We all will fight a battle in this life.  At some time or another, you will come face to face with the enemy who will fill your head full of all kinds of negative thoughts.  You will feel defeated, depressed, worthless, and hopeless.  The thing is to recognize that these thoughts are completely false and are 100% from the devil.  Realize also that the battle is in our minds.

You may feel like you’re in a no win situation here.  Recognize that you cannot do anything of your own strength, but with God on your side, the battle is already won.  He will not leave you, EVER!  And when you feel weak, He will give you strength.  When it looks like the situation is impossible, remember that ALL things are possible with Christ.

In this day and age, we are seeing more and more people that are affected by depression and suicidal thoughts.  I just read an article this past weekend on a teenage boy that struggled with a mental illness and thoughts of harming himself.  Outwardly, a girl he befriended two to three years ago seemed to be caring and compassionate, meanwhile, she was secretly working to convince this troubled young man to end his life.  This is something he had been contemplating, and for whatever reason, this girl encouraged it right up to the point that he took his own life according to text messages that the police recovered.  That is something that I am having a difficult time grasping.  Why would anyone encourage another to take their own life?  The proper thing to do would have been to talk to his parents, an authority figure … some one, any one to help this young man … and try to talk him OUT of it!

Depression does not discriminate.  It can affect the old, middle aged, as well as the young.  It is heartbreaking to hear of pre-teens and teenagers that are troubled with depression, struggling with their self esteem, and ultimately contemplating whether life is worth living.  IT IS!!  Oh how I wish I could help each and every person that has ever had thoughts of harming themselves.  I know that I don’t possess the powers within me to help everyone.  I realize that I cannot save someone that doesn’t want to be saved.  But I would use my last breath to encourage someone and talk them out of ending their lives if I could.  Sadly, our family was not able to reach my sister before she took her own life in 2001.  We did not know that her postpartum depression was as bad as it was.  She had just delivered a beautiful baby girl, and two weeks later, we were attending her funeral.  Words will never be able to express how our hearts broke that day when we learned of her passing and how our hearts shattered when we were told how it happened.  For years we felt such incredible grief … and guilt for not knowing and not being able to prevent her suicide.  I wish she had reached out to me that morning, but all the guilt, shame, and blame that we heaped upon ourselves after the fact would never be able to bring her back. Oh how we wish we would have seen the signs beforehand to have prevented this tragedy, but we did not know.  We simply did not know!

My sister obviously had a battle going on inside of her mind.  Like so many that struggle with depression, these voices in her head convinced her that she would be better off and that those she loved would be better off as well.  BUT THEY LIED!  Those voices were the biggest liars that I know.  Those lies came straight from the pits of HELL, from the devil himself.  Oh how I wish she had rebuked the devil that day and sent him back to hell forever.

If adults feel the pressure, stress, and anxiety, imagine how it is magnified for teenagers who haven’t matured enough to handle everything that comes at them and fight those negative voices in their heads.   Imagine how overwhelmed they feel when they are struggling at school, among their peers, with their parents, etc.  The list goes on and on.

A few years ago, I read Joyce Meyer’s book Battlefield of The Mind.  Then I realized that she came out with a book for teens on this subject as well entitled Battlefield of the Mind For Teens:  Winning The Battle In Your Mind.  I bought this book for my teenage daughter in hopes that she would read it so that it would help her.  I’m not sure if she read it or just flipped through it before tucking it under her bed or throwing it on her book shelf.  It’s kind of like the saying, “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.”  I provided the literature for her in hopes that it would help, but no matter the amount of nagging, I could not make her read it!  I offered it to her and mentioned it once or twice after that, then I left it alone.

I like self help books, especially Christian ones.  I enjoy reading books that have a great take-away message.  While others are reading the latest mystery, action, or romance novel, I’m soaking in all that the self help books have to offer.   And, I take what I’ve learned and share it on this site to help my readers.  I intend to do that with this book in the coming days.  I hope you’ll check back to see what goodies I’ve found to share.

When I started writing this post, I did not realize what this day symbolized until my daughter just came in to share with me.  Today is Self Harm Awareness Day.  How ironic that the topic I chose to write on goes hand in hand with this day.  I don’t believe this happened by accident.  I believe that the world needs to hear encouraging words to help them hold on and fight this battle against the negative thoughts the devil places in our minds.  Let’s bind together against the enemy and the battle that is in our minds.  Join me this week as I fight untruths that the devil tells us and share the truth in God’s word!