Don’t Despair

One of my favorite series growing up was Anne of Green Gables. Not the modern remake, but the original 1985 version with Colleen Dewhurst, Megan Follows, and Richard Farnsworth. It’s an absolute classic!

The story follows an orphan girl named Anne Shirley who is adopted by an elderly brother (Matthew) and sister (Marilla) who had actually intended on, and thought they were getting, a boy. She is brought to live at Cuthbert’s Farm (Green Gables) on Prince Edward Island, a child with a wild imagination and a deep longing to be loved. Anne quickly finds herself in one precarious situation after another, while at the same time, endearing herself to the couple that adopted her, and they to her. In many ways, all of them needed each other.

There are many scenes and thought-provoking takeaways that have stayed with me, but one in particular has lingered in my heart ever since I first watched it as a teenager.

It takes place early in the story, shortly after Anne arrives at Green Gables. She is overwhelmed with sadness because Marilla and Matthew are planning to send her back to the orphanage since she is not the boy they intended to adopt. As Marilla walks Anne upstairs to her room for the night, Anne dramatically expresses her emotions and says she is “in the depths of despair.” She then asks Marilla if she has ever been in the depths of despair.

Marilla, who is practical and stern, responds that she has never been in such a state. Anne then asks:

“Can’t you even imagine you’re in the depths of despair?”

Marilla replies:

“No I cannot. To despair is to turn your back on God.”

Remember Marilla

Those words came up again today in a conversation with one of my sisters. She was encouraging me in something and mid-way through she said, “Remember the words of Marilla?” I paused for a moment and then we both started laughing, repeating Marilla’s words verbatim to each other at the same time.

But all laughing aside, the words Marilla spoke were truth.

The older I get the more I understand the wisdom in Marilla’s words. We live in a world filled with reasons to despair. Discouraging headlines, personal heartbreak, financial pressure, sickness, uncertainty about the future, digital exhaustion, and prayers that seem to go unanswered. It’s easy to become consumed by what’s going on around us and within us and feel despair. But we must be careful. Despair has a way of fixing our eyes completely on the problem until we lose sight of God, who is still present and in the middle of the situation. It doesn’t mean we’ll never struggle, or grieve, or wrestle with disappointment, but unlike Anne Shirley, it means we refuse to be hopeless, we refuse to be “in the depths of despair,” because our hope is not rooted in circumstances, it’s rooted in a person — Jesus Christ. That was Marilla’s point.

So if you find yourself discouraged today, fix your eyes back on the person of Jesus Christ. Open your Bible and read it again. Pray again. Worship again. Trust again. The presence of struggle does not mean the absence of God. He is still faithful, sovereign, near, and still working, even in situations that make the least sense to us. And remember, He has the final word.

And Anne Shirley? Well, what began with disappointment, uncertainty, and fear eventually turned into something beautiful. Anne, Marilla, and Matthew found the love and family they had all been longing for and together lived in gratitude for the unexpected ways God works.

Sometimes that very season that feels like “the depths of despair” is actually the beginning of God building something beautiful.

God Bless You Today,

Carole