Please click on the link below or copy and paste in your URL to read another sad story of a young pastor who lost his life by suicide. https://www.facebook.com/566080522/posts/10160895596230523/
I cannot stop from exposing mental illness, the urgency and desperation that is felt throughout the world, is ever rising. Never before have we lived in a world/society that is so highly stressed; the expectations that are placed upon individuals are overwhelming, the pressure to be the perfect husband, father, wife, mother, professional and provider are just beyond being realistic. We live in a fantasy environment, where we have unrealistic goals set for ourselves by society. WE have sat ourselves up for failure. We are not perfect and we do not live a perfect life, so lets stop pretending! The facebook cookie cutter lifestyle is the pressure cooker for developing poor mental health and self worth. Where will it all end?
Sadly, many who feel they cannot cope with the expectations of society, the pressures of life and mental illness; turn to desperate measures; drug abuse, alcohol abuse, suicide and anything that will kill the hurt and heal the pain. And we wonder why we have a drug problem on our hands, we need not wonder. Our need and drive to be happy, for some can only be found outside themselves. If we are looking and searching outwardly we are setting ourselves up for a big let down. Happiness cannot be found in anything outside ourselves.
But how do we find happiness within ourselves; when all we feel is sadness, emptiness, loneliness, worthlessness and the list can goes on? To begin with; we are not our thoughts or another way of looking at it is, we are not our minds. There is more to me then my mind and my thoughts. I am a being, a living soul, a spiritual being. That part of our being that exist deep, deep down inside us. It’s not an organ of the body but its our Being. Because a thought enters my mind, doesn’t necessarily mean that it is real or true. Many times our thought are distorted and untrue; so we cannot always listen to our thoughts and let them define us.
We find happiness within us by releasing our past, letting it go; no matter how painful. If we hold onto the past we will never heal, we will never move forward. Letting go basically means giving it over to a spiritual power, someone bigger, someone all knowing. Letting Him bear the weight. We don’t have to carry it anymore. 1 Peter 5:7 says, ‘Cast all your cares on Him because He cares for you.’ And when we do, it’s like a heavy load that we’ve been carrying is lifted. Not only do we need to release the past but we also have to give Him(God) our future. We have no control over what the future holds but we can trust that He will take care of that for us as well. Surrendering our past and future to Him doesn’t come easily or instantaneously; it will take time and practice. We have to learn to trust in Him and all will be well. Matthew 6:25 says, ‘Take no thought for tomorrow(don’t worry); for tomorrow shall take thought for the things of itself.’ Once we learn to surrender both past and future to Him, then our mental health and spiritual health will flourish.
The greatest lesson I’ve learned in regarding my mental health is, living in the moment, some call it mindfulness. The moment is all we have, the past is gone and the future is not ours to own. This requires taking control of our thoughts; our thoughts will travel both to the past and to the future. But it’s here we have the power within ourselves to control these thoughts. When we travel in either direction we have to bring our thoughts back to the moment; to the here and now. It’s in this moment we will find peace, happiness, joy and contentment; no matter what our past and no matter what the future, we can find happiness right in this moment.
So if you are hurting today, if you are tired from trying to be okay, if life’s expectations have become overwhelming, if you feel you just don’t measure up, if you have an addiction that is out of control and destroying your life, if your past is too painful to go on and your future seems hopeless; don’t give up! I don’t claim to have all the answers, I don’t, but I do know that with time and God; you can do this. Believe in yourself, you are worth it! I won’t pretend this will be an easy road but you are not alone.
Each of us were put here for a reason, there is a purpose and we will find it. Mine did not come with twenty- eight years of being a business owner but mine came with a lifetime of suffering with a mental illness (major depression and anxiety). Being a business owner was not my purpose in life, it was my job, it did not define who I was on the inside. But now I feel my purpose is to tell others that they can survive and live with a mental illness because I am living proof. I can speak from my heart, from my soul, from my innermost being because I have lived the horror and I can tell you there is hope, there is happiness, there is joy; in spite of it all.
This is an amazing song that has brought me much hope! May you find encouragement, hope and strength in the words and music!