Depression Hurts, Don't Hide
Abraham Lincoln, Georgia O'Keeffe, Buzz Aldrin, Woody Allen, Hans Christian Anderson, Halle Berry, Beyoncé, Jon Bon Jovi, Marlon Brando, Barbara Bush, Johnny Carson, Ray Charles, Winston Churchill, Eric Clapton, Louis C.K., Ellen Degeneres, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Bob Dylan, William Faulkner, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Harrison Ford, Ken Griffey Jr., Anne Hathaway, Ernest Hemingway, Audrey Hepburn, Billy Joel, Dwayne Johnson, Angelina Jolie, Soren Kierkegaard, Stephen King, Martin Luther, Lady Gaga, David Letterman, Michelangelo, Marilyn Monroe, Bill Murray, Isaac Newton, Conan O'Brien, Gwyneth Paltrow, Dolly Parton, Handel, Brad Pitt, J.K. Rowling, Frank Sinatra, Bruce Springsteen, Charles Spurgeon, James Taylor, Emma Thompson, Mark Twain, Robin Williams, Owen Wilson, Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon and C.S. Lewis.
What does this wild conglomeration of human beings have in common? They all struggle with depression.
If you’d allow me, I think I’d like to spend some time there for about the next four weeks. This is something that I also struggle with. I love this life. I love Jesus and I have a great relationship with Him and my family and friends, but there are times that I struggle deeply with depression.
Today, I want this to just be an introduction.
I don’t want to accomplish anything more than to tell you these words: “Don’t hide.”
If this is something you struggle with, especially during this time when the world seems to have the stuffings torn apart from it, don't hide! Don't presume that nobody wants to know because they do.
Those who love you can’t love you well until they know the issues to where they can meet a need.
Please give them that gift. Say, “I just want to tell you what's going on inside” or “I live with this” and they’ll get to stand with you, even though they can't solve you.
I would also say it feels like it's always going to be this way. That's the nature of it. I have that with my neuropathy. It'll flare up and I'll think, “Well, that's the way it's going to be and here we are, my life is ruined, and I'm going to go into a corner and just tough it out.”
The truth is that it’s a season for most of us. Some of us are biologically and chemically in a severe reality of depression. But for many or most of us, it’s something biological that we have a predisposition towards, that environmental issues can exacerbate.
I want to tell you,
There are beautiful, playful, rewarding, and fulfilling seasons ahead of you.
God is completely with you in the moment and He's not disappointed in you. He has all the time in the world for you and He can slow down to any speed and pace that you need. He won't let you miss the best life. You can settle in with no shame and enjoy Him even in these unsettling times.
I’m going to end with a few thoughts. God says, “You are as precious to Me as any living creature,” even in this time when you don't feel like it.
The best and greatest life is not the pristine, fully satiated, fixed, or neatly ordered life, but the real one.
It’s the life where God receives the glory as you trust Him and enjoy Him and others. It's the beauty and the rubble and this truth that gives me so much hope.
“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28 (NASB)
God refashions all of the evil on this planet, which hits every one of us, and actually employs it to move us to maturity and give us an even better life than if it had never happened.
