Book Club Day 9: On what side of the tomb are you?

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In Your Book: Before we begin, please turn in your copy of Faith Deployed...Again to page 132 and read "Roll the Stone Away" by Jill Bozeman. (If you don't have a book, don't go away! We'd love to have you join us for this discussion anyway!) Now Let's Talk: Today's discussion is led by Jill Bozeman. The Army will send you where you don’t want to go and the timing is often… well, not yours! And unless you understand and trust that it is the Lord alone that orders your steps (Psalm 37:23), you might end up like I did; in doubt and unbelief, isolated and depressed. Yup! I said it, D-E-P-R-E-S-S-E-D, “depressed”! And, if you come from where I come from, you know Believer’s aren’t to be depressed! We are to be victorious! So…heap on top of the original hurt, guilt and shame, and we have all the ingredients for that enemy of ours to cook up a wicked plan! In 2005, I was a youth pastor, a department leader, a Bible teacher to adults. I was for all intents and purposes, in full-time ministry to our Lord Jesus Christ. My life was glorious!!!! I was preaching and teaching, involved in inter-church programs, reaching the community and seeing daily the fruit of my labor. My relationships were healthy and I knew that I knew, that I knew, I was in God’s perfect will for my life! Talk about heaven on earth?! And then….we received orders: And not the good kind. That’s right, recruiting duty. Recruiting duty is much like depression, you can’t possibly know unless you’ve experienced it! And I was about to learn both lessons at once! I went from “full-speed ahead” in ministry to a dead-stop, at our new assignment. We were in a new church, a new community, a new spiritual culture where no one spoke my language (figuratively speaking, of course). My head was spinning, and after the confusion and the sadness subsided, I was just plain mad! I knew better than to be mad at God, but wasn’t sure where to turn with the disappointment. I mistakenly thought I had been at the pentacle of a Christian life of service, and anything less than that was some sort of failure. Did you know that depression is anger turned inward? I isolated myself from those who knew me, so no one knew I was in this pit. And I certainly wasn’t going to let anyone know because, after all, faith-people aren’t supposed to be depressed! I’ve heard the religious pronouncements, and probably uttered them myself, toward those suffering from depression. So, I sealed the tomb for fear of judgment! I now know that self-pity and depression are two completely different things. A person who is in a depression has been deceived by the enemy, lured into trap, and then ambushed. Much like the wounded man on the road to Samaria, who needed more than just a jolly word of encouragement, offered in his direction, he needed HELP! He needed a rescuer, or he would die in that ditch! (Luke 10:30-37) Telling a person in the tomb of depression and isolation, so to speak, to “get up, or shake it off” is like telling a quadriplegic to pull himself out of a pit. It is obvious that someone will need to rescue him: throw him over his shoulder and carry him out! Which side of the tomb are you on? Are you a quadriplegic, hopeless and without strength inside the tomb? Or are you walking safely in the sunshine, on the other side of the road entirely? If you are inside the tomb, I have the best news EVER!!! Jesus is on the OUTSIDE! In fact, He’s seated at the right hand of the Father, on the edge of His seat, waiting for you to call on Him in faith and He will leap to your rescue! I called to Him from the pit, “Lord, I’m in this pit! I am cut off at the knees! I don’t have the strength or the will to crawl out. Have mercy on me! Send HELP!” Day by day, I would say to the Lord, “Lord, I cannot do this! If it is going to be done, it will be YOU and YOU alone!” Slowly, I began to see the light break at the edge of the stone, until finally, it was rolled away, and I was standing in the fullness of the light of the Son, once again! You may never have been in that pit. You may have stayed as far away from that tomb as you could possibly stand! And I’m certainly glad of that!!! But, did you know that Jesus may want to send you in as a rescuer? To help those who’ve been deceived and left to die? If we stand outside of the tomb, yet are disconnected from the community around us, we are much like the priest in the story of the Good Samaritan, who walked over to the other side of the road, so he didn’t have to see the wounded man, and be bothered with involving himself. But God has made us, each, parts of His Body, working together to bring help and healing to those who are hurting all around us!

And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins. 1 Peter 4:8

Discuss: Is it easier for you to isolate yourself or to reach out for help and community when the going gets rough? What can you do to reach out to someone who might be isolated right now?