Crossinator

6 Steps to Overcoming Depression

1. Acknowledge the Emotion and Identify the severity of it.
Jesus told His disciples, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful…” He recognized the condition – He acknowledged it to Himself, His friends, and to the Father. Realize that your feelings are real and that something needs to be done about it.

2. Decide Who or What is Going to Be in Control of your life.
Depression is like a person in a deep pool of water, holding on to a large, heavy rock. The rock will pull us down. If we refuse to let it go, it will destroy us. It is not the rock that will destroy – it is our decision. Is God controlling your life, or is the depression weighing you down?


3. Share the concern with God
We let go of that rock by giving it to God. Prayer is essential in dealing with depression. Let God know what is going on in your heart and mind. Put your concerns on the end of your fishing reel and cast it out….now walk away and leave them behind.


Read Psalms 55, 58 and 59. David was not one to hold back His emotions from God. He cries out in Psalm 42:
As the deer pants for the water brooks, So pants my soul for You, O God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? F31 3 My tears have been my food day and night, While they continually say to me, "Where is your God?" 4 When I remember these things, I pour out my soul within me. For I used to go with the multitude; I went with them to the house of God, With the voice of joy and praise, With a multitude that kept a pilgrim feast. 5 Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him For the help of His countenance.


4. Ask yourself, “What is this Depression telling me?”
Depression does not have to be seen as a weakness or something to be avoided, it can be seen as a message from God that something needs to be addressed. Depression is not a punishment from God, it is a natural God-given warning sign to help us avoid depression’s control of our lives.


5. Identify the Causes – there is usually more than one cause.
Am I getting enough rest? Am I taking care of myself physically [EXERCISE]? Have I started taking some new medication that is causing this? Am I depressed because I have not dealt with some past loss or conflict? Am I telling myself the truth about life, or telling myself lies? Is there sin in my life? If I know what God wants me to do, and I am not doing it – or if I’m doing something that I know I’m not supposed to be doing, then I am going to be prone to depression. Is there something that I need to clean up?


6. Get busy – make the changes.
Exercise! Check your thoughts; the Bible tells us to take every thought captive. Find the sin or the past hurts in your life that you have not dealt with and deal with them! When we know what we should be doing, and do not do it, it is a sin which pulls us farther from God.