Tonight we continued our series about survivor. We talked about overcoming depression. I started by sharing about how dpressed I was when I first moved to Goldendale. I was almost to the point of suicide before I had an encounter with God during a summer camp. We also read the story of Elijah being depressed out of 1st Kings 19:1-18. In the story he has just come off of a spiritual high on Mt. Carmel, but hten is threatened to be killed by the queen. He runs off to the wilderness to escape but also because he is depressed. As he sits under a tree he asks God to just kill him. He was afraid of being caught by the queen, he felt alone because he thought he was the only one that was still worshiping God in Israel, so he got as far alone as he could and asked God to kill him off. He wasn't able to come out of that depresssion until he encountered God on the Mt. Horeb and also while there God showed him that he wasn't alone, there were 7,000 that God had kept from worshiping the false gods and kept worshipping him.
Teenages have the highest suicide rate in the country, it is a difficult time to live. Emotions are running on highs and lows like no other time. But people get depressed, no matter if they are Christian or not. You don't need to always explain why you are depressed, but it can help. You might feel alone and hopeless when you are depressed. But it is very important tor emember two things. 1. No matter what you are never alone: God is there no matter where you are, and there are those of us that are also here for you. 2. With God there is always hope (see examples of Jesus rising from the dead or even the story we just read about Elijah, or Jonah in the ocean). If you are depressed, don't be scared to tell God and get his help, or you can always turn to a youth group leader too.
I give tonight: B
Favorite Moment: Seeing three stand, though it was hard, and get prayed for
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