#202 Pt 2 The Outcome Of The Process

Wanting nothing sounds impossible until you realize it doesn’t mean owning everything, it means becoming spiritually complete. Michael Brown joins me again to finish our conversation on how God uses process, pressure, and patience to form identity in Christ. We sit with James 1:2-4 and talk about what it looks like to let patience do real work, the kind that builds endurance and quiet confidence when life keeps testing you. 

We also go personal. We talk about tears as “healing waters,” why surrender is not weakness, and how living “spiritual paycheck to paycheck” leaves you unprepared when hard moments hit. Michael shares how substitutes like alcohol, drugs, and other coping mechanisms can’t fill the empty places, they can actually make the hole bigger. That opens the door to a deeper theme: refinement. We pray and believe for freedom from addiction and codependency, and we point everything back to a renewed mind and a life anchored in God’s truth. 

To close, we leave you with journaling questions that help you trace your own growth: what did pressure produce, what did patience build, and what is God refining out of you right now? We also look ahead to alignment and realignment through Proverbs 16:3, because once God develops us inwardly, He starts aligning our steps outwardly. If this encouraged you, subscribe, share it with a friend who needs hope, and leave a review so more diamonds in the rough can find the show.

A journey through spiritual refinement, identity, healing, and growth, learning how pressure produces purpose and reveals the diamond within.

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A Christ-centered journey of reset, refinement, and realignment, helping you confront darkness, heal deeply, and walk boldly in your God-given identity and purpose.

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Transcript

Welcome And Opening Prayer

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Hello, hello, and welcome back one more time. Thank you so much for joining me one more again. Yes, amen. I am always excited to be before you. It is yet just another opportunity for me able to serve in the body of Christ. Hallelujah. This is your first time and you kind of stumbled upon it. Trust me, it wasn't an accident. Hallelujah. God certainly intended for you to be here. I am grateful and thankful, God, that God has chosen me for this work. Yeah. Um, I hope you were able to glean from last week's episode. Um, because I had my husband on, and guess what? I got him back again today. Yes, I do. So today we have the we have in the studio my husband, Mr. Michael Brown, to help me finish up our conversation on the outcome of the process in relation to your identity being formed. So before he comes in and talks and give us some more of his heart, let's go ahead and pray. Father, thank you again for another day. Thank you, God, for another episode. Thank you, God, for every heart, every diamond that you have brought into the room on today. I pray the blessings of the Lord will be upon them. Continue, God, to bless them with more and more. Continue to enlarge their territory. God, I pray in the name of Jesus that you will be in the midst of them while they are, while they are in um an area of growth that they have never experienced. God, I pray in the name of Jesus that you will keep that old devil away, that we can grow and prosper in the things that you desire for us. Father, I pray that you just have your way in this show on today. I pray that lives will be changed, hearts will be touched, diamonds will be seen. Father, have your way. We love you, we thank you. In Jesus Christ's name, we do pray. Amen. Amen and amen. And hallelujah. So, um, again, I say my husband is here. Amen. Michael, you want to say hello to everyone?

SPEAKER_01 2:18

Hello once again, everybody. It's just definitely a pleasure to be back one more time. Or as my wife says, one more again.

SPEAKER_00 2:28

Oh, so how's your day been today, honey?

SPEAKER_01 2:31

Oh, very, very, very, very prosperous, very eventful.

SPEAKER_00 2:35

Good, good, good. I hope that's a good thing.

SPEAKER_01 2:37

Oh, yeah, it is.

SPEAKER_00 2:39

So we had our interview with you last week. So, you know, did you glean anything?

Tears, Healing, And Surrender

SPEAKER_00 2:45

Did you find out anything that you didn't know for yourself?

SPEAKER_01 2:49

Yes, I did. Um, definitely some of the thoughts that's been racing through mine. I I thought it was just, you know, frowned upon, especially when it comes to a man crying. But God revealed to me that every tear that we cry is nothing to be ashamed of. It's his way of cleansing the spirit.

SPEAKER_00 3:14

I call them healing waters. I I call tears healing waters, you know. We don't like to release them, but the release of them is absolutely a normal thing and a good thing because it heals the soul. It really does. It helps us to be able to really embrace what's happening. You know what I mean? Because uh sometimes we experience tears of pain, but sometimes those tears are of joy, you know, they are beautiful things. So, you know, I can definitely say it helped me. I did not realize, you know, that you know, God used me in that way to draw you to him into submission, I would say. Because to me, I feel like submission is all about, you know, uh a position of surrender, you know, to our own will for his.

SPEAKER_01 4:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:04

You want to add to that?

SPEAKER_01 4:05

Definitely. And and when you relate to his, you know, it always puts me in a mind that's good.

SPEAKER_00 4:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:14

You know, definitely.

SPEAKER_00 4:15

Absolutely. So, you know, as we wrap up, we are we are wrapping up the month, and you know, we want to make sure, I want to make sure that we can really be able to tap into our identity. And so God has done, you know, one of those impossible things again. He's just made sense out of, he can make sense out of complete chaos, you know what I mean? He can bring it all into perspective. And so this entire month, we have journeyed through a series of things just in these three verses of scripture. And we're gonna go ahead and read those really quick, coming from James 1, verses 1 through 2. And it reads like this it says, My brethren, count it all joy when we fall into diverse temptations, diverses, various. It says, knowing this, he said, this is what's coming out of it, that the trying of your faith is working. TH on in the King James, King James Version is ing. He says, faith working, patience means it's in the gym, it's being exercised, he says, but let patience,

James 1 And Patience At Work

SPEAKER_00 5:30

so he says, it's being exercised, but he's in a sense, he's saying, hear this. He said, but patience, let it have its perfect work. Like, because when we're in the midst of where we gotta be patient, uh, we lose our patience quite often. And then we then we turn around and look at like, man, I messed up, you know, in this moment. James says, look, while you're in the exercise room, just keep on working, work it out. He said, because what's gonna happen is, he says, that ye may be perfect and entire. Like there's something that is attached to the will of God that is transpiring. You gotta see it through. He says, the thing that's transpiring that that we can see through is that we get to the point where we are wanting nothing. And that is really the overall scope of our conversation today as we wrap it up and put our bow on it. Hallelujah. So let me ask you this question: how important is getting to the place of not wanting for anything to you? Now, I asked that question to myself, I asked that question to my husband, I asked that to my question as a diamond listener, as being a part of the family. Like, I hope you have your your journals or something to write this down, but how important is it to you? You care to care your thoughts, Michael?

SPEAKER_01 6:58

To me, it's more of a a less need of lack, not less way of having lack. You know, because you know, we we we go through stuff in life and when just say for instance, you know, just using a ballpark on this working paycheck to paycheck, you know, we sometimes wind up working paycheck to paycheck seriously. And I say that because you know, many times, and and I'll be the first to admit it guilty only picking up your word on Sunday morning, and that's that's working paycheck to paycheck spiritually. Because anytime, any time that you don't get into your word daily, you're not you're quenching the spirit, if I'm saying it right. You're you're you're hindering the spirit from moving. Just like even going to a broader scope working out. Just what? Three or four weeks ago I went to the gym, and mind you, I have not worked out in eleven months. Or eleven years, I mean. And when you overdo it or put too much in, and this he can even be equivalent to the word. If you don't put it in on a regular basis, and you try to cram all that in even to a test, and you studying and you cramming it all in, you b it's gonna be happen, it's gonna be a few things gonna wind up happening. It's either gonna be you miss a you miss a correct answer. You get an answer wrong, or you get multiple answers wrong, or then you fail the test. Or even when you're working out and you work out and you work those muscles that you haven't worked in a while, and you'll get stiff. And if you just lay there and let that stiffness linger, you'll become brittle. And even when it comes to the word of God, if you don't put it in regularly, you get up in Sunday morning and the preacher's preaching and you're lost. Or even to the even to the point if you don't pick up your Bible on a regular basis and say the preacher's coming from, say, Ezra, okay? A book that's never been that's never often preached, and you gotta use the table of contents. Nothing wrong with using the table of contents. Well, you used to know your bat your Bible forwards and backwards. Hope that makes sense. That's that ooh we and that's that's what becomes spiritual indigestion. I don't know about y'all, but and I say that because I'm sorry, I say that because I'm guilty of it. You know, that's that's how I can that's how I can speak about it. I'm guilty of it. And the moment that you omit it, is when God can take you to the next process.

SPEAKER_00 10:26

I don't know about y'all. I hope y'all caught them biscuits, because those was hot from heaven. You hear what I'm saying? Hot biscuits. As Miss Fern said, I would say one of my sisters in success. Like at the end of the day, ooh, that was good. That's that's what they call that. Ooh, we goodness gracious. I hope y'all caught it because I I caught all kinds of them. They was good. He probably couldn't repeat them if he tried. Yeah, that's how you know they're hot biscuits from heaven, because they

What It Means To Want Nothing

SPEAKER_00 10:50

come from heaven. Hallelujah. To God be the glory. He says, Look, let me read this. Wanting nothing doesn't necessarily mean possessing everything materially, it means becoming spiritually complete, mature, stable, aligned, and no longer empty in identity. So, what does that mean? Like, you don't have to have, nobody has to tell you who you are. Hallelujah. Nobody can tell you who you are. Hallelujah. Because God has, He has curated something inside of you that is unshakable. When you understand who you are, and you know, over the years I've shared how difficult it has been to really be able to tap into me because I have served for so long and lived for so long that I left myself behind. I'm actually working out some of those things, like dealing with the little girl that got left behind. Catherine, Catherine, amen. And, you know, it's a process. But when patience, when patience finishes the work, this is what you have. You have a desire, you don't want for anything. Like you you're tapped in, and there's something inside of you can't nobody touch, nobody can take away from you. Hallelujah. So, you know, God allows process not simply to give us things, but to develop us into whole people who don't want to be whole, right? And I'm talking about W-H-O-L-E. Whole. Who don't want to be whole? Do you feel like you're whole now?

SPEAKER_01 12:38

I'm more whole than I was.

SPEAKER_00 12:40

What's that mean?

SPEAKER_01 12:43

At first, I was H O L E with a hole in it. But God added the W.

SPEAKER_00 12:53

Y'all, the biscuits is the oven is on, and the biscuits are coming over and over again. You heard me? Come on, somebody, honey. If you ain't catching it, if y'all ain't catching it, I don't know what you're listening to. My goodness. Woo! Mm-mm. That was good. That was so good, so good. So let's, I think it's time for a question. Another question. So

Spiritual Paycheck Living Explained

SPEAKER_00 13:20

let's see here. Let's see, let's see. Um before the process, what did you think you needed to feel complete? Before the process, what did you think you needed to feel complete? And y'all can write this down for yourself as well. This is a question, honey. Are you looking at me?

SPEAKER_01 13:45

Yeah. Thinking back to years prior, before our marriage started 11 years ago, I would definitely say alcohol and drugs. And and the crazy thing about it, I'm not talking about uh history drugs. I'm talking about the Christian drugs.

SPEAKER_02 14:11

So what did I do for you? I guess it ease the ease of pain, but I'm not talking about the physical pain.

SPEAKER_00 14:35

So when it wore off, did the pain go away?

SPEAKER_01 14:41

Absolutely. Even stronger.

SPEAKER_00 14:43

And there there comes what we are doing and sharing. And Michael's using his own life, and you know, I can definitely witness to the same thing. Like at the end of the day, things people cannot substitute, avoid, that only God can feel. Hallelujah. Most people are using coping mechanisms to substitute something that only Jesus Himself can feel. Hallelujah. There's already an ordained space for him. But I believe that when we when things leave us and people leave us, uh, there's an even bigger hole that we try to fill with stuff, with people, with things, with habits or whatever have you, but God is saying to us, I can feel that place, but you gotta turn it over to me. Do you feel like you held on to a how to a lot of things that resulted in you falling into different habits and doing different things and you know the anger and all of those things associated? Do you feel like Michael? You made me forget my question because that just came that came from heaven. It did. It did, it really did. Do you feel like do you feel like that space is I'm gonna have to rephrase the question, y'all, because I don't even remember what I asked because it was in the moment. But anyhow. Do you feel like the the the the the the the substitution? The soup substitution, I lost my whole thought. I lost the whole thought. Let me just move on to another.

SPEAKER_01 16:33

I I would say this, and and I think I I know where you're getting that.

SPEAKER_00 16:37

I forgot what I said.

SPEAKER_01 16:38

I definitely would say the substitution, it didn't really fill the hole, it made a hole bigger.

SPEAKER_00 16:44

It made it bigger. Ooh, that's good. It made it bigger.

SPEAKER_01 16:48

And I s and I say that because you know, most times when you fill in a hole, the hole gets smaller. But when you put the wrong things in it, it actually makes a hole a lot wider and deeper. Because it's it's really it's really not it's really not filling it. It's covering it. Because if you and I and I put it, I'll put it in terms that somebody can a visit picture. If you take a tree out of or a flower out of a hole, well I say a tree because a tree hole is bigger. If you take a tree out of a hole and you just take a tarp and you put it over top of and put blocks around it to stay stiff, once you walk on it, you're gonna fall in it. And that's what substitution of the wrong things in that hole or that moment is gonna be.

SPEAKER_00 17:43

So, so, you know, with all of that being said, would you say it exposed the empty emptiness? Would you say that, you know, the the things you try to cover it with, the things you try to substitute it with, did it expose the emptiness? You know, once it wore off and it was, would you say that it exposed the empty emptiness or dependency in your life?

SPEAKER_01 18:09

I would say it did both because and and I'd say it exposed it because you know, the same concept standing on that tarp, you might be able to stand on it for a moment, but if you weigh more than them blocks do, it's gonna pull you down with it. And I'll say the dependency because the more that you think that you're coping with it, over time, if you even if you take medication over time, two things are gonna happen. You're gonna depend on that drug even more, or it's gonna get to the point where it don't work.

unknown 18:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:56

Because if you get so if you get so addicted to it, that when you when you really need it, it's not gonna it's not gonna be effective. It's gonna be a placebo effect.

SPEAKER_00 19:15

I'm writing down something because when we pray, I'm gonna make sure that we pray about this in particular because in refinement, in refinement, that is what God is getting rid of. He's getting rid of the impurities, he's getting rid of the habits, he's getting rid of rid of the addiction, the codependency. He's getting rid of those things. So, you know, I know that there's gonna be be listeners who's listening and struggling with that, and they don't know how to release it. You know what I mean? They don't know how, they don't understand the magnitude of releasing it over to God and and taking that yoke, taking, taking and give the heavy weight to him and us taking on him, taking on his fruit, and being able to learn about him. Like we gotta renew our minds in order that what Jesus said becomes what is rooted and settled in us. Like we don't have to, would you agree, Michael? We don't have to stay where we were.

SPEAKER_01 20:20

No, definitely don't. Because, and and I say, you know, when you become to the point where you stand where you are, you don't you don't allow God to use fully use you the way He designed you to be. Because when you when you stay in a position or in that in that in that moment where you are, you become idle. It's almost like you're in a car and you got park reverse neutral drive, whether it be low three or whatever, or have your car designed. It's almost like you're taking your car out of the park. You don't want to go in reverse, you don't want to go back to the way you are, but you get to that that neutral. And no matter how much you mash on the gas, you're not going nowhere. Yeah. Until you fully activate it and take it down one notch, that's the only way you're gonna go forward.

SPEAKER_00 21:28

Amen. Like, it's a choice, it really is. And so, you know, as we are coming to a close, because we

Identity Formed Through Wholeness

SPEAKER_00 21:35

are almost flat out of time, honey. Like, darn, I mean, great day, that was just blew by. But let me, I just want to throw out some questions. Just these, these are some thoughts. These are thought questions that that we need to ask in internally. And if you choose, if you want to answer any of them, please be my guest, Michael. But I'm not gonna stop, I'm gonna go on through the questions. And if it's one, this just like kind of jumps out that you. You want to speak to? Just stop me. Okay. So as we look back over the entire month, we can see where we had joy in the midst of pressure. And so with that thought in mind, looking back, how did pressure actually produce growth? How did that pressure produce growth for you? And again, you can go back to lit back and listen to listen to this again if you missed the question. Okay, because again, this is a personal journey. When we talk about the power of patience, what did patience produce in you that instant results never could? What did patience produce in you that instant results never could? And when we look at nothing wasted in refinement, ask yourself this. Can I now see purpose in seasons that once felt painful? And how about this? Was God refining? What was God refining out of you? What was he getting rid of? What was he filtering out of you? And in in regard to the outcome of the process, which is where we've been in the last two episodes, this one and the previous.

Coping Substitutes And Bigger Holes

SPEAKER_01 24:45

But I definitely see it it taking the pressure of things happening like that, it's not as painful as it was.

SPEAKER_00 24:54

Right.

unknown 24:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:56

So as we again, I got a few more questions that really speak to, you know, when I look at it from the broader scope and how the spirit is maturing us, these questions fall into place. What areas of your life has become stronger through endurance? How did the process help align your identity? What inner stability did God build in you? How do you know now that patience completed part of its work? Like these are deep thought questions that we we looking at this last verse, verse four, like we should be able to answer these questions in the broad scope when we kind of when we look back and we examine, we listen to Michael's story, we listen to all that has been said, what's your thoughts? Like, write them down in your journal. You know, re-listen to this so you can get the rest of the questions. And so as we come to a close next week, I mean, yeah, next week we're getting ready to we're coming into a new month, and it's gonna be all about alignment and realignment, focusing on obedience and coming out of Proverbs chapter 16, verse 3. So after process comes alignment, once God develops us inwardly, he begins aligning our steps outwardly. Hallelujah. So verse 16, chapter 16, verse 3 of Proverbs is it says it reads like this commit thy works unto the Lord and thy and thy thoughts shall he establish. Not sure what version that is, but commit when you commit it to him, this is when he can show you which way to go and where to go. So as we wrap up, I'm gonna get Michael to pray us out, but this final question I want to want you to rest with you. What if the thing God was trying to give you all along was just simply wholeness? Hallelujah. Not necessarily that he's looking to give us something that we can touch, but something that completes us as his child. Because he wants us to be able to prosper. He wants us to be able to make an impact. He wants us to be able to change, help to change somebody else's life. Hallelujah. So I hope and I pray that pressure has taught us joy, that patience has taught us endurance, that refinement taught us that nothing was wasted. Process has taught us identity. And now we understand that God's goal was never just to bless us externally, but to make us whole internally. Hallelujah. Let's pray.

SPEAKER_01 28:04

Dear Heavenly Father, our Lord and our Savior is Christ, we come to you once again to say thank you. We thank you for your grace and your mercy. We thank you for your loving, kindness, and our mercy. We thank you for just shaping us and molding us as your children, as your soldiers on this earth. We pray in the name of Jesus that we continue to hold up the bloodstained banner in your name. We pray in the name of Jesus that you pull and magnify on our hearts. We pray in the name of Jesus, not only that you pull on our hearts, but pull on our minds and spirits and our walk as we walk towards your glory. We pray in the name of Jesus that as we allow you to do this, we pray in the name of Jesus that you would get the glory from it. We pray in the name of Jesus that we will not take your glory from you, but give it to you. We pray in the name of Jesus as we wrap up this episode and move to the next chapter,

Reflection Questions And Next Alignment

SPEAKER_01 29:05

the next version of ourselves. We pray in the name of Jesus that you will just have your way in us. We pray in the name of Jesus that when patients finish the work, addiction and codependency would not exist. We pray in the name of Jesus again that addiction would go, that addiction would flee, that codependency would dismiss and go back into the picture of hell where it came from. We pray in the name of Jesus, we allow your patience to have its way. Have your way, God, in our lives. Have your way in our circumstances. Yes, God. Have your way in our walk. Have your way in our spirit. Have your way in our minds. But your word says that we should not be conformed to this world, but have a renewed mind. We ask you right now, Father God, to renew our mind. Renew us from the crown of our heads to the soles of our feet. We ask you, Father God, just to have your way. In Jesus Christ's name. We say thank you. And we say amen. Amen. And amen.

SPEAKER_00 30:25

Amen. Thank you, honey, again for being here.

SPEAKER_01 30:28

It's always very much welcome. I enjoyed myself.

SPEAKER_00 30:32

See, to me, I think it's better when you're here. You know, two minds is always better than one. Yeah. So hopefully you'll come back sooner than later. Um, because I would love to do the show with you. I always love it when you're able to be here. Um, and uh we love it when you are here. And so wherever you are listening to it, let us know um the impact that this episode has made on you. Um, you can give us some feedback, maybe some things that we can do better. I don't know exactly where you might be listening, but I know on um there is somewhere where you can send me a message where I can actually talk to you back and forth. Um, I have it set up within my settings, so you should be able to find a place where you can talk directly to me. Just send me a message and I will respond to you. So um, Michael.

SPEAKER_01 31:23

Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, boom. Y'all know what time it is. Remember, until next time, you are a diamond in the rough.

SPEAKER_00 31:33

Amen.