Rick Warren responded to Jordin Sparks’ cry for help earlier this week, thanks to Twitter and good timing.
Late Tuesday night, evangelical Christian and American Idol winner Sparks sent a message to her Twitter audience, admitting a time of weakness. She tweeted, “I’m having such bad anxiety. I can’t sleep. If there’s any prayer warriors out there, can you please send up a prayer for me?”
Thankfully, Rick Warren was among her 4 million followers. Warren’s son struggled with depression for years before taking his own life in 2013. Since then, Warren has been one of the church’s most ardent advocates regarding mental health issues. He is leading next month’s Gathering on Mental Health and the Church.
Warren responded quickly to Sparks’ distress with words of encouragement: “Praying for u Jordin! False Evidence Appearing Real(Fear) is worse than the reality Don’t resist it REFOCUS elsewhere [sic].”
He followed up with another tweet. He sent, “Focus on how deeply God loves you: ‘Perfect love casts out all fear.’ Focus on God’s loves and move against fear in faith.”
The next morning, Sparks was back to her usual cheerful posting. No one but Sparks knows the full situation, but to an outside observer, it looks like love has conquered fear yet again.
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