Honey for Your Heart with Bryson Kessler

Learn how to tell whether you've truly forgiven someone, and why forgiveness is where grief is meant to lead. In this season finale, Bryson and counselor Randy Hemphill explain forgiveness as the removal of punishment, not consequences. They talk through forgiving people who never apologize, setting boundaries that aren't punishment, forgiving yourself, and even releasing the anger we hold against...

Learn how to move from reacting in anger to expressing it in a way that strengthens your relationships instead of damaging them. In this episode, Bryson and Randy get practical about healthy anger — defining it as emotional assertiveness, walking through how to set boundaries without exploding or imploding, and unpacking why opposite personality types (anger-doorway and sadness-doorway) need each...

Anger isn't a sin — it might be one of the most misunderstood gifts God gave you. Bryson and counselor Randy dig into anger as it relates to grief: why it gets such a bad reputation, how it's actually rooted in love ("anger is love disappointed"), and the difference between healthy anger (emotional assertiveness) and its two unhealthy extremes — explosive and implosive. They also connect unprocess...

Expressing sadness isn't weakness — it might be one of the most worshipful things you do. In this episode, Bryson and Randy dig into why sadness feels like the harder emotion to access (especially for those wired toward anger or control), the generational and cultural lies many of us were handed about tears meaning weakness, and Randy's practical "blue journal" practice for safely naming grief in...

What if sadness isn't something to fear, but a doorway to healing? Bryson and Randy continue their season on grief by digging into emotions — specifically, why sadness gets such a bad rap and what it actually does for us. They unpack Randy's concept of a "doorway emotion" (the one you default to — anger or sadness), why the emotion that isn't your doorway is usually the one you're most afraid of,...

Not sure why you're carrying a low-grade anger or sadness you can't explain? This episode might tell you why. Bryson and Randy dig into what actually qualifies as a loss — from everyday disappointments to the deeper "underlying wounds" from our families of origin — and why so many of us are grieving without realizing it. They unpack the difference between recent losses and older, unresolved wounds...

If you've ever thought grief was only for funerals and major loss, this episode will change how you see your own daily life. Bryson kicks off a new 8-episode season of Honey for Your Heart with her friend Randy Hemphill — congregational care pastor, counselor, and author of We Grieve Our Losses — as they lay the foundation for a season all about learning to grieve well. Together they unpack what g...

What happens when you've done everything you know to do… and you're still tired? In this season finale of Honey For Your Heart , we're sitting in that honest question together. After a season of walking through grief, waiting, gratitude, hidden growth, and staying under mercy, this episode brings us back to the simplest—and hardest—invitation of all: dependence on God. Because spiritual maturity i...

When Beth entered hospice, someone told her something that changed everything: "You are not preparing to die. You are preparing for your wedding."   That single reframe shifted fear into anticipation and loss into longing.   Because the Bible begins with a wedding in the garden…and ends with a wedding feast in eternity. From Genesis to Revelation, Scripture tells one unified story — a love story —...

If you've been walking with us this season, you know we've been talking about what it means to live with an eternal mindset — especially in light of hard, holy, and life-altering seasons. In this episode, we take that conversation deeper.   What does it really mean to live with eternity in view… not just in our theology, but in our Tuesday afternoons? In our grief? In our shame? In our unanswered...

Some seasons feel intense. Others feel invisible. But all seasons require structure.   In this episode of Layered in Grace , we talk about the quiet, steady truth that sustains us through fire, irritation, waiting, and grief: Daily mercy is what holds us together.   Building on our earlier conversation about manna — and the reality that you can't live on old manna — this episode explores what it m...

This episode wasn't planned. It wasn't polished. It wasn't scheduled. It wasn't convenient.   And that's exactly the point.   After preparing to record several deeply personal episodes for the second half of Season 3, life pivoted unexpectedly. Sudden illness. A car accident involving my son. A morning that felt derailed before it even began. And in the middle of it all, one message became crystal...

There are seasons that feel loud — full of urgency, heat, and pressure. And then there are seasons that feel quiet. Hidden. Unseen. Slow.   In this episode of  Layered in Grace , we talk about invisible seasons — the kind where you are showing up, being faithful, doing the work… and yet nothing seems to be changing. Motherhood seasons where the days repeat. Waiting seasons where prayers feel unans...

Some seasons feel like sand. Others feel like fire.   In this episode of Layered in Grace , we talk about what happens when life turns up the heat — when the pressure is real, the grief is layered, and the questions feel heavy.   Using the image of pinecones that only open in fire, we explore this truth: Sometimes the heat isn't destroying you. It's unlocking something.   Drawing from: Daniel 3 (S...

We all know the phrase: "A grain of sand becomes a pearl." But we often miss how. When irritation enters an oyster, it cannot remove it. It cannot fix it. It cannot escape it.   So it begins to layer. Again. And again. And again.   In this episode, we begin the second half of Season 3 — Layered in Grace — by looking closely at what happens when God does not remove the irritant.   The diagnosis. Th...

In this episode, I share from a deeply personal place—walking through my sister Beth's final season and the question that has followed me through these days: Do I really trust God to be who He says He is—even here?   Anchored in the story of manna from the wilderness, this episode explores what it looks like to rely on God's daily provision , not yesterday's strength, yesterday's faith, or yesterd...

If heaven is our ultimate hope, why does today still matter so much?   In this episode, Bryson reflects on how walking closely with loss has reshaped the way she sees everyday life. After losing her sister Beth, eternity stopped feeling like a distant concept and began informing how she lives, chooses, suffers, and hopes—right here and now.   This conversation begins with a sacred reflection from...

Gratitude has been one of the most healing and transformational practices of my life.   In this episode, we talk about why gratitude isn't just a nice idea or positive mindset—but a biblical discipline that has the power to reshape our hearts, our thinking, and our intimacy with the Lord, especially in hard seasons.   Before diving in, I share a special moment from Season 2—Beth's own words on gra...

Waiting often feels like doing nothing — but Scripture tells us a very different story.   In this episode, Bryson invites us into one of the most formative seasons of her life: the long, sacred waiting during her sister Beth's time in hospice. Beginning with words written in real time from a CaringBridge post, Bryson reflects on the strange tension of waiting — when hours pass in a blink, but days...

This season marks a new beginning—one shaped by grief, surrender, and the deep work God does in places we never would have chosen, but where He so often meets us most faithfully. In this opening episode, Bryson shares why this season of the podcast will look different than the first two. After walking with her sister Beth through nine years of cancer and her final hospice days, Bryson stepped away...

I am so thrilled to introduce you to Kari Kampakis today! Kari is a best selling author and speaker focusing on very practical and godly tips for primarily teens (but other stages as well) and wisdom for parenting through all stages of childhood. I discovered her books about 4 years ago at a time when I was newly parenting teens and felt very lost in how to navigate that season well. A friend gave...

At the core, this podcast is rooted in storytelling. Typically, we would walk through the story of a guest and encounter the Lord and His redemptive work through the lens of that particular story. But on this episode, we change that up a bit. Today, I want to invite you to intentionally step into your own story armed with the knowledge you obtain as you listen to this episode. Let me explain what...

Do you find yourself feeling "stuck" in the hard seasons of life? Maybe you feel exhausted, overwhelmed, confused, alone or simply not sure how to survive one more day in the space you find yourself today. If I am describing you, know that you are not alone and in God's grace and kindness, He has a special word, especially for you today.   My guest today is Lauren Fortenberry. Lauren is a writer a...

If you find yourself struggling with anxiety, burnout and insecurity, especially as it relates to the comparison game that is so prevalent on social media today, this episode is one you do not want to miss!   My guest today is Whitney Lowe. Whitney is a Christian influencer who wants to see young women excited about God's work: in the Bible, in history, in the world, and in them. She writes and cr...

My guest today is someone that I've followed on social media and watched her inspiring story unfold for several years. Last year, I had the privilege to meet her at a conference and hear a bit more of that story but also see her authenticity and vulnerability first hand.   Tara Austin is the founder and CEO of Ruthie Grace, a women's clothing boutique empire. She has a storefront in Montgomery, TX...