Welcome to the second episode in the Growth Series! We serve a God of growth. When God says grow, nothing we do will stop it from happening. Don’t be mistaken, even when we don’t SEE the growth, it is happening.

If you feel stuck or would love to see growth in different areas of your life, this series is for you. Each week we are focusing on an area of growth. You will notice EVERY week includes spiritual growth because, without it, nothing in our lives will grow.

This week’s topic is Emotional Growth.

Why emotional growth matters:

Last week we discussed how our thoughts affect feelings and feelings (or emotions) affect behaviors. Most people want to skip the feelings part. Emotions are neither good nor bad, rather, they are telling us what is happening in our hearts. Everyone has emotions but we all view and process them differently. According to Gottman Emotion Coaching, there are 7 basic emotions we all share:  sadness, anger, disgust, contempt, fear, surprise, and happiness.

What could be different if you grew strong emotionally: 

You would have more self-control. You would be able to communicate more clearly. You would feel less like a ticking time bomb or volcano ready to erupt. You would form a healthy relationship with your emotions so instead of controlling you, they would help you.

God Growth: Ephesians 4:26, "Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger."

TWO things we see here: It’s okay to feel angry, just don’t act out in it. Next, RESOLVE it. If you can’t process right away because you are too upset, that’s okay. But don’t wake up the next day and pretend nothing happened. It’s still there. Be brave enough to deal with it.

Growth Resources:

How People Grow by Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend

Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman

The emotion wheel

Weekly grow challenge:

Let’s pause for a moment to see your response to two of these basic emotions:

1. When was the last time you remember feeling sad? Did you allow yourself to feel it? Did you tell anyone you felt it (in other words, did you express it)?
2. When was the last time you felt happy? Did you express it? Sometimes when we train ourselves to not feel sad or uncomfortable emotions, we also shut down feeling happy emotions.

Pay attention to your emotions and what you do with them when they come up. Do you feel and express?

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