Christians and Anti-Depressents

Recently I read a blog post from a local pastor who explained his support for Christians taking anti-depressants.  This tends to be a "hush-hush" subject in the church today as so many are divided on this and see it as a private matter. I didn't fully agree with this pastor's stance but did spark a topic of discussion between me and my husband last night....

Before I begin sharing my thoughts, I want to be clear to say that I am NOT comparing my journey or experience with others.  Everyone has their own obstacles, battles and processes, I simply hope to encourage.

Although, I do not feel the freedom to share my full testimony on this post, I will say that I myself have dealt with pretty severe anxiety.  I was diagnosed with PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) and know that I have triggers from that which often cause my anxiety attacks.  My anxiety has been a very real struggle for me.  There are times in my life when I have used medication to help me cope during difficult times when I knew circumstances were much more weighty and I could feel the anxiety creep in  and knew I needed some tangible help.  I personally feel in no way, shape or form that it is "wrong" or "sinful" to take such medication, because I know how real these feelings can be and its not exactly something that you can just turn off.

What I do ultimately believe about these type of illnesses is that they are an assignment from the enemy on believers. These attacks are filled with depression, anxiety,worry, fear, bondage and brokenness. Throughout the Bible we find that life with the Lord is promised to be one of JOY, PEACE, FREEDOM, CONTENTMENT and WHOLENESS!!  This is not to say we will not struggle because we do and we will...its inevitable. But, the encouragement I find is that we don't have to stay that way!  We have a covenant right to wholeness as believers!  Jesus did not just die on that cross to save us but to give us an ABUNDANT life!!  Life with Christ is not promised to be easy-far from it-but even in the worst of circumstances, I can still experience his JOY and PEACE no matter what comes our way because we have the victory!  We are sons and daughters of the King who defeated death, hell and the grave....depression, anxiety, fear, worry, despair, hopelessness, etc.  

Freedom from these things are ours for the taking!  It is a journey...and some may find that they do need medication at times in their process-and that is ok!  I have not found myself at a place where I can say I am walking in full freedom but it gets easier and easier the more I strive for the Lord to make me whole!  I am finding more freedom in each step and you can too!!!

I saw a client recently at CPC who was dealing with severe depression-found herself suicidal at times and sleeping for days at a time because she was overwhelmed with feelings of despair. She had been diagnosed with manic depression.  This girl was completely hopeless and didn't see a way out. She had been put on medication many times but it always made her feel lifeless she said.   Being able to look at this sweet girl and tell her she doesn't have to continue to live this way and that there is freedom was one of the most beautiful experiences I have had counseling at CPC.  How can we as Christians, look at someone (or even ourselves) who struggle with these same battles and say, "sorry all we can do is take medication-there is no other way." NO-that is not a life of freedom!  That is not God's heart for us!

I am reminded of the Apostle Paul in Philippians 3...
12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Let's keep pressing on for a life of wholeness!!!!

Natural Product Search

The past few months I have been slowly changing many of my every day products to natural products.  So far, I've started with my face products as I have always struggled with my skin and figure being in my 30s now, I need to really get to work on it. So here is what I have found so far...
  
African Black Soap
First I tried Shea Terra's Organics - Rose Hips Black Soap Deep Pore Facial Wash & Mask and loved it!  My face felt so much cleaner and smoother immediately!! Plus, I had much less break outs.  It even seemed like my complexion changed within a few weeks.

Then I tried Alaffia Aunthentic African Black Soap and  I think I like this one even better.  Not only is the price better, but its Fair Trade and has an awesome peppermint scent.  LOVE IT! It has Shea Butter in it and all sales help fund enhancement projects in Togolese communities...how awesome is that?

Now, I will advice, when you first start using this stuff you may find your skin will first breakout as its adjusting to this product but give it about 7-14 days and your skin will be in much better condition then before you started!

If you haven't tried African Black Soap before, its a must try!  You will love the way it makes your skin feel!

Witch Hazel/Rose Water Toner

Now,  one of the things that I was still have problems with is my pores-the African black soap was awesome but my pores were not shrinking and were fairly large.  So, I started using Thayer's Witch Hazel and Rose Water toner-I cannot say enough about how much I LOVE this stuff!  It feels so good on your skin!  It has a light rose smell (not real musky just light) and is so refreshing!  Even Daniel loves this stuff! You can use it multiple times a day to lightly freshen your skin and it even balances the ph in your skin.  After a few days of using it, I found my pores were tightening...that's when I became for sure hooked!  This stuff is amazing...I am a little addicted! lol!

Aloe Vera Moisturizer

The last thing I started working on is a natural face moisturizer...that has been much more of a challenge.  I found a great recipe on this blog my sister in-law told me about (which I have gotten a lot of inspiration from) www.overthrownmartha.com.  Her site really has inspired me to try some new things!  The recipe is for an Aloe Vera Moisturizer.  I have been using it for probably a couple of months now and I do like it but I am feeling the need for some tweaking.  I will say I LOVE using the Aloe Vera directly on my skin everyday-you know that has to be awesome for your skin for sure!  I have noticed a positive change in my skin since using it but am not yet thrilled with it fully.  Two problems I have noticed so far:

The consistency-now, I realize when you go to natural products you are not going to get the same thing as what you can find in the stores but, it seems if it were thicker you could get more to penetrate into your skin.

The smell-it doesn't really smell bad but very, very "earthy" to me.  I tried to put some on my daughter one day and her response was "yuck, that stinks" so it definitely isn't what I would consider pleasing to the nose.  I am looking into adding an essential oil that has a light smell that is also beneficial to your skin to help with that.

I already have a few more ideas on my list to try but since we are in the middle of moving, I may wait until we get settled before I try more. :)

What have you tried?   I would love to hear about it! :)

What about the church?

My eyes have been opened.  I've personally watched many of the people that are "the church" absolutely turn from their faith and grow weary and cynical ...including myself at one time.  I have found that people-particularly my generation, are fed up and desire freedom to think for themselves and break out of the traditional church "model".  I've seen people who were devote followers of Christ-who gave it all for His ministry-crumble and fall.  Some have fallen into atheism, some cynicism and many even into drugs, alcohol, divorce or even jail time. Others have just fallen into complacency and indifference towards God and the church.

The one common thread I have seen with each and every example of these people has been their finger always seems to point at a pastor or the church itself. They each have stories and scars from what this church, pastor or friend did to them in the name of the Lord.  Each one seems to have deep seeded wounds and resentment towards the church as a whole because of the short comings of others.  I myself, grew very weary and even somewhat cynical for a season as I had enough of being disappointed by the church and it's leadership.  I've had enough of watching dear friends crushed under the assault of the enemy when he gets a hold of our leadership.  I had enough of watching "hypocrites" claim they follow Jesus when their secret life reflects the absolute opposite.  After a season of feeling this way, the Lord continued working in my heart and I slowly began to realize something - my perspective of the church was way off.

I have seen too many people who are so critical of their church leadership.  As if every problem and issue they have ever had is directly the Pastors fault.  

We seem to to think everything that happens in the church is reliant on the Pastor(s).  If the church isn't growing, its because of Pastor (fill in the blank) isn't preaching good enough, or the worship is boring.  If we aren't growing and feel weary, its the Pastor's fault for not leading us there. If we are hurting, its their job to bring us wholeness and healing.   Now, don't get me wrong, I do believe its a Pastor's role to feed his sheep and to partner with the Holy Spirit to do so, BUT, I also know that it is first and foremost OUR job.  

If you think about a Shepard (which is the role of a pastor) leading his sheep the Shepard can't just run ahead and expect them to follow-he can only lead them at a pace they can handle.  So, if you want more of God and more from your church, its time for us as the body of Christ-the church-to quit relying on our pastors to give us everything we need and start feeding ourselves. We need to start crying out to God for the manna, we need to start reaching out to those around us and bring them in our churches to fill our seats. If we want healing, then we need to do what it takes to get it.  Then when our Shepard starts to pick up the pace-we can handle it. 

Where are the people of God who truly hunger and thirst for righteousness?  A pastor or any church leadership are just servant leaders...they do their best but it was never meant to be all on the pastor or church leadership to make these things happen. If we want more of God we have to demand it...we have to change the way we do "church". We have to crave these things and put that demand there. How powerful would it be if the church would rise up and function as the church and encourage and work with our pastors towards the vision Gods placed on their hearts?