Do you ever get so wrapped up emotionally in the people around you that they can change your emotions in an instant? This happens to me sometimes. I get so emotionally involved that I go crazy trying to please everyone and make sure no one is upset with me and everyone is happy and wants to spend time with me. If a friend can’t hang out I think they don’t like me anymore. If someone doesn’t talk to me at church, I assume I’ve done something wrong and they’re upset with me. If I see my friends went out without me I’m hurt and think they intentionally left me out. On the flip side if someone sends a nice text, my mood instantly flip-flops. If someone calls to do something I go from sad to happy. Then someone cuts me off in traffic and I’m frustrated for the rest of the day. And on and on it goes.

This week has been exceptionally emotional and I just sat down and realized I am basing all my emotions on PEOPLE. People. Who will always fail me. Who have a sin nature. People who make mistakes, fail and make poor choices, the same way that I do. I can’t base my feelings on people. My brain gets jumbled. I can’t focus on anything and I get so caught up in it. I read texts over and over trying to see if there are hidden messages. I replay conversations in my head. I over-analyze everything. By the end of the day I can’t sleep because my brain is processing a million things and I worry about things I imagining are happening with all my relationships.

James 1:5-6 says: If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. (ESV)

This is such a great description of how I so often feel. I doubt. I doubt God’s goodness. I doubt the people around me. I lack the wisdom necessary to be grounded in Christ and I get blown and tossed by the wind. Happy, sad, angry, elated. Rollercoaster days abound.

In the song, My Anchor, Christy Nockels so beautifully expresses the answers to my emotional blowing and tossing.

My anchor, forever
My shelter within the storm
You’re my deliverer
You never falter
You’re the rock I stand on

I should be grounded in Christ. I shouldn’t be blown and tossed by the wind. I should be holding so tightly onto my anchor. He should be the Rock I am standing on.

 

In an article about managing emotions, Joyce Meyer says: You cannot control what everybody else does, but you can control your reaction to it. It’s time to stop letting someone else’s bad behavior steal your joy… With God’s help, you can learn to manage these and every other negative emotion that comes your way…in Christ Jesus, you have the power to change your response. You can rise above your emotions. After all, you are not what you feel.

I am not what I feel! How glorious that is. This week has definitely been one full of blowing and tossing. But today, I am asking God to calm the storm. I am grabbing tight to my Anchor. I am choosing to rise above the emotional waves and praying they would release their power over me. I am not what I feel.

How to Manage Your Emotions God’s Way: Joyce Meyer
http://www.charismamag.com/spirit/spiritual-growth/16305-feeling-your-emotional-best