Latest / All Mom Does Podcast with Julie Lyles Carr / A Sacrifice of Gratitude with Wendy Speake

Transcript

A Sacrifice of Gratitude with Wendy Speake · All Mom Does Podcast with Julie Lyles Carr

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: And do you see what happens is I'm not bypassing
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: my emotions or my circumstances. I am starting to go
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: straight through them with God. And that's when our faith
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: and our needs and our maturity, it all becomes more authentic,
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: not less authentic. We're not setting them down and becoming
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: inauthentic in our awareness of our needs. We're just boasting
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: in the one who knows and has the power to
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: do something about them.
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: Hey friends, you're here and I'm so glad. This is
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: the All Mom Does Podcast, part of the Purposely Podcast Network,
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: and I am your fearless host, Julie Lyles-Garr. I'm so
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: thankful you're here today because we're going to have a
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: conversation that I think is going to help you reset
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: some perspectives, particularly in If you're listening when this episode
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: first comes out and we are getting ready to head
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: into the Thanksgiving and holiday season. And yes, we all
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: love that, but we also get real overwhelmed and we
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: have to-do lists that are a mile and a half long,
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: or we have expectations that aren't quite turning out the
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: way we expected. And that's why I think our guest
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: is going to be able to help us have a
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: heart check, get reset, get ready in our spirits for
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: these upcoming events that are all going to be big,
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: or maybe you're smaller this year, but are sometimes the
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: ground on which we can get a little bit off course.
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: So I am so delighted to welcome my friend, Wendy
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: Speak to the podcast today. Wendy, thanks so much for
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: joining me.
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: Thank you for having me, Julie.
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: Now, we've already had a phenomenal conversation off mic about
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: the incredible greenery behind you. Listen, my friend, my listener,
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: if you have not seen this on the YouTubes yet,
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: run over to the YouTube channel because Wendy is a
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: plant nurturer. She has the most incredible greenery behind her.
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: But Wendy, tell the listener where you live in the world,
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: some little facts about yourself, all that kind of good stuff.
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: Sure. We raised our kids in Southern California mostly. But
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: I say that while COVID was stinky everywhere, it was
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: more stinky on the West Coast. Well, maybe the East Coast, too.
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: I mean, just shut down longer. So we actually moved
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: to Texas during that craziness because it was more open here.
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: And so we finished raising our kids here, just launched
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: my youngest off to college. And so I had to
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: silence my phone because I'm getting some messages with some
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: questions about downloading some online.
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: Books and stuff. So I'm navigating that. So as for
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: my plants, I had said to you, Julie, before we
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: started recording that now that I'm empty nesting, like my plants,
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: they're my kiddos. Yeah. Yeah. They're getting a lot of
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: love right now.
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: Getting a lot of the love. I love that. And
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: here we both are, these Cali girls who have ended
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: up somehow in Texas and now claim Texas as home.
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: It's pretty fascinating the number of people that we meet
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: that that's the case. So welcome to Texas, my friend.
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: Thank you.
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: Absolutely. Well, you have been speaking to moms, to women
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: for so many years now through your writing, through your
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: online presence. And you are really delving into a topic
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: that I think is something that we all need that
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: reset on. Now, what I love about this is you're
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: going to help us think through how to truly stay
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: in a posture of gratitude and thanksgiving. And I know
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: that often we know this is the solution to a
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: lot of things that we face in our lives when
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: it comes to emotional turmoil and stuff that's going on
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: and all that. But sometimes I think we kind of jump, skip,
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: hop over what it really requires to be in a
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: posture of gratitude and thanksgiving. So I want to hear
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: from you. How do you define what it means to,
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: to have gratitude, to have thanksgiving. Let's just start at
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: that base level so we have a working definition.
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: Living from a place of thanksgiving is living aware that
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: our lives and all around us, the people we love,
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: the circumstances we're in, they are given or at least
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: allowed by a really good God. And therefore, we can
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: persevere in praising him. Even when we feel like we
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: can't persevere well in life or as our conversation might
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: be more geared to moms, persevering in our parenting can
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: be really, really difficult. But when we start thanking God
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: more intentionally than petitioning him, and that's not to say
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: there's anything wrong. I mean, God tells us, hey, you
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: don't have because you do not ask.
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: Ask and keep on asking. Knock and keep on knocking.
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: But what if that pleading posture is stopping us from
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: a proclaiming and praising just as goodness? And what would
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: happen in our ability to see all of these things
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: in our lives as good, even if they don't feel good,
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: as we rejoice in God's goodness?
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: Wendy, do you find, as you look at this topic,
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: that sometimes personality style can play a role in how
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: easy or difficult sometimes it is for someone to live
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: in a posture of gratitude. And here's what I mean
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: by this. I think there's a superpower, for example, in
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: being able to walk into a room and hopefully not
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: from a critical spirit, but see, oh, you know what?
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: That chair should actually be angled a little bit this way.
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: And if those pictures were on the wall this way,
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: that'd be a little more pleasing to the eye. What
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: I mean by that analogy is this. Some people I
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: think have a really beautiful ability to take things in
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: as they are and to see where they can be improved,
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: to see what's missing, to see what could be adjusted.
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: And when it's used in a certain way, I think
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: it's a really powerful gift. We need those people who
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: can improve and ideate and innovate. But sometimes, as it
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: seems to be, some of those things that are a
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: gift can also be our Achilles heel. Because I think
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: sometimes it helps us show up and then we're only
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: noticing what's missing or what's not right. So How do
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: you thread personality into some of this as well when
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: it comes to living in a posture of gratitude?
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: It's such an interesting way that you offered that question
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: because before you gave your example of what this might
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: look like with an aware spirit, a critical eye maybe
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: for how to improve situations, you just started with, Personality,
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: and I went straight in my thinking to, yeah, my personality,
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: like my baseline is sad. It's been since I was
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: a young child, and I'm actually doing work on that
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: because much of our personality traits go back to those
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: very young ages for us. So my baseline is to
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: wake up and go straight into feelings of sadness. So
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: that for me, for Wendy, can stop me from being
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: grateful for Um, and I hear you say that this
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: can be your, you know, your strength can be your
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: Achilles heel. And just recently I was, I was telling
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: someone your superpower can also be your kryptonite. Yeah. So
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: that thing that is so gift that is your gift, um,
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: in excess, not, not boundary, not, not hemmed in with
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: what the, what God tells us is true is good
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: for us. If it's not submitted to God's word, and
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: it grows too big and it becomes our God, you know,
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: that those gifts, then all of a sudden it takes
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: us out completely, doesn't it? Yes. Achilles heel. Yes. Kryptonite.
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: So for me personally, if I wake up and I
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: just stay in the pit and forget what is true
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: and right and praiseworthy and excellent and worthy of my
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: attention and affection and then I'm not going to be
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: able to live in a posture of praise because I'm
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: in a posture in a pit that doesn't allow me
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: to see the goodness of God in the land of
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: the living. And if you have a tendency to look
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: around and always notice, I mean, all mom does, right?
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: If all mom does is critique your child's behavior and
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: critique the school program that you're raising them in, or
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: if your children are grown, how they're navigating these young
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: adult years. If all you can do is criticize, then
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: that also is going to really hamper and make it
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: difficult to function from a position of praise. But what
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: a good question. And I think that one of the
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: main things I've learned in this season, this feels like
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: it's applicable, is if I'm having a real feeling But
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: it's not a good godly feeling. You know, I tell
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: myself that. I weaponize God's word against myself or against
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: someone else and say, you know, God is good, so
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: you shouldn't struggle with X, Y, and Z. I call
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: it spiritually bypassing something. I'm just going to go straight
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: to praising God, and I'm going to deny the reality
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: of my hard circumstances or hard emotions. So this is
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: a different topic, but I think there's a similar lesson here.
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: But God says, you come to me authentically and you're
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: going to grow in authentic faith, right? He says, come
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: to me when you're weary, when you're heavy laden. I'm
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: going to give you what you need. I'm going to
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: give you rest for your soul. You're going to have trials.
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: You're going to have troubles of many kinds, but you
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: come to me. me, you can be of good cheer
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: because you will know that I've overcome those things. I've
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: overcome the whole world. And so just like we can
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: bring our authentic emotions, I would encourage listeners to bring
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: your authentic self. And so Invite the Lord. Search me,
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: O God. Know me. Try me. Know my anxious thoughts,
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: my critical thoughts, my sad thoughts, but also my personality.
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: Because you made me. You knit me together in my
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: mother's womb. You know that praising is difficult. Sometimes I
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: can't even bless your name because I'm too overwhelmed with
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: the blessings you've given me to thank you for them.
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: So he knows all these things, but he invites us
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: to know them with him.
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: Right. I love this distinction because I have been in
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: pockets at times where it almost felt like people were
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: gaslighting themselves about what was really going on in their
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: lives in order to enter into what they thought was
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: very expressive, profound praise, that there could be no lurking
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: of challenge or heaviness, and that the only way to
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: come into praise and gratitude was just completely putting that
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: all aside. That doesn't exist. It doesn't mean anything. And
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: there was just this point at which I thought, I
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: appreciate what is being attempted here, but is it honest?
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: And there are times that we have these pockets in
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: our best attempts to try to get past some of
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: those feelings that we can become less than vulnerable and
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: real before God, which is I don't know what we're
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: trying to accomplish in that, but I know that it's
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: not the healthiest thing for us. And to know that
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: God is big enough to handle all the emotions in
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: which he imbued us because he gave us all of
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: these varieties of emotions and the willingness to talk to him,
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: even when we're in a fugue of it, I think
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: is so powerful. The new book is called A Sacrifice
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: of Praise and Thanksgiving. And I love that you bring
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: up this concept of a sacrifice of praise because we
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: live in a time in which we have so many
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: opportunities for some of the best produced, most slick, most
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: talented experiences, events, all kinds of things that we call
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: praise and worship, praise and worship concert, whatever. Now, I
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: certainly think that going to things like that, and if
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: your church kicks off an incredible concert every Sunday, great.
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: But I think we have come to a place where
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: it might be time to decouple a little bit the event,
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: the performance, the whatever from sacrificial praise and thanksgiving. How
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: do you view that in today's contemporary world?
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Again, I love how you're taking so many of
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: these concepts in the book and you're really making them
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: your own with these questions. That's really good. So often
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: when you go on a podcast tour at the release
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: of a book, they're just the same kind of boxed questions.
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: And this is such a good one. The church that
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: I go to has such a gifted creative team, but
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: they are also so authentic. in their praise to God
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: and their desire to invite us into praising God with them.
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: And one thing that I've learned, regardless of if the
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: worship leaders are singing off tune and they're giving a
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: joyful noise, but not necessarily an on-key one, or if, man,
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: everything is polished and slick, as you say, each individual
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: is invited to offer their praise and thanks to God.
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: So if you happen to get swept up in a
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: performance that you are watching, then you are not offering
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: your offering, your sometimes sacrificial offering of praise and thanks
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: to God, of worship. And so we can get distracted
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: when people are singing off key, and we can get
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: distracted when things are so beautiful you think you're at
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: a concert. But God's invitation is for each and every
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: one of us to come to him. I mean, this
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: is what Jesus did. He gave us access to the
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: Father to come into, as Psalm 100 says, come through
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: his gates with thanksgiving, come into his courts with praise.
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: And so at church, this is part of what we
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: do usually at the beginning of a service. But there
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: are times, Julie, where doing that has felt So sacrificial.
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: I used to think that sacrifice and offering were synonyms
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: because people would bring in ancient times their sacrifice to
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: the altar and it would be killed and the blood
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: would cover their transgressions. And that was their offering. But
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: a sacrifice is a costly offering. And sometimes our offerings,
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: whether we're opening our mouths at church or or just
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: we're writing our positions before the Lord to praise and
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: thank him in difficult circumstances, sometimes those offerings of praise
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: and thanks are more sacrificial. And so during worship services,
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: when we come into that time of praising God and
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: I'm in a place of pain, I just have to
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: get my own individual heart in a posture of, God,
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: I'm bringing this to you because you are worthy and
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: because you ask it of me. And I'm going to
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: be honest with you. I'm not going to circumvent and
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: slap some Christian bandaid on it. I'm going to be
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: honest with you. And so I love using that time
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: of worship through song at church. Again, whether the music
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: is on point or off entirely, but to come to
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: him with an authentic praise and thanks offering, even if.
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: It's a sacrificial one. Here at the Almondos podcast, I
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: am so thankful for our sponsor, George Fox University. They
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: are so faithful to walk alongside with us and make
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: sure that this podcast is possible for you each and
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: every week. Their motto, their heartbeat is that your student
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: will be known. that your student will individually receive the
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: attention they need to fulfill the calling on their life,
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: to fully realize the dreams that God has given them. Now,
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: here's the math I want you to hear, because I
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: think this is amazing. There are 60 undergrad programs for
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: your student at George Fox University. 100% of the staff,
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: they are believers in Jesus Christ. They follow the Lord.
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: 100% of undergrad students are going to receive financial aid.
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: But here's the math that matters the very most. 93%
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: of George Fox University students say that they are walking
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: more closely with Jesus than ever before, that their relationship
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: with God has never been stronger. And that's the kind
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: of math that has eternal ramifications. So I want you
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: to go check out georgefox.edu, that's georgefox.edu, to see if
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: George Fox University is your student's next move. You know,
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: I think in my own life at times, Wendy, I
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: have confused... the feeling I receive from what we call
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: praise and worship, if you will, with what it means
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: to truly give praise and gratitude to God. I have
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: inverted that at times. I've had people in my world
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: who've inverted it because they will say, oh, that was
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: an amazing time of praise and worship. Because I felt good.
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: Because I felt good.
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: Because I felt good.
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: Exactly. That's how we often, that is sometimes the economy
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: we put to it. And again, I love people who
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: are incredibly gifted and vulnerable and their heart is so
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: good and they're able to produce something at a creative
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: level that's so incredible. And God gave us our senses
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: for that. And when you walk into a beautiful church
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: or you experience something with fellow believers in a way
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: that has been put together and curated with such care,
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: it matters. It's a beautiful thing. I want people to
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: be able to use their gifts that way. But I
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: don't want to lose the really critical nuance of understanding
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: that praise and worship to God is not about how
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: it's making me feel necessarily. And sometimes I think we
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: get lost in that. We have combined these terms and
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: we get a little bit lost with it. Here's another
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: phrase that I am laughing at myself that at first blush,
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: I read your words and then I went, Oh, wait,
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: she means something different by that. You have what you're
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: calling an ask fast. Now here's what's funny. When I
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: first saw it, I thought, okay, so ask fast what
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: you need, but then like get to the gratitude and
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: the thanksgiving. That's where my little baby Christian brain is.
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: Quickly, come on. Let's get through the asking so we
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: can get on to the praise. Yeah.
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: Like, I mean, yes, you should petition, but do it rapidly.
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: That's funny.
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: You mean something wildly different by ask fast. So unpack
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: that for us.
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: Sure. You know, God is clear. He does invite us
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: to ask and to keep on asking. But fasting is
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: setting down something, whether it's good or not. in lieu
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: of something else. And so what if for a short season,
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: we pressed pause on our petitions that we might simply
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: proclaim his goodness, whether he gives us what we want,
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: whether he does for us what we want, whether he
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: responds to our requests, to our asking or not. And
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: the thing is, he already knows. He knows our words
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: before they're even on our lips. He knows what we
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: want to ask. And he knows what we need that
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: we don't even know to ask for. So what if
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: we press pause on that for 30 days? That's what
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: I'm going to be doing this November and every November.
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: And I encourage people when they go through this book,
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: but I'll be hosting a specific Ask Fast online for
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: the month of November. Let's press pause on our petitions.
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: And again, this is not circumventing. This is not bypassing
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: and going straight to praise. This is actually from the
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: place of want and need and even desperation. It's not
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: that we're denying them. We're actually going to rescript them.
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: So instead of saying, God, please save my children and grandchildren. Please, God,
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: heal my sick cells. Please, God, provide for us. Instead
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: of those requests, We're going to just tell God who
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: he is. We're going to boast in his ability, in
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: the fact he knows that he has the care for
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: us and the power to do something about it in
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: a way that's going to lead us in paths of
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: righteousness for his name's sake. He is going to be
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: on display with his goodness in our lives. So instead
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: of saying, God save my kids, we're saying, you are
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: Savior God. This is what you've been doing for generation
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: after generation. I cannot wait to sit back And watch
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: your saving power. Your hand is not too short to save.
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: You are able. You are kind. It's who you are.
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: It's what you do. Oh, and also my sickness, God,
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: you know. So you have the ability, God, my great physician,
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: my comforter, my healer, the one who can bind up
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: not only my broken heart, but my broken bones and
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: my broken cells. You have the ability to bring every
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: cell in submission with your perfect will for my life.
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: And my eyes are on you. They are not on
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: test results. They are completely on you. And I boast
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: in who you are, great physician, healer, friend. Oh, you
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: are so intimately aware. And do you see what happens
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: is I'm not bypassing my emotions or my circumstances. I
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: am starting to go straight through them with God. And
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: that's when our faith And our needs and our maturity,
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: it all becomes more authentic, not less authentic. We're not
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: setting them down and becoming inauthentic in our awareness of
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: our needs. We're just boasting in the one who knows
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: and has the power to do something about them.
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: What do you think the purpose of praise, gratitude, and
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: thanksgiving is? These are all things that God knows about himself, right?
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: I am that I am.
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: And I, you know... However, somebody wants to split the
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: hairs on this, but does God actually need our encouragement
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: in order to, I mean, all the theological bunny trails,
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: we could go down on that. But I want to
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: hear from you since you've been so intimately working in
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: this topic. Where have you arrived in your understanding of
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: what the purpose of this is?
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: So good. Well, God came near to us through the
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: person of Jesus.
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: Absolutely. Absolutely.
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: But we are invited over and over to come near
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: to him. And this is how we come near to him. Again,
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: with Psalm 100, come into my presence. You know, push
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: through that gate with thanksgiving. Come into the inner presence
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: of my courts with praise to me. And when God
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: introduced himself to his people, the people of Israel, through Moses,
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: the name he gave himself was Yahweh. I am Yahweh.
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: I am who I am. I have always been. I
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: am now. I will always be. And if his nature
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: continues to be what it is forever, and we are
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: aware of that, regardless of what's going in our nature
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: or in nature around us or in our circumstances, in
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: our relationships, but we can focus in on who he is,
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: it transforms everything. Yahweh. And so oftentimes when we're praising him,
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: we say, Hallelujah. Hallel is the Hebrew word for to praise,
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: but not just any kind of praise. It is an extravagant,
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: even seemingly ridiculous praise. It is a praise that makes
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: us look, one definition is clamorously foolish. But hallelujah says
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: to praise Yahweh. So hallel Yah is the word for Yahweh.
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: It's a shortened word of his name. So we are
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: to praise Yahweh. That's how we are to approach him.
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: And it's not for his benefit. It's for ours. He says,
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: you draw near to me, I will draw near to you.
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: And it's in essence what he did through his son, Christ.
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: We come trusting, boasting, thanking, praising. And in that, he
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: knows our needs. And we are invited to lay them
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: also on the altar. But I'm encouraging us to actually
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: set them down and sacrifice them on the altar that
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: we might develop that coming into his presence with thanks
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: and praise muscle. You know, it's a spiritual practice praising
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: and thanking him. So let's do that by setting down
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: the other things we can think are the best and
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: the only. Let's just set them down. And develop the
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: strength of persevering in praising him and rejoicing in his
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: goodness when life doesn't feel good and giving him our
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: thanks when we're not really thankful.
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: In some ways, to me, it feels like when we
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: are in a posture of vulnerable praise, thanksgiving, gratitude, we're
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: actually aligning with the note, the resonance. of, of him.
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: And what I mean by, I'm Kim, I'm a total nerd.
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: I admit that fully, but there are theories in quantum
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: that talk about that. There is a string theory where
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: there's this harmonic, you know, of the universe. And when
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: I think about the verse that talks about the rocks
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: will cry out, like whatever this harmonic is, I wonder
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: if that's part of the beauty and the mystery of
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: praise and worship and Thanksgiving is all of a sudden
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: we're singing in tune with who he is. And that's
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: how we get to presence. You know, that just, that's
• 26:38
  Speaker 2: what I think of. What I love that you distinguish
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: for us, I think I have often thought of praise, thanksgiving,
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: gratitude as this spontaneous thing. And before we got, and there,
• 26:49
  Speaker 2: I think there, that exists. I think that we can
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: have moments where it's like, wow, God, I can't believe
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: you did this or that, or, you know, amazing.
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 26:56
  Speaker 2: But part of what you and I got to chat
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: about before we hit record was that there is a perseverance.
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: in Thanksgiving and gratitude that is different than just a
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: reaction to something happened that I loved. That perseverance of, wow,
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: things aren't necessarily how I would like for them to
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: be aligned. And I'm going to persevere in having a
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: posture of gratitude and Thanksgiving. Talk to me about what
• 27:25
  Speaker 2: perseverance in this realm means, because I think it's not
• 27:30
  Speaker 2: something that we talk about very much, Wendy. I love
• 27:33
  Speaker 2: that you have teased this out in it to say, hey,
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: there's a distinguisher here. There's something unique in what we're
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: talking about.
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Another P word. I love a good alliteration.
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: There you go. It's practice.
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: It is a pressing on, a persevering, a practice, a
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: muscular exercise of getting into that posture and into his presence.
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: And we come into his presence with praise. Back to
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: Psalm 100. So when you are barely persevering in life or,
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: you know, whether you're homeschooling and you're like, I cannot
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: do it another day here in the opening months of
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: the school year or in your marriage or in your
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: parenting or in just joy, man, it can be so
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: hard to persevere in joy for some of us, right?
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: I told you My baseline to wake up in is sadness.
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: I have to be so intentional to say, no, Wendy,
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: what is true? What is right? Philippians 4, to rejoice
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: in the Lord always. Again, Wendy, this morning too, there
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: are new mercies. Let us rejoice and be glad in them.
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: Let's thank God for those. And so it is a
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: muscular exercise for me. And even if you don't, Start
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: at that baseline of sadness and have to work your
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: way up into a place of spontaneous praise, which would
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: not be spontaneous if it's this muscular, or that we're sitting,
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: we're resting on our laurels waiting for another fresh wind
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: from heaven. No, let's get into a position of praising God.
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: And man, the wind just comes. I tell you, I
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: have been... blown away, speaking of fresh winds, by the
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: joy I experience every time I've done a radio or
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: podcast interview during the launch of this book. And so
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: this is after the living, the learning. the writing, and
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: I guess the initial launch of the message. But every
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: time I start talking about the goodness of God and
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: the joy I've experienced in praising him, I'm experiencing it
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: now more than before I wrote the book or even
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: during the writing of it, because I'm with somebody else
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: talking about the goodness of God and persevering and telling
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: God he's good. But when it was just me and
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: the Lord, like it was more muscular, but you get
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: in community, you start talking about the ways he's been good.
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: And I tell you, you don't want those rocks to
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: have to be the loudest voices in the chorus. You
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: want to enter that. But I love what you were saying, Julie,
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: about The frequency of praise. I've had times where it is,
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: it is like celestial. It is cosmic. The joy. It's
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: not just a, I'm happy because I'm with my kids.
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: They're smiling. They're laughing. And we've had a great holiday season.
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: It is something that like your cells start to buzz
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: and ring as you give your praise and your thanks
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: to God. And that's what I felt. When I've gone
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: to speak just yesterday morning, I was speaking at a
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: women's event to, I don't know, there must've been, it
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: was large. It was like 500 women. And we were
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: all praising. We were persevering and praising God. And the
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: rafters were shaking. But there are times I'm alone with
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: the Lord and it feels like there's a, again, I
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: know it's weird, but a vibration like in the heavenlies
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: and in my midst and in my home. And that
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: can happen when I feel like I can't persevere. I
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: cannot come to the Lord. I'm just, I'm so broken.
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: I can barely get out of bed. No, I'm going
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: to put my feet on those hard woods. I'm going
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: to lift my hands and I'm going to say, this
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: is the day that the Lord has made. I will
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: persevere in rejoicing and being glad. And even if it's small,
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: we're told in the book of Zephaniah that the Lord
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: does not, he does not, oh, what's the word? Despise
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: the day of small beginnings. If all you have is
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: a small hallelujah, it's not clamorously foolish yet. You just,
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: it is a, the King David, right? In one of
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: his Psalms, he says, well, and we sing it with
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: the Brandon Lake song, gratitude. Come on, my soul. Don't
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: get shy on me. Yeah. So if we have to
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: command our souls to praise and it's just in a
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: whisper and it's just, you know, a barely heartfelt hallelujah,
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: we can start there. But we've got to start. We've
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: got to persevere in praising him. Yeah.
• 32:30
  Speaker 2: I think we don't often understand gratitude and thanksgiving as
• 32:34
  Speaker 2: a spiritual discipline. Yeah, I agree. And we have hinged
• 32:37
  Speaker 2: it so much to the emotion, which is, I mean,
• 32:40
  Speaker 2: that's great if you're feeling it, absolutely. But I love
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: this reminder. that we have the ability to persevere in
• 32:48
  Speaker 2: our praise. What a beautiful concept. Wendy, how can the
• 32:51
  Speaker 2: listener go and find, I know you have coming up,
• 32:55
  Speaker 2: a community experience, an online experience of being part of
• 32:58
  Speaker 2: this Ask Fast. And again, not the way I was
• 33:01
  Speaker 2: saying it, like ask really fast, but to actually take
• 33:05
  Speaker 2: a pause from the petitions for a little bit and
• 33:07
  Speaker 2: to get into this posture of gratitude and thanksgiving. Where
• 33:10
  Speaker 2: can the listener go to find you online, find out
• 33:12
  Speaker 2: more about that, find the book, all the stuff?
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you can find the book wherever books are sold.
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: A Sacrifice of Praise and Thanksgiving. And chapter one is
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: absolutely all about, well, and the introduction. Please don't skip
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: the introduction. It's where I learned about fasting from asking.
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: But I'm going to be hosting this 30-day ask fast
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: of rejoicing in God's goodness, whether life feels good right
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: now or not. I'm going to be hosting it every November,
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: starting with this November, 2026. And you can go to wendyspeak.com
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: forward slash praise. Speak is with an E at the end.
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: And you can sign up. I also have a guided
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: journal that will accompany us to go deeper in the lessons.
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: So there are 30 short chapters in the book. And
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: those are what we're going to be really basing our
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: Ask Fast on. This is going to be how we're
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: going to be just praising God on his nature that's
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: displayed in his names and his nature that's displayed in
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: nature all around us. There are so many opportunities for
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: us to know God, see God, and proclaim his goodness. Again,
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: even when life doesn't feel good.
• 34:23
  Speaker 2: Love that. Well, Wendy, thank you so much for your
• 34:25
  Speaker 2: time today. This has been such an encouragement, such a
• 34:27
  Speaker 2: good challenge. I really love all that you're doing and
• 34:31
  Speaker 2: helping us rethink. what it means to stay in gratitude
• 34:34
  Speaker 2: and thanksgiving to our very good God. Thank you so much.
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Thank you for having me.
• 34:39
  Speaker 2: Absolutely. All right, friend, you know what your directive is.
• 34:43
  Speaker 2: You need to go to the show notes because that's
• 34:44
  Speaker 2: where all the links and all the things that we've
• 34:47
  Speaker 2: been talking about in this conversation today, that's where you're
• 34:49
  Speaker 2: going to find a wealth of information and a big
• 34:52
  Speaker 2: shout out to the All Mom Does team who puts
• 34:53
  Speaker 2: that together every single week. All Mom Does on the socials, allmomdoes.com.
• 34:57
  Speaker 2: Phenomenal community of women in the same stages, seasons, questions
• 35:01
  Speaker 2: of life that you have. You're going to find phenomenal
• 35:03
  Speaker 2: community there. And I love it when you come over
• 35:05
  Speaker 2: and say hi. Usually on Instagram is where I hang
• 35:07
  Speaker 2: out the most. Julie Lyle's car over there. I want
• 35:10
  Speaker 2: you to come on over. Let me know what you're
• 35:12
  Speaker 2: thinking about. Let me know what topics you want to
• 35:14
  Speaker 2: hear about, what guests. All of that really matters when
• 35:17
  Speaker 2: we are putting the show together for you each and
• 35:19
  Speaker 2: every week. And I will see you next time on
• 35:22
  Speaker 2: the All Mom Does podcast. Thank you.