Ok, time to be “vulnerable,” I suppose. It’s the first day of the work week, but I’m not experiencing your typical “Monday Blues” today. I have no clue what’s wrong; it’s as though a dark cloud of sadness, almost an anxiousness, has moved into the duplex next door.
Have you ever felt this way?
Sometimes—for me anyway—stress, depression, anger and even anxiety unwillingly invade, like watching black storm clouds roll into my spirit.
As I am helpless to chase away a thunderstorm by sheer will, so this feels in my heart.
I do have certain tools I drag out during times like this; sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t. I have days when the dark clouds can be chased away by something as simple as talking to a friend, or listening to a certain band. Other days, nothing seems to work.
But my family and I are born fighters. We surrender only to God; never to darkness, never to defeat.
This isn’t me complaining; it’s me, practicing my God-given gift of “brutal honesty.”
It’s me, letting you know it’s ok to be human. People on social media pretend everything is great, all the time, but I don’t care what your family name is, how much money your girlfriend’s daddy has or how famous you are, everyone has bad days.
It’s me, seeking the help of the only One who can chase these clouds away: Jesus, my Savior.
It’s me saying, “We all have days like this, but we can never give up, never give in, never surrender.”
It’s me praying, “Lord, send these dark emotional clouds TO HELL where they belong.”
It’s me deciding to praise God in the storm.
I love the passage below, when, on two separate occasions, King David literally asks God, “Why am I so sad? Why am I so upset?”
“As a deer thirsts for streams of water, so I thirst for you, God. I thirst for the living God. When can I go to meet with him? Day and night, my tears have been my food. People are always saying, ‘Where is your God?’ When I remember these things, I speak with a broken heart. I used to walk with the crowd and lead them to God’s Temple with songs of praise.
Why am I so sad?
Why am I so upset?
I should put my hope in God and keep praising him, my Savior and my God.
I am very sad. Troubles have come again and again, sounding like waterfalls. Your waves are crashing all around me. The Lord shows his true love every day. At night I have a song, and I pray to my living God. I say to God, my Rock, ‘Why have you forgotten me? Why am I sad and troubled by my enemies?’ My enemies’ insults make me feel as if my bones were broken. They are always saying, ‘Where is your God?’
Why am I so sad?
Why am I so upset?
I should put my hope in God and keep praising him, my Savior and my God (from Psalm 42).”
That last portion is the key to kicking the blues: keep praising God. Keep thanking Him for His blessings. Keep raging against the night.
Be brave enough to use every tool at your disposal—love, prayer, music, books, exercise, etc—to break on through the darkness to the other side.
The side where light and laughter reside.
Broken People 