For me, being a writer means that I’m a feeler. Sometimes, my feelings can become so big that they push out truth from my mind. Right now, it’s easy for me to slip into anxious patterns, to spend my day worried about my family, my students, and the future. In these moments, when my emotions feel like a tidal wave about to break, I go to the Psalms.
I love when David speaks to his soul like in Psalm 42:5—
“Why, my soul, are you so downcast?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God
for I will yet praise Him,
my Savior and my God.”
I love that David is brave enough to stare down his big feelings. He is downcast. He is disturbed. But he doesn’t allow himself to stay there. He puts faith in the character of God, over his feelings. David reminds his soul of who God is. It’s a practice that I do in my writing.
I want to share with you what I’m telling my soul in this season. I also want to challenge you to sit down and write encouragement to your own soul. Our feelings are real, but the faithfulness of God is more real.
Soul, in this season
of quiet rooms and streets,
let’s not be quiet.
When my heart fails and worries overtake me,
let’s remember,
God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.
When TV spews its litany
of bad news and unknowns,
let’s remember,
I will see the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living.
When it’s easier to groan
about unfulfilled dreams and unmet plans,
Soul, let’s sing,
“He makes a way in the wilderness,
brings us to streams of living water.”
When I’m afraid and sad
and miss my friends so much I ache,
sing Soul,
“Surely you are with me
until the very end of this age.”
Soul, decide. Choose.
Put a new hymn of praise
on your lips.
God is still good.
