START READING/LISTENING TO THE BOOK NOW FREE... @ joeljohnson.org
My mother, a beacon of courage, found escape from an abusive relationship by whisking my brother and me into the wilderness. This voyage into the unknown, both literal and metaphorical, became a potent symbol of grit, transformation, and personal growth. In this riveting episode, we discuss the inherent wildness of life transitions and their necessity for growth. We argue that instead of removing us from these wild times, Jesus equips us to face them with resilience.
As we venture further, we turn to the Bible and examine how Jesus, too, matured and grew through transitions and wilderness experiences. Embracing change, stepping out of comfort zones, and facing uncertainty head-on are themes we navigate throughout this discussion. To enrich this conversation, we announce a free resource - a podcast where we join forces with a therapist to explore the seven skills discussed in this episode. Strap in and brace yourself for an enlightening conversation filled with spiritual and practical wisdom to guide you through your own wild transitions.
START READING/LISTENING TO THE BOOK NOW FREE... @ joeljohnson.org
My mother, a beacon of courage, found escape from an abusive relationship by whisking my brother and me into the wilderness. This voyage into the unknown, both literal and metaphorical, became a potent symbol of grit, transformation, and personal growth. In this riveting episode, we discuss the inherent wildness of life transitions and their necessity for growth. We argue that instead of removing us from these wild times, Jesus equips us to face them with resilience.
As we venture further, we turn to the Bible and examine how Jesus, too, matured and grew through transitions and wilderness experiences. Embracing change, stepping out of comfort zones, and facing uncertainty head-on are themes we navigate throughout this discussion. To enrich this conversation, we announce a free resource - a podcast where we join forces with a therapist to explore the seven skills discussed in this episode. Strap in and brace yourself for an enlightening conversation filled with spiritual and practical wisdom to guide you through your own wild transitions.
Speaker 1:
Chapter 3, the Exodus. Boom thud my stepfather's fist punched through sheetrock. I'm gonna beat the hell out of that faggot. His footsteps pounded down the hall toward the locked door of my bedroom. He ain't good for anything but eating, sleeping. And boom thud His fist slammed through another wall. He's nothing but a little Lord Fonto Roy. Come on, he's just a kid. My mother soothed. I'm going to throw his fat A out his bedroom window. My stepfather yelled. My mother pleaded with him to go to bed. Finally he did.
Speaker 1:
When my stepfather went to work the next morning, my mother woke me and my brother told us to get in the back of her 1984 Dodge hatchback. Unbeknownst to my brother or me, my mother had been slowly preparing a lifeboat, taking our belongings to a storage unit. Over the previous six months she had also bought a minivan and a small pop-up tent trailer. Hiding them all from her husband, we packed our belongings into the AeroStar, hitched up the trailer and drove for hours, long hours on the highway turned into winding mountain roads and dense forest. At some point I realized we were heading into the wild. At dusk we pulled into a campground and the camp manager directed us to our site. After removing the trailer from the van. My mother pulled out an L-shaped crank from under the driver's seat, flipped open a small flap on the sidewall of the trailer and slid the crank into the newly revealed hole. She twisted the crank clockwise and the trailer began to grow. First the roof sprang up, chased by four yellow canvas walls. Then an aluminum door folded down from the roof and opened. The mustard-colored cube continued to transform my mother still wildly twisting on the crank. In its final form, the trailer looked somewhat like a canvas version of Noah's Ark with plastic windows. We unpacked, settled in and went to bed listening to the rain patter on the roof.
Speaker 1:
The second truth we must assent to is that this world has wild transitions, and transition is a normal part of living on earth. Life was created wild, but so were you. The incredible life Jesus promised you was not intended to remove you from the wildness of this world, nor the wildness residing in your own heart. Jesus prayed. My prayer is not that you would take them out of this world, but that you would protect them from the evil one. That's John 1715, where he prayed that the world we walk is wild and dangerous and it's filled with human antagonists and deceptive demons, like we've said. But you were created wild and dangerous too. Let me just say that again. You were created wild and dangerous. God always intended you to live from your wild heart, not your weary hurts, and you must know that the better life Jesus offers is really good. But it's also wild, and after every transition we must know that a wilderness will follow Whatever environment you're leaving, whether it's leaving for college or finally leaving that constricting relationship or abusive relationship, like my mom courageously did.
Speaker 1:
Every transition comes with a certain level of discomfort and a wilderness that follows it. The wilderness is an in-between state and the new expansive environment, whatever it will be, isn't going to be clear for a while. And after all, isn't that uncertainty where much of the discomfort comes from in the first place? Whether it's a long or short duration, the wilderness will demand that you do things you've never done before, breathe the air of a new atmosphere, soar on untested wings and roar out into its unknown. As you can imagine, the wilderness often leaves your soul feeling tired and weak and in this vulnerable state, earthly contenders and spiritual combatants will be there to take advantage if they can. You will be tested and you will have to fight. A wilderness season is often unpleasant, if not unreservedly painful.
Speaker 1:
If we don't understand that transition and wilderness seasons are a part of growing more internally healthy, mature and whole, we often end up believing that God has abandoned, abused or betrayed us. We believe this, we will distance ourselves from Him, the only one who can make our heart whole and bring us into the life we've really and truly longed for. You know? Here's the truth of it, jesus. He matured, growing up in body and spirit. Just like you and me. He was perfected through transition, wildernesses and by what he endured in them.
Speaker 1:
Hebrews, chapter 5, verse 8 and 9, reminds us. Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him. Jesus learned obedience and was perfected through His times of transition and His wilderness seasons. Just like we are, jesus matured just as we do through transition and the wilderness that followed them.
Speaker 1:
We've got to embrace transition. I know it's so much more comfortable to stay in our comfort zones where we feel secure and safe, but we will never enter the life Jesus described as better than our dreams until we're ready to transition, to get uncomfortable and, from time to time, take a walk through the wilderness as we head out into the seven skills. I wanted to let you know about a free resource where you can go deeper into each of the skills. I sit down with a therapist and talk through each skill, so there's lots of great things you'll learn, spiritually and practically. To help you integrate the things that you've learned through the following seven skills, you may access this free resource called Wholehearted Podcast on your favorite podcast platform or by going to joljohnsonorg slash wholehearted.