When Christians are Down or depressed
Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved. Psalm 55:22
There are two types of what we call being depressed. There is clinical depression which is a serious ailment. The there is situational depression which I think most of us have on a regular basis, even as Christians.
Situational depression or "just feeling down" can come from work stress, the loss of a loved one, a fight or disagreement with your family, money troubles, or even the weather. I don't like winter. I don't like it when it gets dark early and sometimes that can make me feel "depressed". Some depression can come from feeling like no one cares, you don't have anything to look forward to, your weight is not where you want it to me, you lack self-esteem, and all of the negative things that happen in our daily lives.
With clinical depression, you can get medication to help you and that is an important thing to do if your depression or anxiety is constant and debilitating.
If you don't feel that your depression is clinical, then what do you do? When in the midst of these "down" times, the people around you may not understand what is wrong. They might say things like "worrying won't help", "get over it", "what is wrong with you?", "why are you being so snippy?", etc.
If you knew how to get out of it, you would. At least I know I would. Sometimes I don't even know the cause. As Christians we may feel like we are doing something wrong by being down. Where is the joy of the Lord? Why can't we hold on to that and just fly through life on a cloud?
Because we live in the world. We may not be of the world, but the world and everything in it affects us. The barometric pressure affects my arthritis. My arthritis affects my mood. The people we are around affect our mood. Our situations affect our moods and that is all ok. We are not failing God by have some "down" time.
However, it is important to take our burdens to the Lord and do the best we can to give them up to Him.
Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Is. 41:10
I encourage you when you are "down" to spend a lot of time in prayer. Even if you don't know what to say or feel like you are just whining, do it! God understands. The more time you spend with God, the shorter your time of "depression" will last.
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and
supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your
hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.Phil. 4:6,7
Also, remember that this is temporary!! It will pass. Things will be back to normal inside of you. You will be happy again. Try not to dwell on the "depression" or the issues causing it (if you even know what they are), but dwell on God. Ask for His help. He will give it!
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28
There are two types of what we call being depressed. There is clinical depression which is a serious ailment. The there is situational depression which I think most of us have on a regular basis, even as Christians.
Situational depression or "just feeling down" can come from work stress, the loss of a loved one, a fight or disagreement with your family, money troubles, or even the weather. I don't like winter. I don't like it when it gets dark early and sometimes that can make me feel "depressed". Some depression can come from feeling like no one cares, you don't have anything to look forward to, your weight is not where you want it to me, you lack self-esteem, and all of the negative things that happen in our daily lives.
With clinical depression, you can get medication to help you and that is an important thing to do if your depression or anxiety is constant and debilitating.
If you don't feel that your depression is clinical, then what do you do? When in the midst of these "down" times, the people around you may not understand what is wrong. They might say things like "worrying won't help", "get over it", "what is wrong with you?", "why are you being so snippy?", etc.
If you knew how to get out of it, you would. At least I know I would. Sometimes I don't even know the cause. As Christians we may feel like we are doing something wrong by being down. Where is the joy of the Lord? Why can't we hold on to that and just fly through life on a cloud?
Because we live in the world. We may not be of the world, but the world and everything in it affects us. The barometric pressure affects my arthritis. My arthritis affects my mood. The people we are around affect our mood. Our situations affect our moods and that is all ok. We are not failing God by have some "down" time.
However, it is important to take our burdens to the Lord and do the best we can to give them up to Him.
Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Is. 41:10
Also, remember that this is temporary!! It will pass. Things will be back to normal inside of you. You will be happy again. Try not to dwell on the "depression" or the issues causing it (if you even know what they are), but dwell on God. Ask for His help. He will give it!
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28
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