I’ve been thinking about depression and how to battle it. I have some difficulty with depression. So I have done some research and some thinking. I have also done some praying. I found one article that was interesting.
Tim Chester, out of the UK, has an article on depression. http://timchester.wordpress.com/2008/11/25/is-depression-a-sin/
He makes several good points. He talks about depression in various ways, how it is treated, how Christians view it, how God views it and how we can battle it in our own lives. I recommend reading it if you have difficulty with depression or if you know someone who does. He says several things I want to remember.
Our church verse for this year it is Romans 12:2 NLT Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
When I read this verse I remembered talking to myself while driving to work yesterday. Yes, I do talk to myself. I need an attitude change. So I have been thinking of how I could change my attitude. I think that would be changing how I think. My frustration comes from not knowing how to change my attitude or how I think. I’m not even sure how God will change how I think. I keep thinking I’m supposed to do it. Which is depressing.
I then read my mom’s blog. Living Intentionally. http://emilysiemenscombs.blogspot.com/ This I think also needs to be read. Living intentionally is important, also, knowing what that is! And it is important to know your underlying purposes. She brings up some good things to remember.
Depression also comes from being continually thwarted. In Proverbs 13:12 the message says: Unrelenting disappointment leaves you heartsick, but a sudden good break can turn life around.
The amplified says: Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when the desire is fulfilled, it is a tree of life.
For me, when I try to do right but I am continually shot down, it leads to depression. I have to make an intentional choice to mentally walk away from it. I have to change my attitude. I have to change the way I think. Well. That is not going to happen because I determine to do it. God has to be the one to change me.
So when I cannot find a job, I need to let God change me. When I cannot earn enough money, I need to let God change me. When others find fault with my work, I need to let God change me. When I set goals for myself and don’t reach then, I need to let God change me. I need to trust him. I need to see he will take care of me. I need to understand his forgiveness and his provision. I need God.
And how do I let God transform me?
Romans 12:1-3 in the message
So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering.
Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking.
Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it.
Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.
I’m speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you.
Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it’s important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him.
