Or do I replay something over and over to the point that worry makes me feel sick?

Or I play out an imaginative conversation and worry over each possible response? 

Or how about after I send a text or email and then fret over how it was received/perceived?

“It’s (this is referring to practicing love) also the way to shut down debilitating self-criticism, even when there is something to it.  For God is greater than our worried hearts and knows more about us than we do ourselves. “

“Even if we feel guilty, God is greater than our feelings, he knows everything.” These are 2 translations of a Bible verse found in 1 John, chapter 3 verse 20.

So refreshing to read that God is greater than my emotions.  How often does it feel like my feelings are reality?  My emotions take over and it is hard to be rational.  Thank God for my husband who helps bring me back to reality and to think through things.  

He helps me to step back and see the whole picture.  I am learning that I can often make wrong assumptions.  Assumptions at all are dangerous.  I can make up a whole back story from a look, a text etc.  

I over think things.  I have a worried heart and I am working to change that.  One way I am doing that is to grow in emotional health.  I recognize I have a tendency to worry what others think of me.

“…remember God gave me emotions so I could experience life, not destroy it.  There is a gentle discipline to it all.”

“… our emotions can work for us instead of against us.  And then we get to cultivate that progress, nurture it, and watch it grow.”

“… feelings should be indicators, not dictators.  They can indicate where your heart is in the moment, but that doesn’t mean they have the right to dictate your behavior and boss you around.  You are more than the sum total of your feelings and perfectly capable of that little gift from Jesus called self-control!”

“Oh how much trouble we invite into our lives based on misguided assumptions.  Here are 3 questions we can use to hold our runaway thoughts, assumptions, and mieperceptions in check:

1.  Did someone actually say this or am I making assumptions about what they are thinking?

2.  Am I actively immersing myself in truth?  The more we read God’s truth (the Bible) and let truth fill our minds, the less time we’ll spend contemplating untruths

3.  Are there situations or relationships that feed my insecurities?   If some situations or relationships feed our insecurities, maybe we need to take a break from them for a season. “- from the book Unglued : Making Wise Choices in the Midst of Raw Emotions ( one of my favorite books, insanely practical and encouraging)