God's Providence for this Restless Mind

“In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will” - Ephesians 1:11

When I was younger, I remember first recognising that I was suffering with anxiety and depression. This wasn’t something that I felt comfortable sharing, nor even dealing with initially. I recognised that throughout much of my adult life I found myself dealing with moments of feeling anxious and depressed, but not “anxiety or depression” in the form of mental illness. I felt that, as a man, I had to get on with life and keep moving forward. I even remember the Rocky Balboa quote coming to me from time to time: “It’s not about how hard you hit, it’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward… that’s how winning is done.” Albeit I still love the quote, I don’t think the purpose of the quote in the Rocky franchise was ever to justify or encourage a “Be a man” or “Men don’t cry” mentality. It was about recognising that in life you will get hit, but you keep going, you keep moving forward.

It wasn’t until I was at a church where a guest preacher openly shared about his own struggles with mental illness that I felt the courage to speak to someone. Soon after, I reached out to a counselling service linked to the church and had the opportunity to speak to someone about what was going on. What I found out during those conversations was that I was not alone. The anxiety and depression that I was experiencing was, in fact, increasingly common. Strangely, this offered some comfort — not that I was comforted by others struggling, but to know that there were others who felt how I felt, others who felt that they couldn’t share.

In 2025, Mind, the mental health charity, brought out their report, and in that report they shared that “1 in 5 adults in England is living with a common mental health problem and rates are rising steadily.” It is excruciatingly common.

Since receiving counselling and being given tools that helped me recognise my triggers and how best to handle certain situations, I felt that things were under control. It wasn’t until last year, in 2025, that I found myself deeply struggling with my mental health again, and despite how many times I tried to spot the triggers and handle the situations, something would happen that would blindside me. No matter what I did, no matter how many times I would cry out to God, seek His face in prayer, spend time in devotion and in His Word, despite how faithful I was trying to be as His servant, nothing was working.

Therefore, I reached out to my local doctor, and I remember sharing with them what I was feeling, the pressures I was experiencing, and how this was affecting my mind. It wasn’t until looking back in hindsight that I recognised that over the last five years I had found myself in situations of deep suffering. My wife gave birth to our first child, and he ended up in NICU. Several months later, my wife ended up in hospital and ICU due to pancreatitis, and over the next two years my son ended up in hospital time and time again. We then had our second child, and we have been extremely blessed with her health. Albeit, as I write this, she is recovering from a virus which resulted in her being rushed into hospital last week by ambulance due to having a seizure in our living room. This happened whilst I had just finished sermon preparation on Luke 4, where Jesus heals Simon Peter’s mother-in-law who was seized with a fever. Several weeks prior to that, our newborn, our third child, ended up being taken into hospital with possible meningitis or sepsis. I also found myself facing several challenges as a new pastor between 2023 and 2025. We have also recently found out, within the last couple of weeks, that my mum has cancer. So in hindsight, it makes sense why I was struggling with my mental health.

As I spent time in the Psalms, in prayer, and in devotion, I found myself being struck by the image of Christ as the Good Shepherd — One who is available to the sheep, One who deeply cares, comforts, and provides for the sheep. During this time, the doctrine of providence really started to dig deeper within my mind and heart. Providence means that God rules over all things with perfect wisdom, sovereign power, and fatherly care. Nothing in our lives is outside His government. Nothing comes to us by accident, chance, or blind fate. The God who created all things also sustains all things, orders all things, and works through all things according to the counsel of His will. His providence is not cold control, but wise and personal rule. He is not distant from His creation, nor detached from the lives of His people. He governs all things in such a way that even in confusion, sorrow, weakness, and pain, He remains both sovereign and good. To speak of providence, then, is to confess that our lives are not unfolding at random. Even when we cannot trace what God is doing, we may still trust that He is doing something wise, holy, and good.

God’s providence matters deeply in times of need, whether that is physical, spiritual, or, in the case of my struggles, mental. It matters because, in my experience, in moments of deep anxiety, depression, and inner turmoil, all my focus goes towards chaos. My mind feels unstable. The providence of God doesn’t make the anxiety or depression suddenly disappear, but what it has done is provoke me to look past the chaos and to the One who brought light into it in creation. When the mind is restless and the heart is overwhelmed, providence reminds us that God is still present, still reigning, and still working. He is not absent in the darkness. He is not passive in our affliction. He is not surprised by the trouble we face. Even when we cannot understand His ways, we may know that we are never outside His care. Mental distress may leave us feeling isolated and forsaken, but providence teaches us that the believer is never abandoned. The Lord remains wise when we are confused, faithful when we are wavering, and near even when He feels far from us.

As I continued to spend time in the Psalms, in prayer, and in devotion, I found myself returning again and again to the truth that God does not deal with His people from a distance. He is not absent, distracted, or unaware. The psalmist in Psalm 139 reminds us that our days are known to God before they are ever lived. Our lives are not hidden from Him. He knows our frame, our path, our weakness, and our future. There is something deeply comforting in that, especially in seasons where our own thoughts feel beyond our control. There have been moments where I have struggled to understand what was going on in my own mind, and yet even then, I was reminded that none of it was hidden from God. I may feel confused by my own heart, but the Lord is not confused. I may feel uncertain, but He is never uncertain. I may not be able to make sense of the road in front of me, but every one of my days is already known to Him.

That same comfort is carried further in Romans 8:28, where Paul reminds us that God works all things together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. This does not mean that all things are good in themselves. Suffering still hurts. Grief is still bitter. Mental anguish is still painfully real. Depression does not suddenly become pleasant because it can be used by God, and anxiety does not become easy simply because the Lord may work through it. But what this truth does mean is that none of these things are wasted in His hands. None of these things fall outside His purpose. None of these things are meaningless to Him. Even the things that seem dark, painful, and deeply confusing are not beyond His ability to govern and use for His own wise ends. There is great comfort in knowing that, even when I cannot see what God is doing, I am not left to conclude that He is doing nothing.

I have also found great help in the words of our Lord in Matthew 10:29–31, where He speaks of sparrows and the hairs of our head being numbered. Such words might seem small at first glance, but they are full of tenderness. Christ is showing us that the Father’s providence reaches down into the smallest and seemingly insignificant details of life. Not even a sparrow falls to the ground apart from your Father. That means that the God who governs all things is not careless with His world, nor indifferent toward His people. He is not too great to notice what feels small to everyone else. He is not too exalted to be concerned with the burdens that weigh heavily upon the mind and heart. If He knows the falling of a sparrow and numbers the hairs of our heads, then He is not unmindful of the inner struggles of His children. He does not overlook the quiet battle, the hidden grief, the restless thoughts, or the weary heart. His providence is not vague and general, but personal and fatherly.

At the same time, I do think it is important to say that the doctrine of providence must be handled carefully. It is a precious truth, but it can be spoken of badly. It is not a slogan to be thrown at those who are suffering. It is not a neat answer to silence lament or flatten grief. It is not something to be used to shame a struggling believer into pretending that everything is fine when it clearly is not. To tell someone simply to “trust God’s providence” may be true in itself, but if it is said without tenderness, patience, and love, it can land more like a rebuke than a comfort. There is a way of speaking truth that is hard and unhelpful, even when the words themselves are orthodox.

Scripture itself does not treat suffering lightly, and neither should we. The Bible gives us room to grieve, to lament, to cry out, and to wrestle with God in the darkness. The doctrine of providence does not cancel tears. It does not forbid honest prayer. It does not demand that Christians speak as though deep affliction is somehow easy to bear. Rather, it gives us reason to bring our pain to God honestly, knowing that our sorrow is not hidden from Him and that our cries are not ignored by Him. Providence does not mean that we must always appear strong. It means that, in our weakness, we are still held by the One who rules all things well.

That is why this truth should comfort the suffering, not crush them. It should steady the soul, not scold it for trembling. It should help the weary believer to look up, not make them feel guilty for struggling. And I think that matters deeply, because there are seasons where the heart is so burdened that what is needed is not a harsh theological correction, but the gentle reminder that the Lord has not left us to ourselves.

In the end, the doctrine of providence leads us not merely to an idea, but to Christ Himself. The same Lord who upholds all things is the One who entered into our suffering, bore our griefs, and gave Himself for us. God’s providence is not impersonal rule from a distance. It is the wise, holy, and fatherly government of the God who has made Himself known in His Son. The One who ordains all things is the same One who walked among the broken, drew near to the weary, and welcomed those who were heavy laden.

For the troubled believer, comfort is not found in trying to untangle every reason for suffering. It is found in knowing that we belong to Jesus Christ, and that nothing comes to us apart from the hand of our heavenly Father. We may not understand the path, but we know the Shepherd. We may not see the purpose clearly, but we know the One who rules all things well. And for me, that has made all the difference. Not that every question has been answered, nor that every burden has suddenly lifted, but that in the midst of confusion, sorrow, and mental distress, I have found that Christ remains constant. He has not changed. He has not left. He has not ceased to care. And so, even when the mind is restless and the heart is troubled, there is still reason to hope, because the God of providence is also the God who has drawn near to us in Christ.

"Grace makes the promise and providence the payment"The Mystery of Providence – John Flavel