On Being a Drama Queen

A friend of Philip Yancey's said that for much of her life she tried to suppress negative emotions but realized that any false attempt to change negative emotions into more positive ones would mean pretending not to feel things that she was actually feeling. She concluded,

"And to do that before God is a waste of time. So I'm trying, instead of shaming or pretending, to come to terms with my emotions, and bring them before God honestly. I have come to realize that I'm never going to stop having emotions, and probably strong emotions, because that is the way I'm wired. I'm emotionally rich. I have a large emotional bank account from which to make withdrawals. I must, however, learn to live rightly in the midst of my fluctuating emotions, and I believe that God can teach me to do this."

That's me! I have a large emotional bank account, too, and while I don't want to pretend to be happy when I'm going through something painful, I don't want to be a Drama Queen either!