Depression

I mentioned a while back that I was trying to come up with a good lesson to teach my Sunday School class, and then I decided to teach one called, "Where is God in all of this?"  Well, a couple of weeks ago, the night before I was scheduled to teach (I ended up not teaching, since someone else shared his experiences during a recent mission trip to Haiti), I changed it.  I borrowed a book from my church that has lessons called Faith Matters: For Young Adults.  In it was a lesson titled, "How Can a Christian Cope With Depression?" by Larry F. Beman.  As someone who has battled (and overcome) depression for 10 years, it really spoke to me.  As I read through it, I began to view the darkness of depression in a new light (pun intended), I also saw myself in almost every line......  You all know how I managed to take my father's death and flip it into something positive, and that is part of the lesson.  The author of the book describes this kind of depression as a "heaviness of the soul" or "carrying a huge weight within".  He goes on to talk about the basis of this kind of depression, that it stems from anger.  (I'm skipping a lot of the points he makes, in order to get to the point of this post). 

Beman discusses a couple of ways to deal with the anger one feels with this depression, and the first way is to find a creative outlet.  View the depression "as a time for creative possibility.  Depression can become a moment for a new creation to emerge."  He says that if we can ask, and answer, the question, "What in me is waiting to be born?" we can give birth to a new life within us.

Think about it.  In the past, a couple of the greatest creations came from depression.  According to Beman, "In the Creation story God is seen brooding over the face of the deep.  Out of this brooding comes a new world.  During the Renaissance, depression was viewed as part of the wisdom that cam with aging.  It was a time when insight ripened and bore fruit."


The last few days, I have felt this form of depression.  I haven't been my normal, happy, bubbly self.  I know the reason, and it will take time for me to resolve the issue I am facing, but the sadness I feel has driven me to tackle this lesson.  It holds a totally new meaning for me and as I work on it, I can actually feel a weight lifting off of me.  It's so weird, but amazing!  It has also shown me that I need to confront the issue that has me feeling down, and not keep it bottled up, which is definately NOT a good idea!  I'm learning so much about myself in my quest to teach my classmates how to overcome depression...  I am excited to teach them!  I was debating with myself over whether or not I should tell them about this revelation (that in battling a recent depressive spell, I discovered creativity in planning my lesson, which has lifted a weight on my soul), but I probably won't.

I know I said I wouldn't blog as much anymore, but I just really wanted to share this, and get thoughts out.  If you want anymore information on this particular subject (i.e., the lesson I'm teaching), feel free to leave a comment (I read them before I allow them to be posted) with your e-mail address, and I will send you a copy of my lesson...  I want to share hope with others, to let them know that you can get through the darkest of times, and come out of it a better, happier person.