How To Process Our Emotions Through the Lens of Faith
The living should take this to heart. Sorrow is better than laughter… for sadness has a refining influence on us. Finishing is better than starting. Patience is better than pride. Wisdom and money can get you almost anything, but only wisdom can save your life. Remember that nothing in this life is certain. And though, you have searched repeatedly, looking for satisfaction, I still ask “What are you looking for?” I asked you over and over. Three times to be exact but to your anxious heart it might as well have been 300.
I answer, “Yes I was searching and still had not found what I was looking for. But, what I did find was this: God created His people to be virtuous. God created His people to be victories. God created His people to be valued. And yet, each of God’s children have turned away and followed their own downward path.”
Set the captives free
I believe God is using this pandemic to set the captives free. We are all captives to something in this world. We fight this battle everyday. But, as a generation, we have given greater value and respect to our phones and now more than ever we crave the touch or even a smile from another. We have idolized business, and we are now forced to be still. We have worshiped our jobs and praised our income, and now, many of us are facing unemployment. And, we feel every bit of it. For the first time, we are all facing the reality that death is at our doorstep, and for some, COVID-19 has already taken our loved ones. Any of us are at potential risk and yet none of the things we have given a higher regard to can save our lives.
Meanwhile we ask
Where is God? When I began to write this piece, I was sitting outside with my journal and Bible when the wind began to blow vigorously. A page from my journal ripped out of its binding and began to flutter away. I quickly got out of my seat and ran over to get it before little Willi had the opportunity to tear it to shreds. when I started reading, the question I had internally asked myself had been answered by an entry I had written a year ago. It just took some wind and tear for me to find the right page.
Taking thoughts captive
We must first recognize our feelings are real emotions that deserve to be processed but not worshiped. Instead of letting your thoughts take you captive, I want to urge you to take them. Remember how I said, “we are all captives to something?” Well, for some of us, it might be our own mind and way of thinking. God is always up to something bigger and better than we can even begin to fathom. What may seem as a devastating loss, is only a temporary hardship to a greater victory on the other side. In order to grow, we must be willing to go through the growing pains. So, before we can settle into His truth and abide in His peace, we must take our thoughts captive.
How to do this
We begin doing this simply by saying the thought that is lurking around in our head causing increased anxiety, worry, fear, and doubt out loud. Speaking thoughts out loud not only frees our minds and mental space but actively releases the grip of the enemy.
Researchers have found that our mental health depends on both our ability to activate thoughts relevant to a current task or stressor and our ability to suppress the irrelevant ones— aka the mental noise. Talking to yourself may seem “crazy,” but listening to your own thoughts can be powerfully proactive in getting you to the next step which is to the path of truth.
Second, we search scripture. What does God say about these thoughts? God does not give us a step- by- step guide on how to process our feelings. He gives us something better, He gives us Himself in the form of His son. When we read the Bible, specifically the New Testament, we look to Jesus. Jesus was and is in fact our perfect LORD and Savior. Both fully man and fully God. A living breathing man without sin and full of human emotions. I always marvel at this thought, because I too often let my emotions get the best of me and those around me.
I want to take us to the book of Mark, one of the four gospels. This book specifically uncovers the character of Jesus by telling us how he lived while fulfilling his ministry here on earth. Here are a few examples of Jesus experiencing real emotions just like you and I today:
Jesus used feelings of boldness and confidence when preaching the good news or healing the sick. “Jesus cut him short. “Be quiet! And come out of the man,” he ordered. At that, the evil spirit screamed, threw the man into a convulsion, and then came out of him. Amazement gripped the audience, for he taught with real authority.”
Jesus felt genuine love for him. “There is still one thing you haven’t done,” he told him. “Go and sell all your possessions and give your money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come and follow me.” At this, the mans face fell.
Jesus enraged with anger when he entered into the Temple. “He knocked over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves, and stopped everyone from using the Temple as a marketplace."
Jesus needed his friends to pray with him when death was at his doorstep. “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”
“Abba, Father,” he cried out, “everything is possible for you. Please take this cup of suffering away from me. And yet, I want your will to be done.”
In the meantime
I love the last example, “My soul is crushed with grief.” Haven’t we all been there? When death is at our doorstep, our souls are crushed with grief. Whether that’s a physical death of a loved one, death of a dream, death of a marriage… we all can pinpoint a time in life when we have experienced the paralyzing fear of death. “And yet, your will be done.” What must we do in the meantime so that we may thrive in the meanwhile? We sprint to Jesus and abide in His truth. Not walk, not run— sprint!
“Then he asked them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
“Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go and live in peace. Your suffering is over.”
“Don’t be afraid, have faith.”
“Don’t be afraid,” he said. “Take courage! I am here!”
“Don’t you remember anything at all? When I fed the 5,000 with five loaves of bread, how many baskets were leftover?” “Twelve,” they said. “And when I fed the 4,000 with the seven loaves, how many large baskets of leftovers did you pick up?” “Seven,” they said. “Then why do you have such little faith?”
“What do you mean, ‘if I can’? Anything is possible if a person believes.”
We sprint to Jesus. Why? Because, he is the one we are all searching for. He is the one who has come to set the captives free. He is the one who redeems the brokenhearted. He is the one who gives the hopeless hope. He is the one who satisfies the hungry. He is the one who died the death we all deserve. He is the one who was and is to come.
“I came not to destroy you but to love you so that you may live. I tell you the truth, all have sinned and all can be rescued. Have faith in the meantime while I redeem you in the meanwhile.”
