Hey y’all- hope you’re having a great weekend. It’s been a few weeks since I’ve done a life reflections/faith blog post. As much as I enjoy sharing my passion for fashion, clean beauty, and travel with y’all, I would be doing y’all a disservice if I didn’t also go deeper and share my heart periodically. Although I have my shortcomings and am constantly in need of God’s grace, my faith in Jesus is the most important thing in my life. Therefore, I desire to constantly reflect this as best as my imperfect human self can. This means I try to regularly incorporate faith content into my blog. In addition, I’m a huge advocate for counseling, and eliminating the stigma of mental health. So today I’m combining my faith and my passion for mental health awareness by sharing a glimpse into one of my recent therapy sessions.
Photo by Amelia Cassar Photography
Feelings Are Personal and Messy
“I’m really not making any sense right now, am I?” I said these exact words to my therapist during a recent session. I was telling her how I’m wrestling with some feelings of weariness due to a season of waiting I’ve been in for years. She encouraged me to brainstorm some things that I could do to potentially make a certain desire of my heart of reality. However, as we talked through this together, I also began to feel conflicted. It’s not that I don’t want this particular thing I long for to become a reality. I absolutely do, with every fiber of my being.
But at the same time, I realized I felt reluctant to do certain things that could get me out of my current season and on to the next one sooner. Although these moves I could take to speed things up aren’t necessarily bad or ungodly things, I don’t think they are the wisest things for ME to do personally. Nor do I feel like they are what God wants me to focus on right now. ❕
As I wrestled aloud with these conflicted feelings, my therapist responded with, “Feelings aren’t supposed to be all organized and neat and tidy. They are personal and messy. You can be excited and wanting, but also scared to death.” This was so powerful and empowering to hear, and really stuck with me.
Your Feelings Are Valid
I’m so thankful for my therapist who continually reminds me that my feelings are valid. It’s so amazing to be able to navigate these messy and personal feelings with an unbiased professional. Seriously, if you’ve ever considered going to therapy, just do it! It doesn’t mean you’re crazy at all. The things that you think are crazy are actually quite normal and human. Furthermore, I have found that it’s so helpful to talk through life with my therapist even during weeks when my anxiety is mild, and I’m not working through anything major. The feeling of safety and ability to be totally open and totally myself when I’m on my therapist’s couch is absolutely amazing!
But God’s Promises Are Stronger
As grateful as I am for a therapist who understands me and validates my feeling, I’m even more thankful for a God whose promises are so much stronger than my messy but real feelings. When my conflicting feelings overwhelm me, I can rest firm in the One who is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And I have to remind myself that as open and honest as I can be with my therapist about my feelings, I can be even more so with God. I mean, He already knows my every thought, even before the words leave my tongue.
And because God’s promises are more powerful and true than my feelings, I can trust that His plan and timing is perfect. Although I do need to actively pursue things within my control that can possibly contribute to my dreams becoming a reality, I need to do so wisely. I need to not be so focused on my good desires, that I forget about the One who placed those desires within me. And I need to seek God and let Him guide me with respect to the ways He wants me to go after the desires of my heart, and the ways He simply wants me to wait on Him.
As I’ve learned in my Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) class this year, He is constantly at work behind the scenes setting His perfect plan into motion. Go read through the story of David in 1 & 2 Samuel, and of Solomon in 1 Kings to see examples of this.
So here’s to embracing my messy feelings, holding fast to God’s promises, and actively waiting on Him!
“Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” -Psalm 27:14
Photo by Amelia Cassar Photography
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-xoxo Liz
