I think there’s a difference between radical Christ-following and what passes as a culture Christianity in the average american worshiping community.  I’d really like to get some feedback–what do you think churchianity is and why do you think a lot of people are down on church?

Elijah’s bout of major depression. Lacking health insurance and available psychiatric care God sends a messenger—an angel—to take him through the process of healing. (Incidentally, God always seems to send a messenger to those who need to hear from him. It may not be in the form of something as dramatic as a heavenly being, but usually, if we’re watching, somehow someone or something will get grace to us. Maybe a friend who brings godly counsel, maybe a song on the radio, or often just reading through or listening to the Bible—something will take on deeper significance…sometimes even sermons get used by God to connect with our hearts.)

Here’s where we’ve been:
1. Understand that depression is not evidence of spiritual defectiveness.
2. Question your reality—it may not be true
3. Try to unmask the root fear (Elijah was afraid)
4. Take time for physical rest—the body and the soul are not isolated and independent of each other—
5. Refuel—healthy food makes a healthier temple (Body)

_________________

6. Seek the LORD
King David, I believe, struggled with depression. Just reading the Psalms He’s a man after God’s own heart. A hero of pre-Christian faith. But as you read through the book of Psalms you hear the heart-cry of a man who’s traveled the darkened paths of despair.
READ Psalm 42—‘my soul is downcast’ “I say to God my Rock: ‘Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by my enemy?’ My bones suffer mortal agony as my foes taunt me, saying to me all day long, ‘Where is your God.’”
Sorrow so deep you feel it in your bones; depression so overwhelming it feels like God has forgotten you.
And that may be exactly where you are today. And these words probably feel like empty promises. And it probably seems pointless to even be here.
But here’s a promise: Even though you don’t feel God’s presence, and even when you don’t feel like a worship service is doing you any good…seeping in through the cracks in your soul is the mercy of the Lord and the day will come when you get better.
In the meantime, be ruthlessly honest with God about how you feel.
The Lord our God would much rather you be honest about your emotions than to pretend you’ve got it all together. Seeking the Lord is not a clever form of self-hypnosis where you convince yourself you don’t feel the way you feel. Seeking the Lord involves ragged, raw and ruthless honesty about where we are in our emotional journey.

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It wasn’t anything like as brutal as it can get but the strong northwest winds had whipped up some sizable waves and the sailing was … invigorating.  We were bashing to windward and progress was slow. That’s when I started smelling diesel fuel.

A quick inspection revealed the culprit. A five gallon jerry can had been shaking up enough to begin exiting the can through the vent.  It had to be dealt with immediately, but the conditions were rough enough that it was virtually impossible to do so. I had to stay at the helm and my first mate had a no-cleaning-up-spilled-fuel stipulation in her contract.  I’d never tried it before in these kind of conditions, but it was time to heave to.

Heaving to is when the foresail is on the ‘wrong’ side of the boat and the mainsail is all the way out on the downwind side. The rudder is set to steer the boat into the wind but the foresail fights the action.  The result is amazing—in the middle of the wind-whipped waves and fury of the sea—the boat stops.  Suddenly calm in the middle of the storm.  You’re not going anywhere but sometimes the best you can do is to ride out the storm.

I think depression can be like that.

Sometimes when you’re down, you’ve done all you can—reflected on root fears, gotten rest, eaten right, prayed and prayed and prayed—but the depression is still tossing you around like a small boat on a big ocean.  You try to figure out how to move forward but the whirling turmoil of emotions makes it impossible.

In those times it’s ok to heave to. Just plan on riding out the storm. Don’t make any major decisions; don’t ‘stew’ over how bad you feel. Just know that it will pass and you’ll be ready to move forward again.  Sometimes standing still is all the progress God expects us to make.

The prophet Elijah was in a cave struggling with despair. There was a violent earthquake, a fire, a tornado—but it wasn’t any of those that prepared him to reengage in ministry.  It was after the storm, in the quiet that he finally heard the still, small voice.

Sometimes standing still is all the progress God expects us to make.  And it’s ok to be ok with that.

One of the most insidious aspects of emotional depression is the way our brains begin to process/interpret our reality.  Instead of being rational and objective our minds literally begin looking for a reason to validate how badly we feel. Everything is skewed.  A positive event is stripped of it’s hopeful side and a neutral event becomes a major catastrophe.  Describing the feeling one person wrote:  ”It feels like there is no point for life anymore. You have nothing, want nothing, need nothing and are nothing.”

He continued: “I stood there with a handful of pills ready to end my life. I was convinced that no one cared and that there was no point in going on. But before I took them, I heard a voice saying–’Don’t’

“Instead I checked into a mental hospital. It wasn’t easy–but I’m glad I did. I discovered while there, not only my need for medication to correct the chemical imbalances in my brain, but, even more importantly, I experienced love from people I thought didn’t care about me anymore.  And now, a year later, I’m truly glad to be alive. It’s not that I don’t still have my struggles. I do. But now I’m able to hold on to the fact that even when I feel like life has no meaning–it still does.”

When you are down–you can’t trust your own reason. Godly counsel and holy Scripture provide a clarity we so desperately need when we’re in the depths of despair.

Here is a brief outline of the events for the week

Monday – Preparing care packages and cards for our soldiers overseas.

Tuesday – Bringing cold drinks and snacks to the children and teens at our local Skate Park, just a way for our children to bring a blessing to their friends.

Wednesday – Movie Day!  We’ll be going to see the Veggies Tales: Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything, it will be a fun way to tie into the lesson’s we’re learning each morning during our rally time.

Thursday- Church Playground Beautifying day!  We’ll plant flowers, pull weeds, and paint a fence with a personal touch from each child!

Friday – CCN’s Annual Backpack Giveaway, the children will have the opportunity to serve another children from our immediate community in a tangible way by giving them a backpack full of school supplies.  We’ll have a game together as well as a treat of ice cream sundaes.

I told them about the ancient practice of the Jesus Prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God have mercy on me.” It’s a prayer taken right out of the Bible and brings just about everything together in one simple sentence.  It’s often suggested that you tie this prayer to your breathing–or your breathing to this prayer.  While you’re inhaling you pray, “Lord Jesus Christ”, and then while you’re exhaling you pray, “Son of God have mercy on me.”

Seriously, it’s amazing. In less than a minute you begin to feel the calm of the presence of the Lord. A few minutes of this praying and the stress or trauma your facing doesn’t seem quite so monstrous anymore.

Worth a try–and you don’t even have to be freaking out to do it. This prayer is even good when you’re feeling peaceful already!

“It feels like one of those movies where time stands still except that instead of being the only one who can move while the others aren’t  you’re the one frozen in numbness. ”

“It feels like you cannot move like you can’t get your brain to do what you want to do. It was as if my arms and legs weren’t attached…I wished I could be put away on a shelf in the top of a closet where no one would bother me. I was overwhelmed by everything and nothing.”

“It’s like a pressure squeezing reality into an inky pool of despair. Every half-formed thought is an accusation of failure…Any good memories are stripped away or redefined as simply delusions you now know better than to hold on to.”

These testimonies aren’t from spiritually defective people but from solid Christ-followers who have walked through the night.  The great Prophet Elijah seemed familiar with these emotions. Having depression doesn’t means losing your faith. You actually are in the company of many of the greatest Christians who’ve ever lived.  Sermon series continues this Sunday on the topic of depression.

A woman who’d recently lost her job, medical insurance and was afraid received encouragment and hope. A bunch of cab drivers–yeah totally, we had like 8 cabs come through the car wash line–were helped by having someone to share their fears about the lack of fares in a bad economy. Someone else told me, “It’s just really nice to know there are still good people in the world.” And a woman said, “I really felt the presence of the the Lord when I cam here.”

It was a blast, we honored Christ, we got to hang out together and we got to bless others.  One guy pulled out his wallet to get some cash. We told him to put it away, this is a gift from God to him today–”deal with it.”  I’m praying a lot of people are having to deal with the idea that Christians can love without any strings attached.

It was an amazing time. I’m hooked–when can we do it again?

“The brain region we have identified to be associated with proneness to guilt has been shown to be abnormally active in patients with severe depression in several previous studies, but until now its involvement in guilt had been unknown.”

more info: http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/08/26/brain-scans-show-depressions-link-to-guilt/2826.html