When I was young, the word ‘Trigger’ was the name of Roy Rogers’ horse. When I began my emotional healing journey in 1983, I found another meaning of trigger. It is when something from our present reminds us of something unresolved from our past. There is an unconscious emotional trigger. It is as if the whole situation was occurring right then. Every emotion rises and we are broadsided.

Recently I opened a YouTube channel. If you like my video, you can hit a bell. Each time I post something new, you will be notified. Take that into healing for past hurts. When we bury our emotions, we set a bell. Each time it is triggered, our flesh is notified. It comes out of hiding to disturb our emotions. I know that when I overreact to something in my present, God is revealing an unresolved issue in my life.

In my first book, “Freedom! From Past Hurts” I have a chapter about setting anger as a guard to our buried emotions. Anytime someone comes close to us, we use anger to ward them away from our hidden. It is all unconscious. Yesterday I read a definition for self-conscious emotions. It means: Self-conscious emotions are those affected by how we see ourselves and how we think others perceive us. They include emotions like pride, jealousy, and embarrassment. 

Misunderstandings occur in interpersonal relationships when we perceive something that isn’t. Here is a great example. In Numbers 13, Moses had sent out twelve spies. Ten came back with this report. Verse 32-33 says, “…The land…devours its inhabitants, and all the people in it are men of great stature. There we saw the giants…and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.” Do you see their erroneous perception?

Do you see yourself through God’s eyes, or through your perception of how others might see you? I am presently grappling with this question. Why? Yesterday something in my present triggered something hidden in my past. It is still hidden to me, but the great news is that it is not hidden to the Lord. So I have asked Him to reveal this buried emotional pain. 

I’ve written all the above, because I want to go back to Moses and the children of Israel. There is a pattern that I have picked up on this time as I read through the book of Exodus. Even though they physically left Egypt, they did not emotionally leave. Each time there was a situation of lack, it triggered their emotional attachment to what was. In Exodus 17 there was no water. The first thing they did was complain. They didn’t recall all that the Lord had done for them, they only remembered what they wanted to about Egypt. Their perceived lack was always related to their past fleshly gratification.

I encourage you to go before the Holy Spirit and ask Him to reveal your hidden. Here are some sample questions. What is buried that you overreact to? What hidden are you unconsciously guarding from anyone finding out? Does your perception of yourself agree with God’s? Do you fear what others might think of you? May the Holy Spirit lead us all into emotional freedom, that we might serve the Lord wholeheartedly.