Does Winter Make You SAD?

Happy 2024! I’m so glad that you are here with me on this journey. May this year be the best year yet for you and your family. If I can pray for you, please comment or send me a message.

I don’t do winter well. I’m extremely cold-natured, like “I’m the girl at the beach with a sweatshirt on” cold-natured.  Living in the southeastern United States means we have mild winters compared to many other areas.  Some years we see snow and ice or we can go several years without seeing a single flake.  Besides the temperature, one of the reasons winter is so hard on me is that I suffer from SAD, Seasonal Affective Disorder, a form of depression that begins and ends around the same time each year. This onset of depression comes as the darkness grows and we aren’t able to be outside as much as in the summer months. During this time of year, the enemy likes to tell me lies that steal my joy.  The Bible talks about depression and discouragement throughout.  Several people in the Bible, including Job, Hannah, Nehemiah and David were affected by discouragement and depression.

Job faced a LOT of heartache and experienced tremendous loss in his life.  He lost his children in a wind storm (Job 1:19), his donkey and oxen were stolen (Job 1:15), his farmhands were killed, and a fire killed his sheep and his shepherds (Job 1:16). It didn’t stop there.  His camels were stolen and his servants were killed (Job 1:17).  Needless to say, Job was having a REALLY bad season.  Instead of immediately blaming God for his misfortune, he worshipped God (Job 1:20b). Satan hit him with a skin disorder after the loss of his family and fortune (Job 2:7) yet he never cursed God.

In chapter 30, verse 16, Job says, “‘And now my life seeps away. Depression haunts my days.’” (Job 30:16 NLT). Job was lonely and in despair, feeling God was silent toward him and his suffering, yet he didn’t curse God. Even when God is silent, He is always with us.  (Deuteronomy 31:8). God never leaves us and never forsakes us.  He is with us through loss and discouragement. The way we handle those things is up to us. We can turn away from God and let the circumstances cloud our thoughts and depress us or we can turn to God and worship Him. Job’s life was eventually restored, and he was better off than before.  Our current suffering isn’t the end for us.

Hannah experienced discouragement too.  She cried out to the Lord for a baby for years.  Elkanah’s other wife, Peninnah, had several children with Elkanah but Hannah had not yet had any. As she was praying in Shiloh after a sacrificial meal, she cried out in anguish to the Lord.  Eli, the priest heard her and accused her of being drunk. “‘Oh no, Sir!’ she replied. ‘I haven’t been drinking wine or anything stronger. But I am very discouraged, and I was pouring out my heart to the Lord. Don’t think that I am a wicked woman! For I have been praying out of great anguish and sorrow.’” (1 Samuel 1:15-16 NLT).

God heard Hannah’s prayers. He listens when we pray.  Sometimes our wants/prayers aren’t answered immediately, or in the way we want them to be answered.  Hannah had prayed the same prayer for years, and then one day that prayer was answered in a better way than she could have ever imagined.  Hannah worshipped the Lord and gave her son to the Lord.  The Lord fulfills His promises to us (1 Corinthians 1:9). Even though Hannah was discouraged because her prayers hadn’t yet been answered, she didn’t give up.  She kept showing up and she kept worshipping. 

Nehemiah was the cupbearer to King Artaxerxes.  One day the King noticed that Nehemiah appeared to be sad, which he had never seen before. “So the King asked me, ‘Why are you looking so sad? You don’t look sick to me. You must be deeply troubled.’ Then I was terrified.” (Nehemiah 2:2 NLT). Nehemiah was indeed troubled because Judah was in ruins.  He sought God’s wisdom and asked the King if he could head up a project to rebuild the city; the place where his ancestors were buried.  As a servant of the King, Nehemiah risked his life with this request. Nehemiah’s despair was used by God to rebuild the city.  

When God calls us, He always provides us with what we need to do His will.  Nehemiah was in the right position and trusted by King Artaxerxes to rebuild a city that was in ruins.  Not only did Nehemiah rebuild the city, but he helped the oppressed seek justice.  Nehemiah sought God in prayer and obeyed when God answered.  God answers our prayers (Matthew 7:7-11).  Nehemiah was granted his request and he was given the resources he needed to accomplish his task.

Depression and discouragement affect all of us at some point. Even the Kings struggle with it.  King David faced a lot of adversity in his lifetime.  He was relentlessly chased by Saul and his son Absalom even tried to kill him.  

David has just been rescued from all his enemies, including Saul, and David chose to worship the Lord.  In Psalm 18:6, David wrote, “But in my distress I cried out to the Lord. Yes, I prayed to my God for help.  He heard me from his sanctuary, my cry to him reached his ears.” (Psalm 18:6 NLT).  In Psalm 13, David is honest with God, he tells God exactly how he is feeling.  God already knows how we feel, but the fact that He is all-knowing doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t be honest and tell Him.  David worshipped God through his discouragement.

This winter as the discouragement and depression start to creep in, I am taking advice from Job, Hannah, Nehemiah, and David and I am turning to the God of my strength, El Sali.  I will ask for wisdom in my situation, seeking His face continually and always remembering that no matter what God is good.  He loves us, He cares about us, and He hears our prayers.  

Will you join me this winter in not letting the enemy steal our joy, but combating him with God’s strength and Word? 

These are some of my go-to verses when I feel discouraged.

Psalm 23

Psalm 27

Psalm 91

What is your go-to verse when discouragement creeps in?