Latest / The Rooted Woman Podcast / Obedience Over Feelings: Following God When It’s Hard
Transcript
- Courtney Her Mind On Mission: Hello and welcome back to the mission for more podcast. I'm your host Courtney the face behind her mind on mission on social media I just did a little dance while I said that I don't know why my camera is off today So you didn't even get to see it ⁓ are going over a topic today that I feel like so many women have been struggling with and I know that Because I have been getting messages and questions about this time and time again obedience over feelings How do you follow God even when things are hard and people ask me all the time like how did you? ⁓ go through the season that you went through with your son and his open heart surgery with so much joy? And how did you remain obedient in what the Lord was asking you to do when it was such a hard time? And so I just want to talk about how to do that, how to follow God even when it's hard and how to choose obedience even when we don't feel like it. So let's dive into today's episode. I know that I'm not the only one who's been here, but there have been times where God has asked me to do something and I still didn't even feel like doing it. Feelings of fear or doubt or frustration or ⁓ like, again, just sad, depressed, I don't wanna do this, I'm not in a season to do this, this is not my calling, I'm not equipped to do this, what if I fail? ⁓ of those things ⁓ come up. And I really think back about ⁓ year with the Holy Habits challenges. and how I didn't want to get started. I didn't even know if I was really truly hearing from the Lord because in the prior season, He had asked me to step away from social media completely. And I was off of social media for almost a year before coming back on and really doing what the Lord was asking me to do. I think so often we feel like if we don't feel, the keyword feel, ready, then we should not move in the direction that we think that we're supposed to go. And then we get caught up in our thoughts and our feelings and it's really drowning out the voice of the Lord. Scripture tells us something different though and I kind of want to go through that a little bit deeper today. I know that feelings in itself, I want to preface with this, feelings in itself or in themselves are not sinful, okay? But they are not meant to lead you through your life. We need to be led out of being led by emotions. And that's just spiritual maturity that has to come through time and through lessons and through growth, right? But I think so often people think, okay, well, when I've matured, then I no longer have to lean into my feelings. Well, you don't have to be led by them, but you can still lean into them. It's okay to feel a certain way. The Lord gave us emotions. We see emotions throughout the Bible and they're not bad. but we need to be careful of what is leading our heart. Is it a pure heart before the Father, or is it the emotions that we're feeling in that moment? In Jeremiah 17, nine it says, heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick. Who can understand it? And you know, people always say like, feel in my heart or you know, I've heard God in my heart or the Lord planted this in my heart. And I want to reiterate this over and over again, but it, Our hearts can still be led by the Lord even though this verse is saying our heart is deceitful. What this means is that when we get caught up in our emotions and we're not purifying our heart before the Lord as scripture also tells us, then it's very difficult to truly be led by Him because we're being led by how we're feeling in that moment. I don't want to be led by how I feel. I want to be led through prayer and through surrender and through God's Word and through knowing that it truly is from the Lord and not me getting in the way of what He's trying to do in my life. your emotions can shift, I mean, from five minutes before you make your coffee to after your coffee's made and you take your first sip, what are your emotions in that moment? Like you're tired, you're groggy, you're frustrated, then you have your coffee and you're like, if that's it, like that emotion just changed within five minutes. Sometimes we get really frustrated and then a good song comes on and our emotions change just like that, which is with one song. ⁓ Or we are... sad and then we read a verse and it's like, whoa, that was really encouraging and now you feel encouraged instead of sad. I'm so tired today so I'm tripping over my words but bear with me, we can do this. I really just want to reiterate, like our emotions are shifting all the time and if we were led by our emotions then we're gonna be shifting around like we are just blowing in the wind aimlessly, not with any purpose, not with any intent. And I think when we set our emotions aside and say, okay, I feel this way, but I've surrendered this to the Lord. And even though I feel this way, I know that the Lord is asking me to do X, Y, and Z. Or I know that the Lord has asked me to set this down. I don't want to be influenced by my circumstances or my hormones or my stress or comparison or doubt or any of that. I want to be influenced by the Lord and what he's asking me to do in my life, in my everyday life. Every day, the small moments. Take this road instead of that road. Why? Because he's probably protecting you from a car accident. Will you listen to him? You know, don't speak right now when your husband's talking, even though you feel like you need to make a case for yourself. Why? Because the Lord wants you to honor your husband in that moment, even though you feel like you need to address what he's saying and you feel like you need to prove that that's not really what you meant and you feel this certain way. If the Lord's asking you not to speak, will you be obedient in that moment and really be influenced by the Lord and not by... that circumstance and as woman I will say this is so incredibly hard as our hormones are constantly shifting but I feel like the closer you get to the Lord and the more that you are in the Word and the more that you've surrendered to Him and the more that you have developed a trust in Him and the more that you have seen what it looks like to truly be led by Him and not by our emotions the easier it is to not allow your hormones to overtake things. And I have even voiced that to my husband. There are times where I feel like my hormones are getting in the way and I'm a little bit more emotional or a little bit more on edge. And I will just say that out loud. I'm a little bit agitated and I know that I am PMSing or I know that whatever, or this situation that happened is bothering me and I'm gonna get out of it. I'm letting you know that I'm struggling through that right now. And that's totally okay, but it is. maturing out of that place to acknowledge where you're at and to say like I'm not gonna stay here or to even ask for accountability. I have a friend we message back and forth all the time just praying for each other daily you know connecting daily. She's really like a sister to me and it's just so special that I can reach out and say hey here's where my attitude is at today here's where my heart is at don't let me stay here. Check in with me in like a couple of hours and see if I'm still here because I don't want to still be here. I really, really want to move out of this. Have those people in your life where you can share how you're feeling and not be shamed for that, but be encouraged to know that they're going to check in on you and make sure that you've submitted those feelings to the Lord and that you've gotten out of that place. Because if we are only ever following our feelings, if we have no accountability and we're just sitting in our own muck or sitting in the sadness, then our faith is going to feel unstable. And half the time we let our feelings Dictate, I cannot say words, what is going on with me? Dictate where our faith is. I feel like the Lord is far from me. That's valid, that's totally valid, but what are you doing about that? Are you making sure that you're worshiping, that you're surrendered to him, that you're in his word, that you're making time for him, that you're just sitting in his presence? Or are you saying, God feels far from me, scroll on social media. God feels far from me, complain to my friend. God feels far from me, huff and puff while I'm doing the things around the house. our feelings can get in the way and make it feel like, yeah, my faith isn't where I want it to be or God's not as close as I want him to be, but really it's our own sin and our own feelings getting in the way. 2 Corinthians 5 says it, 5, 7, what is my problem? It says, for we walk by faith and not by sight. I hope you're laughing around with me on the other end of the device that you're listening on. ⁓ But I really want to talk about that. Like faith requires, movement before we feel a line or before we feel like we can see what's going on. I was taking apart this puzzle earlier and it's a really, it's a really fun puzzle. But it's one of those puzzles that's like a woodworking puzzle. So it's cut out in all these different shapes. It's not like jigsaw. It's got this like immaculate picture on it. And my kids had tried to put some of the pieces back together because we had it on this board, my husband and I, and we had like some. what is it called, like plastic wrap over it just to save it until we got some puzzle glue to keep it together. And the kids had dropped it, and so they tried to help put it back together. And I ended up just taking it apart and putting it in a bag because the pieces started getting everywhere and I didn't want to lose the pieces. It was more important to me to put it together later on than to lose pieces, leaving it out for days, weeks at a time before it got put back together. So I'm putting the pieces in this gallon Ziploc bag and I'm just thinking to myself like, ⁓ what if I lost a piece of the puzzle? Like what if I lost the piece and I don't even know where the container is. I don't even know like what the picture is fully supposed to look like anymore. ⁓ Where did I put that? And I just was like, wow, is that not a depiction of the Lord? Like he just, felt like he was just with me as I was cleaning up our little homeschool room earlier today. And. I was thinking how much that is just such a depiction of that verse of four we walk by faith and not by sight. Just thinking about the puzzle, like, okay, if I don't have the picture of what it's supposed to look like, I can probably still put it together. And if I'm missing a piece, does it mean that the picture or the puzzle is like not good? No, it's just incomplete and that's okay. And maybe I'll find the puzzle piece later, but it doesn't mean that I cannot work the puzzle and put it back together and admire it and enjoy it. It doesn't mean that I just like, put it in a gallon bag to never touch it again. I don't know if all the pieces of the puzzle are even there right now. Does that mean that I never try to put it back together? No, I love that puzzle and I do wanna put it back together and that's just having faith that like, enough of the pieces are here to understand the picture once I start putting them together and the Lord, if we're talking spiritually about the puzzle, the Lord will fill in the rest and I have to trust that even if I don't see the picture of it right now, he's doing the good work and he's doing it. on my behalf because he loves me and he cares for me. And if I let my feelings get in the way, I wouldn't even begin the puzzle in the first place. ⁓ And I just think, I think that's so important. And I thought, wow, what a lesson today, Lord. I'm gonna share that on my podcast. I wanted to also go into Luke 22, 42. It says, Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done. And if Jesus is saying that, Jesus didn't feel like going to the cross. Like, do you think that that was like his? He was like, yeah, I'm so excited. No, he was miserable. Like, did you see him up there? Like, it's not that, that was not his first choice. And he's crying out to God. Of course that is not his first choice, but he did it because he's saying, God, your will, not mine. Let your will be done. And obedience requires us to be able to say that even in circumstances that don't feel so good. Even in times when our emotions are getting the best of us, even in times where we feel like he's far from us, will we allow ourselves to be obedient and and remind ourselves too that obedience doesn't require that the absence is the word I'm looking for absence of struggle. Obedience doesn't mean that things are going to be easy and I have to understand that if I'm obedient the Lord's leading me to the better thing and it's not that I'm not going to struggle through it. That struggle might bring growth in my life. That struggle might bring joy in my life that I didn't know that I was missing out on but if I'm not obedient I'm never going to get to that place and think about the obedience of Jesus in this verse, in the context that we're talking about, the Lord had in mind the better thing. Like, I want to spend eternity with you, he's saying, through all the sacrifices made there, and giving us the Holy Spirit to guide and lead us here. How beautiful is that? And imagine if Jesus just didn't go up and die on that cross for us. Like, where would we all be? ⁓ It's a radical change in my mindset when I think about that and I think about obedience to the Lord. Really thinking too about I wrote down Peter stepping out of the boat and Matthew 14 29 like Thinking about the fear that there was like okay stepping out of the boat walking on water obedience can still happen even when there's fear or hesitation or the unknown of what's going to happen and Again going back to that puzzle piece like even if I don't see the full picture. Can I trust that? If I'm trying to put the piece of the puzzle in there or trying to find the piece of the puzzle that's not there even, do I trust that the Lord is going to catch me if I fall? That the Lord is going to guide me and that he's asked me to be obedient because he's trying to teach me something or trying to lead me in a way that I could not yet see myself? And that depiction of Peter stepping out of the boat really revealed that to me in God's Word of just like, okay, it's okay if I don't. fully understand what's going on or if I have some fear when I step out and do it, will I just step out and be obedient and trust that God is doing this beautiful thing and and he's making a beautiful testimony and story out of it. Will I trust him even when the fear is there? Because fear is normal. I just had a woman at my house the other day for discipleship group and we were praying against fear over and over and over again that just kept coming up in conversation. And so many of us in that circle were struggling with it and it's okay to struggle with it But that doesn't mean that just because fear is there that we don't obey if that makes sense Ahem. Okay, I mentioned that today I'm just tired and kind of going through the motions. I'm really getting back into the swing of things after two weeks of being sick and getting the house back in order. And so this is going to be a shorter episode, but I do just want to really hit home on the confirmation that we think that our feelings are going to bring. So often we wait for our feelings to be in a certain place, like I mentioned, to feel ready, to feel peace, to feel all these things before we are willing to be obedient. And yes, Sometimes we pray and say, God, if this is your will, give me peace in this decision that I'm going to make. But that doesn't always mean that we have to have peace before we move in the direction that God's asking us to go. Because there are times where it's like, I don't have 100 % peace about this in the way that I would want to. For example, sending my son back to have open heart surgery. I wasn't like. so filled with peace that I was joyful in sending him back for open heart surgery. I remember when they took him back, there was a hallway where that was our last goodbye to him before they started the process for surgery and we would go out into the waiting room. And I couldn't move my feet from that place for a moment. And I remember the nurse just looking at me saying, it's okay, we've got him. me just crying and looking at my husband and I almost had to ask him to move me because I just couldn't move my feet. I couldn't move my feet. But I knew that I had peace about sending him back. I just didn't have peace in that very moment. I didn't feel this all-encompassing peace and joy to be able to walk out into the waiting room. But I knew that the Lord was asking us to just trust him in this whole process of the open heart surgery, that it would bring the better thing and it did. And when I think about that, Sometimes we think that peace has to be there in order for us to obey or in order for us to have the green light from God, but peace often follows our obedience. Like it's, yes, I'm going to surrender this and obey here. And then we have the peace. Like, whoo, okay, total peace now that we've actually come to that decision. Not the other way around. Okay, God, I have to have peace before I obey. No, if you know that the Lord is speaking and you know that the Lord is guiding you in a certain direction, even if the peace is not there, trust that the peace will follow, but still be obedient even before you get to that point. Same thing with the fear, same thing with doubt, same thing with hesitation, same thing with nervousness. Again, starting the holy habits challenges, coming back on social media, I was nervous. I mean, I was showing up way different than I had done in the past, but I didn't let that nervousness stop me. I let it stall me for sure. I didn't hop on social media the moment that the Lord said go. I really questioned whether or not that was from the Lord and my hearing him correctly and am I equipped to do this but I still did it eventually anyway and I wish that I would have done it sooner. The only regret that I have is not doing it sooner. I wish I would have obeyed immediately and not questioned it and that's what I'm working on in my own life. If I'm being transparent I think it's okay to admit that we're in that place because sometimes it's really easy to obey and sometimes It's not as easy because it's this thing that's going to stretch us and grow us, but it's that stretching and growing that's going to bring us to the place that God wants us to be in, that growth that's going to take place so that He can trust us with this new ministry, so that He can trust us with a new job, so that He can trust us in the expansion of our family or whatever that looks like for each of you individually. And I just want to encourage you with that, that obedience might look like forgiving someone when you still feel hurt, like starting a job when you feel like... you're not fully ready or equipped to do it. Like starting a project or a ministry or a business that God has placed on your heart. Walking away from something comfortable when you feel like it's not aligned with what the Lord is asking you to do even though it's familiar and it's comfortable. Or you show up consistently in your faith when you feel like I'm not quote unquote on fire for the Lord. Can you still show up even though ⁓ it's not? feeling, you know, as good as when maybe you first accepted Christ or feeling as good as when you first, you know, started praying with your husband and or not feeling as good as when you first started praying over that first baby in your womb. Can we, in the ebbs and flows of our emotions and our hormones, still be obedient, still show up consistently and still show that faithful movement in our lives even when we're unsure and even when the enemy gives pushback or when our own sin is trying to get in the way? I think if we just really rework that framework of our mind to say, okay, I'm going to do it even if we can trust that the Lord is going to show up on our behalf for his glory. So remember, going to like kind of wrap it up this way. We need to hear God through his word and then we need to decide quickly that we're going to obey. We don't want to over negotiate with the things that the Lord is asking us because of the way that we feel. And then even if we don't feel ready, we act in faith because we trust that. we are going to catch up with everything later. Our feelings of peace, of joy, of confidence are going to catch up later, even if we don't feel that way when we're starting the thing that the Lord is calling us to do. You're not always going to feel confident, you're not always going to feel ready, you're not always going to feel strong, but you can still be obedient and trust that the Lord is all of those things and he's going to bring you back to all of those things in his timing. John 14, 15, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. And if I love the Lord, I will be so sensitive to the Holy Spirit's work in my life to lead and guide me and to trust that those convictions that come, they're for a reason. That growth that he's asking me to go through, even when it feels stretching or stressful or hard in the decision-making process because it's uncomfortable or new, I know that it's going to bring the blessing. And I know that I'm going to get to where I want to be feeling if I just trust that the Lord is going to bridge that gap for me because he does and he has every single I want to encourage you again, how do we get to this place? It really is being, you know, in step with the Spirit, living a Spirit-filled life. I talk about that often on social media, Galatians 5 25. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. I want to pray that over you today. God, I just pray for the woman who is listening that she will keep in step with your spirit, that even when her feelings come into play, that she doesn't allow her feelings to overstep her faith, Father, and that she will obey even when she doesn't want to, that when there's not confidence there, that when fear comes in, when doubt creeps in, when discouragement from the enemy to keep her from the things that you're calling her. towards comes in that she will obey anyway and trust that you are working it all out for her good and for your glory, Father, to grow her into the Christian that you're calling her to be, to grow her into the daughter that you're calling her to be, and to step into the next calling that you've got for her in this season, Father. I just pray for each and every individual woman who's listening to feel the purpose that you have placed on her life, Father, and to also just understand what obedience looks like, immediate obedience, radical obedience looks like in this season of her life, and to be able to hear your small voice and be sensitive to the leading and guiding of your Holy Spirit to be able to get there again even when our feelings father are not fully there yet even when ⁓ our feelings are telling us no you can't do that are telling us it's not time yet or you're not ready God prepare us and make a way so that we feel ready with you in your due time father we just thank you for all that you're doing and just pray Lord that you continue to bless the women who are listening bless the podcast bless the holy habits challenges all for your glory we pray this in your mighty name amen Again, if you're not in the Holy Habits challenges, you can go to hermind.admission.com to get plugged in. It's never too late. We're focusing on these daily five tasks that help us to create habits in our lives. And so whether you start on day one or you start on day 50, it doesn't matter. The Lord is just going to be excited that you're joining in and getting closer to Him, closer to community and closer to the goals that you have. on your heart right now. And also the woman in the group will also tell you that you are welcome at any time. There's always a seat for you. Thank you so much for tuning in to the Mission for More podcast. Please subscribe. Like, I would love if you leave a comment. I'd love to see the feedback that you all share. And I'm going to challenge you this week. If this episode or any of the past episodes have resonated with you, if you could screenshot it, share it on social media and tag her mind on Mission. That would mean so much to me. I would love to reshare that and just get the word out to people who have not heard it yet. so that we can continue to grow in Christ together. All right, I will see you back here next week. Thank you again for tuning in.