From the Book Shelf ~ Depression: Looking Up from the Stubborn Darkness

Recommending a book to you today that I read in the past that was a great benefit to me as I was going through a time of struggle. It has recently been updated with more current and relevant examples and retitled just a bit. It was required reading in a class I just completed on depression and anxiety, and it was good to read through and absorb once again, to refresh my mind and heart.

Ed Welch knows depression, and his winsome way of walking us through it, either for ourselves or for understanding someone we love, is rich in the grace of the gospel. The outstanding takeaway for me was that we need to consider the reality of God, because it is at the intersection of one's belief and daily life that responses to trials meet. An understanding of Jesus' compassion, of God's attention to needs, and of His goodness are all essential. Welch builds upon these foundational truths to help those who suffer in this way to look up from the stubborn darkness of depression.

Welch explains the scope of depression and gives direction to those who are caught in its despair, as well as direction to those who want to help them find a way out. He presses the point throughout the book that how one thinks about God is the key issue from moving from hopelessness to hopefulness.

Ed Welch is a licensed psychologist and biblical counselor for Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation (CCEF). To watch a brief youtube video clip of Welch discussing depression, you can click here.

This I Recall

I finished a class paper today on a case study. Part of the assignment had to do with specific truths to share so as to give hope when we are downcast.

I recall several years ago when I was going through a grievous situation and felt pretty hopeless about it, that I had made a list of passages that gave me tremendous hope as I meditated on them. I'm glad for the course assignment that I just finished, and will keep it at-the-ready for easy reference when such a time arises again. I don't think I'm finished with occasionally feeling hopeless and helpless, and probably won't be this side of heaven, but I know where my hope lies and His grace is sufficient. 

I share a few of these verses and thoughts with you today, with a prayer that you may find them breathing fresh hope into your own soul...if you are now where I sometimes am.....

I wait for the Lord, my soul does wait, and in His word do I hope (Psalm 130:5). I framed this verse and kept it where I could see it daily. I found that I was waiting and hoping for the wrong thing--for my wish to come true. The less probable that became, the more hopeless I became. As I began to be in the Word more, my affection began to grow for God and His ways. My hope turned to His grace working in my life, to be filled with gratitude for His sufficiency. My situation wasn't changing, but my heart was.

... Jesus Christ, who is our hope (1 Timothy 1:1). Without Jesus, we have no hope. 

Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 1:13). I found that being in the Word daily prepared my mind to resist the temptation to dwell on what I did not have and wanted so badly. As I look back on it now, what I wanted would not have satisfied. Instead, God gave me a severe mercy and fixed my hope on His grace.

I will exalt you Lord, for you have lifted me out of the depths. (Psalms 30-34) These are recently fresh psalms to me that we've been studying in our women's Bible study group. They have increased my understanding of the character of God and continue to build my confidence and trust in Him.

.. through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly (Romans 5:2-3). Oh, what amazing grace! We exult in hope of the glory of God! Hope doesn't lie in our feelings, but rather, in what God does in and through the tribulations we face. Perseverance in working through life's difficulties build character, increasing hope as we move forward with God's enablement. And so we....

Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing (James 1:2-4). Our various trials test our faith and produce many beneficial results, when our focus is changed from we lack to what we have gained. 

This I recall to my mind,

Therefore I have hope.

The Lord's lovingkindnesses indeed never cease,

For His compassions never fail.

They are new every morning;

Great is Your faithfulness.

"The Lord is my portion," says my soul,

"Therefore I have hope in Him."

The Lord is good to those who wait for Him,

To the person who seeks Him.

It is good that he waits silently

For the salvation of the Lord.

Lamentations 3:21-26

Therefore, you too, have hope, dear one. If our paths do not cross this side of heaven, may we meet when we get there and rejoice together in the hope we have found in Him. If you aren't sure that you'll be going there, you can learn how to go at ReviveOurHearts.com. I do hope you're going.

Image ~ The Letter, Haynes King 1831-1904 

public domain via Wikigallery

That Feeling of Isolation

In an online class on depression that I'm taking, the professor referred to a statement from Ed Welch’s book, Looking Up from the Stubborn Darkness, concerning the increase of clinical depression. Welch identifies our current culture and its influence as a major role player and cites the lack of community that feeds the feeling of isolation so prevalent in depression. The feeling that no one cares brings a sense of aloneness, helplessness, and hopelessness that anything can or will change. 

It is my observation that in our culture families tend to drift apart, by miles from sea to shining sea, but also by the demands of life and a perceived lack of need for one another. Questions that were once asked of family, neighbors, or friends are now answered by the click of a mouse. The lack of connections is keenly felt because God put within us a need for community. It takes diligence to pursue that community, however, and the pressures of the culture leave little time or space for its pursuit. Autonomy, that prideful hedge of self-protection, plays a part that is often overlooked and mistaken for strength. It separates more than it strengthens.

It seems so paradoxical, that with the proliferation of social media, that the feeling of isolation is so prevalent. Social media is an illusion to real relationship, and unless we are keenly aware of its opiate effect, more and more will succumb to its desensitization of one another. We tend to hide our real selves behind the screen, and it takes real effort to actually hear one another’s voice and look into one another’s eyes to see the hopes and dreams…or lack thereof.

I am encouraged, however, by current attempts of churches like ours that provide small group opportunities for relationship building. It still takes effort to participate, but it offers a bridge from one person to another and helps to create that feeling of community so needed to combat the aloneness that is often felt. They are occasions when we can connect and look into one another's eyes and hear one another's voice. And, hopefully, hear each other's heart.

Image ~ Ruth Eastman Johnson 1824-1906

public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Hope in Our Hearts

I called a friend to see if she might want to get together sometime this week, out into the beautiful sunshine that we're expecting. "No, I'm really not interested in...." I've been trying to reach out to her, but mostly been put off because of her lack of interest. She sees very few people and seldom goes out of her home. If I didn't realize that she is lonely and in need of friendship and has serious bouts of hopelessness, she'd be so easy to give up on. But that isn't God's kind of love, so I'll wait awhile and try another door.

I know how hopelessness feels. I was there once myself. That and God's love is what compels me to reach out to her and to comfort her with the comfort that I received. I know the importance of God's touch through a human hand. But I fear that perhaps my sequestered friend has been medicated to the point of not feeling much at all beyond herself. It has dulled her senses and awareness. There needs to be some penetration through the barrier that secludes her from reality and the joys of living, to awaken her from her numbness and to help her see that God, in his rich mercy, can rescue her from hopelessness and fill her with joy and peace.

And give her hope in her heart.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, 

so that you may overfow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 15:13

J.I. Packer writes in Knowing God--

I have been a believer for more than half a century, but only recently have I appreciated how pastorally profound Paul's prayer was--and is. While there is life, there's hope we say, but the deeper truth is that only while there's hope is there life. Take away hope, and life, with all its fascinating variety of opportunities and experiences, reduces to mere existence--uninteresting, ungratifying, bleak, drab and repellent, a burden and a pain.

People without hope often express their sense of reality and their feelings about themselves by saying they wish they were dead, and sometimes they make attempts on their own life. But hope generates energy, enthusiasm and excitement; lack of hope breeds only apathy and inertia. So for fully developed (as distinct from partly diminished) humanness, there needs to be hope in our hearts.