During the course of my 35 years of working in the mental health field, anxiety and depression are the most common issues presented by clients. Over the years, many of our clients have identified as having faith in God and identify as Christians.  Many Christians who struggle with anxiety or depression may wonder why they continue with these difficulties while after praying, meeting with the church, and reading their Bibles.  Although difficult experiences are part of life’s journey, it is when they become more intense and drawn out that we look to healing from them. In the course of healing, we look to our greatest ally, friend, confidant and Savior for His great compassion. In overcoming what He also experienced out of His great love for us all, you will also discover His healing power.

To gain a better understanding and perspective of anxiety, depression and faith, we will explore the origin, aspects, causes, biblical examples, and hope for healing.

Origin

To help us better recognize anxiety or depression we need to get a better understanding of their origin. These will be labeled as physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual.

Physical

For both anxiety and depression there is a physical component to them. However, we ask what triggers or prompts the physical responses? This is a good reason to start with the physical aspects of your mood first. Is there an on-going illness? Is there an environmental situation causing symptoms? How is your sleep? Appetite? Hormone imbalance? Not all physical ailments trigger depression or anxiety, however, depression or anxiety can trigger physical symptoms. When we look deeper, there is a mind-body connection to much of being depressed or anxious.

Mental

This is our thoughts, mental processes, and recall. There are many things that we “tell ourselves” that will trigger anxious or depressive symptoms. It’s what you tell yourself in any given situation or relationship that, in the moment or over time will lead back to your internal dialogue. The deeper part of this is in your belief system. What you believe about yourself, those around you, experiences, situations, God, and the environment. When these beliefs are distorted or untrue, they will tend to trigger depression and anxiety. Further, you may also experience a type of mental burnout that may be part of “overthinking” something, dwelling on shaming or fearful events, or negative thoughts.

Emotional

There are many uneasy feelings that are experienced within each person.  Fear, shame, guilt are the primary ones. However, there are more such as anger, jealousy, frustration, bitterness, and many others. Emotional burnout is also common especially associated with compassion fatigue. This fatigue is usually linked to the care of others on an ongoing basis leading to physical, mental and emotional exhaustion.

Spiritual

This one may be more difficult to explain or understand. This may be linked to spiritual attack from the dark world. Also, anguish over the spiritual suffering of others (e.g., when Jesus wept over Jerusalem). Having empathy and compassion for others will take a lot of spiritual energy resulting at times in spiritual fatigue.

Causes

Now that we have identified the origin of depression and anxiety, what seems to cause them? There are times when being anxious makes sense and other times it doesn’t make any sense. Same goes for depression. For those that “make sense“, we will call logical and for those that are appear “illogical” we will call visceral (from the gut or core of us).

Logical

  • Things, events in your life you may be aware of (“I’m sad because___”; “I’m angry because___” (identified reason))
  • Childhood related abuse, trauma
  • Conflictual relationships
  • Traumatic event/s
  • Grieving loss which may include: a loved one who passed away, loss of health, loss of job, divorce, breakup, loss of a friendship, and life transition/s.

Visceral

  • “I just can’t explain it…”
  • Holding onto unforgiveness, grudges
  • Unidentified origin
  • “Something silly” (so it seems)
  • “Missing my___” (mom, dad, friends, career, etc.)
  • Loss of life goals or satisfaction
  • Lack of motivation

Examples in the Bible

Job – Job had lost much of his wealth, his children, had boils on his body, and was rejected by his wife and friends. He was accused of sinning against God. Also, he wished he hadn’t been born (suicidal thoughts), and felt a lot of despair for his state of being. He experienced suffering through loss, condemnation, isolation, and physical pain. Further, Job struggled with anxious thoughts, confusion as to his situation.

Hannah – Hannah experienced much grief, anguish and public shame for not being able to bear a child (I Sam. 1:6-16). She prayed and prayed out to God. He answered in His time and she bore her son Samuel.

David – A man after God’s own heart expressed much sadness, despair, anxious thoughts, worry, anger and frustration as read in many of the Psalms he wrote. In Psalm 22 he wrote, “my God, my God why have you forsaken me?” This was also quote by Jesus Himself while on the cross.

Elijah – The prophet experienced a huge victory of faith in the challenge of who is God…The LORD Almighty or Baal? He appears to have emotional and spiritual exhaustion after the defeating of the prophets of Baal. Then, after being threatened, flees for his life. Then, he becomes so depressed, he asked God to take his life (I Kings 19:4).

Jonah – After disobeying God, being swallowed by a giant fish, Jonah repented then preached to a Gentile city who also repented. When he saw the compassion of God demonstrated to a heathen nation, he wanted to die (Jonah 4:3, 8).

Mary – The mother of Jesus experienced anxiety when receiving a greeting from an angel with very uncanny news (Lk. 1:29-30). She also had anxiety when He was 12 and stayed in Jerusalem when the family left. Finally, when He was crucified she felt such great anguish.

Jesus – A man of sorrows, acquainted with grief (Is. 53:3-5). Jesus was moved in His spirit and wept (Jn. 11:33-35).  He felt compassion for those who were in need of healing.  Further, He was touched by the feeling of our infirmities (Heb. 4:15). Finally, He felt deep anguish in the garden prior to His crucifixion and during it (Matt. 26:38; 27:46).

 

Hope for Healing

  • In the beginning, you need to accept there is depression, anxiety in your life though you may not know why you are experiencing these things
  • Acknowledge your desire for healing. You don’t have to know how right here just that you desire healing.
  • Healing takes on different forms and stages
  • Healing is a process that takes time
  • Anchoring, holding to our firm foundation
  • Prayer: We start with an acknowledgement of Christ as our firm foundation. When what you are experiencing doesn’t make sense, the Holy Spirit intercedes for you (Rom 8:26-27).
  • Scripture reading…promises, assurances
  • Spiritual support from trusted believers
  • Christian counseling – this is crucial that you get professional help for the persistent depression and anxiety

We are here for you. Together, with the Spirit of God, we can work through these struggles and entanglements discovering His healing power.

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