Breaking Bread Podcast ACCFS Staff

The question before every human being is not if they have pain, but rather, what they do with the pain that they have. Some people make peace with their pain. Unfortunately, many do not. In this Breaking Bread two-part series, Brian Sutter and Kaleb Beyer help us understand what making peace with pain means, why it is important and how to do it.  

Show notes: 

What does making peace with pain mean?  

Answer: Making peace with pain happens when we change our relationship with pain. Instead of orbiting the pain, we are freed from the unhealthy attachment we have with it. While pain may remain, we are able to live with it as a part of our story but it does not govern our identity. Pain has its proper effect on our lives - not too much, yet not ignored. 

Why is making peace with pain important? 

Answer: Pain unattended has a tendency to generate unhealthy attachments in our lives. We orbit closely to the pain. Some will try to soothe the pain by unhealthy means. Others will over identify with the pain. Still others will expend tremendous energies to change circumstances to make the pain go away. As a result, we become less responsive to our present lives because pain management requires so much attention. We don’t live well now. 

How do we know if there is pain in our lives for which peace needs to be made? 

Answer: If we have a past relationship with our pain and not a present relationship we may need to make peace with pain. This can be seen in our response to present circumstances. For example, if we react to present circumstances inappropriately, our past pain may be speaking.  

How do we make peace with pain? 

Answer: We make peace with pain by first understanding that God is present with us in our pain. We are not alone. Alowing yourself to sit with God in your pain is a healthy exercise. Next, acceptance will need to be practiced. Acceptance is letting go of circumstances that are not and will not be. It includes a trust that God loves you, is good and sees a wider expanse. For some pain, forgiveness will need to be extended to the offending parties.  

The question before every human being is not if they have pain, but rather, what they do with the pain that they have. Some people make peace with their pain. Unfortunately, many do not. In this Breaking Bread two-part series, Brian Sutter and Kaleb Beyer help us understand what making peace with pain means, why it is important and how to do it.

One of the pains of parenting is watching your children make poor choices. What should we do when there is not much we can do? In this episode of Breaking Bread, Brian Sutter and Craig Stickling speak to the do’s and don’ts of parenting through these challenges. 

Show Notes: 

 So your child made the wrong decision. Remember this Mom and Dad:  

Hang in there with them. 
Protect your relationship with them. 
Have a posture of grace with them. 
Be learners together. 
Allow natural consequences to teach. 
Help them learn from their decisions. 
Speak truth in love. 
Don’t over personalize their decision. 
Lean on the larger community to speak truth into their life. 
Give it time. 


Trust in prayer. 

Spiritual disciplines are ancient. Yet they are growing in popularity with our contemporary Christian culture. What are common cautions that should accompany our wise application of spiritual disciplines? In this episode of Breaking Bread, Isaac Funk helps us understand four cautions: legalism, agency, syncretism and mysticism.
Show Notes: Spiritual disciplines are those practices we habitually do in the body that form us into Christlikeness. Reading the Word, silence, solitude, fasting, tithing, fellowship are just a few of many. Many spiritual disciplines are classic. Practices employed by Christ and faithful believers for thousands of years.
Understanding the “shadow” of a thing is important for wise and healthy use. We want to have this circumspect understanding of spiritual disciplines. Without it, we can fall into ditches that are unhelpful. Consider four trappings to be thoughtful about.
Legalism: Legalism is an unhealthy relationship with performance. At its worst, dependence on performance erroneously replaces faith in Christ. We need to remember the following… Spiritual disciplines are not our morality. Spiritual disciplines are not our performance. Spiritual disciplines are not our forgiveness. Spiritual disciplines do not secure merit with God. Agency: When employing spiritual disciplines, we can become confused with who is at the source of the effort. Is it us? Is it God? We need to remember the following: We do not control our spiritual growth; rather we make ourselves available to God through the practices to be formed by him. God is the first source behind any practice. Syncretism: Syncretism is the blending or merging of different religious beliefs and practices. Many different religious faiths, as well as atheism, share bodily practices that on the outside look the same. We need to remember the following: Many bodily disciplines will benefit human beings regardless of walk of life or religious beliefs. However, these are not uniquely Christian unless we are employing them to grow in Christ likeness. Mysticism: By mysticism, we mean experiencing God in ways that transcend ordinary sensory perception and intellectual understanding. If applied unhealthily, the believer can develop errant ideas about God that are steeped in individual experience. We need to remember the following: Our discipleship experience with God should never contradict the Bible. Be accountable to the larger Christian community. Include other people in your discipleship journey with Christ.

This episode of Breaking Bread, Fred Witzig and Erica Steffen give us a history lesson. Not a history lesson about our past. But a lesson about how to capture our past into history. Oral history is the means for getting this done. Fred and Erica will both explain how to carry out this collection of history as well as cast a vision for our participation in a larger Elder Teaching Resource effort.

Hope exists. Depression is not a life sentence. In this episode of Breaking Bread, Kathy Knochel and Ted Witzig Jr. chart the course for walking through depression to the other side.
Show notes:
There are different kinds of depression. Treatments can vary. However, the path through depression typically has three benchmarks. The first is changing behavior. The second is a shift in thinking. The third is an improved mood.
1.       Behavior activation:
·        Physical activity: moving the body.
·        Social interaction: engaging with people.
·        Meaningful activities: engage in small, doable things in a consistent manner to develop a sense of competency.
2.       Engage thinking through counseling:
·        Challenge negative self-talk through healthy truth based in Scripture.
·        Medicine (in some cases) can be beneficial in helping the mind think well and engage the therapeutic treatment.
3.       Positive mood shifts follow improved thinking.