Latest / Arise Women of God / Trusting God as the Author of Your Story

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Trusting God as the Author of Your Story · Arise Women of God

• 0:00
  Do you trust God to write your story?
• 0:03
  Do you trust him with the beginning, the middle, and the end?
• 0:08
  If not, how can we get to a place where we can trust God to write our story, even in the hard parts?
• 0:16
  Stay tuned because that's what we're going to talk about.
• 0:20
  Welcome to Bible Women in Bathrobes, the podcast where faith meets comfort.
• 0:27
  Join us Tuesday morning as the gals from Women warriors of Light and their guests don bathrobes and dive into the inspiring stories of women in the Bible and the teachings of Jesus Christ.
• 0:39
  From Esther's bravery to the Sermon on the Mount, we explore it all with warmth, laughter, sisterhood and maybe even a few sleepy eyed moments.
• 0:50
  Tune in live or at your leisure as we learn lessons from Scripture which empower women today.
• 0:58
  Foreign welcome to Bible Women and Bathrobes.
• 1:06
  I am your host Tiffany Fletcher, and we are excited to talk to you today about another name of Christ.
• 1:13
  With us we have Jen Brewer, awesome board member.
• 1:17
  Welcome Jen.
• 1:18
  Thank you so much.
• 1:19
  It's great to be here.
• 1:21
  And we have Tamara Anderson, who is a founder of Women warriors of Light.
• 1:26
  Welcome Tamara.
• 1:27
  Oh, I'm so excited that we get to talk about this beautiful topic today.
• 1:33
  Wonderful.
• 1:33
  I'm excited too.
• 1:35
  Tamara was mentioning before we started that we're all writers, so the idea of Christ being an author and a finisher of our faith, that is a awesome thing for us to talk about and we're excited to share our
• 1:50
  thoughts today.
• 1:51
  So in our previous podcast we talked about how we could be creators and Tamara talked a little bit about the creation process of writing, which was really beneficial.
• 2:02
  And we may go in that today.
• 2:03
  But go back and listen to that if you haven't listened to that, because I think it really leads into the idea of Christ being our author and our finisher.
• 2:11
  So let's get started.
• 2:12
  And Tamara, let's start with you.
• 2:14
  Awesome.
• 2:15
  One verse that has kind of stood out to me as we've been preparing for this episode is found in Hebrews chapter 5, verse 8.
• 2:23
  Though he were a son, he's talking about Jesus here.
• 2:26
  Yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered, and being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him.
• 2:41
  And what I love about these verses because it's mentioned that he becomes the only author of eternal salvation, but it also says that while he was in his story, he learned some things.
• 2:58
  He learned some things through obedience and he also learned in his suffering.
• 3:05
  And that is fine when you're reading somebody else's story, but not so fine when you're in your own.
• 3:13
  I don't know.
• 3:14
  And so I think it's.
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  First of all, it's important for us to realize that if we're trusting Jesus in our story, that he has experienced all the emotions and all of the hardship and all that we experience.
• 3:30
  He knows from personal experience, he knows what that feels like to be lonely.
• 3:36
  He knows what it feels like to be broken.
• 3:38
  He knows what it feels like to be overcome by darkness.
• 3:42
  He knows what it feels like to have friends betray you.
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  He knows what it feels like.
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  All the things that are the deepest, darkest moments of our lives.
• 3:52
  He knows.
• 3:54
  And when we feel to bang on the clouds of heaven and say, what is going on up there?
• 4:01
  What?
• 4:02
  Why do I have to go through this?
• 4:04
  While you're sobbing, you can tell I've been through this.
• 4:09
  God, why do I have two children with autism?
• 4:12
  Wasn't one enough?
• 4:14
  Why can't we be a normal family?
• 4:18
  And you're banging on the doors of heaven saying, why, why, why, why?
• 4:22
  And you're weeping and you're wondering and you're mad.
• 4:26
  These two give us experience, right?
• 4:30
  These things that we're passing through, that we're suffering in our story.
• 4:36
  He knows, and it's hard to trust him in that process.
• 4:43
  But I also like how it says he is the author of eternal salvation.
• 4:47
  We have to realize the whole purpose of the story and what Jesus's goal is.
• 4:56
  Jesus's goal is salvation.
• 4:59
  He wants to get us there.
• 5:02
  He wants to get us from the beginning.
• 5:04
  He's also known as the beginning and the end, from the beginning to the end, through those horrible cliffhangers that we hate, through all of the character growth, which is hard and awful, but that's those.
• 5:22
  I'm sorry, I've kind of just kind of gone off on my little soapbox here.
• 5:26
  I.
• 5:27
  I love that.
• 5:28
  I think that that is so perfect, and that's a great place to start.
• 5:30
  I think that once we recognize, understand Christ's story, it's much easier to understand our own story and how he fits into it and how we fit into his.
• 5:42
  Because they go together.
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  Those stories go together.
• 5:45
  I.
• 5:45
  I think it's so interesting.
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  It's important for us to understand his story that, that he was he here.
• 5:51
  He was God, and he came down in the form of a babe.
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  And he had a earthly mother and a heavenly father.
• 5:59
  A heavenly father so that he could go through the struggles of being able to.
• 6:05
  To take his life back up again.
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  But a mortal mom, he had to be born to a mortal mother because he had to Feel all of the mortal things that we feel.
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  He had to experience that in his own story.
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  That was part of his story, the suffering.
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  It was the most important part of his story, his suffering, because it is what made it possible for us to overcome as well.
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  And so our suffering is swallowed up in his.
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  And as we recognize that in his story, it makes the suffering in our story a little bit easier because we know that he knows how to succor us.
• 6:46
  And it's beautiful that in his story, to an earthly mother, he had to have that body so he could die, but he also had a heavenly father so he could raise himself back up again.
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  And that, again, is a beautiful part of his story that also is incorporated into our story if we let it, if we allow him to be that author and finisher in our story.
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  So thank you.
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  That's beautiful.
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  Jen, what are your thoughts?
• 7:13
  My thoughts are.
• 7:14
  I just went off on the author part.
• 7:17
  Most of my books are nonfiction books.
• 7:20
  I delved into the world of fiction of kind of a parable a number of years ago.
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  And going through it, it's a whole different ballgame to write to write a storyline.
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  And I had to dive into the hero's journey, where you go through this whole cycle of everything's great and then your call to action, and then la la la.
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  And the first draft of my story was so bland and it.
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  I hate conflict.
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  Movies drive me crazy.
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  You know, I think, why can't you just live like you are now within the first 10 minutes, you know?
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  But would we sit through a movie that just shows people living life in La La land?
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  Like the hero's journey is what makes the book.
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  That's what makes the story, the growth and the character arcs.
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  I love a good redemption story.
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  I love the darkest night when you think all is lost.
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  And then, boom, out of the blue, something happens, and you, you know, you return home a whole different person.
• 8:24
  And that growth, that happens.
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  And so in my own story that I was writing, I had to keep adding conflict.
• 8:31
  You know, people kept telling me, no, you have to add more conflict.
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  You have to add more struggle.
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  You have to add all these elements that personally just make me cringe to go through them.
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  Holy cow.
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  I have realized Christ loves the hero journey in our authorship.
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  He loves a cliffhanger.
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  He loves to step in at the 11th hour.
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  He loves to step in on the fourth watch on to Take.
• 9:01
  I know you talked about this a few episodes ago.
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  Of the storms.
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  One thing that hits me is the storm when the apostles are riding across.
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  So I'M thinking about this.
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  Think about the story.
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  Story as a hero's journey.
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  As the authors, you know, of Christ were.
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  The author writing this out, he's watching his apostles struggle for hours.
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  It says.
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  He sat there on the hill.
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  He could see them in this massive storm.
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  The Sea of Galilee is not massive.
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  And they were struggling against these waves for hours.
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  That tells you how bad this storm was.
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  And then he decides, okay, let's play with them a little bit.
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  Let's go walk to them on the water and maybe we'll freak them out.
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  So he's walking on.
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  They think he's a ghost.
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  They get scared.
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  Peter stands up and says, if it's you, let me come to you.
• 9:57
  And one thing hit me just last year when I was reading through this, I had always envisioned Peter's walking on water.
• 10:03
  It's something you've never done before.
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  Christ, as your author is saying, yeah, you can do this.
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  Let's write this into the script.
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  Absolutely.
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  Come.
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  I always pictured it being nice, glassy water.
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  That would be.
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  If you're doing something you've never done before, you want to do the baseline.
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  It was raging storm.
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  While Peter was learning this new skill.
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  Like, really, Christ, you couldn't have put in a little chapter of Smooth to let him build this up?
• 10:32
  No, he learns it, then cry, Then Peter falters and falls.
• 10:37
  Like I imagine just in this authorship in Christ's head.
• 10:42
  I may be a bit too reverent for this, but him just going, oh, they're gonna love this part when he falls, you know, when should I catch him?
• 10:50
  When he's starting to fall, when he's drowning.
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  Oh, this will be good.
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  Like, just as a kid, I just stopped that.
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  Whoa, he's drowning.
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  Save him, Jesus, save him.
• 11:00
  And Christ just.
• 11:02
  I picture him nonchalantly just reaching out.
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  Oh, hi, you know, welcome back to air.
• 11:08
  Welcome back to the water.
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  It wasn't until they both made it back to the boat that Jesus calmed the storm.
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  And I thought about that often.
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  I'm like, dude, he's learning a new skill.
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  Like, ease up a bit.
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  Jesus loves a good story.
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  He loves to put all of the elements in all of the excitement, elements that keep us on the edge of our seat.
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  And maybe that's where he wants us to be, is on the edge of our seat.
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  Because that's what keeps us tuned to him as the author.
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  And I've learned when I'm going through hard things, my.
• 11:45
  My knee jerk reaction is to play the.
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  Why me?
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  I hate this.
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  Just be done.
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  Okay?
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  I'll put that out there.
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  That's me.
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  If I let myself become my better self in those moments, then I'm able to get to the edge of my seat and actually, dare I say, get a little excited and think, oh, Christ, how are you going to
• 12:07
  pull this one out?
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  Because I'm.
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  I'm not seeing an end here.
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  I'm.
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  I'm like Moses on the Red Sea.
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  Egyptians are behind me.
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  Theoretically speaking, how are you going to pull this one out?
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  And then, because he's the author and once I get that relationship established, the control can be off me.
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  I'll do what I can.
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  But he's.
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  He's the guy.
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  He's.
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  He's the one who's gonna write the story if I just turn the pen over to him.
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  The struggles that come in life are when I grab the pen from him and try to write my own.
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  And then he laughs and he's like, oh, it's a good thing we have delete button.
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  You know, here we go.
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  Let's get back to the real story.
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  So I.
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  I just.
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  I've learned to tentatively trust him.
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  It's long and hard of when I don't trust him.
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  I learn the hard way.
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  But, man, he's a phenomenal author.
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  He knows how to write a good story, and he's gonna put all the elements in there, unfortunately.
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  Well.
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  And isn't it great, though?
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  That is.
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  I feel like the greatest part about letting God be the author of our story and letting Christ be the author of our story is that, as Tamara said, he knows the beginning from the end.
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  He.
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  He.
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  He's already said that.
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  He's like, I know the beginning and the end.
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  So, like, you can trust me with your story.
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  So.
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  And the thing that I love about him, like, even in his stories and the story of others, is he.
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  Steele is very mindful of the characters, and he's very mindful of what they need.
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  And like, take the story of.
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  Of Mary and Martha, right?
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  Like he.
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  When Lazarus died and he.
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  He wasn't there to.
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  To help Lazarus, and he died.
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  Mary and Martha, you know, came out and they cried and he wept with them.
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  He knew that he was going to walk into that home and raise him from the dead, raise their brother from the dead.
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  He knew that was part of the story, but still he took the time to weep with them because in that part of their story, they were crying and they needed comfort and.
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  And that's how amazing he is.
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  Yes, he loves the cliffhangers.
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  He loves the hooks, but he also loves the tenderness and he also recognizes the needs of the characters that are in the stories that he writes.
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  And so when we allow him to be our author and have the pen, he will recognize those needs.
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  And those needs may mean that we are going to have to walk on crazy water, may mean that he'll let us walk on still water.
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  But however it is, we can know that he will be walking with us from whatever water he invites us to tread on.
• 14:51
  So that's the beauty of letting him be the author.
• 14:53
  Tamara, any thoughts?
• 14:56
  Oh, yes.
• 14:58
  Um, I'm going to segue us into another verse of Scripture.
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  In Hebrews, chapter 12, verses 1 and 2.
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  This is where we get the phrase author and finisher.
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  And so I wanted to be sure we talk about this.
• 15:09
  This says, I'm going to start midway in verse one.
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  Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who, for
• 15:29
  the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
• 15:41
  And I love that here we are pulling in Jesus's example again, that for the joy that was set before him, for the joy of saving you and me and all those we love and all those that we don't
• 15:58
  love, for that joy, he endured the hardest parts of his story.
• 16:07
  And then with that hope, he gives us that hope at the end of verse 2 and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
• 16:15
  Jesus had to get through his darkest night.
• 16:19
  How did he do it?
• 16:22
  He remembered what he was working for, what the suffering was for.
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  He remembered you and me and every single one of us and said, I am suffering for Tamara in this moment so that someday she can be with me again.
• 16:42
  And I'm suffering for Jen so that I can be with her in her struggles and be able to empower her so that someday she can be with me again.
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  And Tiffany and John and Martin and everybody else out there.
• 16:59
  He thought of us, suffered for our mistakes so that when we felt alone, we wouldn't have to be.
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  Because he can be there with us in our hardest moments and help us through them and strengthen us and empower us in all those things that he can do, so that ultimately we too, can kneel before the throne
• 17:25
  of God with gratitude and thought alone, because He.
• 17:31
  He will be with us even then.
• 17:33
  And so I am thankful for what it's teaching us here in these Verses this is the process of salvation.
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  This is what Jesus's goal is.
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  Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily besets us.
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  That's what he wants.
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  That's what he wants us to give him.
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  And run with patience the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus with.
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  For joy, remembering that end.
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  The end goal is salvation, and we'll be okay.
• 18:06
  It's not easy, but it will all work out, right?
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  That's beautiful.
• 18:12
  I.
• 18:13
  I love.
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  This is some of my favorite.
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  One of my favorite verses because it, it shows if you think about Christ like He in that garden of Gethsemane, how much the weight of the world must have pulled him down.
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  So much so that three times he asked for the cup to be removed.
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  He asked for his disciples to stay awake and wait with him.
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  And he.
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  It was so burdensome and so hard.
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  And he and I love the patience.
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  Patient like he was so patient in running that race, you know, he went for a little while, fell upon his knees, asked for the cup to be removed, said, nevertheless, nevertheless, not my will, but Thine got up, went
• 18:57
  back to his disciples, said, can you not watch with me?
• 19:01
  He talked to him about the importance of prayer and to overcome temptation.
• 19:06
  He talked about the flesh is the.
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  The Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak like his.
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  Like his flesh bleeding from every port because of the heaviness and the suffering that he had.
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  And to think that in that who, for the joy that was set before him, endured it like it was joy that got him through suffering that we will never, ever know in this life or the next.
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  And he invites us as authors of our own faith and our own journey, our own story, to experience that joy too.
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  So, like, how do we do that?
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  How.
• 19:51
  What joy can we place before us to help us get through our deepest suffering?
• 19:57
  I think that for me, it's Christ, right?
• 20:00
  Like letting him be the author and anchoring my faith in him, knowing that he is the hope that I need to help me get through.
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  And he will give me the joy that I need to move through my story and my suffering as gracefully and as patiently as he did.
• 20:20
  I think that, that if we can recognize that, that it is joy that got him through and it's joy that will get us through those suffering, the suffering parts of our story, I think it will bless our lives
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  in a truly profound way and, and it will help us to also spread that joy to others in their times of struggle.
• 20:40
  Jen, thoughts I kept reflecting on when you were kept saying the joy that comes And Tamara, when you were talking about it being on heaven, saying, what.
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  What is going on?
• 20:55
  And I can imagine him saying, oh, honey, you're in chapter four.
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  Like, just.
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  Just hang on.
• 21:06
  Because chapter 25 is glorious and beautiful, but if you don't go through chapter four, you won't truly see how glorious it really is.
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  So I need you to be here so that you can experience the pure joy.
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  And I.
• 21:28
  Okay, this may get me banished from any book club ever in the history.
• 21:35
  True confession.
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  I read the last page of every book first.
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  I.
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  Hello, my name is Jen.
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  I am a last page first reader.
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  There, there.
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  There you go.
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  My true confession.
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  Because there's something in me that when I'm in the depths of the sorrow of the conflicts, I have to know that it's gonna turn out okay.
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  That for some reason that makes it okay for me.
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  I love reading audiobooks.
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  Kill me because I can't read the.
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  The end.
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  There's something that makes it possible for me emotionally to get through the horrible parts of a book, knowing that in the end there is redemption, knowing that in the end this character is going to be okay.
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  Like, just.
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  Just let me know they're going to be okay, and then I'll walk with them through the journey.
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  Christ knows that he knows the last page and he can walk with us through the depths and say, keep walking, keep reading, keep going.
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  Because guess what?
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  The last page is glorious and beautiful.
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  And I want you to get there and I want you to experience it in all of its glory.
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  So just hang with me because I've seen the end and you can do it.
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  I.
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  Confession.
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  I am the same way.
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  I read my husband.
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  Like, I don't.
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  Maybe it's a writer thing.
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  I don't know.
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  Maybe it's a non fiction writer thing because I also write nonfiction.
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  And.
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  And I'm like, I just need to know that they're going to be okay.
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  Otherwise I cannot.
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  I cannot go through the hard parts if I don't know that it's going to be okay.
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  And I think that's what Christ does for me.
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  He helps me see the end from the beginning.
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  Because I know that the victory was already won, right?
• 23:31
  The victory was already won in Gethsemane.
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  I can read his hardest part of his life.
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  I can read that.
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  And I know that he overcame.
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  And because he overcame, so can I.
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  And that is the most beautiful part of any of our story, is that when we let Christ be the author of it, he with him, we will also overcome.
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  We will also be made whole.
• 23:57
  I Love that last, that last scripture in Hebrews that, that Tamara shared at the beginning, it says, and being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation.
• 24:10
  We know the end of our story because Christ perfectly orchestrated his own and made it possible for us to have a good ending in our story.
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  So I know what the ending is and I can go through the hard parts because I know, I know what the ending is.
• 24:30
  And Christ is my author of that.
• 24:32
  And I'm so grateful.
• 24:34
  I just have a story I feel Lord needs me to tell.
• 24:37
  I'm going to take you back to a 20 year old Tamara who went through a broken engagement.
• 24:44
  I remember sitting outside in my car one evening weeping to God, feeling like I would never experience happiness and joy ever again in my entire life.
• 24:59
  Just weeping and crying and saying, God, why?
• 25:03
  Why do I have to go through this?
• 25:05
  Will I always feel this broken?
• 25:08
  Well, I always feel the sad and just begging for some help, for some perspective.
• 25:15
  And as I was sitting there feeling all these dark emotions, I heard a whisper and it said, tamara, someday you'll understand.
• 25:30
  And then I had a 0.1 second vision of Tamra happy.
• 25:37
  And I was with someone and I couldn't see who, but I felt joyful.
• 25:43
  I felt so happy.
• 25:44
  And it was that fast and it was gone.
• 25:46
  And like seriously, that fast.
• 25:50
  Someday you'll understand.
• 25:52
  But in the moment I didn't.
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  And in the moment I was grieving.
• 25:58
  I wasn't grieving alone though.
• 26:00
  And it was that perspective of, I'm going to give you just a taste.
• 26:07
  Someday you are going to be happy again.
• 26:09
  Someday this will all be behind you.
• 26:12
  And that did come to pass in the moment I wanted to understand.
• 26:17
  I think I said back to him, but I want to understand now.
• 26:22
  You know, I want to understand now.
• 26:24
  But we can't.
• 26:26
  And I think that is what Jesus can do for us in those hard moments.
• 26:30
  We have to trust him with that pen and say, I don't want to be here, but I don't know how.
• 26:37
  To get out of this.
• 26:39
  I don't see a way out right now.
• 26:41
  I'm so depressed I can't even.
• 26:43
  I don't even want to get up tomorrow morning, you know, because I just wake up with a broken heart all over again.
• 26:48
  And I repeat that week after week after week.
• 26:51
  And I'm tired of feeling broken.
• 26:54
  And it's hard to trust him with the pen in those moments.
• 26:57
  I want to write myself my happy ending right now, when God has got our eternal salvation in mind, right?
• 27:05
  He knew that someday I would find my husband and that I would be happy again.
• 27:10
  And I do.
• 27:11
  You know what?
• 27:11
  I go back and I thank God all the time, thank you for helping me not marry that guy and waiting and being patient and finding Justin.
• 27:21
  That was what I needed to go through.
• 27:23
  You know what I love about all of those experiences is in the guts of the hard time, he provided support and he provided.
• 27:34
  He provided a little help, like Christ was given an angel in his deepest, darkest time to support him.
• 27:43
  The.
• 27:43
  I think of the story of Elijah, when Elijah was being hunted by Jezebel, and he goes out, he wants to die.
• 27:51
  He just sits down by a juniper tree and says, this is it.
• 27:54
  I'm going to die.
• 27:56
  And God says, take a nap.
• 27:58
  Send an angel.
• 28:00
  Here's some cake.
• 28:02
  You know, take a rest.
• 28:03
  Have some food.
• 28:05
  I got you.
• 28:07
  Take a break.
• 28:08
  That He.
• 28:09
  He gives us those moments.
• 28:11
  There's.
• 28:11
  There's a little meme that came around that I love when you talked about Tiffany, about that.
• 28:17
  He cried.
• 28:18
  And it says he cried.
• 28:19
  He knew Lazarus was dead before he got the news, but still he cried.
• 28:23
  He knew Lazarus would be alive again in moments, but still he cried.
• 28:27
  He knew death here is not forever.
• 28:30
  He knew eternity and the kingdom better than anyone else could have, yet.
• 28:33
  He wept because the world is full of pain and regret and loss and depression and devastation.
• 28:40
  He wept because knowing the end of the story does not mean you can't cry at the sad parts.
• 28:47
  He's there with us.
• 28:48
  He's living it with us.
• 28:50
  And he's able to insert those moments of support right when we need it the most, when we're in our chapter fours.
• 28:57
  He's still able to provide that little moment of support for us.
• 29:01
  I love that.
• 29:02
  And he knows because he knows the beginning from the end.
• 29:06
  He's very much aware of what we need in the moment.
• 29:10
  We are definitely out of time.
• 29:12
  So let's start with you, Jen.
• 29:14
  What are your takeaways from today?
• 29:17
  So many takeaways of love and hope and just knowing that the last page is coming, knowing that all.
• 29:28
  All good books need the trauma, need the struggle, need the strain.
• 29:34
  But all good books do have a last page, and they do have a glorious redemption.
• 29:39
  And if I want anybody to be the author, there's no greater being in the universe that I could ever conceive than having Christ be the one to pen that.
• 29:51
  Beautiful.
• 29:51
  Thank you, Tamara.
• 29:53
  Oh, I just echo, Jen, that Jesus has walked with me through my hardest moments.
• 30:00
  I'm thankful I'm not alone in my story and that all of us will get a happy ending.
• 30:07
  All of us will get a happy ending.
• 30:09
  I think there's a, there's a quote that I heard that said there's always a happy ending.
• 30:13
  If you haven't, don't have a happy ending, it's because you haven't got, it's not the end of your story yet or something like that.
• 30:18
  I know I butchered it, but, but that's, that's what I think of.
• 30:20
  I think of, you know, we all, because of Christ, will have a happy ending.
• 30:26
  That is the joy that is before us is knowing that he can be the author and finisher of our faith because he is the alpha and the Omega, which is the most important part.
• 30:39
  That is literally what the beginning and the end, the most important part of our story.
• 30:44
  And if we keep him as our focus, then even in the hard parts of our story, we will be able to overcome and experience joy.
• 30:53
  As counterintuitive as that seems for the joy set before us, we can find joy in those challenging moments of our story as we let God have the pen.
• 31:04
  My challenge this week is to ask Heavenly Father how He can help you write your story and what he wants you to create this week in your story to help you be the disciple he needs you to be.
• 31:18
  That is the challenge for this week.
• 31:20
  Write your story with him in mind and until next time, God bless you.
• 31:26
  Thanks for tuning in to Bible Women and Bathrobes, hosted by Women warriors of Light.
• 31:32
  We've loved exploring the stories of remarkable women or the teachings of the Savior today with you.
• 31:39
  If today's episode brought someone special to mind, be sure to spread the word and don't forget to hit that subscribe button so you never miss a moment of inspiration and sisterhood.
• 31:50
  Just a friendly reminder.
• 31:52
  All opinions we share are entirely personal as we are trying to decipher an opinion.
• 31:58
  Bible teachings just like you are.
• 32:00
  Until next time, stay faithful and may your journey be blessed and illuminated by God's love.