Seasonal affective Disorder–God’s seasons
Genesis 8:22 “As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.”
Deuteronomy 11:13-15 So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today–to love the LORD your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul–then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and olive oil. I will provide grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied.
Psalm 94:19 When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul.
Proverbs 12:25 Anxiety weighs down the heart, but a kind word cheers it up.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-5 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, . . .
Isaish 40:8 “The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.”
Isaiah 41:10 Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
John 16:33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble, But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (TROUBLE. . .depression, anxiety, bullying, bills, criticism, and so forth. . . Troubles can be anything!)
James 1:17-19 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of all he created.
James 5:13, 16-18 Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. . .Therefore, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years.
Anxiety and depression take many forms and many people suffer with these issues. Someone looking in on their life may be surprised and wonder, ‘What does he/she have to worry about, be depressed about?’ No one has the ability to know what is going on in another’s thoughts and heart. Sometimes with probing and counseling the root may be discovered and dealt with, but not always.
But there are so many lives who have been affected by suicide, insecurity, eating disorders, acting out and abusive behaviors, often times to self, but also toward others. We live in a time fraught with comparison, shaming, bullying, and often with just chemical imbalances. Anxiety, depression and many other psychological disorders are prevalent. And they seem more frequent with different seasons. Many get gloomy and depressed in the late Fall and Winter months with the prolonged darker days, the cold and decreased desire to walk in the elements. SADD, or seasonal affective disorder is a fairly common ailment amongst many, including myself.
For me, anxiety normally only rears its ugly head in the late fall and during winter, until about mid-February (at least living here in this more temperate area). That is an improvement as when I lived in the New England states, I got anxious and uneasy starting in early to mid-October and it would last until mid-April. I am blessed as living in NC my anxiousness and depression is much less. But it still is there and is a struggle for those few months–weeks really, but certainly easier for me to tolerate. I am unsure of why–I know we have a few more minutes on each side of sunrise and sunset to gain a few minutes of daylight compared to those more northern states. We are closer to the equator, so gain a few more daylight minutes. But I also believe it is because over the years, I have moaned, groaned, and complained about this issue to God knowing the concern my family and friends have for me over this time period, and He has guided me to have less problems when dealing with it now.
Anyway, as soon as we change those clocks back, I begin the countdown to December 22, then I can excitedly look forward to gradual lengthening daylight hours. Yay.
The end of December through end of February, one usually sees more dolphins, and there are frequent sightings of young dolphins learning to surf the waves and leap a bit out of the water. I have been blessed over the years to catch brief sightings of whales traveling by. Love to see that! All of that lightens my heart and brings a burst of thankfulness to Him for all He has blessed me with.
My birdfeeders are full of sparrows, chickadees, a few cardinals, and I still get a few red winged blackbirds and pigeons. So, my winter days are still full of blessings, rich blessings with the sunny days, the views of dolphins playing and jumping in the ocean, the loveliness of the Sound, and good health.
God is so good. He knows I never did well with New England winters. . . way too much snow, gray, gloom for me. Loved the first, possibly second snowfall, then I was done. Too dismal, chilly, and dark for me. But He made sure we were placed in North Carolina, and we have a bit of the four seasons—spring, summer, fall, and winter, and yet, the weather is much less severe, and although has its cold days, is not as frigid as NE. There seems to be more clear, sunny days, and I feel positive and thankful. He put me in the best place for me.
So, for a few weeks, I deal with the short days and dark nights, but then comes December 22 and 23, and I am almost positive I can see the days lengthening out. It’s an early Christmas blessing.
I am blessed. My anxiety has an end point, it has certainly occurred often enough that I know the symptoms, I try to get out and exercise, be with friends and so look forward to December and watching each day for the gradual lengthening of daylight. But many others have a much more severe struggle than mine. It is a struggle to get out of bed, to see much of a future, they feel or think they are unworthy and do self-punishment acts–cutting, eating disorders, drugs, alcohol and other things. I believe Jesus can heal each of these people if they would seek Him, ask Him to come and help them and truly believe He wants to help. He does. He wants none to suffer and He wants to heal and comfort. But He needs to be asked.
With Jesus’ birth we received the greatest gift and blessing of all time. If we believe in Him as the Son of God and that He came to free us from death by forgiving our sins, on our physical death, we spend eternity with Him, God the Father and the Holy Spirit in heaven. How exciting! I tend to hang on to the Light of knowing that during the winter dark days, and just anticipate the blessings and bounty of spring then.
Knowing He is my Light also helps me get through those days that have a bit too much night darkness. What a wonderful Gift that is, to have His Light. Thank You, Jesus for bringing me to the best place for me for this season of life, and for always guiding me and ‘mybellaviews.’
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