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I have an old friend who connects with me a couple times per year to meet for lunch. He is my mother’s age and I know from previous discussions he does not believe in depression. Yesterday, he called wanting to know my work schedule to meet me as he comes from a neighboring city. With the questions he was asking, I reluctantly admitted I am on leave from work which he jumped all over me for; “You’re going to lose your job! Just snap out of this… you know better than to go that mental route. When was the last time you went to the beach? That’s your problem right there – you need to get some fresh air!” I kept telling myself he didn’t understand… he couldn’t understand. But he continued telling me to stop this stuff and how I need my job. After 10 minutes of this, I finally retorted: Do you think I want to feel this way? Do you honestly believe I am risking poverty, homelessness, and losing my job for the heck of it? It’s not as easy as you are making it! He scolded me for my ‘weaknesses’, giving me a list of things I should do that would cure me. Finally, I snapped, I can’t attend to my client’s needs when I have to focus everything I have on making it through the day! His lack of compassion is not his fault; he doesn’t understand. And there is no way for me to make him understand if he has not experienced clinical depression. I went to talk to someone at the church yesterday about my finances. She knows me, yet I was still apprehensive about confiding my difficulties of immobilization, inability to focus (which she quickly discovered when I couldn’t remember basic demographic information!) and hopelessness. After all, Christians shouldn’t be depressed – their hope is in God (as the world says). As I am sitting in her office, claiming I cannot work right now, her coworker (and my close friend) comes in with a neck brace in visible pain with obvious limitations who just had surgery a couple weeks ago! She had been working while I looked like a moocher in my jeans and sweatshirt asserting I am too sick to work. There simply is no way to fuly understand one another. That has become my condolence as well-meaning friends walk away when I fall into a funk. My ultimate comfort, however, is my Father understands. He knows my sincerity, my pain, my hopelessness, my fear, my loneliness. Jeremiah took comfort as he prayed, You understand, O Lord; remember and care for me (Jeremiah 15:15). No matter what we are experiencing, He understands. He remembers, he cares.

"Word from Scotland" from Sandy Shaw

A Needy Man Calls Out for Help Jesus Responds and Answers

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