Along the same lines of the Buddhist tale, reader Cindy wrote the following on the message board of my “What Makes People Relapse?” post:

Hello Dear Friends:
I pray that each of us has better days ahead. I’d like to share this story that I heard years ago on suffering.?
One day, a man went to the Lord and said, “Help me, Lord….I can’t take this suffering anymore. Please give me a different cross to bare.” So, our gentle Lord said, “Come with me.” All of a sudden, the man and the Lord were standing in a huge room with every kind of cross imaginable. Some were small, some large, others beautiful, some ugly, etc…..The Lord said to the man, “Now you look around and pick out another cross you’d like to carry.” Happily, the man searched and searched and finally found one. He said to the Lord, “Lord, Lord, I will take this one.”

The Lord just smiled and said, “My dear child, that is the same cross you came in with.” In other words, we all have a custom-made cross, uniquely designed for us. I truly believe that a mental illness is the worse kind of pain. There is no relief except sleep and even then, sometimes, you’ll dream of your problems. When I’m having a really rough day, I find it hard to pray or even speak. I just sit in the presence of the Lord and know that tomorrow will have to be better.?
Love you all,?Cindy

Ironically, on the message board of my “Motherhood and Depression” post, reader Amber shared the same story.
Like I said in my post “Learning to Pray (Again),” the repetition makes me think God is trying to tell me something.