10/24

[John]

An Unholy Alliance
10/24/2007

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Over the years we’ve come to see that the only thing more tragic than the things that have happened to us is what we have done with them.

Words were said; painful words. Things were done; awful things. And it shaped us. Something inside of us shifted. We embraced the messages of our wounds. We accepted a view of ourselves. And from that we chose a way of relating to our world. We made a vow never to be in that place again. We adopted strategies to protect ourselves from being hurt again. A woman that is living out of a broken, wounded heart is a woman who is living a self-protective life. She may not be aware of it but it is true. It’s our way of trying to “save ourselves.”

And, we also developed ways of trying to get something of the love our hearts cried out for. The ache is there. Our desperate need for love and affirmation, our thirst for some taste of romance and adventure and something to be wanted for is there. So we turned to boys or to food or to romance novels, we lost ourselves in our work or at church or in some sort of service. All this adds up to the woman we are today. Much of what we call our “personalities” is actually the mosaic of our choices for self-protection plus our plan to get something of the love we were created for.

The problem is, our plan has nothing to do with God.

The wounds we received and the messages they brought form a sort of unholy alliance with our fallen nature as women. From Eve we received a deep mistrust in the heart of God towards us. Clearly, he’s holding out on us. We’ll just have to arrange for the life we want. We will control our world. But there is also an ache deep within, an ache for intimacy and for life. We’ll have to find a way to fill it.

(Captivating, 74-75)




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From The Ransomed Heart, by John Eldredge, reading 297
Ransomed Heart Ministries www.ransomedheart.com

[misty]

WOW! I love that John. You know I always tell my husband that he needs to CHOOSE to be happy. How you feel & react to things is a choice. When I'm upset I choose to be happy instead & 9 times out of 10 it works. AND...when you are happy & cheerful the people around you tend to be cheerful as well!

[charliegirl]

I need to point out that with depression resulting from a chemical imbalance, choosing to be happy won't work. If you are really trying to be upbeat and just can't get past it, you need to see a dr about it.

You can be a good Christian and still suffer from depression just as a Christian can get cancer or diabetes or ADHD. There is nothing wrong with seeking help.

[misty]

I was just responding to Johns message....I didn't know we were talking about clinical depression. I didn't mean to imply that. I was responding to this part

"Over the years we’ve come to see that the only thing more tragic than the things that have happened to us is what we have done with them."

[charliegirl]

I realized that. I just wanted to make sure that people reading who don't know there is a difference understand that there is. There is nothing worse than having someone tell you that you are a rotten Christian or should snap out of it when you are already depressed and have tried to get over it on your own.

[jj]

charliegirl said:

I realized that. I just wanted to make sure that people reading who don't know there is a difference understand that there is. There is nothing worse than having someone tell you that you are a rotten Christian or should snap out of it when you are already depressed and have tried to get over it on your own.

I'm glad you made that point Charliegirl. That is so true. You can't "snap"out of depression any more than one can snap out of having MS or cancer. Even seeking professional help seems futile to one who is clinically depressed.

Still, it was a good article and I went to that site to see if I could find more....I guess I felt it kind of left me hanging....