Feelings

 God has been working on me a lot lately about my feelings. I have said it before, and I will say it again, there is a stigma in the church about mental health. So many Christians say things like, “I’m too blessed to be stressed”, or they say it’s unchristian to be depressed or anxious. These things are extremely invalidating. Please, please, please stop saying these things!!! Your feelings are always, always, always valid, but they are not always true. God doesn’t want us denying our feelings. There are so many people in the Bible, which was inspired by God, that expressed their feelings. Jeremiah was known as the “Weeping Prophet”, Solomon expressed that there was, “nothing new under the sun”, David shared his feelings in so many of the Psalms, Elijah told God that he just wanted to die, and even Jesus expressed his feelings. Jesus wept when Lazarus died, and he was so anxious when it came time to die on the cross, that his sweat became drops of blood. This doesn’t sound to me, like God wants us to deny our feelings. God wants us to share our feelings with Him. Even if we are mad at Him, He wants us to tell Him. He is a big boy, He can handle everything that we have to tell Him. He knows it all anyways, so why not tell him? 

So what should we do instead of denying our feelings? I’m reading a really great book at the moment. It’s Heal Your Hurting Mind by Craig Groschel. It’s a book about mental health. There is a section on depression, and Craig tells us we should acknowledge our feelings, acknowledge that we have hope, and acknowledge that we need help. Don’t shove your feelings down, ignore them, and hope they go away. Our feelings are given to us by God. We need to acknowledge them. We need to stop, and ask ourselves how we are feeling. Name those feelings. It doesn’t matter what they are, name them. Then, we can acknowledge that we have hope. We have a God Who loves us, Who is faithful, Who will provide for us, and Who is always there for us. Naming our feelings doesn’t negate that in any way, it actually makes it even more powerful. Then we need to acknowledge that we need help. That help can come from many sources. It can be medical help. Did you know that anxiety can come from some nutritional deficiencies? Having low levels of magnesium, vitamin D, B vitamins, Zinc, and Iron, can cause or exacerbate anxiety. Depression can be caused by an imbalance of chemicals in your brain, so medications can be helpful for that. Taking medications for depression and anxiety, which can be caused by medical issues like brain chemical imbalance or other issues, is just like taking medications for diabetes, high blood pressure, or high cholesterol. Help can also come from a mental health therapist. It helps so much to talk things out, and to get a different point of view from a different perspective. You could also get help in the form of prayers from a friend or church family. Sometimes help comes in the form of just getting out of the house and having some fun. Help comes in many different ways. 

I’m open about my mental health because I want others to know that they are not alone. I want others to be open about their mental health as well, and not have to be afraid of being judged or looked down on for it. Let’s lose the stigma related to mental health in the church. Instead of being invalidating, and kicking people while they are down, let’s be encouraging, and helpful, and help them up. Isn’t that what the Bible tells us we should do? Let’s be like Jesus and be loving and open about our feelings.