Well, for my first entry, I would like to share what Amy has shared to me during our house meeting this evening... It was taken from girltalk.blogs.com and reviveourhearts.com
So, here it is...
When I face physical and hormonal and emotional difficulties, I feel tired and irritable. It is easy for me to forget God's promises when my negative feelings are so strong.
My strategy has often been to try and wait it out. Once this is over, I tell myself, then I'll get back to growing in the Christian life. I forget that I am still in the middle of God's plan for my life! God has planned these difficult days along with all the others! Difficult days aren't simply a trial to get through. They are opportunities for testing faith and spiritual growth.
Elizabeth Prentiss beautifully expresses this point:
"God never places us in any position in which we can not grow. We may think that He does. We may fear we are so impeded by worrying, petty cares that we are gaining nothing; but when we are not sending any branches upward, we may be sending roots. Perhaps in the time of our humiliation, when everything seems a failure, we are making the best kind of progress."
The best kind of progress. Far from being the beginning of a spiritual fall, we often grow more in these difficult seasons than when life is easy, and we feel like we're flourishing (remember, your feelings can't be trusted!)
That's why the apostle Paul sees weakness as an opportunity for boasting in the Lord:
"But [God] said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong" (2 Corinthians 12:9-10)
For the sake of Christ, we are to boast in our weaknesses, we are to be content in difficulty or depression. For when we are weak, it is then that His power rests on us. What an opportunity!
So, what can we do when we feel depressed??
1.) Remember that you have a choice about what to do with your feelings.
Elisabeth Elliot says: "Choices will continually be necessary and - let us not forget - possible. Obedience to God is always possible. It is a deadly error to fall into the notion that when feelings are extremely strong we can do nothing but act on them.
We must not fall into the trap of believing that we are helpless to confront our feelings. Instead, we must choose to obey God."
2.) Talk to God, and talk to yourself!
First, talk to God about your feelings, like David does in Psalm 42. Then, remind yourself of the trust - that you can hope in God. Thank him for the ways he has been faithful in the past.
David talks to God, and then says to himself, "Why are you cast down, O my soul? Why are you disquieted, depressed, within me? Hope in God," he tells himself, "for I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God."
3.) Recognize false comforts, and turn instead to the true comfort of God.
What do you usually turn to when you feel depressed? Do you watch too much TV? Do you eat too much food? Do you read novels or spend too much time on the internet? Recognize that these things will never bring you happiness. Only God can satisfy you.
I believe God can handle our questions. He can handle our doubts. We have gone before the Lord many times and many different ways and said, "Lord, I just don't get it."
Sometimes God doesn't answer our questions, but as we continue to ask Him, he brings us closer to Him.
Realize that as you ask Him to lead you, you're really saying, "Lord, not just get me out of my problems." You're not just saying, "Lord, solve my problems." You're not just saying, "Lord, fix my situation or change my situation."
You're saying ultimately, "Lord, lead me into a more intimate fellowship and communion with You. If in order to experience that kind of union and communion with You it means that You keep me right in the storm, then I accept that. It's okay. Yes, it may hurt. Yes, I may weep. But God, You are my exceeding joy. My goal in life is not Your gifts. My goal in life is not to have any easy life. My goal in life is not comfort and convenience. My goal in life is You, God, my exceeding joy."
Lately, I've got into a quite big depression. I've struggled with my feelings. I've reached a point where I can no longer shared my feelings with someone else. I just can't find the right words to share my feelings. All I can do is crying, praying, and thinking.
It really is not a healthy kind of living since I am no longer able to express my own feelings. I never got into this kind of depression before. Now, I'm just too exhausted. I have no more energy to deal with this problem. I've reached my limit!
But, God is great! He won't let me walk alone in this hardships. He walks along the way with me, side by side. And even He carries me, so I don't have to carry all the burden. It's just really amazing how God works in my life. In my saddest moment, when I was no longer able to contain the sorrow, He sent me a friend to cheer me up. He talks to me everyday during my devotional time. And He also speaks through Amy and other people around me.
So glad to have a God who is living and is watching over me all the time. He's not just my Savior, my Father, my Redeemer, but He's also my Friend, a very best friend!!
