God’s Plan For You Is Joy, Alissa Gustafson’s Story (Ep. 29)

Our Guest: Alissa Gustafson

 

Alissa Gustafson was raised in a Christian home as a preacher’s kid. She currently serves with Somebody Cares America as the Development Specialist, which involves creating episode notes for podcasts and proofing articles. Alissa is a devoted wife and homeschool mom. After struggling for years with depression, she shares her testimony with others about how God set her free in order to help others find freedom. In her spare time, she reads, plays with her dog, and cheers on the local baseball team. Go, Astros!

Key Thoughts and Scriptures from Alissa’s story:

Psalm 18:1-6, 16-19 NIV I love you, Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer…

• You don’t have to be perfect. You can allow God to be who He is in and through you.

1 Peter 1:16 NKJV Because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”

• Holiness comes from the work of God in us and because we are seeking Him.

1 Kings 8:39 NKJV …(for You alone know the hearts of all the sons of men).

• As a teen Alissa learned, that suicide is a trick of the devil, because he knows God has a plan for your life.

Jeremiah 29:11-13 NKJV For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.

God can give you hope in the middle of your dark times.

Psalm 18:10-11 NIV He mounted the cherubim and flew; he soared on the wings of the wind. He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him—the dark rain clouds of the sky.

Romans 8:35-39 NIV Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? … For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

• God can speak to you personally through His Word.

Mark 5:25-34 NIV The Woman with the Issue of Blood

• God hears our cries of desperation.

Zephaniah 3:14,17 NIV Sing, Daughter Zion; shout aloud, Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, Daughter Jerusalem!…The Lord your God is with you,   the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.

Alissa learned that God’s not afraid of our honesty.

• “Do you hear Me singing now?”
• No one will know God can heal it if we don’t talk about it.
• Our brains are organs. Much like we can have health issues with other organs such as our liver or lungs, our brains can have health issues as well.
• As we would seek help and prayers for other health issues, we should also seek help and prayers for mental health issues
• There is always hope in the Lord.
• God can use many methods to bring breakthroughs. If we seek Him, He’ll lead us down the right path for us.
• “I tried to do it on my own for 12 years. I asked God into the situation and He healed me in three weeks.”

Alissa’s Tools to Fight Depression:

1. Focus on Joy
   1. Philippians 4:8 NIV Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
   2. The greatest joy is that God is with us.
2. Stay in His Word
   1. There’s hope in His Word.
3. Surround yourself with sources that uplift you
   1. Friends
   2. Church Family
   3. Books, Radio programs, Podcasts, Music, etc.

God can direct us along paths we didn’t even know we needed.

• “If the worst happens, can you trust Me?”
• God is trustworthy even when the worst happens.
• Even when it feels hopeless, there is hope.
• God always has a way to bring us through and is beside us along the way.
• He is never taken by surprise.
• God is good.
• He is redeeming us and our hard times.

Luke 10:38-42 NIV, John 12:1-10 NIV Martha’s story

• While God wants us to serve with excellence, He wants us to remember the reason we serve is our relationship with Him.
• Martha was trying to make everything perfect for Jesus when all He wanted was her.

John 10:10 NKJV The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

Psalm 5:11-12 NIV But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you. Surely, Lord, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as with a shield.

Links:

• Footprints in the Sand poem

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