Caring for Christians Struggling with Depression

This article was originally featured on the Gresham Bible Church blog in October 2014.

Following the tragic suicide of Robin Williams back in August, the usually taboo topics of depression and suicide suddenly became fodder for the best and worst of Internet commentary. Many contemplated the answer to a question that haunts all whose lives are touched by depression and suicide: “How did this happen?”

Some considered Williams a victim of the disease of depression: a tragic casualty in the battle against mental illness. 

Others, including one infamous Christian blogger, ultimately attributed the comedian’s demise to a bad decision. Many commenters even went so far as to suggest that depression (and ultimately, suicide) is just a symptom of unconfessed sin, an ailing spiritual life, and a lack of faith. 

For a few of us, the “how” wasn’t even a question. We didn’t need to wonder, because we already knew. We know what it’s like to feel so hopeless that the thought of living has lost its appeal. Although the graceless speculations of a vocal minority may indicate otherwise, Christians are not immune to the bog of depression, and being depressed doesn’t make you a “bad” Christian.

Christians who grapple with depression are in good company with some big names from the Bible, including Job, Elijah, Jonah, Solomon, and David. Every one of these men grappled with hopelessness, and a few even to the point of suicidal thoughts:

Now, LORD, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.
Jonah 4:3

Contemporary examples of Christian leaders fighting against depression abound as well, such as: Mother Teresa, Charles Spurgeon, C.S. Lewis, and John Piper, among others. 

Piper in particular has written on the subject of depression many times. In his book When the Darkness Will Not Lift, he establishes that depression may develop due to a variety of considerations, including: “sin,… Satanic assault,… distressing circumstances, or … hereditary or other physical causes.”  Sin is just one of several factors that may cause or worsen depression.

Although a guilty conscience struggling under the weight of unconfessed sin may become trapped under the weight of depression, sin is not the absolute cause of all depression, and depression itself is not necessarily sin. As Piper says in his book Future Grace, “The first shock waves of the bomb are not sin. The real danger is yielding to them. Giving in. Putting up no spiritual fight. And the root of that surrender is unbelief — a failure to fight for faith in future grace. A failure to cherish all that God promises to be for us in Jesus.” While depression itself is not sin, it does leave us woefully vulnerable to it. 

For the Christian, depression is a systematic attack by Satan that exploits the believer’s weaknesses and takes their focus off Christ and puts it onto a warped interpretation of their circumstances. During my own battles with depression, I have struggled to decipher truth from fiction. My mind has been filled with hateful thoughts that I could not fend off: You’re a failure. No one wants to be around you. You’re a disappointment to everyone. No one cares what happens to you. Why do you even bother anymore? 

Thoughts like these are straight from the pit of Hell. They are Satan’s attacks. God’s Word warns us to be wary of his deceitfulness:

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
1 Peter 5:8

He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
John 8:44

When we know that a fellow Christian is becoming overwhelmed by Satan’s lies, it’s not our job to speculate about why that person has succumbed. Instead, it is our job to take a stand with our struggling brothers and sisters in Christ and help fend off the lion; we must help protect God’s family from all attacks.

So, what are the weapons that we have to fight this battle?

Fellowship: Depression festers in isolation. People who are depressed will naturally withdraw from those around them because of shame or fear. If you know or suspect that someone you care about is depressed, reach out to them and be near to them. Whether that means offering a sympathetic ear, or merely sitting in silence, God can use your presence to provide comfort in a trying time.

The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.
Psalm 34:18

Prayer: A depressed Christian may feel so discouraged that they aren’t able to pray for themselves. They may feel that God doesn’t want to hear from them, or that their prayers won’t make a difference. Your prayers can help guard them when they are unable to ask for protection for themselves. Pray for this person independently and with them when you spend time together. For many people, just knowing that someone cares enough to pray with them and for them will be a strong encouragement. 

Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.
James 5:16

Truth: As it was in my case, depressed individuals may have a difficult time distinguishing truths from Satan’s lies. Take every opportunity you can to encourage them with God’s Word. Shower them with God’s promises, even if they are unable to fully appreciate them at the time. Be lovingly persistent, and continue to be faithful in prayer.

Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.
John 17:17

By responding to depressed believers with fellowship, prayer, and God’s Word, we can help them to embrace the freedom that has been granted to them in Christ: 

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
Romans 8:1-2

In the future, should you encounter a fellow believer bogged down by depression, I hope that your first question won’t be, “How did this happen?” Instead, ask this: 

“How do I help?’

Related Reading:

“4 Myths Christians Need to Stop Believing About Depression” By Debra K Fileta of Relevant Magazine
“Robin Williams’ Death an Opportunity to Look at Depression in the Scriptures” by Matt Lawrenz of Bible Gateway

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Respond

Have you or someone you care about ever suffered from depression? What was helpful and encouraging in that time?

Choosing Gratitude When You Feel Like Grumbling

This article was originally featured on the Gresham Bible Church blog in May 2015.
 

I feel like I’ve lived the great majority of my life in a prison of my own making. Even after becoming a Christian, moments of true freedom may be interspersed among days and weeks being held captive by my own fear and anxiety.

Will I ever get married?

Will I ever find a job?

Will we ever be able to have kids?

Will I ever feel healthy?

Will we ever be able to afford adoption?

The questions change, but the underlying fear stays the same: Is God taking care of me, really?

Sometimes my fear snowballs into frustration, grumbling, and even anger. When my circumstances don’t match my expectations I feel that I’ve been wronged. I believe that life owes me something, or maybe even that God does.

At times, such thoughts have brought me to the end of myself, and to the brink of desperation. I begin to feel hopeless. Prayer feels pointless when God doesn’t seem to be answering.

It was at one of these low points in my life, when I felt that God had turned his back on me, that He used a dear friend of mine and an excellent book to change my perspective forever.

Last April, my best friend gave me Ann Voskamp’s book One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are as a gift for my birthday. I was excited to dive into it, but my long reading list (#Englishteacherproblems) meant I didn’t start it for a few months. It was perfect timing.

I was at low point; a deep hopelessness had settled over me as I realized that after two years of unsuccessfully attempting to get pregnant, my husband and I were no nearer to becoming parents than we had been when we first started trying. This was even after pursuing costly fertility treatments with zero results.

Reading Voskamp’s book opened my eyes to the ways that discontentment, anxiety, fear, and anger rob me of the joy that God wants to graciously lavish on me. These feelings will lead me down the dark path, and eventually, into sin. The solution? Voskamp calls it eucharisteo: thanksgiving.  She writes,  “…life change comes when we receive life with thanks and ask for nothing to change.” The solution to my problems has never been a change in my circumstances, but a change in my attitude. My life is transformed when I alter the way I think (Romans 12:2), by approaching life with gratitude instead of dissatisfaction.

In fact, Voskamp compellingly concludes that the simple act of counting our blessings (yes, even writing them down) opens us up to satisfaction in God. In good times, this is simple and natural. When things get rough, when the nursery is as empty as my wounded heart, God is still deserving of my praise. Even when my circumstances don’t change and gratitude is hard, God calls me to give thanks: “While I may not always feel joy, God asks me to give thanks in all things, because He knows that the feeling of joy begins in the action of thanksgiving” (Voskamp).

When I choose to demand my own way by stubbornly clinging to my prior expectations, I am choosing to live without joy. Voskamp puts it this way: “The demanding of my own will is the singular force that smothers out joy—nothing else”. True joy and satisfaction didn’t come from getting married or finding a great job, and it won’t come from finally becoming a mom. The only thing that can fully satisfy me is doing what I was created to do: bringing glory to God through a constant attitude of gratitude, because “Our endless desires are fulfilled in endless God” (Voskamp).

Reading One Thousand Gifts helped to pull me out of a dark time. It revealed a huge area of weakness in my life, not with shame or condemnation, but with hope and encouragement to live a richer, fuller life going forward. I’m not perfectly walking the path of gratitude, but I hope that my story can be an encouragement to others to join me in abandoning our self-made prisons and choosing gratitude.

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Respond

How have your prior expectations robbed you of your present joy? Gratitude helps me fight that temptation. What about you?

Choosing Words that Heal

There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.
Proverbs 12:18

Words that Hurt

As most of you are probably aware, our decision to adopt at this time in our lives was partly prompted by fertility problems. Although adoption has been a part of our vision for our family since we were dating, our initial plan to have biological children before adopting wasn't feasible. That became apparent not long after we began trying to get pregnant back in September 2012. 

Infertility is heartbreaking in a lot of ways, but none more so than in the ways that the careless words of others can pierce the heart. The little comments, questions, and jokes are always innocent enough: 

"You should think about giving your parents some grandchildren to enjoy."
"When are you guys going to have kids?"
"There must be something in the water at this church: the women are always getting pregnant!"

So many people said things like this to us, not realizing that we were having trouble conceiving. There was no way for them to realize the hurtful impact of their words: the grief they were piling onto my aching heart. It's already hard watching our friends become parents (or continue adding to their families) without us, but the pain is magnified by poorly chosen words from others.  This is why infertility awareness is so important.

1 in 8 couples (or 12% of married women) have trouble getting pregnant or sustaining a pregnancy, and most of them choose to keep their struggles private. That means that you probably know several couples who have infertility, or have dealt with it in the past, even if they've never told you about it. You probably also have friends who've lost pregnancies who may be similarly sensitive to the subject. You could easily make an "innocent" comments, deeply wounding someone without realizing it. 

Even though we've chosen adoption, the subject of pregnancy is still very difficult for us.

The responses we’ve received about our plans to adopt have been overwhelmingly positive, and that’s been very encouraging to us. Sadly, some people inadvertently open up old wounds with their words, particularly with a certain comment we hear frequently:

“As soon as you adopt, you’ll get pregnant.”

Honestly, when I hear this, I try really hard to take it the way it was intended. I think they’re trying to say that they’re happy for us, and that they share in our excitement over adding children to our family. Whether we adopt again later or are able to have biological children, we will rejoice in seeing our family grow. Do I want to be able to get pregnant? Absolutely. Have I totally given up hope that I ever will? Not at all.

Still, there’s another side to that statement: a side that, intentionally or not, is hurtful, because it perpetuates negative perceptions of adoption and infertility.

It Suggests That Adoption is a Means to an End

Adopted children are not fertility charms. We are not adopting to become pregnant; we are adopting to become parents. Even if we wanted it to work that way, there isn’t any scientific evidence to suggest that adoption increases pregnancy rates at all. For couples experiencing infertility,the “spontaneous cure rate” (getting pregnant without further treatment) is only about 5%. Every case of infertility is different, and there’s still a possibility that we could get pregnant later, but adopting will not impact our fertility one way or the other.

Certainly we would be thrilled if we became pregnant, but we aren’t counting on it. You’re welcome to pray for that kind of miracle! If it’s God’s will, it will happen.

It Suggests That Infertility is an Attitude Problem, Not a Biological One

This is a mindset that’s been hurtful to us since we started having trouble conceiving. Often, when we chose to confide in  people about our infertility, their response would be something along the lines of:

“Just relax! It’ll happen!”

I think this is supposed to be reassuring, but for someone struggling with all of the stress and heartbreak of infertility, it often feels like an accusation: “Your anxious mindset is preventing you from becoming pregnant. It's all your fault.”

What was meant to be encouraging feels more like rubbing salt in a wound.

We are thrilled to be adopting, but that doesn’t mean the pain of infertility is gone. It is still a very real part of our lives. Every time our friends announce their pregnancies, or post pictures of their babies, there is a part of me that aches for the dreams we had for our family. The reality is, we may never have biological children. God is reshaping our dream for our family, and it will be better and more beautiful than the dreams we had for ourselves, regardless of whether we have biological children or not.

It Suggests That Adoption is Second Best

Adoption is not just a “Plan B” for us, or some kind of “consolation prize.” It may be happening sooner than we expected, but we are not at all disappointed to be adopting. In fact, the choice to move from fertility treatments to pursuing adoption was a joyful one to make. Feel free to share in our joy!

Words that Heal

I realize that no one intentionally tries to hurt us with their words, and I would hate to pile a bunch of guilt on to anyone who inadvertently made such comments to us. My hope is simply to share our experiences and raise awareness so that others will be more thoughtful about their conversations with us and anyone who might be struggling to conceive.

I can't speak for couples facing secondary infertility (infertility after having one or more previous successful pregnancies) but I do have one one suggestion that may help you navigate this subject with couples who don't have children and may be dealing with fertility issues: tell them they will make great parents.

This is a thoughtful compliment and a gentle way to broach the subject without being intrusive or insensitive. The listener has the option to respond with a simple "thank you", or to delve further as they feel comfortable. It's also very reassuring. I can't tell you how many times I've wondered whether our troubles conceiving are a sign that we aren't meant to be parents because we'd be bad at it, and I believe other infertile couples may feel this way as well. A sincere encouragement in this area is always welcome.