Latest / She Speaks Life - Christian Women, Strengthen Your Faith, Bible Study, Grow Spiritually In Christ / Uncharted: Navigating Your Unique Journey Of Faith With Ines Franklin

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Uncharted: Navigating Your Unique Journey Of Faith With Ines Franklin · She Speaks Life - Christian Women, Strengthen Your Faith, Bible Study, Grow Spiritually In Christ

• 0:00
  Hi friend. Welcome back to she speaks life.
• 0:03
  If you are a regular listener, I would love for you to leave a
• 0:06
  review on Apple. ITunes and hop on over to my
• 0:11
  website link. Jamie Elizabeth.com.
• 0:15
  The link is shown underneath the description of this episode in
• 0:20
  the notes and let's connect. I want to get to know you and I
• 0:24
  want you to receive my free download of God's ID my ID.
• 0:30
  That's all about God's characteristics and how they
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  apply to your life today. Okay, I'm super excited to bring
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  you my friend and Nez Franklin. She has a brand new book out
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  called Uncharted and as a host of her own podcast called
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  Uncharted as well, and we are going to talk about what it
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  looks like to be in complete faith, for what God wants to do
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  in our lives, and what's the connection between.
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  Oh, Medians commitment, discipline and relationship with
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  Christ. And how do we navigate those
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  choppy Waters? The storms and life, the current
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  of uncertainties while we keep God at the helm of it all, this
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  is such a wonderful conversation.
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  I am so glad you are tuning in. Here's my guest and as Franklin,
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  hello Anna's, welcome to, she speaks life.
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  I am so happy. You're here today.
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  I'm so grateful. Thank you for having me.
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  Yeah, I love this message that you are bringing.
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  And before we dive in to your unique journey in faith, I would
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  love for you to share with us your favorite scripture verse
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  and why, okay? So right now because you know
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  how it is, there's so many wonderful passages of course.
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  But right now, it's Deuteronomy chapter 31.
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  Verse 8, the Lord is the one who We'll go before you, he will be
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  with you. He will not leave you or
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  abandon. You do not be afraid or
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  discouraged. Beautiful.
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  This is a message that God gave to Moses to Joshua to the people
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  of Israel as they were entering into the promised land.
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  And there's just that excitement of what God had for them was
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  tempered with. Hey, you're going to go fight
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  the for this, and you're going to, you're going to need me in
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  the presence and so it's a beautiful picture that God never
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  leaves us. Us that he's with us in all our
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  circumstances and that he is leading us to a better place,
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  but we need him. We're going to be afraid,
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  there's going to be things that are going to discourage us but
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  because of his presence, we don't have to allow those
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  feelings to be the predominant. And right now, I'm in a very big
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  adventure. I-i'm just releasing my book and
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  I don't know what comes ahead. I know I believe the promises
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  that God has given me. The Whispers, he's put in my
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  heart and I want to have this. Chef trusting God with the
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  outcome and really having a faith that says that he has the
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  bigger plan, he has the greater purpose and that I shouldn't be
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  afraid or discouraged no matter the outcome and trust that he's
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  walking with me even in this. I love it.
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  Yeah. His promises are so sweet and
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  reassuring gives us that confidence that he's always with
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  us. And speaking of Adventures, you
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  wrote and published Just a book. Congratulations it's called
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  Uncharted navigating your unique Journey of Faith.
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  And I really just love the premise of this whole book like
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  the struggles of life and inability to hear God and our
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  desire to control and complicate things who deter us from living
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  out that Abundant Life and you just get these doubts right and
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  you're just unsure that you're Post to be heading on the
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  certain path. And so your book just offers
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  this healing and hope to those that are just finding their way
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  and have these doubts because they just keep encountering
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  these uncertainties in life. So how do we navigate?
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  How to release release that control and just be in complete
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  surrender of God's authority over our life and I think this
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  is such a common thing. That we all go through in life.
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  So I first just want to kick us off with.
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  Why did you write this book? What was that personal encounter
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  with the Lord? Your story as to why you thought
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  this was so important to write about?
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  Well, my Journey of Faith started with a crash, you know
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  with. Yeah, we always have this idea
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  of journeys of faith that you believe in Jesus.
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  Oh, everything's great but mine did not.
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  I actually was 7 years old when my Lolita, she took me to church
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  to catechism. My mom did not go to church, she
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  had her own relationship with God is what she would tell us.
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  And she rebelled against a church.
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  But my what he thought she took us and the nun was the one
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  teaching the classes on the first class?
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  She told us about God how he created everything and
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  everything that we see that we don't see it's all created by
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  God and nothing existed before he created it.
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  And I thought wow of course, as a seven-year-old, I'm an
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  Positive person. I raise my hand up and said
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  where was God standing? If there was nothing before he
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  created it and she got so upset quickly, she said, you know, you
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  have your showing no faith that, you know, don't question God.
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  So she sent me to the back of the Chapel to pray.
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  Our Father, he'll Mary's ask for forgiveness, and of course, all
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  the kids in the class were first giggling and then there was
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  silence, kind of like Goose, shame on you.
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  And the next class I came to, to the catechism, I Sit in the
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  front Pew anymore. That was a little scary.
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  I sat 3p, use back and she talked about heaven.
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  How heaven was this? Incredible place of no
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  suffering, no sorrow, no pain, no evil, no obstacles, no
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  deadbeat dads that left her children.
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  Like my father did no alcoholism or drug abuse like my brother
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  suffered. No.
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  Physical, you know, assaults? No, no fighting, no bullies.
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  And I remember being a seven-year-old thinking.
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  Well that's It sounds wonderful. I want to go to heaven now and
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  it sounds like we're all going to get to heaven.
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  So my thought was, I don't understand why we're here.
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  That makes no sense. Let's just go to heaven now.
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  And so I didn't want to ask the question because questions were
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  taboo, so I decided to go to heaven instead.
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  And so I went to my house, I climb the roof of my house
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  intending to go to heaven that very day.
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  And I got on one corner of the roof and decided.
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  Okay, I'll jump from here but I looked down and there was a lot
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  of debris. I lived in Puerto Rico in the
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  mountains and As a big Ravine, I thought, maybe I'll break
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  something and I needed in heaven.
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  So I won't do that. So, I went to the other corner,
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  it was flat, and I was excited to jump.
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  And when I raised up my hands and I told God, I said in
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  Spanish, I said I keep angle. You know, here I come, I heard
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  an audible voice. That said, bhajate, which means
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  to get down and it almost felt like, not only I did, I hear the
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  voice, but I also felt my body being pulled back.
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  I was already leaning forward, like, someone pulled me back and
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  I quickly thought, Oh, I am such.
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  I'm in deep trouble. So I went down and curled up in
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  a little ball and started just bawling.
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  Because in our house, man, if we got on the roof, we got hit with
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  whatever. My mom got handy, she was a
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  single mom, raising seven kids, and she had to be tough.
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  And I knew I was going to get punished, but then I couldn't
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  recognize the voice. I tried to think.
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  What was that? My mom was.
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  I, my neighbor. Was that my brother sister?
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  And then I had a thought of what is that male or female and when
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  I had that thought and I could not recognize that it was male
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  and female instantly I sensed it was God and the minute I did, I
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  entered into this conversation with god.
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  Now in my mind and in my heart, it was not audible.
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  Anyway, I only heard one word audibly and that experience,
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  which I talk about in my book. Took me on a journey of my
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  faith. Totally Uncharted, definitely
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  not the typical Faith Journey that you hear.
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  People talk about, I became a believer.
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  Before and I love Jesus and I give my life.
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  Awesome, awesome stuff. Not my journey because I did not
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  understand God. I did not understand the
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  experience. I had, I was afraid to tell
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  anyone and so I went, I literally just went about life
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  with God watching over me, I knew that much that he was
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  present, but not having a relationship with him.
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  Not trusting him, not giving my life to him.
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  I didn't listen to a single thing.
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  The nun said after that, I went and I got The white dress and
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  the whole thing I got to take communion but I don't know what
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  she said and it wasn't until I was 40 when I actually gave my
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  life to Jesus and by then I had made a really big mess out of my
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  life and I came to God in desperation and even then I
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  thought okay my life is not going to be on a nice linear
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  path. This time I get it this time I
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  trust God and yet my path has been nothing but it has not been
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  linear. It's been quite a journey.
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  And then when I started studying scripture, For the first time in
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  my 40s, I never read the Bible. I realize all these stories in
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  the Bible. They're just as confusing, and
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  they have twists and turns on obstacles and challenges in
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  other stories are like my story, and it's like, when that, why do
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  we buy this idea? The Journey of Faith is linear.
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  Joseph story was nothing. It was not linear the
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  Israelites. Their Journey was e Peter.
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  His story was not linear. None of our Journeys are linear
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  but we have a really, really good God who walks with us and
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  Relationship with us in that journey and is constantly
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  revealing, this great adventure that we get to walk with him.
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  So we don't have to go to heaven.
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  This is what I learned. I don't have to go to heaven to
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  experience that that eternity is here now, already present.
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  So I get to live, this beautiful mysterious Journey of Faith,
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  full of Faith, full of mystery, full of wonder, and that helps
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  me, let go of control and uncertainty that, that craving
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  for uncertainty. It also keeps me from trying to
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  Try to circumvent God's plan God's ways because usually
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  that's what I do. When my own anxiety, I try to
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  get ahead of God instead, it keeps me from doing that.
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  So that's the root of it is mainly because it's been a very
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  Uncharted for me. And I, then as I looked, it's
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  Uncharted for all of us, we just don't talk about it.
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  Yeah, I mean it's so true because I think as soon as
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  Calamity or you know, just hardship comes our way.
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  We're just like, put God You know, I did this and I'm doing
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  that and you know, I can't believe I'm in countering this
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  but he reminds us in his word like all of these.
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  I mean that's why we have it because we have all these past
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  stories of Joseph. Like you mentioned of just you
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  know feared God to loved him and went through so much pain, so
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  much suffering. And when he three years 12 yeah
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  years. Yeah and we can go on and on On.
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  I mean, all of them Paul job like everybody had gone through
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  the uncertainties of life and I love that.
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  You're tackling the, you know, why do We crave?
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  Certainty and control? And I think too, like it's
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  because we love that comfy place and we love to know where we're
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  going at all times. I think the unknown Is this
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  really? It makes us fearful.
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  So why do you how do you navigate through?
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  Just give us like just a description that maybe you wrote
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  in your book of how do we get to that point where it's okay as we
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  face uncertainties in life? Well, with any challenge or any
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  change of behavior. We have to name our problem,
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  right? We have to name it and look at
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  it. And so the in the book I started
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  art up by kind of comparing our desires to God's desires.
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  So we want a formula. We want to map, we want to know
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  a cave, God's going to if he's promised us this then we want to
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  know exactly how it's going to happen.
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  And then we want to have, you know, maybe we want to give God
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  some advice on how he's planning to do it like, you know, God
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  maybe if we did this instead, right.
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  We try to involve ourselves in God's desires for us and yet
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  God's desires for us are so much bigger than anything.
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  We could dream up. Whatever it is, we can quote
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  control is going to be so tiny compared to what God has for us.
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  So I start with the book to get us to that place.
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  A realizing like are craving for control, are craving for sent,
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  certainty and Clarity is simply going to give us a very small
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  experience of what God has for us.
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  God has Jesus said I came to give life abundant as we can't
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  experience the Abundant Life. When we're, we're the ones
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  trying to To manage and control it because we're we're not all
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  that. You know, the thing we love is
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  to be not feel vulnerable, but we are vulnerable creatures,
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  man. Covid taught us that right?
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  We are vulnerable. We are dependent.
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  We are not self-sufficient. We need each other.
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  We need creation, we need God. And so when we recognize that,
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  it's actually a bit of a piece because when we try to control
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  everything because we can't, we get anxious, we get frustrated.
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  So yeah, so I start my book like that and then I add a spiritual
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  practice at the end of every chapter and spiritual practices
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  for those who are not familiar with this is basically things
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  that we do that open up our hearts to God for God, to come
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  in and do a work in us. It's ways in which we make
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  ourselves vulnerable before God so that he can come and do what
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  only he can do. So I begin my chapter one with
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  practicing the presence of God. God and actually give people
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  directions on how to do it and some prompting scriptures on how
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  to do that, all the way down to the Simplicity of like if you're
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  sitting right now somewhere, if someone's listening to this
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  podcast and they're driving, for example, imagining that the
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  Jesus is sitting in their passenger seat and is looking at
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  the same view, they're looking at and is in the traffic with
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  them, you know, and having a conversation with Jesus, right
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  there and just really Understanding God's with us all
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  the time, and we don't have to call him to Up.
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  You know, we don't have to, we don't have to text him.
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  He's like right there as close as Jesus was to Peter, when he
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  was sinking, that's how close he is to us all the time.
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  So I get practices throughout the book to help us actually,
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  lean into this idea of trusting in the Uncharted Journey, versus
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  the craving for control and the craving for certainty.
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  Yeah, I love that the engagement and I know you mention Focus
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  largely on. On this connection between
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  obedience commitment, discipline, and relationship
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  with Christ. So how does this whole bundle
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  lead us to Freedom instead of feeling that confinement or
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  control that we're being controlled?
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  Yeah, I like that. So the book is organized in four
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  sections which basically, into me, there are Rhythm, they're
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  not meant to be like a through z.
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  They're more like a circular motion.
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  I wish I could write a book that way.
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  But, but the idea is like, right, that God has desires for
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  us there greater than we could imagine.
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  He wants to, he wants us to know his desires for him.
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  He wants to reveal them to us, and he does.
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  He reveals many of his desires to us, and if we can put down
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  our little control mechanisms that we can actually see and
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  experience those desires, but then not expecting that.
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  Okay, I know your desires. So now I have no obstacles.
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  No, that's not true. We are going to experience
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  obstacles in life. We're going to have questions.
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  We're going to Doubts. We're going to feel disoriented
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  on the Journey of Faith that time because we are broken
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  people. Other people are broken.
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  The world is broken, and we're constantly being bombarded by
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  the enemy who wants to destroy our peace with God.
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  And so we're going to have all that stuff all along the way as
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  we are experiencing and relishing in the desires of God
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  for us. So, how do we overcome those?
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  So I talked about how to overcome those obstacles and
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  then we, I talk about the blessing of obedience.
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  So, If we're in the middle of what obstacle and God's helping
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  us overcome it, that we would remain obedient in those
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  obstacles because obedience from a good God, who only wants the
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  best for us. I mean I mean you think of the
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  nicest person you know that that is kind to you that loves you.
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  When they say to you I have a gift for you.
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  You don't think what kind of a gift that's in that box.
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  I'm not sure. I want to open that, you know, I
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  should I get some sort of a metal detector.
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  I mean you don't think that you think oh, of course I want to
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  receive that gift. Or of course I wanted to pick up
• 17:31
  your phone call to receive your call.
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  There's just this Joy of being with that person and I so I do
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  believe because we have a very good God when he calls us to
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  obey him, everything he calls us to obey is good.
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  And Jesus modeled the father he obeyed, God perfectly and Jesus
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  died on the cross. And we might think, well, well,
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  he suffered I didn't work out so good for Jesus, but he is seated
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  at the right hand of God. So suffering is not equivalent
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  to 0. This is bad.
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  It's actually obedience is good through suffering because it
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  shows the faithfulness and the greater good that God has for
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  us. Not that temporary good, that
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  has for us. And then lastly, I talked about
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  thirsting for God because when we obey we're going to walk
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  through a fog, we're going to go through suffering, we're going
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  to go through things that really make no sense because pain is
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  pain, suffering is suffering. And so then how do we get
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  through? Those is we have to seek God
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  above anything else, if we're sick, if If we're really
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  struggling with suffering and we want the suffering to end, we
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  want healing. Then what if we want to God,
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  more than we wanted our healing? What if we want God more than
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  our desires for clarity. So having a posture of God,
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  whatever it is that I'm Desiring.
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  If I'm Desiring control right now, help me desire, Your Love
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  or your peace more than this. You know, I talk about
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  comparison, how we compare ourselves to others and we think
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  our journey isn't like somebody else's.
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  What if we wanted? Add more than whatever it is.
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  That that person we might think that person has.
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  So the last section of the book is all about growing.
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  A deeper desire for God, a deeper hunger for God, which
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  then pulls us back to his desires to the obstacles.
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  We Face To The Obedience, we have to live through back to
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  desire, and it's a cycle, so good.
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  I love that. So if somebody is going through
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  some doubt and what would and just trying to see Seek out his
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  desires for their life. What would you say like the key
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  is to that? Well, I think I would start that
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  person again with the presence of God because as much as I went
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  through a great deal of doubts right from day one, I mean, the
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  first thing I had was her like where were you standing when you
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  really? I mean, how could you create
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  things? And there was no place to stand,
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  like I had doubts from day one, but understanding the God was
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  present, it kind of helps. I believe it begins the Journey
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  of opening up ourselves for God to nurture Us in that doubt.
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  Because here's the beauty, God is not offended by our doubts,
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  he's not right, he's offended by our Rebellion, right?
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  He's offended by our rejection but not by our doubts.
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  Our doubts to say, I help me with my own believe, God and
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  God, God is gracious and kind and gentle with doubters.
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  Jesus was kind to Thomas And even appeared another time back
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  so that Thomas would have his opportunity to to see again.
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  And so yeah, to the doubting person out there, the person is
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  really frustrating confused by their Journey of Faith right
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  now. I would just offer the presence
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  of God, just practice feeling and being in the presence of God
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  and see how God is loving, even their, how gentle and kind.
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  And God is sometimes we hear God with the voices.
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  The critical voices of people in our lives, our parents, or a
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  teacher or even our own critical voice to try to get past that
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  critical cynical voice. And just hear the voice of God
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  is never critical. Like even my bhajate which was
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  authoritative and you know still came with a real gentle familiar
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  sense to it. Like I sensed goodness in the
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  midst of God's, gentle rebuke. Right, I still sense his
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  goodness and I think even the doubter could experience that
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  goodness of God in the middle of doubt and and know that their
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  doubts are not offensive. Yeah, I think that's Q just
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  really learning how to hear God's voice.
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  I mean, it doesn't mean we're going to get it perfect every
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  time and we're just gonna hear it, you know, just loud and
• 21:53
  clear every time it's often that soft still voice and I always
• 21:58
  say it's my Ears that hear him and it's so gentle and that was
• 22:06
  one of the first things that I need to do in my personal
• 22:10
  relationship with the Lord in order to grow, is to really
• 22:13
  present and be intentional and want it.
• 22:16
  And I just remember having that talk about spiritual practice
• 22:21
  of, you know, sitting there on the couch and just being still
• 22:25
  and waiting and just, and still going, okay?
• 22:29
  I think this is you speaking to me, you know, let me write this
• 22:32
  down and the more we do it, the more we become accustomed to
• 22:38
  that voice and I often gave this example that the Lord actually
• 22:43
  showed me. We were in Costco.
• 22:45
  And for most of you guys are listening, you know what Costco
• 22:48
  is and, you know, when you're having a young child at the time
• 22:51
  and they Wonder off and I'm going, you know, I'm with my
• 22:55
  husband. I'm like, you know, Bubba is
• 22:58
  named Bob As a Bubba just walked off.
• 23:01
  I don't know where he is. I'm starting to panic and all of
• 23:05
  a sudden, my husband does his whistle and it's his whistle
• 23:09
  that he's always done with the kids and they automatically know
• 23:14
  it's Dad. It's hid from him, his whistle,
• 23:18
  and lo, and behold. Here's a little tight running
• 23:22
  after us down the aisle. And I remember, right then and
• 23:26
  there like God, just telling me see this Is how you know, it's
• 23:30
  my voice. It becomes familiar to you and
• 23:34
  it's the same with the shepherd, you know, that sheep knows their
• 23:37
  Shepherd and their voice and it's that familiarity that the
• 23:44
  you know, kids have grown up with and that's the same thing
• 23:48
  with God. The more you you hear it, the
• 23:51
  more you will become familiar with it.
• 23:55
  Very true. Very, that's a great example.
• 23:57
  By the way, Jamie, I'd love that.
• 23:59
  I love my mom. Had a funny whistle as well that
• 24:02
  she would do for us when we were out and about running and we
• 24:05
  knew okay. Time to come home it's time to
• 24:07
  go home. Yeah, I love that you know and
• 24:10
  we can hear God's word by reading the Bible right.
• 24:13
  It's how we get a sense for his voice there as well.
• 24:16
  So sometimes we have spoken to people who are like I sat there
• 24:19
  I try and I heard nothing inside.
• 24:22
  That's okay. Read the Bible and in the Bible,
• 24:24
  God is speaking and like you say, stay at it.
• 24:29
  Stay Day at it. It takes it takes time,
• 24:31
  especially, when we are. We have an expectation.
• 24:35
  This is the thing about my book as we got to drop our
• 24:37
  expectations. Like, it ought to sound like
• 24:39
  this. This is what God should say in.
• 24:41
  And God is so loving and gracious to us.
• 24:44
  That he knows that when we're doing something, we're trying to
• 24:47
  manipulate him into an action. God doesn't fall for that
• 24:50
  because he wants to give us something better than what we
• 24:52
  expect. And so, like, just settle and
• 24:55
  wait. Yeah, I love that.
• 24:58
  Yeah, reading. Sure something just pops up
• 25:02
  ruminating in your mind in your heart and, you know, like okay,
• 25:06
  the Holy Spirit saying something he wants me to get this down,
• 25:11
  you know, what is it? And yeah, I always tell people,
• 25:16
  you know, it's from the Lord when it never leaves, you know,
• 25:19
  it just sticks, it won't go away and then you manly know, okay?
• 25:24
  This is really something that the Lord wants me to discover.
• 25:29
  Moron. Anything else?
• 25:30
  You'd love to share about the buck and I loved it and with a
• 25:35
  takeaway that the listener can ponder on or take action in
• 25:39
  well. So like I said, the book has
• 25:41
  spiritual practices at the end of every chapter.
• 25:44
  And one of the things that I did is I took all of those special
• 25:47
  practices that I've shared in the book.
• 25:49
  And by the way, there are hundreds of other spiritual
• 25:51
  practices. I shared a couple of resources
• 25:54
  and my book so that people can purchase those books as well.
• 25:58
  But I only have a few My book, but I took the ones that I wrote
• 26:01
  and I created a PDF of them so they can be downloaded from my
• 26:05
  website and that way you can practice those things anytime
• 26:09
  without having to carry the book with you.
• 26:11
  So that's a little offering that you can our list the listeners,
• 26:14
  can go to Venus Franklin.com after they purchased a book and
• 26:17
  download that for free. But the biggest takeaway, I
• 26:20
  guess I would want people to have is my heart.
• 26:25
  And my desire for this book is to set us free.
• 26:29
  Free to experience the Great Adventure.
• 26:32
  That is following Jesus. That really the better way to
• 26:36
  live and I think we all want a good way to live, right?
• 26:39
  We want the best and it's okay to want the best because God
• 26:43
  wants the best for us. Jesus said I came to give you
• 26:46
  life. Abundant abundant fruitful to
• 26:49
  the full, and I think the better way to experience that life is
• 26:54
  to really give it to God and walk with him day by day and
• 26:58
  understand that that Fullness that abundance can come even in
• 27:04
  our most desperate places. I mean it doesn't matter what
• 27:08
  season of Life, your end whether you're a high moment or a long
• 27:10
  moment, Abundant Life is available to us and we kind of
• 27:14
  Choke it out with our fears, with our anxieties, we're
• 27:19
  craving for certainty and control.
• 27:21
  We don't get to be all that God created us to be.
• 27:24
  So I just want to encourage us to recognize.
• 27:27
  This is something we all do. All the The time I still do
• 27:30
  myself and I have to take myself back to wait.
• 27:33
  I want to experience life abundant right now, this very
• 27:35
  moment. So I have to reset myself to
• 27:38
  account my looking at my situation here in.
• 27:41
  How do I switch to a Heavenly mindset?
• 27:44
  That I might see this from God's eyes, not from the eyes of the
• 27:48
  world or my own limited perspective has for coming on
• 27:54
  here and sharing. I love all this and
• 27:57
  congratulations again on your book.
• 27:59
  Book thinking and I pray that and I know that God will take it
• 28:03
  to all four corners of the earth.
• 28:05
  Awesome, please. God, thank you, thank you Jamie.
• 28:08
  It's a pleasure. God bless you.
• 28:11
  Thank you so much for listening today and I trust that God has
• 28:15
  encouraged you through this story.
• 28:17
  Did you know this podcast is on YouTube, hop on there and
• 28:21
  subscribe and you can see a live recording of each episode and
• 28:26
  for more information on this ministry and to access free
• 28:30
  downloads, please visit my website at Jamie Elizabeth.com
• 28:34
  that's ja yme Elizabeth.com and let's connect Beyond This
• 28:40
  podcast by going to my Instagram handle, Jamie Elizabeth she
• 28:44
  speaks life or Facebook until next time my friend.
• 28:48
  I hope God reveals himself through your own life story.