Thankful for the respite
This spring I cycled out of what always feels like a very long depression. As the flowers blossomed and the trees unfurled their new leaves, I felt alive. The spring breeze would caress my hair and I would close my eyes, breath in deeply and just “feel”. Lon would catch me with my eyes closed and a smile on my face, ask me what I was doing and I would answer, “Just feeling. It feels so good to feel…good.”
Sharpening my sword
I embrace this time wholeheartedly and try to steward it well because I know it won’t last. I begin to “sharpen my sword”. That phrase comes from when Lon and I were dating. While I was living in Minnesota and he in Massachusetts, he wrote me a letter stating, “A soldier always sharpens his sword before going into battle.” This was referring to us as Christians staying in God’s Word and making it a part of us before the battles of life ensue. I’m taking a long, deep look at what feeds the depression in my life so I can begin applying God’s truth to it.
Using the sword on my heart
One particular area I needed to apply the truth to concerns a significant, personal relationship (I need to be anonymous here). This person does not like the choices I have made for my life, which means I do not have this person’s approval. I crave that approval and allow the lack of it to shadow the joys in my life. But the Bible teaches me that through Christ I have my Heavenly Father’s unconditional approval and that is all I need. Zephaniah 3:17 says that He sings over me and rejoices over me. As I revel in this, my craving for that person’s approval (and my fear of their disapproval) diminishes and it no longer has the hold on me it once did. My heart is awed at how applying God’s truth to my life can so free me from an inappropriate need for approval.
How do you prepare for your spiritual battles?
Average Us 
Thank you for a nice site about real people trying to learn of and live with God. I just wanted to thank you and encourage you to keep going. I also wanted to let you know that the comments on your about us page do not work. It might be because you have it like that but I know that About US is where i go first and its where I wanted to leave a quick note first. To send you this i had to go to the blog and send this message. I am not complaining but I just wanted to let you know of my experience. Thank you for the awesome site!
Thanks for visiting and for the kind feedback. We hope we can be of service to average folks like us, so if you know of anyone who would be interested in our content please help us spread the word. We’ll look into the comments issue. Thanks again, Lon (and Dawn)