I remember the day I stopped caring about emotional wellness or big dreams… or life in general.
Warning: This series on Emotional Wellness will be extremely personal and may challenge your beliefs about me, you, God, life in general… at least it has done that to me. (Don’t say I didn’t warn you)
Can you picture the naïve little girl?
Her long blond hair matted to her sweaty face from secretly exploring her brothers room. Brown eyes wide in wonder at the stash of odd shiny things tucked into a cabinet in the wall.
In walks her brother -raging in anger that his privacy has been invaded. He is breathing threats as he repeats a familiar line. “Go ahead and tell mom, she’ll never believe you”.
And with a sigh of resignation she walks away -knowing he is right…
“No one ever believes me,” she murmurs back. “I don’t matter,” she reminds herself. “They don’t really love me,” she believes inside her heart.
She walks away feeling defeated, unwanted, unbelievable, unlovable, hopeless… like so many other days in her life.
I grew up in a home filled with dysfunction (like so many in our culture).
My family was dealing with more issues than I can even label. They did the best they knew how. As an adult with my own family I have come to a place where I can forgive them and love them… though that took time and hard work between God and me.
I have an amazing relationship with my mom now.
I also love my brother and his precious family dearly. He was just a kid operating from a place of hurt. I forgave him long ago.
😉
I have spent the last decade working through the false beliefs I had about life and Faith (Some of that is here: Why I moved from Christian to Disciple). But I have struggled to deal with the Emotional things… because it’s harder -deeper- more painful.
I come from a place of Emotional Brokenness.
So why am I talking about this now?
In March our church invited an Energetic Speaker to our Women’s retreat.
Sandy Gross from Renewing Me Ministries is a dynamic speaker with a mission to teaching Christians to live a Healthy, Whole, and Flourishing Life in Christ…
Honestly I only went to the retreat to be social.
I needed a mommy break from my little blessings… do you ever need those?
Anyway, when Sandy began Friday I was sure the message wasn’t for me.
- My relationship with God is fine.
- We are closer than we’ve ever been .
- He is working on somethings, but not my identity…
Saturday morning Sandy began transparently sharing her own story and I felt this weight settle on my chest.
God was beginning to whisper “Tiffany, pay attention this is for you”.
Sandy challenged us to face the reality of our identity crisis. A crisis I didn’t realize I was having.
I believe God’s word and all He says about Himself.
But I don’t believe what He says about me…
Ouch.
She actually wanted us to speak these false self identities out loud.
I couldn’t and it rocked my world. Isaiah 43 keeps playing over and over in my mind since that weekend.
Sandy has written a Bible study to help dig through this mixed up identity problem. I silently prayed our church would not ask me to lead it because I knew I needed to take it.
There is an “Inseparable link between emotional health and spiritual maturity”.
I didn’t want to pursue this Emotional health thing.
It is hard.
I’d rather study about Ruth or Esther and gain Spiritual Knowledge.
But I felt God calling me to address these area’s where I am not agreeing with Him.
He is Always Right!
In obedience I will dig deeper.
∞
So Welcome to the chaos that lives inside my mind…
I’m going to unpack what God’s been teaching me about Emotional Healing and Spiritual Wellness. I pray you are encouraged.
Be warned: This stuff has gotten deep in my head and maxed me out on the Anxiety chart. I have been a hot mess for months because of working through this stuff. Hence the post last month about How I deal with Anxiety!
I’d love to share a Free 40 Day reading and Journaling Plan with you – it is what helps me find Hope & Joy through Anxiety!
in Him,
Emotional wellness is just as important as physical wellness. One cannot separate the body from the mind.
So true Heather. We shouldn’t, but we often try to!
Emotion wellness is a foundation for other areas to be good. Without having a good foundation you cant really build too well with other areas of life and family.
So true! Thanks for the comment Bernadette.
Great post! Emotional wellness effects our quality of life. It entirely depends upon our thinking. Be optimistic about life and make the choice to believe that it will pass by soon and Sun will shine again!
absolutely Sarah!
I really do believe that emotional / mental health is just as important as being physically healthy. If your mind is full of toxicity, it will affect you in many ways
so true. Thanks for dropping by Cassie!
I think I am going to get that book!! I need some emotional overdue in my life. I wish I was at the retreat!!
It has def been good for me… though stressful! I see good coming!
Emotional wellness is very important! It always bugs me when people act like it isn’t as important as being physically hurt.
So true… though difficult because you can’t see the emotional scars.
I love this post! It’s so important to find ones real identity and to let false beliefs go! This blog post was a great source of inspiration for me!
Thanks Cecilia. I am also enjoying your Vlog. You are inspirational!
Thank you for sharing this Tiffany, I have my struggles with it lately going through anxiety and depression. The verses you shared is what God has promised me when I faced a difficult time. I can’t wait to read your next post, I know it will be helpful 🙂
So glad it encouraged you Hannah!
Taking stock of your emotions can leave you vulnerable and confused. At least for me it did. But the minute I realized I had been set upon a path that no one could pull me from I began to feel better.
I get that. My husband gets all “I need to fix it” when I am anxious… and dealing with this stuff gets me anxious. So we are talking about it – A LOT. A difficult challenge to walk through, but it looks beautiful on the other side!
I loved this post! So much truth in your words. I too struggle daily with depression and anxiety so I needed this!!
So glad it encouraged you Keisha!
Well said Tiffany. I know full well that emotional health is critical. It carries over into our adult lives if we don’t deal with it. *We never think what the speaker or preacher is going to present is for us. 🙂 Thank you for this insight!
Thanks for the encouraging comment April! I know I start every single sermon getting in my own face “Tiffany listen for you, not for everyone else.”