When Your Faith Feels Like A Side Character with Guest Bethany Bacon

What if the real reason your faith feels thin isn’t rebellion, but busyness dressed up as responsibility? We dug into that hard truth with our friend Bethany and found a hopeful path back to center: small, steady habits that put God first and keep Him there when life gets loud.

We start by naming the quiet creep of distraction. It rarely looks dangerous. It feels productive and even loving—family needs, work deadlines, creative projects, endless notifications. Yet those “good” things become heavy when they move God out of the lead. Bethany shares how anchoring her days with simple morning and evening prayer changed the tone of everything—lowering anxiety, sharpening focus, and reminding her that Jesus’ yoke is meant to be light. We talk honestly about feelings that lie, the need to see the Trinity as a whole, and why confession restores more than it shames.

The conversation gets real around autopilot faith and generational patterns. Cultural roles, family scripts, and comparison can lock us into exhausted routines that look faithful but starve the soul. One of us opens up about caregiving and the pride of doing it all alone, and what happened when help was finally received. Bethany offers clarity on calling, sharing how she stopped minimizing her voice and began serving from obedience rather than performance. We end with a practical challenge: identify one area where faith has taken a back seat and choose one step this week to shift the wheel.

If you’ve felt like a side character in your own spiritual life, this is your invitation to trade hurry for presence. Expect clear steps, honest stories, and a renewed focus on the foundation that holds everything together. Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs encouragement, and leave a review with your one small step for this week—we’d love to cheer you on.

Transcript

Welcome And Theme: Faith As Side Character

SPEAKER_01 0:36

Hi, hello everyone. This is Javier. Welcome to the Compass Chronicles podcast where fandom meets faith. Uh, we thank you for joining us. We're excited today to have a uh guest on our uh podcast, and it's gonna be an interesting one. We're gonna be talking about how our faith becomes a side character. And if anybody's uh knows about side characters, it's always the guy that no one notices, right? So um anyway, I'm gonna give my superb co-host, Mickey Woolery, uh, announce and and announce our uh guest. Hi, Mickey.

SPEAKER_00 1:09

Hi, good morning, everyone. Um, thank you for that, Javier. Um, it's always a pleasure to be here on the Compass Chronicles. And today I'm super excited because um I have a friend of mine that I've known um this this gal for almost I think a little over a year now. We've kind of been connecting together. And her and I we have our own podcast together called Truth Be Told, and um we kind of are on the same page with um, you know, like faith and and uh the truth and the word of God. So I'm excited to have her be a guest today. She's got a lot to bring to the table. Um, she's very intuitive. Um, she's super intelligent when it comes to the word of God, and I just love talking with her because she has a lot of knowledge, and I think this is gonna be a great podcast. So, Bethany, welcome in. We're glad that you're here and you're joining us.

SPEAKER_03 1:55

Thank you so much, and so happy to be here and seeing what God will do to this time.

Meet Bethany And Shared Mission

SPEAKER_01 2:03

Thank you so much. We appreciate um so uh as everyone knows, we are um we are a podcast about uh we talk about fandom, we talk about uh anything that happens in the world of pop culture. We try to uh requ uh talk about how God interacts in that world and when it shouldn't be afraid of enjoying it or or reading it or watching it. So today we have a really cool uh subject. Um it's gonna be about our faith being our uh our guess our side um what's the word I'm looking for? Our um sidekick. Or like Batman has Robin, um you know, um I think Batman has Robin, Superman has Superboy and the dog, Super Dog, and it's it's so well. So anyway, one of my questions that I have for everyone is uh like have you ever had a season where faith felt pushed to the background instead of leading your life and what caused it? So I leave that question to you guys, and then I'll paddle up in the back.

SPEAKER_00 3:05

So I think with um that being said, like I think a lot of times when um we set our faith on the sidelines, so to speak, um, it's usually because we get distracted and we're focused on um a specific um character, you know, like Batman, like you said, or Superman, like the attention's all on them and we kind of forget the people in the background or what we're doing in our back in the background with our our daily lives and stuff. And yeah, some of the stuff that um when we're talking about venom and faith, it may not be characteristic based, but um, we do do that. We get distracted with things where um our faith isn't a priority as much as it should be. So we get to a point where we kind of shift gears and it kind of goes like on the sidelines. And faith should actually be um at the top of our priority opposed to anything that's distracting us. But it's really easy in the world we're living in today with so much going on to get distracted. So it's it's super important that we um kind of shift gears and try to try to turn the table back over to where it needs to be because you know, yeah, things get messy, we knock things over, and we lose sight and our focus on things, and we end up forgetting about what's over here. So yeah, I think it's this is a great topic to dive into today. Bethany, what are your thoughts on that?

SPEAKER_03 4:29

Yes, I I agree more. Um distractions are all around us, and we do need to be intentional with our time. And one way I believe that we can be intentional, we can be putting our faith, putting it in it back into reality, um, is by acknowledging God the first thing in the morning, and the last thing before we go to sleep. Because how quickly does two distractions come up to you know, schedules they demand things, and if we're not careful, we can push aside the most important thing and neglect what is most needed, which is God, and um for him to direct our days and not be so consumed with you know, oh I I have to do this now, or this needs attention now, so I have to do it. I can't I can't focus anything else until I I do this one thing. And prayer before getting up, I believe, is one of the main anchors that we can utilize to help us shift that side line to back to where it needs to be. So that's awesome.

Distractions That Push God To The Background

SPEAKER_01 6:39

I think you actually went right into what I was gonna ask my next question, and also did Mickey, which was about what distractions today most often turn God into a side character. And we you mentioned both of you mentioned exactly lives, yeah, our podcast, our social media, our our our work, our jobs, our family. They they tend to sometimes take over the position of main character and they and God becomes the second or the the second party to everything. Um I'm guilty of it. Uh, I think all of us are guilty of putting our situations ahead of what God wants us to do. And and sometimes we're so stubborn we don't want to hear it because we think we're doing the right thing, because it feels right, but that's what God says the heart it lies to you, right? It the feelings tell you they're wrong. So um that's the way I I I look at it as the we can make anything a side character, um, or not the side character, but a main character. Instead of God being the main person in our lives, we put him to the side. Or sometimes people, and what I've noticed and in some of the conversations I've had where people put the Holy Spirit as the only main character in your life and not realizing that there's a Trinity, God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit helps helps us, but it also needs to have the other two as part of a whole. So when you just focus on one part instead of the whole, I think you lose a little bit of that. But uh, like we said, there are so many distractions in this world today. From it could be anything, right? It could be um driving and you get distracted, and all of a sudden you get mad because someone crossed the line, and and you know, you're like, Why, you know, and and it happens, right? We're human, we react, but that's where grace and forgiveness comes, right? When you say God, you know, I kind of messed up. So, like I tell Mickey all the time, the first thing I do in the morning, I get up and I say, God, I'm gonna mess up today. I know I'm gonna mess up. Period. But I ask you for your forgiveness and your grace right now. So, you know, and that's the way I see it. So, um, and I want to also send this out to the listeners and the watchers also what distractions in your life have made God the side character? What has happened that he is no longer your main character? So the next thing I wanted to talk about um is how do we become how do we make God the main character, right? And we become the side character because he's the superhero. We're just the side character. We're the one that's sitting in the motorcycle on the little side of the thing, like the old Batman in the 60s where he's sat inside. That's us. And God is Batman driving the motorcycle off the car. So when do we give up that? Because we also love to have authority, right? We're human, we like to be the boss, we like to do so. When do we become the side character? And when does God and how do we focus that in our lives now?

Morning And Night Rhythms Of Prayer

SPEAKER_00 9:28

It's kind of like putting, um, you know how they say you gotta have someone in the hot seat. Sometimes we want to be the hot seat. We were like, oh, that's gotta be me. It's gotta be me. I, you know, I want that attention focused on me. But sometimes we have to take the focus off of ourselves and we have to put God back in that place. I was thinking about this analogy um with this topic as you know how when you're watching a show and you're really into the show, and all of a sudden the main character starts to fade out and the story starts to lose its purpose, and then all of a sudden you're like, you're three episodes into the show and you're like, hey, where's so-and-so, you know, in the in the show? And you're like, that's not where that is that his replacement? Like, no, he's not replaceable, you know. And and I've thought about that because um, even though the show still goes on, it loses its purpose when you take the meaning from it. You know, if this, you know, like even like this this podcast, it has a purpose. If we take the main meaning away from its purpose, then it's gonna, it's gonna lose its functionality. We need to make sure that if we keep God as the center, he's in the hot seat always, and we are okay with sitting on the sidelines. Some of us don't like to sit on the sidelines. Ask a football player how much they want to sit on the sidelines. I mean, because that's huge in the sports world. They don't want to sit on the sidelines. They want to be the the one in the game, the one that gets all the calls and the shots and making all this the points, you know. But we need to allow God to take to take the reins and control the vehicle and to um be the character of the show. And we need to not let the story shift to where God starts getting set aside and the focus goes back to ourselves. And that's because we sometimes we get um self-absorbed into just daily life stuff. Not necessarily we, I don't think everybody does it on purpose. Some people do do it on purpose, some people really like that attention. But I think sometimes we just lose sight of the focus. We need to dial in the camera, you know, the lens, and be like, where's our focus at? Because it's not putting God right at the center. Um, we kind of shift it and we put ourselves or someone else in place. It may not even be us, it may be another person or another thing, or or like for all three of us now, we all have podcasts. We all could be like, oh, this is so important, so important, so important. But yes, it's important for what we're doing for the kingdom. But if God isn't at the center of it, it's it's not gonna go anywhere. We're not gonna get the blessing from it, and God's not gonna honor it. And we need that. We need him to honor everything that we're doing. And I think it's so vital and important that we literally every day keep him at the center in the hot seat. Number one, I had a pastor one time preach on it, and he said, Who is your number one? Who's your number one? If you are gonna pick a teammate and be a player, be have him be on your team, who is gonna be your number one player? And that should always be God. You know, so sometimes we always want the best, we want the best. Oh, I'm gonna pick that, oh, that person's strong here. That person has strength there, and that's good, you know, when you're building up a team, but when you want that team leader, that person has to be the strength overall, and that's where we need to put God. And I think that's super important. Bethany, what are your thoughts?

Trinity, Feelings, And Grace In Daily Life

SPEAKER_03 12:45

Yes, exactly correct. Um, I the longer I live, the more I'm convinced that I have been taught things, have learned things from a very early age. Um and I was born at 24 and a half weeks in November 1983. I went to later for eight weeks after that, and so that is the reason for my voice quality, and yet through the years I have come to appreciate and really understand that God has just shown me things earlier in life than most people um. And so, you know, when we talk about um keeping God the main focus, the main character, I'm reminded of Matthew chapter 11, verses 28 to 30. Those verses are when Jesus was here on earth and he had his public ministry here, and he was teaching his disciples, and just to be in awe of his ministry here. And so one thing in Matthew 11, verses 28 through 30, that Jesus was talking about was his yoke. That his yoke is easy and his burden is light. And that tells me that when we choose to yoke with God, then that's the best possible choice we could ever make, I believe. And that helps us as well to keep God at the center, to not make him a sideline, but to really understand who he is and what he truly wants of us. I could go on for hours, but I won't right now, so.

Making God The Main Character

SPEAKER_01 15:53

No, you can take as much time as you need. If it's the word of God and talking about God, we can we're good at that, trust me. I enjoy that so much. Um so uh the way I see it also, um, and in my life, I've uh tended to put God always as second because first of all, it's culture. I'm a man Hispanic, we're raised to be the head of the house. Whatever we say we do, whatever we need to do gets done. And for that part to have God do that, that's humbling in itself. That's a very hard thing to do for anyone, I think. But for men in general, we are supposed to be the head of the house. We're control, you know, we direct the household. But we tend to not want to give up the control of how God wants the household to be because I don't want to be the side character. I'm the main guy. What are you talking about? I don't want to be Robin, I want to be Batman, you know, and we tend to forget that sometimes the side characters have their own story as well, and they have their own arc, their own book, and it's just as exciting as if the main character was there. But because it shines off the main character, it isn't the main character itself. We're taking from the main character and moving forward with us. So that's the way I see my relationship with God. He directs everything. But what I do is it's it's a reflection of him, so then it's, you know, I'm the side character, but I'm still, you know, he still makes me the main character. He never, I and that's another thing. I don't think God ever says, uh, you know, he says he's a jealous God, he does, but he loves us so much that he lets us be the center, be the front. Let us get, and then we know if we're if we if we we know God, we know that he's the one behind us doing all the work. But sometimes he just lets you have the the little bit of of glory because it is good. It it feels good when someone acknowledges or said, you know, oh, you feel something in your heart that God made you do, and you did, and you did it, and all of a sudden you feel so great about it, even though you didn't want to do it. Because we've all done that. We've all done things where like, I don't really want to do this, but God, alright, you told me to do it, I'll do it. And then all of a sudden, holy cow, it worked out really well. So, like I said, we we we want to be the main the main character, but I think sometimes uh we need to be the side character as well in our relationships as well. Sometimes we tend to be the main character, the boss of everything, and not realizing that you need to hear from everyone else, you know, and bringing back up the Justice League. The Justice League is all a bunch of different heroes, but there's one leader, one person who makes it, and that's Superman, and then the rest of them do whatever they need to do, but they work as a cohesive team. They don't have, and each one has their own story, right? Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Aquaman, they all have their own side. But when they go get together, the main person that people go to is Superman. And last episode we had was Superman Jesus Christ. So the mem the center of our lives is Jesus, but the family is the Justice League. We are the Justice League. So we all have our stories, we all have our our gifts, our knowledge that God gives us, but it's not bad being the side character at all. I don't think it is. I I sometimes don't want to be the main character because I don't want the responsibility, but you know, so that's my thought. So um my other question is, and I have a couple because I I tend to write them down now because as Mickey knows, my mind can go all over the place, and I'll start rambling and I'll go into something else and bring it back. So um, so one of the other questions I have here is how do you personally recognize when your spiritual life is running on autopilot instead of real connections? So for me, and I'm gonna take this one up because um my spiritual life was running on autopilot for a long time. It just ran, it just was part of it, but not really part of it. It was just there because you were raised in it or you went to church and did all that. Um obviously, and and people know my story, it took a very big medical condition and life-threatening stuff to make me realize that you know uh God is the center of everything and not me. Um He humbled me big time, he humbled me. And um that's where I see where it was that God was running on autopilot to me. It was just an instinct. You got up, yeah, God's there, but you don't really think of him. It's not he becomes, you know, side characters. People don't realize, you know, nobody really looks at Robin unless he is doing something crazy or he becomes Red Hood or he gets killed, things like that. Well, people don't really acknowledge Robin too much or any um main um side characters, because even the Justice League has side characters, they also have other superheroes under them as well. So um that's the way I I I think that um autopilot happens a lot. We don't realize it is, but we tend to press that button and just go. And especially us as podcasters or content creators, we just on a we're on a mission, we go and we just forward and just ramble through and not realize, you know, sometimes we have to stop, say, God, you know, what am I doing, or things like that. So your thoughts on those things, Bethany. What do you think of that one?

SPEAKER_03 21:18

Yeah, that's a great um question and insight there. And honestly, um well, for me going back to May 2005 up until June 2024. In those years, I had various part-time jobs. Um I had tried to work full-time, but physically I wasn't able to, and so the Lord did bless me with several part-time jobs, and the last one was a classroom aid position at the school where I graduated high school from. It's a um Christian school, K through twelve. Um, and so I I had been a classroom aide there for three years, and I Within myself, I had been kind of sensing that the Lord was trying to transition me, but I wasn't truly expecting it then in June 2024, and so it kind of derailed me for a time. Um but looking back on that now, I see how that was God's way of saying, okay, you need to get your focus from autopilot to, you know, really diving in deep. And so that's what I believe I have been doing since July 2024 is really just diving in deep to what God has called me to do. And not to say that all those part-time jobs were insignificant, but they were preparatory for what God has me doing now. And I think Mickey can attest to my passion for what the Lord has me doing now.

Autopilot Faith And Wake-Up Moments

SPEAKER_00 24:19

So yeah, exactly. I think God has really moved a lot in your life, especially over the last year, um, with the academy that we've been going through and the stuff that um you've been working on. Her website is fantastic. We'll talk about that closer to the end and um we'll let Bethany share a little bit more about what she does. But to answer that question as far as being um on autopilot, I could totally relate with that. But I have a I have I have a thought I want to throw at both of you to see what you guys think. So, like Javier, you said in the beginning, like with your culture, like um being Hispanic and you're like, this is how we were, this is how we are in our culture. Okay. What about the generational acceptance and curses and and you know, um, expectation? I mean, not acceptance. So when we are raised, it seems like we take that generational um expectation and we think that that's what we have to stick to. And I think sometimes that puts us on autopilot because we operate in what we've been taught over and over and over. It's a repetitious teaching. And so we're just kind of stuck in that. And I'm my daughter brings this to my attention quite a bit, and she's really helping me because um I grew up in a a really hectic um life, um, a lot of um rejection, abandonment, abuse, a lot of that. And still I honored what my mom told me what to do. You know, my mom said this, and this is how it, this is what she said, and this is how it is, and this is how it will be. You know, those, you know, those three things. And that's a generational um expectation that's put on you from birth to, you know, even though she didn't even raise me. I pretty much raised her. So, I mean, you know, we raised each other. So I took care of her most of my entire life, but that expectation stayed the same and it put me on autopilot. So when I was raising my kids, it was the same rules. And then, like when I saw her raising her kids, she wasn't following my rules. And I thought, what in the world is she doing? I don't like this. And it was really uncomfortable for me because she stepped out of the zone of the autopilot, the generational curse pilot, if you want to call it, of I don't have to go down that path, mom. You you weren't even happy living that life. So why would I want to follow that? You know, I really want, you know, I want better for my kids. I want my kids to understand they have a voice. They're allowed to speak up. You know, we weren't allowed to talk. If we talked back, we lost our front teeth. You know, if we, you know, there are times in our life we couldn't do certain things because the discipline was different. And then I'm I'm not saying discipline isn't important. I think it's very much needed in the world we're in. I think it's lacking some discipline, but I think there's a balance to it where we need to drop, you know, the autopilot routine and start allowing people to be who they are for who God created us to be. And we forget that we all were created um in God's image, not in the image our parent put on us, not in the culture we're born into, not into, you know, whatever it is that um we decided we're gonna be. It we gotta get into the word of God and be like, okay, what is our identity? What is it that God wants us to do and fulfill? If we're just stuck on autopilot and doing the same thing over and over again because it's what we were used to doing, you know, it's kind of like, you know, how you follow, have you ever watched ants? They just follow each other. Like, and and it's funny, it's like if there's a crack, one fill in, I think they'd all fall in the crack. Little ducklings do this. I've seen it, they fall into the ditch.

SPEAKER_01 27:41

And they'll follow each other.

SPEAKER_00 27:42

Yeah, they fall in one, and I'm like, you see one fall off, you would think, Well, hey, I ain't doing that. Nope. They follow, and the next one, and next thing you know, the fire department's got to come and get them out because they're on autopilot. And we operate sometimes like that in our in our lives, and we get stuck in um what we're doing on a daily basis. It's like, I'm just gonna continue to do this because it seems to be what works. And we don't ever step out on that faith that God wants us to step out on. We just stay stuck where it's comfortable. And I think sometimes that's where we end up getting ourselves into the pit because we're like, I'm right here, I'm comfortable here, and I'm not gonna go anywhere else. But God says to go. He sends us, he actually sends us out into the world to be superheroes, like Robin. We're supposed to be going out there, but we're like, nope, I'm comfortable right here. So I love that you brought that up because I didn't think about it until now, with my daughter telling me over the last few months, you know, mom, we don't live in that generation anymore. I'm like, well, you're still in my generation, so this is what applies, you know, you got to follow these rules. And she's like, no, mom, we actually don't. You know, and we talk about it, but she's really open to talking about it. And she makes some really good, she brings a lot of good points to the table. And I have to sit back and go, you know what? She's actually right. You know, I've been living on autopilot for so long that I think that the dishes have to go right here in the cupboard and they cannot go anywhere else. You know, you know, I'm very OCD because of the way I was raised. Does that make sense? And I think we get stuck in that. Oh, and I can't, it can be a problem.

Generational Patterns And Breaking Cycles

SPEAKER_01 29:11

I can't agree with you even more, especially where I grew up. My mom is my mom is super strict, like extremely she has a total OCD. Everything has to be exactly how she wanted it. If it wasn't, you'd get in a lot of trouble. Uh, and my dad is a very um quiet man, but a very tough man. Like, you he looks at you and you're like, okay, I'm gonna be in trouble. So he didn't he didn't have to say much. You know, mom was more of the yeller and uh and the disciplinary in the sense where she was the one who punished you and whatever. But you're right in what you said, Mickey. We grow up um or we're taught that way, to be that way, because that's where we're comfortable, that's what we know. We don't know anything else. Um, as I say, raising children doesn't come with a book. We just know what we're we're taught in the beginning and we take that. And now I'm not saying that everything our parents told us is is in any way a bad thing, but it's how we interpreted it. How we in our minds, how we thought it was, because in their minds it could be different the way they they were looking at us when we were kids. You know, their idea of punishment could be way different than what we think what punishment is. Like I would never punish my kids, or not my kids, my kids, my kids are now adults, grown adults, but I would never do 90% of the things that my parents did when I was growing up. Uh, but I I'm not gonna ever say that I did not have a great childhood. I had one of the best. Now both my parents were there. We did really cool things. I think that's what got me into the whole fandom stuff because he took my dad took us to movies on Wednesday. He bought me comic books, my mom. So it was always in that, you know, thing like that. But when I met, uh when we uh get taught, like you said, how to raise, we only know how to do that by our fathers, our parents. And uh a lot of them, they're not around. So we have to sort of fly by hand and say, okay, you know, because when my daughter was born, I held my daughter and said, Oh my god, we're in trouble now. Like, I am responsible for this living soul. Like, this is what God gave me right now. I have no idea what to do. None. And to be honest, I screwed up most of the time. But you you learn, right? And and and I guess that's also why when grandparents have their grandkids, they treat them a little different because we now know exactly what not to do or what to do. Um, so but yeah, I I agree with you totally. We uh we do get stuck in generational curses, and that's in everything in our mental, our physical, our work ideas, because if we see parents that don't do absolutely nothing all day, that's gonna be your mental state. Like, well, they sit home all day. Why do I have to go out there and do anything? Um, so those are all part of it. And also, as men, we're responsible for the head of the house. We are the figurehead. God gave us a big responsibility, more than people understand. When we meet God, I think we're gonna be just a little different when it comes to the head of the household. He really, God really, um, I think he really centers that because he is the head of our household. So he gave man, you know, to run his house as he loves us, we have to love our family, our wives, and all that. And uh we tend to screw that up a lot. Um I mean, you know, we all have our our differences and and stuff like that, but um, and also when it comes to marriage, you don't it doesn't come with a manual. You learn by what you see. Not everyone has two families and a mother and father in their home. Not everyone had a mother and father at home. At all. Um, so obviously, society and and situations make who you are, per se. But that doesn't mean you have to follow that. As Mickey said, we don't have to fall into that trap where our family is dysfunctional doesn't mean we have to be dysfunctional. And that's where God comes in, right? Because we are dysfunctional. We're born fully dysfunctional. We are full of sin, full of anger and jealousy from the minute we're born. And I think when we put God in the middle of all that, that all goes away. That all takes care of it, and you do start to realize that like you said, uh Bethany, that the yoke is like it's not as heavy as people think it is. It's not so difficult to love God and to accept Christ. It is, isn't, it's not a thing where there's instructions to it, right? The Bible is our instruction. The Bible is the book. That's where we have to read everything, right? But it's not such a crazy concept, right? Because if we read a book and we start to imagine it and we start to take that book into like our lives and we took it for real, it's what we function. As Christians, the Bible is our shield, our sword, our protection. And um, when you start to take all that into uh who you are and what you do, you start to see that the difference in what your parents were or your family, you start to see that difference. You start to see that you're no longer part of that culture, or what am I just, or that whole curse thing where you know parents were bad, we're bad, or whatever. It does happen, but I think we're all proofs of that we're not part of that generational curse because we're sitting here, we're talking, we're having conversations. We all could have been in a different world, we could have all been different things and and and different roads, and and but God put us into one road, into center of him. So um, that's a that's a great thing. I didn't even think of that either, Mickey, about the generational curse. About, you know, when I mentioned that, you know, because Spanish people were you know, men are we don't cry, we don't we don't do any of that. That's not what we're you know, we are the tough guys, we're the ones that our kids are supposed to, we carry everything, and um that's what God wants to be, he wants to carry everything, and uh so but yeah, so uh um so I have a another question, but I think it's we actually answered three of the questions we had, they actually all went into each other, so it would be asking if we were repetitive, but the last one, and and then we can just go from there and and and um just talk a little bit. But here, do you think struggle and busyness plays a bigger role than rebellion in drifting spiritually? So, do you think that being busy plays a bigger role in your rebellion per se in making God the second, or or what is the struggle that makes God the uh sidekick, or you know, or is it rebellion when you do that? Are you actually rebelling on purpose, or are you it's something you're not noticing and you're just drifting away? So I leave that to you guys to sort of talk about that a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 36:08

Do you want to tackle that one first, Bethany? Sure, sure.

Choices, Busyness, And Spiritual Drift

SPEAKER_03 36:13

Um you know, as I've um really gotten into focusing on my daily routine, um I've really come to understand how vitally important it is to at least at the very least acknowledge God before giving up. Because, and this is just my hoping in my view, if we don't take that time, and we don't need to spend hours doing that right away, but if we don't take that time to acknowledge God, then I do believe that Satan notices that, and that's when all the distractions and all the temptations come up and all the busyness, and we get into a cycle where it's like since I didn't choose to acknowledge God first, I'm in this cycle now, and I need to choose to get out of it, which is through prayer, through acknowledging God then. But um when it comes to, you know, distractions and that, I do believe that under ordinary circumstances we need to focus on our choices. We need to understand that yes, our choices do have consequences. And so, you know, when we when we talk about um, like I say, distractions and all that and business and that, I would just continue to say that we need to focus on our choices, focus on how we're starting our days, how we're ending our days. And it for me personally, it has been truly transformational. Before I started a continual routine of those two specific prayer times, my overnights were horrible. Insomuch that there were dreams that I would have that now looking at it, I realized they were not from God. Even though they seem to be like they were from God, they were not. I'm forgetting the Bible verse reference right now, but um there is a verse that talks about Satan being transformed into an angel of light. And as I even study that verse more, I understand now that if we don't take time to acknowledge God before we go to sleep each night, that potentially is inviting Satan to make havoc on our dreams, and so I apologize for the long um explanation here, but that that's how I see awesome.

SPEAKER_01 41:23

And we can talk forever. Uh, we you are our guest. You are that's why we got you here to share what you have in your in your heart and in your soul because that blesses us and blesses anyone that's listening. Uh, you are an inspiration for sure. Um, so yeah, that question uh itself is also for the people who are listening. Um, and then there's a I created an audience question, but I guess it's gonna be for us as well. Uh, it says, uh, what is one area of your life right now where your faith has taken a back seat, and which is one step you can take this week to change it? Right? So I will leave that to it and I will leave it to the end for me. But um, that's a question for the audience and for um uh us here. Uh again, you know, what area in your life where has faith taken a back seat? And what what steps are you gonna take this week for that to change? So whoever wants to answer that one first.

SPEAKER_00 42:24

That's a crazy question because when we think about distractions, one one thing I wanted to point out real quick about that, um, going with your last question as well, is distractions rarely look dangerous, they look um enjoyable, they look productive, they look comforting. Um, and the shift doesn't even happen overnight. It usually starts you start making small compromises, and then um you'll like, oh, I'm gonna do this, I'll pray later, or I'm gonna do my scripture later. You know, because you're distracted with something else. And then honestly, distractions end up becoming a stronghold. Um, well, they are a stronghold. When they start feeding you more than God feeds you, then they have a stronghold on you. That's why I have, you know, Crusty Strongholds podcast, because strongholds are so powerful, people have no idea what's literally got a grip of them and holding them back from our God-given purpose. And so, like when you're going into that question, when you think about what God is doing in our life right now, um, you a lot of you know my story, you know where I'm at with my grandmother. Um, it's easy to be distracted in that. But I have to wake up every day and I'm just thankful that I have her every day. And so I try to keep that as a main focus. But it's easy when you're doing the laundry and you're changing the bedding and you're, you know, you're going through your routines to um shift into that's your priority over God sometimes. And sometimes you have to just take a step back and go take a sit down at Jesus' feet and be like, you know what, today's a hard day. Yesterday was a hard day for me. And, you know, I had to make a big decision. I had to put my grandma in hospice yesterday. It was a really hard day for me. So I was like, wow, I thought it was gonna be a piece of cake. You know, everybody showed up and I was like, oh, they're just gonna do an assessment. And when the two nurses went in, they said, we're gonna go in and we're gonna do the assessment on your grandma. And they did everything for me. And it was nice kind of watching somebody else do it. But they were struggling, and it was two of them doing what I could do every single day by myself. And they were like, How are you doing this alone? What are you doing by your why are you doing this all by yourself? And I realized I had pride on me that really kicked me in the High den. I was like, talk about a distraction. The enemy was allowing me to be stuck in my pride and thinking I can do this all by myself, you know, maybe in the in the hot seat. And and God was like, you know, you want to know why your back's hurting. You want to know why you look tired every day. You want to know why you're not feeling as chipper as you usually are. It's because you're doing the work of two and three people and you're not letting anyone help you. And so they said, You she definitely needs to be on hospice. And I I really wasn't going to put her on hospice. I just told her doctor, I said, Yeah, I'll let them come in and do an assessment and then they can leave. Nope. She went right on hospice yesterday. And they were like, What are you doing? Why has she not been on hospice? You know, she's like, You've been doing a great job, but my gosh, you have to be tired. And I was like, You have no idea how much I need a nap right now. Seriously. I was like, I can you guys are taking care of her, I can go take a nap right now. But we get distracted by that and and we forget that um we allow that to interfere with who we are as people. And it does consume us, pride consumes us, the enemy consumes us. Those are the distractions. And it's felt, you know, at first when you're going through the motions, you're like, oh, this is a piece of cake. And then one more thing is added, and you're like, oh, it's okay, just one more thing. It's okay, one more thing, just one more thing. And that's one more thing that takes you one more step further from God, if you think about it. You know, I'm doing so much, putting so much on my plate sometimes with my grandma and not getting help from that, that I'm not giving that time to God when I should be giving it to God. God wants me to give me that rest. He wants me to feel, he wants me to have his strength. But if I'm not taking it from him, I'm using, you know, you know the um the scripture where it talks about keeping your oil lamps full. You need to keep them filled up because if you don't have anything, you have nothing left to give. You know, and so it's so important that we do that. And right now, for like for myself, that's kind of where I'm at. So, but I know Bethany, you have you know a lot on your plate as well with everything you you've been going through. You just finished your challenges last week. It was good, by the way. I was able to catch up, catch on some of those, but um um, yeah, what is it that God's working on you, you know, as far as being distracted right now and where are you going with it?

A Question For Listeners: Where Is Faith Backseat?

SPEAKER_03 46:47

Yes, that's that's a great um discussion topic and question. And it's amazing because how often have I gotten so distracted with, you know, um social media or, you know, maybe even comparing myself to others and the Lord has just been saying, No, I I will use you as I see fit for you to be used. Don't compare yourself to others, and I spent nineteen years feeling like no, like I should have stayed horribly silent and you know, just stay to myself and not let anybody in. But God really got a hold of me and now I'm living out finally what he has called me to do without feeling like, oh, I have to live up to this person's expectations or that person's, or you know, do things like they do it. And if I don't do it that way, then it must be wrong, and I have to be me. And I believe God is blessing me for that. Um, and so it's been a really train experience to be able to recognize okay, I can't change what has happened to me as far as uh ventilator damage, but I have a choice and I'm going to choose to allow God to speak to me. And regardless of whether audio transcription, you know, correctly pets up my what I'm saying, because I I know what I'm saying, and I'm doing my best to speak as clearly as I physically can. And so it's like I say, it's been a truly free experience, and I am so looking forward to continuing on.

Pride, Caregiving, And Accepting Help

SPEAKER_01 50:31

First of all, you sound great. Don't even worry about it. You clear, we understand what you're saying. So you are God put you here for a purpose, and you are fulfilling that purpose, and we all sometimes don't agree that we are, we don't feel we are, but God knows that we are, and and how we do it in our hearts, and and that we fully give everything that we are to Him. Um, be it the podcast, be it our lives, you know, grandma, mom, all these things you have to give to God, right? We we we don't control their health, we don't control their mental, we don't do any of that. We can only ask God to please give them peace of mind, let them know that you're there and you are let it carry them, and your grace and love will always be there. Uh for me, uh, what's taking a uh my face taking a back seat, I have to say it's been my content creation. I've literally focused so much on trying to get things out and stuff like that. I forget that the foundation of what I'm doing is God, is Christ. And that's my purpose. My purpose is to show God, show people that God is real, salvation is necessary. It is something that we either we're really wrong or we're really right. And I am not taking that chance to be really wrong. So, you know what? I'd rather get in there, like they say, by the skin of my teeth, and get in there than just lack lack of daisily, just say, okay, if I do, I do. If I'm a good person and I'll go, but that's not what we're here to do. God says, you know, the Bible says we're here to make, you know, fishing, we're fishermen of men and of people. We're here to give, we can't keep this down. We have to share it in any way we can. It be in voices, it'll be in music, it'll be in animation, it could be in anything that we do. Uh, God should always be at least part of it. Um uh, you know, because I'm a big fan of music. I love any type of music. It doesn't matter if it's heavy metal to hymnals. I love all types. And I love Christian music that isn't overly cheesy, and people understand when I say cheesy. I like that makes you think. It's not necessarily Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, but it does bring things there that are life, suicide, mental health, things that but there's um a foundation of God there. And that's the way I try to do everything I do. I don't I always said that this podcast was about just talking about fan stuff, stuff we like, comic books, uh, anime, movies, music. But that it does not, that God is in that, in everything we do, in everything we see, imagination. And I always say that God is the most creative being ever. He created this beautiful, amazing earth. And the Bible says he made us in his image. So if he made us in his image, that means he gave us that creation mentality, that that vision. Now, not everyone takes the vision the right way, but there are people that do take the vision to where God wants it to be. Now, and in that vision, we can get blinded, and that's where we blind, and we get so focused on the vision that we forget the foundation. And that's where I am right now. I'm focusing more on my foundation so that when things start happening, and a lot of things are gonna be happening with this podcast, with a lot of things that are in uh happening. But I want to focus on that foundation that makes sure that God is there, and that if anything doesn't work out, I know it's because God didn't want it to happen, or if it collapses, that means God, the foundation either wasn't there or God said, No, I'm gonna knock it down, I'm gonna rebuild it. Because we all go through the forge, right? We all have to go through the fire, but that's how we learn. So, um, again, Bethany, thank you so much for being on this show. I I mean it's a blessing for us. Um, like I said, I've never thought that I would have hope uh guests on my show. I've always been a one-person show, and then once God blessed me, me and Mickey, and we both got together and um decided to let's do this crazy podcast together and this crazy adventure. Um, it's been it's been a blessing. It's been an amazing experience. I've met some amazing people, Juan, Bethany, you and and and Wanda, and all those people that I've met so far are people that have blessed my life. And uh so I see that as I'm being a little uh I could selfish because I do take this podcast uh or whoever I talk to, I take it as a I want to keep that blessing for me in a way because I take everyone I speak to, when I speak to Mickey, when I speak to you, Bethany, or anyone else, I I believe every conversation, um, you can take something from it, be it good, be it bad. Um, you know, all conversations are not wasted. We shouldn't waste conversations. Um, our breath is very important, our minds are very important. So, Bethany, um, please let us know what um where they can find you, what you knew, uh, all your um social media platforms where we can find you. I will put everything in the description uh for the video. Um, but just you know, say where we can find you and and and look you up.

SPEAKER_03 55:49

Yes, um, and even if you go to um Mickey's Facebook page, I think she has um several of our um episodes, podcast episodes on there. Um yes, I am on Facebook, and yes, I do have a website, it um created in his image.com, but between each word is a dash, so created dash in dash his dash image.com. Um and yeah, I would love to connect with anyone who is watching or listening to this episode, and um I thank you again for the invitation to be a part of it.

SPEAKER_01 57:04

And so you're all that welcome, and you're welcome anytime on this show or any other shows that we are uh working on. Uh Mickey, I know you have a lot going on, and uh I want you to have your chance to share that as well.

SPEAKER_00 57:19

Yeah, so I well, as you guys know, I have um I've been doing five podcasts, but I wanted to go back to Bethany real quick. Um, I didn't want to like leave this out because I think it's super important. Bethany, will you tell people with your website kind of what it is that you do and what you offer? Because I think that's really important to um, I want us to share that on this podcast. We can get that out.

Comparison Traps And Calling

SPEAKER_03 57:39

Yes, thank you for that opportunity. Um my website is really geared, devoted to anyone who is feeling like they're less than or they're wondering why their life is the way it is. Um I do use my testimony as the foundation for my website, and I do offer one coaching program currently that helps people who are going through emotional trauma. They're trying to figure out why in the world is there so much negativity and what what's that all about? And you know, since God created the universe, and why did he watch with all the evil and all that? And so I do have a culture program that takes people through starting with the foundation of that, answering that question, and then for the other 11 weeks, it's a 12-week program. The other 11 weeks goes to one attribute of God each week, and we understand most Christians understand that there are more than 11 attributes of God, but I do offer those in a bonus to my program. And you know, by the end of that program, people who have gone through it, they understand it better. You know, what why there is evil, why there is negativity, why and God is not to blame for that. That's another for another topic for another day. Um but then, you know, people when they go through my program, they see how that God's true character just is revealed. And they can understand that they don't have to live with that pit in their stomach or that, you know, the clouded mind, or just uh things that keep people up at night, literally, and they can recognize that there is freedom. Yes, the world is going the way of the Bible, it's happening right before our eyes, and yet God does want us to live abundantly, and that does not mean just materialistically either. He wants us to live in Christians in the authority that he has given us. And so God has given me a clear mental picture that keeps me going, and it's of Christians living in abundance here on earth where they realize that okay, I understand more clearly now that where negativity and evil come from, and I understand who God is more clearly now, and so my reactions are better, and like I say, there's not a pit in the stomach, there's not restless night overnights because God does want us to have restful sleep. He doesn't want us to be awake at night, he doesn't want us to be tossing and turning and having difficulty, he wants to bless us with restful, refreshing sleep. And so, yes, my program does focus, does help people bring freedom, does help them understand that the Holy Spirit and the Trinity, as was said, they come together to set people free. So if there if there are people listening and watching this, I would encourage you. You can have freedom, and freedom is found in God. And intentionally taking time to understand things, to not just take people's words for it, but to truly discover for yourself. And that is one reason I'm so grateful for this age of technology, because we can meet with people around the world because of Zoom and because of other platforms, and have that connection. And so it, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:49

That was awesome. Thank you for giving us that description um of your website. And also, if you go in and sign up on Bethany's email, she offers you a free book and she's got um really good Bible studies on there that she offers. They're really good. I've I've purchased a couple of them myself and I've gone through them. Um she she they're very inexpensive for the time and um work that she puts into them. And so it's definitely worth going in and checking out her website. Definitely do it. So, and for myself, I I run Crushing Strongholds podcast. Um, Bethany and Bethany and I um we do Truth Be Told, and then we have um Faith Builders, and then I do Until My Watch is Over, which is about dementia um and awareness and you know um how to prevent dementia. But um, with all that being said, um, what a great episode, you guys. This is wonderful.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:41

This was amazing. This was one of the, like I said, I we keep going on talking about God for hours, right? And it's just it's it's when you love God that much that it's fun talking about Him, right? It's it's it's uh uh an interesting thing. So again, um my name is Javier. Um, we are part of this podcast, the Compass Chronicles podcast is part of the main ministry, which is Grace and Grind Ministries. We have um a social media, we're on all social media platforms. Uh we also have the Sasquatch Syndicate Studio, which is my digital platform where I create music. I will do logos, I will help people out with their podcasts, whatever they may need. Uh, I also have uh books available. Everything can be found on GraceandBrime Ministries.com. You can email us there, you can send us a Below questions you may have. All the information is going to be inside the description. You can always reach out to any of us if you have any questions. You can DM us, you can message us. We're here to talk about God. And we have if you need resources or where we can point you to to where you can learn about God or have a place area where you need to speak to God. We're here, we will pray for you, we will love you no matter who you are, what you are. We love you, we care for you. And again, thank you for everyone who's listening and who has watching the Compass Chronicles podcast. We are excited to move forward with all these things that are happening in 2026. So, again, thank you everyone for being on. Mickey, as always, thank you so much. And Bethany, thank you. You have been a blessing, and we're definitely gonna have you on. There's a lot of things going on. So, again, everyone, thank you so much for listening, and I hope everyone has a blessed, blessed week. God bless.