"My mom's depression means I'll probably end up depressed too when I'm older."
How it sounds in your head: I see mom lying in bed with the curtains closed, taking pills, missing my games. Sometimes I feel that same heavy sadness creeping in and wonder if this is the beginning of my own battle.
"To console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified."
-- Isaiah 61:3Source: Medical determinism mixed with hopelessness, ignoring the finished work and the Spirit's power to heal.
She lives with the evidence daily and has heard doctors talk about hereditary mental illness. The sadness she sometimes feels seems like confirmation that the curse is activating.
She was so depressed she couldn't eat, wept constantly, was 'deeply distressed' and 'grieved in spirit' for YEARS. The priest thought she was drunk because of her anguish. One encounter with God's promise and verse 18 says 'she went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad'—INSTANT shift from depression to joy.
I REFUSE the lie that my mother's depression is my inheritance. IT IS WRITTEN that God gives beauty for ashes, JOY for mourning, and praise for the spirit of heaviness. The joy of the Lord is MY STRENGTH, not sadness. IT IS WRITTEN that I am filled with the Spirit who produces JOY, PEACE, and HOPE. The BARAK blessing gives me gladness, celebration, and abundant life. Depression has NO CLAIM on me. I receive supernatural JOY and the garment of praise RIGHT NOW.
The Father doesn't see you heading toward your mom's struggle—He sees you FILLED with the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead, wearing a garment of PRAISE, radiating His joy. That's not your future; that's your NOW.