You're Not Called to Impress God

Have you ever felt like you needed to prove yourself to God?

To pray better…
 To do more…
 To be more consistent…
 To finally “get it right” so you can feel close to Him again?

In this episode of Unrelated Sisters: Truth & Grace Conversation, we’re breaking the lie that your relationship with God is built on performance.

Because the truth is…
 You are not called to impress God—you are called to abide in Him.

If you’ve ever felt spiritually exhausted, inconsistent, or like you’re falling short, this conversation will remind you of the freedom found in grace. Through biblical truth and honest reflection, we’ll talk about what it really means to live from God’s love instead of striving for it.

You don’t have to earn His presence.
 You don’t have to perform for His approval.

You are already fully known… and fully loved.

 BIBLE VERSES FOR THE EPISODE 

Abiding Over Striving

•  John 15:4–5
   “Abide in me, and I in you… apart from me you can do nothing.” 

Grace, Not Performance

•  Ephesians 2:8–9
   “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith… not by works, so that no one can boast.” 

No Condemnation

•  Romans 8:1
   “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” 

God Looks at the Heart

•  1 Samuel 16:7
   “The Lord does not look at the things people look at… the Lord looks at the heart.” 

Rest for the Weary

•  Matthew 11:28–30
   “Come to me, all you who are weary… and I will give you rest.” 

God’s Love is Constant

•  Lamentations 3:22–23
   “His mercies are new every morning.” 

Confidence in God, Not Self

•  Hebrews 4:16
   “Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence…” 

 ENCOURAGEMENT SEGMENT 

If you’ve been trying to impress God…
 You can stop.

You don’t have to clean yourself up before coming to Him.
 You don’t have to have the perfect quiet time.
 You don’t have to say all the right words.

God is not standing at a distance, grading your performance.

He’s inviting you closer.

Even on your inconsistent days.
 Even when you didn’t follow through.
 Even when your faith feels weak.

You are not loved because you did everything right this week.
 You are loved because He is good.

And nothing you failed to do…
 Can cancel what Jesus already finished.

So take a deep breath.

You’re not behind.
 You’re not disqualified.

You’re still His.

 CLOSING PRAYER

Jesus…

Thank You that I don’t have to impress You.

Thank You that Your love for me is not based on my performance, my consistency, or my effort.

Forgive me for the times I’ve tried to earn what You already gave freely.

Forgive me for striving instead of abiding…
 For performing instead of resting in Your presence.

Lord, help me to come to You just as I am.

Remind me that You are not looking for perfection—
 You are looking for my heart.

Teach me to walk with You d

We want this to be truly interactive podcast. Please go in the fan mail at
https://unrelatedsisterspodcast.buzzsprout.com and tell us your stories and let us know if it’s okay to share (no names). Let us know if you need prayer or how we can support you in your journey. Thank you so much for taking the time to listen. 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Lord, we love you today. We just thank you for being here, Lord, with us. And we just pray that our words would bring encouragement to everyone listening today, Lord. And we just want to thank you in advance. In Jesus' name. Amen.

SPEAKER_02 0:14

Amen. Hey everyone, and welcome back to Unrelated Sisters Truth and Grace Conversation. I'm Shannon.

SPEAKER_00 0:20

And I'm Deb. We're so glad you're here with us today.

SPEAKER_02 0:24

And today we kind of want to talk about something that I think a lot of Christian women feel, but they don't always know how to put it words to it, or they don't know, they don't quite understand it. It's kind of how I've been feeling lately, I feel like sometimes. You know, you love worship music. You know, I praise God in my car every morning on the on my way to work. Um, you know, we pray before our meals. I feel like I'm living, you know, the right way. That's you know, as humanly possible. Um, we don't always do the right thing, but you know, we try. Um but deep down I still feel very tired. I feel unseen. Um sometimes I feel like trying so hard, but somehow still it's just not enough. And whether it's enough for it's just not enough for me, because I don't believe that it's not enough for God, right? Um and the problem isn't that I don't love God. The problem is that I think I've been you get into a a a a rut is the word I think I'm looking for, and you've been performing instead of a body.

SPEAKER_00 1:42

That's an important distinction because so many people they don't even realize when they've slipped in performance mode with their faith. I think a lot of times we just uh we think if we're we gotta check all the boxes and and and do all the things, and God just wants us to be, you know what I mean? And it seems so hard to just be.

SPEAKER_02 2:03

Yeah, right? Very hard. Like, and I've been I've been I've been out of town for like a month. I've been helping at another store. So I've not been my whole routine, my whole life has just been uprooted this last month. And so my routine with God got uprooted. And I really until last week, you know, I talked about being frustrated at work and all of the things, and that was because I feel like my routine with God had gotten disrupted, but why does it have to be a routine? Right, you know, in John 15, he says uh something um erratical. You know, God says, Jesus says, abide in me. Just abide in me. Yeah, he didn't say impress me, he didn't say exalt yourself for me, he didn't say prove yourself to me, he said abide. You know, and there's something to that many women never hear. Some of us are trying so hard to be that perfect Proverbs 31 woman, but but first you gotta become that John 15 woman. And I don't remember John 15 being a Bible verse as a woman growing up in church that was ever taught to me, right? I don't remember that. I don't remember the verse abide in me. I don't remember that being one of the things, and you know, you can't continue to pour from branches that's not connected to something. Oh yeah, right? And we talk about that a lot, I feel like. We talk about you know being connected and about the things to do, right? Like reading our Bible, talking with God every day, doing those things. And you know, I've been working really hard on reading my Bible, reading, you know, a devotional, doing something every day in that part. But when I didn't have to get up at 4 a.m. to get ready and drive an hour and 20 minutes every day, I don't know that I talked to him every day. You know what I mean? I I'm sure I said things throughout the day, but I don't know that I talked to God or to Jesus in that week, and it left me feeling some kind of way. And then it allowed the frustration last week.

SPEAKER_00 4:29

Well, today we're gonna unplug that. What is what do you think it means to actually be abide in Christ? To abide in Jesus. What does that mean to you?

SPEAKER_01 4:37

I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 4:41

Staying connected, yeah. Staying connected. See, I feel like a lot of times it's so easy to get disconnected because we're doing so much. You know, with me, I feel like I'm always at the ball field, at the you know, doing something with the kids, work, and then you feel this disconnect. Life be life. You know what I mean? Yeah, life be life, and but and then we start striving, and but that ain't how he wants to be. I mean, he he the Lord knows we're gonna be busy, he knows we're gonna have things to do. But if once we if we get disconnected, that's when we start feeling the exhaustion and the things. Yeah, you start feeling not enough.

SPEAKER_02 5:18

I think, and I think that's the strongest part is you start feeling not enough. You know, in John 15, 4 through 5, Jesus says, Abide in me and I in you. As the branch can't bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the wine, in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. And the word abide means to remain, to stay connected, to dwell, to live in a relationship. But sometimes that seems so hard.

SPEAKER_00 5:52

It seems so hard, and it's really it's we gotta because we feel like we gotta be doing, doing, doing.

SPEAKER_02 5:56

Yeah, and it shouldn't be. You know, and and that's you know, we were talking earlier, and I've been I've been like trying to figure out what kind of season I'm in right now, right? Like, because I don't feel like I'm waiting on anything, right? And I don't feel like I'm you know, there's not fireworks going off all around me, you know, in that sense of of of God. But I don't feel like I'm alone, you know. I feel like he's here and I feel like we're both at peace. Which to me is weird. Like I don't know what that means. Like I don't know how that's supposed to translate into my everyday life and into my everyday relationships. Like I feel like I'm in peace.

SPEAKER_00 6:41

And that's a good thing.

SPEAKER_02 6:43

Yes, it is.

SPEAKER_00 6:45

We're not used to that. I think we're used to chaos.

SPEAKER_02 6:48

We are, we are.

SPEAKER_00 6:49

So we're so different. Yeah. Being in survival mode.

SPEAKER_02 6:52

Yeah. Where the n when you know, when's the next shoe gonna drop? What's the next crisis? What's the next this or next that? And so when I was working at another location this last month, it was nothing but chaos. And and in all honesty, like I feel like I needed that for that moment to realize that it's okay to be at peace. Which has been really weird. You know, you have to love the picture that God pre that God created when He just said these simple words, abide in me, and I abide in you. Um you can't produce fruit by trying harder, you can only produce fruit by connecting, by staying connected. And you know, when you stay connected, he gives you those opportunities. And um, and sometimes it's hard to know those opportunities. It's hard to see those opportunities because of life, be life and right. Like the other day, a young lady was working with us down there at the other shore, and I just had this. I don't, I don't, it's this draw to her. Like, and and it's been a long time since I've had a draw to to to somebody. And um, so look, I was like, okay, you just work with me, you know, and uh we worked for a couple days, nothing personal, nothing come out of like you know, out of it. We just we were working together, and I could I could feel it. Like I could feel her anxiety and I could feel her her guilt, I think it was, you know, and finally one day I just kind of was just talking, you know, and I started talking about the podcast and about she's like, really? And I'm like, Yeah, you should listen. So, you know, of course I give her a card, and that next day she comes back and she is like, you just don't even know. And this is where I've been, and I was like, Okay. And uh she goes, You just don't understand that it's to see someone in your position and where you're at, to see you be able to be so transparent and be so vulnerable about your past and to know that we can make it through it or past it. Because apparently she'd been drinking, um, and maybe not to a point to where she was sloppy drunk all the time, but she was drunk in important moments, you know, with her kids and her family, and and she was, you know, they were starting to say little things, and they were, you know, like she knew it was becoming a problem. And I'm like, but why are you doing it? And she's like, Well, I'm like, you gotta figure out the why first.

SPEAKER_00 9:43

So that's good. So how do you know when you move from abiding with God to performing? I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 9:53

How do you I mean I think you um when you when I or I feel like I feel like a fraud sometimes because like there's days that he is the only thing on my mind. You know, God is the only thing on my mind, it doesn't matter what's going on around me, and then there's days that I don't know that he even crosses my mind. So that staying connected is very important because you can't flip back and forth. He can't be an option, right? Right. He he has to be the option, like he can't be a option, and sometimes it's hard as humans, as women, who automatically care for everybody around us, for who automatically try to help everyone around us, who automatically carries the burden of of the family around us, even though we try not to, we still do. So sometimes we have to produ we have to focus on producing fruit instead of staying connected to the vine. So, how do you think you produce fruit?

SPEAKER_00 11:10

Staying connected. For me, like because obviously the fruit that you should be bearing is love, joy, peace, patience, long suffering, those things. So when I'm not producing those things, and I know, you know what I mean, when I'm uh I know I'm definitely uh not connected, I have to go back and see where I have disconnected, and a lot of times it is um where I'm trying to fill my life with other things instead of it can be good things, but we've talked about this before just because it's a good thing don't mean it's a God thing. Right. And so I have to uh recognize that, Lord, is this something you want me to do? Or because if it's not something He's calling me to do, you will exhaust your soul.

SPEAKER_02 11:51

And I think that's where the performing comes in. Right. We start performing for God when we're exhausted.

SPEAKER_00 11:57

Or people.

SPEAKER_02 11:58

Or people, yeah, the people around us because we don't want them to feel disappointed, you know, we've came this far and we've exhausted ourselves, and so we don't want them to think that we're failing or that we're taking steps backwards. So then we start performing for them, and sometimes, you know, and I feel like that's a lot of what's happened over the last couple months in my in this in this journey or part of my journey, you know. I did the ones in Vegas where you know, talking about taking a drink, being wrong, you know, about you know, being around and seeing all the things, and it made me feel disconnected, but then in one moment, it only took one moment to be dis to be back connected. But that's hard, you know, it's exhausting, it's so exhausting. It shouldn't be like that. I know, right? But sometimes being a child of God in this day and time in this world is exhausting. Trying to discern the difference between what God wants and what good looks like, right? Because like you said, sometimes just because it's good doesn't mean it's your God, it's your thing, right? It may be somebody else's blessing that you're stepping on to.

SPEAKER_00 13:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:17

But I think that's why we struggle with it. When my faith feels like pressure instead of relationship, that's when I know I've shifted uh to performance mode. Yep. And you know, maybe that's why I'm at peace now that I've the last couple weeks I've ever since I got frustrated at work and had to be like, okay, well, wait a minute, this is not who I am. Let me take a step back. I have felt at peace over the last couple weeks.

SPEAKER_00 13:51

That's good. So, why do you think so many women struggle with feeling like they're not enough spiritually?

SPEAKER_02 14:05

You know, and this is uh so back before social media. I remember going to church and it was all about how you were dressed, where you sat, who you went to lunch with afterwards, all the things that made you feel a part of the church. Doesn't necessarily mean you was a part of God, but you was a part of church. But now everybody's got an Instagram appro uh Instagram um TikTok uh Facebook. You know, you can share all your glory with with the world, and I think that that's it becomes easy to perform when when you start a comparing or so. Yes, you know, performance-based faith sounds like if I pray more, maybe God will approve of me. If I serve more, maybe I'll feel worthy. If I do enough spiritual things, maybe I'll feel closer to God. But it the gospel says something completely different. Romans 5.8 says, While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. We were loved before we ever chose to perform for him. Now think about that a minute. Think about that a minute. He chose to hang on a cross, he chose to be stabbed in the sign. He chose to tell God to forgive us because we do not know what we do. He chose that. And I think he would do it again if that's what it took to save this world. I have to, I have, I feel like that the ultimate sacrifice as a parent is as you would do anything for your child. Anything. And that includes hanging on a cross. And if that's not how much you love God, if you don't have that in your performance, you're definitely not abiding with him.

SPEAKER_00 16:29

I think you have to get to that point where you know that no matter where you're at, what you're doing, that he loves you. He don't he he loves us right now just as much as he loves the big name preachers or whoever. You know what I mean? He loves us. And once you get into tap into that vein where, hey, you know what God loves me. Just like I am. I don't have to strive for his love. I don't have to work for his love. You know, it you think about sometimes getting into a relationship, you think if I do this, they'll love me more, or if I do that. Right. I'm I'm thankful. I think that we do the same thing uh in our relationship with God, but I'm thankful that we don't have to. We don't have to. We do, but we don't have to.

SPEAKER_02 17:11

But we do it in all relationships. Our relationship with God, our relationship with our husband, our significant other, our relationships with our friends, our co-workers. You know, I was thinking because they asked me, I had some people ask me, are you gonna take the store that I was working at? Um, and I was like, no. And they're like, but why? It's more money, it's more this, it's more that. It's also two and a half hours away from home. You know, and at first I was excited that they asked me if I would if if that would be an you know an opportunity to help build that store and build those associates up and do this and do that. And I was like, and I come home, you know, and I sat down with my husband because I'm definitely not gonna make that kind of life decision without us both being on the same page. And and he's like, let me think about it. And I'm like, okay, you know, no big deal, blah, blah, blah, whatever. And so then when we finally sat down and talked about it, he says, Why? Why do you want to do it? You have I have no desire to move up in the company. I have no desire, you know, we we have made a a 10-year retirement plan, you know. So in 10 years, we we plan on being retired from our jobs and being able to travel or do whatever we want to do. And uh, and so he's like, why do you want to do that? Like, why would you want to put that extra stress on you? You know, and I'm like, hmm. When I was a kid, my daddy always told us that I was like, when I get big, I'm getting a tattoo. And he says, if you come to me and you can give me a a reason why you want to put permanent ink on your body, and it has to be not because everybody else is doing it, it has to, he said, then I will take you up there and pay for it. He said, but you have to be able to tell me the why. And it works the same, it works the same all the way around. God just wants you to see the why. So you know, uh women you ask the question, you know, why do we not uh enough spiritually? And I think that's not just spiritually, I think it's all the way around. It's comparison of everybody else's life, it's comparison of everybody else's home, what car they drive, what materialistic things they have. You know, and comparison's one of those things that you don't notice slips in, but then it does.

SPEAKER_00 20:02

Yeah, and suddenly that your faith becomes a competition instead of a relationship.

SPEAKER_02 20:06

Right. Because you want to be as strong as but really in reality, I remember one time somebody told Michael, like, I wish I had your life.

SPEAKER_00 20:18

And he was like, Really? Because do you want to go through this, this, and this? They had they just see the outside picture. They didn't they weren't seeing the f the the labor of his what he was doing to get to where he was at, you know what I mean? Right. It doesn't seem like that he starts selling all the where he got to where he they're like, no, never mind.

SPEAKER_02 20:36

Right. So that's where your testimony is important because and sharing your testimony with the people around you and the people that are part of you is they see the grace of God and how it got you from here from A to C, right? And you know, when I tell my story, and I'm sure you have this, you get the same reaction as I do now when you tell the story, you're they're like, huh? I'd have never thought that all you know, you were what? No way, you know, and I'm like, yeah, like 15 years and they're like, you know, because all they see is the people that are on it right now.

SPEAKER_00 21:16

Thank God we don't look like what we've been through.

SPEAKER_02 21:18

I know, right?

SPEAKER_00 21:20

We talk about that often. Yes, yes, no, seriously. I like one day I was seeing somebody walking down the road and they were you could tell they were out there and they were like gone. Like they prayed to shot it open, like they didn't ever come back. And I was like, Thank you, Lord. Uh yeah. Thank you, Lord. Yeah, for real.

SPEAKER_02 21:38

You know, you shared a memory on Facebook about you and Kevin a couple weeks ago, and y'all were so young in the memory that you shared, and then you shared today. If I hadn't known y'all, I would have been like, that's not the same couple. Yeah. You know what I mean? Oh yeah. You know, just by the picture, I'd have been like, yeah, that's AI generated. Yeah. And it's not, it's relaxed. You know, but uh that's because I know you, you know, and I know the struggles and I know how you've gotten here, and but it's um it amazes me how many people just are like and they're like you're not that person. I'm like, Yeah, I found Jesus, right? Like they were like, You've lived some rough life, and I'm like, Yeah, but I found Jesus. Yeah, you know, but I found Jesus. Thank you. But he found me.

SPEAKER_00 22:25

Yeah, he found us.

SPEAKER_02 22:26

He found me. He found me, he found me standing there turning circles, probably. You know, um, one place where comparison shows up a lot is when we talk about the Proverbs 31 Woman, you know, and we did a whole series on we did a whole series on the Proverbs 31 Woman, how you know it was a mother telling what she wanted for her husband. The Bible, Proverbs 31 was never meant for you to perfect it. It was a roadmap that God has given us as women to grow closer to Him. It really doesn't have anything to do with our heavenly or earthly husbands. It it you know, and this may be controversial because I know all over the world Proverbs 31 is the perfect wife, but it's the perfect wife to God, the perfect wife to Jesus. It's the perfect, you know, does it make you a better mate to your husband? Yes. Because when you live out Proverbs 31, then you're submissive to your husband, you're loyal to your husband, you know, you're happier to your husband. He gets the benefits of you being a Proverbs 30 woman, 31 woman to Jesus.

SPEAKER_00 23:48

Sometimes that that passage can make women feel overwhelmed if they read it the wrong way. Because it says she wakes up early, and some people don't wake up early, so they're already already automatically like think they're a failure, they get they can never be that. But that's not true. Uh she manages her household. Some people don't manage their household that great, but some people do the best they can. She works hard, she cares for others, she's wise, strong, and respected. Sometimes women read that and think I can never measure up.

SPEAKER_02 24:16

But you can. Yeah. Because in his eyes, we do all of that. Right? He don't care if you wake up at 5 a.m. or if you wake up at 9 a.m.

SPEAKER_00 24:24

He just wants to continue relationships.

SPEAKER_02 24:26

He just wants you to say good morning and I love you. No different than your husband wants that affirmation. You know, everybody's house is different. Um, we talk about my house being pretty and you know, all the time. It's beautiful.

SPEAKER_00 24:42

It's beautiful.

SPEAKER_02 24:43

I don't have kids. Right? So my house was not always put together. Uh my kid has grown. It's easier to have a put-together home when you just have grandkids that come over to visit and they get to go away than it is to have a kid.

SPEAKER_00 25:02

Well, mine had slime all through the house this morning, so that's what my house looks like right now. My grandkids. Oh yeah, but you clean it up.

SPEAKER_02 25:12

It's clean till next week.

SPEAKER_00 25:13

Until next week.

SPEAKER_02 25:15

Yeah. What a blessing. But you have a 13-year-old too, so and you know. Which he's a big help. You know, uh, you know, mine never picked his dirty clothes up out of the bathroom. Yeah. You know, he definitely didn't like his his room is not disgusting, but I'm sure it's got 12 layers of dust on it because I refuse to go in and clean it. Yeah. It's his room.

unknown 25:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:36

You know, uh, still to this day. I do not go in his room and clean it, even though he's only here every so often. But, you know, the really important thing about Proverbs 31 is not to be a it's not a daily checklist, right? And that's what we're talking about today, right? It's it's it's not performing for the people around us or for God, it's about the fruit of life rooted in God. And Proverbs 31 is a prime example of how a woman can be rooted in God. So, and that fruit doesn't come from striving, it comes from connection to the vine.

SPEAKER_00 26:17

So, what we're really saying is John 15 is the root and Proverbs 31 is the fruit. Exactly. Exactly, right?

SPEAKER_02 26:26

You've got to start with a root, you know. Uh, and when we try to produce a proverbs 31 fruit without a John 15 root, you get exhausted. Yeah, you get burned.

SPEAKER_01 26:37

We burn out. That's good.

SPEAKER_02 26:39

And and you know, let's say that one more time. When we try to produce Proverbs 31 fruit without John 15 roots, we burn out. Yeah. It's the Bible says it. Yeah. We burn out, right? See, and I've been thinking because it's getting that planting season, and um, we haven't, me and my husband have we're behind this year as far as our yard goes. He finally mowed it yesterday or the day before. We finally pulled weeds out of some of the flower garden beds, not all of them. And then this uh and then yesterday I was coming home and I pulled in the driveway, and we have a fenced-in area where we do a garden every year, and it straight looks like it's out of a horror movie right now, right? Um, we didn't clean it up last year after everything died, and we normally do, usually it's just dirt. There's weeds everywhere, like the beds are overgrown, and I was like, are we gonna plant something this year? That's gonna be a lot of work if we decide to plant some fresh vegetables this year, because we did not harvest our wait time very well. Um, when it comes to that, and it made me, you know, it made me kind of think about the having the roots to have a garden. It starts with the season of waiting, and then it moves to the season of the root, and then to the season of the fruit, and then the season of the harvest, you know, and I feel like that's all we have talked about this last year on this podcast. You know, we have talked, that's all we've talked about, and it just keeps coming full circle, full circle. Everything we talk about, Proverbs 31, John 15, it talks about the phases of the harvest. Because at the end is where you get the harvest, and then you get the pay, you get then you get to, you know, rest.

SPEAKER_00 28:41

So, what do you think would change if women stopped trying to imitate Proverbs 31 and instead focused on abiding in Christ first?

SPEAKER_02 28:51

I think every woman could experience freedom. Yeah, true, undeniable freedom from all of our guilt, all of our cu comparison, all of our shame, all of our think we're not enough. I think fruit would grow naturally and our roots would stay healthy. You know.

SPEAKER_00 29:19

Yeah, we want the we want the harvest before we even plant the seed sometimes.

SPEAKER_02 29:24

Sometimes. You know what I mean? Yeah. I agree. I agree 100%.

SPEAKER_00 29:28

But when we maintain it, when we do plant the seed and we maintain it like you were talking about, pulling the weeds up, pruning it, stuff that we don't really like. Yeah. Sometimes some things that might, you know, um working on areas in our life that needs healing, those are those are maintaining your root, those are the pruning season, the things that we don't really like sometimes, but they're necessary. They are they're necessary to be able to bear the fruit that that Jesus wants us to bear. But we want the fruit and not have to do all that.

SPEAKER_02 29:58

Yeah, we don't want to do our fruit.

SPEAKER_00 29:59

No, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:00

I'm definitely easier. So I guess the real question becomes how do we actually become a woman who abides?

SPEAKER_00 30:11

We will we don't add more tasks to our life. We connect deeper, I think, with Jesus. On maybe on a deeper level. Um how do we do that?

SPEAKER_02 30:26

Well, sometimes it's just about sitting with Jesus. Yeah. Without performing. You know, if you want to become a John 15 woman, if you want to be rooted, then you have to sometimes you just have to sit with him, you know, and that's and that's looks different for everybody, right? For me, it's coming up here, closing the door, turning on the music, staring at my computer, and and I do it a lot. I stare at my computer, you know, and then all of a sudden it's like words just start flowing, and I just start typing. And I do use chat GPT, just so everybody knows. Um, because when my words start flowing or when God's words start flowing, my squirrel in my brain likes to take a left or a right sometimes. And so my ideals are not always in a cohesive thing when I'm writing it, right? Because I'll go from here to here to here to back up to here when it doesn't make sense if you read it. Um, you know, I have lots of squirrels that like to run around in my head, but in Psalms 46, 10 it says, be still and know that I am God. And that's just spending spiritual, spending the most spiritual thing you can do is simply sit with God. No agenda, no pressure, just presence, right? Listening to his music, listening to the words that he's saying. We so often drown out what he's saying to us with everything else in life.

SPEAKER_00 32:00

Yeah. I think another thing is letting scripture shape your identity. Ephesians 2 10 says, We are God's workmanship. That means you're not an accident. That you're God's work of art. Created uniquely. And that's hard, right? But he didn't want us to be a copy. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_02 32:22

It we'd all be the same. Yeah, that would be so boring in life, right? Yeah. Where his artwork and uh going to uh in a couple weeks of taking a vacation, we're going to Washington, DC. And I'm super excited about going to the Masonian and seeing some of the different artworks and different things that they have in there. And God is super excited every day, I think, to see us and to see what's next and to see where we're headed. You know, what is a stubborn? I can I can see him sitting there being like, mm-hmm, what's a stubborn woman up to today? Because that is not what I told them to do. Kind of thing, right? And then sometimes you just have to let the fruit grow naturally. And that's that's the hardest thing for me. I think we want to help. I want to help it grow, you know. I want to put all the chemicals on it, which is not healthy for it. Uh John 15, 5 says, Whoever abides in me bears much fruit. Love grows, patience grows, wisdom grows. But can I help it? No. Let's just be honest. Because the branches, the branch stay connected to the vine. And that's where you have to let go of control. Yeah. I think. I think that's what that was trying to tell us to do. You can't, you know, in the in the day and age that we live in, everybody wants it right now. Right now. Because everything is at our fingertips. But that doesn't mean everything that's at our fingertips is worth having.

SPEAKER_00 33:56

Yeah. I think too, when a w a woman starts living that way, you know, abiding, something beautiful happens.

SPEAKER_02 34:04

I think it can.

SPEAKER_00 34:05

Yeah. When a woman abides in Christ, she doesn't chase word. She knows that she's loved. She doesn't perform for approval. And she lives from grace, slowly, quietly, and naturally. The fruit of Proverbs 31 begins to grow, not because she forced it, but because she was rooted.

SPEAKER_02 34:25

Because she was rooted in her relationship with God and with who she is. She knows her identity is in him, and she knows that she is the daughter of the king. Yep. Don't forget that. Dear Lord, so many of us are tired from trying to perform, trying to prove we're enough, trying to meet expectations of this world of what we think it should be. But today we remember your invitation, not to strive, not to exalt our ourselves, but to abide. Teach us to sit with you, root us deeply in your love, and let the fruit of our lives grow naturally as we stay connected to you. Lord Jesus, we thank you for this today, and we thank you for the word that you have given us. Please allow it to touch the hearts of the women that it's supposed to touch. Lord Jesus, and let it remind me and Deborah of our everyday travels. Yes. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 35:26

Amen.

SPEAKER_02 35:27

So thank you for joining us today on Unrelated Sisters Truth and Grace Conversation.

SPEAKER_00 35:32

And if this conversation encouraged you, share it with a friend who might need this reminder today.

SPEAKER_02 35:37

And remember, you're not called to impress God, you're called to abide in Him.

SPEAKER_00 35:43

Amen.

SPEAKER_02 35:44

Thank you, ladies.

SPEAKER_00 35:45

We love y'all.