In a Pit- Part I

God has been teaching me so many things lately that I'm just bursting to share some with you! I have been reading A LOT and the books I'm reading are addressing very different areas in my life. I hope to share a few thoughts with you in a couple different posts. I hope I can adequately convey all the things I'm learning.

The 1st book I am reading is "Get out of that Pit" by Beth Moore. I am about part way through and it is changing my outlook in many areas. I am not good at sharing what I'm thinking and feeling very well so I'll do my best! After all, it is my blog..:)
I have struggled with depression for most of my life. I think the peak of the darkness was in college and my 1st few years of teaching. I can't really think of any reasons for it. I had a good life. I have supportive family and friends. I just don't think I was aware of how Christ could truly heal me. I relied too much on material things, and on the support of family and friends to get me out of it. (Even though God has used many people throughout my life to help me!)

Beth Moore shares 3 ways we can be in a pit.
1st- We can be thrown in. This is a pit that we have no control over. We are thrown in before we know what hit us. This is from things that are done to us that are just plain horrible. It could be death, abuse, or other life issues that happen. The first pit ever mentioned is in Genesis 37:23-25 when Joseph was thrown into a pit by his brothers. They had the intent of leaving him for dead. (I'll get back to this in a bit!)

2nd- When you slip into a pit. This is a pit we put ourselves into even though we didn't mean to. We just weren't watching where we were going! We get so distracted by the appearance of something being "good" that we don't realize how it can lead us astray.

3rd- When you jump into a pit. This is when you are fully aware what you are about to do is wrong but you jump in anyway.

So how do you get out of a pit? Well, you can't get yourself out. You can either opt for human help or for God's help. He is our deliverer! Sometimes we look for people or things to be our deliverer. Going back to the story of Joseph is a good example. His brothers dropped him in with the intent of leaving him for dead. You would think that they were his deliverer because they pulled him out of the pit. But they just sold him into a worse pit, slavery. Sometimes people can pull us out, but they too can sell us into a worse pit... whether it's the expectation that we now owe them for what they have done, or they choose not to become our friend anymore because they are tired of helping, or we have to live with the possibility that they are disappointed in us because we ended up in a pit to begin with.
The Bible records many instances when Israel cried out for a deliverer and God gave them a human one. Whether is was Moses or Joshua or Abraham. The people ended up trusting in those great leaders rather than God as their deliverer. People can help us but they can't heal us. They can pull us out of a pit but they can't keep us out.
Only God can do that! Only he can go to the depths with us. Only He who began a good work in us can complete it! (Phil. 1:6). I think many times I tried to rely on friends that I had along the way in my life's journey to help me out of pits that I was in. I'm not saying that having friends' help is a bad thing. They can actually be put there by God as a stepping stone for where God wants us to go. It's just that only God can truly go to the deep places of darkness and truly heal and help us out of whatever pit we are in.
In Isaiah 43:11 it says "I, even I, am the Lord, and apart from me there is no savior". So I ask myself, "What am I making my savior to be? Who am I trusting to be my Deliverer?". I think back again to Joseph and I realize that yes, his brother helped him out of the pit that he was thrown into but ultimately God had delivered him to a higher calling and used him for His purpose.
I pray each day that I will stay out of the pit that I continually throw myself into. That I will put my complete trust in God as the only one who can go to the depths with me and bring me out! It is amazing how God is healing me day by day.