Depression........

Depression is the worst thing in the world for a business owner to experience.  Last Monday, I lost a significant portion of my income.  So much so, that it has thrown me into the deepest depression I have ever been in.  Can you see my depression on the outside?  No, I hide it really well.  My family probably doesn't even know that I am experiencing it.  It feels as if you have run into a brick wall and cannot push your way past it. 

What am I doing about it?  I am turning to the most powerful person I know.  I am turning to God.  I started my Bible studies back up.  I also am doing a Bible study with my boys and let me tell you,  today's devotion for the boy's, really spoke to me.  I am also researching every possible means of income I can.  You have to be passionate about what you do, so I am looking at things and thinking to myself, can I be passionate about that?  If the answer is questionable, I strike it off the list.  If I am leaning more to yes, I write it down.  Once I get my list down, I will be praying about it.  Then, I will go back and take a second look at things and eliminate more.  Then, I will pray again.  And repeat, until I know what I will be passionate about going forward.

I'm going to share with you the verses of the Bible that touched my heart today.  Yes, they are ones you have heard before, yes you probably memorized them when you were a kid, but they still speak to people as if you are reading them for the very first time.

Matthew 5:1-10  - "Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.  And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying;  Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.  Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.  Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.  Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.  Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.  Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.  Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

Matthew 5:43-48  - "You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.  But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.  For he makes his sun rise and the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just  and on the unjust.  For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have?  Do not even the tax collectors do the same?  And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you ding than others?  Do not even the Gentiles do the same?  You therefore must be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.?

Matthew 6:24-34  - "No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.  You cannot serve God and money.  Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on.  Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?  Look at the birds of the air:  they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not of more value than they?  And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?  And why are you anxious about clothing?  Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow:  they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?  Therefore do not be anxious, saying What shall we eat?  or What shall we drink? or What shall we wear?  For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.  But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.  Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself.  Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."

Matthew 7:7-12  - "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.  Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent?  If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him?  So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets."

Matthew 7:24-28  - "Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.  And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.  And everone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.  And the rain fell, and the floods came and the winds blew and beat against that house and it fell, and great was the fall of it.  And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching."

1 John 4: 7-8  "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.  Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love."

I hope these verses speak to you like they spoke to me.

~Sherie