“Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee,
God of glory, Lord of love,
Hearts unfold like flow’rs before Thee,
Op’ning to the sun above,
Melt the clouds of sin and sadness;
Drive the dark of doubt away;
Giver of immortal gladness,
Fill us with the light of day!”
As Christians, it’s kind of pounded into our heads that we should always be full of joy. So much so, that sometimes we may feel a little (or a lot) guilty for feeling anything but joyful. It feels like it would be an insult to God if we ever feel depressed or anxious when He has done so much for us, right? Christian mental health is overlooked often because, as the famous hymn declares, God is the giver of immortal gladness. Melt the clouds of sin and sadness? Wait, is being sad a sin? If that’s the case, maybe we should just pretend that our mental health issues don’t exist. They’ll go away on their own and we’ll be good Christians again. Fake it till you make it, right?
No way.
I’m a Christian woman. I’m a Christian woman that’s mentally ill. That’s okay. Christians have the same brain chemistry as non-Christians. Sometimes our brains get sick and that’s not our fault. We, as Christians, should feel okay admitting that we’re not okay if we’re not. As someone that pretended that her mental illness didn’t exist for a long time, I can promise you, the more you try to hide it, the more power it’s going to have over you.
But, but, just read the Bible! It will solve all your Christian mental health issues!
Someone once told me that simply reading the Bible should ease anxiety and depression. While it’s true that there are a whole lot of incredibly comforting verses in there. For example, Phillipians 4.6 says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” That verse is a very nice reminder that you can come to God with anything. But would it bring you enough comfort when you’re in the middle of a panic attack?
Please don’t get me wrong, I have plenty of bookmarks in my Bible that are my go-tos when I’m feeling really down or anxious. But, sometimes the words don’t bring me the comfort that I need. I really wish they did. If you can always find peace in those words, that is wonderful. Sometimes I feel like a bad Christian because I can’t always fight my mental illnesses with scripture.
The thing is, Christian mental health has an added wrinkle of complexity. We know that God has blessed us richly, but we still sometimes feel empty. We know that we should trust God to take care of us, but we still feel anxious. Then we feel guilty for feeling that way. Why can’t we just be joyous all the time like we’re supposed to?
No one, not one human, has ever been joyous all of the time.
There is a wonderful article from Grace Alliance by Joe Padilla that uses biblical references to show that no one, even Jesus Himself, can always escape despair.
Remember the night before Jesus’s crucifixion, in the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus said, “My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death …” Mr. Padilla explains that those words could very well have meant that Jesus was in so much mental agony, He felt the same way as someone that was struggling with suicidal thoughts.
If Jesus Himself was that deeply depressed, we can’t possibly think that we can escape sadness our whole lives just because we are Christian.
We can still be grateful, even if we’re sad.
When you’re depressed, I know it’s hard to focus on anything, especially anything positive. You feel so sad that you’re body hurts, too exhausted to even cry, you don’t realize that there are still good feelings going on inside of you, too. If someone brings you your favorite drink or snack as a surprise, you might not even recognize that you feel loved and grateful that that person thought of you. The same goes for everything God does for us, more things than we could possibly know.
It’s hard for some Christians to realize that being depressed does not make you ungrateful. If you really think hard about it, I’m sure you can think of more than a few things that you’re so very grateful God has done for you. Think of a quick list. As a matter of fact, keep an ongoing list called Christian Mental Health Survival List (or something else….I’m not great with titles haha). That way, you can add to it whenever you think of something. It could be things as simple as the gorgeous sunrise you saw this morning as well as important things like your children. Looking at this list will help you to realize that you are In fact very grateful. It may even help dig you out of your depressive hole.
Please see my post on coping with depression if this is something you’re struggling with.
We can still trust God, even if we’re anxious
God knows anxiety and what it does to a person. He knows that it plants seeds of doubt in literally everything that we once knew as true. Maybe our spouse doesn’t love us, maybe we’re not good at our job, maybe God isn’t real. Then, of course, we feel guilty for thinking those things. That’s one thing that makes Christian mental health so freaking complicated! The second we start doubting God, we feel terrible for it. But, here’s the truth:
We are ill. God knows that we are ill. He understands us a whole lot better than we could ever understand ourselves. He sees our hearts and our minds. He knows that we live for Him.
It’s okay to feel, and even admit to God, doubt. He already knows. Pray about it. Ask Him to help calm your mind. One of my favorite Bible verses is Psalm 34.18, “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.”
God knows that we’re not perfect. Adam and Eve kinda ruined that for us in the beginning. God made us in a way where we can fail Him countless times, we can stray millions of miles away from Him and we can sin, but He will still love us. He will always wait for us to come back to Him. He will continue to love us when we’re gone and He will forgive us when we come back to Him.
Anxiety is really good at making us doubt things and then feel guilty for it. You can see my post for coping skills for anxiety for further reading on that stupid bully.
In our darkest days, we can still find comfort
Onto the good news about Christian mental health…we have the absolute most loving, most powerful, most incredible source of help imaginable. God is on our side. Even when we feel completely alone, He is right there with us. He knows our pain, even if we don’t know how to put it into words.
On those bad days, those really, REALLY bad days, you can still find comfort in knowing God sees you. Sometimes I’ll start a prayer by telling God I don’t even know how I’m feeling, but I need peace and comfort. There’s been times where I will just start a prayer, but then be silent, taking comfort in knowing that He already knows what I need.
Even with Christian Mental Health struggles, we can still be “good” children of God
It’s easy to ride the guilt train right into thoughts of being a bad Christian. We feel like we’re a disappointment to God. That’s simply not true. The Mind and Soul foundation put together a list of 5 spiritual lies depression will tell you.
It can easily relate to anxiety as well. It spoke to me at a level I didn’t know I needed. Maybe I just didn’t want to admit it to myself, but I know that I’ve struggled with all five of those thoughts at some point. You are not a bad Christian, you are not a disappointment to God. He knows you. He is all-knowing and He loves you. Always.
You may not be able to sing and rejoice in His glory today, but have you been kind to your fellow man? You may be struggling with doubt, but have you given up entirely on your faith? I doubt it, otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this. God never expected any of us to be perfect Christians all of the time (there is NO SUCH THING!).
God wants us to be happy!
Let’s go back to the hymn, Joyful, Joyful, particularly the line I mentioned earlier, “Melt the clouds of sin and sadness.” The song is calling on God to melt or sadness away. God wants us to be happy and filled with joy, but understands that we can’t be all the time. It’s not a sin to be something other than joyful, but He wants to help us get there.
Think of it this way, you’d love for everyone you love to be happy all the time, right? If someone wasn’t, would you be disappointed in them? No, you’d want to help them. Imagine that, multiplied by a billion or two, and you’ll have God’s love for us and His desire for us to be happy and joyful.
He still loves us, flaws and all.
I’m not going to pretend to know God’s will. I’m about as far from a prophet as I can get. As a matter of fact, I think a big part of my struggles with Christian mental health stems from reading things as “signs” that I shouldn’t do something. Oh, my daughter woke up early and I couldn’t work on writing today…must be God telling me to forget the whole thing.
The point I’m trying to make is I don’t know why we’ve been afflicted with a mental illness. It is not a punishment from God, (again, please read that article from the Mind and Soul Foundation I linked above). God loves each and every one of us as we are. Yes, He wants us to be happy. He wants us to be free from hurt and sickness and everything bad. That’s our end destination: living in His world where there really is nothing but joy, health and beauty.
But we’re not there yet.
In the meantime, He is with us in our struggles. He will offer comfort and protection while we fulfill our time in this world. There is never an end to the blessings He gives us. However, being imperfect people in a very imperfect world, there is pain, illness and despair. But, you have to remember, even in the darkest of times, that He loves us through the bad stuff. He didn’t make it happen, but He will love us through it anyway.
Don’t listen to the judgment of others about Christian Mental Health
It wouldn’t be fair for anyone to judge someone’s internal struggle. A lot of people are suffering in silence because they are so afraid that they’ll be thought of as ungrateful. Have you ever come to a fellow Christian for support only to have them say something along the lines of “Just think of how much God has blessed you!” or “Maybe you should think about the people that have it worse than you. Then you’ll realize how lucky you are.” This is not only completely unhelpful, but it is also potentially harmful.
As I said earlier, one of the most difficult things about Christian mental health struggles is the guilt we feel for it. Yes, we are extremely blessed. Yes, there are other people that are struggling worse than we are. Yes, we understand that there is no REASON to be anxious or depressed. But guess what? We are. And being shamed for that is not going to help. It’s only going to make us want to hide our pain away, yet again.
Be kind to yourself and others
Show yourself grace. Show other struggling Christians grace. We can change the stigma surrounding Christian mental health (and mental health in general) if we can just be brave enough to admit that we’re not okay. I really do believe that there are so many people that struggle with anxiety and depression, but do so in silence.
That is the reason I launched Disquiet Deliverance. I really, REALLY want everyone (Christians and non-Christians) to finally feel okay talking about it. Everyone deserves to feel supported and loved through any struggles that they’re going through. My hope for all of you is that you can find some sort of comfort here on this blog. God bless all of you!
All my love!
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