Tag Archives: Emotions

July 7, 2024 · 1:29 pm

Rhythms of Life

Robert W. Odom Ph. D.

I recently read an article by Joanna Gaines in which she stated that we can shift our rhythm in life. You know how it goes. We have developed a way of doing things and a pattern of how we approach life. But when that rhythm is upset or out of tune (to continue the musical analogy), we are impacted, and life changes as we know it.

Many things can impact our rhythm of life. We all experienced this when COVID-19 hit in 2020. Many could no longer go to work, children were home from school, and people could not gather or interact face-to-face. The pattern of how we lived life was turned upside down.

Other events affect the rhythm of our lives. One of these is when you lose a loved one to death. Just this week, I spoke to someone whose best friend took their own life. There were no warning signs, and that has impacted him emotionally and mentally. Their family and friends were devastated. They missed the clues about what he was about to do.

I spoke to someone else whose wife recently had a miscarriage, and they are struggling with the concept that somehow it was their fault and that they wish they had done things differently. The reality is that it is not their fault at all. Another person lost their father after a short but brutal battle with cancer.

The things that can change the rhythm of life can also be a lost job, a divorce, or a severe health diagnosis. It can be having your home broken into; now you are fearful and no longer feel safe. Anyway, I think you get the idea.

These events create a void, an empty space. They cause the rhythm of life to get out of focus and out of step. This can cause anxiety and stress in ways that one can not imagine. We feel overwhelmed and out of sorts.

One of the things that Joanna said in her article was that when this happens, we can allow it to impact us negatively, or we can realize that through this, we can recognize that great possibilities are available. As devastating as these things are, life is not over for us. We can regroup and refocus to reestablish a new rhythm or a new normal. This does not mean that we forget the person or event that occurred. But we learn to navigate this process in a way that brings healing and a new way of processing life.

There are a few things that you can do to reestablish a rhythm in life. The first is to give yourself permission to acknowledge and name the emotions that you are feeling. If you are angry, acknowledge it. If you are ashamed, acknowledge it. Whatever the emotion, identify it and face the problem. Too often, we can avoid our emotions because they are painful, and we do not know how to handle them effectively. We were frequently taught to hide our feelings and mask what was happening. For others, there are a lot of emotions, but there is no definition or plan to process the emotion. Still, others fear judgment if emotions are expressed.

A second key to reestablishing the rhythm of life is to care for yourself. Eat right, take a walk, and avoid the excesses we sometimes go to feel better about ourselves. These might be drugs, alcohol, work, sex, and remuneration about the past. To care for oneself is to do what one is ready to do. Do not be forced to speed up the process if you are unready. In time, you will be, until then, live in the moment, be present. But do something.

Aligning ourselves spiritually is critical in these times. One of the rhythms of life is the discipline of meditation, prayer, and scripture reading. It is okay to sit quietly and not say anything—just be in God’s presence. Meditate. Listen to music that calms your spirit. The point is to align ourselves with God’s plan and purpose for us and to quiet our hearts.

Another is to avoid isolation. Sometimes, when the rhythms of life are out of sorts, we can isolate and avoid others. This can be difficult as we want to hide—we want to hide from the chaos of life. But too much isolation is a negative thing. It increases the feeling of loneliness and forces us to avoid the very thing we need sometimes.

So let me ask you:

  1. Where is your rhythm of life out of sorts? Be specific.
  2. What are the causes of these issues? One way to do this is to evaluate the emotions that you are experiencing. Define them. And then work through these emotions.
  3. What actions can you take to restore a new rhythm of life? Take just one of the above suggestions and focus on that for now.
  4. Where are you isolating, and where do you need to come out of “hiding?” Are you hiding from others, yourself, or your emotions?

© Robert W. Odom 2024

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October 6, 2023 · 10:56 am

Do you face your emotions, run away, or try to hide?

A few weeks ago, we were sightseeing in Richmond when the battery light on our car came on. Fortunately, we could keep the vehicle running and made it home. As we entered the parking area at our apartment complex, the car died, and we rolled into our usual parking spot. That was a miracle, as we could have stalled out anywhere along the way.

As I considered this, one thing was for sure. We had a problem, and it was there before the car died. How did I know there was a problem? The light on the dashboard had come on, and now the car would not start. The light on the car told us that there was a problem. We knew it was the charging system but needed to know the problem precisely. To figure this out, we needed to diagnose the problem and get it fixed. In this case, the alternator had stopped working and needed to be replaced.

I have chuckled at how people try to resolve issues with warning lights. Rather than fix the problem, they try to fix the light. One person took duct tape and covered up a warning light that kept coming on. Another person removed the bulb (which was probably more complicated than the problem itself). And yet another just ignored the light and justified that it was not a problem. These three scenarios ended in costly repairs because they did not heed the warnings.

As humans, we have been created with a warning light system that lets us know when there is a problem. These lights are our emotions. Our emotions are generally not the problem. They point to things that are happening within us and around us. As with the car, we do not always realize the real problem, but heeding the warning light leads us to discover the problem. Once again, the warning light is not the problem. It only warns us of a problem.

The lights for our emotional dashboard are critical. We can respond to the warning, ignore it, or push it away. For example, we may be grieving a loss. A warning light shines because we are sad and feel the loss. When we recognize this, we can respond in diverse ways. We can try to cover up and hide the emotions we are feeling. We can ignore them, or we can respond positively.

The one difference between the warning lights in our cars and our emotions is that when the warning lights of emotions are realized, it does not mean that we are broken or unhealthy. It means we are experiencing life and its emotional space. The difference is how we respond to the lights.

I have a friend who is generally very balanced in how he responds to problems. He is a paramedic and, on one occasion, had a series of nasty calls on one of his shifts. Because of his usual way of dealing with issues, he tried to hide his emotions and continue to work as expected. He tried to be stoic and ignore the emotions he was experiencing. However, a few days later, he was short-fused, angry, and more impatient than ever. This was outside his character and the usual way he responded to issues.

After having an in-depth conversation with him, we concluded that rather than dealing with the issues earlier, he tried to ignore and hide from them. After all, he had been taught that men do not have emotions, primarily expressed through crying. Towards the end of the conversation, he was permitted to express his emotions and began crying. He was able to release the pain and sadness he was experiencing. I spoke to him the following week, and he said he was living in a healthier space.

The lesson is that we need to face our emotions head-on. We cannot hide them or pretend they do not exist. Doing so impacts our physical, mental, and spiritual bodies. We experience anger, self-pity, resentment, and other such responses. However, the more we face our pain and emotions, the healthier we become.

Do yourself a favor and confront your emotions. Rather than hide them, present them in the open. If you feel like crying, cry. If you feel like screaming, scream. If you feel like exhibiting your anger in healthy ways, get angry. I think you get the picture.

So let me ask you:

  1. What emotions do you experience that never seem to go away?
  2. Are these emotions trying to tell you something about yourself? If so, what?
  3. Where are you trying to ignore or hide your emotions? How does that make you feel? And what steps do you need to take to bring change?
  4. What emotion do you need to pull out of hiding and deal with it?

© Robert Odom RVA, LLC.

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April 20, 2023 · 6:57 pm

Emotional Healing

Robert W. Odom Ph. D.

One of the issues I have encountered and addressed with people recently is the idea of what shapes us. Additionally, I have looked at the triggers that cause us to respond and react to the things we encounter. Sometimes these are easy to recognize, but at other times we must dig deeper to discover what causes us to do what we do.

Today I want to examine why we do what we do. The best place to begin is in the beginning. When God created humankind, He did so in His image. Although we are not God, we have been created in the likeness of God. So, when we are born, we are born with the image of God stamped upon our hearts.

After birth, we are exposed to different stimuli and experiences as we move through life. These stimuli and experiences can shape us into something different from how we were created. In this discussion, there is a second dimension that needs consideration. Although we are made in the image or likeness of God, God also creates each of us differently. This is the foundation of the nature and nurture debate. Are we born that way, or do life experiences impact us? My simple answer is yes. While both impact our responses, I focus today on the learned traits or nurture aspects.

Combine our God-given traits with adverse exposures, and we can begin to respond negatively to our experiences. As we go through life, we are faced with problems. These problems shape us and begin to define us. They can define us in both positive and negative ways. We learn to put up a false front when confronted with the truth. We lie to cover our faults. We compartmentalize and close down when we face difficulties.  We use humor rather than process what is happening. We turn to drugs or alcohol in excess to numb our pain. We turn to pornography to fill a hole of intimacy. We could go on, but you get the point.

For our discussion, a trigger is defined as a stimulus that causes us to go to our negative space. The trigger is what moves us to respond the way we do. When we think about it, a trigger is an event or action that causes us to go to a bad space when confronted with a problem. Notably, the trigger is not the problem as much as the response to the problem. The problem is most likely an emotion that has formed in us. The trigger may be something that elicits fear. It might be something that impacts our self-esteem. The trigger might stir anger in us.  

For example, let’s say it is your performance on the job. Your supervisor approaches you with some changes that need to be made. Instead of listening, you take the confrontation personally. You begin to compartmentalize.  You speak to yourself and say things like, I am no good. I am defective. I am the problem. In cases like this, we shut down, get angry, and respond negatively to what we perceive as negative talk. Unfortunately, responding this way makes it personal and perhaps derails growth opportunities. The reason that we react this way is that we have been rejected on prior occasions. In the past, we have been criticized, and any comment is now taken personally. We become a critic of ourselves. Our response could also be because we have failed before, so we take any criticism personally, even if it is constructive and points to an area of growth. The trigger is the comment we take personally, and the emotion is fear or low self-esteem.

The second illustration is a relational one. We develop relationships, but as soon as the relationship grows, we back away because we fear intimacy or commitment. This happens because with have been let down and burned by previous commitments on more than one occasion. We struggle with commitment because we fear being hurt, and our hearts cannot take another bit of pain. The trigger that causes us to do this is the idea of commitment. That word alone scares us because we do not know what that looks like in a healthy environment.

My challenge for you is to track when you respond negatively to comments made or actions taken against you. Think about the issue and why it affected you the way it did. The person’s comments are not the problem, but we must look deeper than that. Within us, some emotions need to be healed and restored to their proper place. Recognizing those emotions is the first step.

All this sounds so easy, but it is not. It takes time. It requires honesty and a look into what makes us tick. I do not expect these issues to be resolved quickly but anything good is worth the wait and the time spent.

I believe that this is why David made the following request to God. Search me. “O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts” (Psalm 139:23)! David prayed that God would search his heart and reveal what was there. God knows us and that prayer is one that He will answer. And then David prays this prayer. “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10). It is not enough to have our emotions revealed. We must invite and allow change to take place. That is where healing comes.

So let me ask you:

  1. What are some of the triggers you recognize in your life? In other words, what sets you off?
  2. Since the trigger is not the problem, consider the emotion from the trigger. Is it anger? Fear? Low self-esteem?
  3. Once you recognize the trigger and the emotions that cause the trigger to cause the reaction, what steps can you take to counter those emotions and establish better responses?
  4. Pray Psalm 139:23 and Psalm 51:10. Allow God to reveal His truth within us. Then allow Him to heal you by creating a new heart and renewing the proper perspective about who you are.
  5. Find someone you trust to speak to about this. Perhaps this would be a good friend, a pastor, or a counselor.

© Robert W. Odom 2023

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April 7, 2014 · 4:16 pm

Dealing with the Feeling, Part 2

Peninsula Community Church

Body, Soul, Spirit – Dealing with the Feeling, Part 2

April 6, 2014

Romans 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

I must admit that some of what I will share, today, is a direct result of listening to a message presented by Rick Warren entitled, “Transformed: How to Deal with How you Feel.” For our purposes today, I will be using a brief part of the message. While I will be using his skeleton, I have added my skin and tissue to the skeleton. 

In Rick’s study, he suggested three ways for us to deal with our emotions and our feelings.

The first way he suggested that we deal with our emotions is to name it. To manage our emotions, we must come to an understanding of the specific emotions we are expressing or experiencing. To manage our emotions, we must identify what they are, because we cannot deal with vague emotions. You see, if we do not know what emotions we are dealing with, we cannot change them. Remember the warning light illustration from last week. If we do not do the diagnostics, we will never know what needs to be repaired. We can spend a lot of time, energy, and money to attempt to repair things that are not broken. We can also deal with the surface issues and never get down to the real issues affecting us. Let me also make this observation, we must be careful and not make up emotions or misdiagnose our emotions, because we can only have healing when we deal in truth and reality.

When identifying our emotions, we all tend to fall into one of three scenarios. For some of us, identifying our emotions is not an issue. There are some of us that have the ability to immediately we with your feelings. It is noteworthy here that most women fall into this category, as they have the ability to immediately name and identify the emotions they are feeling.

A second group are those of us who know they have feelings and emotions but find it difficult to identify what they are feeling. We try to, but it requires great effort to understand what emotions are being exhibited. It is noteworthy that men tend to fall into this category most often. Men as a whole are less likely to immediately identify their feelings. The problem is that too often men are told to be emotionless. You know the saying, “Real men don’t cry!”

A third group would be the deniers. This group denies that their emotions exist, and therefore they tend to never deal with the emotions effecting them. There is a difference between not knowing your emotions and denying they exist. For those that deny their emotions, they live under the false illusion that if they don’t admit or discuss their emotions, then they do not exist. If they are ignored long enough, they will go away and or they will change on their own. While this may be true for a season, this rarely works for the long haul, as these emotions often resurface in other ways.

When naming our emotions we should ask a couple of questions. The first question to be asked is “What am I feeling?” Be honest in your evaluation. This may require you to make a list of the emotions you are walking through. The second question is “What are my triggers?” What causes the emotion(s) that you experience to happen in you? Once again be honest. Remember the emotion experienced is not always the problem.

A second way to deal with our emotions is to challenge our emotions. In other words, do not just simply accept your emotions for what they are. Understand that there is more to the emotion than what is expressed. The Psalmist said it this way in Psalm 26:2.  Prove me, O Lord, and try me; test my heart and my mind. We are called to examine our emotions by way of God’s inspection of who we are. We are His and we are in Him. He can and will assist us as noted in our text, today.

When expressing an emotion, we can ask the following. Why do I feel the way I do? Am I wounded or hurt? Am I walking in sin or unforgiveness? We can also ask “Is what I am feeling true?” Are the feelings I am expressing based in truth and is it an honest appraisal of who I am? Notice, I did not say to ask if they are real because if you are experiencing the emotion then it is real for you. That is the reason why we cannot say to someone “Don’t feel that way.” That is like saying don’t feel hungry. Finally, we can ask “Is this helping me or hurting me?” What benefit am I receiving from allowing this emotion to run my life in this moment?

A third way to deal with our emotions is to tame it or change it. To change our emotions we must master our moods. As believers, we can turn to the admonishment Paul made to the church at Philippi. Paul’s challenged the church to have the mind of Christ.

Paul stated, Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:4B-8). Then again Paul admonishes us to Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. (Colossians 2:3-4).

“What kind of mind do you have?” “Do you have the mind of Christ?”

We have noted before that our body, soul, and spirit are not independent parts, but they are interconnected as a whole. What we do with our bodies affects our minds. What we do with our thought life affects our heart. What we allow to brood in our hearts affects our thoughts and our actions. We are a complete whole. This is the reason that we are called to love God with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength (Matthew 5:22). The sum total of who we are is greater than the individual parts that make us who we are. 

When we are experiencing painful emotions, we can and must channel that emotion to help others and to have a positive outcome. You see anger is not a sin. In fact, the Bible reminds us to Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. (Ephesians 4:26-27). So what do we do with our anger? Do we allow it to give opportunity to the devil to control us, or do we channel the anger to be a blessing to others? It is a choice we must make. 

This can be done only as we surrender our lives to Christ and as we seek to be filled with the Holy Spirit every day. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18). And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you (Ephesians 4:30-32).

In preparation for this message I came across a video that I believe illustrates this idea. Watch this video clip with me…. Afterwards I will tell you the rest of the story.

We see in this clip a young boy who is filled with uncontrolled anger. We see him however, bringing this anger issue to God, who transforms his life. Who is this young boy, It is Dr. Ben Carson. You see, from that day forward Dr. Carson took control of his anger and the pain he was exhibiting to become one of the world’s finest surgeons ever to live. The difference is that he controlled his anger and he channeled it to his advantage. The outcome could have been much different. If he allowed his anger to continue to control him, he anger could have destroyed him, instead he used it to heal.

We have talked a lot about anger, but the issue could be any emotion that rises up within us. So what emotions are you experiencing? Are there emotions that are controlling your life? Are there emotions that you need to recognize and then deal with so that they no longer control your life? It is your choice. The Spirit is ready to meet you right where you are. Change is possible. Reach out to God as Dr. Ben Carson did. It will change your life.

Copyright 2014, All Rights Reserved

 

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March 31, 2014 · 11:50 am

Dealing With The Feeling

Peninsula Community Church
Body, Soul, and Spirit; Dealing with the Feelings
March 30, 2014

Mark 12:29-31 Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel:The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. ’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself. ’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Today, we are transitioning from how our minds and our thoughts effect us to how our emotions effect us. There is so much to be discovered on this subject. So, while we will take a couple weeks to look at this subject, there is a recognition that we could spend the next year dealing with our emotions alone. In so doing, we will only scratch the surface of our understanding. My desire, however, is that this will provoke you to a deeper study of this critical issue.

As we read our text for today, we are brought face to face with the fact that our relationship with God and with others is an emotional adventure. Jesus points to one of the greatest emotions of all times when he says that we shall “love the Lord your God.” That alone is a powerful statement but, Jesus continues by stating that we are called to love God, and we are called to love others. Of note here, is the fact, that Jesus also describes the level of love we are to exhibit. Notice this. We are to love the Lord our God with ALL of our heart, ALL of our soul, ALL of our mind, and with ALL of our strength. In other words, the totality of who we are is to be engaged in our relationship with God. We cannot be divided, compartmentalized, or lackadaisical in our approach, we must be fully engaged.

Secondly, in relationship to others, we are to love them just as we love ourselves. Can you imagine the power of love when we would seek to love others the way we want to be loved? This speaks to us that we need to have a correct view of ourselves in order to have a positive understanding of how to love others. Too often, we are trying to love others without loving ourselves properly. When this happens, we often wonder why we fall short and have such failures in our relationships.

As we begin, let me make a couple of observations about our emotions. Next week, we will look at specific steps we can take to deal with our emotions.

First, every emotion we have or will ever experience has been created by God. For some, that may seem unrealistic or unbelievable, but it is true. The problem is that as a result of the fall of mankind into sin, our understanding and use of our emotions have become distorted. We do not have to look too far in our society to see the repercussions of this.

One of the best examples of this in a contemporary fashion is the recent death of Pastor Fred Phelps. For those who do not know Pastor Fred Phelps, he was the pastor of Westboro Baptist Church that picketed at the funerals of soldiers because he felt the death of our soldiers was caused by our acceptance of homosexuality in America. His misguided emotions and actions caused many painful experiences. He not only picketed the funerals but his group held up signs that were both cruel and rude. The signs focused on gays and lesbians. Some signs read “God hates fags.” He stated, “You can’t believe the Bible without believing that God hates people.” It’s pure nonsense to say that God loves the sinner but hates the sin. He hates the sin, and he hates the sinner. He sends them to hell. Do you think he loves the people in hell?” This is a misguided view of God’s love. The fact is God loves everyone. He, God. may not agree with their lifestyle or accept their sin, but what one does in no way diminishes His love.

Because of actions, his death has elicited a plethora of emotions and responses from both Christian and nonChristian. Let me be clear about my feelings in regard to what he did and what he lead others to do. The acts perpetrated by this individual did not represent Christ very well nor did they promote the truth of the gospel in most cases. With that said, I can hate the actions he took but not hate the individual carrying out those acts. He was a vicious man who was filled with hate himself, but I cannot and must not put myself in the position of judging his heart or his salvation. That is not my role, my position, or calling. His life illustrates the distortion of emotions on a couple of levels. To do so would be to fall into the same trap of he found himself… Judging the heart without knowledge. One, his emotions were distorted and caused him to be blinded to the pain he caused. Rather than deal with the issues in a healthy way, he chose to attack those who had little to do with the problem.

A second event that occurred just this week was the decision by World Vision to hire gays and lesbians who are married. Their initial reasoning for this was that they wanted to promote monogamist relationships juxtaposed to acts of adultery and sex before marriage. It appeared that their decision was somewhat motivated by the emotion to please rather than resting on the foundation of the word and their own statement of faith.The problem in their decision was that in fact they promoted one sin over another. It was as if they decided to say that it is ok to lie but not to steal.

But, I am pleased to report that they reversed that decision two days later. Why? There were Christian leaders who gathered around World Vision, and most of these leaders worked behind the scene to bring counsel, encouragement, and correction to World Vision’s decision. These leaders kept their emotions in check and provided a balanced view on the issue with hate or judgement. World vision has since written a strong letter of apology for their actions, and asked forgiveness for the pain it may have caused those closely allied with their ministry. While their initial decision was based on an emotional response, the truth of the Gospel and good counseling righted their actions.

Second, our emotions serve as a gauge or as a warning light. This is like the warning lights on our our car’s dashboard which serves to warn us of any problems with our car. In Michelle’s, car we have had an engine light on for sometime. I decided to take her car to the auto parts store where they ran a diagnosis on the problem and found that we had an emissions issue. The problem was not the light, the problem was a faulty sensor. In this regard, the problem(s) are not major but none-the-less the warning light registered a problem.

You see when you lash out in anger, the cause of the anger must be determined by understanding what caused you to lash out in anger. Nine times out of ten, the anger is not the problem. The problem is what is driving you to get angry. Have you been abused in this area before? When we are anxious or fearful, we must determine the cause of these emotions. Why are we fearful? Is it a matter of trust? Are we disappointed? Are we experiencing unmet expectations? Distrust, disappointment, and unmet expectations can have radical results on our emotions.

Third, feelings or emotions taken on their own are often unreliable as a measure of what is real or even true. Let me ask you? Have you ever felt so strongly about something that you made a decision solely on an emotional response, only later to regret the decision. One of the statements that is so misleading is the statement, “Just follow your heart.” I know a lot of people that followed their heart only to find out later that they had misread their heart. They had great emotion but they lacked the knowledge or the understanding they needed to make a decision. I have alway been interested in some of the scams that are perpetrated upon people, especially the elderly. So often, the salesman will move the heart strings of the person. They know that if they can get the person emotionally attached to the item to be purchased, they have a sale. Have you ever purchased anything, emotionally, only to find out later it was not all it was cracked up to be.

The fact is our emotions must never be disconnected from truth or factual information. When this occurs, we can follow after things that God never intended. After all sin is pleasurable for a season (Hebrews 1:24-25). Have you ever notice that sin often begins as an emotional draw or pull. It might be lust. It might be anger. It might feelings of low self-esteem. We must deal with our emotions so that they do not control us or our actions.

Fourth, an emotionless life is boring and dull. Our emotions have a role to play and they are important in forming and shaping who we are as a person and as a believer. Too often, we have reached point where we shut our emotions down so we do not have any emotion at all or at least we think so any way. Let me say this, a relationship with Christ brings about a plethora of emotion. There is joy in Christ. There is peace everlasting. In fact, Paul noted that we should be filled with the Spirit that is guides us to express our emotions in positive ways.

Paul stated But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self- control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. (Galatians 5:22).

So how are your emotions? How are you effected by your emotions? Do you allow your emotions to control you or do you control your emotions? Does the Spirit motivate your emotions or are you motivated by the Spirit?

Copyright 2014, Robert W. Odom Ministries

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