Latest / The Wholehearted Enneagram Podcast / Women of the Word 2022 | Guest Marian Jordan Ellis Enneagram Eight

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Women of the Word 2022 | Guest Marian Jordan Ellis Enneagram Eight · The Wholehearted Enneagram Podcast

• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: Hi, I'm Amy Wix, a Jesus and Enneagram enthusiast.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: As a wife, mama of three humans, and a fur baby, I get it.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: Juggling entrepreneurship in a family is challenging, but I believe the Lord does want your work to be enjoyable.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: As an Enneagram type 7, I am all about the fun factor.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: And this podcast is here to help you put the joy back into working mom life.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: So you can see 1 Timothy 6.17 come to pass in your own unique.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: It's a verse that says, God has given us all things to enjoy.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: All?
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: Well, friends, it means all.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: Motherhood, work from home life, or work out of the home life.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: With the Lord's help, there's truly a way to feel calm, balance, joy, clarity, and peace in any arena of life.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Simply Wholehearted Podcast, where you can expect solo style and interview style episodes that are full of faith-based concepts, simple ideas, Enneagram insights, alongside practical tips to help you put that smile back on your face when it comes to doing life with Jesus.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: Now get your headphones and head to that big pile of dishes in the sink, or maybe that bathroom that needed cleaning two weeks ago.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: And let's get to learning together.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: Something you dream of but never happens.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe that thing on your to-do list that you tend to put off because it's boring.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, getting in the word of God can be challenging, especially if you are a mom and you're running a business or working full-time.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: And that's why every year I love coming back to exploring the three wholehearted rhythm pillars word, worship, and right.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: Here's the deal: we all need anchor in times like these, and getting in the word of God every day will be the one thing that sees you through.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: No matter what comes your way in 2022.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: God's word is the reset you need.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: Whether you're facing fear, discontentment, or frustration, scripture is truly the best catalyst for change.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: Today's conversation is with Marian Ellis, and she is the leader of this redeem life.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: She has several insights that really are going to help you and empower you to get in the word.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: Plus, this whole first month of the year, I'm going to make sure each conversation is full of much needed encouragement, plus the action steps to make the three wholehearted rhythms your personal daily pillars.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: Also, Marion is going to give us insight on life as in Enneagram 8 and what she's specifically going to take with her into this new year.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_01: So you are sitting right now, we're on uh Zoom, but um I'm in my study where I've written seven books and spent my time with the Lord prepared to teach, but I probably own more Bibles than shoes.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_01: I came to faith later in life.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_01: I was 25 and uh really fell in love with God's word.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_01: It transformed me radically in every new translation, every pretty new cover.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like a little bit of a Bible addict.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_01: I think that would be just a snapshot.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_01: Other than that, the fact that my four almost five-year-old daughter likes to create things all over the house.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_01: You would see a little bit of her creations everywhere.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: So oh, that's so fun.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: Well, of course, simply wholehearted podcast.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: We talk about Jesus, we talk about the word of God, which we're gonna definitely dive into today.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: But we love to talk about the Enneagram.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: And it's never about keeping us in the box, it's about helping us get free from the personality box that we put in, put ourselves in over the years.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: So for you, give us a little background on just your discovery of your personality type and what you lead as and what that looks like and how it impacts motherhood and ministry.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_01: I was really a late adopter to the Enneagram.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_01: I kind of would hear people talking about it.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_01: And so I guess about four years ago, I took my first test.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_01: The test came back, you know, with a couple of different numbers.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_01: My husband and I were on a long road trip and we downloaded The Road Back to You.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_01: The book starts with my number.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_01: And so we are about 10 minutes into listening to audiobook, and he begins to describe an Enneagram eight.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_01: And I feel like this hot sweat come over me.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_01: I feel so known and embarrassed at the same time.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_01: So exposed.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_01: So exposed, so vulnerable.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_01: Like, who told him?
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_01: Like, you know, and so I will be honest with you, when I take the test, I score very equally eight and seven.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_01: Here's what I've tell people that I think God created me a seven who is a strong leader, but through the childhood woundings that I experienced, I developed more into what you would see as a classical eight.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_01: But in the Holy Spirit healing me, I've got this balance now between the very social seven and the very strong eight.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_01: So what it looks like in work, I can be an eight, but in social scenes, I can be a seven.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_01: I hate to like cop out and give you both answers, but honestly, all the tests will come back balanced on both of those.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_01: So I don't know which one is my wing and which one is my lead, but I feel like when I read the book, I most identify with eight.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_01: And even how I see the gospel, I really gravitate to God being this strong defender and redeemer.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_01: And so much of my own story comes out in that.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_01: So I see, you know, the energy eight part of my personality, really just loving those aspects of God and his power and his character and his sovereignty and his goodness, all of that stuff.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_01: And so if you know my teachings, you'll hear the eight coming out in me.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_01: But then the side of me, that the seven, who is very sanguine and social and wants to have 20 people at my birthday party every day, you know, say, and there's that part of me as well.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: And probably, I mean, my if I was coaching you and we were sitting down, I'd be like, it sounds like when you read that eight, it stepped on your toes, it exposed you, it read your mail and it put into words what you've only experienced, and suddenly you had someone articulate, and then you probably have a strong seven-wing, which is I have two, I have on the opposite uh seven with a very strong eight-wing.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: And there are times in my life that I'm like, how am I not an eight?
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: Because I sure am acting like it, or even identify with the fears, you know, different elements.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: But I think that's the beauty of we are all nine types created in God's image.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: And the idea and the the hoped for arrival here on this side of heaven is that we really learn to body and exemplify all nine types in form and fashion, that we can be the helper, we can be the advocate challenger, we can be the fun, you know, all of those different pieces, especially as is needed as we go, you know, to for you to be able to use that strong gifting and teaching the word, that you can present the word in a way that only certain people, that's the only way they're going to receive it.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: And they're gonna be able to receive it really, really well because that's how you share it.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_01: So and it's been so helpful in parenting because I have two stepsons who I call my bonus boys, and one is a nine and one is a six.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_01: And we they were in the car when we were listening to The Road Back to You and our nine, we were all like started turning around in the car and looking at him like, Oh, you are that's what you're doing.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_01: And so parenting him through high school and through yes struggles and peer pressure for a nine, wanting to make everyone happy.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_01: So it's just have been so helpful and then able to bring scripture into it and have conversations around, hey, God wired us this way, and that's good.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_01: But here's the differences and way our flesh can tend to dominate or to shrink back and just be able to explain God's wiring, but also how we don't have to walk in the flesh, you know, and God's spirit is here to make us more like Christ.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_01: So it's been a helpful tool for those kind of conversations.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: That's so good.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: It is when all of a sudden we can put on the lens that they're walking in life with.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: I just I can have so much greater compassion and adjust how I communicate in ways that would be otherwise potentially abrasive or communicate a lack of love or care, you know, all of those things that just a little bit of tweaking when we can understand how they might perceive us.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: I think this is my fifth year.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: I should have really thought about this, but since let's see, 2018 was the first January that I did this word worship right rhythm.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: And it's just talking about the rhythms for the coming year and to really think about, and actually no, it's 2017.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: So it is, it has been, it's been a long time in figuring out the beginning of the year, setting our intention for the kind of rhythms that we want to have, where we want to grow, where we want to deepen, the things that we want to add, the things we want to take away.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: And kind of in light of that, I felt like those pillars were this word worship right.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: So I've loved diving into this in it with a different perspective every year, whether it is from my own teaching and my own understanding, or a guest or a friend.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: One year we had several different people write from their perspective on each topic, which was just so great.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: So this time we invited you to speak about getting in the word and creating the word rhythm.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: We'll talk about at the end here about like having a word for the year, but what we're talking about is getting in the word of God and making part of what we're doing day in and day out to really have the year that we desire that we're wanting.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: So I would love for you to dive in, give us a little sermon on the value of the word of God, but then also you've written a ton of Bible studies to help us get in the word of God.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: So give us a lot of good stuff here.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_01: I love your theme because honestly, if we don't start out as women who are planted in God's word, we're just gonna have those weeds, you know?
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_01: And so I really believe the new year is such a time to be intentional.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_01: And I love that time between Christmas and New Year.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_01: And I get out my new calendar, I get out my new journal, I figure out what my Bible reading plan is.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_01: But, you know, the thing that I have learned more than anything else is the first fruits mentality.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_01: And so it comes to being women of the word, and uh, we look at scripture and God talks about seeking first the kingdom of God, and then all things will be added to you.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_01: And so as we're launching into the new year, we have to examine our lives and think, how can I order and structure my time in order that I'm doing the very thing that came out of Jesus's mouth where he said, seek first.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_01: And so, you know, we look at scripture and we see, for example, Mary of Bethany.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_01: Mary of Bethany, she was what I would call a one thing woman.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_01: We always see Mary at the feet of Jesus.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_01: And so, you know, if we can kind of have this mindset, me, I'm such a picture person.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_01: I have this picture of what I want my day to look like.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_01: I want to rise early, I want to be a one thing woman, I want to sit at the feet of Jesus so that I can hear him and have him lead and prepare me and guide me and give me instructions for what's coming in the day.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_01: You know, whether it's parenting troubles, whether it's, you know, I'm running a women's ministry, whatever it is, if I don't have that first time with Christ, then I'm not going to be equipped to go out into the day.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_01: Now, I don't say that to shame women who maybe work evening, night shifts.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_01: I don't mean to, you know, to put a pressure on maybe a woman who gets up at five and she's a school teacher and she has to be at the school at 6 a.m.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_01: I think seeking God first starts with the attitude of our hearts.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_01: Like on Sunday is when I like to sit down and plan my week.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_01: So I am going to intentionally set my schedule so that I know I am carving out daily time with Christ.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_01: Because here's the thing: God knows your heart.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_01: If your job requires you to be at the office at 6 a.m., he knows your heart that maybe you're seeking him at lunch.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_01: You know, that's your time.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_01: But for me, my schedule is flexible enough that I can get up early in the morning and I can have my time with the Lord before my daughter wakes up.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_01: And so that's what looks like giving God the first fruits for me.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_01: I just want to challenge all of us, you know, as we're thinking about the new year, being so intentional to plan and carve out that time.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_01: Now I mentioned Mary Bethany.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_01: What I love about her is that she was always listening, always listening.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_01: And so what I believe when I'm opening God's word, the very breath of God is being breathed out into my life.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_01: And that when I approach it like that, like Mary did, that I'm sitting at his feet, I'm listening to him, that transforms the whole process.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_01: And here's what's so cool about Mary of Bethany.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_01: We see throughout the gospels, that's where she always was.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_01: She was always there.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_01: And because she was there, you know what?
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_01: She knew things that even the disciples did not know.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_01: Mary's the only one who was preparing Jesus for his burial.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_01: The other disciples, Peter and John, all of the guys, they were like, What are you talking about?
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_01: But Mary knew because she'd been listening.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_01: And so that's what I want to be prepared for what God has for me.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_01: And that starts with the position of my day, the start of my day.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_01: Am I listening to him?
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_01: And so I would just challenge all of us as we begin the new year, start to really being intentional about carving out the time, setting the schedule.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, because here's the thing: our time, we either master it or it masters us.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_01: 100%.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we have to approach every week of like, okay, what are my first priorities?
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_01: And if Jesus is who I want to seek first, then I have to intentionally carve out that time and make plans so that it doesn't get robbed from me.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_01: There is spiritual warfare over us getting in the word of God.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_01: And so we have to be so intentional to guard that and just make it sacred.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: We have to be fierce about it.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: When I do my kind of my time blocking method, if you will, about like taking our time back, I call it tiger time.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: And that might be for a project that you have on hand, but usually it's about soul care.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: And soul care, including are we sitting at the feet of Jesus?
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: Are we having coffee with Jesus?
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: Whatever name you want to call it.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: For me, it's not quiet time necessarily, though I always want it to be, but are we really fighting for it?
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_00: And we have to because everything else will try to pick away at it so we don't have it.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: And yet that's the thing that's gonna really that's gonna fuel us and it's gonna get us going where we need.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_01: I love that you said it's not always quiet time.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_01: Lately, some of the my best time with the Lord is I put my AirPods in and I turn on the Dwell app.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_01: Do you have the Dwell app?
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_01: I don't.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_01: It is amazing, the whole Bible, and you can pick what accent, translation, music background.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_01: You can listen to the word of God, but with all of these people, like from Great Britain or from you know, whatever kind of thing.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, sign me up for that.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_00: Give me some English accent.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_01: There's something about the word of God being read aloud to you that's so simple.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_01: And so lately I've been washing dishes or doing laundry, and I will listen to whole chapters and whole books of the Bible at a time while I'm doing that.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like the Lord's like boom, boom, boom.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_01: And so it's okay to change it up.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_01: And meanwhile, my you know, my house is going crazy around me, but I have this in my ears, and it's like I'm still having that time with the Lord.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's so grounding, absolutely.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_00: Now, for you, I know that not only is this a rhythm getting in the word, but I know that for me, especially this last year, 2021 was unraveling and then as unsettling as 2020 was for me in my personal life.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_00: And so I needed some sort of anchor.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_00: I'm usually one who I can just read the word of God.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: I open it up, I choose the book of the Bible and I just study through it.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_00: But I needed some guidance.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_00: I needed other pieces of paper to ask me questions to like almost like force-feed me, if you will, or help me know what tidbits I needed to take from.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_00: And so I know you love Bible studies.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: That's a passion of yours.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_00: It's you've written them with the idea of really helping women get in the word.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_00: So share a little bit of some of those of what you've done and what you have available to help us if we needed a little spoon feeding and a little encouragement to be getting in the word.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_01: Just a backup a little bit.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_01: I share briefly, I came to Christ later in life.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_01: And so I was 25, came to Jesus.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_01: I was in a bar.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_01: My first prayer was God help.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_01: God led me to a church where I heard the gospel.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_01: I came to Jesus like I was coming to a hospital.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_01: And so when the Bible says that we are transformed by the renewing of our minds, I'm telling you, that is absolute truth.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_01: I came to Christ shackled in strongholds and insecurities and addictions and just so much darkness, darkness, darkness, because my mind believed I was usable, I was unwanted, I was unlovable, I was worthless because I'd had a lot of childhood woundings.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_01: And then the sin that I chose, I went like into everything the world said was going to make me happy.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_01: At the time, you know, I'm dating myself, but the show Sex in the City was so big.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_01: I was living that lifestyle.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_01: It was so toxic and so harmful.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_01: And so that's what I came to Christ from.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_01: So when I come to him, he doesn't just want to leave me the same, he wants to transform me because he wants me to be free.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_01: He wants me to be whole.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_01: And so God began to disciple me through other women, other women's Bible studies, but mainly through literally reading the word.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_01: And the thing that began to happen is I came to a place where I had to decide, am I going to listen to the voice of the enemy who wants to tell me who I am?
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_01: Or am I going to listen to the voice of the truth?
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_01: And Jesus is the voice of the truth.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_01: And what he began to use was the book of Ephesians.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_01: Now, Ephesians unlocks our identity in Christ, where I believed I was unlovable.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_01: Here in Ephesians 1, it says, You are chosen before the foundation of the world, you are beloved.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_01: And so now I have to take out of my brain this old lie, this old label, this old identity, and actually begin to meditate on, marinate, choose to believe what God has said about me.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_01: And I would tell you, that process was not overnight.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_01: And that process of what the word of God calls renewing our minds, it was a couple of years of really having to go, I feel this way, but God's word says this.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_01: So I've got to choose to believe it.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_01: And taking thoughts captive when I would go through a dark period or through a temptation, choosing to take, okay, here's what my mind is saying right now, but this is got what God's word says.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_01: And so from that, I was a two-decade journey of being transformed, of God renewing my mind, of discovering who I am, of really learning that God says that we are his masterpiece, came this Bible study called for his glory, living as God's masterpiece.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_01: And so that is my Bible study on the book of Ephesians.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_01: And so I wanted women to have that same experience of walking word by word through the Word of God.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_01: And so it is not one of those light and fluff studies.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_01: It's not one of those, I'm gonna read for three minutes and put it down.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_01: It's gonna take you about 25 minutes a day because some of the stuff that we need to dismantle, it takes some surgery, you know?
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_01: And it takes sitting and letting God ask us tough questions.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_01: Why do you believe that about yourself?
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_01: Are you gonna let what someone did to you be more important than what I say about you?
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_01: Are you gonna be what the enemy speaks over you, be stronger than what I say about you?
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_01: And so I want women to sit in the word and allow the word to wash over them, cleanse them, but also expose the lies so that the truth can come in there.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_01: And so through the whole book of Ephesians, that's what we do.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_01: And it's so beautiful to hear the story of transformed lives, where women are actually like I would never have called myself a masterpiece, but now because God says it, I be I'm beginning to see myself that way.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_00: It is incredibly beautiful.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_00: That is the power of the word, though.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_00: It can transform, renew our minds, renew our hearts, and then therefore our actions change.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_00: And when our actions change, our life changes the ripple effect, but it begins by getting in the word.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_00: And we have to do that.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_00: If you're feeling, you know, this is for the woman who's feeling stuck and frustrated, and it feels like nothing ever changes and it's the same cycle and and you feel stuck.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_00: Let's start with the word.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_00: And that's not from a voice of shame, it's just getting little snippets of the word of God and letting that transform you because it's living an Active, sharper than any two, you know, double-edged sword, and it can make the changes that you desire.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_01: So we all in our culture now value good nutrition for the most part.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_01: Occasionally you see people feeding babies Cheetos and Big Red, but for the most part, we understand the value of good nutrition.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_01: And so if we think about our souls the same way, what we're feeding our souls, if I'm not feeding my soul the word of God, then I'm not going to thrive.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like if I'm feeding a child, if I'm feeding a child, you know, big red or Dr.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_01: Pepper, the milk that God created for that child, one child's going to thrive and grow and flourish.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_01: That's how I picture the word of God.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_01: And actually, that's what the word of God describes itself as in First Peter.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_01: It's the pure milk of the word.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_01: And so day by day, we might not feel like anything's happening.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_01: Like, okay, I got up, I read James 1.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_01: But over time, the cumulative effect of being immersed in scripture, you will see the evidence down the road.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_01: Might not have, you know, shaky gory fall in your living room every single morning, but the cumulative effect over time is a transformed life.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_01: People who knew me at 25 do not recognize me.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_01: And I say, All glory to God, the power of the Holy Spirit, and the power of his word.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_01: It is not me, it is the power of God to do this, and he wants to do it for everyone.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_00: This is so great.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_00: So we have a final question that we're going to get to, which is some practical steps for women who are needing to get into the word and make that part of their rhythm for this next year.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_00: But I would love to ask a few things about this coming year for you and getting personal.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_00: So we're calling them rapid fire.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_00: You can answer, you can take as long to answer as you want.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_00: But what is a new rhythm or habit that you're going to try out this year that you're adding or taking away from in your life?
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_01: Mine is the second thing.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_01: I have typically been someone that says yes to everything.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_01: And so one thing I feel the Lord really saying to me just uh is create margin.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_01: Because I was reading recently just about being in God's will.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_01: Like the bullseye of God's will is where our unique gifting meets the need of the hour.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_01: And for me, I've had to step back and go, okay, God, I'm learning what you've uniquely created me to do.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_01: So if I'm saying yes to everything, that I can't fully focus and dive in and use these gifts to the best of my ability.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_01: So maybe I'm not supposed to be a good blogger or this or this or this, but you have called me to be a Bible teacher.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_01: So I need to make sure I have enough margin that I'm studying well, I'm prepared, I can do all of those things really well.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_01: And so for me, it's like creating margin.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_01: And so there's a couple of things at my church that I've said yes to in 2021, but that's going to be a hard no in 2022.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_01: I want to serve well where he's called me to.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's so good.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_00: You just touched on something that I think is incredibly challenging for those of us who are involved and love the local church because the demand and the need is always there, but it's not necessarily the best yes for us.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_00: It's a good yes and it's great things, but it's not the best yes.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_00: And so really taking time to discern that in this new year, I think is really, really helpful.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's good.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_00: I love how you articulate that.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_01: There'll be days that there are 200 kids in the nursery and I just need to go in there.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_01: Or it's good for me to do that day, you know?
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_01: But it's when we talked about scheduling our lives, I have to think ahead about those big blocks that I'm committing to so that when the Holy Spirit says, Hey, I need you to go here, I'm available to do that.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so this one's a little bit easier.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_00: What is the current worship song that you have on repeat?
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_01: As I have just recently written a Bible study on Ephesians, and then I've just finished one on John.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_01: I still prepare my heart by singing King of Kings because you're singing the entire Bible.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_01: You know, Brooke Frazier, she is so gifted.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_01: She wrote Beautiful Name, Hosanna.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_01: She's written some of the very best songs, I think, that are out there today.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_01: But I literally cannot sing King of Kings without weeping the beauty of God's word and the redemptive story.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_01: And I get to sing it, you know, completely.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_01: And then I'm teaching some part of it.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_01: So it just prepares my heart, you know.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_00: That is so good.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_00: Those I find some oldies popping in my mind every once in a while that I just fuss out, you know, that are there, even from the 90s, because I grew up in church and you, you know, just but I'm like, oh, they're so good.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_00: And it's because it's they're the word of God.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_00: So we've spent um a few years talking about getting a word from the Lord for the year, whether it was a verse or maybe a theme or just one word.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_00: Like maybe someone got the word flourish, and that was kind of what they were looking for.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, what it was it that you wanted to flourish in my life?
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe some things that happened over the year really kind of signified and went back to that word that oriented those women to that year.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_00: So for you, what's been your experience with that?
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_00: Has it been a scripture verse?
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_00: Have you ever done that before?
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I've definitely had those seasons where God has given me a word.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_01: I had one year it was stand, just stand and see, stand and see the deliverance of God.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_01: I actually ended up writing a whole book based on that word.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_01: Most recently, it was kind of a phrase like unshakable kingdom when the whole world was crumbling around us.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_01: And like whether it was political or social or whatever, in some ways, even the church was crumbling around me, the things I believed about people in the church.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_01: And God's like, lift up your eyes, focus on the unshakable kingdom.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_01: Like that is what you're living for.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_01: I'm still kind of in this place where I'm asking God.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_01: I really think there's something with this margin that we've been talking about that wants me available.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_01: And so I think it's somewhere between, you know, having margin to be available that doesn't really fit the one thing.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_01: I like the one word thing, but it's that, you know, I know what it is.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_01: It's the being present to the Lord.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_01: You know, and so if I don't have that margin and space to meet with him, to prioritize, I can't be present to what he's doing.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's so good.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't think it's always just one word.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_00: I think phrase is totally pokeable here.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_00: So that's good.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_00: Making the rules happen.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_00: So it's great.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, just as we wrap up here, for the woman who is feeling the like, okay, you're right.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_00: I feel energized in this direction.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_00: I know I've desired to get the word of God in my life more often.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_00: Give me that like one or two or three steps that would just help her take that next step and really get that rhythm going in their life.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_01: So I've got three things.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, well, number one, people might not like this, but I'm gonna tell you because it works.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_01: Number one is rise early.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_01: The first week may be a struggle bus, but uh, if you can fight the snooze button, go to bed a little bit earlier at night, rise early, set that time, and I promise you you will reap the benefits.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_01: Number two, uh, set a space.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_01: I have a place where I have a basket, and in that basket is my journal, my pen, my reading glasses, my Bible, my Bible reading plan.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_01: If I have a devotional book, if I have a Bible study book.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_01: And what I like to do is I keep those all contained.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_01: So if that morning I'm feeling like an outside vibe, I literally pick up that basket and it goes outside with me.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_01: If I want to go to my bed instead, and like if it's cold and I want to be in the blankets, I'll take that basket there.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_01: Or if it's that chair in my living room.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_01: So I keep everything in the same basket.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm not always looking around the house for that stuff.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_01: And so that is my space.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_01: Number three, I want everyone to memorize the word reap, R-E-A-P.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_01: So if you don't have a Bible study you're doing right now, if you don't have, you know, someone else telling you what to read, here's what reap stands for: read, examine, apply, and pray.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_01: So what I do is I open my journal for the day and I look at basically a paragraph or a psalm or a passage, just a small portion of a scripture, and I'll write read.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_01: And beside it, I'll put what am I reading?
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_01: And then the next thing I'll do is okay, examine what do I see in this passage?
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_01: That's where you become a detective.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_01: Ask questions.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_01: You know, maybe look up cross-references, look up some of the key words, and then write down what the Holy Spirit reveals to you.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_01: A stands for apply.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_01: You stop and you ask the Holy Spirit, who is our teacher?
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_01: How is this supposed to apply to my life?
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_01: What am I supposed to learn about God?
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_01: What are you trying to instruct me?
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_01: And so we first read it, we examine it, we apply, and then we pray about it, you know, and then we just sit with the Lord about that.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_01: And so you and I, we don't necessarily need someone, you know, teaching us the word of God.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_01: The word of God can teach us.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_01: And so that would be my encouragement is just, you know what, rise early, have your place, have your stuff together, and then reap.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_01: Because what does reap?
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_01: It makes a harvest, and that's what God wants to do in our lives.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_00: Mary, this is so good.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_00: This is exactly what I'd be telling my friends.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_00: I love the fresh perspective that you give and that you offer and the passion that you have for the word of God.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_00: So thank you.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for sharing today.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_00: I'm excited for my community to look up the books and the studies that you have available that maybe they will incorporate in their new rhythm this year.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, just redeemlife.org.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_00: That's all I need to know.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_00: Friend, if a wholehearted rhythm of getting in the word is for me, I know it is also for you.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_00: If you found this episode insightful, would you share it with a friend or two?
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_00: And if you happen to share it on the socials, I'd love for you to tag me at wholehearted Enneagram so I can give a proper thank you.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_00: Now, next week we're focusing on week two of the three wholehearted rhythm pillar series.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_00: And just so you know, maybe there's gonna be an extra bonus week this time around.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_00: Now remember, friend, you are the mom your kids need.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_00: So until next time, continue to pursue godly perspective, your God given purpose, and the Lord's plan for your wholehearted life.