Deep Dark Funk, Affliction and Joy

Hello viewers, listeners and readers! I can’t believe it’s February already. I’ve been in the twilight zone for the last couple of months.
I wanna apologise for the lack of content (!!);
though the Rejoicing Bones YouTube channel only has 64 subscribers at the moment, and the podcast has just a few, every single one you are important to me, and so are any people who my stumble across this content.

Why? Why are they important to me? Because I have an excellent message. It’s the message of the Gospel,
but it’s a unique message through the story of joy and affliction.

I’m positive that this is helpful to all people – to everyone on the planet; Christians because they can live a victorious life with joy in God and our Saviour, Jesus Christ – like never before. To those who aren’t Christians, because they may come to understand where the only source of joy comes from.

All this being said, please allow me to explain where I’ve been – why I’ve been away so long.
As some of you know, I had to go to Michigan early last December. This was because of a concerning family situation. Being in Michigan took some difficult emotional adjustments, and taking care of the things I went for was mentally taxing.
Then I got covid. This knocked me on my back for a few weeks.

Meanwhile, while I was there, I got myself off of the two pains medications that I was on.
When I got back, I was feeling pretty good. Pain was low, spirits were up —I had delivered my first post-amputation talk while still in Michigan. It turned out well simply because people were talking about it afterwards and exploring some difficult events and how they can get on with life.

However, after a full-on week when I got back here in the UK, the pain in Sgt Stubby began to rise. By last Friday, it was unbearable. I wept. I felt so defeated. So I had to surrender and get back on the meds.

So, in short, due to the emotional and mental strain of the last few months, and the pain I experience, I’ve been knocked on my back side.

I don’t share this for pity – certainly not! I share this because of what I’ve been reminded and what I want to pass on to you, whether you’re struggling with affliction now, will in the future, or have in the past and are still trying to make sense of it.

The morning after my worst attack of pain, I opened up Desiring God’s devotional, “Solid Joy.” I have to do this to get my mind focused on God when I get up, because, believe me, I don’t want to get up at all.

In God’s true from, he sovereignly had this devotional waiting for me: It’s called “Five Ways Affliction Helps.” I’ll leave a link below in the description. You can listen or read it or both.
But let me summarise now:
Affliction
1) Takes away the glibness of life
2) Affliction knocks worldly props out from under us and forces to rely on God (even the medical community, who I’m prone to run to before I even pray!)
3) Affliction makes us search the scripture
4) Affliction brings us into partnership of Christ’s sufferings
5) Affliction mortifies deceitful and distracting fleshly desires and sins. Amen! I see it in my own life now!

So if you’re suffering for some reason – any reason at all, let me encourage you to read in more detail what I have in this devotional. Or listen or both. I’ve found this all to be true in the last four and a half years since my leg-redesign. It was a timely reminder from God that it’s all true.

Five Ways Affliction Helps:

https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/five-ways-affliction-helps

Watch the above script in my video by clicking here:

Or sign up and listen to the podcast:

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/rejoicing-bones/id1601011998?i=1000550909767

Let me part with this short verse:
Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer. (Romans 12:12)