Untangle Your Emotionsናሙና

“The Importance of Noticing”

The starting place for untangling our feelings is to notice how we feel.

In Mark 5, we meet a woman who has been bleeding for twelve years and desperately wants to be healed. There’s a crowd around Jesus when she sees Him, and she pushes through and touches His garment and is instantly healed. But Jesus is a noticer, and He stop everything. And He looks for her and asks who just touched Him. And the woman comes to Jesus, and she is trembling with fear.

The woman had to notice what she needed and believe that Jesus could heal her. The woman had to be brave enough to push through every barrier to touch Him and be close to Him. The second she did, Jesus turned and found her, healing not only her body but initiating a relationship with Him that would go on forever.

“Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease” (Mark 5:34).

The truth about you and me is that we spend so much time in our thoughts—in our head—that it may feel awkward to feel for once. My advice is to persevere. Give this thing a try. Notice the feelings you’re feeling. Acknowledge that they are there.

I know firsthand how tempting it is to deny that what you’re feeling is what you’re feeling, but we do ourselves no favors when we fake that we’re okay.

So, here’s what I want you to do: The next time you feel a feeling rise in yourself—in your body, in your brain, in your spirit, in your soul—I want you to stop what you’re doing. Just for a second, you can stop. Notice the feeling instead of brushing it aside. Connect with it.

And get yourself ready for the healing to begin.

Ask yourself these two questions: (1) What do I sense in myself emotionally? Am I okay or not okay? (2) Can I sit with either reality for a bit?