Feelings Are Not Our Truth

Chapter 2

A s far back as we could remember, we felt different, damaged, and just plain wrong. We did not know exactly what was wrong with us. We only knew that we felt things more intensely than others and we processed our problems with great difficulty.

We obsessively examined ourselves, looking for clues to solve the mystery and find a key to unlock some invisible door which kept us perched precariously on the outside edge of normalcy. We noticed people we admired and made feeble attempts to imitate their persona. We sought out damaged friends who would validate us in our dysfunction. We pursued money to prove our worth. We questioned and blamed. We fought with ourselves and resented God. We learned how to act right, but we didn’t know how to feel right. Eventually it was our feelings which became our undoing.

The presence of unwanted feelings such as insecurity, inadequacy, fear, anger, and other social phobias, coupled with our inability to manage or control them, unleashed within us a desperation for relief at any cost. We soon learned of a temporary reprieve which occurred when our brain chemistry became altered. We didn’t care that the relief would be short lived or cause irreparable damage. The long awaited relief of rightness, contrasted against the life-long agony of wrongness, offered such an enchanting embrace, we surrendered without a fight….

…

In time, the feelings become less intrusive. The presence of an unwanted negative feeling sends us running for relief to the Word, and there we find our sustaining Truth.

• When we feel like we have failed, we choose to believe God who says we are blessed (empowered to succeed).

From this day on I will bless you. Haggai 2:19 (NLT)

• When we feel as if we aren’t going to stay clean, we believe God’s word which promises,

I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished… Philippians 1:6 (NLT)

• When we feel as if we are weak, we believe that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.

For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength. Philippians 4:13
We silence our fickle feelings, with His word: T E T E L E S T A I 

We declare, “It is finished!” to those roller coaster emotions which had bullied us long enough.