Daniel is a brother of ours who lives at a rehab center run by believers. He’s there to recover from many years of alcoholism, which recently caused several successive and sudden nervous breakdowns. He explained to me how someone told him that listening to music and finding joy in it was a waste of time. They said to him that believers should focus on spiritual disciplines instead. “I have to disagree with whoever told you that,” I responded. “I believe that Jesus is the source of everything good and beautiful about life, as well as joy. So, finding beauty and joy in anything good He created is a spiritual discipline!”

Honestly, I struggled to enter into a relationship with Daniel. However, this conversation was particularly vulnerable. I learned a lot more about him, which softened my heart towards him. He opened up to me and shared what he was thinking and feeling. We discussed how he had been a performance-driven perfectionist since childhood, from which alcoholism was an escape. Daniel explained that now as a believer, he feels like he is being encouraged into perfectionism again.

I gleaned that he is afraid of failing in his new faith. This fear, compounded with health issues from his past alcohol abuse, landed him in the hospital after blacking out from a seizure. He needed to know that there was grace for him.
I told him in Jesus, love casts out fear. In Jesus, our feet are firmly planted. In Jesus, the beauty of music can bring us into His presence. In Jesus, trying new things and learning new languages (Daniel is also trying to learn English just for fun.) is okay because it is fun and life-giving. In Jesus, we can take off the yoke of anxiety and rest with Him in a continuous seventh day.