057 - Overcoming Lies and Embracing The Truth with Madeline Primrose

In this episode Madeline Primrose, a passionate traveler and follower of Jesus shares her experiences of traveling around the world, connecting with people, and how her adventures have deepened her faith. She emphasizes the importance of flexibility in travel plans, the joy of meeting strangers, and the lessons learned from nature. Madeline reflects on how her travels are not just about seeing new places but also about experiencing God in everyday life and the beauty of creation. In this conversation, McKenzie Smith and Madeline Primrose explore the themes of mindfulness in nature, personal valleys of growth, and the tools necessary for overcoming lies and embracing truth. They discuss the importance of being present in nature, the struggles of identity during challenging times, and the practical steps one can take to discern truth from lies in their lives. 

Connect with Primmy: 

Instagram: @primmyrimmy

Youtube: @primmyrimmy

Her playlists on Spotify

The Balance of Gray
God, doubt, and proof walk into a podcast... it goes better than you’d expect!

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The Signpost Inn Podcast
Find peace, clarity, and companionship for your spiritual journey.

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Chapters

• 11:42 [Ad] The Balance of Gray
• 12:32 (Cont.) 057 - Overcoming Lies and Embracing The Truth with Madeline Primrose
• 27:42 [Ad] The Signpost Inn Podcast
• 28:28 (Cont.) 057 - Overcoming Lies and Embracing The Truth with Madeline Primrose

Transcript

McKenzie Smith (00:02)
On today's episode of My Valley, His Victory, we have Madeline Permrose, also known as primmy on Instagram. She has been traveling almost nonstop since graduating high school. Last year, she spent six months out of the country traveling around the world. She lives in Oklahoma when she is not going on adventures. She's never been on a formal missions trip, but because she loves to follow Jesus, every outing is an opportunity. And social media is one of her favorite ways to make an international connection with people.

Thanks so much for being with us today, Primmy

Madeline Primrose (00:34)
Thanks so much. This is my first podcast, so I'm pretty excited.

McKenzie Smith (00:38)
Heck yeah.

It'll be a fun time. So yeah, Pramit, go ahead and just share a little bit more with yourself. Pramit, go ahead and share just a little bit more about yourself with our listeners and who you are.

Madeline Primrose (00:42)
yeah.

So I am known as PrimmyRimmy on Instagram, which is just so kind of random and fun. I only started having a following there because of some mutual, like some friends of mine who were famous and just being around them, people started following me. So it really felt like a, I don't know, just this group of, this little community online that started following me and.

The more I talked about Jesus, the more questions people had for me. So I love to share about my travels and answer people's questions and things like that. But mainly just use it to connect with people. Obviously it connected me to you. so that's something I love to do in person or online is connect with people and build.

communities and all that kind of stuff that's like one of my favorite things and I just love Jesus and I love the creation that he's made for us. It's so incredible and I mean every day is an adventure, but it's definitely adventure when you're outside or you're on a mountain or you're in the ocean or something like that. yeah, that's where I love to encounter God.

McKenzie Smith (02:06)
Yeah, I love in your bio that you put that you've never been on a formal mission trip, but every every outing is an opportunity. And I think that that's just such a great outlook to have. We don't have to be on mission like, you know, as a job or as an event. It's like, we are called to be on mission every day. And so I think that's really cool that you put that in your bio.

Madeline Primrose (02:26)
Right.

McKenzie Smith (02:31)
You also shared that you spent last year kind of traveling the world. That's really vague. So tell me a little bit more. Where did you go?

Madeline Primrose (02:36)
Yeah, it's because I was kind of all over it's hard to put it in a quick list

and Something I'll know about the missions trip thing is whenever I tell somebody I'm going on a trip or if I tell like another believer I'm going on a trip. They always ask me is an emissions trip and I'm like no, but yes like I'm not I'm not

McKenzie Smith (02:59)
you

Madeline Primrose (03:01)
going there specifically to serve people. This is like purely for fun and I love traveling. But because I follow Jesus, it's just always, like the ladies sitting next to me on a plane or on a train, I might become friends with them. And I've done that before and gone and stayed with ladies I've met on trains. I mean, there's so many opportunities. anyway, that's all I'll say on the missions trip thing. But what was the second?

McKenzie Smith (03:28)
Yeah, you said that you've traveled the world in the last year. Let's beg, give us more.

Madeline Primrose (03:29)
Question. yes. Okay, so

it is vague. I spent, let's see, like maybe two months in California, almost two months in Hawaii, staying with a friend who was there, and she was staying with some family friends that ultimately became my friends with this ministry called Ekbalo, which was awesome.

helped a few times on their coffee farm, which was super cool. And they just run a ministry in the south point of Hawaii. It's beautiful. It's just. Hawaii is like a big stage of the Lord's creation. You have the mountains, you have the stars, you have the ocean. I mean, the flowers, the food, it's incredible. And then I went to. Europe for almost four months.

McKenzie Smith (04:10)
Yeah.

Madeline Primrose (04:25)
I went all over the place, so I went to a lot of Western Europe. I went to France, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Czech Republic.

I think that's it. I don't know. We went through random countries while on trains. So I kind of went all over the place and mainly just we were there to help my friend learn French some. So we spent a lot of time in France and then just kind of visit a lot of the people I know over there and then just travel around. So we just backpacked and spent so many hours on trains and it was awesome. I loved it. It was so much fun.

McKenzie Smith (05:10)
Yeah, when you went, was there a set plan, like a set timeline? Like I'm gonna go on this day, I'm gonna fly home on this day, and I want to go to these 10 countries? Or was it we're going, we're not sure, you know, how long this is gonna last? Yeah.

Madeline Primrose (05:26)
So

it was kind of both. had a flight into Europe and out of Europe, so we knew when we were leaving, approximately. But we did buy one so that we could change it if needed. And then we had a plan for the first month. And then nine days before our flight, the lady who was going to host us for the first month canceled. And it was going to be a work exchange.

And she was just a little older and she just got her dates mixed up and I could tell she was really sorry and it was really extremely inconvenient, but it was okay. We just contacted just about everybody we knew in Europe and had this really Frankensteined plan. But we still spent the first three weeks, I would say in France and then went to Belgium and the Netherlands and we would have never done that if this lady wouldn't have canceled and we.

McKenzie Smith (06:02)
you

Madeline Primrose (06:22)
met so many awesome people over there and had a lot of fun thrifting in Belgium. So there were definitely benefits to our plans being rerouted. you know, we were just kind of like, well, maybe we don't we don't have to know, but the Lord could be in on this and we're just supposed to be somewhere else. And that's that's the way it worked out. So we had a really cool our second.

our second or maybe like third week that we were in France, had stayed with, this is like so crazy, we stayed with a friend's, I talked to my friend's mom and my friend's mom connected me with her nephew and we stayed with him, who I'd never met before, in the south of France and it was awesome and he had told us this story the last night about how he had felt the Lord tell him that he wasn't gonna be able to go to his friend's wedding and.

He was just like, I don't know why, but I feel like it's really strongly the Lord's telling me this. It ended up where the day of the wedding was the day that we needed someone to host us. And so he just kind of encouraged us, hey, the Lord had your plans figured out. And he was already kind of like alerting the troops, you know, like he was letting us know before you even knew that the plans were being shaken up. So we felt really encouraged, even though it went completely differently. So, yeah.

McKenzie Smith (07:29)
Thank

Yeah.

Yeah. Okay. So, so a little bit of plans, but plans got shaken up and you had, you had a return flight. So you knew kind of at least the extent of how long you were going to be there. Okay.

Madeline Primrose (07:52)
Absolutely.

Yes, yes. And then the last

two months, my, I had some family members fly out and visit us, so those two weeks were like set in stone. We didn't have to worry about those. And after, we had just kind of said, maybe we'll visit your friends in Austria, and then we'll definitely stay with a friend of mine in Switzerland. And we just kind of randomly, we'd pick the day off of our train ticket, and we threw in a little trip to the Czech Republic in there, and you know, so anyway.

McKenzie Smith (08:26)
Yeah.

How in the world did you have friends in Switzerland? From Instagram?

Madeline Primrose (08:27)
It was lopsided.

Okay, it's kind of, so the same

friend who I contacted about, the same friend's mom who I contacted to stay with the nephew. This is like, so my web of connections is so broad. That friend had met this Swiss lady, her name is Myrta, and she is absolutely, if there's anything, if there's anyone in the world that should be nominated a saint, I'm not even Catholic, but if anyone should be nominated a saint, it's Myrta.

McKenzie Smith (08:42)
Yeah

Yeah

Madeline Primrose (09:01)
And she had been connected with her through her family's house church and she had just offered, hey, I know you're going on a big international trip. I live in Switzerland. If you'd like, you're welcome to stay with me. And my friend was staying in Greece at the time and I was there with her in Greece and we were like, we're close to all these other countries. Where should we go? And she was like, I had a Swiss lady offer her house. we went with a big group to Mirta's house and

She's just incredible, so I knew I had to go back and visit her. And right now I have a two-year streak going where I've seen her the last two years. So I might have to go to Switzerland again and see her because I adore her.

McKenzie Smith (09:43)
Yeah, that's super sweet. I love when strangers are just willing to open their house to people because they like...

Madeline Primrose (09:52)
my gosh, yeah.

McKenzie Smith (09:54)
It just restores my faith in humanity again whenever I hear stories like this because I think in America we are so like, there's no way I would invite a stranger into my house. you know, yeah, we just, have opportunities to bless people if we're willing to step out of our comfort zone a little bit. I know there's a lot.

Madeline Primrose (09:57)
totally.

Right. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah. And she's just this,

she's just a single older woman who was just like, sure. And she made food for us every night and she made breakfast for us in the morning. There's this stuff called birre misli. She would make, she would laugh at the way I just said that, but it's like this oatmeal fruit nut conglomeration and it's so good. And she'd make it every morning for us. I mean, just above and beyond. And she...

McKenzie Smith (10:23)
what a blessing.

Madeline Primrose (10:40)
She's a crazy woman of faith. That's what she is. Yeah.

McKenzie Smith (10:43)
Yeah,

yeah, I love it. I love it. I just love hearing those stories and like you're saying, you know, you never know who you're going to meet on a plane or train or, you know, you just have to have to turn over and say hello and just yeah. So.

Madeline Primrose (10:54)
Yeah.

McKenzie Smith (10:58)
You said that you travel and for people that travel, never know exactly quite what that means to the specific person. So tell me like what your must haves or must dos whenever you're traveling, like what gets you excited about visiting a new place?

Madeline Primrose (11:15)
Okay, let's see When I travel it's definitely not a vacation usually like I'm not resting I'm staying up really late like we would walk around Paris late at night because the whole city is awake and so It's so fun, you know, so things like that where I'm not going to bed early I'm not sleeping in I'm waking up early to catch a train. I am

McKenzie Smith (11:40)
you

Madeline Primrose (11:45)
showering in very random places. I have three outfits to choose from. I've like somehow I only have three outfits to choose from, but my bag is still 30 pounds and I'm walking with it everywhere. I mean, you know, just it really only got that heavy because I would collect things to make a scrapbook and I was drifting so it would have never passed that but it did. So traveling for me, I would say definitely traveling for me is

McKenzie Smith (12:04)
Yeah

Cough

Madeline Primrose (12:15)
Eating the food, I love eating the food. It's staying with someone who lives there. That's like a big part of it for me, because I want to see the daily life. I want to go to their grocery store. I want to go with them and do errands and, you know, just be in being in a family culture that's from a different country is just always so fun. And I would say.

I mean, just walking the cities, especially Europe. Europe's super walkable, at least all the places that we were. So walking around and just seeing it all, stopping and getting maybe a bite of food, or a lot of the time we'd go to the grocery store and get food, because it's cheaper. We love the girl I traveled with, her name was Haley, and she and I both love history, so we want to go to all the museums, we want to see the historical sites, and then...

we did a bunch of hiking. every place that we were, a lot of places that we were, if they had any kind of hills, we were going on a walk or a hike or something like that because, or when there was the ocean, we were sitting next to the ocean. So whatever the nature is in that area, we're totally getting into it. So that's definitely why Switzerland was a fave, right? Because it's just gorgeous, lots of hiking. But I would say like,

McKenzie Smith (13:34)
Yeah.

Madeline Primrose (13:37)
We love seeing the big cities just as much as we loved seeing the rural areas or like hiking areas or just outdoorsy. So we did a good amount of both of those for this trip, although I don't always do that. Sometimes I'll just pick one or the other. But yeah, it was a good amount of both. Like we really spent a lot of time in cities and we also spent a lot of time out in the boonies out in the middle of nowhere. So it was super fun.

McKenzie Smith (14:04)
Yeah. Did you, I know you said that you like, you know, being involved in the daily life and staying with strangers. Does that make you nervous at all? Like, is there any part of that that made you nervous or any part of it that maybe you had about experience?

Madeline Primrose (14:12)
Mm-hmm.

There was

only one place we stayed our first 10 days in France, which is kind of like, you're really, we're really hopping into it. That was the only place that they were a hundred percent strangers. didn't have a mutual friend and all the other places either we knew personally or we knew maybe their aunt or somebody like that. And those first 10 days were great. We used work away to connect with them. So we were doing a work exchange and that will always

McKenzie Smith (14:41)
Yeah.

Madeline Primrose (14:50)
be one of my top three things from that trip because just gardening for them, the soil was so rich. It smelled so good. And we just would garden for like three hours in the morning while it was still cool. And then when we were done, we would go and we would walk to a nearby town or we'd go on a hike or we'd whatever. And it's definitely, it's definitely weird being in someone else's family culture, especially when they're random and

McKenzie Smith (15:00)
Okay.

Madeline Primrose (15:19)
I usually stay with believers because I just, I know them and I know we're gonna share some similar values. So, but the family I stayed with was so sweet and if there are any problems, then the company that we went with will help us with that. I mean, the weirdest thing was definitely just listening to government, their like Francis policies for when you have a child and like how soon you spend time away from the child and stuff like that. There was definitely some,

The learning about those things is super interesting, but it's way more normal for both parents to work, and the kids are very separated from the parents very early. They're put on a very strict government set regimen for food and times of play and things like that. just learning about random cultural things like that can be super interesting. And it is the...

the possibility of entering some random person's house and adhering to their family culture and the way you submit to their family culture. And we didn't have any problems. So that was really good. And the boy that we who was like, I think he was seven or eight who we hung out with and just babysat basically during the day. He was really sweet. He was so sweet. We still think about him, Sean. So anyway.

McKenzie Smith (16:28)
Yeah.

That's awesome. Yeah, I feel like those stories can go one of two ways. Either you have the weirdest, craziest experience or they're great.

Madeline Primrose (16:50)
Absolutely. We have too

many grandmothers and people in our lives praying over us. We really weren't worried. We really weren't worried. And it was so perfectly, we felt like it was from the Lord too because the dates that this family had put on their little section of the website of We Need Help were exactly the dates we needed. And we found them just like a few days before we left. So I was like, I feel like this is a good, it was the only one who had.

availability so so we felt like it was from the Lord and if it wasn't from the Lord my grandma was praying so so I was covered I was covered I will say

McKenzie Smith (17:29)
That's funny. I don't know who said it, but I had listened to a lot of different podcasts and somebody somewhere said, you know, everyone thinks that there's going to be these missionaries who get the gold medals in heaven, but really it's going to be the praying grandmas. Just those sweet little ladies that nobody knows who they are, but they are prayer warriors. It was probably Jonathan Bacluda if I had to guess because I probably listen him the most,

Madeline Primrose (17:44)
Yeah, it's so true. It's so true. Yeah.

McKenzie Smith (17:56)
Anyways, so kind of talk to us about how these travels and you know, know you said you love being out in nature, kind of how those things play a role in your relationship with Christ.

Madeline Primrose (18:09)
Well.

I think Jesus is a very adventurous God. Doing life with him is an adventure. And there's the verse that says something along the lines of those who walk with the Spirit are like the wind, or like the wind, those who walk with the Spirit, and you don't know where it's coming from, you don't know where it's going. it's kind of, life is just like that, you know, with the Lord sometimes. We don't know exactly where we're going.

but we know like kind of who's directing us even though we don't know where. It's like the line leader, like you don't know where the line leader's headed, but you're following them. so going on adventures and traveling is just kind of a, I don't know, it's like a big, it's a big trust exercise. It's a big patience exercise. I mean, there's always an opportunity.

There's always an opportunity to be mad and upset and nothing's going your way and you know what, that happened. That happens plenty. But I mean, it's kinda, when you put yourself in a high stress situation, it's really an opportunity to submit something to the Lord or practice your patience or those fruits of the spirit, whatever you have really starts showing when you need to catch a train. And I think,

The big piece for me is when Haley and I would go hiking or we'd go hiking with people and spending time in nature. that is always so like thought provoking for us. We would walk something fun about having a friend like Haley is you can be in silence with each other and you're still like together. So we would walk in silence for the first three hours of a hike. And then when we'd sit and we would eat our hamburger patties mid hike, cause that was ours.

hiking snack. don't know. It was awesome. We would just kind of like have all the have all these things. Either the Lord was speaking to us or we were processing and we'd be able to just lay it out and we'd look around. We'd look up from our conversation. We are in the most beautiful place we've ever seen in Switzerland and you just feel so humbled and I think traveling and especially hiking, being outdoors, seeing the beauty of creation is so humbling and you feel so small and you're like

the Lord is so big and I am so small and I am I'm so little compared to him and it's just I I don't know I feel like it's just a humbling experience overall and that's something I love about the the giganticness of mountains or the ocean or something like that so I think that all of that it it embodies this adventure

that we have with Christ, just our day-to-day walk with Christ and how it's an adventure. And then also for me, it's humbling and it just shows, it just kind of can reveal the things in your heart really quickly when you're stressed out or you're impatient. So that's what traveling does and yeah.

McKenzie Smith (21:21)
Yeah.

Yeah, I think that's... I want to use the word cute, but it's just so cute. I never thought about it that way. But like, every day is an adventure with God and it's... that's just so true. And it is. Like, we can make the plans and we can, you know, know the route and we can know, you know, this is where we're supposed to go on this hike. But it's like, we don't know the journey to get there sometimes. Like, we don't know what that's going to look like. And so...

Madeline Primrose (21:37)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Right, yeah.

McKenzie Smith (21:56)
I mean, yeah, that's a good, that's a good, good thought there. I've never had anybody say that. my mind's just spinning on how true that is right now. but, but yeah, and then, you know, you saying like, whenever you're, I would say, you know, just push to say out of your comfort zone, it doesn't even have to be traveling, but traveling for sure pushes people out of their comfort zone. You have language barriers, you have to figure out public transportation. You have to, you know, figure out with

Madeline Primrose (22:05)
I love that. I love that.

Mm-hmm.

Absolutely.

McKenzie Smith (22:26)
figure out things that are just not part of your everyday life. Like those types of situations, you're right, are very quick to show us some of the things that are in our hearts because it's easier to control when we kind of have our set day and we know this is our schedule and we know that these are the normal things that we're going to encounter. But whenever you step into a place where you have no idea what you're going to encounter and you have no idea how you're even going to communicate what you need if you do get into a situation because people don't speak the same language.

Madeline Primrose (22:36)
Absolutely.

Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

McKenzie Smith (22:56)
like but I will say this I went to I

Madeline Primrose (22:56)
my gosh. French people, they are picky too. They're so picky.

McKenzie Smith (23:02)
went to Europe in 2020 right as like the Italian borders were getting shut down for COVID I was in I was in Italy leaving and the

Madeline Primrose (23:10)
well.

McKenzie Smith (23:15)
I have to say that because people are like, you went in 2020? Yeah, I was there right as kind of all this was unfolding. And thankfully I made it back and it was just on the early enough side of, you know, was the first country shutting down and was able to get home. I felt like such.

Madeline Primrose (23:21)
it all happened. gosh yes.

McKenzie Smith (23:33)
This is gonna sound silly, but I felt like such a loser. Like every single person over there, like they would speak to you in their language and then you'd be like, no, like, sorry, I don't understand. They all knew English and they all knew like four or five different languages. And I'm like, I'm like, man, like, why do we, I feel like, you know, not a lot of people in the U.S. know multiple different languages. Like we just expect people to know our language. And I was like, man, like.

Madeline Primrose (23:49)
That's really humbling.

Man, this

is kinda awkward.

McKenzie Smith (24:04)
Yeah, I was like, I definitely came back and I was like, wow, like, it's crazy how many different languages they speak. you know, they're, they're kind of, mean, Europe is a lot of different countries, even though they kind of should be states, like, they're kind of like the US where, you know, they're

Madeline Primrose (24:20)
Mm-hmm. They'd probably be mad

if they heard us say that. But it's true, I- I-

McKenzie Smith (24:24)
Yeah, I know. but do you know what I mean? Like we we

all speak the same language here and it's like in Europe every country would be like every state in the US having a different language and so they're probably used to having to communicate with different languages a little bit more. But I definitely had that moment of like, man, I feel like a fool. Like, because all these people are able to help me. But like, I wouldn't be able to do jack for anybody.

Madeline Primrose (24:32)
Right. Right.

I can't help them. Yeah, uh-uh.

No, it's so annoying. It's so hard because you learn some phrase in French or wherever, whatever country, whatever language you're learning, and you try to order something. I can't even remember. I can't even remember what I would say when I would ask to order something. But of course, they hear you say it.

McKenzie Smith (25:02)
I messed up so many times.

Madeline Primrose (25:14)
and they give up on you so quick and they go, you would like that in like perfect French, you know? And that was the, we just gave up at restaurants because they just wouldn't even, they wouldn't give us a chance. But I think we cracked the code because just about every person we talked to, we asked them how many languages they spoke and how did they learn that language and yada yada. And if somebody said five languages, it like wasn't even a shock by the end of the trip because we were like,

McKenzie Smith (25:23)
Hehehehe. Hehehehe.

Yeah.

Madeline Primrose (25:44)
course you speak five languages. And I think why this helped us feel better and this will maybe help you feel better. A lot of those places you only have to drive like 45 minutes. You have to be on a train for 30 minutes and you're in a different language. So for us to move somewhere that doesn't have the same language as us is like crossing an ocean or going across the entirety of the United States. Well, depending on where you live.

McKenzie Smith (25:58)
That's what I'm saying.

Yeah.

Madeline Primrose (26:14)
So it's a lot more of a commitment for us to move away at a young age, because everyone learned their other languages at age 10 or like super young. So it made us feel better because we have to cross an ocean to go learn French, but they have to like go a couple hours on a train. Yeah, exactly. So that made us feel better.

McKenzie Smith (26:22)
Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

45 minutes. Yeah, yeah, no.

Yeah, and it does for sure. I know that there's reasons for that, but it was definitely like, man, us English speaking people, like, we do have the, do not have the foot in front on that, on that space. But, that's funny. Little

Madeline Primrose (26:50)
I know I was opening up my Duolingo. I was like okay. We're getting real with this

I have since quit.

McKenzie Smith (26:59)
I've since quit. Little sidetrack there, but it's fun.

Okay, so can you share a story with us about a way in which maybe God has revealed himself to you or spoken to you on these travels or in the outdoors in nature?

Madeline Primrose (27:14)
Absolutely. Okay, so I first really was told the idea of experiencing God through nature at the summer camp I went to when I was little called Shepherd's Fold Ranch, which is one of the best summer camps in the whole wide world. And every morning, there's this morning encounter that discusses a different way you encounter God. So one of the mornings was nature. And I have an old notebook of mine from my first year ever there that I was like,

I don't know, maybe seven or eight. And I have a tree drawn and a picture of me sitting under a tree. And it's like, this is me experiencing God. you know, so it became an idea to me when I was really young. And then one of my favorite stories with this happened at the same camp years later. And by this time I had already given my life to the Lord and he had become an authority in my life. And it was one of the morning encounters. do this every single, it doesn't matter what age they always do in the mornings.

discussing different ways to encounter God. So this was the morning. I was probably, I was probably 16, I would just guess. And at 16, I'm sitting in like this little field of clovers and I'm talking to the Lord and I'm like, man, I love creation and I, you I love you Lord. and I just kind of told him I, I'd always had this want for a four leaf clover and maybe it's cause I'm Irish.

Maybe it's because it's fun. I don't know. But I was like sitting there and I'm like, I'm looking at all these clovers and I was like, Lord, I would just I would just love to have a four leaf clover. And like I did not finish the sentence and my eyes were on this four leaf clover. And I was like, no way. So of course, I have it saved in a piece of tape in my journal from camp. But I don't know. I think something really fun about nature is that

the Lord created it with us in mind. Like, I know that Mackenzie will love hiking. And he's like forming these mountains and he's thinking of us and he's going, wow, Maddie's gonna love to hike this Swiss mountain someday. Like, she's gonna love it. And how he put that clover there and that clover had been planted there. It had already grown for quite a while.

And he had it in mind when he planted it and he was like, Maddie's gonna love this. Maddie's gonna love this someday. And I think it's so, it's just so personalized to the way us humans work and the way, even like how I read this book called Restoring Eden, which is a great book, or Losing Eden, it's a great book. And there's like little bacteria in dirt and healthy dirt that has been proven to help people with PTSD.

and with depression and anxiety and when they breathe it, it helps their body slow down and it helps them have peace. So there's little things like that where nature in general is so healing, it has so many healing properties for us, but just the idea of God creating it with us in mind that we would love it is just an experience in and of itself and seeing nature, even seeing the trees of Oklahoma that

That's kind of what we've got here. We've got trees. You know, even seeing that, it's like the Lord knew we would love to put hammocks up and he knew that us humans would want to do something like that. And he planted those there because they're the perfect, they're perfectly seven feet apart. You know, I don't know. There's just, there's just little things like that where I think it's so personal. And so, I mean, that's how I felt. That's how I felt in Switzerland. And that's, that's how I felt in Oklahoma. Just seeing a four leaf clover, you know?

McKenzie Smith (30:54)
you

Madeline Primrose (31:09)
So that's one of my little experiences with nature.

McKenzie Smith (31:13)
Yeah, super sweet. just, yeah, this is a super sweet little experience and I love that you have, you know, a picture of you.

under a tree in your journal and that that is something that you still sit back on and that you're like, okay, this was how I was taught or maybe the first time I experienced God in nature and I want to remember that. And so you can look at that and be like, if I need to experience God in nature, maybe I just need to go sit under a tree again. having those little reminders, I think is always so good. then keeping that four leaf clover and putting it in your journal and being able to look back on it, it's just

Madeline Primrose (31:26)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Absolutely, totally.

McKenzie Smith (31:55)
you know, those little tiny reminders that sometimes we need in hard times or in seasons where we're like, God, where are you? It's like, okay, you've met me before. Like, you're here. I just need to, you know, maybe look at it differently or get in a different perspective. Like,

Madeline Primrose (32:00)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah. And

it's so biblical too that creation is like Romans one discusses how creation is proof of God's existence actually. And we are without excuse when we see creation because it's such a reflection of how good God is. And there's this song and I can't even remember who it's by. But it's it says that it's by this Christian guy. It says the

God is our father and earth is our mother and he's not making this as a theological claim at all. It's just like, you know, poetry in his song. But I think in ways that's there's levels of that that are true that the Lord created nature to nurture us and to care for us like that dirt or when we are exhausted by the way of the world or when we just need rest or we just need we just need a little adventure. We just need a little pick me up like nature can

McKenzie Smith (33:00)
Yeah.

Madeline Primrose (33:11)
supply that for us in a way that's just because the Lord designed it that way for us and he knew he had us in mind. So I think that's another just way I look at it of how it's so nurturing to us.

McKenzie Smith (33:28)
Yeah, for sure. So I know you shared a little bit about the trees in Oklahoma, but I know that you don't get to always go on these super rad adventures and you're not always in Switzerland and you actually live in Oklahoma. So talk to us about some practical ways that listeners can connect with God through creation on everyday basis, even if they live somewhere like Oklahoma.

Madeline Primrose (33:33)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, it's so true. Yep.

One

of my favorites is sitting in the sun. I, this, you know, the point of this isn't health, so we're not gonna talk about my beliefs about sunscreen, but sitting in the sun and just like, just like feeling the sun is so, I don't, there's something healing going on right there with the vitamin D and all of that. And I love to sit outside and sit in the sun.

Maybe sit under a tree, but if you don't have a tree, if you're sitting in apartment and you have a window and the sun comes in, that's what I'm, you can just sit there and you can just feel the sun, feel the warmth of the sun, you know, like a little cat that sits in a little sun spot, you know? And I think, I don't know why, but that is so peaceful for me. And when you just kind of like sit in the sun and you meditate on the Lord and you maybe meditate on the scriptures, that is nature right there.

McKenzie Smith (34:33)
Yeah.

Madeline Primrose (34:49)
Like that is that is that. And then if you wanted maybe more than more than just the sun, although, you know, that's I think that's a great, great kind of method to meditate, sit in the sun on the scriptures. I don't. I don't have mountains, I don't have ocean here in Oklahoma, but if I drive just a little bit out

There are fields and I swear one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen in Oklahoma was this green field. I was going to a dentist very far away and I had driven very far and I had seen this field on my way in and I was like, I have to stop and look at that when I drive back. So I'm driving back, I stop on this road and I mean I had two guys in trucks make sure I was okay because I'm in a little town of Oklahoma but I was just standing there and I was looking at this field of green grass and I was so like, this is

This is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in Oklahoma. It looked like the ocean, but it was green and it was tall. And I think it's just having, just having your attention on and just noticing those tiny little things, noticing a clover in the grass or noticing just a big field and how beautiful it just like waves like that. And, and I think that it's just having, having an eye for it and having

kind of your attention on it because I think you can always, always find something that the Lord has created and made near you. And it doesn't have to look like the Swiss Alps, although it is awesome when it does look like that, but it doesn't always have to look like that. So I think it's just the art of noticing and the art of having your attention turned towards it and being like, okay, Lord, you know.

McKenzie Smith (36:30)
You

Madeline Primrose (36:44)
I am ready to receive whatever level of nature you want to give me today. Whatever level. Whatever level is possible, I'm ready to receive it. There's little flowers that grow through cracks of concrete. And that's cute. That's cute. I think, pick that flower, or leave it for the next person. But that's like a little kiss. That's a little kiss from God. So if you have your attention on, think there's always something you can find.

McKenzie Smith (36:59)
Ha ha ha.

Yeah.

Yeah, I love what you saying at the very beginning of this of, you know, the sun and your windows and all of that. I've been seeing this like...

you know, trend, I'll say. We've seen the same reel, but created by multiple people on social media. And it's like some Swedish practice where they're like letting nature into their house. And so like, I guess first thing in the morning, you're like supposed to open all your blinds and all of your windows. Like even if it's cold outside, you're supposed to like let your house. Okay.

Madeline Primrose (37:27)
Yeah.

Yes.

They did that in Austria, where we stayed in Austria.

McKenzie Smith (37:45)
Okay, yeah. And so it's like, man, I never thought about that. Like we live in houses where we're so closed off from, you know, like nature. I know that, you know, buildings and furniture and all those things are, you know,

Madeline Primrose (37:54)
Mm-hmm.

Right.

McKenzie Smith (37:58)
people created them and you know, God gave them the gift of wanting to create that thing and so on and so forth but letting, you know, nature in and letting your house breathe and like just opening your house to nature. I was like, that's really interesting. I've never thought about that, especially because I saw someone do it and it was like snowing outside and I'm like, yo, I'm trying to keep the heat in my house.

Madeline Primrose (38:11)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm exactly that's so

opposite from my family and our thinking I get in I would get a little in trouble if my windows were open when the heaters on you know and I

McKenzie Smith (38:29)
Yeah, exactly. my gosh, I can't tell you how many times I got in trouble as a kid. Like, clausher, what's your, what

is your window doing open? Are you trying to air condition the, are you trying to air condition the outside or?

Madeline Primrose (38:36)
is your window doing open? Yeah, yeah, that's

me. I was that kid too. And in Austria, they totally did that. There would be kind of one room that maybe they'd have a heater on and then the kitchen would just be warm because of cooking. And then all the other windows would be open and I'd have my window open all night long and I'd sleep at the room cold and it felt great. I don't know why I was like, I love this. something that Mirta, my little Swiss saint does in Switzerland, she has this little

McKenzie Smith (38:43)
you

Madeline Primrose (39:06)
balcony area of her house and she puts her mattress on it and sleeps in the winter time on the balcony. And I don't know, I think some of those cultures are really in touch with something we aren't, maybe health related, but creation related, you know? Just kinda, I don't know, it sounds wonderful to just snuggle up in a sleeping bag in a really cold, on a really cold snowy day, but being warm and, you know, they aren't cold still, they're still warm, but just.

McKenzie Smith (39:22)
Yeah.

yeah

Americans could Americans could never have had them sleeping on your porch if you have a warm bed there's not a chance y'all I can say this because I'm an American and I get it but yeehaw

Madeline Primrose (39:34)
experiencing it anyway.

No, yeah, absolutely not, absolutely not. yes, yeehaw, I get it. I mean,

I was told to shut my windows when it was cold too, and I could do the same someday. So I'm not gonna say anything against it because I could be that person again. I'm still American, you know? I don't right now. Yeah.

McKenzie Smith (40:01)
Yep, yep. Oh, I am that person. I surely don't have my windows open. is 11 degrees. It is 11 degrees outside and I am

not doing...

Madeline Primrose (40:12)
It's not even 11 outside

and we are not keeping our windows open.

McKenzie Smith (40:15)
So I can make fun of myself because I fit in that category, but I do go out hiking and camping a lot in you know, colder weather But I surely can't imagine like sleeping on my porch like that something yeah, my mind can't wrap around that but Yeah

Madeline Primrose (40:18)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah. I know it's different. It's... We don't even have a porch. You know? Like,

most of America doesn't even have a porch anymore, so that shows a lot of how much time we're committed to the outdoors.

McKenzie Smith (40:39)
Yeah.

my goodness, I felt like we could go in a million different directions, but I'm gonna try to keep us on track here. I'm like, we could talk about this all day long.

Madeline Primrose (40:47)
It's so true. We're going to have a podcast part two and it's going to have nothing to do with valleys

and everything to do with windows and health.

McKenzie Smith (40:57)
and how other cultures lean into nature. Okay, Bermie, so switching gears into the title of this podcast, My Valley, His Victory, would love for you to share with listeners a valley or a season of wilderness that you experienced and just what God maybe taught you or prepared you for in that season.

Madeline Primrose (41:00)
are doing it better.

Okay.

The first one that comes to mind is kind of the season right before Jesus became a real authority in my life. And that was a freshman year of high school, which was hard because it's high school. And high school is always hard in some kind of way, but it was definitely, I just kind of didn't know.

where to put my identity. just kind of was like, oh my gosh, I have all these friends, they're awesome, but they're kind of also horrible and backstabbing. And then I have like this school that's really great, but it's causing so much stress in my life. It is causing me so much stress. The amount of workload, everything, I'm feeling like it is my, it was just really stressing me out. And of course that was also 2020, duh. Or like the second.

half, guess. But second half of my year was 2020. And there was just a lot going on with friends that was really difficult. And I just had kind of, I just had certain lies that would just get super repeated in my head of like, you don't have anything important to say. Or I even had this, this kind of dissociating thing where I was like, Is this even real? Like, is anything going on right now even real?

And I would just feel so disassociated from everything that was going on. And so I had this little lie that would repeat to myself of like, this is life. This is it. Like this is all life is. There you go. And it was negative, but this is life was one of the lies. And then another one was you don't have anything good to say. Just, just stop talking. And I had those two things repeated to me for probably a year. So when I had this experience where.

I had a friend give me a really specific word and picture of the Lord asking me to give him the stuff I had been holding onto, which was a couple different things. But when I had that experience where I was like, okay, Lord, I want you to be my authority figure. One of the first things that he started teaching me was replacing those lies in my head with truth. And it's always such a process, trusting the Lord. Every season you can feel

I have trusted the Lord with this thing and I'm good and I got it and then flip a chapter later and you're like, Lord, do I even trust you? Like I have to retrust you all over again and there's something new. And so when it's like the first time you're ever really doing that, it was just really, it's a lot to give up. And especially when you feel like you're in charge and you're like, I'm in charge of all this and I don't even know if you're real, but.

McKenzie Smith (43:49)
Thank

haha

Madeline Primrose (44:15)
You know, so filtering lies and truth. And a lot of that goes hand in hand with how much you God wants to speak to you and what you believe about how maybe your own personal relationships with your authority figure, like your dad or your mom or even your community, how those are gonna affect what you believe about God and how much he wants to talk to you and how much you can actually hear from him. So I just.

I didn't really have this, I didn't really think that God wanted to listen to me. I didn't think that he cared to hear what I had to say. And I think that's what started the lie of I don't have anything good to say. It's because if God doesn't even care what I have to say, then like, why would anybody else? And very quickly after I gave my life to the Lord, I...

got plugged into this group that was really awesome, super on fire for God. They were my age and and I had never met people my age who loved Jesus so much. But I had this thing of feeling un unworthy of even talking in the group. And so we'd be going around and we'd be reading the Bible together or something like that. And we would be, you know, sharing about what the Lord had done. And I just felt that nothing was worthy of talking about and that I should just shut up.

And I even remember certain moments where as a group we had prayed over somebody and I felt the Lord speak this word over this person that I was supposed to share. And I was just like, I cannot do it. I was like, I absolutely can't do it. And I knew that I could, was so scared. I was so scared to do it. And give it three minutes later. And another guy in our group spoke the exact same word, the exact same picture over the guy who was receiving prayer.

And in that moment, I felt the Lord say two things. Like, that was from me, okay? That was from me, because somebody else just received the same thing. And I'm giving you things to say because I trust you with them. And if you don't speak them, then I will give them to somebody else. Like, it's not going to affect the people you're talking to as much as it's going to affect your sharing. Because the guy we were praying over received the word.

regardless, but that was an invitation the Lord had given me to speak up and denounce fear really, even though it felt really, you know, it seems maybe kind of small, but in that moment, it was this choice of choosing fear, just speaking something over somebody. And I was just so, I was just so gripped with it. And so I, and I had this, this dissociating where I was like, is life even real?

What's the point of this? My sister even remembers me looking at her and being like, I can't even believe you're real. You're probably not real. She remembers this. She was, she was little and she was just like, you little sister. I'm the older sister. I'm supposed to be cool. And I am, but in that moment I wasn't. And she even remembers that of me speaking over her, like, you're not even real. I don't even care. I don't even care about you. You're not even real. Because I was so far from my

identity and who I was supposed to be and I just didn't have a grip on it. So I felt like the Lord gave me a couple practical tools to get out of the valley and I don't think that all valleys and like moments of hardship are something that you can put the discipline in to get out of. I think a lot of them aren't a lot of them are maybe just

something hard happens to your family and you can't do anything about it and that's just the way it goes or you know something's done to you and you you can't change that but in this specific valley I felt like the Lord gave me he gave me the tools but then it was my job to put the discipline in to actually change my way of thinking and I had taken a psychology class in high school that really helped me because I learned about

the prefrontal cortex and your decision making ability and how there's all these narrow pathways in your brain. And when you make a decision over and over, it forms a new pathway and it makes it a habit. so using the way that the Lord had created my brain and also what he had told me, I felt a need to speak truth over myself whenever I would hear or start to believe a lie. And I think that

that is probably the most practical thing the Lord could have ever taught me first because it's the fight for truth is going to be continual throughout our whole life. And if Jesus, who's the way, truth and the life is not who we rest our truth on, we're going to be, we're just going to be floating. Like you, you're going to be everywhere and we're not going to have a firm foundation. So

for the Lord to teach me right off the bat. Like if the truth of what I speak over you is not the truth you adhere to, then you're not following my words, you know? And I want you to follow my words, because I love you. So I had these lies of the, this is just life, this is life, whatever. And you don't have anything good to say. So I felt the Lord give me, for this is life, I felt him give me, no, this is reality. So whenever...

I had this lie in my brain that would make me just disassociate. I would speak over myself, no, this is reality. This is reality. Kind of like bring myself back into my body. felt like, I'd be like, okay, no, this is reality. This is real life. And to speak that whenever I heard that lie was just, there was something on a psychological level, there's narrow pathways changing in my brain where when I say something, I'm like backing up and I'm trying to make a new path and I'm trying to make a new habit.

and making the truth of God my habit, than it changing from just a choice that I had to make to actually my habit. That was, I think the only way out of this kind of valley. And then for, you don't have anything good to say. I felt less of something to respond to and more that the Lord gave me those opportunities.

of speaking something that I was supposed to speak over someone and I just had to kind of fight the fear and confirmation of, my gosh, that really speaks to me. That's exactly what I'm experiencing. just having the Lord give me something and trust me with it. And then I am honest with it and I actually speak it. So the Lord giving me a word or a prophetic word or a

picture for somebody or even just a verse where I feel like the Lord gives me a verse to speak over myself and just trusting like that's the Lord's words over me and he trusts me. He trusts me. So it's actually less of the fact that you have something important to say and much more the fact that I have important things to say through you. And I think that that was the way that I was able to. That's the way that the Lord brought me out of that.

and he gave me the tools and I had to use them, you know, and I don't think that that's how all valleys work, but I think that's how this one, this one worked for me. And now I'm still. Now it's easier to differentiate a lie from the enemy or the truth that is Jesus, and that muscle is something that's still being worked.

And it's still being strengthened but starting my life with Jesus and my walk with Jesus So far down in that of having so many and there were lots more lies than that But those were the two prominent ones Just being so bombarded with lies that being my starting place. It was just it was just up from there and he Has been so faithful to prove every lie wrong to me

He's been so faithful to do that. So I feel now that life is real. This is reality. I can say that very positively that this life is real. And I can say positively that I believe the Lord gives me things to speak because he trusts me with them and because there are things that he wants to say and there are things that I can feel confident saying. So that's kind of.

That's just one of my, that's one of my little valleys.

McKenzie Smith (53:29)
Yeah. Well, thank you so much for sharing and I appreciate you making, you know, the caveat of, know, this isn't how all valleys work and, everybody's going to have, different things that the Lord gives to them. And, you know, he gave me tools and, sometimes it's just, sometimes you just gotta trust God and sometimes you just have to lean on him. And you for sure did that. but I think that he does often give us tools to use in situations.

Madeline Primrose (53:37)
Yeah.

Right. Yeah, absolutely.

McKenzie Smith (53:59)
And there is a very, very, very real aspect that we have a role in it as well. You know, like, he can give us the tool though. I mean, it can be around our waist, but do we know when to grab and when to use and you know, all the things and it's like, we have to be willing to do our part just because we have the tools doesn't mean that we're going to use them.

Madeline Primrose (54:05)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Yeah. Right. Right. Absolutely.

Mm-hmm.

McKenzie Smith (54:22)
And so I think that, you know, God gave you those and then there was a step of obedience on your part of actually putting them into action. And I love that you said, you know, that you had to make the truth of God your habit. But I kind of want to ask you a question on that, because for someone who maybe is confused on whether or not something that they're believing is a lie or or.

Maybe they're just unsure, you know, of what's a lie in my life. What's the truth? Like, practically, how do you differentiate the two?

Madeline Primrose (54:49)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, I think that the way you differentiate the two is you get to know the character of God and the way you do that is reading the scriptures. The way you do that is reading the stories of Jesus and how he interacts with people and reading his kindness as much as his justice, learning.

The names of God is really helpful. So having the names of God like in a tool belt, like, okay, he's the Prince of Peace. But he also fights for me. And having names of God and having characteristics of God and knowing those from the scriptures. Oh, yes, exactly. Right here. These names right here. This is what we need. And this is what we have to make our habit is when you feel...

McKenzie Smith (55:43)
You

Madeline Primrose (55:49)
Stressed or something like that and you're like, my gosh, I think I I'm feeling stressed. Maybe this is not what God wants for my life. Maybe maybe God doesn't want me to I Don't know let's say you Felt the Lord call you to to some other country and then you start feeling stressed about it you're like, my gosh Is this stress is this stress mean I'm not supposed to do this and it's a lie. That's that's hitting your brain That's when we get to speak. Okay

God is the Prince of Peace. He gives us peace as we walk with him. You are the Prince of Peace. Lord, would you speak peace over my brain? And if you cannot believe that God is who he says he is in the scriptures, if you can't believe that, that's when we just have to ask him, Lord, I don't believe you're good. Will you please show me that you're good? And you just have to sometimes pray the prayer of, I need you to show me just because I...

I don't believe you're good, but will you show me you're good? And I want to because I want to.

McKenzie Smith (56:50)
Yeah.

Yeah, it's

like the scripture of, like, I believe but help my unbelief because both can be true.

Madeline Primrose (56:58)
Yes.

Right. I heard somebody say, this is like you hearing somebody somewhere on a podcast somewhere. I heard somebody say that I don't believe in God, I'm believing in God. It's a continual process. And I think that's especially true when we are fighting the lies of the enemy and the truth of the Lord. And I think a really, really, really practical tool that I was given.

McKenzie Smith (57:11)
for sure.

Madeline Primrose (57:26)
by a mentor of mine is the way you

Basically, when you are hearing from God and you're hearing something that sounds like it's rushing you or it's speaking work over you or something like that, a practical tool is to identify that your earthly father is going to create the ease or the unease of encountering God the Father.

And your mother, your experience with your mother, your relationship with your mother is going to affect your ease or your difficulty in encountering the Holy Spirit. And then your relationship with community or maybe peers is going to affect your ease or unease in encountering Jesus as a friend. So when we hear rushing or when we hear, you know, like speaking performance or something like that from the Father,

Maybe we need to go back and we need to go, OK, do I believe this about my dad, my earthly dad, that he speak? Does he speak this over me? And then and then you can go, wait, OK, this isn't God that says this. This is my relationship with an earthly father or an earthly authority figure. And using that thing of the connections of. The way that we kind of identify God with things we experience here on Earth and.

That was super helpful for me because I, you know, I'm able to realize and recognize things that maybe my parents said to me when I was little and I didn't even, you know, I'm not thinking about it and they aren't even thinking about it. And then I believed that to be true. And I've been holding that with myself with, with me. And then the Lord's trying to encounter me, but I have this belief about authority or I have this belief about how a mother should act or I have a belief about, you know, just the way

community or friends are and it's affecting my ability to see the truth of the Lord. So I think that I think that if you don't feel like you have the practical tools to recognize God's voice and the enemy's voice or sometimes even your own is get to know the character of God. Be careful to recognize where you are hearing something from an earthly authority figure.

McKenzie Smith (59:32)
Yeah.

Madeline Primrose (59:55)
and where you've experienced a negative experience with an earthly authority figure and how that might be affecting the way you hear God. And then also, if you're in community and you're part of the body of Christ and you even just have a couple friends to bounce stuff off of, that's when it's really great to talk to someone older or wiser who's already had to deal with all of this and now they have all the tools and they're able to just kind of help you get through a little faster.

Really? That's, I mean, they're able to pass off their tools. So talking to someone who knows the voice of God is super helpful too, because they're gonna go so instantly, that's not God, that's rushing. That's the enemy trying to rush you. So those are kinda like three ways that you can kinda connect to the truth and what you believe.

McKenzie Smith (1:00:37)
Yeah.

Yeah, those are helpful. And I like that you added in there about our relationships and our beliefs about our friends or our parents or different things definitely impact our relationship with God because we can automatically feel a certain way about, know, when the Bible says, you know, God, my father, or, you know, whenever it talks about him being a friend, because, I mean, I saw this firsthand last year at one of my retreats that I hosted, like a girl was

Madeline Primrose (1:00:55)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

McKenzie Smith (1:01:16)
had such a hard time believing that God loved her and that because she's never really had any friends or people that really have stuck around. It's like, love you conditionally. I love you because you've done this for me and now that you stopped doing this, they're not there. No one has really stuck around. And so those things definitely impact our relationships or our relationship with God.

Madeline Primrose (1:01:26)
Yeah.

McKenzie Smith (1:01:43)
And I know I see that come out in my own life because I definitely grew up in a performance, you know, kind of success driven and you you got to do this and you got to do this and then you'll be successful, you know, and so to me, like I definitely still fight that in my everyday life of like, God will love me if I do this and it's like, no, God already loves me like and so yeah, I think that that's really helpful because it's true and we have to have the awareness to

Madeline Primrose (1:01:51)
Yeah.

Right. Right. Exactly.

McKenzie Smith (1:02:10)
And I think that's where a lot of this starts is just the awareness and the being able to notice and yeah.

Madeline Primrose (1:02:15)
Right.

And slowing down, slowing down your thoughts, not letting them come so quickly at you and being like, okay, wait, hold on, pause. What

did I just hear? Say it out loud sometimes because you'll realize how ridiculous it is. That's something I like to do with my friends. If they ever tell me, if they're ever explaining like a worry they're having or something, I'm like, okay, wait, wait, hold on. I just did this with a friend the other day. I'm like, okay, wait.

McKenzie Smith (1:02:30)
you

Madeline Primrose (1:02:40)
Who are you comparing yourself to? And they're like, I'm comparing myself to blah, blah, blah, blah. And it's like, and they're like, oh my gosh, that's crazy. Why would I do that, right? Like I don't actually want their life. What am I doing? And so slowing down your thoughts and being like, okay, hold on. Let's really think through these. Let's speak them out loud. And if they don't seem silly when I speak them out loud, okay, then, you know.

McKenzie Smith (1:02:48)
Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

Madeline Primrose (1:03:08)
That's the first step of filtering it all. So that's something I like to do too, is speak it out loud.

McKenzie Smith (1:03:11)
Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

So I know you've kind of already given us your words of encouragement or your piece of advice, practical advice for the season, but I would love for you to share before we close out just kind of like how God used the season because I know whenever we talk the first time, you're doing some things and having some conversations that if you wouldn't have done this, you wouldn't be where you are today. And so talk about how God has used this you don't have anything good to say season for now.

Madeline Primrose (1:03:38)
Duh.

Yeah, I think that the first thing that it's, you know, helpful for and the way he's utilized it is just my own brain. I mean, that's the first place. Just renewing my mind. And that's like the main place. And then second, would say because of my...

because of my love for connecting people, connecting with people, or I would say I'm an evangelist at heart, even though I'm not standing on stages. It's just like, if there's something good going on, I'm going to tell you. I think that it's something, it's just like a tool that I'm able to kind of bring up in conversation with people of sharing my experience and getting to tell them like, this is something that's repeated in your brain.

and it doesn't have to be the truth. It actually doesn't have to be your reality and there's so much healing to be found in the scriptures and the truth about what God says to you. it's, know, first things first, it's become the way I think. It's the tool that I use, the importance of speaking truth over myself to my own brain first.

because I think out of that, out of that is a lot of how I can connect with other people and love your neighbor as yourself. The way that I love myself well and respect myself the way the Lord respects and loves me is going to affect my ability to talk to other people about this. But yeah, it's just become super helpful for.

for those reasons, just me and other people.

McKenzie Smith (1:05:42)
Yeah, yeah, I know you had mentioned that you've been able to, you know, like open up conversations through your platform on Instagram and been able to share some things that, you know, maybe you wouldn't have in a season before and that there have been people that you have, you know, been able to minister to or share truth with or, you know, walk with.

Madeline Primrose (1:05:50)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Yeah. And

you know, now I would say that the problem I have is not that I share, not at all. It's maybe that I share a little too much. And like sometimes I have to not debate people in comment sections. Like, so really, you know, I would say I've, I've experienced some healing in that area because I no longer believe that I don't have anything good to share. And I believe that life is

McKenzie Smith (1:06:12)
Thank

Madeline Primrose (1:06:34)
real, that this is a real life, like I'm experiencing it. And yeah, it just strengthens my ability to share with people when you believe you have something important to say or that the Lord is using you as a vessel. So I definitely, I would definitely say that it's the Lord speaking truth over me and my discipline at the beginning, but him giving me the tools is the only reason I have

any kind of platform. It's just because the Lord trusts me with answering people's questions and I think that that's such an honor.

McKenzie Smith (1:07:10)
Yeah, well I think about the immediately what came to mind whenever you shared that was the what is the parable of the talents where you know they have like the one coin five coins and ten coins and then you know he asked for it back and it's like what did do with it and you know the the more that you are faithful with and the more that you steward well like God's going to continue to give you give you opportunities I believe

Madeline Primrose (1:07:19)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Yes.

McKenzie Smith (1:07:36)
And so, you know those moments of God gave you something and you did nothing with it and you just held on to it? You know, he's like, hey, I need you to do something a little bit different next time.

Madeline Primrose (1:07:42)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, that happened. And then the guy

standing next to me got to pray the verse and the word and picture that I got. He got to pray it over the guy we were praying over. So it happens, yeah.

McKenzie Smith (1:07:55)
Yeah.

Well, primmy, thank you so much for sharing and for this conversation. It's been fun. And I know we've kind of gone on a couple of different tangents than we normally do, but I love it. And it's been fun for those listening who maybe want to connect with you or find you. Where can they do that?

Madeline Primrose (1:08:06)
Yeah.

Mainly just Instagram, which is Primmy Rimi. That's kind of my main outlet. Although we may have my first YouTube video in the works talking about identity. So that will be under the same name on YouTube if I decide to post that. So yeah, that's kind of where I'm found. And on Spotify. So.

McKenzie Smith (1:08:35)
you

You have

some good playlists.

Madeline Primrose (1:08:45)
I

have, I love my playlist, yeah. I love music, so. Spotify too, it's Maddie Prim on Spotify. That's all I've got.

McKenzie Smith (1:08:48)
I love that.

I love it.

I love it. Well, again, thank you so much. This has been so fun and I just appreciate you walking us through the season because I think that, you know, we all have lies that we believe and we all have things that we need to work through and truths that we need to meditate on and focus on. And they do change our thought processes and they can. And I just know that this is definitely helpful and encouraging because we all all struggle with this in one way or another. So thank you so much for

Madeline Primrose (1:09:12)
Totally.

Right?

McKenzie Smith (1:09:25)
for here and for sharing.

Madeline Primrose (1:09:26)
Of course.