I Was Having an Emotional Monday...{The Choice is Up to Me}

Good Monday Afternoon!

I hope this finds you recovering from the Holiday Weekend :).

I'm going to be honest,

today did not start out as a Good Monday Morning for me.

Honestly, it's been a bit of an emotional Roller-Coaster morning for me.

First of all, my alarm went off this morning

and the first thought in my head was, "Uuuugggghhhh."

Needless to say, I wasn't quite ready to face the world.

Now, that being said, I did not look QUITE that bad when I left the house!

But my emotions started rolling

LONG before I started my car this morning.

Firstly, while I was in the shower,

I was hit, literally hit,

with an overwhelming sense of fear.

Completely ridiculous, yet nearly immobilizing FEAR.

I had visions in my head of masked men

magically appearing in the bathroom with me

and stabbing me while I was still in the shower.

(I'm NOT making this up.)

After a few moments of this practically paralyzing fear,

I came to the conclusion that ENOUGH WAS ENOUGH!

And proceeded to "Jesus' Name" that fear 

right out of the house!

("God is love. 

When we take up permanent residence in a life of love, 

we live in God and God lives in us.

This way, love has the run of the house,...

There is no room in love for fear.

Well-formed love banishes fear..." I John 4:17-18 The Message)

Of course, it worked.

And I almost immediately began to feel better.

However, then my "to-do" list for the day

began running through my head.

Then my "to-do" list for tomorrow

and the rest of the week,

and the rest of the month,

and the rest of my life

began running through my head

and I began to feel overwhelmed again.

This time with hair-pulling stress.

Just like with the fear earlier,

I took a few minutes of this exhausting stress

then decided again that ENOUGH WAS ENOUGH!

And I cast my cares upon Him,

because, of the two of us, He's got the broader shoulders

and can carry my weights a lot better than I can.

("Give all your worries and cares to God,

for he cares about you." I Peter 5:7 New Living Translation)

Of course, that worked too.

And, again, I almost immediately began to feel better.

That's when I realized,

I guess in a way, the choice is up to me.

The choice of whether I'm going to have 

an emotional Roller-Coaster Monday 

or not, is up to me.

So I chose.

I chose to turn a corner on the fearful, stressful beginning of my day

and have a productive, peaceful Monday.

And that's exactly the kind of day I've had thus far

Now, as soon as my lunch break is over,

I'm going to being seeming my little darlings for nearly three hours.

We'll have to see how peaceful I feel after THAT! ;)

Previously I've written a couple of posts about 

"going back to what you know".

(You can find those posts here and here.)
I guess THIS post is me practicing what I preach.
When I was feeling overwhelmed with fear and stress,
I went back to what I knew:
the promises of Scripture
 and the faithfulness of God.
And He took care of my worries.
Like He always does.

But like I said earlier,
the original choice of what to do
with my fear and stress was completely up to me.
I could've let my fear and stress
control my entire day.
I could have let my emotions ride me instead of the other way around.
That choice was up to me.

This whole revelation of "me having a choice
of what to do with my emotions"
may seem very elementary to you.
But sometimes it's the elementary facts that we forget about.
You know, the ideas that so basic
and we've learned them so long ago
that we forget how important and life changing they are.

This basic fact, changed my day.
I finished my office hours with a smile
instead of exhausted, sagging shoulders.
I am kind of excited about seeing my little lovelies
rather than just trying to get through the hours I spend with them.
Going back to what I know,
changed my day.

Have you ever experienced this?
Have you ever remembered a principle or lesson
you learned long ago
and it completely changed your day?

I would love to hear your story!

Thank you so much for visiting today!
Please come back soon!

Have a great week!