Tension

This may be something unique to myself— but have you ever thought of dissonance as a feeling or emotion to be experienced? Dissonance typically means a lack of harmony in music, but another definition from Oxford languages is  "a tension or clash resulting from the combination of two disharmonious or unsuitable elements.”

“A tension or a clash.”

I think we usually associate tension as being a hostile feeling and think of times when we’ve felt uneasiness when we have an opposing viewpoint from someone or have experienced anxiety. This anxiety could be situational or it could be a lens through which we are perceiving events and information which then becomes the framework as to which we process everything.

What if we reframed how we view the word tension?

A result of us choosing to be followers God and walking the narrow road (Matthew 7:13-14) is transformation:

“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.” - Romans 12:2
 
“The renewing of your mind.”
 
I think a lot of times we think a natural result of intaking scripture and consciously making decisions that are counter to the culture of the world we live in will lead to a miraculous transformation that will leave our old selves unrecognizable. We think we will be gaining these new mindsets and that we’ll have new ways of carrying ourselves that will resemble “the ideal Christian.” And as I reread that as I write, I’m audibly saying “oof.”
 
There are some instances where God is so, so kind to us and redeems things in our lives that would only be possible because of His grace, but I also think He invites us to step into a dissonant place with Him where contrasting thoughts and beliefs go head to head and bring about refinement. When we ask God to help us do the hard heart work, and replace lies with truths and let ourselves ask where the thoughts we currently believe don’t necessarily line up with the beliefs we might have held onto for years and years, He opens up space for new mindsets and understandings. This can help reshape and transform our beliefs to be grounded more in what God says to be true rather than a lie we believe or what we wish were true.
 
“And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” - 2 Corinthians 3:18
 
I think the greatest physical representation of this can be shown in the formation of mountains. Here is a description from the American Museum of Natural History’s website: “Mountains form where two continental plates collide. Since both plates have a similar thickness and weight, neither one will sink under the other. Instead, they crumple and fold until the rocks are forced up to form a mountain range. As the plates continue to collide, mountains will get taller and taller.”
 
When two ideas, such as patience and restlessness, or contentment and disappointment, come to a tense point and begin to push up against one another in our minds there is a friction. That friction in turn produces fruit when we find in the middle what we can test and discern to be true through God’s word in scripture and the Holy Spirit inside of us.
 
Another way God presents tension is in the way He created us.

“So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law, but I see another law work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me.” - Romans 7:21-23

The nature of our human flesh desires things that directly contrast the ways our Spirit delights in doing the things the Holy Spirit calls us to do, creating a tension in the patterns of the ways we choose to act and the mindsets behind our behaviors.
 
One of my favorite books is Hinds Feet on High Places by Hannah Hurnard. It is an allegorical story about spiritual growth that follows a girl named Much-Afraid as she leaves her family the “Fearings” and journeys to the high places (or new degrees of glory) as she is guided by the Chief Shepherd.
 
In the beginning of the story, the Shepherd plants the seed of love in Much-Afraid’s heart. Before the Shepherd puts the seed in her heart, Much-Afraid asks if it will hurt since the seed appears to be very sharp. 
 
“He answered gently, ‘It is so sharp that it slips in very quickly. But Much-Afraid, I have already warned you that Love and Pain go together, for a time at least. If you would know love, you must know pain too.’”
 
It can feel incredibly heavy to think about having to bear pain and heartache and also rest in the fact that you are so deeply loved by God and you are also capable of loving Him so deeply and loving other people.
 
“She woke suddenly an hour or two later, her mind intensely alert, conscious of an agonizing pain such as she had never known before. The thorn in her heart was throbbing and aching in a manner she could scarcely bear. It was as though the pain was hammering out something which at first she was still confused to understand.
 
Much-Afraid then experiences a hard clarity as to the thing she had been wrestling with before she had fallen asleep that seems to come to her in a flash. This difficult reality check cloaked in tension, but also in honesty, allowed her to take the risk to embark on a journey of growth and strengthening with the Chief Shepherd.
 
I think sometimes breakthroughs can come in a flash, but a lot of times I think tension boils up and we experience a slow process of restlessness with conflicting thoughts, feelings, and beliefs. 
 
This past week I felt a heightened awareness in noticing tension and seemed to experience instances of it every day in so many different contexts. I see this friction as I read different kinds of books, in the things we as a staff are praying for and the things I am personally praying for, in teachings, and in the things I am trying to process and understand. I have been so astounded by the ways that God has opened my eyes to this and the way the strange longing feeling that comes with dissonance has shown itself to be incredibly beautiful in the fruit and refinement that has been beginning to stir in my own heart.

Author | Emma Kate Shelton 

Recent

Archive

 2021

Categories

no categories

Tags

1 Corinthians 1 Kings 1 Peter 2 Corinthians 2 Peter Aaron Vickroy Abba Abiding Abigail Bradley Abundance Accountability Actions Adam Salway Addiction Adoration Adventure Alafia Adeleke Alex Hinton Alignment Andrew Elder Andrew Smith Anger Anna DiCosty Anna Goellner Anointing Ansley Davenport Anxiety Armor of God Ashlyn Williams Ashton Brantley Asian American and Pacific Islander Month Aubrey Gold Authority Autumn Pressley Awakening Bailey Meyne Balance Beauty Becca Johnstone Becca Morgan Being Uncomfortable Being mortal Beloved Ben Gill Benji Johnston Bentley Clark Bethel Black History Month Blessing Body Image Body of Christ Boldness Boundaries Brad Schiebel Bravery Breakthrough Brittany Futch Brokenness Brooke DeLoach Brooklyn Holloway COVID-19 Caitlin Cooper Calling Calvary Cam Pace Caroline Barnes Caroline Beasley Caroline Newton Carolyn McLain Celebration Change Charlie Knox Child-like Chloe Glass Chosen Christina Hensley Christlikeness Christmas Survival Guide Christmas Claire Jordan Clarity Colorado Comfort Commitment Communion Community Comparison Compassion Complacency Confidence Connection Consistency Contentment Control Conviction Correction Counseling Courage Covenants Creativity Cristina Rosiles Dating Decisions Dependency Depth Desperation Devon Radford Disappointment Discernment Discipleship Leadership Blog Discipleship Discipline Distraction Diversity Division Doubt Dreams Dutch Williams Easter Eat the Book El Roi El Shaddai Elders Elijah Elizabeth Sprinkle Ellie Knight Ellyzsa Valencia Emily Baker Emily Goldin Emily Helton Emily Summers Emma Kate Shelton Emma Whitmer Emmanuel Fortuchang Emotions Empathy Emptiness Encountering God Encounter Encouragement Rooms Endurance Enough Environment Envy Erin Gilleland Eternity Evan Correa Evangelism Exodus Expectation Faithfulness Faith Family Fear of the Lord Fear Feeling Lost Feeling Safe Fernanda Lima Forgiveness Fredom Freedom Freely Given Freshley Friendship Fruits of the Spirit Fun Future Garner Gay Generosity Genesis Gentleness Gift Giving Giving Glory of God Goals God as a Father God is Smart God is with us God's Character God's Heart God's Names God's Plans God's Plan God's Power God's Presence God's Promises God's Timing God's Voice God's Will God\'s Character God\'s Heart God\'s Names God\'s Plans God\'s Plan God\'s Power God\'s Presence God\'s Promises God\'s Timing God\'s Voice God\'s Will God\\\'s Character God\\\'s Heart God\\\'s Names God\\\'s Plans God\\\'s Plan God\\\'s Power God\\\'s Presence God\\\'s Promises God\\\'s Voice God\\\'s Will God\\\\\\\'s Character God\\\\\\\'s Presence God\\\\\\\'s Voice Government Grace Gratitude Guatemala Guidance Haley Blanchard Haley Hall Hallie Turner Hannah Cole Healing Heart Posture Heaven Hinds Feet on High Places Hispanic Heritage Month History of Prayer History of Revival History of Wesley Holidays Holiness Holly Avera Holy Spirit Holy Week Home Honor Hope Hospitality Humility Hunger Hunter MacInnis I Am Ian Burkes Identity Idols Image of God Imagination Influence Inheritance Intention Intercession Interning Intimacy Isolation Jake Stephens Jamaica Jamie Cherf Jealousy Jennifer Daniel Jessie Thomas Jesus John Wesley John Joseph Josh DeRamus Journaling Joy Judgment Julia Baughn Justice Justin Patton Kalli Drake Karla Sanchez Tavera Katherine Burnette Katie Courson Katie Pilson Katie Pitner Katy Smith Kelley Losinger Kelly Losinger Kelsey Parham Kennedy Browning Kimberly Klaer Kindness Kingdom Knowing God Knowledge Known Kourtney Axelberg Kristen Fikse Kyle Pickett Language Latinx Heritage Month Lauren Forbes Leadership Legacy Lia Herrera Life Light Lindsey Conway Listening Living Water Living with God Logic Loneliness Longing Los Angeles Loss Love Languages Love Luke Luvlan Lee Mackenzie Wells Maddie Marsh Madeline Current Madelyn Livingston Madison Davis Madison McManners Makinizi Hoover Mariah Foote Mariah Taylor Marlena Sculac Marriage Martin Luther King Jr. Matthew Maturity Melissa Merrick Mental Health Mercy Meredith Ashburn Messiah Michael Weidner Miracles Missions Morgan Attebery Mourning Names Narnia Nashville Natalie Mata Nathan DeYoung New Covenant New Year Obedience Old Covenant Olivia Beals Olivia Ellis Openness Outreach Pain Partnership Passover Past Paul Peace Perfection Perseverance Perspective Peter Pharisees Philippians Power Praise Prayer Guide Prayer Meetings Prayer Pride Processing Prophecy Protection Provision Psalm 23 Psalms Purity Purpose Rachel Dow Rachel Erin Taylor Rachel Henderson Rachel Jones Racial Healing Racial Reconciliation Rebecca Mejia Recipes Reconciliation Red Rising Redemption Refinement Reflection Reform Refreshing Relationship Remedy Repentance Resolutions Resources Responsibility Restoration Rest Resurrection Reverence Revival Rhythm Righteousness Riley Orr Risk Romance Romans 8 Romans Rosalie Vendrell Ruth Sabbath Sacred Rhythms Sacrifice Salvation Sam Adams Sam Carroll Sam Darby Samantha Forbes Samantha Richey Sanctification Sarah Savoie Savannah Hill Savannah Shaw Savannah Ugan Scripture Seasons Secrets of the Secret Place Seeking God Selah Self-love Sermon on the Mount Serving Shaking Shame Sidney Counsell Simplicity Singleness Sin Slowing Solitude Sorrow Sovereignty Spiritual Disciplines Spiritual Gifts Spiritual Health Spiritual Themes Spiritual Warfare Status Steadfastness Stephanie Seda Stephanie Stewart Strength Stress Struggles Suffering Summer Survival Guide Summer of Psalms Summer Surrender Temple Temptation Tenderness Tension Testimony Thankfulness The Beatitudes The Church The Cross The Gospel The Law The Lord's Prayer The Lord\'s Prayer The Lord\\\'s Prayer The Prodigal Son The Road to Life The Secret Place The Shack The Ten Commandments The Trinity The Word of God Therapy Tori Kramer Transformation Transition Trust Truth Uncertainty Unity Urgency Values Victory Vision Vulnerability Wandering Wednesday Night Recap Who Am I Wilderness Wisdom Wonder Word for the Year Words Worship Worth