But I believe that at the right time and in the right quantities, all of us benefit from being with godly people or from helping others in need. We need to GET OUT OF OURSELVES.
It's good for us to have fun with people who can also encourage us in the Lord. We need to have people with whom we can talk and share our troubles, or just talk and have fun, who we know will not let us wallow in self-pity but will empathize and encourage us to pick ourselves up and trust the Lord. A lot of times godly family can help us out of our pit. (Sometimes family put us in the pit, but that's another story.)
It's also good for us to come out of ourselves by serving others. This can be in the "soup kitchen" kind of way of serving at a city mission or something like that, or it can be in myriad little ways around the house, forcing ourselves to get up and wash those dishes for the benefit of our family, or do that laundry, or make a special meal. It can mean playing Play-doh with your littles when you'd rather be in bed crying. It might mean riding bikes with your little sister when you'd rather crawl into yourself and your smartphone and avoid all human contact. And sometimes it's a real battle, but God does promise us His strength.
And it brings rewards; it really does! You feel more outside yourself and your problems when you serve others. You feel like you've done something worthy and therefore feel happier. Others like being with you more and are friendlier.
I've mentioned a few practical things you could do to get out of yourself, but one of the best is to find a good church family. The God-honoring music is spirit-lifting as is hearing the word of God and it's often a good place to find Christ-honoring fellowship.
One of the joys I've had lately is having a variety of ladies over for a simple lunch fellowship.
An older lady in our church used to be a Language Arts teacher and administrator at the Christian school. She's also been through some of the difficulties our family has recently had, so can offer godly insight having come through that and out the other side. So she has offered to supplement Peanut's dyslexia tutoring by coming over Friday mornings and having Peanut read aloud to her and chat about life and stuff. After the tutoring we have lunch and I've been inviting various of the younger (and some older) ladies to join us. My older daughters have gotten to know some new people better this way, too.
It has been a delight to just chat and mostly let this other lady lead the conversation and just bring people of varying generations together. It's not a Bible study or discussion group - just fellowship, though it might morph into more someday. I'm not pushing it one way or another right now. I begin the meal with a prayer that our conversation will be uplifting and honoring to God and so far it has been.
The meal is nothing fancy. I'm a "garden variety cook" not a gourmet cook. Often I'll serve a homemade soup with bread of some kind. Or chicken salad sandwiches on bagels. Or something else simple, but tasty. The goal here is to make people comfortable and to enjoy themselves and sometimes the fancy meals feel stiff. I also want to show the younger ladies that hospitality doesn't have to be a source of stress.
So these get-togethers have helped to bring me and my daughters out of ourselves and into others' lives. Sometimes we see that others have it rougher than we do;that does a reality check on us. Sometimes we can encourage someone and give them a break from the stress and a time to relax a little; that feels like a nice thing to do. Sometimes they have a word of encouragement for us; that is uplifting.
Think about how you might be able to have some godly fellowship when you're feeling down.
My other posts on battling depression are here:
10 Steps Out of DepressionBattling Depression with God's Word
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