The first bending of my soul from depression was over the summer season, a rather unlikely time to be sad; however, depression doesn’t play by the rules.
So now, when this season of early sunrises and waning light arrives, it brings a bittersweet reminder of the time I waited in the middle.
How to have hope while waiting through a season of depression.
The summer held two more months of stifling heat, but on the gentle breeze, I heard the soft sigh of trees, “I grow tired of sprouting leaves and long for autumn’s rest.”
When August tumbles precipitously into September, I lean inward. This time prompts me, like the trees, to await the relief of another season. Nestled within their shadow’s stretch, the whispers of fall beckon as I longed for the weather to match my soul’s condition.
Depression caused a tenderness in my spirit like a broken arm before a splint. It brought with it an uncomfortable waiting:
For sanity.
For reprieve.
For hope.
Hope in the middle
My mind drifts from the trees to my boy with chestnut hair and dark eyes as he strolls over. He plops down next to me and lays his head on my shoulder, looking up with lashes a mile long.
“I hate being in the middle.” He exhales as his plump lips tighten into a thin line.
“What do you mean?” I ask gently, feeling his tender heart at that moment.
“I’m stuck in the middle of my brothers. They always get their way because one is older and one is the baby, and it’s not fair.” His sad brown eyes shift over to where his brothers play and relay the seriousness of his situation.
Kissing his forehead, I think of the picture he unknowingly painted with his words. My son grieves his place in the middle, and I lament my waiting during the pain, that complicated, unpleasant in-between.
Aren’t we all waiting here in the middle?
To be human is to wait. We can find hope in the waiting—a yearning and a stretching towards something more remarkable. Often, though, we harden during the wait.
We can miss the very best.
The Israelites waited for the promised Messiah. Some, having grown tired of the wait, missed Him altogether. Walking beside humanity on those dusty roads so long ago was the living, breathing fulfillment of all our waiting.
He wasn’t only missed; he was utterly rejected. He didn’t look how they thought he should, so hearts were hardened, and He was sentenced to death.
And now we find ourselves awaiting His return—sure that we won’t miss Him this time.
Like my boy, we lament the middle and the places where we feel stuck between the old and the new. We feel destined never to get our way.
And yet;
The middle is where grace meets us best.
It is in the waiting where He calls us His own. It was in the middle that He came down to us, walked beside us, wept with us, and bled for us;
God with us.
The pain finds us here in the middle, somewhere between birth and death.
But so does He.
In the hospital.
At the graveside.
Through the depression.
Before the wrong choice.
After the betrayal.
Despite the consequences.
He doesn’t leave us alone in the middle.
Content in the waiting
“We can’t see Him, ” my dark-eyed boy answers as I tell him of the Savior’s presence.
“Can you see the wind?” I question.
“No.” He replies.
Squinting, we gaze heavenward toward the gentle giants above. “They feel the wind,” I say as I point to the willows that bow low to touch their humble beginnings and sway in the summer breeze. “The wind becomes visible because of them.”
“So, you see, there’s no mistake. God placed you perfectly in the middle to help hold up your brothers,” I say with a smile and a kiss on his freckled nose.
The boy with the dark eyes runs off, content for the moment with his place in the middle. And I, once more, find peace in the waiting.
Healing often happens in the waiting.
Because waiting takes faith, and faith needs the wait to work correctly. I don’t want to make the grave mistake of hardening during the wait and destroying the hope he places beside me.
So, I wait.
He is here in the wait with me. He bends down to touch the simple just as those mighty towering willows bow low. He speaks life through the smallest places—like a hazel-eyed boy stuck in the middle.
I wait in the summer’s heat, in the middle, bending but not breaking beneath the gusts of his love and waiting, like the trees, for autumn’s rest.
Here, I find the hope my heart has been longing for.
“I wait for the Lord, my soul does wait, and in His word do I hope.” Psalm 130:5 NASB
If you or someone you love experiences depression, please know this: you are loved, valued, and more precious than you know. Please seek help and seek out someone you trust to talk to. Whether you are the one going through the valley or the loved one helping – bringing your pain into the light brings healing.
Please feel free to contact me. I would be honored to pray for you or your loved one.
As always, friend, thank you for stopping by,
I have been through depression, too, and the LORD delivered me by the Power of His Love. ALL PRAISE AND GLORY AND HONOR TO HIM AND HIS NAME!
Ephésiens 3:16,17, 18-19.
My life had drowned in an apond of hopelessness, misery and depression. I felt ahole in my heart so hungry for the world, the time when I was left with nothing while helpless, God became enough for me. There is something greater in the waiting though we mostly feel like climbing athorny tree or climbing slimy pit. But it’s where our spiritual growth is renewed and our healing comes.
So true, He renews us in those really hard places. Thank you for stopping by and commenting.
GOD Bless you, Susan. TRULY GREATER IS HE THAT IS IN US THAN HE THAT IS IN THE WORLD, WHO DELIVERS US FROM DEPRESSION. GLORY TO THY NAME, O MOST HIGH!
IN JESUS’NAME, AMEN.
Thank you, Amele! Greater is He that is in us than He that is in the world—Amen to that!
Thank you for sharing your wait. I am sure it will help others. I have pinned it. I am so glad you shared your post with Grace & Truth Christian Link-Up. Blessings to you – Maree
Thank you, Maree!
I am definitely NOT good at this, but God has used the times of waiting in my life–sometimes like a paintbrush to use Char’s word picture above, sometimes like a chisel.
Thank you for this timely post–so many struggle with depression and are afraid to ask for help.
Michele, I can completely relate! Waiting, specifically waiting in pain can be the hardest thing we go through sometimes. Thank you for stopping by.
Again, your words are a paintbrush on our souls. What a gifted writer you are! Thank you for painting a landscape of hope for all your readers. Waiting is always a challenge, yet, as you said it is part of being human. I love the contentment your son found and am sure that’s where our hearts should be – looking heavenward and trusting God’s placement of us and His timing.
Oh, Char, you are so kind. Thank you so much. It certainly is where we constantly need to put our attention and focus, heavenward. I certainly need this reminder daily.