Latest / iRefresh Podcast / EP 90 The Best Life when Surrendered to God - Sam Mow

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EP 90 The Best Life when Surrendered to God - Sam Mow · iRefresh Podcast

• 0:00
  He chooses us. He chooses the broken. He chooses the humble. He chooses the people who are willing to walk away and surrender at all and say, God, I don't even know where you're leading. I don't even know what you're doing, but I will follow.
• 0:34
  Welcome to another episode of iRefresh, and I have a special guest that I have been waiting for months to be able to have with us. And so, Sam Lau, it's great to have you. It's so good to be here. Thank you so much for asking. It's an honor. We go back, actually, through your husband, Daniel, because Daniel was my son David's guitar lesson teacher many, many years ago, and...
• 0:55
  I love the bond that they've had even over the years of staying connected and how Daniel has just cheered on David over the years. And so I just wanted you, I just felt that God wanted us to connect and allow you to have the space to just share what God has been putting in your heart. Oh, thank you. That means a lot. And, yeah, Daniel loves giving guitar lessons, and he's talked about your son multiple times and just how fun it was and getting to know you all.
• 1:19
  Thank you so much for inviting me. And as I was praying and thinking about even just what to talk about, I feel like it's always best when we can talk about
• 1:29
  something that feels vulnerable to us in the moment or even true to us in the moment. And I think something that the Lord's been stirring in my heart and teaching me currently is the sacrifice and the surrender of worship and the lifestyle of surrender and sacrifice. And I think so many times, you know, we struggle in the times of surrender and brokenness to kind of, where is God? What is he doing?
• 1:59
  Just my most beautiful encounters with the Lord where he just shows up in a way that you don't forget, you know, and I was talking to you earlier and it was like the circumstances may not have changed, but the presence of God changes something on the inside of you where it doesn't matter.
• 2:16
  your circumstances. All of a sudden there's a grace and there's a peace that rises up and it's that moment where it's like, okay, God, you know, it's you and me here. And he does something and I think it's, it's Father God picking up his children. You know, when he hears the heart cry of worship.
• 2:33
  And especially in those broken times when he hears the heart cry of his children. My husband, I've been talking about it, but it's like how attentive is Father God to his children in their broken moments and their hurting moments and their honest moments. Just like if my kids, you know, when they get hurt, when they when they fall, when they're when I can tell when they're.
• 2:56
  just acting out for attention, you know, and I'm like, okay, what do you need? The fake cry. Yes. Yeah. But then there's these moments where it's like you hear it and it's their hearts are broken. They got hurt. Something hurt their feelings. And it's like, oh, my full attention is right here. And there may, I may not be able to change their circumstances for them, but I can wrap my arms around them. That's so good. And that is, I think.
• 3:17
  even better sometimes than the circumstances changing because you learn to trust God no matter what, you know? Yes. So that's so powerful because, you know, you're right, though. I love, though, how your attention shifts immediately when you know that there's a crisis and you know that they need your attention. Yeah.
• 3:34
  And we know in the scriptures where it says that God leans down, he leans and he looks for those who will seek him. But he leans down and he listens to the cries of his people. And I love that compassion that he has for us, that he really does hear. And I think that's where we need to have the hope when we don't think he is, because some people say, well, I don't think he's hearing me. I feel like I'm alone in this journey. Yeah.
• 3:58
  And yet, we don't know what God is actually doing behind the scenes to conform us. God's more concerned about developing his character in me. So when we go through the hard times and those dark places, he is doing a good work in us. He's conforming us and causing us to lean into him. Which I don't know about you, but I find that the trust that we're supposed to have, we find it more so in those places where we call out to him.
• 4:25
  Yeah. Well, I think it's one of those times that it's like God tests the heart to see what is in the heart. And he searches. It's like I picture him just looking all over the earth and he's he's not looking at our Instagrams. He's not looking at our social medias. He's not looking at what it looks like from the outside. He just sees the hearts, you know, and and that picture of of what our hearts look like and the humility and the surrender and the.
• 4:52
  The willingness to do whatever he asks you to do, the willingness to be crushed. Because I think of Jesus and the life that he led. And if that is the life that we are supposed to model, he started his ministry around 30-something years old. I don't even know. I'm not a Margaret. But around 30 years old. And he healed the sick. Yes.
• 5:19
  And he was there for those who are broken. He was, Daniel and I have been talking a lot about it, that it's like the ministry of Jesus. He didn't all of a sudden just be like, okay, I'm going to build a building and I'm going to tell everyone that I'm here. If anything, he just began to speak. And the Holy Spirit drew people in. And then as people came, they felt the presence of God. The healings happened. The encounters happened.
• 5:45
  And he was moved. It says that he was moved. By compassion. By compassion. Yes, I love that. Yeah. And then he even would go away to the solitude, and he would get with God the Father, and he would take a little break. Yes. And then he would come back, and then he would do it. Get filled back up. Get filled back up. Which is a good lesson. Yes, yeah. You have to go to get filled back up. Yeah. And even the people that he chose to bring with him, the 12 disciples, like...
• 6:07
  Uh, you know, I don't think that they were the top of the top. You know, I think if we were to be like, okay, I have, I get to choose 12 people to come alongside me and do this ministry. I don't, I, I, I personally don't know that I would have chosen who he chose, right? But that's the beautiful thing that it's like, he, he chooses us, right? He chooses the broken. He chooses the humble. He chooses the people who are willing to walk away and surrender at all.
• 6:36
  And say, God, I don't even know where you're leading. I don't even know what you're doing. But I will follow. I don't know what I have to offer you except my heart and whatever you ask me to do. And I think those are the people that God uses. And I think those are the people who enjoy doing it, too.
• 6:55
  But see, when you talk about that, you realize that the criteria God is looking for is that willing heart, the submissive heart. Because really, that's the hardest thing for us as people today are, is because we either are a type A personality, so we want to control, and if we're out of control, when we can't move and do things like we want,
• 7:20
  And yet God is looking for us to abandon our thought process and trust him for the blind viewpoint of what's going to happen. And that's probably the most powerful thing. The traits that I see when you look at the disciples is.
• 7:35
  You know, you're right, they're most unlikely. And that's where it's even like with our ministry, we say it's ordinary women who desire to do extraordinary things. But it's through God. It's not through us. Yeah. It's so that he can be seen and shown in his power and in his might and even his relationalness. I think there's a relational side of that, that he wants it to feel like anyone can come.
• 8:00
  Because you all matter. We are all his children. No matter what your past looks like, no matter what your current looks like, he's still beckoning. He's still calling, and there's still a place for you at the table. And there's still a calling for you. And I think even as a worship leader, it's very much about the calling and this call to lead worship. Right.
• 8:21
  and this call to do this thing, but it's like, no, I'm a worshipper. We're all worshippers. We are worshippers. And, you know, as much as I love leading worship and I love singing, I love singing. I've sang since I was a kid. My parents in the car used to be like, please, just stop singing for like five minutes. Let us talk, you know, and I would forget what I was doing. Yeah. Still, my husband will be talking to me and he'll be like, do you realize you're singing right now?
• 8:45
  I'm like, no, I'm so sorry. Oh, I love it. Because he'll be talking serious, and I'm just like, singing away. Oh, my goodness. That's great. Yeah, and so I love singing, but that's a gift that he put on the inside of me. My call is to reach people.
• 8:58
  Now that's really critical because, you know, that's an extension. So it's all about what you want to do with the Lord of that relationship and worshiping him. And then the extension is out of obedience, then what does he call you into doing to help others to enter into that place? Because really you're instructing and helping others to engage and be a part of it. Not to be looked at, but maybe to be the example of how to emulate.
• 9:28
  Well, it's like in my mind, it's like, OK, I I don't know about you guys, but I need this time of worship. You know, that's how I feel. A lot of times it's like I need to worship through whatever this is in my head or whatever I'm feeling like I need to work. I need the presence of God. And for me, one of the most, I don't know, like potent or quickest and easiest. The thing that comes naturally to me to get into the presence of the Lord is to worship.
• 9:55
  is to whether that is on stage, whether that is in my living room, whether that is in the shower, that it's like when I begin to open my mouth and sing and just begin to lift up the name of Jesus, something starts to stir on the inside of me. And I just think that that invites me.
• 10:13
  the presence of God in. It just invites him in. I think that is the whole point of even for me leading worship, that it's like, I'm inviting God in. And there are ways that you invite him in by being willing to lift your hands, by being willing to... My grandma taught me this when I was very young. Because I asked her, I was like, why do we lift our hands? Right. Why? Why this? Like, what is, you know? And she goes, you know,
• 10:39
  And I think she was kind of caught off guard, but she had a great answer. She was like, picture a ship that is at battle or something. And she goes, what do they raise? They raise their white flags. They raise their hands and surrender. Like, this is a sign. This is a form of surrender. And so that clicked. I was like, okay. Because for me, everything I do has to have a reason. Because even the jumping and the dancing and the singing, like,
• 11:04
  I want it to be purposeful. I don't want it to feel like, boop, I just went through these motions. And I'm not changed. You're not changed. We just. But there's something different. And that's where I think, you know, too, is there's no judgment for where other people are that are on stage or worshiping is. But like calling each other to accountable to let's always be about that relationship. You know, it's about.
• 11:31
  how we are encountering the Father. So when, it does change the atmosphere when our hearts are lining up with what our words are. There's power when we release things. But even the God says he wants us to serve him with all our heart and mind and soul. So that means everything, if it's genuine, and you know, I mean, I know. That's why when I watched you,
• 11:53
  What it does is that, okay, I see the worship, I sense the worship, and then when I close my eyes, now I'm quickly able to engage myself versus being distracted. So that's the beauty of when you have someone will help to, if you came in distracted, it refocuses like, okay, it's about him. And that's where God desires, right? He desires us to be a place where, you're right, surrendering ourselves, whatever that day was, surrender the day through events,
• 12:21
  bad reports, rough situations, our family situations, whatever we're walking through, it is if we surrender all of our cares, he says he cares for us. And that's a great time when we begin to do that is he begins to bring those thoughts to us while we're worshiping him. And it's a great, like, I can release it now. There's a peace that comes in that releasing. Yeah. And it's not always an understanding. And I think that's the hard part is, yes.
• 12:49
  There's not always an understanding of why, because I remember when I first moved here, my parents pretty much bought me a one-way, they moved here, I stayed in California, they bought me a one-way ticket pretty much, and I'm 18, I had just gotten my independence. So I'm like, I'm staying in California, there's no way I'm moving to Oklahoma. The only thing I knew of Oklahoma was my grandpa used to sing a song in church. Oh, I'm just an oaky from Skogie. And so I was like, no way am I going to Oklahoma, you know?
• 13:17
  Because in my mind, I just pictured like fields. Honestly, I was just so silly. Honestly, Tulsa is amazing. But so whenever I moved here, I was 18, 19, and I was doing worship. And I honestly felt like God was just about to propel me what felt like my calling. And then all of a sudden I moved here. But I felt God was like, listen to your parents, obey them, come here.
• 13:42
  And I was like, God, I'm an adult. You know, I'm 18. I'm an adult. And they were like, you know, we just feel like you're supposed to be here. And I remember going in the, my brother and I shared a room. My brother was, we're eight years apart. So he was probably six. No, no, no. He was probably eight.
• 13:59
  No, no, no. My math is terrible. He was like 10. He was like 10 years old and we were sharing a room at the time living in a two bedroom apartment over, I think, in Broken Arrow. And I remember getting this little dinky keyboard and just crying and worshiping and thinking in my mind, I will never lead worship again. This is my surrender moment. This is my moment of surrender.
• 14:23
  Okay, God, if I never lead worship again, I will still worship you. And then there came another time where my dad, he was diagnosed with stage 4 lymphoma cancer. And I just was like, God, I don't know what other response but to worship. I don't know how to respond to this. I don't understand it. I know that you're a good God. I don't understand this. But I know that you are worthy, and I know that you are worthy.
• 14:53
  this worship right now is costing me something, but I know that you're worth it. But what a great response though. I mean, when you're, when you're given that kind of a, of a news is, you know, some people are going to question and why, why me, God, especially for believers, why,
• 15:13
  What did I do that my family would deserve? You know that. And yet to respond in faith to the Lord that I will choose to worship you in the midst because there's ministry that happens in that place of worship. Yeah. You're right. Even though you're surrendering and you're sacrificing. And that's what the Lord is looking at is you sacrifice, you surrender to him in that place of worship. But, yeah.
• 15:40
  Don't you believe that the Lord really ministers and gives you words during that time? Words and just strength. And I think peace. I think peace is the biggest thing that he gives. And yes, absolutely words. And even honestly see those moments as a point of trajectory for your life in some ways. Yeah. That you have an option to say, okay, this thing is out of my control.
• 16:09
  You know, if I tried to control this, I think we'd all be miserable. You know, there's some things that happen in your life that you really just you aren't going to have control over. Right. And if you try to have the control over it, it is it's going to cause more problems. And those are the moments it's like, OK, God. And and those those are the times that he kind of comes in, reminds you. I have felt him remind me.
• 16:34
  that he does care that he is with me that he is strong that he is faithful he reminds me of who he is in those moments and and it also gives you an eternal perspective of um you know what this may not last this is this is a season god you're going to bring me through the mountaintops in the valleys and um and i think one thing that's really important in worship in the valleys even is begin to
• 17:05
  Begin to worship God for who he is instead of worshiping the valley. I think one thing that I hear a lot in songs is it's a lot about the valley, and it's just talking about life is really hard, and it almost gets your brain thinking about your own emotions. And I think it's important to acknowledge those emotions, absolutely, to take a moment and acknowledge them and say, God, I feel so broken. I feel so alone.
• 17:34
  I feel this. It's like the Psalms. They always end it, but God is faithful. Yet I will praise you. Yet I will praise you, but I will choose. And so I feel like there needs to be this turning point. And even as a worship leader, if you're going to make a set or things like that, that there's a turning point for people to have hope. And that turning point is not anything we do. It's who he is. So what do you think that message is then? You know, when you think about it,
• 18:04
  If you're looking at people are just talking about our woes and how hard our life is, that's a given because I don't think that when we became believers, some people may have the wrong mindset that it was an easy road once you're saved. It wasn't guaranteed because he says, I will deliver you. Yes. I will rescue you. I will save you. Well, what are you going to be in if you aren't delivered, rescued, brought out of? We live in a world where we will be.
• 18:33
  experience pain um again bringing it back to jesus it's like the most amazing moment of his ministry was his resurrection but what preceded like what was before that was the cross and the suffering that i i probably will never know the suffering that he experienced you know but he he said father not my will
• 18:55
  which tells me his will probably would have been to not do that. You know, like, like if he said, father, not my will, but yours, he can't like, and that is, and I'm not at all like comparing our, like, I'm not saying that I'm like that at all, but I'm saying like, if Jesus had a moment where he's like, okay, God, you know, your will, your will be done. And this moment of suffering and, and pain, I,
• 19:24
  I don't understand it fully. I can't tell you that I understand the why, but I do know that God will bring you out of it, and he'll bring you through it. And I can't tell you why. I mean, to be honest, my mom's been sick for years now, and she's still receiving her healing and we're believing for her healing.
• 19:47
  But we've not yet seen it with our eyes. And she's not yet seen it with her eyes. And she continually chooses to say, but God will, I believe that God will heal me. I believe that he will. And there's up and down days.
• 20:00
  But the only thing that gives you the strength, I think, to keep going on is knowing that God is good and his presence. Now, I do think that you can you can pretend and just keep going, you know, where you never really look that in the face and say, ouch, this hurts. And I'm still processing. There still are moments where I'm like, God.
• 20:20
  why this, or why did this happen, or why did it have to come to this, or oh, I thought this was gonna happen, and oh, this, ah, it's so painful. It is, there is pain in this world. There is pain. I mean, just what happened in Texas recently, the shooting, there is pain, and I think as Christians it's really important that we do not brush off people's pain
• 20:41
  By using faith. You know what I mean? Like almost say like, well, I'm just, I'm believing that this. I think it's really important to have faith and believe. But I also think it's really important to have compassion for the people. We have to acknowledge the pain. We acknowledge it. And then we invite God's presence into the pain. Right. And we pray with those people. And we have a heart of compassion and believe for healing. And honestly, I will say something that's really vulnerable that I feel like the Lord is...
• 21:10
  teaching my husband and I both right now is how to do one-on-one ministry, how to have the one-on-one ministry of where you're moved by compassion, by people you see you're moved to pray with them. You when God says this person out here or a homeless person, um, on the side of the street that we're not just like, you know, you're driving and it's like, Oh, don't, don't look in there. Don't look, you know, it's kind of like, I gotta be somewhere. I gotta go. And we are, we're asking God to teach us.
• 21:37
  how to slow down, how to recognize the people who are hurting around us and be his light and feet on this earth. And so I think acknowledging the pain in those moments is an important part of that is acknowledging, okay, where, where are you right now? Okay. Okay.
• 21:55
  well, can I introduce you to Jesus in this moment? Right. I know that this is what you're feeling. But the goal in that is that it would lead them to Jesus. It would lead them to their healer. It would lead them to their father. It would lead them to this place of having more than enough when there is lack. Something really random and interesting is another thing that we've been praying is, God, teach us the kingdom.
• 22:22
  teach us the kingdom here on earth so even kingdom finances and kingdom kingdom ways of thinking and I was reading about I don't remember where it is found but it's the the boy who gave his loaves of fish and everything and in that story he does it Jesus does very similar stories twice where he feeds the thousands there's two close together and I don't remember where they are but there's two of them right and and
• 22:50
  So he has a crowd of people that he's been ministering to, thousands.
• 22:57
  They're all hungry. And he's like, before they go home, they need to eat or they're going to pass out. He had compassion that they were going to go home. And he's like, they're going to pass out if they don't eat something. And so he looks at disciples, what do we have? And they're like, we only have a few loaves and a few fish. And so he says, everyone sit down. And I think he has everyone sit down so he could see that he multiplies. You know, if you think about it. He had to acknowledge. Yeah, he had to acknowledge what he was doing. And so he gets the fish and the loaves. And there's a moment. I told my husband, I go, there was a moment of lack.
• 23:27
  There was a moment of the disciples, if I'm putting myself in the disciples' shoes, they're probably like, this isn't enough. We have thousands of people here. We only have this. He was trying to send them off, right? They were trying to like, okay, Lord, it's time to send them home. We have nothing. They were trying to be like, goodbye. We don't have nothing for you. But it's not even a provider. I think they just didn't want to do the work either.
• 23:47
  No, that's true. It's hard to get volunteers. But anyway, yes, I agree. So then Jesus takes it and he multiplies it. And so I was like, you know, these moments of lack in my life are opportunities for Jesus to multiply. And not even that we have lack, but if there's moments in our lives where it's like you look at what you have, and you're like, this isn't enough for what the dream or the thing that God's put in my heart.
• 24:13
  This doesn't, if this is where God wants to get me, this is not how to get there. Like this doesn't add up, but there's a moment of dependency upon the Lord. And there's a moment where God can be seen faithful. And so you read that and it's like, that was a moment. Yeah.
• 24:28
  of God revealing himself faithful through what would look like lack. But it has to be impossible in man's abilities, personally, because we would have totally taken that story and we would have evolved into something totally different. Yeah. Anybody else could have made that happen. Everybody probably just brought out their own lunch. They came prepared. There were so many things that I think God was knowing how we are,
• 24:57
  that we try to take his miracles and we try to dumb them down and make them seem as though there's nothing to it. And yet God is so powerful. I think that's why sometimes we get to a place where we feel very desperate. We feel like the dream of God you gave us, what God's birth in us, is so impossible in and of ourselves, no matter how hard and how much we would put into it.
• 25:21
  It's never going to be enough. We'll never arrive to that. If you're goal-oriented or you get in a vision for your life, I know the ones that God's put download on me, I'm like, insurmountable. Absolutely no way I could attain it. But that was not that he was asking me to do that. Yes. It's what you've talked about from the beginning is that part of surrender, that part of worshiping the Lord, even when it doesn't make sense, but trusting him in the process of what he's doing,
• 25:49
  to really minister to you, but to conform us into his likeness so that we will be a reflection of him. And to know the faith of that little boy. When you said earlier to me, before we started filming, is a little boy giving up his lunch. Let's just think about the practical. I have two sons I raised, and if they were hungry...
• 26:11
  I'm sure they would give a little bit, but he gave it all. And I'm like, I'm sure the boy was hungry. Oh, yeah. But that was like a sweet moment of faith for even that child. Yeah. Well, and those are the things that I think we skim and fly by. But I am sure that that little boy didn't just be like, oh, yeah, here's my lunch. Right. He probably was like, okay, God, I think this Jesus guy is the real deal. Right.
• 26:37
  I'm going to give him what I have in my hands. I'm going to trust him with it and see what he can do. Right. And at the end of the day, I feel like that's what he's asking us. It's like, okay, God, I know you're real.
• 26:51
  I have this in my hands. You know, my kids, I feel like, are the same way. They kind of like, they're kind of like, if I ask them to give me their toys, or right now we are, we're downsizing a lot because we're moving into an RV as a family. And so, yes, yeah, it's a different story. So we are downsizing from about 3,000 square foot to like 300 square feet.
• 27:17
  And two kids, seven-year-old and a four-year-old. And we're asking them to give up right now what probably feels, oh, my toys, my books, these things that they haven't necessarily played with in a while, you know. But to them, they're like, yeah, you know. And they're doing great. But...
• 27:36
  If I didn't know that they would actually really enjoy this next season coming up, like I'm exchanging. I keep trying to get them to understand I'm exchanging. I'm not just taking this from you because I don't want you to have fun and I don't want you to have toys and I don't want you to have books. Like I am exchanging the freedom to go on adventures. We're going to take you to the beach. We're going to take you to places that we would not be able to go have we kept this. And I think that that is...
• 28:06
  In a much smaller way and maybe a more lighthearted way, that is what God asks us to do many times. It's like, okay, God, here is this thing that I have built up. Here's this, I spent hours on this, or I thought for sure that this is how it would turn out, but God, here you go. And then he takes it and he multiplies it and he changes it. And even some people may not understand. Like they might look at and be like, well,
• 28:34
  You didn't technically get more or technically, you know, where, well, what's this great ministry? But when you are fulfilled, oh my gosh, that is the biggest, you know, when you just are like, you could care less what others think of it. You're just like, God, I'm fulfilled by your presence and my family's in alignment. And I think sometimes with the sacrifice and the surrender comes fulfillment in your own family.
• 29:02
  with your children, with your husband, a new type of fulfillment, a new level of unity, a new, like, fun, you know, with your family. And so I think sometimes we expect, we look at God and sacrifice like a store, that it's like, okay, God, if I give you this, what I'm wanting is that. Exactly. We exchange it. We want to pick it out. Yeah, you want to exchange it. It's like, okay, I'm going to trade you.
• 29:29
  God, yeah, this for this. God does not work that way, but he doesn't not work that way because he wants to give you less. He works that way because he wants to be able to give you more than what you could even imagine. So I've even been like, God, I don't even want to dream up what you have for me next. I don't even want to. I don't want to try. Yeah, I just want to be like, God.
• 29:52
  I'm yours and keep me in this place where at a moment's notice, I will do what you asked me to do because I know that that is the best life. I will. I will live my best life being surrendered to you. And I don't know what that will look like. I don't know what the finances look like. I don't know what the ministry will look like. I don't know those things.
• 30:13
  But I do know that my heart will be light and I will be able to lay my head on my pillow at night and say, God, maybe it was hard. Maybe it was stressful, but you're with me and there's peace. And I think that is worth exchanging everything for. It's just knowing that the peace of God is with you and the feeling that it's like, you know, I'm not doing this on my own. I'm partnering with God in this.
• 30:38
  You know, I think you've said an incredible thing, Sam. When we give something to God, it's not like you just said with your children. He's not taking away. There's sometimes, like we know as parents, is sometimes things that we're taking away is for the good of the child, but they have to trust us. Yeah. That we know a little bit more that if they will relinquish that thing out of their hands, it is to protect them and to give them a better life. Yeah. Yeah.
• 31:03
  Same way that the Heavenly Father is to us, that he desires to give to us. He says in James that he gives good and perfect gifts. He doesn't take them back. His desires for you are good. And so, Sam, I would love for you just to talk to our listeners and just share with them just a way, just an encouragement for them to just to stay in that place of trusting God with the sacrifice that God's calling them into. Yeah, you know, I think the biggest thing is,
• 31:32
  even wherever you are, just taking a moment and saying, God,
• 31:35
  Help me to see you in my day today. If there's little changes that I need to make, if there's big changes, if I need to slow down, if I need to restart my day. If you need to physically get back in bed and restart your day. Really, like do something different. If you are feeling like overwhelmed and there's just something on you and you're with kids or you're at work or driving wherever you are,
• 32:04
  Just take a moment and pause and put on worship music and just begin to list your gratitude. There we go. List your thankfulness. God, thank you for breath in my lungs.
• 32:18
  Thank you for friends. Thank you for family. Thank you for food on my table. Thank you that I know you. Thank you that I'm saved. Thank you that I have a purpose and a plan upon my life. And then just almost like give yourself some grace in those moments that maybe it won't feel like all of a sudden a lightning bolt and the heavens opened and my life has completely changed.
• 32:42
  But day by day, when you invite the presence of God in, he'll begin to transform things and it'll be lasting and it'll be fulfilling. And so I even it's a small thing. But do one thing that you enjoy. If that is good.
• 32:58
  My something that's so silly is I really enjoy having something fresh in my home fresh greenery or fresh flowers that sounds so silly But like even if I'm if I'm outside and I just go and I get some greens off of a bush and I put them in a plant Doing something like that. It's a small thing that kind of slows you down to say okay, I
• 33:19
  Simple things make me happy. And so that's where even worship, like begin simple. Like don't feel like you need to spend hours and hours and, you know, we have those moments. But maybe your worship is in between jobs or taking care of your kids and it's God, I just worship you.
• 33:39
  I worship you because you're good. I worship you because you're faithful. God the Father, I invite you into my circumstances and my pain. And then even as you do that, I would encourage you to be more honest with God.
• 33:53
  Just be honest with him. He sees it. He knows it. Invite him in. And then when you invite God into those honest, vulnerable places, he can come and heal those places that you've not allowed him in. So that's what I would really encourage. That's wonderful. What a great help. So thank you for sharing and being authentic. It's been wonderful.
• 34:12
  And, you know, we would like to share with you at iRefresh.net, we are going to be putting in some show notes and links for you to stay in touch with Sam because she is going to be, like she said, she and her family are going to be on the road. And so it's going to be fun. She has been telling me some little snippets of what they've got God's calling them into, and it's exciting. And so we are going to be tracking and we'll update things on our show notes as they adventure out so that we can stay connected and see what God is doing through their lives. Wow.
• 34:41
  which is going to be amazing. So thank you. Yeah, no, thank you.