Episode 17 🌟 Faith Isn’t Enough — And That’s How You Get Unstuck

Have you ever felt stuck, even while praying and believing? In this episode, I share my personal story of moving from hustle to hope—and why faith alone isn’t enough. You’ll learn why believing differently matters, how action bridges the gap, and the simple steps you can take today to stop feeling stuck and start moving toward the life God is calling you to, Willow Women is the place to begin.

Plus, I’ll introduce the journaling tool that helped me uncover hidden doubts and align my faith with action.

Let’s make 2026 the year of faith + action!
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www.lisameador.com

Transcript

Lisa Meador 0:42

Welcome back to Outside the Pulpit. Today's topic: Why faith alone isn't enough. Faith is the foundation, but believing differently and taking action are the bridge. I used to think if I just did more things, I would finally reach my goal. You know, more effort, more hustle, more lists, because heaven knows I love to check me some things off of a list. But as it turned out, I didn't need more doing. What I needed was more believing. I know that sounds a little woo-woo, but it was 100% true for me. When I began uncovering what was holding me back, where doubt was creeping in, that's when everything started to change. And here's the key. I didn't figure that out by accident. I was looking for change. I was looking to get unstuck. I was tired of where I was and I was ready for change. And I was going to do what it took to get that change. So if you've ever felt stuck, and if you feel stuck right now doing all the things but still spinning your wheels, today's episode is for you. We're talking about why faith alone isn't enough and how believing differently paired with action can change everything. So I have shared with you in the past how I came to this mindset work, and that's why I was seeking weight loss. So today's episode is not about weight loss, okay? So I want to be real clear about that. I'm simply sharing my experience with you. And this is just an avenue that God used to reveal Himself to me. He revealed to me how it does matter what you think. And by changing what you think, aligning your thoughts with the Word of God will transform your life because the way you think dictates the way you feel, and the way you feel dictates the way you act, and the way you act determines the results of your life. And that is factual, and that is scriptural. So he just used this channel to get my mind aligned to his word, you know. And I'll just say I am within a few pounds of my goal. Weight loss is not even an issue for me anymore. I it's not even on the front burner for sure. Because once I discovered this concept, I began applying it to every area of my life. And I am a firm believer that I do not minister something, that I have not lived first. And I'm telling you the honest truth, I have applied this in every area of my life: spiritual goals, ministry goals, relationship goals, financial goals, any other kind of goal you can think of. I've applied this process and it has transformed me, my quality of life, my alignment with the Spirit of God, being in tune with his spirit and what's going on in my life and around me. Total game changer. Well, clearly, y'all, I'm very passionate about it. I got a whole podcast about it. So I am very passionate. And I'm sharing it with you because I care, because I believe that you can get what you want out of life. I believe you can get what God has planned for your life. I believe it with all my heart. You know, when I started working with my coach, she had a couple of statements that really just got to me. I just have to tell you, one of them is, she said, Are you ready to lose weight for the last time? I said, I'm sorry, what? I mean, that was a completely foreign concept to me. I don't know about you, but you know, I think most of us ladies, we've been losing weight since we were teenagers. And we've watched nearly every woman in our lives go on diets over and over and over and take medications, have surgeries, you know, all these things, you know, to lose weight. And we've been socially conditioned for this all of our lives, or for the majority of our lives. And when she began challenging that concept and letting me know, like, hey, set a goal, get to that target, wait and stay there. You can do that. It seemed impossible. I didn't, I thought surely I would starve to death. You know, I had no idea. I I just had no concept. I it took me a long time to begin to wrap my brain around that potential of losing weight for the last time. But I'm gonna tell you, every time I would make that statement, it felt like the weight of the world would come off of me. You know, and I had been on every diet just like everybody else. But I will tell you to this day, I don't need a special diet. The Lord just helped me through all of this. I won't get into all the details of it, but anyway, the Lord just helped me through all of this, and I didn't have to take medication. You know, it's just the way I thought about it made a difference. When I began realizing this was within my grasp, the other thing she would say was, you could lose weight if you just believed it. I mean, I couldn't believe she told me that. You know, my coach isn't there to be my friend, she's there to challenge me. And I went toe to toe with her, I can tell you, because I was very sure. I said, Don't tell me I don't believe, because I do believe I can do it, and I have plenty of self-confidence. And she said, Okay, you know, if that was the case, then you would already be there. And she began asking me questions, and I will tell y'all, the sentences that came out of my mouth, I began realizing, you know what? I got a lot of negativity in there, and I really didn't believe it. I had a lot of self-doubt and a lot of things that were just tucked away in corners, and we began uncovering all that that had been bottled up within me. And I started by using a her method of working through my thoughts, but I quickly adapted that to my own method. And I started a specific form of prayer journaling is what I call it, because I take these issues to the Lord and I start telling him what's going on, and then I start listening for the thoughts in my head, and I start looking at them. I'm like, oh Lord, I don't think this lines up with your word, or this one does line up with your word, and I let go of the ones that don't, because the ones that don't line up with his word, they're not getting me moving forward down the road of where I want to go, no matter what the area is. And if it does line up with his word, it's going to move me to more of being created in his image and in his likeness. You know, I know it can sound a little corny, but I call that my journal with Jesus. And that's okay if you laugh and chuckle at that, but it'll help stick in your head. But I do because that's that is so true. It's journaling, but it's prayer, and it's a form of prayer that God has used to reveal himself to me. And when I get working through those statements and I clear out all the clutter and all the noise of what's going on in my mind, I can tune in and I can hear the Spirit of God speaking his truth to me, bringing his peace and his comfort to me and his guidance and his wisdom. I tell you, you'll never change my mind about it. And I want to share it with you. And I have in other podcasts, and I also share, you know, the five L's framework that I use right in there with that journaling. And I'm just going to touch briefly on it here because I want to continue on our topic. But those five L's as we listen, right? We listen for the thought. Let's hear what's going on in there. Let's look at it and use that power of observation that a thing has changed when it is observed. And when we are looking at it, we say, hey, how does that feel? And we lean into that feeling and we say, All right, God, is this lining up with your word or not? Is this moving me towards my goal or not? If it's not, we let it go and we surrender that to the Lord. And then we love. And we love Jesus for being so good to us and leading us through that prayer time and revealing to us what's slowing us down and hindering us. And we love ourselves for being brave enough to face what's going on in our head, to listening to it, and for being brave enough to want a transformation and a change. So that's my process that I use now. And, you know, I encourage you, you can start with that, but you know, you're probably going to want to go on and make changes to make it yours. You will get far better success with something that you are comfortable with and that feels natural to you. And that's what I want to see is I want to see you grow in the Lord. So whatever process you end up using does not matter to me. The point is, I want you to change the way you think, change the way you feel, change the way you act, and get you to the life that God intended for you to live. So let's jump into some scripture. James 2.17 says, faith by itself, if it's not accompanied by action or works, is dead. So faith gives us a vision and hope, but that's not the whole picture. Faith is the seed, if you will. But action, that's the water or the fertilizer that makes it grow. Faith positions us to receive. So it opens up our spirit. It makes us receptive to change, to ways that God would want to change us, to make us more like Him, but it does not replace movement or action. So these are things we, you know, we got to keep these things in mind. And I know you might be sitting there right now talking, feeling particularly stuck, and like, I think I'm gonna click out of this episode. No, I don't want you to do that. I want you to stay with me because we're gonna talk a little bit about why we stay stuck. Because this isn't about blame or shame. Y'all know I'm not about that. I'm about uncovering these blocks, these hindrances, these things that are in your way that are stopping you from possessing the life that God created you to live. One of the really big reasons that we stay stuck is fear. Y'all, I have so many stories about fear. I could tell you, I'm not gonna get into them today. But fear, now that one is a big one. That fear of change, fear of the unknown. Boy, fear is one that can definitely make you stay stuck if you don't listen for those thoughts of fear. Uncover them and deal with them. Let the Holy Ghost deal with them and move them from your life. Oh, overwhelm. Now, here's one. I'm gonna tell y'all, I'm in a season right now. I got a lot of changes going on in my life, and I could easily, easily be caught up in overwhelm. And I have to catch myself, and I have to stop, and I have to get my journal, and I have to go to the Lord, and I have to get all these thoughts down and say, okay, Lord, I'm feeling mighty overwhelmed here. And I have to give it to him, and then I have to let him change me. I have to let him take it from me. I have to let go and let him bring that peace and that confidence that he has back to me to move me forward. Another way we can get stuck is unclear goals. Now, this one I I you might not like this one too much, but in my opinion, unclear goals, that's a lot of time because you really just don't want to hear what the Spirit of God is leading you to do. Spirit of God is very clear. He doesn't speak in unclear things here. And uh, if you have unclear goals, then you need to clear out all the noise in your head and let's find out where God is leading you and where he wants you to go. Here's another one. Boy, I feel like I might be stepping on some toes today, but you're sitting there waiting for a sign. You're just gonna sit there and wait for a sign to do something. Yep, that is not going to move you forward. If you're just waiting for a sign, you're gonna be waiting for a really long time because God's probably five miles down the road, tapping his foot, pulled up a chair and sitting down at this point, waiting for you to decide that you're gonna get up and follow him and do what he's calling you to do. You know, spiritual misunderstanding, this is this is another area. This kind of goes with that waiting for the sign, but thinking that prayer replaces action. It doesn't. Prayer is powerful, but it is not a substitute for obedience. So let me just give you that experience that I've shared with you about being afraid of flying when we were taking that trip to Kenya. Look, I had nearly a year to pray about that trip. And oh yeah, I prayed about it. I prayed he'd help me with my fear, I prayed he'd keep me, I prayed in fear. I mean, every prayer I could think of. But eventually, I had to get on that plane. See, I had to be obedient and I had to get on that plane, and I had to believe that he was going to keep me. I had to believe that it was going to be all right. So I was praying, but I was also doubting until my actions came to that place of being in line with his word and with his will in his obedience. And that's what then brought, look what all the glory and the great gift that God gave me and all of that. So I had to get my thoughts and my actions and feelings all in align with his word and his spirit. You know, there's examples in the Bible as well. You know, Noah, he was had to build that ark, right? He couldn't just have faith, but he had to be that obedience to literally build it. The woman with the issue of blood, she had faith, but man, she had to have movement too. She had to reach out there and touch the hem of his garment. So God moves when we move in obedience. Faith opens the door, but action, belief walks through it. I'm gonna say that again. Faith opens the door, but action or belief walks through it. It gets on that plane anyway. So for me, the breakthrough came when I realized that my biggest barrier was not the lack of effort, it was doubt. I was doing all the things, I was doing all the things, but deep down I really didn't believe that I could reach my goal. So through my journal with Jesus and my five L's, I started uncovering those hidden thoughts and replacing them with truth. And that's when everything shifted. So this wasn't about writing pretty prayers, it was about getting honest with God and myself. Y'all can go back and listen to so many episodes. I talk about this. God already knows what's going on in our hearts and our minds. It's up to us. We're the ones that need to know because we're the ones that need to deal with it and get them in line with his word and with his spirit. I asked hard questions of myself. Where am I doubting? Where am I believing lies instead of truth? And that journaling process really became my roadmap to freedom. And I do feel passionately about it. That's why I've got the podcast. That's why I'm sharing it with you. And I want to see you move from stuck to unstuck for the last time. So as we get ready to wind down our episode today, I want you to take a little time. And I want you to identify one area where you've been waiting instead of acting. See, this isn't about shame and blame. This is about uncovering potential. What's in there? What plans do you have? What plans does God have? Where do you feel Him leading you? Let's uncover that and let's aim for it and let's make that happen in your life. Let's make it a reality. Let's not go another 12 months and still have the same thing with no movement forward. Let's make today that day of change. Ask yourself, what's one small step that I can take this week? Just one. You don't have to upheaval it your whole life. Just one small step this week. Write it down and commit it to God in prayer. I think you'll be surprised at how God makes the way for you to do that. If you want to go deeper, start journaling about what doubts or fears come up when you think about that step. That's how I began uncovering my own blocks. You know, I have to mention right here, at my website, www.lesametter.com, I have a lot of devotionals and journals that you can download there. They really help ask some questions that cause you to start thinking and listening to what's going on in your head. If you find that resource helpful, go there and check it out. There's all kinds of ways that you can begin uncovering what's going on and let's get to the truth of what God has for you. If this topic today is resonated with you, you know, I would love to hear your one step. You could share it with me. You can private message me, you can drop it in the comments below. You can email me if you want, Lisa at LisaMetter.com if you want to do that. I love to hear from real people and your real experiences. And if you're ready to get unstuck for the last time, you know what? You can join my private Facebook group called Willow Women, and we walk this journey together. You'll find the link in the show notes. Notes and if this episode encouraged you, send it to a friend. Share it with somebody who you know is ready to see change in their lives. Let's make 2026 the year of faith plus action. Until next time.