Do you ever feel like standing on a chair and screaming, “Stop the world, I wanna jump off!”?
Stress, fear, fatigue, shock, resilience, joy, disgust, anxiety, sadness, hope, and anger . . . all mixed up together. Are you feeling any of these emotions right about now?
I am.
While television networks continue to spew forth good, bad, and ugly stories from every direction, I’m under attack from varied emotions bombarding my mind. A desperate plea for help escapes my lips:
What do I do with all my emotions?
Emotions—good or bad—often attack without any warning, and sometimes, without reason. It’s difficult to maintain a clear focus or sense of serenity when emotions prick at my mind and heart constantly.
Can you relate too?
I tend to overanalyze my circumstances, assuming I need to understand why I am experiencing certain emotions. But, I don’t.
You don’t have to have it all figured out either. Our emotions are a gift from God. Jesus Himself experienced a gamut of emotions, including compassion, grief, joy, sadness, and anger—just to name a few. If He was overcome with emotion from time to time, it’s okay if we are too.
The tricky task in dealing with emotions is to obtain a perspective that helps us cope better. We cannot simply ignore our emotions, but obsessing about them doesn’t help either. Ruminating and worrying about our emotions only end up damaging our mental and physical health, crippling our ability to effectively function. We don’t need to be able to control everything, but, it isn’t good for our emotions to control us either.
The question remains: What do I do with all my emotions?
The answer lies in the posture of our faith. While chaos surrounds us externally, God is our peace internally.
God cares about our emotions and has gifted them to us to understand and manage them as directed by His word. Growing in our walk with God helps us be transformed by the renewing of our mind and allows us to rest in a choice of hope, rooted in His faithfulness.
Respond in wisdom.
Proverbs 29:11: “Fools give full vent to their rage, but the wise bring calm in the end.”
Simply put, be slow to speak and quick to listen. When we seek God’s direction through His word, we are able to process our emotions with thoughtfulness and discernment. By listening and evaluating carefully before responding, we can better know when to speak and when to remain silent.
God doesn’t always calm the storms around us, but He does calm us amid our storms for His greater purpose.
Trust in God’s plan.
Psalm 62:8: “Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.”
God’s ways are better than our own, and His plan is much bigger than any plan we can develop or understand. How do we trust God in a fallen world with uncertain times? We commit to our faith.
Trusting God is a commitment of having faith that God’s Word is true. He is reliable, dependable, and never intends us harm.
Rest in God’s Promises.
Joshua 1:9: “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”
Be “positioned” in God. Get to know His spoken promises. We must choose to relinquish our own control and instead, place our confidence in God’s character and the faithfulness of what He says.
The more we seek to know God’s promises, the more peace we will find.
Bring your emotions before God in prayer.
Philippians 4:6-7: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Let’s be honest with God about “all our feels”. Let’s clear a path for our minds with God’s Word. Let’s hand over our anxiety, fear, hope, joy, and anger to Him and allow His strength and power help us process our emotions so we may bring them into obedience with Christ.
It’s a jungle out there!
What do we do with all our emotions?
Lay them at the feet of Jesus. Leave ‘em there.
When your emotions are jumbled, how do you manage them? I’d love to hear your helpful strategy!