Blessed are the people whose God is the Lord!” Psalm 144:15
Melissa is married to a depressed husband. Next to an addiction, being married to a depressed spouse is one of the most difficult challenges a husband or wife could ever endure. Depressives tend to cast a pall not only on their own lives, but also on all of those around them. Worse, they often become their own worst enemies, fighting their brain chemistry’s resolve to drag them down on a daily basis.
Quite understandably, there are times when Melissa has “had enough.” She gets tired of dealing with her husband’s depression (as any of us would). But she told me something that is so profound, so encouraging, so filled with faith, that I just have to share it. After describing what she deals with on a daily basis, she added, “But I have God, and having God, even if everything else in my life goes wrong—literally, everything else—I am still blessed beyond measure, blessed beyond what I deserve.”
That’s real faith. That’s the courage of a woman of God who recognizes that there are things in this life—including in marriage—that God chooses not to fix, or we resist His fix, and they remain ongoing struggles for the rest of our lives. But will we truly find refuge in the biblical truth that–even if we are disappointed in our marriages (or parenting), frustrated, pushed beyond human endurance–“Blessed is the people whose God is the Lord”?
God may not heal your marriage. He may not change your spouse. He may not immediately bring your rebellious child to repentance. But isn’t it true that if we are in Christ, even if nothing else in our lives goes right, we are supremely blessed to have God’s fellowship and the promise of a joy-filled eternity?
Whenever I find myself complaining—about anything—I now try to remind myself, “But I have God,” and then repeat, “Blessed are the people whose God is the Lord!”
