Predictable January Depression

Do I really have to be this predictable to have a massive come down at the beginning of the year? I was fine over Christmas, had a great New Years Eve party and everything, then reality hits and life smacks you in the face.  I can't stop sleeping, I have feelings of anxiety, I'm pretty much walking around all day with tears in my eyes! But I'm alright really.  I know what's getting me down and there's nothing I can do about it, it's just another year in the life of..........

I often imagine living someone else's life, but I know I'm fooling myself to think it would be any better, I'm not naive enough to believe I'm the only one with 'problems', and if I told you what they were you'd probably laugh and say "you think you've got problems, you should hear mine"!

I get it, life sucks.  But it's not supposed to suck, it's supposed to be wonderful and beautiful and peaceful and romantic and fulfilling and awe inspiring and rewarding and ...........some days, just some days, it is.

Keep, Bin, Give Away

We've all done it.  Attempted to have a mass clearout, either of a child's bedroom, the kitchen cupboards or the garage.  You don't really know where to start, you know it's a terrible mess and has to be dealt with, but how to tackle it?

While doing this with my kids the other week, I realised I usually tackle this job with 3 boxes 'keep' 'bin' and 'give away'.

I have tried to apply the same logic to my personal thinking. Am I 'keeping' the right things in my mind?  Am I able to 'bin' the lies of the Enemy?  And am I able to 'give away' to God the things I need help with? 

If I don't apply this logic to myself I run the risk of ending up in a terrible mess just like the rooms of our house! (Thank goodness no-one can visit my brain unannounced!)

A thought to 'keep'. God loves you and is pleased with you, and if He thinks you are special, why would you doubt that? He tells us in

Zephaniah 3:17 
The LORD your God is with you,
the Mighty Warrior who saves.
He will take great delight in you;
in his love he will no longer rebuke you,
but will rejoice over you with singing.”

For the 'bin'. "I'm worthless, I'm useless, I can't do it",  I have said, and sometimes still do find myself saying those things, it's a hard one to get away from and the more the Enemy realises we're believing it, the tighter his grip on our mind will get. They are lies that we should not believe. We should remember Jesus' warning to the religious leaders about Satan.

John 8:44
He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

Finally, don't try to solve your own problems, turn to God, He continually asks us to do this.  He is our Father, of course we should go to Him 'give away' your problems to Him today.

Psalm 55:22

Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall. 1 Peter 5:7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

This is not an easy excercise to do but neither is tackling cleaning a room, unless you have an o.c.d. condition in which case you need a whole other website.

I feel Great!

We have just come back from a weeks holiday at that well known place Centre Parcs.  It was our first visit, we went with friends and loved every minute of it.
At my last appointment with my counsellor he asked me to keep a record of the times I felt anxiety so we could work out where it lay most and work on eliminating it.  We both agreed this holiday may present lots of opportunities for anxiety to creep in.

Well by the end of the week I realised I hadn't written down one thing - I had been fine all week.  I just cried and cried with emotional happiness.  Two years ago we had to turn away from daytrips just miles from our home because I felt a physical wreck.  I hated being commited to events of any sort and missed out on lots of social occasions all because of the control my anxiety had on me.

Of course I read and re-read every scripture I could get my hands on telling me not to worry and I prayed and prayed for God to release me from the irrational fears I faced.

He answered those prayers by people who love and care for me around me helping me get the help I needed.  I may be having man-made intervention to help me, but I truly know without God guiding the way to all the people that have helped me get to this place I wouldn't be where I am.

Listen to your friends and the people you trust and if they are praying with you and suggesting you need a helping hand of some sort accept it - it is not giving in to weakness, it is showing strength and the will to move forward!