Posted by holymama on January 25, 2004, at 16:35:21
In reply to Asking God for help, posted by sasha71 on January 21, 2004, at 19:32:39
Dear Sasha,
I don't know if this will help, but I'll give it a go.I believe in God. I also believe that God gave us the free will to make our own decisions. I try to make my decisions based on what would be the best thing for myself, my family, the world... I also think this is the decision God would like me to make.
So when faced with a decision such as whether or not to be on a medication, yes, I think God gave us the ability ro create medications to conquer illnesses. But we are only human, and we have not perfected these medications. Some people need to wean themselves because of side effects, pregnancy, to try a different medication...So it all comes down to our free will. We need to try to make the best decision that has the best effect on ourselves and those around us.When I ask for help from God, I usually try not to make it too specific -- "help me to go off my medication", for example. I try to ask for things such as strength and wisdom -- things that I know from experience I can get from praying, and knowing that I am not a perfect person and I may not know the best answer, I figure that strength and wisdom will help lead me in the right direction. That is how I pray, but everyone does it differently!
Dear Basia,
I too suffer from a lack of faith when I am depressed. In fact, every time I have ever been depressed (there have been many, many times!), I look forward to a great spirituality at the end of it. I am bipolar, and my last mania was completely religious. I developed a really big faith in God that has not gone away now that I am medicated. Being on the right medications (an antidepressant and a mood stabilizer for me) keeps me even and so far has worked to keep me out of the depressions that take away my faith as well as other wonderful things.
I really think there is a strong link between depression/mania and faith/spirituality. It's really interesting to me, and I have often thought that my depressions have been some sort of spiritual crisis. Modern medicine would never see it that way, and I find it a bit disturbing that for all of the importance religion/spirituality has for me and the strong connection it has with my mood cycles, my therapist and psychiatrist blow it off as chemical abnormalities.
poster:holymama
thread:303908
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/faith/20040113/msgs/305377.html