You are listening to Blessed and Ball Stop, presented by Anchored Media. An entrepreneurship podcast for Christians all about how to make God the CEO of your business. Get ready to be inspired, challenged, but well-equipped to live and build your destiny his way.
Hey guys, welcome to another episode of the Blessed and Ball Step podcast. We are continuing on our book club pick leadership as an identity, the four traits of those who will lasting influence by Crawford Lawrence. If you have not gotten a book,
Click the link in the show notes to get the book. As always, I'll try to do each review with as much detailed information so that if you are not reading the book with us, you still are able to be blessed by it because this book in particular, it has a lot of gems. I am personally enjoying it. I have to like read it with my little highlighter and write things in a margin so that I can remember to talk about it on the podcast. But if not, I would probably zoom through this book by now because I am enjoying it.
So much. We are one chapter seven. It's called dealing with discouragement. And we are in the last part of or the last chapter of the first part of the book on brokenness. So everything that we've discussed up until this point has been centered around brokenness. The author believes that Christian leaders live from and lead with four common identity characteristics.
Brokenness uncommon communion servant hood and radical and immediate obedience So we are just wrapping up the brokenness section and then next week will be continuing on with the next part or the next trait Called uncommon communion. I don't even know what that means off the surface. So I'm looking forward to reading those chapters before we get there. I want to remind you that I have a
Webinar coming up next week is called the Christian content creator town hall. We did this last year, but I'm running it back because I want to have another discussion with Christian content creators, specifically those who feel called to podcasting. There are a lot of people that the Lord has called to this space. And I'm really excited about the word that he gave me to share with you guys. And I will also be opening up the doors to my mentorship program.
For those of you guys who don't know, last year, I pivoted a bit with my company anchored media and focused a lot less on the production and the strategy I have. I still have my clients that I work with and I still selectively take on new clients. But the Lord was really showing me that it's not just strategy and information that people need, especially Christians. They need mentorship because there's so much that you go through off the microphone that impacts
what you have to say on the microphone. There's so much warfare. There's so many internal battles, external battles that other people may not understand because they may not be creating from a Christ-centered space or trying to create platforms that glorify the Lord and not themselves. And so because I've been doing this for so long and have worked with hundreds of podcasters, I'm excited to continue to pour out the wisdom that the Lord has given me.
into those of you that he's called into this space. And so I want you to join me because whether you become a mentee or not, I still want to share some wisdom as an OG in this space for those of you who are Christian creators. And again, if you do want to work with me, there'll be an opportunity for you to learn more about how to do that as well. Because this will be the only cohort that I'm opening this year. I told y'all that I'm going to law school in August.
And also have an exciting life event that's going to be happening this summer as well that I'll tell you guys about a little bit later. So that leaves the second half of my year pretty booked up and reserved for those obligations and those that I'll take one as mentees. So join me if you feel called to the space. If you ever wanted to work with me in a mentee capacity, go ahead and click the link in the show notes to register so you can get all the information there.
All right, back to this book. Chapter seven, as we're closing off this first part about brokenness, he is tackling a subject that I feel like is not discussed enough in Christian leadership, and that is discouragement. And it's so crazy that that's what this chapter is about because discouragement is something I feel like I've been feeling a lot this week in particular, because I've been thinking a lot about law school coming up,
One of my toxic traits, I call it toxic, but it has worked well with helping me to be successful. But one of my toxic choices, I feel like everything isn't that hard. I feel like most things can just be figured out. Sometimes that leads me to underestimating the effort that something may take.
So my husband, he was talking to one of his good friends who's a lawyer and was telling him that I was getting ready to start law school. So his friends was like giving us some tips, letting him know what to expect and how demanding it is. And so my husband was telling me like, yeah, he said, you should read this book because it's just going to take a lot.
And I was like, in my mind, I'm like, oh, it's not going to be that hard. So I was like, OK, let me just put that to the side and really see how much effort this is going to take because I know it's going to be difficult. I know it's going to be hard work. I'm not afraid of hard things. So that doesn't intimidate me.
It's just, again, sometimes because my mindset is it could be figured out that can lead me to really underestimate some things. So I started doing my research on what the first year of law school entails and I started to get really intimidated because I'm thinking about my children being young. I was crying out to the Lord even this week where I was like, God, you know, my biggest fear in life is for me to be pursuing all of these goals.
In aspirations and my children have to suffer. My marriage has to suffer where my children see that mom has accomplished these things, but we don't know her. That is a huge fear of mom because that's how I grew up where I saw my mother.
achieving things in her entrepreneurial pursuits, but that closeness and connection wasn't there because she was doing things for me, but not necessarily doing things with me. And I see the ramifications of that even in our relationship today. And so that's something that really, really is deep in my heart, the desire to continue to do and become all that the Lord has.
but also to be present and active with my children and loving on them and all of that. So I was just getting slightly intimidated. And then on top of that, I'm thinking about my business because I know that there are things that are going to have to look different in some ways. And I was just getting a bit anxious and a bit discouraged. Like, why did I do this sooner? Laura, why didn't you reveal this to me before I had kids? Because when I got my
MBA, I did that thinking this is the last time I'm going to school. I'm going to knock this out before I have children and we're going to be good. But that's not the timetable that the Lord had. So I've been dealing with a bit of discouragement myself. Even as it relates to the podcast, I've been doing this every week for eight years, eight entire years. And so seeing where how this industry has grown,
what's trendy, what is the most popular, and also being someone that is 1,000% never want to compromise in order to be trendy, but also being someone who is very metrics driven and cares about growth and data. It creates a little conflict internally, if I'm being honest, and that conflict can sometimes result in a feeling of discouragement.
So even before I got on here, I had to sit and say, God, this is how I feel. This is the honesty of how I feel right now. But nevertheless, let your will be done. I trust you. I surrender to you. And I ask that you just have your way.
And I hit record. So when I'm talking about discouragement and we're reading this chapter and discussing this chapter, I want you to know that I'm right here with you. If you're feeling any type of discouragement about the things that or the process, the Lord has you in. I see you. We write here, but I'm grateful for this book because understanding that discouragement is a part of brokenness and knowing that brokenness is a quality trait.
that will make me a great leader, if there's still encouragement in that discouragement, if that makes sense. So he actually started off this chapter with one of my favorite scriptures and one that I use to encourage myself often. And that's Galatians 6 and 9. It says, let us not lose heart in doing good. For in due time, we will reap if we do not grow weary.
Anytime I find myself impatient, anytime I'm like, man, I'm not as well just do it this way because this way seems to be working better than that. I bring myself back to Galatians 6-9. The first part I have highlighted is, he says, God in his sovereignty often uses the pain of discouragement to introduce us to brokenness. But the question is, how do we not lose heart and become branded by discouragement?
You know what I mean? We all know people who wants were filled with joy and vision, but because of some deep disappointment and discouragement, their light has become dim. In some cases, it appears that their ability to trust God and move forward in faith has been permanently damaged. How many of you have felt like that? How many of you feel like that right now or know someone who feels that way?
He says, here's what I've learned. It is the choices, decisions that you make when you are in that dark discouraging place that will determine whether you will be branded by the discouragement or if it will be a redemptive, transformative experience. We choose. I realize that that sounds so counterintuitive, but it is true. We have to muster what little courage we have left and make at least the following five choices. And I'm gonna go through all five.
He says, first choose truth. We choose the truth about the situation or circumstance we are confronted with. It is helpful to step back. And if possible, allow the emotions to settle, clear our heads, and gain perspective. A good night's rest can do wonders. But then, as painful as it may be, we choose to face the complete truth about the situation and what we're confronted with.
Keep in mind that denial is our enemy and almost always makes matters worse. I love that he touched on this because how many times when you hear people who are facing some type of disappointment or discouragement just try to over spiritualize it to where they're almost just totally dismissing the reality of the situation?
where it's like, well, I know that the Lord has a financial breakthrough coming. He's going to supply all my needs. He's going to cancel all my debt supernaturally. Yes, the Lord can do all of that. But let's face the reality of the financial mess that we're in.
Let's face the reality of it. Let's face the reality of the fact that we are having been great stewards and we need to deal with that. Let's face the reality of we made me need to call some people and defer some payments and figure out some arrangements in order to be able to still keep the lights on. You get what I'm saying like so many times when we face these discouraging
seasons, especially as people of faith, it puts us in a place of denial. In denial, like he said, almost always makes matters worse because instead of addressing the truth of the situation at hand, you're trying to use your faith to force God to end. And that's not how it works.
He goes on to say, more importantly, choose the truth of God's Word. We rush to His Word so that He can speak to our hearts and pour hope and strength into our sagging spirits. We grab hold of His promises and cling to them for dear life. I love these words in Psalm 119 and 50 that says, this is my comfort in my affliction, that your promise gives me life.
Our confidence is found in God's life-giving, unfailing promises. His word give hope and life in the midst of pain and disappointment. His word never changes, and discouragement is a call to rush to what is constant, eternally reliable, and has the power to change people and circumstances.
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So here what he's saying and here what he's not saying. What he is saying here is that we go to the word to grab hold of his promises, to use it to encourage our flesh and not just the words that speak to the specifics of our situation, but also the word that speaks to our emotional state. So many of the Psalms speak to the emotional state of the Psalmist.
So when we are dealing with different discouragement and tough seasons within our leadership and our business's life, et cetera, don't just go straight to the words that are applicable to relationships, to business, finances, children, marriage, those topics that may be areas of difficulty for you at that time. Also, go to the word as your comfort that you could cling to. He's not saying go to the word to name and claim it.
That's what that false prosperity teaching will say.
I have highlighted here, he says, we choose the truth of God's word because we have made his word our delight. Psalm 119, 143 says, trouble and anguish have found me out, but your commandments are my delight. Did you capture what the Psalmist said? Discouragement has found him, so trouble and anguish, but although there is no joy and pleasure in his circumstances, the Psalmist knows where to find it.
God's word puts a smile on our hearts. His promises are not affected by our circumstances. They are rock solid, eternally true, and trustworthy because God himself is trustworthy and cannot lie. We may be baffled and confused about the future, but our great God is not rushed to his word and allow his truth to steady your steps.
Let me tell you how this blessed me today. This part right here, I felt like he was speaking directly to me because I told y'all where I've been at emotionally when we started this episode.
But this reminded me that his commandments are my delight, that his promises are not affected by our circumstances, that what I may see as intimidating is not intimidating to God. What, while I may not understand certain things or certain timelines or whatever, it's not for me to understand.
for as long as I am walking in alignment with him, for as long as I choose to continue to see him in all things, the joy is my portion. Despite what difficulties I may be going through, despite what obstacles and how big they may look, I can have joy, peace, and contentment in the Lord. Period.
And that's interdependent of any circumstance. And that is a promise that all of us have. What discouragement does is it makes us make the problem bigger than God. And it also builds up resentment between us and God. Because in that distance that discouragement drives, the enemy can then start to distort. He can start planting his lies and he can start doing his crafty ways of getting us further and further away from the Lord.
But if you decide, and I love how in this book he emphasizes that we choose how we respond to disappointment. So if you choose to allow your disappointment to drive you closer to the Lord,
There is such great promise in that. Something I was thinking about as I was reading this chapter, whenever someone asks me about marriage or relationships, let's say it's a new couple, they're getting ready to get married and they ask for advice or something like that.
I give the same piece of advice to every person because it was advice that was given to me that I found to be quite helpful being married now for almost seven years. And they said, whenever there is a problem, it is you and your husband against the problem, not the problem coming in between the two of you. So you fight back to back against anything that tries to cause division between the two of you.
And I was thinking about that as I was reading this because it's the same thing as it comes, as it relates to our relationship with the Lord. Anything that tries to come between you and the Lord, your closeness with Him, your faith in Him, your trust in Him, you have to address that problem.
and you have to fight against that issue and not allow that issue to drive a wedge between you and the Lord. And one of those issues that are very effective at doing this is discouragement. And we do ourselves a disservice when we don't use wisdom and recognize discouragement for what it is, which is a form of brokenness
that we should get excited about because that puts us in a perfect position to be used by the Lord. But it's also an opportunity for the enemy, like I said, to drive that wedge between us and the Lord. So I have to emphasize this because I want you to look at discouragement as, oh, I have to deal with you because I don't want to give my flesh an opportunity to turn away from my father.
Going back to the book, he says, second, we choose joy. You might be thinking, how in the world can I choose joy? Isn't joy kind of an involuntary response to what's happening in my life? It shows up when it wants to, right? Yes, joy often is the natural response to good news, favorable outcomes and pleasant experiences. But what happens to our joy when things go south, when we find ourselves in the middle of adversity and discouragement has walked through our front door.
Do we allow our circumstances to lock us up in some joyless prison? Let's take a step back. Did you know that the Bible commands emotions? Think about it. We are commanded to love according to John 13 and 34. We're even told to be angry but not to be sinful in our anger, according to Ephesians 4, 26. And we are commanded to be joyful. The point is that we are not to be passive or helpless when it comes to
our emotions. We can determine shoes by God's grace and his spirit, the emotions that will dominate our lives. It is an act of the will. Apart from the exercise of our will, we set ourselves up to be ambushed and controlled by feelings that can keep us in a very bad place. Our emotions are great passengers, but very poor drivers. That was so good.
He mentions the Apostle Paul. He says, the Apostle Paul chose joy and commanded his readers to do the same and Philippians 4 and 4. He writes, Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say rejoice. Paul is not passing along some meaningless cliche or untethered motivational statement or slogan. He is in jail because of trumped up charges and lies.
He is fully aware that apart from God's intervention, he's headed towards execution, but he chooses not to crawl into a fetal position, but rather lift his sights and focus on the one who is able to keep and sustain him no matter the circumstances. He encourages his readers to do the same.
This is a compelling pattern in Paul's life and ministry. For example, in Acts 16, he and his ministry partner Silas were publicly beaten, shackled, and thrown into prison. Mind you, they hadn't done anything wrong. They were doing what God called them to do. Here they are, bloody, and with a few contusions and perhaps some broken bones. It is safe to say that this has the makings of a dark discouraging situation. But do you know what Paul and Silas are doing?
Acts 1625 says about midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God. They made a choice not to grant sovereignty to their circumstances, but to honor and rejoice in the one who controls all things. They were not in denial, but their hearts and focus were on the one who never changes. Y'all remember a few episodes ago, I gave my testimony about my business. In that same time,
around February, my birthday is in February, February 17. On my birthday that year, I did what I always do, which is reflect. I am very, very big on pausing, reflecting, checking in with the Lord in just
forcing myself to think about the previous year. It's just a great exercise for me to get out of whatever my mind may be in, get out of the future, get out of the goals and all of that and just have a moment of stillness and gratitude for the Lord. And during that year, I sat on my birthday just talking to God and I asked Him as always, like, God, what do you want me to focus on in this year of life? And He said, I want you to focus on choosing joy.
And that really stuck with me because nothing about my circumstances were joyful. And this is why having examples in the Bible, such as Paul, is so important because what he was going through, way worse than what I was going through, he was in prison. I had the ability to come and go as I please. Wasn't nobody trying to lock me up and throw away the key, but I was dealing with my own troubles though.
And what the Lord I feel like was teaching me in that season was you don't have to be emotionally controlled by how you feel about your circumstances. A privilege that you have as my child is to choose joy. The biblical definition of joy is awareness of God's grace, no matter how tough life is or no matter what circumstances we may find ourselves. And the Lord's hand, we can always see it.
We could always see the way in which he is moving and we can always recognize his grace. His grace is his unmerited favor. His grace is favor that we don't deserve, that we didn't earn, that we don't work for at all. And that's something to get excited about.
And so something that I did during that time was I tried to find ways to choose joy. One of the ways I did that is I'm somebody who likes nature. I like to be by the water. So I would go and walks all the time. And I have like this spot that I go to.
that is along like a path, but it's kind of isolated at the same time is low traffic, but is right by a body of water and is beautiful. And I will go there despite what I was going through and I would just listen to worship music and just watch the cars go by on like the bridge.
or I would wake up in the morning before my family woke up and I would sit on our back patio and I would play worship music and I would just sit there and drink my coffee. Sometimes I would read a book. Sometimes I would just sit there and journal how I felt. But it was those moments of just sitting in stillness, of looking at the beauty of the Lord's creation from water and trees and nature and the animals. Like I'm sitting there watching the squirrels
in my backyard play. I'm watching the birds find food that they didn't have to work for. I'm just paying attention to God's hand in everything. And in those moments, I was able to feel that joy that's interdependent on my circumstances. And it was such a beautiful lesson for me. And it's one that I tried to
Take heed and be mindful of even if things are going pretty smooth. And I will encourage you to do the same to find practical ways to choose joy. I don't want the things that we discuss on this podcast or that we read about in this book to just be things that resonate with you intellectually. But I wanted to be sees that are planted in your heart.
I want these episodes to be transformative experiences that you could take and then apply it to your day to day and see how the Lord is going to move. So as we listen about joy, I want you, I want to give you some homework to think about how can you choose joy?
How can you realistically, in whatever the circumstances that you are in, how can you be intentional about forcing yourself to be aware of God's grace?
The author says, so can these words from Romans 8, 37 through 39. No, in all things, we are more than conquerors, through Him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God and Christ Jesus.
Nothing or no one can sever us from God's love. This is our certain unshakable reality. Isn't that a beautiful reality?
He says, third, if we don't want to be branded by discouragement, then we have to choose faith. By this very nature, discouragement is a direct attack on our ability to trust, to believe. Courage and confidence are aspects of faith. And so when discouragement shows up, our faith takes a direct hit. We are confronted with difficult decisions.
Are we going to allow what has happened to us to cause us to shrink back, reduce our expectations and question God's love and care for us? Or are we going to allow the discouragement to fuel our determination to turn and trust the one who has everything we need to see us through? But again, if our faith has taken a direct hit, then obviously it's hard to exercise faith.
Keep in mind that it is not the amount of faith we have, but the object of our faith. I'm reminded of the man in Mark 9 whose son was possessed by an unclean spirit. This man was desperate and discouraged for years, he watched his son being tormented by this condition. Worn down in just about drained of hope, he says to Jesus, but if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.
Notice how Jesus responds in verse 23. If I can, all things are possible for one who believes, then there is the honest, desperate response of the dad in verse 24. Immediately, the father of the child cried out and said, I believe, help my unbelief.
He says, so often this is where we are when we are discouraged. Much like this father, we have to scrape together what little faith we have left and place it into the hands of our all knowing, all powerful God. This is a choice, a decision that is not anchored in how we feel, but the determination of a will to get to the one who can change everything.
He's as contrary to what some people teach and believe about faith. The Bible never teaches that faith means that we deny the reality of sickness, pain, or the assortment of bad or unpleasant circumstances. Those who are in this camp tell us that we should not claim we are sick or broke or in a bad spot. But denial never leads to deliverance. Child, let me read that part again. But denial never leads to deliverance.
In Hebrews 11, there is this collection of biographical snapshots of great men and women who exercised faith in the face of what could have been devastating and possible circumstances. There is not a shred of evidence that they denied the reality of what they were facing or going through. These faith warriors stared down their discouraging circumstances. They did not deny where they were or what was in front of them. They defied it.
What I mean is that they looked through the pain and the obstacles and saw a God who was always faithful, never failing, and had everything they needed to sustain and deliver them. They understood and lived in the reality of Hebrews 11 and 6, which says, and without faith, it is impossible to please him. For whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
He then goes on to discuss the issue, the woman with the issue of blood. If you're unfamiliar, you can go to Luke 8, 42 through 48.
But about her story, the author says, it was the touch of desperate believing faith that not only tapped into the power of our savior, but also drew his attention. Oh, that our discouragement and adversity will make us desperate for Jesus. This indeed is the choice, the decision of believing faith. It is the choice between the path to supernatural vibrancy or the way of doubt, despair and cynicism.
As hard and as painful as it may be, we must press through to get to the glorious object of our faith. The Lord Jesus, choose faith. He was knocking on my door with this next one. He says, fourth, when discouragement knocks on our door, we need to choose community. I am an introvert who loves people. I enjoy meeting new people and I don't feel awkward in social settings. But here's the point.
I don't mind being alone. In fact, I am most refreshed and energized during times of solitude and reflection. This is how God wired me. However, as is the case with most introverts, I've had to learn that pulling back from people is not always a wise or even healthy thing to do. This is particularly true when I am hit with discouragement.
To be sure, it can be very helpful to get alone and sort through what we're thinking and feeling. It helps with perspective. But too much time alone is not a good thing. At a certain point, keeping your own counsel can be dangerous business. Isolation has a tendency to breed distorted, exaggerated thinking, which in turn leads to either overreaction or wrong responses.
We need people to help us with the balanced perspective and healthy guard rails for how we should think and feel about what we are experiencing. When I tell you he was knocking on my door because it's a habit of mine personally if I'm going through something I withdraw.
But like he said, that's not always good and it's dangerous because you're just sitting there isolated, only thinking about how you feel. And then your perspective gets distorted, you make the wrong choices, you exaggerate a situation like you need that, that wise counsel, you need that community. One of the most beautiful things that I experienced this past week with the society, we had our first fruits fast last week was how vulnerable and open all the women were.
And not only about their own situations, but we have like in a society, we have this prayer wall. And it's an opportunity for you to post prayer requests. And it's also an opportunity for people to pray for you. So people will put encouraging words under the post, they will
write out a prayer under the post, share scripture. We also have a war room in there, which is like this voice chat room where we go and we can pray about various things. And what I love about that is we're able to see all of these women just being honest, vocal, transparent about what they're going through, what they're dealing with.
And then the community members come and encourage them, pray for them, give them feedback, give them new perspectives. Like it was just a beautiful example of how community is supposed to work. And it was encouraging for me and somebody who is more introverted.
to be even more open, because I have folks in my life that I'll send a voice note to or I'll call to help me process things, but sometimes it depends on the severity. If it's something that I'm really struggling with, a lot of times I will withdraw, so it depends. But this really encouraged me to always seek community.
Take the time I need to gather my thoughts and organize and structure how I feel, but let those who love me and who are part of my community be there for me. So if anybody, if you find yourself in that same position where you go through things, you stop answering the phone,
You don't talk to folks no more. You don't go to church or you put this mask on and act like everything is cool. I would encourage you to go against that. It's going to take some work in the beginning to force yourself, essentially. But I would challenge you to approach disappointment whenever it comes again, because it will approach it differently.
I have highlighted here, he says, we were born for community. And when we were born again, God placed us in community. We belong to God and we are members of the family of God, his church. Christianity was never meant to be some loose coalition of independent contractors briefly coming in contact with each other. But for the most part, independently pursuing
our personal relationship with Christ. Frankly, this is a wholesome, dysfunctional approach to the Christian life. Among other things, at the moment we trusted Christ, we were planted into his family to experience his presence, love, and strength flowing through his people to our hearts. We are eternally andextricably tied to one another. That's the reason why the church is called the body of Christ.
He says, the Bible teaches that through community, we experience these two life changing realities, companionship and mutual identification.
Companionship, the Apostle Paul writes in Galatians 6 and 2, bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. In so many words, he is saying resist the temptation to fly solo. Stop trying to carry the heavy load by yourself. Let others help you. Invite them in. Also, notice that this is reciprocal. We are told to bear one another's burdens.
Once again, this implies living in community with each other and being aware of the needs of our brothers and sisters as well as our own. It also implies a willingness to be honest and open about what we are carrying as well as taking the initiative to come alongside others and help them carry their load. When it comes to identification, he says, community is also marked by empathy, identification,
There is this clear compelling statement in Romans 12 and 15 that says, rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. This is a straightforward command. We ought to enter into and identify with the joys and sorrows of our sisters and brothers.
Think about that. Our first response is not to critique or analyze, but to seek to feel what they are feeling. I had that underlying because that was so good. Our response is not to critique or analyze, but to seek to feel what they are feeling. Many of us struggle with that because we're not used to having permission to feel. We don't give ourselves permission to feel, so how are we going to
be there for somebody else to the point where we feel with their feeling. But I believe that that's one of the things that the Lord wants to transform through us as leaders because as we're pouring into others and serving others, it's not just about what we can teach them or what we're comfortable with pouring into them, but it's about really meeting them where they are emotionally as well so that we could carry that burden with them.
This was something that the Lord really had to help me with and work with me on because I'm used to in my personal life and family and stuff like that. My family can be very critical. You know, a lot of us, our families are the same way. Always got something to say.
Right. So my family can be very critical. And so I found myself embodying those same traits where somebody would come to me with an issue or they felt a certain type of way. I would try to analyze and critique the situation because I'm more comfortable being in my head than I am in my heart. And that's something that the Lord had to help work with me on through therapy, through prayer, through me, getting in my word and just growing in wisdom.
That's not the case anymore. But that was something I had to surrender to God. Because I can't come from my head to my body for my own emotions. I could tell you, I can identify my emotion intellectually but feeling it. Oh, that's a whole different beast. She don't know how to do that. Because she's never had space to do that because she has things to do, right? But that's not how the Lord wants us to be.
He says, when we are discouraged, we need to let others identify with our pain and disappointment, but pride and image management will block others from giving the hope, help, and healing that we need. The fifth choice that he discussed is service, and I'll end it here. He says, look at these sweet, tender words in Psalm 126, four through six.
Restore our fortunes, O Lord, those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy. He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.
The promise of these verses is that our tears become wholly fertilizer that will produce a bumper crump. Our pain and weakness causes us to abandon ourselves to his care and his strength. As we take feeble steps of obedience, he works through us and ways in which we are not aware. Looking back from the other side of the pain and struggle, we stand in awe and wonder at the faithfulness of our great God. He did it.
Yes, closely associated with brokenness is discouragement. We want to embrace the brokenness, but we can't afford to make discouragement a permanent guest. We have to choose truth, joy, faith, community, and service.
I hope this chapter blessed y'all the way that it blessed me. Make sure that you get this book. This is the last chapter in the part one or section one on brokenness. We will pick up with section two next week. Again, if you want to get the book, click the link in the show notes for that. Thank you guys so much for listening to another episode of the Blessed in Boston podcast. I love you guys and I'll talk to you next week.
