Latest / Jess Ask / Grieving What You Saw (feat. Elizabeth Pickens)
Transcript
- 0:05Hey, it's your girl, jess You've just entered a safe space for Kingdom
- 0:11entrepreneurs and creatives to decompress, have fun, and yeah, you've guessed it
- 0:17a safe place to just ask. Before we get into it, be sure
- 0:21to subscribe and download the podcast follow me on all platforms at the Jessica Smith
- 0:29and invital friend. Also make sure you DM me your feedback and questions so
- 0:36we can keep the conversation going. Now, let's get into this week's episode.
- 0:45Hey, y'all, what's up? This is your Girl Jessica and I
- 0:48am super excited about this episode. Y'all. Let me tell y'all. So
- 0:53I gotta guess, and we don't know each other for real, but we
- 0:56gonna we're gonna get the doll each other in real life, like I've been
- 0:59hurt one time and ow daddies, like Elizabeth, how you doing since I
- 1:03am, well, thank you so much for inviting me. I'm just so
- 1:08happy and honored to be a part of the show. I know tonight it's
- 1:11gonna be dope. So so it's exciting. So we are Like so,
- 1:15Elizabeth, I met in January in some unforeseen circumstances. I beloved Pastor Mail
- 1:26passed away, and so we met at the funeral and through that good old
- 1:30apostle, Christian Teehowe, only him, only him, And you know,
- 1:36if you know him, you know that when he connects people, right,
- 1:41you weren't even really trying to connect us. It's just like organically happen,
- 1:45happen me, you and Marianne. And so I'm excited to learn you I
- 1:52am. It's like it's so you know, like when you get the opportunity
- 1:57to like be around other women that like will embrace what's going on versus like,
- 2:07oh she made she all day and competition wise, like I I dealt
- 2:12with it probably too many times, too many times to YouTube girl, Yeah
- 2:20I was gonna say me too. And I think like going back to us
- 2:23meeting, I, you know, just the prophetic words that you all gave
- 2:28me, it just really pulled me in because not even necessarily just the substance
- 2:34of what you all said, but just the purity of where it came from.
- 2:38And that's when I knew. I was like, Okay, I need
- 2:43to connect to them after this, Like how can I connect to them after
- 2:47this? I'm just so glad that we were able to connect because you can
- 2:51just always tell the purity of somebody's spirit, like whenever you first meet them.
- 2:55And so I just knew, like when we met, I was like,
- 2:59Okay, this is a done deal. I'm gonna see them again.
- 3:01We're gonna hang out something, something's gonna happen, you know. So I'm
- 3:06just really happy, you're excited that we're further um connecting and you know,
- 3:10growing our friendship. So come on, now, go ahead and put a
- 3:15label on it. I'm open today. I'm open today the friendship. Come
- 3:19on, because I'm learning. I'm learning in different seasons, like not to
- 3:24be afraid of labeling certain relationships because I've heard in the past. Right yeah,
- 3:31and before, girl, I seem like we've been to tap ind I
- 3:35want before before Look, it's about to go there before we get too deep,
- 3:45because I feel like this conversation is about to be a conversation right before
- 3:50we get too deep into it. Tell us about yourself, Elizabeth, tell
- 3:53tell us. As we talked, our community just asks this is a safe
- 3:57space for entrepreneurs and creatives to just decompressed. Let's talk about it. Let's
- 4:01talk about what's on my mind. And I know, girl, you you're
- 4:04doing. You're doing a dog all things. So tell tell the people what's
- 4:09going on, how to get by you? Who is Elizabeth? Who is
- 4:14Elizabeth? You know I get that question a lot, and one thing that
- 4:18I can say is that I am still discovering who Elizabeth is. But the
- 4:25current person that I have discovered so far is number one. My name is
- 4:30Elizabeth Pickens. I am from the Midwest, born and raised Missouri, Missouri
- 4:35girl. I have lived in several different states, but I have my main
- 4:43time has been in Missouri. I am an entrepreneur, I'm an author.
- 4:48I'm also a faith based leader. So right now I lead a ministry called
- 4:55Seek Sessions where we equip, train, and in part those that are desiring
- 5:00to develop their prayer, their prayer time with the Lord. We teach them
- 5:06how to develop that and strengthen the intercessors so that they can stand on guard
- 5:13and fulfill their assignments that God has called them to. Like I said,
- 5:16I'm also an entrepreneur, so I am a jack of many trades. I
- 5:21literally can almost do a lot of things, many things, and so you
- 5:28can't limit me to one thing. So if it's design, creativity, administer
- 5:34all types of stuff. Whatever the Lord put to me in that moment to
- 5:41actually do, he just kind of graces me to be able to carry it
- 5:45out. And it's always for somebody. So I find myself often learning new
- 5:50things for people to help them with their assignments. But also I think that
- 5:57my entrepreneurial endeavors have really help me to, um just get through life as
- 6:02well. So I'm I'm an entrepreneur. I'm a like life insurance broker,
- 6:08so I also provide life insurance. Um. So yeah, I'm a sister,
- 6:15I'm a daughter, I'm an auntie. I'm my nieces and nephew's favorite
- 6:18auntie. So I gotta put that in there. So little folks, I
- 6:24gotta let them know because you know, they other aunts and uncles, they'd
- 6:27be feeling some type alway. But anyway, um but yeah, so that's
- 6:31that's that's about me. That's a little bit about me. So listen,
- 6:34you just don't know. I hear everything. I feel like I hear everything.
- 6:39And you said two things that stuck out in me. I had to
- 6:41pull my pianout. Okay, I'm gonna go with the first thing. One
- 6:45of the things you said was that you're good at a lot of things,
- 6:50and it's you. First of all, you sound like you're okay with it,
- 6:55like that does not frustrate you. I'm getting there, okay because okay,
- 7:01because with the predit, we're about to we're about to have a whole
- 7:05because you just said, whatever the Lord allows you to do for the betterment
- 7:14of others, you take advantage of that, right, And that's what from
- 7:17one we kind of make entrepreneurship like more difficult than it probably has to be.
- 7:25Um. But I'm like you, like, I'm good at a lot
- 7:28of stuff. But I was posed a question like what do you what do
- 7:31you offer? Like I was like, oh, I'm trying to get my
- 7:35website together. I'm trying to get this out of it all. But it's
- 7:39like what are you offering? And so you just answered that question. It's
- 7:42like, whatever God wants me to offer in that moment, or whether the
- 7:46Lord leads me to assist other people, That's what I'm going to offer.
- 7:50And I know that it's I think it frustrates me. Let me just be
- 7:54transparent. I think it frustrates me because it's like I see people are able
- 7:59to target it right, like target, but when you're good at a lot
- 8:03of a lot like where what do I start, what do I finish?
- 8:11What do I go? What do I mean? I don't I don't know,
- 8:15I don't know. I agree. So this is my answer to that,
- 8:18or my comment to that, because that has also kind of been like
- 8:22one of my frustrations too. As I've been evolving, Like you know,
- 8:28the older I get, it's like still more stuff that I'm learning or I
- 8:31know how to do, and I've just learned to really accept the fact that,
- 8:37um, I know many things, I know how to do many things,
- 8:41and um, people like us, there's not a label for us.
- 8:46There's not a specific set thing like we're just, um, a person of
- 8:52many facets. That's that's how I feel, because to limit me to just
- 8:58one thing, you know, it's just extremely hard, you know. And
- 9:03so for me, whatever the grace is for that moment or that season,
- 9:09because there's always a grace for me to be able to do something, whether
- 9:13it's you know, creating a balloon arch, I'm just you know, giving
- 9:18an example, you know, and I'm doing it, you know, multiple
- 9:20times for a certain period of time until the Lord moves me into something else,
- 9:24Like I do that and then I move into whatever else I've learned to
- 9:30like stop, you know, being frustrated in the fact that I can't just
- 9:35do one thing, you know, because like you said, it is very
- 9:39frustrating because you hear people say, you know, find that one niche and
- 9:43hone in on that one thing. But what if there are many things that
- 9:48is that one niche? What if you are talented and being able to juggle
- 9:52multiple things, you know, and you're good at all of those things,
- 9:58you know, And I'm not saying that you shouldn't find that one niche in
- 10:01like hone in on that, but you know, I feel like I'm still
- 10:05figuring that out too. I feel like I'm you know, I don't have
- 10:07a definite answer, but I do. I will say that I am.
- 10:11I go with the flow of God. Like when guys it's like you're here,
- 10:16all right, that let's go and then you're here. But to me,
- 10:22that's liking unto an apostolic grace, because apostles don't just stay in one
- 10:28specific place and build. They build. Once they've done with that, move
- 10:33on to the next. We build it here. What we're doing, Okay,
- 10:37we gotta tear this down, We gotta build this back up. And
- 10:39so like for me, that's how I think. It's like, Okay,
- 10:41well, how am I gonna do this? Is what is the need for
- 10:46now? And then oh, not only that, not only that, how
- 10:52can I replicate it? Because I'm gonna tell you something, everything that I've
- 10:54created, I've always been able to teach somebody else how to do it,
- 10:58and then I just move on. I can always go back and do it,
- 11:03but I teach somebody else and then I'm able to move on. But
- 11:07like I said, God just gives me those graces, and so I think
- 11:09that, um, just really going with the flow of God. But go
- 11:13ahead, because if you look like you're trying to say something, if I
- 11:16was by you, I probably getting little feedback right here. But um,
- 11:22if I was by you right now, I would oh, I would be
- 11:24doing this like poking really hard at you. Because so this is such a
- 11:31God moment because I was just catching up on a devotional day we were reading
- 11:33as a group for the Mental Shield program I was part of, and they
- 11:39were talking about the sound of now, like how you have to have to
- 11:43come into your sound that comes out of you has to be the sound that
- 11:48God is speaking now and so even when when you said that, like,
- 11:52Okay, what is God doing now, you don't you don't know that.
- 11:58And this is this is such a part fixed segue um for what I really
- 12:03want to talk to you about. Um, you don't really know that without
- 12:05relationship, I really don't know the sound of now because without relationship um with
- 12:15God. And so that's where the frustration is it comes from. And I'll
- 12:20admit, you know, there's a maturity that I need to have with with
- 12:22my relationship with God. That's why I get frustrated so easily. That's why,
- 12:26you know, And I think people, especially when they look at me
- 12:31like I've had so many a few people, especially like m from high school,
- 12:35reach out to me and say, oh, I see what you're doing.
- 12:37You just see that, Yeah, you see that part, You see
- 12:41that part, You see me. That's a plea a little you see this.
- 12:46You don't see all of it. I get Listen if you saw the
- 12:50full movie and not just the trailer. Listen, Okay, because everybody don't
- 12:56want to buy that t They don't want to buy they might can't afford their
- 12:58TV that may not be able to afford it. Listen, Listen, can
- 13:03I call you Liz. You know, Lizabeth, you are more than welcome
- 13:09to call me Liz. Listen. So like, let's let's get into it.
- 13:13I wanted to read you something that you wrote on your Facebook page.
- 13:18Okay, um, because you're talking real good woman of God, and so
- 13:24you said that you have seek sessions. I wrote that. Now, the
- 13:28fact that you call them seeking sessions and not a prayer group, I think
- 13:31that's very It's not just creative, but it's very intentional because that was that's
- 13:35what we do. But we're gonna tap into that and take it. You
- 13:39said, so this is your right now, you're currently in a four week
- 13:45prayer intensive right and you said, um in this quote in this post on
- 13:50February or fifteenth. I've learned that don't be acting like that. I've learned
- 13:54that one of the primary reasons why prayer is not consistent on it daily basis,
- 14:01it's because many have not taken the time to develop a relationship with God.
- 14:05This leads to them praying amiss, not knowing what to pray, getting
- 14:11easily distracted in prayer, giving up and feeling hopeless, growing distant from and
- 14:16growing distant from God. It is easy to fall into the trap of prayerless
- 14:22life, or even fall into a season where life becomes so overwhelming that it
- 14:26becomes hard to take time to really pray and seek the Lord. So I
- 14:33really I think even listing those things and connecting that to what we're talking about
- 14:39now and in being quote unquote all over the place, I'm connected to me
- 14:48personally right now as far as like okay, my relationship or me feeling hopeless
- 14:56all right or all over the place, or not knowing what to do in
- 15:00the now and or being okay with with I what I'm hearing to do in
- 15:05the now, right, because sometimes we can hear what to do with the
- 15:07now but not agree what the what the now requires, right, And so
- 15:15I want you to expound on that a little bit, like what is what
- 15:18is your experience with that? What? What? What examples can you give
- 15:22us, like this is the this is you, this is you. I'm
- 15:26gonna give you the flow. Yeah. So first, I want to say
- 15:30that a lot of, if not all, of my posts that I post
- 15:33on social media are birth out of my own experiences. So specifically, when
- 15:41I was talking about that, I was talking about moments or times where I
- 15:46knew that prayer should have been on the agenda, the daily agenda, But
- 15:52because of my lack or my desire to really seek the Lord, you know
- 15:58it it wasn't you know, just like many people. Or it's not even
- 16:02just the lack of the desire of desire, but it could be because in
- 16:07time's past, the real thing was I was so busy, busy doing nothing,
- 16:14busy with everything else, that I did not develop an appetite, a
- 16:19strong enough appetite to where when other things that made me busy tould me away
- 16:26from God, I wasn't strong enough to keep myself sustained in Him. So
- 16:32it was so easy for me to come out of the presence of God with
- 16:36social media or with things you know, pertaining to a friendship, going out
- 16:41and hanging out with my friends, or you know, watching a good sitcom,
- 16:45or even church, because if we be honest, sometimes when you've done
- 16:51church so long, you become so relaxed with the ritualistic. It's a routine,
- 16:56like, you know, get up, go to the church on Sunday,
- 17:00Wednesday, you know, and it's just like a routine thing, and
- 17:03you become so comfortable with maintaining the routine that you don't you're not conscious enough
- 17:11to do have a deeper seat for the Lord. That was me And it
- 17:15wasn't until probably twenty twenty where I went through a situation I was engaged.
- 17:22The engagement was called off. Really, what happened was the Lord had said
- 17:27that he wanted to take us through a process. I had a dream told
- 17:32me that long story short. In result of that, the engagement was completely
- 17:36called off. I knew that the Lord wanted to take us through a process,
- 17:40specifically me, but I didn't know what that meant. I thought it
- 17:42was just like, we're gonna go through like a three or four month process,
- 17:47then we're gonna come back together. Then we're gonna be married and happily.
- 17:51Ever after we were still planning a wedding, blah blah blah. But
- 17:53God was like, no, there's a separation coming. And in that moment,
- 18:00I think that was the commencement of the Lord shifting me into a greater
- 18:06dimension of prayer and seeking Him. And it's so interesting that, like a
- 18:11lot for a lot of people, that one of the ways that God can
- 18:17get us into His presence is through a problem or through a proclivity or something
- 18:23that has terribly gone wrong, and then it's just like we just were ready
- 18:27to just run to his presence. Some people are like that, and then
- 18:30there are other people that when things are great, every time things are you
- 18:33know, good, we're in the presence of the Lord, and when things
- 18:37are bad, they're not, you know, And so you just have those
- 18:40A type people, B type people. But for me, I was the
- 18:44B type person where when something went wrong, that was when I actually had
- 18:48an honest seek, which is how seek sessions was birth. And we'll talk
- 18:53about that. But I noticed that, you know, a lot of people
- 19:00have not really tapped into having a consistent prayer life, which is simply communicating
- 19:06with the Lord because of the fact that number one, there's people that have
- 19:11unbelief based off of trauma, based off of their history of you know,
- 19:15things going wrong in their life, based off of you know, issues that
- 19:21they were out of that weren't in their control, based off of just them
- 19:26not simply knowing the foundation of the Bible, of the Gospel, of the
- 19:30Good Word, of the good News of Jesus Christ, you know. And
- 19:33then you have other people that have been doing church for so long that they've
- 19:37become so settled and it's become so mundane, and they've become so relaxed that
- 19:42you know where they are is where you know, if they're just comfortable.
- 19:45And then you have other people that you know they go to church, but
- 19:49the Bible talks about, you know, the honor me, with their lips,
- 19:52with their hearts are far away. They go to church for other motives,
- 19:56other reasons, you know. And then you have the other people that
- 19:59just don't you know. And there are many other reasons and or lists,
- 20:03but you know, mine primarily was I was just so busy, and I
- 20:07was busy doing nothing. Even though I was busy, I looked busy to
- 20:12everybody else. And I was busy with ministry, busy with relationship, busy
- 20:17with family and going out and doing all I had. I spent more time
- 20:22enjoying the things God gave me rather than enjoying God. And a lot of
- 20:29us we are so conditioned now to enjoy the things that God has provided us
- 20:37more than enjoying Him. So I had to relearn, and I'm still in
- 20:41that process of learning. To Elizabeth, do not get on your phone early
- 20:45in the morning when you're supposed to be seeking the Lord or when he calls
- 20:49you, you know, at late at night, do you come like you
- 20:52know, are you obedient to the simple things? It's let me tell you,
- 20:57this is how the Lord be talking to me. And I've had to
- 21:03learn that if I was consistent enough, or if we are consistent enough and
- 21:08doing the simple things and just being able to show up and pray or and
- 21:15we call it prayer, but I like to say, communicate with the Lord.
- 21:18If we're simple, if we are consistent enough in doing that, then
- 21:22we will be more confident when we're making decisions or when we're trying to get
- 21:27through our day, or we're more confident in knowing that, you know,
- 21:32my day is going to be a peaceful day rather than a day of chaos
- 21:36or calamity, you know, or even if it is chaotic or you know,
- 21:40calamity is happening, I know that I have the peace of the Lord
- 21:42because I already talked to him this morning. You know what I'm saying.
- 21:45So the class was and is a tool to really condition people to help them
- 21:56learn how to communicate, not only learn, but develop a relationship that's solid
- 22:02that when the rain comes, the storms come, when distractions come, it
- 22:07doesn't matter like they can shut it down and go straight to the Lord.
- 22:11Like he is not our Plan B, he's our only plan. He's not
- 22:15even a Plan A. He is the only plan. You know, he's
- 22:18not an alternative. And so that's what C sessions is about UM, and
- 22:23that's part of how it was birth. I hope to answered your question that
- 22:27was that that does answer because listen, because she's definitely those right now,
- 22:33you're sounds. I'm still I'm stepping on my toes. Listen, if we
- 22:38if we've been transferring like a lot of stuff, and I think I think
- 22:41that that's something about UM. The opportunity that we have, Like even in
- 22:47these conversations like this is what needs to be heard because I can guarantee you
- 22:52somebody's looking at you on Facebook and like, oh, she ain't gonna problem
- 22:53with plan She teaching the whole class on praying. She ain't got no problem
- 22:57problem with communicating with guy. She won't get this strike it or she she
- 23:00she good, She she bounced back from that relationship. She good. She's
- 23:04a honey. Like no, if you don't, if you listen, what's
- 23:11the song you knew? Come on, let's say, because y'all don't know
- 23:18listen, you don't know. You don't know what we say earlier. They
- 23:25know, like just just the trailer trailer, they know the free stuff that
- 23:30you get to see on the Netflix channel or Hulu or Spectrum, that red
- 23:34TV trailer. You know, they might they might get you fit to nine.
- 23:41I don't even care because that don't even that don't even suffice for what
- 23:45is actually going on. Like and I think, I think this is this
- 23:48is so great, and I want to tap into something. If you don't
- 23:52mind, if you're if you feel you can tell me no, tell me
- 23:55no. They gonna they're gonna hear you tell me no, but you could.
- 24:00They're gonna hear you tell me no, but you can tell me no.
- 24:04So, um, when we first met, oh you said, oh
- 24:11black, I can see your face right now, like I still see your
- 24:15face. So just to give y'all back story, So we're at the repast
- 24:22and me me, uh, Liz and Marian and Apostle how father father how
- 24:30as I call him, yes, because that's what he is. He's definitely
- 24:34a father. Um, he's gonna listen to this. You already knowber hey,
- 24:40Apostle Hey, But it was it was us and you know, we
- 24:45were gathering and at first it was just you and Liz and father How and
- 24:51then Olive a saying I came over there, and you know, he does
- 24:53his little introduction and the way the lord flows, I mean where he wants
- 24:57to come out, just come out. And I just started talking. I'm
- 25:00thinking, I'm just talking, you know, I've just started talking, and
- 25:04the one guy just starts looking at me crazy, and I was like,
- 25:10okay, I'm I'm gonna be getting something because yeah, she were, yeah,
- 25:14I must be hitting something. And so Marianne comes over. No,
- 25:18I bring Marianne over. Yes, Father Hell, I initiated is I just
- 25:22thought about it. He was being me like yeah, he's like you got
- 25:27a word for her, and I was like what, I didn't call him
- 25:30for it, And then all of a sudden, the word just start flowing,
- 25:33so that yeah, he was mean. He was being father how and
- 25:37so that start flowing. Marianne comes over. She starts flowing and we started
- 25:42tag teaming, like we just Liz and Liz is like her and father,
- 25:51how is holding your hand as you're taking like, can I say something?
- 25:56I wanted to run, but he went he's he's squose he close my hand,
- 26:04so tay, he like, you ain't going nowhere, You're gonna get
- 26:07this. Then he gonna tap your hand like M yes, yeah, right,
- 26:11yeah, it's all right listen. And so we got to the point
- 26:17where, um, I do remember saying this to you. I remember saying
- 26:22that something regarding your relationship, and I was like, don't be afraid of
- 26:30what what God is gonna do is not going to be like the last time.
- 26:33And this is my first time even hearing the understanding of that word that
- 26:40was given because I that was our first time meet, didn't he that was
- 26:42our first time meeting, and you didn't know. I didn't know at all.
- 26:47And so I do want us to touch on you know, being this,
- 26:51this amazing woman that you are being this, having this apostolic grades Kevin.
- 26:56You know, I'm gonna call it multiple strings of income. Being in
- 27:00is bossed. You know, Um, I identify as quote a boss.
- 27:03Right, let's talk about grieving those relationships. Like I feel like we we
- 27:11are positioned. It's like, Okay, God, I'm obedient. I'm obedient.
- 27:15I'm obedient, but then this one, I'm gonna college spader space.
- 27:18I need I want to be loved on. I want to be kissed at
- 27:19night. I want to be touched. I want I want I want that
- 27:23relationship. I want that relationship. I want that husband. Let me be
- 27:29clear, because fos be like, okay, I can give you no.
- 27:30I want to right right, right, right right? Um, how do
- 27:37you first of all, how did you grieve? And then how do you
- 27:42cope while you're moving forward and progressing and still be obedient to what God is
- 27:48doing even though that what you see now is not the desire of your heart
- 27:52as far as relationship in that territory. Wow, Wow, that's a good
- 27:57question. And I know that this is the this is the heart of the
- 28:03Father that he would allow for me to go through such a thing, because
- 28:07every podcast or invitation that I've had, as it pertains to just coming on,
- 28:17everybody has the same question. Well it's not bad, but I believe
- 28:22that there are a lot of hungry people that want to know how to grieve
- 28:27well moving forward even when something that you had hoped for did not come the
- 28:37past because if we be honest, hope the first makes the heart sick.
- 28:44So not only am I grieving the fact that what I thought would happen did
- 28:49not happen now. I mean, I'm put in a position to where I
- 28:53have to ensure that my heart does not become hardened towards people, towards the
- 29:00previous person, towards God, even towards myself. I have to deal with
- 29:06the mental anxiety, the depression, the self infliction of feeling like I'm not
- 29:11good enough, feeling like something's wrong with me, Feeling like, you know,
- 29:15it was my fault when I knew that it wasn't my fault, Feeling
- 29:19like I have to rise above the conversations and the comments that other people would
- 29:26have with me not in the room, dealing with all types of just all
- 29:33types of stuff. So grieving. A lot of times people think that grief
- 29:41is equated, and I was so crazy. I was just telling somebody this
- 29:45last night that grief is only equated to death as it pertains to a physical
- 29:52death, someone passing away. But grief is not just limited to someone passing
- 29:57away. It could be as it pertains to separation, separation from a job,
- 30:02separation from a ministry, separation from a friendship platonic, you know,
- 30:07separation from a just a regular relationship of marriage. Whatever you're separating from,
- 30:11you do go through a process of grief because what your mind does is it
- 30:18rehearses not only the things that were bad, but also the things that were
- 30:22good. So you know, you go through the phases of the denial,
- 30:27of the anger and all these different things. And that's kind of what happened
- 30:32with me. You know, I first started out. Every woman would like
- 30:36to think, Oh, I'm strong, I'm good. You know, I'm
- 30:38gonna be fine, I'm gonna be straight deep down inside, you know,
- 30:42you're like, Okay, what's really happening. A lot of people don't know
- 30:48that while I was grieving the separation of my ex fiance, I was also
- 30:53grieving the separation or of a ministry that I was walking away from. I
- 30:59was grieving the separate ration from an apartment that I had to leave, the
- 31:03city that I was living in. It was a lot of things that I
- 31:07was I was literally having to walk away from at the same time. So
- 31:14imagine, you know, having to walk away from multiple things, grieving multiple
- 31:18things, and trying to figure out what's next, you know, because the
- 31:22thing about grief is is like you're you're dealing with Okay, this just was
- 31:27ripped away from me, or this just happened and this no longer is.
- 31:32And sometimes if you're not careful, you'll automatically think that there's nothing ahead for
- 31:37the future, like you know, and based on how you feel about yourself,
- 31:42you'll feel like, you know, if the person may have treated you
- 31:45right. You know, sometimes you'll feel like, okay, well maybe this
- 31:49is all that I can get, or maybe this is good enough, or
- 31:52you know, maybe I missed out, and then all of a sudden you
- 31:56start doing self infliction on yourself, like oh, like it's my fault,
- 32:00and you start bargaining with the enemy too. Maybe I should turn around and
- 32:08you know, make it right, and you know, do all of these
- 32:12different things. This is for some women, not all, but you know,
- 32:15based off of the situation, based off of you know, whatever may
- 32:17have happened or occurred. But that was a part of my story, like
- 32:22okay, well maybe there was something wrong with me, or maybe I needed
- 32:25to do this or that. But then the Lord would begin to send words.
- 32:30And this is one thing that I love about the Lord is that he
- 32:34doesn't leave us in the dark. And so through through my process of grief,
- 32:38I can't say, you know, because a lot of people are like
- 32:40you know, it's a it's a one two, three step process and everything's
- 32:45gonna be okay. I went through so much mental warfare, emotional warfare,
- 32:57spiritual warfare, physical warfare, to weight fluctuation, hair lock. I'm and
- 33:02I'm just being real because we don't we don't talk about the process, but
- 33:09we like to. We like to post pictures and everybody's like, oh my
- 33:14god, they're doing so well, you know, and and not necessarily saying
- 33:19that our process was, you know, something that is a punishment. But
- 33:24in reality, when you're trying to actually overcome grief, a lot of yourself
- 33:30is trying to come to terms with what really happened, you know, and
- 33:35that takes time. And so for me it took a lot of time,
- 33:38you know, and then having to deal with other situations that had came up
- 33:44in or occurred through those twelve to fourteen months of you know, the separation.
- 33:52It was devastating. It was hard, um. But what I did
- 33:55was is I held onto the Lord. And you know, I know that
- 34:00that sounds cliche. I know that that sounds you know, like a lot
- 34:02of people like, you know, just continue to pray. No, that
- 34:07was the time that the Lord literally drew me in, and he began to
- 34:15break away, break off false identity in you know, different work curses that
- 34:22were inflicted on me, whether it was from the other person, even from
- 34:27myself, like I'm not good enough, I can't do this, I can't
- 34:30do that. He began to remind me of his word. He began to
- 34:32remind me of his promise. I begin to write out certain things as it
- 34:37pertains to what it is that I desire. What was the lesson in all
- 34:42of this, you know? And so that's how I begin to get stronger.
- 34:46And then after that, the Lord begins to have me pray for my
- 34:52x fiance, say his marriage, his wife, his children. And that's
- 34:59when I knew, Okay, you're you hit the peak or the climax of
- 35:06healing, or you're you're getting to that place of overcoming grief when you can
- 35:10actually look at it and it don't hurt no more, or you can look
- 35:14at it and you can go back and bless the person or individual and say
- 35:17thank you. Because every situation in life I'm learning is not a loss,
- 35:23it's a lesson. And if we can change our perspective and look at it
- 35:28like that, then you literally will come out on top. You will literally
- 35:31come out like, Okay, you know what, this may not have worked
- 35:36out, but that doesn't mean that. Number one, it doesn't mean that
- 35:38I'm a bad person, and it doesn't mean that they're a bad person.
- 35:42They may have shown me some flaws or some red flags, but the reality
- 35:46is that thanks beyond to God, because really, if this was not my
- 35:53if this was not the will of the Lord, I thank the Lord that
- 35:58he didn't allow it to happen so that what needs to happen will happen,
- 36:02if that makes sense. So I'm gonna stop right there so you can kind
- 36:06of no, no, no, no, no, no that listen,
- 36:08I'm learning. I get I get it first. Okay, I appreciate it.
- 36:15But what I'm a visual person, and so it's almost like what I
- 36:19heard you just say is God, thank you for allowing the pain point to
- 36:22be here and not after oh, because if I experienced the pain point after
- 36:30I committed or after I went through something without, you know, without adhering
- 36:37to the warning, and the pain could have been a little more intense,
- 36:43right, the pain of um possible separation and divorce. Now it's not just
- 36:50separation. Now I'm having a like denounce this marriage or renounce this marriage.
- 36:59And so that's I've never you know, I'm not married yet and I don't
- 37:04play. I plan on being marre one time, Lord, one time to
- 37:08do us poult. That's my plan. Okay, this is what I'm asking
- 37:13for. Only you can that that is what I by request is. Um.
- 37:22However, if I keep, if I keep, if I keep,
- 37:25my keep making the decision not to trust God in this area of relationship period,
- 37:35whether it's with my parents, whether it's with my friendships, whether it's
- 37:38with um, somebody that I'm interested in. If I don't, if I
- 37:44don't trust God in those areas, then I'll always I feel I really,
- 37:50I really in my mind, I really feel like the Lord is just like
- 37:52no, it's not it's not gonna happen until you start trusting in this area.
- 37:55And that's something that's very heavy for me to admit. Um even think
- 38:01about it now, Like I know that's an area that I'm like, God,
- 38:07are you? Are you? What you what you gonna do? Because
- 38:12I started moving, ye, like I'll started moving and that's not a I
- 38:16know that's not okay. I know that's not okay. UM. And so
- 38:20I just really appreciate you, like sharing your sharing. I want to speak.
- 38:24I want to speak to that too, because I have to be honest
- 38:28with you that it is not It has not been easy to trust people.
- 38:32Um. I recently reconnected to a ministry where I had told the leaders I
- 38:37said, I don't trust y'all. I'm sorry, and I, oh,
- 38:42no, you're okay, uh uh, And I told them, you know,
- 38:50not only them, I don't trust anybody because my heart has went through
- 38:53so much UM disappointment when it comes to people in relationships and the way that
- 39:00I love people and you know, the way that I really want things to
- 39:06work out. It has made my heart college towards trusting people that they would
- 39:13do right by me the way that I would do right by them. One
- 39:17thing that I'm learning, though, is that I can't expect myself from people.
- 39:23People are going to be people. And over the last two years,
- 39:29the Lord has really sobered me to learn who is who, whether they here
- 39:37for in my life. I'm still learning that. But I'm also learning is
- 39:42this an assignment? Is this someone in passing? Is this somebody that I'm
- 39:46supposed to be connected to forever? What is this relationship, and then also
- 39:52making sure making sure number one, if you're coming out of a relationship,
- 39:59don't move too soon in relationshipship another one because a lot of times what happens
- 40:04is when we come out of one relationship and it's bad and everything is going
- 40:07you know, crazy, we instead of facing the pain, we avoid it
- 40:14by putting ourselves into another relationship when we're not sober enough to really be able
- 40:21to see the red flags or the green flags. All we know is I
- 40:23don't want to deal with the pain. The Lord allowed for me to sit
- 40:29by myself over the last two or three years, no dating, no no
- 40:36interactive you know, being with people or being you know, talking to another
- 40:43man. I literally told the Lord, I said, listen, I want
- 40:45you to heal my heart because one thing that's not gonna happen is I'm gonna
- 40:52get in another relationship or I'm gonna get married and I'm still wounded because my
- 40:57husband don't deserve that. Because if we loop it around, I don't want
- 41:00to be married to a man that is not whole, you know, that
- 41:06has not sought the Lord concerning his own proclivities or his own issues, and
- 41:10then he comes into the marriage and then he has an expectation for me to
- 41:15fulfill a boy or a need the only God can do. So I'm like,
- 41:20you know, I want to be able to give him the same thing
- 41:23because I still believe, regardless of what society says, regardless of this whole
- 41:30we could just pick up, live together and let that be, that we
- 41:35can have a few kids and let the no, no, no, I
- 41:37still believe in marriage being honorable. And if the Lord wants to use my
- 41:40marriage to be the face and the example of this is honor, honorable,
- 41:46then I'm gonna let him do that, you know, even if that means
- 41:51me having to wait, you know. And so the first, you know,
- 41:54real answer is sitting with the Lord, becoming one with him again and
- 42:00learning who you are, breaking off those strong coolds, breaking off those word
- 42:04curses, being able to go back into situations because there were certain things that
- 42:07I did or I said to my ex that I'm like, you probably shouldn't
- 42:13have said that, Liz. You said that out of anger. Now don't
- 42:15you do that moving forward? Like And I'm telling you, I watch my
- 42:20mouth. Even if I'm not dating a male like I have male friends,
- 42:24I would never disrespect or just honor them spiritual father, never because I'm very
- 42:31conscious and aware now of and not saying I disrespected him like crazy or you
- 42:37know. But the reality is is I want to make it a good practice,
- 42:42and so I've learned that whatever I practice now, I want to be
- 42:46able to take that into my marriage, you know. So that's the first
- 42:50thing, being able to sit and be with yourself, being able to face
- 42:54those pain points, being able to attack or you know, cast down those
- 43:01word curses or those strongholds of you know, what may have been released to
- 43:07you or over you when that person or that you know, the situation got
- 43:10heated. You know, because whenever we mad, we start saying all types
- 43:15of stuff. This is why you ain't gonna never, you know. And
- 43:16so those different things we have to be able to confront them, deal with
- 43:22them, and then also rehearse the promises of God. If if there's nothing
- 43:30else that you get, it's going to be rehearsing the promises of God.
- 43:37What did God say over your life? What is his promise for you?
- 43:42What is the desires of your heart that He's placed in your heart that you
- 43:46may not have seen yet? Begin to speak them and work towards them.
- 43:52If I'm going to be a wife, then I need to make sure,
- 43:54you know, I keep my own self up, I keep my house clean,
- 43:58I keep you know, just different things that I know that my husband
- 44:00would want, you know, working towards my health or you know, what
- 44:06is it right now that you can get together to prepare and show God Like
- 44:09listen, I'm partnering with what you have prophesied or what you have said over
- 44:15my life. And I'm not going to wallow. I'm not gonna sit another
- 44:20day. I love the song by Ty Triviette. Weeping may endure for a
- 44:24night, but only one night you met. You can cry one night,
- 44:29but let it be one night. Let it be just that time being.
- 44:32Do not do not wallow in the grief or wallow in the pain and frustration.
- 44:39It's okay to feel it, but don't let that become your life.
- 44:45I have watched people become so infected or bitter by life or by a situation
- 44:55not occurring or working out, that they started giving up one what else could
- 45:00happen? Or a curve? And what that does is and now I'm going
- 45:05into spiritual psychology arrested development. Yeah, so you become arrested in that moment
- 45:14to where your life becomes centered around what did or did not happen. You're
- 45:21still back in nineteen ninety six when such as such broke up with you and
- 45:25you can't get over it yet. But this person has moved on, got
- 45:29a family, married, but you're still here single. You know what I'm
- 45:34saying. And so we have to be able to shake ourselves loose from what
- 45:39it didn't work out? Crazy, be unto God, because one thing I
- 45:44know is that if God wanted it to happen, oh, he would have
- 45:47made it happen. He would have He would have allowed it to happen.
- 45:52He would have he would have turned the tables, he would have flipped some
- 45:55cords, he would have did whatever, this, that and the other.
- 45:58But because it did not work out, or because it did not fully come
- 46:02through, then I understand that God must have something else for me. And
- 46:07we have to get to the place of after this, not currently, but
- 46:12after this, after this, what is next? Okay, God, this
- 46:15didn't I didn't get And it's not even just what relationships. It's with the
- 46:20job that you were you applied to but they denied you. It's with the
- 46:23car that you wanted, but the dealership said, you know what, it's
- 46:27not gonna work out. What next? Are we gonna stop here or are
- 46:30we going to continue to pursue until we see what God said? And one
- 46:37thing about me, I am not in the business. I did not sign
- 46:42up or I did not come to Earth to quit and a lot of people
- 46:47do that. And God is like, no, no, no, no,
- 46:52no no no. And that's the thing. It's like, as soon
- 46:54as we see that it didn't work out, it's just like whoa is me?
- 46:59Such as life? This is not And I really believe because we become
- 47:05so engrafted with all of these things that we had, we we make plans
- 47:14with things that are temporary. Let me let me explain that my fiance,
- 47:21you know, it could have worked, but we had before we got married.
- 47:23I had plans, honey, plans, plans of marriage, plans of
- 47:28where we was gonna move to, plans of what we was gonna do this,
- 47:30that and the other wa wah wow, And none of that happened.
- 47:35And what happens is when things, you know, begin to dissipate or there's
- 47:40chaos and it there's a division. What happens is once all of that.
- 47:46Everything is in ruins, everything is shattered or you know, disconnected. You're
- 47:52still thinking about these plans, and your mind and your heart is still set
- 47:55on the plan, and God is like, there is a new plan.
- 48:01There is a different plan, there is a different path. And the reality
- 48:07is we're so focused on the old plan that we can't embrace the new plan.
- 48:14We're afraid to really step out the boat or just say Okay, God,
- 48:21I'm gonna trust you with this new plan. One thing about human nature,
- 48:24we don't like change. We're not We don't like when God is like,
- 48:29okay, make a hard left. We like, let me just keep
- 48:32going straight. You know what I'm saying. We like to know before it
- 48:37happens. And that cancels out faith because faith is not you being able to
- 48:46see it physically before it happens. It's you being able to see it even
- 48:51when it has not happened yet. So for us, like I am learning,
- 48:57Oh, faith is a whole. That's a girl, that's a whole
- 48:59different topic. I'm a just pause so you can breathe and come come into
- 49:05because you see, you see you got my knick like you got my knick,
- 49:08like m y'all. If y'all could see my knick, my knicks,
- 49:15if I could just like you you, um you, I'm being told on
- 49:22you. You know what I'm saying. Like like you said, it's not
- 49:25just grief a relationship or whatever. Um, it's grief of you know,
- 49:31different job opportunities that didn't didn't happen. Um, it's grief of like the
- 49:37plan like you, like you you said it so thank your spirit. I
- 49:45had to tell you that what just happened. Now I can't say that all
- 49:47podcasts. Uh. It's grief of what we saw versus what God spoke.
- 50:00Yeah, grieving what you saw versus what God spoke. And that for us
- 50:07is like a real harsh reality because we will put God's name on anything it
- 50:14look good but good. Do you really put God's name on anything that looks
- 50:19good or feels good? Or why would At least I'm going to tell on
- 50:23myself God, why would you allow me to meet this person if I wasn't
- 50:29supposed to do X, Y and Z. Why would you allow me to
- 50:31interview for this position? If I want supposed to do X, Y and
- 50:35Z? Why would you? Like I really be like, if I'm gonna
- 50:38call a spade a space like I didn't really blame God, or why did
- 50:40you even allow them on my pathway? Like because or want to just say
- 50:46them, but it, whatever it is, why did you allow me to
- 50:50see it? Why did you allow me to dress it? Why did you
- 50:52allow me to do all or do all this stuff? And God was like,
- 50:55well, if we was in relationship, we would have brought them them
- 50:59it whatever it is back to me in the first place. Yeah, because
- 51:02if we got relationship like that, why would God withhold that answer? And
- 51:08now my heart can be guarded. But now I'm like, okay, God,
- 51:12Holy Spirit, you wouldn't even put this in my way. No,
- 51:14that's the whole point of testing, that's the whole point of being able to
- 51:16prove where you are. And I think, oh, this is so good,
- 51:21Holy Spirit, Thank you, Holy Spirit. I think where the a
- 51:23lot of frustration comes in it, especially as believers, right as as strong
- 51:30will believers. We say we hear God, and we are so confident that
- 51:36we hear God, but then we realized that we didn't and we were out
- 51:39of order. Now we're really frustrated and embarrassed with our sales because whatever it
- 51:45is did not work out absolutely, because I know there's a point I can
- 51:51think about. I can think of times like in past relationship, I've never
- 51:53been engaged right, and I think I had it. I had an attitude
- 51:58about that too, and I'm like, oh, he should have prot I
- 52:00was like my dad. If I would have been, I probably be the
- 52:04one that like, Okay, I'm just gonna stick this's my man. It's
- 52:06my man. I would have stick it through. So Lord, don't let
- 52:08nobody posting me anymore. But it's not I don't even want to. I've
- 52:15seen You're probably the second person. I haven't talked to another person, but
- 52:17I know of another person that went through that. And I'm even like to
- 52:22the point where I'm like, as far as romantic relationship, ain't no we
- 52:27on social media, ain't no this. Ain't know that. I got bounded
- 52:30like to try to take my self now. The Lord might tell me something
- 52:32different, but he's got to be very clear on it, because I'm like,
- 52:36no, ain't no social media, ain't know. Until we're walking down
- 52:38the A, I really don't. I really don't want to post on it
- 52:43because y'all playing, y'all, y'all hill. That's one thing I did say,
- 52:47I said whenever, um, people will not know. They won't they
- 52:52don't know, they won't know if when I'm dating that you'll know who the
- 52:59person or the man that god is. As soon as we get married,
- 53:02as soon as as we say I do, then we're gonna post pictures the
- 53:08miracle works of the Lord like ye no, no, the Lord himself.
- 53:14And I don't. I don't know if that comes from a bit of place.
- 53:15That's something I gotta take take heed on. But I don't know if
- 53:20I gotta. I did get embarrassed right, and embarrass me with is a
- 53:22strong pain point to where it's like if you you might be, you might
- 53:28have forgiven what happened or even the person or whatever attachments in it, but
- 53:32you never you it's hard for you to forget how you felt in that,
- 53:38in that in that posture, in that moment. And so I think it's
- 53:42also opportunity to say, Okay, God, I shouldn't even feel embarrassed about
- 53:45this. Yeah I shouldn't. I shouldn't even feel embarrassed about me. Help
- 53:50help me, help me get over that that shame, because that's what embarrass
- 53:54me. It's as the shame and if we really when you deal with shame
- 54:00and you already deal with rejection, it's something I you know, I'll be
- 54:01honest to say that that rejection shame. Yeah one like probably top two categories.
- 54:09And I have to if I'm embarrassed by something or I'm making a strict
- 54:14rule, you or you would never give me again. And that's work.
- 54:16Person. They'll go back to the word because it's like, oh, you're
- 54:20you are novel, novel and you can't even we can't be out here doing
- 54:25it, you know what I'm saying. So I love how you are able
- 54:30to be honest not just with us, but with yourself and just say,
- 54:35hey this, you know, I thought this, and I made my plans
- 54:39about what should be happening, what should go on, and it didn't happen,
- 54:45And so how do I think I want to talk a little bit deeper
- 54:49on that. On that note, like what process did you go through to
- 54:54not only dismantling your plan but accepting God's. So that's that's a really good
- 55:02question. Um, what you were saying previously before kind of was gonna open
- 55:08I was gonna open up with another statement, but I think it'll kind of
- 55:12answer what you just ask um. So in that process of separation and all
- 55:19of that, when I came to the realization of what was happening, it
- 55:22made me come to a place of sobriety as it pertains to carry the Lord
- 55:31because goes back to what I was saying earlier. You're so busy. You
- 55:36know that you're not spending the amp the time that you need to really sit
- 55:42and hear God. Now, God was giving me different He was giving me
- 55:49different um things like okay, like you know, slow down, don't do
- 55:55this, don't do that, or you know, he was giving me hints,
- 56:00but I wasn't getting it because I was so engrafted and so involved in
- 56:05the relationship. Now I'm engaged, oh now, And the reality is is
- 56:09that it is hard for God to be God when something else has become an
- 56:13idol. So it was there, Oh I'm I'm engaged. Now finally I'm
- 56:20about to be a wife and my husband and blah blah blah blah, and
- 56:24that became my idol. I literally when the embarrassment and the shame, but
- 56:35even more so when the pain point hit my life and everything that involved that
- 56:42hit my life. That was the introduction or the commencement of me becoming more
- 56:46sober as it pertains to the Lord ordering my footsteps, because it's like,
- 56:53surely, God, I couldn't have made the wrong decision. Like I thought
- 56:58that this is what you said, that we were just going to go through
- 57:00a process and you know we'll get back together after that. But the reality
- 57:06is people don't know this. The Lord didn't tell me that we were going
- 57:07to get back together. He just said I want to take you through a
- 57:10process. I added to what he said. Wow, this is the thing.
- 57:20God can clearly tell us something and we can receive it, and then
- 57:23if it's not fully what we want to hear, sometimes we'll add to it.
- 57:28And I knew that God wanted to take us through a process, but
- 57:36I did not know for sure if we were actually going to be together or
- 57:38remained together. And when the signs were signing and the signs were showing,
- 57:45I knew God was like no. And then that was when I was like
- 57:50devas that I felt the weight of the pain because I was like, this
- 57:55is really happening. And so what that did for me was it pushed me
- 58:00into a place of communication and going back to the Lord and rehearsing certain things
- 58:07well, God, where did I miss it? And from that point it
- 58:12has taught me how to be more careful and the decisions that I make even
- 58:17now, Like, woke up this morning and I was the Lord was like,
- 58:22you know, you got to get back on track because you missed it
- 58:24here, and he was just showing me different areas. You missed it in
- 58:29November and then in January you did this, and you shouldn't have did this
- 58:31because I told you to do that. And so one thing about God is
- 58:37is that he will tell us. He will tell us, you know,
- 58:40he'll order our footsteps, but it's up to us to not only listen,
- 58:45but to obey the what he is saying. And I mean to a t
- 58:51we can't alter and be like, Okay, well Lord, I'm gonna do
- 58:53this, but I'm gonna go around the corner real quick then I'm gonna come
- 58:55back. No, because there is a a set place that God wants to
- 59:00get us to, and the reality is oftentimes we're the ones that are delaying
- 59:07the promise. If you're asking God for a husband, but you want to
- 59:10go here first, or I want to see what this is gonna be like,
- 59:15But God has something for you, right here, then why are we
- 59:19entertaining this? And if we all be really honest, I think that a
- 59:23lot of us deal and struggle with our trust in God because I've been let
- 59:30down before. Lord, I've been let down as it pertains to the area
- 59:32of relationship. I thought that was gonna work, but it didn't. And
- 59:37I thought that this is what you said, but it clearly I guess it
- 59:43wasn't because it did not work. So a lot of us right now,
- 59:46this is a part of my process, are in a place or a position
- 59:50where we have to be honest with God even though he knows our heart,
- 59:53but being able to communicate just like you with a friend. I don't like
- 59:58that. I don't like the the fact that I thought that this was what
- 1:00:00it was supposed to be and it wasn't. Like I'm mad at you,
- 1:00:06I am. I don't like you right now at being honest, being open,
- 1:00:12because a part of that it ushers and aids healing for your heart to
- 1:00:16say, Lord, I don't I lost my trust. Where was you at
- 1:00:21when when when all of this happened? Like I don't even know how to
- 1:00:23get my trust that girl. There were times I can't tell you how many
- 1:00:28times that I grieved and all I could do was cry because I felt that
- 1:00:34ache, the pain in the depth of my soul that my hand naturally could
- 1:00:40not reach that type of pain. The only other time I felt that was
- 1:00:45one of my mom passed. But I still am processing that, but that
- 1:00:51when you can't reach the pain, the only thing I know to do is
- 1:00:55literally reach out to God and be like, listen, I am frustrated,
- 1:00:59I am mad, I am angry. I thought that it was gonna go
- 1:01:02this way and it did not. What happened. Why, you know,
- 1:01:07in allowing God to minister to your heart through the tears that you cry,
- 1:01:13you know, because we we be wanting to be strong and and be you
- 1:01:19know, I'm good, like I'm gonna get through this. Some some things
- 1:01:22you're going to have to cry out and communicate out to the Lord and then
- 1:01:27allow for him to bit by bit restore you and pour back into you and
- 1:01:34answer those questions. And sometimes those questions may not or those answers may not
- 1:01:38come immediately, but you gotta be okay with that because the Lord knows where
- 1:01:44you are and if you're ready to or receive some of the answers that you
- 1:01:47are asking him about there are questions that the Lord is answering to this day
- 1:01:53about that relationship that happened almost four or three years ago. But it's because
- 1:01:59I'm ready now. I think I answered. I hope I answered part of
- 1:02:01your question. Okay, all right, Yeah, I feel like I'm learning.
- 1:02:12If I'm this is good, If this is I'm shameless plug. If
- 1:02:16this is anything like your your focal recourse listening, I think I think you
- 1:02:23you might be It ain't might be you owning something and um being relatable.
- 1:02:30It's a guilt. It's it's a grace to be relatable because you're basically saying,
- 1:02:36man, although you see me as this this strong vessel um that I've
- 1:02:44had to shield. I had the term you were talking in the whole spirit
- 1:02:47told me something. He was like, UM, give me a visual again.
- 1:02:51You were like, we're supposed to make a hard left right, and
- 1:02:55we think when we think about directions. Now we have the access to access
- 1:03:00to access in our hands. So we got on our phone, we can
- 1:03:06put in the putting the address and we can get there right. But what
- 1:03:08happens when we make a wrong turn. It reroutes us rights and so it
- 1:03:15never deters. We might go a different way than originally planning, but always
- 1:03:21it always reroutes us to where to the destination that we have. And what
- 1:03:25I saw GPS, I heard the Lord say, God's plans solidified. Unless
- 1:03:31you change the address, you will always get to that destination no matter how
- 1:03:37many times you reroute. Absolutely, and that's something if I'm transparent, I'm
- 1:03:43like, God, you just change the address on week, like I didn't
- 1:03:47get it right this time, or I'm I'm frustrated with myself, or I
- 1:03:52haven't talked to you because I'm you know, I'm in my feelings, or
- 1:03:54I don't think you want to talk to me. You know, I don't.
- 1:03:58I don't read planning like Lord, it ain't it ain't me to you,
- 1:04:00it's I don't even think you want to talk to me, Like I'm
- 1:04:03not gonna waste your time my mind, you know, he does. And
- 1:04:08I was gonna say that, you know, I finally got to that place,
- 1:04:12Jessica, because it was in the beginning. I'm upset, and like
- 1:04:16I said, these are the types of emotions that we have to communicate to
- 1:04:19the Lord. Even though he knows our heart, he still wants to hear
- 1:04:23from us right. But I finally came to the end of myself where humility
- 1:04:29took over and I had to humble myself before the Lord because my pride,
- 1:04:32out of pride, I was like I thought it was gonna happen like this,
- 1:04:38blah blah blah blah blah. But the Lord is like, first and
- 1:04:41foremost, just like he did. Joe, where was you when I created
- 1:04:45the heavens in the earth? First of all? You know what I'm saying,
- 1:04:48like, pipe it down, bring it down. You're starting to feel
- 1:04:54yourself. Um. But I came to the end of myself and then I
- 1:04:59really realize I'm like, God, I didn't get it right, But what
- 1:05:02it did was it pulled me closer to him to want to get it right.
- 1:05:10So now I'm more, Lord, what is it that you desire to
- 1:05:13do? What is it? What is your will? Like, I don't
- 1:05:16want to move from this place until I know for sure. I literally and
- 1:05:21praying that prayer right now. I don't want to move from this place until
- 1:05:25I know for sure that it is you. There are people that are gonna
- 1:05:28come and they're gonna say, oh, the Lord said you as my wife,
- 1:05:31or oh, you know you need to move to such a such city,
- 1:05:34or oh, you need to go ahead and apply for this job.
- 1:05:38Lord. Let me okay, let me go back to the Lord though,
- 1:05:41because he has the final say and I don't want to do anything without him.
- 1:05:45And this is what we call communication. This is what we call relationship,
- 1:05:51This is what we call prayer, This is what we call Matthew six
- 1:05:55and thirty three. Seeky first, the Kingdom of Heaven and his righteousness,
- 1:05:59everything else, we'll be at it. This is what we do instead of
- 1:06:03taking our own initiative and saying, you know what, I'm just gonna do
- 1:06:09me or you know I'm gonna take the GPS, but you know I'm gonna
- 1:06:12just but I have another plan. No, no, no, he is
- 1:06:15the only plan, and we're gonna seek him first. We're gonna we're gonna
- 1:06:19apply what he says and we're gonna follow it out. We're gonna we're going
- 1:06:25to see the end result. That's it. And I think sometimes we just
- 1:06:30make it more harder than what it is. Yeah, oh, ranging hand,
- 1:06:35if you made it hard girl, two hands, two hand. You
- 1:06:42need to dance too, you need to do right. I've definitely um made
- 1:06:48it harder on myself A lot of times name was sometimes it's a lot of
- 1:06:54times because I'm such a know it all, I'm so driven. I'm used
- 1:06:58to being a fixer. I'm used to be you know, so how to
- 1:07:00fix a get broke? Oh, I supposed to be able to fix myself.
- 1:07:04I'm supposed to be able to move forward. And because I'm able to
- 1:07:11help everybody else, I'm able to help you know. I'm able to be
- 1:07:15this and that for everybody else, but I can't be for myself. And
- 1:07:16I really feel like, if I'm transparent, I'm in a season where God
- 1:07:20is like, do do for you what you've done for everybody else, do
- 1:07:24for you as and not even a place where it's like, um, what
- 1:07:30am I trying to say? Not even a place of like I'm being selfish,
- 1:07:32but just like I want to know. I want you to experience the
- 1:07:36power of you. Is the power of you, and know what you're giving
- 1:07:44out and when this is so good. If I understand the power of myself
- 1:07:48and what I'm able to do for others, then I manage that power.
- 1:07:54I properly manage that power. I probably have managed the oil, but because
- 1:07:58I'm dispersing it and get giving it out and doing all these other things with
- 1:08:02it. God is having to say, hold up, I need you to
- 1:08:04understand your drip. I need you to understand what you bring to the table.
- 1:08:10Because you don't understand it, you're servant everybody, and everybody can't manage
- 1:08:14what you do. Everybody. You'll see people take a bite, and it's
- 1:08:18saying, let me push that. You'll see that before somebody digests the whole
- 1:08:21plate. And because because you you're you're you're unhealed in certain areas, you'll
- 1:08:28see that rejection before you feel see the fulfillment. And so now God is
- 1:08:31just like, okay, know what you got. I need you to know
- 1:08:33what you have. And I think there's certain that's another reason why we make
- 1:08:38it hard on ourselves because we don't know what we hold. I'm saying,
- 1:08:42I don't know what a hold. So the Lord is like, digest yourself.
- 1:08:46Yeah, good, that's so good. Good, And Liz, you've
- 1:08:56been this has been good. Talk love this, this this here is sobering
- 1:09:02like I haven't. I haven't, I haven't screamed like I almost screamed.
- 1:09:05I just feel like when somebody can shut me up. I think it's it's
- 1:09:12real good conversation, real sobering conversation. And I think really what we need
- 1:09:16to understand is entrepreneurs and creatives or whatever special where we started with um.
- 1:09:21The reason why it's so important to you know, do relationship with God is
- 1:09:27so we have less relationships to grieve. Absolutely, we have less relationships to
- 1:09:32grieve. We have less opportunities to grieve because once, once we're solidified,
- 1:09:40and that is the ultimate relationship. Everybody got to go through God, everybody,
- 1:09:44they don't even you don't even know, Like everybody got to go through
- 1:09:47God. Everybody got to go through the accountability partners everybody, and there's no
- 1:09:50there's or everything has to go and you have this trusted this trusted relationship,
- 1:09:57which which is which is sobering. So I always reverted back to how does
- 1:10:00this, how does this? What does this look like in my daily routine?
- 1:10:05Like you said, how do I how do? How can I make
- 1:10:09this plan? And then it's like the Word of God SAIDs pray without season
- 1:10:12like you said, it's a conversation. And so I might get up and
- 1:10:15I'm not like I'm not I might not be like that that morning. I
- 1:10:19might just be like, hey, good morning, Lord, what's up?
- 1:10:20Like? How what what are we doing? Today? Like I talk to
- 1:10:24Lord like that y'all might talk to a little I'll talk to Lord, Hey,
- 1:10:26Loo, what's up? I thank you? I appreciate you, you
- 1:10:29know, thank you for waking me up this morning. Um, what we're
- 1:10:31gonna do today? Right? That might be that baby with the morning and
- 1:10:35then throughout the day, I'm like, oh Lord, what we're gonna do
- 1:10:38about this? What we're gonna do about this this conversion or this this stolen
- 1:10:44vehicle that I'm dealing with, or what am I gonna do about my you
- 1:10:46know, my co workers? Like because if Justica do it, obviously she
- 1:10:50miss up right low her decision, Like the decision is not decision in today,
- 1:10:58Okay, So I'm gonna need you to be decision the decision maker.
- 1:11:01So I think it's it's good for us as leaders, good for us as
- 1:11:04creatives to really lean on what you said, Like, yeah, lean on
- 1:11:10what you said so we can have fewer moments of pain points, fewer fewer
- 1:11:14pain points that are unnecessary pain points. That's why I would like to say
- 1:11:18unnecessary pain points. So if you could leave us with one thought, leads
- 1:11:21one thought. Maybe it's your thought of your life. One quote one when
- 1:11:28signature thing that we could just like. Oh, Liz said that, it
- 1:11:30just stuck with me. What would it be? Oh, that's now.
- 1:11:35But now I'm at loss for words because honestly, that is a good question.
- 1:11:41I need to I need to meditate on that. UM. I think
- 1:11:46it really just goes back to just the communication piece of being able to communicate
- 1:11:51with the Lord. And this is what I will say is that communication is
- 1:11:59two ways. So communication not only intails us speaking to him, but it
- 1:12:03also intails us listening. And there are a lot of times we are so
- 1:12:10quick to talk, but we're not quick enough to listen, and sometimes we
- 1:12:15miss what he's saying because we're talking. And so if I could leave one
- 1:12:20thing with everybody, it would be take time to sit and listen and be
- 1:12:27intentional about listening just as much as you talk. That's so good, so
- 1:12:34good, so good, Liz. Tell the people how they can connete with
- 1:12:39you. Tell them how they can Well, you can connect with me on
- 1:12:44Facebook, so you can find me at Elizabeth Pickens. I'm also on um
- 1:12:51Instagram as Elizabeth uprenewer um. And then also our seeks Sessions page on Facebook
- 1:13:00as well, so it's seek sessions. So yeah, seek sessions. I'm
- 1:13:06gonna have to I don't think I followed that yet, but I'm gonna have
- 1:13:09to go back and follow it because this listen, I'm I might even be
- 1:13:14have a stink session, you know what I'm saying, Liz, I appreciate
- 1:13:19you so much, and I do look forward. I know this is not
- 1:13:21gonna be the last time. People, You're just so this conversation was so
- 1:13:28as you used the word sobering. Um, I just I just thank you
- 1:13:32so much for giving us this time, giving us short your intelligence, giving
- 1:13:38us your experience, you know, um, and being open and willing to
- 1:13:42be open and transparence with with the just Ass crew, and so um,
- 1:13:45I appreciate you. Y'all, y'all make sure you guys follow Liz. Um,
- 1:13:50y'all go, y'all gonna tell her how much y'all y'all appreciate her,
- 1:13:54because listening, I'm about to be y'all in the DMS like gird you just
- 1:13:58all go. You just don't know, but yes, listen, y'all know
- 1:14:01how we do it. Every week? You know, we got ten episodes
- 1:14:05y'all, so ten, but what we don't know what number to do.
- 1:14:09But we got ten episodes. Okay, so you haven't caught up, get
- 1:14:12catched up on the first season. We're in the second season. It is
- 1:14:15what it is, right, it is what it is. With your communication
- 1:14:18with gods, a go ahead, communicate, but until next week, life
- 1:14:24could be much more simple if you just ask. Y'all. Have a great
- 1:14:28one. Okay, thank you so much, Liz. Hey, y'all,
- 1:14:38thank you for listening to just Ask. If you enjoyed this experience, be
- 1:14:42sure to like coming and rate so others can find the show. If you'd
- 1:14:46like to stay connected with me, feel free to follow me at Deep Jessica
- 1:14:49and Smith on all platforms. Again, I'm your girl, jess Until next time.