MESSAGE NOTES AND INDIVIDUAL/GROUP REFLECTION QUESTIONS, 5/5/24

Our emotions act as a barometer of our soul and can lead us to God or away from Him. When we engage well with our feelings (glad, mad, sad, scared, shame, shocked), we come to a new understanding of ourselves, experience greater intimacy with God, and discover a healthy way of conveying them to others. 

This week, our focus is on understanding how to deal with when we feel shame. 

1. How are you dealing with how you are feeling? Have you been taking time to reflect on your emotions and using the process of Naming, Taming, Claiming, and Proclaiming? If so, what have you gained? If not, what holds you back from doing so?
2. What is the worst stain you have ever had to attempt to clean up? Were you able to blot it out or did it remain? If it remained, how did it make you feel each time you saw it? 
3. How does the distinction between guilt (about our actions/attitudes) and shame (about our value) resonate with your understanding of these emotions? If shame is the stain that God wants to remove from the identity of our soul, what holds us back from letting this happen? How have you witnessed guilt turn into shame and affect self-perception and relationships?
4. Read through the four sections of Psalm 51:1-2, 3-6, 7-12, 13-17.  What is David guilty of (if needed see 2 Sam 12:1-14)?  What part(s) of the Psalm reflect David’s shame the most? How does this confession help to release him and tame the emotional elephant of His shame? 
5. How are these passages Psalm 34:5,  103:12, Romans 8:1 informing you about what to do with your shame and what God/Jesus’ does with it? Does this reminder of God’s grace and His assurance reshape your perspective on shame and its power over your life? Or not? 
6. EMOTIONAL CHECK IN: Take a few minutes to identify why you are feeling “shame” and bring it to God.

Name it! – “I am feeling _______________ .” (use feeling wheel in the shame section to describe it)

Tame it! – “I am feeling this way because _______________________ .” (list at least 3-5 reasons)

Claim it! – “Lord,  I give you my feeling(s) of… .  Grant me your wisdom.”

       What perspective and truth did He reveal to you?

Proclaim it! – Share with another or members of your group what came to mind.