“There comes a point where you no longer care if there’s a light at the end of the tunnel or not.  You’re just sick of the tunnel.” - Ranata Suzuki

We have to come to that place where we “are sick of the tunnel” to get better!  We have to come to that place where we are sick of our insecurities, addictions, worrying and depression to find freedom from those things that hold us captive!

The writer of Hebrews encourages us to “lay aside every weight…and run with endurance the race that is set before us.”

Sometimes that is easier said than done.  It has been suggested that most of our days are of three kinds.  On the mountaintop days where everything is going well and our world looks bright.  The valleys when life seems hopeless. Then there are those ordinary days, which is where we spend most of our time.  Daniel Tiger said “It’s a good day to have a great day!”

For those of us fighting depression it’s challenging to have a good day, led alone a great day. In the United States alone, an estimated seventeen million people suffer from clinical depression.  Some of history’s greatest military leaders, statesmen, musicians, scientists, and theologians have suffered from depression, including Winston Churchill, Edgar Allen Poe, Napoleon, Vincent van Gogh, Charles Spurgeon…just to name a few.

Depression strikes Christian and non-Christian alike. In the Bible it appears that Job, Moses, Jonah, Peter, Paul, Jeremiah, Elijah, Sarah, Hagar, Naomi…just to name a few, experienced depression.  King David expresses depression when he writes “why am I so discouraged? Why so sad? Telling a person “you shouldn’t feel depressed” does nothing to relieve the depression and often adds guilt instead of help. So where does our help come, is it possible and can we be free from depression? This is too big of a topic of discussion for this pastor’s desk, but yes, there is help and freedom from depression. Jesus sympathizes with your depression, He understands, Jesus Himself experienced depression. You are not alone, come to Christ and He will guide you through your valley of depression. “I will put my hope in God! I will praise Him again - My Savior and My God!

“He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives.” - Jesus

“O soul, are you weary and troubled?  No light in the darkness you see? There’s light for a look at the Savior, and life more abundant and free!  Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.”