Immune to depression

BY ANNE ANJAO-eboi

Florence MacKenzi has the following to say in a blog: “Alice was a lovely elderly lady, always bright and joyful, a shining light in our church. I loved regularly sharing afternoon tea with her.

“On one of these visits, she placed her teacup and saucer firmly on the table in front of her and said, to my great surprise, ‘I don’t know how anyone can be depressed — we have so much going for us!’ I found myself struggling momentarily to know how to respond. Depression had obviously never touched Alice’s life or, if it had, she wasn’t going to admit it!”

Sadly, Alice’s view of depression is all too common in some religious circles. As a result, many people who are close to God battle depression alone and in secret, fearful of admitting they are depressed and, therefore, being reluctant to seek help.

But the reality is that being a religious person is no safeguard against depression.

There are many of life’s ugly situations that we cannot avoid. Imagine that person born with perfect eyesight but suddenly loses their vision and has to relearn even the simplest activities. Or the person who had it all — a good job and a nice family —lost it due to an accident that incapacitated him. Or a person who loses both parents in a single road accident.

I believe there is no human being who, after such events, will be told, “Wipe your tears; it’s going to be okay”, and will nod, then, just like magic, life will truly be okay.

Life will hand us both honey and lemons. We are not shielded from life’s melancholic circumstances. When I hear of a professor committing suicide, I know depression is real.

That is why I take issue with people who quickly hush those who weep uncontrollably over the loss of a loved one. My take is that they need to be allowed to grieve and let it all out. Any bottled up pain is released sooner or later, and when it is, it is usually with terrible consequences.

My cousin passed on a couple of years ago, and because he and his wife were born again, his wife fought tears and actually listened to the many voices that told her it would be alright. Sadly, when the noise of the funeral died down, depression did set in, and it killed her six months later.

DIRECTION

Who are we to hide our emotions when God has allowed us to freely express them? I know the challenge comes in what the word of God says and how we should behave. If God has given us everything, why should he deny us happiness? Why should we be submerged in the worries of this world when we say we trust Him to shield us from Satan’s wicked plans?

Yes, the word of God must be believed, but we must also understand that it is not a ticket to escapism. Depression is bad enough. We need to acknowledge that we have the potential to suffer from it, pray and seek God’s guidance. We need to feed our spirits with the word of God every day and keep godly company.

Most important, we need to have an accountability friend with whom we share our daily struggles; someone who will pray for us and provide direction when we are going wrong. Only then will we safeguard ourselves from depression.