Sadie & Christian Q&A: Feeling Stuck, Fear of Uncertainty & the Next Step

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So friends, Christian and I have been talking on this podcast about my new book, The Next Step Coming Out. And one of the things I talk about is how I really hope that it helps you form a habit of getting into the Word in the morning. And the thing that helped me so much personally with getting in the Word in the morning was whenever my friend, Donna Stewart, would text me at 6 a.m. for the season of my life. And she was like, wake up, get in the Word. And it was so good to have that accountability. Well, after the podcast, we were like, maybe we should help other people do that. I know Christian joked about setting your alarm in the middle of the book. But we were like, OK, let's go beyond that.

So you can actually text the word awake to 3 1 8 2 0 6 5 6 6 0. And T mellow is going to text you an encouragement that day to go get in the word go get in your divo and study. So we're so excited about this. This is going to be text reminders that are coming at 6 a.m. starting November 20th. This is the day after my book comes out. If you don't have it, prime that thing right now.

If you get it a little later, don't worry. You can text this number anytime in those 30 days and join us. And we just hope that this kick starts maybe a new habit for you of getting up in the morning and sitting with the Lord. I hope that this just blesses your life. So again, text awake to 318-206-5660. We'll text you in the morning and make sure you're up and in the Word.

Happy Monday. Well, that's good family. Your Monday's better get a whole lot better, not because I'm here, but because of who I'm interviewing today. And she's actually the host of this podcast. So please welcome Sadie Robertson Huff to the podcast. Woo! From the live audience of being you. Thank you for having me. You're welcome. Thanks for being on your own podcast. Talk about your own book.

Which is exciting. That is exciting. Well, for those who don't know, because I feel like maybe a lot of people don't know, but you have a new book that's coming out very soon. I know. If you're listening on the Monday, it's coming out tomorrow, which is so exciting. Of course, you can pre-order today, but tomorrow is the official. Which the book is called The Next Step, and it comes out the next day. Whoa. Timing. Just thought about that. Timing is everything.

And I said about that. Well, it is about to get a lot better because we're going to be talking about this awesome new devotional book that you just put out. And they were begging me to interview with you, which of course I was glad to do. And they, you mean me? Yes. And yeah, by they, I mean you. But no, really excited to talk about it. And if you're watching on YouTube, here it is. It's a lovely book. It serves as a devotional slash coffee table slash just very aesthetically pleasing lifestyle, but lifestyle picture book with amazing devotionals.

That's actually true, you nailed it. If you have read any of my other books, this book is a lot bigger than the others. It's really like a coffee table book. It has pictures all throughout it. It's meant to just kind of live there. And as you sit down, want to read through it, read through a day, a little devotional. It's not really meant to be read in one sitting each day, kind of serve its own purpose.

Each week is on a specific wisdom book of the Bible. And I think people are going to be really encouraged by it. I'm super excited for people to dive in. And it was a really fun process writing it because it's so different than the other books. And it's just a lot more casual and chill, but also so much scripture. So I think people are going to love it.

Very cool cash. It is cool cash. Very cool cash. Well, I'll give a quick overview of the book real quick. So the next step features 50 devotions rooted in the Bible's wisdom books, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs. This whole book is focused on helping the reader find their way or figuring out what the next step for them is. It's for people who are maybe starting their walk with Christ in the direction of their new season, or it is for people who have been following Christ for years and just need rest.

which you fall in the ladder camp because you need rest. It's very true. I know. I feel like this is, I was actually thinking this the day I was like, would it be weird to just put this on our copy table because it is just like a very restful book and there's so, like I said, there's so much scripture. It's just pulling out different sections of wisdom books of the Bible. You read through that and then you go into a day of some thoughts to really meditate on and thank God.

And then at the end, it ends in like rest and worship, which I think this is a really cool part of it because I put like two suggestions for worship songs that you could listen to while you sit down in journal for a bit. And so I think it's kind of just teaching people how to get in the rhythm of having a morning devotional time with the Lord. I don't read my actual book for a devotional book, but I do have a devotional book that I read in the mornings while I always turn on worship.

And I think this is trying to help people get in that rhythm that has really helped my life a lot. And I have to say, I used to be the person, you know this. I was like, man, you don't have to have a morning devotional. That's not the only way to connect with the Lord. It's a 24-7 relationship, which I still do.

believe it is a 24-7 relationship. It's an all the time thing. But I 100% can tell a difference in myself and the day if I actually have a morning devotional, as opposed to skipping that and just having my 15-minute car ride with the Lord.

It's been so beneficial for my life. And that's not something I learned from doing this emotional book. It's what I learned before that through Donna Stewart texting me every morning at 6 a.m. saying get up and get in the word. And she did that for weeks and it helped me so much. It was such a pivotal time of my life because I actually realized how much came from that. And I mean, Jesus models that he would get up, you know,

before the sun rose, go into the mountainside, be with the Lord. And I feel like you see that so much in scripture. You've heard so many people who you look up to in life do that. And who am I to be some, you know, young gun being like, you don't have to have that. I'm like, that's ridiculous. No, it's so helpful. And hopefully this helps people get into the rhythm of that morning time with the Lord and sitting, reading, meditating, and worshiping.

Yeah, I'm just cool. I actually, yeah, I have seen, you know, like you just set a change in you. When you do read your mode in devotional versus when you don't. Thank you. It's true. You're still pleasant in both ways, but it's not even like pleasantness. It's like anxiety levels. Yeah. Because I don't go towards like anger or towards impatience or anything like that. What are you trying to say? Wait, wait. I go.

Someone called for me like like we're different like yeah, yeah, you don't have your morning time That's what you could do if I don't have my morning time. I go you know I know you know how bad my anxiety gets like this isn't like oh One is better than the other like I end up in the emergency room because I think I'm having a heart attack so I am like

Fully emitting my anxiety is a problem when left uncapped, whenever I don't actually get with the Lord about it. But my morning time is centering myself, it's anchoring myself in the Word and something true. This morning, I ran into my morning devotional, this verse, and I literally put it as my screensaver. It's just like, this is so good. It says, this is the message version, BT devs.

Matthew 5, 8, it says, you are blessed when you get your inside world, your mind and your heart put right, then you will see God in your outside world. I was like, that is so good. So I wrote it down. I prayed it over myself, put it as my screen saver because I was like, when you're inside world, whenever your mind and your heart are put in the right place, then you will see God in your outside world. And that is so true because I think

I feel my inside world, my thoughts, my mind with like the news with social media with all these like external things that bring forth anxiety and just you know prompt my mind to be more judgmental or to be more

anxious or be jealous or whatever it is, instead of like prompting my mind to be anchored in truth. And then from that place, I will see God and people obviously God and things instead of seeing like, you know, my own judgment, my own pride, my own whatever. And so it's really cool because I read that this morning, I prayed that over myself in my morning devotional, but I think this all serves as like that purpose. It's like,

putting good things in your heart, putting good things in your mind so that when you go about your day, you have the lens to see God in all of it. And you really do, when you anchor yourself in that in the morning, you see that throughout your day. Just like if you anchor yourself in the morning in social media, if you anchor yourself in the news, you will probably see more anxiety in your day. You will probably be more angry during your day. You will probably be more impatient, more judgmental, whatever you lean towards. It kind of starts at that beginning point of your day. Yeah, that's good.

So the book is titled the next step. What was the, where did that title come from? Yeah. So I love telling the story. Some of you have probably heard me share the story. If you're listening to the podcast, if you follow me on social media, cause I've talked about it a couple of times, but it was such a powerful moment. You were with me. Remember our Texas A&M trip. And we went Texas A&M with, um, two of our best friends, Parker and Freddie. And I was speaking at their Tuesday night breakaway. Um,

And it was huge. It was at a basketball arena. And up until that point, I had been working on this other message to share it breakaway because I always like to kind of have something fresh and new. And honestly, it's like one of those things where I put more pressure on myself and like what the Lord puts on me. You know, I feel like instead of just being like, okay, God, you gave me this message. It's okay to do one that I did at the last thing. Like sometimes I put this pressure on myself to always have something new and different.

So I've been working on that, but the whole time I was working on a new message, I felt like the Lord kept putting an old message on my heart, one that I spoke at passion years ago about identity. And I was almost kind of ignoring it like, no, I'm going to do this one. I'm going to do this one. This one's new. This one's on my heart. But no, I kept going back to the identity one.

So it was like two days before, I'm like, okay, I'm gonna do the identity message I did at Passion. Well, because it was only like two days before, I didn't really have a lot of time to refresh myself on that particular message because now that we have kids, it's not like I have a ton of study time whenever I'm home. If I'm not, and that was like a weekend, so it wasn't like at where I didn't have time to really get in that and remind myself of all the things I wanted to say.

And so anyways, and on our drive, we're like with our best friends. So we're talking the whole time, you know, I'm not really like studying the way that I normally would. So anyways, we get there and I'm like, okay, I think I'm ready for this. I can do this. But instead of like coming from a place of, oh, I'm so prepared for this, I was coming from a place like trying to memorize it and then repeat it. And so I'm up on stage.

and go into the message, and it was literally mid-analogy. An analogy in a story that I know super well, and all of a sudden, mid-thought, I just forgot what I was gonna say. Like, totally, like, what am I even saying right now?

That's never happened to me on stage. I mean, that's happened to me in my real life. Hello, mom brain, but that's never happened to me on stage like that. And I was just like totally stumped. I was like, what am I even saying? And how do I, like, I was too foreign. It's like, um, if you're a dancer and you know, when you mess up one step and then you can't get back to the other one because your feet are in the wrong place, it was like that. It was like,

I know you probably get that so well, but it was like I couldn't get back to what I was saying because I'd already just gone a different direction. So anyways, instead of just trying to like truck on through the whole message, I just stopped. And I don't know how much you could see in this moment as to like what was actually going on in my mind.

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because I don't even know how much time really happened. You know how sometimes it can feel like a long time in your mind, but then you watch it back and you're like, man, that was just like a second. Yeah, it was in a long time. But in my mind, it felt like a long time. Like, I'm kind of stood still because here I am in the middle of a basketball arena, surrounded by thousands of college students. I don't really know what I'm gonna say. And I just asked the Lord real quickly in my mind, I just said, God, what do you want me to say? Like, what do you want me to say next?

And I just then asked this question to everyone in the crowd that I hadn't planned to say. I hadn't even thought of beforehand. I said, is the choices that you're making right now as a life you're living actually leading you where you want to go?

And it was so interesting because it was like you could hear a pin drop in that room. It was like an arena just stood still. And I felt like the Lord's in that question, you know, that that was prompted by God. And so I just kind of leaned into that a little bit. And then from that point on, I started saying stuff that like was only in my prayer journal. Like I remember you said after you're like, I didn't even know that stuff. Like you hadn't even gone over that or said that to me. I was like, I hadn't,

said that to anyone. I had just been praying about that and it just started coming out. And the whole back half of that message was so much better than anything I could have planned or prepped or memorized because it was totally led by the Lord. So after that message, Emily from Breakaway, she leads it with her husband. She came over and she said, say to you, like, that needs to be your new normal.

Do not go back to the old way. Do not go back to over-preparing, over-planning, trying to memorize. Like, you need to trust the Lord with the next steps in your life with what He is going to speak. And then she talked to me about that verse. Your word is a lamp into my feet and a light into my path. And she actually sent me in the mail a little oil lamp. And this oil lamp was from like the Bible days, you know, it was like one design like that. And it was tiny. And she said, notice how small this lamp is. She said,

You see, when you read a verse like that, your word is the lamp into my feet, a light into my path. You think this lamp is going to light up the whole path, because in your mind, you've seen big ol' lamps. You think this oil lamp is going to be huge. In my mind, I don't always picture that as a big torch. Like, like the path. She said, but no, look how small this is. It doesn't light the whole path. It just is going to light your next step.

And she said, lean in to the Lord and trust Him that He will let your next step. And it was just such a good word because I think that is so true about all of us in life. We want God to light up the whole path before we even take the next step. We want to see vision for 10 years down the road before we commit to the very next thing. But that is not realistic and that's not even how God works. God's word is a lamp unto your feet.

It's just your feet like it'll light your next step your next path to give you confident enough to just keep going forward and So that's what kind of inspired the book and the book when you read it the devotions are so simple This is not like what's your next step? You know what degree should you get? Where should you move? Who should you marry? It's like okay? You don't have peace How can we go in your house today and make your room feel more peaceful? Maybe it starts with

you know, getting rid of some of the books that you have in there that are ungodly. Like, it's simple things. Like, how do we just take a baby step towards the direction God wants us to go and gain confidence in walking that way? So that's where it really all came from. That's so good. So I said that the title of the book is called The Next Step, but it's also the first one that you are doing under the Whoa, That's Good series umbrella.

Yes, which I'm so excited about, especially for all of you. Well, that's good listeners because you guys really got us here, which is so cool. So whenever we decided to go through the wisdom books of the Bible, I was like, Oh, we should call this book. Well, that's good because obviously if you listen to this podcast, the whole podcast is like we're gaining wisdom from other people. What's the best piece of advice you've ever been given? And so we're going to the Bible for practical pieces of advice and then how can that affect our everyday life? I think sometimes there's a disconnect between like,

reading. Oh, actually, this wasn't my devotional this morning too. This is so crazy. Again, what you read that morning comes in through your day, but it says sometimes we don't read scripture with the intimacy that it deserves in the sense of if you just read it like it sentences, then you miss the point.

If you're not reading it to grow and develop a relationship with God, then you miss the point. And I think that's so true with so much of this wisdom that's in the Bible, you reap proverbs, Psalms, any of the ecclesiastes, you read these books and if you just read it, it's like sentences. Man, you miss it. This is supposed to be applicable to your life. And you have to take that in your life and actually let it change you into who you become.

And so that's why it's like, whoa, that's good, because this is, whoa, that's good moments. Obviously, the whole Bible's well, that's good, but it's like little pieces of advice, you know, from the Bible, like Proverbs, like Psalms that you're just like, whoa, that's good. There's 50 devotionals, and you have five different wisdom books, and that would make you choose like only having wisdom books in the 50 devotionals.

They really kind of came from the world. That's good idea. We're like, if we're going to go, well, it's good. Let's go wisdom. So there's actually, as I look this up, it's interesting because there's a lot of different ideas as to like what like there's like some say this, some say that, but there's law narrative poetry.

wisdom, prophecy, gospels, parables, letters. So there's a lot of different styles of writing in the Bible. And I believe, you know, we did some Psalms, which would be considered like poetry or song of Solomon, but putting that in the category of wisdom. And so I guess you could look at it different ways, but we went.

overall with like the idea of wisdom. When I say we, I had a co-writer on this, Debbie Wickwire, who was absolutely amazing. And she actually helped my mom write her book, Strong and Kind. And so I got to know her through that. She actually retired from writing.

or from editing. She actually wasn't a writer. She was an editor, an incredible writer. I shouldn't say she wasn't, but she mainly did editing. Then she retired and whenever I went to write the next book, the next step, I was like, you know who I want to do this with me? Is Debbie Wickwire? Because I love her heart so much. She has the most pure heart. She is such an incredible writer. But it's really just how she loves people so well. And after like my passion message, she texted me and was like,

Oh my gosh, I loved your message. This and the other that she learned from it. And she was like, you should write a book on this. Here's a couple ideas for it. And I didn't end up doing that, but I just thought it was so cool how she heard my heart in it and then help kind of lay out what a book could be for that. And maybe I will go back and do that one day. So I just had her in mind and I asked her and she came out of retirement to do this with me, which was really, really cool.

That is really sweet. That was her next step. That was her next step. And she's actually going in town today of all days to help me kind of start dreaming about the next book, which I'm really excited about. The next next step. The next step, which is not what the next book is called, no pun intended. Um, but you have, so throughout the whole book, you have so many like practical tips and like activities. And I know how much you love practical tips, but why do you love practical tips so much?

That's a good question. I like practical tips. Well, I'm kind of a practical person. I think like, I don't want to be two in the clouds, you know, you want to like actually be able to take something and do something with it. And so I think that's what it is. It's like you want to actually be able to do some small things and see some change, see some results.

It's like right now when you've been telling me to drink more water and I'm like, I don't know if I can drink more water. So then I go on Amazon Prime and what do I do? I buy a giant like gallon of water thing and it's like tracks your like time of the day.

I know it's like 7 a.m. Wake up. You got this 9 a.m. Keep going, you know, noon. Keep chugging like it's like encouraging. And it's very practical. It's like actually by the jug. And it's helped me have I finished the gallon yet? No, but have I drank more water than previously? Yes. And so I think, you know, this kind of serves in that. It's like, it's just getting you started in the right direction. And it's practical things to help you actually grow and your walk with the Lord every day.

You're like, one of them is get up and move. So like start walking, settle the time to move, set a goal, consider finding a workout partner, 24 hour rule. Um, this rule is that if you have a problem with someone, you have 24 hours to deal with it.

Yeah, those are two different examples of divo. So the first one is like, yeah, get up and move. There's like practical things about, because this is a lifestyle book, it's not just like just specific to reading the word. It's like actually like practically what is your lifestyle look like. And so how do we get up and move our bodies for me? You know this, you're like naturally get up and work out and go for it guy. I'm like, I gotta have a friend, like I gotta have some accountability.

or going on a walk with our family. And then the 24-hour rule is a piece of advice that I learned whenever I live with my first roommates in Nashville. Court, who is one of my best friends, she's been on this podcast for, she's worked with LO for...

over seven years, which is so crazy, but she was one of my first roommates with Laney. And she told us, because she was a little bit older than us, she was like, okay, me and my last roommates had this rule, it's a 24 hour rule. She's like, you cannot, if you're bothered by something, by one of us, like you have 24 hours to say it. If it's not, like if 24 hours have passed, and then like it's not, like just decide it's not worth it. You know, like don't linger on it, because I think sometimes what happens is like,

Instead of just saying it in the moment, you'll linger on it and then because you're afraid of confrontation and then you'll let days and weeks go by and then you're mad about something that you don't remember you're mad at, but you built that tension. It's like, no, you had 24 hours to say it. If you pass that time, you lost your window. If it's really important, give yourself 24 more hours and say it, you know, just putting kind of a timeline to frustration. And normally when you deal with it fast, it doesn't build up to being as big of a thing if you would have like let it a week sit on it. And so- You're just nipped it in the bud.

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Well, for you, because I know that we've kind of talked about earlier, but you've started as of probably like the last year, been more intentional on like morning daily devotionals. Why do you like what advice do you have for people who? Yeah, maybe.

don't have that time or like maybe they maybe they have it, but it's not in the mornings. Like I know that at some point of the day, it's beneficial. But why do you feel like for you the mornings have been something that you try to be consistent about? Yeah. Again, it goes back to like, I think what you start your day with is what you ended up thinking about the rest of the day. You know, it's like setting your intention and setting your mind towards something. Like I've already quoted what three things that I read from my morning devotional this morning.

I think that that kind of proves its point. What you set your mind on is what you're going to be thinking about and what we've been talking about recently. If you have something in you, it's going to come out. What you put it in is what comes out.

you know, putting something in that is active and alive, that's actual food, you know, that you're taking in, that's filling your spirit, man, it's going to come out in the most positive ways. And so I think it's one of those things where I used to be defensive about it. And I think if there's anything you're defensive about, you're probably feeling insecure about.

And to be quite honest, I think I was more defensive about the mornings because I was insecure about the fact that I don't get up in the mornings. And then I would be like, well, let me tell you why I have two kids and we have such a crazy life and blah, blah, blah. And like, is that true?

Yeah, but like, does that mean that I don't need the word in the morning? No, actually, that was just my excuse as to like why it's hard. It's still hard to get up in the morning. This morning I pressed new so many times and I finally got up and I was like, okay, I can spend this much time getting ready or I'm gonna like prioritize 20 minutes to go read and sit with the Lord and then get ready and maybe I'll be like a little bit more rushed on my makeup, but this is more important.

And just that 20 minutes, again, I've quoted it three times. It's totally set my trajectory for what I'm thinking about, for what my thoughts are on, which has been so, so good.

Yeah, this kid. You mentioned earlier, I didn't know you had this in the book. What's the, when you talk about the worship songs through your journaling stuff? Yeah. So yeah, you want to, I can show you because it's actually, I think really cool. So at the end of the seven day, this is like the end of the week and it says rest in worship. And so there's like little questions that reflect on the week you just had in a little journaling space as well as like a career. You can like write in the book.

Yeah, you can write in the book. This is totally yours to work through, right through. And that's for me, like I always keep a journal beside my devotional book, because in the morning, like I said, I read this scripture this morning, then I was like, I actually want to pray that over myself. So like, I write down that scripture and then I'm like, God, help me to today put inside my heart and mind.

thoughts about you, you know, like good thoughts so that I can see you on the outside world. So like I'm praying through what I'm reading. So I think like whenever you actually take it and make it personal, that's when everything starts to really change your life. That's when you're not just reading scripture like sentences, but reading it like it's a relationship.

And then like I wrote in this one to go listen to build my life, but house fires and open the eyes of my heartlord by Michael W. Smith because these songs to me reflected what we're talking about. And sometimes I feel like songs, especially worship songs, it's a great way to learn.

language to pray. I think sometimes whenever I don't know what to say to the Lord, worship songs have helped give me the language to what I really want to say. Like I remember gratitude was a song like that for me.

like whenever I was pregnant with honey and had COVID and it was like so, so hard and then I started singing gratitude and I was like when it first came out now like of course gratitude is like you've heard it for so long so many years every single church service by the time it was like so fresh you know and come on my soul don't you get shy on me you know lived up your song because you got a lion inside of those lungs that was like my

over myself and went beyond just like words, I was worshiping, do words, I was praying. And so for me, I put this in my, in this devotional for this week, like open the eyes of my heart, Lord, because that's really a prayer, you're gonna pray for yourself, like open the eyes of my heart, Lord, I want to see you.

That's a prayer you're praying to God. And so I think whenever you activate like reading scripture, worshiping, praying, you get this encounter with the Lord that goes so much farther beyond just like, oh, I read a scripture. It's like, no, I meditated. I sat with the Lord. I got to know Jesus more. I encountered him. And it's just, I think trying to help you form those habits. Yeah, that's good.

Because throughout the book too, you have, you know, like, you mainly talk about real life experiences that you kind of go through the book. So it's not just like devotion, well, it is devotionals, but it's like real things that you kind of wrestle with struggle with, but also feel like you do a good job with. So like, how do you, like, what are you excited about in the devotionals that people get to see of like you talking about real life experiences?

Well, it's cool because as we're reading these scriptures, one of the hard things of writing this was we're sticking to what the scripture says in the sense of whatever this scripture says from this wisdom book. This is what we're going to write about.

Well, there is one that's all about like the animals and how they like give gourd to the Lord and all this stuff, which you know, like, I'm sorry, I'll be one of those good listeners who are about to not like me because of this. I'm not really an animal person. Okay. Like we lived on a farm and I call myself a fake farm girl because I was never going to go in the pin with those animals.

You know, I'm like, I can look at them and not going to touch them, okay? But then I'm like reading this devotion. I'm like, oh, it's literally talking about how they all give a glory to the Lord they're created. And I'm like, okay. So then I want to write about how

animals are so beautiful and they give glory to the Lord and I'm like, but I have to be so honest, this has been a hard thing for me because my sister-in-law will jump in that pin and she'll pet all the animals and hold the chickens and my brother will do that and I'm just not that person.

And so I started writing about Cabo, our little dog. And then I started talking about the horses, how honey would walk up to the horses. And that was so sweet. I love that season of life. I remember every single day we'd go out and feed the horses carrots. And I love that. It came in a new appreciation for them. And it was just cool because even as I'm reflecting on the scripture, that's so simple. It becomes something profound, shifting my eyes to see. It kept me honest. And so it's like, OK,

This is a lifestyle book. How do we read scripture and interpret it in our life? There's one about safety. I mean, this is like, you don't think about getting practical advice on the Bible about safety, you know, but there is a whole devotion about that. And it was about the time that I, you know, was followed by those men in the mall and how scary that was. But I felt a prompting by the spirit. Something was wrong. Something was off.

And instead of going to my car, I went and got the police and that ended up literally perhaps saving my life. Like that was such a crazy story. But there's one about like trusting your instincts, trusting the spirit and how can you do more practical things to be safe in life. Like it's so integrated in your life. And I think whenever you can see scripture like that, like how does this actually

get into my life, get into my thought pattern, get into my daily pattern, actually change the way that my home feels, the way that I talk to people, the way that I see creation, the way that I work out, like, how can it change everything about me? And that's what it's helping get you in the mindset of doing. Yeah, that's so good. Man, that's deep. There's some deep things in there.

It's deep, but it's so, so practical, you know? Yeah. Part of me at times was like, is this deep enough? You know, because you read those devotionals, like Jackie Hilary's devotional, where it's like, dang. Well, yeah. That is deep, you know, in my mind's like,

Let's talk about animals, you know, or whatever. But I'm like, but that's me. That's what's helped change me, you know, and I read things like Jackie Hill Perry's, you know, I this morning was listening to Lisa Harper back porch theology. I'm actually reading a devotional book right now. That's from, you know, a lot of like dead people all put together from all these like theologians and all these people who did like radical things. And so it's like,

I think everything serves its purpose if it's just leading you to encounter the Lord. And again, this is a good starting place for people. How do you feel like this book is for the person who doesn't have a relationship with Jesus, but also for the person who has been following Jesus for a while?

I think for the person who's not following Jesus, it's such a good starting point. If you've never done a morning devotional, man, this is a great place to start. Because it has so much scripture in it and it's laying out a practical idea and then you are resting, you're worshiping, you're writing, you're journaling. It's a great start for sure. For the person who's been a believer, like me, I'm reading these wisdom books and I'm like,

It's kind of challenging me, you know, and not just the animal and that's just a small example, but like in everything, you know, and all of these, it's piercing your heart because you're reading the word and then you're getting my perspective on what that looks like in my day. But then you're also getting challenged to ask yourself these questions and answer them in worship. So I think for anybody, I mean,

Perhaps maybe for the person just starting it's going to be great because it's a next step. It's a first step. But I do think for the person who's been a believer for a long time, man, what's it hurt you to get into the wisdom books more and ask yourself some of these questions, you know, each day to have comes with a find your way. Just a little bit more practical advice. So if you're someone that loves seeking advice, I mean, that's what the books filled with.

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So in the next step, you tell the story of your 13 year old self who is teaching future you a lesson that standing with Jesus always pays off. Can you talk more about that lesson and why wisdom is strength and why wisdom is strength to choose what's important or so critical for you?

That's good. Yeah, right about whenever I was 13, it's funny because this is like my subtle flakes in life is that I played basketball for the US Junior Olympics, which actually was really cool. Getting to be Team USA was amazing and very cool experience. And we played over in Austria. My parents couldn't afford to come over with me at the time.

And so I went by myself, which was so crazy, because when we talk about this, can you imagine sending honey at 13 to Austria by herself to a basketball? Can't really picture it, however. I'm so grateful they did, though. I'm so grateful they did, because it really did teach me so much about who I wanted to be outside of what my parents were as far as faith goes. I think so often we fall behind.

OK, well, this is what my parents are. So this is what I am, especially when it comes to a believer. But that's not how it works. Each of us have to have a personal relationship with the Lord. And at 13, whenever I was in Austria, I was in another country where my parents weren't. And all of the people there saw that as a huge advantage to go crazy and do whatever they wanted.

a bunch of teenagers, and I just did not have peace about it. I realized then and they're like, it's not just because my parents say don't do this, it's like I actually don't wanna do that. And it's not just because my parents say they believe in Jesus, I really believe in Jesus. And so I started kind of like sharing the gospel of people over there. And I got so made fun of, it was so funny. Like at 13, I mean, it wasn't funny, I was actually really embarrassed. But it's funny now, thinking about things that they said, I remember someone said,

We're like Ferraris going out and living our life and you're like a dirty old wammer and your garage is like stuck. No fun. That's literally what one of the girls said to me. And it's so funny because I remember thinking like, that's not true. Like that is not true. I am living my life. I am happy. I'm having fun. But like, yes, I believe in Jesus and I don't want to do this kind of stuff.

And so it all kind of came to this head that there was this huge party one night and we were there for 10 days. So it was a big party one night. And it wasn't just 13 year olds, like we were probably the youngest there. So imagine high school and it's just wild. And I was seeing things I've never seen before. And instead of like participating with the party, I asked my coach if I could go back to the room. And she said, no, everyone on Team USA has to like,

be at this party, because it was like all the different countries, all the different teams. And so anyways, I just sat by the door and just kind of waited. And as I sat there, girl after girl would come sit by me and talk to me. And like, I realized a lot of people didn't really want to be there. But more than that, like people were curious, like, what was it about me that was happy to just sit by the door? Because it wasn't like I was miserable. I was content. I just didn't want to participate.

And at the end of that, 10 days, the coach asked me to represent USA basketball at the closing ceremony. And I got to go on stage and present this award to our coach. And it was just really cool because I felt like the Lord saw me that whole time.

in a way not that not that this always happens or you even need this but like honor the obedience you know and at that point I just felt like this is how I want to live my life it was around the time I got baptized and decided like that was the path I was going to take and so you know it's so cool like I think at 13 that set up

My journey in a lot of ways now I took a lot of twists and turns along the way got a little off the path here and there and I write about that too Like what do you do when you get off the path and you feel stuck? How do you get back on? But that definitely was a setup for the rest of my life for sure How do you feel like you get back on the path if you get off?

Well, I think it's one step at a time. It's one right step in the right direction. And I think, you know, if you're off the path, first of all, repentance is the biggest thing. I mean, going to the lower repentance is to turn, it's to change, to go another way. So repentance is the biggest thing. And then being consistent along the right path, you know, I think that's the thing for me with

I mean, even recently, I've had just anxieties and stuff like that. And like, how do you get back to the path of peace? For me, that looked like the next best thing. What did I do? I deleted social media last week. I started getting up, making sure I was in my word and prioritizing that time, worshiping, listening to different sermons that I knew were going to help me.

And I feel a lot more peace, even drinking more water. I mean, just practical things, you know? I think sometimes it's like we think it has to be this big dramatic thing. And sometimes it does. Like sometimes if you're on drugs, you need to go to rehab. Like there are big things that you need to do. But then sometimes it's really practical things and just get you back on path. Yeah. You feel like sometimes we neglect simple practical things?

Oh, for sure. For sure, because simple practical things don't always have immediate results. Drinking a gallon of water doesn't have the most immediate result, and it's something you actually have to do. You want to just, for a headache, say you have a headache because of dehydration, you'd rather just take Advil than actually drink a lot of water and become a healthier person.

And so I think these simple practical things, they do also take work. Waking up in the morning requires getting up earlier, requires going to sleep earlier. Simple practical things are not always easy, you know, but they go a long way. And the consistency of those practical things, I think, result in

I mean, it has crazy results. It's not a simple practical result. It's sometimes very extreme, even just like the water analogy. I might not feel great after the first day of drinking the gallon, but over time, my skin's going to be better. I'm going to feel healthier. I'm going to feel hydrated. Without doing that, you could end up in the hospital with the bag of fluid. These things are important. Too soon.

Just kidding. Okay. Well, so if you have the book, the next step, right? Let's say somebody finishes all 50 days. If somebody could have like, what would you, what would you hope the biggest takeaway is for somebody who sits there, reads it, does all the journaling and finishes it? Like, what do you hope the main takeaway for somebody?

I hope the biggest thing is that it, it does keep people, like I guess what I'm trying to say is I hope it gives them a new routine. Like I hope that it, they, after this, continue to want to get in the word every day to want to worship. Like it creates a new habit for them. Like Donna Stewart texting me in that season of my life every morning at 6 a.m. saying get up and get in the word. And if I didn't wake up, she'd be like, are you up? Are you getting in the word? Like she was so consistent in checking in on me and how

pivotal that time was for my life. People always ask me like, who have heard my passion message last year when I did the Bible recap in like 15 minutes. They're like, how'd you do the Bible recap in 15 minutes? I was so crazy, all this stuff. It was because at 6 a.m., I was getting up and I was reading the Bible and I watched every single video of the Bible project series in like four weeks, you know? And it taught me the Bible in a way I'd never understood it before. And then all of a sudden I could take

you know, this grand idea of the Bible and sum it up in some way in 15 minutes and help people get a better understanding of it. But that really came from that morning time, that extra hour that I had of just sitting with the Lord. I mean, it was just so pivotal for me. And so after that, now I still do that. You know, I still get up. I still read that devotional. I still journal in my journal. I still worship. And like, if I get off on a day, I'm not like, ah, ruined it.

No, I just get back to it because I know that's important for me. And so what she did for me in that time was help me form a habit and see the value in the habit. And I think for me, that's what I hope this book does. I mean, I think you're going to take a lot of different things from the actual book that are more practical. And maybe you'll read it emotional and say, man, that was a pivotal move for my life. But overall, I hope that it helps you form a habit.

Yeah. Well, just like Donna Stewart, maybe if you're listening, you can put this on your bedside table and you can put your phone as an alarm clock inside the page that you're on. It's like you are telling them to wake up. The next step challenge. That's good. I love that. Put it on your bedside table and put your phone inside the page that you're on. And then it'll be like you texting them to get up. Wait, that's so good. I love that. Thank you. Appreciate that. Good idea.

Well, I kind of teased it a little bit earlier this morning, but, um, for those listening who are, um, who are just really curious, what is your next step? This is so funny. This morning, I was like, Christian, how are you feeling for this interview? He's like, great. And at the end of the podcast, I'm going to ask you, what's your next step? You know how like sometimes in the interviews, people, it's like, as they're concluding, they're like, so like, what, like, what's next for you? It was just funny because I was like, Oh, that's your question. He was like, Oh, I was kidding.

But I, yeah, I wish I didn't, I wish I would have just winged it, but I sadly brought it up too early this one. I love it. What's my next step? Well, I will say my most practical next step that I already teased, um, were already said was I deleted social media because in, and I will say I do have a friend writing it for me. By the time this comes out, you might be back.

I might be back on it, but I have a friend running it for me. So if you see like, oh, you're posting, I'm sending it to a friend. She's posting. I actually have an incredible team who's helping me run my social media right now who are friends. But I say that to say, if you see all that, I'm grateful to have people who are helping me keep that running. And I'm able to send the caption and the pictures and whatnot. But I know right now with where my thought pattern is,

I just can't have it. I just can't have that distraction. Like I have to be more in the word. I have to be getting more truth, more, honestly, just God's word, more prayer time. I have to have all that more. And I was just prioritizing social media way too much. And actually, Jackie Hillberry of all people who I just mentioned, she texted me and was like, hey, what did you learn from your social media fast that you did a year or two ago? I did it whenever I was pregnant with Haven so a couple years ago.

And I said, man, it was so good for me. I said, I read so many books that year. I finished so many books, which that's key. Okay. Now just read, finished a lot of books that year. This is something. And all those things. And it was just so good for me. Well, I wasn't writing this. I'm like, man, when's the last time I finished a book?

Whenever I took a social media fast, Winslet's time I felt like that. When I took a social media fast, that's kind of reminded when I texted her back. Then a couple weeks go by, she didn't, she just was like, cool. And then she gets on her Instagram story this week and Winslet, friends, I'm about to take time off social media. And she was like, I texted the city of Robertson about this. And she was like, I read so many books and all this stuff. And she's like, Winslet's time I read a book. Like I'm just prioritizing scrolling and not reading. And I'm like, me too, Jackie. I'm like, this is like,

I'm giving myself the advice that I gave you. Like, what am I doing? I haven't deleted social media again. So then I just did and it's just been so helpful. And so obviously there are bigger next steps that we're taking in life and things that we're doing that we can talk about later, but a practical one right now was that. And that's really helpful. You gave Jackie her next step and she gave you back. That's actually true. I know.

Well, if you are listening to this, which you would have to be to get this far, but you can check out the next step anywhere that books are sold. And it's really so good. If you want wisdom, if you want to learn more about who God is and how to grow in your faith, but also how to be a better friend, a better spouse, a better really all around person, you can check out the next step, which is the first book of the woe that's good wisdom series.

Bye, yours truly. The host of the world has good podcast, Sadie Robertson. Thank you, babe. Thank you for interviewing me. That was very, very kind. We were like, we need to do a podcast about your new book. I'm like, hmm, Christian should interview me. So thank you for that. 50 devotions to find your way forward. So good. And at the end of the book, you will be, you will have 50 next steps.

The first page is your next step and the devotional 50 you'll be 50 steps ahead. Christian, I love you. Thank you. The 50 step next book.