LET’S TALK ABOUT EMOTIONS.

God continues to place me in spaces and places with lots of women. I have such a passion for women leaning into their God-given identity. But! If I’m being completely honest, that was not always the case for me. I learned quickly (and by quickly, I mean by the age of 9) that girls were temperamental. I can vividly remember being in the 4th grade and working as a mediator amongst friends. As one friend shaded the other, I remember wondering, “This is moving so fast.” I couldn't get a word in edgewise and no one could see from the other person's point of view. I was NINE years old. 

Now, over 20 years later, not much has changed. I went to an all-women’s college and encountered some of the same roadblocks. This type of “hot and cold”, irrational, high-strung emotionality frustrated me. It was around this time that one of the most dangerous phrases reared its ugly head and, “I feel like” really caught steam. Do we remember? That phrase wasn’t always a thing. Suddenly, every woman in America started their sentences off this way. 

That phrase is dangerous for a multitude of reasons. 1) It was a way to mask our irrational behavior and paradigms behind a veil of “feelings”. When we say, "I feel like", it leaves no room for rebuttal or rebuke. We wouldn't dare invalidate someone's feelings, right?  … Even if it IS ignorant, disrespectful, or full of offense. 2) We, as women, began to place a lot of stock and value in our feelings for all of the wrong reasons. Feelings are great indicators of our heart health- like little alarm bells that signal to us in a very busy, distracting world. Nevertheless, feelings are fleeting and feelings are not always fact. Feelings, just like ideologies and paradigms have to be tested.

Can I be honest? I believe that women have a certain emotional and spiritual sensitivity that serves us well. We are compassionate and discerning. We are a soft and safe space for so many people in our orbit. However, we've become slaves to our emotions and feelings. We’ve lost dominion in this area and that was never God’s intention for us. When I think about people in the bible, I see people bringing their emotions to the Lord- consider Hannah, Esther, & Mary. These women experienced fear, pain, and anger… but they committed these heavy things to the Lord. On the other side, we’ve seen women let their emotions rule them (Sarai & Eve). Look, we’re human. We fall short of God’s glory. However, we have to pursue dominion in this area because relationships are dissolving. Sisterhoods are failing. 

Question: When was the last time that you let your emotions rule you? What kinds of spiritual disciplines can you put in place to grab dominion in this area?