I suffer from depression and an emptiness. I tried for years to seek peace with God and a sense of “joy in the Lord”. I never got this joy. At times I felt a warmth when I prayed and a sense of hope but I can’t say I’ve felt a lasting joy in salvation, my future or a lasting fulfilment. Nothing joyous as they say you are meant to have. I always felt an endless seeking ...which is what you are supposed to feel. But WHY? It is like a one sided relationship with an abusive partner who never fulfills you!
A person said that to be a Christian is to “get up and fall back down again over and over again till you die” (In other words)
This person says this
Jesus Doesn’t Always Fill Your Emptiness — and Why That’s Okay
Why be a Christian if it just means all of this sadness and empty seeking? An endless void is all the hope we have on earth?
I admit I’ve fallen recently because this is too much to accept!
Hi.
I hope to pass along some encouragement.
Where you are, I have been. There really is hope for happiness and contentment.
Depression and sadness is directly connected to the self....the ego.
Depression stems from dwelling in the past. Often, people are abused, cheated, lied to, and some assaulted. We have these subconscious thoughts that say things like "I cannot believe someone would hurt me, as I am a special person of great value and morals and someone had the audacity to not recognize that but think of me as common or worthless". Then we replay the event over and over in our mind and just get more bitter over time. It roots in our soul and begins to consume us.
For me, the eye opener was when I finally realized, that when people are rude, aggressive, abusive or controlling, they are simply acting out what has happened to them in the past.
The offender is actually a victim.
The way to stop the cycle of madness is to feel empathy for them.
Rather than responding to attacks with defensive actions, the key to stopping such attacks is LOVE. It usually backfires a few times, as the other person probably gets no love from anyone, but if you persist, they will actually befriend you in time, or perhaps avoid you like the plague if their hearts are really hard.
We also must look at every person as an equal. Though our personal morality may be different, we are still required by the commands of Jesus to love them. But he wasn't laying some impossible burden on us. He said that his burden was light. Love is easy if we can stop thinking so highly of ourselves and so lowly of others.
It sounds like I am suggesting that WE are the cause of our own pain and depression. And well, yes I am. But i can promise you that if you can learn to love those who mistreat you, from your inner heart, and not think of ourselves as morally superior. Every last human has sin.
The issue is that one person may think of themselves as righteous because they don't smoke or cuss. But if they are greedy or gossipers at the same time, they might actually be morally beneath one who smokes but never gossips.
We need to lighten up with others and try not to think of one sin being worse than another sin. Sin is any action, thought or deed that is not in line with God's character which is love.
Once you commit to loving others equally you will find that peace and contentment you have been searching for.
BlessUp.
