I realize that everyone’s story with depression is going to look different. And that their path to healing is going to look as unique as they are. This is the story of my journey. What God used to bring me to a place of being able to function and even thrive is an incredible amount of components that my husband and I researched and sought after and sometimes stumbled across, all over the past fifteen years. Those factors are complex enough that I have found it to be helpful organizing them into the following categories:
–What Helped Me Physically
-What Helped Me Emotionally
-What Helped Me Spiritually
Before delving into what helped me, I wanted to reiterate:
I am not a doctor. I am not seeking to diagnose anyone. I am a person who has struggled deeply with depression and lived to see God work in, heal, and restore me. I still struggle with depression at times, yet I do not give up faith in God in the midst of heartache. I have seen firsthand how reliance upon God and His transforming power made all the difference in my life in the area of depression.
Some of my healing took place while we lived in Tenessee, but God took me to the unlikeliest of places to bring about my healing. If He can change me to be healthy in the isolation of remote bush Alaska, I believe there is hope for anyone.
I want to share that hope with others. If something from my story inspires you, helps you to keep going, or points you in the direction you should go to find healing, then I hope you will do that in a way that makes sense for you and under the direction of a doctor and/or counselor. You are not alone!