Day 1: 31 Days of Pursuing Joy When Anxiety and Depression are Pursuing You

Welcome to 31 Days!

This month, Life Under the Lintel is linking up with bunches of other bloggers for the 31 Day Challenge.  Each blogger writes about one topic of their choice, every day, for the month of October.

Though I'm in no way a professional, depression and generalized anxiety have been personally familiar topics for years.  As a disclaimer, I am currently taking extremely helpful medication, without which I was unable to even think through these issues clearly.  I do not, however, believe that medication is the only and complete solution to mood problems.

"Moreover, that every man who eats and drinks sees good in all his labor--it is the gift of God...Furthermore, as for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, He has also empowered him to eat from them and to receive his reward and rejoice in his labor; this is the gift of God."

Ecclesiastes 3:13, 5:19

Enjoying life is the gift of God.  Sometimes He gives that gift naturally.  Sometimes He gives it through pharmaceuticals.  Sometimes He gives it through a gradual change of heart.  

Sometimes He withholds it.

There are some who would tell the anxious soul to "just relax."  They would tell the clinically depressed to "cheer up."  

But the God who has power to gift or withhold enjoyment does not scoff at your struggle.  

"Though He scoffs at the scoffers,

Yet He gives grace to the afflicted."

Proverbs 3:34

He offers grace instead.


This month, we will touch on questions such as:  What causes depression?  Isn't anxiety a sin?  Should all Christians feel joy?  How can I stop being afraid?  Is God disappointed in my moods?  Why do I struggle this way?  What can I do about it?  

This series is an attempt to tease out some of the tangled mess of physiology, sin, personality, brokenness, and unbelief that depression and anxiety are. 


Join me, and let's explore together God's grace for the struggling heart.


Next:  Causes


All posts in this series:

Day 1: 31 Days of Pursuing Joy When Anxiety and Depression are Pursuing You

Day 2: Causes

Day 3: The Medication Question

Day 4: Sadness

Day 5: Hopeless

Day 6: Can't Think

Day 7: Can't Stop Thinking

Day 8: Guilt

Day 9: Dread

Day 10: Fear of Humiliation

Day 11: Fear of What Might Be

Day 12: The Jitters

Day 13: The Fear Transfer

Day 14: Slumber

Day 15:  Romans 8


Day 16: The Valley

Day 17:  Nowhere

Day 18: When It Cripples You

Day 19:  Thorns

Day 20:  Mellow Out

Day 21:  Blessing by Withholding the Blessing

Day 22:  Love Your Struggling Neighbor

Day 23:  Better Good News

Day 24:  Whose Idea Was Joy?

Day 25:  Joy in Sorrow

Day 26:  Joy That Defies the Gestapo

Day 27:  Sow to the Spirit

Day 28:  Preach

Day 29:  Truth

Day 30:  Saying Thank You When You're Not Thankful

Day 31:  Grace for the Struggling