How Do I Know if Medication is Right for Me?

Let’s talk about medication for a minute.

It’s always a topic I want to tread lightly upon. I have heard people shamed for taking medication, especially in Christian circles, where they are made to feel like they have failed by not receiving their full healing without the use of medication.

We all have room to grow in our faith, and it’s nobody’s place to judge another persons journey.

From a health perspective, there is a very fine line between necessary and unnecessary medication, and it’s been almost completely smudged out by Western society. I think many, though not all, medical professionals are a little too quick to hand out prescriptions.

It seems like we have all mutually agreed that if a doctor prescribed it no one can call it an addiction. Our regular need for medication is simply a part of our health regime. But I really want to challenge you on that thinking, if that is the belief you’ve adopted.

Maybe you’ve been wondering if you should or should not go on medication to manage anxiety or depression. It’s not a decision to take lightly as it absolutely has side-effects.

I don’t believe medication is always a bad idea, I will never be the person to judge your choice to use medication (I used to take it myself. If you haven’t already read my story you can read it here). But I don’t believe that it’s God’s final plan for your health. Medication was designed by man, not God, to aid our healing.

God may have been man’s inspiration for medicine’s design (I’m not really here to debate), but God is in the healing business, not the coping business. That much I know is true.

The most important thing to consider when trying to decide if medication is right for you or not is, what has the Holy Spirit said to you about it? Beyond the side-effects if you do, or your emotional, psychological, physical reality if you don’t, is the fact that God knows you inside and out, and created you with a specific purpose and design.

A doctor will suggest what they feel is best based on education, experiences, and statistics, which isn’t wrong, but it isn’t a guaranteed answer for you either. You are a unique being. No two bodies or minds are the same, and therefore nobody else is going to respond the same way, or have exactly the same results that you have.

Friends and family will make plenty of suggestions based on their own experiences or what they’ve heard from others, but nobody really knows what is going to be right for YOU, except, your Heavenly Father. Why not trust your all-knowing Creator to guide your choice?

You may need to be medicated for a season, but it’s important that it was Peace leading you to that decision and not peer pressure? Did you ask the Lord what His plan was for your health? If God has led you to be medicated for a season you will have peace about it. Chances are good, however, that someday He will lead you to move past the medication.

God is not a believer in coping with illness. He IS the Healer. How can the two exist together? I strongly believe that if He has led you to medication it was meant to be a stepping stone on your path, not the final destination.

God gave us the life of his one and only Son to pay the price for our total and complete healing and redemption. He cannot force you to take the gifts purchased with Christ’s blood for you, but He will lead you to greater and greater freedom if you will listen and obey.

A Still, Small Voice

There have been seasons in my life when I sensed an urgency within me to give up a certain behavior, habit, or even food or drink. I would love to say that I am always quick to listen, but friends, I’m human, and sometimes I don’t want to give up what He’s asking me to lay down.

One particular time, I knew there was something that I truly enjoyed, that wasn’t wrong or sinful, in fact, it was a totally acceptable normal thing for most people. Still, I felt the Holy Spirit telling me I needed to let it go. He didn’t tell me if it was just for a season or forever, He simply asked me to trust him and let it go.

I didn’t. I ignored, I justified, I lived in denial, and I continued doing what was so totally, justifiably ok for me to do, according to me, my friends, medical professionals, and family.

But there came a day when it was particularly heavy on my heart. My type 1 Enneagram couldn’t handle the feeling that I was possibly being disobedient or breaking the rules, or heaven forbid, being “bad”. So I asked the Lord, “Why is this something that you’re asking me to give up, and what will happen if I don’t?”

I remember so clearly His response. I just sensed deep within me,

“You don’t have to listen, and nothing will happen, which is the problem. I want to do something. Without your obedience I cannot do what I desire to do in you and through you. Nothing will happen, nothing will change. You will remain where you are, the way you are. There are opportunities coming down the road that I am trying to prepare you for, and if nothing changes you will not be ready and I will have to use someone else. There is a deeper place in our relationship that I want to take you, but if you don’t trust me with this then it’s impossible to take you to that next level of intimacy right now. Your disobedience won’t affect anyone but you and I.”

It was similar to what I felt back when the Lord had asked me to trust him for total freedom from depression and anxiety. I had never asked the Lord what he thought about my going on medication. There was no part of my life that brought peace during that season, except when I felt Him telling me to flush the pills.

I truly believed that He was preparing me for the future. At the time I thought it was as simple as preparing me to be a good wife and mother, someday, that would be emotionally stable and spiritually whole. Now I see there was a bigger picture, and I suspect it’s bigger than I even know yet.

Running From Jezebel

In 1 Kings 19 we read the story of the prophet Elijah, King Ahab, and Queen Jezebel. I highly encourage you read the entire account in 1 Kings, but the gist of this story is that Elijah had made absolute fools of the prophets of Baal, whom Jezebel held in high esteem. Obviously, Queen Jezzie was more than a tad ticked off, so she threatened Elijah’s life.

And like a bold, fearless, man-of-God, Elijah took off running, afraid for his life. I am not making fun though. I find this story so encouraging for many reasons, but mainly because I know I, and I’m assuming you too, can relate to Elijah.

Literally only a couple verses before Jezebel threatens to kill Elijah, it says that “The power of the Lord was on Elijah,” (1 Kings 18:46). He actually was so empowered by the Lord that he ran ahead of the kings chariots and beat him back to his own city.

Still, the moment Elijah hears that Jezebel wants him dead, the Lord’s empowerment seems to be all but forgotten. This time Elijah is running under the compulsion of fear. When he finally collapses in the wilderness he even cries out, “I have had enough! Lord, take my life, for I’m no better than my fathers.”

His fear was so intense it actually caused him to beg for death.

Is there a Jezebel in your life? Is there something that you have given power to that ought not to have it? What is keeping you oppressed, or feeling like you can’t get away, no matter how far or how fast you run?

After crying out to the Lord to take his life, Elijah falls asleep under a tree and is woken later by an angel telling him to eat and drink. He does, and falls asleep again. Again, he is woken by the angel, and the scripture goes on with the angel saying,

“Get up and eat, or the journey will be too much for you.” So he got up, ate, and drank. Then on the strength from that food, he walked forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mountain of God. He entered a cave there and spent the night. – 1 Kings 19:7-9

The words I really want us to hear are those spoken by the angel, because truly, If we do not feed our souls with the word of God, and drink of His presence, my friend, the journey to freedom will be too much for us too.

After waking up from his long cave-nap it says,

Suddenly, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God of Armies, but the Israelites have abandoned your covenant, torn down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are looking for me to take my life.”

Then he said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the Lord’s presence.” At that moment, the Lord passed by. A great and mighty wind was tearing at the mountains and was shattering cliffs before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire there was a voice, a soft whisper. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. – 1 Kings 19:9-13

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Elijah was experiencing what I’m sure many of us can relate to, isolation and despair. He felt completely alone, which is one of our enemy’s tactics. He wants you focused on the armies you don’t see protecting you, rather than the God who holds you in the palm of His hand.

God finds Elijah, huddled in a cave, and I believe His question of, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” was His way of saying, “Why are you bound by fear and despair when I have called and empowered you?”. God was saying to Elijah that he had wandered from his destiny. He was distracted, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

For you and I the question is the same, “What are you doing here?” With “here” being anxiety, despair, loneliness, addiction, sickness, grief, fear, depression, or a host of other ailments that have nothing to do with God’s destiny for our lives.

Elijah gives his fearful speech, even saying, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God of Armies,” meaning, “God where have you been, I’ve been waiting for Warrior God and your angel armies to come kick butt, and yet here I am all alone!”

How many of us haven’t cried out, “God where are you, why don’t you just take the weight of this thing off of me already?” It’s the same idea.

To which God told Elijah, and you and I “Go out and stand on the mountain in the Lord’s presence.” But Elijah didn’t move.

But he heard a strong wind shattering cliffs, and he felt the ground shake, and he could feel the heat of fire blazing outside the mouth of the cave. Not until he heard a “still, small voice” as some translations say, did he dare to approach the cave’s opening.

God told Elijah to come and stand out on the mountain in the Lord’s presence before the wind, earthquake or fire took place. This is just my theory, but I believe God wanted to smash, shake, and burn up the fear consuming Elijah. I believe God fully intended for Elijah to step out on that mountain and be surrounding by the chaos of it all, and yet be protected and unharmed until the peace of God’s presence consumed him.

I believe God is saying to each of us, “If you will only trust and obey, and dare to step out onto your mountain, I will show you that no wind, no pressure, no shaking of the earth, no heat and no flame can consume you like the peace of my presence.”

Your Story

I think God desires to use your story in ways beyond what you can imagine. You may have felt that still, small voice inside of you and maybe you’ve been ignoring it intentionally, or just haven’t really taken the time to be still yourself and listen.

Nothing that God asks of you is for no reason. He is always trying to lead you into greater freedom, greater joy, greater peace, and a greater fulfillment of His purpose for you.

So what is asking you today? Perhaps His question sounds a lot like, “What are you doing here, dear child?”

P.S. If some or a lot of what you’ve read is new to you, or you’re not sure what to make of it, head over to my Books & Resources for some of the teaching resources that have taught me on my journey to live by faith.

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