Are you struggling with past hurt, pain, bitterness, resentment, fear, worry, or any emotional turmoil? In today’s post, I’ll be sharing some vital steps to help you let go of any negative emotion you’re dealing with and move on with God’s help. 

The truth is that we have all experienced one emotional issue or the other to varying degrees. There’s hardly anyone that gets through life unscathed. In other words, we all need God’s help to let go of the different issues that we have been through or are still going through. 

Perhaps, you’re wondering what letting go means – it simply means releasing your physical or emotional pain and opening up your spirit to be led by God; while trusting where His path leads. Holding on to our emotional issues doesn’t solve anything. Rather it only gives us disillusioned control that hurts us more than it helps.

Although it’s common and even almost normal to experience issues that make a mess of our emotions, we can figure out how to let go. The desire to learn how to let go of negative emotions, especially from the past, is hardly an easy thing to accomplish. However, it is doable with God’s help. 

The following are some ways to help you let go so you can find emotional healing:

1. Recognize the Need to Let Go. When trying to let go of any emotional issue, the first thing is to acknowledge that there’s a problem that has continued to affect your life, especially your relationships, in very unhealthy ways. Therefore, you need to admit to yourself and others that you need help learning how to let go. Recognizing the need to let go will undoubtedly trigger some unpleasant thoughts and emotions in you. This is because you’d be forced to recall things you would have preferred to leave in the past where they belong. Nevertheless, this is the first step toward beginning to let go, finding healing, and truly moving on. Meanwhile, you can write down all the emotional issues you are struggling with or have struggled with in the past as part of the process. 

2. Bring Your Pain to God. Scripture is very clear about God’s concern over our well-being. He wants us to live healthy, whole lives. 1 Peter 5:7 – Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Psalm 147:3 – He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. Throughout the Bible, we find Scriptures that clarify that God cares for us. In other words, He expects us to bring our worries, fears, and pains to Him so that He will bind up our wounds—whether those hurts are emotional or physical. 

One of the ways that will help let go of it all is this; present the list you have written to God. You may need to do this more than once, possibly daily. Often, we want our pain to go away, but we must learn how to let go of the pain we feel by waiting patiently for healing to come. We may need to bring the issues we are struggling with to God several times before we begin to see any meaningful changes in how we feel. Don’t be discouraged if this happens.

3. Forgive Completely. Forgiving and getting rid of every bitterness, anger, grudge, and all the negative feelings attached to offenses and hurt is a necessary step in the process. We all need to go through to let go genuinely. Holding on to hurtful emotions will make it impossible for you to move on. In other words, you can’t do without forgiveness. Sometimes we also need to forgive ourselves, and not just others. 

4. Meditate on Scriptures to Help You Let Go. God’s powerful Word is true and offers us divine hope that we can cling to. However, we need to remind ourselves of God’s promises often. To help you accomplish this, write out your favorite Scriptures that remind you of God’s promises, especially of healing, and how much He cares about you. Place them where you can see them easily. This may be in your bedroom, in your car, office, or wherever you spend time almost daily. Doing this will help strengthen and keep you encouraged as the weight of every emotional burden begins to dissipate. 

Here are some of my favorite reminders of God’s promises concerning my well being: 

1. Zephaniah 3:17 – For the Lord, your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs. 
2. Philippians 4:6-7 – Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. 
3. Isaiah 41:10 – Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand. 

Spend some time each day re-reading the Scriptures you’ve written down and ask God for healing as you bring your heart to Him. Over time, God’s Word will change the way you think and feel. The Holy Spirit Himself, too, will teach you how to move on, even when it seems undoable. 

5. Share Your Emotional Burden With Someone. Once you’ve brought your pain to God and started meditating on His Word, you can share your pain with a loyal friend, pastor, or counselor. Sometimes, opening our emotions to someone else is a difficult step to take because you may feel ashamed or embarrassed to share what you’ve experienced. However, overcoming your fear and opening up to someone else is an essential step toward letting go of those negative emotions raging on the inside. 

The devil loves it when we feel like isolating ourselves in our struggles. But when we open up and share our issues honestly with others, it unburdens us a great deal; while weakening the power the enemy has over us. 1 Thessalonians 5:16 – So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing. Galatians 6:2 – Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ. The above scriptures show us that God didn’t create us to walk alone but to be in a community with others, especially believers. Hence, we can make use of the encouragement of others as we journey toward healing and recovery. More so, the friend we choose to trust with our story can also offer a perspective we haven’t stopped even to consider.

6. Surrender Your Fears and Worries to God. Emotional baggage such as fear and worry do nothing but harm to us. In fact, they plague our hearts and minds. More so, they do not only affect our hearts and minds but our bodies too. Hence, one way you should let go is to surrender them to God, who knows how to work things out for our good. Romans 8.28 – And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 

7. Surround Yourself With Encouragement. We can hardly ever make it through any difficulty in life if we don’t let go of those things that hold us back and limit us. One way to arrive at the point where we’re ready to just give it all up to God and let it go is to surround ourselves with the right encouragement. This encouragement can come from Spirit-inspired podcasts, books, videos, music that uplift faith, as well as people who can speak truth into our lives. 

8. Renew Your Mind Continually. You must maintain your spiritual health no matter what. Especially after you have handed it all to God and you’re ready to move on. Continually renew your mind. Romans 12:2 – Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. Trust and believe in the God who loves you and wants nothing but the best for you. When you finally let go, you can fully rest in His strength. 

It’s easy to get discouraged, especially when we don’t see any visible changes, even when we are trying so hard to let go. What you should note, however, is that you need to give yourself time to let go completely and let God work in you. Carrying the past around us will only take up the space meant for God’s goodness and grace. 

Part of renewing our minds in Christ means to let go of all the burdens He died to take away from us. Learn to surrender and give them to God. Don’t give up because His promises are true. When the negative thoughts seek to invade your space, you must cut them and give them to God immediately.

Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; he will neither fail you nor abandon you. –Deuteronomy 31:8