Fighting Depression????

“Have mercy upon me, O God, According to Your lovingkindness; According to the multitude of Your tender mercies, Blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, And cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions, And my sin is always before me. Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight; That You may be found just when You speak, And blameless when You judge. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.
Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me hear joy and gladness, That the bones You have broken may rejoice. Hide Your face from my sins, And blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit. Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And sinners shall be converted to You. …For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart; These, O God, You will not despise” (Psalm 51:1-13, 16-17 – NKJV)
Life is hard. People disappoint us, we disappoint ourselves and circumstances offer challenges in life that are overwhelming. How can we maintain our joy and faith with all these obstacles attacking us? These are questions that I face and have seen many of you face as well. So, I wanted to seek out answers in the best place I could think of … God’s Holy Word and prayer. I am NOT claiming credit for the content of my discoveries, I only hope that these words can help all of us that make the commitment to seek our own personal answers … Luke 11:9-10 -  “So I tell you: Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

Depression affects us all in some way or another. It is a personal attack on our confidence in ourselves and others as well as on our faith and values. Many people go through life feeling discouraged about themselves and thinking they do not have a purpose in life. But that's not true. Whoever you are—whatever your life experiences, talents, physical ability, or role—you have a purpose. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2:1). Notice two points in this verse:

1.      God created you. You are not an accident.

2.      God has a plan for you. You have a purpose in life.

God’s Plan for each of us differ and we all have specific and individual combinations of abilities that is unique in each one of us. Paul directed the Romans in using these abilities and not to put one person’s talents over the other and we were meant to function as one body . Romans 12:3-8  For by the grace given to me I say to every one of you not to think more highly of yourself than you ought to think, but to think with sober discernment, as God has distributed to each of you a measure of faith. For just as in one body we have many members, and not all the members serve the same function, so we who are many are one body in Christ, and individually we are members who belong to one another. And we have different gifts according to the grace given to us. If the gift is prophecy, that individual must use it in proportion to his faith. If it is service, he must serve; if it is teaching, he must teach; if it is exhortation, he must exhort; if it is contributing, he must do so with sincerity; if it is leadership, he must do so with diligence; if it is showing mercy, he must do so with cheerfulness.

Do not minimize your role. Live life as an adventure—wherever you are.

All Christians collectively form the body of Christ. The body is formed of many different parts (Romans 12:4-8 and 1 Corinthians 12:12-27). All are important. It does not matter what part of the body you are.

On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it (1 Corinthians 12:22-24)

Don't compare yourself to others or give up if someone seems to do a better job than you. Of course there are others who have more talent! If all the evangelists or witnesses or teachers in the world decided to stop trying because someone else did a better job, where would we be?

Like I stated earlier (many times) …. These postings are as much for ME as they are for everyone else and I appreciate all of your feedbacks and comments as well as I am so thankful for all the encouragements you give me . Until next time ….

May God Bless You and Yours

Gene