But still you might say, I know these things and believe them but what about this deep sadness, anger, anxiety, depression, or array of emotions I’m feeling? Why do I have these feelings if I’m God’s child? Does He really care? Why do I experience hard things? Why do I know God’s word in my head but in my heart it doesn’t always sink in?
Oh girls, He cares so much. It says in His word that He keeps our tears in a bottle and when Lazarus died (even though Jesus knew He was going to raise Lazarus from the dead in just a few days), it says in the Bible, “Jesus wept.” Sweet girls, He cares for us more than anyone ever could imagine. We all know John 3:16, but just for a minute put yourself in the place of giving up the person you love more than anyone so that someone who may or may not come to love you or worse might hate you could have the opportunity to have life both now and forever; that’s what God did for you, dear girls. He loves you that much to give His one and only Son’s life so that you could come to know Him and have life with Him both now and forever.
“You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected my tears in a bottle.” Psalm 56:8
“Jesus wept.” John 11:35
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever would believe in him would come to have eternal life.” John 3:16
Sweet girls, to be honest, I still experience the feeling of anxiety at times as well as an array of other emotions just like you. What I have learned over the last year more than any other time is that God wants us to come to Him in everything we feel. He wants us to trust in Him at all times and to pour our hearts out to Him as it says in Psalms,
"Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge." Psalm 62:8
I love this excerpt from Priscilla Shire’s book Fervent: A Woman’s Battle Plan for Serious, Specific, and Strategic Prayer, “And yet in the face of such impossible circumstances, with the odds so heavily stacked against them, and with no indicator of the miracle that God had planned, Moses said to the people Do not fear! (Exodus 14:13). His very first instruction to them was not to be afraid. Notice that Moses wasn’t telling them not to feel fear. The prospect of looming death will just kind of do that. On it’s own. Fear is a natural human response to a lot of things, a Red Sea moment being one of them. So He knew they would feel fear, but He was telling them not to wallow in it. Not to choose it. Not to make friends with it. Not to entertain it, engage it. Because if they did, they risked not sticking around long enough to experience the stunning miracle God was about to perform.”
Reflection:
Do you truly believe God cares for you like the Bible says? If you don’t, ask Him to remind you and reveal that to you. If you believe it, celebrate, worship, or even write a letter to God thanking Him for His perfect care of you.
What are some of the emotions you feel that are hard? Ask God to meet you in these and lead you through them. Maybe you need to let yourself feel them with God and then move on. Just about once a week right now, I need to cry with God. I don’t plan it, but when it happens, I cry with Him and then I can keep going. Let yourself feel the emotion and talk to God about it.
How can we feel fear and not wallow in it? Have you been wallowing in it? Making friends with it? If so, ask God to help you to not wallow in it and move forward with Him.
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