Week 2: The Choice and the Truth - 8 Weeks To Becoming Fruitful

The hope and the future that Christ had promised seemed a far away, too good for me, kind of a dream.

Even His blessed forgiveness seemed at times to good for me.  
Slamming myself, again and again, into the wall of self-pity.

I was my own worst enemy.

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When the LORD spoke to my heart, “You have not, because you love not.”

The danger in depression and living comfortably with that “mirror of inward focus” is the tendency to believe it’s just life.  Oh well, it's just the way it is.  

It is dangerous to live without expectancy. 

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During the beginning of this study, I challenged you to choose, as I did, whom you would serve.

Hopefully you have made that choice . . . in fact, you wouldn’t be reading this at all unless you have already chosen.  Good job!  Forward progress.
The choice has been made.  Now What?

“And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;” 2 Peter 1:5 (KJV)

Seeking with diligence.
Add to our faith, virtue.
To virtue, knowledge.
How?

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• Ask

The LORD is good.  He wants you to seek Him in all things.  He stands ready to shatter your “mirror”, build your faith, virtue and knowledge.

He stands ready to make you strong to His task, once more.

Prayer and petition is the place of reignited passion and full restoration with the One who made you and loves you the most.

However, it is not just enough to ask.  Don’t ask because I told you to ask.  Ask because you need Him and you know it.

“Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.” James 4:3 (KJV)

Asking Him for faith, virtue and knowledge is a the cry of a desperate heart.  A heart that knows full well that it is self-seeking and wicked.  That heart knows it must be cleansed, alone, by the blood of Jesus Christ.

Restoration.

Do not follow your heart if it says you are right, or justified in your negative behaviors.  In fact, do not follow your heart at all!  It is wicked above all things. Period.

Follow God’s will and purpose for your life.

And depression IS NOT IT!

• Seek

Seek Him and the help He sends, where it may be found.  This, again, demotes forward progress.  You must rise from the position you are in now and ready yourself to knock on His door for virtue and knowledge.

 

Seeking the LORD in this area is not easy.  I know, I’ve been right where you are now.

Seek the virtue that Christ alone will give, also means facing the hard truth and standing your ground.

I will not go back.

• Knock

I want you to knock now.  Expecting for God to open that door.  Ignoring all other forces, yourself included, that are trying to keep you from continually knocking on the only door that holds the answer.

This is the hard work of swallowing your pride.  This is the effort of knowing that you do not know what is best for you, and admitting it.  This is where the rubber meets the road.

“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” Matthew 7:7 (KJV)

Jesus is ready to help you.  He is our King, yet our helper and greatest friend.  Accept the help he alone is willing to give to you.

I will continue in my prayers for each of you today and throughout the week.  Please leave your questions, comments or prayer requests in the comments below, that way I can join with you, my beloved sister in prayer.

Week 1 -------->Shattering the Mirror
Week 1: Encouragement & MASHING Your Faith

HOMEWORK FOR WEEK #2 ----> Now we are ready to take it up a notch.  Take a moment and download this week’s study guide, to help you along your journey this week as you Ask, Seek and Knock.  Complete the daily questions and journal your progress through this study.
8 Weeks to Becoming Fruitful Week 2 Study Guide

Next week we will continue our study.  Until then, believe God is who He says He is and that He will do what He has promised to you.

Prayerfully hoping for healing,

The Joyful Socks Mom 

Mashing Your FAITH - Depression Week #1 Encouragement

Greetings and blessings in the Lord, Jesus Christ, to all of my fellow sisters in the faith!

I am excited and joyful about the brave steps of faith and longing that we are taking together in the LORD'S Holy Word.  Growing stronger together in the faith is an amazing experience, one I hope you will join.

Today, I have have chosen a new media form to encourage and inspire you, my sisters and readers, to continue your journey toward getting "depression" out of your vocabulary.  Below you will find a link to a Vimeo video.  This video will include an encouragement from me, Joyful Socks Mom, directions for starting the 8 Weeks To Becoming Fruitful Bible Study; resources for daily Bible Study and more about starting a new journaling endeavor in FAITH MASHING!  Hope that sounds as exciting as it has been for me, I'll explain in the video and blog a How-To next week.

Simply click through the video below for a personal message from Joyful Socks. (*If you are reading this through email subscription, YOU MUST click the Blog Post Link, taking you to this blog, in order to watch the video.*)
P.S. I limited myself to 12 minutes . . . it just didn't work out just like that! ;)

I have encountered a few "technical" difficulties with internet gremlins this week.  The Lord is with me though, and I will overcome!  I will be resuming our Bible Study on Sunday, which means you can expect it in your inbox (if you are one of my genius subscribers, that is) early Monday morning.  We will be examining scripture and I will have a Bible Study study guide ready for you to download then.

Until then ladies, rise up and press on toward the goal.  
Trust in the One who made you, brought you up and has you in His hand now.

• Week #1 Bible Study ----> Getting Depression Out of Your Vocabulary

Prayerfully hoping for healing,

The Joyful Socks Mom 

Where we are at?

Shattering The Mirror - 8 Weeks To Becoming More Fruitful

 I am humbled in every way as I prayerfully come to you, my sisters in Christ.  Today is a day of obedience to God and His whisper into my heart.  I am stepping forward to share my testimony and victorious journey from the perilous road of depression.  I hope to edify and encourage each of you during this study, and pray the LORD would make you fruitful for His glory.

To begin, let me say that depression, is an old friend.  One that has been a close family friend to many of the women in my family, and a few men.  Both of my grandmothers, maternal and paternal, lived with severe depression.  In fact, during their thirties they were both hospitalized for depression and attempting suicide, ultimately leading to them BOTH receiving electric shock therapy.  The deep roots of depression have long existed for me and my family, through generational pain and hurt.

How did (does) depression manifest in my own personal life?  Illness.  Physical pain.  Emotional outbursts.  Disengaged parenting.  Sadness.  Laziness.  The reality of depression can be a slippery slope for me.  There have been times, some as recent as two months ago, where it is hard to recognize when I have allowed myself to slip into the deep waters of depressive behavior.

I can recall, easily, many moments where my husband or children have needed me to serve and I blamed illness and disengaged.  I have personally spent three days in bed, unable to move from pain.  Pain ,that I now believe, was manifested in my body due to the unquenchable sadness that I allowed to take hold of me.  Daily.

How did I become "Joyful Socks" again?  How did God begin calling me back to a more loving relationship with Him and to receiving the help He was ALWAYS ready to bless me with?  The process began here . . . 

2 Peter 1:4-9 NKJV

"Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust:

And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; 

And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;

And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.

For these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see far off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins."

I examined this scripture and asked God over and over, "LORD give me more faith!"  This seemed a noble and heart-felt prayer.  I receive silence as my answer for weeks.  I prayed again, "LORD give me a pure heart."  Again, noble-sounding, right?

Finally, I received an unwelcome answer from the LORD . . . "But the greatest of these is love.  You have not, because you love not."

Depression, at least for me, meant slipping from the road of righteousness and love for others into the trap of self.  Depression, as it begins to manifest, begins with self-pity.  Selfish-thoughts.  Depression is truly the mirror of inward focus.

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God is not interested in your comfort or happiness.  I know that it sounds terrible, but please hear me out.  God's Providence, His great and perfect will in your life, will trump your own comfort every time.  God is interested in your character and heart, not your comfort and feelings.  His goal is to make you like Christ.  Simple.

Okay, now that we have reached the root of the depression issue, how do we get back to the abundance promised to us, as God's chosen?  Every journey begins with a first step.  This will be ours . . . 

CHOOSE.

Joshua 24:15 NKJV

"And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom you will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."

Will I serve the LORD? - or - Will I serve my emotions and my feelings?  Will I crucify my flesh on this issue today and lay it before the cross, or will I continue to live in bondage?  

You do not belong in the chains of depression, any more than I.  Let us take this step together toward God's "exceeding great and precious promises".

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Let's begin this week with some prayer and petition.  Take a few moments this week to examine this focus scripture:

2 Peter 1:4 NKJV

"Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust:"

1.  What "great and precious promises" do you want to partake of?

List the scriptures that you found your promises in.

2.  Choose one scripture each day to pray over your life.

3.  Journal how you are hoping the LORD will move you out of depression.

4.  Check back in at the blog on THURSDAY for a video encouragement from Joyful Socks.

Know that I am praying for each of you today and throughout the week.  May the joy of the LORD be your exceedingly abundant strength today and everyday.

The Joyful Socks Mom 

Where we are at?

8 Weeks To Becoming Fruitful--->Getting Depression OUT of Your Vocabulary!

The slippery slope of depression.  I know the path leading toward it far too well and the path victoriously walking away from it, far to little.  Depression has been a life long struggle for me.  Some that know me would be shocked by this statement.  I mean my nickname is "Joyful Socks" for the love of Peter Parker.  Others, who know me well, will not be shocked at all.  I recall a song, Smokey Robinson wrote, "The Tears of a Clown", that has consistently been me!

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Depression as a whole, in my life, has been a constant tug-of-war.  I will feel as though I am gaining ground and then loose it just as quickly when the next challenge arises.  Ignoring the fleshly pull of depression is not wise.  Allowing it too much "lip service" is equally dangerous.  What has the overcoming answer been for me?  How do I grasp onto the abundance of joy that the Lord promises?  How do I consistently live in His victory, far from the pull of depression in my daily life?

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2 Peter 1:4-11

"Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust: 

And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;

And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; 

And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brother kindness charity.

For these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see far off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins."

I will be writing a series to this affect over the next 8 weeks.  Together we will share testimonies, examine scripture and edify one another to a higher walk in the Lord's service.

We will discuss and cover the steps to defeating everyday depression, examine and learn to walk in the power God has imparted to us through the Holy Spirit, and find the practical application of scripture in walking daily without depression, and promote the encouragement to begin this journey on the road from depression.

Week one of our study will begin next Monday, September 10, 2012 and the final post coming at the end of October.  I hope you will join us for this series and encourage others to join in too.

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The Joyful Socks Mom