WHOA That's Good Podcast - What Every Girl Needs to Hear About Fear, Embarrassment & Rejection | Sadie Rob Huff & Lisa Bevere

Episode Date: July 13, 2022

Best-selling author and speaker Lisa Bevere brings out a side of Sadie we rarely see in this conversation full of raw emotion and incredible encouragement. Sadie gets extremely personal about the feelings of fear, embarrassment, and rejection she's faced. Lisa drops wisdom every girl needs to hear about God's deep attachment to you, how to face what you fear, how to move forward when you're afraid to make mistakes, and how to know the difference between what your fear tells you and what God tells you. Friends, God loves you fiercely and always has your back. Lisa Bevere’s new book “Fiercely Loved: God’s Wild Thoughts About You” is available now. https://helixsleep.com/sadie — Get up to $200 OFF AND 2 free pillows! https://www.stamps.com — Get a 4-week free trial + free postage + a digital scale with promo code WHOA https://athleticgreens.com/whoa — Get a FREE 1-year supply of Vitamin D & 5 FREE travel packs with your first purchase! - Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What's up friends, welcome back to WoW That's Good Wednesday. Hope you all are having a great week and I'm so excited for the advice we're going to get today. Before we get into our incredible guest, the Ellosister Conference is a month away. I can't even believe I'm saying that, but that means for all of you who are listening, you need to get your ticket today, elicesterconference.com till all your friends come join us. And I'm not just saying that because I'll selfishly

want you there even though I do, and I want to meet you, and I want to hang with you all. But more than that, I just know God has something so special for our time there. The speakers that are coming have words to bring, the worship coming has already been rehearsing and in prayer for those worship sets and what

those are going to be. It's just going to be such a rich time and so much fruit is going to be brought from the time that we spend together. In God's Word, worshipping Him and hanging out together. It's going to be awesome. Don't want you to miss it. It's in Monroe, Louisiana, right here where I'm from. We love to host you in my hometown.

So go to LSSesterconference.com, get your ticket today. Don't forget to tell your friends and y'all take a road trip down here. It's gonna be a great time. If you need a plane ticket and you can't get one because plane tickets are selling out very fast, you could also fly into Shreeport.

You could fly into Alexandria. You could fly into Jackson, Mississippi, or Dallas. Those are semi-close airports around, but if not, get in the car and drive. Join us here. It's going to be a great time. All right. Now we've got to get to our guests of the day. This woman doesn't really need an introduction. She is a passionate on fire preacher for the gospel. She does ministry alongside her husband, John. She has four boys, an incredible family. This is Lisa Bavir I'm talking about and she also has a new devotional book out that is called fiercely loved and

Subtitle I love it said God's wild thoughts about you We're gonna talk about how much God fiercely loves you and if you don't feel loved by God today I just hope that you stick around and listen to this incredible word and encouragement from Lisa Bavir. Without further ado, let's welcome our guest to the World Let's Go podcast. Yeah, well, I am so excited to be part of this podcast. And, you know, I have been married for 40 years and in ministry for almost that long. So there you go. That works in my favor.

Hey, well, that's something we can all learn from. Most of the listeners that I have are girls who are maybe in college or young moms, and so most maybe just got married, are single in that season. A lot of people are either doing ministry or just love the Lord. And so you're speaking to a lot of people

who can learn from you as a spiritual mother from afar. And so I'm so grateful that you're on this podcast. I have listened to so many of your sermons and all the things, but I'm just grateful to dive into today. But before we get into our conversation, I have to ask you the question. I ask every single person who comes on this podcast

and that is what is the best piece of advice that you have ever been given? Boom, big question right off the bat. That is what is the best piece of advice that you have ever been given. Boom. Big question right off the bat. It was a mom piece of advice and they told me to relax because your baby has no idea you don't know what you're doing. Now that's good. Now that is good and I need that right now with my one-year-old.

That's a great piece of advice. Take a deep breath. She has no idea. That is a great piece of advice. Because sometimes I'm like, oh boy, like this morning, actually I put a diaper on her last night that was too small. But I was like, oh, it's okay. I didn't want to fiddle with taking her pajamas back off and getting the new size.

And then we woke up to pee all over the bed this morning. So there's that, but she won't remember. I'm like for the next day as I need to redo my sheets, but she won't remember. But that's great advice. Man, I'm so excited to dive into even talking about your devotion about before we get there. I want you to tell us a little bit about you and your story. I mean, I know,

like you just mentioned so briefly and powerfully, even married for 40 years in done ministry for about that long. So tell us a little bit about your life and how you got to do what you're doing. Yeah, so I have a crazy background. My family was just so broken. My parents were divorced, remarried, divorced again. My grandmother was married four times. So I came from this wild, broken background. And I found myself out at college at University of Arizona because I picked it because it was a party school. I found myself thinking there has to be something more to life. Everything I thought would bring me some kind of fulfillment I'm not going to be a woman. I'm not going to be a woman. I'm not going to be a woman.

I'm not going to be a woman. I'm not going to be a woman. I'm not going to be a woman. I'm not going to be a woman. I'm not going to be a woman. I'm not going to be a woman. I'm not going to be a woman. I'm not going to be a woman.

I'm not going to be a woman. I'm not going to be a woman. I thought, I can't stand myself. I've become shallow, I've become cruel, I've compromised every moral I've ever held for myself. And I remember, okay, you probably won't even know this song, but I was singing ACDC, I'm on the highway to hell. And I thought, pretty much 12. That is true, that is true.

And it's scared me. I was like, wait, wait, I am on highway to hell. Pretty much. 12. That is true. That is true. And it's scared me. I was like, wait, wait, I am all I would help. And I had never heard about the love of God. I had felt a list of rules, but I had never heard about a God who actually wanted to have a relationship with me. And so I came home. My dad's in alcoholic, my mom's all upset.

There's all this fighting. So I move into the dorm for the summer school. And I meet this guy that is leading this all-campus Bible study. And he invites me to a Bible study picnic. And what I heard, Sadie, was free food. That's what I heard. I heard free food. So I go to this picnic.

And at the picnic, I'm not trying to be mean. But the Christian sisters were not very nice to me. They're like, we're praying for you. And I thought, wait, wait, these are angry prayers. I don't know if I want these kind of people to pray for me. There was just a shortage of Christian single guys are eligible.

And so they were a little angry that this heathen girl was there. But at that picnic for the very first time, I heard that God loved me, in spite of me. Wow. And it was so such a revelation. It was this gentleman that had invited me is now my husband of 40 years this October. He told me, this is what he said to me, he said, I want you to know I haven't dated anybody in two and a half years, but God told me to invite you to this picnic so that you can hear that he loves you. And I was just overwhelmed. I spent about an hour and a half that night looking for the book

of Paul because John had quoted Paul so many times and I thought there must be a book of Paul. I had a way viable. I call his dorm. I'm like, open to the book of Paul and trying to find the book of Paul. And I finally go to Corinthians where it says, if any man or woman being Christ or a new creation, the old has passed away and behold all things have become new. And I thought, oh my gosh, I found the one book of Paul. So it was just incredibly all in, felt like my purpose of my life had been realized. I realized what everything else was empty, got water baptized, went back to the university,, zone to drop almost 40 sisters crazy.

And then, in a way, got married. And John was a youth pastor. It's kind of the path. You know, they start as youth pastors. Yeah. And I remember John said, these young girls need someone to talk to them. And I said, you know what, I'm not some package deal. Just because you're the youth

pastor, does it make me the youth pastor? And anyway, I am afraid of getting up in front of people. Sadie, I lost an eye to cancer when I was five years old. And so I spent my whole life hiding. So I thought, no, no, no, no, I'm not going to get up. And don't say, well, you know what, you need to be ready. I want you just to greet the young girls. I want you just to encourage them. I said, no, no, no, no, I'm not going to get up and don't say, well, you know what? You need to be ready. I want you just to greet the young girls. I want you just to encourage them. I said, you need to be ready. I'm going to walk out the back door and so he'd be like, okay, just ask me to get up.

I would just open my mouth and because God loves those girls so much, something, something of importance would come out. Wow. And I remember driving home and I said, don't you ever pull a stunt on that? Like that on me again. I am not going to do this. And John said, you know what Lisa,

you're not your own. You were bought with the price and you don't have the right to be comfortable when so many people are hurting. And that kind of was the beginning of moving beyond myself. And gosh, I was in my late 20s at that time. And now I'm 62 and I've just watched the faithfulness of God.

Oh my gosh, that is so good. Like there are like 10 things that I want to unpack after you just set all that. And I love what he said, you don't get to be come through all other people are hurting I have a story that that's a little bit similar in the sense that I would have never Wanted to do what I'm doing because I was so insecure about the very thing I was asking you to do and I actually heard your story when you were talking about

Your eye and how There was a moment in school that you got out of speaking and you got out of like reading and writing because your eyes kind of like your crutch. And what's so ironic is here you are and you're speaking and you're writing. You know, God loves to make you and I face what we fear. Yeah. Yes, absolutely. But that's what increases your faith because like for me So I used to be very insecure about speaking and actually reading because in school I was so behind all the other kids in reading

I didn't find out till after high school that I'm dyslexic so I didn't know what what the problem was I just thought I'm just a very slow reader So I would go to my special class and I would read with the teacher one finger at a time And so I never ever would have thought that this would be my story. And when Doug Dynasty was happening, I was getting asked to speak places. I was terrible at it. And people think I'm trying to be sweet and humble. I'm like, no, no, no.

I was literally so bad. The first place I spoke at, I was supposed to speak for 20 minutes. I spoke for five and the people asked for their money back. Like, rock beginning, okay? And so I would have never. That's crazy. I never thought that I would do. Yeah, I would have never thought.

And I remember, whenever I started getting asked to speak places because of that, I would say, no, no, no, I can't do it. And then, man, God just kept calling me into that space because kind of from the verse of your the light of the world, not meant to be a lamp hidden under a stand, but to be on top of the standing headlights, the whole house and that verse really convicted me that I'm not supposed to hide the light that God's put inside of me and the God is inside

of me and then through my relationship with God and really having a revelation of who he was and who he was and who he is in me and getting to know the Holy Spirit, I began to speak. And it wasn't the only speaking, it was the me alive in Christ. And so it is so cool to know that your story is similar in so many other people. And so for girls listening on a many of your end college, it's just really cool to hear that you were a girl who was kind of a heathen, listening to the How of Hill,

thinking this is not going in the direction I want it to go, and hearing the message that God loves you and it's changing your life. Like, that's amazing. I saw you wrote this quote, I gotta read it. You said, if you're bored with the idea that God loves you, it's because you've heard it but haven't experienced it.

Can you unpack that a little bit? because some people are listening today and they've heard that God loves them, but it didn't change them like it changed you. What do you think it is to take it from just hearing it and knowing it to actually experiencing it? Well, for me, and I think God connects with each of us differently. For me, I remember this moment, Sadie, where I was doing, doing, doing, like, okay, God has saved me. I'm going to prove my love to him by doing. And I remember there was this moment I was listening to worship music. And I thought what he said just just receive. And

literally I was a young mom, John was traveling and speaking. I was in my kids play area, the loft with Legos strewn all over the floor. And I remember I just laid down and I said I don't know how to do that. I don't know how to just let you love me. And there was just this moment where he just began to just like I literally sense, and this is not something I say lightly or that it happens a lot, but I sense such an overwhelming presence of God's love that I literally felt like I couldn't move and I just wept like a baby.

And too many people don't understand that who you and I are to God is more important than what we could ever do for him. So the relationship that you say to him, the relationship I have is daughter and father. He is my father. I am his daughter. Anything else I do, it's a role. So the idea of wife, the idea of mother, the idea of speaker, author, all those things, those are all surpurple-ists, those are all things that maybe could be taken away from me. You know, maybe I'm not thinking my husband's going to die or if I kept it like, what if a day? So your identity

is always attached to something you can never lose. And what I can never lose is no matter what life brings me, I am always his. And he is always mine. And so I think having a settledness in this idea that God is deeply personally attached and in love with you, that he's not detached, that he's not on the sidelines of your life waiting for you to mess up.

See, I had a dad that was that way. And so too many of us, if we've had dads that have had broken lives, we think God, the father, excite the father, we've known, but he is not a man that he would lie. So if God says he has loved us with an everlasting love and drawn us with his loving kindness, he means it. And he has set his heart to love you and I into wholeness. And so I think sometimes you just have to receive that. Because I think people start their Christian walk and they're like, of course he loves me at the beginning, but then I messed up. Right.

Well, he, no, he still loves you. And he's loving you into that place of who you really are That's so good. Oh gosh. I love that. I saw Somewhere I guess it was an interview that you said there is a time in real life You had to change the way that you thought about how God was thinking about you and I thought that was really really good Because I think so many people are walking around thinking God is thinking a certain thing about them or God is a certain way. But when you read the Bible, it's like does not align at all with actually who the character of God is.

So, talk to us about the importance of actually knowing the God of the Bible as the God who is God and not just thinking or maybe why we think of God as these certain ways that aren't really the character of who he really is. Well, I think one of them is what we've already touched on. We think that God is like us. You know, and God actually says, my thoughts are so much higher than your thoughts. And my ways are so much higher than your ways. And then you think, okay, how do I know your ways?

How do I know your thoughts? Well, the word, when we read the scripture, we glimpse who God is. so much higher than your ways and then you think, okay, how do I know your ways? How do I know your thoughts? Well, the word, when we read the scripture, we glimpse who God is and how He loves us. And, you know, I do think that the reason I will fiercely loved is because I do think, say to you, a lot of people feel fiercely judged. They feel like God is judging them, that God is rejecting them. And so I look

at this moment where David has a revelation of how God is thinking about him. And in Psalm 139, we read how precious are your thoughts about me or another version says towards me, oh God, they cannot be numbered. He said, I can't even count them. They outnumber the grains of sand. And when I wake up, you are still with me. So there's three things I wanna highlight. First of all, God's thoughts towards us to you personally.

Whoever that is that is listening, because I know a lot of people say, well, of course, he loves Sadie. No, he loves you. His thoughts towards you are thoughts of good, the thoughts of treasure. And then they're innumerable. They cannot be numbered. We don't understand that because we have the finite mindset but God is always thinking about his love for us. And then it says, and when I wake, you are still there with me.

You know, I found out that when a lot of things happened in 2020, a lot of people froze. And you know, we talk about, we talk about fight or flight, but we have seen a lot of people freeze. And they're afraid to make a mistake. They're afraid to make a misstep. And I remember talking to this young girl, she would have you on about your age, she was newly married, just moved to a new city, new church, everything was new. And she told me she said, I'm just so afraid, I might miss God. And I was praying and I prayed with her and then I was praying into it later. And I heard the Holy Spirit say, tell my children, I'm a really big target. Where can they look

big target. Where can they look and not glimpse my goodness, my love, my kindness. If they lift their eyes to the stars, they see a God who put those stars in the heavens with his fingertips, said, Covenant keeping God. If you look at the mountains, you know there is a refuge that is higher than I. If you look at the ocean, which I think you were just at, you constantly hear that power and that resurgence that just never ends. You feel the wind. You have a revelation of God's Holy Spirit, everything in creation declares the wonder and the, basically the enraping of God. He is all around us. And so I think we just need to all surrender and just take a step.

Because if we step in forward and we make a mistake, guess what? God will redirect us. But he says, my mercy and my grace, it follows you. So we need to be moving. And I think a lot of people, they're just afraid, so afraid of making a mistake, they don't move forward. And I think, you're looking at a one-year-old.

Are you gonna tell her, wait, I don't want you to try to walk, because you're gonna fall. I don't want no wait, that isn't how I want to see you walk. I want to see you walk with confidence. You're not gonna do that. You're gonna celebrate every step she makes. And then I don't know what's going to happen to you yet. But after I had my first baby,

I started having nightmares about people trying to hurt my baby. And I would wave up and have to call myself down because I was attacking people in my dream. Like, don't touch my baby. I mean, this fears nurture came up. I was like, who loves that person? But see, that is how God knows about you and I.

He says like a mama bear robbed of its cubs, like a lioness, all tear your heart out. That is his protective love, his fierce love for his children. Wow, that is so good. That literally made me like, that makes me like, have tears because this morning I was on my way to work. And I've had those fears for my daughter a lot.

And you know, it's just, it's hard with the world that we live in, the things that go on and raising a one year old. And I was praying like such huge prayers for her on the way to work today, like with my worship music blasting, and I was just praying, that just, just for like an angel of armies to surround her and just a fire of God to be around her and within her and that note, even whenever come her way, because I have to take all that fear, like straight to prayer. And even just like thinking about the way that I pray for her, like how much more does

God actually protect her and how much more does God actually fiercely love her and watch over her life. And I think that the hard thing is because it's when I leave to go to work and I wish I was there, you know, it's like my longing to be with her. But the amazing thing is just as you're saying, like God is watching over her as I go about my day, because he she is his child too. And then the revelation as you're talking, being the same for me, like the same love that he has for her for for me, it's

just wild. And it's just so cool that you're sitting here talking about the love of God. And like you said, like you can hear that all day long, but when you actually stop for a second and you think about the gravity that holds, it changes everything about your life. And man, it's just so good. Speaking to me, I want to ask you because you say this kind of thing a lot and John says this too, in the way that you all talk, you'll say, in the Holy Spirit said this, and then the Holy Spirit said this. And for a lot of people, people always ask me, how do you hear the voice of God? How do you know it's the voice of God? And so I want to ask you, how do you know and quiet yourself to hear the voice of the Lord speaking and know whenever it's him? I love that you asked me that. First thing I want to say to everybody is, God wants to speak to us more than we want to hear from Him.

And so I feel like we just don't always expect it. So, Sadie, I was in the same place. I would go to church and the minister would say, well, God said to me, I was like, why are you talking to all these people? I don't feel like you're ever talking to me like that. Like, wait, what's going on here? And so I had to set my first son and I sat down with my journal and I said, God,

you said in your word, my sheep know my voice and the voice of a stranger they'll not hear. I want to know your voice. I want to know the tone of your voice. I want to have I wanna know your voice. I wanna know the tone of your voice. I wanna have a sensitivity to your voice. And I don't feel like I have that. You also said that if I sought, I would find. And I want you to talk to me more than anything else.

Now, brand new mother, breastfeeding mother, six month old baby, I said, I will give you my most precious thing. I will even let you wake me up if you will. Just don't be silent. And so, Sadie, I remember it was like that next night. I woke up and was like one, you know, like one 11 and I thought, why am I waking up? And I just went back to sleep. Then the next night, 111, I thought, what is going on?

Why am I waking up at 111? And then the third night, I finally went, wait a minute. I told God he could wake me up. So I slipped out of my bed. I turned on the little overhead light and I sat with a journal like this. Like, okay, talk to me. And I don't feel like. I was like, and it was just this beautiful.

He, he talked to me actually. I just had a really rough labor with my first baby. And he just said, I'm going to bring you into a, you're going to have another child and this time, the birth is going to be joyous and easy. And to be honest with you, I kind of wrote back like, well, it wasn't joyous or easy last time. You know, and I was, I was really believing God for that. And I felt really disappointed.

And I had a really hard recovery. And he said, when it gets too hard, let me carry you. And I was like, I feel like, I mean, and this was just as fast as I could ride it. I said, I feel like you didn't carry me last time. I don't know how to let you carry me. I was just really gut, you know, got level honest with God. And I wrote it all out, and I just remember him telling me,

I need you to surrender. I need you to surrender. I need you to surrender control. And he said, you think that you can control things, but you're not in control. He said, it's fear. You need to start letting go of some stuff. And I said, I don't know how to let go. You know, I mean, like just super honest.

And then we moved, Sadie. And that journal got lost, got packed away, I started another journal, and then I had my second son. Do you know I had Austin 27 minutes after I got to the hospital? No. I had actually forgot, I had actually forgot that God had told me I was gonna have a quick next baby,

totally forgot it. Wow. And I found the journal, and I opened it up, forgot that God had told me I was going to have a quick next baby. Totally forgot it. Why? And I found the journal and I opened it up and I wept like a baby, not because I had a child quickly, but because I knew that I knew the voice. And then this is the other thing. The voice of God will never contradict the scriptures. It will always come in alignment with the scriptures. And, you know, I do believe that, you know, we can involve other people in our lives. Like, I can, I can, you know, feel like sensing something and code in my husband and say, I just, I'm just really feeling something about this situation. And I just want to share this with you.

And he can be like, yeah, I feel that. So we can talk to each other and there can be a confirmation. But just like you, before you had your daughter, when you heard another baby cry, it was a baby cry. But when you hear your daughter cry, even if there's another baby crying, you not only know which one is your daughter crying,

you know if she's scared or tired or hungry or hurting. And so it's like that distinguishing. And right now I really do feel that we all need to develop the ability to hear the voice of God. And I think journaling is a really great way to do it. So, I've always just written things down, and impressions that I felt, and then just captured them. And what happens often for us, and I'm sure you've seen it this way, it's two years later when you realize,

oh, that was God. That was God. That was God. At the time I was hoping it was God. That was God. And time I was hoping it was God that was God Yeah, and you just did that a listening hearing ear Wow, that's so good. I am gonna be honest. I don't know that I've ever felt I've done a hundred plus podcast I don't know that I've ever felt like one was more for me like it, it's crazy. As you're like everything you're saying,

I'm like, I feel like I'm like, it's like crazy. Like, I don't even, I don't even get emotional in these podcasts, but it's like all these questions like that, you're answering that, I actually needed to hear. Because I actually like a really hard first labor.

And, yeah, and I had no idea about that. Yeah, that's crazy. Like I had a really hard first labor and I'm like learning to, I guess like work past that, cause I was really believing for that to not go that direction. And it went a completely different direction. And now, you know, getting to the point where,

you know, you're praying for another kid but you're dealing with the fears of what happened and learning to trust God and learn to trust his voice and even just the over protecting mama heart and me that I've been dealing with the fears and stuff so everything you're saying is like if it's not for anyone else I'm thankful I know this is gonna be for thousands of other people but I'm just thankful to for for what you're speaking of in my life.

So I'm gonna ask you personal questions, because I think this is for everybody too. Do you ever, and maybe it's the difference of like knowing your baby's voice, but do you ever feel like how do you discern between like, maybe what is fear speaking, what's the Lord speaking? Because sometimes I feel like, okay, what is that my fear that's prompting that thought? Or is that the Lord prompting this? Does that make sense?

Yes. Because I feel like that sometimes is hard for me to discern. Yeah, I think fear always comes with confusion. Fear never brings hope with it and it never usually brings a strategy. It only brings a reaction Whereas I feel like God's leading gives you a pathway And so you know, I'm just gonna tell you Sadie I was so fearful. So I have my second son. He's this Beautiful strong riding a bike without training wheels at two years old. I'm not talking to him in a half, I'm talking to like two and one man.

He just, and then all of a sudden, I started hearing him say out loud fears that were in my head. And I thought, why is he saying that? Why is he saying I can't do that? I can't be that. I was like, Austin, who told you that? No, and so I really brought it to prayer. And I was like, God, I don't want my son to be fearful.

And I had such a sense that the Holy Spirit challenged me. He said, Lisa, your children are either going to inherit my promises for your fears. And he said, you need to face off with some of your fears to position them well. And so I started to cry out, Sadie, I started saying, God, why am I so fearful? Why am I so fearful? Why am I so fearful? And he said, you're asking the wrong thing. You're not, the why is not, that's not where you need to go. Because he said, you can spend your whole life figuring out why you're messed up. And you will still be messed up once you know why.

He said, it's about knowing the truth that sets you free. He said, you've got to know my word and the truth, more than you've known your fears and the lies. And so all of a sudden one day, and it was so crazy going back to the eye thing, one day I was making my bed and a friend called me, and she asked me a question, I said, oh, well, I'm not very good at tennis because I only have one eye, so it's hilarious.

And she was like, wait a minute. What do you mean you only have one eye? And I said, oh, well, I lost my eye to cancer when I was five. And Sadie, in that moment, all of the sudden, I remembered everything. I remembered everything that had been blocked out since I had been five years of age. But God brought it to me when I was strong enough to heal.

And I know that sounds crazy, but we don't want to search the dark pathways of our life, our own understanding. We need to search some by the light of God's word. And God, like we'll bring us to this place where I'm ready for that to be healed. And it was just this beautiful thing because, and this was the crazy thing, if you would come to me,

at that point in my season of my life, young mother, if you would come to me and said, you know, I'm going through something in my marriage, or, you know, I'm really afraid someone's going to kidnap my kid, which was a big fear for me with all the milk boxes and kids. I would grab hands with you and I would pray. I would believe for you because I believe that God was good for Sadie, but I questioned whether he was good for me. Because when you have fear, usually behind it is a heart of unbelief because you've known disappointment.

And so I had to deal with a heart condition. And the fear was from some other stuff. And you know, God will actually set us free. And I am a big believer that the opposite of fear is not faith because you can have faith in your fears. The children of Israel, they were like, you brought us out here to kill us and God was like, okay, there you come. But I believe the opposite of fear is love because perfected love casts out all fear. And we know that the greatest fear that any human will ever face is the fear of death.

And yet Jesus conquered that fear for us. It says, no greater love does a man have than to lay down his life for his friends. And so I find that as we receive God's love, we move into a place of more fearlessness. You know, I have one regret in my marriage, just one regret. I wish I would have loved my husband more fearlessly

from the very beginning. I was measured, I held back, I didn't want him to make mistakes, I didn't want us to make mistakes. We didn't take some risks that we could have taken. And I wish I would have been all in and given them my whole heart, that first eight years, I have since then, but it was sad that we lost those times and I tell every young couple,

give yourself permission to make mistakes. It's just a learning, you know, it's just a chance to learn things together. So that's so good. Man, this is so good. And I do feel like back to what you were talking about earlier, there is this crippling in the church, and especially I know for our generation in this age group, it's like you're so scared to make the wrong move that you don't make any move.

You're so scared to do the wrong move that you don't make any move. You're so scared to do the wrong thing that you don't love fully, you're not your full self, you're not going for it, taking the risk. And that's resulting in not having really fruitful, amazing free relationships, it's resulting in not going and doing the things, trying to get back up after you fall,

failing and learning from it, and all these different things and have a mom who's kind of taught us to go. And my mom uses an example that you used to about, you know, you got to let your kid fall so that they learn to walk. And I'm thankful for that. And so what you're speaking on, know to be so, so true. And just for everyone out there listening, especially in the College age group,

every time I go to college campus I'll ask people what do you see your friend struggling with and everyone always says perfectionism And I just pray that some of the stuff that leads to Sam would just break that perfectionism off of you that you would know that you are loved Free by God not love how you said that being in despite of you You're loved by God and he's got loved by God. And he's got your back. If you fall, he's got your back. The last thing I want to ask you is you talk about in your devotional, seeking the light and how some people are scared of seeking the light because of what the light does and exposing us. And it would seem funny because all of

us in reality would be like, oh, yeah, we're seeking light. We want to be the light we're light of the world. But then we're also fearful to actually let light shine on us. And it seems like that was kind of a moment for you where you let light shine on or God even let the light shine on all the way back for you to see some things that you weren't strong enough to handle at the time when you were younger. But you were ready. How do we let God into those spaces, even like today? I'm sitting here and I'm like crying and I don't do that often

because I'm like just letting God speak to me through you and like receiving I'm not gonna wait and think about it later at like this is not affecting me I want to be honest because God's doing something to me that I've been asking him about private prayers and a public space and how crazy is that? But how do you begin to let God do that? Is it laying down pride? Is it other things? Is it a mix of all?

But how do you let God light shine on you and not fear the exposure that the light's gonna bring? Yes, well, first and foremost, I'm gonna tell you, Sadie, the fact that you're crying is such an honor for me because it means that I believe tears water wouldn't seize your soul. And so that opening of your spirit and I'm hoping that other people feel, so I'll tell you why I started it.

I, this is embarrassing. I was a associate pastor's wife. I was a youth pastor's wife. I thought perhaps there might be two things wrong with me, two things. And so I took a moment and I was like, God, I just want you to come into my life I just want you to come into my life and I want you to excavate it. Two weeks later, I was like, wait, I didn't mean excavate. I meant to say, accessorize. I want you to landscape my hype. Wait, why are you digging up all these terrible things?

Yeah, I was like, wait, I'm so sorry. That was a bad word of choice. Yeah, it was a bad word of choice. And this is just in my imagination. I feel like God was like, did you all hear that? She said, it's good, just go for it. And while I have found, I don't like this. I have found it usually gets worse before it gets better.

Because just like every other month, I might get mad at my husband, then it was every month, then it was every two weeks, then it was throwing plates at him. That was it, that was it. That was just happened to my life. And I was like, God's trying to deal with something. And I had made excuses for anger for a really long time.

And I have learned that what I justify, I buy, when I use excuses and blame, I'm actually saying I have to be this way because of what was done to me. But God is always saying to you and I, it's not what was done to you. It's what was done for you. And we want to call people higher. So anytime you ask God to excavate your life, it's to remove barriers. It's going to be like a pruning process, which may make you feel a little stripped and naked,

but it will bring you to a greater place of fruitfulness. That's so good. That's so good. My gosh, well, I can truly talk to you all day. I'm so grateful for this conversation. I have your devotional book right here. It is so beautiful for all the girls out there who love this conversation.

Go get this book, fiercely love. You're going to be so blessed by the devotionals in it. And I hope that you're so blessed by this conversation. I know I certainly was. See, that's pretty obvious. I hope that you are too. And Lisa, thank you for just taking time to sit with us. Speak into our lives and thank you for being someone that we can all up to from afar and learn from.

Truly, your family and the way that you all live your life is a huge inspiration for how Christian and I want to live ours and raise our family and we're just so grateful for you guys. Well, you have to come for a pasta dinner the next time you're in the Nashville area. you