Wrestling with Emotion

Have you ever known anyone who was an emotional eater? I have known a few friends, male and female, who have used eating to cope with their emotions. I think we’ve all heard the often true, not so funny joke about being an emotional eater: “I eat when I’m sad, mad, happy, glad, bored or lonely.”


I am having my own emotional moment right now. I need to get something done, but I am unsure of how to handle it or quite where to start. So, I want to go get something to eat. I don’t think to myself, eating will help me think. But I’m acting like that’s what I think. Oh, I’m not thinking of a salad either. I’m wondering if there are any Pringles left in my daughter’s room. Or if there’s any candy stashed in a corner cabinet.

Sometimes, if it is mealtime, or I haven’t eaten in hours (see how flexible I am), I’ll start out making healthy food choices. I’ll make a sandwich, or have a hard-boiled egg or such. If I’m feeling well, and in control, I’ll be done. But at other times eating the healthy food is only the beginning. Some sort of door has opened, and I don’t stop with the reasonable amount of food. I will see cookies, and start with two, because I know one will never do, and then I go back for just one more, again and again. Or I’m craving salt and I snack on whatever I can find, and if it’s not salty enough, I just keep trying. In my heart I can tell I am not looking for food. I am looking for satisfaction and contentment.

Yet I know that true contentment comes from within. I know that being sure that God loves me and will be there with me, even if the whole world should turn against me, is what will give me true contentment.


In Philippians 4:6-9, Paul clarifies what I should be focused on and how I can find true release from stress, rather than distraction from it:


“Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.


Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies. “(MSG)


Even satisfaction has to come from God. Never in this life will my life be perfect enough, clean enough, orderly enough, happy enough, serving enough, saving enough, giving enough, sharing enough, fun enough, or accomplishment enough to gain total satisfaction.


In Hebrews 13:5-6 it says “Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, "I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,”


So that we confidently say,


"The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What will man do to me?”(MSG)
If that’s what God’s word says, then I can trust it. I just have to repeat His words over and over to myself until they are what I think of first. Even if it takes awhile, it is an exercise and discipline that is good for me. If I persevere, I will be rewarded with my heart’s desire: that no matter my situation or circumstance, I will have true contentment because I will so completely be trusting in Him.


Written by Mary M. Wilkins