In this week's episode, we continue to grapple with the age-old tug-of-war between love and lust. We unwrap the complexities of these powerful forces, guided by the wisdom of biblical tales, examining characters like Boaz and Ruth, David and Bathsheba, and Samson and Delilah, before arriving at the pure connection between Joseph and Mary. It's a thought-provoking exploration that will have you examining the depths of your own relationships, looking beyond the surface to the substantive and spiritual.
Closing out this episode, we delve into the essence of true love in marriage and how it’s so much more than physical attraction—it’s a shared faith and a heart connection. The discussion on seeking God when choosing a life partner, and not just settling for anyone, highlights the transformative power of personal growth within a marriage.
Would you like to support the Cheer UP! Podcast? You can do so by clicking here
Kara's website - click here.
Cheri's website- here.
Email - cheeruppodcast@gmail.com
Instagram - @kararhunt
Leave reviews on - Apple, Spotify, iHeart, Google Podcasts,
In this week's episode, we continue to grapple with the age-old tug-of-war between love and lust. We unwrap the complexities of these powerful forces, guided by the wisdom of biblical tales, examining characters like Boaz and Ruth, David and Bathsheba, and Samson and Delilah, before arriving at the pure connection between Joseph and Mary. It's a thought-provoking exploration that will have you examining the depths of your own relationships, looking beyond the surface to the substantive and spiritual.
Closing out this episode, we delve into the essence of true love in marriage and how it’s so much more than physical attraction—it’s a shared faith and a heart connection. The discussion on seeking God when choosing a life partner, and not just settling for anyone, highlights the transformative power of personal growth within a marriage.
Would you like to support the Cheer UP! Podcast? You can do so by clicking here
Kara's website - click here.
Cheri's website- here.
Email - cheeruppodcast@gmail.com
Instagram - @kararhunt
Leave reviews on - Apple, Spotify, iHeart, Google Podcasts,
Hi and welcome to the Cheer Up podcast. I am your host, kara R Hunt, and with me is a spectacular Sherry Swalwell. How are you doing today, sherry?
Speaker 3:I am doing great, but you really seriously, are way nicer to me than you think. Oh, no, I mean every word of it.
Speaker 2:And how is February treating you so far?
Speaker 3:I am really loving it. I had the opportunity in January to help one of my bosses take on a really big project, and so I knew going into the new year that I was going to be putting a lot of my stuff on the side, on the back burner. But you know what, even though I said that, god still allowed me to be able to publish seasons of green pines and get that out there for people to buy. And, as always, you know what it's like as a writer. We have a lot of time to write, so we are running through our head all the time new stories. So I am going to be shifting my focus. Well, right now my focus is on the membership and creating new mini devotionals and topics for every month, and once I finish that, then I am going to be working on a Bible study. I think it is tentatively called Rooted in Christ. It is going to compliment the sisters in Christ one, so I am really excited about that. And then I have a three book fiction series that has been in my head for probably close to a decade and a half waiting to come out on paper.
Speaker 3:So, yeah, lots of like cool things going on, but I decided that this year I was going to make sure that everything I do I am doing in God's timing and I am asking him what he wants me to do instead of telling him what I think he wants me to do. That never gets me anywhere and I am tired of living that way. So I want to live with his joy and with his purpose and his passion, 100%. I don't want to say that I am doing that and then do my own thing. I want to live that way and it is so much more peaceful. I am still busy. I am still, you know, got a lot of fires in the oven or whatever that phrase is, but I am more peaceful because I believe that I am doing it his way, or at least I am trying even harder to make sure that I do it his way and not jump on ahead.
Speaker 3:So yeah so I am really loving February. How about you?
Speaker 2:First, I just want to say to our listeners do you guys not see why I just said the spectacular Sherry Swallow Not only should author of oh my gosh, how many books over 30 plus books, now am I right and devotionals, she is also a novelist. Okay, not include. She is a mother and a wife and an active church member. But then you throw in the fact that she is an author, you throw in the fact that she is a novelist, you throw in the fact that she has a YouTube channel, you throw in the fact that she has a Bible study that is already up on you version Okay, you throw in the fact that she is also an employee. She also owns her own business, essentially, and has clients. Like she said, there was a big project that she had to take on.
Speaker 2:I mean okay, and I haven't even named everything Okay.
Speaker 2:This is why I say that. You know she's spectacular. She reminds me of my husband. They have like these inner batteries in them, like little energizer, bunny batteries, where they can get a whole lot of done quickly and, you know, a nice amount of time. I, on the other hand, I am much more of a tortoise and not a hare. If you want me to handle a project, for instance, sharing my say, oh yeah, I can do that in two weeks, kara is going to say can you give me a month?
Speaker 2:It's like because my process is just so much slower. So I envy and I that's a strong word, I mean it in the best way the people like Sherry. They have so much on their plate and they're not even juggling them, they're just doing them, each and every last one of them, with the stellar um management and talent and skill that God blessed them with. So she pages me about oh, you say all these things, but no, she really is. She really is spectacular. Yeah, did I mention a system, christ thing series and Bible study, you know, and she's going to start working with the youth. You know writing for, you know doing a youth Bible study. Um what am I forgetting, Sherry?
Speaker 3:Well, but see you say that. But I want to be more like Kara, Like I really do, Like I love, I love your, just the pace of life that you have. I love that you, you just have so many great qualities. You, you give everything. Like I know, when Kara says she's going to do something, Kara is going to do it. I know that when Kara um is working on her novel, it's going to be amazing. Like I, I I envy you in the best of ways. I love your personality and I wish that mine was more like you, Although I guess what we should say is thank you, God, that you made us the way that we are, because we compliment each other very well. But I just I want you to know how much I truly, truly value everything that you bring to the table and then come.
Speaker 2:I know, and we we have these conversations often write about, uh, time and time management, and I've just come to the point that I know I'm I, I do things, for I even sometimes amazed myself how slow I am. Right, I'll, I'll be in the kitchen and I'll be doing something, and I'm like you know what Anybody else in their right mind could have fixed this breakfast in 20 minutes flat. Why am I still here in the kitchen working on this? And it's been over an hour, okay.
Speaker 2:It's been over an hour, you know, but I just I can't, I um, I just don't work well fast. Does that make sense?
Speaker 2:I just I could do it fast. I could easily just a bubble breakfast, you know something, and in 20 minutes it'll be done. But I've learned over the years that I can't. It's like you say it we seek God for our own pace, right, Hmm, um, and so it's not like I can't do it in like 20 minutes, for example, but I know if I take my time and I do it right, that is going to be that much better. That's how my brain works.
Speaker 2:I work slow and I was so very embarrassing to admit, but it just works slow. It processes things a little bit slower, you know, and, um, it just works that way. But it's all about finding your guide, giving pace, Because there are people who can just they're at hair speed and man, everything they touch just turns to gold and they nurse people like me. It's like I'm going to get it to you, Just hold on a second. And it's just that much more rewarding for me because I'm not one of those people that can work really, really fast. But it's much more rewarding for me because I felt like I just was able to give it my time and it all depends on how we're built mentally, I guess, right, Little bit more than just personality wise, I guess.
Speaker 3:I don't think you should call yourself slow. I really don't. I think that you should call yourself like. I know that when Cara gives her word, she will move hell or high water Sorry, that's probably an awful phrase to use but she will deliver so that I can count on her. I know that she is trustworthy. I know that she's got my back and I don't see you as slow. I see you as working with excellence. So I think you are speaking falsely about yourself when you say slow. I think that you need to rephrase that as excellence working in excellence.
Speaker 2:You know what? One of the things the Lord has been working with me about for years is learning how to accept compliments, and we've had this conversation before right, so I'm going to say to you thank you kindly, Sherry, for saying those nice things about me.
Speaker 3:Well, they're all good and you're very welcome.
Speaker 2:It's like I've always said you know that's like another issue, so okay, so listen, there's we probably. You probably just heard more about the inner workings of Sherry and Cara than you probably ever wanted to know.
Speaker 2:You're probably like if you're not scratching your head, like it takes her an hour to do breakfast. You know you're not, so you, but it gives you an insight into who we are and probably why we compliment each other so well, because we both have we're the same, but we have different strengths and we bring different strengths to the table. Absolutely yes, and we bring, you know, we bring different strengths to the table. So so you, like I said, you guys have probably just heard much more about the inner workings of us and our relationship and the way we do things than you probably ever wanted to hear. But guess what? You're not going to hear anymore because we're going to talk about Joseph and Mary and my mom in the New Testament. So, once again, welcome to the Chiro Podcast. We say hello to everyone in your nation, everyone who has helped us grow. We're now in our fourth season and for everyone who has helped us grow Sherry and I were just looking at the stats not too long ago we have grown 87% from last year and there is no way that we could have ever done that without our, without our listeners who tune in every week, without the people who share and talk about the content, and so we just want to say thank you, thank you, thank you, and we're still stunned by that number of growth. It's such a short period of time. So we just we just want to say thank you.
Speaker 2:And, if you've been listening, for the month of February we have been covering the topic of love versus lust and we have been using biblical stories well, scripture and biblical stories to talk about this, this topic. We talked about the love scripture in 1 Corinthians and we we talked about the definition of a lust and the scriptures that refer to lust. And you can go back, and I believe it was the first and second episodes we gave. We read those scriptures that are talked about in our right Sherry, yep, yep. The first or second episodes of this month of February. We talked about those at the beginning and we also the biblical stories that we have talked about regarding love versus lust are Boyez and Ruth. That was an episode one, excuse me, the first episode of this month and the second week we talked about David and Bathsheba. The third week we talked about Samson and Delilah, and this week we're talking, we're wrapping up this month in the topic of love versus lust with Joseph and Mary. Now Boyez and Ruth, david and Bathsheba, samson and Delilah are all, of course, in the Old Testament, the book of Ruth. Of course, david and Bathsheba can be found in Second Samuel, samson and Delilah can be found in a book of Judges, and we also gave those scriptures in previous episodes as well.
Speaker 2:And today we're going to talk about Joseph and Mary. They're not Old Testament, you know. They are obviously a part of the New Testament, and so we're going to be covering them today. But, as we discussed last week, you know, I think we all sometimes just need to ask ourselves, you know, am I a Boyez, am I a David, am I a Samson or am I a Joseph? Am I a Ruth, am I Bathsheba or am I Delilah, or am I more like Mary? And that is, and what am I struggling with? What does love mean to me versus what the Bible says about love? Have I lost it after anyone or anybody or anything? Because, remember, love and or lust do not just have to deal with, does not just revolve around people. We can love something and we can lust after something, so that's also very important for us to remember as we wrap up this series. Okay, sherri, wow, do you want to give us a summary of Joseph and Mary. That's going to be kind of hard right, but yeah, because there's so much to it, but go ahead.
Speaker 3:Well, and the funny thing is is that when I was rereading it in the Bible, I of course slipped to Matthew and there's like nothing in there about them, like it's very, very short. So I had to go to Luke, and so there are poor Gospels Matthew, mark, luke and John. A lot of the stories interweave with each other. A lot of them are repeated in the Gospels. The Gospels are the books of the Bible that talk about Jesus' life when he was here on earth. So he was 100% God and 100% man, and I absolutely positively love the Gospels because it just shows us Like people always, you know well. So I even wear a bracelet that says love. Hold on, I have it right in front of me. How would oh shoot? I can't remember what would Jesus do. Is on the one side, oh, he would love first. Sorry, I couldn't remember what the phrase was. So you know how people are always going around. What would Jesus do? What would Jesus do? And if we don't have to question it, we can just read it in the Gospels. We can know what, how Jesus would act, how Jesus would react, because it's in the Gospels. Well, if we start back at the beginning. We can find out how he was conceived, who he was born by, who he was, what family he was raised in, and it's just such a fascinating story. Like I don't know, I was pregnant twice at Christmas time. No, I take that back. Yeah, I was pregnant twice at Christmas time. The one time. No, I'm sorry, I was pregnant three out of my four pregnancies at Christmas time. The one I miscarried right before Christmas I miscarried in December. But anyway, my point is is that every time I was pregnant I just felt this kinship with Mary, not that I thought that I was as good as Mary, not that I thought that God looked on me the way he looked at Mary, but it just made me think more, like I'm a relational person, so it made me think more about who Mary was and the thoughts and feelings she might have had. So anyway, so we have this girl.
Speaker 3:I think she was like young, like I want to say 13, 15, something like that. I think she was pretty young. And then Joseph was older than her and the custom back then was that they would have this like engagement party ceremony thing and then they weren't supposed to see each other again until the wedding, which I think would be horrible. But then again, I think a lot of the marriages back then were arranged, so maybe they didn't care about that part as much. But she was supposed to be doing her thing and getting the household stuff ready and he was supposed to be doing his thing, which was getting the actual house ready, and they weren't supposed to be with each other again until their marriage ceremony.
Speaker 3:Well, god comes, well Gabriel, sorry. The angel Gabriel comes to Mary and says hey, guess what? You found favor in God's eyes and you're going to give birth to Jesus. And she well, actually let me back up just a little bit first. So before that, her aunt Elizabeth and her husband they had been barren their whole entire life and Angel Gabriel went to them first.
Speaker 3:Zachariah and Elizabeth were Mary, they didn't have any kids and Gabriel went to them first and said hey, guess what? God is going to give you a son. You're going to name him John. He's going to have the Holy Spirit dwelling him while you're still pregnant with him. He's going to be a really major player in what's coming up next. So get ready. Well, zachariah, he was like, seriously, like I'm too old for that. Well, god got upset about that and he made it so that Zachariah could not talk. He was new, he couldn't talk until after the birth of John. And then, when John was born, Elizabeth said his name is going to be John. Everyone's like why in the heck would you call him John? You don't have any Johns in your family. Zachariah then gets his voice back. He says nope, his name is John. And that's that story.
Speaker 3:So Gabriel went to Zachariah and first then he went to Mary and he said hey, guess what you are going to have? Jesus, he's going to be. And she's like well, instead of saying no, that can't happen, she just said to him how is that going to happen? Because she's this young virgin and she knows how babies are made and she knows that she didn't do that. So she's like how is that going to happen? And so, because of her, her faith and her trust, she I think that's one of the reasons why she was highly favored by God because he knew that she was someone that would, that he could use, someone that would be willing to be used that way. Well then Gabriel went to Joseph as well and said hey, guess what You're? You know that's the answer. You have Mary. Well, she's pregnant, but don't worry about it, because she's still a virgin, but that's Jesus. So we need you to take care of Jesus, basically. So Joseph said okay. So then they ended up.
Speaker 3:So he had the right back then that, with the customs the way they were, he had the right to either stone her publicly because she was pregnant out of wedlock, or he could do whatever he wanted to with her, and he decided instead to marry her quietly, and so the napkin of how it all started. So I don't know, it was just. It's just so beautiful it truly is such a beautiful story that he loved her so much and he trusted the angel Gabriel and she trusted God and the angel Gabriel, he trusted God too, but they loved each other so much. I mean, if you think about it, I just keep thinking about what their parents didn't know, like nobody knew except for Elizabeth.
Speaker 3:She was the only one that really could understand what Mary was going through, and I just finished reading a book called Jesus by her side by Cody Andrews, and she was talking about the relationship between Elizabeth and Mary and she talked about the love that God had for Mary so that she didn't have to go through it alone. But Elizabeth was already pregnant and it was revealed to Elizabeth that this was something special, and so she had somebody to go through the pregnancy with her besides Joseph, because as much as we love our husbands, they don't necessarily understand the female psyche and the female emotions and the pregnancy motions and hormones and all that stuff. But he gave her, god gave her Elizabeth to go through it with her, which I think is just so amazing. So not only do we see the love of Joseph towards Mary, but he didn't reject her, he didn't divorce her, he didn't stone her, he didn't do anything to her except love her. He trusted Gabriel, but he would have had I mean, it was a small town People would talk, so we all know that people were talking about them, I'm sure behind their back, then their parents, I'm sure their parents went through a thing where they felt disgraced because of the quote unquote actions of Mary and Joseph.
Speaker 3:So I mean there was a lot of misconceptions, a lot of gossip, I'm sure, a lot of misunderstandings, a lot of problems, but yet God gave Mary Elizabeth to go through it with her, so she wasn't completely alone. So I mean so much love is shown through this story that you don't really think about it when you read it. On the surface level, absolutely.
Speaker 2:You know, and as you were talking and I was listening, it's so much love there, right? Yeah, because you know, but it kind of all starts with Mary's love of the Lord, right? Because? Doesn't it talk about ah and I can't, I'm not going to be able to quote it correctly about how she was highly favored or she was, uh, she gave favor in his eyes or something?
Speaker 3:Exactly, she was highly favored. You were right the first time.
Speaker 2:Yes, she was highly favored by God and, out of all the young women in the world to bring forth the savior of the world, he chose Mary. That shows you how special he was. She was to him and she wouldn't have been that way if she didn't have that love for him, for the Holy One of Israel, right? So there's that. Ah, what, ah, god they love, right, you know, and um, and everything else. And so now she again. She was young, like you say.
Speaker 2:I think she was about 12 or 13, depending on you know, you know who, you, who, you, ah, which scholar, you know, you, you, you really want to trust, but either way it goes, she was young. I don't think no one has said she was older than 15, right. And she was betrothed to, to this guy, to an older man, and she's going to start her life with him, you know, and you know everything's good. Then, oh, my goodness, she has a visit from an angel and she thought about she's pregnant, and we have got to remember that it's not like today's culture. This was completely different back then and, like Sherry said, joseph could have had her stoned if he so desired, um, for her being pregnant without wedlock, because he knew he was. She was betrothed to him.
Speaker 2:So how she ends up pregnant, you know, um in in our, in our, um, in our human minds, we can only think of one way that that could have happened right, and you know our, you know our minds would go like wait what? She's pregnant? But she's betrothed to me and they told me she was a virgin, and so who's she been messing around with? What would naturally come to anyone's mind? But, oh boy, because of her love for the God, because of her love for God, she was pregnant with the most important person in the world, who will be a part of the biggest and greatest story of love ever told. Her love for God helped her give birth to the man who was going to show the world how much he loved them. I mean, oh my gosh, doesn't it just isn't that amazing, sherry, would you just think about it?
Speaker 3:It really is. And I think I find it interesting that both with the book of Ruth and Boaz their their relationship and then with Joseph and Mary. I mean it talks about how Mary sorry, about how Joseph cared about her enough that he married her quietly and he didn't have her own, but it doesn't really talk about, you know, oh, they were so much in love or oh, they couldn't wait to get married, and blah, blah, blah. I mean God doesn't focus on that, because the focus is again not on the physical, the focus is not on the human aspect, the relationship, the focus is on the inward part. God knew, before they were even born, god knew that Mary and Joseph would be up for the task. He knew that they would have enough. You were talking about how you're attracted to somebody with a lot of self-confidence and self-confidence. Oh, absolutely.
Speaker 3:He knew they would have that grit and that they would have to have that grit in order to fulfill the job that he had for them. So the focus on the love stories in the Bible are really not about physical love at all. They're about the Agape love and the Thelio love and the Eros love kind of, but they're about laying your life down for the other person. They're about that kind of love. They're about knowing that the most important love is loving God more than anything else and fulfilling the purpose that he has for our lives. Like when you look at it that way, it's hard to describe.
Speaker 2:Wow, so what you described is really true love, right.
Speaker 3:And that's true love. That's the kind of love that he has for us.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. You know and I think that is so important from this series on love versus lust, you know that you always choose lust, Flee from lust and always choose love, because that is the only thing that's ever really going to last. You could marry someone out of lust like, oh my gosh, she is the most beautiful woman ever, or he is the most handsome man ever. He's always the man I imagine myself to be, you know married to, and that would be great and that's awesome. But if there's not more of a foundation to that, if there's not something underneath that, something stronger than that, the first trial you guys face your marriage is going to crumble like a house of cards Because there was no foundation holding it together None. But when you have a foundation, like a love of the Lord first and then a love for each other, then that house is going to stand. No matter what comes your way, whether it's high winds, whether it's floods, whether you know it's the fiery darts of the enemy, anything that come against you, you guys know you're going to be able to stand it because you know you're united in something that can't be broken, that can't be lost.
Speaker 2:We all know we may all be okay with our looks. Some people are very proud of our looks and you know, some people are very like yeah, I look okay, I may be attractive a little bit here and a little bit there, or I may be pretty or something like that. But you know what, no matter how you describe the way you look, it can be taken away in an instant. Your looks can be taken away in an instant, Whether it's a guy or a female or anything like that. It could be scarred, it could be cut, we could, you know, break a facial bone or disfigure our nose or something or anything that could just change the way that our face or even our bodies look. It doesn't take that much when you realize it.
Speaker 2:So if you only marry someone because of the way they look, or because how they're physique, because they're muscular, because the woman's very thin, because she has a nice shape, or because he's six, seven feet tall, you know all of those things can change in an instant. And so if you have nothing stronger than that gluing you together, that marriage is going to come to an end very quickly. But the one thing that doesn't change is true love, and when you're knitted in the heart with someone, all of that. Other stuff doesn't matter. You know they hope you may not lose your looks, you know.
Speaker 2:But things may happen, you know, and you see it every day in couples who have been married like 70 years or more. You know that the way that she looks on her on your 70th anniversary is not the way she looked when you first married. And yet you're still married and it's not because of the way she looked. She may have more wrinkles, Her body may not look the same, you know. Her skin could be different, Her eyes could be different. A lot of things change over the years. So if you don't have anything more significant than just looks holding you together, then you know it's just going to be a house of cards.
Speaker 2:But like Sherry says, but God right, If you're already in one of those marriages and like, yeah, hey, ladies, guess what?
Speaker 2:I only married my husband because he was hot, you know. But now I'm sort of realized there's not nothing more to him than that. We serve a good God and an awesome God that can change the way you look at your husband, change the way he looks at you and give you a marriage that hallmark movies are made out of or that best-selling novels are made out of, and it has nothing to do with the way you look or you see each other across the room or anything like that, but it's because you make God that third person in that marriage, but never forget your first love, and that is our first love as God. And if you always put him first and have a love for him, like Mary did, like Ruth did not sure about Bathsheba, but I'm pretty sure Delilah didn't Okay, so, but if you just make him your first love, he's going to turn anything and everything that you put into his hands and use it for his glory. Am I right, Sherry?
Speaker 3:Absolutely, and as I was sitting here listening to you talk about that, it reminds me of something I used to say to my husband all the time is when we were in the heart of COVID, we would be walking through the stores and they were empty and doing our grocery shopping, etc, etc. And I would turn to him and I would say you know what? There is nobody that I would rather suffer through a pandemic with than you.
Speaker 3:And I said it as a joke, but I meant it because you were friends. We were friends first, like I was attracted to him, don't get me wrong. I'm still attracted to him now, don't get me wrong. But we were friends first and I think back to the Ruth and Boas story and I think back to the Mary and Dotra story and their lives were not easy. Like they went through hardships, like when Ruth said yes to Naomi and going with her back to Judea. She was basically finding her death sentence. She didn't know if she was going to survive. She didn't know if Naomi would survive. She didn't know if there was anybody there that would protect them. She didn't even know if she'd get back there because of the. I don't even know how long of a trip it would have been, but they were two women traveling alone.
Speaker 2:Or there she would have been accepted because she was a mollabite.
Speaker 3:Oh, right, exactly, she didn't even think about that part. She could have been shunned and sent back all by herself or raped or captive or whatever. Very good point there. So their lives were not easy. They didn't like, because they had the right kind of love, did not equal happily ever after. They went through trials and they went through problems and they went through suffering, but yet nowhere in any of those stories does it talk about that they had a victim mentality or what was me? My life is so terrible. It was, I think, because it goes back to what you said, kara. Their love for God was first and foremost, and then everything else followed after that and God blessed them Like he truly blessed them.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, because, like we talked about in episode one, with boys and rude I mean, they ended up being the great-great grandparents right Of King David, great Right, you know, and you know David and Bathsheba boy. That started off pretty rocky right, but let's not forget they had. They had Solomon Right. King Solomon you know, who wrote the book of Proverbs, if I'm not mistaken, entire book of Proverbs, and it clues. He asked me. I have to check on that one.
Speaker 2:Okay, I'm, we're okay, you know. So. You know they had. They had no enough Samson story. He his was a little tragic because his eyes blended in it before he could, you know, get that, get that part out there. But and then you got Joseph and Mary, all my work, the mother and father of the king of kings, the Lord of lords, the prince of peace of Yahweh, of Jehovah, jairah Shalom, like this is who they were the parents of, and all because they honored God. They, they had a love of God first. They didn't have Jesus and himself God. You know what I'm saying? They had a love for God first and he was utmost in their lives. Right, and it's.
Speaker 2:And I think that is just so, so important. And, like Sherry said, that, just don't marry somebody to marry someone or settle, like she said in previous episodes, seek God about that person and and and really see if this is the person that God has has made for you, because you all, you don't just want them to be a soulmate, you want them to be a spirit mate as well, and a friend mate and someone who you can lock hands with and Get through the toughest of storms and the best of days and, like Sherry said, someone who you wouldn't mind being shut up in a pandemic with. For what? How long did that go on here? You're in a hash here Almost long time.
Speaker 3:People Still going on, but I don't think so.
Speaker 2:Right, and if she and I are both both know that there were people who absolutely were about to lose their minds because Now, all of a sudden, they had to spend all day with their spouse Right, you know, and they were okay with that. And if you're not okay just being locked up with your spouse For like months or maybe a year on the end, you know, just think God about that and ask him how he could fix that, because it should be a blessing to be Shut in with them. I think doing a pandemic, they use another word but you know, being shut in with them and whether it's for a month or two months or six months or a year or more, it should be a blessing to you and to your marriage. It should not be a burden, not at all. But again, as long as you have God at the forefront and he's your first love, he'll work it out.
Speaker 3:Absolutely and don't don't despair, like one of the most important things is cry out to God, talk to God and there's never Again, like we kind of talked about earlier. You are one step away from making a Positive change or negative change in your life. One of the best positive changes that you can make is to say, hey, god, guess what I messed up? Hey, god, I Was a little rash and I was a little fast with my decision-making and so did I make a mistake. Should I have not married Joe Schmoe? Help me like. This is the person I married to. Now.
Speaker 3:I'm committed to you, I'm committed to him, but, god, I don't want to be miserable, counting down the days until either I die or he dies of old age, like help me, help me to become the woman that you want me to be. Help me to become the wife that you want me to be. That will transform and radically Change this rut or this situation that I find myself in. Bold prayers. Bold prayers, people, because God Listen to and he answers. Bold prayers. Go to him in faith. Ask him what you need to do and be willing to do it.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and sometimes that actually means humbling ourselves when it comes to our spouses.
Speaker 3:Yeah, the other person's fault.
Speaker 2:Oh, can you say that again? From the rooftops.
Speaker 3:And I'll go one step further.
Speaker 2:You know how many times have? You know, you and I both have talked with many married couples and and you know, and it's like you start off praying for your spouse and in God's like, okay, I need you to do this, this, this and this. And you're like, wait, hold on, I'll talk about him. Yeah, her, they need to change, they need to do this. Lord, they got to do that. God, I, you know, and everything else. And you guys like, yeah, okay. So, like I said, first you need to apologize and you know, to your Because he's working on you because, like Sherry said, the problem's not always the other person.
Speaker 3:Right, and the only person you can change is you. And guess what? If you change to become the person that God wants you to be, if you turn in to the person that God has for you to be, it will change your marriage for the better, whether your changes or not.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and you'll be happier. Right, and I'll be happier because you realize oh okay, the Lord has messed up doing this and everything else. I'll see where this goes.
Speaker 2:All of a sudden, your relation not arguing as much as any more that person, your spouse, is not annoying you as much anymore and you're laughing at their jokes all of a sudden that you thought were just like stupid before, and you see the little slight changes, at least the bigger changes. And it's because God is working on you, because you surrendered your heart and you said, lord, help my marriage. And you meant it, and that you even in that included is even if that meant him working on you. So if you're tired of being miserable in your marriage, just ask God what can I do? I don't know the problem is me or him, but I know we need help and there's no help like help from above. So God, show us, show me what we need to do to put our marriage back on the right track. There's always hope, always when you submit to the God of hope.
Speaker 3:Amen. And I really highly recommend reading that sex on the first date book because it it shows a marriage that one would have thought should have been dead in human terms so many times, and yet God restored their marriage and they now are counsel people and have a marriage ministry themselves. Like God has the best sense of humor, that he will take the area of your life that you think is the hardest area to clean up and he will use that to bless other people. Like that is the God that we serve. And if that doesn't excite you, that just thrills me, that God will take my biggest mistakes and my biggest messes and he will use those to encourage and help other people. After he's helped me find freedom, or while I'm in the process of finding freedom, I just there's just nothing better.
Speaker 2:Nothing better and the peace that comes with that. That's not saying that you're in your spot on number five. You're on number five. You're never getting to disagreements. It doesn't mean that it just means it won't break you or your marriage, like right, it is strengthening it. It is strengthening it, you know, because we're going to have spats with anyone. We're in close proximity with right. I don't care if it was me, you know it could be me and my mom, it could be me and a sibling. If we're in close proximity for a while, you're going to have a little spats, right, but that's all it should be as a spat and because in the end, you know, you still love your mom, you still love your siblings. You just had a little disagreement. But for some reason with marriages it takes like on a whole other level when you have an disagreement, right or something like that. And it doesn't have to get that far and that's all we're saying.
Speaker 2:Keep God the forefront, keep God as your first love, love Jesus, submit yourselves to Him and your marriages Believe in our eyes, because the one thing about King David and again we covered this in the second week of this month is that he didn't guard his eyes. He didn't guard his heart, knowing that he was a man of God. He didn't guard his heart or his eyes and because if he had, he would have turned away from Bathsheba as soon as he saw her taking a bath, but instead he let his eyes just have his way, just have their way, and of course, we all know what that led to, and the consequences lasted for generations. So guard your heart, guard your eyes. Just love God. Love the Lord with all your heart.
Speaker 2:Prey unceasingly, like the scripture says, about your marriages and your relationships. But if you're battling with lust, like a lot of these, you find out a lot of these people did in the scriptures. Just remember that there's always hope. There's always hope. We serve a God of hope. All you got to do is reach out to Him and call out to Him, and He'll answer.
Speaker 3:If you need help with that, if you need prayer or encouragement, or you just you don't know what the next step is that you need to take or how to take it, or whatever feel free to reach out to us at the cheeruppodcastsgmailcom. We would love to stand beside you, we would love to pray with you, we would love to encourage you. We would love to help you in that area. If you head over to Kara's website, karaahuntcom, you can check out all of the things that you have going on and she keeps adding more. So check it out and see it for yourself, all of the different areas and the different pages that she has. And then you can check out my website, sherryswallwellcom, to find out about my books and the other things that I have going on. I would absolutely love it if you would check out the Jesus and the Everyday Membership. I love connecting with people. I love doing it on the podcast, I love doing it in the membership on a daily basis. I just love bringing people and pointing people back to God, and I know that that's Kara's heart too, and that's why we started this four seasons ago. So join us on Facebook. We are building the community over there.
Speaker 3:Ask any questions that you want to in the community Facebook group or in an email, or just get to know us, and we want to get to know you as well.
Speaker 3:So I hope that you and also drop us a line and let us know what you thought of the love versus lust series. Is there any other Bible stories or Bible people, these characters people they're not characters, but women or men in the Bible that you want to hear about? That you want us to dive into a little bit deeper. Are there topics, bible topics that you would want us to talk about? Drop us a line, either in an email or on the Facebook group, and we can start a conversation with more than just us together, but we can start the topic and the conversation with our community. So we're just so glad that you're here. We thank you for listening. If you enjoyed today's episode and you want to share it with other people, please feel free to do that and don't forget to come back next week. We have a new topic, a new subject, and we're going to have you wait until next week to find out what it is. So have a great day, have a great week and we will talk to you next week.