The Bible says that you are made in the image of God. You are a reflection of God's creative love, and his image forms the foundation for your own self-image.
God wants you to lead an image-oriented lifestyle that is fashioned after his image. That saves you the trouble of having to create, modify, and prop up an image that you manufacture for yourself. You don't need to create elaborate fairy tales about who you are, and you don't need to bother trying to sell that image to the world.
When you give up your quest to create your own image and accept the fact that you are made in the image of God, your focus shifts from you to him. There is a family likeness because you are made in his image.
God loves and accepts you the way that you are, and his love forms the foundation for true self-esteem. God says that you are worthy because He created you and loves you as you are with all your imperfections and weaknesses.
Since God loves you, it's OK for you to love yourself and feel good about yourself. If it's good enough for God, it should be good enough for you.
Where you are now isn't that important; it's where you are going that counts. Who you are now doesn't matter nearly as much as who you are going to become when the power of God's love rolls through your heart and mind and makes you into a new person with a new way of thinking, feeling and acting. God is on your side and is taking you on a trip in which there is no limit to how good your life can become.
It's OK to be who you are now. You should feel good about who you are, because you are a work in progress connected with the most powerful and most loving force in the universe.
Nothing is more powerful than God's love. Every day, God pours his love into the human heart and makes life worth living. God gives you the positive power to do more than survive. He gives you the power to thrive. His love takes you from where you are to where you need to be.
God is not looking for an iron will. He is simply looking for a willing heart in which he can make miracles happen.
If you want to learn more about how to stop doing depression, read Zero Tolerance to Negative Thinking. And if you want to learn how positive spirituality can help you develop a healthy heart and mind, read Real Power: Maxing Out on God's Love.
If you want to have a mind free from depression, nobody can stop you.
Jesus said, "You shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
To the extent that spiritual belief helps unravel the twisted thinking and distorted emotions associated with depression, to that extent, spirituality has a place in the treatment of depressive illness. Only the truth can set you free from the cognitive distortions associated with depression. The truth really does set you free.
God designed your mind so that it would function best when it is under the influence of his love. When your mind is full of thoughts consistent with his love, your thoughts are healthy, and your mind is exactly the way God means for it to be.
God designed your heart so that it would experience healthy emotions when it is dominated by his love. When your heart is full of emotions that are consistent with his love, your emotions are healthy, and your heart is exactly the way God means for it to be.
A healthy heart and mind free from twisted thinking and distorted emotions are the holy grail in the treatment of depressive disorders.
It's impossible to be depressed when God's love controls your heart and mind. The reason is simple. Twisted thoughts and distorted emotions wither in the presence of God's love. They literally cannot survive when your heart and mind are full of God's love.
God designed your mind so that your thoughts create your emotions, and that's why cognitive therapy is so effective. When you striaghten out your twisted thinking, your distorted emotions naturally disappear.
Nothing is more powerful than God's love. When all else fails, when the hand of flesh falls limp, God's love remains unfettered and unstoppable. When his love comes in the front door, misery, despair, and depression head for the emergency exit.
God's love has enough power to heal your heart and transform your mind. Nothing can do what God's love can, and nothing can do it as well. Furthermore, the positive effects last for eternity. You have a new mind and healed emotions, and the cure lasts forever.
God's love isn't a pipedream that promises one thing and delivers another. The final test of all forms of treatment is whether it works. And it must work on the hard cases just as well as it does on the easy ones.
When all therapies have failed and fallen by the wayside, God's love endures. It never gives up and never surrenders to despair. Nothing is too hard for God. He created the human heart and mind, and He knows everything that can go wrong. He doesn't need to do research or ask anyone for advice. You don't have to wait for someone to discover the cure. God already has the cure for what ails you. He is the powerhouse of unconditional love and has an endless supply that will restore health to your heart and mind. Real power is available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. All you need to do is max out on his love.
When twisted thinking and distorted emotions threaten to take over your life, read Zero Tolerance to Negative Thinking and follow that up with Real Power: Maxing Out on God's Love. Those two books will point you in the right direction and give you the power to make the trip.
If you want to have a mind free from depression, nobody can stop you.
Dr. Dave
