Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] 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.
[00:00:17] So grab a seat, settle in, and join us on this journey to turn inspiration into action.
[00:00:24] Let's dive in foreign.
[00:00:29] Welcome back to Perspectives into Practice.
[00:00:32] Today's episode is going to be a little different.
[00:00:35] It's just me. It's been a while since I've come to you by myself, but I'm coming to you because I really need to share this. I'm not coming from a place of a perfectly wrapped message or a clear step by step takeaway. I'm coming to. To you right in the middle of something. And I feel like there are a lot of you that can probably relate to where I am right now. And so I'm just going to be honest and vulnerable. Lately I have been feeling really overwhelmed. Like the weight of the world is on my shoulders and there's a lot that's happening good. And I'm holding a lot and I care about a lot. And if I'm honest, things have just felt off for one reason or another. And I keep holding true to trusting the Lord and coming back to Him.
[00:01:28] And yet I keep catching myself trying to hold it all together, trying to figure it out by myself, trying to make things go the way that I think that they should.
[00:01:40] And I've realized that that is where the heaviness is coming from.
[00:01:45] I'm literally putting it on myself because I'm holding these things that I was never meant to carry. Yet in the middle of all of this, in the middle of all of me just trying to do it myself, I felt this quiet pull from the Lord. It's not loud, it's not more pressure. It's just come back, come back to me.
[00:02:09] Let go of what you think that. That this life should look like.
[00:02:14] Stop trying to force clarity, stop trying to control the outcome and just listen to me.
[00:02:23] I'll be honest. That sounds really easy. It sounds simple, but it's not easy.
[00:02:29] And I'm really leaning into God right now.
[00:02:34] And that has looked like slowing down. When I want to push harder, it's being still. When my mind is racing and going faster than it should be, it's stopping and praying. Even when I don't have the words, sometimes it's just, Jesus, help me, Jesus, take this.
[00:02:56] Jesus.
[00:02:57] Jesus, Jesus.
[00:03:00] It also looks like releasing expectations, even the good ones, even. Even the ones that I. I know that I'm. I'm going toward this goal and even the expectations of what life I think should look like.
[00:03:18] And I'm choosing him without everything being figured out.
[00:03:24] And that's okay. That is okay.
[00:03:28] You know, when the Lord called me into ministry almost 10 years ago now, or I guess over 10 years ago now, I never would have imagined my life would be so different than what I expected it to be. I never imagined that I would just take on so much. And yet he's telling me to lay it all down.
[00:03:52] He's telling me to trust him.
[00:03:55] And I know that I'm supposed to trust him. I know that I'm supposed to let him carry it. I know that I'm supposed to let him lead.
[00:04:04] But what I continue to do is pick it up in my human self and try to put more on my plate.
[00:04:12] And he says, that's not what I asked you to carry. Will you please put it down?
[00:04:19] And I tell him, oh, yes, yes, here, here, I'll put it down. And then I will go and create something new and pick that up. And he's like, would you put that down and just follow me? Would you put that down and just trust where I'm trying to lead you?
[00:04:36] And that is where.
[00:04:39] That is where I'm living right now. And maybe you're going through something similar where the Lord is asking you to put down things, to release things, to let go of relationships that aren't supposed to be happening, let go of job titles and jobs and security that you have expected to work out. But it's not.
[00:05:05] Maybe it is a calling on your life that you have said, lord, I just have too much going on to say yes to that one more thing. And he's saying, do you trust me?
[00:05:17] Will you put it down?
[00:05:19] Will you allow me to work in your life and spoil you rotten with my goodness and my grace and my love?
[00:05:28] I'm not sure what you're going through right now, friend, but let me tell you this, is that you're not alone. We all go through times like this where we're overwhelmed and we're overstretched, but a lot of the times it's because we've just done it to ourselves.
[00:05:43] And so this is your reminder that it's okay to say no.
[00:05:48] No is a full sentence.
[00:05:50] It's okay not to pick up that one more thing and put it on your schedule.
[00:05:56] It's okay to let a relationship that you think should be fruitful or you think is serving you and let it go. Because God doesn't want us carrying things that overload our joy for him our yeses for his glory.
[00:06:19] And that part right there is actually really real right now for me, because many months ago, the Lord called me to host a retreat, and he has been working in me and through me and bringing amazing women into my life to help me with this.
[00:06:43] And this happened about six months ago. He gave me this idea, this calling, this beautiful, beautiful event to pull you out of the hustle and bustle of life, to bring you into his rest, his peace, his wilderness nature, and to just be with him, to recalibrate, to reassess, to just linger longer in his presence, to soak in his goodness.
[00:07:18] This is a.
[00:07:20] A very intimate retreat. There's only eight ladies that will be with me on this, and we're just being very, very intentional.
[00:07:29] This retreat, it's called Wholeness in the Wilderness, is not just an event that I'm planning.
[00:07:38] It's something that God has asked me to step into.
[00:07:41] And it feels.
[00:07:43] It feels big, it feels stretching. It feels like more than I can carry on my own. And if I'm honest, I feel like that's exactly the point, because I can't do it on my own. I need him in every single step because this whole thing is requiring me to rely on him deeper than I ever have before in every aspect of my life.
[00:08:11] And this is not just theory. This is not just an idea or a great podcast.
[00:08:18] This is really real time trust for me with him. And this.
[00:08:25] This retreat experience is going to take place in what I love to call heaven on Earth. It will be in the Redwoods along the Oregon and California coast. And it's a space that will naturally invite you to slow down, to invite you to be still and to meet with God without all the noise.
[00:08:47] And if I'm being honest, I think that I need that just as much as any of you that are coming.
[00:08:55] And maybe. Maybe you felt that, too. There's a lot going on in this world.
[00:09:02] And if we continue striving to do more for the Lord, continuing to push and try to do all of these things, but we're still not hearing from Him. We have to sit back and ask God, what do you want me to do? What do you need from me right now? What can I learn from this?
[00:09:24] Maybe you felt that, too.
[00:09:26] Maybe you felt that pull, like things aren't necessarily wrong, but they're not quite settled either. Maybe you felt like you're carrying more than you should, or you're trying to make something work that God actually has, asking you to release.
[00:09:44] And I keep coming back to this he keeps reminding me that God is not asking me to figure it all out. He's asking me to trust him. To trust him, to listen, to follow, to surrender what I thought things were supposed to look like. So if you're in a season where things feel heavy or unclear, I just want to ask you, what are you holding on to that God is asking you to release?
[00:10:12] Where might he be inviting you to stop striving and start trusting?
[00:10:18] Friend, you don't have to carry it all. You actually were never meant to.
[00:10:23] And if there's something that you're walking through, just know that you're not alone.
[00:10:28] You're not alone in there.
[00:10:30] This is actually exactly why I have conversations on here. Not because we have it all figured out, but because we're willing to be honest about what God is doing in real time.
[00:10:43] So if you've been listening and you're thinking, hey, I have a story like that, I'm really struggling and the Lord is teaching me these things, or I just came out of this situation and I would love to tell another friend what God had taught me through there. I would love to invite you to be a guest on the podcast, as I do every single week. You can reach out to me at perspectivesintopractice. Com.
[00:11:09] I would be honored to hear your story and to share it with our friends that are listening.
[00:11:16] And if you're craving a space to step away, to slow down, to really sit with the Lord in a deeper way, I want to invite you to Hold Us in the Wilderness Retreat. It'll be happening June 25th through the 28th in the Redwoods along the Oregon, California coast.
[00:11:33] It's going to be a small, intentional space for rest, reflection, connection with God. And I invite you right in the middle of whatever season you're in. You don't have to come with the answers.
[00:11:46] You can come just as you are. Thanks for listening, friend. Thank you for showing up each week and hearing these stories and putting these perspectives into practice and turning your life around one trusting yes at a time.
[00:12:03] And if I could leave you with one perspective to carry into your week to put into practice today, it would be this. That maybe that heaviness that you're feeling isn't because you're doing something wrong.
[00:12:16] Maybe it's because you're holding something that was never yours to carry.
[00:12:20] And maybe God isn't asking you to try harder or to figure it all out. Maybe he's simply inviting you to come back to Him. Come back to your first love.
[00:12:31] Lay it down.
[00:12:32] Be still.
[00:12:34] Listen again. Because his voice isn't found in the striving. It's found in the surrender. And the more we release what we think that should look like, the more space we make to actually hear him. So give it a try, friend. Lay it down. And remember, even small shifts in perspective can lead to big changes.
[00:12:57] Now go put those perspectives into practice. Talk to you next time.
