WHOA That's Good Podcast - You Don't Have to Be a Victim of Your Struggles | Sadie Robertson Huff and Ben Stuart

Episode Date: January 26, 2022

Ben Stuart joins Sadie to discuss his new book, “Rest & War,” a field guide for spiritual life. Listen in for encouragement on how to shut down shame, stop beating yourself up, and learn to struggle well through the challenges of this life. Friends, you are not doomed by your most negative thoughts and difficult struggles. Know that God has a purpose for you, and there is a path forward.  - Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What's up, fam? Welcome back to the WoW That's Good podcast. Happy Wednesday to everyone. Today we have another two time guest. This guy is a legend. He actually has three time guests because we split up the first one that you did because it was so good. We have been steward back on the WoW That's Good podcast and I'm stoked.

Welcome to the podcast. Well thank you, Sadie. It's an honor to be back. Two to three times. That's pretty great. So I'm happy to be here. I think you're the first person besides Christian Huff, my husband, who's made it on the show three times. So. Wow. Okay. That's, hey, that's something that means that we love hearing your voice and know seriously from Someone in the age group. I know you speak to a lot. I know you used to be at a college campus and you know You still continue to do stuff like that passion and different things All of my friends learn so much from you seriously my personal friends love your books love your books You know they engage married. We're excited for this one, love your messages. I told

you this before, but even today I listen to your message and send it to all of our work team. So we're grateful for your voice. Thanks for what you do. Well, thank you, Sadie. And before we get past it, let me say two things. Congratulations on being a mom. And thank you. Yes. So look forward to meeting honey. And, um, man, you crushed it at passion too. So awesome. I mean, Donna and I were coming out of our seats. It was unbelievable. Truly. Thank you so much. I mean, I was, um, I was so sad not to be there.

Obviously, obviously God did so much in that and grateful for that. But one reason I was sad was so I I because I didn't get to see Donna because we had prayed so much about it and she had texted me so many times when I was working on the message and it meant so much and I was honestly really looking forward to hearing what she thought because we had thought about it so much together and but it was so sweet. So I was watching it of course from afar and I'm getting texts from Donna as I'm watching my message and I was like, oh that's so sweet, it was just really encouraging.

Any meaning that's being, we were in it. Yeah, it was powerful. I was actually texting her whenever you were there on, in your message was incredible. We'll talk about that, but I was texting her like, this is so good and I didn't know she couldn't respond because she had a very important part of your message throwing you those tennis balls. Yeah, exactly. I had a friend come up afterwards and they're like, man, did you have a tennis ball machine firing those at you? I was like, yeah, my wife. She's the best arm I know. So I told her you have to do this.

That was always so impressed by how many you actually caught where you kind of like low key little impressed by yourself. No, I just kept thinking about the ones I missed. People said that later and I was like, man, I felt like I missed a lot of them, but no, I'll take that. That's awesome. No, it was so impressive. I was like, hey, I was, I would, if you were to miss the first one, it would have like thrown everything off, but you were there. You were in the moment. It was awesome. Well, I got to ask you the question again that you've already been asked so I won't say what's the best piece of ice you've ever been given but I'll say what's one of the best pieces you've been given as of lately that's really stuck out to you. Yes I would say a life

changing statement that a mentor said to me, was however you conceive of the spiritual life, it's primarily a battle of the mind. And where I summarized him was because what you think about will determine what you care about and what you care about, you'll chase. Because thoughts are the fuel for the affections in the heart and then you know our affections drive our actions. We do what we want to do. But even when you say things like,

guard your heart, like from what? From thoughts. That's why the Bible's so clear, I'll set your mind on things above. I want to stir you up by way of reminder that it's what we entertain in our mind, determines what we love and what we become. So more and more, I'm just a student

of what thoughts I allow to linger in my mind and what thoughts I choose to believe or not, because what you think about is what you'll care about, what you care about is what you'll chase. Well, that's so good. It's so practically put. It's so true. I love how actually in the book we're about to talk about But you talk about how it's been proven that we are influenced like even like social media like we are being influenced and So what we think about we really do have to be intentional about because you don't even know that what you're looking at is Actually fueling what you're thinking about and all the things. And so just practically before we get into everything, like how do you even start to realize what you're thinking about?

That's great. Like think about it. Yeah. Well, I think being curious, I think shame disrupts strategy and struggle. And so if you can just put shame down for a minute and say, no, let me just evaluate like, why did I say that awkward thing in that conversation? Oh, because I was feeling insecure. Where did that come from? And just getting curious about yourself and not shaming yourself because it shuts down that curiosity. But just getting

curious, I think of it like you're paddling upstream to what's the motivation that was giving these actions all this energy. And I think that curiosity is helpful. Don't beat yourself up. That does not a productive activity. Just be a student of you. You know, Paul told Timothy that watch your life and your doctrine closely. So he's like, watch what you believe, like read your Bible, but then watch you, be a student of you.

Yeah. Because he says that'll save you and everyone who listens to you, Timothy, he's like, everyone you influence needs you to be a student of you. Wow. And if you're not, you will be blown about by all these influences and you'll call it fate

and you have no idea that you're being led. So anyway, I think curiosity is where it starts. That's so good. Honestly, I love that. I haven't thought about that. That shame really shuts it down. And that's like such our tendency. Like I even think about that.

If I say something that's like awkward in a moment or stupid, then later I'm like, I cannot say something like, why would you say that? That was so stupid. And you just are like shaming yourself and you feel so awkward. And then you're like, I am awkward. Then you know, that? That was so stupid. And you just are shaming yourself and you feel so awkward. And then you're like, I am awkward. Then that goes down a whole cycle.

And so that's so good, be a student of yourself. Well, yeah, this new book out, Rest and War. Let's go. Love the title. Love the look. It's awesome. Rhythm's of a well-fought life. I'm excited to talk about that with you.

But first, I want wanna ask just why, why write the book? I know you've written single day engaged married, which is one of our favorite books, but you know how hard it is to write a book because you've done it. It's a process and it's big. So, you know, from someone who has written books too,

it's like, I always like to ask people why, because knowing you're about to step into a whole lot of research. A lot of time especially being a father, a pastor, all those things. Why did you feel like this was the book that you wanted to write for the now? Yeah that's a great question. I think at a personal level it started when I was in college of just learning a bit more about myself. Like for me, I wouldn't say I struggled with depression in college because I think that word can be used to describe a lot of really intense experiences people have. I say I was prone to

melancholy. And I remember reading about this old saint that wrestled with that and I was it took me by surprise in this book I was like oh I was reading his life because he changed the world and this guy struggled deeply with discouragement and depression and I was like wait he sounds like me Maybe God can use me to make a difference and then you realized He never prayed it away. He just found ways to When you realized he never prayed it away. He just found ways to, well, the old school terms are to mortify to kill ways of thinking that weren't productive and then to vivify or bring to life good ways. And that kickstarted a journey for me of like, you know, I can't control everything, but

I'm not a victim to every feeling I have, every thought I have to the whims of culture. It's good. I have, every thought I have, to the whims of culture. It's good. I have an agency under God. How do I implement a strategy that will help me? And then over time, I realized a lot of people feel that. They feel victimized by their own struggles and they feel a little bit lost on how to make their way forward in life. And a lack of momentum is really discouraging.

And so for me, getting a sense of direction and then getting a lack of momentum is really discouraging. And so for me getting a sense of direction and then getting a sense of strategy was really empowering. And so I spent my life doing that. I remember sitting in a seminary class weeping, reading the writings of John Owen because they changed my life about here's how to struggle well. And I thought, no one I know is ever gonna read John Owen. Like these are so hard to read. I was like, then I'm gonna grace of God translate this for the young people I care about, who I watch struggle and feel beat up

by their besetting sins, their discouragements. And I just wanna help them see a path forward. And so it was such a beating to write this book. It was so hard, but it was to answer your question, a labor of love, because I'm like, man, the Lord helped me so much figure out how to struggle well. And this is a field guide for the spiritual life. That's what it is. Man, that's so good. Well, thank you. Genuinely, thank you for writing it and putting this message out there. And for bridging the gap between someone who might be, um, would go right over my head

if I read something from, but I can read your words and understand what you're saying. And honestly, like I said, um, I saw the message that you preached based off this book. And I sent it to all my friends. Like, this message is so important. Like, this book is so important. It's so important we stop to think. I love even you mentioned it earlier, but that thinking upstream concept of what's to come

with how I'm living right now. All those concepts are so good and so important for us to think about. I love how you start the book, talking about how the atmosphere has changed. And you're talking about just the story of you hiking. Can you share that story and just kind of how you feel like that describes the moment that we're in?

Yeah, totally. I mean, I was in college and a buddy of mine and I decided to climb Longspeak, tallest mountain in the Rockies. And, you know, we started training to get in shape, but then when we got up there, I mean, we were feeling good. Like, we were running past all these other hikers. I mean, we were just bounding up this mountain,

feeling awesome. And then we got to this transition point, where it was across a cliff through the snow. And like, dude, we're not equipped for this. But we saw these other hikers going and they're like, so you guys gonna stop here and we're like, what? No.

You know, so we just launched out. And as we got closer to the top, it felt like everything went wrong internally. Suddenly I got dizzy and like headed and nauseous and he and I just kept pushing as far as our energy could get us. But then at one moment, we just saw another incline through the snow and we collapsed. We're like, we can't go any further and we just realized we are without the resources to get where we had hoped we'd be. And we started to pray and I remember our prayer started, oh God, we are so stupid because we're gonna get down. And then out of nowhere, this mountain dude shows up and I won't tell

the whole story. He was hilarious. He was like, y'all are the college guys who came here without equipment. He's like, we're in all of you. Crazy. And then he started talking about God protects the ignorant. And we're like, okay. Thank you. But oh my gosh, he started to show us who's like, man, you're breathing wrong. And we're like, what do you mean we're breathing wrong? He's like, well, there's less oxygen up here. He said, the atmosphere's changed and you have to adapt if you want to survive. And this mentor started to show us how to breathe. He gave us gloves, equipment.

I gripped onto him and he led us forward. And I've just never forgot that moment. And as I look at, you know, you, Sadie and your generation, I don't think it's hyperbole. I don't think it's too much to say the atmosphere's changed. There's challenges Every generation gets challenges, but there's some coming at your generation that are unique and They're impacting the vibrancy of young people. There's sense of confidence the increase of anxiety and depression and discouragement and fear is coming because of all this rapid technological change. And I think wisdom says, well, let's analyze our environment. If behavior is a function of a person in an environment, let's engage the environment

and let's learn about ourselves. And then we figure out how to navigate it. So as I've got an older, I'm like, maybe by the grace of God, I'm the old mountain guy on the side of the mountain trying to help some people get where God has called you to go, get higher than you can learn. You are. You are.

And I appreciate that. I want you to show that, because I think that's so real. And I love how, I think one reason why it's easy to listen to you is because you have a lot of compassionate empathy for where we're at. You know, you're not saying, man, I think one reason why it's easy to listen to you is because you have a lot of compassionate empathy for Where we're at, you know, you're not saying man, no, how can you not get it together? Why are you also selfish and obsessed with the Sophie? Why are you so anxious? Like you're not saying that you're like I understand why like this is new. This is challenging. This is hard

However, there is a way still there. There is a way, there's still is a truth. There's still like, there's still a way to do this and do it well, live a life following Jesus. And so I just love that. There's a quote that you have, it's kind of an anchor for this book of Phila, but it talks about how a life of spirituality is lived in the context of adversity. And when I heard you break that down,

I was like, wow, that is so good. Because I think a lot of people think that if God's and it's not supposed to be hard, you know, like God's in it, then it's not supposed to be hard. You know, like, if this is faith, it's not supposed to be hard, it's supposed to be easy right? It's supposed to be. And then if it's not, then it's not God, you know? And that's just not true.

And so can you break that down and kind of explain what that looks like in a real life of faith and how there's adversity that does come? Absolutely. Yeah, you know, I think of it like, I don't know if you've watched Saving Private Ryan, you know, that scene at the beginning, the beaches of Normandy, where you have these soldiers and I've always explained it this way like, there's two kinds of soldiers in the middle of a firefight like that. There's there's something that look calm and serene and there's others that look agitated and fearful.

And what's the difference? Well, the one that looks serene is dead. Like dead people don't jump in the middle of a fight. It's the alive person who's aware of the struggle. And so what I find is a lot of Christians get so discouraged when they feel like they're struggling. And it's like, no, your struggle, rather than a sign that God doesn't love you or a sign that you're not really saved or don't really belong to Jesus,

your struggle is one of the greatest signs you're alive. It's a life people who are aware of the struggle. And the Bible presents it that way. I mean, Genesis 3, the seed of the woman is going to come and and he's gonna crush the serpent while he bites his heel. I mean the very beginning of an introduction of Jesus is you're in a fight And it's gonna be a struggle and he won the decisive victory like he won but He's inviting us into this fight the struggles not over. It's just before you were just a victim

And now you can be victorious But but you got to learn how to fight And I just love that about the Bible like so you know James Hebrews They're like so strengthen feeble knees like get tougher, you know Hebrews like you haven't resisted to the point of shedding blood He's like and But in that same context he calls them sons five times And talks about how loved you are by God you You are loved loved loved loved love God fought for you Jesus blood out for you. He brought you to life and yeah, you came alive in the middle of a battlefield

But you're charging out with the king. So let's ride together and I just love that that The best fighters know they were fought for like you get that first. No God loves me that the best fighters know they're fought for. Like you get that first, no God loves me. And so for so many young people, I think what they're struggling with is that sense of am I settled in the love of God? Does he care about me? And then now that I know he does, I need to know

there's a voice that's coming that's gonna lie to me. Mm-hmm. Did God really say, he's gotta hold now on you. Seems like he's not letting you do everything you want. Seems like he's not going to take care of you. And the enemy just always aiming at that. And James talks about that.

He says, don't be deceived. When he's talking about temptation, kill you in the end. He says, don't be deceived. But then he says, don't be deceived. Every good and perfect gift from your father. He says, the lie that launches all these sins in our lives, the lie that God doesn't love you. He doesn't have your best interest in mine. And so, you know, it's interesting with social

media. I have this photo of a guy from the 1920s that I just found he was trying to write a book and he was too distracted, too many distractions. So he created a sensory deprivation helmets, made out of wood, huge, it's got an oxygen tank, and these little goggles. Oh my gosh. Finally I can write and get all these 1920s distractions out of my life. And so he got them all out, sat down to write,

and he couldn't focus. And he realized the technology is not the problem, the distractions in here. And I go realized the technology's not the problem, the distractions in here. And I go to the technology because I want to escape intolerable feelings. And that's why I'm picking it up. I want to escape boredom, I want to escape fear. I escape intolerable feelings to my distractions

and that's just gotten way easier than ever before now. Yep. But if I can deal with the feelings and take anxiety and fear to the Lord, and know I'm loved, I'm cared for, then you can clear the mechanism and actually get something done. So I went way afield from your original question, but I got excited, but you know what I'm talking about. No, I love this.

I love this. You went to like every direction I have plan to go. So this is great. I can bring it all up. No, I love it and gosh That is this like so convincing to me even because that is that is what I do like I So even in preparing for the passion message. I was like it just felt so weighty You know it felt like a lot of pressure because I knew the Lord want me to talk about identity Which was just a hard topic to talk about and how do I say that and do that justice and all the things and so

instead of working on my message this huge message that I'm so nervous for and I should totally be diving all into that and on my knees 24 a.m. I found myself on social media more and it was just for stupid reasons like not like I was like posting something that really mattered, like just scrolling. And I was like, what am I doing? Like here I am, I'm literally even talking about social media, having a negative effect. And I'm on social media. And then I'd limit my screen time. And then I'd start cleaning the house. And I would get busy doing that.

Or then I would fold the laundry. And I was like, oh, well, honey needs me to play with her, even though she was still like intent and fine. And I was doing anything and everything I could to distract myself from having to sit down and deal with what I needed to face. And that was something I was even excited for but it scared me and it felt intimidating and so I just avoided it until

I realized wow like I am the problem like I'm like going to like distract myself with anything and everything. It's not social media. It's not that the house needs to be clean. It's not that honey needs me to be on the ground right now. It's just that I'm scared. And I came to that realization and got with it. And gosh, I'm so glad I did because whenever I did,

share my message, I felt so prepared and so ready. And I knew I had gotten rid of those distractions and really was able to hear from the Lord. And it's so cool, because in that moment, now looking back at passion, what I'm so grateful for is that I tune my ear to hear and that I did hear.

And that gave me a confidence to do that. And I think that's the same way in life. When you get rid of distractions, when you quiet yourself, when you tune your ear to hear, when you think about the things that you're thinking and question those things, you actually become so much more of a confident person. You're seeing the Lord, you're hearing the Lord,

and then you're like, wow, would I ever want to distract myself, you know? And then if you're not careful, even knowing that, you do it again. And so I think it's so important we're thinking about these things. You brought up the fact of how sometimes we think God doesn't love us and all these things. And one thing that you talked about is how our deepest problems are actually rooted in like the problem, like in procrastination

or working a lot or lust or pride or or resentment, or even family trauma or anything like that, but actually the source of those are from the failure to understand something fundamental about the nature of who God is. And I thought that was a really good point, and that was kind of something that I talked about passionately. Who is God? It's so important that we understand. Why do you think that we misunderstand who God is so much? Like, why do you think the God of love, why do we think we say like, we're not loved, you know, like, why do you think, where do you think that disconnect is for us sometimes? Yeah. Well, I think, you know, from the very beginning in the Bible, we're presented with an

enemy who wants to deceive us and is called the deceiver and the father of lies. So that is his world and His goal is to destroy you and to dishonor God and What is his strategy from the very beginning? If you notice with Eve, he doesn't say, man, look how good that fruit is. That fruit is awesome. Like he doesn't start with whatever your thing is. He starts with, did God really say, you can't eat anything you want?

And he starts by undermining the care and compassion of God. Seems like God's hold not on you, I mean, that's what he's saying. Seems like God's put limits on you. Seems like he doesn't trust you. Seems like he doesn't have your best interest in mind. So you go, there is a spiritual force invested in guiding your life and where he begins

is if I can get you to not trust God to provide for you, then I can open a million different streams for you to go try to drink from. Any addiction, any distraction, any relationship, I can send you a million different broken places, looking for comfort or escape from your feelings. I can't remember who said at the old theologian, when a man knocks at the door of a brothel, he's looking for God, you go, we're looking for that sense of love,

acceptance, care, peace in our soul, and if I can't get it here, I'll go to so many broken places to get it. So he's so invested in undermining that relationship. I mean, did it with Jesus? I mean, remember when he came to Jesus, what do you say? If you are the Son of God, then I mean, he just attacks his sonship first. And so it's helpful to know that, like when that voice in your head is telling you, well, you're no good or you're disappointment, or you did it again, like when you hear those voices, we agree with them so fast.

And you go, wait a minute, who's talking? Does my dad talk that way? Would my father speak to me that way? And I don't like it when people say, I didn't know what love was till I had kids. I mean, I don't know if people said that stuff to you now, but I'm like, I think you can know what love is when you don't have kids.

The apostle Paul wrote first Corinthians 13, like I think you can Jesus didn't have kids. So, you know, put that in there. That's a good point. But having kids made it easier for me to see how God loves us. Yes. How much kinder he is to us than my internal voices to me. So I think the very genesis of sin is let me decouple you from God. Because as soon as I do, I can get you to believe anything. I can get you to run anywhere. So it's helpful to know we have an enemy invested in that. You

know? And honestly, this is weird and with as it relates to social media, I think it's been interesting for us now to see. There are entities invested in shaping your thought patterns to influence your behavior. And you didn't even know they were doing it. Like, why do I even like the style of music? Why are these like, it genes right now? Someone told me, yeah, who told me that? Why is it suddenly important? I buy new pants.

Like, you realize my thoughts are being shaped to be marketed to. And you go, that's spiritually what's happening. So if you're aware of that spiritually, like, you know, we have an enemy who's invested in getting us to believe lies. So, uh, let me be curious what I'm thinking about and let me decide if I'm going to agree with those thoughts or not. So important. Gosh, it's so good. I was actually watching this movie the other night and I won't say what movie it was because it wasn't necessarily like the best movie. It wasn't bad, but it's not like, hey, everyone go watch this movie. But it was really action-packed and there was this moment where there was this guy hiding

in a vent and he was the enemy, I guess. And there was this panel lined up and he went to shoot one of the people on stage and the FBI guy like knew what was happening so he grabbed a spotlight and he pointed it to the vent so that people knew like this is where the enemy is. And as you're talking like this is what you're doing like for all of us like shining a spotlight on the enemy, the strategy of the enemy where he's at what he's doing So that everyone can see and be aware of what's happening and what it's interesting is the movie framed the other guy And it's like that's the thing like you the enemy loves to twist him loves to like say no, it wasn't me

It was it was you was your problem. It's God. It's is, you know, but it, but it's right here It's so clear. It's planned as day and so thank you because you really are like this book is giving direction for people Which is what everyone craves and it's shining a lie on the strategy of the enemy that people have been Honestly, just beat up by for the past few years and obviously forever, but especially the past few years when we're talking about Social media and that context of things So thank you so good One thing that you talked about which is a fun thing was how it's so vital that we continue to have God glorifying fun and I love that idea because I love to have fun. Honestly, I love to laugh. I love to hang out and

I think that some people think like if you're a Christian, you can't have fun, you know, it's not fun at all. And I like that you made that a point. Why did you feel like that was like a good point that you wanted to put in the book? Well, I was so surprised by it. And so many people's lives that I know do intense work, they prioritize fun so much. And I was like, man, y'all are like, why is this so important to you to surf for whatever you're doing? And I realized, oh, the human machine

will seek pleasure somewhere. And if you don't actively choose a redemptive something, the enemy's always gonna provide you some broken ones. So for the sake of your own soul and for everyone you influence, prioritize what do I enjoy doing? And I remember talking with a guy who had been through recovery from sex addiction. And he as part of his recovery process had to write out, here's the behaviors I can't do anymore, here's the slippery slope that gets to them. And he was showing me it was like a target and then the outer ring of the target

I was like what is he get that gonna be like here's the things I don't do here's the things I don't do before the things I do and then here's things I don't do before things I don't do before things I do I'm like man This is like and he was like no the outer ring is what I do for fun that doesn't Compromise my integrity and so he challenged me to try that, like right out the things you don't wanna do anymore, right down the slippery slope that leads you to those behaviors. He said, and then right out you're fun.

And I realized I didn't have any. I wrote like read books. And he was like, here's the thing, he was like, I don't wanna focus on your broken sad parts of your story right now. He was like, this is the most pathetic column ever. He's like, fix that. And then you see it all through the Bible.

God's first statement about the garden is I want it to be beautiful. Like that's his first thought. It's like, you know what's supposed to be awesome. Like functional came set up. That's cool. And then reading all these old Christians, it was vital to have fun.

Cause life is hard and life is brutal. And you got a laugh and you got to have fun because life is hard and life is brutal and you got a laugh and you got to have fun And it's it's an important strategy to prioritize it. So that chapter was like three times as long They kept making me cut out stories of all these different old Questions how they used to have fun. You just just put it it out like or if you need to place another place to put it out, send it to us and we'll put it on our blog because I want to read that like I love stuff like that. And honestly, people comment on my Instagram all the time, like not all the time, but I feel like this is when I get negative comments a lot of times it's about this.

It's like you're just like ignoring the problems of the world, you know, or you're just how could you smile whenever this is happening or laugh, whatever. And it's not that I'm ignoring the problems of the world. I think about those things all the time. I cry over those things. I care about those things. I work towards every day trying to reach people

with the message of hope and all those things. But at the same time, I do feel like God has given us joy as a strength and like joy can look a lot different ways doesn't always look like laughing and playing around stuff like that but it is a strength and I do feel like having fun and life even when things are hard is so important and so I do tend to share the fun stuff or the fun moments and me and Christian dancing because honestly, sometimes we dance when we have a hard day and we're like, we just need a laugh together, you know? So that is a priority.

And I love that point. I thought that was so good. One thing I wanna kinda finish this up with talking about is anxiety because obviously we're struggling so much with that. And I love that you talked about that so much at passion, just our anxiety. And you had a great message on how to kind of ease that, but something that you said to that got me in the book with and the relatively

safest time for human beings to exist on the planet. We find ourselves disoriented and disturbed. And I was like, that's so true. Like, it's so weird how safe I genuinely am and then how fearful I can be about safety but I feel safe like it's just such a weird thing and I love how you sell it the Christian life is meant to be characterized by living anxiety free and so how do we take all this and know okay we're actually safe why are we so anxious what is happening how can I live this anxiety free life and it's a loaded

question but I know that you hit it so well at passion, just wanted you to give an opportunity to talk towards to the person who's struggling with that anxiety, how do I minimize that to live fully? The calling that God has for my life. Yeah, that's great, Sadie. You know, I think of, there's a moment in the Gospels,

it says Jesus looked at the crowds, and they were harassed and helpless. And you know, if you harass someone, that means you're constantly bothering them and you won't leave them alone. And if you're helpless, it means you lack the tools to get them to stop. And so when he looked at his crowd, he was like, they're being constantly harassed

and they don't have the tools to make it stop and he doesn't go like Well come on sheep like he doesn't get mad it says and he had compassion. I hurt for you and so he taught them many things And honestly, I think about that everything time I preach I look at the crowd and go they're harassed and helpless Do you have compassion and that makes me want to teach them many things. That's why I book that try to be as practical as it could. Let's get you perspective. Let's get practical. Because that's what God does. And then Jesus tells them, don't be anxious. What are we going to eat? What are we going to drink? What are we going to wear? But then he says, fear not little flock. Your father delights to give you the kingdom. And what I love about that is he acknowledges their anxious. He says, it's a faith issue. You're not trusting me. But he

doesn't shame them. He says, your father delights to take care of you. He loves you. And that's the beautiful thing about what we looked at in Philippians and that sermon at Passion. People can listen to you is, is it's the invitation from God. Cast your cares upon me because I care for you. So it's not don't be anxious, get over it, toughen up, it's don't be anxious, let me carry that. Let me carry you.

It's good. And so if you're struggling with anxiety, anyone listening to us, just don't shame yourself or beat yourself up. That is counterproductive, destructive, not constructive. Don't do that. Life is hard. And so many of the changes in the culture have

left us harassed and helpless. We lack the tools to figure out how to move forward together. And I would just encourage you, your father's not shaming you. He's inviting you. Cast your cares on me because I care for you. And as you do that, he says, the peace of God is going to guard you and the God of peace is going to be with you. And then like you were saying, say, once you do that and offload all that fear and not let it drive you to a bunch of silly activities, God starts to whisper truth to you through his word. He starts to speak to you that about where your life's headed. And that's where motivation and excitement comes from. I'm not a victim to these anxieties. I'm a victor in Christ and he's got purpose for my life.

And I want that for you. I want that for me. I want that for everyone listening to us. I'm a victor in Christ and he's got purpose for my life and I want that for you. I want that for me. I want that for everyone listening to us that I'm not I'm not doomed by this. It's a struggle, but I can struggle well and I can find substantial healing and my God's going to shepherd me in that. So no one lose heart. God is too good for that. It's good, then. Thank you so much. Seriously, like you are so easy to listen to and easy to read and not because your stuff is simple, it's not, it's very, very profound, but you say it so compassionately that people lean in to listen. So thank you for who you are, a pastor to our generation. Thank you for you and Donna's incredible relationship and just how you do all the things

that you'll do with such grace and just such humility. Everyone go get rest and wore this is just a little bit of all the goodnesses in here. We put out some gold that he got to share but there's so much in here at SoRitch. Go get it anywhere books or sold. I'm assuming and online and person then thank you again for being on the podcast for the third time. I appreciate it. Thanks, baby. you