Read Psalm 73:25-26 and 2 Corinthians 12:10

The scriptures above are two that I have clung to, time and time again. Over the last 13 years, as a surrendered follower of Jesus, I have come across many seasons when I am emotionally exhausted. This could be from just life running its course, health, being a parent or starting a new job. 

I am no stranger to feeling deeply and, sometimes when I feel deeply, I begin to feel emotionally exhausted from all the changes, situations, newness, and the unknown that could be surrounding me. 

Something I love about the Psalms is that there is every emotion under the sun felt within the pages of its writings. At the end of all of the lamenting, most of the time, the authors will point back to the Lord and point back to His strength and His power pulling them through. 

My question to you is, “When you are emotionally exhausted, what do you do?” 

Do you sit back and read a novel? Watch a movie? Have dinner with a friend to vent about the frustrations that have pulled you into this season?

The biggest question is, “When you are emotionally exhausted, do you still honor the Lord with your time, talents, treasures, words, and actions?” 

It is so easy for us to feel our feelings because we live in a fallen world where everyone tells you “your truth is THE Truth!”, when that just isn’t a holy perspective. 

Something that I fall into when I find myself emotionally exhausted: I do one of two things:

1) The first is, I go to my closest friends to vent and whine before ever going before the Lord. In this, I have been convicted in the past that I am not leaning on Him but leaning on the validation of others. 

2) The other thing is that I tend to lose my sense of reality by spending my free time watching movies or television shows so that I do not have to think about all that I am going through or feeling. 

Would you say that either one of these is honoring the Lord first?

I wouldn’t. 

I have had to practice and re-train my brain and life to do something that is honoring before something that I feel like, so that I do not fall into the brokenness of this world that leads me down a slippery slope of sin. I have had to examine when I feel emotionally exhausted and, instead of going to a friend or losing myself in a false reality, I have learned to take actions of obedience by opening up the Bible and reading God’s Truth or journaling in a prayerful way in order to lay it down in surrender and gain a holy perspective. 

No matter what I do, I have to recognize that just like the author of this Psalm and Paul writes to the Corinthians; “My flesh and my heart my fail, but God is my strength and my portion forever”… and that, through the weaknesses I may go through, if I go before the Lord, I will learn that He is strong in my weaknesses and will always use them to make me stronger in character and faith. 

Now, ask yourself, do you honor the Lord when you are feeling emotionally exhausted? Do you give into your emotions and try to escape reality or do you go before the Lord and allow Him to reshape your perspective? 

Which one is most honoring? Do you honor Him?

Kelly Lawson