I have decided to write a series of articles regarding one of the biggest issues we face today, depression. I have seen it soak into the souls of the most vibrant people and seen how it steals joy. It is time to face this issue head on and see about reclaiming our joy!
As I was preparing for this article I was reminded of a Veggie Tale Movie that talks about fear. There is a song in the video that says, “God is bigger than the boogieman, He’s bigger than Godzilla or the monsters on TV. Oh, God is bigger than the boogieman and He’s watching out for you and me.” Now I am sure that many are wondering what in the world does this have to do with focus, my answer: EVERYTHING!
Life is not easy. People disappoint us, hurt us or reject us. School is overwhelming, difficult, or trying. Work is exhausting, frustrating or stressful. Relationships are difficult to start, difficult to maintain, or painful to live without. Family is disjointed, dysfunctional or sometimes filled with drama. Friends betray us, lie to us, or walk away from us. The list goes on and on of all the things that can cause our lives to become out of focus.
In Genesis we see a beautiful picture of what life was supposed to be like. A life focused on God, walking with Him and talking with Him freely in the Garden. Eve lost her focus the day the serpent convinced her to eat; she focused on herself and what the fruit could give to her. Sin entered the world that day and is still here to this day. When something bad happens we have a hard time focusing on anything else except that. Even at work, it is still there in the back of our minds. We have difficulties sleeping, eating, and the longer we focus on our troubles the closer to depression we get. Depression is not a sudden thing it is a gradual process in which we lose hope because we cannot see past our circumstances. I find it interesting that our problems have become the size of Godzilla and we still don’t see that God is bigger. We are too busy focusing on the giant monster instead of the tremendous hero standing right behind it. When we look past our monster of pain and regret and see God who can carry us through anything and walk with us through anything, then the lingering depression will start to fade. We need to go back to the design God intended. We need to focus on him. God truly is bigger than anything we are facing and when we take our eyes off our circumstance and focus only on our Creator, the difficulties of this life will start to fade.
David had lots of troubles in his life. For many years he was hunted by King Saul, because King Saul wanted to kill him. The book of Psalms reveals an ordinary man and how he dealt with problems. You can see the time when he was focused on his circumstance, he was asking God why he had forsaken him and then in the same chapter you can see a shift as he takes his focus off of the circumstance and focuses on God because it is at that moment he then starts praising God. David was a man after God’s own heart and he had times when he lost his focus too, the important thing to remember is that when we feel the heaviness of our troubled lives weighing down on us, we need to focus on God and let him protect us and help us get through.
Romans 8:37 says that we are more than conquerors through Christ; which means we can overcome anything with Him. It is when we are weak and we let God be our strength. 2 Corinthians 12:9 reveals that God’s grace is sufficient for us and His power is made perfect in weakness. It is in the times when we are weak that God’s strength will empower us to persevere. God has the power to deal with every issue we face, all we need to do is stop looking at the circumstance we face and look to the one who overcomes every circumstance.
Life is not easy. People disappoint us, hurt us or reject us. School is overwhelming, difficult, or trying. Work is exhausting, frustrating or stressful. Relationships are difficult to start, difficult to maintain, or painful to live without. Family is disjointed, dysfunctional or sometimes filled with drama. Friends betray us, lie to us, or walk away from us. The list goes on and on of all the things that can cause our lives to become out of focus.
In Genesis we see a beautiful picture of what life was supposed to be like. A life focused on God, walking with Him and talking with Him freely in the Garden. Eve lost her focus the day the serpent convinced her to eat; she focused on herself and what the fruit could give to her. Sin entered the world that day and is still here to this day. When something bad happens we have a hard time focusing on anything else except that. Even at work, it is still there in the back of our minds. We have difficulties sleeping, eating, and the longer we focus on our troubles the closer to depression we get. Depression is not a sudden thing it is a gradual process in which we lose hope because we cannot see past our circumstances. I find it interesting that our problems have become the size of Godzilla and we still don’t see that God is bigger. We are too busy focusing on the giant monster instead of the tremendous hero standing right behind it. When we look past our monster of pain and regret and see God who can carry us through anything and walk with us through anything, then the lingering depression will start to fade. We need to go back to the design God intended. We need to focus on him. God truly is bigger than anything we are facing and when we take our eyes off our circumstance and focus only on our Creator, the difficulties of this life will start to fade.
David had lots of troubles in his life. For many years he was hunted by King Saul, because King Saul wanted to kill him. The book of Psalms reveals an ordinary man and how he dealt with problems. You can see the time when he was focused on his circumstance, he was asking God why he had forsaken him and then in the same chapter you can see a shift as he takes his focus off of the circumstance and focuses on God because it is at that moment he then starts praising God. David was a man after God’s own heart and he had times when he lost his focus too, the important thing to remember is that when we feel the heaviness of our troubled lives weighing down on us, we need to focus on God and let him protect us and help us get through.
Romans 8:37 says that we are more than conquerors through Christ; which means we can overcome anything with Him. It is when we are weak and we let God be our strength. 2 Corinthians 12:9 reveals that God’s grace is sufficient for us and His power is made perfect in weakness. It is in the times when we are weak that God’s strength will empower us to persevere. God has the power to deal with every issue we face, all we need to do is stop looking at the circumstance we face and look to the one who overcomes every circumstance.