Archive for the ‘Christian Insight’ Category

Dealing With Depression

Personal, Spiritual Growth | May 16th, 2012

 

“Depression is when you have lots of love, but no one’s taking.”

– Doug Coupland

Depression doesn’t just go away.

No pill, counselor, or person can help me understand something that I don’t even understand myself. I don’t remember when I first recognized something was wrong but there has always been something in the corner of my mind reminding me that something was “off.”  Depression is a switch. We can wake up one morning and feel fine and as the day progresses something happens and we’re back in our comfort of darkness.

Depression isn’t a sin.

There are deeper underlying causes of depression and most are rooted there from our past. Maybe not being able to completely move on from my past has allowed me to internalize a lot of things which in turn makes me depressed. Honestly, I don’t know and it’s not something I want to sit and dwell on. I am not responsible for what was done to me in my past, but I am responsible for how I deal with them. Sinning is a choice, I never chose to be depressed.

Depression deepens my faith in God.

Most people say that because we are depressed, we don’t trust God.  It makes me trust Him more.  It breaks my heart when people are attacked because they’re depressed. People are so quick to give others advice on how to manage their depression, “Go talk to someone,” “I’ll be praying for you,” “You need to see a Doctor,” all those things stir something in my heart and ultimately breaks it.  While the initial intent is coming from a genuine place, why not just be there for them instead? It is not enough to lend a hand to the fallen to help them up, if you’re not willing to stand with them afterwards.  Where others have chosen to abandon me in my time of need, I cling to God. I focus on His promises for my life and the fact that no matter what I’m going through He will never leave or forsake me. The break in my heart slowly heals and something inside me says, “Julie, I love you, you’re going to be okay.”

2 Corinthians 4:8-9; 16-18

8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair;9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Regardless of how depressed I am, I don’t let the depression define or destroy me. I know God is working through me and I am being renewed daily. While there is a lot of work left for Him to do, I know He’s working. Though I do wish I wouldn’t get depressed at all, I know it’s temporary and it only perfects the work God is doing in my life for eternity. 

God doesn’t want us to be depressed.

God wants us to think positive and trust Him in our trials. When I feel overwhelmed, I pray to Him and ask Him for comfort and peace of mind. I trust in and wait on Him to do the rest.

That’s how I deal with mine. 

Matthew 11:28-30

28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Have you ever been depressed?

How did you deal with it?

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Message of Encouragement

Message of Encouragement | May 15th, 2012

While things may not make sense now, they will later because everything in hindsight is always  put into better perspective.  If you don’t understand what God is doing right now, just wait and trust.
 
Today is a new day, focus on the present, and fly into tomorrow.

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Freedom From Our Feelings

Spiritual Growth | May 15th, 2012

 

“Do not give in too much to feelings. A overly sensitive heart is an unhappy possession on this shaky earth.”

- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Feelings are unreliable.

We rely on our feelings and they are unreliable. We do and say things by the motivation of our feelings. There have been a number of times in my life that I reacted by how I felt. Maybe it’s because I’m a woman and 80% of the time I’m an emotional wreck, but it’s no excuse. Our feelings lie and we can’t rely on how we feel.

There are roots to our feelings.

Getting to the root of the problem of why we feel the way we do is important. My issue is that I relied on other people to make me happy and when they failed to do it, I got hurt. I depend on others more than I like to admit and I’ve been hurt more times in my life because of it. The root of the problem with me started in my childhood and how I was raised. Truth is, I wasn’t raised by my parents for most of my life. Being passed off  to relatives and one babysitter after another, my parents never took on their responsibility as parent.  When most of your childhood is spent in neglect, you tend to depend on others to fulfill the need your parents couldn’t.

Our feelings are not the Word of God.

Everyday I wake up I am reminded of how I feel. When I close my eyes before bed I am reminded of how I feel. When I am not even thinking about anything, I am reminded of how I feel. You get the picture.  My feelings tell me how I feel in any given moment, but they don’t tell me anything about God and His Word. We need to follow something more wiser and dependable and that’s the Word of God.  ”No matter how we feel if it doesn’t agree with the Word of God then it’s wrong.”

We confuse our feelings with the will of God. 

Our feelings are our enemy and they keep us out of the perfect will of God.  Satan uses our feelings to manipulate, control, and deceive us. He turns our feelings into false “truths” and even distorts the Word of God into his own context. My prayers for the past 10 months have been very selfish and self-centered. I spend a lot of time telling God to give me what I want but only He knows what’s best and if it’s not His will for my life, then it’s wrong.  ”Some of us are asking God for things that we are not prepared to handle because we are still living too much by our feelings.”

We can feel like doing the wrong thing and still choose to do what’s right.

I’ve done and said some really stupid and horrible things due to how I felt and I paid for them. While I want what’s best for me and my walk with God, I am sitting here hurt by someone right now.  My feelings have taken its toll on my mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual health. When I get into that place where my feelings are controlling every area of my life, I take a step back and reevaluate the problem.  When we are motivated by our feelings we do things that we end up regretting. Doing whats right is praying and getting into the Word of God so we can find peace in our shaky feelings. “Victory is impossible if we dont learn to live beyond our feelings.”

We don’t have to live by how we feel,  we need to set ourselves free. 

Why do you feel the way you do?

 Proverbs 14:12

 12 There is a way that appears to be right,  but in the end it leads to death.

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Spark in the Heart

Spiritual Growth | May 14th, 2012

 

“The most powerful agent of growth and transformation is something much more basic than any technique: a change of heart. ”

- John Welwood

God will place the desire in our heart for us to follow Him.

Almost a year ago that was me. I was in denial for pretty much my entire life about needing God and when I least expected it, He sparked something in my heart and I desired to seek Him. It didn’t happen over night and it was a process. Even now, it’s a process as He continues to work through me.  He is looking for people in the world He can work through and bless.  All it takes is a spark.

2 Chronicles 16:9

9 For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.

God is looking for someone with a blameless and right heart.

Yesterday morning in prayer, I repented to God about a thought I had two nights before. It was a thought that surprised me because it was vengeful and happened because I was hurting. We don’t realize how right our hearts aren’t when we find ourselves thinking negatively about other people or our life.  If we really want a right heart and be the person God wants us to be we need to get our hearts right with Him. “God would rather have someone who makes a few mistakes but has a really right heart, than someone who does everything right.” We are no surprise to God, He knew what He was getting when He made us.

Right hearts always grows spiritually.

Though I am not perfect, I am growing. Every day God changes my attitude, behavior, and heart. Our relationship with God isn’t just Sunday, it’s every breathing day.  It’s about having Him in every part of our life, every single day.Spiritual growth starts with us and if we aren’t desperately seeking to improve our behavior then something is wrong in our hearts.  The worst thing that can happen to us is for God to leave us alone and let us stay the way we are.

Right hearts are fully committed to God.

God is looking for hearts that are completely His. That means our thoughts and feelings too. The other day I said if I wasn’t careful with my thoughts and feelings I was going to have a heart attack before the age of 30. I have been under a lot of emotional stress lately and it’s been weighing me down. Then like always, God sparks something in my heart, gets my attention and I focus on Him, not the person or problem that is bothering me.  If we aren’t committed to God and don’t want to change then we have a heart problem and something is wrong. “Being a Christian doesn’t mean sneaking through the back door of Heaven, it means how we are living our life.” 

Every day I pray for God to work through me and change my heart. God sees our heart and if we really crave doing what is right, we will get our hearts right with Him. We need to ask ourselves daily what’s in our heart and dedicate our life in doing what’s right.

All it takes is a spark in the heart to change.

How is your heart today?

Ezekiel 36:26-27

 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.

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Message of Encouragement

Christian Insight, Message of Encouragement | May 12th, 2012

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Love in Action

Spiritual Growth | May 9th, 2012

 

“Come live in my heart, and pay no rent.”

– Samuel Lover

I love you.

Those three words are tossed around so frequently they have lost their real meaning. I can count on one hand how many times I’ve been in love and I can count on one hand how many times I’ve had my heart broken. I can also count on both hands and toes how many times I chose to be hateful rather than loving.  A year ago I wasn’t happy. I was a mess emotionally, mentally, physically, and spiritually God was invisible.  I took my messes out on the wrong people and hurt them.  Almost a year later and God is doing some of His best work in me and He has changed my heart. It is through my restored relationship with Him that I have a better grasp on what it truly means to love someone.

Love others even when it hurts.

People are going to hurt us and we’re going to hurt them too. We are all flawed and while we never intentionally try and hurt any one, it happens. No one wants to be the bad guy, but we all play the victim card well. When someone hurts us, we are quick to post subliminal Facebook statuses thinking the person will get the hint, we tweet passive aggressive messages in 140 characters or less thinking it will get our point across to our wrongful doer. When the people we love hurt us, it has nothing to do with you, it has everything to do with them. When we choose to hurt other people, it has nothing to do with them and everything to do with us.  We’re all flawed and we’re all going through something. Unfortunately, we take it out on the wrong people and the person we claim to love becomes our temporary enemy and our target of blame. God is the only person that can give us the ability to love someone the right way and until we possesses that ability, we’re always going to end up hurt.

Love others without expecting anything in return.

There is a difference between loving someone and being taken advantage of and loving someone simply because you want to. Love is natural. It’s a natural quality we all possess somewhere in the depths of who we are. The problem is we go into every relationship whether friendship or other with the expectation that the other person should conform to our standards. We can’t change other people, God is the only person that can change a person’s heart.  Love them anyway and watch God do His work.

Love is selfless, not selfish.

Loving others isn’t about us and should be the most selfless act we practice daily. Selfless love is about loving others regardless of how they treat us. For the past month or so I’ve been hurt over something that only very people know about. I felt the pain and darkness of a year ago trying to overshadow everything that I know to be true about God and His plan for my life. It’s not easy to act lovingly towards someone when they intentionally and abusively tear you down. Especially when it is someone close to you. That’s not the way God designed us to love each other and while I was upset for a while over it, it didn’t change my love towards this person. It made me love them more.

Love is unconditional and doesn’t change.

There are no conditions on love and regardless of what is going on in our life, it shouldn’t change. If a relationship or friendship falls apart or circumstances happen that cause us to question another person’s love toward us, we should still love them. If a relationship or friendship can survive every obstacle that is thrown in its path and be stronger because of it, that’s love. Some of the best friendships and marriages have survived because they actively loved each other through every storm and we should too.

Currently, I am  going through a lot of different things in my life  that are weighing me down emotionally. The person I thought would be there for me, instead turned their back on me and is ignoring me. When we really love someone our hearts shouldn’t change. While my heart is hurting, I still love and care about them.  Love is the very essence of my being, it’s who I am and without it, I’m nothing.  Love is what Jesus did on the cross for us and without Him, we’re nothing.

Love is an action.  Go love.

How are you going to show your love today?

1 John 3:18

 My dear children, let’s not just talk about love; let’s practice real love. This is the only way we’ll know we’re living truly, living in God’s reality.

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Emotionally Unstable & Finding Stability

Spiritual Growth | May 8th, 2012

 

 “By choosing your thoughts, and by selecting which emotional currents you will release and which you will reinforce, you determine the quality of your Light.” 

– Gary Zukav

Being emotionally unstable is probably the worst feeling in the world. What’s worse is not being able to convey how you feel or when you’re able you’re ignored or verbally abused.  Welcome to my life for the past month. Every day I wake up thinking “Today will be a good day, I will not be defeated. I will not let the enemy kill the joy I desperately want and need.” This thought and outlook lasts for a while and then something happens and I’m emotionally spent.

We’re in a spiritual war and our enemy is Satan.

He manipulates our thoughts and emotions to tempt us into believing the lies he feeds our thoughts. I can’t tell you the number of times I have gotten up in the morning with a positive attitude and within an hour of being awake I’m already upset. This is an area of my life that I am trying to improve daily and it isn’t easy. My emotions are like a switch and I want to control them. We can avoid a lot of anxiety we encounter with Satan if we could keep our emotions under control.

Satan sets us to be upset.

Proverbs 25:28

28 Like a city whose walls are broken through is a person who lacks self-control.

We are a city that is broken down when we don’t control our emotions and we are wide open for Satan to attack. He knows our most vulnerable places and he doesn’t hesitate to kick us when we’re already down. Satan doesn’t know us better than we know ourselves, but he throws the meanest punch and it hurts deeply.

God wants us to be stable.

He wants us  not to be easily shaken and in control of our emotions. When we are stable it says to God that we trust Him. We can control and change how we think, but until we accept that truth, we can’t change.

God’s word is our rock and stability in life.

As believers we are pieces of of that rock. ”If we remain emotional stable, the gates of Hell cannot prevail against us.” In every new level of spiritual growth there is always a new enemy waiting to attack. Being led by our feelings is dangerous because it places lies in our thoughts that aren’t true. We think and expect the worst and sometimes we believe those lies so deeply they sink deeper into the depth of our hearts breaking apart the truth that should already be there; God’s Word. Our emotions can be deceitful and confusing, but we’re not supposed to be led by how we feel. Instead, we need to let God lead us through the truth of His Word.  His word is our rock and in it we find peace, comfort, and stability. When we make God a priority, He is more than willing to help us control our emotions.

God wants to heal us and He wants our emotional stability to be based on our relationship with Him.

I wish I could say that I’m okay emotionally, but the truth is there is a lot of work left for God to do in me. Every day is a battle I am fighting internally, but every day is another day I am blessed with the gift of life.   God is my light in the darkness that prevails in the corners of my mind and through Him I will not be shaken.  He is my light and He’s my life.

Be stable and find stability in Him.

How do you manage your emotions?

How do you feel today?

Philippians 4:7

7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

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Encouragement in Aisle #4

Christian Insight, Personal | May 7th, 2012

“We live by encouragement and die without it – slowly, sadly, angrily.”
– Celeste Holm

What started as a normal trip to the grocery store to pick up three items, ended in an hour long conversation with an employee about her financial struggles and encouraging her to go to college. All this happened in aisle #4 at a local grocery store.

God will use us in the least expected place.

That’s what happened to me on Friday. I first met Sara a few years ago because she is a cashier at a local grocery store down the road.  Most of our conversations have been short. The past few times I’ve been to the store she hasn’t been there. I ran into her in the pasta aisle on Friday and I could tell she was upset. She immediately started venting to me about how she isn’t able to pay her monthly bills and was looking for local shelters for help. The position she is in went from 40+ hours a week to 25 hours a week and she wasn’t even on the schedule last week. The only reason she was there Friday was because she went to her manager the day before crying just to be put on the schedule.

God uses normal people with normal trials to encourage others.

In that moment I felt God telling me to encourage her because I knew she needed it. Her eyes started swelling with tears as she continued with her story about how she had three children and she didn’t want to put them through this. She told me she wanted something different for her life. She has spent the last 15 years at the store and she was ready for change. She mentioned she has been wanting to go to school for a while now and that’s when I encouraged her to apply. We exchanged contact information and when I got home I sent her an e-mail of how to apply for financial aid and told her I would keep my eyes open for any possible positions.

God uses us to encourage others in their struggles, so we can find strength in ours.

Sara and I are two completely different people but we’re both struggling. Ironically, in the same way. It’s funny how God works sometimes. He knew exactly what we both needed that day and He allowed us to cross paths for a reason. When we encourage others in their struggles it reminds us that we aren’t alone. When we realize there are other people that know exactly how we feel or are going through something similar, it makes our struggles a little more bearable.

Everyone is struggling with something and everyone needs encouragement.

No one likes to ask for help, but everyone needs encouragement.  The last words I said to Sara before I headed out were, “All you need is faith and you can do anything you want in life. Don’t let fear hold you back or anything bring you down, have faith and you’ll be alright.”

 1 Thessalonians 5:11

 11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.

 Every day is an opportunity to encourage others whether they’re family, friend, neighbor, or stranger. Sara isn’t family, but she became my friend in an hour. When I got home I sent her a text and the last text I received from her was “Thanks .. I sure need encouragement.”

We all do Sara.

Where was the last place God used you to encourage someone?

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He Didn’t Look Back

Personal, Spiritual Growth | May 3rd, 2012

 

“Forgiveness is the remission of sins. For it is by this that what has been lost, and was found, is saved from being lost again.”

– Saint Augustine

An hour of silence, words not spoken, but they were felt

Out of no where you placed your hand in mine and squeezed it tight

The same hand that in a fit of rage threw a chair at me and attempted suicide while I sat a few feet away from you

The same hands that promised to keep me safe, instead made me cower in fear

I didn’t think about that day or any other day where heightened emotions were the cause of two years of abuse

Emotional, mental, physical, I got it all from you

All those times I cried hoping for change that never came

Wishing for the better man I knew you had the potential to be, the man who two years prior wanted to spend the rest of his life with me

I didn’t think about the abuse in that moment, the moment when you squeezed my hand to say things you couldn’t with words

Instead I looked at your actions in that moment and it brought me back to the moment of why I gave you chance at all

I felt your heart 

As we entered the airport, the sun high in the sky, I tried not to fall apart

We said our goodbyes and I watched you walk away, five years of my life fading into a memory

I waited for you to turn around to get one last look at the life you were leaving behind

You didn’t look back, so why do I?

Forgiveness. Love. Grace.

2 Corinthians 12:9

My grace is enough; it’s all you need.  My strength comes into its own in your weakness. Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ’s strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size—abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become.

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Good Intentions Aren’t Enough

Christian Insight | May 2nd, 2012

 

Life is short and if you’re looking for extension, you had best do well. ‘Cause there’s good deeds and then there’s good intentions. They are as far apart as Heaven and Hell.

- Ben Harper

There are a lot of unsatisfied people in the world. The number of complaints I hear and see daily bother me. Not because I am bothered by the person complaining, but because we [I] are capable of doing something about the areas in life we aren’t satisfied.

Want to be a better husband or wife? Spend time with your spouse. Get to know the person you fell in love with from the beginning all over again. (1 Corinthians 13:4-7)

Want to be a better parent? Spend time with your kids. Because before  you’re able to blink twice, time will pass and they won’t be kids anymore.  (Psalm 127:3)

Want to be a better friend? Be the kind of friend you’d want someone to be towards you. (John 15:13)

Want to be a better person? Be the kind of person that people will enjoy being around. (Ephesians 2:8-10)

Seems pretty simple, right? If only it was as simple as typing it as it is actually doing it. We make time for  things we really care about and most of the time we make time for the things that aren’t really that important.

We aren’t intentional enough.

People talk about fear and how it prohibits us from doing things in life. Whether it’s pursuing our dreams or doing the thing that God has called us to do, I believe that actually being intentional in someone’s life is more out of comfort than fear.

We’re content and we believe we’re doing enough.

Being intentional in someone’s life literally means being present. Whether it’s picking up the phone and calling someone you haven’t talked to in a while, responding to an e-mail that got buried in your inbox, or simply spending time with a friend you haven’t seen in a while face to face.

Being intentional means being determined to act.

Words mean nothing when there aren’t actions to back them. We [I] do a lot of talking and not enough doing. It’s easier to say we’re going to do something than actually put forth the effort to do it.

Good intentions aren’t enough.

Good intentions aren’t enough for us to be successful in life.  The people in our life matter and our life matters. We [I] need to take a long hard look at the things we [I] choose over the things that matter and things that prohibit us from being intentional not content.

Be intentional now.  The only person stopping you is yourself.

How has being content stopped you from being more intentional in your life?

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