Resting Day 8
Anchored Emotions

Philippians 4:4-9
Colossians 3:15-17
Proverbs 3:5-6 

I am full of emotions.
But aren’t we all?
I have always been one of those people to feel on top of the world.
Very ecstatic about everything.
But there’s one emotion I feel deeply.
It’s been a part of who I am, how I function, and even how I view things.
Stress.
It takes hold of my life and makes me feel strangled.
I’ve struggled with this feeling for a long time. It truly does come in waves of overbearing anxiety even over the smallest of things.
But I always thought God didn’t have much to say about this.
I just thought it was MY issue.
But that’s a lie the Enemy uses! He does!

Emotions themselves aren’t a negative thing at all. They are real and they are present, and it’s 100% normal to feel the extreme of some of those feelings. Not to get all science-y on you, but our limbic system is the emotional hub of our body and the home of our personality. God created this in our bodies on purpose.
Feelings are healthy. Jesus even experienced emotions.
He felt joy, sadness, anger, denial, grief, stress, and temptation, to name a few.
He knows the depths of those feelings.
It’s easy to think He doesn’t understand, but He does!

The key to controlling these emotions is realizing who the keeper of them is.
God wants to anchor our emotions because He  CREATED them, so of course He wants us to run to Him with all of our feelings!
He wants to hear that you failed that math test.
He wants to hear that you feel like you can’t get a handle on your marriage.
He wants to hear how painful it is to watch your children make the wrong decisions.
He wants to hear that you never feel equipped or good enough.
He wants all of us, all of the time.
Not just the predetermined, preselected part of us that we choose to share with Him.
He wants every part of our lives.

Philippians 4:4-9 is something I have been meditating on recently. In verse 7 it says,
“And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding,
will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”
This verse speaks of taking our worries to the God who is infinitely more.
Knowing that God cares deeply about what we feel is so powerful!

He knows that the peace He provides is bigger than any other filler we might be able to find to keep us sane.
I mean – I know that a night at home, eating pizza and watching your favorite movie is a good de-stresser.
But, what if instead, we dove into the Word after a chaotic week?
Numbing is really easy.
But God wants us to deal with our emotions, not push them aside.
He gives us a guide of how to react and respond to the happenings in our lives.
He calls us in everything we do, in all we feel, to glorify His name.
And that means when you can’t even begin to understand how angry you are, or when there is no other word than disappointment, you STILL continue to shine a light on Him, even if that looks like falling at His feet and putting every emotion you have into His hands.

I have learned something recently. I have to look at my life as things I can control, and things I can’t, most of which I can’t.
I have to catch myself in those moments of time that I can’t control anything except the choice to run to Christ.
This pressure to be enough and be all things is so self-induced.
I think it’s my job to fix everything and everyone.
But not every little thing is my fault.

Don’t let the things you feel overtake you. Instead fill your mind with truth from the Lord. He has so much to say about our emotions.
He is here to guide us in those things and let us know He cares.
I encourage you to rekindle a new emotion,
and intentionally make an effort to think about it often.
Peace.
Let’s work on this together: to know that…
1) Our emotions aren’t bad. They come from Him. He feels them too!
2) We have to learn how to control them and take them to Him first.
3) Let God’s love and strength wash over you as you feel what can only come from Him, Pure peace.

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