Hello and welcome to another episode of Upfront and Undivided with Luke and Dean'na.
Hi babe.
Hey babe.
How's it going?
It's good.
How are you?
I'm good.
It feels like a second since we've been down here.
It has.
It's kind of been a second.
Yes.
Two weeks.
Week and a half.
Week and a half?
Yeah.
Okay.
No, just one?
No, just one.
Did we?
Yeah.
Are you sure?
I'm positive.
Okay.
Yeah.
It's good.
I keep track.
I'm glad one of us does, apparently.
I mean, in my defense, I've been a little out of it.
Yes.
Sort of.
Because you are strong and mighty and...
See, that hurts.
You injured your rib muscles.
My thorax.
Which sounds so weird.
It's like every time people talk about you, it's my thorax.
It sounds like something that should be on a bug.
Stop.
My mind, I was like, thorax.
In your jugular, in your throat?
No.
Apparently, it is a muscle in your chest cavity.
Well, I mean, your torso is kind of like your thorax.
Okay.
I don't know.
I know that part of the spine is called the thoracic spine, but it just doesn't...
Yeah.
Yeah, no.
No.
Yeah.
I told a good handful of our friends, and one of them got back and was like, I don't
know what's going on with you and Luke, and I don't know what it is about you guys, but
I have to Google or look these things up because I don't even know what that means.
Yeah.
So basically, we were doing yard work, which other friends have said, Dina, just stop.
Just stop.
Stop with the yard work because I remember last year, roughly around this time, I got
the worst amount of poison ivy in places.
Unending, too.
It did not want to stop.
It was bad.
Yeah, it was.
So this year, we were pruning back some trees and getting some brush pulled out.
We have poison ivy in the back, wrapping around.
That you stayed away from.
That I totally stayed away from.
I was excited.
I was like, okay, I see you.
I'm going to stay over here.
I'm going to go do my thing over here and I'm not going to touch anything that's touched
you.
So I have this really crazy parameter and you can testify.
I pruned everything and pulled everything back within a five foot radius of the poison
ivy.
And then we're pruning stuff with lobbers.
They're called lobbers.
So those of you all that know what those are, they're huge pruning shears for trees.
And I'm only 5'4 and a half and you were so sweetly on the other side of the pond holding
the branch up.
So when you cut it, it wouldn't smack you in the face.
It wouldn't smack me in the face and it gave me a least amount of resistance.
But I'm so short that I decided I was going to use my chest on one of the lobbers and
let it rest as I'm pulling the other one down as hard as I can.
And I cried.
And looked at you and said, that hurt.
That really hurt.
That hurt.
That hurt bad.
And went about our merry way.
Did the gym.
Did the stuff.
Did life.
And then what?
Two, three days later, you're taking me to urgent care because we're thinking maybe
I might be having a heart attack.
It was getting worse, not better.
And so thankfully it feels like it's kind of at least...
Just a bruise.
It's just a bruise, but probably one of the deepest, most wicked bruises I think I have
ever had in my entire life.
It's literally gone from one...
It's through and through.
I could genuinely say it's a through and through bruise, which is bizarre.
But to know that we could potentially hurt ourselves in that way.
But at the same time, I'm like, wow, how incredibly strong the breastplate can be.
Because you would think I would have cracked something.
Nope.
You would think I would have bruises on the front of my chest.
Nope.
They're just visible.
Visible.
That's what I'm saying.
Yeah.
Like, nope.
It's all internal and under my armpit and on my...
What is that?
Shoulder blade.
That part back there.
Scapula.
So welcome to our science and biology 101.
So that's why we weren't here last week because you were so sweetly...
Letting you rest.
You were letting me rest and I could probably still do some resting.
And we attempted to go do some yard work today and then rain showed up.
Yeah.
That's all right.
And it's okay.
So we're going to take one more day of rest so you get to rest too because you work hard.
And we decided to come down and talk to you all.
Yes.
So what are we talking about?
So what are we talking about today?
So I've decided, because I know we've been talking.
I am going to title this, Guide Me Through the Yes.
I like that.
Because I know when it comes to...
Especially newer relationships and trying to find the courtship, the dating, the getting
to know you, all that.
And for so long it was like, well, don't do this and don't do this and don't do this and
don't do this.
And kind of even to a degree us when we were starting in our courtship document, our contract
with each other, it was a kind of a don't do this, we're not going to go there, we're
not going to do that.
But we also had the other things of this is where we're going to encourage each other
and this is what we're going to strive for.
And I think that's...
Looking at relationships, looking at even raising kids or even being...
Let's say you're a brand new Christian.
This is kind of applicable in all these different areas.
But it's, okay, you tell me what not to do, but it's like, what can I do?
Where are the yeses?
What do I get to do?
Right.
Where are the yeses that I can go to?
Where are the yeses that...
Especially a brand new relationship, where can we grow?
Where can we strive?
A lot of times, especially as a parent, especially when your kids are growing and they're trying
to get into a new season and stuff like that.
I always think of boundaries and stuff like that.
I think of it as a giant fenced in yard.
Yeah, same.
It's like, okay, well, don't go outside the fence.
Okay, but what's inside the fence that we can do?
It's like, you've got all this...
Let's say you've got an acre of land.
You've got an acre of land to play with.
You don't need to worry...
Develop what's inside the acre before you work on what's outside of the acre or even
worry about what's outside the acre, unless what's outside is trying to get in.
But also on the flip side of that, not just the what can we do?
What are the yeses?
But also try to avoid the do this.
The legalism, the okay, we'll do this.
Okay, well, I checked the box, but that's not really helpful.
But I did it.
Right.
I went through the mushroom, but I didn't cultivate anything.
Right.
And I think to a degree for a brand new Christian, it's like, okay, fine.
I went to church.
Now what?
Yeah.
I said the prayer.
Now what?
Yeah.
And I think a lot of people, they need that.
They need the...
What are the yeses?
What can we strive for that we can work on?
What can we strive for to grow together?
What can we strive for to develop and grow without getting too focused on what we can't
do or what we have no control over versus what we can control?
No.
Yeah.
It's like, I love the visual picture that you gave as far as the fence.
I'm going to go back for a second.
So you're talking about the fence and you're like, what are you building inside of the
fence?
I think that's number one.
You and I had a very, very, very, very deep conversation about this last night.
Just babe, what am I doing?
What can I bring to the table?
How can I help build and strengthen these men?
How can I do this?
How can I strengthen and build inside of me?
What is it that I can do?
Because it is, it's like, no, you can't go do that.
Okay.
But what's the alternative?
You know, what, well, you can't go listen to that music or you can't go do that party.
You can't, it's all of the nos and the cants.
You know, don't do the drugs.
Don't have premarital sex.
Don't get drunk.
Don't have all of the, you know what I mean?
Don't go into the gluttony.
Don't get into all of the, it talks about all of the different things, the deadly sins,
the things that will take you down.
Oh yeah.
Okay.
Fantastic.
Thank you for telling us what not to do.
But what can we do?
What do we get to do?
Well, we get to live in perfect peace.
We get to have a mind that is, that's not cluttered with chaos that even in the midst
of the junk, we get, we get to walk in peace because we know that our father's heart is
pleased in these things.
And it's not that he doesn't want to give us life and that more abundantly.
He promises he will.
We just get to walk in certain ways in order to achieve it, in order to receive it.
And it's like, we've said that we've been talking about this one for a long time, a
really long time.
Oh yeah.
Yeah, we have.
So forgive us if all of a sudden we have a word vomit kind of situation or just all
of it.
We'll do our best.
We're going to do our best to work through this one because it's like, there's so many
facets to it.
And I think the reason why there's so many, it's like so multifaceted is because we have
such a multifaceted God.
We have a God that has so many different layers of who he is, generosity, the kindness.
You have a scripture that actually talks a lot about what a lot of the yeses are and
what we get to, what we get to receive from him, what we get to cultivate and what we
get to grow.
Because as you're saying, like, you know, what are you doing in your yard?
How are you making it better?
What are you doing to, you know, well, man, you know, my, my, my urge kind of suck.
So over here, but that relationship right outside there, that looks pretty good.
Dude, are you watering your yard?
Are you, are you till in the ground?
Are you planting seeds that are going to produce life and vegetation that you can feed on and
that that will sustain you and help you become even more abundant and help you become healthy
and every sense of the word, physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, what are you fixating
on?
Are you looking at the things of the world?
Even, even the negative, we've got so much negative stuff out there right now, as far
as the news, what's going on, people's lives, stuff happening, you know, people are trying
to push certain agendas or trying to push things, not God, right?
And what, but what are we doing?
Are we showing them what the goodness of God looks like?
Are we busy telling them that what they're doing is wrong?
Right.
Are we showing them?
Yeah.
Right.
Or what are, what are we doing?
Yeah.
And, and again, it's, you know, I mean, you know, like when you were talking about the,
you know, here's what not to do and let's help people what they can do, you know, it,
it reminds me of, of something that we've talked about, at least on our own, I think
we might've mentioned it once or twice here, but, you know, when you're, when you're looking
at trying to get into, to, to better physical shape and, and working on your, your physical
health and all, it's like, okay, well, here's what you should eat.
Here's what you, you, you know, and instead of saying, don't eat this, you know, replace
it with something, you know, I always, I always laugh because it was like, when I, when I
first got to this church where we're at now, I was not a Christian.
And so I was used to not Christian ways of hanging out and getting to know people and
all this stuff.
And it was like, I'll never forget.
It was like, you know, some of the guys were like, Hey, you know, one of the guys was like,
Hey, let's, let's go hang out.
I'm like, all right, cool.
You know, expecting to end up at like some bar or something like that.
And he's like, Oh yeah, we're going to go play bingo.
And I'm like, wait, what?
That's one of the best stories ever.
It really is.
And where it was like one night, it was like, Oh, hey, you know, we're going to go, we're
going to, we're going to go hang out at this, this like, you know, we're going to go, go
to a bachelor party.
I'm like, all right, cool.
You know, I've done bachelor parties.
Let's.
Okay.
Let's go.
Yeah.
And we ended up at a bowling alley and I'm like, is this like, is this like the pre-party?
No, this is it.
I'm like, no, no, no, no, nothing.
It was, it was literally a bunch of guys from church got together to go bowling and celebrate
this guy that he was about to go get married.
And I'm like, what?
I was so confused.
What did you do for your bachelor party, babe?
Did you have one?
I have no idea.
I don't even, I don't.
Did you have fun?
Probably not.
If I did, I just got together with some guys and just hung out.
I probably didn't.
Don't why don't, why are you looking at me weird like that?
I just, not so much weird.
I mean, I'm just like, did you have one?
I know I had, I know I had a shower, probably not.
But how funny.
See, sorry guys.
I refuse to say we're boring, we're not boring in the least.
We have different priorities.
Well, and see, and I think that that's a really good kind of just side note of that.
When your priorities are different, when your focus is different, when your mind is set
on things that are above and not so much things like here on earth, but not so much being
so heavenly minded that you're not earthly good, but your appetite becomes different.
You're, the things that you even want to do start becoming different.
People will say, well, that's boring.
No, it's, there's peace.
You know, there's peace.
There's, I'm not living in chaos.
I don't have to worry about if somebody is going to slip something in my drink.
I don't have to worry about if, you know, if we're, you guys are going to go somewhere
and then a girl is going to be topless all of a sudden or something, you know, it just
all of a sudden it's like your appetite, your focus, things like that.
The desires of your heart start changing because your desires start becoming his desires.
Yeah.
But it is, it's, you know, cause it is, it is the, the looking at your priorities.
It is looking at, you know, what is important in your life?
What is important in this relationship?
You know, like what do you, you know, ultimately what is your goal?
You know, is your goal marriage?
You know, if your goal is marriage, then, then start, start working towards that.
You know, I, again, I think I heard, I think I heard a story once.
And if I'm completely butchering it, that's fine.
It's still a good story, even if the details are a bit off, but I heard once and I think
it was the ancient Israelites for fun.
I'm going to say, yes, it was ancient Israelites cause I don't really remember a hundred percent.
But before a man could get married, well, a, when a man got, when, when a man and woman
got engaged, they were basically married.
Yeah.
No, it's a Jewish culture.
Yeah.
No, but yeah, the ancient Israelites.
Yeah.
Um, you know, but they were basically, you know, basically married, you know, aside from
like living together.
You literally have to divorce in order.
Right.
And that's why, you know, in the Bible, you know, Joe, it said Joseph was going to quietly
divorce her.
Right.
But, um, but before that, you know, but back even further in history with, with that culture,
um, the man went before he could, before the wedding or before he could marry a woman,
he had to build his own house, you know?
So it's like in that prep time, in that getting to know you time, what are you building together
or you know, how are you preparing for that?
Um, you know, cause again, it's, you know, I know they talk a lot about, you know, like
premarital counseling and all that and that's, that's really great, but that usually doesn't
come until right before you're about to get married.
That's a whole other conversation that we have.
You know, I've, I've seen some, you know, as, as small as like three to six months right
before you get married, if that, which that's fine, but what, again, what are you doing
to prepare for that moment either on your own or together?
Because again, I know we've talked about, you know, like for women, you know, before
you can become a wife, you know, physically, you need to have that mentality.
You know, men need to, to have that like husbandly quality on him before he can find a wife,
you know, because it's just, if you're not walking in that mantle, if you're not walking
in that attitude, if you're not walking in that mindset, then you're going to attract
the wrong kind of people.
And so it's like, and it's, it's really hard to sit here and say, well, these are the yeses,
you know, these are the specific yeses.
This is what you should do.
You know, I mean, I would, 12 years ago, I would have loved to have had a, you know,
a manual to say, this is how you do it.
This is how you prepare.
I would love for us to sit down and write a how to guide to, to help all the people navigate
this.
Now I see all of our friends literally coming up to us at church going, okay, how's it coming?
Up front and undivided at gmail.com.
Go ahead, hit us up on social media, email us.
We'll, we'll start, we'll start working on that.
I mean, no, no, no, I know.
But, but I mean, but ultimately it's, it's impossible to write a comprehensive how to,
you know, because every everybody's different.
Everybody has different experiences.
Everybody's bringing different attitudes to the table.
Everybody's bringing different history to the table.
You know, we we've got, we've got friends that were completely self-destructive, you
know, not only to themselves, but completely destructive towards the people around them
in their circles.
Yeah.
You know, and, and they found each other and got married.
Yeah.
You know, granted a whole lot of Jesus was involved to get rid of or, or calm down a
lot of that self-destructive, but there was, you know, we we've had other friends that
were completely innocent and have known nothing but the church and Jesus for their entire
life and they found each other and got married.
And you know, so it's like, so there are, there's so much, you can't, it's impossible
to write a complete how to, you know.
But I think that there's some good fundamental basis.
There is, there is.
And you've got a scripture that actually brings a lot of it because you got excited about
it last night.
Like here's, here are some of the yeses.
Here's some of the stuff.
Yeah.
And do you want to read that now?
No, I was in the middle of a thought.
Oh, I'm sorry.
It's okay.
But no, I was going to say, but it is, while it, while you can't write a comprehensive
how to, it is, you know, possible to look at each other and say, where do we want to
go?
Where, where do we want to build?
How do we want to build?
Yeah.
And, and go from there.
And if you can find somebody that will help you in that journey, that will help a lot
because sometimes a trusted friend, a trusted, you know, advisor, if you will, can look from
the outside and say, I hear what you're saying here.
I hear what you're saying here.
How can we bring these two things together?
Or, you know, Hey, I'm thinking of, I eventually want this to be part of my life.
Yeah.
You know, how should I, how can I, how can I get ready?
How, how should I start clearing my land, if you will, so that I can start building
and get ready for this?
Yeah.
So, but yeah, so that was, that's, that's what I was going to finish with.
So the, the really cool verse that I found, because we were talking about it earlier this
week at church actually, and it was, it's in Colossians chapter three.
And it was, you know, Paul is talking to the, to the people, to the church.
And you know, before this, he was saying, you know, he don't, don't do this, don't do
this.
But then he went and he turned and he said, therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and
dearly loved, clothe yourselves in tender compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness
and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving each other.
If anyone has a grievance against another, just as the Lord pardoned you, you also must
pardon others.
But above all these, but above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfect
harmony.
Let the peace of Jesus rule in your hearts to this peace.
You were surely called in one body.
Also be thankful.
Let the word of Jesus dwell in you richly teaching and admonishing one another with
all wisdom in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with gratitude in your hearts
to God and whatever you do and whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of
the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
And it is, it's, I mean, it's, it's right there.
It's like, here's the yeses.
Yeah, you know, I did, I came home and I'm like, babe, we've been talking.
Here's the yeses.
I found the yeses in the Bible.
Yeah, yeah.
You know, yeah, it's like, here's what we can do.
You know, again, it's love, it's compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience.
I mean, that sounds a whole lot like the fruits of the Spirit.
So I think Paul plagiarized himself on that one.
I know it's just, it's more of a, just a, just a re we're thinking, we're thinking that
these like one of our pastors a couple of weeks, weekends ago, he's talking and he's
talking about literally the simplicity, the simplicity of God, the simplicity of just
a relationship.
You want to be around somebody that's kind and gentle.
You, you want to be around somebody that's thankful, that has gratitude, that speaks
goodness, that's kind, you know, that's loving, that doesn't have any ill gotten feelings,
you know, that, that their motives are pure, that they, you know, and it's like, and we
go back to the yard that you have this amazing fence around.
And as you're saying these things, I'm watching this person or me, and it's probably a lot
of it is because we have been out in the yard, but pulling the weeds, pruning the weeds,
pulling those things back so things can grow, so they can flourish.
We're cutting back branches on our tree.
I'm sorry.
I've been doing a lot that too.
You know, again, what, how I hurt myself, but, but pruning it back, how, why do we do
that?
So that way it can live even fuller.
It can grow even more.
It can mature, germinate, do all of the things that plants do.
And it's like, so it can produce everything that it needs.
So it can, it can produce its fruit.
It can produce, you know, the shade.
It can be a space of safety.
It can be a habitation, you know, what, however many different ways you want to put it.
But the fact is that we want to look at our lives and say, does this glorify God?
Does this not glorify God?
You know, sometimes people would, will take it to an extreme.
Well, you can't go here.
You can't go there.
Well, like you'd got me out of the house on a date.
We went to a bowling alley, really bougie bowling alley with bocce, bocce balls, bocce
bowling, which what that was cool in itself.
It's bougie bowling and bocce and bowling just to clarify for the audience.
It wasn't like, yeah, I'm trying to, but, and then we went and we, we sat down and we
had dinner and it was like, there, there's, there'd be people that would be like, well,
you can't go here.
Well, you can't do that.
We can't be here.
Well, what's the motivation of your heart is a Holy spirit, even in the midst of it.
Have you talked to God?
Have you asked him, you know, where you get to go, I may not be able to, and vice versa.
And it's like, it's, that's building the foundation.
That's, that's, that's where our God becomes a relational God that if, well, Dina, if I
go over here, then it's going to cause me to stumble because this takes me into a place
or maybe it takes me back to a memory or something that God still needs to heal.
Or maybe he just says, no, you're not allowed to be there.
Yeah.
And that's okay.
Yeah.
And so it's like, but, but do it with gentleness, do it with Thanksgiving, start pruning your
life.
You know, pull, pull the weeds out.
Know that when you do, that's where the life starts coming because those weeds are going
to suck every ounce of goodness out of you, no matter how pretty they are.
Because listen, we got some pretty weeds back there that I'm like, is this really a weed
or is this a flower?
What is that?
You know, and it just, that's it.
Right.
And it's like, but if I don't pull it out, it's going to start overtaking the beauty
of what's going on.
And so it's like just being mindful of the yeses and the noes.
Well, why am I doing this?
The wise, right?
Like what is your why?
Yeah.
Well, my why is I just, I want to live a life that that's abundant.
I want to live a life that creates a legacy that my children can, can mirror, that they
can see an example that they can eat of the good fruit and the good visit vegetation that
I have produced in this yard that God has so graciously gifted me.
Yeah.
And I kind of had two things kind of in my head or a couple of things.
Like A, to go back to kind of preparing the field or preparing the land.
You know, it's, you know, that is, that's part of farming.
You can't just go out somewhere and just like toss out seed and like, oh, oh look, I got
a crop of corn.
Yeah.
I wish.
You know, but there's a lot of prep work in that field before you can even think of planting.
You know, I remember hearing stories of like in Scotland and Ireland, you know, there's
so many stone walls because as, as they're trying to till their fields and break up the
ground, there's so many rocks in the ground that that's where the rocks for the stone
walls came from.
Oh, wow.
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
So, so that prepare the ground before you even try to plant anything or, you know, or
prepare the ground before you try to build anything on it because you don't want to just,
you know, throw up a house on, on top of this ground, this dirt, because you don't know
what's going to be under it, what's growing out of it.
Right.
But also when it comes time to dealing with those weeds, you know, like when you were
saying that, you know, even though the, the word of God or, you know, Christianity, whatever
you want to call it, you know, I'm going to say the word of God or the Holy Spirit doesn't,
you know, even if they, that that says this is not a bad place to go.
This is fine.
This is totally fine.
This is, this is not, it's not a sin if you go out to eat at this restaurant.
Right.
But you internally know this brings up bad thoughts or this brings me, this takes me
mentally to a place that I don't like, or this reminds me of this trauma.
You know, there, there's a way of expressing that to your friends or expressing it to your
loved ones of, you know, you don't have to completely over, you know, expose yourself
if you don't want to, but it's like, you know, Hey, that sounds great, but how about we try
this place over here?
Or, you know, Hey, I'd love to go, but I can't because that brings up a lot of bad memories.
You know, you can say that in your friends, you know, or, or your, your, your spouse,
your boyfriend, girlfriend, whatever is, they're going to understand.
They're going to understand because they love you.
You were surrounded by people that love you and they're going to, they're not going to
want you to get hurt.
Right.
But then it's like, when I was thinking of all those things, I thought also I had the
image of, you know, when you are dealing with the weeds in your life and you are preparing
the ground, make sure that when you pull up the weeds, that you're not being destructive
to what's around the weeds.
You know, it was kind of like that, that, that part in the story in the Bible where
it talks about how, you know, the, the, the master sowed his fields, you know, sowed seed
into his fields and in the middle of the night, the enemy came and scattered seeds amongst.
And when they started growing, the workers were like, Oh no, there's weeds.
Should we go pull them?
Yeah.
And the master's like, no, if you pull the weeds now, you're going to destroy the wheat
and it'll be a lost harvest.
Right.
Wait until everything's grown to fruition and then you'll be able to separate everything
at the harvest.
Right.
And then again, it's like, what are you doing when you're pulling up these weeds?
Are you, you know, to a degree, are you pulling up these weeds at the right time?
That's good.
You know, so no, that's good.
Yeah.
It's like, are you making more damage or not?
Right.
And, and ultimately the Holy Spirit is the only one that can talk to you about that.
It's true.
And surround yourself with people that are willing to even help you with that.
You know, it's like,
People that pray with you.
Just pray with you.
Yeah.
Pray with you, speak the goodness of God over you, remind you who you are, you know, that
you're not the weed, that the weed, the weeds in your life don't even define you.
That is not your identity.
These are things that have tried to capture that space and, and take over and that's not
who you are.
And so whenever you were saying, you know, like the people that you're surrounded, like,
you know, the good friends that you have, and I was like, and then my first thought
was, and if you don't have any, or if you don't have people in your life that are willing
to do this with you, run.
Yes.
Those are the ones that you need to, those are weeds that need to fall away, you know,
because you want, you want to be surrounded by people that have your best interests at
heart, that see the potential of heaven inside of you and want to help make those things
come to fruition.
Right.
And, and willing to do the hard work.
Yeah.
Oh yeah.
Because it's, the bottom line is, listen guys, the enemy makes the flesh so appealing and
for the most part, so easy to obtain.
And this is, I think this is kind of almost my takeaway to a point that the things that
I see with God, well, the things that we see with the flesh, the word of God even says
it where it's fleeting.
Yeah.
You know, it's, it's temporal.
It's, it's, it's your body is going to crave and continue to crave and it's just going
to get worse.
Um, but the things of God, they're eternal.
They're things that satisfy, they bring forth peace and joy and contentment or yeah, contentment.
You know, the things that, that just make you go, it is well.
It is well.
And so if you're struggling in those, if you're even struggling to say, well, what are, what's
even going on?
What do I have?
Like, what are the yeses?
What are the nos?
Pause for a second.
We're teaching our beautiful girl this one.
I mean like, the Holy spirit wants to come into every aspect of your life.
Not just what you consider the big things.
I, I, I want to share this with you guys because like, this seems to be something that is like,
like an anomaly somehow, but not it's like, she's just, I'm like looking at her going,
no, like, did you pray about this?
Well, no, it didn't seem like it's a big deal.
It's not like a big, it's a big deal.
If it's a big deal, you know, this, I, surely this isn't a big deal to God.
And it wasn't necessarily that she doesn't want God to be involved in it.
She just didn't think that he would want to be.
And guys, we have a relational God.
He, he, he's a good father.
We're so wanting to be in our kids' lives, like we want to know what's going on with
them.
Hey, what was you, how'd you do?
What's going on with your day?
Where you been?
Tell me about your adventures, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
This is who he is.
Oh, can I come along?
Can I do something with you?
Oh, you know, you know, that, that may not be the best idea or that's going to be a really
great idea.
Sorry guys.
I'm so ready for this to be gone.
So, sorry babe.
Let the Holy Spirit, let God come into every aspect of it.
Yeah.
Let him show you in the word the yeses.
The yeses are good.
The yeses are good fruit.
They produce good fruit.
And sometimes it's hard to cultivate.
It's hard sometimes to be grateful.
Yeah.
It's hard sometimes to see the good in all situations.
Yeah.
You know, it's to think, think, think, think all things that are good, meditate on things
that are good.
You know, remember that that the first harvest, the first field that you even have is your
mind.
Yeah.
Oh yeah.
What are you planting?
What are you meditating on?
Are you watching the news all the time?
Are you, are you feeling anxious?
Are you walking in, you know, confusion?
Are you walking in fear or are you, are you walking in perfect peace?
Are you looking at the word of God that says, you know, I have a good hope and a future
for you that when you seek me first and my righteousness, then everything else is going
to come.
You know, what are you meditating on?
That's what we need to be.
There's where our yeses are.
Yeah.
Agreed.
Well said.
Yeah.
I mean, I think that's, that I think we pretty much hit it right on the head.
I love that.
So yeah.
So, so yeah.
Focus on what you can do.
Focus on where you want to go.
You know, take steps towards your goal.
Yeah.
Take steps towards where, who, who you want to be in the kingdom.
Yeah.
You know, what, what do you want to see manifesting in your life?
You know, start, take, start taking steps towards that.
And know that it's going to take a second too for some of this stuff to even happen.
Yeah.
Because if you plant a seed today, it's not going to bloom tomorrow.
It takes time.
It takes energy.
It takes, it takes consistency.
It takes, you know, just that the mercy that of God, that is new every day that we get
to even when we mess up or even if we're like, you know, our poor backyard, you know, those
days where it's like, this is really overwhelming.
You know what?
I'm just going to take 30 minutes here.
I'm going to take an hour there.
I'm going to take a little time here.
And then you're going to start seeing things cultivate, start coming alive, start getting
better.
Be patient with yourself.
Be patient in the process.
Be patient with God.
Allow the Holy Spirit to correct you, to guide you, to direct you, to comfort you, to do
whatever it is that you need in that moment.
And knowing that he's not going to leave you or forsake you in the midst of the process.
He just won't because he's a good father.
That's right.
All right, guys, have the best week.
Enjoy the journey.