The Difference Between Sadness and Depression

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Fernando Cabrera has proudly served as the NYC Council Member representing the 14th district in the Bronx since January 2010. He is also senior pastor of New Life Outreach International in the Bronx. He is a former program director for the Mental Health and Counseling program at Mercy College, where he also taught for 12 years. Council Member Cabrera earned a B.A. in Religion from Southern California College, M.A. in Counseling from Liberty University and a Doctorate in Counseling from Argosy University. He is married to Elvia Cabrera, and is a father of two and grandfather of five.

Transcript
Thank you so much for joining me in today's devotional. I was thinking about this season. It's a season where many people are feeling sadness. At the time of this recording—literally this morning—one of our church members passed away as a result of COVID-19. It broke our hearts. We're still mourning. And I thought about the Bible verse where it says, in the book of Psalms 30:5, "Sadness may last for a night, but joy cometh in the morning," and I talk about the fact that there will be seasons of sadness, and sometimes we get sadness and depression confused.

Depression is whenever we feel hopeless. The very root of depression is hopelessness, but sadness is when we have loss of something of great value in our lives. During the season, maybe you're experiencing loss right now. Maybe you lost your job, maybe you lost freedoms, maybe you lost that human contact. Maybe you have lost a this sense of looking forward to your future or what was going to happen next, and you're feeling sadness. I just want to let you know something, and that is this sadness may last for a night. It's a season, and there will be a process. And the proper response is mourning.

It's okay to mourn. God made us to mourn. We mourn because we love, we mourn because we care. We mourn because God made us to be like Him. And during this time and season, be assured that there is One that sticks closer than a brother. His Holy Spirit is with you right now, and He will help you during this time of loss and mourning, and He will be with you.

You're not going to mourn alone. I don't care how much social distancing we have and we do need one another more than ever, but I want to let you know that God is with you and He will be with you. And not only with you, but He will get you to the very end because He who began a good work in you will perform it to the day of His coming.

May the Lord bless you, and can I pray for you right now? Father, I pray for the comfort of the Holy Spirit, that whatever we have lost, that we will gain in You, knowing that everything that we ultimately need, we find in You, Lord God. We thank You for caring for us, for Your goodness is from everlasting to everlasting. In Jesus' name, Amen. God bless you.