CATEGORY: Depression and Faith
HOMELESS: We Know More Homeless People Than We Think
There is more than one type of homelessness. In cities across the United States, homeless individuals sleep on park benches, under bridges and on scraps of cardboard stretched out on sidewalks. In the suburbs of my hometown of Columbia, South Carolina, on busy...
Who? Me Comfort?
How has God put you together to encourage or to comfort others? When someone is needy or hurting, do you consistently give the gift of your physical presence, even when you are unsure what to say? Do you allow your nearness to express what mere words cannot? Does...
Lamenting Depression: Can I Tell God What I Really Feel?
The Psalms of Lament in the Old Testament are special to me. They offer a language in which to address God honestly about pain. A "lament" is taking our pain to God and expressing our raw emotions. Faith isn't the absence of grief, doubt or despair; rather, we...
Depression: Symptoms, Prevalence and Causes
Late in 2020 I produced a 26.5 page, single-spaced document on depression for a strategic parachurch ministry. It wasn't a document they would ever use "as is," but it contained research as well as my own reflections, rooted in my study of the topic as well as...
Is Throwing a Bible Verse At Depression A Fix-It-All?
I had slept more than usual the previous night, so I couldn't blame insomnia for the lethargy of mind, body and spirit that blanketed me last Thursday. It's how depression often expresses itself. A rank hopelessness. An all-consuming despair, which I often cannot...
An Unlikely Source of Encouragement
Discover how an attack of spiritual warfare should encourage you! A Reassuring Perspective I am not someone who looks for a demon behind every bush, who sensationalizes every setback as a satanic attack. Often Satan gets blamed for things for which we should...
CONTRASTS: Has Your Thinking about Life and Ministry Changed?
Can you identify with any of the ways my thinking about life and ministry has changed over the years? Topics in this post include persistent praying, public weeping as a Bible teacher, a broken heart, temptation, indwelling sin of a believer, sources of identity,...
Am I Prouder Than I Thought? Lesser Known Ways that Pride Shows
I never considered myself an idol worshiper until I read this remark by John Wesley a few years ago: "All pride is idolatry." That's when I realized that I am the idol before which my heart often bows. Who hasn't had an inflated ego now and then? God must think...
THE MOST DANGEROUS KIND OF FALSE TEACHING
Some false or doctrinally challenged preachers are more dangerous than others. Scene 1 He boldly claims that the viewer will receive a transfer of wealth from the world to their bank accounts. Debts will dissolve, they’ll get their dream house or a new car, plus...
3 Things That Eclipse the Son
On August 21, 2017, Columbia, South Carolina enjoyed almost three minutes of a total solar eclipse. What majesty, to stand in the twilight on a summer afternoon, glancing (carefully) at a blazing sun that was completely obscured by a black ball, the moon....
LIVING (AND DYING) WITH FEWER REGRETS
How does God define "wisdom"? One verse that sheds light on the meaning is Psalm 90:12: "So teach us to number our days, that we may present to Thee a heart of wisdom." The context of this verse emphasizes the brevity of our earthly life, the inevitability of...
SOMETHING IS BETTER THAN NOTHING
A SIMPLE YET PROFOUND INSIGHT FOR GOAL-SETTING AND RESOLUTIONS It is my conviction that we often fail to fulfill our New Year's resolutions and other life goals because we don't set those goals low enough. Yes, you read correctly. An enemy of succeeding with our...
