Masks

About 9 or 10 years ago, I wrote and self-published a book. It’s a devotional book originally intended for people battling depression. The book is entitled Masks: Devotions of the Hope for the Downcast.

This book came about after a teenager in a nearby congregation committed suicide. In a meeting of area pastors the theme became “we need more resources for this kind of thing.” My wife has dealt with depression for most of her adult life and the pastors were aware of this, so they asked me to write a curriculum for people who are depressed.

I explained that people with depression don’t wake up in the morning thinking, “Hey, I wonder what classes I could sign up for.” It is much more likely they are wondering how they will get out of bed to face the day. So I said I would write some devotions. Masks was the result.

The book has 30 devotions, each a page and a half to two pages long. Because depressed people might be overwhelmed by reading two pages, there are also a collection of “devotional thoughts” toward the end, all about six sentences plus a Scripture verse.

If you’re interested, this book is available to order here.

Over the years, I’ve given away far more of these books than have sold. When I was working in an emergency shelter for teens, I put two copies in their library. This resulted in numerous teens telling me they felt like I wrote the book specifically for them. (Amazing what the Holy Spirit can do.)

One of the reasons I’m writing this at this time is because later this year the book will be going out of print. Every year I’ve paid a small fee to keep the book in print, but this year they are nearly tripling that fee. So after talking with my wife, we’ve decided to allow the book to disappear from print.

I believe these devotions have been a help to many people struggling not just with depression, but with tough circumstances of life. Many have told me it was helpful to them. If you think it might be helpful to you or to someone you know, you can order it here.