The world teaches us to be strong, as the tears of the weak are not worthy of sympathy. So men try not to cry, while women are also becoming stronger and more independent. However, increasingly more people suffer from depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety, gamophobia, and social anxiety disorder. According to the 2022 Blue Book on National Depression, there are more than 95 million people with depression in China.
I recently received a phone call of a reader, who said that she had been prone to depression since when she was seven years old. Now she is in her early thirties, married, and has two children. She had particularly serious symptoms in recent years and often had the idea of committing suicide. Her husband had to call her many times during the day and tried to comfort her at night. Although her husband loves her very much, she still cannot shake off her depression.
Generally, people cannot overcome mental illness by their own will, but even some seemingly strong people cannot avoid depression either.
Recently, CoCo Lee, a Hong Kong-American singer-songwriter, passed away due to depression, even though she always showed a positive and optimistic side. In February of this year, CoCo Lee wrote that she was born with a defect in her left leg and underwent surgery at age two to repair her left leg, which turned out unsuccessful. Over the years, CoCo has been singing and dancing with his right leg. At the end of every dance, her leg hurt like hell. It's hard to imagine her decades of suffering. But even such a strong lady did not overcome the torture of depression.
At the same time, Huiyu (a pseudonym), who served in a northern church, was interviewed by the Christian Times, an online Christian newspaper in China.
The lady who served the youth fellowship said that only by getting the love of Christ could people easily overcome darkness, fear, and death.
Huiyu said that the youth fellowship, which was established two years ago, is now mainly served by four young female Christians. Only a few believers gathered in the past year or so. But since the beginning of this year, some people with mental illness have joined successively. They are either manic, delusional, or depressed, and all of them are around 20–30 years old. They have varying degrees of body trembling and frequent crying, or are unable to express themselves completely. Huiyu believed that this was related to their past experiences, during which they were deeply hurt.
Huiyu said frankly that these female staff workers felt inexperienced and unprofessional when they first came into contact with them, worried that they were not qualified for the difficult job.
But the Lord moved them and gave them confidence. They prayed, gathered, paid visits, accompanied them like before, and also did some bible study. Slowly, one patient was healed, and the Lord continued to show His strength to cure them one after another.
The female patient with mania made up her mind to stop taking drugs and talked clearer and more orderly, without shaking her body any more. Another female one with depression also showed smiles on her face. The third one with the delusion of being murdered, who could not sleep before, soon returned to sleep after receiving the gospel. She did not have a job before, but later she found one and went on doing it.
Staff workers felt that they did not do anything except give company. The patients cannot tell how they have changed. At first, they all wanted to reject the gospel, but then they followed the church workers to pray, read the Bible, praise, and attend the gathering, with their mentality being changed. They felt that the torturous dark forces had receded and had been replaced with peace and joy.
Huiyu concluded that it was the wonderful love and ability of the Lord that enabled people to bear pain and have the courage to face past injuries. The love of the Lord came into their lives, and they let go of the past hurts and chose forgiveness. No force could bind them anymore. Even though they are still weak before the Lord, they can overcome suffering by relying on the Lord.
- Translated by Oliver Zuo
