Embracing Spiritual Growth: Trials, Triumphs and Everything In Between

Are you ready to embark on an enlightening journey that will deepen your understanding of faith, foster a closer relationship with God, and empower your spiritual growth? We kick off this episode with discussions on living expectantly, leaning on God's grander plan for our lives, and the detrimental trap of life comparisons. By surrendering our need for control, we can see the unfolding of God's divine plan in our lives.

Additionally, we tackle the rarely discussed topic of gluttony and the importance of authenticity and consistency in our faith walk. 

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:19

Hi and welcome to the Cheer Up Podcast. I am your host, kara R Hunt, and with me is the awesome and inspiring Sherry Swalwell. How are you doing today, sherry?

Speaker 2: 0:32

I am doing fantastic, it is a beautiful day today. It is just it's August and I'm just really, really trying to accept and embrace the challenge that I offered to everybody else this month and that is to just live excited and happy and expectant of God working and showing up every single day.

Speaker 1: 0:57

Oh, yes, and just expectant. I love that, I love that, I love that, I love that, I love that.

Speaker 2: 1:05

You know, and so it's like if you're praying for something to happen today you know, expect it to happen you know what's the cool thing, too, kara, is that like, if we truly live the surrendered life that we say we want to, that obviously everything that happens to us is under God's covering.

Speaker 2: 1:29

So if there's something, like you said, that we're praying about, we need to live expectantly that God's going to do something in that area, whether it give us a yes for it because it's something that he wants in our lives, or give us a no, and it's okay to be disappointed with the no, but only if we then turn around and trust him and say okay, then that means that you have a bigger yes for me somewhere else down the road. And, lord, I accept this. I might still drown my sorrows in aloha bars, but I am going to accept that this no is for my good and not for you know, not because I'm a failure or not because you don't love me, or not because I'm not as good as you know, johnny, down the street. You said no to me because you have a bigger and better yes, and I am expecting about that bigger and better yes.

Speaker 1: 2:24

Oh, absolutely and definitely, definitely, since Sherry had just mentioned is don't compare yourself to Johnny down the street, and I think sometimes in our Christian walk we can do that right. Johnny down the street just being, you know, an example of well God. Why does it always seem like things work out for their family, you know, and yet mine is still like in the middle of all sorts of chaos, you know, and everything else. And the reason I want to discourage that is because we don't see everything that God sees so to you. You just may be seeing the good things that's going on in Johnny's life, but God knows what it took Johnny, what it took for him to get Johnny there Right. It didn't just happen overnight.

Speaker 1: 3:15

Johnny's journey is a lot different than everyone else's journey. Johnny's journey with the Lord may have started a lot sooner, a lot longer. His issues may have been a lot deeper. He may have had to walk through the desert for 40 years, when God only meant it to be 40 days, you know. So Johnny could just be at that point to where he's coming, on the other side of that, that rainbow, so to speak, and he's just like okay, god, I've been in wilderness with you long enough to know that, no matter what happens today, that you got this all under control and everything is all good. And if it doesn't happen the way it happens, then it just wasn't meant to happen, you know, and everything else. And his faith has gone stronger because he's been through a whole lot more with the Lord.

Speaker 1: 4:03

So all the time we can't just judge on the surface of what someone else is going through compared to what we are going through. And I think as Christians we do that, we do that a lot. You know Well, why were they healed when I wasn't, you know, and I'm not or my husband wasn't healed, or my child was in healed Someone, their child was rescued from drowning in a pool, yet Ma was killed in a car accident. Why did you choose to? You know all of those things we can ask God when we meet him face to face, but that doesn't mean that we can compare ourselves to others, because it's actually just going to lead you around down a road of disappointment because you don't know the inside of it.

Speaker 1: 4:47

We're not the Alpha and Omega, like God is. He knows the whole entire story, he knows the end to not of it and he knows the the way that that situation needed to go, or whether, if it didn't go the way that it possibly should have. He's got them covered in that, and I just think that's something that we just all need to be careful of as Christians. You know, in the secular world they call it keeping over the Joneses. Right, you kind of want to have everything that they have, but we also got to be very, very, very careful of that in a Christian world. Is there anything else you want to add to that?

Speaker 2: 5:21

Sherry. No, I completely agree with what you were saying, that that, yeah, we don't know. And well, I guess. Okay, I guess there is one thing. So, as parents, we don't give our kids candy 24 seven because we know that they don't brush their teeth as well as they should and we don't want them to have a mouthful of cavities. So we look at the big picture and we see cavities and 24 seven sugar. We still give them sugar, but we give it to them in such a way that we teach them the right amounts to have, etc. Etc.

Speaker 2: 6:03

We need to look at our lives and God is that way. He's not sitting up in heaven punishing us or saying I don't want you to have this, I don't want you to have that. God cares more about our spiritual life, our spiritual growth and our spiritual maternity, maturity. He knows that us going to heaven is the most important thing, most important assignment, most important decision that we'll ever make, and so he will help guide our lives to point us to the place where we can make that choice. So we need to keep that in mind, that we will not always get what we want, we will not always get it the way that we think we should. But God is more concerned about our emotional I mean about our eternity and where we spend our eternity than he is about physical comfort in the, in the present. He's looking at the big picture, he's not looking at the instant gratification.

Speaker 1: 7:06

Absolutely, and as humans we are so used to wanting everything quick and fast. You know, with remote controls, like if we're watching something on television and we want to change the channel, it can happen like really, really fast, because we just pick up the remote and we change it. It's not like the old days we had to get up and actually physically move our bodies to do it, right. So and now, you know, something like popcorn used to take a minute to cook. If you wanted a snack, an afternoon snack, now you could just pop a bag in a microwave. So things we you know, as time goes on, it just seems like things happen a lot more quicker and quicker. Same thing with email versus snail mail. You know, a relative of mine was waiting for something that could only be sent by snail mail, and she was, so she couldn't wait to see it and get it, but it just seemed like it was taking forever. And it's because usually with email we can get stuff so instantly. And I think that kind of bleeds into our spiritual lives a lot and we're just like, oh Lord, I want it and I want it now, instant gratification, right now, right now. And that's not always the best for us and, like Sherry said, he always wants the best for us. But who doesn't want the best for us? The enemy of our souls, satan? He does not. And if you guys, for those of you who are just now listening, welcome to the excuse me, we're just just now tuning in, perhaps for the first time. Welcome to the editorial podcast, where the podcast is based on John 1633 and Sherry will explain more about that at the end of the podcast. But we just want to thank you and all of our returning listeners and all of our new listeners. Welcome to Cheer Nation. If you are a listener of the Cheer podcast, you are a part of Cheer Nation and we want to thank you for listening across all the various platforms Spotify, iheart, all the major ones and continuing to listen to us, continuing to tune in each week. We thank you so much for that and, for those of you who haven't done so yet, we are available on those platforms that I just mentioned and others, and so we thank you. We're also the Cheer podcast is also on Twitter and I believe we're at. We are at Cheer Cheer, cheer podcast. I think is where we are. I think it's at Cheer podcast, but if you type in Cheer podcast. It should come out. It should come out. So so we're also on Twitter as well.

Speaker 1: 9:40

Now for this. We are continuing our summer series, and for this summer series we have been talking about the book the Screwtape Letters by CS Lewis L-E-W-I-S, which he may be known to some of you if you're a fan of classic literature the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and other books that he's well known for and in this book, the Screwtape Letters, it is about two demons. It is about Screwtape and the letters that he writes to his nephew Wormwood. Both are demons and he Screwtape is the uncle and Wormwood is the nephew. Screwtape is a lot higher in a hierarchy of hell than his nephew, who is a young novice, and so Screwtape is writing his nephew Wormwood letters and teaching him how to handle the newly assigned Christian male that he's been assigned to. And it doesn't really specifically say in the book, I don't think, but we kind of read this, though this young man may be single and he's in his 30s, and Screwtape wants to make sure that his nephew gets it right. His new assignment is a Christian male, a male who just is new in his Christian fate, and Screwtape wants to mess that up by any means possible. He's like, yeah, he's a Christian now, but, wormwood, if you do your job right, he'll end up down here and hailed with us and not where God wants him to be, basically. And so that's what these letters are about.

Speaker 1: 11:26

The first episode that we started this was in the first week of June and if you go back and listen to those episodes you'll be able to catch up. The one in June you definitely want to listen to, I believe the June 7th episode. That's where we talk a little bit more about why we're reading the Screwtape letters and demons and a scriptural basis for demons, and we give the scriptures in the Bible that talks about demons, who they are, are they real, what are their purpose and things like that. So we give a list of scriptures that go into detail about that. So you definitely want to listen to the June 7th episode. After that, we have covered letters, the 31 letters in the book of the Screwtape letters, and we have covered so far letters 1 through 15. And in this episode we're going to be talking about letters 16 and 17. And letter 16 is talking about churches and in this letter, uncle Screwtape is writing a letter to his nephew Wormwood saying hey, what in the world are you doing?

Speaker 1: 12:38

Like you, what are you doing? You're supposed to be a demon and yet this man is still at this stage. He's still going to church. You know he loves his church and that that that just can't happen, right. And he's still assistant on church going. Nothing you have done. Nephew Wormwood has stopped him from going to church. So we're going to have to fix that.

Speaker 1: 13:00

And because you haven't stopped him going from church, we're going to try another tactic. I want you to get him dissatisfied with this church that he loves going to. Let him start picking at things, the things the pastor says. What he wears, is he wearing? Is he dressed appropriately? Like a, like a? Like you know, someone who's teaching the word should be. You know, having picked on the people in the congregation, you know, have him become very dissatisfied with it. Does he like the carpet? Does he not? Do they need stained glass windows? Should they have regular windows? Get him very dissatisfied with the timing. Oh, why are they starting at this? You know just anything.

Speaker 1: 13:38

He just wants Wormwood to just get him very dissatisfied with the church and he says if that fails, he still insists on going to the church. I want you to get him interested in church hopping, you know, like, well, maybe there's another church out there that you know just may be even better than this one, for example, or may satisfy my need better, fit my schedule easier. And he said, in particular, this too I really want you to urge him to go to. And he said and one of them is a church, he says, where the, the, the message of the faith, has been so watered down like it's just not even any good. Like you know, the person is getting nothing. It's so watered down, it means absolutely nothing, and he's just a very worthless pastor, priest Vicar or whatever you called it, you know, and everything else. And again, the word Vicar because it was like written back in 1940s.

Speaker 1: 14:39

But he's like, yeah, just have him go there, he won't learn anything, it won't bring him any closer to God. Everything's been so watered down, you know, and everything else. And he and there's another church, he wants nephew Wormwood to try to stir, steer his new Christian pupil too. And he's like, are you concerned to this one, because this one is more political in nature, does this? It does that, you know, to get him all rolled up and everything else, whatever, but it'd get him away from focusing on God and his relationship with him. And so, and it's just interesting to think that we have to be so careful, even when this, even when we're thinking about our church, in the church we go to and if we're dissatisfied with it, and whether we're going to a church that God planted us to or something else planted us to. What are your thoughts on that, sherry?

Speaker 2: 15:37

I have so many wonderful thoughts on this. So, first and foremost, there are times in our lives when God nudges us to change churches. I know that that happened with my husband and I about 10 years ago, we both separately. God told us separately that it was time to leave the church we were in. We had been there oh goodness, let me think over a decade, so we weren't church hopping, but God is definitely saying it's time for you to move, and we found out later. One of the reasons, I think, why God did move us was because we had been growing in our faith.

Speaker 2: 16:11

I was raised in a different denomination than my husband was. The church we were presently going to was a different denomination than either one of us had been raised in, and it had taught us a lot and we had grown a lot in our faith. But God wanted to stretch us and grow us even more, and we couldn't do it at that church because they weren't teaching what God wanted to reveal for us, and so he took us to the church that we're in currently. And so there are times and there are seasons where God will move you to a different church because he wants you to grow even further, and maybe, while the church you're going to might still be a wonderful church, it just might not have the growth that God wants you to have, so don't be afraid.

Speaker 2: 16:58

Right, god is teaching you, god is nudging you to grow somewhere different.

Speaker 1: 17:04

But then one thing that I Just make sure it's God nudging you.

Speaker 2: 17:08

Exactly, and that was the thing we didn't rush into it.

Speaker 2: 17:12

And we were confirmed because God told us both separately, not together. So that was a confirmation for us that, yes, this is really God and not just we're upset about something or dissatisfied about something. Well, when I go to church now I, when the worship music starts, I close my eyes so that my focus is only on God and I ask him to let me enter his throne room. And that sounds kind of weird to some people, because maybe they don't even know what I'm talking about or they were like why aren't you just singing the song, sherry? But the reason why I do that is because I want my focus to be on God and God alone. My worship is to invite him into the atmosphere, to invite his presence in, and I want to be solely focused on him. I don't want to be focused on smoke, I don't want to be focused on music, I don't want to be focused on the person next to me Well, actually I do, that's my husband. I don't want to be focused on the people in front of me, I don't want to be focused on anything except for God himself. And so I close my eyes and I ask God to. I ask him if he would invite me in or allow me to step into his presence and then, if there is an issue with church or with something that's happening at church and I can't seem to shake it on my own, but I do this not just with church. I do this with relationships that I'm in. I do this with people that I work for and work with. If I have an issue with somebody and I'm not positive, that it's truly an issue and not just a hormonal thing on my part, or I woke up on the wrong side of the bed, or I'm the one that's the problem and not the other person, but I'm projecting it onto them I will ask God to fight for me. I will say, god, if this is truly an issue that needs to be dealt with, will you do the dealings? Will you talk to the person and convict them and change them? Because I don't know if it's really my place and especially if you're not in a leadership position at a church. It really isn't your place unless God is calling you to do it.

Speaker 2: 19:21

And I believe I've shared on the podcast before how there was a point in one of the churches that we had attended that God wanted me to bring attention to the youth pastor, something that had been going on, and I argued with God for months about this and I said, god, I don't want to bring this up with him. I don't think it's my place, I don't think that this is something I should be doing, I don't want to do this. And God said, sherry, I'm telling you, you need to do this. You are the person that I am calling to do this, and he would not let it rest. So I made an appointment, grudgingly, with the youth pastor during the week. I went and talked to him by myself and he acted the same way that he had been acting and the whole reason why I was having the conversation with him. To begin with. He acted rushed, he acted hurried, he acted irritated that I was bothering him. It was let's get this over with, I had better things to do, type of a thing. And so I said to him I said look. I said I don't even want to be here. I said I don't want to be having this conversation with you. I don't want to be doing any of this, and I wouldn't be if I wasn't obeying God. And he said oh, so it's a problem with Tom? And I said no, actually the problem is with you and I listed and explained to him what God told me to say to him and I said it in a nicer way than I'm talking now and he got it Like it was a moment between him and God and it stopped being about what had happened. That transpired to make it so that I went to talk to him in the first place and it was about him and God, in a moment between him and God, and it turned out to be from God, which was the whole point of why I did it, because I didn't want to do it.

Speaker 2: 20:58

So we have to check our actions. If we do, or our motives. If we do, go approach somebody in leadership at a church, if there really is a biblical issue or something that we see as a problem, we need to pray, pray and then pray some more. Before we have that conversation, before we open our mouths, we need to make sure that it truly is God that is asking us to do it and it's not just something that we have a problem with, Because then God would be involved in it. God will get the glory in it and change. True change will really happen.

Speaker 2: 21:31

Or maybe, like the other things that I've done, where I've prayed and said God, you love this person, you love me. We're both your children. Fix them, fight in this battle for me, because I can't fight it, or show me where I'm in the wrong so that I change and the relationship changes for the better, because you changed me". When we have an open attitude and an open mindset and an open heart, in that way, god can work wonders and it gets the enemy out of the focus and out of the picture and he can't do more damage, which is exactly what he wants to do. To begin with, he wants nothing more than for us to have conflicts and problems with people. That brings him pleasure. And when we bring things out into the open and when we invite the Holy Spirit into each and every situation, it takes the Satan or the enemy completely out of it, and then real change and real growth can occur.

Speaker 1: 22:30

Absolutely, and it is definitely one of those things, and you know what it all goes back down to. Your relationship with God is the key, because that way you will know if God is nudging you and saying wow, this church has been awesome for you the past five years and you've learned so much from it, but there's another church I need you to go somewhere else, to where I can take what has already been planted, the seeds that have been planted in you from this church, and take it even higher. Okay, so I got this other church from you and if our relationship, if we have that type of relationship with the Lord and we're at so much peace regarding a situation like that, we know that that's a holy nudge kind of as people refer to it, or a holy hunch, and it's a nudge from God saying I got some replaced cells for you right now, so say you're goodbyes to this church, we love everybody in it. But there's another one I got in store for you. So you want to make sure that you hear his people know his voice, so you want his sheep know his voice, so you always want to make sure you know that voice right, and because it's very, very different from the one that I'll be telling you this church sucks. Something is wrong with this church. Can you believe that he's wearing flip flops? Can you believe that he's wearing jeans with holes in them? Can you believe he has on a baseball cap right there? Baseball cap on. You know, he's talking at the ballpark and he's supposed to be a Reverend Pastor, minister, priest or whatnot.

Speaker 1: 24:10

Where's the decorum, where's the reverence? And look at the people. How are they dressed in here? Why do they always come in suits and everything else? Do they think they're better than me? Or why don't they dress better Shorts and t-shirts, really.

Speaker 1: 24:27

And if you start hearing a voice like that, like of condemning other people, and you becoming just dissatisfied in that way and you're like you know what, I'm going to another church because the people here don't really know what's going on, or I don't like the message anymore, or something like that, then you know that that's not necessarily from God, because it's getting you to focus on things that really aren't important. If the message is solid, if the message is biblical and things like that, those are the things where you want to work on. But if it's drawing your attention to things that don't really matter, like the color of the carpet, pews versus chairs, anything like that and you're like, well, I'm going to, they got chairs. I'm going to this other church, I'm tired of these chairs. The church on the street has pews. You want to check that and say, god, is this you or am I just becoming, or is this from someone else? And I just need to stay put.

Speaker 1: 25:22

It's always, always good to ask God for wisdom and clarity on whatever voices you're hearing coming in your head, and that's something that you definitely definitely want to do, because you don't want to go from somewhere to where you were being fed spiritually, to somewhere that you're not, just because you're dissatisfied with one or two of you things. And a good way to know if that has happened to you is that, if your zeal and your passion and a fire for the Lord and His word that you had in your previous church has now been on a downward spiral in the new one you're attending, you're not excited about God, you're not exuberant about prayer, you're not as zealous about spreading His word, you're not looking forward to going to church anymore and your relationship with Him has faded. You're not talking to the Lord as much anymore, you're not reading the Bible as much anymore. You haven't learned anything new that has been spiritually life changing for you. Then there's probably a sign. You know a few of those. One of them could be a red flag, two of them could be burning red flags. But if you have a whole bunch of them and you're like, yeah, like when I was at church, hey, I had this zeal for the Lord. I just I couldn't get enough of His word. I look forward to hearing the messages all the time. They blessed me, they ministered to me, they were spiritually life changing for me. But in this other one it's just blah, I'm getting, I get nothing from it. Then that may be something that you really really want to pray about and see if perhaps you made the wrong move at the time because you were nudged by something other than Holy Spirit.

Speaker 1: 27:06

And letter seven excuse me, um letters, letter 17 and the screw tape letters is about gluttony and, believe it or not, the two gluttony and churches are kind of related. Because um and letter 17, with gluttony it it goes back to kind of like screw tape strategy and the previous letter. He just wants um Wormwood to have. The Christian has been assigned to him to focus on anything and everything, but what he should be focusing on Right, and in this case, he's like gluttony, um, and he's like let's do okay, so let's use food, like you know, if you can't get him to stop going to church and you know, you can't get him to go to another church, you know, hey, guess what? There's always? There's always food, and Wormwood kind of just talks about how one of the greatest achievements in the last hundred years has been to dead in a human conscious on the subject of gluttony, and he tells us, nephew Wormwood, so we've, we've been able to dead in the conscious of so many humans on their subject, um, so deeply that, now you will, you will hardly find a sermon preached or a Christian conscious troubled about the, about the length and the depth of gluttony, you know, and what it can mean, and so he's just screw tape, is just writing the letter to Wormwood and just urging him to you know, get him to focus on, you know, on gluttony and it.

Speaker 1: 28:51

Both of them, though, are designed both of these letters are designed for Wormwood to get the, his newly assigned Christians, mind on anything and everything except God, and how much he enjoys the church services, you know, and he's like if we you can't get him to start going to church, we want to get him to focus on, focus on gluttony. And screw tape explains to his demon nephew Wormwood that gluttony is not about how much a person eats, but rather about them being controlled by what they eat. What are your thoughts on that, sherry?

Speaker 2: 29:29

Well, as someone who has dealt with this issue for her entire life, I have to say God has been working with me slowly over the last few years and it started when I began a fasting lifestyle, a consistent fasting lifestyle, with my prayer partner, annie.

Speaker 2: 29:49

I had had a fasting lifestyle by myself, and God talks about in the Bible that where two or three are gathered there he is in the midst and she had never wanted to fast before, had never seen that there was a real reason to fast until, I don't know, she had a conversation with God, or God had a conversation with her and she's like Sherry, I want to do it. Well, we have slowly started to have, like I said, a full fasting lifestyle, and it is through that discipline and through that self-control, or the learning of the self-control, that God has really been working with me on my appetite, and by my appetite I'm not just talking about the food that I put in my body, but it's the whole appetite of what do I want to focus on in my life? Do I want to have my focus being on selfish things and things that fill me up whether it's physical, filling me up through food or entertainment or you know whatever or do I want to focus on the things of God and having Him fill me up? And I'm not perfect at it. I have not achieved the goal. I am not at my healthy weight yet, but I do have to say that God has been working with me on it, and, as somebody who does a podcast with you, somebody who has a YouTube channel, somebody who has a ministry, writes books, et cetera, et cetera.

Speaker 2: 31:21

I do feel a little bit more of an obligation and a little bit more of a conviction, because my outward body is a reflection of my relationship with Christ and I want to be as genuine and as authentic as I can be, and one of the ways of doing that is to take a look at and discern what areas of my life need more self-control and then taking the steps and the measures consistently to do that. I think you're right. I cannot remember the last time that I've heard a sermon on gluttony, heard a sermon on self-control, and what do I fill myself with? And I think that it is really important as Christ followers, and whether or not you have a platform and whether or not you're in front of people, being consistent and being genuine is something that all believers should be working towards.

Speaker 1: 32:24

Absolutely. And it is interesting, you know, as I reread this letter, like I said, I initially read the scripted letters I don't know maybe 10, maybe 15 years ago, but as I was rereading them recently and I came across that I'm like, wow, that's right. When is the last time that I have heard a sermon talked on gluttony? Right, you know, in self-control, you know, and things like that. But this is how much? And it all circles back to what we were talking about at the beginning of this episode is that God loves us so much that he didn't wait and, like Sherry was just saying, he didn't wait for her to hear a sermon because she said she hadn't heard one on it in a very long time but what he did was he spoke to her and a friend of hers and they were able to do a different type of lifestyle together, which got the focus off of food, so they could no longer control them to where. They got their mind's focus right on the right purpose of food, which is for us to eat, to give us energy, to help sustain life, and not let it control us. And so am I interpreting that right, sherry? Amen and amen. Yep, you know, and that is so important because and that's how much he loves us, that's how much he loved her, that's how much he loves you, that's how much he loves me. He's like, well, you know this particular past. I mean, I'll be generated, you know. Or any churches in the area aren't gonna teach on gluttony soon?

Speaker 1: 34:03

But you know, I think she's getting a little complacent in regards to food and is starting to control her instead of her controlling it. So I'm just gonna place this little thing in her spirit. That's love people, that's how much God loves us. And he will put something in our minds and our hearts and our spirits. And we're like, oh my goodness, lord, you're right.

Speaker 1: 34:24

You know, at first I thought I was just joking. For example, you could say something like I thought I was just joking when I tell people that I can't survive my mornings without coffee. But, oh my goodness, like it's real, lord, like I can't, it's like I need that my coffee before I can like, think or be clear. You know, have clear thoughts and everything else. That's it controlling me, not me controlling my love of coffee. And so, lord, just, you know something as simple as that. Help me focus on you and the health benefits of coffee. You know, and it's okay to drink coffee in moderation, but if I can't control it and I feel like I needed to get through my day instead of you, then there's a problem. And help me see that, lord. And it could be as simple as that, am I right, sherry?

Speaker 2: 35:13

Well, and it goes exactly, and it goes back to what we were talking about, about the whole challenge in August.

Speaker 2: 35:20

And that is okay, god. I have a problem with food you have shown that to me and I have a problem with emotional eating. Help me, give me the resources, point me in the right direction, show me exactly what it is that I'm struggling with and then give me the solution. And he does, and so I have been on this fasting lifestyle where I focus on God instead of food. I regularly, as God leads us and as God nudges us, we ask him what he wants us to give up and for how long, and then we have a fasting period and the funny thing is not funny, haha, but amazing with how God is so this we always start in January. January 1st, we give him our first, and then we have done quite a few intensive ones. He keeps growing us and stretching us in this direction, and I did. Our length was really focused and more severe, more disciplined than had been in the past, and so I figured, when we were done with Lent, we were just done for the year. Nope, god turned us around and he had us do one right away again, and I was okay with it. Like in the past, food still had such a hold on me that I would get mad every time and he would, quote unquote, invite me into another one. I'd be like, but I already did this, but I just finished. But I want to eat what I want to eat. And it's not about that anymore. It's about okay. In fact, right now, she and I both are feeling the nudge too fast and we're asking God and he's not telling us that. He's not giving us the green light yet. And I love it because I have to control myself. Instead of okay, god told me I can't have a pop right now, or God told me I can't have bread, or God told me I can't have coffee, instead, it's okay, I want to eat what's healthy because it makes me feel better. God has shown me in the last two years that when I feel my body with the right food, I can go through my whole day with energy and I feel good and I'm able to accomplish what he wants me to accomplish, versus going through my day and struggling because I'm on a sugar crash or a caffeine crash.

Speaker 2: 37:45

But the other part of the story, to finish, what I first started to say was I knew that I still had issues with emotional eating, and so I had talked to God about that, and I said God. I said I don't know what to do. I don't know what the next step is that you do, and I trust you for it. And it wasn't too long after that that he put in front of me a resource, one that I had never seen before, a person that I had never heard of before, and it was like just like with the church, when God showed us that we had grown for the 10 years that we were there. But it was time to move on. God said this is the next level, this is the next. You're ready for this part of the training, for the freedom that you will find from emotional eating. You're ready for it now and this is the next stage for you, and I'll tell you what. It was like a light bulb moment, and I'm so grateful that he's working with me through that, but I actually have to do the work.

Speaker 2: 38:46

And so I had gotten a little complacent again because life had gotten busy and I was just talking to another friend of mine who's doing this with me and I said hey. I said I need more help. Again, I said I'm backsliding because I can feel myself not doing the steps that need to be done. What do you think Are you ready to you know? Dig deeper a little bit with me. And she's like yes, absolutely so. I mean, god gives you the tools, just like we were talking about with the August challenge. If you are struggling in any area, any area, ask God and he will bring you the resources. It might not be today, it might not be tomorrow, but it will be when you're ready for it, and then you will see the growth and the freedom come so much faster because you peeled off the layers that needed to be healed or worked through or whatever first in order to be ready for the next stage and the next growth.

Speaker 1: 39:44

Absolutely, I kind of said it. Any better than that, sherry?

Speaker 2: 39:49

Well, god's been working with me on this for quite a while, so I say thank you to him, although the working is not always easy, as we all know, but it's sure, right. Yeah, and having said that, I think we're going to wrap up today and we're going to come back next week and we're going to talk about love and marriage and using love, and I love all things to do with love. I love all things to do with family and marriage and kids, and he who knows me knows that that is my true heart. So I am super excited about actually well, especially about next week. So, as Jesus said in John 1633, these things I have spoken to you, that in me you may have peace In the world.

Speaker 2: 40:35

You will have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. There's just nothing better than that, and I'm just so grateful that God loves us so much. And that's the thing Like if you don't get anything else, I would have the screwtake letters which there's so much to get out of it. My prayer is that you will get.

Speaker 2: 40:56

You will realize, you will see just how much God truly loves you and just how much the enemy does not. He wants to see us fail. He wants to see us fall on our face. He wants to see us fail. I mean, there's like no other word destroyed. There we go. He wants to see us destroyed, but God wants to see us prosper. He wants to see us thrive and he wants us to live out our purpose and our plan that he planted in us before we were even born, more than we do. And when we can truly grasp that and when we can truly understand just how much he loves us and how much he wants a relationship with us, then life starts being worth living.

Speaker 2: 41:42

If you do not have that relationship with God yet, but you want to, if you pray this prayer with us and see your heart, then you God assures us in his word in Romans 10, 9, that you will be saved. So if that's something that you want to do today, just repeat after me oh Heavenly Father, I come to you in Jesus' name. I believe you died on the cross and that you rose again and you're seated on the throne. Jesus, forgive me for all that I've done wrong, and I choose to forgive all others. Come into my life today and forever. I am yours in Jesus' name, amen.

Speaker 2: 42:26

If you prayed that prayer today or 50 years ago and you would like more resources to learn how to have that growing relationship with Christ, I encourage you to check out Tara's website k-a-r-a-r-a-t-n-tcom, k-a-r-huntcom, or check out my website, sherryswellwellcom.

Speaker 2: 42:48

Both of us have such a heart to encourage people and encourage their walk and faith, or their faith walk, that we have things on our website that will help you grow your relationship with our Heavenly Father. If you need prayer or encouragement, head on over to the Tira podcast at gmailcom and drop us a note. We would love to hear from you, we would love to pray for you and we would love to build that relationship. Another way to build the relationship is through our Facebook group Tira podcast on Facebook and we can get to know you and continue to build the community over there together. There are lots of ways to connect with us, lots of ways to stay in touch and come back next week because we're going to talk about love and marriage and using love. Until then, have a great rest of your day today and continue to have those conversations with God and see how he answers, because he always does.