The one where God was bigger than depression

First, let me start by sharing the disclaimer that this is the rawest piece I have yet to write.

I refuse to ignore the stigma surrounding anxiety, depression, and Christianity. Many would like to pretend there isn't one, but there is. This specific blog post may not be for everyone, and that's ok, but this is the blog I wish I would've read seven years ago and again, almost five years ago.

"Can God help with depression?" I was recently asked.

Those words and that question reverberate a sensation to my soul's core in a way that words cannot adequately display. Yet, how can I calmly answer that question when my heart beats in praise over the fullness of what God can do for such a topic?

I am a living testimony of the joy that God can restore. When He restores, He does so wholly and completely.

So let's get back to the question. "Can God help with depression?" The answer is yes. God can undoubtedly help with any battle of the mind. Absolutely and assuredly, yes.

My God is not a bandaid God. He doesn't partly mend a wound. He heals. Fully.

A mind battle is one of the heaviest conflicts one will fight, but you don't have to wage this war alone. You weren't created to fight on your own.

I have experienced two of those battles thus far in my life. The most wretched of mind battles I've experienced. The same battles that led me into a season of deep darkness.

Depression and anxiety, I've found, can be a taboo topic. A topic that awareness hasn't been shined upon in many Christians lives. I feel as though there are two reasons for that. One is that when people don't know what to say, they often choose to avoid the topic altogether. In my opinion, many may feel as though Christians just shouldn't experience either of those hardships.

Over time, I have learned firsthand that professing Christianity isn't a superpower. It doesn't signify that I am no longer a human with human emotions. However, it does mean that I don't have to process those emotions on my own.

I have done just that. I've tried to no avail to carry the weight of the heaviest emotions, and I believe it's safe to say someone who may read this post has done the same. So maybe you're carrying that same weight as you hear these very words reverberate through your mind.

During my darkest seasons, I have asked God, "Why?" more times than I care to admit. Many years later, I now have my answer. I don't know if I would've ever pursued my passion of writing if it hadn't been for those very seasons. If I'm honest, I've found that somewhere over the past three years since I began writing, I grew distracted. Distracted by the heavyweight of opinions. But I haven't been entrusted with this platform of ministry to carefully share the goodness of God but to loudly and boldly proclaim His unwavering faithfulness.

The grief I experienced following my hearts greatest loss brought me to a lonely place. I was surrounded by those I love the most, yet my heart felt betrayed by the God I had known to be good. My mind knew Him to be good, yet my heart couldn't seem to fathom a God who left it feeling anything but good.

That lonely place was a place of uncertainty. It was a quiet place. It was an uncomfortable silence where words were not sufficient to express the aching my soul experienced.

But Jesus doesn't need words. Tears are a language He is fluent in. He hears the echoes of the hearts faintest whisper.

Yet that twenty-fifth chapter of my life has become one of my greatest testimonies. I call it "The one where God was bigger than depression."

You were not created to live in a continual state of depression, sadness, anxiety, fear, doubt, or worry.

You were, however, created to possess joy. A lasting joy that only Jesus can offer the soul. The blood of Jesus Christ possesses the authority to speak peace to a weary mind. His peace is not based on social status, ethnicity, how much money you have in the bank, or your last name. It's simply there for the taking.

The enemy is continually at work to compromise our minds. But the power of Jesus Christ says no. That power says He is the giver of a sound mind.

Any terrible test can truly write the words on the tablet of your heart that will become your greatest testimony.

You do not have the power to overcome the lies of the enemy. You're not the giver of peace. You cannot think joy into existence. You cannot bring forth a permanent state of contentment on your own.

Only Jesus can.

I was raised on a church pew. I knew that God was a healer. "By His stripes, we are healed," I've heard my entire life, but did I believe it for myself? His healing doesn't have limitations on just the physical body.

By His stripes, we are healed mentally and emotionally.

We don't limit that He can save the sinner. We don't limit that He can deliver the alcoholic and the drug addict. We don't limit that God can restore that which appears hopeless to the natural eye. We know it, and we preach it. He can restore that which has been broken. But do we believe that the same God who is in the business of binding that which hinders the heart can also break the chains that weigh heavy on our minds?

He wasn't beaten, scorned, and died the humiliating death of a thief to just forgive. He also did it for our freedom.

It's time to let it go. It's time to lay aside the old robe you've worn for too long and be known by the new garment. He longs to lay over those heavy shoulders. Allow Him to replace the heaviness with healing.

Depression is big, but God is bigger.

I don't just tell a story about the joy restoring Jesus that I've heard of. I am telling my story of the joy restoring Jesus that I know.