Monday, February 15, 2010

Out of the "Blue"

Depression. The modern-day “common cold”. A word that is sometimes tossed around casually. There is confusion about being depressed versus depression. Being depressed is something you do when you step on the scales and they haven’t budged from last week. Depressed is what happens when the kids will be out of school another day due to winter weather.

Depression and other mental illnesses are a different kettle of fish. According to the Global Burden of Disease study, mental illness has a greater effect than all cancers combined. In America, suicide is the third leading cause of death among young people age 15 to 24. The Surgeon General’s office estimates twenty percent of adults are affected by mental illness.

Numbers are not just abstract facts. How many people belong to your church? For every hundred members, you can believe around twenty people are affected by mental illness. When you look around the sanctuary next Sunday, consider that one of every five may deal with the consequences of mental illness. You may very well be the one in five on your pew.

But when was the last time your pastor called a member to the prayer rail for support in their struggle with mental illness? Cancer, heart disease, strokes – these woes call for corporate prayer at first glimmer. But mental illness is a problem to keep under wraps. Please join me in the next few posts as we explore the Bible’s take on mental illness and the response God calls for from us.

May you feel His grace today,
Gail W.

The last Word: Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord.
James 5:14, NIV.

3 comments:

Crown of Beauty said...

Hi Gail! I was overjoyed to see your comment at my blog anniversary post, and you were even the first one to greet me!

So glad you're back in Blog Land. I was visiting here a few weeks ago and your last post was still about Katie's precious pomeranian-cocker spaniel... and suddenly now you have posts dated september and october as well!

Hmmm, were they on draft all these time?

Loved this post. Makes me want to go to our church on Sunday morning and give an altar call for everyone needing prayer for depression. However, there are only quite a few in our church, not as much as in the West. I know depression in your part of the world is a common malady.

Loved the "old people" posts, GAil.

Welcome back! I have missed your insightful posts!

Love
Lidj

Laura said...

Oh, Yay! I'm happy to see you, Gail :)

This will be a fascinating series, I'm sure. I will follow along.

Denise said...

I have missed you sweetie, so glad your back.