Recent studies indicate that people with diabetes are more susceptible to depression than the general population.

I know that because, since I am a diabetic, I try to stay up-to-date on my condition. I am also subject to occasional bouts of depression. It usually comes on in periods of stress and/or insomnia. Stress and sleeplessness, either alone or combined, raise my blood sugar. Higher glucose readings seem to trigger the feelings of overwhelming tiredness and discouragement I associate with depression.

Just about everything I read recommends fresh air and exercise as an antidote for mild depression.

The last thing a depressed person feels like doing is going outside and doing anything. Lack of desire and motivation are hallmarks of depression.  “If I could make myself get up and get out, I probably wouldn’t be depressed in the first place.”

As a Christian, I turn to God in prayer…when I’m not too depressed, that is. The trouble with depression is that its very nature sabotages one’s attempts to overcome it.

While I would love to think that my faith is sufficient to move mountains, I must admit that my faith can be undermined, if not completely undone, by my fickle emotions.

Emotions are strong. Emotions are real. Emotions cannot be trusted.

Thanks to caring friends, a couple of sessions with the hula hoop and a good night’s sleep I am climbing out of my own recent personal slough of despond.

I’m one of the lucky ones. A person suffering from clinical depression can’t just “cheer up”, or “snap out of it”, and while God goes with us through the dark valleys, prayers are not magical incantations meant to sweep away all our struggles.

We don’t know why our fellow Christians must suffer, but I hope knowing that they do makes me just a little more sensitive.