Series Description:
We all have questions we carry deep inside — the ones we whisper in the dark but never say out loud. Questions about God, pain, relationships, and eternity. Questions that make us wonder if we’re the only ones thinking them.

The truth is, you’re not alone. We’re all wrestling with “elephants in the room” — questions everyone’s thinking but no one dares to ask. And while many churches have avoided them, God isn’t afraid of your questions. He welcomes your doubts, your struggles, and your pain.

In this 4-part series, The Elephant in the Room, we’ll tackle some of the hardest, most honest questions people ask about faith:

This isn’t about easy answers or church clichés. It’s about discovering a God who meets us in our brokenness, wrestles with us in our doubts, and leads us to freedom, forgiveness, and hope.
Come with your questions. Come with your hurts. There’s room for you here.

Message Description:
If God is really good, why does He allow so much pain?
Why does it feel like some prayers go unanswered?
Why do I still feel broken, lonely, or unseen?

These are the questions we carry in secret, but here’s the good news: God is not afraid of your questions. In fact, His Word shows us that He is close to the brokenhearted (Psalm 34:18), He hears our cries, and even our tears are like prayers before Him.

This message you’ll discover:
✅ Why God doesn’t waste your pain
✅ How His patience and kindness are designed to lead us closer to Him, not push us away
✅ What to do when God feels silent or distant
✅ How to join Christ’s victory procession and let Him give your pain a purpose

Don’t carry your questions alone -The Elephant in the Room is a safe place to wrestle with doubts, find hope in Jesus, and discover you are never alone.

TALK IT OVER

1. Breaking the Silence
- What’s one “elephant in the room” question about faith or life that you’ve wrestled with but haven’t always felt safe to ask?
- Why do you think Christians sometimes feel guilty for asking hard questions about God, pain, or doubt?

2. Naming Our Pain
- Psalm 34:18 says, “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”
When have you felt “crushed in spirit”? How did you sense (or not sense) God’s presence in that season?
- David writes in Psalm 6 about drenching his bed with tears. Have you ever prayed more with your tears than with your words? What did that experience teach you about God?

3. When God Feels Silent
- Be honest: Have you ever felt like God wasn’t answering your prayers? How did that impact your faith?
- Why do you think God sometimes seems silent in the moments we most want Him to speak?

4. God’s Answers vs. Our Expectations
- The message talked about how God doesn’t usually give us patience, strength, or love instantly — but through opportunities to grow. Which of those (patience, strength, faith, love) do you feel God is stretching in you right now?
- How does it change your view of prayer to think that God’s answers are often opportunities for transformation rather than quick fixes?

5. Wrestling with Justice
- Many people ask, “Where was God when ______ happened?” How would you gently explain to someone that human sin — not God’s absence — is the cause of so much suffering?
- How does it encourage you to know that God will one day bring full justice for every wrong (2 Peter 3:9; Romans 2:4)?

6. Purpose in the Pain
- Read 2 Corinthians 2:14. What does it mean to you that God “always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ”?
- How might God want to use your scars and painful experiences to bring hope to someone else?

7. Soul-to-Soul
- Where are you tempted to mistake God’s patience for absence or His silence for apathy?
- What would it look like this week to surrender your pain to God and let Him write the next chapter of your story?