Content note: This episode touches on unmet needs, emotional neglect, and relationships where speaking honestly may feel unsafe. Please listen at your own pace. If speaking honestly brings threats, intimidation, punishment, or fear, please reach out to someone safe, or call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233.

When was the last time you asked for something you needed? Not groceries. Not somebody to take the trash out. To be held. To be listened to. Maybe you remember the last time because you told yourself, "I'm never asking again." And you haven't. But you still wanted the hug. You still wanted the conversation. This episode is for the woman who stopped asking, but never stopped needing love. We talk honestly about what changes when speaking up stops feeling safe, the grief inside the silence, how to bring an honest answer to Christ the way Bartimaeus did in Mark 10, and where to receive care while a relationship is unresolved. Someone else's response cannot determine who you are in Christ. With this week's Gigi-ism: "Before you say, 'I don't need anything,' pause and ask yourself, 'Do I mean that, or am I tired of being disappointed?'"

Journal prompt: I stopped asking for ____, but I still need ____. Finish it honestly, then ask the Lord to guide you toward an appropriate place to seek support for that need.

Gigi is also developing the Diaries of the Depleted Wife devotional and companion journal to make more room for these conversations through Scripture, prayer, and writing, and planning to release them in December.

Faith and Focus: A Moment for Your Mind with Coach Gigi Parker. Season 6: Diaries of the Depleted Wife. Sponsored by FOCUS: Faith and Mental Health, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization where we integrate faith and mental health.

Background music: "Be Still and Know," written by Geleta "Gigi" Parker, piano accompaniment by Debary Thompson.