When our daughter, Kaitlyn, was a baby, I went through a season of depression. I had made some decisions with work that wasn’t working out & I was struggling to find my footing. I even thought God wasn’t pleased with me. I became very low in spirit & critical of myself & everyone else.
I struggled to even go to church. It’s like I had no joy in anything that I was doing, even though God had blessed me with a wonderful wife & a beautiful daughter.
One thing was constant though...my wife’s determination to love me through it & hold my feet to the fire in leading our family forward in faith...after all, I was a “preacher.” 
I hear people today talk a big talk about “I need to step up my game with my kids’ spiritual life. I need to be the spiritual head of my family & lead better.” And yet, those same people, who make such declarations, seem to forget the vows they made & the words that came out of their mouth...once the “feeling” passes.
They tend to let their children run their house. If the kids don’t want to go to church…they give them the option not to. Somehow they’re always sick on Wednesday night. 
I don’t think we realize just how much God is going to hold us accountable for the way we’ve led our home spiritually. I don’t think we realize how much ground we lose by making slothful decisions concerning spiritual posterity.
For me, I had a moment where I snapped out of it & recovered myself after months of battling with the depression.
My wife made sure that even if I wasn’t in church with her...she was at church with our daughter every time the doors were open. She wouldn’t let me quit. She kept up her consistency & prayed for God to get ahold of my mind...she prayed me through it!
I don’t know what I would have done if she would have fallen into the same funk I was in. I guarantee you that we wouldn’t be in the ministry today...let alone pastoring for the past 20 years.
I’ve never seen such a time like today, where people let the least little things keep them from the elementary principles of the Christian life like...attendance, tithe & serving, etc. They wonder why they have so many problems. I’m certainly not pointing my finger at anyone, having received grace to get up again myself, but what’s good for me is good for them too.
I believe our daughter is serving God today, with fervor, because her parents made sure to position her in the house of The Lord & made The Lord our number one priority...before anything else in this world. Our parents instilled the same thing in us & the blessing of The Lord has increased in every generation. I pray for a triple anointing to be upon our grandson.
I would say to anyone that’s going through a rough time spiritually or mentally...staying out of church is not the solution. Your solution comes when you press past the place of give up!
Stop with the excuses. (I’ve used them all myself.) Get up. Do what you know you’re supposed to be doing.
If your spouse won’t go to church...you go to church!! Don’t you let anyone talk you into one more excuse! Stop that mess. You’re going to give an account to God for keeping your kids out of church. You may not see it now...but rest assured you will wake up one day & realize it. Especially when you see them repeating the same pattern.
Sanctify your house with your lifestyle of righteous living.
My help came faster because I had a woman of God in my corner who wouldn’t let me stop! Today, I give honor to her.
I challenge you today to be that kind of person for someone you know who is going through. Yes...empathize with them but don’t give into a mindset of self-pity.
Jesus is the answer.
Jesus is the only way.
Jesus will break the back of depression off of you!
Much love!
