God of My Emotions
It’s four AM.
My seven year old daughter with allergies is standing next to my bed. She commences sneezing seven hundred times. When she’s done she climbs in my bed and immediately returns to sleep. Bless her. I, however, am wide awake and probably will be for the rest of the night.
Why are worries worse in the middle of the night?
Why do scenarios and situations that rarely bear a passing thought during the day keep my mind racing and my chest clenching in the middle of the night? As the minutes tick by until the alarm finally buzzes, my heart and mind struggle in a wrestling match of worry and prayer.
Lately I’ve had a lot on my mind, more than usual to be honest. The unknown stretches before me and I’ve struggled to find that place of peace and rest as I trust in the Lord to guide and provide. Worry and stress affect my emotions. My mood worsens as I allow anxious thoughts to creep deeper and deeper into my heart and mind.
This morning as I was praying, a phrase came to my mind. “Oh Lord, you are God of my emotions” and I knew it to be true. When mental anxiety overtakes me in the middle of the night or the middle of my day, God IS God of my emotions. The way I feel is not outside the boundaries of His control. His gentle hand can steady the racing of my heart.
The uncertain future remains uncertain but I am reminded that He is already there. The future is never uncertain to God.
“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.” – Revelation 1:8 (NIV)
God, who was there at the beginning, not just the beginning of me, but the very beginning is the God of what is yet to come. In fact, He is already there. Every worry, care and burden I face is known to Him. Every need I have: He has already provided.
Today my heart was troubled. A project that I had worked on and completed needed to be redone. I ended up with a $50 unexpected expense. Plans that I had made had to be rescheduled.
Nothing major but it was enough to put me in a grumpy mood.
A friend of mine who is going through some tragic circumstances was texting me at that time. When she asked how I was, I replied, “Bad day.” When she asked me to explain, I felt a little sheepish. Were those three little inconveniences really enough to affect my mood and even so, how could I even begin to compare my minor setbacks to the tragic lives found all around me?
I was thankful for the reminder.
God, You are God of my emotions.
Copyright © Rebecca Onkar, Moms of Faith®, All Rights Reserved
