Lessons From the Psalms

I am an emotional person; it doesn’t take much for me to cry. No matter how many times I see one of those heartwarming commercials about family or veterans returning home or babies laughing, I cry. Songs make me cry. Greeting cards make me cry. Memories make me cry.

Having my emotions so close to the surface makes me empathetic to others, which is a good thing. It helps me extend kindness and compassion to those who are hurting. But being emotional also means that my emotions often take the reins and rule my days. Especially dark and painful ones. They consume my energy, direct my decisions, and rob me of joy. In addition, my emotions are not always honest with me. They exaggerate things. They make me think that my circumstances are worse than they really are.

That’s where being emotional gets me into trouble.

A Guidebook for Emotions

Can you relate? If you’re emotional like I am, there is good news. We’re not left alone without any help or guidance. In fact, God’s Word has a lot to say about our emotions...to read the rest of this post, visit Revive Our Hearts, where they are also hosting a GIVEAWAY!

Learning the Way of Lament

Last year, my grandfather had a stroke and I went to visit him in the hospital. The family and I gathered in the waiting room and took turns visiting with him at his bedside. During one of my rotations in the waiting area, I looked up and saw my grandmother standing at the nurse’s station, crying. I rushed to her side and learned that the doctor told her she needed to make a decision about putting my grandfather into hospice care. I didn’t know what to do or the right words to say to her. Finally, I put my arms around her and said, “Let’s go pray.”

We went to the hospital’s chapel and cried out to the Lord. We wept. We asked for wisdom. We asked for help. We asked for strength to make it through the coming days.

We lamented.

To read the rest of this post, visit Ligonier Ministries, my writing home for today.

The Mind, the Heart, and the Laments

We often categorize ourselves as being either a thinker or a feeler. A thinker is more likely to make decisions and act based on knowledge and a feeler based on emotion. When it comes to matters of faith, a thinker would emphasize what we know about God's word and a feeler what we feel or experience in our faith. It seems like an either/or choice; it's either the mind or the heart.

Yet there's a place in Scripture where the mind and heart meet, where thoughts and feelings comes together: the Psalms of Lament. And in the laments we see that while both the mind and heart are important, there are times when one needs to lead the other...to read the rest of this post, visit Christward Collective. 

The Psalms and Our Emotions

It’s strange, isn’t it, how something that is not physical can feel so physical? I experienced several losses last year and each one somehow hurt deep within my bones. My heart ached. I felt weak and worn. I could relate to the psalmist, “I am weary with my moaning; every night I flood my bed with tears; I drench my couch with my weeping. My eye wastes away because of grief (Psalm 6:6-7).

If you’ve been a believer for any length of time, you too have probably found solace in the Psalms when the heartaches of life have overwhelmed you. Perhaps you’ve written down a Psalm or two to give you comfort during a trial. Maybe you’ve found great hope in the fact that the psalmist felt the same levels of despair, fear, or abandonment that you felt.

John Calvin wrote that the Psalms are “an anatomy of all the parts of the soul.” I think that is an appropriate description. Every emotion that we experience in this life is reflected in those 150 poems. From joy and gratitude to grief and sadness; from horrifying fear to the pit of despair; from confession over sin to crying out for help; the Psalms cover it all.

But the Psalms do more than just mirror our own heartaches. They aren’t simply there to provide catharsis or help us know that we aren’t the only ones who have suffered...to read the rest of this post, visit Ungrind, my writing home today.

A Heart Set Free and a Giveaway

It's here! My book is here! The baby that I gently carried and nurtured into existence has finally been birthed. On Wednesday, my book will officially be available for sale and I'm so excited to share it with you.

For those who have read my writing for a while now, you know that I often write about emotions. I can't help it; I am trained as a counselor. My goal in writing about emotions has always been to point my readers to the truth of the gospel and the hope they have in Christ. And that's the goal of my book as well. 

Are you often led by your emotions? I am. I think many of us are. Our emotions often rule us. They guide our decisions. Sometimes, they even hold us hostage. 

When hard and difficult emotions enter our lives, we often have go-to responses. We have usual ways we handle our emotions. We might pretend they are not there. We might try to distract ourselves from them. We might try to control them in some way. But how often do we turn to God in his word and in prayer when our hearts are breaking or we are frozen with fear? How often do we cry out to God when we've been hurt by others or when life is overwhelming? How often do we bring our cares to God in lament?

A Heart Set Free is about the art of lament. It is about learning from the Psalms of Lament so that we might then voice our own laments. It is about following the structure and pattern of the laments, a pattern which moves from sorrow to joy; from fear to trust. But it is ultimately about Christ, the one who lamented for us and who has fulfilled all the cries of our heart. 

Here are a few more facts:

1. It's not a Bible study: That's one of the first questions everyone asks. No, it is not a Bible study. It is a book about the Psalms of Lament. It could however be used as a book study with a friend, counselor, or small group.

2. It's a primer on the art of lament: We don't know how to cry out to God when we are afraid, lonely, abandoned, or filled with sorrow. This book follows the structure and pattern of the laments and shows us how to cry out to God.

3. It's not a cure-all or ten-step program: We all like how-to lists. We all like to follow ten steps to freedom from some problem. This book is about journeys and about the process of bringing our sorrows and fears to the Lord. Coming to God with our heartaches often results in greater joy, but not because we followed a particular program. Difficult and painful emotions will be a part of life until Christ returns. This book is about finding our hope in Christ, not in methods or false substitutes. 

4. Though lament is about sorrow, the book is ultimately about joy: This book teaches the art of lament, of crying out to God and seeking his help and salvation. But it is ultimately about coming to the place in our tears where we can trust, praise, and worship God even when life is hard. It's about joy linked with sorrow. It's about knowing that one day all our tears will be wiped away forever. 

Here's what a few others have said about the book: 

"Some days feel like a roller coaster ride--up and down, and if possible sideways ... Christina doesn't ignore our emotions, rather she drives us from the wild ride to the freedom found in Jesus." ~ Trillia Newbell (Author of Fear and Faith and United)

"Christina shows us from God's Word the importance of trusting Jesus with our emotions, even when we are weeping. With theological integrity and practical suggestions she tenderly teaches us the language of lament and how our lamentations can take us to the gospel." ~ Susan Hunt (Pastor's wife, former Director of Women's Ministry for the PCA and author of several books for women and children.)

"... I wish I had Christina's book back when I became a believer. It would have saved me a lot of painful emotion-stuffing and foolish emotion-ignoring." ~ Gloria Furman (Author of Glimpses of Grace, Treasuring Christ When Your Hands Are Full, and The Pastor's Wife)

"... invites us to vulnerability, transparency and trust - particularly when life is hard ... offers practical, empathetic help for those whose emotions have taken them captive in a time of upheaval." ~ Jen Wilkin (Author of Women of the Word: How to Study the Bible with Both Our Hearts and Mind)

To read a review of my book, visit Rachel Miller's blog. 

To learn more about my book, or get your own copy, click here: A Heart Set Free: A Journey to Hope through the Psalms of Lament.

This is a week of giveaways. So keep coming back to enter! Today's giveaway is one copy of my book, a journal I had hand painted from Sarah Vrooman Designs, a purple (my favorite color!) ESV Bible and a stamped bookmark from The Hand Stamped Heart. Enter below. US residents only. Update: Kim is the winner of this giveaway. Congratulations, Kim!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Note: This post may contain Amazon Affiliate links.

An Interview about A Heart Set Free

My book, A Heart Set Free: A Journey to Hope through the Psalms of Lament, comes out next week. My friend, Courtney Doctor, recently interviewed me about it:

Courtney: Tell us about how you came to write A Heart Set Free: A Journey to Hope Through the Psalms of Lament:

Christina: The Psalms have always spoken to me during dark times in my life. They were a lifeline in my adolescence and the early years of motherhood. I once heard a sermon where the pastor talked about following the structure of the psalmist’s laments in our own prayer life. The idea fascinated me. I researched other books and commentaries on the subject and found that the laments did indeed have a common structure. I learned that the laments show us how to pour out our feelings to God. I explored the idea in an article and then wrote a book proposal on it.

Courtney: What do you hope God will do with the book?

Christina: I think that we all struggle with what to do with our emotions. They can be so hard, so heavy, and so immobilizing, that we often just want to find a way to get rid of them. We might ignore them, cover them up, hide from them, and even distract ourselves from them. But in reality, they are still there. In the dead of night, they gnaw away at us. We feel an ache in the pit of our stomach. But the laments show us we don’t have to hide or run from painful emotions. They show us to enter into our emotions. To face them and voice them to our Father in Heaven. I hope that this book will help readers learn the way of lament and in so doing, I hope that they find renewed trust and hope in Christ.

“This world is a sinful, broken place. Things are not as they should be. Loved ones die, people hurt and reject us, and temptations surround us on every side. We need to be honest about the horrors and sorrows of this world. We need to cry out to God for help. We need to come to the One who is sovereign over all things and lay our cares at His feet” (p. 77)

...to read the rest of this interview, visit

Note: This post may contain Amazon Affiliate links.