TBH... I WANT TO DIE!!

"Why wasn't I born dead? Why didn't I die as I came from the womb? Job 3:11



Can I just be honest and transparent for a moment… You know what, forget that! I started this blog a few years back when I was struggling with some things and he didn't exit, and also wanted to be transparent for other believers who are normally silenced in the church for being transparent… so with that being said, I am going to be honest and transparent! And for the believers, who can't deal with that, are uncomfortable with that, don't believe that that's something that should be done feel free to shake your "sandals" off at the door as you leave and I send you with God's blessings.

This entire year and a half has been, to say the least, a horrendous sifting season. I have gone from being evicted, stranded, broken, depressed and suicidal, too… aww heck I'm still there! And it doesn't seem that December is bringing any type of end to the struggle. I already have so many heavy loads on my shoulder that it's ridiculous! And now it seems that the situation will worsen by the middle of December… all I want to do today is sit in a corner, under a blanket, and silence and switch up between crying and screaming for the next two months. I almost feel like a kid who is just been told that they have to take on adult responsibilities with the $10 allowance that they have. I'm expected to pay bills that I don't have money for, I'm expected to stay strong, I expected to stay positive, I'm expected to stay upbeat and I'm expected to keep forgiving while people keep throwing or reminding me of my old dirt, including those close. What I really want right now… is to die. It's kind of that feeling when you're swimming in the ocean (I've never been swimming in the ocean before so I don't know) and just as you decide that you need to turn around because you're so tired, and then comes a massive, gigantic wave deciding that you are its latest victim and intends to swallow you up.

Have you ever been in that place? Have you ever felt so backed up against the wall, that it seemed the wall was even turning on you? I'm at the proverbial crossroads of anger/bitterness and hopelessness. Angry because I can't seem to get ahead, I can't seem to put a dent in what I have, I can't seem to succeed and hopelessness for… well, honestly, the same thing! This is crazy!!

But what's really crazy is this piece that won't seem to leave me alone. I mean, I know that I can't pay these bills plus what's about to be added on my plate, but I can't seem to panic like my flesh wants me to. There's a song that, although I don't listen to these two sisters anymore, just stays within me like a good piece of steak and potato that sticks to your ribs. Have you ever heard the song What is This by Mary Mary? I can't seem to get the lyrics out of my head! Of course there's also the song "I Have Peace Like a River" and "You are My Strong Tower" that just keep swimming around my head like little characters when the cartoons get bonked on the head really hard! Let's not even go into the vast array of Scripture that is coming up like heartburn when you are 8.7 months pregnant (ladies I know you know).

John 16:33 is a loud one. So is Psalm 46:1 but at this point, I don't want to be still. I want to SEE what is coming so that I can decide if I'm going to run or brace myself! There is Hebrews 11:1 but I think that my faith is about as cloudy as my vision without my glasses, right now (yes, I'm that blind!).

I want to do what Jesus told us to, to give Him our burdens and take on his instead. But I think I've been holding onto these burdens and allowing others to place there's on me for so long, that my hands of cramped up and won't seem to let go. So now what, Jesus? Now what do I do since my hands won't open up? What do I do, now that I feel like I'm in a stop and stalled car right smack in the middle of the busiest interstate in the world? What good is beating my chest, as Paul said to do, going to do me? What good is "confessing to one another" going to do me when so many people in Your Church don't want to hear the struggles because it reminds them so much of their own and those that are struggling have adapted to the world policy of "God helps those that help themselves"?

Yet I feel like the Psalmist (David) who declared how brittle his bones were, how dry his throat was, how much in despair he was and yet his soul hoped in God... and he encouraged his soul in this trying time. I know that I will.

I know that I will get pass this. I know that He has a plan, that He loves me, that He cares for me and that He plans for me to succeed, and not fail. That doesn't make the journey down this path any easier. So, just like a bus ride that I have rode so many times before, I will ride this one only this time with joy. It may not always be on the outside, I may not feel it, but I know that it is there. It doesn't change that I want to give up, that I want to die. It just changes the fact that I know I won't and that I know He will walk through this with me. It's not the first time and it won't be the last. All I will ask is that you who read this will pray for me. #Selah

It IS Well...

Whether it is good or bad, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God to whom we are sending you, that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of the LORD our God." Jeremiah 42:6



This song, It Is Well by Bethel, has been haunting me, following me ever since I first heard it. It seems that it is synonymous with the plague or trials that have been stalking me in excess of 12 years now, one after the other. Up to this point, I have learned the Truth in bits and pieces and it was very much visible to others with my actions and reactions. The original version by Horatio G. Spafford speaks so clearly the verse that tells us to give "sacrifice of praise". In an article I found while trying to make sure this song wasn't watered down, the author speaks of Mr. Spafford's continuous struggles. Starting with the death of his son and ending with the death of his three daughters, financial ruin and a captain of a ship that thought he should know that they were moving over the very spot where his daughter's had died. (By Tina Truelove, It Is Well With My Soul, the Story Behind The Hymn) How crazy is that? How do you lose your children, your fortune, virtually everything you have yet make such a powerful hymn? Because he knew Who held his future, Who was in control. He epitomized the very first chapter of Job because it truly was, no matter what was surrounding him, well with his soul. Out of pain and anguish, loss and brokenness birthed this powerful song.


When I first surrendered my life, asked Jesus into my heart, knew that my life was a mess and only He could fix it; however you want to say it, it was out of a week filled with sleeping around with depression and suicide, swimming in festering pity and surrounded by greed, hatred and intense anger. The very moment I heard His voice, I knew I needed Him so much more than I needed this life I tried to keep with a man who did not want to be kept, but wanted to keep me to himself. I can say that it was NOT well with my soul though I tried to make it seem that way to everyone else and myself.

But my journey was a typical one of faith. I did begin to seek Him, I did begin to hear from Him and even though decisions at that time concerning my life, family and even church were by far the craziest, I knew that was the way He had directed me to go. My issue is that I thought it was because that was His will for me. But that would mean He wanted depression, struggling, poverty, brokenness and strife for me. His Word says the contrary. Now that I look back, He was directing me in what has been the longest, hardest desert I have been in yet, not to punish me but to grow me. There are flowers that distinctly grow in the desert amidst all the sand, scorching sun and dry land. They survive the scorching sun, the dry land with barely or no water yet they grow into some of the most beautiful flowers I have seen. In researching these flowers, I found out that there are those flowers that are only pretty to look at, those with either medicinal purposes or smell good and those that have both medicinal purposes AND very fragrant. I am wondering which we all are. ALL of us will go through a desert season, but how we come out, or bloom, is what makes the difference between a bitter, pungent smelling flower or a fragrant one that can bring healing to others.

One thing I do know about seeds and flowers is that it comes at the price of another flower. Seeds are not just planted by us self seeking humans who believe life only happens if we make it.  Whether a bees pollinates another flower or it wither and dies to release its seeds, life begins there. What we see is the aftermath of many dark days, many grueling nights for the seed as germination begins. Much like pregnancy when the egg is fertilized and growing begins on the outside. We as women can feel sick, we have mood swings during pregnancy, we ache, we itch, and we begin to see our body do things we never thought possible or said it wouldn't. We, and the seed underground, are stretched beyond reason, but not too far. God promises that we will not be given what we cannot bear (1 Cor 10:13), no temptation will overcome us. This simply means that HE already knows what we can bear, not by our understanding but by His standards. He knows that we can do it, that we can handle it, even when it feels like we can't. But at the end of the pregnancy, at the end of the time allotted for the flower to bloom there is beauty. Did you catch that? I just did! AT. THE. END. Now don't take a deep breath and say finally, no more struggles. Jesus warned us that there would be "in this life", in our lifetime but that we should take heart because He already won the battle for us! A pastor that I listen and learn from frequently said in a recent message, "we don't fight for victory, we fight FROM victory." -Pastor Paul Sheppard, There's an App For That. How freeing is that!

Today, it is well with my soul. I can say that honestly. I can also say I am blessed beyond measure (Ephesians 3:20). Not because of what I have or what has happened or my healing or even how great my life is at this moment. No, I'm still broke; I'm still without a house of my own or vehicle. I still don't know where all the money I needed within a few weeks span for bills and graduation will come but what I do know is that it is well with my soul. Why? Because my circumstances do not feed my soul, He does.... Is it really well with your soul today? Do a self check, take a few quiet minutes to assess how you act, react and take things in context. Do a soul check because you saying the right thing, doing the right thing or going the right way doesn't feed your soul, being in His Word, allowing Holy Spirit to check you every once in a while and surrendering does. What seeds are planted in you during your desert season and bloom?

Seasons Slump...

He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. Psalm 147:3

We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 2 Corinthians 4:8


The sound of bells jingling, the smell of fresh pine, cinnamon and baking in the air. The cheerful sound of "ho ho ho, Meeeeeerry Christmaaaaas!!” coming from the bellies of those dressed as Old Saint Nick and others and the appearance of season's greetings filling the air. But something else fills the air during this supposed joyous time. Much like the dreaded seasonal flu sicknesses taking flight in the air, being passed quicker than the school yard notes about the newest fight happening after school... depression catches on when we least expect it, before we can even deflect its damaging symptoms. Some don't even know they are depressed yet daily push people away, grumble at the season’s greetings... and even get kicked off of flights for the anger associated with depression.

I was one of those people up until a few years ago. No, it wasn't when I surrendered that I was freed from this isolating sickness but when I REALIZED that I was silently succumbing to depression. Every year somewhere between the middle of November and the beginning of December I would begin to retreat to my room. Usually, I would have faithful visitors in my room in the persons of my three kids. We would sit and watch TV in my room, listen to music, and when they wanted go outside and play, I would usually watch them from my room. There was only one thing wrong with my sickness... I did not know I was sick. Friends and family would call me and ask several times a week, "Are you okay?" and follow up with the comment, "You sound empty." You see, I thought I was doing a great job of hiding the loneliness, the despair and the feelings of not being good enough that seemed to be confirmed every time I stepped out of the house (usually for church). I apparently had gotten so good at it that I didn't even know when depression came to visit. I knew all I wanted to do was sleep, I knew all I wanted to do was stay in the house, I even knew there were times when I couldn't force myself to eat for weeks on end, even though I made my kids. I liken it to having a large animal (let's go with hippopotamus size) on my back or around my neck yet never knowing it. Even the first year that I had surrendered my life, I tried to make amends for certain things and actions towards family and friends but quickly sank right back into my cold, dark dungeon of a cell when I didn't feel the apologies were good enough. I felt, once again, like a failure and the enemy was right there to, faithfully, greeting me with the all too familiar "I told you so's".

But the enemy wasn't even the problem at that point... I was. You see I was free, I just didn't realize it. I knew at the exact moment when I was supposed to surrender, I knew that I heard God say to me "If you let Me, I will love you." What I didn't know was that I wasn't just surrendering my broken heart from a tumultuous relationship, I was to surrender even my broken dreams, my broken spirit and the lies that I had been told for years that seemed to surface like old coffins when the ground opens up from years past. I was still depressed.... there I said it; I even contemplated suicide a few times. The very thing I thought would free me, salvation, seemed to thrust me further into depression because I just could not get it right! BUT GOD!!

In the past 5 years, He has been showing me time and time again that I am worthy of His love, His time, His faithfulness! Let's face it! I have messed up quite a bit in the past 5 years, yet He still loves me! And not because of me but because of Him! That is the straw that broke the depression camel's back! At first, I couldn't understand why God kept sending people to tell me that He loves me during some of the darkest times of my life. It felt like I was sinking in quagmire (quicksand, I just really wanted to type the other word) and people kept walking by as I was calling for help and saying "God wants you to know how much He loves you." I could not wrap my mind around this statement. I felt like even saying some of those times, "I don't care!! How is that going to help me??" But it was the constant knowledge that He loves me that cushioned each fall, each push from someone, each disappointment, each bump in the road.

Depression is a mild cold that you can sleep away or "sweat out" the fever. Depression is a killer, plain and not so simple. For those of us who are Christians, who live out His Word, we need to set the example to those who do not. We can't do that if we are not transparent about our struggles. They will not see that we are human just as they are if they only see our "Sunday best" and nose turned up to most things done in the world. They will not know that Jesus is the Truth, the Way and the Life or that He cares for us as Scripture says if we are not SHOWING that we need it from time to time ourselves. For 2015, I want to start THIS year long, possibly LIFELONG challenge. That we would LIVE out the footsteps of Christ, that we would show others, not just tell them, that we have troubles just like them. I will be the first. My name is Felicia and I have suffered with depression, feelings of worthlessness and have had thoughts of suicide. But that's NOT who I am!

Father, thank You for Your faithful pursuit of us, Your constant wayward children. My heart cries for those who have to deal with depression as I have. Lord, help Your children who have overcome to be a true beacon of Light for those still in the darkness. Help us not to be disgusted with their appearance and ways but only with the sin that entraps them. "Give us Your eyes so that we can see..-Brandon Heath" In Jesus precious name! Amen!

If you suffer with depression or even think you do, call your doctor immediately. Here is a list of symptoms:

http://www.helpguide.org/articles/depression/depression-signs-and-symptoms.htm