Depression

     Many people suffer from depression and for some, it is debilitating.  It can be accompanied by the symptoms of fatigue, feelings of guilt, feelings of hopelessness, loss of pleasure in life, and, in the worst cases, thoughts or acts of suicide.  I know that it is treatable with drugs and therapy, but the drugs come with horrible side effects.  I have been rolling this thought around in my mind; Is there a drugless treatment that can bring permanent improvement or a cure?  Therapists tell me, no.  But I wonder and pray. 

     Many things can be the culprit causing depression: chemical imbalance, age, gender, genetics, trauma, and several other factors. 

     I have developed a very personal relationship with God.  I find myself wanting to improve that relationship daily.  I want my faith to continue its growth.  As my relationship with our Father grows, I more and more experience his healing through prayer and making God an integral part of my daily life.  I am to the point that I am unable to go through the day without a good conversation with him.  He is so gentle and loving.  Where did our Father get this ogre image?  It is totally undeserved.  I become more fully aware of his presence with each and every day.  I lean on him.  I talk to him about my weaknesses, my troubles, my needs and talk with him about how to serve him better.  I wonder if one's faith and a good personal relationship with God could bring a person out of depression?  I should say, I know he will, but the person must first develop faith and that relationship that is so vital.  I say, try it.  Our Father has never refused me that which I need, though it usually comes in a different manner or box than I had envisioned. 

     There is such spiritual joy, love, comfort, and healing  in a personal relationship with God.  Fully lay it in his hands.  Trust him, your Father.  Have faith that it will be done, and it shall.  The relationship builds, solidifies your faith.  Lay it on him...the depression.  He loves us and longs to help and comfort us.  If God cannot do it, then who else can be capable of such a feat?  I look at everything and think, God can do that, change that, heal that...anything is possible with God through Jesus Christ.  With God, you will not be forced to sit through an advertisement of which 80% tells you the ghastly side effects which, in turn, develops a graphic image of unspeakable horrors.   

     Not to be crass, but what have you got to lose?  It is challenging to be positive when you are suffering with depression.  You can do this.  You are not alone.  God above all understands.

     I am by no stretch of the imagination a medical doctor, Nor was Jesus, but he healed.  So many times in the New Testament we read Jesus saying, you have been healed by your faith.  To me, that puts healing within the realm of possibility through God's Holy Spirit within us and, of course, faith.  It is we that have boundaries on the possible, but his son tells us in Matthew 19:26 (NIV)

     Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."

     As a Christian, remove the boundaries from God in your faith.  He wants you to put it in his hands.  First, make all things in your life, trials and tribulations included, a glory to God.  Take the example of the young boy crippled from Cerebral Palsy,  The young man praised and thanked God for all his blessings in the midst of a large crowd of harried Christmas shoppers.  By the time he had finished giving all the money he possessed to the Salvation Army Bell Ringer and praising God for all his blessings, he had totally changed the hearts of that large crowd.  Our Father entrusts the heaviest loads to his most faithful.  Carry that load with great joy in your heart for you are one of God's most loved.  He will be with you giving strength, courage, and comfort.  Be a glory to God through your struggles. 

Mark 11:24-26  And Jesus says...

     "Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.  And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins."

     In the past, I have heard people say, but God never answers my prayers...ever.  I guess they missed the part about believe or faith that it is received.  So my brothers and sisters, don't forget the faith part of prayer.  Another item people tend to forget is to ask God for forgiveness.  If something is worth doing, it is worth doing right, and praying to our Father is definitely worth doing right. 

     We have taken a journey over the course of this article that I initially thought about not finishing due to its presumptive nature concerning the healing of depression.  But people with this disease need hope and those people need to know where that hope can be found.  My heart truly goes out to those suffering this devastating disease and fully have faith that all is possible with God. I know God will comfort and even heal if that is within his divine and loving will.  I believe an important part of the healing process is persevering through the ordeal with spiritual joy making your perseverance a glory to God.  And we know by the words of Paul in Romans 5:3-5 that perseverance builds character and with that character comes hope.  In my ordeal, when I finally discovered that joy, a calmness and peace came over me.  It was then that I began to realize that God was working through and within me not just to heal me, but comforting and bringing hope to others in their great sufferings by my joy that began to reflect outward.  People would say, how can you be afflicted with such a thing but show little outward suffering?   Spiritual joy through faith.  I set out to give those with depression a tested roadmap to hope.  My prayer is that you are able to follow those directions.  If you get lost, stop and ask any Christian for help.  You never have to do it alone.