I second that emotion.
So I'm wondering, how are you? Like really?
Honestly, I have found this question to be a complicated one to answer recently. People ask, “So how are you doing?” and I pause. I wonder if I should tell them the truth, that things are really not great. Or should I just say “Fine thanks, how are you?” Which I am loathed to do. Because I am really not “fine”.
I am feeling many different things and I wonder if the recipient of my answer has the emotional bandwidth to receive it. So my elevator response has become, “I’m hanging in.” Which, when I think about it, doesn’t say much of anything but interestingly people accept it and we move on to talking about the weather.
This got me thinking. So, I posted a question on my Facebook page. It was fascinating how people responded. The question I asked was: what one word best describes how you are feeling right now? I purposely did not put barriers or restrictions around the question. There was no mention of the pandemic or the lockdown or politics… just, "how are you feeling right now”?
How would you answer that question? What one word summarizes your emotional state, right now?
Here are some of the top responses to my mini survey:
tired
heavy
angry
lonely
confused
anxious
fearful
numb
weary
compassion,
fortunate,
hopeful,
joyful,
grateful
I think for me, if there would be one word to summarize my emotional state right now, it would be the word unsettled.
It is, and has been for many, a very emotional time. We are feeling all the feels — and that is not a bad thing because so did Jesus.
How often we forget that Our God is an emotional God. God is not void of feelings. We have emotions because we are made in the image of God. Not only is God an emotional, feeling God but God cares deeply about our emotions and feelings.
It is so easy for our emotions to be based on our circumstances… by the opinions of others, the pressures of life, and opportunities we had or didn’t have. As a result we end up on a constant emotional roller coaster following the ups and downs of this shaky world. It is so easy for our emotions to be controlled by the things of the world rather than the foundation of love laid before us by the sacrificial love of Jesus.
It’s interesting that Scripture clearly describes a link between emotional health and trust.
Isaiah 26:3-4 says, “You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you! Trust in the Lord always, for the Lord God is the eternal Rock.
Psalm 56:3-4 says, “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?”
And Psalm 33:21 says, “For our heart is glad in him, because we trust in His holy name.”
Scripture makes clear that our emotional health is directly linked to our level of trust.
In John 14:27 Jesus says, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”
God’s heart is to fill you with peace.
God has consistent, constant peace available to you. But, as scripture lays out for us clearly, we must trust the Lord in every area of your life.
In these isolating and weird times, look to your Heavenly Father for peace. Find rest in God’s abundant love for you. Find your self-worth and confidence in the fact that God so desired a relationship with you that he laid down his own life to have it.
As we draw close to God, may our lives be marked by increasing emotional health as we grow in trust.