Where’s the wonder?

Some days are like a cloud has come to envelope me. There is just a heaviness about “life”. It could be that I wake up that way or it can happen later on as I go about my day. One moment it seems like everything is fine but then I begin to notice that I am feeling blah, many times without even knowing why.

Saturday was like that. The day began well but by mid-afternoon, I was feeling the shift in my heart and mind.

As I responded to what was happening inwardly, it prompted me to be mindful of the process I have learned to initiate when this happens. Because I know that “wonder” can be the reality for every believer, that it isn’t an exception to the rule in our life, I determine that I don’t want to settle for anything less.

“Wonder” IS the norm, not the exception.

It helps me process my times of feeling blah as I spend the year in the Gospels. At the moment, I am reading in Mark 9:15 NIV how “wonder” is a natural response in the life of a believer. 

As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet him.

The Message translation of this passage is even more expressive of this scene.

 As soon as the people in the crowd saw Jesus, admiring excitement stirred them. They ran and greeted him.

As I look up “wonder” in my Strong’s Concordance, I learn the Greek word is ekthambeō, which means “to be amazed”. It goes on to qualify what the amazement was regarding- “for joy at the unexpected coming of Christ”.

The people felt joy at the sight of Christ. His arrival sparked an undeniable excitement!

Such reality holds true for us as well these 2,000+  years later! That Christ would come to set us free from our sin and debt should spark joy in us! At the thought of Him, this should give us excitement. On our best days or our worst, Christ still came full of grace and mercy for us.

So why wasn’t I feeling that way at the moment?

What brings the blah into life?

I think the best way to respond to feeling blah is to recognize the fact and seek to deal with it. Being clueless or ignoring the feeling doesn’t help the situation. In fact, it only makes it last longer.

Trying to ignore or cover the feeling of blah only makes it last longer. Share on X

This is how I have learned to respond to feeling blah. It helps determine the reason and the appropriate response for each.

3 Responses

• Pay attention to the feeling. Don’t try to diminish the feeling by diverting attention to shopping, eating, busyness, people, Netflix, social media, etc. Stop what I am doing to acknowledge it, giving it necessary time/attention to address.
• Examine the feeling. Trace the feeling back to get to the root of it.  Is it due to sin? (Doing what is wrong.) Is it due to self? (Not doing what I know is right like spending time with God, reading the Bible, allowing priorities to become unbalanced, misplaced expectations, etc.)  Is it due to circumstances? (Trials or hurts can contribute to feeling blah.)
• Respond to the root of the issue with the appropriate action. If it is a sin issue, then confess and repent. If it is a self-inflicted issue, then confess, repent and renew right priorities/practices in life. If it is a circumstantial issue, then take the pain to the Lord (use Truth to counter lies, remember what God has done for me in the past, consider my current blessings, worship my way out of it). In all of these, turning to the Lord is the end result.

What was the cause on Saturday?

As I examined feeling blah on Saturday, I recognized it was a combination of things at the root cause. First, I was feeling like I was missing out on something I had wanted so misplaced expectations were a reason. Secondly, I felt discouraged because something that I thought was good had happened to me, later on, someone else had diminished. Again, misplaced expectations were at the root cause. Thirdly, something someone said to me Friday night made me feel rejected and unworthy. Here, believing lies were the issue.

Once I examined the feeling and determined the root cause, I was able to respond appropriately. I recognized that the feeling was mostly self-inflicted. I took responsibility for the feeling, changed my expectations, and recited Truth to counter the lies I was believing. Afterwards, remembering all the good God had done and was still doing helped me even more. Finally, worship “war” was waged as I battled through to feel joy again. Learning how to worship my way out of worry or discouragement has made a huge difference in my life. It is a powerful weapon!

Worship is a powerful weapon chasing the feeling of blah away! Share on X

My favorite worship songs to chase the blah away.

Here are a few of my favorites for different reasons. Click on each to view the video with lyrics.

This one is for when I am hurting or in pain. I have found that when I can worship even when feeling sad, it makes a significant difference in my mood.

Matt Maher “Lord, I need You”

This is one I use when I am discouraged by circumstances.

Lauren Daigle “Trust in You”

One of my newest favorites is this one for reminding me about how good God is.

Ellie Holcomb “He will”

This one just makes my heart swell with worship which encourages me no matter what is going on.

Tenth Avenue North “Lamb of God”

I pray these bless you out of feeling blah like they do me. Keep following hard my friends till you make it to the joy He has for you.

With love for Him and you,

Gretchen