Sept 30, 2026 | www.GospelofJesusChrist.blog | River Wilde
I want to share something very personal with you about myself. I do this because of the importance that it is to me, in trying to assist others who struggle with a similar challenge.
My life has been plagued with the challenges of having bipolar disorder. With this, depression and anxiety have also been hurdles that I have faced. Driving a “car” that has been wired wrong has been a very difficult life for me.
None of us asks to experience bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, depression, anxiety, or other mental-health challenges. These are struggles that can become part of our earthly experience, affecting the way we think, feel, respond, and sometimes behave.
At times, those effects can create tremendous difficulties in our own lives and in the lives of those around us. But an illness is not the entirety of who we are. It does not determine our worth, erase our potential, or define how God sees us. We are still individuals with value, purpose, hopes, abilities, and the capacity to love and be loved.
We often reach a point where we feel that we have no one left to turn to. Sometimes our family and friends simply do not understand what we are experiencing, and at other times we may feel that they have become exhausted from hearing about our struggles.
So, we begin withdrawing from everyone around us and retreating deeper and deeper into ourselves. Unfortunately, that can leave us alone with the very thoughts, fears, anxiety, and hopelessness that are already overwhelming us.
Our own minds can become a very lonely place when we are hurting. But this is exactly where I want you to know something important: you do not have to face those thoughts alone. There is Someone you can always turn to—Jesus Christ.
The purpose of today’s writing is not to “medically” assist those who can relate to what I am identifying, but to show you something that might very well be the answer that you have been looking for all of your life…A relationship with Jesus Christ.
Before you immediately dismiss what I am suggesting, let me share a few things with you that you may not know—or perhaps have never really considered.
Jesus Christ was a real person who walked upon this earth, and what He came here to accomplish was deeply personal. He came for people just like you and me. He came for YOU. He willingly gave His life for you. Think about that for just a moment. How many people have you ever known who could honestly say, “I am willing to die so that you can live”? Jesus did exactly that.
But His purpose in coming to this earth involved much more than what happens to you after you die. Jesus understands what it means to hurt. He understands loneliness, rejection, grief, suffering, and feeling abandoned. Scripture describes Him as “a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:3 KJV).
I want to explain what Jesus offers you personally—right now—in the middle of your pain, your feelings of hopelessness and despair, and those moments when you wonder whether you even matter. You do matter. And Jesus Christ has not forgotten you.
The night before Jesus Christ was crucified, He went into the Garden of Gethsemane and prayed to His Father. There, knowing the terrible suffering that was immediately ahead of Him, Jesus said, “My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death” (Matthew 26:38 KJV). Shortly afterward, He willingly went to the cross, where Scripture tells us that He “bare our sins in his own body on the tree” (1 Peter 2:24 KJV), making it possible for you and me to be forgiven.
But there is something else about Jesus that I desperately want you to understand. Jesus knows suffering. He knows sorrow. He knows rejection. He knows what it is to be betrayed, abandoned, falsely accused, mocked, and overwhelmed with grief. Isaiah describes Him as “a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:3 KJV). The Bible even tells us that we do not have a Saviour who is distant from our weaknesses and suffering, but One who can be “touched with the feeling of our infirmities” (Hebrews 4:15 KJV).
Why is this so important?
Because when you are struggling with bipolar disorder, when you are grieving someone you have lost, when your emotions seem unbearable, or when you feel that nobody in this world understands what you are going through, you can come to Jesus Christ. You are not speaking to Someone who is unfamiliar with suffering. You are coming to the One who suffered beyond anything we can fully comprehend and who invites the hurting to come to Him.
Jesus understands suffering. He cares about yours. And you can trust Him with the parts of your life that you feel nobody else understands.
There is nothing more frustrating that trying to deal with a mental illness with someone who has no idea what you are experiencing. It only leads to more hardship and distance between us and humanity.
But each and every day, I have someone that I can go to in prayer, and just talk about everything that is happening in my life, because I know that He understands everything that I am describing. This in itself, is so powerful, and key to any and all of the success that I have had in my life… It is because of HIM, and not my broken self.
Now, let’s talk about the atonement of Jesus Christ for just a moment, because this is where His sacrifice becomes incredibly personal to you and me.
The night before Jesus was crucified, He experienced tremendous anguish in the Garden of Gethsemane. Scripture tells us, “being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground” (Luke 22:44 KJV). Jesus knew exactly what awaited Him, yet He willingly continued forward.
The following day, Jesus Christ was crucified. He willingly gave His life upon the cross, bearing our sins so that you and I could be forgiven and reconciled to God. “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree” (1 Peter 2:24 KJV). This was not something Jesus was forced to do. He said, “I lay down my life… No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself” (John 10:17–18 KJV).
Jesus made this sacrifice available to all mankind, but He does not force anyone to receive Him. God has given us the ability to choose whether we will believe and place our trust in Christ. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16 KJV).
That means there is a decision that only you can make. Jesus Christ has already paid the price. You do not have to earn His love, become perfect first, or somehow repair your entire life before coming to Him. You simply choose to place your faith in Jesus Christ and receive the salvation He offers you. The gift has already been purchased. The question is whether you will receive it.
I want you to understand something beautiful about Jesus Christ. He isn’t asking you to fix yourself before you come to Him. Jesus said that we must be “born again” (John 3:3 KJV).
This means that when you place your faith in Jesus Christ—believing that He died for your sins and rose again—God gives you a new spiritual life. “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17 KJV).
Being born again doesn’t mean that every struggle, painful memory, illness, or difficult thought suddenly disappears. It means that those things no longer define who you are before God. You belong to Christ. You are forgiven, loved, and given His Holy Spirit.
Salvation is not something you have to earn by being good enough or mentally strong enough. “For by grace are ye saved through faith… Not of works” (Ephesians 2:8–9 KJV). You can come to Jesus exactly as you are and trust Him completely.
Listen to what Jesus said…
Matthew 11:28–30 KJV:
28 “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
29 “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.”
30 “For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
“Come unto me and I will give you rest…My yoke is easy and my burden is light.” This is my message to you today.
I am convinced that all of us are given certain hardships to realize just how much we need God in our lives. And, we can take those challenges and work through them with the HELP from God.
Born Again has a significance meaning to me as well. This is a real spiritual rebirth, and produces a “new creature.”
2 Corinthians 5:17 (KJV):
“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
This beautifully describes the new life that comes from being born again. A person’s past does not have to define their relationship with God. In Christ, they become a new creature—forgiven, reconciled to God, and given a new spiritual beginning.
The most profound finding that this has had with me is that it is no longer just MYSELF facing mental illness, it is me, God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit as a team. There are things that I can’t do by myself, but there are so many things that we can do as a team…TOGETHER.
Let me share something else that is important for you to know, because I hang onto this quite tightly.
For those who belong to Jesus Christ, the suffering of this earthly life is not forever. Scripture teaches that our present bodies will one day be changed and glorified.
Philippians 3:21 says that Christ “shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body.”
Paul explains that “this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality” (1 Corinthians 15:53 KJV).
The pain, sickness, weakness, and sorrow we experience here will not follow us forever. God promises a day when “God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain” (Revelation 21:4 KJV).
For the believer, this earthly body and its struggles are temporary. We will receive a new, perfect, glorified body that does not have any imperfections, such as mental illness, nor any other hardship. A clear mind, and a strong body. Something that all of us have wanted at some point of our life.
To the person that I am writing this article for, I want you to realize that there is immediate help for you right now through Jesus Christ.
You mentioned that you have not had any successes in your life, well let me show you the greatest success that you can ever have… Getting to heaven and living forever in the presence of God in a place that He will create for us.
A person cannot get to heaven by anything that they can do on their own. There is only one way for you and me to get there, and it is not complicated at all.
Jesus Christ said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6 KJV).
God knew that none of us could overcome our sins by ourselves, so He provided the way for us. Jesus Christ came to this earth, lived without sin, and willingly gave His life on the cross to pay the price for our sins. He died, was buried, and rose again.
You do not have to somehow make yourself worthy enough for Jesus. You do not have to repair everything that has gone wrong in your life before coming to Him. Salvation is a gift. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works” (Ephesians 2:8–9 KJV).
Jesus described what happens next as being “born again” just as we have talked about. Let’s look again at that scripture. He said, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3 KJV). Born Again is the requirement for a person to get to heaven.
The Bible makes the invitation wonderfully simple: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31 KJV).
Romans 10:9 also tells us, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”
So, talk to Jesus. You do not need impressive words. Tell Him that you know you are a sinner and that you cannot save yourself. Tell Him that you believe He died for your sins and rose again. Place your trust in Him, rather than in your own goodness, accomplishments, religion, or works. Ask Him to forgive you for the sins that you have committed, and make you His.
And please understand something especially important: your struggles do not make you a failure in the eyes of God. Your illness does not prevent Jesus Christ from loving you or receiving you. Jesus said, “Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37 KJV).
Then something wonderful happens. You become “in Christ.” You belong to Him. You have a new spiritual life, and your eternal future no longer depends upon whether this earthly life turned out the way you hoped it would.
So, when you tell me that you haven’t experienced much success in this life, I want you to know that the greatest decision of your entire existence is still right in front of you. You can come to Jesus Christ. You can receive His gift of salvation. You can become born again and begin a new life with Him right now.
You don’t have to have everything figured out first.
Just come to Him.
I have lived my life trying to do everything by myself, as well as giving my burdens to God and letting Him manage my problems for me…I must tell you that the second option has been the most effective way BY FAR.
For all of you reading this today, your challenge might be something entirely different, but the answer is still the same… The is so much peace in Christ.
Look at your future without Jesus Christ in your life. Simply turn on the news for 20 minutes.
Now, look at it through the lense of something entirely different…WITH Jesus Christ in your life. What do you see? Heaven is a big one, and being rescued from what is coming is certainly something that should have your immediate attention… The Rapture.
You’ve not been taught this yet, but let me briefly explain God’s rescue plan to you:
1 Thessalonians 4:16–18
“For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
Wherefore comfort one another with these words.”
The KJV does not use the word Rapture; its actual expression is “caught up.”
1 Corinthians 15:51–53 KJV
51 “Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.”
God is sending Jesus Christ to gather those people who are “in Christ.” That simply means, those who are Born Again as we have been discussing.
He is not coming for everyone, just those who are “in Christ.” This is the moment when you will receive your perfected body… We are THIS CLOSE to this happening.
You do not need to know when the rapture is, nor be looking up, or anything else to be taken in the Rapture, OTHER THAN to be certain that you have been Born Again. Do this right now.
The spiritual rebirth takes place immediately, and is based upon the faith that you have in the atonement of Jesus Christ, and not just going through these “steps.” You must believe and have faith in Jesus Christ.
The door is closing. To everyone reading this, if you have not yet been Born Again, I invite you to do so right now.
To my new friend, thank you for reaching out. I’m excited for your future.
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