God never gives strength for tomorrow, or for the next hour, but only for the strain of the minute. ~Oswald Chambers
Do you ever feel sad, lonely, and just plain ‘blah’?
Although I am a lot better today, I have struggled with heavy hearted feelings at different times of my life.
Through talking with others, I have learned that many others also have days challenged by low energy and little joy.
Here are some tips that I have learned to help me overcome those days. May they be an encouragement to you.
1. Remind yourself that God is stronger than your feelings and that He wants to help you
Our feelings are always valid. What you feel is real. I’m not suggesting that you discount or minimize what you are feeling. On the contrary, make sure you are in touch with your emotions.
What I am saying is that as a follower of Christ you have the power of Christ living inside of you. What this means is that you can win your battles over your emotions through the power of the Holy Spirit within you.
You don’t have to let your emotions control you
Nothing can separate you from God’s love (Romans 8:35-38). With Jesus by your side you can fight this battle. You are more than a conqueror and victory is yours because of Jesus (Romans 8:37).
Remind yourself of God’s love for you. Say things like, “I know You love me Lord. I know You are with me, and I know You will carry me through this day.”
One of the most powerful prayers we can pray are these three words, “Lord help me.” On the days you are feeling emotionally challenged simply say this sweet, short and powerful prayer as often as you may need to.
2. Thank God and praise Him for the many gifts He has given you
No matter how tough life can become, there is always something we can praise the Lord for. You can thank Him for the very breath you are taking right now.
When we praise God in the midst of our feeling negative, something happens to our mood. Praising and worshipping God in the midst of feeling down will propel you into a better emotional place. Be patient and don’t give up.
Regardless of how you are feeling, it is important to keep thanking the Lord (1 Thessalonians 5:18).
3. Read and Speak God’s Word
There is strength and power in the Word of God.
When we know God’s Word we are refreshed and restored because the Word of God is alive and powerful (Hebrews 4:12). Make sure to spend enough time daily reading God’s Word.
It is especially important to read your Bible when you don’t feel like reading it. Push yourself and read. It helps to read and speak God’s Word out loud because you will hear your own voice and it will encourage you. This is one reason why Scripture memorization is so helpful.
Back in 2002 when my husband and I were separated I went through a very painful time. On my darkest days I had to force myself to pick up my Bible and read it. I’d start with Psalm 1 and read through all the Psalms, out loud. Usually by the time I was at Psalm 34, tears of joy were running down my cheeks because I was feeling Gods love and comfort.
4. Musical worship
Musical worship is very healing and very comforting.
Singing or listening to worship music will fill your heart with peace and joy as you praise God (Colossians 3:16, Psalm 150:1-6).
5. Punch the devil in the face
To be honest with you, I don’t like to give the devil a lot of attention. However, I honestly feel that a lot of heavy heartedness comes from a spiritual attack from the enemy.
The truth is, however, that we are in a spiritual battle every day and most Christians don’t give this enough attention. In Ephesians 6:12 it says, “For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.” And in James 4:7, “…resist the devil and he will flee from you.”
Many of our emotional battles are spiritual ones. Having a heavy heart, although valid, may need to be fought spiritually. We can train our minds and learn kingdom ways of fighting this war.
Learning to live God’s way is a process. The mind is a battlefield and we must control our thoughts to become obedient to God’s way of living (2 Corinthians 10:5).
God is faithful to our cries for help. He wants us to live life in all it’s fullness. (John 10:10). Give Him your heavy heart and let Him carry it for you (Isaiah 46:4). (Tweet this).
Feel free to leave a comment below and share your insights on how you have overcome heavy hearted emotions.
“And we are confident that He hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases Him. And since we know He hears us when we make our requests, we also know that He will give us what we ask for.” ~ 1 John 5:14-15
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Wisdom through you from the Holy Spirit speaking to us today. Thanks, Tweeny!
Thank you Debbie. I had a great teacher in you when I was a baby Christian. My very first Bible study was with you. Do you remember? Love you sis~
Hi Tweeny, ahh yes. I can remember reading through the Psalms with you dear sister. The recommendations in your writing today are a powerful prescription for getting through heavy hearted days. I also recommend doing a quick check of my self care. I often find I am in a HALT mode (hungry, angry, lonely, or tired). The enemy likes to attack us when we are most vulnerable.). A beautiful Godly friend like you is a gift too. Thanks for sharing your wisdom and love. God bless you.
Yes, dear friend Julie…you and I have walked down the hard road of recovery and healing together. I am so grateful for you and I thank God for you daily. I love what you added here about doing a quick check of our self care. I love your wisdom! and I love you~ 🙂
Thank you for your encouraging words, Tweeny! I appreciate you!!
Thank you Becky!!!! I appreciate YOU! love ya~ 🙂
Great advice and very well said!
Thank you my dear sweet, beautiful and wise daughter, and also my former editor. Your feedback means a lot to me. Love you~ 🙂
Great reminder of the power we have within us to draw upon-Christ. Thank You
Thanks honey. Your continuous support means a lot to me. I love you~ <3
I can always count on you, my dear sister, to give us great advice and tools to cope and grow. And as always, you have a wonderful gift of delivering such deep suggestions and practices in a simple, easy to grasp way.
I have a lot to work with from this post !
God Bless !
Dear brother, thank you for always encouraging my writings. I really appreciate you. We all are “under construction” and constantly have work to do. Love you~ 🙂
So practical and simple. Thank you for showing us the way to go when our emotions get the better of us. What a great exchange. God’s mighty power instead of depression. Thank you Julie for another practical help. We are all in a race and we will lift each other up when the going gets tough and we will finish it victoriously as Christ cheers us on to the finishing line. How it please our Father to see us encouraging one another.
Dear Jessica,
I appreciate the wisdom you share here. You are right, we are all in a race and we can encourage one another when life becomes challenging. Thank you for the many many times you have lifted me up on a heavy day. I thank God for you sis. Love you~
I have been going through a very very hard time.Depressed, full of anxiety..etc My doctor wants me to take antidepressants but im refusing to take them bc I truly believe I can get better on my own. Being a young mom with three kids working full time with relationship problems will surly make your heart heavy. I have never been like this and its very new to me. I found your advice at a great time. Thank you for sharing. God Bless.
Dear Kelse,
I am so glad that my words could be an encouragement to you. It sounds like you’re carrying a heavy burden right now. I pray you will stand strong in the faith and fight through this season of heaviness. But please keep in mind that medicine isn’t bad or wrong. I always say that you should fight spiritually FIRST, and then if you need to, you can take medicine to help you. I encourage you to seek the Holy Spirit every step of the way.
Please know that I’ll be praying for you. May you keep your eyes on Jesus more than on your circumstances, and may you feel His loving arms around you as you trust Him to get you through this difficult time.
Please feel free to contact me privately via email, if you want to. 🙂
Dear Tweeny, my sister was staying with me. She is separated from her husband and wants a divorce. He changed the locks at her home. I told her she needed to get her belongings as soon as possible. She said she wasn’t ready yet. I told her it was best to get everything at once. She got mad at me and said I was bossy, and pushy with her. She packed up all her belongings and called me ugly names and said she thought I had changed. That hurt my feelings. I didn’t know she felt this way about me before she moved in. Before she left she apologized for saying mean things about me and told me not to ever contact her. We are both in our 60s. I have a heavy heart in shock. How can I heal all this anger and become sisters again. I have apologized to her and let her know my advice to her was only to help her.
Hi Cindy! Thank you for reaching out to me. I’m sad to hear about the series of events that have occurred between your sister and you. I can imagine the heaviness it would leave within your heart. Division between our loved ones is usually painful as we tend to take the choices of others personally. And anger usually covers up deeper feelings. Here’s a blog I wrote about this: https://www.tweenyrandall.com/2012/11/15/anger-the-emotion-incognito/
I hope this helps as you process your feelings at this time. May the Lord comfort you and give you wisdom at this time. Let me know if I can assist you any further. I’m praying for you dear sister.
Thank you Tweeny for your response and prayers. It has only gotten worse between my sister and I. She text me today and told me very hateful things. Things I know are not true. She is saying things about me she says other family members have said about me that I know they are not true. She told me that my mother told me the reason I could not have children because I am selfish. My mother is deceased for many years. All I can think is that she is so miserable with herself and her life now or possibly mental issues. I just don’t think I can forgive her now. We have not been close in the past. It seems she only gets in touch with me when she has problems. I am so disappointed that this has occurred during this Christmas season. I didn’t even get to really enjoy the real reason for the season.The birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. I will pray and ask God and his son to forgive us for the desencion we have caused between us.
Hello Cynthia. I can tell you are in a lot of pain, and understandably so. I would encourage you to seek God and ask Him to help you to forgive your sister. You will feel so much free-er once you extend grace to her. Un-forgiveness is a noose around our necks and only you (with God’s help) can cut it. Also, keep in mind, you don’t have to have a relationship with her once you forgive. Forgiveness is about our hearts, it doesn’t always mean restoration. I hope this helps. God help you and bless you! 🙂
Thank you for the good advice. I have forgiven my sister, however I think it is best for me not to have a relationship with her. I am letting go. It gets easier as time passes. I try to surround myself with positive people and hobbies, activities I enjoy. I feel much happier now.
Thank-you for this. My daughter, at 19 and away at at Christian College, is going through her first break-up, but she is doing fine. I keep waking up with a heavy heart for her Ex. This was his first relationship also and though short, very intense. He confided some things to her for which she suggested counseling which he is pursuing. I at times feel that I am obsessed about him but this is not my typical personality. I have been praying to God that I know he is taking care of him, but then I suddenly get this “heavy heart” and can’t stop thinking about what he is going through. He has supportive parents who I believe know what is going on. The break-up happened almost 3 weeks ago and they remain friends but rarely see each other now. He carries a heavy class load and works a number of jobs, so his time is pretty booked. He is a introvert so not always good at reaching out to others.
Your article here is very helpful and I will continue to use this information so thanks! I have made my husband, daughter and pastor aware of what I’m feeling. Please keep me in prayer.
Hello Sandy, thank you for reaching out to me. What I hear in your words is that you have a lot of compassion for others. I am sure you are praying for this young man, and I would only just encourage you to continue doing so. Maybe by now your burden for him has been lifted. I believe God gives us burdens for other people so that we can lift them up to the throne of grace. I have prayed for you and hope you are feeling better. God’s blessings on you sister.