I'm humbly going to dive into a subject that is very personal and important to me: applying gospel principles for emotional wellness and self care. Please know I am not claiming to be an expert for anyone else. I only know what I have been taught by the spirit and how I have applied that to find help and healing beyond what I had once dreamed was possible. And perhaps what has helped me will help others, maybe even you! On my journey toward wellness (that is still ongoing), one of if not the very first thing I found was that I had to have a sincere desire to understand myself, a willingness to get radically honest with how I was feeling, any tendencies that were not serving me.. then take those to the Lord and ask Him to help me with those things. Some of these were personal weaknesses, some were "societal norms" that I had taken on as unhealthy habits, some were family patterns that I had taken on as some sort of inescapable way of responding to life.. but once I had even the desire to get real with and about myself, it was like I had swept out the dusty corners of my mind and heart and I had these piles that needed to be picked up. I didn't know how to do that. I just knew that I wanted to. I was ready and eager for Heavenly Father to teach me how to overcome. And slowly but surely He did! So if you are struggling with emotional wellness at all, start by wanting to understand yourself. You could talk to someone close to you or just start writing things down that you know you struggle with. What you don't want is to let these things discourage you. Remain hopeful that the atonement of Jesus Christ is meant for you for this right now and press forward!
When I came to that place where I recognized weakness in myself... understanding that my emotions were out of control, yet they were running the show.. then truly desiring to understand those things about myself.. I can look back and see that this was both the easiest and the hardest thing I'd ever done. It was easy to find all my flaws, hard to understand the why's, easy to desire to change and improve, hard to know where to start, easy to know that I could find help from Heavenly Father through Jesus Christ, but oh so hard to come to them with all the shame I was feeling. That shame is what I want to talk about today. Whatever you do, DO NOT let Satan win by letting him convince you to feel shame for your weaknesses. Don't let him win! So if shame is an ugly lie, what is the beautiful truth? THE TRUTH IS THAT YOU ARE OF INFINITE WORTH AND YOU ARE LOVED *UNCONDITIONALLY*!!! You're not going to be loved more when you finally get this right. That is not possible!!! So here's the thing. The plan is and always has been that we would be put in a fallen world in a natural man state.. and that is a GIFT to us so we can learn, grow, and DEPEND ON HIM.
So whatever you do on your emotional healing path and journey to wellness, let go of shame. Cast it off! Look at those pieces of you that you'd like to improve and THANK Heavenly Father for them!! Those are the things which will turn you into soft clay that can be molded by the hands that created you.
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