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Snowy sludge. Gloomy noon skies. Christmas credit card debt. No new movies that are any good. January has arrived, and for many depressed Christians, that means wondering what's wrong with them—or their faith.

Neither mere January blues nor clinical depression has much to do with flawed faith. From the prophet Elijah to C. S. Lewis, people of deep faith have battled depression. For Elijah, it was more than post-holiday letdown: He'd called down fire from heaven on an unruly crowd of idol worshipers, leading to massive spiritual revival, before succumbing to suicidal thoughts (1 Kings 19:4).

Lewis, for his part, became more outgoing after his conversion, but that did not end his bouts with depression. Armand M. Nicholi Jr., author of The Question of God: C.S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud Debate God, Love, Sex, and the Meaning of Life (Free Press, 2003), notes that the Oxford don's relationship with God became the foundation for all his happiness. Nicholi commented to Christianity Today editor David Neff that Lewis once remarked that God cannot give us "happiness apart from Himself, because it is not there, there is no such thing."

Freud, of course, had a different take: Apart from pleasures (and sex the greatest of these), there is no happiness. Thus equating happiness with pleasure, and pleasures often being scarce, Freud said humans basically were not designed to be happy. Lewis, meanwhile, took joy in everyday pleasures—a hot bath, great music, a sunset—as gift from God.

Inability to enjoy a sunset anymore, though, may owe to those wintry clouds blotting it out. It's that time of year when a shortage of daylight leaves people with SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder). The National Mental Health Association reports in a Gannett News Service piece that about 25 percent of populations that suffer drastic seasonal lighting changes experience some kind of winter blues—and 5 percent of those develop serious SADness requiring medication and even hospitalization. More people will be affected by a milder form of SAD as less daylight sets off the hormone melatonin—mellowing energy level and mood, while making stomachs hungrier than usual. Any Christmas candy left?

Many Christians have been taken in by a subset of the health-and-wealth gospel. Dwight L. Carlson, author of Why Do Christians Shoot Their Wounded? (IVP, 1994), calls it the emotional-health gospel. Like the health-and-wealth preaching that those who are truly faithful will invariably prosper physically and financially, the emotional-health gospel declares those of true faith will be ever free of mental problems.

At least 15 percent of us are suffering serious emotional problems at any given time, according to Carlson. Many in the church feel they must hide their wounds from the brethren. Should the church be a place of healing? Yes, but Carlson avers that it's not unbiblical for Christians to look for healing outside the church. "If my car needs the transmission replaced, do I expect the church to do it?" he asks.

The answer to that would be yes, though, if you were attending Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois, which just happens to have a car repair ministry. But generally Christians need not be shamed away from seeking professional help for serious automotive or mental conditions. Carlson says 40 percent of all people who need emotional help seek it first from the church, and that some of these will require mental-health professionals. He'd like to see church leaders (not just pastors) become informed enough about Christian therapists to knowledgably refer suffering brothers and sisters to them.

Oh, and Carlson points out a few other great men of faith who faced down depression: Martin Luther (he who penned "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God") once felt utterly devoid of Christ, and on another occasion he wrote that "the content of the depressions was always the same, the loss of faith that God is good and that he is good to me." When Charles Spurgeon wasn't sparking 19th-century revival, he was taking time off from the pulpit two to three months a year to deal with his "depressions of spirit."

This year the usual January downers came with the added kick of immense natural disaster in Southern Asia the day after Christmas. Images of tsunami waves wreaking devastation in Asia washed over the world, leaving many to question God's goodness. In the affected areas of Sri Lanka, India, and Indonesia, among others, if previous major disasters are indicative, 5 percent to 10 percent of the survivors will suffer acute psychological trauma. But many more who show signs of only minor trauma, according to NewScientist.com news service, are at risk of eventual post-traumatic stress disorder and chronic depression.

Counselors within and outside the church are reaching out to help survivors deal with catastrophic loss. The Bible and Christian history are full of saints dealing with such deprivation, and in this vein author Gerald Sittser had no easy answers as he wrote about the loss of his wife, mother, and 4-year-old daughter from a head-on collision with a drunken driver. In A Grace Disguised: How the Soul Grows Through Loss (Zondervan, 1991), Sittser describes his trials of panic, anger, disorientation, and depression.

Those who suffer such loss run the risk of "the gradual destruction of the soul" as guilt, regret, bitterness, hatred, immorality, and despair threaten to devour it, he writes. Christians have the option of embracing loss in the light of Christ's incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection.

"The sovereign God," he writes, "who is in control of everything, is the same God who has experienced the pain I live with every day. No matter how deep the pit into which I descend, I keep finding God there. He is not aloof from my suffering but draws near to me when I suffer. He is vulnerable to pain, quick to shed tears, and acquainted with grief."

Searching for grace in the light of Christ's own suffering can be an arduous, tearful journey. Watching a few old film classics along the way doesn't hurt. Pretty much any musical by Rodgers and Hammerstein will do.