Can you be depressed and blessed?

A friend of mine recently asked this question on his blog: "Can you be blessed and depressed at the same time?" I don't know if I'd have phrased t that way, but I think he's asking about a question that has been rolling around in my brain and heart for awhile now.

Today in church, our guest pastor essentially said (or at least this is how I heard it) something like...if you're not bursting with happiness, then you can't be filled with the Holy Spirit. He mentioned that in his house there is only room for "happy." He had many other good things to say, but I have to admit, he lost me at this point. From then on, I was lost in my own frustration. I guess it's a good thing I don't live at his house.

Why does there frequently seem to be no room for sadness and fear in the body of Christ?

Today, it would seem that King David would have been told that he was't focusing enough on the hope that God offers. [Have you ever wondered what the church would do if we actually sang some of the Psalms - as was intended when they were written? Take a look at Psalm 88 and think about what our congregations would say if you started to sing it??]

We currently live in the "in-between" and/or "already-but-not-yet." Living in this time means that part of our challenge is learning to live with the tension that exists between the first and second comings of Christ. We are saved; but not yet perfected. We can have a relationship with Jesus and have been given the Holy Spirit; but even these relationships are a mere shadow of the love and relationship we will experience when we get to spend eternity with our Father. So if everything is not as it should be or will be...why on earth would we expect to be perfectly happy. It seems to me that quite the opposite is true. It seems to me that at a certain level, everything we have and don't have today should cause some grief over what we don't have quite yet. This is not to say that we shouldn't and can't recognize all the blessings that we have been given...even this is so much more than we ever recognize. It is just to say that happiness is circumstantial..and the circumstances of the "in-between" time often leave much to be desired.

Yet, Galatians tells us that joy is a fruit of the Spirit. So can joy and sadness co-exist?

I am guessing that Paul was not "happy" to be in beaten and in prison and in chains. With all of this the only thing close to a complaint you hear from Paul is the "thorn" he mention....I figure this must've been a pretty big deal for it to be complaint-worthy for a guy who was beaten, chained and jailed! I'm guessing that whatever it was didn't make him "happy." However, he speaks passionately about the joy he experiences.

I think, yes; sadness and joy can co-exist. And I think that this very ambivalence is part of living in the "in-between."

And what does it look like to be sad and yet filled with joy?

Sort of like I imagine Paul:

Because of Jesus, when I am sad, disappointed, hurt and I bring my tired, weary, beat up heart to my Father; He meets me there. He sees me. He hears me. He sits with me and He holds me and somehow I know that I will be ok. That is where my joy is found.