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English

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Every year depression strikes more than 35 million in the United States alone. Popular speaker and author Thelma Wells knows firsthand how difficult depression can be. She provides powerful tools readers can use to successfully battle depression. With her trademark action-based, faith living, Thelma offers powerful real-life stories, medical facts, and biblical truths. She helps readers evaluate where they are (clinical depression, situational depression, "the blues") and implement four steps to counter life's negatives: change the way they talk share their feelings with someone take care of their health--physical and mental get outside themselves by helping othersUsing self-evaluations, readers tackle depression at the source by applying God's promises and principles. Thelma says, "Most of all, they'll see how they can become winners over the effects of depression. Don't give in--God wants you to win in every situation!"

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Publié par	Harvest House Publishers, Inc.
Date de parution	01 mars 2010
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9780736937665
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0323€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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R EADY TO W IN OVER D EPRESSION
T HELMA W ELLS
HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS EUGENE,OREGON
Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Verses marked KJV are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.
Verses marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Italics in Scripture quotations indicate author emphasis.
Small portions of chapters 1 and 2 were adapted from Thelma Wells, Girl, Have I Got Good News for You! (Nashville: W Publishing Group), copyright 2000 by Thelma Wells. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Published in association with Van Diest Literary Agency, PO Box 1482, Sisters, Oregon 97759, www.lastchapterpublishing.com
Cover by Koechel Peterson Associates, Inc., Minneapolis, Minnesota
Cover photo Stockxpert / Jupiter Images Unlimited

READY TO WIN OVER DEPRESSION
Copyright 2010 by Thelma Wells
Published by Harvest House Publishers
Eugene, Oregon 97402
www.harvesthousepublishers.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Wells, Thelma.
Ready to win over depression / Thelma Wells.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-0-7369-2824-3 (pbk.)
1. Depression, Mental-Religious aspects-Christianity. 2. Depressed persons-Religious life. I. Title.
BV4910.34.W45 2010
248.8 625-dc22
2009038628
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means-electronic, mechanical, digital, photocopy, recording, or any other-except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.
Printed in the United States of America
10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 / VP-SK / 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To those of you who feel paralyzed by feelings of depression. I m asking God to make His presence known to you. He will help you persevere through the pain and sorrow until you experience the full and marvelous light of hope and peace found in Christ Jesus.
I also dedicate this book to those of you who have made it through depression and are reaching out to others still in distress. Thank you for caring. I m praying that God will bless you and the people you re helping.
Depression + Hope in God = Freedom!
Friends, you all deserve to be free and to live a life of joy and laughter. Let me help you find your way. You can experience God s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus ( NEW LIVING TRANSLATION ).
Acknowledgment
A special thank you to comedian and recording artist Chonda Pierce. Chonda, your humility and willingness to write the Foreword for this book is much appreciated. Thank you for sharing your heart so readers will know that with God they can kick depression out of their lives and enjoy the sweet peace and joy of Jesus. With Christ, each day is sweeter than the last.
Contents

Foreword by Chonda Pierce
Our Journey Together
~ 1 ~ The Truth About Depression
~ 2 ~ Looking for Peace
~ 3 ~ Taking Action
~ 4 ~ Exploring Your Expectations
~ 5 ~ Your Perception of Reality
~ 6 ~ Responding to Hardship
~ 7 ~ A Troubled Man s Cry
~ 8 ~ Looking Outward
~ 9 ~ Looking Up
God Is with You!
Notes
About the Author
Other books by Author
Foreword

I was diagnosed with clinical depression several years ago. As a comedian, I was convinced that I d never laugh again. As a Christian, I was convinced that others would see this as a flaw in my ministry. Both of those thoughts were part of the lies that depression whispers in your ear.
Thelma has written an honest book that is not only inspiring but has become another tool I have in my own little doctor s kit from the Great Physician.
Chonda Pierce
Our Journey Together

Yes, I ve been there. I was in depression for a couple of years. I know what it s like. And I m often reminded that so many of us have been there as well-or are there at this very moment. I m told, in fact, that more people suffer from depression today than any other physical or mental affliction. Isn t that something? The number of afflicted is in the millions, and my heart goes out to them and to you, for no doubt you ve picked up this book because either you or someone very close to you is battling depression right now.
You and I are going to face that struggle together in this book. But before we look directly at the topic of depression, I want to start by projecting a picture in your mind of someone I identify with so strongly-and yet I don t even know her name. At the time, she was just another face in the crowd and I suspect that s the way she wanted it.
Down Low
This woman wasn t well. Physically she didn t feel good at all. It s likely that she was also depressed, though I m not absolutely certain about that. What I know for sure is that she had health problems- female problems-for 12 years. As someone who s suff ered my own female problems, I can understand why she probably preferred to remain anonymous. Can you spell h-o-r-m-o-n-a-l?
She d been to many doctors, but none had been able to stop her flow of blood. Surely any woman of any era could understand how frustrated and miserable she must have felt. Enduring such problems in today s disposable everything, wash-and-wear world is hassle enough. But imagine having such a problem for that many years when nothing was reusable and laundry was scrubbed by hand on the riverbank. In the time this woman lived, the embarrassment of her condition was exacerbated by the law of the day that said a woman bleeding was ceremonially unclean (Leviticus 15:19-25). Drawing from Leviticus 13:45, she might have been required to announce loudly Unclean, unclean! as she moved through a crowd so people could avoid her and not get defiled by touching her.
You see, this woman I m speaking of is introduced to us in the Bible. There are other folks in Scripture who clearly suffered from depression (we ll look at some of them later), and while this woman might or might not be one of them, she nevertheless offers a fascinating profile as we consider how to overcome this malady.
This lady was in a crowd surrounding Jesus one day as He made His way through the streets. Perhaps she wasn t bold enough to push her way to the front of the throng to catch His eye. Matthew, Mark, and Luke all say, as they tell her story in their Gospels, that she came up behind him.
Despite her weakness and timidity, on that day she had such unshakable faith that she thought, If I touch even his garments, I will be made well (Mark 5:28). And that s what she did. Matthew s account says she touched the fringe of his garment.
Only the fringe? Just the hem? My mind tries to picture how that could have been the part of Jesus clothing she managed to touch amid the surging crowd. How did she get so low? Perhaps she was knocked down by the press of the multitude-and still she didn t give up. Her faith and determination were that strong.
And Jesus knew it. As soon as her fingertips brushed over the fibers in the hem of His cloak, He immediately turned about in the crowd and said, Who touched my garments? (Mark 5:30).
Now that s a rather strange question (and His disciples thought so too). Here s this mass of people pressing around Jesus, yet He suddenly stops and asks who touched Him. Wasn t He being touched by practically everybody there?
But Jesus wasn t kidding. He d felt power go out of Him when the woman made her move, and now He was looking through the sea of faces to find her. Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him and told him the whole truth (verse 33).
Of course she wasn t telling Jesus anything He didn t already know. In fact, at that point they both knew what had happened. Jesus spoke to her to let the crowd in on the secret: Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease (verse 34).
Oh, to have the determined, undistracted faith of this anonymous woman! Until Jesus spoke to her, she was a silent nobody in the crowd that day. But 2000 years later the story of what she experienced still speaks to us in an unforgettable way. She knew Jesus had the power to change her life for good.
And I, for one, know He still has that power today.
All Planned Out
Like I said, I know about female problems. Just a few years ago I was one of the speakers on the Women of Faith tour. We were headed into the busiest part of the season, and I was getting very, very tired. We were traveling so much, and I had so much going on, I thought getting tired was perfectly normal. There were other symptoms ( female things), but not enough to alarm me-at least at first. But eventually the problems bothered me so much I went to the doctor for some tests. When the reports came back he recommended a hysterectomy.
I talked to several women who d had hysterectomies, and they said, Oh, girl! That s gonna be the best thing for you. You ll be so happy! You ll feel great after it s over.
Let me just say, if you re one of those women who told me those things, don t you be talking sweet to me now, okay? No, ma am! If you do, I may give in to an overwhelming urge to hit you upside the head. Well, no, I wouldn t resort to violence, but I would have some thoughts to share with you.
I agreed to have the surgery, and I laid out the schedule the doctor and I would follow. My last speaking engagement of the year was December 7. I would have the surgery December 8, and come home by December 11. A week later I would trot into the doctor s office for the follow-up exam. By Christmas I would preside as usual over my family s annual holiday celebration. A couple of weeks later I d be in Florida, teaching a weeklong course for Master s Inte