Dealing with the Depression

Manchester, Georgia is a quaint little town of a little less than 4,000 people. It was founded in 1909 as a railroad community. The railroad is a hard way of life for many families; many families don’t endure. As such, the community and our church have seen a great deal of divorce.

My father has served as Minister of Music at First Baptist Manchester since 2004. My mother is the director of the library at West Georgia Technical College in nearby LaGrange. The move to Manchester was a difficult one in some aspects and positive in others. Daddy had briefly left full time ministry and was returning to the service to which God had called him. Mother was getting a promotion. But the move also meant giving up on dreams. For several years, we wondered why God had allowed the turn of events that brought Mother and Daddy to Manchester

When my ex-husband asked for a divorce, my daughter and I moved to Manchester to be with my parents. Not knowing what the response would be, I was astonished at the outpouring of concern and love that we received. Many within the community, Daddy’s church and Mother’s library offered their prayers and devotions. Parents of divorced children reached out in support of Mother and Daddy. Through the disabling depression of those first few months, the reason God had moved our family to this area became evident. God brought us to a community that has been deeply effected by the ills of divorce. God brought us to the support that can only be provided from those who have traveled this road before.

As the weeks went by, I received encouraging words from every direction. There were days when I could actually feel the power of the prayers that were being said for us. Several people shared pages copied from their personal devotions they felt would be inspirational. As time permits, I hope to pass these along.

I have been blessed to know several God-seeking, God-fearing people throughout my life. The first devotion I want to share was passed on to me by one of these people. Johnnie Freeman worked part time as a library assistant with mother and serves her church as a lay minister. Mrs. Freeman is truly a woman of God – a prayer warrior. Over the course of the summer immediately following my separation, she shared many copied pages of inspiration. The following comes from Come Away My Beloved by Frances J. Roberts. Read as though you can hear God say these words to you. The entire piece is supported by scripture (as noted in the parentheses and brackets), so in essence God has said these words to you.


The Art of Committal
He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. Psalm 147:3

O my child, lay your heart in My hand, and let Me heal it. Yet, let Me gather up your tears, for they are precious to Me (Psalm 56:8). You have not been suffering alone, but I Myself have been near you all along the way. My heart has felt all that you have felt. You do not have a high priest who is not able to sympathize with your suffering, but one who experienced every grief and human emotion common to all people. In the midst of these painful experiences, He did not sin. Therefore, He is one who is able to help you (Hebrews 2:18).

He is one, who having walked the same path Himself, is able to teach you how, in the midst of these human experiences of hurts, frustrations, loneliness and heartache, you may rise above the natural tendencies to fall into the sins of self-pity, self-reproach, depression of spirit, resentment and the like [Hebrews 4: 14-16].

It is not easy. Not only is it not easy, but in the natural, in the flesh, it is impossible. But the same grace I promised to the apostle Paul to help him bear his affliction, the same grace I will give to you (2 Corinthians 12:9).

You may bring the whole of your burden to Me. I will help you as the days go by, and as the trials come and go; and as the learning process continues, I will teach you the spiritual secrets of the art of committal [Matthew 11: 28-30, Psalm 55:22, Nahum 1:7].

For in complete and repeated committal lies the key to victories that can be thus more easily won, less painfully achieved, and more quickly gained, so the valleys become less deep and less dark and more quickly passed through.

“Man is born,” it is written, “to trouble, as the sparks fly upward” (Job 5:7). This is true as surely as rain falls and snow is cold. But it is equally true, and gloriously so, that I have promised to deliver you out of all your troubles [Psalm 34: 4-6 and 17-19].

So will you now take the first step in this committal and give Me your heart?
Make it as tangible a transaction as possible, and visualize your own hand laying the physical organ of your heart in My hands. Say to Me, “Take this, Loving Master and Wonderful Lord, and do with it as pleases You.”

Verses found in the passage:

Psalm 56:8 “You number my wanderings; Put my tears into Your bottle; Are they not in Your book?” NKJV

Hebrews 2:18 “For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.” NKJV

Hebrews 4:14-16 “Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” NKJV

2 Corinthians 12:9 “And He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” NKJV

Matthew 11: 28- 30 "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." NIV

Psalm 55:22 "Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall.” NIV

Nahum 1:7 “The LORD is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him.” NIV

Psalm 34:4-6 “I sought the LORD, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame. This poor man called, and the LORD heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles.” NIV

Psalm 34:17-19 “The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles. The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. A righteous man may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all.” NIV

*Verses in parentheses are original to the text and are copied from the New King James Version. Verses in brackets are added by the editor and are copied from the New International Version.

Passage from Come Away My Love by Frances J. Roberts, published by Barbour Publishing, Inc. Used by permission.

Happiness

Happiness. One word that everyone wants but no one seems to actually possess. It seems that the entire human race is on a quest for happiness similar to that of the Holy Grail. And in true Holy Grail fashion, we will stop at little to achieve that happiness.

The day my ex asked me for a divorce, this was the only reason he could give to explain his unfaithfulness – he just wasn’t happy. Not only was he not happy during the last months, but he had apparently been unhappy for the entire relationship. He was completely unconcerned with the conditions his desire for happiness would thrust upon his loving and concerned family.

Now, almost two years later, I sit at my computer in a comfortable house. I watch my beautiful, healthy and intelligent daughter play with a plethora of toys. I have a closet full of clothes, jewelry box with some really nice pieces (some not so nice pieces). A car in the drive and a swing set in the back yard. I have traveled the nation and the world. I have friends and family who deeply care for me… but something is missing. Something still causes me to want more.

It is a deep lack of happiness.

In the light of events like the recent earthquakes in Haiti, this desire for happiness is sincerely called into question. When I compare my material wealth, my physical health and general well-being to that of suffering people all over the world, a great sense of guilt comes over me. I feel as though I don’t deserve any more than what I already have. Who am I to desire more than I have, when there are people on this planet who do not know where their next meal will come from? How un-Christ-like of me to want something as children in Haiti are literally searching for their parents.

This is where most devotionals would consider verses like Psalm 118:24 which says “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” And, while this is true, God did make the day and we should rejoice and be glad in the blessing He has bestowed on us, this verse doesn’t exactly cut to the core of our desire for happiness. This is compounded when you consider that the same Psalmist who told us to rejoice in the day also wrote “May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed” in Psalm 20:4.

It is my belief, that our loving Lord, has a great desire for us to be happy. Why else would Eden have been so perfectly wonderful? Here are these two presumably beautiful people walking around a garden that, in my mind at least, is spa-like: serene, lush and perfectly happy. Enter the serpent. The serpent seems to be like one of those seventh grade girls who always had the best of everything. But, as soon as someone else was “going with” the star football player, she had to create some way to ruin that relationship. The serpent was the original unhappy seventh grader. The serpent was the original unhappy spouse. Seeing a happiness that he could not possess, the serpent set out to destroy it.

That is exactly what he has been doing ever since. For many years (the exact length of time is debatable), the devil has employed as many techniques as possible to prevent God’s children from experiencing the happiness that our Lord has in store for us. The latest technique is the weapon of divorce. It attacks from every angle: the family, the individual and most importantly, the soul.

The soul is what is the most vulnerable to the Devil’s attacks. The partner is left with a great void within their soul that can only be described as unhappiness. Those feelings of rejection, failure, defeat, anger, ugliness, disappointment, guilt (this list is endless) come from that void. In the midst of the divorce, it seems that humans are responsible for these feelings. We blame our ex-spouse or ourselves and then turn to God and beg for answers as to why.

The serpent has struck again. Unable to enjoy happiness of his own, he has taken happiness from mankind. He is successful. And, every time we allow those feelings of unhappiness to consume our thinking, the devil wins another battle. That is what the devil wants; he wants to keep our eyes off the glory of God.

It is only when we find the strength through God to fight the devil that we will truly find happiness. A friend’s Facebook status recently read: “Contentment is found in the LORD'S PRESENCE. We will be fully satisfied, when we get to the point where God is first thing on our minds when we wake up in the morning.”

Then and only then, will we fill that void with the happiness that we long for.

*This quote is used with permission from Ruby Stringer.