Emotions [eBook]

Our emotions are powerful. We experience them so tangibly that they can often feel all-consuming. At one time or another, we will all have experienced what Catherine Haddow calls ‘tears, fears and sneers’ — those darker, harder emotions. We often don’t know what to do with them. Sometimes we feel helplessly controlled by them, unable to see anything other than the emotion. At other times, we try and hide them from others and from God.In this book, you’ll see that our emotions are vitally important as they are ‘spiritual smoke alarms’ that can alert us to the state of our heart. Catherine presents her own ‘tbH’ model which, when followed, helps us to understand our thoughts, emotions and behaviours in more detail, each providing vital information about  the compelling desires, flowing from our hearts. She then helps us to apply biblical wisdom to where we’re struggling, inviting God to change and transform us from the heart of the emotion — the core of our being. ‘The heart matters.  It’s the fountain of our personality from which everything flows.  The deeply-embedded attitudes of our hearts are the key to wisdom, godly character and healthy living – or otherwise.  Illustrated from her own experience and a number of case studies, Catherine offers us a sure-footed guide through the minefield of our own fallen and fickle feelings.  Her sanctified version of CBT offers us a way of both understanding and managing them.  We don’t need to fear our emotions; they are God-given indicators to what’s going on in our hearts.  Best of all, he is at work in them and through them to make us more like Jesus.  A good read for everyone involved in helping others to walk with him.  That should be all of us, then!’ Richard Underwood, Pastoral Ministries Director, FIEC’It sometimes feels like the ‘noise’ of our emotions can drown out any rational thought about why we are reacting as we do.  Emotions, Mirrors of the Heart gives a handy model to help us to get to the heart of why we feel the way we do and apply the Bible’s truth there.  I can see myself keeping these ideas in my back pocket for conversations with strugglers, including myself.’  Agnes Brough, Associate minister for Women and Young People, The Tron Church, Glasgow