Terminal depression...loss of purpose...

 Terminal depression...loss of purpose...

My father passed away in 2013 of “terminal depression” something that until then I had never heard or seen...it was a very cruel and hard time...

My father was the gentleman cowboy...happy, encouraging, cup-half full, smiling father, grandfather, great grandfather, son, husband, father -in-law, friend, teacher, organizer, Christian, can and bottle collector, timber man, Mr. frugality, traveller, harmonica player, letter writer, storyteller, woodcutter, hard worker, provider, sentimental, historian and so much more...He loved telling family stories, remembering all the details, laughing until he cried, wiping his eyes, then telling more...

He was not perfect, but he was perfect for our family...when my husband was diagnosed with brain cancer, my father drove 9 hours to be with family, “because every daughter needs her dad in times like these”...( I was more worried about him driving long distances at 80+)...but it touched my heart and soul deeply...we daughters do need our dads to care and love us...

All this to say, watching him quickly and slowing succumbing to depression was a hard pill to swallow...he had given up, felt no purpose to carry on even though he was healthy in body...my take at the time, was that he lost his purpose, his work that he loved, his wife, his son in law and depression replaced the happiness that once exuded from every pore of his being...

What made me come back to those times, was our pastor’s sermon on “work”...this week...a purpose and a privilege...that God has given to each of us to fulfill...

Watching my dad in his last weeks and days..I wanted him to find that purpose again, to fight to find it...to pull out of his path of depression...to be “him” again...but, our minds can play tricks on us and he wanted to be with my mom, to find rest in the eternal rather than the temporal...and so he passed away...

Every time I have to fill out a personal questionnaire, there are boxes to check.   “Retire or employed”...I don’t know what to check...I am still cooking, cleaning, maintaining a household, overseeing my late husband’s business...have I retired?...I still feel I have a work to do, a purpose to fulfill...a life to live...a different season than before, but still working...I haven’t retired in the “worldly” sense...nor in the spiritual sense...

I want that sense of purpose to permeate my life...whether it is being a mom, grandma, friend, confidante, crafter, writer, business person, Christian...it is a privilege that God has given each of us, advancing His kingdom in the manner he has personally given each of us until he takes us home...

Thank YOU...

The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.

Genesis 2:15 

May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us— yes, establish the work of our hands.

Psalm 90:17 

Then people go out to their work, to their labor until evening.

Psalm 104:23 

From the fruit of their lips people are filled with good things, and the work of their hands brings them reward.

Proverbs 12:14 

Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might,....

Ecclesiastes 9:10a

27 Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.” 

Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” 

Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

John 6:27-29 

Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means.

2 Corinthians 8:11 

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Ephesians 2:10 

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

Colossians 3:23-24

Sow righteousness for yourselves, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the Lord, until he comes and showers his righteousness on you.

Hosea 10:12