Spiritual Novocain

Im sitting at the Dubai Marina Yacht club overlooking multi-million dollar yachts. Kids are playing in the fountains behind me and families are dining in the dozens or so restaurants along the marina walk as the sun dips behind the horizon. It’s a balmy 85 degrees outside and nice cool breeze coming by infrequently. What Im trying to say it’s a pretty nice setting. The past couple of weeks have been very challenging for me from a personal, emotional, and psychological impact. But I think Im handling the challenges exactly the way that God would have me handle them. I guess it’s a test. Last Sunday the pastor of the church I attend said that God never promised you an easy life. There will be problems. Living the life of a Christian is filled with struggles. I do agree with that. But what about part 2 to that. Part 2 is that even in the midst of the trials you can maintain your joy. The Joy of the Lord is my strength. God is working that out within me at this very moment. Why would anyone convert to Christianity if Christians were miserable all the time? What Christ knew is marketing. “Consider the lilies they neither toil nor they spin…Which one of you can add one day to his life by worrying?” Christ knows to draw people in, your joy must be full. I think as believers if we are not filled with Joy we are doing something wrong. Its like psychological anesthesia. When you are sitting in the dentist chair and the dentist fills you with Novocain and he drills into your teeth. You are thinking to yourself this should hurt a lot, but it doesn’t. It doesn’t makes sense but you accept it anyway…by faith. Take away the Novocain and boy is that experience painful. Like my life. If I didn’t have the spiritual Novocain of the Holy Spirit boy would I be hurting right now. Instead, Im walking around numb thinking, I should be in pain but for some reason…it doesn’t hurt.

It’s a cause and effect relationship. You have to take an honest spiritual inventory. If you are hurting, depressed, or sad, think about how your spiritual walk is going. Odds are you’ve probably fallen short in that area. So work out spiritually to get that peace and joy that has evaded you. That doesn’t mean that you should be immune to emotions. When tragedy strikes, there is a time to weep. But you do not have to be defined by that. I think when tragedy strikes the body (by God’s design) goes into a type of shock to naturally numb the pain. Eventually that anesthesia subsides and the pain become more real. But with time and the proper attention even that pain goes away. It was about three years ago now, I was interviewing a prospective roommate who wanted to rent a room in my house. Since my house is filled with Divorced Dads this guy would fit in nicely. As we were talking about Divorces and the pain that they caused this man welled up with tears. He was fighting back the pain. I asked him how long it was since his divorce and he replied 14 years. 14 years?!?!? And the pain is still like yesterday. This man wasn’t a Christ follower by the way. I don’t know how anyone gets through divorce without God. If you have done it without God I’d like to hear from you and find out your secret. Most turn to alcohol, drugs, promiscuity or rush into another relationship to numb the pain. God did not create us to hang on to pain for long. This guy was carrying it around like it was a 100 lb backpack he was wearing 24/7. I did go through my time of mourning but I was determined not to let it define my life. In fact I’ve had a lot of very unfair (by the world’s standards) things happen to me in the past five years. But I refused to be defined by them or let them steal my joy. Because of that I was able to get incredible job positions first in Bahrain and now Dubai and woo the love of life in Jennifer. Do you think these same opportunities would have come my way if my heart remained down and dejected? No way positive attitudes attracts positive situations. A sullen personality might be fine for a season, but if you continue that you are dooming your life to failure. It’s a self fulfilling prophecy really. God created us to be joyful, positive and optimistic. I think all Christians should be Optimists, at the very least realists. If you are a pessimist and proclaim to be a Christian how do you justify “Romans 8:28 Where all things work together for Good?

I say all this to say, the last three weeks have sucked, but I have the same joy and peace that I’ve had all along. The happiness will come…its right around the corner. But I don’t need happiness to thrive. That gives me a huge advantage in every walk of life.