Monday, February 24, 2020

Keep Pressing On!

As someone who has battled depression off and on for most of my life, I've always appreciated this statement:

"If you rearrange the letters in the word..."Depression" you'll get..."I Pressed On".

As a follower of Christ, I've learned that it's not just me "Pressing On" but It's The Lord through His Holy Spirit that strengthens and enables me to press on as I cannot do it alone.

It's The Lord Who has brought me through every battle with depression or any other battle. He's The One Who fights for me and has already won the battles. He's The One that has given me the strength and reason to get out of bed or to not stay in isolation during the seasons of battling depression. He's The One Who has kept me alive and not allowed me to make selfish decisions in my youth and early adulthood when I wanted life to end. He is my hope and strength.

He's The One Who has continually encouraged, strengthened, and spurred me on to keep on pressing on! I would not be here without Him and I would not make it through any storm or battle without Him.

I pray that no matter what you are facing, whether you battle depression or not, no matter what you face may you and I stand with Christ and truly know and say...."I Pressed On" because that's exactly what God wants us to do for His Kingdom, Glory, and our good.

May we always remember to thank Him for helping us overcome the battles because we'd be nowhere and defeated without Him.

Keep pressing on my friend!

Your Brother and Servant in Christ,


PS. Keep living life on purpose for Him!

Monday, February 17, 2020

Give Your Anxiety To The Lord.

We all may have experienced times where our circumstances, worries, or troubles, including the things that are often out of our control, weigh us down.

Instead of dwelling and abiding in The Lord and His Word, we allow ourselves to dwell in all of the before mentioned. 

We dwell on the could of, should of, would of scenarios as if we can fix or take back whatever it was or is all by ourselves.

We allow ourselves to go down the path of anxiety, depression, and more which may include or or result in stress, sleepless nights, weak strength, our joy is often diminished or gone at that moment, and we can also experience other physical side effects and more.

Now, don't get me wrong as there are real medical issues at times but often we hurl ourselves down a path we shouldn't go down or need to quickly back out of. However, it's often a path of our own making if we're honest.

Let's stop the sleepless nights and ulcer inducing behavior and instead, try our very best to give it to The Lord in prayer, seek the counsel and encouragement of His Word, as well as the counsel and encouragement of the godly people God has placed in our lives. 

God is our strength, so, to be blunt, we need to start living like He really is!

Read Matthew 6:34 and 1 Peter 5:7 for starters for encouragement from God's Word.

I'm praying for you and please pray for me as well that we might grow more in giving our anxiety to Him more automatically as we should not be carrying it first place. 

Your Brother and Servant In Christ,

Randolph Koch