2-21: Abiding through Sadness

Memoirs of Abiding

Abiding Through Sadness

Sadness when left to our own flesh can cause a deeper level of identity crisis. One that leads to despair, hopelessness, and depression. It can be good too, it can bring about repentance and dependence upon the Lord as well.

The root of the sorrow, sadness, melancholy, comes from a desire, a want, a situation that we dislike. Maybe it’s from a relationship falling apart, maybe our kids are fighting and no longer want to walk together. We desire the best in their lives, and we know what they are living is not it. When they are separate, it’s not best. We know we cannot change their minds, so sadness creeps in. We can begin to internalize it, live in it, sit in it and say, “if only I had only parented better”. We reflect on what we did and bring the focus upon ourselves….OR we can direct our hearts and minds to God. We can go to God and say “it breaks my heart to see this, You Yourself prayed that we would be one, as You and the Father are one, and they are not one. It breaks my heart to see this, but I cannot change it, only you can. So I bring this situation to you.”

Scripture Reading: Lamentations 2: 11-13

Emotions can be linked to very powerful events. When we choose to live in those emotions, and let them rule us, it becomes who we are. So how do we surrender a hurt or sadness that is so deep? Well, we have to look at where it came from first. For example, a gardener goes to pull out the weed from their yard and they yank it from the top, just pulling off the leaves/flowers. Will this rid the weed from the yard? No, it will just continue to grow. However, if that gardener digs in the ground to find the root of the weed, they can detach it from the ground. They can pull it and prevent it from spreading into other areas of the garden. So we have to use introspect as we partner with the Holy Spirit, the Father, the Son living inside of us. We can ask them where that sadness is rooted, and once we find out what that root is, we can surrender that to God for healing, for restoration.

Each hurt sustained, God can heal it, God can redeem it, God can regenerate it. It is not about controlling the hurt ourselves, but it is about surrendering it to the One who can heal it. It is about pleading the case to the One who has it in His hands.

How is our Identity tied to sadness?

The Bible shows who I am, who God is, and God’s plan to redeem me. As I understand who I truly am I realize my place in this body. These feelings I have are not my identity. As I walk more in the Lord’s word, allowing it to renew my mind, I find my true identity. I am a partaker of the Divine nature. I am a child of God. I am adopted. I am renewed. I am a new creation. I am justified. I have been glorified in Him. I am loved. I have an inheritance in heaven that will never fade. All these remind us that we are more than what’s happened to us, what we’ve smelled.

How do we abide through each of these emotions?

(Romans 7:24). It is simple, yet complex. We surrender each emotion to the Lord, and we continue to have Him define us. We don’t have to sit in these emotions, we don’t have to live in them, we can respond in these situations by bringing it to the Lord and surrendering it all to God. We can surrender our sadness, our fear, our hurts. We can overcome by surrendering to God, by abiding in God. Take heart as you walk in this, for He has overcome the world. Greater is He that is in You than is in the world (1 John 4:4). We can find Hope in the Word, as we hide it in our hearts, as we read it each day. The more we learn to abide, the more that we learn to surrender these emotions to God, the smaller the impact these emotions will have.