Week 2

Week 2

Physical Helps

Last week you complied a list of scriptures to meditate on and started Bible reading program. This week, continue to read your scriptures out loud to yourself 3 times a day and read 1 chapter a day in Proverbs, Psalms and John. Keep doing this and write down any new verses you come across that speak to your situation, adding them to your list.

When you meet with your prayer partner(s), share the verses you have on your list and talk about how doing this has affected you.

This week, I want you to add some actual scripture memorization. Ask God which of the verses you should work on and personalize it.

Don't try to memorize a long passage all at once. Read the whole thing over out loud once. Then work on one phrase at a time. Read it out loud several times and then try to say it without looking. A few hours later, see how far you can get with out looking and then repeat the process only adding another phrase if you had the first one down.

As you get these scriptures in your heart, you will find yourself doing or saying things that are contrary to them and they will pop up in your thoughts. This will enable you to change what you are doing or at least to tell someone that you should have done it differently. Listen to your spirit and act. Soon the verses will pop up as you are about to do or say the wrong thing and eventually it will not be a problem anymore.

At one point I realized that my fear of tornadoes was damaging my children. I needed to deal with it. There are several verses that speak of how God is a refuge and a shelter in times of trouble and through storms. I decided on a simple personalized mantra to speak to this fear. “Jesus is my shelter in the storm.” Every time the fear would try to grip me, I would repeat this out loud as many times as I needed to. Eventually the fear would subside. Today I live in a trailer on the prairie with no basement or root cellar to run to. THAT is a miracle. Every now and then I have a little healthy nervousness, but that overwhelming fear is gone!

Now on to the physical part …

Exercise!

The brain is a physical organ. It needs blood flow to work properly. Use the following space to brain storm about ideas that will help you move more, even if it's just 5 minutes more than you are moving now. Some people do better with going to a gym or concentrating on one activity like walking. Others need a variety of activities. I personally try to incorporate a variety of activities into my day from parking a little further from my destination to jumping on my mini trampoline 100 times.

Choose some goals and make a chart to check off when you've done one of the ideas. Or keep a journal of what you did each day. Writing it down or checking it off helps establish your new habits and gives you a sense of accomplishment. Share your accomplishments with your prayer partner(s) when you meet.

An activity chart is available in the next post.

Light and fresh air!

You were not built to live in a cave. Go outside for at least 5 minutes every day even if the weather is bad. It's amazing how spending a few minutes outside can clear your mind. Turn on the lights in your house. Get a full spectrum lamp and sit under it every morning. (Do not put it on while you are sleeping though. It will do more harm than good.)

Diet

Go on elimination diets. Sometimes certain foods can aggravate physical conditions that contribute to depression. Eliminate any food you think might be a problem for a week and then add it back in to see if it is a problem. Sugar and grains are often culprits.

Fasting is a great way to flush your system of toxins. Try fasting lunch to begin with. Once you have that down, try a couple of meals or a whole day.

Warning: Anytime you fast or go on an elimination diet, your body is likely to protest. Try to schedule the first day or two during a time when you don't have much you absolutely must do.

Supplements

There are many supplements that have been proven to be helpful with depression. I will give you a list of the ones I know about. Get the highest quality that you can and make sure they say “natural”. The synthetic ones aren't absorbed as well and can cause more problems down the road.

St. John's Wort is a well known supplement for depression, but please don't take it if you are on any psychiatric meds. It can interact with them and cause an overdose.

Please consult your doctor and your pharmacist before taking them, but don't stop there! Do your own research and consult with God as well. Find out about possible drug or supplement interactions. Try to find out how and why they work. Learn everything you can, read both the positive and negative articles, then pray and ask God to help you make decisions. Not everything will work for you.

If you have access to the internet, type the name of the supplement into the search bar and read or listen to several sites about it. Then type the name again and the word “warnings”. Read or watch several sites there. Then if you take any prescription meds, put the name of the supplement in again along with the name of the med. Once you've done all this, you will be able to make informed decisions. And if you start to use a supplement and you find yourself having problems, stop using it! Each person is unique. Do what works for you!

A few websites that I have found very useful are:

http://www.webmd.com/

http://www.mercola.com/

http://www.naturalnews.com/

It cannot be stressed enough: Include God in every decision. He is the one who made you. He can tell you just how you work.

At one time, I was having a lot of problems with my knees. I tried taking glucosamine/chondroitin, but it gave me really bad gas. I went to God and asked what to do. I had a very very strong impression that I should take more oils.
At the time, I was taking the recommended amount of flax oil and evening primrose oil. I doubled the dose, taking the oils at breakfast and supper. This gave me some relief but not total, so I added another dose at lunch. That did the trick! Some months later, I got tired of taking them so I quit. In a few weeks I was having great difficulty walking again. Went back on them and I rarely have any problems! A few years later, I started reading studies about how these oils help with inflammation! God is able to give answers when no one else can!

So here's the list:

Omega 3 oils – krill oil is the best, but flax or fish oil will help too.

Vitamin D3 – This is not the same vitamin d that is in milk. The D2 found in milk is a synthetic form of D. D3 works better and it is rare that enough can be ingested to be toxic.

B12 – Get the sub-lingual type. It is absorbed better

Magnesium – Make sure it comes from a source that ends in “ate”. If the chemical source of a mineral ends in “ide”, the source is a rock. “ate” means it is from an actual food source.

Vitamin C – C can cause stomach upset. If this is a problem, get the “Ester-C” variety.

B-complex – great for your nerves

Chromium – again, get the “ate” stuff

Beta Carotene – This is a natural form of vitamin A that is very difficult to overdose on.

Natural Sea Salt – Get the kind that has colored flakes in it. God put salt into other rocks so that you would get the trace minerals along with it. White salt is pure sodium. These trace minerals that are found with salt are the only kind of “rock” supplement your body is built to absorb.

You will need to research dosage and experiment with what works for you Every person is different. Starting only one supplement at a time and giving it a couple of weeks to see if you have any negative reactions is a good strategy. But remember, when using nutritional supplements, it may take up to 3 months to see a real difference. When I try a new supplement, I usually take a break from it after a few months to see if it has made a difference. Do what works for you.

If it helps with inflammation or circulation, it's probably good for depression. My personal (non-medical) opinion is that inflammation and lack of oxygen to the brain are probably the two biggest physical culprits in chronic depression.

A while after the doctors got my breathing under control, I was caring for a little girl. This little girl found a couple of feather dusters and started playing “cheerleader” with them. Right away, even before my breathing was affected, I literally felt my brain swell. I became very frustrated and angry and started yelling at her. Later, I realized that I had spent most of my life like that. It's no wonder I was such a pain to be around!

If you have allergies of any kind, this is probably happening to you too. Maybe not as severely as what I experienced, but inflammation may very well be a factor. Inflammation is a physical reaction that God designed to surround toxins so they can't kill you quickly. It's a good thing, but it can get out of control. At the very least, inflammation makes you tired and it's difficult to function or think well when you are tired.

It will take a long time to rebuild your nervous system. Be patient and concentrate mainly on renewing your mind!