(by Barb Peil from Insight for Living)
Some call them “Jonah days”—times when you feel down in the mouth, unable to get a positive perspective on life. But Jonah wasn’t the only person in the Bible to suffer this kind of depression. Elijah also felt overwhelmed. So did King David.
Closer to home, depression of varying degrees visits us all from time to time. More than one in five Americans can expect to suffer from some sort of depression in a lifetime. And medical doctors tell us that short-term depression is as common as the cold. Depression may even cast its shadow over the Christian. The only difference, however, is that we have a refuge—a shelter in a time of storm. And so, with confident expectation that the God of all comfort will strengthen you with His hope, we offer you this fresh and practical help for those gray days.
Glimpses of God beyond the Gray
God can and will use this experience for good in your life. You may want to argue, ignore, or shout against your circumstances, but believe that God is working. God does something marvelous in you when, despite your pain, you remain consistent in your desire to trust Him. He teaches you new dimensions to prayer when you feel alone, patience when your world feels out of control, goodness and gentleness when you would rather lash out, and a hope that can never be broken. God will not waste even this difficult time. Whether He engineered it or not, He will redeem this circumstance and turn it into a gift.
How to Get Perspective
On days you struggle with feelings of depression, take active steps to refocus your attention:
1. Cultivate intimacy with God. Spend time thinking, praying, and seeking God. Read the Psalms and other encouraging selections and rejoice in His character.
2. Look for good and expect to find it. Your choice of attitude will often determine what you find. Fill each day with thanksgiving.
3. Stop trying to discover why. Although it is not uncommon for depressed people to question God’s presence, character, or plan, some answers are not to be found this side of heaven. Accept that God is in control.
4. Focus on the needs of others. Consider joining an intercessory prayer group or volunteering in your church or community.
5. Choose healthy ways to cope with stress and anger. Whether you talk it out, enjoy an activity, spend time in solitude, or develop a different mind-set—find an anxiety-buster that works for you.
Depression often brings tremendous depth to our personal relationship with God as we learn to surrender to His direction while traveling through the dark valley.
Taken from Barb Peil, “Depression: Hope for the Gray Days,” Insights (Jan. 1999): 2. Copyright © 1999 Insight for Living. All rights reserved worldwide.
February 08 2010 | Bible and Blog and Christianity and Church and Devotions/Devotionals and Faith and Family and God and Grace and Hope and Inspirational and Jesus and Life and Love and Mercy and Opinion and People and Personal and Philosophy and Quotes and Religion and Spiritual and Theology and Thoughts and Uncategorized | No Comments »
23 Jesus got into a boat, and his followers went with him.24 A great storm arose on the lake so that waves covered the boat, but Jesus was sleeping.25 His followers went to him and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We will drown!”
26 Jesus answered, “Why are you afraid? You don’t have enough faith.” Then Jesus got up and gave a command to the wind and the waves, and it became completely calm.
27 The men were amazed and said, “What kind of man is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”
Although the disciples had witnessed many miracles, they panicked in this storm. As experienced sailors, they knew its danger, what they did not know was that Christ could control the forces of nature.
There is always a dimension of our lives where we feel God can’t or won’t work. When we truly understand who He is, however, we will understand that He controls both the storms of nature and the storms of the troubled heart. Jesus’ power that calmed this storm can also calm the storms raging in our lives. He is willing to help if we only ask Him. We do not need to exclude Him from any area of our lives.
(from the Life Application Bible – Living Bible edition)
February 04 2010 | Bible and Blog and Christianity and Church and Devotions/Devotionals and Faith and Family and God and Grace and Hope and Inspirational and Jesus and Life and Love and Mercy and Opinion and People and Personal and Philosophy and Quotes and Religion and Spiritual and Theology and Thoughts and Uncategorized | No Comments »
We are happy to tell others about your patience and complete faith in God, in spite of all the crushing troubles and hardships you are going through. This is only one example of the fair, just way God does things, for He is using your sufferings to make you ready for his Kingdom, while at the same time He is preparing judgment and punishment for those who are hurting you. (2 Thessalonians 1:4-6)
The keys to surviving suffering are patience and faith. When we are faced with crushing troubles and hardships we can have faith that God is using them for our good and for his glory — these troubles will better prepare us for his Kingdom. Knowing that God is fair and just gives us confidence that He has not forgotten us in our troubles, and that, in his timing, He will relieve us of our suffering and will judge those who persecute us.
As we live for Christ, we will experience troubles and hardships. Some say troubles are a result of sin or lack of faith. But Paul teaches that they may be a part of God’s plan for believers. Our problems help us look upward and forward, not inward (Mark 13:35-36); they help build strong character (Romans 5:3-4); and they help us be sensitive to others who also must struggle (2 Corinthians 1:3-5). In addition, problems are unavoidable because we are trying to be godly people in an ungodly world. Your troubles may well be a sign of effective Christian living!
There are two dimensions of the comfort mentioned by Paul. We can be comforted in knowing that our sufferings strengthen us, making us ready for Christ’s Kingdom. We can also take comfort in the fact that one day everyone will stand before God; then, wrongs will be righted, judgment will be pronounced, and evil will be terminated.
(from the Life Application Bible – Living Bible edition)
November 27 2009 | Bible and Blog and Christianity and Church and Devotions/Devotionals and Faith and Family and God and Grace and Hope and Inspirational and Jesus and Life and Love and Mercy and Opinion and People and Personal and Philosophy and Quotes and Religion and Spiritual and Theology and Thoughts and Uncategorized | No Comments »
1 Praise the LORD. How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him!
2 The LORD builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the exiles of Israel.
3 He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.
4 He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name.
5 Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit.
6 The LORD sustains the humble but casts the wicked to the ground.
Our God is infinite. He’s limited by no boundaries in time, space, or character. His qualities are bottomless; His attributes are endless; His power is matchless. There’s much about Him we don’t know, will not discover, and can never fathom. After all, if He were small enough to be comprehended, He wouldn’t be large enough to be worshipped. He is infinite and eternal in all the dimensions of His reality.
Our God is intimate. He encompasses us behind and before, beneath and above. He counts each footstep we take and every hair on our heads. From top to toe, we’re fully known, loved, and cared for by Him, today and tomorrow, both now and forever.
If He were infinite but not intimate, He’d be too vast to be known. If He were intimate but not infinite, He’d be too weak to be helpful. He who counts the stars also knows our names and lifts our hearts.
He is “our Father who art in heaven.”
He’s big enough to rule His mighty universe,
yet small enough to live within my heart.
Stuart Hamblen
(from – http://www.davidjeremiah.org/site/magazine.aspx?id=3616)
July 02 2009 | Bible and Blog and Christianity and Church and Devotions/Devotionals and Faith and Family and God and Grace and Hope and Inspirational and Jesus and Life and Love and Mercy and Opinion and People and Personal and Philosophy and Quotes and Religion and Spiritual and Theology and Thoughts and Uncategorized | No Comments »
We are happy to tell other churches about your patience and complete faith in God, in spite of all the crushing troubles and hardships you are going through. This is only one example of the fair, just way God does things, for He is using your sufferings to make you ready for His Kingdom, while at the same time He is preparing judgment and punishment for those who are hurting you.
(2 Thessalonians 1:4-6 – The Living Bible)
The keys to surviving suffering are patience and faith. When we are faced with crushing troubles and hardships we can have faith that God is using them for our good and for His glory – these troubles will better prepare us for His Kingdom. Knowing that God is fair and just gives us confidence that He has not forgotten us in our troubles, and that, in His timing, He will relieve us of our suffering and will judge those who persecute us.
As we live for Christ, we will experience troubles and hardships. Some say troubles are a result of sin or lack of faith. But Paul teaches that they may be a part of God’s plan for believers. Our problems help us look upward and forward, not inward (Mark 13:35-36); they help build strong character (Romans 5:3-4); and they help us be sensitive to others who also must struggle (2 Corinthians 1:3-5). In addition, problems are unavoidable because we are trying to be godly people in an ungodly world. Your troubles may well be a sign of effective Christian living.
There are two dimensions of the comfort mentioned by Paul. We can be comforted in knowing that our sufferings strengthen us, making us ready for Christ’s Kingdom. We can also take comfort in the fact that one day everyone will stand before God; then, wrongs will be righted, judgment will be pronounced, and evil will be terminated.
May 14 2009 | Bible and Blog and Christianity and Church and Devotions/Devotionals and Faith and Family and God and Grace and Hope and Inspirational and Jesus and Life and Love and Mercy and Opinion and People and Personal and Philosophy and Quotes and Religion and Spiritual and Theology and Thoughts and Uncategorized | No Comments »
