Girlfriends in God 2 December 2021 Daily Devotional | By Mary Southerland
Topic: Turning Christmas Chaos Into Christmas Joy
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Today’s Truth
I will give you the treasures of darkness, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the LORD, the God of Israel, who summons you by name (Isaiah 45:3 NIV).
Friend to Friend
While I am not a big fan of television, I do enjoy watching home improvement shows. On a recent program, an interior decorator and homeowner discussed a list of changes that needed to be made to update the home.
“First, we have to do something about those windows,” the decorator announced. I was surprised that she listed this task first – until I saw the house.
The existing glass was not only an ugly shade of gold, but it was also thick and chunky. The windows let in no light and made it virtually impossible to see in or out. The result was a dark, isolated home. The distressed homeowner protested, “But I like my privacy. And if I thought anyone could see in, I would feel totally exposed.” Unfortunately, when it comes to dealing with depression, many people feel the same way.
The holidays seem to tug at the masks we carefully hold in place. The arrival of certain family members can resurrect painful issues that have never really been resolved. Financial pressure opens up like a sinkhole, waiting to steal our joy. Schedules demand every ounce of energy, and false expectations leave us empty and hollow. The dark slimy pit waits for us to fall in.
“He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak” (Isaiah 40:29 NIV).
When we are weak, He offers His strength. To deal with depression, we must first come to a place of total surrender to God and His plan of healing, even if we cannot see or understand that plan. We can count on the fact that the bottom line of God’s heart toward His children is always restoration.
Even the darkest moments hold treasures and truths that can bring us healing.
“I will give you the treasures of darkness, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the LORD, the God of Israel, who summons you by name” (Isaiah 45:3 NIV).
But we sometimes construct walls over which no one can climb because the cost of friendship is too high. So, we fill the windows of our souls with emotional excuses to avoid dealing with pain. The result is darkness, loneliness, and missed opportunities for restoration.
We don’t want to find the treasures our darkness holds; we simply want to get out of that pit. But there is power and strength in those treasures of darkness. Emotional health begins at the point of emotional integrity with a willingness to say, “I need help!”
When clinical depression overwhelmed my life, my husband was the pastor of a large church in South Florida. We could choose to be transparent and real, or we could sweep my struggle under the rug. We concluded that to be right, we had to be real.
