My family and I have recently been going through a very challenging time. It has been a season of extremes – ups and downs, good and bad, and an over-arching theme of exhaustion. We are blessed to have each other, and have been surrounded by amazing, supportive and encouraging people. Although the Lord is using all of those blessings to carry us through, it has been a battle to stay on top of the mixed bag of emotions that accompany any trying time. We are striving, by His grace, to maintain our focus, hope and joy that comes only from Jesus, as His grace is sufficient (2 Cor. 12:8-9).
A long-time dear friend of mine wrote this, and it rocked my socks off! It was so right to the point, convicting and encouraging, that it brought me to tears! God gives us emotions to feel, (sometimes enjoyable, sometimes not so much), but we are not our emotions.
She gave me permission to share this for the purpose of challenging and encouraging others who struggle with their emotions as well. I am grateful to her for allowing me to share it here:
By Kim Merhringer
(This has been the theme God’s been surrounding me with this week. I’m chewing on it & now I have to live it out even when it’s hard. Pray for me!)
We have a emotions, but we are not our emotions. God gave us emotions to enjoy, not to destroy us. If you obey your emotions, they WILL enslave & destroy you. You have the power to overcome negative emotions, but it comes by you forcing your will on them when they are out of whack.
Sing songs of praise, pray, be thankful, keep your tongue from planting seeds of destruction by not giving birth to negative thoughts through your words.
And pray through it. Do the opposite of what you would normally do when negative emotions rise up.
There are times you’ll be sad, hurt, angry, upset…but choose not to take up residence there. Life hurts sometimes, but we have the power to redirect our emotional state, IF we want to.
Now that you’ve discovered that it’s always been a conscious choice on your part, by design, to be dragged around by your negative emotions; you will be without excuse. If you want to remain a slave to the thing you have the God given power over, you may do so. Being free is an act of the will. You have to work at choosing freedom and eventually it will come effortlessly.
Ask The Holy Spirit to help remind you to choose life when your negative thoughts start creeping in. Pray and find an uplifting scripture that will help drown out negative thoughts, before you let them takw you captive willingly & steal hours, if not years, of your life.
Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God, so start hearing yourself speak of His great love for you♡
I just prayed for myself & any of you who need help in this area♡