Depression

Summary of the Book In the introduction of his book, Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy: Discovering the Grace of Lament , Mark Vroegop contends that “there is deep mercy under dark clouds when we discover the grace of lament” (p. 22). His book is a book about the grace of lament . Vroegop is neither an...
Editor's Note: In 2014 Dr. Waugh published on the same subject . However, this article, though similar is certainly different. The present article is updated and contains added information that we believe will benefit the Church. Enjoy! William Bridge was born about the year 1600 in Cambridgeshire...
One of the most disinteresting comments that can come from a pastor’s mouth when asked how he’s doing is, “I’m so busy.” It is not only disinteresting, but if he has a habit of saying that each time he’s asked about his ministry, he may be, either implicitly or explicitly, suggesting that God is a...
An old spiritual laments, “Nobody knows the troubles I’ve seen, nobody knows my sorrows.” A modern rock song languishes, “You don’t know how it feels to be me!” But Jesus does . In Matthew 26:36-46 , Jesus’s agonizing, lonely prayers in Gethsemane show the hellish human suffering of His soul before...
Charles Haddon Spurgeon and His Struggle with Depression Charles Spurgeon is known as one of the greatest preachers in history. Not everyone knows about his ongoing battle with depression. Even fewer people know about his advocacy for people who lived with the same – or a similar - condition. While...
A piercing observer of the human condition, Søren Kierkegaard argues that despair is the sickness unto death. The very structure of being human is such that we can only be what we were created to be and are called to become by resting transparently in God. This means, among other things, that being...
Matt Jenson
"Come to me all you who are weak and heavy laden and I will give you rest." (Matt. 11:28) Oh, the beauty of Jesus' invitation. Who has not known the weariness that Jesus evokes, and the almost palpable relief in the promise of succor? For the anxious in particular, no words are sweeter. And for...
Matt Jenson
"Come to me all you who are weak and heavy laden and I will give you rest." (Matt. 11:28) Oh, the beauty of Jesus' invitation. Who has not known the weariness that Jesus evokes, and the almost palpable relief in the promise of succor? For the anxious in particular, no words are sweeter. And for...
Sammy Rhodes
"Why doesn't the church know what to do with depression?" That's the question I've been asking myself since the almost unbearably sad news broke that Robin Williams had taken his own life last week. There were a plethora of responses. Some touching. Some naive. More than a few lacking the nuances...
Sammy Rhodes
"Why doesn't the church know what to do with depression?" That's the question I've been asking myself since the almost unbearably sad news broke that Robin Williams had taken his own life last week. There were a plethora of responses. Some touching. Some naive. More than a few lacking the nuances...