Hormones can open you up to attacks from the enemy, but God offers hope and strength to resist.

I've got a confession to make: My hormones have me in a tailspin.

I have all the telltale signs of a hormonal overload. My skin has betrayed me. There isn't enough chocolate in Hershey to satisfy my cravings. Worst of all, my emotions seem to have stamped their ticket for a roller coaster ride where there are no exits.

You've been there, right? For no apparent reason, you can't stop crying. Or worse, you stew, you yell, you snap, and you bicker without cause because your hormones have gone wacky.

Fluctuating hormones are an unavoidable part of being a girl. There's no denying that they have an impact on our emotional health. But I am learning that my hormones are not an excuse to act out every emotion. They are an opportunity to submit to Christ and put the fruit of the Spirit into practice.

God's Word puts it this way:

"Like a city whose walls are broken through is a person who lacks self-control" (Proverbs 25:28).  ?

I've noticed that when I use my hormones as an excuse to lose control, I open myself up to the attacks of the Enemy, much like a city with broken walls.

During a time in my life when I was experiencing an unusual amount of emotional turbulence the Lord directed my attention to passages about self-control in His Word. He reminded me that I didn't have an excuse to act and do whatever I wanted. I noticed that on the days where I let my hormones call the shots, I struggled much more with fear, worry, anger, and sadness. I quickly decided that I didn't want to risk going without the emotional protection that surrendering myself to Christ gives. I made the conscious decision not to let my hormones be my excuse to lack self-control.

I still have to make that conscious decision often. When my body goes all topsy-turvy, I have the choice to practice self-control. And when I cannot do it in my own strength, I am reminded that I have a God who is able to help.

"But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong" (2 Corinthians 12:9–10).

Sufficient grace and a powerful God ... just what every girl needs.