The Elephant in the Room

Depression. The word freaks out people. It makes them uncomfortable. Hearing about people with depression often makes Christians think that the afflicted people aren't praying enough or trusting God enough or choosing to be joyful or that it's just a mindset that they don't want to let go. It's a taboo topic that many churches don't want to talk about. Well, folks, depression is real and it's not going anywhere, so we better face up to it.

I've had clinical depression at least since puberty though it wasn't diagnosed until after I developed endometriosis. It took awhile, but medication has for the most part stabilized it. In an odd way, depression is a bit like an addiction in which it's never gone, although the symptoms can be masked and covered, allowing the patient to lead a normal life. Praise God! It took years for me to accept my diagnosis. I felt that there was something wrong with me to make me be depressed and that I needed to change. Oh how I hate the Evil One for feeding me those lies! I can't do anything to control my depression, aside from taking my meds, because there is a chemical imbalance in my body. That's not my fault and there's nothing I can do about how my brain functions. I can choose to take my medications and help make others aware of the condition and that help is so easily available! I can choose to love my Jesus and look for the positive in each day. I know that my walk with the Lord has grown deeper because of my acceptance of my depression and that the things the world wants to say about depressed people aren't true.

Mary Beth Chapman so openly discusses her life long battle with depression in her new book Choosing to See and she's doing a fabulous job opening up the topic for public discussion on her Women of Faith and Chapman Family Concert tours. I'm so grateful for this godly woman who passionately and deeply loves the Lord coming forward and taking away many of the misnomers about clinical depression.

Then, this week, someone else close to me has had to struggle greatly through the thick fog of a life long battle with depression. The doctors are working on figuring out, but I understand the helpless feeling that those darn chemicals produce and the helplessness that those on the outside feel. All one can do is pray the doctors know what is needed.

Folks, please open your arms to those you know who are walking this road. It's a result of the Fall that God did not intend for His Eden.