Category: Uncategorized

It’s A Mind Thing

Oftentimes the sadness that comes with major depressive disorder comes without and explanation…..

“You will keep in perfect peace, those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.”

Isaiah 26:3

I went to sleep that night and felt like myself.  I closed my eyes and opened them with tears streaming down my face.  It seemed as if I could not fight the rush of sadness that surrounded me.  I tried to pinpoint what happened while I was sleeping to cause so much sadness.  I laid there and the tears soaked my face and the overwhelming sadness flooded me.  How do you explain to anyone this deep sadness without a explanation.  These days you cannot be sad without a legitimate reason right…. WRONG. Oftentimes the sadness that comes with major depressive disorder comes without an explanation, there is not always a trigger besides the chemicals in your brain.  You can walk me down memory lane from the pass few days before the sadness began and still come up empty handed and no reason.  It comes without warning and it can be extremely forceful.  To be honest when you pair it together with being a believer of Jesus Christ it can feel like a weight of shame. The joy of the Lord should be my strength. So, you ask yourself is it possible to have the joy of the Lord but struggle with major depressive disorder?  I believe that joy and happiness are two very different things.  I think joy comes from Jesus and it remains in all circumstances and situations but happiness is connected to this world and it changes as circumstances change.  So with that knowledge I believe that you can have the joy of the Lord and still struggle with major depressive disorder. The sadness comes from the disorder so why should I attach that to the joy that comes from Jesus. It is the joy of the Lord that keeps me fighting each day. It is the joy of the Lord that keeps me smiling when I feel crushed and broken inside.  I am not hiding but I am choosing that what is inside of me will not always control what you see.  The other thing that is inside of me is Jesus.  So, I began to understand that this war within is A Mind Thing.  The chemical imbalance is inside our brain, and our mind and brain work hand in hand.  The scripture above says that Jesus will keep in perfect peace those whose minds(thoughts) are steadfast.  If we can in that moment of the spiral down think of Jesus not a scripture(it might be too much) but just his name and paint the picture of him right there in that moment the perfect peace already within us will begin to rise up. The peace of God is within us no matter what the lies from depression tell us, the peace of God is there for us to access. Oh how he longs to give it to us when the sadness blinds us to the truth. It might be a mind thing but the more we surrender our minds to God slowly with discipline the mind thing becomes A God Thing.

 

Prayer: Lord Jesus my mind belongs to you.  My thoughts belong to you.  When the struggle with depression and anxiety overwhelm me, please help me to remember that if I stay focused on you that you will keep me in perfect peace.  Lord Jesus remind me that you are with me and I am never alone.      Amen

 

 

 

The God That See’s You

Genesis 16:13

Thereafter, Hagar used another name to refer to the Lord, who had spoken to her. She said, “You are the God who sees me”. She also said,”Have I truly seen the One who sees me?”

How many times have you been placed in situations  where you  found yourself questioning if God could see you? Uncertain times where you were asking God, “I’m I seeing you, is this you at work right now?  It does not feel right, this can’t possibly be the God that sees me.

I think at some point in all of our lives , we have desperately searched for the confirmation that God can see us, especially during the times when it feels like our world has fallen apart right at our feet.   We just want the assurance that the one who knows every detail about our lives from beginning to the end  sees us in every situation and under every circumstance. Just like he provides for every living creature we want the assurance that he will provide for us.

Often times when I have been facing hardships in my life, I have found myself asking God if you see me, then why are you allowing this to continue in my life.  There are some seasons in our lives that we must walk through and the benefits that will come out of it are far greater than what were facing in the moment so instead God graces us with the courage and the strength to walk through it.  In Jeremiah 29:11, God says to us,”For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord,”They are plans for good and not disaster, to give you a future and a hope”. God is well aware of what you are facing but he also knows the plans he has for your life and no matter what it feels like his plans are not to harm you, his plans are to bring an offer to  you  for a future and a hope.  The beauty is that you get to choose his future and hope over what seems like a future and hope.  Even if it is only a tiny bit of hope, you must grab it and hold it with everything within you.  Allow yourself to see Gods hand on your life.  Settle the issue within yourself that he sees it all and he knows AND he is at work.  YOU might not see it, you might not feel it but God is working on your behalf.

One of my favorite scriptures that I love to read is, Psalms 23:6, “Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever”. (NLT)  

Just as God sent an angel to let Haggar know that he saw her, he is allowing things to happen in your life even in the place that you are in to let you know that he sees you and you are not forgotten.  He wants you to know that his goodness and unfailing love is pursuing you all the days of your life.  Oh brave one that means that no matter what you do Gods unfailing love is in hot pursuit of you.  There is nothing too bad that you have done to stop his unfailing love.  It cannot fail, which leads me to believe that it is perfect.  Gods love is perfectly fitted for every individual person. It is true that he loves us all the same but different because our needs for love is different.  What might feel like his love to me might feel like punishment to you so his love is perfected to fit you.

I pray that this post will serve as a reminder to you that God sees you.  He has had his eye on you from the very beginning.  When you were being formed in your mother’s  womb in utter seclusion, God was watching  your unformed body.  He took every part of your life and laid it out before himself before you were created.  I can only imagine what he was saying as he was putting the pieces of your life together.  God might have been thinking all that you would need to get through this and through that and little grace here and whole lot of love here.  You are seen oh beautiful one and you are so loved.

Prayer:  Father thank you that you see us.  You see every area of our lives and you love us with an unconditional love.  There is nothing we have faced or will face that you did not see.  Remind your daughters today that they are seen and loved deeply.  Heavenly Father help us to walk in the depth of your love for us and towards others.  Lord let that love permeate every single area of our lives.  In Jesus name, Amen.