When I am Discouraged

by Lorie Reading on Monday, March 7, 2011 at 12:40pm

from Facebook note

"Sorrow is not a stanger to any of us, though only a few have learned that is is not our enemy either." -John and Stasi Eldredge* "Happiness is solely based on our circumstance, while contentment transcends our circumstances."* Contentment is in the soul.
I'm troubled by the belief that Christians should always be happy. This is so far from the truth. Jesus said "My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death." Mark 14:34 and He went and prayed. David said "Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad?" but he also said "I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again- my Savior and my God!" Psalm 43:5 So many people have thorns or adversary in their life. Sometimes they have to live with it their whole lives. However, as Christians we don't have the promise of joy, joy, joy all the time, but help in our suffering. "When things went wrong in people's lives, whether it was about their physical or spirtitual condition or some tragedy that happened to them, I don't recall Jesus ever looking for the hand of God in it. Instead, he had compassion on suffering people."*
Our community lost 2 people to suicide last week. One was a neighbor and a client of mine. I cannot relate to the devastation it caused his family. Can anyone really understand it? I don't know the pain he was experiencing or the torment of his inner demons. As a wise old man told me, "Nobody knows the pain he might of been going through" Sometimes pain is emotional. So until you've walked in someone's shoes... I don't believe suicide is the answer however I don't want to judge the person.
"The last thing a trouble person needs is to be judged."* What I need when I get in a pit of depression or heartache is to be in communion with God and really listening for his voice. Our noisy world keeps that voice out. "There are fewer and fewer oases of silence in our noisy world. Communication has higher value for us than contemplation. Information is in greater demand than reflection." -Barbara Brown Taylor* I have a hard time when I get down to really reflect on God's word or pray. It's the last thing Satan wants me to do. This is spiritual war. We are equipped as Christians to deal with things if we use the tools God gave us, prayer and His Word.
"For our present trouble are small and won't last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don't look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. for the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see wil last forever." 2 Corinthians 4:17,18 This world is not my home.
"Adversaity reveals genius, Prosperity conceals it" -Roman Poet Horace* Don't get to caught up in things.
"And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?" Matthew 16:26
Most of these words were not my own but just pieces of wisdom I've gleened from the Bible and others.

*excerpts from the book "Living with Thorns" Mary Ann Froehlich
Bible verses taken from the New Living Translation