Christ offers hope for depression.
Unless I find Christ relevant to my depression, depression can quickly become all-consuming and destructive. Like a stealthy stalker, depression slowly consumes every ounce of my being. But Christ promises His life-giving sufficiency if I become desperately dependent on Him.
What do you mean by relevant?
If I am going to find Christ relevant to my depression, first, I have to understand what relevant means.
relevant: having significant and demonstrable bearing on the matter at hand; affording evidence tending to prove or disprove the matter at issue or under discussion.
Webster’s dictionary
I had to find Christ relevant to my depression.
This is how Amanda tells her story about finding Christ relevant to her depression.
God has taught me to be more dependent upon Him through a struggle I’m having with depression. I tried to find my love, joy, and peace in people. But it didn’t work. I felt disappointed. I tried to find it in my job. But it didn’t work. I felt dissatisfied. I even tried to find worth and value in how I looked. And again, it didn’t work. My good was not good enough. I have too many imperfections. The only way I could find my love, joy, and peace is through Christ and Christ alone. I had to find Christ relevant to my depression.
Depression almost destroyed me.
I’ve let this struggle with depression almost destroy me. Life the past five years has been somewhat miserable for me because I was trying to find my worth and value in things other than Christ. I spent many days lying in bed thinking, “How could God love someone like me” and thinking, “I have no purpose.” Thankfully, God has helped me to change my thoughts in so many ways, although it is an area where I’m still healing. I now know God loves me and that He has a purpose for me.
Christ was not relevant to my life.
I am a Kindergarten teacher and have been for five years. In the first few years of teaching, I didn’t think to pray for my students. I mostly focused on myself and what I could or couldn’t do. These years were not my best because I had my focus in the wrong place. Not having God in the center of my life caused me to turn inward, and because of this, I ended up depressed.
It’s only been recently that I’ve changed my perspective on my job and can now see why God has placed me in a classroom full of 5 & 6-year-olds. I’ve learned that I should take time to pray for my students and their families every day. I am here to make a difference in the children’s lives and want to share God’s love with them. Teaching my students their ABCs or to count to 100 is important, but not as important as them knowing God loves them.
I must be dependent on Christ.
In conclusion, my purpose is to be His servant and to be dependent upon Him in every area of my life. I just have to remind myself each day to keep my focus on God and off of myself. So I pray for God to give me the strength to make it through the day because I couldn’t get very far without Him. In short, I must find Christ relevant to my depression and every area of my life.
You can read more real-life stories on our Testimonials page.
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