Depression is a real problem that can have devastating effects to many individuals and to their loved ones. Today in a world of pandemic concerns and social-isolation, symptoms of depression may develop or worsen in those who already struggle with it.
Too often those who suffer do not seek help. This is unfortunate, because it is possible to move from depression to hope. Today’s post features an important resource that candidly shares how its author learned to move from depression to hope.
One author is living proof that mental illness can be managed. Her informative book offers hope. She genuinely wants to share help and hope and knows from personal experience with clinical depression that hope is possible.
An advocate for mental health, Julie Hersh is well-credentialed. She earned a BBA at the University of Notre Dame. Her blog, Struck by Living, is a feature on the Psychology Today website. Hersh is a guest blogger on the Menninger Clinic website, ”Say No to Stigma.” She was awarded the Mental Health America Ruth Altschuler Community Advocate Prism Award and is President of the Hersh Foundation.
Thankfully Hersh has authored STRUCK BY LIVING: FROM DEPRESSION TO HOPE and is donating proceeds from book sales to help programs on, research in, and victories over mental illness. Hersh shared, “Despite medical advances, too many people die by suicide, because they are afraid to seek help.”
I agree with this author’s statement and am sharing about her important book. Now it’s your turn. If you or someone you know may benefit from STRUCK BY LIVING, then please check out this book that has been called a story of courage, love, hope, and victory. Do it today, because hope may be desperately needed now. Tomorrow may be too late.
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (24-hour crisis hotline): 1-800-273-8255
Confidential online chat is available @ suicidepreventionlifeline.org
“The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” (Psalm 34:18)
THE SINGING CONTRACTORS: BUILD, SING, SHARE HOPE
Two ordinary guys from Indiana… boyhood friends, husbands, fathers, skilled carpenters, experienced contractors… blessed with God-given talent using their voices to sing Christian gospel songs and hymn classics accapella on job sites… cell phone video has gone viral with millions of viewers!
Maybe they don’t sound like ordinary guys at all. The story of the musical journey of Josh Arnett and Aaron Gray really is remarkable.
Two ordinary contractors singing to share hope and almost immediately gaining a following of thousands of fans (of whom I am one) is more extraordinary than ordinary. Theirs is a true story, and they are real… real in their song choices, real in their Christian faith, real in their ordinary roots.
What else would singing contractors call themselves except The Singing Contractors? If you haven’t heard them yet, then go to youtube.com or their official website at thesingingcontractors.com.
“I am a little overwhelmed by how good God has been to us,” admitted Arnett.
Gray added, “As far as the fame, it’s never something we wanted or asked for, it’s just something that God has placed in our laps, and we’re just trusting that we can get His message of hope out there.”
Responses have been remarkable and indicate their music and message offer more than mere enjoyment. At least one life has been touched in a real life-and-death way, as indicated by the following communication they received.
“Thank you so much for singing that song. It’s made me question myself and stop myself from committing suicide….” (unnamed source)
The Singing Contractors agree that is a wonderful story and say if they have done nothing else in this world and saved one life, it is worth it all to them!
It seems The Singing Contractors are good at building more than homes. They are building an important legacy of hope as they share the message of their music.
Maybe Gray and Arnett are two ordinary guys from Indiana, but they trust an extraordinary God. That makes all the difference.
“By wisdom a house is built,
And by understanding it is established; And by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches.” (Proverbs 24:3, 4)
“Sing to the LORD a new song;
Sing to the LORD, all the earth. Sing to the LORD, bless His name; Proclaim good tidings of His salvation from day to day. (Psalm 96:1, 2)
RON ARCHER: HOPE and HEALING for the “TRICK” BABY
If anyone had a need for hope and healing, it was Ron Archer. Below is his memorable and moving testimony shared in a blog of The Gideons International in 2013. Surely you’ll agree that if there was hope for him, then there’s hope for you, too.
“At the age of ten, living in the ghetto in Cleveland, Ohio, I held a gun to my head. I was ready to fire a bullet and end my life.
Fortunately for me, the gun had a hidden safety feature that I did not know about. The gun would not fire.
Why would a ten-year-old boy want to die? The age of ten should be filled with dreams of becoming a football player, an astronaut, an explorer, or a movie star.
I just wanted to die. But God had another plan.
My grandmother was an immigrant from Germany. And my grandfather was an immigrant from Cuba. It was in Cleveland, Ohio, where they met and married. They had three boys and four girls.
Through a series of events, including a fight, my grandfather was convicted of attempted murder and was sentenced to prison. When the story of his crime hit the newspapers, my grandmother lost her job. Being a strong German mother, she began to work odd jobs, such as cleaning bathrooms to support her seven children. But soon she lost her health and was unable to work. She had five operations, which left her maimed and deeply depressed. The family lost everything and was thrown into the streets.
My mother was the oldest of their children. She was stunning in appearance and was often told she looked like Elizabeth Taylor. A pimp in the community heard of her and offered my mother money just to have dinner with his male clients.
Eventually this led to her performing other favors for these clients, and at the age of 14 my mother became a professional call girl. Her three brothers had become heroin addicts and joined a gang called “The Devil’s Disciples.”
With a father in prison, a mother in ailing health and no place to call “home,” the children’s lives were becoming unraveled. They fell prey to prostitution, drugs, and violence.
At age 16, as a hardened call girl, my mom became pregnant with a baby conceived with one of her “tricks,” as they were called. Her pimp made it clear there was no time to have a baby, because it would get in the way of his making money from her.
After several abortion attempts my mother eventually gave birth. Born prematurely with no pancreas, under-developed lungs and other physical deformities, the baby was not wanted and almost died of pneumonia.
That unwanted baby was me.
When I began school I was diagnosed with learning disabilities. I was a severe stutterer. I often saw my mom beaten by her clients. Many times they would beat me as well.
By the age of ten I wanted to die.
In 1973 my life changed when my fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Spears, volunteered to be my speech coach. She was a kind Christian lady who had no children. She gave me a Bible. As part of my speech therapy, I would read the Bible aloud into a tape recorder. I have since learned that this Bible was a hotel Bible that had been placed by The Gideons International.
Until then I had never held a Bible in my hand.
I read this Bible every day for a full year. I read about a stutterer named Moses, whom God used to bring people out of bondage. I read about a young shepherd boy who beat Goliath with a slingshot and a stone.
I began to understand from the reading of my Gideon Bible that God uses those who have been wounded very deeply. I began to understand that life can be a mess, but with His help it can become a message.
I became a scholar, student body president, and a young pastor. With that same Gideon Bible I preached messages of hope and healing that led my mother, sister, grandmother, grandfather, and other relatives to Christ through my church.
Today with that same Gideon Bible the Lord has helped me plant churches, preach revivals, author five books, host TV programs, advise world leaders and lead peace-keeping efforts in Africa and India. Hundreds of thousands have heard the gospel message because of that one Bible.
May God bless The Gideons International through the continued placement of His Word.
Yes, I was born a “trick baby.” But through that one Gideon Bible, the real trick was on the devil.”
(Bishop Ron Archer)