QUESTION: “...Is it wrong to want to quit? Sometimes I just want to quit being a wife, I want to quit being a mother. Do you think God is displeased with me for feeling this way? Is it a sin to feel like giving up?”
ANSWER: No. It is not wrong for you to feel as you do. Consider the following:
1. God created you with the capacity to experience feelings (cf. Matt. 14:14; 26:38, 56; 27:46; Mark 1:41; 3:5; 10:21; Luke 19:41; 22:44; John 11:33-35; 13:21; Heb. 5:7). One author observes:
“It’s okay to feel our feelings. It’s okay for us to have feelings--all of them... Feelings are not wrong. They’re not inappropriate. We don’t need to feel guilty about feelings. Feelings are not acts... Feelings should be judged as either good or bad. Feelings are emotional energy; they are not personality traits” [Melody Beattie, "Feel Your Own Feelings," Codependent No More, 133].
2. Many good people feel, and have felt like quitting at times. The OT prophet, Jeremiah, wanted to quit preaching. He said, "Oh, that I had in the wilderness a lodging place for wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them..." (Jer. 9:2). My guess is that most of us at one time or another have felt like Jeremiah and have wished for a little cabin in the mountains where we could "get away from it all" and rest. It may surprise you to learn that even Jesus felt like quitting. Just prior to His crucifixion He prayed, "O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me..." (Matt. 26:39b; cf. Heb. 12:3). If the Lord could feel like quitting and yet, not be guilty of sin (Heb. 4:15), I am confident that it is not wrong for you to feel the same way.
3. Remember--actually quitting would affect your service to God as well as your family. The Bible urges, "And let us not grow weary in well doing, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart" (Gal. 6:9; cf. 1 Cor. 15:58; Rev. 2:10).
"Feelings must dictate or control our behaviors, but we can’t ignore our feelings either. They won’t be ignored. Our feelings are very important. They count. They matter [Beattie, 131].This item originally appeared in www.oakhillcoc.org
