God and Our Feelings
As they pass through the Valley of Baka, they make it a place of springs.
Psalm 84:6
Sunday’s teaching included this beautiful insight: “The primary inner work of the Holy Spirit when we are in the valley is not to get us out of the valley, but rather to help us recognize that God is with us in the valley.”
What might it look like to help our children find God in the midst of all their circumstances and emotions? To help them know that even when we feel afraid, angry, sad or hurt, that God is present and active, working to do good in our lives as well as caring for our feelings?
This week’s devotions will guide children to practice identifying their own emotions and then write their own Psalms to express these feelings and thoughts to God who receives them with love and attentiveness.
Devotion One: Our feelings
Take some time to name some emotions together and write them down. Alternatively, you can download and print this chart to help have a visual.
Let your children pick 3-4 emotions and take turns taking pictures of each person acting those feelings out. Then, take a look at them together and enjoy each other’s creativity.
How do you think God responds to you having these different feelings? Do you think His love for you changes when you are angry or sad? Let’s take a minute to imagine that you are angry and ask Jesus to show you how He would like to be with you in that feeling. What do you see? Enjoy that moment with Jesus. Now, imagine that you are angry and Jesus is coming to you, what do you see now?
Close by reminding everyone that our feelings are not bad, they help us know how we are responding to what is happening around us. Jesus felt all kinds of things, too as we’ll see next time we meet!
Devotion Two: A New Psalm
Today, we’re going to write our own Psalms! Psalms is a big book in the Bible and is a little different from other parts of the Bible. A lot of the Bible is stories and history, right? Do you each have a favorite story from the Bible? Tell me which one!
The book of Psalms, however, is full of poems and songs that were written by a lot of different people. Sometimes, these people wrote them to praise God, other times they wrote them to tell God how sad they were or how they felt angry or alone or at peace.
Use this guide to walk through creating personal Psalms. We’ve made it a download so if you prefer to print it and fill in directly, you can do so.
Consider creating a special time in the week for each of you to share your Psalms together. Ideally, this time will be scheduled ahead of time, not rushed and with the whole family present. Listen to each person’s Psalm and be encouraged that God also hears you!
We’d also love to share these new Psalms with the rest of our church community. If you can get permission from your children, please take a photo or scan and send it over to us: parents@realitysf.com
May these Psalms be a gift to you and your family during this season and help each of you to be more aware of God.