Just for Women Wednesdays-Getting Out of the Mud of Emotions

"Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed." 1Peter 1:13

Do your emotions seem to get the best of you some time? Do you ever feel frustrated about having to deal with the same emotion again and again? You pray. You read scripture and pray some more and still, it feels like you can't move forward out of the muddy mucky feelings. 

There are two things you need to do  first when you feel like this: A Mind Check and a Mouth Check. These two checks will reveal what you are dealing with. Once you know what you are dealing with, then you can move forward to get out of it.

Mind Check:

Everything begins in the mind and left to its natural state, it can produce nothing beneficial for a believer. That's why Paul preached to "renew" the mind through the reading of God's Word (Romans 12:2). The Bible says, "Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things" (Colossians 3:2). Ask yourself this question, "What earthly thing is taking my mind away from focusing on Jesus, His Word, and keeping me from thinking about life with an eternal perspective?" Is it coveting something someone else has and you can't have it, which then produces anger, bitterness, envy, or discouragement towards that person or someone else? Is it fearing the uncertainty of your future which in turn produces thoughts in your mind about unbelief or anxiety, etc...  


Action Plan:
Write the emotion(s) down on a piece of paper.  Getting the emotion out of your mind and putting it out in the open will help you to begin moving out of the muddy mire of defeat. Next, find one scripture that addresses the emotion and memorize it. Focusing on one scripture is doable and doesn't make you feel overwhelmed. You might want to add scripture later, but lets at least be focused in our pursuit to get out of the mud pit!!!  Last, give the emotion to God through prayer. Every time you begin to feel the emotion, let the frustration you feel about the emotion coming back, lead you straight to the arms of God and not to the mud where you like to wallow. Give it to God again. Practicing this over again is how you begin to make a habit of bringing your emotions to God instead of the mud pit. The thoughts that you let rule in your mind determine how long you will wallow in the muddy emotion. The longer you think about the emotion, the longer you are making a conscious choice to choose your self and your feelings over choosing God.

Mouth Check:

What comes out of your mouth reveals the state of your heart. What is the tone of your words lately? What words are you choosing to use? If you whine, grumble or use sarcasm, you are in the mucky muck. The worst use of words is the under-the-breath-grumbling that comes out when you want to talk to yourself but don't want anyone to hear. God hears!! It doesn't please Him! All of these emotional use of words reveal that you are in need of some heart surgery...to let the LORD of LORDs search your muddy heart and clean it so it is renewed again (Psalm 51:2)


I found this to be interesting about how women differ in their emotions from men:

"The American Journal of Sociology, Robin Simon, Ph.D., and Leda Nath, Ph.D., presented the results of interviews conducted with 2,904 men and women across the United States about how frequently they experienced various emotions. They found that men and women had nearly the same number of emotional occurrences in a week, but women had more negative emotions and men more positive. Source (http://www.livestrong.com/article/162532-list-of-10-most-common-emotions/#ixzz20I0AifBJ")

Women have more emotions that can bring them down than bring them up. That's why we need to be careful and alert to renew our minds through the washing of the Word of God. We can't think positive on our own for a long time. We will become negative again! But with God, His Spirit, and the reading of His Word, we can fill our minds with solid truths that can withstand the change in life circumstances. 


Don't you want more truth in your mind than harmful, negative emotions? 
Then get going and do what the Bible says! He will help you!
Choose to live in truth instead of in the latest emotion.