After Death in Family,
How God Used C.S. Lewis and U2 to Bring Healing
This article is a new version of a recent post on my author blog Stabs of Joy.
In 2010 I experienced an unexpected tragedy — a loss in my family — and it was devastating. I lost my mom. And she was still young by today’s life expectancy standards — just in her early 60s.
The sorrow from it all exposed some things. It made me realize something important: I could talk the talk all the day about Christian joy, but I really wasn’t experiencing Christian joy.
I asked God to change that. I asked Him to fix me.
And He did.
God saw fit to use a few souls birthed on the Emerald Isle to help accomplish the job: a stack of books by the Belfast-born C.S. Lewis and a large pile of albums by the Dublin-raised band U2 (#U2, #U2Fans).
Among a multitude of things, I learned that joy — real joy, the eternal kind — is not happiness perfected. Joy is hunger perfected — hunger for God perfected, to be more accurate.
As C.S. Lewis (#CSLewis) pointed out, joy is an unsatisfied desire — an intense desire — that is itself more desirable than any satisfaction.
Joy stabs us when we least expect it. It’s not something we control. It’s not dependent upon earthly circumstances — i.e. if things are “going well.”
Joy is something external to us that invades our senses. It uses common, everyday experiences, objects, and nostalgic memories to overwhelm us with a sudden sensation of longing for something — but for what? We don’t know. We just feel the longing, and it is a sweet sensation.
Just the sensation of that spiritual hunger — this longing — is more wonderful than any earthly satisfaction.
It’s hunger for the Fount of Joy — the Living God who made all things good.
Check out Stabs of Joy where I will be exploring dozens of C.S. Lewis books and U2 albums to answer one question: how do we actually experience (and not just talk about) the joy of Christ in the middle of painful trials?
Hey man, its been a while but still loving your Articles. This one I felt I needed to comment on as its really similar to my experiences. I lost my mom to Cancer 15 years ago, and just like you said. I wasn’t feeling the joy, but unlike you I chose to lie to myself over the years and it really wasn’t until this year on Easter when a testimony from a once Militant-Athiest, who lost a close Christian friend to Cancer on the same date as my mother but 12 years later.Very similar stories is many ways. Same cancer, same date, same frustration of loss and the emptiness that follows for those that haven’t fully vested their heart and mind in the promises of God. For years I would pray,”God if mom is up there, give her a hug for me”. The key word is “If”. I didn’t believe despite her walk and her faith that he had truly saved her. Through that Satan was able to pull me away to a very stagnant state. Relying on myself rather than God.
However since then the world has changed. The joy is truly apparent and it is consuming. Worship songs are in my head constantly. I feel compelled to share the gospel, to read the word, and pray always.I love the stabs of joy statement because it really feels like that. They are intense and not always constant. It’s like between stabs we sitting listening to a diminished 7th chord and then suddenly it resolves to a major 10 decibels louder.
The amazing part for me (and probably everyone) is that when I finally started to believe and asked for him to fix me, he has and is.. Despite my arrogance, and pride. Our God is truly full of grace and Love and simply waiting for us.
Thanks for your posts and insight man its appreciated.
-James
James: your comment brought tears to my eyes. Read it a few times. Really appreciate this comment.
Forgot to mention, I’m, at the moment, working on a book that will hit bookstores in fall of 2016, and it’s about EVERYTHING you mentioned (thematically). It uses C.S. Lewis and U2 as lenses to approach the whole problem of grief and joy, etc. If possible, I’d like to try and get an early copy of it in your hands (maybe later this year). Since you had such a similar experience, I’d be interested to get some feedback that might help me shape the book. Though if you’d be too busy to take on a reading project like that, no worries at all.
Thanks for sharing your story Kevin of God using music and creativity to bring REAL joy to your life … God ROCKS!!!!
Amen to that!! And thanks so much for the comment — encouraging! 🙂
Wow, I am very flattered and would love to read it. I am not a huge reader (typically) but lately I am finding that is one of the changes the Holy Spirit has been making in me. Feel free to email me direct with the details when it becomes available. I can’t promise I’ll get through it quickly depending on the size. But I will definitely be interested to read it. I have been a long time fan of C.S. Lewis and U2 so this should be very interesting. I would love to see U2 get back to more Joshua Tree-ish songs that have a much more forward message. It my favorite of their albums. As far as C.S. Lewis I love the way he describes his faith. I might be making an assumption but I believe the Holy Spirit has given him a very inspired gift of teaching.
Very cool, thanks. It will actually be a few key sample chapters that I would send, not the whole thing most likely. There are a couple chapters that could really use some reader feedback. No pressure on it either. Not sure when they’ll be ready to send, but at some point down the road I’ll drop you an email with a PDF. Definitely agree with you about Lewis having the spiritual gift of teaching — so true!!! That really makes sense.