I’m helping a couple of coaches deal with the frustration of an unfulfilling season. They both came in with high hopes but through a series of circumstances (mostly beyond their control) their record is not what they’d hoped it would be. I read something impactful (again!) from my Bob Gass devotional, The Word For You Today, recently and I think I need to share this with my coaching friends out there.
We get ourselves into (what Gass calls) “emotional messes.” They are mostly caused by faulty thinking. Our feelings are generated by the way we think about things. When we feel depressed it’s because of the negative, overwhelming thoughts that we let run through our heads. Gass says, “Our emotions spring from how we interpret life and if you always see things from a negative viewpoint you’re going to get down.”
God doesn’t tell us to “get in touch with our feelings” like pop psychologists tell us. Rather, God tells us to get in touch with the truth of His Word. Ultimately, the Word is what’s going to set us free (check out John 8:32). To overcome depression, it’s important to study God’s Word and, as Gass says, “bring your feelings into alignment with what it (the Bible) says.”
Read a few Bible verses each morning. It’s good for your soul; it’s good for your mental health!
