Originally Posted by
crappie wrangler
A couple of years ago a young man I was training on the job mentioned that I was happy and confident all the time and asked if anything ever took my happiness or confidence away. I explained that those traits form on the inside of a man and are based on faith in Jesus so outside conditions do not effect things that come from the inside. We had a long discussion on the matter which I considered a witnessing opportunity. The short answer was that as long as I maintained my faith in Jesus then there were no conditions outside of the heart that could steal my happiness because the happiness comes from the Lord.
Fast forward two years to today and I see that I should be careful what I say because I could be tested on it. These days all that I have loved in this life seem to have been taken away and replaced with physical pain. I have always been somewhat of a workaholic and very accomplishment driven but now I can't work and it doesn't look like I will ever be able to again. I also greatly enjoyed my job but not being able to work that is gone also. I guess the work and job are kind of a package deal. I love to fish. Actually I would rather fish than eat. Now the fishing has tanked at my local lake from three years of flooding and if it doesn't rain again for a while it will still take months for a lake that size to clear again. I am not allowed to travel somewhere else to fish because of limitations placed on me from my employer concerning disability. Every time I think I am healing up another storm comes thru and I realize that I may never heal. Having been the strongest thing on two legs for decades the lack of physical activity and weakness that comes with it are kind of a drag too. The worse of it would be that in my absence all that I considered friends seem to have forgotten me and I feel as though I am isolated in some kind of quarantine. I suppose I should not forget that living on disability means a substantial loss in income and that at the same time as an exponential increase in medical bills. So after all the complaining I guess I come back to the original of "can anything take away my happiness?".
No, nothing can. While it could appear that I just spent a lot of time complaining what I actually did was explain that as long as we have Jesus in our hearts then nothing on the outside can steal away our happiness or confidence in the Lord. After listing some of the bad I should now mention the up side to the experience. I now get a lot of time to study my bible and am currently writing my own commentary on the book of Jeremiah. I also have been given the opportunity to preach every Wednesday evening and not working I have plenty of time to work on sermons. I shouldn't forget the opportunity to teach an adult Sunday School class every week which has presented itself lately. Of course there are the random opportunities to witness that I never would have had if I was still working full time. So I can still say with full confidence that nothing on the outside can steal my happiness because my happiness is not generated by what I have or what I do it comes from having Jesus living inside me!
Now comes the evidence of courage that comes from Jesus. Should I post this and risk being alienated by the web site for being what could be considered a religious fanatic? What about the risk of the possible hate mail that could come? What about the total lake of political correctness that is represented here.
Ecclesiastes 12:13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter; Fear God, and Keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
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