25 Anxiety in the heart of man causes depression, but a good word makes it glad.

• Proverbs 12:25 NKJV

FOUR ROOT CAUSES OF DEPRESSION

• Biological
• Relational
• Circumstantial
• Spiritual

1 I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of the Lord's wrath. 2 He has driven me away and made me walk in darkness rather than light; ... 5 He has besieged me and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship. 6 He has made me dwell in darkness like those long dead. 7 He has walled me in so I cannot escape; he has weighed me down with chains. 8 Even when I call out or cry for help, he shuts out my prayer. ... 17 I have been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is. 18 So I say, "My splendor is gone and all that I had hoped from the Lord." 19 I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. 20 I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me.

• Lamentations 3:1-2; 5-8; 17-20 NIV

1) YOUR EMOTIONS ARE VALID, BUT NOT PERMANENT.

2) YOUR SITUATION FEELS HOPELESS, BUT THERE IS ALWAYS HOPE WITH GOD.

21 Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: 22 Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. 23 They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

• Lamentations 3:21-23 NIV

24 I say to myself, "The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him." 25 The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; 26 it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.

• Lamentations 3:24-26 NIV