“My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow.” Mark 14:34 NIV
“Your feelings are real, just not always based in reality.”
My thoughts today are about “feeling overwhelmed.”
Feelings. Raw emotions. There are times that you wish you didn’t have them to contend with. But could you really live without any feelings at all? Would you even want to? In such times you can find comfort that Jesus also felt overwhelmed with crushing emotions, as He wept in Gethsemane’s garden as He faced Calvary. Take comfort that Jesus can and will “feel sympathy for your weaknesses . . (and was) tempted in every way that you are, but did not sin.” Hebrews 4:15 Today’s English Version.
At such times easy answers won’t cut it. Pleasant platitudes that urge you to deny or ignore your feelings won’t make them go away. It has been said that denying your troubling feelings only amplifies them. I learned a long time ago that feelings are real – whether positive or negative – and you have to deal with them. They won’t just go away because you wish they would. You have to deal with them, but you do not have to submit to them. Your feelings are real, just not always based in reality. Better to doubt them than to believe them. Believe God!
Embrace and enjoy the healthy ones; God gave them for your blessing. But what can you do with the unhealthy ones – like anger, fear, discouragement, worry, doubt, frustration, jealousy, or distress? First of all, do not indulge your feeling guilty for honest emotions, nor continue entertaining unhealthy emotions either. Bring them out in the open. Place them in God’s presence without shame where God can help you handle them. That’s what Jesus did in His agony, “Father . . please take this suffering away from Me.” Mark 14:36 NLT.
Ask God to help you identify the source of your feelings. Bad feelings can cause bad choices, when your emotion is allowed to rule your will. The Holy Spirit within you will always give you the power to make right choices. Listen to Jesus’ words in the midst of His crushing emotions in Gethsemane, “Father . . I want your will, not mine.” Mark 14:36 NLT. God’s will above all!
If you only do what you feel like doing, you will prolong your struggle unnecessarily. That right choice is a first step into your healing and freedom. God’s grace is found; God’s power is released in your obedience. Consider David’s experience, “I will cry to You for help, when my heart is overwhelmed. Lead me to the towering Rock of safety, for You are my safe refuge.” Psalm 61:2 NLT.
My prayer for you today is: align feelings with God’s Word, and trust them to God’s care.