Thanksgiving Depression

Thanksgiving should be a time of cheer, a time to be spent with family and friends. It’s a time to celebrate, be thankful, and most importantly – be happy. But if you’re anything like me, then you’re not happy. Seeing all the “Happy Thanksgiving!” posts on Facebook makes you sad. On top of all that, you’re homesick. While everyone is off seeing their families, you’re not. Because like me, I live 2500 miles away from my family. That’s two days worth of traveling; $400+ for a plane ticket. And I am desperately homesick.
 

I have been battling depression, negative thoughts, and hopelessness since Monday. I’ve been battling stress, sadness, and loneliness. And I feel the more I battle, the more depressed and weary I become.

I know many people see me as this bubbly, cheery person. In fact, a lot of people depend on that in me. But this week has been rough and I’m not even happy or cheery this Thanksgiving Day. Yes, I understand it’s a choice I have to make to be happy, but sometimes the overwhelming sensation of hopelessness beats you down to the core where you feel you can’t find joy anywhere.

I’ve been praying hard these past few days and been reading God’s Word, praying with my mentors, and crying. I know I needed to spend time with God and one of the places He lead me was back to a Bible study I’m doing with a few women from my church. It’s entitled “Keep Pressing Ahead” by Chip Ingram, who pastors at a church in California. I listened to the first part of the first lesson last night because I couldn’t finish the second half.

One of the first words out of Chip’s mouth was “Do you feel like you’re ready to give up? Opt out? Go away? Because it’s all too much?” Yep, that’s me. He goes on to talk about the reasons why you want to give up, opt out, and I clearly identified with some of them. He begins to discuss how we should preserve because that is what God wants. “Maybe you think to yourself, ‘I don’t believe in that anymore.’” And I’m almost to that point; to the point where God’s promises are just not enough (even though deep down I know. Maybe it’s pride… probably is). 

He goes on. Good ole Chip.

He reads Hebrews 10:36, “For you have need for endurance so that when you have done the will of God, you might receive what is promised.” God says it this way, in very simple terms, KEEP PRESSING AHEAD!

How can I keep pressing ahead in my impossible situation? You and I both wonder as he talks about what God wants us to do when we’re at our wits end. Here are the four steps and he calls them “Understanding the Basics”.

The first step: You CAN’T. But Christ CAN. In Philippians 4:13, it reads, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” God never expects us to go through life without crying, pleading out to Him to help us. He has never given us too much to handle. In 1 Corinthians 10:13, it says, “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.” 

“My temptation is beyond me!” or “There is no way of escape!” Maybe God was meaning that crying out to Him and praying to Him is sometimes our way of escape. Because I cannot do it, only Christ can do it through me. He has promised us that He will always make a way of escape, it’s probably not in the form that we want it to be, but I believe sometimes that form comes from humbling ourselves and saying, “Jesus, I cannot do this. I need Your help.” 

The second step: Believe God wants to help you. In Psalms 34:19, it says, “Many of the afflictions of the righteous, But the LORD delivers him out of them all.” What Chip pointed out was that the Bible just said, “If you’re a Christian, you will have afflictions. Expect it. It will come. But the LORD of all creation will get you through it. That’s a promise.” 

Another thing Chip pointed out was the Bible just said the RIGHTEOUS were afflicted, good people who followed God, people who said, “God I want to follow You, obey You, love You.” Afflictions will come to them, but God promised to get them through it. If I am a child of God, then He has called me righteous, a chosen person, His daughter, then I WILL have affliction. But going back to 1 Corinthians, my affliction is not common to man. And Jesus will deliver me from it.

I have to BELIEVE that God wants to help me get out of my pit. He desperately wants that for my life. But I have to believe it and then ACT on it. Yes, it’s tough to do! Yes, it’s crappy! I hate it! I want life to be easy! But we’re still on grasping the basics, there’s a another part that Chip talks about why God allows afflictions and trials to come to our lives. And that’s for another day.

Third step: Admit you need His help. In Psalm 34:18, it states, “The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart, And saves such as have a contrite spirit.” The word contrite means, “feeling or expressing remorse or penitence; affected by guilt.” Another translation says, "a crushed spirit." Here’s another promise: God is near to those who has a remorseful spirit, a broken heart, and He saves them from this agony. 

This is when we have to remember the first two steps: I can’t, but Christ can. I have to believe that God wants to save me. Then I need humble myself and admit I need His help. I need His healing, I need His forgiveness, grace, compassion, love, and mercy. Because I am too distraught to move forward; but we have to come to this place where we’re broken enough to give up our hurts, feelings of downcast, and lonliness to the One who can take that burden off our shoulders. God promises this throughout His word:

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. Psalm 57:17

He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. Psalm 147:3

For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite. Isaiah 57:15

When we come to a place of humility and brokenness, God can not only heal us, but make us stronger, teach us lessons about Himself, and help us to become more like His Son, Jesus.

Step four: Cry out for His help. Psalm 34:17, “The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears, And delivers them out of all their troubles.” When we CRY out with a voice and beg of God to save us, He hears and delivers us out of our troubles. This, once again, is the righteous, the good people, the people who want to follow after God’s heart, who is crying out to God. And I can guarantee you these righteous people were not saying a little, nice prayer that went something like this, “Oh dear Lord, please help me get out of this tragedy. Thy Word sayth this and I believeth it.” 

You better believe they were crying, begging, tears splashing out of their eyes, gnashing their teeth, on their knees, screaming out to God to help them in their agony. I can only imagine the prayers they prayed from the prayers I have prayed to God when I am in deep distraught. I have prayed prayers to God with my heart heavy, my heart tearing, tears pouring out of my eyes. I believe that when it says the righteous (which is me and you) cry out to God, they are literally crying.

Jesus cried out to God in the same manner. Look at Hebrews 5:7-8 that says, “who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered.” This means Jesus went to His Father and vehemently cried out to God. Chip imagined this as Jesus saying, “These people don’t get it! Their too stubborn! Why are We saving them? I’m trying! They don’t listen! I want to give up!” 

God heard His Son. And even though He did not deliver Jesus the way Jesus probably wanted, but His deliverance came in the form of giving Him strength to go on, to keep pressing onward. I’m sure it was a struggle for Jesus to remember His Father’s Words during these moments. It was tough to remember God’s faithfulness. But He went before the Father to gain strength, to have that peace that surpasses all understanding. He gain the courage to keep trucking on. 

And from this example, we should be doing the same. No matter how crappy it is. No matter how much we would like to opt out, give up, check out, stop moving forward. We have to remember the four steps:

I can’t; but Christ can.

Believe God wants to save me.

Admit I need His help.

Cry out to Him.

We have His promises folks. We need to remember that Christ wants us to lean on Him, He wants us to believe in Him, He wants us to admit that we need His help, and He wants us to pour our aguish on Him, for He cares for us.

If you want to listen to this powerful message, please click here and listen to "Facing Adversity Part 1 and 2".

Battling depression is no fun and it’s hard. But we have a Father who is there and has promised to be there for us. Let’s go to Him today with our burdens and admit that we cannot do this without His help.  Lets allow our God to do the work that He started in us so we can become more like His Son.