"My youth leader said my depression wouldn't exist if I truly knew my identity in Christ and spent more time in the Word."
How it sounds in your head: He's probably right. If I really understood who I am in Jesus, I wouldn't feel this empty. My depression must mean I don't actually know God well enough.
"For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
-- Romans 8:38-39Source: religion - spiritual bypassing that blames mental illness on insufficient Bible knowledge, adding condemnation to already crushing despair.
Your youth leader seems so full of joy and so certain of his identity, and you wonder what you're missing that he has. The implication that you could think your way out of depression feels both hopeful and damning.
David wrote an entire Psalm of unrelenting darkness with NO happy ending - 'darkness is my closest friend.' This made it into SCRIPTURE. God didn't edit it out or add a 'but I remembered my identity!' ending, showing God honors honest despair.
I REFUSE the lie that my depression means I don't know my identity. IT IS WRITTEN that NOTHING - not even mental illness - can separate me from God's love. David experienced crushing darkness and God put it in SCRIPTURE without demanding he fix his perspective first. IT IS WRITTEN that I am righteousness of God in Christ - that's positional TRUTH regardless of what I feel. My identity is GIFT, not achievement. Depression doesn't disqualify me; it's just brain chemistry, and God provides help for that.
Your Father isn't standing back waiting for you to 'get' your identity enough to fix your depression - He's running into your darkness RIGHT NOW, holding you while you can't feel Him, whispering 'You're Mine' over and over even when you can't hear it, because your identity never depended on your feelings in the first place.