God’s promises invite you to choose faith over fear.
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Navigating Depression: Hope for Heavy Hearts – This humble booklet is by no means a comprehensive study of depression; rather, it is a collection of reflections and lessons that Joni has learned in her long battle against the thick fog of dark emotions. It’s her hope that the following insights will help equip you to be more than a conqueror in your fight to find emotional and mental health.
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SHAUNA: Welcome to Joni Eareackson Tada: Sharing Hope. Joni is quick to remind us that when you’re depressed, your feelings are trying to tell you something.
JONI: Your emotions have a lot to say about who you really are. It’s the way God wired us. Fear, anger, anticipation, dread, and yeah, even depression. All these emotions are provoked by some issue in your life, and your feelings are your response to that circumstance, as well as your interpretation of it. In other words, fear and anger, dread and depression reveal who you are and where you need to change. Like, to get an unexpected bill, it can provoke financial panic in almost anyone. But if you obsess about it and fall into a tailspin; if you are chronically fearful about your financial future, then that level of fear reveals where you have your trust. And it is in yourself rather than in God.
This happens to me all the time. I live in a wheelchair and I need help, and if a regular caregiver decides to move, or go back to college, or gets married and leaves for another city, well, I can feel it – my chest gets a little tight, my mind becomes a bit anxious, and I know, I can tell that fear is on the rise. And when that fear starts to encroach, I know depression isn’t far behind. Now, for a long time, I allowed fear to have sway, and it’d be an open door to depression. But then I learned that – wait a minute; wait. This fear is teaching me something about myself that I need to know. I’m not trusting God. I’m not believing his Word. I’m not sure He’ll provide for me a new caregiver. And because I don’t believe or trust, fear’s taking over, and I can’t let that happen. I’ve got to start taking God’s promises seriously; I mean, like really believing them, and acting on them, and taking them to heart!
The fact is, God allows unnerving, unsettling, unpleasant circumstances in order to reveal to us who we really are. Moses said this very thing to the Hebrews when they were wandering in the desert. He taught that through their many difficulties, God was testing them and it says: “In order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you’d keep His commands.” Well, it was true back in the time of Deuteronomy; it sure is true today. When God’s people were wandering in the desert, discontent and angry and fearful, they were saying more about themselves than they were about the desert.
And friend, when you and I allow fear or anxiety, anger, or dread to open the door to depression, we’re discovering who we are, how weak we are, and how weak-willed we are. It’s such hard work to say no to depression and yes to the promises of God; it takes courage, it takes faith to say no to fear and yes to the power of God and His grace. So, please, today do the hard work of trusting the Lord, of believing in God, of facing who you are and saying, “You know, I don’t want to be this way; I want to change. I don’t want to be like this. I want to get up and out of depression and I want to start choosing God.”
SHAUNA: To help you in that battle – and it is a battle – we want to give you Joni’s booklet called Navigating Depression. Just go to joniradio.org and ask for this free gift. It’s filled with powerful insights and life-changing scriptures; it’s a step-by-step guide to help you deal effectively with depression. It helped Joni, it helped me, and I know it will help you. So, today during this Depression Awareness Month, go to joniradio.org and take the first step toward all the joy in the Lord that is yours in Jesus Christ. God bless you on your journey, friend, and thanks for listening!
© Joni and Friends