How To Be WellnStrong

54: Start Trusting God as Your Healer | with Chiropractic Doctors Nick Belden, Luke Werth, Sam Wetherell, & Micah Sasser

• Jacqueline Genova • Episode 54

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Today's conversation concerns an important wellness topic that is not frequently addressed – the connection between faith and healing. I am so excited to be joined by an incredible group of chiropractic doctors who have much to say about this topic – Nick Belden, Luke Werth, Sam Wetherell, and Micah Sasser. We discuss topics including recognizing the importance of having an eternal perspective when facing an illness, how to know when to wait on God & when to act, how God heals, and trusting God to clean up after our messes. This was one of my favorite conversations to date, and I hope that it blesses and encourages you as much as it did me!


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*Unedited Transcript*
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Jacqueline: [00:00:00] just to kick things off, Nick and I have been discussing over the past several months or so recording an episode dedicated to the topic of faith and spiritual health, which I think are areas that sadly not many people really consider when it comes to addressing illness.

And Right away. Nick was like, I have this really great group of guys. That would be perfect for that conversation. And here we are. And Nick, as you said, this is a year from your last similar conversation on your own podcast. So clearly we plan that timing perfectly, but I just wanted to thank you all for, for being here.

And I'm, I'm really excited for our conversation today.

Luke: Same here. It's gonna be great.

Micah: Yeah, honored to be in

Sam: on.

Jacqueline: Awesome. So with that, for my benefit, as well as our listeners, I think I kind of got to know some of you briefly in the past 20 minutes or so, but can you each give us a little background on yourselves? I was telling you guys, I mean, this is my first time doing it. podcast interview with more than one person.

So bear with me as we navigate the conversation. I'm excited for it. But let's, [00:01:00] let's start with Nick.

Nick: I would say my life has been a series of transformations that, in hindsight God was just orchestrating me to the exact point that I'm in now. I worked in corporate finance for a year and a half realized that I thought health was really cool to talk about. And I thought there was a woman at my office who said, Hey, Nick, you ever thought about becoming a doctor?

I was like, no. And a week later I saw a flyer for what the heck is chiropractic went to a little talk and the doc talked about gut health, nutrition, exercise. And I'm like, that sounds cool. I want to do that. Went to school in St. Louis with these lovely gentlemen, met my wife and now I reside in. Yeah, you're welcome.

You're welcome. That shameless plug. Now my wife and I own our practice together in the Phoenix area. Just, you know, serving the good Lord's people.

Jacqueline: Awesome. Let's jump to Luke.

Luke: Um, similar to Nick, the first thing that came to my mind and kind of how I've more recently described [00:02:00] life, it's, uh, it, it feels, um, like a lot of, um, different, um, like stepping stones and paths and things like that, that led me here were, um, less than willing, um, steps, um, almost, uh, like, um, I've been kind of pulled along.

To this point. And I think that's definitely, um, the work of God to, um, orchestrate things and bring things about. Cause I, uh, was definitely not headed in this direction. Um, I was, um, always thought, you know, chiropractors are quacks and sometimes I still do, but, um, it, um, Became pretty clear that I needed to use health care and what I seem to understand more naturally than some of the other paths that I was more interested in.

I got offered a job to become a camp director and I love summer camp with a big passion and thought that's what I wanted to do. And it just felt [00:03:00] so Um, not peaceful, um, in the moment. And I was like, well, must mean I shouldn't do this. And, and that was a huge kind of turn for me. And then chiropractic came up, uh, shortly after that.

And, um, it made a lot of sense to go down this route. Um, I love taking care of people. I love talking with people, getting to know them and their story, and then kind of, um, intersecting them and, and, um, Helping them redirect and change course with their life and, um, I have, uh, all kinds of different conversations from gut health to, um, taking care of kids to spiritual health and, um, yeah, it's, it's a great ride to be on, but I can very much say I'm not the one in control of it and I've learned that that's a really good thing.

Jacqueline: I love that. Isn't that so funny? Like the things we think we're going to end up pursuing when we're in college sometimes are the complete opposite. But I mean, Hey, you can always still start a summer camp. It's never too late for that.

Luke: I probably will someday, uh, maybe my, my second career.

Jacqueline: There you go. All [00:04:00] right. Let's jump to Sam.

Sam: All righty. Well, I got into chiropractic, so to go back to a long time ago, not so far galaxy, um, I went to, I did my under, These guys will understand that I went to, I did my undergrad at Indiana State in exercise science and I was wanting to do a bit more. So I went to grad school, wanted to exercise physiology and still wanted to do more with health.

And so you get kind of that point where it's like, all right, well, maybe I'll do PT or I'll do chiropractic. Well, in reality, two things, chiropractors, you have your own autonomy, which is nice, but then chiropractors, you don't have to take the GRE. So. Being a lazy guy, I went chiropractic. Yeah, naturally, naturally.

So went through chiropractic, yeah, went through chiropractic school and was thinking more of, well, I'll be the guy that does, you know, sports performance or, you [00:05:00] know, functional movement. And I graduated school, got out, um, I was able to internship with one of the chiropractors that works with the, closely with the Colts up here in Indianapolis.

Great experience, awesome dude. really, like I wasn't, it didn't really get me energized enough. And so, took another associate job with a, with a doctor. And, Just kind of just going through the motions a little bit, not really feeding my soul. But then my wife gets hooked up because we also my wife's also character.

We graduated together. She got hooked up with an office up here, and this office It's really changed my perspective on how to merge your faith and your spirituality. And not only in how you practice, but everything you do in life. And not really, not really, you know, being secular and like, okay, well, I'm going [00:06:00] to put, dedicate my time and faith.

In this sector, I'm going to use my faith to amplify everything I'm going to do throughout the course of my life. And I, I can talk more about it as we go through the podcast, but that really gave me a paradigm shift to wake up and realize as a Christian and understanding what's in this book and understanding godly principles. We have a duty as health care providers, whether you have a doctorate, a master's, or you have no formal education at all, you have a duty. As a spiritual leader to guide people, not only the better health and the physical, but also in the mental so they can make impact on this planet. You're called to do that.

The Holy Spirit guides us through all across this world to do it. You never hold back. And that really got me in the mindset of like, I got it. I want to get fired up every day to love what I do. And I want to get people fired up for them to love their life and do everything they do to serve God and serve people.

Jacqueline: That's awesome.

I'm I'm really excited [00:07:00] for our conversation now because that's exactly what I want to touch on. Um, but before jumping into that, last but not least, Micah.

Micah: Yeah. Um it's, it's kind of funny. I, so I got, I was much closer with Luke and Nick in school. I knew, I knew CM, knew of CM. I never like realized how similar our, our like paths to chiropractic school were. Uh, but I, I'll, I'll go, I'll start a little further back. I, I grew up, um, in North Carolina, so East Coast in like Bible Belt.

And my, my grandfather was a Southern Baptist minister. My uncle, his son, my mom's brother, is still ordained as a Southern Baptist minister. And then my cousin, his son, and they all have the same name, Elias Coy Still, is now a Southern Baptist minister. So growing up, I had very unique, uh, and feel incredibly blessed to have those examples in my life.

Because they were, they're just All very wise, well, Papa has passed away, uh, but [00:08:00] lots of, lots of spiritual wisdom was, was passed on from those relations and is still being passed on from those relationships. And so I, I always had a desire for some aspect of the ministry. Cause I think, I don't think I've looked up to anyone the way that I looked up to Papa.

even now, um, his memory. And so when, you know, when you look up to someone that way, you want to be like them. And I never felt called to the ministry as serving as a pastor or that, that role, but I knew I wanted to do something. And he was really good about similar to Sam, you know, you don't have to be a pastor or priest.

Like you don't have to be that role to minister to people. God calls you to different roles and you still are supposed to evangelize people in that role. And so that was harder for me because actually, Opening up and being vulnerable with people and evangelizing was really, really difficult because I like people to like me.

And, um, opening up and sharing that to that level was difficult and [00:09:00] still difficult now, but it was a lot difficult when I was younger. And, you know, there's the pride and you want people to like you. Um, but I loved sports and went to school with a plan of going to graduate school for athletic training.

I also graduated with a bachelor's in exercise science and loved it. Kinesiology, like some of those classes are my favorite classes I've ever taken in school. Um, but the only reason I did that is cause I wasn't ready to give up sports, even though God's plan was for me to give up sports the way that I wanted to hold onto them.

Uh, junior year going into senior year, my advisor had a hard conversation with me where he had gotten to know me and realized, you know, I wanted a family and I liked going on hikes and doing things that were outside of work. And he told me that I needed to change my plan because if I were to go in athletic training, I wouldn't have time for any of that.

I would, you can have a family, but then you You know, you don't get to know your kids cause you're the first one in the building and the [00:10:00] last one to leave when you're athletic trainer, which is like props to those people because they do great work. But it really made me sit there and think about what do I want to do with my job beyond just working?

Cause the only reason I had gone into athletic training is cause I wasn't ready to give up the semblance of being near athletics and sports were very much an idol in my life at that time. And I realized I wanted to do things other than work. Um, even if it was working around sports. And so that's when I started looking into other things and I felt pretty lost because I had gone into school as a freshman knowing, thinking I knew exactly what I wanted to do.

And then I'm going into my senior year realizing that I don't know what I want to do anymore. And I shattered a bunch of different things and I was exactly in the same boat as Sam. I was either going to go to PT school or chiropractic school. And, It wasn't just the GRE, but that did play a big role in it.

I was like, I don't want to take another test. I don't want to continue to do school. Um, but I also was very fortunate. I got to shadow, uh, Dr. Jeremy Phillips is out in North Carolina. He's actually, his office was five minutes [00:11:00] from my apartment. And my dad is an MD and he was my dad's patient growing up.

So there was just like, that's. That's too much of a connection not to go shadow him, right? And I loved it. I, we, he took me to lunch. We had a fantastic conversation. And I was like, okay, I, I'm thinking chiropractic school. And my plan was to go to life university and just outside of Atlanta. Uh, but my roommate at the time was also somewhat interested in chiropractic.

He ended up not going, but he had reached out to Logan, um, in St. Louis. And when he told them on the phone that his roommate was interested in chiropractic, they called me. And I was like, I appreciate your phone call, but I'm planning to stay closer to home. Life's only five hours from home. St. Louis is six hours.

Um, they're like, well, here's a 250 travel voucher. Why don't you come visit the school on us? And I was like, that sounds like a great plan. Cause I'm a Cardinals fan and I don't want to have to, I would love to go to Cardinals game and not pay for a flight there, which my [00:12:00] joke is that it's the best investment that they ever made because then they got 110, 000 out of me.

Um, but.

Luke: Hilarious.

Micah: I, I, I have kind of gone through life, Luke and Nick and I used to have Thursday coffees, which were like such a fun time to talk about just life and faith. Um, and they both kind of chuckled at me because I. It's very easy for me to just kind of know that the Holy Spirit is telling me I need to do something.

And even though it's way out of my comfort zone, I just like jump in feet first and go for it. And I walked onto the campus of Logan, or I hadn't even gotten out of the car yet. It had snowed the day of my tour and drove on and I was like, my mom was with me and I remember I was like, I'm supposed to go to school here.

She's like, you haven't even taken your tour yet. I'm like, but this is where I'm supposed to go. And I don't know how to describe that. I knew that. And [00:13:00] we took the tour and I mean, you know, a school does a good job with their tour. They're trying to sell you on it. Uh, and it was like the, the technology was cool.

Like everything was state of the art. It was all cool. But I had already. told that that's where I was going. I could feel that. And that kind of drove my dad nuts because my dad's much more analytical and logical. And, you know, he wants you to have all your options weighed out. And I had planned to go visit life like two weeks after I had that visit schedule ended up canceling it because I was like, there's no point in going down there because I know I'm supposed to go to Logan.

And among many reasons, the biggest is that I also met my wife in chiropractic school and wouldn't have met her, wouldn't have met these guys. Um, and my spiritual journey really, really accelerated while I was at Logan. And so I, I, looking back on I know exactly why I was supposed to go there. Um, but I, I'm like totally in love with the way that chiropractic blends with my faith because you're able to help people in a way that you just wouldn't if you're just having a [00:14:00] conversation with them.

It makes a difference when you're able to put your hands on them and help them heal. And they just, you build a level of trust that is hard to build if you don't kind of cross that vulnerability line through the relationship of chiropractic. And I always kind of wait for someone to be ready to have the conversation about spiritual, cause I never want to push them away.

I never want them to. To kind of like shut the door on that. Um, but I never in a hundred years would have known how cool my faith blends with chiropractic. Um, even going through chiropractic school, I had no idea how awesome it was going to like blend in and just be such an easy transition into those conversations for people.

So that's been really, really, it's been like my favorite part about my job actually. Um, and I, I have always been a giving person. I like to help. That's one of the ways that I like to my, one of my love languages. Up to other people is acts [00:15:00] of service and giving um, i've had to work on receiving help but I love giving help and so chiropractic has been just a really easy way to kind of Meld that all together

Jacqueline: Wow. That's incredible. And here we are. See, so I'm glad you guys all went to Logan together. Otherwise we would not be having this conversation today. I'm going to be the unofficial adopted member of your, your little gang. Maybe we can do like virtual coffee chats or something once a month. 

Micah: Do it

Luke: fun.

Nick: love this.

Jacqueline: um, Micah and Sam, you touched on, you know, exactly what I wanted to kind of open with. And that is, how has your faith influenced your approach in dealing with illness and injury?

Let's start from maybe a personal standpoint and then and how you actually treat patients in your practices

Micah: From a personal perspective, um, You I've never been, like, super sick, but I can touch on the injury aspect of, um, Injury was one of the reasons that I had to stop, like, participating [00:16:00] in playing sports, and that was really hard for me. And so it wasn't really until I started leaning into prayer and kind of searching for what am I supposed to be doing, like, Beyond this being my life and everything that I do that I started to find peace and kind of looking forward to the next step in life. And it's a lot of work to get there. It wasn't, you know, a week or two weeks after getting hurt and not being able to play soccer anymore. And then even beyond that, like, I still kind of hold onto that with intramurals in college. And, and that was the way that I was able to like, kind of, uh, in my head, I was happy to move on to the next thing, but I was still, you know, that was like the highlight of my week was getting to play an intramural game.

And then I ended up dislocating my shoulder while I was in college. And so then it was like God saying, you need to not leave this door cracked. Like this door is supposed to close so that you can actually experience the door I'm trying to open for you. [00:17:00] Um, which I'm so grateful for now, but that was really hard for me when that door was kind of like shut and, uh, Taking time to process that and it was the start of me kind of coming back to the church because I was I was kind of Angry at not at God after reflection, but it was angry at a specific church because it wasn't the best Situation for where I was at that time And ended up starting to go back to church to a series of events and just kind of like fell back in love with Christ And I'm so grateful that that happened prior to going to chiropractic school But then also through illness of just having a faith based perspective and having family members and friends go through things, it makes it much easier to let go of what I want to happen.

Um, this past Lent was like my favorite [00:18:00] Lent of all time because I was going through a book called, He Leadeth Me. Uh, It's amazing. It's about letting go of what you want to happen and truly being excited and encouraged for God's will to happen. Even when it's like doesn't look like it makes any sense.

Like, you know, why would, why do bad things happen to good people? Right? People say that all the time and it's like, well, everybody, you're looking at this one little dot in the timeline and God's outside of the timeline. So you, you can't, you can't think that way. You have to trust that his plan is perfect.

And so getting to a point where that had become easier this past Lent was, incredibly powerful for me because then shortly after or in within that time frame my mom told us that she was diagnosed with breast cancer and you know if that had happened last year two years ago that would have like sent me in a spiral where I'm you know 14 hours away what am I gonna do versus I [00:19:00] realized like the best thing I can do whether I was there or not there is pray and provide support and encouragement and understand that Even if this is God's plan for the end for her, which it doesn't look like it, she's doing really, really well now.

I should caveat that. Um, having that Eternal mindset is amazingly freeing. And when you don't have that and you're just focused on like how much, you know, how much more can we squeeze out of life? And, um, what if this is the end? And, and you just see people just go spiral into depression and they don't have that joy to understand that it's not the end.

It's actually the beginning of something way better and it doesn't make it easy per se, but there's still grief to be had. But understanding that It's part of God's plan. It's just, it brings so much peace. Um, and it's hard to get to that peaceful mindset. [00:20:00] So that's been really, really cool.

Jacqueline: That's awesome One thing that really resonated with me is the suffering that and I find that and i'm sure you all can relate But it's times in our lives where we are In a really dark place and we're experiencing suffering where we draw close to God, right? And not that God causes suffering, but I think sometimes he allows or permits it for that very reason to draw us close to him because when things tend to be going well, right?

It's like, we don't really need God and we feel like, Oh, you know, handling everything on our own where we're doing fine. But it's looking back in my life and seeing the pits are really where I came to knew God. Um, so it's definitely about, having that eternal perspective and realizing just like you said, you know, a moment in time is a blip on the radar.

We can't see the whole thing. Um, but that was, yeah, that was beautiful. I couldn't agree more. 

Luke: I had a friend say the other day, um, or there's a term that exists, never heard it until he told me, it's called a thin space. [00:21:00] And, uh, basically it's the, um, the thickness between heaven and earth. And, um, he basically was pointing out, um, how like, whether it be, um, a really trying time physically or mentally or, uh, emotionally, or any, any, uh, Number there, um, is when that space seems to become thinner between heaven and earth, and we experience, oh my goodness, there's fireworks behind me.

Nick: Yeah.

Luke: that was. That was intense. That was

Sam: Hey, you're, no, you're preaching. Let's go. Let's 

Luke: Hilarious. Um, um, that's what I find. And I can probably just, I mean, I would probably just be an echo of Micah if I told kind of my story with, with, um, illness and injury and stuff. Um, like a sports injury, basically God, that's how God grips me when I was in high school and, um, like got ahold of me and my life.

And, um, then just like, really did some awesome cool things. Um, but anyways, it was in a thin space like that, that I experienced God. And so like in [00:22:00] chiropractic every day, um, I had somebody literally tell me yesterday, like, what is the meaning of life at this point for her? Um, she has got so many issues going on.

And, um, and she is nearer to God than. The majority of the rest of the world that's around us because she's in a place and, and, and this is the sermon on the mountain. Jesus would say, blessed are the poor in spirit and those who mourn. And those, you know, all, uh, this list of like seven or eight things that just like, um, turn the world upside down and who is actually blessed.

Um, and that to me, uh, makes what I get to do every day, just like, The, the most awesome ministry platform, um, because nobody gets to experience, um, almost countless numbers of people that come into my doors and saying, Hey, I need help. Please help me. Um, and so for me, spirituality is like the tip of the spear.

Um, we have to put both hands on, we have [00:23:00] to like do a little bit of chiropractic work. We build a relationship and things, but once we get to, especially for people with a chronic one. And it's taking some time to get to our goals and things. Um, we just work through deeper layers of what it means to actually be truly healthy.

And that, uh, at the core is healthy with God, healthy in our relationship with him. Anyways, that's long winded, but

Sam: Love your God, all your heart and all your soul. Love your neighbor. Love the people you take care of. You are not far from the kingdom of heaven.

Luke: Yeah.

Nick: you can say all of that, you can read that in scripture and still feel broken.

I had a woman, a woman yesterday, three months postpartum and she prior to the pregnancy she'd had, she had a miscarriage and she told me, we just start talking about that. I said, I can't imagine how challenging that must have been to go through that.

And then dah, dah, dah, dah. And she goes, you know, but that child will never know [00:24:00] brokenness. And I was just like,

and then she said something else. We were just talking about the idea of healing. And she said, Luke, this is off of what you said that in this life, this earthly life, we will never, this is her saying this, and I kind of agree with this, we will never fully heal. And I feel like six months ago, I was looking for perfect health and not realizing that, like we just said, that God can create, you can serve.

even if you still subjectively feel broken because you're not broken. And I feel like so many of the people that we might work with even might be Christian, but we'll still view themselves as broken and needing to be fixed. Or it's like, no, no, no. Like you, Jesus took up the cross to, to fix all of us. And you are, you are no longer broken and tied to chains of sin and death.

And even Yeah, she, she said that part about the brokenness and then us never fully [00:25:00] healing in this life. And I thought, Oh my goodness. Yeah. Like there's so many of us. Me included. I was there six months ago, chasing perfect health when I really don't, again, there's only been one perfect human. So it's like the idea of perfection needs to be sort of torn down with the veil and like, eh, it ain't there anymore.

In us. It isn't him.

Micah: I mean, he calls us to like, he's, he is the model we aspire towards, but if you aspire to be like Christ so much and then you fall short and that discourages you to where you continue to fall, then, then it's, then it can be. A little bit of an issue, right? But I mean, that's, that's also one of those examples of anything.

That is good. Anything that Christ taught us, the devil is going to try to take that and twist it so that you don't pursue that. And I think that when, when you have the position that we have and like Luke said, people come to us asking for help. It's not like we are going out on the street, [00:26:00] street preaching and offering free adjustments, trying to lure people and people are coming in asking for help.

God is sending these people to us and the devil doesn't like that. He doesn't want these people to get help. He wants you to stay isolated. He wants you to be. in despair. He wants you to have all of these issues and, and the world telling you that, um, that you're not fixable, right? And by yourself, you're not, you need Christ.

Just like Nick said, when you have him, you're going to fall every single day. When you understand that and you're just trying to become a little better. That was one of the most profound teachings that my grandfather would say from the pulpit is that the closer you get. to God. Like the, the stronger your relationship is, the more that you'll begin to see yourself the way that he sees you.

And so I think the holiest people I know are the ones that spend the most time in prayer, right? And the spend the most time focusing on the beatitudes and trying to be giving [00:27:00] people. And then you've got people who, Or just like I'm good enough, you know, I'm better than that person. But then you've you've got people who you look at and you're like, it's just like why, you know, Not why are you trying so hard?

But like where does your motivation come from? And I think it's because the closer you get to God the more that you your sins become revealed to you and the more that you Are motivated To not have that happen again. I

Jacqueline: no, that's so good on the topic of healing too. So one thing Nick and I were chatting about a couple weeks ago is how God can can work through multiple modalities when it comes to healing, right? Like, there's so many biblical examples of how Jesus used the natural to heal with like mud or with spit.

So, I guess my question is, and this is something I, I've been thinking of a lot lately is where is the line when it comes to waiting on God and solely healing through our faith, right? I mean, we hear cases where people with like severe, like stage four cancers are completely healed. They experience radical [00:28:00] remission without doing anything, right?

So where, where is that line when it comes to waiting on God healing through our faith versus pursuing. A medicinal route, be that conventional medicine, or, some type of natural alternative therapy.

Luke: You got this Nick. I

Nick: that is the, I don't have a great answer because this is a question I meditate on every single day in this office. And I. What gives me peace is telling everyone that whatever health decision you arrive at, may you arrive at it with peace. And I feel like that comes from a combination of prayer, first and foremost, and knowing the intentions of the people that you are working with.

And I feel like if you can, if you can spin the two of those together into this mold, And you can formulate peace internally, knowing whatever decision you made for your health. That's what's best for you. And it's not like, I [00:29:00] also think, I don't think we're going to know the right answer in this life to that question, but it's like, what gives you peace now? Yeah.

Jacqueline: Yeah. think the critical aspect is to, when we have faith, because I think oftentimes just American Christianity. We view faith, we will get faith confused with hopeful wishing. We're hopeful waiting and we just say, well, I'll just sit here and I'll have faith. I'm waiting on the Lord and I'll sit here and wait.

Sam: But when you look at any acts of faith throughout scripture, they were not waiting. You didn't see Peter stand in the boat saying, yes, I have faith. I'm going to walk. I have faith in you, but he still walked across the water with faith. So we have to change the faith from sitting here and just thinking something miraculous will just happen, which it will.

But there has to be some type of action step with it, knowing that you fully expect [00:30:00] to experience miraculous healing, whether it be Holy Spirit or the Holy Spirit working through somebody else to intervene on your behalf. It's so difficult for people to grasp taking that step forward, whether it's something as crazy as walking on water or, you know what, maybe you have to trust the oncologist.

Maybe you have to tell the oncologist, I'm not going to go this route. Maybe it's you go to a chiropractor and you do a year's worth of care. Maybe it's not that maybe you go to your dietitian But the biggest thing is you just have to take the step forward Even in the midst of fear even in the midst of suffering because we're called to suffer and you look at any other Philosophy practice suffering is a part of it People just have to take the step and have the faith and the confidence that the Holy Spirit is going to be there to guide them and reassure them and have people surround them.

Because too often the devil is going to come in, and I know you guys are already talking about this, like, the devil is not afraid of who you are now. He's afraid of [00:31:00] your potential, what you're going to become. So that's why we get so bogged down in the here and now thinking that, you know, something's not going to work or I'm not going to be healed.

No, take steps, move forward, however you have to do it, and just know that thin veil line, I don't know if it's a line, maybe more of a tightrope sometimes, but just have the confidence that you're not gonna get, you're not gonna be dropped. God, if you're a Christian, He didn't put all these people that are empowering you around you for you to

fall. And if you do, if you do fall, well, I know tens of different stories where He's picked people back up on their feet and made them, and they've done incredible things. Just take steps.

Nick: I think that's the Bible is just human falling and God picking us up. That is

like, There we go. came. the 

Sam: Bible yeah, 

literally misfits. That had become extraordinary and that is one thing I, I, for me personally, I really want to [00:32:00] wake people up and realize that this, and Micah kind of talked about this and we've already talked about this, like we have this eternal mindset.

It's there. A hundred percent. It's there. Like we don't live for this life. Live for the life next. But I think it's very easy for people to, I'm going to wait on the Lord. I'm just going to, I'm going to sit in my seat. I'm going to wait for him to take me. But he breathed life into your lungs like there's a reason why you're that reason why you made it and you Fertilize your mom's egg and you became from one to two Why you were born and why you are walking amongst the surf.

There's a deliberate reason for that So don't think that you're disqualified because you know, hey, maybe I I lost my legs Maybe I have type 2 diabetes. Maybe I have to do this whole entire radiation therapy It doesn't matter. You're a call with great purpose and intention. You are not a spectator. You are a player in this game.

This one opportunity. [00:33:00] Play the game. Help people. Think Impact. Alright, I'm gonna get

off my

pole bit. Sorry. Fireworks again. boom! No, that was, that was great, and I think too, I just need to go back and replay that during times where I feel paralyzed with fear. Yeah. Yeah. When you're faced with a big decision and I mean I've experienced this many a time in my mom's journey, right? It's like what's the what's the next step?

Jacqueline: What's the best thing to do? And I think it's really easy to look back and say, oh like I should have done this We should have done that Not recognizing that you made the best decision that you could have in that moment in time and showing yourself grace And I think another verse that I I look to actually came across this a couple months ago, when I was just just like Kind of overcome with anxiety about all these decisions we've made in the past is that the Lord directs our steps so why try to understand everything along the way I think that was in Proverbs to that point Sam It's like yeah, like God God has already orchestrated all of [00:34:00] our steps And if we are following him, we can't really go wrong, right?

And if we do get off track just trust that he'll Place us back on track and that there's really nothing that the enemy could do to stop the plans that he has for our, for our lives. And I think if you look at it with that perspective, you won't feel paralyzed to make a decision, right? You're trusting that God is directing and guiding your steps.

Be that through a physician, be that through some other modality that he is with you along the way. So I think that's Ha 

Nick: Yeah. Jacqueline, you brought this up on our conversation last week about. And you can expand on this, that God can heal through anything, through, I know in our profession, it's very like natural body can heal itself, but there is still, you know, bless that medicine. There's a time and place. And like you were saying before that he can heal through any vessel

Luke: the, um, one thing that you said, Jacqueline, um, like back on track, um, allow me to push back for just a [00:35:00] second. Cause I think this might, might help. Um, it helps me. Um, I'll say that and then maybe it can help you guys and your listeners and such, but like anytime I feel like I've gotten off track, I feel like I'm coming to learn that that is the track that God wanted me to go on to remind me, even though like, it probably had some sin, it was, I was living in an unhealthy way, whatever it may be, but it's through that I learned grace a little bit better.

Um, and I learned to rely on God a little bit more and how really, I don't have control, um, or really, I don't have the strength, um, and so back on track, I totally understand what you're saying, um, but like, I think that that's how God, um, just reminds us, uh, time and time again, by allowing us, like a parent and a kid, right?

I have a two and a half year old, right? Um, I, uh, Can try to trust that she's going to go and try to use the bathroom, know how to [00:36:00] pull her stool out, get out her thing, sit there, but she also misses the toilet and she's a girl. I don't really know how it happens, but like there's, there's acts of, uh, of, there's so many things in parenting that I'm like, these are translations to the way I relate to God.

And he probably laughs at me all the time, but. He also will clean up after me and he will take care of me and he'll come back down and get on my level. He's not going to get in my face and yell at me. He's going to get on my level and he's going to say, you know what, this is how it should be done. Um, and, and there's grace, right?

I'll forgive you. I'll clean this up because I love you unconditionally. And I, uh, aspire to have that same unconditional love for my own kids anyways. Anyways, I can talk about them a lot, but,

Jacqueline: love that. No, that's who I spun on. Yeah, he works all things together, right, for our good and his glory. All things. And again, I think whenever we're faced with fear, you look at that and you just, it's a great reminder. 

Micah: Can I touch on one thing that Sam said real quick? Because I thought it was great. Uh, the The [00:37:00] uncomfortability, right? Like, people just take that step even if you don't know what you're doing. Uh, it The, the funny part of this, there's two parts, the funny part of this is like, there's, there's an old joke you may have heard of it, my dad tells it all the time.

I used to think that it was corny because I heard it all the time, and now like, there's actually some serious like Spiritual crossover. It is, there is, you know, there's a flood and this guy goes up on the roof of his house and he prays for God to save him. The boat comes by and he's like, nope, God's gonna save me, I'm good.

Another boat comes by, same thing. And then a helicopter comes by, and this is a sped up version, right? And he says, nope, God is gonna save me, I'm okay. Well, the guy, you know, the flood overtakes him, he drowns, he goes to heaven. And he says, you know, why didn't you save me? And God said, I sent two boats and a helicopter.

Like, what more did you want? And I think that some, a lot of people, that's an exaggerated version, right? But a lot of people kind of sit in that with their life. To Sam's point, people want to stay in that comfort zone of. God's going to do this for me and My I [00:38:00] enjoy it when people bring that up and I try to say this with grace and gentleness to luke's point but I I like to bring it back to christ in the gospels because if you want to talk about somebody who didn't live in Comfort, I mean You can go to the extreme example, right?

Of he spent 40 days fasting in the desert being tempted in person, face to face, by the devil. I mean, that's like, I don't think I can think of a more uncomfortable scenario for over a month than that scenario. Take, aside from the fact that he was pushing his human physiology to its absolute max for fasting for 40 days.

If I fast for 36 hours, My ability to handle stressful situations goes down tremendously. So I can only imagine how difficult it was for his human side to be tempted five days into that fast, not to mention 36 days into that fast. But I think that it's important to push yourself past your comfort zone so that you know how to handle those situations when they come up unexpectedly.

And [00:39:00] I think that is one of my favorite ways that chiropractic kind of blends in that because. You get to talk to people about working out and diet and things like this and we as a society have made it to where you can be incredibly comfortable. living your life and eating processed foods. And I will be the first to tell you that ice cream and French fries are delicious.

And it is, I get why it's easy to eat those on a common like day to day basis, but God caused us to live in the uncomfortability. And to continue growing and continue to push and he absolutely is going to get down and help us and clean up our mess. I love that analogy, Luke, because I, I, I can relate to it very well as you know, but um, it, it doesn't mean that he's going to do it for us.

And, and that I think is a great analogy to parenthood because that's really hard where you want to just jump in and help your kids. And, and you have to [00:40:00] sometimes let them learn that lesson so that they know how to grow and how to be able to change that the next time. But yeah, living in your comfort zone is dangerous, even though it's really, it's a safe and warm bubble.

Nick: It is, but I feel like there's a lot of us are the people, especially a lot of people who I'm sure Jacqueline listened to your podcast, who are very health enthusiast, who are super on to the idea of like, Hey, I know I'm gonna have to do hard stuff for my health. And having been there like six months to a year ago, I knew that in order for some sort of healing, I was going to have to get uncomfortable, but not in the way that I thought.

Like to me, a year ago, uncomfort was a cold plunge. It was meditation. It was breath work. It was fasting, but it was not from the intention of, of God doing the work. It was like, no, I gotta do it. It was like, I'm one thing away from, from being this model of health. And to our question earlier of how do you [00:41:00] know when you should be waiting on God, or is it doing something?

I feel like if you're the person continually asking, Oh, I'm, I'm one thing like magnesium that that's going to fix me or like, Oh, like I'm, all I gotta do is take this tool, food sensitivity test and all my stuff is figured out if you're there. I think you're good.

Jacqueline: Yeah, no, that's, that's so good. I guess my other question too is there's a fine line right between caring for your health, eating healthy, working out, and then, you know, also not just going to binge eat and eat ice cream and french fries all day, right? And I know there's a lot of people out there who who Kind of put all of that in God's hands in the sense of they don't do, they're, they're not responsible for caring for themselves, right?

In the way that they should in terms of eating healthy. So I guess like, what is also the line of being myopically focused on all things that will optimize your health versus also living your life and trusting that God is taking care of you and God will [00:42:00] Look out for you. And I mean, there's a verse in job about how we can't extend our days, right?

Man's days are determined. You have decreed the number of months like God set limits that we can't exceed. So with that verse in mind, like what is the balance between doing all that we can to live healthy lives and optimize our health versus taking a step back and then recognizing that? Hey, Our days are already numbered.

Sam: So I would say, well, I would say, how much do you value your life, this life experience that God has given you? Do you view it as a gift that he has given you? Do you view it as an occurrence? Do you want to, not only, you can't prolong your years, but do you want the, your time in the game to be some of the best years you've experienced?

So when you get on the other side and you meet your family, Your relatives have passed on, you confront your creator one on one that you can say you did your best job. And he tells you like, Hey, you, you did everything I [00:43:00] asked. You were incredible. It's finding that line where, cause we could, I mean, we could sit here for hours and talk about every single holistic.

You know, intervention, modality and research is always like catching up and saying things like I even heard Peter Atiyah come out recently and said with fasting, the fasting benefits. Now what we've seen, you're not really getting any more benefits other than the core restriction that you experienced with just.

creating an intermittent fast period. So the big thing with holistic health, it has to be, I feel like identified as a practice. So if you are putting the reps in, however you see reps that need to be done, whether you focus more on nutrition over fitness, chiropractic, however, have you, as long as it's fueling the quality of life that you want to have on this planet and you feel like God is calling you to, and you are walking out from your potential, Then I think you're telling that line very [00:44:00] well.

The biggest thing is, are you living to the potential that you think God has called you to and that you also value in yourself? Because that's where I think, and I'm going to go off on a quick tangent, and this is one thing I've come across probably in the last maybe year or so. It's very easy for us from the moment we're born to go through life and just go from one responsibility to the next.

Because think about it, you, you're, you're born and you're a kid, and you're a kid, you don't know anything better, you're just Doing kids stuff. You're playing around, and then you go to high school, and you do high school for four years. And then if you're lucky, you go to college. You do college for four years, and you do grad school.

You do that. But then, after that, you go immediately into a job. And then some people, they go ahead and have kids. And so they're gonna deal with all the stress of being a parent, and kids, and kids, and kids. And eventually, those kids are gonna fly away, fly away from the nest, and do the same thing. And you very rarely, I feel like, unplug yourself for just a hot second, whether it be, A month to six months or maybe in a year for some people just to sit there and [00:45:00] realize Okay, what do I need to do?

to impact people live a life that I value live a life that god values and I'm called to do as opposed to just I'm, just going from one responsibility to the next and I think that's very hard because we're so ingrained to just Jump from one thing to the next next next next next and we don't just take a pause to see okay Well, what's the value of my health?

Do I value this health to promote a quality of life? That's worth living or am I just gonna kind of go through the motions and just do what the media says or do what every? Influencer says and it's just like I don't really have like I don't put my flag in the ground and say, okay, this is my, these are my terms.

These are God's terms. How can I live this out? 

Micah: Yeah. 

Sam: Fireworks. 

Micah: love it. I love it. Um, I, I actually find a great deal of. of hope and encouragement through the book of Job. A lot of people that I know when they read it, they get [00:46:00] very discouraged or like, what if that happens to me? I think it shows an incredible amount of resolve from Job and just faith and like what God can, what, how God can reward you if you stay faithful to him.

But I also usually, um, that's a verse I feel like friends who are trying to just drift away from the church or even friends of mine who are from different religions will take that verse and try to use it as ammunition. And my response to that is that in Christ's words himself in the gospels, he says that your body is a temple, right?

Like he refers to his body as a temple, um, and that ours are the same were made in his image. And so, yes, even though your days are numbered, it doesn't mean that you can just, you know, go into the temple and leave it a mess, right? He caused us to live cleanly internally so that we can live cleanly externally.

Um, what was really powerful to me is we were, when we were, when Hannah, my wife, Hannah and I were going through marriage prep, one of the questions was, what is your vocation? And you know, [00:47:00] vocation, the only way that I knew that term was like, what are you going to do for work? And so I was like, Oh, I'm about to graduate chiropractic school.

So I guess chiropractic and father milling, he was like, Ron, and that was like, okay. And so then he's like, think about it, come back next week. And if you had to see if you have an answer, I was like, I don't, I don't know. And he's like, your vocation is your calling. Yeah. Chiropractic is your profession.

What is your vocation? And I was like, I don't know, you know, at that point I'm just nervous and anxiety, test anxiety. Um, and he said, your vocation is to get your wife and if you're blessed with kids to get them to heaven, that's your vocation. He said, you have a higher calling when you get married. You become one person and it is now your responsibility to do everything that you can to get your wife and thus your kids to heaven.

And that hit me, like, the broad side of a barn. And it was really helpful. Because if I didn't spend, you know, 10 hours a day playing video games and eating junk food, my ability to connect with my family and provide spiritual [00:48:00] leadership is going to be significantly decreased. And that's not me judging anybody who lives their life that way, right?

But I just know personally that if you have a toddler, you know that they're gonna watch everything that you do and they're going to mimic you. And so my prayer every single day in my devotions is Lord, help my life to be an example of Christ because I know I could say 10 things to Ava and the one thing that I actually act out that I do that I don't love, that's going to be what she takes from that.

And so you have to be vigilant. You can't. It doesn't matter, you know, if you've got a week to live and you just want to throw it away and lounge and veg out, that's great, but maybe in those seven days are going to be the most significant, impactful experiences that people have with you, and you could be missing out on leading someone to heaven, and that has eternal implications.

So, uh, I think that when you take that verse from [00:49:00] Job and take it almost as a pass to live your life in a comfortable way, it is a big deal. bit of a cop out because God, I mean, the great commission, right? Our number one responsibility is to live a life that is an example that leads others to Christ. And if you take time off from that because you're like, well, my days are numbered.

So I, you know, I want to enjoy these last few days. That's, that's a selfish perspective. And it was hard for me to get there to realize that because I love loved playing video games in college. It was great. I loved not having the responsibilities I thought. And then, the relationships you have, when you, like, I would never trade the interactions I have with my daughter when something happens and she asks, you know, can we pray for that person and it just is like You know, you're like, uh, I think luke, uh, and I had talked about this and he said when you see the seeds start to Grow through parenthood.

There is no feeling or sensation [00:50:00] that matches that And if you're just resting on your laurels, you're not gonna you're not gonna be planting seeds So you're never gonna see them grow in in your kids or in your practice or the random person that you walk down the street Everyone should be seeing the fruit of christianity way that you're living your life

Luke: and just just a real quick add on, um, you're Uh getting to a place and I think sam you'd agree with this too because you were talking about like efforts in particular and like how we do have such a high calling and things um And micah you mentioned earlier as well about prayer and like how prayer like really sets the tone for everything and um, and this is something i'm still such an amateur in but like literally You praying every day before seeing patients, before seeing my wife, before seeing kids, things like that, like Lord, like help me to have your mind and your body and your strength because like we're called to be Christ to these people.

Um, obviously we're not literally him, but like that's what [00:51:00] being Christ like is. That's what discipleship is, is creating, um, uh, more Christ likeness in others. Um, But starting off with, um, full submission to God saying, I don't have the mind, the body, strength, the willpower, the wisdom, um, in and of myself, can you please bestow that on me?

Um, allows us to look, um, look at everything the way that he looks at it. And then when we fall short of that, there's grace because we, um, uh, we have a great high priest who knows our weaknesses and can intercede for us on that, which 

is awesome. 

Jacqueline: I love that. 

Micah: goodness

Nick: Would you guys say that's, that's what it means to be holistic? Like actually?

Luke: I think so.

Micah: Yes,

Luke: Nothing else has meaning if, if, if, no, health has no point. And remember we were on your porch, uh, right before your wedding, Nick. I was like, nothing, health has no meaning and value. If it doesn't have a direction, if there's no [00:52:00] purpose to being healthy, if the end goal is just to be healthy, it's never going to satisfy us.

Um, it has to be going towards and embracing the purpose. And that is reality. And that God is reality and, and, and our relationship with him and his relationship with others and how we can impact that. Um, That's the only reason why we're, we're here to become worshipful beings, um,

Micah: 100 percent and it would just be so discouraging if if my thought process was when I die, I'm worm food because I have people to I have friends who have an atheistic worldview and They'll say that to me and I'm you know, I Again, gentleness is so important when you're having conversations with people like this, right?

You don't want that door to be closed. But for me If that's what I truly believed, if that's my core, that's what I think is gonna happen, life would just be so discouraging. Because exactly like Luke said, what's the point? [00:53:00] What's the point of trying if there is nothing? If there is no one that you're working towards having that eternal communion with.

And I think that all of us have had the experiences where uh, God has spoken. through someone or through something in our lives. And whether you hear the voice audibly, which some people do, or you just have thoughts pop in your head, which you know, aren't yours. That's really more of how God speaks to me.

I feel like when I'm deep in prayer, uh, but it's having the reward to look forward to is it, it makes living and suffering, right? Redemptive suffering is a joy. Amen. To have that when you know that you're looking forward to that reward if you had suffering without that to look forward to It'd be really really hard

Nick: I would say four years ago as an agnostic [00:54:00] biohacker, uh, that was me. That was me.

Luke: Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Thank you to God for what he's done in your life, Nick.

Um, it's, 

Nick: And, and you, and you all, you know, you know, Matthew 5, 16, right? You guys all let your light shine and 

Jacqueline: I love that. Speaking of, speaking of light shining, and Luke was saying planting seeds, how do you all, I'm really curious, share your faith in your practice? And I think, you know, sadly today, this is something people kind of tiptoe around because no one wants to offend anyone, right? But we're put evangelize the gospel.

So apart from leading by example and what you do in your, your daily lives. How do you share your faith 

Micah: I usually start very simply. Um, and I try to gauge people because I don't, I don't want them to feel like I'm preaching to them and then not want to come back for that reason. Right? I want to build that level of trust [00:55:00] before we jump into that. Even if And Luke and I have talked about this. We can usually tell pretty quickly if someone has a spiritual issue going on.

But, how open to that conversation is this person going to be, right? I want, I want to be Christ's example to this person, not, you know, this hypocritical Christian that they might have the viewpoint of. And so, usually, in my conversations with them, I Talk, like I try to talk throughout my day. I talk about my friends in the community that my wife and I are a part of, and the biggest community that we're a part of is our church.

And so examples and stories from our life outside of my, our, our practice is usually conversations about friends from church, and I will say that, and I will, that will be a part of my conversation with a new patient. And it's not me trying to preach at them, it's not me trying to go deep in, you know, like, where do you go to church, right?

It's just planting that seed of, oh, okay, he goes to church. We don't talk about what church it [00:56:00] is. It's just that was mentioned. And then it continues to be mentioned. And then before you know it, they start talking about it. And they mention a church, or this, that, and the other. And that starts to open the door a little bit more.

Unless they show resistance. And then I continue to try and be patient. Um, but my favorite example is I had a patient who, um, these three guys I'm sure know what I'm talking about. You have somebody come in, you see them for a few times, they come in, you can tell if they're off. You can tell if there's stress.

And you can tell if it's a different kind of stress, right? Like, whether it's emotional and something's going on in the family, you can just tell. And she came in and she was off. And so, for the first five minutes, we chatted a little bit. And I had asked her if she was okay, and she'd said yes. And then I was like, I don't mean to be pushy, but I can tell something's bothering you.

You don't have to tell me what it is, but are you okay? And so she mentioned, she didn't go into details, but her son had, And having [00:57:00] trouble at school, he was in trouble for something he didn't do and the whole situation was blowing much further out of proportion than she had originally thought and it was causing her and her husband a great deal of stress.

And so there's a prayer, um, It's called the Surrender Novena by, um, Jacques, no, not Jacques Philippe. I'll have to get back to him. The name of the guy who came up with this prayer, but basically it's a prayer that when you're really stressed out and you have a hard time coming up with the words to God, if you just recite this prayer, it walks you through how you tell God, like, I'm just going to surrender this to you in this moment.

And even though I'm not happy with the way that it's going, I understand that this is your sovereign will basically. Right. And so I was. I just in passing, I was like, I think that you would benefit from looking, looking up this prayer. And the next time she came in, she had this huge smile and she's like, I've sent this prayer to six different people.

My husband and I are praying it together every single day. She's like, I've probably prayed it three times a day for the past week and [00:58:00] not every conversation about spirituality. My practice goes that well. But that was like one of the coolest conversations that I've had this year and leading into it that way where you just plant the seed.

And you're not pushy and you just let them know, like I am a believer. And then you start to go into it deeper and deeper. Um, and Luke and I have talked about this. Uh, sometimes when you get to that point where you realize it's a spiritual issue and you talk to someone about it, usually one of three things happens.

One, they're either kind of surprised. Um, that it was brought up or that spiritual health is even like that significant on their physical health. Um, two, they kind of say, yeah, I know, but I was hoping it was something else. Or three, you, you can tell they know that that's the issue, but they really want to close, like they're, they're running from God.

They're, the way that Hannah, my wife [00:59:00] Hannah and I have been talking about it is like those patients are in their Jonah phase. Um, and they'd rather just be swallowed than, uh, confront that issue that they have with God in the moment. Um, and sometimes they leave your practice and, uh, there's been two that I haven't seen.

Sometimes they're gone for a few weeks and they come back and they're like, you're right. Um, and it was really, really hard to get to the point where I could have those conversations with people when I realized like this is the final step and God is calling me to have this conversation and I just have to trust that no matter where it goes, like this is the moment I'm supposed to speak.

And I think the Holy Spirit lets you know that and If you're supposed to speak, then he will give you those words to speak. Otherwise, it's not the right time.

Jacqueline: Wow. point.

Amen. Couldn't agree more. We have covered so much, but I feel like there's still so much. I still want to talk with you guys on, so we'll have to have another episode. I know Nick had to

drop Part two.

Yeah, we should just, we'll [01:00:00] do 

them monthly cadence. Um, but no, seriously, thank you all for your time.

It was really, really great to meet you. You're just such a great group, of men and really excited to share this with listeners. Where can they find you guys? 

Luke: Lynchburg, Virginia. And I have an OK Facebook page. That's about it.

I'm a small town, kind of through and through. Um, so.

Jacqueline: Love it.

Luke: But, if you ever pass through Lynchburg, go into the mountains. Uh, and need a chiro visit.

Jacqueline: Stop 

Luke: where I am. Hill City Chiropractic.

Sam: you're curious, if you're curious about myself, I'm dr Sam Weatherill. My instagram is called elevate the standard. Um, that's elevate underscore the underscore standard. Um, Yeah, we are currently in the process of opening our own office. So if you follow along the journey, it's going to be something truly amazing.

Um, God's just going to, we amplify God in all of our process. And next time we're on, we'll do the part two. I'm going to tell you guys all about it. Cause I [01:01:00] got a lot of stories wrapped up. I can tell you guys about how miraculous God is and how he will put healing power through your hands and help people.

It's

Micah: Love it. 

Luke: awesome.

Micah: Um, I am similar to Luke. I do most of my stuff through Facebook. I, I'm not great at, I have not got into the content creation. So there's not a whole lot of content that I post. But that, that tends to happen when you have a kid. And that takes up the majority of your time. And I wouldn't have it any other way. Um, I'm in St. Louis, Missouri still. My wife is from southern Illinois, not too far. So we, it just made sense for us to stay here. And, uh, we weren't sure if this was long term, but the community that God has opened doors to, uh, it, it seems foolish to kind of run away from that right now. Um, so if people are in the Midwest and want to connect, or even if you just want to have conversations about any, anything, reach out over Facebook, um, And send me a messengers, add me on, on there.

I would love to talk to people. This is, um, it's a passion, but it's also, I, what I feel is, is a calling. And so if, and I know that [01:02:00] Luke and team would probably agree, like, don't, don't hesitate to reach out to us. If you have questions, if you resonated with something, one of us said, and you want to have a conversation that's deeper than, than don't hesitate to reach out because you don't have to come into our office for us to be able to hopefully be able to guide you and be able to share some wisdom with 

Jacqueline: Awesome. I love that. Yeah, I'll be including all of your contact information in the show notes, but my last question for you guys, Sam probably knows what this is since he said he's listened to a few episodes. Um, that is, what does being well and strong mean to you?

Luke: Oh. Well, Sam's got time to think about it, so you can go for it.

Sam: Being well and strong for me is, it's understanding, honestly, what's in this book and all the incredible things that God has taken what we could say as the most insignificant of people and make them do incredible things. So how can I live in accordance with that, do those same things to honor Him? [01:03:00] And keep myself alive long enough to get other people to understand that and they can do the same thing and just create as much of a domino effect. That's well and

Luke: Wow. Did you 

Jacqueline: I 

Luke: down?

Jacqueline: was going to say, can I, can I quote you on that, Sam?

Luke: Yeah. 

Sam: That's why this is a recording.

Luke: Perfect. That was awesome.

Micah: I would say just listening to Sam and thinking about it when you ask, what's, what is well and strong for you? I'd, I'd say it starts kind of like Luke's point of, it starts before you see anybody else, right? Like, uh, I dabbled in powerlifting when I was an undergrad. So I have an idea of what like physical strength is.

And that's great. And you can, you can lift and push a lot of weights, but it doesn't compare to the strongest people I know are like some older ladies in my family who are like maybe five, five and 115 pounds. And their [01:04:00] prayers just like, you feel like they hold more weight just because of how much time they spend with God in prayer.

And that's where Well and Strong starts for me is, is taking that time to build that relationship with God in a personal way so that you can go out and then actually understand the importance of the rest of, of our life day to day, right? Like the diet and being active and being present with your kids and being present in your practice.

It has to start with that thing that we're looking forward to because otherwise you can lose focus.

Jacqueline: Yeah, absolutely. Love that. These are such great answers.

Luke: I'm like, how do I 

finish this up? Okay. top it, Luke? Uh, 

right.

Micah: ditto. I know just, yeah, one, one word. Um, probably I would say that, uh, well, being well and strong is knowing, um, knowing the, um, the God that created the, uh, the world around us and [01:05:00] the person that we are, um, And what his intentions are. Um, and then obviously we're not going to know the whole picture.

Luke: Um, but when you know, um, who he is and who we are in light of him, and that then can, can sift our priorities down from there, um, then being well and strong actually isn't, isn't the answer. Crazy difficult of a task because he's done most of the uncovering for us. Um, rather we can walk into the, uh, the life that he's given us, um, and, and use the tools that he just literally puts in our hands, uh, to, Live the life that he's called us to.

So when we are clear along those lines and prayer and, basically having people reflect with you on who you are and what things are good at and what kind of things you're, um, not so good at, uh, self reflection. There it is. Um, then. Then man, um, when that's straight, you know, your purpose, um, everything else falls into place and ultimately seek first the [01:06:00] kingdom of God and his righteousness and everything else will be added to us.

We do that, man. We'll go, uh, we'll go far.

Jacqueline: Amen. Beautiful, see? Three solid answers. Well, again, thank you guys so much. Super excited to share this with listeners, and I'll let y'all know when it goes live.

Luke: Awesome. 

Good meeting you, Jacqueline. This is great.

Micah: Thanks for having me here.

Luke: Thanks for having us.


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Jacqueline Genova

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