Accepting depression as part of your life

OK a little bit of controversy here…In the last few years I have come to the conclusion that accepting the depression that I experience as a part of my life, actually helps me cope with it. For many years I fought against it. I asked God why? I just wanted to feel ‘normal’. Yes, I felt sorry for myself and wished that I could be like others who didn’t have this horrible burden. But now I know that it is a part of my life and will be until I die, unless God heals me. I have ACCEPTED depression as a part of my life. This way of thinking actually releases me to feel OK about it. Well perhaps Ok is too positive a description . . . but I feel a certain peace as I stop striving to work out what I’m doing wrong and continually feeling that my life SHOULD be different/better.

 

But how does this fit with Christianity and Biblical teaching? Surely we don’t just accept negative things in our life? Shouldn’t we be believing and praying that God will heal us, not to mention ‘claiming' that God will heal. Shouldn’t we be living a life full of joy so that non-believers can see us and see that we have something ‘different’ in our lives?

Well, these are thoughts that I, and many of you have had. And they are words spoken today by leaders in the church. So where does that leave those of us who struggle with depression and other mental health issues? Well, actually it leaves us in the same position as we would be if we have other illnesses. For example - diabetes, asthma or multiple sclerosis. If we had these diseases we would pray for healing, but in the meantime we would accept that we have them and take whatever steps are necessary to treat them, or to prevent a relapse.

Did you know that when Lazareth died Jesus said quite plainly that he was dead. (John 11:14) He was not afraid to tell it like it is. I mean the man was actually dead! Jesus saying that he was dead didn’t detract from His faith, or mean that he was being negative. This shows me that its OK to say that you are suffering from something. 

Now, unfortunately the stats say that if you have had more than one episode of clinical depression you have a high chance of experiencing it again – basically it can become a recurring illness that can also go into remission. So unless God actually heals you miraculously from it you need to always ensure that you do what you can to stop a reoccurrence, and really, to do this you need to accept that it is part of your life. And if doing this actually helps you, why don’t we feel OK about it?

Perhaps we think that if we accept it then we are giving Satan power. But I’m not talking about accepting it and then not doing anything about it. You can accept it while praying for healing and while doing things that help you to live your life with the illness and while also working towards recovery. In fact if you don’t accept it, often you are not in the position of then constructing your life so that you are doing your best to live with the diagnosis. I believe that we can accept our depression as part of our lives without it meaning that Satan has something over us. We don’t have an issue accepting a diagnosis of diabetes do we? We probably don’t have an issue with telling other people that we have it either. We can do all the right things (i.e. eat healthily, exercise, take meds) as well as pray that God will heal us. (Although, I think we in the western world often tend to just accept that we have certain illnesses as a part of life and sometimes don’t even pray for healing…but that’s a whole other post!)

So, what about being an example of Christ to non-Christians? Well, in my experience people are more influenced to see Christ in us when they see us going through difficulties, more than if we never have them, especially trials that are long term or chronic.

We accept when we have a cold or the flu and even that we will probably get it again in our lifetime. We may pray for a rapid recovery. But we accept that it is there and that we have to do certain things to manage our lives while we have the flu. Why is it not the same with depression?

I am accepting that in my case, because I have a genetic predisposition, I have a certain personality type, and I have experienced certain life events, that depression is an ongoing part of my life. And the more I fight it, the more I try to be someone I’m not, the worse it gets. I absolutely believe that God can heal me. In fact I actually believe that He has already healed me, but that I just don’t have the manifestation in this life (more on this in another post). So until that happens here’s a simple fact – depression is a part of my life and I need to make life adjustments to manage it. Like Paul I have prayed for healing and I accept the GIFT of this handicap, which in my case is depression."…so I wouldn’t get a big head, I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch with my limitations. Satan’s angel did his best to get me down; what he in fact did was push me to my knees. No danger then of walking around high and mighty! At first I didn’t think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it. Three times I did that, and then he told me, 'My grace is enough; it’s all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness.' ” (2 Cor. 12:7-9  Message Bible)

And finally, I remind myself constantly that, “…momentary…. affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison” (2 Cor.4:17).