Every now and then, I come across someone who seems to be crying out without words. The photos, the posts, the energy, it’s not confidence; it’s survival. It’s the quiet ache of someone who felt like they once had the world’s attention but doesn’t know how to exist without it anymore. And when I see that, something in me always stirs. I can’t just stroll past.
Maybe it’s because I’ve been doubted before. I know what it feels like to have people look at you and see failure where there’s still fight left. So when I see potential wrapped in pain, I feel that pull, not to “fix” them, but to remind them who they still are.
I’ve been the “I can fix her” guy more times than I’d like to admit. Not because I think I’m the answer, but because I hate watching people throw away what God still intends to use. I see someone who’s been broken by criticism or crushed by their own mistakes, and I just want to say, “You’re not done yet. You still have something to give.”
Belief doesn’t rescue people, but it awakens them. It plants a seed of hope that maybe, just maybe, their story isn’t over. And when that belief is genuine, not built on what you want from them but on what God still wants to do through them, it becomes powerful.
Scripture says, “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2). Sometimes that doesn’t mean lifting the weight for someone, it means standing beside them long enough to remind them they can still carry it.
The truth is, not everyone we try to lift will rise, and that’s okay. We’re not called to fix, only to love, to speak life, and to remind people of the potential God placed inside them.
So the next time you see someone reaching for attention, don’t roll your eyes. Look deeper. Maybe what they’re really reaching for is belief, and maybe yours is the one voice that helps them find it again.
Troy P Zehnder 