Unburying the buried emotion

How does a person that has stifled certain emotions for so long share those emotions? Are you that person? I am and to be honest I have become very good at not showing emotion. I would even rate myself as an expert, God Father level, on burying emotions. My wife tells me that burying my emotions is not good for my health. I understand that. I am sure that my Doctor friends will soon message me or comment that my wife is correct. They will dive into medical talk about how your blood pressure is affected or that keeping emotions locked in a cage will do damage to your heart. They might even explain how your brain gets rewired. But what does the Bible say about emotions? We will get back to that.

Miss Kay is a godly woman who showed me love and compassion when I needed it most. A paragraph or a book will do little justice on how vital Miss Kay was to shaping my life. You all know my testimony, and if you do not you are more than welcome to read some of my previous posts. Miss Kay opened her house, her family, her heart, her bible, and maybe most importantly her refrigerator to me. Don't get me wrong, my buddies and their folks opened their homes, hearts and refrigerator to me during my teenage years, but Miss Kay took the time to sit me down, pray with me and for me, and talked to me about God as often as I would let her. There is no doubt in my mind that when Miss Kay wakes up every day that the devil groans and says "Great. She's up again." Miss Kay is a warrior for God and to see this powerful woman today in ICU did something to my emotions. I began to feel emotions that I have kept hidden away since I saw my grandmother in the hospital as a 16 year old. My eyes began to leak.

They, whoever they are, say that real men show emotion. I suppose that's a cute thing to say and "they" may be right, but is that an accurate statement? We all are created in the image of God, whether you like it or not. We are blessed to feel emotions such as joy, happiness, sadness, and grief, just to name a few. But we should not allow emotions to control us. For instance, James 1:20 says "for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God". Have you heard the old saying "just follow your heart"? That is probably the worst advice you may ever receive in your life. Have you followed your heart to chase after that boy or girl? How did that end? Or how about following your heart to buy that big money purchase? How did that end? I could go on and on.

I am not saying that having emotions is bad or that we should not show emotion, but I am saying that we should not be guided by our emotions. We should be guided by the Holy Spirit. We should also share our emotions with fellow believers. Read Romans, Hebrews, Galatians, and 1 and 2 Corinthians to learn more.

I may be good at burying my emotions, but as a friend once shared with me "Buried emotions will soon be found and buried emotions will find a way to surface up". Credit John Dennis for saying that to me. Thank you for your prayers for Miss Kay. Thank you to Trudi, Kirk, Shirley, and Martin for being my unpaid therapists. And thank you to good friends who always have my back.

In Him,
Jimmy