Welcome to our 3rd and last day of our series! Ready for today’s topic – wallowing? It’s a tough subject, but if I’m going to encourage you to be honest, it has to start with me, right? My goal is to be honest about the yuckiness of wallowing so that the truth can bring you healing. I hope that you will also feel the love with which these words are spoken.
Let’s dive in…
If the enemy can’t use false-guilt (like we talked about yesterday) to make us feel badly about our feelings, he will be just as happy to keep us wrapped up in them. Why does he love it when we wallow? It means that our focus has moved from God to ourselves and what we feel. Our emotions become the center of our lives. They control us. We become unable to go out into the world serving God, glorifying Him – and the enemy celebrates.
We may be praying, but we’re holding on to our grief instead of giving it to God. Yes, we’re being truthful, but we aren’t engaging in the battle to be healed. We are stuck.
We have to be equally honest about our motives. Do we like the attention we get from our misery? Do we think we’re demonstrating the fruit of the Spirit, long-suffering? We have to ask the painful question, is there something in me that wants to be stuck instead of healed?
I know I sound harsh, but I’ve watched too many people I love deeply stay stuck year after year in their hurt. They don’t get to experience the joy and the victory God has for them, even during their trials. I believe God’s heart breaks with longing to heal the hurt, wash off the muck, and fill them (and you!) with the fruit of His Spirit. When we wallow and when we are stuck, we cannot live for Him. We live instead for our feelings. I want so much better for you, my friend! There is great freedom in voicing our feelings, but there’s a danger in becoming their slave. As much as we need to be honest about our feelings, there comes a time when we need to take action to heal.
You may have seen yourself in my descriptions of the dangers of self-pity. Maybe, now, you realize that you haven’t been truthful in your heart or with your words. Maybe you recognize that you have become enslaved to your emotions. Or, maybe, after reading this, you’re just afraid of ever doing either. What do you do? What is the action we need to take to be free and protected from falling into either of these dangers – ignoring sorrow or wallowing. We follow the steps found in Matthew 7:7,
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find;
knock, and it will be opened to you,” (NKJV).
1. We Ask – Ask God to teach you His truth and for His help to be truthful. Most importantly, ask to be healed, not stuck in your emotion. This healing comes from prayer, reading God’s Word, and time with Him. Ask for His protection from false-guilt, ignoring sorrow, and wallowing. Ask! Ask! Ask! We need His help!
2. We Seek – Seek God’s truth through Bible study and prayer. This is how our thinking is transformed from focused on feelings to focused on Him. Work to be honest about what is in your heart.
3. We Keep Knocking – When sorrow, anger, or doubts enter your heart, go back to God. Knock on His door through prayer. Then go inside His throne room and share your thoughts honestly. Be ready to receive His counsel and compassion.
These are not steps to be taken in order and done only once, like climbing the steps of a staircase. Instead, these are the steps of a dance, flowing from one to another to yet another. We never stop seeking, asking, or knocking. Those dance steps become part of our lives.
We must stay on the journey to be truth-filled, so take up His yoke my friend, and take each step with your Savior.
In His Love,
Kimberly
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