Jesusluvsall's Blog

This week is mental health awareness week. The purpose of the week is to promote awareness and understanding of mental health issues. This week I will be sharing about mental health and faith in each post unless of course the Lord impresses something else on me to share.

Struggling with depression and or anxiety can feel like one is chained down.

With depression it can be an issue of zero energy to do anything, It feels like there is no hope, hard to concentrate, loss of interest in things one used to be interested in, and for some to wish for an end.

With anxiety thoughts flood in all at once causing one to worry. Anxiety can cause people to withdraw from others. It seems impossible to feel things will be okay.

While depression and anxiety can be symptoms of something else such as how one lives their lives, it is also true that people living good lives can be struck by depression and anxiety. Depression and anxiety can have physiological causes and treatment by a physician may be necessary just as a diabetic would need treatment by a physician.

Depression and anxiety do not necessarily mean a person is morally or spiritually weak. This week I will be sharing videos by faithful Christians who have struggled with depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues. It may surprise some to know that the great preacher Charles Spurgeon suffered with depression.

How do I know about depression and anxiety? After years of struggling with autoimmune problems, I began to experience both depression and anxiety. My first major bout with autoimmune caused some memory loss which came back but depression was an issue for a few months. My most recent bout with autoimmune caused foggy brain for a while. For me depression and anxiety had a physiological cause.

This past summer I hit bottom with them. My doctor had prescribed a medicine for me last December but I did not want to take it. I filled the bottle but it sat on my desk at home for six months. In June I got so far down that in my prayer time I asked Jesus to just take me home to heaven. I told him I was tired of everything and that my purpose here was fulfilled. Basically I called out to Jesus but he answered in a way I never expected.

One of my pastors told me, “it is medical, take the medication.” That began a process of recovering. Support came in unexpected ways. It came in small ways of people bringing me food. It came a bigger ways. God showed me many times that my purpose here was not finished. He had more for me to do.

When we say the name of Jesus, or more exact cry out to Jesus, the chains can begin to come off sometimes quickly and sometimes slowly. Jesus knows the perfect pace for each individual. It is not a cookie cutter approach with Jesus.

Even if we can barely utter the name Jesus by saying a faint prayer, it will invite him in. He already knows how we are feeling, so we can be honest with him. Just say his name. Pray even the slightest prayer to ask for help. Jesus will be there.

For me it was a two month process of God working in my life to get me back to where he wanted me to be. It isn’t easy, but it is so worth it. I would like to share Jenn Johnson’s video- Mention of Your Name. I hope it blesses you.

Thank you for reading. God Bless.