​Depression – My Turning Point

Take a stand. Do not let go!

“Depression – My Turning Point” is the follow-up to my first Instagram video and email to you on depression. Go back and watch the video or read my first email to you on depression, if you haven’t seen them. The videos are posted on 2 Instagram pages. Click here: @shieldsofstrength or @JohnKennedyVaughan

I wanted to follow up because I had hundreds of comments on that first post on depression, and I just know there are so many people who didn’t comment, who are fighting this battle or know someone who is battling depression.

At some point you must take a stand against depression. You can’t just let go and just see what happens.

Even if you have no idea how you will get out, refuse to sink any further!

Walk with me through my turning point in the hellish nightmare of depression I was going through:

It had probably been a year, maybe 14 months, that I had been dealing with depression. I had exhausted everything I had to give and to fight with, and nothing worked. It only got worse.

Depression will devour everything you will feed it. That’s why you can’t feed it and you can’t fight it. Fighting it is a trap. You have to plant that seed of faith. You have to cast down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.

You have to speak God’s Word to yourself.

Trying to think something out of your head just sends it further into your thoughts.

If you focus on the truth, the lies get starved to death.

So, I had spent all these months trying to overcome depression. I am laying on the shower floor reliving the last year in detail. It was my lowest point ever.

I hope you never experience this. But, for me, it was as if a black hole opened up and I was looking down in it. I did not know what was in it, but I knew if I just let go -- and that’s what I wanted to do, because I felt like I did not have anything else to give -- I would plummet into that black hole and I wouldn’t survive. I felt like my life was on the line.

I made this decision to take a stand.

I took this stand: I said, Lord, I have no idea what I am in. I don’t even understand this, and I have no idea how to get out of here, but I am not going to sink another step lower.

It felt as if I just sunk my hands into the walls and just stopped and refused to fall any further. It was if the angels in heaven cheered. I knew it was the right decision.

Then from there--to go back to that recent email I sent you and my recent Instagram post on depression --- this is when I started finding any pure and safe thing I could to give me relief until I could find my way out.

I had no idea what was going on when this was happening, but in hindsight, I can see so much more. It was that turning point. that decision to say I am not going to sink any lower -- to take a stand -- that was so critical, I believe, in my battle.

Do not let go. Take a stand!

Don’t take the bait. Don’t fight depression. Memorize scripture. Speak it to yourself relentlessly. And, then the truth, faith and love will drive depression out of your life.

It is going to take a lot of persistence. You are going to have to hang in there, but I promise it works.

Find safe and pure things that give you relief: exercise, the beach, burning a fire, sunrise, sunset, looking far into the night sky, a long drive or walk in the country. Value the little things. The little things are the big things.

I am praying for you with all my heart. The day is coming God uses all of this for the good.

Go to shieldsofstrength.com and email us through contacts if you want reminders of the scriptures I used on dog tags. All we need is your name and mailing address. We will send them no charge and we will pay for the shipping. All we ask for is that you relentlessly speak the truth to yourself until the clouds open up.

Your life is not about you. It’s way bigger and more important than that. It’s about God and others. He has a plan for you

Look at all the comments from that first Instagram post I made on depression, and look at all the people going through the same thing.

Thank you all so much for encouraging each other. I love seeing the comments and I love you all.

I am trying to respond personally to all the comments and direct messages from everyone on this.

2 Corinthians 10:5

Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ

1 Corinthians 2:9

Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
Nor have entered into the heart of man
The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.

Laus Deo,

Kenny