WHOA That's Good Podcast - Dare to Choose Faith Over Fear

Episode Date: September 29, 2021

Sadie chats with pastor and author Charlotte Gambill about incredible God moments, the secret to turning big dreams into reality, and the grownup "height restrictions" that could help you go from dreamer to doer. They also talk about how to lead a generous life, how to keep friendships alive, why winning may not be what you think it is, and how to choose faith over fear. Charlotte is the author of "Dare to Be: God Is Able. Are You Willing?" and many other books. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What's up fam welcome back to the world that's good podcast today we have a very special guest I am so excited I got the honor of meeting her years ago and we live a little bit far away so that was actually an honor and I'm very excited to say that she's a friend now and now she's on the podcast welcome welcome to the pie gas starlit gamble Hey, hello friends so good to be with you all the way from the UK all the way from the UK So I never know exactly where you are because sometimes you're in like seaside my favorite place Sometimes you're in the UK another one of my favorite places. You're always bouncing around in some good spots But I love it so So you and your husband pastor at church, life church in the UK, you also are a teaching pastor at

Highlands and you've done stuff here in the States. You and your friend Natalie do so much together, including writing this new book, which I'm excited to talk about. So you've done so much. You also have two amazing, beautiful kids and your marriage is such a, as I was looking at your Instagram, preparing for this podcast, your marriage is such a great inspiration. For me, in question, just because we love to look up

to people who are doing ministry and love each other and love their family and love their kids and we're constantly looking for that mentorship in a sense. And so y'all are great examples for us, but I'm excited to get to talk more about your life. Before we get into all the things, I have to ask you a question of the world that's good podcast. What is the best piece of advice you've ever been given? I think there's lots of pieces of advice we're all given, right? But I think the one that is the continual theme that I choose to stick to is really simple.

And that is let your life be led by generosity. Like you'll never ever go wrong if you're the one that's generous. Generous in your comments, generous in your actions, generous in the way you respond in situations where people are unkind to you. I think generosity, the Bible says it opens the pathway, it puts you in the presence of rulers.

I think someone that is generous with their smile, generous with their energy, generous with their wisdom. I think generosity is a huge gift. So I think lead your life with generosity to the front of it. I think you always the world of the generous gets larger and larger. The world of the stingy gets smaller and smaller. So I think that's great advice that I've tried to instill into my kids as well because it stood me well all the years of mine growing up. That's so good. I love that. And I can see like you live that out so beautifully And in fact, I remember back whenever we met we were at this really cool event It was at the Royal Albert Hall in London and it was a pretty big deal

And I remember seeing you and thinking you were so amazing and you're so cool And I love the word that you spoke on and which we'll talk about later and I kind of get intimidated by people Which I don't think people realize about me because I'm a peer very extroverted and I am, but I can get shy or like intimidated. And so I was like probably not even gonna say anything. I was probably just gonna be like, hi, but you are so sweet and like came over and spoken to my life and taught to me and it was so generous. And I think so many times like just in our society like there's this temptation or maybe it's out of insecurity Even not even temptation to be cool or to you know be like intimidating and like that actually helps no one and whenever you live

Generously it opens the door to friendships and you have so many amazing friends and that is something that like if you look at your life It's a testimony to who you are and I can tell it's from how generous you are. So that's really cool that you said that You would Natalie just wrote a book called Dare to Be and it's so good and it's such a great I was reading through it and I love how there's spaces where you can write in and there's it's like it's something that you actually are doing with y'all It says God is able but are you willing? So tell me a little bit about this message and why you and Natalie decided to team up and do this together. Well the story of how Nat and I met is just one of those God stories that you're like, you know, it needed to be recorded. Like we knew it, we've journaled it, but you realize

that when God brought our lives together and the story around that was something that we'd always thought someday, we'd tell, we'd always do our events when we demonstrate together, we'd do like a Q&A, and the most common question would always be, you know, how did you guys meet? Because obviously I'm from the UK, she's from the USA, and so we always would answer, and when we answer, people would be stunned at the answer we would give, and I'll abbreviate it for those

that now are like, well how did you meet? Because I was just in California like I think 17 years ago now I'm going to be speaking at a conference but wasn't speaking that night and just landed was kind of tired but decided to go to the event anyway that night. I had no idea who the other speakers were or who was involved and as I was sat in the worship, stood up with my arms raised, I heard an audible voice and the voice was a male voice and I heard the voice say turn around the girl at the back of the auditorium in the orange sweater and jeans is to do with your future. And it freaked me out. I thought someone had come and stood next to me and so I said to the person that was traveling with me, can you just turn around and tell me, is there someone at the back of his auditorium

in an orange sweater and jeans? And they were like me, is there someone at the back of his auditorium in an orange sweater and jeans? And they were like, yes, there is. How did you know? I'm like, don't ask. I have no idea what's going on. We sit down and then the worship ends and the pastor of the church leans forward and says,

hey, I wonder if you could take the offering. I know you're not speaking, but you're here. And I was like, okay, oh, while you take the offering, could you introduce the guest singer that's gonna sing whilst we take the offering so I was like well I don't know who it is I've never heard of her and it's okay just read the bio out so I get on the stage and I begin to read the bio out and as I'm reading the bio out the girl in orange sweater and jeans starts walking forward and I begin to say her name which was Natalie Grant who I've

never heard of before and as I say her, I start prophesying over her. She starts crying, I start crying. We have this awkward hug in front of all these people. And that was the beginning of our journey. And so when we tell the story, you're like, okay, wow, like big god moment. But what we began to realize is actually there was a lot of small moments that led to the big moment and those small moments had we not paid attention to them we would have

missed the big moments. In other words I could have stayed at the hotel because I was tired. I wasn't speaking that night. I didn't need to be there. I could have said no to take in the offering which I wouldn't have got up and I wouldn't have introduced the guest speaker. She was in the world she put the back which she could have stayed on the table and just come on for her song. There was so many small parts where we've realized that it was our obedience that was the daring of those small steps that actually makes the big steps more accessible. And so the word from God was a very pivotable moment, but the obedience to death to do all the other stuff is after what we rush past.

So we began to record the journey of how we became friends and, you know, honestly, the book goes through each chapter of what we've had to dare to do. We had to dare to be real with each other. You know, in the first conversation I had with her was after that moment and she was like, what do you want from me? And I suddenly realized realized man, she is so used to people wanting something from her She's so burnt out by people wanting her for a gift And I think she just got tired of that and I realized in that moment. I don't want anything from you I don't even know what this is about and that was the beginning of a restoration for her Interesting someone in a part of a life where she'd stop trusting and And then I said, well, I don't have anything to offer you. You could come to England and visit me. And so she's

like, I'm going to, that was her day to go. And she tells me, you know, told me afterwards, I got on a plane with my husband to meet this complete stranger. And I said to my husband, she might be completely mad, you know, like crazy. And if she is, we'll just go to London and visit. And so every part of the story was that day. And then, you know, I crazy. And if she is, we'll just go to London and visit. And so every part of the story was that day. And then, you know, I took a shopping, because what do you do when you're making friends? You go shopping. That's right.

And she's in the changing room for ages. And this is all in the book. And I feel like I should go and say, you okay. And so I knock on the door. She's like, yeah, I'm fine. And then I just feel the whole is spree, because she's not fine. And so I knock further on the door. And I'm like, I'm fine and I just feel the whole is free because she's not fine And so I knock further on the door and I'm like I'm coming in

Like who does that? Wow and I walk in and she's got needles and bagels there and She's freaking out and she's crying and she begins to explain to me that they're doing fertility treatment That the clock's gone on her alarm that this is the first shot. She's ever given herself She's freaking out. She's in England and I walk in I go, well just so you know I've just done five years of fertility treatment when I gave her a first shot. So from every part of our friendship the story in the book is not just about ministry, it's about daring to be real, daring to live someone into that spot in your life and then the ministry that we do together, which is now dare to be,

which is her singing a lady worship me preaching, that came years down the line. And I think sometimes people can look at people on platforms like yourself, like myself, like in that and go, oh, you know, it's just God just threw it together and know it was a journey. And a lot of small dares of being obedient.

And that's what the book really journals Well, it's beautiful. You're so cool. I know when I was reading it I was like a mouth is like deraught in the floor because you know People can hear something like that at the beginning and be like, oh, I don't know if that's real But then it's like but it was real like you can't deny that it was it was God because of everything that happened And there was a quote that you said and you talked about like you're once upon a time God moments It was real. You can't deny that it was God because of everything that happened. There was a quote that you said and you talked about your once upon a time God moments. I thought that was such a great way to phrase it.

You said, we can miss moments because we want more information. So many times I feel like we hear a whisper from God and we're like, well, all right, I'll do that. I'll step out. I'll dare whenever I hear a little bit more about what's going on. When you read the Bible, he didn't give them the information. He just said go. And so what is that looks like for you in learning to trust the voice of God? Have you always been like, you hear it, you do it? Or was that a journey for you? Interesting. God's voice.

I think it's a good question. I think learning to hear the voice of God is of journey. Everybody has to go on individually. I think we learn, don't we, to hear the voice of God is of journey, everybody has to go on individually. I think we we learn, don't we, to hear the voice of God through maybe our local pastor or someone who preachers or teachers, that's kind of our beginning into it. And if we don't quickly move ourselves off that, then we can only then hear God through other people, but God wants to speak to you because you're His kid. And God doesn't want to speak to just one kid. He wants to speak to all his kids. So, how's God speaking to you is unique to you, just like how I speak to my son, is different than how I speak to my daughter. You know, you want to talk about his rugby match.

My daughter doesn't care about the rugby match. So, you have to learn, you know, how they communicate. And so, and so I think that's a journey. But what I would say that we can all do is that you can hear someone better when you change your proximity. I think a lot of people don't alter their proximity to God. His presence, if you linger around His Word, if you spend time in prayer and thinking about the things of God, you're increasing your closeness to Him, you're drawing near to Me, and I'll draw near to You. That changes your proximity. It makes you aware of God in your everyday life. If you've got worship music and you're kitchen and if you're talking about the things of God with your children and if you're reading the word of God at the night or reading in the morning or wherever if you're talking to God in your car you're increasing the proximity that you're placing not

these far from you but you're moving toward him and out of the noise of everything else and I think a lot of people don't understand that that's simply all you have to do. Like, you know, then the Bible is a story about the older prophet Samuel, and sorry, the younger, the younger trainee Samuel and the older prophet Eli, and there's just this passage where Samuel is, it says he's laying down in his usual place, but it says that, says Eli's land down is usual place and Samuel is at the altar, the place of meeting of God. And so Samuel is laying down at the altar, he keeps hearing his name being called and he keeps going to Eli who's laying down his usual place and saying, you call me and Eli's no, no, I didn't call you. And he goes back and it happens again, it happens again. And eventually Samuel realizes, and he realizes, no, God calling him.

But look at the position. The older man had gone into his usual place, which means he was away from the proximity that in those chances where you heard from God, but the young man positioned himself when he went to sleep in a place where he was close to what represented the proximity to top to top.

And I think a lot of us getting our usual place, we're just getting to routines and our work, and our kids and our shopping and our office job, and we forget, no, you've got to at some point shift your proximity so that you are ready to hear what God wants to say. And that might mean stealing your heart, stealing your mind. And so I think sometimes we think it's hard to hear from God, but it's just actually we're making it harder on ourselves

because we're not creating the space. Wow that's so good. That's such good advice. And it's so, when you hear you say it, it's so practical. You know, it's just get in the space with God. And when you think about hearing someone, it's like, well, yeah, of course you have to get in the space to hear them. If you're not in the room, you're not gonna hear the person speaking in the room. And so that's such good advice.

This is kind of funny because this is about not having proximity, but I think people might hear a story of a friendship like you and Natalie, of 17 years and like, and y'all are so close, and it's such a healthy friendship, and it's such a good bond. And like, you live in the UK, and she lives in, you know, Tennessee.

And people are like, my friend lives down the street, and I can't even keep up with a friendship. So like, what is your advice? And how have you seen you and Natalie, you know, Steward Ross' friendship well, it's where you are 17 years in and still close, and still love each other, and still, you know, actuallywardrow's friendship well, it's where you are 17 years in and still close and still love each other and still, you know,

actually have a relationship showing up that you would even write a book. Like how do you keep a friendship like that? I think the key is an expectation. I think, you know, I think sometimes, you know, when I say I'm gonna be your friend, in my mind, I have an expectation of what that looks like, and vice versa in your mind, right?

And so you've got to agree on the expectations. So if someone wants to be my friend, but they want me to be at every birthday party, they want me to meet them every Tuesday for coffee, they want me to answer the text as soon as it lands, they want, you know, like, if that's their expectation, I'm gonna be a terrible friend, right? Right have to be a friend about that like like I love you and I am so here for you whenever you need me but I don't need I don't need to be needed by

you right like I don't I don't if you need me to fulfill some spaces in your life that I know for well I I can't fulfill. And actually probably nobody that is a friend could really fulfill, because probably God just needs to fulfill that. I think it's a conversation. I think it's a, like, so for me, like we can pick up like that. You know, I can pick up the phone,

we pick up as if we were in the house together for the last week. And it can be weeks. And then sometimes it can be, we speak to each other, you know, a couple of of times in the week it doesn't matter because we both know we are busy lives and we're both a secure in our friendship. I think if you're jealous or you're envious or you don't like that your friend spends more time with that person than you then it's not gonna work and I think it's to do with being secure and I think it's to do with being secure, and I think it's to do with actually just releasing one another

to do what is on your life to do. Now it's got a call on her life. I've got a call on my life, and by the grace of God, those two things get to come together at certain seasons of our life. And then we spend three weeks on the tour bus together. And we're like, I'm so ready to not be on a tour bus with you. So, yeah. They want to say just work.

Just kind of like in a marriage, you've got to know the expectation at front, right? Otherwise, you're going to be disappointed all the time. Right. You're going to be holding into a level that you've not even communicated. So he's always failing you because he doesn't know that that was the expectation you had in your head. So I think it's just the same in a healthy friendship. That is so good. I love that.

I heard a pastor say one time, expectation without communication, results, and frustration. And that is so true. That is always the result. And it's so true in friendship too. I love that. One thing you talked about in the book

that I thought was really good is how important the supportive role is. And I think so many people underestimate the supportive role in a story. And so can you expand a little bit on that concept? Yeah, I think we've all put the emphasis. So I think maybe not all of us, but I think the world does. Right. You know it from your background, the television, and different stuff you've done. Everybody's looking for the person that's going to be the billboard person or the hot ticket person and we've all seen that and so if we allow the world to shape our thinking we think that then to be

important you have to be that. So we get our eyes on something that actually very few people are equipped to handle have the capacity to deal with actually the pressure that goes with that. And actually, if they got it, they'd realize it's not all that, right? But actually, much more of us are gifted in coming alongside, right? And that is a gift that the world doesn't celebrate because you're not the top person. But the Bible celebrates a lot. The Bible, you know, Jesus has the disciples, you know, Adam was no good and he's only needed Eve, you know, everybody needs those people, Moses was like, I can't

do something on my own, I need someone who's going to help me speak, God's like, okay, let's see him have Aaron, you know, David, Saul was not going to be a friend to him, but Jonathan was, and Jonathan was going to help him get where he needed to go. Ruth and Naomi, you know, you go through your Bible and you're going to find that combination is all the time working together. And I think if we could realize, and this is the thing, what you've got to realize is if you are going to be a support role, whatever their win is, is your win. That's good. And so I've been on a team, you know, if I didn't score the goal on the team, but I'm on the team, I did score the goal.

Cause I set up whoever it was to get the ball, to defend so the ball went in the net. So it doesn't matter who put it in the net, we all put it in the net. Because what I'm gonna say, team, whereas our world says, well, I wanna be the one that's known for putting the ball in the net.

Well, then you're probably not gonna score for a lot of time and you're probably gonna have success maybe one time and then you're gonna have after that. You know, you're gonna have that up and then you're gonna have the down, whereas if you realize I get to help a lot of people put a lot of balls in the net, you'll always be employed. You'll always have something to do. You'll always be in demand because you know one of my greatest joys right now is I'm helping a lot

of churches and leaders and pastors and and and and they're out there scouring goals. But I know I'm behind the scenes. I'm one on one. I'm getting to help them. Which means when they win, I win. And I think you can see that way. we'd all stop fighting for some limelight that doesn't do any of us any favors. And actually, we'd all find that actually our greatest calling is helping other people win. It's great. I love that so much.

I think about whenever I used to do track in my high school, and track is such a beautiful sport because it's a team sport, even though you compete individually. Which I think is such a picture of the kingdom. Like everyone competes individually in their activity but all the points that you gain individually go into your team's point system. So everyone has to do their part. Well there was one time and I would tell this story several times it's very embarrassing but I was not a runner. Like I still am not a runner. I am so bad at running which I know you

run and I saw that you run like six miles a day and that is so impressive. I am not that person. So I was a thrower. I always did like activity parts and one day my coach was like, it was like regionalism. He was like, we need someone to run the two mile. Well, I did not like heroically volunteer myself in this moment. I was actually just gonna tap out on this one. Well, he of course picked me to do it. And I was like, oh, this is terrible. And honestly, it was the most embarrassing moment ever. I got overlapped by every single person.

It was terrible. However, the reason I did it is because there was so few people signed up for the event that even if I just finished, we would get a point for our team. And so I finished. we would get a point for our team. And so I finished and we got a point for our team in that year. We ended up winning state and I got a state ring and I didn't win the two mile and heroically show everyone how awesome I was. I just was in the race and I got to be a part of the victory. And so what you're saying is so true.

Like if we just are apart, if we just get to be apart. I mean, you get to be a part of something that's so much better than the one you could do on your own. You don't think about Mary. And you know, like, okay, she got to carry the savior. Like, you know what I'm saying? Like, think about, you know, we think about Moses, don't we? We think about how Moses is amazing and Moses part of the sea,

and Moses was a deliverer. Well, someone had to deliver the deliverer. Without the midwives, the risk their life to deliver him when it was a time when boys were supposed to be killed at birth. Wow. You know, the deliverer has delivered the deliverer, and then think about his mom,

who had to let him go and think about the sister that put him in the basket and think about Pharaoh's daughter that brought him out of the water without everybody playing their part, he doesn't get to be the deliverer. So you remove all the people out of the supporting roles, you're saying that Moses has to deliver himself, get himself in a basket, get himself into debt. Like, you know, so you have to realize that the joy of being part of the miracle is you don't know What part you're touching you just know you're touching a part of it And that's a really cool thing that you get Sometimes you get to part water and sometimes you get to go man

I helped that person part the water One thing that I saw you do during the pandemic that I thought was so inspirational as you did the today I choose. And you kept going on and you kept choosing and you kept leading people in that. So encourages today with what that looks like to choose today. Dot, dot, dot. Yeah, I did. You know, in the pandemic, we were so locked down over here for much longer than America.

And so, you know, we were like, I think, a few weeks in realising it was going to be months and months. And, you know, I couldn't travel and a lot of things that I would normally do, go and preach and teach, suddenly stopped. And so, for me, I was like, wow, I get a little holiday, little vacation. And, you know, we all went into that moment, did we, we were like, well, I look different, I kept doing the thing about it. And I felt, God, say into that moment, did we? We were like, well, life looks different. I kept doing the thing about it. And I felt God said, no, you have to choose. Like right there and then, right at the beginning,

I felt God said, no, you choose. You can't choose the circumstance, but you can choose what you do with the circumstance. Right. There was a scripture, I can't remember, is because it was such a remote scripture. And I read it on this particular day, and it was just relevant to that moment.

It said something like, you know, there was a moment when you could have pulled the covers, the message Bible says, pull the covers over your head and say, I'm going to sleep a little longer, but instead get out of bed and attend your ear and I will speak. I felt like I'd say, you can pull the covers over your head or you can get out of bed and attend your ear and I will speak. So I just committed to get up in the morning. I had no clue if anyone would watch it. I got my iPhone out. I just recorded myself. I did like 10 minutes a day, every day. Thinking that you know, we'd be out of lockdown in like two weeks, like just 14 thoughts, 10 minutes, it'll all be good.

I was still going like 12 months later, like, like, you know, number day 100 and whatever it was. I was like, man, like, okay, I need to like, slow this thing down, but it just, I'm just trying to remind people every day, I know you think that you lost your job and so you have no choice, but you have your choice, how you respond to the fact you lost your job and so you have no choice, but you have your choice how you respond

to the fact you lost your job. You do still have your choice of whether you'll be anxious or whether you'll trust. You have choice, whether it's fear or faith, you have choice, whether it's forgiveness or holding onto resentment. You have choice, whether you're gonna praise God today or panic today.

We every day have the choice. You have the choice in how you respond to what's said. You have the choice to be quiet. And so that's what I was trying to remind people of every day, which led to these thousands and then millions of views. And then I ended up writing a book called Today I Choose to kind of sign the fifth off. But I think we need reminding, right? We need reminding, especially in seasons that are difficult, that you might not be in control, but you do have a choice.

Yes, that is so good. I love that. And that commitment that you had is so beautiful. I love how you committed to that and you did that every day for months and months and months. And also, like I did actually, I kind of mentioned this a minute ago, but I did read that you run like a lot like every day

And so you seem like a pretty disciplined person. Where does that discipline come from and how have you seen that impact your life in a in a good way? Yeah, I think I am. I'm one of those people if I say I'm gonna do it I'm gonna do it and then I'm gonna do it to the best of my ability. I love them and I just think I just think you know I think that's just the spirit of Christ. I just think that actually the essence of who God is is he is excellent. He is, you know, noble. He is honorable. He is praiseworthy. He is faithful. And he is patient. You know, he's all those things. The Bible talks a lot about living a life that reflects the heart of who God is. Not just, you know, the stuff that we enjoy, like yes, I know he's hope and I know he's

all those other things when you need him. But also, there's a lot of passages in the Bible about being a diligent steward with your talent, about working hard. You know, one of the verses that shaped my life early on was the proverb and it just paints a picture and it says there was a guy and he was given a vineyard and you know and it says just a little sleep, just a little slumber and just a little folding of the arms and poverty came upon him and the walls were down in ruins. And it just, it paints this picture. Well the truth is that the vineyard had the potential for a business, for an income, for a place of provision, for produce, well the truth is that the vineyard had the potential for a business, for an income,

for a place of provision, for produce, for the neighborhoods that he represented, and he chose to just fold his arms and it says just a little slumber. And I think God has given us all, I call the message that that came, I preach from that, it was called own your zone. And I was making the point of this man was given a zone. And in our zone, whatever it looks like, for you, it looks like honey and Christian and what you do with a little sister and what you do with your podcast and and that's your zone right now and eventually I grow and have other things in it. But right now that's your zone. So you have to choose, okay, my zone, not my friend's zone, not my friend's zone, not my mom's zone, but in my zone I have to own this. I have to step up and own it. So what does

owning it look like? It looks like getting up and taking care of what needs to be taken care of. It looks like being diligent with what's been entrusted to your hands. And I think a lot of people say well when I have so and so, when I have more money, or when I have more, then I will. And I'm not alone because the Bible tells us faithful, with little, entrusted with much. So you have to start committing to a life. You know, even if you don't have a job, get up, get dressed. You know, I'm saying it because you're beginning to teach yourself that discipline I have now will stand me in good stead for what comes later.

And I think a lot of times, especially if we're not careful with young people in next generation, if we don't teach these things, we're going to end it with a lot of dreamers, but not all our doers. Wow. And so you're going to learn that every dream has work. Yeah. You know, tell me a dream and I'll tell you how expensive it's going to be. The Bible says, before you go to battle, sit down and count the cost.

It's letting you know, make sure you can afford to live where you've said you want to go live. And so I think a lot of times we talk about big dreams and I'm all about big dreams. We talk about go, go, go you know shoot for the stars absolutely but the Bible also tells us have a big dream but also have a plan of if you can afford that dream because otherwise you're going to step into something that you're going to realize you have nothing in the account you know that you're overdrawn. You don't have enough patience, you don't have enough devotion, you don't have enough commitment, which then means that the thing that you set off to do never gets fully established. And I just don't want to commit to something that I don't have the deposit already in me to be able to

make a withdrawal from. Wow. Come on. That's so good. I feel like so many people need to rewind three minutes and listen to that over and over and over again, because it's so true. And I talked to so many girls often about like what their purposes or what their dreams are. And I think that a lot of people don't realize like the work that you have to put into it. Like you said, I had a friend the other day talking about how she you know really wants to write this book. But if she's gonna write this book and she's gonna get a publisher then she has to have this many followers. And so she was trying to get like a certain amount of followers and I was like friend That's not how you have to do it. You don't have to get a certain amount of followers

You need to go out and preach your message. You need to go and like live your message and then as you live your message as you teach your message as you you know wake up like you said daily and actually believe God for what he's getting doing your life like then maybe the followers will come because people are truly inspired because lives are changing. But you don't just do something just to get a following. You don't just wake up and ask for a shout out because that's not going to sustain the dream that you really have. If you're a dream really is to do ministry and the change

people's life, it looks a lot different than just waking up and having a platform. It's like actually daily choosing to love Jesus And the people that are out that they'll find you That's the thing that I think I think we sometimes the we have a generation that are like, you know I need the followers and you know, I need to have a social media camera does this and I need to have you know an influencer And I need to have and and and I mean I'm almost 50, I'm a few years off 50, so I've lived a long time doing this thing and I've never bought into that belief, I just don't believe that you

can sustain that, it's like you're setting off trying to run before you've learnt to walk, and the only person that's going to injure is yourself. And you know, I think about my son, we went to Disney World with our kids several times, but I remember my son was quite tall for his age. He's now six foot two, so I should have known back then when he was three was going to be a tall boy. But I remember that he was stuck to me like kids are, and he just wanted to ride everything I wrote, but we were queuing up for the terror of terror. And of course like you don't take your three year old on the terror of terror because unless you want them to be traumatized for their life.

But he was insistent and I just had this brilliant brain wave. I was like it doesn't matter because when we get there they're going to measure him and then when they measure him they're going to be like he can't write because it's too short. So the Disney employee can break his chat with his dream instead of mom. I was my plan. Until we put him down at the measurement stick and I forgot we mo-hawked his hair up and instead of squashing his head down to measuring she measured from the top of his artificial height and let him on the ride. Well of course when the door shut he freaks out. It's too late. We can't get off. He's completely traumatized.

And you know what, it took him another four years when he was well able to now ride that ride to ever want to go back on it. And my point is this, there's a lot of people that have artificial height. Followers are artificial height. You know, being an influencer is artificial height. You know, being an influencer is artificial height. You know, a platform just gives you elevation.

But in order to sustain a platform, you need revelation. Come on. And so, and so, so a lot of people, a lot of young people, their followers, all that, it's artificial height. It's not real, okay. So, so here's the thing. If you get on the roller coaster through artificial height and you're not actually ready to ride it, it's going to make you come off that

high and low and up and down, traumatized. And if you did just wait a few more years, you'd have been the right height so the ride would not freak you out. My son can write something for several more years because he tried to ride it too early. So if it's a book that someone feels I want to write it, yeah, but don't let your artificial heart hike cause you to write a book. But then what's going to happen is you're not going to sell as many copies as you think you are.

Then you're going to be disappointed. Then then you're gonna feel people let you down, then you're not gonna get the breakthrough you thought and then you're not gonna write anything for more years because you're gonna call yourself a failure. Wow. Instead, why do you wait and grow so you have the real height so that when you do get on the right of doing whatever that is, you don't come off traumatized but you come off feeling like, okay, that was something that I knew I could handle. And that's, you know, speaking, I'm speaking a lot of youth conferences recently and I said I'd never speak at youth conferences or your adult conferences and I told God no, it's not my fit.

But honestly, I've never felt it'd be more of fit than this season in my life for the things I'm saying to you now. I feel like some of these young people just need a mama to say, it's okay, like slow down, like it's all going to be fine, but I think sometimes when we just listen to everybody that's our age, we egg each other on to do something that actually we're not ready to actually take this consequence of what that might look like. It's very true. Come on. Oh my gosh.

I'm so excited. I'm so excited. I'm so excited. Oh mama. No, you don't. No, you don't. You seem like the person everybody needs to be listening to right now.

So like, I love doing this podcast because I just get to sit here and throw these questions at you. And whenever you hit home runs, I would like to get so excited. I'm like, yes, yes, yes, say it, say it. So I could not echo or aim in that anymore. That was such a beautiful analogy. I honestly would want it in there, but I want to ask you one more question

because I want people to leave feeling like, okay, like, I actually have a lot of things to do. And I honestly think they already will. They're gonna say, I can choose to do something today. They're going to say, I can dare to be, I can dare to do things that might scare me. They're going to look at themselves and say, okay, maybe I've been going off my artificial height and I just need to give it a few more years. Like, there's so many things that you said that are so impactful that are going to be practical

things for people to walk into tomorrow. One thing I want you to talk about is that just you are so well spoken. You're so good with these analogies and you're so great ever calling stories from the word. And I know that's because you read the word. I mean, you wouldn't be able to tell us all these stories about the word and think about that verse and think about that story if you didn't read it. And so what's your advice to people who are like, I wanna read the word, I don't know how to start, I don't know how to get into it, how to Charlotte just quote every single Bible story that I've ever read in my life, you know, in one podcast.

What's your advice for people learning to love the word? Well, I think it's, I think, I think we all fall in love with it in different ways, right? Like we all fall in love in the natural in different ways. There's a lot to love in the words. And so I think start with something that would be attractive to you. So if that's a proverb, start there. If that's a song, start there.

Don't start in the video. Yeah. Don't start somewhere where you're like, I do not love this. Well, that's because you start at a place where it's like, no, don't start there. So think that's the ease yourself in and don't judge yourself. Don't be like, well, I've been in Psalms for six months. If it takes you six months to get in Psalms and stay, fine, you read in the Bible, you know, but then I would also say, find people that when you listen to them, they make the Bible easy for you. So find people and then get a devotional they've written, you know,

and so that they can help you get into the word until you feel like you can now begin to take steps on your own. Don't be frightened to say, okay, I'm going to order a devotional, I wrote a devotional, I've written one for 365 days a year, I've written one for 12, you know, a month for a time, I've written one for I've written a gazillion. But I wrote them for that very reason because people would say what you say, but that's just me just out with a verse, the verse gets unpacked, helps you know how to pray. So use tools to help you. And then, um, slow down. Yeah. I think that people go, oh, I've got to read five verses. And, you know, and it goes in one ear and out the other and then you move on with the day, oh, I've got to read five verses. And you know, and it goes in one ear and out the other, and then you move on with the day, like, like, like, pick a passage and then just stay there until

you feel God said something to you from it. Like a lot of things that I pull out of the word are from same passages that people have read a million times, but never found it because I think we're just speed-read. That's true. And you don't need to speed read. Like if you want to spend a whole week in the same verse and say, God, I'm just staying here. I don't know why, but I am. I'm just staying here. And then another thing that I do,

I think some people read the Bible like, okay, God, I'm, okay, hopefully something on this page is going to see. You know, right? I think like people do all the manner of things they do. But one of the things I've found is, why don't you just, what is bothering you right now? Or what is concerning you right now? And then go look at your Bible for passages about that.

So if you're like nervous or anxious, then just do a study on anxiety in the Bible. And then you'll begin to see it in lots of different stories. You'll be going to see how Elijah was anxious. You'll begin to see how Gideon was anxious. You'll begin to see all the different parallels in scripture because now you're not looking for a scripture to read. You're researching something that you need wisdom about. So there's different ways to approach the word and then get aids to help you until you feel

you've got a pattern of rhythm. But just keep going. Just any, and some days I read my bio online, I got nothing. I got nothing. Yeah. That's what's going on. That's actually really encouraging me here you say,

because I think people, like, look at people, you're like, man, every time they read their bio, they just pull out this like gold and I'm reading and sometimes I'm just feel really sleepy or sometimes I feel really tired. Sometimes I'm like, I don't quite understand it yet. And that's okay, it's part of the journey, it's part of getting to know Jesus.

And I love that you said that one thing, like my favorite way to read is also like, if I'm thinking about something, like you said, like if I'm having anxiety or if I'm about to preach a message on love, like to just deep dive into that one topic. And then you see all these people who are struggle with the same thing you struggle with,

but found God in the ways that you need God in. And it's so beautiful. And also to your point about Bible cities, like I'm someone who like is writing those, but I'm someone that reads those too. Like honestly, there are times in my life and I've recently been in this where I'm like, okay, where do I read?

Like, I'm kind of in this like, where do I read? But that doesn't mean I shouldn't read. That means I just need a little inspiration to read. And so I literally went over to my bookshelf the other day and picked out my Priscilla Shire by little study and I was like, I'll start with this one, you know? And so I'm doing the same thing.

And I just want people to be encouraged by that. They're like, you might look at someone like me who writes the books or someone like Charlotte and you think, oh, well, they always know what to do. They always know it's easy for them to read the Bible. And sometimes it's the same journey as your own friends. And so Charlotte, I'm so excited for people to hear this by guys.

You have touched on so many amazing things. You're such an inspiration, a mama, a mentor, a friend, people from afar, and we're thankful for your influence on our life. So thank you for being on the way that's good podcast, and I can't wait for people to soak all of this in. You're a joy, you're a joy. And you the first time I met you, our lives would be connected.

And I knew that it would be something that we would do together in the future, whether it was this or other things that we've done, because I just love your heart and your purity of heart and I see a lot of my early journey in your journey and I'm just cheering you on, girl, just keep going and keep helping people like you are, you're a real gift and it's been a joy to hang out, it always is. Thank you friend! Yay!