IT'S A LONG WAY DOWN

Last night, I sat beside Depression.

She appears to be the same-- in smithereens, in tears telling me that she wants to end it. Plain in saying, she wants to commit suicide. Troubles have eaten up the best in her, anxieties have already blurred her senses, pain has lingered for such an unexpected stretch and the only way out is not through, but away from it.

I can see that depression is a central and inevitable fact of human existence. It is when all the faith that you have for yourself is gone leaving you weak, desolate, filled with misery, ruined, lost, broken; and when the bright and shining morning with its promise of new beginning got lost somewhere along the way.  

Time and again, welcome to Prozac Nation. 

These are some of the markers that we live in a morally suicidal world: 

The Virgin Suicides, Requiem for a Dream, Dead Poets Society, Looking For Alaska, A Long Way Down, Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix, Sylvia Plath, Virginia Woolf, Anne Sexton, Ernest Hemingway and many other films, books and famous people that brought death (taking away of one's self) in real life.

I can see them everywhere. More so, suicide was personified and sat beside me.   

I remember the time I asked her to pick herself up, move on and choose to be happy, she told me,

"I can't. I can't gather myself up, I can't move, and I won't be happy enough without him, I don't even know now what to do!"


But I tell you these, my friend:

1. You say you want to die, but in reality, you just want to be saved but you just don't know how and from where else to seek for help. But Psalm 34:18 says,

"The LORD is close to the brokenhearted 

and saves those who are crushed in spirit."

You are not on your own, you are not left without an ally. The only reason why you feel that inner ache of loneliness and hopelessness is because you are looking for help in all the wrong places. No need to look anywhere but in His Word. Find refuge in God as Psalm 41:6 claims,

"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble."

  

2. Being at your lowest point can be the best thing that can happen to you. Because now you know that the only way you can go is up. 

3. Never put your happiness, self-worth and confidence in any man. People and circumstances may disappoint you but the one Who made you and knows all of you will not.

"It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man." (Psalm 118:8)

Do not be so needy for others, like you, they are also imperfect and prone to fall short on somebody's expectations.

4. Though we live in a morally suicidal world, God has something good for us in relief:

"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." (John 16:33)

He's got it in His hands, so you need not to put the weight of the world in your shoulders.

Maybe you share the same state of affairs with my friend who has been a Walking Depression for such a long time now, I have some things for you. Things that I have learned along the way:

1. One of the most important truths that one has to know is that pain is real. For some, pain may come in moments, but for others, it has become their way of life. We cannot change the fact that trials will come and difficulties will come knocking at your door.

So just get back up when it knocks you down. Face it with all joy and account it as a fact of life.
:-)

"My brethren, count it all joy when you fall in diverse temptations."  (James 1:2)

2. Trials are tests of faith in God. They determine your attitude with every situation.

"Knowing this, that the trying of your faith brings about patience. And let patience have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." (James 1:3,4)

3. God has a purpose for every trial.
He does not bring you in pain just for the sake of it, but to bring you down on your feeble knees and make you realize that you cannot hold everything in your hands-- that man is man and God is God.
You just have to surrender and let him lead you through by believing that He will be able to deliver you, if you only place your faith in him.

"So that the tested genuineness of your faith-- more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire- may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ." (1 Peter 1: 7)

4. Trials will come, but it doesn't mean that you have to walk through it alone.

"Fear not, for I am with you; be not discouraged, 

for I am your God; I will strengthen you, 

yes, I will help you; 

yes, I will uphold you with my righteous hand." (Isaiah 41:10)

Remember the poem Footprints in the Sand?
It says,

"During your times of trial and suffering, 

when you see only one set of footprints, 

it was then that I carried you"

5. Trials will always come to an end and will carry out something good.

"Obtaining the outcome of your faith, 

the salvation of your souls." (1 Peter 1:9)

Reminder:
LIFE, EVEN IF IT GETS YOU DOWN, HOPE WILL TURN IT ALL AROUND FROM SUICIDE TO SALVATION.