When You Lose the Feeling of Love, Choose the Action of Loving

Today’s devotional is by Tom Holladay, teaching pastor at Saddleback Church.

What do you do with the feelings that come from disappointment in a relationship? You can’t stuff them away, because they will just pop out somewhere else.

You need to trust God and tell him all your problems because he is your protection.

Tell him you are angry or disappointed or that you feel nothing. In those times when you feel nothing, when you feel like you’ve lost the love, go to God and tell him that—and then trust him. Hebrews 10:23 teaches us, “We can trust God to do what he promised” (NCV). And he promises to pour his love into our hearts.

Love is a feeling, but it is also an action. And when you lose the feeling to love someone, move forward with the action of loving them, and that will help you reclaim your feelings of love. Is this hypocritical? No, it’s being human. We all lose the feeling to love at sometime. It usually happens when we decide to live with a problem instead of talking it out or openly facing it.

Start by telling God your feelings about the problem. From there, he can begin to give you the strength to talk to your loved one about it. As you do this, God will begin to restore your feeling of love for that person. He does what Lamentations 5:21 says: “Turn us around and bring us back to you again! That is our only hope! Give us back the joys we used to have!” (TLB).

That is my prayer for you. Whether you are a husband or a wife who needs to let go of a disappointment or misunderstanding or if you need to accept the differences you have with a close friend—I pray that God will begin to bring back your joy. But it’s a process, and it begins when you decide to trust God and tell him your feelings.