I’ve got one pinned to my bathroom mirror; another in a side pocket of my purse; several in the fold of my Bible. “Love you, Mom; You’re the best teacher; So glad we’re friends; Sisters forever.” A variety of notes from my sons, family, friends, and students filled with encouraging expressions of love.  As meaningful as they are—keepsakes revisited in time of need—it wasn’t until I discovered the faithful, everlasting, unconditional love book that I convinced.

            I remember when my youngest was almost five. He found my high school year-book picture and brought it to me. “Who is this lady?” He asked.
           “Why, that’s me when I was much, much younger,” I said.

How often do we question God’s love for us? When doubt strikes through sin, disease, drifting, or faltering faith, it’s natural to wonder, “Do You still love me?”

           Thankfully, God is love; “His love endures forever.” Psalm 106:1c.

“How wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ” Eph. 3:18b

“I have loved you with an everlasting love.” Jer. 31:3

“God so loved the world He gave . . .” John 3:16

“So great is His unfailing love” Lam 3:32

“He will quiet you His love” Zep. 3:17

When you find yourself in need of more than what others are even capable of giving, turn to the number one, true and perfect love note: God’s word.

         “I lift up my eyes to the hills—where does my help come from?

My help comes form the LORD . . . The Lord watches over you . . . The Lord will keep you from all harm—he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.” Amen and Amen! (Psalm 121)

 “My soul is weary with sorrow; strengthen me according to your word.” Psalm 119: 28

            It’s not a matter of if we deal with depression. We all will and do at some point in our lives. I remember the “Ok, I get it” moment God spoke to me. It was a couple months after my daughter passed away. I finally got up the nerve to enter her room, then to actually sit in the rocking chair—our rocking chair—that encapsulated our short “mother/ daughter” time together. It didn’t take long for the D word to begin to pull me down. Tears soaked my blouse; groans bellowed up from beyond the pit of my stomach. The “why, Lord, just tell me why” began, again. That’s when the loving wisdom of my Father freed me.

            “Lezlie, depression is no more than an emotion, and I created all emotions. It’s not about feeling depressed. It’s about what you are going to DO when you get depressed. You have two choices here. Continue to wallow and sink deeper into the abyss of self-pity, or GET UP and say good-bye.”

            That tough love lesson rang true once again June 2013. Death didn’t knock, no, that sting was gone. This time it was drugs, but not for the first time. Drugs had already stolen years from one of my sons (but only for a decade!) Now drugs came again, no, not just again, but back. Back to haunt yet another of my sons—for the second time in his life.

            “That’s it God, I already did this, I can’t do it again.”

            “I know you can’t. Let me.”(And when my son cried out, God answered him, again!)

            My depression lasted longer this time, but it didn’t defeat me. God’s word is living, true, and freeing. It is “new every morning.” It is the detonator needed to bust through, apart, and thoroughly destroy anything that tries to rob us from the joy of the knowledge of eternity.
           “In my anguish I cried to the LORD and he answered by setting me free.” (Psalm 118:5)
            Do you want freedom from depression? Open the pages of the one book that has lasted the longest throughout history. Allow His words to detonate the lies of the destroyer as He restores your soul with truth.