The best prescription for health and life.

I can confidently say that I had one of the best therapists on earth. Of course, this statement is based on my own experience, as I haven’t met all the therapists in the world, but to me, she was the best.

I know her to be compassionate, understanding, caring, patient, direct yet considerate, wise, knowledgeable, and honest. A beautiful person, a follower of Christ.

The time I spent with her truly impacted my life in the most positive ways.

Apart from therapy, I was also previously prescribed anti-depressants by doctors or psychiatrists to help me get through some tough times.

Once, the anti-depressants had a hallucinogenic effect. After weeks of giving these chemicals a chance to make me feel better, with no improvement, I flushed them down the toilet.

Another time, they made me feel like a zombie, devoid of any emotion. Laughter, sadness, excitement, joy, grief - all emotions I yearned for - were out of reach, and I couldn’t access my feelings. So, after months of not feeling like myself, I stopped taking them. I went cold turkey again. Yes, this goes against what any health practitioner or leaflet would advise. I am by no means suggesting that anyone who is taking anti-depressants should stop using them, especially not without praying about it and consulting those you trust and who have your best interests at heart.

The last time I used anti-depressants, I decided to stop because I was told I was moody and irrational - effects that shouldn’t occur when one is on anti-depressants. Still, I thought that if the feedback I received was accurate, those symptoms were present nonetheless. These symptoms were also observed during a dysfunctional relationship - perhaps it was more than just the anti-depressants…

I was once told that if I used anti-depressants more than twice at different times in my life, I would, sadly, have to take them for the rest of my life. These words troubled me greatly, and I felt uncomfortable, perceiving the words as a life sentence. You guessed it - I flushed them down the toilet after taking them for a few months. I didn’t want anti-depressants to become a crutch in my life.

The last time I saw my therapist, before she and her family emigrated, we discussed an image I had about my early years. I saw myself as a baby, lying on the floor, in the corner of a room, wrapped in a blanket, but I was dead. Not a pleasant image, and one that baffled me to no end. I couldn’t understand why this particular image entered my mind or what it meant. I was sad to hear my therapist was leaving and that we wouldn’t be able to continue working through the things that troubled my heart and burdened me. Yet, I was thankful for the opportunity they had as a family to follow the path they believed God had laid out for them.

At the time, I thought this left me with a conundrum: the chair of my therapist was now empty, who would I go to in future? Would I have to share everything about myself and my life with a new therapist? The thought of this added weight to my life, and I didn’t feel up to building a new relationship from scratch, so I decided not to pursue another therapist at the time.

A few months after I last saw my therapist, I cried out to God. You may have read from my testimony and previous articles that there was a time in my life when I turned away from God. I had no idea what God would do in my life from that day forward, but I did say to Him that I didn’t want another average year. My life wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great either. I was grasping at straws - personally, professionally, and in relationships, all of which felt challenging. But the biggest and most painful part was the overwhelming emptiness. Despite everything I was doing, everyone I knew, and everything I owned, my life felt empty.

Meanwhile, God, the most faithful being in the universe, had a plan for that very day. Since He is the one who “wove me in my mother’s womb,” He knew what that image I saw was all about.

About a month after I received the image of myself as a baby, my mum shared with me that during her pregnancy, there was a time when she hadn’t wanted another child. She and my dad already had four children - another baby wasn’t really part of their plans. But when she gave birth and first laid eyes on her little red-haired baby, she happily recalled feeling an instant, overwhelming love for me. Since then, God has blessed us with a special closeness and opportunities to not only love each other but to love Him together.

A few months later, while spending time with the Lord in my garden, I asked Him, “Jesus, where were you when I was born?” He responded with the most beautiful image: as soon as I was born, Jesus took me, walked out of the theatre and the hospital, held me up for the angels to see, and said, “she is Mine.” The angels laughed, rejoiced, and celebrated as Jesus held me up for the heavens to see. Subsequently, the image of the baby wrapped in a blanket, lying in the corner of a room, also changed: Jesus showed me an image of Himself sitting beside me on the floor, and I was alive.

I think back on all the reasons I believed the words spoken over me that I would need anti-depressants to have any hope of happiness. The power of those words impacted me significantly, but it also touched a part of me that refused to believe that anti-depressants were the only way to life.

There was only one answer to my pain, my emptiness, and my deepest wounds - an answer I had been avoiding for many years. That answer is Jesus. He was, is, and always will be the greatest healer. The way, the truth, the life.,

Look at what the Creator of the world says to those who choose to believe in Christ, the Son of God: “just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love, He predestined us to adoption as sons and daughters through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.” Ephesians 1:4-5, NLT.

When I read these words, it’s overwhelming to realise that when we choose Jesus, we will be holy and without fault in God’s eyes. God, the Creator of all things, calls us His sons and daughters - He adopted us because His Son paid the price for us. I have read these verses many times, and every time, I stand in awe of my Heavenly Father, knowing that He sacrificed His Son so that I can be His daughter. There is no one in the whole universe who can say this to you. No one can promise you eternal life with the only living God and creator of all things.

Whatever your wounds, whatever the reasons for your depression, whatever is causing your feelings of emptiness, whatever challenges you face in your relationships or at work, and whatever secrets you are carrying - God has already decided in advance that everyone who gives their life to Jesus and lays down their life to follow Him will be adopted into His family through Christ.

When you allow Jesus to be your Saviour and take up your cross, your life will never be the same again. He will transform you. Your life will be different. Your words will change. The way you see yourself, your family, your partner, your life, and your job will change because you will have died to yourself, become a new creation, and become a child of God.

The small, temporary things that used to upset you will look different, and you will respond differently. Your words will change - you will no longer want to swear, lash out, or plot ways to show someone just how offended you were by their words or actions. That e-mail you received from someone whose tone you misinterpreted will no longer matter. You will only want to be like Jesus once He changes you. That’s how we know someone has truly given their life to Jesus and is born again - it is visible; you can hear it!

As long as we are in this life, things will be messy, and it will get worse, as scripture tells us. But if you set your mind on heavenly things, life here on earth becomes completely different. Then you know that our salvation and hope is in Jesus, not in people, circumstances, or anything else. As Paul wrote, “For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:17.

I have learned that Proverbs 4:20-23 is like a “medicine bottle” prescribed to those who believe in God:

“20 My son, give attention to my words; “

Incline your ear to my sayings.

21 Do not let them depart from your sight;

Keep them in the midst of your heart.

22 For they are life to those who find them

And health to all their body.

23 Watch over your heart with all diligence,

For from it flow the springs of life.”

When has anyone ever been able to promise you such a thing? This is the promise: if you spend time in God’s Word, meditate on it, believe it, focus on it, and keep it in your heart, then there is life for you and health for all your body. Isn’t it humbling to have access to the Creator of all things, whom we can call our Father, and to know He promises us life and health for our entire body?

Some of my emotional wounds have been healed without me even asking God. One of my physical hurts were healed by simply being in God’s presence. He does amazing things!

As God said to Moses after they crossed the Red Sea: “for I, the LORD, am your healer.”

God never vacates His position. He is always our father, He does not leave, He doesn't sleep, He doesn't immigrate, He always has time for His children. You will never knock and he does not open the door. He is always with His children, He always loves us!

🎶 Zach Williams - Chain Breaker - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cd_xxmXdQz4