Faith in the Middle of the Mess - Episode 43

What does faith look like when life is not calm, clean, organized, or emotionally convenient?

In Episode 43 of Divine Shenanigans, Brynn Whited talks about having faith in the middle of the mess — not after everything is fixed, not after the storm settles, and not after your heart feels perfectly peaceful. This episode is for anyone walking through stress, uncertainty, emotional exhaustion, messy relationships, waiting seasons, or those “Lord, I am trying, but I am tired” moments.

With Divine Shenanigans humor, real-life encouragement, and Scripture-filled teaching, Brynn walks through powerful Bible stories including Jesus calming the storm, Hagar in the wilderness, Elijah under the broom tree, Joseph’s long road from the pit to the palace, and Peter’s restoration after failure. Each story reminds us that God does not wait for life to look perfect before He shows up — He meets us right in the middle.

This episode includes practical ways to trust God in everyday chaos, Holy Homework for the week, a closing prayer, and the Song of the Week: “Faith in the Middle of the Mess” by Brynn Elise. The full song plays at the end of the episode.

You can also find Brynn Elise’s music, lyric videos, prayers, and devotionals on YouTube at the newly renamed channel: Brynn Elise: Worship & Words.

Join the free Divine Shenanigans Skool Community for the new Daily Shenanigans Bible Study, and subscribe on Substack for the monthly newsletter.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Divine annex. Faith for your life heart through the laughter. God is with us to come to a life. Burke meets us for it. Welcome to Divine Shenanigans.

SPEAKER_01 0:24

Hey y'all, welcome back to Divine Shenanigans, the podcast where faith meets real life, real mess, real laughter, and just enough holy chaos to remind us that God is still working. I'm your host, Brynn Whited, and I am so glad you're here with me today. Whether you're listening while driving, folding laundry, walking the dog, drinking coffee, sitting in a school pickup line, or hiding in the car for five blessed minutes of silence, welcome. Today is episode 43, and we are talking about faith in the middle of the mess. Not after the mess is cleaned up, not after life calms down, not after your emotions become organized and spiritually adorable. Not faith after the answer comes, the storm stops, the schedule clears, your coffee is still hot. No, my friend. We are talking about faith right in the middle. Faith when life still feels confusing. Faith when your heart is tired. Faith when the prayer has not been answered yet. Faith when your house is messy, your thoughts are messy, your relationships are messy, and your soul is sitting in the corner whispering, I need a nap, and possibly a sign from heaven. This episode is for the one who loves God but feels overwhelmed. It's for the one who is trying to trust but also wondering, Lord, did you see this latest plot twist? It is for the one whose prayers sound less like poetry and more like Jesus. Please help me before I say something that requires repentance. Today we are going to talk about real life, scripture, Bible stories, practical steps, and holy homework. And also the song of the week, Faith in the Middle of the Mess, by yours truly, Bryn Elise. And a reminder, the Bryn Elise Music YouTube channel is now called Bryn Elise Worship and Words. That is where you can find lyric videos, worship songs, prayers, devotionals, and all the faith-filled encouragement you need for the week. So stay with me until the end because the full song will play after the closing. Alright, my friend, let's talk about the mess. Because when I say mess, we could mean a whole lot of things. Sometimes the mess is literal. It's the kitchen counter. It's the laundry chair. And yes, y'all know the laundry chair. The chair that did not ask for this life, but here we are. It starts as a chair and suddenly it becomes a mountain of clean laundry, half clean laundry. I only wore this for 20 minutes laundry, and one sweater that has been there so long and may now legally qualify as a resident of your home. Sometimes the mess is emotional. You are functioning, but barely. You are answering messages, showing up for people, doing the errands, making the decisions, trying to be kind, trying to be patient, trying to be faithful, but inside, your soul is standing there with a clipboard saying, We are at capacity. Sometimes the mess is relational. A conversation went sideways. Someone hurt you. Someone misunderstood you. You are trying to forgive, but your feelings have their arms crossed saying, We'll think about it. Sometimes the mess is spiritual. You love God, but you feel dry. You believe, but you feel tired. You pray, but heaven feels quiet. You know the verses, but your heart is having a hard time catching up. And sometimes the mess is just life. Bills, appointments, work stress, family tension, grief, change, waiting, feeling behind, feeling overwhelmed, feeling like everyone else got the how to be adult manual, and yours was accidentally mailed to the wrong address. And in the middle of all of that, we sometimes think faith is supposed to look calm all the time. But real faith is not always polished. Sometimes faith looks like whispering, God, I am still here. Sometimes faith looks like opening your Bible even though your heart feels heavy. Sometimes it looks like praying one sentence because that is all you have. Sometimes it looks like choosing not to send the emotionally spicy text. And let's be honest, that right there is spiritual discipline. Sometimes the Holy Spirit sounds like put the phone down. Faith in the middle of the mess means I may not understand what is happening, but I still believe God is here. It means this is hard, but I am not alone. It means my life is messy, but God is faithful. So before we go into scripture, I want to start with real life like I always do. Because here at Divine Shenanigans, we do not pretend faith only happens in quiet rooms with perfect lighting and a candle burning softly in the background. Sometimes faith happens while the dog is barking, the laundry's beeping, your coffee's cold, and you are asking Jesus to help you not lose your sanctification over something small. So let me tell you a story. There was a season where I felt like everything was happening at once. Not one thing, not two things. Everything. It was one of those seasons where life did not just hand me a plate. It handed me an entire buffet of stress and said, Good luck. There were responsibilities. There were emotions. There were decisions. There were things I could not control. There were things I wanted God to fix immediately, preferably before lunch. And I was doing that thing we sometimes do where we keep saying, I'm fine, but our tone says I am one minor inconvenience away from becoming a weather event. I was praying, but my prayers were not fancy. They weren't cute. They weren't journal cover worthy. They were more like God help. God, I'm tired. God, I don't know what to do. God, I need you. God, please help me respond like the person you are making me into, and not the person who still knows how to clap back. And one day, right in the middle of that messy season, I felt this gentle reminder in my spirit. You do not have to clean yourself up before you come to me. Come to me in the mess. Y'all that hit me because so many of us wait. We wait to pray until we calm down. We wait to worship until we feel peaceful. We wait to read scripture until we feel focused. We wait to come close to God until we feel like better Christians. But God does not say Come to me all who are emotionally regulated and spiritually impressive. He says in Matthew eleven twenty eight, Come to me all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Weary, burdened, heavy, tired, messy. This is the invitation. God is not asking for the polished version of you. He is asking for the honest version. He does not need your performance. He wants your presence. And sometimes the most faithful thing you can do is stop pretending and simply say, Lord, this is where I am. This is where healing begins. Not in pretending in honesty. Not in perfection, in surrender, not in having everything figured out, in trusting the God who does. Now I know I am not the only one who has had a messy faith season. Because if there is one thing that I have learned is that everybody has something. Some people just have prettier storage baskets, but everybody has something. So let's talk about a few kinds of messes we carry. Maybe you are listening today and you feel behind. Spiritually, emotionally, financially, behind in your calling, in your healing. And every time you scroll online, it seems like everyone else is thriving. They are launching things, organizing things, drinking water and eating protein, reading books, cleaning their baseboards, and somehow doing a morning routine before sunrise. Meanwhile, you are just trying to remember if you moved the laundry to the dryer. Comparison can make your life feel messier than it actually is. The enemy loves to whisper, you're late, you missed it. You should be farther along. God is using everyone else more than you. But faith in the middle of that mess says, I am not behind God's grace. I'm not disqualified because my timeline looks different. God is still writing my story. Ecclesiastes three eleven says God makes everything beautiful in its time. Not in panic time, not in social media time, not our rushed time, his time. And yes, sometimes his timing feels slow. Sometimes we want God's timing, but with tracking information. Lord, I trust you, but can I get an estimated delivery date? Faith says, even if I feel behind, God is still working. When relationships are messy, maybe your mess is relational. Family tension, a friendship that changed, a boundary you're scared to set, a conversation you keep replaying, someone hurt you, and you are trying to forgive, but your feelings are standing there saying, let's not get carried away. That is messy. And sometimes we make it messier by thinking faith means ignoring pain. But faith does not mean pretending someone didn't hurt you. Faith does not mean allowing unhealthy behavior in the name of being nice. Faith does not mean giving unlimited access to people who keep damaging your peace. Jesus was loving, but he also had boundaries. He withdrew, he rested, and he did not answer every accusation. He did not entrust himself to everyone. So maybe faith in your relational mess looks like praying for wisdom, forgiving someone while still setting a boundary, having a hard conversation. Maybe it even looks like not having a conversation until you can speak from wisdom instead of injury. That is faith too. So maybe your mess is exhaustion. You've been strong for too long. You've encouraged everyone, you've shown up, you've carried responsibilities, and you kept things moving. But inside, you're tired. And when you're tired, everything feels bigger. You drop a spoon and it feels personal. Someone asks what's for dinner and you need a moment with the Lord. You're emailed things and your soul actually leaves your body. Friend, emotional exhaustion is real. And sometimes faith does not look like doing more. Sometimes it looks like letting God care for you. Faith sometimes looks like rest, admitting I am not a machine. God made you human on purpose, and humans need rest. So we have talked about our real life messes. Now let's go to scripture, because the Bible is not full of perfect people with tidy lives. The Bible is full of messy people, messy families, messy emotions, messy decisions, and a faithful God who shows up anyway. And honestly, the Bible could have had a subtitle God's Faithfulness in the Middle of Everybody's Shenanigans. Let's walk through a few stories. Jesus in the Storm, Mark four, thirty five through forty one. Jesus and his disciples get into a boat. Jesus says let's go over to the other side. Now that matters. He did not say let's go halfway and panic. He did not say let's get into the boat and discover everyone's anxiety triggers. He said they were going to the other side. But then a storm comes. The waves are crashing, the boat is filling with water. The disciples are afraid. And where is Jesus? Sleeping on a cushion. Now I have questions. How? The storm is raging, the boat is rocking, everyone is panicking, and Jesus is taking a holy nap. The disciples wake him up and say, Teacher, don't you care if we drown? That question is so human. Because isn't that what we ask in the mess? God, don't you care? Don't you see this? Don't you see me? Don't you care that I'm scared? The disciples were not just afraid of the storm. They were afraid that Jesus did not care. And sometimes that is what the enemy tries to whisper to us too. Not always God cannot help you. Sometimes it's God does not care. But Jesus gets up, he rebukes the wind, and he says to the waves, Quiet, be still. And everything becomes calm. Then Jesus asks, Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith? Now I don't hear this as cruelty. I hear it as invitation. Jesus is reminding them, I was with you the whole time. Here's the truth. Jesus was in the boat before the storm stopped. That means his presence is not only for peaceful seasons. He is with you before the answer, before the breakthrough, before the comb, before the thing makes sense. Faith in the middle of the mess says The storm is real, but so is Jesus. The waves are loud, but his voice is louder. The boat is shaking, but I am not abandoned. Then we have Hagar in the wilderness, Genesis sixteen and twenty one. Hagar's story is painful. She is caught in a messy family situation that she did not create by herself. Sarai and Abram try to force a promise instead of waiting on God, and Hagar gets pulled into the consequences. Eventually Hagar runs into the wilderness. She's alone, pregnant, mistreated, vulnerable, and God meets her there. Not in a temple, not in a perfect prayer room, not when everything is resolved in the wilderness. And Hagar calls God the God who sees me. That is powerful. Because one of the hardest parts of the mess is feeling unseen. You are carrying things nobody knows about. You're grieving things you can't fully explain. You are entired in ways that people don't notice. You are trying to be strong, but your heart feels heavy. But God sees. He sees the tear you wiped away quickly. He sees the prayer you whispered in the car. He sees the effort nobody thanked you for. He sees the wound you are still healing from. He sees you in the wilderness. Later in Genesis twenty one, Hagar is in the wilderness again with her son Ishmael. They run out of water. She thinks they're gonna die. She weeps, and God opens her eyes to see a well. Do not miss that. The provision was there, but she needed God to help her see it. Sometimes in the mess we need God to open our eyes. Fear narrows our vision. Pain narrows our vision. Exhaustion narrows our vision. So our prayer becomes God, open my eyes to the well. Open my eyes to the next step. Open my eyes to your provision. Open my eyes to your presence. Faith in the wilderness says I may feel unseen, but God sees me. Then we have Elijah under the broom tree. Elijah has just seen God move powerfully on Mount Carmel. Fire falls. God shows himself mighty. It's a huge spiritual victory. And then Jezbel threatens Elijah's life. And Elijah runs. He goes into the wilderness, sits under a broom tree, and says, I have had enough, Lord. Have you ever prayed that? Maybe not out loud, but in your heart. Lord, I have had enough. I'm tired. I can't do this anymore. I don't want another growth opportunity. Could we please pause this character development? Elijah is exhausted. And what does God do first? God does not lecture him. God does not shame him. God lets him sleep. Then God sends food and water. Sleep, food, water. Before the big spiritual moment, God tends to Elijah's body. This is such a tender picture of God. Sometimes what we call a spiritual breakdown is also exhaustion. Sometimes you don't need to figure out your entire life. Sometimes you need a nap, a meal, and a drink of water, and a little kindness towards yourself. Then God later speaks to Elijah in a gentle whisper, not in the wind, not in the earthquake, not in the fire, in a whisper. Sometimes in messy seasons, we want God to shout. We want a dramatic answer. We want obvious direction. We want the heavens to open and a voice to say, Here's the plan, and yes, you may have more coffee. But often God comes gently, quietly, tenderly. Faith and exhaustion learns to listen for the whisper. And then God gives Elijah a next step. Not the entire future. A next step. That is often how God leads us in messy seasons. One next faithful step. Then there's Joseph in the long process. Genesis thirty seven fifty. Joseph's story is long and messy. He had dreams from God, but then his brothers betray him. He's thrown into a pit, sold into slavery, taken to Egypt, falsely accused, thrown into prison, and for years it looks like everything has gone wrong. But God is still working. That is hard for us because we like quick testimonies. We like before and after stories, we like clean endings. But Joseph's story reminds us that some things take time. The pit did not cancel the promise. The prison did not cancel the calling. The betrayal did not cancel God's plan. Eventually, Joseph is elevated to leadership in Egypt, and God uses him to save many lives during famine. Later, Joseph tells his brothers in Genesis fifty twenty, You intended to Harm me, but God intended it for good. That does not mean what happened to Joseph was okay. Betrayal was not okay. Slavery was not okay. False accusation was not okay. Prison was definitely not okay. Faith does not call evil good. But faith believes God can bring good even from what was evil. God can redeem what hurt you without approving of what happened to you. Now y'all, that matters. Joseph's story teaches us that God works even in long, messy processes, even when we can't see it, even when it feels unfair, even when it takes longer than we hoped. God is still weaving. Now let's talk about Peter. Luke 22 and John 21. Peter loved Jesus. Peter was bold, he was passionate. Peter was also very capable of speaking before thinking, which makes him deeply relatable. Peter tells Jesus he would go with him to prison and death. But Jesus tells Peter that he will deny him three times. And Peter does. After Jesus is arrested, Peter denies knowing him three times. Then the rooster crows. Peter realizes what he's done, and he weeps bitterly. That is the mess of failure. That is the mess of shame. That is the mess of disappointing yourself. And some of us know that place. You reacted badly. You went back to an old pattern. You said something you regret. You failed in an area where you thought you were stronger. And shame says you ruined it. You're disqualified. You're a hypocrite. You might as well give up. But Jesus does not leave Peter there. After the resurrection, Jesus meets Peter by the water. And I love this part. Jesus restores Peter over breakfast. Now only Jesus can redeem your worst moment and make sure everyone still eats. Jesus asked Peter three times, Do you love me? Three denials. Three invitations to restoration. And then Jesus says, Feed my sheep. In other words, Peter, you still have purpose. Your failure did not get the final word. Your shame did not get the final word. Grace did. So friend, hear me. Your failure is not the final word. Jesus restores. Jesus redeems. Jesus calls us forward. Faith in the middle of failure means running back to Jesus instead of hiding from him. So what have we seen in this episode? Jesus is with us in the storm. God sees us in the wilderness. God cares for us in exhaustion. God works through long processes. Jesus restores us after failure. That is faith in the middle of the mess. Now let's talk about how to actually live this out. Because we do not want to just say, Amen, and then go right back to spiraling in the grocery store parking lot. We need practical faith for real life. So how do we implement faith in the middle of the mess? Come to God before you feel calm. Don't wait until you feel peaceful to pray. Pray messy, tired, distracted, frustrated. Pray one sentence if that is all you have. You do not have to impress God. You just have to come. I want you to name what is actually messy. Sometimes we stay overwhelmed because we never name what is going on. We just say everything is too much. But what specifically is too much? Fear, grief, relationship, decision, burnout, unforgiveness, feeling behind. I want you to name it, not to obsess over it, but bring it honestly to God. You cannot surrender. What you keep pretending is not there. Ask for the next faithful step. In messy seasons, we often want the whole plan, but God often gives us one step. Ask, Lord, what is the next faithful thing? Maybe it's rest, apologizing, setting a boundary, asking for help. Maybe it's not replying to that text until your soul calms down. One step matters. Faithfulness grows in small obedience. Practice messy worship. Worship does not only belong to the peaceful seasons. Worship can happen before the breakthrough. It can happen with tears. It can happen in the car, while cleaning, or while you're waiting. Messy worship says, God, I do not understand everything, but I still believe you are worthy. Let God care for your body too. Elijah needed sleep and food, and that matters. Sometimes the holiest thing you can do is rest, drink water, eat something nourishing, go outside, take a walk, get off your phone, go to bed. Faith is not burning out and calling it obedience. Let safe people support you. You don't have to carry everything alone. Faith is not isolation. The body of Christ is called a body for a reason. Let someone pray for you, encourage you. Let someone know you're struggling. Let someone help you. You are not a burden because you have needs. You are human. Remember that the mess is not your identity. You may be in a messy season, but you are not the mess. You may be tired, but you're not finished. You may be overwhelmed, but you are not abandoned. You may be healing, but you're not hopeless. You may be waiting, but you are not forgotten. You may have failed, but you are not disqualified. God gets the final word over your life. Not the mess, not shame, not fear, not exhaustion. God. Alright, my friend, it is time for holy homework. Not the scary kind. No pop quiz, no number two pencil, no trauma from algebra. Just a few simple ways to live this out. I want you to name the mess. Write this sentence. The mess I am currently carrying is. Then be honest. Don't make it pretty. Just tell the truth. Pray one honest prayer this week. Pray something like, Lord, this is messy. I don't know what to do, but I believe you are with me. Help me trust you in the middle. That's enough, my friends. Ask for one next faithful step. Write this down. My next faithful step is. Then choose one thing. Not ten, one. Find one scripture for the middle. Pick one verse to carry this week. Write it down. Put it on your phone. Say it out loud. Let truth interrupt the spiral. Now before we close, I want to introduce the song of the week. This week's song is Faith in the Middle of the Mess by Brendan Lees. This song is really the heart of this episode. It's about trusting God before everything looks fixed. It's about worshiping in the unfinished places. It's about remembering that God is still faithful when life feels tangled. It's for the person who's tired, who's waiting, who's healing, who's doing their best to believe, while also saying, Lord, this is a lot. This song will play at the end of the episode, so please stay with me. And remember, the Brain Elise Music Channel has been renamed Bryn Elise Worship and Words. Please go find it. This is where you'll find lyric videos, worship songs, prayers, devotionals, and music connected to these episodes. Sometimes a song can say what our heart does not know how to pray yet. So let this song meet you where you are. Let's pray together. Lord, thank you for being with us in the middle. Not just after the storm. Not just after the healing, not just after the answers come. Thank you for being present right here, right now. For the person who feels overwhelmed, remind them that they are not alone. For the person who feels unseen, remind them that you are the God who sees. For the person who is tired, give them rest. For the person who is waiting, give them patience and hope. For the person who feels ashamed, remind them that Jesus restores. For the person in a storm, remind them that Jesus is still in the boat. Help us stop pretending with you. Help us bring you our honest prayers. Help us trust you one step at a time. Give us wisdom for what needs action. Give us peace for what needs surrender. Give us courage for what needs obedience. Give us grace for what needs healing. Lord, teach us how to have faith in the middle of the mess. Not because we are strong enough, but because you are faithful enough. In Jesus' name. Amen. Friend, I want to thank you for spending this time with me today on Divine Shenanigans. If this episode encouraged you, please share it with someone who may be trying to trust God in the middle of their own mess. And make sure you're subscribed to Divine Shenanigans YouTube channel for podcast episodes, video content, shorts, prayers, devotionals, and real life faith encouragement. I also want to invite you to the Divine Shenanigans School community. This is free. And we have the new Daily Shenanigans Bible study on there, where we're walking through scripture together in real life, easy to understand, humor meets heart kind of way. Bring your Bible, your coffee, your questions, your mess. There is room for you. You can also subscribe on Substack for the monthly newsletter with encouragement, updates, reflections, and extra divine shenanigans goodness for your inbox. And don't forget to check out Brittany Lees worship and words on YouTube for all of my Christian music. Today's song of the week is Faith in the Middle of the Mess by yours truly, Brittany Lees. And this song is about to play now. So stay with me. Let it encourage you, let it remind you that God is right where you are. God bless you, my friend. Keep learning, keep growing, keep laughing when life gets weird. Keep trusting God in the middle. And I'll see y'all right back here for more divine shenanigans.

SPEAKER_00 34:18

Coffee rings on the countertop. Half my plans just never stopped. Run in circles to my head. Trying hard to trust instead. Phone keys, but heart feels loud. Peace feels buried under doubt. Some days faith looks less like strong and more like holding on. I don't have to have it figured out to know you're still here now. I've got faith in the middle of the mess. When life don't look holy, you still bless. My prayers come broken and my heart feels stretched. I've got faith in this. Not because I'm strong enough. Not because I've cleaned it up. Do you still need feel? Grace is shaking hair. Some days you move real slow. Crypto begin to grow. Nobody sees a little change. Grace is a work in any way. I've cried tears I couldn't name. Carrie guilt and shape. Do you never walk away? Do you call my heart by name? You don't wait for days unfinished. I've got faith in the middle of the mess. I don't look holy. My bread compoke. I've got a little not because I'm strong enough. Not because I'm cleaning up. But you still need me where I am. In the middle of the night. In the laundry aisles, in the late night, fears, in the overthinking, and the falling tears, in the waiting rooms, in the quiet aching, the unanswered prayers still make away in the cave in the strain. You are still guide you in the meaning I've got faith in the middle of the nest. When life don't hold it, you still bless when my parents don't get old. I've got faith in the middle of the nest. Not because I'm starting up, not because I've cleaned it up. You still need me the way I am Grayson shaking heads baked in the middle of the mess. Coffee cold heart still pressed. Still I trust in the middle of a mess.