Click here for the Lament Resource mentioned in Episode 7.

Bitterness is the complicated, yet common, struggle that Brenda and Alex take us through this week. Bitterness can cause us to feel powerless and will begin to shape how we view the world around us, how we see the past, and how we anticipate the future. If it continues we can begin to lose hope and forget that God is writing the story and we can trust Him in it. 

Through walking out a very personal experience that Brenda shares we learn that the path from bitterness to forgiveness goes through grief. Using Brad Hamrick’s model Alex and Brenda go through the similarities and differences of grief and bitterness. Through every example we can see how bitterness is the opposite of forgiveness, which will keep us stuck in a cycle of pain and hopelessness. In bitterness we tend to turn away from God in order to hold on to anger and our own idea of vengeance, but grief allows us to run towards Him in lament. Lament is an intentional form of grieving and it is essential to overcoming bitterness. Moving towards grief allows us to acknowledge the pain of our circumstance and begin the process of forgiveness. Grief can be exhausting, but as we work through it we can gain strength and hope. Hope in the future that ultimately rests in our hope that God is in control and we can trust in Him.

To sign up for free visuals and discussion questions for this season click ⁠⁠here⁠⁠.

Our theme music is by ⁠⁠As Isaac⁠⁠.

This podcast is made possible by engineers and producers ⁠⁠Zachary Tate Smith⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠Shane Selby⁠⁠, executive producer ⁠⁠Meleah Smith⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠generous donors⁠⁠.

⁠⁠Known Ministries⁠⁠ is ⁠⁠Alex Kocher⁠⁠ and Brenda Payne. This fourth season of Conversational Counseling is called "Wisdom for life's common struggles.”