Do you feel like you’re waking up from a long nap? As America get back to work, how to do feel? Excited. Nervous. Anxious. Overjoyed. Thrilled. Scared. All of the above. 

When we started this pandemic, the whole thing came with emotional craziness. Fear being the first emotion we all felt, then other emotions joined the party. As we end it, we end it with that list plus more!!! How do we balance all the emotions? Is it possible to be excited and scared in the same emotional bucket?

Yes, you can, and we all have on many occasions. Remember bringing that first baby home from the hospital. So excited to welcome him or her to their new room; so nervous that you had no idea what you were doing. Remember the first day of college. So excited to meet new friends, sit in new classrooms; so anxious that you’re not prepared for new relationships, new studies. Excited and scared to death all at the same time! 

Dealing with two or three or four emotions at a time are really quite common for human beings. In any given day, we’re happy, we’re sad, we’re angry, we’re on top of the world, we’re frustrated. Facing different emotions are as much a part of life to a human as eating and sleeping. 

One dictionary definition of emotions is “a natural instinctive state of mind deriving from one’s circumstances, mood, or relationships with others.” Wow! Think about those three things and how much power they have over your emotions. Your circumstances—right now—might be pretty awful. We’ve been quarantined for eight weeks!! That is crazy to even think about. Your mood—okay, we all wake up with different moods every day. A mood is defined as a “temporary state of mind or feeling.” Obviously, we can’t count on our mood for much! How about your relationships—now we’re talking, right? We’ve been cooped up with the same people for EIGHT weeks!! If that doesn’t make you want to pull your hair out, I don’t know what does!! ☺

So, how do we get this “natural instinctive state of mind” to be one that everyone, including you, can live with?

Think about this. We are created in the image of God. We know that is true by verses such as Genesis 1:27. So, that means we have the emotions God has. We are capable of love and hate and joy and happiness and fear and joy because God is too. We share that with God, the Almighty who is above all and overall. He totally relates to us. He completely understands us. He “gets” us. 

But, we also know God desires that we control our emotions. Verses like James 1:20 that says, “Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires.” And Proverbs 16:32, “Better to be patient than powerful; better to have self-control than to conquer a city.” God asked us to be the boss over our emotions. Not the other way around. 

Self-control is a hard lesson to learn. Just by its name it defines the challenge–to control self. Self is an “all about me” premise. It’s always looking in a mirror instead of looking out a window. It’s focusing on what please “me” instead of what advances the kingdom or human kind or your marriage or your friendship or the mood of your family. 

I’m not gonna lie, there have been times in this quarantine that have challenged my emotional state. I have had to ask God—more than once—for an extra dose of patience and kindness and love. I’m thinking that’s the best plan for dealing with all these emotions. Just bring them before the Father. Tell Him what’s going on. How you’re feeling. What’s bothering you. If we recognize what’s going on and bring that issue to Him, then we can sit back and see how He asks us to deal with it. He might offer comfort and hope through His word; He might prompt you to an action, like to apologize or forgive; He might choose a song on the radio that speaks right to you or a person in your life who gives you the message you needed to hear. Whatever it is, we must be open to His solution to our problem. Trust me, our solution to our problem will never be as good as His solution. 

Another good plan is to have someone you love and trust that you can share your ups and downs with. I am not one for pity parties. NEVER do that! But, I understand the power of community in tough times. It’s freeing and powerful to have a friend you can share what’s going on with. Fortunately, in today’s world, technology allows us to have that even in quarantine days. I can’t even imagine the scale of loneliness felt by moms and grandmas during such times as the Wild West, where a neighbor might be miles away. Truly, it’s a blessing to have facetime and YouTube and email and Instagram and Facebook and web cast and on and on. Finding people, even in a quarantine, is not hard in 2020. But, finding a trusted friend might be. That means someone who doesn’t just collaborate with your bad mood, but challenges you out of it or sympathizes you through it. 

Then, the last thing that helps us balance our emotions is doing something meaningful. My word!!!! I have been so impressed with the helping hands that have come out of the corona virus. If I ever feel sad or sorry for myself or just in a bad mood, doing something—anything—for someone else takes care of it immediately. 

I know you sweet rock stars know all of this, but sometimes it good to be reminded. Right?

Have a blessed week. We love you and are praying for you and your families. If you have a prayer request, please leave it for us. We would love to pray for you.