In her book, “Mosaic: Pieces of My Life So Far,” Christian music star Amy Grant talks about her battle with depression over the years. She mentions the winter months are a particularly rough time for her. “Maybe subconsciously that is part of the reason I’ve made so much Christmas music,” she writes, “to focus on hope and joy and store up a lot of good thoughts for he dark months ahead.”
When I interviewed Amy a couple of months ago, she spoke to me about the healing power of music:

There are so many good things to say about music. Music can get in those cracks in our armor and sink in and move us when we don’t even expect to be moved.
[Earlier on] in my recording career, I loved recording Christmas music because I felt like it was the one time in the year when people, in a very free, comfortable way, felt good about singing songs about faith. Even if they didn’t go to church, even if they weren’t followers of Jesus, they were okay to sing ‘Oh, Come Let Us Adore Him.’ That’s probably why I started recording a lot of Christmas music.
But, I just think music sneaks inside a person when they’re not expecting it and it’s good. There’s always a chance that you’re going to be moved if you let yourself hear a piece of music.

Stay tuned for the complete video interview, which will be up on Beliefnet in January.
If you need some tips on coping with your own wintertime depression, our Holiday Depression Busters gallery is a great resource.