Some imagine a person who is clinically depressed (now called a Major Depressive Disorder) to certainly be out of God’s will.
Acceptable Christian emotions include joy, peace, hope, faith, and victory. Depression is simply not acceptable; not for a Sunday school teacher, a choir director, a pastor, or an elder. The reality is quite different. Depression is real. Elders, deacons, pastors, music directors, saints – young and old – battle depression.
Leading influencers of the Bible used words that describe depression. Job faced situational depression. Elijah and David both speak using words indicative of depression. Abraham Lincoln, Charles Spurgeon, and a myriad of others battled depression.
Don't fight depression alone and unprepared.
The horror and difficulty produced by depression cannot be overstated. My book(s), blogs, and video material on depression come with my own experience with the condition.
Material on Depression
Light in a Dark Place - Encountering Depression is my best-seller. Light in a Dark Place does five things:
- Validate depression. Depression is as tangible as diabetes.
- Explain what it is like to be depressed.
- Elevate the awareness of depression and challenge the over-spiritualizing of depression.
- Offer practical solutions that could possibly help in your battle with depression.
- Encourage the depressed. You won’t win every battle; I haven’t. But you must decide to fight. If you don’t fight – depression wins. Depression will permanently define your life.
Light in a Dark Place is available from my website, from Amazon and as a Kindle e-book.
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Songs for the Dark Place (a book in progress) Someone who is depressed may not know how or what to pray. Yet Jesus was clear, when He repeatedly said, "When ye pray...," not "If ye pray." Regardless of our emotional, mental, or spiritual condition we are to pray.
Help comes to the depressed by praying the Psalms aloud. During depression your numbness is overwhelming. There is also not enough energy to find the Psalms of Lamentation and use them for prayer. These specific psalms start with lament but end with praise. The Songs for the Dark Place is a great help for when someone who is depressed and does not know how to pray.
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