1
The Lounge / Re: Members birthdays
« Last post by Pip on February 17, 2026, 05:37:20 PM »Happy Birthday Maddymoo
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2
The Lounge / Re: Members birthdays
« Last post by Amanda_George on February 17, 2026, 05:46:25 AM »
Maddymoo!3
Depression Central / Re: Am I the only one who...
« Last post by Amanda_George on February 16, 2026, 09:06:36 AM »Glad it's not just me then lol
I've been vegetarian for over 35 years and semi-vegan for medical reasons since 1999 but my fruit and veg consumption has been awful for years. Having the OddBox has meant that I can just grab a piece of fruit and eat it without having to go through the whole checkout process each time I've got a fancy for fruit.
I've been vegetarian for over 35 years and semi-vegan for medical reasons since 1999 but my fruit and veg consumption has been awful for years. Having the OddBox has meant that I can just grab a piece of fruit and eat it without having to go through the whole checkout process each time I've got a fancy for fruit.
4
Depression Central / When the Fog Doesn’t Lift: Targeting Cognitive Dysfunction in Depression
« Last post by Pip on February 15, 2026, 05:35:08 PM »https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/when-the-fog-doesnt-lift-targeting-cognitive-dysfunction-in-depression?ekey=RUtJRDpFOTIxNUQyMy03MkY0LTREOEUtQjRBRi1GNEI1RjcyQ0M4ODM%3D&utm_campaign=emailname&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8KhPA6YNhDNySbLCJLM4FbdOzP1nr-SvAlkTSgPyy0uBGQdU_-Wa2kQGVgM6AF-Q0BmRUOmC-sI51HjOf34JfnAauBhg&_hsmi=353896807&utm_source=hs
Publication|Articles|March 24, 2025
When the Fog Doesn’t Lift: Targeting Cognitive Dysfunction in Depression
Author(s)Susannah Murphy, DPhil, MA, MSc
SPECIAL REPORT: COGNITION
Clinical Vignette
“Sarah,” a 42-year-old marketing executive, presented with a major depressive episode of moderate severity. After 6 months of treatment with sertraline, her mood had significantly improved. She was sleeping well, had regained her appetite, and reported feeling much more positive about life. However, during follow-up, she expressed ongoing concerns about things at work.
“I can’t seem to keep up anymore,” she explained. “I make mistakes I never used to make, and I can’t focus during important meetings. Even though I do not feel as depressed, my mind feels foggy, and I am forgetting important details.”
Despite achieving remission of core depressive symptoms, Sarah’s persistent cognitive difficulties were threatening her career advancement and contributing to diminished self-esteem. Her case illustrates the common challenge of residual cognitive dysfunction even after successful treatment of mood symptoms in depression.
Incomplete Remission
Cognitive symptoms affect between 85% and 94% of patients with major depressive disorder (MDD), making them nearly ubiquitous in the clinical presentation.1 Despite this prevalence, cognitive dysfunction often remains undertreated and inadequately addressed in routine clinical practice. Growing evidence suggests that problems with cognition are a distinct clinical dimension of depression that are independent from mood symptoms and that may need targeted clinical management.
While diagnostic manuals emphasize problems in concentration, depression is associated with impairments across a much broader range of cognitive domains, including executive function, memory, processing speed, and attention.2 The degree of cognitive dysfunction has been shown to be associated with several clinical features, including severity of depression, age of onset, psychiatric comorbidity, educational background, and number of previous episodes. Cognitive dysfunction has been shown to be more pronounced in patients with recurrent depression.3,4
A particularly concerning aspect of depression treatment is the high rate of incomplete remission, especially regarding cognitive symptoms. Evidence shows that over 70% of patients who respond to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) treatment continue to experience significant cognitive impairments, even when their mood symptoms have improved.5 These residual symptoms, particularly in domains of memory, concentration, attention, and executive function, present a substantial clinical challenge.
The consequences of untreated cognitive dysfunction are far-reaching. Ongoing cognitive problems are known to be a risk factor for subsequent relapse.6 These symptoms also significantly impact patients’ psychosocial functioning, often presenting greater barriers to occupational recovery than mood symptoms alone. Quality of life measures consistently show that cognitive difficulties interfere with workplace performance, social relationships, and daily functioning, even in patients whose emotional symptoms have improved with treatment.7,8
Current Pharmacological Approaches
Current treatments for depression, whether medication or therapy, produce only minimal improvements in cognitive function. A recent review highlighted that 95% of cognitive problems show little or no meaningful improvement after treatment.9 While a patient’s mood might get better, their ability to think clearly, remember information, and focus on tasks often remains impaired. This analysis also highlighted that with each episode of depression, some cognitive problems may worsen. Like scratches on a record, these scar effects are particularly noticeable in areas like sustained attention and verbal memory. This suggests that early intervention might be crucial in preventing long-term cognitive decline.
There is currently a lack of pharmacological treatments approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat the cognitive symptoms of depression. SSRIs, while demonstrating reliable efficacy for core depressive symptoms, have shown limited impact on cognitive dysfunction. Meta-analyses of SSRI trials typically demonstrate small effect sizes for cognitive improvement.10,11 However, most benefits appear secondary to mood improvement rather than direct procognitive effects, and many studies do not appropriately control for nonspecific effects that can affect cognitive task performance, such as practice and learning. One large-scale study with a healthy control group (to control for nonspecific effects of repeated testing) reported no significant effect of 8 weeks of antidepressant treatment with sertraline, venlafaxine, or escitalopram on standardized assessments of cognition.12 Taken together, this evidence suggests that traditional SSRI treatment may be insufficient to address the full spectrum of cognitive deficits in MDD.
The multimodal antidepressant vortioxetine appears to have a more direct effect on cognitive symptoms and is the only medicine indicated by the FDA for the treatment of cognition in depression. As well as inhibiting serotonin reuptake, vortioxetine directly modulates serotonin modulator activity (acting as an antagonist at 5-HT3A, 5-HT7, and 5-HT1D receptors, a partial agonist at 5-HT1B receptors, and a full agonist at 5-HT1A receptors). Clinical trials have demonstrated vortioxetine’s ability to improve executive function and learning and memory, with particularly well-replicated effects on the Digit Symbol Substitution Test (a general measure of cognitive impairment that is not specific to any one cognitive domain).13,14 Importantly, path analyses suggest that vortioxetine’s cognitive benefits are, in part, independent of its antidepressant effects, suggesting direct procognitive properties. The magnitude of these effects appears more robust than those observed with conventional SSRIs, although head-to-head comparisons have suggested that its clinical superiority in the treatment of cognitive symptoms is marginal at best.15,16
Beyond serotonin, there is some evidence that modulators of dopamine (eg, bupropion, modafinil), glutamate (eg, ketamine), and acetylcholine (eg, donepezil) may have some positive effects on cognition in individuals with depression, although the extent to which these effects are independent from broader symptomatic improvements is not clear.17
Future Treatment of Symptoms
The development of treatments that effectively target both mood and cognitive symptoms is now recognized as essential for achieving successful long-term remission and functional recovery in depression. More selective targeting of specific serotonin receptors may hold promise in the development of novel treatments. In particular, there is ongoing interest in the potential of selective agonists of the 5-HT1A and 5-HT4 and selective antagonists of the 5-HT6 and 5-HT7 receptors. While there is promising evidence of this potential from animal studies and healthy volunteer studies, clinical evidence is still sparse. There are also some promising novel treatment targets in the pipeline, but they have not yet been tested in placebo-controlled randomized clinical trials in patients, including creatine, α2-adrenergic receptor antagonists, glucagon-like peptide-1 agonists, GABAB receptor agonists, and histamine H3 receptor antagonists.17 Finally, there are a range of nonpharmacological approaches to the treatment of cognition that may hold utility as stand-alone or adjunctive treatment approaches, including neurostimulation (transcranial magnetic stimulation, transcranial direct-current stimulation), cognitive remediation, and physical exercise.18 With renewed interest in this area, and a growing recognition of cognition as a neurobiologically and clinically distinct feature of MDD, there is genuine potential for improving the treatment of cognitive impairment in depression in the future.
Dr Murphy is an associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Oxford. Murphy has received consultancy fees from Zogenix, Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma, UCB Pharma, and Janssen Pharmaceuticals. She holds grant income from UCB Pharma, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, and ADM.
References
1. Conradi HJ, Ormel J, de Jonge P. Presence of individual (residual) symptoms during depressive episodes and periods of remission: a 3-year prospective study. Psychol Med. 2011;41(6):1165-1174.
2. Rock PL, Roiser JP, Riedel WJ, Blackwell AD. Cognitive impairment in depression: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Psychol Med. 2014;44(10):2029-2040.
3. Varghese S, Frey BN, Schneider MA, et al. Functional and cognitive impairment in the first episode of depression: a systematic review. Acta Psychiatr Scand. 2022;145(2):156-185.
4. Semkovska M, Quinlivan L, O’Grady T, et al. Cognitive function following a major depressive episode: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Lancet Psychiatry. 2019;6(10):851-861.
5. McClintock SM, Husain MM, Wisniewski SR, et al. Residual symptoms in depressed outpatients who respond by 50% but do not remit to antidepressant medication. J Clin Psychopharmacol. 2011;31(2):180-186.
6. Maeshima H, Baba H, Satomura E, et al. Residual memory impairment in remitted depression may be a predictive factor for recurrence. J Clin Psychiatry. 2016;77(2):247-251.
7. Knight MJ, Air T, Baune BT. The role of cognitive impairment in psychosocial functioning in remitted depression. J Affect Disord. 2018;235:129-134.
8. Knight MJ, Lyrtzis E, Baune BT. The association of cognitive deficits with mental and physical quality of life in major depressive disorder. Compr Psychiatry. 2020;97:152147.
9. Ahern E, White J, Slattery E. Change in cognitive function over the course of major depressive disorder: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Neuropsychol Rev. Published online February 5, 2024.
10. Baune BT, Renger L. Pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions to improve cognitive dysfunction and functional ability in clinical depression – a systematic review. Psychiatry Res. 2014;219(1):25-50.
11. Keefe RSE, McClintock SM, Roth RM, et al. Cognitive effects of pharmacotherapy for major depressive disorder: a systematic review. J Clin Psychiatry. 2014;75(8):864-876.
12. Shilyansky C, Williams LM, Gyurak A, et al. Effect of antidepressant treatment on cognitive impairments associated with depression: a randomised longitudinal study. Lancet Psychiatry. 2016;3(5):425-435.
13. McIntyre RS, Lophaven S, Olsen CK. A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of vortioxetine on cognitive function in depressed adults. Int J Neuropsychopharmacol. 2014;17(10):1557-1567.
14. McIntyre RS, Florea I, Tonnoir B, et al. Efficacy of vortioxetine on cognitive functioning in working patients with major depressive disorder. J Clin Psychiatry. 2017;78(1):115-121.
15. Nierenberg AA, Loft H, Olsen CK. Treatment effects on residual cognitive symptoms among partially or fully remitted patients with major depressive disorder: a randomized, double-blinded, exploratory study with vortioxetine. J Affect Disord. 2019;250:35-42.
16. Vieta E, Sluth LB, Olsen CK. The effects of vortioxetine on cognitive dysfunction in patients with inadequate response to current antidepressants in major depressive disorder: a short-term, randomized, double-blind, exploratory study versus escitalopram. J Affect Disord. 2018;227:803-809.
17. Colwell MJ, Tagomori H, Chapman S, et al. Pharmacological targeting of cognitive impairment in depression: recent developments and challenges in human clinical research. Transl Psychiatry. 2022;12(1):484.
18. Pan Z, Park C, Brietzke E, et al. Cognitive impairment in major depressive disorder. CNS Spectr. 2019;24(1):22-29.
Publication|Articles|March 24, 2025
When the Fog Doesn’t Lift: Targeting Cognitive Dysfunction in Depression
Author(s)Susannah Murphy, DPhil, MA, MSc
SPECIAL REPORT: COGNITION
Clinical Vignette
“Sarah,” a 42-year-old marketing executive, presented with a major depressive episode of moderate severity. After 6 months of treatment with sertraline, her mood had significantly improved. She was sleeping well, had regained her appetite, and reported feeling much more positive about life. However, during follow-up, she expressed ongoing concerns about things at work.
“I can’t seem to keep up anymore,” she explained. “I make mistakes I never used to make, and I can’t focus during important meetings. Even though I do not feel as depressed, my mind feels foggy, and I am forgetting important details.”
Despite achieving remission of core depressive symptoms, Sarah’s persistent cognitive difficulties were threatening her career advancement and contributing to diminished self-esteem. Her case illustrates the common challenge of residual cognitive dysfunction even after successful treatment of mood symptoms in depression.
Incomplete Remission
Cognitive symptoms affect between 85% and 94% of patients with major depressive disorder (MDD), making them nearly ubiquitous in the clinical presentation.1 Despite this prevalence, cognitive dysfunction often remains undertreated and inadequately addressed in routine clinical practice. Growing evidence suggests that problems with cognition are a distinct clinical dimension of depression that are independent from mood symptoms and that may need targeted clinical management.
While diagnostic manuals emphasize problems in concentration, depression is associated with impairments across a much broader range of cognitive domains, including executive function, memory, processing speed, and attention.2 The degree of cognitive dysfunction has been shown to be associated with several clinical features, including severity of depression, age of onset, psychiatric comorbidity, educational background, and number of previous episodes. Cognitive dysfunction has been shown to be more pronounced in patients with recurrent depression.3,4
A particularly concerning aspect of depression treatment is the high rate of incomplete remission, especially regarding cognitive symptoms. Evidence shows that over 70% of patients who respond to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) treatment continue to experience significant cognitive impairments, even when their mood symptoms have improved.5 These residual symptoms, particularly in domains of memory, concentration, attention, and executive function, present a substantial clinical challenge.
The consequences of untreated cognitive dysfunction are far-reaching. Ongoing cognitive problems are known to be a risk factor for subsequent relapse.6 These symptoms also significantly impact patients’ psychosocial functioning, often presenting greater barriers to occupational recovery than mood symptoms alone. Quality of life measures consistently show that cognitive difficulties interfere with workplace performance, social relationships, and daily functioning, even in patients whose emotional symptoms have improved with treatment.7,8
Current Pharmacological Approaches
Current treatments for depression, whether medication or therapy, produce only minimal improvements in cognitive function. A recent review highlighted that 95% of cognitive problems show little or no meaningful improvement after treatment.9 While a patient’s mood might get better, their ability to think clearly, remember information, and focus on tasks often remains impaired. This analysis also highlighted that with each episode of depression, some cognitive problems may worsen. Like scratches on a record, these scar effects are particularly noticeable in areas like sustained attention and verbal memory. This suggests that early intervention might be crucial in preventing long-term cognitive decline.
There is currently a lack of pharmacological treatments approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat the cognitive symptoms of depression. SSRIs, while demonstrating reliable efficacy for core depressive symptoms, have shown limited impact on cognitive dysfunction. Meta-analyses of SSRI trials typically demonstrate small effect sizes for cognitive improvement.10,11 However, most benefits appear secondary to mood improvement rather than direct procognitive effects, and many studies do not appropriately control for nonspecific effects that can affect cognitive task performance, such as practice and learning. One large-scale study with a healthy control group (to control for nonspecific effects of repeated testing) reported no significant effect of 8 weeks of antidepressant treatment with sertraline, venlafaxine, or escitalopram on standardized assessments of cognition.12 Taken together, this evidence suggests that traditional SSRI treatment may be insufficient to address the full spectrum of cognitive deficits in MDD.
The multimodal antidepressant vortioxetine appears to have a more direct effect on cognitive symptoms and is the only medicine indicated by the FDA for the treatment of cognition in depression. As well as inhibiting serotonin reuptake, vortioxetine directly modulates serotonin modulator activity (acting as an antagonist at 5-HT3A, 5-HT7, and 5-HT1D receptors, a partial agonist at 5-HT1B receptors, and a full agonist at 5-HT1A receptors). Clinical trials have demonstrated vortioxetine’s ability to improve executive function and learning and memory, with particularly well-replicated effects on the Digit Symbol Substitution Test (a general measure of cognitive impairment that is not specific to any one cognitive domain).13,14 Importantly, path analyses suggest that vortioxetine’s cognitive benefits are, in part, independent of its antidepressant effects, suggesting direct procognitive properties. The magnitude of these effects appears more robust than those observed with conventional SSRIs, although head-to-head comparisons have suggested that its clinical superiority in the treatment of cognitive symptoms is marginal at best.15,16
Beyond serotonin, there is some evidence that modulators of dopamine (eg, bupropion, modafinil), glutamate (eg, ketamine), and acetylcholine (eg, donepezil) may have some positive effects on cognition in individuals with depression, although the extent to which these effects are independent from broader symptomatic improvements is not clear.17
Future Treatment of Symptoms
The development of treatments that effectively target both mood and cognitive symptoms is now recognized as essential for achieving successful long-term remission and functional recovery in depression. More selective targeting of specific serotonin receptors may hold promise in the development of novel treatments. In particular, there is ongoing interest in the potential of selective agonists of the 5-HT1A and 5-HT4 and selective antagonists of the 5-HT6 and 5-HT7 receptors. While there is promising evidence of this potential from animal studies and healthy volunteer studies, clinical evidence is still sparse. There are also some promising novel treatment targets in the pipeline, but they have not yet been tested in placebo-controlled randomized clinical trials in patients, including creatine, α2-adrenergic receptor antagonists, glucagon-like peptide-1 agonists, GABAB receptor agonists, and histamine H3 receptor antagonists.17 Finally, there are a range of nonpharmacological approaches to the treatment of cognition that may hold utility as stand-alone or adjunctive treatment approaches, including neurostimulation (transcranial magnetic stimulation, transcranial direct-current stimulation), cognitive remediation, and physical exercise.18 With renewed interest in this area, and a growing recognition of cognition as a neurobiologically and clinically distinct feature of MDD, there is genuine potential for improving the treatment of cognitive impairment in depression in the future.
Dr Murphy is an associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Oxford. Murphy has received consultancy fees from Zogenix, Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma, UCB Pharma, and Janssen Pharmaceuticals. She holds grant income from UCB Pharma, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, and ADM.
References
1. Conradi HJ, Ormel J, de Jonge P. Presence of individual (residual) symptoms during depressive episodes and periods of remission: a 3-year prospective study. Psychol Med. 2011;41(6):1165-1174.
2. Rock PL, Roiser JP, Riedel WJ, Blackwell AD. Cognitive impairment in depression: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Psychol Med. 2014;44(10):2029-2040.
3. Varghese S, Frey BN, Schneider MA, et al. Functional and cognitive impairment in the first episode of depression: a systematic review. Acta Psychiatr Scand. 2022;145(2):156-185.
4. Semkovska M, Quinlivan L, O’Grady T, et al. Cognitive function following a major depressive episode: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Lancet Psychiatry. 2019;6(10):851-861.
5. McClintock SM, Husain MM, Wisniewski SR, et al. Residual symptoms in depressed outpatients who respond by 50% but do not remit to antidepressant medication. J Clin Psychopharmacol. 2011;31(2):180-186.
6. Maeshima H, Baba H, Satomura E, et al. Residual memory impairment in remitted depression may be a predictive factor for recurrence. J Clin Psychiatry. 2016;77(2):247-251.
7. Knight MJ, Air T, Baune BT. The role of cognitive impairment in psychosocial functioning in remitted depression. J Affect Disord. 2018;235:129-134.
8. Knight MJ, Lyrtzis E, Baune BT. The association of cognitive deficits with mental and physical quality of life in major depressive disorder. Compr Psychiatry. 2020;97:152147.
9. Ahern E, White J, Slattery E. Change in cognitive function over the course of major depressive disorder: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Neuropsychol Rev. Published online February 5, 2024.
10. Baune BT, Renger L. Pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions to improve cognitive dysfunction and functional ability in clinical depression – a systematic review. Psychiatry Res. 2014;219(1):25-50.
11. Keefe RSE, McClintock SM, Roth RM, et al. Cognitive effects of pharmacotherapy for major depressive disorder: a systematic review. J Clin Psychiatry. 2014;75(8):864-876.
12. Shilyansky C, Williams LM, Gyurak A, et al. Effect of antidepressant treatment on cognitive impairments associated with depression: a randomised longitudinal study. Lancet Psychiatry. 2016;3(5):425-435.
13. McIntyre RS, Lophaven S, Olsen CK. A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of vortioxetine on cognitive function in depressed adults. Int J Neuropsychopharmacol. 2014;17(10):1557-1567.
14. McIntyre RS, Florea I, Tonnoir B, et al. Efficacy of vortioxetine on cognitive functioning in working patients with major depressive disorder. J Clin Psychiatry. 2017;78(1):115-121.
15. Nierenberg AA, Loft H, Olsen CK. Treatment effects on residual cognitive symptoms among partially or fully remitted patients with major depressive disorder: a randomized, double-blinded, exploratory study with vortioxetine. J Affect Disord. 2019;250:35-42.
16. Vieta E, Sluth LB, Olsen CK. The effects of vortioxetine on cognitive dysfunction in patients with inadequate response to current antidepressants in major depressive disorder: a short-term, randomized, double-blind, exploratory study versus escitalopram. J Affect Disord. 2018;227:803-809.
17. Colwell MJ, Tagomori H, Chapman S, et al. Pharmacological targeting of cognitive impairment in depression: recent developments and challenges in human clinical research. Transl Psychiatry. 2022;12(1):484.
18. Pan Z, Park C, Brietzke E, et al. Cognitive impairment in major depressive disorder. CNS Spectr. 2019;24(1):22-29.
5
Depression Central / Re: Am I the only one who...
« Last post by Pip on February 15, 2026, 05:31:57 PM »I love eating fruit as well and find it does help with my mood. When the weather is warmer I like making my own smoothies as I know what is in it (no added sugar) and like trying different flavours of the fruit. Actually I also have more of a vegetarian diet as well - haven't completely given up meat or fish - as that helps my mood as well.
6
Christian / Re: Devotions
« Last post by Pip on February 15, 2026, 05:24:27 PM »https://proverbs31.org/read/devotions/full-post/2024/08/13/are-you-ready-to-embrace-your-new-beginning?utm_campaign=Daily%20Devotions&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--uaH7Fr4eMO2OgdYi-pa7csbA10SKwsrfU3NpcqCU4dQqfCSgvZrnSDUzI3LwPuu8jMLukAaWykxTB5-K1NzR6bhQaPg&_hsmi=316553680&utm_content=316553680&utm_source=hs_email#disqus_thread
Are You Ready To Embrace Your New Beginning?
August 13, 2024
by Tracie Miles
“But forget all that it is nothing compared to what I am going to do. For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?" Isaiah 43:18-19c (NLT)
Standing on the cracked sidewalk in front of the dilapidated 1940s home I had just purchased, I could feel the weight of the project settling in. The ceilings were cracked, the floors were not level, and the smudged kitchen cabinets were falling off the hinges. Some windows were broken, others were boarded up, and as for the bathrooms let’s just say “yuck.”
Yet I could see its potential. I had a vision of what I knew this little house could become. So as my heart fluttered with a mix of excitement and trepidation, I whispered a prayer: God, guide me through this journey. In that moment, I recalled how God shapes and molds us, seeing the potential He has placed within us, stripping away the old to make way for the new. I thought of all the ways I’ve seen Him do this for me. Isaiah 43:18-19c kept echoing in my mind: “But forget all that it is nothing compared to what I am going to do. For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?”
Over the next few weeks and months, my friend and I rolled up our sleeves and got to work: demolishing walls, ripping up floors, and gutting the bathrooms and kitchen. With each step, transformation was taking place. Slowly, the house began to change. New walls were erected, cabinets and counters created new functionality, fresh paint brightened everything, clean windows brought in sunlight, and modern fixtures brought life to once dreary spaces. It was hard work, but I found joy in the process, each task echoing the journey of spiritual growth and transformation. And the day finally came when there stood the house in all her cuteness. What was once broken and neglected, with an uncertain future, was now a testament to hard work, vision and faith. Transformed from the inside out. A new beginning. As I looked around the house, I felt a deep sense of fulfillment. It was not just a project: It stood as a symbol of hope, renewal, and the incredible things that can happen when we see beyond the mess and trust in the future God has prepared. If your heart longs for a fresh start, a new beginning, you don't have to let fear and doubt paralyze you. Invite God to begin His transformation process in you, and then invest in yourself and your new future, rolling up your sleeves and getting to work however He calls you. No matter what you’ve experienced or where you are right now, God sees your potential. He is the Visionary who will give you a brand-new beginning.
Are You Ready To Embrace Your New Beginning?
August 13, 2024
by Tracie Miles
“But forget all that it is nothing compared to what I am going to do. For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?" Isaiah 43:18-19c (NLT)
Standing on the cracked sidewalk in front of the dilapidated 1940s home I had just purchased, I could feel the weight of the project settling in. The ceilings were cracked, the floors were not level, and the smudged kitchen cabinets were falling off the hinges. Some windows were broken, others were boarded up, and as for the bathrooms let’s just say “yuck.”
Yet I could see its potential. I had a vision of what I knew this little house could become. So as my heart fluttered with a mix of excitement and trepidation, I whispered a prayer: God, guide me through this journey. In that moment, I recalled how God shapes and molds us, seeing the potential He has placed within us, stripping away the old to make way for the new. I thought of all the ways I’ve seen Him do this for me. Isaiah 43:18-19c kept echoing in my mind: “But forget all that it is nothing compared to what I am going to do. For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?”
Over the next few weeks and months, my friend and I rolled up our sleeves and got to work: demolishing walls, ripping up floors, and gutting the bathrooms and kitchen. With each step, transformation was taking place. Slowly, the house began to change. New walls were erected, cabinets and counters created new functionality, fresh paint brightened everything, clean windows brought in sunlight, and modern fixtures brought life to once dreary spaces. It was hard work, but I found joy in the process, each task echoing the journey of spiritual growth and transformation. And the day finally came when there stood the house in all her cuteness. What was once broken and neglected, with an uncertain future, was now a testament to hard work, vision and faith. Transformed from the inside out. A new beginning. As I looked around the house, I felt a deep sense of fulfillment. It was not just a project: It stood as a symbol of hope, renewal, and the incredible things that can happen when we see beyond the mess and trust in the future God has prepared. If your heart longs for a fresh start, a new beginning, you don't have to let fear and doubt paralyze you. Invite God to begin His transformation process in you, and then invest in yourself and your new future, rolling up your sleeves and getting to work however He calls you. No matter what you’ve experienced or where you are right now, God sees your potential. He is the Visionary who will give you a brand-new beginning.
7
Christian / Re: Devotions
« Last post by Pip on February 15, 2026, 05:19:59 PM »https://proverbs31.org/read/devotions/full-post/2024/08/09/your-sighing-is-a-symptom?utm_campaign=Daily%20Devotions&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8sO5GQHdfO4-35jyQYt4J_uak4NoV5TkJIytRzQFmsMjZ5lYsrb_TmUjrF7N_Q6T3c2jv_uGfNVJyjHXH9Gpv9caTGCw&_hsmi=315511032&utm_content=315511032&utm_source=hs_email#disqus_thread
Your Sighing Is a Symptom
August 9, 2024
by Beth Knight
"All my longings lie open before you, Lord; my sighing is not hidden from you." Psalm 38:9 (NIV)
“Are you OK?”
I glanced up from scrambling eggs and noticed a troubled look on my husband’s face. Unbeknownst to me, while I was rushing around our kitchen, deep sighs had been escaping from my heavy chest as I pondered my concerns. While I tackled my daily tasks, my incessant sighing begged for an internal investigation. Sighing can be a symptom of a weary soul, a language spoken by a languishing heart. This God-given signal draws attention to inner burdens too heavy for us to carry alone. People around us can’t always translate the meaning, but the Lord understands what every sigh attempts to communicate. We see an example of this in Psalm 38, where King David longed to be free from affliction caused by his sin. He didn’t hide his feelings from the Lord. He humbly bared his soul and begged for mercy, trusting the Lord to see, hear and save him. Psalm 38:9 says, “All my longings lie open before you, Lord; my sighing is not hidden from you.”
Similarly, when unseen spiritual opposition devastated Job’s life, he said, “Sighing has become my daily food; my groans pour out like water” (Job 3:24, NIV).
Wave after wave, unspeakable trials came upon Job for eternal purposes known only to God. The worst Job feared could happen did happen. Still, like David, Job transparently shared his heart with the Lord. When pain runs deep, it’s comforting to know we aren’t alone God’s people throughout Scripture, our fellow believers today, and even the natural world groan alongside us as we await final redemption and restoration (Romans 8:22-23). Most importantly, “the Spirit [of God] himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words” (Romans 8:26b, ESV).
In John 16:33b, Jesus says, “In the world you will have tribulation” (ESV).
The Greek word for “tribulation,” thlipsis, means “to crush, press together or squeeze.” Yet when troubles constrict our breathing, we can release the pressure valves of our hearts by praying to the One who also says, “Take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33c, ESV)!
Precious friend, we can trust our Creator with our pain. He will help us by replacing our weaknesses with His strength and our pressures with His peace. No sigh or groan goes unnoticed; each one is deeply felt and understood by the Savior who loves us. He sees the burdens we carry and enables us to remain faithful despite unmet longings and seasons of suffering that leave us breathless. So why hold in our feelings when we can hand them over to Him? Journal, pray or even scream them out! When we lay our burdens at Jesus’ feet, His unending mercy and grace meet us in our time of need (Hebrews 4:16).
Your Sighing Is a Symptom
August 9, 2024
by Beth Knight
"All my longings lie open before you, Lord; my sighing is not hidden from you." Psalm 38:9 (NIV)
“Are you OK?”
I glanced up from scrambling eggs and noticed a troubled look on my husband’s face. Unbeknownst to me, while I was rushing around our kitchen, deep sighs had been escaping from my heavy chest as I pondered my concerns. While I tackled my daily tasks, my incessant sighing begged for an internal investigation. Sighing can be a symptom of a weary soul, a language spoken by a languishing heart. This God-given signal draws attention to inner burdens too heavy for us to carry alone. People around us can’t always translate the meaning, but the Lord understands what every sigh attempts to communicate. We see an example of this in Psalm 38, where King David longed to be free from affliction caused by his sin. He didn’t hide his feelings from the Lord. He humbly bared his soul and begged for mercy, trusting the Lord to see, hear and save him. Psalm 38:9 says, “All my longings lie open before you, Lord; my sighing is not hidden from you.”
Similarly, when unseen spiritual opposition devastated Job’s life, he said, “Sighing has become my daily food; my groans pour out like water” (Job 3:24, NIV).
Wave after wave, unspeakable trials came upon Job for eternal purposes known only to God. The worst Job feared could happen did happen. Still, like David, Job transparently shared his heart with the Lord. When pain runs deep, it’s comforting to know we aren’t alone God’s people throughout Scripture, our fellow believers today, and even the natural world groan alongside us as we await final redemption and restoration (Romans 8:22-23). Most importantly, “the Spirit [of God] himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words” (Romans 8:26b, ESV).
In John 16:33b, Jesus says, “In the world you will have tribulation” (ESV).
The Greek word for “tribulation,” thlipsis, means “to crush, press together or squeeze.” Yet when troubles constrict our breathing, we can release the pressure valves of our hearts by praying to the One who also says, “Take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33c, ESV)!
Precious friend, we can trust our Creator with our pain. He will help us by replacing our weaknesses with His strength and our pressures with His peace. No sigh or groan goes unnoticed; each one is deeply felt and understood by the Savior who loves us. He sees the burdens we carry and enables us to remain faithful despite unmet longings and seasons of suffering that leave us breathless. So why hold in our feelings when we can hand them over to Him? Journal, pray or even scream them out! When we lay our burdens at Jesus’ feet, His unending mercy and grace meet us in our time of need (Hebrews 4:16).
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Depression Central / Am I the only one who...
« Last post by Amanda_George on February 15, 2026, 08:57:22 AM »...finds that fruit wakes you up and does wonders to lift your mood?
I had 4 Kiwi fruits and 2 plums for breakfast this morning and my mood lifted almost straight away, I felt more awake and 'with it' and motivated and still do, 4 hours later!
I'm guessing it's because of all the goodies and vitamins rapidly spreading throughout my body 'cos when I haven't had any fruit for a while, my mood is through the floor, but I've had plenty of fruit available this week, thanks to my OddBox, and my depression has been noticeably lighter and I've felt more awake and motivated within minutes too!
I had 4 Kiwi fruits and 2 plums for breakfast this morning and my mood lifted almost straight away, I felt more awake and 'with it' and motivated and still do, 4 hours later!
I'm guessing it's because of all the goodies and vitamins rapidly spreading throughout my body 'cos when I haven't had any fruit for a while, my mood is through the floor, but I've had plenty of fruit available this week, thanks to my OddBox, and my depression has been noticeably lighter and I've felt more awake and motivated within minutes too!
10
The Lounge / Re: Members birthdays
« Last post by Amanda_George on February 15, 2026, 07:46:47 AM »doublep and also whiterat38 are both celebrating today!