By Pastor Andrew Farland
The President of the United States typically has fifteen cabinet members, people who lead important executive departments of the government. One person is in charge of housing development across the country while another might be tasked with caring for military veterans. The cabinet is intended to be a place where the President can gather information and piece together a picture of reality based on fifteen different perspectives. If the President listened to the leader of the country’s infrastructure more than the head of the energy department, he would come away with a skewed understanding of what’s going on.
Here’s my point. Your emotions are part of a cabinet of voices that paint reality on the canvas of your mind. The problem is, when you’re in a depression, you tend to allow one member of your cabinet to be the loudest and most influential in your decision-making. When I was going through a difficult season of depression, my emotions affected everything I did, believed, and kept me from healing for a long time.
It was when I realized that two other voices deserved the same amount of attention that I began to see a clear picture of who I was and where I needed to go.
Other people. What is true about you based on people’s perspectives? Even though you will filter their words through negativity, try to believe your friends’ encouragement. They are speaking the truth about you and you will need to lean on their words if you’re ever going to get better.
Your past. What is true about you based on past experiences? It is difficult to look back and remember the type of person you were before you got sick. I struggled with the same issue. But, force yourself to remember what interested you, what made you smile, what you were passionate about. You have not changed. The gifts, talents, and heart that God placed in you have not disappeared. Believe this.
Today, begin to put less stock in your emotions. Why? Because they will lie to you and keep you from healing. Just like the President, gather information from different places so that you can begin to clean up the metaphorical bacteria that has been growing in your mind that keeps you from believing how amazing you really are.
1 John 3:20
“God is greater than our feelings and he knows everything.”
Be encouraged today because God is with you.
