Hello, I'm Sochil Dixon.

I pray you feel God's loving and comforting presence as I share today's encouragement from

our daily bread entitled God knows we feel.

Feeling overwhelmed, Sierra grieved her son's fight with addiction. I feel bad, she said. Does God

think I have no faith because I can't stop crying when I'm praying? I don't know what God thinks,

I said, but I know he can handle real emotions. It's not like he doesn't know we feel. I prayed and shed tears with Sierra

as we pleaded for her son's deliverance. Scripture contains many examples of people wrestling with God

while struggling. The writer of Psalm 42 expresses a deep longing to experience the peace of God's

constant and powerful presence.

He acknowledges his tears and his depression over the grief he's endured.

His inner turmoil ebbs and flows with confident praises as he reminds himself of God's faithfulness.

Encouraging his soul, the psalmist writes,

put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. He's tugged back and forth

between what he knows to be true about God and the undeniable reality of his overwhelming emotions.

God designed us in his image and with emotions.

Our tears for others reveal deep love and compassion,

not necessarily a lack of faith.

We can approach God with raw wounds or old scars because he knows we feel.

Each prayer, whether silent, sob, or shouted with confidence, demonstrates our trust in

his promise to hear and care for us.

Thank you. promise to hear and care for us. Today's our daily bread devotional scripture reading is Psalm 42.

As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God.

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