Latest / She Speaks Life - Christian Women, Strengthen Your Faith, Bible Study, Grow Spiritually In Christ / Grace To Grow: Release Anxiety and Dive Into Purpose With Kristel Ward

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Grace To Grow: Release Anxiety and Dive Into Purpose With Kristel Ward · She Speaks Life - Christian Women, Strengthen Your Faith, Bible Study, Grow Spiritually In Christ

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  Hey friend. Welcome back to, she speaks
• 0:03
  life. I am so glad you chose to listen
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  today. And hey, if you haven't received
• 0:08
  my free gift to you yet, click on the link below in the show
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  notes and I will give you my free download of God's ID, my
• 0:15
  ID, which is all about God's characteristics and how they
• 0:19
  apply to your life today. Plus you'll get the newest
• 0:22
  updates as some new stuff coming.
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  But I'm super excited about and I want you to be the first to
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  know about it. It it, I am so excited to have
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  with me. Crystal Lord, she is the author
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  of Grace, to grow 40, devotions to release anxiety, and dive
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  into purpose. Crystal is an insightful, Bible
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  teacher and inspiring conference speaker.
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  She is the founder and director of Grace, to grow a nonprofit
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  that empowers ministers and supports women around the globe.
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  I had found Crystal through a Since she had written for
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  passion translation, it was so beautifully.
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  Written, and I was so impacted by it, that I reached out and
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  asked her to come on my podcast and I am.
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  So just grateful, she said yes to this because this
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  conversation is so amazing. Crystal shares about growing in
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  Grace and being fruitful and every season, she even talks
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  about her own moment where her life came to an abrupt.
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  Till and how she got through. This is such a powerful
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  conversation and I can't wait. So let's dive in.
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  Here's my guest Crystal Ward. Hi Crystal, welcome to, she
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  speaks life. I am so happy, you're here.
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  Thank you so much for having me Jamie, and I'm super excited
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  that we actually get to meet after having a few conversations
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  over socials and different things.
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  So, I'm excited to hang out with you today.
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  I know this is so exciting, well, I gotta first start out.
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  With how I met you. I get these devotionals sent to
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  my inbox from the passion translation and you wrote a
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  beautiful devotional or article blog about when you're calling
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  feels canceled. And that just like caught my eye
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  right away. And as I was reading your whole
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  blog, I was just taken in by how How your dreams and your
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  Ambitions just felt like locked doors and that, yeah, your
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  frustration and your Wounded Heart just was distracting.
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  You, and you almost got to the point where you're just going to
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  throw in the towel and then you went into like this night at a
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  conference and how God began to just wrestle with you.
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  And I had to write down some of these words because I mean,
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  everyone just needs to read this whole article is so good, but
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  you had said and I quote the desire to follow God, finally
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  outweighed my hurt. And I Rose from the chair leery
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  of trusting my grief to the father, I knelt and prayed,
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  you're going to have to do it. I can't make things happen on my
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  own and I just love that part of surrender, and then you go on
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  with what What that look like afterwards and you're a founder
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  of Grace to grow. And we're going to be talking
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  about your book Grace to grow 42 votes, his release anxiety, and
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  dive into your purpose. I know you have been in
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  Ministry, pastoral Ministry for a long time.
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  So just share with us more about who you are.
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  But also what else you can share about that wonderful devotional.
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  Oh my goodness, you don't even Know how much of a blessing it
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  is to hear that that people are resonating with with look.
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  The thing is is that we go through struggles in life but
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  with the Lord nothing is ever wasted.
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  Romans 8:28 says that he uses all things to our good and so we
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  don't know how God will take that pain and repurpose it to
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  bless someone else and it's really like an Stretched hand,
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  the pain that we went through with the Holy Spirit on it and
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  the healing power of God on it, how it becomes an outstretched
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  hand to someone else. So I just I just feeling like in
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  this moment, let's encourage someone that is listening that
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  you've been walking through these seasons of pain.
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  Walk With Jesus, let the Holy Spirit.
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  He is right there with you, and let him take some of that pain
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  and turn it into. Purpose for his glory.
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  And so I get, I get these testimonies a lot from the book
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  or the devotional that I just released, which the article that
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  you read with the passion translation was adapted from the
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  book that I just released in December, just a few weeks ago.
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  Oh my goodness. I guess I just, I just past four
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  weeks. I'm still alive from and went
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  the, the the article that Jamie's talking about release.
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  Ston the passion translation blog and you can go find it
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  there, super wonderful blog and it is adapted from the book that
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  I just released called Grace to grow.
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  Jamie already read the title, 40 devotions to release anxiety,
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  and dive into purpose. And the goal of the devotionals
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  40 devotions, each one can be read for 5 in 5 minutes or less
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  and it's just to help us draw close to Jesus every day and and
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  to Us tools to really walk out the rest of the day with him.
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  Yeah. And so we can unpack that a
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  little bit more, but maybe I should say who I am.
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  Who are you? My name is Chris toward.
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  I am an author, I am a minister, a mom, a wife, my husband b.j.
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  And I am so thankful for him that we get to do the life that
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  we do together. He's my number one supporter all
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  the time. And we have three kids together.
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  Abby, who is currently 14 Emma? Who is currently 11 and Evan,
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  who is currently seven, and I'm always really proud when I get
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  those ages, right? It is, I have a Ministry by the
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  same name as my book, it's called Grace to grow, and we
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  help busy people to grow in their relationship with the
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  Lord. And that's what we do.
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  So that's a little bit about me. I love it.
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  Yeah, I know. I got three kids.
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  And it's hard to remember all their ages and time.
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  Just speeds by. Like, you're right.
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  Oh my gosh. There this age already and all
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  that. Well, I just love that you are
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  here and we're just going to talk about all things with your
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  devotional and about Grace and purpose and, and calling and I
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  really love that. It's something that we can all
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  Late. We have all struggled from time
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  to time, have gone through anxiety and you know, how do we
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  was that look like, how do we get rid of it?
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  How do we make God's voice louder than our worries and
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  fears and all that. So tell me your story though and
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  your book you talk about a time where your life came to abrupt
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  standstill and you didn't really know if you're going to recover
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  Share with us that that season that may be led you to write
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  this devotional on or this book on anxiety.
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  Yeah. Absolutely.
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  That's it's, it's honestly a little bit difficult for me to
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  talk about it. Something that I didn't talk
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  about four years. I've been a Pulpit Minister for
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  I don't even know how long since probably more than 20 years and
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  this event it took me Years before, I really discussed it
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  publicly. And one day the Lord said that
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  it was time to redeem it and I said, no it's not.
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  It's so the end of that is it became No.1 of this one of the
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  stories in my book, but the story is that our youngest son,
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  who is now seven. His name is Evan, Evan is 7 and
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  he when he was only four months old had a reaction.
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  To some medication that caused him to have over 70 seizures in
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  30 days. And and I know that so many
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  people that are listening to this podcast today probably have
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  experience with that. And for me it was probably and
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  still is one of the most difficult things I had ever
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  walked through at that time and really, what happened?
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  I mean if you imagine I was only four months old, it's not a lot
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  different than a newborn. And even, even after the the
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  seizures lasted approximately 30 days in even after it, they
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  ended the amount of anxiety that I battled after that event.
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  It was, it was astronomical. It really was.
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  I felt like every time I went to get him out of his crib or every
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  time I looked in the mirror or in the middle of the night, or
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  Or that he was going to be having a seizure.
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  I was concerned for the quality of life that our son was going
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  to live as we move forward. And I know that so many people
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  can relate to that feeling as well.
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  And what I found is this is this is what I think for me that that
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  event really uncovered a lifelong battle with fear that I
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  didn't know existed. It really, I'm Sure how much
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  fear it caused? Probably some for sure, but I
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  think it more uncovered. What was already there?
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  Now, I do not believe that it was, the Lord's will for this to
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  happen to my son. Absolutely not.
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  But God has used it to help heal and Deliver Me from anxiety.
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  That I have experienced so much in my life, but also hopefully
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  to help share that with others as well.
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  Yeah. And, you know, there's just Like
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  the enemy when they when he attacks our kids.
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  It's like we that is like one of the worst thing, the worst
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  things you can do to us, Mom's right righteous.
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  And you know, it's easy to just get into that fear, especially
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  the unknown with with that with seizures, you know, and any
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  illness and sickness that your kids are battling and you're
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  you're not in control your, you know, and In the unknown.
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  And that creates fear when we, when we can't see.
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  And we don't know what the result is going to be.
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  And so, oh, man, I can't imagine.
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  So, going through the anxiety and hardship and all that.
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  I'm sure you had some PTSD, right?
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  Like always thinking, maybe that your child is going to go into
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  seizures again because I think sometimes when we see something,
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  It's so tragic like that you just instantly start getting
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  these flashbacks and that's flooded memory, right?
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  And then that triggers that fear.
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  So, okay, so this ledged you. Now, you walk through anxiety,
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  you know what, it's like to what you were saying to grow and
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  Grace. So what ways did writing this
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  book affect your thoughts about growing in your relationship
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  with God? What did it do for you?
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  You're writing these devotionals.
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  Yeah. I you know I think that so it
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  was so much in this book is just from my life.
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  It's not all about me but it's really came together just doing
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  life with Jesus. And one of the things that I say
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  in this book is that you have Grace for your place and I
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  really discovered that with those issues with my son.
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  But also so many other issues that we all go through
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  challenging things and degrees of difficulty, some things being
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  trials, something's being tragedies.
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  And here's the thing, is that God's grace is always there.
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  And, you know, if we were to try to define grace volumes of
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  books, good it really describe adequately, right?
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  What God's grace really is it, you know, there's a definition
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  that we hear a lot that, As that Grace is God's undeserved
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  kindness and it's true. It is.
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  But that just scratches the surface of what Grace really is
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  and here's what I found that Grace.
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  Yes, it is God's undeserved kindness, but it is also God's
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  empowerment on our lives to walk through whatever we are walking
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  through with him. And so we see that in these, you
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  know, I mean, What I went through with Evan was more of a
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  tragedy than it was a trial or tribulation, but, you know, even
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  in just the ordinary everyday challenges of life.
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  God's grace is on you, my friend on Jamie, but also on the
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  listeners, every person listening, please hear me.
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  If you know Jesus, the grace of God is on you right now to walk
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  through whatever it is you're facing.
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  With him and his grace is more than sufficient for you.
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  And again, I like to say, you have Grace for your place, every
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  single season of life, and if you don't mind, I'd love to give
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  an illustration from scripture that has helped me so much in my
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  own life, you know, in the Old Testament, in the book of
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  Exodus, we see the children of Israel, they God delivers them
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  from Egypt. And they are wandering in the
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  desert and I have been down in that area close to it in Israel
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  and it is, h.o.t. hot. I mean, oh my gracious.
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  It is actual desert near scripture calls it Wilderness.
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  There's different names that scripture uses but it was hot.
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  It's so here we have these armies and these people that
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  were Livered Forum their servitude, their slavery in
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  Egypt and feeling like things are all going to be going
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  amazing. And then they land in this
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  Wilderness or this desert. And maybe I can pause for a
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  second. And say if you're listening you
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  may be feeling like you're taking the long way around know
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  that God's grace is sufficient and his timing is perfect and
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  he's provided everything you need in him.
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  And so just just Follow him because it me and Jamie were
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  talking about this before the show that God is the author of
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  time. God is outside of time.
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  He's not bound by it and then God's grace comes on time and he
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  redeems it on our behalf. So you're not lost.
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  He knows, right. Exactly where you are.
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  He's leading. You just follow him and it
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  shouldn't be. It shouldn't be hard or
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  striving. It should be gracious and
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  loving. Gentle.
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  And so back to this story. Yeah.
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  So now they're in the wilderness and it is hot, but scripture
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  says that God LED them with a pillar of cloud by the day and a
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  pillar of Fire by night. Now, if you've been in Sunday
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  school and they had those felt boards, you know, and they would
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  have all these little felt things, right?
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  And they would, so some of our listeners made have no idea what
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  we're talking about. That's cool.
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  It's like a nap but It was like cardboard and fabric.
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  Okay, so so but but we were often shown these pictures of a
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  cylindrical, pillar of cloud and cylindrical Pillar of Fire.
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  But I learned that in Hebrew that word pillar can also mean a
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  flat surface and we actually can see this over in Isaiah as well.
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  Isaiah talks about it being flat, and so this is what I
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  picture. After being down in that area in
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  close to that region. Yeah.
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  Is that that cloud was flat? And it covered the children of
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  Israel by day protecting them from that blazing.
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  Almost evil son. Yeah.
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  And then at night the desert is cold, right?
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  Right. And so I picture a flat covering
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  of fire that provided light, it provided War, With right.
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  And and that's a picture of gray, skies, that is a picture
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  of Grace, the grace of God coming on you in every season.
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  Now, the key is relationship with him.
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  It's we always have his grace but we learn how to tap into it.
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  A lot more through intimacy with Jesus.
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  I could keep preaching all day, but I could have let you talk
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  while I take some walk. I mean, I can listen all day.
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  I mean, I'm just soaking this in Crystal, I have Never seen that.
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  What a great picture of just God's comfort, you know, with
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  both like shade cloud from the Sun, from the heat, right?
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  Flat surface. Because I think for most of us
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  were thinking a pillar like, you know, some column or something
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  and then or torch and how the fire was flat to provide them.
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  Like you said, the warmth, With and just a blanket of his of his
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  light and and and comfort. I just that was just so
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  beautiful. No one has ever described that
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  like that before I love it it's helped me so much to remember
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  that. It's just a beautiful picture of
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  Grace. It really is and how God guides
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  and protects and provides. I mean it's just yeah that's
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  beautiful. Okay.
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  So you were talking about what is the intersection?
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  Go growth and Grace. Like expand on that because I
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  know you talked about that in your book.
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  Yeah. They seem like they're like,
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  like maybe they're not connected, there's Grace and
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  then there's growth. And when I say growth, I mean
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  growing closer in your relationship with God.
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  You can also call it spiritual growth.
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  You can call it discipleship, but really growth equals
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  intimacy with Jesus. And what does grace have to do
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  with intimacy, with Jesus? And so, We live in a self-care
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  generation, right? We're taught like take care of
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  yourself and, and, and then we have seasons in our life where
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  self care is like an anomaly. What even is that?
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  Like, I haven't even had a shower in some seasons in my
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  have today just so you know, all the listeners I have showered.
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  However, there are seasons in my life when the kids were little
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  when I felt like I was conquering a mountain if I got
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  to take a five-minute shower, right?
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  Or even going to the bathroom. I know that might be TMI too
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  much and voice. Oh my gosh, I'm like, is this
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  ever gonna end it? Can I ever just go to the
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  bathroom by myself and piece, right?
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  And exactly like with little fingers under the door, right?
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  And it's Mommy and Daddy. What are you doing?
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  Mommy, tried to take a minute away from you.
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  So I know you know, it was so we live in this self-care
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  generation, you know, generation or culture.
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  And listen for a whole lot of us that feels impossible and
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  relationship with God like like an intimate close relationship
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  with God feels impossible to it's like that's just another
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  thing on my to-do list, you know.
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  Like I just like God understands and that's for another time.
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  No, no. Today they have salvation
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  scripture says call them the Lord while he is near.
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  And so we actually can combine these ideas of Grace and
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  intimacy with Jesus or growth because it is the grace of God.
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  That always is drawing. You closer always saying come to
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  me, come to me. And one of the things that I
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  teach in the book and in other formats is that actually, we
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  feel like we exist for all these things.
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  But scripture says we exist for one thing and that's
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  relationship with Jesus. We find that in Luke chapter 10
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  or we can find it in many places in scripture, but in Luke
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  chapter 10, we see the story of Mary and Martha, you remember
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  them? And in Jesus was coming to
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  Martha's house. And so we have these two sisters
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  and they respond very differently to Jesus showing up
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  and they're spaced and Three is sitting at the feet of Jesus,
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  and Martha is busy rushing all around the place.
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  Trying to get all these things done and she's busy with all the
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  details and I like to say she's pulled in every direction
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  because that's how we feel a lot of the times, right?
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  I'm like, pulled in every direction.
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  So Martha gets mad and I can just imagine her like stomping
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  your foot like at her sisters, slamming the dishes, right?
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  All these, you know, passive-aggressive reactions.
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  And as she walks into the room and she almost just short of
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  Demands that Jesus make her sister get to work.
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  She says Lord like tell her to get to work and help which we
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  can totally relate to right. And I love Jesus responds.
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  He doesn't scold Martha. He doesn't shame her, which is
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  the way we feel. A lot of the times when were in
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  that busy brained, you know, type of thinking We feel like
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  God shaming us or he's going to scold us.
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  Jesus responds and he says, my dear Martha.
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  He calls her dear uses a term of endearment.
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  He responded gently to her. So if you're in that season of
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  life, where you're like, I'm going, I'm just doing good to
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  eat. I eat on the run.
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  I'm doing good to shower. I get it.
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  We've many of us have been there.
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  Understand that. God's not shaming.
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  You, he's not mad at you. He's not trying.
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  I'd to guilt trip you. He says my dear come to me, but
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  then Jesus says another thing and he says he says Martha you
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  are ain't in the Greek, it means this anxious and troubled about
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  all these details. But Mary she has found the one
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  thing worth being concerned about and I'm not going to take
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  it away from her. And so what Jesus is saying,
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  Mary has found the one And I like to say that Mariah really
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  found the purpose of life at Jesus feet.
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  And so, we get this image of, oh, my relationship with the
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  Lord is another thing. No, it's the thing.
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  But in every season of life, God's grace comes on our time,
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  our effort, whatever, we give to God the grace of the Lord comes
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  upon that and he multiplies it. It.
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  So there have been some seasons in my life.
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  I don't know if all of our listeners are female but I'm
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  sorry to any guys that are listening, right?
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  Well, they are because she speaks life women.
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  There we go. That's right.
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  It's sheets. It's like, yeah.
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  So menu walked into a woman's part.
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  Yeah, okay, okay. There have been seasons in my
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  life. Where the best I could do was
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  listening to my Bible while I was feeding the baby, there was
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  seasons in my life where the best I could Do is five minutes
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  before it before I started hearing screaming kids or or
• 25:34
  there were times where I would take my son outside in the yard
• 25:38
  and I would paste the yard and pray while he played.
• 25:42
  But the grace of the Lord Came Upon that and I want to
• 25:45
  encourage you. If you're listening, I just
• 25:49
  encourage you. Don't treat your relationship
• 25:51
  with the Lord. Like it's another thing.
• 25:53
  No, it's the thing. He's Grace will Empower you to
• 25:56
  be close to him but then he He also wants to walk with you
• 26:01
  through the rest of your day and do your day with him.
• 26:06
  Yeah. And and you will find that life
• 26:09
  is so much more fulfilling so much more rewarding so much more
• 26:12
  peaceful. We Begin.
• 26:14
  We get access to all the fruits of the spirit in that way and
• 26:18
  but it's Grace that enables us to do that.
• 26:21
  Hmm, I love that. And that just shows, like, don't
• 26:25
  compartmentalize God. He doesn't want to be.
• 26:29
  Lies dead, and he wants to be all in every detail.
• 26:33
  Every area of our life, every room of our heart everywhere.
• 26:37
  And, yeah, I, it's just, that's beautiful everything.
• 26:41
  You just said that intimacy with the Lord, that not looking at it
• 26:46
  as adding that to our list. But having not be the most
• 26:50
  important thing. The one thing that you've just
• 26:54
  shared, yeah. Right.
• 26:55
  And it may I add, can I add a quick before you were you No one
• 26:59
  is, is I think that the Lord is so much more gentle than we
• 27:06
  often realize. Oh, I know.
• 27:08
  And, and we think so many times that I didn't do this, I didn't
• 27:15
  do that. And like the Lord is going to
• 27:16
  strike us with a lightning bolt friend.
• 27:19
  That's Greek mythology. That's Roots, that's not the
• 27:22
  Lord that we serve. Yeah the Lord that we serve.
• 27:25
  He is gentle. He's compassionate, he's slow to
• 27:28
  get angry and that's the Old Testament that says that he is,
• 27:31
  he is full of unfailing, love, and so, the Lord is always
• 27:36
  saying, it's his goodness that leads us to repentance and he is
• 27:39
  always saying, come, come now, just come to me.
• 27:43
  I am gentle and lowly at heart. You'll find rest for your souls.
• 27:47
  So I just wanted to add that because I think that we get that
• 27:50
  image skewed, we really do that. Brings me back to a memory.
• 27:56
  I a time where I was poor In coffee.
• 28:00
  And I was going through that struggle of not having my time
• 28:04
  with God that intimate Quiet Moments.
• 28:08
  And I started feeling guilty, like shameful for for not giving
• 28:14
  that time that I know is beneficial and good.
• 28:18
  And I just felt like we're talking about God, holy spirit,
• 28:23
  being gentle, and how. He's a gentleman at just so
• 28:28
  tenderly. I heard him speak to my heart
• 28:33
  that I want to spend time with you.
• 28:36
  Have you ever thought about me wanting to Delight in you and
• 28:41
  spend time with you, instead of the other way around of I should
• 28:44
  be spending time with God. I uh I right and God was like
• 28:49
  no, like think of it this way. This is the perspective.
• 28:54
  Is that I want to spend time with you.
• 28:58
  I'm Sitting here on the couch, waiting for you to just come
• 29:02
  over and sit next to me and let's chat it out and and talk
• 29:06
  and it just completely just impacted my heart.
• 29:10
  So like deeply that I was just from here on out.
• 29:15
  I never struggled with that guilt and that, you know, shame
• 29:19
  of I'm not spending time because he showed me what he sees.
• 29:25
  You know, right. This is, this is how I see it.
• 29:29
  This is the truth that I want to spend time with you.
• 29:33
  And so we are talking about fear and anxiety.
• 29:36
  I mean, we're talking about shame in your book.
• 29:40
  You share about how it impacts our personal growth.
• 29:44
  So now we're kind of on the subject of Shame.
• 29:49
  Expand on that. Share what you have on shame.
• 29:54
  Yeah, yeah, I touch on a couple of different things.
• 29:56
  I know that anxiety is on the cover and it is heavily.
• 29:59
  Covered in the book. But really what I was trying to
• 30:02
  get people to do, is to move from one point into this active
• 30:07
  growing thriving, intimate relationship with the Lord.
• 30:10
  And so I'm like, okay, we're going to have to tackle a few
• 30:12
  things. One of those is anxiety because
• 30:14
  it's so big in our culture and it was really big for me.
• 30:17
  But we also touch on a few other things as well.
• 30:19
  And so shame came up and we're even discussing that just now in
• 30:24
  a certain way, I like to even lump like Mom guilt In with
• 30:29
  shape, you know, where I didn't do this.
• 30:32
  I didn't do that. I'm totally messing up my kids
• 30:36
  probably not it. And, and, you know, we really
• 30:40
  have and maybe even maybe even a little bit and maybe I'm, you
• 30:46
  might think I'm reaching, I don't know.
• 30:47
  But social media comparison, I don't know, even maybe adds a
• 30:52
  little bit to shame. It's all this feeling of.
• 30:55
  I'm not good enough and I'm not worthy and maybe can I tell you
• 30:59
  this today? That that feeling of I'm not
• 31:04
  worthy is not biblical at all. It's not scriptural because are
• 31:11
  worth isn't established on Art our own character our own bases.
• 31:19
  Yeah. Actually Jesus exchanged his
• 31:23
  perfect life for our life so are worth.
• 31:29
  Is only defined by the one who paid for it.
• 31:34
  So we don't even get to dictate our worth because we didn't pay
• 31:38
  for our own life, we couldn't it's based on the life of Jesus.
• 31:44
  And that's why Hebrews 4 says. Now we can boldly come to the
• 31:50
  throne of grace. And so, when we look at that
• 31:52
  idea of Shame, Shame pushes got away and says, I can't come.
• 31:59
  Come to you because and and really the answer is always,
• 32:06
  always come to me. The answer is always come
• 32:10
  closer. I like to say that prayer is the
• 32:15
  first answer to every problem. Yeah, but I defined prayer just
• 32:20
  a little differently than some most people Define prayer.
• 32:23
  I think as a conversation with god which it definitely is that
• 32:29
  That, but the Apostle Paul told us to pray without ceasing.
• 32:32
  So if prayer is only a conversation with god, then how
• 32:36
  can we pray without ceasing? I like to call prayer as
• 32:40
  connection with God. To me prayer is a state of being
• 32:46
  connected with the Holy Spirit, which we can go in and out of,
• 32:49
  depending on how aware we are of his presence with us all day and
• 32:56
  so, but shame. Shame actually pushes against
• 33:01
  that and says I I can't because in fills in the blank and some
• 33:06
  arbitrary and it may feel like it's real.
• 33:10
  It may feel like it's a valid I can't because, but it's not
• 33:15
  scriptural. Yeah, our relationship with God.
• 33:19
  Our value in our worth is is actually defined by the life of
• 33:25
  Jesus. And so I just want to encourage
• 33:27
  you today that No matter what's going on, the answer is, is come
• 33:32
  close to the Lord. And and through Jesus you have
• 33:38
  every right to access to him and access has access to all of the
• 33:44
  promises of his word. Every right so, good.
• 33:48
  Amen, to that. Whoo, go girl.
• 33:51
  Alright, alright, something you shared in grace to grows that,
• 33:56
  you can be fruitful and Seizing our life.
• 33:59
  Yeah. You expand on that and then,
• 34:02
  we'll finish up with a takeaway. Awesome, awesome.
• 34:05
  Well, that's actually from Psalm chapter one which I was just
• 34:09
  reading today. Psalm chapter 1 is the key verse
• 34:13
  behind my Ministry Grace to grow, which a lot of that is
• 34:19
  really the key idea Direction but behind the book, Grace to
• 34:25
  grow and I love psalm. Chapter one, actually have this
• 34:29
  big piece of art that I did. That is not that amazing, but I
• 34:35
  did it and it's a tree and it says Psalm chapter 1 and it
• 34:40
  became the basis for my logo for Grace to grow.
• 34:44
  And it says this, it says that those that Delight in the law of
• 34:48
  the Lord meditating on it day and night will be like a tree
• 34:53
  planted by the riverbank. And it says that their leaves
• 34:58
  Nether never wither, they bear fruit in each season.
• 35:03
  I think I flipped those lines they bear fruit in each season,
• 35:06
  their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all that they
• 35:10
  do. And so, actually through
• 35:13
  connection with the Lord, through what scriptures tells us
• 35:18
  meditating on his word. Now, you remember, you might
• 35:22
  remember that King David said Lord let the meditation of my
• 35:26
  heart be pleasing to you. Oh, women, we can meditate on a
• 35:30
  lot, our brains get to going. And they follow these tracks and
• 35:34
  a lot of the times. Those tracks, don't align with
• 35:38
  the word of God. They're not scriptural and they
• 35:42
  are not helpful. They're harmful and I get it.
• 35:46
  I battle with with my thought patterns, you know, just
• 35:51
  spiraling off into, we can in five minutes.
• 35:54
  Be off in Never Land somewhere and the world ending.
• 35:58
  Borrow and it just it having a whole conversation in our minds
• 36:02
  that never happened. But scripture promises us that
• 36:06
  when we mul over meditate over the word of the Lord that we can
• 36:12
  actually be fruitful in every season in some translations that
• 36:18
  says in his season. So it leads me to to think about
• 36:23
  God's timing like we discussed already.
• 36:26
  And so I just want to encourage Yeah.
• 36:28
  Yeah, every listener be with the Lord, prioritize your
• 36:33
  relationship with God. I know it feels like you don't
• 36:38
  have time, A lot of the times, but remember the god that we
• 36:42
  serve, he actually multiplied, the five loaves of bread and two
• 36:46
  fish and stretched it to feed the multitudes, right?
• 36:50
  The god that we serve actually spoke in calm the storm and in
• 36:54
  that same story whenever they were hit, Jesus and the
• 36:58
  disciples were in the boat in the storm.
• 37:01
  If you read it, it says that afterwards.
• 37:03
  They looked up and they had arrived at their destination.
• 37:07
  So he's the author of time. He's the Redeemer of time, it in
• 37:12
  all of these things. Don't I just encourage you to
• 37:14
  remember that when we prioritize the Lord I really feel like we
• 37:19
  are more empowered to walk in his grace, the rest of the day
• 37:23
  and you will be surprised at how he multiplies and Ben's time I'm
• 37:28
  in your favor and how he stretches and multiplies your
• 37:34
  efforts. And when we do that, and we're
• 37:37
  meditating on his word were thinking about what his word
• 37:40
  says we bring our thoughts back to the Lord and back to his
• 37:45
  word, scripture gives us a promise that our leaves will
• 37:49
  never wither. Picture.
• 37:52
  What a what? A withering tree looks like,
• 37:54
  right? It gives us promise.
• 37:56
  They were always receiving the refreshing that we need.
• 38:00
  That gentle flowing river. It gives us the promise that
• 38:03
  will bear fruit in every single season.
• 38:05
  Even those really really, really hard ones.
• 38:09
  And that we will prosper in all that we do.
• 38:12
  And so, hopefully, that is a good reminder for us today.
• 38:19
  Yes. I mean, Amen.
• 38:21
  To all Is so rich Crystal. Thank you so much for sharing,
• 38:26
  your wisdom and encouragement and your message with us.
• 38:30
  I'm so filled up right now. You don't like listener is to, I
• 38:36
  mean, we I hope so. Oh, so filled right now I'm just
• 38:40
  like sitting under you're teaching, you're such a good
• 38:43
  Storyteller and you have brought new insights to some of these
• 38:49
  stories that I have never even. Even heard of and do my grasp
• 38:55
  when I was reading it. And I just thank you.
• 38:58
  Thank you so much for sharing and having this opportunity for
• 39:02
  you to come on here. It's such an honor to have you.
• 39:06
  It really is my pleasure and we say that casually.
• 39:08
  But no, it really is my pleasure.
• 39:10
  It is an honor to get to do this life with the Lord and it is an
• 39:15
  honor to hopefully share some of those things with with our
• 39:17
  listeners today. And I hope that they were
• 39:19
  encouraged and built up and And ready to just do this life with
• 39:23
  Jesus. Yeah, they have to be built up.
• 39:28
  And where can people get your book and connect with you?
• 39:32
  Yes, absolutely. Well, we are on all of the
• 39:35
  social channels. You can find us there Grace to
• 39:38
  grow dot TV. And you can go grab your copy of
• 39:42
  your devotional Grace to grow 40, devotions to release
• 39:46
  anxiety, and dive into purpose. On our website, Grace to grow
• 39:50
  Gra. A c e, 2T 0 grow dot TV like
• 39:56
  television and you can purchase it there.
• 39:58
  You can also purchase it. Wherever books are sold.
• 40:01
  It just landed in Barnes and Nobles stores across the country
• 40:05
  recently. So that's super exciting.
• 40:07
  And I hope that you grab a copy but also consider grabbing a
• 40:12
  copy for a friend because we've been having so many people come
• 40:15
  back and say, yeah, I just need one and then they'll come back
• 40:19
  and literally by 510. Sometimes up to 20 more books.
• 40:24
  And so, I think that they're just wanting to, to help friends
• 40:28
  and co-workers and family members and so in quantity,
• 40:31
  incurred due to consider that not just for sales because
• 40:35
  that's literally been happening. People coming back and buy more
• 40:38
  books. So I hope that it blesses,
• 40:40
  whoever picks it up and if not, then we have free encouragement
• 40:45
  on socials everyday and also hopefully this podcast, she
• 40:48
  speaks life, you can get encouragement.
• 40:51
  Here every week now. Well, your book is beautiful
• 40:55
  inside and out and I'm just thanking God that from that
• 41:00
  article on the passion translation that you did not
• 41:04
  quit. And give up because you have
• 41:06
  such a gift of writing and speaking and God just using you.
• 41:12
  Thank you. Absolutely.
• 41:13
  I had a great time today. Thanks so much for having me on
• 41:17
  Thank you so much for listening today and I trust that God has
• 41:20
  encouraged you through this story.
• 41:23
  Did you know this podcast is on YouTube, hop on there and
• 41:27
  subscribe and you can see a live recording of each episode and
• 41:32
  for more information on this ministry and to access free
• 41:35
  downloads, please visit my website at Jamie Elizabeth.com
• 41:40
  that's ja, yme Elizabeth.com and let's connect Beyond this
• 41:45
  podcast by To my Instagram handle.
• 41:48
  Jamie Elizabeth she speaks life or Facebook until next time my
• 41:53
  friend. I hope God reveals himself
• 41:55
  through your own life story. To my Instagram handle.
• 41:48
  Jamie Elizabeth she speaks life or Facebook until next time my
• 41:53
  friend. I hope God reveals himself
• 41:55
  through your own life story.