Facing what lies Beneath

If we are to become more like Jesus, we need to ask ourselves what did Jesus model to us? Jesus was the Son of God but He also was fully human. A human who experienced all the feels, emotions and physical pain that we do. He didn’t just teach us how to pray and have times of silence and solitude, but how to be human.

Dealing with our emotional health is an important part of our spiritual formation. With Jesus as our example, we can learn how to respond in a healthy way and not to avoid our negative emotions but rather face them. We need to learn how to deal with our emotions (good & bad) and not ignore them. We can trust in the goodness of God and still experience sorrow, pain and frustration. In Jesus, there is always a better way. He didn’t ever detach from God in his times of crisis but used those moments and sat with His Father with all His fear, discomfort, pain and anxiety.

We can learn that God is our safest place to be completely vulnerable. Instead of denying and escaping from our suffering, we can use it as an invitation to be with Him. Psychologists call this denial, our false self which is a desire to self protect. We don’t need to self protect from God but together we can face the reality of our shadows and begin the journey of understanding what lies beneath the surface.

It needs to be noted that this part of our journey requires courage. But what we are prepared to put in, will determine how far we go. We need to take one step at a time, slowly deepening our trust that God will only reveal what we need to deal with at the right time and gently reminding ourselves that we are all a work in progress.