DEFLECTING DEPRESSION November 2013

  
Spending time on facebook I see folks struggling right now with colds, flu, and the blues. I am writing this as a template for how I deflect depression in hope something in it might prove helpful.

Many of these tactics were tried in my darkest hours and they were so effective I added them to my arsenal. Even if an exact implement I use might seem unweildy, perhaps just documenting it will suggest something to try.

Spiritual congestion is the primary reason for depression. I know there are those who have hormonal imbalances and brain tumors and other causes, but it is far more likely in most cases that what underlies depression is unresolved conflict with God and/or a human being. When I say underlying, I mean at the core or the base of the condition. There can be layers of sediment hiding the original source from view. Therefore, the best way I've found to dig down to the core, is to

1. VENT. First, before trying this at home, please read how NOT to do this. Experimenting will show that venting to a friend, spouse, pet, wall, ceiling, family member, pastor, or total stranger is not the most effective way to do this. In my experience, (and I've vented to all of those on the previous list), pastors, strangers, and pets will listen if you catch them at the right time. They do make good sounding boards. They don't tend to condemn, placate, defend, or evade as most people will. Still, putting anything or any creature between yourself and the LORD when you vent will impair open/honest expression. It obviously will cause you to consider the object or creature in how you do the venting (how loud, tone of voice, choice of words...); and that is not conducive since the purpose in venting is to pour out your guts without restraint or censure. David does this in the Psalms. That is where I got the idea and my model. The way I do this myself is to go outdoors, someplace out of hearing of anybody, and I literally spill/gush all that I am struggling with to my Father. I don't try to articulate it perfectly. I let it just come out as pus comes out of a lanced abscess. Or as projectile vomit comes out of a sour stomach. Or as mucous spouts as you sneeze and sneeze and sneeze uncontrollably. This is the sort of venting I'm advocating.
 So often people sit down with their Bible and try to read scripture, and try to pray for His help with a matter, but they find themselves besieged with disturbances that keep interrupting  their efforts. They grow weary trying to keep their prayer focused, correctly worded, formal, acceptable,  while at the same time suppressing anger, bitterness, fear, doubt, resentment...some submerged emotion they believe should not be allowed to surface. Instead of sitting down to deal with the issue calmly and collectedly, they need to do something that physically purges their impaction of emotional congestion. In the Bible people cry out to the LORD, or throw themselves down flat on their face (I think that means on the tummy, but it always says on the face), or rend their garments: they express themselves physically. In our day, because we are taught to be quiet and polite, this sort of display does not come naturally to most of us. If we carry on like this around other people (or even pets), they are alarmed for us and may even be afraid of us. So, go apart to a place where no one will hear except Our Father in Heaven.

 

I have found that when I do this, it is immediately cathartic. It is a huge relief.
In telling Him exactly how I feel and what I believe is wrong, I recognize the truth in what I am saying, and I also see the falsehoods in what I would have said to myself or someone else. When I speak to Him openly, I speak truth because I know I can't fool Him. Just as David's psalms begin with his complaints and end with him coming around to God's perspective, so do my 'venting' prayers. I come away with His mind on the matter(s).

2. Acknowledge what He is doing. I tell Him all that I see He is doing for me at that hour, on that day, at this season. This itemizing of His provisions to me, of the evidences of His care for me, strengthens my awareness of His Presence.

3. Find a Biblical counterpart. I believe that those who were chosen as illustrations in scripture are there as examples for us, but they can be even more. As an avid reader of fiction for most of my life, I found characters I admired or identified with in the pages of novels. I preferred them for the most part to real people. I understood them better. Real people are so complicated. In books, even in the Bible, people are not as dimensional. We know only what we need to know about them in order to comprehend how they lived through particular crises:

how Joseph dealt with sibling rivalry, unfair treatment by his brothers, jealousy and false accusations...
how Noah completed an impossibly complex building project with no encouragement for decades and decades...
how David dealt with betrayal by his closest confidant, contempt from his sons, and grieved the loss of his best friend...
how Elijah showed severe weakness after God gave him an incredible victory...

Each story about an individual in the Bible reminds me God asked him/her to go through a longer, harder, fiercer, scarier trial than whatever I'm up against.  I find instructive what these people did in similar straits to my own.  It is human for us to compare ourselves to others. It is problematic when we do this with those still living. I'm not talking about being inspired by these characters; rather I'm saying our burden is not too much for us to carry and seeing what others have done with their own assignments puts mine into a proper perspective.

4. Ask for His guidance on how to lift my countenance and align my soul with His. I am always enlivened by being out in nature. Getting out of a man-made environment alleviates many factors that contribute to depression. Getting fresh air, sunlight, and seeing His creation is refreshing. Peace is so much harder to attain indoors where there is disorder, things needing to be done, temptations, remnants of unresolved conflicts... But, when I come back from a venting session with the LORD, and a walk in the woods, I am calmed and steadied and able to subsist in my workplace, home or human-engineered world in spite of what is still amiss there.

5. Care for others. The more I pray for others and let Father show me how to love them, the less I am concerned about myself. This is a simple statement but a profound substitution. It is the Christ-like mindset. Selflessness is a state in which one will not suffer depression. 

6. Recognize His attention to physical needs. Father likes to show us He cares. His provisions are more than sufficient for our well-being, but sometimes we don't utilize them. We need to get restorative rest; we need nutritious food; we need to exercise to keep our lymph system operating; we need to show and receive affection; we need to breathe efficiently... I receive a sweet breeze on my skin as his caress. I savor the sensation of a pillow under my head, of grass under my feet, of warm food filling my stomach, of moonlight flooding a room...

7. Thank Him for everything that comes to mind! List all of them to Him! Thank Him!

December 2011

When folks come visit us, we tend to toss them the reins and tell 'em to mount up. Then we shoot them with our Canons, crop them down to size, and post their mugs on the internet for all to see. That's our way; some are more at ease with it than others. This fellow, for example, just hunkered over the horn and gave us his Salatin grin. Can't find much fault in him.
And this lil' lady, graced our place with her beautiful face! A princess in deed, momentarily treed!
Another natural draped himself on our gate; flashing us his smile to contemplate!
This clan is kin to us; but they live back East; they tarried with us a few days at least. And lest one gets the idea, that's all the kin we saw; here's another bunch of us, and here's
our feisty Ma!
And seein' as we've mentioned her, we owe the LORD for leavin'
Mom hereabouts a while longer, you best be believin'

Even after open heart surgery, after her trial
We celebrated and feasted with her in style.

But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. 1 Corinthians 12:24-26


January 2012 First Few Days______________________

Rely obliged those who arrived to ride.

I missed a turret when harnessing; it didn't phase Rely a bit. He's such a trooper!
And such a hoot!
I doubt I could get off this carriage without my Hub heading. It is quite a clamor.
Guess what this is? Hub seriously tackled replacing the shower in our guest bath. This is after he painted the drywall. It is white, not pink.
When given the opportunity to graze the fresh grass in the horse trap, here's how they chose to spend their time!
10 total inches of rain in November and December brought our pond up to within 2 feet of being full.
I LOVE this man!
There's even water in the 'bottom pond', about 2 feet deep.
Green is showing in the drought clipped fields. The rain and warm weather have fostered it.
Racoon?
Our measuring rod is a t post on the bank of the pond. Before the rain came, it was totally exposed (telling us the pond was down 5-6 feet). Now there is only has about 2 feet sticking up out of the water. This implies the deepest part of the pond is at about 14 feet now.
Grady is starting to grow, too.
More of the shower project.
Rely and Buck pummeling the grass (which goes to show they aren't really starved for it; they'd rather play on it!)
December demanded concentration. It is always a challenging month. Just keeping track of the schedule of events, finding gifts, evading germs, tackling end-of-year projects, makes for enough excitement, but when you throw in crises, like Mom's by-pass surgery, it is no longer possible to plan a path to take or decisions to make. What I knew I must do, is what I always should do, just trust Him to direct my steps.

Because of the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us.
Luke 1:78 (KJV)
We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers. We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Thessalonians 1: 2-3

For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. If we live, we live to the LORD; and if we die, we die to the LORD. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the LORD. Romans 14:7-8

It is worth contemplating His Mind on matters when we see who He chooses to take home to Him and who He leaves longer for His purposes.

DROUGHT

As the deer panteth for the water...

This post was suggested by my co-worker who has this bird that illustrates our spiritual nature. This bird balances tenuously on a fragile frame. He is hollow and only able to move because of the water within him. When he abstains too long, he dries out, he droops, he shakes. Then, so slowly, hesitantly, he approaches the source of sustenance, perversely holding back as long as he can from imbibing.

Then, he falls forward (as onto his knees) and plunges his face into the water. He soaks it up and it pours into him, reviving him.

He throws back his head in joy! He nods in gratitude. Rocking in bliss. Aren't we like this?

These are hard times in Texas. We are in deep drought.

We seek shade and wait.

Drought is Biblical.
1 Kings 17:1 Now Elijah the Tishbite, said to Ahab, "As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years EXCEPT AT MY WORD."

We need the Word of the LORD worse than water in our land.

Job 12:15 If He holds back the waters, there is drought; if He lets them loose, they devastate the land.

Jeremiah 14:1 They did not ask, 'Where is the LORD, who brought us up out of Egypt and led us through the barren wilderness, through a land of deserts and ravines, a land of drought and utter darkness, a land where no one travels and no one lives'?

Haggai 1:11 I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine the olive oil and everything else the ground produces, on people and livestock, and on all the labor of your hands.'

The young know nothing else. They have not seen green pastures in their day.

The fields are stripped; and the farmers so desperate they are feeding corn stalks.

The creatures look to us, for we are their gods. In their barren spaces only we can save them.

The wild hogs and deer travel to find forage and seeps.

Brushpiles grow as trees die. We cannot burn them.

Firetrucks and firefighters work overtime.

Whereas usually cows would be on pasture, all around us the grass is gone. Hay is going for $120 a round bale, and most folks can't afford to buy it for their cattle. They are taking them to auction. The lines of trailers at the auctions are blocks long. Extra sales are being held to handle the volume. Ranchers are selling off their best stock.

Those who are determined to keep a few head must carry feed to them and fill troughs. Tanks are drying up. The water in the bottom of them is not drinkable.

Weeds are flourishing in the gardens where water is still provided.

This is our showerhead. We are taking outdoor showers. The runoff makes a patch of green in the hardpan.

Buck is privileged to mow it for us.

Toads gather in the shower during the night.

I do not criticize Him for the means He chooses to cause us to turn to Him. I know that there are more folks turning to Him, calling out to Him, looking to Him to save them. He has our attention; we know in our parched souls that without Him we shall perish. He must slake our thirst. He alone can lead us through this drought both physically and spiritually.