Grace in the Breaking

Episode 20 -When You Stop Driving & And Let GOD Lead

• Elizabeth Everett

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 Join Elizabeth Everett as she explores the profound importance of inviting God's presence into every aspect of our lives—personal, professional, and spiritual. Discover how surrendering control and choosing obedience unlocks the true power and peace God desires for us, especially in a culture driven by fleshly pursuits.

The impact of excluding God from decision-making and the consequences of flesh-led living

  • The importance of surrender, obedience, and discerning God's voice in everyday life
  • The role of stillness, repentance, and prayer in aligning with God's plan


  • Elizabeth challenges listeners to evaluate when they last invited God into their major life decisions
  • She explains how fleshly emotions like fear, pride, and comfort hinder God's favor and direction
  • Insights from Proverbs 3:5-6 on trusting God in all areas—relationships, career, finances
  • The significance of stillness and silence in hearing God's voice, referencing Psalms 46:10
  • Practical steps to seek God's guidance before making decisions, including prayer prompts
  • The dangers of self-leadership and culture's influence on trusting our hearts over God's Word
  • Personal testimony of delayed obedience leading to burnout and God's mercy in the breaking
  • Reflection on the false security of flesh-led living versus the peace found in surrender
  • Encouragement to choose obedience over comfort, resulting in kingdom alignment and true freedom
  • #hope #god #podcast #christian #Jesus #driversseat #hisway

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Contact Elizabeth Everett:                                                                                               Website: graceinthebreaking.com                                                                          Email: info@graceinthebreaking.com                                                                        Instagram: @graceinthebreaking                                                                                YouTube: @GraceintheBreaking 

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SPEAKER_00

Hello, I'm Elizabeth Everett, and this is Grace in the Breaking. What happens when you stop driving the car and you actually let God back into the center? I want you to ponder on that for a moment. Because there comes a point when you have to ask yourself, when was the last time that you actually invited God into your decisions before you made a move, before you made a major life decision on things that are literally affecting everything around you? Not after the relationship failed, not after the burnout, not after the anxiety, not after your business collapse, not after the disappointment, but before. Because so many of us, we love God, but we are still led by our flesh, emotion, comfort, and fear, the pride, impatientness, loneliness, ambition, or control. Is this resonating on your ears? And then we get so angry when life doesn't look like we imagined or what we expected to come out of that decision we made without inviting God in? What if some of the frustration that we're experiencing isn't that God abandoned us, but it's because it was not God's path to begin with? Because we moved without Him? What if we took jobs that He never assigned? That's why there's no favor. Or we stayed in relationships so long, even though He asked us to leave, but we ignored every single warning because that level of comfort that we felt, it felt safer than moving in obedience. And now we are exhausted trying to force things in our own strength, in our own power that God never authorized. So today, let's talk about the consequences of not having God at the center. How will free will cloud God's plans? Why flesh delays every bit of obedience every single time, what the cost of comfort is to stay in, and how do we actually sit still to get into God's presence? How do we gently turn the ship back around to the creator and give him the reins? Because I'm going to tell you something. We can't afford to move in today's day and age without his guidance. The days are numbered. It's time to wake up. It's time to embrace, and it's time to move forward. Because the truth is, we are all guilty of this. We are all flesh. But the beautiful part of every single day is that God's grace still meets us in the breaking. One of the greatest deceptions is thinking that we can love God while excluding him from our daily lives. Because some of us only want him involved when we have God-sized emergencies, but not direction. We've asked him to bless things that we're doing that he never called us to build. And then we wonder why there's no peace attached to any single piece of it. Proverbs 3, verses 5 through 6 says, Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, but in all your ways, submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Notice what did the words say? In all your ways. Relationships, business, career, parenting, finances, dating, relationships, opportunities, everything. All means all. Many people are so emotionally exhausted. Why is that? Because we're carrying things that God never asked us to carry. We're trying to live out and turn something in our favor because it's what we wanted, but yet it never was God's plan for us. And that weight of self-leadership, it eventually catches up as it begins to crush us. And I'm going to tell you something personally. I can say there were seasons in my life where I loved God so deeply. I heard his gentle voice. I felt his gentle nudges, but instead, I let my flesh lead. Let me tell you why. Because I wanted that comfort. I didn't want to step out. I didn't want to have to go through the season of anything but the predictability. And because of that, I was crushed. Not broken beyond means, but pruned and pressed and forced to have things removed that I did not want to let go of. And friends, I know that in some situations, this has happened to you, but there is hope. God would nudge me to let go, to move, to speak, to stop shrinking myself to fit into rooms, to trust him, to walk away, to surrender. But you know what? That comfort that I wanted to stay in it delayed obedience. I stayed in places way too long knowing they were no longer right. They no longer fit. Why is that? Because they were familiar. Familiarity is the devil's playground. I used to try to revive things, actually, everything that God was trying to prune. I stayed emotionally attached to the version of my life that God was asking me to outgrow. And emotionally, it exhausted me because my flesh always demanded striving, always demanded to keep pushing everything up into my own strength. And because of that, I would wake up tired. I was emotionally unstable. I had lost every bit of discernment that I had been given. I felt spiritually numb, like I could no longer feel God. I could no longer hear his voice. And I operated in anxiety and being offensive and reactive. I was chasing validation. I was trying to force doors to open as they were closing. And I was causing myself to stay stuck in cycles, confusing noise for direction in any way. And I became so angry and outraged at outcomes that I created outside of God's guidance. Wasn't that I was being punished. There was no favor. But still, it was that bit of control, that bit of, you know what, I've done it this way so far. So what is the big deal? I want to stay here because it's comfortable. I'm used to this life. But what if, but what if? So I let fear sink in. And guess what? It kept me playing small, and it's keeping you playing small too. Because what happens when our flesh leads, we become unstable. Galatians 6.8 says, Whoever sows to please their flesh from the flesh, they will reap destruction. And whoever sows to please the spirit from the spirit will have eternal life. So the flesh tells you, impatience, you are tired of waiting, or you deserve this even when you don't. And then I'll make it happen no matter what. I know better. I don't want to be uncomfortable. But the spirit tells us to wait, to trust, to release, to forgive, surrender, and obey. And obedience often offends our flesh. So I'm going to tell you, I have relatable reflections with this. So many times I stayed in my corporate job because I was trying to move in that sense of security. I stayed in that marriage because being alone and feeling rejected felt so scary to me. I ignored red flags because of loneliness. I moved emotionally instead of prayerfully. And I asked everybody else before I asked God. Everybody else. I sought their opinions, and rather I got on the phone instead of going to the throne. Does this sound like you? We can switch it around today. Because flesh, it clouds vision. And then I would later ask myself, how in the world did I end up here? But you know what? God gives us free will. But free will without surrender becomes self-leadership. And self-leadership without God eventually becomes destruction. Jeremiah 17, 9 says, the heart is deceitful above all things and beyond care. Who can understand it? Culture will tell you to follow your heart, but scripture will tell you to follow him, take up your cross daily. Those are not the same thing. Your emotions will lie. Unhealed wounds, they will speak, and your fear can masquerade his wisdom every single time. This is why discernment in all situations matters so deeply in this generation, because one of the biggest obedience blockers is comfort. Comfort keeps you small. Comfort keeps people spiritually stagnant, emotionally bound from unhealed wounds and disconnected from your calling. It keeps you trapped in cycles like a hamster on a wheel. You're resistant to change because obedience requires death to yourself. Some of us don't want to take accountability for the unhealed places. We rather cast those offenses on other people. But today we bring the darkness to light. Luke 9 23, whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. Denying yourself means not letting your feelings lead you, not letting fear lead or pride lead or your trauma lead. It means surrendering those hurts, those hangups, and letting God lead because that small adjustment will change everything. It will no longer be terrifying. Control makes us feel safe in control, it's exhausting. It will eventually catch up and it will eventually crush you. Surrender, that's where you're going to find the peace. There were seasons where I just knew God was asking me to move differently, but I was so comfortable and comfort made me so slow to move. I delayed every hard conversation because I wanted to isolate and shut down and pretend it wasn't happening. I delayed my surrender and giving it to him, and I delayed trusting him fully. It cost me a lot. It cost me a place in my life where my health was attacked, my marriage ended. I was in a wreck that shook me. I lost my friends and I had a child and addiction that he OD'd. But God. Sometimes when we walk in that obedience long enough, he gets us so still, doing everything that he can not to kill us, but to prune us. So we get to a place where we're still and we actually listen to him. It's where I didn't get to let my fear lead anymore. My pride no longer got to lead because all of that was stripped from me and my trauma was no longer leading. God was leading. It wasn't because I didn't love him. It was because I had let my flesh take over. My flesh hated insecurity or uncertainty. So the longer I delayed obedience, the heavier my life began. And that's when God stepped in to expose every single comfort that I was holding on to, that I was hiding, that was mercy, that was not punishment. It was to push me into everything that he wanted me to become, everything that he knew I was created to become. Most people don't know how to sit still anymore. I know I didn't. We scroll, we numb, we overwork, we distract, and we overthink. But God, He still speaks to us every day. He speaks to us in the stillness. Psalms 46, 10, be still and know that I am God. What does the stillness reveal in you? It reveals what's driving you, what you're avoiding, where your fear is operating and where striving is present, and where God has been trying to speak with you. The problem is when you get still, it makes the flesh uncomfortable. That's why it's so hard. But we have to kick the flesh to the side. We have to make that time. The spirit needs intimacy. The noise of the flesh has to be shut out and cut down. So I need you, as a practical breakdown, to remember this. You gotta ask God before moving, before any decision. God, are you in this? Is this aligned with your will? God, am I forcing this? I don't want to do it in my own strength. You know what? I don't want it if it's not from you. Am I operating from fear, Father? Or am I operating from faith? You gotta stop glorifying busyness. Sit still. Busy does not mean you're obedient. You can be productive and be completely out of alignment, and that's where your exhaustion is coming in. You gotta learn to wait again. Isaiah 40, 31 says, but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar like eagles. So, friends, I'm here to tell you the waiting isn't punishment, it's actually building dependence, a deeper dependence that you didn't even know that you could possess. When's the last time you've been in the Word? Because you have to read the Word before you seek opinions. All the time, every day, we are seeking the validation of others before the truth. Why is that? God already spoke to us. But we have to invite him in, not just the small things, not just the emergencies, but the friendships, the opportunities, finances, relationships, timing, businesses, decisions, and especially transitions. Because relationship with God, it was never meant to be an occasional consultation. It was meant to be daily surrender. Is this hitting your ears? You may be listening and realize that you've been leading yourself today, not because your thoughts are evil or you're evil, but because you haven't been operating in God's love. But because life has happened to you and pain has happened to you and fear has happened, disappointment is even crept in. And slowly God became an afterthought in your mind instead of your daily carrier. But grace, Grace says today, you can come back. You haven't done anything that's too far from me. Come back, my child. James 8, or excuse me, James 4, verse 8, come near to God, and he will come near to you. Not get perfect first, not wait on the perfect timing, but come back now. Why does this matter so much right now in this day and age? Because again, we are living in a time where discernment is critical. You have to have it because everyone around you is emotionally burnt out. They are spiritually distracted, they're led by their feelings, the culture, offense, led by unhealed wounds and disconnected from the truth, the way and the life. And many people are building lives that God never assigned them to build. And this is why intimacy with God matters more than anything right now in your life. Because if you do not know his voice, you're going to continue to let culture suppress you, to make you play small, to stay in a place of fear, to stay in a place of repetitive cycles. Culture shifts daily, but God does not. He is your rock. He is rooted. He does not change. His love is abounding, and his grace is undeniable. This is exactly why I wrote The Breaking. And this is exactly why I created the Grace in the Breaking community and inner access. Because you know what? I know what it feels like to delay obedience. I know what it feels like to keep staying small because of refusal to confront hurts that have held on to you for so many years. Or staying in a state of validation. I understand chains and being bound. And I know that you do too. I feel this is resonating with you. And I want you to know you are not alone. God's grace is greater. I know what it feels like to hear his voice and wrestle with every bit of fear and pride, ego, uncertainty, disappointment, and resistance. And the longer you resist, the heavier life becomes. I've lived it and I've come out on the other side to tell you there's a better way. When life becomes heavy, it's not because God stopped loving us, it's because flesh was never designed to lead us. And that is what's been happening. God's been calling you to something higher. He's been calling you for a deeper relationship. He's been calling you to step into everything that he has planned for you, yet you still are shrinking. This is why the spaces of grace and the breaking were created, not for perfection, not for your performance, and not for pretending, but for real surrender and real healing, real accountability, real discipleship and real transformation. Because no more delay should be taking up residence in your life. No more unhealed spaces should be allowed to govern your thoughts. Your flesh needs to die so your spirit can rise up. Do you realize that God knew you before he knitted you together in the womb? He knew everything that you would go through, and you're still standing today despite it all. How many of you right now in this crowd know what it feels like to be in burnout? To feel like you're having a groundhog day every single day. You're fighting the same battles over and over and over again. Why is that? Those are things that are connected to you that need to be identified. But you have to take the first step and you have to make the decision to break those off. There is too much purpose attached to your yes for you to continue to play small. There are too many people connected to your obedience. Everything that you've walked through is a roadmap to someone else's freedom. Too much freedom is waiting for you on the other side of this surrender. Your land of milk and honey, it's there. But you keep going back into Egypt. You keep that Egypt mindset, but it's time to step out. Somewhere along the way, you began believing that the breaking meant that God had abandoned you. But that is not the case. The breaking is actually the invitation for you. So I need you to embrace it today the invitation to heal, to slow down, to reconnect. To surrender your life, confront everything that is misaligned, and let God lead again. Because there is hope for you in this surrender. There is healing in the breaking. And what God does for one, He will do for another. He is no respecter of persons. And I believe so many of you out there in this audience today are standing in the exact place right here, right now, between the control and surrender, between your comfort and obedience, between fear and faith, flesh and spirit, heaven is asking you today, will you finally let me lead? Because the life God has for you is greater than anything you could ever manufacture on your own. Ask yourself honestly right now, when is the last time you invited God into your decisions before moving? What areas have you held on to that control? What comfort are you staying in and delaying that obedience? What relationship has he told you to leave? What environment or assignment has God been speaking to you about? What are you continuing to force in your own strength and what can change if you sought him in all things? What can change if you put him back at the top in your household, in your life, and in your mind? Because the reward of surrender, I'm going to tell you something, friends, it's greater than anything you could ever manufacture. You may lose control, but you're going to gain a peace that you've never experienced before. You may lose control, but you gain clarity. You may lose temporary security, but you gain kingdom alignment. And alignment with God will take you further than you striving in your own strength ever could. So I'm going to pray a little prayer with you today. Father, we repent for the places that we've moved ahead of you. We repent for the places that we have chosen comfort over obedience and for the times you ask us to move and we didn't. For the times we ask you to bless things that you never us instructed us to do. Teach us to seek you again in everything, Father. Quiet our flesh, break every bit of our pride and ego, and restore discernment so that we can walk in your desires. Help us to gently turn back the ship towards you and let our lives be built on surrender instead of striving in our own strength. Lord, let us remind that your plans, your ways, are higher than we could ever imagine, and that you are always working things out for our good in Jesus' mighty name. Amen. So I want to say something. If this message is resonating with you, if you hear this and you are exhausted trying to control yourself, I need you to remember that the breakthrough isn't trying harder. It is in finally letting God lead your life. Grace and the breaking is a place for safety. It is a place for breaking off everything that is attached to you that is not of God. It is for surrender, accountability, and walking in a grace that only God gives. Because let me tell you something. I know what it feels like to delay obedience. I know what it feels like to delay surrender, and I know what it cost me. Now the choice is yours. You can wrestle with fear, uncertainty, pride, disappointment, resistance, or you can surrender, quit resisting so that life is no longer heavy. Because I'm going to tell you something. God never stopped loving you. And your flesh was never meant to lead you. Again, this is why these spaces are created not for perfection, not for performance, and not for pretending, but for real surrender. This is a place of real healing, real accountability, and real transformation. Because no more delay should be taking up time in your life. There is too much of purpose attached to your yes. There are too many people connected to your obedience and too much freedom waiting on the other side of your surrender. And somewhere along the way, people began believing that the breaking was too much. This is your invitation to heal, slow down, and reconnect, to surrender and confront everything that is misaligned. Stop standing between control and surrender. Surrender to Him. The breaking was written in a place of pruning. It shows you what I walked through as a part of delayed obedience, and then how I came out on the other side, and here I am in front of you today, reminding you of the power and authority that you have living inside of you to raise up when you give him your yes. Every person here has access to my three-day intensive for free on what is keeping you playing small. It's a place for identity, roadmap, and transformation. It's available to you so that you no longer are held in bondage, that you too may step into everything that God has for you. Until next time. What an honor it is to speak with you, and what an honor it is to tell you that you are a child of God. The Most High King loves you more than you could ever imagine. It's time to shift your mindset and put him back at the top. Thank you so much for spending this time with me today on Grace and the Breaking. If this episode spoke to your heart, please remember to follow, download, and share it with someone who might need a little encouragement right now. You can find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major podcast platforms. As I close, I want to leave you with this reminder. My grace is sufficient for you. My power is made perfect in weakness. So no matter what season you're walking through, you are not alone. And there is always Grace in the Breaking. For more information, resources, or to connect with me, visit GraceInTheBreaking.com or email me at info at graceinthebreaking.com. Until next time, friends, stay rooted in faith, hold on to hope, and remember that there's grace in breaking.