Are you struggling with seasonal depression right now? If so, you’re not alone. I have been there, and so have many others.

Join others crying out to the Lord day and night.

View Comments (10)

According to the American Psychiatric Association, “About 5 percent of adults in the U.S. experience SAD and it typically lasts about 40 percent of the year.” According to the 2020 U.S. Census, the population of the U.S. was 331,449,281 as of that year. That means that at least 16,572,464 people suffer from seasonal depression in the U.S.

But simply knowing that you’re not alone probably doesn’t make you feel any better.

Nevertheless, friend, it is possible to feel better — even right now, when daylight hours are short, when holidays assail us with their memories of past years, and when you face difficulties that surpass human understanding.

Beloved friend, even though other people may not understand the difficulties you face right now, our beautiful heavenly Father does understand them all — and He is near to you in your sorrow, even this very minute.

Look at a few of His beautiful promises that are for you in this hour:

• The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all (Psalm 34:18–19).
• I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord (Psalm 118:17).
• The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me (Psalm 23:1–4).

Friend, even if it feels like your darkest hour right now, our God is with you. He is with you, and He is for you! And if you have given your heart and life to Jesus Christ, making Him your Lord, Boss, and Master, then God lives in you too.

So, how can you reap the benefits of His nearness in a way that helps you actually feel better?

As a person who has struggled with depression and discouragement many times over the course of my life, I believe the biggest answers are found in these two verses:

1. “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63).
2. Cast your burden on the Lord, and He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved (Psalm 55:22).

(And we could add plenty of scriptures to this list that repeat these concepts.) 🙂

Why do those two verses matter so much to you if you are struggling with depression or discouragement?

It’s because when you feel depressed, discouraged, hopeless, weary, or in despair, you begin to feel dead inside. You long for an infusion of hope and life, the same way a thirsty soul in a desert longs for water! You long for light to shine inside of you, but you feel only darkness!

But beloved, the light and life you long for are very literal. You are truly longing for an infusion of LIFE from Jesus, who is Himself the Way, the Truth, and the Life. How do you get that life? By filling yourself up with His Word, because He said: “The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.”

Every time I have struggled through the dark night of depression — whether for a few days, a few months, or multiple years at a time — the words that Jesus speaks have kept me alive. His words, which are found in His written Word, the Bible, are spirit, and they are life. And when you devour them, even for hours at a time if necessary, you cannot go out unchanged. The words that Jesus speaks WILL change you; they are spirit and life, and they will fill your heart with hope, life, and light.

So the first key is to fill your heart with the words that Jesus speaks, which are spirit and life.

The second key is to cast your cares upon the Lord, so that He can sustain you — and so that He will not allow you to be moved (impacted) by your circumstances in life.

How do you do that? Through prayer:

• Long, rambling prayers that pour out your every thought to the One who knows you best and loves you most.
• Prayer that is transparent, in which you admit all your thoughts, desires, sins, yearnings, struggles, failures, needs, and dreams to the Lord. Yes, He already knows these things. He has known them for all eternity; He is all-knowing. But you will find healing and comfort for your heart when you tell Him about these things anyway; when you pour out your heart to Him.
• Prayer that points out to God what His Word says about every situation; prayer in which you ask Him for what you need, believe His Word about that thing, and claim His Word for yourself over each specific situation that concerns you.
• Uninterrupted prayer that becomes a conversation with God, where you not only talk with Him (silently is fine, as well as out loud), but you also listen to Him speaking back to you with His still, small voice, and through the pages of Scripture.

Beloved, there is no comfort like that of fully unloading your heart to God in prayer.

This kind of prayer is not your usual intercessory prayer. It’s not even praying through a prayer list. No, this kind of prayer is the impassioned dumping of a burdened soul upon the only One who can fix everything that ails you. And when you pour out your heart to the Lord like that, in conjunction with believing the truth of His Word, you will sense Him bringing peace into your heart, body, soul, and spirit.

Friend, seasonal depression — or depression of any kind — is real. But it is also not God’s will for us.

He is with us in our weakness, but He desires us to receive His comfort and abide in His love. He has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind. Even though our struggles are real, His grace, help, and comfort are more real. And He desires us to move toward wholeness, no matter how dark our current circumstances.

I’m not speaking to you from an ivory tower today.

I have struggled with discouragement and depression many times. Every time, even though the dark season didn’t always end immediately, I have only found comfort and life through long periods of pouring my heart out to the Lord and filling up with His words, which are spirit and life. Those two things have kept me alive, and they will keep you alive too. And as we read and obey His Word enough over time, He will show us the path of life. He will help us know what to do and will eventually bring us out of any dark season, leaning on our Beloved.

Did this word of encouragement bring you comfort today? If so, leave a comment below!

Jamie Rohrbaugh is the founder and CEO of From His Presence. She is the author of Getting to Know the Sevenfold Holy Spirit, and she seeks to equip you to carry His manifest glory everywhere you go. Her resources have been published by YouVersion Bible Plans and in Charisma magazine, as well as on The Elijah List, Spirit Fuel, and various other ministry outlets. You can find free mentoring on her podcast, Take Your Territory with Jamie Rohrbaugh, which is available through your favorite podcast streaming app. Download her free prayer tool, Praying the Names of God: 555 Biblical Names of God and How to Use Them in Prayer and Worship, here. Photo Credit: Anh Nguyen on Unsplash.