I talk a lot about locking myself in the laundry room to gain perspective with a quick preachin’ to my soul. Or about how I truly believe that God has forsaken Wal-mart because my children often lose their minds when we enter its doors, and so then I have to preach truth to myself in the middle of the cereal aisle.
All this preachin’ and talking and steering my heart is because I’ve got lots of feelings. And depending on the depth of tragedy or time of the month, I’ve got feelings about those feelings and about your feelings and the Wal-mart checkout lady’s feelings. Lots of feelings.
And God isn’t threatened, surprised, horrified, or shaken by any of them.
It seems like we as Christians feel pressure to put on some cheesy, stoic grin while saying, “God is good!” even when our worlds crumble in our hands like…burnt bacon. Or something. And He is. God truly is good ALL the time.
But He gave us feelings. He designed us to feel. God created us to feel sad when death marks our path. Or happy when we reunite with a long lost friend. Feelings are from Him and He’s tender to our emotion.
But feelings are a thermometer rather than a compass. They tell us what’s going on inside of us. They reveal our response to life situations. But often times, following where they lead can put us on a pretty destructive road.
I might feel like I want to hurt someone who hurts me. It feels right. And justified. But following those feelings could quite possibly land me on the cover of our town’s newspaper, “Lady snaps. People flee for their lives.”
We can’t always follow after or stand upon our feelings because they’re slippery and volatile. They move with the wind. They can change in a millisecond. That’s why we’re much better off when we take our emotions to God rather than violently purging them onto all the people in our paths.
God wants to be our landing place. He wants to be the One we run to with our messy hearts (even in Wal-mart). He waits for us to come to Him over and over and over again with our emotion. And He doesn’t tell us in frustration to “dry it up!” or “get over this already!” He’s tender to our feelings because He understands us better than we understand ourselves.
O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways…
Psalm 139:1-3
We as Christians are not called to stoicism. We’re called to realism. Life can be stinkin’ hard. And it’s OK to feeeeeel stuff about the hard things. We’re supposed to feel stuff about the hard things of life. But He desires for us to come to Him with all that emotion. He wants us to cry out to Him in all our messiness because He’s the only One who can truly tend to the crevices of our hearts.
He’s the only One who can minister peace to us in the chaos of life or joy in the devastations.
So feel, yes. But take those feelings to Him. If the feelings are off the charts, grab a friend’s hand and ask her to go with you to God’s throne. But regardless of how we get there, He waits to be our place of healing and perspective.
He waits. For me. For you. In love.
Fill me, Lord…
Why do you think we as Christians sometimes err on the side of stoicism?
How have you seen “realism” regarding your emotions benefit your intimacy with God?
Oh, I have some feeeelings.
I think it’s easier to be stoic than to acknowledge that we’re complex people with emotions that can’t fit into a neat, tidy package.
The other part to this, I think, is that it’s easy to let our emotions rule us (our thoughts, actions, etc.) and it’s fairly easy to shut them off completely (stoicism) which seems like the more “mature” thing to do. But getting to a place in the middle where our emotions are a thermometer and God’s word remains our compass….that’s a much, much harder way to live. Thankfully, God is with us and his Spirit can teach us as we take each crazy thing to him over and over and over again.
Thankful for you, my friend!
(Oh, and considering the “crazy lady loses it in Target check-out” headline has saved me from many a public temper tantrums….)
Yes. Not a neat, tidy package. But God’s Word as our compass! Amen. Preaching it to myself, sister-friend. So thankful His Spirit indwells. What a gift. (And thankful for the imaginary headlines that help to keep us in check. Ha.)
Feelings – oh they are so lovely, yet so dangerous. Keeping them in check, me in check, takes more effort than I have sometimes. I’m thinking I don’t lean on God at those times when the crazy me comes out. Easier. It’s just easier to let them drive me – it’s as if my control has been turned over to those feelings, and the thermometer has morphed into my compass.
Maybe I wasn’t watching carefully HOW I lived, HOW I responded, WHAT I was doing. I let my priorities and life just go and didn’t make the most of the opportunity – my Compass was not being tended to. I let myself be in that dizzying space of stoicism. Ooh, I’m thankful God has placed a big ‘ole pillow for me to collapse into and re-orient myself.
Maybe, as Christians, we know the love of God. We know there is a net for Him to catch us. We allow ourselves to feel and sometimes to be ruled by that feeling. We know He is waiting for us. We believe.
“Dizzying space of stoicism.” Love that description. And I’m right there with you, SO thankful that our God wants us to collapse in His arms. What a faithful Father. Thanks for sharing, Bridget.
Thank you, Lara! Your words were just what I needed today. I woke up feeling so angry about a situation that I can do nothing more about and have to wait on God’s timing for the rest. Thank you for reminding me that our emotions are the thermometer – love that! You helped me to refocus and take that anger to The Lord and wait on Him to bring light to what seems like darkness right now. Blessings to you today and for following God’s prompting to share these words today!
So sorry for your pain. Praying for God’s gracious perspective and kind touch of healing as you press into Him. Keep on, sister.
even though stoic is neat and easy, but it’s detrimental to the community of believers. when we get real we can really know and REALLY love others.
I think we are so used to living in our own world that sharing our deepest pain creates fear. We tend to be insecure in nature and want others to accept us, so we create an image of perfection, although false, to protect ourselves. Great word Lara 🙂
I’m happy to have found you via something you tweeted. Look forward to following you.