Overwhelmed

In my ears the word overwhelmed is generally negative.  Friends are overwhelmed with the turmoil of life.  Others are overwhelmed by tragedy and disease.  Emotionally, physically, and in every other way life overwhelms.  And, in fairness, most of it is beyond their conscious control!
 
I have struggled to find a word other than overwhelmed but I still find myself using it.  The Platza experience is intense, it seems life threatening at the time, and clearly overwhelms my senses.  Even with experience I still find myself overwhelmed, probably even more than the first time or two because I can anticipate some of what is to come.  Though it always seems to change, the one thing that doesn’t is the finish – I am at and in peace.
 
Last night “Alex” played the role of God.  The room seemed darker and dingier than normal.  Perhaps it was merely reflecting my mood, yet I was sure the twenty thousands pounds of rocks were letting a stinging heat loose instead of giving birth to the normal soothing warmth.  I found myself committing to the treatment even as I was talking to myself of leaving without notice.  There was a clear tension within my heart and soul; part yearning for what might be and the other running what I knew must happen before the destination would ever come in sight.
 
Even as I climbed onto the third level with the heat slapping at ever exposed surface of my body I knew I wanted to go the result more than I feared what needed to happen in between.  As I spun up and out of the ice bath I knew it was all worth it.  God had begun the restoration process yet again!  Divinity’s love has given birth to a new well of compassion and hope.  Life’s beauty and awe is visible.
 
I don’t know if every person in the world needs a Platza treatment.  I do know my God is part of the solution.
 
“Sing praise-songs to God.  He's done it all!  Let the whole earth know what he's done!” (Isaiah 12.5)