Many of you surfing the web may be trying to figure out how to manage your feelings after the Christmas challenges you have faced. You may be in emotional pain, struggling with anger or you may be feeling intense disappointment with yourself or others.
Add to that…are you tired? I mean, like really physically tired? You may not have gotten the rest you need with all the holiday preparations and, add to that, you have been working yourself to the bone trying to get the house ready, the meals prepared, gifts purchased, packages wrapped and some sent…the past week you have really spent yourself for others. You may have entertained, had fallings out, planned big parties, had challenges with children home from school, experienced the passing of a loved one…gosh, the list is endless…all while trying to balance the rest of what you normally do!
You may struggle with regrets you have about rebellious eating or things that happened over the past few days (weeks? months?) and you may be mindlessly surfing the web to try to numb yourself. Do you ever find yourself in a place where you don’t *want* to feel any more?
A dear friend recommended a book that I have been sneaking time to read. It is marvelously compatible with the message of Thin Within and brings to light what all of this boils down to. Here is a quote that says it so well:
“…we are constantly faced with two choices. We can make a ‘faith choice,’ regardless of how we feel and follow what God desires by saying, ‘Not my will, but thine.’ (Matthew 26:39) Or we can make an ’emotional choice,’ to follow our own thoughts and emotions over what God has asked and trust in our own ability to perform it in our lives.” (Against the Tide – Getting Beyond Ourselves by Nancy Missler p. 44)
Here we are at the end of the Christmas craziness. Sadly, many of us who love the Lord Jesus, have gotten swept up in it (I know I have!). We may have let down our guard and our eating may have been dishonoring to God (I know I have). We may care or not. Add to that the tiredness and the emotional challenges…and we are vulnerable. Plain and simple.
We are faced with a choice as Mrs. Missler says in the quote above. Right now, in this moment, you and I have a choice. Will we make a faith choice? Or will we make an “emotional choice” or what Thin Within calls a flesh-filled choice? Will we observe and correct in spite of our feelings pressing us to do otherwise or will we allow our emotions to drive our choices now, causing us to continue in making flesh-filled choices? Will we grab our wills and offer the parts of our bodies to the Lord as instruments of righteousness? Or will we allow our bodies, minds and spirits to be driven along by our emotions, our tiredness, our vulnerability?
Let’s grab the moment here now in front of us. Let’s grab it for the Lord. Let’s choose in this moment to make a faith-filled choice…one that acts in trust that the Lord is bigger than all we feel and face right now. If we need some sleep, let’s get some sleep. If we need to forgive someone for disappointing us or deeply wounding us, let’s choose to do that…
Whatever it is that God is pressing on our hearts right now…let’s do it. Let’s choose the faith-filled choice, not the flesh-filled, emotional choice. This moment, this choice, matters.
If you make a choice right now for the Lord, I hope you will comment here and let us know about it. I am praying for all of us to observe and correct and forget what is behind and press on to what is ahead…to reach out for that which Jesus intends for us. Lord, please let it be so. In the precious Name of our Lord Jesus, Amen.
Heidi, I only had time to glance at your posts while “on the road”. This post is an especially good one for me to take to heart today. Praising God that I’m home and for a few days rest before returning to work.
Heidi, I am making a faith choice right now. Usually after I have “blown it” on a diet I have to wait until I get the motivation back to pick myself up and carry on, but this is not a diet and it’s not me whose strength is going to accomplish it, so I choose to carry on despite the disappointment I feel at having over-eaten in the past 5 days. Thank you for your encouragement. There are so many little “pearls” I’m jotting down as I read your blog!