#045 - Worry or Wonder

Hey, my hit splits. Friends. In this episode, I wanted to just talk about how when we're faced with unknown, we have a choice to either respond in worry or in wonder. This has been something that God has been working in me and it's like layer after layer, you know, circumstance after circumstance. And I am still learning it. I am still in that messy middle, but I am, am challenging myself and God is helping me to respond differently. So as I've shared about before on this podcast, in 2022, God's Glory Box went out of business. That was a huge part of our income. And you know, they had purchased like 40, 000 copies of our books a year. That's huge. That is huge. And we are still recovering from that in some ways. But God has been providing and now our savings is pretty much depleted and it's like, okay, Lord, what, what is, you know, what's next? What's going to happen? And I realize, like, I have the choice every day to respond and worry and worry about the unknown of how God's going to provide, how it's going to work out. We're doing our part too. Like, we're doing the things that we can do in the meantime to make income and to do what God is leading us to do, but also trusting that he's going to do it and to really be in that grace over grind, as my friend Shay Vines talks about. But I can choose. I can choose to worry, which that is my default many times. That's the sin nature, right? Or I can choose to be in wonder and say, I wonder how God is going to work this all out. I wonder how God is going to bring good out of this, right? Or I'm excited to see how God's going to provide for us. And it totally switches the flip. Flip, flips the switch. I mean, flips the switch in my mind when I start thinking that way. So I just wanted to encourage you today. When you're faced with the unknown regarding your writing, publishing and marketing or anything related, you know, in your life, are you responding in worry or in wonder? Because, you know, God has reminded me so many times, you know, know, Shelly, if you knew every single thing, if you, you know, had all this money in your bank account or you knew exactly how everything was going to work out, it wouldn't require faith. And I'm like, yeah, you're right. And so this walk of faith, the Bible says we walk by faith, not by sight. It is a privilege to walk with God in faith. And yet a lot of times it doesn't feel like it, right? Our feelings, we want to know, we want to have the plan, we want to be in control. And yet God is at work. He's always at work, even when we cannot see. So let me just pray for you, Lord. We just praise you right now for all you're doing in each one of our lives. And we know like, we are going to be faced with unknown this side of heaven and there's going to always be challenges and things that come up and circumstances that are hard and. And yet we just want to come to you. And first of all, confess that many times we do respond with worry and anxiety, not sure what's going to happen. And yet we want to flip that switch in our minds and we want to go into a different direction. We want to just be able to walk in faith, not sight, and be able to respond with wonder. What if it's wonderful, you know, and just be excited to see how you're going to work it all out. So we just surrender all this to you, Lord. And I just pray for each person right now that is dealing with unknowns in their life. And it's hard. It is hard many times that they would just sense your presence with them so closely right now that you are with them, you will never leave them or forsake them, and that you are working right now even though that they. They cannot see us. So we just pray, God, that we would respond in prayer, in thanksgiving, and in wonder when we face those unknowns. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Friends, I pray that this encouraged you today. And we will always have those times that are unknown, uncertain, and yet God has got our back. He is in control. We can trust him. And even when we don't understand, even when it seems like things are upside down or inside out, we know that God ultimately wins. He has the victory. We fight from victory, not for victory. Amen. Amen. All right, I will talk to you in the next episode.