It's Okay Not to Be Okay Study Guide: Moving Forward One Day at a Time

By Sheila Walsh

Life is not always as we imagined it would be. Sheila Walsh wants you to face the pain of yesterday head-on and then start again, from right where you are. In this companion study guide to It's Okay Not to Be Okay, she helps you overcome the same old rut of struggles and pain by changing the way you think about God, yourself, and your everyday life. Her practical, doable, daily strategies will help you move forward one step at a time, knowing God will never let you down.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
• Release date: May 5, 2020
• ISBN: 9781493426553

Sheila Walsh

Sheila Walsh is a powerful communicator, Bible teacher, and bestselling author with almost six million books sold. She is the author of the award-winning Gigi, God’s Little Princess series, It’s Okay Not to Be Okay, Praying Women, Holding On When You Want to Let Go, and more. She is cohost of the inspirational talk show Life Today with James and Betty Robison, which is seen worldwide by a potential audience of over 100 million viewers. Sheila lives in Dallas, Texas, with her husband, Barry, and son, Christian, who is in graduate school.

Book preview

Books by Sheila Walsh

It’s Okay Not to Be Okay

Praying Women

© 2020 by Sheila Walsh

Published by Baker Books

a division of Baker Publishing Group

PO Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287

www.bakerbooks.com

Ebook edition created 2020

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

ISBN 978-1-4934-2655-3

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

Scripture quotations labeled AMP are from the Amplified® Bible (AMP), copyright © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.Lockman.org

Scripture quotations labeled ESV are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV Text Edition: 2016

Scripture quotations labeled KJV are from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture quotations labeled NASB are from the New American Standard Bible® (NASB), copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.Lockman.org

Scripture quotations labeled NLT are from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Study written by Ashley Wiersma

Based on and with material from It’s Okay Not to Be Okay by Sheila Walsh

Contents

Cover    1

Books by Sheila Walsh    2

Title Page    3

Copyright Page    4

From My Heart to Yours    7

SESSION 1: Take the First Step    9

SESSION 2: Admit That You Are Stuck and Struggling    20

SESSION 3: Change the Way You Think    30

SESSION 4: Face the What-Ifs Even If You Are Afraid    42

SESSION 5: Let Go of What You Can’t Control    51

SESSION 6: Rise Above Disappointment    66

SESSION 7: Celebrate Your Scars as Tattoos of Triumph    74

SESSION 8: Decide to Start Again . . . and Again    85

A Word of Thanks    93

Notes    95

Back Cover    96

From My Heart to Yours

Dear Reader,

If you’re like me, there is at least one part of your life that is not okay today. Well, let’s be honest—there might be many areas that are not okay! Either way, I have written this guide with one central message: It’s okay. It’s okay that life isn’t okay. Why? Because there is One who has been okay all along, and that One—Jesus—promises that He is with us, right here.

In the coming sessions, my hope is that you’ll be able to let go of the need to convince yourself that you have it all together, that you’ll lay down your longing for control over circumstances that (spoiler alert) can never be controlled, and that you’ll drink deeply of Christ’s sufficiency—perhaps for the first time in your life.

The apostle Paul once implored believers at Corinth to follow him as he followed Jesus. That is a life-changing journey we can take together. Let’s move toward His goodness, His grace, His enoughness. Let’s move together toward the peace only Christ can give. You will never regret a single step taken toward the person of Jesus. The highest possible prayer I can pray for you as you read the pages you hold in your hands is that, by the truth of God’s Word and the revelation of the Holy Spirit, you will find that it really is okay not to be okay because Jesus has made you all right with the Father.

If you’re ready to journey forward, then let’s begin.

With love,

Sheila

I don’t know where you’re at in life as you read this, but if I could sit down with you for a while, I’d say, Take a deep breath in and hold it for five seconds, and then let it out. Again. Again.

Then I’d tell you that it really is okay not to be okay. That’s why Jesus came.

—introduction, It’s Okay Not to Be Okay

Session

one

Take the First Step

I held it together until I couldn’t anymore. I remember a night in my room in a psychiatric hospital where I literally soaked the floor with my tears. I was bone-tired from pretending to have it all together, from trying to be okay. So, I let God have it. I told Him I was afraid and angry and tired and sad and lonely and confused and everything else I could think of. I didn’t edit myself. I just let it all out.

I believe my final words were, I can’t do this anymore.

Rather than feeling rejected by my broken outburst, I felt as if God bent down and said, I know. I’ve been waiting.

—chapter 1, It’s Okay Not to Be Okay

My experience with pretending to have it all together left me in a world