I don’t think that God is as offended as we might think by our honest-hearted rantings, the ones plump with pain. Emotions are part of the human condition. They’re neither good nor bad, they just are. Granted, some emotions are more pleasant than others. Give me glad over mad or sad any day. He’s the One who installed in us the “feelings chip” when he made us in his likeness. He’s a God who feels and he made us to be feelers.
What matters is not how I feel, but what I do with how I feel—how it affects my journey and how I affect those with whom I journey. Whether I am angry, sad, terrified or worried, I was endowed with these capacities at birth. They’re reactions to human circumstances, and if I’m human I’ll experience them. But how will I deal with these feelings? How will I keep them from bullying me?
When fears begin to bury me, I look up and pray: “Come quickly, Lord, and answer me, for my depression deepens. Don’t turn away from me, or I will die” (Psalm 143:7).
– Originally published in The Other End of the Dark: A Memoir About Divorce, Cancer, and Things God Does Anyway
barney wiget 