Posts Tagged ‘emotions’

I was reading the blog of Edwin Leap, a physician who writes about medicine, family, and culture, and I found an opinion you don’t hear out there very often. It was based on an observation of a medical chart.

I was looking over a  chart not long ago and saw a combination of medicines that caught my eye.  The young woman I was caring for was taking an oral contraceptive and an antidepressant.  Nothing unusual, except that it occurs to me that I frequently see that combination, especially in high-school and college-aged single women.

I am the first to agree that correlation is not causation. However, that is not an excuse to stop the investigation altogether. Maybe one is not causing the other, but if a correlation exists, then let’s start digging into that. Let’s unpack the correlation and try and discover what is causing the depression, and consequently the need for the antidepressants. Edwin goes further and postulates on one such potential cause.

All women are designed to establish relationships and maintain them.  They are also made to incorporate physical intimacy into the appropriate relationships, rather than have it as a stand-alone activity.  So, when young women are expected to engage in sex without the security of a lasting relationship, without the hope of a lasting connection with their partner, they become uncomfortable. It violates their programming.  Deep inside, in the place they allow very few to see, it breaks their hearts.

Broken hearts can cause depressed minds.  And that, I suspect, is one of the major reasons that so many women are taking antidepressants along with their birth control pills.  Here they are, young, thrilled by life, full of passion and anxious to share their minds, their spirits, even their bodies with someone whom they love.  But once they do, that someone decides that it was fun for a while, but that it’s time to move on to the next person.  Of course young women become depressed.  Why shouldn’t they?

If these things are true, and I think they are, then it makes sense to me that the free gift of sexual freedom is depression.

You can read the full article here.

I heard from a guy on Higher-Calling.com today. He confessed how he was feeling very lonely and had a deep need to be nurtured. These feelings were causing him to feel compulsive in the areas where he is week; specifically to act out sexually. I was humbled by his vulnerable confession and felt honored to receive it. As an aside, I was proud of the man for being in touch with his emotions and owning them. That takes guts guys!

My thoughts gravitated toward my own need to be nurtured. It is a need that I honestly don’t understand very well, but I know it is there. We all have it somewhere.

Occasionally, I will hear a worship song performed by a female artist that touches a deep place in my heart. I wondered for a very long time why these certain songs could always bring me to tears when I listened intently to them. “Amazing Love (You Are My King)”, “Child of God”, Breathe, the list goes on.

One day, I prayed about it and I believe that God impressed upon me somehow that these beautiful songs, sung by His daughters, were His way of nurturing my soul.

I shared this personal insight with my struggling friend and directed him to one of those songs that hits me just that way. It seemed to touch his heart in a similar way. He emailed me sharing how amazing it felt to him as well…he felt nurtured.

Maybe God is trying to tell us something?

This montage is set to the song that I shared with him, “Child of God.” My favorite version of it is from the 7:22 Live Worship CD which is now out of print. But this version, from the Hungry CD is still very good.

Am I nuts? Okay…don’t answer that! But if you have any insight into this, I’d love to hear from you!

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In at risk teen ministry, nothing ever goes as planned. Bible studies take 180’s and distractions are a constant factor. Often God will give me a sentence that will shock my girls into complete attention. Recently it’s been, “If you’re mad at God then yell at him. He already knows you are anyways!” Jaws drop to the floor at the seemingly irreverent statement coming from the Bible Study Lady. Let me firmly say, we aren’t so different. In our minds it’s decided we have no right, we’ve complained too many times, or somehow we deserve it.

Being a wife of a recovering sex addict it is vital I know the permission God gives me to express where my heart truly stands without a barrage of advice. Without ever facing my feelings of abandonment, worthlessness, indignation, injustice, betrayal, and anger I obliterate my own chances of survival in my marriage. These questions and resentments will indeed block my own relationship with Christ if not dealt with emotionally. It does not matter if I have all the right answers if I am unwilling to face my pain and embitterment. This opportunity to vent opens a doorway of communication in deeper intimacy with our Abba. How can you grow in your relationship if you are not allowed to ask the deep groanings of your heart?

What I find so encouraging in my journey is that God’s own Word is filled with questioning people! (Few Examples: Psalms 42:10-11, Lamentations 3:19-20, Habbukuk 1, etc.) God is not threatened by our pain or blame. In fact He encourages the expression and condemns white washed tombs. Can you fathom God loves you so much that He is willing to face your accusations again and again in order to reconcile that relationship? Beloved, you cannot be an ambassador/representative of reconciliation unless you’ve been reconciled yourself! (2 Corinthians 5:18-20) If you are unable to call out to God in your despair, your relationships is one sided. It will go no further by the impassible wall. Open that door child of God; He stands at it knocking to be let into the deepest wounds of your heart.

The freedom to question is just the start. The answers you receive are often surprising. This freedom has deepened my roots and strengthened my intimacy with Jesus. God calls us where we are and now we have to be honest with where that truly is.

The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth. ~Psalm 145:18