If you've ever suffered the misfortune of being plagued by depression you'll know just how tired you seem to be. Your body feels like a ten-ton weight that you're carrying around. You have no energy, and feel weak and unenthusiastic about everything. Life itself is dull, boring and painful.
Is there any way out of this awful scenario you may ask? Yes there is. Get joyful about something! That may seem like an impossibility if you feel like you're carrying the earth on your shoulders, but Nehemiah must have experienced it to say that the joy of the Lord is your strength.
Depression is usually caused by a feeling of rejection or failure, and so you tend to become introspective and zero in on the way you feel, your hurts, your bruised and tender heart, and you feel like having a pity party rather than facing the problems. Your whole system slows down and you become what I described above.
So now, how can you change the way you feel and get some life and energy back into you? By praising the Lord and singing. It's sometimes as simple as that. I experienced this very recently when I became extremely depressed and simply couldn't seem to break out no matter how much I tried to do so.
It was then that I discovered the power of praise and worship. I was just doing routine household activities at the time but I began to sing in tongues. At first I sounded quite pathetic because my voice was hoarse and squeaky because I felt like bawling my eyes out, but nevertheless I continued. After a while I could sing a little better and didn't feel quite so blue and I began to feel my spirit clearing and lifting up as I praised the Lord.
I was quite amazed to find that it became a habit in me that I couldn't stop once I got started, and within a short space of time I had full joy bubbling through me and I was back to my usual bouncy self. Most definitely the Lord's joy was my strength, both physically and emotionally. Little problems that had seemed insurmountable earlier on melted away, and even my faith became stronger and I began to see the Lord's victory in my life.
The reason why singing is so powerful and causes so much joy to spring up in you is because you're getting your eyes off yourself and onto the Lord. Also, you cannot sing and be sad at the same time. Singing generally brings with it a joy and forces you to focus on the positive rather than the negative.
So, if you're feeling down and don't know what to do or where to turn, turn to the Lord in song and focus your eyes firmly on Him. You know, whatever your problems and whatever your failures, He is the one who will give you what's needed for any particular situation to sort each problem out. It's useless wasting your time on trying to figure it out yourself. Why not give it to the One who knows everything you need, feel and want. He's waiting to fill you up with joy - and bless you with every need and desire.
Worship Jesus! It's the thing He loves the most for you to do. Then see how your spirit will begin to soar.
By Daphne Crause
Posted By: Jen Fad
Saturday, May 12th 2012 at 11:30PM
You can also
click
here to view all posts by this author...
