Depression and finding joy in God!

Depression, as Ed Welch calls it correctly, is a stubborn darkness. I am reading through his book currently on this theme and he has several very helpful points that he makes. But several months ago I also listened to a podcast by John Piper on "How to Fight for Joy When You Don't Desire God." I found great hope in this message and I would like to offer the main points to you. If you get ocassionally "blue" or really fight serious depression I believe this principles and action steps will really help you. You can also find these thoughts in Piper's book When You Don't Desire God. So here is how he suggests and what I have found very helpful in fighting a loss of joy or depression in my life.

1. Recognize that joy is a gift from God and you can't just make it happen (Galatians 5:22)
2. Realize that joy must be fought for relentlessly (2 Corinthians 1:24)
3. Resolve to attack all known sin in your life. The evidence that you are a Christian is that you hate your imperfections and are making war on them (Romans 8:11)
4. Learn the secre of gusty guilt. Learn how to fight like a justified sinner (Micah 7:17ff)
5. The battle for joy is primarily one of seeing God (2 Corinthians 3:18; 4:4)
6. Meditate on the Word (Psalm 19:7; John 15:11; Psalm 1; Jeremiah 17:7)
7. Pray earnestly and continually for open eyes and an open hear and an inclination for God. Pray for joy (Psalm 119:36, 10; 86:11; 90:14)
8. Learn to preach to yourself rather than listen to yourself (Psalm 42:5). Our minds are much too passive in our fight for joy!
9. Spend time with God-saturated people who will help you see God and fight the fight for joy (Hebrews 3:12-13). Fighting for joy is a community project.
   
10. Be patient in the night of God's seeming absence (Psalm 40:1-3). Don't begrudge God's timing.
11. Get the rest, the exercise and the proper diet your body is designed to have. Patience is the fruit of sleep and of the Spirit. Sleep makes you humble. It reminds you that you aren't God. Sleep is a daily witness to your finitude.
12. Make a proper use of God's revelation in nature (Psalm 19:1). A mouthful of sea air or a stiff walk in the wind's face would not give grace to the soul but it will yield oxygen to the body which is the next best thing. Don't be so introspective and so self-absorbed that you can't see the sun rise, the squirrels playing, the gnarled tree, or the intricacy of an eyeball.
13. Be sacrificial toward others.
    
14. Get a global vision. Think "Jesus owns the universe and I belong to Him."

If you are suffering with depression even now, let me encourage you with two thoughts in closing. First, Jesus shared in our sufferings. (Hebrews 2:10). And secondly, if you have experienced salvation from the Lord, remember God is always good and generous. ""He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?" (Romans 8:32, ESV). There is light for the path that you are walking today.