“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 15:13, NIV)
Everyone has their own story and there are numerous reasons why people experience emotional and mental illness. I’m sharing my story not to tell anyone what they need to do, but rather to share what God did for me. My hope is that it will be of help to others.
I personally experienced deep depression and severe anxiety that lasted every day and every night for four years. At the end of that four-year period God instantly and miraculously lifted all the anxiety and depression. I wouldn’t wish that experience on anyone, but I can now say that they were four of the best years of my life. During that time, I came to know the only true God and His Son, Jesus in ways I had never known them before.
My dad died when I was nine years old. After his death, one of the first thoughts that came to my mind was, “I am now responsible for me.” I didn’t trust anyone, including God. Because I didn’t trust anyone, I wouldn’t listen to anyone. I wasn’t teachable. Adding to the confusion and wrong-thinking, my mom had us stop attending the Christ-centered, Bible-believing church my dad took us to. For the next fifteen years of my life, I made many poor choices. My friends were rebels, like me. For the most part, what I learned from those friends was that boys were supposed to play sports and have sex with girls. That was not wise counsel. The Bible says, bad company corrupts good character. (1 Corinthians 15:33, NIV)
While attending church before dad passed away, I learned that Jesus was crucified and that He rose from the dead. I was taught that Jesus loved people. But I didn’t know God, nor did I know His Son, Jesus. I had no real comprehension of how much God hates sin (disobedience to God). I also lacked any real understanding of how much God loves people, even me. I had no wisdom, direction, or guidance from the Bible as I stopped attending church and was not reading the Bible. I only prayed after I had done something wrong. I’d ask God to protect me from the consequences of the bad thing I had done. Quite often, my prayer included words like, “If you get me out of this, I will never do it again.” What a lie I repeated to God way too many times. Yet God was very kind and patient. He never gave up on me, and never stopped pursuing me with His grace, truth, mercy, and compassion.
I had many friends in high school, played sports, and was president of our class one year, but outside of school, I lived a sinful life. I was blind to biblical truth and blind to my need for Christ. I didn’t grasp the extent to which I was being conformed to this world and its sinful ways. I was oblivious to the fact that Satan, the devil was the god of this world who deceives people (See 2 Corinthians 4:4; Revelation 12:9). He makes what is bad and evil look good, with the goal of destroying lives.
I lacked authenticity. I spent the early years of my life being someone I didn’t want to be. I had fears and insecurities I never shared with anyone. I didn’t even know I was supposed to. I had learned to share strengths, not any weakness. Then one day the anxiety attacks began. I had no idea what was going on. To make a long story short, my four-year battle with anxiety and depression had begun.
How was I set free of that illness? What did I learn that might be of help to you, or someone else? Here are a few key examples of what God taught me:
- I needed help from people who would listen and love me enough to walk through the illness with me. Most importantly, I needed wise counsel from people who would point me to Jesus and the Bible for answers.
- I had to come to the realization that God was using my illness to help me get to know Him so I could come to trust Him.
- All the lies, deceit, and unhealthy wrong thinking I had embraced needed to be replaced with biblical truth. Romans 12:2, NKJV reads: And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
- I began to practice being grateful and thankful to God each day for giving me life, for His loving kindness, mercy, compassion, grace and truth. I thank Him for His daily provision, guidance, and many other good gifts. I especially thank Him for being an approachable, faithful Father who loves me, has forgiven me, and has promised me eternal life in His presence.
- I discovered Jesus to be the truth who sets people free.
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life…” (John 14:6, ESV)
“And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:32, NLT)
Jesus Offers Great Joy
And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:10-11, ESV)
Happiness is a feeling that people experience when life is going our way. Joy can be experienced, regardless of circumstances, if our faith and trust is in Christ the Lord.
For me to have any hope of experiencing peace and joy instead of anxiety and depression, a major change was required. I needed to humbly transfer trust in myself to trust in the God who created me and loves me more than anyone else does. I could never expect to experience peace and joy by ignoring God Almighty and not living in ways that are pleasing and honoring to Him.
God longed to take me from darkness into the light. His desire was to set me free of my emotional and mental illness. But a big part of my struggle with sin and the reason for my anxiety and depression came from thinking I was saved, when I was not. I knew salvation was a free gift from God because the Bible says it is.
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23, ESV)
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God…” (Ephesians 2:8, ESV)
What does it mean to be saved? To be saved means to be saved from God’s wrath, forgiven of our sins, and reconciled with God. What must a person do to be saved from God’s wrath? Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved (Acts 16:31, ESV). Turn from sin, place your faith in Jesus to save you, receive Him as your Savior and Lord, and you become a forgiven child of God. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. (John 1:12, ESV)
The problem: Although I knew what the Bible said about salvation, I had never truly comprehended the indescribable love that God has for people, including me. When I finally did, I turned from sin and placed my faith in Jesus. Transformation began to take place as I chose biblical truth to replace lies and deceit. God has since blessed my life with an abundance of peace and joy.
My prayer is that you too will come to know the only true God and His Son, Jesus. May His steadfast love for YOU set you free of all anxiety and depression.
“And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” (John 17:3, ESV)
April 1, 2025
by Jeff Rosenau
Jeff is the founder and president of the ministry, Christlike Dialogue. He is the author of Christlike Dialogue and When Christians Act Like Christians. Jeff has over 30 years’ experience teaching biblical principles that equip people to engage in conversations that are honoring to God.