Welcome to the God's Goodness podcast where our mission is to encourage and highlight God's
Goodness and modern-day miracles. We are your hosts, Josh and Shelley Hankins. Today we have
with us a special guest. You'll know her as Shayla Gordon-Jesse and I want to, before we get into it,
I want to thank all our listeners for joining us today. I feel God has something to speak to
everybody in every episode. So stay tuned to see what he has to say to you and don't forget to
rate this podcast because it'll help the algorithm know that people are liking it. And now we get
into it and we'll have Shayla open us up with an opening prayer and then we'll get into it.
Hey guys, thank you guys so much for having me. Thanks for being here. You are welcome. Okay, Father
in the name of Jesus. Lord, I just, I thank you so much for the opportunity to gather here in your
name, to fellowship and Lord, thank you for helping us to use the gifts that you've given us for your
glory and to advance your kingdom. Thank you Lord for the way that you're using Shelley and Josh and
the God's Goodness podcast and God, I just ask that whoever is supposed to hear this message, Lord,
that you will put this directly in their path and that whatever needs to stand out the most to them,
God, that you will just make that so big in their spirit that they know that the specific
message is for them. Thank you for your love. Thank you for your faithfulness to us, Lord,
and I thank you so much for sending Jesus to die for us. Lord, I just ask that you guide our words
and just let this message be exactly what you want it to be. Jesus, we pray, amen. Amen. Amen.
For those of you who don't know, Shayla has, she's a very creative person as all of us are in
God's image and she is an author. She has a podcast and we met through TikTok and the Lord,
I was watching her videos and the Lord's like, invite her on the podcast. I'm like, okay,
and we'd never talked before that, but I'm like, hey, do you want to come on? And she's like,
yeah. And she knows people that you have heard on the podcast before. So check out her podcast,
we'll put that in the show notes and all the stuff. So where would you like to start, Shayla?
So God has really put faith, just the significance of faith on my heart. And I think I'd just like
to start off by saying that if you're a born again believer, then you are a child of God and
you're in a blood-backed covenant with Him. And those promises that are in the Bible,
they're there, like no matter what those promises are there, but it's our faith that activates
God's word to come to pass in our life. We found that a lot. Like when Josh was praying over people
for healing, it often worked when I was there and my strongest gift is faith and his is healing.
So he noticed that when they came together, miracles happened. Yes, absolutely. Absolutely.
And God really showed me a couple of, well, a few years ago that that was kind of the message
that he wanted me to share, at least at that time for sure. And it was just that there are so many
Christians that they pray in and they're praying and they're praying with out that faith-backed prayer.
And they just, people need to know the significance of faith. And Romans 10, 17,
faith cometh by hearing, hearing by the word of God. So there's only one way to get faith. It's
through strengthening it through the word of God, but more people need to know that. I love it.
So what led you to write the book? So actually several years ago, I was in a relationship that
was causing me to see myself just not the way that God sees me. And it was hindering my faith.
And it was really hindering my relationship with God because even whenever I was praying,
I felt like when I look back, I felt like that whole prayer time just had to do with that relationship
that I was in. And it's like I couldn't get anything else on my mind. And it was just distracting me
from what God wanted to do with me through me, distracting me from everything else in life.
And I knew deep down what I needed to do. I knew that it wasn't good for me. And during that same
time, that same season, I was also asking God, Lord, show me what I'm supposed to do. I know you
have something for me because it was like I needed to burst something out. I don't know if that makes
sense to somebody who hasn't experienced that, but the word faith was there. But it's like I didn't
know what to do with that. And so I just kept begging God, it felt like daily, Lord, show me what
to do, show me what to do. And in the rest of my prayer time, it was just about this relationship.
And I wasn't listening. I was just doing all the talking.
So I think a lot of people do that. Yeah, yeah, it's to listen. It's a relationship.
It is. And I was having a one way conversation. And of course, there was no room for him to tell me
what he wanted me to do. Because I wasn't giving him that room. And it would be like me walking
up to you and saying, Shelley, tell me about this. I love how you did this. And you know,
giving you telling you something and then just walking off like, Hey, where did you get that jacket
and walk away from you? How funny does that sound whenever we think about that being in person?
And at some point, I mean, this went on for a little while. And finally, like I knew what I
needed to do. And I knew because I knew deep down that while I was viewing myself in a different
way than the way that God sees me, that I didn't feel good enough. And even if God were to tell me
something to do, what that stuff was that he needed me to take, I knew I would feel like I wasn't
good enough to do it. Because I was tying my identity to these emotions and these feelings that
I was filling in the relationship that I was in. And finally, I just, it's like I had enough, like
I couldn't take it any longer. And I just got quiet. And I finally just laid it all out to God.
And said, I will do whatever you tell me to do in this relationship. Just tell me what to do. And
of course, he told me what I knew he was going to tell me because I had been blocking that out for
quite some time. And it took me a minute. And I so waffled back a little bit back and forth. But as
soon as I surrendered that to him, it was the most freeing. I've never felt that free in my life
that I can never remember. It was so much weight lifted off of me. And almost immediately, he told
me exactly what he wanted me to do. And he told me that he wanted me to write a book. And he told
me that he wanted me to call it the Covenant Woman. And that it was supposed it was going to be about
helping other women with their faith to know why they need it to help them to understand what hinders
their faith and their prayer life. And he just gave me step by step from then on out and just stood
by me the entire time. What stood out to me, what you just said was you didn't feel good enough.
But if we take a look at the heroes of the Bible, some of them were murderers. They were
adulterers. And surely you haven't killed anybody. And maybe in spirit, you know, but like physically,
like literally, you know, and we're not supposed to compare ourselves to each other. However,
if God can use them, surely He can use us today. Absolutely. Absolutely. And we all have gifts.
Every single one of us have gifts that God put in us for a reason. And he wants us to use those
gifts. But what I found, and especially even visiting with other people, other women about this,
is it's like we don't allow those, that light to shine so, so many people go through this until
they come. It feels like rock bottom, like because there's some big surrender that has to
happen very often because it's like coming to the end of ourselves saying, okay, Lord, like,
I've had enough in this way of life. I don't want to feel like this anymore. I am ready to do
whatever it is that I need to do to step into that fullness of you and step into that relationship
deeper with you. And so it's such a hard season. It feels like leading up to that. But once you do,
my goodness, it just changes the way that you look at everything. And then when you see how he
takes care of you and that season, it's like, you know that he's got you from here on out. You
don't have to question that anymore. But needless to say, we forget. So many reminders. Absolutely.
Absolutely do. My husband is my greatest encourager. I have some other tier leaders in my life. They
knew who they are. But thank goodness for my husband because like, I'll get down and, you know,
forget about past wins. And he's like, well, you know, it's not over yet. I mean, how long was
Abram walking around the wilderness before he even had a son? Or David before he became king,
like he got the assignment, but today he didn't get to walk it out. I mean, if you're gonna get
this much about that, I want to remind you that God will wait decades before he gives you the
fulfillment on the promise. Like, don't do it. Don't think that this is gonna be your timing.
Oh, that's your biggest mistake. Absolutely. Absolutely. And the older I get, the more
experiences I go through. I'm sure that every single one of us can attest to this. His timing,
even though I never understand it when I'm in the midst of something, it never makes sense to me.
It's not until after we get through that season, that situation. And then we can just look back
and think, wow, thank you God, that was in your timing and not in mine. Yeah, because we just live
in this world where we want to rush everything and whenever we step back and think about it,
really all these different things that we go through. And he uses all of us and it's for his
glory. And so trying to rush things, it really is just kind of silly when we think about it. It's
not, I mean, it takes you really have to step back and think about it from his perspective,
but he's not keeping track of time and calendars and clocks. That's all us.
And the enemy definitely doesn't want God to let us take a minute and step back and consider,
right? And that's why he has the tyranny of the urgence, right? So you have all my car
broke down right before I had to go to work today, you know, and now all of a sudden we're
praying for God and that timing has to be right now because of what the enemy does in our lives.
And, you know, if we really lean on what God is teaching us, it doesn't matter what happens at
the finite hour. What matters is that we come to him through all things at all times and nothing
on this planet, nothing is really that big a deal considering what awaits us when we leave.
Absolutely. That could not be more true. If we could just all remember that even in those times
when we're getting stressed out, even if it's a bigger situation, but, you know, we all experience
just little things throughout our day, throughout our weeks that just seem like they're a big deal.
And then, you know, it could be a couple of weeks later and we don't even remember it. If we could
just keep that in our minds that these things are not going to matter there before too long.
And really, what does it matter in the end anyways? These little stresses of life, like as long as we
are giving it to God and we have that faith in him or trusting him, then we don't really need to
worry about anything anyways. Correct. Just like when he says, approach him like little children.
What do little children, what does my son or my daughter's when they're really little,
did they know where food came from? No. No. Did they know what all was involved to make sure
a roof was over their head and that they had a warm bed? They have no concept of it and that's
how God wants us to approach him. We don't need to have a concept, we just need to know where needs
will be met. Oh, I love that so, so much. And you know, he has a way to meet our needs in all
these different ways and we as humans, we think it has to be in one specific way so often and so
we'll like pray for that one thing. You know, it's, I know it's because we're human, but that's
so unnecessary. He's already got it figured out and he has so many different ways that he could
go and if we'll just allow him to do that, then we'll see those blessings come to pass on our
life without the added stress on us. For sure. And you know, when you look at kids and they're
trying to sort things out, sometimes when they're they're struggling to do it on their own, it's
kind of cute. And it's when they do it too long and you're waiting for them to reach out for help
and then they start having a tantrum and you're wondering why they still haven't asked. And I
feel that God looks at it the same way, right? He gets us to be free to make mistakes and he thinks
it's cute as we think it's cute, but as the mistake quickens into a nightmare, that's when he's
wondering why it's taking us so long to ask him for help. Absolutely. Absolutely. And that's
something too. I like that you just said that because he will, we have free will. So we don't
have to go to him. But when we do, it makes things so much better even if we don't see
something change instantly, that faith that we have in him, that like that's the relief in it.
But he does we all he gives us our own free will. And I think that's something that all of us have
to remember too, because I hear often, well, if this is what God wanted, then, you know, I wouldn't
made this decision. It's like, well, we have that free will to make those decisions, we have to
invite God into those situations into that season with us and ask him for the direction, ask him
for the guidance. And he never fails us. His word never fails. It will never return void. And, you
know, his presence is there always for us. Yes, indeed. I mean, when I first became a Christian,
I prayed that he would have his way with me to the point where it seemed like I was mindless.
Right. Like I just wanted to be so enthralled with him that there wasn't a sin left in my life.
And it didn't end that way. Like I was handing over my free will to say, God, I trust you with it
all. You run me and he won't do it. And here we are, letting me for decades now, fallen to sin here,
do sin there, and then run back to him like a scared little kid. And he's always so faithful to me,
but not once did he did he commandeer me, not once even at my request, did he take over,
not once did he ever intercede on my behalf physically by manifesting and stopping me from
doing something dumb. Yes, yes, that's right. I do believe however he has protected me from
some of my dumb decisions in ways that I haven't seen. And I thank him for the prayers that I
haven't had to ask. Amen. Amen. I think back to so many different situations. And in the middle
of it, I don't think I've probably even thought about needing the protection or anything like that.
But I look back now and I think, Lord, I don't know how you got me through that as safely as you
did physically, emotionally, in all the different ways, financially, taking care of so many different
things and protecting so many different. There are all the aspects of my life that,
and if we just sit back and reflect on that protection that has been there for us, we could just
sit in awe for days and days just on that. Now you talked about faith, it comes through hearing
the word and hearing the word of God. And then there are some things that can hold back your
faith or slow it down and prevent your prayers from feeling meaningful and impactful. You want to
review some of those things? Yeah, for sure. So like you said, faith comes by hearing, hearing by
the word of God. And whenever it comes to faith, there are things that can hinder that faith. And
especially, you know, number one, walking in love because love works by, or faith works by love. And so
because we live in the world that we live in and Satan is the God of this world, that's something
that we really have to pay attention to just making sure that we're walking in love. Because if I am
completely walking out of love on a specific day, you know, my faith's not going to be strong. It's
not going to be where it needs to be for whether it's the prayers I'm praying, you know, just trying
to live by faith. And that's what God really put on my heart. And that's why there are certain things
that are in the book about just different things that hinder your faith that you probably don't
even know that you're doing. And some of it, maybe we learned it when we were younger. And then,
you know, for some people, they may have never even learned that. So God was very adamant with
me about certain things that walking in love for sure, but not holding on to unforgiveness,
which obviously for holding on to unforgiveness, we're not walking in love.
Correct. And I think one of the things we miss is not forgiving yourself is just as wicked.
100%, 100% because even to do God's work, to be, you know, taking those steps toward where
he's calling us to, if we're, if we have that unforgiveness with ourselves, we're not going
to make the right decisions and allow him to guide us fully. And faith works by love and love
doesn't work in an unforgiving heart. And then just holding on to, you know, resentment or getting
offended easily. That's something that God has had to work on me and obviously the unforgiveness
part over the last several years. And it's something that I have to, you know, he just
continues to remind us of those things because of the world that we do live in.
We are hit with so many different things. And so I think that that is the number one thing I feel
like to remember when, you know, we're taking those steps towards, towards Jesus and just
remembering that, that love, like that's, that's our commandment. And if we have an unforgiving
heart or for being judgmental towards people, you know, that can get rid of the cause of
forgiveness. And it really hinders our prayer to life. It hinders what God wants to do through us.
And it can hinder us hearing him and, you know, being guided him.
It's hard to forgive sometimes. One of the things that my husband had to keep reminding me of
back in the day was Jesus can only forgive us as much as we forgive those people that
offend us. Yes. And I, yeah, absolutely. And, you know, that's what the word says. And I,
I definitely have people in my life that are like, but I can't forgive this person. Like,
I'm not ready to do that. And I get it. I've been there before and I didn't know that I was there
because I was like, no, I forgave that person. But then God had to remind me of, it was the
specific person. This was years ago, but he told me that every single time that I, that that person
came up in conversation, I was tearing them down, ripping them apart, you know, with my words even.
And he said, that is not love. And it hit me so hard. And he, I said that, okay, but I thought
that I did. And I don't know how to let that go completely, which whenever I said that, I realized
that I hadn't completely forgiven. But he taught me to say it, say it with your mouth. When you
say it with your mouth, you believe it in your heart. And he told me, just keep saying it, keep
saying it. If you say it every time you think about person, I forgive that person in the name of Jesus.
And I know our words are so powerful. They can get in the way and hinder our prayers too. And
whatever we speak, that's what we believe. And so I think that that's why he took me through,
like that journey of saying it out loud, confessing it with your mouth, living it in your heart, which
it kind of comes back to when we asked Jesus into our heart. And if we had to do that, that I was
like, okay, Lord, that makes sense. And that, I guess, if you call it an exercise, that really
helped me to forgive and to not hold on to that anymore. That specific.
I think one of the best tips I can give for somebody, because I've really matured a lot in
forgiveness through the years, it's understanding that forgiveness is not accepting that what they
did was okay. It's not saying that if they are a pathological liar, that they're going to all
of a sudden tell the truth, right? It doesn't mean that. It means that you are going to take
your foot off their throat. You're going to take your hands off of them, physically, spiritually,
mentally, right? You are no longer going to occupy your time and harming them with your thoughts.
That's what forgiveness is. They are still who they are, but you have done away with the punishment
aspect of that. You've trusted solely into God. And if you see them in heaven, you have to be
okay with saying, hey, glad you're here. Amen. And whenever it comes down to it, because we all have
the same purpose of being his disciples and sharing him, we should all, we should want everybody to
go to heaven. That's what we're here for. Amen. So why, why, how could I hold on to unforgiveness?
And of course, this is me being on the other side of that, reflecting back, but how could I be so
unforgiving for something that this person did? And I don't know what that relationship is with
like God now. And it's none of my business, what that person's relationship is. And all the things
that I've done and I've repented for, if God can forgive me for everything that I've ever done,
then how in the world can I hold on to that unforgiveness for someone else too? And
peace that comes with that, there's nothing like that peace that comes from just letting all that
unforgiveness and bitterness from you. Like weight is literally lifted off your shoulders.
Like you can feel a physical manifestation of relief. You are absolutely right about that. And
it's just like this lighter feeling comes upon you. And then, like you said, you're not occupying
your mind with those things anymore. And when you hear that person's name, you don't think those
super negative thoughts anymore, you know, and it does take, it can take time, but
it changes everything. And like you said, just you can physically feel it.
And it's beautiful when it's perfected. It is absolutely beautiful. It's, it's, it reaches
God's own heart. I remember there was a particular instance that seven years of anger at least,
and I forgave someone, then my wife is still holding on to that anger for like another year.
And I kept telling her, you know, if I can bear it to have been done to me, you can bear it to
have been done. And when she finally, because she didn't believe me about how relieved it was. And
when she finally forgave her, like it was a game changer for her. Like it, it upped everything
after walk with Christ and everything all at the same time. Like it was a hindrance to that as
well. But it wasn't a one time thing you have to sometimes forgive over and over and over.
It's a process. Make yourself believe it. We're getting there. I agree. And I love that you guys
were able to work together on that. That's, that's such a beautiful thing. Oh, I was so excited.
I was so free and I just wanted her to feel what I felt. You got it. You got to forgive her. Like
I'm telling you, this is great. I love that so much. I love that you got to be that example
to help her through that too. God used you in that way. I think that is so beautiful.
I have my moments with Jesus.
In your book about faith and praying about or praying with faith, I mean, obviously you have
to take, you have to have a little bit of faith when you pray. Otherwise, why would you bother
talking to God that you had no faith in to start with? Right? So there has to be like a, like a
crumb of faith. And we know that faith, you know, the size of a mustard seed can move mountains.
Think of how much more faith you can have when you start a daily talk with God, daily walk with
God, a daily ritual with God. That's just you and him time. And then that you share with other
people here and there that you increase your faith. Like my wife said that her faith, her faith is one
of her spiritual gifts and minus healing and miracles, but not faith. Right? So how does,
like, how does it show up on the list of things? And like, how does that not, how, you know,
right? Doesn't make sense to me. And so we would, I would pray for people. And I noticed that,
like she said, that they had the biggest occurrence of healings when she was in that circle. And,
and, you know, it put me to get like, Hey, well, you know, we're two, two become one flesh, right?
So like, she's literally just the other half of this that God sent out the earth to heal.
And it can't be done without her. It literally could not be done without her, because she's the
faith aspect of it. And I see, and I don't know how true this is, because I don't know the actual
statistics, but from every interaction I've had with people at church, it seems that women are
more geared towards the faith side of it. And men are more geared to the physical side of
following Christ. And it seems like that's a dynamic or a power dynamic that God has put in
place so that when he created the institution of marriage that man that it would complete us
in our spiritual sense as well, not just, you know, this like this manifestation of God wants us
to be fighting as a solid unit, but there's there's more to it that we don't see.
I have never thought about that before, but that is so good. Like what a revelation. And when you
were talking about the two of you guys, the healing happening while you were both there, it made
perfect sense. Like, of course, put you guys together. How cool is that? And to be able to
see that healing, but you're both using your spiritual gifts to see that come to pass and
God's working through you both. That, oh, that is so beautiful. That's why the word says we're all
parts of the same body and all it needs to work together. Amen. And, you know, just talking about
the faith aspect, I used to have a lot of people that would say, well, I prayed just a lot of
friends and say, I prayed, but who knows? I don't know. And I think that's something that God wants
people to know too. Whenever you pray, you don't have to wonder. I don't know. You don't have to
think, well, he might have heard me when the stronger you get in your faith, the more you're
in the word. And like, like you said, Josh, the more that you are spending that quality time with
him and it's a getting to know him. It's that relationship like you said earlier. And the
stronger that that gets, the more deeply you know him, of course, but there's no question like,
maybe he heard me, maybe he didn't hear me. I don't know. We'll see because we don't know what
the outcome is going to be. We know that we've given him that trust. We've given him whatever
about issue as a circumstance before us. And, you know, it's all in his hands, his timing. And
we don't have to question. Maybe he heard us. Maybe he didn't. Right. You know, and we also have to
be okay with the fact that sometimes his answer is no. Yes. And, you know, just because I prayed,
it doesn't mean I'm going to have it. Sometimes his answer is no. When Jesus was praying before he
was handed over to the Romans, he asked three times that the cut be taken from him. Right.
And then he said, but you are what will be done. Well, clearly God said no.
That's right. He clearly told his own son no. Because he saw the bigger picture. Right. And
Jesus was faithful. And that's all we can be is when God says no to us, is we have to remember
to be faithful. That's right. And Jesus did go through a dark time, but he came out on top.
And because he did, we all did. And we have to remember he, God knows he has a plan for
each one of our lives. And like you said, whenever that answer is no, or maybe it's just not right
now, it's protection. Yes. Protection of our lives, our future. From ourselves. Absolutely.
Probably more than anything from ourselves. And just thinking to my mind immediately goes to
relationships. How many, I guess, really hard futures would there have been had specific
relationships taken place for each one of us, you know, in the past or buying certain things,
even financially, you know, God has a plan for our lives. And whenever, I think that's,
I don't think I know, that's one of the most important things about our faith, the most
significant, or that's why our faith is so significant. Because when we, when we truly
have that faith in him, even when the answer is no, we know it's for his good, his glory. And we
know that he always has a good plan. And just like it says in Jeremiah 29 11, that those plans are
to prosper us, they're not to harm us, they are for good. He never has a bad plan for us. So
even when the answer is no, and even whenever it feels like that makes things harder right now,
it'll, it's going to be better up ahead for us, even if we can't see it. And that it's okay that
we can't see it. It's okay that this timing isn't ours. But that that faith, that's where that comes
in just knowing that he's got it, regardless. And like you said before, those hard times pass, and we
barely remember them. So if we are suffering in a moment, we're asking God to relieve that suffering,
he might know that that suffering is going to be over in three or four days, and we'll never
remember it again. Right. Or we'll have a memory of it that'll help us walk somebody else through it.
Exactly. In which case he's even more happy with us. Yes. How many hard seasons, if we, if we all
look back to those hard seasons, if we were to take the actual time to sit down and write those
things out, we would be able to see exactly what we learned from those situations and how we have
helped other people through it with our knowledge and our experience. And that's what we're here
to help other people. And our testimonies are supposed to be shared to help other people that
are walking through those tough seasons. You know, that's God working through us to help somebody else.
It's so beautiful. I really love how gentle God is with us. I love that, even though I'll pray for
things like, hey, God, crack me open, I'm ready. He's like, no. And he still just takes the layer by
layer because he does not want to hurt us. Absolutely. And we are so broken from just living on this
planet with the interactions that we've had up until the moment that we accepted him and started
changing our attitude. We all have this like crust on us that is he's shuffling off, but it's painful
if he takes it all off at once. And he won't do that to us. Amen. Amen. He's so faithful. Like you
said, he's so gentle. Even his convictions are gentle. And he's, it just brings tears in my eyes
thinking about how much protection we have that's there and how much he loves us. He loves us so
much. And that's why the answer is no so often. And that's why things are in his timing and not in
ours. Thank God. I look back and I just thank God for his timing, even though I never understand it
during those seasons that, God, hurry up, hurry up. Or, you know, tell him something I want and it
doesn't come to pass. But it's always for our good, always. And it's, he's so faithful. I'm so
grateful. So grateful for his love and his faithfulness to us. Very good. So do you have any tips for
the listeners of anything in particular? Well, the number one thing that just came to mind as you
were saying that is that just a reminder that when we ask Jesus into our hearts, we are asking him
to be our savior. And he is that. But whenever we start just developing that real relationship
with him, because we can ask Jesus into our heart and not have a relationship with him.
Most of us have been there. Yeah, absolutely. Everyone has. And we've all, we've all went back
and forth and we've all put him on the back burner at times. And he does not want us to feel shameful
for that. He's just, just like the prodigal son, he's just got his arms open and he's like, come on,
you know, come with me. Let's go. We invite him in the house, but he can only stay in the clean
room with the plastic on the front. You can't come upstairs and see the nonsense up there.
Exactly. He wants to be in all the situations with us. He wants us to lean on him for guidance
for everything. And if somebody's listening to this and thinking that I've put him on the back
burner for so long, or I've asked him into my heart and I confess it with my mouth, but I've
never really lived like that. He's not holding that against you. There's no, there's no shame in
him. That shame doesn't come from Jesus. That comes from Satan. And I just want to say that
whenever you do start really developing that relationship with him, start talking to him,
it's a whole different life. I'm not saying it's going to be an easy life, but it's
man having his guidance and his protection and just knowing he's there, having that presence
there and feeling it. It's so that life is so much different than simply saying, why I invited
him into my heart. I invited him to be the savior of my life. That when he's sorry, he becomes the
Lord of your life. Oh man, it changes everything. Yeah. I joked about only letting him in the
clean room, but honestly, when you open the door to him, you just give him the title to the house.
He has access to every room. Somehow we still think that we're in control, that we are the ones
that are like, no, Jesus, you can't go in there. You can use this. I tied this up, right? He came
to us on our sin. He didn't come to us because we had to clean house. He came to us because we
lived in house and we needed someone to help set it straight. And we couldn't do it on our own.
And we would have died in this house if it was not for his help. That's right. Oh, that's so true.
That is so true. And just no matter where we're at in life, some of us are backslidden a little bit,
some of us are pushing forward, some of us are going back and forth, but he has plans for each
and every single one of us. And I just put that on my heart to say, he's got a purpose. He's got
a calling for your life. And he loves you so much. And he just, just step a little bit closer to him
for whoever's listening to this. He's, there's, like I said, there's no shame. There's no condemnation.
No matter where you've been, whether it was 15 years ago or 15 minutes ago, he still loves you
exactly the same. And he's, he's right there with open arms and he knows the mess of our lives.
And there's not, like you said, Josh, there's nothing we can hide for him. But I mean, he wants
to come in and help us with all of it. He wants us to tell him. That's what intimacy is. Even
though he knows, he wants us to be trusting him enough to tell him ourselves. That's right. And
that's how we build an intimate relation with us. Of course he knows. He just wants to know if we
trust him to tell him. And being specific when we ask for, you know, when we're talking to him
about anything in our lives and that fellowship with him, lay it all out there and whatever's
going on, of course, like you said, he knows it all, but say it, he can't really fix what we don't
give to him. And so even though he knows what's going on, he needs us to, and to give that to
him, you know, cast the care on him, allow him to, to work in those messy parts of our lives.
That's where we need the most help, right? The most guidance, the most leading. And he doesn't
look at us any different whenever we give him that thing or it's like you said, he sees it all.
The Holy Spirit reminded me of the listening prayer. So one of the things you can do
in your quiet time is sit down with a pen and paper and write anything you want, write a question
to God or whatever or a prayer. And when you're done with that, stop and listen and then write down
what you hear. And if you think, what's that me or was that God? Well, ask yourself, is it encouraging?
Does it line up with the word, you know, his character and then just keep writing down the
conversation. And you might be surprised at the outcome and how close you can get to God
in the process. Oh, I love that so much. And kind of going back to, is it biblical? You know, if it's
unbiblical, obviously that didn't come from him, but you know, encouraging, loving, this things do
come from him. And while you were saying that, I thought of this too, just reminding all of us
to use scripture when we're praying, you know, for praying for something specific to go find the
scripture, write that scripture down and really spend time focusing on that scripture. And it
helps us as even when we're praying for certain things, we're praying for guidance or leading,
bring the scriptures and that cater to that specific need, that desire. And that helps us
to build our faith because our faith is strengthened through listening to the word of God. Amen.
I love this little chat, Shayla. Thank you so much for joining us today. Absolutely. It was a
pleasure to meet you. It was a pleasure to meet you. I'm just honored that you guys asked me to
be on here and I definitely enjoyed this and just. Pleasure is all ours. Yeah, we're just going with
the flow, the Holy Spirit, wherever he leads. I love so much. I love that it's very just laid
back and doesn't feel too proper, if you will. It feels very we will have. I've never been
in the years of that, but the Holy Spirit lead everything. I love that. I love what you guys
are doing. So you have some things coming up that people can look forward to. Do you want to share
those with the audience? Oh, I do. Actually, I do have a new book being launched. We haven't put
the name of it out there yet, but the new book will be launched in April of this year. And if
you guys follow along on any of my social medias, I will be announcing the name of the book soon
and just some other things that are coming along with that as well. And you have a new
season of the podcast that's out and you have some guests. I do. I have. Yeah, this is the very
first season. I've only done two prior seasons and the Lord just had me do solo seasons and
this time he took me a different direction and I was able to interview women. I believe nine in
total of just God stories and how how God used these women to help them step into the assignment
that he has for them. And of course, their testimony there and things that were hindering
them holding them back and how they just really leaned on God to propel them forward and the calling
way has for them. Spoiler alert. Some of her guests have been guests on our show and they're in our
top 10. So, you know, it's going to be good. So tune in to her podcast and her socials. We'll put
the link in the about section and this has been great. This is good stuff. We have lots to look
forward to this year and it's going to be good. We don't know what it's going to be, but with God,
we know it's going to be good. Oh, yeah, absolutely. That's not to think of what it could look like
because I'll just get disappointed. So, I thoroughly enjoyed this and I just appreciate
you guys so much for having me on and for everything you guys are doing. The Lord is,
you can feel the Holy Spirit here on this podcast and I know that it is just inspiring so many people
and helping so many people. Thank you. Thank you. You're welcome. If this episode has been a blessing
to you, we ask that you pass it along to somebody. Don't forget to rate the podcast and if you are
led to give to help the ministry out, we have some different options in the about section.
So, check that out and we would also love the prayers because the spiritual warfare is real
this season. It is very extensive and we just need that extra hedge of protection around us
and with that, we will talk to you next time.