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Have faith.
But when you are at the lowest of your moods, how do you have faith? Where does that ability to have faith come from?
Presently I am reading a book about being happy despite your circumstances. Being happy doesn't fix the problems and concerns of daily life, happiness doesn't even pay the bills or find the lost spirit. Happiness is fleeting for the most part.
Joy is what seems to be lasting, but how do you find joy? Where does the joy come from? Someone, I'm sure will come back and say that you find it in Jesus Christ. Yes, yes, I agree that knowing our Savior should bring us joy...joy that is everlasting and eternal.
But how do you find joy or HAVE joy when you are down, lost, depressed, feeling out of sorts?
This book talks about thoughts, how we are always constantly thinking...without even knowing or realizing that we are thinking, we are thinking. Thoughts are formed within a nano second and can last as long as we think about them. The key here is how long WE DECIDE to think about them, good or bad.
Our thoughts are divided between two things...reality and non-reality which is formed by fear, emotions, past experiences that can or cannot relate to the present situation, and habit. It's in the knowing the difference between these two thoughts that gives us the high mood or the low moods we as human beings experience each and every day.
The silly thing about many of us (ME included) is that there is nothing wrong with our lives, we have wonderful families, (with a few nuts, of course) a good marriage, great kids, a roof over our heads, food on the table, and a job to go to each week. Our health is good, money in our pockets, and friends to count on, but still the moods, the thoughts come and carry us away...nothing is right, life sucks, I'm too fat, not smart enough, I hate this house, this town, ahh! Then before you know it you're as low as one could get; no faith, no joy, no happiness just discouragement.
So the key here is to control the thoughts that are coming fast and furious without consciousness or control. Quickly deciphering which is reality and which thought is not; since so many of our thoughts are not even possible, is difficult at best. These thoughts have been created from fear, mental deception, temptation from the great Deceiver, and wherever else we have exposed ourselves to; TV, movies, Facebook. I, myself, have read way too many of these stories to forget, much less dismiss easily as possible non-realities, sigh.
But we must, one thing the author says in this book is that we need to review our present situation and see that mostly there is no reason or proof of reality of our thoughts, so we much discount them and replace these negative thoughts with positive ones. Redirect your head, or as a friend of mine says, "re-frame it" look at it differently and see through rational eyes what is truly reality. What I see here is having the courage to change and basically release thoughts that are not reality and that are formed from fear. Having the courage to believe in a reality that we may not see with our eyes, but with our hearts. I've heard courage decribed as being fear with running shoes on, interesting, but makes sense. Courage is having the gumption to take off on faith despite our thoughts and fears.
So back to my original question: How does one have faith when at the lowest of our moods? The snap of a finger, or pat on the back....no through prayer, not just one prayer, but many prayers and many thoughts of God and a saint or two whose journey through mortal life had it's challenges and that they persevered.
The bottom line is that we must persevere in faith, finding the joy that is in Jesus Christ through positive thinking, redirecting our heads and hearts to more meaningful and joyful reading material....like the Bible to help us along the way, both spiritually and mentally...and don't forget your guardian angel who is there to keep and guide you!!
Dear Heavenly Father, when the dark thoughts happen across my mind,
grab them before they reach my heart and hold me firmly in your arms.
Help me to think only of your love and feel the joy that is in your son
our Lord Jesus Christ!
AMEN
Today we had to put our favorite canine pet down. He was 14+ years old
and so feeble that he stayed in his bed all day until my husband
insisted that he get up to go outside. He couldn't walk well, he collapsed at a drop of a hat and groaned all the time for the last
month. 
He was a Catahoula Leopard and a rare breed from Louisianan. But most
importantly, he was our Theodore, a wonderfully loving and devoted boy.
We got him at the Houston SPCA for our son, Marshall when he was 18 for
his birthday. That was in 2000, and we named him Theodore after the
PBS kids series, Theodore, Tugboat....of which we loved watching.
Everyone we knew loved him and enjoyed visiting with him. He tolerated
all the dachshunds that we fostered, and the two we adopted. He
tolerated the cats...all four of them.
We will miss him severely.
The house is quiet now......
we are all in mourning.
Just as I think I am all up-to-date with my friends, especially my writer friends, I find one that got somehow lost in the recent shuffle.
Jeff's place
He has some great pics of castles, music, and just great insight into the life of a writer, father, and foreign land seeker.
