Testimony Tuesday - Overcoming Depression With Christ by Dinora Trujeque

A few days ago I watched a movie featuring Natalie Portman and Ashley Judd. My daughter and I had been watching this movie 15 minutes each day before she went to school. This had been going on for three days in a row and then the movie’s theme started to change. 

Immorality showed its ugly face in some parts of the movie and I decided that I would watch it by myself before, to make sure there weren’t any more wrong messages that could affect my daughter. So I sat on my couch and watched it until the very end, (which by the way was very moving).

I have to tell you, I hate immoral scenes and profanity in movies because I think they are not necessary to make a good movie, and because they have been put there to make us believe that a life of sinfulness is fun and rewarding, when in fact IT IS NOT. 

You wouldn’t believe me this, but I had to fast forward that movie more than 15 times! I ended up watching half of it, just the things worth watching. I wouldn’t recommend this method or this movie. It is always better to choose well from the beginning.

I learned something from that movie though. Even if life plays dirty tricks on us, God wants us to know that “all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” In the same way that the story had a happy ending, God has planned a happy ending for the lives of His children too. “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son”

Have you ever had that feeling that the problems in your life would never end? I’ve been going through some family problems for some time and I feel worn out already. It has affected my health to the point where I have to deal with depression, because I know that except through prayer, there is nothing I can do to help my family. I know what I just said sounds as if I see prayer as doing nothing, but that is not what I mean. If you have ever been in such a situation when there is no way you can even alleviate the pain of your love ones, you know how I feel. That doesn’t mean that I have lost my faith, in a way I am reclaiming it every day. 

I also realized that even if I’d like to fast-forward my life like I did with the movie, to avoid the bad parts, life doesn’t work that way. We’ll have to go through some problems of different sizes and shapes but the Lord has promised us that “in all things we will be more than conquerors through Christ.”

He comforts us with the hope that just like the Apostle Paul; we’ll get to that point of maturity in which we’ll be able to say, “I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

I am learning to wait on the Lord more than ever, because only through trials and tribulations can my faith grow. I am holding fast to His word with all my strength because He is faithful, reliable, and powerful. 

He told us our lives would be like this; he wouldn’t lie to us, and he asked us to be of good cheer even when the pain is great, to be at peace because The Prince of Peace is with us, the One who has overcome the world is by our side.