In a video he posted to Instagram last Friday, gospel artist Kirk Franklin shared some advice his therapist had just given him that had deeply encouraged him. The singer had been “in a funk” and was struggling with depression and anxiety due to recent losses in his life.
“I went to more funerals in 2019 than I’ve ever been to in my life,” said Franklin. As a result, he got in a funk “that I couldn’t really get out of.” He was filming his video at 2 a.m. from the Dominican Republic and explained that one of the reasons he was in the country was the “high amount of loss” he had experienced.
If You’re in a Funk, Fight Depression with Thankfulness
Franklin said that during the past year, he had gone to funerals of friends, funerals of people’s parents, and funerals of people’s kids. Being around so much tragedy brought on depression and fear about the future. Normally, he would call his pastor, Dr. Tony Evans, but Franklin wanted to respect Dr. Evans’ privacy as the pastor is grieving the recent loss of his wife, Lois Evans. So instead, the gospel singer called his therapist, a “great godly guy” Franklin has known for over 22 years.
As Franklin described being in a funk, consumed with fear, his therapist told him that thankfulness (which is selfless) was the key to overcoming that fear (which is selfish). Said Franklin, “When I begin to live a life of gratitude…then I will begin to be more selfless because fear is rooted in self.” For example, he said, when we worry about how we are going to pay our bills, whether people will hurt us, or whether we’ll get sick, we are constantly thinking about ourselves.
It can be helpful to remember that our lives could always be worse. While being in the Dominican Republic, Franklin described seeing seven to nine people sharing one bedroom with no windows or electricity. He met children who constantly have to be on guard against the danger of sex trafficking, something Franklin said, “breaks my heart.”
“So things for you could be worse,” he said. But we need to do more than think about how much worse our lives could be. We need to “give God thanks for what he has already done.”
Then, Franklin said, his therapist, “laid this one on me, and I want to encourage you with this.” His therapist told him he needed to believe the following truth: “I am a miracle I am not acknowledging.”
“You need to say that to yourself,” Franklin told his followers. “You need to look at yourself in the mirror and say, ‘I am a miracle I am not acknowledging.’”
It is only too easy to get in a funk and forget that being alive today is a miracle. We should never take for granted that our bodies are healthy and that we have made it this far. “I hope that encourages you. It encouraged me,” he said. “I’ve been blessed being here.”
In a previous Instagram post, Franklin told his followers that he was in Santo Domingo (the capital of the Dominican Republic) on a mission trip and that he wanted to start off the year by connecting with new life in the midst of all the tragedy he has been surrounded by. His hope was to show the love of Christ, not to “the least of these,” he said, but to what he would call “the greatest of those.”
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Yesterday, Franklin put up another post in which he described the impact his trip has had on him:
I needed to leave my comfort zone and give to someone who couldn’t give me anything in return but a touch of grace. To see human beings in living conditions that leave images of disparity seared into your consciousness reminds you of eternal things. Governments will forever be corrupt, the poor will always be among us, and the gospel CANNOT just be for the pews but for the people. I want to live for Christ…period. I want to die to every area of my life that I see hinders His heart to beat through me. Touching His children this week gave me the courage to continue to chase Him with my life.
