I’m so glad that the terms “anxiety” and “depression” are less stigmatizing today than they were in the past. It still doesn’t roll off of the tongue effortlessly, but it is definitely easier to bring up in friendly company for worthwhile discussions and possibly when mental-health help is being sought.

Our whole life, we are encouraged to “sell” ourselves. We need to make friends, be likable so that parents will let you hang out with their kids, get teachers and other adults to write recommendations, sell ourselves to get our first jobs, market ourselves to get a first date and then we get into competition for applying for good colleges and first jobs as we start our careers.  There really isn’t any downtime on just being genuinely who we are. It seems we are always trying to sell ourselves from  the beginning.  So, it gets kind of confusing on knowing what’s the real person and what is the “mask” we’ve made to show the world. No one wants to “buy” a sad or fearful worrier for their friend, employee, spouse, etc.

I think it took me 28 years before I realized I was in the grip of debilitating anxiety and depression (starting in childhood).  I always attributed my restlessness and sadness on the current crisis of the moment, i.e. friends, school, exams, jobs, wedding planning, moving, etc. I finally sought out therapy from a Christian psychologist who helped me to understand anxiety and depression, and led me to a psychiatrist to also get my depleted psychiatric neurotransmitter levels back up to par and we also incorporated physical therapy for an old neck injury that was only getting worse over the years.  My health: physical, mental, spiritual  and emotional were finally coming together.

That was something I had to understand. For me, I felt like being a Christian should be enough. I had accepted God’s gift of grace. I was healed spiritually because Jesus died for me. I was/am a sinner and Jesus died for me 2,000 years ago in my place to be the perfect sacrifice to cover my sins, so that by simply accepting his gift, I am free of the wages of sin which is death (eternal separation from God). My sins have been fully paid for, so I can live today knowing that when I die I will be with God (the one true God: The Father, The Son and the Holy Spirit). So, when I think about how I have been given such a tremendous gift to be in the presence of our good, loving Lord for eternity in heaven, how could I possibly be troubled or down? I would often beat myself up even more because I wan’t embracing the gift he had given me, and it easily became a vicious cycle. It was finally so good to know the truth. The truth is that many of the people who were believers in the Bible battled with depression, despair, sadness, anxiety and fear.  They were real people with real feelings like is common to each of us.

For twenty plus years now, I’ve had to use all the tools I can to help me battle my anxiety and depression.  I have a wonderful Christian counselor, I have a psychiatrist that follows me closely and monitors my medications to be sure I’m  getting what I need and not taking prescriptions that can actually interfere with mental well being, I often seek prayer from individuals ( I may have even asked you 😉 ) or through the church. I’ve learned that getting the right amount of sleep is important ( I need more hours than most people – I always have but probably even more so because my lungs are always working so hard), nutrition is super-important too, so the tube feedings have been critical to getting me back on the right path, and like everyone, being active with exercise (which is sometimes just very simple arm exercises)  – can add up to an overall sense of well being.

I believe that God can work through all of these things. The whole mental health thing is confusing to me, but I believe it can be turned around and then set back on the right path and pointed in the right direction. For me, it is sometimes a daily challenge or even moment to moment on some days. I wish I could say it is easy and you can expect it to go away after x number of many battles, but that isn’t what I’ve experienced so far. I’ve seen counseling help me with the moment to moment wrestling for the anxiety to stop, I’ve taken medicine that can calm and soothe my brain with a little time, I’ve spoken to God more because of it and I’m hopeful that I’ll be able to sense the mental health crisis coming and that I’ll be able to stop it in its tracks before it gets a grip on me.

Here are some good Bible verses for battling anxiety and depression. Sometimes I find looking up the different translations of the verses can be eye opening. It can give a freshness to verses we become overly familiar with or some translations are just easier to understand.

Matthew 11:28 niv

Deuteronomy 31:8 niv

Psalms 94:19 nlt, hcsb

Isaiah 41:10 niv

2 Corinthians 4:16-17 nlt

Romans 8:15-17 msg

Romans 8:18 nlt

Galatians 6:2 nlt

Romans 10:9 nlt

Psalms 94:19 esv

2 Corinthians 3:17 nlt

Proverbs 4:23 nlt

John 14:6 nlt

Psalms 27:14 nlt

Mark 5:36 niv, nlt, esv

1 Peter 5:7

John 16:33

Jeremiah 29:11

Joshua 1:9

Romans 8: 38-39