Stress and Depression

[Indira]

Hi, is there anybody who can help me overcome or battle with Depression?

[LT]

Indira,

I do not presume to know what you are going through, but would offer the following words in an attempt to help. The net is a great place to get encouragement, but there are times we need to go further. There are times that we need professional help and one should take the proper steps to get that help if their situation warrants it.

There are steps we can take to help us in our journey with Jesus. There are four things that I recommend for us to be invovled in regularly. These four help to strengthen us when things are going well and help us overcome when things are difficult. These four are 1) Read the Word 2) Prayer 3) Positive Christian Fellowship 4) An Accountability Partner or Group.

1) The Word: When times are tough I like to read Colossians and 1 John. They inspire me, pick me up and help me to see past my current storm, which will pass.
2) Prayer: We need to be in prayer seeking the Lord's presence and comfort, while crying out to Him in our difficult times as well as good times. He tells us to come to the throne of grace in our time of need. The door is open and He is always waiting attentively to meet with us when we come to Him. Remember that part of prayer is silently sitting at His feet listening for what He wants to say or reveal to you. It is not all about talking, but communicating.
3) Positive Christian Fellowship: We are referred to as sheep for a reason in the Bible. We need each other. There are no Lone Ranger Christians. When we feel beat up and down our natural response is to run and hide, which is the worst possible choice at that very time. We need the love, comfort and fellowship of fellow believers that are traveling the same path we are in life. Do not stop at one church if it is not right for you. Seek until you find the peace and comfort of the Holy Spirit come over you in the midst of that group.
4) Accountability: We need people close to us that we can share with. These people have to be people that we can trust and open up to. They are not "Yes" people, but ones that will ask the difficult questions and loving challenge us when we are wrong and encourage us when we have victories. One must seek God's guidance as to who one might choose as an accountability partner. One must choose wisely.

Know that the current storm you are going through will pass and you will be stronger for it. That does not lessen the pain, but there is hope even in the middle of the storm, for Jesus can and will calm the storm at the right moment if you are trusting and walking with Him.

Hope this helps.

Lord Bless,
LT

[jeff]

Indira-Im new to posting on discussion groups. My e-correspondence skills are
not very sharp. To answer I'm finding out that I'm putting too much pressure on myself to solve problems that I may have caused plus trying to solve problems others may have caused without seeking a planned course. Does this mirror your situation in any way? Jeff

[Tiffany]

Indira,

I have also struggled with depression. There have been some very dark times for me. Here are some practical things that have helped me the most.

1. People will tell you all day long that you need to stay near to the Lord if you are depressed, and it is so true. Problem is, if you are in the midst of a bout of depression, it is nearly impossible to feel anything good or to concentrate on what the Bible is saying or to even care. Therefore, my first recommendation is to go to the Scripture and get as near to God as you can when you are having a moment of clarity. Discipline yourself to run to God as soon as you feel strong enough to do it. If the cloud lifts, don't be tempted to think "It's gone now. I'll be okay, it has passed" and convince yourself it won't come back again. It will.

2. Pray for the moment of clarity to come. When it comes, repeat #1.

3. Exercise. Weirdly enough, this helped me more than anything. If I could get outside to see the trees in the wind and the green grass, it would usually help, but sometimes (depending on the weather) it could plunge me into what I call "poetic darkness" and then I was prone again to the depression. But if I could get on my bike or do something sporty I would feel so much better and the nature of the activity would keep my poetic gloom at bay.
4. Nutrition. Again, this is a simple physical way to help. It may seem simplistic, but it worked for me. Look into Eniva Corporation or Reliv, Intl. to find some products that will give you awesome nutrition. It's a drug-free option, and it really worked for me. I take Eniva. I started taking it for another physical problem I have and the cool side-effect was that my depression went away almost entirely. I didn't expect it, and I wasn't taking the product in order to help depression, so I know it works.

5. Eliminate poisonous influcences: if you have a person in your life who is very negative, try to stay away from them. If you listen to sad music or watch sad movies, don't. I know it is tempting to do that when you are already in the bad mood, but try to stay away from anything violent or sad, or even very romantic movies. Believe it or not, the movie Pride & Predjudice was terrible for me to watch. You know best what gets you.

6. Do not listen to the voices in your own mind telling you that you are crazy or stupid or anything else. You can combat these attacks by finding verses: this really works, especially because Satan will taken advantage of your problem, and he is always repelled by Scripture. Do this simple exercise...

- Ask yourself "what do I believe about me?"
- Now write that down.
- If it is something negative, that makes you sad, go to the Bible and find a verse that says the opposite. For example, I would often think "I'm worthless." So, one answer to that would be 1 Corinthians 6:20 "You were bought with a price. Therefore, honor God with your body." If Jesus' blood was spilled for me and God "bought" me with that blood, which is worth more than anything in the whole world, I can't be worthless. Not to God!

If you would like some help finding verses to combat some of the negative things in your mind, I'd be happy to help you find some. I'd be willing to be I know a few of them already. :)

I hope some of this helps you. Depression runs in my family, on my dad's side, and we are well acquainted with the disease. But he's beaten it and so have I, and so can you... but it would not have happened for us without our relationship with God. That is the first step.

I wish you the best. Please feel free to write me at my page.

Tiffany

[diane elizabeth ballou]

Dear Tiffany and Laura and christy,
Wow, poetic gloom. Is that copyright? By the way, 17 is avery hard age to be. I ran away at that age. For good. When I got back with ny mom, it was from another address and because of my decision to run away I live in a whole different tax bracket than the rest of my family, Still would I have still gotten saved without my dumb decision? Any way, now Laura is saved and I am happy.
Love,
diane

[diane elizabeth ballou]

I was diagnosed as depressed years ago, before getting saved and I learned a lot about it. I try not to say I am depressed when I am only sad, for instance. Feeling come and go,all by themselves You must use thm
,But not them use you. What does the bible say about Godly sorrow?
Thi is in response to the person who wanted help with depression.

[diane elizabeth ballou]

Dear Christy and jonathan,
The roses are beautiful. I am alittle bit lost in this cyber space, but I thank you for your messages. What did you say, jonathan? I have a cousin named jonathan I never get to see. I need to sleep, but I can not. Then again, maybe I do not. Yhe Lord does give us what we need, does he not? And now I will pray for jonathan.
Love,
diane

[Nonoy]

Hi Indira,

Good Day!

Question: "How can I turn all my worries and problems over to God?"

Answer: It is sometimes a disconcerting truth for many Christians that even though we belong to God through faith in Christ, we still seem to experience the same problems that plagued us before we were saved. We often become discouraged and bogged down in life’s cares. The fact that both the Old and New Testaments address this problem the same way indicates that God knows problems and worries are inevitable in this life. Thankfully, He has given us the same solution He gave in both Psalms and Peter’s letter. “Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall” (Psalm 55:22), and “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7).

Contained within these two verses are several amazing truths: God will sustain us, He will never let us fall, and He cares for us. Taken one at a time, we see first that God declares both His ability and His willingness to be our strength and support—mentally, emotionally and spiritually. He is able (and best of all, willing!) to take everything that threatens to overwhelm us and use it for our benefit. He has promised to “work all things together for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Even at times when we doubt Him, He is still working for our good and His glory. And He has also promised that He will allow no trial to be so great we cannot bear it and that He will provide a means of escape (1 Corinthians 10:13). By this, He means that He will not let us fall, as He promised in Psalm 55:22.

The third statement—“he cares for you”—gives us the motivation behind His other promises. Our God is not cold, unfeeling or capricious. Rather, He is our loving heavenly Father whose heart is tender toward His children. Jesus reminds us that just as an earthly father would not deny his children bread, so God has promised to give us “good gifts” when we ask Him (Matthew 7:11).

In the spirit of asking for good gifts, first we must pray and tell the Lord that we hear what He's saying in John 16:33, where Jesus says, "These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." Then we should ask the Lord to show us how He has "overcome" our problems, our worries, our anger, our fears and our guilt.

The Lord reveals to us through His Word, the Bible, that we can be of good "cheer," that we can

1) rejoice in our problems because God will use them to our benefit. "Knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope" (Romans 5:3-4);

2) see our "worries" as an opportunity to practice Proverbs 3:5-6, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths";

3) counteract our anger by obeying Ephesians 4:32, "And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you"; and

4) deal with any sinful feelings by believing and acting upon the truth of 1 John 1:9, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." All of our problems can be dealt with through simple faith in God's Word.

God is bigger than all our worries and problems put together, and we must realize that if we are to have any victory in our lives. Everyone suffers with these difficulties, because the Bible teaches that temptation is "common" to mankind (1 Corinthians 10:13). We must not let Satan deceive us into thinking that all our problems are our fault, all our worries will come true, all our anger condemns us, or that all our guilt is from God. If we do sin and confess, God forgives and cleanses. We need not feel ashamed, but rather take God at His Word that He does forgive and cleanse. None of our sins are so heavy that God cannot lift them from us and throw them into the deepest sea (see Psalm 103:11-12).

In reality, feelings come from thoughts, so, even though we can't change how we feel, we can change how we think. And this is what God wants us to do. For example, in Philippians 2:5, Christians are told, "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." In Philippians 4:8, Christians are told to think on things that are "true," "noble," "just," "pure," "lovely," "of good report," and "praiseworthy." In Colossians 3:2, we are told to "set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth." Therefore, as we do this, our feelings of guilt diminish.

So, each day, taking one step at a time, we should pray for God's Word to guide us, read or listen to God's Word, and meditate on God's Word when the problems, worries, and anxieties of life come along. The secret to giving things over to Christ is really no secret at all—it's simply asking Jesus to take our burden of "original sin" and be our Savior (John 3:16), as well as submitting to Jesus as our Lord in day-to-day living.

God Bless You!!!

[laura]

hi my names laura and im 17 i feel depressed lately because of health issues and to me it made me think of sucide and then my friend brought me to a youth club were i got saved!

[LT]

I am praising the Lord with you for your salvation!!! I trust that in the process you have lost the depression and the thought of suicide? Prayng for your walk with Jesus right now.

Lord Bless,
LT

[diane elizabeth ballou]

Dear Laura,
I feel way better now knowing we have a new sister in Christ!
Love,
diane

[Sara]

I was under a deep veil of depression and I found Jesus before it was too late. The Lord has truly saved me, I would have given up if it had not been for Him. That said, He directed me to a very good doctor who has helped me through God to get me back to where I need to be. God bless you and know that you are in my prayers.