In Times of Trouble and Despair, HE Is the Answer!

Kay Warren has struggled with low-level depression most of her life. The co-founder of Saddleback Church, Warren assumed that joyful living was meant for other people—people like her husband, Rick, who she says has a naturally buoyant, “joyful, Tigger-like” personality. As a self-described Eeyore, Warren didn’t think being joyful was part of her personality.

“I used to think life came in waves,” Warren told me in a recent phone conversation. “Hard times, and then good times; back and forth.” But she’s realized the highs and lows run through our lives life on more-or-less parallel tracks. “In every moment of our lives, there is beauty, truth, honor, love. And at the same moment, there is an ache in our hearts for something else. People are dying. Relationships are ending.”

On the day of President Obama’s inauguration, Warren was present as Rick gave the invocation: a real “high” for the Warrens. “But at the same time,” Warren says, “a loved one was struggling with a mental illness. On the same day!”

Warren’s new book, Choose Joy: Because Happiness Isn’t Enough (Revell), grew out of a personal revival in recent years as she discovered what it meant to live with joy—which she says is built more upon a settled assurance about who God is and a conscious choice to praise God in every circumstance than upon whether circumstances in life are going smoothly.

“Happiness is built on happenings,” Warren told me. “Joy, on the other hand, is about connecting the eternal to the internal so that we can interpret our externals in ways that allow us to say, ‘everything around me may not be all right—but I’m all right.’” - Her*meneutics, April 16, 2012, Rachel Stone

Now, suppose I could offer you a life that is guaranteed to give you:

a. A "joy" that is greater than any other;
b. A "blessedness" that is happiness in its fullest measure;
c. An "assurance" of entering the everlasting kingdom of our Lord;
d. A "peace" that surpasses understanding.

Would you be interested? Of course, I myself can't offer such a life; but Jesus can and does! As He stated in John 10:10: "...I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly."

Jesus offers this abundant life not only by His sacrificial death on the cross, but also by His teachings recorded by His apostles; notice John 15:11: "These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full."

Think about it this way. A person can be a shining star radiating love and light outward toward others, then something will trigger depression and the person becomes a black hole in which light and love can not escape. Everything is sucked into it and it is never satisfied it seeks help from people, help from chemicals, help from everyone and everything.

Sometimes there is temporary relief, but eventually everything succumbs to the power of the black hole, the wrong quick fixes cause the hole to become bigger and with more power, as hopelessness increases like the power of gravity when matter is added to the black hole.

Other people try to help and encourage the depressed person, but eventually they feel themselves being sucked into the black hole so they begin to pull away and avoid the situation.

Dear friends, there is only one person that gives out more light and love than a black hole can absorb, His name is Jesus Christ. (John 1:1-5) In the beginning the Word already existed. He was with God, and he was God. He was in the beginning with God. He created everything there is. Nothing exists that he didn't make.

Life itself was in him, and this life gives light to everyone. The light shines through the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.

Remember...in times of trouble and despair, Jesus is your answer. His Love and Light are far greater than the power of your black hole. Jesus wants to turn you into a bright star that radiates out His Love and Light toward others in need. In closing, may the Holy Spirit come upon you and give you hope and peace and that Jesus be with you all the days of your life!

Prayer:

Dear Lord, you are our refuge in good and in bad times. In your infinite mercy, bring peace and comfort to those of us who face days sometimes filled with pain and depression. Help us to realize that through you there is joy and the promise of lasting peace. Help us to focus on our blessings rather than our misfortunes, dear Lord. Thank you for hearing and answering our prayers. Amen

May God bless you,

Gayle