Christianity and Depression: Part One

I'm a Christian and I suffer major bouts of depression.

Yes, you read that right. 

But how? Why? Haha, I wish I knew why. My husband wishes he knew. He'd like to just fix it and move on. He's an engineer. So he's a fixer as our oldest loves to call him. But depression, like happiness, is only on the person it affects to actually 'fix' or at least mine is. 

It's all in how you react to what life throws at you. And I continually say that I've lived a very privileged life so far. But I've dealt in the past with many issues others do. Flat broke? check. Abusive relationship? check. PTSD? Check. Childhood trauma? Definitely check. I could probably go on. The thing is, I probably have every excuse in the book to allow my depression to define me. And in this day and age, not many would fault me for it. 

But there's one thing I have on my side. One thing. Love. Even at my deepest, darkest time, I knew I was loved. Maybe not by the people that should have. But I knew God did. And there's no way to say that without sounding cliche. But if you've had a deep, true relationship with Jesus, you know it isn't cliche. It's deep, and it's divine.

But I haven't always felt that way. Even though I grew up in the Church, I never memorized scriptures. Sure I knew the stories of the Bible, but never the true scriptures behind them. Recently, I memorized my very first scripture. It was a big milestone, but I felt almost foolish to share this fact. Two main reasons kept me from sharing, at least what my own mind kept telling me. A. my non Christian friends wouldn't really understand how big of a deal this is. and B. my Christian friends would not understand why I hadn't done this years ago. 

But it is a big deal. Even more so that the verse I kept coming back to was this one: "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:34 NIT This is a major scripture verse for a control gal like myself to understand. God has this. He has me! And He has your life too. 

I want you to join me over the next few weeks as I blog about different tips and tricks I've picked up in dealing and coping with depression. So bust out that Serenity and Lavender, and stay tuned. And please, if you are struggling with depression or know someone who is, please contact a professional therapist to help. I've been to my share of them and know when you find a good one, amazing and life changing things will happen in your life. Don't be afraid of them. Know you are loved. And God is most certainly on your side.