And my God will meet ALL your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19

As you know, this blog is preparation for a book I am writing. Read about it in the menu, “About this blog”. But today I’m writing from personal experience.

All of a sudden, one afternoon I felt my mood plummet. If you are depression-prone, this is something you pay close attention to because it seems to come out of nowhere.

It never does.

So the next morning I was praying when I remembered a conversation I had with my best friend yesterday. She had seemed a bit “terse” and after I hung up, I felt a little upset. She is from Britain so she is more reserved than I am. But she’s come a long way.

However, I always know when to change a conversation because I will sense she’s not wanting to talk any further. We are extremely close but this is one area where there has always been an issue. I feel there should be no barriers between best friends.

But that’s just me.

It is this particular friendship that when she seems “distant”, I’ve really let it get to me. In fact, it’s one of those areas I had to give over to God many years ago because it was causing me way too much pain. I realized I was counting on her, just as I had so many other people, to determine my happiness.

God really worked hard in my life with this issue and I’m almost beyond it. But if I’m tired, or somehow out of sync, I can still let it bother me.

Like yesterday.

So what did I do?

First of all, I reminded myself that I love this person very much. We have had so much fun. We’re always contemplating the next project to work on. We talk pretty much every day. She loves me and I love her.

I also had to realize that it’s important to give her the space she needs. It’s OK if she doesn’t want to talk about something and it’s not up to me to force her. The question to be answered many years ago, was whether or not those things that bothered me were worth continuing the relationship.

They were.

But here’s something I learned those many years ago.

Secondly, I remember that it’s no one’s responsibility to make me happy. And, more importantly, it’s not my job to make anyone else happy. There is great freedom in this truth.

Only God can meet all our needs. People can’t.

Third, I quickly recounted the years we’ve been friends and knew that it might have been the mood I was in, not her.

When we tied up our happiness to the actions of others, we are going to be hurt. And for depression-prone people, feeling hurt can often trigger our depression.

It didn’t this time. I was right back on track in a matter of minutes.

Relationships and depression are kissin’ cousins’. The “tools” I designed for myself have a lot to do with relationships. When we open the toolbox, we’ll find lots of good tips.

For now, I just wanted to write from the heart and in “real” time.

God bless and I hope you have a good day.

The post, “Why do our moods drop so suddenly?.” appeared first on thegiftofdepression.