Latest / She Speaks Life - Christian Women, Strengthen Your Faith, Bible Study, Grow Spiritually In Christ / A Mom's Surrender with Shelby Hohsfield
Transcript
- 0:02Hi listeners. Welcome to the.
- 0:04She speaks live podcast a weekly encouragement where we share our
- 0:09God's stories. I'm your host.
- 0:12Jamie Elizabeth and I am so glad you are spending time with us
- 0:16today to listen. Hi friend, welcome back to she
- 0:22speaks life. I am so excited to have
- 0:25podcaster of finding faith above Shelby house filled with me.
- 0:31She is sharing about her faith journey of praying to God, as a
- 0:36little girl, for truth to leaving the Mormon church and
- 0:42walking without God tooth in, finding the true love of her
- 0:47Savior. Jesus Christ.
- 0:50Shelby, I'm so glad you're here. Welcome, thank you so much for
- 0:54having me. I really do appreciate it and
- 0:56I'm excited to get to share. I am just thrilled to have you
- 1:01share on this specific topic about your journey of being
- 1:08raised in the Mormon church and having these bad ideas about
- 1:13God, and I think there's so many that can relate to your story.
- 1:20And I am really delicious. Looking forward to you sharing a
- 1:25little back story about yourself and where this whole thing
- 1:31started for you, where you're like, okay, something just is
- 1:35not right here. Sure.
- 1:36So I guess we just start at the beginning.
- 1:39So as a, as a little kid, I grew up in a home that I actually was
- 1:43mixed Faith. So my dad was Mormon and my mom
- 1:47was not, which is not normal. That's kind of a Typical Mormon
- 1:51household. My parents got married, pretty
- 1:53young. And my dad had been introduced
- 1:57to the Mormon church when he was in high school.
- 2:00And after my parents got married, and he really was
- 2:03wanting to, you know, give some structure to the family.
- 2:06He went back to the Mormon church and I think it kind of
- 2:09took my mom a little bit by surprise, but she loves family
- 2:13and she wanted to make it work. And so she really just decided,
- 2:17you know, even even though she went through, I think 7 sets.
- 2:19A missionaries or something. She was not going to join the
- 2:23Mormon church, but she was going to make this work and snow 40
- 2:26years later. They still are married, which is
- 2:28crazy, but it did introduce a very interesting environment for
- 2:34my sister. And I to grow up in because we
- 2:37went to church with my dad and my mom, we knew that my mom was
- 2:40not on board, but she wasn't going to fight that either.
- 2:44She wanted us to have that stability with my dad as well,
- 2:48and but she was not Totally on board.
- 2:50So you can you are talking about, you know, praying at
- 2:53eight years old. So at eight years old is when
- 2:55you're typically baptized in the Mormon church and it's just kind
- 2:58of like a rite of passage. It isn't like a decision that
- 3:01you make to accept Christ or what not.
- 3:03It's it's a eight years old, that's what you do and for me
- 3:08because my mom was not a, my dad was I actually had to make a
- 3:13decision, which is not an easy thing to do at eight years old.
- 3:17And I had to make that decision to either.
- 3:19Upset my mom or upset my dad and that's where the prayers really
- 3:24began. And so really just questioning
- 3:26you know, God is this true, is this true?
- 3:28Is this true? And of course he's not going to
- 3:30answer crazy questions. I wanted a yes you know just go
- 3:35ahead and do it so you can join the club and hang out with
- 3:37everybody. Be like everybody else but he
- 3:40doesn't answer things like that. And so it was very confusing,
- 3:43you know, as a kid kind of growing up in in that.
- 3:47But I also think that it was It now that I'm older, I see how
- 3:53important and how he works within us from the very
- 3:57beginning. Because I think he made me this
- 4:00question or for a reason. And it's led me to where I am,
- 4:03which is beautiful. Yeah, I mean that's got to be
- 4:05hard being torn between the two at such a young age and not
- 4:11knowing what to do and finding. Wow, my both, my parents have
- 4:17different Faith beliefs and this is You know, awkward for me to
- 4:21be torn between the two and then, so you went for the Mormon
- 4:27religion, and then you ended up leaving at 18.
- 4:33So take us to like, what brought you to that point of wanting to
- 4:37just leave that. Well, I think when I did
- 4:42officially get baptized, and I know this is kind of crazy.
- 4:45I didn't actually know this until a few years ago that
- 4:49because I Not baptized at 8:00. I will always and forever be
- 4:53considered a convert. I didn't know that, even though
- 4:56I grew up going to church every Sunday.
- 4:58I'm am considered a convert because I did not get baptized
- 5:01at eight. I was 10, which means I had to
- 5:04have missionaries and I had to have people come and talk to me
- 5:07and make sure that, you know, I actually wanted to do this and
- 5:10it was you know, it was difficult with.
- 5:13I think both my parents I think this was being the first child,
- 5:17it was like a big decision that happen.
- 5:20But for me it was like I just wanted to be accepted where I
- 5:25was and going to church and not being baptized as a an eight
- 5:30nine, ten year old is abnormal and I stood out as somebody who
- 5:35was abnormal and I wanted to just be part of it and I really
- 5:40was just hungry for God. I can honestly say that I really
- 5:45did want to know him and I kept learning About church but I
- 5:52wasn't learning who he was or building relationship with him
- 5:57and I say that now but going I mean at that age I didn't really
- 6:02know what that was but I did I was hungry for truth.
- 6:05I remember just sitting there and being like I just want them.
- 6:09I want somebody to just tell me the truth of who he is.
- 6:13I can't even like picture in my head sitting in a classroom and
- 6:16thinking that like I just want to know the truth of who he is.
- 6:20And I guess, you know, bringing it up to when I officially left
- 6:24when I was about 17 and I was in high school and I had a world
- 6:32history class and you know, world history is really just
- 6:34like the history of religion because religion dictates so
- 6:37much of the world. And I learned for the first time
- 6:41that there are other ways of doing this.
- 6:44It isn't just either you believe in God this way, or you don't
- 6:49believe in God at all. There was there was other things
- 6:52and I guess I never really had recognized that that there was
- 6:57other ways of understanding who God was in a very different way.
- 7:02So it kind of started to open my mind and I started to really
- 7:06question a whole lot more again and I kind of had a little bit
- 7:09of a rebellious spirit in there too, because I don't feel like I
- 7:12had that relationship of God as my Foundation, it was like I had
- 7:15all these rules but I didn't have like a relationship with
- 7:18him. So I was like, They're just
- 7:20rules, so I'm going to break them and and so I really was not
- 7:24living like a very Godly life. But I had this this dream and I
- 7:29know this is going to sound crazy.
- 7:30And sometimes I think when I say this, what does dream, but I it
- 7:36was very pivotal for me. Yeah.
- 7:38I had this dream that I went to the supermarket and Jesus was
- 7:42there and everybody was really excited that Jesus was at
- 7:45supermarket. And of course, he was in the
- 7:46fruit section, which I don't think I've also, I had No
- 7:50concept of why that was important.
- 7:52He was in the fruit section and I got to the fruit section and
- 7:56I'm like, looking for him and I couldn't find him and then I see
- 7:59him off in the distance and I'm like, I think that's him, but I
- 8:01don't know if I really know him. And the biggest part about it
- 8:04was he didn't know me and that for whatever reason, whether it
- 8:11was just a silly dream in my subconscious or really was God
- 8:15trying to get to me, I don't know, but I do know that that
- 8:19Team had a significant impact on me in the fact that I clearly
- 8:24don't know him going to church where I am.
- 8:28And so when I was 18 you're supposed to move on to like the
- 8:32next thing in church and I graduated high school.
- 8:36I went to college and I made the decision, I'm never going back
- 8:40and I tried to figure out why, for so long.
- 8:44Why was I? So insistent on not doing it
- 8:47anymore like it, I think it was a culmination.
- 8:50Things but it was like there was not even a question to me
- 8:53whether or not, I would find a church in college.
- 8:57I wouldn't I was not planning on that and really until even just
- 9:03the last few months, did I really like reflecting back on a
- 9:08lot of this realize why? In fact I left, which was pretty
- 9:12substantial. But yeah, you know, I can relate
- 9:17in a way of becoming Coming a Christian as a little girl but
- 9:21never cultivating that personal relationship with the Lord until
- 9:28way into my late 20s and it's kind of similar to where your
- 9:35you're wanting more. You're, you know, you're not
- 9:37getting filled up, there's just something like missing, right?
- 9:42And you can't quite put your finger on it.
- 9:45I was a rebellious teenager and Because I wasn't walking with
- 9:52the Lord because I had no idea what it was like to have this
- 9:56intimate relationship and it's not until I was seeking and was
- 10:04intentional in wanting that. And unfortunately, it was after
- 10:10many life crisis that, you know, happened to where I was like,
- 10:17oh, you know, God so only one You know what is this whole
- 10:21thing that people love to go to these women Bible studies, you
- 10:27know what was that all about? Maybe there's something to that
- 10:30that I am totally missing out on so I can relate with that and
- 10:37seeing how you know, there's people in our life that can make
- 10:41Christianity legalistic and have it be about, you know, rules and
- 10:48you know and just totally Really miss out on the relationship
- 10:52piece of it and so that naturally makes you feel like,
- 10:57well that doesn't seem very attractive, you know what I
- 11:00mean? Why would I want to live that
- 11:01way? And so it's really just, it's so
- 11:05important for us to get to know him in that close personal,
- 11:12intimate way, so you carried through okay, Mormon you left
- 11:17that. So what were the things that?
- 11:20Prompted you to leave. Well, I think that the biggest
- 11:23thing and like I said, I couldn't identify it at the
- 11:27time. I just knew I wasn't going back,
- 11:29I just knew that. Yeah and and I think having that
- 11:33that class having that weird dream, all the different things
- 11:36that kind of just all culminated into.
- 11:38It was like I'm not going back but the problem is is when you
- 11:41are part of something, I guess that is more legalistic but it's
- 11:46all-encompassing. So it's not just what you
- 11:49believe. It's how you dress is who you
- 11:51talk to, it's what movies you watch, it's how you operate
- 11:56through life. I mean, it's all-encompassing.
- 11:58So when you make a decision to say, I don't know if I truly
- 12:03believe this your brain kind of explodes a little bit.
- 12:06Yeah, it is. It's like everything that I knew
- 12:10as my Foundation is now I'm just gonna throw that out the window
- 12:13and, you know, 85% of people who leave the church actually, leave
- 12:18God altogether. Most Atheist or agnostic, which
- 12:22I don't even like using those words because I don't know if I
- 12:24would have considered myself that, but that's exactly what I
- 12:27did. So for about five years in
- 12:30college where my Godless years. I just said, I want to deal with
- 12:33him. I and for somebody who had been
- 12:35so involved in religion, I didn't even want to take a
- 12:39religion class in college, like, I didn't I didn't want anybody
- 12:42talk to me about it. I didn't want have anything to
- 12:45do with him which is so sad, but it's what happened.
- 12:50And then when I got married, my husband and I, you know, we
- 12:54found out we were pregnant and I could feel my son's soul with
- 12:58me. And that was very eye-opening
- 13:01because it was like, okay. If I can feel his soul with me,
- 13:05that means there has to be a God.
- 13:08And that was like a big like moment.
- 13:12Well then I'm like, okay, I if there is a God, that means that
- 13:16I need to, I'm going to have to teach this little person how to
- 13:19walk with Todd. And I have no idea what I'm
- 13:21doing myself. Like I have absolutely zero clue
- 13:25how to do god with with kids. I didn't have a good example of
- 13:28that and, you know, it was my parents fault.
- 13:30They tried. But I didn't know what I was
- 13:32doing and so I kind of went on a search then, all right, so like,
- 13:36how am I going to? How am I going to find the truth
- 13:39of who God is? And I was very nervous, and
- 13:42everything seemed like a big culture shock.
- 13:44And so, I tried a few churches actually podcasting kind of
- 13:47started coming out. Then it will, oh, it was You
- 13:50know, it was really considered podcasting but I would listen to
- 13:54different church sermons and try to just like adjust myself and
- 13:58like, get into that. And then I joined a mops group.
- 14:01I don't know if you ever heard of mothers of preschoolers, that
- 14:03was the first time I was like, ever with other Christian women
- 14:07who truly had faith and I was like, there's something
- 14:10different, like, I could see it like sitting with them and I
- 14:14admit, I was kind of jealous. I'm like, how do they just have
- 14:17faith? I don't have this.
- 14:18How do I get this? And I would about it and I think
- 14:21all the wrong ways, none because I still had never read the
- 14:24Bible. I didn't even really open the
- 14:26Bible. So I'm like, okay.
- 14:27I'm just gonna like download Faith somehow, but that's not
- 14:30the way it works. And, and because of that, I
- 14:33think I really did end up. I didn't again have any sort of
- 14:36footing. So I made a lot of mistakes and
- 14:39I didn't find God for a very long time.
- 14:42So I mean, from the time I was 18, when I left the church until
- 14:46I actually did find God was 20 years.
- 14:50And during that time I had bounced around between different
- 14:52churches. I said I was Buddhist at one
- 14:54point. I was like all into the new age
- 14:56and Oprah and Eckhart Tolle and all the stuff, right?
- 14:59Because I mean, the world, the world really wants to tell you a
- 15:03lot of different things, right? But yeah, I mean, it was just
- 15:07confusing confusing time. Well, and the enemy loves to
- 15:11confuse us, right? God is not a confusing.
- 15:14God, he's a god of order and, you know, he's simple.
- 15:20And so when we're kind of bending more towards what the
- 15:27world is telling us, then everything starts to get
- 15:30confusing, right? Because it's just not coming
- 15:35from the Lord and I can see the beauty of God pursuing you, even
- 15:40though you had no idea but he was pursuing you to say, you
- 15:45know, leave the Mormon Church, you know, and how the Lord sees
- 15:50Like the are beginning to our end.
- 15:52I mean he sees it all, he's got an aerial view of what we're
- 15:57gonna do, choose down the road. And so he, so beautifully saw
- 16:03that later down 20 years later, you will finally realize that he
- 16:10is your true creator and savior. And so I love that, he's still
- 16:17he pursues us even when we don't Even him or are saved yet
- 16:22ourselves and he's still you know, can gently steer us
- 16:27because he knows what our life is going to be about and all the
- 16:32different ways that we will serve them later on down the
- 16:35road. Like, you're doing.
- 16:37So, that's so cool. And I can relate to when I
- 16:42joined that Bible study. Just like you joined mops.
- 16:45You had this like innate desire to have what they had.
- 16:50And there's just no way of forcing that you know.
- 16:54It's it's like you've you've got to do your part and you know
- 16:59diving in and getting to know God and we all know that's
- 17:02through his word and praying and it just the Lord then just
- 17:07offers himself to us, but it's not anything that we can have.
- 17:12Somebody else give it to us. I was looking over at one of the
- 17:15leaders of the Bible study and she's like praying to the Lord
- 17:18and she was like looking And I'm just like oh my gosh, she's
- 17:22praying to him as if she can just totally see him.
- 17:26How amazing is that like that is like how close of a relationship
- 17:31can you get? And I'm like, I want that.
- 17:34I just remember saying that to myself.
- 17:36So, okay, so I have to back you up a little bit.
- 17:39So, what did you mean by feeling your son's soul?
- 17:42I can't. I guess maybe fully describe it
- 17:45in. The fact that I just knew that
- 17:47it was life from. From that, it wasn't just
- 17:52science. You know, was he was true life
- 17:57with me, and I don't know if you felt this way, but like or other
- 18:01moms feel this way. But like, I feel like being
- 18:04pregnant. I was never alone, like, I truly
- 18:07had him with me, which was so cool and my daughter the same
- 18:12way, but it did, you know, bring a certain level of
- 18:15responsibility that then I had to kind of try to figure out and
- 18:18really it was Mike It's who ended up leading me to him, even
- 18:23yours down the road. Is why I came to him.
- 18:27So yeah, yeah, that's similar to my life.
- 18:31It was one of those where you're like, oh, you're no longer
- 18:33living like for yourself. Like you've got these kids and
- 18:38you know the truth, you know that God is who he is and you
- 18:44want them to grow and that well you got to get your stuff
- 18:47together, you know as a mom. And so it was my kids inspiring
- 18:52me because I wanted to be the best mom.
- 18:55I could possibly be but I knew I couldn't do that on my own.
- 18:59I had to do that through knowing the Lord relying on his strength
- 19:05to you know help me Mom and so very similar path there.
- 19:11Okay. So then how did you really just
- 19:14seek them out and just full-blown?
- 19:16Just be like I'm all for Jesus. Well, I'd love to say that it
- 19:21just like came naturally and all these, but no, it was, it was
- 19:26hard. It was really hard and it came I
- 19:29think because to growing up in a, in a legalistic religion that
- 19:33everything was Works based so you, they say there's Grace, but
- 19:37really Grace. Only gets you to the lowest
- 19:39level of heaven. Really?
- 19:41Then it's works that bring you passed that.
- 19:42So, we're this in the Mormon. Yeah, religious everything is so
- 19:47much on works. And how Presenting yourself to
- 19:50the world and in earning God's favor, and becoming worthy
- 19:54because of what you do. And even though I had left the
- 19:58church, I kept so much crazy mindset stuff with me and the
- 20:04nurse with me years and years down the road.
- 20:07So as I was going through this whole journey over 20 years,
- 20:11that works based mentality was 100% there.
- 20:16Like I was the one responsible in the thing about it is is
- 20:18that's what the world says. To that's what the Indians
- 20:21completely what the world says. I mean, a big thing is about
- 20:24your enough but your enough because you do this in your
- 20:28capable and you have this thing within you that makes you
- 20:31special and you just have to find it and why aren't you
- 20:33finding it? Because everybody has this and
- 20:35this whole works based thing that I feel like in self-help is
- 20:40so prevalent. That is so damaging because all
- 20:43it ends up making you feel like is if everybody says that I can
- 20:47do it, all, why am I not being able to do it all?
- 20:50And I feel like failure and that's literally how I operate
- 20:53it. I was always just striving for
- 20:55the next thing always for the next thing.
- 20:57Always and not putting anything in perspective in a god
- 21:01perspective. But just in a doing the next
- 21:03thing, doing the next thing and because of because of that, it
- 21:08kept me really busy and unfocused.
- 21:11I think on my kids and my kids then we're getting older and
- 21:16spending a lot more time on the internet because Mom was off
- 21:18doing all the things issues. Going to accomplish, right?
- 21:21And here I have these these young kids who then spend all
- 21:25this time on the internet. And if you don't give kids a
- 21:28foundation, I think a lot of people are afraid of doing too
- 21:31much God with their kids, like shoving it down their throat.
- 21:35I was afraid of this because that's kind of what I felt like
- 21:37I had had so in I didn't do anything, I didn't give them
- 21:41that Foundation. I gave them nothing and if you
- 21:43don't give kids a foundation, they're going to go seek and try
- 21:47to find other ways to fill up that hole.
- 21:49That's that Sighs. Hold it only he can fill right.
- 21:52So what ended up happening was the internet.
- 21:56Basically told my daughter, every terrible thing there
- 21:59possibly could be about herself at time of adolescence, which is
- 22:03huge for a young girl when they're struggling, so much
- 22:06anyways. And they just told her so much
- 22:09bad stuff and I didn't even know this was going on.
- 22:12I was just kind of oblivious to this and at like I don't know, I
- 22:18think it was like almost 12 Walk at night or something.
- 22:20She texts me, which was actually kind of funny.
- 22:23My daughter texted me from the other room.
- 22:26And told me all of these issues that she was going through, and
- 22:30it was like, it was like, God, like dropped sack of something,
- 22:36over the top of my head. Like, I've been trying to tell
- 22:38you how come you have been listening.
- 22:40Now, here you go, right? And, you know, it wasn't
- 22:44intentional that way, but it was like this Moment of clarity that
- 22:48was like, wow. Shelby.
- 22:52This there is so much here there's so much here that that
- 22:57is happening right now and it was like it all suddenly made
- 23:01sense in a terrible way. But I guess I mean I just at
- 23:07that moment this this is my big turnaround moment is at 2:30 in
- 23:12the morning. I realized there was nothing
- 23:16that I was going to be able to do even though all this time I
- 23:20had been what do I need to do? What do I need to be doing?
- 23:23How do I become worthy? How do I do all this?
- 23:26There was literally nothing that I was going to be able to do to
- 23:30help the situation and that's when I discovered what true
- 23:34surrender was. I had never really understood
- 23:36what people said when they meant, when they said that that
- 23:39Lee surrendered their life to God.
- 23:42But at that moment at 2:30 in the Morning.
- 23:44I prayed to God. Like I had never prayed before.
- 23:47I don't think I'd ever actually prayed to him for real, but I
- 23:52prayed to him and I literally just said I can't do this.
- 23:57I don't know how to do this. I can't figure this out.
- 24:01I recognize there is no way that I ever could.
- 24:04I need your help because I know you can help and I and I don't
- 24:10even know where that came from. I just it was like, I think
- 24:14Think because innately we all know our creator it's just maybe
- 24:19we put up a bunch of walls and I had put up so many walls and and
- 24:23I met him I feel like I truly met him that night like he was
- 24:28with me and I felt peace. Like I had never known despite
- 24:31the fact I was going through the hardest time of my entire life
- 24:34at that moment and I feel like he told me it's not going to be
- 24:38easy, but it's going to be okay. And I just clung to that because
- 24:44he was right once that year after that was so hard, it was
- 24:49so hard, but everything that I did I put in the perspective of
- 24:54what does he want me to do here, not what I want to do, how am I
- 24:59going to control this? But what does he want me to do?
- 25:03And it completely changed my life.
- 25:06My kid's life, my marriage, my home, my business, everything
- 25:10Everything changed, everything changed overnight, myself
- 25:14included. I mean, huge lie.
- 25:16My truly transformed. That's what they talk about.
- 25:19Truly transformed. So it was beautiful, but hard.
- 25:23Yeah, yeah, I mean, and most of those times they're painful, you
- 25:28know, and the surrender of, you know, holding up that white
- 25:34flag. I mean we've all been there but
- 25:36on the other side is healing and healing isn't Comfy, you know,
- 25:42healing can be painful as we go through it and I just love that
- 25:49beautiful story of just going. Okay, Lord, I'm I'm done doing,
- 25:56we have all been there and I think especially with some of us
- 26:00women, who Bend more towards that.
- 26:03Like I know I'm a doer and I feel good and filled up when I
- 26:08do things, you know and I know I had a moment where I had a back
- 26:14it up and just be with God and not do for him necessarily and
- 26:21and just stop and pause and just take a little bit of a break
- 26:25because the doing was taking over The Becoming and that's
- 26:30what God wants us is the becoming and that's what he
- 26:35Delights in and it's not what, you know, we Necessarily do for
- 26:42him, these accomplishments these you know, ways of doing this and
- 26:47that and it's just becoming is growing and our character coming
- 26:53closer to him and knowing what it is to be christ-like and
- 26:58really focusing on that. And we really have to start at
- 27:03that surrender point and there's going to be all that, you know,
- 27:10Stuff that needs to get cleared out before it gets better.
- 27:16And I love how you're just saying that, that was the
- 27:20Catalyst to having a better life.
- 27:24Yes, it was hard and in the beginning, but then now, your
- 27:30life has totally transformed and become beautiful that Ashes to
- 27:34Beauty. He gives us, so cool.
- 27:37So, where are you at now? I love to just have you kind of
- 27:43share like more about what not what you're doing because we're
- 27:48talking about not doing but how you're becoming more like him
- 27:54through your podcasting? I just I love your title,
- 27:59finding faith above and how you're helping others Through
- 28:04Your Own Story. What you went through to point
- 28:07them to Jesus, to point them to that relationship.
- 28:10And getting rid of those, you know bag, God ideas, and those
- 28:14other religions, that don't work.
- 28:17I love that. You know, you're putting your
- 28:20hands and your words to helping others, just come alongside you
- 28:26and encouraging them with all biblical insights and everything
- 28:32that you talked about on your podcast, it's so cool.
- 28:35I mean, you've got wisdom and faith and just all the things
- 28:38that we need to. Learn about and growing and
- 28:44therefore get filled up and then we're able to pour that out onto
- 28:47others and serve them in that. So I love your mission I love
- 28:52your ministry. So I just want you to just share
- 28:56more about what's going on in your life today and your kids
- 29:02and your marriage and all that. Sure yes.
- 29:05Oh he's so good. I mean he's just so good how he
- 29:08works. And like I said, it's It's a
- 29:11journey. And from the beginning, he was
- 29:14he was working on me, you know, he talks, he talks about us
- 29:17being like clay, right? He molds us and shapes us and
- 29:21all the different pieces of my life and I think you know, when
- 29:25I had had my moment, another thing that I feel like God told
- 29:28me and this is just crazy but he told me to call my friend
- 29:31Vanessa and I say friend, she's one of my absolute best friends
- 29:35now and we were friends as kids, but I had not talked to her in
- 29:3820 years so where this came from I mean, it could have only come
- 29:42from God, but he, he told me to call Vanessa.
- 29:44And so I called her and she has one of the strongest Christian
- 29:48women, I have ever known. I mean, she is just, she has
- 29:51such a relationship with him and she was the exact person I
- 29:56needed to talk to and he really spoke.
- 30:00I think through her and helping me on this journey and she did a
- 30:03little bible study with me and I just drove into his word because
- 30:07I think when you fully trust him, when you say, I'm giving my
- 30:10My life to you and you fully trust him.
- 30:13Reading the Bible is a completely different thing.
- 30:15And so then it brings me to Matthew and it talks all about
- 30:18the fruit and Jesus. Not knowing you, if you are not
- 30:22going in the right direction, I'm like wait a second.
- 30:25That was from 20 years ago, he was speaking to me.
- 30:28I mean, like it's just so crazy but and I feel like he's
- 30:31constantly speaking to me through his word and I think
- 30:35that has been the biggest thing that has changed.
- 30:38My life is really diving into Ward and so for my podcast,
- 30:43finding faith above above, I didn't know where that came from
- 30:46for a long time, but James and the wisdom from above that is
- 30:50that is worth above comes from took me a little while to find
- 30:53that one. I feel like it's all these
- 30:54little, like I said, love bread crumbs that he sprinkles through
- 30:57my life and just beautiful ways. But with finding faith above, I
- 31:01really try my focus in helping women is to allow them who are
- 31:07new Believers in Christ to have a Place where they can learn
- 31:12some of those very basic Christian beliefs, because it's
- 31:15very awkward at 40 years old or however, old as an adult.
- 31:20To not know, some of these very basic things that people you're
- 31:23sitting right next to have known forever and you'll say something
- 31:27that's maybe from your past religion or what not.
- 31:29And everybody looks at you like what where did that come from?
- 31:32And yeah. So kind of getting over some of
- 31:34those old beliefs and introducing truth, like the real
- 31:40Truth of who he is so that you can build that relationship in a
- 31:44place where it's not awkward that you're in good company,
- 31:48with other women who are comfortable there too.
- 31:51And then, as new Believers always are, you know, how do we,
- 31:54how do we then live in faith? Like not just the exciting part
- 31:59of coming to him, but how do we maintain that?
- 32:01And how do we bring that into all aspects of our life and how
- 32:04do we continue to trust him? And then how do we use our
- 32:08spiritual and creative gifts to give it back?
- 32:10Back, how do we bring that? How do we bring that in doing?
- 32:14You know, the Great Commission the last thing that Jesus told
- 32:17us to do, go ahead and make disciples of all Nations.
- 32:20Like how do we do that, using what he's given us?
- 32:24And so you know, I am an artist and I love to write and so those
- 32:29are some of my gifts and I try to bring that and I try to
- 32:32encourage other women to, then do the same thing like how can
- 32:35not through doing but through through using What he's given
- 32:41us. So it's a different perspective.
- 32:43It's a change in like our mind shift because we're going from
- 32:47place where we're trying to earn his Worth to instead following
- 32:51him and loving him, but using things to still do, we're still
- 32:55doing things. We're doing great things.
- 32:57But where is it coming from? It's not we're not doing it
- 33:00because we're trying to earn anything.
- 33:02We're doing it at a out of like an outpouring of his love in us
- 33:06because of the Trent this transformation that's happened.
- 33:09And so with my pocket, So I really just try to take people
- 33:11on this journey, like the journey from the beginning, all
- 33:14the way through your whole life and, and I love it.
- 33:18My favorite thing I've ever done.
- 33:19I love it so good and you're so good at it, too.
- 33:23You just have that little podcast voice, you know.
- 33:27But, yeah. I mean it.
- 33:29I love how you just described that, you know, it's out of our
- 33:31heart posture of just taking in God's creativity and you and
- 33:38doing it through through you. And but the source is coming
- 33:43from him and not because you're trying to earn anything.
- 33:47I love that. So cool.
- 33:49All right, I love to have the guests, just share a brief take
- 33:54away as we conclude this episode.
- 33:59All right, so I'm going to read a verse really quick because I
- 34:02think that all good inspiration and just guide for our life
- 34:06comes from his word. So, Philippians 2:13 for it is
- 34:09God who works in you to Will and to act in order to fulfill his
- 34:14good purpose and if I could give anybody any advice, it's just
- 34:19get into his word because people always ask like how does he
- 34:22speak to you? How do you hear him?
- 34:24How do you follow him? You follow him through his word.
- 34:28It's literally called his word for a reason.
- 34:30That's how yeah. Seeks to us and then having that
- 34:33time to also speak speak with him as well.
- 34:36So it's a two-way street, you know, we speak to him through
- 34:38our prayers and just like you Talking about your friends.
- 34:41You know who she was praying and she's looking up at it.
- 34:44God is she was doing it, you know, having that time to just
- 34:48lay it all on him because he can take it unlike anybody else
- 34:53who's world and and then having an open heart to be able to hear
- 34:59what he has to say back through his word.
- 35:02Mmm, so good. I know I always say, have a
- 35:05dialogue, it's not a monologue. It's a dialogue with God.
- 35:10God and your prayer life. And, and then hearing his voice.
- 35:15I mean, that was one thing I was seeking like crazy, I really,
- 35:21and, and reading his word and then just starting to get
- 35:26familiar with the and I call it the heart ears, you know, like,
- 35:31I just get it right there in my heart, and I'm like, oh, that's
- 35:35have familiar, you know, voice. You know, but it's not audible
- 35:39but I just I'm Elena in here and it's just one of those
- 35:44incredible gifts that the Lord just gives us that he wants to
- 35:48speak to us. We just have to give them the
- 35:51time to sit still and want it and just sit there, no matter
- 35:58how long it takes, but just getting to know that familiar
- 36:02voice and it goes back to that scripture of him, being a
- 36:06shepherd and the Sheep are familiar with their Shepherd's
- 36:09voice. And and it's just continuously
- 36:13doing that and coming to him and being consistent and wanting
- 36:19that as your daily bread, right? They call it, you know, daily
- 36:23bread for a reason. It's your, it's your daily
- 36:26nourishment. And so, thank you, Shelby, for
- 36:30sharing your story. And I know so many of us are
- 36:33encouraged by it and where can people connect with you?
- 36:37Sure. So, finding faith above.com is
- 36:39probably the easiest Place. That's my little corner of the
- 36:42internet, but then, you know, on podcast and everything is
- 36:47finding faith above and that's, you know, and all the different
- 36:50social channels, as well as podcasting awesome, thanks so
- 36:53much. Thank you, thank you so much for
- 36:58listening today. I trust that God has encouraged
- 37:02you through this message for more information on this
- 37:05ministry and to access free downloads.
- 37:09Please visit my website. Site at Jamie Elizabeth.com and
- 37:14sign up. You can also find me on
- 37:17Instagram and Facebook at Jamie Elizabeth she speaks life.
- 37:23That's ja why mea Elizabeth she speaks life.
- 37:30Until next time my friends I pray God reveals himself through
- 37:34your own life story.