Can I Serve Others Effectively When I’m Depressed?
A biblical strategy for alleviating depression or discouragement. When we are hurting, whether it is debilitating physical pain or emotional affliction, such as severe depression, we are self-centered. When depression envelops me, I usually think of others only in...
Divine Curriculum: Sharp Turns, Steep Hills On God’s Racecourse
Can stress that's caused by work overload and schedule imbalance turn out for our good? How does God redeem burnout? What can we learn from mental, emotional and physical exhaustion? In what sense is a stressful situation a means of God's grace? Those questions...
A Story of Eternal Perspective: Fruitfulness of A Single Seed
In your ministry of Bible teaching, preaching or personal evangelism, does it ever seem that, instead of fruitfulness, your branches are bare? Does discouragement dog you because you can't see results from your ministry endeavors, or because someone unfairly...
I Want To Live Before I Die
As a new year approaches, or shortly after it begins, do you reflect on areas in which you see a need to change? Do you ask God to reveal to you areas of life in which He desires renewal for you? Due to past failure in resolution-keeping, and the self-badgering...
WHAT TO SAY TO SOMEONE WHO IS GRIEVING
Have you ever felt uneasy in the presence of someone who just lost a child or a spouse to death? Do you feel awkward when it comes to saying something to a person experiencing debilitating physical pain or paralyzing depression? Have you ever stayed away from a...
An Incomprehensible Truth to Spur Worship & Assuage Depression
How can a truth be both humbling and exhilarating? How is it possible that a concept from the Bible exposes our finiteness and cognitive limitations, yet stirs our soul, prompting us to worship God? Keep reading, and see a truth that rescued me from my doldrums...
“God Is Absent Minded” and Other Encouraging Truths
During the weeks we celebrate Advent, leading up to Christmas day, there's an escalation of depression in the United States. For example, among persons already diagnosed with a mental illness, 24% report that the holidays make their condition "a lot worse," and...
I LOVE JESUS, BUT…
A NOTE FROM TERRY: This is the story of Sarah J. Robinson, written by Phil Callaway. This article first appeared in the Winter 2021 edition of Servant, a magazine published by Prairie Bible Institute in Alberta, Canada. Used by permission. As soon as I read this...
How I Failed A Theology Quiz by Complaining
Is it possible to handle depression and bodily pain without grumbling? Someone who I love and respect recently admonished me for a pattern of complaining and negativity. Too often, in the company of others, I verbally cite how depressed I feel, or I mention an...
Can Godly Men and Women Get Depressed?
The Bible clearly answers that question, speaking through God’s people who experienced despair. The reason for their emotional lows varied. A few of the following characters were reacting to a specific difficult circumstance or tragedy. A few were often in a state...
A Prayer for Depression & A Biblical Strategy for Living Strong
In 2020, I wrote a prayer that captures, in abbreviated form, what I often say to the Lord when a depressive episode envelops me. See if you identify with the symptoms I describe in the opening paragraph. Determine if you want to ask the same things of God that I...
Is My “Public” Christian Life Eclipsing My Private World?
What happens on the inside is far more important than external attractiveness. In the late spring of 1999, I was the teacher of record for a European tour that offered college academic credit for recent high school grads. The students had just received their...
