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.

Shining Love

I'm not alone in saying that I know Christ is coming back soon. Churches throughout the world have been struck with a sense of urgency to not only spread the Gosple of Christs, which is the Good news of Jesus' salvation for us, but also an urgency to simpy get your act together. In the last days people will have dreams and visions, men women and children will be propheseying. I've known too many people having dreams of a soon coming destruction to california,and the urgency I've felt to share the gosple to dismis any of it.
But I'm just going to be real with you right now, its been on my heart to pray for laborers to be sent out into the field. I myself have very limited access to people, some people (most pweople) have more. In ezekiel God said he does not desire to see the wicked perish.
People in this world are hurting and lost. People turn from God because someone from the church hurt them, or didn't simply love as they should have. Our love is what we are to be known by. Not our condemning words, not our judgement on others. God is the judge, not us!! We are to judge our own actions, not everyone elses. We are called to love. A gentle word turns away wrath, showing love to your enemies will heap burning coals on their head. We are to love our neighbor as ourselves... are you? (Am I?)
Is love what others see? Or do they see someone who portrays the church as "hypocritical". If you are to be forgiven, you must also forgive. If you can't forgive others,how then can God forgive you? Thank God we serve the One who is slow to anger, quick to love and quick to forget. But friends, I plead with you, if we are to be the salt and light of this world, then we need to represent Christ' love. He had compassion like none other. When the woman with an infirmity for 20someodd years touched his coat hoping she would behealed that way, he didn't turn around and say 'repent first, woman!' Or 'dont touch me, you are unclean, you just made me unclean, who do you think you are?!' Why do we as christians feel the need to tell others how sinful they are for going out drinking, for listening to "heathen"music, for dancing like that, for watching those movies... who made you God that you try to judge these people? Some people backslide, some people fall from God, but it is not our job as christians to tell themwhat rotten scum they are. We are to love, encourage, build up, and even carry the burdens of our brothers and sisters in Christ! God still convicts people, and helps them back onto the path of righteousness, and when that person decides to walk back home, they need a family to accept the prodigal son back, throw a feast and celebrate. Not judge and tell them how bad they were.
I'm not saying to never confront someone who has walked away from the faith, I'm saying, do it in love, build them up, don't tear them down. No matter how far you have fallen you can still repent and come back to Jesus! His love covers all sins. So let our love do the same, and allow for Christ to be a light in our lives. Pray for those who persecute you. If someone takes your shirt give them your jacket!
So in these last days, let's pray even more feverntly for the lost souls to be touched, tocome back to Christ, and for more laborers to be sent out (even if that is you). And let's show the same love and forgiveness that God has shown us.

Faith is Essential

"Doubt is a luxury we cannot afford" I was praying the other day and this line from The Incredibles popped into my head, immediately followed by the verse in the Bible that says if you believe in him (Jesus) with all your heart, not doubting, you will be saved. (Romans 10:9-11) I thought to myself, wow a kids movie just said something so profound, and yet so so many have missed it (no, I'm not saying that there is a secret hidden message in the Pixar film) But how many times have you doubted something, and then because of that doubt you have been held back? Doubt and fear go hand in hand a lot of thw time, if you doubt your ability to preform a certain task, you are afraid of the failure you might produce. Living in fear. God says "fear not for I am with you, be not dismayed for I am your God" (Isaiah 41:10) If you doubt tthe existance of Jesus. Or that He is the son of God, you will not see all the glory that God has planned for your life. The salvation God has for you is in your assurance of His death and rising for your sake!!

When you are walking in doubt, you are stripping yourself of any worth. If you are in a relationship with Christ, a meaningful and one on one relationship with the one who gave His life foryou, then your worth and value is in Him! Not in your deeds, good or bad. You become the heir to a kindgdom, one greater than this earth has ever seen or been able to imagen. Galatians 3:29 talks about being heirs to a promise, the greatest, most amazing, faithful promise ever written in the History of mankind! Gods Word is the end all. The final say! When God promises you life, believe and you shall receive! (John 10:10) when God promises you abundance, overflowing, believe and you shall receive! (Malachi 3:10), When God promises you peace, believe and you will receive (Philippians 4:7).
The devil has come to steal, kill, and destroy you life. (John 10:10) and the most. Important thing you can hold onto is your faith! So stop doubting and start believing! "Those who bhave faith are blessed" (Galatians 3:9) "Faith come through hearing, and hearing through the Word of God" (Romans 10:17) So if you feel a little, or a lot, weak in your faith, if you feel easily swayed, read Gods Word! It never returns void, God will guide your eyes, and heart and He will plant that seed of faith in you.
You are called to be free (Acts 13:39), but if you doubt Gods faithflness, if you doubt that you can do all that God wants you to do then the devil has already won. Don't give your life over to darkness by doubting. Have some faith, read Gods Word.doubt is what keeps us in bondage. It will bring you to a place so low, that all you can see are the miserable, messed up things you have thought/said/done and your worth will be lower than the scum on the bottom of you shoe... IN YOUR OWN EYES! Not in Gods!that's not who God created you to be! He said "There is NO condemnation for those in Christ!!! (Romans 8:1)
God called you out of the pit just to be with Him, and if he thinks you are worth dying for then believe it! Because no one, and I mean no one except the Jesus the Son of God, ever died for your freedom (john 3:16)
Accept that amazing gift, and believe that He loves you and your worth is greater than what the devil keeps telling you!

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

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