Edward T. Welch Quotes

Control and certainty are myths.

Depression ... involves a complete absence: absence of affect, absence of feeling, absence of response, absence of interest. The pain you feel in the course of a major clinical depression is an attemp...

Then, when shame strikes, it is so nasty you have to numb yourself, and what better anesthetic than your addiction? It is the perfect vicious circle.

This was Paul’s joy in suffering and shame: that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain...

They are God’s liturgy, prepared for you in advance. How

The important thing was the shedding of blood. Sounds barbaric, but the Old Testament was reminding us that there was a significant cost involved in moving from unclean to clean. You didn’t have to pa...

The circumstances of life do not have the power to turn us away from Jesus or to make us love him more—those are the jurisdiction of the heart.

Here is what we know and where we are going. First, shame is blended into our present human condition. That doesn’t mean that happiness and joy only come at the cost of massive denial. No, there can b...

If our failure to consistently worship the true God is the key feature of sin, we are sinners all.

The first steps out of shame will be the hardest. These are the anti-denial steps in which we will put shame into words. You can’t do battle with something nameless, and too often shame eludes accurat...

You would think that anyone would jump at the chance to escape shame. But that isn’t the way it happens. Though shamed people are happy to guide others out of their dark prisons, they are always sure...

Life in the kingdom isn’t easy, at least not when we want to share the throne. But

What is most important is that you look away from yourself to the true God. No matter who you are or where you are from, you will be able to know him and worship him. And when you worship him, it mean...

These words point in the right direction, but some of them, such as embarrassed, insulted, different, and ignored, can fade with time. Real shame requires more intensity. That’s why the language of th...

When you are confident that you are the Father’s treasured possession, you are also confident that his loving care will continue forever. Building warehouses is a waste of time and space. His gifts to...

Now listen more carefully to depression. Like all feelings, it is a kind of language. Guilt says, I am wrong. Anger says, You are wrong. Fear says, I am in danger. Depression, too, has a message, but...

The odd thing is that fear and anxiety are running away from something, but they don’t know what to run to. They know danger, but they don’t know where to find peace and rest.

Shame is life-dominating and stubborn. Once entrenched in your heart and mind, it is a squatter that refuses to leave.

Shame is the deep sense that you are unacceptable because of something you did, something done to you, or something associated with you. You feel exposed and humiliated. Or, to strengthen the language...

Sin can certainly be a cause of depression, but you must be careful about connecting the dots between the two. If you are being honest, you will always find sin in your life. Everyone does. That doesn...