{"id":3760,"date":"2011-02-20T12:13:50","date_gmt":"2011-02-20T16:13:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/heidiannie.com\/?p=3760"},"modified":"2011-02-20T12:13:50","modified_gmt":"2011-02-20T16:13:50","slug":"psalm-42-patterns-of-darkness-and-light","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.heidiannie.com\/?p=3760","title":{"rendered":"Psalm 42- patterns of darkness and light."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"006a\"<\/a> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1<\/sup> As the deer pants for streams of water,
   so my soul pants for you, my God.
2<\/sup> My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. 
   When can I go and meet with God?
3<\/sup> My tears have been my food
   day and night,
while people say to me all day long,
   \u201cWhere is your God?\u201d
4<\/sup> These things I remember
   as I pour out my soul:
how I used to go to the house of God
   under the protection of the Mighty One<\/p>\n

with shouts of joy and praise
   among the festive throng. <\/p>\n

5<\/sup> Why, my soul, are you downcast?
   Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
   for I will yet praise him,
   my Savior and my God. <\/p>\n

6<\/sup> My soul is downcast within me;
   therefore I will remember you
from the land of the Jordan,
   the heights of Hermon\u2014from Mount Mizar.
7<\/sup> Deep calls to deep
   in the roar of your waterfalls;
all your waves and breakers
   have swept over me. <\/p>\n

8<\/sup> By day the LORD directs his love,
   at night his song is with me\u2014
   a prayer to the God of my life. <\/p>\n

9<\/sup> I say to God my Rock,
   \u201cWhy have you forgotten me?
Why must I go about mourning,
   oppressed by the enemy?\u201d
10<\/sup> My bones suffer mortal agony
   as my foes taunt me,
saying to me all day long,
   \u201cWhere is your God?\u201d <\/p>\n

11<\/sup> Why, my soul, are you downcast?
   Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
   for I will yet praise him,
   my Savior and my God. <\/p>\n

I have diabetes, and my health insurance has a plan<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

that includes a phone call every couple of months that<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

goes over my prescriptions and general health to see <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

if I am keeping well and doing the prescribed activities, <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

etcetera.  They ask a battery of questions- and one that<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

always makes me smile and answer neither yes nor no is<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cHave you experienced any depression that has affected your<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

work or social activities within the last 3 months?\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Yes. No. Maybe.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

It is the middle of February.  We have been through a brutal<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

winter.  There has been very little sunshine.  <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Am I depressed?  Sometimes.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I hate answering these questions in regard to my physical health only.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

This is a very deep condition.  One with mental, spiritual and family<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

implications and I basically hedge and lie.  I say, no.  I am not <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

depressed to the point that it affects me socially or in the amount of<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

work I can accomplish.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I think depression is very much a part of the healthy human condition.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I once heard Billy Graham say that he had never been depressed and it<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

made him less real and effective for me ever since.  If you haven\u2019t<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

ever looked up at life from a place of profound depression then I don\u2019t <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

think you you have ever seen the true face of mankind.  <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

God put Jeremiah into a position where he was in a pit.  In a prison of <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

despair and depression to give him a view of the depravity and void man<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

is in when separated from God.  <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

So, am I depressed?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

YES.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Does it affect my activities?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

YES.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Can it be overcome?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

YES.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Do I know where to go to find solace and comfort?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

YES.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Of course, the same questions could be asked about Joy!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Do I know Joy?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Yes.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Does it affect my activities?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Absolutely.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Is this an overcoming emotion in my life?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Yes.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Aren\u2019t we all a mixture of emotions and points of view?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

We NEED shadows- they are created by our place in the sunshine-<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t intend to dwell in the darkness, but it adds character and truth<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

to my life and testimony.  <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

And for me, that testimony is set down in the first lines of this psalm-<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

As the deer pants for streams of water,
   so my soul pants for you, my God.
2<\/sup> My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. 
   When can I go and meet with God? <\/p>\n

AMEN.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"001\"<\/a>\"001a\"<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"022\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Experiencing Life through the light and shadows-<\/p>\n

Experiencing it in the Light of God\u2019s truth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  1 As the deer pants for streams of water,    so my soul pants for you, my God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.     When can I go and meet with God? 3 My … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spiritualinsights","category-stepsonthejourney"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.heidiannie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.heidiannie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.heidiannie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.heidiannie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.heidiannie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.heidiannie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3760\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.heidiannie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.heidiannie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.heidiannie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}