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The joy of sadness

I work with many men who are struggling with sexual addictions.  A few of them are accountable to me.  We text each other, encourage each other and pray for one another.

I wanted to share a quick story about one of them.  I'll call him Elmer.

Elmer has recently moved, and he's been having a hard time with the move because he's lost many friends over the distance.  He sent me a text a few weeks ago that said, "I am missing my church and my friends, and I realize I am feeling sad."

Yeah... so?  You might say.

Let me tell you why this is significant.  Most guys, as they start to be accountable about addictive sin patterns in their lives, will ask for prayer and support right at the moment they are struggling with temptation.  Or worse, after they have given in.

But Elmer was starting to grasp how it works.  To recognize the feeling, to talk to someone about it, and to invite Jesus into it, instead of just numbing it. I was reminded of this as I was walking to the train and saw this sign.  I snapped this picture of it, and I now know it's a song lyric, but it made me really think of the spiritual significance of this.

The only joy of sadness is that we can feel it.  And if we just medicate it, if we just numb our emotional pain, we won't even know why it was there.

Three cheers for Elmer, who is recognizing long-neglected feelings, instead of numbing them.

Posted by Andrew and Joanne at 9:56 PM