Things I Have Learnt

[leafylane]

So I have been struggling with depression for the last couple of years, but only figured it out about two/three weeks ago. I'm trying not to focus on my problems anymore so I thought that I would write here the things that I've learnt or that God has placed on my heart that help me daily. I may write after something a bit of context to explain why it's helped me, but other than that I don't want to go in to everything because I believe that I need to leave it behind at a festival I was just at where I started getting help.

Anyways, hopefully something that I've learnt will help someone else in their life.

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Pining is not part of God's plan for my life.
The last few months have been especially hard, mostly because my boyfriend of two years broke up with me, then started dating someone less than two months later. Then, in one of those amazing flashes of truth, I realised that pining after him doesn't love God or love my neighbour. Sitting around thinking about how much I miss him and how much he hurt me won't help God's kingdom advance, let alone get my ex back. I now hope that I will not waste time miserably thinking about things that are outside of God's plan for me.

"'Be strong and brave, and do the work. Don't be afraid or discouraged, because the LORD God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or leave you until all the work for the Temple of the LORD is finished."' 1 Chronicles 28:20
I know that this verse is literally about building the Temple, but I feel that it also applies to our lives, and the world around us. God will not fail you or leave you until all the work is completed.

'So, Lord, what hope do I have? You are my hope.' Psalm 39:7
If my hope is in God, and I believe his promises, then anything outside of what he has promised is in his hands and is an extra gift. But God promises us everything we need. Your life will be complete because God has promised it to you.

 

[Flower478]

((((Leafylane))))

I now hope that I will not waste time miserably thinking about things that are outside of God's plan for me.

And so do I.

Flower

 

[miss-a]

Lovely post! Very insightful. Thanks for posting.

 

[leafylane]

'I don't have time to maintain these regrets when I think about the way that he loves us, oh how he loves us, oh how he loves us, oh how he loves' -- 'How He Loves' by John Mark McMillan

Genuinely, no one has time to live in their past mistakes when we think about all that God has in store for us through his love for us!

'And if our God is for us, then who could ever stop us? And if our God is with us, then what could stand against?' -- 'Our God is Greater' by Chris Tomlin

One of my favourite Bible verses is 2 Thessalonians 2:8, 'Then that Man of Evil will appear, and the Lord Jesus will kill him with the breath that comes from his mouth and will destroy him with the glory of his coming.' Whatever you feel that this verse refers to, I'm pretty sure that this verse shows that Jesus beats anything evil just by being around it! Your depression (or any other bad thing happening in your life) doesn't have the ability to stand near where Jesus is. If Jesus is part of your life then depression has no choice but to fall down in his presence. I know that it isn't that easy and it takes a while to be able to fully believe it, but it is the truth.

Forgiveness doesn't erase pain.

This is one thing that I'm still struggling to properly apply. As you can probably guess from my first post and the things I wrote about my ex, all the things that he did still really hurt me. At first I thought that I hadn't properly forgiven him so I kept on doing it. Then I read somewhere on here that just because you've forgiven someone, that doesn't mean you can't still hurt. When Jesus and Stephen were being crucified and stoned respectively and they asked God to forgive their executors, I'm sure that they still felt the pain of what was happening. In the same way, however much I forgive my ex (something else I'm learning is how to forgive someone for doing what's right, but maybe I'll write about that another time), everything that he did still hurts me and I just have to give that time to heal like any other wound. Picking at it and fiddling with it isn't helping it to heal, hence why I'm trying to not waste time thinking about it (see first post). Don't expect the pain to go away as soon as you forgive someone, although the healing can't start without forgiveness.

 

[healingrainbow]

Forgiveness does erase pain in a way. God is very pleased that you decided to forgive. In fact forgiveness is a good work that draws God to you. Don't be sad, God is very happy with you and he will bless you very richly!!!