The following is an excerpt from Kathy Glatz’s forthcoming book – a 31-day meditation as she has gone through the process of donating her kidney to her husband. The following is another meditation from her journey…

Most of my thinking is born out of 2 things. Conversations with God and/or conversations with people. I think a lot about what people say. I mean I really think about it, not just listen

Lately I’ve been thinking quite a bit about the idea of “feelings” and “heart.”

We talk mostly about our feelings; what they are at any given moment. I notice people rarely talk about how they are processing those feelings. I don’t know if they really give them much thought or if they just “go with it.” I think a lot of people just “go with it.” I’m pretty sure we all know at least one person who has a tendency to be led by their feelings a lot. More often than not, they are dramatic about everything. Their life very often seems to be a bit of a mess.

I am very much a feeling person. I feel quickly and acutely. But I have learned something vitally important over the years. My feelings are not who I am. My heart is.

What is really interesting to me is that God, in the Bible, doesn’t really talk about feelings. He talks a lot about heart. “Out of the heart come the issues of life” it says in Scripture. “As a man thinks in his heart, so he is.” There are many others. It doesn’t say “as a man feels, so he is.”

The heart has the ability to be very discerning; of right and wrong in ourselves or others; in understanding motives.

The heart is where our beliefs live. It can also understand; feelings cannot. The heart can learn and grow or be stubborn and become hard and unyielding. The heart can be open or closed; loving and kind or cruel and selfish. The Lord says we are to guard it diligently. Our heart is the storehouse, the garden, where every belief we have grows.    

Feelings have none of this. Feelings just are. They are neither right nor wrong. They have no power to change anything. How we act on them can be right or wrong. They are merely an indicator of what we believe in our heart about something. They show the truth of hidden things that need to be looked at more deeply. They help us see where the weeds are in our heart that should be pulled.

Feelings are actually about us and not about the other person. We project our feelings onto others (never a good thing), instead of looking more deeply at our own heart. No one can make you “feel” a certain way. Your feeling is a reaction in your heart to what you believe about what someone else has said or done. Feelings reveal your perception.

I believe this is why the Lord talks about heart so much and not feeling. Because the “issues of life” come from your heart. Not your feelings. When something causes you to feel a certain way, instead of going with the feeling, take a few moments to take a deeper look at what is in your heart. Ask yourself some simple questions like:

What was it that triggered this feeling?

What is the belief about this person or situation that the feeling is attached to?

Is it true, good, or right?

Do I want to keep this belief/thought or change it out for a better one?  

You have that choice with every thought that crosses your mind and every belief that is in your heart. It’s powerful and it’s the purpose of free will.

I love the way Graham Cooke says it in his teachings, “If you don’t like the thought you are having, then have another thought!”

Feelings are always connected to a thought or belief. Check the thought or belief instead of running with the feeling. It will keep you from developing unforgiveness, resentment and bitterness or any number of unpleasant things. It will create an environment for good things to grow in your heart. It will enable you to truly see and hear God more clearly than ever before.