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The Quiet Way God Prepares You · Purpose of Heart Podcast

• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Purpose of Heart, the podcast, where real stories meet God's promises.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Priscilla Allman, and every week we dive into powerful conversations about purpose and the pressure through caregiving, illness, grief, addiction, and more.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: If you've ever asked God, where are you in this?
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: You're in the right place.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: Be sure to follow the show and let's find purpose together.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: Hello, and welcome back to Purpose of Heart, the podcast.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Priscilla Alman, and today we're going to be talking about the quiet way that God prepares you.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: You know, not the platform, not the applause, not the announcement, the hidden seasons, the waiting seasons, the is there anything happening seasons?
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: If you're in a quiet place right now, this episode is for you.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: Friends, there is something so humbling about being in a season where no one's clapping for you, no one is validating you, no one is recognizing all of the growth that's happening underground.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes, honestly, you don't recognize it either.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: But scripture reminds us that God does some of his deepest work in hidden places.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: Psalm 46, 10 says, Be still and know that I am God.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: Stillness is not necessarily inactivity, stillness is positioning.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes God slows everything down so he can strengthen what matters most.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: We love acceleration.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: God values formation, and formation is rarely loud.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: Think about David.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: He was anointed king in 1 Samuel 16 and had this word spoken over his life.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: And then he went back to tending sheep.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: No crown, no throne, no palace, just sheep, just obscurity, just faithfulness in the field.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: That quiet field season wasn't wasted.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: It was preparation.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: In the field, he learned to worship, he learned to fight lions and bears, he learned to tend and protect the sheep.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: He learned to trust God alone.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: And when Goliath showed up, David wasn't panicking.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: He was prepared.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: The battle everyone saw was won in a field that no one saw.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: That's how God works.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: Even Jesus, Son of God, lived thirty quiet years before his three years of public ministry.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: Thirty years.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: Luke 252 tells us, and Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we think if it's quiet, it must not be significant.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: But heaven measures growth differently than the culture does.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: Let's be honest.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: Quiet seasons can feel like rejection, delay, being overlooked and forgotten.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: But what if it's actually protection, refinement, alignment, and strengthening?
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: Isaiah 40, 31, but those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: Notice it doesn't say those who rush.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: It says those who wait.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: Waiting allows God, the Lord, to renew your strength.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: Rushing exhausts you.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: In quiet seasons, God is renewing your strength, not wasting your time.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: Let's make this practical.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: What are some things that God can be doing in His in hidden seasons?
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: He could be developing character in you.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: Skill might open a door.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: Character keeps you in the room.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 22:1.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: God cares about who you are becoming more than what you're achieving.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: He's strengthening your inner life.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: When no one is watching, are you still faithful?
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: Luke 16 10, he who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: The least moments matter.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: The small obediences matter.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: The unseen disciplines matter.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: God trusts people with much after they have been faithful in little.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: In quiet seasons.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: It could be being asked the question, why do you want this?
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: Is it for recognition or for obedience?
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: Is it for applause or for assignment?
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes he removes the noise so that we can hear our own heart.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: And when our heart is aligned with him, our impact becomes sustainable.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: Let's talk a little bit about how we can respond to quiet seasons.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: Because preparation is not passive, and the way we respond to different things can actually change our experience within them.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: Here are some practical things that we could do.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: We could stay faithful where we are.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: Colossians 3.23, and whatever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord and not to men.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: Even if no one sees it, even if no one applauds it, God sees it.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: Deepen your roots.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: Use this time to strengthen your prayer life.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: Study the word deeply, heal from past wounds, build discipline.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: Because roots grow downward before fruits grow outward.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: If roots are shallow, the fruit won't last.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: And honestly, neither will the rest of the tree.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 3, 5, and 6.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct your path.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes our frustration comes from unmet timelines.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: I know that I'm guilty of this sometimes, thinking that by this time I would have done this, this, and this.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: But God sees the full picture.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: And what feels like delay might actually be mercy.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: We can also celebrate small growth as well.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: Growth in patience, growth in humility, growth in trust.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: Those are victories.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: Don't despise the small beginnings.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: Keeping a track record of your encounters with God, the things that you learn, right?
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: Those things can also be helpful in terms of looking back on your life and seeing what actual progress you made.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: And even if you haven't gotten to the big thing yet, you may be further than you actually thought you were.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: Zechariah 4 10.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: For who has despised the day of small things?
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: Small things are important there too.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: But here's some encouragement.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: Hidden seasons, they're chapters.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: It's not necessarily the end.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: It's not a conclusion.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: Galatians 6 9, and let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: Due season.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: That means that there is a harvest attached to your faithfulness.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: But harvest comes after roots, after growth, and after formation.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: And also after some time.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: Stay planted.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: If you feel unseen today, you're not forgotten.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: If you feel overlooked, you're never overlooked by God.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: If it feels slow, and trust me, sometimes it feels slow.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: God is steady.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: God is preparing you in ways that you cannot see yet.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: One day, what feels hidden now will make sense.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: One day you'll look back and realize that quiet season saved me.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: That hidden place strengthened me.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: The waiting season matured me.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_00: Let me leave you with this.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: God is not preparing a platform for you before he prepares you for the platform.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: And that's whatever that platform is for his will for your life.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_00: So it could be your career, it could be your family, it could be an experience or um just anything that you do in life, not necessarily a stage or something like that, but whatever he has for you and his will, he's going to prepare you for it first.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: And it behooves us all to wait for his timing so that we're fully able to carry the weight of whatever that is.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: To not just do well with it one time, but to be able to sustain it long term.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_00: I always have to remind myself, Priscilla, you know, um, I I don't remember the exact reference, but it says something to the effect of like um to him uh a thousand years is as one day.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um and one day or one moment.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um I'll have to check the exact reference, but something to that effect that his view on time is not the same as ours.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I always have to say, like, you know, sometimes I just have to remind myself, like, okay, his view on time is not the same as mine.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_00: James 1.4.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: Patience is doing something in you, even now, especially now.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: If you're in a quiet season, I want to whisper this to you today.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, prepare me, or I want you to whisper this today.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, prepare me even here, because He is, and nothing, absolutely nothing, about this season is wasted.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: Now, honestly, some of these things are hard.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's hard to wait, it's hard to be disciplined, it's hard to, you know, do things for long periods of time, um, and kind of seeing nothing um seemingly in return.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_00: And although we have all these sayings to, you know, say, oh, but you know, you wouldn't plant a seed one day and then go dig it up the next, or like we we know things um in life take time.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it's harder to reconcile the time that it takes when it's affecting you, and something that's helpful is just sometimes being honest with God that it's hard.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_00: He already knows, he already knows exactly all of your thoughts before you've ever had them.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_00: He knows exactly what you're thinking about, where you are.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but just asking for help and his perspective, um, because he knows.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: Even if you don't want to admit to yourself that maybe you're having a hard time or a difficult time being patient, um, or whatever it is, because sometimes things take long, and sometimes things take much longer than you've ever anticipated.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so he knows.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I I've you know said sometimes, like thought to myself, like, you know, Lord, you know that I just wanted this to be like I wanted to be patient for like five minutes, not like ten years.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_00: Like this was not what I had in mind.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: But his thoughts are not our thoughts, nor his ways our ways.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: And so he knows and wants what's best for us.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_00: And so we can be honest with him.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_00: He's gracious, and he's wanting and willing to prepare us for the things that he has for us.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_00: So thank you for spending this time with me in this episode of Purpose of Heart, the podcast.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: If this episode blessed you, make sure to share it with a friend or someone who might be in a hidden season, too.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_00: Until next time, friends, stay faithful, stay rooted, and trust the quiet work of God.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_00: He's still preparing you.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_00: Until next time, friends.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for listening to Purpose of Heart the Podcast at www.purpose of heartpodcast.com.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: Make sure you hit that subscribe button so you never miss an episode.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_00: There's so much more God is doing, and I don't want you to miss a thing.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you in advance for the reviews and shares that help this message reach more hearts.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_00: I can't wait to walk with you again in next week's episode.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_00: See you there.