YouTube Video Channel Devo
www.christianityboard.com
“My Story: Intentional Faith”
Psalms 107:1 NIV
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.
This week I felt led to share with you all the story of the past year and all that has gone on in my life. I would like to share a testimony with you. I know I’ve shared some of this already, but I wanted to go into more detail and be transparent with you as I feel that some of you may be able to relate to this from the past or are going through something similar. It’s always comforting to know you are not the only one struggling.
Sometime earlier last year, my job got really stressful and I had a huge load on my plate. There were also a lot of different things happening in life in general that I was struggling to deal with. I started seeing a Christian therapist in 2023 and that has continued to this day. Throughout 2024, I was dealing with challenges in my marriage, challenges with continued negative thoughts and self-esteem and just feeling very down. My mood was often all over the place and I did not like how I got snappy with my wife and my kids on a continual basis. I was just not feeling myself and felt very down and not joyful.
As the months went on, I just kept thinking about it and I finally went to my doctor to get checked out later in the year as I was concerned about my mental health. I was keeping up my running through the winter months as we joined the YMCA so we could have a place to go and keep up being active. That was HUGE for me during the winter, so I could go running and listen to music and sermons. I stumbled upon a devotional through YouVersion from Louie Giglio called “Don’t Give The Enemy A Seat At Your Table”. After going through that, I got the book and read it. Then, I got Craig Groeschel’s book, “Winning The War In Your Mind”.
One of the sermons I heard from Louie Giglio he talked about when he was in a deep depression, he decided he need to be intentional about being positive even when he didn’t feel like it. He started listening to worship music. When I heard that, it really hit me and I immediately decided to start doing that myself. I got into listening to Air1 Christian Radio as my wife was listening to it a lot. Once I started listening to it, I couldn’t stop and then I decided to put my earbuds in at work through the day for music in the background.
After days, weeks and a couple of months my joy has come back and I’m enjoying life once again. I just feel better and I’m not depressed as I was. God has also worked in various ways with my job and some details in life and I just see His working so much to bring more joy to my life.
Now as I’m playing on the worship team at my church, as I’ve been doing for several years, the music means so much more to me than before, even though I was already enjoying it. I’m just enjoying it so much more because the words are going deep into my heart and soul and filling my mind with positivity.
I don’t ever want to go back to how I was feeling before. It was not fun and I didn’t know how I was going to get out of the depression hole. I’m thankful it wasn’t worse than it was, but not fun at all. I know for so long, I just kept thinking, “God, I hate how I feel and I want this to go away! Please help me to feel better!”
I’m sharing this today with you all as I want to encourage you that if you are feeling like this, please be intentional and make a move to bring positivity into your life. You might not feel like doing it, but you need to! Sometimes, you just have to force yourself and be intentional. It really helps when you are intentional and do something to help brighten your mood.
I encourage you to keep the faith and be intentional! Crank up some worship music and let that fill your heart, mind and soul! It did wonders for me and I have some new great worship favorites now! Don’t let the enemy steal your joy! Take it all back!
My Story: Intentional Faith
YouTube Video Channel Devo “My Story: Intentional Faith” Psalms 107:1 NIV Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.
www.christianityboard.com
“My Story: Intentional Faith”
Psalms 107:1 NIV
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.
This week I felt led to share with you all the story of the past year and all that has gone on in my life. I would like to share a testimony with you. I know I’ve shared some of this already, but I wanted to go into more detail and be transparent with you as I feel that some of you may be able to relate to this from the past or are going through something similar. It’s always comforting to know you are not the only one struggling.
Sometime earlier last year, my job got really stressful and I had a huge load on my plate. There were also a lot of different things happening in life in general that I was struggling to deal with. I started seeing a Christian therapist in 2023 and that has continued to this day. Throughout 2024, I was dealing with challenges in my marriage, challenges with continued negative thoughts and self-esteem and just feeling very down. My mood was often all over the place and I did not like how I got snappy with my wife and my kids on a continual basis. I was just not feeling myself and felt very down and not joyful.
As the months went on, I just kept thinking about it and I finally went to my doctor to get checked out later in the year as I was concerned about my mental health. I was keeping up my running through the winter months as we joined the YMCA so we could have a place to go and keep up being active. That was HUGE for me during the winter, so I could go running and listen to music and sermons. I stumbled upon a devotional through YouVersion from Louie Giglio called “Don’t Give The Enemy A Seat At Your Table”. After going through that, I got the book and read it. Then, I got Craig Groeschel’s book, “Winning The War In Your Mind”.
One of the sermons I heard from Louie Giglio he talked about when he was in a deep depression, he decided he need to be intentional about being positive even when he didn’t feel like it. He started listening to worship music. When I heard that, it really hit me and I immediately decided to start doing that myself. I got into listening to Air1 Christian Radio as my wife was listening to it a lot. Once I started listening to it, I couldn’t stop and then I decided to put my earbuds in at work through the day for music in the background.
After days, weeks and a couple of months my joy has come back and I’m enjoying life once again. I just feel better and I’m not depressed as I was. God has also worked in various ways with my job and some details in life and I just see His working so much to bring more joy to my life.
Now as I’m playing on the worship team at my church, as I’ve been doing for several years, the music means so much more to me than before, even though I was already enjoying it. I’m just enjoying it so much more because the words are going deep into my heart and soul and filling my mind with positivity.
I don’t ever want to go back to how I was feeling before. It was not fun and I didn’t know how I was going to get out of the depression hole. I’m thankful it wasn’t worse than it was, but not fun at all. I know for so long, I just kept thinking, “God, I hate how I feel and I want this to go away! Please help me to feel better!”
I’m sharing this today with you all as I want to encourage you that if you are feeling like this, please be intentional and make a move to bring positivity into your life. You might not feel like doing it, but you need to! Sometimes, you just have to force yourself and be intentional. It really helps when you are intentional and do something to help brighten your mood.
I encourage you to keep the faith and be intentional! Crank up some worship music and let that fill your heart, mind and soul! It did wonders for me and I have some new great worship favorites now! Don’t let the enemy steal your joy! Take it all back!
