God's Loving Sacrifice Podcast
Hello, Do you ever feel defeated as a Christian in the confusing times we are living in today? I know I do. This is were God’s Loving Sacrifice Podcast comes in. We do bible studies to help you strengthen your walk with the Lord in today’s crazy world. We also encourage you to share the gospel and the love of Christ with this world in need.
God's Loving Sacrifice Podcast
Trusting the Journey: Embracing Life’s Unexpected Changes / S3E25
Have you ever faced an unexpected loss that left you questioning everything? This episode dives deep into the complex emotions surrounding loss and the journey of trusting God’s plan. We explore stories of people who encountered significant shifts in their lives and discuss the lessons they learned through faith. Through scriptural insights and real experiences, we emphasize the importance of relinquishing control and understanding that God's timing is often different from our own. Join us as we uncover why losing what we thought was stable can actually be a gateway to something much greater. Prepare to be inspired as we navigate these themes together and encourage one another in our faith journeys.
My website is https://www.godslovingsacrifice.com
Hello, today I want to talk about something and I'm going to jump around maybe a little bit. As you hear, my voice is better, I'm getting much better than what I was. But you know, this is something that has happened to someone that I love and I wanted to do a podcast about it and I really felt like it was important that there are other people out there that's going through the same thing and they really really would need to hear this. Well, you know it has been horrible trying to get this done. My old computer that I always use had to be sent back to HP because there was something wrong with it and they were going to fix it and send it back to me. Well, I have a small computer, so I started using that and then, when it was time for me to do this podcast, my Audition, which is the software I use to do my podcast, wouldn't work, and then the computer just quit working altogether. Then it started working again, but Audition still didn't work. So I decided to try Audacity, which is another software that you can use to record podcasts in, and it didn't work. So I completely reinstalled everything on that little pc and came back and I opened up audacity, because that's the only one I'd put on there and it worked. So I said fine, I'm gonna get to do my podcast. I did a few other things, got the picture I wanted for the podcast and and opened Audacity and it wouldn't record.
Speaker 1:Satan doesn't want you to hear what I have to say, I guess. But what we're going to talk about is when we are walking with God and we really feel like we're doing what he's leading us to do and everything seems to be falling into place and everything seems to feel right, and then all of a sudden, one of the things that God had sent you in all of this gets taken away, just kind of pulled right out from underneath you. And that's hard because we're trusting God to lead us, we're trusting God to be the one that has everything under control, but for us having to walk away from something that we thought God had led us to, it's kind of defeating. But you know there are reasons for it. Maybe God led you to this thing to learn something and you'd learned it and you needed to move on to something else. But it is very difficult and you know we need to realize that it is God who is in control and when these things happen, we need to remember Isaiah 55, 8 through 9, where it says For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than yours and my thought than your thoughts. He already knows what's going on. He knows what's going to happen in the future One of the things that I've told people when they've lost someone that they loved, they didn't understand why he left so soon and I said you know, but God knows. God knows if he stayed here what would have happened to him, and God took him home. And that's kind of the same way with this. God knows what's going to happen. He is in control.
Speaker 1:Proverbs 3, 5 through 6 says trust the in the lord with all of your heart and lead not to your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths. So if you're on the path that he's put you on and something gets pulled out away from you that you thought God gave you, well, you know what he probably did. But our thoughts and his thoughts are not the same. No, even Job understood that. I mean, look at all the things Job lost. And Job said in Job 1:21, and he said naked I came from my mother's womb and naked I shall return there. The Lord gave and the Lord take away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. He gives and then sometimes he takes away, but he takes away for our benefit because he knows what's in the future. The scripture that I love, that I think goes well with this, is Jeremiah 29, 11, for I know the thoughts that I think towards you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Losing something like losing a job or or losing a home or one of the things that you felt God had given you, and it gets taken out, it doesn't mean that God's doing this against that person, because he's always going to be leading them to a good future. God's plans do not look like our plans and sometimes it's hard when this happens to you. It breaks your heart, especially when it's something that you thought was very good and you were very excited about it and you really felt like, oh God did this for me and I'm really think t his is what was going to be so great. Well, it was great while you were at that point. But God's plan is so much bigger than our understanding. You know, let's look at someone who has a job that they get and all of a sudden they get told that the job's ending and they're devastated because they really felt like God had put them in that place. God had put them in that place. But the thing that you have to look at is what did you learn when God put you in that place? Did God put you there to prepare you for the better thing that he has for you? Is that what it was for Then? It's not bad that it got taken away, is it? But only God knows that and we have to trust in Him. And you know, proverbs 3, 5 through 6 says Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not to your own understanding In all of your heart and lean not to your own understanding in all of your ways. Acknowledge him and he shall direct your paths. So he directed your path right to where that was, and now he's going to direct it elsewhere. And other people will come to you and say well, I thought you said God was in all of this. Well, I did. And Romans 8.28 says and we know that all things work together to the good of those who love the Lord and are called according to his purpose, all things when we lose something.
Speaker 1:I'll tell you a little quick, little story. I work with a company for 21 years and they let me go reduction in force and they called me in and were telling me you know we're going to let you go. And I looked at him and I said you're not letting me go. And they had a counselor there too, because they said well, gayla, we know that you're really devoted to this company and we know that you're going to be upset. And I said you aren't letting him go? And they said, yeah, we are. And I said, no, god has decided to move me elsewhere. And I was so sure of that and he did. And all the things that happened after I left that company had been good things. But yet I knew that God was in control. I had done everything in that job that he needed me to do. And it's funny for 21 years in that job I talked with people, I had Bible studies at work, I prayed with people, I did what God wanted me to do, plus did my job.
Speaker 1:God's plan is greater than our understanding and losing something doesn't mean God has abandoned us. It just means that he is still leading us. And if you look at what God says to us in his word, that it can really uplift you when things like this happen, that it can really uplift you when things like this happen, philippians 4.19 says and my God shall supply all your needs according to his riches in glory. And Revelations 3.8 says I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door and no one can shut it, for you have a little strength and kept my word and have not denied me. Our steps, that we walk on this path with God, are ordered by him Psalms 32, 23,. And he delights in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholds him with his hand. So when you lose that thing, god's holding your hand. He's not going to let you down and he will do something new.
Speaker 1:I don't know how many of you listened to the one I did about. I felt like God was giving me a scripture. It was my bonus recording that I did, and I got to thinking about that scripture. Scripture and that scripture really fit into this, and so I wanted to use it again. God is always ready with something new for us, something new. All things are passed away, all things become new.
Speaker 1:Isaiah 43, 18 through 19, says do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing. Now it shall spring forth. Shall you not know it, I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. He's doing something new in your life. Isn't that exciting? Isn't that wonderful that God cares so much for us that through hard times, through disappointments, he's right there holding us with his hand.
Speaker 1:Isaiah 40, 10 says fear not, for I am with you. Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. You know there's a lot of things that happen to us, even in our walks with Christ. That things change and, you know, just make it hard sometimes for us to realize, and sometimes, when you're looking at those things happening, is it Satan do this? Is this something Satan did? Satan can't shut an open door.
Speaker 1:Normally, when something like this happens, it's God, because if God gave you that thing and he wanted you to continue in that thing, satan could not take it away from us. Psalms 27, 13 through 14 says I would have lost heart unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord, be of good courage and he shall strengthen your heart. I say, wait on the Lord, and you know the person that I care about that had this happen to them was very good. They knew that God was in this, but I thought of people that are going through this, and this person is talking to me and said you know what? To everything there is a season and yes, to everything there is a season and a purpose under heaven. God's timing is perfect. Timing is perfect. We have to embrace change with the faith that we have in what God is doing.
Speaker 1:I want you to know if, right now, you're walking on this path with God and you feel like he's leading you somewhere and things are happening that discourage you or make you wonder if you're on the right path, know that we're all there and we're all there praying for each other. This person that this happened to that made me do this podcast was so gracious. They didn't get upset, they didn't yell and cry. They knew God. They knew. God is in it. Do you know? God is in your life. Do you know?
Speaker 1:No matter what it is that comes against you, it is that comes against you that God is upholding you with his righteous right hand. He loves you. His thoughts are so much greater than our thoughts, and if you're going through something like this right now, I want you to stop and pray and ask God to just touch your heart and help the Holy Spirit to bring these scriptures that we've talked about to your remembrance. God's path is going to be great, and there's no question that he is the author of our lives. He is the one. He's the one that makes these changes. We may not understand why they happen, but we have to understand that God is guiding us, you know. I hope that if you're going through this, that you can say that you know that all things work together for the good of those who love the Lord. You're looking forward to what he has in store for you next.
