Faith Over Feelings

Trust your faith over your feelings. Feelings are fickle and always changing, but your faith is constant.

When you’re feeling down, know that God’s Word is still true and that He is still with you because His Word says so.

Psalm 42:5 gives us each step we need to take to move from being ruled by our feelings to being led by faith in God.

Have you ever woke up and just felt off? You just didn’t feel like yourself in your heart and mind was bombarded with anxiety and fear even before your feet hit the floor. Then those feelings followed you throughout the day.

Too often, we think feelings are out of our control, but the Spirit of God gives us control of our hearts and minds. This means we don’t have to be led by our feelings. The Bible tells us to be led by the Spirit (Galatians 5). We cannot be led by both. We can face a barrage of emotions that are very real. How do we choose not to be led by feelings but faith instead.

First we must understand and process our feelings. Don’t ignore your feelings or act like they don’t exist. David spoke to his soul saying in Psalm 42:5, “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me.”

David didn’t pretend like he felt fine when he doesn’t. He was honest about feeling down and we need to do the same. We can’t control our feelings if we act like we don’t have feelings. At the same time we can’t control our feelings if we only acknowledge how we feel and stop there. God calls us to be led by Him does not mean we ignore how we feel. That’s why in 1 Peter 5:7 He tells us why He calls us to cast our cares on Him.

Taking time to pray to God and pour out our hearts, being honest with Him about how we feel and knowing He can take it releases a lot of weight off our shoulders. The first step isn’t about being led by our feelings it is to first realize how we feel and process why we may be feeling that way. Once you’ve processed your feelings, don’t stop there, if you do they can stay with you.

The next step is redirecting your focus. The next line in Psalm 42:5 is “Hope in God.” David feels his feelings, but then he tells his soul to “hope in God.” Feelings, come and go and they do not have control of our actions. We still get to choose how we respond and what we do. We can say. “Yes I feel down today, but I choose to trust God.” Feelings may pop up unexpectedly, but we get to choose what we believe and what we focus on.

Psalm 42 teaches us to focus on God, and place our hope in Him. We can shift our focus to Him because the truth is He is bigger than any feeling we have and He is greater than any circumstance that may be causing us to feel the way we are feeling. Because He is greater we can praise God anyway.

Psalm 42:5 goes on to say, “Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him, my salvation.”

I like the progression of this verse. First David is downcast. Then he decided to have hope anyway. And finally he tells himself that he will praise God. Don’t let your feelings stifle your praise. Not only can praising God‘s shift our feelings, praising Him will lead us to having the right feelings.

We don’t have to wait until we feel good or life is purpose to praise God. We would be waiting forever if we do that. But we can focus on God and praise Him despite our feelings. Freezing God doesn’t have to be during worship songs. It’s doing the next right thing in spite of our feelings. Faithful lives aren’t led by feelings, but by God.

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” – Hebrews 13:8

Physical Exercise

What is your favorite form of physical exercise?

My favorite kind of exercises are hiking and swimming.

Both of these are endurance exercises that improve cardiovascular health. And while I can’t hike the harder distances after a knee surgery a few years back I still enjoy the easier trails.

A Hostile World

In a world of hostility toward truth, a world infatuated with sin, a world full of broken people who want to rule themselves. That’s the world that Jesus was born into. That’s the world Jesus received, one with hatred. We shouldn’t expect to be received any different.

“If the world hates you, know that it has hated Me before it hated you” -John 15:18

In a political climate and culture wars we are harshly reminded that all isn’t right with the world. Total justice has yet to be served. We are a nation of lost souls who need the rule of Jesus the King.

Right now rather than joy and peace flourishing, tensions are high and truth is a battle to be bought. Jesus came into this world, freely and joyfully, and He walks closely with us.

Every day, a person either gets closer to Jesus or falls away from Him, there is no neutral ground that exists when it comes to knowing the Son of God. Each passing day, the lines get easier to see. I think this is why Jesus asks, “But who do you say that I am?” -Matthew 16:15. How we answer reveals how we relate to Jesus, and how we relate to Jesus determines our eternal future. Those stakes could not be higher.

When Jesus heals the demon-possessed man the crowds fear Him and want Him to leave (Luke 8:26-29, Mark 5:1-20). The refusal of Jesus, the only Son of God. This refusal continues today, as people reject Jesus’s kingship, hate His light, and are offended by His truth.

If we are following Jesus, we might feel like we are in similar circumstances, especially as a result of our faith in Jesus. Jesus knew the outright refusal in a hostile world.

I imagine the increasing tension Jesus felt, of being preyed on by His opponents, because they wanted Him to mess up, and some actually enjoyed thinking it happened.

This was Jesus’s reality. The spiritual elite stuck close to Jesus not to follow Him, but to frame Him. Their supposed commitment to truth led to Jesus’s incriminating on the cross. Even there as He suffocated until His death, they cursed Him.

The world is clouded with hostilities of earthly accusations. It’s our greatest enemy at work. We should be comforted because Jesus knew the accusation of a hostile world, and He walks closely with us.

Jesus is a Savior who was abused, but He is also the Deliverer of abusers. Only the Son of God, with all love and justice, could appeal on behalf of His torturers.

One day Jesus came into a hostile world. The kingdom of God was broken into reality through human form, a promise proven in Jesus that His people would be governed and enlightened by Him from their darkness (Isaiah 9).

“For you will not abandon my soul in Sheol, or let your Holy One see corruption” -Psalm 16:10

One day when Jesus returns to crush the serpent’s head once and for all (Genesis 3:15), His reign and victory will be ultimately finally proven and our battle against hostility will be finished forever.

Jesus came to conquer this world. And He walks closely with ours.

Going To The Moon

How much would you pay to go to the moon?

I personally would not pay anything to go to the moon. It’s a place that I have no desire to visit.

Alternative Career Paths

What alternative career paths have you considered or are interested in?

I’ve worked many jobs in my life from serving meals at a college to working with the elderly. But in the end I’ve always wanted to do something that helped people. Maybe it is because of the way I grew up. I hate to see people hurt.

I think about my past work and most of it involved helping people. I can’t see me doing something that wasn’t helping someone whether it be someone who was hurting emotionally or physically.

I have been very blessed that I have had the opportunity to be a wife and a mother. If I had to change my life’s work It would be a counselor or a life coach.

The Time Keeper

We as human beings are very clock-driven. We plan entire days around time. We design work, family, recreation, and even worship around tightly fashioned schedules. We might even think that our time is our own. It’s not. It’s His.

In Psalm 31 David expresses His belief that all of life’s circumstances are under God’s sovereign control. In his cry of deliverance he says, “My times are in Your hand.” It’s a climax with a beautiful confession of faith, “But I trust You, O Lord.” David found hope, strength, and relief in the hand of the Time Keeper.

I find it interesting that the Hebrew Word picture for time is conceived as an opportunity. Its root meaning is duration, experiences, and filling of time. I think what David is really saying is that my times of opportunity, all experiences, and filling of my time are all in Your hand. What a powerful revelation.

We are told that Solomon was very wise. He was blessed with the wisdom of God after he had, lived a long prosperous life. He wrote the book of Ecclesiastes. In Ecclesiastes 1:3 he declares that, “To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven.” God’s purpose.

Acts 17:26 tells us, “He made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the surface of the earth, having determined appointed seasons, and boundaries of their dwellings that they should seek the Lord, if perhaps they might reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.” God determines our appointed seasons. There is no such thing as useless time. There is a set time and set season for everything that the Lord has in store for you in life.

Understanding your time and seasons will help prevent you from making a lot of mistakes in the future, and it will also help you from making wrong turns and unwise decisions. If we understand the season, we will know if it is the right time to make a move.

We should make the most of our time, and conduct ourselves having the fear of the Lord (Holy fear) during our time on earth. Knowing that God loves us and cares for us enables us to stay steady in our faith regardless of what time we are living in. It keeps us from sinning foolishly by taking the time into our hands in God’s timetable.

‘See then that you walk circumspectly not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil” –Ephesians 5: 15-16

We need to rescue the time that remains in our lives. We can only redeem today and plan to redeem tomorrow, because yesterday is gone. We alone are responsible for using what God has given to each of us -time. When we do that something amazing happens.

“He makes everything beautiful in its time” -Ecclesiastics 3:11

Food Specialty

What food would you say is your specialty?

I don’t really have a food specialty. If I eat or see something that looks or tastes amazing I attempt to make it.

My new favorite is pork carnitas rice bowls. I know many people don’t eat pork, with cilantro lime rice but you could also make it with chicken, or beef. My tip is use sour cream or cream Mexicana on top.

Pork Rice Bowl

The Road To Brokenness That Leads To True Living

Facing hardship and brokenness seems to be a necessary path we must take to get to spiritual maturity, a deeper relationship with God, and a more authentic life.

Challenges can break down a reliance on ourselves as well as earthly desires and make us more receptive to God’s plan and presence. When we can embrace brokenness it can lead to a more genuine and fulfilling existence that replaces a self-centered life with one that is guided by God’s purpose.

There are a few ways that brokenness can lead to true living.

  • Maturity and reliance: Hardships can force us to relinquish reliance on earth, our security and learn to depend on God’s provision and love. Through this process, we learn to replace self-life with God’s will, leading to spiritual maturity.
  • Deeper Intimacy: Going through trials and feelings of brokenness can lead to a greater and more intimate relationship with God, as we are forced to seek and rely on Him more.
  • Reframing Value: When we reframe values we realize that worldly success, possessions, or fame and fortune are not the source of true living because they are temporary. True living is found in relationships with God, family, and friends which are found through brokenness, not material pursuits.
  • Personal and spiritual transformation: Spiritual transformation through brokenness involves recognizing and embracing our vulnerabilities, which leads to a deeper reliance on God. This allows us to heal and grow, which ultimately results in stronger faith and a more profound understanding of our purpose.
  • Finding blessing in hardship: Contrary to the belief that brokenness leads to destruction, it is a process that God uses to bring about blessings that could not be found otherwise.

In practice this means we should embrace hardship. Instead of fearing challenges, we should be open to how God can use them to mold and shape us through them.

We should try and let go of the urge to control our hardships. This involves a willingness to let go of control and cry out to God, allowing Him to put the pieces back together in His way, which is often better than we could have imagined for ourselves.

Finding strength in our vulnerabilities. This means acknowledging and embracing brokenness is not a sign of weakness but a path to a greater connection with God.

Acknowledging our earthly brokenness comes from recognizing that we live in a broken world and will face difficulties. But also recognizing that there is good news, that overcoming brokenness is possible with faith.

The Chain Breaker

Jesus is the only one who can break spiritual chains and deliver people from the power of darkness, and that’s exactly what He came to do. He is the chain breaker.

Jesus has the power to liberate people from spiritual, emotional, and physical bondage. This includes breaking the chains of sin, death, fear, and addiction. His blood was the ransom paid to liberate our souls from sin and death.

Jesus put on our chains of sin and broke free. When we become alive in Christ Jesus we are able to see that our past, present and future don’t have to drag us down or hold us back because Jesus is victorious and has overcome the grave.

The way I see it, is every morning we have a choice to make. We decide whether we will put on the heavy coat and put the chains back on. Or will we exchange them for garments of light clothes of freedom that Jesus offers us?

We are loved. We are chosen. We have been forgiven. God has good plans for our future and He is always faithful to keep His promises.

We must fight every day because living in freedom that Jesus bought for us matters. The blood of Jesus washes us clean, so we never have to writhe in darkness again. We shouldn’t sit in darkness when we can be standing in the light of His presence.

We all have seasons of isolation on those days, when you feel the darkness creeping in remember that Jesus’s hand is stretched out towards you.

Historical Events

What major historical events do you remember?

I remember the Vietnamese war mostly because my father used to talk about it a lot – being a war veteran himself. He was against communism. He believed as most people did the socialism and communism is bad for the average citizen. It is big government wanting to control everything. The key strategy was to prevent communism from spreading beyond where it already existed.

I fight it interesting that is what we are fighting against in America -big government wanting to control everything. Most citizens want small government and be allowed to live their own lives.

Biggest Risks

What’s the biggest risk you’d like to take — but haven’t been able to?

Most people take the biggest risks out of necessity, survival, or hope for a better future.

The biggest risk I am willing to take right now would be to travel alone to see my son. He lives in a large city and with things the way they are in society I know it wouldn’t be very safe to travel alone. But if it became a necessity I would take the risk.