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One Woman's Pilgrimage

    by Linda Bush Cannon

The Secret Gifts within Depression
Date Posted: August 7, 2011

Isaiah href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah%2045&version=AMP">Isaiah 45:3 And I will give you the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places, that you may know that it is I, the Lord, the God of Israel, Who calls you by your name.

Clinical depression is a place of great darkness and secrecy. It is a place that you wrap around you like a warm, safe (albeit it dysfunctional) blanket…until you discover you have become engulfed in what has become a prison, a suffocating cocoon from which you think you will never escape. It paralyzes as it squeezes the breath from your lungs and the life from your blood. The more you struggle, the greater the restriction, until you are numb from the heart out, exhausted, and ready to give up altogether. You forget how to think, how to hope, even how to pray.

Yet, even in these obsidian shadows of the abyss, God is still God. While you feel your soul has lost consciousness and perhaps even died, God is there, for He will not abandon you. You may not feel Him, but no matter, the truth is… He is with you. Once the silent screaming of your broken heart subsides, as you lie there quietly, listen past the lies of your feelings to the truth of His very presence.

It is only then that you become ready to receive the treasures of darkness, the hidden riches of this secret place to which He has allowed you to journey. It is there He calls you by name, and wipes away your tears, with the most gentle of caresses. No, He may not ever explain His reasons or ways. But He is with you, loving you, teaching you, restoring and renewing you into His design.

Listen…

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Biography Information:
Linda is "...simply one woman running hard after Jesus, in an effort to be authentic and always growing in my devotion to Him, while open and real in the hopes that my life might point to and glorify Christ my Lord." She has been a women's Bible study leader for over 17 years, and is a wife, mother, certified personal trainer, life coach, health/wellness coach, Pilates/Pilates Reformer instructor, writer, photographer and "wild 'n crazy wacky woman of God" She lives in NJ, and is happiest when she's outdoors by a stream or in a park with a book, cooking for family and friends, or simply enjoying early mornings in God's natural sanctuary of nature. Her life verse is Philippians 3:7-14.

You can find her on her website at www.cannoncrosscoaching.com
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