Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 575 | Quick SOTU Reaction, Big-Picture Encouragement & Q&A

Episode Date: March 2, 2022

First, just to get it out of the way, we respond to the State of the Union and point out the Biden administration's actions have been much less uniting than the president's flowery speech tried to be. Then, we move on from news and politics to discuss some audience questions. We start by addressing the common fear of bringing a kid into a world so full of chaos and why you definitely should anyway. We also answer questions about what to do after college, how to use an ESV study Bible, and favorite snacks. --- Today's Sponsors: Birch Gold hedges against the US dollar by helping you invest in something with real value ... gold & silver! Precious metals have historically been a safe-haven in times of inflation & Birch Gold is the leader in converting IRAs & 401(k)s into a tax-sheltered IRA backed by gold & silver. Text 'ALLIE' to 98-98-98 to get your free info kit now! Cozy Earth provide the softest, most luxurious & best-temperature-regulating sheets on the planet. It's like sleeping on a cloud! The sheets are made from super soft viscose from bamboo. Check them out at CozyEarth.com & use promo code 'ALLIE' to save 35% on your order! Good Ranchers prices have stayed low & affordable even though inflation is out of control. Once you subscribe, your price never goes up & your best price is locked in for life! Shop Good Ranchers for all your beef, chicken, & seafood needs. Go to GoodRanchers.com/ALLIE & use promo code 'ALLIE' to save $30 off your order plus get free express shipping. --- Previous Episode Mentioned: Ep 572: Mike Rowe Shares What Lessons Kids SHOULD Learn https://apple.co/3vwv94q --- Buy Allie's book, You're Not Enough (& That's Okay): Escaping the Toxic Culture of Self-Love: https://alliebethstuckey.com/book Relatable merchandise: https://shop.blazemedia.com/collections/allie-stuckey

Hey, this is Steve Day. If you're listening to Allie, you already understand that the biggest issues facing our country aren't just political. They're moral, spiritual, and rooted in what we believe is true about God, humanity, and reality itself. On the Steve Day show, we take the news of the day and tested against first principles, faith, truth, and objective reality. We don't just chase narratives and we don't offer false comfort.

We ask the hard questions and follow the answers wherever they leave, even when it's unpopular. This is a show for people who want honesty over hype and clarity over chaos. If you're looking for commentary grounded in conviction and unwilling to lie to you about where we are or where we're headed, you can watch this D-Day Show right here on Blaze TV or listen wherever you get podcasts. I hope you'll join us. Hey, guys, and welcome to relatable. Happy Wednesday. This episode is brought to you by our friends at Good Ranchers American Meat delivered right to your front door. Go to Good Ranchers.com slash Alley for a discount.

That's good ranchers.com slash alley. Okay, guys, as promise, we are going to focus on. non-news politics items today. I know you guys have really wanted a breather in a break. That's understandable, especially as Ukraine and Russia are in this conflict, this invasion. There's been so much information to sift through. And even as we take a break from talking about all that, that does not mean that, of course, we don't care about the suffering that is ongoing there and in many parts of the world. But of course, it can get overwhelming.

We have to take a step back and get perspective, especially eternal perspective, but also just kind of focus on the day-to-day things that do demand our attention. So I'm not going to do a most misuse today. I know I said that that was a possibility. I'm not going to do that today. I didn't get to prepare for it quite as much as I wanted to,

and I really don't like to wing those episodes because I want to make sure that I am as thorough and as accurate as possible. And last night was the state of the union. And I wanted to also give you my commentary on that last night. So I just wasn't able to prepare for a most misused. But I am going to answer some of the questions that you guys sent me on Instagram. Some of them have to do with biblical topics. Some of them just have to do with everyday topics.

But I want to take a little break from the news cycle, take a step back. And remember the seemingly mundane and also the biblical topics. big picture, eternal perspective stuff, all of that, of course, matters. However, at the very start of this, I do want to give just a few comments about the state of the union, since it did happen last night. It's important thing. The president of the United States is supposed to get out there and talk about his administration's accomplishments, what they've achieved for the American people. And of course, a lot of people on the right in the center, myself included among these people on the right, who we were skeptical and curious about what he was going to say because his poll numbers

are in the tank, about 37 percent. Democrats across the board just aren't doing well as far as approval numbers go. And there's a reason for that because inflation is super high. Unemployment is still higher than it should be. Afghanistan was a mess. There has been a lot of disagreement in how this administration has approached the Ukraine, Russia situation. Prices are really high. People can hardly afford to fill up their car. And that is because of the so-called climate policies of the Biden administration to move us from energy independence under Trump to depending on regimes in Russia in the Middle East for our oil that has made the price of gas go up and it's continuing to go up. So people are feeling Biden's bad policies in their bank accounts.

And that makes a big difference in people's lives. And then also the draconian and unscientific restrictions that have continued in blue areas. It's weighing people down on both sides of the aisle. That is part of why Biden has such low approval number. And plus all of the people that voted for Joe Biden because they thought that he would be a moderate, because he said that he wasn't going to crush the economy, he was just going to crush the virus, because he said that he was going to unite people, bring us together that this was the end of Trump era demagoguery. They realized these center-right people who voted for Biden, they realized very quickly that they had been lied to. Right away, it was obvious that he was going to govern to the left. He has been a radical when it comes to energy policy. when it comes to economic policy, when it comes to abortion policy, when it comes to so-called trans rights and basically throwing the rights of and the protection of the privacy of women right under the bus.

He has been a radical in every sense of the word when it comes to his policies. And so these center right people who really wanted Joe Biden to do well, who really wanted him to be a moderate and to bring people together have been very disappointed over the past year. Joe Biden is now realizing that. Democrats are realizing that. So last night's state of the union was really about bringing those people back, convincing those people that he is the moderate and the uniter that he wanted them to be, even though he has proven otherwise over the past year. He has been a demagogue. And what I mean by that is that he has been extremely divisive in his rhetoric. He constantly is categorizing Americans as good versus evil. In general, the good people are those that agree with him,

and democratic policies like legislation on what they call voting rights. And the bad people are the people who voted for Donald Trump. Those are the white supremacists. We've seen this in many speeches that he has given over the past year. He compared people who don't agree with voting legislation that the Democrats have put forward in a variety of states and in Congress as people who fought against civil rights in the 1960s. He has said this is a pandemic of the unvaccinated. The White House said the unvaccinated can look forward to a winter of a dark winter of death.

I mean, he oversaw the firing of servicemen and women who chose not to get vaccinated. His government put out a mandate that corporations had to, of a certain side, had to require vaccination or other stipulations and regulations for their employees. And that led to lots of people losing their job. jobs. So this person who has worked very hard to divide Americans between left and right, who is called, you know, a large segment of Americans white supremacist who has said that our biggest national security threat is white supremacist terrorism. Well, he put all that to the side last night. What's interesting about that last point, too, is that we have been hearing from the Biden administration, from the FBI, from Biden's DOJ.

that our biggest threat is white supremacist terrorism. If that were really true, not only would you be hearing about it, hearing those plots and attacks all the time from the media, but you would have also heard Biden mention that last night. So you're saying that white supremacist terrorism is the biggest threat to our safety and you're not going to mention it once in the state of the union? That's because he knows that that is just a tactic. That's a tactic to bully people.

That's a tactic to other eyes. everyone who didn't vote for him. That is Joe Biden. That's who he has been while he's been president. That's who he was before he was president. And last night, he just wanted all the people who have become very disappointed in him over the past year to forget all of that and to get back on board and to vote for Democrats in the midterms.

That's what this was all about. That's why Congress changed their masking rules a day before the state of the union. That's why you see Democrats rolling back on these restrictions that we were told We're to keep people safe and we're based in science. Now, all of the sudden, I guess the science has changed a little bit and we don't need those same restrictions anymore. It's all politics. It is all to make you forget the destruction that they have wrought over the past two years. And what I'm afraid of is that people are going to forget.

They're going to forget that the things that Joe Biden last night said that he wanted, said that he was for, he has actively worked against for the past year, and Democrats have been working against for years. So, for example, he said that he wanted to rebuild American manufacturing, support good policing. He said, actually reiterated that he doesn't want to defund the police. He wants to fund the police to a round of applause. I mean, that was crazy.

That we need to secure the border. We need to support our veterans. We need to get back to normal in open schools. Look, I agree with all of that. I think that's great. And if he were representing those policies, I would absolutely applaud him, even if there were other things that I disagreed with him on. But the fact of the matter is that when he says we need to rely on American manufacturing

and ensure that we are self-reliant as Americans for the things that we need, his administration has actively worked against that. For example, by shutting down American gas pipelines. I mean, that lost a lot of jobs. And his mandates also led to a lot of unemployment for working class Americans. Support good policing and fund the police. I'm sure he is not himself, a defund the police radical. But Democrats absolutely were calling for that in 2020.

And Democrat cities across the country have absolutely done that over the past two years. He's talked about good policing and equal justice and safety and equal justice don't have to be mutually exclusive, except the cities that are run by Democrats. have actually put both of those things to the wayside. They are neither safe nor are they doling out equal justice. They are actually letting criminals back on the street in the name of equity and keeping their cities unsafe. So the Democratic Party is not, in general, is not for equal justice and safety because the cities that are run by Democrats are characterized by neither of those things. He says we need to secure the border, which I thought was probably the biggest piece of

gaslighting, or at least one of them, that he employed last night. We have a greater number of illegal crossings and fewer deportations than we have ever had at any point in American history, at least over the past few decades. So more illegal crossings incentivized by his promise, Biden's promise, that those people are going to be able to come into the United States and start a life. even if they're illegal or is policies and his promises have amounted to that at least. And we are deporting fewer and fewer people. And Majorcas has said that it is his policy not to deport an illegal immigrant simply for being

illegal. They have to commit some kind of very, very egregious crime. There are all other kinds of crimes that an illegal immigrant could commit and still not be deported. The federal government under Joe Biden, is actually busing and flying illegal immigrants from the border to the interior of the United States. In the dark of the night. I mean, this is documented.

We've known this for the past year. And he says we need to secure our border. I mean, he's joking. He's joking. He's tricking you. Of course, he doesn't actually mean that. He's trying to appeal to you. He's trying to lie to you.

He's actively working against that. And then he says we need to support our veterans again under his leadership, service men and women who didn't want to get the COVID vaccine for a variety of reasons. Maybe they had natural immunity, whatever the reason was. They've been discharged and their families left destitute. So we want to support our veterans, but not those. And by the way, the only person who got fired after the whole Afghanistan debacle was actually one of the servicemen who spoke up about the corruption and the mishandling of that whole thing. He was the only one that got in trouble.

He was actually put in jail for that. But everyone else, of course, stayed in their job, even though that was an abject failure. And then the last one that I, of course, agree with, but just have to roll my eyes at is this idea that we have to get back to normal and open up our schools, that our kids have to be back in school. Yeah, we've been saying that for the past two years. European countries have had their kids in school this entire time. It's been exclusively Democrat-run districts, Democrat-run cities, Democrat-run states that have kept kids out of school, or who have put so many restrictions on them that they have made school so miserable and have stolen normalcy and childhood from these kids that has been exclusively Democrats, okay? Hasn't been Republicans.

So you don't need to preach to Republicans that kids need to go back to normal. We know. So this was not a list of accomplishments for Joe Biden, which is what the state of the state of the state of the state. the union is supposed to be accomplishments and goals. These weren't even goals. These were just things that he wants you to believe that he stands for, but actually that he has actively been working against for the past year. So don't be fooled. Don't be manipulated. It's all a political tactic. And look, I'm still rooting for this administration because I love this country. And so of course I want him to do well. I pray for this administration. I pray that they have wisdom. I pray that they have discernment. I pray that

God would bless them with the ability to do the right thing for America. Countries are like families. You are supposed to put your family first. That does not mean that you hate other families and you don't love your family the most because you think all other families are bad. You love it the most because it's yours. You seek its best interest first because it's yours, even if that means you're not putting the interest of other families first.

Again, that doesn't mean that you hate other families or that you antagonize other families in any way, but it means that the family that God gave you. you are called to be the primary steward up. There's the same thing when it comes to countries. And Joe Biden, at least rhetorically, seemed to understand that last night when he's talking about the greatest and most prosperous and freest country in the world, a lot of American exceptionalism that if I said it or if Donald Trump said it, that would be scary, fascistic nationalism.

But again, when Joe Biden says it, we're supposed to say, oh, yeah, this is totally normal. I mean, the guy that continues to sell us out to China, we're supposed to pretend that he believes that America is exceptional. and that he is standing for our country. First, again, it's a bunch of gaslighting. I won't be gaslit. I don't want you to be gaslit. Doesn't mean that I'm not hoping for his success because I am,

but I'm also just not going to go along to get along. I'm not after he has divided us so much over the past year, not after he has failed us so much over the past year. I'm not going to forget. And I don't want you to forget either. And I am here to make sure that you don't forget. Hey, this is Steve Deist. If you're listening to Allie,

you already understand that the biggest issues facing our country aren't just political. They're moral, spiritual, and rooted in what we believe is true about God, humanity, and reality itself. On the Steve Day show, we take the news of the day and tested against first principles, faith, truth, and objective reality. We don't just chase narratives and we don't offer false comfort. We ask the hard questions and follow the answers wherever they leave, even when it's unpopular. This is a show for people who want honesty over hype and clarity over chaos. If you're looking for commentary grounded in conviction and unwilling to lie to you about where we are or where we're headed, you can watch this Steve Day Show right here on Blaze TV or listen wherever you get

podcasts. I hope you'll join us. Okay. So let's actually talk about something other than the President of the United States and news and politics because I promise. And there are things that affect your life more directly that we do need to discuss. So let me start by answering a question that I get so much. And I always want to answer it because you never know who's listening. And one of my favorite kinds of messages that I get is, Allie, because I listen to you about having kids, I am now pregnant after years of saying I didn't want kids or putting off having kids for reasons that weren't very good reasons. I absolutely love getting messages like that. It makes me really happy. And so this question has to do with that.

It has to do with this idea of being scared to bring children into the world. So first, let me validate that feeling that it is. is absolutely scary to bring children into the world. There's a threat of nuclear war. There is all kinds of conflict. And plus, we live in this crazy post-truth, anti-God culture in which the powers that be are constantly trying to reach into the minds and the hearts and the souls of your children to evangelize to them, to disciple them, to win them over to their anti-God side,

and to try to place them on the side of anti-truth when it comes to gender, when it comes to sex and marriage and family, all kinds of issues that the world calls culture war issues. But for Christians, we know that they're actually pre-political, pre-cultural war, culture war issues. They're actually biblical issues. The definitions of those things, male and female marriage, gender, life inside the womb, right and wrong, all of all of that. has existed far before America existed, far before our political system existed, they have been in scripture for thousands of years. And so for Christians who care about those things and want to raise our children in the truth, it's not a matter of politics or engage in the culture war. It's about disciplining them in the truth of God's word. And it has been difficult in every single

stage of history for Christian parents to do that. It might not have always been difficult in America to do that. America and the West, but especially the United States, is rare historically. We are the exception, this idea of religious liberty, where it's safe to be a Christian. It's safe to publicly talk about your faith and to be proud about worshiping in a church and sharing the gospel. That is rare historically. The vast majority of human history, in fact, almost all of human history and Christian history, I should say, church history over the past two millennia, has been characterized by intense danger for Christians, intense persecution, the threat of martyrdom, having to worship in secret, being jailed for sharing the gospel, being marginalized if you express your faith in any way. it has been much scarier to live. It has been much more difficult to live as a Christian in many other points in history than it is today.

I'm not minimizing all of the scary stuff that we're enduring right now and just the demonic forces that I think we see at play in a variety of ways in our world today. I think it is extremely normal and rational in a lot of ways to say, I don't know if I want to bring a child into this world. You're simply thinking of the child that you know that you're going to. to love and you're already thinking of ways to protect them even before you have them. So I understand that. But I don't know and you don't know if it really is the end of the world. A lot of people are looking at Russia and Ukraine and they're saying wars and rumors of wars. Well, think about how

many times in history there have been wars and rumors of wars. I don't know if it's the end times. Maybe. There's a lot of disagreement on that. I have talked about my particular eschatological views. you can go back and listen to some of those episodes that I've done on it. But the fact of the matter is is that no one really knows for sure the timeline of when Jesus is going to come back. And so if that's the case, like if we've got another thousand years in this thing, like if things could possibly swing to the better, if there could be some kind of religious revival,

if people could love truth again, if there is another great awakening, that's not going to happen unless we have kids who grow up to be Christian adults. Yes, God is going to accomplish whatever he wants to accomplish through whomever he wants to accomplish it. But it is our job as Christians, not just to be salt and light ourselves, but to raise the next generation of lights in the world. to raise the next generation of bold, of strong, of wise, of kind and loving children who know the truth and speak it in love relentlessly. If we look at the world and we see so much chaos and so much confusion and so much cowardice, which I think we do, what we need is people who will push back

against that. So yes, that falls on our shoulders, but eventually it's going to fall in the next generation's shoulders. We need to raise disciples and future evangelists that are going to go out into the world and infuse clarity into confusion and chaos, who are going to show courage to a cowardly world. That's what we need. That's a huge responsibility of Christians. That's what the world needs most. Of course, they need Jesus, but they also need people who are going to show them Jesus. We need wise and discerning and strong and bold little babies who are going to grow up into wise and strong and discerning and bold and loving and generous and kind adults. I mean, people shape societies.

They shape civilizations. They change the trajectory of the future. And you don't actually have to be in a majority to change history. They're really what's required to change things for the better. It's a strong minority. I mean, secular progressives understand that. They were the minority for a very long time, and they've pushed really hard to push their ideology,

and now their ideology really characterizes most global and national institutions. And so we have to remember that as well, and it's even more powerful, knowing that if God is for us, who can be against us? Now, I'm not saying that the Christian responsibility is to primarily wage culture wars. I'm saying the Christian responsibility is to glorify God. And that, one consequence of that, is a changed culture. And so I say, have the kid.

I know that it's scary. And you have to look at your particular situation and you have to seek wisdom and pray to God. But I don't see any biblical directive saying that, you know, when times are scary, you shouldn't have kids. Times have been really scary for all of human history. We've faced serious challenges for all of human history, especially all of church history. And what we see throughout scripture is that having children is a blessing, not a burden, but a blessing.

And so I think that's how I look at it. Again, I can't tell you you're the prescription for your particular situation. You seek wisdom and you pray to God. But in general, that's what I'd say. All right. Next question. Let's see. All right, advice for someone who's graduating from college and doesn't know what's next.

Well, I have a very simple piece of advice for you, and it might be unsatisfying, and I know I say it a lot. I didn't come up with this. Do the next right thing. Now, I did add my own spend to it. Do the next right thing in faith with excellence. And for the glory of God, that last part is mine. But a lot of people have said, do the next right thing. So let me be a little bit more specific because I know that it can be hard to know exactly what that is when you're looking for

practical steps. So I'm going to go back to what Mike Roe said on Friday, which by the way, a lot of you said that you had never heard of Mike Roe. Actually, someone kind of left me, I think an offended review saying that, well, you don't think that you live under a rock, but you didn't know who Mike Roe was. I was obviously being sarcastic. I know that not everyone knows who everyone is. But Mike Roe obviously is very famous. He has done the dirty jobs show for a very long time. And I loved his, I loved his three steps to finding a job that will eventually fulfill you. And before I even give those three steps, I think that one important thing to know is that your job does not have to fulfill you right away. You do not have to find your dream job right away,

or even in 20 years, in order to have a fulfilling life and in order to glorify God with your work. And we are told in scripture that we are to glorify God. God in all that we do, especially our work. And we are called to some kind of productive kind of work. Now, that doesn't mean that we're always going to get paid for our work, like stay-at-home moms or volunteers who are working very hard. That is still work that could be pleasing and glorifying to the Lord. So you don't actually have to get paid for it in order for it to be glorifying to the Lord. But if your job is providing for yourself or your family, then yes, you do need to get paid for it because that is part of it.

being a good steward and being responsible with the gifts that you have been given and not depending entirely on someone else for that. Anyway, so what Mike Rose said is that in order to find a job that will eventually be fulfilling, that you will be fulfilled by, he said that you look for a skill or a job that's in demand. And then you try to become excellent at that skill and then you find a way to love it. And that is so backwards to how I think we think, certainly how I think or have thought traditionally when it comes to finding a job. Like we just have so many options as millennials or have had so many options as far as the different kind of jobs that we can do. And I think a lot of us in this generation, I know this is true for me, value flexibility. You want a job that fulfills you

right away that uses all your talents, that pays you a lot of money, and allows you to work, from home and all of these things. And that could be totally possible, but that's not possible for everyone. That doesn't mean that you're less successful or that you are going to be less fulfilled. If you simply find a job that's in demand or a skill that's in demand become really good at it. So that just means working hard at it, committing, dedicating time to be, to becoming a master at that craft. And then you learn to love it. So all of that requires being uncomfortable, putting yourself in situations that aren't necessarily natural for you and working harder than the person next to you and then committing to actually loving it. So we often think that it has to start with

loving your job. You have to start by loving something and then you get good at it and then you are fulfilled by it or you start like with fulfillment. You have to be fulfilled by something first and then you get good at it and then you hope that someone will demand it. I think that's very often how we start, especially in the media and especially in the creative world. But if that's not the realm that you can occupy and you need to make money and you need to be productive and you need to provide for yourself or you just need to learn some skills, find a job that's open and become really good at it. The first job out of college does not need to be her dream job. that's not expected of you.

I would say that's extremely rare. It was not my dream job when I took a PR social media job out of college. I'm very thankful for it. I think I learned a lot that still benefits me to this day. I learned about client relations, which I honestly think is one of the most important things that anyone can learn because I will help you for the rest of your life. I learned how to write an email.

I learned how to work under a boss. And I still love those bosses to this day, but I will say I am not someone who has ever been a great person to have a boss. I just have a hard time with that and that is part of why I now do what I do. But I am glad that my kind of like anti-authority personality did learn to work with and respect and communicate with a boss and work with other people. I built great relationships in that job. So find a job.

Find a job. Do it well. Learn to love it. Use it as a starting point for the next. thing. And try to honor God in everything you do and pray for wisdom and everything you do. Find a job. That's what I would say. That's your next right step is to find a job, learn to love it, and don't put pressure on yourself. This has to be your dream job. Okay. Next question. Would I rather eat 14 gross flavor jelly bellies or kiss an alligator.

Is it, are jelly bellies? Are you from the UK? Are you from Canada? Down here, we call them jelly beans, okay? So I don't know what a jelly belly is. But the question is, would I rather eat 14 jelly beans or die by kissing an alligator? I think I'm going to have to go with the first one. I don't think that I want to kiss an alligator, but thank you for your question.

All right. Let's see. The next question, does Beto, Beto, Beto, Robert, O'Rourke, have an actual chance in Texas? Please no. I don't think that he actually does. They're going to try their darnedest. Obviously, Democrats across the country are going to be pouring money into this campaign, just like they did when he was running for Senate against Ted Cruz.

I don't think that it's, I don't think that there's a possibility. Obviously, anything could happen. And so people in Texas have to work really hard. to make sure that a Republican gets elected. It doesn't matter if you're not fully satisfied with Greg Abbott. Maybe you think that he could have worked harder to protect the border. I can guarantee you he will do a better job than better or work. So just ensure that no matter your feelings about the primary results,

that if you are in Texas, that you are helping out Greg Abbott and that you are voting for him and trying to convince other people to do the same. How you used the ESV study Bible. So I have, I've very much been a fan and a recommender of the ESV study Bible. It really changed my life. I had a friend give it to me, I think, in 2011 in college. And it, it's my favorite study Bible. There are a lot of great study Bibles. I also have the John McArthur Study Bible. That's an ESV study Bible, or it's ESV version. But the ESV official study Bible is different than like, it's not just the ESV version. It's like the official ESV study Bible. It's like a white Bible with red and black on it. You can find it wherever you find your

Bibles. And I just love it because it gives so many good resources, so much good insight. One issue that if you, I love John MacArthur. You guys know I'm a huge John McArthur fan. and I'm so thankful for his faithful ministry and just how clearly he speaks the truth in love, maybe better than any other pastor of our generation or of the generations that currently are on earth. But I don't align with him on eschatology. And actually someone's eschatology, what they think about the end times really does characterize a lot of their biblical interpretation and what they think about certain Bible passages. So if you land in a different place, like I am the same as someone like John Piper. I actually agree with his eschatology,

not because it's his eschatology, but just that's because that is where I, that's where I land. There are a lot of faithful Christians, by the way, who disagree on eschatology, that's okay. But it actually does make a difference in your biblical interpretation. And so it can be a little bit difficult to read the biblical commentary of someone who doesn't have the same eschatology as you, whereas I'm pretty sure John Piper helped write the ESV study Bible anyway. I agree with the eschatology of the people who did, right? The Sve-Stated Bible, so it's a little bit easier for me. How I used it, I just would read the Bible. And if I had a question about something, I would look at the footnote. But there's also a lot of information in the

back of the Bible about like different religions and different theological issues. I love systematic theology as well by Wayne Grudom. We've had Wayne Grudom on this podcast to answer like big picture questions. Like if you want to know, what is eschatology? What are all the different, what's all the different support for the, for the different ideas about the end times. Like, where are all these people getting the different ideas? Why are there so many disagreements? Systematic theology, this big, like, textbook type book is a really great place to look because it explains all of the different views on a whole host of things and explains why different people adhere to different theological stances. And so I highly recommend that just as a supplement. I also have a

keyword study Bible that I sometimes use that if I want to know the original Greek or Hebrew of a word to better understand like when I do the most misused, I always use all three of these resources to really understand the context of the verse and what the verse originally means. I like my keyword study by the, I don't use all of those every day. I don't want to make it sound like I am some like, you know, monk that has time to do like an hour and a half Bible study where I'm looking at all of these resources every day. Honestly, the vast majority of my quiet time, as we call it, or reading the Bible, is like sitting there while my children are, you know, playing.

And I'm just trying to read what I, you know, set out to read that day. And usually it's like reading two verses and then like answering a question for my toddler or putting it down or warming up my coffee. And so it's not some like, oh, I am in my room with canned. candles lit and I've got my tea at 4.30 a.m. I would love to do that. I am not there yet. Just to be totally honest. But ESV study Bible is a huge help and just helping me understand what's really going on in scripture. All right. Top 10 snacks. Now that would take a really long time. What is my favorite snack? You know, I'm actually, I'm not really a snacker. I like meals.

very much. I very much like food. This will actually lead into the next question that I saw. Top 10 snacks, that would be way too difficult. I do like like chips and guacamole because you all know born and raised in Texas. I'm a Tex-Mex girl, but I'm not really someone who is going to just like eat that randomly. I just like carbs in my meals. And so I'm not like, I don't like potato chips and things like that. So I couldn't tell you my top 10 snacks. My favorite food is probably tax mecks though. The other question I saw is how to stay fit. When you are busy, you're either working, your mom or a combination of all of those things. Well, sweet person who asked that, who thinks that I have some special insight or authority into that. I do not because I am not

fit myself. I used to be. I used to be. I was reminiscing on this yesterday. I from about 2013 to 2018, I was a very fit person. And I genuinely like working out. And I loved working out. I was like pure bar crossfit cycling. I was doing all of that. And I was on and off eating healthy. Sometimes I was way too strict about it. I've written about that. It talked about that before. And other times I just was busy. And so, you know, I was losing weight without meaning to. And, you know, it kind of went up and down. But I was working out a lot during that time. And then when I got pregnant for the first time, I think part of this was healthy shifted mindset and then part of this probably was just sheer laziness is that when I got pregnant, I was like, oh, I feel like I have an excuse not to constantly think about

like the calories that I'm consuming and like how much I'm working out. I just kind of want to take a break because I've been doing that for at least five years. And I don't want to think about that anymore because when you're pregnant, you know that you're going to gain weight. You're not trying to lose weight. And so having just kind of like that burden lifted from me, I really enjoyed. Now, I think I took it too far. I halfway through my pregnancy, I totally stopped working out. And I just didn't even have, I didn't even have the pretense of trying to eat healthy. I was eating whatever I wanted to all the time. And that I don't recommend. I do think that there is some fun and being like, ooh, I'm craving ice cream on a random Tuesday night. Let's go.

Do that with your husband. And plus, like, you're doing all of the things that you want to do before the baby gets there with your husband. So there's, There's a lot of fun and just like eating out and all of that stuff. I think I took it too far in my first pregnancy, and I don't recommend that. One, obviously, it's not good for your body. It's not good for you. But also you tell yourself that as soon as you have a baby, you're going to get back to be as fit as you were, and it's going to be fine because that was just a pregnancy thing

and you're going to go back to eating healthy. But it's really not that easy. It's really hard, especially postpartum and you're tired. If you're breastfeeding, then you really want. I want carbs and all of that, and I think part of that is good, but it's really hard to get back into working out and eating healthy if you took a really long break while you were pregnant like I did. And so it took about a year for me to kind of get back into working out and eating healthy and losing weight, and then I was pregnant, like immediately after that.

And the same kind of thing happened to my second pregnancy, not quite as much. I tried to be a little more disciplined, but I didn't work out nearly as much. And now here I am. I don't know if you can believe it, but almost 11 months. I'm actually just 10 months, just turned 10 months, postpartum, and I'm kind of in the same boat. Like on and off over the past year, I've like worked out and I've tried to eat healthier and go through stages. My husband and I are back into like an eating healthy stage, but I was working out really well at the beginning of the year. That's what everyone does and they have New Year's

resolutions. And then I got COVID and I got tired and then I got lazy. And then I feel like I have a million things to do. I'm writing a book and then there's this and obviously motherhood takes priority. And so I don't feel like I have a lot of time. And when I do get to like sleep a little bit, I always take that. And so I can't really tell you the secret because I haven't figured it out. I think the secret is probably like waking up really early to try to get things done. I sometimes do that. Basically what I'm trying to tell you is that I don't have a consistent discipline schedule every single day. I try to get everything done that I need to get done on a daily basis and a weekly basis. And that usually means that one thing has to be pushed to the side. And for me, that has been

exercise. I'm going to try to get back on it, though. I genuinely like to work out. I miss being strong. That's what I want. It's not just for like aesthetics, although, of course, there is like, oh, I would like to be this weight and fit into this size and all of that, of course. But really, I just want to be strong and I want to be fit again. I want to feel good again. not feel like I'm addicted to like carbs and sweets, which I do feel like I am. So I know that that didn't help you at all, except for that maybe it's relatable. Maybe it can help you realize that other people are struggling with that too. And there are a lot of good resources.

I know I'm probably going to get a million messages and emails, and that's fine from people saying, hey, you should try this or you should, like, I can help you or whatever. And I do totally appreciate that. I really do because I do need help. But there are a lot of different accounts and different plans. lands, different things that I think you can follow that are realistic, because it really does have to be realistic. My problem is, is that I want to, like, I want to go cold turkey, like, stop eating or doing something that I was doing before, or I want to go all in on something, and then I get

burnt out really easily. Like, in my mind, I'm like, oh, I want to do CrossFit again, and I want to, you know, eat paleo, whatever. I know that after a week, I'm just going to be like, yeah, pass the pizza. So I got to figure that out. All that to say, I'm right there with you. All right. Let's see. Last question. I know that I asked for, I asked for questions. And so I got a ton of them and I didn't get to answer all of them. I know. I know. But I try to answer the ones that I think are going to apply to the most. most people. And this definitely applies to the most people. Would I rather have potatoes for hands or only eat potatoes for the rest of my life? I love potatoes. I love eating potatoes. They don't have that

many nutrients. So I wonder, am I able to take like a multivitamin? If I can take a multivitamin and only eat potatoes, that would be better than having potatoes for hands. I couldn't pick up my children. I couldn't do anything if I had potatoes for hands. Now, I'm not trying to offend the potatoes for hands community that may exist out there. I think that you're very capable and there's a lot that you can probably accomplish. But for me, I rely on my hands a lot. And so that would be very difficult. So I think like I would make potatoes, I would eat potatoes for the rest of my life.

There's a lot that you can do with potatoes. You can hash potatoes. You can mash potatoes. you can smash potatoes, you can, you know, boil potatoes, you can bake potatoes, you can roast potatoes, you can fry potatoes. There's all kinds of things that you can do with potatoes. So I think I'm going to have to say only eat potatoes for the rest of my life and, you know, just pop that multivitamin every day and hope for the best. So thank you for that question. I really appreciate it. All right, guys, if you love this podcast, will you do me a favor?

leave me a five-star review on Apple Podcasts and on Spotify. That would just really mean a lot to us. You don't have to do some long, lengthy review. Just maybe tell us why you like the show and subscribe on YouTube. If you haven't already tomorrow, we will be talking to Victor Davis Hanson. And he is, I have a lot of brilliant guests and I really mean that. I think I talk to the smartest and most interesting people in the world. He is definitely one of the smartest and one of the most interesting people that we've had on the show and I think in the world. I mean, his insight is really just invaluable. So make sure you tune into that. And if you've got any specific things that you want me to ask him, let me know. I will see you guys back here tomorrow.

Hey, this is Steve Day. If you're listening to Allie, you already understand that the biggest issues facing our country aren't just political. They're moral, spiritual, and rooted in what we believe is true about God, humanity and reality itself. On the Steve Day show, we take the news of the day and tested against first principles, faith, truth, and objective reality. We don't just chase narratives and we don't offer false comfort. We ask the hard questions and follow the answers wherever they leave, even when it's unpopular. This is a show for people who want honesty over hype and clarity over chaos. If you're looking for commentary grounded in conviction and unwilling to lie to you about where we are or where we're headed, you can watch this T-Day show right here on Blaze TV

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