My doctor – a Christian who loves the Lord and has walked with God for many, many years – has a saying that I find quite intriguing. He has told me on more than one occasion, “If it was up to me, we’d put antidepressants in the drinking water.”
While I’m not prepared to go that far, I am prepared to tell you that doctor-prescribed antidepressant medication has been a Godsend to me. “Godsend” with a capital “G” because I truly believe that God led me to the right doctor at just the right time to treat my ongoing, debilitating depression with just the right medicine.
Sadly, antidepressant medication carries something of a stigma amongst many of us “people of faith.” It’s as if we don’t know where to fit clinical depression in our theology.
Some would say that depression is a sin issue for which we must repent, because those of us who are depressed are not letting the joy of the Lord be our strength (Nehemiah 8:10).
Others would suggest that it’s just a mind-over-matter thing that we should simply ignore. “Just live your life,” I’ve heard it said. “Get up and get going” is the cure suggested by some. Suggested by some who obviously have never been paralyzed by their own boughts of the blues.
But while I cannot speak to anyone else’s depression, I can tell you that mine is not the result of sin, is not an imagined thing. It is, in every sense of the word, a disease. Just like Type 2 Diabetes is a disease. Just like chronic physical pain is a disease. Just like any other malady that must be treated by doctor-prescribed medication is a disease.
Here’s the thing: I thank God for my depression. I truly and sincerely do. God created me (and you) as emotional beings. Over the years of my life, I have known the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. Having experienced the full spectrum of human emotions, I am the richer for it. As a pastor, the ability to understand, to feel, to sympathize, and to empathize with those who are scraping bottom emotionally is a priceless privilege.
Yet, for all of my gratitude to the Lord for blessing me with this particular “thorn in the flesh” (2 Corinthians 12:7), I know that without the proper medication I am consumed with some very dark thoughts, paralyzing thoughts. Just as God uses insulin in the lives of diabetics, so He uses my medication to bring me to some semblance of emotional balance. And I thank Him that I can admit this to you without any sense of shame.
Whether my depression is the result of a chemical imbalance, the cumulative total of 35 years of hearing countless stories of horrific situations in the lives of scores of people I love – situations I cannot fix – or both, it doesn’t matter. What does matter is that God led me to the right doctor at just the right time to diagnose and treat my condition with just the right medication. A gift, lovingly bestowed upon me from the hands of my God, a gift received with gratitude.
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3 comments:
Thank you, Dewey for your honesty, clarity and willingness for an open heart and mind. I love you.
I'm not surprised. "They" used to say, back in the day, that choleric personalities are prone to it.....I'm pretty sure it starts out biological. I struggles with "PMS" for 3 weeks out of the month for 3 years resisting my Ob-Gyn's advice for anti-depressants, finally I "gave in" WOW. The next day I no longer craved caffine and chocolate (now I just enjoy them, instead of crave them). The physical weight it lifts is spirit lifting too. Miss ya lots! Lorraine
Jesus said we are to come to him, all of us who are weary and heavy laden, including those laden with a burden of depression. Your point is well made -- a diabetic would of course take the appropriate medication -- and so should a person struggling with depression or any other psychiatric disorder that can be helped with meds. Thank you for your transparency and courage to speak on a touchy subject, brother. I come alongside in support of your position.
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