<\/p>\n
It was a warm spring day, but all I felt was cold, damp, and empty inside. Nothing was inherently wrong, but everything within me shuddered. I couldn\u2019t shake the negative thoughts. The overwhelming darkness. The exhaustion that seeped deeper than my bones. Have you been here? Fighting the darkness with light, but still feeling spiritually depleted?<\/p>\n
For many Christians, depression is a silent battle. They wonder why they don\u2019t possess \u201cthe joy of the Lord,\u201d and feel misunderstood by many around them. Not only that, but we start to believe lies like:<\/p>\n
The reality is that the shame you feel about depression is real, but God isn\u2019t shaming you. Depression doesn\u2019t mean weak faith, but it does mean you\u2019re a human living in a fallen world.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When we\u2019re feeling spiritually and emotionally weary, it can feel impossible to find the light. But knowing we\u2019re not alone can help bring hope to these dark places.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It might seem like an obvious question, but Christians can absolutely be depressed. From clinical depression to seasonal depression, we\u2019re not imagining a world broken and flawed by physical and mental health disorders. Christians aren\u2019t immune to suffering; in fact, Jesus told us we\u2019d face plenty of it. However, in a world that often denies this reality, it can certainly feel like it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When we look at the Scriptures, many ancestors of the faith struggled emotionally and mentally. David wrote many Psalms of despair, and though he was known as a man after God\u2019s own heart, he often wished to give up on life altogether. Elijah was a great victor, but in 1 Kings 19, he was so tired that he wanted to die. Job lost everything, and though he never cursed God, he cursed the day he was born, wishing breath had never been given to his lungs.<\/p>\n
Friends, depression isn\u2019t new, and it\u2019s not a spiritual failure, but it is a real, lonely, and painful battle many of us face here on this earth. For many, depression feels like emotional numbness, loss of joy, exhaustion, feeling distant from God, or having hopeless thoughts. For others, it\u2019s overwhelming apathy and deep darkness, black clouds that follow you no matter where you go.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Charles Spurgeon, one of the greatest pastors of the mid 18th century, described depression this way:\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe mind can descend far lower than the body, for in it there are bottomless pits. The flesh can bear only a certain number of wounds and no more, but the soul can bleed in ten thousand ways, and die over and over again each hour\u201d (Spurgeon\u2019s Sorrows, 16).\u00a0<\/p>\n
As feelings grow, so do the beliefs and myths we hear about depression. \u201cYou just need to pray more,\u201d is a common catchphrase, but it does nothing for someone who is truly suffering. Prayer is incredibly powerful, but it\u2019s not a replacement for support.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When people say \u201creal Christians should have joy,\u201d that\u2019s true in a sense. But when it\u2019s aimed at those suffering from depression, are we really loving as Jesus would?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Furthermore, joy in Scripture is deeper than emotional happiness. Jesus tells us to mourn with those who mourn and rejoice with those who rejoice. The God who created us made us with a full range of emotions\u2014not just the positive or \u201chappy\u201d ones.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Finally, if you\u2019ve been told \u201cmedication means you don\u2019t trust God,\u201d I want you to know that\u2019s a lie straight from the Devil himself. If God used mud, spit, figs, and tears in the Bible, who are we to define how He uses modern-day medicine? Luke was a doctor, after all!<\/p>\n
Sometimes, God heals miraculously, but other times, He invites us to use the abundant gifts and resources He\u2019s already given us. Mental health is just as important as physical health, so if it\u2019s okay to take medication for diabetes or your thyroid, it\u2019s surely okay to take it for your mind.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Bible shows us that when we\u2019re suffering, depression included, God meets us in despair, not just after it\u2019s passed. We\u2019re invited to fully share those emotions with Him (as David did in the Psalms) and to know that our pain doesn\u2019t make us \u201cless than.\u201d<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re battling depression today, I want you to know you\u2019re not alone. Your feelings are valid, and I\u2019m incredibly sorry this has been a thorn in your flesh. I also want to point you to hope. Here are 4 small ways to find support when you\u2019re depressed:<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re feeling far from God today, please know He never abandons His people in the dark. It might feel that way, but faith can and does exist even when feelings disappear. Healing is often slow, but when we seek the Lord, reach out to others, and learn to care for ourselves, it can come. Depression may make you feel alone, but God has never once stepped away from your story.<\/p>\n
Friends, depression might be your present, but it won\u2019t always be your future. Here on earth or in Heaven, healing can and will come.\u00a0<\/p>\n
If you need immediate assistance for depression or suicidal thoughts, please text 9-8-8, call 9-1-1, or visit the crisis hotline by texting HOME or HOLA to 741741 to reach a live volunteer Crisis Counselor. These resources are free, 24\/7, and confidential.<\/p>\n
Photo Credit: \u00a9iStock\/Getty Images Plus\/fizkes<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n Amber Ginter<\/strong> is a teacher-turned-author who loves Jesus, her husband Ben, and granola. Growing up Amber looked for faith and mental health resources and found none. Today, she offers hope for young Christians struggling with mental illness that goes beyond simply reading your Bible and praying more. Because you can love Jesus and still suffer from anxiety. You can download her top faith and mental health resources for\u00a0free to help navigate books, podcasts, videos, and influencers from a faith lens perspective. Visit her website at\u00a0amberginter.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It was a warm spring day, but all I felt was cold, damp, and empty inside. Nothing was inherently wrong, but everything within me shuddered. I couldn\u2019t shake the negative thoughts. The overwhelming darkness. The exhaustion that seeped deeper than my bones. Have you been here? Fighting the darkness with light, but still feeling spiritually<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22669,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[2465,119,3828,348,703,152],"class_list":{"0":"post-22668","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-christian-living","8":"tag-based","9":"tag-christians","10":"tag-depressed","11":"tag-faith","12":"tag-health","13":"tag-mental"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22668"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22668\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/22669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}