Passing along a nice little lesson I learned this week <3
Hey and happy Friday!
For today, I wanted to pass along a little “teaching” I picked up on Instagram this week. The account is @dr.sherrispeaks, to give credit where credit is due. In this particular post, she was adressing our feelings and what she means when she says to “take them to the Lord.”
I have been taking my feelings, rants, cries, prayers, requests, thoughts, questions to God for a loooooonnnnnnnggggg time. As in, I can’t remember a season from even my earliest childhood memories when I didn’t have a chat with him off and on throughout the day and definitely before falling asleep every night.
But the message in her post was one I needed to hear again, and so I am passing along to you as a refresher on one of the basics of this relationship-with-Jesus thing.
Her message was simple and yet profound. She was reminding those who she coaches that when she says, “Take your feelings to the Lord,” she is not saying, “Dismiss your feelings.”
Now while you may be nodding your head in agreement, please re read and let that settle on you a little.
In Psalms and 1 Peter, we can see this concept of giving things to God:
Cast your cares on the LORD and He will sustain you; He will never let the righteous be shaken.
Psalm 55:22 NIV
And
Give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares about you.
1 Peter 5:7 NLT
And this might be where we equate taking things to the Lord, with a dismissal of them.
However; in Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus sent out an invitation to the weary to come to Him and He would give them rest. However; He is offering an exchange, not a drop off service. He said to give Him our burdens and then be yoked with Him so that He can help us carry them.
In the post, Dr. Sherri goes on to suggest some ways we can do this biblically and in a mindset that promotes growth, health and a deeper relationship with the Lord.
She says that your feelings tell you one of two things. They alert you that something is right or something is not right. Whether it is joy or anger, this holds true.
However, it is not our job to figure out if what we are feeling is right or wrong.
For example, we may be quite happy with something that is outside of God’s will or quite angry about something that was sent to convict us.
When we take what we are feeling to the Lord, we can examine if the thing that is bringing us Joy is from Him and then thank Him for it. If what is making us feel like something is not right that is happening to us, we can talk to Him about it.
He has told us what to do with our anger and when we take it to Him, we can look to His Word and do according to that with our anger.
She concludes that every feeling is meant to alert us that something is right or something is not right. It is not our job to determine if it is right or not right, but to take it to God.
And when we take it to the Lord, He helps us sort through that and do the right thing – even if the wrong thing was done to us.
This is a summary of her words, but I actually have been using it during the day and it has enhanced my prayer life, eased some of the stress that comes with life in planet earth and grown me closer to Him.
Each time I do it, I find myself in a more open session of prayer and fellowship with One who knows me, knows the other people involved, knows the past/present and future and has the best of all interests in His heart.
For example and practical application, I was feeling quite frustrated this week. Rather than rant in my head, I took the situation to the Lord. In prayer, I set it out before Him. He showed me an angle I had not considered. I felt such peace afterwards and moved forward with more wisdom than I am capable of.
Another time, I was just feeling quite happy about something. Again, I took it to the Lord and realized it was a mercy gift from Him. I thanked Him for it and that joy got so much richer, it lasted all day.
I think this second option for taking things to the Lord has been my biggest takeaway and encouraged me to be filled with gratitude more.
I hope you will try this. The next time you are feeling like “Wow..this is great!” or “Oh my, this stinks!” that’s a red flag that you are assessing something is right or not right.
Stop, drop and take it to the Lord!