Never give up! Never surrender!*

*I love these cartoons so I could not resist using this picture for my latest entry :-)

Hey D.W.D.I. Family!

    How are you all doing? I hope you all are doing well and having productive days with rest and peace from the Holy Trinity.  I know I keep saying this but sorry I have been away for a minute.  I had to take care of myself for a bit before I could write to you guys and gals again.  What's going on? Okay, well, I'll be honest and tell you all the deal.

   Okay, I have battled depression on and off for years.  The depression started after a traumatic event and within a year and a half of the event I developed fibromyalgia.  I was doing fine until 2-3 weeks after the exam results (probably after my last blog entry).  I could just feel myself slipping into that familiar and uncomfortable sadness and despair.  At first I tried to ignore it and just pretend like everything was fine while I cried privately at night.  I did not and still have not told my parents about this episode because they already worry about me but a couple of friends know.  Fortunately, my friend in California and a great sermon at church on Sunday have helped to snap me out of this funk.  I know I am stressed over the exam and insurance and my hair coming out, but that depression was just playing on those emotions and anxieties.  I think the enemy was trying to convince me to harm myself and has been trying to do so since that traumatic event.  I hope I do not sound crazy right now because that would be a complete disservice to how God brought me out of this depression.  It really was nothing but His grace and His love sent through the words of my friend and my pastor that raised me from my "pit of despair" and I am so grateful and thankful for that.  I know that God watches over me, that Jesus is with me, and that the Holy Spirit dwells within me.  I keep saying those things because: 1) It is true and 2) We all need reminders.  I would encourage everyone to read Acts 2:14-30 to see how the Holy Spirit comforts us.  Also, according to the Holy Spirit via my pastor on Sunday, God's grace brings us to a point of afterward when He will pour out His Holy Spirit.  That is AMAZING to me.  We all have something in us that is a part of God that works within us before, during, and after the storms of our lives.  We just have to get through our lows to get to our resting points and our highs where God pours out even more blessings on us (it is already many blessings to get through the lows in the first place, trust me).  Plus, according to Ephesians 3:17-19, Jesus loves us SO MUCH (as does God and the Holy Spirit) no never feel alone and unloved.  This is what I had to remember this weekend so I could counteract the enemy's lies.

   Well, I hope you all will forgive my tardiness in my latest blog entry, but I hope that it is right on time for someone.  Please do not give up and keep fighting.  We are not alone in our struggles for God is with us always (Matthew 28: 18-20). I will not quit because it is really not about me but about God's glory in the end.  That does not mean I do not want to at times or do not think about it.  The point is to not quit fighting the enemy's attacks on us.  Prayer is crucial in this according to Matthew 18:18 for our words our powerful.  We just have to remember to take authority over these evils and to keep pressing on.

   Take care everyone and I will talk to you all soon!

Love,
CCC