There are days when we feel like life isn’t worth getting up for.  We’d rather crawl back under the sheets and melt into another dream.  What do you do when you feel that way?  The world might tell you that you’ve made your own pity party, now get over it, but  it’s not that easy.

Take for example A.A. Milne’s character, Eeyore.  He spent his life living under a rain cloud and making sure that his tail stayed on.  Do you every feel that you have no real purpose in life? Do spend each waking moment feeling sorry for yourself?  Has your get up and go, got up and left?  Every one of us has experienced feelings like that.  You look in the mirror and see a reflection of a big loser.  You beat yourself up, because you aren’t as successful as your neighbor.  You put yourself down because you aren’t as smart as your classmates.  No matter how hard you try, you will always live under the shadow of someone else.

Eeyore once said, while looking at his reflection in the water,

“No better from this side. But nobody minds. Nobody cares. Pathetic, that’s what it is.”

No amount of positive thinking is going to rid him of that feeling, because he’s the one responsible for it.  We can try to shake it off or cover it up, but depression is very real.  You feel sad, you have no energy, you’re pessimistic, grumpy.  You isolate yourself from those who could encourage you.  You retreat from daily activities and your work suffers.  Soon you can’t get out of bed and the cycle just gets bigger and bigger.

The remedies for this malady are many.  You can seek professional help.  Medication might work, but often becomes the source of other problems.  You can talk to a friend, a counselor, a pastor.  You can go to countless therapy sessions, spend thousands of dollars on self-help books, and still find no relief. Some may get to the point where suicide is the only solution. I admit to feeling that way when times were overwhelming, but I knew that taking my own life wasn’t an option.

God has other plans for us.  Our lives are a gift from Him.  What we do with them depends largely on our relationship with Him.  He sees the plight of man. He hears the cries of the broken hearted.  His creation is precious to Him.  He is our true friend, our defender, our advocate our provider. He loves us so much, that He thought up the perfect plan for our salvation.  He carried our cross.   He bore our sins.  He died so we could live.  He rose from death so we could also.

Trust Him to lead you down the path He’s already designed for you.  You can be sure it’s a great plan, because He made it.  There will be obstacles, but He will lead you through them.  Often you will become stronger because of the roadblocks.  What a friend we have in Jesus.  Trust in Him for your joy.