Emotions Curriculum

In this lesson we hear the testimony of Joni Eareckson Tada. Joni shares what life is like with quadriplegia and chronic pain. This talk focuses on her emotional experiences in the face of suffering, and how God used Scripture to shape her experience. Joni shares biblical truth and personal wisdom that she has gained throughout her life.

This lesson begins with the question, “Do you ever feel bad for feeling bad?” People often ask you how you feel, but this question goes one step further. It asks you to consider howyoufeelabout your feelings. How comfortable are you with what’s going on inside? The attitudes you have about an emotion directly shape your experience of it. This lesson explores the emotions Jesus experienced and expressed in John 11.

Emotions are hard to define and to grasp intellectually. What words do you use to describe your emotions? How can you better understand what is going on inside of you? We learn in Matthew 6:21 that emotions assign value to what we love and reveal what we worship. This lesson looks at the close connection our emotions have with our hearts.

This lesson focuses on what to do with our emotions. People often take one of two approaches. The first is to embrace: feelings are everything. The second is to avoid: strong and silent is the way to go! A biblical alternative to both extremes is to engage your emotions by engaging with God. This lesson offers practical ways to engage God with your emotions.

In relationships emotions are the difference between knowing about someone and really knowing someone. Emotions help us to enter into the lives of others as our hearts are moved by their hearts. This lesson casts a vision for how to enter a person’s experience through emotions and explores specific relational skills that are the fruit of sincere love (Romans 12:15).

This lesson provides a biblical framework for building marital intimacy for couples in distress. It begins by looking at the foundation of marriage and explores the remarkable gift of the one-flesh union. Aaron uses counseling examples to illustrate the important role emotions play in a couple’s intimacy and shows how to help marriages in distress. This final lesson will be particularly useful for counselors and couples who want to cultivate or repair intimacy in a marriage.