Well Grounded

GOOD God: The Goodness of God with Erin Warren

• Well Grounded • Season 3 • Episode 1

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Welcome to Season 3 of the Well Grounded Podcast: All Things Good. Join hosts Diane and Leigh Ann along with special guest Erin Warren as they discuss the goodness of God. This episode offers a refreshing perspective for anyone navigating life's hardest seasons. No matter the challenges you may be facing, God is good all the time and all the time God is good. So grab a cup of coffee, sit back and relax as we dive into the Word to understand God's goodness. 

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Latte Moment Recipe: Caramel Macchiato
 
For deeper study, read and journal about the following Scriptures:

  • Romans 8:28 - Season Three Verse 
  • Acts 18:1-4 - where we see Priscilla and Aquilla were expelled from Rome under Emperor Claudius and their relationship with Paul
  • 1 Thessalonians 4:3 - For this is the will of God for us: Our sanctification 
  • Genesis 1-3 - broken creation
  • John 14-16 - what the Holy Spirit does for us
  • 1 Thessalonians 4:3 - For this is the will of God for us: Our sanctification 
  • Genesis 1-3 - broken creation
  • John 14-16 - what the Holy Spirit does for us
  • Revelation 21:1-6 - Suffering has an expiration date
  • Deuteronomy 31:6 - God will never leave you 

Bible search and study tools - http://blueletterbible.org

Bible Hub - https://biblehub.com

Follow us on Instagram: instagram.com/wellgroundedpodcast

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About our guest - Erin Warren

Erin H. Warren is passionate about equipping and encouraging women to discover God's truths for themselves. She is the author of Feasting on Truth: Savor the Life-giving Word of God, leads and teaches Bible study through her ministry Feasting on Truth, and has published several Bible studies. She and her husband, Kris, have three littles (who aren't so little anymore), and they live in Central Florida. She loves a house full of people and a table full of food and hopes tacos never go out of style. You can find more information about Feasting on Truth on her website: FeastingOnTruth.com. You can also connect with her on Instagram: @erinhwarren and @feastingontruth and YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/erinhwarren.

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Erin:

I always encourage us that we should ask how are you going to use this, not why? So when my son was diagnosed, I had walked through some things years before with my husband, and so I had been rooted enough in him to go. Okay, god, I know you've promised that you are with me, that you will never leave me, forsake me, and you have gone before me. I said so don't let me miss you, let me see where you are, let me see where you you're working and I don't want to waste this yeah and so I think, ultimately it's really hard and we grieve.

Erin:

I mean, goodness, there are days I just cry yes, and there are days where I'm exhausted and I have nothing left yeah, you know right. So I'm not.

Leigh Ann:

I don't want you to think I'm some spiritual oh, lord, thank you for this, all the time, thank you for this, thank you for this trial.

Erin:

Constantly turning my mind back to where are you God? Where are you working? How are you?

Leigh Ann:

changing me? How are you growing?

Diane:

me.

Erin:

And ultimately, that's what the good of Romans 8, 28 is that he refines us. You know we didn't have time to talk about that, but you know he refines us, he makes us more like him, because those trials remove impurities from us right Right. They make us a more pure follower of.

Diane:

Jesus, welcome. Welcome to the Well-Grounded Podcast. I am Diane and I am Leanne, and we are two lifelong friends doing life over coffee and conversations. And today we are so excited because we are revealing our season three. But more than that we have been doing this podcast for one year. I can't believe it. I cannot believe that, I cannot just think about it Happy anniversary.

Diane:

It is so fun, it is just such an exciting benchmark really, and all the thoughts and the dreams and the prayers and the things that we just took so much time to just cultivate and think about how we wanted Well Grounded to, you know, kind of grow and develop, and just to be here, sitting here for a year from now is just kind of like one of those goose bumpy moments.

Leigh Ann:

I know, I know Well all the times we were talking about it like we should, we would have these conversations that would always end up with we should have a podcast.

Diane:

You know it's always like this is a lot more than one coffee. We're real good at talking to each other. This is right in our lane, here we're going right in, so that was that was great that was yes, we are.

Leigh Ann:

we are at season three. So we did our first season was kind of get to know us. Yes, our second season was sisterhood and motherhood. What is season three about? Diane Season?

Diane:

three, if you can see, is about all things good. We are so excited to introduce this theme to you today, and this is going to be a season through the summer going into the fall, and we're just talking about Romans 828 and how, in life, god shows his goodness to us in so many ways. We see it in creation, we see it in so many different opportunities in our life, whether it's through our children, our family, our friendships. Now, that doesn't mean we don't have hard times, right, there is suffering, there is things that happen, right, that causes hardship, but in that, god is good, right, and so we really prayed about this. We had a retreat over this season, we have done so many fun things and here we are, we're excited.

Leigh Ann:

I still have to say, my favorite piece of this is is putting the content together, and it is us going to dinner Our content. Diane always says to the waiter we're going to be here a while.

Diane:

They always look like big guys, Like okay, why do you have?

Leigh Ann:

iPads and Bibles out ladies. But we just move into a restaurant and sort of plan out and get that done.

Diane:

I think the last one was a good two plus hours.

Leigh Ann:

Oh, yes, yes, I don't know if we could have had any more tacos, more guacamoles, more guacamoles. Yes, for sure, it was good, for sure, but yeah.

Diane:

It was good, and that was a phrase that my son's school said at every chapel that they had, and it resonated with me and I use that as a hashtag almost on you know a good portion of my posts. That I do because it's true. I mean, when you boil it down, it's true. He is good all the time and all the time he is good, and so I'm excited for this season.

Leigh Ann:

Yes, and we, we know that who God is doesn't change he's the same yesterday today and forever, forever. And. But this life has that, has those challenges that you were talking about, has those things that we face and so kind of making that distinction is a big goal of ours today. And we are um gonna have some really silly things we're doing this summer. Yes, we're going to have some of those teary moments that we always have. We've just, we're just getting really in that head space of looking for what God is at work doing.

Leigh Ann:

Cause he is working. Yes, and we see that in that, romans eight verse two.

Diane:

So we want to pull all that together, but to get that started, yes, and what's really neat, too, is that, in all those those things he is working behind the scenes in our lives in so many different ways, whether it's with people that he brings into our lives and as we cultivated, who do we want to have on this um, this pot, this season, right? Who do we want to share this with and and for our listeners? You know, what do we feel will encourage you the most right um, I just, you know, want to say a shout out to our listeners right now. We are so thankful for you all these months. For 12 months, we've done 25 episodes.

Diane:

We were just so excited that you have been on this journey with you and if you are new, we're so excited as well. Um, we're well, we want to welcome you and just um, encourage you to find us and just like, subscribe and share all those things that when you find us on we're. On Instagram, you can find us at Well Grounded Podcast, and you can look us up on YouTube, apple, spotify and really anywhere, yes, anywhere, yes, yes, that you find podcasts.

Leigh Ann:

Yes, I think it's great YouTube. The YouTube option is is fun to be able to, to be here with us um and see it. But I know, before we were doing a podcast, I was an audio only podcast listener. It was always going to be in the car driving somewhere and doing that so.

Diane:

so just um we we video has stretched us a little bit. I kept trying to resist. I was like, do we have to do video?

Leigh Ann:

How about?

Diane:

audio. We love audio.

Leigh Ann:

But we have enjoyed it, we have had fun with with it.

Diane:

so even if you're not regularly doing that every once in a while like, yeah, check in and watch a youtube every once in a while, especially if you're new come and see the new set, because we've changed everything for this season we've got bright colors, we have neon signs, we have all sorts of things.

Diane:

So check us out on youtube for sure. Yes, but before we get going on this season, we've got to pause and think about our latte moment. For those of you who are new to us, latte moment is something that we pause in every episode, and we think about a fun coffee drink you are up in your game for season three.

Leigh Ann:

This is this I'm getting photos y'all during the day update. Yes, there's things on the stove, there are things being there.

Diane:

The cafe, the coffee corner and diane's kitchen is going up and on through this it's gorgeous, I have to shout out to my sister-in-law she gave me a new frother, so this is a big deal because I can froth like anything now it's not just one thing. It's like I can froth multiple things, so today's drink. Tell me what I'm drinking caramel macchiato, and it is homemade. I feel really good about this, so it is good.

Diane:

So you've got very simple ingredients here you have caramel, you have vanilla syrup, whatever you want to use, whether it's a vanilla, um, you know, you can use all sorts of different ones. Then you do a milk froth and it can be any milk. It can be a healthy milk, it can be a whole milk.

Diane:

I used half and half because I wanted to really go big, or go home today and then you pour in your espresso which personally, just a hint, I use decaf because I didn't want to be up all night and then you put the caramel on top. Now, so cute. When you do the drink, you guys, you put this, you put the froth in and then you pour the espresso or your coffee over it and it marks the froth and that's what makes a macchiato okay, it is an italian word for marked. Look at us, I feel very fancy today, so okay, that is excellent.

Leigh Ann:

Here we want to clink, want to clink, clink, clink, and we have a guest. You can't see who it is yet, but I'm just gonna clink with her. Yes, we have a guest over here and this is actually this educational macchiato. Teaching you something is a great segue because we have invited a precious friend, but also just a cherished, beloved Bible teacher that is here with us today, and I am so excited to introduce Erin Warren to you guys.

Erin:

So glad to have you here. Thank you for joining us on Caramel Macchiato Night. Listen, I'm telling you the frothed half and half and half.

Diane:

I mean it's go big or go home. I mean game changer. I don't say the recipe, because we will post it in our show notes says to use like whole milk or even two percent and I'm like, yeah, no.

Erin:

I can't do that. I have to use like the real thing. I love it. This is delicious, it's delicious. This is delicious, excellent, excellent so we welcome thank you.

Leigh Ann:

Thank you for having me so fun. We are starting season three with this very special guest. Yes, because, um, we wanted to kind of lay a foundation on this. Romans 8, um, specifically, yeah, that 27 and 28 verses 27, 28 but to kind of give you some context with that and to to kind of approach the idea of what does some of these things mean, cause people quote, we have like these best quoted verses, but I have heard some people use it one way and some people use it another way in that situation. So what we're going to do is sort of unpack that tonight or in this episode and want to make sure that, um, we give you time for that, but I do have to, like, tell everybody how special you are and what you mean to us because this is erin, and erin actually discipled my daughter, charlotte, in high school, and with a group of them, how many were they like?

Diane:

seven, five, six, seven, eight something like that, depending on who, depending on the year, how busy they were with after school.

Leigh Ann:

Yes, so um, but yes, it was just such a uh, an investment in charlotte's life, who is now in ministry full-time ministry is married. Did you give her permission?

Diane:

for that. By the way, you did not. I'm fine. She was your babysitter.

Erin:

She babysat for my little munchkins, who are not little munchkins. They're not munchkins anymore. She grew up.

Leigh Ann:

They're growing up. It's just wild. But I just wanted to say one of the reasons when we were talking about this at our planning delicious Mexican dinner, which I'm a little upset.

Diane:

I should have been invited, because when guacamole it was just at a coffee shop. But you know, next time, next time, next time guacamole Jermaine came up at the dinner, the planning day, and when we were saying like who?

Leigh Ann:

who can we um not just trust I'm not trying to be dramatic with that, but but who can we? Who can we invite to carefully and specifically? And I, I would say sometimes, um, I have heard you teach on something that I felt like, oh, I know what she's going to say. Right, I know I can, I know this or I've been taught this, but there's a surgical, really neat um way that you can unpack things for us. And I still, there was an image you shared in a chapel one time and there was an image of like a suitcase, of like carrying something around. I don't know if you remember this, uh, the connection, but I still think of that when I'm in that situation, and that was seven years ago, I don't know six or seven years ago.

Leigh Ann:

So that that's a gift that God's given you, and we're so grateful that you're willing to kind of share it with us.

Diane:

But um tell us a little bit.

Leigh Ann:

I know we're, we want to jump into everything and we want to do that. But tell us a little bit, um, should we do it at the end, or do you want her to go ahead and kind of tell us where people can find out more about her kind of thing?

Diane:

Well, I think, as as she feels led to do that, but I would love to know a little bit more, just personally, and your story and and things. Our listeners always appreciate that.

Erin:

Well, I'm Erin Warren and um. I am a central Florida native. I am a rare one.

Diane:

I've lived here my whole life and never moved, even went to college here.

Erin:

Um so, um, and just very fortunate Um, my husband, uh, chris, and I met in the singles class at church oh, love it, love it this summer, so not long after, we will celebrate 20 years which is just crazy. I can remember getting married and thinking, oh my goodness, someday it's gonna be like 20 years and now I'm here, you blinked, you blinked, yeah, um we have three kids um. We have a 15 year old son who's a freshman. We have a 12, almost actually, by the time this episode comes out, she'll be 13.

Erin:

Okay 13-year-old daughter who is in sixth grade, and we have a. I can't keep track because they keep changing yeah they're changing 11. No, he's 10.

Leigh Ann:

You can round it off Almost 11. Yes, 10-year-old son who's in fourth grade Double digits.

Erin:

I know no, he's almost 11.

Diane:

When I know he's almost 11. When the baby hits those, milestones.

Erin:

I was like I don't know how we got here, um and so yeah, so that's kind of um, our family, we. I was telling Liam before we started. I am the what is it? The conductor? I am the conductor of the hot mess express.

Diane:

We just, you know, like.

Erin:

I love the chaos of our life. It is hard and it's exhausting but it has been so fun. You know I know y'all have seen it, but it's so fun to watch your kids grow into who they are, who God created them to be. And just to find their niches and their friends, and it has just been such a joy.

Diane:

Yeah, when you see those aha moments of like when everything clicks and things, and you're just like yes you know, that's just such a blessing to be able to see that and you know we can attest we've told it to some of our guests that have younger kids and things is that you know you will miss it when they're off and doing their things, when they take those steps to college or even beyond, and you do miss that.

Leigh Ann:

So cherish the chaos the hot mess express. I love that and uh, I think that's great for three, cause you have three, I have three, diana's four that everything at three was like she needed a parade permit to go places and you also for other things she used to say when we were little, was you? We can't just like, blend in like yeah, oh, they're, oh goodness they're here. Yeah, like it's like they're here, that's so true well, and on top of that.

Erin:

I know you can't tell because, like we, are a very tall family so. I'm I'm 5, 11, but my 15 year old is 6, 4 and still going and so, like I know, his little brother is probably going to be on that track. I joke with my daughter, like we're in the running to see who's going to be the shortest in this family, so you know it's um we, no, we don't get to walk into anywhere.

Leigh Ann:

We're not blending in, blending in oh they're here, that's awesome. But in the best way that just brings up that, uh, that standard.

Diane:

So, hey guys, we're here so well. We just love that you're a part of today's episode as we launch things into season three, and so let's get right to it.

Erin:

Yes, yes, start sharing with us about Romans 828 and how you know that God is is just working in our lives. Yeah, I'm super passionate about applying scripture in context. Um, so, as Leanne kind of mentioned, I'm a Bible teacher. You know, my story is really rooted in growing up in 90s Christian culture. That was very much a.

Erin:

You become a Christian, you get the good, you know things you put on your happy face, you never have problems, we've got the joy of the Lord, everything is fine. And you know it was almost a decade ago. My husband got sick and ended up in the hospital and diagnosed with an autoimmune disease and all of a sudden I'm going wait a second, what happened to this is going to be wrapped up with a neat little bow and you know that piece of our life has moved on Like this is something we're going to be dealing with forever, and so, um, that really kind of set me on a. Okay, god, I think I've misunderstood some things about you, and it's when I really started digging into his word for myself. I wanted to know what he really promised me, because in my head.

Diane:

I was going.

Erin:

Oh well, I think you've promised me, Romans 8, 28, that all things are going to work for good because I love you and we're serving you and we're doing these things for you, god, and it was kind of this um a good life by works. So it's like we knew salvation. I know salvation is by faith alone. There is nothing I can do to earn my salvation. But then sometimes on the flip side, we we slip into this good life by works where we think if we do these things for God, then nothing bad is going to happen.

Diane:

You're working some kind of deal out Right, and it's really the exact opposite, right yeah.

Erin:

I came to find out that he does not promise us wealth and health and good things. In fact it's quite the opposite. You know, john 16, 33 says in this world you will have trouble. Um, and there's so much hope in that verse.

Erin:

I'll come to it in just a minute, but it really um, it really became a passion of mine, not only to study God's word and teach God's word, but to help other women learn how to stay at God's word for themselves. Cause I just was noticing, you know, I I didn't no one ever said here's how to read God's word and a lot of the things that were out there in this kind of it's the fancy word for it's inductive, but it just means studying the Bible first and foremost for yourself. Um, you know, when I started looking at inductive stuff, it was like super overwhelming.

Diane:

There's like all these colored pens and you circle this and square that and do this, or it's just a blank page that says observe, interpret and apply, and you're going yeah, I don't know what to do with that.

Leigh Ann:

So that's kind of the research so that we can enjoy it. We're getting the 101 for sure so that we can enjoy it.

Erin:

We're getting the one-on-one for sure. So, um, really, I for me, one of the gifts that came out of COVID was that I started teaching, um, bible study online and I was like I'll just, I'll just make a book and they can buy it and that's kind of how I'll fund what I'm doing. I wasn't working anymore, I had just left my ministry job right before and um and stuff, and then it just kept going.

Erin:

And so in the um. You know, after a couple of months it was like all right, god, I think we're doing something here. So I started officially launched um my ministry called feasting on truth, and so I have several Bible studies, but one of them is on Romans, and so I really appreciate it. So we have, by his grace, for his glory, so this is an inductive.

Leigh Ann:

It is workbook style.

Erin:

Great, great. It's a lot of empty space, but it just kind of guides you.

Diane:

So I call it flexible structure, so it's going to help you walk through it.

Erin:

It's not going to just leave you to it, but it's also going to leave space for you in the Holy Spirit to really study.

Erin:

There's no commentary in it and all that. But when I teach Bible study, I always, always, always, always start with context, because we have to remember that the Bible was written for us, but not to us, but not to us. And so we need to answer some questions, first and foremost to really help us kind of understand and unpack what's going on. And so we ask questions like who wrote this book? Well, paul wrote Romans right.

Erin:

It's his longest letter. He wrote over half the New Testament, but this is his longest letter. It's considered one of the most comprehensive explanations of the gospel and one of the reasons for that is because of what was going on in history. So he wrote this probably in the early to mid, maybe as late as 57, AD 57. So about 10 years earlier. Emperor Claudius is emperor in Rome and he expels all the Jews out of Rome, and you can actually read about it in Acts. It's in Acts, chapter 18. In the very first four verses, Priscilla and Aquila, who we taught show up.

Diane:

They're big people in the New Testament right.

Erin:

They were expelled from Rome, and so it was. That is where Paul connects with them, he spends time with them, so it's very likely that he he had never visited the church in Rome when he wrote this but, that. So after emperor Claudius dies, the Jews come back and it is a mostly Gentile church, and there were some ethnic clashes that were going on within the church.

Erin:

Oh wow, and there were some ethnic clashes that were going on within the church. And so Paul writes to reset the foundation, to say we are all common in sin and common in salvation. And so that is kind of the underlying context, which totally makes sense when you read it now, because you can see him.

Erin:

This is why he lays out the foundation of the gospel that it's by faith, it's not by birth. Yeah, right, that these. This is what it looks like when you are living your life without Christ. Here is what it looks like when you're living your life with Christ. And so, really, that's kind of what's going on in the background of of Romans, um, and so not only do we have to look, um, at historical context, but we also want to kind of look at scriptural context. So anytime we're going to jump into a verse and we're going to quote a verse, we need to understand the context of what's going on around it. And so Romans has four sections. The first section is chapters one through four, and it talks about God's righteousness versus our need for a savior. And it's that idea, what I said. We're common in sin, like we all sin and we're all saved the same way, so we are all common in our salvation.

Leigh Ann:

There's not different paths, to get there Right.

Erin:

And then Romans five through eight is what our lives look like because of Christ Right, and so when we're jumping into Romans eight, we are jumping in at like this climax point in the book. I mean, when you read Romans eight can you can just feel yourself like coming up with this energy right.

Diane:

Yes, yes, yes, yes.

Erin:

We're more than conquerors. We can do this. No, we can separate us. Yes, jesus, yes, we're more than conquerors. We can do this, no one can separate us. So but that builds up in those first, in those chapters ahead of it, true Romans, nine through 11, which get a little squishy.

Erin:

There's a lot of debate but really ultimately, at the core, they're about the fulfillment of old Testament prophecy, that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament. And then Romans 12 through 16 is practical advice. This is why you always have to be so careful when you jump into. Romans 12, 13, 14, 16 is really a kind of a closing greeting, but when you jump in, there's all these do this, do that, do this. But it's never meant to be separated from the beginning because, and he does this with all of his letters.

Erin:

If you look, Ephesians same thing starts with the doctrine and it ends with the to do's Okay, and so the reason is because all of it we have is rooted in who Jesus is.

Diane:

Right.

Erin:

And then what the Holy spirit does for us, and so, um, that's kind of what's going on in the background of.

Diane:

Romans. I love it, love it, oh my goodness.

Leigh Ann:

So really put together, and we want to just encourage you, if you didn't already run, and pause this and go get a pen to take some notes. This is a. This is a watch twice or listen twice, kind of thing which is great, because we we do want this to be a launching off for people to go study deeper, to go read the whole chapter to go read the whole book of friends and dive into that and get.

Leigh Ann:

Aaron's book to do it. But anyway, um, I also wanted to just pause us and have you define good define some of these terms in this because we we are going to admit right now that throughout this season we're going to use the very human fun. Some of our episodes are just fun. Good, very lowercase g, good in our society, in our terminology, but where biblically are we standing when we talk about goodness and when we talk about something being good?

Erin:

I think this is, or lot of the confusion of this verse comes in, is because, um, again, we need to remember the Bible written for us but not to us. It was originally written in a different language, right, and so there are words in English. You know, we do our best and that's why, you know, typically I recommend having two or three good translations of scripture to kind of cross between, because they are all going to fill in gaps kind of from different angles.

Leigh Ann:

It's also fun to do that. It's actually a fun experiment to do that, to say I'm going to look this up in several and get the most comprehensive understanding that I can, and and so in the Romans was originally written in Greek um.

Erin:

Old Testament Hebrew, new Testament, greek and so um. We need to really understand what that word meant. Um. I think a lot of the confusion comes, so I love looking up words on the dictionary.

Diane:

I'm a word girl, just in case you haven't figured that out yet You're in good company.

Leigh Ann:

You're in good company, I know, I know.

Erin:

Yes, um. So I love to look up words in the English dictionary to kind of help give some framework Cause. A lot of times you get some additional context that you're like. I kind of know what compassionate means, but when you look it up, it adds a layer of understanding. Um, so I looked up the word good in the dictionary and there are 33.

Diane:

English definitions. That surprises me, that's crazy 33.

Erin:

So, of course, we're going to be confused about what goodness means, and so this is one of those instances where we really need to lean on the original language. And man, it is such an incredible time to be a student of God's word, because all of this is available right online. Yeah, and you know it used to be 20 years ago. You had to. I mean, the book is the Strong's Concordance that you would have to look stuff up. I mean it's 2000 pages or something ridiculous and it's teeny tiny, my father-in-law's study.

Leigh Ann:

You know the books in the offices and the studies or the pastor's office. Right, go borrow the book from church. Yes, yes, so um, but you're right, like everything now is kind of at our fingertips which is such an amazing opportunity for us to just go deeper into that.

Diane:

It is.

Erin:

And a lot of them I use. Um. Blueletterbibleorg is a good one. Biblehubcom is good. Um biblehubcom just started adding context um biblical usage and historical context notes within there, so you can better understand.

Erin:

So the word good in Greek means beneficial, virtuous, but here's the thing it's related to moral and ethical virtues, not to circumstances, and so when it talks about our good and this is where we get confused, because we'll go well my husband getting diagnosed isn't good, and part of my story that continues on is that my son was diagnosed with an even more serious medical condition almost three years ago, and nothing about this is yeah. And so what does God's goodness look like? And it's because God is good, no matter what.

Diane:

Yeah.

Erin:

So one of the things I get really on my soapbox about is when something really good happens in your life, like you get the job promotion or you're, you get the scholarship or you get the thing that you've been praying for, we go, oh God is good. But you know what God would have been good even if you didn't.

Erin:

You know, when we get the healing, God is good. When we don't get the healing, God is good. And so being able to understand his goodness and what he is working toward in his goodness is about who we are.

Diane:

I like what you said, just to pause for just a minute, that his goodness is not tied to circumstances, and that is that's really like to me like an epiphany you know, like that's something that a lot of people will say, like you just said about oh, we get something and then he is good, but it's really not tied to those circumstances.

Erin:

That's really valuable Right it is and it's hard too, because we want it to be True.

Leigh Ann:

Well, and, and I will say, if you've ever said that and you're feeling a little like, oh why am I, you know?

Erin:

I said it all the time until I was in a situation Also.

Leigh Ann:

I think the neat part to unpack this is we want to honor God Like at our core. We want to give God praise. We want to worship him in all things. The challenge that we're bringing up with this is the worship and the praise when we didn't get the answers we asked for. No, it's true, it's. The other side is right on.

Erin:

Right, I mean the, because that's supposed to be our posture, whatever the circumstance, and there is, and this is why every Bible study has a list of characteristics of God and names of God, and every week of homework you are pulling those out. Um, and part of it is because I really believe that in the ten commandments when it says do not misuse the name of the lord your god or do not use it in vain yeah, um that a lot of that is related to how we represent his character and when we attribute falsely his character yeah, then we're misusing his name.

Erin:

Wow and so um. For me it just became really serious. There are attributes his generosity, his sovereignty right those things that we praise, so we can praise and worship in the good stuff.

Erin:

We just want to make sure, because I think for me what was hard was what does that say to the person who lost their husband to cancer, when you say God is good because he healed your husband? Sure and so helping recognize that God is good because he healed your husband, sure, you know, and and so helping uh recognize that God is good no matter what.

Diane:

There's a disconnect there. Well, I will just say a little disclaimer right now, but this resonates tremendously with me because when my mom passed away which you haven't shared. On this you know there was a lot of tough times and when she was laying there on hospice she would say, how God was good and I, there was no Right. It was so sincere, yeah, yeah, to the last day, right.

Leigh Ann:

And to someone that wasn't. It wasn't tied to how healthy she was or how strong she was.

Diane:

It was tied to him and the caregivers that would come in and care for her literally would say to me it is so different being here and she resonated that and a lot of people never saw that side of my mom. Yeah, and she got really bold in really the closer she was to heaven.

Leigh Ann:

Yeah, yeah, so what?

Diane:

you're saying just really resonates with me and things, and I just you know, like you said, like when it's really easy to say it, when things are going great, but when you're in that trial and in that tough time you know. And so by knowing that and knowing that I call it like a spiritual depth that it was very easy for me to be beyond the grave with her, because I know how she was, I know what she saw and how she felt. Yeah, that's good.

Erin:

There's a great children's book that I just recently was introduced to um by someone in my Bible study. Um, it's good. There's a great children's book that I just recently was introduced to um by someone in my Bible study, um, it's written by a minister, a pastor in the UK, but he um had a toddler son and um his wife gave birth to a stillborn baby late term. And um, and it was kind of the book he wrote for how to help explain to his son that.

Erin:

God is still good and it's called. The moon is always round, oh wow. And there's a catechism that goes with it of what shape is the moon tonight, but what shape is the moon Always?

Diane:

The moon is always round.

Erin:

Yeah. Why is the moon? What does that tell us?

Diane:

God is always good and we may not always see his goodness. I have goosebumps that tell us God is always good and we may not always see his goodness, I have goosebumps.

Erin:

Yeah, I love that Um.

Diane:

We may not always see his goodness Um, but we can trust that his goodness is there Um and so I ended up.

Erin:

I actually um bought a uh an art print of the phases of the moon and hung it in my son's bedroom. And we do that at night, especially as he struggles through his um, his diagnosis and his stuff.

Diane:

That he has to deal with every day.

Erin:

It's like but why do we know he's good? Because of good Friday. Yeah, right, yeah, and so you know, ultimately, all of it is a reminder that he is good. Yeah, and sometimes in our finite minds and in our broken world. I mean his. This world is broken and we have to come to peace with that and understand this is not the way it was meant to be.

Leigh Ann:

That was going to be. My next question, too, was can you put in context for us um God's creation and design for it? And then, the battle of this world is not against flesh and blood and it's it's. Sometimes it's we feel like we're battling the diagnosis or we're battling the um, the, the person who's not doing what we need them to do relationally like you know that, that um, there's it's, it's just not going the way we want it to right.

Leigh Ann:

We want it to, but also that even I think even on a more like that we think we need it to to be okay, you know. And it's like where, where does that categorize? How do we break that down into any kind of human understanding?

Erin:

Do you know?

Diane:

what I mean Like cause it's.

Leigh Ann:

It is a. It is a hard thing to grasp and I love the idea of how would we explain this to a child to our our child, our grandchild, um that understanding when they've only got this much life experience to draw on. But but also just to continue, I don't want to interrupt you, but I was going to say but just share with us a little bit about the CS Lewis, uh, the paradigm.

Diane:

You know where?

Leigh Ann:

he's like we have. The reason we know what good is as humans is because we know the opposite of that. Yeah, Anyway, that's just kind of I didn't want to jump into that.

Erin:

We see from creation in Genesis 1 and 2, everything is good Right.

Diane:

Yeah.

Erin:

That is the word our English Bibles use. Right, he saw it and it was good.

Diane:

And it was good Right.

Erin:

And then when we turn the page to Genesis 3 and Satan enters the garden and he says to Eve did God actually say? This is why I'm so passionate about how we root people in truth because that is that's the same question he asked Right, but ultimately what? He got her. What he was planting in her was the idea that God was holding out on her.

Leigh Ann:

Right.

Erin:

Right and that there was something better that.

Diane:

God wasn't giving her Right.

Erin:

And, ultimately, that's what they chose. They chose to believe that God was holding out on them. And so we see them do that, and then sin enters the world, and that is the context of Romans 8. When we come back to Romans 8, it talks about creation is groaning, longing for. That is why I believe we have natural disasters and hurricanes and earthquakes. It's because creation is not what it was meant to be.

Diane:

It is no longer good, it is broken and it is crying out longing for redemption.

Erin:

Then we ourselves groan because we know that this is not what we were created for, that ultimately, we were created for heaven, these things are not matching up, right. But, goodness, the beauty of it is that the Holy Spirit groans as well.

Erin:

And that is the context of the theme verse for this year is that the Holy Spirit is groaning in words we cannot describe praying for us according to the will of God, and so, even in the brokenness of our lives, even when we don't know what to pray, we know that the Holy Spirit is interceding on our behalf.

Diane:

And.

Erin:

I love the word sin in Greek literally means to miss the mark and the word intercede which we find here in Romans eight. So what the spirit is doing literally means to hit the mark, that he is hitting the mark on our behalf and interceding for us, and so, no, this world isn't good. But the the brokenness, the pain, the in this world isn't good, but the brokenness, the pain in this world, you will have trouble. But he finishes that in John 16, 33,. But take heart.

Leigh Ann:

I have overcome the world and he starts it with.

Erin:

I've told you these things so that in me you may have peace. Peace and knowing that the victory is sure that we have that in Romans 8 as well. Like we are more than conquerors. This is not a buzzer beater.

Diane:

This is not.

Erin:

March madness. This is not. It could be anyone's game Like. The victory is done, it's sealed. Satan's days are numbered. His power is limited and Jesus is coming back, and so we should be looking toward eternity and our brokenness and remembering that, though the days here feel long and hard and broken, ultimately for those who believe they are a blink of the eye Right.

Leigh Ann:

Yeah, right, that eternity. That word, that word just kept coming up. Um, that when one of the many privileges that we have as believers is to get a bigger perspective?

Leigh Ann:

is to get that eternal view, it still feels like a slice compared to what God is is um imparting with us and giving us, but but we are able to to see him um, you know, working on it. I had a recent example of of a pastor shared that he was praying with two families with the same diagnosis. Both the mothers in these two families had a cancer diagnosis.

Leigh Ann:

One is he preached the funeral and one he was there when she rang the bell for celebrating an earthly healing and he said they were both healed and that that is really the heart, like that was. The most vivid example that I can think of is is um. That's something that I heard growing up was heaven is healing. And that is not that's not a churchy concept right now. You know what I mean. Like honestly, and I don't want that. I would cry out to God if that's what was asked of me or said we're going to do this.

Diane:

Do you know what I mean?

Leigh Ann:

Like honestly, and that's a push and pull that we have as believers in this world. It's a tension that we have to live in. Right, this is not our home, yeah, so ultimately, just kind of to wrap up, I love that.

Erin:

I always encourage us that we should ask how are you going to use this, not why? So when my son was diagnosed, I had walked through some things years before with my husband, and so I had been rooted enough in him to go. Okay, god, I know you've promised that you are with me, that you will never leave me, forsake me, and you have gone before me.

Erin:

I said so don't let me miss you, let me see where you are, let me see where you're working, and I don't want to waste this. And so I think, ultimately, it's really hard and we grieve. I mean, goodness, there are days I just cry and there are days where I'm exhausted and I have nothing left, you know. So I'm not. I don't want you to think I'm some spiritual, perfect all the time.

Leigh Ann:

Thank you for this trial, laura, at all times, but constantly turning my mind back to where are you, God?

Erin:

Where are you working? How are you changing me? How are you?

Leigh Ann:

growing me and not wasting it.

Erin:

And ultimately, that's what the good of Romans 8, 28 is that he refines us. We didn't have time to talk about that, but he refines us, you know we didn't have time to talk about that. But you know he refines us, he makes us more like him because those trials remove impurities from us Right Right.

Erin:

They make us a more pure follower of Jesus, they make us more holy, and so, like letting that change us, letting that pour out into you, can be real and you can. You know, talk about how hard it is, but also, I mean, this is Psalms, right.

Diane:

Every.

Erin:

Psalm of David crying out, crying out but God is good.

Diane:

I'm going to praise you. I love you. Your love endures forever, you know. And so, always holding that tension, I love it. Well, it's so much information and I love it and you know we have our show notes, and so some of these verses that you talked about the links, we're definitely going to put those in our show notes so that our listeners can go back and and, like Leanne said, this is definitely one of those that you're going to probably hit on repeat.

Leigh Ann:

Yeah, watch and listen more than once. Yeah, take those notes Sometimes when it's something you haven't maybe heard presented in that way before, to absorb it. I know for me I'm like I'm going to need to hear it pray and then listen again and come back again. So, but it's, it's so, so, um, I could tell like there's such an anointed circle to this and um, and it's really special.

Diane:

I mean just to get a glimpse into our world a little bit, that you know, when we prayed and we sat and just in the presence of God, to just say where God do you want to use us for this next season? Um, it was a resounding point to this verse's amazing and I mean listen, there's a lot of verses out there and when? So god just refined us right to this to this spot and we, you know it was like this and absolutely and we want him to use that too.

Diane:

Yeah, yeah, so we're excited about that, and with every episode we always do leave with our theme verse so we're gonna do that tonight.

Leigh Ann:

I don't think we read the whole thing. No, we didn't. No, we didn't. Do you want to? I was going to say do you want to have Erin read it?

Diane:

Or do you want to Sure? If you have it open and ready, you can go ahead and read Romans 8, 28 for us.

Erin:

Just 28?

Diane:

Or do you want 27 too?

Erin:

Just go um this one. I need my glasses. I'm not alone now, and we know that, for those who love god, all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose and there you go, amen.

Leigh Ann:

So season three.

Diane:

It's the closing of the episode one of season yes, yes, be refreshed, be encouraged and stay well grounded.

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Diane Lytle

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Leigh Ann Crawford

Co-host