God-Focused, Not Self-Focused

It's strangling. This thing called depression. It begins as a small whisper.

You're not good enough.

Then it grows. Oh and it grows and grows.

It turns into a tangly web of striving. Of hopelessness. We've heard the overused clichés- it's like a pit, like we're sinking in an ocean with no hope of rescue, like life is pointless.

But I feel those kind of adjectives and descriptions are shallow.

Depression is more than a miry pit.

Depression can haunt like death- death without actually dying and wishing that you could.

It can be something the church covers up with a smile. And something the hurting try to hide with pretending everything is okay.

One of my most favorite authors, Ann Voskamp, eloquently writes, "Feeling the weight of your failure feels worse than taking a knife to your own pulpy heart."

She continues on, "I wonder if all the bad brokenness in the world begins with the act of forgetting- forgetting that God is enough, forgetting what He gives is good enough, forgetting there's always more than enough and that we can live into an intimate communion. Forgetting is kin to fear."

So today, before we listen again to those lies, let us remember. Before we believe I am hideous let us remember, I am His masterpiece. He created me- He knitted me, loves me, sent His son to die for me. No, let us not just remember, but let us live in these truths and dance in the promises God declares over us.

One little girl at an after school tutoring program I volunteer with, in complete sincerity, asked me the most precious question: "But, but why would Jesus say it was His fault if it was actually mine?"

Sometimes, we need that childlike sincerity. We need to boldly approach the throne of God kneeling in awe- awe of the fact that Jesus would say "it's my fault" when in actuality it was never His fault. How amazing is that?!

As beautiful and important as it is to focus on who we are in Christ (dare I say it?), sometimes we need to put that aside. We instead need to focus wholly on who God is. That He is enough, that He is holy and perfect. He is true. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is life. He is beauty. Focusing on our own identity in Christ will only take us so far.

Focus wholly on who God is and His holiness and His awesomeness.

Be still and know that He is God.

It is when we become God-focused instead of self-focused that our flesh fades. It is when we become God-focused instead of self-focused that our faith takes roots and blossoms into something more holy and beautiful than we've ever experienced or known before.

God is enough.

Let us remember this when depression grips our hearts.

God is enough.

Let us remember this when Satan's lies begin to strangle us.

God is enough.

Let us remember this when life gets crazy busy and we feel stretched in two entirely opposite directions.

God is enough.

What if we remember? Remember not only who we are but who God is. Because when God is at the center of our worship. When we see Him, know Him, understand who He is, we find everything. When we remember Him we are given truth and purpose and identity.

God is enough. He is who He says He is.