Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: Hey, friend. Welcome to Perspectives into Practice, a place where life's stories meet practical wisdom. Together, we'll explore how faith filled perspectives can transform the way we live, love, and grow.
So grab a seat, settle in, and join us on this journey to turn inspiration into action.
Let's dive in foreign.
[00:00:29] Speaker B: Hey, friend.
[00:00:30] Speaker A: Welcome back to Perspectives into Practice. Today we are back with my friend, our friend Alana, talking about gratitude. Gratitude is easy when things are going well, but what happens when life is hard? Well, today Alana is sharing how choosing gratitude in difficult seasons can completely shift our perspective.
Welcome, Alana.
[00:00:55] Speaker B: Thank you. Thank you. It is great to be here.
[00:00:58] Speaker A: As always, it's been amazing on our last chats and I just can't wait to continue to have more because I feel like every time we talk, there is something else that we get to talk about.
We just go, yep, another episode, another day.
[00:01:11] Speaker B: Oh, I'm so thankful.
[00:01:14] Speaker A: It's amazing.
So, you know, I love to do fun facts. And today's fun fact about Ms. Alana is that she is colorblind. That is one of, like, the most fascinating things. It's not the most fascinating thing about her, but it is one of the most fascinating things about people because it's amazing how your perspective of colors is completely different than mine and how you've actually got to change your mind to remember those colors. Amazing. It's so fascinating.
[00:01:46] Speaker B: Well, it is fascinatingly eclestic.
So if y' all see me out here not matching and they're like, oh, my God, she's so cool. She doesn't even care, I'd be like, yep. Because I can't see. This is totally intentional.
[00:02:02] Speaker A: I do remember when I first met you, I just thought, wow, she just dresses in the coolest fat. Like, she just has it and she wears it with confidence. And it was just so amazing. And then I learned and I still think you, you do dress amazing and you have all the confidence. But now knowing that I'm like, that is just the coolest thing. So every time I am with her, I'm like, I do quizzes. What color is this?
[00:02:28] Speaker B: Did you know that was purple? I'm like, well, I thought it was gray.
[00:02:30] Speaker A: Yep. So I'm like, this one's green. You're like, nope, it's definitely blue. I'm like, 100% is green.
It's so cool. Well, on today, our little chat today, we are talking about gratitude, and it is such a powerful perspective shift. But let's be honest, sometimes it's really hard to practice, especially in difficult situations. So can you share a time with us when choosing gratitude changed the way that you walked in a hard situation?
[00:03:02] Speaker B: Absolutely.
So this is 2025.
Wow. I feel like I blinked.
2023, the beginning of the year, I realized that my marriage would be ending.
Like, I wasn't.
I have never been the type of person that even let divorce, like, pass across my lips, but it was like a moment where God just prepared my heart, and he will do that sweetly. When you're fighting for something and fighting for something and fighting for something and fighting for something, and then you realize, hey, that's not going to come to fruition this side of Heaven.
Whether it's you're praying for a healing or you're praying for a specific breakthrough for, like, a business to, you know, take off and flourish.
[00:03:58] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:03:59] Speaker B: You're praying for a friendship or restoration of a relationship with a parent, or it could even be your marriage, or it could be, you know, a child that has walked away from the Lord. Like, whatever these big things are that we pray for.
Sometimes there are moments where God says, hey, you're not going to see that with sight of pennant.
[00:04:21] Speaker A: That's hard.
[00:04:22] Speaker B: It was sobering.
I generally always have words, but I did not. I was so quiet for days after he said, you will not see the restoration of that inside of heaven.
Which, from a theological perspective, just made me think, because I don't. I listen to every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. And I said, this side of heaven, huh? Like, there are some things that are broken on this side of heaven that God can only restore in eternity.
[00:05:00] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:05:01] Speaker B: Like, he really does have the power of, like, eternal restoration.
Even though sometimes we might not see those things this side of heaven, like, our loved ones that die, they obviously, their mortal earthly body dies here. But, like, really in. In eternity as children of God, like, they really are restored.
[00:05:22] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:05:22] Speaker B: Completely 100. Like, they receive a new body. They receive an IM. You know, an immortal.
Eternal.
[00:05:30] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:05:31] Speaker B: Lasting life with him.
And in that moment, it. It just changed my perspective of.
Even though you're telling me that I'm not going to see that this side of heaven, it just gave me, like, a hope and a gratefulness that we serve an eternal God.
[00:05:49] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:05:50] Speaker B: That even in temporary things where we don't get the answers that we're looking for, I can be eternally thankful, even when I'm temporarily disappointed and I can choose to say, God, I thank you that you are eternal. God, I thank you. Like, I can't thank you right now for this moment.
I can Admit that it's hard. I can admit that it's terrible. I can admit that I'm breathing.
But when you serve an eternal God who has given us the gift of salvation and the fact that he never leaves us, he never forsakes us in the middle of horrible disappointments and losses and death, that there is always an underlying like, God, I thank you that you are eternal. God, I thank you that you see all things. God, I thank you that you are with me. God, I thank you for your salvation. God, like, even in the middle of that, if I can't thank God for my situation, I can always be thankful for who God is.
[00:06:55] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:06:56] Speaker B: And like, and his promises, even when I can't see them. And I'm not getting to experience that in this moment.
[00:07:02] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:07:03] Speaker A: Well, I think that a lot of people think when, like, when they hear, oh, be thankful in every. In everything, it's not like, oh, Lord, I'm so thankful that you are grinding me down like a stump and pruning away all like. Yes, I am.
But also, like, thank you, Lord, that you think of me to help me in this. Thank you that you are helping me grow. Thank you that I get to use this for your glory. And I can share that. Like, thank you for those things. We. We don't have to be. Like you said, we don't have to be thankful for the pain, but we can be thankful in the pain. Yes.
[00:07:44] Speaker B: Yes.
It really started to tie together some spiritual principles that I can be in the world and not of it.
[00:07:51] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:07:51] Speaker B: I can be thankful in the middle of something and not for a specific situation.
I can be in love when someone else is, you know, heaping hate upon me. I can stay in the presence of God, you know, in spite of the storm. It was all of these individual things that I had never really realized how they were tied together.
And it's just so funny, those little tiny, you know, prepositional phrases and I'm like, every jot and tittle matters in the word of God.
[00:08:31] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:08:31] Speaker B: And when it says it, like, I'm not praising God for the storm.
[00:08:35] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:08:36] Speaker B: I'm praising God in the storm.
[00:08:37] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:08:38] Speaker B: I'm not praising God for the loss of my marriage, but I am being thankful in the middle of life in spite of disappointment and grief and loss.
[00:08:52] Speaker A: Because in the world, we are going to experience pain and loss and hurt. And it doesn't mean that the Lord has left us. It doesn't mean that we've done something wrong and now we deserve this. It doesn't mean those things it means that we live here on earth and we're not in heaven absolutely.
[00:09:11] Speaker B: Yet.
[00:09:12] Speaker A: Yet, yet. When everything will be no more pain. When we wake up in the morning, you're like, oh, I don't want to get out of bed. My whole body hurts. That was me this morning. We don't have that. We wake up in heaven.
[00:09:27] Speaker B: Praise Jesus.
[00:09:33] Speaker A: So how can we cultivate gratitude with. When life feels overwhelming?
[00:09:38] Speaker B: I really do think that our words change the direction of our heart. I mean, it says in the word, like your tongue is like the tiny little utter that moves the whole boat.
[00:09:49] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:09:50] Speaker B: And it is not lying. I've. I've heard this theme.
It feels fake. It feels. And I'm like, you're speaking.
Changes the direction of your whole temple. Your boat. Like it steers your boat.
[00:10:05] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:10:05] Speaker B: So it's not fake or being disingenuine to say, God, I thank you for this. I thank you in this, or I thank you like, whatever it is. Being thankful in the moment. Sometimes I can't even talk about a situation that I'm saying I will be thankful for something totally different.
[00:10:26] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:10:27] Speaker B: God, I thank you that my children are healthy. I'm like, I'm facing the death of a loved one. One over here. But, God, I thank you that my children are healthy. And I thank you that you have given me a. An amazing career. God, I thank you that there are open doors in these areas.
No matter what I am facing or what happens to be on my doorstep, that could create bitterness. I think that anybody and everybody can always find at least one thing to be thankful for.
[00:11:00] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:11:00] Speaker B: And it doesn't have to be related to your situation.
[00:11:03] Speaker C: No.
[00:11:03] Speaker B: But it begins to create a perspective shift when you can find something.
[00:11:08] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:11:09] Speaker B: To be thankful for.
[00:11:10] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:11:11] Speaker A: Well, it's. It's like a. The domino effect. It's. Even if you're, you know, thank you, Lord, that the sun is out today. Thank you, Lord, that you've given us rain in a drought season. Thank you, Lord, that I can actually wake up today. Like those things. You're right. It is. It is a perspective shift. And it's one of those things. The asking and thanking the Lord has gotten me out of some anxiety issues and some. Some anxious thoughts and taking those thoughts captive and saying, nope, not today.
Thank you, Lord, for. And then literally anything.
[00:11:49] Speaker B: Yes, yes, yes, absolutely. That is.
I think that is my point, that people think that they have to be thankful for the bad thing that they're going through. I'm like, that's not what God is saying.
He's saying, be thankful, you know, in spite of all things, and. And eventually, as a mature Christian who practices that, you will eventually be able to say, yeah, God, thank you for grooming me.
[00:12:15] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:12:15] Speaker B: Thank you for pruning me.
[00:12:17] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:12:17] Speaker B: I know that it hurts.
I know that no discipline feels good at the time, but the fruit that it produces, like this is the word of God.
And as mature Christians, we should be able to grow to the place where we might start out having to be thankful for a separate situation.
[00:12:35] Speaker C: Right.
[00:12:36] Speaker B: But where I'm at in my life, I can say, God, thank you for the 20 years of marriage that I had.
[00:12:43] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:12:43] Speaker B: God, thank you for the opportunity to love someone unconditionally. God, thank you for getting to operate under the covenant of marriage. Because your covenants are good.
[00:12:53] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:12:54] Speaker B: God, thank you for what I learned from how he loved me. Thank you from what I learned from how he didn't love me. Thank you for the opportunity to love him when he wasn't able to love me.
[00:13:06] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:13:06] Speaker B: Like getting to experience all the facets of marriage. There are people who never get to experience a covenant marriage from God.
[00:13:16] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:13:17] Speaker B: And I believe that in spite of a unplanned, not the will of God, divorce, I believe that it was still a step. It was something that God ordained in my life. It was an opportunity for him to walk in love, to be loved, to have, like, our children are amazing. And I really am thankful for everything that I got to experience. And I saw the hand of God in every season, in every step, in every divine appointment and divine disappointment.
[00:13:52] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:13:53] Speaker B: And I really can take a step back and say, God, thank you. Thank you for all of it. I learned how to be unwavering in disappointment. I learned how to exercise the muscle of faith when nothing was working, when I couldn't see anything.
Like, things that I used to question about myself as a person. In my faith, in my walk with God, they were proven.
Like, I won't ever question those things again.
I am thankful for that opportunity because marriage will refine you like nothing else.
And so will the.
[00:14:41] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:14:41] Speaker B: Even though it is not God's will or plan. Like, he loves marriage.
Divorce is hard.
[00:14:48] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:14:48] Speaker B: Like, God loves life.
He gave us eternal life. Like, I don't think that death was not ever really God's initial plan, like, way back in the garden.
[00:14:56] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:14:57] Speaker B: No, it wasn't. But he makes a way in life and death.
[00:15:01] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:15:01] Speaker B: To spend eternity with us. And he makes a way in every situation to still be with us if we will lean in like, and cultivate gratefulness.
[00:15:12] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:15:13] Speaker A: So besides saying thanks in all things good, bad in the, in the, for the situation, you know, outside of the situation, what is another small or large habit that you have instilled in this, in this time to focus toward thankfulness.
[00:15:35] Speaker B: Saying thank you is different than having an attitude or gratitude.
When we are grateful, like really thankful it in me, what I have noticed is that it creates a humbleness to serve.
[00:15:53] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:15:54] Speaker B: When I am truly grateful to God, he could ask anything of me and I would do it.
[00:16:01] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:16:02] Speaker B: I'm so thankful just to be here to show up at a place. I'll clean the bathrooms if needed. Like the opportunity gratefulness just, just creates a, a willingness to serve in me like nothing else does.
And I mean, you have, you, I don't know, in life, like team sports has just been a huge thing that shaped my life.
[00:16:26] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:16:27] Speaker B: As a coach and as a player.
You have kids that are just so thankful to be there.
God, they hustle.
[00:16:33] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:16:34] Speaker B: They will literally bust it. They give a hundred and ten percent because they're just grateful for the opportunity to just show up at the gym. Like, it ain't even game day. No, bro, you're going hard.
[00:16:45] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:16:45] Speaker B: Like, but they're just, they have a different kind of passion when you're just cultivate an attitude of gratitude.
You're able to give 110 on bad days.
And I, I, I am so thankful. Like, God puts gratefulness in the list of. Before we finish this, I will look it up so I don't have it in front of me right now.
There's a list of, of these things that God Beatitudes. No, it's like there's a list of things that God is like, I abhor these things.
[00:17:24] Speaker A: Yes. Yes.
[00:17:25] Speaker B: Ungratefulness is in the list with a murderous spirit.
And I'm like, yeah, God, just to be like, ungrateful.
[00:17:35] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:17:36] Speaker B: Like murder. Like, we just, I'm like, why?
If being grateful to me creates a humbleness about myself, what God showed me is that when you begin to be ungrateful, pride will spring up in a.
[00:17:52] Speaker A: Hot second so fast.
[00:17:54] Speaker B: And God detests pride.
[00:17:56] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:17:57] Speaker B: God detests pride because of the fruit of pride.
And I take gratefulness so seriously because pride has led people down paths that they cannot recover from.
[00:18:13] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:18:15] Speaker B: And I've seen it in other people's lives. And I'm like, man, I want to learn from other people scripturally and in real life.
[00:18:22] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:18:22] Speaker B: And I don't want that to be me. I don't want to have to learn every lesson the hard way. I'm like, let me just be thankful, because some people never recover from that.
It destroys your life, and I don't want that. And so even in moments where I'm like, oh, no, let me choose to be grateful real quick because it's a slippery. It is a slippery, slippery slope.
[00:18:48] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely it is. And when we start to slide down there again, we get to choose how we react to it. Where we can continue to stay in that pride, or we can humble ourselves and admit, eh, that was wrong. That was. That was not it.
That. That choosing of gratitude really does change our relationship with the. With the Lord. Have you seen that in, In. In your walk, have you. Have you seen that?
[00:19:21] Speaker B: I'm trying to think of seasons or a time even that I know in podcasts, other, like, just on other topics, we talked about when unexpected things happen.
[00:19:36] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:19:37] Speaker B: It is easy when unexpected things happen. Like, my first response is not like, oh, my God, I'm so thankful for this.
I'm like, whoa.
My first response in times past has not always been like, oh, so thankful.
I'm like, I've got whiplash. I need a second.
[00:19:59] Speaker C: Right.
[00:20:01] Speaker B: And in those times, what I noticed looking back is that it. It stole.
It stole from me.
Okay. Satan comes to kill, steal and destroy. If he can use pride, like, it will steal moments of joy from you. When something unexpected happens and you choose not to be thankful for it, great. In five years, you could look back and be like, oh, that was such a blessing.
[00:20:25] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:20:26] Speaker B: But in the moment, it caused a fight between you and whoever, or you and your spouse or you and your kids.
[00:20:31] Speaker C: Yeah. Because.
[00:20:32] Speaker B: Because you didn't have an immediate response of like, I'm going to be thankful for this.
[00:20:37] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:20:38] Speaker B: I'm going to be thankful for whatever it is.
When we choose an attitude of ungratefulness, it will steal the joy of the moment.
[00:20:49] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:20:50] Speaker B: And if the joy of the Lord is our strength, and the word of God says that oftentimes because it steals our strength, we lose that battle.
We don't lose the war. But I have noticed. I have lost battles. Things have fallen by the wayside.
Things did not come to fruition that could have because of those choices.
[00:21:12] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:21:13] Speaker B: And in those choices, people say, well, I'm not being hard on myself, but I'm saying I lost that and it was my fault. I lost that opportunity because I was ungrateful in that moment.
And ungratefulness has a fruit. Yeah, it does. There are consequences to our actions in those. In those small moments.
[00:21:35] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:21:35] Speaker B: And God is a redeeming God. Yes, but it is still factual that spiritual principles apply and there are consequences. And I'm thankful for the things that he was able to redeem. And I'm thankful for his grace and his love, even when they weren't redeemable. I am going to be thankful that I'm learning my lesson. I am thankful that I see that lesson for what it is. I lost that it was my fault because I wasn't grateful. I didn't cultivate my heart to be grateful in the moment. I don't want that to happen again.
[00:22:12] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:22:12] Speaker B: So next time something happens that's unexpected, next time something happens that may know my prayers are not answered the way that I want them to be, I am going to fix my mouth to be grateful so that the position of my heart can line up to be grateful so that the direction of my life moves in a direction of gratefulness. Like it is really a process.
[00:22:36] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:22:37] Speaker B: And if you haven't started the process, that is where you start.
[00:22:41] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:22:42] Speaker B: Is with your mouth, it's with your words. And that is not easy.
[00:22:46] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:22:47] Speaker B: I'm not saying it's easy, but I am saying it's worth it.
[00:22:49] Speaker A: It's always worth it. When it comes to the Lord and the things that he's asked of us, it's always worth it. And you're right, it's not going to be always just roses. I mean, it's. It is. It is hard work, but it's. The burden is lifted when we work with the Lord.
[00:23:06] Speaker C: And we've.
[00:23:06] Speaker A: We've talked about this many times, like with. When we are working with the Lord, when we are yoked equally with the Lord.
[00:23:14] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:23:14] Speaker A: It's easy. And the burden is light. And it. It makes things so different than our worldly. Yes, sight can see.
[00:23:25] Speaker B: So we are living in crazy times.
[00:23:29] Speaker A: We are. I was gonna say we are living.
[00:23:30] Speaker B: We are living in some crazy times.
[00:23:33] Speaker A: We are.
[00:23:34] Speaker B: And the verse that I was talking about, second Timothy, chapter three, says, but know this, hard times will come in the last days, for people will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, demeaning, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, slanders without self control, brutal, without love for what is good, traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to the form of godliness but denying its power.
Avoid these people, for among them are those who worm their way into households and deceive gullible Women overwhelmed by sins and led astray by a variety of passions.
[00:24:22] Speaker A: Oof.
[00:24:24] Speaker B: As women, I think that one of the things that Satan tempts us with is, like, distractedness and just.
I think distraction in that aspect comes in the form of contentment.
I think that women have a hard time. It's not like, oh, I'm thankful. It's like, to me, an attitude of gratefulness and being content with what we have are. They are like this intertwined cord.
[00:25:00] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:25:00] Speaker B: That binds up our life somehow and holds things together.
And a lot of our culture, not just women, a lot of our culture is. Is never content.
[00:25:13] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:25:14] Speaker B: It's always chasing this or chasing that or they want the next best thing or this new thing came out. And having an attitude of gratefulness and contentment at home. In our homes, with our. With our home and what we have materialistically with our husband with all of his pros and cons and flaws and what he brings to the table.
And loving. What. Like loving him exactly where he's at for who he is. Loving our kids where they're at for better or worse, and not just tolerating the worst, but actually being thankful and content for those things.
The word of God is clear that if we do not practice the. That. That heart posture of contentment and gratefulness, that we will be gullible, we will be led astray. We will chase things that are not going to be fulfilling, and it will destroy our lives.
[00:26:10] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:26:11] Speaker B: I mean, it says that long list of things. It says, avoid these people.
[00:26:16] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:26:16] Speaker B: It affects us when we choose to surround ourselves with other women who are super materialistic, who are always complaining about their husband, who are always complaining about their kids, who are complaining about the burdens and duties of motherhood. Like, but it also changes and shapes our lives. We choose to surround ourselves with another woman who says, like, I am so grateful that I was able to.
[00:26:42] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:26:43] Speaker B: Like, we had such an amazing breakfast this morning. Be it that it was just oatmeal.
[00:26:47] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:26:48] Speaker B: It doesn't matter. Like, I got to share breakfast with my kids this morning and I got to see them off to school. Or like, I got to do this and I. It shifts your whole being.
[00:26:59] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:27:00] Speaker B: Vibe, body. Like your. Your spiritual.
Woosa. Like, whatever you want to call. Like it really. I can feel the effects of being around people who are grateful and who fix their mouths to be, like, just operating in an attitude of gratitude constantly.
[00:27:19] Speaker A: Because we don't have to. We get to. And I feel like a lot of people put contentment in like, and they think complacency and contentment is not being complacent. Complacent is being ungrateful in the place that you're at and not being willing to move or choose to move out of it. And contentment is being grateful in it, whether it's good or bad, and allowing the Lord. And it. It's choosing. We get the choice to choose to change our words.
[00:27:51] Speaker B: And it's so easy. Like, it is so easy when you say, God, give me a vision for my family. God, give me a vision for my kids. Give me a vision for my life. It is easy to be content and walk through the desert when you know you're going to the promised land. It is easy to be content in seasons that are difficult where you're working three jobs and you're going through a divorce.
Because I see the peace on the other side of it. I see the peace for. For my ex husband and for me, I see the peace for my kids. Because sometimes the situation that you thought that you were in in Exodus, you thought you were comfortable in slavery. You thought that whatever this was, you think that it's a good place and you want to go back there, but really it's like, through, and you're like, oh, yeah, I.
[00:28:37] Speaker A: Because it's easy to do those things. It's also easy to be complacent and to think, well, this is just how life is. This is just what. What is going on. Okay, yes, this is what life is. But you don't have to stay there.
[00:28:52] Speaker B: What we don't have to say there. And God is not a God that leaves us where we're at. No, he doesn't leave us where we're at. He doesn't expect us to stay where we're at. He is always moving us to a better place we might have to go through to get to the better place. Yeah, but I don't want to have, like. I want to really take the word of God and say, like, I don't want to. I. I don't want to go back to slavery in Egypt.
[00:29:17] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:29:18] Speaker B: I don't want to die in the desert. And I'm like, oh, the only people that died in the desert on the way to the promised land were the people that was grumbling.
[00:29:26] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:29:26] Speaker B: They were the people that were ungrateful. I'm like, a whole generation had to die just because y' all ungrateful.
[00:29:31] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:29:32] Speaker B: I don't want that to be me. I don't know if it's like, I'm in the Desert. But like, hey, kids, chippity chop.
[00:29:37] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:29:37] Speaker B: Let's be thankful.
[00:29:39] Speaker A: Yes, we are.
[00:29:40] Speaker B: Like, I don't want that to be me.
[00:29:42] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:29:43] Speaker B: I want to get there.
[00:29:44] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:29:45] Speaker B: I don't. I don't want to forfeit another thing in my life just because I couldn't be grateful and. And just say thank you.
[00:29:52] Speaker A: Well, and to also to look back and choose to do something different than what we did. Choose to take something from those hard times and be grateful in the moments that we're at. Like, thank you, Lord, for bringing me through that and teaching me these things that I don't have to make that same mistake again.
[00:30:12] Speaker B: Come on.
[00:30:13] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:30:13] Speaker B: Like, people are like, oh, my God, this is so heavy. I'm like, meanwhile, look at them, B.
It's heavy. But look, doing to you. He was literally transforming your body.
Yes, it's heavy. Yes. You're sweating. Yes. This season is ugly. But like, bro, I see some chiseled abs. I had seen them in a minute.
[00:30:35] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:30:35] Speaker B: Like, it looks good on you. It's gonna look, it's gonna feel good. Like, aren't you feeling better? Aren't you looking better? Like, instead of complaining, I just, I was always the type of athlete again, who is like, in the moment. I'm like, we practice for two hours hard at 110%.
The 40 minute game should feel easy.
[00:30:57] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:30:58] Speaker B: And what we're training for as Christians, as people, like, we are in a spiritual battle.
[00:31:03] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:31:03] Speaker B: If you're not doing the heavy lifting and being grateful in the process, like, when you get to face your battles, you're gonna lose. If you're not, if you're not cultivating this type of expectation that battles are coming, I am training. I am going to be thankful that I'm prepared. Because when I'm prepared, I get victory. I'll get victory for me. I get victory for my kids. I get victory for the kingdom. I get victory. Like, I get victory for my sisters who right now are struggling in their living rooms.
[00:31:33] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:31:33] Speaker B: I. This is not about me.
Sometimes when I have a hard time being thankful for myself, I think about other struggling mothers who are alone, who are feel overwhelmed and who feel defeated. I'm like, I can be. I might not can be thankful for myself right now, but I can be thankful because I am not just going through this battle for myself. I'm not facing this just for myself. I am facing this for other women, for other people, for other kids who need the fruit of me going through this the right way.
[00:32:04] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:32:05] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:32:06] Speaker B: Even when I can't do it for that. Like, I don't think Jesus would have came to earth and suffered what he suffered for himself.
[00:32:13] Speaker C: No.
[00:32:14] Speaker B: The only thing that kept him in this human form moving forward and saying, nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done.
[00:32:22] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:32:23] Speaker B: I think it was all of our faces.
[00:32:25] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:32:26] Speaker B: For him to say, I'm gonna go through this. And I'm gonna say, thank you, Father.
Not my will, but thine be done.
[00:32:33] Speaker A: He even asked God to take it.
[00:32:35] Speaker B: From him or other people.
[00:32:37] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:32:37] Speaker A: He's like, I don't want to go through this. I don't actually.
I don't want to. And God's like, I know.
[00:32:45] Speaker B: I think in the. In those moments we think, I have. I have to be.
I do this. There are times and there are seasons where you will do it and you will do it for other people.
Because this. We are made in his image.
[00:32:59] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:32:59] Speaker B: And when we cannot do things for ourselves and be grateful for ourselves. Like, I think if you shift your perspective and say, I'm not just going through this for me, I am part of the body. I am part of the body of Christ, and I am an overcomer for. Not just for myself, but for the body of Christ. Because we are victorious.
[00:33:19] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:33:19] Speaker B: Like, we win the battle. Like, Jesus made it available. Like, he conquered death, sin, and the grave for all. And I'm like, man, I want to be part of that. I want to be part of something.
I want to. I want to be on this team. We are victorious. We are overcomers.
And you can't do that if you're not cultivating just an attitude of, I am so thankful to be here. I'm so thankful that God made a way for me to just get to live this life. And if you know me and if you know my life, people look at my life and assume that it's been so easy. Yeah, guys, it hasn't been easy.
Those 20 years.
Yeah, they were not easy.
All right. People tell me all the time, like, you make it look so easy. And I'm like, again, like, that is Jesus. The spirit and attitude of gratefulness and thankfulness. Like, it will make going through the desert or going through those hard times or being in an abusive situation or growing up in a household of poverty or being homeless and still going to college and still, like, it will make every situation in your life look way easier. It will not just look easier. It actually makes it easier. It makes it possible to continue to just do things that otherwise would be impossible.
I think that ungratefulness creates death, and it does make things impossible.
[00:34:53] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:34:54] Speaker B: It won't come.
[00:34:54] Speaker A: We can't do nothing if you're dead. Right.
[00:34:57] Speaker B: Like dreams die.
[00:34:58] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:34:58] Speaker B: In that place.
[00:34:59] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:35:00] Speaker B: It is just. It makes a difference.
[00:35:02] Speaker A: It does.
[00:35:03] Speaker C: This is.
[00:35:04] Speaker A: This has been amazing. I wish we could. There's. There just know that you're coming back because there's so many things that you've mentioned here that we are going to talk about. We're going to dig deep into many other things. So thanks for. For being here. Yet again guys. If this has encouraged you, please share this with a friend. Make sure that you are subscribed so that you never miss an episode because these.
These stories and these chats are amazing and they are changing lives and I'm so grateful for them. I'm grateful for you listening. I'm grateful for you sharing and remember that even the small shifts in perspective can lead to big chunks changes. Now go put those perspectives into practice. Talk to you next time.
