Peace in an Anxious Season: Lessons from Rebecca Pratt Interview

A Nation Carrying a Heavy Burden

If you have felt more anxious this year, you are not alone. In the American Psychiatric Association's 2026 mental health poll, 48% of adults said they are more anxious than they were a year ago, up from 43% in 2025. The worries come from every direction: 62% are anxious about world events, 62% about paying the bills, and 60% about keeping themselves or their families safe.

Underneath the anxiety is something quieter: loneliness. In the same poll, 42% of adults said they feel lonely at least once a week, and 16% feel it every day. When people are lonely, the most common ways they cope are screens and music. Only 41% reach out to family or friends.

That is the world our neighbors wake up in. It is also the world we are called to love. This week I want to tell you about someone who knows this terrain from the inside: Rebecca M. Pratt.

Meet Rebecca Pratt

Rebecca is President and Co-Founder of Orphan Relief and Rescue, a Christian nonprofit that protects vulnerable children in West Africa from abuse, exploitation, and trafficking. She has spent more than 24 years in Christian humanitarian work, bringing hope, healing, and restoration to people in need.

The ministry grew out of a season Rebecca and her husband, spent in West Africa. They came across an orphanage where 109 children were starving. After coming home, Rebecca went through six months of sleepless nights. Out of that unrest came a clear sense of focus: serve the children in the most desperate and neglected situations, the ones no one else was helping. They started with $3,400. Today the work includes intervention, rescue, restoration, and empowerment programs in rural Benin, carried out with local police, government, and social welfare partners.

Rebecca is also a storyteller, a speaker, and the author of several books, including Inspired to Action: How Following the Promptings of Your Heart Can Change the World and From My Bed to My Destiny: Overcoming Depression and Anxiety.

From Depression to Hope

Here is the part of Rebecca's story many people don't expect. Long before she was leading rescue work, she lived through a season of debilitating anxiety and depression. That was more than 20 years ago. For a time, getting out of bed was the hardest thing she faced.

She has chosen to tell that story openly, and the title of her book says it plainly: From My Bed to My Destiny. The bed is not hidden or skipped over. It sits right there on the cover, as the first step of the journey.

That matters. We tend to tell faith stories from the mountaintop and leave out the valley. Rebecca's story says the valley belongs in the story too. The woman who now walks into hard places for children once had to learn how to walk out of her own bedroom. Her healing did not cancel her calling. In many ways, it prepared her for it.

Anxiety Is Not a Verdict on Your Faith

Many Christians quietly believe that anxiety or depression means their faith is weak. So they carry two burdens: the struggle itself, and the shame of struggling. Rebecca's life argues against that shame. Her deep faith did not stop her from suffering, and her suffering did not mean her faith had failed.

Scripture is honest about this. Elijah lay down under a broom tree and asked to die (1 Kings 19). The psalmist asked, "Why, my soul, are you downcast?" (Psalm 42:5). Jesus himself was "overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death" in Gethsemane (Matthew 26:38). Notice how God cared for Elijah: first with sleep and food, and only later with a word.

That is a good picture of how God's power and our practical steps work together. God's power is at work in us, and God also works through:

• Counseling, with a trained person who can help us untangle what we carry
• Community, people who know our name and notice when we go quiet
• Rest, because we are bodies as well as souls

Taking these steps is not a lack of trust. Often it is how trust shows up in practice.

Learning Peace: From Surviving to Living

Paul wrote from prison: "I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances" (Philippians 4:11). Learned. Peace is not a personality type. It is something we practice, often slowly, and usually with help. Here are a few practices that fit an anxious season:

1. Name it before God. "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God" (Philippians 4:6). Honest prayer says what is actually there, not what we think should be there.
2. Limit the flood. If world events are a top source of worry, set boundaries on news and scrolling. Staying informed is not the same as staying immersed.
3. Guard your sleep. Rest is not laziness. It is part of how God made us, and anxiety often grows in tired soil.
4. Practice gratitude out loud. Thanksgiving is written right into Paul's instruction. Naming three good gifts each day trains attention toward God's faithfulness.
5. Get help early. Talk to a pastor, a counselor, or a doctor before things become unbearable. The sooner we reach out, the shorter the road back usually is.
6. Stay connected. Anxiety pulls us inward. Peace is often found in the room with other people.

The promise attached to Paul's words is not that circumstances will change. It is that "the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:7).

Following the Promptings of the Heart

Rebecca's other book, Inspired to Action, is about following the promptings of your heart. Her own story shows what that can look like. A nudge in West Africa, a stretch of sleepless nights, and a few thousand dollars turned into years of work protecting children.

Most promptings are smaller than starting a nonprofit. They sound like: Text her. He seemed off on Sunday. Sit with that person. Ask how they're really doing. In a year when 4 in 10 adults feel lonely every week, those small promptings may be among the most important things the Spirit asks of us.

Hebrews puts it this way: "Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together... but encouraging one another" (Hebrews 10:24–25). Consider means paying attention on purpose. Here are some ways to look for the opening:

• Notice who has gone quiet. A missed Sunday or a slow reply can be a signal.
• Ask a second question. "How are you?" gets "Fine." "How are you really holding up?" gets the truth.
• Say the encouraging thing you're thinking. Unspoken encouragement helps no one.
• Show up in practical ways. A meal, a ride, or an hour of company can speak louder than advice.
• Share your own valley. Like Rebecca, telling your story can give someone else permission to tell theirs.

We do not need to fix each other's anxiety. We need to make sure no one carries it alone.

Being Sent to Our Neighbors

Rebecca's journey went from her bed to her destiny. Ours can go from our own anxious nights to our neighbor's door. The peace God gives us is not meant to stay with us. It is meant to be passed on.

This week, take a few minutes with these questions:

• What is one worry I need to name honestly before God?
• What one step (rest, a conversation, a counselor, a doctor) would help me move from surviving toward living?
• Who has the Spirit brought to mind while I read this? What is one way I can encourage them in the next 48 hours?

If you are in a dark season right now, please don't wait. Talk to someone you trust, a pastor, or a counselor. If you are in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.

To hear more of Rebecca's story, listen to our full conversation with her on our podcast, and visit rebeccampratt.com and Orphan Relief and Rescue.

Sources

• American Psychiatric Association, 2026 Annual Mental Health Poll (May 12, 2026)
• Christian Alliance for Orphans, Rebecca Pratt profile
• Westside Seattle, Orphan Relief and Rescue founding story
• Voice With Action podcast, episode listing and founding episode
• Orphan Relief and Rescue Form 990 summary (program year 2024–2025)
• Scripture quotations are from the NIV.