Here are more tools to find POWER over depressing thoughts. I have listed tools using the letters in POWER so those tools can stick with you. To read about the P in a previous blog post and the O and our Facebook page
Now for the W in POWER: W-ait on the Lord
So much of our stinkin thinkin comes from wanting situations solved, issues resolved, problems dissolved before their time.So much of our discouragement comes from the frustration about stuff God is already at work on. We just need time to see the good outcome.
So often we can’t envision any good that could possibly come from a situation. That goes back to our perspective. See things the way God sees them...trust Him.
We can’t trust our feelings. They will betray us. At any given moment I can take a ride on the Menopause Express. Then I can become restless, resentful, angry, discouraged, despondent, faithless and fearful. I get depressed just thinking about it. I have to trust the Lord.
Here is what the Psalmist, David the said. Remember, he was the guy who spent his early years running from his father figure, Saul and his latter years on the run from his own son. In the years between, he was always doing battle with some enemy, including his own demons of lust and deception.
Psalm 27:13-14 (NIV)
I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.”
Take heart means to have courage!
How we wait matters. I don’t want to fold my arms and cross my legs in anger and frustration at what I perceive to be God’s inaction. I will miss all the good He has for me because I’m too busy setting up housekeeping in the miff tree I’ve climbed up! So I wait choosing to have faith in God who has proven Himself faithful again and again.
Here is my favorite verse about waiting on the Lord for answers to life issues: Psalm 40: 1-3, “I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God.” While I wait, he hears me and he sets my shaky feet on solid ground while giving me something to sing about. And I am forever grateful!