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Living For Him: We Are Observers · The God Who Sees You Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: We are all observers of this beautiful world that God has placed us in.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: Hi, friend, and welcome back to the podcast.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: We're starting a new series where I'm actually going to be talking about the new book I released, which is called For Him, Living for God, Not for People.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: And this book is really all about people pleasing.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: And it's about how I've struggled with this for quite a while, and God has delivered me and showed me a lot.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: Of course I still struggle like anybody else, but there's just been such a freedom that I've noticed in my life living for him and doing things for him and thinking about him in my actions.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: And so I wrote this for anyone who struggles with people pleasing, anyone who is in the midst of that and really saying, God, how do I live for you when I can't stop thinking about the opinions of others?
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: And so the artwork is really special to me on the cover of this book.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: It's actually a ballerina dancing before Jesus.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: And there's other people in the crowd, but they're all dark and muted.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: And then he is the one that has highlighted.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: I did that on purpose because I wanted to show just how when we are getting on stage, whether that be like, and I don't mean an actual stage, I mean whatever he calls us to do in life.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: Whether that be leading a small group or ministering to your kids or just anything.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: It could be anything, work, your workplace, you are doing it for him, not for the approval of everyone around you.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: And so I really wanted to kind of make a cover that personified that.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: And so I worked with a watercolor artist, which is really fun.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: I've never done that for a book before.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: But in this first episode, I kind of just wanted to talk about just my writing journey and how God's inspired me and how he can even inspire you, not necessarily to be a writer, although if you do want to be a writer, I would love to just help you through that.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: But also just how he inspires us in our everyday life.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: And so kind of what happened with me with writing was I just it came out of one night where I was just struggling.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: And as a lot of you know, I had a journey with anxiety, depression, and just having a really hard time, especially postpartum after having my kids.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: And I remember waking up in the middle of the night a lot with panic and just having this feeling on my chest like something really bad was about to happen.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: I could never get back to sleep.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: I was struggling with a lot of health issues.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: And it was in those middle of the night hours that I really felt the Lord with me.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I felt him call me to kind of get up and open up my laptop and start writing.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: And so during those times, I really had no plan to make this a book or anything.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: I was just planning to write with God and to get alone with him and kind of just process my heart and my thoughts and how I was struggling and how he was meeting me in it.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: And the words that came out of those middle of the night writing sessions were so beautiful.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: And I can really see how God has kind of had his hand on me with writing from a young age.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: And also I just wanted to talk about a couple people that really inspired me to write.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: And one of them was my English teacher.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um, in I think I was in 10th grade, but um I had this English teacher that really saw something special in my writing, and she called that out and encouraged me.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that goes so far, right, in a kid's heart is when a teacher sees them and encourages them and sees a gift.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: And and she made writing sound so fun and so exciting.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: And I remember just seeing her joy for writing.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: I also saw a deeper joy in her.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I remember one day kind of taking her aside and saying, Are you a believer?
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: Are you a Christian?
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: And she's like, Yes.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: And um it was just this sweet, sweet moment um where I was being poured into and encouraged as a young person.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: And then later on, as I was really going through kind of that like time period I was talking about where I was had anxiety and depression, I I had this writer who who really impacted me.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: And her name was Sally Clarkson.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: And I loved that even though she talked about herself having anxiety or depression or her kids, she always had the joy of the Lord in her writing.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: It was coming through in her words, and she'd talk about lighting candles or going for walks with the Lord and noticing flowers.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: And she was a huge inspiration for me to keep the wonder and beauty in my faith walk.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: And she also just inspired me to one day write myself.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: So those were two people I just I wanted to mention because I just think it goes so far, right?
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: When you encourage someone and when you are really um pouring into them how much it impacts their life.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: And now here I am on book seven, right?
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: And just thinking, if those people had not impacted me and poured into me, where would I be today?
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I was thinking about how I am currently taking courses to get my master's in theology.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: And this one class we're taking has just been so beautiful because we're talking about spiritual theology.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: And one thing about it that the professor was bringing up was that we are all observers of this beautiful world that God has placed us in.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: And I couldn't help but think as he was talking about this, that that is my role as an author and writer.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: I observe the natural world and I observe human nature and I write about it, right?
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: And I had a friend come up to me the other day and say, you know, this I put a story in my book about how my son had this time where he was freaking out and I was holding him and he was crying.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone around me was looking at us like, what are you doing, mother?
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: Why are you not calming him down?
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: There was no way to calm him down because the ocean waves were hitting him and he didn't like the feeling of the salt water.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: So there was this time where I was caught, right?
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: In this moment where I could not please everybody around me.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: And so as I was talking to my friend the other night, she's like, You noticed that story, and and that's what led to you writing about is that you observed it, right?
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: And she's like, We all have these moments where we notice things in our life, but we it you actually sit down and write it.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: And so that brought up what I what this professor was talking about in Proverbs 8.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: And it's this passage where wisdom is personified, and wisdom is talked about from being there from the beginning of the creation of the world.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: Let me read a little bit of it for you.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: The Lord formed me from the beginning before he created anything else.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: This is wisdom talking.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: I was appointed in ages past, at the very first before the earth began.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: I was there when he established the heavens, when he drew the horizon on the oceans, I was there when he set the clouds above, when he established springs deep in the earth.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: I was there when he set the limits of the seas so they would not spread beyond their boundaries.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: So my professor was talking about how, as theologians, as people who are studying God, this is what we do.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: We observe God's wisdom in the world.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: We observe that it's been there from the beginning, and we observe his wisdom in humanity and how things are happening.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: And it really gave me words for how I go about writing.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I observe things and then I put them into my books.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: And so I was thinking about you and how um, if you're a believer, like you are a theologian.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: You are someone who is studying God with your whole life, right?
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: You are studying his word.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: And part of that is observing things going on around you and observing science and observing this beautiful world and the natural creation, and also observing just things you see happening with people and humanity and psychology, and just all of that does not fight against each other, but it's this beautiful gift that we have to observe and to look at what is happening all around us, and then to pour out those lessons that the Holy Spirit is giving us to others.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: And so I think this is something beautiful that we get to do with our lives.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: And we'll spend a few weeks talking about this book about people pleasing and the lessons that I learned through writing it.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I just hope to kind of give you some fun insights of what it's like to be an author and the writing process, and it's kind of like a book club, right, with me.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: And we're gonna go through certain chapters and talk about stories and biblical examples of people pleasing because actually, when I was writing this, I realized there is so much in the Bible about people pleasing.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: You would be surprised at how much there is.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: And I think God is so timeless in his word that he gives us things that do not like he didn't give us things in the Bible that expired.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: They're they're timeless, meaning they they apply to today, and everything in his word is something that could be applied to today.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: It's living and active.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: His word is living and active.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm excited to go on this journey with you and share with you the writing of this book, share with you how God spoke to me through the process.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: And also, I really want to inspire you that there is freedom on the other side of people pleasing.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: If you are someone who has struggled with pleasing people and wanting them to be happy all the time, I get you, first of all, and second of all, there's freedom on the other side of this.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: So let me pray for us, friends.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: Oh God, thank you for this uh realization that you have created wisdom from the beginning of time.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you that we get to observe that wisdom, and thank you that I get to write about it.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: I I'm humbled by the things that you show me, and I'm humbled that you are such a good and great God.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I pray that as we do these video series, as we talk about people pleasing, that you will show us your wisdom, God.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: We just sit at your feet and we ask for you to come near to us and show us things that we don't yet know, Lord, and that we want to know from you.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for your grace and thank you for always being with us.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: Help us to go about our week and observe things and to look at your natural world and all the beautiful things that you've created and help us to see that and to observe it and to know it and to share it with others.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: In your name.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much, friends.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: I will see you next week.