Postpartum Depression Is Spiritual Warfare…Just To Keep Things Light.

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” —Ephesians 6:12 NIV

At three months postpartum, my spirits were soaring. Oxytocin surged every time I so much as glanced at my baby, and I felt this divine sense of purpose in caring for her. I was convinced that, despite spending most of my adult life pretending I wasn’t clinically depressed, I had defied the odds and averted PPD. 

I could not have been more wrong. 

PPD hit hard when I decided to stop breastfeeding at five months postpartum. It felt like I was grieving. Every “loss” of a person I had experienced in life came back to haunt me, tenfold. I was riddled with guilt for simply existing and now subjecting a defenseless baby to my existence. (If you relate to this, you are not alone. If you don’t, you should know it’s also entirely possible that I’m batshit crazy.) 

So how did I get through it? Well, along with letting doctors drug me up like Elvis, I turned to God through Scripture, worship, and prayer. 

If you’ve found yourself in the pits of PPD, then the following realization probably won’t sound all that dramatic to you: 

The Enemy wants your baby to grow up without a mother. 

And that’s because he hates women. From Captivating, by John and Stasi Eldredge: “Eve is [Satan’s] greatest human threat, for she brings life … He assaults her with a special hatred.” 

The Enemy’s objective is to “kill and destroy” (John 10:10 NIV), so it makes sense that he would oppose anything that gives life — God, childbearing, artistic efforts, etc.  

I am not the person to prescribe a Bible-reading plan or lifestyle overhaul, but if you are experiencing PPD or something similar, I encourage you to consider whether you might be under spiritual attack. 

Ask yourself: 

• What have I done recently that would make the Enemy want to target me?
•  What is within me and/or my child that he would want to attack so violently? 
• Am I going to let him win?