I am thankful and honored for the number of you that stop by to read my drivel. I just started following Rebecca, and the post I just read about her little boy was just precious. You can read her post by clicking here. Rebecca was kind to stop by here to read mine, and I was moved by laughter and sighs as I read her essay on time.

Fighting depression involves narcissism, so when you can get outside yourself to look into another’s perspective that’s always good. Please don’t beat yourself up over the “selfishness,” but when you can think about yourself a bit less I think healing can take place. Service, attention and listening intentionally to others are excellent ways to cooperate with the anti-depressant you take as well. Make sure you get plenty of sleep too because that enhances those three things I just mentioned. You don’t have to get the 10 hours I did last night, but I think most people who fight anxiety and depression need at least 7. That’s just my opinion. I’m not a doctor, but I do play one on television. Just kidding. I’m not an actor. I am a writer, so maybe one day I’ll get a screenwriter to write a screen play for a future novel! 😉

I seem to be in rare form this morning, but after reading Rebecca’s post I was so impressed with her attention to detail as she described her tennis match in the context of doing laundry with a toddler! Back and forth up and down the staircase they went as her little boy made a game out of it! As you know little boys can be unlimited sources of “entertainment” as they “help” with household chores! The Three Stooges have nothing on them! Ok, maybe a Will Ferrell movie, but like the Three Stooges that’s fiction! 🙂

I’d like to publish this post before I go to church, but I don’t know if that’s going to happen because as I think back over the few words I’ve written I’m not sure what direction this post is taking. Obviously you won’t experience the time lapse if I choose to wait to publish it, but nonetheless that’s what I think is going to happen.

Coach Meyer always said to journal the things you learn, not the things you did, but I sometimes get to the things I learn through the things I did, so sometimes I write every step of the processes I go through. As you get older you’ll find that the “handcuff” formal education would put on you to be less of a factor in your creativity. Please don’t misunderstand. Formal education is so important, and I’m not preaching that you have to go to college because college is not for everyone. What I am saying is that if you’re a creative like I’ve always been you have to get out of your own way to produce the good stuff. The only way to do that is to write, create, act, practice your instrument, read and repeat! Life long learning doesn’t mean you stay a full-time student, but it does mean you are constantly learning and finding inspiration wherever you find yourself. As a Christian when I read that I’m to love God with all my mind that doesn’t mean I have to take out a student loan to accomplish that. Especially now in the age of the internet we literally have no excuse. The world is at our finger tips. That can be good and bad, and you’ll have to answer that question for yourself. It hasn’t escaped Satan’s notice that the internet can be a place where his agenda of destruction can continue, and many people have been destroyed here. Don’t become one of them.

My friend Eric doesn’t participate in social media, the following is part of what he texted when I asked him to create a Twitter account.

The average American teenager right now experiences the same level of anxiety as a psychiatric patient in the 1950s. –Eric Ebeling

My daughter just got back from church camp, and they had a powerful time all week reflecting upon the LORD’s Prayer. The theme of the week was titled Pause, and they used the LORD’s Prayer to do that in what sometimes is a very busy life for teenagers and adults. Somewhere along the way we have rewarded ourselves for being busy, and we’ve forgotten how to rest and be still. Our bodies and minds were not made to go fast 24/7, but some people make that choice, and in the process I would argue we become less if not nothing of what God designed us to be and do.

There are people who refuse to work because they think the world owes them, but then there are those who refuse to let anyone do anything for them because they think they have to earn everything. We’ve got to find a balance between the two. It’s kind of like people who incessantly talk without listening to what you have to say, and even when they ask you a question they answer it for you too. What we have in our culture is a failure to care for each other. Every human being is out for themselves looking out for number one, and so many times this philosophy baptizes the culture of the church. There is such a thing as self-care, and Jesus had to do this when he was human. He had to eat, sleep, bathe, find shelter, clothing and community. We all need those things, but what makes him standout from all other human beings is that he made the Father accessible to us all in real-time, yet he still goes to the Father for us! Talk about prayer coverage!

God is drawing our country back to Him dear ones. He’s doing it one person at a time. He wants to transform you into a fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ, and Satan and his army of evil doers are seeking to thwart that plan. Following Jesus will frequently bring about a harder life than if you deny His name, but know that the trials we face are not worth comparing to the glory that awaits us. God does not call us into situations we aren’t able to endure. We may question why bad things happen, and I frequently wonder why my life has been riddled with anxiety and depression, but I would not be where I am now had it not been for this life long struggle with depression.

I’m actually back to writing my memoirs about my battle with a mental illness, but I also feel really strongly about building my business to a level that I can locally employ a thousand people. Depression, PTSD, anxiety and many other mental illnesses do not have to stand in the way of productive progress, and so I hope my life when I look back at the end will be one that will inspire many who face these obstacles not to give up.

Rebecca, whom I wrote about at the beginning, was able to finish her laundry detail even though her precious toddler presented obstacles from getting that done. Caralyn has empowered thousands to heal from eating disorders, and Brenda’s dedication to the study of God’s word no doubt draws others nearer our perfect loving Father. Each one of us has a calling upon our lives to be the hands and feet of Jesus. We long for purpose, and we long for relief from the suffering bad angels cause. We cannot fill others if we are empty, and many of us have been at rock bottom where there was literally nothing to give.

I’m going to close with a prayer that in the next few moments our week will begin to be a blessed week where we are active parts of relieving the suffering of each other and many others in our circles of influence.

Blessed Father in heaven hallowed be your name. We as your children love you more than anything in this world, and we long to know and be known by you. We live upon this earth knowing the brokenness that is very real to each one of us, and we ask you in your wisdom and knowledge to empower us to cope with it, and in some cases heal from it. We know you are the God of the impossible, and what is impossible with us is possible with you.

Make this week before us be a committed week of reflection and action as we go about our work, rest and play. You are more real than the blood in our veins, and the breath in our lungs would not be there had you not created us in our mother’s wombs. Bless the little children, teenagers, young adults and adults we minister to this week as only you can do. Mold us into devoted followers of Jesus Christ who live and love the way the Holy Spirit inspires us to do. Be gentle with us when we fail, but keep our hearts soft as we continue to long for a time when the lion lies down with the lamb.

In Jesus name amen.