches need better education and resources to support those with mental health challenges.
• Healing can involve both miraculous interventions and long-term processes.
• Compassion and understanding are essential in supporting those with mental health issues.

[Relevant Links]

• Looking For Answers
• National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988

[Call to Action]

If you enjoyed this episode, please like, rate, and review Grace in the Grind. Your support helps us reach more people with these important conversations.

[Connect With Us]

Jill Nash

Jill's Facebook page

@looking4answers on Instagram

Jill's Website

Jim Burgoon

• Find Jim on social media: @LeadWithJim
• Visit our website: www.leadwithjim.com
• Contact Jill Nash: Looking For Answers

https://grace-in-the-grind.captivate.fm/episode/jill

Copyright 2024 Jim Burgoon

Welcome to Grace In the grind the podcast where we dive deep into the

journeys of heart centered and purpose driven leaders and entrepreneurs.

We'll pull back the curtain to explore the stories behind success, how people

have navigated the toughest challenges, overcome their obstacles and found

their way through the grind to build something truly impactful, whether you're

a Christian leader looking for guidance or an entrepreneur seeking inspiration.

We're here to equip and encourage you.

So let's get started, and find the grace within the grind.

This is Grace in the Grind, and now your host, Jim Burgoon.

, thank you, Jill, for coming on grace in the grind, where we're going to,

where we just talk about, finding grace in the messiness of navigating

entrepreneurship and behind the scenes in a very biblical way.

And my friend Jill here is somebody we connect on Facebook, very

passionate about mental health.

And I had made a post a while ago.

The post I actually made was.

right here.

It says, please stop telling people that praise and gratitude

will cure your depression.

And that's something that really got Jill talking a little bit and we

said, let's have this conversation.

This is where we're going to start the conversation about faith, mental health,

and just really Behind the scenes.

And I'm just going to welcome my friend, Jill Nash to the podcast.

Welcome Jill.

Oh, thank you, Jim.

Nice to be here.

Tell me, tell the audience real quick, like a little synopsis of what you do.

So they have context about your expertise.

Okay.

Just context.

Short story is I used to run leadership seminars.

We would average around, 500 people.

We did it for 10 years.

During one of those years, one of my top promoters of the events

two weeks after committed suicide.

And it made me think that in all these years of trying to transform our community

through leadership, that there was a group sitting here that was, probably

suffering from anxiety, depression or a variety of mental health issues.

And this one person that I knew, I had no idea the way he was struggling.

And once you commit suicide, there's no more hope.

And so that was a catalyst for me to start looking for answers.

Which is my nonprofit.

We're still we just started back in 2020.

So you can imagine that we're really just getting started a few years

later, but our goal is really to help people with mental health.

We want to raise funds to run a media campaign where people are

scrolling on their phone, seven, eight hours a day, because we know not

everybody's going to go into church.

And we also know from just that one post that church is, could be a part of the

solution, but it's not the whole solution.

So we think if we can reach people right where they're at media, and we

also go to events as well, then we can have mental health advocates that are

trained and gear them and lead them in the direction and their next steps.

step, whether it's a coach, whether it's a counselor, whether it's a

local church that does have a mental health ministry, that's what we're

doing is building up that armies just so we can direct people to get help.

Thanks for sharing that and appreciate what you're doing as a,

as somebody who's also in the world of leadership, John Maxwell team

member, and just, seeing the passion.

Transition of where people are really struggling.

There's lots of people out there that, that really talk about how to build

self development thing like that, but there's few people out there really

diving into mental health and its ramifications on not just life, but our

faith and what does that all look like?

And so let's just jump in and start a great conversation around this.

Now, the post that I mentioned just a few minutes ago, please

stop telling people that praise and gratitude will cure their depression.

So let's start with that and we'll branch off from there because I will

tell you, interesting enough, I got both praise for that post and flack

for that post because you gave me both.

What, where did you fall into your thought process on that?

Let's hear where you start with that.

That drew you to that post and let's branch out from there, I'll share on a

personal level, many years ago or two different times, I struggled with anxiety

that was very debilitating to a point where I didn't leave my house for, I think

seven weeks during one of those episodes.

It was circumstantial.

There's a lot of stuff going on in my life, but the bottom line is I, Felt like

my faith was lacking and I felt again, I love my church, nothing against my church,

but it was still, one of those things, let's pray more, let's do this more.

Let's let, you love, nobody said you lack faith, but it's what I felt,

and there really were no answers other than people go through this.

And so I had to find the answers for myself and I did, fortunately it was a,

I put together a team and just did a lot of research and did what worked for me.

So I just think where I fall is I feel like the church is huge and a part of it

because we need people praying for us.

And I do think there are times when maybe somebody needs deliverance.

I believe in that.

I've seen people, but I don't think you can put everybody in that box.

I think there's people that very practically may need medication.

They may need, a psychiatrist, a psychologist, but the key

is finding the right person.

So I feel like they work together.

Yeah, I agree.

And I, oh, my gosh, you were going to undo Pandora's box here because,

there is like one of these things.

Interesting enough, That not everything needs to be delivered.

I love how you said something said in that, because we do live in a body.

We do have the flesh and we do live in a sin for world.

And there is a such thing as mental illness that not everything's a

demon, not everything's a spirit.

And it frustrates me because we've been in, um, walking with Jesus now for 25

years ish, maybe 26, 27, and my wife is diagnosed with some mental illness.

I have some mental illness in the realm of depression, things like that.

You mentioned anxiety.

And running in a lot more charismatic circles, interesting enough, it

was all, the answer was always, you need to go to deliverance.

You need to pray more.

And if it's if you weren't delivered somehow, like you said, you didn't

have the faith to be delivered.

And I find that to be a cop out, such a cop out because you

can't be delivered from trauma.

Trauma has happened, right?

You need to be processed through it.

You can be delivered from a lot of things.

But you have to be processed through certain things.

And I think in a lot of churches, they're under equipped to deal with the

rebel, the prevalence of mental health.

So I really appreciate you bringing that out because that's something

I've been talking about for, oh my gosh, as long as I've been walking

with Jesus and my wife was diagnosed.

So where has your experience been?

Like, have you, do you go back to churches now and educate on this?

Or do you get a lot of like resistance?

Like, where is, where are you at this?

Oh my gosh, this is like one of the most exciting topics.

Like I'm really excited just to be discussing this.

But so I just found something new, which isn't new.

It's new to me.

It will help local churches and some local churches are doing it.

Not my community.

Let me just tell you a little bit about that.

There is a platform called glue.

Are you familiar with it?

G L O never heard of it.

Are you familiar with the, he gets us campaign by any chance?

I am.

I have mixed feelings about it.

But

they're not the ones that do that, but they, but.

He gets us uses their platform.

So anyway, I went on their platform.

It is a free platform for any nonprofit or any church.

They like do free texting and they offer a lot of incredible services.

But one of the things is they're tied in and I forget the name of

the group, but it's a, National Christian counseling group.

I thought they were there just like you type in your zip

code and you find a counselor.

But I found out instead what they're doing is they are training

churches or other groups like mine.

Like I'm taking people through this right now to be mental health advocates

or to be mental health coaches.

And they are the ones who are training and equipping Bye churches

to have a mental health ministry.

So right now I'm in the process of going through, I'm think I'm halfway

through on how to develop a team because like again, I don't think my church

is probably quite ready for that.

So I thought, you know what, I'm just going to go ahead and develop

a team and see if I can be available for our local church by equipping

people that can direct people.

So they already have 4, 000 coaches nationwide.

So that's what our answer is.

So my hope is.

I will do something here locally, but then I'm going to look for those churches.

I just joined their Facebook group.

I'm going to find out some of the other churches who are already doing it.

Because when we do our media campaigns outside of Gainesville, I've got to

start where I'm at, which is in Florida.

But that's my hope is that I can go ahead and do these mental health

ad campaigns and lead people to the mental health ministries that are

already at some of these churches.

That's awesome.

I am too over here in Florida.

So we definitely need a lot of mental health things here as well

as anywhere else in the country, but that's a great platform.

I had never heard of that.

And I think that's a beautiful platform.

And I'm going to vet it out.

And for you guys who are listening, I'm going to throw it in the show notes

once it's vetted to make sure that, we always want to check everything and

then have access to it in the notes.

So have you found like there's been a lot of resistance?

I know you said my church isn't ready for that.

What is resistance have you faced in this realm?

And what does that look like?

Oh, it's hard to say.

Cause I think churches are busy.

I think they all are like, they have their own agenda.

Even if they think mental health is an issue.

I think I can't really speak for my church, like why they might

be resistant other than maybe the busyness of life, or maybe they

still think spiritual is enough.

I know that they will lead people.

We have a couple, we have one psychiatrist.

That's a part of our church.

We have one or two psychologists, so I'm sure they refer some of

that out, but it's not known.

Like I'm thinking, why not have a mental health team?

That is known.

So I'm not sure, other than I would just have to guess busyness and maybe

it's not the top of their priority.

Maybe they don't maybe they don't see the big issue, I've not, I've chosen

not to have that conversation right now.

Just because I, when I've been there for 30 years, so you just know, I

said, it's it's I don't want to, I certainly don't want to put them down

because they're a beautiful church.

They love people very well, so there's so many good things, but I think I've

just got, even with leadership, even when I did my leadership seminars,

anything I do, I always find it hard.

To really work with the local church.

If I'm bringing something in that maybe doesn't fit with

something they're already doing.

I got you.

Does that make sense?

No, it makes perfect sense.

And I love it because you're trying to just come in and,

come alongside their mission.

And I think that's something very important.

And I think that's also being sensitive to the Holy spirit in

the midst of that, because Yeah.

So go ahead.

No, I was just going to say to me, it's really just as simple as, Hey, let me

go ahead and get some people trained.

I'll be trained, we'll train a few others, let's go offer our services

and let's get in some success stories.

Because I think when you have those success stories.

Then it speaks.

And then they're like, Oh, that's what you meant.

Oh yeah, I can do that.

And also just like you said, you want to vet, like this, like when I talked

about glue, you want to vet that.

They're like, they don't know about this organization.

I'm part of, they believe in me as a person, but they're going to be careful.

They're going to protect their sheep as well.

So cause that's what I thought once I go through it, they have.

A whole video series for the church.

So that's going to be one of my goals is when I feel like it's the timing,

I'm going to show them that first video.

If I can just get one pastor to look at that video.

And then as I do events, like I'm planning an event it'll

probably be September, October.

And I thought, if I can just get a few churches together, we've done

that with all our leadership seminars, so why not for mental health?

Right.

So that's what I want to do is just, if you just bring people together and

they see the need and they see the connection, I think they just have to

see it and hear some success stories and then they'll probably get on board.

That's my guess.

That's, we'll be praying for that because I think there are two,

I've noticed two margins that are underserved that I think is a

travesty, the mental health community.

And the special needs community.

They are two places that the church can do an amazing thing.

And there are churches out there that are doing amazing things, but I think

more and more need to be trained to operate in those two margins.

I think those are some incredible opportunities for ministry.

And so I'm definitely in support of what you're doing.

So then that comes down to this, like really interesting, this

quick question out of curiosity.

Because I know there's a fine line between coaching and therapy, and I know that some

of the listeners that all my listeners are generally entrepreneurs, and there

are many of them probably are coaches, and they are afraid to enter into this

territory because, there is laws that says I can't therapize or do therapy.

Without a license.

So how do you keep that separate?

And how do you make sure that you're not therapy, but you're coaching

through the training that I'm taking because they're very specific

in what you can and can't do.

And they give you like the system to follow from, from what I'm learning.

Because I don't want to cross that line.

I'm not a therapist.

I'm a great listener.

I'm very empathetic.

But I want to be really clear when I'm talking to people, I'm going to lead them

to where I feel like they need to be.

And then it's up to them.

So that's why I'm thankful.

And I'll send you the name.

It's a, like I said, I don't know why I can't remember it.

And sorry, this keeps beeping.

I don't know how to shut my texts off on here.

And I thought I had that conversation off.

It's a bunch of women in my, I have a women's group and they're all like

texting each other, but I will send you the name of that organization, which

is probably more important than glue.

Glue is the platform.

Okay.

But the one that, and you may want to vet them, but I think what you

really want to vet is this, national Christian mental health, group.

That's probably where the vetting comes in.

So anyway, I don't know if that answered your question, but no, it does.

Cause you said the training will support that.

And cause I do know there's, I have a bunch of friends who are

coaches invest this space and they said the rules are pretty.

Solidly black and white.

And they don't, they really try like hard not to cross lines.

And I know there's some apprehension, maybe anxiety in that.

So then going down so for the average person who may or may not be a coach

may or may not, or may even have some.

Issues, depression, anxiety, ADHD, any of that.

What are some things that you can say, Hey, here's how they can support the

community, be part of the community without maybe even joy without wanting to

join or be a coach, how can people still support, like just the average person,

just the average person, like maybe the average church goer, by listening to

people and not judging them, hearing their story, recognizing somebody's pain.

Mental health is still something that most find uncomfortable to deal with.

I've known people that are depressed and they won't say they're depressed

because like that, it's okay to say you have a sore throat, but is it

okay to say that you're depressed?

I think it's harder for men as well.

So I think literally just being in tune with the Holy Spirit in your life and

being willing to have that conversation.

And I think just empathizing with somebody, showing

compassion, and just listening.

It's okay if you don't have the answer.

I think listening and just validating somebody is important.

Oh, that's, those are good things.

So it's just basically be a good Christian guys.

I think it's so funny because like, when we talk about the Bible, we,

you hear a lot of churches, really go into the greatest things in spiritual

warfare, the weapons of our warfare or not carnival might be pulling down a

stronghold, strongholds and all that.

And then you hear them going into talking a lot about Prayer and praise

and just doing the things that'll fight.

But I think one of the biggest things that is missed is in Galatians

where it says, walk in love.

Yes.

The most powerful thing we have as a Christian is to walk in love.

And that's everything that sums up everything you just said.

Even in John, first John, it talks about, and they'll know us by our love.

And guys it's really for the listeners.

It's really comes down to be present and walk in love.

And I think that's two things that were absent in a lot of my wife's and

Eyes journey through mental health, through mental illness and being in

the church because we've done this for 25 years, walking with Jesus and

mental health plus and we've done most of it, 99 percent of it alone.

See now, Jim, this is that, oh, that's so sad because here's the thing.

Yeah.

Thank God that you are still a Christian walking with God and you and your

wife are working this out together.

But if the church, meaning the people, not just the physical, obviously not the

physical building, but if the church is not the answer or part of the answer, then

people are going to go to the world and they're going to probably find the answers

that they may not be looking for, oh gosh.

Yeah.

I see it all the time.

And again, I'm careful what I say, like I went to a meeting.

A business meetings of last year was around table

discussion around mental health.

You had the psychiatrist from different hospitals and people who have private

practices and it was our local chamber and they were going to, try to be the answer.

They were trying to be a catalyst and it was nice.

They were going to have a quarterly meeting and they were going to do that.

And it did, it didn't happen.

The ball, it I don't want to say the ball was dropped, but.

And somebody dropped the ball.

I don't know who dropped the ball.

But in meeting those people, as it's obviously not all Christian

because it's through the chamber.

It's just going to be everybody who's a part.

And my concern is again, without, I'm not saying a non Christian can't help

somebody, but I know that I've been through counseling when I was a teenager.

And I know that I went through some counseling as an

adult and it was pretty bad.

It did more damage.

And again, and I don't want to say just because you send somebody

to a Christian counselor means it's the right thing either.

It doesn't mean they're good, so I think anybody like what you said, how you're

going to vet like the organization I'm talking about, anybody who is given

a recommendation should do a little bit of vetting themselves, make sure.

And if you're going to see somebody and it doesn't feel right, or if it

doesn't line up with scripture, I've had Christian friends that are counselors

and then they say some stuff and I'm like, That is not scriptural, so anyway,

I'm getting a little bit off topic, but I think that vetting part that you

said, I don't think you're, I don't think you're getting off topic at all.

And the reason I don't think so is I think that you brought up a great point.

Just because somebody calls themselves a Christian doesn't

mean they understand the Bible.

And I think that's a huge thing and why people should vet.

I think that's great wisdom.

So you don't need to apologize.

Cause that's not off topic at all in this conversation.

I wish more people would spend more time in their Bible and understand

the truths of the Bible to be able to help, cause quite frankly, like when

we're in therapy, the worldly therapy it's really behavioral modification

and that's not what God's about.

God's about transformation.

And you can behavioral modify all day long, but it doesn't change the heart

and God's a God who changes the heart.

And so understanding scripture is what transforms the world is

great at changing your behavior.

God is great at changing your heart.

And I think that's the big difference.

And I love that direction.

I could talk for hours on that one alone.

My goodness.

So then why do you think even in the Christian realm is there's such a stigma?

Around mental health.

Gosh, it's a great question because even as much as I talk about it, I

hesitate to talk to people sometimes.

I'm not always, I'm open with you because of, where you're at and I'm

open with some people, but I still wouldn't hesitate if I had a sore

throat, I don't care who I tell, but if I'm going to say, Hey, I suffered with

anxiety and I, or I did this I'm going to be careful who I tell because of it.

I don't, I wish I had that answer.

It really.

Also I could say I know my son keeps telling me I have

ADHD, which I probably do.

I still haven't been diagnosed.

He was diagnosed.

And for a while I didn't know that was really a thing.

Apparently is.

Cause when I went through all the questions, and all that stuff,

I'm like isn't that normal?

And I started asking people who didn't have ADHD and they're

like, No, that's not normal.

I'm like yeah, I've done this my whole life.

This is normal.

So maybe that's it.

It's not.

It's so out of the norm that if it's and because people judge, we

live in this perfect and people judge and that's what people fear.

People don't judge you if you're sick, but they judge you if

you have mental health issues.

Yeah, so one of the big conversations around that, tell you a story real quick

and then something I've told my wife over and over what I've told my wife, I said,

if we, if one of us got cancer, we'd have hundreds of people here at the door, but

because we deal with mental health issues.

We have nobody coming up and I think that comes down to people

just don't know what to do.

And they're afraid of it.

Like they don't understand a lot of it.

I remember when we were planning a church, this was, oh gosh, 2009, 2010, somewhere

like it was about 15 years ago, 10, 15 years ago, right about the time my

wife was getting officially diagnosed.

And I remember going to my bishop and I was like, Hey man, like you're in charge

of 2, 500 churches in 2, 500 churches.

There's a lot of churches to be in charge of.

And I said, do you have any other people, pastors, laymen, whatever,

who are dealing with anything on any level that we're dealing with?

Because we have, we want to be, have somebody to support somebody to talk to.

And he looked at me in it and I'll never forget that look.

And he looked at me.

He said, Jimmy said in all the churches that I'm in charge of,

he said, you two are the only ones to come forth and say anything.

Wow.

Wow.

Yeah.

And I was like, that blew me away.

That blew me away.

And then even he didn't know how to support.

That time, cause we were church planners and planning a church and

being recently diagnosed based because she had a suicide attempt at that time.

Just was a level of crazy at the time.

And I'm used crazy, not in Oh, you're crazy.

But like just the amount of chaos that was happening.

And not understanding it, man, and when I say we were alone, like there was

nobody really there, maybe one or two people, but nobody really was there.

And so it creates this, like I said, the stigma is there and

what you're doing is so important.

So I appreciate you, your ministry what God has called you to, because it's a

margin that I'm hyper passionate about.

I said, can I ask you a question?

You can ask anything I want.

So in your, with your experience with your wife, with yourself and, or with others.

Do you think that most mental health problems stem from trauma or is more

of it something that you're just born with and it's more of a like

physical and psychological component?

I think it's both.

I think there's some things we're born with and some things that are

environmental And all the reading and the experiences that I've had,

I've, there have been some things like, so for instance, my wife

was diagnosed with bipolarism.

Bipolarism is the belief is believed to be inherited from prior.

And we saw that in a lot of her dad, her mom, just different people.

And so it really is this chemical thing happening that she just couldn't regulate.

And she was diagnosed bipolar.

And whereas some of the other diagnosis she has was all

environmental, it was all trauma.

And there was, those were triggered turned on the gene for that was

turned on based on the level of trauma and her inability to cope with it.

One of the interesting things in that happened was that during the last

three years, We were told she had seven, six, six diagnosed conditions.

And they said to her, five of them could be processed and you can eventually

find some level of healing in these five, but this bipolar will never

be healed because it's a genetic.

Passer it's passed on genetically.

It will never be healed.

I think it was like two years later The lord healed her of that.

Wow, that's awesome so it was funny because and this is where I think

in christianity we get challenged by things because What the lord had

told us and I do believe god speaks to us not audibly but you know

Internally, this is for my listeners.

So for you guys who are listening for christian non christian alike It was

the one thing of the six conditions.

It was the one thing they said, this could never change that.

God said, watch me change it.

I love it.

Boom.

To the point where the people who diagnosed her with it were

like, we must've gotten it wrong.

We have no evidence.

And my wife's no.

God healed this.

Yeah, that's awesome.

And so we saw that.

But then the Lord also told us this, the Holy Spirit pressed upon our hearts

and said, Hey, I've healed you of the thing they said couldn't be healed.

Now I'm going to process you through the things that need to be processed.

And that's your trauma.

And I think there's this tension we have to live in that says we have to commit to

the process as much as the instantaneous.

He is.

And so where I think that there's trouble in the church is especially in charismatic

churches, and I've been in charismatic churches for most of my time with Jesus.

Is we want instantaneous healed, done, move on.

And God's no, there are some things I'm going to process you.

And I think it's a both ends.

So I think your environment has a huge role to play in it.

If you don't have supporting.

Adults, if you don't have supporting systems and you live in neglect

or you were raised by a narcissist or something like that, you have a

higher tendency to develop something.

Of course.

But I do think there are certain ones, such as bipolar, that can also

be genetically passed on because we do live in a sinful world.

And we do live in a place where the Bible talks about how we're

going to get more and more sinful.

The world is going to, basically decay more and more until the coming of Jesus.

It's going to be like, I think it's going to be worse than the time of Noah.

So we see that there's greater sicknesses right now.

Nami says one out of every five people have a mental illness.

They said something like 20, 30, 20, 50 in that range.

One about every four people in the world will have a mental illness.

So we're seeing a progression.

So I think it could be both, but I think God is in both and he can deliver you

from what they say you can't be delivered.

And he's going to process you and things that they say it's going

to take the rest of your life.

He is the healer and brings things that could be long, quicker, and

there's just different ways, but you gotta be submitted to the process.

God has you on, right?

And if you're submitted to that process, healing could take months or years,

or it could be the rest of your life.

But it's the best way because you're submitted.

No, I think that's great.

That's great.

Hey, I have another question.

Not a question.

I know we're like having this conversation.

You're going to be putting this on.

But you mentioned John Maxwell earlier.

Yeah.

That you're a part of his team.

I am.

Do you know any of his fans?

Do you know Jason?

I always say his name wrong.

Stoughton.

I think it's Stoughton.

Stoughton.

Yeah.

Yeah.

The name sounds familiar.

So I got to share this with you because Years ago, I used to host leader cast,

which is a different leadership seminar, but John Maxwell used to own it.

And then years later, when John thought he was going to retire, he didn't.

And then he had lived to lead.

So I had contacted John Maxwell to try to bring John Maxwell to Gainesville.

This was like right before 2020 in that process.

Of course we had that.

And then they ended up introducing me to Jason and Jason.

I always love to share his story.

Cause I think you'll appreciate it, especially being in

the John Maxwell world.

When Jason was 14.

He was going to commit suicide.

His mom was abusing him.

Her boyfriends were abusing him.

He also had a pituitary issue that he didn't know at the time.

And he was literally contemplating and planning a suicide.

And when I talk about how I want media to interrupt somebody's world,

like scrolling back in that day, it was the radio, it was more like

you're listening to a radio show.

You listen to John Maxwell on the radio.

It happened to be on in the car.

And John Maxwell told him that.

He had a purpose and then he had value.

And that 14 year old boy started listening to John Maxwell every single

day, like for a few weeks, ended up going to church, ended up getting saved.

Fast forward.

He ended up working for John Maxwell and top leadership for years.

Yeah, so he, we, he and I ended up doing an event together.

We're friends to this day.

He actually does a lot of work in Florida now.

He actually just went on to a different organization, but he still

brings his team to John Maxwell events, but I was just wondering if

you knew him because he was here.

I'm probably friends with him on Facebook.

I may or may not have met him.

I've been in the John Maxwell organization for a while.

Like I was, when I was, went back to college I was part of the first

series of catalyst conferences up in Atlanta when he starts doing that.

I'd gone to the first seven, for several years.

And everything was history since then.

So I absolutely loved it.

But yeah, you bring up something that I think.

Needs to be mentioned in here is like for all you guys who are listening.

Let me say two things because these are super important.

Number one is if you are struggling in any single way, shape,

form, dial nine, eight, eight.

That's the number that the, that they just put out there for the suicide.

Hotline.

I will put that in notes again.

Please do not suffer in silence thinking you are burden.

Reach out, speak out and get the help you need.

Dial 988.

You can email me.

I'll have that in the notes as well.

You can.

We'll also have Jill's contact.

You can reach out to her.

Whatever you need to do to get the help you need.

You are not done.

God is not done with you, which brings me to the second thing you

have a purpose and you have a plan, or God has a plan for your life.

He has a purpose for your life.

I was just reading that in Mark yesterday and Jesus himself even said, he said,

I'm going to go preach over here.

This is Mark chapter two.

He says, and for this I was brought forth and I blew my mind because he's so

there's a whole theological thing in that.

But what I want to focus on is that Jesus knew his purpose and

he, and God tells us our purpose.

And I think that you guys who are struggling, I know it seems hopeless.

I know there's a depth of this.

You're worthless.

You're this, you're not, you have great worth.

And that worth needs to be dealt, like you need to find that in

the Bible and you need to find that among Christian communities.

Because there are people waiting for your breakthrough so that

they can get something from you.

I wanted to digress and set, talk to you guys at the home listening.

Maybe you're watching this on YouTube or whatever.

Because it's something near and dear, passionate just a

little bit behind the scenes.

And then I'll.

Two more questions for you.

My wife has been, and since she was diagnosed, hospitalized, like 10,

11 times we've had IOP programs.

Like huge amounts of stuff.

So suicide is very big in this household.

Not that we want it.

But we have very, a lot of plans and levels.

And last the summer, last summer, she had an actual, another attempt.

And so it's a very rare thing.

And she very much loves Jesus.

So the question is not that whether or not you love Jesus, the

question is the amount of struggle.

Going to overtake you today.

And I want you to reach out nine, eight, eight email, social medias,

there's a lot of help out there.

So let's get you the need.

So that comes down to a couple of things.

Number one is a great segue segments is to say, how do we find you online?

Just go to looking the number four.

Answers.

org looking for answers, looking the number for answers.

org.

I will definitely put that in the show notes and you can reach

out to Jill, her organization.

If you are looking for help number one, or if you were looking to be a coach, she

can set you up to the right direction.

The right direction.

So as before we part and we may end up having more conversations

in the future, have you back on?

Because I think this is a huge thing.

What is a piece of wisdom that you would drop?

I do daily wisdom bombs.

That's one of my things.

What is piece of wisdom?

You would give somebody listening right now?

Probably the best piece of wisdom that I could give.

Is to ask for wisdom from God.

Cause one of my favorite scriptures is in James one, when it says to ask,

for wisdom from God, he will give liberally to all who want to know, and

just not to have that faith and not to doubt he'll show you what to do.

Wisdom is the most important thing you can get.

As we know, that's what Solomon asked for.

And he got everything else asked for it.

So I don't know that I personally have wisdom.

I'm always saying, God, I don't want my wisdom.

I want your wisdom.

Amen.

I appreciate that.

So guys, if you've made it this far in the podcast, thank you for

listening to grace in the grind.

With my friend Jill Nash please remember to go looking for answers.

org to find her.

Also if you're struggling, remember to go nine, dial nine pound nine,

eight, eight on your phone or reach out to somebody who can help you.

So other than that, guys turn into the next episode where we continue

the conversations of, entrepreneurship and the messiness of that.

And how we can answer some things biblically and with faith.

So thanks for listening.

We appreciate you.

We'll see you on the next episode.

This has been Grace in the Grind.

Whether you're a Christian leader looking for guidance or an entrepreneur

seeking inspiration, it's Jim's passion to equip and encourage you.

Make sure to check out Jim's solo episodes, where he shares

practical leadership insights grounded in a biblical perspective.

We hope you've enjoyed the show.

If you did, make sure to like, rate, and review.

And we'll be back soon.

But in the meantime, find us on social media at LeadWithJim.

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Take care of yourself and we'll see you next time on Grace in the Grind.