[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.
Hey, friend. Welcome back to Perspectives into Practice. I am so glad that you're here today. Have you ever had a moment where God asked you to do something that didn't make sense on paper, but deep down you knew you had to follow through? Those are some moments where faith really comes alive and often where freedom begins. Today, we're talking with someone who knows that journey well. My new friend Desiree is here to talk about how she walked through a season where obedience didn't look anything like she expected, but it opened the door to healing and deeper trust in God. So whether you're in a season of waiting, wrestling, or just trying to take the next right step, this conversation is going to remind you that God is still working in your everyday moments. And his truth really does bring freedom. Welcome, Desiree. I'm so glad that we get to chat today.
[00:01:20] Speaker B: Hi. Thanks for having me. I'm so, so excited to be here today.
[00:01:24] Speaker A: Oh, this is going to be wonderful. But before we dive in, y' all know I love a good, fun fact. And today's fun fact for Desiree is that she loves consignment shopping. This is a girl after my own heart. So if you ever need help to find a hidden gem at a thrift store, Desiree's your gal.
So what has been your absolute favorite find in thrifting and consignment shopping?
[00:01:50] Speaker B: You know, I think I love finding those things that have a really good name on them and I've only paid like $2 for them. And I walk somewhere and people have no idea that it's from anywhere but the store. They think it is. And I think about that. I just love that. It really makes me happy because people have kind of a poo poo attitude about going consignments shopping. I get a lot of kind of, ew, that's yucky. So I love being able to find those finds and then to walk in somewhere and have no one have any clue.
[00:02:24] Speaker A: Exactly, exactly.
It's like special treasures that are in the racks. You have to look through them all, but you'll find those special things. And yeah, then when you get to wear them and people go, ooh, that's so nice. You're like, yeah, 50 cents.
[00:02:39] Speaker B: I've forgotten about this one. But this one was kind of a personal one from the Lord. And actually it's in the background of my. I'm not showing it as much. There it is right there. Yes, actually.
[00:02:49] Speaker A: Yes, I see that.
[00:02:51] Speaker B: Yeah. I had been. I had been spending too much money in this season, and the Lord had just kind of said, just stay out. Because my problem is when I go into stores, I buy things.
I won't not buy anything. So I was grabbing some things from Walmart, and this consignment store was right down the street, and it felt like I was getting a prodding from the Holy Spirit to go there.
And I'm like, well, didn't you tell me not to do this? So I was trying to figure out if it was my own thing or if him.
So I went in the store, you know, and I saw a couple things. I'm like, okay, so is this what you brought me here for? And then as I was checking out, I looked up and this picture was there. And I had been struggling with some things, with my hearing and all of that stuff, and just. And it just felt like a really personal thing to me. I feel like there's some meaning in this picture for me, but the fact that he prompted me to go there, I only went. Of course. We're talking about obedience today, right?
[00:03:48] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:03:48] Speaker B: If I hadn't gone on that prompting, I would have missed what he had for me. So that's a really special picture for me, and that's one of the consignment finds that I've had.
[00:03:58] Speaker A: That's beautiful. Can you explain the picture for those that can't see the video?
[00:04:03] Speaker B: Yeah.
There's a sign language. There's a hand with an I love you. Yeah. In sign language. But there's also. There's jewels on this hand, on lots of bracelets and some rings, and so there's some sparkly things. There's some gold things.
There's also red nail polish, which made me really think of Jesus's blood.
[00:04:25] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. It's a beautiful, beautiful picture.
[00:04:28] Speaker B: His sacrifice for me, just a reminder of. Because of the blood of Jesus, this is who he's made me to be. And it's a reminder for me because I have struggled with some of those things that we'll talk about later in the podcast, but it really does represent his promised to me in all of that.
[00:04:48] Speaker A: Oh, I love that. I love that. I love that in our obedience, God will show up and love us in ways that we're so unexpected. And that's, again, exactly what we're Talking about here today, I just recorded an episode with a friend and her fun fact. It just is amazing how every fun fact goes so beautifully with the story that we're telling, even though at the time. And you know this because of the prep that before we even get to this point, but the questions that are asked are not even together to say fun fact, meet topic. You know what I mean? So it's just beautiful how the Lord brings in our own personality and our story of what he's doing in our lives and just shows up. I love that.
[00:05:39] Speaker B: I love that, too. He's so good.
[00:05:41] Speaker A: He's so, so good. So your. Your journey of obedience didn't look like you expected, but in those unexpected places, God often begins his most powerful work. And you've shared with me that God really shaped your understanding of obedience and freedom. So can you take us into one specific moment, maybe during that season, that still shapes your walk with him today?
[00:06:06] Speaker B: Well, I mean, it's tough because there's so many, and they really kind of connect with one another. But I would have to say, I guess I would go with where it started. When I was about eight or nine, I had, you know, I'd been going to a church with my mom, and I had a lot of friends around me who were from a different denomination and just picking up different things of, you know, this is what God. Who God is here. But then this one says, this is who God is here and watching people's lives and all those kind of things. And I really just was like, okay, something's not lining up here. And I asked him to show me who he was.
And that was the very beginning. And I did accept Christ at 9 or 10. But as time went on and as a teenager, I. I took.
I started really feeling lonely. I think that's. I think loneliness is one of the devil's really good motivators for walking away from him. Because we. Yes, I didn't really believe that he was with me. And I was very hurt. I was very alone. There were so many things that.
Between my hearing loss and just childhood and everything else, and I just was watching people on the other side, and I'm like, they're not believers. Sure looks great over there. And I walked away.
I said, I'm done with this. I'm done with you for now.
Because I didn't believe him. That's really what I told him. I said, I don't believe you're here. I don't believe him. I don't believe this now, thankfully.
I mean, I Kind of fell.
I say, thankfully, lightly. I felt it didn't take me very long to fall pretty hard because I rebelled pretty hard and dark. And I ended up pregnant with my older son. This night I really remembered because I was. I was crying. You know, everyone's got an opinion. People were telling me different things I should do things I shouldn't do, all those kind of things. And my heart was broken. I was realizing that all of this was a waste because he really was. I was really starting to see that God was maybe not, you know, he was telling the truth. And I was feeling really remorseful. I was starting to feel that repentance, you know. And that night I just cried and I just laid down before the Lord and I saw this vision of him reaching his arm down to me, telling me that if I took his hand that he would. He would walk with me and that he would. He would be there through it all if I would just trust him. And that night, I remember, you know, reaching out and saying, okay, I was scared. I had no idea what anything looked like. I was pretty desperate, too, in that moment.
But something felt a little more real there.
So I think that was my most important act of obedience. And I didn't really know what it was going to look like. I didn't know how this was even going to work out. And it's been a rough road. But he. As I look back now, there's so many monuments of his faithfulness.
But that was really where it began in a real way for me.
[00:09:16] Speaker A: How did you wrestle with that obedience when things still didn't make sense? You said yes to him, but it was still.
What did the next step look like for that?
[00:09:26] Speaker B: Well, it was. One of the things that happened in that moment, too, is I really heard him speak to me. And everyone hears the Lord differently. And I don't hear him audibly every time that he talks to me. But in this moment, I think he knew I needed that personal. That personal touch from him.
And it was very clear that he said to keep the baby and that he would be his father and he'd be my husband.
So, you know, the next step was to. Okay, moving forward in that, taking the next step in how to do that. I did wrestle a lot along the way because there's been many moments where it didn't seem like he was there. There was many moments that didn't feel like he was doing anything or he was making anything better or anything like that. And I was dealing with depression, too, in the middle of that.
So the Wrestling was really hard some moments, but he always seemed to meet me. I just kept moving towards him. I think that was the key for me. I just didn't give up.
I had to believe that he was telling the truth, because the last time I didn't, I ended up in the place I was in. That's the beautiful thing about these moments, is that even in our mistakes and in our detours and in all of that, he reminds us, those are reminders, you know, I can't. If I leave again, I'm just going to end up in the same place I was in. And I think that was a constant reminder to me in those moments.
[00:10:56] Speaker A: Yeah, because when we're in. In that disobedience, in that valley, in the wilderness, we think we can do it on our own, but deep down we really know that we can't.
And so we turn back to him and we know that it's better when we're with him. But then sometimes, and you know, we know that that's the enemy. That enemy changes, changes our thoughts, changes our voices, gives us those nagging, well, can you really do it with him?
[00:11:29] Speaker B: Like, you can.
[00:11:31] Speaker A: You can do this on your own. Just. Just try harder next time. But like you were saying, the people looked like they were having fun on the other side of Jesus, right? When they were not following the Lord. Like that looks like a lot of fun. And the enemy is really good at deceiving us and tricking us into thinking that, yes, without the Lord, it is fun on that side. And to be honest, for a moment, it actually is right. You think I don't have any cares. I don't have anyone that I need to live up to. I don't have any rules to follow. I can just be whoever I want to be.
But deep down, because we are children of the Lord, we want to do what he wants for us. And I love that you're saying, I didn't know what to do, but I was calling out to him. And that is, you know, that is us, our soul wanting and longing for him, even in the midst of the pain and the hurt. It's a beautiful picture of Christ's redemption for us. And when we are obedient in reaching out and, you know, you talk a lot.
You talk about how many of us are unknowingly living the lies that we've believed, maybe from the enemy or those outside voices, or even our own. Can you share truth that God helped you replace a lie with or multiple? Because it could be more than one.
[00:12:59] Speaker B: That's Been like peeling off an onion, too, because he doesn't reveal them all at one time. That's what I realized, too. He reveals one lie at a time for us.
[00:13:09] Speaker A: He's so gentle, I think.
[00:13:11] Speaker B: And it. I think for me, it depended on how deep they went. I think that it's always been when he reveals a specific lie to me, then I can. Specifically, I can get scriptures that are specific to that.
[00:13:24] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:13:25] Speaker B: And it's really important to be speaking truth to ourselves, to remind ourselves of the truth, of what God says. But I think that it's so important for us to be doing that with one another, too, because I don't think we remind each other of the truth that often when we hear the lie from each other and we recognize it, because they may not to be able to point them back to the truth. And I had some of that. I had. Have a ton of that, which is why I love to mentor and I love to focus on discipleship with the younger generation. Because I want to be that voice that shares truth with them when they're stuck or when they're struggling. For me to be a voice of truth and not one that brings them down, I don't want to be used by the enemy for that. And I know I have in different times, in different places, I always bring those.
Our thoughts back to the word of God. We have to, because it's so easy. The other thing for me is this has taken a long time, is my mind can go. I'm a very deep thinker. I'm a very deep feeler. So I'm deep in every sense of the word. And then I have my hearing loss, which puts me in silence a lot of times. And your mind can go, but we allow our minds to go. For a long time, I really wanted not to let it go, but I couldn't figure out how to stop it. I had to keep bringing it back to him, asking him for help. And, you know, one day I realized, wow, I'm recognizing this sooner. You know, when I recognize that my mind is starting to go in the wrong place to stop and pause. I think the pause is one of my.
The most powerful things in the world is to pause and to say, okay, this is the direction I'm going to.
Lord, can you help me? Can you take these thoughts and practice that taking those thoughts captive into obedience to Christ.
There are so many things, you know, that casting our anxieties upon them when we are weary and when we're panicked, when we're full of fear and all those Things. And I battled with fear for a long time in a controlling way. It just controlled me completely. Again, recognizing when I'm there and to be able to stop and cast those cares upon the Lord. We. We quote these scriptures, but I do feel like we're not very good at helping people understand how to live those scriptures out. And I, yeah, that's really one thing that I love being able to do in the podcast and in my writing and all those things is to be able to help people understand the how. I've had to learn the how, the hard and long way. But we talk too much about the scripture and we don't talk about the how. I think so, but those are some of the things that I do. And it's always. It's so funny because, like, when my. If my husband and I are arguing, my instinct is to pull away. I think human nature is we want to pull away if someone's hurt us, we want to pull away when we feel like God has hurt us. My instinct has been to pull away.
But that's what I've had to really work on is to drawing near. He says if we draw close to him, he draws close to us.
And I've seen that played out in my life over and over again. Those are just some of the things that have helped me along the way.
[00:16:44] Speaker A: I love that. And, you know, there's a quote that you've shared, and it's that reactions come from a hurt heart, responses come from a healed one.
So for me, what I love about that is that it really does press that pause button when you have a.
A response instead of a reaction, because a reaction is easy to just jump on.
[00:17:09] Speaker B: And.
[00:17:10] Speaker A: And you're right, it does come from a hurt heart. It comes from that place of pain. But those responses come from a good place, a loving place. We've gone, okay, let me take a step back, let me take a breath, then respond when I'm ready. And you're right. Far too often I think we react with the scripture verse instead of responding with the truth and the application to use it. Would you agree with that?
[00:17:40] Speaker B: Yeah, I do agree with that. I think that when we react, we're not even allowing God's truth in there at all.
[00:17:48] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:17:48] Speaker B: And I think that when our triggers happen, because that's usually when the reaction come.
Comes, there's a trigger that's going on because something someone said, someone did something they didn't do, something they didn't say, you know, and it triggers that. And that automatically goes into a reaction sometimes I mean, there were moments in my life where I didn't have much time to pause.
I didn't really give a lot of time because it was so instantaneous. And in those moments, we're not hearing the Lord really.
We are so absorbed with the lie, we can't even see the truth. And that's why it is so important to get that truth in there so that we can respond instead of react.
[00:18:30] Speaker A: So what does that look like for you in your life now?
[00:18:33] Speaker B: It's amazing.
I live in so much more freedom than I ever have. And that's the other thing that motivates me to keep moving forward, keep persevering, even when things don't look great or, you know, or it doesn't feel like the Lord's working.
So I think that the triggers aren't because there's places in my heart have been healed more, because I've done the work with the Lord and continue to do the work with the Lord. That's. It's intentional work. I don't stop. Just because I'm living in more freedom doesn't mean I stop doing the work.
So I keep on doing the work. I keep on seeking him first. Really. I'm really working on living that kind of a life to seek. When I seek him first, then I'm trusting him for all the details, for all the pieces, for all this stuff, instead of leaning on my own strength like you were talking about earlier. Because that's where I get tripped up. I noticed. You know, I'll walk away from circumstances and think, wow, before I would have reacted.
[00:19:34] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:19:35] Speaker B: But while I responded and to really look at those victories and I celebrate those victories, and I think that helps me, too. Like, wow, I'm not where I was. You know, he is working, he is moving. He is making me more like him. And that gets me excited and gets me motivated to keep moving forward with Him. When there are triggers, though, when things. When I do react now, I go back and look at that, okay, what's the root of this? Because that's the key to everything, is we got to find the root issue. We got to not band Aid it. We can't ignore it. We can't just pretend like it doesn't exist because it won't get better that way. So I'm much better at looking at the root, trying to asking God where the root is and dealing with the roots. Because before I think one of the biggest lies from the enemy. Right.
Is that it's more painful to do the work than it is to Stay in the stuff. And for a while I believed that. And it wasn't until he replaced the truth there that it's more painful to stay in it than to move beyond it. I stayed stuck.
So I don't. I just, I'm willing to look at the things now, you know, and I think that's been the one of the biggest things for me. Being able to look at it and be willing to be in pain for a little while for the sake of freedom later.
[00:21:07] Speaker A: Yes. And that's such a good thing because far too often I see women who would choose to be in their disobedient circumstances, in their stuckness, in their pain, because it's comfortable. Not that it doesn't feel good, but it's comfortable because it's known.
Instead of stepping out into the unknown with the Lord and having that pain because it is hard to look back. And I think a lot of times it has to do with the trust that we have or don't have with the Lord in the times when we were hurt. And so when we take a step back, we take a breath and we respond to ourselves into the situation, we're allowing Christ to heal that place. And you know, think about when you fall on your bike when you're a little kid, you fall on your bike and you skin your knee, it's going to hurt to clean that up. But if you leave it that way with all the gunk and the stuff in it, it's going to get infected, it's going to get gross and it's going to get worse. But when we allow Christ to clean and heal our wounds, it's painful for a little bit. But like you said, there is freedom on the other side. And that is what my heart aches for women because I want this for them so bad. But I can't want it for them more than they want it for themselves. And that's hard. That's really hard. And so I pray for every single woman that's listening here, every single woman that reads any of the my books or goes to anything that we've got right, We, I pray that there is some part of them that wants to do the hard heart work and get into step into the freedom that God has for them. So on that note, for the woman listening who feels stuck or uncertain about what God is asking her to do or to take those steps, what is a simple step that she could take today to begin walking in that freedom?
[00:23:15] Speaker B: Well, I think the, the first step is always to sit with the Lord. You know, is to be still for a few moments and just be honest with him. I think that's really the biggest first step. Because when we're honest about how we feel about him, how we feel about ourselves, how we feel about our circumstances and what's going on around us for the people we love, when we give him all of that, that's where he can begin the work. And I never really understood that scripture about taking on his yoke because it's easy and light, because that doesn't really. It didn't really make sense until, I don't know, not too long ago, probably a few years ago, maybe just when I was reading it. And God's word becomes alive in such a different way. I feel like the more we grow, things we didn't see before, we see now. That's what makes his word become alive. And that's an exciting thing, too. But I do. I can find myself going back into those habits of taking things on myself, trying to fix it, trying to fix people, trying whatever it is. And I can always tell because I'm exhausted, I'm burnt out, I'm all those things.
I'm frustrated.
And when we can sit with him and.
And just give all of that to him and ask him to lead us, he'll give us the steps as we go. He doesn't give us the whole picture. He never will. And I've had to be concerned with this. Oh, my word.
Not really great at that some days.
But I have learned that he does it way better than I do. And I've made lots of messes in this process of learning to let him lead. But when he says it's light and easy, he's not kidding. When. When I surrender everything to him, when I seek him for all the steps, then I'm not striving anymore. I'm not. That need to be perfect, those. All those mindsets that came from the legalistic background, it all goes off. Because nothing's reliant on me.
It's all reliant on him. And I.
It. Being honest. Being honest and being vulnerable with him is the first step, and he'll take it from there if you really give it to him.
[00:25:35] Speaker A: 100%, yes, every single time.
Desiree, this has been so encouraging. And I'm. I'm grateful for your honesty and how you've reminded us over again that obedience isn't about figuring it all out, but it's trusting the one who does. So before we wrap up this episode, I want to ask you a question that I ask every guest on the podcast.
And that is what is one perspective that you would encourage listeners to apply today?
[00:26:04] Speaker B: I think that the perspective I would bring today is about the lie that it's what we do that makes us valuable. If we could shift that perspective into believing it's who we are, who God created us to be, that makes us valuable and not what we do, I think that would change so much of our life.
So I really wanted to encourage that because it is something that I'm working on, too.
Every season seems to bring another layer of this for me, and then the season is the same, you know, as seasons change.
One of my biggest fears that God reveals to me is my fear of being insignificant. But I'm never insignificant because I'm significant in him, and it's because of who I am and not what I do or don't do. So I pray that encourages somebody today.
[00:26:55] Speaker A: Absolutely. And it just speaks to relationship versus checklists and religion and having to feel like you have to do it all and you don't. There's no striving with the Lord.
He does carry it for us, and he is. We are enough because he is enough.
And when we can truly walk in that, it changes. It changes things. It changes your life. And it is a. It is a process. It is a day by day, moment by moment, season and season process. And like you said in the beginning, it's like peeling back onion layers.
There's something underneath that. And just when you think you've gotten to the middle, he's like, oh, and there's this one more thing.
Just one more thing. And we're like, okay, thank you, Lord. Okay, can we be done now? Can my onion be peeled all the way?
Amen.
Oh, Desiree, thank you so much for sharing your heart with us and reminding us that obedience isn't always easy, but it always draws us closer to the heart of God. And you've given us such a beautiful, beautiful picture of what it looks like to really walk in truth and trust, even when the path is uncertain. But we have to continue.
So, friend, maybe today's conversation stirred something in you. Maybe you're realizing there's a place in your life where obedience feels unclear or uncomfortable. Or maybe you're in a space where God is gently peeling back old lies, inviting you to step into a new kind of freedom. Whatever it is, take this moment today.
Pause.
Ask him, where are you at work in me right now? Because he's not done writing your story, friend.
And if you have a little God wink lately, a little moment where his presence caught you off guard. Or maybe there's something in your heart that's been growing and you know it's time to share. I'd love to hear from you. This podcast is about real stories from real women, so if you have a simple aha moment or even just a small whisper from the Lord that's impacted you, I'd love to hear it. And I'd love for you to be a guest. Reach out to
[email protected] and let's start that conversation.
And remember, even small shifts in perspective can lead to big changes. Now go put those perspectives into practice. Talk to you next time.
