It's not your fault

I have this overwhelming feeling of sadness. I don't know where it comes from. Life is going pretty good right now. Yet I feel a bit off.

Do you know where your depression and/or anxiety comes from? Some of us are prone to it through genetics and some of us through circumstances, mostly beyond our control. Traumatic life experiences, feeling worthless, physical or emotional abuse caused by a family member, friend or even a stranger can be contributing factors.
Who can you turn to when the darkness sets in? Who will listen? Who will carry you and not judge you? Do you find that your family and even your friends just wish you would stop and get over it?

You can't! It's not your fault. You want to be "normal" but something inside you won't let you. What is normal anyway? Who decides what's normal? My my normal is not the same as everyone else's.

There are no easy answers to this phenomenon called depression. It's something that washes over you like a wave of despair and the more you try to run from it the more it seems to cover you. Some of you just want the pain to stop so you cut yourself to feel a different pain or take pills to sleep the pain away.

What is it? Why is depression so rampant in our culture? It seems to be more and more in the news these days. Celebrities opening up about suffering from it.  Jared Padalecki, especially when he had to cancel appearances for health reasons. How can someone so talented, who seems to have everything be depressed? Most significantly Robin Williams we learned after his untimely death was quite the shock. How can someone so funny be so sad?

This is not something to take lightly or shrug off. What can we as a society do to combat this issue?
Just admitting there's a problem is the first step. Seeing some famous people dealing with their own issues publicly is such a positive light on this matter.

Now how do we as "regular" people work this out? Lately I have been exposed to more and more people dealing with depression. It breaks my heart. Life is worth living. God created it for His glory and our lives matter to Him.
He can lift the darkness and make you whole. It's not that you will never have bouts of depression or anxiety again, but, He will never leave you or forsake you. He will never tell you to "get over it". He will always listen to you and never judge your insecurities. He will give you peace that surpasses understanding. He sent His only son that we might have life and have it more abundantly. He doesn't promise that life will be easy only that He will be there for all of it.

I am not going to preach to you. I don't want you to think this is going to become some kind of religious blog. I am a Christ follower and not ashamed of it, so if it's appropriate I will include Jesus in my messages. This is one such message.
Life is hard. People are mean. God is good. When we choose to look to Him our struggles diminish. We are all imperfect creatures and He knows this.
Do you know how much He loves you? Do you know that He is waiting to have a relationship with you? He is the one you can trust with your struggles. He doesn't care how much baggage you have in your life. You don't have to prove anything to Him. Wouldn't that be nice?

To be honest with you, I struggle with being insecure. I never quite feel like I'm good enough.
I'm scared to post this message for fear of being rejected. What if someone reads this and decides they don't like me because of it. I post it anyway, because someone told me no to worry about what other people think and that I should just let the message speak for itself.

I will not judge you either. I feel nothing but compassion for all of you. You have been hurt horribly in your lives. I can't even pretend to understand all of it. I only know that you shouldn't have to fight alone.
I feel strongly that we as a community need to help each other through this life. We all have our issues, some worse than others.

Let's fight the good fight together.
Thank you for reading this. These are my thoughts. I hope you are encouraged in some way!


"Always Keep Fighting", Jared Padalecki
Phil4:13 "I can do all things through Him who gives me strength."