Fighting Feelings of Depression in Entrepreneurship by Focusing on This
Updated: Apr 23, 2021
The COVID-19 pandemic has made many people think twice about their decision to be an entrepreneur.
Many people who were passionate about opening a restaurant won’t be re-opening. Business owners who didn’t have their finances in order and can’t pay their bills will second-guess the love and commitment they once felt for their venture.
It’s easy to tell ourselves, “This is a good time to throw in the towel. I gave it a shot, but now it’s time to go back to the 9-5 grind and see who’s hiring.”
But this is NOT a time for Christian entrepreneurs to be settling. Settling will only bring more depression into the heart because it begins to believe the lie that our purpose and calling in business is over. The dream dies a slow death but leaves in its place a void that depression and regret fill.
No matter the tragedy of having to close your doors and lay off people.
No matter what unpaid bills you face today.
No matter what circumstances arise in the future after this pandemic is over.
Jesus heals the darkest wounds of the Godpreneur’s heart.
Instead of retreating or giving up, a battle-wounded Christian business owner needs to assume a fighting position he or she should have already learned to be in daily — knees bent, bowed head, hands together, and a heart crying out for Jesus saying “This battle in my business is not mine, it’s the Lord’s.”
When the COVID-19 pandemic began to hit the United States, my clients started calling me to “pause” their retainers with my agency. I was counting on their monies for payroll, rent, bills, and payments. From one day to the next, 75% of my revenue dropped.
It could have been easy for me to throw in the towel, lay off all of my employees, tell myself “Oh Alex, how many times are you going to go through these financial struggles before you realize you just need to go work for someone. You don’t know how to run a business. You can’t keep your clients. You’re not going to make it past this one this time. Your time is up.”
And although I’ve had those same thoughts throughout my 15-years of entrepreneurship, I was already battle-ready when I begin to hear those thoughts creep into my head.
As business owners, we’ve already been through trials, tribulations, challenges, anxiety, stress, back-stabbing, layoffs, debt, and every other negative circumstance in business. The journey of entrepreneurship isn’t a straight road with perfectly paved roads. No. Going out and starting a business is a pilgrimage of twists, turns, and unknown dangers around every corner.
And how did we get back up every time?
We guarded our hearts and our minds of any negative thoughts. We silenced the enemy and the critics. We went against the sage advice of our mothers-in-law and we kept on fighting for our calling of entrepreneurship.
The Bible says:
"Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life." (Proverbs 4:23)
The heart has to be guarded because not only is our own heart deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9), but everyone’s hearts are also plagued with wicked hearts. This is why GUARDING the heart is the most important thing an entrepreneur needs to do daily.
God has called you to Entrepreneurship, right? God gave you a vision for a business, correct? You feel a purpose and a passion to fix a wrong in this world, true? You have a burning desire to lead a movement and share something God’s put on your heart, amen?
If you let your heart drift towards negative thoughts of defeat, failure, and uncertainty, then it will be easy for the enemy to sell you a lie as the truth. Even our well-intentioned parents can unknowingly be attacking your calling in business, and these are our most trusted advisors!
The truth about who you are can only be found in one place: Jesus Christ. If you don’t guard your heart and the calling that God has over you and your business, you’re leaving the door of depression wide open to destroy the destiny God has for your entrepreneurial journey.
Depression can creep in when your heart begins to question God’s truth. That’s how depression kills. And that’s exactly why Jesus came to heal. The enemy sold a lie to Adam and Eve, made them question their purpose and calling from God, and changed the trajectory of humanity.
Your depression might be a deep cut that’s been untreated for many years, and this pandemic re-opened wounds that are simply too painful to bear. Jesus wants to heal those deep wounds that have resurfaced. He wants to take the darkest tragedy in your life, and turn it into your biggest triumph!
Let Jesus into your heart to fight the enemy, heal your wounds, and set you free into the business God created you to start.
Say “The battle is not mine, it’s the Lord’s.”
Imagine if we would have developed the habit of presenting our concerns every morning in the loving hands of our Heavenly Father. When this pandemic hit and things went haywire, we wouldn’t have been hit so hard. The anxiety wouldn’t have stayed for more than 24 hours. The depression wouldn’t have been allowed to form because we would have turned it over in our morning time with God.
Now is the time to develop the habit of guarding our hearts and minds by giving the current circumstances over to God, resting in His presence, and awaiting his marching orders for our businesses.
The time of solitude from others is a time we all joyfully persevere by guarding our entrepreneurial hearts, all the way through this valley to the end of this quarantine. We must protect our joy for business ownership.
Let’s rely on God, not ourselves or the news. Praying every morning and pressing into God’s word is more powerful than turning on the news to find comfort in being informed. Only the personal presence of God powering our spirits will produce the INSPIRATION we need to move into the NEW He has for us.
Every morning, we need to authentically come to God with the deceitful lies and wicked thoughts of our hearts. He already knows He’s waiting for us to RELEASE it to Him so that He can fight the battle while we go out and fulfill the calling He fashioned us from the womb to accomplish.
Godpreneurs, this isn’t about us. Stop making this circumstance so personal. We need to take ourselves out of the economic scenario in the world. God operates in a whole different stock market. In His kingdom, Jesus is the President, King, Prime Minister, Minister of Health, and Head of the Federal Reserve. It’s all about following the way Jesus followed His own calling and purpose. Jesus guarded his heart in the desert, and that allowed him to finish his purpose. We need to do the same. In everything we do, we need to strive to become the entrepreneur Christ died for us to be.
Let’s pray
Today, I pray that you will guard your heart against the things that take away your joy and delight in the PURPOSE God gave you for your business. May we never drop the precious gift of your calling over our entrepreneurial life in exchange for things like worry, anxiety, and depression that are not meant for us to carry. Your presence over the thing we were BORN TO DO is enough, will always be enough, and is what I commit to staying focused on. Even when things around me are uncertain, my calling in the marketplace is still true today!
Rid my heart of toxic thoughts and replace them with thoughts that please You and obey your calling over my identity in entrepreneurship. Lord, because of You I am forever grateful and equipped for every good work. Guide me towards the problems you need me to solve; the light you need me to be in this NEW world you’re creating. The world is shaken, but my purpose in You is not.
Amen!
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