Depression
Allen Parr

How to Handle Depression
as a Christian

How to deal with depression as a Christian? Depression and anxiety can overtake many Christians and did indeed affect many believers in the Bible. What are some of the main triggers of depression and what are some practical ways we can overcome it? This video provides some very practical tips on dealing with depression.
 

God wants to speak to you too.  Take some time and get quiet with the Lord.  Connect with the Father and listen for his voice.  He loves you.

Here are the key points to Allen Parr’s talk:
 
Please do not feel shame because you are struggling with depression.
 
Forty million adults in the United States age 18 and older, or 18.1% of the population struggle with
depression every year.
 
You are not alone.
 
Many people in the bible struggled with depression at different times in their lives. Job, Jeremiah,
Naomi, Hannah, Jonah, David, Elijah.
 
Elijah’s story can be found in 1 Kings 19. There are three triggers that can be identified that caused
Elijah’s depression.
 
 
Triggers
Trigger 1: Being physically drained or burned out can cause depression. 
God provided rest and food.
 
Elijah’s life was threatened. He found himself running for his life. Some say he travelled over 300 miles on foot with no rest or refreshment. Elijah had enough and could not go on.
 
He cries out to God: “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors who have already died.” Then he lays down and sleeps under a tree.
 
Elijah was depressed, even to the point of suicide.
 
God responds: “As he was sleeping, an angel touched him and told him, “Get up and eat!” Elijah looked around and there beside his head was some bread baked on hot stones and a jar of water! So, he ate and drank and lay down again. Then the angel of the Lord came again and touched him and said, “Get up and eat some more…”
 
God’s solution to Elijah’s depression was rest and refreshment.
 
 

Trigger 2: Being emotionally drained can cause depression. 
God’s solution is the church. 

Listening to people’s negative comments about you can lead to discouragement which can lead to depression. “You’re this”, “You’re that”, “You’re not capable”. AND these comments are usually not even true.
 
Sometimes the loudest negative voice speaking to you is your own because we so often compare
ourselves to others.
 
We tend to want to be alone and we isolate ourselves which makes it worse.
God’s solution is the church. The church is a group of people who love God and other people.
 
The church is a community of people who love, encourage, accept one another.
 
 

Trigger 3: Being spiritually disconnected can cause depression. 
Take some time and get quiet with the Lord.

 
Sometimes we can be so busy looking for God to do the big things that we miss hearing God in the whisper. 
In the story of Elijah, he experiences a powerful wind, an earthquake, and a fire but God was not speaking
to him in those events.  He had to get quiet.  When he did, God spoke to him in a whisper. 
 
 
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