Take Heart

Important Questions by Carrie M. Holt

September 13, 2022 Amy J Brown, Carrie Holt and Sara Clime Season 3 Episode 98
Take Heart
Important Questions by Carrie M. Holt
Show Notes Transcript

100th Episode Giveaway. Want to join? 
Text: takeheart to 66866 and follow the instructions.

Welcome back to the third season of the Take Heart Podcast. As we kick off this new season, we wanted to start by going back to the beginning of how Take Heart came to be, and share with you the reason we do this work, and the importance of our name Take Heart. 

In this episode, Carrie walks us through the verse in Mark 10:49, and what it means to be of good courage or cheer. 

Sep 13, 2022; Ep. #98

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Show Takeaways: 

  • [3:36] Discover the important question Jesus asks in this passage that applies to our lives today. 
  • [5:17] Listen in as Carrie discusses the three main characters in the story and questions related to them. 
  • [9:14] Hear the encouragement Carrie has for you today. 

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Carrie M Holt  0:00 
Welcome to episode 3 of Take Heart. Exciting things are coming this season so don't miss an episode. This month our 100th episode is coming up, and it's so hard to believe, on September 27th. We are celebrating with a huge giveaway. There are some books, a journal, a gift card, a mug, and many other items. You don't want to miss it. Go to our social media pages on Instagram and Facebook @takeheartspecialmoms for the details. There will also be a link in our show notes.

[0:41] Welcome to Take Heart, where our goal is to offer encouragement give hope and insight, so you can flourish in your journey as a special needs mom. As we explore monthly themes, share inspiring stories and practical tips,  our desire is for you to feel connected and encouraged. If anything you hear today would inspire a friend, would you share our podcast with them? All of our resources, including an entire written transcript of this episode, is available on our website www.takeheartspecialmoms.com. They're also quick links to anything we mention in the show notes at the bottom of this episode. Thank you for joining us today.

[1:35] Welcome back, this is Carrie M. Holt today, I am so excited for you to be joining us. I cannot believe this is season 3 of our podcast. This month, we thought that we would dive into the topic behind the name of our podcast, Take Heart. It actually came from the Scripture, John 16:33. We're gonna get into that a little bit more detailed in our collaborative episode at the end of this month. The phrase "take heart" in scripture is actually from (at least in the New Testament)m the Greek verb tharseo. It means to be of good courage or to be of good cheer. It is found eight times in the New Testament. What I want to dive into today is in Mark 10:49. In this story, Jesus is leaving Jericho with his disciples and he passes by Bartimaeus, a blind beggar who is sitting by the roadside begging. We know from Scripture that the blind, the lame, and others with diagnoses were marginalized in society. Bartimaeus hears that Jesus is coming and cries out for Jesus to have mercy on him. The crowd tells him to be quiet, but he cries out again. Then Jesus answers and says, "Call him." The people then turn around and tell Bartimaeus to take heart because Jesus was calling him. When Bartimaeus comes to Jesus, Jesus asks him a very important question. What do you want me to do for you? Bartimaeus responds that he wants his sight recovered. Jesus says, "Go your way, your faith has made you well." He recovered his sight and then continue to follow Jesus. In some other gospel accounts of the story, it says that Bartimaeus glorified God, and others around him gave praise to Jesus. When I read this story, I notice a few key characters. These are the ones that I want to point out to you. 

[3:36] First of all, the crowd. At first, they're telling Bartimaeus to be quiet. We don't really know the reasons. Maybe they felt embarrassed by him. Maybe he was crying out so loudly that it made them uncomfortable. He was also a beggar, and so I'm sure that that had something to do with it. He was poor and destitute, and he was blind. But then Jesus changed everything. Jesus told the crowd to call him and then the crowd changed their tune. They tell him to have courage, to be of good comfort, Jesus is calling you. There's that Greek word tharseo. So that's the first key character in the story. The second key character that I see is Jesus. I love how he asks Bartimaeus the question, "What do you want me to do for you?" He actually already knew. Jesus is God. He wanted Bartimaeus to tell him. Jesus also answers his ask for help and he heals him from his blindness. The third character is Bartimaeus. He is relentless in his pursuit of Jesus. Jesus also tells Bartimaeus that his faith has made him well. What was his step of faith? He asked for what he needed, and he told Jesus what he needed. It doesn't seem like a huge step of faith, to be honest, but Matthew tells us that if we have faith, like a grain of mustard seed, the mountains will move. A few weeks ago, our pastor talked about this, and he said that it's not the size of our faith, but who we are placing our faith in - that matters.

[5:17] So, I have some questions for us related to these main characters. First of all, the crowd. Who are you listening to? Maybe it's not the people around you, but it's the own voices in your head and your heart. Maybe it's the labels that you've put on yourself. Are they encouraging you to have faith, or are they telling you to be quiet? May I encourage you to be of good comfort, and have the courage to tell your doubts and your fears to be quiet. The devil wants nothing more than to take chips out of your faith, just like an axe takes chips out of the tree as it cuts it down. The Holy Spirit is encouraging you to take heart. Courage is not necessarily the absence of fear, but acting in accordance with your beliefs. Trusting God and taking those small steps of faith. Have the courage to listen to the right voices. The voice of the Holy Spirit is enticing you to draw closer to God instead of pushing him away in your pain.

[6:25] Secondly, the second character was Jesus. Have you felt Jesus asking you, what do you want me to do for you? If he was sitting next to you right now and he asked you that question, what would you tell him? What do you need? Sometimes I think we're afraid to tell God what we need. We feel like it's too small, or too big, or we can handle it on our own, or we can never really tell him what we need because it doesn't feel Christian. We can't ever tell him what we really feel or how we truly feel because it's not biblical. The truth is that it is. Have you read Job? Have you read Psalms? God wants us to come to him. He's asking you today, "What do you want me to do for you?" Several months ago, I was watching the miniseries, The Chosen. We'll put a link in our show notes if you're not familiar with it, but it's an incredible series about the disciples in the life of Christ. Spoiler alert here, season two, episode four was my absolute favorite episode, it rocked my world. Jesus was at the pool of Bethesda, and this is the portrayal in the show. He goes to the man who has been lame for 38 years. I'm sure some of this relates to me. I relate to it a lot because of our son, Toby, who cannot walk. Jesus asks him, "Do you want to be healed?" The man's reply is very telling, he begins to make excuses about how he's tried, how he's tried to get down to the water and others step in front of him when the waters move, and he can't get healed, because of all of these reasons. In this episode, the character Jesus who's portraying Jesus in real life, says to the man, "Look at me, that's not what I asked. I did not ask who's helping. Who's not helping? Who's getting in your way? Do you want to be healed?" That is my question for you today. Do you want to be healed from your pain, from your doubts, and from your anger? Do you want to be healed from the things that are holding you back, the secret ways that we cope with the hardships in our lives? To be honest, sometimes the answer is no. We're used to what we know even if it isn't ideal. The man had been that way for 38 years and honestly, change is difficult. When we take the step of faith, that step of courage to ask Jesus for what we need, and tell him, yes, we want to be healed. I want to be healed from these struggles. He is willing to meet us at that moment with arms open wide, just like the parable of the prodigal son. 

[9:14] Lastly, with the character of Bartimaeus, how do you feel about asking Jesus for what you want? Bartimaeus was relentless in his pursuit of Jesus. Do you realize that the faith that Jesus praised him for was only that he told him what he needed, and he believed that he could be healed? I think so often, we are afraid to ask or maybe we can't even identify what we really need and want because life is so chaotic. Recently, I've been studying I Peter 5:7, and I know I talked a little bit about the scripture in an earlier podcast. It's a familiar verse about casting all our cares on Him for He cares for you. I was looking up the word cares, because it doesn't just mean worries and anxieties, it also means the distractions of life, what you care about, and who and what you care about. We are caregivers for our children. Every day, we need to give up our cares to the Lord, even the ones that seem small. I've been trying to make this a daily practice. It's called benevolent detachment, meaning we're giving up what we care for to Jesus. We're saying, I give you my husband, I give you my kids, I give you even the little things that we're caring for, to Jesus because He promises that He cares for us and He cares about what we care about. 

[10:39] I want to encourage you today to look Jesus in the face and ask Him for what you need. Maybe you can't even identify it. Ask Him to show you. Whose voice are you listening to? Are you listening to your doubt and fear and anger? Take heart. What do you want Jesus to do for you? Are you relentless in your pursuit of Jesus? Are you willing to ask him for what you need? Are you willing to give it all up to him? Take heart, my friend, and have courage. Jesus is calling for you. I want to close with this prayer.

[11:21] Lord, help us to take heart and have the courage to look you in the face and tell you what we need -to ask you. Help us to listen to the voice of encouragement and the Holy Spirit that tells us not to be silent, but to give all of our cares to you. Help us to desire to be healed of whatever it is that we are using to satisfy us outside of you. Give us courage, knowing that we have full access to your divine power, through the Holy Spirit that you can overcome our fears, our anger, and our pain, and to accept the path that you have given us. Help us to have confidence that you will fulfill your purposes in us and through us. In Jesus's name. Amen.