Cheer UP! Podcast
Cheer UP! Podcast
Journeying With Timothy
It's all about perspective! Join us as we explore how one's age can be a strength, not a weakness, with Timothy's inspiring journey. What do you think?
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Hi and welcome to the Cheer Up Podcast. I am your host, kara R Hunt, and with me is the beautiful and sun-shiny Sherri Swalwell. How are you doing today, sherri?
Speaker 2:I am doing great. How are you?
Speaker 1:I am blessed to be alive. Honestly, I right now the sun is out and considering um the gloomy, cloudy, rainy weather we've had for about the past week or two, it's just I don't know. It's very uplifting to see the sun again. You know it's just it is, and it's shining so, so bright, so um, I like both days. I like it when it's kind of gloomy and cloudy, I like it when the sun is out, but it's just something about when the sun is out that kind of lifts your spirits, right.
Speaker 2:Amen, amen, it does A little bit happier.
Speaker 2:So, like the cloudy days are more cozy days and the sunshiny days are more, let's go party, let's go you know I noticed that I smile at strangers more and it's, it's so weird because I think I've crossed over to the old, old lady Like I used to think of my. Well, I still think of myself as like in my twenties or thirties. So like when people treat me like I'm an old person, I'm like, wait a minute, I'm not old and I, I get it, I'm in the in the 50s. So people see me as old, I'm sure, but it's just so funny because I'll be like, you know, when the sun's out I'm just like extra happy and so I'll just be smiling in my car at nobody or nothing in particular, and then then people will smile back. But I'm starting to get the, the old person vibes and I'm like but I'm not old, I'm not old, no.
Speaker 1:Exactly Right. Wait a minute, girlfriend. You're not even a middle age yet, right? Because you know and I know people are going to disagree with me the Bible said I think we're guaranteed that we're supposed to be like 120 years, right? So you're not even halfway there.
Speaker 2:That's right, that's right. I'm going to tell that to people when they look at me or when they treat me like like I went to a coffee shop the other day and, granted, I was acting like an old person, all confused, because I I had a, a card, so okay. So I was at Bigby and I had a card that had the points on it, and then I had these other gift cards and I didn't want to use the gift cards, I just wanted to get my points and somehow I lost the one I was looking for and I found two extra ones or three extra ones. It was a very confusing moment, but, kind of, looking at me, like I was like this old person who didn't know what she was doing, and I'm thinking I do know what I'm doing, I just didn't know I had all these cards. But God is so good Because I well, I handed her one and I'm like, can you tell me if I?
Speaker 2:Because she's like, well, do you have the app? And so, of course, I sounded like a stupid person or like an old person who didn't know what she was doing with technology, and I go yeah, I just downloaded the app, but I don't have any points connected to my app, so that's not going to help me. I said I have points on a card and so she was like, okay, so she was very patient, like there was nothing wrong with her. But I just I got the impression that she was like, okay, this is an old person, they need to hold her hand, type of a thing. And so I found a card and I'm like could you just tell me if I have any points on there? It had a free drink, carol.
Speaker 2:So I was like thank you, God, you found a card in my wallet that I didn't even know I had, and I got a free drink bonus. So people may think I'm old, but God, you got me.
Speaker 1:You got me.
Speaker 1:I actually think anyone over 30 thinks anyone 30 and under think that we're old. You know, it's just as a matter of fact. I was talking to my youngest one day. I was telling him something that happened at Chick-fil-A. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh it was. It had been a bad rainstorm that had happened and while my husband and I we had spent a long day out and we were just like it was getting late at night and excuse me, and I was like let's just grab some Chick-fil-A before they close and everything, and then let's just head home. Well, it was still just enough light left in the sky to see that after the storm, this double rainbow, huge double rainbow, appeared in the sky and everyone was just taking pictures of it and people were getting out their cars, you know, and everything else. It was beautiful and everything else.
Speaker 1:And I remember I think I was telling my youngest one day. I was telling him about that and and I was like, yeah, but we were in line. I can't remember if the line was slow or something and he pretty much was like you know, it's frustrating when I'm in line. This is kind of like him talking. He kind of was saying it's kind of frustrating when I'm in line at Chick-fil-A and people don't realize things will go a lot faster if they just use the app. I'm like that's you young people will use the app Like regular people. You know, we don't have, you know, time to just do stuff like that. And he's like, yeah, just use the app. He's like you don't have to wait. He's like I think he was pretty much just saying there's people like you that slow their 1Ls down. Yeah, when you're sitting there trying to figure out your order, yeah, and he's going to listen to this podcast. He's going to listen to his podcast. So I hope I'm quoting him right, but I think it's like if you ordered it on the app.
Speaker 1:it goes a lot quicker. You slow people down when you're talking to the person trying to place your order, but doesn't that seem like a young person thing to do? Oh, totally.
Speaker 2:And that was part of the whole old person thing, that because I knew that I was taken forever in a day and I was trying not to, and the more you try to rush like, the more you try to hurry it, just like I said, I lost the one gift card to or, no, the points card completely. It's got to be somewhere in my car.
Speaker 2:I think I like fell down between the two, and I'm trying really hard to be, because you know I don't want to offend the people, or, or, or annoy people behind me, but finally I just gave up and I'm just like you know what I said to the lady I go, I know I'm taking forever and I'm really sorry, but I'm trying to find this stupid card and so, yeah, I mean some days it just is what it is.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Cause she asked you if you had the app right.
Speaker 2:Like you have it on your app and I'm like, well, I have the app, which I got the app like three days too late Cause I was trying for my free birthday drink and that didn't work. So I was like, oh yeah, it just did not. It was just not, but. But I can't say that it wasn't a good situation or a good experience because I got a free drink out of it, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:And you found out you had more point cards than you realize and more points.
Speaker 2:Exactly, exactly so.
Speaker 1:God rewarded me, even if I annoyed everybody else in my life the ultimate Us old people and I know us old folks with our paper cards and point cards and everything else and everyone else, and especially if they're 30 or younger, they're just like can't you just use the app?
Speaker 2:I know. And it's like first you have to know how to use that thing right, oh, exactly, and then it takes up space on your phone and then it makes your phone die down faster because you have a gazillion apps.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know Exactly I totally get it.
Speaker 2:I get the same thing for my kids. My kids tell me to use it too.
Speaker 1:You can order it ahead of time. Why don't you just use the app? But you're right, they drain my phone.
Speaker 2:They take up so much space.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they take up so much storage space or whatever it uses gigabyte space or whatever it uses and it's just, it slows everything down. And then I have to get rid of some of my other favorite apps which I don't like to do.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, I'm okay. The other funny thing is I was at another. Um, okay, so I, I, I prefer, or I like to drink a lot of coffee. It's like that that if you, if you want to know anything about sharing, she likes to drink her coffee. So I was at a different coffee place and I downloaded their app.
Speaker 2:I don't know why I did. Oh, cause I could get a free drink. I'm all about the free. So I downloaded their app, so I was trying to use it and I had to go up to. You're supposed to like, like your son said, if you order it from the app, it goes so much faster. Well, I tried to order it from the app and I couldn't get the coupon to work that I needed to work. So I had to go up to their, their walkup, and say can you help me? Because I ordered a drink and it's supposed to be free or discounted or whatever, and I can't. So they had to like do the app for me. Yeah, I know, right Now I'm giving out my phone to strangers going. Fix this please.
Speaker 1:Can you show me, can you fix this, or are you throwing it at the wall? Because I remember my hairstylist and she's like, hey, do you know? We have a new app and you can make appointments there. You know, even you know, further out, you could do this. It just does all these amazing things. And I was like, oh really, you know, know. She told me the name of the app and, um, and everything else. And I'm like, oh, okay, cool. So when I get home and I'm like, well, you know what, let me go ahead and schedule my next few appointments, um, everything else. And I'm like, let me try this nifty new app. I couldn't figure the sucker out.
Speaker 2:I know well, you know. The same thing is true for doctor's appointments. They want you to schedule them online through their app thing or whatever. Yeah, there's no appointments available, but you call and they get you right in. Oh, yes, exactly, I don't get it. What am I missing? Right?
Speaker 1:Because I thought, for sure she had told me, maybe, that she had a certain date available or something. But then when I went on the app it looked like she was booked or something. And I'm like, well, no. And then I tried another date and it still said she was booked. And I'm like, well, you know what. But you know what I did? I don't know, that was probably two hours of my time, I, two hours of my time. I was able to call them, pick up the phone, make the appointment in less than three minutes.
Speaker 2:Yes, so please tell me how doing an app is so much better.
Speaker 1:I'm not getting it, I'm not getting it, and I could just see all the younger people just blinking their eyes right now going that's because you guys don't know what you're doing.
Speaker 2:Well, right, right. That's my whole point. We don't know Exactly, we don't know what we're doing. This segues so good into who we're talking about today, because we're talking about Timothy, and Timothy was seen as too young and he didn't know what he was doing. And we're talking about how we're considered too old and not knowing what we're doing. And we're talking about how we're considered too old and not knowing what we're doing.
Speaker 1:And isn't that the truth? Because in so many cases, people are like well, you know what, let's start over. Hi to all of our new listeners out there and welcome to the Cheer Up Podcast. If this is your first time listening, thank you, and we enjoy you joining us this morning and listening in. And we are going to continue for the past. Oh my gosh seven months now, sherry, almost.
Speaker 1:We have been talking about biblical figures and we've done so many different biblical figures and we've done so many different biblical figures. So you can just go to our website or on your favorite podcast platform and just scroll through the ones from 2024, and you'll be able to see all of the different biblical figures that we've been talking about and basically what we have been doing with. That is just talking about who they were, what they did, some of the things that God did in their lives and how what they went through then is still relevant to today. And that brings us to today's biblical figure, and that is Timothy in the New Testament Testament. And, like Sherry said, it's so relevant to today because, you know, one of the things about Timothy is that they thought he was too young to be able to just go visiting the early churches that day to be preaching the gospel, you know, and things like that. But it turns out he was not. He was not too young. And what have we learned from other biblical figures? Moses was not too old. It does not matter what your age are, it doesn't even matter your gender, whether you're male or female. God can use you, he can use you and just a little bit of Paul's companions. And he was one of Paul's converts and when you kind of go through the New Testament you kind of get that feeling that he was, you know, one of Paul's converts.
Speaker 1:But I believe that Timothy was one of Paul's early converts when he was in Lystra I mean, excuse me, by early converts I mean early in Paul's ministry, from when he came from Saul to Paul and when he really started getting moving newly in his ministry that Timothy was one of the first ones in Lystra that he was able to convert. So yes, he's one of the best known of Paul's companions and fellow laborer. He was one of Paul's own converts. And Paul, I love the way and when you read some of the, the, the Paul's letters to Timothy, um, I just love the way he always addresses Timothy, um, I just love that. Um. I can't even say friendship, because it seems like they were way more than friends. It was um. Some people refer to it as like mentor, and um yeah, you know um thank you.
Speaker 1:That's what I was getting ready to get at. It seems like to me that, yes, he was a mentor to Timothy, but he, but he treated him like a son. I think Paul thought of Timothy more like a son than just one of his you know what I'm saying just one of his companions yeah, because of the way he, he greets him, like in his letters to him and everything else.
Speaker 1:To me it was deeper than just like a mentor, mentee relationship. I really believe he really thought of Timothy as more of a son, um, but not a lot of known excuse me, a lot, not a lot is known um about Timothy Um, but he was. I, like I said you know, we, I really love the part where he just um I think it's in a verse, epistle um of Timothy or in the first letter of Timothy, where he just speaks to him so tenderly, you know, and just talks about how faithful and true he always talked about his great character as well. Now I know, because he was young and he was sending Timothy places that he pretty much had to give his stamp of approval, right and just be like he's a great guy, he's this and he's that. I've witnessed him do this. He's a good guy. You know, you guys can trust him. He may be young, he may have a baby face, but you know, trust me, you know, but I always loved, I really liked the way that Timothy Paul always kind of encouraged him, timothy even to other people and Timothy was raised by his parents and grandmother, who's you know. And that part is described in 2 Timothy 1-5, mainly about his mother and grandmother. And Paul talks about there where he says, when I called to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded, is in you, that part I really, really love because it shows that, oh my gosh, talk about leaving a legacy, right, talk about leaving a legacy he was living. His mother and grandmother were so well known in a faith that Paul mentioned. Still, you know, in his letters to Timothy that Paul even knew that they existed his grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice. Now, his father was said to be a Greek while his mother was a Jew, but it's believed that when Paul was evangelizing in her city that Timothy's mother, eunice, was converted to Christianity as a result of all of that, and that's kind of mentioned by Paul in a book of Acts. And what else is there about?
Speaker 1:He was a major part of Paul's ministry and the interesting thing about Timothy that Paul was trying to, I guess, teach him was because you got to remember, they were ministering to a lot, a lot of unbelievers, a lot of unbelievers, and Paul was just encouraging him and just kind of teaching him ways to share the gospel and preparing him of some of the things that could be said, some of the things that could be done, some of the things that could happen when you were sharing the gospel with people who weren't interested in hearing it. Because I believe, if I'm not mistaken, sherri, like Timothy had to minister to the churches at Corinth, to the churches at Corinth, which was bad. They were bad, they were some pretty. I mean some things. Not, they were, but I mean that there were some really horrible things going on, you know, in Corinth and things like that. So I think Paul was just saying, hey, not just Corinth, but all these other places, like we're going places where people don't necessarily care to hear the gospel. Let me kind of prepare you for what's going to happen there. Let me kind of prepare you for what's going to happen there.
Speaker 1:But then, after you know, in 2 Timothy, not much is mentioned after 2 Timothy about Timothy, so we don't know how his life ended up. Now we do know that right before Paul was executed and I think, oh, I should have wrote that scripture down. But I think that may be in 2 Timothy, I can't remember if that's in Timothy or not, but where Paul is, it's shortly before he's about to be executed or whatnot. And he's saying that he names three or four other disciples that were with him, that kind of abandoned him at the time. And so who is he calling for? He's calling for Timothy and he asks him to come, and please come before winter if you can make it. So not a lot is really said on Timothy later about that, but you know you can tell that he was with Paul, like to the bitter end, and I just really really like that because you know you're going to always have those what we call today like fair weather friends and whatnot, that you know they're with you, they're with you, they're with you. And then they're gone and times really get hard and Paul doesn't really go into detail. One of them he does when he says that, oh, the guys may begin with a D and I can't. He says, oh, he has abandoned me because he I think he said he let the world infiltrate him or something this other disciple you know that was with him or whatnot, and everything else. But he knows someone who will not betray him and that is Timothy and he calls for him to come, and to come quickly, you know, to kind of like, just kind of be there, support him, you know, and everything else shortly before he's. You know he's executed, you know he's executed.
Speaker 1:And there's two things that I would just really like to talk about with Timothy, and a little bit about. Paul is, in today's world, right, we face the same thing that Timothy had to face. Sometimes we may be called to preach the gospel to people who don't want to hear it, and how do we go about doing that? And do we need a mentor or a mother figure, a father figure, to help us do that? And I just think it will always be helpful when you do, because the world can be a really, really dangerous place, especially when you go to places, and not only do they not want to hear the gospel, you could be killed for sharing it. Am I right, sherry?
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm, yeah, and the other thing that I kind of wanted to mention about just Paul and Timothy's relationship was it kind of got me to thinking that I have a mentor per se in the faith as I was growing up, because I came to, I knew the Lord at a very young age and I was thinking, yeah, I did. Now, most of them were family members, is what I was initially thinking. Most of them were family members who just made sure I, you know, I was able to get to church, I was baptized, you know, I learned how to, how to, I was prayed over to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, went to I don't know how many revivals and things like that, and just made sure that I had a firm foundation of the word. But then I got to realizing, and so I was younger, I was a young child. But then I remember when I was about 14 or 15, and so I was younger, I was, you know, a young child. But then I remember, when I was about 14 or 15, this couple, I was friends with their daughters, with their daughters, mainly their oldest daughter, and I remember her parents were very important and I'm glad the Lord had brought this back to my memory, in my faith as well, and they were family members. They were just I was friends with their daughter. We were about maybe 14, 15-ish and I was friends with their daughter maybe not even at all, maybe more like 13, 14-ish, 12 to 14-ish and I was friends with their daughter and whatnot.
Speaker 1:And they were avid church goers and they would come to my house on Sunday mornings and they're like, hey, you want to go to church with Shonda? And I'm like, yeah, you know, sure I do. And boy am I so glad that I got that experience because, even though I had family members who also did that, this was a different kind of now. These were different religions right, my family was more Pentecostal and Shonda's family was more Baptist but I just can't believe how blessed I was, so blessed by being able to get the best of both religions and just seeing how people were and how just the different worship services went.
Speaker 1:And the Lord taught me so much, even as a young child, in both of those different scenarios and I was just so grateful for her mom and dad never even blinking an eye, and they're like you go to church. You haven't said anything but a word. We'll be there on Sunday morning, you know, and everything else. And so it's like there were so many people that the Lord put in my life to just kind of guide me in that direction and just having a deep relationship with him or introducing me to a deeper relationship with him when I was younger, that I just can't thank them enough, you know, for being that much a part of my life.
Speaker 1:And I've even tried to look up that friend and her parents, because I knew both of her parents' first names and last names, and I have, and I've even asked my sister, who has more connections to our old neighborhood, you know, do you know what happened, you know, at the Shondewinder University? Like what happened to her parents, you know, and everything, and so so far no one has been able to locate them. So I'm assuming they may have moved out of state when their youngest went to college. But God is so good, they were just so instrumental and I bet they don't even know how instrumental they were to me in my life, just being there for me, mentoring me, giving me that type of guidance, you know, and everything like that. So what about you, sherry? Did you have those type of spiritual mentors in your life as you were growing up in the faith.
Speaker 2:Not so much. Well, my youth pastor was amazing. He spoke into my life, and then a few of our volunteers that helped with the youth group. But my kids I have really made sure to make sure that I'm very open to anybody who wants to speak into my kids' lives. That are believers and, you're right, it makes such a difference, like I am a firm believer, that I can say the exact same message as somebody else and my kids will hear it and receive it from them and not receive it from me at certain ages.
Speaker 2:And I'm okay with that, like that doesn't offend me, that doesn't make me jealous, that doesn't bother me, you know bother me. I just want my kids to um, to hear God's word, to be loved on by people who love God, to have our values? Um reinforced and encouraged in a fun way. So, in my opinion, if I can have somebody in my kids' lives who will speak that into them, I feel so blessed, so blessed. I think that there is such an importance of that and, like I said, I have tried to pay it forward and do it myself. Not not of a, okay, no, I need to find somebody to to do this with. But when God presents opportunities for me to speak into other kids lives, I want to do that.
Speaker 2:I remember we had a and we didn't even do this on purpose, to be honest with you, like we didn't sit down as a family and say, okay, we're going to, you know, pour into other people's lives this season.
Speaker 2:But I remember I wanted our youngest to go to Awana and it's always more fun to go with a friend and our kids are six years and nine years different from him, so his next oldest sibling is six years older than him, so she was out of Awana when he was starting Awana, and so we would. We just made it a point and I was like okay, who do you want to invite this week? And so he would invite either a different friend or a same friend, didn't matter to us, and we would have pancakes every Tuesday night or Monday night, I can't remember now which night it was, but we would have pancakes because I'm like every kid should love pancakes. And we met so many of his friends who would then go with us and then their parents would pick them up after, after Iana, so we would take them to Awana and then their parents would pick them up and we we had so many pancakes to the point where my kids are like we hate pancakes now, mom, we just hate them.
Speaker 2:That's okay, we don't have to eat them anymore. But I mean, we did that, like I said, we didn't set out to do it to like, oh, look at us, or anything. We did it because it was one way that we could bring Christ into his friends lives. And and it was easy, like who doesn't like pancakes and who doesn't like to play games, and oh, you're going to get a Bible story and learn about God's word at the same time. Bonus. So like, yeah, so it doesn't have to be anything like you don't. I guess what I'm saying is you don't even have to be the one to speak the truth into the kids lives, except for your life should speak it. Like your life should be a reflection of Christ, so you should be right.
Speaker 2:And you should be ready to speak it if they have questions or if God is calling you to speak the truth. But you can just feed pancakes and send to the church group and that is just as much of a blessing and a mentorship, as you know, sitting down and teaching a Sunday school class.
Speaker 1:Oh, it absolutely is, and obviously not a lot of people have been able to have people speaking to their lives, especially at a young age. I think as we get older it's a little bit easier. But sometimes if you don't have it at a young age, you're blessed with it at an older age, and then sometimes you just don't have it. But you just brought up a really good point. Sometimes we can be that person, we can be that mentor, we can be that mentee, we can help bring someone who has a heart for learning more about Christ and just helping them, just your life, living your life, so that they could see it. And then also, if they want to know more, you're able to take them to various groups, whether it's youth group, youth ministry or church or Sunday school, you know, or something like that. So sometimes we could be that person, we could be the one to make sure they have a right there, or we could be the one that make sure they have a right there, or we could be the one that can be available when they have questions, and especially when you're dealing with younger kids, boy, they have some tough questions, you know. So it goes back to what you say we need to be ready in season and out of season and, as a matter of fact, as we wrap up Timothy I believe that was one of the scriptures excuse me, that's in the scriptures of one of the to the faith, and they're like was Eve Adam's only wife, because I heard he had another one. So we need to be ready in season and out of season.
Speaker 1:So those are just the lessons that I think that Paul tried to teach Timothy and that he embraced as he just shared the word amongst the early churches, and how that still impacts the things he learned, the things he was taught, how that still impacts our lives today. We still may be excuse me, not still we are called to minister the gospel, to go forth and spread the word, and sometimes we're going to have to spread it to people who don't want to hear it. You know, and we've learned from Timothy and Paul how to be able to do that, and we learned about a good relationship there, a good godly relationship there, like a father-son relationship of Paul pretty much just taking Timothy under his wings, and so we never know when God is going to bring someone like that across our paths. Whether you're older, they may bring someone younger that we may need to just take up under our wing and minister to them, as God has brought them into our path. If you're young, if you're younger they may. God may put someone in your path to be able to help you along, you know, your Christian journey or walk. So everything that Timothy went through in the New Testament it may have been so many hundreds of centuries ago that is still relevant to this day.
Speaker 1:And that's kind of what I wanted to say, sherry. What did you want to add before we wrap?
Speaker 2:up. The only thing that, as you were talking, the only thing that I didn't really understand before, that you kind of brought to my attention, was, I think, about when I was a kid and how it seemed like back then even if my friends didn't go to church, everyone seemed to at least believe in God. So it was. It seems like it was a more godly society, even if it even if it was a fake godly society, you know, or even if it wasn't exactly as godly as as everyone seemed, but like people respected god, people had an awe for god, even if they didn't necessarily worship him themselves, and that is such a very different. So I grew up with a different type of evangelism style, because we were coming from, or starting from, a different. What's that called? Base points or whatever? What is that called? I can't.
Speaker 1:Denomination or no, or baseline.
Speaker 2:We were coming from a different baseline, because the baseline was oh.
Speaker 1:I see.
Speaker 2:Okay, yes, okay. Everybody respects God, everybody believes in God. Well, I can't teach that to my kids today, because we're not at the same baseline. Our baseline has changed, unfortunately. So I was thinking about that when you were talking about Timothy and how Paul had to instruct him. The people that you're ministering to, the people that even are in your church, that are your flock, they are coming at this. They're coming at God in a relationship with God, a new relationship with God, in a very different way, because they're not. They didn't grow up respecting him necessarily. They grew up with a different mindset, and so it just reminded me that you know, god will give us the tools that we need.
Speaker 2:God will give us the people in our lives to help us to be the best that we can be, but that we have to have a teachable spirit and not be like, well, that's the way it was always done, like that's the only way I know how to do it, so unless I can do it this way, then forget it. We need to have a teachable spirit. And the other part that I that I really love about Timothy is that Timothy comes from a mixed marriage. He comes from a mixed cultural, religious marriage, and God uses everybody, and I believe wholeheartedly, 100%, that God formed Timothy from a Roman or Greek and a Jew on purpose, because he knew the plans that he had for Timothy and Timothy needed to be well-versed in both cultures, and I just love that, like I love. So don't discount yourself for no matter what. Like don't say well, I can't be a pastor because I grew up in an atheist home, so what? I can't be a teacher because I grew up with engineers? Who cares? I can't be whatever because we talked about this a couple weeks ago. Because we talked about this a couple of weeks ago, god is going to give you the experiences. As long as you're open and asking him for his wisdom and his guidance, he's going to give you the experiences that you need in order to fulfill the purpose that he has for you. So look at it as an adventure and as a journey instead of looking at it as a deficit, because I mean, that's exactly what it is. If we, if we, look at life as okay, god is using all of the trials or whatever to prepare us, it's so much easier to come at it from that mindset and a teachable spirit than to be well, I can't do this because I've already started on a on a deficit. No, you haven't. No, you haven't. Look at your life from God's point of view and you'll see how he's been preparing you all along, and I think that that's kind of one of the encouraging things that Paul had to give to Timothy, because Timothy, I think, saw his age as more of a detriment and a deficit than anybody else did. He needed to see it through God's eyes and he needed Paul to see that, because there are so many.
Speaker 2:Even just yesterday I I'm going to talk personally I threw out to Kara um on a text I something that I was very discouraged about. I thought that I was getting negative news, or I took it as negative news, and she switched my whole mindset around by reminding me that it's just our way, or our body's way, of getting our attention, and it changed my whole spirit. I had been literally down and out all day going, okay, god, I'm choosing to praise you, but I'm really not liking this. I'm choosing to praise you, but I'm really not liking this. I'm trying, I'm really trying, god. And then one word from Kara and I was like he's right, I can praise him because this is a good thing, this isn't a bad thing. So we all need those calls in our lives, we all need those people, and Kara probably doesn't even realize how encouraging she was to me yesterday. But you just don't know what your encouragement or what your one word could do, and it could change a whole person's life. So I just want to encourage people with that, because you just don't know.
Speaker 2:So I hope you enjoyed Timothy. I know I sure did. Timothy and Paul and Barnabas and Silas are people that I could just talk about forever, because I think they just have so much to teach us. But we're going to let go of Timothy for right now. Hopefully you're excited about him and want to learn about him yourself in the Bible, and next week we're going to be talking about Silas and, first off, I love that name, silas. I don't know why, but I just do. I think Silas is a really cool name.
Speaker 2:But in John 16, 33, jesus tells us these things I have spoken to you that in me you may have peace In the world.
Speaker 2:You will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. There is just nothing more peaceful and more encouraging to me than knowing that God already has it all for us. So if you are interested in, if you'd like to have prayer or a praise and you want to share it with us, head over to spiritpodcasts at gmailcom and let us know. You can do that privately. Or if you have a prayer request or a praise that you want to have other people share with you as well, then head over to the Facebook group. Cheer Up Podcast on Facebook and share it with the whole group as we build our community. Share it with the whole group as we build our community. I am just like I said, I'm super excited about reading about Silas or talking about Silas next week. I asked Tara if I could do Silas because I just really, really like him. I like Timothy too. Don't get me wrong, but I'm just I don't know. There's just something about the story of Paul and Silas that I can't wait to share with you next week.
Speaker 2:Head over to Tara's website, tararhuntcom, if you want to know the latest and the greatest that's going on with her. Head over to TerrySlawwellcom if you want to know what's new with me. Not much new has been going on with me yet, but I am starting a new series, or a new series uh, fiction series, so I'm super excited about that. So if you want to know anything about that, you can join my facebook group, which you can find through my website. Um, because I usually give updates on fridays about, um, what I'm writing, how I'm writing and how it's going. So, um, anyway, having said all that, I hope you guys have a great rest of your week. I know we started back to school this week, so we're back to reality, unfortunately, but, on a good note, it's still Kara's birthday month, so she's still celebrating. So have a great rest of your day, have a great rest of your week and we will talk to you next week.
