Tag Archives: Forgiveness

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Self love


Been feeling ok these days. I can not say that I feel stellar but I am not in the place I was before Christmas. The darkness is there on the edge of things. Sometimes I think I should name him, but I don’t want to make it a personal thing- giving it a name gives it a home, and it is an unwanted guest. I have been feeling a little pull back from people. I haven’t slept well the last couple of nights- and that doesn’t help me much. Maybe I am just tired. At least that is what I am telling myself. The adjustment in drugs has settled down I am not shaky but now is the test to see if they make a difference. So we shall see – but for today I am feeling a little sad- but I will name it tired.

I have been thinking about forgiveness, I have discussing this over the past posts. The need to forgive those who hurt us is not a natural one, but it is a required one, if I want God to forgive all my sins. My sins against God are much more than those that have been done to me. It is the plank in my eye, the speck in my brothers.

Forgiveness, acceptance, love trust.

These are the things God offers us as his children. These are the things I wrote about forgetting, esp when I am down and depressed. It dawned on me the other day when I was reading my bible, these are an offering to us free from God – it is up to us to accept them. In my knowledge and study of the bible I know that these are truth. They are my free gift, and I should accept them. A block comes up however to accept them. We all want forgiveness, and it is a two-fold thing. Especially if you’re the one who did wrong. First you ask for the forgiveness which in most cases is not that hard to do, but then you have to forgive yourself. Now there is the rub…..
Acceptance of God is again offered as a free gift, but do you accept that gift. It is a huge thing. Its like your best friend giving you an island in the south pacific, with a mansion on it, and a pool and your own boat, and servants. etc etc. I come from the middle of the road income, and came from poor upbringing being a farmer’s daughter, but this is toooooo much even from my best friend. If you think that is a lot, then think about the Master of the Universe who not only made and started your heart, gave you breath, and then calls you his child and accepts you unconditionally. The rub do you accept yourself?
Love from your Heavenly Father. Deeper than anything you can feel. Wider than any love you have in any of your relationships. Freely offered. Again the rub do you love yourself?
Truth do you believe all that I have written in the above three paragraphs are true? In my knowledge I believe it is true. In my heart…..????……

I think that when you are someone suffering from depression, it manifests itself into a life of dark and light. Some of the time you are in the light, you sleep well you do the things you should do, the meds are working. Some of the time however you also live in the dark. You stop sleeping well, or you sleep too much, you don’t have the energy to do the things you should, nor do you care to. I think the amount you except what God is offering to you is in direct relation to how much you love and accept yourself.
If you are in a self hate mood and if you have read previous blogs you know I am good at the self hatered bit. A product of the darkness that has taken over me. The voices start – I am unworthy to be offered anything so wonderful. I am too sinful, which is a christian phrase that means I hate me so everyone does too. I hate the pain in my heart, the suffering, the trying to cope and the energy level is depleted. I want to fight the good fight I want to be the hero, to slay the dragon. Sometimes I don’t know who the dragon is. The confusion starts and then you forget or can’t see what is truth- mist in the eyes of your soul. There is no peace, only loud hating words and never-ending noise that hides the gentle whisper of God.

It is a roller coaster ride. A constant fight. It’s a worthy fight, I can say that today because I still feel I am a child of God. Tomorrow I may be in the darkness. But I write these words to look at later to remind me that the truth may be blurred but it is still truth

till next time…………..

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Another week a little stronger


To say last week was tough- is an understatement! I am still not feeling like I am on solid ground but I am not on sand either.  I am better.  I was re-reading my posts from last week, what an unbelievable place I was in. Last week was not a wave it was a tsunami, however, tsunamis’ waters do pass on and eventually there is dry ground.   My ground is muddy but drying up.

I wanted to talk about this thing called depression.  (ya like all these posts are not!!) but from a different perspective.  A bible perspective.  Was there depression in the bible.  How do you not see it?   Think of every bible story you know. If you do not know find a bible and read.  King David who gave us so many psalms and writings that show us his ups and downs.  He also shows us his faults and sins in the books about his life.  He crys out for God from the pit, he praised him from there too.  He danced on the streets to show his love for God and he boldly spoke of a loving God who looked after him.  Much of David’s life was spent fleeing from someone trying to kill him. Hiding in caves, fighting great battles against all odds, like Goliath there was always a bigger foe to fight. Sometimes that foe was man, sometimes that foe was evil, sometimes that foe was in his own mind.  What I love about David was his great love for God and not afraid to show it.  He also showed us that God does and will prevail and God’s promises are never broken and true.  Jesus states a lot of his most important messages to us in the bible with the words” truly  I say to you.” God is truth, love, peace, joy, strength, and sometimes God’s truths are just covering you over for protection and fighting darkness when you have no strength to do so.  I am only human and incapable of doing anything with out God.  Some may say well you were doing things last week without God. You were suffering a breakdown without God.  You go to work and shuffle through the day without God.  truly I say to you, no. God gave me life, breathed in my breath.  I could not have made it through some of the pitiful days at work without God’s help.  I would not be here without God’s help.  In the pit I was in God protected me from evil, it was not a dark pit, just a pit that my chemicals in me lead me to.  God did not give me this chemical imbalance , this world and the chemicals in it caused me to be off. If I did not have God I could not have returned from the brink of darkness.  Without God I have no power to forgive, love, have relationships cause God is love and we love cause he first loved us.  As John 15 says, If I remain in Jesus and he in me I can produce good fruit.  That does not mean I will only do good things and only do what God wants me to do, sometimes it means that God protects us by remaining in us to fill us with him so the devil and his thoughts can not take us over.  Depression can blur those lines sometimes but in the end God’s got your back.  God always watches out for his children, and through Jesus I am God’s child and apart of the family.  Jesus died to make me God’s child so the void from the first sin of Adam which separated me from God needed to be bridged and the cross allows us to cross over (no pun intended) to God and be in his Glory, a forgiven child of his family.  By remaining in him and I mean praying, meditating and just continue to work on my relationship with him I am able to feel the Joy that God wants me to have and lead the life he wants me to live by listening to his quiet voice always leading me to a better place.

That is the joy of being a christian, having a loving father to care for me when I can not care for myself.

Lord Thank you for your forgiveness and constant attention to my needs.  When I was unable to praise or pray to you your spirit within me groaned prayers of needs to you.  You heard them and in my pain covered me over with protection and sat with me till the wave left.  Thank you for allowing me to be a child and crawl upon the lap of Jesus and sit with my head on his chest and just be.  Lord all these things I thank and ask for you the name of your son Jesus — Amen.

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Friday TGIF


Well here I am at Friday.  I have been through a lot this week.  My apt with the therapist was hard and emotional.  I haven’t eaten since Sunday night, really – I did manage an egg on Wednesday I think, I am not sure what day it was.  I was sliding into sadness and loneliness again.  I could feel the darkness around me not as thick as before but for a few days it was following me.  Wednesday and Thursday I could not stop shaking, it was bad. It came from the centre of my being and radiated through my body.  My heart would beat fast, and I was having trouble catching my breath.  I was a mess.  There was a reason I was under attack.  My pastor, my best friend (his wife,) and my husband and I had planned a prayer session for me.  In my depression I have seen evil and darkness.  I have felt it rush me, circle me, follow me, engulf me.  Thursday, we covered me over with prayer.  We held hands and they prayed for a while, then they laid hands on me and prayed for me.  I shook like crazy, it was emotional and draining.  God was with me you could feel him.  We asked the Holy Spirit to come to us, we prayed protection not only for me but for them too, our collective children our marriages, it was a very very powerful prayer session.  When it was done we sat and huddled for a bit talked about depression the lies, our relationship with each other, the things I have been through, my therapy appointments.  We went to our respective homes and duties that needed to be done for the rest of the evening.  I went home to an empty house and stared at the ceiling for a while, collected my thoughts, till I had to pick up my daughter from field hockey. Got home, went to bed.

The next day- I tossed and turned a bit through the night but got up in the morning and had my coffee went to work and let the day sink in.  No shaking.  I felt calm, dare I say happy.  The last thing my friend prayed was that the peace that passes all understanding rest on me and there was peace.  Peace that I haven’t felt in quite a while.  I felt God near me, I felt Love well up in my heart where  days before loneliness dwelled. I felt happiness where I had felt sadness.  I went on my lunch break and caught a glimpse of my face in the mirror in the bathroom.  To be honest I had to take a second look. Who was that girl!  There was a gleam in her eye. A happiness in her face. It was wonderful.

So what happened – this is not hocus pocus!  A spell, a trickery, an illusion.    This is real life. This is real God. This is real Love.  If you suffer from depression then you know there is darkness there.  If you suffer from depression you know its a fight to try to trust your mind.  If you suffer from depression you know there are lies that try to steal everything away from you including your life. If you do not suffer you must believe that depression is not sadness it is a fight between good and evil.  When you are suffering you are wounded you are vulnerable. The devil senses that and attacks.  He lies, he misleads,  he tricks. You don’t know what thoughts to trust you don’t know what is truth.  You end up feeling like you are a burden to everyone, and that no one loves you, you isolate, you push away, you hurt yourself for allowing this illness to take all that was solid from you. I stop eating as my punishment.  I hide in my room. I allow the lies to convince myself I have no love and no one has love for me.  I can’t trust people cause they lie, they cheat, they don’t mean what they say.

God is Love he covered me over with his Love and tonight my heart is busting, I am crying at this moment.  Crying has been hard for me I have not been able to cry sad tears.  But these are happy tears.  God is the power of the universe.  He is the creator of the world of you of me.  Jesus is our brother who finds the lost children of God and brings them back. If they want to.  I want to.   Jesus died on the cross to break the bonds of sin.  We prayed in the name of Jesus to break the ropes of lies and darkness that in my weakness attached themselves to me.  Jesus set me free last night. He has wrapped his arms around me as my friends wrapped their loving arms around me last night.  I can still feel it today. God is near and I am drinking from my saucer cause my cup over flows from his Love. How good is God!

Am I cured!  No probably not. But in my weakness God has shown me his strength. In my weakness he has shown me a safe haven. In my weakness God has shown me his great Love, Grace, and  Forgiveness.  Could I have seen this in my strength.  I knew these things before my depression, then did I know them as deeply as I do now? No.  I have a chemical imbalance I am going through a change, that is caused by environment, DNA, hormones, or a combination of all of the above.  God takes these things and uses them to his good.  If you are reading this testimony – it would not be here if I have not been through the darkness of depression and felt a need to express my thoughts.

I pray for you that God may open the eyes of your heart and show you His great power and love.  God Bless you.