Introduction
Some Christians and churches claim that depression comes from demonic possession, or from sin, perhaps a curse, or because God is punishing us for a wrong-doing. As we discussed in the article “Can Christians Have a Mental Illness,” while on some occasions it may be the result of an ongoing sin, for most believers, depression doesn’t usually arise from these things.
We’ve looked at possible physical causes of depression as well as circumstances which may cause it. It can be the result of drug and alcohol abuse, physical injury or as part of an illness, as a side effect of certain medications, or as a consequence of physical, psychological and/or sexual abuse.
Seeking help for depression is not sinful, nor is taking anti-depressants. Getting over depression isn’t about “having more faith,” or “looking on the bright side,” or “just getting over it.” There is no pithy quote, Bible verse or inspirational saying that will snap us out of it. In fact, there are quite a number of Bible verses that speak about depression, and Bible characters who struggled with it.
Depression is not a new thing – it’s been around almost since day one!
One of the more important things we learned in that earlier article is that a good proportion of the population will experience depress-ion at some time in their life, and therefore it’s likely that many Christians will also go through it.
Being a Christian doesn’t automatically make us immune. Depression doesn’t mean that a person is lacking in spirituality or immature in their Christian walk. Do you need reassurance on that? Then hopefully this article will provide enough evidence to demonstrate that some of the strongest, most faithful believers have suffered depression – and God still loved them.
Depression
Normally in each issue of SPAG Magazine we endeavour to provide an article on one inspirational person. In conjunction with issue 7’s focus on depression and mental illness, we’re sharing a little about the lives of inspirational believers who suffered depression – from the Bible, from history and also from the present day. This is by no means a comprehensive list, and I encourage you to find out more.
If you’ve ever suffered depression, it may ease your burden to know that profound Christian thinkers, passionate champions of the persecuted and down-trodden, God-inspired prophets, and those who reached great pinnacles of wisdom and strength in their Christian walk, have shared the trials and torments of depression with us.
If those with such resounding faith, profound knowledge and deep compassion can experience the same depths of sorrow, anguish, and moments of doubt; times when God seemed silent to their urgent, tortured pleas for help or for answers; then we, the more common, ordinary Christians are not alone – we aren’t wrong or broken or in need of deliverance. For some of us, it is part of the demanding journey of what it means to be a Christian.
It’s almost freeing to know that these exceptional Christians share such a bond with us. Perhaps it is those who have never known depression and those dark, tormented nights of the soul, who miss out on this distinctive experience. Perhaps we who have known depression, are the chosen ones who God deems worthy of undergoing such an ordeal. Perhaps our journey will be all the better for it.
As bizarre and unreasonable as it sounds, perhaps there’ll come a day when we’ll be able to look back and say “Thank you Lord.”
Whatever the circumstances, depression is very real, and can have a profound and long-lasting impact on us. Those who have never suffered depression cannot understand the terrible pain and suffering it causes.
Biblical Believers Who Suffered Depression
(a) Adam and Eve
While there is no Biblical evidence to confirm it, I imagine that both Adam and Eve suffered depression after they sinned and were cast out of the garden of Eden.
Having previously been so intimate with God, it must have been devastating for them to lose that close and loving relationship. No longer did they know that kindred closeness of spirit, soul and purpose. Adam and Eve knew without a doubt that they were no longer Holy – that purity of their holy relationship with God had ceased to exist.
I’ve heard hell described as the absolute and complete awareness of our aloneness and separation from God. Perhaps in a way, it was similar to how Adam and Eve felt.
Their daily lives of toil to grow food and to survive would have been a constant reminder of the repercussions of their sin, and their unending loss.
The consequences of their sin were later brought home to them, when their own son Cain killed his brother Abel.
(b) King David
There are more than three dozen examples of David’s experiences with depression which he shared in the Psalms. In Psalm 6:2-7 we read words that sound similar to what we might say when experiencing deep depression. Along with the anguish, his words seem to be touched with frustration and even anger:
“Show me grace, Eternal God. I am completely undone. Bring me back together, Eternal One. Mend my shattered bones. My soul is drowning in darkness. How long can You, the Eternal, let things go on like this?
Come back, Eternal One, and lead me to Your saving light. Rescue me because I know You are truly compassionate.
I’m alive for a reason – I can’t worship You if I’m dead. If I’m six feet under, how can I thank You?
I’m exhausted. I cannot even speak, my voice fading as sighs. Every day ends in the same place – lying in bed, covered in tears, my pillow wet with sorrow. My eyes burn, devoured with grief; they grow weak as I constantly watch for my enemies.” [Voice]
(c) Job
We can understand why Job would have suffered depression, after he lost all he had including his children and his wealth. While he must have grieved for his children, he was able to accept that loss was part of life – he’d come into the world with nothing, and would leave the world with nothing.
When Satan was allowed to afflict Job with a terrible illness that not only caused him awful physical pain, he also lost the affections and closeness of his wife, the comforts of his home, contact with friends and loved ones in his community, and was cast out of his home town because of his disease.
Here was a different sort of trauma to the losses he’d suffered earlier. This next step meant that he’d lost everything else including his dignity, his health, and his position within society – he was even mocked by low-life people because of how far he’d fallen from God’s grace.
Additionally, he was constantly in pain which would have affected every physical movement and would likely have plagued his sleep. Lack of sleep and relentless pain alone can cause depression, but the added losses and indignities would have piled up upon his already low spirits.
He’d lived a good life and had tried to be obedient to God. When he was suffering so terribly, he questioned God, demanding a response from Him about what he’d done to deserve such harsh treatment. Doesn’t that sound a lot like what most of us would probably do in Job’s situation?
We can almost hear the anger and perhaps even a little touch of rebuke in his voice in Job 6:8-10:
“If only my one request were answered, if only God would grant me the fulfilment of my only hope: That God would be willing to crush me, to kill me, that God would release His hand and cut me off.
At least then I would have a crumb of consolation, one source of joy in the midst of this relentless agony: I never denied the words of the Holy One in my pain.” [Voice]
We can hardly blame or judge Job for feeling angry with God. In fact, that kind of a reaction has been around since the time of Cain and Abel, when Cain became angry upon God asking where his brother was.
We can still love God and feel angry and upset with Him. In fact, it really isn’t a surprising response when we’re obedient and go through difficulties and pain and don’t understand why we’re suffering.
Eventually God healed Job and restored his blessings including more children and wealth, and a long, healthy life.
For most of us though, restoration of good health, the return of our wealth, or a child or a partner to replace one we’ve lost, don’t usually happen, and our pain and suffering may remain with us.
(d) Elijah
Elijah was one of several people in the Bible who suffered depression. Here was a man that saw some incredible miracles including ravens sent by God to feed him when he was hungry; provision of food for himself, a widow and her son during a famine; and then Elijah raised the woman’s son from the dead after he passed away.
On another occasion he prayed to God to send fire down from heaven to burn up his sacrifice, to show His power to Baal’s prophets and to the Israelite people. The Israelites saw God’s power and were filled with fear, awe and wonder.
In the same chapter we read that he was able to supernaturally run faster than Ahab who’d left earlier in his chariot!
Despite all of those amazing miracles, he knew and trusted God, and yet Elijah sunk into a terrible depression, even seeking to die.
In 1 Kings 19:4 we read:
“He journeyed into the desert for one day and then decided to rest beneath the limbs of a broom tree. There he prayed that his life would be over quickly and that he would die there beneath the tree.
Elijah: I’m finished, Eternal One. Please end my life here and now, even though I have failed, and I am no better than my ancestors.” [Voice]
After he overcame his depression, Elijah continued in his work for God, and took on Elisha as his apprentice. Later, as his time on earth drew to a close we read in 2 Kings 2:11b:
“A blazing chariot pulled by blazing horses stormed down from the heavens and came between Elijah and Elisha. Then Elijah was swept up into heaven by the fiery storm.” [Voice]
God favoured Elijah so highly, that he took him straight up to heaven! Surely then we must consider that depression is no hindrance to being close to God, or for God to accept each of us completely, or for us to be able to do His work.
(e) Other Bible People
You may like to read about other Bible people who suffered depression, such as: Jeremiah; Hannah; Jonah; and Jesus.
The night before His crucifixion, Jesus spent time in prayer, His spirit in distress. While not necessarily depression, He was in extreme anguish so great, that he sweated drops of blood.)
Christians in History Who Suffered Depression
(a) C.S. Lewis
Most of us know Lewis’ work from his beloved Narnia series. Lewis, was a great Christian thinker who also wrote books on theology, and yet for such an intellectual who understood God so well, he suffered depression.
After his wife died of cancer, just three years after they married, he wrote of his experience, when he desired an answer or some kind of sign from God:
“…But go to Him when your need is desperate, when all other help is vain, and what do you find? A door slammed in your face and a sound of bolting and double bolting on the inside. After that, silence. You may as well turn away. The longer you wait, the more emphatic the silence will become.” (“A Grief Observed.”)
Lewis struggled to connect with God during his difficult days, to focus his heart and mind on God, just as many of us do. In his book, “A Grief Observed,” he said of his suffering:
“God has not been trying an experiment on my faith or love in order to find out their quality. He knew it already. It was I who didn’t. In this trial He makes us occupy the dock, the witness box, and the bench all at once. He always knew that my temple was a house of cards. His only way of making me realize the fact was to knock it down.”
And when it seemed to him that God wasn’t responding:
“’Knock and it shall be opened.’ But does knocking mean hammering and kicking the door like a maniac?”
(b) Mother Teresa
The compassionate and caring nun, Mother Teresa is often presented to the world as an iconic image of supreme Christian service, of one who was content in her work, faithful in her service and unwavering in her devotion to God.
There was also the Mother Teresa that few of us know, who suffered depression and struggled to find God, especially during periods of dark despair, but her soul hungered for Him even when she didn’t sense His presence.
In her book “Come Be My Light,” (edited by Brian Kolodiejchuk, MC) she said:
“I want to smile even at Jesus and so hide if possible the pain and the darkness of my soul even from Him.”
And later she wrote:
“With regard to the feeling of loneliness, of abandonment, of not being wanted, of darkness of the soul, it is a state well known by spiritual writers and directors of conscience. This is willed by God in order to attach us to Him alone, an antidote to our external activities, and also, like temptation, a way of keeping us humble in the midst of applauses, publicity, praises, appreciation, etc. and success.”
(c) Other Christians in History Who Suffered Depression
Other well-known Christians who suffered depression included: Charles Dickens; Martin Luther; John Calvin; John Wesley; Handel; Emily Dickinson; Sir Isaac Newton; Charles Spurgeon; Pope Francis; Florence Nightingale; and many more.
Well-known Christians of Modern Times Who Suffered Depression
(a) Barbara Bush
The former first lady of the USA suffered terrible depression in the 1970s. According to a New York Times article, she sometimes had to stop her car on shoulders of the highway because she feared that:
“…she might deliberately crash the vehicle into a tree or an oncoming auto.”
(b) Joyce Meyer
Joyce was abused as a child which impacted on her emotional and mental development enormously, and led to her depression. In her article “Is it Really Possible to Beat Depression?”she said:
“I know what it’s like to be depressed. For many years I was unstable emotionally because of abuse that I experienced during most of my childhood. It caused me to be negative, critical, and easily discouraged. I used to believe that it was better not to expect anything good to happen to me because if nothing good happened, I wouldn’t be disappointed. But I was still miserable and had no peace.”
Joyce believes that we can allow depression to take hold of us, and that there are ways to stop it. She said:
“Depression begins with disappointment. When disappointment festers in our soul, it leads to discouragement.”
(c) Other Well-known Christians of Modern Times Who Have Suffered Depression
Jim Caviezel, the actor who played Jesus Christ in Mel Gibson’s movie “The Passion of Christ” has suffered depression.
Others in this group include: John James (Newsboys); Sheila Walsh (singer and talk-show host); Tina Campbell (Mary Mary); Richard Smallwood (gospel music artist); Buzz Aldrin (astronaut); Lecrae (hip hop artist, record producer and actor); Kevin Sorbo (actor); Mel Gibson (actor, director and producer); and Ashley Judd (actor).
Conclusion
For each of us who suffer depression or other mental illnesses, our journey and our experiences may be different, but we are bonded together in a unified Christian experience.
We aren’t alone in our suffering. The similarities of our anguish, the deep depths of our depressions, the struggles of our condition, the unanswered, perplexing questions and even at times, silence from God show us by their similarity that God has found a way to stretch us and shape us, even sometime agonisingly, but purposefully into something more than we were before.
We may not see that we’ve changed for the better, or understand that the suffering that we bore began a transformation within us.
While in the midst of our struggles, sometimes we feel torn, broken, battered and weak with trembling, God isn’t unaware of the battle we are waging, He is not absent from us though His silence may make it seem that He is.
These troubling experiences and depression are another part of our journey. Perhaps we undergo this pain and suffering because there was something deep in us which God needed to change or to remove from us, which required such a forceful and intense experience.
When we take those final steps at the end of our human journey and find ourselves standing before God, instead of asking Him “Why?” our minds, hearts and soul will grasp it at last and we will say, “I understand.” [End]
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“That’s the thing about depression: A human being can survive almost anything, as long as she sees the end in sight. But depression is so insidious, and it compounds daily, that it’s impossible to ever see the end. The fog is like a cage without a key.”
Elizabeth Wurtzel
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 After Adam and Eve sinned, there were cast out of the garden of Eden, and realised their separation from God.  King David in prayer  Job and his friends  Elijah calling down fire from God  Jeremiah in the ruins of Jerusalem  Jesus and the crown of thorns  Charles Spurgeon  Charles Dickens  John Calvin  Emily Dickinson  Sir Isaac Newton  Handel  Florence Nightingale  Mother Teresa |
Bibliography:
[Voice] The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
Ekstrand, Dr DW, no date, The Transformed Soul “Dealing with Anger Toward God,” available: http://www.thetransformedsoul.com/additional-studies/spiritual-life-studies/dealing -with-anger-toward-god – accessed 04/11/16.
McDaniel, Debbie, 4 May 2016, Crosswalk.com “7 Bible Figures Who Struggled with Depression,” available: http://www.crosswalk.com/faith/spiritual-life/7-bible-figures-who-struggled-with-depression.html – accessed 04/11/16
No author, no date, A Christian Faith “Psalm 42 – Spiritual depression,” available: http://www. christianfaith.com/resources/psalm-42-spiritual-depression – accessed 04/11/16
No author, no date, Wikipedia, available: www.wikipedia.org – accessed 04/11/16
Borchard, Therese J, no date, Beyond Blue – A Spiritual Journey into Mental Health: “Mother Teresa: My Saint of Darkness and Hope,” available: http://www.beliefnet.com/columnists/beyondblue/2007/08/mother-teresa-my-saint-of-dark.html – accessed 04/11/16
Justice, Jessilyn, 21/08/15, Charisma News: “When Famous Christians Suffer Public Depression,” available: http://www.charismanews.com/culture/51159-when-famous-christians-suffer-public-depression, accessed 04/11/16
Carey, Jesse, 9/12/14, Relevant: God – “7 Prominent Christian Thinkers Who Wrestled With Doubt,” available: http://www.relevantmagazine.com/god/7-prominent-christian-thinkers-who-wrestled-doubt”- accessed 04/11/16
Meyer, Joyce, 20/12/10, CP Living: “Is It Really Possible to Beat Depression?” available: http://www.christianpost.com/news/is-it-really-possible-to-beat-depression-48134/ accessed 04/11/16.
Skinner, Michael, no date, “Famous People With a Mental Health Concern/Illness,” available: http://www.mskinnermusic.com/home/advocacy-2/famous-people-mental-health-concern-illness/ accessed 04/11/16.
James, John, 2016, Full Gospel Businessmen’s Training: “John James,” available: http://www.fgbt.org/Testimonies/john-james.html accessed 04/11/16.
Heitzig, Skip, no date, Christianity Today “Journey Through Spiritual Depression,” available: http://www.christianitytoday.com/pastors/2001/february-online-only/cln10214.html accessed 08/11/16
Kolodiejchuk, Brian, 4 September 2007 by Doubleday Religion “Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light: The Private Writings of the Saint of Calcutta”
Wines, Michael, September 8 1994, The New York Times: “In Memoir, Barbara Bush Recalls Private Trials of a Political Life,” available: http://www.nytimes.com/1994/09/08/us/in-memoir-barbara-bush-recalls-private-trials-of-a-political-life.html accessed 10/11/16
Lewis, C.S., Published April 21st 2015 by Harper San Francisco, “A Grief Observed,” accessed 09/11/16 |
I have been dealing with depression off and on since 1996. It began with the sudden and intense onset of tinnitus. Several times I have considered suicide but never attempted. Have been hospitalized six times.
I am in the middle of one of my spells. I rarely sleep through the night. The morning is the most awful time.
I know Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. Depression makes you think strange things about God, usually wrong. That’s why church and fellowship are important.
The fact that so many important people of faith have suffered depression is good information, but of little solace to sufferers.
Thanks for the article.
Hi Tom
Thanks for reaching out. I’m sorry to hear of your long-term struggles. I hope you’ve found a good counsellor. It’s very interesting that tinnitus is involved at the beginning of your depression. I hadn’t heard about that before – I wonder what the connection is? A quick internet search shows many websites discussing that very thing.
Century Audiology’s page says: “…experts are trying to find the link between depression and tinnitus. That there is a connection between tinnitus and major depressive disorders is pretty well established. Study after study has shown that one tends to accompany the other, but the cause-and-effect connection is, well, more difficult to discern.” (https://www.centuryaudiology.com/hearing-loss-articles/the-link-between-depression-and-tinnitus/)
When suffering depression, I found that night-time was often the worst part of my day, and I imagine it would be so for many sufferers. At night-time it’s possibly because there isn’t as much to distract us or to keep our mind occupied as there is during the day.
The suggestions I read about reducing depression, particularly at night-time are:
– leave your work or stressful activities outside of the bedroom, and try to find ways to distress and relax at least two hours before bedtime – the bright screens alone may not allow our mind to relax;
– make a decision to switch off the computer or stop playing computer games within two hours of bed-time because these can increase our stress levels and discourage our mind from fully resting and relaxing which impacts our sleep; and
– undertake activities that can calm us and reduce our stress, e.g. a hobby like writing, painting, meditation or even cooking, so find something you can turn to when you’re struggling;
– if you love your coffee or enjoy alcohol, these two can lead to a disruption of our sleep.
It says that it’s important to keep a regular sleeping routine, because it can affect the way our body and our mind cope and can result in disturbed sleep, which in turn impacts the quality of our sleep, adding to our stress and our depression – so it’s a bit of a vicious cycle. I don’t know if you’ve tried these suggestions, but I guess it can’t hurt to try.
I personally found it helpful to know that important people of faith suffered depression because it helped me to realise I that wasn’t alone, or broken, nor unloved by God. The fact that God still loved them and was able to use them helped me draw nearer to God because I could stop blaming myself, or stop believing I was doing something wrong or that God wasn’t with me.
I know of Christians who struggle constantly with the belief that they’ve failed God, so I hope this article can encourage those who are suffering depression to move on, to forgive themselves and to ignore other Christians who tell them wrongfully and hurtfully that they’ve got something wrong with them that needs to be ‘fixed.’
Vicki Nunn
Editor
Thanks Vicki. I didn’t mean to imply that the article wasn’t helpful. It was. I guess I meant when you are in the middle of it the pain is all yours.
I liked your comparison to what Adam and Eve experienced as being like hell. Because that is what I experience just about every day. Despite my prayers and attempts to locate God he simply doesn’t seem to come into my orbit. Despite that I still choose to believe He is there. I don’t understand it. It is painful to me and an ongoing crisis in my life. But one day at a time I live with it. And I try to be thankful because scripture tells us to.
I don’t mean to sound self-piteous, but I probably do. I want desperately to grow closer to God. I hope he will accept my sacrifice.
Thanks again for the really well written and thought provoking article.
Hi Tom
Yes, I understand what you’re saying that right in the midst of this, and it’s not really something that we can make other people understand, and is a deeply personal experience. While sharing about your depression can certainly be helpful, it doesn’t make it go away. I can’t imagine how you’re feeling during your trials, to not feel that closeness to God for so long – sure there have been times in my life, particularly during depression, where God seemed like He was absent and it almost felt like I’d been abandoned, but hindsight is a wonderful thing, and I know for certain that He was there throughout. Perhaps part of that reason for stepping back from intimacy with us is to develop our knowledge of Him and grow our faith and trust in His presence. Feelings often fail us, because what we have learned about feelings is affected by our upbringing, our personality, our life experiences etc which skew us in directions that may be away from God or are twisted and need to be corrected, so we must forget about relying on a ‘feeling’ of closeness, but instead to keep our faith steadfast, despite not ‘feeling’ that intimacy.
I had a friend a while ago who shared that he had never felt God’s presence and I think he struggled with the worry that maybe he was doing something wrong, or felt that God didn’t think he was good enough, and he couldn’t understand why so many other Christians had that experience with God, but he didn’t. After reading about Mother Teresa who shared something similar, I began to wonder if for some people, it forms a part of the ‘package deal’ of their Christian walk, to never or rarely experience that intimacy with God, and they just have to continue to trust that He is there and that He will never leave them. I don’t understand why He gives each of us struggles that are different to those of other Christians, but have to trust in His omnipotent power and wisdom that for some unfathomable reason, it needs to be this way for that individual.
In Mother Teresa’s biography she shared that she had an incredible spiritual experience when she was a young woman, something that few other Christians have known. That experience strengthened her resolve to trust Him and to live her life for Him, but … she also shared that later she went through a long period of desolation and struggle. She said that it was a time of “untold darkness” and a “continual longing for God.” She shared, “The place of God in my soul is blank. There is no God in me.” Rather a shocking admission for someone who most people believed was a ‘spiritual powerhouse.’
I wish you all the best in your journey Tom.
Vicki Nunn
Editor
Hello Vicki:
It seems as if things are slowly closing in on me. Met with my doctor today. He is doing EMDR on me. We will see if that works. Also met with a pastor this morning. We prayed together.
The pressure is just so great. Especially when I don’t sleep which happens frequently.
Hi Tom
I’m sorry to hear that your struggles are worse at the moment. I hope the EMDR will be helpful for you. You’ve taught me something else – I’d never heard of an EMDR before. It sounds quite fascinating.
I’m glad you spent time in prayer with your pastor, and I’m sure you’ll be on his prayer list. Yes, when you don’t sleep well, it’s definitely going to impact how you’re feeling. Please let me know if the EMDR proves helpful to you.
I’m on medication which helps me sleep which has made a big difference to my mood. It’s amazing how much poor sleep can affect us so much.
God bless Tom. Take care.
Vicki Nunn
Editor
I came to the U.S. to study in a seminary from India in 1971, I had sufferings in life in India, but someway, I was never been into serious depression.
The shocks of climate-culture-food-lack of money-studies etc caused me to have regular seasonal depression. Didn’t take any medications without realizing that I was suffering from depression. Got married in 1974, life was started with more hard work and financial set backs. If I had five dollars with me and find somebody who is hungry, then I do cheerfully give that money to any stranger, that gave me relief from my depression. Whenever I was in India visiting the poor people of the villages and slums, depression didn’t come close to me.
Even the sad news in the T.V. makes me depressed, thus I do avoid watching any sad news and hearing sad news. Now getting closer to 75, though taking a medication for anxiety, it is not helping me greatly. I do walk and meditate, that gives me big relief. The past memories of failures and cheating by many people whom I have trusted like my brothers, then I am greatly tormented. Though as St. Paul said, we need to forget the past and thrive to look for the future, at times, the past is tormenting me. I do count my blessings of life, then I get relief from depression. When I am depressed, I try very hard to remember the suffering people I have met in life and helped, thus their cheerful smile, that takes away my agony of depression.
My wife used to worried me to death about the children’s education. I told her by faith, they will be educated. For them, got scholarships, daughter is a bilingual school Psychologist and son has MS in mechanical engineering and now a medical Doctor. At times, the thoughts about their old broken cars at the school and college days causing me depression. The pain of depression is a very painful experience of life, only those who have suffered can realize that pain.
Hi A.S.
Thank you for responding about the article on depression. I often use the phrase, “It’s part of the package deal,” when I refer to my own life. For whatever reason, God decided that it would be a part of my life’s struggles, so who am I to criticise His decision? He must have a purpose in it, perhaps to teach me about compassion for others, to help me draw closer to Him, or for a reason that I can’t as yet understand. That doesn’t mean it will be easier for us when we understand that, but we can hold onto God’s promise to always be with us, and try to draw closer to God through the Holy Spirit.
There will still be days which are more difficult, times when demons use our problems and/or failures from our past, to make us feel terrible. I sometimes imagine them dancing with joy when they can bring us down. Sometimes we just have to try to hold onto God when we feel overwhelmed. I don’t believe the claim that God will never give us more than we can handle, because I know from past experience that it is not true, and I’ve read about strong Christians and Christian leaders who have felt like they were drowning in the midst of their trials and depression. C.S. Lewis is one example. He married a little later in life, and his wife passed away from cancer a couple of years after they were married. He shared about the terrible ordeal he experienced after the loss of his beloved wife.
I hope your wife and children are doing well.
Vicki Nunn
Editor
PS (I understand what you mean about the news. I made a decision around 30 years ago to avoid watching the news because it was often depressing and made me feel discouraged about mankind.)
Thank you Vicki Nunn. Your magazine has been a great help to me. I am writing a book on my own struggles with depression. Your magazine has been a great source of encouragement and material for my work. May God bless you as you continue to serve God and His people.
Hi Emmanuel,
I’m so glad that you found the article helpful and are enjoying SPAG Magazine.
As someone who has suffered severe depression, I realised that it can be difficult for others who have never experienced it, to understand what we are going through. Many feel lost about how to help, so sometimes we should tell those who we’re close to, what it is we need to hear or how they can give us comfort.
The fact that so many Christians have suffered depression, particularly Christian leaders and several in the Bible, can also encourage us in our struggles, to understand that it’s not as a result of our behaviours or sins that we suffer depression, but is a part of our journey as Christians. I often use the phrase, “It’s part of the package deal,” when I refer to my own life. For whatever reason, God decided that it would be a part of my life’s struggles, so who am I to criticise that? He must have a purpose in it, perhaps to teach me about compassion for others, to help me draw closer to Him, or a reason that I can’t as yet understand.
I’m glad we could help you with writing your book on depression. In the past we’ve also shared articles on ‘Happiness Habits,’ which may also be helpful for those struggling with depression.
Thank you so much for your encouragement – I really appreciate it: link
Kind regards
Vicki Nunn
Editor
Thank you for this. It helps me understand that I am not alone. And that there is still a God who hears me.
Hello Mei
I’m so glad that you found comfort through our article on believers who suffered depression. It’s something that I have also experienced, and know how very difficult it can be, particularly when it can continue for several years.
For some of us, we fail to find the support we need within our church or through our Christian friends. It’s usually not their fault that they don’t help us when we need it, because sometimes church leaders and other Christians often don’t understand how to help someone with depression, or they have the wrong idea that if we’re Christians, than we can’t suffer depression, but we know that believers CAN suffer depression because the Bible provides us with several examples of believers who struggled with it.
I hope that you can find some good, strong Christian support as you struggle with the challenge of depression. Over the years, I have seen many Christians going through trials, one of these can be depression, and I’ve come to understand that God allows us to go through difficulties and challenging times because He wants to grow us and strengthen our faith in Him. I don’t think I have ever met a true Christian who hasn’t gone through trials of some kind – I believe that it’s part of our journey, and sometimes all that we can do, is hold onto God’s promise that He is with us through the worst of times as well as the best.
I do encourage you to pray and to talk to God about what you are experiencing – prayer is such a vital part of our walk and our personal connection with Him. Additionally I would encourage you to spend time in prayer for others, because often when going through trials, our focus is on ourselves, so praying for others can help us put our own difficulties into perspective.
Kind regards
Vicki Nunn
Editor
SPAG Magazine