Controlling your emotions

Philippians 4 vs 6

“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.”

Emotions are a big aspect of life that can sometimes get the better of us, we never really seem to have total control over them. In an instant you can break out into tears or you can equally break out in laughter. Within seconds you can swing from euphoria to depression.

In the blink of an eye your circumstances can change, we all have this switch that is triggered by stimuli. We handle our emotional make up differently. Some of us have emotional intelligence, which is the ability to regulate and control how they feel; they can systematically move between the various shades of how they feel and manage it to a tee.

On the other hand, others lack control in whatever form. At the drop of a hat they will swing between extremes, they are easily flustered and battered. They are affected by, and react to, words, actions and circumstances a lot more than the average. They literally live on the edge, never really knowing what will happen next.

A niece of mine was on assignment, and during a phone call to me, she told me that she was watching a sports match and that she was not sure if her team would win or not. She said that her emotions were on edge and she was just about to burst with anxiety. I asked her how long the game had been going on and she said it had just started but that result was so crucial that she could not sit. “Uncle I am a wreck”, she confessed.

As we continued to speak I then asked her what use it served for her to be so uptight and that she must work towards having some faith that the Lord would direct the affairs at hand. Whichever way, there would be a result, it was just a matter of time. I then boldly told her that her team would win and therefore she must just relax.

Our conversation seemed to have worked and she duly calmed down and watched the remainder of the match. Her team went on to lose. During the course of that match she had worked herself up to a point where she was now even endangering her health. You can only imagine what was going on inside of her; it must have been a torrent of extreme blood pressure and the generation of acid caused by anxiety.

We are all guilty of that, of allowing our emotions to endanger our very existence. The next morning she told me she had to go to the doctor after her ordeal and that the doctor told her that her organs had been through so much strain that she was in a bad shape.

As I thought about her and the unnecessary place she had taken herself to, it got me thinking of how we place a lot of importance on things that do not matter, to a point where they wreck havoc in our lives.

Our priorities are so misplaced that we have begun to make life even more difficult for ourselves. We want to be in control and succeed at the things that we think are important. Other than the joy it may bring you, does it really matter if your sporting franchise wins or not?

We have allowed life to define what matters and what is important, and in the process we have taken God’s supremacy over things. Is it really necessary for us to always be on an emotional roller coaster?

Should we not put our lives in the hands of the Lord and trust that wherever we find ourselves at, He is at the forefront and that His will for our lives is what matters? Allow the Lord to direct your steps, put Him in charge of your life and wherever you find yourself, trust that He knows best. Working yourself up into a heart attack is not His plan for your life, you are in control of nothing. He is in control and He knows best.

Be Blessed

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