“Emotions don’t have brains. God has given us a will that is stronger than our emotions.” ~Patsy Clairmont

I heard this quote in August at Women of Faith and I cannot get it out of my head.

The problem is that I haven’t internalized it yet. That is, I haven’t trained myself to let my God-given will take over when my emotions start getting out of control.

We’ve talked about hormones already, and I think they could be thrown in with the emotions on this one. Hormones don’t have a brain either.

Please know that I’m not saying our emotions are a bad thing. Emotions can be beautiful and healthy and an important part of every human life.

 There is a time for everything, 
   and a season for every activity under the heavens:

  a time to be born and a time to die, 
   a time to plant and a time to uproot, 
  a time to kill and a time to heal, 
   a time to tear down and a time to build, 
  a time to weep and a time to laugh, 
   a time to mourn and a time to dance, 
  a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, 
   a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, 
  a time to search and a time to give up, 
   a time to keep and a time to throw away, 
  a time to tear and a time to mend, 
   a time to be silent and a time to speak, 
  a time to love and a time to hate, 
   a time for war and a time for peace. ~Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

God didn’t design us to be cold, emotionless beings. Emotions are part of who we are, especially as women.

The problems arise when our emotions CONTROL us. That was never God’s intention. And that is where our will enters in.

We must CHOOSE to not let our emotions drive us.

Fear and worry are perfect examples.

I wrote about worry earlier in this series.

My sweet bloggy friend Maggie wrote so honestly and beautifully about fear here.

Both of these emotions can be paralyzing – not taking any leaps of faith, avoiding new situations, never leaving home, and so on. Emotions that we let control us will hold us captive.

But God desires freedom for us. Strangely enough, that freedom comes when we reign in our emotions, and instead make decisions with the brain and will God made for us to use.

I’m still working on it. How about you?

Patsy has so much more to say on this topic and she says it so much better than I. You need to hear her speak if at all possible. If that can’t happen, I’m thinking you need to read her books.

And because she is such a generous soul, she sent two of her books to give away to you!

One of you will win…

Stained Glass Hearts: Seeing Life from a Broken Perspective

And one of you will win…

Kaleidoscope: Seeing God’s Wit and Wisdom in a Whole New Light

How about that for a fun Saturday even though the subject is not so fun?

Just a leave a comment on this post to be entered to win!

This giveaway will be open until Tuesday, October 25th at 9:00 p.m. CST. Two winners will be chosen at random and announced Wednesday!

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*Disclosure: I did not receive anything in return for this post – just two books from Patsy Clairmont to give to you!

**This post contains affiliate links.