Bittersweet

Brian and my small group through Buckhead Church are about to start a new study. For the first time, the guys and girls are going to split up and read something different. The guys will be reading and discussing "The Christian Atheist: Believing in God but Living as if He Doesn't Exist" by Craig Groeschel, while the girls have decided to read a book by Shauna Niequist called "Bittersweet: thoughts on change, grace and learning the hard way."

I am so excited to begin reading through this. It talks about life’s challenges and how people respond, offering hope and focusing on God's mercy. Here is a little insert that gives a great depiction of the inspiration behind Bittersweet.

Bittersweet is the idea that in all things there is both something broken and something beautiful, that there is a moment of lightness on even the darkest of nights, a shadow of hope in every heartbreak, and that rejoicing is no less rich even when it contains a splinter of sadness. 'It's the practice of believing that we really do need both the bitter and the sweet, and that a life of nothing but sweetness rots both your teeth and your soul. Bitter is what makes us strong, what forces us to push through, what helps us earn the lines on our faces and the calluses on our hands. Sweet is nice enough, but bittersweet is beautiful, nuanced, full of depth and complexity. Bittersweet is courageous, gutsy, audacious, earthy.

I plan to share my thoughts as we journey through this book. I am sure we have all experienced some difficult times in our lives, some that we wish we could erase from our memory all together. I know I sure do. I am praying God really opens my heart and shows me how to love and find joy, even forgiveness, out of the bitterness I still harbor in my heart.