Even When You Struggle with Depression

The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners. — Isaiah 61:1

It can be a lot. I know. It can be a lot to feel so needy. It can be a lot to feel so low. It can be a lot to feel so deeply, and it can hurt a lot to be in such a pit that you’re not sure what you need.

I’ve known friends who struggled with depression, and I’ve been the one who’s struggling. I’ve sat across from a gal who was apologizing for needing to talk, and I’ve been the one asking for forgiveness — because I feel like I’m too much and not enough at the same time.

Isaiah 61 is all about Jesus; it’s a prophecy detailing how He would come to earth and bind up our brokenness. But because He lives in us, it’s also a word about our identity and what we’re able to do here on earth. It has become the banner under which I live my life, the declaration that lives deep in my gut. I know that because He spoke healing and freedom over my life, I have the authority to pray the same for others, believing that since He released me from the darkness I lived in, He can do it for them.

So here’s the number-one reason you should squash the lie that you’re too much when you’re struggling in a season of depression: if it weren’t you, if the tables were turned and you were counseling a friend, you’d want her to feel the freedom to be exactly where she was so that God could invade her heart and life and set her free.

You can’t give freely what you won’t receive. You can’t pour out when you’re empty and unwilling to be filled.

Likewise, you can’t step into the beautiful plans God has written for your life — the ones that include authority over depression and healing in His name — if you’re not willing to pause and let others, namely Jesus, into your personal pain.

You’re not too much if you’re struggling with depression. You’re seen, held, loved, and treasured by the God of the universe. He’s anxious for your heart to feel whole, not overwhelmed by who He’s made you to be. He is mighty in You, and He’s got life and light and healing to proclaim through you; but for now, He just wants you to know that He never asked you to pretend you’ve got it all together. You can live honestly through this and every season with Him.

~Jess

Excerpted with permission from Always Enough Never Too Much by Jess Connolly and Hayley Morgan, copyright Jessica Ashleigh Connolly and Hayley E. Morgan.

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Your Turn

Show of hands for those who have struggled or do struggle with depression. (I’m raising my hand over here because… hoo-boy!, I have been there.) What about you? I love this awesome truth from Jess: you’re not too much. It’s ok to struggle. It’s ok to be overwhelmed and need help. You are perfectly, gorgeously, perfectly, awesomely loved and wanted and cherished by the God who wove every part of you together. Come talk with us. We want to hear from you! ~ Laurie McClure, Faith.Full