Depressed at the DQ.
“Hi, I’m Becca. What’s your name?”
I sat myself down at the table next to the man and started asking him about his day. He took a pause from his ice cream sundae and asked me why I was talking with him. His eyes motioned to my friends sitting in the corner by the drink stand. I wasn’t quite sure what to say. He was clearly taken off guard by me walking up to his table, much less sitting down at it. It wasn’t his approachability that caught my attention, in fact it was quite the opposite. He looked miserable. His hair was overgrown and unkept. His t-shirt had seen better days and his jeans needed a wash. Maybe he was a farmer. The well-aged lines on his face indicated that he spent more time frowning than not. He looked depressed, grumpy and jaded. The ice cream didn’t seem to be doing any good. Faith began to well up inside of me. I knew God was about to do something.
My new friends and I had just stopped at a small town Dairy Queen on our way to the next Saturate Global event in Kentucky. Why was this man sitting all alone eating ice cream in this ghost town? His eyes were dark and contemplative, his countenance uninviting. He sat with his shoulders slumped down and his head held low. He was stirring his ice cream around in the bowl with his spoon. Maybe someone close to him had died that day? Or maybe he was battling depression? My heart filled with compassion for this man. When I first passed by him in the Dairy Queen on the way to my seat, I felt such a strange pull towards him. When I sat down with my friends, I couldn’t focus on the conversation. I was too distracted by the old man sitting by himself. It was almost like I could feel the Shepard longing to pull this wandering sheep back into the fold. Jesus shares in Matthew 18:12-14 that He desires that no one should perish and spend the rest of eternity in the pits of hell. He rejoices over every single person that comes into His Kingdom by saying yes to His invitation. He leaves the ninety-nine in search of the one. Maybe I was the rod in the Shepards hand for that moment. Was this man a lost sheep that the Shepard wanted to pull back into the fold? I wasn’t sure what to expect or what to say when I approached him, but I did it anyways. That overwhelming sense of compassion I felt towards him gave me no other option.
“Well sir, you look like you could use some joy today and I have a whole lot of it.”
A little smile crept up on his face. He seemed to be pleasantly surprised by my bold response. I grinned from ear-to-ear. I was trying not to show my own surprise as to what had just come out of my mouth. I didn’t feel especially joyful that day. There was a lot going on. Earlier that morning, I’d said my goodbyes to the first family who opened their home to me. I caught a ride with another family in the area I’d met at the last revival. We had a 3 hour drive from the first location to the next. I’d just spent an hour in the back of their minivan with their kids, trying not to get carsick. In the process, I was warding off those pesky “what if” thoughts that are so often tied to unknown seasons. What was next for me? I was trying my best not to be anxious given my new set of circumstances, and show gratitude towards those showing me such kindness on my journey. I was out in the world without a car, without an income, all by myself, traveling to a town I’d never heard of, with people I’d only just met. My mind was busy navigating that transition. This wasn’t a grand adventure, it was simple obedience to the Lord. Not having my own agenda, I was trying my best to trust the leading of the Holy Spirit. Regardless of how I was feeling in that moment, it seemed the Lord was leading me to talk to this man in the Dairy Queen about joy. The kind of joy this man needed couldn’t be found in a banana split, pain killers or anti-depressants. He needed a substance that would sustain itself over time. The truth is, joy isn’t a feeling. It’s not a personality trait or an emotional response to a set of positive circumstances. It’s not even a form of self-expression - joy is a fruit of the Spirit.
“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”
-Galatians 5:22
Love, joy, peace? Who doesn’t want to have these qualities associated with their character? Depression, anxiety, rage, strife, self-hatred, jealousy, violence, betrayal? No one wants to bear bad fruit, but the reality is that without Christ there’s no other option. All sin is bad fruit. Some fruit may look good on the outside, but inside its rotten. Our culture revolves around attempting to duplicate the fruits of the Spirit that can only be found in Christ. The world only ever offers the grape flavored version of the real thing. When Jesus shed His blood for our sins on the cross and was risen from the dead, He ascended too heaven to be with the Father, in order that He could send us the Holy Spirit to completely possess us here on earth. Those who have the Spirit have full access to the real authentic, ripe, sweet fruits of the Spirit. As believers, we can grab hold of the fruit of the Spirit that hung on the tree for us whenever we want to. He is the good fruit. We may not always feel the things listed above, but they are always available to us through the cross. Jesus paid a high price for us to have love in our hearts towards everyone, including people who hurt us or do us wrong. His love doesn’t leave us high and dry when we disappoint Him. He poured His blood out to give us a joy that is not directly tied to our earthly circumstances. Like Paul and Silas singing in prison in the book of Acts, we can have joy in the midst of any trying circumstance. How wild is that? He rejoices over us with songs of singing. His Spirit empowers us to rejoice with those who rejoice. Through His Spirit He gives us a peace that surpasses our understanding. He Himself is the Prince of Peace. We can have supernatural patience towards those around us because of His patience towards us. God is love and love is patient. Love is kind too. His kindness leads us to repentance. Psalm 34 says to “taste and see that the Lord is good.” He is the embodiment of goodness. Jesus is so good that He desires for us to bear good fruit. Real fruit. His faithfulness towards us motivated Him to crucify Himself on the cross for our sins so that we could bear His fruit without striving to obtain it. His faithfulness towards His relationship with us is what keeps it intact, empowering us to keep our relationships intact. In Matthew 11:29 He describes Himself as gentle and lowly of heart. His gentleness leads us to have compassion on even the hardest of hearts because of His compassion towards us first. During His time on earth, He was tempted in every way, just as we are, yet was without sin. His self-control enables us to bear that fruit in our own lives. I’m not talking about human emotions here. It's much bigger than that. I’m talking about becoming like Christ by knowing Him personally. The man at Dairy Queen didn’t just look sad, he looked spiritually malnourished. He needed Jesus.
“Who Jesus is to you, is who Jesus will be through you." -Sean Smith
I asked if he would be interested in meeting my friends and receiving prayer. I wasn’t really sure what else to say. To my surprise he finished up his banana split and we gathered outside to pray. He seemed to really enjoy their company. We asked how we could pray for him. He expressed his concerns with the state of our nation, the economy, the government, COVID, etc. The weight of the world was on his shoulders. He shared that his grandpa knew the Lord and would talk to him often about the importance of reading the Bible. The man himself looked like he probably had a few grandchildren of his own. He said he believed in God, but not like his grandfather did. We encouraged him to turn off the TV and search out the scriptures. The blood of Jesus speaks a better word. We prayed for him to feel refreshed and renewed by the peace that surpasses understanding, we prayed for the joy of the Lord to be his strength. Slowly that joy started to bubble up in this man and overflow out of him. He began to chuckle. It made me giggle. Then slowly he started laughing. It was the kind of laugh that sounded like it hadn’t been heard in a very long time. I started laughing too. The clouds of heaviness and depression parted as we all let out a little laugh outside the Dairy Queen. Did this man's chains just fall to the floor? Physically he looked lighter. The sunshine seemed to shine a little brighter after that. He thanked us and we loaded back into the minivan headed to the tiny town of Adairville, KY to go to the Red River Meeting House - the location of the Second Great Awakening in America. What was the Lord about to do at the next Saturate revival? I couldn’t wait to find out.
When was the last time you asked a stranger if you could pray for them? If you’re anything like me, you might feel intimidated with the concept of street evangelism. What if sharing Jesus with people is as simple as letting them know they’ve been surviving off of rotten fruit and offering them something better? Are you a believer eating the rotten fruit of shame, anxiety, self-hared and condemnation? Now is a great time to spit that stuff out and partake of something better. Maybe you don’t believe in Jesus at all. Now is the time to say yes to His invitation to you! Like a lost sheep, He will never stop chasing you down.
To find out what happens next, click here.
