Fourth watch

Looking forward to starting yet another round of counseling for depression... this week! It is time to learn (and re-learn) skills to help combat the darkness of depression - and hopefully find all the missing brain puzzle pieces to put them back together.

Decided this time to see a person who's practice focuses on Christ Centered Healing from depression. I have a deep love for my Savior, Jesus Christ, and know that He has the power to heal. But it won't come without effort on my part.

As mentioned so many times in the Bible... belief, faith, and action are part of healing miracles. Here are only a few examples:
  • The woman with an issue of blood had to reach out to touch the hem of His robe. 
  • The 10 lepers had to ask to be healed - then "as they went" (when commanded to show themselves to the priests), only then did the cleansing occur. 
  • Friends of a man, sick with palsy, "uncovered the roof... and let down the bed" so that Christ could heal him.
So it is even today... faith and action come before healing. How long might it take? There is no clear definitive answer to that question. It doesn't matter, because my God is a "fourth watch" God. It is in the New Testament, (Mark 6:45-51), that we read... "And he saw them toiling in rowing; for the wind was contrary unto them: and about the fourth watch of the night he cometh unto them"

Christ waited and watched the apostles on the Sea of Galilee, saw them struggling with their boat in the wind all through the night. However it wasn't until just before dawn did He come to them, walking on the water. Sometimes God comes in the first, second, or even third watch of the night. But there are also times when He closely watches and waits until the "fourth watch". It is my firm belief and testimony that He will come, after my faith is tested and strengthened.

Metal is strengthened through tempering by being thrust into a fiery furnace - so too people gain strength by passing through the flames of trials. God has the power to deliver me from the black furnace of depression... but if not, I will still hold close and dear my faith in Him. For I know that my ways are not His ways - and my timing is not His timing. It may not happen until the "fourth watch" of night, but it will happen.


true confession... 
the concept of a "fourth watch God" came from reading this book some time ago
When Your Prayers Seem Unanswered, by S. Michael Wilcox
think I need to read it again, it was soooo good!!
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4 comments:

  1. Tina Fariss BarbourApril 18, 2013 at 1:27 PM

    I will be thinking of you as you begin new therapy. I believe with my whole heart that healing can come. I have struggled, too, and have found relief. The depression may return, but I always know that healing will, too.

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    Replies
    1. MelanieApril 21, 2013 at 5:46 PM

      True testament Tina. For those of us who are "clinical", depression is likely to return again BUT we CAN and SHOULD have faith that healing will come again too. The more we deal with the down and are pulled up to the light, the more we come to have faith in that continuing process. It's a beautiful thing. Trust, Faith, and HOPE.

      Love you Messy Friend. :) I'm excited to hear about it.

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  2. Wendy LoveApril 19, 2013 at 5:51 AM

    I will be praying for your time with your new counselor that with God's help, the two of you will be able to work together well. I will pray that you will get some new perspective to an old problem, some new strategies that will make a difference, some new insights which will shed light. I have found in my own journey that even the smallest improvement can make a big difference.

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  3. MelanieApril 21, 2013 at 5:48 PM

    You have many women of profound wisdom on your side friend. Wendy's words are so spot on.

    You are a child of God. You are precious. You are his daughter. Oh...how he LOVES YOU! He will help see you through this.

    Love you.

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