Study Notes from Esther Chapter 4

Esther chapter 4 (theme verse Malachi 3:16)

It’s unfortunate Mordecai’s name isn’t in the Hebrews 11 list of heroes of faith.

4:1, 2, Mordecai is as open as anyone can be about the troubling predicament. His prayers are loud and his petitions of God are very visible. And because he was in sackcloth and ashes, he had to leave the king’s court, as grief and calamity weren’t permitted in the sight of the king. It was customary for kings to ban anything not perfect and beautiful. (Even King David, 2 Samuel 5:1-8)

Mordecai’s faith openly honors God. Jesus said in John 4:23, God is looking for those who would worship Him in Spirit and truth. Matthew 7, Jesus said many who say “Lord, Lord” are fakers, but Mordecai is the genuine article.

James 2:14-26, says Christianity without accompanying visible action is useless. Just saying words proves nothing about faith in God. Someday, everyone who names the name of Jesus will stand before God. Can you image standing there and saying, “Almighty God, here I am. I didn’t offend anyone with my Christianity. I never upset anyone by telling them they were a sinner in need of a Savior. I was such a nice person, not one soul ever felt the guilt of sin because I never said there is One God and One Savior to save them forever from eternal Hell-Fire”

4:3, The rest of the Jews in the city also fervently prayed. It seems Mordecai may have been the Spiritual leader of the Jews and not just Esther. God is being asked to intercede for them. More proof God is in this book as they ask while in sackcloth and ashes God to intercede for them.

4:4-8, Esther knows nothing about the king’s order. Queens were more for show than kingdom affairs. All she knows is Mordecai’s making an uproar. Maybe she thinks his distress is for her. She sends a gift to let him know she’s fine only to learn why Mordecai will not be comforted.

4:9,10,11, Mordecai tells her to go to her husband the king and ask for the decree to be repealed. Esther explains what Mordecai already knew, observance of the One rule that won’t get you killed upon entering the king’s presence. Anyone entering the throne room must be in the approval of the king or they die.

God the Father has One rule for people who are allowed into His presence. (John 3:16, John 14:6, Matthew 22:1-14, Acts 4:12, Rev 19:11-15.)

Jesus answered him and said “Truly, I say, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” John 3:3.

4:13, Mordechai informs Esther that even though she is the Queen, the law will stand even in the Palace. King Xerxes is already known for keeping the laws of the Medes and the Persians, and though he may feel badly about killing her, he would not stop it.

Daniel 6:6-17, King Nebuchadnezzar was as much a prideful fool as Xerxes, when he wrote the law that had Daniel thrown to the lions. He could not repeal it.

4:14, (A parallel of Esther and Mordecai & Father God and Jesus) The book of Esther mentions no wife or birth children. I would presume that had he any family in the city, they too would be crying to the Lord with Mordecai. In telling Esther she has the power to save her people even though she may die, Mordecai, in a sense, gives his (only) beloved child to save the nation. (John 3:16)

4:14, Mordecai comforts her with her greater work for God in explaining she may well have been placed where she is for God’s purpose . But so is Mordecai placed by God right where he can accomplish the part he plays in the plan. The foreshadow of their connection in 2: 21-23is utilized for a greater purpose.

2 Timothy 1: 6 & 7. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind" Read also John 14:12-14, 15: 4-8, & 16. God the Holy Spirit, our Helper.

Never underestimate your significance in God’s plan. You may think you’re not doing anything but God may be using you for a greater purpose than you can see. The smallest encouraging smile can move a brother or sister to overcome a trouble you know nothing about.

4:16, Esther makes her prayer request known. The city now goes into unified intercessory prayer. This is the real thing when it comes to a prayer chain.

“Fasting does not make you anything special but it does make God everything in your life.” Anonymous

Esther willing gave herself as a sacrifice for her people. Mordecai didn’t know if he would ever see her alive again but his faith in God let him pray for her and send her to do what only she was positioned to do. She knew she could be dead in a short while, yet she was obedient to her father’s order.

Jesus prayed to His Father “Not My will but Your will be done” Luke 22:42.

Amazing! His city is in an uproar, yet Xerxes is unaffected. His heart is so callous he can ignore the wails and pleas of his own subjects he has doomed.

Lesson points:

1. Be visibly Christian

2. Never underestimate the significance of your smallest Christian action.

3. Pray about everything. (Philippians 4:6, 1 Thessalonians 5:17)

Extra reading: 1 Samuel 25. Another powerful man who ignored the right thing and put his people in danger. His wife was more understanding to the affairs of the household than he was and like Esther, she took her life into her hands to avert disaster.

Special application: Sometime this week, lay your hands on a close relative and pray for them. (Husband, child, family member, or a friend)

Something like this: “My Dear Father in heaven, I pray for my husband. Please bless his day, keep him safe, help him be the husband only You can help him be. Help me be his wife. Please be the God of this house, Thank you Lord . Amen"

##

If not commenting here, for your convenience, please use this link to visit SusanEstesRecommends/Facebook and place your comments.

Thank you.

Peace Interacting

"If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men" Romans 12:18.

This verse is part of a practical teaching of Paul's about getting along in life while interacting with the diversity of people.

Guess what? You won't like everybody. You'll find some people weird, mean, oddball, with no similarities to yourself. There are some people you will have to work with on many levels and situations, while your character and manners will clash with theirs every day.

Guess what? Not everyone will like you. Some people will find you weird, mean, oddball, with no similarities to themselves. Some people will have to work with you on many levels and situations, while your character and manners will clash with theirs every day.

Meekness is having great power under complete control.

"The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control" Galatians 5:22.

Anyone can burst forth like a huge lightning bolt that randomly crashes around in a storm and fries whatever it hits.

But with the Holy Spirit's power inside a Christian, they're like a huge electric generator. The power to fry everything is there, but the direction and usage is controlled by wires, dials, and switches.

Lightning's power can kill. A generator's controlled power sustains life.

Any situation with the people you don't like can either be helped by your self-control to maintain peace. Or you can explode and harm everyone around you.

As a Christian in discerning situations, God calls us to be the peacemaker. God says we are to be the one who cedes when it is the better situational choice.

"If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men" Romans 12:18.

For God is the power behind you.

##

If not commenting here, for your convenience, please use this link to visit SusanEstesRecommends/Facebook
and place your comments.

Thank you.

Do You Weep For Them?

Jeremiah's love for God was so extreme, so vocal, so visible, and so was his love for his people and Jerusalem, the beloved city. He is known as the weeping prophet so hard did he love.

And for all his preaching, and proclaiming God's word, the majority of people failed in returning to God and being saved.

Jeremiah held nothing back from them. The truth was before them and in their ears every time they saw the prophet or heard him preach. They refused to hear the truth.

Do you have people you weep over because you've been telling them about God and His desire to save them, yet they continue to rebel against God?

Don't give up on them. God wants them saved and He will draw people to Himself through our faith and obedience to pray and trust.

Our love for God is our motivation to keep telling the people we love that we want them saved and with us forever in eternity.

Love suffers long, and is kind;

Love does not envy;

Love does not parade itself, is not puffed up;

Love does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil;

Love does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth;

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never fails

1 Corinthians 13:4-8

"The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is long suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance" 2 Peter 3:9

##

If not commenting here, for your convenience, please use this link to visit SusanEstesRecommends/Facebook 

and place your comments. Thank you.

5 Actions That Will Beautify Any Christian Woman

"Do not let your adornment be merely outward

--arranging the hair, wearing gold or putting on

fine apparel--rather let it be the hidden person

of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a

gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious

in the sight of God"

1 Peter 3:3 & 4

This verse has a bad reputation but it's actually a call for Christian women to rejoice in their womanhood.

Christian women should take a stand and say, "Yes, because I love God, I am different. I refuse to let society fads and fashions stereotype me and my styles."

Here are 5 verses that can influence the way women can show off the beauty in Christianity. 

“Judge not, that you be not judged” Matthew 7: 1

     A woman's judgement, either for or against someone or something, many times will be for the safety of herself, her spouse, her children, her extended family or her friends.
     Judgement condemning someone which may forever keep them from God is never the role of a Christian. Condemnation is God’s job but, if this form of judging is your habitual sin, He will absolutely forgive all who ask for forgiveness.
     This verse also warns us when judging to make sure the impact of our choice does not condemn us. If making a decision for or against anyone, use discernment to judge fairly, and strive to deliberately harm no one.
     God gave women a special personality trait of high emotional influence and because of this, when judging someone; you must carefully examine your reasons. Any necessary judgments women make are to improve the good things and destroy the bad things to create safer and cleaner lives.

“But I say to you that for every idle word men, (women), may speak, they will give an account of it in the day of judgment” Matthew 12: 36.
     Communication is essential to life. The correct language can open doors and incorrect language can close doors. With a carefully sustained clean conduct, women can control a major part of the language spoken in their homes, work place and in public. Commonality of speech for women doesn’t have to assume coarseness or gutter-talk.
     Women can show off their beauty and attractiveness by their everyday speaking. Clean speech and behavior can especially enhance a woman’s character, style, beauty, and desirability.

“And just as you want men, (women), to do to you, you also do to them likewise” Luke 6: 31
     Rudeness mars beauty. Sometimes called the ‘golden rule’, it is a real fact, if you want people to be polite and nice, show yourself to be polite and nice. Women can be strong leaders in this area of personal and public life. A mother can teach her children how kind words and actions can help them achieve much. On the job, favorable actions and manners will get better reviews. If you want to have any influence, use the ‘golden rule’ and see what can happen around you.

“But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing” Matthew 6: 3.
     Visibly heightened emotions are created part of women. Love, joy, anger, sympathy, empathy, and mother's love and protection; women show these traits with more vulnerability than men. If managed well, they can be a part of our hidden beauty that makes us attractive. Women can utilize their God given emotional specialties as wonderful givers, doers, motivators, counselors, and encouragers.
     Have you ever done something for someone who wasn’t expecting it, and you did it just for the joy of giving? While God made men to be subtly appreciative, God made woman with the capacity of giving and receiving with more emotion.
     Is there anyone you can help without thinking of any return for your effort?

“…Esau…took wives, Judith…and Basemath…and they were a grief to Isaac and Rebekah” Genesis 26: 33, 34.
     Family relationships can be a struggle at any time. A woman can trouble her own house or she can make it comfortable. Everyone will admire a woman, whether married or unmarried, who can maintain a good home. Habitual good and bad behavior is something learned or unlearned.
     In former decades, before the push for what is touted as equality, before she left home, most girls were taught the ways of femininity for her own benefit. While a woman can be computer programmers, drive trucks, be CEO of large companies, and run for President of the United States with no condemnation against her womanhood, she should present maturity and good behavior while preforming her public duties and personal actions.
     God gave Christians the closeness of church family. Let the Christian woman seek good friends with sound advice on how to manage her home, business, and her life. A fun circle of close woman-friends can encourage each other in good works.

*^*^*^*^*

Are there any special Bible verses you make an effort to obey to enhance your Christian beauty?

(There are no guarantees that these suggestions will change anyone's situation if implemented. While these descriptions are in general and do not apply to all situations, they can be effectively true in the Christian woman who strives to please God.)

# #

If not commenting here, for your convenience, please use this link to place comments: SusanEstesRecommends/Facebook

Guest Post--The Decision: by Linda Handzel

This is guest blog from a friend of mine. Linda is a beautiful Christian with a powerful message. Her love of God motivates her to help others and her speaking engagements encourage many women with her enthusiastic hope and faith in God.

http://lindahandzel.com/blog/

The Decision: by Linda Handzel

    When I changed over to Christian High School for my senior year she was already a student there, starting her sophomore year. I always thought she was beautifully composed, nothing like me! She had a gorgeous alto singing voice and every note was smoothly controlled as she sang praises to God. We spent a lot of time together, but my brother Stan spent more time with Lori than I did. After they graduated from high school together he went away to college for a year. During that time I was able to steal more time with her. When Stan came home at Christmas he asked Lori to marry him and the next summer I was a bridesmaid in their wedding. The weekend after that she was the Matron of Honor in my wedding.

    My husband and I moved a few towns over when we got married, but Lori and Stan stayed in their home area. We had our first three children, and after a few years Stan and Lori gave birth to a boy, then a girl. Our lives got busier and we saw each other at various family holidays, but not as much as we would have liked.

    The summer that we both celebrated our sixteenth wedding anniversaries we gathered together at a Fourth of July family picnic. That day Lori quietly pulled me aside to tell me the news that she had found a lump and the doctor had ordered a biopsy. Cancer ran in her family and she was scared. She was only 37 years old and I knew there was no way a woman that young could have breast cancer! Her sister had a lot of problems with cysts. Surely that would be the diagnosis!

    Mum’s voice was quiet and low when she called a few days later to tell me the results of Lori’s biopsy. “The news isn’t good. It’s aggressive Carcinoma.” I literally reeled and spun around with the impact of those words!

    My whole world came to a crashing halt. I couldn’t think of anything else– my brother’s beloved sweetheart had cancer! For several weeks my mind rocked and whirled with countless reactions. How could this possibly happen? I knew what I would say to someone who came to me with this diagnosis in their family: “God works all things out for His good. He’ll give you the strength to go through this. He’s still a healing God and you can believe Him to heal her. If He doesn’t heal her here, He’ll give you the strength to make it through. God will take care of their two children.” Endlessly those words ran ‘round and ‘round in my head. But I found myself questioning every phrase. Did I really believe this stuff? The verses that came to my mind from memory had never been tested like this before, and my faith was shaken to the core! I questioned the very foundation of all that I had embraced and lived for since childhood. What if God wasn’t really all I said He was? Did He really care? Was He able to heal? If he didn’t heal Lori, would He carry us through this horrifying journey? Just the thought of my broken-hearted brother and their two young children was more than I could fathom. Stan was a pastor! How could God even think of allowing Lori to have cancer?
Lori’s treatment plan was laid out: Radical mastectomy followed by radiation and chemotherapy. Dozens of foreign-sounding medical terms were thrown around while all of us reeled with the reality of the unfathomable. And I questioned: “WHERE IS GOD?”

    Mom and Dad struggled while watching their son’s heartbreaking trial. My whole family was cut to the core. I kept thinking of all the reasons this shouldn’t be happening to us: Mom and Dad had brought us up in a Christian home. We had all been saved as children. Each of us had chosen Christian mates, and now we were bringing our own children up in Godly homes. Each of us was deeply involved in our own church. In spite of doing all the ‘right’ things, it felt like everything was going wrong!

    Maybe God didn’t care! He sure wasn’t acting like He cared! Maybe I couldn’t trust Him at all! Maybe I could find someone else to trust. Maybe I had been wrong all these years, and God wasn’t what I thought He was. Maybe I should just give up on this whole thing called ‘Christianity’. It sure wasn’t working out for the ‘good’ that I wanted!

    For three weeks I wallowed through questions. I was so mired in anxious confusion that my children commented I was sighing all the time. I felt like the weight of the world was on my shoulders, and I was helpless to get it off! Nothing happened when I prayed, all the words seemed hallow. What was I going to do?

    Finally I started to recount the many ways God had clearly answered prayer throughout my life. Who else would answer like that? I had always known deep in my heart that God was with me, through every turn in my life. Who else was offering that kind of companionship? I had seen Him perform many impossible miracles in answer to prayer. Who else was capable of doing that?

    I was hanging laundry outside one day when one question suddenly stood out more than all the others: If I abandoned my belief in God, who could possibly take His place? All other thoughts came to a standstill as I wrestled with that one ultimate question: WHO ELSE IS THERE TO TRUST? Right there, on that sunny summer day I concluded that there was NO ONE! I felt a huge weight lift off my heart! Relief flooded my being when I firmly decided that I needed God, and only God! He was the only One who promised He would never leave me or forsake me. In all my life I had never felt abandoned by Him. He was the only One who said He wouldn’t give us more than we could bear.

    As I looked back over my short life I couldn’t think of one time that God had ever let me down. At different times in their short lives my children had been catastrophically ill, yet I felt God’s presence with me while I waited for Him to heal each sickness. I had prayed so many times for wisdom as a mother, and He had led me in ways I had never dreamed of! No matter how I searched, there was not even one moment in my life when I could say God had let me down! I decided I could believe the words of Isaiah that said: “His ways are not our ways, and His thoughts are not our thoughts. For as the Heavens are high above the earth, so are His thoughts higher than our thoughts!”

    YES, I was going to trust God! I was going to cling to His unchanging hand! I would believe that He would hold my family as we traveled this scary journey! I believed! I did believe and I held tight to those beliefs as I went forward with my family.

    T hat journey wasn’t easy because it was fraught with highs and lows. Lori finished the treatments and felt better for a few months. But sixteen months after the first biopsy, she was diagnosed with bone cancer. They tried other treatments. Stan took her to Mexico for alternative medicine. And we prayed. Oh how we prayed! I’m sure that many thousands of prayers were said, asking God to heal Lori. And He did heal her! At dawn on a quiet June morning the phone rang with the news that Lori had gone to Heaven. I remember so well that it was a wonderfully clear day, a perfect day to fly to Heaven! Lori was only sick with cancer for 23 months and then she was perfect.

    I thank God for the weeks I spent questioning the foundation of my faith. When I decided God was the only answer for me I had no idea I was deciding on a platform that would hold me without faltering for many tears to come. The next sixteen years after Lori died were filled with one heartbreak after another for our family. Too many times I’ve stared at a young body in a casket. In my mind it seems that only old people should be in caskets. Yet I know God is in control! We’ll understand it all when we meet Him (and our loved ones) in Glory! Until then, I still believe His Way Is Perfect!

##

http://lindahandzel.com/blog/

 About Linda      

Linda Handzel grew up with two brothers in a Christian home, and began her personal relationship with Jesus Christ at a young age. Soon after she completed her college education, Linda noticed a handsome man in the young adult’s Sunday School class. This young man named Michael noticed her too, soon he asked Linda to go out with him. In only six months Michael asked Linda to marry him. Five months later they were married and began a family together. God blessed them with four children whom Linda home-schooled.

Just before their 24th wedding anniversary tragedy struck the Handzel household. Michael was killed instantly when someone hit him on his motorcycle and Linda had to deliver the news to her children: “Daddy’s gone to Heaven.” Through the dark days and long nights of grief, Linda has never been alone. God has faithfully led her through the many trials and transitions that were brought on by Michael’s death.

Linda’s public speaking ministry began soon after Michael died, and her message to women is that God loves us, and wants to help us through the hurts, heartaches and horrors of life. She shares both personal anecdotes and stories from the Bible, using them to illustrate that God has a perfect plan for each one of us.

# #

If not commenting here, for your convenience, please use this link to place comments:  SusanEstesRecommends/Facebook

Thank you.

Get Over It & Get Useful!

For who makes you differ from another? And what do you

 have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, 

why do you boast as if you did not receive it? 

1 Corinthians 4:7

Is God honored by an over exuberant expression or emotion when He does something through or to us?

Where do we get the right to pat ourselves on the back for the supernatural experience of the filling of the Holy Spirit? If a confessed Christian makes a scene about God's powerful manifestation, do they actually understand the Spirit is Almighty, Holy God, who is due all reverence,  honor, and praise? 

"I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you" John 14:18

"But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me" John 15:26 

Jesus and the Holy Spirit are one and the same, as God the Father and Jesus are one and the same. God is God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. One part of the Trinity does not manifest Himself differently than the others. Nor should we expect God to do anything contrary to what He has shown of Himself in the Bible. His power is His own and He does not share it. When we are surrendered to be used in a supernatural way by God, God will honor Himself as Almighty God, not as an emotional experience, or exuberant display.

"Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever" Hebrews 13:8

Our examples in the Bible, in their relationships with God, didn't talk about having a spiritual experience when God used them some way.

When Ezekiel was taken up by his hair in a vision, he was astonished by the vision, not because of the Spiritual encounter. (Ezekiel 8:3)

Daniel wasn't emotionally giddy when God showed him the interpretations of King Nebuchadnezzar's dreams. He gave God glory for His work, not taking glory that God spoke to Daniel himself. (Daniel 2:19)

On the rooftop, when God showed him the sheet filled with things to eat, Peter didn't jump up and down and run around exclaiming of his awesome Spiritual experience. It was the work of God he declared when he understood the true meaning of the gospel going to the Gentiles. (Acts 10)

Let God be God and be useful when God wants to use you. After all, we are commissioned to simply to obey in giving the gospel (Matthew 28: 18-20). It IS exciting to know we have the supernatural power of God to help us do His work, but that doesn't makes us anything except a born again Christian, created for every good work (Ephesians 2:8,9,10). We all have the same God and access to His power to work through us whichever way God prefers to glorify Himself. 

"But to each one of us grace 

was given according to the measure

 of Christ's gift" Ephesians 4:7.

Get over it and get useful!

For your convenience, please use this link to place comments:   https://www.facebook.com/InterestSusanEstes

Thank You 

Curious Beings--Angels

God created mankind of the dust of the earth. (Gen 2:7) but there is lack of explanation of what substance God used to form angels. 

How's that for making something of nothing!

I believe God made the angels long before He created earth. They serve in God's eternity not our earthly time-line though they pass between the two. Hebrews 1 says angels as spirits of fire. Now I don't know what that means, but it's certain angels live in the spiritual realm beyond us.

Photo courtesy of morgueFile

They can become the form of a man, (Gen 19:1) or appear very strange creatures described in Isaiah, with six wings as coverings. There are angels that look like metal and bright stones. They have terrible power and yet can be very comforting and humble as when Gabriel spoke to Mary. (Luke 1:30) They are all around us, doing God's will. If they are not doing God's will then they're demons and doing Satan's will. They move both in our time and God's place, and it seems there are a lot of them. They are more powerful than we are and can do extraordinary things.

God makes angels His servants, (Heb 1:7) yet He calls us His children (1 John 3:1). God made a way for us to be born again (John 3:16), --we who are made of dirt-- yet the angels have only their obedience to save them. If they are following Satan, they are condemned forever (Heb 2:16).

But we have no explanation of their substance. They are not made of the dust of the earth. They cannot die, nor is God going to destroy their form. Satan and his followers will suffer forever in the Lake of Fire. (Rev 20:10)

Even with that prophecy coming, I believe whatever God creates by His word, He can speak out of existence if He chooses.

They cannot procreate. Jesus said they neither marry or are given in marriage, (Matt 22:30) so, no angel babies in heaven. I cannot believe God would tolerate fornication in His heaven if it is such an abominable sin on earth. In my opinion, all the angels God created for His service are all that will be.

At the hour of His arrest, Jesus told His disciples that He was capable of calling 12 legions of angels to His aid. (Matt 26:53) Wow! How many angels waited expectantly on the edge of Heaven for the call that never came? If one angel could destroy 185,000 Assyrians in one night, (2 Kings 19:35) would not 12 legions of angels destroy everyone on earth at the command of God!? 

If angels feel any emotions, 

how they must have suffered to watch Christ die! 

They want to know more about us too.  (1 Peter 1:12) They are as curious about us as we are of them. They must certainly find us as interesting we them.

The study of angels is very interesting and it leaves some very interesting questions. Scriptures tell us that someday we will judge angels.(1 Cor 6:3) 

What must they think of that idea?

What are you're thoughts about angels. Leave a comment, please (click 1 comment to open box)

6 Things Not To Tell A Depressed Person

 "But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them"  Matthew 9:36a

Compassion is love in action, yet many times love isn’t the first thing shown by the words we speak. Having personally struggled with suicidal depression since childhood, I have learned that while people mean well, most fail the best ability to help. What they say is less than helpful even when they truly desired to help me. Friends and family reached higher levels of frustration. It wasn’t because they didn’t want to but they didn't know how to restore my health. Unfortunately, many things were said that sent me deeper into myself.

The depressed person may know all about their condition but hasn’t the physical or mental tools to change the problem. They know there’s a problem but can’t explain anything about it to anyone. When the ill person tries to explain it, it can come out all jumbled up with emotions and sound crazy, mad, and pitiful. Then there are the silences that are so loud in the mind. There is the isolation and social withdrawals and the lonely anger with less and less outlets: the worse the depression, the worse the self-hatred, which can increase the depression.

I faced this for years, imaging my silence was screaming for help yet not one word escaped me. Then I would have terrible rages of anger and frustration at the inability to express all the things pressuring me, real or imagined. No one understood how I would get so incredible angry and hurt myself and I hadn’t learned how to organize and itemize the thoughts of suicide, fear, and shyness.

Listed are 6 statements that are less than appreciative to a depressed person and a few hints of why they won’t, or can’t work from the inside.

•  “Snap out of it!” If it were possible to suddenly become happier, then depression would not exist. A sudden snapping into normalcy is about the most impossible action for anyone in any abnormal situation. You wouldn’t say “Snap out of it” to someone choking on a piece of food or someone drowning. You would come alongside the distressed person and do something to change the situation. So after carefully examining the situation, what can you do in the situation of the depressed person?

• “It’s all in your head.” Well ‘Duh!’ Obviously, you’re pointing at a house fire and telling the fireman what he’s combating. Our mind is the memory bank of our lives. Depression affects the entire body, and yes, it is in the mind. We store bad memories right alongside the good memories. If you delete something on your computer, you’ve only told the machine to store it in a deep file somewhere inaccessible to you but They never went away. It is still possible to retrieve them. For some, deleting the bad memories isn’t as easy as it is to others. Sometimes the bad memories override the good ones, feeding fears, and anger. Something that may help in some situations is try increasing the feeling of security . That was a major factor in restoring my health.

• “You need counseling.” You’ve mastered another obvious statement. Here's a hint, if you know the person you to which you just said that to, then you are probably the best counselor for them. You’re most likely closer to knowing what the root of the depression is. I’ve discovered through years of receiving professional counseling, that having the listening ear of a close friend is tremendously foundational to my better health. A listening friend as a sounding board can do as much as a professional and it’s less expensive. (That’s not to say professional counseling doesn’t work and if it is going to help, definitely seek it.)

• “You need to get out more.” Yes, isolation is bad but a depressed person is in a disconnected state of mind. Placing them among a lot of bustle and hustle can enhance the feeling of separation. I called that my glass box. I could see and hear people around me but I had locked myself inside my own see-through prison. Connection was broken, I couldn’t reach out, and those outside couldn’t reach me. Perversely, isolation gives the mind abnormal space to chew on abnormal problems and come up with abnormal solutions. A few friends, and a few acts of kindness in the space where the ill person is are a big help to those isolating themselves. And don’t expect an overnight change just because you did something once, it could take time and you may need a lot of patience.

7th grade picture & I was a depressed teenager

• “You need medication.” This is a cold statement, especially from family or friends. Yes, they very well might need some kind of medication, and while medications are available for helping, medication means drugs. The depressed person may fear what drugs mean or might do, and should only given by doctors after testing and examination. And the taking of medicines has to be monitored by someone, especially at the very beginning. For depressed people, taking medication can be difficult to keep track of on their own. If the person begins taking medications, don’t leave them to it, as if everything is going to be better; make sure it’s a daily pattern added in their lives.

• “What’s wrong with you?” Another very cold statement. A physical illness, overwhelming circumstances, stress, a great loss, or any number of things could cause it, so how could they tell you what it is while in a depressive state of mind? If they even attempt explaining it you may not understand the description. It may sound like nonsense to you. This does not mean you don't care, maybe you're not the best person to come alongside them. Any of your honest intentions to help quite possibly could hinder. Lending a hand from a distance may be all you need to do after you seek others to help your friend or family member. If it isn't within your realm of knowledge, let a compassionate personality be the closer companion. Help from a distance as you can and if there’s something for you to do, step up and perform it.

If you decide to help, please walk carefully. One simple mistake, easily made, is doing everything for the depressed person. Unfortunately, this could keep them in their state of mind. 

Whatever you do, try to do something within your ability. It may be asking them to help you, giving them small responsibilities, or trusting them with something. It could be secretly paying a bill, supplying a meal, or taking care of their child for a few hours. How about asking them if they want to walk in the sunshine, take photographs, or play a game. Laughter does add to health.  

If you want to help or think you can help a hurting person, 

whatever you do, do all with love.

You can accomplish much without having to mention the illness.

When you love someone, you move with compassion to fill the need.

I now can feel my depression and notice when it is affecting me. I have learned to watch myself and seek the friends I need when it begins. Jesus has helped me live life more abundantly, and even though my flesh gets in the way, I have my Lord to sustain me.

Not everyone has Jesus, but everyone needs Him.

Vaporous

 "and you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a time and then vanishes away" James 4:14. (NKJ)

Many women hate to tell their age. I have no such hang-ups about age. In a month I will be 51 years old. To me that is amazing. Especially since I didn't think I would live to reach 30. There were times, I didn't want to reach 20. My life was so miserable, I thought it was way to long to live through a day.

Sexually abused by my Father, bullied at school for being of one of the areas poorest families, ignored by teachers imagining I wasn't worth the time to teach me, lonely and isolated, life was so rotten, suicide was a poplar notion.

I grew more afraid of men and people in general that my isolation became actually terror of public places.

Was help ever going to come or was I destined to kill myself? 

I needed help---where was God?

I knew a God existed but I had no idea that I needed to approach Him through His Son in His perfection. I thought He should do something for me. I didn't know anything about sin verses righteousness. No one had ever explained to me that I was an enemy of God, and unforgiven because of Adam. I imagined God looked down and helped those like me who needed pity. If God were so loving and kind and good, God should help me because I needed help and no human was helping me.

I can't describe all of my life and the day to day thoughts and struggles and survival. I can't explain the hate, rages, fear, and panic. I can't explain the desperation for love that I would allow men to use me. I can't explain the drug and alcohol use that took me away from myself and made life light and fun for a time. Then comes the bitterness of the sickening aftertaste. That is too much to tell. *

But....

Isn't it great there is a but?

But, now that I have the answer, I am going to have my 51 birthday in June of 2014.

My answer is Jesus Christ. My life is Jesus Christ.

My 51 years seems a long time, yet God says I've only lived as a vapor. Poof, I'm born, lived and died. God sees all of that and He sees me with Him now as today. God sees me in my new body living the abundant, glorious life on His new earth He promises to all who believe in Him.

"Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, 'My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure" Isaiah 46:10. (NKJ)

I'm a vaporous puff on this earth but for eternity, I am a forever child of God.

"Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them" Psalm 139: 16. (NKJ)

"How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great are the sum of them! If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; when I awake, I am still with You" Psalm 139: 17, 18. (NKJ)


God gives abundant life!

*(If you want a few more details, click the My Testimony Button in the left panel of this blog.)

Dance, Dance, Dance

“Then Miriam…took a tambourine in her hand; and all the women went out after her with tambourines and with dances”  Exodus 15: 20.  

Girls-it's okay 

to dance!!

 Miriam expressed thankfulness to God before an audience of a million people but there’s a popular saying, 'Dance like no one is watching.' If you’re alone, why not dance to God as an expression of your love for Him. Jesus says what you do as faith unto God in your privacy will be seen by God and blessed. (Matthew 6: 6)

Enjoy your freedom and praise God for life, breath and being beautifully woman. God loves you to be free and uninhibited before Him, such as David danced when bringing the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem. (2 Samuel 6: 14) The Bible never says God was displeased with Miriam's exhibition of joy. 

 

 In God’s sight, women and men are equal, though by God's blessing and the necessity of difference, they do different things.

 But even so, a woman's a place of honor in being feminine is God given. No matter what, enjoy your life as a woman and thank Him with dance.