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Christina Cook Lee

Media Producer - Author - Blogger - Songwriter

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You’re not alone

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New Strength, September 24SEPTEMBER 24 

Focus: Finding the help you need

Deuteronomy 31:8 (NKJV) And the Lord, He it is that goes before you; He will be with you, He will not fail you, neither forsake you: fear not, neither be dismayed.

In depression, some things seem to go hand in hand: feeling lost and alone; feeling misunderstood and rejected; feeling overwhelmed and discouraged, to name a few. When you are in an especially challenging time, you may be experiencing all of the above.

God is able to give you favor when your burdens are piling up. He can add more strength to your life when you have to work harder than usual and are feeling unequal to the tasks you are facing. When you are struggling with an overload of pain and suffering or sorrow, He will give you an extra measure of mercy. When you are buried under multiplied trials, He is able to pour out multiplied peace.

The love God has for you is unlimited. There would be no way to measure the amount of favor He wants to show you. There are no places His almighty power can’t reach. Because of the victory Jesus Christ bought when He triumphed over death and the grave—the help God has available for you, is without end.

You never need to wonder if you are asking too much of God. He knows better than anyone what you are feeling and the extent of your despair. He understands every cry of your heart.

Come to Him as a little child. Pour out your troubles on Him. His resources are deeper than the oceans and higher than the mountains. All you lack, He can supply. If you are lonely—He is the Friend who is closer than a brother. If you have been rejected—He has chosen you. If you are discouraged—He can bring you hope and encouragement.

Jeremiah 33:3 says, Call me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things you can’t even imagine.

When you are being bombarded by depression, call on the Lord. Ask Him to be your Friend. Thank Him for choosing you. Tell Him you need hope and encouragement. He is there to help you…you only have to ask, to receive.

When you feel overwhelmed by tasks you have to complete that are too big—ask the Lord to send help. He will. He will either strengthen you to do more than you thought you could—or He will send someone to give you assistance.

God’s ways are unconventional. He doesn’t do things the way we do. He is highly creative and able to give you unusual aid in your time of need.

I remember a particular time when our girls were very young and we were going somewhere. All at once, our car broke down on a busy road. It just stopped running without warning. It was a hot day in Florida. Thankfully, we were at a spot where we could pull off on the shoulder. A stopped car heats up instantly in the summer, so as we coasted to a stop, my thoughts were racing as to what we should do. It was in the days before cell phones, so we were stranded.

We had only been stopped for a few seconds, when a large, white, older Cadillac pulled up next to us. An elderly couple was seated in the front seat. We rolled down our car window and the gentleman behind the wheel asked if we could use a lift. Normally, I wouldn’t get into a car with total strangers, but they were smiling and seemed very trustworthy—so we accepted their offer. The Cadillac pulled over in front of us and we climbed in to join them. Their car was plenty big enough for all four of us to fit into the back seat.

As they drove us to a public place where we could call for help and wait in comfort, I asked where they were from. After a short hesitation, the man and woman smiled at each other and the man said, ‘Clearwater.’ I asked what brought them to Bradenton and the woman said, ‘Oh, we were just out joy riding.’

As I looked around the interior of the car, there was something different about it. I can’t really put it into words, but I had the unusual feeling that these people were ‘angels’ and that they had been ‘sent’ to rescue us. We hadn’t been stopped long enough to even get out of the car to look under the hood. How could they have even known we were in trouble and hadn’t just pulled over to look at a map or something?

There have been numerous other times in my life when I had no strength or motivation to begin a large project I needed to do, but by relying on God, I was given uncommon energy that enabled me to press through.

Declaration: I will find new strength by calling out to God for help and encouragement. He will always give me—or send me—the help I need.

All NEW STRENGTH posts are Copyright by Christina Cook Lee as of the date they were written and posted. Please request permission to re-post or re-blog. This material will be published as a book in 2013, by the grace of God. To subscribe to New Strength, select ‘follow’ in the upper left corner of this page.

For music selections that will help bring hope and encouragement during your recovery from depression and addiction, browse:http://www.youtube.com/user/NewStrengthMusic/videos?view=1&flow=grid

 

 

 

 

Finding the help you need

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SEPTEMBER 24 

Focus: Finding the help you need

Deuteronomy 31:8 (NKJV) And the Lord, He it is that goes before you; He will be with you, He will not fail you, neither forsake you: fear not, neither be dismayed.

In depression, some things seem to go hand in hand: feeling lost and alone; feeling misunderstood and rejected; feeling overwhelmed and discouraged, to name a few. When you are in an especially challenging time, you may be experiencing all of the above.

God is able to give you favor when your burdens are piling up. He can add more strength to your life when you have to work harder than usual and are feeling unequal to the tasks you are facing. When you are struggling with an overload of pain and suffering or sorrow, He will give you an extra measure of mercy. When you are buried under multiplied trials, He is able to pour out multiplied peace.

The love God has for you is unlimited. There would be no way to measure the amount of favor He wants to show you. There are no places His almighty power can’t reach. Because of the victory Jesus Christ bought when He triumphed over death and the grave—the help God has available for you, is without end.

You never need to wonder if you are asking too much of God. He knows better than anyone what you are feeling and the extent of your despair. He understands every cry of your heart.

Come to Him as a little child. Pour out your troubles on Him. His resources are deeper than the oceans and higher than the mountains. All you lack, He can supply. If you are lonely—He is the Friend who is closer than a brother. If you have been rejected—He has chosen you. If you are discouraged—He can bring you hope and encouragement.

Jeremiah 33:3 says, Call me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things you can’t even imagine.

When you are being bombarded by depression, call on the Lord. Ask Him to be your Friend. Thank Him for choosing you. Tell Him you need hope and encouragement. He is there to help you…you only have to ask, to receive.

When you feel overwhelmed by tasks you have to complete that are too big—ask the Lord to send help. He will. He will either strengthen you to do more than you thought you could—or He will send someone to give you assistance.

God’s ways are unconventional. He doesn’t do things the way we do. He is highly creative and able to give you unusual aid in your time of need.

I remember a particular time when our girls were very young and we were going somewhere. All at once, our car broke down on a busy road. It just stopped running without warning. It was a hot day in Florida. Thankfully, we were at a spot where we could pull off on the shoulder. A stopped car heats up instantly in the summer, so as we coasted to a stop, my thoughts were racing as to what we should do. It was in the days before cell phones, so we were stranded.

We had only been stopped for a few seconds, when a large, white, older Cadillac pulled up next to us. An elderly couple was seated in the front seat. We rolled down our car window and the gentleman behind the wheel asked if we could use a lift. Normally, I wouldn’t get into a car with total strangers, but they were smiling and seemed very trustworthy—so we accepted their offer. The Cadillac pulled over in front of us and we climbed in to join them. Their car was plenty big enough for all four of us to fit into the back seat.

As they drove us to a public place where we could call for help and wait in comfort, I asked where they were from. After a short hesitation, the man and woman smiled at each other and the man said, ‘Clearwater.’ I asked what brought them to Bradenton and the woman said, ‘Oh, we were just out joy riding.’

As I looked around the interior of the car, there was something different about it. I can’t really put it into words, but I had the unusual feeling that these people were ‘angels’ and that they had been ‘sent’ to rescue us. We hadn’t been stopped long enough to even get out of the car to look under the hood. How could they have even known we were in trouble and hadn’t just pulled over to look at a map or something?

There have been numerous other times in my life when I had no strength or motivation to begin a large project I needed to do, but by relying on God, I was given uncommon energy so I was able to press through.

Declaration: I will find new strength by calling out to God for help and encouragement. He will always give me—or send me—the help I need.

All NEW STRENGTH posts are Copyright by Christina Cook Lee as of the date they were written and posted. Please request permission to re-post or re-blog. This material will be published as a book in 2013, by the grace of God. To subscribe to New Strength, select ‘follow’ in the upper left corner of this page.

For music selections that will help bring hope and encouragement during your recovery from depression and addiction, browse: http://www.youtube.com/user/NewStrengthMusic/videos?view=1&flow=grid

 

 

 

NOVEMBER 27

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Focus: Changing the way you think

Proverbs 16:18 (NKJV) Pride goes before destruction,
and a haughty spirit before a fall.

When I make a mistake, I am reminded of how much I need God. I’ve prayed many times that I would stop making mistakes, yet I still make them—even when I try hard not to. It’s painful to have to realize that no matter how perfect I want to be—I’m just not.

One way we can make the most of our mistakes is to realize that they keep us humble…and humble is what we should be—whether we’re making mistakes or not.

But just imagine if we didn’t make mistakes, wouldn’t we get to feeling pretty smug and proud of ourselves? Wouldn’t we look at other people who were still making mistakes and think all kinds of wrong things about their spirituality and character?

I think God allows us to make mistakes so we’ll remember that He is perfect—and we’re not.

Of course we should always try to make the best effort we can in all we do, but at the same time, we need to keep from trusting in our own abilities. God doesn’t like it when we try to be self-sufficient. He hates pride.

When we try to do everything perfect—we will usually be disappointed in our efforts. The pride/perfection syndrome is another one of those things that is upside down in God’s sight. What He wants to see is humility not pride.

While we’re thinking we should be perfect to get God’s approval—what He’s really looking for is humble. Humility is perfect, in His sight. So if we work very hard and actually get something right, but we aren’t humble—we still blew it.

Proverbs 29:23 says, A man’s pride brings him low, but a man of lowly (humble) spirit gains honor.

The harder we try to do things perfectly, the bigger the let down when we realize we missed the mark, after all.

In that case, some people would think, ‘Well then, why should I try at all?’ And honestly, we’ve probably all felt that way at least once, and probably more times than we care to admit. It is a fair question…especially when you’re discouraged. Why should you try? And furthermore, what if you didn’t? I’ve asked myself those questions quite a few times in the past few years.

For a lot of my life I did things to prove to myself and others that I could. I was sometimes intrigued with taking on a project that was crazy hard. I liked the challenge of sorting out the pieces and putting a complicated puzzle together—particularly if it was one that someone might have thought I couldn’t do. I also liked to do things that were harder than anything else I’d ever done. I liked the rush of pushing myself past my own personal best.

These days, I think I’ve proved enough to myself—and others—so when I look at something I could try to do, I think about the questions, ‘Why should I?’ and ‘What if I didn’t?’

These days, I know that the only things worth doing and spending my life blood on, are the things that God can get glory from—not me. He is the one who should get all of the credit and praise for anything I manage to ‘do’.

The things we are capable of doing in our own strength are not going to mean anything in the long run, anyway. It’s the things we did that we could have only done by the grace of God that will last for eternity.

If it’s truly God that we want to live for and please, then we should focus all of our attention on resting in His ability and strength—not our own.

When you can think about life that way, it changes a lot of things.

Imagine living a life that is centered around the adoration of God. What if we just lived differently in the future than we have lived in the past? What if we stopped trying to live a performance/pride/perfection oriented life focused on not making mistakes—and just focused on being ‘nothing’?

Declaration: I will find new strength in examining my true reasons for the things I do. I will start asking myself searching questions before I do things—testing my motives—to make sure that the reason I do anything at all, is to bring God glory.

All NEW STRENGTH posts are Copyright by Christina Cook Lee as of the date they were written and posted. Please request permission to re-post or re-blog. This material will be published as a book at the end of 2012, by the grace of God.To subscribe to New Strength, select ‘follow’ in the upper left corner of this page.

For music selections that will help bring hope and encouragement during your recovery from depression and addiction, browse:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bW5unzXXC0