riverside_recording_(5) _ may 29, 2024 001_grace_ouma's studio

The Recent World Podcast discusses a Bible plan called "Finding Hope in the Heaviness" by Grant Fishbrook, which focuses on depression. The author shares his own experience with depression and how he found healing and hope through God's grace. He emphasizes the importance of opening one's soul to restoration and relying on God's word for comfort and guidance. The devotional encourages readers to trust in God's promises and to place their hope in Him, even in the midst of darkness. It concludes with a reminder that God is always with us and will do great things in our lives. Hi guys, it's Grace Olma here at Recent World Podcast and I want to, I want us to talk about depression. Today we're going to go through a bible plan based on depression entitled Finding Hope in the Heaviness by Grant Fishbrook. So we are going to go through it together and I hope by the end of the devotional you will learn something and you will maybe grasp a thing or two about depression and if you're going through depression, I pray and hope that you hold on to there, hold on there because you still have a long way to go. Don't lose hope. Jesus is there to like hold you and be there for you always. So let's start Okay, let's start. The title is You Are Not Alone. Okay, Grant Fishbrook takes us through this devotional, wrote this devotional about how he faced depression and how he went through a black cloud and all that. So let us read together so that you get a glimpse of how to go with depression. So let's start. I am not a doctor, a psychiatrist or a psychologist. I am a pastor and the only story I have is the story of God's grace to me. A part of my story is a little black rain cloud that I battled for years. I never would have classified myself as depressed, maybe sad, maybe blue, maybe down but not depressed. My little black rain cloud grew into a full-blown hurricane about 14 years ago. I had no choice but to acknowledge the fact that I was actually depressed. I felt so alone until I began to search the scripture and found out I was not alone. There are many people in the scripture who had battled depression. Guys, have you heard that? So it means that depression even started before we came to this world and in this devotional it says the prophet Jeremiah said in Jeremiah 45 verse 3, I am weary with my groaning and have found no rest. This shows that Jeremiah also went through depression in his time and God encouraged him and hold on to him and he defeated it. Let's continue with the Bible plan. It says, finding out I was not alone opened my heart to begin a long journey to healing and hope. I am not going to give you seven steps to defeating depression. I am however going to share with you how I have invited Jesus into my journey as I continue to pursue the miracle of joy. One of the strategic decisions I made in my battle with depression was this, I opened my soul to cause restoration. Guys, have you heard that? When you open your soul to cause restoration, any depression you're facing will go. It doesn't matter what you're facing. It doesn't matter if you've lost hope. As long as you open your soul and your heart to cause restoration, your depression will depart from you. Let's continue. The words of the famous psalm put it this way, the Lord is my shepherd. I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul. He guides me along the right path for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil. For you are with me, your road and your staff, they comfort me. That is from Psalm 23 as you all know. This shows that Jesus, our God, values or is there with us, comforts us when we are in our deepest moments. Like when we are depressed, we can run to him and he will comfort us and lead us to quiet waters. The devotional continues. My friend, God restored my soul and invited my participation. Now we're talking about Grant Fish's book. He explains that God restored his soul and invited his participation and he goes on saying, I joined him in the work of finding my way to the light. I pressed down deep. I saturated myself with God's word. I clung to God's promise. Guys, can you see like in this devotional, the way Fish Book has said, God restored his soul and invited his participation. He joined God in finding in his work and that's the way he found his light. He pressed down deep and saturated himself with God's word. So guys, saturate yourself with God's word. Shield yourself with prayers and God's word and you'll be okay. All the depression will depart from you. Depression comes from the evil one. He comes to steal, kill and destroy. Same to fear. Fear and depression goes hand in hand. If you have fear, if you're depressed and you become brave enough to be saturated with God's word, it will depart from you. The Bible plan goes on by saying, as written by Fish Book, it says, I heard this truth a long time ago from a trusted pastor friend. In the night, a sailor cannot see land nor can he get his bearings from the coastline. He must navigate by trusting the dimly lit buoys already set in place. God promises that he will lead, guide and restore as we saturate our minds with his miraculous promises. Dear friends, if you don't struggle with depression, be thankful, be watchful. If you have struggled in the past but you're in a good season, be prepared to place the buoys of God's word in the water so that when the storm rages, you can find your way home. If you're struggling right now, you are not alone and the God of heaven is on your side. Thanks for taking time and allowing me to share a little of my story. There is more to come in the days ahead and God is going to do great things. You are a miracle, Grant. Yeah, as we've seen, Grant Fish has shared his story about how he overcame depression and he has encouraged us that there is more to come in the days ahead and God is going to do great things. Hold on to that light. Hold on to that hope that God is there with you and that nothing or no harm will come upon you. Just trust in God's word. Trust in God's word. Have faith and always pray. Yeah, that's a devotional from today and I hope you've learned something. I pray that any person who is facing depression that you may find light in God's word. You may overcome and you may face the battle with Jesus Christ because he is always on your side. Yeah, thank you. Bye, guys. It's your Grace Omar. If you'd like to support me, you can maybe send something to my number 0796 440136 so that we can continue to spread and share the gospel. Thank you.