WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - LovingKindness: Hesed

Episode Date: January 25, 2024

Join Carissa and Emma in discussing the mission and purpose of the LovingKindness podcast. Tune in to learn more about the Lord’s hesed towards us as followers of Christ.

Welcome to the loving kindness podcast on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM, where we assure young women of God's endless goodness and loving kindness and every season of their lives. I'm Chris and Izzly. And I'm Emma Church. And today we are starting our first episode. I'm so excited. We're so excited. It's really good to be in the studio and start this project that we kind of threw together, but it's going to be so good. So good. We're so excited. So wait, Carissa, how is your day today?

My day has been lovely. It's been great. I went to bed last night a little bit worried about the ice that was going to be on the ground. Oh, my gosh. I'm a Florida girl, so I was born and raised in Florida. And let me just say the ice in the snow is something that I'm not necessarily prepared for. And the walk home last night was quite treacherous because we had something called an ice storm where basically it like rains but then instantly freezes because it's so cold. But you can't really see the ice. And so you'll just be walking like living your life and all of a sudden you'll be on your butt. And you're like, how did that happen? And it's the most terrifying thing I have ever experienced in my entire life.

And I'm like, take me back to Florida. Why am I here right now? But the Lord bless us. Because when we woke up this morning, there was salt on the ground and the ice had melted. And there were less chances, less opportunities for us to fall on our butts. So that was great. And I thank the Lord for that. actually call it deception ice because yesterday walking around I was like oh all right like less

snow like this is fine maybe it's a little rainy I don't know why it's raining and not snowing I don't understand because as chrisa is from Florida I am from Hawaii and so we are both like warm sunny creatures that need vitamin D constantly and um so I was walking and there was just like this clear clear stuff on the sidewalk and I assumed it was rain. and then I literally fell like a cartoon character, like the whole like banana peel situation. And I ended up doing that three times. So yesterday was a lot.

Yeah. Yeah. Or today? Yesterday? Yesterday too. How is your day today? I want to know. My day was great.

Yeah, I'm a little tired adjusting to being back on campus and all of the class load. But it's so exciting. All my classes are so good. and the people are amazing and winter is interesting and we get to do this today which is so exciting so yeah yeah so good i don't know about you but it's just so good to be back and like entering this community again where you have followers of christ all around you um who immediately encourage you and push you closer to christ it's just the most beautiful thing um And it's really good to be back.

Yeah. Yep. This place is full of just some of the most beautiful souls like you ever encounter. It's amazing. Amen. Yeah. So, anyways, we should probably explain, like, who are we and, like, why we started this. Let's do it.

Yeah. Okay. So I am Karistan Isley, like I mentioned before, but I've had a little bit of experience with radio in the past but um actually about i'd say two years ago the lord really placed in my heart this idea of the gospel what the biblical version of the gospel is and how the modern american church got it so wrong i think i i heard a story of um a young woman giving her testimony and she had never heard the gospel before. And then how she heard it and came to realize that how she was living her life was not in

accordance to what the Bible says. And so that made, like, God just in that moment gave me a heart to share the gospel, like however I could, whether that be in a podcast or be in Guatemala across the world. And so from that moment, I kind of had this mission statement place in my heart. and I felt called every day since to both remind people who are believers of the gospel and then also to reach the unreached to have never heard of God's amazing grace for our lives since. And so that has been on my heart for years and years now. And I was at home last month for Christmas break.

And there's just a lot going on in my mind, I think, about thinking about next year and thinking about where this mission is going to go. And I prayed about it. And the Lord just put this idea on my heart. Because I have had this dear friend, Emma, who is so encouraging to me. And we just have the best conversations. Like, I kid you not, this girl is like my therapist, like my unpaid therapist. And I don't use her, I promise.

She's just such a good friend in that when I'm having a hard time, she's always there to point me back to the Lord. And so I was like, what if Emma and I collaborated on this project? Yeah. And we did this for other people. Yes. And we talked about how, like, we struggle day to day, but how God's grace always constantly shines through and how much he loves us. And we just reminded people and encouraged them because life is. hard. We both know that. And like we have seen the goodness of God and we want to share that with

other people. And so I threw the idea out at Emma. I called her but she didn't end up being so I left her a voice memo. Keep in mind there's a six hour difference between the two of us. Yeah, six hour time change. So that's really hard. But I maybe a voice memo wasn't the greatest idea, But I thought I should just do it. And so I did it. And I think you were super receptive of the idea. And now you can kind of share your side of it. That's hilarious.

Also, by the way, with how much she talks about me being very encouraging to her and being like a therapist and all that, she is all that and even more with me. Like it is such a mutual benefiting relationship. And it is so beautiful. Very thankful for it every day. But yeah, I remember that day so clearly because I just got a pokey bowl. And like if you're not familiar with that, it's like ahi with like rice. It's very common in Hawaii.

And I was like so excited to eat this. And I like pull up in front of the beach and I get this message. And it's like, I don't know, like maybe four minutes long, three minutes long. And I was like, oh, Carissa. Like sometimes she'll send me voice journals and it's so fun to listen to. But then I could like hear her thought process and she's like, I don't know what she's going to think about this. but and then like she asked me if you want to do a podcast together and I was like freaking out like I was so excited because I I just see the fruit of our conversations so much and like we'll have

these very deep conversations but then it'll just bleed out into every other area of our lives and affect other people and it's not it's really not by your own doing it's the wisdom of the lord leading us in these conversations and yeah guiding us through so many trials so very, very, very excited to do this with her and just be a part of that. You are listening to the Loving Kindness Podcast on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. So, Chris and I get together and we finally meet. You know, I thought it'd be easier if we talked about this podcast in person because, you know, six hour time change, just lots of stuff going on.

So we meet at AJ's, the amazing cafe on campus. And we were going together talking about titles and different things, mission statements and all that. And so we were throwing out ideas like His Grace and like all these different ideas that I honestly could not remember if I tried. And then Carissa throws out Loving Kindness. Like what if we did a Loving Kindness podcast? And I was like, whoa. So I want to turn the mic over to Carissa and ask her, you know, how did you come up with loving kindness as the title? Yeah, so I don't know if I remember every intricate little detail of our conversation.

You should. But we'll see. So I think it started actually back on break that, like, it started brewing in my mind. Because I think about Emma is that she's an amazing singer and she has a beautiful voice. And she's so musically talented. And she actually wrote a song that was based on Psalm 23. And it's a beautiful song. and I love it and I listen to it.

And I think it's great. And it was her birthday. And I knew we were coming together to do this. And so I wanted to get her something really special just to show my love and appreciation for her. And I knew that the Lord had laid on her heart just a love for this Psalm. And so I found a little bracelet that was based off of Psalm 23. And so in the process of looking for and buying that bracelet, for her. I steeped in the words a little bit. And I think that we threw this idea out somehow,

because I talked about this word dwell that's in this verse. And I was like, we need to be dwelling in the house of the Lord forever and dwelling in his word and dwelling in who he is. And then I think we started talking about the verses. And she goes, I just really love the word loving kindness. and I'm like, this is perfect. Like, loving kindness, we'll talk a little bit more about what that means, but it's perfect. Like, it's an attribute that we should be trying to exhibit in our lives. And it's an attribute that is, like, so prominent throughout the Bible. And it really kind of explains God's relation to us.

And I'm like, we can take this and we can run with. this because it's a beautiful word. Emma loves the word. Oh, I love the word so much. It has so much background in our lives. And so we're like, let's do it. So that's how we found the word loving kindness. Can you describe what that means? What are your thoughts? Why do you love it so much? Yeah. Okay, so I have an NASB version of the Bible. I just throw that out there because a lot of translations like the ESV will translate that word as steadfast, steadfast love, right? And just such a beautiful word. But I never got that translation.

So I got loving kindness. And I was just like staring at this word. And I was like, I love that when you try to type in this word on like Safari or something, like the English language will try to correct it and put a hyphen in it. And it's like, these are two words, right? Which like, yeah, like they are. But it's beautiful because in my mind, it's exactly. how it feels with God.

Like he is loving and he is kind. But when you put those two together and you make them, one, it really, really describes who he is in my personal relationship with him. Because when you understand that he is fully loving and he is fully kind, then when you trust in his sovereign plan,

you know that he fulfills every word in his scripture where he says, like, I know the plans I have for you. And just all of that, just beauty. And I love the word so much. because of that and it's a special word and so it was it was just awesome that she came up with that and um i think we both have been pretty hooked on that word since yeah so that being said the other night

we were all talking with our friends about how we're starting this podcast and they were really excited about it and one of our really good friends said well did you know like do you know the Hebrew word for that word and we're like no and i'm going to pronounce this really awfully but it's hesset um So we were like, okay, yeah, like, let's look into this. What does this word mean? And all of that. And so just taking a deep dive of like what his loving kindness is, it is expressed to provide the confident assurance. So you have David who expresses his confidence assurance in God's loving kindness in Psalm 23.

And so we were just looking at this word and, you know, surely goodness and loving kindness will follow me all the days of my life. and it's just so beautiful. And so we were trying to track where it is in the Bible, and there's about 250 times in the Old Testament that this is brought up. And so it's just so beautiful that this word means so much and that it's just super impactful for our lives as Christians. You are listening to the Loving Kindness podcast on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. So the word inherently has so much meaning.

in it. We're talking about loving kindness and what it means in the Bible. And then also, I think it's really important to talk about how it applies to our lives. And so I just have struggled a lot in the past with like comprehending God's love for me. And it's something that's so often forsaken and that we so often forget is how much God loves us. And so there have been moments like really low moments in my life where I question his goodness and his loving kindness towards me. I think that is why this word means so much to me because now I've come to realize how true it is and I want to encourage people who are going through the same thing. I think that's what we're here to do.

We're here to just let you know that the Lord loves you. He loves you so much that he laid his very life down. for yours. That is the most perfect example of love. In the New Testament, it says there is no love greater than the one that would lay his life down for his friend. And that is exactly what God did for us. How beautiful is that?

And how encouraging is that for our walk? And then another thing we forget is God's kindness towards us. he is good and he is kind towards us. And even if it feels like we are kind of drowning or life isn't the way that we planned or expected it to go, like the Lord is kind. And he is faithful to us in whatever situation that we're in. And so I have to remind myself awful. I have to also remind myself of God's kindness and faithfulness to me. And so these two things come together and they're a beautiful picture of who God is and how he affects our lives as Christians.

And so that's our mission and why we're choosing to talk about this because it affects how we see the world and affects how we live our life. Can you talk a little bit more about that? Yeah. So as I was reflecting also on just what this really means and like why. my attention is focused on Psalm 23 for, you know, surely goodness and loving kindness following me all the days of my life. When you start to internalize this and you really think about this and, you know, making it into a song was easier for me because that meant that it was constantly on my mind because it was a catchy tune and that just meant that I was dwelling in his

promises. And so when you really start to believe that it changes your entire, entire walk of faith because now you are looking for it because you know it's there and you know that it's present because God is faithful just like Chris has been saying and he's kind so when your eyes are open to looking for this you will find it and so I just want to encourage you who's ever listening that your prayers start praying in a way where you're asking the Lord to lead you in this understanding this wisdom that you can find all of his love and grace right in front of you because His fingerprints are everywhere. And just another verse also paired with that, Psalm 263,

For your loving kindness is before my eyes. And I have walked in your truth. And when you really come to terms with how much God has saved you from, you understand that His loving kindness is before your eyes. So what does that mean for you? How do you see God in the days where it's mundane or the days where His grace is very apparent or really subtle? How do you see in front of you?

eyes can be very deceptive. Your eyes can lie to you. Your eyes can tell you a lot of things. But when you tune them to what God is doing in your life, it just becomes all the more clear to see that God is walking with you since the days of your youth, right? As the Bible says. So yeah. Amen. And I think like you were just saying, like when we realize that we don't deserve a gracious life at all, it becomes like even more lovely and even more impactful for us as Christians. Because the truth is like, we don't deserve God's grace. Like we're sinful human beings who deserve wrath and punishment. But he sent his son to pay that ransom for us.

And now we have come into a right relationship with the Lord. Every day is a blessing. Every single day is a blessing. Every day. Every day. And so when we come to realize that Jesus's death on the cross was an outpouring of God's loving kindness on our life, then every single day we can praise him and glorify him. And we can do that by seeing His goodness and mercy to us and then glorifying him for it.

So we hope that this episode has done even just a little to encourage you in your walk with the Lord. And we thank you so much tuning in. Thank you. And we really appreciate you listening. And we hope that you would come back next week to hear a little bit more about maybe a specific struggle that Emma and I have struggled with in our past and how we. We know that the Lord is faithful and loving and kind to us in. This has been the loving kindness podcast with Chris Nisley. And Emma Church.

You are listening to Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7F.