EMOTIONAL TURBULENCE.

Every morning, Psalms 5:3 is my confession, I wake up to go to the feet of Jesus and lay the pieces of my life at the altar and it is always so refreshing. It is the best part of my day and I desire to stay consistent because I believe Jesus deserves the first and best and also because this focused time in prayer and in the word will help me have continuous fellowship during the day. I cannot fit Him into the cracks of my day and expect growth and intimacy. However, there are days I will get up extremely excited and eager to get there but on some mornings, it will feel like I am dragging, deep down  I really really want to but I drag just because of something that’s on my mind or because my sheets seem to offer the best comfort. Sometimes it will be exciting things I can’t wait to get into or it will be troubling thoughts which again makes it ironic because I am meant to shake it all off at His feet so why would it distract me? I attended a kesha, that to this date, I would say, left me undone. The one prayer in my heart was “Whatever excites me more than you Lord, I don’t want it” This prayer has worked through and through in my life in keeping me in check and alert for any “idols”, because I know that if something else excites me more, then I have dethroned my King! On the flip side, anything else that is distracting also ought to be under scrutiny; exciting or not!

Emotional turbulence basically refers to disorganization in thoughts and emotions. It is stated that one’s capacity to hold a consistent mind frame decreases due to the fact that more than one emotion is experienced at the same time which makes it difficult for the individual to invest adequate amounts of energy into utilizing the useful purpose of these emotions one by one. Emotional turbulence could imply that one is drained of the energy that is needed to get out of a particular emotional state or into one if I may add.

Emotional turbulence equals poor performance starting with the small insignificant tasks to the ones that carry huge responsibilities like jobs! So long as we are riding the waves in our feelings, going up and down, we cannot be progressive! However you look at it, emotional turbulence is the reason why we are inconsistent in some of the things we do. Emotional turbulence is the reason why we hold off and procrastinate! Emotional turbulence is the reason why we go into things halfheartedly. A wise friend of mine added that Emotional turbulence is one of the worst ordeals one can go through because no one can see you go through it and it remains a silent battle but it is always comforting when you focus on who is fighting for you(our Lord Jesus) instead of what you’re fighting. At the same time, it is good because it tests the foundations we’re built on and makes us sober.

The New Believers classes I attended when I first got born again were truly instrumental in my salvation journey and I remember one diagram that was drawn symbolic of a train in the witnessing tool ; Four Spiritual Laws that explained the relationship between faith, truth and our feelings. The train symbolized how the truth of the Bible (engine), Faith (fuel) and Feelings(coach) work together in our Christian life . Truth however should always lead us and we are joined to truth by the power of faith and as we obey this truth, our feelings will follow along in the right way! We must trust God and His truth and not our feelings!

We have got to reprogram our feelings and guide them to move in line with the truth! My feelings will say “Don’t read the word first, just check if your friend replied the message you sent or you can skip devotion today, you are too exhausted ” while truth says “sanctify me with your truth, your word is truth and also that man shall live by every word that comes from the mouth of God and Psalms 63 reminds me to seek the Lord” . My feelings will say “Let her carry her own burden, she deserves it for hurting me. Truth will say “Bear each others burdens and it will say forgive each other despite the magnitude of the crime at hand“. From Jesus’ story in Luke 22:42 when He felt too overwhelmed to the point of asking for the cup to be taken away….He invited Truth which is the will of God when He said, “yet not my will but yours!” It’s more of saying “I feel like this and I don’t want to do this but what you want me to do is more important, so what are you saying Lord? What are we doing? I’ll do as you say ” (this is mastering your feelings by starting with acknowledging them. You can’t master what you are in denial about!)

Turbulence is good! It shakes you up and it could also make you get lost sometimes but it also knocks some sense into your head, because then you can realize the importance of what you wanted to give up. But to get to this realization, you have to fully be honest and meet with yourself and find out what truly is the problem because we sometimes move with our feelings and we never get over them because we fail to address the cause of it! Someone on the internet beautifully wrote “ When I know where the ouch is coming from, I can determine what the feeling is and deal with it accordingly. If I feel the ouch and I can’t pinpoint the source of the ouch, I won’t be able to cure the ouch. ” Master your emotions and feelings and have a sit down with them if you can bring them into the same room with you, because I know it is easier said than done! There have been survivors in the air and water turbulence…choose to be a survivor in these emotional ones ! Don’t let it wreck you!

Is your devotion time a victim of emotional turbulence?Is it your skill developing time?Is it a relationship?Is it your commitment to ministry?

As you become aware of your feelings and emotions in the turbulence, tie it up with truth with the help of the Holy Spirit! That’s the only way out!

You are light and you are so loved. Stay anchored and keep His light shining through!