MENTAL WELLNESS Part 1: How To Avoid Depression And Anxiety

Depression is not a malfunction of the mind.
It’s a signal.

My illness is not my identity.

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.

Galatians 5:1

I have been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is. So I say, “My splendor is gone and all that I had hoped from the Lord.” I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me.
Lamentations 3:17-20

We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself.
2 Corinthians 1:8

Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, “May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them.” Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, while he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.”
1 Kings 19:1-4

1. Life imbalances

“We were never designed for the sedentary, indoor, socially isolated, fast-food laden, sleep-deprived, frenzied pace of life.”
~ Stephen Llardi

Better one handful with tranquillity than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind.
Ecclesiastes 4:6

2. Comparing ourselves with others

“Comparison is the thief of joy.”
~ Theodore Roosevelt

Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else, for each one should carry their own load.
Galatians 6:4-5

3. Ruminating and self-talk

“95% of your emotions are determined by the way you talk to yourself”
~Brian Tracy

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
Philippians 4:8-9

4. Inability to process pain in a healthy way

…who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer.
2 Corinthians 1:4-6

There is purpose in your pain.

5. Isolation and loneliness

The first problem in the Bible wasn’t sin.
It was solitude.

The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”
Genesis 2:18

…so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.
Romans 12:5 (NLT)

6. Spiritual warfare

Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
1 Peter 5:8-9

Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.
Ephesians 6:11

God has given us authority,
but we have to use it.