The Valley of the Shadow of Death Part 2

Faith is a very important thing to have. Without it you make some very bad decisions and it can lead to a lot of sin. Things have been very rough physically lately. Joint pain has been progressively worse. Ibuprofen stopped working and now Aleve has stopped helping. As thing have been progressively worsening. On top of all this I have been slowly and almost imperceptibly slipping into depression. Instead of my usual quick swing of emotion my emotions slowly changed and lead me to hopelessness and despair. I had people trying to spend time with me and serve me, but I used my not feeling well as my excuse to withdraw and hide out. I even had people over at my house, but I kept away from them. I isolated myself. I got to the point that I hurt myself again. I scratched my arm until I broke the skin. Then I found a pair of scissors and scratched my arm. It wasn't anything dangerous or deep, but the damage wasn't physical anyway. I finally texted a friend and told her. She in turn texted other friends. I got two phone calls and a text within five minutes of texting her. I am blessed with friends who are measures of the Lord's grace. They came up alongside me as much as I would let them. They spoke truth to me. My best friend told me to go to the people in my house and ask them to pray. I didn't because I was still too withdrawn to do that. I wish I had. He reminded me of salvation and that Christ's grace is sufficient and that in my weakness his strength is shown through. The friend I first texted talked with me online and encouraged me with the same truth. It was hard. Depression or whatever you want to call it is difficult. I think it is mostly spiritual for me. It always matches up with lack of faith or being anxious instead of trusting the Lord. The easiest way to deal with out of control emotions is to become numb to them. However, that emotion and stress must be released somehow. The pain is a release of that emotion and stress. It is a temporary release. It is a quick fix. There is only one way to forever deal with anxiety and stress. I Peter 5:6-7 says, "Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you." We have a God who cares. He is willing and able to bear our burdens if we will only cast them to him in humility. We cannot deal with this on our own. We have to die to ourselves and our self-sufficiency and realize that only God can take the anxiety and stress away. He has promised us a "peace of God, which surpasses all understanding," (Philippians 4:7). The only source of this peace is trusting in the Lord.