I am sensitive to the changes in other people’s souls. When others are emotionally off kilter, it weighs me down and I retreat into myself where I am safe—especially around people who live outwardly, who don’t process their feelings but just try to dump their struggles on you and the nearest targets, making their emotional upheaval your fault.

There are a lot of people out there like that: who experience inner turmoil and look for outer scapegoats. It’s easier than being honest with yourself.

As you grow in God, you will begin to love what God loves and hate what God hates. And if you do not guard your heart, you will find yourself swept away by divers experiences, emotions, and disruptions that do not even belong to you. You will find yourself softer as wheat. You will find yourself devoured.

Each time Jesus performed a major miracle or spoke a revelatory word, Jesus went out to be alone—in the presence of God. He practiced God’s presence. When He lost “virtue”, Jesus went to replenish himself in the spirit. He prolly didn’t NEED to do that; but I know that everything that Jesus did was an example for us to follow.

Learn to replenish yourself so that you have the tools to guard your heart. Don’t be that city without walls. Don’t go out without the WHOLE armor on (Ephesians 6). Don’t be afraid to say, “I am sitting this one out!” You have a right to rest.