How could Christ help me cope with depression?
I really do hear it a lot, and it is nothing to be ashamed of if you have ever asked yourself that question. I know I have asked it before! How can someone who is not physically here, help me work through those bad days? How can He help me get out of bed when today just doesn't seem possible in any aspect?
He can, and that's what I'm going to share with you right now.
I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. - Phillippians 4:13
After I found out that I lost a dear friend to suicide, I felt so lost. I spent many days sleeping in, and/or not sleeping at all. I would lay there, in silence. Screaming inside my head for relief—for this nightmare to end. I had just decided that the Church was something I wanted in my life not many months prior. Why would God give this to me? Someone who repented, made a righteous choice to come back to the Church? I didn't understand.
I often found myself angry. That I couldn't physically speak to Christ, let alone my Heavenly Father. I was angry that my prayers weren't being answered when and how I wanted them to be answered. I searched for days on end, scripture after scripture, prayer after prayer, letter after letter to the leaders of The Church on this topic. I needed healing.
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| Image c/o The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints |
It's been 9 years now, since those trying days, and though I still struggle today, it has become a lot easier to deal with. Not completely, but much more than I ever thought it could be. If you think about it, during those moments of pain, heartache, crying, begging, screaming… how many times have you thought of Christ or God? How many of those sleepless nights have pushed you to pray? Read your scriptures or listen to hymns?
That my friends is how Christ helps you cope. The very thought of Him—the very thought of needing Him and wondering where He is, is the first step to laying your burdens at His feet. It is the first step to sleeping one more hour. It is the first step to making it through the next 24 hours, 4 weeks, 12 months, 4 years…. The very thought of Christ comforting us does, in fact, bring comfort. Knowing that we can pray whenever and wherever, and thinking of Him brings relief.
I didn't realize it until now, but that's pretty huge. I have often, and very often, cried out to the Lord where Christ is, and why am I'm not finding peace!? But it is in those small moments, when the Holy Ghost ever so sweetly and gently, puts thought into my mind to pray. To think of and ask for the comfort of Christ. We are so loved and surrounded by so many angels in heaven and on earth. Heavenly Father never wants us to be alone; ever ever ever.
I encourage you to remember this and to remember the next time you are struggling, that Christ is already with you in that first thought of seeking Him.
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