Finding Balance is Bedlam

Like many of us, I'm always busy. Family, my day job as a counselor, my writing, blogging, answering e-mails,running errands and trying to find some time for me. I used to think there was an answer, but I'm not so certain there is an answer anymore. In fact I'm sure there is no easy balancing act. It's all about priorites for each of us and we alone are the ones that can choose what is most important in our lives.

Dictionary.com says: BALANCE
–noun
1. a state of equilibrium or equipoise; equal distribution of weight, amount, etc.
2. something used to produce equilibrium; counterpoise.
3. mental steadiness or emotional stability; habit of calm behavior, judgment, etc.

I like these definitions. They also have a lot more. I really liked #2. It reminded me of how I can use scripture to find balance in my life.

Mark 1:35(New International Version)

Jesus Prays in a Solitary Place
35Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.

Matthew 11:28:Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

I'm struggling with balance.


I'm going to complete a schedule this week so I don't let other things that are not priorities get in the way. It won't be perfect, but I'm hoping I'll have a sense of peace about what I need to accomplish.

If you're a writer I also encourage you to visit B.J. Hoff's blog site to read her August 6th post on "A Writers Balance."
http://www.bjhoffgracenotes.typepad.com/

How do you find your balance?

Be Thou My Vision

STRESSED? PART THREE

Depression is a chemical imbalance of the brain. It’s not the blues. We all feel a little down in the dumps at times, but to be sure that doesn’t mean we’re depressed. When someone is seriously depressed they can’t, “pull themselves up by their bootstraps.” That’s like telling someone who has lost the ability to walk to “just stand up.” It’s not possible. And for some people depression can lead to suicide. Depression can be deadly.

But there is hope for people who suffer from depression, anxiety and other forms of mental illness. Medication is not an evil word. Unfortunately, some people think that the need for medicine to help you feel better emotionally is some kind of crutch. It’s not. It’s no different than taking medicine you would take for any other illness. So if you think you might be depressed or suffer from another form of mental illness please seek professional help from a good therapist and/or psychiatrist.



There are many mysteries yet to be solved regarding the human body. The health of the spirit is also related to the health of the brain. Please remember that the brain is part of the body and those who suffer with any type of mental illness are due the same respect as anyone else who has cancer, diabetes, thyroid disease, etc.. It’s just different. Taking care of you means taking care of your brain, too.

Whether we are writers, readers, teachers, ministers, doctors, lawyers,  homemakers, nurses, secretaries, you name it. We have to take care of ourselves. Wasn't it George Burns who said something like, "If I'd known I was going to live this long I'd taken better care of myself?"  :)



If mental health is a color, what color would it be and why?

Okay, I wrote this. I get to go first.:) Mental health is orange because it's so vibrant.

Mustard Seed Faith

I’ve wrestled with different types of fear my entire life. My parents separated when I was six. I had nightmares until I was in college related to the fear that many kids believe, and that’s that they are somehow responsible for the break up of their parents. Not true, yet many kids feel or have felt this way.


I was very sick and hospitalized when I was in second grade. In 1963 children were on wards and in beds next to each other, (at least it was my experience). The children on either side of me died. I became afraid of death. My brother died when he was 27 years old (he would have celebrated his 54th birthday today). I became even more afraid of death.


I experienced a lot of other reasons to fear in my lifetime: car accidents, my own childrens' illnesses, the death of friends, the death of other family members. The list goes on and on. I’m 55 now and I’m not afraid most of the time. Do I occasionally let my fears slip in? Yes. I’m not able to banish my fears completely, but I finally figured out that no matter how hard I try, in my human strength, I cannot keep bad things at bay. I don’t have control. God does. All I can do is the best I can do, trust God for the rest, and remember the mustard seed.

He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." Matthew 17:20 NIV

So have faith, not fear. Peace, not fear. Trust, not fear. Hope, not fear.

In my counseling Bible, The Bible for Hope, NKJV, the introduction to Numbers talks about fear. The first paragraph states, “Fear can immobilize. Fearful people often do not think straight and run off in the wrong direction to escape the source of their fear. The world can be quite scary, and at times, Christians will become afraid. On those occasions, they can either run away from God, thinking that he cannot handle their fears, or they can run to God for protection.”

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” (NKJV). 2 Timothy 1:7





Question: What are you afraid of? What are you going to do about it?

STRESSED? PART TWO

One of the biggest mental health disorders that we all know something about and many writers suffer from is depression. Did you know that Sir Winston Churchill suffered from depression; he called it his Black Dog. http://www.blackdoginstitute.org.au/

British folklore talks about a ghostly black dog that has large glowing eyes. This made me wonder if that was the thought behind Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s, The Hound of the Baskervilles. I have not researched that idea but did a quick search of the question on the internet and found, not surprisingly, that Conan Doyle did suffer from depression after his wife and several other family members died. It would have been difficult not to be depressed in those circumstances. I wonder if his writing helped him cope.




My point is that anyone can suffer from any mental disease. Depression and anxiety are more commonly known than some of the other disorders, but even obsessive-compulsive disorder is out of the closest now with some help from Adrian Monk, the defective detective. Please visit: http://www.ocfoundation.org/

Fear can suck happiness from our lives by not allowing ourselves the joy and freedom of living to the fullest as God wants us to. Fear can lead to depression and a number of anxiety disorders. In the worst possible circumstances suicide becomes a risk and all too often a reality.

If anyone ever tells you they are planning on killing themselves, whether you think it's true or not, take it very seriously and call 911. Teens will sometimes jokingly talk about suicide. Don't ignore that talk. And be especially vigilant for our men and women returning from Iraq, Afganistan or any military service. They are  vulnerable to thoughts and actions of suicide. Never give up!
There is HOPE!

Streams In The Desert

My family and I had walked through a spiritually devastating desert for several years. My oldest daughter had been diagnosed with a severe learning disability known as NLD (non-verbal learning disability similar to Asperger’s Syndrome). For more information you can go to http://www.nldline.com/ On top of that she’d developed a complicated depression, anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder. She was eleven years old and in fifth grade. My youngest was eight at the time and so very scared about what was happening to her big sister.

This month my oldest will turn twenty and the severity of the problems continue but we are learning to trust God no matter what. Without Christ in our lives, our church, and many friends, I can’t see anyway we would have made it this far. But I’m a big believer in the power of prayer and in the power of hope. I even have a carved sculpture in my office that simply says, HOPE.





Several years ago, Robin Lee Hatcher, recommended I buy a copy of a daily devotional originally published in1925. That devotional is titled, Streams in the Desert, written by L.B. Cowman, and updated in modern language by James Reimann. Streams in the Desert is relief for the parched soul.

Yesterday was September 7th (Labor Day) and I posted over at http://www.inkwellinspirations.blogspot.com/ You might want to check that out as this is a continuation of that post. Streams in the Desert, begins with Psalm 46:1- God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. The first sentence: “Why didn’t God help me sooner?”




And then later the text continues.

"I once heard the following statement from a simple old man, and I have never forgotten it: "When God tests you, it is a good time to test Him by putting His promises to the test and then claiming from Him exactly what your trials have made necessary."

The text continues again: "There are two ways of getting out of a trial. One is simply to try to get rid of the trial, and then to be thankful when it is over. The other is to recognize the trial as a challenge from God to claim a larger blessing than we have ever before experienced, and to accept it with delight as an opportunity of receiving a greater measure of God's divine grace.

"In this way, even the Adversary becomes a help to us, and all the things that seem to be against us turn out to assist us along our way. Surely this is what is meant by the words "in all these thing we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us." (Rom. 8:37). A.B. Simpson Page 342.


Let me say it can be very hard to learn lessons when our children are suffering. I don’t even want to think about learning a lesson in those circumstances. I just want results. Fast! But looking back over the past nine years I have learned much. Okay, what you may say have you learned through this long, long, trial that still persists? Here’s my short list:
1) Patience
2) Prayer
3) Persistence




My long list begins something like this:
1) The need to let God work in a situation that I feel I need to control. That’s a tough one.
2) Wrestling God for a blessing and what that really means.
3) The need to REALLY take care of yourself even when things are awful because a long term illness of any kind will exhaust you as a caregiver and parent.
4) Hanging on to hope when you can’t find it.
5) Asking friends to stand in the gap and pray when you can’t pray one more word.
6) Finding peace in the Word, on a walk, in prayer, or in "being still."





Through all our trials as a family Christ has always been there for us even when we didn’t know it or feel his presence. Think about your trials and your “dry times.” What was it that you thirsted for? How did God provide?

Every morning on my way to work I pass a fountain that says: “Thirsty and ye gave me drink.” I roll my window down and listen to the calm of the water. It’s really nice when I get a red light and can enjoy it for a minute longer.

Psalm 46:1- God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.