When You are Feeling Deflated

I should have seen it coming. Every time I have a spiritual retreat where I come away feeling encouraged and inspired, something comes out of left field and deflates the balloon of happiness I feel. 

As I listened to words of complaint, it was as if someone took a pin and popped my balloon. Negativity is always difficult for me because it leaves me feeling lacking. Much of that comes from being a child who was told that no matter what I did, it wasn't enough. 

When I feel that way I generally don't respond well and it's hard to remain objective. It's a weakness in myself that I keep bringing before the Lord and while the initial negative emotion may rise up, I'm working on not reacting to it.

God is good because in the aftermath of my emotional and internal struggle, I happened to see a video which taught me a good lesson about my value in God's eyes.

The speaker in the video took a large monetary bill and asked the audience if they would like it. They said, "Yes!" Then he crumpled it up and said, "How about now?" Then he put it in his mouth and chewed on it a bit and said, "How about now?" Then he threw it on the floor and ground it under his dirty shoe and said, "What about now?" Someone in the audience said, "Yes, I'd love it!" When asked why, the person said, "Because it hasn't lost it's value."

The point of this object lesson is that no matter how much people crumple us, chew us up, spit us out, and trample on us, our value remains the same. God still values me and my ministry. He still sees me exactly the same way as He did before. I have value in His eyes.

I need to remind myself of that when I'm feeling deflated. A critique does not lessen the way God views me. I'm His and He is mine and nothing can take that away. 

Perhaps you are feeling unworthy, unloved, undervalued, and unwanted. Remember that no matter how crumpled and trampled upon you feel that your value is not lessened in the eyes of God.

Take courage in that word this morning!