Blessed Both Ways, Petty No Ways

Growth can feel like betrayal to people who only loved the smaller version of us. We open with a grounding prayer and move straight into a clear, challenging word: you didn’t lose a friend—you outgrew a version of love that demanded competition. Drawing from the story of Leah and Rachel, we examine how comparison distorts community, how “monitoring spirits” turn support into silent rivalry, and how God’s unique assignments remove the need to race anyone else.

We share how different blessings can coexist without conflict and why insecurity often turns gifts into threats. If you’ve felt applauded but not celebrated, hugged yet not held, this conversation will name what your heart already suspects. You’ll hear practical wisdom on recognizing counterfeit support, releasing relationships that thrive on parity instead of purpose, and choosing boundaries that honor your calling. Most of all, you’ll be reminded that your identity is not up for a vote and your path can’t be diluted by someone else’s pace.

Across this episode we keep returning to one charge: keep becoming. No grand confrontations, no lengthy explanations—just a steady commitment to grow where you’re planted. We pray for the courage to forgive, the clarity to repent of our own comparisons, and the grace to attract friends who clap in public and invest in private. If you’re in a season of release, take heart: you didn’t lose them; you gained yourself, and that exchange is holy.

If this message resonates, share it with someone who needs the reminder and leave a review so more people can find the show. Subscribe for tomorrow’s live “Listening Room” open mic with award-winning artists and authors, and join a community that celebrates without keeping score.

Transcript

Opening Reflections And Plea For Healing

SPEAKER_02 0:09

Go deeper than the surface in me. Heal me. Strip the proof.

SPEAKER_01 0:21

If you got the same muscle, heal me.

Word Of The Day Announced

Opening Prayer For Truth And Freedom

Credit To Dr. Audrienne Moses

Outgrowing Competitive Versions Of Love

Leah And Rachel As A Living Mirror

Monitoring Spirits And Quiet Competition

Different Blessings Without Rivalry

The Illusion Of Friendship Ending

Not Everyone Who Claps Is For You

Stop Fixing What God Is Separating

Keep Becoming: Core Exhortation

Closing Prayer For Real Friends

Invitation To Women Of The Waiting Room

SPEAKER_00 0:33

Yes, yes, yes. Heal me here while I'm waiting in the waiting room. You have tuned in to another day of listen, Linda, word of the day. Okay. I know I'm a little late. I usually come in here in the morning times, but I didn't get my word until later today. Okay. So today's word of the day is I never lost a friend when love turns into competition. So we're going to start with the opening prayer because y'all know I like to do how I do when I do. Okay. Father God, we thank you for this moment. We thank you for the truth that heals, for wisdom that uncovers, and for the light that exposes what we could not see on our own, Lord God. Search our hearts today, God. Remove anything that is us, that's anything in us that is rooted in comparison, jealousy, rivalry, or hidden competition, Lord God. Heal the places where we learn to compete instead of connecting, Lord God, and restore our vision so we can love without fear, trust without suspicion, and most of all celebrate without comparison. In Jesus' mighty name. Amen. Amen. So I want to say good evening, good evening, good evening, everyone. Today's word came straight from a conversation. Um, a conversation that I had with Dr. Audrienne Moses, and I do want to publicly thank Dr. Audrienne Moses for bringing this up in our conversation today. Now, what she said, it really unlocked something in my spirit that I could not shake. I couldn't shake, I had to do a word of the day. So to this is today's word. I never look, I never lost a friend. I just outgrew the version of love that required me to always compete. I'm gonna say that again. I never lost a friend. I just outgrew the version of love that required me to always have to compete. And this word is excuse me, is rooted in the story of Leah and Rachel. Two sisters, same house, same husband, same guy, but completely different wounds, right? And yet they weren't just sisters, they were rivals, they were competitors, they they were monitoring one another, they were measuring who was loved more, and the truth is that this is not just a Bible story, it really is not. Um it is a mirror. Okay, Leah and Rachel both married Jacob. They both had Jacob, right? Rachel had the beauty, but Leah had the babies. Rachel had desire, but Leah had the fruit. And instead of being sisters who supported one another, they became trapped in comparison, right? Rachel, she watched Leah's womb. Leah watched Jacob's eyes, and that is what a monitoring spirit does. It don't just watch your blessings, it measures itself against it, right? It doesn't just notice your growth, it resents it, and it doesn't just observe, it literally competes in every single thing that you do. No matter what you do, they're gonna try to find a way to do it, and sometimes the closest people, the people that are so close to you, don't want your downfall, they just don't want you to rise higher than them. So they watch, they count, they compare, they count your pockets, they count how many people signing up for things, they signing seeing how many clients you got, they just they quietly competing against you, and sometimes they don't even realize that they're doing it, right? They're doing it subconsciously, but the Bible shows us something powerful. God really, in our actuality, he blessed both of them, right? He he didn't just bless um, hey Audrey girl, I just shouted you out. Um, I love this story too. He did not just bless both of them, he blessed both of them, he didn't get one of them um uh more than the other, but he gave them two totally different things. Because, and those two things could have worked well for Jacob if they had used them correctly, right? But because even when people compete with you, God will never, ever, ever confuse what He has called for you to do. You are not in competition with anybody that God created, okay. Now it's a lyric in the song that I wrote, um, I never lost a friend. And that lyric is I never lost a friend, I just lost who they pretended to be. I lost who they pretended to be, because sometimes the friendship didn't end. The illusion of the friendship did. You didn't lose love, you lost access, you didn't lose connection, you lost compatibility, and you really, in all actuality, you never lost a friend, you lost a version of them that can only exist while you stayed small. Now, I'm gonna give you all a wisdom nugget. Not everybody who claps for you is really truly happy for you. They just are not, they are not, they pretend to be, right? But they are not. Not everyone who hugs you wants you healed. Not everyone who calls you sister is safe, or daughter, or whoever, cousin, whatever. They're not always safe. Some people love you, but only as long as you are not ahead of them. That's not hatred, though. It's not that they hate you, right? They're insecure, and that's unhealed jealousy, that's comparison disguised as closeness. And God is telling me, like when I was speaking with Dr. Audrey Ann, because she was just telling me about this amazing story she's about to write. Um, and and God was just telling me in that conversation, stop trying to fix what I am trying to separate. Stop always trying to be Miss Fix it. Miss, okay, it's my fault as long as we're friends again. I will take the I will take whatever I need to take as long as you stay my friend. Let me show you how much of a friend I can be to you. Let me show you that I am a good friend. But the whole time you're doing this to people who don't like you, they don't like the elevated, the evolved version, right? You do not have to fight them, you do not have to expose them, and you do not have to constantly explain yourself. Just keep becoming who God wants you to be. Keep becoming, and that is my word of the day. That is the word of the day. Keep becoming, okay? Now I'm gonna close out in prayer. Father God, Father God, we release every relationship that was rooted in rivalry. We forgive the ones who competed with us, and we repent, Lord God, for the times we competed to. Heal our hearts from comparison, Lord God. Restore our confidence in your design of us, Lord God, and teach us to celebrate without suspicion and love without fear, Lord God. I want you to remove monitoring spirits from our lives, Lord God, and surround us with people who clap when we win. Not just spectate, not just come in and see what you're doing, but don't publicly, don't publicly say, I'm so proud of you. Here's a heart, here's a like, let me comment on something for you, let me show you that I'm rooting for you in public despite whatever is going on with you or whatever is going on with somebody else. I want to show that I am a true friend in you, Lord God. Please bring those type of people into our lives, people who clap when we win. In Jesus' mighty, mighty, mighty name. Amen. Now, if this word spoke to you, it's because you are truly in a season of becoming, and everybody cannot go where God is taking you. That is why I created the women of the waiting room. And if heaven had a phone, these are for the women who have had to let go of people, places, and versions of themselves just to become who God called them to be. You did not lose them, you gained yourself, and that right there is truly, truly holy. Okay, thank you all again. I want to thank Dr. Audrey and Moses for the wonderful conversation we had today. That is what sparked this word of the day. Okay, until next time, love you all like Christ loved the church. Tune in tomorrow if you are a poet, if you are a writer, if you are a musician, if you are an artist, if you are working on a project and you need kind of need some tips, I will have a whole panel of ladies, professional ladies, uh multiple award-winning best-selling authors and poets, uh, musicians, artists right here that will give you positive feedback on how you can become a better version of yourself artistically. That show, along with my good sister, Melanie Melanie M. Johnson, the voice. Um, we will be doing um, it's it's it's like an open mic for artists, for writers, for beginning writers, for poets, um, for musicians. Come in, do the open mic. You'll get great positive feedback from us as well as a live audience streaming in over 30 countries worldwide. Um, we'll be streaming live on Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, um, and LinkedIn tomorrow, Wednesday, uh, 6 o'clock Central Standard Time. I love you all like Christ Love the Church. The show is called the Listening Room. Um, be ready for it tomorrow. And if you did not catch this today, catch the replay. I haven't been on that long, maybe about 12 minutes or so. So once this live ends, you can replay it back. The word of the day today was I never lost a friend when love turns into competition. I love you all like Christ loved the channel.

Open Mic Panel Details And Platforms

SPEAKER_02 12:21

We've been watching you try to hold it all together. And we're here to remind you who you are.