I’ve been frustrated with quite a few things this past week but they haven’t really gotten me down. Then today the deeper depression switch got flipped on (Bipolar) and everything felt much worse, with a sinking stomach, dark feeling and thinking things like, “I’m frustrated with everything.”
I happen to be reading the little book Christians Get Depressed Too, which is better than I thought it would be. I’ve been at this a long time and have been working on my thinking for many years, although physical type stuff is always there (yes, always) too. ”I’m frustrated with everything” shows me that I’m engaging in false extremes as the book puts it. I think I call it all or nothing thinking but that might not be the best term.
So how do I work this out Biblically? Obviously I’m not frustrated with everything in the whole world but more importantly, not nearly everything in my life. I’m not frustrated with my wife or cats or a whole bunch of other things. So I’m magnifying my frustration. I can think about 2 Cor 4:17 to put it into perspective.
2 Corinthians 4:16b-18 GW
Though outwardly we are wearing out, inwardly we are renewed day by day. 17 Our suffering is light and temporary and is producing for us an eternal glory that is greater than anything we can imagine. 18 We don’t look for things that can be seen but for things that can’t be seen. Things that can be seen are only temporary. But things that can’t be seen last forever.
(By the way, this is one of the many great things about Scripture memory.)
The frustration won’t last forever, it’s not that bad in these cases and I need to see things from a godly spiritual perspective and take refuge in Him. I need to think more about the things that will last forever and less about the temporal (Col 3:1-3). Easier said than done.
For now, the sinking, dark feeling is still there but the switch will get flipped again and the depression will be more moderate as it usually is. (For me it’s chronic.) The improvement in thinking will help the mental aspect of it hopefully and help me to persevere (James 1:2-4) for when the bigger things come along, which they will.
Comments welcome.
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