Latest / Jessi Morgan Devotions for the Christian Heart Podcast / Trusting God When Plans Change

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Trusting God When Plans Change · Jessi Morgan Devotions for the Christian Heart Podcast

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  SPEAKER_00: Hello, hello, you're listening to the Jesse Morgan Devotions for the Christian Heart Podcast episode 120.
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  SPEAKER_00: This week's devotional is titled Trusting God When Your Plans Change.
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  SPEAKER_00: James 4.
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  SPEAKER_00: Let's go.
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  SPEAKER_00: Hi, I'm Jesse Morgan.
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  SPEAKER_00: I used to just share home decor and renovation tips on social media, but now I'm sharing something even closer to my heart.
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  SPEAKER_00: My journey in love for Jesus Christ, my Savior.
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  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Jesse Morgan Devotions for the Christian Hawk Podcast.
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  SPEAKER_00: This is a weekly devotional I started back in May 2024, but the inspiration for it came much earlier.
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  SPEAKER_00: It was rooted in a faith journey that began when my daughter was born four months early in 2023.
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  SPEAKER_00: Through that challenging time, God worked in ways that truly amazed me.
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  SPEAKER_00: On this podcast, I share personal stories of faith woven together with Scripture to show just how incredible God's word can be in our everyday lives.
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  SPEAKER_00: My hope is that through these stories, you'll be encouraged, uplifted, and reminded of God's love and presence, no matter what you're going through.
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  SPEAKER_00: So I invite you to spend less than 15 minutes with me each week as we reflect on these devotionals together.
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  SPEAKER_00: Let's all pray within.
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  SPEAKER_00: Have you ever asked God for something, but you needed to be honest with yourself about why you wanted it?
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  SPEAKER_00: Because sometimes we're praying about something good, a new opportunity, a growing business, something for our family.
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  SPEAKER_00: But underneath that prayer, there may be a little comparison, a little pride, a little desire for somebody to notice us, maybe.
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  SPEAKER_00: And then there are times when our desire is good, but we've already decided how God needs to answer it.
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  SPEAKER_00: Lord, please lead me.
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  SPEAKER_00: But here's the plan.
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  SPEAKER_00: We say we're open, but are we?
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  SPEAKER_00: So welcome back to Jesse Morgan Devotions for the Christian Heart.
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  SPEAKER_00: This week we're continuing our study of James chapter four, verses one through seventeen.
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  SPEAKER_00: And there are three things I want to focus on this week.
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  SPEAKER_00: So examining our motives, allowing God to lead our plans, and standing firm when fear tries to cloud our faith.
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  SPEAKER_00: And I have to, and you know, it's a lot in this chapter, so I had to really break it down for you because I it's all important.
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  SPEAKER_00: So, and I have had to think about all three in my own life.
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  SPEAKER_00: So let's start with motives.
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  SPEAKER_00: So in James 4, 1 through 3, James addresses the desires that create conflict among us.
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  SPEAKER_00: He talks about wanting what we don't have, and then he challenges why we ask God for things in the first place.
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  SPEAKER_00: And in verse, um James 4, verse 3, it says, in the Christian Standard Bible version, it says, you ask and don't receive because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.
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  SPEAKER_00: And so verse 3 just really hit me, to be honest.
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  SPEAKER_00: And it really explains that we can ask and not receive because we're asking with wrong motives, wanting to use what we receive, you know, for our own liking, basically.
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  SPEAKER_00: And that verse really, you know, made me pause because you can spend a lot of time thinking about what we want without examining why we want it.
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  SPEAKER_00: We need to ask God for what we need and want instead of hating on someone else for what they have.
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  SPEAKER_00: So let me say this again.
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  SPEAKER_00: We need to ask God for what we need and want instead of hating on someone else for what they have.
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  SPEAKER_00: Somebody gets an opportunity and now we're wondering why we didn't get one.
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  SPEAKER_00: Somebody's platform grows, and now we now the work we were excited about yesterday suddenly doesn't feel like that, like it's enough.
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  SPEAKER_00: And nothing about our situation changed.
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  SPEAKER_00: We just saw theirs.
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  SPEAKER_00: And now we're bringing that comparison into our prayers.
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  SPEAKER_00: For me, one example is the podcast.
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  SPEAKER_00: I'm putting myself out there.
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  SPEAKER_00: So, of course, I would love for this podcast to just really grow.
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  SPEAKER_00: I put time into studying, preparing, recording, and sharing these episodes.
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  SPEAKER_00: I want people to hear them.
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  SPEAKER_00: But I also have to ask myself, and I've had to ask myself this why do I want to grow?
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  SPEAKER_00: Do I want more people to hear God's word and be encouraged?
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  SPEAKER_00: Or do I want the name the numbers to make me feel successful?
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  SPEAKER_00: Am I hoping somebody draws closer to God, or am I hoping somebody notices me?
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  SPEAKER_00: And if I'm being honest, those motives can be mixed together.
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  SPEAKER_00: I can care about serving God and still get caught up in how many people listened.
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  SPEAKER_00: I can be grateful for the people who are here and still find myself looking at somebody else's audience.
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  SPEAKER_00: That's why I have to stay accountable.
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  SPEAKER_00: I can't examine my motives one time and assume they're settled forever.
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  SPEAKER_00: I need to keep it, keep bringing them before God.
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  SPEAKER_00: So, Lord, help me to recognize when this is becoming about me.
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  SPEAKER_00: Help me to appreciate the people you've already allowed me to reach.
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  SPEAKER_00: And if an episode encourages one person, am I still going to be faithful?
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  SPEAKER_00: If the numbers don't grow as quickly as I hoped, am I still going to study and show up?
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  SPEAKER_00: Those questions reveal a lot.
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  SPEAKER_00: And wanting to grow isn't automatically wrong, but I need to be willing to let God examine what I'm attaching to that growth.
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  SPEAKER_00: Am I asking for an opportunity to serve or am I asking for something to prove my worth?
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  SPEAKER_00: And I'm willing to hear the answer.
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  SPEAKER_00: Like, am I willing to hear the answer?
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  SPEAKER_00: Thus, you know, and I think just to sit there with that really, you know, is it's holding me accountable.
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  SPEAKER_00: So the second lesson I wanted to cover in this podcast episode is allowing God, you know, is allowing God to lead, even when we have a preferred plan.
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  SPEAKER_00: Are we allowing him to lead?
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  SPEAKER_00: And this is where my daughter's schooling, my school comes in.
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  SPEAKER_00: I know I talked about this a little bit, but um this is a different angle this time.
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  SPEAKER_00: Um, from October um 2025 until the middle of September this year, my daughter attended a little private Montessori school in daycare.
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  SPEAKER_00: She went from 9 to 12 every day, and honestly, it was a nice school.
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  SPEAKER_00: The people were so caring, but over time I started noticing that the environment wasn't quite what she needed.
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  SPEAKER_00: There were about 16 to 17 kids in her class, and my daughter would often wander around.
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  SPEAKER_00: She wasn't consistently focusing on tasks or activities, it seemed a little overstimulating for her.
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  SPEAKER_00: And remember, my daughter was born four and a half months early, so she has some delays, and attention span is one of those things.
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  SPEAKER_00: So I would watch videos on the school app to see what she was doing each day, and I noticed that much of what I heard was in Spanish.
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  SPEAKER_00: The school had told me that the teachers used English to teach things like colors and numbers and things like that.
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  SPEAKER_00: So I started having questions about how much English was she hearing during the day.
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  SPEAKER_00: Then I saw a video of someone coming in and singing songs with the children in Spanish, too.
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  SPEAKER_00: Now, learning two languages is wonderful.
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  SPEAKER_00: I think in Miami, you need to do it.
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  SPEAKER_00: Um, my concern was understanding how safe how my daughter's particular communication needs were being supported because she was delayed.
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  SPEAKER_00: Hearing two languages, I think was maybe confusing her.
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  SPEAKER_00: Another child, regular two, three-year-old, that's not a problem.
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  SPEAKER_00: But with her, I had to keep an eye on that.
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  SPEAKER_00: And she, you know, she was developmentally delayed, as I mentioned, and I was trying to figure out what environment would help her, you know, participate, focus, and communicate better because she does have a speech delay.
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  SPEAKER_00: So when she turned three this year in September, the county, Dade County, reached out about its special education program for children ages three through five.
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  SPEAKER_00: And I was skeptical, skeptical, of course.
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  SPEAKER_00: I went to private school all my life.
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  SPEAKER_00: I grew up being taught that private school was always better in Florida.
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  SPEAKER_00: So naturally, when I thought about school for my daughter, private school was what I pictured.
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  SPEAKER_00: I already had visited two Christian schools down the street, like when she got older, I was preparing for that.
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  SPEAKER_00: But one of her therapists that we work with um told me about the the public school program and how great it was, and it and she encouraged me to take the meeting.
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  SPEAKER_00: And just taking the meeting, you know, I was just so glad I did it.
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  SPEAKER_00: I was so glad that I took that meeting.
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  SPEAKER_00: My daughter now has an individual educational education plan.
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  SPEAKER_00: There are eight children in her class total.
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  SPEAKER_00: Her teacher is certified and has a special education uh degree and background, and she communicates with my daughter so well.
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  SPEAKER_00: Also, the the aid in the classroom is amazing as well.
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  SPEAKER_00: Within about a month, my daughter has is counting to 10.
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  SPEAKER_00: Now she forgets the number nine sometimes in her count, but we're getting there.
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  SPEAKER_00: But she's counting, she's saying bye, high, up.
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  SPEAKER_00: She says her name.
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  SPEAKER_00: She'll, you know, kind of forget the S in there, but she'll say it.
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  SPEAKER_00: Um, she's voicing more, her attention span has improved a bit.
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  SPEAKER_00: I'm seeing her do things that bring me so much joy and shocks me every single day.
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  SPEAKER_00: And I think about how hesitant I was to even consider this option.
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  SPEAKER_00: I wanted what was best for her, but I had to be open to the possibility that what was best might not might look different than what I always had believed.
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  SPEAKER_00: And in James 4, 13 through 5, it said James talks about the plans we make.
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  SPEAKER_00: We speak confidently about where we'll go and what we'll do, but we don't know everything tomorrow will bring, basically.
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  SPEAKER_00: He reminds us to acknowledge God's will as we make those plans.
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  SPEAKER_00: Planning is part of life, and we all know this, but we need humility in our planning.
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  SPEAKER_00: Can I say, Lord, this is what I'm hoping for?
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  SPEAKER_00: But help me recognize if I need to go in another direction.
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  SPEAKER_00: Can I listen when someone presents an option I hadn't considered?
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  SPEAKER_00: Can I admit that my experience doesn't give me the whole picture?
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  SPEAKER_00: With my daughter, I needed to look at what was helping her, the class size, the teacher's training, the individual support, how she was responding.
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  SPEAKER_00: The word private couldn't make that decision for me.
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  SPEAKER_00: There's a reflection or a really good saying that Joyce Meyer, who's a great teacher of the Bible, um, she wrote, I have discovered that the secret of being content is to ask God for what I want and to rest in the knowledge that if it is right, he will bring it to the pass at the right time.
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  SPEAKER_00: If it is not right, he will do something much better than what I asked for.
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  SPEAKER_00: And that stayed with me because asking is one thing, resting afterward is another.
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  SPEAKER_00: I can tell God what I want, but can I trust him enough to remain open?
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  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes I may need more preparation before I can carry what I'm asking for, sometimes the timing may be different from mine, and sometimes I won't understand the answer.
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  SPEAKER_00: But I want to keep trusting him.
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  SPEAKER_00: That brings me now to the third lesson: standing firm against the devil.
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  SPEAKER_00: This summer, Sage's MRIs brought a lot of fear for me.
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  SPEAKER_00: Um when you've watched your child go through as much as she has, another medical concern can send your thoughts into just so many directions.
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  SPEAKER_00: And I started worrying about her future.
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  SPEAKER_00: Would she continue improving?
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  SPEAKER_00: Would she keep developing?
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  SPEAKER_00: What would the next few months look like?
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  SPEAKER_00: Does she need surgery again?
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  SPEAKER_00: And I felt Satan using that uncertainty to cloud my faith.
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  SPEAKER_00: The fear was affecting um how I thought about what was possible for her.
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  SPEAKER_00: And I had to recognize that.
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  SPEAKER_00: I had to like get myself together here.
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  SPEAKER_00: And having faith didn't mean I knew exactly how my daughter would develop.
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  SPEAKER_00: It didn't mean I could promise myself a certain amount, a certain outcome, or ignore her medical needs, but I couldn't allow fear to make every decision about her future.
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  SPEAKER_00: Fear can really hold you back.
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  SPEAKER_00: And in James 4, 7 it says, Submit yourself therefore to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
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  SPEAKER_00: So first, submit to God.
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  SPEAKER_00: I needed to bring God the fear I was carrying.
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  SPEAKER_00: I needed to be honest about what was troubling me and ask him to help me take the next step.
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  SPEAKER_00: And I needed to resist the thoughts that were making me feel defeated before we even tried.
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  SPEAKER_00: Putting my daughter in in that new school was a step of faith for me.
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  SPEAKER_00: I was scared, I had questions, I didn't know how she would respond, but I took the meeting, I listened, I considered the support available for her, and I moved forward.
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  SPEAKER_00: I think another amazing blessing was my mother-in-law was visiting, and she was able to go with me to the school and see everything, and that was the best thing.
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  SPEAKER_00: God just it was the perfect timing.
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  SPEAKER_00: And I just didn't have to feel completely fearless before I acted.
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  SPEAKER_00: And now I'm watching her participate more, communicate more, and grow.
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  SPEAKER_00: And that gives me so much to be thankful for.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we still have things to work through.
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  SPEAKER_00: I still have questions about the future, but I don't want to fear, I don't want fear to keep me from pursuing the help and opportunities available for my daughter today.
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  SPEAKER_00: And in verse eight of James chapter four, it encourages us to draw near to God.
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  SPEAKER_00: And that matters when we're afraid.
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  SPEAKER_00: We need his presence.
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  SPEAKER_00: We need prayer, we need his word, and sometimes we need the encouragement of people who can help us see the next step when we're just so overwhelmed.
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  SPEAKER_00: And I'm grateful that the therapist encouraged me to take that meeting.
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  SPEAKER_00: Such a simple suggestion, and it helped me move forward.
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  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, James closes out the chapter with accountability.
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  SPEAKER_00: In verse 17, it reminds us that when we know the good we ought to do and don't do it, that is sin.
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  SPEAKER_00: We have a responsibility to respond to what we know.
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  SPEAKER_00: If I recognize that comparison is influencing my motives, I need to address it.
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  SPEAKER_00: If I'm asking God to lead, I need to be willing to listen.
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  SPEAKER_00: If fear is holding me back from a wise next step, I need to bring that fear to God and move forward with his help.
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  SPEAKER_00: So this week I want us to ask ourselves three questions.
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  SPEAKER_00: Why do I want what I'm asking God for?
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  SPEAKER_00: Am I willing to let him lead if his direction looks different from my plan?
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  SPEAKER_00: And where do I need to stand firm instead of allowing fear to decide for me?
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  SPEAKER_00: And for me, that means continuing to examine why I want this podcast to grow.
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  SPEAKER_00: It means being grateful that I considered a school I might once have dismissed.
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  SPEAKER_00: And it means trusting God with my daughter's future while continuing to show up for what she needs every single day.
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  SPEAKER_00: Love you all.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
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  SPEAKER_00: Father, thank you for allowing us to come to you honestly with our needs, our hopes, and our fears.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: Help us to examine our motives.
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  SPEAKER_00: Show us where comparison, pride, and the desire for recognition is like influencing what we ask for.
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  SPEAKER_00: Lord, and help us to stay accountable and faithful with what you've already given us.
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  SPEAKER_00: Give us the humility, Lord, as we make plans and be okay if those plans get disrupted.
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  SPEAKER_00: Help us to listen, Lord.
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  SPEAKER_00: Help us to learn and recognize when we need to change that direction.
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  SPEAKER_00: And when, you know, fear is clouding the faith, walk.
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  SPEAKER_00: Draw us close to you, Lord.
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  SPEAKER_00: Help us to submit to you and resist the devil so he can flee.
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  SPEAKER_00: And Father, just keep giving us the courage to take the next step with you.
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  SPEAKER_00: Because we know if we do that, we'll be so blessed.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: Father, thank you so much for this study of James 4.
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  SPEAKER_00: We love you and we praise you in Jesus' name.
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  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
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  SPEAKER_00: Love you all.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_00: Till next time.
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  SPEAKER_00: Well, that wraps up this week's episode.
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  SPEAKER_00: I hope these devotions help you draw closer to God each day.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_00: If this episode encouraged you, please share it with someone who might need the same message.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_00: And don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a weekly episode.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_00: Also, if you feek if you feel compelled, leaving a nice review would be so appreciated as well.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_00: For more information or to reach out, check the show notes or visit jessimorganhome.com or find me on Instagram at Jessie MorganLife.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_00: Remember, God's timing is always perfect.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_00: Keep trusting him.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_00: Until next time, this is Jesse Morgan praying off.