FEELINGS 

 

Hello everyone!!

 

I hope you have all had a good week and are looking forward to the one coming . I felt that this topic needed to be addressed, as I look back on the week, something consistently came to my mind, and this was the complexity of feelings. Foreign to none, yet at times, difficult to understand. So, I thought this piece would be a sort of encouragement to those who are going through it, have been through it, and eventually, will go through it.

 

 

I first want to address feelings and how seemingly powerful they are. Sometimes they seem to be so overpowering that you don’t have a choice in whether you become overwhelmed or not (you actually do, but I will touch on this later ;)), and consuming. I also understand that it can seem very forceful and demanding. Like when it comes up (i.e. anxiety, fear, misery) it has to sour the pure thoughts you’ve been trying to build up and meditate on all day (Philippians 4:8, Joshua 1:8), and replace them with lies and negativity. It wants to undo all that you have done (on your end) and draw you back. This is what it can really feel like. It is important to sit with your feelings and feel them through, especially so you can fully understand them and gain insight. However, what you don’t need to do is lean into lies. Negativity, feelings and thoughts of unworthiness, fear, none of that is of God. None of it comes from Him. Instead, it is the devil, for he comes only to steal, kill, and destroy, while Jesus becomes are hope (John 10:10). Because of Him, we can live life and live it abundantly! The next paragraph of this dives directly into what the Lord our God says about feelings, the truth and what we need to know.

 

To be very clear and honest, it’s best to just look straight at Ecclesiastes 3:4-8. The NIV says:

 

 ⁴     a time to weep and a time to laugh,
    a time to mourn and a time to dance,
⁵     a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
    a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
⁶     a time to search and a time to give up,
    a time to keep and a time to throw away,
⁷     a time to tear and a time to mend,
    a time to be silent and a time to speak,
⁸     a time to love and a time to hate,
    a time for war and a time for peace.

 

It is honestly the most accurate and simplistic way of saying that our feelings are valid, and that you don’t need to suppress your feelings. God literally says they will have their own time. Sometimes you will be sad, other times happy. Some days you will want to think about forever, others you will want to forget. No matter what the day is like, it is to be expected. You know all these times are coming because God says so.

 

When experiencing all of these things, what should we do? The answer to this is to lay everything at Jesus’ feet. Our response to the emotions that we feel are very important. If dealt with incorrectly, they can affect those around us negatively, as well as ourselves. So, when we come to God, we are actively casting all your cares on Him (as He asks us to do in 1 Peter 5:7) and you are being completely honest with Him, displaying vulnerability and intimacy. Take the book of Psalms (aka the prayerbook of the Lord’s people) as an example. The entire book is David and others expressing their feelings, and it made it to the Bible! But there is something more to note, and that is how every emotion and psalm was intended for God to hear. Anger, shame, unworthiness, joy, fear, anxiety. Everything was felt and brought to God’s feet consistently, through the different periods of Israel’s history. When you bring your issues to God you can even swap your worry for God’s peace that surpasses all understanding! Sometimes you don’t even need to say anything, and He takes control for you. This could be at times when you do not have the strength to even say your struggles. Either way, it shows God doesn’t want to leave you in your misery. Psalms’ candidness is important to note, as well as the structure of the psalms themselves. Many start off with grief and distress but end in joy and gladness. This will be your story also, IJN. In all honesty, God will be with you if you ask Him and believe (Luke 11:11-13). When I tell God what I want, and what I need from Him to be able to succeed at something (i.e., courage) He is there for me, and it is amazing every time. It can be easy to discredit the peace God gives you and attribute it to some other thing, unconsciously or consciously. So, I personally say that you should keep track of your prayers, so you can see God showing up in your life.

 

What we do with our emotions is very important. A lot of the time, people can act as though they have no choice in the way they should act in a situation. If someone is hurt, they may feel as though they need to hurt this person back. Or if we’re feeling accomplished, we could even act in a prideful manner. Though the Bible tells us about these emotions and that we’ll feel them at some point, we are told to sin not (Ephesians 4:26-27). This passage also tells us not to give the devil a foothold, meaning that when you let your emotions control you and lead to sin, you’re actually creating space for the devil to work. That’s how important it is to be in charge of your emotions, and what they lead to! Have faith in the fact that God calling you to do something (in this case, control your emotions) means He will indeed provide for you so you can complete it. So don’t think it’s impossible. For you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you! (Philippians 4:13).

 

So overall, feelings are not a firm foundation to the decisions or actions that need to be taken in your life. Luke 6:47-49 discusses how the only stability we can have in this life comes from God and the word, the truth. It never changes, so we can comfortably depend on this! Something that I’ve been thinking about recently as well is the fact that there is no such thing as deserving to sin. No matter what someone might do to you, it is up to keep yourself under control. Always remember, you have the choice!

 

Thank you so much for reading this post, I will always always appreciate it, and my apologies for the late post. I've been dealing with some feelings of my own. 

 

Please let me know you liked or disliked about this, I'm open to it all!

 

I love you with the love of God. I hope you have a great rest of your week <3

 

Lots of Love,

 

Rachel 

 

xoxo

 

(SOTW- "I Owe it All"- Kofi Stone)