Saturday Soliloquy: Out of the Doldrums

What are the Doldrums, anyway? I found this interesting and understandable explanation:

https://study.com/academy/lesson/doldrums-definition-location.html

It stops and asks you to register to continue watching, but the most important stuff has already been covered.

The bottom line here is that if you were a sailor with no other way but the wind to power your ship, you did NOT want to get stuck in the Doldrums. You could die out there!

This poor dog seems to be stuck in the doldrums:

Doesn’t he look just pitiful? Well, I can empathize. That’s where. I’ve been for well over four weeks. I’ve had mono, not for the first time, and I can tell you it takes longer to recover than it did when I was younger. It’s the pits.

The good news? I’m climbing out of that pit. I’m feeling much better in the last few days, ready to face the world again.

One of the most helpful things for me, during this past month or so, has been traveling through the Psalms here on my Bible study blog. Over and over, David finds his way back from depression, discouragement and despair by singing praises to God for His many blessings.

Depression can be a part of many illnesses, although I don’t think it was a major factor for me. I’ve been through this before, and I know that it will lift. But yes, there is an element of that hopeless, helpless feeling that washes over me now and then when this unwelcome condition tries to steal my joy. The good news is that I recognize it for what it is, and I know how to talk myself out of that black hole. For me, one of the most important tools to battle depression is the Word of God. Many passages in my memory are helpful during the course of the day, and several of them are from the Psalms. My favorite is Ps. 119:165. “Great peace have they which love Thy law, and nothing shall offend them (cause them to stumble).” When I love God’s Word, I have a whole arsenal to help me battle the gloomies that Satan is so good at putting in my path, trying to make me trip and fall in my walk with the Lord.

Sometimes, the inner battles we fight are the most dangerous. Often, no one else is aware that we are in trouble. The sailing ships of earlier times could be caught in the doldrums with no way to contact the world for help; no one knew what they were dealing with until it was over and they were on their way again. During that time in the doldrums, the world can seem to close in around us, limiting our vision to only what is immediately before us.

“But God” is one of my favorite two-word phrases in the Bible. It usually follows a difficult time in which hope seems gone, and then these two words come up and the solution for whatever the situation was becomes obvious.

I am thankful for all the “But God” moments in my life.