| It's 12/27 and here is today's scripture: | |
|
Friday, December 27, 2013
Daily Bible Quote
Meditate On This
Meditate On
| The highest heavens belong to the Lord, but the earth he has given to man. |
| Psalm 115:16, NIV |
 |
Rest And Enjoy What Jesus Has Provided | |
God made everything on this earth for the pleasure and fulfilment of
man. Just as an expectant couple would get ready the room, the cot and
the clothes for the arrival of their baby, God prepared everything man
needed first, including the garden of Eden, so that when man was
created, man would be able to just enjoy everything that God had
created.
In the same way today, Jesus has already done everything for you when He died on the cross for you. The work is finished. What do you need today? Healing? A financial breakthrough? A better job? Every blessing that you will ever need in this life has already been provided for by the sacrifice of Jesus (2 Peter 1:2–3). And to experience these blessings in your life, all you have to do is believe and rest in what Jesus has done for you. So stop trying to make things happen with your self-efforts. You cannot add to the finished work of Jesus.
Beloved, just believe and rest in all that Christ has already done for you. Tell the Lord today, “Lord, I cease from all striving, struggling, pushing and manipulating to get my breakthrough. I rest in what You have already done for me and I thank You that You will bring it to pass in my life!”
In the same way today, Jesus has already done everything for you when He died on the cross for you. The work is finished. What do you need today? Healing? A financial breakthrough? A better job? Every blessing that you will ever need in this life has already been provided for by the sacrifice of Jesus (2 Peter 1:2–3). And to experience these blessings in your life, all you have to do is believe and rest in what Jesus has done for you. So stop trying to make things happen with your self-efforts. You cannot add to the finished work of Jesus.
Beloved, just believe and rest in all that Christ has already done for you. Tell the Lord today, “Lord, I cease from all striving, struggling, pushing and manipulating to get my breakthrough. I rest in what You have already done for me and I thank You that You will bring it to pass in my life!”
New year proves dangerous time for the depressed
Kevin Fagan, Chronicle Staff Writer
With every new year, it's murder for Neal Smither and his crew.
Suicide, too.
As owner of Crime Scene Cleaners, Smither's job is to clean up the bloody messes left behind when people kill each other or themselves - and those first few weeks after Jan. 1 are his busiest time of year.
All that holiday frivolity and togetherness may sound good in songs and movies, and a lot of people do indeed get mighty joyful - but experts say there is also a dark flip side of sadness, rage and depression that flares between Thanksgiving and post-New Year's.
Most people hold their feelings together during the run-up to the new year, but once the holiday letdown sets it in, calls to suicide hot lines nearly double and homicides hit their highest rate of the year. Police officers, crisis counselors and people like Smither put in some long days and nights.
"People have all kinds of reasons then for committing suicide or killing someone, and I've heard them all," said Smither, who with his Oakland-based crew cleans about 1,000 crime scenes nationwide every year. "It can be, 'I'm really sad because I couldn't buy my kids the presents I wanted to,' or 'I'm alone, woe is me,' or they're broke, so boom - they hang themselves, slit their wrists or shoot themselves."
Nationally, the greatest number of homicides in any given year happen just after New Year's Day, the Fourth of July and Labor Day, according to the FBI's annual Uniform Crime Index. Suicides spike right after New Year's.
"People tend to postpone getting any help for the blues during the holidays, when they need them the most, so they go into a sort of state of suspended denial," said Eve Meyer, executive director of the San Francisco Suicide Prevention hot line. "So the period leading right up to New Year can actually be kind of slow for us. But then it all sinks in.
"Right after the first football game on Jan. 1, the calls start pouring in," she said. "Our volume goes up by 20 percent right away and builds from there."
"That expectation that this time we will all pull together, my family will finally love me, I will find someone to love in this magical time of year - all that stuff looks great in the magazines and movies, but it rarely really happens like that," Meyer said.
Smither's crews see the ultimate result if a dangerously anguished person doesn't get help.
"My volume picks up about 5 percent after New Year, and it's never pretty," said Smither, who as a Navy veteran is anything but squeamish.
"It's saddest when it involves kids or very old people," Smither said, humming "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" as he scrubbed down a coroner's van in Martinez on a recent job. "Not everyone can do this job. You have to have a pretty strong stomach."
Meyer said she dispenses three "rules for coping" to emotionally vulnerable people at this time of year.
"First, find someone that you have to take care of," she said. It helps give you perspective and feel needed.
"Then, find someone to take care of you. And lastly, remember that people will love you in December as they loved you in May. If your family was dysfunctional earlier in the year, they will be dysfunctional now. So let go of any idea that everything will suddenly change and be great.
"If you do get together, just tell yourself, 'We're going to be typically us as a family,' " Meyer cautioned. "And if you do feel bad, pick up the phone and call us or a friend.
"Don't put off getting help."
Suicide, too.
As owner of Crime Scene Cleaners, Smither's job is to clean up the bloody messes left behind when people kill each other or themselves - and those first few weeks after Jan. 1 are his busiest time of year.
All that holiday frivolity and togetherness may sound good in songs and movies, and a lot of people do indeed get mighty joyful - but experts say there is also a dark flip side of sadness, rage and depression that flares between Thanksgiving and post-New Year's.
Most people hold their feelings together during the run-up to the new year, but once the holiday letdown sets it in, calls to suicide hot lines nearly double and homicides hit their highest rate of the year. Police officers, crisis counselors and people like Smither put in some long days and nights.
"People have all kinds of reasons then for committing suicide or killing someone, and I've heard them all," said Smither, who with his Oakland-based crew cleans about 1,000 crime scenes nationwide every year. "It can be, 'I'm really sad because I couldn't buy my kids the presents I wanted to,' or 'I'm alone, woe is me,' or they're broke, so boom - they hang themselves, slit their wrists or shoot themselves."
Nationally, the greatest number of homicides in any given year happen just after New Year's Day, the Fourth of July and Labor Day, according to the FBI's annual Uniform Crime Index. Suicides spike right after New Year's.
"People tend to postpone getting any help for the blues during the holidays, when they need them the most, so they go into a sort of state of suspended denial," said Eve Meyer, executive director of the San Francisco Suicide Prevention hot line. "So the period leading right up to New Year can actually be kind of slow for us. But then it all sinks in.
"Right after the first football game on Jan. 1, the calls start pouring in," she said. "Our volume goes up by 20 percent right away and builds from there."
Pushed over the edge
Most people who start feeling suicidal during the holidays are dealing with depression already, and what pushes them over the edge is the conflict between grim reality and an anticipation of idyllic togetherness, bounteous presents and yuletide joy. Ceaseless ads of families showering each other with love and packages, and songs playing everywhere about this being "the most wonderful time of the year" don't help."That expectation that this time we will all pull together, my family will finally love me, I will find someone to love in this magical time of year - all that stuff looks great in the magazines and movies, but it rarely really happens like that," Meyer said.
Smither's crews see the ultimate result if a dangerously anguished person doesn't get help.
"My volume picks up about 5 percent after New Year, and it's never pretty," said Smither, who as a Navy veteran is anything but squeamish.
Job not for everyone
In just the first week of 2010, Smither's crews had to scrub down streets, bathrooms, cars, jail cells, kitchens and driveways all the way from Oakland to San Jose, with a side job in Texas."It's saddest when it involves kids or very old people," Smither said, humming "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" as he scrubbed down a coroner's van in Martinez on a recent job. "Not everyone can do this job. You have to have a pretty strong stomach."
Meyer said she dispenses three "rules for coping" to emotionally vulnerable people at this time of year.
"First, find someone that you have to take care of," she said. It helps give you perspective and feel needed.
"Then, find someone to take care of you. And lastly, remember that people will love you in December as they loved you in May. If your family was dysfunctional earlier in the year, they will be dysfunctional now. So let go of any idea that everything will suddenly change and be great.
"If you do get together, just tell yourself, 'We're going to be typically us as a family,' " Meyer cautioned. "And if you do feel bad, pick up the phone and call us or a friend.
"Don't put off getting help."
How to get help
Anyone with suicidal impulses during the holidays, or any other time of the year, can get free counseling by calling the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at (800) 273-8255. Callers are connected to local volunteer hot lines, and the phones are staffed around the clock, seven days a week. San Francisco's Suicide Prevention hot line can be called directly at (415) 781-0500.Hulk Hogan On Considering Suicide
Hulk Hogan On Considering Suicide And The New Year's Eve When Everything Changed
For decades, Terry Gene Bollea ignited "Hulkmania" around the world as the wrestling legend Hulk Hogan. After his professional wrestling career ended, he earned new fans with his reality show, "Hogan Knows Best," where viewers met his wife, Linda, and two children, Brooke and Nick. The show was canceled in late 2007, and it was shortly after that Hogan says everything around him began to crumble.
"After the show I kinda hit rock bottom," Hogan says in the above clip from "Oprah: Where Are They Now?" on OWN. "Everything got dark, everything happened at once. I was drinking alcohol very heavily. It just all kept piling up, it all kept mounting and mounting I didn't know how to handle it. I always wondered how could someone possibly take their own life, and so I got to that point where I said, 'You know what, maybe this would be easy. You know, maybe this would be an easy way to fix things.'"
On Aug. 27, 2007, Hogan's son Nick lost control of his sports car, severely injuring his passenger and best friend, John Graziano. Nick pleaded no contest to reckless driving and was sentenced to eight months in jail.
Hogan also says his marriage at the time was "crashing and burning."
"There was incident in Miami on New Year’s Eve where I was with my family and a bunch of my friends at a table," he says. "And there's a bunch of negativity about the food being bad, you know the champagne didn't work, even though it was all consumed. And when I walked outside, some kid ran up and hugged me and was like, 'Oh I grew up watching you. I didn't have a dad, you're like a dad to me.' And there was another person that said 'Hey Hulk, we love you.'"
"And I went, 'Oh my God' -- it was right then. I didn't understand what was going on, but it hit me that there's clean air and that there's dirty air. And once I walked back inside again, I realized I couldn't take it anymore. I got sick and tired of being sick and tired. I got sick and tired of the hating, the negativity, the verbal abuse -- just everything that I was hearing."
"I now realize I had to go through all this stuff to be who I am today, to make me who I am today," he says.
Hogan and Linda's divorced was finalized in 2009, ending their 24 year marriage. He went on to marry girlfriend Jennifer McDaniel in 2010.
"Before, it was always, well you're supposed to be this wrestler, you're supposed to be this husband or father that makes this crazy money and travels and works and does this," Hogan says. "And life is tough and money's hard to make and all this fictitious stuff.
"And then I realized all that stuff -- the peace, love, the joy, that still, small voice, the energy, that God presence -- is part of who I'm meant to be," Hogan says.
De Blasio's Daughter Admits Battling Alcohol, Drug Addiction
The 19-year-old daughter of Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio admitted in a
YouTube video released on Christmas Eve that she sought treatment for
alcohol and drug addiction after years of also battling depression.
Chiara de Blasio said in the nearly
five-minute video that she'd been suffering from clinical depression
since her adolescence and used alcohol to cope with her sadness and
anxiety. She said she hopes that by sharing her story, she will inspire
others to get help.
De Blasio said she thought her
problems would be solved by leaving home and going to California for
college, 3,000 miles away. But, she says, she still felt an insecurity
that inhibited her ability to connect with her fellow students and to
curb her addictive behavior.
"I just kept reasoning and using this
really fake rationale that was so justified to me that I could keep
doing this stuff and be like, 'Oh, I won't drink,' and then I would just
smoke weed, and then I'd be like, 'Oh, I'm not going to smoke weed,'
and then I'd just drink," de Blasio said. "It was kind of just bartering
for equally bad outcomes."
After years of struggling, de Blasio
said her therapist recommended an outpatient treatment program in New
York City. Working with both professionals and people her age who
suffered from depression and anxiety as she did, de Blasio says she was
able to work through many of her issues — and get sober.
"Removing substances from my life, it's opened so many doors for me," de Blasio said.
She did not specify when she sought treatment, but said being able
to participate in her father's mayoral campaign this year was a
highlight of her sober life.
She said her parents remained
committed to helping her get better throughout her ups and downs, and
that being able to be honest with them — and others — about her trials
was critical in overcoming them.
People are suffering and dying of these diseases every day, de Blasio said.
"We really can't do anything as a
society to help those people until we start talking about it. Nobody can
do sobriety on their own," she said.
Outside the family's Park Slope home Tuesday, Bill de Blasio said
his daughter had "incredible courage" to speak in the video, noting that
holidays can be particularly difficult times for people struggling with
the issues his daughter has.
"I am just so proud that Chiara decided to speak out and she said
it at this moment which is the time of the year where these challenges
are probably at their sharpest," the mayor-elect said.
Ringing in the New Year without alcohol or depression
Two down. One to go.
Yes, we made it through Thanksgiving, rounded second base, aka Christmas, and are headed to third: New Years Eve.
At this point in the holiday season many of us with mental illnesses are merely “coping.” We are coping with the in-laws. We are coping with children in the throes of sugar detox. We are coping with long lines, stolen parking spots and endless renditions of the same Christmas carols. Seriously, how many different ways can you sing Santa Baby?
We are almost there. For these final days I offer you my 10 commandments for getting through New Years without sliding into a depression or going “Richter” with merriment.
1. Thou shalt not drink.
2. Thou shalt not drink.
3. Thou shalt not drink.
4 .Thou shalt not drink.
5. Thou shalt not drink.
6. Thou shalt not drink.
7. Thou shalt not drink.
8. Thou shalt not drink.
9. Thou shalt not drink.
10. Thou shalt not drink.
Sounds a little harsh, but it’s not bad once you get the hang of it and understand why abstinence is so important for the mentally ill during the holidays. Alcohol is a depressant.
For those of us with depression, bipolar or any kind of addiction, including food, shopping and gambling, drinking alcohol is like dousing a raging fire with gasoline.
“But why can’t I have just a couple of drinks? What’s wrong with a glass of champagne or hot toddy?” Because during the holidays “a” doesn’t exist. There is no such thing as “a” glass of champagne — it’s at least two glasses of champagne on New Year’s Eve. Who drinks “a” glass of wine at a holiday open house or “a” beer while watching a bowl game?
We tend to overdo it during the holidays. We start out with the best intentions but at this point of the holiday, we are over-stimulated: Bright lights. Crowded stores. Hyper kids. Now comes New Years. We’re sentimental and nostalgic. A little holiday cheer can’t hurt, right?
Wrong. It’s hard enough to keep our heads screwed on straight when it is calm. Why take a risk with a few drinks on New Years Eve? Besides, that little label on the side of your brown prescription bottle just might have something to say about mixing alcohol with your antidepressants and mood-stabilizers. Mine do.
You will find being sober on New Years Eve has a lot of pleasant, unexpected rewards. You will wake up in the morning remembering everything that happened the night before, including that annoying guy who tried to karaoke Snoop Dogg. You won’t have to wonder what you said to your mother-in-law. You will have money and all your credit cards intact in your wallet.
You will have saved yourself a thousand calories in wine, cheese and snickerdoodles. Your noggin will not throb and your stomach will be calm. Your hands will not shake. You will not get a DUI. You will not look like the Grinch. You will start the year off healthy.
Two down. One to go.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)