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Are your feelings trying to tell you something? As someone who feels deeply, I can assure you that the feelings you express (intentionally or unintentionally) are often an outworking of what is going on in your heart. (Luke 6:45)
When you keep your feelings inside, you might also be setting yourself up for them to come out in harmful ways or cause damage underneath the surface. Whether your emotions cause you to implode or explode, ignoring your feelings can be detrimental to you and your loved ones.
My friend Dr. Anita Philips, author of The Garden Within, emphasizes the importance of acknowledging feelings. I want to share with you some ways to honor your feelings and repair the soil of your heart.
Acknowledge cracks in your soil
You may try to talk yourself out of your emotions because of the shame attached to the feeling. I want to encourage you to step away from the shame. Use your emotions to guide you rather than govern you.
Stop and think about your behavior and thought patterns. Once you identify the feeling you’re experiencing, search God’s Word for a verse dealing with that feeling. Feel free to use Google if you help with your search! Remind yourself that even in sadness, anger, or fear, you are still deeply loved by your Creator.
Assess the damage in your heart
Three specific emotions can cause cracks in the soil of your heart. Heavy feelings like sadness, anger, and fear can take a toll on your mind, body, and spirit. Do you find yourself feeling unmotivated, upset, or even apathetic? You may be experiencing sadness. Maybe it’s just a one-off moment of sadness, or maybe it’s prolonged sadness that has drifted into the heaviness of depression.
If you allow sadness to linger for too long, you may find yourself overreacting to minor inconveniences. Anger can show up as irritation, a hot temper, or rage. These feelings can spill over into other areas of your life.
There are moments when nervousness or hesitation seems to consume my thoughts. I can feel tingling in my body and fluttering in my chest that just won’t let up. In these moments, I ask God to search my heart and reveal my true concerns. Sometimes, I feel fear due to actual threats to my well-being and safety, but other times, it’s more of a fear of the unknown.
Bring Your Soil Back to Life
Dig into your safe spaces and share your heavy feelings with a trusted family member or friend. A therapist may be a valuable resource when things feel too heavy to tackle on your own. Write down your feelings through morning pages or journaling to express what’s on your heart.
When life begins to weigh me down, I think of my mother’s favorite Scripture: John 15:5: I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me, you can do nothing.
What You Need to Remember
Pay attention to all of you. All of you includes your emotions. Don’t allow cracks and crevices to become canyons in your mind, soul or body simply because you ignored you. Create the margin you need to truly notice how you are doing and then acknowledge your need for help, joy, connection, or prayer to help you heal.
All of you matters – including the parts of you you don’t see.
My prayer is that you live a thriving life, and that if you are not experiencing that life currently, that God will break up the dry soil in your life so that you can thrive again.
Highlights from Today’s Episode
- Acknowledging your feelings
- Naming your emotions
- Doing the work to repair the soil of your heart
Related Resources
- Write down your feelings in The Full Circle Planner – 90-Day planner designed to help you thrive as you get things done.
- Grab “The Garden Within” by Dr. Anita Phillips
- Discover the power of morning pages in The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron
Click to Post
- “God doesn’t want to hurt you. He wants to heal you.” Chrystal Evans Hurst
- “If you don’t deal with your sadness, it will turn into anger, because it all has to go somewhere.” Chrystal Evans Hurst
Other Stuff to Check Out
- Join me at the Leader’s Retreat!
- Need to encourage your soul? Try listening to the playlist I put together for my mom, Lady Lois’ Worship
- Interested in supporting the content I create and enjoying bonus content? Learn about joining my Inner Circle!
- Be sure to also check out my books She’s Still There, Show Up For Your Life, The 28-Day Prayer Journey, and Kingdom Woman!
Let’s Talk!
- Has anything caused you to feel sadness, anger, or fear lately?
- Do you feel ashamed when heavy feelings rise to the surface of your heart?
- What is one way that you can begin to acknowledge your feelings?
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You have been so great to join me on the journey here on the blog, I hope you jump right in and do the same on the podcast!
Thank you for this, Crystal. You put into words so much of what I have been feeling, but didn’t know how to describe it, even to myself, and certainly not to anyone else. And I KNOW many others who listened to this (or watched or read it) are grateful also. Thank you for being a blessing; for allowing God to continue to use you to speak to so many of us about SO many topics.