Dads were never meant to take on fatherhood alone. In fact, Bryan Byrd argues that isolation is against God's will for your life. Instead, you'll need to connect with others and get hungry for the Holy Spirit. In this episode, Bryan offers encouragement to help you get started.

• Connection is God's will.
• Loneliness is a dangerous toxin.
• Healing happens when you have a safe place to take your grief.
• Get hungry for the Holy Spirit.

Bryan Byrd is a husband and father to two sons from Boise, Idaho. He is passionate about equipping men to do hard things. He co-founded Wild Courage and continues to serve on the Board of Trustees.

• 8:55 - "I can get promoted. I can advance, and I can do it in a way that's humble. I got guys who are going to call me off the shelf, if I'm out of line. If I'm out of God's will, they're going to say, Bryan, are you doing this too much? What's going on? Are you treating your wife right? Are things good at home? There's instant accountability with all the things that are right. If you're not in a fire, a group, I would just ask, how long can you go before burnout? Before failure? I read this other day, loneliness is way more a toxin than fat, sugar, caffeine, alcohol, opioids. Loneliness is more dangerous than opioids. I'd ask the listeners, it's probably way more important than you think. If you're saying, oh, I'll do that sometime. Today matters."
• 25:48 - "When I can look at you and receive you and your pain and hear you, I say you're worthy. When I, as a sharer of my pain, feel that I'm worthy, I have hope. I'm not alone. I'm with people that care. I'm seen. And I can find hope. Jesus, would you come into this pain? Would you take a risk on me? Because these guys just did. There must be hope for me. You go from sharing grief and despair and not having hope and not being seen and being isolated to seen and loved. That can be as simple as a group. It can be simple as silence. It can be as simple as a head nod. It's probably not talking very much. It might be a little validation. It's probably not giving a sermon. It's probably not five points of advice, how to fix your problem. Don't fix. It's probably not being the the alpha in the room telling people how you solve the world's problems. Letting it sit, now a container is you get 3 or 4 guys that can do that well and practice."

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