“For as he thinketh in his heart, so
is he...”
Proverbs 23:7
Years ago,
there was a popular song, “Feelings.”
As the
lyrics go, “feelings, nothing more than feelings...whoa...whoa...whoa...”
(It’s bad
Karaoke, let me tell ya).
Anyway, I’ve
been giving some thought to the feelings factor. I’ve seen how it has done some
damage in my own life. Temper tantrums, crying jags, meltdowns of epic
proportion- whatever you want to call them- feelings, let’s be real, rarely
lead us to make great decisions which improve our lives.
But wreck
our lives? Well, that’s a different story.
And, for
those of us in recovery, for those of us coming from abuse, the feelings thing
is a tricky course to navigate. In my case, because feelings weren’t safe in my
home, growing up, I learned to suppress, stuff, until...boom! Explosion
happened. Not a good coping mechanism.
And so, a
girl of extremes, when life moved on, I was determined to fully express my feelings whenever I had them. Oh yeah. This was fun and games. No one was going
to control me!
Hence, I was
OUT of control.
The cliché
in life is true: it’s about balance and moderation. And that was NOT something
I was good at. Neither was I good at dealing, in a healthy, realistic manner,
with my emotions, with my feelings and driving issues.
Scripture
tells us, like it or not, we all need to do this:
“Keep thy heart with all diligence;
for out of it are the issues of life.”
Proverbs 4:23
Years after
the immediate damage of both my eating disorders and my childhood abuse, God
has patiently- and gradually- led me into honestly looking at my heart, the
factory producing all of these blessed feelings in the first place.
“Search me, O God, and know my heart:
try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and
lead me in the way everlasting.”
Psalms 139:23-24
It’s often
not pretty...or quick...or easy... But it is
necessary. Life will, inevitably, push our buttons. You know, those things
which draw out those feelings, which,
left unchecked, can blow up our lives.
But we
aren’t left powerless. We choose what
we do with the feelings switch. We may not be able to control what, exactly
pops up, but we can choose our reaction to
it.
“He that hath
no rule over his own spirit is like
a city that is broken down, and without walls.”
Proverbs 25:28
Self-control
is something, yes, God has given to us.
“For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love
and self-control.”
2 Timothy 1:7
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things
there is no law.”
Galatians 5:22-23
It’s up to
us to use it, practice it, apply it
“For this very reason, make every effort to
supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge
with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with
godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with
love.”
2 Peter 1:5-7
“No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man.
God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but
with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be
able to endure it.”
1 Corinthians 10:13
So, with
that in mind, let’s remember that when it comes to the switch, whenever we’re
tempted to just let life “push our buttons.”
We can make another choice. We can feel our feelings without allowing
them to wreck our lives.
It IS possible!
Copyright © 2016 by Sheryle Cruse
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