Everyone is going to be anxious or downhearted on occasion. Let me leave the extraordinary illnesses I have mentioned to concentrate on MDD-“major depressive disorder”-or, more commonly, “depression.” When I speak of this, I am not speaking of bad hair days, tax deadlines, or other discouraging moments we all have. It is only an appreciation of this divine love that will make our own lesser suffering first bearable, then understandable, and finally redemptive. Of greatest assurance in God’s plan is that a Savior was promised, a Redeemer, who through our faith in Him would lift us triumphantly over those tests and trials, even though the cost to do so would be unfathomable for both the Father who sent Him and the Son who came. In striving for some peace and understanding in these difficult matters, it is crucial to remember that we are living-and chose to live-in a fallen world where for divine purposes our pursuit of godliness will be tested and tried again and again. However bewildering this all may be, these afflictions are some of the realities of mortal life, and there should be no more shame in acknowledging them than in acknowledging a battle with high blood pressure or the sudden appearance of a malignant tumor. We sense the complexity of such matters when we hear professionals speak of neuroses and psychoses, of genetic predispositions and chromosome defects, of bipolarity, paranoia, and schizophrenia. The Apostle Peter wrote that disciples of Jesus Christ are to have “compassion one of another.” 1 In that spirit I wish to speak to those who suffer from some form of mental illness or emotional disorder, whether those afflictions be slight or severe, of brief duration or persistent over a lifetime.
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