Emotionally Healthy Woman Intro Pt 2

Intro:

Last week in Tuesday Talks, the conversation centered around the need to be emotionally healthy.

We discussed what emotional health is and what it looks like.

Do you remember some of the attributes we spoke about?

Ability to process feelings/stress

Ability to know boundaries/limits

Knowing our value and purpose

We discussed the five aspects of a human being :

Physical, spiritual, intellectual, social, and emotional.

When one aspect is unhealthy, the whole being becomes unhealthy.

Our study will include looking at things we need to quit — anything that does not belong to His kingdom or fall under His rule.

we will die spiritually, emotionally, or otherwise unless we quit and choose to do something differently—remember the Yates/Simpson mountain climbing story. Yate’s decision to cut the lifeline ultimately saved the life of Simpson.

The “Unfree” Christian

Think for a moment when you first met Jesus.

What best describes you when you first fell in love with Him?

A. Did you fall hard and full of excitement?

B. Did you feel indifferent?

C. Did you feel insecure and scared?

When an individual first begins a relationship with Jesus, there is excitement, an overwhelming sense of love, and a desire and willingness to do anything for Him.

We hold fast to certain disciplines—praying, fasting, reading books on spiritual disciplines, serving in many areas, etc.

If not careful, we can easily forget that a healthy spiritual life must have a balance between serving other people’s needs and valuing our own needs.

What can happen when we are imbalanced in this area?

Rather than having the joy of feeling overwhelmed by His love we can experience bitter resentment at feeling overwhelmed by His demands. Rather than having joy to fulfill His demands, we feel resentful.

Our identity can be swallowed up by caring for the needs of others and neglecting our own.

What would be an example of this?

Always tending to the needs of children and neglecting important needs of our own.

Being overly concerned about and doing the husband’s responsibilities.

Agreeing to things to keep a friendship

These are just a few.

Who can you think of in Scripture that seems to fit this description at some point?

Read Luke 10:38-42

Luke 10:38–42 NLT

38 As Jesus and the disciples continued on their way to Jerusalem, they came to a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. 39 Her sister, Mary, sat at the Lord’s feet, listening to what he taught. 40 But Martha was distracted by the big dinner she was preparing. She came to Jesus and said, “Lord, doesn’t it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me.” 41 But the Lord said to her, “My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! 42 There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.”

It appears Martha was overwhelmed with resentment in fulfilling the call to hospitality rather than being filled with joy. She had not yet found the balance of caring for her needs as well as others.

John 10:10 NIV

10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

Jesus invites us into the Christian life to enjoy a “rich banquet”. He gives us life to the full.

**The extent to which I value and love myself is the extent to which I am capable of of loving others well.**

Mark 12:31 NLT

31 The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”

We must find balance in order to experience emotional health—which means there are some lines we must cut and things we must quit.

Dying to Live

Quitting is about dying to the things that are not of God—it is one of the hardest things we do for Christ.

Good news: Quitting itself is not just the end, it is also a beginning.

It is God’s path for new things to come forth in our lives, for resurrection. But it isn’t easy.

What voices often alarm us with fears of quitting?

“What will people think?”

“I’m being selfish and not Christlike.”

“I will mess everything up.”

“Everything will fall apart around me.”

We often cave in to these fears for short -term relief, but it usually leads to long-term pain.

What do we read in

Mark 8:35 ESV

35 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.

Only through dying can we truly live.

What happens when we live God’s way? When we quit anything that does not belong to His kingdom or fall under His rule?

Galatians 5:22–23 NLT

22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!

The Holy Spirit produces fruit in our lives.

We do have a part to play—we must yield ourselves to the work of the Holy Spirit—allowing Him to show us those things we must quit in our lives as we follow Him and and serve where He calls us to serve.

Next week we will discuss and explore the first “Quit”