10. How I Healed From Depression

You can overcome depression! Understand hidden body triggers, use spiritual warfare, and learn God-led healing strategies to heal in this powerful episode of the Heal with God Podcast, (used with permission).

View all LINKS and supporting content mentioned in this episode HERE: https://imaquarius.com/how-i-healed-from-depression-solo-10/

In this deeply honest and faith-filled conversation, host Heather O’Brien sits down with Jennifer Stirling-Campbell, creator of Overcome Depression for Christians Struggling with Faith, to explore why so many believers feel stuck in cycles of depression, anger, and emotional heaviness—despite loving Jesus and doing “all the right things.”

Jennifer shares her raw personal journey of battling decades of depression, uncontrollable anger, and emotional numbness—even while faithfully pursuing God. Together, they unpack a transformative truth: 

What if your struggle isn’t a lack of faith, but a signal from your body, mind, or spirit that something deeper needs attention?

In this episode, you’ll also learn why relying solely on willpower, prayer routines, or even medication without discernment may leave key root causes unaddressed—and how to invite God into every layer of your healing journey.

If you’ve ever felt like you’re “failing” as a Christian because you can’t snap out of depression, this episode will bring clarity, hope, and a new path forward.

✨ You are not broken. You are not alone. And with the right discernment, true healing is possible.

Listen to this episode if you want to learn:

• The story behind Jennifer Stirling-Campbell's total healing from depression 
• How to identify depression triggers within your body, environment, or lifestyle 
•  The connection between sleep, hormones, nutrition, and emotional stability 
•  How spiritual warfare and deliverance play a role in mental health struggles 
•  How unresolved patterns and beliefs can keep us stuck in cycles of pain 
•  Practical ways to partner with God for holistic healing—spirit, soul, and body 
•  How to hear God’s voice more clearly when you feel overwhelmed or numb 

Transcript

0:53

Welcome back to the Heal with God podcast. Each week we explore a new theme for healing. I'm your host Heather O'Brien. And today we're going to be talking about whether your body could actually be blocking your healing. Now stay with me. I want you to know that you can actually discern depression triggers. And I have a guest with us today, Jennifer Stirling-Campbell. And if you love Jesus, but you still feel heavy, tired, emotionally flat, or maybe you even already know what the problem is, but you want freedom and you feel like something keeps holding you back from that. Today, we're gonna talk about that. Maybe the mistake is that we are thinking, if I just pray harder, I'll feel better, but we're actually ignoring our nervous system. We're actually ignoring our hormones or our sleep or our stress load, maybe even your environment. And today we're gonna talk about all of that, that we actually need healing in all of the different parts of our life. And I want you to question this. What if the reason you can't snap out of it isn't because of your faith, it isn't because you're weak, but it's because your body is waving a flag? and it's asking for a little bit of discernment. Today we're gonna be talking about how to spot the triggers, how to hear God clearly, and what's really going on and partner with Jesus on that healing journey. So welcome, Jennifer. I'm so glad you're here. We're so looking forward to this conversation. Yes. Thank you for having me. And I feel like our podcast aligns so well. Mine is overcome depression for Christians struggling with faith. And literally that's what you're all about. When I was sick, which was 25 years sick from the time I was little tiny kid sick, didn't know the difference, had never felt anything else, depressed, angry every single day, and I hated myself for it because I thought that was who I was. And I didn't know how to escape the triggers and escape the repeated patterns. And I would continually say, I'm not going to do that again. I'm not going to do that again. And sure enough, I would. And I was hurting my family, I was hurting my relationships when I got married, I hurt my spouse, my children suffered because of my anger and depression, or the anger and depression, I don't like to say my, because I don't want to identify it. uh But it was like, it was like hell every day. And it felt like it was a losing battle that I was just kind of treading water. And eventually I would drown and then someone would pull me out again and I'd be treading again and then I would go under and it because there was a point at which I always lost it. I could control it for so long. Yeah. anger I'm talking about. Okay. And then it would just take over and it was like I was a third party watching myself lose control and being like stop, stop, stop, stop, stop and I couldn't stop it. Yeah. So what you're talking about is you're trying to manage this anger. manage and suppress it basically, but not you weren't actually getting healed from it. I can, I was doing all this stuff. mean, I was trying to do all the things they say to do and you have anger management issues like leave the room or break something that's okay to break, tear up paper, uh yell, scream into a pillow. It just didn't seem to matter. And the depression was intense. It was very intense. And I spent all those years running from it in the sense that I became a cross-country runner. And they say that exercise can help. It did. I felt like my mood was improved a little when I was running. I was insanely busy, so busy that I couldn't think, couldn't really have a relationship outside of my own family. And that was kind of almost my protective. barrier that if I'm this busy, then no one can actually get to know me or see that side of me that I don't want anyone to have to experience or see. And when you look back, you're mentioning depression, you're mentioning anger. Do they work in tandem together? Like were you angry because you were depressed or were you depressed because you were angry and couldn't get free of that? It was that it was like a cycle that Yeah, I want to say that anger was probably the driving force. um It's a pretty powerful negative emotion and it it took me until about 25 when I started to lose hope in my ability to manage this and Realize that if I didn't get off the drugs it was going to destroy me which I was taking Prozac at the time and long story short I was like there's no I am damned if I do I'm damned if I don't I am done trying God fix it. I'm I can't do this. I can't Damn either way. It's just, you have to get me out of this. You made me, so fix me. Right. I feel you, honey. I went through the same thing. was on the depression medicines for seven years and basically then I was numb. I was a zombie. But I wasn't like high. I didn't have high emotions or low emotions. was just, I don't know. I was in La La Land is what I remember coming out of a fog when I started. I decided to quit taking the medicines and I was the same way. I was like, I need to figure out why I ever needed these medicines. And I wish I had asked that question so much sooner. What made you decide that this was your stopping point? When I learned the side effects long-term of the medications I was taking, basically that zombie, I don't care, kind of solidifies and changes your brain so that as you get older, you don't care about anything. And that was kind of the case when I took them anyway. Um, but I went from being out of control to I can control myself. So this was the better of two evils until I started learning that. And then I was like, Oh no, I'm a very motivated and passionate person. I'm not going to let this happen to me. There must be a reason I'm motivated and passionate. I just don't know what it is. I felt that I've really felt like God loved me. And I always knew deep down that I was worth something. And I didn't understand why this was happening or how to change it. thought maybe I'll be this way for the rest of my life. But at that point I was like, no, no, no, no, this has got to change. And it has to change now. I also felt this urgency, like if things start getting really bad in the world, and this was when I was 25 and I'm 42 now, and I can't get the medication that keeps me sane, what's, how am I going to be able to serve God at all or help anyone at all if I'm losing my mind? Like I have to figure this out so that I'm not dependent on this thing. And ultimately we're talking years after 25. So the kind of initial breakthrough happened at 25, but years down the road, cause you asked about what was kind of the driving force. I realized that there was a very, very angry ancestor who had been attached to me probably from the time I was born and was, wasn't me, but I would feel this initial irritation at things that would happen. followed by this rage. The irritation was me, the rage was him. And it took some friends with some very special gifts to see that finally, because they were trying to figure it out on my behalf, because I was really struggling. My life was kind of falling apart around the time these friends kind of came out of the woodwork, people I'd known from as a child, and were like, Hi, God said you need help. And they started like almost every day calling me and being like, how you doing? And because they were trying to figure out spiritually what's going on with her. Is this her fault? What did she do? What does this thing I'm feeling? And eventually realized it was this really mad ancestor. so at that point, it was the spiritual journey of overcoming some of my own temptations at the time, which were severe and turning to God and seeking help. from those who were able and willing to help me with some energy work, who used God and Christ, as well as just friends who were there when God told them to help me and lead me through this so that I could release this ancestor and move forward at all. Because with him there, it was just like I was stuck. And I didn't know how to overcome that. I got so many questions here. So we got to pause for just a minute. Number one, your Christ follower all this time? when did you get saved? Oh yeah. And wasn't it, it was so discouraging because I'm like, I'm doing all the things that are supposed to bring happiness. I'm obeying the commandments. I'm, you know, I'm reading my scriptures, saying my prayers. And I think that's what almost led me down a dark path of making really poor choices because I was losing hope. And I was just like, I just want to be happy at this point when I was about 25 to 30. 30 was kind of the breaking point where I was like, maybe this lifestyle would be better because I've been miserable for so long. I can't take it anymore. And that was around the time everything started falling apart. My marriage was falling apart. And again, I was, my friends were coming out of the woodwork like, hi, God told me to call you. And I knew, I knew they were sent by God to help me. And without them, I would have failed. Crash and burn failed. And I almost did. And there was a miracle that occurred that I talk about in my own podcast that prevented me from making the choice that I wanted to make and gave me the time to make a different one. And I will be forever grateful for that and for the people who intervened. But even at the time I was like, how dare you? But at the same time I was relieved because my prayer at the time was, I'm gonna go through with this thing that I know is wrong. And it was the first thing I'd ever considered doing this. Like a sin of, what is it? Like it's not complacent, like you know what you're doing. And I told God, I'm really sorry. I just can't resist this anymore and stop me if you can. Yeah. And that was my prayer. And he did. He stopped me. I knew that if I tried again, he wouldn't stop me. OK. But it was enough to kind of get my sanity back so that I could. we can resonate with what you're saying in some form or fashion. think several of us have been there and we can resonate with that. So you're not alone in that kind of story. But I have more questions. Okay, so I'm a deliverance minister and it sounds like your friends came in and worked deliverance through you. And so you said it was an ancestor. I don't usually use that word. So I wanna make it really clear to my audience what you're really saying. You're saying you, maybe I'll give you a chance to give you more words to. Yeah, I'll explain. If you turn to God and you learn how to refute what Satan is doing and you're stronger for it. I mean, I became more knowledgeable, more understanding. could use this understanding that holy cow, I can use spiritual warfare to fight this. And it's not as hard as I thought. I was fighting so much for so long. It was so hard. And then I learned how to pray for the right things, ask the right questions. Yeah. that's what we want to talk about today. the whole world up to you. We're like, wow. There's this other side that I never considered. We often don't get in church. No, we don't. No, we don't. We really don't. And so that's why I'm so passionate about helping people heal with God and specifically through deliverance, spiritual warfare, and understanding it's not just your personality. You're not just angry. There's actually spiritual stuff going on that's making you feel that way. It's not you. It's just a manifestation of what's going on inside of you, but it's not you. And I that was the biggest breakthrough in my confidence and hope is that I was almost afraid that if I healed that I would find that, I'm really not that great. I'm still these things like on the other side of it. You know, I really hate myself still. I don't like the version. And it's totally not that at all. I think every person, if you saw who you really were on the other side, you would not be not only not disappointed, but thrilled with who you are. and what God gave you. just how amazing you are and how amazing I feel now. And the joy of having just being me and who I am and myself, never in a million years would have thought that back then. I never saw that as possible. Yeah. So we're talking about discernment and it's really important how to discern what's God saying? Is this you? Is this a spiritual warfare? But also it could be your body, right? It could be your body playing tricks with you because you didn't get enough sleep. It could be your body messing with you because your hormones are a little bit going crazy or something like that. So I'm wondering if you do you I know we just want to hear God's voice, but what's some body triggers that you've noticed that uh you've seen in depressed believers like, sleep 100%. Like that's it. Big, big, big, big one. We're overworked, underpaid, just exhausted. And if I'm not getting enough sleep, I mean, I start to I start to fall. falter fast. I'm not a very patient person when I'm sleep deprived. That has to be happening for me. I have to be getting sleep and good sleep and adequate sleep. So when we can't, because there are times when that's just the reality of our situation, prayer is absolute key. Please fill me with my light. I love the energy. Make my energy today as if I've gotten nine hours instead of three. And you can access that power to sustain you through those times, no matter how long they are, but you have to be willing to pray and ask for that help. absolutely sleep. When we don't sleep, literally our armor of God shuts off, the light starts to go out and we become very vulnerable to attack. That's I was going to say. I'm like, I'm very careful whenever I have lack of sleep. like, I need to just not talk right now. Because I think the enemy could use my mouth really easily. You know, you can get really irritable quickly. It's just, just like you said, the armor's like, it's got so There's lots of chinks. And I think that's also why we're encouraged to pray morning and night. And in the morning, I always thank God, no matter how much sleep I got, for my rejuvenating sleep. Thank you for the sleep that I got. Yeah. Yeah. And for sustaining me through this day. Gratitude prayers. I'm really big on that. I even ask my requests in the form of a thank you for this thing that you're going to give me before I even receive it. Yeah. You know, like thank you for blessing this day. Thank you for helping me to be patient. Even before it happens. Or thank you for providing the home that I've been looking for. I'm looking for a house. Thank you for providing that home, even though I haven't found it yet. It could be something like that. Right. You know, it says will, it's not just random. It's no, it is as well. You know, it says will it's and in his timing, but it, yeah, I know exactly what you're talking about. So I'm wondering, okay, so we're talking about like, there's actually physical things that can be happening, but those physical things could also block your healing too. Yeah. I mean, I think people underestimate the power of chemicals on our planet in every form. Every form, whether it's processed food, meat, the stuff they're spraying in the sky, our bedding, the chemicals we clean with, the chemicals in the paint that we paint our houses with, or all of it. Like the things we spray on the grass or the pesticides, the herbicides, it affects us, the clothes that we wear even. And so the... less because if think of a chemical, it causes chemical reactions. It's going to cause chemical reactions in us and it's going to inevitably lead to more imbalance. And so the more that you can eat pure, uh buy things that are pure, be more, think a minimalistic lifestyle helps with that because you're buying less but buying more quality, things that are natural or trading with people who are really into that. I do goat milk. I I dairy goats. And so sometimes I'll trade my milk for soap, know, something else, things like that, or even babysitting. But it's a very good way I can get that milk in a pure form and make probiotic with it, which helps depression, by the way, uh kefir. It's like a third of my diet. I love it. And it really makes me feel good. Food is huge. If we're not getting enough omega-3 specifically, your brain cannot function. And we went through this fat free craze when my mom was um, raising me where this was the way to go, depression skyrocketed. If you think that nuts are going to make you fat, just stop thinking that way. I don't know how else to say it. You've got to have fat for your brain to function optimally. eat a lot of fat in my diet, avocados, nuts, uh, whole milk, uh, fish, fish oils, olive oil, like good quality oils too. It can't be just something like the cheap stuff you buy at the store. It's more like a plastic. And if you're filling your body with omega-6s and plasticized oils, your brain's going to revolt. It can't function and help you to heal. And when your brain is at a whack, it's really hard to feel the spirit too. And I've even had some of my friends, my friend in particular that helped me through that time. She told me one time that even taking a Tylenol, and she was very, very close to the other side, would inhibit her ability to feel and understand and discern. and get the answers, even just a Tylenol. So if something numbs your mood or your pain, it also numbs your spirit. Interesting, interesting. And that's just something to really, really keep in mind. And that's not to say run off and get off your medication today, but maybe make a plan or ask the Lord to help you to move forward and lessening it at least and getting rid of anything that isn't necessary. And we're talking like, everything that I talked about, it's not just pharmaceuticals. But with that said, I just want to poke this in there because it's not something I ever thought about until I thought about it. But pharmakea in the scriptures is the word that was translated into sorcery. And if you think about how our society works, and it talks about in the scriptures to be careful of sorcery in the last days, like who's going to be like Oh, I really love this magician. know, most people aren't running to magicians and sorcerers asking them to heal them. But we are running to our doctors and say, me that magic pill that'll heal me. Yeah, that's true. that surgery. And it costs a lot. I mean, that's kind of a key factor in sorcery is usually they're asking you for money in exchange for healing. Right. And not to say that all doctors and all treatments are bad, but just the principle of who are you going to first? Yeah. To ask for your healing. Is it God? And then asking him for direction and who you should go to and what you should do. Or is it go to the doctor and then get the options and then pray to God about the options? Because if he's giving you these options and you're not opening up to maybe God's way, that could be completely different. He'll probably answer that prayer and say, well, this is the least damaging one. This is the point. But because that's all the options you're giving him. my goodness. what do I do? This, this or this? And he'll be like, well, if... you're not going to ask me anything else. Well, then this one. Yeah. And then people will say, well, that was my answer to prayer. Maybe. I mean, But sometimes it's better to go to God first and trust that he can lead you or guide you or inspire you and things that will just come your way. And then you can recognize when they show up. Yeah. And that's what happens for me. Yeah. No, no, I totally get it. Well, I'm thinking, OK, so today we're talking about discerning different body triggers, things that are going on in your mind. And maybe you're saying, I feel depressed and we're saying, what's going on in your body? What are you putting in your body? What are you doing with your body? And what have you been praying to discern God? Okay, I'm feeling this and what should I do about it? What, do you have a specific prayer or a go to discernment mode where you, where you start asking God whenever you have symptoms in your life to get down to the root of it? There's quite a few. mean, I kind of like, which one do I need today? I'll ask the Lord, is it emotion? And I'll just get the feeling like that's where it is. Wow. Okay. Yeah, that totally makes sense. And sometimes it's like, really? That's weird. And then I'll start doing more research and later realize that, yeah, that was absolutely the problem. Yeah. And then I'll pray for that. totally get it. Yeah. And then I'll pray. I'll pray for the Lord to help me. to how to pray for this to be remedied. Whatever that is, if it's to just go away or if there's other things attached to this that need to be reconciled first. Very good. I get it. There's a few different books that I have that are like that. um Dr. Henry Wright has, it's a Christian book with lots of different symptoms and sicknesses and diseases and the roots to them. But what's funny is some of them all look it up and it just says, this is a demon. I remember thinking, I remember seeing that one time or maybe a few times and I was like, this is not helpful. I don't even know. Like what's the demon's name? Like what do I call it? How, why did it come in? How? And I totally get what he's saying. Like this is a spiritual thing though. He's saying this is not just necessarily something you ate or drank. This is something that you need to deal with spiritually is what he has discerned. So I totally get that. And I honestly don't think that there's any bodily issue that isn't spiritually rooted. That is my personal opinion. I get all coming from some spiritual place. No, I get it. mean, the only okay. So the only time that it's not, I mean, It could be still, I guess. But I'm like, okay, I jumped on the trampoline and I fell down wrong and my ankle got twisted. Oh, to me that's a message as well. It's like, what is this trying to tell me today? It could be like, slow down. Or maybe if it's weak ankles, what are weak ankles saying about me right now that I need to fortify? I mean, it could be I stubbed my toe and that's, I immediately start praying. If I hurt myself, I immediately ask the Lord to close portals that were opened because it's a trauma and I don't want anything to- make it worse or get in and start affecting my system. And then I could ask, what is this trying to tell me? Like, are you trying to tell me, Lord? Why didn't we just stub my toe? Am I not following you? Because sometimes feet have, know, like, do I need to change directions? Am I going the wrong way? It could be any of those things. I totally get what you're saying that we just need to ask the Lord and discern. That's kind of my whole thing is what is God saying, right? So Jennifer, just say thank you for joining us today. Thank you for this lovely conversation. And how can our listeners get to know you more? I have a website, overcomedepressionpodcast.com. I do have a newsletter that's kind of on sabbatical right now because of my new baby. So I'm trying to release a podcast every other week at the moment. I was doing weekly. But overcomedepressionpodcast.com, can find the podcast there, which is Overcome Depression for Christians Struggling with Faith. And if you want to start at the beginning and move your way forward, I think that's honestly the best way to go because I kind of built it like a system to wean people into understanding the concepts and making goals for themselves and seeing things a little differently because really the foundation of all depression or mental disorder period is belief in lies. The lies that Satan has taught us from the time we were a small child. He didn't waste any time because we were a kid and being like, I'll just wait. They're just a child. No. And have, and probably, and I hope this gives you hope like it did for me when I finally understood the scripture about weakness and how weaknesses can make us humble, is that the weaknesses you have are probably strengths you had before you came here. And Satan was so aware of you and what you could do to damage him that he convinced you that your strengths were a weakness. You can't utilize them properly if you believe you stink at it. And so if you can overcome that thing that you think is your weakness, you can start fighting Satan like you've never before, like even stronger than you were before. But that should be a telltale sign to you that if you're depressed and angry, that you are joyful and that you have an amazing heart that loves other people and can bring people together. And like that's who you are. And that's what Satan doesn't want you to know. And if you're thinking, well, no, not me, just please take my word for it until you figure it out. You've got to believe and have this hope before he can start to help you because if not, you're just pushing him away. So stop pushing him away. Come on. Thank you so much for that encouragement. Thank you for bringing clarity and compassion to this topic. uh Christians with depression, it seems like an oxymoron, but it's actually a thing. And we want to help you. We know that. There is hope on the other side. And I know there's listeners that are going to feel some relief and you're realizing, I'm not crazy. I'm not failing God. Or maybe you just need discernment in a plan and you're actually excited that that is it. That's it. That really is it. Just get some discernment and a plan from God and he will show you the next step to take. So if there's nothing you have done or haven't done that can keep you from his grace, come on, don't let guilt and shame. like ruin your future. have so much left you can give. Right. Yeah. Thank you for that encouragement. Brenda, if this episode hit you right between the ribs and you know that you might need some support, you're curious, you're ready for the next step. Well, listen, I have a free prophetic healing workshop every third Monday of the month. I would love to invite you to that. go through a three step prayer method to get down to the root of what's bothering you, what that struggle is. Maybe it's depression, anxiety, whatever the struggle is, we can get down to the root of it by hearing God's voice. And I'd love to invite you there. It's a safe space where you can hear God's voice. Go to heatherobryan.net slash workshop and you can sign up today. I'm praying that you keep hearing God clearly, healing deeply and walking in the resurrection power of Jesus Christ. Phew, that was a whole work, wasn't it? Thanks for spending this time with me on Healed God. Just a reminder, I'm a licensed minister, not a licensed therapist. So this is all about spiritual encouragement and prayer, not replacing your doctor's advice. And if you haven't already, I want you to go grab your spot for the next free live workshop at heatherobrien.net backslash workshop. I'll walk you through my three-step spirit-led process to hear God and heal what's really going on. Until next time. I'm praying blessings and favor chase you down.