proud. Three different times I begged the Lord to take it
away. Each time He said, `My gracious favor is all you need.
My power works best in your weakness...'" (2 Corinthians
12:7-10). But that answer never seemed to fi t quite right. I
could not reconcile that God would choose to give me this
hideous disease.
that mental health disorders are a part of living in
a fallen, sinful world. They crept in with the rest
of the brokenness after Adam and Eve listened
to that slippery serpent in the Garden of Eden
(read Genesis 3). I also believe that my faith in
der that He has not chosen to take away from me. I don't
know why He hasn't; but instead, He has given me tools and
resources to fi ght it with.
see a therapist who walked the road with me and allowed
me to learn how to function again and remember truth. I had
a faith in God that taught me to lean on Him in the darkest
of times. This included people who became Christ's hands
and feet and shoulders in my life. It didn't magically make
the pathway easier, but I began to realize that I was never
alone. While medicine and therapy did great things for me,
without faith and friends, I very well may have given up.
would have taken my own life years ago. Without hope, I
would never be where I am today. Throughout my struggle,
many Bible verses were shared with me by well-meaning
people, but there is one that I came to understand deeply
as I read the Bible on my own one lonely night. Romans 8:28
says: "And we know that God causes everything to work
together for the good of those who love God and are called
according to His purpose for them."
everything if we were good. But somehow, that just didn't sit
right. How is cancer or depression or loneliness or abuse or
any other horrible, painful thing "good"?
means that He can use this depressive order for His good.
He can redeem it and use it. It means He might not choose
to take it away; but if I let Him, He will use it. He's using it
now. That fi lls me with hope; and at the end of the day, what
is life if it is hopeless?
and the issues they can bring to light.
landscape that has lost its sense of direction and self.
Much like our own society, this fi ctional land offers
the characters and the readers by relation the choice
to choose. "When you play the Game of Thrones, you
win or you die. There is no middle ground," Queen
Cersei shares during the story. Representing one of
the powerful families of the land, she moves toward
recapturing what she feels should have been her
family's possession. Much like our choice of eternity,
we too must "choose today whom you will serve"
(Joshua 25:15). We live our lives poised between two
thrones, two choices � God or ourselves, and for us, it
is a game of life and death. There is no middle ground.
content does not hinder the story, and in some
cases, helps to form a vital part of the overall
literary landscape.