God is with you. Always.

I just felt like making a video for you guys.  I don't know what you are going through.  I don't know what kind of storm you're facing, but I want to tell you that it can't rain forever.  Maybe right now, you are in a good place, and that's wonderful, but there will be a day when it starts to rain, so I wanted you to be able to know that regardless of the weather, God is with you.

He's there in the heartache, He's there in the storm.  He doesn't care where you have fallen or where you have been.  Nothing you do can make Him love you any less.

Educate Yourselves.

• Mental illnesses are serious medical illnesses. They cannot be overcome through "will power" and are not related to a person's "character" or intelligence. Mental illness falls along a continuum of severity. Even though mental illness is widespread in the population, the main burden of illness is concentrated in a much smaller proportion-about 6 percent, or 1 in 17 Americans-who live with a serious mental illness. The National Institute of Mental Health reports that one in four adults-approximately 57.7 million Americans-experience a mental health disorder in a given year.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• The U.S. Surgeon General reports that 10 percent of children and adolescents in the United States suffer from serious emotional and mental disorders that cause significant functional impairment in their day-to-day lives at home, in school and with peers.
  
  
  
  
  
• The World Health Organization has reported that four of the 10 leading causes of disability in the US and other developed countries are mental disorders. By 2020, Major Depressive illness will be the leading cause of disability in the world for women and children.
  
  
  
  
  
• Mental illness usually strike individuals in the prime of their lives, often during adolescence and young adulthood. All ages are susceptible, but the young and the old are especially vulnerable.
  
  
  
  
  
• Without treatment the consequences of mental illness for the individual and society are staggering: unnecessary disability, unemployment, substance abuse, homelessness, inappropriate incarceration, suicide and wasted lives; the economic cost of untreated mental illness is more than 100 billion dollars each year in the United States.
  
  
  
  
  
• The best treatments for serious mental illnesses today are highly effective; between 70 and 90 percent of individuals have significant reduction of symptoms and improved quality of life with a combination of pharmacological and psychosocial treatments and supports.
  
  
  
  
  
• With appropriate effective medication and a wide range of services tailored to their needs, most people who live with serious mental illnesses can significantly reduce the impact of their illness and find a satisfying measure of achievement and independence. A key concept is to develop expertise in developing strategies to manage the illness process.
  
  
  
  
  
• Early identification and treatment is of vital importance; by ensuring access to the treatment and recovery supports that are proven effective, recovery is accelerated and the further harm related to the course of illness is minimized.
  
  
  
  
  
• Stigma erodes confidence that mental disorders are real, treatable health conditions. We have allowed stigma and a now unwarranted sense of hopelessness to erect attitudinal, structural and financial barriers to effective treatment and recovery. It is time to take these barriers down.
  
  
  
  
  
  

Another Look at Depression.

I've been adjusting to college life, and I've been sleeping less. It reminded me of how I felt when I was depressed. 

I remember nights being the longest.  I remember just feeling frozen and cold, like I could never have enough sunlight.  I felt like I was living in the deep winter year round.  Each night, my goal was to make it to the morning.  Like the song said, if I could find daylight, I knew I'd be alright.  I knew it might be today, and it might not be tomorrow, but everyone was telling me to find a way out of my darkness, and I knew I would be okay, eventually.

As I gave my life to Christ, He helped me to thaw.  As the ice around my heart began to melt, I felt things I hadn't felt in years:  hope, love, peace, and joy, being the biggest.  I didn't know how to love.  I had been shown unspeakable cruelty by so many people. My heart had frozen, and I was angry and bitter.   But as I began to cry, and as I began to get out of the winter, I was shown just what love is.   It isn't selfish or cruel.   I learned that joy doesn't mean that it will always be sunny, but you won't always be frozen either.  I learned that I don't have to be afraid of sleep anymore.  I don't have to be anxious about anything, because God gives me peace.  I know that He is taking care of me.

God met me where I was and helped me to thaw.  He was my light in the dark.  And He can do that for you.

Greetings From Denver.

I'm on the way to Minnesota for school, but I'm stopped for about another 2 hours in Denver.  As I was flying from Burbank this morning, I was reading Psalm 124 and Psalm 125.  As I was flying over the Rockies, this song came on my iPod.

Here we go at it three years later
Will you help me to dream it all up again?
Tired of the same song everyone's singing
I'd rather be lost with you instead

Don't you come around here, come around here anymore
Dragging my fears, dragging my fears out the door

All I have, all I have, all I have, well you know it's yours
Every breathe, every step, every moment I'm looking for
All I have, all I have, all I have is yours
And you watch my heart break a little bit more
My heart break a little bit more, my heart break a little bit more

Is it cold yet in New York City?
'Round here the trees been blowing off bare
Everyone's talking about change on the airwaves
But I still got you on my breathe

Don't you come around here, come around here anymore
Dragging my fears, dragging my fears out the door

All I have, all I have, all I have, well you know it's yours
Every breathe, every step, every moment I'm looking for
All I have, all I have, all I have is yours
And you watch my heart break a little bit more
My heart break a little bit more

Lord, I'm still trying at this my hardest
So pick us all up from a fall
Rip a little corner off the darkness
Just to crack, the light in the middle of it all

All I have, all I have, all I have, well you know it's yours
Every breathe, every step, every moment I'm looking for
All I have, all I have, all I have is yours
And you watch my heart break a little bit more
My heart break a little bit more, my heart break a little bit more
Little bit more, little bit more, little bit more

I bought this CD the week I graduated high school.  My mentor, Michelle, would always play Mat Kearney for me when we would be doing 1-1's and hanging out.  His song, Trainwreck, was our song.  We listened to him as we drove through the mountains on my first mission trip in Arkansas.   I listened to the CD every time I was driving from Minnesota on my way to California when I moved out here 2 years ago.  I used to not be able to listen to it because I would get sad.  But this is the song that played as I'm making my way back.

I know I am not the same person I was when I left 2 years ago.  I am not the same person I was 2 days ago.  But as I'm leaving for school, which starts Monday, I have to remember that all I have is God's.  I never thought I would be going back to Minnesota because of the situation with my ex.  But I had to leave my fears at the door and just trust God.  He wouldn't have opened this door if He didn't want me to take it.

Psalm 124 says:
¹ If the LORD had not been on our side—
   let Israel say—
² if the LORD had not been on our side
   when people attacked us,
³ they would have swallowed us alive
   when their anger flared against us;
⁴ the flood would have engulfed us,
   the torrent would have swept over us,
⁵ the raging waters
   would have swept us away.
 ⁶ Praise be to the LORD,
   who has not let us be torn by their teeth.
⁷ We have escaped like a bird
   from the fowler’s snare;
the snare has been broken,
   and we have escaped.
⁸ Our help is in the name of the LORD,
   the Maker of heaven and earth.-NIV

Psalm 125:

 ¹ Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion,
   which cannot be shaken but endures forever.
² As the mountains surround Jerusalem,
   so the LORD surrounds his people
   both now and forevermore.
 ³ The scepter of the wicked will not remain
   over the land allotted to the righteous,
for then the righteous might use
   their hands to do evil.
 ⁴ LORD, do good to those who are good,
   to those who are upright in heart.
⁵ But those who turn to crooked ways
   the LORD will banish with the evildoers.
   Peace be on Israel.

Lord, as I move into my dorm tonight, as I settle into the routine of classes, don't let me lose sight of why You sent me there.  Don't let me lose you.  All I have is Yours.  All of me.  I can't make it without you.

End Fat Talk.

Tuesday Inspiration.

"There's no use talking about the problem unless you talk about the solution."

"Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can't
help them, at least don't hurt them."





"The state of your life is nothing more than a reflection of your
state of mind."





"What you think of yourself is much more important than what
others think of you."





"Anger is the most impotent of passions. It affects nothing. It touches and hurts the one who is possessed by it more
 than the one against whom it is directed."





"If you are patient in one moment of anger, you will escape a
hundred days of sorrow."





"When nobody around you seems to measure up, it's time to
check your yardstick."





"If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it,
change your attitude. Don't complain."





"The difference between school and life? In school, you're taught a lesson and then given a test. In life, you're given a test that teaches you a lesson."





"The mind is like a parachute. It doesn’t work unless it’s open."





"It is better to sleep on things beforehand than lie awake about them afterwards."





"Be nice to people on your way up, because you'll need them on your way down."





"Sometimes the only way you can take a really good look at yourself is through somebody else's eyes."





"Too many people overvalue what they are not and undervalue what they are."





"Following the crowd will not get you anything but a view of their backside."

"Man's greatest successes come after their worst downfalls."

Suicide And Depression Ads From Around The World.

Singapore.

United Kingdom.

"Don't write, call."

Switzerland.

 

"Many people are surprised to learn that Switzerland has one of the highest suicide rates in the world. In fact, suicide is the most frequent cause of teenage mortality in Switzerland. The purpose of this action, developed for the Swiss help association "Stop Suicide" was to inform or remind troubled teenagers that help and counseling are always available. The massage was painted directly on the highest diving board (10 metres) of Geneva's most popular swimming pool, which attracts large numbers of young people throughout the summer." 

 

"Posters showing the edge of a skyscraper looking down a street canyon have been placed on the ground of highly frequented places in big cities. Pedestrians unexpectedly become a part of the floor graphic getting the impression of standing on the edge of a skyscraper. The headline revealed what depression people see in their place: the leap...to commit suicide."


Germany.

Puerto Rico.

Israel.

"Over 50% of suicides are committed by Senior Citizens."

Brazil.

 

Belgium.

 

South Africa.

Scotland. 

India.

 "When's the last time you said 'how are you?' to your 18 year old?  Communication with your children helps prevent suicides."

New Zealand.

"Once you can recognise depression, with the right support you can find a way through it."

If you or someone you know is struggling with thoughts of suicide, reach out before it is too late.  Speak to someone.  If you know someone struggling, tell them you care, and just listen.  You never know when it could save a life.  There are many resources available to you.   Life is worth fighting for.  Don't give up just yet.  It can't rain forever.

Resources:

Suicide Hotlines by States.

Suicide Prevention Hotline

If you are suicidal, please call one of the hotlines and they can help you.  Or, you can go to your local emergency room and they can help you.  Don't stay stuck.