The Cure for Unhappiness, Depression and Worry

Lately, God has been nagging me with the same Scripture over and over and over again.

If I stress out, He reminds me of it.

If I start worrying about anything, He reminds me of it.

If I wallow in self pity, He reminds me of it.

If I begin to feel sad, angry or any emotion that is not happy, peaceful and content–He reminds me of it.

I am now convinced that it really is a message from the Lord that is quite powerful for all of His children. I believe it is the CURE for unhappiness, depression, worry…and many mentally developed issues we have.

Before I go further: I am not telling you to go against a doctor’s advice, stop taking medication, or anything like that…That is between you, your doctor and God. I AM saying that I am convinced that if we would take God at His Word;  we may find ourselves on less pills, paying less psychiatric bills, and feeling less crappy.

What is this so-called “cure”, you ask??

Well, it is in God’s Word:

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me. Then the God of peace will be with you. – Philippians 4:6-9 (NLT)

I am certain most of you have heard this Scripture MANY times in your Christian life. I know I have. However, it was only recently that it has come alive for me. Have I mastered it? No. BUT… I am in training and God is faithful in His reminding me of the cure for my emotional issues.

You see, most of our “issues” stem from our emotions. If we could step back and see ourselves the way God does, we would be amazed. If we would just believe and DO what God’s Word says, we would BE happier, joy-filled and worry free!

The question of the hour is: How do I apply it??

First, we must recognize WHERE it all begins–the mind.

Then, we can take steps to gain control over our minds and emotions.

3 Steps for Implementing the Cure:

1. Be careful what you are thinking about. Hold EVERY thought captive under the authority of Jesus Christ. Make Philippians 4:6-9 your life verse. Take charge of your thoughts! These Scriptures are very clear. Pray about EVERYTHING, thank God for all He has done and will do. Think on GOOD things. Think about what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise–and then KEEP ON doing it! (ref. Colossians 3:2, Romans 12:2)

2. Pay attention to what/who you are listening to. What we hear is extremely significant. The Word tells us that faith comes by HEARING. The opposite is true as well. Nothing is “just a____”. It is not just a song, just a movie, etc. What we hear DOES matter and DOES affect us. God’s Word says so. That’s all the proof I need. (ref. Romans 10:17, James 1:22) – read the link above too, for further study on the topic of “faith comes by hearing”.

3. Watch what you say. Life and death our at the tip of our tongues. Letting our tongues run amok will destroy anything we are trying to do as a wife, Mother, and Christian woman. It is very important that we be very careful and choose our words with wisdom. Start thinking BEFORE you speak. REPLACE bad thoughts with what is good, worthy of praise and honorable. After thinking/speaking Life for a while, you will not only begin to believe the Truth, you will KNOW the Truth, and the Truth WILL set you free! (ref. Proverbs 18:21, James 3:3-8, Proverbs 29:11, Philippians 4:8)

The bottom line is to get more of God’s Word in you and less of the world’s influence.

Replace negative thinking with Truth. Pray, pray, pray–repeat.

And set your minds and keep them set on what is above (the higher things), not on the things that are on the earth. – Colossians 3:2 (amp)

For further study: read; Deuteronomy 30:19, Ecclesiastes 7:5 and Jeremiah 5:21. You could also look up words like; mind, renewing, faith, trust, peace, thoughts, tongue, hearing, etc.)

Copyright © Lara Velez, Moms of Faith, All Rights Reserved

12 Comments

  1. sarah snyder on March 21, 2012 at 12:54 pm

    LOVE LOVE LOVE…This was another amazing “read”!!!!!!
    ~Very Blessed

  2. sarah snyder on March 21, 2012 at 12:55 pm

    Sharing this one with my womans bible study this week~

  3. BillieJo Excoffier on May 31, 2012 at 12:18 am

    I just signed up tonight with Moms of Faith, and wow how faithful God is to give us what we need. It is so easy for us to be influanced in our world today (Media, Music,Movies,commercials etc). The things that we listen to and watch are things that we need to watch out for, they desensitize us slowly leaving the door wide open for satan to come in and rob us before we realize it. How amazing is God that he warns us of the dangers that are out there, and gives us the direction we need to avoid them. Thank you for posting! I will be using this as the basis for my next personal Bible Study. My whole family will benifit as I will be watching to make sure I am protecting them, and giving then the tools they need to have a wonderful and close relationship with our Father.

  4. Tammy on July 25, 2012 at 12:28 pm

    Lara,

    Hi, I am just now seeing this. I struggle every day with worry and depression, as well as anxiety. Some things really stood out to me in your post. Very nice!

    I will be sharing some thoughts about your post on my Grandparenting blog within the next day or so. Of course, I will be including several links back here. . ;)

    Thanks for this post Lara! :)

    Tammy

  5. Kali J. Moore on July 30, 2012 at 12:37 pm

    Thank you so much for this. I know i am a little late reading this, but there is a reason I found it. I have been struggling with an illness for almost a year now. I went to the doctor last week and the nurse came up to me and said, ” I’ve never met you but you seem so unhappy.” That really struck me hard! It hurt! I don’t want people to think of me that way. She said, ” the only way you are going to start healing and feel better, is for you to get happy.” I’ve been really searching for my happiness since then, and it is hard to figure out. Anyways, thanks, i really needed this.

Leave a Comment