by Annagail Lynes
“What’s wrong,” my high school American History classmates used to ask me. I didn’t know. I didn’t know what was wrong with me, or why I was always sad. Nothing seemed to help the sadness. Not good grades, not friends, not a boyfriend. Not even speaking with counselors.
The next year my mom and I were forced to go to counseling as a part of my parents’ divorce proceedings. My dad didn’t have to go. The counselor whipped out a list of ten symptoms that a person must have to be declared manic depressive. My dad exhibited all ten. My mom’s symptoms of depression didn’t surface in full force until after the divorce.
A child of two depressed parents has a seventy percent chance of becoming depressed herself. In fact, I don’t remember ever not being depressed. Everything seemed to make me sad. I would wake up crying for no apparent reason.
Depression is just another tool that the enemy uses to get us to give up on our lives, God and our destiny. Depression in its purest sense is a lack of joy. Everything that once gave you joy–playing basketball, writing, singing, hanging out with your friends–doesn’t anymore.
The writer of Nehemiah pens in chapter eight, verse ten, “…for the joy of the Lord is your strength”
If we have no joy, we have no strength. When we are depressed we don’t feel like doing anything, and we are so tired because the depression has zapped our strength. It has abandoned us in hum-drum-ville.
If you have ever felt depressed, you aren’t alone. Millions of people suffer with depression every day of their lives. I know I have. I struggle every day to keep myself from falling into that deep, dark depression where I feel like there is no way out.
Even people in the Bible felt this way. Elijah, for one. The prophets of Baal, a false god, had challenged him to a contest to see whose deity could bring down fire – Baal or the true God, Jehovah. And of course, God won. Then word came to Elijah that Jezebel was after him – that she intended to kill him. What did Elijah do? Did he call upon God to help him? No, he plopped himself under a juniper tree and felt sorry for himself. “Oh poor me, Jezebel is after me. She wants me dead.” I can almost hear him whining.
Jeremiah also felt this way. He is nicknamed the “weeping prophet.” He would hand-write the words that God had given him on a scroll, and when he sent them to the appropriate authorities, it would be destroyed. Then Jeremiah had to write the word of the Lord all over again. The people of Israel refused to listen to the predictions that the Lord had given Jeremiah. They refused to repent.
Even John the Baptist felt depressed when he was imprisoned. He questioned everything he did, believed and said. He even wondered whether Jesus was the Messiah the Jews had been waiting for. So consumed with that question, he sent word to Jesus, asking, “Are the Messiah we have being waiting for? Or should we wait for another?”
Everyone gets depressed at one time or another, but when that depression controls our lives, we have a problem.
How do we deal with depression? The best cure I have found is thanksgiving.
“Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”(Philippians 4: 6-8)
Thanksgiving is more than just thanking God for everything. It is about finding the good in every situation. It is about thanking God for His promise rather than dwelling on the problem you’re enduring. It’s easy to find the bad in every situation, but it is more challenging, and much more rewarding, to purposefully look for the good. Instead of focusing on what could go wrong, focus on what could go right.
“But Annagail,” you may be thinking, “I am not wired to be optimistic. I’m a pessimist by nature.”
No, you aren’t. You were wired to dream and hope! Your experiences in life have made you a pessimist. To combat this, you need to practice finding the good in every situation. It could be small things, large things or in between things, just as long as you find something to thank God for.
Don’t thank Him for the problem. Thank Him for His promise – the promise you have in the Word – concerning that situation. When we do that, we short-cut the time we spend in the problem. When we do that, we are saying, “I surrender control of my life to You, Lord.” And He will never fail to come through for someone with a thankful heart.
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