Feelings

Feelings, nothing more than feelings,
Trying to forget my feelings of love.
Teardrops rolling down on my face,
Trying to forget my feelings of love.







Remember that song? Don't hate me; it's been stuck in my head for days now! Feelings, what do you do with them? I've been thinking about this a lot lately. The sadness, disappointment, happiness, excitement, fear, concern, joy, confidence, grief, insecurity, peace, apathy, etc., etc.- how do you handle these emotions? The list could go on and on. How do you deal with the feelings that come with living life? They can be overwhelming and cloud our judgment for the good and the bad.
Recently I had a conversation with a dear friend. Trying to share some encouragement, I said, "Don't worry about it. It'll be o-k. You don't need to be fearful." Sounds like good advice, right? Maybe you too have said something similar. Unfortunately though, it didn't change the feelings that were crowding her heart and overwhelming her.

"Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything."                    1 John 3:19, 20

These verses provide some good news and some bad news. Bad news is that it says "whenever our hearts condemn us", meaning that it's going to happen. As long as we're living and breathing this side of eternity, the feelings will be real. The good ones may make us forget to depend on God and the bad ones may make us question where God is.
The good news is two-fold. First, God knows everything and he's greater than those feelings. He knows when we feel bad and when we feel great. He knows and he's bigger than the pull they may seem to have on us. Second, we can know and rest in the presence of God when we love with our actions and in truth. This can be hard, but we can make a choice to show love and to speak the truth. People will disappoint us and we will disappoint people. Thankfully though, there's always an opportunity to get it right. Contrary to what the songs says we want to remember our feelings of love and rest in the presence of God. The best place to be.