The LORD is our rock.
Thou art my praise.
About depression and an antidote to curses.
There has been a lot of talk about depression in the media lately since Robin Williams passing and my thoughts are with his family. May he rest in peace.
These situations affect me quite a bit because of my family history. I’ve shared a little of our family history about depression in previous posts. I don’t enjoy talking about depression and my experiences with it but I know that sharing this information brings about awareness which usually is a good thing. It’s not just depression which affects our mood however, any kind of illness is likely to affect our mood. And even without any kind of illness, we all get down at times and some more so than others.
God’s Word has pulled me out of the miry clay more than once and I like to share some of the Scripture verses we used at various occasions with great success.
Rock bottom.
In the year 2008 we hit rock bottom when we had to move home after I’d been confined to bed for many years prior. When we finally moved I had a pancreatic attack followed shortly after by an inoperable ruptured appendix. You can read more about this in My Story of Survival, God Healed Me, and Live Your Best Life.
It was the first day in our new town and our very first new acquaintances were the ambulance officers who took me to the hospital emergency room. A week or so later, after IV drips with cocktails of antibiotics failed to placate my upset tummy, the hospital sent me home ‘to get well enough for the operation.’
At the time we couldn’t quite figure out what that meant and non-surprisingly my daughters failed to find a GP to come out and do a home visit. They were told that if I was not well enough to get out to visit the doctor, my daughters were to phone an ambulance and get me back into the hospital. Funny that, no one seemed keen to add a ‘goner’ to their books.
We prayed.
We prayed alright and a wonderful homeopath came out to see me at home, prescribed homeopathic pyrogen and cleavers herbs to get on top of the septicaemia and here I am sharing with you some of the Scripture verses that pulled us out of these dark and desperate times.
O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever.
Mayhem and curses.
In addition to the above-mentioned breakdown of systems, at the same time we were being harassed by the removalist who refused to deliver a third of our stuff unless we paid him more money; our goods never arrived.
We were also in danger of being thrown out of our new rental because, unbeknownst to us, the bank transfers had hiccuped. We weren’t aware of this because I was too busy trying to stay alive to be bothered with banking details of any kind.
Eventually it all got sorted but only after first a warning was recorded on my rental file and endless phone calls, emails, and letters were sent to and fro between us, banks, real estate agent and owner to clarify what was going on.
In the end we discovered that a bank clerk had failed to notice and respond to the tick for weekly payments and only transferred the rental payments once. And no, the bank never apologised for the failed transfers.
I won’t go into detail about the septic tank not working in our new place for the first year or so and my income stopping due to a business partner doing the dodgy on me. Being deserted by my family for not being able to visit my ailing Mum on her eightieth birthday turned out not to be all bad.
A blessing if you obey …
In addition a helpful ex-partner came to the hospital to see if my kids needed any help to collect my anticipated life insurance pay-out and we also received a visit from a well-meaning Christian assuring us that we’re cursed because we believe in sticking to GOD’s Commandments. He promised us that we’d be fine as long as we’d switch over to church doctrine. According to him, ‘the Commandments had been done away with.’
We must have been reading from a different Bible because my Bible tells me the following about GOD’s commandments;
A blessing and a curse.
Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curseÂ
A blessing, if ye obey the Commandments of the Lord your God …
And a curse, if ye will not obey the Commandments of the Lord your God …
Yes, I know, I know. I haven’t always obeyed the Commandments and was rather embarrassed and dismayed when I discovered that I’ve broken pretty much every rule in the book.  I was much encouraged though when I read about God’s forgiveness for those who are genuinely remorseful and intend to do the right thing.
We love the well-meaning believer who came out to tell us that we’re cursed  because he had the good heart to do a ten-hour-round-trip simply to share with us his understanding of Scripture and what his church told him. He genuinely believed, and possibly still does, that we were under a curse because we do the best we can to follow the rules set by our Father.
We appreciate that from his point of view he is trying to do the right thing but just the same, one only has to read the Book of Job or read about the problems experienced by some of the prophets, and GOD’s Son himself to know that when people experience problems this does not necessarily mean that they are living under a curse. To think that someone is living under a curse because they are experiencing problems is confusing the issue.
I am not saying that there are no consequences for doing the wrong thing in the past, but dealing with consequences because of past actions is completely different from living under a curse.
Antidote to curses.
The following Scripture verses tell us that with GOD on our side, we have no worries. Even if we have mucked up in the past, as long as we try to do the right thing today, GOD will take care of those who oppose us.
Don’t get on the wrong side of our Creator. Do the right thing and you’ll find GOD on your side.
The promise is that GOD will bless those that bless us and vice versa.
If you believe that you live under a curse, the following prayer reminds us that GOD turned things for good for a whole nation. With GOD on your side, you know that your worries will be sorted.
The Lord thy God will not hearken unto thine enemy; but
the Lord thy God turned the curse into a blessing unto thee,
because the Lord thy God loved thee.
We prayed a lot.
Did I mention that we prayed a lot? Yes, we prayed a lot and our Maker heard us and turned things around for us for good. You can find out more about my walk with God in the following books; My Story of Survival, God Healed Me, and Live Your Best Life..
Below and in the next post are just some of the Scripture verses which we read, memorized and sang during our low times. These words and promises never fail to uplift and encourage us, and reliably turn things around for better.
Plans for Peace.
I know the intentions which I have for you says Jehova;
plans for peace and not for evil to give you a good future.Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.
And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.
And I will be found of you, saith the Lord: and I will turn away your captivity …
No Fear.
For help with or information on depression visit beyondblue.org.au, the black dog institute, pressonaustralia or phone Lifeline on 131 114.
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