Favorite Book

One of my favorite books is, "Following the Light of Christ into His Presence" by John Pontius. Personal Revelation and obedience to personal revelation is the way to true and everlasting happiness. John Pontius helps you more fully understand the importance of Lehi's dream and listening to and obeying personal revelation. You can find this book on Amazon.com.

Spirit of Our Religion

"The man or woman who enjoys the spirit of our religion has no trials; but the man or woman who tries to live according to the gospel of the Son of God, and at the same time clings to the spirit of the world, has trials and sorrows acute and keen, and that too, continually. This is the deciding point, the dividing line. They who love and serve God with all their hearts rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing, and in everything give thanks; but they who try to serve God and still cling to the spirit of the world have got on two yokes - the yoke of Jesus and the yoke of the devil, and they will have plenty to do. They will have a warfare inside and outside, and the labor will be very galling, for they are directly in opposition one to the other."

-Brigham Young

I really like this quote. Read it a few times and pray about it. There are a few ways to look at this quote. One that I find applicable to depression is confusing the gospel with the "culture" of Mormonism. I don't know if anyone else feels that they have to follow the "culture" of Mormonism (particularly in Utah) in order to fit in or be a good church member. I have felt this off and on through the time I have lived here and I realize it simple isn't true. Confusing the two can lead to comparisons and to depression. It take work sometimes to differentiate between the two but with the Lord's help through, scripture, prayer and pondering we can all figure it out and be MUCH happier!!

(some of the cultural things are fun but they aren't the gospel of Jesus Christ)

D&C 42:61

"If thou shalt ask, thou shalt receive revelation upon revelation, knowledge upon knowledge, that thou mayest know the mysteries and peaceable things--that which bringeth joy, that which bringeth life eternal."

I love this scripture. My husband and I just got done reading a lecture from Hugh Nibley about laying treasure up in heaven rather than on earth and it was fabulous. It is really important that we have the desire to learn the mysteries of God because this will bring us peace and joy here on this earth.

Gratitude for the Smallest Improvement

One thing I heard and read all the time was "have gratitude." During those dark times this phrase made me GAG. I was so tired of hearing this. I had given it a try but it didn't really seem to work for me. Then I read a talk by Elder Scott (of course) and he said that whenever we receive a priesthood blessing (I would also add, when we ask for blessing in our own personal prayers) we should look for the smallest, slightest improvement and be very grateful for that improvement and then the Lord could bless us more. So, I tried this and it worked like a charm! This is really a wonderful way to show gratitude!

Writing Down Priesthood Blessing

One of the things that helped me the most was to get priesthood blessings. I got them very often from my husband. I realize that some people may not have that resource so close and readily available. If you don't, please ask for home teachers, friends, bishop, dad, or anyone else you know to give you a blessing... as often as you need it. I would write each of these blessings down (at least everything I could remember after the blessing was over) and read and re-read them often. Now, as I read back on them I can see how the different promises that were given in the blessings were fulfilled as I held up my "end of the deal" of course. Most of them took a while to come to pass but they did! These blessing not only helped me overcome the depression through encouragement and instruction but also helped build faith in a major way!

If you do get these blessings don't forget to write each one down and read them often. Not only will it be a source of comfort for you on those difficult days, but it will also show the Lord how serious you are about overcoming this by using His help.

Personal First Aid Kit

In Daryle Hoole's book, one of her daughters who suffered from severe depression, said that she made a personal first aid kit for her "down days." In the kit she included scriptures, her journal, favorite talks, quotes, phone numbers of people who she knew could cheer her up or of people she knew might need some cheering up, and she included good music.

I thought this was a really good idea because on those days that you are down it is so hard to remember any good and it would be nice to have it all right there to remind you. You could also include a gratitude journal. My husband would always ask me on the days I was down what I was grateful for. It would take me a while to come up with something other than the standard answers but I could eventually get going (if I wasn't being too stubborn that is). It is very helpful to have reminders of what you are grateful for when you are in such a fog that you can't see clearly.

Elder Maxwell

I just had to add this from my sister-in-law's blog http://spirituallythinking.blogspot.com/. It is so great. The thoughts at the bottom are hers, not mine.

Elder Neal A Maxwell:

"The heaviest load we feel is often from the weight of our unkept promises and our unresolved sins, which press down relentlessly upon us".

I love this quote because it is so true! We can feel so much more happiness than we do, so much more quickly, if we put off that natural man. The atonement can take an immediate effect upon our hearts if our desires are sincere.
The Saviour loves us and is eager to take the weight from us, I really know this is true.

Obtaining Help from the Lord

My mother printed this talk out from me a little while ago and yes, it is from Elder Scott again. :) I guess he just has a lot to say on the subject of listening to the Lord in order to gain Joy.

"Help from the Lord generally comes in increments. He can immediately cure serious illnesses or disabilities or even allow the dead to be raised. But the general pattern is that improvement comes in sequential steps. That plan gives us an opportunity to discover what the Lord expects us to lean. It requires our patience to recognize His timetable. It provides growth from our efforts and trust in Him and the opportunity to express gratitude for the help given.

Often we have difficulty mastering lessons the Lord want us to learn when things are going too well in our lives. When there is suffering or pain, we ask ourselves a lot of questions. Some of them ought to be: What does the Lord want me to learn from this experience? What do I need to do? m What do I need to change? Whom do I need to serve? Or what characteristic must I improve? Pondering and prayer will help us understand what we are to lean from the challenges we are asked to overcome."

Short and Simple

"The more closely you follow the current of divine guidance, the greater will be your happiness here and for eternity."

Elder Scott, "Finding Peace, Happiness, and Joy"

I know I quote from this book a lot but it is such a simple book with simple truths that bring everlasting joy. The things Elder Scott talks about really are the most basic, yet profound ways in which we can overcome the obstacles in our lives.

Humility, one of the ESSENTIALS

I know I have talked about humility so much on the "My Lady" blog, I really believe that humility is so essential to acquiring joy in this life as well as gaining eternal life. We can all talk ourselves into believing we are humble or acting humble, but we each need to learn what humility really is and we as "natural men" don't know what that is. We must pray that we will be shown our weaknesses (Ether 12:27) and as we do this we will be shown what they are; remember that often times our greatest strengths are our greatest weaknesses. As we pray to Heavenly Father about what our weaknesses are, He WILL show us, then help us change, and then they truly will be our greatest strengths. Sometimes it can be a shock to find that we have pride in a certain area but as we gain greater humility we will be so grateful that the Lord revealed it to us so that we can weed it out of our lives and become closer to him. These are also HUGE steps in overcoming depression. Ammon says,

"I do not boast in my own strength, nor in my own wisdom; but behold, my joy is full, yea, my heart is brim with joy, and I will rejoice in my God. Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever."
-Alma 26:10-12

(Scripture taken from Elder Scott's book, "Finding, Peace, Happiness, and Joy")

Karynn wrote this comment about what helped her during her postpartum depression. She said that eating healthy foods and exercising were key in helping her get through and overcome. Karynn also recommended a book that she said was wonderful and really helped her, Deliverance from Depression by G.G. Vandagriff. -Thank you Karen

I would also like to add that I found when I ate mostly fruits, veggies, nuts and whole grains that the depression faded. I don't eat sugar because if I did my mood would immediately decline.

IT TAKES FAITH AND EFFORT

During my battle with depression I came to the conclusion that the only help I could get to truly overcome this was from Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I started getting priesthood blessings from my husband very often and I wrote each blessing down after it was given. After the first blessing I thought my depression would end and I would somehow instantly be happy... not the case.

It took me a few more years to learn how to be happy again. I do believe that had I been better at applying the things I learned right off, that it would have been a quicker process. However, I can be very stubborn so it took me longer than needed. Once I figured out that I need to DO what I learned it has become a great blessing in my life because I now realize the importance of instant application of inspiration.

As I have re-read those blessings I can now see how things have fallen into place and the Lord kept his promises as I kept mine.

I have found so much peace, happiness and joy in hearing inspiration and obeying immediately. I am not always good at this but I am trying harder all of the time. Elder Faust said, "Lehi, teaching his son Jacob, declared: "Men are, that they might have joy..." To achieve this objective, we much "give ear to the living God..." I wish to testify as a living witness that joy does come through listening to the Spirit, for I have experienced it." (Faust, "Voice of the Spirit,"7)

I know that the Lord will help anyone who will come to him with a humble, sincere heart. I do know that we MUST act on what the Lord tells us to do. He won't just change us, we must do our part and then he CAN CHANGE us! This is such an amazing thing! So simple yet it takes a lot of effort.

Please feel free to leave comments. I would love to be there for anyone who needs help with this illness. Have faith in the Lord that he will guide you in the right direction and have faith in yourself that you can do what is needed to overcome depression and live a life full of joy. We are each capable of living the great "Plan of Happiness" but we must put forth the effort, faith, desire and diligence to do so.

One of the reasons why I thought of doing this blog was because I was reading in Daryl Hoole's book and she had an entire chapter dedicated to helping women with depression. I will start by putting some of her daughters tips on this blog. The daughter that Daryl is talking about in her book had sever depression for 15 years (I think). She has done a lot of research on it and as put a lot of techniques to the test. I hope some of that might help. I will then put a few of the techniques that helped me. Please feel free to add to this blog by emailing me at drennanbakerblog@yahoo.com or by leaving a comment. Thank you.