When Depression Hits
Speaker: Rev. Joe Hansen
Psalm 42: 1-2 As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?
Each week of our soul reset experience, we will learn about a spiritual practice that will help us to seek wholeness. This week, we look at the spiritual practice of praying the scriptures. Right now, on a sheet of paper or in a note on your phone, write Psalm 42 in your own words. If the idea of rewriting the whole psalm feels too long and difficult, choose a passage that jumps out at you. Make David’s words your own and bring all your feelings to God. End your psalm with words of praise, just as David taught us to do. When you are finished writing, spend a few minutes in silent prayer, praying your paraphrased psalm over and over to God. Invite those who want to, to read aloud their psalm.
1. What are some of your thoughts or reflections from the video and chap- ter 2 of the Soul Reset book?
2. Take turns reading the verses of Psalm 42. What is David talking about in this psalm? What do you think is the condition of his soul? What does this psalm teach us about prayer?
3. In chapter 2, Pastor Dotson shares his story of battling depression. He tells the story of a friend asking him what it is that he has to be depressed about. Have you ever had a season in which by all outward appearances you seemed successful and confident, but inside you were fighting a battle? Share about that time.
4. Depression and taking medication for it can sometimes carry a stigma, especially in the church. What is the stigma? Why do you think there is a stigma? What do you think is the remedy to allow more space for people to be honest about how they are feeling and what they are strug- gling with?
5. Pastor Dotson writes that David was fixated on what was wrong, that he was looking horizontally instead of vertically to God for a new beginning. Would you say that in crisis you fixate on the problems or fixate on God’s power to work in and through them?
6. Why do you think it’s so easy to get stuck complaining about what’s wrong instead of seeking God?
7. In his despair, David begins to recall and remember the goodness of God. He replays the tape of the good memories he has experienced with God. How can remembering God’s goodness bring us out of despair?
8. What does Pastor Dotson mean when he says that David was experiencing “spiritual dehydration”? Have you ever experienced such a thing? Share about that time.
9. “Part of breaking the chains of depression is reconnecting to God. . . . voices of doubt and discord get more power in our lives when we are not connected to God” (page 44). Do you agree with this statement? Why or why not?
10. What practices help us keep God’s voice turned up in our lives so that voices of doubt and discord lose their power?
11. David feels all the feelings and brings them all to God. He lays out his raw emotions and gut-level feelings; he does not hold back. But David gets to the end and finds a “yet praise” moment. He remembers and decides that he will keep on praising God and trusting God, no matter what comes at him. What are your “yet praise” moments?
12. Do you feel like you can bring all your raw emotions and gut feelings to God? Why or why not?
13. Pastor Dotson shares that during times when he wasn’t able to praise God for the right now, he would praise God for what is to come. What do you think he meant by that? Do you think you could do the same? Why or why not?
14. “When you’re surrounded by a set of circumstances that threatens your faith, it’s time to worship. Worship is a lifestyle that reminds us of our ability to ‘yet praise’ in the midst of difficulties” (page 46). What does it mean to have a worship lifestyle? How does a worship lifestyle help us in our difficulties?
15. In the video, Pastor Dotson shares four keys to limiting the effects of depression when it hits: honesty, not pretending it will go away, talking about it, and spiritual practices. How can we create a community where we can be honest about our struggles? What spiritual practices help to pull you out of the pit?
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