Hope In a World Filled with Suffering

A conversation on suffering. Why does it exist, what does God say about it, how to navigate it and replacing the defeat with hope

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello, hello. Welcome into the Fruitful Feminine. I am Alexis and I am so happy that you are here. I know that the title of this episode sounds like a rainy day topic. And I promise I'm going to bring hopefully some sun into this episode. And we're going to talk about suffering today. Why does it happen? What do we do with suffering? What the heck is going on with this world where everywhere you turn, it feels like there's some sort of suffering. And just how to navigate and understand and feel hope in a world that is filled with suffering. So hello. If this is your first episode, extra, extra hugs and welcome to you. I'm Alexis. I'm a feminine energy coach. I love Jesus. I'm a believer. And this podcast is where I combine faith and femininity. And we just talk about how to feel empowered as a woman in this world, in this crazy modern day world. And I just share some of my experiences with Jesus and my faith with you. So, welcome in. And my girls who have been here for a while, I'm so happy that you're back. I love reading your comments on every episode. And I'm just so happy that you're here. So let's get into this. I'm going to break this down into three parts. First, why does suffering exist? When I first became Christian, I could not understand why there is evil if God is the ultimate God. Like, why is there bad in this world? Did he create this? Where does evil come from? We are going to get to literally the very root of it. Then we are going to talk about when Jesus came and he died on the cross, how that changed suffering. There is a difference in suffering in the Old Testament versus suffering in the New Testament, in my opinion. And I'm very curious to dive into this more and to share some things that I've learned with you. Then we are going to talk about suffering and its greater purpose. So, what do we do with the suffering that we're going through? And how do we find that sun at the end of the rainy day? So if you feel maybe you've been in a period of suffering, this is so gonna be for you. I have been in a little bit of this myself the last couple weeks. I'm not even going to say little bit, I've been in a lot the last couple of weeks. So this episode is just as much for me as it is for you. And every time before I make an episode, I pray and I ask God, what do you want me to talk about today? And usually I have a list of requests from you or just topics on my phone. And I always pull from those. But today I felt God say, Don't go to your phone. I want you to talk about exactly what you've been going through. And I'm like, God, I'm not ready. Are you sure this is the topic? Because I'm still trying to figure out the answer for myself. And the craziest thing is, I took about an hour to just read the Bible, take my notes, put this episode together, and I already feel such a wave of release. So now I know why he wanted me to talk about this. So even if you are going through something like a breakup, or maybe there's just a struggle with your health or your hormones or a family member or your job, your finances, whatever it is, this episode is for you. It is going to be your toolkit for the future when suffering comes up. And feel free to replay this and come back here as many times as you need. So, why does suffering exist? Let's start with this. There's two types of suffering. There's self-created suffering, and then there's natural suffering. Self-created suffering, it is literally in the name. We create it. Why do we do this? If you are a glow girl, you know why we do this. It is so that we can confirm beliefs that our brain, that our programming has made, and we confirm these beliefs by looking for evidence. So, for example, if you grew up in a very traumatic household where you never felt safe, your brain has been taught when I'm stressed, that's familiar. And so I will look for evidence in the world of where I feel stressed so that I can confirm my programming, so that I can stay safe. When I'm stressed, that's familiar to me. So let me look for ways that I can create that. My girls who are always rushing a lot, you feel like you're always running out of time, there's always an endless to-do list, relationships are always chaotic. There is an addiction to stress because there is a learned suffering that our program has. That is the power of inner work, and why I love being a feminine energy and inner work coach is to give the medicine and help shift the programming of our brain. And I just love it. When I asked God, like, what is inner work to you? Because there are so many different definitions of inner work. He told me it is medicine to soothe the self-created patterns. And I thought, that's good. Let's keep doing that. We need it. Well, ultimately, the best medicine is the Bible. It is described as the living word that the Bible is alive. And it's true because when I read it, there is a transformation of my soul and my spirit that happens. It is the only book that reads you. And so the other type of suffering, natural suffering, your medicine is the word of God. Your medicine is Jesus. And that's what we're going to talk about: how to, how to accept him as the medicine in the and the last part of this episode. So natural suffering, these are things like diseases, uh, war. There was a question that I got on a previous episode, Alexis, why are babies born with special needs? Like, why does this happen? And I just like my heart opened so much, and I thought, oh, we've got to talk about suffering. These are things that are out of our control. And the root cause of these sadly comes to the very beginning in Genesis. It is the moment that sin entered the world. And so the origination of suffering is the very first sin that was committed because that was the very first time that there was an absence of God. And when there is an absence of God, there's an absence of light. What is revealed? Darkness. And so the question of did God create sin? Did God create suffering? Did he create evil? No, he did not create evil. God has always existed, he's omnipresent. And when his light was removed, when Eve took her focus off of God, put it on the serpent that was talking to her, when Adam took a bite of the fruit that God said, Do not eat from this. That is when they turned from God, the light was taken out of the room and darkness entered, and sin entered the world, then suffering entered the world. And I want to actually read from Genesis because you can see every single step of how sin entered the world. But that was the quick overview. So Genesis 3, it says, The man and the woman sin. The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made. One day he asked the woman, Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden? The serpent, backstory to the serpent, why is there this random snake in this perfect world? So, Genesis, if you've never read it, it's God setting up the world. He creates the land, he creates the water, the sky, the sun, the moon, then he creates Adam, then he creates Eve. And he tells them this one sentence. This is in Genesis 2, verses 16. The Lord God warned him, You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden, except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die. And that was before Eve had entered. And so God tells Adam, Do not eat from this tree. Why does God even have this tree in the first place? We'll come back to that in a minute. So when the serpent comes, where does the serpent come from, right? God created this perfect world, but suddenly there's this snake that is questioning Eve's belief system, questioning the words that God gave to her. Well, before Adam and Eve were made, before earth was made, God was in heaven. Angels were with him in heaven, and there was an angel named Lucifer, or Satan, or the devil. He has many names. And Lucifer was jealous of how much power God had, and he wanted that for himself. And so Lucifer rebelled. He tried to become greater than God. He uh was pretty much the ringleader for other angels who tried to overpower God and be the leader instead of him. And when this happened, God kicked Lucifer and his angels with him out of heaven and they fell to the earth. That is why we are living in what is called a fallen world. Because when Lucifer entered the world, sin entered the world. And the Bible says that the devil, he has power over this earth. That is why suffering exists. That is why we cannot seem to run from it. Because there is a force that we cannot see. There is a spiritual darkness that we cannot see, but we can feel. And it is what is causing this ripple effect of suffering to just continue. But there is good news. We're not going to end just there. So, anyways, that's why uh Satan has taken this form of this snake, so that he can try to tempt Eve here. Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden? Eve responds, Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden. It's only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, You must not eat or even touch it. If you do, you will die. Quick side note, because my pastor was just talking about this this weekend. God never said, Don't touch the fruit. Eve added that in. Notice how when the enemy starts to question our belief system, starts to question what God said, we add things or we'll take away things that God never said, God never meant for us. When we are not rooted in God's word, this is why you have to read the Bible every single day. Because that is you nourishing the root and growing the tree of truth. When Satan can start to knock your tree down because you're not rooted in the Word of God, that's when we start making decisions that God did not want for us. So Eve says, We're not even allowed to touch it, or else you will die. You won't die, the serpent replied to the woman. God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil. The devil is a liar, he says, You won't die. And of course, there's two definitions here, because they didn't die physically when Adam ate the fruit, but there was a spiritual death. There was a death of peace in the world, there was a death of freedom, which we'll see. The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it too. At that moment, their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness, so they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves. Sin opened our eyes, our ears, and our heart gates to see things that we were never supposed to see and feel things that we were never supposed to feel. We were never supposed to feel suffering. Sin opened that up. When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking in the garden, so they hid from the Lord among the trees. Then the Lord called to the man, Where are you? And it's so sad because God, of course, he physically knows where his children are, but he's grieving. Where are you? Like where are your hearts? He replied, I heard you walking in the garden, so I hid. This is Adam talking. I was afraid because I was naked. Who told you that you were naked? The Lord God asked. The man replied, I'm laughing at this. The man replied, It was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it. Here we go. Begin the suffering for the women. Then the Lord God asked the woman, What have you done? The serpent deceived me, she replied. That's why I ate it. And a quick back note, there's a theory. I don't know if this is 100% truth, but there's a theory that notice it said that at the moment their eyes were opened, they suddenly felt shame. Their eyes were not opened until Adam ate the fruit. Eve ate it, then Adam ate it, but something about the man, something about the husband eating it, the husband that was supposed to lead and protect the family, when he ate it, that's when both of their eyes were opened. So something interesting there, but that's an episode for another day. The serpent deceived me, she replied, That's why I ate it. Then the Lord God said to the serpent to the serpent, Because you have done this, you are cursed, more than all animals, domestic and wild. You will crawl on your belly, groveling in the dust as long as you live, and I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head and you will strike his heel. And what does this part mean? He will strike your head and you will strike his heel. God is talking to the serpent. He is saying, You will strike his heel, yes. Like in a battle, if you were to cut someone's heel, it would wound them. They would fall. We as humans, we're going to be wounded by Satan, we're going to fall from time to time. But it says, He will strike your head. When the head is struck, that is the final blow, and that is when the enemy is defeated and the war is won. So Jesus, it's being foreshadowed here, will strike Satan's head, and the war will be won. But unfortunately, we will have battles of suffering in the meantime. God then says to Eve, I will sharpen the pain of your pregnancy, and in pain you will give birth, and you will desire to control your husband, but he will rule over you. And to the man he said, Since you listened to your wife and ate from the tree, whose fruit I commanded you not to eat, the ground is cursed because of you. All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it. It will grow thorns and thistles for you, though you will eat of its grains. By the sweat of your brow will you have food to eat until you return to the ground from which you were made. For you were made from dust, and to dust you will return. This is the death that God was referring to. It was a death of peace in the world. But Satan was a liar and said, You won't die. Ugh, the enemy's words. So let's break this down for a bit. When our eyes open to good and evil, that's when suffering enters. And I was asking God about this, like, why? Why could it not just end with Adam and Eve? Eve is known as the mother to all creation, right? When she also ate the fruit, there was a seed that was planted in her. And it's just crazy, all of this talk of seeds and thorns, because when I named the podcast the fruitful feminine, I thought, yeah, that's a cute name, and we want to be fruitful women, right? I didn't know all of the symbolism of seeds and fruit in that's actually in the Bible. Well, you know how we always talk about, if you've been on the podcast for a while, you'll know this. I say that when you eat fruits of the spirit, meaning that you do things like read the word of God, you follow what Jesus says, be loving, patient, kind. That sows fruits of the spirit in you. Think about like strawberries and dragon fruit and avocados, the delicious, beautiful fruits, right? That's what happens when you seek nourishment from God. When you seek nourishment from the world, which deeply it's seeking nourishment from the enemy because he is controlling the world, when we seek to eat that fruit instead, which is what Eve did, going, I want to know about knowledge, I want to have the knowledge that God has. I want to know about good and evil. When we seek that fruit that God tells us not to seek, worldly validation, um, going after money and fame, thinking that that will fulfill us. When we seek that, it turns into a thorn. So, yes, that seed will sprout up, but it will be a thorn and it will hurt. Like I always talk about people that have everything the most money, the most fame, the most power. Why they're usually so empty is because they do not have God. And so these seeds actually become thorns because they end up hurting our soul. And so, anyways, when I ask God, why couldn't suffering just end with Adam and Eve? When she ate the fruit, a thorn was planted in humanity. And this thorn has been sown in Adam and Eve's children, their children, their children, trickling down to us. And then I'm wondering, but why did God even put the tree in the garden? Like, why even put that there for Adam and Eve? And what I love about being Christian is God wants us to be curious. He wants us to ask questions. Anytime you feel like, why is this in the Bible or what does this mean? Why would God do this? He wants you to run to him for questions. So never feel bad about that. There was a QA that we did recently where there was a question, is this part of the Bible misogynistic? Like, did God really say this? And those questions are so wonderful to ask because when you run to God, he reveals the answer. He doesn't want you to go, I don't feel good about that, but I'm just gonna ignore it. Um, so when I asked God, why did you put the tree in the garden? My wonderful father, why did you do this? What I felt him say was the tree has knowledge and it needed to be there. And when I was reading Genesis a few months back, I made a note that could this tree have knowledge of life? Meaning, could it have knowledge of everything that life would encompass? Meaning, could this tree have knowledge that one day God would send his son Jesus? And God told Adam and Eve, do not eat from this because you are not supposed to have this seed of knowledge in you. You're not supposed to know about suffering, you're not supposed to know about Jesus coming. All of this is my own timeline to enter the world. And so this knowledge, this tree of knowledge needed to be there. It just should not have been eaten from. So the result of sin, as we see when God's talking about uh the women and the men pitting themselves against each other and women desiring to control their husbands, husbands desiring to not be controlled. Isn't this still reality today? So the result of sin, no peace, there's pain, like there's labor pain now. Oh, I used to be so angry as a kid. I would always tell my mom, if Eve didn't eat the fruit, it wouldn't hurt to have babies so much. Why did they do this? And my mom would just laugh. But now I'm I'm seeing the greater purpose is God was saying that there will be pain. There will also be division in relationships. And the question earlier, did God create sin? No, he did not create sin. Sin was the absence of God, and the absence of God is when Satan controls, when Satan enters. And there will always be unholiness where Satan is entering and controlling. So the question about why are there children born with special needs? The in the imperfect health is a result of the original sin. It is a result of Satan messing with God's perfection and putting his imprint on it. Anytime there is a lack of perfection, there is a lack of God, and Satan has his thumb over it. So there is now just this ripple effect of sin that has entered the world, and that's why there's all of the suffering, because there is unholiness that is also being rippled out. Jesus came to conquer the unholiness, but there is still this wave going because until Jesus returns for good, Satan still has power, but it's very limited. So things like special needs, it's the result of It's the result of imperfect health. It's the absence of God. Things like war. It is the absence of holiness. It's the absence of peace. And I know that we're getting super, super into the technical details here. I promise I'm just building this up to help answer that question of why suffering exists. And then we'll talk about what to actually do with this. So we've talked about the ripple effect of suffering. Everything today that feels like suffering is the result of the original sin. There's one more very important detail that was here when we were reading, and it was Genesis 3.18. God says, the ground is cursed because of you. All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it. It will grow thorns and thistles for you, though you will eat of its grains. I read that and I'm like, okay, so it's going to be hard for us to labor. Um, it's going to be hard to make a living. It's not just going to come easy. We're not just going to wake up and be able to pick fruit off the trees at all times and just have so much abundance when we wake up. Adam and Eve, they literally lived in paradise before the serpent tempted Eve. So when I'm reading this, I'm thinking, but why does God use the word thorns? Then I'm realizing something. He also, God also uses the word thorns in the New Testament when Jesus is being crucified. And what happens with thorns in the New Testament? When Jesus is being crucified, the Jewish leaders and the Roman officers who were crucifying him, they put a crown of thorns. Like, imagine all these branches with the sharpest thorns. They wove this together into a crown to mock Jesus. They said, you think that you are the king of the Jews, you think that you are the king of the earth, wear this crown as you die. And it's so ironic because they were crowning him in a way to mock him, not knowing that they were actually crowning the king of kings, even if it was a crown of thorns. But the crown that they put on his head, I get chill talking about this. If we go back to Genesis 3:18, the thorns that once ruled over man become the crown of the man who rules over sin. The details of the Bible are absolutely insane. So, yes, the ground is cursed. God says there will be thorns, like it will be hard for you to make a living. You're not just gonna wake up to fruitful paradise. But the crown, but the thorns that once ruled over man become the crown of the man who rules over sin. Enter Jesus, my father. I just love him so much. It says in my notes here when Jesus died for us, the war was won. But sadly, the battle continues until his final return. And if you want to read about when Jesus returns, what that will be like, read the book of Revelation. It's the last book of the Bible. It is mind-blowing. That is a whole other topic. So, why does the battle continue? That is our question now. Like, what do we do about this? Why does the battle continue? Well, there's a few reasons. I think it is because God is building his kingdom. In Revelation, it talks about how God is building a kingdom of priests. And so we are living in this world where suffering exists, but at the same time, God is building his kingdom of priests. Every single one of you listening to this, God has known that you are going to be here, known that your existence would happen. And he wants to use you to build his eternal kingdom. He wants you to be a part of his eternal kingdom. And God, he's such a loving father. He knows every single person that has been born is being born and will be born. And until all of his children are done being born, the world is not going to end. Jesus is going to return once everything that God has set in motion is complete. Some people say, so this is the theory, and I think my mom believes this theory too. My mom actually went to school and studied theology. So anytime I have questions, I go to her about this stuff. Some theologians believe that once every single person on earth has heard about the Lord, that is when Jesus will come back. So it's a theory saying that once every person has the opportunity to experience Jesus, they're at least given that choice. They either do or they don't. And God reveals himself in so many ways. It could be a podcast for one person, it could be just staring at a sunset for another person, it could be someone being generous and they happen to be wearing a cross on their neck, and someone goes, Whoa, like, is there a love that I don't know about yet? Until every single person on earth has experienced Jesus, Jesus is up in heaven waiting to return. That is what many people believe. I don't know. There is a lot of um emotion stirring in me as I think about that. And maybe there's one more person. Like, imagine there's a 16-year-old in a random country who is the last person who has never heard about Jesus yet. But once they hear about him, Jesus will return. And the Bible says Jesus is coming soon. What does soon look like? We don't know. God's definition of time, very different from our own definition. We talked about that a little bit in our quantum physics uh discussion in the last QA. And so, why does the battle continue? There's also one more reason. It is to grow closer to God. Every single time I have suffered the absolute most, it has equally brought me so much closer to God. And sometimes I just think, you know, when life is going really good and you think, yeah, nothing, nothing bad has happened in a while. Sometimes I miss those moments where I've been feeling so much pain because that is where I feel God wrap around me so much. Like it's where I hear Him the most, it's where I learn the most with him. It's been after breakups, after loss, um, just after different expectations that I didn't think would happen. The last couple weeks, with all of the explosions that have been happening in Dubai, it has been a period of suffering for me mentally, and I have felt so close to God. The peace that I have right now, it's so hard to describe to people because my family and friends back home, they're back in the US, they're saying, Are you okay? Like, can you come home? And I'm saying, Yes, I am frightened a lot. However, I feel so much peace. I cannot explain why, but I just feel peace because I have no choice but to run to God. And at night, the last few nights have been pretty hard after my neighborhood was hit. Um I could not go to sleep without crying. I just felt so frightened. And I would get out of bed and I would just open my Bible and read Psalm 91, and it just felt like a blanket wrapped over me. And there's a part in Psalm 91 where it says, do not fear the terrors of the night, nor the fiery arrows that fly during the day. And I just keep rereading that and rereading that, and I'm thinking, this is my exact situation right now. When I said earlier that the Bible is alive, this is what I meant, is that it speaks to your present life. The Bible was written thousands of years ago, but it still speaks to our present life now. Like, how did God know that there would be fiery arrows during the day, terrors in the night? There's so many things that the Bible speaks to in our life now that we need as our medicine when we are in the most times of suffering. And last week I was talking with my neighbor and she goes, How did you, how did you sleep the night of the explosion? Like, how did you go back to sleep? And I told her, I said, I literally opened Psalm 91, I read it, I just asked God, please protect this home. And I slept. And she was, she was like, Alexis, I don't know how you did that. She and apparently the rest of my building, I literally don't know how I slept, the rest of our building, they all went down to the car parking garage and they just spent the night there. And there is a peace that God gives that is not natural when we are suffering and we run to Him. And I'm not saying that it's a piece that says, oh, just sit and stay in place and everything is fine, even if there is danger around you. No, the Holy Spirit will tell you to move when you need to move. But during that movement, there is a supernatural peace. So why does the battle continue of suffering? To grow closer to God. Because we are building his kingdom, and because there are still children that God has said, I am waiting to bring you into the world, that are also waiting to hear about him. Because Jesus won the war, because Jesus died on the cross, the moment Jesus died on the cross, it was a representation of sin being conquered for good. Because he who knew no sin became sin so that our sin might be forgiven. That is where the ripple effect of Jesus and peace enter the world. So just as equally we have this ripple effect of suffering, even though it feels so overwhelming everywhere you turn, it feels like they're suffering. Equally, there is a ripple effect of Jesus' peace the moment he died for us. Because Jesus was the only human who had never sinned, it represented a sacrificial lamb. Lambs, they were very pure. They represented what the Jewish people needed to sacrifice in order to make up for their sins. And so God sent a human lamb, his own baby, his own son. And when Jesus, that ultimate lamb, was sacrificed, it paid the cost of all of our sins, even sins that we have not made yet, but will in the future. And that is why I say that the war is over. Because the price for sin, the effect of sin, it was stopped in that moment that Jesus died. But the ripple effect is still going only until the day Jesus returns and says, Satan, you're done for good. And Revelation talks about that fight that Jesus and Satan will have, and it is very powerful. I'm not going to give any spoilers, although you probably know. So because Jesus won the war, suffering will never defeat us. There's a Bible verse that I love, Matthew 10, 28. It says, Don't be afraid of those who want to kill your body. They cannot touch your soul. How powerful is that? Like nothing that you suffer will ever really kill you. It may kill your body, it may even kill your mind or your heart. Like you may feel defeated. You may feel that your heart is broken, but it will not touch your soul. And when life ends, your soul is the only thing that matters because your soul is either going to heaven or it is going to hell. And so when we have decided to accept Jesus, Jesus says, Because you have accepted me, you've also accepted eternal life. And I give you eternal life because you are giving your soul to me. You are giving your heart to me. And so nothing can touch your soul once Jesus has it. There's another verse that I love. Let me think of it. It says, My sheep listen to my voice. I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father's hand. That's John 10, 27 through 29. That's Jesus speaking. No one can snatch you from the Father's hand. Once you have accepted Jesus, that's why spiritual warfare begins. That's why it feels all of a sudden, whoa, why am I going through all of these new battles? Because the enemy knows that a new kingdom soldier has just woken up and he will do everything in his power so that you don't wake up, other soldiers, for the kingdom. Another verse says, and everyone will hate you because you are my followers, but not a hair of your head will perish. By standing firm, you will win your souls. That's Luke 21, 17 through 19. And so here's a conclusion for this first part, or for the second part. Suffering will exist until the day that Jesus returns. We can either let it overcome us mentally, or we can allow God to use it for a greater purpose. And now in this third part, suffering and its greater purpose. I'm going to talk about three ways to use suffering for a greater purpose and how to navigate it. A quick side note, Ephesians 6.12, it talks about how we are not fighting a battle against flesh and blood. We are fighting against unseen authorities, unseen spirits. Satan rules that realm. And so every battle, even with war, we are not fighting against world leaders to world leaders. And actually, we're not even fighting against uh politics, religion. We are fighting a whole other battle against light and dark. Even things with uh trauma, addiction, people in your life that have hurt you, that's not a battle that you are experiencing against flesh and blood. It is a spiritual battle. That is why you must know spiritual weapons. You must know how to equip yourself with the spiritual weapons because if you're trying to fight a spiritual battle with a knife, that's not gonna get you very far. I have an episode called uh spiritual warfare: how to win the battle for your soul. That is a must, must, must watch. I think it's the number one episode that I will ever recommend. And it's how to fight this battle. So, part three, suffering and its greater purpose. Let me get a sip of my chamomile tea. It's been a lot of chamomile lately. All right. So, number one, the greater purpose of suffering, it's to be comforted by God and to bring comfort to others. I'm going to read 1 Corinthians 1 3. Let's see. It says, Oh, it says my highlighter is gonna drop. No, it says, all praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. For the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ. Even when we are weighed down with troubles, it is for your comfort and salvation. For when we ourselves are comforted, we will certainly comfort you. Then you can patiently endure the same things we suffer. We are confident that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in the comfort God gives us. So this is Paul writing a letter. Paul, one of the greatest men of God to ever exist. His story is absolutely mind-blowing. It is proof that God can use anyone, and no matter your past, God has a very bright future for you. Um, if you don't know who Paul is, he was a he was uh a Roman officer, I believe, and he actually persecuted Christians. He would kill Christians. When Jesus died and the good news started being spread, the Romans did not like it because Christians were pretty much calling out all of the sin in the world and getting people to be filled with Jesus instead. And the Romans tried to stop it by killing Christians. Paul was one of the leaders who killed many, many Christians. And Jesus changed his heart and he came to him one day. And then Paul ended up writing, I think, two-thirds of the New Testament, a huge majority of the New Testament. And yeah, he's just he's amazing. Maybe one day we'll do an episode on him. But why I read that verse that was full of the word comfort, there's two things that were being said. When we are comforted by God, or no, when we are suffering, we will be comforted by God. That alone, like, what a gift that the King of Kings, that the ruler of this universe personally comforts us. That's why I say sometimes I miss those moments of pain because you experience something so supernatural, so filling to your soul. So when we suffer, God comforts us. Number two, what this uh reading just said is that when we know how to be comforted, we know how to comfort others. This is purpose number one of suffering. It is to be comforted by God and to bring comfort for others. One of the stories that I love, it's the story of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10. And there was a Jewish man who was attacked by a group of bandits, just left to die on the side of the road. A Jewish leader walks by, looks at the man, doesn't have a care in the world. A temple assistant to the Jewish synagogue walks by, sees the Jewish man laying on the side of the road, which, by the way, during this time, the Jewish community always, always helped each other. They were literally brothers and sisters. And so for a Jewish leader to walk by and not even help his own brother was insane. A temple leader, same thing. The only one who helped this man that had just been attacked was a Samaritan. Someone who is not Jewish, technically not pure, not a son of God. I'm using quotes as I say that. Um, the Jewish community looked down on him. But this Samaritan, he is the one that helped the man that was attacked. And he took some all, I believe it was olive oil and wine, and mixed it together, put it on the wounds of this man, bandaged him up, and the man was healed. And I love that story because number one, it shows religion is not important. It is the relationship with God that is the most important because you can be the most religious person, you can be the leader of a synagogue and not be walking like Jesus. And so I love all these hints that God gives. But also, when I look back at that story, this is a detail that I just learned last year, and it made me so excited to learn this. How did the Good Samaritan know how to heal that man's wounds? How did he know, okay, a little bit of olive oil, a little bit of wine, we'll use this bandage. He wasn't a doctor. How did he know how to do this? Because he had been through the same suffering himself, because he had already experienced that wound prior, he had the medicine to now heal this man. There's another episode that we did on purpose. I'm blanking on the name, but if you just type the fruitful feminine purpose, I'll talk about this story more in depth. We go through wounds and suffering, not so that we can just be healed, but so that we can have the medicine, the formula, the recipe to heal others. Many of you listening to this, your medicine to heal others is a business idea. Your medicine to heal others is you speaking about that topic, speaking about what God did for you, even though you feel scared right now. Your medicine is not just for you. And there was on Friday night, Friday night was one of the nights this week where I just I was so frightened going to sleep. Like I kept just I went for a two-hour walk. I just was scared to lay down and close my eyes. And I called my mom. I felt so bad. I was just crying. And my mom, of course, is in America. She can't do anything physically right now. And I just told her, Mom, I'm so scared to sleep. And I don't know what to do. And my mom, she just sat with me and she cried with me. And I just felt so held by that. It was a really, really emotional weekend. And then um, I just I still couldn't sleep. And so So I messaged one of my friends and I asked him because he is living in a country that is experiencing way, way, way more intense war. And I said, Are you awake? And he goes, Of course. Are you okay? And I called him and we talked on the phone. It was so healing. We talked for maybe 30 to 45 minutes, and I just told him what was going on. And he just gave me so much comfort. Like he was just, um, he he shared some things with me that he had also gone through, and he just picked up my spirits so much. He knew exactly what I needed to hear. And I was laughing on the call with him. Like it, I told him I never expected that I would laugh tonight. Like this was all of the medicine that I needed for my soul. So thank you. Because he had gone through exactly what I was going through. He knew how to help me, how to comfort me. And that is what we do as believers. We comfort each other. If you are an oldest daughter like I am, it is very easy to not want to put your suffering on someone else. But remember, God has created us to carry each other's burdens. And it is okay to do. Of course, use wisdom about it. I'm not telling you put everything on someone else. God is always our number one, but he also gave us friends and family and partners that can support us. And the people who can drop into your suffering with you, they are so special. Like my mom is one of those people. If I am just crying about something, my mom can sit and cry with me. It is such a gift that she has that. I have another friend, one of my best friends, Shelby. She's also like this. And when I have just told her, my best friends in the US, they're constantly checking on me. And uh Shelby, I just told her about some things that were going on. And she said that when she was praying, because she just felt so, so scared and worried for me. She said, God told her, that's my daughter. And she texted me that God spoke to her when she was praying, and I started crying. I sent her a picture. I'm like, Shelby, you have no idea how much I needed to hear. Because you were like suffering in this experience with me almost. God spoke to you. He spoke to me actually. You delivered that message that I needed to hear. All I needed to hear to feel peace this day was that's my daughter. And instantly I'm like, God, you've got me. I feel safe. And so you sharing in the suffering with someone else, it can free them so much. And God might put something on your heart to say or to do that you have no idea how much it will mean for them to hear. Even the Bible says this. It says, sweet friendships refresh the soul. And I love that because there is a joy that someone that is carrying the love of Jesus can bring you. They're like a crutch when you are wounded, and you are like a crutch when they are wounded. So this is earlier we were talking about Jesus' power, how it causes this ripple effect. It causes this ripple effect of peace. People who are carrying Jesus inside them are also rippling out this effect of peace. And if you've ever seen one of those videos where someone has a glass of dirty water and maybe the water is brown, and then someone keeps pouring clean water into that cup until eventually all of the brown spills out, and then it's just a cup of clear water. Although this world feels like a cup of dirty water a lot of the times, your light, the light from other believers, is that water that pours over it and removes it by bringing pe by bringing the fruits of the spirit. Peace, love, joy, kindness, gentleness. It's amazing. And let's see. Yeah, one effect of Jesus' power is that there will be peace when you shouldn't, I say shouldn't in quotes, when you shouldn't feel peace. And that is also why you cannot fight the spiritual battle with physical weapons. Because when you get a when you get a spiritual weapon of Jesus' peace, peace, because you know what his truth is, that fights a battle over your mind that no knife can ever fight. So that's number one, to be comforted by God and to bring comfort to others. Number two is to live like Jesus and to get closer to him. Romans 8:18, it says, what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. And I love that because I think as much like you look on the news and especially everything that has been going on in the United Arab Emirates, I just think what else is going on in other countries that I have never personally seen. This um in these past two weeks, it's opened my eyes so much to the impact of war, to the impact of um just not feeling safe. And I just think I am so lucky because I know in other countries kids have grown up with this, and I know people have it way worse. And I just think like, where does the suffering end? I think also why the last couple weeks have been so hard is because my eyes were opened, which our phones open our eyes to things we should never be seeing. The news exposes us to things at a rate we should never be digesting, and it makes our heart and soul grieve. And so I've just been grieving for the eye-opening of war that I've seen in the last couple weeks. I knew about it, but I didn't know about it to the extent that I do now. And that made my heart super heavy. And I'm thinking, if I feel this much devastation, and I imagine other people are feeling this much devastation and suffering, what amount of glory, what amount of joy and peace will we feel later? Romans 8.18, it says, what we are suffering now, it is nothing compared to the glory that He will reveal to us later. That's what makes me excited, is I think this is not the end. And it's almost like when you go through a heartbreak, the amount that your heart is broken is the amount that you loved. If you only loved and opened your heart a little bit, you'll only feel heartbroken a little bit. If you open your heart completely and it's broken, the amount of love that you are available for, there's so much depth to that. And so equally, the amount of, I don't even know what's the word that I'm looking for, but the impact that God's glory will have on us, I don't think there's a human word for it yet, it will be far greater than any suffering that we can imagine. And that's what gives me hope. As I'm writing my notes, I'm realizing something. That if we win in the world, we will lose in the kingdom. The purpose of our suffering is partly to live like Jesus and get closer to him. And living like Jesus means living opposite to the world. An example of this: God tells us don't store up earthly treasures on earth. What does the world say? Make as much money as you want or as you can. Store up all the possessions, get all of the wealth, keep on shopping, keep on consuming, keep on seeking. The world tells us more, more, more consume, consume, consume. God says less, less, less of physical treasures, more of Him, and more creating than consuming. And I think that's what's so powerful about that realization. If we win in the world, if we have all of the money in the world, we lose in the kingdom. God tells us that when we store up, the more uh earthly treasures we store up, the less heavenly treasures we do. Even things like the more that you uh boast about what you have done, the more you are throwing out your heavenly treasures. When you are humble and you just live in integrity and you do good things that no one sees but God does, you're storing up heavenly treasure. The world also says, be the first, be the best, be the top. It's this seeking of power. And also, I want to note that money, power, fame, even possessions, these things are not bad. It is loving them to a point that you place them higher than you place God. That is where things get out of balance. Because it quickly turns them into an idol, and nothing grieves God's heart more than us being more faithful to our idol than we are faithful to him. So that example, being the first, the best, the top, well, if you do that, you'll win in the world, but you'll lose in the kingdom. Because Jesus says, whoever is the least among you is the greatest. And winning in the kingdom also feels like a win for your soul on earth. Why Jesus says, whoever is the least among you will be the greatest is because when Jesus was teaching, there were a lot of kids that ran up to him and they wanted to see him, and the disciples kind of pushed them away because kids were not really valued. They were not supposed to be heard, not supposed to really be seen back in this time. And Jesus goes, Why did you push those little kids away? Anyone who accepts one of these little kids and welcomes them is like welcoming me. Whoever is the least among you is actually the greatest. And that's, I think, Jesus saying, Whatever the world says, do backwards. And it's funny because before I started reading the Bible as much as I do now, I would always say on YouTube, the key to inner work, do whatever the world says backwards. I didn't realize that that was literally the blueprint that God had in the Bible. And I think, oh, I just need like if I could just soak up this wisdom from his word all day, life would be way better. Um so what else did I want to say with this? Yes, so another example is the world says receive to receive, like get as much as you can. But God says give to receive. And if you receive everything and you have all these possessions, um, all of this power, in the world's eyes that's a win, but in the kingdom's eyes, that's a loss. And your soul will know what is a win in the kingdom because your spirit will light up, like you will feel a lightness and you will feel a peace. Here's an example of this. On Saturday, this was two days now after the explosion in my neighborhood. And on Saturday, I was not feeling great when I woke up. Like I was just feeling heavy. And I'm reading the Bible and just spending time with God, and I feel God say, I want you to host a neighborhood get together for all the women in your neighborhood. And by the way, you're gonna do it today. I was like, what? I thought, I just really want to have a day in where I just watch movies, get my mind off of things. Like, I, God, I'm so tired. I've been crying all night. I don't feel like doing this. And God said, Nope, I want you to do it. And I had just gotten added to a neighborhood group chat that I have. It's a crazy big group chat. There's like a thousand of us in there. And I kept going so back and forth, but I knew I was wrestling this flesh versus spirit battle. And my goal is to be as obedient to my spirit and to his spirit as I can. So I looked at both options. I'm like, okay, relax, watch movies, don't follow this whisper God has given me. That's absolutely my flesh. Then, option B: host this gathering for the girls, give up your time, give up your energy, serve. That's definitely not my flesh, that's the spirit. So I'm looking at this battle that's going on, and I'm saying, I want my spirit to win, so I must go with this option. Because every win for your spirit, it's a strengthening for your spirit, and it's a release of control from your flesh. And so I'm really working on building this. And so I message this group chat. Hey ladies, I know it's been a crazy week. I'm a feminine energy coach. I'm going to host a nervous system reset. Meet me in the park at sunset. Bring your mat, bring your blanket. I will have snacks for you. Like this message if you want to come, so I know how much to get. We are just gonna do some feminine movements. We're gonna loosen up our body, we're gonna do some stretching, some breathing, and just have some girl time. And I sent the message, instantly I feel so much peace. And then the time comes, I go out to the grass area, meet the girls. It was so beautiful. And just to meet my neighbors and have these friends now, it was it was just wonderful. Like we loosened up our hips, we just relaxed, we just had girl talk, we just hugged, and it was so needed. And the funny thing is, every time I am feeling low and I serve, I'm no longer feeling low. I went to bed feeling so at peace that night and so comforted. And it's funny because I realized this was a win for my soul, and I'm so glad I did not let the flesh win. Because when the flesh wins, you win in the world, but you lose in the kingdom. It is so much better to win in the kingdom and to feel peace in your soul. Jesus tells us, pick up your cross and follow me. What does this mean? It means deny your flesh, deny the selfish desires that you have. An example of this for me was when I was making the decision, am I going to wait to have sex till I'm married? Am I not gonna do it? My flesh doesn't want to wait, but my spirit wants to, I don't know. That battle, I thought, but Jesus says, pick up your cross and follow me. And he says that there will be suffering that comes with this. Following him equals suffering in the world, but freedom in the kingdom, everlasting life in the kingdom. And I thought, you know what? I want a marriage that surpasses this world. I want a marriage that has kingdom impact. I must follow what God says. I must honor my body and save my body for marriage. If I want a kingdom marriage that has impact, that expands beyond just the world, that has kingdom impact, that brings children, brings other lives to Jesus. I must deny my flesh in order to have this. And by the way, you can make this decision any single moment. It does not matter your past. When Jesus said pick up your cross, there was no timeline on that. And what's so ironic is the more that we suffer, the more that that break, like that breaking of us, actually completes us. Because even that decision to wait till marriage, I thought this is really hard. But that breaking of my flesh, that suffering of my flesh, that's what completed me. Gave me so much peace. Well, like what God tells us to do might seem crazy in the world's eyes. There is a layer of spiritual protection that it is giving to you that you cannot always see. And that breaking is what completes us. This is the last part that I'll read, and then we'll get to number three. In Romans 8, verse 30, 35, I believe, it says, Can anything ever separate us from God's love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity or are persecuted or hungry or destitute or in danger or threatened with death? As the scriptures say, for your sake we are killed every day. We are being slaughtered like sheep. No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. Guess who's writing this by the way? Mr. Paul. He's amazing. And then he goes on Am I convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God, or and I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love, neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today, nor our worries about tomorrow, not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below. Indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. So, so, so powerful. The more that we suffer, the more we are actually complete. Nothing, no level of suffering that you ever experience can separate you, can snatch you out of God's hands. When you accept Jesus, you're his for life, and he is yours. All right, this is the last part here. And this part's super short, it's more like the conclusion. So, number one was we suffer to be comforted by God and to bring comfort to others. Number two was to live like Jesus and to get closer to Him. Number three is more connected to your purpose. So if you have heard about, I don't even want to say this because it, I don't even want the name on the podcast, but there's certain files, I'm sure you know what I'm talking about, that are just all over the news right now, um, that has been based in the US. All of these files have just this perversion that is in the world. And I know a lot of women who have just read the files and just seen what are what's been happening to kids and are just devastated. Like it's that grief when your eyes are opened and you see a level of suffering and you just grieve. I think we grieve because we feel out of control. We feel like we can't do anything about it. What I want to say carefully is our eyes and ears are not supposed to be opened to everything. There's a reason why God says, set your thought, set your sights on things above, not on things of this world. Am I saying ignore everything that's going on in the news, in the world? No. We're gonna come back to that in a minute. But I am saying ask the Holy Spirit to guide you when to open your eyes and when to close them. I was looking at some videos, even videos, um, like my own videos from just things recently, and I felt God say, delete from your camera roll and stop looking at this, especially when I was being scared going to sleep at night. Like, I don't know why I was replaying these videos. Um, and I felt God say, delete them. You need to stop looking. This is not the first time God has told me to stop looking at something that was causing me pain. In this spiritual warfare episode, I talk about what I was looking at that was causing me the worst spiritual warfare over my mind. And there's things that God wants you to see and things that He doesn't. Our phones unfortunately open up gates of so much suffering that was never supposed to be ours to carry. On the other side of this, so why I brought that point up first, don't drown in suffering. Don't look where God is telling you not to look. It's very easy to turn suffering into self-created suffering. Um, and it's also very easy to just get overwhelmed by all the suffering in the world. So here's on the other side of this. There is something that God has put you on this earth to do that is most likely going to be related to healing someone else who is experiencing suffering. So here is my question for you. What suffering grieves you the most in this moment? Let your heart just answer what suffering grieves you the most. How he is willing to let go of the majority of the herd because that one sheep that strayed away matters to him. Well, you might feel like whatever answer you just had for. For whatever grieves your heart the most, you might feel like, well, that's just one tiny sheep. What about the 99? Jesus says that one sheep, it is worth saving. That one instance of suffering that he has put in your heart, it is worth you saving. It might feel like you won't have a lot of impact. That's the enemy speaking to you, because that is a spirit of doubt and fear. That's not a fruit of the spirit. But the suffering that God has put on your heart to grieve the most, that is your job to shepherd now. It might be you are suffering with your skin or your gut health. And your job is to shepherd the people who have also struggled with their skin and their health and help them heal their bodies physically. Your suffering could be feeling that there's so much conflict in politics. And maybe God is calling you to be a politician, to be a leader in the world, and to fight against things like war, fight against things like poverty. There is a mission God has also put on my heart that is very, very specific. It's been on my heart since I was 16. It got opened up again last year when I almost went through it myself. And I'll be sharing more about that soon. Um, but I felt like shaken up in this moment when I realized, okay, God, you want me to fight against this. If you're if you ever watched my vlog in Rome, you'll kind of know the backstory of that experience. But um there's things that you go through, and remember what we said earlier, your pain, it is the medicine that someone else needs. And you know what's ironic is it's also the medicine that that final wound in you needs. When you serve, you're not just serving others, you're also serving yourself. And even an example of this, doing this podcast, I didn't necessarily want to make this podcast, like my flesh didn't, because I thought I've got a lot on my plate, I've got five different projects, YouTube, two businesses. I thought, how am I gonna do a podcast? But then I thought, why am I limiting an unlimited God? Of course, he's going to give me time, and of course he's going to work this out. And I'm scared to do it, which means that I should do it even more. Nothing brings me greater joy on a Tuesday than recording this podcast. Serving is always when you will feel your happiest. That's why people who have the chemical imbalance of depression in their brain and they're working with uh doctors and psychologists, these doctors and psychologists will have people who are depressed go out and serve. Serve the homeless, serve the needy, and they see the chemicals in their brain start to switch. They see more dopamine and serotonin coming back, where before there was this lack and it was causing a depression. So God gives us the medicine. When you serve, you're also healing that last part of yourself that may be feeling a little wounded. When I hosted the nervous system reset in the park this weekend, I never thought that it would heal me. I walked away and I thought, whoa, like I wanted this to be for the for my neighbors, but just as much it was for me. And that's what's so funny and ironic about how God works. He always takes care of you. You are his daughter. Like he's not sitting up there saying, All right, I want you to uh serve and just give, give, give. I mean, he is saying that, but he's also saying there's a greater purpose, and I'm giving to you by giving you this experience to give. And so whatever you are suffering through right now, know that you're not alone, first of all. Every single one in this community, we are all just rippling out hugs to each other right now. But also, there is a greater purpose that maybe you cannot see yet. And I know it's really hard when you're in suffering for someone to come and say, There's a purpose to this pain. Well, there is a comfort that Jesus wants you to run to him and experience first. So remember that there is hope, even in this world that is filled with suffering. And that even though it feels like the battle is continuing, the war is already done. When Jesus said it is finished on the cross, he meant it. And that's our Father. The end. Anyways, I love you so much. Your message is just checking that I'm safe. Thank you. And I really appreciate you. God is good. And oh my gosh, I opened up a DM yesterday from one of the glow girls, and she showed me her prayer board, and she had written my name on there, and she had written out all of these prayers that she had for me, just that Jesus would cover my home and protection, that you would bless the feminine glow and the fruitful feminine. I got so emotional seeing that. I told her you took the time to write out these prayers for me. It means the absolute world. And I can feel your prayers. I feel the peace. I feel covered and protected. And so I just want to say thank you. I am always praying for you, and I appreciate you praying for me. I love you so much. I already can't wait to see you in the next episode. And I hope that you have a beautiful and a blessed week.