Yall, have you ever had one of those days where you just couldn’t get it together? You’re just not feeling it. On days like this, when all the friendly faces and over-the-top pleasantries at Chic-fil-A are making me cringe, I have to remind myself that my feelings are not my faith.
Can you even imagine if our fickle feelings were the basis of all our decisions and relationships with others? If every time I just wasn’t feeling my husband, we threw in the towel? Or if I weren’t feeling my job, I put in my two weeks notice? What about this – if I am not feeling that my friendship is what is once was, that it must be because the other person is not feeling it either.
I find that oftentimes when our minds are entranced by this idea of things just being “off”, we pull back. We wait it out and sulk amongst ourselves, citing a myriad of reasons why these things are happening to us and why we are being treated unfairly. Our apathetic outlook leads us down a road with little light and not much by way of positivity.
But if we think about it in terms of our relationship with God, the picture looks a bit different. If I don’t feel that He is listening, I stop praying and talking to Him. If I don’t feel He is moving, I try to take the reigns and make things happen on my own. I don’t actively seek Him or go to the Word. The relationship feels stagnant, distant, off.
God craves relationship with us. He is able to overcome our finite human minds and erase all of the worry and feelings of anxiety that roll over us like dark, thundering clouds. He sent His Spirit to speak to us, to enlighten us and show us a better way. He offers us peace and the continued hope in Him.
So even when I don’t feel like doing my reading, or listening to my worship music, or spending the extra time in prayer, I do it anyway. I continue to trudge on to make a connection.
And you know what? He is always there to meet me. No, I may not get the answers that I am seeking immediately. My circumstances and environment may not be changing. But He is gracious in allowing me to be still before Him and know that He will never leave me nor forsake me. My faith lies in His word and the promises He has made.
Take heart, dear friends. He is with you; He is for you. Even if you don’t feel like it today, take a minute to ask Him to settle your heart. Spend time in His presence, even if you have nothing left to say.
As we go into a new week, I pray that you will find Him when you seek Him and will feel a sense of renewed purpose that you need in order to make time in your schedule for the one relationship that makes all others work – your relationship with our Lord, Jesus Christ.
Verses for today:
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11
Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (ESV) Phillipians 4:6-7
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. John 14:16-17
Salty but Sweet 