Enjoy a bonus episode while we’re on break over the summer! This episode is a recording of Ed Welch's plenary session from the 2023 National Conference: Trauma.

This year's national conference will explore the topic of rest: a foundational way of living out the Christian life that can only be learned from Christ and put into practice amid the challenges of daily life. Learn more and register at ccef.org/2024.

To receive a $25 discount on your in-person registration, use the code “podcast” at checkout. This discount is valid through the end of August 2024.

Find all the sessions from our 2023 National Conference: Trauma here.

1. How does a Christian deal with a tendency to struggle with joy and happiness even when life is relatively good? [3:50]
2. Is it a good thing when we can’t control our emotions? [11:56]
3. Is the emotion of frustration a sin? [18:08]
4. What about people who don’t know what they feel? [23:50]
5. What about when a woman’s monthly period or menopause, where emotions “happen” to us and are not “our fault”? [28:00]
6. How do I manage or overcome strong romantic emotions that are misleading? [35:22]
7. What’s your encouragement for someone who says he’s a thinker, not a feeler? [39:48]
8. What do you do with emotions that you should not act out on, but are still important to process? [42:02]
9. How do you have empathy but also encourage resilience? [45:36]
10. How do we handle anger, jealousy, negative emotions, and other things that may lead to bitterness? [50:55]
11. Can you speak to rumination and sadness over relationships that are over? [54:12]

Is it okay to be happy? Was Jesus happy? Are you happy? Listen as Alasdair Groves considers these three questions.

This is episode 5 in a miniseries on emotions, where we are considering how to understand Jesus’s emotions and how that helps us understand our own.

Mentioned in this episode: we recently released our latest issue of the Journal of Biblical Counseling, which includes articles on topics such as trauma, the empty nest, faithfulness in marriage, and scrupulosity. Learn more here.

Find a transcript of the episode here

For more resources on emotions, including blogs, podcasts, videos, and more, click here.