3 ‘Lifesavers’ That Helped Bethel’s Brian Johnson Overcome Depression by KENDRA SEMMEN for Charisma News
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For Brian Johnson, worship pastor and co-founder of Bethel Music, worship music, godly community and the Word of God were key factors or “lifesavers” that helped him overcome depression and panic attacks.
“I know I came to a point in my life or in those moments where I could really identify with people that were really at the final stage of their life in that, you know, people commit suicide,” Johnson says. “A lot of people start taking heavy doses of drugs just to numb themselves because they can’t cope with what they’re feeling or what’s going on in their life. And I could really start to identify with that because I was at that point where it was like, ‘OK, God’s going to have to do some miraculous thing.’
“And I was looking for direction—’is there something I’m supposed to do?’ Then I started reading the Bible every day, getting up really early, 5:15 every morning and just started reading. … You know, the Bible talks about that peace that passes all understanding. In the darkest, hardest, deepest moments of panic, I had experienced some moments like that. And so I knew that God was with me, even though [the depression] wasn’t 100% gone.”
Johnson says that his wife, Jenn, wrote the song “You’re Gonna Be OK” to help him get through some of the darkest moments of their life, he says on the Charisma News podcast on the Charisma Podcast Network. That’s just one example of the ways in which Christian community was pivotal in his journey toward healing.
