Latest / She Speaks Life - Christian Women, Strengthen Your Faith, Bible Study, Grow Spiritually In Christ / Following God's Will With Brittany Ann

Transcript

Following God's Will With Brittany Ann · She Speaks Life - Christian Women, Strengthen Your Faith, Bible Study, Grow Spiritually In Christ

• 0:02
  Hi guys. Welcome back to, she speaks life
• 0:05
  where we share our faith, stories, I'm Jamie Elizabeth.
• 0:08
  And I'm so excited to bring you. My guest Brittany and Brittany
• 0:13
  published a book called follow God's Will and she'll be sharing
• 0:17
  all about how to discover. God's will what is God's Will
• 0:21
  and how to walk it out in our personal lives?
• 0:23
  Before we dive into our conversation, I wanted to take a
• 0:26
  minute and let you know, I have a free Load on my website called
• 0:32
  God's ID. My ID just go on, Jamie
• 0:35
  Elizabeth.com and hit the, let's connect and it gets sent right
• 0:39
  to your inbox. Plus you'll be getting
• 0:42
  first-hand information on some exciting giveaways, this month
• 0:47
  and new products around the corner to help us grow in our
• 0:52
  faith. And I don't want you to miss
• 0:54
  out. Okay, with all that being said,
• 0:57
  let's jump into our conversation with Brittany.
• 1:02
  Well, hi Brittany, welcome to. She speaks life.
• 1:05
  I am so glad you are here with us today.
• 1:09
  Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to get to speak
• 1:12
  with you today. Yeah, well, I love what we are
• 1:15
  going to be talking about. I think most of us can really
• 1:19
  relate to God's will. What is it?
• 1:23
  You know, how do we walk into it?
• 1:26
  You know, his calling in our life.
• 1:29
  How do we know that we are walking?
• 1:31
  Are calling and just all the questions that surround God's
• 1:35
  Will and our life. So I think what you are going to
• 1:40
  be speaking today is really going to resonate with a lot of
• 1:44
  women and meet them right where they're at but before we go into
• 1:48
  that I always love to ask the guests in the beginning.
• 1:52
  Do you have a life verse that? You hold dear to your heart, I
• 1:57
  do. And this has been my favorite
• 1:58
  verse since the time that I was a teenager.
• 2:01
  It is so much 27 for which says one thing I ask from the Lord.
• 2:07
  This only do I see that I may dwell in the house of the Lord,
• 2:11
  all the days of my life, to Gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to
• 2:15
  seek him in his Temple. And I love this verse because
• 2:18
  the psalmist, who wrote this, he wasn't just spending everyday,
• 2:21
  literally in the temple of the Lord, and just worshiping God
• 2:24
  and not doing anything else with his life.
• 2:26
  I'm sure you have plenty of other things that he was doing
• 2:29
  and yet it just a good reminder for You that no matter what I'm
• 2:33
  doing, whether I'm spending time on my Bible or whether I'm
• 2:37
  taking care of, the kids are taken care of the puppy are
• 2:39
  doing the dishes or the laundry, or are going to work or whatever
• 2:41
  it is that through everything that I do.
• 2:44
  I can always do that unto the Lord.
• 2:47
  That it's not just, I have my quiet time and that I have
• 2:50
  everything else. But that, no matter what I do,
• 2:52
  no matter where I am, everything that I can do, can always be
• 2:56
  through this lens of loving, God, and seeking him and his
• 2:59
  will for my life and just living that out.
• 3:01
  Through everything. Mmm, such a good reminder.
• 3:05
  So I heard you mention puppy because I just got through that
• 3:12
  stage. She's about a year and a half
• 3:14
  now, but, oh my goodness, it's like having a baby all over
• 3:19
  again. And it's so funny because when
• 3:21
  you have more than one bit, you just kind of forget what that is
• 3:25
  going to take when you have another baby.
• 3:28
  So, having another dog, a puppy, I All that work that goes into
• 3:34
  it. How old is your puppy?
• 3:37
  And what kind is it? I have a just over two year old
• 3:43
  golden doodle so apparently we both have quarantined dogs, but
• 3:49
  yeah, I had never had a puppy before and we just decided, you
• 3:52
  know, this would be a good time for our family.
• 3:54
  So it is all a learning experience to me.
• 3:56
  I am glad that we are out of the little puppy stage, but I feel
• 4:00
  like we probably still have a A little bit more work to do on
• 4:03
  that, pulling on the leash, not eating Buddha hand counter.
• 4:06
  So she is a joy and she keeps us very busy.
• 4:10
  Yeah, I know, I'm like what is this?
• 4:13
  My life revolves around this dog now.
• 4:16
  Yeah, I gotta get home. I got a locker, I gotta let her
• 4:19
  out. I gotta meet her.
• 4:20
  Oh, my gosh. Yeah, yeah.
• 4:22
  It's a lot of work but a lot of cuteness, right?
• 4:24
  Yes. Alright, so we are going to dive
• 4:28
  into God's Will and I love how you wrote this book and it's
• 4:35
  simply called follow God's Will and it just is Rich with all of
• 4:41
  the questions that we ask ourselves, you know, what is
• 4:45
  God's will? You know what's his calling
• 4:48
  does? He have a plan for our life all
• 4:50
  those things. So do you believe that God has a
• 4:54
  plan for us? And if so how do we know that
• 4:59
  we're in it? Like how do we discover it?
• 5:01
  It, that is a great question. So the first part of that yes I
• 5:05
  absolutely believe that God has a unique call on every single
• 5:09
  one of us we read in the Bible in Ephesians 2:10 it says for we
• 5:14
  are God's handiwork created in Christ.
• 5:16
  Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to
• 5:21
  do. So it doesn't matter who you are
• 5:23
  or where you are right now, whether you are someone who is
• 5:27
  busy working or staying home with the kids or you're an empty
• 5:29
  nester or you're a teenager if You are alive right now.
• 5:33
  Listening to this podcast, God created you on purpose to do
• 5:37
  good works, which he decided in advance.
• 5:39
  That you would do way before you were even born before.
• 5:42
  You had any idea to even think about God's will for your life,
• 5:45
  he already determined. This is what he wanted you to
• 5:48
  do, and before you even had a thought of any of this, when he
• 5:53
  was determining, what he wanted you to do, he also uniquely
• 5:57
  equipped you to do whatever it would be.
• 6:00
  So for example, we often some think that sometimes God's will
• 6:03
  means we're going to go be a missionary, or we have to be a
• 6:06
  pastor, or we have to do one of these very spiritual callings.
• 6:09
  And God does call some people in that way because us to all kinds
• 6:13
  of things. And I just love that about the
• 6:15
  body of Christ. That's yes.
• 6:16
  He called some to be missionaries.
• 6:18
  He might call someone else to be an accountant.
• 6:20
  He might call someone to be a stay-at-home mom.
• 6:22
  He might call someone else to be a bake sale.
• 6:25
  Volunteer coordinator like whatever it is there's all kinds
• 6:28
  of things that we could do and he already equipped us with the
• 6:31
  Meek talents that we would need. So I am not an accountant.
• 6:35
  I would not be a very good accountant because I don't have
• 6:38
  those skills. God gave me the skills that I
• 6:40
  would need for what he is calling me to both now and in
• 6:43
  the future, he purposely equipped me with the personality
• 6:46
  traits in the skills and abilities that I would need,
• 6:49
  because he knew where he was going to call me.
• 6:51
  So going to the second part of your question of, how do we know
• 6:54
  God's will for our lives? There's a couple of ways that we
• 6:57
  could answer that question, so one we know God's will for our
• 7:00
  life for All of us in general when we read God's word.
• 7:04
  So, so often we think, oh, what does God want from me?
• 7:06
  I have no idea. Where do I even start?
• 7:08
  But we have to remember, we have this book.
• 7:10
  It's a very big book, but it's full of so much wisdom and
• 7:14
  encouragement. The Bible tells us so much
• 7:17
  guidance in terms of, you know, go this way because it's good
• 7:20
  for you. And don't go this way because
• 7:21
  it's really bad for you. And I know it looks good, but,
• 7:23
  like, stay away. The Bible is, for us, it's not
• 7:27
  this list of rules and regulations, and you better do
• 7:29
  the right thing and you better not get in trouble and you Our
• 7:31
  measure up, it's a book of wisdom and guidance to show us
• 7:35
  like, hey, like this is what is good.
• 7:37
  If you walk in this way, it will go well for you.
• 7:40
  So we have so much guidance there in the Bible that tells us
• 7:43
  in general. This is how we should live.
• 7:46
  But then when we want to answer the question of OK, what does
• 7:48
  God want me to do? Then?
• 7:50
  That's what we need to get a little bit more specific into
• 7:52
  answering just some really practical questions.
• 7:54
  Like what unique gifts skills and abilities has God given me
• 7:58
  like what are the things? Maybe that?
• 8:00
  My friends all say, hey, your You're really good at this or
• 8:03
  you have this skill that other people don't have or you have
• 8:05
  this personality trait that we love about you and thinking what
• 8:09
  are the things that make you unique?
• 8:10
  Like how has God give did you and skilled you because you
• 8:13
  probably did that for a reason so that you can use those gifts.
• 8:17
  And then also looking at everything that's around you,
• 8:19
  what opportunities are right in front of you.
• 8:23
  There are things that I don't do because like, I'm not anywhere
• 8:25
  near that, I have no experience there.
• 8:27
  I have no prior experience, I have no opportunity, but there
• 8:30
  are things that are right in front.
• 8:31
  Me all the time. And I mean, if you take time to
• 8:34
  look around and see what is your church asking the church always
• 8:38
  asks, for, oh, we need volunteers for this or we need
• 8:40
  somebody to help out with this or someone to get involved with
• 8:43
  this or your children's school or what you watch on the news.
• 8:46
  When you see different nonprofits or events in your
• 8:49
  area, you can get on Google. You know what are the
• 8:51
  opportunities like the volunteer opportunities or the nonprofits
• 8:54
  in my area? It doesn't have to be volunteer
• 8:56
  work, but it's just a good place to start.
• 8:58
  Go to your local library. What are the needs?
• 9:01
  All And you what are the opportunities or that are all
• 9:04
  around you and how has God uniquely created and gifted you
• 9:08
  to be the answer to some of those needs and also doing
• 9:11
  something that you enjoy doing. I think that's a good place to
• 9:16
  start as well because I'm sure God can use you and some way
• 9:21
  with whatever it is that you enjoy doing.
• 9:24
  Okay. So, moving on, you had mentioned
• 9:27
  in your book that you struggle with perfectionism and I think
• 9:31
  That is such a common struggle with women and, you know, and
• 9:36
  it's a dangerous one too because it keeps us from moving forward
• 9:40
  into the god assignments that he has for us.
• 9:44
  And so what would you say to our friend who's listening, that
• 9:48
  maybe does struggle with perfectionism and she's just
• 9:52
  like, okay, like I'm just going to mess it up.
• 9:55
  So why Try? Oh, I deal with this.
• 9:57
  All of the time. I think the biggest thing is
• 10:01
  just really realizing that you're not enough and that's
• 10:04
  okay. You're not supposed to be
• 10:06
  enough. I know for me, I always want to
• 10:07
  show up and I went to be enough that I want to have enough that
• 10:10
  I went to do enough. And I went to do all of the
• 10:11
  things, but the truth is only, god is perfect.
• 10:15
  We're not God, we're not meant to be God.
• 10:17
  He doesn't expect us to be God. He doesn't expect us to be
• 10:20
  perfect. God never put that burden on us,
• 10:23
  that we need to do all of the things.
• 10:25
  If we think about God, he doesn't need us to do anything
• 10:29
  for him. He has all of the He has all of
• 10:32
  the ability. He has all of the resources, he
• 10:34
  has all the money. He has all the time if he can
• 10:37
  create the entire universe in six days, whether you believe,
• 10:41
  literally, six days or whatever you believe doesn't matter.
• 10:44
  Either way if God can create the entire universe, he's not
• 10:49
  sitting around waiting on. You like me on.
• 10:51
  If only, she would be better at this because I really cannot
• 10:54
  accomplish this thing because she's not living up to the,
• 10:58
  she's not good enough. Like we are not holding got
• 11:00
  back. He he has everything and he
• 11:03
  gives us what we need. So that we have the opportunity
• 11:07
  to partner with him. Not because we have to not
• 11:09
  because he needs us too but because it's good for us.
• 11:12
  And he invites us to think about if you have kids, if you let
• 11:16
  them help you cook. So I love to make muffins and I
• 11:19
  love to have my kids help and they're still pretty little and
• 11:22
  we've done this for years and years even when they were really
• 11:24
  little. Now, do I need my kids help to
• 11:26
  make muffins? No.
• 11:27
  Is it actually helpful when they make muffins?
• 11:30
  No, I could do it myself. Waiting your way faster, we less
• 11:34
  than the best, but I invite my forward to partner with me like,
• 11:37
  hey, let's make some muffins together.
• 11:39
  Not because I need their help. Not because they're could do a
• 11:42
  halfway decent job of it. They're going to make a mess and
• 11:44
  they're going to get sugar all over the counter and they're
• 11:47
  going to lick their hands. And I'm kind of like, you just
• 11:48
  need to stop because that's just how it works with kids.
• 11:52
  Like they don't have all of the skills, but that's not why I
• 11:55
  invited them to do it. I invited them to help me make
• 11:58
  muffins because I wanted to spend time with that.
• 12:01
  Because it's something that I want to do with them and because
• 12:04
  it's good for them to learn and they're not going to be good at
• 12:07
  it. The first time I have this
• 12:09
  conversation with my kids all the time to where they say oh
• 12:11
  well I'm not any good at this thing.
• 12:14
  Like I made this drawing and it's not very good or I went to
• 12:16
  baseball and I was horrible and I always ask them.
• 12:20
  OK, how many times have you drawn this, you know, cartoon
• 12:24
  character before? How many times have you practice
• 12:26
  baseball before and they know exactly where I'm going with
• 12:29
  this, and they're like, well, we haven't ever done this before.
• 12:31
  Look we'll of course you're not good at it.
• 12:33
  You're not supposed to be good at it.
• 12:34
  Like nobody does something and is good at it the first time and
• 12:38
  God's not asking us to do something because he wants us to
• 12:41
  be good at it. He's asking us to learn and the
• 12:44
  only way that you're going to learn is if you jump in there.
• 12:47
  So I think it's just a matter of realizing.
• 12:49
  You know what, I'm not good. I'm not enough.
• 12:51
  I'm never going to be enough. I'm never going to have enough
• 12:53
  time for never going to have enough patience.
• 12:54
  I'm never going to have no skills.
• 12:56
  Never going to have enough anything but that's okay because
• 13:00
  the same Jesus. Who took the Loaves and he took
• 13:03
  the fish and he took that little bit and he multiplied and he fed
• 13:07
  the 5000, he could take my little bit, that's never going
• 13:10
  to be enough and he can make it to enough was so good.
• 13:15
  I love that. Yeah, just practice.
• 13:18
  Keep it like, just go out there and keep doing it.
• 13:22
  I was just listening to something earlier and he was
• 13:25
  talking about speaking and public speaking and it's like,
• 13:29
  nobody is just born. You know, just great at public
• 13:34
  speaking. He's like, you know, the ones
• 13:36
  that are really good, I've done it over time.
• 13:39
  And so that just like I just heard that this morning and it
• 13:42
  goes along with what you're saying.
• 13:44
  You just, you gotta keep doing it, keep practicing and not to
• 13:49
  give up. Okay, you share in your book.
• 13:52
  These ways that christ-followers misunderstand, loving your
• 13:59
  neighbor. Well, can you You expand on that
• 14:02
  a little more sure. So I think this is such a great
• 14:06
  question because if we have an idea of what following God's
• 14:10
  will looks like, but it's not really what following God's will
• 14:13
  always. Looks like we might completely
• 14:16
  miss out on what God is calling us to do, because we're looking
• 14:19
  for something else or we think it has to look a certain way.
• 14:23
  And I just love the fact that the body of Christ is called
• 14:26
  differently. Everyone is unique and wonderful
• 14:29
  and we all fit together. And I think that's just so
• 14:31
  Beautiful. So I share a few myths in the
• 14:34
  book. One of them is that God's only
• 14:37
  has one will for your whole entire life.
• 14:40
  Now often we think about, you know, what is God's will for my
• 14:43
  life. We think about what our job is
• 14:45
  going to be so okay, God wants me to be a missionary or God
• 14:48
  wants me to be whatever it is if we think that God's will for our
• 14:52
  life, is this job that we're going to do then we completely
• 14:56
  miss out on everything else that God might be calling us to do
• 14:59
  and we waste so many years of our life.
• 15:01
  Because do the first 20 years of your life not matter.
• 15:04
  Do the last however many you're lucky to get years of your life,
• 15:08
  not matter. God's not just going to care
• 15:11
  about your job and just waste everything else.
• 15:13
  God calls us all differently and uniquely throughout our lives.
• 15:17
  So God's will on your life for your 10:00 is going to look
• 15:20
  different than God's will for your life when you're 20 or 40
• 15:22
  or 60 or 80, not that. Those calls are an important.
• 15:26
  He just can use you multiple ways.
• 15:28
  Why would he just let all of those years ago to waste?
• 15:31
  So, Maybe you feel like you're in a season where you say, okay?
• 15:34
  I'm not doing anything big right now.
• 15:36
  Well, maybe that's not his call for you in this season.
• 15:39
  It doesn't mean he might have you might not have something for
• 15:42
  you later because he might, but maybe you're in a season where
• 15:45
  that's not what God needs you to do right now.
• 15:48
  There's so many different seasons.
• 15:49
  There's a season of preparation that often comes before the
• 15:53
  season where we do the things if we go and look throughout the
• 15:55
  Bible. There's so many times where
• 15:57
  people are not called right away.
• 15:59
  For example, King David in the Bible.
• 16:01
  He he wasn't born into royalty, he didn't go and become a King
• 16:05
  when he was five years old. He was a Shepherd for a lot of
• 16:08
  years. And even after he was told that
• 16:10
  he would be the king, there are still a lot of time until he
• 16:13
  actually was able to be the king because he needed that
• 16:16
  preparation period ahead of time.
• 16:18
  He needed some time to grow in character and knowledge and to
• 16:21
  learn things. And God I'm sure used all of the
• 16:23
  things he had had before when it was time, but he didn't plop him
• 16:27
  in there on day one. So God doesn't just call you to
• 16:31
  Think he can call you the multiple things throughout your
• 16:34
  life, or your season might change and that is totally
• 16:36
  wonderful. Another thing that I talked
• 16:39
  about is that God's will for your life, is always something
• 16:42
  really big? Sometimes God's will for your
• 16:45
  life can just be something really small?
• 16:47
  Maybe God's will for your life is that you'll write a note to a
• 16:49
  co-worker who's going through a really rough time.
• 16:52
  Maybe, I'll share some scripture and encourage her, or maybe it's
• 16:55
  to be a good friend with somebody that you notice doesn't
• 16:58
  have a lot of friends that, you know, maybe they're a little
• 17:00
  awkward, Maybe. They you know just some things
• 17:02
  off for people don't want to be friends with them but you're
• 17:04
  going to reach out and going to be a really good friend to that
• 17:06
  but that's a small thing. But that's a big thing that's
• 17:10
  important that matters and then the last myth that I share as
• 17:14
  well is that the myth is that God's will is always super weird
• 17:18
  or spiritual or scary and yes God does sometimes call us to do
• 17:22
  things that are weird and spiritual.
• 17:24
  If you think about examples in the Bible Joshua and the Battle
• 17:28
  of Jericho, God told Joshua to March around.
• 17:31
  City. That's kind of weird that
• 17:33
  there's a lot of examples where God told someone to do something
• 17:36
  and you're like are you sure God like that's weird or he invited
• 17:40
  them to do this like big larger-than-life calling real?
• 17:42
  Like wow that's really scary and sometimes he does but not always
• 17:47
  sometimes like I said a minute ago, his call for our life is
• 17:49
  just hail of the people right in front of you, love your family.
• 17:53
  Well, love your husband, like your children, love your
• 17:56
  neighbor, love your coworker and that's just as much a part of
• 18:00
  God's will as well. So, Oh good.
• 18:02
  I know people get purpose and calling a little mixed up.
• 18:07
  And for me, I like to look at our purpose here is to glorify
• 18:12
  God and serve others with his love and, you know, and then
• 18:18
  calling can get a little bit confused.
• 18:21
  Like it does it have to do with my vocation, you know, can you,
• 18:28
  can you define that like the purpose Calling.
• 18:32
  And I know your inner changing the will and calling just to
• 18:36
  make it clear with the listeners that your kind of
• 18:39
  interchangeably using will and calling.
• 18:42
  Yeah, I think that I very often and many people use those words
• 18:47
  very interchangeably, because they're so related, and so
• 18:51
  connected for me, I think of it, kind of like a lens that you do
• 18:56
  things. So, we know if we read in the
• 18:57
  Bible, in Matthew chapter, 22 verses.
• 19:01
  T7 through 48. Jesus says, love the Lord, your
• 19:04
  God with all your heart. And with all your soul, and with
• 19:07
  all your mind, this is the first and greatest commandment and the
• 19:11
  second is like it. Love your neighbor as yourself,
• 19:15
  all the law and the prophets, hang on these two commandments.
• 19:19
  So this is what I think when I think of the word purpose, Jesus
• 19:23
  is telling us yes. The Bible has a lot of laws.
• 19:26
  It has a lot of commitments. It has a lot of instructions,
• 19:28
  but all of it is summed up in these two Commandments.
• 19:31
  Love God and love others. That is the main idea, the main
• 19:35
  thing if you get nothing else out of Everything Jesus Top This
• 19:39
  is it. So when I think of our purpose
• 19:41
  is, okay, God put us here to love God, to love others.
• 19:45
  I mean there's so many ways to people could answer this to make
• 19:47
  him known to glorify him to Delight in him.
• 19:49
  I've heard so many really great quotes So you think kind of like
• 19:52
  big picture. This is what all Christians.
• 19:55
  All people God wants us to do. Love, God, love others.
• 19:59
  The way we do that is going to get Into what God's will for our
• 20:02
  lives. And there's so much that you
• 20:04
  could like dive in really deep to like the nitty-gritty of God
• 20:07
  has this kind of all of that kind of well.
• 20:10
  But for me I think it's just easier.
• 20:11
  Sometimes to keep it simple to God's will.
• 20:15
  For everyone, love God, love others and then are calling or
• 20:18
  his will for our lives. The way that were speaking about
• 20:21
  it is. Okay, how do I personally me?
• 20:24
  Live out what God says, everybody should do.
• 20:27
  So there's some things that for you maybe You are loving in one
• 20:32
  way. You have one roller, you do
• 20:34
  something one way. And then somebody else is going
• 20:36
  to live out, that seemed to me to love people but they're going
• 20:39
  to do it in a completely different way.
• 20:41
  And again, I just think that's so beautiful that we're not all
• 20:44
  missionaries. We're not all pastors wives were
• 20:46
  not all Bible. Study teachers were not authors
• 20:48
  or podcasters or speakers. Or any of the things were not
• 20:51
  all moms of 12 children were not all moms of two children for not
• 20:54
  all career, women were not all anything because the world
• 20:57
  doesn't need seven billion of the same thing.
• 21:00
  We need need people who are going to be doctors.
• 21:03
  We need people who are going to be volunteer coordinators.
• 21:05
  We need School nurses, we need all of these things.
• 21:08
  So I think our purpose is always going to be to love God and love
• 21:11
  others, but the way that we do that is really going to vary
• 21:15
  depending on who we are and how God created us and opportunities
• 21:18
  all around us. Awesome.
• 21:21
  Okay. So you mention a checklist
• 21:26
  mentality, so so curious. So what is that?
• 21:30
  What's the alternative to this? What is the checklist mentality
• 21:34
  that you mention? Yeah, this is something that I
• 21:36
  talk about a lot, specifically, in my previous book.
• 21:41
  So, before follow God's will, I had another book called fall in
• 21:45
  love with God's word, all about helping Christian women to get
• 21:49
  in the Bible more regularly and to actually enjoy their time in
• 21:53
  the word and what I really cost you my might against is seeing
• 21:57
  whether it's reading your Bible or Christianity or your faith as
• 22:00
  a whole avoid. Ting seeing it as just a
• 22:02
  checklist. So I am totally a list-maker.
• 22:05
  I wake up every day with my list on my phone, like these are the
• 22:08
  things I need to do because I have so many things going on.
• 22:10
  I don't want to forget anything. So even on Sundays, even on
• 22:14
  vacation days, even if I have nothing to do, I have a to do
• 22:16
  list that is telling me like you will relax today or like read a
• 22:20
  book, like it gets on the list, that's just my personality.
• 22:23
  But we have to be careful that we avoid, putting our faith into
• 22:27
  little more than a checklist. So what I mean by this is, We
• 22:31
  can think, okay, I'm a Christian, so I need to make
• 22:34
  sure that I go to church on Sundays, check did that.
• 22:37
  I need to make sure that I read my Bible for 5 10, 15 an hour
• 22:41
  hour, whatever it is for, you need to make sure I read my
• 22:43
  Bible today. Okay, check, I did that, I need
• 22:45
  to make sure that I pray. Okay, check I prayed for my
• 22:48
  prayer list. Check check, check, check.
• 22:49
  Okay, I prayed for all of them and just going down the list and
• 22:52
  making our faith into a checklist of.
• 22:55
  Okay, I did. The thing I did the thing, God
• 22:57
  is happy with me. Now, I'm right with God because
• 23:00
  I did the thing. And while there is a place for
• 23:03
  that and love checklist. I love habit trackers.
• 23:06
  I love all those things that help us to keep the spiritual
• 23:08
  disciplines when our faith is only a check.
• 23:11
  Mark, I feel like we missed out on so much rather than just
• 23:15
  saying. OK, I read my Bible for the day.
• 23:17
  I got that check. What if we turned it around to
• 23:21
  God? I want to meet with you, like
• 23:24
  the god of the whole entire universe, who created,
• 23:26
  everything who made all of us unique and individual and
• 23:30
  beautiful. He wants to Time with us, he
• 23:32
  wants to get to know Wise, we get to open his word, we get to
• 23:37
  hear from him. We could just spend time in
• 23:38
  prayer. We get to speak with him.
• 23:40
  We get to get so much, wisdom and encouragement.
• 23:43
  And so, my challenge for women is just to take it Beyond like,
• 23:46
  yes. A checklist is a very Fine Place
• 23:48
  to Start. We need to develop those habits.
• 23:50
  Habits are so important, but to take it Beyond just okay, I got
• 23:53
  it. Done I read through it.
• 23:54
  Really quickly. I absorbed nothing but like, I
• 23:57
  my eyeballs hit at most every word and okay, I got that done.
• 24:01
  12 slowing down till leaning in to saying, God, I want to meet
• 24:07
  with you. It doesn't matter how long I
• 24:09
  spend. There's not, there's not like a
• 24:12
  list or check mark of, you know, I did exactly this much, but I
• 24:15
  want to lean in. We're never going to get to
• 24:17
  heaven. And he's going to say, okay,
• 24:18
  well, you only read 93.6% of your Bible.
• 24:23
  You should have read at least, 95.
• 24:24
  Like, sorry. You can't come in.
• 24:26
  We're never going to get there and gods going to say.
• 24:29
  Okay, well, you should have shared the gospel. 126 people
• 24:33
  but you only did the 214 like that's not a thing.
• 24:38
  So, rather than just saying, okay, I got my checks marks for
• 24:40
  the day to really dive in and enjoy it and try to get the most
• 24:45
  out of it and meet with God rather than just focusing on.
• 24:48
  Okay, I got that done. Let's move on to the next thing.
• 24:51
  Yeah, so good, I recently went through a season of that and God
• 24:55
  was just like You don't need to do.
• 24:58
  It's like the do do do for me. He's like I just want you to be
• 25:02
  with me and like that's what I was getting out of that because
• 25:07
  I'm more I been more of a doer and I will.
• 25:11
  And, and that's why I know like the Bible in a year.
• 25:16
  Like I just can't do that because it will turn into a
• 25:19
  checklist for me and not to dash anybody who's doing the Bible
• 25:24
  and year. I think that's awesome.
• 25:26
  But for my A personality. I, I will turn it into more of a
• 25:32
  checklist and so, and, and that's from trying and and that
• 25:37
  not working out and having it not be as intimate as it could
• 25:41
  be. If I wasn't, you know, following
• 25:44
  like an everyday thing because then I'm getting caught up and I
• 25:48
  have to do this you know, because it's on my schedule,
• 25:51
  it's on my plan. I got to do it.
• 25:53
  And so I went through that season of You know, the Lord
• 25:57
  just saying, hey, you're doing so much doing for me and you're
• 26:02
  forgetting about just being with me.
• 26:05
  And so I had to back off from a lot of, you know, Ministry
• 26:09
  things I was doing at the time and just be with him and not
• 26:14
  feel like I constantly have to you know win over his approval
• 26:18
  by constantly doing things. So that is so important to
• 26:23
  share, thank you for that. Okay let's dive into.
• 26:26
  To talking about hearing God's voice because I think this is
• 26:31
  another really good one where, you know, people are asking
• 26:34
  themselves. Like, how do I hear God's voice
• 26:37
  in my hearing God's voice? Or is it just my voice and, you
• 26:41
  know, so on so forth. So what are the steps you can
• 26:44
  give to help women to learn how to recognize God's voice?
• 26:48
  Yeah, this is a great question because it can be really
• 26:51
  difficult to know. Is this dot leading me?
• 26:55
  Is it just a coincidence? A dense.
• 26:57
  Is that my own thoughts in my head because you have to keep in
• 27:00
  mind that throughout the day? Most of us have an inner
• 27:03
  dialogue, kind of going on, in our mind, we were thinking of
• 27:06
  things throughout the day and those thoughts can come from
• 27:10
  three different places. So one it could just be you
• 27:13
  yourself thinking, what should I eat for lunch today, which shirt
• 27:16
  should I wear today? So it's a very beautiful day.
• 27:18
  I'd like to go for a walk. So we ourselves think things
• 27:22
  also, Satan absolutely has the ability and the power to speak
• 27:26
  thoughts into Our lives. He cannot read our minds.
• 27:28
  He's not omniscient. He cannot do that, but he can
• 27:31
  speak thought to us. So we need to pay attention and
• 27:34
  we need to be in the word to know what God is.
• 27:37
  Like so that if we're hearing something that's contradicting,
• 27:40
  that we know that is not from God.
• 27:43
  God is never going to contradict himself.
• 27:45
  He's never going to contradict anything.
• 27:47
  He has written in his word and the Bible gives us so many
• 27:49
  examples and tells us like this is what God is.
• 27:52
  Like this is why his character is like, this is what Satan is
• 27:55
  like So kind of paying attention and then also, thirdly, of
• 27:59
  course, God has the ability through the Holy Spirit to speak
• 28:02
  into our lives as well. And what I have found is that
• 28:05
  for most people that I've talked to hearing God's voice at least
• 28:09
  originally sounds like your own thoughts in your head.
• 28:12
  I know when I was first learning how to hear God's voice a few
• 28:15
  decades ago. It sounded just like a random
• 28:17
  thought that would never happen. Just some random thought like oh
• 28:20
  that's weird and interesting thought like that will probably
• 28:24
  never happen. I don't know where that thought
• 28:25
  came from but the More that you practice, listening the clearer,
• 28:29
  it becomes. If you think about back before
• 28:32
  we had caller ID, when you answer the phone, or if you
• 28:36
  answered, you know, today, if your call your contacts got
• 28:40
  white randomly, you answer the phone, if it is a telemarketer,
• 28:44
  you're not going to recognize who it is, because you don't
• 28:46
  know them, but if your husband calls you or your child calls
• 28:50
  you, you're going to recognize their voice of right away
• 28:52
  because, you know what they sound like, you know what?
• 28:56
  Kinds of things, they say, you know, the tone of their voice,
• 28:59
  if your husband calls you and says something that he would
• 29:02
  never ever say, you can say, okay, that kind of sounds like
• 29:05
  my husband, but there is no way that that is him.
• 29:07
  Because he doesn't talk like that.
• 29:08
  He doesn't say those things. And so I think it starts with
• 29:12
  getting in God's word and getting to know him.
• 29:15
  What is God? Like, what does he say?
• 29:17
  How does he act what is his character, because God?
• 29:20
  Absolutely speaks to us through his words, you can get some
• 29:23
  familiarity there. What is God's voice?
• 29:26
  Like and then paying attention, as these thoughts are going
• 29:29
  through your head and kind of slowing down and taking mental.
• 29:32
  Note of okay, what thoughts am I having?
• 29:35
  What thoughts are going through my head all day?
• 29:37
  Is this me, is this aten? Is this God, some thoughts might
• 29:42
  be difficult to classify. And in which case, that's why we
• 29:46
  have friends and family about the mentors who we can ask, I've
• 29:51
  done that as well. Like I've kind of thought about
• 29:53
  this thing. I don't know if I should pursue
• 29:55
  this direction, if I should do this thing.
• 29:56
  NG you know, what do you think it could be?
• 29:58
  So helpful to ask because we all have blind spots that we don't
• 30:02
  see, but you can ask your husband, you can ask your mom,
• 30:04
  you can ask your sister. I'm all like, hey, what do you
• 30:06
  think of this? And they will tell you like, no,
• 30:08
  you're crazy, which is a good thing to hear because I mean, we
• 30:12
  want to know, we want to have thoughts that are true that are
• 30:14
  accurate. So getting that feedback can be
• 30:17
  really helpful as well. And then one other thing is
• 30:19
  just, you can always pray and ask God, God, would you speak to
• 30:23
  me? Lovely and clearly, would you
• 30:25
  please make it off? Be as could you please show me
• 30:28
  exactly what you want me to do because God's not hiding his
• 30:31
  will from us. He's not up in heaven saying,
• 30:33
  okay, I have this thing. I want you to do but I'm not
• 30:36
  going to tell you what it is. I'm not going to give you the
• 30:38
  resources, you need to do it, you know, good luck.
• 30:40
  Go figure it out. That's not like that.
• 30:42
  That's nice character. If there's something he wants
• 30:44
  you to do, he's going to tell you he's going to give you the
• 30:48
  resources that you need. When you need them, we can go to
• 30:51
  God himself and we can ask him and he will answer us and we can
• 30:54
  ask her friends and family and say, hey, what do you You think
• 30:57
  of this and they'll speak wisdom into our lives as well.
• 30:59
  So I think there's just so much available to us.
• 31:02
  We just don't often take advantage of it and if we would
• 31:04
  just slow down and ask and set aside time to listen, I think
• 31:09
  that would be really helpful. Yeah, that's Keith slow down and
• 31:14
  listen for it right. I think just getting quiet is
• 31:19
  the biggest thing and and wanting it so bad.
• 31:22
  Like I remember my own season of really wanting hear God's voice
• 31:28
  and I'm like pension Ali sitting down every single morning and
• 31:33
  just waiting to hear him and communing with them and making
• 31:38
  that time and it's not like overnight you know you start yet
• 31:44
  so it's a gradual of like I call it training, your heart ears,
• 31:48
  you know, your training those those ears in your heart to hear
• 31:51
  that familiar voice like you're saying and I love Of to the way
• 31:57
  he works is if things aren't going away, like all have
• 32:02
  something that comes to me and it just it sticks, you know, it
• 32:06
  just will not go away and then I know God's really wanting me to
• 32:11
  do this because it's not going away.
• 32:14
  It's just, it keeps coming up in my mind.
• 32:17
  All right, I like to conclude with a takeaway.
• 32:20
  So could you just leave us with something that our friend here
• 32:24
  can ponder on sure? One thing that I always love to
• 32:28
  share if I could share. One thing is that following
• 32:31
  God's will is always worth it. There is never ever, ever been a
• 32:36
  time in my life where I have obeyed, God and regret it.
• 32:41
  There have been lots of times where God has asked me to do
• 32:43
  something and I procrastinated and I said I don't want to, I
• 32:47
  can't like this is too hard. I can't do this, I don't have
• 32:50
  the resources, I'm not good enough, like I can't and he just
• 32:55
  Waits and eventually I see Okay fine I will try and then I do it
• 33:01
  and then I realized oh that wasn't so bad.
• 33:03
  God knew what he was talking about all of all along it looked
• 33:07
  really scary before but once you just do it, here we go there
• 33:12
  really wasn't that bad he knew what he was talking about.
• 33:15
  So I try to always remember that going forward is you know God
• 33:18
  has come through. If you read the Bible there's so
• 33:21
  many stories God came through and they same God.
• 33:26
  Improve back, then the same God who comes through for us today,
• 33:31
  we may not always see it but he is always there.
• 33:35
  He's always working and following God's will is always
• 33:39
  working. So God, okay, where can our
• 33:41
  friend connect with you and get all your goodies, your book and
• 33:45
  stuff. Yeah.
• 33:46
  So my website is equipping and godly women.com.
• 33:50
  That is a main place that I am on online.
• 33:53
  I have this book in several others, you can get the first
• 33:56
  Actor of follow God's will for free if you want to check it out
• 34:00
  at equipping deadly women.com and then we always have a lot of
• 34:02
  other fun things going on as well.
• 34:05
  Thank you so much for listening today and I trust that God has
• 34:09
  encouraged you through this story.
• 34:11
  Did you know this podcast is on YouTube, hop on there and
• 34:15
  subscribe and you can see a live recording of each episode and
• 34:20
  for more information on this ministry and to access free
• 34:24
  downloads, please visit my website.
• 34:26
  Site at Jamie Elizabeth.com, that's ja, yme Elisabeth.com and
• 34:33
  let's connect Beyond this podcast.
• 34:35
  By going to my Instagram handle, Jamie Elizabeth she speaks life
• 34:39
  or Facebook until next time my friend.
• 34:42
  I hope God reveals himself through your own life story.