Latest / How to Faith a Life Podcast with Faith Womack / When Mercy is all you have....

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When Mercy is all you have.... · How to Faith a Life Podcast with Faith Womack

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: If you're listening to the How to Faith a Life podcast, where we wrestle with questions on how to live a life of faith, from everything from books to Bible studies, even Bible study tips, this is your place to wrestle with the hard questions and dive deep into what scripture really says for the Christian walk.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: Make sure you've subscribed to this podcast and your favorite podcast streaming services, review this podcast so other people can find it, and share with other believers who want to ask the hard questions.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: Now, with all that said, let's begin.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: Jenny, welcome to the podcast.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: If you guys are new to Jenny, her husband Levi and Jenny, they both run or started, planted a church that now has multiple campuses out in Montana.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: And y'all have five kids and a wonderful, long-standing, deep ministry to just the worldwide church.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: I really wanted to have you on, um, just like full cards on the table, y'all.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: I want to have her on because I get the question so often of like, how do I pray?
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: How do I call out to God?
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: I think we're really good about being in the word and loving God's word and studying it deeply, studying theology or church history deeply.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: But when it comes down to just the worship, the lived out in life, crying, falling to our knees, just the messy, dirty, broken, day-to-day, muddy walk with the Lord, that can be hard.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: And so I love what the Luscos do and their ministry and that they're really good about, you know, being honest about grief and sorrow and life, but taking it back to the Lord and his word and truth.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: Jenny, I'm so excited to have you on today.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: I think you are such a blessing, and I'm really excited to pick your brain about your new book, Fresh Mercies Every Day: How to Cultivate a Life of Trusting God, Following Him Daily, and Learning to Flourish.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: It came out in June, and I have already gotten to read through it.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: I've just been so blessed by it.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm so excited to pick your brain by it.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: All about it.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, well, Faith, thank you so much for having me.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_02: It's what is what a kind introduction.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_02: Um, it's just such a joy to get to be here for you today and your listeners and and talk just real life and faith.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_02: And God's just so kind, but life is messy and it's sometimes hard to navigate that.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm excited to to dive in with you today.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I loved Fresh Mercies because you did a really good job of doing like the life is messy, but God.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: Life is this, but God.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: Like on, I think it was the chapter where you talked about losing your daughter, and you had a prayer that just like it hit me.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: You said, Father, good morning.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: I'm having the hardest time praying right now.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: I'm getting so distracted with the most random things, and I lose track of my thoughts.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: Father, teach me to pray.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: Show me how to pray more effectively.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: Teach me how to trust you when I'm weak and distracted.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, Oh, this is so real.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: Like, this is following Jesus.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you're in the midst of praying and asking him to teach you how to pray, you know.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_02: Totally.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_02: It's like, I what am I even doing?
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_02: But I love that because even in the gospels, the disciples asked Jesus, Lord, teach us how to pray.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_02: Like they he had just prayed, and they're like, God, Jesus, we don't know how to pray.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_02: Teach us.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_02: And so he goes through the Lord's prayer, is what we call it.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_02: It's just so simple.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_02: I think that that's real.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that it's our everyday issue in our everyday struggle of God, I believe, but help my unbelief.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_02: It's like there's that story in the Bible where this man was asking Jesus' disciples to heal his son and they couldn't do it.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_02: And then Jesus comes, and this is after the transfiguration.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_02: Jesus comes in and is like, What can I do for you?
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_02: And this man just breaks down and it's desperate for Jesus to heal his son.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_02: And Jesus says, All things are possible to those who believe.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_02: And this man just starts crying and says, I believe.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_02: Lord, I believe.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_02: Help my unbelief.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that that is feels like for me is the cry of my heart most days.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_02: It's like, God, I believe.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_02: I believe in you.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_02: I trust you.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_02: I believe that you're good.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_02: I believe that you have a plan for me.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_02: I believe that that you know all things.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I believe, but in these little tiny daily moments and things, like help my unbelief, because I'm struggling to believe you in the everyday.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that sometimes, like, the big steps of faith or the big things that we face can sometimes almost be easier than just the tiny little things that almost seem insignificant, but there's so much significance because as we string along the little things and obey God in the little things and trust him in the little things, that is what makes up our life.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_02: And so I think it's like the it's the big and the little, and it's it's it's just the mess.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_02: And God is with us in everything.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_02: And so I'm so grateful.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_02: I'm grateful for this book.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_02: I'm grateful for things that God has taught me and shown me over the years, and it's really a lot of me like not knowing what I'm doing, it's stories, and then it's but me bringing it back to okay, but God, what does your word say?
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_02: Help me.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_02: I need you, I'm desperate.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_02: So it's just a lot of a jenny mess in God's goodness.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: No, I love it.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: You shared a little bit about PMDD, and I thought that was so real because that's one of those things I've been like, do I do I need to go get diagnosed?
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: Do I have that?
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_01: You know, like and maybe all women have asked that question up.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: Honestly.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: But that's so relatable, and there's nothing that's not touched by the gospel.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: There's nothing that's not touched by our walk with the Lord that He's like, Oh, can't pray about that, can't don't care about that one, you know?
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I think yeah, in the church, sometimes we treat those things like they are, the unholy topics or struggles, even, but they're so incredibly real and they affect our marriages, the ways that we raise our children, worship, all the things.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: So I love that you go to those places.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: I gotta ask you though, you talk about creating like margin for soul.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: And what does that actually look like for people with crazy schedules like yours or a ton of kids like us, or or just busy, full lives and ministry and church and all of those things?
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what does that look like for you and in the messy life?
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean, that's it's I feel like it's a constant tension because our full our lives are full, but the point of our full lives is the Lord.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_02: So it's like, how am I prioritizing the most important thing and the reason why I'm doing any of this stuff?
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_02: Because it's like with Mary and Martha in the Bible, it's like Martha was doing what she was called to do, which is plan an epic party.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_02: And we need party planners.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_02: And then there's Mary who's part of just like enjoying people and and then sitting there and learning from Jesus.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_02: But Martha's distraction came from focusing so much on what she was doing that she forgot about who she was doing it for.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that especially as women, especially as as moms, as wives, as as what we're what we're doing is carrying a lot.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_02: We carry it it is a heavy load.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_02: We we're carrying the the humans that that God's called us to teach and raise and love, the leading in whatever capacity we're leading, loving our husbands and and leading lives.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_02: Like it's just there's a lot, a lot to consider.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_02: But as we're doing it to the Lord, there has to be the intentionality and reminder of bringing it back to the center of it all, which is and should be Jesus.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_02: And I think sometimes for me, anyways, like I'm I really love lists, like writing lists with a little box in front of it and checking it off.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_02: And I love in my notes in my phone, like the little bubble that I can just plop and it it fills up and I've done it.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_02: And for so long, I looked at at it as Jesus is the first priority of my list and my long list.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_02: And sometimes my list goes into the next day, goes into the next week, but Jesus is number one.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_02: And I and as I like lived that way, I realized like I would check Jesus off, so to speak, and be have like spend time with him, spend time in the word, prayer.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_02: But then I would go about my list, and it was like the further I got down in my list, like it was I was realizing like I felt like disconnected to my first priority because Jesus was at the top, and then I'm at number eight.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_02: And then I just I'm such a visual learner, like I just needed to put Jesus, like I wrote Jesus in the center of my paper or my schedule, circled him, and then from that, like went, okay, nine o'clock meeting with this person, 10 o'clock, this, da da da da.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_02: And then it was like my relationship with my husband, my my connection with my kids, my connection with staff, like all the things like, and then it was coming from my priority and my center, which is Jesus.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_02: Because it's so easy, and we're we're as humans, we're meant to worship something.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_02: And if Jesus isn't in the center, we're worshiping something else, whether it's ourselves, whether it's our spouse, whether it's our kids, whether it's our job.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_02: And so we have to fight to keep the main thing the main thing.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_02: And so for me, it's just remembering, okay, Jesus, you're the center.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_02: And it's throughout the day, throughout the day, when things start creeping in, or I find myself like being easily irritable and like, why is this bugging me?
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_02: And what is going on in my heart?
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_02: And okay, Jesus, you need to be the center.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_02: And I can't attack this meeting.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_02: I can't go into this situation, I can't have this conversation without first centering my heart on you, because from you is where everything that you're calling me to is even possible.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_02: And so I think that is part of the margin that I know for me is essential to attempt to even look at my day.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_02: And I get so easily overwhelmed, I get so easily distracted, I I look at a day ahead of at the day ahead of me.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_02: I'm just like, I have no idea how these things are gonna connect.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know, like, okay, I'm gonna take drop the kids off here, and then, but then how is this gonna work?
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_02: And and praise God, I married a man who's very good at like putting the puzzle together.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but also just for me, it's like, God, I literally can't even face this day without you.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_02: So would you please just help me?
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_02: And I feel like that that desperation and that realization of our need for him is so the point because I God just Jesus wants us to walk with him.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_02: And I I I go back to John 15 where he's talking about him being the vine and we're the branches.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_02: And we can't produce anything unless we're connected to the vine.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_02: We can't do anything unless we're abiding in him.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_02: And so I think that that's the that's the goal and that's the point, and that's really my heart with this devotional that I wrote, is that it would just be a tool or a resource to just walk with Jesus in the little things in the day and know that I can't go through this, I can't do this unless Jesus, you are with me, holding my hand, shepherding me, walking me through every little thing because left to my own self, I'm going to make a mess of things and I'm going to not say the right thing or whatever.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_02: But that's kind of the the the point of the book, I I feel.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: I love it so much.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: I've been in a season where I've been praying one word, just for some reason, that's just continually what comes up in my personal struggles as I'm praying for other people and other struggles that come up in our family, our friend circles, community groups, all those kinds of things.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: It's been mercy.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_00: And then your title really stuck out to me was that fresh mercy every day.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_00: It truly is our reset for the day.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: I was praying through it maybe last week or so, and the Lord just whopped me upside the head because I was praying for mercy in a situation.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: Like I was praying for mercy from another person.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: Not that I deserved it, but I had messed up and I was praying for mercy.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: And the Lord whacked me upside with the head with the truth of I am mercy.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Hasset.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: I I am mercy epitomized in myself.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you're you're praying for more of me, and I I, you know, willingly give you that.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: And so I love that you titled the book that way and have angered the whole, every little yeah, chapter or entry or whatever you call them on his, on yeah, something that is inherent to God.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: But you also hinted at a really big theme that I kind of saw throughout it was our failures and how God's not afraid of that, he's not shocked by it.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: How do you, because this is something that really trips me up as a mom, pastor's wife, I feel like I don't have room to fail.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like I'm letting everybody down when I fail.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: How do you how what has the Lord shown you, taught you?
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: How do you wrestle through it?
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: All of that.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_02: Well, that is so real and it's so everyday.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_02: And even this past Mother's Day, my kids are just so sweet.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_02: We're all sitting around the table and they're like telling me like things that they love or whatever, like it about me.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_02: And it was honestly so overwhelmingly humbling because I I don't feel like I was doing I've done all those things that they were talking about.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_02: And I think it really is, it's the it's that mixture and that tension of being who God's called me to be, but then trusting him that he's gonna do the supernatural, beautiful things like through me that you may not even be able to see except some of the fruit that maybe he allows us to see.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_02: Because sometimes we don't even get to see the fruit, but then it was so sweet because Levi was like, Jenny, you have fruit all around this table.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_02: And whether you feel like it or not, like the lives that are sprouting and growing and and flourishing and blooming, like that is fruit to your account.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_02: And it was just so encouraging and it was so kind.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_02: But I think more often than not, I just feel like I'm failing all the time.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_02: Like I feel like, okay, well, learned that the hard way, or did not speak to my kid the way that I should have in that, or whatever.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that I just I don't know if that's just a lens that like growing up, it's just what I see myself as.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_02: But it is a fight to know that to remember that I can be confident in who God's called me to meet to be, even if I don't feel it, if I can attempt and do the right things and and lean on the Holy Spirit and and ask God for help, like then you kind of start seeing the little bit bits of fruit.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_02: But that's that is a an issue of mine that it has probably always been, I think, of just like, wow, didn't get that right.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_02: But I think, but like you said, it's like, okay, but we learn through our failures.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_02: And I feel like I have learned the hard way in s most of my life.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_02: And so his mercy is there, his grace is there, his his favor is there, and his kindness is there.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_02: And it's not like, at least in my imagination of when God speaks to me and looks at me and how he views me.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I don't think he's disappointed or like, oh my gosh, like you did it again.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_02: Like, regardless of maybe it's how people looked at me in my life, I don't know, but I also just see his kindness and I see his faithfulness, and I see like no matter how I make a mess of things or no matter how I might do the wrong thing, like he delights in me.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_02: And it's like with our kids, it's like they're gonna, they're gonna fail, they're gonna mess up, they're gonna get it wrong, they're gonna do the wrong things.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_02: And it's not like I look at them and I'm like, oh my gosh, you messed up again.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_02: Like, come on, can't you get it right?
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_02: You're you're five years old.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_02: It's like, no, no, it's totally okay, buddy.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_02: You're fine.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_02: Like, yeah, you you did that, but it's okay.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_02: We'll we'll figure this out.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_02: We'll learn through it.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_02: And I just, I just imagine God that way with us, his children.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_02: Like he just delights in us and he wants us to run to him.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_02: And he doesn't want us to feel like we're alone in our failures, because that's how the enemy wants us to feel.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_02: The enemy wants us to feel like, oh yeah, you failed again.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_02: No one else has ever failed like that.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_02: You're on your own, God is disappointed in you.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_02: But where the truth of the matter is, is that in our mess, in our failure, we run to God who is the only remedy, who is the only one who knows exactly what's going on, and who is the answer and the help and the strength in everything.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_02: So it's like there's just that continual tension of I I need to remember the truth and I need to focus on the truth.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_02: And the lie right now is that my failure is is horrible and I can't ever come back from this.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_02: Whereas God's saying your failure has you can move forward in it, and I'm there with you, and I'm the faithful one.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_02: Whether regardless of your faithfulness, faithlessness, I'm faithful and and there's it's never too late to start in the right direction or to to come back from that.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_02: So all that to say is yes, failure is real and and inevitable, but God's faithfulness is real and very inevitable.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_02: I like it.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_02: No, that's it.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_02: I think that's the right word.
• 16:28
  unknown: Yeah.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_00: Hi friends, I'm gonna hijack my own podcast really quickly to give a shout out to this sponsor, which is honestly many of you guys.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_00: This entire ministry is sourced by you guys, funded by y'all.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: I have a Patreon page, which is just a crowdfunding website where everyday people like you guys join me in super in-depth studies.
• 16:47
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• 16:55
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• 16:58
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• 17:02
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• 17:03
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• 17:04
  SPEAKER_00: We just started small groups, which has been really cool.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_00: We're finishing up this four-year-long series, going through the Psalms super in depth every single week.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_00: And that will just live there on Patreon and they get to like rewatch them and go back through them if they want to.
• 17:16
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• 17:20
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• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: And so it's really just the means by which this super public online ministry with a lot of people can be made a lot more intimate, one-on-one, and we can just go so much deeper.
• 17:34
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• 17:45
  SPEAKER_00: It's patreon.com forward slash how to faith a life, literally the name of this podcast.
• 17:49
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• 17:55
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• 17:57
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• 18:02
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• 18:04
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• 18:07
  SPEAKER_00: And speaking of, let's get back to the podcast.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_00: Well, what would you say to the Christian that's struggling to believe that God still loves them in their failures or in even in their sin?
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_00: What would you say to the Christian that's like, God feels far?
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_00: God feels like he doesn't care about me.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_00: And I want to feel close to God, I want to feel his love, but I'm just swamped with the lack of feeling God and feeling his nearness.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_02: Well, it's so interesting because I think we can base so much of our life on how we feel.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_02: Our feelings, whether we feel good, whether we feel bad, whether whether we feel sad.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_02: Like it's just easy because that's what we have to go off of so often.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that we have to remember that God is also wanting to strengthen our faith and tease out our faith.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_02: I just love the story of the of Jesus with the Syrophoenician woman who she comes up to him and is pleading for healing for her daughter.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_02: And Jesus doesn't answer her word.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_02: And it's just so mind-blowing because it's like, this is so not like Jesus.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_02: But you just see from beginning to end of the story where even the disciples are like, get this girl away from us, like she's bugging us.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_02: And then Jesus is like, I was only called to the lost sheep of Israel, talking to the disciples.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_02: And then he turns to her and she comes to him, kneels worship.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_02: And this is a non-Jew coming to Jesus and saying, Lord, help me.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_02: And then he is like gives this weird little, like, but I but the bread is only for the children, not for the little dogs, basically calling her a dog.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_02: And but then she just like immediately is like, yeah, totally, I get it.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_02: But the breadcrumbs can be for the little dogs at the table.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_02: And then at that moment, Jesus is like, Women, great is your faith.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_02: Your daughter is healed.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_02: And he did like, and it's so it's such a crazy story, but it's like you just see from the beginning to the end that Jesus, his he want, I think he wanted right away to be like, Yeah, your your daughter's good, love you, you're amazing, it's gonna be great.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_02: But it was like he was teaching his disciples, first of all, but then he was also teasing out the faith of this pagan non-Jew who clearly had faith in Jesus, but he was just pulling this out and his silence was actually testing her faith.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm not saying that when God's silent, that he's like, okay, the test is beginning and now you need to eat you're gonna pass or fail.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_02: But it's more like he he knows what's in us and he wants to bring it out.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_02: He wants to strengthen our faith, he wants to strengthen our trust in him.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_02: And so I think when times when we feel like God is silent, maybe he he is silent, or maybe he's feels far, those are the opportunities for growth for our faith where we can lean in and maybe we don't feel it, but we know that that God is near and we know that where it says that we're safe in the shadow of his wing, like there's it's under the shadow of his wing is dark, and we can't is I I imagine it would be like muff, like his the sound of his voice would be muffled because we're just safe under the shadow.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_02: But I think just knowing that that he is our God, he is our father, he is our savior, he's our Lord, and he wants to, yes, lead us as our good shepherd, but he also wants to strengthen us and challenge us and bring us to new levels and new places and new levels of trust in him.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_02: And so it's like if we can just be like Proverbs three, five, and six to to trust in the Lord all of our heart and lean not on our own understanding or our own feelings or our own things, but to to lean into him and to acknowledge him in everything and knowing that he is gonna lead us in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_02: He's gonna direct our path, he's gonna lead us.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_02: And so it really is just a matter of hey, God, I trust you.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_02: I actually don't hear you, I don't feel you, but I trust you.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_02: I trust you.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_02: I trust that you are near.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_02: I trust that you're near to the brokenhearted.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_02: I trust that you have a plan in this, even though I can't see.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_02: And that I think is as you see throughout the the Bible of people who who leaned into him and trusted him in the midst of not knowing.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_02: I think that's what God wants for us is to to grow in our faith.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_00: I love, I don't know if you notice this, but all your answers come back to the personal work of Christ.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_00: And I love that with your little Jenny summaries of, you know, this the stories or the parables or whatever.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_00: It's beautiful.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_00: And it like that's what I so appreciate about this devotional, because most of the time they're feelings, they're mush, they're milk.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_00: But what you do so very well is saying, yes, we are broken, we are struggling, we need the Lord's mercy, but he's here.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_00: And just look at Christ, look at the person and work of Christ.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_00: He is everything you're searching for.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I love that about brilliant's ministry as a whole, and you just like so perfectly just did it right there.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_00: But let's let's talk practically.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what about the person that's like, okay, cool, I get it.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_00: I think, Jenny, but like, what does that actually look in my life?
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what kind of rhythms or systems do you do to truly live that out, even when you don't feel it or see it to truly, you know, grip on to the hem of his garment?
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_00: You know, how what does that look like for you?
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I'm not great at rhythms and I'm not great at schedules, but I do feel like something that I try to teach that we try to teach our kids too is is starting with God.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_02: So like even just I mean, it's such a simple thing, but it is such a big thing of like, how are we starting our day and are we starting it with God?
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_02: And it's so easy to let the other things come in first.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_02: And like literally the other day, I was so overwhelmed by the the day ahead and the tennis practice that we needed to get kids to.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_02: And I was studying for a message that night, and I just had a lot of things just overwhelming me.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_02: And just every it was like the the in my bubble was just the smoke of all the stuff.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_02: And I I don't even know if that makes sense, but it just feels like you're just like smothered with all the things.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_02: And I was gonna, I was gonna I got up early.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_02: I'm like, okay, I'm gonna get up early.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe I should work out first because then I'll just get that done.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe I should just do the dishes real quick.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_02: And so I just started listing all the things like maybe I should do da-da-da-da-da-da.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_02: And I have the I think I have the personality of like I get so overwhelmed that I just freeze, and then I just don't do anything for a very long time, and then I get and then I'm I'm rushing and I'm late, and so it's that's just part of the mess of me.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_02: But I I literally told myself, I was like, Jenny, just start with God.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_02: And so I went down to my little and I I love having my little space.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's at the edge of the couch next to the fire, and I have my little table with my readers and a little cute lamp and my Bible and my journal and a little notepad, because that's actually helpful for me.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_02: Try to keep my phone far from me in that time.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_02: So I go, I charge it in the kitchen, but then I set an alarm for whether I have 30 minutes, whether I have an hour, however long of time I do have, I set it so that I don't have to worry about time when I'm in my time with the Lord.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_02: And then when the timer goes off, it's like, okay, now I know I need to, this is now I need to wake up the kids, I need to, whatever.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_02: But the little note cards or the little like sticky notes next to my uh Bible is actually so helpful because I'll think of things that like, oh, for I I forgot I need to do this, I need to do this, I need to do this.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_02: And so I'll just write it down on my little note notes so that I don't have to go to my phone and write it down.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm sure there's like ways to do this with like Siri and stuff.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know, but I I'm not technical technologically advanced.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_02: But anyways, so I feel like that's also helpful of like knowing that in the middle of prayer, like we started it off where you were like telling telling that part of the book where I was just distracted and everything, like knowing that I'm gonna get distracted, knowing that I'm gonna worry about my time frame and am I late now?
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_02: Like just kind of doing those kind of things, knowing who I am.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, I want to grow and not always need crutches and stuff, but knowing my weakness, knowing my frame, and trying to help myself spend time with Jesus, I think is the biggest part and just knowing, like, hey, I have this spot.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_02: I sometimes need to like will have to turn myself in a way where I can't see the mess or like see the the dishes in the sink so that I'm not like tempted to to do that.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_02: And I don't know, I feel like that is helpful, but then also like throughout the day, I heard someone who does this that really just inspired me.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_02: Like as I'm doing laundry, like praying for who whichever kid or my husband that I'm folding their clothes.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_02: Like I so I'd heard that recently.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_02: I'm like, why have I not done this?
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_02: I've been folding clothes for 25 years.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_02: Like I but just things like that.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_02: That's like so I'm so grateful for the body of Christ.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_02: I'm so thankful for people who share things that they learn because it's like, okay, that is a simple little thing that I can do in my everyday, like in the in the little mundane things of like folding my eight-year-old son's underwear, but knowing that it's not gonna even stay that way.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_02: Like he's just gonna rumble through it and then throw him in and I probably will wash it clean.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it's like those kind of things.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_02: It's like, okay, what can I, what, what kingdom heavenly purpose can I put into something that seems like so unnecessary?
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_02: You know, and so I think finding those little things that are helpful for you because even there's some there's people who have really great schedules and keep to really great rhythms, and and I think that that's I aspire to that, but may that might not be as helpful to someone who it may is more like me, where it then it starts feeling like I'm failing in behind because I'm not keeping up with how someone else does their life, you know.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_02: And so I think it's just knowing who God made you to be, your personality, your strengths, your weaknesses, and then also having your hands open and and ready and willing to to let God open you up and change you and and strengthen you.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_02: And so it is, I think practically a lot of just remembering.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_02: I'm I'm so forgetful, but I think practically it's like, okay, remembering in this moment, I am being so tempted to to yell at my kids and to to make this about me right now because this is out of my comfort zone.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_02: I don't want to have a hard conversation.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_02: But it's like, okay, I just need to go to the bathroom real quick, lock the door.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_02: God, I need you.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_02: I need you to help me.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_02: I need to take a, I call it a holy smoke break where I literally just like even even if I need to go outside and just take a quick breath of fresh air, breath, holy spirit, fill me and go back to the situation.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_02: Cause it's like I I have to give myself a timeout before I give my kids a timeout.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_02: It's like I need to deal with myself.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_02: And so I I think it is a lot of remembering, just allowing God to be in my heart, in my life, in the little things.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it made me think of, you know, the Pentateuch, like whatever it was, Numbers in Deuteronomy and even into Exodus, where they're continually just called to remember, remember who they are, that they are the, you know, people of God redeemed and saved from slavery in Egypt, and you know, remember his law and remember his covenants, and they're just called to remember over and over again.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_01: It's sometimes just as simple as that.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_01: But I don't fold undies in vain, I fold them into the kingdom, you know.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I get it.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I get it.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, yeah.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_01: I go into their room and I'm like, why is the laundry all over the floor?
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_01: I finally folded and organized it, you know.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_01: I get it.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_00: And then in that moment, if I don't have that spiritual grip over my own heart and my own piece of like, it literally doesn't matter, then it can seriously do some damage, you know, versus um being anchored in the Lord and being like, this is a kingdom moment.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, well, and then also knowing that because we're gonna fly off the handle, we're gonna, we're gonna sin as parents, we're gonna mess up, we're gonna yell, you know, it's like, and I think knowing that that is an opportun another opportunity to like kids, hey, the way I was acting back there, that was not okay.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_02: And that, and I'm sorry.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_02: And I think even that I've noticed over the years, even because our oldest is 20, our youngest is eight.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I think over the years I've seen that as I just kind of humble myself and just be like, okay, I need to say sorry, and I need to say, hey, this is what I should have done.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_02: Can we start fresh?
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_02: Can I, you know, and I think there's so much of that pressure on us to get it right and to be perfect parents and to do it all and to pray while we're folding clothes, you know, all the kinds of things.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_02: But it's like, okay, the reality of it is I was being selfish in this moment.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_02: Would you please forgive me?
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_02: And I think those kind of things where we're just teaching, we're reminding ourselves of the need for that, first of all.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_02: But then teaching our kids, teaching people around us like this is how we handle when we mess up, I think has been really helpful for me.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_02: And then seeing that with the kids as it unfolds, even now, like with our older kids and how they take responsibility for their their mess ups and their failures and stuff like that.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_00: Oh good.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_00: It's helpful.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm still in the stage of just always apologizing.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_00: The other day, my son goes, Mom, it's time for you to apologize.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_00: Aren't you gonna apologize, Mom?
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I was just like, So I hope that I get to see the fruit of that one day.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_01: That's so real.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_01: You will, no, but you will.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, no, it's time to apologize.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_01: Uh-huh.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, they'll tell me how it is.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_00: I love them for it though.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_00: Uh yeah, Mama needs it.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_01: Same.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_00: Well, okay, so when it comes to Fresh Mercies, I keep just shortening it to that.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_00: But what is your heart cry for the reader to walk away with though if they were to get one thing, even just from this podcast, what would your prayerful desire be for them to get from it?
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_02: I think really that it would just be part of the fuel of their relationship with Jesus.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_02: Like I there's so many resources and so many things to listen to and opportunities for growth.
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_02: And and I think sometimes it can even be like, gosh, another book?
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, great.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_02: But I think it is just I think it is just that.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_02: I think it's a resource, I think it's a tool, I think it's something that could jumpstart maybe more realness in prayers, like we started off with saying.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_02: Like I think sometimes we can candy coat or like sugarcoat our prayers, but what the what we really need is in desperation to like surrender and cry out and maybe cuss if we have to, where it's like, God, I hate this.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_02: I don't like this person, I don't like what's going on.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_02: It's like, and I I think we feel like we need them to be beautiful prayers, but it's really like us being real with God and us crying out to him because he can handle it.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_02: It's not like God's wanting us to write out an essay and then edit it before we give it to him.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_02: It's like he just wants the raw, the real, in whatever is is is in our hearts.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_02: He wants that.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that that would actually help us in our relationships with others and in the church and in our marriages and with our kids, because we would be getting out all of this with with God and then allowing him to reciprocate, respond, and like heal and mend and fill us afresh with the Holy Spirit so that we can go into our lives like ready to give and ready to bless and ready to encourage.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_02: And and I know that for my own life, like when I'm when I'm not praying real with God and fighting kind of, like, then that comes out in my other relationships where I'm not just letting God satisfy me and letting God break me and letting God heal me and letting God deal with me, then it comes out in my relationship with my husband and it comes out in in how I lead or whatever.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_02: It's like I just need, I just need God, like I mean business.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_02: Like we need to just sit down, I'm gonna put my my coat on, business jacket on, and we just need to like hash this out because you can handle this.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_02: I can't.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I need you to help me handle this.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_02: And so I would just say that I I I would pray that that would be this would be a a resource for that, like real, yeah, real rawness with God.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_00: And I love it.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's so needed because so many people perform in their walks with God.
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_00: So thank you so much for writing it.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I know if anybody didn't already know who you are and follow you, that they're going to want to now after this great podcast.
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_00: So, where can people find you?
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_02: I think jenylusko.com is a thing.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_02: But fresh life, we lead a church called Fresh Life Church.
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_02: And so if you go to freshlife.church, that will probably lead you to other things about me.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and Jenny Lesco on Insta.
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we have a podcast.
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_02: Hey, it's the Lesko's, Levi and I um do a podcast together.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_00: So many great books.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_00: So thank you so much for your love and service to the church, and thank you so much for just being real and raw and writing fresh mercies.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_00: Because honestly, the church needs that reminder that we can truly anchor onto his fresh mercies every day.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_00: So thank you.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you, Faith.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks for having me.
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_00: You've been listening to the How to Faith Life podcast with your girl Faith Wilmack.
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_00: During seasons, episodes go up every Wednesday and they're found everywhere podcasts are posted.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_00: I personally love Spotify.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_00: Make sure to hit subscribe and leave a review that really helps other people to find it.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_00: But if you want to hang out with me and do in-depth Bible studies, like I talked about earlier, you're gonna wanna find me on Patreon.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_00: That's where I spend most of my time teaching with weekly Bible studies, longer form teaching, behind the scenes content, and honestly, just a great community of awesome believers who love God's word and want to go deeper.
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_00: It's patreon.com forward slash how to faith the life and Faith Bomack everywhere else online.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for listening, and I'll see you next time.
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_00: Bye guys.