Customer Reviews

Managing Your Moods (Women of Faith Study Guide Series)

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Perhaps I'm used to Bible studies that dig deeper into scripture, but I felt I was trying to discuss partial truths. We never stayed on one verse long enough to discuss its full meaning,let alone the context of what was around it. I enjoyed being with a group of women once a week, but I'd rather spend my hour on a more in-depth study. There are no questions that spark discussion of different ways of looking at a thought, a value, or an insight. I can't grow if everyone agrees on everything! This felt like a surface-skimmer to me.

I needed an easy woman's bible study for summer that would allow for it to be completed during a lunch hour. I started this one at my office 3 weeks ago and it has been well-received by the ladies who come for bible study. I love how it is written, and I especially like how organized it is as far as searching scripture when you are doing your lesson.

Although it isn't a hard study, there is a leaders guide in the back of the workbook so if we are stuck on a question we can refer to the answer. I also enjoy the weekly, imaginary "Trinkets to Treasure" and had fun finding the items to display as our reminders.

I plan to continue on with the Woman of Faith Study Guide Series and have already decided on which one. "Encouraging One Another".

Our women's group of 9 are enthused about this book. It is showing us great, God-given tools for "managing our moods". It has lots of Bible verses to look up, and the comments by the Women of Faith are personal and encouraging. We also like the Leaders Guide in the back, for adding to our own comments on the study questions.

Studying God's Word is NEVER a waste of time, but studying this particular book felt like eating cotton candy - a lot of fluffy sweetness, but in the end, nothing of substance, not whatsoever.

It really seems as though the authors decided beforehand what they wanted to say about moods and moodiness, and then they just played "concordance bingo," looking up key words about different human feelings and jotting down Bible verses no matter how out of context or irrelevant. For instance, the book contains an entire chapter about "feeling scattered." This really is not an emotion that the Bible itself ever directly addresses, so the authors just took random verses that contained the word "scatter" (or "scattered") and then gerrymandered questions to fit.

What made this study feel even more pointless was how the book made so many artificial distinctions. The chapter about "feeling scattered" was followed by another chapter about "feeling mixed up." Both chapters used random Psalms and various Proverbs twisted completely out of context to support the authors' approaches for dealing with these supposedly different moods. Yet most of us would be hard-pressed to figure out how being "scattered" isn't a whole lot different than being "mixed up," and often, "scattered" people are at the same time "mixed up." Go figure.

The worst aspect of this book was how, when the authors apparently couldn't find Scripture passages that actually addressed their preconceived notions of what they wanted to say, they then turned to "The Message" paraphrase and other "translations" like the New Century Version for "Biblical" support for their ideas. On several occasions, the authors would quote passages from "The Message." These passages actually said something COMPLETELY DIFFERENT in more literal, reliable translations such as the New King James, English Standard Version, or even the New International Version. It got to be almost a given that if they quoted from "The Message," the verses they were using would have little to do with the topic at hand if one were to read them from the NKJV or the NIV. As someone who believes that God meant for us to honor His Word by sticking to what it actually says, rather than a human being's (i.e. Eugene Peterson's) IDEAS about what the Bible says, this heavy use of paraphrases really troubled me, especially because the topics themselves - these various supposed "moods" - already were so far afield from specific subjects that the Bible actually addresses.

If I had to guess, I'd say that the "Women of Faith" organization's editors came up with the concept for a book about moods, and this concept was then handed to a couple of writers who were under major time constraints, so they hastily brainstormed a list of different "moods" that they'd experienced. They then took this list and attempted to turn it into a Bible study by searching out "fitting" quotes from Scripture.

Therefore, what this book really amounts to is a study of the authors' thoughts, NOT a "Bible study." If a group wants to get together to read a nice-enough book about moods that does contain some wisdom and a whole lot of random, disconnected Bible verses, this book is OK. But if you want to actually study God's Word to help you "manage your moods," you'd be better off just reading the Psalms and asking God to teach you by yourself.

Approximately 20 copies of this study guide were purchased for our church's womoen's group. This group collectively found the study guide useful, interesting, and worth the small cost. Additional books in the series will probably be purchased.