This product will be available on May 19th, 2026
Description
Hope in the Shadows: A Christian Guide to Anxiety and Depression
Are you or someone you love struggling with anxiety or depression and searching for answers that go deeper than quick fixes or empty platitudes? Thy Deepest Distress: Anxiety and Depression in the Christian Life by Aaron Garriott is a compassionate, biblically rich guide for Christians facing the storms of mental anguish.
This book stands out for its pastoral warmth, theological depth, and practical wisdom. Garriott weaves together personal experience, historical insight, and timeless truths from Scripture to show that anxiety and depression are not signs of weak faith, but part of the complex reality of living in a fallen world. Drawing from the lives of Christian giants like John Bunyan, Martin Luther, John Owen, William Cowper, and Charles Spurgeon—each of whom battled their own “dark nights of the soul”—Garriott demonstrates that even the greatest saints have walked this difficult path.
Rather than promising a cure, Thy Deepest Distress offers hope, perspective, and tools for living faithfully amid suffering. Readers will discover how God’s providence, Christ’s sympathy, and the hope of future glory can transform even the deepest distress into an opportunity for spiritual growth and deeper communion with God. With practical appendices on prayer and daily practices, this book is an invaluable companion for anyone seeking light in the darkness.
Endorsements
Is the trial of anxiety and depression a random and purposeless burden to be despised, or a carefully crafted opportunity to know and glorify the God whose fatherly hand ordained it? With personal and pastoral warmth, Aaron Garriott shows it to be the latter.
Tessa Thompson
Author, 'Laughing at the Days to Come: Facing Present Trials and Future Uncertainties with Gospel Hope'
... points us to the light that is uniquely able to penetrate the darkness and restore to us the ’peace of God that passes all understanding.’
Mark Johnston
Minister, Groomsport Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Bangor, Northern Ireland
This judicious and soul-nourishing book does not give readers what they expect, but what they need, sounding clear notes about difficult personal topics that have too long been muted. Every Christian should read and profit from this book because, while we do not always have the same trials, we have the same God and the same comfort.
Ryan M. McGraw
Morton H. Smith Professor of Systematic Theology, Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Greenville, South Carolina
... a readable, skillful, sympathetic, and thoughtful guide to help us see the way through anxiety and depression. I do not know of another resource like it.
Gabriel N. E. Fluhrer
I love [Garriott's] clarity and depth. If you are a physician of souls, this is a book you will find truly enlightening.
Conrad Mbewe
Pastor, Kabwata Baptist Church, Kabwata, Zambia; Founding Chancellor, African Christian University, Lusaka, Zambia
Garriott offers sage counsel that helps those suffering know that other great saints of the faith have trodden the same path, and more importantly, that in the valley of darkness the light of Christ’s presence shines forth to show the way out.
J. V. Fesko
Harriet Barbour Professor of Systematic and Historical Theology at Reformed Theological Seminary, Jackson, Mississippi; author, ‘Reforming Apologetics: Retrieving the Classic Reformed Approach to Defending the Faith’
... a goldmine of insight to the more difficult side of the Christian experience.
Terry L. Johnson
Senior Pastor, Independent Presbyterian Church, Savannah, Georgia
With wonderful honesty, psychological realism, historical sensitivity, and bright gospel hope, Aaron Garriott offers us solid help. But there are no cliches, quick fixes, or glib pat-answers here.
David Strain
Senior Minister, First Presbyterian Church, Jackson, Mississippi
This book is a gift to the church in our present moment, bringing the wisdom of the ages to bear on the struggles of today.
Jason Helopoulos
Senior Pastor, University Reformed Church, East Lansing, Michigan
... offers not pop psychology but wisdom drawn from the Bible and the Christian tradition, showing how to bear this kind of cross in faith.
Gene Edward Veith
Professor of Literature Emeritus, Patrick Henry College, Purcellville, Virginia; author, 'God at Work: Your Christian Vocation in All of Life'
Here the tried and tested counsel of biblical teaching on God and his providence, and Christ and his presence is coupled with the multi-valent medicine of the gospel and the insights of common grace into the disorders that afflict our human nature.
Sinclair B. Ferguson
Chancellor’s Professor of Systematic Theology, Reformed Theological Seminary, Jackson, Mississippi
Pick up this book and let Rev. Garriott show you where the suffering soul may find light and comfort.
Guy Prentiss Waters
James M. Baird, Jr. Professor of New Testament and Academic Dean, Reformed Theological Seminary, Jackson, Mississippi
... not only an honest and frank acknowledgment of his own struggles with anxiety and depression but also a helpful, pastoral manual for anyone who has the occasion to counsel believers with similar distresses.
Cornelis P. Venema
President & Professor of Doctrinal Studies, Mid–America Reformed Seminary, Dyer, Indiana
... the best book I have read on the subject. For deep distress, here is a real remedy.
Jonathan Landry Cruse
Pastor, author, hymn writer
... consistently points to the testimony of God’s Word, highlighting especially its glorious presentation of a God sovereign and wise, an ‘ever present help in time of trouble.’
Jonathan Master
President, Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, South Carolina
... a great resource for all Christians; both for our own encouragement, as well as to help us counsel others Biblically.
John C. Kwasny
Director of Discipleship Ministries, Pear Orchard Presbyterian Church, Ridgeland, Mississippi
... practical pastoral prescription to help us bear our burdens and entrust them to our great Burden-Bearer.
Tim Witmer
Founder and President, Shepherd Leader Ministries Emeritus Professor, Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
This book offers not indulgent comfort but genuine hope for those who are passing through gloomy valleys, as well as help for those who are walking with them.
Jeremy Walker
Pastor, Maidenbower Baptist Church, UK
Drawing from Scripture, from the voices of historic Christian testimony, and from his own hard-won experience, [Garriott] offers real hope—hope anchored in the Father’s providence and the Son’s High-Priestly intercession.
Neil Stewart
Senior Minister, First Presbyterian Church (ARP), Columbia, South Carolina
... a study that should be read by every pastor, by every Christian who suffers from anxiety and, or, depression, and by family and friends of such sufferers.
Ian Hamilton
Associate Minister, Smithton Culloden Free Church of Scotland, Inverness
... Garriott writes with rare honesty, clarity, and compassion, demonstrating that such afflictions (though deeply painful) are neither unprecedented nor beyond the care of our sovereign and merciful God.
Brian G. Najapfour
Pastor, Heritage Reformed Congregation, Jordan, Ontario; co-editor, 'Mental Health & Soul Care: Considered Biblically, Pastorally, & Practically'
Rather than succumbing to the paralysis they often bring, Pastor Aaron Garriott teaches that worry and fear can instead prompt the believer toward deeper experiences of the grace that Christ readily offers.
Barry York
President and Professor of Pastoral Theology and Homiletics, Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
In a time when the Western world is crippled by mental turmoil, this book is a breath of fresh air and a welcome resource. Read and be blessed.
Pierce Taylor Hibbs
But Aaron Garriott shows us the struggles of so many real people, himself included, and he draws us in. Soon we believe that God’s words are actually for us, and those words are good and comforting, from start to finish. Hope, rest, and clear small steps. They are all here.
Edward T. Welch
Counselor & Faculty at Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation
In this insightful, encouraging, and pastorally sensitive book, Aaron Garriott shows the way to light and life, to hope and faith, and yes, even to gladness and joy.
George Grant
Senior Pastor, Parish Presbyterian Church, Franklin, Tennessee
[Garriott] doesn’t take a simplistic approach. He writes as one who has also walked through the valley and brings that personal knowledge to the table.
Keith Mathison
Professor of Systematic Theology, Reformation Bible College, Sanford, Florida
... a helpful biblical, pastoral, and theological approach to thinking through anxiety and depression.
Nate Pickowicz
Pastor, Harvest Bible Church, Gilmanton Iron Works, New Hampshire
By exploring the Scriptures and leaning upon historical insights—especially from the Puritans—Garriott guides the struggling saint through the troubled waters of the dark night of the soul.
Brian H. Cosby
Pastor, Wayside Presbyterian Church, Signal Mountain, Tennessee
Reformed in perspective, pastoral in tone, and practical in application, this book is well worth your time—whether you are struggling with anxiety and/or depression yourself or want to help someone who is.
Joel R. Beeke
Chancellor, Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary, Grand Rapids, Michigan
Author
Rev. Aaron L. Garriott is managing editor of Tabletalk magazine, resident adjunct professor at Reformation Bible College in Sanford, Florida, and associate pastor of Spruce Creek Presbyterian Church in Port Orange, Florida. He is also author of 'A Word Fitly Spoken'.
Specifications
ISBN 9781527114005
Author Aaron L. Garriott
Imprint Focus
Category Spiritual Growth
Release Date 19 May 2026
Format Paperback
Page Count 160
Width 130 mm
Height 198 mm
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