God Wants You Happy: From Self-Help to God's Help by Morris Jonathan

Author:Morris, Jonathan [Morris, Jonathan]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Harper Collins, Inc.
Published: 2011-04-19T06:00:00+00:00

My mom is certainly a person of great spirit-filled living. On rare occasions I’ve seen her yell or cry, to be sure, and we’ve disagreed on more than a handful of things. (Our areas of disagreement—often in discussions of right and wrong—are probably one of the best signs that she’s spirit-filled!) She will tell you that her act of faith forty-two years ago, though monumental and life-changing, didn’t make all of her problems disappear. It didn’t make her feel good changing the diapers of seven kids or pay the bills for her. Her faith didn’t make my dad tell her he loved her every time he saw her, as she may have liked. And my hunch is there have been times when she’s had to hold tight to a dry faith, times when the meaning and joy of life eluded her.

With time we learn that there is nothing surprising about faith struggles. Faith very rarely heals our intellect in one big swoop, such that we think, act, and even feel with the heart of God all of a sudden. Living faith takes time, sweat, and sometimes blood to take hold, for it is a culmination of lots of little healings. Nevertheless, the long process of acquiring living faith rarely takes place at all if it doesn’t start off with a single moment (or series of moments) of a radical and definitive acceptance of God in our life. You’ve probably heard people refer to themselves as “cradle Catholics” or “cradle Christians.” By that they mean they were raised with faith, and that’s a blessing for sure. But I’ve never met a person of deep, spirit-filled living who hasn’t at one or another time in his or her life made a serious, adult decision to live for and under God. Sometimes the decision is dramatic, like my mother’s; other times it’s lived without any spiritual fireworks at all. God is creative, and he meets us where we are and according to our own sensibilities, preferences, and personalities.

What’s the difference between the decision we made in step three of the Make Straight the Path journey, which involved turning our heart and will over to God’s care and trusting him to make us whole, and this first yes to God in living faith? It’s the difference between saying yes to the idea of marriage and saying yes to the man you love who is on one knee with a ring in his hand. It’s the difference between an intellectual belief in a higher power and an experiential consent to a God who loves you intimately and who has a wonderful plan for you going forward. Both are important. The first leads to the latter, which is a very special gift—a gift worth asking for!

Speaking of adult decisions of faith, do you remember Jim and Samantha, from chapter 2? He was a compulsive liar, as you may recall, which understandably troubled Samantha as the couple became seriously involved. Eventually they made the decision to separate until Jim got things under control.

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