God is Real No Matter How You Feel

Feelings -- we all have our share of them. They can be compared
to "drifting clouds" that momentarily appear and then fade away.
Sometimes they arrive unannounced, and other times they are welcomed
like an old familiar, stuffed chair.

In case you haven't noticed, our feelings can be very unpredictable.
On certain days, they can be very gentle and warm. On other days,
however, they can be like a howling wind, fierce and unceasing,
tossing us to and fro like a rag doll. They have often been
described as fickle, fleeting, superficial, shallow, deep, intense,
void, and empty. They are denied, stifled, and stuffed, and on some
occasions, encouraged to be expressed. Like clockwork, they will
show up… and other times they are nowhere to be found.

If we make the mistake of allowing them to go unchecked for any
length of time, we soon discover that we are no longer in the
driver's seat -- they are! God, acting as our heavenly highway
patrolman, will pull us over and write us a "love summons" that
jolts us back into reality. He reminds us that He has already given
us divine authority over our emotions and that we have every right
to call the shots. We can "make an arrest," if you will, by no
longer allowing our feelings to dictate the way our day should go.

The wonderful truth of the matter is, though our feelings fluctuate
from day to day, nothing can change the unmovable character of God.
Isn't that a reassuring promise? In Him, there is no shadow of
turning (James 1:17). He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

God can handle our misbehaving emotions. He can even handle our
hissy fits. He is a patient, loving Father who graciously looks past
the exterior noise of our reeling emotions, and seeks to develop
within us a solid foundation of faith and trust.

No matter what feelings may sweep over us, it is faith, not feeling,
that God is after.

As I dusted off my old family hymnal, I discovered the lyrics from a
rather famous song called "The Solid Rock" that seem to say it so
well:

When darkness seems to hide his face,
I rest on his unchanging grace,
W hen all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my hope and stay.

On Christ the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand,
A ll other ground is sinking sand.

By Missey Butler