Ep. 8 From Intimacy to Impact: When Your Walk with God Changes the World Around You

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Are you ready to build a life, business and legacy that truly lasts? Welcome to Faithfully Invested with Alan and Stacey, Joe Thorn, where Faith meets real talk. Biblical wisdom meets everyday life and leadership meets laughter. Together we will uncover God's blueprint for leadership, marriage, and mission, helping faith-driven leaders invest in what matters most. Each episode, we explore biblical wisdom, have real conversations, and of course, have some fun along the way because let's be real. Walking in faith is an adventure. It sure is. So pull up a seat, grab your coffee or your sweet tea, and join us as we steward our callings with intention, because when we invest in his kingdom, he brings the increase. Hey friends. Welcome to Faithfully Invested, the podcast where we explore God's blueprint for leadership, marriage, and mission, one Kingdom principle at a time. Yeah. We are so glad you're here, and today we're wrapping up our very first season. Can you believe, Hey, we're wrapping up our first season, which has been all about building deeper intimacy with God and that my friends is the foundation. For everything else. Yes. Intimacy. Intimacy with God is absolutely. Mm-hmm. The foundation for everything. Today we're gonna be talking about what happens when our intimacy spreads from being from our personal lives, personal intimacy from our secret place with the Lord, when that spreads to impacting the world around us because that's what it's supposed to do. Right. Right. So friends, when, when we walk as closely as we, we must to make that impact. When we walk as closely to our Triune Godhead father, son, holy Spirit, their overflow through us is inevitable. Absolutely. I mean, your time with God was never meant to stay in the prayer closet to begin with. Right. You know, when you live connected to him, your everyday life becomes a vessel for kingdom influence. Absolutely everything. And I, I'd go so far as to say that our, our intimacy doesn't belong inside the, doesn't belong just staying inside the four walls of the church. Oh, absolutely. Right. Without, yeah. So we, without a doubt, we're called to go out without. Outside. Mm-hmm. Outside the four walls. It starts, it starts inside the four walls. It starts inside the prayer closet. Mm-hmm. Or, you know, the, your secret place, whatever that might look like. Yeah. That's where it starts. But we're called to go out, you know? Right. Our, our intimacy begins here and our impact goes here. Right. It goes out. Yeah. Um, so let's talk about what it looks like to move from intimacy. Impact. Let's do that. Alright, let's dig in. So, something that I've learned, uh, through my walk is that the most lasting thing that I've had, uh, the most lasting impact that I've had in people's life. Uh, it didn't come from a big speech, it didn't come from a perfect plan. Uh, and, and I don't believe that anything, uh, that I wanted to be impactful, uh, came from me. It can't just come from me. However, I do believe that I've had some impact, uh, as I followed my calling under an end Jesus Christ authority. I mm-hmm. And Stacey too. And, and you. If you are, if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, yeah. If you believe. And Jesus Christ, you are, you are under and in you operate under and in his authority and under and in his authority. We're training for reigning. Ooh, training for reign, training for reigning. I like that. Yeah. I mean it's what it, it's brought right directly outta Genesis. He said We, we were created male and female. He created us and he created us to rule and reign. Yeah. Everything around us. So that's good training for reigning. So our prayers and our faithful conversations, uh, for myself through, through the construction field as well as through several recovery rooms have allowed me to meet people where they are and offer insightful, uh, experience, strength, and hope found only, not, not from me, but found only in our Lord Jesus Christ. Yeah. Amen, babe. You know, impact does not require a platform. No. It requires presence. Right. And I think we've talked about that before. Yeah. You know, when you live rooted in God's presence. Everything you touch begins to reflect him. So if you've ever thought, you know, I really wanna make a difference, but I'm just a parent, well, well, there's a good place to make a difference right there as a parent and to make an impact. Absolutely. Or maybe, you know, I don't have a ministry title. Friends, I want you to hear this. Your intimacy with God alone qualifies you for impact, right? Don't get hung up on a title, right? I mean, kingdom Greatness doesn't always come, like I said, with a title or platform, but it always comes from obedience to our purposeful calling. I mean, simply put your secret place, as Alan was talking, those four walls. Your secret place is your launchpad. That's it. Intimacy with. God qualifies you for impact. I love that around here. Uh, we call that a blammo, a blammo moment. That's a blammo moment. You know, I, I love that intimacy with God qualifies you. It does. That's it. It's all, that's, that's the only thing you need to qualify you is intimacy with God, but a limo. Limo. So. But here's, but here's where many of us get bound up. Here's where, where I've gotten bound up several times and, and probably Stace as well. I think we can mm-hmm. Uh, attest to this. Yeah. We confuse impact with attention. Yeah. And this might, this is, this not, this is definitely gonna step on a few toes. Mm-hmm. If no one sees it, we wonder if we're making a difference. So we gotta ask ourselves a question. Uh, whatever we're doing, are we doing it for the kingdom or are we doing it for personal attention? Uh, have, have you been instructed to do all that you're doing or are you running on your own volition hoping that the Lord will bless your efforts for him? Are you, are you doing what came from him or are you putting forth efforts for him? You know, where did it come from? Because it, because if we're just, we're, if we're just asking him to bless our, our efforts, our finite efforts mm-hmm. When we could be living out his infinite plan for us. Uh, it's always higher and greater that if that's the case Yeah. Then there's gonna be a huge blockade between your intentions and the impact that you hope to have. For sure. Because true impact doesn't happen without intimacy. Right. I mean, asking yourself, what is my motivation? Yeah. And what is my motivation? Right. That's a really good place to start examining whether you're seeking his answers. Or if you're seeking attention. Yeah. And I will be the first to tell you that I've had to ask myself this question on more than one occasion. Sure. And the answer wasn't always what I thought, because there were times where I thought that I was seeking his answers and I really was just seeking. Attention. Yeah. And I've been the one who's gotten caught up in the world and sought the wrong attention of the wrong people and the wrong, you know, being in the wrong place at the wrong time. And, and it took me a while to understand that that's not how the kingdom works. Yeah. I mean, God wasn't looking. Let's be honest, like God wasn't looking at my follower account. Right. Yeah. God's not concerned with our follower account. No. Or how many likes we're getting. He's only concerned with my faithfulness to him. Right. That's it. He is looking for our faithfulness. He sees our hearts. Yeah. Yeah. And Matthew six six. Um, I love the, uh mm-hmm. The gospel account of, of Matthew. Yeah. He says, uh. Uh, the Lord Jesus says, when you pray, go into your room, uh, close the door and pray to the father who is unseen. And, and then your father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. Friends. Uh, this is intimacy. This is the intimacy time that's required for impact. Mm-hmm. Uh, the time alone with him. Yeah. Uh, yeah. That's, uh, it's required to make the impact. It's not about us. Uh, we'll get, we'll get to that later on. Uh, it's the daily discipline of silence and solitude. Uh, where we acquire his plan, we were talking about we wanna, we wanna acquire his plan, uh, that's always higher and greater than our own. And based on my experience, we cannot treat our, our. Intimacy. Uh, we can't put a a time limit on it. We can't treat it like it got to. Right. It has got to it. It's, it's always. The more, the more we set that discipline mm-hmm. It's, it becomes a greatly anticipated get to Yeah. Friends. We get to sit with the creator of all we see and gain his insight. Mm-hmm. That alone is rewarding. That, that is that dessert. We, we put the title, uh, awesome on so much, but, but this is actually awesome. That is awesome. Yeah. That we get to sit with the creator. Yeah. Our creator. Mm-hmm. And, uh, and gain his insight. Yeah. And, um, and I've found, uh, through my walk with him that, that one, I gotta slow down and I gotta make time. Yeah. Uh, I gotta invest time with him daily, or I get lost chasing my, my own plan, uh, my, you know, your own ambition, maybe my own ambitious plan, you know? Yeah. And, and we'll, we'll, we'll dig into that a little more later, but, you know. I don't, I don't ever want to get lost in my plan, uh, but I want to take time to, to sit with him and, and, and understand his plan. And second, uh, when, when I become more content with, with seeking his face, which is his presence mm-hmm. When I get. More content with seeking his presence over his hand, which is his provision than my journey. Our journey as, as, uh, believers in the One True and living God as, as Christ followers. When we seek His, his face over his hand, our journey is so much more fulfilling. Yeah, and I mean, in other words, if we are seeking, only seeking what he can give us as opposed to just seeking. The presence with him. Mm. The time together with him, the intimacy with him. Yeah. We're gonna miss so much. We're gonna miss a lot. And I, I've missed a lot before I, before I was convicted to reset my zeroes and, and get back to that. Yeah. And he'll, and he'll let us go around that mountain as many times as it takes to learn those lessons. Right. Yeah. But you know, I think it's, we need to remember that what's unseen to the world. Is seen and celebrated with by God. Yeah. You know, so if you're listening and thinking, I'm showing up, but, but no one notices know that God sees you, he sees you. He knows your heart. He does. And you have to ask yourself is your heart, I have to ask myself this sometimes. Is my heart the same in the secret place with him as it is outside my time with him? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And how does my heart respond when it doesn't look like the plans are going as great as I had anticipated? Right. Yeah. Um, sometimes my heart doesn't respond the right way. Yeah. And so then I have to reset my zeroes and I have to do a heart check, right? Yeah. And make sure my heart's in the right place. We gotta be careful, uh, of those expectations, right? Yeah. Um, you know, ask the Lord or think about what did the Lord say to you in your time together. Yeah. But I want you to know this. That when he gives you a plan to work with him and you are remaining obedient to his plan with you, it is producing fruit. Yeah. Even when you can't see it. Yeah. Even when you can't see it, you might not be able to see it, but we can't see the full plan because if we would see the full plan, I often say if I could see everything that God has has brought me through to where I am right now. Yeah. I, uh, I would've run a long time ago. It's a little overwhelming. That's Yeah. Way overwhelming, right? I'd be like, nah. Yeah. So being in his plan is producing fruit. Yeah. Whether you can see it or not. Absolutely. And remember that faith is belief and what you hope for and assurance for what we do not see. Right on. So we have to walk. By faith, not by sight. That's it. That's it. Um, that's so important to remember, especially, uh, in this busy world that's mm-hmm. Where we can easily get bound up in the self-sufficient, get it done, hustle. Know, we've talked about, uh, self-sufficiency. Yeah. That's been something I've, I've, uh, that's very challenged with self-sufficiency. No, say it's not self, it's true. I do like getting it done, but, uh, but it's, uh, it can be challenging. We gotta, you gotta, and we, and that's what the Holy Spirit's here for, it's one here for mm-hmm. It's one of his many talents. Is, is in as many, uh. Uh, services is that the Holy Spirit convicts us. He's like, Hey, man, got a better plan. You wanna check this out? Hey, slow down, slow down. Yeah, I like what, uh, one of my favorite pastors says because if we're, if we're going to self-sufficiency and the cost of getting it done, and we're, and we're outside of the Lord's well, and we're just trying to get all this done, done, done, done, dun, dun, dun, dun. Done. Uh, man, that's, that's exhausting. Right? And, uh, and, and I get a little cranky. A little tired. Mm. And a little, little cranky and, uh, but brings me back. One of my favorite pastors said, uh, I heard this some time ago. Sometimes the most Christian thing I can do is take a nap. Yeah. I think you said that in one of our other episodes too. Yeah. I'll probably say it more than one. Yeah. But, uh, and, and. And as I'm coming out of that nap and as I'm refreshed, you know, maybe reset the zeroes and check in and see what, what the board's got to say about that. Yeah. You know,'cause, uh, as when we're following, uh, his calling, when we're following our calling and his purpose, it, it's, uh, he'll see us through it. Yeah. But, um. So, yeah, self-sufficiency can be, uh, the whole get it done can be, can be challenging. But, you know, I believe the coolest thing that I've, uh, about any challenge is, is what we learn. Yeah. You know, it's the teachable moment for sure. Uh, what we learn is, uh, whatever the teachable moment is that the, the Holy Spirit, uh, is, is guiding us through it. If we allow, if we just slow down enough to see what. And, and I have learned to stop and say, Lord, what are you showing me here? What do I, what am I missing here? Because I get moving so fast, sometimes I'll miss, I'll miss something. So, but the Holy Spirit will guide us through it and, and he'll teach us, man. And, uh, it's one of my favorite parts of, of, um, Matthew, Matthew five is that, uh, the. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. Mm-hmm. And that's what the Lord, that's what Jesus sent us the Holy Spirit to, to teach us, uh, about everything that remind us of everything Jesus said and to teach us how to live like, like the Savior. Yeah. But, um. And I would say, you know, as, as I've learned to slow down to go faster, as I've learned to stop and reset my zeroes, I would, I would say that, that not most, uh, not some of, but, uh, all of my, my greatest life lessons were learned once I. Brought it down, had a old buddy used, say, sim it down. Now, once I was able to sim it down and, uh, and humble out, uh, and discover what the teachable moments were, uh, through these tough times, uh, yeah, uh, it, it's important, vital, absolutely crucial to, to. See these teachable moments, uh, when things aren't going our way. Mm. Yeah. I, I get a little testing. That's one that's most important. It is when it's most important if things aren't going my way, but that's when it's Yeah. The most difficult too. It is, it is. Yeah. Uh, but I remember, uh, actually. Several seasons. There have been several times. Yeah.'cause it's a journey. It's a journey. Uh, we're not, I'm not claiming perfection over here. Please don't there. I don't see a halo up here. No. But, uh, but there's been several seasons and we're just, we're just here learning. Yeah. As we go. Uh, uh, when I was, but there's been several seasons when I thought I was doing all the right things, you know? Mm-hmm. I was leading, well, I was, I was teaching others. But inside, whew, man. Whew. I was running off fumes and I was running toward empty pretty darn quickly. Yeah. And, uh, I was going way too hard trying to keep up with, with work, keep up with home, keep up with ministry, trying to wedge in time for exercise, uh, trying to remember, uh, time to date my wife, and so on and so forth. Mm. But, but what was missing there, you know, see I mentioned work home ministry. Exercise. Uh, wife, you know, wife, you know, sadly at the, she should never be at the end of the list, but, but what was, at least she made the list what didn't make the list. Right. You know? That's right. My, my time with Jesus, my time, my, my secret place time. My, my time for intimacy. Uh, mm-hmm. With, with the plan maker? Yeah. With the, with the difference maker, with, with the savior. Jesus. That's what was missing. And I was, I was so focused on, on the impact I neglected to put God first. Right. So, you know, I had to slow. I, like I said, again, he'll make, he'll, he won't make us go around the hill, but he'll let us go around that mountain as many times as it takes. Right. And, uh, but our, our, um. I found that our, our, our, if my intimacy gets lost in the hustle, uh, I just become unbelievably, uh, frazzled and exhausted. And that's not the way it's supposed to be. Right. You know, kingdom work doesn't, you know, we should, uh, Matt Chandler says when we're doing kingdom work, we should. Men, we should go to bed tired, but we, we should never be exhausted. We should, you know, we should always be seeking his, his face and his, his will and his way. But, uh, you know, but, um, I, I, during those seasons, uh, I was, it was way beyond time for me. I let it go way too far sometimes, and it was way beyond time for me to reset my zeroes and get back to making him first in all things and, and all. Things. So all things. All things. Okay. Right. Yeah. I mean, I've had all things all, yeah, I got it. You know, I've had similar seasons and, and I've talked about it in previous episodes about pouring out and just giving everything I had, but not consistently going back to the source. You know, eventually the well runs dry and you, you can't pour from an empty vessel. Or if you even go back to, I like going back to John 15 where Jesus is talking about being him. Being the vine. Yeah. And us being the branches. And if we are cut off from him. Mm. If we're no longer attached to the vine, we have nothing to receive life from. Right. Nothing. And we will shrivel up and die without that source. Just like a, I mean, yeah. Dry. Perfect example. Crunchy of the plant, you know, burn pretty easy. Yeah. So what was your teachable moment through that, babe? Well, that's actually simple in theory. Not necessarily simple to do, but um, the teachable moment was that impact that isn't fueled by obedience and intimacy with the Lord leads to prideful efforts at best. Oh, no. Yeah. I mean his word. Yeah, pride, his word, recognized that. Uh, pride comes before the fall. Mm-hmm. And the fall here for me was frustration. And just like you were talking about, frustration, exhaustion, and inevitable burnout. Because if, again, if we're not connected to him Yeah. We shrivel up and die and, and burn up. Right. But when intimacy comes first, yeah. When intimacy comes first, that's where real lasting fruit is born. That's where we can be fruitful because we are connected to the source. We are constantly being fed what we need to thrive. And that's when impact becomes kingdom driven, not self-driven. I know. That's good then. And you know, the time with him, the time with him is what fills us up. Yeah. We gotta, it's the source. If we're gonna, we, I talked about, uh, when we're, when we're sitting with, with, uh. Our triune God mm-hmm. Sitting with the Father, the son, and the, and the Holy Spirit when that we need that time to fill us up or Right. If we, if we don't have, if, if we're not being filled up, we got nothing to, to pour out. Right. And when we sit with them, we, we, we overflow. Yes. And that's what we're talking about here. It overflows to the community around us. Um, you know, I heard someone say, we want to be, and I, and I want to be this, I want to be so full. That I don't even have to bend to pour. Right. It will just splash. Just splash everywhere. People get splashed as I walk past. Right. I love it. Yeah. So, so what can we do? Yeah. So how, how might we get. Uh, get better, uh, to, uh, remaining with intimacy, remaining in intimacy. Yeah. Uh, so that we can have the ma maximum kingdom impact that we're looking to have. Here are five. Uh, dare I say, wait, wait. Five practical truths. I was gonna say, dare I say practical, uh, but not only practical, uh, which of course they are and you know, how, how much I love practical, but they're all so powerful truths that we've learned to live by over our, yeah, over our time together. Walking with him. The first one is like sta really. Um, she really drove that home well, uh, stay connected to the vine. Mm-hmm. You know, Jesus reminds us in, in, uh, John 15, five, that apart from him, we can do nothing, nothing, nothing apart from him. We can do nothing we can get. So I, uh, early in my recovery, I, I said, uh, of my own efforts, I reached the peak. Mediocrity and uh, right. And, uh, so apart from, uh, apart from Jesus, we can do nothing. We gotta stay connected to that vine. Yeah. We, we must know and believe that our impact is only as strong as our daily connection with the Father, with Jesus and with the Holy Spirit. We gotta remember that we gotta. Make that connection, uh, because without that connection, we're not growing very far in our God-given purpose. We might be going. We can go, uh, in our own volition, uh, in our own power, but we're not growing. Yeah. We want to grow. Yeah. That's good. Uh, we want to grow into our, into and through our God-given purpose, we can go, go, go, but we won't grow, grow, grow, grow, grow. Right. So we gotta stay connected to the vine. Yeah. Yeah. So number two of the powerful. And practical and practical ways is to be faithful with what's in front of you. Yeah. You know, don't overlook the, in the assignment that's right in your home or in your workplace, or maybe in your neighborhood. Faithfulness in the small things makes room for so much more. You know, Luke 1610, we all know this. Scripture says that whoever can be trusted with little can also be trusted with much. But whoever's dishonest with little right. We'll also be dishonest with dishonest. Dishonest, dishonest with much. That's for you. New Yorkers. That's for Connie. Yeah. Oh, there you are, Connie. So be faithful. So it all comes back to being faithful in the small things, even when you wonder if what you're doing is even making a difference because your obedience. To the smallest things can create the biggest blessings for someone else. Absolutely, and I often heard it said that. Someone else's blessing is on the other side of your obedience. And it's so true because you and I, neither one would be where we are right now if it wasn't for somebody else's obedience to speak into us. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. We could name names there, but well, we will. Uh, not uh, but yeah, it's, there's too many to name. Yeah, there lot people, if we're gonna be really honest, there, there a lot people that spoken to us over. Over, uh, yeah. Over the many years. Number three is, uh, and we, we talked on this, uh, ask for his assignment. What's his plan? Right. What's the Lord's plan? The higher and greater plan? Yeah. Uh, it's easy, uh, it's easy to get busy in kingdom work and, and miss, and while we're busy over here, we're missing our calling over here. Mm-hmm. And all the while he is like, Hey, yeah, over here. I want you over here. Oh, this is nice. But hey. This is for you here. Yeah. This is yours. How many times have we done that? Yeah. Right. So in your quiet time with him, what? Ask him what his plan is. There's a novel idea. What? Yeah. Lord, what's your plan? A common question of ours is, Lord, are we operating inside your will? Yeah, I've asked that about this podcast. Yeah. Lord. Is this, is this in your will, even just last week? Right. And not because I don't want to do it, but we just want to make sure that whatever we're doing, whatever we're, we're, we're, uh. Spending our time and our efforts on is inside his will. Yeah, because I, I'll be honest, I spent a lot of time, you know, before Jesus way outside his will. And I don't want, and not that any of that time was wasted because without those teachable moments there, there wouldn't be. You know, teachable moments here, right? If I'm honest. So, but it's emphatically vital, absolutely crucial, uh, to invite him into all that he has given you. Recognize that he's given, given you this calling, and invite him into that and listen to what he has to say about you moving forward and his plan. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's really good and it's so important. Um,'cause we don't wanna be outside of his calling. Yeah. I mean, we don't, and, and I'm, and I'm being serious when I said, we literally asked the Lord that last week Right. About this podcast. Yeah. And you know, it's very clear that he does that. We are in his will right now. Right. That he does want us to be doing this. Yeah. Even when. It doesn't necessarily look like we're making an impact, right? I mean, hey man, we bought microphones. Come on. But, but anyway, uh, yeah, so, so what's number four? Well, on number four. You're so silly. Oh, now I gotta get serious. Oh, try love, like number four is love like Jesus, even when it's hard. Yeah. I mean, and who hasn't had this? You want me to take this one? Want me to? You want me to? No, no, no. I got it. I mean, sit down now people are watching how you treat others more than what you say. How you treat others more than what you say. Yeah. And your impact is often in how you love the most difficult people. And it's hard sometimes to love difficult people. It's hard to love the people that are coming against you, opposing your views. Yeah. It's hard to love the people who are constantly wanting to battle with you. Mm-hmm. Or they don't wanna hear what you have to say. Right. But we are called to love them. We are called to love'em, man, regardless. That's challenging sometimes. Yeah. And when, uh, people that get stuck in the old, the old stuff over there, right? And they're, and then the, the Lord's giving you this new stuff and they're like, nah, nah, whatever. I'm like, okay, whatever. When you can see something for someone that you know is gonna be so much better for them, yeah. But they don't want it. Yeah. That's why. That's why, but love it. Yeah. It's important to know that whatever we're doing is inside his will. Yeah, because, because if someone, when we know. And we believe, and we've been told in our quiet time that from our creator that our plan, what we're doing here, our ministry is inside his will. Mm-hmm. Then the naysayers have nothing to say. Right. And, and we, and we're able to take that and, and love people where they're at. Right. But all the while knowing mm-hmm. That, uh, that we're inside the Lord's will, what we're doing is right. Yeah. Loving. It's not about what man, loving them through it. It's about the Lord and loving them through it. Yeah, loving them through it, regardless. So number five. Number five, getting a drink of your faithfully invested water. Yeah. That's delicious. So, uh, number five is, is similar to what you're talking about. There's let your life mm-hmm. Preach louder than your words. Yeah. Yeah. That's your life. Uh, I commonly, uh, there was a, there's a quote out there from, and, uh, it was, uh. There's a quote out there, and then he goes blank. Uh, spread the word, uh, spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. Always. Yeah. And if need be, use words. Mm. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Now, commonly it was, that was, you know. That quote was attributed to Francis of Assisi, but you know, the scholar say, nah, he never said that. But we don't know who said it, but, but that's what we're talking about here in, in our fifth, uh, practical application. Yeah. Let our life preach louder than our words. Yeah. So we don't need a title to lead. I think we established that we don't need a stage to have influential impact. Mm-hmm. Um, it's been said that the. The greatest part of sharing the gospel isn't just our words, but, but more so our actions, how we treat people, right? Um, actions always. I can hear my mom saying that now a lane actions always speak louder in words. That was one of her favorite things, man. Mm-hmm. And, uh, so. Just live out your experiential calling. Your calling. Yeah. Just live out your experiential calling so that God and those around you take notice. In him. In you. It's, it's not about me, it's about Christ in me. Yeah. That's, that's what I want people to see and, and sometimes I gotta take a step back and remember that. Right. And, and when you do that, don't be surprised when people start coming to you, not because you're, you're flashy or you're, you know, you're wearing the right clothes or you have that, that ma that massive following, but because they sense peace, wisdom, and truth and how you live, and that is the most credible impact that you can have. Yeah. Is. Wisdom, peace and truth. That's it. Living that way, that's what happens. And love, of course. Love, obviously love. Yeah. That's, that's the one, the one, the one the commandment. Yeah. Love others as mm-hmm. As we've been loved. And but what you're talking about there, that's. That's what happens. Mm-hmm. When, when we sit with Jesus, that's what happens. Yeah. When we've been with Jesus and, and I, I, I know you've been, and I can tell you, I've, I've been with Jesus. Mm-hmm. And, uh, it's this long story for another time. Mm-hmm. But, uh, but his impact is undeniable. Yeah. And, and we're just called to pay that impact forward. Absolutely. Share the gospel. Share the gospel always. And if leave be love people use words. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Well, babe, we're about to wrap this up. Yeah. So yeah, we're, uh, this is, this is the end of season one, huh? Yeah. End of season one. It was a short season, but still a season. Nonetheless, if you missed any, go back and listen to them. Right. What you want to do now is. Binge listen. Yeah. Uh, so, but before we close out this episode and this season, we just wanted to say thank you. Mm-hmm. Thank you for walking with us through this, this first step of our, our invested framework, which is the, the I, uh, and invested is intimacy with God. Yeah. We've talked about prayer, we've talked about worship. Hearing God's voice, spiritual dryness, right. Marriage last week and now impact. And through it all, we hope, we hope and pray that you've drawn closer to Jesus through these episodes. Absolutely. And season two is right around the corner. Um, literally we're gonna, we're gonna start. Jumping right in. You're gonna jump right into season two and moving into our next principle, and we're gonna, we're gonna dive in a little deeper. You know, so this has been, this has been a good season, but next in season two, we're gonna get a little deeper. Mm-hmm. And we're gonna discuss nurturing a servant's heart. That's so good. Yeah. You know, because once you've been with Jesus, like we were just talking about Yeah. That the natural step. Learning to lead like him with love, humility, compassion, and joy. Right on. Right on. So here's your challenge this week. You know, we always like to give you a challenge. You gotta end with a challenge. Yeah, yeah. You gotta have some action items. That's right. So here's your challenge this week. Ask God, what does impact look like in this season of my life? Lord, what is it? What do you have for me? Mm. What's your plan? Mm-hmm. How do you want me to impact the world around me? Mm-hmm. You know, does my plan line up with your plan? That's a great question. Mm-hmm. And then just sit with them in your quiet time and in your intimacy. Increase your intimacy and ask him, you know, what does, what does it look like? What's your plan look like for me, Lord? And then write that down. Pray into it and be obedient. Yes. Remember, someone's blessing is on the other side of your obedience. Right. Even if it seems small, you know, through as we're, as we're building the unbound, uh, reviving recovery unbound ministry, consistently, we get, uh. We get, you know, don't despise small beginnings. That's right.'cause you know, we're rolling. We are. We're rolling, and we're transforming. He's transforming lives through his plan for us. Right. That's what it's all about. Yeah. So after you've done that, after you've sat with God and you've asked him though that question. We would love to hear what he is showing you. Yeah. So message us on Instagram at faithfully invested or visit, or even Facebook faithfully invested on Facebook, right. Or visit our website@faithfullyinvested.com and shoot us a message there. We really wanna know whether you've gotten something out of this and what the Lord is speaking to you during this time. We would love to hear what he's. Saying to you. Yeah. And, uh, so thanks again, uh, all y'all out there for checking us out this season. And remember, stay close to the vine. Mm. Walk in obedience and trust that your impact that's rooted in intimacy will always bear fruit regardless of whether you see it doing so or not. Yeah. If, if, if we're operating in his will. We're always bearing fruit. Our efforts are always bearing fruit when we're in his will. Yeah, and remember, when you're faithfully invested, God brings the increase. God brings the increase every time. Bye, y'all. Take care. God bless. Have a blessed day. Thanks for joining us on Faithfully Invested with Alan and Stacey. Joe, if today's conversation encouraged you, challenged you, or helped you see your calling more clearly, don't keep it to yourself. That's right. Share it with a friend. Leave a five star review and keep leaning into God's blueprint for your life, your leadership, and your legacy. So until next time, remember, when you invest in his kingdom, he brings the increase.