Episode 29: "Waiting Well" with Special Guest: Leigh Bieber

Have you ever found yourself waiting for change? 

In this episode we get to hear from my friend, Leigh Bieber who is the owner and operator of Confidently Rooted. You can connect with Leigh on Instagram at leighbieb

Even in the waiting God is working! 

#waitingwell #ConfidentlyRooted #Trust #HopeInTheHard 

Faith in Action // Change in Motion

Transcript

0:21

Well, hello, change chasers. Welcome back to another episode. Very excited for this week's episode because we have a special guest in the house that we're going to get to learn some words of wisdom y all. Um, this is one of my dearest friends. She has mentored me for several years. My friend Lee Bieber, we affectionately call her LB, is going to be sharing her journey, her story that, goes along with our title of today's episode about waiting. Well, so with that said, I hope that you are ready to learn, especially if you are in a season of. Waiting that maybe things aren't necessarily going in your timeline right, might not be in your pace that you so desire, but we know we gotta leave space for God's grace and for him to be who is guiding our steps. And so with that said, today, I would love to introduce you. To my dear friend, Lee Bieber, AKA lb. Lb. Welcome to the podcast. Thank you for the gift of your time today, and I just kind of wanna turn it over to you. I'd love for you to share with our listeners about the journey that you and your family have been walking for about the last five years especially, and anything else that you just kind of want to share today. So welcome. Hey, hey, hey. So use a Mandy Ledford. Uh, welcome. Thank you very much for having me, Mandy. Um, yeah, you are a really special friend to me. Really have walked a lot of this journey, four or five plus years with us. And, so thanks for giving me the opportunity to share, the journey and the things that I've learned from the journey. Just what Jesus has shown me as we continue to wait. This is kind of a, To be continued sort of story. Hopefully in the very near future we'll get to circle back and see how God ends our story in the miraculous way that I've been praying. But I wanna start off with, Psalm 13. I was reading that this morning and, David says, how long will you forget about me? Oh, Lord, forever. How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I lay up my cares within me? And have sorrow on my heart day after day. How long shall my enemy exalt himself over me? I feel like, the waiting can make anyone feel that way. That it, you feel very, forgotten by God in the waiting. Mm-hmm. And so my story is real and raw about. Walking through that feeling with the Lord and really how I handled it, the highs and the lows. And so just for a quick overview, um, our story started in March of 2020. Uh, actually before the COVID situation, it really all, it had nothing to do with COVID at the time, but, we, prior to that, probably for several years, I had prayed actually around my home. That God would bring a buyer for our house. And the purpose was because all of our bedrooms were upstairs and I wanted my mom to move in with us, and she couldn't do that with everything upstairs. So I just started praying probably for, I don't know, three, four years. And I would literally walk around my house and pray. And, so my prayer, was to sell our home. And I didn't want to use a realtor and I didn't wanna put a sign in the yard. And, everybody thought it was crazy. And I had, you know, people that really were like, what do you think somebody's just gonna, God's just gonna bring somebody to the door. And my assumption was, well, if God wants sell our house, yes, he can most definitely do it that way. That is not the way he did it, but it was still pretty bizarre. The short of it was my husband was in his, men's Bible study class one Sunday morning at church. And one of the guys stood up and said, Hey, we just sold our house. Anybody know a place we can go? So he stands up and he said, Hey, you should come take a look at our house. Now, what's really humorous about that is we're talking about a guy who does not like change of any type. And so for it to really roll off his tongue like that was pretty supernatural. To, so they came and look at our house. I actually went home that night. Came back, my kids were like, mom, they love the house. They wanna buy it. My response was not faith filled. It was like, you're lying. And it was really that way. And so the next thing I know, these people are ringing their grandparents over to the house, middle of the week. And and they wanted the house. And what's really funny is my husband told them everything that was wrong with the house. We needed to update, we needed to do several different things. So we thought, oh, this isn't gonna work out. Well, it did work out because you know what? God laid out all the details and he hurt my prayer years ago to sell my house without a realtor and without a sign in the yard. So, that was about three weeks before COVID hit. So as you can imagine, things got really crazy, right before we moved out and we did not know where we were gonna go. And so. Uh, due to a random conversation, if you believe in those things as, followers of Jesus, which I don't, so I say random in quotes, but a random conversation with my neighbor led us to an Airbnb in St. Elmo. And, a lot of details in between that I can share, on a personal level of anybody wants to know more about my story. But we ended up at St. Elmo, lived in that Airbnb that was probably about 700 square feet. So there were four of us and a dog and lots of totes and, uh, the rest of our things went storage. And so there we were, kind of riding out COVID and kind of living our own story while everybody was. You know, stressing about COVID, we had this, this other layer of stress. And so needless to say, we were like, ah, this is gonna end any day. Well, is every time the month rolled around, I'd reach out to the guy who's letting us stay in his place. Hey, can we stay? He's like, Hey, you can stay as long as, I don't have somebody that's gonna come in to stay. And so he gave us a pretty sweet rate. And so we were there, until July. The end of July and at that point we didn't know where we were gonna go. We just prayed again. We were like, Lord, show us the next step. And so all to say, we ended up living in a couple of Airbnbs and then we ended up moving into a friend of mine's house for two and a half months while she. Toured the country in her rv. That was a really sweet setup. I was ready to stay there. And then, and that was kind of brought us to September and I thought, okay, this is gonna be over. By the time they come back, you know, from their little trip across the world, across the country, then, then we'll be out. Well, that wasn't the case. So they came back and we had to leave and we loaded up all of our totes. And let's see. I believe we stayed in one more. Airbnb, I think that's right. Kinda gets a little fuzzy. It's been a while. And, all to say before we, we landed where we are right now, which is currently a rental in Red Bank, Tennessee, in Chattanooga. We moved five times from the time of, well, really our first move was in March and then we landed somewhere in October. So we moved five different locations. We carried our totes around with us and our dog and, and our two kids. And really just, it was a matter of praying and saying, Lord, what's the next thing? What is the next thing and where's the next place? And so we've been in our current location since October of 2020. Um, which is kind of interesting because here we are, October 20, 25, 5 years into that. And, we still don't really know, obviously what God's doing with all of it. I will have to say that in the course of all of that, my mom did end up moving in with us. She actually spent a month in that home before she has gone to be with Jesus. Then we moved in at one of a friend of Jacob's whose parents were killed in a motorcycle accident. He lived with us for a year and a half. And then we watched, youth just kind of rotate through our doors just to come hang out. And so God has used that place, for his glory. And although I see that I wrestled a lot. I can remember one particular evening, probably, about a year and a half into this, I went out and stood in the driveway. It was one night. Looked up at the stars, shook my fist to heaven and said, I will never follow you again. And I'm in it for that moment. And then of course the next day, the Holy Spirit pulled me back because he's so good to do that. Hmm. So, I have seen God use this miraculously. And, and the most amazing thing about all of it is every single part of my, our journey, like he has highlighted something to say. This is the way, this is the way walk in it. And that is, that's the, my huge, huge takeaway from this is when you're on a journey with God and it doesn't, nothing's clear. He's so good. To give you a little bit of light on the journey to say, you are in the middle of my will. I know this doesn't make sense to you, but this is where I want you to be right now. And we, I have had multiple moments like that and and that's. That's been super special because it's been very personal. Just for him to know, Hey, God, are you, are you really in this? Is this really where we're supposed to be? And and he will, he will send something. It will be a sign. It will be it, it will be a very specific and personal thing that he sends to me that says, Hailey, you are right here in the middle of my, of my will. And I think a lot about like Isaiah 30 21. And your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, this is the way walk in it when you turn to the right or to the left, like, God doesn't just take us on a journey and drop us. It can feel that way. And you have to walk through the emotions of that pain, which is why, refer to Psalm 13 from the beginning of this podcast and David is questioning all these things. But you know what's so fascinating about it is. In verse five, he gets to this place. But I have trusted and leaned on you, and I'm confident in your mercy and loving kindness, my heart shall rejoice and be in high spirits in your salvation. And I look at that. And so I think he started out, where are you? Where are you? Why have you forgotten me? And this is where he is landed. But I have trusted and leaned on you and one of my big, big takeaways. From this time is Lee. Process your emotions. Process your emotions with God. Pour your heart out to him. His verses even tell you that pour your heart out to him. He is our refuge and David teaches us that, that it's so important to be honest with God about your emotions. He already knows and we need to know so we can process through. And I was thinking just this week as we've spent this time at the ocean and it's been, the waters have been pretty tumultuous at times. I was thinking about when you look out on the ocean and you see all the waves, that can be a lot like our emotions are. So if you're, you know, visualized being in a boat on these really rough ways, and obviously the boat's bouncing all around, and if you have an anchor, of course you throw that off the boat. But at first, obviously the anchor has to float through the water to get. That from the higher waves down to the very bottom, and then it's rested and it's stable. And I was like, that is so much like how it is to process your emotions with Jesus is you have to recognize them and then you have to go through them with him. And then as we do that together, then we get to the place where we're anchored in exactly what, what, uh, David did here. That he trusted and leaned on God. He anchored himself in God's character. And as we process our emotions with Jesus and we're honest, we will get to the bottom where we're anchored. Now, we may have to do that multiple times on the journey, but as we learn to do that, we get there quicker and actually our trust grows, which is exactly what scripture talks about. Amen. Gosh, that's a great word. Thank you. Lb. Yeah, so in hearing that, I kind of also picked up, you're just sharing verse five, five years. We know spiritually the number five means grace. So that's also kind of cool, the connection of that. And we're hoping in God's goodness and is grace that. You guys will see the, the newness. We'll have to report back on the podcast when God gives them their new home. There may be possibly forever earthly home that they'll get to move into and get to enjoy some family memories and moments and all of the awesome. Things'cause they love people well and they invite people in. And so they're my family and so I'm thankful for them. But additionally, I kind of wanted our listeners to hear a little bit more about your heart and your journey in regards to what is it that Holy Spirit has been so. Intentional to be teaching you during this time of waiting. Right. It, my, it hasn't necessarily always been easy, right. But as you guys can already tell, she is a very wise woman. A woman of the word, not of the world as I like to say. And so it'll be. What has Holy Spirit been teaching you during this time of waiting? Probably one of the biggest things is to live in the present moment, and just do the next thing. Hmm. I probably wasn't really good at that, um, before this journey, but, you know, when you have to look to Jesus for, Hey, where are we supposed to move next? That really requires you to be in the present moment and to be discerning and know, okay, what is the Holy Spirit saying? Or how are these circumstances working out in a way where I can see this is how he's guiding me. So I would definitely say one of my biggest takeaways is the present moment is all we have. And the other thing I would say that the Lord has taught me through all of this is all of the things that don't matter. Mm-hmm. Um, I mean, we literally, were living out of totes and kinda still are. We have a little bit more room in our rental, but just, it's, it's all just really materialistic stuff. Mm-hmm. We learned how to kind of pour more into people during this season, which is the heart of Jesus, right? So I think it's really just more of living in the present moment with the Lord, looking to him to meet our needs, in very basic ways, which is exactly what his word talks about over and over again. You know, when he talks about, don't worry about tomorrow. I think I've learned what that really means to not worry about tomorrow, because when you, it's like we're in this season of waiting for him to show us the next thing. And I have really written off anything that I want it to be at this point at, you know, I went into it thinking, oh, it's gonna be this way and it's gonna look like this and dah, dah, dah. And it, and it became less and less about that, and now it's more. At the place of, but what do you want for us Lord? Mm-hmm. So in all of that process, there has been a lot of dying to self and a a lot of times that was really ugly and painful as I think it should be, to die to ourself because that's not a natural inclination of our heart. But, that, that probably is, I've learned to embrace that a little bit more and not wrestle with that as much and say, okay. God's in this. He knows what he's doing. I don't know what's up ahead and I can trust him. Kind of like exactly what David said, but I have trusted and leaned on you like he had to learn that. And you know what he learned that go by going through really, really hard things. Mm. So, yeah, and all of it, I think I'm learning to trust God more and to yield. To his will. Wow. Okay. Gosh, that is so good. So Friends LB says live in the present moment more. I love that advice. She often has to remind me of that with the expression of Mandy, be where your feet are. Right? Because I know sometimes we desire to get ahead of what is God's best. And so, just outta curiosity, you got any other words of wisdom? Anything else? That you wanna sling our way before we wrap up the pod today? I would just say, just do the next thing. Hmm. When you don't know what to do, when you, we begin thinking into the future and it gets real cloudy and almost confusing. The best thing we can ever do is come back to the present moment and say, okay, what is the next thing I need to do today? And that might be. Doing laundry or taking your dog for a walk or the, all of those next things lead up to his purpose and his plan. And so that is, that is the simplest thing that I know to say now is, you know what, just do the next thing. Hmm. I love that. Can we let that be our change chaser challenge for this week? Absolutely. I think that's a fantastic idea. Y'all are getting that straight from the woman of wisdom herself. Lee Bieber today. So change chaser challenge this week your C3 time y'all is go do the next thing. Whatever it is, go and do the next thing. And then being intentional to live in the moment more. I think that gives me a little bit more freedom to bask in the goodness. Because, and believe reminds me often, y'all. She's like, Manie, God is not going to let you. Miss it. So whatever the it is, God's got it y'all. He's always, always so faithful. Any other words, parting words for us today that you have on your heart you wanna share before we wrap up? And I think what you said that God's not going to let us miss it. In other words, throughout our journey, he has brought us the next step every single time. It wasn't something that we had to stress about and search and search and search for. Like he literally brought us the next move every single time, and that is what I'm believing him for in our current waiting is, you know what? When it's time for this season to be over, he will bring us the next thing we don't have to stress, we can trust and just lean into that. So exactly what you just said. Mm, so good. So good. Y'all, you can reach out to LB on, she's on social media, she's on Facebook. She's not on the book of Face often though she's on Instagram as well. But additionally, she has a ministry, a counseling ministry that she runs, and it's called Confidently Rooted. And so I'm just gonna kind of plug, it wasn't planned, but I just feel like just supposed to tell you guys, as you can tell, she is definitely a woman who is very wise, but she has confidently rooted and you can find that on Instagram if you want to connect with her or if you'd like to schedule a session with her. So just keep that in mind. You can go and look and see all of the different things that she can help folks to journey through. And it's, she does so with a heart posture of. Of within ministry, but also is very affordable and works for people in their budgets too, to provide some Christian ministry care for your heart, for your mind, for your soul. So sweet friends. With that said, I believe that we have been super mega blessed today, by having Lee today with us. And so I wanna kind of close out just with that sweet reminder. To live in the present moment, more trust God more. Don't allow yourself to get all tore up from the floor up in the mess and all of the muck and the mire that I know so much of our schedules sometimes feel crazy, feel out of control, but we know that God always knows best and so we'll trust him in the journey. She's an example of living this out now, five years in. Definitely not ever what they would've expected. But she's leaned in. It's been really awesome to see y'all. It's really been such a gift to see how close their family is through this journey. Mm-hmm. What the enemy might have meant for harm. God has allowed it to be for good. Amen. They're, they're really tight knit and so in the waiting God is. Working and so sweet. Friends, we're going to go ahead and say our farewell Lee, do you wanna say anything else real quick before I give our standard sign off? I'll give you the verse that God has given me throughout this entire journey. From the moment we landed in our first Airbnb, and then all throughout this, it never, this is how he shows up for me. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. And do not lean on your own understanding in all of your ways. Submit to him and he will make your path straight. Proverbs 3, 5 3 6. Woo. All right. That is definitely a great word to end with. Thanks for tuning in today, friends, I hope that this episode blessed you and if you know someone in your life, in your circle. That could use a really helpful reminder about knowing that God is working, even when things are necessarily going in our timelines. Then I, I just say, Hey, please send this episode over to them. Obviously, as you know. As listening, you can access any of our podcast episodes anywhere that you can listen to podcasts, so please share with them so that you get to share the wisdom that Lee has learned and endured with so much grace, so much love, and knowing that God is so faithful every day ends and why. Right? That's right. For all of our English speakers. That is so. All right, sweet. Friends, I'm gonna go ahead and say farewell, and as we sign off, I will say keep chasing change and living with purpose. Go bye sweet friends.