It is what it is.

When I was deciding what to name this post I was thinking about naming it emotions, but then I thought that’s too basic. Then I remembered when I get an emotion it is what is is. There really isn’t a way around it. It just is..what it is.

I work with kids and I’m currently going to school for Early Childhood Education. Working with them has made me realize how important it is to talk about our emotions and what we feel. When working with kids we often forget that they are new in this world, and that means that they are experiencing things for the first time. If they feel something then they’ll feel it to the max and they won’t know how to process it. This is where we teach them. I’m going to go ahead and say that at my 25 years of age I feel like I am just now learning to do this. I never came from a family where we sat down and discussed what we were feeling and how to go about it. I came from a family where things were simply suppressed and never really touched because its just part of life. Now, as an adult I see and understand how that is damaging.

Ask anyone that knows the bible what the shortest verse is and chances are they’ll know it’s John 11:35. The verse is “Jesus wept” Not only is it the shortest verse it’s also a powerful verse. When I first learned about it I didn’t think much of it. Other than it was attached to the Lazarus story and how he rose from the dead. The story is about two sisters, Mary and Martha and how they were upset about their brother, Lazarus who had died. They called out for Jesus to come see about him. However before Jesus ever made his way to Lazarus he waited outside of the village near a gate. This is where he wept. Verse 33 says “When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled.”

Jesus knew the outcome of the whole situation, but still he wept. Him seeing them cry made him want to cry. He cried with them, he felt their pain on a deeper level. He didn’t tell them hey don’t cry! Instead he joined them, because our emotions and feelings are God given. How are you ever going to empathize with someone if you don’t understand the feelings. What I’m saying is it’s OK if you feel sad, mad, or disappointed. They’re very real and they’re very true. If you feel like crying then cry, if you feel like yelling then yell. But don’t let these emotions take over you, because let me tell you my friend they can. They can be powerful, everyone at some point in their life has said something or done something out of impulse from our emotions. I first hand have done this and to this day, it’s something I’m not proud of. The guilt, shame, and embarrassment is hard to handle when everything is said and done because you can find yourself in a delicate state. You can end up sabotaging yourself and getting in the way of God’s blessings because yes, even if it seems like a nightmare to us they can be blessings in disguise.

I remember praying to God to take this feeling away because I didn’t want to feel it. I didn’t want anything to do with it. I hated it! I wanted so bad to go to a time where I was OK, or simply to go back and not make some of the decisions that I had made. But I think God had me stay there for a bit so that I can feel everything he needed me to feel. Pain is part of the process, its part of growth, and if I’m being honest it’s the part I least like. It’s hard, overwhelming, and at times hard to control. But this doesn’t mean I give my faith up. God never gives us more than we can handle. So, he knows you’ve got this! He honestly has more faith in us than we have in ourselves.

Embracing pain or emotions doesn’t mean we don’t have faith, it simply means we’re being Christ-like, because even Jesus wept. So, don’t deny your emotions, pay attention to them but remember where your victory lies.