Walking with God with Hanna Eyobed
Walking with God explores how discipleship transforms our lives, the significance of worship, how music has been a conduit for God's presence in our lives, and the importance of vulnerability, prayer, and community within the faith.
Walking with God with Hanna Eyobed
Finding Strength in God's Presence
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Welcome to "Walking With God with Hanna Eyobed" and in today's episode, titled "Finding Strength in God's Presence," we're exploring the powerful transformations and daily practices that bring us closer to God. We'll be joined by Zariyah, as we share our heartfelt experiences, challenges, and victories in walking with God.
We kick off our conversation with a reflection on the significance of worship and how music has been a conduit for God's presence in our lives. From personal testimonies of divine encounters to the grounding scripture that keeps us anchored, Zariyah and I touch on the importance of vulnerability, prayer, and community within the faith.
Zariyah opens up about her journey from feeling disconnected to finding a deep, intimate relationship with God, despite the challenges of modern adult life. We discuss the balance between routine and heartfelt spirituality, the role of lament in our faith, and how interceding for others re-energizes our spirit.
Join us as we delve into the meaning of true discipleship, the beauty of God's unwavering love, and the abundant life He promises us. Whether you're a long-time believer or just starting your faith journey, this episode is sure to inspire and encourage you to walk closer with God every day. Tune in and be blessed by our stories and insights.
This episode was created by the SLBF STUDIO. Find more media resources at https://slbf.org/studio.
Produced by Daniel Johnson, Dave Conour, and Brian Beatty
Edited by Dave Conour
Hi, my name is Hannah, and I'm walking with God. Happy holidays. It should already be 2025 as you're listening to this, which is so, so crazy. There are so many new beginnings up ahead. And speaking of beginnings, we all have such great stories of our first encounters with the Lord. So many vivid moments of prayer, worship, and intimacy with God and our discovery of Him. How do you guys interact with the Lord? How do you meet with Him every day? And what does that look like? Well, in this season, I've been experiencing the Lord most in worship. In those moments of singing in the morning after I wake up and moments before I go to sleep. Whenever I find myself singing his praises, his presence becomes so evident to me. I've been listening to Making Me a Bethany by Jesus Image and Love Note by Abby Gamboa, if you've heard of them.
SPEAKER_00And I love you in the morning, in the noontime, in the evening. You my one thing, you my dearest.
SPEAKER_02It summons him in a way and makes his voice so clear. Both songs have lines that I favor, like when Abby Gamboa sings, I'm above you, I'm beneath you, I'm before you, and I'm behind you. This is all from the perspective of God to us. These words quickly became a mantra in the back of my head as someone who constantly experiences anxiety about everything. It reminds me that God exists outside of time and he is greater than everything. When Jesus image sings, this one thing I want, Lord, to pour my oil at your feet, this one thing I want, Lord, to sit and worship my King. It truly just moves me. Because when I truly sit with myself, I realize that He is the one thing that I want, and that I just want to stay in His presence forever. During a retreat in October, while we were worshiping, I felt the Lord place upon my heart a word of confidence, which is something I struggle with, if you know me. He revealed to me that I constantly prayed, Lord, just a tassel of your cloak is enough. This being a reference of the New Testament story of the woman with blood. And I felt him replying to that prayer saying, Hannah, I'm placing my whole cloak around you. Which was so insane to hear. Like, what do you do with a word like that? In my experience, you have to learn how to believe what he believes about you. This made me realize the importance of worship because of how much room it gives him to speak and for me to respond. Now, throughout all this, I felt so deeply the words of John 10 10 that we all know God gives life and life abundantly. And through all these moments of worship and trying to sit with the Lord, I've kept on thinking about it. Like it mentions earlier in the book of John, um, John 1.4, in him was life, and the life was the light of men. When he is giving us life, he's really just giving us himself, isn't he? Once I came to this conclusion, I found myself being curious about how we can know God and gain this quote, abundance through our time with him. So they may not just be fleeting moments, but full lives sitting and communing with the one who waits for us each day. So as life changes and we go from season to season, I wonder, what does it look like to continue interacting with God? When feelings of doubt creep in, where do we find him? I hope to provide a space where we can interact with the questions about interacting with God and depending completely on him. So I've invited one of my good friends and my sister in Christ, Zarya, to share some of her experiences finding and continuing to find the Lord on her daily walk with God. Thanks for listening. It means so much to me. This is Hannah and I'm walking with God. We'll be right back. This is Hannah and I'm Walking with God. Thanks for listening. Joining me today is Zarya. Hey girl, how are you doing today?
SPEAKER_01Hi, friend. It's been pretty good. Um can't really complain, enjoying what it's like to be a new grad, working, being adult.
SPEAKER_02So I guess you kind of touched on it a little bit about your life situation right now. But I want you to tell us a bit about yourself. You can say like where you're from, what you're up to, maybe what ministries you're part of, anything like that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, for sure. Um, so yeah, like I just said, I just graduated, so new grad right now, um, working. Um I am originally from Rockford, Illinois, which is about an hour away. Hour and a half, came up here for school. Um, and yeah, I come from a pretty big family, got 13 siblings. That's still crazy. Yeah. That I love deeply. But yeah, big family. Um grew up in the faith. I grew up around Christians, people who would consider themselves Christians, but yeah, growing up I never really saw, or even honestly, I never even heard the word disciple until like a year ago. Um, you know, when I started really getting serious about my faith about like a year or two ago, my junior year of college. But yeah, so that kind of like had me wanting more, but also kind of scared to experience the what it meant to be Christian. You know what I mean? Um, when I found myself coming back to Christ, um or just being more intentional, you know what I mean? Um so yeah, grew up in the faith, always wanted more. Um, you know, I didn't necessarily I I stopped going to church at a young age. So as I got older, I'm like, I kind of want to go back, you know? But my mom was pretty busy, she worked a lot, um, nobody else really went in my immediate family that I was close with, so I really, like I said, I didn't start going back honestly to my junior year. It was actually it was the senior year of college. Junior year, I started praying more consistently. Yes, junior year. I started praying more consistently, but see it wasn't until January of my senior year, which was this year, yeah, that I started going back to church. Praise God. Praise God. Um, seriously, but um, yeah, no, so right now I'm just I'm working. Um when I graduated, I said that I wanted to be intentional, I wanted to, you know, learn what it looked like and what it meant to be a disciple. Like, not just to be Christian, but what does it mean to be more like Jesus? What does that look like? I don't know, but I want to be that. You know what I mean? I want to be more like him, I want to be closer with him. Um, but yeah, so um with that being said, when I started coming back to church, I remember coming back, and we'll probably get into that later. We will. But I remember coming back, and um I was just like, oh my goodness. You know what I mean? I got prayer that day, and I had a woman actually introduce me to college age ministry, which is at Blackhawk Church. I started attending, and long story short, the Lord is so good. Um, he had a plan, um, he has a plan, he's been working, and I'm actually interning there right now.
SPEAKER_02Praise God. That's so cool, Zarya. So the church that you encountered the first time that was was it Blackhawk? Yeah. Is that what you're talking about? Okay. Yeah. Cool, cool. And then aside from you're touching on a lot of things I wanted to ask. Yeah. So I'm gonna just ask follow-up questions. Yeah. But in terms of like your first encounters and experiences, you talked about being prayed over, were there moments whether in church or by yourself that you're just like, that was like my one of my first, like, I I just I was with him and I was overwhelmed or like experienced, I don't know, fear, whatever it is. Like, are there is like a moment you can think of that you're just like, wow, that was God?
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01It's like taking me back to the night, but um, there was actually a night, I want to say this was last August, but um I was in a season, it was it was it was a difficult season for me. I was feeling all the things, I had so much going on in my mind, um, and just so many different emotions I didn't know what to do with them. And I just like I said, I had been praying more. I knew drunkenness was a sin. I knew, you know, sexual immorality, all the things were a sin, but I was coming, I was learning the Lord was teaching me how to come out of lukewarmness. And so I just remember this night. I'm like flustered, I'm feeling everything, all the all the emotions from just everything I was going through. Um all the sin, honestly. Yeah. And I just remember just crying out to God. Like that was the night where it was like, okay, I'm about to lock it. Like that was a semester where it was like, okay, I'm about to start reading the word. I'm praying, but I'm also like, I'm at this point, like I feel like he kind of had me hidden.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And in that season, it was like where he was speaking to me more about finding community and not thinking that you could do it on your own. So that's why it's like in January, okay, go ahead, go back to church. Yeah, yeah. Um, but yeah, no, I would never forget that night because I just I was crying. I was just like, literally like begging, like, save me, please, like help me. Save me, seriously save me. That's so good though. That's so good. Yeah. And he did, and I remember, like, just in the midst of everything, it was still this calmness that came over me, and it was just like, I got you.
SPEAKER_00Wow.
SPEAKER_01And from that moment, it's like, even when I walk through like difficult seasons now and just like difficult things now, I can recall that. Um, like there's this term, like resurrect your testimony, like talk about your testimony, re remind yourself of your testimony, like um how God has shown up. You know what I'm saying? And I can go back to that and I'm like, who didn't save me? It was right there. It was right there. Right there.
SPEAKER_02Wow. Yeah. Beautiful story. Yeah. Beautiful story. And I like, because one thing that I really have to let you know about yourself is that whenever I'm with you, I'm like, this girl has the presence of God all over her. Like, I'm he's I feel like he's in my face when I'm around you. Because I'm just like, she definitely is sitting with him, talking with him, yeah, like letting herself be herself with him. I remember one day, like, kind of similar to where you're talking about resurrecting the testimony, like you had mentioned, you had asked me because I was having a tough day, which isn't and I was like, I don't know, can you help me out? And you were like, Hannah, do you ever um preach the gospel to yourself? And I said, I do not. And then you're like, we gotta start, you gotta start doing that. I said, All right. Yeah, um, but even going off things like that, like, how, like, how do you balance like because I know you're coming to him as yourself, and like I feel like a lot of Christians in any age, honestly, have this like difficulty with finding like a balance between like this is like a routine that like I have to do and check it off my list, like write, read the Bible, or like just whatever, worship or whatever it is, versus like being just like Lord, I need you right now. Like the balance between those two, like, especially, I mean, I'm talking for myself too, it's so difficult. But for you, is there a tension between those two things, or do you feel like it's always like one or the other, or how does that what does that look like for you?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I will say, yes, like there is tension sometimes. And in with that tension, I'm telling him exactly how I feel about it. Like, um, I think we talked about this, but you had kind of brought up like sometimes like you'll read something in the word, and then like how do you feel about like approaching him with that, like, oh Lord, like this is a sin that I'm struggling with, you know what I'm saying? And I think it is a tendency for us to shy away from it. But when I see my brothers and sisters, they went through the same things, you know what I'm saying? And I see, okay, well, God still loves them, God still showed up for them. I'm like, okay, sometimes I just have to tell them, look, father, I don't want to tell you this, but I'm gonna tell you anyway. Yeah. Because it's just like in that quiet space and in that time with God, it's like I know he sees everything, he knows what I'm thinking already. I'm gonna just put it out there. You know what I'm saying? If nobody, if I don't have to worry about anybody else judging me, I don't have to worry about God judging me. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Um, not when I'm coming to him as, you know, his child. You know what I'm saying? Um, and so with that, when I when I think about like reading the word and just like my personal relationship with him, they go hand in hand, they're together.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01You know, reading the word is a spirit, spiritual discipline, but it's not necessarily like either or. Like they they go together. So it's like, yes, I'm praying, but even when I'm communicating with him and I'm praying with him, reading the word, because I know his truths and his promises, I can take that back to him in prayer. Like, because of his word, I know that, okay, boom, like I'm having a thought or something. Let me cast down that thought. You know what I'm saying? Um, well, his word says this. Um, God, well, your word says this. You said that you will never leave me nor forsake me. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Look, I know it might feel like, hmm, I don't know if I see you showing up. But this is what your word says, so help me to believe that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And without me knowing his word and what his word says, it would be hard for me to kind of grapple with that in our relationship. And sometimes in prayer, when I am talking to him, like that's where he's leading me back to. Okay, go read this.
SPEAKER_02You know what I mean? He's clocking you. Okay. But I really appreciate what you're saying about honesty. Because I feel like as Christians, sometimes we're so afraid of like, I think this is something that like in the church is a problem, like striving or performing or trying to, you know, safe face. Like we see all these churches like going through whatever they're going through because their pastors are doing the same things where they're struggling with something or other and they can't, you know, even approach God with that and they're, you know, everyone's suffering because of it. Um, so I really do appreciate that. Like, I feel like we need to talk more about this honesty and like approaching the Lord like as ourselves because he's called us to like just come. But that was his first, that was his first thing was like, just come. Just come to be. I'll do the rest. Yeah. So beautiful. But continuing off that point, yeah. I know um many believers, including myself, have grounding scriptures we go to, and you talked a lot about scripture, which is the word of God, God breathed. Um, some of mine are like Psalm 139, 7 through 10, you know, classic, or like John 1.4, which I mentioned earlier in the podcast. Um, when you experience like moments that you're talking about, like, even when you're just like you're trying to like fight like the tension of like, Lord, I know that this is true. Like you say it, but it's like it's still like heavy on you. Like, what are some scriptures where you're like, this gives me peace, even maybe amidst these things I'm feeling? Or just like despite these things I'm feeling. Are there anything that is there anything that comes to mind for you?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, for sure. So, like a couple, um, like I just mentioned, but um, the second part of Hebrews 13, 5, like, he will never leave me nor forsake me. Heavy on that one. And it's just like a reminder in those times. Um, and with that, then I'll go to like 1 Peter 5, 7, like cast all your worries and anxieties onto me because I care. So that's why it's like, boom, I know you will never leave me nor forsake me. This is what I'm feeling, and now I'm about to be so open and honest with you because I know you can deliver me from this. Like I know you can help me with whatever it is that I'm going through right now.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And I'm gonna need your strength. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, and not my own. You know what I mean? Um, and then like one of the first Bible verses, um, or a couple of Bible verses that I memorized um coming, or yeah, just like growing in my faith, was James chapter 1, verses 2 through 4. And it says, consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. So let perseverance, perseverance, finish out its works so that you may be mature, complete, and not lacking anything. And so it's like when I think about difficult times, not to sit there and say, when I'm going through something, oh I'm holly, jolly, you know what I'm saying? Like, I'm like, no, like this hurts. Yeah. But I know that there is nothing that I know he won't waste my pain. And I can remember that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, to explain that a bit, waste, you know what I'm saying. I like that. But I have to can you explain that a bit?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, like I think at the end of the day, being a Christian, being a disciple of Jesus Christ, it's not that we won't face adversity. Adversity is gonna be there, like we are gonna get hit with things, we go, we are gonna go through loss, grief, um, sad moments, you know what I'm saying? Uh we're gonna be angry about things, you know what I'm saying? We're not gonna let's just be honest. Like, we were we weren't created to get our way, but we're not gonna get our way sometimes, you know what I'm saying? And with all that in our human emotions and just our humanity, like we we feel so many different emotions, many of those being negative. Yeah, and with a lot of the pain that comes from hard seasons and hardships, he's so good. He's so good. Because he will take that, he will use that, and like the verse says, he will use that to mature you, and even if we take it off of ourselves, he will use that so that you make sure your testimonies with other people in the church. Other brothers and sisters, bring and even through your testimony, help other people come to Christ. You know what I'm saying? Because it's they're like, okay, well, I've experienced something like that before, and if he did it for you, surely he would do it for me. You know what I'm saying? Um, but yeah, just like your pain is always used for his glory, and it can always be used for his glory. Um, and yeah, that's so good.
SPEAKER_02Cause I'm there are so many examples I can think of right now. Like, I mean, like Job or like I was just talking about that before I pulled up.
SPEAKER_01I was like, he lost everything. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And we're all just like dang, like, free Job. Nah, bro. Job was a soldier for Christ. No, for real. That's crazy. But um, yeah, that's that's such a great concept though. Like, I think one thing that I've been thinking about too is like the idea of like a heavenly perspective. Yeah. And like even in the beginning of the year, I feel like everything is falling into place right now. Because I'm thinking about all these different things that have the same idea. Like at my church, um, New Culture Church, not the plug. Okay. Um, but uh one of our first sermons of um of the school year was going through Acts. I'm gonna say the wrong chapter. I think it was eight or nine when they're talking about Stephen. Um, and if you guys don't know, so basically in the Bible, Stephen was um a man who loved the Lord. And basically he was um he was kind of being he was in a trial, and that ended up um being his death. But he was being stoned by people who did not believe in Christ. And he literally was like, Lord Jesus, like, you know. He kept calling out his name and stuff like that, but he was like, I can die. Like, you know, John the Baptist vibes just very like, I'm okay with this because I know you, and I'm okay with this because you're better than all this. Um, and essentially he gets like stoned, killed, and then that is what kind of sets Paul off to become no, sorry, Saul to become Paul essentially. Right. Um, and just that's first of all, I've never heard that story before this September or whatever. And I was like, why do we never hear about this, you know, this guy? Like he's amazing. And like we love to talk about Paul, which Paul is also amazing.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02But like the Lord has used everyone at the right time to like show his glory. And even those people, going back to Hebrews 11, like the people who are like tried and trialed and experienced all these hardships, they will never actually see the full fruit of what they're doing. Like it goes through, I mean, it's like the Hall of Fame or whatever for believers, like all these people, like Abraham, Moses, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, all these people, and how like they will never actually the fullness because they're looking to a greater country, like heaven. And they don't they don't even they don't really care. They're doing this out of the abundance of what Christ has done in them. So just all this is making me think, like, because I was also reading this is another connection, Psalm 1, which is talking about a tree planted in streams of water that is essentially it's unmoved by the streams of water. Um, and that the the fruit will produce um in the right time at the right season, and everything that like this person plants will, you know, all these like very beautiful analogies and imagery that that um David is using in the Psalms. And I was connecting that to, you know, I went on a hike one day and I was thinking about Stephen. I was like, I saw a tree branch that was super thick and it fell over. But like you could walk across the stream. And I was like, that has to mean something. Yeah. I was like, I was in deep thought, and I was like, so Stephen is essentially making way through his faith for others to be used by the Lord. So I think we have to be honest with him more often. Yeah. Because I'm sure he was in pain, and like, yeah, and all these points are just coming back to the same point, but like he will use everything.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Um, and he will do even like this such a small thing. This guy like literally just gets killed, goes to glory, and then we have like one of the biggest like biblical figures ever who was killing Christians before this. Which is like insane. Yeah, he's just like, no, I'm taking you. Yeah. Like that's so amazing. But um, along those lines, like I was listen recently listening to a podcast, another podcast. Um, um, and he was talking about lament. And I was wondering, what are your thoughts on lament? Like in general, I guess. I mean, you kind of touched on it, but I want to hear your thoughts on that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I feel like we talked about this, but like I feel like in this season, there's been a lot of lament. Like just going to God and talking and crying and just the outpour because of the state of the church and the state of humanity where we're at today. Um, you know, you go to work every day, you see people who aren't saved, people who don't know Jesus. You know what I'm saying? You see just so much, but I think with that. Yeah. Okay, God is just sucker. With that, I think that we as brothers and sisters in Christ, we as the body, um, we should be doing that more often. Like we should be Lamenting. Lamenting more often. Like we see the same stuff. You know what I'm saying? We see the sin in the world. We see so many people who don't know God, so many people who think they know God, but like he said, many will come to me and say, Oh, well, I did this in your name. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No. They're missing it. They're missing it. You know what I mean? And when I think about it, for those who do have a prayer life, for those who are in communication and have a relationship with God, we should be praying for our brothers and sisters for the strengthening of their faith, their relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Um just for more people to really know and experience Jesus. We all have access to him. You know what I mean? And for those who have that access, you know what I'm saying? Show him that you care about your other brothers and sisters and his people. You know what I'm saying? And you care about his will be it done.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, absolutely. But like when you kind of bring us back just a little bit to the idea of walking with the Lord every day.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Do you feel like it re-energizes you to when you're thinking about these things and even lamenting, like that the act of praying, the act of interceding for others, is that another way that you feel is like this is empowers me so much more to just keep on like fighting that tension of like, I don't want to do this or I don't have any faith right now. Like, does it do this is is that helpful?
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. Yeah, I love it. Oh my gosh. Like, um, first and foremost, because oh my, I just keep saying it, God is just so good. Like, I oftentimes, side note, I just be telling him, like, oh, I wish there was like a like a another word. Like, oh, I was like, you're so good, but like, what's another word? Like, oh God, I'm like, you so good, but like, nah, you great. Like, oh, you're amazing, like, no, no, no, whatever. Um, but maybe I just need to get my vocab up. But that's what he said in his heart so yeah, um, but no, um, I thank him so much. Like, even right now, like, I thank him so much for you. You know, like being able to be a friend and a sister, call you my sister, and to see what he's doing in your life, and to be able to be a witness of the goodness that he's doing in your life, and knowing that I don't know all the time what's going on, but being able to speak with you and being able to pray for you, you know what I'm saying? And seeing that, you know what I'm saying? And and I know like you have family and friends that are praying for you too. You know what I'm saying? Um, and just like with my other friends too, like I actually had a friend, he had he had some things that were going on, and I just remember there was a there was a lot there, and I was like, Well, I'm not God, I don't really know too much. I can give you wise counsel and everything, but I was like, but we're gonna need the Lord's help on this one. You know what I'm saying? Just so you know. And I just remember, I'm I'm always like, let me go to the source.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01You know what I'm saying? And I just remember praying because I was just like, like, Lord, I ain't gonna lie, I said, Lord, convict this heart, please. Because what we have been talking about, it was like, mm, this is not sounding like him. Like, this is sounding like some confusion is going on, or like maybe, you know, this is just like a ploy to like kind of divide um the family that we have, whatever the case may be. So I'm writing, I'm I'm praying, I'm whatever. And I remember the next day, oh my God, I remember the next day we have scheduled a phone call. He calls me, he like, bro, I just had a dream last night. The Lord conveyed to my heart so much. I said, praise God. I was so happy. When I tell you, I'm also a slight gym rat. So when I tell you, I'm about to, I'm getting ready for um the gym and everything, and I'm like just jumping up and down. I'm like overwhelmed with joy. I'm like, oh my gosh, like Lord, thank you so much. Like, God, you're so good. Like, thank you so much for how you're moving in his life, God. Like, um, can't nobody tell me nothing about you, like just praising him and just thanking him. When I tell you, that was my um pre-workout for that day. That was my the pre-workout for that day, literally. And then just like to have a conversation with him, and then we just talk about how in those moments he just sees God moving. Yeah, he sees God moving, and I'm like, it is a blessing, it is a privilege to be in community with others and to like like we're family, like be brothers and sisters and be able to be like, I know I can't take this cup from you. And honestly, like as a sister, because I know how God will use pain, I'm gonna be honest, like don't take it like that. But like sometimes, like, I don't, it's not even like I'm praying for the cup to be taken away from you, but for him to strengthen you in that. Yeah, you know what I'm saying? And it's just it's a blessing to be able to see what he does. In y'all's life.
SPEAKER_02That's good. But yeah, yeah, because I feel like I've mentioned this a couple times with my other friends, but yeah, I went to like a Maverick City concert last year.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And they had this like pause segment where this guy was talking about like a charity that they wanted to raise money for, which was like, great.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Um, and he was talking about um the idea of like once you know the love the love of God is complete in you, you'll give it away. Which was like, oh. Yeah. But if you think about it, it makes sense because it's like, you know, like there's there's obviously not enough, like, I mean, not enough. There's too much, and you actually can't really give all of it away, but you can give like even the littlest bits of Christ. Yeah. It's like, it's literally like it's wonderful. There's nothing that there's nothing like it. But that's amazing. And I honestly, going on to this idea of of friendship, yeah, and of loving one another, but like Christ has has loved you. How do you think people can work to not just like because I think I've seen a lot of like even me? I grew up in the church, but I didn't even feel connected to a church until I was 18 years old. Right. Which is insane because I should have felt you know that connection a long time ago.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02But even looking at like, you know, middle school ministry, even the ministry you're working with it with college students, like how like what are we doing wrong with our sense of community? Because I know that a lot of us feel a disconnect, a lot of us feel isolated and then leave the church completely. And this is like a little bit of a derail. But I'm just wondering, like, how can we love people better? With you know, because I feel like you have like I can I can feel like you love people well. And this is a rare quality even for Christians, which is concerning. Um, but I'm wondering how we can do better in the church. Because people can't know Christ like physically without people who love Christ. Right.
SPEAKER_01If that makes sense. Yeah, I know what you mean. That's a good question. I feel like to be honest, it really starts. It starts behind closed doors. Like I agree. It starts with letting the Lord pour out on you so that you may pour out onto others. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, like sitting it goes back down to vulnerability, like being honest with him. When you will allow the Lord to love you for who he has created you to be and work with you and and just guide you and just walk this walk with you for real, because that's what he wants to do, anyways. Yeah, it is easier um for you to want the things of God. And God is love, you know what I'm saying? So he wants us to all just be out here loving on one another. Um, you know, and honestly, prayer. Like, I think we we talk about prayer, but we don't talk about like how prayer is so powerful. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, girl. Like I do. If you if you don't know, for instance, like you want to be more generous or something, don't you know that the Lord will hear your prayer? Like, don't you know that he wants you to be more generous too? If you tell him, like, God, you know, this is something I really need to work on, I'm struggling with it. Yes, it might not happen overnight, yeah, but he hears you and he's going to help you. Ask. Ask and you shall receive. Thanks. Yeah. We we don't get because we don't ask. You want to love better. Ask for him to help you in navigating how to love others. And honestly, even with that prayer, but we also have to learn we have to die to ourselves. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, we do. We can't loving on others, especially in the body of Christ, is not about what you can get from loving them, but loving them so much because you love who God has created them to be. You love them and you love what God has created. You know what I'm saying? Not because, oh, well, if I love my sis, she's gonna put me on a podcast. You know what I'm saying? Like, if I just show up, I just, mm-hmm, yeah, girl. My generic. You know what I mean? Like, having him just direct yourself, opening yourself up, surrendering and submitting to God, and just saying, God, I need help. Please help me with this. And walking in that and saying, Well, I want to love you because the Lord created you. You're so beautiful. And I just I want to be able to help you with your walk, and I want us to help one another, and I want us to pray with each other. You know what I'm saying? Go into your brother or sister in the community saying, Well, I struggle with this. Pray for me, please. You know what I'm saying? As much as it takes, whatever it takes, but we go praying. You know what I mean? Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So it's our way of fighting. Yeah. Please fight. No, yeah. I've I feel like I've learned so much from prayer, but but it's come from quiet time. Which like we must have quiet time. Oh, we must have time that is quiet. Like, I've I mean, recently, like I've been struggling with just like the confidence to ask the Lord what I need. Because He knows what I need. He knows what I, you know, He knows everything. But that's will of the illogical, you know, where we're like, but you know, he like my thought process is like he doesn't have enough time. Boys, he really created time. So I'm I'm not in my right mind, obviously. But um, I'm trying to think of so like recently, like the idea of I mean, we say quiet time, but it literally is quiet because like he has a soft, still voice, and like you can't hear it if there's so much noise around you. So, like, I mean, this whole podcast is the idea of like walking with him and um the idea of just like being able to I I guess like sit still, yeah. Which is like I can't sometimes I can't even do that. I'm like, wait, I can't wait for like whatever, like because we don't even know what abundance is, I think sometimes, which is I'm what I'm figuring out now, which I guess is a lot of the inquiry behind this, a lot of my thought processes recently. But when you think of this idea of abundance and like knowing him and like being with him, like how does that make you how does that because I've one question I've always had this whole season, it's just like what like what am I missing out on? Yeah, you know, like how could my day, like not just my like day, I guess my my life, how could my life like be more full? Like, you know? And I'm like, yeah. So like now that you are doing these practices every day, whatever that looks like, yeah, how has that like changed your life? You know, for sure.
SPEAKER_01I will say I so kind of like how I just mentioned, um, well, let me talk about my practices a little bit. I in undergrad, I was pre-med. It was like um, and I say this because being pre-med, you are taught, it's like you you gotta get it together. Like you have to learn how to discipline yourself, like you have to know when to study. Um, and as you just go throughout undergrad, you have to learn when to stop studying too, or you're gonna burn out fast. We talk about burnout a lot in medical school and medicine, period.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Um, and so in my undergrad season, one thing that I realized my senior year is just like I'll never forget the Lord humble me. Um, I remember telling him, I said, I want to read my word this weekend, but I can't. I gotta study. I got an exam on Monday, I can't. I got sick that weekend. I didn't do any studying. The only thing I could do was listen to the word of God. Wow. Listen to worship music, um, pray, sleep, cry, because I was so sick. And then I ended up doing good on my exam, but in that he showed me, you always talk about, oh, you're too busy, or we say things like, oh, there's not enough time in a day. That's cap. We we tell ourselves that, and it and it seems like that, but that's not the truth. You know what I mean? Um, and so now, especially in my gap year, even with like my work schedule, I don't love it. It's not my favorite. I'm a morning person, I'm working second shift. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, I'm finding myself, I have to pray late at night, I'm tired. You know what I'm saying? So now it's like I have to just do all this adjusting.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Um, but in that, there have been times in this season where I wake up and then there's this lie in my head that says, I remember there was a week like this, there's this line in my head that says, I don't have time. Like it's either I'm a, I'm not gonna read, I'm going to, I'm gonna run to the gym real quick, or I'm about to sleep a little bit longer so I can make it to work, um, work my shift and ooh, yada yada. You know what I'm saying? But let me not read my word this morning. Cast that down.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01I'm gonna read my word. In the morning, when it is, I just woke up, it's quiet, my mind is not as busy as it is during the rest of the day. I'm spending that time with the Lord. I'm gonna be in prayer. I'm gonna tell him how I feel when I wake up. God, I'm tired. Father, I'm tired. I really don't want to read, but give me the strength. Give me the focus, please. Give me the desire for your word right here, right now. You know, reveal to me whatever it is you want to reveal to me. Sometimes it is um finishing a book, sometimes it's going back, rereading something I've already read. Sometimes it's just meditating on a few verses, but I'm going to do it because in with everything, it's not we say like making him a part of your life, but no, God is the center.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01You know what I'm saying? He's everything. And I can't, if I want to continue um on this walk and experience the things that I've been able to experience, um, you know, yes, we have difficult seasons, but I've experienced it. I'm not trying to give that up.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01I want you come first. You know what I'm saying? And so with that, it's like, okay, boom. Okay, dad, what we what are we talking about today? You know what I'm saying? Like, what you what you wanna what you wanna hit me with today? What do you want to convict me on today? You know what I'm saying? And with that, I start the morning like that and I'm continuing. I start the morning like that just so I can make sure, okay, we have that quiet time. Now, if I have some more time during the rest of this day, I'm back in my word. You know what I'm saying? Okay, I talked to you this morning. I'm praying, I'm actively praying all throughout my day. You know what I'm saying? I go into work, I'm stressed out. Um, I remember it was the day recently. I go to work, three different calls, for me, I got the call lights, the phone calls, everybody coming my way. I said, hold on, open the book of Psalms, and I'm sitting there and I'm praying, Lord God, please, please stower me with your peace. God, just help me in this moment on today, please and thank you. Um, and just how he calms me, how his word reminds me, and and just experiences remind me how much he loves me. When nobody else chose me, he chose me. You know what I'm saying? He made me. Yeah, he died for me. We're reminded in scripture, when he died, like, um, it's not like what we see, okay, he died and we still see a man up there. When after they were done with him, he was he we couldn't even recognize him as a man anymore. Yeah. For me. Yeah. And so in that, and he woke me up today. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. And that brings me so much joy. I had a bad day. God, you so good. Thank you, Jesus. Yeah, thank you for what your word says about me. Thank you for what you did in my brother and sister's lives. Thank you that we have their stories, um, and we see what they went through, and we see that we didn't we it there's nothing new underneath the sun. They went through stuff that we going through right now. I have reassurance. I'm gonna be good.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Thank you. And that that's that's the abundance, the reminder of just how good he is.
SPEAKER_02But you know, that's beautiful. Yeah, that was beautiful. I feel like I have to ask. That's one of my last questions. Yeah, I mean, you've Grown so much and it's insane that it's only been what like a year or so of just but God God is so limitless. But to ask.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02If you could ask yourself the baby Christian self, I guess a year ago then.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Like about the what would you tell yourself a year ago about the reality of everyday time with the Lord despite everything, every weight, every fear, every anxious thought, every you know, temptation that you're going through. Like, what would you tell her? Keep going.
SPEAKER_01Like, you are not always gonna be happy in your walk, but you will experience joy. There is nothing better. In Christ, there's nothing better. I don't miss who I was before God. I have never experienced peace the way I experience peace. I've never had the hope that I have now in God. Like, and even the love. Like I thought I knew what love was before. We say God is love, but when I say we gotta feel it, God is literally love. Literally love. I've never been loved like this before. Ever. Ever. And I wouldn't change it for the world. So even though it gets hard, keep going. Endure. Endure. Endure. Mm-hmm. He wants you. Yeah. And in all of it. Um, you he already knew you would fall short. You know what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And he still called you by name, by the way. Mm-hmm. So keep going. He's not gonna give up on you. Anybody and everybody else can, but he he is down for the ride through it all.
SPEAKER_03Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01So don't give up on him. Keep going.
SPEAKER_03That's good.
SPEAKER_00But yeah.
SPEAKER_02And what is like one thing? I mean, you kind of you said it.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02You said what you had to say. Yeah. Is there anything else you wanted to leave like listeners with that you're just like, y'all need to believe this? Like, what are some like what is one thing we have to believe after this? That we just like we talk about, we know.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02What do we have to believe in right now? Because you have a very strong voice, and I feel like you have something very, very like beautiful, but just simple to say, you know?
SPEAKER_01Simply put, Jesus loves you so much. He is not a restrictive God. He's not when he tells you no, it's not because he doesn't want you to, you know, and enjoy life, it's because he's protecting you from things that you don't you have no idea, you don't even understand. Yeah, you don't know yet. Everything that he does is because he loves you. He is not a god of darkness or evil, but of light and goodness. Yeah. Purely. Period.
SPEAKER_02That's good. Yeah. Thank you so much for joining me today, girl. I really appreciate it. You're so wise, and I have no clue. Like the Lord has done something amazing in you, and I'm just excited to be here to just experience it. And I just hope that we all leave here knowing that there is something special about all of us that the Lord has done and that he will continue to do. Um, I hope we can all walk away knowing that we should have a mindset of gratitude coming to him. Thank you for this, thank you for that. This is amazing. Like always have that heavenly perspective of what he's doing in our lives and to have this unfailing confidence. We should have confidence to bring ourselves to him every day with our troubles, like he said, our joy, our lament, and celebration. I hope we can all learn to walk with God just like my friend Zarya here is, with a steadfastness and empowered by his spirit to continue to keep on, keep on, keep on finding him. So thank you so much, girl, for joining me today. Thank you, Nank. I love you. Love you too, girl.