Our children need language to talk about the problem of bullying.  They need adults to have safe conversations about this difficult subject--so they can ask for help without shame.  We can help our children begin to understand what it means to be a bully--and better navigate a resolution in these unsafe relationships.

A bully is someone who:

• will meet their own (felt) needs first--at the expense of another. 
• wants to make someone else feel like a loser.  
• sniffs out a personal weakness--and takes advantage of it--for their own sense of power, control, or mis-guided need to dominate.
• is not safe--in the ways of love.

Bullying is not going to go away because we say we won't tolerate bullying. A lack of tolerance is simply one more rule that bullies aren't going to follow.  

Join Janet and Doug in this powerful episode about the antidote to bullying--and help your family become a safe place to heal and find real help.  This episode offers these TAKE AWAYS:

• Letting the love of God and others extinguish our shame stories is a vital step in a life lived unaffected by bullies.  Living in shame is a key indicator of a bully--and often, as a victim of a bully.
• Building safe relationships of trust is a vital step, too.  We need safe relationships that will offer us the unconditional love that protects us from lies and shame--and helps us live in truth and love.
• "Uncomfortable" is no more a key indicator of bondage--than "comfortable" is a key indicator of freedom.  Manipulation can seem comfortable because it seems right that the equation balances.  "I'm willing to earn what I need from you in relationship," is a toxic thought.  God's love is unconditional because we all need more than we can ever earn.  Trusting unconditional love is often very uncomfortable--and it is the only path to freedom.

This resource is mentioned in this episode:  Bill Tell's book, Lay It Down:  Living In The Freedom of the Gospel.  You can find this book here: https://smile.amazon.com/Lay-Down-Living-Freedom-Gospel/

Follow this link to listen now.  Thank you for sharing this episode with your friends or small group.  Together, there is great hope.