Emotionally Healthy Spirituality

"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."

"At the very least, the call of discipleship includes experiencing our feelings, reflecting on our feelings, and then thoughtfully responding to our feelings under the lordship of Jesus."

"Unconsciously we have a 'rule' against feeling, we don't think we should have intense feelings such as anger or sadness"

"The problem is that when we neglect our most intense emotions, we are false to ourselves and close off an open door through which to know God"

"The issue is not, by any means, to blindly follow our feelings, but to acknowledge them as a part of the way God communicates to us."

1 John 4:1 "Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God"

"God intends that we mature in learning to recognize how he speaks and guides us through our feelings"

"Emotions are the language of the soul. They are the cry that gives the heart a voice."

CHALLENGE-
"Allow yourself to experience the full weight of your feelings.  Allow them without censoring them.  They you can reflect and thoughtfully decide what to do with them.  Trust God to come to you through them.  This is the first step in the hard work of discipleship"

Quotes from Peter Scazzero's Emotionally Healthy Spirituality