He makes all things new...

We recently moved.

It has been more of an adjustment than I thought it would be.

I have fought depression, and spent a number of days in my jammies. (poor Denny!) Many of you know how debilitating depression can be. It cripples you. It pulls you under. I heard someone say that many of us are cutters----emotional cutters. We speak words and phrases to ourselves that cut to our very core. When I am in depression I tell myself things that hurt deeply. "You can't do anything, you are nothing, you will never amount to anything or be able to have any influence to anyone". And on and on the cutting words go.

About a week and a half ago I decided to grab and I mean cling hard to the verse  "taking captive every thought".

              For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does.  The weapons we
              fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to
              demolish strongholds.  We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up
              against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to
              Christ.  from 2 Corinthians 10

I know I am in a battle! satan (lower case intentional) and his cohorts do not want me to thrive or have any kind of victory. They love to see me fail, and to see me in distress and floundering.   I remind myself that I am fighting against supernatural forces. And I know in my head that my God is so much bigger, and stronger, but when my emotions are so low, it is sometimes hard to pull yourself up and to believe on the promises He gives us.
Scripture says, "This is the day that the Lord has made, I WILL rejoice and be glad in it." I don't always feel like rejoicing or feel like being glad about anything, but sometimes rejoicing is a choice. It is raising my hand out of the murky waters I am drowning in, and with gritted teeth, take captive every thought.

Please don't take this as it is a chore and a burden to follow Jesus. IT IS NOT. It is a joy to have Him in my life. He is my everything!! But again-- we do not wage war as the world does, we have to demolish the things that put us in a stronghold. Your stronghold may be different than mine.

So I am taking captive of my thoughts and of my choices --- the first one is to get out of bed :-) --- and then  to get into God's Word, to listen to Christian broadcasts and music. This may not seem like much, but there have been days that it took every ounce of strength I had to even get out of bed. Philippians 4 says "Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think on these things. Reading the Word, hearing Christian speakers and singers---- letting the words absorb into my spirit is bringing me healing. Just like the flowers are beginning to show new life, I am seeing new life and a new love for Jesus begin in me. Thank you Lord!!

I'm not sure I can put a youtube link in my blog post, but I'm going to try. This song and the words are awesome. Listen and let the words sink in. Love it, knowing that when we are honest before the Lord, He can handle all things. Thinking on these things...

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=the+moment+of+truth+matthew+west+lyrics