Sometimes I struggle.

Well, let’s be honest.  A lot of times I struggle.

And my struggle doesn’t always make sense.  Meaning, there’s nothing in my life I can look at and say, “This is a really hard situation or circumstance.”

But sometimes I wake up feeling the weight of the world on my shoulders and a hundred pounds on my chest.  I look ahead at the events of the day and think, “All of those things are up to me.  If I don’t do them, who will?  If I don’t stay on top of it, turning and churning out tasks, how will I keep everyone and everything from falling through the cracks?”

And if I’m honest, the struggle behind the struggle is that I feel like it’s all up to me to make God pleased with me – to blog a certain number of times, to wake up at a certain hour, to use my time in effective, wise ways, to run my household in a God-honoring way.

And I recognize about myself that I have a lot of expectations in life.  I expect and demand great things from myself as well as from those around me.  I really have to work hard at resting…taking a deep breath…believing God is pleased with me not because of my efforts, which are never enough, but because of His grace, which is more than enough.

But I have also come to realize that some of my struggle is due to the depression that is a very real factor in my life.  I have struggled off and on with depression for almost as long as I can remember.  And while for many years of my life, I have seen depression as a tool of the enemy, something dysfunctional, faulty, something inherently wrong and broken in me, something to wrestle into submission and beat into obedience through changing habits or mindsets, I am coming to see it as a gift from God.

Because it just hasn’t gone away.  Yes, there are moments, or days, where it is better, but for the most part, depression stays with me, and I wake up every day with the burden of keeping it at bay.

But no matter how many Bible verses I memorize, or how many times I change my routine, or how long I spend in prayer, God has allowed seasons of depression to remain.  So lately, rather than despise it, and beat myself up about it, I’ve been trying to embrace it.  Meaning, I’ve been trying to see it through a different lens.

Because I am a wandering soul, a soul bent on pride and independent goals and living when left to my own demise.  I despise dependency and weakness.  I want to hold the map of my life in my own hands and navigate the course my own way.  And the prospect of handing the map over to anyone else, choosing to follow their lead, is a terrifying thing.

But what if depression is God’s grace-disguised tool in my life to force me to hand Him the map?  What if it’s His way of saying, “Baby, I know you want to walk your own steps and tell me where you’d like to go, but I can see far ahead, and that is a path of certain destruction.  I’d like to take you a different way that will lead to certain blessing, love, and life, but it’s a way where you are going to have to learn to follow.  To be dependent.  To trust.  To pry your hands off the map and take hold of my hand instead.”  What if?

So this season, I am using my time to learn to pry my hands off of the map.  That might mean going to see a doctor.  That might mean going to see a counselor.  That might mean sleeping and resting more and checking fewer things off of my list.  That might mean handing over my map.  (Scary.  Very scary).

But one thing I do know – it means feeding on His faithfulness.

Because check this out – I’ve read Psalm 37 hundreds of times in my life.  It’s been one of my favorite Psalms to pray for years.  But I’ve never noticed until a few weeks ago that while verse 3 says, “Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness,” the literal translation of the verse is, “Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and feed on His faithfulness” (emphasis mine).  

In other words, it’s not up to me to cultivate or produce anything – a happy heart, a joyful attitude, a bounce in my step, productivity in my day, or success in my plans.  My job is just to feed on His faithfulness.  Faithfulness that has gone before me and stretched out in front of me like nourishing, green pastures ready to fulfill the deepest of needs and longings in my heart.

What about you?  Are you like me?  Carrying around the weight of a thousand pounds on your shoulders?  Trying to pull it together enough every day just so you or someone you love doesn’t fall through the cracks?  Trying to put on a brave enough face so that someone, mainly God, will be proud of you?

Sister, put your load down.  Take a seat right next to me here on my bench in a green pasture.  And feed on His faithfulness.  On what He has accomplished for you, done on your behalf, every step of your path through life.  Your job isn’t to chart out your way; it’s to hand over the map and follow the One who is the way, the truth, and the life.

I don’t know what your particular struggle is – it can be a tough marriage, a tough friendship, a tough child, a fresh wound or an old one that’s been a thorn in your side for years.  But whatever it is, stop fighting it, and surrender by handing over the map and seeing the circumstances and struggles of your life as pastures in which to feed on God’s faithfulness.

It’s not up to you to have to beat back the thorn or wrestle it into submission; it’s up to you to surrender to the sufficiency of His grace that comes precisely because of the thorn He’s allowed.

This morning I got up early (thanks, babe, for leaving the bathroom light on and door open at 5:00am), and spent some time in God’s Word before listening to one of my favorite songs of all time.

I’m warning you – the song is old school.  It comes right out of a 1950’s Billy Graham crusade.  But I cannot listen to it without crying.  Because the words are all just so true.  More than I want my depression lifted, more than I want fame, more than I want wealth, or a life that looks or acts exactly like I want it to, more than a map that gives me the path I want to take, I want Jesus.  Because He is the fullest expression of God’s faithfulness that this heart has ever known, and without Him, I am lost.  And you are too.

So take a moment and listen to an old song with a timeless message.  Tell Him more than you want the thorn out, you want His grace pressed in to help you feed on His faithfulness no matter the circumstances.

Then take His hand, follow Him along the path, and feed in His pasture.  A journey with Jesus that surpasses your greatest expectations is waiting.  You’ve just got to hand Him the map you’re holding and trade it for His hand in yours.

“Commit your way to the Lord,
Trust also in Him, and He will do it.
He will bring forth your righteousness as the light
And your judgment as the noonday.”  

Psalm 37:5-6