“Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming.”

1 Peter 1:13

Well it’s that nice warm spring time weather. Here in North Carolina it pretty much skips the cool/warm and goes straight into the heat of the summer. This heat is too much for my bones, but it always reminds me of a classic warm weather movie; Frozen. Not you may being saying, “that’s a winter movie, silly,” but that’s technically not true. The movie takes place in summer, and is that important to what I’m talking about today? Not really, no. The reason I thought of this movie then shifted towards me thinking about the classic song from the film. Come on, I know you just started singing it in your head. The song “let it go” stands out in the flick, we see our ice princess finally using her X-men abilities and decides to cast off the words that people spoke over her. Now where Elsa is a tad misguided with her abilities and eventually learns the power of family love, it made me think of the idea, taking the emotions and words that we feel and hear, and simply letting them go.

Emotions are funny things. They make such a huge impact on us and can alter our state of mind for days. Anger, pride, depression; just a handful of what many of us experience on a daily basis. It can be hard to handle, but we need to let them go. “Oh wow thanks Joshua, haven’t tried THAT before.” I get it, I’m not being that guy, don’t let anyone tell you your emotions aren’t valid. You are feeling them, and while sometimes they may not be right, you are feeling them. When I tell you to let them go, I am saying that it’s time for you to stop bearing them on your shoulders alone. It’s time to let your emotions go, by giving them up to God. We are powerless to do it on our own, but our God who loves us and who has shown us such incredible grace can handle anything.

Stop letting your emotions control you, let them guide you.

One of the biggest dangers that I have done in my life, is let my emotions have complete control over my life. If we live our lives only listening to how we feel, we’ll end up falling deeper into our emotions. You know what happens when you let your anger control you? You hurt people. You know what happens when you let pride control you? You push people away. And you know what happens when you let your depression control you? You end up hurting yourself. I wish I could warn friends of mine in the past about that last struggle, because our emotions are not designed to control us, they are designed to guide us. They are there for us to say, why am I feeling this way? They help us find the root of the real struggle in our hearts. Your anger is not based in the car that cut you off, the anger is found in that situation where you feel like no one is hearing you. Your pride is not there because you are so good, your pride is there because you are trying to compensate for the people who said you wouldn’t be able to make it. Your depression is affecting you because you feel powerless to the events that have unfolded in your life. In all of our emotions is a true root cause, and we have to use these emotions so that we can tackle the bigger struggle.

In your struggle remember there is always hope.

I want to start off by saying that you are so worth loving. These emotions you have are real and it’s time to let them go. It is time to give them to the one who made you in his image and calls you his child. Our emotions are very extreme. If you’ve seen Inside Out then you have seen a great picture of this. Our emotions are designed to guide you, but when you only focus on them, the results become extreme. God wants to take you at your extremes and give you peace. When we give our emotions to Christ, we gain hope in the midst of our struggle. So when you are angry, you can tackle the root issue and let God clear your head. When you struggle with pride, you can listen to the voice of God telling you that he made you and you don’t have to earn anyone’s approval. When you struggle with depression, you can find purpose and people to surround you and help you when you feel alone. Because in all of this, you are never alone. You are a child of God, no matter how bad you think your past is or how far you may feel from God, you are his. He gave his life for you, so that you could live in freedom forever.

I hope this helps you today in the midst of your swirling emotions. I know for me this has been true. So many crazy emotions are all in our heads, but we can rest in the truth that God is stronger than all we feel. He can give us hope in all things. Just like that verse in the beginning, we can set our hope on Christ who is coming for you and we can have renewed minds. So in your walk every day, remember that silly song from one of my favorite movies. I know you may be annoyed by it or your kids may listen to it over and over, so I hope this breathes new life into it for you. Always remember to let it go, let it go. They can’t hold you back anymore, and now you’re free.

In the midst of swirling emotions, let it go to your creator.

-Joshua Thomas

 

Author’s note: I spoke on depression today, and when I mention it, I know how dark life can seem. I know that you feel alone and hurt, but there is hope. There is always someone there for you and I never want you to feel like you have no other option. If you are feeling suicidal thoughts, I want you to call this number (844) 359-6685

 

There is always hope, and your life has value.