One of the most important lessons I have been learning on my journey to a full life in spite of illness, or whatever (you can fill in your particular “in spite of” here) —
I do not have to be a slave to my feelings. Feelings are feelings. They are normal. They are a part of the human condition.
It’s what I do with the feelings that will lead to either contentment or despair. . .
As a “part B” to this lesson — I can’t trust my heart. My heart lies to me. My feelings will lie to me.
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? I the Lord search the heart and test the mind. . .
Jeremiah 17: 9,10 ESV (emphasis mine)
So I come back to the truth. God’s Word. God’s character. God’s ways.
I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds. I will be glad and exult in you; I will sing praise to your name, O Most High. Psalm 9:1,2
Acknowledge not only God’s sovereign right to rule, but also the fact that He is ruling. I only see part of the picture, not the entire picture.
But the Lord sits enthroned forever; he has established his throne for justice, and he judges the world with righteousness; he judges the peoples with uprightness. The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you. Psalm 9:7-10 ESV
When I am frustrated; when I feel like life is unfair; when I feel insignificant and ignored; when everything just hurts and I think, “what’s the use?”
I tell myself the truth. I refuse to listen to my lying, deceitful, sick heart. I remember that God is Sovereign. He loves me. He sees everything. He misses nothing.
He is God Most High.
Plea for Grace 