To lament, we:

Communicate Our Confidence. We communicate our confidence in God’s goodness by drawing on the good, beautiful, and kind things He’s done for us in the past.

Depression, anxiety, and trauma affect our spirit just as much as it does our minds and bodies. It makes it hard for us to remember that we’ve ever had good times by turning up the sound of our deep pain and turning down the memories of the goodness of God we know to be true. On a biological level, persistent mental pain keeps our brain from converting short term memory into long term memory. When we take a moment to talk to friends and ask them how they’ve seen God bless us, we’re pulled out of the emotionally and spiritually toxic cycles that keep us alone and hopeless.

It’s time to recall God’s goodness to us. It’s time for us to take a moment to remember how God has been kind to us, how He’s given us things we didn't have the courage to ask for, how He's provided for us, and how He’s shown us tenderness. Not only does this increase our hope, it reminds us that God is for us. That He's on our side. This is so powerful because it’s common for our pain to distort our perspective of the goodness of God. Before we know it, we see God and see in Him what we see in the people who have abused, abandoned, and shamed us.

When we recall God's goodness, our hearts are softened toward Him, and our hearts and minds shift to a position of gratitude as we prepare for Him to move on our behalf. We are reminded that we are not alone and that God has been moved to do things for us before. He will be moved to do good things for us again.

Reflect and ask yourself these questions:

• What was the sweetest thing God has done for you?
• When was the last time you were surprised by God’s goodness?
• What moment made you believe that God truly loved you?
• If you asked others how God’s been good to you, what would they say? ( Sometimes taking on other people's perspective of us helps us see our lives a little clearer)

It’s important that these experiences are yours. Many of us have been talked into the goodness of God, and many of us have been talked out of that goodness. But no one can talk us out of what we’ve experienced from God. These experiences give us confidence that God will not leave us where we are.

Application:

1. Call on God using the sentence from week 1: “ _________, You are here.”
2. Make your complaint clear to God.
3. Make your request to God.
4. Share what His motivation should be for honoring your request.
5. Communicate confidence by remembering God’s goodness.