Guest Features

Rethinking Nostalgic Postpartum Advice

Nostalgic postpartum advice is certainly permissible, though it’s not always beneficial or edifying (1 Cor. 10:23). But when we take care to know a mother’s world before speaking to it, we can help her feel seen and understood. We can better encourage and build her up in Christ—whether she’s enjoying the season or not (1 Thess. 5:11).
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3 months ago

3 palabras de ánimo para madres deprimidas

Si le preguntara a una madre que lucha contra la depresión: "¿Cuánto tiempo más te sentirás tan mal?", su respuesta probablemente no sería “Sólo una o dos horas más. ¡Ya casi termino!” La depresión no funciona de esa manera. Los estados de ánimo melancólicos no suelen desaparecer. Las soluciones rápidas tienden a quedarse cortas cuando el dolor nos quita las fuerzas; los clichés bien intencionados generalmente tampoco dan en el blanco (Prov. 17:22; 25:20). Y cuando las supuestas palabras de ánimo empiezan a oírse más como regaños pasivos, puede parecer que nadie tiene nada útil que decir, como si tuviéramos que valernos por nosotros mismos en esta oscuridad.
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6 months ago

His Mercies Are More: Haven Today Broadcasts

Laundry. Meals. Crying children. Motherhood is busy. But if dark clouds of depression roll in, the weight can start to feel unbearable. Where do you turn? All week on Haven Today, David Wollen will be joined by author and mother, Christine Chappell, for a series called His Mercies are More.
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6 months ago

Depression and Motherhood: Parenting with Ginger Hubbard

"Are you a mom struggling with feelings of hopelessness and anxiety? Would you like biblical guidance and practical help for battling depression from someone who’s been there and understands? Join Ginger Hubbard and Katy Morgan, along with special guest Christine Chappell, as they discuss how we can abide in Christ and lean on him to sustain us through seasons of darkness."
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8 months ago

You Lamented—Now What?

“There’s a lot of talk about how to lament these days, but what do we do after—what comes next?” My friend’s question was intriguing. He was right to identify the need for extended reflection. After all, the moments following lament are just as important as the pain-pressed prayers themselves. We must choose to do something next, so what will it be? Withdraw in self-pity? Lash out at loved ones? Self-medicate with creature comforts? Give ourselves over to the futility of restlessness or the fruitlessness of resignation? We need wisdom, lest the choices we make do more harm than good. Because all of life is lived before God, how we move forward from lament truly matters. So what wisdom does he offer to us in these fragile and frustrated moments?
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10 months ago

4 Ways to Help a Depressed Mom

Surely somewhere in your close proximity, there’s a mother suffering from depression. As she attempts to beat back the darkness, you wonder how you can care for her. As featured at The Gospel Coalition.
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1 year ago

BCC Blog: Why I Wrote Midnight Mercies

My intent is that any mother who knows what it’s like to groan, "I feel depressed" will find comfort and counsel in these pages. As featured at the Biblical Counseling Coalition.
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1 year ago

Three Benefits of Audio-Based Homework

In this article, I suggest three benefits for utilizing audio-based assignments, particularly in situations where counselees are suffering from the kind of cognitive impairment that makes concentration and comprehension extremely difficult.
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1 year ago

BCC Book Review by Nate Brooks

Recently, Nate Brooks reviewed Help! I've Been Diagnosed with a Mental Disorder. He writes, "If you’re looking for a bite-sized book to walk through with someone distressed by a diagnosis, this book will serve you well."
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3 years ago

Books at a Glance Resource Summary

Written by author Christine Chappell and produced under the editorial direction of Dr. Paul Tautges, this new resource offers stabilizing biblical truths to those who have been recently labeled with a psychiatric disorder.
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3 years ago

Favorite Bible Verses to Comfort in Grief

"God’s Word provides powerful comfort in grief. Because scripture is alive and active, time in the Word settles our heart and anchors our emotions in loss. I’ve asked several friends who’ve walked through grief from various kinds of loss to share their favorite Bible verses to comfort in grief. These writers and ministry leaders each share a favorite scripture and how that verse impacted their grief." -Lisa Appelo
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4 years ago

How Do I Talk to My Kids About Sorrow?

Forewarning our kids about the realities of sorrow can forearm them to face it by faith. Christ said these seasons would come, and that we would find comfort, hope, and peace by looking to him when they do.
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4 years ago

Comforting Our Kids Through Hard Times • Women Encouraged Podcast

In today's episode, Christine M. Chappell joins Bethany for a conversation about how to give our kids true, biblical comfort when they’re hurting. This isn’t about empty platitudes or band-aid fixes, but rather acknowledging our children’s suffering while pointing them to the trustworthy and eternal promises of God. Christine and Bethany discuss how we should respond to our children in these situations, and take a look at the comfort God’s word offers.
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4 years ago

How Is God Working in My Teen’s Depression?

If you’ve found yourself caring for a depressed teen, maybe you’re wondering what God is up to in the midst of this heartbreaking time. While we cannot know all the ways that God intends to work in your teen’s despondency, the Scriptures do tell us what his goal is for you in this season.
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5 years ago

Equipping You in Grace Podcast: Help! My Teen is Depressed

On this episiode of Equipping You in Grace, host Dave Jenkins and Christine Chappell discuss how to walk with a teenager through depression, how the local church can help teenagers who are depressed and minister to them, along with her mini-book, "Help! My Teen is Depressed" (Shepherd Press, 2020).
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5 years ago

Discipling Our Children in Their Suffering

It’s disorienting when a child is suffering. Our parental instinct is to come to our children’s rescue and “make it better.” But life lived in a fallen world means that we cannot always protect our children from disease and death. Money and medicine has its limitations. The truth is that our children are not immune to experiencing the effects of the curse on this world, which means they will look to those charged with their care for comfort, hope, and help when suffering strikes.
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5 years ago

Depression Testimony at Trinity Point Church

My family and I were honored to have been invited by our Pastor, Tracy Turner, to share about our journey through depression over the last 20 years. During this pastoral interview, I share my history with depression how I resolved to fix myself by faith when I became a new believer in Christ. My husband shares some of his perspective on what the challenges were when trying to walk alongside me during my depressive seasons. We talk about the dangers of idolizing healing (both physical and spiritual), the problem with pursuing personal goals rather than God's goals, and how the Lord worked through nearly two decades of our suffering sorrows in order to act as ministers of comfort to our teenager, who unexpectedly endured an intense period of autoimmune disease and despair herself. Pastor Tracy, Brett, and I seek to illumine the importance of being willing to comfort others with the same comfort that we ourselves have been comforted by God.
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5 years ago

An Interview with IBCD Podcast Host Christine Chappell

As the podcast completes its transition from The Hope + Help Project to IBCD's Hope + Help Podcast, this episode features a discussion between IBCD Director of Communications Ann Maree Goudzwaard and podcast founder Christine Chappell, exploring the various ways biblical counseling has personally impacted Christine's life and ministry.
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5 years ago

Our Better Hope: Eight Priestly Comforts for Times of Need

The truth of Christ as our merciful high priest may, upon first glance, appear as an irrelevant consolation in times of need, but the book of Hebrews highlights the critical importance of Jesus’ role of the true and better priest of God’s people. Not only has the Son of Man entered into the Father’s presence as a forerunner on our behalf (Hebrews 6:20), but the book makes eight assurances of “better” things which directly result from Jesus’s permanent high priestly duty.
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5 years ago

Death Will Come When Christ Calls

It was not until I became a follower of Christ that my perspective on death changed, and I came to understand it as something more than an instrument of destruction. In Christ, death is no doomsday — it’s a gateway.
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5 years ago

Making Church a Safe Place for Sorrow

While Revelation 21 specifically lists death, mourning, crying, and pain as fundamental grievances believers will face, there's a shocking lack of corporate preparation to meet with such sorrows. Removing the stigma of deeply painful sadness requires the local church’s unhurried commitment to making room for it on Sunday mornings and a desire to equip leaders in one-another care.
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5 years ago

Live Radio Interview: How to Talk to Your Depressed Child

I had the pleasure of being interviewed on The Ride Home with John & Kathy radio show regarding my article at The Gospel Coalition, "How to Talk to Your Depressed Child." For fifteen minutes, we spoke about some of the challenges and necessities of caring for a child who is walking through depression. While I would have loved to have been able to expand on certain points (and of course, I neglected to say a few things I wish I would have), I hope the interview offers some helpful insights into the incredible difficulty of the situation, and stresses the need for compassion, grace, and God's truth in the midst of a disorienting season.
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5 years ago

How to Talk to Your Depressed Child

As parents, we can’t take the place of medical professionals, licensed counselors, or pastoral care. A child’s depressed feelings can indicate ordinary sadness or a more serious disorder, and we’ll typically need outside help to identify the nature of our child’s struggle. But parents do have something valuable to offer: love and encouragement.
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5 years ago

When We Hit Rock Bottom: Waiting on God in Sad Seasons

Psalm 126 is a song of hope for those held captive by present sorrows and dire affliction. It encourages those who walk with weighted steps to wait expectantly for their God. There is a special promise for those who shed tears in desperate places—the sorrow will not endure forever. God will restore us once more, and our joy will be made all the greater for having endured the tribulation by faith. When rock bottom feels like the end of us, we can trust that Christ will hold us fast—for “with him is plentiful redemption” (Psalm 130:7).
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5 years ago

Beware of Taking Your Sorrows to Alcohol Before God

Drinking to drown our sorrows, contrary to the chart-topping songs, is a dangerous—potentially deadly—way to respond to seasons of excessive sadness. Alcohol won’t lay its life down for us, but it can demand we lay down our life for it.
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5 years ago

Four Sustaining Graces for Seasons of Depression

It’s true, the experience of depression is exhausting—both physically and spiritually. We find ourselves desperately feeling around for a light switch that we may finally land our fingers on a toggle. But alas, there are no quick remedies for instantly illuminating our gloom—no switch to flip, no immediate assuage of our pain. Yet, while depression is a season where our capabilities may be diminished, there are small sustaining graces to partake of which can carry us along while we wait.
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5 years ago

Engaging Grief with Hope: Responding Biblically to Our Sorrow

Grief can often feel like a bully. It’s not uncommon for those who have suffered the loss of a loved one to be overtaken by waves of sorrow when they least expect it. Sometimes it’s a simple sight or smell that brings us to our knees; we’ll find ourselves head-in-hand, weeping as if the loss […]
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5 years ago

Children, Come and See: Displaying Mom’s Faith in Christ

Our faithful pursuit of taking pleasure in Jesus is the best witness we can offer our family. By taking the time to share how God is working in our lives, we attract our children to the larger story of God’s redemption. If Jesus is the Gift that keeps on giving, what better way to share the treasure than by inviting our children to come and see for themselves?
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5 years ago
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