Victory Over Depression

hello and good evening ccf family welcome to our session two of our family webinar series in line with the the ccf series called life detox and for tonight we'll be talking about victory over depression my name is paul de vera and right next to me is my wife claire de vera what a lovely evening we have tonight we are excited to spend time with you guys once again now for those who weren't able to join us last week let me give you an intro on what this webinar is all about we have an ongoing series called life detox overcoming toxic realities the series tackles how living in a time of pandemic have uncovered toxic behaviors within the family and if remained and dealt with will create damage or dysfunctional family relationships that's right and so we really aim to to shed light on our current realities and really encourage families you know encourage the church body as well encourage everybody to assess their situations and work towards solutions that are actually based on the bible and as a follow through to our sunday messages we will be having this webinar series every wednesday to support the sunday message and we hope to create deeper uh conversations about the topics that are being presented every sunday yeah and this time it's really relevant for us no can i get an amen guys why don't you type it out there for now we'd like to get to know you guys better we want to get to know you especially those of you who are in zoom right now so we will be releasing a poll this will be very quick and we want to know your nationality are you filipino or are you from other nationalities okay so we want to see that and we also want to know your gender of course male or female okay very straightforward and then the life stage we cannot ask you uh your age already know so we want to be considerate are you a high school student are you a college student are you single are you married right and we also want to know how many are watching with you are you alone are you with your family friends or maybe your office mates right and of course we also want to know is this your first time to attend a ccf event you answer that with a yes or no we'd also like to know if you are already part of a d group if yes say hello to your d group leader and sisters or brothers in christ and in case you're not yet part of a d group would you like to share what a d group is yeah d group you know it's a fellowship of like-minded individuals these are brothers in christ sisters in christ you know you journey with them through life you learn more about the bible with them and you see how you grow in maturity so that's very important in our christian journey diva we also want to know if you are the group leader so if you are the group leader shout out narendra modi disciples is a chat box and for those for those who have disciples who have to be here and they're not yet here you know tag them over tag them in facebook tag them in youtube and call them out or not and because you already mentioned that no for those who are still not part of a d group would you want to be a part of one of course i hope we can see a lot of yeses here ayan most of them really again we are getting uh ample answers no we have i think 66 percent that have ccs small groups account so that's good that's good and now brothers and sisters for the announcements if in case if in case okay if in case you have friends or family members who still want to join us tonight but they can't go here in zoom please let them know that we have overflow in our youtube channel what's our youtube channel that's youtube.com ccf main tv and of course we will also be having our q and a later so please guys prepare your questions it's a very interesting topic tonight now have your questions ready and type them out there in our q a button so we will select questions from there right yes now why don't we have an icebreaker first okay yeah and why don't we invite our panelists to join us hello hello good evening panelists saying hi ben and of course our senior pastor and uh mr yonah they're also here okay we want to play a game the name of the game okay let's also call out um our moderators for this evening we have with us edric and joy mendoza yeah this is a powerhouse cast tonight okay so let's play a game and we want all the participants wherever you are youtube facebook or zoom to answer this question it is very simple the title of the game is bible characters who battle depression we're sorry it's very straightforward we weren't able to think of a of a better better title but this will be in a crossword puzzle style okay okay so for number one down it's a five letter word and this person lost his favorite son so that's the first clue guys it's a he and this bible character has 12 sons 12 sons okay i think edric was uh the first one to answer jacob let's see okay there are there are many confused individuals some of them think it's david but uh jacob the correct answer brothers and sisters is jacob the second question is number two down it is an eight letter word and this guy was lamenting over a nation see what they did there they were making between the lines [Laughter] [Applause] [Laughter] wait till you get to the third question okay first number three down is also a five letter word and this time it's a she she lost her husband and her two sons or two daughters [Music] number four down is also a five letter word and this guy was depressed over a nation and depressed over a plant jonah jonah is answering it the correct answer is jonah yes good job okay and then for number um number two across it's a three-letter word i think it's already pretty obvious so this guy lost so much okay and despite the losses he remained faithful to god okay finalists they have added trinity [Laughter] okay the next thing number five is a cross okay it's a four-letter word and this man was depressed over letter a right and married to the famous jay who is not a mermaid who is here [Applause] so they really listened to the message last sunday that's right okay last but not the least number six across it's a five-letter word he lost his sons he ran for his life as the king was try trying to chase him that time and here's the big clue okay he defeated the great giant philistine and this guy is also a man after god's own heart who could it be mystery effect i'm sure we all know this guy ah there also will answer yes okay david yes you got it right and our our chat is beaming with answers thank you so much for participating guys well what we want to thank our panelists and our participants tonight and they're very gay they're very active and we need that for the conversations tonight the conversations will deal with depression now with no further ado let's open with a word of prayer let me pray father in heaven we worship and thank you for this wonderful evening and we thank you for the energy we thank you for the interest and we thank you for the openness of the church to talk about these topics lord god tonight we pray that your wisdom will fill our panelists and our moderators and that you would also guide the participants those who are watching here in zoom and even in our over um um over stream what we call that the overflow rooms lord god we pray that you also minister to them and may you be glorified may you be magnified in the conversations that we will have for this evening we praise you and thank you in jesus name amen amen now we'd like to introduce our moderators for tonight we'd start off with our brother edric mendoza edric's focus is on personal finance entrepreneurship and of course innovative learning he's an anchor of plus networks fundamentals and a former anchor of anc's on the money he's managing director of entrepreneurship college the one school and chairman of homeschool global together with his wife joy and their six kids they also serve in christ commission fellowship where edric is the head of family ministries their desires to change the world one family at a time and of course his lovely wife joy is a gifted author and award-winning writer and influencer who blogs about her journey as a wife to edric mendoza and homeschool homeschooling mom to six children elijah eden titus tiana catalina and kaylee joy joy has made various media platform appearances sharing her amazing god-sized story of tragedy turned into triumph and pain transformed into purpose all through christ all for christ hello ezra enjoy it take it away guys thank you you know uh paul and claire should have done tonight but um you know we had to squeeze them to want to do it so we're doing it instead i know seriously thank you for for having us it's it's exciting for us to be here honey i miss you i'm glad that um we're able to do this together you want to get started introduce our panel yeah so let's start off with um pastor peter and sister deanna but of course they're my parents all right so just for those of you who may not know for who are joining us for the first time uh dr peter tanchi is the founder and senior pastor of christ commission fellowship he finished his master's degree in management at the asian institute of of management and doctorate degree in ministry at the igs uh sorry international graduate school of leadership he co-authored with my mom the book motivate which is a book about the successful parenting principles and biblical principles applied and raising all of us and um from whom of course they have now i think it's 21 21 grandchildren and i think there's still more to come by faith and then um deanna or my mom is a graduate of the university of south florida with a degree in inter disciplinary studies formerly she toured southeast asia with the crossroads actually my mom is an amazing singer for those of you who don't know it's a singing group of campus crusade for christ she was instrumental in helping to set up the master's academy homeschool which was the first deaf educated homeschool program in the philippines she is also a conference speaker counselor for women and families and bible teacher so i have the privilege of asking the first question to you guys mom and dad and you know on sunday mom you shared about your own journey with depression actually you didn't mention this but i know my dad will remember this but my mom was so depressed that her hair was falling out and it was really a dark time in her life dad a lot of people may be wondering since mom went through depression was there ever a point in your own life that you also went through depression why or why not by the grace of god i i've gone through example anxiety worry but not depression and the reason is it's god's grace god's truth and the reality that what you think is so crucial so i try to focus on god's promises and i talk to myself why are you about to be depressed or why are you feeling bad so joy to answer your question praise god i have not been depressed it's all of god it's all because of god's grace and god's glory uh joy can i share something about yes of course yeah i want my falling hair actually i told peter about it and he had to really think will i be willing to marry diana if she goes bald but to show how positive he is he thought i'll just wipe but i'll just buy her a wig so he married me in the midst of my depression and by god's grace god used him also in my life so praise god thank you you know you you you counsel you come alongside a lot of um women mom uh who also go through anxiety go through depression dad shared about how it's so important what we think about right and how that translates to our emotions and our feelings what would you think is one of the barriers to a lot of people not being able to do that why do they spiral into depression because you went through that as well and so what would be something similar that you could could identify with and the people you've also ministered to actually i think it's a focus i was really focused on my problem i had as i shared with you the other day i had a lot of doubts about god and i was singing in concerts but i had these doubts and afterwards i'd be crying in the bus but i was focused on my problem and i think that when people really get into depression it's a focus as well and uh yeah of course i was thinking that god was mad at me that i lost my salvation so uh what really helped me was really going back to god's word and realizing what god says about us and how he loves us and then our salvation is unconditional so to me i had a friend that called me she was depressed she had made a decision that she really regretted and she thought it was going to spoil the rest of her life and she had been in bed for a month and hadn't gone outside she was just so depressed and i of course i listened to her and i talked with her and shared her my own journey but then i said you know what there are so many amazing promises in god's word and the first thing i want to share with you is that god has made a promise to use what you have done for good and you have to really be able to claim that and then i gave her a list of psalms and verses and this dear sister of christ she really wrote them out typed them out framed them and then she started sending them to all of her depressed friends and by god's grace he pulled her out of her depression no medication not saying that medication is bad it can't be for intervention but in her case it was really god's word change of focus and believing god's promises recalibrate my husband's saying recalibrate yes that's the message so praise god honey i think you want to introduce now uh gino and noreen because they can speak to those who really are at a point where they feel like they can't even do what mom uh is suggesting right now fantastic again we have a great question here actually on the q a you might want to check out as i asked gino and noreen um and i introduced them so ladies and gentlemen gina and irene are actually friends not just of ourselves but of the ministry and ccf respectively gino is the president and noreen is the program director of transcend life solutions they're both professional life coaches practicing christian cognitive behavior therapy many of you know of cbt and as professionals they also are involved in christian nlb and integrated wellness or iw and in their practice they address this is why we have them here burnout anxiety and depression they've been married for 14 years have two daughters um i'm not sure if they're gonna catch up and maybe have six but we'll see that's a different story um and as we we talked to them right their mission is to be a channel of god's grace to those who are struggling with personal and relational challenges all for god's glory gino noreen thanks for being here guys you know i think the heartbeat that we have in many people have actually asked through the series of life detox you know they wanted to get a couple of thoughts from professionals like you first i think it would be helpful if you can help define depression right from your lenses and then if we can go straight into gino you know you struggled with this this is part of your own journey and you actually went to a point of trying to commit suicide so right i know you've heard this in other venues but maybe you can help put those two concepts together what is your your definition of it and um a little bit of how you dealt with that in your own life right right so um yeah thanks for the question though i think it's it's good to start with definitions so that we have a working grasp of um what depression is now so um i'll try to explain it um a mix of the technical and the experiential note depression is a state of mind right wherein you have reached a point where you are actually chronically feeling helpless worthless and hopeless right and that's that uh that pattern of thinking that's recurring all the time starts impacting your your physical state so so so the the the the the constant unhealthy pattern of thinking starts affecting your brain to the point that um that uh emotionally uh and physiologically things kind of start slowing down or or uh or i guess declining in all of those things no so um and uh you were asking about uh my experience of depression well um actually to be very honest noreen and i were talking about it um i i didn't realize i was depressed until i actually got out of depression because for as long as i've been uh well i've been aware of myself now i think i first got depressed when i was 14 um because i i had a girlfriend back then and i broke up with her you know just typical typical young young romance and all of those things and i didn't have the emotional skills or the even the mindset the proper mindset to to help me get out of it and um i i took it really really bad and i've been taking it against myself for so many years um i would sometimes be be okay sometimes i would not be okay i became christian i was okay for a while but then the pattern of thinking that i i carried over just kept going on and on even even when i was courting noreen uh she saw a lot of this and even after uh uh even when we got married right even when we got married uh it was something that was uh it was always just threatening to overwhelm me right and uh and uh uh it was uh uh to your point uh i actually contemplated suicide i didn't just contemplate i actually tried it i tried it i tried it before right before you were christian and then even after right right so so when i was 14 i tried it and then and then when i was already a christian i also tried it again right and it's uh where's the lord's stuff the lord the lord stopped me right that i really intervened back then and uh uh it it was always a puzzle for me for the longest time why on one hand i would have these highs of faith but on the other hand i would have these laws of of despair right chronically so so and and i i i well by god's grace i somehow had the the i guess the instinct to start asking questions while i was going through it and then um later on i actually went through some some personal crisis and my work i burnt out completely and i i really just stopped fighting it i guess and it wasn't that i actually started understanding uh where it was coming from so it was a long journey i'd say i was depressed since i was 14. i only actually started getting out of it when i was 41. right when it was like completely finalized finally when i stopped overcoming yeah yeah and you know what i'm hearing is you know you had to be able to process this well and that's what really helped you finally overcome it and we'll back that as we go because you know we have a whole time to discuss this with you guys in the meantime enjoy baby i think you have uh you're going to introduce our next guest our young guest actually um yeah so that people might hear her story as well yes i'm super excited to introduce this very young beautiful lady her name is trinity valencia also known as trend by her peers she's an eighth grade student studying in homeschool global and after attending a go viral training she was then compelled to start a small group with her peers and younger cousins what a blessing and she loves art and exploring new things and i think one of the reasons why we have you here trinity is because you know a lot of young people today even as young as you even younger are also experiencing depression what was your own journey like with this well it was a really big challenge for me because ever since especially when i was little i was really confused about what love was and if god really cared about me and my family because we were a broken family and um it was the time where i was like only seven years old maybe you're six where my parents would start having arguments and i would get nightmares and i was really anxious about it and everything and to the point that their arguments would get really serious but it would get violent in a way and to the point nami and my mom would like get away from our home or leave home because of it and i was even bullied by my close friends which really ruined my mental health and then later on i was invited to ccf but i wasn't really able to put my faith in god so i continued to be uh worldly and be able to like be confused in a way and my parents arguments on the other hand didn't really stop and i really doubted and questioned god a lot of times and i also began to rely on people where i would surrender to them and find happiness and validation from other people and other things even at the end it would um end up not really in a nice way and at that point i became suicidal and started to self-harm and i really had a negative mindset and i really didn't know what to do especially when quarantine happened because there was a distance between me and my friends and i started to grow when i was invited to adi group and elevate where i began to realize how much god really loves me and how i didn't have to go through this alone how god really worked in my life and how he also had a plan for me and i realized that i decided to recommit and surrender my life to god and now i'm leading 2d groups and continue and asking god to continue to use me to be a blessing to others as well thank you so much for sharing that and you know i noticed several things that you said and also connected to what the ellerias mentioned a lot of times what can trigger our uh depression is something circumstantial right the environment we're in um an event and a lot of times it's relationships and you talked about you coming from a broken home and i think many people can identify with that we can get into how maybe people came alongside you the details of that and how god used even um you know ccf to help you out and even serving which is great i think that's a great example but first we have to talk to venice to represent the singles yeah so let me introduce our our last panelist and uh we can get the flow going uh so this lady probably needs no further introduction but we'll do it anyway so that you get to know her a little bit more she's amazing behind the scenes she graduated with the degree in marketing and advertising and her last corporate student was working as a brand manager for chow king's flagship project pork chow fan yeah and super yummy our kids love that she has been actively serving in bigger b1g ministry in the past and is currently working full-time uh leading ccf's communication team so she is the genius man a lot of the creative stuff that you see in the ccf church family venice thank you for being here and you know we were talking even before this right about your story is a little bit different in the area of depression you had circumstances that would have naturally led you down that path but it was different for you so you might want to share a little bit about that hi thanks edric um good evening everybody um my story mode as epic have shared it mo it's more on the victorious side um and if you think about it what happened to me is that i think i could actually relate to most people who have lost loved ones due to covid and my mom passed away last year because of it it was during those times that there's no medicine at all no one knows how to treat covet so it was the first wave of the coveted infection in the philippines and then four months after my mom's sister who is very close to us also died from so it's death upon death um in the family and so i i believe that every child and our children their greatest fear especially when they're single or young is to actually lose their parents and it's one of the most depressing things that can actually happen um to a child um or to a single woman like me um but but during that time if i hadn't been serving the lord and if i hadn't had a strong foundation i wouldn't i would have crumbled into pieces you know up until now i sharing my story i still want to cry because you know grief it never goes away gleeful it never goes away it comes and go but it never goes away and it lingers even though it happens all throughout the year it happened in the past year it doesn't go away but i one thing that i remember is that during the time that my mom was in was in the ice he used it which when she was in she was intubated and all god's message to me was very clear it's joshua 1 9 and i can't remember it have i not commanded you be strong and courageous because i got god i'm just 30 30 years old but how can i be stronger during this time but the lord tells me it's a commandment venice it's a commandment and do not be frightened do not be dismayed and um throughout the 11 days that my mom was in the hospital um sorry i'm crying and during the 11 days that my mom was in the hospital and every morning i say to myself have have the lord not commanded you be strong and courageous do not be frightened do not be dismayed so i say that to myself every morning and i hold fast to the word of god because that's all i have at that moment that's all i have i have i have a father who i need to support during that time because um he was very close to my mom and so i think it's really the word of god who have helped me go through this circumstance and also up until now it's still the word of god comforting me and what happened also is that i i prayed and i asked the lord that lord would you please use my pain to minister to others and did what happened is the fruit of this circumstance and the fruit of this pain um what the lord told me to impress in my heart is do not isolate yourself and second use your faith to minister to others and so what happened is that the lord allowed me to minister to my cousins so i have now a bible study with my cousins and their children so it's third and fourth generation we do it every weekend and i was able to reach out again to my of office mates from the past and we are also doing marketplace bible study every sundays and that is how i got through that circumstance it's really we're focusing your attention that whenever you feel sad or whenever you feel alone and don't be i stand up i pray and i study the word of god and i i minister to others and really teach them it's the word of god to them so i think that's that's my journey wow wow that's amazing venice and you know um i honestly was uh getting emotional listening to it and hear your heart and i love what kit umawan says here on the chat right it's okay to cry because it shows how much you love your mom and i think we see that you know in dealing with depression and these these emotions god is not saying there's anything wrong with it in fact look at david he expressed his heart out in so many different ways but what i love about your story venice and it speaks to me and i think many people here is we don't stop there even as we bring it to god we let his truths now be the one to dictate how we will respond and i think that's what you chose to do you coded joshua and being strong and courageous daily and you're very honest with god and as you brought that to him and let him refocus as you said you even use that for good as romans 8 28 says right you're able to use even that circumstance and you now became a blessing to others so thank you venice fantastic sharing joy honey i think you have a question you want to bring to um mom and dad i just wanted to make one comment on what venice was sharing because what really struck me too was that it wasn't just the word of god but it was obedience to the word of god she said that as god told her to be strong and courageous that's what she responded to and she did respond with that courage that was in him and i think that's a very good reminder for all of us because we can read god's word and we can know it but if we don't obey it it doesn't have the effect that god intends in our life to help us through these circumstances now pastor peter and sister diana mom and dad there is a very important question here that's up on the top now and it says for the past two sunday messages it was mentioned that taking medicines is a shortcut and a lazy approach what can you say about christian psychiatrists who prescribe medicines as they deem best for their patients are they enabling and tolerating laziness and are they doing shortcuts in their profession despite their many years of study practice and experience why or why not i think okay if i were to summarize this question the basic question is is it wrong when christian psychiatrists prescribe medicine that they deem best for their patients thank you for that question it is a good question and often our messages are misinterpreted what do i mean by misinterpreted mom and i never said that medicine doctor psychiatrists are wrong we are not saying that i'm simply saying in our experience 90 of cases that are really cured in our experience in this world i want to be extremely careful this is just how i've seen depressed people delivered and transformed now i know that god uses doctors my only concern let me repeat i'm not saying don't so i hope this is very clear but i am saying my concern is when you become dependent on medicine when you become dependent on psychotic drugs let me repeat for intervention it is not wrong god uses psychiatrists god uses doctors but if you ask me as a practitioner of helping people become all that god wants them to be i always tell people life is about choices for me and mom we have chosen to prescribe what we believe is what the bible says you have to remember when the apostle paul wrote the new testament all of this psychological term anxiety disorder depression etc are not yet invented by psychiatrists however if you look at the bible it is very clear number one the battle is in the mind number two satan attacks us in the mind why as venus said if you just keep on thinking focusing on the problem i myself will be depressed that's for sure if i keep thinking of the problem of this country if i think if i keep thinking of things that i cannot control inevitably of course you will be depressed but many people are afraid to really explain that clearly in my case i know there are you have audience here let me repeat i am not trying to oversimplify the problem because problems that have been in your life for so many years have a tendency to become complicated why the brain pattern the way you think the way you react so in reality simple problem can become complex now the idea of being lazy i'm sorry that was the impression that we gave you all i'm simply saying is this do not be lazy when you study the bible do not be lazy when you apply biblical principle in terms of the battle of the mind because it takes a lot of work like what venice is going through venice has to apply the biblical principle of telling her mind what to think properly so let me repeat if you think wrongly i guarantee you you'll be depressed satan is our enemy and satan doesn't want you to realize the battle is in the mind can god use doctors of course this is okay to take medicine of course however let me repeat in our experience in helping i will literally say countless people from depression to joy there is no shortcut for going to the root problem let me give an example it sounds simple it is not when i say root problem example you lose a job example you lose a loved one if you fail to understand what is going on in your mind for example in my case for example only if people will criticize me i want to look good at people now can you imagine what i'm idolizing example only is my reputation that becomes my god and if that is taken from me i will be completely depressed if i depend on money as my security just imagine if i business problem and i lose money because that is not my security i guarantee you i'll be depressed why example if a boyfriend or a girlfriend has become my idol in my mind i will only be happy if i marry the person what happens if something happens to that person you see it is not as simple as you think because idolatry in the mind is something you elevate to the place of god but you fail to realize the root problem is really the way you make something finite to become infinite it's all it has to do with spiritual truth with the way we think so to make a simple answer not so complicated let me repeat we are not against medicine we are not against doctor i'm simply saying go to the root problem the root problem whether you like it or not has to become connected with your mind the way you think and your obedience to the lord and the bible let us trust god's grace god's ability to strengthen us but this will never happen until we come to a point where we realize the problem it can be idolatry it can be seen see there are many kinds of spiritual problems regrets you make a mistake look at elijah elijah's problem was triggered if you ask me not just by jezebel it was a trigger but for elijah his expectation of spiritual revival this expectation that these guys will all be changed and because that expectation was not met if elijah was not careful exactly what happened he felt like he was a failure he felt like he's nobody and of course if you think you're a failure you will surely be depressed he felt like he can do nothing good he risked his life but nothing happened because god has to recalibrate our mind and that's why please do nothing it is too simple the calibrating your mind is one of them great challenges of spiritual maturity and when i disciple people i want them to learn to be responsible for what is going on in their mind and you cannot do that unless you memorize scriptures you meditate on scriptures and i like what benny said you and i are neighbor to be alone we are in a community god's people so these are biblical principles that i feel god wants to bless us with let me repeat i'm not against medicine it can be used i'm not against doctor because there are many christian psychiatrists they are good doctors i'm just sharing with you what is important is no need to try to argue with so many issues but really learn with all humility ask yourself really what's going on in your mind is god really god of your life are you willing to surrender your expectations are you willing to surrender your future do you really believe that god will cause your failures that god has something good at the end it's about faith in god's character faith in god's promises do you really believe that the best will still happen and that hope can only come from god's character god's promises god's word maybe mom will want to add something so he's calling me mom joy because he's talking to you but he doesn't call me mom and private okay honey okay this is kind of weird okay so um actually uh for those of you don't know my mother was bipolar very depressed um at the end of her life not when i was growing up but she became bipolar and got on and she became they put her on all kinds of medications she got addicted to the medications and she it had such a very negative effect on her um so while i think medicines can be used for intervention there has to be some kind of a plan for how you're going to really be able to cope with the situation that's what peter's saying using god's word and i i love we have so many friends that are psychiatrists and they they love god and they're there to help so i in my case um i never did take medication i didn't have any access to it i didn't see a doctor but it was really god and god's word who pulled me out however uh people that have been on medication if you've been i i read one of the chats that someone's been on medication for 35 years or 25 years you can't go off medication suddenly because your body has gotten used to this medication when you're depressed part of your brain your brain shrinks that's your hippocampus if that's and that's part of the brain that makes you feel good so what the medications do is to help rebuild that but as i shared on sunday we have natural remedies with no side effects omega-3 fish oil is very effective but not just any omega-3 fish oil it has to be high epa and dha aside from that you need to get exercise if you're just sitting around watching tv or on devices you need to be outside in the sun i was not feeling well yesterday i walked in the sun i looked at the sun i exercised every day so while you're trying to let's say clean yourself from medications you have to go under a doctor's supervision add these things so um you know green tea is really good also it's it's something that will calm you down and help you as well so there are many things to do but i want to give you a verse and you know what god's formula for good mental health is it's what peter shared in his message the other week in everything give thanks for this is god's will for you in christ jesus you know when you can begin to thank god for your problem and then thank him for his amazing solution you can thank god there's times i've done things i regret and i felt really bad and god spoke to me diana don't you believe that i will even use your mistakes for good you have to trust me even with your regrets and your mistakes so if you have this thanking him okay god i thank you you're going to use it for good i leave it in your hands um that's when the bible says i want to give you a verse it says may it's in um let's see may the god of all hope fill you with joy and peace and believing by the power of the holy spirit who has been poured into your hearts so god is a god of hope and he is the one that feels of the joy and peace and believing medications can help in the interim but really you need to learn how to get uh dependent on god and give thanks and everything joy george do you recall galatians chapter 5 verse 22 the fruit of the holy spirit what is the fruit of the holy spirit love joy joy peace peace look love joy peace not depression now people will accuse me of oversimplifying but i think our problem is simply we fail to obey by faith god's promises so i can be accused of oversimplifying but you know what other than teaching the truth which may run counter to our culture because our culture is really you may not agree again the victim mindset blaming others blaming the past dependent on medicine again let me repeat i am not against all of those but it might be good to consider yourself really ask yourself tonight are you happy with your life because it is through the holy spirit through god's word and that is that comes by humility until you realize you need god's help and not be dependent on your own wisdom i really believe until there's brokenness before god repentance before god and saying lord i have idols in my life it's myself i'm self-centered etc until we come to that point of humility i am afraid that there will be many who are not able to live the fullness of life why am i sharing this with confidence joy by the grace of god we have thousands of people in sisia they are like living exhibits of god's goodness and god's grace i can compare those who are blessed those who are happy who have been transformed and i can also tell you those who refuse to follow god's word they depend on their wisdom and i will show you the difference in their emotional state can i say yeah can i say something that he's not saying that if you're you know you're struggling that you're in sin i mean this is real and that's why we need community that's why you need to be able to talk to people and i know so many of you are sincerely trying you feel like you're failing that's where you need to get someone that you can talk to because it is a journey and we're to take that journey together that's why small groups are so important there's a lot of healing in small groups and thank you and i want to say i'm really sorry if i come across as not sympathetic if i come across as being a heart i i don't mean to come across like that but maybe because of time i like to simplify things you know joy you have been in our family and by the grace of god joy you are able to be more cerebral and follow the truth and then emotion will follow but if i keep focusing on emotion until i obey i am afraid there will be many who will always be defeated anyway baby you can you can add to what i'm saying i i think you point out some very important things he talked about you know identifying the root and you mentioned something about patterns of thinking and i think this is where gino and noreen can come in because sometimes people have a very hard time identifying those those patterns of thinking that they keep cycling back to it's like one time maybe they'll have victory but they keep getting pulled back to the same negative thinking pattern so can you address that gino and noreen yeah hey you can take this i'll enjoy it yeah right um our background gina and i are we have different backgrounds i'm the one who grew up in church just to give a you know context you know i am the one who grew up in church and did not experience depression um he did not know the lord initially but you know the grace of god was already at work in his life from the very beginning and um it it took me a while also to to understand how i could help him because he already uh knew the lord in the sense that you know he was saved for sure like you know guaranteed he was going to go to heaven that was that was guaranteed but as you mentioned joy uh patterns of thinking um they they can start very early and as we know habits are hard to break and new good habits are hard to form and in that in the same process you know uh we are not very conscious of patterns of thinking that we might have and a lot of it might be even in the unconscious part of the mind because um actually i just want to add the tea principle that's actually scientific you know the thinking leads to emotion and the emotion leads to action that's actually cbt that's actually what we do uh we help people to to uh come to an understanding of what is the root of the problem so it's the the the process that we do it maybe you could share a little bit how you were able to overcome that pattern right right so so um yeah uh to joy's point first about about how why it's difficult well i i the best way to describe it would be um i i often use a computer as a an analogy right so um we have our mind uh analogous to the os of the computer like uh windows um and most computers when windows gets installed it's gonna be okay it's it's it's done correctly right but in some cases like for example if you're a person who's kind of prone to depression um the os gets installed in a way that there's a bit something wrong with the program right so it'll run but later on when you try to to to run an application that's that's kind of taxing it crashes so similarly when we have patterns of thinking um that are are unhealthy you you you don't know that your operating system is not running uh not running as best as it could so when you talk to someone like for example like noreen who who you know if you she she can do some some some self-reflection oh i'm not thinking healthily but then you you have this habit coming from maybe your childhood and it's a habit of thinking about maybe yourself how how you how you how you identify yourself we call that the self concept or how or how you relate with people how you respond to people right you wouldn't know that it's actually unhealthy because you don't have a baseline comparison of what a healthy pattern of thinking is and that was my problem right i did not i didn't have a healthy way of looking at things and in fact um just to share with you know one of my struggles was i was so prone to self-condemnation right i was very very hard with myself right and and when i became a christian like of course you hear about grace no we we're we're saved by grace through faith right uh and so on and so forth right through christ um uh and conceptually i i i could recognize what the bible is saying about grace but the way that the way that i responded to it was based on my old pattern of thinking like i use the concept of grace to condemn myself right so for example when i make a mistake i go uh you've already been saved you already have god's grace you don't have an excuse i i do i i think that way and it would like perplex noreen because why do you have this this concept of grace because grace is actually what saves you right even from that state but right because of the wrong pattern of thinking of thinking even that the good things are reinterpreted interpreted according to that that the the the o s l s right right the the the the the default way of thinking and and uh it it uh it took a lot of um a lot of time after before i recognized it so to be very frank we had many conversations but i i didn't really start to recognize grace what grace was until i saw her treating me with grace sometimes i would tell her you know what you you you treat me with more grace than i than i do myself right so she she's more gracious to me than i was to myself very very demanding towards myself um cruelly demanding so i i i could you could talk to me about a lot of the biblical things and somehow um because i i don't know what it's like to start with a baseline understanding that isn't coming from the unhealthy pattern of thinking right it doesn't register it has to be demonstrated it has to be demonstrated so i could actually feel it and then i can kind of go to god and go god this is how this is how i've been making sense of the world from before that's right but but right now i'm experiencing this treatment i think there's something wrong with my with how i'm i'm seeing things right but um on my own i would not have been able to recognize it in fact you could you could have quizzed me on a lot of biblical stuff and all of those things no i could have probably given you the textbook answer but in terms of application i was so so way off i was so way off right so so so um i i think one of the points that was uh brought up earlier was that we're looking at the q a was uh was that uh you we need to be with other people yes so that we can kind of calibrate what it's like to respond in in a in a healthier way right so i i think that's a that's a very big factor yeah it's it's a it's a very big factor to for for you to kind of have a new a new way of evaluating how you're doing things you know and to just to that end right um everything that you know pastor peter and you know sister leona said was absolutely true right um i guess when we come in in terms of the process of helping the person move from from that um unhealthy pattern of thinking right and and you know uniquely um address their individual perspective and that that's why it it really in a sense or to boil down to to its essence our practices really the practical application of grace that that is you know in its essence so that you can truly understand where this person is coming from exactly what jesus does for us he meets us where we are and then from there you know he lifts us up so that that has to be that has to be demonstrated to someone who doesn't understand grace who doesn't understand uh faith who doesn't understand uh compassion and all of those things right and and and so this is something that we uh we we need to learn uh to do by by uh associating with other christians that's why there's such a no such thing as a uh lone wolf christian you need to actually be able to calibrate within without you with a healthier christian so that you can learn so thanks guys i just want to jump in right now and yeah right dad i just want to praise god gino and noreen you mentioned about certain pattern of thinking and i would describe that as bad habit because yes yes yes they they have wrong pattern for the longest time and they cannot see it right that's right you saw your husband you are surprised at his reaction to a simple concept of grace but he twisted it right that's right that's why we need each other we need to be gracious we that's why god gave us a small group that's why god gave us ccf not to be critical not to be judgmental but to be loving but i always want to add speak the truth in love amen that's why i know what i'm saying may cause some people to feel i'm judgmental but i'm telling you i love you and please consult gino and maureen for that step of b12 remember knowing i have to be you know i praise god for my wife she helped me to become even more positive you know why when i was growing up i did not share this the reason why i did not become depressed because in my house i have an answer who is completely negative and have a father who is completely positive and then i have a pattern now who do i want to copy and i noticed my father lived longer my father was almost successful but i have an uncle who is negative always critical and he died earlier so my whole point is this you want to die early you want to leave those consequences so god gave me a pattern and both of them were not believers believe it or not they were not believers but i've learned to count my blessing i have many things more to say about counting your blessing maybe edward will share that in history right thanks dad mom uh so gina noreen you know the the chats are exploding um i am trying to navigate all of this we just want to remind everybody to please ask your questions on facebook and youtube as well we have teams giving it to us so i'm going to try and combine like five questions in one because even as uh pastor peter and his wife were talking you were talking there's just so much stuff that people want to ask here and unfortunately we don't have unlimited time so here's my question i love how you're all sharing about uh journeying and making sure that you reach out right there are some very practical questions and i'll combine the questions here of uh january fresco mamawag on facebook as well as our anonymous attendee on um uh zoom here and sharon doroma bessario so here's in a nutshell what they're asking right so let's say you see somebody in your family that is going through depression um the first question is uh how do you differentiate that they're just being sad or they're actually clinically or really going to a severe case of depression right that's the first question and as you see those things how did i practically approach that and reach out to them right whether this is a family member or a friend right and then the third part of that question is what if they don't want you to help them yeah so let's unpack that right the first part you're looking at them how do you distinguish that they're just feeling sad from actually being depressed uh and some will even use the word clinical depression that's one two three how do you then approach that so go ahead okay okay all right so so let's see that's just the being said right right yeah right let's keep going let's keep it layman for many of our viewers go forward right all right so um everyone can experience being sad it's not quite depression yet um well here's the thing you know depression is a can can be broadly described just from feeling down all the way to clinical all the way to to to to um suicidal so one can say you know i feel depressed and then they're not lying that's how they feel at the moment but it's not necessarily clinical so they can feel down at that moment so um that that will pass you know if it's not a clinical depression it will pass it will not last long um the the other parts of the body will demand that they they do other things like eat and and so it will not last if it's clinical then there would be symptoms for at least straight two weeks wherein they really can't can't um get up you know they can't move um low mood is persistent uh for for 14 days straight at the very least right um low mood loss of interest so so there are 10 symptoms two core symptoms score symptom low mood loss of interest in the things that they normally that they normally like right those are core symptoms and then yeah and then there's loss of appetite there's a change in appetite too much or suddenly not eating at all right changing appetite um difficulty with sleep right either they can't sleep or get too much right fatigue right even without having done anything you wake up in the morning and then and then you're feeling fatigued right um uh problem concentrating right problem concentrating um a problem with your body coordinating your body or feeling clumsy or having difficulty moving and all of those things um thoughts of uh self-harm self-harm well after the first guilt and shame yes constant condemnation i'm worthless you know i'm useless and you know i'm a failure when these thoughts start running and over and over then that that's a real sign and of course and then there's the the thoughts of death and and so those are signs that that that person it really immediately needs help right but we just just wanna just wanna make sure sure that uh this is clear now so we're not saying that we don't we don't diagnose we're not clinicians right technically speaking for a person to be clinically depressed right um you need a diagnosis do you need a diagnosis but then you can observe kind of observe these symptoms if the person is actually open to you about it because sometimes you know sometimes many times people who go through depression because there's a lot of shame in the negative attitude towards themselves don't want to to show other people that they're going through something and and mostly it's because there's a lot of self-recognition so a lot of his hostility towards himself that if i'm feeling bad about myself i can't get out of it i hate myself if i show someone that i'm going through this then it's just going to add fuel to the to the to the flame no right so so if the person is actually showing you these things no it's best to be very careful how you respond to them because it's like it's not like the person is just going through a crisis it's not going to be like that um person going through a lot of self-condemnation right self-condemning thoughts and all of that because of of their depression is going to be super sensitive about how they respond to offers to help even if you mean well in in the pattern of thinking that could like really misconstrue it can be misconstrued and that's happened to me it can really be misconstrued so so so there has to be a lot of um we call it pacing uh in in the coaching world pacing with them emotionally right making them first feel comfortable emotionally safe before we actually start uh trying to talk about the problem because if they don't feel emotionally safe and you go straight to them then then um um they might wall up right they might wall up at best they might wall up at worst uh they might even take that against themselves right or they're offering me help i suck something like that no and all of those things right so so so there has to be emotional pacing you show a lot of empathy make them feel comfortable and then and then when you talk um it's best not to give advice because i i tell you that advice can be taken against themselves oh i'm not doing that right for example right right like like like you know you you can lighten up oh i'm not lighting up i said i i suck because i'm not lighting up it's it's it's really really that that nasty in in in the mind so of course we're not saying that any of those things are okay and acceptable but yeah when when we we since we understand that that's what's going on in their minds we do make the adjustment in order to get past that wall right because there could be walls right and and you know in order to to help them you know extend you know the love of god we need to get around those walls right right so make them feel comfortable first emotionally emotionally comfortable it's it's and and to be very frank it's going to be different it's going to be an effort it's not just it's just going to be like your friend who's down because something bad happened to them for the day it's going to be an effort it's going to be super super sensitive right so there has to be a lot of sensitivity involved when you when you try to to minister to someone especially if they don't want help if they don't want that of course um you know praise god you know those who come to us want to help right right right we can go straight and those who go to counselors right they do want help right so we can like you know go to them right away here's you know right um what's healthy right but for those who are struggling but you know are not not wanting help that that's there's the right then we need to be careful right fantastic and that was actually maybe the third part of the question i this is a juicy juicy loaded topic as we all know right unfortunately we have to keep moving this along guys so just that part as you were at that last tale and you said what if they don't want help right what are their your practical tips to now recommend to the people listening on how to deal with family members friends who don't want help and you know that they've seen all the signs that you've talked about right right um i guess that's where the emotional pacing comes in um and this is actually a skill it's not something that we we just all figure out you know it's something that really takes an effort to to do um we want we call this um we need to match we need to match them first um it's called matching and mirroring right wherein when a person is feeling down right and this mind you once again this is a this is a person who's not asking for help but if they're asking for counseling that's going to be much easier but if they're not asking for help and they're down right are we gonna can we go can we do a demo can we do this quick one yes you're not you're the one not asking wanting help i'm the one not wanting help i'll pretend that i'm the one who doesn't want help i'm depressed and i don't want help okay okay all right so um uh hey gino how are you seem very quiet how are you hello okay yeah you know uh you know what i can hang out here with you for a bit uh because you know i just wanted to you know just keep your company that's okay yeah so yeah um you wanna watch your show shop with me or you wanna you wanna get something to eat i can get you something what do you feel like no okay whatever you want okay so you know right you know that that's why it takes effort right because it's it's going to be like that no uh um uh seguro just because i i know there are probably other questions for the for the other panelists now but uh the quick thing is that let's let's let's understand that our relationship with the person consists of more than helping them out if they're not open to actually being helped out at the moment then there might be other things that you guys can actually do which will will the person will appreciate yeah and and if you can like stay stay uh uh pace with them uh all throughout the the day maybe or you're hanging out together but there might be a point that they'll actually start feeling safe feeling safe and then they'll open up right there were many times when noreen and i were actually she was trying to talk to me i tell her i don't want to talk about it she'll change the topic okay let's do something fun let's do something that you liked right what was the last thing that you you read or what is the last thing that you you watch that you like and then and and then sometimes it would be like weeks before we talk about something but then eventually we would talk about it merely because she was actually just facing with me to make me feel comfortable i love that guys thank you so i think on a if i was to summarize that that response right is you just want to be there with them right right right i think there's a lot of patience necessary um to help walk alongside them so joy honey you have questions for our fraternity and venice yeah i think mommy wanted to add something i saw your hand raised yeah i think that um something we we just take for granted it's really prayer uh prayer is so powerful pray that they would have a fresh encounter with the lord but you know just be there to love them you know like job's friends you don't be talking you just be quiet but just be there for and pray a lot and god god works we pray amen thank you yeah and let's let's shift the focus now to because trinity you did something that i think is actually very extraordinary for somebody your age but it is one of the ways that we can help ourselves um or help others also when we are in this state and that is to reach out to others right because when you take the focus off of yourself and you're now doing something to be a blessing how did that impact you in this season when you started to handle the d group how did that help you to also heal i really praise god because my d group i'm really happy that they get to share a lot of things and be able to really learn and i also was able to learn from them also and be able to grow especially when i study the word of god or the topic i also learn a lot of things and be able to grow also socially and help them to be able to be comfortable in the group and you know being able to be patient with them as well which helped me in growing in christ's likeness also and i also helped them to be able to be more christ-like and we explain to them like the godly principles especially when usually there are times that they would open up and regroup and you know i tried to uh add like godly principles or things at all about god how much god loves them and how much god sees and understands their pain and really being able to be there for them as well and really being able to help others be a blessing to others it's really a big privilege or something that really makes me happy because i get to help others to experience god's love and joy as well so yeah thank you for sharing that and i you know you you went through a lot in terms of your home life situation but how have you seen the goodness of god even through that and in your ministry i saw how god worked in me and my family really because i really saw changes in my family how they also tried to help me and also as a person who went through depression i was it was really hard for me to open up as well to other people especially the time when i opened up to my friends but they ended up talking about me or making rumors about me with other people so it is hard and it is challenging for me to open up again and god really challenged me or i had to really push myself or encourage myself to be able to open up to others and reach out to the church and i saw how much god really loved me and how god used other people to be able to help me as well and i think it's really a good thing and something that i encourage other students but there's nothing wrong with uh reaching out to others or the church or to your friends you know because also being able to listen to them really you know and also being able to reach out to the right people and really relying on god as well because god really is the main solution to our problem and he he will be the one to change us it's not us who will change ourselves or other people who will change us it's really god will move in our lives and really lift us up when we truly surrender our life to him and our struggles and i really saw a really big change in me and my family and how we really help each other to be able to grow and it also helps me to be able to be more open to them and to my d group as well and to my friends so it's absolutely growing as well praise god thank you for sharing that you know we're so blessed to have you here i think you're a good example even to us older people about how you've maximized even the season that can seem so dark for many people but choosing to be a blessing during this time babe i think let's let's let's put venice again on the hot seat let's do it i i have a question for from the viewers okay right so let's be single and available right yeah i just want to say about trend also i think what's very a blessing is how you said that you know you opened up i think that's so important to the right people uh as as gino and noreen was also sharing with us earlier so that was key for you even at your young age train uh venice here's our question from an anonymous attendee right talking about depression and quarter life crisis the pandemic has really given a lot of difficulty for 25 and up like me who wanted to be at their full potential during their 20s but work and career well the time seems to be fleeting and time seem to be fast i know many will say that in god's time how do you comfort or encourage someone who's struggling like me what are your thoughts regarding people having to support their life crisis how do we navigate during this trying time uh i just want to gain thoughts ideas encouragement comfort time now is very different for the time of those who are in 20s to their late 20s before ayans so you're a little bit past the quarter venice but maybe you can speak to this because again you you show a different side of of this whole conversation where you didn't go down that path and instead by god's grace you've had victory that's a handful that's handful but um well during this pandemic i think people are actually um going into different pursuits in order to cope up um and i i myself have been i bought plants i bought i got a dog and now i'm into biking and several stuff that that can help me cope up during this pandemic but if there's one thing that helped me through this is my personal time with the lord that i do not neglect every single day it's the first thing that i do in the morning i pray and it's also i pray and then read the bible and it sets my direction it sets where should i go it helps me find purpose in the pain find purpose in anxiety find purpose and uncertainty and my time my relationship with the lord really helped me navigate through this pandemic um i think i think that's that's the best thing that i can share coming from my experience and it's really nothing can not nothing or no one can actually comfort you thank god that then god can and god does for us so i guess this is my best answer thanks venice um again the questions are blowing up still and i i want to be able to move things around i have a question here for um dad and mom this is a big one from faith being fed she asks from facebook how do you discern if a certain case is not just depression but one that already involves demonic oppression or possession the reality is i will always assume that satan is always active satan plants thoughts in our mind and those thoughts become real in your life we always try to distinguish physical possession demonic oppression to me the safest route to take is just say this is a spiritual attack and now i will battle it by declaring god's truth and then claiming the power of jesus i remember helping uh i'm sure paul de vera can also attest to this when he was in the midst of his struggle about committing suicide i will always discuss with him i said the moment you are thinking of committing suicide that thoughts and i'm not just talking about paul de vera i'm talking about other people i've helped that thoughts that thought that says omit suicide i said the moment that is in your mind you must now declare it in the name of jesus i renounce it in the name of jesus christ i renounce this thought depart from me demons satan evil spirits you keep doing that it is a very safe route and by the grace of god like my good friend paul those thoughts do not come anymore because they become less and less and less and eventually satan will realize every time he tries to tempt you you call on jesus and satan doesn't want you to keep calling on jesus so edric i hope i answered that question better assume that it is a demonic attack don't worry about possession or whatever it is the truth is you and i are always attacked and bombarded on a daily basis ideas but it's not always from god it's from the world it's from the spiritual world thanks dad great response uh joy honey i think you have a question for um yeah we hear this word a lot very often today um it's this word uh trigger you trigger me this triggers me um what can people do when the trigger in their life let's say is a person that they're with constantly and it makes it very difficult for them um on a daily basis because it's not something they can just get away from so how can they process their situation in a godly way so that they can have victory okay um actually i want to go back to the t principle you know because that is the uh something that's uh i i've looked at the survey and most people are are um you know i think part of the small groups so i think that we're very familiar with you know the deep principle of the the thoughts uh the emotions and emotions lead to action um when we discover yes we do have a trigger um we actually you know think practically if i can't get rid of this struggle trigger how am i going to live the rest of my life am i going to just continue believing that i am helpless in the face of this trigger or maybe there's something that i can do so it's it's uh there are biblical principles to this that's already been been talked about in the last service but we're coming at it from a very practical perspective like is do we want to just remain um in a state wherein we are going to be helpless in the face of this trigger especially if it's not something that we can be rid of so we can ask ourselves the question yeah we definitely there is processing involved because we're talking about patterns of thinking so we need to process there will there is work involved in healing just just to we we by the way we want to to say that you know people can be healed you know from depression um but it doesn't just happen in a snap of a finger we need to also you know do some heavy lifting and we need to ask ourselves is this a kind of trigger that i am just going to be helpless what um what uh practical things can i do in order to keep myself from getting triggered or perhaps maybe i can reinterpret what's going on in a way that will be um more empowering for me like um we just uh counseled uh uh just before this you know um someone who wants to leave his spouse uh her his spouse and you know he was convinced he was absolutely convinced that you know it can't be helped there's nothing that can be done for the relationship but you know gino managed to show him at the practical level reframing the situation so that he would be he realized that he's actually in a bet a place that's better off than the person that he is um that he is uh you know criticizing and he i guess he realized that he can have compassion for the person who was supposedly his trigger so we don't have a blanket you know statement because it's going to always be case to case but the truth is we can always as pastor mater already mentioned recalibrate how am i going to see this situation am i going to stay you know a good a good way of doing it is we call this looking for cognitive flexibility being flexible in your thinking so so if you can identify okay there's a trigger i have a way of interpreting the trigger and then i have a thought response to that and i feel something and i do something right let's mix it up a bit what if i change how i perceive the situation yes what if i think a diff in a different way right are there other ways of looking at it not just in the interpretation but also the options that i have available and how to respond right um are there uh are there other people who are dealing with some the trigger who are somehow able to actually um manage it well right what are they doing and what what are they thinking you could have a conversation with them what are they thinking how are they how are they processing things many times you know and and i've spoken to so many people who feel helpless with with someone that they're with and all of that and and many times when you're in the position where um well how do i say this no um where you kind of feel like a victim no it's like what pastor peter said that you kind of feel like a victim um usually it comes from the assumption that that that we have already that uh exhausted everything that we can possibly think of in in our response to the person and of course i i we won't we don't want to to invalidate the frustration that you might be feeling and all of those things right but um a lot of times uh you know that the t process it's a chain reaction of many things that go on in our mind to our feelings to what we do right you can change it up in so many different ways but if you're already feeling kind of hard-pressed because of the relationship sometimes the options of your responses um uh end up being limited to your mind right there are always other ways to to actually perceive things and respond to things but it it requires like maureen said heavy lifting to sit down and think about it right how else can i interpret things how else can i actually process my response how else are other people doing this just to give yourself more options right yeah to make it really practical sit down if this person says this write it down write it down on paper right things that i can possibly think or do right option one right i could react in this way option two and how will that be how will that impact the relationship if i acted differently so these are things that we can actually do we are not just bound to just one pattern right there are many ways and we can look at it right i i love what you guys are saying because i think we are never too helpless too hopeless too worthless to make these choices right as the bible says we can take every thought captive and that's exactly what you're talking about right now and so i think as we wind it down hun you have something to add right yeah that's right so uh we're going to wind down i know there's still so much to cover um but we want to make sure we're good stewards of our time here so this is a question for you gino noreen and we'll start asking the rest of the palace for their closing statements so from beck flores babe can i make one comment just one comment just to encourage everybody gino and noreen are training an army of people right right right to help others so that they will not be the only resource because if they're going to be flooded after this with 10 million requests for help their desire is to really train lots of people who can do the same thing that they're doing to equip the body of christ just to encourage you all and if you want to go through their training you can also be certified right to be uh yeah so i'm just going to take off from there already thank you honey so as a sneak preview for the group leaders of ccf this is part of what we will share with you so please be at the d group leaders assembly on saturday ayan so may tease your join that and we'll talk about how we want to empower the group leaders in addressing mental health with the help of people like gina niren so let's wind down guys i mean this has been a very rich and and i i have to say pretend on many fronts but this is how we have to roll tonight right vek flores is asking to close our discussion on this topic of victory over depression how will you know if a person is genuinely free from depression already oh okay all right that's a that's a good question though i say um like like uh i i've coached people who go through depression and um and then i've also gone through it myself as i mentioned before there were times that i would think i was actually already okay and then for some reason something um something triggers and all of that no i i guess i i guess that um how do i explain it um i i guess when you when you reach a point of confidence where because well yeah in god's grace no um i i guess um it's like when you we want to cultivate a habit of of understanding what our self-talk is like in our mind right and regularly it's healthy for us to to kind of do an audit of what's going on in our mind is it mostly things that are aligned with the bible or is it mostly things that are aligned with the world now we're never going to reach a point where you're you're going to be totally immune to negative thoughts right it's a responsibility on our part actually to to keep up the i guess the the the the vigilance to make sure that that our minds are are actually thinking thoughts that are aligned with the the word of god but um if you can evaluate your own thought life check how much of it actually is uh is in line or in sync with what the word of god is saying right and and this this becomes a responsibility that we have for ourselves now sometimes sometimes um it's tempting to to to wait for someone to actually uh give us inputs on this but um you know the the lord empowers us through the holy spirit in order for us to actually ask him to you know us uh there's a son no search me oh lord and know my anxious thoughts see if there's any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting we can do this in prayer and review our own thought life right um and and and ultimately you start bearing fruit right and you start bearing fruit right so that's a good point um because the thing is sometimes sometimes we think that the bearing of fruit is something that we're going to work on right we're going to work on okay i'm going to like have a love joy pizza and so on and so forth right it's it's it's not if if the bearing of fruit happens more or less spontaneously right without our trying to make it uh to force it but because we are because practicing the presence of god in our life right right because because our thought life mostly consists of of our our our i guess our fellowship with the lord and and the word of god in our minds then then i would say that you're actually okay right uh you're already okay um it's um you know you know how how the bible talks about walking in the spirit as an active uh active uh decision right um it will never come to a point okay i'm going to be relaxed and i'm never going to i don't have to walk with the spirit today because i do or i'm not going to have i'm not because i'm never ever going to have negative thoughts it it it i guess it becomes a lifestyle for you to it becomes a lifestyle for you to to become constantly constantly abiding in god and constantly uh thinking along the the scripture and all of that so maybe they can quickly share how the lord to completely get to get you out of that state the lord led you to right memorize right um all of uh efficiency right right yeah actually that was part of my my the the i guess the the best thing in the in my own therapy if you want to call it that i mean we have all of this cbt it's a technique a structured technique how to actually understand what's going on in your mind but you know what the lord led me to memorize efficiency all the six chapters it was like the the happiest thing for me i was sharing kareena that i didn't know i was depressed until i got out of it but really when i was like memorizing in and out in and i was reciting it nurem would wake up i'm reciting it beside her it was like changing my mind completely it was forcing out yes a lot of the negative thoughts no and and and and when it got i i realized i was already okay when it got to the point that when a negative game thought came out a verse a verse from the from ephesians or not even just a verse many verses would come out back practice like that it became automatic for me already then then i was i i knew i was okay so right yeah just to make it to simplify it if i if i may you know you know the bad wolf and the white wolf i think a lot of people may have heard this this analogy um just because um just because um the the the it's raging war inside us and the one that wins is the one that we feed so in the same way if we feed the right thoughts constantly we focus our energy on that it doesn't mean that you know the the negative thoughts are completely gone forever but we keep feeding what is uh healthy ultimately the unhealthy will die out from from lack of energy lack of nutrition so it's it's a constant thing we don't want to get to this state we're not wanting to get into a state of perfection but we just continue to grow and that is actually um that is actually the process of sanctification so we continue to grow we continue to focus on what is healthy for our minds right great guys so what i'm hearing is you will see some key victory points where even those negative thoughts etc are now overcome by god's word that's kind of what i heard from gina's story so watch for those checkpoints where you see more victory in those areas there's no such thing as absolutely no more negative thoughts as you said but there will be some key breakthroughs so thanks guys thank you again for the time thank you for being part of this panel and we look forward to doing more with you guys in the ministry um let's wind down and hear from trinity uh some partying thoughts and encouragements trinity even has ha you've been able to overcome um depression some parting thoughts of encouragement and words for our viewers um to those who are all battling depression or being or trying to get to a depression rather that i just want to let you guys know that you can do it and you know don't lose hope and really put your hope in god and really anchor your faith even though it's really hard like it's really a big challenge you know and it really takes time to be able to um overcome depression and uh other of these struggles as well and you know take your time to be able to reach out to others and be able to um really open up you know and you know put your faith in god as well and feed yourselves with the truth or with god's word because you know when like um what gina and marian said kanina about feeding yourselves with god's truth as well so that when bad thoughts come in your mind you could be able to identify um which is bad which is from god and what is not and be being able to overcome them and battle them with god's truth telegram really being able to um anchor our faith and hope in god and really surrendering it to god and having our daily consistent bible or alone time with the lord and having a one-on-one uh conversation with god really and you can really pour out yourself and uh your struggles on god and you know let go of it and let god heal you and be able to really put your trust in god that he has a plan for you i love that thank you so much trin and as arabella bars is saying here you're an inspiration at the young age praise god your faith and god is so strong thank you tren venice parting thoughts fighting words thanks edward um i cannot over emphasize the truth of god's word um and how it actually impacts our lives um and whatever you are going through even it's the if it's depression if it's quarter life crisis um i encourage you to seek god first seek him first and as it said as it said in matthew 6 33 seek ye first seek his kingdom first and all this thing shall be added unto you he will lead you to the right people who will comfort you he will lead you to the right pursuits he will lead you to the right vocation he will lead you to the right career he will lead you out of that dark tunnel as he says that he is your life and so that is my encouragement and the truth is if i myself i cannot do it alone i cannot do it alone my heart and my flesh might fail but psalm 73 verse 26 says god is the strength and the portion of our heart forever and so for for people like us i encourage you for singles seek god first and he will lead you to the right community and everything else will follows and follow and that's my encouragement hang in there guys i mean hold on to jesus i love that hold on to jesus and seek hold on to jesus seek him first even before husband or boyfriend yes thank you venice let's hear from pastor peter and his wife closing words mom dad um you know depression as what was defined it's a feeling of hopelessness helplessness and i'll just leave you with a verse that god is used to always encourage me it's a verse we know but i don't it's not tried it's so powerful jeremiah 29 11 god is telling you tonight if you're depressed you feel there's no more hope he said i know the plans i have for you you may not know them but he knows them he says plans for welfare not for calamity we say calamity this is the end no he said plans for welfare not for clinic calamity to give you a future and to give you hope that's his heritage for you so claim it in jesus name and what all they've said calibrate recalibrate your thoughts uh trust in god's work as jesus said if you know that if you stand my word then you will know the truth and that truth will set you free so there's hope god bless you and um to add to that we undervalue the simplicity of what jesus taught us the importance of what the bible says the just shall live by faith we walk by faith many times we fail to apply this simple principle faith what does it mean to walk by faith not by feelings we walk by faith what is faith you trust god's character you trust his promises you trust his word you trust his power you trust his purpose so for me the best way to demonstrate faith if you ask me is to live a disciplined life of thanksgiving in everything give thanks so that when we i think jin gino was saying about the norin was about refraining your mind can you imagine if anything that happens to you you can now say i'm gonna respond in faith i will thank god lord i thank you for this in advance i don't see the good now but i trust you because i know you see walk by faith you try thanking god for everything i was just imagining as we close let's say you live in a cramped house with family members who are toxic and you see them every day and they really cause you problem but you are you have no choice you have to live in that house what are your options most people will say you live just flee go to another place that my friend is not living by faith what is living by faith unless your life is in danger you live by faith you say lord i thank you for toxic family members because you are using them to mold my character you are using them to make me more dependent upon you and you are probably gonna use me to lead them to you so this is the meaning of walking by faith it is not as easy as i'm telling you but honestly if you learn this habit you will see the apostle peter the moment he did not walk by faith he began sinking in the water but as long as he kept looking at jesus he was able to walk on the water god wants us to walk on water but many times we keep looking at the waves we took looking at the sea at the storm and we sink so walk by faith keep your eyes on jesus always give thanks i pray this will be a blessing to all of us fantastic on that note thank you everybody for joining us and my beautiful wife you know it's such a great theme and reminder for all of us to walk on water so thank you everybody we're going to turn you back over to uh paul and claire thank you thank you so much joy and edric and thank you to our panelists we all appreciate you and we want to say it is an amazing discussion it is so lively the questions are still coming and we still have high viewers so we want to encourage you since our since our topic spoke straight to our hearts maybe you can talk about this with your family your friends your d groups and your families we have discussion questions we sent it in the chat but we'll read it quickly just so that you you will also be able to catch up for the married couples and parents um our question is what have you encountered lately that made you afraid for yourself or your family how has this webinar helped you sort out this fearful feeling other negative thoughts and emotions you may be battling with and now for the singles and the youth watching us the question you'll answer is what has been the most helpful insight from this webinar for you how will this insight help guard you from falling into depression or gain victory over it and of course for the children what are the things that usually make you really sad what did you learn tonight that you think will help you get over feeling sad and there you have it ladies and gentlemen we also invite you to join session three and the topic for next week is anger and anger will be joined by pastor ricky and pastor kisartu and pastor jess lantin and shempre there will be other exciting panelists my representative tayo from the youth and mero parenting representative from the singles ayan so it's very exciting um and it will be moderated by our guest moderators the man vince he's on is joining us with his wife patricia and that will be an exciting conversation you know with all our pastors and our finalists so please be there as we talk about anger and just in case you missed our session last week or you came in late today we will be able you will be able to watch this once again um as we are uploading this on our ccs youtube channel that's youtube.com ccf main tv and channel facebook you will be able to watch this there as well and since we learned how accountability plays a big role in overcoming this toxic emotions toxic traits we want to take this opportunity to invite you all into joining a d group so we are flashing some details about how you can join a d group okay okay and last but not the least we would highly appreciate it feedback so you can answer our evaluation form by going to go.ccf.org.ph slash www.livedetox now paul why don't you close us in prayer i want to call on our leader for this family webinar to again close us with a word of prayer can we call back uh brother edric mendoza yes sir okay let's pray father we thank you for this opportunity to unpack the president it's a very hot topic uh across not just uh the ccf family but the philippines and the world and we thank you for the panelists and the time they've given we didn't have enough time to cover all the things but we pray we covered the most important things that you wanted us to cover and we pray for all those here that are hearing this and do not know you and as we've unpacked from the different perspectives here you are really the key to overcoming any of the battles in our life and so if you are that person you can receive jesus and make that prayer right now allow him to be the one that fills you that heals you that allows you to to experience victory over whatever it is you are struggling with right now because he is lord and his savior he is healer and he loves you and so even as you pray that right now we thank you lord god once again for this time we pray for our country we pray for all of the families that are are still going through various toxic realities and as we go through this series as a larger church family that you will allow us to see your words and allow us to experience victory over these things as we use your truths to give us this victory in jesus name we pray amen and amen amen thank you so much everybody thank you everyone thank you for joining us god bless you and see you next week

Channel: Christ’s Commission Fellowship

Views: 21,284

Rating: 4.9505563 out of 5

Keywords: CCF, Christ's, Commission, Fellowship, Sunday, Service, Sermon, Speaker, Message

Id: HUaZn58cGmY

Length: 105min 0sec (6300 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 15 2021