WHOA That's Good Podcast - Building Your Faith: Foundations & Encouragement | Sadie Robertson Huff

Episode Date: August 26, 2026

This special “Best Of” episode is packed with some of our favorite encouragement for living out your faith with more purpose, joy, and courage. Willie Robertson reminds us that sharing the Gospel is something all of us get to be part of, while Priscilla Shirer brings so much freedom from the pressure of doing it all by encouraging us to embrace what God has actually called us to in this season. Annie Downs gets real about growing in wisdom, courage, and everyday obedience, and Jonathan Pokluda brings practical truth about prayer, trusting God through things we don’t understand, and letting small acts of faithfulness grow deep roots over time. Link to the 2026 LO Conference livestream tickets: https://k6hu9k.viewcastle.tv/ http://primallypure.com - Get 15% off your order when you use code WHOA at checkout! https://article.com/whoa - Get $50 off your first purchase of $100 or more! https://savanutrition.com - Get 15% off your order when you use code WHOA at checkout! - Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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So get a free eight count sample packet elements most popular drink mix flavors with any purchase at drink element.com slash woe. Find your favorite element flavor or share with a friend that's drink element lminti.com slash woe. What's up everybody? Y'all, I have something so exciting for everyone and this news is for everyone because we know not everybody can get on a flight and fly to Munro, Louisiana. for L.O. Sister Conference, although we'd love to host you next year. This year, we sold out faster than ever, and so we were able to put our live stream on sale sooner than ever, and we are so excited. Live stream is going to be so legit. You're going to get every session, the worship, the sister chats, the messages, and we want you to join us from wherever you are in the world. And, hey, don't watch it

alone. Invite some friends over and text a group. Say, hey, guys, let's watch Elos Sister Conference together. It'll be so fun. Have a party. Go ahead and text your friends right now. We put the website and the show notes. So click on that, get your ticket, and be at live stream in September 11 through 12. It's going to be so amazing. Our theme this year is a thrill of hope. And so get your hopes up because it's going to be awesome. How do people realize that they're meant to tell the gospel even if they're not a preacher? Well, how do we help empower people to know that they can to do this? One, you have to start with, is it your goal? Is it something that you think is I think in the book I caught it,

is it part of the deal? Because I think a lot of people come to faith, and I think later on they'd be like, I didn't know that was part of the deal. I didn't know I was supposed to tell anyone else about it, you know. And I kind of make the case that, what if it's the whole deal? The whole deal is about giving it away.

It's not, it's about telling others. And so like in the book, I start building out this premise of where this comes from. So you look at the gospels, Matthew Martin, and John Jesus's life from birth to death to resurrection. And so we can pick up a lot from what Jesus says. And he certainly said that I think Zekeos comes to mind in that story where he says,

look, salvation has come. The son of man came to seek and save what was lost. Very specific on why I'm even here is to come and seek and save the lost. Now, I'm really interested once Jesus has come back from the dead, He's only here for a few weeks. And then he's, what does he tell people to do? Like, what's the last, you know? It's kind of like when we leave, like you leave and you're telling Christian or I'm leaving and I'm telling my family or y'all or something to look, make sure, you know, here's what needs to happen.

And so we can, I clue in right there to include into a couple things, but especially what you may know of as the Great Commission. Yes. At the end of Matthews, it's 28, all of things. authority's been given to me. And he says three things there. He says, go make disciples, baptize people and teach people. And so those are three specific things. He doesn't say, go to church, try to be a good person. You would have thought he may would have said go hide out. Like go, like it's sketchy right now. So go. Everybody go, what would we tell people? Be careful. Be careful. Be safe. You know, don't, you know, that's what we tell everyone like, make sure you're safe.

but the man who was just killed and is not telling people to be safe, to watch out, you know, like it's dicey right now, wait for things to cool down. He says to go be active, and those are the three things. And so what I found was, well, in my life, if I'm not around any of those three things, like, then maybe I'm on the wrong mission, which comes from the Great Commission, maybe my mission is wrong. And so I felt like I've run into a lot of beliefs. who they're just, they just don't have the right mission.

Yep. They're thinking, try to go to church, try to be good, try to maybe give some money. And that's the mission. What happens is the mission so small. It's like, it's not, then they're like, I can't figure out why my life is like, wow, why don't I feel like I need something? Why do I feel like I'm not, you know, I'm looking for purpose. I'm looking for meaning.

And I really believe it's because they're not going back to what Jesus said. This is your mission. So you got to go back to the mission. like, well, was that just for them or was that for everyone? And so, which is interesting on how you may be able to read and study the Bible is, is this just for these people or is this for us too? And I think it's for all of us. I think that mission was for everyone.

And so once we can get that, once I can get someone to agree and say, okay, I think then what had the whole where the book came out of was when we were doing this training and we were teaching, Christian was part of that, actually in a church setting. Then I started hearing what everybody thought about them sharing their faith. And what I heard was a lot of excuses as to why we can't. It was like probably number one was I just don't know the Bible. I don't know it well enough. You seem to know it way better than I do.

And that's why you can talk about it. I'm not confident about it. I'm shy. It's not my gifting. It was just so many excuses as to why we don't bring that up. And so what I wanted to do with the book was to start breaking. those down. You know, it's like when you were young and a child and all the, all the things that you said you didn't want to do or you couldn't do. And I can, and now you're dealing with that

with your children of like, yes, you can. And so you're trying to show them and like, taste this. It's not that you know, you'll like this. And so it's, it's, you know, we realize with our children. And I felt like that's probably one of the gifts that I have is as a teacher is to try to, because I felt like Jesus taught that way. He was like, okay, let me think of how would you say this to where this would make sense? Like, ah, that makes sense. Like, it's not my gifting. And I thought, okay, if you say it's not your gifting to tell someone else about your relationship with Jesus,

then go tell your spouse that you're never going to mention their name to anybody that you ever meet or talk to. You're not going to mention their name ever because you're not gifted at that. Oof. What would you think if Christian told you that? That would not go over so well. You would say that's not a gifty, right? Yeah, that's not a gifting. That's going to pour out.

Yeah. When you have a great relationship, I don't know how many times I've mentioned, Corey or mom, we'll keep referring to her as mom. But I'm going to keep referencing that because we have such a relationship. We're with each other every day. We're together. And I think when you have that relationship with Jesus, it's the same way.

You can't, when it was a same. I can't help but talk about it. You know, we read that scripture in the Bible says, I can't help. How could I explain anything? How could I explain Duck Dynasty without mentioning our relationship and our faith in Jesus? How could I mention anything that I've done without mentioning that? And so we go from the story. Then we go to the cross and the line, which Galatians 5 is generally where I start.

And it's the simple nature versus the fruit of the spirit. Very clear line there. And what I try to do is just help people to figure out which side of this line are you on. I'm not judging. You know, most of them I don't even know who they are. I'm just like, if you're not in the right place, let me see if I can help you. And then we'll end up with, you know, where you take the idea like a baptism that comes up later. But sometimes somebody may walk up to me and say, Willie, I want to get baptized.

So they're actually starting way past, you know. I was actually going to read this up because I remember when I asked you to baptize me, I don't know if you remember this, but you were like, do you feel like you understand what this is? And then you read the passage to me, had me go read it, and then told me like you would baptize me. It was a couple months out. It wasn't like, you weren't like, yeah, I'll go baptize you. You really wanted to make sure I understand. I was thinking about this because earlier you said, sometimes you think about explaining it like you would explain it to a kid, you know, just how Jesus did.

And yesterday, actually. So honey, he's been trying to learn how to swim. swim lessons have not been going so great for us. And she was jumping in the pool yesterday to swim to Christian. Speaking of baptism. Yeah, exactly. She was jumping in the pool to swim to Christian. And she wasn't doing it.

Like she was just not swimming. And, you know, she's so well spoken. And she goes, Mommy, I just, I don't understand why I can't swim. And then she said, you know, I'm just trying, you know, and I just can't do it. And she kept saying, you know? And she was really like trying to ask me, like, I don't understand why. it's not clicking. And I said, well, honey, you don't understand how to swim because you haven't learned how to swim. Like, you have to, you have to let me teach you. That's why you go to swim

lessons. Like, I know you're frustrated about swim lessons. She really hates it. I know you're frustrated. I know they scare you. I know it's hard. But that's what's teaching you how to swim. And you're not going to understand how to swim until you are taught how to swim. And I think that that is like so the heart of this book of like, how are you going to understand if you're not taught? How are you going to understand if you don't study. How are you going to understand if you don't learn? And that's who will bring it to the analyst. How would they see? Yeah, there's actually a specific scripture. Yeah. There you go. For some people, you know, I've talked to people and I do bring this up and I say, well, maybe the reason your life is not, it's not going the way it's supposed to be is because you don't

have the Holy Spirit. Yeah. So we know that the Holy Spirit, because Acts Chapter 2, that's where the Holy Spirit is Man, Acts chapter one is when the spirit shows up. And then Galatians 5, it says the fruit of the spirit. Here's what's going to pour out love and joy and peace and patience. These things will pour out of the spirit. And so then the question is, do you even have the Holy Spirit? What if you've been trying to do this? What if she's trying to figure how to swim, but she doesn't know how to.

So that's where she's like, I can't figure this out. Right. And so if you just, you know, arbitrarily, if you're just like, I've been trying to figure this, I've been trying to live my life, but it's not there. Maybe you don't have that spirit. Maybe the journey didn't start the way it needed to start. Maybe they didn't understand Jesus and who he was, you know, Acts 19. And I put that in the book, too.

It's an interesting passage where they, you know, he comes up on these disciples and he says, did you receive the Holy Spirit? And he goes, we didn't even know there was a Holy Spirit. And so, and he said, which baptism did you get? He said, John's baptism. And then he explains John, baptism was baptism of repentance. There's the Holy Spirit. Then they were baptized again.

And so I've always asked that question in my mind. Like, why were they baptized again? Why don't he just explain it going, that's why I just don't tap people in the back going, hey, good job. You'll figure it out, you know. But there was some reason, right? There was some reason. And so some of the people that I've baptized were baptized as a little kid or something.

Or maybe, you know, and usually I get that in the story. So I usually, the question I would ask is like, hey, when did you, when did you start following Jesus? And then, you know, if that happened then, usually my next question is how has it been going since then? Yeah. And then I hear this story and it's like, ooh, you know, this is rough. It doesn't sound like there's any of the fruits of the Spirit. It looks more like the beginning of Galatians 519, the acts of the sinful nature, where it says those who live like this would not inherit the kingdom of God. That's what their life sounds like, looks like, smells like.

I even ask people, if you're not sure who you are or what you're doing, let's just ask people that hang out with you. Let's ask your boyfriend or girlfriend or spouse or let's ask the people you work with. They'll probably be like, oh, that guy, let me tell you about him. And then it's like I told a guy there today, like, why do we expect we hope we're known in heaven is something totally different than what we're known as on Earth? And so those are the questions that I have to walk through with people. And so those are tough, you know, and it's not. Again, it's not judgments. It's just kind of like laying out the facts of like, this is who you are, this is where you are.

If you're here, there's a possibility that you're not with God, you know. And I think a lot of us, that's what they're like, I don't want to be in that seat. I don't want to do that. But it's, you know, we'll be in that. That's what a marriage counselor has to do. That's what a police officer. You know, they have to, that's what a doctor has to do. He can't say like, well, I'm seeing some things that look a little bad.

But hey, you know what? You look pretty good. So go out there. You know, no, they're like, this is what I'm seeing. And so I talk about, and actually, I talk about a lot of those ideas in the book. It's like you're a doctor. It's like you're like, look, here's the, at the end of the day, the doctor knows a bunch of stuff about maybe what you've got. But he goes, here's a problem.

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P-R-I-M-A-L-L-Y-P-U-R-E. Dot com. Use the code woe I check out for 15% off your order. This question comes in from Elizabeth who asks, What are some good techniques to help memorizing scripture? Elizabeth, I'll shoot you straight. Whenever I was in high school, I went to a Christian high school, and we had to memorize scripture, and I was terrible at it.

I was like, I'm not good at this. I was annoyed by having to do that every week, which is terrible, because that was such a good thing that our high school did. But every Friday, we would have had to come in and have known the scripture other week and write it down, and it needed to be exactly what the scripture was. and I would always forget and I would be like so bad at it. But what's crazy is now whenever I'm speaking on stage and stuff, it's like scripture after scripture just comes out of me.

And I was like, you know, that is so cool because in high school, when someone told me to do it, I was not excited about doing it. I didn't want to do it. But then whenever I started truly falling in love with the word and just reading the word and studying the word, meditating on the word, understanding that the word is active and alive, I want this in me so that it comes out of me at the right times. It wasn't even that I was trying to like memorize a scripture. It just was in me.

Like I sowed those seeds in my life. And whenever I'm, you know, in a situation, it just comes out of me. And so I say it to say, maybe take the pressure off yourself of like trying to memorize a scripture and just meditate on the word. And, you know, put all of that in your heart. And it's going to be amazing while you're in conversations with people, how things are just going to start to come out. of you. I remember, what was it? I was in this interview one time. I was pretty young. I was probably like 19. And I said, I said something along the lines of like, you know, from the heart. So the master speaker, no, the heart is like the overflow. What's the verse? Like the wellspring of life.

Like it's the wellspring of life. And I started talking about that. And in this interview, it was like, scriptures just started coming out. And I was saying like, man, like, I've put scriptures in my heart. This is so cool. And I remember that being one of the first interviews that I thought like, oh, I know a lot more scripture than I thought I did. And I haven't been like trying to memorize it. I've just been meditating on it and it's in me and now it's coming out of me. So I hope that can be an encouragement because I used to be bad at that. I would do all the tricks. I'd write, you know, the first letter of each word of the scripture on my hand, try to memorize and do all the things. And just never was great at that. But once I started loving it, I started knowing it.

That's really good. And I think even too, just practical like techniques. I think they say, you know, I think there's something even like neurologically helpful, like, physically, like, writing things out with, like, your own handwriting. Oh, that's so true. So, yeah. So, like, I think sometimes when you think of, like, memorizing something, you just think about reading it and, like, which it is helpful to meditate on it and to study it and to, like, listen to it's spoken over you. But there is also something super helpful, like you yourself writing it out to learn it that way. Yeah, whenever I write messages and I really want to know them before I preach them, I will write it out on my notebook, like the whole message. I will type it out on my computer. Then I will read it, like verbally read it and record it and then listen to myself back as I, you know, say what I wrote.

And that's like, you know, a lot of work, obviously to write it out, type it out, read it, listen to it. but that is a very, it's always been very successful in really locking it in my heart and locking it in my mind because I don't like to go up with notes whenever I speak because I want to flow. I want to be able to just like go with it. But then there are some times where I feel like God put a message on my heart. I want to actually deliver that message. I just don't want to get caught up in notes. And so that's kind of my method for not just like memorizing.

I would say like locking it in for me. So yeah, if you write it out in your handwriting, type it out, verbally say it. listen to your own voice saying those words definitely helps a lot. And for me, I'm big on like imitation. So sometimes like, for instance, I could think about, you know, a Priscilla Shire message and remember what she said because of the inflection that she said it with. And so sometimes when I'm memorizing something, if I say it to myself and record myself saying it in a certain way, I'll remember it because of the way I said it, you know? So practical example. like for God so love the world that he gave his one or the son.

If you record yourself saying, for God so love the world that he gave his one and only son, like just the inflection part of it, that helps me memorize it because I'm like anticipating how you say it. That's good. Those are like helpful tips for me. Wanting to be more joyful as a Christian, advice on how to not let circumstances steal my joy.

What? It's a tough one. Best stuff. James 1. Counted all joy, my brothers, when you face trials of many kinds. Emphasis on when you face trials. So a friend and I were actually talking about this other day because she is early pregnant, seven weeks pregnant, and she started having morning sickness. And so she texted me because if you don't know about my pregnancies, I was so sick. Like people say, oh, yeah, morning sickness. And I'm like, no girl. I had all day sickness, 24-7 sickness. I mean, I would get up from the bed at night, go throw up.

I mean, it was just crazy how sick I was. And it was really hard. But I texted her and I was just like, you know, stay strong. You're going to be a stronger mom because of this. You're going to be a stronger person because of this. Like, you got this girl. And then she texted back and said, you know, it's kind of crazy because something in me was kind of happy that I threw up because I know why I'm throwing up is because I have

a baby in me. And I said, you know, it's funny. I felt the same way. Even though it was so hard being so sick, I felt so grateful. because I knew I'm only sick because my body is caring and producing a baby, a life, you know, and it's leading to one day getting to birth this baby and have a healthy baby and a healthy pregnancy and all the things. And so it was a really beautiful picture of something that is hard, this trial, like I'm joyful in it. I'm happy with it because I know what it's producing in me and I know what it's eventually going to produce this beautiful baby.

And in the same way, that really is what James is saying. James is not just saying like, oh, like just be joyful when you go through hard things for the sake of joy. No, like he actually goes on to say for it's producing something. Can you read that? James won. So it's counted all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness and let steadfastness have its full effect that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. Yeah.

So like James is saying, you can consider this joy when you're facing this. trial because through this trial, it's producing a steadfastness in you. And that steadfastness is going to lead to you becoming the complete version that you should be, you know, that perfect person that God created you to be. And so in the same way when you're pregnant and you're going through all these trials and morning sickness and back pain and this and that or the other, even though it's hard, you have this inner joy knowing what it's producing. And so maybe you can look at life circumstances like that. This is hard. But man, what God is doing in me in this moment is going to produce something so good if I lean into it.

And so I think it's, you know, I think the worst thing to do is just to go through hard things and be like, I need to be joyful. I need to be joyful. I need to be joyful. I'm a Christian. I should be joyful. It's like, okay, no, God, show me in this moment where you're at. Show me how to find joy in it. Show me how to have strength in it. Show me what to do in it. And as God works in your heart through those things, maybe joy starts coming out as an overflow of, of you knowing God's with you and maybe steadfastness starts being produced. And, you know, I think that verse of joy of the Lord is my strength is a verse that I used to think was like more about just like happiness.

And now I realize like the joy of the Lord is your strength in like the really hard times. And when I have a sense of joy in times that should just be depressing, that's when I know like man, God, you are a strength. You are a rock. You're an anchor in my soul. And some of like the coolest moments in my faith is whenever things like joy, are produced out of things that I really shouldn't feel that way in. Yeah, that's good.

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Wow. Then you can do those things to his glory. Then the seasons will change and there'll be different priorities. but for now ask him what are the things you've asked me to prioritize and then do those things to the glory of God but you can't do everything at the same time. Okay. So that has been life shifting for me. Four minutes in and I'm like, can I go get my notebook and write this down?

Because yeah, that's really good advice. I need that. I needed that. Oh, don't we all in every season of life? We all need that because there are always so many good things, opportunities, invitations, whether on a small scale with friends that they want to do or on a big scale with ministry or business or whatever. But just because everything is a good thing doesn't mean it's God's thing for you in that season. So we have to have patience and trust that seasons change and to honor this season while we're in it, you know?

Wow. That's good. Well, that's been a compass for me. The other thing is that my mom throughout her life and she's in heaven now, but throughout her lifetime in different ways. But then in the last two months of her life, when we were really constant. concentrating on the reality that she might be transitioning to heaven. This was at the end of 2019. She said to us like emphatically over and over again, the most simple thing. She said, stop and smell the roses. And what she was saying was, don't forget to enjoy the journey. Like she wishes my mom enjoyed her life,

but her life was so busy and so full, building church with my dad, raising kids, doing all the things you have to do in life that are important things. She wasn't saying neglect those. She was saying, through the journey, take a moment to stop and smell the roses wherever you are. Like, what brings you joy? Do that. Make time for that. Prioritize reading the novel when you can or taking the bath or meeting a friend for coffee or if you're in a city. Don't just be there to do the thing you're there to do, but take three extra hours, delay the flight so that you can just go by that museum. She was just saying, take a moment to pause and actually enjoy, just live your life and enjoy the parts of it that God has given you opportunity to. People always ask me, like,

how do you do what you do? I want to do what you do. And I always tell them, start a Bible study, because that is like at the heart of what I'm doing, you know, and that's kind of how it all started. And so it's so cool to hear your story. There's so many similarities. One thing that you mentioned was, as you were preparing for those five years of that Bible study, you were thinking, like, what illustrations could show them this scripture in a more powerful way? Which one of my favorite things about your speaking, your preaching is your illustrations. You are like queen of analogies. I can think of like 10 in my head right now.

I have to refrain from bringing up because we could talk about it all day because I will watch your sermon so often. But you're so good at that. And actually, whenever I started speaking, I remember I wanted to get better at that. was like, God, give me analogy, show me things, you know, in life, help my eyes to just be attentive to those things. And then I started watching your sermons to learn from how you would transition from like a really great story to like this really powerful moment. And so people sometimes ask me like, how do you do that whenever you're speaking? Like I want to get better at that.

And I say, well, I would always go watch Priscilla's messages. And I'd watch it the first time through and I'd learn from what she's saying. And then I'd watch it another time through and I'd learn from how she's saying it. And it helped me grow and how I was doing that. So, that might sound funny, but in some ways, I studied from you how to do that. And it's cool, because now people say to me sometimes they'll be like, I love how you tell the stories. It's kind of like Priscilla Shire. And I'm like, that's funny because that's who I learned from as I watch videos and different things. But it does. It illuminates people's minds to see something in scripture that maybe it didn't connect before, but all of a sudden it's like, oh, wow,

I get it now. People sometimes wonder like, because again, they'll say, how do you do that? and I'll point to your videos or I'll kind of explain in some way. How would you articulate how you come up with illustrations? Is it something that you're just constantly seeking? Is it something God drops in your spirit? Like, can you put words to how you study in that way? Well, to be fair, I grew up with a pastor who happens to be my dad that is a master orator. Like, again, this is something you don't realize in the moment because you're just, you know,

he's your pastor or he's your dad. or whatever. And then you look back and go, good Lord, I was sitting in a masterclass for just the art of communication my entire life. So every Sunday since I was one year old, all I've heard is my dad preaching. And Tony Evans is a gifted communicator like unusually. You know? So I thought, I thought this is the way every church was on a Sunday that there were illustrations and then there was clarity in the message and it was exegetical and I knew where he was in the text. I just thought this was normal. And then, of course, as I've gotten older, I do realize what I'm so grateful other people say to us all the time that your father is such a gifted communicator. So I have to

recognize the fact that I was in a master class my whole life. And my father is, he never preaches without illustration. And so I just thought this was a normal part of how you communicate and to make sure your audience is absorbing what you're saying. Because the reality is, your audience is only going to remember 10% of what you've said. So if you spend your time saying too much of anything, they actually are only going to remember this teeny small sliver. So what is better use of your time is to make sure that you're making a solid point and then use the rest of the 30 minutes, if you have 30 minutes or 20 minutes, to make sure you

are just emphasizing that point with illustration, with application, and with observations from the text. You can't say everything you know. You have to say, what is the point? And then anything that does not undergird that point is for another message. It's not for this message. Because the 10% they absorb, you want that to be the point that you were trying to make. And illustration is one of the most important ways to make sure that a message, basically illustrations are incubators that house the principle that you are trying to communicate to an audience. And so to the extent that this incubator is created, that is the extent to which you can really

cultivate this idea or theme or biblical principle that you want to take root in their souls. So for me, and this again is something that a preacher that I admire so much who's in his 70s now, he said to me many, many years ago that he would keep, I wish I had it with me, he would keep a little black book with him, which I got one of, I still have. but now most of the time, instead of writing in a little black book, I use the note section on my phone. And I just have a file that says illustrations in the note section in my phone. And it is filled with things that happen in regular everyday life that occurred to me that they are shimmering with the possibility of illustration. I don't know yet what they go illustrate.

I don't know exactly what verse they're going to connect to. I don't know what message the Lord might give me in the future or what chapter I might be writing in a book one day. that that might help to emphasize the point. All I know is, hmm, this is interesting. It's something somebody says or it's a commercial that I see or it's something that's just happening out in the world and I realize, oh my goodness, if I don't write that down, number one, I'm going to forget it. And number two, whatever sense of a sacred awe I feel that's attached to it, I need to go

ahead and record it while I'm in the moment of that. So I'll just put like, you know, it's probably down to number 320. on my phone and I will just put 329 and then I just put enough a couple little sentences that will remind me of the thing that I saw happen in traffic the other day. And then when I'm creating a message or I am writing chapters in a book, I will just scroll through and I'm constantly, that's a habit of mine twice or three times a month. I might just kind of scroll through my illustrations and just kind of remind myself of some things that are there. And then one of them will leap up off the page and it's like, oh my gosh, that's exactly what I need for this message I'm working on

or exactly what I need for this chapter that I'm writing. And so for me, and this is what I learned from that preacher that is now 70, I remember him saying to me that one of the things from Luke chapter two, I believe that it says about Mary when she's watching her little boy Jesus running around get lost in the temple. She can't find him. There's this one little verse that says, and she treasured all of these things in her heart. And his point was we have lost the art of treasuring the things that God is trying to use to speak to us. It goes one ear and out the other. We might even acknowledge it.

Thank you, Laura. That was a great little moment. But treasuring it is making a record of it. It's sitting on it. It's meditating on it. It's coming back to it. So for me, that means writing it down. And I've even asked the Lord to help me to be more disciplined with that because sometimes it'll be

in the middle of the night that I remember something. And I'm like, I am not getting up in the middle of the night to write his down. I'm tired. I'm staying sleep. But I want to be a good steward of those bits and pieces of illustration that I'm not exactly sure how they connect yet, but I know there's something on them. And so I want to treasure them. I still feel like a fish out of water when I write.

I feel like a fish out of water when I'm in a film. I feel like a fish out of water in so many ways because it's not what I'm trained to do. it's just an invitation that God has given me. And I use that word strategically, Sadie, because, you know, war room, for example, or the forge, they're going to impact people with or without me, but I'm the one that will miss out on the opportunity to have partnered with God in that particular endeavor. If I let fear or insecurity keep me from partnering with God, I don't know that that's necessary a sin not to do it. It's just the Lord saying you're invited. Do you want to come or not? Are you going to

really let the enemies a voice of fear and intimidation keep you from being a part of my purposes in this generation? So to answer your question, that was a long way of saying, speaking probably feels the most natural to me. But all of them really have just been invitations with God saying, you can come if you want. That's so good. I'm making opportunity for you too. Yeah. I love that you said too that it's not a sin, but you miss out.

And I think that that's so much of life. It's like God invites us into all these places and it's not a sin to not do it. But man, you're missing out on the fullness of what he has for you and what you can do. Okay, friends, you may have noticed that one of my longtime favorite wellness brands looks a little different. But this is good news. Taylor Duke's wellness has officially become Sava. This isn't a brand new company and they haven't changed the products that we all love. It's the same founders, same team, and same commitment to clean, thoughtful nutrition, just under a new name.

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Wisdom and courage. And those have to go together. It's good. The way you and I want to lead and the way you and I want to do ministry for the rest of our lives and be in relationship with our friends on the other side of our work is with wisdom and courage. is with wisdom and courage. Because you can be brave and not be wise. You can say a lot of stuff that's really controversial and really push and you're not afraid of what people are going to say.

But if it's not wise, it's a waste. And you can have wise words and not have the courage to actually say it. And so I want to be both. But that takes me being brave. Even a podcast I recorded today, I had to ask a couple of questions to the guests that were a little more challenging than I usually am. because I needed her wisdom

and I had to be brave enough to ask. That's good. Right? So it doesn't stop. That's the trick about courage. It doesn't stop asking you. It just says, okay,

you know how your muscles were this strong to lift that thing? There was 10 pounds. Here's the 15 pound version. Here's the 20 pounds. I mean, you know this. You know this in your work and in your life. Like it's one level of courage to marry Christian.

It's another level of courage to have a kid. That's true. Yeah. And you know, you don't. It just keeps growing. And it really is. It's the same with working out. You grow muscles, but you don't always see the process, you know.

Some people do. My husband, he does. He has big muscles. But sometimes you don't. Like, I work out too. And I don't, that doesn't happen to me like it happens to him, you know? But I know I'm getting stronger because I'm lifting heavier weights. And it's the same in life.

It's the same in ministry. It's the same with my family. It's the same with all things. It's like the more you put into something, even if you cannot see the outcome, you are growing, you are getting stronger. And I love that wisdom and courage saying because you know what, it is actually very dangerous to be brave and to not be wise. I was just thinking about that, that's actually very dangerous.

Because thinking about it like this, if you're going skydiving and you have all the bravery in the world to jump out the plane, but you don't get the parachute because you're not wise enough to prep, you're going to die. You know, like that's just like the fact. And so to be, to be fearless and to not have wisdom, is completely reckless, you know? But then again, to be wise and to not be brave, I mean, you can't go, you can't go anywhere. So that is a bet. That is a great combination.

My Christian and I, we always pray words over honey and a lot of times the words would be contradicting, like right now. Like, we pray that she would be sweet and strong, which that might seem like a contradiction, you know, because a lot of people that are very strong are not very sweet and vice versa. We pray that she would be confident and humble all the time, know, these two things. And so I'm going to start praying that she would be wise and that she would be courageous because that is such a good combo. I love it. Man, this is good. This is good. I love talking to you. It's just, whoa, that's good. Whoa, that's good. Can I tell you a ridiculous story about Dairy Queen real quick? I would love that because I do find myself there often.

Thank you. I wish this was about Whole Food, but it's not. It's about Dairy Queen. But I went to Dairy Queen a couple of weeks ago and there's this one in town on West End, if you remember, and you have to walk into it. And so I'm walking into it and I'm getting my Oreo Blizzard. And as I am ordering, this girl walks in behind me and she's crying and she's by herself. And she, and I order and I step to the side. And immediately, this would happen with a lot of our friends listening. Like, immediately my, like, God, like, radar goes up.

Like, my Holy Spirit radar goes up of like, oh, man, I was just trying to come to the Dairy Queen. And now there's like a ministry thing here, right? Like now there's a woman crying in the dairy queen and what am I going to do? And I was like, nah, I'm just going to walk out. I'm just going to walk out. She's not, she isn't trying to get bothered by me. If you're crying in a dairy queen, there's something going on, right? And so I get my blizzard and she's ordering, she's standing back and she's still teary.

And I go to walk out. And I mean, as sure as I'm sitting here, the Lord is like, go back. And I was like, oh, man, I'm going to be that girl who bothers this girl in the dairy queen. you know so I pretend like I'm going back for napkins and I go back and get my napkins and I'll walk over to her and I'm like hey my name's Annie are you all right she's like yeah it's just a it's just I'm really sweaty I've just been working out and I was like okay I mean are you are you sure because I like I just we both ended up at dairy queen at the same time so if there's anything you wanted to say or anything you need to talk about she said nope I'm fine and I left and and I have no idea if I'll ever see. There's not like a great ending, right? Of like, and then she got saved. And then the next Sunday she was at church and then she posted on Instagram. I have no idea what ever happen with her. But what I do know is that God gave me the opportunity to obey him and never know the results. That's so good. Right? So I had to talk to the girl that's crying at Mary Queen.

She may have just been working out. But listen, I'm 42 years old. I know what it looks like. Yeah. She's crying. But, you know, you know, I, you know, you. So what Ben Stewart said is so deeply true because that experience may have been for the girl crying at the Dairy Queen or it may have been for me to practice. Can I obey God when it doesn't make sense? And can I still believe it was obedience when I don't get a result that I thought I would get? Oh, that's so good. Right? That is so good.

Still talk to the crying girl at the dairy queen because one time it will make a difference in a way that you know. That's so good. And it's true because I think a lot of people, even in that situation, they would go to Downing if they would. really heard God. You know, it's like, well, maybe, you know, did I really hear you say that? But like, you know you heard him say that. And it's like, you don't need her to have the response that you thought she would respond to for you to be affirmed that that's really what God said to do. You know, it's like God's doing something that you can't see and whether that's in her or whether that's in you. And trusting that that's enough. I mean, it's so true. I've had moments

where I've gone and spoken and it's been great and it's been awesome. And I've had moments where I've gone up to someone and tried to have a conversation that didn't go anywhere. And I was like, okay, you know, I had at a very similar situation where a mom really wanted me to go taught to her daughter. Like, she was like, I just, she's going through the hard time. I really think you can, you can help her. And I really believed I could too. And I was like, this is going to be great. That conversation did not really go anywhere, you know. It just, no, it just didn't. You know, I mean, I tried and I taught, but she was just really setting. her way and she was choosing to go down the past she was got to go down and there's really nothing

I could do or anybody could do. I mean literally she was going to have to allow herself to be convicted by the Lord, you know? And so it's like Ecclesiastes 11 talks about, talk about this a lot, how it's like, you know, you don't know the ways that God's moving. This is a lot of paraphrasing, but you don't know the way that God's moving. It says, but continue to sow your seat in the morning and don't be idle with your hands in the evening. I quote that all the time because it's so, helpful to me. I don't know what God's doing in this situation. I don't know why I'm here. I don't know why you're responding like that, but I'm going to sow my seed, you know, and the evening I'm not going to be out of the minutes. I don't have to see how it prospers. I don't have to know what happens,

but like, God, you're, you're going to do whatever you want to do with that seed, you know? And that's just been so, that's been so huge for me and such a good word. And it's so true about the dairy queen thing, too. It's like, hey, look, you're sowing your seed. And God can move how God wants to move in that. So good. I think whenever we start to put these layers upon prayers of how do we do this, like we can be very superstitious. And we think if I ask a certain way, a certain number of times in certain places with certain words in Jesus' name that I can unlock the will of God. That really puts us in the seat of God. And it's superstition. It's not relationship. And so I want my children to ask me for whatever they want. But when they ask me for what they want,

I want them to seek what I want. And so God says, you know, who if they ask their father for a loaf of bread is going to receive a stone and who if they ask, you know, for a fish, is going to receive a snake. What I see in the text is that we can ask God for whatever we want. But while we ask him for what we want, we should seek what he wants. And so those things happen at the same time. And then Jesus says, you know, we pray like someone who is hosting someone from out of town. and they don't have any food to host them with, which in a culture of hospitality,

that was a really big deal. So you're like you're banging on your neighbor's door, trying to get some bread. And so there's this persistence there. And we see that in the text, but I don't think that the persistence is asking, it's like if you ask 137 times God will answer, but if you stop at 136, he won't.

I don't think that's what's happening there. I believe God is desiring a relationship with us. Yeah. Like he wants us to know him. And you can ask like prayer. You can get in all kinds of weird places. Like, why do we pray if God knows what he's going to do or if he's going to do what he wants to do or why would we want to change God's mind if he knows better than us? And I love how C.S. Lewis handled this.

He said, because he likes it. You know, we ask God because he desires a relationship with us. And he wants to converse with us. He wants us to talk to him. And so I think you can ask him for whatever you want. just ask him what he wants. It was good. Yeah, because I saw that question.

I was like, it's not wrong to pray to God to help you find a parking spot, but it is wrong if that's the only time you're praying to God. Yeah. And if you're like going to be, if you're not going to trust him in the lack of spots, you know, it's like you have to say, okay, and it's hard in this broken world to continue to trust him in the midst of the disappointment. You know, it's so cool that you brought up that verse because we were talking about that verse this week because we're walking through a situation where it's, like, confusing.

It's like, God, why would you do that? And Christian was like, it's confusing. And I know God's not the God of confusion, but why is that verse, if you ask him for this, was it fish you're not going to get back? Yeah, me if you're asking for fish. And so it feels like, why do you give back something that feels so opposite of what I asked and desired?

But I love how you said you have to hold that tension of asking what you want. but also then holding, but what do you want? And there's so much to what God wants that just requires us to have faith that we're not going to understand. And that's hard. I think we've talked about this before. But I grew up in church and like church school for nine years. And so lots of church. My mom was Lutheran.

My dad was Catholic and was a Baptist youth group, lots of different flavors of church. And I have a really high view of God's sovereignty. This is where I like completely aligned with the reform. camp like i believe god is completely sovereign he's in control but i realized that my high view of god's sovereignty was causing me to blame him for a lot of the enemy's work and and we forget that that second corinthians chapter four verse four says that satan is the god of this world the lowercase g god of this world he has a lot of authority and autonomy here job is a case study on this and and so it's hard to understand how that fits in god's sovereignty but the

reality is we're in this middle place between Christmas. I know a couple months ago we celebrated Christmas that God came here to be with us and and he's in the second Christmas. Jesus is coming back and we're in this middle ground that theologians call already not yet where we experience the full brokenness of Genesis 3. What that means is for those who really pursue God with all their hearts, all kinds of terrible things happen to us. And it's and you're like, why God? Why? And the only thing that I can come up with is there's going to be a plan of redemption so good that all of us. Now this is not, I'm going to, this is not me just trying to speak away hardships. I have to believe this for myself. As you guys know, I woke up one Wednesday

and couldn't walk. It was like, what? Like, inexplicable. Like just woke up, normal day, couldn't walk. I was in the hospital for 16 days. And in those situations, we were like, why God, why? There has to be a redemption plan so wonderful that even us would look back and say it was all worth it. And I'm talking in the midst of loss and hurt and cancer and just all of the terrible horrific things that we experience that God is going to do something so incredible that we would be like, yeah, it was, it makes sense now. But in the broken world, the brokenness of the world, it doesn't make sense. And I think in. In that, he says, my grace is sufficient.

My power is made perfect in your weakness. So we see God's power most perfectly displayed when we're limping, when we're crying, when we're weak. And so I think that's when we lean into him. My favorite quote, not in the scriptures, if dependence is the goal, weakness is the advantage. Wow. Like if what God wants from us is dependence, then it's our weakness that actually pushes us toward dependence on him. When you have the Holy Spirit, you have what you need, what is necessary to diffuse some of the most challenging conflict. And so being, working for a church for almost two

decades now, I have mediated a billion dollar deals. That's with a B between people who were, you know, in conflict, companies who were in conflict. I've seen, you know, husbands who've had affairs wise you've had affairs. They're in terrible conflict facing divorce, trying to fight over possessions. You know, groups of people who hate each other because their dog barked at night or something terrible happened. And so we resolve those conflict. We're equipped to. The scripture tells us how to. And so what it tells us to do is that if someone hurts us to go and sit down with them, and if they listen, because sometimes people will hear that and say, well, that would never work. If it doesn't work, then you bring somebody with you.

This is Matthew 18, 15 through 17. So chapter 18 versus 15 through 17. If they don't listen, which often happens, they don't listen, you bring somebody else with you. If you're a part of a new church, you may bring like your pastor at your new church to your pastor at your old church and say, can you help us? Because what's not, what the scripture really doesn't say we should do is, well, I don't like that person. I've been hurt by that person, I'm just going to move on. Unless you can overlook a small offense, it does say to do that. Like if you're like, oh, no, I'm actually not hurt by them or that hurt has healed, I can

move forward. That's great. But if you're moving on and you're carrying that with you, there's probably a conversation that you need to have. And I want you to know that God, God would never pointlessly hurt you. And so maybe you are hurt by a member of the church, but that is not the spirit of God. especially if it was a wrong, like something,

something was done wrong against you. Now the Proverbs does say, faithful are the wounds of a friend, but an enemy multiplies kisses. And so sometimes I will say something to you that you may be hurt by, but I needed to say it to you. And it's like, hey, if you go to a friend,

you know, is your sorority sister and you're like, hey, you know, I watched you get drunk the other night. I know that's not who you want to be. And so, and they're like, you're judging me, you're so judgmental. Why would you do that?

Like I, that's, you know, you make Jesus look bad. It's like, hey, those hurt people, hurt people. Those are hurtful words, but you are faithful to bring about. You are faithful to wound a friend. And so often, I will say this right here. Okay, a lot of young people determine obedience based on the preconceived outcome, meaning they would say, well, I would never talk to my sorority sister about alcohol because, you know, I know that's going to make her not like God.

She may not like God and you may need to talk to her about alcohol. You do not determine obedience by the preconceived outcome. Sometimes God will supernaturally and miraculously work through your faithfulness to bring about healing in ways you could have never imagined. You are responsible for obedience. You're not responsible for the outcome. God's in charge of the outcome. He'll say, I don't want to talk to my coworker about Jesus because, you know,

they'll judge me or they'll think. I think I'm, you know, crazy. And it's like, they might. And you should. Yeah. And that's okay. It's good. That is so good.

You don't have to necessarily have all of these, like, moments that are, like, romanticized as your quiet time or your date nights, whenever it's a season that just you can't squeeze that in. That doesn't necessarily mean the relationships off. You said there's like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, Psalm 1. And so if you take a picture of a tree and then you come back a week later and you take a picture of the tree, those two pictures are going to look almost identical. But if you take a picture of tree and then you come back five years later or 10 years later and you take a picture of the

same tree, you're going to see like, whoa, massive change. And so there's big change happening slowly. Yeah. And, you know, our relationship with the Lord is like this too. It's like we just have to make sure we're faced the right direction. And you're making these small deposits that ebb and flow in seasons. It's like I can show you somebody who's newly engaged or maybe even newly married and they're leaning over the table for two at the restaurant, you know, gazing each other's eyes and just laughing and you're like, okay, they love each other. But then I can show you an 80-year-old couple who's been married for 55 years and, you know, one of them is losing their memory or they have to have some sort of metaphor. care or attention. And I said, who loves each other more? You might be tempted.

It may look like the newly married couple loves each other more. It's great. But it's the feelings, the emotions, you know. It's great. What happened with that 80-year-old couple is some of those feelings and emotions have evolved to something much deeper with way deeper roots where it's like, hey, we are truly right or die. You know, we're in this for the long haul.

Everybody wants that. but they don't necessarily, you know, they just, you have to realize there were lots of off-ramps they didn't take to get there. Same is true for God. Like as we're on this spiritual journey, there will be just countless off-ramps where the enemies trying to take us out or discourage us or cause us to despair. But as you keep moving, you know, being faced the right direction, as you keep holding fast to the truth that you know, then you realize that's where those roots go even deeper, even deeper,

even deeper, even deeper, so that you can stand the test of time, you can stand the storms. You're in it to win it.