E20: The cost of contentment

Welcome back to “Babe, We Need to Talk” with Alexx Rogers! BWNTT is a sit-down chit-chat about Jesus and all His goodness! In this episode, we chat about the cost of a relationship with Jesus, conviction, and finding contentment in all of it. 

What exactly is conviction? How do we stay content in hard times? Is the cost worth it? Let’s explore it all together!  

Reading from: Philippians 4, and Romans 8:28

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Babe, We Need to Talk is the podcast that gives you hard truths from a place of great love. We are moving past the fluff and getting straight to the grit & grace of what it looks like to live a life that reflects God’s Word and the heart of Jesus. Listen now and don’t forget to like & subscribe! 

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Transcript

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Correction, conviction, contentment, and cost. That's what we're talking about on the podcast. Please don't turn this off. Anyways, hi guys, welcome back to Babe. We need to talk. I'm Alex, your host, and I'm so excited you are here today. Okay, you guys loved the last podcast on discouragement, and I am so grateful that you told me that and you shared that with me. I'm so sad that so many of us have dealt with disappointment, discouragement, but you know, such is life. Hi, how is everybody? It's been two weeks since that one was live. Um, I appreciate all of you just like vibing with the every other week podcasts for now. My kids go back to school in two weeks, so I feel like by September we'll be back on like the every single week podcasting journey. Are all excited? I'm excited. And things are also gonna be like ramping up with the book around then, and I'm so excited to announce the release date soon and all the things. But if you want to stay like super up to date on that and be like on the inside scoop, I'm about to be running a campaign for a street team and an ERC team. Um, the street team will like get some perks and help kind of market the book through their social medias. Uh, I used to have a small shop and I had brand ambassadors, brand reps, and it's kind of like that, but for the book, and then also the EARC team will get an early advanced reader's copy um digitally and be able to like leave early reviews and stuff. So if you're interested in being on either of those teams, I suggest you follow us on social media and maybe send me your email. But there's gonna be a campaign for it soon and a forum and all the things. I'm so stoked. Like, I can't believe this is real. It's like such a pinch me thing. But I did want to say, like, this book was written for you. Like for the girl on the other end of this who's listening. That's who this book was written for. Like, my whole vision is that whether you've walked with Jesus for your entire life or you just found him 10 minutes ago, you can pick up this book that's coming out and get something from it, and it can sharpen your faith and it can sharpen your mind and your spirit, and that you just grow in it, that you go grow closer to God and you get in your Bible. Like that is the whole, the whole hope for it. So I just I pray over it every single day. I really do. It's so personal to me, also. God helped me just like put these words on paper for you to make it personal for you too. So, anyways, I'm just so excited and I just get emotional thinking about it. I just did this last weekend, a branding shoot for the podcast and author photos, and then like also a little something, something that I can't wait to share, but I can't yet. It was so fun. I met with I found good old social media. I found a Fort Worth photographer on TikTok, and we were like just chatting, and I was like, you know what, girl, you want to do this? She was like, Yes. So I'm super excited to be able to support her like small business. And her name is Abby, which is my daughter's name, I think most of you know. And so that was just so special. But I'm excited to be back recording. My kids are watching Spider-Man in the other room. Well, one kid's at cheer camp, one kid is going to work, and the other two are watching Spider-Man in the other room because mom just got to record. After the disappointment podcast, um, so many women resonated with it. And I love that we can like get together and chat about stuff like that. But I also think it's important that we focus on like what we do after we like are honest about that disappointment, after we sit with God in that disappointment. You know, we talked about process, pivot, pray, and people, and all of those things are so good. And if you haven't listened to that one, I highly suggest you go do it, especially if you're walking through a season of discouragement, of disappointment. If you felt that way, you don't know what to do with it, or maybe you're having trouble being honest, like with God, that you are disappointed in something because you want to have that like strong faith in his plan. And I just feel like we chatted about like how those two things can go together. I also wanted to talk about contentment and how we get back to being content with where God has us now and with what God has us doing or what he's doing in our life right now. So I was praying on it and God sent me back to Philippians, which we have been in so much lately, and I'm kind of wondering if we should be doing an online Bible study over Philippians. What do you guys think? Like we did Psalm 119 and we did James, and I'm kind of thinking about maybe we need to do Philippians because I feel like it's such a refresher on how our thoughts matter and how our mind can really like make us or break us, especially in our faith. So I'm thinking about that. Let me know what you guys think. You want to do that? You want to do that? I feel like it could be so fun. I was sent back to Philippians and when Paul was talking about contentment. So we're gonna talk a little bit about that. We're also gonna talk about, I don't know, we'll just see where the Holy Spirit takes me. But the four words he gave me today were correction, conviction, contentment, and cost. And we're just gonna go with it. And I just love the alliteration, I'm not gonna lie to you. But I am somebody we're gonna be real honest, because maybe you aren't too, that struggled with correction my whole life. And I think it was just the people pleaser in me. Like I wanted whoever was in charge, or like the head or the adult or whoever to like be proud of me. And so correction hurt because I was constantly striving. I was constantly trying so hard to be whatever that person wanted me to be that if I failed at it, I just felt like a complete failure. And a huge part of that was like I didn't know who I was. And I think so many women struggle with that. I think so many people struggle with that, but especially like through your teen years. And I didn't have God to anchor me. I didn't have that in my life. I didn't have God as an anchor. I didn't know Jesus the way that I should have, and or the way that I wish I had, I guess. But God uses all of it. We're gonna get there. Correction has always been so hard for me. And even in my marriage, even like everything, correction has been a difficult thing for me. And I've had to work through that and learning that like people, the people in your lives that love you, like they want to correct you because they're calling you up, not calling you out. And through that, I think sometimes conviction, if you're like that, if you are somebody who's like that, correction is a little bit hard. I think conviction can maybe scare you. And what's funny is conviction has never really done that for me. I have always been so grateful for conviction. But I think that for some of us who have that kind of mindset, it can be kind of a scary thing when people are like, well, that was convicting, or well, what's God convicting you of? And I just want to kind of encourage somebody today that's on the other end of this that is maybe feeling convicted that they're being too discouraged, or convicted that they're not being honest with God, or convicted that they're not strong enough in their faith, or convicted about a sin that they're participating in, that conviction is so good because it means that you are close to God, which is exactly where you need to be. Conviction is a beautiful thing. When we stop feeling conviction and correction from the Holy Spirit, that is when you should be worried. Because as long as you are walking this earth, you are not going to be perfect. As long as you are walking this earth, you are going to fall short of the glory of God. I mean, Romans tells us that. We all every single one of us has fallen short of the glory of God. So therefore, we should constantly, not constantly, that's the wrong word, but we should be regularly convicted of things in our lives because God is always refining us. He's always pruning things, he's always growing us and taking us to like the next, not the next level of our faith. I feel like that's not what I want to say, but just to the next level of our walk with Him and the next level of our journey. And if you are somebody who is scared of conviction, or you think that when you're being convicted by the Holy Spirit or sermons or anything going on in your life, if you feel like you're being convicted and it's making you feel less than or unworthy, or like you'll never measure up to what God wants you to be, I just want to encourage you so much right now. Like I wish I could hold your hand and look you right in the eye and tell you that conviction is such a good thing. Conviction is such a gift from the Holy Spirit because it just shows that you're close enough to God to feel it. And that's so good. When you stop feeling conviction altogether, even like little things, like, oh, I shouldn't have said that. Like that's conviction. Like when I'm in traffic and nobody knows what to do with the stop sign, when obviously it's their turn and I get so annoyed with them, and then I have to stop and be like, that was rude. That's conviction. Conviction can be big or small. It doesn't have to be like you need to stop drinking, it doesn't have to be you need to stop cussing. Conviction comes in all shapes and sizes, okay? Don't be scared of it. It just means that you're so near to God, okay? I really wanted to like get that out of the way before we move on to the next thing because it was just, it's just on my heart, you guys. And I just feel like somebody needs it. But you guys know that on this by on this, oh, why do I always say on this Bible we read our podcast? On this podcast, we read the Bible. And so I'm about to read the Bible to you. We're gonna be, if you have your Bible, open it up. If you are driving, please don't. Let's not crash. Let's not crash and wreck. But if you don't have your Bible, that's totally okay because I haven't read it to you. I'm gonna be reading from my new Bible because that's just been so fun to do on the podcast recently. We're gonna be in Philippians chapter four. I'm gonna kind of skip around, but that's okay. That's okay, guys. I'm gonna skip around a little bit. We'll see where the Holy Spirit takes us. But I wanted to talk about after we've admitted our discouragement, we've given it over to God, we've prayed on it, we've pivoted, we've changed our perspective, and we've let people in to know, like, hey, I'm struggling in this area. What's next? What do we do? And the answer that I feel in my heart is contentment. We need to practice contentment. I think that sometimes God prunes so much of our life that maybe wasn't bad, and maybe he takes you in a different direction that you are disappointed in, and he's not doing it to punish you. I've had such an issue with that. I've had such an issue with in my walk with God with thinking any bad thing is God punishing me. And like, what did I do wrong? What sin did I do? That's not where he wants you to live, friend. If you are there too, like, maybe we need to do a whole podcast on that. I don't know, maybe you and I need to talk, you and send me a message, we will chat about it because I have struggled with that so much. But this, these, what we're about to read really helped me with that. It really helped me reframe my mind, which is why I love Philippians so much because it really does help you reframe your mind and posture your heart correctly. But one thing that God just kept telling me is contentment. Like we, once we're discouraged, we have to find our joy and find that contentment. And our joy is constant in God. And joy doesn't mean happiness, joy doesn't mean that everything is going the way we want it. Joy is being connected to God in a way that we know he has our best interest at heart. Okay. Philippians 4, 6, which we've read a ton lately. Don't worry about anything. Instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. And I did a whole podcast on this, and I named it, what did I name it? Like peace that surpasses control. But these verses, maybe we need to do like a memorization on them, all of us, because I feel like we just need them so bad. Do not be, do not worry about anything. And my other Bible, my other translation says, do not be anxious about anything. Instead, pray about everything, tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done. Like we're gonna go back to that in a minute. So I want you to just meditate on it for a second. But we're gonna skip down in verse 10. And Paul says, How I praise the Lord that you are concerned about me again. I know you have always been concerned for me, for you didn't have the chance to help me. Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little, for I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength. Even so, you have done well to share with me in my present difficulty. Okay. I'm gonna also skip down a little bit more to verse 19. He says, And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus. These verses hit me a little bit different whenever I was reading them this week. These, and which is funny because I just read through Philippians a few weeks ago, like maybe three weeks ago. I read through Philippians, took notes on it, highlighted it, and then was brought back to it this week. And these verses hit me a little bit different. Paul says here that he has learned to live on almost nothing or with everything, because he's learned the secret that he can do anything with Christ who gives him strength. Like this level of contentment that Paul has, I think is so linked to the faith that he has in Christ. It's so linked to the knowledge that God will supply every need that he has. And it got me thinking that maybe some of our disappointment and our discouragement is part of the pruning process. It's part of, you know, we talked about deep root good fruit. We've talked about God pruning us. And it got me just thinking that this disappointment, this discouragement is to sharpen our faith, to prune us in ways that we couldn't do without disappointment. It's to grow us in ways that we couldn't do without discouragement. And I found myself recently really looking back at when things were a little bit easier. I have shared some on this podcast that like since February, I would say like 2026 has been a really hard year in multiple ways. And it has really caused me to look back at times where that were just easier. They were easier financially, relationally, all around easier. And it is not lost on me that things started getting a little bit harder when I decided to write this podcast and when I finished my book. I don't think that all of it is spiritual warfare. I think that some of it is just God breaking some things down in me in order to build me up. And I think that there is a cost to following Jesus that not all of us talk about. And we're never in this Bible and in our walk, we're never ever guaranteed ease. We're never guaranteed that things are going to be easy. And we're definitely never guaranteed that once we obey God and do what he asks us to do, that everything is going to be simple or like butter. Like it's just not that way, right? And so I think that sometimes God may be taking our disappointment and our discouragement in order to bring us to a place that we can be content with just what Christ provides and just what God provides. And when we die to ourselves and take up our cross and decide to follow Jesus, there is so much refining in it that we end up losing things. And I was reading in Romans just this morning about when we turn from the world, we become enemies of the world. And that's not an easy thing. Part of the cost in following Christ is losing certain things and God refining you and God pruning you and God breaking off certain branches and certain things that you have to completely turn away from, and at least until you are more rooted in your faith. I do think that some of us may take that a little bit too seriously. Like we have to turn away completely from old friendships forever. And I do think that sometimes we we have to do that until we are more deeply rooted in God and more deeply rooted in our faith. Like if we know that we're going to be influenced by something in a way that hurts us and hurts our faith and hurts our growth in Jesus, I do think you need to turn away from those things. There is a cost. And sometimes Satan or your flesh will want you to look at that cost and say that whatever God has ahead for you isn't as great as what's behind you. And that's just not true. Like if we've learned anything from Lot's wife and from the Israelites wanting to go back to Egypt, can romanticize the past in such a way that negates the hope in the future that God has for you next. And we can't let our discouragement and our disappointment keep us from contentment in Christ. In addition to my thought process in the past, that God is punishing me for anything bad that happens. Um, I always want to know why. Like it needed to have a purpose almost. Like I felt like anytime something bad happened, like, what is the purpose of this? God, and I've had to learn also to be content with the fact that there's not always I'm not always gonna know the why. But it does bring me back to one of my absolute favorite verses in the Bible that I honestly at this point is kind of a life verse for me, and it's Romans 8 28. And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. We don't always know why we go through the discouragement and the disappointment. It could be because God is pruning us. The discouragement and the disappointment and the hard things could be because God is putting our roots deeper and he's wanting us to learn to be content with just him. Or it could be that life is just hard. It could be Satan taking things away from us, it could be a lot of different things. But what I do know is that God will use all of it, he will use every single bit of it for his glory, he will use everything that happens to us, for us, with us. He will use it for those who are called according to his purpose. That's you, babe. You are called according to his purpose. I don't know what for. I don't know what discouragement you're sitting in, what I don't know if you are content right now, if you're struggling with contentment. I don't know if God broke things down in order to build back up. I don't know if the enemy is the one who is trying to just absolutely wear you out. But I want to go back up to Philippians 4 verses 6 and 7. Don't worry about anything. Instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done. To get to contentment and to get to that peace that we want so badly from God, we have to start with thanking him with our gratitude. And for all of it, I mean, this morning I got home from taking my kids somewhere. But when I stepped in the house, I noticed the mess. There was just a huge mess. I knew I wanted to try to record a podcast today. I knew that I had a timeline on all of it because I have to pick up a kid, drop off a kid, pick up a kid, drop off a kid, etc. etc. And I was walking around and I immediately started feeling overwhelmed and a little bit discouraged. I've been dealing a lot with discouragement actually, but I started praying. I started thanking God for the children that I have, for the laundry that needs to be folded, for the fact that I'm in this home, that I get to be in this house. I started thanking God for the couch that needed tidying, all of it, and it completely changed my mindset. And now I'm not always good at this. I am truly not always good at this, but today I was able to. And I take that as a win because we can let all of the overwhelm just gather all around us and take us down. And I think that that's part of the enemy's strategy is not necessarily to just constantly be aiming fiery darts at you, but to get you overwhelmed with the life that God has given you and get you to worry about things and worry about battles that you're never going to even fight. And one of the things that I have been convicted of so much. Recently, is my anxiety and my worry. And I don't say that in a way to like, if you deal with anxiety and worry, I'm not saying that in a way to condemn you at all or to convict you. But the Bible does tell us do not worry about anything, instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done. And just a few verses, Paul says, I have learned how to be content with everything I have. I've learned to live with almost nothing and with everything. And that the secret is that I can do anything through Christ who gives me strength. I think so much of us, the reason that I've been convicted about my anxiety and my worrying is God has told us over and over again in the Bible that he gives us our daily bread. And he's asked me, and maybe he's asking you, to be content with what he's giving you today. And it might not be what you've asked for. It might not be what you think is enough. It may not be what the world tells you is enough. But God gives us this day our daily bread. And I've found that part of my conviction is I've been more distracted from what's in front of me today because I'm worrying about tomorrow. I've been distracted by the blessings of today because I'm too worried about the battles of tomorrow. And some of these battles I'll never fight because God already says that he has given us our daily bread, that he has taken care of us. Paul says here, the same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus. The same God that took care of Paul when he was living on nothing and had an empty stomach is the same God that takes care of Paul when Paul has everything. And I think that sometimes we get so beat up in our disappointment and in our discouragement. And maybe you've been disappointed so much lately or discouraged so much lately that thing, because things keep happening, that you're kind of living there and you're waiting for the next disappointment to come. You're waiting for the next bad thing to hit you, to knock you down again. Instead of being grateful for the blessings today and the bread today, we're spending so much energy, at least I am, on worrying about things that God has already said that He's taking care of. And that is something that has been just really on my mind and my heart this week that I'm wasting all this energy on battles I'm never going to fight, that I'm too tired for the race that God has called me to run. We're worried about things that are never even going to happen. I think that's part of the enemy's tactic, is just to wear us out and cause us to worry. And we can't let him, friends. We can't let him, babe. We just can't. And last night I was praying in my closet and I was just so distracted by all the things running through my head. So I went to my closet so I could focus. I went into my closet so I could focus on what I wanted to say to God and what he could say back to me. And friends, I could not quiet my mind. It was running and running and running. And he hit me again with, do not worry about anything instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done. Like we have got to ruminate on the word of God instead of letting the worries of the world and the worries of our minds just drown us. Because I feel like that's what some of us are doing. I feel like we are struggling with contentment because we're too worried about tomorrow. I feel like we're struggling with contentment because we aren't grateful for the daily bread that God has given us now. So today, I just want you to kind of look around at your life because I guarantee you, you are sitting in a answered prayer right now. Like for me, was this is so small, but this desk was an answered prayer. This home was a huge answered prayer. And for me to walk around and be negative about the fact that I get to steward this home that I once prayed for is asinine. It's just stupid. And we need to, we need to build each other up and we need to say nice words to ourselves. But sometimes we do have to have that hard truth with each other that you're sitting in an answered prayer. Maybe God didn't meet your expectations. Maybe that job didn't meet your expectations, maybe that project didn't meet your expectations, that friendship, that marriage, that conversation with your kids, you're disappointed, you're frustrated. You are just so over it. You're overwhelmed. Babe, could it be because you aren't looking at today? You're looking too much ahead. And that's not to say that we should not plan our lives because we should. It tells us in the Bible to do that too. But just like we talked about in James, are you getting too far ahead? Like we are dust, right? We're getting too far ahead and we're struggling with contentment. And I think that part of when we struggle with contentment is because we're too busy comparing, we're too busy being entitled. Like we can all be, don't you even girl? We're too busy complaining and we're too greedy. I think those things are getting in the way of our contentment that we're comparing to what other people have, and why don't we have it? And we're getting discouraged. We're saying, I should have this, and that's your entitlement and your greed when God's just saying, you have enough for today. Um, I just wanted to kind of piggyback off of the last podcast about disappointment. And while it is okay to be disappointed and God can totally handle it because he is God and He is awesome, that we have to make our way to contentment, we have to make our way to gratitude. But I think to get there, you have to be honest first. So, babe, go be honest with where you're at in life right now, and then also be grateful because when I think about the fact that like I was able to, this is gonna make me emotional, but the fact that I'm able to like go into my closet, lay in my closet comfortably and pray to God, like that is such a gift. There are so many Christians in this world that don't have that. And the fact that I can do that, that I can lay on my closet floor, the fact that I can film a podcast in my room and that you can listen to it on the other side from your car or in your bed or wherever you are cleaning your house, cleaning your home. Like those things are such gifts. And we need to be taking our gratitude down to that level, like all the way down to God, thank you for these things that I take for granted every single day that you have given me. Like we have beautiful, God has given us beautiful lives, and we are just wasting them by worrying about things that we're never going to have to deal with and complaining about things that are actually just results of our answered prayers. Being a Christian does not mean things are going to be easy. And just because God answers your prayer doesn't mean that you standing in your answered prayer is going to be easy, but it will be so beautiful and can so give God glory when we are using it correctly and we are directing everything to Him. And I just think that it starts with our gratitude. So if you're struggling with contempt me today, get down on your knees and thank God for what you have right now. Because if we're not stewarding that well, like why do we get why why would he answer the next thing? So just just just be so grateful for where God has you and so grateful for the steps that he gives us. It's, I don't know, I'm feeling real convicted today. And I'm just sharing it with you. I hope you guys enjoyed this. I hope it made sense to you. If you enjoy the podcast, I would so appreciate it. If you liked and subscribed or followed on whatever platform you listen on, share it with a friend. That's like the best way to make help this podcast grow. Um, if you're interested in any of the things I talked about with the book, like the street team and the ERC team, make sure you're following us on socials because that stuff is coming out soon, and I'm so excited about it. And yeah, guys, as always, do not take my word for it. Open gods, and I will see you next time. Bye, babes.