Emotional Balance
Everyone has good and bad days, highs and lows, joy and sorrow. No one is exempt from the realities of life. And, feeling depressed doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re clinically depressed. Also, being anxious doesn’t always require psychiatric treatment. Clinical help is required when your depression and anxiety are sustained and debilitating. Mentally healthy people can have an emotional attack – an occasional case of the jitters and blues.
An emotional attack is similar to a heart attack. Years before a cardiac issue occurs, a blood vessel has an area of injury. After the injury, it becomes inflamed and irritated. The area tries to heal itself, but it can’t because the blood flow is inhibited. Similarly, when you have an emotional attack, there is an initial area of injury – such as a divorce, job loss, or death. The pain of the event causes you to become anxious and irritated. You then try to “hold it all together” the best way that you can – compensating with things that only clog and constrict your ability to tap into God’s love (your spiritual blood flow). As in the case of a heart attack, you eventually reach a critical point.
In order to acquire emotional balance, we have to lean on God. Repeatedly, the Bible instructs us to give God our pain and fears. When we don’t heed these instructions, our lives are thrown out of balance. Philippians 4:6-7 states, “Don’t worry about anything, but pray about everything. With thankful hearts, offer up your prayers and requests to God. Then, because you belong to Christ Jesus, God will bless you with peace that no one can completely understand. And this peace will control the way you think and feel” (Contemporary English Version).
When someone is having a heart attack, every effort is made to open the closed artery ... as quickly as possible. Doctors give blood thinners, administer oxygen, and anesthetize the pain in an effort to enhance the blood flow. Likewise, halting an emotional attack requires the restoration of your spiritual blood flow ... as quickly as possible. Fittingly, there is a witty adage that states, “Seven days without prayer makes one weak.” So if your emotions are out of balance, seek resuscitation in God. Find the time to read His Word, pray, and be silent in His presence. Your emotional pain doesn’t have to cause an inflammatory response in your spiritual life – and the arteries of your soul don’t have to harden. 
