Latest / She Speaks Life - Christian Women, Strengthen Your Faith, Bible Study, Grow Spiritually In Christ / What Do We Have Control Over When Life Unravels? with Lain Ehmann

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What Do We Have Control Over When Life Unravels? with Lain Ehmann · She Speaks Life - Christian Women, Strengthen Your Faith, Bible Study, Grow Spiritually In Christ

• 0:02
  Hi listeners. Welcome to the.
• 0:04
  She speaks live podcast a weekly encouragement where we share our
• 0:09
  God's stories. I'm your host.
• 0:12
  Jamie Elizabeth and I am so glad you are spending time with us
• 0:16
  today to listen. Hey, there are so glad you are
• 0:22
  listening today. I have with me Elaine.
• 0:25
  Amen she is a podcaster, author speaker writer and as a huge
• 0:31
  heart to encourage others, with God's truth, Lane will be
• 0:35
  talking about the difference between happiness and joy and
• 0:38
  how we can obtain joy and the hard times Lane.
• 0:42
  Thank you for coming on here. Oh, thank you for inviting me to
• 0:45
  talk about my favorite topic. So God, enjoy, you got it right
• 0:48
  there. I love it.
• 0:50
  I know, right? Okay so I love that.
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  We have mutual friends, we have Erika wiggin horn that was on
• 0:57
  here and Allie Gentry and so I kind of met you through those
• 1:02
  women on Instagram and then I started listening to your
• 1:06
  podcast and it's called a more beautiful question and I love
• 1:12
  that you just present all these I guess topics that we have
• 1:18
  questions on and And you present it in such a great biblical way,
• 1:23
  that is applicable and digestible that we can
• 1:27
  understand. So, I appreciate that and I
• 1:32
  enjoy listening to it on my walks around the lake down here
• 1:36
  in Austin. And I know you're from Arizona,
• 1:40
  but before we go into talking about your story, I love for the
• 1:48
  people just to hear more. Or about you and you know, what
• 1:53
  you do and what you're up to Siri.
• 1:55
  Thank you. So I now live, in Scottsdale
• 1:58
  Arizona, I'm originally originally from California, we
• 2:02
  moved here about eight years ago and we absolutely love Arizona.
• 2:05
  We just love it. And I have my husband and I have
• 2:08
  been married coming on 27 years and we have three kids together.
• 2:12
  My oldest is out of college working in Seattle.
• 2:16
  My middle child is at TCU and text This Christian and my
• 2:21
  youngest is in high school so I'm still very active in their
• 2:24
  lives. Thankfully, I was a little
• 2:26
  worried when we started going down the empty nest path, that I
• 2:29
  would be lonely but no, I think I hear from them now more than I
• 2:32
  did before in high school and my gosh.
• 2:35
  So I just I gotta just pipe in real quick because that is so
• 2:41
  true. I was like, bawling my eyes out,
• 2:44
  what my something to college and then he's been back, like all
• 2:47
  the time calling texting. Being, I'm doing this.
• 2:51
  I'm doing that. I'm like, wow, we are like
• 2:53
  closer than ever. I love it.
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  I love it. It's great.
• 2:57
  I really enjoy that and I do a lot of things.
• 3:00
  Like I'm one of those people who I guess the cool word is to say.
• 3:04
  I'm multi passionate, I just say online it scattered as know, you
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  wear, many hats. I was on your website and I'm
• 3:13
  going, oh my gosh. This girl does it all so yes, I
• 3:18
  want the listeners to hear everything.
• 3:20
  Thing you do. Yeah.
• 3:21
  So my day job you could say, is I'm a marketing communications
• 3:26
  consultant and I work with entrepreneurs and Brands
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  everybody from, like, Tony Robbins to New York Times
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  bestselling authors, and two smaller startup businesses and
• 3:37
  entrepreneurs as well to help them refine their messaging and
• 3:40
  get that out to the public in a way.
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  That's ethical first and foremost, but also, in a way
• 3:45
  that they can help more people and eventually make more money.
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  Because that's why they're in business.
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  But I really like working with people who are driven by the
• 3:53
  desire to help improve the world.
• 3:55
  So so that's my day job and that might include anything from
• 3:59
  website, copy to email campaigns to ghost writing books.
• 4:02
  It's kind of huge gamut of tasks that I do with them.
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  And then I've also become more active in the political realm
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  recently. My background is actually my
• 4:14
  undergrad and graduate degrees are in public policy, public
• 4:16
  administration, and I worked in government and then totally burn
• 4:19
  out on it. It but then kind of in the last
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  election cycle is like, okay, I've got some skills here when
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  you pull the messaging and marketing together with my my
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  degrees and policy that's really needed to help, get the word out
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  about constitutional conservative candidates.
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  So I've been working in that area recently and then my
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  podcast in books, which is my God passion, where I've just got
• 4:44
  dissed this desire to help people find the joy in the
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  struggle and find the joys. In the everyday life and not
• 4:51
  take it for granted when we do have good days but also in
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  during the bad days or the boring days or the mundane days
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  also to really learn to appreciate and seek joy in those
• 5:01
  moments as well. So there's a lot of stuff going
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  on. Lots of fun.
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  Never a dull moment. I tell my family, I've got two
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  speeds, it's either a hundred miles an hour.
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  I'm taking a nap, there's no in-between so between, oh,
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  that's so great. Gosh, I think I wish I was more
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  like that. I'm like, I get overwhelmed
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  easily. I got to go with.
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  One thing at a time, I'm not your typical multitasker woman,
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  you know, like doing everything at once.
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  I have to do one thing at a time but if anything my husband's
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  more of the multitasker so it Blends well.
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  My husband's much. Yeah.
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  Like you he can put his blinders on and focus on one thing and
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  one thing only and I've my mind's going off in 10 different
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  directions and yeah I think both Pete both are very necessary and
• 5:47
  appreciated. So yes and we usually Mary are
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  opposites, right? So absolutely say and some
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  degree. Okay, well, I would love for you
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  to just bring us into. I know most people when they
• 6:03
  have something they want to share too, because they went
• 6:06
  through something on their own and like some kind of struggle
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  in that area. So I'd love to hear your own
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  personal story of joy. Oi and was it something hard for
• 6:23
  you? Was there an incident there that
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  really maybe brought you down to where you really need to
• 6:29
  experience that Supernatural gift of Joy?
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  Absolutely. Absolutely.
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  So if we go back to 2019, the fall of 2019.
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  So this is pre covid, which seems like a lifetime ago
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  because it seems like everything shifted in 2020.
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  But coming into the fall of 2019, it felt like our family.
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  Just under attack in so many different Realms financially.
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  My husband found out he'd be leaving his job after working
• 6:58
  for the same company forever. He had literally started working
• 7:01
  when he graduated from business school and had never changed.
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  He never had to had to actually go into the job market, look for
• 7:06
  a job. So that was going on one of our
• 7:09
  kids was facing some health issues and we weren't sure how
• 7:13
  severe they would be or what that path would look like, a
• 7:17
  close friend of our mind from childhood.
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  Who I'd still been friends with had passed away, and this is all
• 7:24
  like in the matter of a month. And then I lost one of my big
• 7:26
  clients and it was just thing after thing.
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  And every day, I'd wake up and think, okay, what's, what
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  horrible thing is going to happen again today.
• 7:34
  And so at that point, I had hard times before, but this was one
• 7:40
  of those times where it felt like every front and every day
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  brought new news that was unwelcome and it was just
• 7:48
  heartbreaking and it was hard to Breathe because I was trying to
• 7:52
  hold it all together for my family.
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  Hold it all together for my clients and, and just really
• 8:00
  keep operating when I'd wake up in the morning and it would feel
• 8:02
  like there was a boulder on my chest.
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  Like, I'd have that Split Second where I'd forget that everything
• 8:07
  bad was happening in the Nelson, I'd remember.
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  And then I'd be like, you know? And so it was really, it was a
• 8:13
  huge struggle and I didn't doubt my faith in that, but it just
• 8:18
  felt like I was I was carrying it.
• 8:19
  That very, very heavy load and and I was and so was the rest of
• 8:23
  my family. So during that time, that was
• 8:26
  like, October November and in December, A girlfriend of mine
• 8:30
  invited me to a women's event at her church.
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  It was a church. I hadn't been to before and went
• 8:36
  to this Christmas women's event and after it was over the
• 8:40
  worship, team invited us up to receive prayer and I said I can
• 8:44
  use all the prayers, the prayers I can get.
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  So I went up and told the woman briefly Was going on in my life
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  and she started praying over me. And then she prayed to get the
• 8:54
  we prayed together for a while and then she stopped.
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  And she looked at me and she said, you're going to make it
• 9:00
  through this, you will make it through this, but the enemy
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  comes to steal and kill and destroy.
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  What are you going to let him steal from you?
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  Are you going to let him steal your joy?
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  And that was this huge wake-up moment for me both the
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  affirmation that I knew I'd make it through, because I did know
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  that I had very found strong Foundation.
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  In God. But I didn't, I mean, it there
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  was no joy in my life zero zilch.
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  So hearing her say this and I'm a fighter.
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  So, when she said this to me, it was like, gosh, I do have a
• 9:32
  choice, I do have a choice. I don't have to sit here and be
• 9:35
  a victim. I can make meaning out of this,
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  I can find my joy in this, and so I had that split-second
• 9:44
  realization but then I was like, okay, you know, the next day I
• 9:47
  wake up and I'm like, it's still dealing with the financial
• 9:49
  issues and Health issues and all this other stuff.
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  So, what does that mean? What is Joy, where does it come
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  from? How do I cultivate that?
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  How do I quote unquote make Joy? Can I make Joy?
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  So, I really started down this path of investigating for
• 10:06
  myself. Like, how do, how do I remain
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  joyful in times of Affliction and struggle?
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  And of course, turn to the Bible.
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  Did a lot of studying about what God says about joy and just
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  really started sharing. What I was learning on my
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  podcast and also developing practices over the day to help
• 10:26
  function in those really tough times and then sharing those
• 10:31
  with people and it really resonated because as we come
• 10:34
  into 2020, what happens, but the entire world is Afflicted, we're
• 10:40
  all facing fear, we're losing family members, we're losing,
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  you know, for health reasons but also there's great division
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  between family members because of how people are responding to
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  what's going on. People are losing their
• 10:51
  livelihoods. And again, I was like, okay,
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  God's teaching me this for a reason and I need to share this.
• 10:57
  So that's really what I started doing is, is sharing with people
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  what I was learning about joy and one of the big things that I
• 11:06
  was realizing for people of faith is that, yes, the world is
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  dark place. Has always been a dark place,
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  sometimes, it seems darker than others, but when it is that
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  dark, those of us who can stand up and shine, our light, no
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  matter. ER, how big or small become
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  beacons of Hope to others and yes, it's dark and yes, they're
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  suffering right now and it is our time, there is no better
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  time in my lifetime for people of Faith to stand up and say we
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  have a different way. We have another option, we have
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  this Joy, despite the fear are actually instead of the fear, we
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  reject fear, and we're going to choose our faith over the fear.
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  So, it really was a very timely lesson that I was learning in
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  the table to share with. Buddy, I can.
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  So that's why I appreciate you inviting me on because I could
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  share this message of and further.
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  I know, I mean, this is why I do this because we do need to hear
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  about the hope. You know, that we have in Christ
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  because we live in such a world that is saying opposite.
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  You know, because things are so dark and heavy and you know and
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  that's where we're looking at our circumstances, rather than
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  looking God And we're having our circumstances, dictate our mood
• 12:24
  and our attitude. And instead, we need to focus on
• 12:29
  the Lord and What God Says in his truth and his word and that
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  will produce the joy, right? And because it's not about
• 12:40
  what's going on around us because that stuff will always
• 12:43
  change. Right Hank.
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  God's word, it stands true and its steadfast.
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  So, So I can totally understand the struggle with the financial
• 12:56
  hardship. That is definitely something
• 13:00
  that hits home. It was a struggle with my
• 13:02
  husband died and he's an entrepreneur.
• 13:04
  So you can imagine it's like the highs and the lows, and, and all
• 13:09
  I'm between. And so that was one of the
• 13:12
  reasons that brought us out here in Austin 2008, because we were
• 13:17
  part of that economy, a claps. Back then and we really lost
• 13:23
  everything and job. And and so anyway, that's for
• 13:27
  another podcast there because that whole thing really brought
• 13:32
  me closer to the Lord and really found my personal relationship
• 13:36
  with him through that. So I know there's lessons that
• 13:39
  we can learn through those hard times.
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  So kind of take us into what what, what did that look like
• 13:46
  everyday to actually seek out that?
• 13:49
  At Joy. I know reading God's word is one
• 13:53
  but do you have anything in particular that helped you just
• 13:57
  stay focused and not look at all the bad stuff around you?
• 14:02
  Absolutely, absolutely. And I think one of the things
• 14:06
  that I noticed for myself, was that I felt like my whole world
• 14:09
  was out of control. I couldn't control my friend
• 14:12
  passing away, I couldn't control my husband's job situation, the
• 14:15
  finances, find a buyer for a house, protect my kids, I
• 14:18
  couldn't control any of these things.
• 14:19
  And that made me feel so scared and so helpless.
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  And so I said, okay, what can I control?
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  Because I'm all about the question.
• 14:27
  So as you know, from my baggage so what can I control?
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  And so I started looking at what I could control and if it's too
• 14:36
  much to start thinking about, so let me start with that.
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  So I could control my thoughts. We're told in the Bible to take
• 14:42
  every thought captive. So I started diving into that.
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  How do I do that? How do I replace the fear with
• 14:49
  God's word? And I memorized a ton of
• 14:50
  scripture and a lot of people say I can't memorize scripture
• 14:54
  of Allah you can just stay on one verse until, you know it and
• 14:57
  it's just a, it's just a habit. It's like reading it every day,
• 15:00
  eat it, cause it's not quantity over quality either.
• 15:03
  You could pick one verse and if you pick one verse, his word is
• 15:06
  so powerful. That that is enough.
• 15:08
  You don't need to memorize the Bible.
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  So when I would start spinning out in my thoughts, I would just
• 15:14
  immediately start reciting Bible verses and it didn't even
• 15:17
  matter. If it was a verse that was
• 15:18
  necessarily applicable. Little too wet was going on.
• 15:21
  It was more like just running through my verses that I'd
• 15:25
  memorized and I would just I would say that and I can't have
• 15:28
  two thoughts in your brain at one time.
• 15:30
  So as soon as I would start that it would just stop the cycle of
• 15:33
  this spirally. So that was one huge thing that
• 15:36
  just reading the Bible but actually memorizing.
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  And then using that as a tool as a weapon against the negative
• 15:42
  thoughts, and then we can control our words.
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  And so I became resolved that I was not going to let What was
• 15:50
  happening to me? Turn me into a better and
• 15:52
  negative person who is being more critical of others.
• 15:54
  Being a patient being sharp tongue and that is always been a
• 15:58
  struggle for me. I'm super sarcastic.
• 16:00
  Like I'm somebody who like has a very sharp tongue in a funny
• 16:03
  way. And I've had to work to tame
• 16:05
  that because yes, it's funny, but it's not godly.
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  And so I've really had to rein that in over the past I would
• 16:12
  say five years. That's been a huge concentration
• 16:16
  of mine. So I was like, okay, yes, people
• 16:17
  would understand if I'm sure. Were in and rude or sarcastic
• 16:22
  because I am struggling so much but everybody's got stuff going
• 16:26
  on. So why do I get a pass?
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  I'm not going to I'm not going to contribute to the overall
• 16:31
  suffering the world because of my words, I can control that.
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  So I really rain that in and made an extra effort to be
• 16:38
  pleasant and kind and just the random acts of kindness letting
• 16:41
  the person go in front of me and in the shopping online or
• 16:45
  whatever it might be dumb, little things like that.
• 16:47
  But it shifted my perspective from Um, I'm a victim.
• 16:51
  I'm being punished. People should feel sorry for me
• 16:54
  to know. I'm not going to let this
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  because what the enemy wants is for him to attack us and then we
• 16:59
  go attack others and we do his work for him.
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  It's like I'm not going to be a soldier in his army.
• 17:04
  I'm in God's Army. So what does that look like?
• 17:07
  It's going to stop with me and then controlling our actions to.
• 17:10
  So thoughts, words and actions, and same kind of thing.
• 17:13
  Just really showing up. And what can I control?
• 17:16
  I can love the people around me. I can't control covid-19.
• 17:19
  Can't control all these other things but I can control loving
• 17:22
  the people who are who God puts right in front of me.
• 17:25
  So again, we made a really concerted effort to show up for
• 17:29
  people. So if I was in line at the
• 17:31
  grocery store, I would ask the clerk.
• 17:33
  Hey, how's your day going? I mean, again just small things
• 17:36
  like that but again, being a Force for good.
• 17:39
  And any way I could, instead of allowing my struggles to shut me
• 17:44
  down, make me more isolated. Make me bitter, make me angry.
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  It's like I'm not going to do it.
• 17:49
  I refuse Has to do it. I'm going to fight back and
• 17:52
  that's where I got this phrase in my brain.
• 17:54
  I'm like gosh being joyful these days is like an act of
• 17:57
  rebellion, the world wants a scared, separated isolated angry
• 18:01
  resentful depressed, and if we stand up and we're actually
• 18:05
  happy and happy as we mentioned, is different from from being
• 18:09
  joyful. But if we are happy, if we are
• 18:12
  joyful, if we are positive, it's an act of rebellion.
• 18:15
  So I said I'm a joy Rebel. That's like my tagline.
• 18:18
  I'm a joy Rebel. To rebel against these forces of
• 18:21
  darkness in a mic in Star Wars like the rebel army or whatever.
• 18:27
  And so then it became like I don't want to say a fun thing
• 18:31
  because I was still in the middle of all this, I was still
• 18:33
  like really, really struggling, but it gave me some a purpose
• 18:38
  that was bigger than myself and it let me control things, when
• 18:42
  my world felt like it was out of control.
• 18:44
  Mmm, I love that and especially you were looking at something
• 18:48
  bigger than what Was going on with your own circumstances and
• 18:53
  how true that is with our words being spoken.
• 18:57
  I find myself, you know, having to stop what I'm saying.
• 19:00
  You know, because it's not edifying and you know and I
• 19:03
  think it takes intentionality there where you're like oh you
• 19:07
  know what? I'm speaking out matters, you
• 19:09
  know, even when I'm complaining or whatever it's it's you know,
• 19:13
  gotta change that script and make it so that it's, you know,
• 19:17
  even if you're not seeing it yet but Actually speak in faith and
• 19:22
  Speak life and you know the power is in the tongue.
• 19:25
  It can you know destroy our give life right life or death.
• 19:29
  So I love that and also I think you know with going through the
• 19:34
  struggles with joy I guess this question came to mind did it
• 19:41
  stop you from doing your podcasting or what you were
• 19:47
  passionate about like your goddess?
• 19:49
  Assignments. I know you did, things
• 19:51
  intentionally put in action to you, made a choice, not to, you
• 19:56
  know, shrink back. But sometimes we go through that
• 19:59
  period of time. We're just like not feeling it.
• 20:02
  And I know one of your podcast, I think you have a couple of
• 20:05
  them, but one of them, you're speaking biblical truth.
• 20:09
  So, it was that hard for you to go on there and did you take a
• 20:13
  break? And right, actually, my podcast
• 20:16
  started after this. So after the World Cup, this So
• 20:20
  I do think it can be hard to teach from a place of pain.
• 20:25
  Often times. I think I personally and I know
• 20:28
  everybody has different approaches to this, but
• 20:31
  depending on what you feel like you're God assignment is.
• 20:36
  It could be to walk along other people who are, who are hurting
• 20:40
  or it could be speaking from a place of.
• 20:42
  Hey, I got through this and you will too, or I personally don't
• 20:47
  always share the pain. When I'm Going through it with a
• 20:50
  larger audience because I want to take meeting and lessons from
• 20:55
  that and I don't always know what God's doing yet.
• 20:57
  So I think that's something you have to really be in touch with
• 21:00
  the Lord about and see what he wants you to do.
• 21:03
  And it wasn't like, I was hiding it from people around me like my
• 21:08
  close friends, definitely knew what was going on with me, but I
• 21:13
  wasn't standing. I was proclaiming like oh life
• 21:17
  is great when inside, I'm like crying.
• 21:19
  You know, so so I think that can be really hard but again, that's
• 21:23
  a god question. Because there are people who
• 21:25
  speak from that place and do it really effectively.
• 21:28
  And yeah, let people see what's going on in the moment that
• 21:33
  wasn't my experience this time, but I could see that that that
• 21:37
  might be really helpful for other people.
• 21:40
  Yeah, I love that. You said, that's a god question.
• 21:42
  Because I've pondered that same thing of gosh, I'd be talking
• 21:47
  about this or should I be waiting?
• 21:49
  Until what you're saying, I don't know quite what God's
• 21:52
  doing with this and what the lesson here is, but I know
• 21:58
  eventually he's going to reveal it to me.
• 22:00
  So I'm like, you I wait until I'm kind of on the other side to
• 22:05
  where I'm able to speak in hindsight and, you know, give
• 22:09
  off some of those biblical principles, those lessons that I
• 22:13
  learned along the way. I also think, when other people
• 22:16
  are involved, it gets a little touchy, because sometimes I feel
• 22:19
  like things are Story to tell I am like involved obviously,
• 22:23
  because it's my family or my friends or whatever.
• 22:25
  Right. But I'm not the primary person
• 22:29
  who who's who's dealing with this thing, I think, for
• 22:33
  instance, like if somebody close to you is has an illness or
• 22:37
  something like that, I'm very careful about sharing any
• 22:41
  details about that because they may not want that to be shared.
• 22:43
  And who am I to still show up and say, oh, this has been so
• 22:46
  hard my best friend has breast cancer or whatever.
• 22:49
  Ever when they may not want that out there or they may that's
• 22:53
  going to impact them. So, I'm really careful about
• 22:55
  that to realizing that it's not just me.
• 22:59
  And I made mistakes in the past where I've shared stuff with my
• 23:01
  kids and my, like, my as they get older and they're like, do
• 23:08
  we, you know, I don't want you. I don't want you talking about
• 23:10
  that. And I totally respect that now.
• 23:12
  So, now before I post anything, I always check in with them
• 23:16
  about those details, you know, they're safe subjects, And I'll
• 23:20
  say it like my daughter, dressed up the other day for a spirit
• 23:22
  rally. And, and I, and she's like,
• 23:24
  well, share this photo. Don't share this with their,
• 23:26
  whatever it is. Yeah.
• 23:27
  I was like, well am I allowed to share it with anything?
• 23:31
  So yeah. So that's a big thing.
• 23:33
  I've seen people do where they step over a boundary for
• 23:37
  somebody else's story too. Yeah.
• 23:40
  Yeah. I know, I recently just did a
• 23:43
  solo podcast on myself of what I went through and I had to make
• 23:48
  sure. Hey, I can't go.
• 23:49
  Into full detail because it's not just about me.
• 23:52
  It has to do with other people. So to respect their privacy, I
• 23:56
  can't go into detail but basically it just sent me on a
• 24:01
  spiral down, you know, and I had to work through some things.
• 24:06
  So but I knew it was definitely something.
• 24:10
  God was encouraged me to share about.
• 24:12
  And so out of obedience, I spoke about it.
• 24:16
  So I am super excited. To talk about this topic joy and
• 24:23
  how it's a fruit of the spirit and it's supernatural.
• 24:27
  And I know that in my own life, it definitely eschewed that like
• 24:34
  it definitely was something that others could see when I was
• 24:38
  going through that financial hardship.
• 24:42
  So how about you like what is that expression that we can do
• 24:46
  as Believers? Because I know you know, Not to
• 24:49
  get into anything political or anything.
• 24:52
  But I know there's lots of ice thickness with within the body
• 24:55
  of the church. And I know that that can
• 24:59
  sometimes Rob us of Joy. Just us being Believers and
• 25:04
  right different sides of things. So how do you maybe give us an
• 25:10
  example of maybe, how can we be that Christian believer?
• 25:14
  That can express joy as a Believer?
• 25:18
  Even though we See all this division going on, right?
• 25:23
  Right? That's such a good question.
• 25:24
  And I think division often comes when we're focused on ourselves
• 25:28
  instead of the other person in that moment.
• 25:30
  And I have very strong political beliefs religious beliefs
• 25:36
  opinions about just about everything, I have very strong
• 25:38
  opinions, my family will tell you, but can't go into things
• 25:42
  trying to convince other people. I think we, as Believers have to
• 25:46
  offer a better alternative and And I just heard the result of
• 25:52
  some survey, they do a yearly sum University, does a yearly
• 25:56
  survey on Americans happiness and we right now are the least
• 26:01
  happy we have ever been in our entire since they started
• 26:04
  running this report and I'll get you the the link.
• 26:08
  But it was like, you know, we've dropped like 20% over the last
• 26:12
  year or two and happiness, an overall happiness.
• 26:14
  And again Joy is not happiness, but happiness is still something
• 26:18
  that they're measuring the Measuring Joy, but I think if we
• 26:22
  as Christians are running around being miserable and angry and
• 26:25
  and Afraid and all these things, we're not providing a better
• 26:29
  opportunity or option for people.
• 26:32
  So we how we show up is really important and how we treat other
• 26:37
  people especially when we disagree.
• 26:39
  And that is something like I had to get off Twitter completely.
• 26:43
  Like I had to cancel my account because I would go in and add
• 26:46
  comment. Number 732 on some It's that
• 26:50
  isn't edifying, isn't making a difference.
• 26:52
  It's just wasting. I was embarrassing, myself.
• 26:54
  And I was embarrassing Christ. I was like, this isn't.
• 26:57
  I am embarrassed. I knew it.
• 26:58
  I knew it and I couldn't control myself.
• 27:00
  So I just deleted my account and that's, that's I knew it was a
• 27:05
  place that I could not, you know, alcoholics can't go into
• 27:08
  bars because it's an addiction. I had this addiction to making
• 27:11
  sure everybody knew what my opinion was and how clever I was
• 27:15
  it was just ridiculous because it's not making anything better.
• 27:18
  Yeah. Which kind of Rob's your joy.
• 27:19
  Right. Totally.
• 27:21
  I probably end up not making anybody else enjoy.
• 27:23
  Have you ever changed your opinion?
• 27:24
  Because of some comment you saw on Twitter, it just doesn't
• 27:28
  happen. So relationship has to come
• 27:31
  first how we show up? Really matters if we're angry.
• 27:36
  And I mean, there's times to get angry they of righteous anger,
• 27:39
  you know, about the right to life and things like that, we
• 27:42
  should be angry. We should be angry about certain
• 27:44
  things and they're going to be different for everybody.
• 27:45
  What you're called to be angry about my god, I've got a lot.
• 27:49
  On the list. It seems like I have to check
• 27:51
  myself on that like really but in general were called to love
• 27:57
  each other. That's the primary thing not to
• 27:59
  be angry. So everything we do has to come
• 28:02
  from a place of love. And so, for instance, like just
• 28:05
  a silly example, like there's a local coffee shop.
• 28:08
  I go to all the time, every morning and I've taken that as
• 28:11
  my mission ground, like I love those Baristas and they're all
• 28:14
  these 20-somethings. I don't know what their
• 28:17
  political leanings are. I don't know what there.
• 28:19
  Gender orientation is, I don't know what their faith base is,
• 28:23
  but I just go in. I'm like, I'm shining on him and
• 28:26
  how are you guys doing today? And when it gets cold, I get, I
• 28:29
  take the person who works in the window.
• 28:31
  I take them a little hand, warmers, to put in their pocket.
• 28:33
  I mean, it's just loving on them because that's what I'm supposed
• 28:38
  to do. I'm not supposed to convince
• 28:39
  them of anything I'm supposed to show up in love them and then if
• 28:43
  they say, you know what, you always seemed so happy or you
• 28:45
  always seem so grateful or you are, then I have an opportunity
• 28:49
  to speak into their lives and say, yeah, you know what,
• 28:52
  something that really helps me as memorizing Bible verses.
• 28:54
  So when I start getting stressed, the other data, but I
• 28:57
  can't say that until I have a relationship with them and I'm
• 29:00
  not going to have a relationship until they know I care about
• 29:03
  them. So that's kind of where I think
• 29:06
  it all starts. I love it.
• 29:08
  Not perfect at this, not perfect at this Mike.
• 29:10
  Well, but it's an example to show, kindness, you know, be
• 29:14
  intentional with it. Look and see who's around you.
• 29:18
  Who can you serve? There in that moment, absolutely
• 29:22
  generous and have that relationship and then and then
• 29:26
  share about the gift of joy, and that's where it all starts is.
• 29:31
  Just loving on people, and not casting judgment and because
• 29:36
  that gets us nowhere and I think sometimes us Believers we kind
• 29:41
  of, we forget about that, you know that it's love your
• 29:43
  neighbor as yourself, right? That's like yeah when I'm like
• 29:47
  I'm a minute. So So good.
• 29:50
  Alright, so I love at the end of each episode for you to share a
• 29:55
  take away and just speak life to us while we close out.
• 29:59
  Oh, gosh. So many things, I could say, I
• 30:03
  think the big one is that we have a choice.
• 30:05
  We have a choice. We don't get to choose what
• 30:08
  happens to us in this. Millions of people have said
• 30:10
  this, I'm not the first to say it, but we have a choice, how we
• 30:13
  respond to it. And when we start like keeping
• 30:17
  score or saying, well, they've It easier.
• 30:20
  They've got it tougher that it up with.
• 30:22
  It doesn't. None of that matters.
• 30:23
  What matters is what's on my plate today and how I'm going to
• 30:26
  handle it. And I have to keep going back to
• 30:28
  God for that every minute of the day and that was another thing I
• 30:32
  learned is that don't try to take a week at once.
• 30:35
  Don't try to take a year at once.
• 30:36
  Like what am I going to do in this minute?
• 30:38
  How am I going to show up right now?
• 30:40
  And it's the whole practice like mindfulness is so, you know,
• 30:44
  like common to hear about in the secular world but it's really
• 30:47
  biblically-based like the let The day's own troubles, be
• 30:50
  sufficient for the day. Love the person who's in front
• 30:53
  of you and just deal with what's right in front of you and and
• 30:57
  let God handle the rest of it because it's too big for us.
• 31:00
  So just just do what we can in this minute to show his love to
• 31:03
  people and I think that would solve so many anxieties and
• 31:07
  worries and problems so that's yeah, that's my takeaway so
• 31:12
  good. I love it.
• 31:14
  Okay. Where can people find you?
• 31:16
  I know you wrote several books and your All over articles and
• 31:21
  everything. I know they can find on your
• 31:22
  website. Go ahead and just let us know
• 31:25
  where we can contact you. Yeah.
• 31:28
  So um social media wise I'm really only on Instagram right
• 31:31
  now. You heard my Twitter story
• 31:33
  that's not a Twitter. Don't look for me that if you
• 31:34
  see me there, please tell me out because I'm not supposed to be
• 31:39
  and I might have basically gotten off of Facebook as well.
• 31:43
  So Instagram is at Lane Amon. L AI n Dot ehm.
• 31:49
  And my website is the easiest one is Fast Lane.com.
• 31:54
  FAS TLA i n.com, and I actually have a book coming out, sometime
• 31:59
  this spring. There's a paper shortage right
• 32:01
  now. So that's holding up everything,
• 32:03
  but it's taking a lot of these principles and showing how we
• 32:09
  can do this. Just in a few minutes at a time
• 32:11
  and it's called start small, tiny shifts to boost your
• 32:14
  relationship. Simplify your day and live a
• 32:16
  happier life that will be out. Hopefully, Like march-april ish
• 32:22
  but I'll make sure to let you know and send you a copy of
• 32:24
  everything so you can check it out.
• 32:26
  But that is coming. I'm super excited about that.
• 32:28
  So yeah, so let's ago happening. Yeah, so cool.
• 32:33
  I don't know how you find all that time to be writing and all
• 32:37
  the stuff that you have. Like you said, you're either in
• 32:40
  the fast lane and hey, that's your email support or it's it's
• 32:47
  been a plane. In fact, I have my dogs trained.
• 32:49
  I have to very small dogs and when I say team meeting they go
• 32:52
  and jump on the bed and take a nap.
• 32:55
  It's all my gosh. It is so funny.
• 32:58
  It gets so excited. They go leaping in there.
• 33:01
  So yep, I'm a nap nap a day, kind of gal.
• 33:05
  And yeah, it's one or the other never in between.
• 33:07
  So thank you so much for inviting me on.
• 33:10
  This is so fun. Yes, it was.
• 33:12
  Thank you for coming on your lane.
• 33:16
  Thank you so much for listening today.
• 33:19
  I trust that God has encouraged you through this message for
• 33:23
  more information on this ministry and to access free
• 33:27
  downloads. Please visit my website at Jamie
• 33:31
  Elizabeth.com and sign up. You can also find me on
• 33:36
  Instagram and Facebook at Jamie Elizabeth she speaks life.
• 33:43
  That's ja why. M, e Elizabeth, she speaks life.
• 33:50
  Until next time, my friends. I pray God, reveals himself
• 33:54
  through your own life story.