Hey yall!! I hope you are having a great Sunday!! Today I wanted to just share a little something that inspired me today at church. You cant grow without feelings. Just a short message but I hope you enjoy it!!

The past few weeks at church we have been studying the book of Nehemiah. Let me just tell you now that if you have never read this book you should do it!! It is so inspiring. But today we finished up with an awesome message about how people have gotten into a habit of repressing their feelings. Throughout this message I will put a few things into quotations and please know that these are not my words but the words of our pastor and taken from my notes on his sermon but I wanted to share them because they really spoke to me!!

My first note I wrote down was “The reason Nehemiah lived such a great life is because he lived from his heart” this is the basis of the message I want to share with you today. We are taught in more ways than one to forget what our feelings are and use our head to guide the actions we choose to make. And while I think we should be smart and use common sense I think our pastor had such a great point when he said “God speaks to the heart” and a lot of us cant hear God because “we’ve detached our hearts”. God doesnt speak to our brains or our bodies but instead through the Holy Spirit in us and to me He dwells in my heart and soul.

Jesus was a perfect example of living this way. He lived in such a way that He would experience what was happening in His heart fully. He didnt hide His feelings or run from them instead He let them guide Him to His actions. This doesnt mean He lived impulsively by His emotions but instead allowed Himself to feel what His heart was experiencing without repression and then let it guide Him to His actions.

Pastor said,”Whats the point of feelings? When feelings connect with your heart it leads you to your purpose” which really made me take a step back and I had a moment of revelation.

I want to share something with you about myself that you may not know and I didnt know fully until today. I always came down on myself for having too many “feelings”, caring too much about people that didnt care about me or listening to what my heart was telling me and wanting to going with that but it was always “too much” or “too risky”. These were just patterns that I look back on myself making throughout my entire life and never saw any good come from them because I wasn’t looking for the blessing of being that way but instead I could only focus on the bad results of being that way. I remember telling a friend I wish I didnt “feel” so much and maybe I wouldn’t get hurt so bad. Today in church I laughed at myself for saying that because honestly after today I can be so proud that God made me that way. I now know what a blessing it is to be able to love with my whole heart or care about a project with everything I have because Im just that way. Im just a passionate person and when I find something I love (or someone) I just dive right in. I am loyal to a fault to people who aren’t loyal back which can lead to heartbreak but the blessing is that when the right people come into your life they will stay because you have the blessing of those “feelings” which can lead to actions that make strong relationships or being successful at living out your purpose.

Nehemiah was such a strong man. He took big risks and allowed himself to feel so many feelings before choosing to take those risks. If he would have never allowed himself to feel the pain of those walls being torn down and the conviction to help his people he would have never rebuilt the walls and made such an impact on the town. “Nehemiah identified and connected with what was going on inside of him and it led him to his actions”. If Nehemiah had not been willing to feel those feelings of pain and anger he would have been tempted to play it safe. See im not a play it safe kind of girl either. Im always ready to take the risk for something or someone I know God has led me to. You have to allow yourself to feel in order to take chances that you might have not taken playing it safe. “The connection to Nehemiahs heart motivated his activity”. 

I love what Pastor said, “We have been taught to live by practicality and logically. Relieving the tension and figuring it out on our own. What if we began to live like Nehemiah? What would happen if we reconnected our hearts to our brains?”. This is so true and I can tell you from a place of my heart and brain being so connected that its worth it. Its so worth allowing yourself to feel emotions that seem intimidating. It makes you stronger and wiser and allows you to be vulnerable to divine opportunities God puts in front of you. It gives you the opportunity to have solid morals and standards for you life and live in such a way that Jesus did. Feelings aren’t the enemy they aren’t meant to break us but to make us stronger. If its a negative feeling its there for a reason and you should get the root of what is making you feel negatively and then ask God to meet you there and guide you through it. I promise you will be stronger and no negative feeling lasts forever.

So if you are like me and you feel feelings really deep and to their fullest extent be thankful that you have this blessing and use it to your advantage. I do not think we should base our actions solely on our feelings but instead let ourselves feel whats truly in our heart and let that guide us in making our decisions. Dont take the easy way out and shut down. Dont look to activities or be indifferent towards things just because you dont want to feel uncomfortable feelings that you aren’t used to. Let yourself grow in the experience of a tough “feeling”. 

“If youre going to live a life like Nehemiah it starts by reconnecting with your own heart”. I love when he closed with this statement. Its so simple but if you know the character of Nehemiah and the impact he made by allowing himself to feel sad and angry (which led to passion and purpose) you would want to live that way too. Great power and growth comes from a person who allowed themselves to feel deeply. Growth never happens by playing it safe.I hope this message inspires you like it did me!! Thanks for reading!! xoxo-A