By Nancy Virden (c)2024
One knee-jerk response when a person admits they struggle with depression is, “You have so much to be thankful for”
A more helpful statement is, “I care about you and want to support you in any way I can”
It is important to avoid undercutting a person’s feelings by blaming them for fault. Depression is not a lack of gratitude; it is a mental health condition that can affect anyone. Some people who have struggled with depression swear by their gratitude journals and thankfulness to God. A radio station advertises worship as a cure for life’s difficult feelings. Gratitude can be helpful, but none of us can dictate what is or should be going on in someone else’s heart or mind.
Each time I have been severely depressed, I praise God through it. I thank him for being there, for not giving up on me though I have given up on myself. Though the disorder can tell me that God cannot trust me with good works (a sense of worthlessness is always part of it), I know not to question Him. My prayers sound like, “I don’t know what you can do, but do your will.”
Personally, lack of gratitude does not play a role, or at least not a major part, in my experiences with depression. During months of recovery, God reassures me He is guiding me out of it and that His will is for me to live.
Be supportive by giving another’s feelings freedom of expression as long as they are not hurting themselves, property, or someone else.
-COMMENTS WELCOME
Today’s Helpful Word
Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all.
If you are feeling suicidal, or concerned about someone who is, in the U.S. call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988, or for a list of international suicide hotlines, go here.
If you are suicidal with a plan, immediately call 911 in the U.S. or go to your nearest emergency room. In the EU call 112. (For other international emergency numbers, go here ). Hope and help are yours!
Always the Fight Ministries (ATFM) has been displaying compassion for those fighting mental illness, addiction, or abuse since 2012. Nancy is the founder and voice of ATFM and openly shares her emotional resurrection from despair. NOTE: Nancy is not a doctor or a mental health professional, and speaks only from personal experience and observations. In no way is this website intended to substitute for professional mental or behavioral health care.
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