Article October 5, 1992 Issue

Dissolving the darkness

Even when depression seems heaviest, we're never separated from God's love or from the good He always provides.

Alexis Deacon

I had been feeling depressed all day. As I drove home from work that night, I thought of several disturbing things that had happened during the day. But deep down I knew that my depression was not caused by anything that had occurred at work. I went to sleep feeling that I didn't care if I ever woke up in the morning and that I almost preferred not to.

The next day I called a Christian Science practitioner and asked her to pray for me. She agreed to help. One of the points she emphasized was that even if I couldn't feel any joy at the moment, I could still thank God for being the source of my joy and for being with me. She told me that my true selfhood as God's spiritual image can never be cut off from Him. I realized that this meant I couldn't be cut off from joy, which is a quality of God.

A Bible passage from Psalms that speaks of man's inseparability from God came to mind. Part of it reads: "Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?... If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me."

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