Emotional Girl...

Today I woke up at a nice, lovely time of 8:45. Compared to my normal alarm of 6:20, this was wonderful. I slowly got ready, ate a nice breakfast of strawberries and cream oatmeal with a slice of buttery toast, opened up my devotional...and got hit pretty hard.

I thought about the devotional a bit, but had to get on my way to work. It was beautiful- the sun was shining, it was almost 40 degrees, and the radio played a song I liked. Hmm...today should be okay. Thoughts of my convicting devotional fell away. But man, when God wants to speak to us through something, he doesn't let it go.

Fast forward a couple of hours into the workday. I'm sitting there and, BOOM, instantly a thought comes into my head. Instantly my chronic jealousy and insecurity kicks in. Instantly, I remember something greater.

That devotional I read was about two things- emotions and protecting our hearts. As a female, I think it's pretty well known that we sometimes let our emotions get the best of us...either that or we have crazy mood swings that leave everyone else around in a bit of a shock. Sorry, world. I'm not going to say emotions aren't important, because they definitely are, but when we let our emotions override the truths we have been taught, then we've got trouble. In regards to protecting our hearts- it's one of the most important things. Proverbs 4:23 says we need to do it above all things. Above what? All things.

One line in the devotional mentioned that sometimes when we struggle with sin, we wonder, "Why hasn't he changed my heart yet? I gave it to him...he promised to change me!" Yes, the Lord promises to change us, but we must do our part first. What if, before he can change our hearts, we need to protect it? We must protect our hearts from what we see, hear, touch, taste, smell, do, all of it. Why? Because how can he change our hearts when we're filling it with the same unnecessary junk we filled it with before? We often expect Him to change our heart, and then everything will work out. Really, we must protect our hearts in order to let him change them. We must intentionally evaluate what we're letting in.

Sorting out the thoughts of this devotional, three things stuck out in my life- reckless emotions, jealousy, and insecurity. These are three things I've struggled with all of my life. There are circumstances and stories that I could go into detail about how I got here, but that's beside the point. It's hard to remember, sometimes, that some things that seems so natural (emotions, jealousy, insecurity) are actually sins. They are not what our God wants for us. He wants us to rest in him- trust him, accept his overwhelming grace, and let his love take over our lives.

So, that's what I'm thinking about today. How many times does a simple emotion wash over and completely change the day you're having? How often does an emotion sweep in and clear your mind of the truth that you are forgiven, redeemed, and completely loved? I'm going to work on protecting my heart from reckless emotions, jealousy, and insecurity. That means taking thoughts captive and not letting them seep into my heart. There's someone who knows our weaknesses and how to attack us with them. So I'm taking them captive, and the more I do this to protect my heart, the more the Lord will help my heart change. And I know that he will.

So what is it that you need to protect your heart from? What truths do you need to let override your emotions? Go, do it. If you do your part, he will help you get where you want to be.