Identifying Emotional Needs for Personal Growth

According to Philippians 4:19, God promises to meet all our needs. Not just physical and spiritual, but emotional as well. So, we must now ask ourselves, “What are some of my emotional needs?”

• The need to be needed.
• The need to be loved.
• The need for relationships.
• The need for encouragement.
• The need to love without fear.
• The need to be significant.
• The need to be useful.
• The need to be content.
• The need to feel worthy.
• The need to have a sense of purpose.
• The need to have a sense of direction.
• The need for boundaries.
• The need for security.
• The need for approval.
• The need for respect.

With all these needs, and many more, we realize how unfair it would be to ask another human to meet them. We think about all the times that we scroll through texts on our phones, looking for reassurance that we are worthy, needed, loved, approved, or any of the other emotional needs we have at the time.

Ironically, it seems a bit ridiculous that we place more hope in a text on our phone than in Sacred Text filled with the love of God. One connects us to other flawed humans; the other connects us to the Creator of the Universe who loves us dearly. 

As we evaluate our unmet emotional needs and identify the ones which cause us the most pain, we ask the Holy Spirit to guide us to our truth.