Depression | Laurie Coombs

Archive for the ‘Depression’ Category

Letters of Hope #3

Posted on: May 6th, 2014 by Laurie Coombs 2 Comments

With permission, I’ve decided to anonymously share some of the correspondence I’ve had with readers about their struggles with anxiety and/or depression over the coming weeks. I think some of you may be able to relate with these individuals who are currently battling fear and darkness, and it is my hope that you find comfort in knowing that you’re not alone in this. And I also thought my responses may be of some use to you as well. To those readers who aren’t struggling in this area, I’d like to encourage you to hang in there with me for a few more weeks! I’ll be back writing as I had before long. Thank you for patiently waiting this topic out! I am sitting at work, at my desk, in tears over your article on depression/anxiety. I’ve been experiencing this for some time now and I just started going to a…

Letters of Hope #2

Posted on: April 30th, 2014 by Laurie Coombs

fear, anxiety, depression, how to battle depression, battle depression, battling depression, God, Jesus, Christian depression, trust

With permission, I’ve decided to anonymously share some of the correspondence I’ve had with readers about their struggles with anxiety and/or depression over the coming weeks. I think some of you may be able to relate with these individuals who are currently battling fear and darkness, and it is my hope that you find comfort in knowing that you’re not alone in this. And I also thought my responses may be of some use to you as well. To those readers who aren’t struggling in this area, I’d like to encourage you to hang in there with me for a few more weeks! I’ll be back writing as I had before long. Thank you for patiently waiting this topic out! Laurie were you confident of your relationship with God when u went thru depression? I ask for a good reason. I may have another question depending on your answer i…

Letters of Hope #1

Posted on: April 23rd, 2014 by Laurie Coombs 5 Comments

Joy is coming, fear, anxiety, depression, how to battle depression, battle depression, battling depression, God, Jesus, Christian depression, trust

With permission, I’ve decided to anonymously share some of the correspondence I’ve had with readers about their struggles with anxiety and/or depression over the coming weeks. I think some of you may be able to relate with these individuals who are currently battling fear and darkness, and it is my hope that you find comfort in knowing that you’re not alone in this. And I also thought my responses may be of some use to you as well. To those readers who aren’t struggling in this area, I’d like to encourage you to hang in there with me for a few more weeks! I’ll be back writing as I had before long. Thank you for patiently waiting this topic out! Dear Laurie, I am 40 and I have struggled my whole life with anxiety, phobias, etc. I have been “coasting” using meds etc for 15+years. I haven’t driven on the…

Overcoming Anxiety and Depression {Part 2 – Thoughts}

Posted on: April 16th, 2014 by Laurie Coombs 8 Comments

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For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ… – 2 Corinthians 4-5 (emphasis mine) When I was struggling with anxiety and depression, I truly thought I was going crazy. Terrible, irrational thoughts seemed to swirl through my mind continually, and I was pretty sure that it would not be a good idea to tell anyone what I was thinking. I thought maybe they’d take my kids away or admit me into some facility for the mentally ill. My thoughts were so far out there that I didn’t even know what I was capable of. I didn’t trust myself, and I think that’s what scared me the most. Now that I’m on the other side of that terrible season, I can clearly see that I was…

Scripture to Address Depression

Posted on: April 9th, 2014 by Laurie Coombs

depression, hope, help, scripture, God, Jesus

My girls are home for spring break this week, and I’m taking some time to be with them. But I leave you with scripture that can help when you find you’re struggling with depression. This is God’s Word. It’s truth. Read it as such. God said these things about YOU! What I like to do is write the scriptures that particularly speak to me in that moment on index cards. I have a little index card binder I bought at Office Depot that holds all of them, and I try to read them out loud every day at some point. This is particularly helpful to do when you’re struggling. Instead of sitting in your struggles, turn to God’s Word and speak truth over your mind, your situation, and your feelings! God bless you! I’ll be back soon… Jeremiah 29:11-14 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. They are plans for good…

More Practical Thoughts on Anxiety and Depression

Posted on: March 26th, 2014 by Laurie Coombs 3 Comments

This is an extremely rough post. It’s an unedited response I wrote to someone this morning, and felt the Spirit tell me to share it here. I, quite frankly, don’t have time this morning to go through and refine my prose, so I won’t because after all, that’s not what it’s all about. Email after email is pouring into my inbox. There are so many of you struggling right now, and I just don’t have the heart to hold this back for the sake of making it read better. Some of you need this now. Some of you are hanging on to your lifeline by a thread. So here it is. It’s not pretty, but here it is. On another note, my daughters are off for spring break for two weeks beginning next week, so I’ll be taking some time off with them. BUT, I will be posting scriptures that…

Overcoming Anxiety and Depression {Part 1}

Posted on: March 26th, 2014 by Laurie Coombs 15 Comments

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I think last week’s post, When Anxiety and Depression Threaten to Pull You Under, struck a cord. It seems the darkness I had experienced has been experienced––or is currently being experienced––by many. Over the last week, many people have contacted me asking for help, and with each email that I received, I realized just how important it is that I speak out with complete transparency about what I went through and how I got out of it. I originally decided to write these posts on anxiety and depression in response to correspondence I received from a man I sat next to on an airplane a few weeks back. It was one of those encounters that you know God ordained, but you’re not quite sure why you’re telling a complete stranger your entire life’s story until later. Now, I’m accustom to telling strangers about the crazy story of how God redeemed…

When Anxiety and Depression Threaten to Pull You Under

Posted on: March 19th, 2014 by Laurie Coombs 21 Comments

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It occurred to me the other day that I haven’t written much about anxiety and depression. If you’ve read some of my early posts, you know that I experienced severe anxiety and depression about five years back, which was ultimately what God used to bring me to Christ. Prior to this, I had been able to get through everything on my own, but I couldn’t seem to get myself out of this one. Honestly, I think God needed to present something to me that I had absolutely no control over for me to finally turn to Him. And though I would never want to return to this terrible place, I am thankful that God did what was necessary to bring me to Himself. But it was such a horrible, dark place to be, and I didn’t know any other person who had been through what I was experiencing, which made…

A Lifeboat to Endure the Storms of Life

Posted on: January 23rd, 2014 by Laurie Coombs

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You are loved. With a love unmatched and unparalleled by anything else. With a love incomprehensible to the human mind. A love so great, so unfathomable that many will never fully comprehend its depth this side of heaven. In the book of Isaiah, God tell of His love for us. God speaks these words over you, over me, as an affectionate Father whispers I love you in the quiet, intimate moments before lying his child to sleep. He says: But now thus says the Lord, He who created you, O Jacob, He who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are Mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your…

Receive Your Crown

Posted on: September 19th, 2013 by Laurie Coombs 3 Comments

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For weeks, thick smoke drifted hundreds of miles from the fire in Yosemite to our home in Reno. Ash fell from the sky in a delicate dance much like that of a snowflake, yet in itself was the antithesis of snow. Dirty flakes, remnants of life now dead filled our air. Smoke blocked the Sierra Nevadas from view and, at times, was so thick one could not see to the end of the street clearly. It became oppressive. There was a heaviness to the air I have not experienced before, and everyone was feeling it. “Oh, this smoke,” people would say in exasperation as they mulled about their day. Windows remained shut, and we remained indoors to prevent breathing unnecessary amounts of dirty air. After a while, however, the smoke began to lift. Despite its continued presence, God brought us some of the most beautiful sunsets. “Beauty for ashes,” I whispered…