Latest / Fostering Faith / Life is scary

Transcript

Life is scary · Fostering Faith

• 0:00
  Oh my gosh guys, guess who is back this week
• 0:02
  for Fostering Faith? Gia! She is back. She is
• 0:08
  one of the reasons that we are here. These episodes
• 0:12
  have been lonely without her. I finally snagged
• 0:15
  her up and so we were able to bring her back
• 0:17
  in for a conversation before she goes off to
• 0:20
  another CIY church camp. And so welcome back
• 0:23
  to Fostering Faith. My name is Tracy Foster and
• 0:26
  Gia Foster. And so she is back to help us do
• 0:29
  an episode today. And she came up with the title
• 0:32
  that is Life's Scary. And so what does it mean
• 0:36
  that that life is scary? Like life can be scary
• 0:40
  when like you don't have faith with him or when
• 0:42
  you do have faith with him because he can bring
• 0:44
  you through some really hard times and you just
• 0:47
  have to stick with him through them. Okay. As
• 0:50
  you have not been on the podcast for such a long
• 0:53
  time, how's life been going? Like what's changed?
• 0:56
  Nothing really, just basketball. Basketball,
• 0:59
  and you graduated eighth grade. Oh yeah, I forgot
• 1:02
  about that. And so you're going into high school.
• 1:05
  Can that be scary? I mean, to some people, yeah.
• 1:09
  To most kids? And you were transitioning from
• 1:13
  a smaller school into a huge school. So could
• 1:18
  you talk to the teenagers that are listening
• 1:21
  and give them some how you feel? I'm not really
• 1:27
  scared of going to high school, but... So what
• 1:31
  made you not afraid? I don't know. I'm just not
• 1:34
  afraid. I guess I know some people, so... So
• 1:37
  knowing some community whenever you go into school?
• 1:39
  Yeah. Like, you know, not being afraid to, like,
• 1:44
  ask somebody for help? Yeah. Do you think that
• 1:48
  you being on the basketball team or, you know,
• 1:51
  doing, like, the camps and stuff makes it a little
• 1:54
  easier? I mean, yeah. It can be. It just depends
• 1:57
  on what you do. And having that kind of close
• 1:59
  connection with a team maybe makes things, our
• 2:04
  life transitioning less scary? Yeah. Okay. What
• 2:09
  would you like to talk about today? How, like,
• 2:11
  life can be scary. Like, how, like, you need
• 2:16
  to put your trust in Him. And by Him, who do
• 2:19
  you mean? God and Jesus. Okay. So, for those
• 2:23
  that... may not be a Christian, what is a teenager's
• 2:29
  perspective on Jesus? What do you mean? How could
• 2:34
  you introduce Jesus to somebody that doesn't
• 2:36
  know who he is? He died for us to, like, for
• 2:41
  our sins. And he, out of, like, everyone in the
• 2:45
  world, he was perfect. Okay. And so God sent
• 2:50
  his son that was perfect and blameless. to pay
• 2:54
  for our sins because we know by Scripture that
• 2:58
  sins have to be paid for. And Jesus died for
• 3:03
  our sins, and so our sin debt was paid in full.
• 3:06
  And that's a big concept to grasp. And so as
• 3:09
  we go into this episode, when life feels scary,
• 3:12
  faith is over fear. And so fear is real. Life
• 3:16
  is unpredictable, but God is unshakable. In this
• 3:20
  episode, we're going to lean into Scripture.
• 3:22
  that says fear and anxiety and uncertainty. When
• 3:25
  life feels scary, whenever our feet are shaky
• 3:27
  and our faith feels small, God remains steady.
• 3:31
  And so join us as we walk through this episode
• 3:34
  of Life is Scary, but trusting in God makes it
• 3:38
  easier. And so welcome back to Fostering Faith.
• 3:40
  If you don't know who I am, I am Tracy. I'm the
• 3:42
  mom of Gia, and she is back for this episode.
• 3:46
  And we're going to walk through fear and life
• 3:49
  is scary. Life can be scary in a way you can't
• 3:55
  even imagine, but we need to put our faith in
• 3:56
  him. In Psalms 56 .3, it says, when I'm afraid,
• 4:00
  I put my trust in him. That just means when I'm
• 4:03
  afraid, like saying like, if I'm afraid of anything,
• 4:06
  you can just talk to him and he'll take our anxiety
• 4:10
  away. Yeah, that pit of your stomach when you
• 4:14
  can't sleep in the middle of the night and if
• 4:16
  like you feel like everything's falling apart.
• 4:18
  Whenever you're facing like friends leaving you
• 4:21
  or a breakup or, you know, not making a basketball
• 4:24
  team or a dream that you really wanted to do.
• 4:27
  I mean, you can really have that fear kind of
• 4:32
  set in. And maybe you're watching your child
• 4:34
  struggle or your marriage is in a strain for
• 4:36
  the grownups that are listening to this. Or maybe
• 4:38
  you're watching the world be the world right
• 4:41
  now and everything feels dark and heavy. Whatever
• 4:46
  your... scary is and whatever it is tomorrow
• 4:50
  or yesterday god is not scared and he's not silent
• 4:55
  and so what else would you say that god can do
• 5:00
  for us he can do anything he wants to he can
• 5:03
  um and then you also have isaiah 41 10 that says
• 5:09
  do not fear for i am with you do not dismay for
• 5:12
  i am your god i will strengthen you and i will
• 5:14
  help you i will uphold you And live righteous
• 5:18
  in your right hand. And so what are some ideas
• 5:23
  that, is God ready for you if you're scared?
• 5:28
  Yeah. Does he care if you are afraid? No. Can
• 5:36
  you come to him if you're afraid? Yeah. What
• 5:40
  are some, does he think that I'm a loser if I
• 5:44
  get scared? No. What is it that you could tell
• 5:49
  the listeners? How is God whenever you're afraid?
• 5:53
  He's ready for you to come to him. He won't judge
• 5:56
  you in any way. So when life gets tough, you
• 5:58
  really just got to go to him. Okay. How do I
• 6:00
  go to him? Pray. Just pray. And be present with
• 6:06
  him. Read the Bible. Just pray. Just be with
• 6:09
  him. How does prayer look like whenever you're
• 6:14
  afraid? whenever you don't know what to do? Just
• 6:18
  talk to him. It can just be a normal conversation.
• 6:22
  It doesn't have to be, Dear Heavenly Father,
• 6:23
  you can just be like, God, I really need to talk
• 6:25
  right now, so I'm just going to talk to you.
• 6:27
  And how can you talk to him? Just talk. How can
• 6:30
  you talk to your friends? And there's a, you
• 6:33
  know, we have the words in scripture that let
• 6:35
  us know that God's our Father, that God is Abba,
• 6:39
  and so he is our loving Father. And God isn't
• 6:43
  just a distant comforter. He's not this like
• 6:45
  sky daddy that, you know, we've had comments
• 6:48
  on our podcast before that we believe in. He's
• 6:52
  actively present. He's the same God who formed
• 6:55
  the galaxies that says, I will strengthen you
• 6:57
  whenever you need help. I will hold you. And
• 7:00
  when life is scary, his words become our lifeline
• 7:03
  sometimes. And so we have Psalm 46, one through
• 7:06
  two, that says what? God is our refuge and strength,
• 7:12
  a very present help in trouble. Therefore, we
• 7:16
  will not fear though the earth gives way. Yeah.
• 7:19
  Have you ever felt like the ground underneath
• 7:21
  of you is giving away? Have you ever been so
• 7:24
  like just shook that it feels like everything
• 7:28
  is falling apart? This verse says, even then
• 7:32
  we will not fear. And so God is our refuge. What
• 7:38
  are some, Things that you feel like you're weak
• 7:43
  in. That he is your strength. What do you mean
• 7:48
  weak in? Because God is our refuge. Not our strength.
• 7:52
  Not our performance. Not our bank account. Not
• 7:54
  our job title. What gives you your strength?
• 7:59
  God does. God. And let's get real. We often try
• 8:04
  to pretend we're not afraid. Have you ever been
• 8:07
  really scared? And try to pretend that you weren't
• 8:10
  scared? I mean, not really. Okay. I have. Every
• 8:20
  time that I had to ride a roller coaster, every
• 8:22
  time that you wanted to do something that I felt
• 8:27
  is so scary, like I just put my brave face on
• 8:31
  and like, let's go. And I'll close my eyes and
• 8:33
  sing the ABCs or like whenever you were a little
• 8:36
  girl and you wanted to go to the zoo. hated driving
• 8:40
  over bridges. Um, but I was so scared, but I
• 8:44
  would not let my fear control what you did. And
• 8:48
  so we say, I'm fine. I'm fine. It's fine. And
• 8:53
  we slap on a smile, but God doesn't need our
• 8:55
  pretend strength. He doesn't want your fake smile.
• 9:00
  He wants our surrender. Do you feel like your
• 9:04
  life is fully surrendered to Christ? I mean,
• 9:07
  I hope it is. Yeah. And so we have John 14, that
• 9:13
  27 that says, Jesus says, peace. I leave you.
• 9:16
  You are my peace. I give you do not. I do not
• 9:19
  give you as the world gives and do not let your
• 9:22
  hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. And
• 9:25
  so do you feel like the world gives us distractions?
• 9:27
  Yeah. What kind of distractions? Honestly, probably
• 9:32
  your friends. Anything can be a distraction if
• 9:36
  you don't put God in front. Yeah, scrolling.
• 9:39
  Yeah. Shopping. Sure. Binge watching TV. Young
• 9:44
  children. But Jesus, he gives us peace that sticks
• 9:50
  because he has, we have peace that like, and
• 9:54
  we have joy that no one else and nothing else
• 9:57
  can give us. And so peace doesn't depend on your
• 10:00
  circumstances, does it? No. And we have 2 Timothy
• 10:05
  1 -7 that says what? For God has not given us
• 10:10
  a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and
• 10:16
  of Solomon. So what's that mean to you? He's
• 10:26
  basically telling us that we don't need a fear
• 10:29
  because he gives us the power. of love and sound
• 10:33
  of mind um and he loves he gives love what are
• 10:39
  some what are three main points that you think
• 10:40
  that the listeners need to know about um life
• 10:45
  will get scary no matter what life will give
• 10:47
  you it won't be all like rainbows and everything
• 10:51
  but faith will push you and it'll be hard so
• 10:54
  you just need to keep your faith strong and everything
• 10:57
  instead of pushing your problems away go to him
• 11:00
  he's always ready for you god has a plan for
• 11:03
  you so follow his path he made for you because
• 11:06
  he has bigger and better plans it might be really
• 11:08
  scary it might be really hard but that's why
• 11:11
  you can go to him and then do you feel like what
• 11:15
  god has called you to do you feel like he would
• 11:18
  have equipped you to do what he has made you
• 11:21
  for like if he wants to make if he wants you
• 11:25
  to be a a violinist do you think that he would
• 11:28
  have given you the capability of being a violinist
• 11:31
  yeah if he's given you the power of being an
• 11:34
  evangelist do you think that he would give you
• 11:37
  the the passion to be an evangelist sure do you
• 11:40
  know what an evangelist is nope okay that's the
• 11:42
  person that goes and like preaches the word oh
• 11:45
  that is not me i know that um so do you feel
• 11:48
  like you are being an evangelist here i mean
• 11:53
  yeah and then as i'm studying romans I'm in Romans
• 11:57
  10, and it says that we are to spread the word
• 12:01
  boldly. Paul had zeal, and so he was able to
• 12:05
  spread the ministry around the world. You know,
• 12:08
  his ministry went around the world. And so us,
• 12:11
  we get to do the same thing while we are recording
• 12:14
  this. This is heard all over the world. And I
• 12:19
  mean, don't fact check me, but my brother had
• 12:21
  called and said that we were... like number one
• 12:26
  in, Oh, what do you say? The, the Netherlands?
• 12:33
  No. Um, it was a country up North. Um, I'll have
• 12:38
  to, I'll have to check on that. But I was just
• 12:40
  like, that is crazy. Like he Googled it or something
• 12:44
  and said that we were the number one faith based,
• 12:46
  um, website checked, um, in this, uh, country.
• 12:49
  And so I'll have to double check that and we'll
• 12:52
  get back to you with that information next week.
• 12:54
  But we have a promise in Joshua 1 10. It says,
• 12:56
  I do not, I, I have not, have I not commanded
• 13:00
  you to be strong and courageous? Do not be afraid
• 13:02
  and do not be discouraged for I, your Lord, your
• 13:04
  God will be with you wherever you go. Is that
• 13:07
  comforting to know that God is with you? Yeah.
• 13:10
  How can kids really relate to that? Like once.
• 13:17
  it will get scary life will get scary if your
• 13:20
  life is really good right now it's that's wonderful
• 13:23
  but it will get scary at one point and you don't
• 13:27
  know what to do and it's just really comforting
• 13:29
  to know that someone is there even if you don't
• 13:33
  think there is yeah he says wherever you go not
• 13:37
  just in church not just on the good days not
• 13:40
  just whenever you've got it all together wherever
• 13:43
  you go That means whenever you're sitting in
• 13:46
  the car crying or laying awake at 2 a .m. or
• 13:50
  hiding in the bathroom trying to breathe, is
• 13:53
  he with you? Yes. So today, if life feels scary,
• 13:57
  do you acknowledge it? Yeah, I acknowledge it
• 14:03
  and give my worries to him and I don't worry
• 14:06
  about it. And you don't bow down to it. You are
• 14:09
  allowed to be scared. You're not allowed to be
• 14:12
  paralyzed by fear. not whenever your god is this
• 14:16
  big not when his promises are true so what do
• 14:22
  you do when life feels scary honestly i honestly
• 14:27
  just give it all to god and don't worry about
• 14:30
  it and our last episode i did was about worship
• 14:32
  and so the worship that you have in your heart
• 14:35
  the worship that comes out of your mouth really
• 14:37
  does change your atmosphere and like you said
• 14:39
  earlier open up your bible Call someone who can
• 14:43
  speak the truth into your trembling little heart.
• 14:45
  And so if you had, if you were going through
• 14:47
  something, who would you call? One of my closest
• 14:52
  friends. Okay. And do you think they would be
• 14:55
  encouraging? Yeah. Are your closest friends Christians?
• 14:59
  Yes. Is it okay to be friends with people that
• 15:03
  are not Christians? I mean, you shouldn't. Like,
• 15:07
  I feel like you can and try to change them. But
• 15:10
  I feel like it's not like a good like mindset
• 15:13
  for you to have. And I think that you brought
• 15:15
  up a great point. And so as people are in relationships
• 15:19
  and they're trying to change the other person,
• 15:21
  are you yourself ever going to change somebody?
• 15:24
  No. Who does that? God. Yes. And so you are being
• 15:27
  the light to them. And if they don't believe
• 15:31
  in Christ, that means that they've not received
• 15:33
  the light. So they're in the dark. And so you're
• 15:35
  just being that reflection of Christ to them.
• 15:39
  By you being what God has called you to be and
• 15:42
  by your love and joy that God has given you,
• 15:45
  you're able to be their light, right? So you
• 15:49
  don't have to feel brave to be brave. And it's
• 15:51
  about taking that next step. And we just wanted
• 15:55
  to just remind you guys that it's okay to feel
• 15:58
  your feelings, but not to get stuck in them,
• 16:00
  right? Yeah. And so we want you to... Just embrace
• 16:06
  your feelings and it's okay to be scared, but
• 16:08
  it's not okay to be stuck in that and take that
• 16:11
  to him. Take that into him within prayer and
• 16:13
  worship, opening up your scripture and just getting
• 16:16
  surrounded with people that are heading in that
• 16:18
  same direction closer to God. Because you may
• 16:21
  fear what's around you, but your God is bigger
• 16:25
  than your fear. Your God is louder. And so we
• 16:28
  would love to end this podcast with a prayer.
• 16:31
  Do you want to pray us out? Sure. Dear God, thank
• 16:36
  you for this day. Thank you for everything you've
• 16:38
  given us. Please help this sick and hurt feel
• 16:39
  better. I pray for anyone who is going through
• 16:42
  something that they'll just give it to you because
• 16:44
  there's no need for them to hold on to that grief
• 16:48
  and anxiety that they have. In Jesus' name I
• 16:51
  pray. Amen. Amen. We love you guys. We are praying
• 16:55
  for you this week that no matter what life throws
• 16:57
  at you, that you guys are going to tune in to
• 17:01
  us next week. If you feel like this episode has
• 17:03
  blessed you in any way, or you know that someone
• 17:06
  is going through struggles in life, share this
• 17:08
  episode, help this community grow, help us foster
• 17:11
  your faith together because we are better together
• 17:14
  versus being apart. And until next week, have
• 17:17
  an amazing week and we love you guys. Bye.