Help: Secular friend I have not talked to in years reached out to me with a marriage crisis

Someone asked online in an apologetics forum a question of what to do when a former friend who is not a Christian reached out to him going through a serious crisis.  I won’t go over the details but the Christian asked “How do I minister to him? I have grown deeply in the two years we haven’t talked…”

Below is my thoughts which is an edit and additions made to my original response to the individual.  I’m reproducing it since some have said it was helpful.