Suicide!

Good, I got your attention.

In light of today, world suicide prevention day (according to IASP), I just wanted to take some time to talk about a topic that is sometimes difficult to talk about. From my own experiences I know that suicide can be an extremely difficult topic to tackle and an even more difficult one to deal with. As most of you know I am a psychology major and for me mental health awareness is an issue that is close to my heart. As I was crawling along on the 91 during our lovely So-Cal rush hour I was thinking about my own story and my newfound views on the mental health industry, especially therapy.

I was never really a fan of therapy, and still wouldn’t call myself a “fan,” but I would say that I have come to appreciate it and what it is fighting for. The stigmas around mental illness, in all cultures and sub cultures, are truly shameful. As Americans we talk a lot about freedom of this and that but for the most part what we really mean is freedom within our normality’s. Freedom to be and act “normal.” In order to live in society you have to act like society.

This semester I started an internship at a state hospital and have learned a ton about mental health and myself. What I have seen so far ranges from major depression to schizophrenia and I am sure I still haven’t seen the worst of it, but I have learned a whole lot. “Crazy” people aren’t “crazy,” they’re sick! Not with a cold or cancer, but just as life alerting as either of those can be. Some people will never be able to get better (this has been very hard to witness) and some people can take some medicine and they’re good to go. However, that’s not really the problem.

The problem is in the way we treat this sickness. If our friend has a cold we tell them to drink fluids and get rest but when a friend says they’re depressed or anxious, often times, we don’t know what to say. It’s not our fault that we react like this though. To a certain extent it may be but we were never educated on the topic of mental illness. No one ever told us about depression, anxiety, or agoraphobia and suicide as a result of many mental illnesses was rarely, if at all, talked about. Sure it may have been in an assembly or two, maybe it was an announcement at school today, maybe you saw someone with a ribbon tied on their wrist or pinned to their shirt, but our education systems are not education. The people that know the most are the people going through it and that really shouldn’t be the case, because for they most part they won’t say a word. They will break eye contact and look at the ground in hopes that the gut-wrenching feeling will go away when their secret comes up. We don’t want anyone knowing that we’re “sick” and we get terrified if anyone even gets close to figuring it out.

Who are we to make others feel this way? We all are sufferers! We are all facing different demons and are all dealing with them differently, but worst of all most of us are facing it alone, or at least that’s how we feel/think. If you don’t take anything from this post at least take this: you’re not alone. I know it’s cliché and believe me when I say I hate what I’m about to say. It gets better and in time you’ll get through it. It wont be quick and it sure as hell wont be easy, and more likely then not you’ll never be at the same level as you were before you’re mental illness. That said, it doesn’t mean you can never get back to a place where you are happy, calm, and safe. I wish someone had told me this a few years back because I wouldn’t have wasted so much time trying to get back to where I was.

Lastly I just want to add that we, as a society, need to work on destroying this stigma surrounding mental illness. Illness is illness! Whether it is physical or mental illness. We shouldn’t ignore one while coddling the other. Just like physical illness mental illness takes time to heal, takes patience from others and ourselves, and most importantly requires nurturing from others and ourselves. Suicide is not a first response! It’s a desperate act, a last resort for some one that is feeling so emotionally overwhelmed that they can’t even think clearly. No one that is willingly about to take their own life is in their right mind, and there are signs to notice when someone is getting sick. Just like coughing and sneezing foreshadow a cold, isolation and lack of energy foreshadow depression. Suicide is 100% preventable! Educate yourself, know the signs, and talk to your friends and family. Together we will start to break the stigma surrounding mental illness.

Suicide helpline: 1(800)  273-8255

Rock Bottom

Alright, tonight is going to get a little personal and is going to encourage you to be really vulnerable, honest, and humble with God.  Part of it is going to focus on the parable of the wise and foolish builders and the other will focus on why we tend to push God away when we need Him most.  Why we try to do things ourselves and don’t realize how badly we need Him till we’ve hit rock bottom.

I know we have all probably had our doubts in faith but what do we do when those doubts start to consume us and the devil gets that hold on us?  You’ll find out in this post.  For starts though it’s all about building your house (faith) on a rock and not in the sand, just as the gospel of Matthew tells us “those who build among the sand are fools.” This adorable little video does a great job of illustrating Matthew 7:24-27, and for those of you who prefer the text:

24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

The verse I want to focus on here is verse 27: “The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”  I want you to notice a specific word, crash. This is what happens when we build our faith on the sand.  It’s not sturdy or strong and it will Not hold its own when it’s challenged, it will crash and you will crash with it.  This is that rock bottom that I mentioned in the intro.  I know not all of us will experience rock bottom, and that’s wonderful, but I know we will all experience a fall.  In some way or another we will stray from the Shepherd.  The parable of the lost sheep in Luke 15 gives us a good idea of the relationship between ourselves of God.  However there is a myth or whatever that takes this parable a little further.

It is told that before the shepherd placed the lamb (that strayed) on his shoulders, he broke its leg, so it could not run away again. Then by the time the leg has healed the lamb has learned to stay near the shepherd and trust him.  Whether this is true or not I still like it.

The breaking of our legs is that rock bottom we hit, and as we heal from the pain, or whatever it was we lean on God and his strength to carry us.  I hit what I think, and hope, was my rock bottom a little over a month ago.  I wont go into detail, but since then I had really seen a difference in Gods presence in my life.  I am being put into challenge situations that have been helping me grow and that are teaching me to go to God first.  I was humbled when I was broken.  During this past month or so I have really been meditating on Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”  My pride is slowly crumbling and every time I think I can do something on my own I remember this verse, because my plan will do nothing but hurt me.  One thing that is very important about this verse is that it’s not saying that God will never break us, or knock us down, or that things will be easy.  It is saying that everything God does to you will make you better if you turn to Him while you’re going through it.  Remember to always look for that light at the end of the tunnel.

Now.  Here is what we have to do.  Let God break us.this song, or find a song that really speaks to you, listen to the lyrics and go back to you’re rock bottom.  Focus on who you were when you were there.  Remember the feelings and the thoughts of that state.  Now start moving forward and focus on each significant event where God showed you He was there and when you leaned on Him for strength.  Focus on how your faith became stronger with each passing trial and how you were able to learn and grow from each one.  Now focus on your present relationship with God.  On your current faith, feelings, and thoughts.  Notice how far you have come and thank God that your rock bottom was your new beginning. Be humbled that He left his flock and found you to save you from the world.  I want you to try and do something.  You’re going to go on a little soul search.  Now, I know this post is already really long, but take 5 more minutes.  I want you to listen to

If you have not hit your rock bottom spend the time of this song thanking God for the people and trials He has put in your life to help you make your faith strong, and pray for those in your life that may need a little help with this.  Pray for the ones struggling to build their foundation or for the ones still stuck on the sand.

I really hope some of you found a little hope within this post or a little relief.  Sometimes simply knowing that God does these things to strengthen us helps us out.  I hope you have a beautiful weekend and if you’re here in Southern Cali. don’t go outside, because those winds are crazy!

Links in post

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlPMld7ScU0

Song:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkZDJY31RX4

Wait On The Lord

Alright friends. I have been slacking hard-core lately. I’m calling myself out on this because I really wanted to stay on top of my reading and blogging. However just like usual, when I set out to stay focused my life becomes clustered, as I am sure many of you have also experienced.

I am definitely going to keep trying to stay up on this blog because I need to, but since I havean’t posted in a while I thought I would through a couple of interesting and thought provoking verses your way, mainly just to distract you till I get my crap together. ;)

So for me lately school and I guess ‘family drama’ has been consuming my life and just as usual I am putting my will before Gods. This is literally the most difficult thing for me. I am so prideful and just cannot give everything to Him. Which is why I have such a difficult time staying steady in my faith. So, I have been meditating on Psalms 42 lately. It’s a pretty intense piece of scripture. According to This Video the Psalm is David “in a fight with himself.” And I think we all kind of feel like David sometimes.  We feel like we are fighting against ourselves in hopes that we will be able to find what we should be doing, or want to be doing.  But again, we need to but our “hope in God.”

This video has basically been getting me through this hard time. The guy is Matt Chandler.  In the video he tells us that we need to “wait on the Lord.” Why? He takes it straight from scripture, Isaiah 40:31 – Because those who wait on the Lord He will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. And that’s a promise!

Psalms 27:14

So, if you’re like me and find yourself more on the prideful end of the spectrum take a second to watch the video, read the psalms, and try and find a reason not to put all of your hope in God. And if you find it, let me know, because from what I read and saw His promises looked a whole lot better than what I could even dream up.

Have an awesome week friends.

Here is Psalms 42:

1 As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? 3 My tears have been my food day and night, while men say to me all day long, "Where is your God?" 4 These things I remember as I pour out my soul: how I used to go with the multitude, leading the procession to the house of God, with shouts of joy and thanksgiving among the festive throng. 5 Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and 6 my God. My soul is downcast within me; therefore I will remember you from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon--from Mount Mizar. 7 Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me. 8 By day the LORD directs his love, at night his song is with me-- a prayer to the God of my life. 9 I say to God my Rock, "Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?" 10 My bones suffer mortal agony as my foes taunt me, saying to me all day long, "Where is your God?" 11 Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.

Here’s the link again to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVnt7kJ6NE4

Go watch it,

AND

Here are some of those inspirational / thought provoking verses I said I’d include:

Philippians 4:6-7

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

1 Peter 5: 6-7

“Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.  Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”

Proverbs 3:5-6

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”

(This is my favorite verse, just thought I’d let you know).

Joshua 1:9

“Have I not commanded you?  Be strong and courageous.  Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

Hosea 6:1

Come, let us return to the LORD. For he has torn us, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bandage us.

LASTELY, READ THIS:

http://dailybibleverse.tumblr.com/post/169230615/when-god-breaks-your-heart-its-not-because-of

It talks about why God breaks us before He fixes us. It’s lovely.