Overcoming Depression

I didn't post on Thursday. Partly it was because I haven't had a moment to stop and breathe, let alone type, this week. And the other part is that I have been struggling with a deep dark depression cloud for the last month and a half that is slowly starting to lift.

So the question I am faced with is, what can I do to help the depression cloud tear so that a little light can come in again? This week I have found that writing every night, even just one thing I was grateful for during the day, has been a huge help. I am finding that if I try to find the room to be grateful, even when I don't want to be, I cannot hear Satan's lies as loudly. They are still there, make no mistake about that. But they are not front and center when I am making it a point to be grateful.

Every day I turn the depression over to my Savior, and every day it starts to lessen even just a little more. I know that the times I am the happiest are when I am trying to live the gospel with my whole heart, and trying to know my Father and my Savior. I've been struggling with that over the last little while, but over this last week things have started to look up again, and I know I am not alone, though some days I feel terribly alone.

The alone feeling is what Satan wants us to feel, because in feeling alone, there seems to be no reason to turn to a God who seems to not pay attention to us. If we feel alone, then Satan has managed to convince us that there is no one who knows how we are feeling, or what we are going through. This is a lie. Every word that Satan uses to tell us that we are alone, or will always be lonely, or are worthless, reeks of falsehood. It does not feel truth. Truth does not leave us feeling down and out and discouraged the way Satan's lies do. God is near, and He is aware of us. He is aware of me, He is aware of you. There is no way to get around His awareness of us. And there does not have to be any reason for us to feel like He does not care. When we turn to Him, He will do all that He can to help us and bring us to a point where we can grow. Last night, for instance, I had a really restless client and so did not sleep well at all. Finally around 7 o' clock this morning, I asked the Lord if He would please help this client to rest so that I could get even an hour and a half worth of sleep, to have the strength to continue on through the day. After my prayer, I ended up being blessed with three peaceful hours, and I was able to sleep for two of them before I needed to get up and get some things at the client's house taken care of.

He answered my prayer, even though that seems like something so simple. It may seem simple, but it meant the world to me this morning, and I know that if God was not aware of me, that would not have happened. I'm grateful to know that when things are important to us, the children of our Divine Heavenly Father, they become important to Him as well. I love my Savior, and my Heavenly Father. My prayer now is that this dark cloud will continue to get lighter, and the sun will shine through so that I can continue becoming the daughter He created me to be.