Navigating Adversity: When Life’s Not All Rainbows with guest Candace | Ep 18

Thank you so much. I'm excited to be here, excited to share the faith, excited to share what God has been showing me and revealing to me. So I just counted as an honor just to be able to tell of his goodness and hopefully encourage someone along the way.

Yes, praise God, because he is so good. He's so good to us, and it is an honor to speak about Him and magnify his name. Before we go further, like I said, we like to pray. We just ask You, Father, to bless the listener who is you've drawn her here, Lord. You know her story. You know why she's here right now. You know what she needs to hear. So, Lord, we just yield our mouth, Lord, to you Your word says that if we open our mouth, you'll fill it. But we ask you to just fill our mouth with the words that you would have us to speak to your daughters, the things that they need to hear, Lord, in Jesus name. We pray for peace. We pray for hope. We pray that they would see the face of Jesus. We pray that they would see Jesus in this conversation, Lord, and that Your good and holy will and purpose in their life would be done in Jesus name. Amen.

Amen.

Curious to hear, Candice, how did you come into the faith? Like, how did you come to know Jesus?

Yeah, so I was raised in the church my whole life, so my mom went to church, and I went to church right with her. But obviously, you have to know the Lord for yourself. There goes to a point where you have to have your own personal relationship with Him. Your parents can only carry you so far. And I remember in middle school, going to a church service with my mom and my aunt and my brother, and I remember just listening to the words, and it really hit me, and I was just like, trying to hold back the tears so my family wouldn't stare at me, like, what's going on with her? And it was just then that I had committed myself to him. It was like I knew he was there and that was the commitment I made. And so I keep that in mind as I go through life in every stage that I made a commitment to live for him. And so when the times get hard and when they get rough, I remember, don't give up. God's word is true. He's faithful. You committed to him. He's committed to you, so keep walking. And so that's really it's not any thing big, long, drawn out. It was just he met me there and we've just been rocking ever since. It's been a little rocky at times, but we've been flowing together.

Amen. That's beautiful. I love that because it doesn't have to be. I think sometimes people think it has to be some epic, dramatic story and it can truly be as simple as, he met me, he met me and we've been walking together ever since. You mentioned about the Lord walking with you through those rocky times, and I want to get into that a little bit, share as much as you're comfortable. But I feel like sometimes we don't hear those stories, we don't hear what it looked like to walk through the adversity. I think sometimes people can sometimes have an idea or belief that because we're in Him, life is going to be just rainbows easy, easy. I know myself, I had that this naivety that I was very shocked.

Yeah.

I was very shocked. Oh, man, there's problems still. I don't know where that idea comes from that we're not going to have problems as we come to Jesus. Would you share a little bit about what that experience has been like for you?

Yeah. And I feel like exactly what you're saying. I think we all have been there, and I think as we continue to walk with God and as he continues to build our faith, the trials may look different and sometimes he may still answer prayers just like that. And then other times it may take a little longer for Him to do that. And so as he continues to mature our faith, as we're continuing to seek and walk in Him, we've got to really use all of the tools that he's given us in His Word to stay connected to Him and to trust that everything in His Word is true. Even when it feels like our world is falling apart, when it feels like our dreams are not coming to pass, when there's a why in the road and you don't know which path to take. Right. And so that is something that is near and dear on my heart, is to encourage others to stay in the faith because it is not for the faint of heart. I think people think like you say they're coming to Jesus, and it may just be all roses and all good. And in fact, I think sometimes we get it harder because it's like, oh, no, I've got to prune you. I've got to prepare you. I've got to also show others that how to get through and how to go through in a way that God's light shines through us, right? And so he meets us there, and that is so important. So I know for me, there's just been a plethora of situations that have gone on where I'm just like, okay, Lord, life has a way of making us question, okay, God, are You There? Are you real? Are you going to do what you say you can do? I know you can do what you say you can do, but why aren't you doing it for me? I see you doing it for so and so and so and so, but what about me? God, I see you answering this prayer, but not this one. God, are you concerned about me? And life has a way of pushing the world's thoughts and our own thoughts and fear in the way instead of God's Word and his truth. And sometimes when we have so much going on and our minds are racing and our emotions and our feelings are high, we forget the Word of God. We forget to come back to the basis and remember that even when it doesn't look like it, even when it doesn't feel like it, god is still good. He's still good when we're on the mountain. He's still good when we're in the valley. And sometimes when we don't feel that, it's hard to believe that. But if we as believers can stand on that principle that God is good and he is for us and that His Word says he will withhold no good thing from those who love Him and walk up rightly. That we can trust that his plans for us are to prosper us and to give us a hope and a future, right? And we have an expected end and that's with Him for eternity when we can remember that a life with Him is the ultimate prize. And yes, we want to enjoy life here on Earth, that our goal is to live for Christ and to tell others for Christ. And we take our minds off of our situation and fix them on Him. We get peace, we get joy, we get hope, because we're not focused on us and what's going on around us, but we're focused on the One who knows all, the One who has all of the answers. It's easier to go through. It doesn't necessarily mean that we don't still have those feelings and that frustration and that anger, because trust and believe. I was just going through something this week. Long story short, I'm 37. I am not married, and so I have been really praying, like, God, I'm believing you. I'm trusting you. So out of the blue, some guy approaches me, we're talking, and my first thing is I'm praying about this because I know me, I don't want to get too emotionally attached or anything like that. So we're praying about it and the utmost confidence that when I pray that God is going to respond, especially because this is one of the most important decisions that we make besides accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.

Amen.

I was just like, God, I want your will to be done in my life. I don't want to accept anything less than your best for me. And that doesn't mean that that person is less. It just means that something's not in God's will for me and I'm pushing it that I'm settling for something different than what he had for me. And his plans for me are best. And so that's what I want. And so as I was praying, God gave me an answer and I was like, okay, well, I need a confirmation. Well, then the God gave the person and the same answer as well the same day. And so I was like, okay, that's confirmation. It was not what I wanted to hear. And for me it was a blow because I was like, man, God, I finally thought I've been praying that morning. And I was like, boom, here it is. And I was just like, oh. So I needed to take some time. And I'm like, I know, god, that you are good. This doesn't feel good, but I know that you're good, and I know that you love me. I need you to get my thoughts, to remind myself. Like my thoughts and my feelings got to get in alignment with what I know is true. And that means for me, using the tools, putting on the full armor of God, that means praying. That means worshiping when I don't feel like it. That means spending time listening to messages that encourage my faith, that build my faith. And that's so important because when you're in a season of always waiting, you're like, okay, Lord, I'm waiting. And it's not so much even about who it is as much as it is about the dream and the hope and the desire that you're waiting. And it's like, oh, okay, God, you're doing it for me. Thank you. And so I feel like sometimes that scenario can relate to whatever it is that people are waiting for. Whether you're waiting for the job opportunity of your life, whether you're waiting for children, whether you're waiting for a spouse, whether you're waiting for anything that God has put in your heart to see it come to fruition. That waiting process is not always easy. And I think sometimes we give up in the waiting. And my hope is to remind others that, don't give up. He's still faithful. He still cares. He still sees you. And the most comforting thing is that he is right there so even when I'm feeling my lowest, if I just begin to open my mouth and say, god, I thank You, God, I love you, doesn't change the scenario, but it changes my inner heart, it changes my perspective, and it gives me comfort. He swoops in and his presence is so comforting and it is so real. It's like I learned that years ago, and it's like every time that's what I do, I immediately lift my hands in prayer, praise and I pray and I turn on that worship music and I just let it saturate the atmosphere. It's okay to cry, it's okay to be frustrated, but what I have to do is bring it back to God. I put my focus on God and not the situation. And I allow Him to come in and be lord over my emotions and to be lord over my feelings. Because I remember that God is good, that's my foundation, that God is good and everything in his word is true. And the things that he has for me are good. And at the right time, he'll give it to me because his plans are to prosper me and to give me a hope and to give me a future. And so sometimes it may take a minute to get yourself there, but once you're there, you're like, God, thank You, God, I praise you. You've got me through before. I know you'll get me through again. And so it's not a cakewalk. It's not easy. It's every day. I have to choose God's way. I have to choose his plan. I have to die to my plan, my goals, and adopt his and his timing. And it's not always our timing. Sometimes things are exactly in sync, and other times he's like, no, I'm going to do it a different way, and I'm going to do it at a different time. And my daughter, I need you to trust me along the way. I still am who I say I am. I still can do all that I can say I can do. And if if I said I'll do it for you, I'll do it. And so sometimes in the waiting and in the unknown, our feelings get a hold of us, our emotions are high, but if I can just get to the throne of the Father and I cry out and I'm honest and I'm raw about everything that I'm feeling, and I'm like, I'm giving it to you. Here it is. I'm going to need you to take it. And then when he takes it, it's just like, oh, thank You, God. Thank you, Lord. I needed that. And so I know when we're frustrated, we tend to draw away from God. We don't always want to pray like we should. We don't always want to worship because we feel like, well, God, if you're God, you can do this. So why aren't you doing it for me? Or why haven't you done it yet for me, like, I've been faithful, I've been living for you. But in that we have to still trust that God is in control. He knows what's up ahead. He knows our present, he knows when the timing is right and that his plans for us are good. And that keeps me reminding me that if it's a good thing for me at this time, he'll give it to me because he's not going to withhold any good thing from those who love Him and those who walk uprightly.

Amen.

And so that's just been something that's been a keeper for me. And so I always try to encourage people. I get it, you're down. Let's pray. Let's first let's pray. And then I'm going to give you a couple of songs to just let play in the atmosphere. And then when you're feeling okay, start singing it. Even if you don't feel it, start singing it. Start inviting the presence of God where you are, because he'll be there. And I strongly believe when we begin to open our mouths and thanksgiving, when we begin to open our mouths and praise, he inhabits that. He sits right there in the midst of it, and then he's filling the atmosphere, he's filling the space where we abide. And that's what we need is we need the encouragement, the strength, and it comes from Him to continue to endure and to continue to press on when we don't see a way out coming up or when we don't see the prayer being answered right away. It's he who sustains us in the middle. It's he who is there where we are. And so that to me has just been something that's been so sustaining and so keeping is really just drawing nigh to Him, even when I don't want to, because my mind is like, yeah, God can, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, I know he can, but I know who my god is because I'm standing on him. And his word and his truth. And when my thoughts don't align with his truth, I know that it's not Him, that it's me. And God, I need you to get my thoughts and align it with Your Word and with Your truth. Until then, I'm going to keep worshiping and I'm going to keep praying and I'm going to keep trusting that you're going to get me from place A to place B. And my mind in between is in Your hands because I'm giving it to you. And so that's just been for me. Something that has sustained me is my prayer and my worship. Am. I in the middle of it declaring, God, you're good. Even when I don't feel like a God, you're so good. I remind myself. God, you're faithful. God you love me. Lord you're for me. You withhold no good thing from me. Thank you. Thank you. That you go ahead and you're preparing away. I thank you that Your will is going to be done. And it's a good plan. It's better than I can think, ask, or imagine.

Thank you, Jesus. You spoke a little bit about the basis. You got to have that foundation, that basis, you know, God is good. How do we have a basis? But through his word. And it's because you are familiar with His Word, you know Him through His Word, that you're able to therefore stand on those promises, on that Word of God that says that he will never leave you or forsake you. You know his word. You can say it back to yourself. You can say it out to Him. You can speak it out to the atmosphere. You can speak it to your circumstances. I was thinking about this the other day. How many people have access to the Word of God on their phone or in their house somewhere? Most people have access to their Bible, but if you don't spend time knowing Him through His Word, it's a lot harder to run this race. That's the way I see it. What do you think about that?

I agree. I think it's like a relationship. How can you trust somebody that you don't know? You've got to spend time getting to know that person intimately. And that's why we have to cultivate a lifestyle of spending time in prayer, spending time reading our Word, spending time in worship, because we get to know more of who he is. We get to know more of his character. We get to feel more of his love for us. And it makes it so much easier when we go through things, because we can have that foundation, that trust, that knowledge of who God is and what he's done and what he still is willing and able and doing now. And so as we build on that foundation, our trust in Him gets more rooted and more rooted. And as we continually go through life and we go back to that foundation, we apply that foundation to every situation and circumstance that we go through, that foundation gets thicker and thicker and thicker and more solid than it was before. And it's the same thing as I can say, oh, my gosh, I love Jesus last year. And I'm like, how do I love Him even more this year? Like, whoa. It's like my understanding, my comprehension of Him is so much greater, of how much he genuinely loves me, you know? But that's because I'm continually building upon the foundation which he laid, and that is Him being intentional with me and me being intentional with Him. He wants to spend time with me. I'm making sure that I spend time with Him. I have to keep that relationship good and solid. And we only do that by spending time with people, intimate time with them. And the more you share and release and talk to Him, he has an infinite amount of capacity to hold whatever it is that we bring to Him, and he wants us to. And so as we continually bring it to Him and we see that he's taking it and that he's got it, it's so much easier along the way just to be like, okay, Lord, this is a little bit too much in the middle of your day, you'll just start talking to Him. When you wake up in the morning, as you're walking, as you're making breakfast, as you're having a conversation with someone and you're not sure what to say, you immediately can go to your best friend and just be like, god, I need you to handle this, God. Okay, give me the words, Lord. And it's because you guys have that relationship, it's easier to walk with Him in the difficult times, because the foundation has been set, it's been laid, and it's been built upon, and the more time we spend in Him, the less shakable it is. And that's just a benefit. It gets sweeter and sweeter as you spend time with God, as you commune.

With Him, and he wants to spend the time you said that I loved it so beautiful. He actually wants to hang out with his people. He wants that he's drawing us to Himself, and he loves it whenever we take the time to just be with Him. I thank you for sharing those kind of simple ways that we can do that, just speaking out in the middle of our day. I think sometimes people believe that you have to go through this very religious sort of way of coming unto the Lord, when really you can talk to Him like he's your best friend. You can just talk to Him. I have some of the greatest worship moments, private Jesus moments, just driving in my car from one place to the next, you know, just talking to the Lord. That's how near he is to his people. And he loves that.

Yeah, he longs for us to spend time with Him. And sometimes you'll get that nudge, like, maybe you should pray, or maybe you should stop and worship. And it's like, a lot of times we might dismiss it in the moment because we want to do something else, but that Him saying, hey, come spend time with me. Come commune with me. Come sit with me. I want to love on you. I want to give you a hug. I want to tell you about you. I want to tell you about me. And I think we forget sometimes that it's a relationship. God wants a relationship with us. Not only does he want us to come to Him, he wants to tell us, too, about who he is. And it's beautiful. It's so beautiful. But it takes intentionality. We have to be intentional with our faith. We have to be intentional with our relationships with each other, and we have to especially be intentional with our relationship with God, because that sets the tone for all other relationships in our life.

It really does. That sets the tone for every other relationship. The way we relate to God sets the tone for the way we relate to everything else. That is so good. And it is a relationship. I think sometimes people can over complicate it. The gospel is simple. The gospel is very simple. He makes it easy on purpose. He loves us that much. He makes it so easy and it's all such a gift.

We tend to get hung up on our flaws and our issues that we, like you said, over complicated. Like I'm imperfect or I fell short. Sometimes in relationships, people don't offer grace, they don't offer that mercy. But God offers it to us freely all the time.

Yes.

He's like, come to me. Okay, you messed up still come to me. I love you the same. Okay, maybe you didn't handle that right. That's okay, come to me. I'm here. I'm right here. And I don't love you any differently. I love you the same. So he makes it so easy for us to come to Him, but we sometimes get stuck in our head and we over complicate. He only loves us if we do this or he only loves us if this happened this way. But that's not the truth. He loves us no matter what.

No matter what. That's right.

There's nothing we can do that can separate us from his love.

That's right. I'm curious, what would you tell someone, and I know that you've encountered this before just dealing with people. What would you tell someone who is dealing with what we call church hurt, where because of that relational piece, I loved how you put that, because that's such truth. Oftentimes we want to relate to God the way that people relate to, but God is not like us. But people will sometimes have a barrier between themselves and the Lord because they don't offer grace and mercy and the kind of try to attribute that to the Lord, but he's not like that. And this is kind of how church hurt happens. And so I'm curious, what would you tell someone who was carrying that burden of hurt? What would you tell someone who was dealing with I kind of think of it even as like an open wound because that's what it is. It's a hurt. What would you tell someone? Because I think we know we've been walking with the Lord. When you know Him, you know Him, and I'll go with you anywhere, Lord, I'll do what you tell me to do. It may hurt, but I'm going to do it. We kind of know that language. We know what that's like because we know Jesus, we have that time put in with Him. We have those roots of that relationship, but there's those who don't have that yet, for whatever reason. And what would you tell that person? Is there anything that's on your heart that you would just maybe point them to or ask them to just consider maybe.

Yeah, for sure. I feel like sometimes when we come to church, we think that people are perfect when they come to church. And even though we know that they're not, the church is full of people like us who are imperfect. We don't always handle things the way that we should. And I know that I've needed lots of grace, and so I really try to extend grace to others. But when we look at church as a group of people who are trying to live like Christ, who are going to make mistakes, who are at different walks or different walks in their faith, right? We have some people who have been in the church forever but are still eating baby food, right? And then we have people in the church that are sitting there getting six course meals. And what God is showing me and teaching me, he may not have taught somebody else yet. And so we have to show them grace because what he's teaching them, I may not learn yet. And so as we walk in this walk with Christ, god reveals to us more of ourselves. The closer we get to Him, the more he shows us us. And he doesn't do it to be mean. He does it so that he can show us the areas that he needs to work on in us. And because we're all learning at separate paces, we're often going to get offended or hurt because we're all not learning the same thing. God's not working on the same thing in us. And even though that hurt is real and it cuts deep, especially because if we're in the church, we expect people not to respond to us like they would if they were outside of the church. However, the church is full of people who recognize that we are imperfect and we need Jesus. And I'm coming to church because I need Jesus. Because I need him. And it is in the church where I'm going to learn and grow and how to deal with life and situations that come up. And it's frustrating when you have a brother or sister in Christ that offends you or that says something that hurts or cuts deep. But I remind myself that I am attending church not for other people, but for myself, because God instructs us to assemble ourselves. And I'm coming to church because I love God and I need more of him. And so not for people. And I recognize that people are going to be people in the church and outside of the church. And I can't base my relationship or my church attendance based on someone's poor choices towards me or someone else. And I think it's so important that you make sure that wherever you're going, you pray and ask God, is this where you're supposed to be? And if he says, this is the church that you're. Supposed to be at, then you stay planted there until he tells you to leave. No matter how rude someone might be to you, obviously you want to make sure it's built on God, right? That church is following the Bible, but I would probably tell someone to just, you're not alone. God loves you, and offer forgiveness and grace towards that person, and don't let that person hinder your relationship with Christ. Don't let them hinder your view of God's people. Because at some point in time, we've all needed grace. Whether it looked the same or not, we needed it. And so that same grace that we want extended to us, we've got to be willing to extend it to other people.

That would probably be my wonderful yeah, it's very common and it's just the truth, but I think oftentimes we have to remember that people's behavior may not always be representative of Christ. And again, that's just the grace and mercy lesson that we have to learn to walk in. Thank you for sharing that. Thank you so much. Before we end, is there anything else that you feel in your heart to share?

I just want to remind everyone that's listening that God is good. On your worst day and on your best day, he is still the same God. That he loves you, that he is for you, that he cares about you, that his plans for you are good. That no matter what has happened to you, no matter what you've done, his love for you does not change when the going gets tough. I want to encourage you to make sure that you're spending time in the Bible. You're spending time saturating your ears with things that would draw you to God. So being intentional about the music, about the shows that you watch, about the people that you're engaging with, spending time and worship, it can do so much. And making sure that you're reminding yourself, get scriptures and remind yourself of who God says he is and find scriptures in the Word for what you're going through and read that over yourself. God, you said this. I thank you that this is true for my life. I thank you that this was true then and it's true now. And so I just want to encourage you to just don't give up or don't give in. And if you feel like the weight of whatever it is you're facing is too much and you don't have the words to pray or you're struggling with even being able to reach out to some friends, send a message. Whether it's on social media or if you don't know anybody in person, reach out on social media or send a text to that friend and just say, I really need some prayer right now. And I believe that prayer is effective and it's powerful and that God hears our cries and he hears the petitions that we pray. And I just believe that he'll stoop in, and he'll give you the comfort and the strength and the endurance that you need. But it's so important to fix your eyes on him, not on the situation, not on the hurt and the pain, not on the frustration of how things did or didn't go the way that you were expecting it to, to just fix your eyes upon Him. Because he says if we fix our eyes upon Him, he'll keep us in perfect peace. But we can only get that when our eyes are fixated on him and not on this situation, the waves crashing all around us, because then we get afraid and worried and anxious and scared and discouraged and down and sad and defeated. But when our eyes are fixed upon the one who knows all, who sees all, who has all the answers and has a plan to whatever it is already worked out, there's a piece that abides that man. I have that foundation. I've built on that foundation that I know that he's good even when it doesn't feel like it. It just helps you so much. And I want to encourage you that if you're in a valley, do exactly what I just encourage you to do. And if you're on the mountain right now, don't let loose or get lax in that. Build on that foundation so that when the rocks and the wind start blowing, you are not going to be moved. You might feel the impact a little bit up top. You might sway a minute, but that foundation is solid. You're not going anywhere. So even when things start to get a little janky in your mind, you might sway a little bit. You're not going anywhere because your foundation is built brick upon brick upon brick upon Christ, who is your solid rock, your solid foundation.

Amen. Praise to God. You're an encourager that encouraged me. Come on. I know somebody.

I know because I've been through something. I've had to do that, and I had to go right back to my foundation.

Yes. It's the truth, though. And the truth is the truth. It's the truth, and the word of God is truth. Every word of his mouth is truth, and it's worth standing on. He is so worthy. Raise God. Thank you, Jesus. You gave me a great segue. I'm going to ask you to share a little bit about your community. You mentioned about going on social media if there's nobody. Candice is very humble. She wasn't even going to mention this. Her heart is to exalt Jesus alone. But I would love you to share a little bit with our listeners before we wrap up here about the Blossoming Me Women's Lounge.

Yeah. So short story. It's actually really long, but I'm going to do short version. Okay. During the pandemic, I was just really spending a lot of time with God, and I was just like, God, I want to use every gift and talent that you have given me for your glory. I want you to get the glory out of everything. And I want to multiply what you've given me so that your will is being done. And so I recognize that I do enjoy encouraging others. I had to do a lot of encouraging of myself. And so I'm like, through life I was like, Lord, what should I do with this? And that from there was Burke Blossoming Me, and it's uniting woman from all around the globe to unity, passion and purpose in Christ. And I believe that when a body of believers come together and us women, especially when we come together in unity and we're all on an accord of going after God, even though we may be at different places in our seeking. If we come together with that passion for Christ, we are going to fulfill the purpose, the intent in his mind for why he created us. And so I wanted to create this space to encourage women to stay in the faith, go after God, and walk into their purpose or purposes that God has set for them. And so from that, there is an Instagram page which men and women are both on, and we encourage both on that platform. And then we have the Blasphemy Woman's Lounge, which is a private Facebook group. And it's just full of women who love God. And so we do a lot of praying in there, a lot of prayers going up there's, encouraging messages that people write. There is just a lot of love going on in that group. And I love it because they have encouraged me. Some of them share their testimonies and I'm like, God, thank you. If you did it for them, you'll do it for me. And so I just want to encourage you that if you need a space, feel free to stop by the Blossoming Me Women's Lounge on Facebook. We'd love to just get to know more sisters in Christ. And then if you're a gentleman that happens to fall on Sister Jamie's podcast, feel free to come to the Instagram page because we're pouring out for all there just to encourage you to continue to stay in the faith and keep your eyes fixed upon him. So thank you for the opportunity just to share that.

Oh, yeah, of course. I had to I want to say that's probably how I first found you was I believe it must have been during the pandemic time. And, oh, I just love that community. It's just so I don't even know what words. It's just so loving. There's so much love. And the Blossoming Me a woman's lounge. And it's so sincere and very active. And I just love it. It's a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful place. I'm grateful for your heart for putting that together because I know that it's a blessing. Other Woman but I can imagine the Lord just smiling that his daughters are magnifying him in this way. So I will definitely leave all of those links for the listener to check that out. And I just appreciate your time so much, candace, thank you so much. I feel like we went through that pretty quick, but I feel like it was so full of wisdom and jewels, and I'm just so grateful. Thank you so much.

I praise God. Thank you for just allowing me to share, and I pray and hope that something that was said is going to encourage someone out there to just stick it out and stay in and dig deeper and build on that foundation in Christ.

Yes. Amen. Amen. Amen. If you don't mind, Candace, I'd like to ask if you would be able to be willing to pray over this episode and our listeners as we close out this episode.

Absolutely. So, God, we just thank you for this day. We thank you that you are good, that you are faithful, that you are loving, that you're ever present. You are all seeing, all knowing God. And we thank you that no matter what we go through, you've already seen what's up ahead. And I thank you that you're going to prepare a way for us, Lord. And in that process, there is hope that you freely give to us. And so I'm praying for my sisters or brothers who are listening, God, that are just feeling defeated, feeling down, feeling sad, feeling discouraged, feeling left out. God, I'm asking that you would wrap your arms around them, assure them, Lord God, that your plans for their life are good, that you withhold no good thing from them. God, I pray that your joy would consume them. I pray that it would fill their hearts. God, I pray that you would cause their thoughts to be fixated upon you and that they would not be moved by the thoughts of the world, the thoughts of the enemy, Lord, or the negative thinking that they may even have. But Father God, I'm asking that you fill them with your thoughts, because your thoughts are peaceful, they're calming. And, Lord, I pray that for my sisters who are struggling in this moment to come to you because they're frustrated or they're hurt, Lord God, or they're down. I just ask, oh, God that you meet them in that moment. That you continually give them strength and endurance. That you send people their way to encourage them and point them in your direction. And Father, I pray that as they utter, Lord, a thanks, a praise, a cry to you, God, that they would feel your presence immediately, God, and as they feel your presence, God, that they would continue to cry out, continue to give thanks and continue to pour out everything unto you. And, God, that you would take it, Lord God, take off the burden, take off the anxiety, take off the fear, the sadness, the hurt, the brokenness, Lord God, and that you would begin to move things around, O God, and move things out that shouldn't be, and pour into them, You God. So that as they're pouring out, lord God, of frustration and anger, lord God, and sadness and fear and worry and doubt and discouragement, lord God, as they are taking all of that out that you are immediately pouring in, your love and your peace and your strength and your goodness and your hope to fill those spaces. O God, we your children. We need you, God. My sisters, my friends, they need you, Lord. So, God, I thank you for meeting them right there, right where they are. I give you thanks and I give you praise for what you're pouring in as they pour out like only you can do.

Jesus.

In your name, Jesus. Amen.

Thank you, Lord.

Faithfulness to your word, God.

Yes, Lord. Thank you.

Jesus, hearing the prayers of your children, the cries that they're pouring out, Lord, their hearts and their dreams and their longings and their desires, their family, it all matters to you. Thank you that you are a God who cares, a God who comforts and a God who is there. Thank you, Lord.

Thank you, Lord. We don't want to make any assumptions. Maybe somebody listening does not know Jesus. And if you're ready to come to the table, if you're ready to receive the invitation that he has for you, guess what? The gospel is very simple. The word of God says that all who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. If you're ready to do that today, you can repeat this simple prayer. Father, I confess that I am a sinner. I am in need of your grace. I confess that Jesus is lord, please save me. I'm done trying to do life my way. I want to do life your way. God, teach me what I need to know. I pray in Jesus name. Amen. And if you just said that simple prayer, well, guess what? Welcome to the family. Thank you, as always, for tuning into this episode. It is always such a treat and a real honor that God allows us this time to hang out together. Come on, it's great. If you want to come on to the episode with your own story, your own testimony, your own word of encouragement, please reach out to me by emailing Jamiese at A New Creationpodcast.com. That's Jemese at a new creationpodcast.com. Or you can find me on my socials. All that information is in the show notes. Hey, in the meantime, I am praying that God will bless you and will keep you until we meet again.