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Editor's note: This is a really great resource that tackles one of the most overlooked books of the Bible in a way that connects well with students.

Life is messy. Life is hard. These are realities we all—including (and especially) students—are faced with every day. And as followers of Jesus, we sometimes (me included) do a poor job of admitting this. We often feel pressured to pretend life is good all the time. But what if it isn't? What if our pretending is keeping us from being real with God and experiencing His grace in the midst of difficult seasons?

The reality is, the Bible does not teach us to pretend like life is happy and easy all the time. In fact, there is a whole book in the Bible called Lamentations. In this small group curriculum, we you'll wrestle with the book of Lamentations and what it has to teach us about responding to tough times in life.

This is the hope of this four-week small group curriculum: that it would give you permission to be honest with God when life hurts, and help them walk through tough seasons with God.

Each week in this curriculum, you'll find a few things:
1. A main idea statement that summarizes the week's topic of discussion.
2. A leader note about the discussion.
3. Instructions for a weekly group exercise (don't worry, we're not talking about physical exercise).
4. Scripture references for discussion.
5. Questions related to the passages of Scripture.
6. Discussion questions on why this matters for us today.
7. A prayer and/or journaling exercise.

The topics of the three weeks are as follows:

Week 1: Let's be Real (Lamentations 1)
Week 2: Pour Out Your Heart Before God (Lamentations 2)
Week 3: A Reminder of Hope … (Lamentations 3)
Week 4: … But Still, Life Is Messy (Lamentations 4-5)

This Resource Includes:
• Weekly leader instructions
• Group exercise instructions
• Discussion questions about the Scriptures
• Discussion questions about life application
• Scripture references that direct students to passages related to each weekly topic
• Prayer and/or journaling prompts