"Open Your Heart"Open Your Heart I’ve always been a ‘believer’, although at the time of this amazing experience, I don’t think my faith was particularly strong. I was spending so many hours at work, that I was too tired to think about anything else. Even then I can remember incidents when I’d asked the Lord for help and I had received it. Anyway it all started in the early 1990’s when, despite having a wonderful family, I became horribly depressed. My wife Karen and I already had two beautiful daughters, Sarah who was five and Katie who was just twenty months. Then our third daughter Gemma came along to complete our family. It seems incredible now that, having such a wonderful family, I could get depressed. I always felt such a lucky man. My job was going well (or so I thought), I didn’t really have any problems apart from financial ones, but then who doesn’t with a young family to support? Anyway we coped and as time went on we bonded into a nice family unit. Then this terrible disease hit me from nowhere. Suddenly nothing seemed to matter anymore, I just stopped caring. Worst of all, I couldn’t even be bothered with the children. A strange numb feeling was gripping me from inside, like everything was in some sort of haze and so surreal. On the outside you try to put on some sort of show, so away from the family, no one really knows what’s happening to you. Anyone who has ever been there will know, it’s a helpless, disgusting feeling. It came to a head one day at work. I had to go up to the fourth floor to check some components at the engineering company, where I worked at that time. I remember for a while just standing there, staring out of an open window. Then I actually leant out of the window and looked down, there was about a thirty foot drop to the ground… Though I didn’t climb out onto the sill, it didn’t matter, the mere fact that I had even thought about jumping was enough. What on earth was happening to me?
Something had to be done about it, and quickly. Firstly I told Karen. She knew something had been wrong, but didn’t know exactly what. Anyway she was sympathetic and supportive. Depression though, is something that somewhere along the line, has to be dealt with by yourself. It made me feel so alone, but I had to get my head right. So I came up with a little plan to combat the problem. Things like booking a holiday (we hadn’t been away for two years). Drastically cutting down my overtime at work. Where possible cutting down on stressful situations and putting in place anything to look forward to. Finally, after a great deal of soul searching, I even changed my job. To a certain extent it worked. Some days I almost felt normal again. But I soon felt myself falling back into the grasp of depression. It didn’t help when my father died, in fact it hit me hard. Though even then I did keep on fighting the disease. But it was becoming increasingly obvious to me, that the battle was being lost.
Then one day the most amazing thing happened. Driving home from work, the journey took me past the beautiful Solihull Methodist Church on the opposite side of the road. Traveling past, I think subconsciously I was asking for help. Almost in desperation. I found myself drawn to the cross on the front of the building. It was getting dark and the cross was already lit up. Suddenly it became so bright, it was blinding. Light seemed to flow out of the cross and fill my eyes. Best of all though, my heart was filled with love. It was a magical moment, I could feel the presence of God speaking to me. “Trust in me, I will help you.” I did, opening my heart and letting the Lord into my life. It was like He was looking down on me, showing me how to come out of the depression slowly and cautiously and growing stronger every day. My faith became strong, even when my mother died, it remained strong. Now I feel that God shows me the way whenever I need help. Though depression still raises its ugly head every now and then, I know how to spot it and nip it in the bud. My faith sees me through.
The answer to my problem was to open your heart to God. I can recommend it to anyone.
Keith
When responding please mention the name of the title |