READY TO EXPLODE

I remember the time my family moved to a new neighborhood (one of 20 or more moves, I might add). The night before we moved all of our furnishings to the new house, I took a bottle of homemade apple cider out of the refrigerator and set it on the kitchen counter.  The next morning as I was cleaning the counter top, the bottle exploded inches from my face. I hadn’t touched it! Glass splintered all the way across the living room which was separated from the kitchen by a partial dividing wall.  Praise God, the shattered glass didn’t leave a single cut or mark on my body.

Have you ever felt ready to explode?  Reading from, “Emotionally Healthy Spirituality,”* these words jumped off the page: “When we deny our pain, losses, and feelings year after year, we become less and less human.  We transform slowly into empty shells with smiley faces painted on them.”

The author continues, “Our God feels.” He then cites scriptures that show God’s emotions.

God cries out, is fierce with anger,

He is delight, grieved, jealous,

He has loving-kindness towards us,

He is sorrowful and troubled,

He is overwhelmed and full of joy.

Those times we feel something stirring inside can be kind of scary! For me, it’s often a signal change is “in the wind” and my emotions haven't quite caught up with the peace the resides in my spirit!

*By Peter Scazzero, Thomas Nelson, May 2011.