370 5-Minute Mentoring: Seeking God’s Direction For Your Life

Change is never easy.  And the bigger the change, the tougher it can be.  😬

Whether you're moving to a new place, starting a new relationship, or quitting that desk job so you can be a full-time artist, you’re bound to feel uncomfortable with the uncertainty ahead.

If you're like me, you're probably asking God to show you the exact right steps to take.  But more often than not, God isn't going to tell you to take a step to the left, then a right, then ten steps forward and a quarter-turn back to the left...  He's just going to tell you to take your own steps in faith, and He'll walk with you.  

In this episode of 5-Minute Mentoring, I'm going to give you some practical advice that can help you take those bold, faithful steps forward as you go through times of change.  I’m sure you’ll find them helpful in whatever transitions you’re going through.  

Ready to build a business that helps you thrive spiritually, artistically, and financially?  Here are 4 ways I can help: 

1️⃣ Join Us in November - Every artist was created by God to create with Him to both experience and release His Light and Life through their creative expression. Join us for a powerful 3-day healing event for artists called the “Unlocking the Heart of the Artist Experience” where you can do just that! Click here to learn more  ➡️  https://matttommeymentoring.mykajabi.com/unlocking-2022

2️⃣  Read the Book: Check out my book “How to Price Your Art: Pricing with Confidence for Sales & Profit” on Amazon ➡️  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B097XBP733

3️⃣  Create Art and Profit: Discover how to create the art you love while still providing for yourself financially in my “How to Price Your Art” workshop. Get more details here ➡️ https://thrive.matttommeymentoring.com/how-to-price-your-art-evergreen

4️⃣  Ready to truly thrive?  Join the Created to Thrive Artist Mentoring Program to discover how to build your art business and live the abundant life Jesus promised you as an artist in His Kingdom! Click here for details and to enroll!  ➡️  https://www.matttommeymentoring.com/artmentor.html

Connect with me online: https://thrive.matttommeymentoring.com/stay-connected

Fuel Your Creative Calling with Weekly Encouragement
Join thousands of Christian artists who are growing in faith, creativity, and purpose.

Subscribe to The Thriving Christian Artist Weekly and receive powerful, faith-filled content every week—designed to encourage your heart, spark your creativity, and equip you to walk boldly in your God-given calling as an artist.

👉 Click here. It’s free. It’s faith-filled. And it’s just for you. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Are you walking through transition right now and it just drives you crazy that you can't figure out every next step that's going to happen before it happens? Listen, I've been there. In fact, I'm there right now. And I hope that I'm going to be able to give you some encouragement today in your transition as you walk that out with the Lord. Here today on 5-Minute Mentoring.

UNKNOWN 0:18

Music

SPEAKER_00 0:19

God created you to be. Hi, my friend. It's Matt. So glad that you're here with me on 5-Minute Mentoring. Many of you know, if you're in our mentoring program, that I made an announcement a couple of months ago that we were moving to Texas. And actually, this is the first podcast that I'm doing in my new studio in Texas. And it's in transition. Those of you that are watching on YouTube, you can see I don't even have a door yet in my office. They're on order. They're not here yet. I can't find everything that's supposed to go in my studio yet. It's all in boxes. It's is just a crazy time right now. I don't know if you've been in a time like that where maybe you're moving or you're switching jobs or switching creative mediums or maybe relationship changes or church changes or just life changes. But you know, transition can be a time that drives us crazy. It's also a time that the enemy comes and wants to pounce. He wants to take advantage of that unsettledness, of that, you know, our footing being off and being a little bit shaky. And, you know, I've found that so many times when transition comes, I'm wanting to look for something that's solid. I'm wanting to look for the next decision. I'm wanting to look for the next thing that I'm supposed to do, the clear next step. God, would you just show me? How many of you said that before, right? How many of you would just show me? God, if you would just show me exactly what to do, then I would do it. And yet the Father is there through the voice of the Holy Spirit, that still small voice saying, hey. step and I'll show you the way. As you walk, right, the steps of the righteous are ordered by the Lord. And you know, we get in our head in times of transitions. We think that, oh, this is right, this is wrong, I'm supposed to do this, not supposed to do that. Rarely do I find that transition is about right or wrong, good or bad, but it's really about better and best many times. It's about making those choices, realizing that the season that you've been in may be over and you've got to let go of that and all the things that good things and bad things that have gone with that in order to take hold of the things that God has for you. You know, in these moments, the great challenge for all of us is to let go of the things of the past and put more faith in the intangible promises of the Lord. That is the things that we can't see. Instead of the tangible experiences that we may have experienced or may be experiencing right now that seem more real to us than the things that are in the Spirit. That's why I think it's so important. I teach this all the time in the mentoring program about envisioning with the Holy Spirit. Again, allowing the Holy Spirit to use this incredible seedbed, this incredible engine of imagination inside of you so that you can envision with Him the beautiful outcome, the beautiful, beautiful expected outcome that he has for you in your life and lay hold of that in your heart. So if you're in transition right now, what do you do? Like, oh, do you just hold on till Jesus comes? No, there's some practical things that you can do. I think number one, what I've tried to do, especially in this season of moving to Texas, and I'll just say this as a caveat, the last 13 years that we've been in years of our life. They've been the years that we've seen God move the most mightily in our life, in our business, in ministry, our family. Cameron grew up in Asheville. We were supernaturally, sovereignly moved to Asheville by a word from the Lord and prophetic dreams. I mean, God's favor on everything we've done. I mean, it's just been an incredible season. And yet at the same time, I knew, and Tanya knew, and Cameron knew, the season was over. It was time to move. And how many of you know, if you don't move with the cloud, if you don't move when the cloud is moving, then hey, you're going to get left behind and you're going to be, you know, you think that, oh, I'm just staying in what was comfortable, but what was comfortable is not there anymore. because the cloud has moved, the grace has moved. And so the first thing I would say, and the thing I've been doing, is number one, celebrate the successes of the last seasons. What are the things that have been great? What are the things that you've learned? What are the things that you're thankful to let go of? And all that, and really intentionally be thankful. I can remember before leaving my garden, and many of you know that follow me on social media, you've seen my gardens over the years in Asheville. I mean, they were gorgeous. I mean, there was not a flower in that garden when When I moved and that was one of those things like, Lord, you want me to leave my garden? And yet he's like, I have so much more for you in Texas. And so I thanked him for the opportunity to create this beautiful place and to prepare it for somebody else that they could enjoy as well. And I released it to him. Number two, I would say take time to speak and feel and display gratitude. to the people that you love? Who are the people that you may not see as much anymore if you're moving or moving churches or moving out of the area or just doing something different? What's the gratitude that you can speak for things that you've gone through? What's the gratitude that you can say for places that you've been, for beauty, for connection, for all the things? I remember over the last few months as we would drive through the mountains, I would be like, Lord, thank you. This is so beautiful that we've been able to live here for 13 years. Thank you for that. Thank you for how you prospered our business. Thank you for how you prospered our art. Lord, I just rubbed that in. I thank you for that. And then number three, I would say it's really important to not stay in the past, but to stir up faith toward what lies ahead. Begin to dream with him. Begin to imagine with him. Begin to release the attachment to the old and connect your heart to the new thing that God has for you. Prophesy over the new things. The Bible says decree a thing and it shall be established. All right, so begin to decree, begin to prophesy over the new season, the things that you're walking into, the promises that God has showed you, the things that you believe he has for you in this next season, and allow the past to be the past, to be wonderful, but stir up faith toward the new thing so that you can walk boldly in faith toward those things. My friend, transition is never easy. It's always messy it's never a straight line it's always one step forward two steps back and then some acceleration and then a curve and ah what am i doing but listen in the middle of that jesus is the constant he is the rock the bible calls him the rock of our salvation he is our rock he is our strength he is the thing that is the most solid and unmoving when everything around you seems to be moving. Lean into him. And so I just want to pray for you real quick, if you're in a season of transition, Jesus, that you would show up through the power of the Holy Spirit so powerfully in the lives of people that are walking through transition right now, that no evil would befall them, that nothing would trip them up, that nothing would confuse them, that they'd be able to release the beauty and maybe even the pain of the past in order to stir up faith and take hold of the thing that you have for them in the future. We thank you for that in Jesus name. Amen. My friend, I love you. I'm so glad you're here with me every week. I got to get back and get this studio fixed up, but I thought what better time to talk about transition than when I have boxes and no door in the studio. All right. I love you. And I'll see you again here on five minute mentoring. Bye-bye. Hey, my friend, listen, I'm really excited to let you know about a special opportunity that we've not done in a long time. And it's something that I'm super excited about. It's called the Unlocking the Heart of the Artist Conference. You know, when I first wrote Unlocking the Heart of the Artist, it resonated with artists around the world because so many of us were dealing with what I now call subconscious obstructions, these things that get lodged inside of our heart that become a barrier or a roadblock to us walking in everything that God has for us as artists and as kingdom people. And unless we are able to cooperate with the Holy Spirit in a real intentional way and allow Him to heal those parts of us, we walk in places that God never intended us to walk. We walk in struggles that God had never intended us to walk in, and we never experience the victory and the breakthrough that Jesus designed for us when He died on the cross and promised us that we'd live an abundant life. And so the unlocking the heart of the art Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. If you've known me for very long, you know that healing the hearts of artists is really my passion. It's at the core of everything we're about and all the things that we do at our conferences and mentoring program and all the things that we're about. But this weekend in particular, if I could describe it in one word, I would say experiential. This is not going to be a typical talking heads conference. This is going to be an opportunity for you to hear incredibly anointed teaching that becomes a roadmap for you to do work right inside the conference, not only with between you and the Lord, but also with you and other folks that are around tables that you can have meaningful discussions with, in addition to experiential opportunities to actually use art as a processing methodology to be able to process the things that God's speaking to you, the things that you're letting go, the things that you're planting in your heart. I'm also super excited to be welcoming my friend Mark DeJesus, as well as my friend Dr. Darlene Mayo and others who will be with us to help facilitate these healing encounters with the Lord. I'm going to be leading worship with some of my friends as well as teaching. It's going to be an experiential encounter with each other and with the Holy Spirit, and I can't wait to see you there. Listen, all the details are right here below at the link. You can just click that, find out when registration opens, which is really soon, as well as all the details about the conference. A little bit of a note, this is going to be not a weekend conference. It's actually going to be a Tuesday night, all day Wednesday and Thursday through lunch. Don't freak out. That's why God made vacation time. And so we're giving you plenty of time to go ahead and plan that out so that you can get babysitters, get off work, make travel plans, all the things you need to do to make it a priority to be here for the Unlocking the Heart of the Artist conference. I love you, my friend. If God's pulling on your heart, tugging on your heart right now to say you need to be there, do everything you can to be with us and join us for Unlocking the Heart of the Artist coming up in November 2022. All right, see you then. Bye.