Latest / The Midlife Momma Podcast - Empty nest mom, Parenting adult children, Midlife transition, Christian mom / 227. Trusting God in the Waiting Seasons of Motherhood with Rachel-Ruth Lotz Wright

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227. Trusting God in the Waiting Seasons of Motherhood with Rachel-Ruth Lotz Wright · The Midlife Momma Podcast - Empty nest mom, Parenting adult children, Midlife transition, Christian mom

• 0:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: Christian parenting.
• 0:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: Hey mama, I'm Pamela Hinkelman, certified emptiness coach and your listening to the Midlife Mama podcast.
• 0:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: This show is for Christian moms navigating the emptiness, learning how to let go with grace, set healthy boundaries, reconnected marriage, and step confidently into their God-given purpose.
• 0:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: Each week I'll coach you through this season with faith-filled encouragement,
• 0:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: On his conversations and practical tools that you can apply right away to your relationships and your life.
• 0:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: If this episode encourages you, I'd be grateful if you leave a quick rating and review.
• 0:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: It helps other moms find the support they need.
• 0:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: You'll find the link in the show notes.
• 0:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: And make sure you're following the podcast.
• 0:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: And let's get started!
• 0:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: If you've ever found yourself wondering, what God is doing in the middle of a painful season, if you've prayed for your grown child, waiting for healing in your family, or wrestled with disappointment and unanswered questions, this conversation is going to speak deeply to your heart.
• 1:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm joined by Rachel Ruth Lotz Wright, granddaughter to Billy Graham, to talk about her new book.
• 1:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: God won't leave you there, Joseph's story.
• 1:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: She co-wrote this book with her mom, Ruth Graham Lots, and Rachel Ruth is Vice President of Angel Ministries, a speaker and leads an online Bible study with thousands.
• 1:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: And in their book, they walk through the life of Joseph and the powerful reminder that God is always working behind the scenes, even when life feels confusing.
• 1:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: unfair or painfully slow.
• 1:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: Joseph's story is filled with betrayal, waiting, loss, and uncertainty.
• 1:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, God never abandoned him in any part of it.
• 1:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: And honestly, I think many moms in this season can relate to that kind of waiting.
• 1:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: So whether you're carrying heartbreak over a relationship, struggling to release control, or simply needing reassurance that God still sees your family story,
• 2:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you, it's so good to be here, so thanks for inviting me.
• 2:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm so happy to have you.
• 2:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: What you to share, the heart behind this book.
• 2:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: Why did you pick this topic now?
• 2:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: I teach an online Bible study and I've been going through the book of Genesis teaching it.
• 2:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: And then I ended up having a crisis in my life.
• 2:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: I had these two rare heart attacks called Scads, spontaneous coronary artery dissection where
• 2:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: because of it was a perfect storm situation.
• 2:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: I went in for a routine stress test just I had a not not a big deal heart situation.
• 2:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: It wasn't anything I had it forever and so I would go in for these routines stress tests but this one was a disaster the people who ran at were just it was awful and it caused stress and then it so high stress in
• 2:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: Exercise combined can cause this and other things can too, but it's usually stress and so I walked out of there with with chest pain I was like did I pull my chest well?
• 3:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'd passed out a couple times and it was bad.
• 3:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's so four days later I went into the hospital and
• 3:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: I was like, I something's going on and they said they figured it out, but I was having a scat worth an inside of your arteries shreds and had the first heart attack stayed in the hospital the next day had this stuff at one which I shouldn't be here.
• 3:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: It was so bad.
• 3:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: It was so severe.
• 3:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: One of my arteries in my heart shredded from top to bottom and they had to do emergency surgery put big stents in my heart and all the way down.
• 3:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I survived it, but then anyhow, that's the whole week and talk about them.
• 3:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I guess when I had three years of just ought to pain and go into the ER, so much.
• 3:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: And, but I went back to teaching eventually after trying to heal a little bit.
• 3:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: And then got to the story of Joseph.
• 3:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: And it just meant so much to me.
• 3:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's spoke so much to me.
• 3:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: And the heart attacks were awful, but I've had a lifetime of a lot of difficulties and hardships and stuff.
• 4:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: I knew God was calling me to write it.
• 4:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I don't think I could have written a story on Joseph if I had been through a time.
• 4:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so I feel very humbled and honored that the Lord would call me to write a book on Joseph.
• 4:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: But that where it came from, I was talking to my mom and just to tell you this part to my mom.
• 4:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: And she...
• 4:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: was always said that her dad might grandfather Billy Graham would after every book she wrote he was like and now it's time for you to write a book on Joseph you need to write a book on Joseph and she never felt called to and say then when I was telling her I was like I know God wants to be a write a book on Joseph and she said I want to do it with you because Daddy Bill always wanted to do that and so that where it came from and
• 4:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: poured out of our hearts.
• 4:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: Oh my god, that's amazing.
• 4:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, I'm first fine.
• 4:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: So sorry that you had those two aren't that good.
• 4:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's just hard attack, but yeah, yeah, it was awful because it's not like the normal heart attack.
• 5:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: It just leads you with severe pain because this shredding has to heal on them as scar tissue.
• 5:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so it was quite a journey.
• 5:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: And then PTSD on top of that because of it, because it
• 5:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: And but it's been alright.
• 5:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's been a journey of trusting the Lord and a much deeper way.
• 5:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: So what did you have?
• 5:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: What was the one main thing that you learned from Joseph?
• 5:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: I know there's too many lessons, but Oh, what did you personally learn and then we're going to talk about?
• 5:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, there's so many things.
• 5:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think there's one of the things.
• 5:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's hard to pick one.
• 5:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: One of the things that just stuff out to me is that when
• 5:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, five months and he learned his lesson and not acting it went on on 14 years and he'd never grew bitter.
• 5:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: He didn't grow bitter.
• 5:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: He wasn't angry at God.
• 5:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: He wasn't like, this is what I had planned for my life and I won't fit you things and where are you God?
• 6:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: And this is terrible and there was not in that.
• 6:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: He wasn't bitter and it just received it from God.
• 6:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: Worked hard where he was and just trusted him.
• 6:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so
• 6:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think I feel like for most of us unless you're just totally different.
• 6:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: I feel like bitterness can come knocking on your door every day.
• 6:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: You just have to have different things.
• 6:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: And now that constant surrender to the Lord, that Lord, I don't understand this.
• 6:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know why I've gone through this on or why this person is like this towards me.
• 6:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: But I'm choosing to trust you and I'm just going to work hard where you've got me.
• 6:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I think that just meant so much to me.
• 6:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: It just was his testimony of his faithfulness to the Lord and not ruined better with you.
• 6:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: We were talking before we jumped on this call about sometimes you can't even believe that the story is real because I'm so
• 6:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: it's crazy, the events that he went through and the prophecy that was fulfilled in the dreams that he had.
• 6:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: You're like, yes, I know.
• 6:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: Well, and we hated him.
• 7:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: I know.
• 7:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: It is so interesting one thing that relates to what we're just talking about.
• 7:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: But when he was 17 and had those two dreams and they both were, there were different dreams that they both were saying
• 7:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: It raised up to the point that his brothers and his whole family were bowed down and and so one thing that the Lord is always shown me and taught me is that when he speaks to me twice like the same thing where I get a verse twice and maybe I'll be reading my devotes and then the pastor says it or I'll get a text from somebody and then I'll read it in my Bible that day and it's oh I just got that twice and I know that God is speaking to me.
• 7:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: I know that is he's Mrs. Firm.
• 7:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: This is what I'm telling you and
• 7:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so he gave those promises to Joseph, and we'll find out in heaven how often he thought of that.
• 7:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not sure because it doesn't say, but that would have given him encouragement.
• 7:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: I feel like through all those years, and he just wondered, does God have you to do this?
• 7:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: Is he going to raise me up one day?
• 8:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: And for me, when I had those heart attacks,
• 8:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: After that, I was just like, I was in so much pain and it's always worse at night, bad at night and it just the pain and everything.
• 8:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: But I was always just clung to God's word, reading it and studying it and God gave me a promise a couple weeks after the heart attacks.
• 8:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: And it said, you will not go that way again.
• 8:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: The verse said, you will not go that way again.
• 8:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I knew the Lord was saying, you're not going to have another scar.
• 8:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: But then it was a matter of
• 8:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: And because I went to the ER 12 more times over three years, thinking I was going to have because I had such bad chest pain and a heart pain in every time they're like, you're okay.
• 8:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so God kept his chest in it.
• 8:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that's what has taken me deeper.
• 8:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that's what God's word, the porteds.
• 8:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: of reading guide's word and hearing him speaking, claiming those promises and then just standing on him.
• 8:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: That key keeps his word.
• 8:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: We're flip-it and sometimes we don't.
• 9:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: But the Lord always keeps his word.
• 9:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it's such an encouragement.
• 9:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: My word of the year is promises.
• 9:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: So, not my fault, maybe a little bit.
• 9:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: Lama's, we've got to stand.
• 9:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: We've got to stand.
• 9:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: When life falls apart with you or your marriage, our adult children.
• 9:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
• 9:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: And just let's help them get.
• 9:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yes, that's exactly right.
• 9:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: In Joseph's story, we see years of waiting.
• 9:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: Disappointment and silence before God's plan became clear.
• 9:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: So how can endpiness moms trust God's when they can't see what he's doing?
• 9:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yes, I think that's a big thing because we always seem to refer to this as the middle years when you're going through something and it's a dry season or you're not hearing from the Lord or you're not seeing answers to prayer.
• 9:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: You're not seeing improvement with your rebellious child or your difficult marriage.
• 9:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that's where we cling to God's word.
• 9:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: We just kind of keep reading it, studying and believing in the goodness of God.
• 10:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: And God is good in looking
• 10:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: Every where he went, whether it was when he was a slave and potter first house, or when he was in prison, it said that God's favor was on him and took care of him in those places and in Joseph thrived, if you can say thriving in slavery or prison.
• 10:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: But he did, and so in there are waiting to have there was a purpose for him in that time.
• 10:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: So even though he wasn't hearing from God,
• 10:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: And he had a purpose, God had a reason.
• 10:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: He was just, let's put him in there for 14 years and just leave him.
• 10:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: And then we'll come back to him, 14 years later.
• 10:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: But God was fully active in watching Joseph and everything had a reason.
• 10:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: So when he went into slavery, God got into Egypt because he needed him to get to Egypt.
• 10:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so when he was asleep, he learned the Egyptian language.
• 10:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: He learned the Egyptian culture.
• 10:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: He learned how to run a household, how to run other servants, how to keep the financial books for potter for, how to keep the fields running.
• 11:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: So he was learning management skills.
• 11:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: It took a while to learn that, and then
• 11:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: God, then it's all things to go from bad to worse that we can talk about that too, but then he goes into prison and in prison he learned Ferris court.
• 11:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: It was Ferris prison and so he learned Ferris court, how things ran in Ferris prison and so that all that was in preparation for what got had for him when he was going to be raised up a second command.
• 11:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so these middle years when you're waiting in your praying for your wayward get and
• 11:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: You're praying for your marriage.
• 11:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: God's doing a work where they see it or not in your life in your kids life He's building up their testimonies and we have a certain plan We have for our children.
• 11:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: I understand.
• 11:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: I've got three grand daughters of but we have this certain Oh, they're gonna be this a visit.
• 11:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: I've got and then when you see it go into a train wreck a little bit.
• 11:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's wait a second
• 11:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: But then God has a plan to mad, and it's, oh my goodness, I've just seen this in my oldest daughter.
• 12:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I've just got, we have to let go, let go, and just let God have his way and trust him in those years where you feel like he's not speaking to you or he's not moving because he is.
• 12:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's active and he's got his eyes on you.
• 12:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's not hurting us, and he just sees a hundred thousand people online.
• 12:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's specific to each of us in watching us and loving us
• 12:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: taking us through a very strategic wife that he's planned out and and so we can trust a good father to know what's best for us.
• 12:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, that's what Joseph did.
• 12:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, so what I hear you saying Joseph stayed busy.
• 12:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: He was learning.
• 12:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: He was growing.
• 12:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: So mama, stay busy.
• 12:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: What is God happier you if you hyper fixate on your troubles?
• 12:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
• 12:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: Joseph wasn't run.
• 12:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: Oh my gosh, I was sold in the slavery.
• 12:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: He wasn't walking around whining about.
• 12:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: No, I had to admit it, right?
• 12:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: I love that part of Joseph because he couldn't just sabotage part of his house and just be like, oh,
• 13:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: This is God, that's a man to be a slacking man to gain, and then just erect his house.
• 13:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: And when he got into prison, he could just sat on the prison floor and just said, forget everything.
• 13:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: Where's God?
• 13:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know what happened even happening.
• 13:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: And instead, like he said, he's just, he stayed busy.
• 13:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: He stayed working hard.
• 13:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: He trusted in the goodness of God and God blessed him in all that he did.
• 13:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: He did waste the mental years.
• 13:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so don't waste those that waiting time, stay in the word, help others, and God has a plan.
• 13:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: So good, I love that.
• 13:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: Another dynamic of this story is just the Joseph experienced betrayal and deep family pain.
• 13:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so I wonder, what does his story teach us about healing family relationships?
• 13:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe when there's distance or misunderstanding or hurt between parents and adult children?
• 13:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yes, I think this is also another remarkable thing about Joseph because to have his brothers, his 10 older brothers, sees him.
• 14:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's just walk on a normal day when it's, do an orange for his dad, where does party go?
• 14:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yes, and he just wonders his walking towards him, which was God's plan, because God needed to get him to eat him.
• 14:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: But if he saw their angry expressions, and then when they sees him and beat him up at Throwman, a pit, and tell him in his library, you wouldn't so want to seek vengeance on them.
• 14:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: You would be so angry at your brothers for doing that and treating you that way and in all those years of sitting in a prison cell and struggling, there would be time to just get angry or angry and I ever get an opportunity I would all have been at.
• 14:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: And then when he's raised up to second command, and he's sitting there running things in Egypt and storing all the grain and in the famine hit, and then here comes his brothers walking into the realm, and he recognizes them immediately, but they don't recognize him because he's got all of his Egyptian garb on and everything.
• 15:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: In the fact that he didn't kill him immediately had been seized or in a prison say now you could experience what I went through and you can just rotten prison.
• 15:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: He didn't seek vengeance himself and even though he was hugely betrayed to the point that he suffered in suffered.
• 15:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I think as a believer in Jesus, we have to put our focus on him and to forgive and not take the vengeance, even if we've been betrayed and even if our adult kids are angry with us and not talking to us or saying mean things, saying some hurtful things that you can't get out of it.
• 15:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: I pray to you, how can you say that to me?
• 15:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: and and you just have to let it go and oh it just so relates to him on because Joseph chose to let it go.
• 15:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: He chose to let it not eat him alive.
• 15:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: He chose to forget Riff and and we have to do the same with our kids.
• 15:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I think my oldest daughter, she's very private.
• 15:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's time to be careful.
• 15:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: But she went through a really rough time and she went off to college.
• 16:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: She was the COVID year.
• 16:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: Now we're to graduate from high school in COVID 2020.
• 16:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: goes to college.
• 16:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: It was on Zoom and her Zoom professors did not even show up a lot of times.
• 16:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: I know.
• 16:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: I have to stand hurting.
• 16:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yes.
• 16:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, yeah, that had to stand her apart because they went let him in a dorm and I didn't know I put air.
• 16:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: I didn't know anything about anything.
• 16:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: We put her in a apartment and that was cheap, but it was in a really bad area and they were shootings at this terrible.
• 16:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so it was just a perfect storm and she went into some really tough years.
• 16:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: And
• 16:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: face down on the floor.
• 16:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: Just crying out to God, please protect her, save her life, get her out of this, help her to turn to you and God just, oh, it's a huge, lots of events that took place, but God has brought her back and it's God.
• 16:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yes, and God is faithful.
• 16:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: It was a life I'd never would have chosen for her.
• 16:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: It was not anything I wanted her to go through or ever experience.
• 17:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: And during those times, there were top times between the two of us.
• 17:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: But God is yes, God is healed.
• 17:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I, one thing that God showed me through all that is how we just have to love.
• 17:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: We got to forgive.
• 17:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: Don't call a grunt.
• 17:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: Don't think about it.
• 17:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: I just hugged him, don't be on it, I don't know.
• 17:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: Now, don't be disturbed.
• 17:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: Don't be disturbed.
• 17:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: Be kind of hurt.
• 17:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: So anyhow.
• 17:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's just a beautiful story.
• 17:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, how Joseph forgave.
• 17:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: Hey, Mama, if your house feels too quiet and your heart feels too heavy after launching your child, I've created the guide just for you.
• 17:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's called journaling through transitional grief.
• 17:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: A gentle, faith-filled resource to help you process the deep of motions of letting go.
• 17:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: Inside, you'll find six reflection questions that will help you name your feelings, invite God into the grief and experience his comfort in the middle of change.
• 18:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: Remember, transitional grief is only a season and God is leading you toward peace, purpose, and joy.
• 18:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: You can grab your free copy at the link in the show notes.
• 18:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: So your book talks about God not leaving you there.
• 18:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: What would you say to the mom who feels stuck in grief or fear or disappointment over the choices her grown child is making just like we talked about?
• 18:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yes, she not gets stuck there.
• 18:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I think the big thing is not sitting there and wallowing in it.
• 18:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: Not thinking about it, not thinking horribly about it.
• 18:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: All this is not going to turn out good.
• 18:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: All this is so bad.
• 18:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: And why did this have to happen to me and look at him.
• 18:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: They're just perfect.
• 18:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: And they're doing everything's going well.
• 18:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: And you can't think about those things.
• 18:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: You truly have to just surrender to the Lord and trust him with his plan.
• 18:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: And to give you another story in the Bible that meant so much to me for any mom listening.
• 19:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: when Moses was born and he's his mom had him and they were killing all the babies and Egypt and Moses's mom had to make that basket.
• 19:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: She just had to do it was in her hands.
• 19:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: She can make baskets.
• 19:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so she makes this basket put to Moses in and put it on the Nile River, the Nile River, not a river.
• 19:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: Crocodile and Pooh.
• 19:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: Everything that in the fairies army that could seize him and kill him and she puts him out there like the worst possible place And God you let them go and then God protects no hippo got Moses no clock it out There is army didn't get him.
• 19:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: He brought this specific fairies daughter who had compassion pulled Moses out gives him back to her mom his mom To take care of raise him until she he was winged and then sent him back
• 19:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: to the pharaoh's daughter, but that was just such a picture.
• 19:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: We just let go.
• 19:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: And God is the God of all the universe.
• 20:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: He could take care of our kids.
• 20:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I think when we're suffering and grief, the Jesus understands what grief is.
• 20:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: God understands.
• 20:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: He had to send his son to die on the cross to take away our sins and die a gruesome awful death.
• 20:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: And then not only that, but have the mental pain of all of our sin on him in,
• 20:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: the spiritual pain of being separated from God ones on the cross.
• 20:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so we don't have a Savior who doesn't understand what we're going through.
• 20:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: He knows exactly the feelings, exactly the pain.
• 20:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: And he's saying just hold on because God will bring us out.
• 20:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: And we have to be those praying moms in gray and trust guide in those tough years.
• 20:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: But he has a plan and a purpose in what he's
• 20:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: and so we've just got to cling to him because he loves every mom listening and is so comforting, so encouraging, so loving, and knows just what we need when we need it.
• 21:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that's why I stay in the word because I get so much encouragement from the Lord.
• 21:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I'm one of the conviction too.
• 21:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: I want him to show me when I'm wrong.
• 21:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's hard to hear from other people, but when I hear from God, I'm like,
• 21:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's got it.
• 21:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: I want that.
• 21:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: And what I hear you saying, I think I can put this on a t-shirt.
• 21:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: You said, just let them go.
• 21:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
• 21:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, God protects.
• 21:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: That's the change.
• 21:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: We've got to get out of this mindset where so many moms ruminate and they ruminate and they focus on the hard thing, the difficult thing.
• 21:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: And back to Joseph, he did not do that.
• 21:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, not at all.
• 21:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I'm bitter.
• 21:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: He wasn't hurt in some ways, and yes, to be tender before God and mama that's what we have to do.
• 21:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yes, we just it is.
• 21:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yes, and you know what is so amazing.
• 21:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: One of the things that just and just diving into this story was when Joseph finally was he the day was he cleaning the floor in the prison or doing something in
• 22:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: Beard all for the first time seen his face.
• 22:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: Maybe it's some mirror or something.
• 22:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: The first time in getting these ropes put on him to go before to be presentable before fairer.
• 22:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: And on that walk, probably is going because he hadn't heard from God.
• 22:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: He could have said, he could've been thinking, is mine, or I'm going to cut a deal with fairer.
• 22:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: I haven't heard from God.
• 22:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: I've been stuck in this for 14 years.
• 22:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to say, all right, you give me all interpret these dreams.
• 22:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: It'll give me a bunch of money and semi-bacter came in.
• 22:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: Set me free and then I'll give you the fair.
• 22:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: The dreams and interpretation.
• 22:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: But he stayed humble before God, even before Pharaoh, even when he was tempted to try and get himself out of the situation he was in himself.
• 22:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: In his own plan, and if he had done that,
• 22:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: There I probably would have let him go and give him a money to go.
• 22:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: But, uh, he wouldn't have missed.
• 22:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: He was gonna have it so much better if he just did what God wanted to do and gave all the glory to God.
• 23:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so when he does he goes before Pharaoh, in verses, can you interpret my dreams?
• 23:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: And he said, I can't, but God can.
• 23:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: and then he interprets a dream and that is what Ferris said Ferro then says because you are a man and who God's spirit is on that you God's favor rest on I'm gonna raise you up to second and command of all of Egypt and then not only did Joseph have everything at his back and call but then he was in charge and could help all of Egypt all the world and his family and saved the nation of Israel.
• 23:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: God has such a bigger plans that we can ever imagine.
• 23:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: We can't take things into our own hands.
• 23:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: We've got to let God work and trust him with his plan.
• 23:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, I'm going to repeat what you just said, we can't take things into our own hands.
• 23:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: We have to trust God.
• 23:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: And that's the heart of it, Mama.
• 23:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: And it is the heart of all of this.
• 23:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: I love that.
• 23:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: So the end of the story, the end of Joseph's story, I cry every time I read it.
• 24:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: And as I was reading it in your book, it just hobbled up because he himself,
• 24:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: and to pull away to cry because he saw his family.
• 24:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: And they didn't even know who he was.
• 24:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm sure he was just like, oh my gosh.
• 24:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: Here we are.
• 24:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: I know.
• 24:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: Oh wow.
• 24:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: It was, it's amazing because when he finally, he takes his brothers through this whole, just a kind of a situation where God gave him wisdom to bring them to a reconciliation to see if their hearts had changed.
• 24:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: he brought them to the point where they recognized they were wrong recognized the wrong that they had done to Joseph and they were sorry for it and so when he finally reveals himself and he says I'm he sends everybody else out of the room he keeps his brothers in the round and he takes off the probably takes off all those evid gypsum staff and he says I'm Joseph in the shock we must have fallen on a floor but
• 24:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: But just the weeping and it said that Pharaoh and all of Pharaoh's household heard him weeping.
• 25:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so it wasn't that Joseph was unfeeling and he was, he felt all the pain.
• 25:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: And yet he still loved God, still served the Lord.
• 25:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: But he heard on the inside.
• 25:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: And it's okay to cry.
• 25:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: God understands the weeping.
• 25:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: And Joseph was the manliest man ever.
• 25:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: But he wept and it's okay.
• 25:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: God gives us this tears to release, but but not to release to the point that you drown in your sorrows.
• 25:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: There's hope.
• 25:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: There's always hope in Jesus.
• 25:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: And and so God did that God brought that reconciliation with the brothers and then
• 25:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: Joseph got to see his father and the reunited with Jacob and and Jacob had thought all those years that his son was dead and then to have that just being reunited and that's the neat part of the story is just the legacy that we have to pass down rich Ruth I'm thinking of the one mom out there who is so weary from waiting what do you want to know.
• 26:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think it's got to understand the wearyness and just waiting and wanting the answers to prayer, wanting healing in your marriage, and I'll tell you, I haven't had an easy marriage.
• 26:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's gotten, oh, it's still great now.
• 26:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: God brought us through, but it was a lot of years of just hardship, and
• 26:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: and pain and waiting and praying and crying out to God and I look back now and I see even though it was difficult for many years, God was teaching me to let him be my everything, let him be my all and so in that don't waste the waiting years and those waiting years are times when you can just
• 26:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: Right now, if you haven't been doing that and just study it and read it and hear, you can get lessons out of the things in each verse.
• 26:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: Just think about it.
• 26:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: What is God saying to me and this?
• 26:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: And just grow in your relationship with the Lord while you're waiting and continue to pray.
• 27:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: And God will become your everything.
• 27:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: God has become my everything.
• 27:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: I just rely on him.
• 27:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: I love him.
• 27:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's my best friend.
• 27:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: I talked to him all day.
• 27:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: And we'll let him develop a relationship with him like that that you can just talk to him about everything and he will see through.
• 27:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: I never thought I could get through some of those tough years and marriage and he has brought us through and really blessed our marriage.
• 27:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: God doesn't leave you in that pit.
• 27:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: There's a reason for it.
• 27:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: He will bring us through to a better place.
• 27:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: But we've just got a hang on.
• 27:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: Don't give up on the Lord.
• 27:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: Don't give up on the hope that he gives us in the goodness of God.
• 27:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, don't give up and don't get better, whatever you don't get better, don't get better, don't get better, don't get better, don't get better, don't get better, don't get better, don't get better, don't get better, don't get better, don't get better, don't get better, don't get better, don't get better, don't get better, don't get better, don't get better, don't get better, don't get better, don't get better, don't get better, don't get better, don't get better, don't get better, don't get better, don't get better, don't get better, don't get better, don't get better, don't get better, don't get better, don't get better, don't get better, don't get better, don't get better, don't get better, don't get better, don't get better, don't get better, don't get better, don't get better, don't get better
• 28:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm here.
• 28:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm in ministry with my mom and so the website you can go to andgramlots.org and and I'm on there.
• 28:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: I've got stuff on there that you can listen to or watch or my online Bible study and then on Instagram it's just Rachel Rathelots right and you can follow me on social media down that.
• 28:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: So yeah and you can get the book wherever books are sold right?
• 28:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, wherever books are sold.
• 28:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: Tell us the title of the book.
• 28:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: Guy won't leave you there, and in subtitles, Joseph's story, and just I pray you'll be blessed by it, it's certainly blessed me studying it.
• 28:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: I love it.
• 28:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, it's such a good book.
• 28:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: You're going to love this book.
• 28:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: You're going to want it because it's a beautiful retelling of the story, and then Rachel Ruth interspersed her own personal story and her moms, I'm sure, and then she asks such good questions, such good probing questions that make you do a little self examination and say,
• 28:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: What do I need to dress here, Lord?
• 29:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: I found that so helpful.
• 29:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: So I'll be here with me today, and I will remove all those links in the show notes.
• 29:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: All right, thank you so much.
• 29:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: Thanks for having me.
• 29:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: So here's your coaching tip of the week.
• 29:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: In each episode, I will give you one actionable step to improve your life.
• 29:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: Remember, you can't change everything.
• 29:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: You can take one step to be better.
• 29:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: This week, I want you to sit with God and just ask him what he wants to do in you in this waiting season.
• 29:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: Is it a chance to trust him more?
• 29:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: Is it a chance to get back to the word more?
• 29:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: Is it a chance to shift your focus from this obsession of focusing on the negative to focusing on God's goodness, sit with him, and see what he shows you?
• 29:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: And remember this, God is present in every part of your story.
• 29:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: even the painful parts.
• 29:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: He sees the waiting, the tears, the prayers.
• 29:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: You whispered for your grown children, and he still had work.
• 30:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: You are not alone, Mama.
• 30:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: Grace and peace.
• 30:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: You've got this, and God's got you.
• 30:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you so much for spending time with me on the Midlife Mama Podcast.
• 30:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: My hope is that you leave each episode feeling encouraged, grounded and clearer.
• 30:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: Clearer about what you're feeling, what God may be stirring in you, and how to move forward in the season of the empty nest.
• 30:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: Through these conversations, I'm not just sharing stories, I'm coaching you, helping you name what's happening beneath the service, challenging the thoughts that keep you stuck and take intentional steps toward peace and confidence as a midlife mom.
• 30:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: If you're ready to go deeper in one personalized coaching support, I invite you to apply for coaching.
• 30:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: Coaching is a focused one-on-one space where we work together to gain clarity and
• 30:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: process emotions and discern what God is calling you to in this next chapter.
• 30:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: You'll find the application linked in the show notes and let's stay connected.
• 30:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: You can find me on Instagram at P-Hinkleman that's P-H-E-N-K-E-L-M-A-N or on Facebook at Pamela Hinkleman M-T-Nest Coach.
• 31:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: You don't have to figure out the season alone mama.
• 31:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: Support and direction are possible and I'm here when you're ready.