I Should Be Over This: When the Storm Passes but You're Still Spinningনমুনা

You may be thinking "I should be over this and back to normal by now," but your soul needs something different. It needs intentional care.

What should we do when we feel ungrounded, like our life won’t stop spinning? We need to practice intense self care. We've survived the initial trial, but we’re still disoriented. It’s critical we’re intentional in crafting our care.

There are three components to soul care. The first may surprise you.

We must grieve.

When we allow ourselves to grieve, we are essentially telling our soul, "I know, I see." We know how hard, scary, confusing, disappointing, sad, angering, long and painful this is. We acknowledge the losses we're experiencing and what will never now be.

Allowing ourselves to grieve, gives our soul a chance to weep.

It's common to have a delayed grief either due to the initial circumstances or our defenses. Some days, all we can do is cry. Grieving is the most honest, vulnerable way to give voice to our reality. This is a form of soul care. To deny this natural response in times of trial is extremely harmful to our soul. If we don't support ourselves in this deep, real place, who will?

We must rest.

Jesus says, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." (Matthew 11:28-29, NIV)

Finding moments of rest is the second component to soul care. Rest can be deeply healing to one's body and soul. Rest allows us to take deep breaths and have a temporary restorative reprieve from our pain.

Resting is ultimately an act of faith. If we allow ourselves to rest while still in the midst of trial and its aftermath, we are, in essence, proclaiming that God is in control, and we trust Him to take care of everything.

Remember Jesus asleep on a boat during a severe storm? His disciples woke Him in a panic. His response? "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?" (Mark 4:40, NIV) What can we conclude about the relationship between faith and rest during life's storms? We are invited to rest, assured He will care for us.

We must anchor our soul.

The third component of soul care is to invest our energy into countering discouragement. We do this by anchoring our hope into God's promises. As we do, we will naturally strengthen our faith. Remembering and claiming God's promises is a sure way of caring well for a discouraged, free-floating soul.

Start with letting this promise encourage and strengthen you: "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand" (Isaiah 41:10, NIV).

I learned from a Bible study years ago about the principle of taking our healing as deep as our wounding. In the same way, we must intentionally practice God-centered soul care to match the gravity of our trial.

Putting a Band-Aid on a gushing wound won't suffice. Minimizing what we just went through (and are still dealing with) doesn't work either. The intensity of our soul care must match the intensity of our trial.

Prayer

Dear Jesus, thank you for inviting me to come to you in my weariness and being gentle with my sore soul. I give you my grief. Please give me rest. Remind me of your promises that are true, that I may anchor my hope more firmly in you. Amen.

Remember, your soul deserves care and attention as intense as the trial was. Tomorrow we’ll see why we still don’t feel “normal” and get even more practical with how to care for ourselves.