Struggling With Depression? An Unlikely Messenger Shares 4 Tips
By Movieguide® Contributor
Author and public speaker Nick Vujicic is sharing his four tips for anyone struggling with depression.
“[I have] great, great blessing from God, and I never thought that would happen,” he said while on an episode of TBN’s PRAISE.
However, there was a time when Vujicic didn’t see those blessings and even tried to take his own life. He has Tetra-amelia syndrome and was born with no arms or legs.
Movieguide® previously reported:
Vujicic was bullied at school, and at age 8, he became depressed.
“As much as I had a loving home, I didn’t feel like I had purpose or worth, and especially the bullying magnified all the fear in my life about the future. I convinced myself I’d never get a job, be independent, be happy, never get married, never find true love.”
“Age 10 I attempted suicide in my bathtub in six inches of water, and I was stopped by one thought, realizing ‘I’m going to leave just more pain with my parents,’ and so age 15, I gave my life to Jesus.”
“It was a turnaround of years of starting to be thankful for what I had instead of being angry for what I didn’t have.”
“I went through a depression of around four or five years…and I never thought that God would really do something beautiful with the broken pieces that I could see,” Vujici explained. “When you don’t know the truth of your value, you then believe the lies of your value that the world says about you.”
He then explained his tips for others who are struggling with depression.
“Number one, really be thankful for what [you have],” Vujici said. “The second thing is, taking one day at a time.”
He continued, “It’s so easy to get overwhelmed and even exaggerate your fear because of the unknowns. And so, to balance that out, you have to just sort of take a step back — ‘I can’t think about six months from now, and six years from now…I’m just going to take one day at a time.’”
“The third thing is to talk to somebody,” Vujicic said. “[If I] never counseled with anybody, never asked for help, I wouldn’t be who I am today. And I give all the glory to God for everything. He’s my greatest counselor. But sometimes He gives you His children…and that really starts helping us refocus and be reminded of God’s promise that then instills more faith in us.”
Vujicic concluded, “The last thing to do is actually go try and ask God…’Even though I haven’t got what I feel like I need today or want today, help me to be used, that I can give somebody else what they need, what they want, or even just help them.’ Go try [to] be a miracle for someone else.”
Vujicic often speaks about overcoming his depression to recognize the blessings he had in his life.
“I realized two things,” he said in an interview with The Christian Post. “Number one, the greatest miracle of all that I’ll ever receive in my life is my soul being saved; me being filled with the Holy Spirit, having a relationship with Jesus while I abide in Him and He abides in me. Him being my comfort, my strength, gives me guidance and wisdom throughout my life. But the second thing I realized, miraculously, He delights in using the foolish things of this world to confound the wise.”
Today, Vujicic is happily married to wife Kanae. The couple share four children — two sons, Kiyoshi and Dejan, and two daughters, Olivia and Ellie.
“My wife Kanae Vujicic is the most incredible wife anyone could ever dream of having!” he wrote in an Instagram post under a photo of their kids. “We try not to post our children up onto social media … it’ll be even more rare in the future… but here are our four most precious children, Kiyoshi, Dejan, Olivia & Ellie! We thank God for them every single day.”
