It’s that time of year. The temperature has dropped, the leaves are falling, and we’ve started turning up the heat in the mornings. By 7:00 PM, it’s getting dark, and when DST ends just eight days from now, and it will be getting dark by 6:00. The air is drying out, t-shirts are beginning to crackle with static electricity, and lip balm will soon be flying off the shelves.

Just as this time of year can mean dryness in our homes, it can mean dryness in our souls. As people move toward the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, they may think, “I should be happy. Why can’t I get into the spirit of things? Why do I feel so dry?”

Something like 10 million Americans suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder, and as many as 35 million others suffer milder forms of the same malady. Many of these people are Christians, who are further troubled by the thought that “real Christians” don’t experience dryness and depression. They worry that something must be wrong with them and fear they will be judged if they tell anyone of their emotional depression and spiritual dryness.

They might be surprised to learn that depression is a common ailment among clergy. The late John R.W. Stott, prominent scholar, former rector of All Souls Church, and founder of the Langham Partnership, called depression “the bane of the ministry.” C.H. Spurgeon, one of England’s greatest preachers, was sometimes too depressed to get out of bed. William Cowper, a devout Christian and one of the Eighteenth Century’s most distinguished poets, struggled with terrible bouts of depression throughout his life.

More recently, Louie Giglio, founder of the Passion Movement and pastor of Passion City church, has spoken candidly about his experience of depression. The influential megachurch pastor Rick Warren went through depression following the death of his son by suicide. Even spiritually mature people may experience depression. Everyone experiences periods of spiritual dryness.

Periods of spiritual dryness are not only common among people of faith, they are normal. Indeed, such dryness serves an important function in the development of Christian character. New believers are often dependent upon feelings of love, security, etc. for their well-being. They trust God when they feel trusting. They are kind when they feel kind. They are grateful for God’s salvation when they feel saved. But this is not enough: God will have us trust him, and not just our feelings about him. Periods of dryness serve to further this aim by removing the support of feelings and forcing us to rely on God alone.

The Scottish writer George Macdonald warns that during these dry times we are liable to mourn over our loss of positive feelings or, worse, “make frantic efforts to rouse them.” The problem is that when we address our feelings directly, they hide from sight. When we focus not on our feelings, but on truth, on God’s goodness, on his grace to us in Jesus Christ and, strangely enough, on our obligations, our feelings often return, rekindled and bright.

Macdonald suggests that it is during these periods of dryness – not in spite of them – that our wills are forged in the likeness of God’s will. When we cannot choose to love, we can yet fight the hatred that is in us. When we cannot feel good, we can cry to the one who is good. “Fold the arms of thy faith,” Macdonald counsels, “and wait in the quietness until light goes up in thy darkness,” as it surely will.

While waiting for faith to kindle, don’t neglect to do the things that ought to be done. Just “do it,” the old Scot urges us, “if it be but sweeping of a room, or the preparing of a meal, or a visit to a friend. Heed not thy feeling: Do thy work.”

In some cases, people experiencing depression should consult a physician, and medication may prove helpful. But in every case, the Lord will be with us, whether we feel him or not. He, too, knows what it is to feel desperately alone, for when he took on our flesh, he experienced even this. But we must keep in mind that his cry of desolation, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” was replaced in time with the greeting of joy: “Peace be with you.”

It will eventually be so for every one of Jesus’s people.