Because we learn better together, we want to encourage each and every one of you to gather some other people and have a discussion about the podcast.
Season 9: Trauma
S9 Ep.1 / Introduction to Trauma
1. Define trauma in your own words. What ideas or assumptions about trauma have you heard spoken about your trauma or someone else’s? Do these agree with the biblical view discussed in this episode?
2. Why are both our sin and suffering stories important in understanding our trauma?
S9 Ep.2 / Trauma: Two Types
1. Does wrestling with God and His promises make you uncomfortable?
2. Is shame a default emotion for you?
3. What experiences have caused you to question your identity in Christ?
S9 Ep.3 / Trauma: Walking with Others
1. What is a miserable comforter?
2. What are some practical ways to encourage agency in someone who’s sharing their suffering story?
3. Is there trauma in your own story that’s keeping you from being an effective comforter?
Season 8: The Sacred Struggle: Sin, Responsibility and the Journey to Transformation
S8 Ep.1 / Ten Reasons Why We MUST Talk about Sin!
1. Do you feel sin has been overemphasized or under-emphasized in your life?
2. Which of the 10 Reasons stood out to you in this episode? Why?
3. How has sin strained or broken relationships in your life?
4. The Good News of the Bible is that God is rescuing those who sin. How does this encourage you?
S8 Ep.2 / The Heart of the Problem is the Problem of the Heart
1. In this episode, we discuss the metaphor of the tree with the heart as the root and the soil as the parts of life that influence us. What influences are part of your “soil”?
2. What does it mean to behold?
3. What influences, circumstances, or relationships in your life are making it difficult for you to behold God?
S8 Ep.3 / The Capture of the Heart
1. What are the four creation longings that God gave us for good that have been twisted? Which resonated most with you?
2. What beautiful gifts, blessings, or desires has God given you that have been corrupted in your life?
3. How can you set aside time this week to worship God?
S8 Ep.4 / The Good News for Sinners: Gospel Waltz (Confess)
1. Is repentance the rhythm of your life?
2. Do you know what it looks like to bring about repentance?
S8 Ep. 5 / The Good News for Sinners: Gospel Waltz (Believe)
1. Why is repentance a waltz and not a two-step?
2. In this episode, we discuss Barbara Duguid’s observation that we can point out a particular struggle in our own lives and recognize that Jesus was also faced with this struggle and He overcame. How can this truth encourage you in your own struggles or seasons of suffering?
S8 Ep. 6 / The Good News for Sinners: Gospel Waltz (Love)
1. How do you think God is looking at you right now?
2. What does it look like to choose God’s will by faith?
3. What are some of the things you can include in your plan not to sin?
Season 7: Story Matters
S7 Ep.1 / Counseling is Story Work
1. What are some stories you love? Why do you love them?
2. How can you learn to listen well to someone else’s story?
3. What does it mean to view your story within God’s Grand Narrative?
4. How do we steward God’s story, our story, and others’ stories well?
S7 Ep.2 / The Bible as One Story
1. What are the five components of the Grand Narrative? Why is it important to start with the Prologue?
2. What is a false Eden? How do we chase them? What are we really longing for?
3. Does knowing you are not the hero of your story (or anyone else’s) bring you hope? Why or why not?
4. How can you live well in this season of waiting before final restoration?
S7 Ep.3 / Your Story and God’s Story
1. How did Jesus model living well in the tension of the now and the not yet?
2. Share about a defining moment, or milestone, from your past. Is this a positive or negative milestone for you?
3. How have you seen God’s faithfulness in your past? How does this give you hope for the present and the future?
S7 Ep.4 / Competing Stories
1. What does God’s paradigm for shalom look like in His Grand Narrative?
2. Think of your favorite fictional story. What is good in the story that mimics God’s story? How does the worldview in this story compete with the worldview of the Grand Narrative?
3. What is one person/experience in your life that has shaped your worldview? How does God’s story align or compete with that person/experience?
S7 Ep.5 / You Have a Story (Part 1)
1. What qualities make you a good listener? After listening to this episode, what can you do to improve as a listener?
2. Share or write out your testimony. How have you seen God work through your testimony? Did you encounter a moment in your story you were afraid or unwilling to share?
3. What keeps you from telling others your true story?
S7 Ep.5 / You Have a Story (Part 2)
1. What elements of Brenda and Alex’s testimonies stood out to you?
2. Plot out your story on the Grand Narrative. How has God rescued you in this part of your story or how is He rescuing you?
3. What are some specific changes in your story’s trajectory since trusting in Jesus?
S7 Ep. 6 / Telling One Woman’s Story with Lauren Duncan
1. What is a “good” thing that has become an “ultimate” thing in your life?
2. What part of Lauren’s story resonated most with you? Why?
3. How does remembering our identity as a child of God free us from the shame of outside expectations or identities?
4. How has your suffering given you the ability to better listen and comfort other sufferers?
Season 6: Help with…
S6 Ep.1/ Christine Chappell
1. What has your experience with depression been?
2. Describe how it changes things that you do not have to suffer perfectly…
3. How can you be Jesus in flesh to those around you?
S6 Ep.2/ Marnie Ferree
1. How does reframing the issue as a love, sex and relationship addiction rather than just a sex addiction help us understand what’s going on more fully?
2. How can our good desires get hijacked?
3. Who has seen your pain? Whose pain can you see?
4. How have you seen redemption from pain?
5. Share about a time that was unpleasant but healing.
S6 Ep.3/ Chris Torchia
1. Where is God calling you to lean into messiness and nuance in your life?
2. Is there an area of life that you need to be reminded that God is up to something good, that He is the God who redeems?
3. In this episode we are reminded that the heart longing for people exploring sexuality is the same as all of ours - Belonging and acceptance. How can this perspective help us when walking through gender and sexuality conversations with people around us?
S6 Ep.4/ Andrew Dealy
1. Is there a risk factor you need to be more mindful of in your own life or those that you walk with?
2. How can you view yourself and those around you with more dignity and meaning?
3. Take some time and share about hope… What is our hope? Here and now? For our future?
S6 Ep.5/ Peggy Bruning
1. How can we love an addict without enabling them?
2. When someone is in chaos, how can you not enter it?
3. How can we move towards real solutions of change?
4. How can we respond without reacting?
S6 Ep.6/ Ginger Jacks
1. How have you experienced the process of the stages of grief in your life?
2. Would you describe yourself as a crier? Why or why not?
3. Try the ABCs exercise of resting your mind as you focus on attributes of the Godhead. Start with one attribute of the Father, Son or Holy Spirit that starts with “A”, then “B”, etc.
4. How does our future hope in Christ gives us hope now today?
Season 5: Suffering
S5 Ep.1/ Why Do I suffer?
1. Why do we suffer?
2. Why does having a good theology of suffering matter?
3. What is the big story of the Bible and what difference does it make?
S5 Ep.2/ Where is God in my suffering?
1. How has pain tested your faith?
2. How can wrestling with God be a sign of faith?
3. Who has God shown himself to be in your life?
S5 Ep.3/ Carol Collier on Lament: How to cry out to God in suffering?
1. How can lament be an act of faith?
2. Do you feel like you really allow yourself to enter into a place of lament? Why or Why not?
3. What are ways you can enter a more messy faith? What could that look like?
S5 Ep.4/ How to Write a Lament
1. In what ways do I struggle to lament to the Lord? Is it because it feels too messy, or disrespectful, or is there something else getting in the way of true lament?
2. In my current circumstances, what is something I need to bring to the Lord in lament?
3. What false saviors do I tend to run to as distractions instead of running to the true Savior in lament?
S5 Ep.5/ What is God Doing in My Suffering?
1. How can I begin to trust the Lord with the “big picture” rather than focus on the small details?
2. How do we steward the suffering that has been entrusted to us well?
3. With the comfort I’ve received from Christ in my own seasons of suffering, is there somewhere I can comfort someone in their suffering season?
S5 Ep.6/ How Can I Suffer Well and Help Others?
1. Do I know the promises of God? Are there any I can recite by memory?
2. Is leaning into comfort difficult? If yes, is there a small step I can take to lean into comfort in this season?
3. Is there somewhere God is calling me to walk alongside someone, even if I feel like its not "happily ever after" yet?
S5 Ep.7/ When All Hope Seems Lost
1. Honest protest can feel messy. What emotions are hard for me to lay before the Lord?
2. Our body and soul are constantly interacting. What does it look like to begin to recognize my body cues? Are there any cues that come to mind immediately?
3. Am I willing to incorporate protest journaling into my rhythm of life? If so, is there an event or emotion that I feel led to start with?
S5 Ep.8/ Tim Challies: A Story of Immeasurable Suffering and Incomparable Hope
1. If you were to write your own “Manifesto”, what are some of the things you think you might include?
2. What is the difference between being scarred by something versus being defined by it? How does this distinction change some of your perspective in your own life or in walking with others?
3. What are healthy ways you can lean in and be present with people in their times of grief (and not abandon them)?
Season 4: Wisdom for Life’s Common Struggles
S4 Ep.1/ Wisdom for Life’s Common Struggles
1. What is unique about spiritual friendships?
2. Do you feel like you have or offer spiritual friendship?
3. Out of the common struggles mentioned, which do you experience most often?
S4 Ep.2/ Anxiety Part 1
1. Why do we need to look at anxiety holistically?
2. How does knowing God is sympathetic towards us in our struggles change our approach to dealing with anxiety?
3. How do you find either or both of the tools presented in this episode helpful when dealing with anxiety?
S4 Ep.3/ Anxiety Part 2
1. Is there an area of grief under our anxiety that the Lord is leading us to press into?
2. How could I introduce more scripture memory and meditation into my daily routine?
3. Is there a current anxiety that I could begin working through using the soul tools discussed in this episode?
S4 Ep.4/ Anger
1. Am I reacting to actual sin?
2. Are my desires for God’s Kingdom or my kingdom?
3. Is my anger accompanied by Godly qualities and expressions?
S4 Ep.5 / Guilt
1. Is there somewhere I am listening to condemnation where I need to be responding to conviction?
2. Knowing that Christ has ultimately declared us not guilty, what areas of our lives do we find ourselves still going back into the courtroom?
3. How have you heard the tone of God’s voice in different seasons of your life? Has it been harsh or gentle? Has it been demanding or alluring?
S4 Ep.6 / Depression
1. Where can we see more colors in the midst of the black and white?
2. How can hope impact depression?
3. What holds us back from fully lamenting before the Lord?
S4 Ep.7 / Bitterness
1. Is there a situation causing bitterness in my life?
2. Knowing that my hope is in God and His plan, is there somewhere I need to let go of anger and move towards grief?
3. Where can we make room for intentional lament in our routine?
S4 Ep.8 / Fear of Man
1. How is God calling me to love this person right now?
2. How is God calling me to interact with my neighbor that is truly loving?
3. Do I incorporate Sabbath rest into my weekly rhythm? If not, is there a place I can begin to?
Bonus Episode / Elyse Fitzpatrick
1. In the season you are walking through, what does it look like to surrender perfection and be a work in progress?
2. How can we better understand the concept of justification? How does this understanding impact our hearts and lives?
S4 Ep.9 / Perfectionism
1. Is it easier for you to see God as a taskmaster who is judging you or as a loving father who wants you to be able to rest in Him? Are there specific reasons behind why you feel one is easier than the other?
2. Where do you find yourself most often going back to the courtroom?
3. Is there a place you can be the “messy you” within your close friendships this week?
Season 3: Key Elements of Personal Ministry
S3 Ep.1/ Preparing Our Hearts
1. Share a story of a desert season for you.
2. Does this episode impact your perspective about the desert? If so, how?
S3 Ep.2/ A Model of Personal Ministry
1. Are others at home with us? Do we feel safe to others? Do they feel safe, protected?
2. Reflect on some people who are really a home for others. Go back and bless them and thank them.
3. Where have you come from and where are you going?
4. What kinds of questions does Jesus ask?
S3 Ep.3/ Ministry of Presence
1. Ask the Lord how you can be present with other people this week.
2. In what ways might you serve that person and minister to their needs?
3. Who is the Lord calling you to incarnate the presence of Christ to this week?
S3 Ep.4/ Listening
1. What are ways you’ve not been listened to well?
2. What is one way you can listen well to a particular person this week?
S3 Ep.5/ Asking Questions
1. In what ways do you think about Michal differently after considering more about the context of her life? How does this encourage you to not make assumptions but to ask better questions?
2. Do you find that intensive or extensive questions come more easily to you? How so?
3. How does asking questions help us become a holy, healing community?
S3 Bonus Episode/ Conversation with Dr. Curt Thompson
1. What stands out to you from this episode?
2. Which aspect of this conversation resonates with you the most currently?
3. What would help you tell your story more truly?
4. How can you embody the gospel this week more fully?
S3 Ep.6/ Ministry of Words
1. Do you tend to fall into the ditch of not speaking up or of speaking up too much too soon?
2. How have you experienced the comfort, encouragement and conviction of God for yourself?
3. What are ways you can avoid a one size fits all approach?
S3 Ep.7/ Miserable Counselors
1. Which is one of your more common “misses”?
2. How can you move away from the pressure to perform perfectly, to humility and approachability to talk through repair?
S3 Bonus/ Marty Solomon Conversation
1. What stands out to you from this episode?
2. Which aspect of this conversation resonates with you the most currently?
3. How can you receive and invite to restoration after disruption?
4. In what ways are you wrestling with questions and/or can you value nuance?
Season 2: It’s Bigger Than Forgiveness
S2 Ep.1/ Receive
1. What are some myths about forgiveness that hold you back from walking in it sometimes?
2. How does receiving forgiveness help us extend it?
3. In what ways do you need to apply forgiveness to the past?
4. How can forgiveness be a more regular, ongoing and specific conversation in your life?
S2 Ep.2/ Remember
1. What do you often find yourself remembering or rehearsing?
2. How can you recount what God has done for you in Christ more regularly? Remember His forgiveness to you today with someone else!
3. How does framing forgiveness as a process rather than just (or even primarily) an event help free you?
4. How does it change your thoughts and actions to know that God is the one who will take vengeance where it’s needed?
5. What are you grateful for? How does this cultivate a posture of humility?
S2 Ep.3/ Release
1. How can you deal with the reality of the pain that you are experiencing when you are sinned against?
2. What do you do if someone doesn’t recognize that they’ve done anything wrong?
3. Have you ever discerned stress or bitterness impacting your physical body? If so, how did it impact you?
4. How is release the fruit of not standing in the place of God in our own heart and mind?
S2 Ep.4/ Overlook or Confront
1. How can you tell when you’re avoiding and stuffing something or when you’re truly overlooking and dealing with something?
2. Share a way that you could confront in love or a way that you could confront in sin.
3. Pray for one another to walk more fully in God’s love and more fully in loving others.
S2 Ep.5/ Reconcile
1. How can you not dwell on another's sin?
2. What does it look like to not use someone's sin against them?
3. How can you be more trustworthy and honest?
4. What would it look like for you to stay more in a posture of humility and teachability?
S2 Ep.6/ Restore
1. Where does our safety in relationship come from?
2. What marks repentance?
3. Biblically, what are boundaries?
Season 1: These Three Things
S1 Ep.1/ The Lens: Saint, Sufferer, Sinner
1. What is GOOD in my life? Where am I in step with the Spirit?
2. What is BAD in my life? What is the Spirit asking me to repent of?
3. What is HARD in my life? What is the Spirit asking me to lament of?
S1 Ep.2/ Superpowers
1. How are the word of God, the Spirit of God and the people of God encouraging you right now?
2. How are the word of God, the Spirit of God, and the people of God challenging you right now?
S1 Ep.3/ The "Tions": Justification, Sanctification, Glorification
1. Describe justification, sanctification, and glorification in your own words.
2. Which one of these doctrines is especially meaningful to you right now and why?
S1 Ep.4/ Gospel Waltz: Confess, Believe, Love
1. Describe a current sin struggle, how is God calling you to confess, believe and love in that struggle?
2. How do you tend to hide and point when you really need to dance with the Spirit?
S1 Ep.5/ Character of God: Sovereignty, Wisdom and Love
1. How would you describe God in 2-3 sentences?
2. Which characteristic of God, His sovereignty, wisdom, or love, gives you comfort right now and why?
S1 Ep.6/ Show Up, Shut Up, Speak Up
1. Give an examples when someone “showed up” for you.
2. When you think of show up, shut up, or speak up which one is hardest for you? Which is easiest? Why?