A new national memorial was dedicated October 3, 1996 to the memory of Franklin Delanor Roosevelt. A controversy surrounded the nature of the memorial statue. Should they portray F.D.R. in a wheelchair? The newspapers revealed that more than 35,000 photographs were taken of him and of that number only two shots of him in a wheelchair. In fact, F.D.R. never even discussed his paralysis with his mother, no less the electorate.

Roosevelt's paralysis caused times of personal depression, discouragement, and frustration. His life was a physical triumph over one of greatest challenges of life. For ten years he had fought a persevering fight to regain the use of his paralyzed legs. Roosevelt did learn to walk without his braces, a crutch, a cane, or assistance for fifteen steps. His indomitable spirit is seen in his words to others facing similar physical challenges and quoted in the 1932 edition of Time magazine where he was declared man of the year, "We've shown that we people here have determined to get over the small physical handicaps which after all don't amount to a hill of beans."

However, during some of the worst of days of his infirmity Roosevelt was surprisingly buoyant. Roosevelt never brought attention to his disability because he was not a man given to self-pity and he lived in an age when seeking pity was not in vogue. Opportunities for self-pity will come into the life of most everyone given enough life experiences. However, chronic self-pity is another debilitating disease that can cause another form of paralysis. Perhaps his dogged determination to surmount his personal disability and his refusal to accept self-pity revealed the presence of character traits that made him the great president he was.

Few, if any honest saints, would claim that he or she has never been emotionally down. No one needs to feel inferior or guilty because he or she cannot make that bold claim. Fortunately, there are accounts of great saints who have experienced spiritual depression and their experiences give us relief from the feelings of second-class Christianity. More than that, their experiences give us the ability to identify the causes of spiritual depression.

Part of our recovery from spiritual depression is being able to identify clearly what is really happening to us. We need to be able to diagnose properly what is taking place, emotionally, psychologically, and spiritually, if we are going to defeat depression and regain our spiritual footing. One of the signs of depression or discouragement is talk of quitting. Elijah talked of quitting when he said, "It is enough." Yes, you see that even some of the greats of God's people can be discouraged!