Faith Still Moves Mountains summary

In the Book of Genesis, Joseph spends around twelve years in an underground cell as a prisoner of the Egyptian royal court he once served. 

At first, he tries to keep track of time. He traces the light moving across the ceiling and counts out the hours. It’s a futile task, though, and he soon gives up. The days and months become an indistinguishable blur. Other prisoners come and go, but Joseph remains in his cell. When it’s dark, he dreams of his childhood – of wide-open fields filled with cattle under vast, starry skies. When it’s light, he prays. God, he asks, where are you?

We mostly remember how this Biblical story ends: Joseph is redeemed and becomes one of twelve fathers of Israel. But we shouldn’t skip over the middle part. It’s important to remember Joseph’s hopelessness and loneliness. The moments in which he must have believed God had forgotten him. That part can teach us a great deal about faith. 

Depression is a lot like Joseph’s imprisonment. It’s an underground cell with a locked door. A hole with no way out. In it, we feel abandoned and alone. Forgotten. As though no one cares. 

Wisconsin mom Tina Zahn knew that feeling. She had struggled with depression her whole life. Nothing she had experienced prepared her for postpartum depression, though. That was a deeper hole than she’d ever known. Before giving birth to her third child, she’d always been convinced that God was watching over her just as he had watched over Joseph. After that birth, however, things changed. The light faded. She had never felt so alone. 

Tina moved in with her mom, but she couldn’t get her out of the hole into which she’d fallen. She lost track of time and spent her days staring into the distance, wondering why she didn’t feel anything. 

“Why can’t you snap out of this?” her mom asked her one day. 

The question seemed to drift through endless time, as though it had come from a million miles away, but it smashed into her mind like a comet. Suddenly, all her pain and suffering, her endless battle with depression, hit her. It was overwhelming. A voice inside her told her to escape. To run. And so that’s what she did. 

She grabbed her keys and got into her car. That voice told her where to go: a 200-foot-high concrete bridge over the Fox River in Green Bay, Wisconsin. She obeyed. 

God never forgot Joseph. And he didn’t forget Tina, either, when she pulled over on the Leo Frigo Memorial Bridge, strode toward the barrier, and jumped on July 19, 2004. 

Tina remembers jumping, but she never fell. She hung in the air, 200 feet above the hard, glassy surface of the river below. And then she felt a hand clasp her wrist. 

Earlier, as Tina ran toward her car, her mom heard her talk about the bridge. Unable to stop her daughter, she alerted the police. State trooper Les Boldt was just about to clock off when the call came in. He knew the risk of trying to stop a “jumper” going off a bridge on his own – that was a job for a team. But he leapt into his cruiser anyway.

As he reached the bridge, he saw Tina striding toward the barrier. He called out, but she didn’t listen. Boldt knew he had to act. The dash-mounted camera in his patrol car recorded what happened next. Just before jumping, Tina’s feet caught the lip of the barrier. For a split second, her momentum was halted. It was just long enough for Boldt to reach her and grab her arm. 

Boldt had called for backup en route, but for 16 desperate seconds he was alone, his body braced against that barrier in a life-and-death struggle against gravity. And then two other officers arrived. The first held Tina’s other arm; the second grabbed her legs. Together, they pulled her back over the barrier to safety. 

Lots of things had to go right that day. Tina’s mom’s mind was clear enough to understand the significance of her daughter’s stated destination. Officer Boldt made an instant decision to ignore protocol and risk his own life to save Tina’s. 

Those actions, though, were part of a larger story. Looking back, Tina believes that it was the ceaseless prayer of her family and friends that allowed the rescue attempt to succeed. Those prayers expressed a community’s love and care for Tina. By praying for her, people were saying that they refused to abandon her. God heard them. He also refused to abandon Tina. 

Tina’s life changed after that jump. She still struggles with depression, but she is a stronger woman – and a stronger believer. Today, she’s a published author, church leader, and an advocate for better education around mental health issues, especially postpartum depression.