To some people, 'emotion' may sound like a 4-letter word. Maybe you've come to believe that emotions and feelings are meant to be stuffed down, not shown, and therefore, not worked through. Yet others have so many emotions they don't know how to handle them all.  

Whatever end of the spectrum you fall on, emotions can be a healthy, good, and worthy thing. In Psalm 139, Scripture says God “knit us together in our mother's womb and created us fearfully and wonderfully". He didn't just slap us together. He didn't just create our bodies.. but every single thing that makes us...us. Emotions are a part of who we are and how we have been designed. God Himself is the Author of Creation, and part of the complexity of being created human is having emotion. We know that even Christ faced difficult emotions (i.e. anguish when Lazarus died, sorrow in the garden of Gethsemane, righteous anger in the temple). Because of this, we don’t have to be hesitant to own them, work through them, and love ourselves because of them. 

What do we do with those emotions that are difficult though? The emotions that are unbecoming, painful, challenging, or downright prove that we have a sin nature? Wouldn't it be revolutionary if there was a clean cut answer or a magic skin care solution that we could apply and be cleansed of every emotion that affects us negatively? Unfortunately, nothing like that exists... however, there are ways that we can begin to deal with hard emotions biblically. The next time pride, envy, disappointment, loneliness, anger, or an emotion of the like pops up... we can rest assured that they won't last forever.  

Scripture tells us in Jeremiah 17:9 that the "heart is deceitful above all else" and 2 Corinthians 10:5 says that we need to "take every thought captive". See, our emotions often coincide with our thoughts. They are not just what we feel but develop from what we think, and they can eventually manifest into who we are and what we do. But if we take every thought (and feeling) captive, we can align it by the standard of Scripture. And if Scripture never returns void and is living and active, then we can know that we are actively participating in finding the right space for our difficult emotions.  

Taking every thought captive is neither stuffing everything down nor limiting who we are. Rather, it’s like God has a perfect spaghetti strainer that helps us filter all that we feel. It catches the good and helps us release the bad. His strainer helps you to find the right and appropriate time and place to handle (and eventually release) that envy or bitterness that you have towards that woman in your small group or the loneliness you feel when you go home alone and eat cheese puffs everyday, sighing as you scroll through social media.

Your emotions are part of who you are and how you have been created. There is no getting out of facing difficult emotions in our lives, and how we handle emotions can be the biggest difference maker in how we step into tomorrow.

So how is this possible? A few suggestions: 

- Pray and ask God for even just strength in the moment ("God, help" .. it can be that simple). 

- Find a trustworthy friend who can help shoulder the burden and will pray with/for you. 

- Meditate on Scripture, journal, blast worship music, go for a run, be slow to speak. 

p.s. There is ABSOLUTELY space to sit on the couch and cry or aggress on a punching bag. Some days, all we might be able to muster is "Jesus, help me". I'm not saying taking our thoughts/emotions captive is easy, but it is holy and helpful.