Sometimes life can seem like carnival-exciting but also a bit frightening. The newness, noise, and endless variety of impressions all demand our attention at once. Our senses are bombarded by sideshow barkers and game attendants; the lights, colors, and smells all cry out, “Come to me.”Our live are barraged by a seemingly endless variety of ideas, directions, and advice. To whom do we listen? To the voice that shouts the loudest or to the one that speaks the truth? And what is the truth? What is the voice of God?
In the midst of this confusion, many of us resort to patching together odds and ends of advice from women’s magazines, helpful hints from newspaper columnist, and insights from scripture. This patched-together approach to life is a hazardous and fragile way to seek guidance. Have you noticed that the advice given one week on the television talk show is only contraindicated by next week’s magazine?
At some point we must decide who we are going to listen to. Straddling the fence, leaning first one way then another, brings little emotional or spiritual peace. Once we decide to listen to God’s voice, let’s stick to that decision long enough to see what kind of fruit it will bear, remembering that “every sound tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears evil fruit…. Thus will you know them by their fruit” (Mt 7:17, 20).
If we base our lives on the lord and his word to us in scripture, we will experience a harmony and a stability that won’t give way beneath us. Instead, it will provide a secure springboard for further growth. Unlike many modern prescriptions for health and well-being, the Lord’s wisdom does not change from month to month. We need to follow his way, discarding advice and approaches that contradict or undermine his word to us. Our emotions are no different than any other area of our lives. The Lord is the Lord; he can be trusted with every facet of our lives, including out emotions.
This blog is based on the assumption that Christian women are willing and eager to listen to the voice of the Lord as they seek to strengthen their emotional lives and overcome some specific emotional difficulties. Before this can happen each woman must decide to embrace scripture and the wisdom of Christian tradition as truth for her life today. The wisdom that God gives is not dated. It provides strength for living in the first century or fifteenth. The Lord’s way is the best and surest way anyone to travel. He is a Father who loves and cares for his daughters, who wants to provide the fullness of life for them.
