You know what I am totally amazed at what has been written here! I am totally in agreement in what is being said by Joseph and Jane here! I would have thought it would have been on this website way earlier when it first started, but never mind! It is very important to realize this kind of stuff, spiritual and emotional depression. Everyday in "our society", "we" tend to forget that this stuff is important to be bought forward. Truly, what I can say is that, I have experienced all these areas mentioned here. One must not forget that as God is our creator, we must realize that these "things" would ruin us if we keep on going down this path. God is there to help you in such way that it is unspeakable. But when you pray , you can't just pray any old prayers or silly ones or even "babbling" prayers. You must pray with a sense that you are asking God's help by guiding you through your sufferrings; learn from the "pains, angers , upsets, heartbreaks, headaches, etc. (you get the point, don't you?)". Don't let your frustrations take the Better of YOU. Let "it" make you realized that what you believe is right is wrong. Realize that the reality in front of you at this moment is something that will help you down the road, towards the future. Wherever it make take you, you'll never know! Trust me on this! Experience in any way or form will definitely make you a better person! Better yet, God probably have something in mind for you to do related to what you experienced in life!! Psalm 18 shows a lot of power that God can bring to you other than just love! He provides you shelter, strength, rescued us from danger, shield us of Thy salvation, deliver us from our enemies, and illuminates our darkness!

Honestly, the law of success in our daily lives is simply stated as this: "Failure is the seed of success!"

The wisdom of Jesus:

1. Interpersonal: Jesus never wore a mask of different emotions for the day! Jesus had the upfront integrity of life! (a biblical author once wrote: "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. For Jesus is both eternal and unchanging in the society around Him. He is honest at home and at work.) BECAUSE A PERSON OF INTEGRITY DOES NOT PRETEND TO BE SOMETHING THEY ARE NOT, IT IS WHAT YOU SEE IS WHAT YOU GET -- LITERALLY! AND IT IS NOT THAT A PERSON OF INTEGRITY ARE ALWAYS PERFECT -- SURELY THEY AREN'T! BUT FOR ONE THING THEY ARE AWARE OF THEIR WEAKNESSESS AND DON'T WANT TO LEAD OTHERS TO BELIEVE THAT THEY HAVE NO PERSONAL FLAWS!

2. Self-esteem/interpersonal: Jesus held to the highest moral ethnic and always lived by it! He courageously helped ppl see the gap b/w their ethic and morality. In order for anything to work in our lives, we MUST know our weaknesses and fortify them. If we're not open to correction of what we do to others around us, we run the risk of becoming inauthentic towards everyone we come across. Jesus once said to religious leaders who convinced themselves that they were truly righteous ppl b/c they so diligently obeyed all of their man-made rules: "You are like whitewashed tombs, which looks beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to ppl as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness!"

                      --- Take just a moment right now to look at yourself in a mirror. As you gaze at your reflection, ask yourself this: "Do I have weaknesses others can see but that I'm refusing to face -- weaknesses I pretend are either out of sight or under control? Or am I the kind of person who is comfortable with my strengths and weaknesses and invites others to see them both?"      ---

Solutions to spiritual depression -- Faith builder:

1.  Keep in touch  with God: The more time you spend with God the better you'll know Him; the btter you know Him the more you'll trust Him; the more you trust Him the more you'll tap into His power.

2. In our search for the Key to a bold faith in God, we need to hold on to the one marked: Face Your FEARS  with God! When you find it, and use it every day, you'll discover that it opens doors of confidence you never thought possible!

3. Be authentic with God: We are so afraid of rejection that we try to conceal ourselves from the ONE who already knows everything about us. Jesus would have nothing to do with hiding! He didn't play games when he met God. HE made it clear that He desperately wanted to avoid being nailed to the cross. He didn't hide the fact that He didn't want to experience isolation from His Father. He expressed His feelings with loud crying and tears.

4. Realize you got nothing to hide: The more we open up and show God what we're really like inside, the more we'll discover that He can be trusted with the truth about us. Sometimes our efforts to cover up are sophisticated and hard to spot. In fact, we ourselves may not even be completely aware of what we are doing. The only way to overcome the tendency to hide from God is by meeting with HIM daily -- with firm commitment to be transparent. The more we open up and show God what we're really like on the inside, the more we'll discover that He can be trusted with the truth about us.

5. Realize that you got nothing to lose: God cannot fail. His will is always the best of all possible option. Jesus knew that when he bet on God he wasn't gambling. He was placing His "money" and his life, on a sure thing. He literally has nothing to lose, b/c it's impossible to lose when we let God call the shots. Entrusting to God our lives, our families, our finances, our business, and all we lead isn't like putting our money int he stock market.

ONE IMPORTANT THOUGHTS OF THE DAY: GET GUIDANCE FROM GOD ALWAYS AND LET HIM KEEP YOU ON COURSE ON WHATEVER YOU ARE DOING!!....

              --- One of the greatest surprises of our lives hasn't been the fact that God directs us down a particular path, but of His determination to keep us where we are.

              --- Hope has the power to infuse us with the energy in even the most challenging situations.

              --- A single uncontrolled character flaw can undermine your greatest accomplishments.

              --- You must control your destructive inclinations by staying away from "little sins", b/c in reality they aren't so little -- and they can and often do lead to destruction.

             --- Nobody else has the power to make you angry or frustrated. You control your response; other ppl don't.

            --- As we control our response to conflict, we will then be able to coach others through the situation in a constructive way.

           --- WE must remain consciously connected with God so that when we enter a conflict we can respond with generosity that is motivated by love.

          --- Our aim is to put others first b/c we genuinely care for them -- not b/c we want to be seen as caring for them.

         --- Where there is love there is a freedom to fail -- and where there is a freedom to fail you have a setting where new and better ways of doing things will thrive.

         --- How could we possibly hope to make wise decisions without spending a lot of time in prayer? The answer is clear: WE CANNOT!

          --- It's crucial to know your driving purpose and to subordinate every decision to that purpose.

          --- Every time Jesus made a decision it was an expression of his core values: To love God and love his neighbours!

Hopefully all of this is useful to you and if you have any comments or questions I look forward to answering them thru my email account: Sparrow8696@hotmail.com or Sparrow8696@excite.com!

God bless everyone and bless our world all over!

Dorothy