Where is God in all this? (Thoughts on faith and depression.)

Jesus wept.

The shortest sentence in the New Testament. Sometimes when things are really powerful, they take less space to tell. Think about how much the impact would be diminished if it took a paragraph to describe it in detail.

Jesus wept.

Jesus wept for you and for me. Jesus felt pain. Jesus felt anguish. Jesus looked at mankind and realized how screwed up we all are, and he wept with the intensity of it all. Jesus was just reflecting the pain that we all feel. The basic gut wrenching sorrow. Even if you don't believe, you can acknowledge the commonality of the human condition that is reflected here.

Jesus wept.

OK, it's really easy to loose your faith when the going gets hard. I know I did. Of course, the old adage is true: you can't be mad at God and say you don't believe. I didn't believe, but I also went through the whole "why would God allow this" crap. Even going through it I knew it was bullshit.

Jesus wept.

Because in my faith, God is there to be with you in your pain. To weep for your pain. To give you solace if you choose to embrace it. One of my campers slipped a book about hope and faith into my purse when I wasn't looking. It was a wake up call. It gives me strength every time I read it. Because I believe (not I know) that God can be with me in my suffering If I choose it. I also believe it may not make a huge difference. But I choose to believe in what I can't see. Sometimes it helps and sometimes it doesn't. But, I do remember that:

Jesus wept.