a new book on depression

Here’s a book I’m looking forward to reading. It’s called Christians Get Depressed Too by David Murray. I’m hoping it expresses some of what is needed in the conversation about Christians and depression.

Dr. Wes Bredenhof reviews the book saying this:

“There is a perception out there that depression is, at its roots, a spiritual problem.  According to this perception, people become depressed because they have done something sinful.  A true and faithful Christian would never get depressed.  Part of Murray’s burden in this book is to dismantle that perception.  He does that with an open Bible, explaining how godly believers in both Testament struggled with this problem.

The author goes on to outline how complex depression is – there are no trite and easy answers.  He describes the problem in a way that will be helpful for those trying to understand it.  He also gives hope, comfort, and help for those who are suffering.  Again, all of this is grounded in the Word of God.  Yes, Murray believes that Christians can learn from medical science and he attempts to incorporate some of those insights into this book.  He is also firmly convinced that medication can not only alleviate symptoms, but also address the causes of depression in many cases.”

Sounds good.

When God provides means through common grace (via counseling or medicine) to help us in our human state for something like depression, we should accept with thanks. That is God’s grace and healing.

One thing that I’ve often heard suggested from fellow believers as a means to improve depression is a change of diet or to begin taking a particular natural supplement. Sometimes these same people are leery of what modern medicine might suggest for depressed people, like an anti-depressant. There is an irony in this. They believe it valid to change the biology of your body through a new diet or “natural” pill (with no provable tests results showing success), but consider it less valid (less holy?) to change the biology of your body through a drug, that has been tested, peer-reviewed and proven effective for severe depression.

My hope is that this book affords depressed Christians the same love the Lord affords them. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.” Poor in spirit. Mourning. Meek. They are blessed. Let’s learn from depressed people instead of relegating them to “struggling” Christian and taking pot shots at prozac from the pulpit.

There is much to learn about God and ourselves from those who have walked in the dark valleys.

Bredenhoff goes on to say:

“I’ve read and reviewed several books on this subject over the years.  I’ve learned that depression is a dark and ugly consequence of the fall into sin.  It is no less a part of this world of dysfunction than is cancer.  At the same, I’ve learned (and Murray’s book has reinforced this) that depression reminds us of how little we know about the workings of the human brain and how it relates to our non-material aspect (our soul).  Finally, I’ve become convinced that God brings trials (including depression) our way so as to shape, teach, and lead us.  This little book brings us back to the Word through which that all happens.”

I can’t endorse a book I haven’t read, but the review sure sounds good.

HT: Challies

a cake pop adventure and more

We enjoyed a joint birthday party today for Seth and Eliza.

Many discussions went on over the last couple months about what cake to make.  After making the rainbow cake and giant cupcake last year, I was hoping to find something equally cool.

At first Eliza settled on a flower cake, but then modified to want a butterfly cake.  So, I started perusing the web to find the perfect one.  While doing that I ran across something called cake pops.  Seth decided frog cake pops sounded great and I was excited to have an excuse to try them out! So I tried to capture a few of the steps involved.

I like to add food coloring to cakes. It makes cutting into them a little more fun.

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After baking the cakes, I crumbled one of them up in a bowl, stirred in some frosting, and started rolling them into balls for the cake pops!

Next, I dipped the lollipop stick in a little melted candy (like almond bark) and inserted it into the cake ball.  Then, out to the cold cold deck to firm up. Those cake pops went from room temperature to below freezing in no time!

Fortunately we don’t have many wild animals venturing up on our deck, or this could have been a big disaster. The garage or freezer would have worked as well, I suppose, but not nearly as much entertainment as this snowy deep freeze.

See?! There are advantages to living in Minnesota!

Then comes dipping them in the candy melts, which I got from Jo-Ann’s.  You can buy them in all different colors. I also got some edible markers that were a bust. They worked on a few of them, but it was like using a pen that was running out.. only the marker wasn’t running out, it just didn’t like the candy melt texture. I ended up piping frosting on, instead of using the markers.

Of course, I had a helper in all this.  It wasn’t like I had to brave these things on my own. I like to call her my hip helper. There’s a double meaning in that.

Eliza was in charge of decorating her butterfly cake.

Nice work girl!

And Seth and Elianna’s job was to give these frog’s their eyes.

Good job!

 

 

 

I had some un-popped cake pops left over, so during the party I convinced some people to try their hand at it. I knew they’d have some good ideas!

They came up with: a minion from Despicable Me, a chicken, a few weird looking dudes, and I tried my hand at hello kitty.

But I must say that some of the party guests were simply ruthless. You wouldn’t expect such behavior from your own mother. She seems so innocent.

But don’t be fooled. She’s just luring you in.  Be afraid.  Bea very afraid..

Ahhhh! Run away! Run away! Run away and go try these cake pops. They are a blast. And if you really want to see how it’s done, check out Bakerella.  That’s where I got all my ideas and inspiration.

Who knew I’d be one to like making cakes? That said, no guarantees for all the coming years. Store-bought can be a life-saver! No shame in that, my friends!

 

a super duper 7-year old!

These birthdays are relentless!  I can’t keep the kiddos from growing up, that’s for sure.  And today Eliza turns 7!

I remember well the morning she was born.  As I look at her now, I am so thankful that she is our firstborn.  She bears special responsibility and privilege.  Here are the top ten things of her 6th year as told by her mom:

1) Creativity has flourished this past year. Your creations are original, interesting, sometimes unusual, decorative, colorful, thoughtful, and, in my opinion, wonderful.  There is never enough paper, markers, tape, yarn, beads, hole punches, etc, for your liking.  The sheer amount of things you create boggles my mind.  You’ve even earned some money selling your scarves.  After loom knitting, you’ve moved onto knitting with needles, something I didn’t want to teach you, but you picked up in approximately 3 minutes.  You go girl.

2) Like Seth, you also learned to ride your bike minus training wheels. You did it first, to be clear. You decided you were going to do it and nothing could stop you. I had suggested it a number of times the summer before and you weren’t interested. But when you decided it was time, you were fearless. I like that about you.

3) You also tackled independent swimming in the deep end this past year.  Same story as the bike riding.  You decided you were going to do it, you jumped off the diving board in the deep end and swam to the side.  After that, you just kept going. All, summer, long. You earned the nickname, Brown bean.

4) Piano lessons are a new adventure this year. You are cheerful about practicing and enjoy the time at the lesson. Miss Liz says you have good rhythm. I concur. You get it from your dad.

5) You still love nature. You love being outside, whether it’s summer, winter, spring or fall. You like to get dirty and muddy. You like to look at the stars. You notice things outside: bugs, trees, birds, tracks, snowflakes, leaves. You’d rather be outside than inside, no matter how good the inside activity might be.

6) You continue to be a great helper. To be fair, you’re absentminded when it comes to tasks, but your heart is a thing of beauty, my girl.

7) School is a big part of life now. You seem to enjoy being a first grader and schooling at home. You like learning hands-on things. Everything is better if it has an accompanying activity. Your confidence waxes and wanes. Sometimes you’re unstoppable in your determination, other times you’re defeated before you begin. But, you’re moldable and the Lord is helping you find your confidence in Him, not in what you can or can’t do.

8) You’re great with your baby sister, Evangeline. You feed her bottles. She happily takes them from you, and rejects them from some adults. You’re a favorite of hers. You dance and sing and jump around to entertain her. You’re a good big sister to Seth and Elianna. They look up to you. You want us to have 10 kids in our family. I’d send you home with the Shulls, but I know it would only strengthen your resolve.

9) Your closest friend is your cousin, Norah. She’s a good friend to you and will probably be so for your whole life, I pray. You girls have lots of fun adventures together.

10) You are learning more about who God is and what His Word is about. You trust Him deeply. You got your own real Bible (not storybook) in the summer and you like being able to read the real words of the real Bible for yourself. You understand what a big deal that is. I can’t even begin to express how thankful I am that the Lord has made His mark on you.

Eliza, you are so dear to my heart. I feel utterly at a loss when I think of how God has brought you to be who you are thus far. I know I can’t take credit for how He’s claimed you, I am just incredibly thankful.

O Lord, keep Eliza hidden in the safe shadow of your wing.  Give her safety and security in knowing you and your Son, Jesus, so that she has nothing to fear in this world. Grant her eyes to see her eternity as lovingly secured in Jesus, so that she can be bold and courageous and confident in proclaiming your Word here on Earth. Make known to her the path of life, so that she can have joy in your presence and pleasures forevermore.

movin’ on up! the big year 5.

Hard to believe it, but Seth is 5 years old today.

My head and heart are full of love and memories of Seth from the past year.  Hopefully I can capture some of them in our yearly recap/highlights.  So, without further ado, the top ten things of Seth’s 4th year, written to Seth by mom.

1) One exciting development this year has been reading!  You’re doing well and enjoying it to boot.  I had a lot of apprehension about starting the process, for fear you wouldn’t delight in it, but it was all for naught.  So far, you like learning to read.  Yay!

2) This summer you learned to ride your bike without training wheels!  Wohoo!  Dad and I were so proud of you and how quickly you took off.  It came easily to you and many many hours were spent riding around.  You and Eliza enjoyed racing by each other all summer long.   You also love going for 4-wheeler rides.  The faster the better.

3) You’ve developed an interest in numbers.  You like to keep track of things, be it the time, the date, peoples’ ages, birthdays or anything else.  You like to compile information in numbers.  A future in statistics perhaps?

4) You still like puzzles and are good at them.  You also like legos.  But, the main activity of play this past year has been stuffed animals.  You and your sisters live in made-up worlds for hours each day.  You are often playing the role of Daddy or brother, via a stuffed animal.  Oh, and you like to play humdinger in the car.  Hmm, mm, mm, mm, mm, mmmmm.   A humming version of name-that-tune.

5) You notice where we go in the car.  You can tell if we’re on a “regular” route, like to church or Nana and Papa’s.  And if we take a varied route to a regular place, you want to know why and how the new route is getting us to where we are going.  You often point out roads we’ve never turned down and ask if we can go down them.

6) Your best friends are your cousins, Thad and Andy.  They are great friends.  You also love all the kids from small group.  You are blessed to have a solid group of boys around you.  I know you want a brother, but in leu of that, the Lord’s providing good things for you.

Also, you have had particular admiration for your Uncle Micah this year.  Or Philbert, as you like to call him.  :)  I’m pretty sure the admiration is mutual.

7) You have started quoting movies, which cracks me up.  Most famously Despicable Me (or Inspicable Me as you say), “Liiiightbuuuulb,” among other things.  You like movies.  You also like video games played on our phones or iPad.  Especially racing games.

8) Two phrases I frequently hear shouted from your mouth are, “INCOMING!” and “DEMOLITION!”  What can I say?  Three sisters and still all boy.

9) You’re cheerful in the morning.  Thank you for that.  And you’re affectionate.  You’re a wonderfully affectionate and loving kid.  You treat your sisters well (most of the time) and you love your newest baby sister, Evangeline.

10) You’re starting to know who God is.  You believe Him to be good and strong.  Stronger than Daddy and Uncle Micah and everyone.  You’re right.  He is.  He is good and strong and powerful and mighty.  He is also just and kind and loving and merciful.  You’re learning that, too.

Seth, you are so dear to my heart.  My heart feels squeezed just thinking about you and the gift you are.  I want so much for you to be strong in your faith.  To trust God with everything.  To live a life of reckless abandon to the cause of Christ.  I want you to do it because Jesus has so captured your attention and affection by His work on the cross that you can’t help but pour yourself out as a living sacrifice of worship.

O Lord, appoint Seth as your servant and son forever, to do many good works for your namesake and your glory.  Gather your sheep in your arms, Lord, and grant that Seth be gathered in as one of them.  Give us wisdom and strength as parents.  Cover over our sinfulness and help us lead Seth to a true knowledge of his Savior and Friend, Jesus.