How to Control Your Emotions Week 4 Blog Link-up Party

Chapter 4 of How to Control Your Emotions So They Don't Control You (a mom's guide to overcoming) really opened my eyes to the example of how Jesus handled the hard moments of life. The title of this chapter is "Sometimes, We Just Have to Walk Away". We all know how hard that is to do. Especially when we feel like we've been wronged and need to "stand our ground" because of our need to feel right. Thankfully, Brooke uncovers a beautiful truth from Matthew Chapter 14 that gives us another choice.

 

Discovering Another Choice

You know how you read something in the Bible over and over, and then you read it another time, and it's like the light bulb goes off over your head...yeah, that's what happened to me when I read Matthew Chapter 14 as I pieced together a series of difficult moments in Jesus' life. I discovered from His example another choice we all have.

Jesus' Example

Jesus withdrew from the crowds often. It was His time to invite God into His circumstances as He withdrew to pray about whatever was going on in His life that left Him with a choice to make about how He would respond. 

Matthew Chapter 13 ends with Jesus being rejected by the people of Nazareth...the people of His own hometown. In the very next chapter, while dealing with His rejection, Jesus gets the terrible news of the beheading of his cousin, John the Baptist. That's a lot to deal with! And here's the beautiful truth that I can hold on to in the hard moments of my life, when it seems like everything is going against me:

"Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself." (Matthew 14:13, emphasis mine)

I have another choice in how I respond to the difficult things of life. I can withdraw to a quiet place, bow my head in surrender to God, and invite Him into my circumstances. I can ask Him to help me respond to others with His grace moving through me. I can pour out my hurts and my confusion to Him, so He can pour His love and mercy into me. Then, I can give to others what the Holy Spirit of God has so graciously given to me.

It's a choice we all have to make. Will I get it right all the time? No, I will not. If I could get it right, there wouldn't be any need for the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit. But God knew I would need His help. The choice is mine to make. I pray that my choices would bring honor and glory to God.


 
Now it's your turn to link-up your blog post for this week's reading. Your thoughts matter to me, so please share in the comments below if you don't have a blog. If you do have a blog, use the link-up tool below to share your blog post about this week's chapter. 

Please join me here again on Monday for our last week in our book study. I can't believe how the time has flown by! Have a blessed weekend friends!

Armed with a New Choice,
Laurie

Time4Learning Review Coming Soon!

I've been invited to try Time4Learning for one month in exchange for a candid curriculum review. Time4Learning offers an online curriculum for prek-12th, information about homeschool portfolio reviews and tools like the How to Homeschool Guide. Be sure to come back and read about my experience.

How to Control Your Emotions Week 4

Welcome to Week 4 everyone! This week we are reading Chapter 4 "Sometimes, We Just Have to Walk Away".

This week, we are going to learn about Jesus' example in dealing with the difficult things of life. Yes, it's hard in the heat of the moment to keep our emotions under the influence and guidance of the Holy Spirit, but we'll learn from this chapter that it is possible. We'll take a look into the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 14, to see the example Jesus gave us and how it is actually possible for us to respond in the right way instead of what feels right.

I'm excited about this possibility and can't wait to dive in to our reading this week to learn more! I'll see you here on Friday for our Blog Link-up Party where we'll share our thoughts about what God showed us this week!


Learning How to Choose,
Laurie

How to Control Your Emotions Week 3 Blog Link-up Party

The power to overcome...where do we get it?

Chapter 3 of How to Control Your Emotions So They Don't Control You (a mom's guide to overcoming) is one of my favorite chapters because it reminds us of the power we have as children of God - the same power that raised Jesus from the dead!

That excites me and gives me hope!

Brooke does an amazing job of explaining this power of heaven to her son in a way that he can understand. She shares a conversation she had with her son after the grocery store car buggy incident with us in Chapter 3 "Where Do We Get the Power to Overcome?". I am so thankful for Brooke's example here in the words she chose to share with us in this book. It's something I'd never thought to do with my own son until I read this chapter; and not only with my son, I'm remembering this power for myself when my emotions seek to overcome me in my reactions. In all of my relationships - with my son, my daughter, my husband, my friends and family - I have to remember it is so important to stop when I feel my emotions rising to an unhealthy point and think about all that Jesus did so that I could have the choice to choose well in how I respond.

I think Brooke hits on an important key when she shares about the relationship with her best friend in college that ended because she let her emotions control her - and that is learning what triggers us to lose control of our emotions. When we pay honest attention to what things trigger our emotions to go out of control, we can learn to choose to overcome in those times. But it won't be because of any power we have in and of ourselves...

The Power of the Holy Spirit

I am so thankful for the Holy Spirit who comes to live inside of us when we become Christians! It is the Holy Spirit who changes us from the inside out. It is the Holy Spirit who empowers us to choose well in responding to those triggers that would seek to spin our emotions out of control. We have to recognize who we are as children of God! I can't help but think of a line from The Lion King when Mufasa tells Simba, "Remember who you are!" In those heated moments of life, we have to remember who we are in Christ.

We have to believe the truth of Romans 8:11 that tells us:

"If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you."

This chapter has taught me I need to pause in the heat of the moment, take my eyes off of the circumstances and put them on Jesus, who will come to my aid the moment I ask. Brooke's prayer on page 19 did just that. Her day wasn't necessarily perfect afterwards, BUT her heart was changed which enabled her to approach her boys differently. God will do the same for us!

I love how Brooke ends this chapter by giving us some pointers as we are starting out. I want to list them here briefly. More detail for each point is given in her book, which if you haven't gotten yet, I highly recommend that you do! You can get it here for only $3.99! 

This is a book I will be going to over and over again to remind me of the power to overcome that is mine as a daughter of the King!

Here are the points to remember as we begin walking in the power that is ours as daughters of the King:

1. Take baby steps.
2. Get in the Word.
3. Ask your family, friends, and loved ones to keep you accountable.
4. Pray.

Well, friends, now it's your turn to share! Please link-up your blog post or leave your thoughts in the comments section. I'll see you here again on Monday as we prepare for Chapter 4. I can't believe our time together is almost over! I pray God is touching your heart through this book study. Have a blessed weekend!

Learning to overcome together,
Laurie

 

How to Control Your Emotions Week 3

Wow, here we are in Week 3 of How to Control Your Emotions So They Don't Control You (a mom's guide to overcoming)! How is everyone doing? I would love to hear from you, so take a moment to leave me a comment of what you are learning so far in our journey.

 
I love Chapter 3 "Where Do We Get the Power to Overcome?" because it is a wonderful reminder of the power of Heaven that we have access to as children of God.

If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead 

dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead 

will also give life to your mortal bodies 

through His Spirit who dwells in you. 

(Romans 8:11)

As we read this week, I pray that our hearts would be opened to the power of Heaven that is available to us as children of God, and that we will remember who we are in the heat of the moment so that we can choose to respond to the honor and glory of God with our emotions.

 

I can't wait to hear your thoughts on this chapter! I look forward to meeting here with you on Friday for our Blog Link-up Party where we'll share our hearts. If you don't have a blog, please leave your thoughts in the comments so we can learn from each other!

Learning to overcome together,

Laurie

 

How to Control Your Emotions Week 2 Blog Link-up Party

Is it just me, or has Week 2 flown by?! Honestly, this has been a tough week. My emotions have been up and down as I've dealt with struggles my son has faced this week. You see, he has Asperger's Syndrome, OCD, and ADD. Bless his heart, this has been a tough week for him and for me as his mom. His anxieties have stressed me out and made me cry out to God on his behalf. I've been all over the place with my emotions. 

This week's reading was Chapter 2 How to Overcome Lies With the Truth. It's exactly what I needed to get me through this tough week!

Here are some quotes from this chapter that made a huge impact on me this week.

I'd spent so much time on my knees about the things that were wrong that I'd forgotten to look at the things that were right.


And yet, as my emotions went from 0 to 10 in a matter of seconds, I realized I had done the same thing—overlooked the good for the bad.


My feelings escalated based on the reality of what I was currently seeing, and it took the Word of God to bring a new reality. 

These three quotes remind me to look for the good even in the midst of trying times with my son, and to look at these situations through the lens of God's Word so that the truth can shine through the lies that seek to send my emotions in a downward spiral.

More quotes from Chapter 2...

Romans 8:6 says, "For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace." Doesn’t this verse perfectly describe the challenge we face in getting past our own emotions? Almost every time I get caught in a difficult situation my emotions rise up from the ashes threatening to consume me, and I’m left with a serious choice: set my mind on Jesus and His never-changing truths, or choose to believe the lies instead.

Setting my mind on the Spirit—that gift of God that is able to work in me making me more like Jesus—brought back my peace, and helped me see God’s reality instead of my own. Feel, Know, Do.

Really, what I want you to understand, friends, is that what we can see and feel are often entirely different from God’s reality—the true reality.

What amazing insight these final three quotes from How to Control Your Emotions So They Don't Control You (a mom's guide to overcoming) have brought to me this week!

Finding Truth

Here's the truth I came away with in this week's reading:

When I look at life's circumstances through the lens of the Word of God, my flawed perception of reality is changed by the truth of God's Word. I can trust that God is in control and that everything He has said in His Word will come to pass in His time.

Focusing on the Good 

Remember our challenge this week? In my post on Monday, I asked you to focus on what your son is doing that is good. As I've typed the words for this post, thoughts of the struggles my son and I have had this week have raced through my mind, and the Holy Spirit brings one very important "good thing" to the forefront of my mind about my son. 

He is going to God in prayer!

 

This week as he has battled with anxieties he has prayed to God asking Him for help. Our bedtime routine includes reading two Psalms and praying - first my son prays and then I pray for him. When these anxieties began to overtake him at the beginning of this week, my son's prayer brought tears that I could not hold back. My heart broke for him as he cried out to God. I couldn't believe the prayer that was coming out of his mouth! It literally moved me to tears. He has continued to powerfully pray for himself every night this week. The fact that he is learning to go to God in prayer does my heart good. It's what I hope will come to my mind in those moments when my emotions need to come under the truth of God's reality and not my own.


Learning to Overcome,

Laurie


I can't wait to read your thoughts from this week's reading! Please link up your blog post using the Inlinkz tool or share in the comments section below. I'll see you back here on Monday for Week 3!




 

Heartschooling: Life's Teachable Moments

Good morning! Today you'll find me guest posting at Godly Glimpses in Jennifer's Heartschooling series. I'm sharing all about how we set aside our homeschool books and schedule last week to experience heartschooling with life's teachable moments.

I hope you'll join me over at Godly Glimpses and leave a comment on how you have experienced heartschooling with your kids! 

Blessings,
Laurie