Monday, January 13, 2014

The Past

There is something about our pasts that seems to bind us somehow - in good ways and bad. Much of my postpartum depression has come from me holding on to the past too much. There were wrongs that I felt never had been righted. There were intimidation issues which came from past experiences. There were hurts that I had not healed from. All of these things would tend to come to the surface and "haunt" my postpartum experiences more often than not. Most the time, when I finally learned to let go of something that was haunting me from my past - or finally worked through it enough that I felt I could let it go, I healed from my postpartum depression as well.
Recently I have been thinking about letting go of past hurts and moving on from where I am at right now. I know that I need to allow healing. I know that to let go of that thing in the past would mean that something else would take it's place. I am daring to hope that the thing that takes its place will be good. Or shall I say God. If I let go of the past (bad), I am allowing myself to move closer to God. There is a motto in my church ... CTR (choose the right). The right side of our bodies represents the future. "Choose the right" recently took on another meaning to me, which is choose the future. Don't focus on the past, focus on choosing things that will make your future brighter. Choose things that will make your today shine bright.
A good counselor can help you heal from past hurts, right past wrongs, and let go of the bad. I have said it before, and I'll say it again. I am thankful for and testify of the "wonderful counselor" Jesus Christ who takes away my sins, who has born my greifs and carried my sorrows, so that I do not need to.

Saturday, January 04, 2014

Hope Is Never Lost

In hopes of reviving my own hopes, I am writing this post about hope never being lost.
I thought of this phrase after wondering how to get rid of the "giving up" feeling I have been having lately. This is not just the passing, "Oh it's no use..." statement that we sometimes give when we are going about our day sometimes, as a figure of speech or a tiny giving up, but this is  a feeling of really believing that it is no use to even try to do much at all. Just now as I was writing that, though, the phrase "gird up your loins, fresh courage take, our God will never us forsake" came into my mind. Earlier when I was having the utter giving up feelings, I thought about the remedies that might be out there for this negative emotion and so I was thinking of the opposite - hope - the belief that your good efforts WILL pay off some day, hopefully in the not-so-distant future. Then the voice of Jeffery R Holland came into my mind. "Hope is never lost!" He gave a great talk  last conference about how to make it through a mental illness - mainly deep depression. It was a beautiful talk and I am glad that those words came into my head because the feeling I got from the Holy Ghost entered my heart when I thought of those words. I am especially glad that I blogged about them just now, because I needed to hear the other words too about girding up my loins!
Be of good cheer. (John 16:33 http://www.lds.org/scriptures/nt/john/16?lang=eng)
Be strong and of a good courage! (Joshua 1:6 http://www.lds.org/scriptures/ot/josh/1?lang=eng)
Come unto me all ye  who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28 http://www.lds.org/scriptures/nt/matt/11?lang=eng)

God bless you, help you, and keep you!