I am constantly surprised at how many of my own friends and acquaintances have experienced PPD. It makes it easy to believe that the prevalence of PPD is 5%-25%.
On the topic of Christians and depression, we have many examples of Godly, faithful people who struggled with depression.
Moses (Numbers 1:10-14 Moses heard the people weeping throughout their clans, everyone at the door of his tent. And the anger of the LORD blazed hotly, and Moses was displeased. Moses said to the LORD, "Why have you dealt ill with your servant? And why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me? Did I conceive all this people? Did I give them birth, that you should say to me, 'Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries a nursing child,' to the land that you swore to give their fathers? Where am I to get meat to give to all this people? For they weep before me and say, 'Give us meat, that we may eat.' I am not able to carry all this people alone; the burden is too heavy for me. If you will treat me like this, kill me at once, if I find favor in your sight, that I may not see my wretchedness.).
Elijah (1 Kings 19:3-4 Then he was afraid, and he arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there. But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he asked that he might die, saying, "It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers.").
Job (Job 3- especially verses 3,11,20-26 3 "Let the day perish on which I was born, and the night that said, 'A man is conceived.' 11"Why did I not die at birth, come out from the womb and expire? 20"Why is light given to him who is in misery, and life to the bitter in soul, 21who long for death, but it comes not, and dig for it more than for hidden treasures, 22who rejoice exceedingly and are glad when they find the grave? 23Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in? 24For my sighing comes instead of my bread, and my groanings are poured out like water. 25 For the thing that I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me. 26I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest, but trouble comes." Job 17:1 1 "My spirit is broken; my days are extinct; the graveyard is ready for me.).
David (Ps. 43:2-5 2For you are the God in whom I take refuge; why have you rejected me? Why do I go about mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? 3 Send out your light and your truth; let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling! 4 Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy, and I will praise you with the lyre, O God, my God. 5 Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.).
No one experienced more depression than David. Here are some more references to David’s depression. (Ps. 6,13,18,23,25,27,31,32,34, 37-40, 42-43, 46, 51,55,62-63, 69, 71, 73,77,84,86,90-91, 94-95, 103- 104, 107, 110, 116, 118, 121, 123-124, 130, 138, 139, 141-143, 146-147).
Jeremiah (Jer. 20:14 14 Cursed be the day on which I was born! The day when my mother bore me, let it not be blessed!).
Hannah (1 Sam. 1:8, 10 8And Elkanah, her husband, said to her, "Hannah, why do you weep? And why do you not eat? And why is your heart sad? 10 She was deeply distressed and prayed to the LORD and wept bitterly.).
Nehemiah (Neh. 1:4 4 As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven. Neh. 2:1 1In the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence.).
Jesus (Mat 26:38 Then He said to them, "My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me.")
I feel that this is enough to "chew" on for one day, so I leave you with this verse from Habakkuk 3:17-19.
Though the fig tree should not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the LORD;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
GOD, the Lord, is my strength;
he makes my feet like the deer’s;
he makes me tread on my high places.
