Saturday, March 23, 2013

Deep Cries to Deep-Devotion 8-Joy

"Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say, Rejoice."
Philippians 4:4

I am devastated.  I am mourning.  Waves of sadness overwhelm me.  
I'm drowning with a hand above my head barely escaping words of, "help."

I cry.  It makes me laugh to hear me cry.

Because the sadness is without reason.

I don't think we'll ever understand clinical depression.

How the waves of sadness flow over an amazing, God-given life, a dream-life, 
a life that seems so...perfect.

And yet the head is hung at the kitchen counter, lost in fear, torment...sorrow.
And it's deep...filling the heart, filling every ligament, hanging there like a begging, dirty dog that just wants more...

But, there is a weapon.

Gratitude.

Thankfulness fights against even clinical depression.

Out loud, thankfulness.

A-Z thankfulness.

Thank You for an apple.

Thank You for bread.

Thank You for colors.

Thank You for my dad, who has over ten years sober.

Even when the onslaught of waves of sadness crash without warning, 
when no negative thought is leading to the unexpected sadness...

Thankfulness forces our heaviness to look up and obey.

It brings the God-given joy.

Rejoice.  Again.  Rejoice.

The sadness is coming....

Rejoice.

"I'm hurting."

Rejoice.

"I can't fight this."

Rejoice.

Thankful joy is a fierce, divine weapon.

"For the JOY set before Him, Jesus endured the cross."

And the laughter WILL come, when you realize how many "Zs" there are to be thankful for.

"Blessed are you who mourn, for you will laugh." Matthew 5:4

Our Promise

Taken at a Museum in Israel 2009