WHOA That's Good Podcast - Trusting Your Gut (And What That Really Means)? | Sadie, Christian, Bella & John Luke

Episode Date: December 17, 2025

Sadie Robertson Huff, Christian Huff, Bella Robertson Mayo, and John Luke Robertson are back with part two of their favorite pieces of advice from this year’s podcast episodes. Bella shares a major epiphany about embracing a quieter, simpler life—just like their Papaw Phil Robertson. Christian reflects on how to keep your heart soft, John Luke encourages anyone who feels they’ve messed up or made a bad decision, and Sadie talks about trusting your gut and the deep peace you can have as a follower of Jesus. This Episode of WHOA That's Good is Sponsored By: Exclusive $35-off Carver Mat at https://on.auraframes.com/WHOA. Promo Code WHOA AG1 has their best offer ever - subscribe with my link https://drinkag1.com/whoa and you’ll unlock 7 free gifts worth $126 Upgrade your sleep—or give the gift of better rest! Go to https://trymiracle.com/WHOA and use the code WHOA to claim your FREE 3 PIECE TOWEL SET and SAVE over 40% OFF. - Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Book a visit now at 905-947-9990 or at amica.ca.ca.ca.com slash Unionville. All right. So we sat down last week to start this podcast talking about the best piece of advice we've gotten all year. And we totally planned to do it all in one podcast. But I looked up at the clock. We were at 50 minutes and we still had three pages of advice to go, which was awesome because we had so many great conversations. If you haven't listened to last week, I highly encouraged to go. We started off a little goofy, but we locked it in. because the advice was so good. So we're just going to keep rolling on last year. We literally only made it to May before we got to an hour. So we'll pick up here. But Jamie McDonald was on the podcast.

She was incredible. Her life story was wild. Her testimony was so powerful. But I love what she said. She said before college, she was talking with a homeless man. And I don't remember if the man said it or if it just came to her. But it said no matter what happens to you, don't harden your heart.

And that was really, really cool. So I'm curious in y'all's life, has there been a moment that you've had to kind of overcome your heart being hardened? Because I know I certainly have in life. Anybody want to kick us off? Yeah, I would say so. I mean, I think that happens any time that someone disappoints you or says something mean about you or whatever, like especially in a family or friends or spouse or, you know, girlfriend or whatever. situation and you have to decide am I going to forgive them or am I going to get over it, you know? And I think there's always caveats. There's always you need to set healthy boundaries

and things. But I think there is any time you're faced with a disappointment of betrayal, you've got to decide. Am I going to let this like callous me or am I going to continue to love this person or be friends with them or whatever? Yeah. I think about a lot of people going through like hardening their heart towards the church because they've had a bad experience in the past. And I think honestly, probably most people have had a bad experience in church at some point or another. And so it's that choice. Do you forgive the person knowing that the church is built up of people who are imperfect people who serve a perfect God? So not getting your heart hardened to like a whole thing because one person or one situation hurt you. For me specifically, You want to go? I didn't know if you were saying, hey, let me, let me jump in here. Yeah, I just plant my fingers. For me specifically, one thing that I have never shared, and I might stumble my way through sharing it,

but you've, like, watched me and go through this. I feel like I went through a little period. This is vulnerable. Of, like, my heart being hardened towards things because I felt like, like, people were, like, using my name or my face for things, like, their thing. maybe it was even to like promote something or to sell tickets or for this or that or whatever it was. And I feel like I kind of got bitter in a sense towards that where I felt like I wasn't

valued for like who I am or like actually what I bring to an event. It was just like my name will bring other people. So that's why they put my name out there. And I felt like I did get kind of like sensitive about that. and it actually even kind of made me like question things because I was like are people inviting me to places because I'm really like anointed to preach and like they actually love what I'm bringing to the table or am I just invited because my last name's Robertson or because you know that and I had to like get down to the truth and be like okay even if people are doing it for bad intention I'm still going to show up with a pure heart like I'm still going to show up and believe that God gave me a word and this word is for somebody in this. room. And I think about, kind of in a different context, but you know how Paul says, like, okay, some people preach out of envy, some people preach out of rivalry, but like, as long as Jesus is preached, and it's kind of like, okay, some people might use my name for ill intention or like some,

or not ill intention, but like just to get something. Some people might put my face out there for whatever, but like, I know why I do what I do, and that's to preach Jesus. And I know the value I bring is not, you know, just to sell a ticket. I know the value I bring is to hopefully impact someone's life with the message of Jesus. And so for me, not hearting in my heart in that case scenario, it looks like even if they're doing that, that doesn't mean that, like, I don't, like, that doesn't mean that I have to show up and just be the person that whatever, I can show up and still have a pure heart. And I feel like that's something that I've had to really, like, kind of wrestle with.

and I went through like a little period where that was really hurtful to me and then I had to decide it's okay. That's really good. Thanks for sharing that. Yeah, thanks for listening, guys. That was good to share. Yeah, I think the thing for me, it's honestly something I think about

probably daily. I think that's honestly, one of my most common prayers is, you know, remove this heart of stone to give me a heart of flesh. Whether it's, you know, with something I can struggle with cynicism or getting frustrated at a situation or lack of patience or those kind of things and I think it's like king

david it's like fear from my heart a broken and contred heart you will not despise him even jesus teaching you out of the heartening the hearts of the wellspring of life so i do think there's a there's a process to hardening your heart over a you know over a course of time you look at pharaoh and exodus um but also think that it can be a daily thing too of like we're humans we are we we we sin we're not perfect. Jesus is sanctifying us, but I do think that a daily, your heart can be hardened daily. And I think just constantly being aware of that and knowing that you can pray to for God to remove that heart of stone and give you heart of flesh. That's something for me that I pray a lot of times. And it happens to be a homeless man situation. And I'm a big proponent of

if I have something with me and it doesn't seem like too sketchy of a situation, I always try to give something to a homeless person just because, I don't know, I think for me it's always a great litmus test of just, you know, associating with the lowly, you know, Romans 12 talks about, you know, associating with people of lower position. And I think for me, homeless people is always like, if I have something, because it's, you know, I don't know what they're going to go do with the money or what they're going to go do with whatever I give them. But for me, if I'm going to be faithful and you know just with Jesus sorry I'm kind of rambling but well I was going to say you want in that situation you don't want to harden your heart against them you want to think you want to try

to have empathy with them and say like oh we're we're equals in the situation like what if I was in that position where I'm yeah begging for money on the side of the road you want to have empathy with them instead of harden your heart and saying I'm just not going to care because the easier thing to do is like scoff at it yeah and the harder thing to do is like actually go out of your way and them and give them something. So I think that's the thing too. It's like even if there's a situation like that and the person's not necessarily even asking you for money

or asking you for something, I think you going out of your way to show them kindness goes a long way. So for me, I'm a big proponent. This actually makes me think of going back and I wasn't going to bring this one up, but it's perfect for this. Christian Stanfield's best views of advice

with Second Chronicles 69. And it says, The Eyes of the Lord, they range throughout the earth to strengthen those who's hearts are fully committed to him. And it's really cool to think about like, that is the Lord, like searching the earth for like whose heart is committed to me, you know? And even David is a good example of why God anointed David as king. He said, man looks at the outward appearance, but God

looks at the heart. That's what Samuel said whenever he was going to, you know, Jesse's voice to figure out which, who's going to be the king? He was looking at the heart. And it was like the heart of the shepherd in the field. And so I think that's why it's so important to pray those prayers, It's like purify my heart. Don't let my heart get bitter. Don't let my heart get hard. Even if they give me a reason for it. Like purify my heart because I don't want to start showing up

and being, you know, bitter towards people. Or I don't want to start showing up and doubting myself. I don't want to look at a homeless man and have lost so much empathy because I've reasoned my way out of it. Like God's looking for the heart. And those are the people he's calling. He's like those who have a pure heart. And so I love that.

Do you want to speak to them? Yeah. Um, I think for me personally, I think a lot of people can relate to this, but anyone who's walked through a season of infertility, it can feel impossible at times not to harden your heart. Um, but I think to that verse, like, God looks at your heart and I think that he's looking for people who are committed to him. And I think that in seasons of waiting or confusion or anything like that, I think that it can feel impossible to not harden your heart. But I think if you just trust in God and like it sounds, I don't, I don't have the perfect advice for this because it's just really feels impossible at times but I think you put your faith in God you put your trust in God and you fully believe that he he's holding your hand and he's holding you through the whole journey and that he will fulfill his promise one day in one way or another and I think that yeah I think that if anyone's dealing

with that right now I'm so sorry and I think that I have a lot of compassion I think that it's really easy to harden your heart so don't feel ashamed if you've if you're there right now. But I think that you can move past that even if your prayer is answered by just trusting in God. I don't know like the theology behind this necessarily. I've heard other people say some really good points about this and I certainly don't want it to confuse anyone by bringing it up. But it makes me think of the fear of hardening your heart is like, Pharaoh is like God hardened his heart. Like he wasn't he was like not in any way submitting to the will of God in the sense of like just letting the people go and look at all the bad things that happen. You know, look at like what was happening to the people. Look at the plagues of this like could have been avoided from a softened heart. Like could have been avoided from his heart. And I know that's confusing to say that why did God harden his heart? And I've heard people break that down. It's a good study and I don't think it, I I don't think the way you read it at first is actually what it's meaning.

Someone was talking about it how like if you put, I think it was like water on wax, like it hardens, but if you put like water and clay, like it's molded and how like it's not that you're doing something different. It's just that one's willing to be molded and one is like going to harden. And so like God gives the opportunity for you to like be molded or like for you to harden. And so like if he's pouring something over you, you're in a life situation, it's like, okay, God, am I going to allow you to mold me, like, the potter's hands? Or am I going to get stiff and hard in this situation?

And in the Ferris situation, like, he was hard towards it, like unwilling to change what he was, how he was leading Egypt and let God lead through him. And so, like, all of that stuff had to happen. And so that's, like, definitely something in the Bible to be aware of when you're seeing, like, a hardened heart, and that's the outcome. He's like, okay, Lord, what's the outcome of a pure heart? Well, David, look at, you know, different things in the Bible that talks about

having a pure heart. Well, it's Romans 1, it's God giving you up to your desire. So there's a process of, yeah, you hardening your own heart. And then ultimately, God just gives you over to your desires, which it leads to your destruction. Okay, friends, can we just admit it? Finding the perfect holiday gift is hard. It has to be personal, but not weird, thoughtful, but not over the top.

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so order yours now to get it in in time for the holidays. Support the show by mentioning us at checkout, please. Terms and conditions apply. I don't know exactly how it's, what it's meaning when it says, when you're talking about, like, don't harden your heart. But I do think that sometimes, especially in this season that I'm walking through or seasons similar, I think that hardening your heart can look like just always putting on a strong face and not, not being, not allowing yourself to be sensitive about what you're going through. And I think that through years of waiting, I think that there can be time. where you're just like, I'm just, I don't care, I'm not talking about it, I don't care, I'm over it, like, but I think that you can allow yourself to be sensitive about the situation and you can allow yourself to like feel the emotions. And I think in those moments of like raw emotion is

when you really will see your need for God. And so I think that, um, allowing yourself like Christian said to like, um, or Christian called out that Bible verse that says like, um, give me a heart of flesh. I think that in seasons where you feel like I just don't even want to deal with this anymore, like, I just want to like turn it off and turn away from it. I think that you can pray that God would give you that heart of flesh and like be sensitive and like be emotional because it is like such a hard journey. And like in those moments of emotion is when, um, is when God will truly meet you there. Like he's so near to the broken heart. And I think that in times where you can come base to pace with that. And that, uh, and that, um, and that, um, that,

doesn't mean always like in front of everyone or with everyone, but like with your closest people, like, allow yourself to be soft in that way. That's exactly how I take it. I think that was so well said. I agree. I totally agree. That's beautiful. Next episode we're talking about is remembering pep-ball fill, which was actually the biggest

podcast episode of the year for a great reason. We had such good conversation honoring pep ball film in his life. second biggest was Bella sharing her story on infertility and so if you haven't listened to those two they were two of the top because there was so much wisdom and talk about empathy and vulnerability and having a heart of flesh in a moment we were talking about Pelopville right after he passed away you were talking about infertility like in a time where you were like I don't really know all the words to share you didn't feel ready for that podcast but you did it and so those are just like beautiful moments of having hearts of flesh

But one of the things that, well, John, you had really good advice in this. I love how you shared Peppelphil's advice, like, if it's good enough for the duck blind, like, then it's got to just be good enough and not kind of like over-analizing things. But I want to bring up what Reid said because he brought up Pebblefield's verse for Thessalonians. Is it 4.11, I think it is? I don't know. I could be wrong on that. But it's a verse about making it your ambition to live a quiet life.

And that has been some of the best advice that had gotten all you. you're from Pebble of Phil, after he passed away, going back and watching videos that he did, constantly saying that verse. And I have pondered that for the past few months. Like, what does it look like to make it your ambition to live a quiet life and still a life of influence? That's just like an amazing thought to me that I've probably talked about too much on the podcast to even go into it again. But I love that. I was very impacted by that verse that Pebble Phil. Because what happens when you follow the verse of? Well, what the verse

says and what's been speaking to me is how it says, make it your ambition to live a quiet life, and then it says work with your hands, all the stuff, and it says, and you will gain the respect to the outside world, and you won't be dependent on anyone. And I'm like, that is so contrary to how the world lives. Like, if we

think we're going to gain the respect of the outside world, the last thing we think to do that is to live a quiet life. Like, we think, like, no, we got to speak enough algorithm, which you're talking about, we got again on the algorithm. We have put ourselves out there. We're going to build this. We've got to do this. We've got to figure out of marketing strategy. We're going to go for it. And we're also like going to depend on so many things. It's going to depend on if I get the book deal. It's going

to depend on if that person notices me. It's going to depend on if I get this many followers. And that's like the opposite of what that verse is saying, saying, no, make it your ambition to live a quiet life. Work with your hands. Don't be dependent on anyone. And then you will gain the respect to the outsiders because they're going to look at your life and be like, how'd you do that. I'll think about Pebble Phil, a man who lived at the end of the river in a $27,000 house who duck hunted every single day. And if he wasn't duck hunting, he was building duck blinds and he was working with his hands. He was living such a quiet life. Yet when he passed away, millions of people were impacted and talking about it. Like, what a picture of staying true

to that verse. And also, even beyond that kind of a lesson in the lesson is Pebble Phil had a verse he read that he thought about so much and it impacted the way he lived his daily life. You know, like he had first Thessalonians on his mind when he went out in the dug blind and was like building something with his hands and trusting that God was going to use him for the kingdom when he seemed to be in a very remote place. Yet anybody that came down there got the option to be baptized or was baptized by him because of the impact of his life and so there was just so many layers to that um being good advice to me it was like someone really practicing what they preach someone living out someone reading the word doing the word and also i just

never heard that verse like i'm sure i've read it i've read the bible but and it didn't stick out to me like it stuck out to him and now it does yeah that i've always kind of struggled with that idea of living quiet life in that verse because we don't live quiet lives you know comparative to other people you know we're most of what we're doing

is out there and it's loud and you know there's that there's good aspects of that like we want to share a message I mean I think for pebble Phil it was the idea that he never strive for it

and he never wanted the fame for the fame itself. Like he lived his life exactly how he wanted to. He, the message that he was speaking, he taught every Sunday at his

small group at church, 30 people. And you know, he'd do that on Sundays and then on the weekdays he would be on the podcast or he would be on you know, the top talk shows in the nation. But it wasn't that

to him it didn't care whether it was on national news or whether it was one person in his house he was going to live share the same message and do the thing he didn't strive for that that's what it is that's that's what it is because it's like letting it think about psalms 127 unless the lord builds the house the labor labor labor labor labor labor and it's like you work with your hands that you work for the lord and if the lord builds the house that you know then step into it it's like it's like when people say i want to do what you you do. And I say, what aspect? And then, oh, I want to do conferences. It's on new pockets.

It's like, that's great. And that's beautiful to have that ambition that maybe one day what it would be would turn into a conference. But it doesn't start as a conference. It starts with the Bible study. It starts with sharing the word. It starts with that. And if the Lord builds the stage and if the Lord sets up the microphone, but I always think one of my favorite stories think about when we went to Israel, this is what impacted me the most. When we set on that Mount, where the Mount of Beatitudes, where Jesus, like, preached that message on Sermon on the Mount. And I just got to thinking because we do so many events. I'm like, no one set up that event. You know, there's thousands of people that came to listen to Jesus preach.

No one set up the event. There's no sound equipment. There's no microphone. There's no, okay, you're going to go on stage at this time and this give you the microphone and sound check and you got 30 minutes like to talk. No, like Jesus came. People gathered and Jesus spoke and they heard. And the way that the mount is actually shaped, it's wild because it amplifies sound like by the shape of it. So remember how people were like down at the bottom and you could actually hear them talk. And I just felt like the Lord told me in that moment, if I want a message to be heard, it will be heard. If I want a message to go out, it's going to go out. And nothing's going to be able to stop it.

So whether you have a microphone or you have a stage or you have the platform, you're not dependent on somebody to get my message out. I'm going to get the message out. And when the wind of God is on it, the wind of God is on it. And that's been something that I've really taken because it's like, I'm going to do what I can. I'll write the message. I'll show up in the morning. It's like Clesiase 11, sew your seat in the morning. Don't be idle with your hands in the evening.

It's not up to me how God uses it. It's up to me to be obedient to what he gave me to do. Let's talk about Christmas shopping for a second because the struggle is real. I'm out here trying to find gifts for everybody, teachers, family, neighbors, all the things. And it feels like every store is packed and every cart is overflowing. And when you finally do find a good deal, it is like a Christmas miracle. So when AG1 rolled out their best offer ever, I was like, okay, here's a win for everyone. And it actually makes sense during the season because not only does your health deserve a great deal,

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epiphany and it sounds so simple, but I just had this big epiphany that like everything that God tells us in the Bible, all the rules, all the laws, all the, all the commandments, like, they're all God being kind of us. And really and truly, he sets these in place for us to live a better life. And he wants us to live the best life and the most abundant life we can. And when we follow his commandments, that is how we live such an abundant life. And so a few years ago, I feel like I really had that epiphany like, wow, like none of these rules are just made up for no reason. and they're all for us to live a better life. And I feel like I've really seen the fruit of that verse exactly in my life.

Not that when I decided I wanted to log off social media, I was thinking about that verse in my head or anything like that. But I think that through that I've seen so much like I've just felt so much more confident and happier. And I've heard God's voice so much more and not that you can't if you are on social media by any means. But for me personally, logging off, stepping back, living a quieter life has. had so much fruit in my life and been so good for me that verse even though it wasn't my intention at the time knowing that God said that just tells me like wow like that's so true like when you live like that you do um you do live a more fruitful life so and there's some like certain scenarios

where again everyone's quiet life is going to look different you might look at my life and be like it doesn't look quiet but they're like like right now I'm writing a book book. Okay, there's so many hours go into this that no one's seeing and that no one needs to see. That's like my quiet time with the Lord and that's the time I'm working with my hands and I'm doing what God's called me to do. And again, it's like I don't need to be dependent on anyone. So I'm not going to say, okay, this book has to come out this time if it's going to hit and it's got to come out and the publishers have to do X, Y, and Z and I got to get these interviews and I got to it's like, no, I have to write the book. I got to write what the Lord puts them are. I got to listen

for the right words to say. And then when the time comes, if the Lord sends it out, it'll gain the respect to the outside world. And so I think it's like situation by situation, parenting my kids, no one's seeing this moment. This is not about people seeing it.

This is about me and the kids. You know, this is about what God's doing in our life right now. And then maybe people can learn from the way that I'm doing this. Maybe they don't. Maybe the Lord wants to show it. Maybe he doesn't.

You know, and so that's it's not, like you said, Julian. It's not like he didn't want fame for the sake of fame. Fame came. and he used it, but he was doing it on Sunday morning anyways. The next advice as we continue down, really good, kind of similar, I think, what we just talked about. We don't have to land on this or even talk about it. I just wanted to bring it up.

This was whenever Kasten Mayer was on, which was so fun to have them on because I have loved their Instagram videos from afar for a long time. I love their dances. And I love what Meredith said. She said, if it doesn't work out, you'll just come home and do something else. what's the worst thing that can happen? It all follows apart and you just do something else. And she said that in reference to where she was really wrestling with if she should move to New York or L.A., like, where should I go? And this is such a crippling decision for some of my people. Where should I go to college? Where should I do? Should I do this? Should I do that? Should I take this job? Should I take that job? And I love how she just kind of like took the pressure off and was like,

what's the worst thing that's going to happen? You move there? You don't like it. You move back. And I was just talking to a mom the other day who was like very much so in that struggle of should I homeschool my kid, should I send my kid to school. And I said, look, send them to school. And if you don't like it, homeschool them or homeschool them. And if it's not going good, put them in school. Like it's not like you're making a decision right now while they're in first grade that you have to stick with until they graduate high school. You can make a decision halfway through first grade and say, never mind. I think I want to change, you know.

And it's like knowing you have the freedom in your life to take authority of your life. You know, like God gave you free will. God gave you the ability to make decisions. And so I think that is like a beautiful thing. I think so many times you're like, well, I just want to do the will of God. And I think the will of God is a little bit more broad than like this or that most of the time. It's like, okay, Lord, I'm going to go to New York. That's where I feel, you know, I know you're going to be with me here or there.

I said to someone the other night like this. they were wondering if they should go just on this small little trip. And she was like, I just don't know where God would want me to be. And she was like, should I be there or should it be here? And I said, I just want to give you the freedom to know God's going to be with you, whether you're here or you're there. He's with you and you're coming. He's with you and you're going.

It's not like you're going against the will of God to go on this trip, to go to this concert or be home that one night with your kids. Like sometimes God's really specific. Sometimes we talked about peace in the last episode. If you don't have peace, don't do it. But I think for the majority, we do overthink, like, is this the wrong decision? And I'm like, you're not going to make the wrong decision. Let the Lord lead you.

And if he's leading you a different direction, go the other direction, you know? Yeah. Yeah. I was just going to say, I think that, like, I feel like young people really always feel like they have to, you know, commit to something and stick with it. And I've been guilty of that before, too, especially when it comes to school and different things like that. But I think that even seeing other people do something and always doing it, you started when you were so young and stuck with it and have been doing it for what, 10 years now? Plus now, I guess I wrote Livergen when I was like 15 and I'm 20, it's like 13 years.

And like, John Luke, you've had a few career changes. I feel like for me, I was doing social media. One day I was like, oh, I just wasn't wanting to do it anymore. And mom was like, well, you can come help out at a documentary. I was like, okay, I'll do that for a little bit. and just never thought that this would be something that I would do. But I'm so glad that I wasn't so stuck in my way that I wouldn't try something new. I think that a lot of young people feel like, oh, I have to do what I started and I have to

continue to do what I do, especially when you have a college degree and that's what it's for and you feel you have to do that. But our dad always talks about, like, in his 20s, he was a camp director. In his 30s, he came to Duck Commander. in his 40s, Duck Dynasty, he started in, like, in his 50s now he's doing so many speaking things. And, like, his life has changed so much. He's had career changes almost every decade and probably more in between that. And I think just don't be scared of that. Like, you can, you can always change your path and do something different. And John, like, you are a good

testament of that, I think. Yeah, I've had multiple career changes. Whenever I was in Bella's role and I hated it, and then Bella wanted to do my job. That was a good choice on both of our parts. No, I heard a... Mom actually had to go before us and make that decision because you were not liking your job, and I was not liking my job, and mom was like, I think we should do a switch here.

Mom always says know your kids, each of them are individual. It was a good switch, yeah. I heard a piece of advice recently, and it was, don't let a single decision define you. And because that's good. Sometimes you can make the wrong decision. And I think that goes along with her advice of if you make a bad decision, you can make another decision. That's better.

I mean, you still have to live with the consequences of your actions. You have to let the consequences play out as they do. But you can turn your life into a new direction. You can move. You can just make the next right decision. That's so true. Jenny Allen gave me some really good advice. I called her after I had kit. And I was like, I don't know if I'm going to be able to go back into it again because I'm like, no, I'm just loving being a mom and being at home. And like, you know, I'm struggling. Should I keep saying yes to speaking event? Should I not right now? Like just kind of getting her wisdom on that. And she said, you know, this is going to be a balance. You're going to carry for the rest of your life, you know. And it's not just ministry. It's just motherhood in any job you have. Like you're going to want to just be home. But then also. maybe you have something specific you feel God called you to do or you actually have to go back to work for practical financial reasons.

Like there's so many reasons why you have to carry the tension and the balance. I want to do this, but I need to be here too. And she said, you know, Sadie, she said, just give yourself the freedom. She's like, you're going to say yes to too many things sometimes and you're going to say no to too many things sometimes. You're probably really going to be like right in the balance of like, oh man, this year I crushed it. Like the calendar was exactly how I want it. She said, you might say yes to a tour. and you go on it and halfway through, you go, oh, man, I should not have done this.

That isn't mean you made the wrong decision. It just means you're tired. And now do something different next time. Take a few, you know, weeks off, whatever that looks like. And it is true. Like, you got to live, as Miss Tara says to us as our counselor, like live in the ebb and flow, like, get in the ebb and flow and be comfortable and confident and, like, the ebb and flow of life that, like, it's okay to say yes.

No, sometimes it's okay to be here. It's okay to be there. Like, just give yourself the freedom that, yeah, one wrong decision or, you're, good decision doesn't define your whole life. Let's be real, fam. Most of us don't wash our sheets as often as we probably should, but here's the thing. Traditional sheets need to be washed more often because they can hold more bacteria than a toilet seat. Okay, disgusting, right?

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And I think it can be scary sometimes to make a decision because you're like, what if I can't go back to what I liked before, you know, or what I did before? And that's like real. I mean, mom just gave me the same advice because we're in, it's a long story, but we're in a process of moving right now. And there was like so many times there I'm like, what if we move and then we want to go back to our old house? Like, what if we want to go back? And mom was like, well, like we've moved. moved I've moved twice like when we were kids we moved and mom was like we've moved so many times and like you're always there's something better for you on the other side and like it's not

even though you love your house and you love the memories that you've made there you'll make new memories at your next place and you'll uh you'll love your next house too and you'll love the next like john luke's head and you can move back yeah and y'all's good scenario we could move that well i'm just saying like that's a story i know but i'm just saying in general for me Most people, you can't move back to your old house. You know what I'm saying is I loved the memories at my house. I loved my house. But we're going to make new memories and we're going to have new experiences and love that too.

But sometimes in life, sometimes in life, I think it is the hardest decision when you actually do have the option to go back. Because it's like the Israelites, whenever they finally got out of Egypt, they finally are no longer slaves and what did they want to do when it got uncomfortable i want to go back and even though it wasn't what it was best for them it was what was comfortable to them and so sometimes in life it's actually really hard when you have the option of going back to it was comfortable but you know you need to keep moving forward and so it's like and i want to talk about this when it comes to peace because we keep saying like where you have peace and actually the last piece of advice i wanted to bring up is um from bailey um how do you say your last name christopher yeah and um i love

of what she said. If you put your peace in people, they had the power to take it away. If you put your peace in anything of this world, then whatever it has, whatever it is, it has the power to take it away. It must be rooted in your foundation in Christ. And I think we've been talking about peace a lot. Like, do I have peace to do I have peace? I remember when I first started hanging out with people who used that term a lot. Like, do you have peace? I wasn't used to that. Like, we didn't really grow up in our family, even though we were believers and follow God and went to church on Sunday. That wasn't like our vocabulary like do you have peace and that I feel like is so ingrained in our vocabulary now peace doesn't always mean you peace really actually means like you don't have fear or everything's comfortable I think when you think of peace sometimes you think like that means no fear that means everything's working out comfortable it's like this deep inner sense of knowing even though it's hard I'm where I'm supposed to be even though it's a change in a transition, I know I'm supposed to go. It's like a confidence in the midst of chaos. It's going, I probably should be really afraid of this, but I still feel a leaning towards it. And I know that

God's going to give me the faith or the strength to keep going in this. Or I know God's going to give me a joy that's a strength that doesn't make sense in a situation I shouldn't have, you know? And so I feel like it's like an inner confidence and an inner assurance that that's where you're supposed to be, even if the circumstances don't seem to make sense for that. And so that's why, like, the Israelites, they're like, I want to go back, I want to go back to what it's comfortable. But there's, like, a deep assurance in knowing I got to keep moving forward because there is a promised land. It's just going to take me a minute to get there, you know? And I think for anyone who, like, is struggling with that idea of, like, what is that? What is that piece? I think that as a

Christian. I recently had a situation where I had a really big decision to make, and I felt so strongly that I knew exactly what decision, even though months before I really didn't know what the decision was. Just one day, I felt it, like, I just know what to do. And it was almost easy for me to think in my head at first, this kind of, I guess, secular way of saying it, like, I just like, am listening to my gut and like, my gut is telling me, but it's not your gut. the Holy Spirit. And I think that I had that realization a few months ago. I was having this situation. I felt so strongly. I knew what decision to make. And I was telling my friends about it. And it was so quick for me to just be like, I just had a gut feeling. And it's not a gut

feeling if you're a Christian. Like if you're a Christian and you trust in God, like that's the Holy Spirit giving you peace. And that's what peace is. So if you've ever felt like you have a gut feeling about something or you're listening to your gut or something like that I think that's that's what we're talking about I saw I saw this meme this past week and it was saying the trust your gut and it was like trust your gut and then it was this person it was like though the same gut that like I was like blowing up the bathroom all morning like when you're in the hospital oh I sold it before it's like that that can't handle dairy yeah yeah it's like oh just trust your gut it's like I'm in the bathroom, like with my bowels all messed up. I'm not trusting my gut. I can't put that much trust in my

gut for sure. You really can't. I just told them that I started drinking some coffee recently because, like, I go through times where I drink coffee. I go three times where I don't drink coffee. I'm pulling over on the side of the road. I can't, like, I'm living life on the edge when I'm drinking coffee because my gut cannot handle things like that. Like me with pizza? I know. It's just how can that gut decide my decisions in my life? I'm good that can't eat a piece of pizza. I cannot tell me what to do But, okay, to back it up with some theology And theology is simply talking about the word of God

It's not something crazy, it's just time about the word of God. It says the fruit of the spirit, love, joy, peace. Peace is a fruit of who God is. So it is a characteristic of God. So when you have peace, that's God telling you this is the right decision. This is where you're supposed to be. I'm with you in this moment, you know?

And again, like you think about the stories in the Bible where God told them to be, oh, one of my favorite examples of this, after Jesus is baptized, it says he's led by the spirit to the wilderness to be tempted. Now, that's crazy, because you might look at that and go, oh, I'm not where I'm supposed to be. I'm being tempted by Satan. I'm in the wilderness, but it says led by the spirit. And the whole time Jesus was there, he remained steady, fasted. He made it the whole time.

He had a clear mind. I assume he had perfect peace because he's, God and he also quoted scripture throughout the whole thing. So it can look like a bad situation and that doesn't mean that you made the wrong decision. God still could have led you there and if you have peace, then you have God. And if you don't have peace, then ask God where he is and ask God to help you through that. I will say because we're through the advice. One example of this from recently. So people have been asking me so often, like, share your birth story with kit. Share your birth story with Kit. And I haven't shared my birth story with Kit because I've been

discerning like, I don't want to share my story. And it'd be like someone hear it with the wrong ears and someone hear it with fear, you know, because people have said after I share my birth story with honey, a lot of people have been like so so thankful for it. And that's why people keep asking me to share my birth story because they love my past two. Okay, friends, let's talk about kitchen stuff for a second. You know, we are all trying to cook healthier for our families out here, but then you find out that your old non-stick pants are loaded with tons of chemicals. Are you kidding me? No thanks. That's why I'm obsessed with our place. Their cookware is totally toxin-free, but still crazy high quality, which I love because

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Is labor hard? Yes, it's intense. It's wild. It's crazy. But at the same time, like, just how you said God's near the broken heart, like, God's with you in every scenario. So when you hear someone else's story and you think I could never do that, well, you also don't know the feeling that it feels like when God's with you in it. So it's like, yeah, it might seem impossible to you, but that wasn't your story.

And so don't fear that that's going to happen to you because it happened to me. And if it did happen to you, you're going to be okay. And actually someone told me, someone was like, I was so scared after I heard that I was about to have a baby. And I was like, what if that happens to me? And she was like, and then it did happen to me. And guess what? She got through it, you know? And so it's like, that's why I haven't really shared my story with Kit because I didn't want it to like bring

fear to anybody, but this was like a true story of having a piece about something because I was making a decision on an induction day because I was having a C-section. And the choice to decide was freaking me out. Like I don't want to have to like choose what day it is. I would rather it just be spontaneous. However, that's just not the way our situation was unfolding. Like it was going to be a choice that I was going to have to decide this is the day we're going to have the C-section. And because my doctor was going to be out of town for a week, it, it was a it felt like a big decision. Like, what if, what if she comes too early?

What if she comes too late? And I'm deciding between, like, this weak difference. And so I prayed about it. And I was, me and Christian both prayed about it. I was like, God, give us a peace to know when she's supposed to come. You know when her birthday is. You have known her name. You have, as you've been informing her and noting her together in my womb.

And, like, just give me the right call on that. And one day, I felt a peace. and I texted our doctor, how's this full to you? He said, let's do it. And we went in, and I was able to have Kit, and it was actually the perfect time. And I won't share all the details to that because it was a perfect time because she actually did have something requiring her to come,

but I don't want anybody to hear that and go, well, I need to schedule my induction for today because what if my baby has something wrong with them? And what if I didn't catch it because I made the wrong decision? Because as parents, we think like that. As moms, like you overthink that. but I say all this to say you can't find your peace

through someone else's story by someone else's decision you have to find your peace by the spirit of God speaking to you and so when we talked about Pete Richardson's advice in the first episode he says it is a jungle out here but if you learn to discern the voice of your father

you will be able to navigate anything in the jungle and then he says this gave him the gift of inquiring of God and discern the voice of God and the gift was going on a walk and asking God, God, what do you want me to do? And so in my life, I'm responsible for finding my peace through saying, God, what do you want me to do? What's your timing on this situation? Where do you want me to move?

Where do you want me to go? God, okay, I'm not hearing you fully. Is it okay if I moved to New York? No checks? Go to New York. God, if it's not, send me back. You know, I'll always say, if it's your will, give me green lights. If it's not, give me red lights.

even when we travel places. If it's not your will, would we not even be able to get on the plane? And then guess what? When all airports go crazy and, you know, TSA workers don't show up. You can't get mad and say, oh, traveling's the worst. You just have to go, thank you, God. You gave me a red light on that one. And so hopefully that's helpful when discerning peace

and discerning how to hear the voice of the Lord, because that's a tricky thing to explain to someone. Yeah, I was just going to say it makes me think about, too. Like, you just never know why things happen the way that they do sometimes. And I think that in our journey of infertility, there's there's times like you said where you can overthink like, did I do something? Is this why? Did I do that? Or is something wrong with me? Is something wrong with you? I don't know. What was it? Is it because of this? Is it because of that? And a lot of times with infertility, you just never know why it is the way it is. And so when you were talking about

Jesus going into the wilderness, I was thinking about that and how, like, we'll never know why our stories the way it is. But I think that maybe, maybe the spirit is leading us through a journey so that we could grow in ways that we never would without this. And maybe that's the case and maybe it's not. But I mean, I find comfort in believing that and that the Holy Spirit has a plan and God has a plan and that there's a reason why we're going through this and it's for us to grow and we've grown so much this journey. So I think that like you said, you never know why things happen the way they do. But sometimes if there's no answers, sometimes that's the answer that's true. God has a plan, you know? And even though that seems like what's the plan, you know,

but God has a plan is the plan. That's so true. And that verse, like those who weigh on the lower show renew their strength. I think about that a lot when it comes to hearing God answer. It's like just know that like a way is not useless. It's purposeful. It like it renews strength actually and trust and faithfulness and we want answers so fast. Sometimes you just don't get them. But like your strength grows through that as your faith grows. Yeah. So I'm reading this book right now. It's called The Strength of a Few. And it's a fiction book and the two characters, there's the scene, there's a scene, the two characters are playing this game,

like it's similar to chess, and the one character, like the main hero loses, and the guy he's playing says, do you think, do you think you would have won had you have made all the right decisions? And he says,

no, just like life, you can make every right decision and still lose. Wow. And I don't actually think that. I don't think you can win and lose in life,

necessarily. But I do think that you can make all the right decisions in life and things not go your way. And there are inconveniences and challenges and twists and turns that are entirely out of your control that you just have to deal with. Even if you did all the right things, it just doesn't go the way you thought it would. Based on nothing that you did. And in those scenarios, I think that's the magic of God and the Holy Spirit and Jesus and what he gives us is that we don't have to tie our inner peace, inner life, inner joy, all the fruit of the spirit to our outside circumstances, that we can find everything we need in ourselves, no matter, or through God in ourselves, no matter what is happening on the outside. And you can cry, but

still have joy and not be depressed. You can be proud of something and something work out but not fall into pride and not base your personality on that. You can be angry about something but not feel that loss inside of you, you know, because you know that your life, your emotions, your worth, your purpose is not tied to the things that you can't control. Anything in the outside world. That's good. Man, that's so good. Whoa, that is good. I'm not going to lie. This is one of my favorite well that's good episodes ever. I think this is probably one of the most advice-filled wisdom-packed episodes we've ever had. And it wasn't even one we plan to do, which praise God for that. What a year, whoa, that's good. Thank you to everyone listening. It blows my mind how

this podcast continues to grow year after year. Seven and a half years of doing this podcast. And with a lot of people starting to podcast now. This definitely could have just got lost in the crowd. But thank you guys for choosing to listen, for choosing to grow in your faith through this podcast. It blesses me so much when I get to meet y'all. And you guys hug me and tell me that you listen to the podcast every day and it gives you confidence and it's taught you about Jesus or this one episode when this person came on and it reshaped your life. I will never get over just the privilege and the honor that I get to do this and that you guys choose to listen. So thank you for that. Next year is going to be a great year. We are already recording so many amazing episodes that I can't wait for you

guys to listen to. Another year of great advice. Thanks for hanging with us. And I pray today you're encouraged by everything we talked about and you go learn to discern the voice of your own father. Thank you.