2. “Tales from The Dark Side”

3. God is able to help us grow and improve
We must understand the difference between having feelings of sadness (that come and go), those who have a more melancholic temperament, and having
clinical depression.
God is able to help us grow and improve
in all these areas,
since He created us.

4. of bondage, the spirit of oppression
"The Spirit of God is always the spirit of liberty; the spirit that is not of God is the spirit
of bondage, the spirit of oppression
and depression… When we get out into God’s great free life, we discover that that is the
way God meant us to live "the glorious liberty of the children of God."
- Oswald Chambers

7. Isaiah 57:15 For this is what the high
and exalted One says—     He who lives forever,
whose name is holy: “I live in a high and holy place,     but also with the one
who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly     and to revive the heart of the contrite.”

8. Psalm 145:14 “The LORD upholds all those who fall and lifts up all who
are bowed down.”
Psalm 62:5
“Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from Him.”

9. we withdraw. It is in these times that
“Instead of getting surrounded with people to help us, most of us try to eat the problem away or starve the problem away and stay behind closed doors.
When life is toughest, we stay home from church. When we can't pull it together,
we withdraw. It is in these times that
we need to be surrounded by church people and celebrate God's presence!"
- Bernard Anderson, "Out of the Depths"

10. Pastor and author Warren Wiersbe
draws our attention to the 51 Psalmist references to his interests, desires, feelings, questions and plans.
Wiersbe advises that a healthy antidote to depression is to stop looking at self and look at God; second, to look to the past
as a tool only and focus on the future; then, to hope--the answer to depression is hope; and finally, to stop searching for reasons and start resting on promises.