Just as everyone enjoys mountaintop experiences, everyone also goes through dark valleys. But take heart! Every dark valley does have its limits.
I’m Joni Eareckson Tada and every dark valley does have its limits.
Just as all of us enjoy mountaintop experiences, we also all go through valleys, don’t we – dark valleys? We go through emotional slumps where absolutely everything seems utterly bleak. And we wonder if the valley – that is, the grief or the sadness – we wonder if it will ever have an end. But it usually does. Dark valleys are typical for anyone. It’s one reason I am not alarmed when I go through valleys of sadness and discouragement. It’s to be expected. I mean, come on, after all, I live with a life-altering injury. It’s understandable that a person who has no use of her hands or her legs would occasionally feel the blues. People who struggle against cancer or MS or who go through a divorce or lose a loved one, it’s no surprise that they find themselves in dark valleys. But we can take comfort that these valleys have limits. Occasional seasons of bleakness and discouragement do have an end, and we do not need medication to buttress ourselves against the typical ups and downs of ordinary depression. Everyone goes through such seasons. In the course of life, we will all sink low, but we still have the capacity to climb up into the bright air of hope.
However, there is a kind of depression that is not ordinary or typical. Clinical depression – also called major depressive disorder – falls outside of the norm. People who suffer from this disorder are not able to wrench themselves from its clutches – the factors that create this kind of depression are highly complex and deep inside the brain, hidden from view. Clinical depression is not typical sadness. It is a multifaceted and often hard to diagnose problem. People who suffer from clinical depression desperately need prayer, and they need Christian love, and professional help.
My friend Eva Marie knows this. Depression is something that runs in her family. She knows this and so she has learned to be very alert to her shifts in mood. Eva Marie is a woman who loves Scripture, prays regularly, has led Bible studies, and is devoted to Jesus; nevertheless, she experiences long seasons of deep depression and for her, it is a fight to maintain mental clarity. Now, for a time, Eva Marie wondered if it were right to take medication, but she knew that God has gifted us with medical science as a means of common kindness. And in the right circumstances, when carefully combined with counseling and spiritual disciplines, medication can ease people like Eva Marie back into the daylight. But she does not rely on medication exclusively. She’s wise enough to know that no pill is ever able to sponge away the darkness in her heart, and so she combines her treatment with accountability partners who speak biblical truth into her life; Christian friends who pray for her on a regular basis and keep her connected to reality.
My friend John Piper speaks frankly about major depressive disorder in his book When the Darkness Will Not Lift. He shares the stories of valiant saints like Charles Spurgeon, Thomas Cowper, Dr. Martyn Lloyd Jones, all who suffered from deep depression. He also describes the differences between typical depression which is common to us all and clinical depression which requires professional help. I’d like to give you a free copy of Piper’s book When the Darkness Will Not Lift. We have limited supplies, so be sure to ask for your copy today at joniradio.org. Reach out for your gift at joniradio.org.
© Joni and Friends