According to the journal, Social Indicators Research, Americans appear to be more depressed now than they have been in years.  Researchers examined data from 6.9 million teens and adults in the U.S., and found that contemporary Americans report more symptoms of depression that affect the body, such as trouble sleeping and concentrating, than people typically did in the 1980s.  This study also shows an increase in symptoms most people don't even know are connected to depression, which suggests adolescents and adults really are suffering more.
Today's teenagers are 38 percent more likely to report problems with memory compared with their 1980s counterparts. They are also 74 percent more likely to have trouble sleeping and twice as likely to have seen a specialist for mental health issues. Contemporary college students in the study were 50 percent more likely to admit that they felt overwhelmed, while adults were more likely to say that they were restless sleepers, had a poor appetite and that, on top of that, everything else was an effort. All of these issues are often manifestations of depression.
"Despite all of these symptoms, people are not any more likely to say they are depressed when asked directly, again suggesting that the rise is not based on people being more willing to admit depression," a psychology professor said.
It sounds pretty depressing, doesn’t it? Is there a remedy other than the use of antidepressants which has doubled since the 1980s? The medications may have helped people with the most severe problems, but they have not stopped a rise in depression symptoms.
Well…  According to the survey done by the Barna research Group, there is a remedy other than taking medication.  Those who read the Bible say they feel peaceful (45 percent), encouraged (41 percent), and hopeful (35 percent), according to a phone survey of 1,012 Americans and an online survey of 1,024 Americans conducted by the Barna Research Group.
Are you living a discouraged and depressed Christian life or hope-filled and upbeat, exciting life?  Are you depressed because you don’t know who you are?  Ephesians 1:4-6 says that God chose you and adopted you as His child and made you equal to Jesus.  And He loves you dearly.  Are you depressed because you feel like you’re stuck? Paul said (v. 7) Jesus paid the price with his life to set you free, and He will show you the way out.  Are you depressed because you don’t know the clear purpose of your life?  Jesus gave you a new plan for your life according to God’s will (v. 9), and God wants you to claim it and enjoy it.  Are you depressed because you lack influence or power?  Paul says Jesus gave you the Holy Spirit (v. 13) because you’ve been baptized with the Holy Spirit the moment you came to know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, and this power is guaranteed, and it neither can be revoked nor canceled! (v. 14)  The lists can go on and on.
So why don’t people read the Bible more often?  Does it seem like you’re doing your best, only to have one crisis after another come upon you?  Do you feel like the world is crashing on you, and there’s not much you can do about it?  Do you just want to give in?  God’s Word has plenty to say about discouragement and depression and how to deal with them.  Jesus said (John 15:11), “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.”  Jesus is the only One who can bring you out from your discouragement or depression completely.  The Bible says it so.

From Pastor Neil’s Heart
April 12, 2015

Remember a time where you experienced heightened joy and happiness.  I’m talking about a memory where you spent hours talking, laughing, enjoying the company of loved ones and the experiences you had with them.  How do you feel now as you think on this moment?  Now remember a time where you experienced the depth of sadness and despair.  A time where you felt there was no possibly reason to rejoice and no hope for the future, the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel.  How did you feel now as you think on this moment?
Memories invoke the heights and the depths of the range of emotions that make the situations and circumstances you remember a part of who you are and how you became that person.  The idea of remembering is the foundation for the season of Lent, Passion Week, Good Friday, and Easter – and this is not a new idea, especially for God.  During this time, we remember the sacrifice of Jesus, as the perfect and spotless Lamb of God, who died to reconcile man to God and to proclaim freedom for the broken.  We remember with contrite hearts the pain and suffering He had to endure for our sake.  But we also remember the glory of the resurrection, that though death seemed to have had a moment of victory, Christ in His power resurrected from death to life, giving us hope and freedom from sin.  He was victorious over death and gave us that victory.  We have hope because there was resurrection!  Thousands of years later, we remember this time, but the beauty of remembering did not begin post resurrection.  It began with God long ago.
When the Israelites were in captivity in Egypt, we are told in scriptures that God heard the groans of His people and He “remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob” (Exodus 2:24).  This memory, which was never a distant memory but one that He kept near and dear to His heart, was the first step to the great “exodus”, or the deliverance of His people, and the establishment of relationship between God and a group of people.  God remembered His promise to Abraham that his people would be a great nation and a blessing to all peoples.  God establishes the Law through Moses, laws specifically tailored to keep righteousness or relationship between God and the Israelites.  History shows that the laws were broken time and time again and consequently a broken relationship between God and man.  The future of the relationship seems pretty hopeless, other than a few glimmers of prophetic words, but enter Jesus into the story.
Why did Jesus have to come?  The simple answer is to atone our sins.  But that points the subject of the story to humans, and we know in scripture the subject is the glory of God (which we get to be a part of!).  Jesus came because God remembered.  God remembered His promise to Abraham that His people would be a great nation and for that to happen, because of the sin of man, an ultimate price had to be paid.  For God so loved the world (blessing to the nations, promise of Abraham!) He gave His Son. 
As God remembered His people in the book of Exodus, He had the world in mind.  He remembered His promise, saw the sin of man, and for Him to keep this promise Jesus had to come.  This season we remember with heavy hearts the sacrifice of Jesus.  But mourning turns to joy!  We remember and celebrate today, Easter Sunday, that we have life!  We have joy!  We have victory because Jesus is risen!
I pray that today, and everyday of our lives, the joy of Easter would resonate in our lives and we would never be the same.
 
From Pastor Keeyoung’s Heart
April 5, 2015