Joy Runs Deeper than Despair

Is joy really possible when your
life seems covered by darkness?
Kay shares.

”He will cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you will find refuge; His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart” (Psalm 91:4).

“Joy runs deeper than despair.” These are the words of Corrie ten Boom. Cornelia “Corrie” ten Boom was a Dutch Christian who, along with her father and other family members, helped many Jews escape the Nazi Holocaust during World War II, eventually being imprisoned for it in a concentration camp. Her most famous book, The Hiding Place describes the ordeal.

Ultimately, Corrie’s enemy was not the German soldiers she faced while being held prisoner. It was despair, hopelessness. So she looked to her Savior and His joy ran deeper than her despair. Our enemy is not our illness–it is the despair that leads to hopelessness because of it. Yet our joy can run deeper than our despair.

I was treated for clinical depression in 1994. I reached a point where despair was my enemy, and my enemy at that time was winning. It was the intervention of my God, my husband, and a godly counselor that pulled me out of that despair and brought me back on the road to recovery and hope.

God intervened during one of my counseling sessions. He allowed me to see His arm reaching down to me as I was praying to Him. Before, I was deceived into believing that God had turned His back on me, therefore despair and hopelessness had followed.

I could not reach out to Him, so He reached out to me. His joy ran deeper than my despair. Amazing.

I want to leave you with one more quote from Corrie–

“When you are covered by His wings, it can get pretty dark.”

We can’t escape the darkness by running from His light, instead we will find our refuge and our shelter underneath it.

Prayer: Father, I thank You that if we are a child of Yours, that when we are in the dark, it is because we are covered by Your wings. In the dark times, help us to remember and to trust in Your love and in Your faithfulness. Help us also to remember that when we can’t reach up to You, You reach down to us and we find refuge because You are bigger than our despair. In Jesus Name, Amen.

About the author:
Kay Davis lives in Fort Worth, Texas with her husband Ron. They have three awesome daughters and sons-in-law who have blessed them beyond measure with their eight precious grandchildren. For more of Kay’s writings you may visit her blog http://singingbirdcage.blogspot.com that is titled Songbird. She finds solace in writing and prays that God uses it to draw others to Himself.

Would you like to share a time when God broke through your despair and showed you His joy in its place?

There are days when it feels like God isn’t on our side, doesn’t it? But this is just a feeling. The fact is Jesus loves you. He loves you. Take a moment to listen to Chris Tolin sing “Jesus Loves Me.” This beautiful song is a nice reminder that Jesus is for you–never against you. He loves you. -Lisa