About This Study Guide
The Best Yes by Lysa TerKeurst is a book about one of the most quietly exhausting struggles in the Christian life: the inability to say no. Lysa argues that when we say yes to everything — out of people-pleasing, fear of disappointment, or the sheer rush of being needed — we rob ourselves of the ability to say a wholehearted, God-directed "Best Yes" to the things we were actually made for. Drawing on Scripture, personal stories, and practical wisdom, she walks readers through what it looks like to make decisions with a wisdom-based process rather than an emotion-driven reaction. The central conviction of the book is that our decisions shape our days, our days shape our lives, and a life with God at the center requires us to steward our yeses carefully.
This study guide is designed for six to twelve weeks of individual or small-group engagement. The rhythm for each week is simple: read the assigned chapter(s) before your meeting time, journal your honest responses to a few questions on your own, and then gather with your group — or settle into a quiet chair alone — to work through the discussion questions together. Don't rush. The questions are designed to move from comprehension ("What is Lysa saying here?") to reflection ("Where do I see this in my own life?") to application ("What will I actually do about it?"). A closing prayer ends each week, inviting you to bring what you've discovered to God before you move on.
By the end of this guide, you can expect to leave with more than just a framework for decision-making. You will likely find yourself more self-aware about why you say yes when you mean no, more courageous about protecting the priorities God has placed in your life, and more confident that saying a carefully chosen no is not selfish — it is often the most loving and faithful thing you can do. Most importantly, you will be invited again and again to see your choices not as a burden to manage but as an act of worship to offer.
14-Week Schedule
- Week 1Introduction — The Decision Dilemma7 questions
- Week 2Chapter 1 — The Demands on You Are Real7 questions
- Week 3Chapter 2 — The Worn-Down Woman7 questions
- Week 4Chapter 3 — When Wisdom Doesn't Know What to Do7 questions
- Week 5Chapter 4 — Overwhelmed Schedules and the Cry of Our Heart7 questions
- Week 6Chapter 5 — The Awkward Places In-Between7 questions
- Week 7Chapter 6 — How to Know if It's a God Assignment or Just a Good Idea7 questions
- Week 8Chapter 7 — The Slippery Slope of the Emotional Yes7 questions
- Week 9Chapter 8 — Brave Enough to Say No7 questions
- Week 10Chapter 9 — What If I Miss God's Will?7 questions
- Week 11Chapter 10 — Becoming a Wisdom-Based Decision Maker7 questions
- Week 12Chapter 11 — Living the Best Yes Life7 questions
- Week 13Chapter 12 — The Panic That Keeps You from Your Best Yes7 questions
- Week 14Review & Reflection — Your Best Yes8 questions
Week 1: Introduction — The Decision Dilemma
All 7 questions→Read the Introduction of The Best Yes by Lysa TerKeurst.
1.Lysa opens by describing a woman who is emotionally and physically depleted because she cannot stop saying yes. How much of that picture resonated with your own life? Be specific — what does your version of that exhaustion look like?
2.She introduces the phrase "the disease to please." In your own words, how would you define it? What are the symptoms you recognize in yourself?
Week 2: Chapter 1 — The Demands on You Are Real
All 7 questions→Read Chapter 1 of The Best Yes. Key Scripture: Proverbs 4:25–27.
1.Lysa acknowledges upfront that the demands on women (and people in general) are genuinely overwhelming — she isn't suggesting we imagine it or toughen up. Why is it important that she validates the reality of those demands before offering a solution? How does that validation affect your willingness to keep reading?
2.She describes how the accumulation of small yeses can crowd out the things that matter most. What are the small, seemingly harmless yeses that have quietly accumulated in your life? Make a list if it helps.
Week 3: Chapter 2 — The Worn-Down Woman
All 7 questions→Read Chapter 2 of The Best Yes. Key Scripture: Matthew 11:28–30.
1.Lysa describes a woman who is not lazy or irresponsible but genuinely worn down by too many commitments made with too little wisdom. Do you recognize yourself in that portrait? What are the signs in your own life that you are operating from a depleted place?
2.She points out that worn-down women often make their worst decisions precisely when they are most depleted — they say yes when they should say no because they don't have the emotional reserves to hold a boundary. Can you think of a recent example of this in your own experience?
Week 4: Chapter 3 — When Wisdom Doesn't Know What to Do
All 7 questions→Read Chapter 3 of The Best Yes. Key Scripture: James 1:5; Proverbs 3:5–6.
1.Lysa opens with the honest admission that even a woman pursuing wisdom can feel completely lost in the middle of a hard decision. Have you ever prayed for wisdom and still felt stuck? What did that experience feel like?
2.She introduces a key distinction between decisions made from wisdom and decisions made from emotion in the moment. What are some emotions — fear, guilt, excitement, flattery — that have driven your decisions in the past? How did those decisions turn out?
Week 5: Chapter 4 — Overwhelmed Schedules and the Cry of Our Heart
All 7 questions→Read Chapter 4 of The Best Yes. Key Scripture: Psalm 62:5–8.
1.Lysa argues that an overwhelmed schedule is not just a logistical problem but a spiritual symptom — it reveals something about what we truly believe and fear. What do you think your current schedule reveals about what you believe or fear?
2.She shares the concept that we often fill our schedules to avoid a deeper discomfort — the discomfort of stillness, of facing unresolved emotions, or of confronting what we truly want. Does busyness ever function as avoidance in your life? What might you be avoiding?
Week 6: Chapter 5 — The Awkward Places In-Between
All 7 questions→Read Chapter 5 of The Best Yes. Key Scripture: Ecclesiastes 3:1–8.
1.Lysa uses the language of "in-between" seasons — times when you know a chapter is ending but the next hasn't clearly begun. Can you identify a current or recent in-between season in your own life? What has that felt like?
2.She argues that saying yes in the wrong season — even to a genuinely good thing — can be a mistake, because timing matters as much as the thing itself. Have you ever accepted a good opportunity at the wrong time? What happened?
Week 7: Chapter 6 — How to Know if It's a God Assignment or Just a Good Idea
All 7 questions→Read Chapter 6 of The Best Yes. Key Scripture: Psalm 32:8; Romans 12:2.
1.Lysa introduces the phrase "God assignment" to describe the specific yeses God has prepared for each of us. In your own words, what distinguishes a God assignment from a good idea or a good opportunity?
2.She offers a series of filtering questions to help identify whether something is a God assignment. Which of those filters feels most helpful to you? Which feels hardest to apply honestly?
a.Does this align with Scripture?
b.Does this fit my current season of life?
c.Do the wise people in my life affirm this?
Week 8: Chapter 7 — The Slippery Slope of the Emotional Yes
All 7 questions→Read Chapter 7 of The Best Yes. Key Scripture: Proverbs 19:2.
1.Lysa describes the "emotional yes" as a decision made in the heat of a feeling — excitement, guilt, flattery, compassion — before wisdom has had time to weigh in. What emotions most reliably trigger a yes from you before you've really thought it through?
2.She shares stories of women who felt guilted or flattered into a yes they later regretted. Can you recall a time when guilt or flattery drove a yes from you? What was the cost?
Week 9: Chapter 8 — Brave Enough to Say No
All 7 questions→Read Chapter 8 of The Best Yes. Key Scripture: Matthew 5:37; Colossians 4:6.
1.Lysa frames saying no not as selfishness but as faithfulness — a way of protecting the yeses that truly belong to you. How does reframing no as an act of stewardship change how you feel about saying it?
2.She offers practical language for saying no graciously — acknowledging the request, expressing care for the person, and declining without over-explaining or apologizing excessively. Which of those elements do you find most difficult?
a.Do you tend to over-explain your no, as if you need to justify it?
b.Do you apologize so much that the no gets buried under the apology?
Week 10: Chapter 9 — What If I Miss God's Will?
All 7 questions→Read Chapter 9 of The Best Yes. Key Scripture: Proverbs 16:9; Psalm 37:23–24.
1.Lysa names the fear of missing God's will as one of the primary reasons people either over-commit (to cover all the bases) or under-commit (paralyzed by the fear of choosing wrong). Which tendency do you lean toward, and why?
2.She offers a reassuring reframe: God is not hiding His will from us like a treasure hunt designed to trip us up. He is a Good Father who wants us to know how to walk with Him. How does that image of God change how you approach decision-making?
Week 11: Chapter 10 — Becoming a Wisdom-Based Decision Maker
All 7 questions→Read Chapter 10 of The Best Yes. Key Scripture: James 3:17; Proverbs 8:11.
1.Lysa synthesizes the wisdom-based decision-making process she has been building toward throughout the book. In your own words, summarize the key steps of that process as you understand it.
2.She describes wisdom as something that must be gathered and stored over time — through Scripture, prayer, counsel, and experience — so that it is available when a decision needs to be made. What wisdom-gathering habits do you currently practice? What habits do you need to develop?
Week 12: Chapter 11 — Living the Best Yes Life
All 7 questions→Read Chapter 11 of The Best Yes. Key Scripture: Ephesians 5:15–17.
1.Lysa paints a picture of what the Best Yes life looks like — not a life with fewer problems or less demand, but a life with more clarity, intentionality, and peace. What elements of that picture do you most deeply want for your own life?
2.She is clear that the Best Yes life is not a perfectly ordered life — it is a practiced life, one that requires continual return to wisdom, prayer, and recalibration. What does "continual return" look like practically for you?
Week 13: Chapter 12 — The Panic That Keeps You from Your Best Yes
All 7 questions→Read Chapter 12 of The Best Yes. Key Scripture: Isaiah 30:15; Philippians 4:6–7.
1.Lysa describes panic as the enemy of wisdom — the state in which we are most likely to make decisions we later regret. What typically triggers a panic-driven yes in your life? What does that state feel like?
2.Isaiah 30:15 says, "In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength." Israel rejected that counsel — they wanted horses and speed instead. In what areas of your life are you choosing "horses and speed" over quietness and trust?
Week 14: Review & Reflection — Your Best Yes
All 8 questions→Review your notes, journal entries, and underlined passages from The Best Yes. No new reading is required this week.
1.Looking back across the entire book, which chapter or idea landed most powerfully for you? What was it about that particular concept that got through to you in a way others didn't?
2.At the beginning of this study, what did you believe about saying yes and saying no? How has that understanding shifted, deepened, or been challenged by the time you've spent with this book?
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