Book Review: True Feelings

True Feelings: God’s Gracious and Glorious Purpose for our Emotions

Emotions. We all have them. Suppressing them fosters negative consequences, but expressing them sometimes gets us in trouble. So how can we express emotions in a godly manner? Authors Carolyn Mahaney and Nicole Whitacre, a mother and daughter, help us understand how to deal with our feelings.

Emotions are a good gift from God. At creation, Adam and Eve felt pleasurable emotions—until they ate the forbidden fruit. Then they became ashamed. Coming from the root word that in Latin means “to move,” emotions need to be controlled so they don’t take control and ruin our lives.

Mahaney and Whitacre suggest reacting to emotions with self control and prayer, and then countering feelings by doing something positive. And they suggest analyzing your emotions to determine what triggers them. With plenty of references to God’s Word, the authors point out Jesus felt deeply and God’s emotions are expressed throughout scripture. So don’t think of emotions as something bad.

Too often we react to events based on faulty beliefs, and that’s what gets us into trouble. But emotions can definitely lead to good experiences. For instance, feelings of love drive us to acts of self sacrifice. Hatred of sin leads to repentance. So emotions are a good thing.

Published by Crossway in 2017, True Feelings back matter includes notes, a general index and a scripture index.

If you’re looking for a book to help you develop a godly response to your feelings, this is an easy read—just 140 pages—that just might offer enough tips for you to gain control rather than spin out of control and say or do things you’ll regret.