Emotional baggage can weigh us down if we are not attentive to the things that are going on in our hearts and minds. Life around us can be challenging at times—and sometimes—more than not, we can be affected by them in negative ways. Sometimes the emotional toil can be so subtle that days, weeks, or months have gone by before we realize we’ve been injured by pain, hurt, and sorrow. Before you really comprehend exactly what took place within you; you can’t eat, can’t sleep, or have withdrawn from family, friends and loved ones.
It is in those times when you need to Shake Yourself Loose. See God promises us that He’s a Present Help in times of trouble, but we must be willing to allow Him to bring aide to our aching hearts. (Psalm 46:1)
If you cut your finger while cooking or working on your car and it begins to bleed, most people will stop to assess the damage. They don’t continue cooking and bleed all over their food or all over their brand-new car seats. No, instead they stop to apply measures in an attempt to stop the bleeding. If the bleeding continues—they might seek someone else for help. As it is with our physical bodies, so is it with our emotional lives too.
When things happen in our lives that cut us to the core—we may not physically bleed, but that doesn’t mean the wound is not just as severe. It is our responsibility to take notice of the cut, stop to assess the damage and work with God—to shake ourselves loose from its trauma. Waddling in our sorrows, pains, disappoints or hurts, do not make them better—nor disappear. Instead, they fester and can linger too long until other physical issues begin to manifest.
If something negative has happened to you or if someone of a not so kind disposition has happened to you—and if the effects of what transpired are still weighing you down—it’s time to Shake Yourself Loose and allow God to do His work to heal you completely from the suffering of that ordeal.