As humans, we are subjected to hurtful things just as often as peaceful things.

We have all experienced the peace brought about by a clean slate—a fresh start but in the same way, we have all experienced pain as a result of bad experiences.

I have struggled in my life quite significantly and it wasn’t until recently that I came to some pivotal realizations.

I lived in prison. I was shackled. I was bound. I was a captive. My mind was the prison and my thoughts were the prison guard. I wasn’t living in the present. Rather I was stuck in the muck of my past and it was dreadful.

At first, I was the obedient prisoner. I did what I was told. I listened to the prison guard or the thoughts that told me I would never be free; the thoughts that told me that no matter how hard I tried I would never experience freedom or the joy that came with it.

It was dark and it was draining not only emotionally but also physically.

I started to rebel but I was rebelling against the truth. I rebelled against the idea that there was any light at all. So instead of looking up, I turned my back and started running deeper into the darkness.

For years I ran back toward this darkness immersing myself further in a depression. This depression told me that I wasn’t worthy and that I should just give up because no one would care anyway.

I know this is a reality that many people face but if you only get one piece of what I’m trying to say may it be this:

People do care and you are more worthy than you can even begin to understand. I know this is a hard reality to accept but know you aren’t alone and you never will be.

I have begun to realize that life doesn’t have to be this way, there is a way out of the prison--- there is a way to defeat the prison guard and open the door to a freedom that was always waiting for you.

It’s an answer you may not want to hear but the only way out of the prison is through recognizing the lies that the prison guard whispers as such and in retaliation throwing a punch backed by the truth.

The only way to open this door to freedom and a fulfilling life is through the love and the truth which is given abundantly by God. The only way to make the giant, depression fall is to surrender and accept help from the one that can defeat it. God.

It’s not easy to do. It’s a journey but it begins by making a choice every day to say “yes, Lord,” “I can’t do this on my own Lord.”

You can wake up every morning and choose to live your life as a captive to the lies or be captivated by God’s grace.

Become humbly victorious my friends. Praise God for His great work!