Forbidden Topic

Church is where many go to worship and to study more about the tenets of faith, but it is also a place of sanctuary and where it should be safe to share your problems with other believers. Yet there remains a few topics that are seemingly off-limits for discussion, and one of those is depression. Despite the fact that many of the leaders of the faith we read about in the Bible suffered through bouts of depression, a lot of churches gloss over those portions of the Bible or refuse to acknowledge that a Christian can be depressed.

There are examples given all throughout the Bible. They include men, women, rich, poor, powerful, helpless, old, and young. Some of the chapters in Psalms that resonate most with me were written by David during times of discouragement and despair. Jeremiah became a prophet for his people at a young age, and went through many periods of depression as he reached out to God's people.

One of the themes of Beyond the Farthest Star is the deep depression suffered by the pastor's teen daughter, Anne Wells. Instead of a church family that embraces her and seeks to help Anne and the Wells family, there is a distance that is emotional and leads to a physical distance as they move to a church in a small Texas town. But, is simply starting over in another town without properly addressing the problems a relief or merely more burden piled upon this young girl? Is lack of support from the church something that needs confronted?

Bodie and Brock Thoene further explored the issues of Anne and other characters in their Beyond the Farthest Star novel, based on the screenplay by Andrew Librizzi. A perfect companion piece to the film, you can order both the book and the DVD at BeyondTheFarthestStar.com/Shop

If you need someone to talk to or more info about where to get help for depression, contact Beyond the Farthest Star at BeyondTheFarthestStar.com/Reach-Out