To the mama who’s at the end of her rope,

You never would have known it, but I was at the end of mine in this picture. I was at the lowest of my low, lost in the darkness, wandering in the desert. I was thick in the fog of depression and anxiety wondering where on earth I had gone to and if I would ever get my joy back. On the outside I was fine, but on the inside I was crumbling.I was at the end of my rope.

But you probably wouldn’t have guessed that, would you? If you would have seen me that day, you probably would have thought that I had my life together. But in fact my life was scattered in a million pieces all over the floor and I was in a fetal position in a puddle of tears and had no idea how to start picking it all back up again. I was still waiting for my antidepressant to start working and I was desperately waiting to see God working in my mess.

The end of my rope. Life broken. Fit hit the shan. Crap scattered. My story done.

But my story wasn’t done, was it friend? No, actually my story was just beginning, I just didn’t know it yet.

You see here’s the thing about depression and anxiety. It doesn’t flip a switch and get better overnight. It isn’t something that you can simply “power through”. There isn’t a 10-day course of antibiotics that will make it go away.

But I’ll tell you what girlfriend, there is a God Who sees you at the end of your rope, even when it seems like He isn’t there. There is a God Who gave chemists and pharmacists great wisdom to create medicine to help people like you and me who are wandering in the darkness. There is a God Who will bring people into your life who will help guide you out of the fog and help pick you up off that floor.

There is a God Who, RIGHT NOW, is making beauty from your ashes, healing your heart and mind, and Who is taking what the enemy meant for evil and He is turning it into something good. He has named you and He has claimed you and you are His for the redeeming, sweet friend. There’s no place too dark that He can shine His light, there’s no place too distant for Him to come find you, and there’s no rope too far out of His reach.

So mama, if you’re at the end of your rope, I know you’re tired. I know you feel hopeless. I know it doesn’t seem like it’s ever going to get better and I know that it seems like your story is done. But remember mama, your Savior? You can trust Him with your fragile heart. And you had better believe that He’s on the other end of that rope. So keep holding on. He’s coming after you.

Originally published on From Blacktop to Dirt Road

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