Does your mind yearn for rest from the storm within?
The waters glisten with the reflecting soft light of the sun, captivating your gaze. The sturdy wooden boat in which you sit is carved to perfection with mesmerizing wooden texture and grooves. The vessel’s inherent ability to carry you above the surface of the deep waters brings you comfort. It is strong, functional, and trustworthy. As your eyes lift to the sky, you notice the weather shift and the sky darken and a feeling of panic floods over you. A dangerous storm begins to brew while the wind picks up pattern and momentum. The river, angered by the wind, becomes turbulent. The storm's severity exposes a fracture in the boat that wasn’t apparent before! Realization dawns on you, threatening disaster on the long river journey ahead.
As we grapple with our mental health, often, it can feel as if our minds are fractured much like the broken boat on the rivers of life. Mental health challenges can seem overwhelming and isolating because of the storm of your thoughts swirling within. A disheartening mental health diagnosis may have resulted in shattered hopes. The frustrating reality is that sometimes our minds continue to remain unwell. The storms within don't abate and we feel like we are sinking. How we long for our minds to be completely mended and restored so we can journey along the river – happy, healthy, and worry-free!
The storms of life make it glaringly evident how broken we truly are - in mind, body & soul. The sheer weight of the negative, uncontrollable, and compulsive thoughts might compromise our ability to think clearly. Our world may seem as if it was not designed for the intricacies of our minds. Society isn’t often structured to accommodate mental health struggles and this reality can conjure up feelings of deep disheartenment, being misunderstood, and ostracization. When we compare ourselves to people who seem “worry-free” and don’t seem to struggle with mental health, we feel isolated and overwhelmingly alone.
In those tumultuous moments, there is an invaluable promise to which we must cling when the storms fracture our boats. This promise is a comforting presence in the boat right next to you. You are not alone – because the Creator of the Universe is beside you. The presence of the One who has been there from the beginning of time is available to you. His very presence gives our souls rest from the storm within. He has the ability to calm the storm within our minds, although sometimes in His sovereignty, he chooses not to. This may cause us to be angry with God, but in His kindness, he chooses to journey with us, stepping onto our boat, and promising us strength. He is the steady place where our minds can find true safety and peace.
Our broken boats also reveal ways our faith can have wonderful opportunities to increase! In our desperation, He invites us to encounter Him in our daily lives, inside the boat, side-by-side with us. God allows us to truly see our frailty as mere humans through our affliction. He uses our suffering to purify our affection for Him and wean us away from finding stability in anything that is not Him.
When our minds are fractured under the heavy weight of anxiety, depression, mania, compulsion, addiction, or fear, we groan for a mind made new. We grow weary as we feel trapped in our present conditions, and sometimes it seems easier to want to die and get rid of our broken boats to ease the pain. However, understand that our groans and sighs are actually longings to put on new bodies so that these dying bodies have an expiration date. Our present reality will soon pass away, but until then, God has given us His presence as a deposit – a guarantee of what is to come. Our boats will be mended and our minds will one day be made new!
As our lives on earth come to an end, we will one day see God face to face. Those who believe in Him, and invite him into the boat with them, will be given a new body. The dead will be raised imperishable.
