Ever fought depression ? Nasty ugly evil demon ... It will whisper the most awful things to your soul when you least expect it. You know like before you can get yourself up and begin your day ... He is giving you a list a mile long of reasons your gonna fail at a whole bunch of things today, maybe all of them. So why try... Set your sights a little lower... There's too much to do... Not enough to do it with... No one to help... No one even notices your efforts , or ...or... (Oh boy, now your in real danger). In fact if you give him a little more time he will have you believing that no one cares about you at all... You cover your ears and try to drown it out but that demon isn't done trying to destroy your day yet, and so much more... He is persistent, and if you don't stop him soon he will win. Lets beat him together shall we ? I know this one personally... do battle on a regular basis we do. But he is not nearly as strong as you may think. Ill share a secret with you. You might laugh but hey it works for me and maybe it will help you. In my imagination, and I have a pretty active one, I picture a sword, actually its more of a star wars Jedi light saber kind of thing but you can have a flaming one too if you prefer. About the time this old foe is about to wrestle my entire day from me as well as shredding my heart, I usually rouse to do battle with him, not always though... He has won way too many times ... I may be a slow learner, but... the point is... I CAN LEARN TO WIN THIS BATTLE ... AND SO CAN YOU ... This sword is Gods word of truth, the only known antidote for this dreaded disease in my life. I tell him to leave me alone in Jesus' name and I weild that sword like true master jedi and begin to list good things about my Lord. Anything, small things, because when your just beginning to push back its hard to think clearly at all, let alone remember scriptures. Some battles are so difficult all I can do is call out His name... So I start small. I am small. Im timid and scared most of the time. But my Jesus is pretty tough... so much so that before I really do much that nasty old deceiver is gone. And I am on my way back to being my normal self again. Small and rather timid, but no longer scared. Now I wish that I had remebered this a couple of hours ago, before the tears, before I yelled at my poor child for what was it ? Before my muscles all tensed at the thought of just approaching this day. Now I have swollen eyes, a child whose upset with me ,with good reason ( not a good combo ) and my back is in pain from the stress... Coffee please ! Most of the time the battle of the mind is really untying all the lies that we have belived about ourselves for many many years. It takes time. If you've battled depression you know exactly what Im talking about. For me, I have to remember that Im a work in progress, still under construction. God isn't done with me yet. He is working diligently with me at seeing myself as He does... (This does not come naturally for most of us). Not through my old lenses , courtesy of the deceiver. But through the tenderest adoring eyes of grace... The way Jesus looks upon me and you is beyond comprehension... His love envelops my heart soothing the ache deep down inside, the part of me that still believes the lier when he tells me Im less than worthy of the unconditional love that Christ died to show me. He knows that part of my heart desperately needs Him, His love, needs to be healed. So He comes right in, unafraid, unashamed of my lack of belief... and He says, " child you belong to Me. I cherish every part of you. I will stay with you. I will teach you, show you, as often as you are willing, just how deeply, completely, passionately I adore you." Lord Jesus, I know there are a lot of people that don't think they measure up in this world. And I know that if you can help me, that You can help anyone. Please heal the hearts of Your children that are suffering from depression. Help them to call upon Your name so they too can feel Your incredible tender touch upon their wounded hearts. Thank You my Beloved for helping me to crawl out of that dark place, to bask in the beauty of Your presence, Your tender, grace filled, loving embrace. Amen TheUnknownSoul.net |