HOW WELL THEY KNOW ME!

The same email came from two different directions and into my inbox on the same day:


Today Is National Mental Health day!

You can do your bit by remembering to send an email to an unstable friend.

(Well...my job's done!)

Some days, it's not even worth chewing through the restraints

How well they know me!

And, as I like to say, a little insanity can be a healthy thing. IF it can make you smile somewhere along the way.

And a good suggestion from my wife, a very wise woman, is to sing songs of praise, even when you don't feel like singing anything. It's easy to sing praises when we feel on top of everything. But the time we need to sing praises and be in our Father's arms is when everything is on top of us.

And I may have just offended some of you.

Those of you who don't have some sort of relationship with Creator God just now felt slapped in the face. I'm sorry, as it was NOT my intention to offend. But, part of this blog is to tell you what works for me. If you don't have such a relationship it may not work for you. The odd thing is, though, God meets us where we are, He comes more than half-way: He comes all the way. If you start to sing praises (or, if you feel like you can't sing, merely speaking will do), even if you don't feel like it, He will come to you. You may find that it is an experience you want to repeat.

Despite what you may have heard, God is not willing that any be apart from Him, but He is also respectful enough of our feelings that He will not force His presence on us if we do not want him around. And even Christians push Him away. Or put Him in a box they take out on Sunday.

Hence, my depression cycle: I did that very thing.

My wife is wise. She told me that even if I only sang that simple children's song we are teaching our little one, it would be enough to start the process:

Jesus loves me, this I know

For the Bible tells me so

Little ones to Him belong;

We are weak, but He is strong!

Yes, Jesus loves me,

Yes, Jesus loves me,

Yes, Jesus loves me,

The Bible tells me so!

It's not so much a 'Belief' as it is a 'trust'. If you need verses to back up the song, here are two:

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." - John's Gospel 3:16-17 New International Version (NIV)

"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" - Paul's letter to the Romans 8:1 (NIV)

Christianity is not so much a system of rules (though many think it is) as it a relationship with someone who has an interest with you. It is true that if you live by the 'rules' of Christianity you will generally be considered a 'good person'. Remember, though, that's what the Pharisees thought they were doing, and along the way they lost the love for God, and missed experiencing the love of God.

Anyway, I've wandered a bit. The idea is to find that smile that belongs to you. Even more, to find that joy that belongs to you.

God Bless, and,

Yes, You Can!

How Depressing

Apropos of nothing in particular, but this job search thing is getting me down. I hope I won't need to write a "Devil Discouragement III" entry, but life can be like that.

Remembering a verse I wrote some years back:

"Your Job is not your Worth,
You have Value from your birth.
Your loving given
Means more to livin'
Your Job is NOT your Worth!"

I have to focus on the good & look for the opportunities.

More on that later, maybe tomorrow. For now I have to go.

As Always,

Yes, you CAN!

Devil Discouragement part II

Ran across a posting on another site I blog at & had to reply to the poster. This person has been having a rough go, and I gave her what encouragement I could. I thought I would share it with you here, as it seemed to fit right in with my last posting:

Depression happens to everyone, at one time or another. Sometimes it catches and holds us. You, specifically. Me, too.

For a while I was resigned in knowing I had the mood swings from the deep lows to the exuberant highs; I accepted one as the price for the other. Then the lows got lower, and the highs not so high. Then low and lower.

It got so bad I lost my job, in part, because of it. That, with a family to support, did not help the depression I was feeling.

I've been fighting my way back these last five years, and it is a fight. I say that to let you know that it's not easy, and I know it. I've been there at around 45-years-old rather than 25, and it's been a long hard fight, and I'm not entirely done with it, yet. But the light at the end of the tunnel is a lot brighter than before.

To help yourself, you've got to focus on the good things of life (cue ending theme of "The Life of Brian' now). Focusing on the things that depress you only gets you more depressed. You know that. You knew you had to leave the hotel room after dwelling on those thoughts all night, else you would have attacked yourself. Dwell instead on the things that make you smile. There are a lot of them and they are there for a reason. See something as simple as a flower (are there flowers in England this time of year?), or a snowflake and see the simple beauty of its order.

See things as you did as a six-year-old child (hopefully that's not a bad time in your life), and laugh. I'm told that as children we would laugh 300-400 times a day. Seeing our three-year-old at play, I believe it. As adults it's seldom above 25 times. The same source recommends at least 50 good belly laughs a day for good mental health. I'm not there yet, but it seems to be helping. Watch a Fawlty Towers rerun and get a good belly laugh out of Basil stepping on his roast duck, or Manuel not finding the dining room because the builders had closed it up. If Fawlty Towers is not your speed, find something else, Benny Hill or Are You Being Served. The point is to focus not on the trouble but on the solution. And the solution to being down is to find something to lift you UP. Believing in Jesus is supposed to be a grace-filled Up, not a guilt-ridden DOWN. Whatever your Christian friends are telling you, remember that fact.

I feel like I'm preaching at you, and if it comes off that way, I apologize. I just want you to hang on long enough to come out the other side of this as a whole person. Meanwhile, I've got another computer to fix, and there's a squirrel running around in the basement ceiling (Really!) that I've got to do something about.

God Bless and Keep Smiling!

I can't top that today, so I'll sign off with the usual ...

Yes, You CAN