How to Control Your Emotions Week 1

Welcome to all of you who have committed to join me for the next 5 weeks as we walk through the pages of How to Control Your Emotions So They Don't Control You (a mom's guide to overcoming). I'm so excited today has finally arrived! I have been anticipating our time together and praying our hearts and minds would be open to what God wants to show us through our study.

I am so amazed at the positive response to the invitation to join this book study. It is so comforting to know that I am not alone when it comes to struggling with my emotions. You are not alone either! For the next 5 weeks it is my prayer that together we will learn that our emotions do not have to control us and that we can also learn how to overcome the downward spiral of emotions that seek to run our lives. I truly believe Brooke's book will be the tool God uses to help us learn how to react differently to situations by using the "Feel, Know, Do" method she describes.

So let's get started with Week 1...

Week 1 Reading

This week we will be reading the Introduction and Chapter 1.

Week 1 Questions

In the Introduction, Brooke lists 4 questions for us to ask ourselves before digging into the truths that are necessary for us to overcome the challenges we face with our feelings and emotions. Let's examine our hearts using those questions Brooke asks us on page 5:

1. Do we believe the Word of God is true?
2. Will we study the Bible, taking the time to understand what it says?
3. Will we choose to believe what the Bible says is true, even when what we see and feel screams something different?
4. What is our deepest desire? (To be right or to love Jesus well?)

Settling in our hearts the answers to these questions is necessary before we begin to learn how to bring our emotions under control with the authority of God's Word.

In Chapter 1, Brooke explains the "Feel, Know, Do" method using Psalm 13 written by David at a time in which his emotions were seeking to take control in the midst of his circumstances. As you read through Chapter 1 this week, think of a time when you've invited God into your circumstances and felt a shift in your emotions that caused you to react in a way that pleased God. Next, think of a time when you failed to invite God into your circumstances and instead let your emotions take control in a way that did not honor God. Looking back on that time now with the "Feel, Know, Do" method, what steps should you have taken instead that would have been pleasing to God? I think it's important to look back and think how we could have done things differently so that the next time we are faced with a similar situation we can be better equipped to make the choice that will honor God with our emotions. 

Chapter 1 ends with Brooke speaking about the importance of worship. Think of a time when your act of worship has brought peace in the midst of undesirable circumstances. Describe your act of worship and what it meant to you.

Meet me back here on Friday for our Blog Link-up Party where we will share our answers to these questions and discuss our thoughts of this week's reading. If you do not have a blog to link-up, you are invited to leave your answers and thoughts in the comments section of my blog post on Friday.

I'd like to close our time together today in prayer:

Heavenly Father, I thank You for each woman who is here with me today, ready to begin this journey of surrender with our emotions. I pray that You would open our hearts and minds to be sensitive to what You would have us learn this week. Bind the hand of the enemy who would seek to keep us bound up in lies instead of Your truth that sets us free. Thank You for Your love and mercy that is new every morning. Be with us this week in all that we do. Help us to make choices that honor Your name. May the words of our mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord God. In the life-changing name of Jesus I pray. Amen!


Until Friday,

Laurie