10 Pearls of Wisdom: Lessons from Sunburnt Souls
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With Mental Health Week just around the corner here in Australia, we’re shining a light on ten pearls of wisdom from some incredible guests we’ve had on the show so far. We've spoken with over 30 guests, but today, we focus in on ten insights that can bless your life and the lives of those around you.
Pearl 1: Pastor Wes Jessop — Ministry Without Depth is Dangerous
Pastor Wes served in ministry for over 30 years before he burnt out and was “cooked” for a decade. His advice for anyone entering vocational ministry?
"Sort out your love relationship with God. Make sure that’s going deep. Don’t worry so much about sharpening your gifts."
He reflected on years spent seeking his own glory instead of God’s. One powerful moment of healing came when he sensed God say:
"When I look at what you did for me, it’s beautiful. I know your motives were messy, but you were growing."
Wes reminds us to dream big but start small. Ministry without intimacy with God is hollow.
Pearl 2: Choosing to Be Childfree — Knowing Your Capacity
One guest shared their journey of choosing to be childfree after a decade of illness and deep reflection:
"To raise a balanced kid takes a balanced parent. I don’t feel I have the full capacity for that. But give me a kid for a sleepover—I can smash it."
This wasn’t a decision made lightly, and it came with judgment. But it’s also come with a strong desire to be a present, godly mentor to others. Sometimes the most loving thing we can do is know our limits and lean into other callings.
Pearl 3: Psych Hospital Admissions Aren’t Failure — They’re Mercy
A guest recounted their first psych hospital stay:
"It was a safe place to explore medication. I finally found something that works. It was rejuvenating once I got through the identity crisis."
From group therapy to art and gardening, they found support, solidarity, and a stripping away of stigma. They met people who were, in their words, “just like me, just having a hard time with life.”
Pearl 4: Finding the Beauty in Bipolar
A close conversation from home:
"There’s always loud laughter or loud music or loud screaming at our house. Your mental health doesn’t mean your presence is a burden. It just makes life different."
Sometimes mental illness doesn’t just bring difficulty — it brings a unique kind of fun, creativity, and spontaneous joy that blesses the people around you.
Pearl 5: Depression and Anointing Can Coexist
"I didn’t know I had depression at 18. I just thought it was a teenage phase."
One guest shared how, even while wrestling with darkness, God was still using them powerfully. During childbirth, God whispered:
"Through pain I will birth something glorious."
This word became a lifelong anchor. By leaning into pain — instead of resisting it — we can partner with God in birthing something new.
Pearl 6: Mental Illness is Just One of Many Thorns
One guest described mental illness as a thorn — like Paul’s in the flesh:
"We live in a world of thistles and thorns. This is just one. And God enters into it with us."
They highlighted three truths:
We are fearfully and wonderfully made.
Our brokenness is real.
God is with us in it.
It’s not wasted when surrendered to God.
Pearl 7: Understanding Cannabis — THC vs CBD
Dr. X (name omitted for privacy) gave us the rundown:
"THC is intoxicating; CBD isn’t. THC activates cannabinoid receptors which affect everything from digestion to memory."
He explained how these compounds interact with our body’s natural systems and emphasised the importance of understanding their psychoactive effects — especially in the mental health space.
Pearl 8: Pastor Matt Prater — From Burnout to Breakthrough
Matt shared the darkest moment of his ministry:
"Half the church left. I had Still’s disease. I lost 20kg. I was on pain meds. I was mentally done."
But from that place of burnout, God redefined him:
"I stopped caring what everyone thought. I just want to please the Lord."
It was the worst and best thing that ever happened to him.
Pearl 9: Mark McCrindle — A Generation With Everything But Purpose’
Mark pointed out:
"They’ve got more education, tech, and opportunity than ever — but no clear purpose."
He called this generation “materially endowed but spiritually empty.” The antidote?
"Remind them they’re made in God’s image. Loved. Called. Valued."
Purpose comes not from pressure, but from identity.
Pearl 10: Spoken Word – The Cry of the Anxious Soul
Our final pearl came in the form of a spoken word poem shared on the episode:
"Please take my thoughts away. When the lights get switched off, the monsters come out to play. Please go away... Holy Spirit come, remind me of your love."
It captured what many feel but few articulate: anxiety, isolation, and the ache for comfort.
Final Words
Thanks for tuning into our Top Ten Pearls of Wisdom. If something stood out to you, please send me a message on Facebook or drop a comment — I'd love your feedback. Thanks to everyone who supports Sunburnt Souls and helps spread the message of God’s love in the mess of life.
Have the best week. God loves you!
— Dave Quak
Full transcript
00;00;02;06 - 00;00;17;26
Dave Quak
Welcome to Sunburnt Souls. My name is Dave Quak and I'm your host. And on this show, we chat about life and faith and our mental well-being. And today, we're going to mess things up just a little bit more. We're still trying to find our feet as a podcast and try to figure out, you know, what makes us, us?
00;00;18;00 - 00;00;43;16
Dave Quak
We're still in a place where we have the liberty to you know, experiment and try different things. And in Australia, here we are one week away from Mental Health Week starting, which is an awesome initiative where all around the country people focus on mental health and mental wellbeing, and all initiatives happen in hospitals and community centers and all over the place to raise awareness about mental wellbeing, which is awesome.
00;00;43;22 - 00;01;10;12
Dave Quak
So with that being a week away, what I thought we'd do today is focus on ten pearls of wisdom from ten brilliant people. So far. So we've had like 32 guests on the show so far, and it's been growing steadily and we're stoked about that. But today I want to focus in on ten Pearls of Wisdom from ten different people, and how you can be blessed and apply that to your life or to the lives of those in your world who also may be struggling with their mental wellbeing.
00;01;10;13 - 00;01;35;02
Dave Quak
To. So yeah, it's a bit different, but I'd love to hear your feedback. At the end of the podcast, if you could like send a message to me on Facebook or let me know your thoughts, that'd be fantastic. But otherwise he goes. Our ten pearls of Wisdom, starting with Pastor Wes Jessop, was was a pastor that was successful in the ministry for over 30 years before he burnt out, hit a wall, and was completely cooked for an entire decade.
00;01;35;04 - 00;01;56;04
Dave Quak
His wisdom comes from a place of recovery and giving us insight into what to do and not to do. What would you say to someone, early 20s guy or girl who's thinking, man, God's calling me to vocational ministry? Now I know we're all in ministry. We always, you know, part of the kingdom. But there are some that God's called to pursue vocational ministry.
00;01;56;06 - 00;02;18;09
Dave Quak
If that were here now, what would you just download on them? You got a few minutes just to be like, guys, get this. Well, it's certainly about love again. Yeah. That's not too boring. It's really not, though, because when it really changes your life, it is everything. And like Jesus said, love the Lord your God. Love people, number one and two.
00;02;18;09 - 00;02;42;03
Dave Quak
That's what it's all about. Yeah. It wasn't just cranking off a cute little poem or something. Yeah. He really meant it. Sort out your love relationship with God. Make sure that's going deep, pushing there. Don't worry so much about the skills outcome. But you got to have that. Yeah. And if you invest there rather than trying to sharpen your gifts all the time, which is where I invest.
00;02;42;05 - 00;03;07;01
Dave Quak
I just worked hard on my gifts. Yeah, but if you do that, why make up for more than what you didn't spend on your gifts? And I'm preaching right now that technically they're not good, but they got so much power. But yes, deep with going. Yes. Got to think to that will sustain you through the hard parts of the job.
00;03;07;01 - 00;03;29;29
Dave Quak
And it'll also make you a person of integrity in ministry. Because if you don't do that, really, you shouldn't be in ministry. It's true. Well, if we're spiritual leaders like can called to people bring people into a spiritual depth with God if we don't have that? Yeah, that makes us funny, doesn't it? Yeah. Yeah. Just makes us like religious, like nice law keeping good people.
00;03;30;00 - 00;04;02;17
Dave Quak
Yeah. For somebody starting out to say, like, invest their dream big for sure. But start, start little. Be prepared to do the little things. Like you may not be a superstar when you when you start out. Yeah. God's not looking for those people. You just looking for servant hearted people. People who are really operating out of a love relationship with him and who are operating in love for others, not pursuing, again, a sense of self-worth or a round of applause from other people.
00;04;02;19 - 00;04;24;28
Dave Quak
Watch yourself and you get to be really honest because it's hard to see it. But so many people are just trying to prop themselves up by feeling that they are something, that they're achieving, something that they good at something. And it's a trap. You don't want to do 20 years like I did before you find it out. Yeah.
00;04;25;00 - 00;04;45;28
Dave Quak
One little thought that I had that was I had a really healing experience a little while ago, because for that ten years I was really down on myself. And I think I've said this to you before, David, how much I was pursuing my own glory in ministry and not God's, which is terrifying. God, I look at the Bible, start looking at the of judgment and see what's going to get burned.
00;04;46;00 - 00;05;05;22
Dave Quak
Stuff that you did for your glory is will be chaff on Judgment Day. And that really haunted me for a while that I thought I wasn't aware of it at the time, but more I looked back at. So. Amen. So much of what I did was hoping that someone would think that I was good at it. You know, that terrified me and it really haunted me.
00;05;05;22 - 00;05;25;14
Dave Quak
And I remember one day I sit in my car just crying, saying, God, I've wasted my whole life on this stuff. And it wasn't even rightly motivated. It was for me. And now my lie, I've used up all my years and then wasted. This is going to burn. God put this thought straight in my head. And it's not a pattern that I would think.
00;05;25;14 - 00;05;49;13
Dave Quak
So I believe it's from God. And he said where's what happens? You know, when you're a parent and your little child brings you a drawing of you and it's just like a page of scribbles and, you know, you could laugh and go, like, would you go, you idiot, slap the head or something? Yeah. And screw it up in front of their face and put it in the bin?
00;05;49;15 - 00;06;10;17
Dave Quak
Of course not. Yeah. They said, okay, you will learn it along the way. You know, when I look at that painting of what? That picture of what you did for me, it's beautiful to me. I know your motives were messed up. You were on a growth. And what what a parent expects from a three year old is entirely different to what he what you would expect.
00;06;10;23 - 00;06;29;23
Dave Quak
Like, if you're a 40 year old son and goes bring you here a picture of yourself and and scribble. That's probably a problem. But you know what a three year old is capable of? Yeah. And that was really healing for me. What I think God is, God is accepting the offering that I've spent on my life. He knew my brokenness.
00;06;29;27 - 00;06;41;25
Dave Quak
Yeah, there's some of it that's that's still redeemable because I was a child in that regard.
00;06;41;28 - 00;07;05;28
Not so much. And I have decided I'll decide. It was after a lot of prayer and consideration. We are childfree by choice. Yeah, lots of reasons for that. Partly, you know, so I spent the first ten years of our marriage really quite a well. So that wasn't on the cards potentially. Anyway. You know, I may have had to have chemo or whatever, you know, so we just sort of put it out of out of mind.
00;07;06;01 - 00;07;26;05
And then as I got more and more, well, neither of us felt a real calling to be parents. But the calling to be really awesome aunt and uncles, yeah, was really strong. I personally don't smoke. That's the thing. If it was, if I was to be a kid, I know I could be a good parent. I would like I would be a to do it.
00;07;26;05 - 00;07;27;10
Dave Quak
Yeah, but.
00;07;27;13 - 00;07;35;25
And maybe it's fear. Maybe it's, I don't want to create another little mini me because I feel like the mini me inside my head would not be helpful.
00;07;35;27 - 00;07;36;24
Dave Quak
Yeah, yeah.
00;07;36;25 - 00;07;41;21
Not that many. Is not gonna help me deal with my life. I have to start dealing with this.
00;07;41;22 - 00;07;42;13
Yeah? Yeah.
00;07;42;14 - 00;07;43;18
Dave Quak
Do I go off the rails?
00;07;43;18 - 00;08;05;26
And then how does that impact that kid and all that sort of stuff, you know, which probably came about of sitting around it at home by myself for long periods of time going, I don't know if I could do what a parent does because it's huge. Like, and to raise a kid that is balanced and emotionally stable takes a balanced and emotionally stable parent.
00;08;06;14 - 00;08;15;06
And I don't feel I have the full capacity for that. Yeah. But give me a kid for a day or an afternoon or a sleepover. Yeah I can smash it out.
00;08;15;07 - 00;08;16;09
Dave Quak
Yeah that's right.
00;08;16;11 - 00;08;31;15
But also there's, I grew up without a lot of adult Christian mentors or anything like that. And I feel like that would have helped me that stage of my life. And I want to be that. Yeah. For the other little life.
00;08;31;16 - 00;08;47;08
Dave Quak
Yeah. I mean, that's awesome like that. You can have a sober reflection like yourself and actually come to that place. So, you know something? I want to offend people, but maybe some people should have thought about this before kids, you know what I mean? But yes, I are demanding and it is difficult. And if you recognize your capacity, might not be there.
00;08;47;11 - 00;08;51;03
Dave Quak
Right. That's I think that's a really commendable thing. Yeah.
00;08;51;03 - 00;09;12;29
I used to be really quite scared to talk about it because the, the question I would always get is, oh, well what about when you're in the retirement home, who's going to come and look after you? And I was like, well, I don't really want my kids left in the bomb anyway. Like that's right. Like I don't want someone to want to come and see me just to come visit you because I love you, you know, not just because they're tied to you by family, but.
00;09;13;02 - 00;09;13;29
Dave Quak
Yeah. That's right.
00;09;13;29 - 00;09;20;18
Dave Quak
That's so.
00;09;20;20 - 00;09;38;13
Dave Quak
It's kind of one of those things that you don't really want to probe too much, because it's a bit of a taboo, which is part of why I wanted to write the book was to, I suppose, normalize that. I went in on a Friday, and the reason I remember that being significant is they essentially have programs and classes that run Monday to Friday.
00;09;38;16 - 00;10;06;09
Dave Quak
So by the time I actually got admitted, there wasn't a lot to do over the weekend beyond get used to the reality that, hey, I'm in a psych ospital. The first thing that I did was to, connect me with a psychiatrist. So not a psychologist, but a psychiatrist to look at my medications. And on reflection, I think that was one of the great mercies was it's a safe place to be able to, quite frankly, explore a bit of trial and error around with medication and just get that right.
00;10;06;11 - 00;10;24;03
Dave Quak
And for me, that had been a long journey. And I finally found, a type of medication that works. But it was a while coming. So I would say the first purpose is to do that. What else happens? It's kind of like day classes. Day programs? Sometimes you would have a group session with other, patients.
00;10;24;05 - 00;10;46;28
Dave Quak
Yeah. In more, I suppose, explicit, explicit psychological theory. But other times it was just art therapy or even gardening therapy, just practicing mindfulness, all that kind of stuff. So it's I guess it's a combination of more acute psychological support and more acute, pairing with a doctor who can just walk you through the medical part of it as well.
00;10;47;06 - 00;11;03;24
I was very blessed in that I had private health insurance, and I was able to go to a hospital that didn't feel too much like a hospital. Yeah, I've been to others that feel a lot more sterile and a lot more clinical. I think the hardest part was just the emotional identity. The reality is, I'm in a psych hospital.
00;11;03;24 - 00;11;23;10
Dave Quak
And what does that say about my life and where I'm at at the moment? Yeah. But in terms of the actual experience, yeah, you're right. I mean, it was esthetically beautiful. The classes were helpful. And the other nice thing is you meet other people in there who are kind of just like you, who, you know, in inverted commas, seem very normal, but just just having a hard time with life.
00;11;23;10 - 00;11;41;09
It's it's not the kind of historical picture of a sanatorium, we might think in the olden days or anything like that. Yeah. So yeah, in that way, it was, it was very helpful. And it was quiet. It removed the stigma a lot, and I'd worked very hard to make that happen. So, yeah, it was rejuvenating.
00;11;41;09 - 00;11;50;04
Once I got through the the identity crisis of what am I doing here in the first place?
00;11;50;07 - 00;12;21;28
Well, that's the thing, isn't it? Everyone has good and tricky parts about their personality, about their mental health, whatever that may look like. And so you've just got, like, extra things that come with your diagnosis, I suppose. But definitely you, so good at bringing fun into helping, you know, love, like my life with you will never be boring.
00;12;23;03 - 00;12;27;11
There there is no way for that sometimes that it might be nice to wish for a bit more of it.
00;12;27;18 - 00;12;30;07
Dave Quak
It would be more.
00;12;30;09 - 00;13;02;24
Especially in your manic times when there's a new hobby each each go round and it's, it helps push me out of my comfort zone and it helps bring adventure into our lives and into the kids lives. And there's that real positive aspect. And I think that's the way God even uses that part of your personality. And just the way that your brain functions, it it can be a really beautiful and fun thing.
00;13;02;26 - 00;13;39;22
Our house is is not that quiet house on the street. It's always full of loud. There's that laughter or loud music or loud screaming and running around the house just for fun and, yeah, I think that that's that's something that's definitely a real benefit to to having you in our lives and having the way that, you know, your mental health, it does affect you, but it doesn't necessarily mean that it's going to be a negative effect.
00;13;39;24 - 00;13;45;26
It's just different.
00;13;45;28 - 00;13;48;26
Dave Quak
You still referred to yourself as a depressed 18 year old.
00;13;49;02 - 00;13;49;21
Yeah.
00;13;49;24 - 00;13;58;27
Dave Quak
But at the same time as carrying depression, God was using you mightily. And so what was it like having depression and God's hand on you at the same time?
00;13;59;00 - 00;14;23;25
Wow, Dave, I, I think I didn't even know what I had with depression. Yeah, because I had an inkling of it. I was, I had a I tried to see a counselor, like, I went like a couple of times and then, it was too expensive. I dropped out of it. And in my heart, I just thought, you know, maybe this is some awkward teenage phase that I'm trying to transition off to get to adulthood.
00;14;23;27 - 00;14;47;12
What I learned was that, I mean, now, looking back, was that God has always used the most painful parts of my life to be worth something for him. So now, many years later, I'm I'm like twice, twice the age of 18 now, and I've become a mother. And it was through the process of childbirth. I had two home births in.
00;14;47;15 - 00;15;07;24
I live in Singapore, but I had two home births in Canada. With my husband, with my husband and when I experience the two home, I remember telling the like, Lord, I want you to speak to me through this spiritual experience, right? I mean, it was a drug free home birth. And both times I felt the Lord speak to me.
00;15;07;24 - 00;15;13;12
He said, through pain I will birth something glorious out of you.
00;15;13;14 - 00;15;14;03
Dave Quak
Well.
00;15;14;05 - 00;15;38;13
And that has always been something that has stuck to me. Yeah, because it was the first birth. I mean, it was very difficult as a father, you know, that labor is very painful. The first one is always the hardest because your body is primed entirely for it. But the second is that it gets easier and easier. So when I had my second child, the one thing that the Lord had spoken to me was that this time I want you to lean into your pain.
00;15;38;16 - 00;16;21;06
So that was a deep spiritual lesson for me, because the first time when I was going through labor, it was so painful. My body naturally resisted it. Yeah. And because of that, my first child took forever to come out. But the second time, because of the words lean in, I remember feeling so overwhelmed by the Holy Spirit because he was teaching me a spiritual lesson for all the pain in my life, whether it was Andy partum depression, postpartum depression, depression of any sort, or the eating disorder, that whenever there was pain in my life, as long as I leaned in, God would bring to birth something glorious.
00;16;21;08 - 00;16;46;13
Because of the leaning in, I was no longer resisting the contractions. The contractions that came were helping me, so I didn't realize it. The pain was helping me birth something glorious. And I think spiritually that has taught me so much that whenever I am in pain, if I resist it, it's going to prolong the experience. But if I lean into it and see God, what is it that you're teaching me?
00;16;46;13 - 00;17;02;11
What is it you want me to lean into? A press into your heart about? That process becomes not necessarily pain free because I still experience pain, but it becomes so much more bearable.
00;17;02;14 - 00;17;09;15
Dave Quak
Do you think that the potential for mental illness is just part of it, for the same as cancer and whatever other I absolutely.
00;17;09;18 - 00;17;48;09
Yeah, absolutely. And look, we we live in a world and using the language of Genesis of thistles and thorns. Yeah. And I think this is a particular thistle or thorn that can afflict some of us sometimes. In fact, I think, you know, the evidence is increasingly the case, all of us at some point. And I think if you look at, if you look with a particular eyes at the scriptures, you'll see that some of the most beloved characters in Scripture, you know, certainly knew what it was, if not to have clinical depression to go through depressive seasons or angry seasons or, you know, whatever, you know, you know, other other clinical diagnoses.
00;17;48;09 - 00;18;18;05
So, so I think it is part of the human condition. Yeah. And, so there is three things I'd say, first and foremost, and this is my starting point. We're fearfully and wonderfully made. You know, we are you know, we are made in the image of God, Imago dei and, you know, our complexity, including, you know, the complexity of our physiology, including our brains, is is something to marvel at first and foremost and to thank God for.
00;18;19;02 - 00;18;42;04
And there is, there is a, there is a brokenness to that, to a frailty. So that that does come with the full with, with you, with, with sin. And on the other side of that. So the third thing I'd say is that we have a God who knows, in the words of David, our every anxious thought, who doesn't doesn't abandon us to our frailty or to our, our fallenness.
00;18;42;04 - 00;19;07;26
But, yeah, enters into it. Yeah. Just celebrated at Easter. But but you know, as David, I think prophetically and so truthfully and beautifully said, now is our every now coming in our going in our every anxious thought to somehow. Yeah on puts it so so we're not alone. Ultimately we're not alone in our anxiety or at depression or whatever other mental health condition that we're living with.
00;19;07;26 - 00;19;28;06
God is blessed in that. You know, I've come to, as Paul talks about, you know, he talks about the thorn in the flesh, you know. Yeah, it's it's something that I've come to see God strength work through, you know? Yeah. Have redeemed it. You know, when we surrender something to God, it's not wasted. It's never wasted.
00;19;29;12 - 00;19;54;26
God, you know, God is a great reverse of the great redeemer. And, yeah, he makes he turns all things together for good. Yeah. Romans eight talks about. And, for those who love him. Yeah. And who humbly submit to him. So. Yeah, I, you know, you know, in nearly every respect, I wish I didn't go through that journey, but I've also come to be thankful for the way in which God has led me through that journey.
00;19;55;18 - 00;20;10;11
And recognize that, you know, it's only by God's grace that I can continue to walk forward in health and wholeness.
00;20;10;13 - 00;20;21;00
Dave Quak
So with the THC in the CBD, they, some of the best abbreviations for some of the longest words in history. Could you just give us a little bit of an overview of what each of those mean?
00;20;21;03 - 00;20;55;05
Yeah, sure. So the the cannabis plant or marijuana as it's often called in in America, is a highly complex plant. It has a number of psychoactive components. The two most significant psychoactive components for what people buy for are THC tetrahydrocannabinol and and CBD cannabidiol. CBD is is not intoxicating, but THC is and THC is is that psychoactive component that the people use marijuana for?
00;20;55;05 - 00;21;04;05
For the most part, or at least at least in the past, it is. It is that component that will that will get you high. You want me to describe a little bit about how it works?
00;21;04;07 - 00;21;12;20
Dave Quak
Yeah, that'd be cool. Okay, look, I mean, you're the doctor here. This is cool having this, but I don't do it. Yeah, but you're also the weed doctor for that. But this is it.
00;21;12;20 - 00;21;21;01
There's no idea how it is. You'd never in a million years I thought that I would be doing podcasts or interviews or write a book or anything like that.
00;21;21;17 - 00;21;26;28
Dave Quak
Yeah. We're going to get to the, the motivation of the book soon, but yeah, explain that to us. It'll be cool.
00;21;26;29 - 00;21;52;21
We have in our in our body, a number of what are called cannabinoid receptors. And that's, that's just what we have, how we've been created, what how the Lord made us. And THC is is an agonist, if you will, that slots into these receptors. That is it. It mimics a biological molecule that our body would release for certain reasons that that activates the receptors.
00;21;52;23 - 00;22;15;16
The agonist or THC is what we call an agonist because it's it's a molecule that mimics one of these things that our own body would create. And it slots right into these receptors. They're actually called cannabinoid receptors because we understood how marijuana worked, before we understood how that part of our body worked. And so they just named it after the they kind of named it after marijuana.
00;22;15;18 - 00;22;48;16
In that sense, these cannabinoid receptors is operates by so many different parts of, of of what we do, how our digestive system works, our, our pulmonary systems are like everything having to do with thinking motor coordination, problem solving skills, memory, basically every thing that makes us who we are as humans generally and particular individuals is is controlled by this system.
00;22;48;16 - 00;23;08;16
And and THC is, is one of those components that slots right in and activates these receptors that gets them either operating really fast or slows them down. So, THC is really complicated because it's it's both a stimulant and a depressant. It just depends on what part of the body it's it's interacting with.
00;23;08;20 - 00;23;11;06
Dave Quak
Okay. And so that's how that works. What about CBD then?
00;23;11;06 - 00;23;37;27
Well, CBD is, is another one of these, psychoactive components. So it is psychoactive, but it is not intoxicating. Caffeine is psychoactive. It just, slots into difference particular receptors and has a different kind of effects on who we are. I'm not by that. I'm not not, like, concerned at all about CBD because it's not intoxicating.
00;23;37;29 - 00;23;58;21
Dave Quak
I went through a really tough time early on in ministry. So when I was 30, I took over new Hope Church in Brisbane and, I had a good start for few years. It was a good, healthy church. We were winning souls reaching out to the lost. It was great. But then I had a massive health battle.
00;23;58;23 - 00;24;22;03
Dave Quak
Okay. And, you know, it was it was really like a burnout time for me, hit rock bottom. Basically, what happened was a church had a big split, so half the church left, and, so mentally and emotionally, that was a very difficult thing for a young 33 year old pasta to handle. Yeah. And then physically, I had this thing called Still's disease.
00;24;22;07 - 00;24;50;16
Dave Quak
Okay. Which is like rheumatoid arthritis. I, I had, night sweats, like, really bad night sweats. I ended up losing 20 kilos. Okay. Which was, you know, pretty strange. You know, I ended up having, all my joints was swollen and aching, you know, I was seeing a specialist and getting steroid injections because I was in so much pain, constant pain medication and, and mentally, I was just done.
00;24;50;16 - 00;25;21;21
Dave Quak
I was just exhausted. I was ready to give up. Yeah. And, you know, thank God for my wife. You know, she kept the church running. She stayed faithfully praying for me, and, I got through, that physical battle. But the the mental battle took a bit longer to get over, you know? Yeah. Because, you know, I was, just really, and under the weight of all this pressure back then, you know, and I think it was a time where I actually grew up from a boy to a man.
00;25;21;23 - 00;25;41;27
Dave Quak
I think in that rock bottom, like I call it my jobe time or my Valley experience. I think in my tough time, I went through, I actually stopped caring what everyone thought about me. Yeah. And I just wanted to live for God. And it was actually a massive transformation for me. Because I was I would definitely say the first three years as a pastor, I was a real people pleaser.
00;25;41;27 - 00;25;58;25
Dave Quak
I just wanted to do everything to keep everyone happy. I wanted to tell funny jokes. I wanted to be cool. I wanted to be the next. This, you know, the next preacher up. You know, I was it was all about me. But after that brokenness in that rock bottom time, it's like, I don't care what anyone thinks.
00;25;58;25 - 00;26;09;07
Dave Quak
I just want to please the Lord. Now. I just want the Lord first in my life. And so it was actually the worst thing that happened, but also the best thing that.
00;26;09;09 - 00;26;31;19
Well, I think in, despite our efforts and your great breakthroughs in providing more education with this generation than having the most fully educated generation, the most materially endowed generation in history, and I think that that can be a positive thing for the most globally connected to the most technology supply generation ever thought, had a longer life expectancy than the generations that have gone before.
00;26;31;19 - 00;26;55;11
So incredible opportunities for them. And yet it's almost as if we've given them more options, more pathways, more opportunities, but no purpose and no clear foundations. And I think at a national level, that's the situation. We say, you can do anything. You can be anything, but we don't give the values and that foundation and that sense of belonging and that sense of hope.
00;26;55;13 - 00;27;14;00
A lot of the parents are uncertain about the future. We tell them that environmentally things are falling apart, and the hell you're not going to be able to afford a home like like your parents did. And and it's globally competitive, but I work hard and get a good job and, and succeed in all these studies and continue studying later.
00;27;14;00 - 00;27;34;28
We we put lots of pressure on them, but I think we forget to tell them that even as a nation, hopefully Christian parents too, that they made in the image of God, they're loved by him. He has a heart for the children. We see Jesus saying that don't, don't keep the children away. I think that that they're not important, that we we've got to do all things now.
00;27;35;00 - 00;28;07;12
Let the little children come on to me, such as the kingdom of heaven. And if we can help the most important generation that have so much in life, but a missing spiritual purpose and a sense of real belonging and and hope for their future, with that, with that truth, with that direction, then, then I think that that's going to be key, you know, as we've moved into more secular times, we've leant more on science to give us hands on technology, to give us breakthroughs on the medical or pharmaceutical sector to solve this particular problem.
00;28;07;12 - 00;28;43;04
But at the heart of it, you know, anxiety and uncertainty, some of that flows from soul sickness, people just not knowing. Why am I here? What's the purpose? Where am I going? And and do I belong? And if we can offer some coherent answers there. I think that's going to greatly help our young people.
00;28;43;07 - 00;29;18;25
I just feel weird. I've got tingles in my toes. Try to take a deep breath, but it gets caught in my throat. My belly is twirling and I want to run away. I just don't know. No. Should I go or should I stay? Hey. Should I stay?
00;29;18;28 - 00;29;52;03
My head feels funny. It feels blurry. It feels high I feel like I'm falling. When I lay down I get stuck I'm missing something. But I'm wrestling with shame I just don't know. Where should I go, should I stay I just don't know. Should I go or should I stay away?
00;29;52;06 - 00;29;58;09
Should I stay?
00;29;58;11 - 00;30;08;23
Have this deferred. Since this real love came.
00;30;08;26 - 00;30;10;06
And I can't.
00;30;10;06 - 00;30;11;13
Deny.
00;30;11;13 - 00;30;19;13
Cause I know that I have changed.
00;30;19;16 - 00;30;29;10
But can someone please just take my thoughts away?
00;30;29;12 - 00;30;39;28
Cause when the lights get switched off. The monsters come up and play.
00;30;40;01 - 00;30;45;07
Please go away.
00;30;45;10 - 00;30;50;08
I'm not the same.
00;30;50;10 - 00;30;56;03
Please go away.
00;30;56;05 - 00;31;05;22
Holy spirit, come.
00;31;05;24 - 00;31;15;21
Remind me of your love.
00;31;15;24 - 00;31;25;01
My dear father. Speak.
00;31;25;03 - 00;31;26;02
Please hear.
00;31;26;02 - 00;31;29;29
Me.
00;31;30;02 - 00;31;35;15
Please heal me.
00;31;35;17 - 00;31;45;10
Holy spirit, come.
00;31;45;13 - 00;31;48;07
Remind me.
00;31;48;09 - 00;31;49;20
Dave Quak
Of.
00;31;49;20 - 00;31;55;17
Your love.
00;31;55;19 - 00;32;04;26
My dear father. Speak.
00;32;04;28 - 00;32;09;24
Please heal me.
00;32;09;27 - 00;32;24;11
Please heal me.
00;32;24;14 - 00;32;46;27
Dave Quak
Thanks for tuning into our top ten pearls of wisdom. Like I said at the start, if you can send me some feedback would be fantastic. Otherwise, we just want to thank everyone who supports somebody and souls and gets behind the podcast. You guys are really awesome and please be praying that over the next year God keeps blessing it and moving it forward so we can keep reaching the ease of those who need to hear the love of Jesus.
00;32;47;00 - 00;32;48;20
Dave Quak
Have the best week. God love you!
