My Loving Tribute

I cannot pretend to know what you are going through. Your suffering is uniquely yours. But I can say that I am familiar with pain.

I cannot give you a magic formula that will cure all of your wounds. But I can tell you that miracles happen every day….and I am living proof that God answers prayers.

What will work for you to bring you back from this despair will be different than what works for everyone else.

However…there are some common elements that I would like to share with you.

It will not happen overnight…. You must come to terms with that. It will not happen in a few weeks even. But over time it will happen. You will start to get your life back. The darkness will lift.

Here is what helped me during that dark time.

Take care of yourself physically.
There will be temptations to use substances for comfort. I sometimes ate a lot of comfort food. Especially chocolate. I would rely on a sleeping pill to help me fall asleep. And then I needed a few cups of coffee to get me going each morning. I learned though how much better it was for me to have healthier food choices. Gave me a lot more energy. And even a little bit of exercise, like a walk around the block helped me sleep better.

Stay Connected to People.
It was hard for me. I work from home. So I had to make a point of getting to the park, sitting at a café. Going shopping. And visiting friends. In the beginning going to church was torturous. I felt like I just did not fit in. And it was horrible to sit there alone and fight back tears. But I knew that I needed human contact. That was the main reason for creating this community. I needed to be able to reach out to others … even in the middle of the night. And I knew others would need that too. When depression hits…it hits hard and the worst part for me was that horrible feeling of isolation and loneliness. Do anything you can to counteract that. Be with people in any way possible.

Use Positive Messages
Affirmations and messages of hope really made a difference for me. I surrounded my house with post-it notes. “Thank You God for Another Day!” “I Know That My Life Has Meaning”, “This Shall Pass”, “I am Stronger for This.”
And I used a lot of meditation tapes at night too. They are wonderful and I owe Kelly Howell a huge debt of gratitude for the amazing programs she created. Nothing short of miraculous.

Use Your Faith
Pray., pray, pray…..pray for deeper prayers, pray that your prayers have more power, pray that your prayers have more meaning, pray to understand your prayers more, pray for more faith so that you can pray better prayers…and then pray some more.
I cannot say enough about the power of prayer in my life. Through prayer I was able to see meaning. Gain understanding. Find God’s wisdom and feel his peace. Prayer works. And if you do not believe that prayer works….let me know…and I will pray for you! 

See Small Progress Each Day
Every day you will see something that will make you smile…something that can create laughter…something that can help lift your heart. Each day you will have at least one opportunity to reach out to someone else and help them with a tender word, a prayer, or a kind deed. These are small miracles that you can build on. Think of them as small deposits in a Spiritual Savings account. One day you will be able to make a huge withdrawal….but for now, just let it build up slowly.