Whenever you cry out to me, I’ll answer. I’ll be with you in troubling times. I’ll save you and glorify you. (Psa 91:15 CEB)

According to WHO, approximately one million people commit suicide each year worldwide, that is about one death every 40 seconds or 3,000 per day. For each individual who takes his/her own life, at least 20 attempts to do so. Suicide has a global mortality rate of 16 per 100,000 people.

The 1966 song Eleanor Rigby, written by Paul McCartney, and sung by The Beatles sums up the life of the millions of lonely people, many with mental health issues that suffer from loneliness and depression.

Eleanor Rigby picks up the rice in the church where a wedding has been, lives in a dream. Waits at the window wearing the face that she keeps in a jar by the door, who is it for?
All the lonely people where do they all come from? All the lonely people where do they all belong?
Father McKenzie, writing the words of a sermon that no one will hear, no one comes near. Look at him working, darning his socks in the night when there’s nobody there, what does he care? (McCartney, 1966)

God promises to answer the questions that people like Eleanor or Father McKenzie, or others just like them. God promises to be there with them, using people that have been through the valley of the shadow of death. Those that know the dark places of loneliness and depression. It doesn’t require a degree in counseling, nor diagnosis. It needs a cup of coffee, listening ear or just being there. The ministry of presence is powerful when God shows us through you.