THIS IS A PANDEMIC OF STRESS AND ANXIETY

By REVEREND TONY ZEKVELD

 I am very concerned about my neighbourhood and our city. My concern is not most of all with COVID-19, although there are severe cases.

My concern has to do with a pandemic much larger than COVID-19, and that is the fallout of the COVID-19 narrative – the lockdowns, the restrictions, the isolation, and the fear.  

Many people are living in fear and with it comes a host of mental health-related issues: stress, anxiety, emotional breakdown, loneliness, marriage breakdown, and suicide. Children and teens doing school online, separated from friends, is a stressful thing and could cause psychological harm. I hear comments like, “I miss my friends. I really want to see them”.  One teen from high school asked for help in a short assignment. It was an assignment connected with anxiety and in the conversation he also mentioned his own.

Recently, my wife and I saw a large billboard at an intersection with these words: Suicide? Not Today. And underneath it was a help number. One evening, while we were laying in bed, we heard a man who was walking around outside, yelling, non-stop for an hour. Drugs and alcohol are being consumed like never before. We see increased violence in our neighborhood. One man shared with me, “There are many marriages breaking in my community.’

We spoke with someone outside of the city, a bricklayer. He has a servant heart and wants to give older teens, young adults an opportunity to get ahead, to help them out. During the second month of COVID-19 he knew of four older teens who committed suicide.

Do you think I like to share these sad stories? It’s heartbreaking. This is a pandemic far worse than that of COVID-19, now going on for almost eight months.

If you or someone you know is going through a hard time, please don’t think there is no way out. There is. God is greater than all of this. He knows and He brings hope in the midst of despair. Jesus brings healing in the midst of brokenness, light to break into our darkness. He triumphed over death by rising to life from the grave on the third day. He lives. He cares. He has the authority to forgive sins and the power to heal.

If you need someone to talk with, feel free to call my wife, Arley-Ann, or myself at 416-740-0543.