Depression Hurts Cymbalta Can't Help!

The other day I had a line from that Cymbalta commercial stuck in my head "depression hurt's, Cymbalta can help". It has helped many people I'm sure.... But God has helped more. Let me do a little illustration for you



CYMBALTA SIDE EFFECTS
Include but in no means limited to:

Nausia
Fainting
Redness of skin
Diarrhea
Heart attack
Seizures
Thoughts of suicide
SUICIDE

The list goes on and on and on, I couldn't believe it!! People are risking their lives for peace and happines... risking their life to fill that void that ONLY God can fill. All those depression medications do is increase the flow of that happy hormone into your brain... but God can heal you... God doesn't use crazy drugs, that eventually drive you to kill yourself.


SIDE EFFECTS OF ACCEPTING CHRIST INTO YOUR LIFE
Include but in no means limited to:

compassion for others
Sence of purpose
Feeling that you have help
Companionship with someone who can solve your problems
Renewed energy
Greater patience
Greater love for others
Joy
Peace
Hope


Now when I was reading through the side effect list for Cymbalta, of course, the list never include things like "hope" or "joy". Isn't that what we all want? Not jitters and caffine highs.

No amount of caffine, healthy eating, exercising and especially medication can give you hope. They can offer you less sadness followed by a laundry list of terrible side effects.... including suicide!! Isn't that the very thing you are trying to be free from? Jesus had so much compassion on thousands of people, and His compassion didn't stop when he went back to heaven. He left us His Spirit to help us! That exactly what He's there for! Jesus saw thousands of hurting people, and he cared so deeply for them, even when he was exhausted and sleep deprived, even when his best friend just died, he still showed his love to the thousands of hurting people. He still cares for you! He didn't leave His Spirit behind for you to still be hurting.
Jesus gave us a life guide, His great Medicine... His Word! When you look inside it you see how much love He had for us. He told the people to turn from their sins and follow Him. When we put aside the sin we have carried, we can begin to live in freedom! True freedom comes from Christ alone.
Jesus said "come to me all who labor and are heavy laden and I will giver you rest take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls" (matt 11:28-29) Jesus didn't say take his burden(I used to think that's what it meant) no, he's saying to let him take you under His wing, He will be your teacher, line yourself up with Him, walk with Him, be yoked to Him, stop trying to plow the dirt of life alone!
"Cast your burden on the Lord, and He will sustain you, He will never permit the righteous to. Be moved" (psalms 55:22) before you tell me your not righteous, if you confess your sins before God, He is faithful to forgive, if you believe in Jesus and have given your life to Him, then you are righteous "For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." (2 Corinthians 5:21)
" Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He might exalt you, casting ALL your anxieties on him, because He cares for you!" how many times does Jesus have to ask you to stop worrying and stressing and give it to Him for you to see how much He loves and cares for you!
Seek the Lord and He will come to you, and give your burdens to Him, walk with Him, He will sustain you, exalt you, and give you hope! There is no joy in life without Christ.

Taste and See it, for real!

Gods Word tells us to taste and see that the Lord is good! (Psalms 34:8) I find this a really intreguing commandment. It seems to say that God wants all our senses involved when we come to Him. God tells us over and over to "listen and hear my voice pay attention and hear what I say" (Isaiah 28:23) with that said, have you ever wanted to be a food taste tester? You know, sit down and have high end chefs pay you to bring you their fabulous creations while you dine on their food... and get payed to do it? Well, I have. Sounds like a nice job, and I don't know anyone who wouldn't like to do it! (P.s. if you want to hire me to do this please contact me!) Lol. God is the greatest most satisfying abundant thing that you will ever be given and told to taste!

The reward is so far beyond any earthly reward. The reward for taking part in this amazing Bread of life" is so much more than just a "ticket" to heaven, but ONLY if you taste, hear, smell, see, and feel the true goodness of the Lord. Let me remind you, finding God is absolutely not about recieving a reward, and if you go before the Lord with that mentality you will be unable to find Him. What I am trying to convey to you, is that God made us with five senses, not just for our daily life, but so we can truly experience God as He really is! We were made for the Lord, but we were not made as drones that cannot think/feel for themselves. God has opened up Himself to us, and for so many of us we have only experienced God with one or two senses.

I want to encourage you to savor God, savor the flavor, take it in, soak it up, when ou read Gods Words don't just skim through it, savor each flavor, each morsal! Smell it, breath in the Word of Life, come before God asking to be able to experience Him with every sense He gave you to experience Him with.

When Jesus being human, could experience God so much to the point where he said they are one, and even saying he wants US to be one with God JUST as He is, that's when you know we were created to know God more than just reading about Him in a book, or hearing about Him in a Sunday service! God said we are able to do anything we set our minds to. (Genesis 11:6) If God said that "nothing will be impossible for them" He wasn't excluding anything, God is not man that he lies! So I want to encourage you to set your mind to experience God justas He enabled us to experience Him. Search after Him as if there was nothing more important, because the reality is, THERE IS NOTHING MORE IMPORTANT! When we can come into the full presence of God, we walk out with the glory of the Lord shining upon us. (Isaiah 60:1)

Want to be satisfied? Want to help others be satisfied? Taste and see all that God is, all His goodness, and share that abundance with everyone you know! (John 10:10)

V-I-C-T-O-R-Y

"Let me hear your battle cry, V-I-C-T-O-R-Y" I think that's how it went anyways. I heard the kids at church chanting this last week and I must say it really stuck with me... really. I cant stop thinking it. Like a song that gets stuck in your head and you can't get it out.Yep, been there for nearly two weeks now. I'm going to venture a guess and say God is probably trying to remind me of something.
It's amazing to hear little kids saying this. Man, what I wouldn't give to have had that instilled in me from childhood! Buuut I suppose thats one of the reasons why we have kids. Not so we can make them live the lives we lived, but so they can live what we couldn't. Im pretty convinced that every parent in some way, lives vicariously through their children. For me it's showing my children that they are worth something! As well as teaching them that the Holy Spirit is our helper and He gives us amazing Gifts if we ask and believe. For my husband its buying them toys that he wished HE had when he was a kid. The lego sets... its really for him ;)
I think though sometimes the childrens department at church chooses verses or stories that will also give parents a reminder of the simple amazingness of God! And the strength that God gave us to pull through.
In the Bible it says in Hebrews 12:1 to run with ENDURANCE the race that is set before us. I cant tell you how many times I've thought of that verse BUT (and maybe this is just me) theres a first part of the verse that i dont think about, and completely forget about until I look it up (you know, actually cracking open my Bible and finding "endurance" in the concordance because I've completely forgotten the scripture refrence...) it says "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses let us also lay aside EVERY weight and SIN which clings so closely"
If you are constantly striving for victory, and feeling like you always fall short this is for you. (Okay, and me too!) You absolutely, in no way can be victorious if you allow the baggage of life to "cling" on to you. Your past, (not a pretty one? Always reminding you of crap that you really dont want to be reminded of?) Your present, (always staring you in the face just how difficult everything is, and feeling like you are looking at a mount everest that your expected to climb) or your future (got "nothing" going for you and can't find ANY solution to make it out of this world any less dependant than when you first came into this world) thats all baggage that i must say, at different points in my life I have had! But not today! And not anymore!
1Peter 5:7 says to "Humble yourselves, therefore, under the Mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you, Casting ALL your anxieties on HIM because...HE CARES FOR YOU!" Also in Matthew 11:28-30 "come to me(Jesus) all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls"
If you are human you have been burdened at some point in your life! But when Jesus says take My yoke upon you, he isnt saying he's going to give you a different burden, He is talking about walking in union with Him, and THAT is what will give you rest. Just like two ox plowing a field yoked together have to walk in unison, step by step, to make the job easier, that is what God wants. He wants to be so close to you that you and Him are knit together.
Jesus even prayed that very thing in John 17:20-22 "I ask also for those who will believe in me... that they also will be in us (Jesus, God) so that the world will believe that You have sent me. The Glory that You have given Me, I HAVE GIVEN THEM!!" WOW! Jesus gives us the same glory he recieved from God!
How can we NOT be victorious with that?! Ok, so maybe I'm talking to myself here and thats fine, but man I'm pumped! I can lay it down (and heres the key...) dont pick my burden back up! And find myself operating in the same glory of God himself, and being one with Jesus! If that doesnt scream victory... then I will give you one more thing that does: Jesus Christ died and lay in a tomb(dead) for three days, then conquering death got up, walked out of the tomb and ministered to his Disciples for 40 days as if death never happened. Now thats Victory! So with that said...
"Let me hear your battle cry, V-I-C-T-O-R-Y!!!"

Until next time :)
Sheri

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.8

Who Am I?!

I am many things... or rather i DO many things, that seem to get labeled as who I am. Such as I AM a mom, I AM a wife, I AM a great cook (ok, I like to think that) even I AM a Christain. But more than those being titles of who i am, I'd have to say those are merely titles of what I do. And I will be honest, in the midst of my busy and hectic life of running after four kids, I often feel stripped from my own identity and feel as though I'm not who I used to be. Yet i dont entirely know who I am at this moment.
Thats how I've been feeling. Until recently. Its an up and down rollercoaster being a mom of four (beautiful and amazing) young kids. And there are days where if i have to answer one more "why?" Again i think my head just might blow up! I know who I want to be. I have this picture of supermom in my head (she actually resembles my mom in nearly every aspect!) And day to day i find myself falling short. This wonderful prayer warrior, strong, supportive, never tired, never angry, always meditating on Gods Word young looking fun and fabulous person just has not been attainable! (Ok go ahead and laugh!)
But knowing who you want to be doesnt always mean its who you are. And especially so if you dont have a clue who you even are right now! There are days when I will say to my husband "I cant do this" hoping for him to come along and say "yes you can!" And sometimes he does say that, but i think its gotten old now and he just looks at me like "you know thats not true"
Ok so, Im guilty of trying to find myself in others approval. But heres something i have found.
After several sermons at church hearing the pastor say things such as "you need to know who you are in Gods Word" or "when you know what God says about you you will never doubt again" i thought, "I've spent my entire life in church, and i know what my mom, my husband, my brothers and grandma all say about me... but what does God say?!" I must have missed the sermon on that.
I delved into searching Gods Word to see what it says. I didn't find the verses that said 'you are worthless' a 'nobody' or 'sick and pathetic' which is how i have felt at different times in my life, or even thought was what God wanted me to think about myself. What I found has transformed me!
When i was little i felt like everyone always told me i was nothing. Maybe they didnt, or maybe my brothers were really only trying to toughen my skin. But i (even though i argued) believed them. I would think if my family couldnt love me enough, then God couldnt. One day as a troubled and angsty teenager my grandma told me "you can do ANYTHING you put your mind to" it changed what i thought. After that i decided to graduate from highschool early, go to college and become a medical assistant. And i did.
It was those few words ... that someone believed in me, that gave me what i needed to push forward.
Thats what Gods Word is, its God (the one and only, the one who created you, the one who knows every hair on your head, every bruise on your body and every thing about you) saying "i know you, I formed you, this is what I made you capable of"
Just a couple verses here that showed me something that has changed me almost instantly!
I am more than a conquerer!! (Romans 8:37) "In all these things we are more than conquerers through Him (Christ Jesus) who loves us!"
I am Mighty in the Lord!! (2 Corinthians 4:8,9) "we are afflicted in every way BUT NOT CRUSHED! Perplexed BUT NOT DRIVEN TO DISPAIR! Persecuted BUT NOT FORSAKEN! Struck down BUT NOT DESTROYED!! "
I am able to do anything I set my mind to! (Genesis 11:6) "and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will be impossible for them."

How great is that! Gods people, Gods Children, the ones confessing the risen from the dead Jesus as the Son of God, are able to do ANYTHING they put their minds to. God created us in HIS image, able to do anything Jesus did! (If you know about Jesus then this should blow your socks off!) Read John 14:12. It says "Truly truly I (Jesus) say to you, whosoever believes in me will also do the works that i do, and greater works than these will he do!"
So... thats just the tip of the iceburg. But right now, Im standing strong on the Words that God says about me.
Feeling quite unstoppable and on top of the world! Ready to take it on!
But what about you? Where do you fit in?
You will find yourself burried in Gods word. No matter who you are. Believer of God or not. You are in there. And in Gods sights.

Signing out for now
Sheri

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.8