One of my favorite stories comes from a 2006 film entitled Amazing Grace that introduced me to the person in history by the name of William Wilberforce. William was a key figure in the abolition of the British slave trade. Wilberforce is accurately portrayed in the movie as putting so much into his work and convictions, that he becomes physically ill.
It got me to thinking, has your soul ever been tired? I think we all can admit that there are times in our lives that we are spiritually worn out. Our souls become tired, we are physically, mentally, and spiritually worn out and we just want to throw our hands up in disgust at what is going on with our lives.
How does one deal with their soul being tired? I think the answer lies in the hope of that old hymn, “His oath, His covenant, His blood,
support me in the whelming flood.
When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my hope and stay. On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand, all other ground is sinking sand.”
I suffer from a type of clinical depression. Often I find it easy to stay in bed, content with letting life pass me by. There are days my soul is tired and I don’t want to even move. But I am starting to realize that God is at work. This doesn’t explain why things happen to good people or why we suffer, but to take consolation that God is at work is good enough.
While it would be easy to let the depression I face consume me, I can take consolation that while that whelming flood may overtake my soul, God is there and offering a mother-like hand. I love the line in a song that says, “you take my brokenness and make it beautiful” I may not be able to thank God for that depression I face, but I can thank God for the beauty of the friends and family who support me.
In life it is finding those little moments of joy, the moments of grace that burst onto the scene of our busy tiring lives. My mom often says that when the sun is peaking through the clouds that God has opened the windows of heaven. What if we looked at those little moments of joy as God opening the windows of our lives and letting fresh air inside?
John Newton when he penned the hymn Amazing Grace, which takes a prevalent role in the movie I mentioned above, was considering the beauty of God opening the windows in his own life. Newton said in the last verse of that iconic hymn, “The earth shall soon dissolve like snow, the sun forbear to shine; but God, who called me here below,
will be forever mine.” This week be thankful that when the sun doesn’t shine, God still opens a window. 
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