Depression and crippling anxiety aren’t a part of my life any more, most days. There was a time when they were constant companions, persistent dark clouds that skewed my view of life.
I got help. Therapy, medication, hard work, supportive friends and family, and of course my Redeemer…..most days, I feel so free.
But there are tough days. Times when something triggers a switch in me. I become insecure, cowering at life and its threats. I can see those clouds again in the distance.
On one of those days recently, I read this:
“Some sat in darkness and deepest gloom, imprisoned in iron chains of misery. They rebelled against the words of God, scorning the counsel of the Most High. That is why he broke them with hard labor; they fell, and no one was there to help them. “LORD, help!” they cried in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress. He led them from the darkness and deepest gloom; he snapped their chains. Let them praise the LORD for his great love and for the wonderful things he has done for them. For he broke down their prison gates of bronze; he cut apart their bars of iron.”
–Psalm 107:10-16 (NLT)
The idea that my struggles are not pointless but that they purify me and draw me closer to my Creator, and then of course the reminder that those chains are snapped….I don’t have to stay in them any more…….well, that was exactly what I needed to hear.
I wanted to share it with you, because maybe one of you out there will find beauty in that passage as well.
Me. I did. Thank you.