Depression. We all go through it. You feel so sad about something that you think you can never be happy again. Then maybe a half hour later, you're laughing and happy again. That's what most teens see as being "depressed."

But really depression is so much more. You go through days at a time being sad. Sometimes it can last for weeks and maybe even months. You may feel so discouraged that you start to question why you are even living. You feel as if no one notices you and nobody cares about you. You feel so alone. But really you aren't. You have Jesus.

At one point in my life I felt and thought all of those things. I got so down on myself, I started to question why I was here on this earth and what my purpose was. I felt so alone. I started to seclude myself from everyone. The only person I stayed close with was my best friend. She would tell me all about how great things were going for her, and it just made me feel worse about myself. She would go on and on, and I would support her because she's my best friend. But that only made me push my own feelings down further. When she asked how I was doing, I would tell her everything was fine. I felt like she wouldn't understand. Nobody would understand.

One night she asked me what was wrong, and I told her, like usual, that I was fine. She told me that I wasn't fine and wouldn't drop the subject. She kept asking and asking, and I told her she wouldn't understand. She told me even though she may not understand, I needed to talk about it with someone. She would be there to listen. I was convinced to open up and tell her everything. She listened to everything I had to say. After I was done, she gave me the simplest advice. She told me to take everything I had just told her and to go tell it to Jesus. Pray to him and seek comfort in him. He knows what I have been going through and is waiting for me to talk to him.

That night I opened up my heart and soul to God. I felt angry at him for letting all the troubles in my life happen. I didn't understand why he let me be so depressed if he loved me. By the end of my prayer, I felt relieved. I felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders just by talking to him about it.

That next morning I started to think that maybe Jesus was using my depression for a reason. Maybe he was trying to tell me something. Maybe he used it so I would turn to him. In the next couple of days, my depression started to fade away. I started to become happy again. My life started to go back to normal. After every day, I would pray and thank God for blessing me with something good that happened to me.

My experience brought me closer to God. It was as if he was trying to tell me that I needed to rely on him for help and not just on myself.

So when you have problems or trouble in your life, turn to Jesus. He is always there to listen. And you never know, he might be trying to tell you something.

The author's name has been withheld due to the personal nature of the article.

Editor's note: Clinical depression may require professional counseling and/or medication.