Contributed by Abbey Thangiah • Nov 28, 2023
No matter what I have gone through in this world. I can stand tall and say that God has been with me through the storm. I don’t know what I will do without God’s love, favour and grace. But most of the suffering I face is inside. Sometimes many of us have this facade that everything is normal but deep inside we are suffering. We may look joyful but feel depressed and down inside. I am joyful to know that when our God talks about suffering, he also knows our suffering inside and is here to heal us.
One of the earliest books I have read about depression is, “The Noonday Demon” by Andrew Solomon. It has been proven that depression leads to all physical diseases such as hypertension and diabetes.
“The most important thing to remember about depression is this: you do not get the time back. It is not tacked on at the end of your life to make up for the disaster years. Whatever time is eaten by a depression is gone forever. The minutes that are ticking by as you experience the illness are minutes you will not know again.”
― Andrew Solomon, The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression
There are many men of God who labour worse than our construction labourers claiming God as the source of strength and perseverance. Sadly when they are all alone, all the tension caused is released in the home and they mostly live a life without leisure and rest. To add on to the wound, the life of a man of God is never easy.
My late father was a man of God. He spent his whole life fighting the world. He built churches and halls. As much as the building’s standing is a testimony of God’s providence to the churches, he was also persecuted by his own members and the churches at large. He spent countless days in government offices and then served his church members. To this day, he holds the record of meeting every one of his 200 church members once a month. To top all that, he had to fulfil his duty as the head of the family, a son to his father and as the eldest of his ten siblings.
I have seen how God blessed my family. All good things certainly came from God who loves and cares for us. I have no idea how my father pulled it off, but he really sacrificed everything for God and his family and in turn, God has indeed provided abundantly for him and us.
Sadly, I wish I could say the same for his health. He literally burnt out. He always kept his emotions to himself and it showed externally. He never had people to share with. Everyone looked up at him to the point that many forgot he was a normal human being who needed people to talk to. God saved my dad from three serious strokes (that I know of). He was paralyzed in the final years of his life and went to be with the Lord two years ago.
I pray that when we suffer, we will not suffer alone. I pray that we will have a friend or a group of people we can turn to. I thank God for my Cell Group but sometimes when a Cell Group is insufficient, I pray that we would seek counsellors and professional help. Remember that your problems are not unique and you are not the only one in this world who is suffering. Seeing a counsellor is like seeing a doctor for a headache. You are not a mental patient just because you talked to someone. Sometimes just by talking to someone, your emotional baggage is reduced.
Let’s continue to fight the good fight together as God’s family.