{"id":22488,"date":"2023-05-26T10:45:58","date_gmt":"2023-05-26T14:45:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=22488"},"modified":"2023-05-26T10:52:36","modified_gmt":"2023-05-26T14:52:36","slug":"finding-hope-in-the-depths-of-depression","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=22488","title":{"rendered":"Finding Hope in the Depths of Depression"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-embed-handler wp-block-embed-embed-handler wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Swing low sweet chariot lyrics - more modern version (ella eyre)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/LX7LKB3xbv8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Diana Gruver writes of finding solace and hope through others who share their experiences: &nbsp;<\/em>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As I slogged through seasons of depression \u2026 I have found the stories and presence of others who have experienced depression to be invaluable. I hear a hint of something I recognize\u2014an aside, a metaphor, a clue that points to those marks left by the darkness\u2014and I zero in on them. <em>There is someone who knows, <\/em>I think<em>, someone who understands. They, too, have walked through the valley of the shadow of depression\u2026. &nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>T<strong>hey remind me I am not the only one to walk this road, that this experience is not an alien one. The lie that \u201csurely no one has felt this\u201d is cut down by the truth that others, in fact, have, and their presence makes me feel less isolated. These fellow travelers are my companions in the darkness of night.\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They give me hope\u2014hope that this is not the end of my story, that I, too, will survive this. Hope that depression will not have the last say. [1]&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Theologian and minister Monica Coleman finds comfort and healing in the spirituals of the Black church:&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The further I\u2019m away from Southern black churches, and the more I understand depression, the more I need spirituals. Created by enslaved Africans in the United States, spirituals express both suffering and dependence on faith\u2026. Like the Psalms of the ancient Hebrew community, the slaves took their emotions to God, putting them to music\u2026. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The spirituals give me a way to be sad without being alone. Because they are sung in community, they say: <em>It\u2019s okay to suffer. We know how you feel. We are suffering too. We all are. \u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>They aren\u2019t afraid to linger in the painful places. They have no need to rush to praise. <\/strong>They can be slow \u2026 drawing out one syllable over tens of seconds \u2026 taking their time \u2026 waiting.\u2026 They knew how to take moans, make them hums, and then turn them into words. They knew how to give voice to pain and how to do it together.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thus I\u2019m convinced that when Jesus cried out, \u201c<strong>My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?\u201d from the cross (Matthew 27:45\u201346), he wasn\u2019t making a profound theological statement about the hidden God. Jesus was quoting Psalm 22, the spirituals of his people. He was in pain, and he began to sing. I<\/strong>n my sanctified imagination, I see the people at the foot of the cross joining him as we do today in my faith community: slowly at first, one voice, then another, humming, then forming words. It sounds like this: \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Sometimes I feel like a motherless child. &nbsp;<\/em><em><br>sometimes I feel like a motherless child. &nbsp;<br>sometimes I feel like a motherless child. &nbsp;<br>a long way from home\u2026.&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>They remind me that if you stay in a spiritual long enough, you\u2019ll hear God, you\u2019ll feel hope. In the depths of depression, I can think of no greater spiritual gift. \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>____________________________________________<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sarah Young Jesus Listens<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>King Jesus, The Light of the gospel of Your Glory is an astonishingly rich treasure! What makes the gospel such amazingly good news is that it opens the way for me to know You in Your majestic Glory. When I trusted You as my Savior, You set my feet on a pathway to heaven. <strong>Forgiveness of sins and a future in heaven are wondrous gifts, but You provided even more! You made Your Light shine in my heart to give me the Light of the knowledge of the Glory of Your Face. Help me to seek Your Face wholeheartedly\u2014delighting in the radiant knowledge of Your glorious Presence.<\/strong> One of the meanings of knowledge is \u201cawareness acquired by experience or study.\u201d <strong>Knowing You involves awareness of You\u2014experiencing Your Presence through the Holy Spirit<\/strong>. It also involves studying the Bible to learn more and more about You. Though the god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, I can perceive You clearly through searching the Scriptures and enjoying the Light of the gospel of Your Glory. In Your wonderful Name, Amen<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>2 CORINTHIANS 4:4; The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>2 CORINTHIANS 4:6; <strong>For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God<\/strong>\u00a0\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>PSALM 27:8 NKJV; When You<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>said, <strong>\u201c<\/strong>Seek My face,\u201d.\u00a0My heart said to You, \u201cYour face, Lord, I will seek.\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Young, Sarah. Jesus Listens (p. 153). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Diana Gruver writes of finding solace and hope through others who share their experiences: &nbsp;&nbsp; As I slogged through seasons of depression \u2026 I have found the stories and presence of others who have experienced depression to be invaluable. I hear a hint of something I recognize\u2014an aside, a metaphor, a clue that points to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22488"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22488"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22488\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22491,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22488\/revisions\/22491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}