Help For Gods Hurting People

ARISE [from the depression and prostration in which circumstances have kept you--rise to a new life]! Shine (be radiant with the glory of the Lord), for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you!

Isaiah 60:1

Depression is a problem that plagues us all from time to time. I would venture 75% of the people who I have come to know and counsel, came to the web site because of a depressing situation in their lives. They are looking for help.

I am well acquainted with depression as God delivered me from it. There was a time in my life that I literally could not get out of bed in the morning. I was so depressed I didn’t have the energy. God delivered me from depression when He began to lead me on the journey of renewing my mind.

There is no easy way out of depression. There is not a magic pill that makes you feel better immediately. Depression is a big business. The biggest moneymaker for the Pharmaceutical companies is anti-depressant medications, followed closely by sleeping pills.

I work in two separate environments. One is as a Christian Counselor and the other is as a Christian Life Coach. The difference is that a counselor works with people who are in crisis. A Life coach works with folks who are ready to change their life for the better. These are people who have insight as to why their life has been going the way it has, and now they need an action plan.

Sometimes I work in both capacities in helping a client, or ministry member.

So assuming you need an action plan today, or know someone who does, I am going to give you one for moving past depression and getting on with the plan God has for your life.

Step one is to change your environment. Ideally, if you have money, you could take a vacation. If you are like us, we haven't had a vacation in over six years; you may not be able to do that.

You can still change your environment. If you sit in front of the TV each day, get up. Take a shower, and get dressed. Clean your house, freshen things up, and then take a walk. You are going to have to make an effort to do that. You need to force yourself to take that first step. If you are living with other people, and not being productive, you need a plan. Sit down and write down some goals for your life, and then one by one meet those goals.

A lot of times depressed folks have every reason to be that way. Most of the time there has been a life change that wasn't pleasant. That is what started the depression. Because family and friends feel sorry for them, they enable them to stay depressed. There is a time where a person needs to grieve, but after a year of so, family and friends do that person no service by enabling them to do nothing. If you ask them why they do it, they will tell you, "Well, he/she has been through so much, I don't have the heart to tell them they need to be doing something productive." Can I tell you that I know several people who are still in depression ten or more years after the initial event, simply because they are "stuck" in that place and family is encouraging them by making excuses for them.

Step two is to confront your issues. What happened, happened. You can do nothing about it, and so it's time to move forward by focusing on your future. Think about what gifts you have, what talents you have. Think about how you would use those gifts if you had your "ideal" life. I often ask people, "What did you want to do when you were growing up?" I then encourage them, with the knowledge that these God inspired dreams are still possible.

Jesus looked at them intently and said, "Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God everything is possible." Matthew 19:26

Step three is to mentally commit to a change. You know what you want to do and now you need to tell God that with His help you are going to do what it takes to change. No change is easy. But God will give us the strength to get moving when we commit our ways to Him.

"Commit everything you do to the LORD. Trust him, and he will help you." Psalm 37:5

Step four is where the rubber meets the road so to speak. When we get up, change our environment, confront the issues and commit to change, we reach a point where we become a little overwhelmed. We have a tendency at this point to go back to our old destructive behaviors. We may have a hard day, and we think, 'I am just going to quit. I can't do this, and I shouldn't have to Lord. You know what I have been through, this just isn't fair."

Satan knows we are getting ready to have a great breakthrough, and when this point comes He brings discouragement to us. If we can keep on going, and not slip back into our destructive behavior, we will move past depression and into victory over the battles raging in our mind.

Step five is the point in which we start to design our future. We decide what we want our lives to look like in the next five years, and we work diligently to get there.

Proverbs 29:18 tells us the following; "Without a vision, the people perish."

The problem with most of us is that we don't have visions for our lives, or for our children's lives. Most parents of teenagers are so overcome with the things they see around their children that they think, "If I can just get them grown, drug free, alcohol free, and not pregnant or getting someone pregnant, I have done a good job." I like to work as a life coach with one of these parents, and get them to make a plan, have a vision for that teenager's life, and work with them daily to see that they get there.

The last step is to "own" your breakthrough. I had such a mental breakthrough, that I love to share it with people. Once I committed to overcome depression and self-pity, God came on the scene and led me to people and information so that I could overcome and live victoriously. Then it came back to me, to continue on depression free. I had to "own" that and tell God that I realized that my life would only stay changed, as I leaned on Him each day.

The one other thing I would like to impress upon people today is that you too can be a "coach." If you have a family member who is sitting around and not leading a productive life, think seriously about what that person would do if you were suddenly not there for them?  If tonight you were, God forbid, killed in an auto accident could the person support himself or herself or would they be homeless? Even if you leave them insurance, they will go through it quickly as they have never known the value of it. You may be handing them everything on a platter.

Real love, like a mother bird, makes sure that these people learn the skills to leave the nest and do so successfully.

A breakthrough from depression is possible when a person, changes their outlook, confronts the issues and quits using them as an excuse for not risking getting back into life again.

If you are stuck, you may just need a Christian Life Coach yourself. Find out more about that in the article regarding Life Coaching on this site!

Father, Help those of us who are depressed today to move forward with you at the Helm of our lives, directing us. Help those of us who have depressed friends and family members to realize that "babying" them is understandable, but never in their best interest in the long run. In Your Name, The Name above all names we pray. Amen and Amen.