Sheila Walsh Opens Up About Depression, Says Church Must 'Wake Up' to 'Epidemic' Among Pastors

Best-selling author and singer Sheila Walsh has shared how her battle with depression and suicidal thoughts allowed her to experience the power of Jesus — and why the Church must "wake up" to the number of pastors struggling with mental illness.

Walsh, an internationally-known speaker and Bible teacher, recalled to The Christian Post how, twenty-six years ago, she checked herself into the psychiatric ward of a hospital. She was diagnosed with clinical depression, a devastating condition affecting more than 16.1 million American adults.

"At the time, I was serving as the co-host of The 700 Club show on Christian Broadcasting Network," she said. "I knew how to put on a good face and isolate myself from people. I was surrounded by people, a ministry leader, but so desperately lonely and depressed. Up until that point, I'd based so much of God's love on me getting everything right. When you end up in a psych hospital, that platform has been pulled from beneath you."

While at the hospital, Walsh said she was overwhelmed with a sense of God's presence in the midst of her pain. She cried out, "I never knew You lived so close to the floor."

"There was such a profound sense of, 'The Lord is close to the brokenhearted,'" she said. "So often, that's what depression feels like. You feel as if you've been crushed. But in those times, that's when you can experience the presence of the Lord. When things go wrong, we feel as if God has left us or doesn't hear us, but I am learning that even in the darkest places, God's timing is perfect and His presence is promised."

Walsh draws from her experience with depression and mental illness to share eight simple, practical steps to help women move forward one day at a time in her new book It's Okay Not To Be Okay: Moving Forward One Day At A Time.

"After opening up about my own struggles, so many women reached out to me asking for advice," she said. "This isn't a self-help book; it's a God-help book. I don't think self-help is help at all. I wanted to share eight things I've learned in my own life to help others move forward."

Read more about depression on The Christian Post.