Depression is a very serious issue, more and more people suffer from it today than ever before. It can be caused my numerous amounts of things, more things than I could probably think of. The one thing I know about depression is this, it's one of the worst feelings you can possibly have, EVER. I went through a deep depression for years as a teenager and partially after that. I would say from the time I hit 7th or 8th grade until my early 20s, (I'm 25 now) I constantly struggled through depression. Everything from feeling completely alone, hated by everyone to not wanting to live anymore. Serious thoughts of suicide occurred twice my freshman year of high school. If you struggle with depression, these are all too familiar for you. It's an awful feeling. The emotional pain and negative thoughts can be unbearable at times.
Don't feel alone in this. The good news is, you can be victorious over it. It may take telling someone that you struggle with it, which is a very difficult step, but believe me when I say that you are a strong person in doing so, and worth it in the future. I didn't overcome my depression overnight. It was years of counceling. Want to know the one thing that defeated my struggle with depression? Jesus Christ. God wants nothing more for His children than to be joyful. To be honest, it's a fight for me still at times. And He did that when He died on the cross for you and me. I mentioned earlier to not feel alone, did you know that Jesus knows every pain and hurt that we go through? He experienced that on the cross. Romans 10:9 says, If you declare with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord" and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Making that decision changed my life, forever. And personally, for me, that's the way I fight for joy every single day. Understand that Christ died on a cross for us, to pay for our sins, so that we didn't have to pay for it ourselves. That's love, man (John 3:16). Allow Christ to come into your life, and take over. You'll be overwhelmed with the love that we see on the cross and what Jesus did for us (1 John 4:10).
There are many ways to fight depression, surrounding yourself with people that love Jesus, is a great way. The love and support from people that care about you, (And believe me, if you feel like no one does, there ARE people that care about you) is an incredible way to build you up. Love is a trump card, it dominates everything. Why? Because God is love (1 John 4:16). So for maybe the person that is struggling with depression, your question is maybe where do I find those people? Church is a great start. Try OneSpring Church. If not ours, a church is great place to go. We want everyone to feel comfortable coming to a place where it's OK TO BE JACKED UP! We need Jesus just as much as the next person, we are not better than anyone. And for the person that may know a person dealing with depression and for followers of Christ, we need to love our brothers and sisters (1 John 4:19-21).
Fight for joy, even if it's not depression, maybe it's just a bad day or another struggle, you cling to Jesus. Maybe you've lost a loved one, cling to Jesus. God is faithful (Psalm 91:4), let that be a motivation for you. His love endures forever (Psalm 100:5). Through Christ Jesus, we have victory over anything. My prayer for the person reading this is that you've found hope, or that you've been motivated to help a person in need. A few weeks ago, I talked about taking your next step, what's yours? Maybe it's accepting Jesus Christ into your life. Come talk to us, we'd love to help out and hear your story. Much love! Have a great week!!
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