Victory In Depression

Depression is a very serious illness that unfortunately is also rather common. While it is true that everyone will occasionally get a case of the blues, depression is much deeper then that. According to the National Institute of Mental Health,  depression "interferes with daily life and causes pain for both you and those who care about you. The reason why I'm telling you all this is because I have a burden for people who suffer with depression. I have several friends who I dearly love that suffer with this very illness. A friend once described it to me as "it's like any other disease, but it's your brain that is sick." Recently God has put me into contact with some precious people that I had no idea suffer with depression.

A few weeks ago Sheila had asked me to take a church member with me to one of my Bible studies. When I approached this church member she wasn't very hesitant. I could see sadness in her eyes but I really had no idea what was going on. She's very active in ministry and helps out with several but she was explaining to me that she was just really tired and didn't know if she had it in her to come with me. I didn't know what was going on then but had a feeling there was something deeper that was going on. Instead of asking her to come with me to a study I offered to come over to cook her dinner and we could study together. I told her sometimes in ministry we give so much of ourselves but we forget that we need to be "fed" too.

The following Sunday evening I went to her house. I made her some sort of asian dish and spent some time just talking and eating. It was then that she opened up to me and told me about her past and I began to understand that her not wanting to come with me to a study was a lot deeper. That's when she opened up to me that she struggles with depression and this was the most severe that she's ever had it. I immediately started praying in my head because honestly I had no idea what I should do. Even though I didn't know what to do in that moment, I knew God did.

A thought popped into my mind, "the first thing you need to help her with, is you need her to teach her how to have a relationship with Me."

I then asked her, "do you get a chance to study your Bible?"

She responded, "I do but I don't feel like it's been doing anything for me. I have things that I do every day but I don't feel like I'm really getting anything from it."

In my mind I completely understood what she was talking about. I had been raised in a Christian home my entire life, but I felt the same way just a few years ago. So I said, "you know someone actually needed to teach me how to have a relationship with God, and if that's okay with you, I would like to offer to do the same with you."

She agreed. I realized how important it is to spend time with God in the morning and I wanted to help her to make that a habit. From that day on I drove to her house every morning at 7:30 and I began to teach her simply how to do devotions. The last time I taught someone how to do devotions, God showed me I needed to take them through this powerful book called Steps to Christ. So I did the same with her. All I did was simply pick out all the Bible verses used in each chapter and we would study one verse at a time.

One day we were reading a verse in the book of Jonah. I was teaching her different methods of studying and that day I was teaching her to read the context around the verse to give her more understanding. It happened to be the chapter where Jonah was very sad and rather upset at God. He was even asking God to take his life. As we read it together, thoughts started popping into my mind, "you need to ask her questions to help her realize that Jonah is suffering with depression."

I asked, "what do you think is going on with Jonah in this chapter?"

She responded, "I think Jonah has an anger problem."

"I does seem like that, but I think there's something deeper going on." I replied. "From what Jonah is saying, what do you think is really going on with him?"

She looked back at the verse and it clicked, "Jonah is depressed!"

"I think you're right." I answered.

She then said, "but the problem is we don't ever see a resolution for Jonah in this chapter."

"You're absolutely right, so let's go to a place in the Bible where someone else is depressed but we see a solution." I honestly couldn't believe those words came out of my mouth. In my mind I was saying, "Lord where are you taking me with this? I've never studied this before." My hands started to flip back to 1 Kings 19. I remembered a speech my friend Taja gave in speech class last year about depression and the name Elijah came into my mind. I seriously didn't know where that story was but I knew it had to be somewhere in the Old Testament and guessed it was probably in one of the Kings.

Elijah was one of God's prophets in Israel at a very key time. The king of Israel at that time, Ahab, had married a heathen woman named Jezebel, and because of her idol worshiping practices, the nation also fell into idol worship. In the previous chapter you see how God used Elijah in a mighty way to prove to the entire nation that Baal was a false god, and who the true God is. In this mighty victory for God through Elijah, all of the prophets of Baal were killed and this made Jezebel furious towards Elijah. When Jezebel threatens Elijah's life, he decides to run away. He runs off to the wilderness and that is where this study really began.

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Like Jonah, Elijah is also asking God to take his life and then we see him asleep under a tree. Suddenly an angel comes to him and tells him to wake up and to eat and drink, so Elijah does. The angel comes back to Elijah a second time and feeds him again. This is clearly food from God since it's an angel that is feeding him and also because that food strengthens him for 40 days and 40 nights. What the angel said also stood out to me, the angel says, "arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you." God then asks Elijah, "what are you doing here, Elijah?" To me it almost seemed like God was saying, "what's going on Elijah, why are you here?" Elijah is then completely honest with God and explains everything that is on his mind. Elijah doesn't really use a filter either, but complete pure honesty.

The next scene we see is Elijah in a cave and some crazy things happen to him. God asks Elijah "go out, and stand on the mountain before the Lord." First there was a strong wing that tore into the mountain and broke the rocks in pieces, yet the Lord was not in the wind. Then there was an earthquake, but the Lord wasn't in the earthquake either. After the earthquake there was a fire, yet again the Lord wasn't in the fire. But after showing Elijah all of these great and mighty things, He finally decides to reveal himself in a still small voice. He asks the same question He asked earlier, "what are you doing here, Elijah?" Elijah's answer doesn't change at all, instead Elijah gives God the same honest answer. This time God basically tells Elijah, I just want you to know that even though you feel alone, I want you to know you're not alone. God then gives Elijah further instruction. God then tells Elijah to go help and train others, such as Elisha, the next prophet that would take Elijah's place.

As we read through the study, light bulbs started going off in my mind and I began to share this:

1. From what my friends told me in the past about depression, suicidal thoughts and tiredness are both symptoms of depression, so it really seems as if Elijah is depressed. So first we need to acknowledge that someone is struggling with having a low point in their life whether its actually depression or being extremely down. 
2. Next we see the angel feeding Elijah, in the same way we need to be fed by God spiritually.
3. Being fed spiritually isn't something that you can just do once, but it needs to be done consistently, and if you need someone else to help you with it, like that angel needed to feed Elijah, that's okay. 
4. The reason why God wants to feed us is because He knows there is a great journey ahead that is too great for us to do alone. Ultimately He has something great planned, but we need His help.
5. The next step is to communicate with God. He simply wants to ask "how are you doing?"
6. That's when it's your turn to answer and be completely honest with Him. Tell Him everything that is on your mind.
7. While you're taking the steps to have a relationship with Him, that's when He really wants to start revealing His true character to you. Yes, He is a mighty and powerful God, and He could have easily revealed Himself in the wind, earthquake or fire, but He didn't. Instead He chose to reveal Himself as a still small voice that wants to see how you are doing.
8. God will constantly check up on you and see how you're doing, and it's okay to still be completely honest. In fact Elijah used the same exact words. It made me think that it doesn't matter how many times we pray for the same things over and over again, God still takes the time to listen. 
9. After we're completely honest with God, He cares enough to let you know that even though you feel alone, you're not. 
10. The last step is to go and help others. It made sense because in this context it seems like it accomplishes at least two goals. One it helps to further the cause of God by reaching out to others, and second it helps that person not to focus on themselves but to care and focus on the interests of others. 

As we finished the study, the church member and I were both mind blown. When we closed with prayer she said something that touched my heart. She said, "Lord, thank you for sending me an angel, Janelle, to spiritually feed me."

I continued to go to her house everyday for two weeks and each day I went over I saw her becoming happier slowly but surely. The Revelation seminar was coming up at our church and Melina had asked her if she could help out in making sure the guests felt welcome. She was scared to do it at first, but the more we studied together the more confident she felt in helping.

I've literally seen a complete transformation from being sad and depressed to happy and social. The other night she came up to me at the end of the series and told me "I just wanted you to know that that time was the lowest I have ever felt but you studying with me every day has given me victory in depression. I'm cured."

He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.

Psalm 147:3