Over the past months, God has been taking me on a journey to set me completely free. After all, Christ said He came to make me (and you) free indeed. He also said the truth will set us free.
But what is the truth? How does that set me free? It all started when God gave me the courage to feel my feelings. For a long time, I was afraid to feel anything negative, especially anger. It felt wrong to me so I just stuffed it all down - preferably with either a cheeseburger or some type of dessert.
After I began to feel my feelings (what an interesting ride THAT was), God showed me that while feelings are real, they are NOT always true. I'm a woman - therefore, I feel and feel and feel and feel. In the course of one day, I could go from the top of the mountain to the mud puddle in the bottom of the valley. If I relied on my feelings as a truth gage, I'd be in pretty sad shape.
While I don't believe you can always control what you feel - for instance, the guy who cuts you off in traffic is probably going to inspire a spurt of anger - I have always believed we have a choice of what we do with those feelings. So, I began to learn to take them to God. It's made our relationship so much more intimate because you can't give Him your feelings in all their raw form without being vulnerable and open. I figured since David had all those Psalms doing just that, I was at least in good company.
But then God started showing me something recently. Yes, our emotions are real and are not always true, but we are not a slave to our emotions. We don't have to exist on some kind of wild rollercoaster. What I think about, what I dwell on - that has a very direct and heavy influence on what I feel.
As I said, being a woman and being who I am, I will always be a somewhat emotional person. I will probably always cry during disney movies (don't tell!). Other people's pain will have me tearing up. Looking at my sons' little tiny baby outfits will have me sniffling. But I don't have to be at the mercy of feeling up and down all the time.
How? By dwelling on truth. I don't know about you but I spend a lot of time talking to myself - not always out loud. Of course, that is another good reason to have a dog - people think you are talking to it and not yourself! lol But we spend a lot of time with a sound track going on in our heads, at least I do.
I need to make sure that sound track is truth. The verse God gave me almost a year ago now talks about not looking behind or pondering the past so I don't miss the new thing He will do in the future. The truth is, I can miss the blessings of today by rehearsing the hurts and pains of the past if I am not careful. Jesus wants the truth to set us free, but first we have to know what that truth is. We need to memorize it and know it and meditate on it, so THAT becomes the sound track in our head.
Let's face it, the world at large has an auto pilot of easy listening for us. We have to be purposeful about replacing it with God's truth.
I used to make a long list of New Year's Goals. I'd have categories and everything. The last couple years though, God has sort of just given me a theme or general goal to go with. For 2011, it is to know exactly who I am in Christ and then choose to believe it, even if I'm not feelin' it that day or moment. I pray that God gives you truth that will set you free this year too.
~ Blessings, Bronte
No comments:
Post a Comment