Ep.132 How to Stop the Worry Spiral as a Christian Mom with Heidi Lee Anderson

Have you ever found yourself lying awake at 2am, mind racing through every "what if" scenario imaginable? You're not alone — and this episode might be exactly what you needed to hear today.

Heidi Anderson was just 23 years old when a cancer diagnosis turned her world upside down. As a mom of four miracle children, she knows firsthand what it feels like when life spins completely out of your control — and she knows what it takes to come out the other side with faith still intact.
In this powerful conversation, Heidi gets honest about:
Why "what if" thinking is stealing your peace — and the one mindset shift that changes everything
How to talk to your kids about fear and anxiety in a way that builds trust instead of worry
The biblical truth that anchors you when circumstances feel impossible
Why sharing your struggles with other moms is one of the most faith-filled things you can do
How to trade anxious lies for truth — a practical tool you can use starting today
Whether you're navigating a health scare, a hard season in marriage, a parenting challenge, or just the daily mental load of motherhood — this episode will remind you that God's promises don't expire, your struggles are not wasted, and you were never meant to carry this alone.
This one is for every mom who is tired of being afraid.

Chapters

00:00 – Meet Heidi: Mom, Cancer Survivor, and Woman of Faith
02:38 – Diagnosed at 23: How a Cancer Scare Changed Everything
06:19 – What Does Healing Really Look Like? Faith in the Middle of the Unknown
09:21 – Are You a "What If" Mom? Why Anxiety Feels So Hard to Escape
15:42 – What the Bible Says About Fear (And Why It Actually Works)
18:10 – Can You Really Trust God When Life Falls Apart?
22:31 – How Do You Talk to Your Kids About Worry Without Scaring Them?
24:54 – Practical Tools to Stop the Anxiety Spiral Before It Starts
26:39 – Trading Anxious Lies for Truth: A Practice Every Mom Needs
29:47 – You Were Never Meant to Carry This Alone

Resources

Free MomQ Resource! Here : Am I Emotionally Healthy? -Self assessment checklist 

Heidi Lee Anderson's Ministry Website

"PS It's Going To Be Good" Book

Interested in Leading a MomQ group? Learn more

Transcript

0:00

Welcome to the Mom Cube Podcast where faith meets motherhood. I'm your host, Candace Nasser. Today's conversation is for the mom who is stuck in the spiral. You know the one. It starts quietly, usually late at night or in the middle of a hard season, and before you know it, your mind is running through every worst case scenario. What if I made the wrong decision? What if something happens to my kids? What if things don't turn out the way I'm hoping? We live in an anxious world, and as moms, we feel that weight in a particular way because we carry not just our own fears, but the fears for every person we love. And here's what I want you to hear today. The what-if spiral is not just an anxiety problem, it's a faith problem. And God's word has already answered every question we're afraid to ask. I'm joined today by Heidi Lee Anderson, author, speaker, cancer survivor, and mom, who has walked through some of the hardest what-ifs a person can face and has come out on the other side with a deep conviction that it's gonna be good. Her book P.S. It's gonna be good and her podcast, Trade a Lie for a Truth, are helping women swap out the lies they've been believing for the truth that actually sets them free. If you've been living in fear, holding your breath, or struggling to trust God with the things you love most, I pray this conversation brings you courage and peace. Let's jump in. Heidi, welcome. I am so excited to be talking with you today. You have such a great story and a perspective on life that your story has given you. And I know our listeners are going to be so encouraged. So thank you for being here. Man, I'm excited to be here, Candace. You guys are doing great things. It's just fun to be a part of it. Oh, thank you so much. Okay, so before we get started, I just you are you make me laugh. And so you describe yourself as chugging coffee like a Gilmore girl while cleaning up Cheerios and building Lego towers. And I feel like our listeners just became fans from just hearing that, right? So what is this your actual life on a Tuesday? Well, yeah, except instead of Cheerios, it was checks this last Tuesday. But I'm certainly on my second cup of coffee by uh nine, nine a.m. So I'm joining the Gilmores. But yeah, it sounds about right. Good. I love that. Just keep keeping it light when you can and staying engaged with your kids. And so yeah, why don't you tell us about your family and your kids and uh what you do? Sure. I'm a I'm a Minnesotan. Maybe you can hear it in my long O's in this time. But my husband and I have actually lived here all of our lives. Someday we're gonna break free, I say. Someday we gotta fly south where it's at least warm at some point in the year. But we Ty and I now have been married for 13 years. We have four kids who are 11, 10, 7, and 4. And most days I am a stay-at-home mom. I just started homeschooling my oldest. Okay. I'm home with my bookends, my oldest son and my youngest daughter. Um, other days, though, I'm on social media, which is always a weird question when people ask me what I do for a living, since it seems as if everyone is on social media these days. But what I mean is I do a lot of writing and speaking, and really I just love to talk about the Bible in a way people actually understand. And every now and then I come out with a book and I speak at events, which is actually my very favorite thing in the whole wide world to talk about God's word with his people. Yeah. I love that so much. And your Instagram is super encouraging. And I love all, you know, just going through the just you have those moments like when you feel this, have these verses, and those are so important. So thank you for what you do. And so you let's just start off and and talking about your your cancer and how that impacted you. And I know that's part of your story and your ministry. So why don't you just share how all of that, you know, has impacted your story and shaped your message? Yeah. Well, I'd have to rewind about yesterday. I really mean 15 years ago somehow. But at the age of 23, I was single and I was just ready for the next great thing. Instead, I felt a lump on my neck that turned out to be not so great. And I remember just going through so many tests, so many diff different doctor appointments. But after about a few weeks, I sat on that white crinkly paper and I looked over and I heard my oncologist say, You have Hodgkin's lymphoma. And really, in that moment, it sucked all the air right out of me, certainly all the hope. And I walked out of that appointment just desperately needing someone to save me. I knew Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior. Praise the Lord. I grew up in a Christian home. My parents love the Lord, but it wasn't until that moment where I faced something just completely out of my control. And there was nothing I could do to fix it, right? Or I would have by that point. I needed help beyond myself. I need a savior bigger than myself. And praise the Lord, he meets us there, right? He never leaves us when we need him, he never forsakes us, never abandons us. I did find out I had stage two cancer. I would need to go through about six months of chemotherapy and then six weeks of radiation. But then he walked me through all the scenarios that could result if I wanted to sign off and receive treatment. Like he said, short term, that could involve loss of muscle movement in your neck, or he said, we don't really know how chemotherapy works, which is not very encouraging when your doctor says that. But he says, we know it attacks cancer cells, but we can't control it. It attacks everything else. So yeah, it's gonna attack the cancer that's in your body, but you probably won't be able to have kids. He said, Best to come to terms with that reality. Wow. He then flipped the page and went on to the long-term side effects or the long-term risk. Like he said, someone who gets radiation to the chest, that could mean breast cancer is a common second cancer and can come in your 30s. And then in your 40s, one of the chemo drugs we give you could result in cardiac arrest or heart failure. And on and on he went. This is a decade of my life. Too much. Yeah, you I mean, exactly. You sit in that appointment, you should have seen my face. I'm looking up at him, looking down at the wrist like a deer caught in the headlights. And I just want to know, like, excuse me, how in the world do you expect me to live, laugh, love with conditions like that always hanging over my head at every stage of my life down the road? And honestly, for a long time, I sat in that fear, grappled with all the what ifs and what could be. And that's actually how my newest devotional, all in, all yours, was birth. Because I realized, man, all of God's promises are yes and amen. And no matter what someone else has spoken over me, God has spoken a different word over me. And so I can move forward in his promises above all else. So, with all that to say, that's that's my little story in a nutshell. I mean, there's so many things that came of it. I actually met my husband in the middle of my cancer journey. That is a cool story. And then you know, now, spoiler alert, I have four kids. So what the doctor said, it always makes me emotional. But I have four walking miracles every day that reminds me, God alone holds the final word over my life, over their life, over this world. And I can keep resting in him. Yeah. And I I know that through all that, that's what you're speaking to, right? And so when did you start your your social media? All of that. So that fast forward, then I was healed of cancer. And so praise the Lord, I'm in 13 years in remission right now. But as I was going through this, this is another way where God flipped the script and he redeemed that bad part. I was currently in that season in kids' ministry, but I started blogging. I called it Dear Mr. Hodgkins, and I just started writing my journey as if I was writing a letter to Mr. Hodgkins, but I was sharing more about where I was at in my journey to give people real life updates. But more than anything, I was sharing verses I was listening to or sermons that really encouraged me. And I soon found out that it was being shared, not just by my mom and her friends, but hundreds and then even thousands of people. And back then it was blog spot. You can still find it on the World Wide Web, but I didn't have an Instagram at the time. And so I just shared personally. But I soon found out, oh, not everyone likes to write. Oh, this is like might be a gift of mine. And so I started writing actually devotionals for my church. They moved me. They realized too that that would be my passion, my path forward. So they moved me out of kids and I started writing daily devotionals for my church for just all adults. We had about 25,000 people on our email list. So I would write to them. I would write small group curriculum for our church. And it just evolved more where I realized, okay, I not only like to speak the word of God, teach the word of God, but I like to write it too. And so I became a stay-at-home mom. I had my oldest son. And at that time, I wanted to become a stay-at-home mom, but I wanted to bring a piece back home with me. So I asked them, can I bring that daily devotional part home and just write during nap time or bedtime? So I did that for about five years. But when they phased that out, I felt like, what do I have now? How can I find that outlet? Use my creativity for the Lord. And so I just was like, man, I don't have any opportunities in front of me, but I do have Instagram. So that very day I flipped it and I started just still posting pictures of my family. At the time, it wasn't video. I know some young people listening are like, what? There wasn't Rails. There wasn't videos, no, straight up pictures. So I would still post pictures of myself and my family, but I the captions would be the devotionals, what I would be writing for the church. I just started writing and posting about. And that grew. And now I'm reaching over 250,000 people. I mean, it's a cool thing how the Lord has used that. And again, it all started with that really hard time in life where it felt like this is so bad. How in the world could God ever flip this for good? And I met my husband through it. We've had four kids even still. And now my very message, my very platform, like what we're talking about today, is that journey, which is wild. And so day by day, God still redeems it and is using it. And isn't that just like him? Isn't that what he will do with our situation? He's always out for our good and his glory. I'm so grateful for it. Amen. And and it's so hard when we're in the midst of it to trust, right? That's, you know, because like all you're hearing is that that doctor speaking all that stuff into your into your head. And and we create, you know, our own repetitive thoughts and all those things. So when you hear a mom say that she's stuck in this rumination, what if thinking, what do you think she's really describing underneath? Yeah, well, for one, I get it. I am a mom, and sometimes I do get stuck in what if thinking. So I know exactly what that feels like. And at the underlying thing underneath that all, right? It's control. I mean, we start asking what if scenarios in the places where we start to realize we don't have control. I mean, when our kids were babies, we had total control. We controlled what went in their mouth, we controlled what clothes we put on them, on their sweet little bodies, we controlled even who held them sometimes, when, where, how. But then they grow up and we start wondering like, what if my toddler chokes the one time I look away? And then that shifts to what if my elementary kid doesn't have anyone to sit with at lunch? And then it deepens into what if my teen or young adult makes a decision I can't fix? What if they carry pain I can't reach? What if they stop coming to me altogether? And underneath all of that, though, is this slow realization that I don't have control like I used to, but I love them more than anything and I wish I did. And so I get that, but praise the Lord, we do have someone who is in control of their lives and ours, and he wants good for us. And so I always go back to that in those what-if scenarios. Yes. Well, I think you've really addressed it, but why is it such a struggle for moms, this what if thinking? Yeah, I think we just love them, right? We love them more than anything. We want what's best for them and we think we know what's best for them. And so if we can avoid their pain, if we can avoid bad decisions, then we wish we could, right? And I think sometimes we got to remember that God is our heavenly father, and so he's thinking the same things with us. Like he does not want us to sin, he does not want us to make these bad decisions. I mean, his heart for us is pure and it's good. And so when we feel these things, I mean, we can empathize with our heavenly father, and that's what he feels like for us. I mean, that that should bring us a little bit to repentance, right? About the sins that we're actually grieving the father's heart when we do that. When that happens with our kids, they grieve our hearts when they misstep, when they choose a different path than we wish we did. But at the end of the day, it's love and that's a good thing, but we got to put that love back where it rightfully belongs and not in our hands, but in his hands, and he has them. He has them and they're in good hands. So good. Is there a what if question that you circle back to even today? Yeah, you know what? What ifs, uh, I just hate them and I'm familiar with them. And I mean, in the struggle when I was first diagnosed for sure, like, well, what if I don't make it? I mean, that I had to wait three weeks before I even was able to have a treatment plan before they even told me what stage I was in. So for three weeks, I just sat there knowing I had cancer, but not knowing at all what it looked like or how far off I was. But the biggest one that I look back on is for a long time they said, right, you won't be able to have kids. And that I remember the day they told me that I went back home and I locked myself in my closet and I cried for these future kids that I desperately wanted that I felt like was just stolen from me. And honestly, now I mean, I look back at I see my kids, and now I remember Psalm 139. It says, all the days were ordained for us before any of them ever came to be. All of our days are actually ordained, and and what God had for me was for me. And cancer couldn't steal it, the enemy couldn't steal it. God wasn't running his hands through his hair, like, wait, you just said she can't have kids. Like, what am I gonna do with Oscar? Like, what home am I gonna put Mabel in? Where where am I gonna put Hazel and Dottie? No, he he knew he knew they were coming and that that wouldn't steal it from me. And so there are things I realize now when I'm nervous of what if, and maybe I'm crying over those things, but I gotta remember, I don't actually need to mourn about what could be true. Philippians, God only tells us in Philippians to focus on what is true. And so that means just today, what I'm given today, he actually doesn't tell me I need to plan and prepare and I need to come up with all the options from A all the way down to Z. I mean, I know us moms, we're we're planners. And yes, and if we don't feed these children, I mean, they they die. So stakes are high, right? But at the end of the day, we actually don't have control, but we can trust the one that does. And so in these moments that I'm thinking my current what-ifs, I look back to the big what-ifs that I face and I think, man, if God did that then and he did immeasurably more than I could have asked or imagined, he's gonna do it again. Yeah, his faithfulness, right? Yeah. There's a Lisa Turquist quote that I love. It says, tracing the hand of God's faithfulness in the past is so much more calming than looking for the toward the future and trying to predict. It's actually trying to predict the future, which is what we do, right? And and really um something that I've learned to help me through my anxiety a lot is is what you're talking about just one day at a time. Yeah. You know, stay present. And instead of looking at your child and worrying about, you know, what college they're gonna get into when they're 12, be in the moment and and enjoy it, though. It's hard. So, okay, so let's talk a little bit about your book that I have picked up and just find great is uh P.S. It's gonna be good. Yeah. And yeah, such a good book. And you walk, you walk every the reader through the Bible characters who face the same questions that we do today. And so can you share one of those stories about the what-ifs that speaks to the what-ifs that moms might be carrying? Yeah, you know what? I love the story in Judges 6 about Gideon because he is up against something, someone far bigger than him. There are these ruthless bullies, the Midianites, and they have pushed him out of his home. And so now when we meet up with him, he is hiding out. He is scared of broad daylight to face his life. And you can almost hear his what ifs. Like, what if I'm not enough? What if I fail? What if it's always gonna be this bad? What if God isn't going to come through? And moms, I mean, we feel that too, right? Like, what if I don't have what it takes? What if I can't protect them? What if I'm in over my head? I mean, it's a different story, but it's the same question. But the one verse that I go back to time and time again that is the biggest encouragement to me, it's in Judges 6, 14. And God did not tell Gideon, okay, you just go, you figure it out, figure out the strategy, muster up enough strength, and you got to defeat them. No, all the Lord said, He's he turned to him and said in this verse, go in the strength that you have, save Israel out of Midian's hand. Am I not sending you? And at the end of the day, that's all he's asking us to do. He just says, go in the strength that you have, even if it's very, very small, it's tiny as a mustard seed. It does not matter. You just go in the strength that you have and you can trust the Lord. He's sending you. So that means he's gonna more than make up for the difference. I don't know about you, but that gives me a lot of peace, a lot of encouragement where I don't need to carry the weight of everything that I'm carrying. And I don't need to focus on my lack because there will always be that. But I can focus on him, the great I am, and he is with me, he's sending me, he goes before me, he's gonna make a way. And so at the end of the day, with these what ifs, we just have to go in the strength that we have and trust that God's gonna show up because he will. So, what do you do? I mean, I I hear you're saying, you know, trust God. And you're we're looking at Bible stories that show multiple situations where God has come through. You're talking about your cancer diagnosis and the faithfulness of God. But when we can't see what God is doing, you know, today, what are some things you were talking about waiting on that three you had to wait three weeks for that appointment. What are some things that we can actually do practically today to help us trust God? Yeah, I mean, really, I I always go back to Martha whenever the worst case happens, in my opinion, right? Because for Martha, the worst case did happen. Her brother did pass away. She sent for Jesus, expecting him to heal him because she knew him as the healer. Hey, I want to pause for just a second because I have something for you. And I think it's gonna hit differently after what you just heard. One of the things Heidi said that really stuck with me is that we keep thinking the same thoughts over and over. And if those thoughts aren't true, then we're in trouble. And I think a lot of us are caring more than we even realize right now. So Mom Q put together a free resource called Am I Emotionally Healthy? It's a simple self-assessment checklist for moms that helps you get honest with yourself across four areas: your body, your emotions, your face, and your relationships. It's not a test, it's an invitation to stop, check in, and let God meet you right where you are. You can grab it for free through the link in our show notes. Okay, back to Heidi. And so when he didn't show up, I love how she meets him on the road. Days later, when Jesus finally makes an appearance, you can almost see her with her hand on her hip, finger wagging, and she says, if you would have come, you know, if you would have come like I asked, then my brother wouldn't have died. And so when we are in the middle of things, when it looks really bad, when it all goes up in flames, I love looking back in these Bible stories and sitting in the middle. I mean, literally, if you sit in the middle of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, it did all go up in flames. The worst case for them, in that moment, it did happen. But where are they when we're reading these stories? They are only in the middle. And so, what I love about Martha's story, though, more than anything, is that when the worst case happened, she wanted a healing, but Jesus planned for a resurrection. What she had planned was good, but what he had for her was far better. And so at the end of the day, I remind myself, it is one question I will repeat time and time again. And it was my husband that asked me this in the beginning. And now I've learned to just train my mind to ask this. But my husband would ask me, like, who told you that? Whose voice are you even listening to? Because at the end of the day, it really is that black and white. We will want to make it gray and be like, Well, I'm just processing, I'm just thinking through this. But there are always two people in the Bible that actually face the same situation on paper. Joshua and Caleb, the rest of the spies, Ruth and Naomi, they face the same situation, but they pivoted and lived out far different conclusions. Why? Because they asked themselves, whose voice am I listening to? And at the end of the day, they listened to the voice of the Lord. Naomi listened to herself and her problems. And she said, Don't even call me Naomi anymore, which means pleasant. Call me Mara because the Lord has made me bitter. And we can we can allow our circumstances to make us very bitter and think. That is the Lord, and He has turned against me. Or we can cling to our God like Ruth and say, I don't know why, I don't know how, I don't know when you're coming, Lord, but I am clinging to you. And so that's what I ask myself: whose voice am I listening to? And then I will put on worship music. That is the only music I listen to. And I will just praise and praise and praise until my mind catches up with my heart. And those practically are the two things I immerse myself in Bible stories and I sit in the middle of their stories so that I can empathize. Okay, they I'm not the only one that's feeling discouraged. I'm not the only one that's thinking the worst case happened. I'm not the only one thinking that God didn't answer my prayer. But all these stories were flipped for good in crazy ways. And that's my author too. So that means I can wait in faith and know that my story is gonna be flipped for good. I just gotta keep holding on. And so that means I'm listening to him and I'm praising him. And at the end of the day, that's all he asks for his people. What's your favorite worship song right now? What are you listening to? Oh, that is such a good question. My husband is one of those where he always finds the songs, you know, before they get on the radio, before they're popular, and I come back like months later, like, honey, have you heard this song? It's amazing, right? And he's like, Heidi, I've been listening to that. So I I have been listening to A Forgiving God by SEU Worship. Just like literally, my kids know. I'm one of those where once I find a song, it will be on repeat for hours. I don't shuffle a playlist. So yeah, that one, a forgiving God, it feels like heaven on earth when I sing it when I hear it. Love that. And I one of my favorites, it's been around, but is I don't fight alone by John Redick, which reminds me of something that exactly what you're saying. Just remember that God is fighting the battle for you and trusting him in it. So, how do we keep our own anxiety from becoming something our children absorb? Okay, this is a great question. I love this question because I get that. I don't want my kids to carry this weight that they weren't meant to carry, right? They're these young, precious, sweet kids, and they don't need to carry the weight of the world on their shoulders, the weight of my world on their shoulders. And so I actually will be very honest with my kids though, and I tell them a lot when I'm scared that recently I had my annual mammogram. And like I said, with breast cancer being a common second cancer in your 30s, and I'm now 38, that one hits a little more closer to home. So they've bumped up my scans to every two times a year, so every six months. And I was really anxious this last time, and I was telling my kids, I have a doctor appointment tomorrow. It is a really big test. And you know what, mom is freaked out. But does God tell me I ever need to be afraid? And I let them preach to me. So I say that I am open. This is what I'm battling with, but does God say I need to be afraid? And of course, they're like, No, mom. Why? No, he says, do not be afraid. And I said, You're right. So I have a choice. Should I listen to my feelings right now or should I listen to God? And they'll tell me, you gotta listen to God, mom. You don't have to be afraid. And so that's how I not only help my kids process, like I want them to know we're gonna face stuff that is scary. But at the end of the day, it comes back to that. Does God actually tell me I have any reason to be afraid right now? No, and he actually knows what's gonna happen. And he still tells me I don't have to be afraid. Okay, so then I have a choice right now. Am I gonna listen to my mind? Am I gonna listen to my feelings? Or should I choose to just listen to God? And so that's how I do it. I invite them in and I let them preach it to me. And my hope is that when they face their own stuff as they get older, that they remember this process and they do it too, and maybe they're open and they come back to me so I can preach at them. I don't know. But that's how I've been doing it is just really be honest and open with them. I think that's so powerful. Just communicating with our children and allowing them to see faith, real faith in every day, how we're walking it out. I mean, they're they have to see that to own it for themselves. And so you're helping them through that process. And and I really, really like that. Okay, so if a mom, what's one thing she can do this week if she's starting that what-if spiral in whatever situation? Yeah, you know what? As much as I am a very private person and I don't really love to talk about the hard things in my life, especially in real time, right? Like when things turn out good, when I see the answered prayer, then it's easier for me to share, oh, I actually had the scan and it turned out good. So thanks everyone. But I've really been challenged to tell someone in the middle of things. I mean, when Moses asked all of his what ifs, like, what if your people don't believe me when I come? What if I go to Pharaoh and he doesn't listen to me and he is rattling off all these what ifs? How does God respond to his what ifs? Well, he sends Aaron, he sends him a brother. And so we too can open up to our brothers and sisters in Christ and let them shoulder it with us and for us and battle with us in prayer. I mean, all throughout the New Testament, it repeats bear each other's burdens. We don't have to carry it on our own. He's given us the body of Christ, and so we just need to do that. It's vulnerable and it's hard and it's scary. And sometimes we can't control their reactions, right? That's my biggest thing. Like, I don't want you to now make me scared or make me anxious because now you're scared for me, right? But there is power when other people are linking arms with you. And I love how Susie Larson puts it. She has a quote where she says, When we link arms together, the devil doesn't know where you end and I begin. And that is a powerful imagery of just being linked arms. But as a body of Christ, that's what we are. We're we're one with Christ, we're one with each other. And so I think you just tell someone if you're dealing with a what if now and that spiral starts, let them preach to you, let them pray for you, let them carry it for you too. That is beautiful. I love that image of linking arms. That's really, really powerful. So thank you for that. You you talk about trading the uh trading a lie for truth. And so, how does that work in real life anxious moments? Yeah, you know what? I um I have such a strong belief about this that I started a podcast specifically called Trade a Lie for a Truth because sometimes I think it's too overwhelming to think of all the things, all the lies that we're hearing and believing. And if we just demolish one lie at a time, it just feels a little bit easier, more manageable. But really, on any given day, they say we think about 50,000 to 80,000 thoughts. But get this of those, let's say 50,000, they say 95 to 98% are the same ones from yesterday. So that means we just keep thinking the same stuff over and over again, like who's gonna do lunch day? What's for dinner? Is the laundry done? I mean, we just keep thinking these things, but that's all great if all the things we're thinking are true, if all the things we're thinking are encouraging or praiseworthy. But with the father of the lies on the loose, who is out to steal our hope, out to kill our peace, out to destroy our faith. My guess is they're all not. And so in every episode, we actually camp out on one thought. We pick up the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, because at the end of the day, we're gonna follow the voice of truth above all else. His name is Jesus and his words, John 8:32, right? Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. You know it. You know it. And so that's what I do is I'll just pick a lie, and then we'll pick up the word of God, the sword of the spirit, and we'll find passages, stories, verses that speak right to that because he doesn't leave us hanging. God gives us all of his promises, and then we choose am I gonna believe the voice of truth? And can I follow the voice of truth? I mean, it really is our choice. I I get that. I I hear those lies all day long, but yeah, it's it's it's a powerful thing to be set free with Christ and in Christ and by Christ. So super passionate about that. So good. I just recently I'm um mentoring a young woman and she was talking about all the lies that are just holding her hostage. And I said, I want you to list those lies. I want you to sit on a piece of paper, write on a piece of paper, what are those lies? And then across from it, I want you to have a scripture verse that speaks straight to that lie and can completely demolish the lie. Yeah. Right. And then we meditate on those scriptures. Yeah. Could not agree more. It's a powerful thing. I've used it in my own life, you're using it. We we attest that scripture, like you said earlier, Philippians 4 8, whatever is true. Yeah, promises of God are true, and we can meditate on that and we can hold to that. So, amen. Amen. Oh man, well, this has just been such a great conversation, and we could just keep talking. But if a mom is is uh walking away from this conversation with one thing, what would you want her to know? Well, honestly, God is bigger and he is greater and he is more powerful. And sometimes when his timeline is not like ours, when things happen that we would not want them to, we start to question that or we curb our prayers and we just don't want to be disappointed. But I would say keep praying big, keep praying audaciously, keep praying boldly because he's still moving and doing miracles around us. And we're only in the middle, but someday we will get to the end. I I think of Job 14, 5. It's actually been a verse that has been so relieving for me when I'm facing my what ifs. And that says the Lord has decided the length of our lives. It says he knows how many months we will live and we are not given a minute longer. It says we are not given a moment longer. Sometimes we we battle this control, like if I just do this, then I won't have this and this won't happen. And we think that we have control over the length of our days, but at the end of the day, I mean, we do have free will, but it actually says he's decided the length of our lives already. And so that I don't know about you, but that is entirely freeing for me. That I can walk forward in my days. I can walk forward and with my family beside me, knowing there's actually nothing I can do. So I don't need to shoulder that weight. I can live freely in Christ, knowing that he's already gotten it taken care of. Again, all of our days were ordained before us. And so that is a powerful thing to be to know that the King of Kings has got me and I'm okay. And it's not only gonna be okay, but Romans 8.28 reminds us it's gonna be good. That's why I named my first book that it's gonna be good. We know his hand, and so we can trust our stories that he's moving and he's doing great things, and and we're gonna stand in awe when we get to the end of it all. So encouraging. It's such a neat thing how God he does that. And I've had it in my own life where you go through really hard times and he uses it for his glory, right? And that's what I mean, I say for our good and his glory. He's used your story, your struggle with cancer. He's blessed you through it, he's given you a ministry through it. And if we can just hold on to that and know that whatever it is we're going through, he's going to use it for our good and his glory. So thank you so much for all of that. Well, so Heidi, if our listeners want to find out more about you, we talked about your Instagram, your book. Where can they find you? Yeah, well, everything is on my website, Heidi Leeanderson Ministries.com. And yeah, I'm online, Heidi Lee Anderson and my podcast, Trade A Lie for a Truth, and my two books. That all in all yours is a hundred-day journey through the promised land. Once I found out that the promised land is symbolic to our free abundant life in Christ, well, then I was like, man, every city conquered means something. Every footstep into the land of promise, it wasn't just for them, but it's for us too. And so if you want to live free, that's actually someone deemed it the guide to spiritual warfare, the Gilmar girls' guide to spiritual warfare. I try to keep it light and fun, but I'd love for you to join me on the journey a hundred days to really go all in, knowing that all of his promises are yes and amen in him. So yeah, would love to be best friends anywhere and everywhere. Great, so good. Well, thank you so much, Heidi. It was so great to meet you and hear from you. And um, I just wish you all the best. Yeah, you too, Kenis. Thanks for everything. Love you guys so much. Thank you. Wasn't that so good? I love Heidi. She has this way of bringing scripture right into the middle of real life. And I hope you walked away with more than just encouragement today. I hope you walked away with a new way to fight back against the lies. If you're in a season where fear feels louder than faith, you're not alone and you're not without hope. He's decided the length of your days. He's ordained your story. And Romans 828 is still true. It's going to be good. Heidi gave us so much to hold on to today, from trading lies for truth one thought at a time, to the power of linking arms with someone in the middle of your hard season. I'd encourage you to check out her book, P.S. It's going to be good. Her podcast, Trade a Lie for a Truth, and all her resources. We'll link everything in the show notes. And if today's conversation stirred something in you, if you're thinking, I want this kind of encouragement in my real, everyday life, that's exactly what MomQ was created for. We help moms grow in their faith through small groups, mentorship, and real community. So you're not just listening to Truth, you're actually living it out. And if you don't have a group where you are, this might be your invitation to start one. You can learn more at momq.org or through the link in our show notes. If this episode encouraged you, would you share it with a friend or another mom who needs it? And don't forget to leave a review. It helps more moms find this kind of support and truth. You're not behind. You're not missing it. God is working right in the middle of your motherhood.