Latest / How to Faith a Life Podcast with Faith Womack / I was Tired of Waiting on God...with Kaci Nicole Harlow

Transcript

I was Tired of Waiting on God...with Kaci Nicole Harlow · How to Faith a Life Podcast with Faith Womack

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: If you're listening to the How to Faith a Life podcast, where we wrestle with questions on how to live a life of faith, from everything from books to Bible studies, even Bible study tips.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_01: This is your place to wrestle with the hard questions and dive deep into what scripture really says for the Christian walk.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_01: Make sure you've subscribed to this podcast and your favorite podcast streaming services.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_01: Review this podcast so other people can find it and share with other believers who want to ask the hard questions.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_01: Now, with all that said, let's begin.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_01: Hi friends, welcome back to the podcast.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_01: Today we have somebody that I know you guys are very familiar with.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_01: Today we have a fellow YouTube girly, Casey Nicole Harlow.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_01: It's been so cool to kind of, I don't know, I feel like we've grown up on YouTube together a little bit.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_01: From like the very beginning, her videos would show up alongside my videos, and so I would watch her videos.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_01: And we got, I don't know when we first touched base, but it's been so cool to watch the Lord work through Casey and to see the Lord.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_01: I believe I first like started following you when like before you were even married.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_01: So much of your life has happened in the last couple years, and so many cool things.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_01: Now we have so much better coming out September 22nd, and it's just so cool to see your.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know, I felt like when I was reading it, it was like your heart on a platter a little bit.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_01: You're very, I said this off camera.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not just saying this because we're recording, guys, but truly, I feel like Casey's one of those people where I feel like I know her in real life, or I feel like I know you, Casey, in real life because you're just so down to earth in your content.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: You're you don't put out anything that's half-hearted or performative.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_01: And I really feel like this book is a really good example of that.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_01: Will you share a little bit about your heart behind this book and what it's meant and the journey that God's taken you on through it?
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: First of all, I just have to say today thank you so much for having me on.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: I agree with everything you said.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: It's just been such a blessing to grow alongside of you, and you have truly been such an encouragement to me in this process of getting ready to put a book into the world for the first time.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm just grateful for you and your ministry and excited to chat.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, as for so much better, it was born out of a waiting season.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: I really growing up always just wanted to be married, to be a wife, to be a mom, and I had a plan.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: I was gonna be married young, I was going to go to college at the very latest to get my MRS degree, graduate with that ring on my finger.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: That was my plan, but as we know, God's plans are often different than our plans, and so I did graduate college, did not graduate with MRS degree, and instead I walked through a 10-year journey of having this deep desire to find the man that God had for me to be married and watching best friend after best friend after best friend get married and then eventually have a baby number one, two, three, four, and just you know, longing for that myself in that area of my life, really there being no movement in it.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: And I will just say that I know that you know, my story isn't terribly uncommon.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: That's a story that so many of us have either lived or are currently living, whether that is with similar circumstances of longing for a relationship, longing for marriage, or longing for something else, whether that's a baby or for healing or for a loved one to come to faith.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: I think that all of us are waiting on something throughout all of life.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: And some of those waiting journeys can be really long and really weighty and really heavy.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: And when we're in a waiting season like that, it's there's these questions that we start to wrestle with of God, do you see me?
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: Like, do you see this desire?
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: Do you even care?
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: And then practical questions like, well, what's my role in this?
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: Like, God, you know, I'm called to wait on you, Lord, but what does that look like?
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: Do I just sit there and not do anything and trust you?
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: Am I called to take initiative?
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, does the fact that you haven't answered this prayer yet after years and years and years, is that an indication that this isn't something you have for me and I need to let it go?
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: Or does are you asking me to just keep waiting, keep praying, keep trusting?
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: And then kind of the big question of Lord, what if this isn't something you have for me?
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: What if this isn't a prayer you answer?
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: Because I think that so many of the things that we desire, while they are good biblical desires, like the desire for a godly marriage, the desire to be a mom, the desire for a meaningful career, or for a loved one to come to faith, or for healing, like those are beautiful biblical desires, but they're not necessarily biblical guarantees.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: And so we don't know God's plans for our life.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: And that's a really difficult place to wrestle with of okay, Lord, if you don't answer this, if you this isn't something you have for me, what do you want me to do with that?
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: What do you want me to do with this desire?
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: And so that was really the journey I walked for, like I said, 10 years.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: And in that, it was just this incredible journey of the Lord meeting me and drawing me deeper into himself, of my faith, shifting from something that was, this is what I grew up with, this is what I believe, I know all of the things, to it just capturing every part of my heart and my life and falling in love with him in a deeper way, knowing his heart, his character.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: And over time, he just began to speak into these things that I was wrestling with, these questions I was wrestling with, and revealing truths to me through his word and ultimately just revealing his character to me and those things, each of those things that I kind of learned throughout my journey became an anchor that steadied me in the waiting, even when the waiting itself wasn't changing and there were no signs of it changing.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: And I really felt pretty early on into this journey that God was asking me to just grab a hold of these little lessons and these things he was teaching me, the things he was revealing him to me.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: And he put on my heart literally over a decade ago that this was gonna be a book.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: And at the time it was like, okay, God, like I don't know how you're gonna do that, I don't know how that's gonna happen.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: But here we are, and that's the heart of so much better is it is written for the girl who is in the thick of that waiting season.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: Again, whether that's for fill-in-the-blank, the relationship, the job, the baby, the health, whatever it may be, the woman who is in the thick of that waiting season, wrestling with those same questions, desperate for God to just speak into it for biblical truth and encouragement.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: My hope is that this book will be that for that girl, what I needed in that season.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: So that's a little bit about the heart behind so much better.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_01: I love it.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_01: I love how you don't hold anything back.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_01: You're like literally, I felt like God used this simple little thing in my life to show me that this was the next step or that I could, you know, keep going, or that I could truly trust him to be good.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_01: You know, like you, you really kind of, yeah, like I said, put your heart on the platter, like just very raw and real of like this is what it looked like for me.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_01: It may not look like this for you, but God's really good.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_01: And I I think, yeah, even just the title, like so much better.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_01: Was that something that you came up with?
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_01: Was that something like some words that you hung on to throughout the process?
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: So it is something I came up with, but unintentionally, I actually in, I don't know how you felt with the book writing process, but the the heart of the book, the message was always so clear to me.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: And the title was always this question mark.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it feels like there's so much pressure for a book title, like you want it to, you have such a short little couple of words to try to convey to a reader, like, here's what I'm, here's the journey we're gonna go on in this book.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: And so even through like writing the proposal and signing contract, all of that kind of stuff, there was kind of like tentative placeholders for that title, and it was like, oh, I just still don't know what it's gonna be.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: And then my publisher, Tyndale, actually suggested that.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: And at first I was like trying to understand fully the heart behind it, and then the more I sat with it, I'm like, there's literally not a more perfect title for this.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: And I asked at one point, I was like, where did you get this from?
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: They're like, Oh, it's something you said, like when you were talking about the book and just your story and what you wanted it to convey, it came from a conversation with you.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: So apparently it did come from that, but they were the ones who kind of pulled it out and suggested it, and I love it because it truly encapsulates this idea that God's plans and his timing are rarely the same as our own, like they're often different, but they are so much better, and it doesn't always feel like that in the moment, and you know, we wrestle with that, we don't see what he's doing, but hindsight is usually as they say, 2020.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: We can look back and see not only just the the answered prayer, whatever his answer ends up being, but what he was doing in it is so beautiful, so purposeful, and his ways are so much better, but ultimately he is so much better, he is the true treasure, and so that's really what the the title, the heart of the title is, and I love it.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_01: I love it.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_01: It's it really like yeah, it preaches by itself, but then alongside really your testimony and your wisdom, it just rings true throughout.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_01: So I think it's so powerful.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_01: Is there anything that like God showed you or taught you through this process?
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_01: I know for me, writing is like I feel I I maybe I go into it and I'm like, I've got something to share.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_01: And then I sit down, I'm like, oh wow, God's really refining me through this.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_01: How was that journey for you?
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: Definitely.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: I think that I feel like I've heard so many authors say some variation of if you set out to write a book on a topic, just like be on guard because you think you kind of like already lived the lessons, learned them, and now you just get to share them.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: But God often has us like relearn the message that we're sharing as we're going through the process of sharing it.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: And I found that to be very true.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, even just like I said, God first put this the idea of this book on my heart over 10 years ago.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: And even just the pro and there were there were different times throughout that journey that I was like more actively working on writing the book and then hit points where it's like, oh, there's just a big plot twist in my life, and I thought this was the story you're telling, and really you're doing something else, and I'm continuing to live this story, and you're continuing to write it, and I'm learning these lessons.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: So there were times that I was more actively working on it than others, but in terms of when I was really actively working on like the book proposal and just that whole process, I mean, I started that in 2022, and my husband and I we were married for like maybe six months, we were expecting our first, and then we went through a big plot twist of an unexpected job loss that prompted an unexpected move, and we were simultaneously trying to like build community in a place that we knew no one and getting ready to become parents for the first time, all still within our first year of marriage.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: And so, all that to say there was, you know, a lot that God was doing and teaching us and that we were having to wrestle with through that, but looking back, see so much of his goodness in just ways that it grew us in our marriage, but in terms of with the book, it kind of pushed that timeline out a little bit because then all of a sudden I'm a first-time mom and trying to figure out what that looks like, and so it wasn't until 2024 that I actually then got like the proposal submitted, and then we were pregnant with our second, and so that like shifted the timeline of the book, and so it's here it is finally about to come out in 2026, but at the same time, like just seeing how it took longer than I expected, and there were kind of twists and turns, but seeing how each of those what felt like delays on my end, God was continuing to refine the message, continuing to refine me.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't think the book would be what it is today if it had happened when I initially thought it was going to happen.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: And so the book was just another testimony of the message of the book that his timing is in our own, but it's better and his ways are good.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, it's so much better.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: I have to be careful because there's like so many opportunities to throw that in as a pun.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, it's gonna be fun to throw in here and there, but it's gonna be really easy to overdo it.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: So I need to like rein myself in a little bit.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_01: If you guys are watching this on YouTube, please spam the comments with it's so much better.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_01: Because that can be our inside joke and spam Casey's posts about the book.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_01: It's so much better than I thought it would, you know, whatever.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_01: It's great, like marketing and stuff.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_01: I I think it's funny, you know.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_01: As content creators, we're used to sitting down and pouring out our heart and video form and people seeing like our faces and our teary-eyed, and you're just like and all like that.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_01: But through writing, you're reaching oftentimes, it's like a whole other venue of people, or really in a whole other way.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_01: I've gotten a lot of people that said, Oh, I was reading this book for a while before I turned it over to the back and saw that was you, and I've been watching your YouTube videos and didn't make the connection.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_01: And like, oh, I mean, the first like sentence when I say the stuff that I say in all my YouTube videos that didn't connect for you?
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I kind of have the same like three catchphrases that I say all the time.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_01: Like, that's a testimony to like how God can use different like venues, different forms and ways to reach the church.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_01: So as you picture this book being launched out to the world, what do you picture?
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_01: Like, who do you want to grab it off the shelf?
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_01: And how do you want them to feel as they start reading?
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um, what's your heart for the reader, really?
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: For sure.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I get emails, DMs, messages all the time with the person that I hope picks up this book, just coming to me with the questions of I'm in this waiting season, again, whatever it may be for, and I am just watching everybody around me their lives move forward, or you know, I have this desire and I just don't know what to do with it.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_00: I want to give up, I'm weary, I have been waiting for so long, and you know, as you know, there's only so much you can say to encourage somebody and to share truth in a DM response, in an email, in a comment.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_00: And again, this is everything I want to just like sit down and pour into that person that I would would do if I could sit down with for coffee with them.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: And so I hope that the person I'm hoping who finds this is the one who was in the spot that I was in and just seeking that truth, seeking wrestling with those questions and and really wanting a biblical perspective to speak into those things that's not just feel-good stuff that is encouraging, but also rooted in truth.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, that's the person I hope finds this book.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I just pray that it it pours into that person.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_01: I think it does that really, really well.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_01: Hi friends, I'm gonna hijack my own podcast really quickly to give a shout out to this sponsor, which is honestly many of you guys.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_01: This entire ministry is sourced by you guys, funded by y'all.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_01: I have a Patreon page, which is just a crowdfunding website where everyday people like you guys join me in super in-depth studies.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_01: And so while you might know me from podcasts or YouTube or maybe even my silly Instagram or TikToks, the majority of my time I actually spend on Patreon studies.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_01: That's where we get to go super in-depth.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_01: Instead of being controlled by algorithms, it's just content for the people and with the people.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_01: And so I love it.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_01: It's honestly the best.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_01: We just started small groups, which has been really cool.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_01: We're finishing up this four-year-long series, going through the Psalms super in-depth every single week, and that will just live there on Patreon.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_01: And they get to like re-watch them and go back through them if they want to.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_01: And if you join today, we'll be there and we're starting a new one through the parables, and then every year we have a whole other series that we're going through.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_01: And I share vlogs and things going on in my life, and so it's really just the means by which this super public online ministry with a lot of people can be made a lot more intimate, one-on-one, and we can just go so much deeper.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_01: So if you like the stuff I come out with and you want to do more in-depth Bible studies with me, and honestly, just find a community of fellow-like-minded believers that truly want to geek out on that Greek or Hebrew word, then Patreon's the place for you.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_01: It's patreon.com forward slash how to faith a life, literally the name of this podcast.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_01: And like I said, there's a million and one different studies, and they'll all just live there for years to come.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_01: Honestly, they get the best bang for your buck, join the top tier, and you get free stickers every single month, as well as access to all the things.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_01: I would love to see you there.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_01: Make sure to mention in the chat that you came from the podcast.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_01: And speaking of, let's get back to the podcast.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_01: As you have now entered into like you're in the thick of motherhood and you're in the thick of like living out the things you prayed for once upon a time.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_01: How have you rediscovered God being so much better?
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_01: And through, I mean, inevitably what I've learned, I don't know if you feel this way, but like I pray for something really, really hard and then I get it, and I my brain finds something else to worry about now and want.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, okay, now that I have the baby, I need to make sure I can actually provide for the baby.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_01: That that sounds irresponsible, but you know what I mean.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I need to make sure I'm like always alert and I'm always protecting them and I don't give them the wrong medicine.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_01: You know, and like my brain will constantly find new things as you carry like the very fulfillment of some of your past prayers.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_01: How have you experienced the enemy kind of tempt you into those same faith doubts?
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_01: Because I really think like my faith doubts or my doubts are almost like addictive sometimes, like it's more comfortable to worry.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_01: And I feel like you kind of touch on that throughout the book, but I wanted to pick your brain about it.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: For sure.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: I share a story actually in the intro of the book, but I was when I was in this season that I'm writing about, there was a time that I remember so vividly where I was in this Monday night Bible study.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: We met in a friend of mine, her, she lived in like a barn apartment.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_00: So we called it the barn Bible study, and it was just this really precious time of doing Bible studies together, and of course, just walking through life together.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, they all knew about my longing for a husband.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_00: And I think pretty much all of them were either married.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I'll get to that, but I remember breaking down one night, crying, just like, when is this gonna happen?
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_00: Does God have this for me, asking for prayer?
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_00: And then the next friend shared, and she had been dating her boyfriend for about five years, and she's like, I just like I want to be engaged and like I need prayer for patience in this.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_00: And then another friend shared and she was engaged, and she was like, Wedding planning is just so stressful.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_00: I just like am ready to be married.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_00: And then another friend shared, and she had been married for a few years, and her and her husband had suffered a miscarriage and had been trying again to get pregnant for several months and had an aunt.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_00: And so she was asking for prayer for man, I just I feel like I'm called to be a mom and I just want prayer for that.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_00: And then finally, another friend shared who was about 10 years older.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: I think at the time she had been married, maybe close to 10 years, and she had three kids, and she was like, Man, I got married so young, which I'm thankful for, but I feel like I didn't really have time before I got married to really learn like who God created me to be and the purposes he has for me.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: And I wish I had more of that.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm praying that he shows me that now.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_00: And it was just this like undeniable full circle moment of exactly what you're saying, where we long for whatever it is we're waiting for, which that thing changes throughout all of life.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_00: And I think for me, in the in the longing for marriage, the temptation was to think, like, okay, I know that there's gonna be other things that I'm tempted to long for and to wait for after this, but like this is the big one, right?
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: Like all my friends who are waiting for these other things, like at least they get to go through the ups and downs of life with their person, which is true, is such a blessing, and I'm so thankful for that now.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_00: But it is such a lie to believe that once we have this one thing, then like we're gonna be content in all the other areas.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_00: Like, something I love to say is like, or that I said to myself a lot in that journey was that you know, getting to the altar was not some reward for perfect contentment.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_00: Like, that's God is not a genie to be manipulated, but rather that weight was one of life's many opportunities to practice contentment, and there's gonna be plenty of other times to practice that.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_00: And so I've absolutely seen that where yeah, there's just the temptation to fixate on the next thing, like you said, whether that's okay, how am I gonna provide for this baby?
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_00: How am I gonna be a good mom?
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: What is this gonna look like?
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: And I've really been walking through that this year as well because I you were talking about us like kind of growing up on YouTube alongside each other.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_00: And for me, I most of the time I've been on YouTube, I was doing it kind of on the side of a full-time job and working in corporate America.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_00: I was in the same job for about 10 years, and then it was after our first was born and after the maternity leave that I took the leap of faith to just go like fully into content.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_00: And it's such a different thing to, you know, be working at a corporate job where you know, here's exactly what my paycheck is gonna be every single month down to the penny, versus like content is a total walk of faith.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_00: And this year I've been walking that of okay, Lord, just like providing enough of what I need and kind of what we rely on to contribute to our family's needs like month by month.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_00: And there's that temptation to fixate on that and to worry about that and to just like, oh, I just want to get to a place where this doesn't feel like a struggle and where it feels more reliable and more secure.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_00: And like, yes, that would be nice, but also in that waiting, like the Lord is teaching me dependence on him, and he is the the God who owns the cattle on a thousand hill, right?
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's not hard for him to provide, but perhaps he has me in this place because his goal isn't for me to just be self-reliant and to not feel like I don't need to rely on him.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_00: His goal is to keep me in dependence on him, and he's showing me and teaching me rich truths through this of even just thinking about the Israelites' journey through the wilderness, how God provided for them daily with bread that fell from the sky with manna.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_00: And our human nature is we don't want just bread for for today.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_00: We want to have bread for today and we want to see where tomorrow's bread is coming from and next month's bread and make sure we're set for the whole year.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_00: But God literally had them collect the bread every single day.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_00: And then the day before the Sabbath, they would collect a double portion to get them through the Sabbath.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_00: But if they tried to collect more than they needed, it would literally rot because he didn't want them to put their security in the abundance in their storehouses.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_00: He wanted them to put their security in him and to trust that he was going to be the one to provide them, provide for them.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_00: And then it's so beautiful.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_00: There's a verse somewhere in Joshua, but it talks about how when the Israelites finally enter into the promised land, like you know, they've been in this, in this wilderness of monotony, the monotony of manna, where they're eating the same thing day after day after day after year after year after year.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_00: And then in Deuteronomy 8, I believe, it's talking about the promised land, how it's gonna be this place that's overflowing with hills and with pomegranates and with iron and copper in the hills and just all these different things.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_00: It's this picture of variety and abundance.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_00: And the day that they enter into the promised land and they're able to eat of the fruit of the promised land, it says there's a verse I wish I could recall the reference, but in Joshua that says, the day they're able to eat from the fruit of the promised land, the provision of the wilderness ceased.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_00: The man is stopped.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_00: And it's just this reminder that God's provision is so precise.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_00: The enemy is always.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: tempt us to okay great you got this prayer answer but now let's fixate on the next thing let's fixate on the next thing that we're waiting for and there's such a danger there because then we literally miss life like there's literally always gonna be something that we're waiting on and yeah it's not like you know this happily ever after you got the thing and there's now never any struggles you go through because the purpose of life isn't just the things that we're waiting for.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_00: In everything God's goal is to conform us to the image of his son.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_00: And so whether that is through a waiting room, a waiting season, he's using that to draw us closer to him to sanctify us to reveal things in our heart that need to be exposed so that they can be refined and made more into his image but then also in the answered prayers like I just think of my own story of longing to be a wife and to be a mom.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_00: God used that season so beautifully to refine me and to just deepen my faith and now that I am a wife and a mom those are the two roles that God is using more than any other role in my life to do the same thing to sanctify me.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_00: Like marriage is just like this giant mirror that holds up to you and exposes all of the areas you need to grow in the most beautiful way.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_00: And motherhood like nothing has revealed my own selfishness to me more than being a mom.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_00: And obviously that's that's hard to wrestle with sometimes but it's so beautiful because God has used it to just make me look more like him.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_00: And so I think coming out of that season and kind of just being in a different season now I think one thing I'd also really love to encourage the listener and the reader with is that being on the other side of that particular weight I just see so clearly how God's heart to me was and is always so good.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_00: He was not withholding and I think coming out of that weight it feels like that was a season of withhold in it it could have felt like that was a season of withholding but looking back you realize what a beautiful and a good gift that season was and what a beautiful and good gift this season is too and so yeah I love it.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_01: The the picture out I get hearing you talk about like the seasons and you know even what I've gone through and I go through is that you know it's kind of like we the Lord will throw us I don't know I'm not a boxer but you know like the ring that boxers go into and you're like in there and you're like if I can just get through this round, right?
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_01: Like throw my punches against the devil and punch him in the face knock him on his back you know and then you're like okay cool and it's like ding ding ding you're back in girl and you're like wait what I just I did my waiting season I just learned that you'd provide a husband I just learned that you'd provide a kid but what you don't realize is he loves and really I guess like is the word respects like yes he respects us as his creatures he knows us as his beautiful creation enough to be like yeah I'm actually strengthening you fight by fight round by round it's not over and I love you.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not done with you yet I I am refining you as you learn to wait and then as you learn to wait with even more pressure and I mean I don't know if you feel this way I definitely feel this way like praying for my husband and then for kids and miscarriages and all these things.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_01: And then it was okay now we're growing out of our house and now we now we need to you know pay for bigger utilities and all the things it's like the what's the words the stakes just kept rising right like the more I grew up with Jesus the more the stakes rose and the pressure was on now it's not just one kid it's two kids and now it's not one church but it's also an online ministry that we want to you know support and it's like oh okay Lord I have to have even more faith.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_01: I have to trust you even more and so it's almost like I wish I could go back in time and tell little old faith that was just praying for a boyfriend or to a date to prom be like oh girl oh girl like really soak it up really learn it now you won't regret learning patience.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_01: You won't regret learning trusting the Lord.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_01: I tell my boys that all the time because they're like I don't want to learn patience I'll tell them this is a great opportunity to learn patience.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_01: It's like but you won't ever regret it.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_01: You'll never be like oh I was too patient with God.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_01: I was too like grateful I had too much endurance like no the Lord's blessed us with these opportunities to learn and grow for that very fight that he's preparing us for and what a what a like honor and privilege for the Lord to be like I'm throwing you back in the ring girl you you get to trust me with this you get to you know grow in your strength and your ability to trust me here or have endurance there.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_01: But man in the moment I don't know if it's just me but like in the moment it's like no God's I know God hasn't abandoned me in the past but he's abandoning me now.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_01: Stupid come on girl come on yesterday we were sitting at the dinner table and we personally like in our own lives we've had a lot of change the boys were in or we were in a community like a little Christian school community and it has just fallen apart in the last two months and so they're not schools closing like we're not going back to school there.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_01: They've lost all those friendships like sports teams like all the things birthday parties all of that and so my youngest son has had a hard time with that like oh this is a lot of change can I still invite them to my birthday parties I'm like yes but but I'm not gonna see them every day you know how do you process that as a six year old right and I was telling them you know as I was thinking about the fact that we got to talk about this book and I was like you know tomorrow I'm talking to somebody who's gone through a similar thing of like you know in the past I prayed that nothing would change and that you know I God I pray that we don't have to move again.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_01: I pray that we just get to sit here and like stay here and like that life's good.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_01: But then God moved us to another church and then God moved us to another church and then God brought another baby and then God brought this and then God brought you too and then you know and it's like it's so much better.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_01: It truly is not there you go.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_01: And I was so stupid for thinking that like I had that my plan was good and that I had it all figured out but like yes packing up my house and moving was hard and yes you know being pregnancy sick was hard but man God grew me through that.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_01: And so you know thinking about this book and you know thinking about my own testimony I was able to look at my little six year old in the eyes and be like God's growing you through this.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_01: I know that from personal but I also know that from the testimony of believers and I think this book has so much power for other believers that are tempted to doubt like no no God has really abandoned me.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_01: He may not you know abandoned other people or me in the past but he's abandoned me here and your book you know you get to step in and be like no let me walk alongside you through this and encourage you in these truths that he's not and he will never abandon you which is just such a gift to the reader I think and it's also reflective of your heart.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_01: You've got a very what's the word for that like you just you truly are like a sister in the faith.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_01: You love well you're like I want to walk alongside people and and fill up their cup and I think you do that really well and you're very gifted towards that.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah I really want to encourage people if you're in a season of waiting or doubting truly to check out so much better.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_01: But if you were to give listeners I know somehow our time is already running short but if you're to give listeners like one last thing to hold on to in this conversation or in your testimony or even in the process of writing this book, what would that be?
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_00: First of all, that was a really beautiful moment with your son.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_00: I love the analogy you gave about the the boxing ring and that's kind of I'll lead that into the last thing I would lead with is it's so true that it's you know the goal isn't to just get through the thing but God in in that first kind of faith struggle like you said he's building our muscles and then he's giving us a a bigger weight right but then as we're in the boxing ring and we're like okay we we made it through we punched the devil and we think we can just like sit there and chill I think that God is so kind that he often does give us a little reprieve right like he lets us drink our water wipe the sweat off our faces with a towel he's there for us he's coaching us he's you know meeting us and ministering to us and then he sends us right back into the ring and it just makes me think of my favorite verse which I share throughout the book but 2 Corinthians 318 which says for we all with unveiled face beholding the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to the next that there's there's always going to be a next degree of sanctification of another boxing ring to build those faith muscles and to refine us to make us look more like him until the day that we meet him face to face.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_00: And I think for me the most helpful thing in giving perspective to whatever I walk through is when the reminder of what the goal of walking with Jesus is that it's so easy.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_00: Like we know the right answers as a Christian but I think that we can operate with the belief so often that the goal is our comfort or things being easy or just like yeah we just okay like we figure all this stuff out like we moved we did this we went through all the difficult things like can can we just like chill and just like enjoy life and relax for a little bit and there's there's not anything wrong with that but that's not God's highest goal for us.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_00: His goal is to is his own glory and to go conform us into the image of his son.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_00: And so I think that that gives us that lens to see all those things through to see our waiting seasons that we see purpose in those things when we realize that it's not just wasted time because again God cares about the things that we desire but he cares so much more about who we're becoming in the weight and he's using that weight to shape us into his image and understanding that even if it doesn't make it easy even if it doesn't make the pain go away it gives purpose to what we're walking through.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_00: And then you know when you come out of that waiting season and you're walking through another one it's that reminder of like oh like I wanted to get through this and just kind of enjoy the blessings and the answered prayers God has given me and I do get to enjoy those things but also we're continuing to grow.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_00: We're continuing to move in and just grow in sanctification and so yeah it's a big big heart and theme throughout the book as well.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_01: I love it.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_01: The best part is he doesn't leave us in the ring.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_01: He's right there and in fact he obviously is the one who busts in and takes the final blow and ends it completely but man praise the Lord that he is so good and yeah that he does throw us back in the ring that he does he's like I I want this for you you know I want this growth I want you to learn to trust me more because I look back and I'm like my faith was so thin it was so like it was so like emotions based or yeah just seeking after comfort but praise the Lord we do have that rest that we're longing for that comfort that whatever promised solid and sure in heaven and we get to then run the race set before us like Hebrews talks about.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_01: Man I gotta tell you you know you are running well and I think you were just so solid in the ways that you serve the church and Christ's bride pointing them to the Lord and so I'm so grateful that we got to have this conversation and talk about so much better.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_01: It's so much better than I could have even expected.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna be sick of me I'm gonna be sick of me because I like can't help when there's just like a chance to throw it in there but we're gonna have to work on that.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_01: Guys we gotta spam her comments okay yes where can people find you if they don't already follow you and where can they get the book?
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah for sure so I am Casey Nicole on YouTube and Instagram are kind of the main places I hang out.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_00: Also have a newsletter and as for the book it's anywhere books are sold so Amazon Barnes Noble Tyndale Christian books and I think that this it's out now as we're chatting so you can you can go grab that now.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_00: So crazy.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_01: Well congratulations and thank you for such a such a beautiful testimony and book this was so fun we gotta do it again.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yes absolutely and like you were saying like looking back and feeling like oh my faith was so weak I pray that when we chat in a couple months or a year or 10 years that we're saying the same thing that like wow then my faith was so weak because he's just continuing to grow it.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_00: So I love chatting with you Faith.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for having me on and just thankful for you.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_01: You've been listening to the How to Faith a life podcast with your girl Faith Wilmack during seasons episodes go up every Wednesday and they're found everywhere podcasts are posted.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_01: I personally love Spotify make sure to hit subscribe and leave a review that really helps other people to find it.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_01: But if you want to hang out with me and do in-depth Bible studies like I talked about earlier you're gonna want to find me on Patreon.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_01: That's where I spend most of my time teaching with weekly Bible studies, longer form teaching behind the scenes content and honestly just a great community of awesome believers who love God's word and want to go deeper.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_01: It's patreon.com forward slash how to faith the life and Faith Womack everywhere else online.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for listening and I'll see you next time.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_01: Bye guys