[00:00:01] Jessica: Hey, friend. Welcome back to Perspectives into Practice.
What happens when you're tired of persevering? Not when you stopped believing in God, not when you decided to walk away, but when you're just tired. You've been praying, you've trusted, you've kept going. And eventually you find yourself saying, lord, I know you're with me, but I am weary. I think sometimes we feel like faith means that we shouldn't admit that. But God already knows that we're tired. And maybe instead of hiding our weariness from him, we can bring it right into his presence. My new friend, Laura has been learning this in a very personal way. In a season that has required a lot of perseverance, God has been teaching her about surrender, joy, listening for his voice, and trusting that even the suffering is not wasted in his hands. Has been learning this in a very personal way. In a season that has required a lot of perseverance, God has been teaching her about surrender, joy, listening for his voice, and trusting that even the suffering is not wasted in his hands. Welcome, Laura. I'm so glad that you're here.
[00:01:55] Lara: Thank you so much, Jessica. It's really a pleasure to be, you know, chatting with you today.
[00:02:10] Jessica: Yes, we're gonna. I. I'm really excited about. I'm really excited about this. But before we dive in, y' all know I love a good fun fact. And, Laura, you love musicals. And so I have two questions for that. It's kind of a twofer. One, what got you into musicals? And two, if you could get tickets to any musical tonight, what. What is it going to be?
[00:02:33] Lara: Excellent questions. I basically, I grew up doing musicals. My mom put me in theater camp, and so I was in Oliver and Annie and Big river and Cinderella and all of that up since I was seven. So that's how I fell in love with the art of theater. Yeah.
[00:02:53] Jessica: Yeah.
[00:02:53] Lara: And then. And then to answer your second question, I would go to My Fair lady, because that's my favorite musical. And, you know, I love British comedy, and I actually played Eliza in high school, which was a really big gift from the Lord.
So that's my favorite.
[00:03:08] Jessica: Oh, I. I'm so glad that you said that, because I do love that. I've seen it in the movie form, and I'm sure. I know that's different. I know. Don't. Don't. Don't hate me, but I love that movie. And so now you're gonna have. You're making me want to go back and listen again, which is not a bad thing. I love all the old, like, super old, like, black and whites.
[00:03:31] Lara: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:03:33] Jessica: Oh, my gosh.
[00:03:33] Lara: Like Audrey Hepburn era. Yeah.
[00:03:36] Jessica: Oh, yes. Oh, yes. You know, back then, they just knew how to do it right, let me tell you. Oh, yeah, they sure did. Oh, man. So there is. There's so much beauty in music that can reach us and words that can bring us into even just someone else's world. You recently told me about a moment that you had with the Lord when you were very honest about how you were feeling, and then how he met you exactly with the words that you needed. So you recently told him, I'm weary of persevering. Can you tell me what was going on in your heart when. When you finally said that to him?
[00:04:14] Lara: Oh, I mean, you know, I've. Just to give context to your audience. I've been bedridden for about eight years now, and, you know, I. I'm just. You know, I'll spare the details, but I. I'm sick with a very rare neurological illness. We still don't have a proper diagnosis, but in the context of all of this, you know, I had to lose my health, then my career, then my husband. It has been a trial like, you know, nothing else. And in the midst of this, there have been many times on this journey where I have really cried out to the Lord like, oh, my gosh, I cannot keep going. I can't keep keeping on, you know, so to speak. And yet every time, I mean. And I don't even mean this in a trite way because, you know, you hear. And I'm not trying to put others down, but, like, you hear these testimonies where it's always, like, in a bow. I mean, I just feel like God meets me where he, you know, he'll give me a timely devotional or a word from someone where they didn't even know what you were going through. And so that is the only reason I've been able to keep plugging through this. Even despite getting weary. It's like he has just kept me going and if he didn't speak to me in this valley, I don't even think I'd be a Christian today because of the gravity of suffering I've walked through. So I just want to encourage someone out there today that might be going through career loss like I did. I mean, I was, I was literally a high powered lawyer, and then all of a sudden one day I became mysteriously ill with this illness. I mean, the point is career loss, I lost my husband after one year of marriage. That was two years ago. I mean, and I'm just, I've been sick for eight years on a bed. And so you can see these different ways that the Lord is really working on me, you know, pruning me, sanctifying me and just helping me to persevere because it's not my, my own strength. I mean, if it was by my own strength, I would have given up on Christianity a long time ago.
[00:06:04] Jessica: Yeah, yeah. And, you know, I hear that a lot with people with chronic illness is that it's not just, it's, it's not just like the day in and day out. It's that it's so long and that you, there's no, there's no seemingly end to it and you do grow weary and that's just, it's so hard. But I'm so glad that you actually mentioned about you being in the middle of this, because that's the part about having my friends on here that I love, is that we get to talk about what is happening in the middle. Not the wrapped up, beautiful bow testimony, which those are beautiful and those are wonderful. But also if someone's listening now and they are in bed and not able to do, you know, all of the things that they thought they could do, and they're like, lord, why me? Why now? What, you know, what's next? I, I, I hope that they can hear from your story here today, Laura, that they can get through it and you know that God is still there with them. And you mentioned about the devotional that you were going through in Galatians and that it's a reminder not to grow weary. So what was that moment like when you realized that God was directly speaking to you in a way that, you know, what you had just brought to him?
[00:07:17] Lara: Yeah, I mean, so, yeah, to get back to a specific example from your question is, it was a couple months ago. I can't remember the specific date, but I do keep a journal of all the times the Lord speaks, speaks to me. And in the morning I had prayed to him, I said, I am so weary, I cannot do this anymore. And I even included the word weary, which is kind of unusual for me. Like, I feel like weary sounds like this, you know, British word or something. Like, it's not. You can tell. I just love the British stuff. And so. And then I'm telling you, Jessica, like, a few. That later that night, I do, like, a devotional. Every night I have a couple devotional apps. And then obviously I, you know, read the Bible, but I opened the you version. You probably use the you version app. So many people do. I mean, and get. Guess what the verse was. It was, let us not grow weary, for in due time we will reap a harvest. And I was just in tears. This is what I'm saying. God always speaks to me, usually through coincidences, like, repetitive themes. And so you can see how. I mean, those of us with chronic illness, and he speaks to all, you know, everyone. I mean, in different ways. But, yeah, he just. He comforts us because we're constantly suffering, if you will. It's like a bodily ailment. And yet he finds these ways to just keep making me persevere, you know, and it's almost comical, like. But he knows how to speak to his sheep. So those are the kinds of moments that really encourage me that he hears your cries. And. And again, there were. There was time. There have been times on this bed where I didn't get the immediate answer. So I just kind of want to speak into someone out there who's like, well, lucky for you, you get these messages on the regular or whatever, right? There were times when the Lord was really testing me, you know, I mean, you can imagine being on a bed, but you can imagine the, you know, me asking, where are you, God? Why aren't you healing me? I've tried 150 drugs, whatever, treatments, why, what, you know, and there were times when he let me struggle through that.
But the point is, he's the God of comfort, and he has his reasons for when he speaks and when he doesn't. And we just have to trust the reasons.
[00:09:24] Jessica: Yeah, absolutely. And I think it's such a beautiful reminder, what you said, that he's not intimidated by our weariness. He's not scared when we say, hey, Lord, I'm really struggling over here. Like, he meets us there. And all throughout the Bible, if we're opening it and reading it, it talks about that. And it. We hear story after story or read story after story in the Bible of other people that have gone through that same. Same weariness, same. Like, I'VE been doing all these things and why you've taken, you know, David, oh, my gosh.
All of his lamenting. Right. So what. What has God been teaching you about the difference of persevering in your own strength and allowing him to sustain you through that?
[00:10:08] Lara: I mean, it. It really. It boils down to Second Corinthians 12, 9, where, you know, Paul had his own chronic thorn in the flesh, and God told him, no, I will not remove it. I mean, it's a really hard passage to digest. I mean, people, you know, I mean, at first, you know, five years ago, when the Lord really impressed that one, upon my heart, I was like, I don't want to come to acceptance of this. You know, I mean, I feel like we have to be honest because, you know, I don't have one of those testimonies where it's like, you know, blessed be the name of the Lord you gave and took away. I was very angry, and. And. And I. I'm ashamed now. But I do think the Lord had to walk me through those emotions. But he. To get back to the question, he sustains me with his own strength. And that sounds all vague and everything else, and I know we always say stuff like that. Let me color it for you. For example, when I get up every morning, I say, lord, when I sit up, it causes my head to spin even harder. You know, it's just a rare neurological illness. Luckily, I.
These days, but there was a time when I couldn't walk for three years, so I was completely disabled. But now every morning, I say, lord, please give me your strength. And somehow, somewhere, I'm telling you, Jessica, it comes out of nowhere. It really is. He will give strength to the weak. I mean, I don't even know how I have the intellectual capacity to be on this podcast, and yet the Lord has allowed me to be on, like, countless podcasts this year to share my testimony of how God has sustained me in this wilderness, of just one loss after the next. So he provides the power, you know, the. It's all over the Bible. And if so, that's a really big encouragement.
[00:11:49] Jessica: Yeah, I. I love that so much. Because you're right, He. He sustains us if we're willing, I guess. Maybe not if, but when we're willing to let him change us along the way. And I love that so much that you are continuing to press into him even when it's hard. And I'm sure that there are. There are days when. When you don't, because none of us are perfect in this Especially when there's a chronic issue, but that you are, you know, you're allowing him to show you things that you need to surrender and, and you need to let go of and also be stronger in. And you told me earlier that you, you use the word pruning or when you described what God is doing in your life right now. And so what has he been showing you about the things that you've been holding on to that may be competing for a place that really belongs to him?
[00:12:42] Lara: Oh, I mean, so many. I mean, when I. I mean, you got to understand, like, who I was. I mean, I was very type A. I mean, I went to Stanford Law School. I mean, we're talking. And not to toot my own horn, I mean, it's almost comical. You see, I went from, you know, this type A, I worked for couple federal, federal judges. I. I was going to be a federal prosecutor, and the Lord opened the door and then I got sick and it was like the door was slammed shut. So I'm giving you this to say, first of all, I had an idol in productivity and work achievement. I mean, these aren't bad things. The Lord gifted me with intelligence. You know, I mean, this is not. What I'm trying to say is he has definitely. I mean, that's one way to prune the idol out of a, you know, achiever. Slap, you know, slapper on a bed. I'm not saying that I'm. I'm being facetious. The Lord has been so gracious. It's not like he's punishing me because I was an achiever. Don't hear me wrong. I'm just cracking jokes. He has given me so many purposes for this suffering just to comfort me. This is not punishment, but it is part of it. Must be one of the million things he's doing redemptively is pruning me. And I'm gracious that I'm not sort of in that rat race anymore. I mean, I really loathe being sick. Don't hear me wrong. But I have accepted it in the Lord's will. I surrender it to him every day. But he's also pruned me of the idol of marriage because, frankly, when my husband died, I mean, it was like the one gift God gave me in my suffering. Because you have to understand, I was bedridden for four years, and then God plopped this man into my life out of nowhere. But then after I married him, he died a year later. So it's kind of like, okay, Lord, one thing after the Next. But you can see how he's.
After Matt died, I was very angry at the Lord again. It was like, oh, man, I had all this spiritual growth, and now I'm in the dumps again. And the Lord told me, he said, the reason you can't recover from your grief, my child, is because you have an idol in marriage. And I mean, it's kind of like, you know, I knew that, but him saying that to me, you know, just through his still soft voice, that was really humbling. And also discipline that I needed.
And, you know, I have said, thankfully, the last six months, I have. I see growth in myself of being able to surrender. And honestly, I have a lot of compassion for myself, too, because it. I mean, I'm not trying to, you know, do a pity party, but it has been really hard what I have gone through. And so I think. I think that God. I know God understands that he is also wept with me, but he is using this suffering redemptively to shape my character into Christ as well.
[00:15:27] Jessica: Yeah, he. He's with you regardless of what you're going through. But I. I definitely.
It's hard when it's so long. When it's so long and it's just like one thing after another after another, and at some point you just throw your hands up and go, God, what. What is all this for? What. I mean, pruning is not. It's not comfortable, right? And it's not supposed to be, but we know that when the Lord puts a finger on something, when he takes that thing away, he is doing it lovingly, like you said. And that correction is.
I think our hearts want. Similar to, you know, a parent when, if you've. If you've been disobedient and you're that prodigal, prodigal son, right? And you. You're going out and doing these things. Sometimes we just crave that correction to be brought back. And I don't know. I don't. That might not be you, but sometimes for me, I just need. I just need the Lord to, like, bring me back and go, hey, by the way, you're on the wrong path. Come over here.
And that pruning. That pruning is hard, but it is. It's so good for us to recognize that in ourselves and then learn from that. And so in that. What are you learning to recognize about his correction?
[00:16:38] Lara: I mean, yeah, it's. It's really, you know, he has given me Hebrews. I mean, you know, just about how he disciplines his children so that I wouldn't feel so targeted. I mean, he really is disciplining all of us. I mean, the. Anyone? I mean, what's the verse? It says that he. He will prune the. The branch that already bears. Fr. So yeah, it's not like some cosmic punishment, like you're in time out. It's. He is preparing us for eternity and we are fleshly. It is so hard for us to understand this. I mean, it has taken me eight years of wrestling with the Lord. I mean, you can tell I'm a wrestler. Like, I don't, you know, believe in giving some polished testimony where I seem holier than thou, this and that. I mean, I, I have seen a lot of growth the last, you know, few years, but it has been a wrestle. But it. So to answer the question, I guess God, you know, because we use the word discipline and it sounds all scary and oh my gosh, like, dude, I really have to lose my husband to be. You know, but it's, it's more about he. Romans 8:29 says his entire project with us is to conform us to the image of Christ. And I mean, this is the whole sanctification game. The minute you accept Christ, you're going to be on this journey and you can either fight against the Lord on this or you're going to trust that he knows how to prune the branch.
So I have come to a point where it's like, I surrender. I cannot keep fighting and keep asking. I mean, there came a point where he told me, you know, and I don't know how the Holy Spirit speaks to you, but, you know, just the still soft voice said, stop asking why. And that's not to say you can't ask, but you have to understand the context. I had been asking the Lord for eight years, you know, and he graciously, graciously gate has given me many. Maybe we can talk about some of those answers he has given me. So it's not all just doom and gloom and discipline.
[00:18:32] Jessica: Yeah. Yeah, well, and that's what I was gonna actually ask you about the surrender. Because I, I think that surrender becomes especially meaningful when life already looks different and from what we hope for and what we expected.
And so now we're talking about surrender in a way that is a good thing for us, hopefully, because like you said, he wants us to be more like. More like him. And so, yes, tell us in these ways that you have been surrendering and the, the good parts, that of, of the still trusting him that you're doing right now.
[00:19:06] Lara: Yes. So to answer that question, I would say the reason I've been able to surrender is because he has graciously given me, like, the different purposes he has for suffering. Look, he hasn't exactly answered every why he's given me. He's come close. Okay, so, for example, I mean, he's given me macro reasons. So, for example, when he called me to acceptance of my illness four years ago, this is, you know, it's a longer story. I had been. My whole church was praying for me for years. I was on a bed. You know, I still am, but at least now, these days, I can walk. But there came a point where the Lord called me to acceptance. He gave me 2nd Corinthians 12, 9. And he said, this is like Paul's chronic thorn in the flesh. I'm calling you to stay in this.
And at the time, my flesh lashed out against this, like, wait, I thought you always heal, Lord. You know. Wait, you're telling me you give some of us lifelong crosses. But the point is, he gave me second Corinthians 4:17 at the same time, which says, our light and momentary struggles are achieving an eternal weight of glory that far outweighs them all. So you can see how he was telling me, laura, I know that this is temporary, temporarily, a painful will for your life. My will is painful for your life. You know, but can you trust that this life is a blip and I am doing something in you and around you eternally? Like, you just. You have to try. I operate on an eternal agenda. Like, God was giving me that perspective a million different times in a million different verses. It's all over the New Testament. I mean, Paul is talking about eternal glory on every other page. I mean, we have to. It's mysterious on, okay, well, how does my suffering now create these eternal glory later? It's so mysterious. But the secret things belong to the Lord And. And we just. So my point is, he's. He's given me. And then what about Genesis 50:20? He's given me that a million times. You know, when I'm crying or whatever, it's like. It's just. Genesis 50:20 says, what Satan intended for evil, God intends for good. So he is going to flip it around in eternity. We don't see all the fruit now. You might not even see any fruit right now. I mean, so many mysterious things happen. Christians die all the time. Young babies, old. I mean, the point is, he. He hasn't left me. I mean, he even told me when I asked, like, why do you heal other Christians but not me? Like, I was really jealous one day of this Christian testimony. I heard this one woman who was like, oh, the Lord healed me. And I just broke it. I just lost it, you know, in my heart. I was like, okay, Lord, do you really love me as much as. Like, why on earth? Like, it just didn't make sense to me. And, and, and he. The next morning I woke up and I had this in my Facebook messenger. This woman from my church who I hadn't talked to in months, she had sent me this clip. And I. I didn't watch the Chosen at the time. And I know that's a whole debate, like, is it okay to watch it, whatever, but I don't know where you land, but I. As long as some. Anyway, that's a whole other conversation. But the point is the clip, we could get into it maybe off screen, but. But the clip was titled why haven't you healed me? And it was exactly what I was crying in tears to the Lord the night before. And it's this scene where Jesus fictitiously is talking to one of his disciples who's supposedly disabled. And he tells him, my son, there are many testimonies where I get glory from someone's healing, but not many where someone is willing to. To proclaim their trust in me, despite the fact that I have not removed the fire and man, I was bawling, just bawling. And that actually from the Chosen. If you go to that on YouTube, everyone with a chronic illness, you should read the comments. People are bawling. I mean, so. And I do think it's spirit aligns with scripture. Again, the only reason I'm comfortable with watching the Chosen is because, look, I know this is not the Bible. I know that they're using creative license, but the point is I'm a believer who can use my brain to know. Okay, I'm going to read the word first.
[00:23:03] Jessica: Yes.
[00:23:03] Lara: To answer your question, he has met me in so many ways of saying, no, Laura, I am giving you a testimony. My child, please trust me. I am using your suffering in ways that you cannot see right now.
[00:23:15] Jessica: That's beautiful. That's beautiful. And I. It's not. Doesn't make it any easier, but it. But it kind of does. It gives you that peace that passes all understanding because it comes from the Lord himself.
And I. I too have a chronic illness. I am not bedridden. But there are a lot of things that come against that. And I have found myself often asking, lord, why won't you heal me? Why, if I'm doing all of these Things that it's supposed to be fixing me or supposed to be better or this is supposed to be, you know, anti inflammatory this and why is it not working? And it is exhausting not having those answers. And so I, I so appreciate that you're talking about not pretending that life isn't difficult, but that you are learning through that grief and really through the joy in the same time that he's giving you these, these little God winks, these, these shows of, hey, I see you and I haven't healed you, and there's a reason for that. And so how, how are you making room for grief without believing that grief has to take away your joy?
[00:24:26] Lara: Oh, my gosh. Yeah, brilliant question. This is literally, this is literally my entire.
I mean, I don't want to say ministry, but this is my entire. This is what the Lord has tasked me with in terms of testifying to my community around me. In other words, the last eight years, a theme that God has given me non stop, almost, is this idea of having joy in grief. Okay, it's all over the New Testament. Paul said we are to be sorrowful, but rejoicing we are to give thanks in all circumstances. That's first Thessalonians, not for, for all circumstances. In all circumstances.
So I mean it. James says, count it all joy. Now, it is so counterintuitive. I'm telling you, when you are on a bed, I mean, non stop. I mean, it is, it's almost it. There have been stretches where it almost felt impossible, but I will tell you, the only way to do it is literally again praying to Lord, Holy Spirit, I need you. You have to come bring your joy. I cannot. My human emotions are all over the map. I'm angry, I'm emotional, I want to cry. This, that, and yes, God does walk us through those emotions, but he always u turns me it. At the end of the day, I always come back to joy. Why? Not because I'm so amazing, but because God's. I mean, he's rescued me so many times from my emotional roller coasters, and yet that's why I'm here smiling on this podcast on a random Friday, because he gives us his joy. And I will tell you, because it feels bipolar. Like the elephant in the room. Like, we're always told as Christians, like, we have to have joy and grief together, but the elephant in the room is like, come on, guys, it feels bipolar a lot of the time. Like, I'm just gonna be honest, but this is the Christian life. Like, I don't think Jesus, Jesus was sweating, you know, bullets, man, and. And blood. He wasn't rejoicing right before his crucifixion. But we. We have this. This joy deep down because we know that God has amazing purposes for this that will be revealed in eternity. So the way to do it, what I found is, you know, if you gotta cry, you cry it out and say, lord Jesus, I now surrender this emotion to you. Come, Holy Spirit, give me your joy. I mean, this is the only. We are not capable of doing it ourselves. He has to give us his joy.
[00:26:40] Jessica: Right. All. All the time and every. I love that you mentioned that. That scripture, because we actually just talked about that in a. In an episode right before this and how that little article matters. Being joyful in all things, not for all things. Because I think that in our human brains, we kind of think about joy in grief as being happy when you're sad. And if, you know, if you come back in a better context of what joy is and what grief is, it's a different thing Biblically.
[00:27:17] Lara: Yeah, yeah, exactly.
[00:27:19] Jessica: And I. And I think that we get stuck in. How can. How can our human brains and bodies be happy when we're sad? But that's not what the Bible says. The Bible says to be joyful in the grief, in the. The, you know, the terminal illness, in the divorce, in the loss, in the grief.
Because, you know, if. If you know the Bible, because God, period. Right. Because of what he wants to do in us, for us through us not being happy, because those things are happening. And so I. I think we get sometimes turned around on what that means, and we get. We get kind of stuck there.
Laura, I have so many more questions for you.
[00:28:06] Lara: A couple.
[00:28:06] Jessica: Couple before we leave. So for the woman that is listening right now, and she loves God, but she too, is so tired of persevering. What would you want her to know about bringing that weariness to the Lord?
[00:28:21] Lara: Oh, man. I mean, couple things. I would say that the. The. The perspective. You've got to. And I'm not preaching at you because you got to remember, I have walked through this. I'm, you know, preaching at myself as well.
Yeah, it's you. We have got to flip our perspective to the eternal, because Scripture promises great eternal reward for those who persevere in suffering. It sounds pie in the sky, but it's all over the New Testament. And I mean, it's Second Corinthians 4, 17. It's our light and momentary troubles are achieving an eternal weight of glory that far outweighs them all. It's Romans 8, 18. I mean, it's all over the place. If we endure, we will reign with him. I mean, the suffering, the whole gospel is from cross to glory. I mean, this is the gospel pattern, like Jesus's death to resurrection. I mean, so why would God work any differently with us? So what I would say is, remember that God is working something in your tribulation. He's doing it for something. And the something is a large part of it, eternal. I mean, like, I've been sort of testifying that the only way I've been able to submit to. To believing that God knows what's best for me with all these losses is believing that he's operating on an eternal agenda. And so once you. You really just lock into that, it really will release you. And I want to say one more thing, another verse that is very overlooked. Okay? And God has used this to comfort me. Okay? It's John 16:22. It's where God, Jesus was talking to the disciples and said, you will grieve shortly, but your grief will turn to joy. So one day I was meditating on this, and I was like, what does this even mean? I mean, is this like some hocus pocus fairy tale where all of a sudden in heaven, you know, I mean, no, seriously.
And I. The Lord led me to this Charles Spurgeon sermon. And I love Charles Spurgeon. I don't know. Basically, it was all about how this verse means that God is going to transform, okay, all of our sorrows into joy in heaven. This doesn't mean that, oh, we're just going to be happy in heaven, so we'll be done with all this suffering later. No, it means that actively, whatever you are going through now is going to somehow magically transform into joy. Okay, it sounds like fairy tales. It sounds like, you know, suffer now to be paid out later. But I'm telling you, this is very biblical. Think about in the Psalms, you have turned my, you know, what is it, the sackcloth and my morning into dancing. You. Yeah. God is the God of redemption and transformation. He doesn't just say, well, the suffering's over now. Now we're going to rejoice. No, he redeems it. And so I'm reading this sermon, and then my mom knocks at the door and I get a card. And what. What's in the card? It's a letter from my friend Lauren. And. And in it, the verse that she cites was John 16:22. Your grief would turn into joy. And I am just bawling, you should have Seen me, this was a couple months ago. So what? I. So I felt like the Lord gave me this message to share with, you know, people like you. And your audience is like, you guys, you have to. I mean, I love the idea of Jesus saying, you guys, hold on. You know, like. Like God is not just up there cruelly torturing us with these ailments, whether it's emotional, physical, divorce, losing a child, losing your spouse, and health. Like me. It's. He's. He is working something. He's going to transform it. Look at the story of Joseph. I know we always point to it, but it's true. God was doing something. Pruning him, working at him, chipping at him, to bring him into his promised land. And we. We always talk about deliverance on this side, but the reality is, my husband, who's in heaven right now, he is in his deliverance, promised land. Right now.
Eternity is the real promised land. I know it sounds depressing for people who are not in the valley of death right now, but if you think an eternal perspective, it changes everything. He had, yes, he has good plans for you, just like Jeremiah says, but that those good plans ultimately end in eternity. So keep clinging.
[00:32:22] Jessica: Absolutely. Laura, thank you so much for sharing and being honest. And this is. This is just amazing. And we'll probably have to have you back on here because you have so much depth and wisdom that I think that all of our friends listening need to hear. And I think it's such an important reminder of what we've talked about, that being weary doesn't mean that we failed at faith, that we can tell God that we're tired, we can grieve when it's hard. We can allow him to lovingly prune us and correct us.
But we also can trust him that he is working, even when that perseverance looks less like moving forward and more like staying close to Him. And I think that's kind of the point that he wants for us. And so, before we wrap up, Laura, I've got one question that I ask every guest on the podcast, and that is, what is one perspective that you would encourage listeners to apply today?
[00:33:18] Lara: I. I just want to reach someone out there, maybe who. Who feels like they're suffering, perhaps as a result of their own sin. And I know this is taking it in a different direction, but what I'm trying to say is, because I've made a lot of mistakes in my heart, you have to understand, in terms of really bitterness at the law. I mean, you're seeing me at the end of eight years, you know, just the more spiritually mature Laura.
So we all sin, obviously. And what I'm trying to get at is Romans 8:28 covers even your sin, right? In other words, God. God knew the ways you would sin. God knew, you know, what suffering it may or may not lead to. And to be clear, I am not saying right now that your suffering is a result of your sin. That is not biblical. Look at John 9:3. I mean, sometimes, I mean, this is a longer conversation, but what I'm trying to say, you know, I don't want to end it abruptly without explaining myself, but theologically, look at John 9:3, where Jesus said, the man was born blind, not because of his sin, but for the glory of God. So don't hear me incorrectly. What I'm saying is if there's a woman out there who feels shame, let's say I can't think of a situation right now, but something this seems like it's on my heart. Please know that God is the God of Romans 8:28. He. He will turn even your sins and your weaknesses and your failures into good. And you have no idea how much that has comforted me in my own failures. I mean, you gotta, you know, I just want to encourage someone out there with that today.
Yeah.
[00:34:47] Jessica: That's beautiful. Beautiful, Laura. Thank you again for being here and for reminding us that we don't have to hide our weariness from God. Friend, maybe you've been listening today and you've thought, God has been teaching me something too. I want to hear from you. You don't need a platform or a ministry and you definitely don't need a perfectly wrapped up story. I want to hear from everyday women who are willing to share what God is doing in their life right now. So if that's you, come tell
[email protected] I would love to chat with you. And if you would like to continue the conversation with other Christian women, come join us at the Story Haven. It's completely free. You can find
[email protected] or search the Story Haven in the App Store or Google Play. And remember, even small shifts in perspective can lead to big changes. Now go put those perspectives into practice. Talk to you next time.
