Choosing Obedience When the Road Doesn't Make Sense— Part 2: Obedience Meets Pressure

In this episode, we continue the conversation on obedience— but this time under pressure.

What happens when your faith is tested in real time?

What does obedience look like when things feel frustrating, inconvenient, or uncertain?

We're talking about participation, maturity, and learning how to stay steady when life isn't smooth. 

Because obedience isn't just saying yes once. It's continuing to trust when the road doesn't make sense.  

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:22

Hey girlies! Welcome back to Gospel Girlies, the Gospel Center podcast for women. I'm your host, Angel, and around here, we're about honest faith, real life, and choosing obedience even when the road doesn't make sense. So, get ready to have your hearts filled, your souls lifted, and your faith ignited. If you're returning back to the episode, thank you so much for coming back. Hey girl, hey! And if you're new here, welcome home. Before we get into today's message, I just wanted to say happy Valentine's Day to you girlies. Whether you celebrated with your boo, with your girlies, or by your lonesome, I hope you were reminded that your worth isn't tied to who chooses you. Because God chose you first. And that's that's the real flex. So today we're doing part two of choosing obedience when the road doesn't make sense. I had to come back with a part two because part one was so full, and part two has so much depth in it. So last episode we talked about saying yes to God even when you don't have all the details. We also talked about obedience in the beginning, that first step, that first surrender, and today we're gonna continue that conversation because obedience doesn't end after one yes. I know y'all, I'm sorry, y'all thought it was, but it don't sometimes obedience must continue when things get uncomfortable, inconvenient, or frustrating. I told y'all before, I know we don't like to be uncomfortable, and me myself, I definitely don't want to be inconvenienced or frustrated, but it's not just about saying yes one time, it's about continuing to move, continuing to trust, and continuing to participate, and realizing that your obedience is bigger than just you. So let's see what happens when obedience meets real life pressure, because that's where faith gets tested, that's where maturity is built, and that's where you find out if your yes was emotional or if it was anchored. So, y'all ready for a story? Because I got one for you. So, as y'all know, I am in school and so ready to graduate, but um, I have quizzes every Sunday due by 11:59 p.m. So a couple Sundays ago, I was finishing up preparing for my quiz, and after I decided to go check the group chat, like I always do, to check the temperament of the quiz to make sure I didn't need to study some more. And y'all, why when I get in that group chat, the people is talking about oh, canvas is loading slow, the questions are loading slow, and I'm like, how? I literally just finished, I was just on, I was just on canvas. So, what y'all talking about? So I'm like, you know what, not gonna worry about it. Y'all, why I get in that quiz and the system started glitching every time I click next question, it took one to two minutes for it to load. And y'all just know this quiz is timed. I have 45 minutes to complete the quiz. I started my quiz at 10:35, and we're not gonna talk about how late I started my quiz. Then mind your business, but anyways, I'm sitting here watching the clock, tick talk, wondering if my time is running out while my screen is buffering. Because when we take our fluency quick quizzes, even if it's loading, the time is still decreasing. So my first instinct was frustration and immediate irritation. I wasn't just frustrated though, or irritated, I was unsure if I was going to finish. So, one thing I like to do when I'm taking my quiz is I have a pen on my desk, and it has to be a clickable pen because when I'm nervous, when I'm reading out loud, um, I like to do this number right here. You know? So while my leg was shaking, I started clicking my pen. Click, click, click, click, click. I wanted to panic, and I'm not just gonna say I wanted to get upset because I was already upset, but I had two options in that moment. One, I could let pressure control me, or two, I could control my response. My mind started to race ahead of the moment, and frustration definitely wanted to take over, and losing my composure honestly would have felt easier than staying steady. But then I remembered something I had just heard on a podcast called Girl Just Heal. The quote that she said was, You can have faith in the outcome and still experience the pain of the process. Now, in the moment of that quiz, I couldn't think of the exact quote. So I made it fit my situation, and I said, I have faith in the outcome, but I'm experiencing the frustration of the situation. And then I paired it with something my pastor said that he always says, and I really want to say he said it that Sunday during service. He says, Lord, you are good and your mercies endure forever. Sometimes you just need something to hold on to when your emotions want to run the show. So every time the screen froze, every time it buffered, every time I felt my thoughts starting to spiral, I repeated, Lord, you are good and your mercies endure forever. I have faith in the outcome, but I am experiencing the frustration of the situation. Did I still feel frustrated? Yeah. Did I still feel uncertain? For sure, but I didn't let it control me. And that's mature faith. Not because I didn't feel it, but because I didn't let it lead me, and I will tell y'all that faith did not grow overnight. Believe me. Because obedience isn't pretending you're not frustrated, obedience is choosing faith in the middle of frustration. So let me ask y'all something. What situation in your life right now is testing your response more than your faith? I let y'all think about that for a couple of seconds. Y'all got it? Okay. And I'm not gonna leave y'all hanging on the story. I finished that quiz, and even through all the glitches and all the clicking, I still got the A. But the biggest lesson wasn't the grade, it was learning how to stay obedient in the middle of pressure. And even after I finished, this the test wasn't over. Because y'all, I sent the email to my instructor explaining the issue, and when he responded to my email, it definitely felt like he dismissed the issue just because I got an A. And for a second, I felt the old reaction trying to rise. Baby, my whoo, I was boiling on the inside. Not because I failed, because but because I felt unheard. I could react emotionally, and what good was that gonna do for me? Nothing, or I could respond maturely, and he got too maturely responded emails from me, and then the last email it just irritated me, so I just left the situation alone, and sometimes you just have to leave the situation alone, and honestly, that's when it clicked for me, y'all. Obedience is not just what you do when the moment first hits, it's what you do after, it's how you follow through, it's how you respond when you feel tested again, and you're gonna be tested again for sure. Because pressure doesn't usually come one time, it comes in waves, and every wave is an opportunity to either go back to the old you, and y'all know what the old you look like, or stay anchored in the new you. So here's what I've been learning obedience doesn't stop at the agreement, it continues with your action. It's easy to say, okay, God, I trust you. And trust me, I didn't say it before. I said it with this podcast. And had I just said, you know, okay, God, I trust you. Well, that's nothing. But it's another thing to actually move your feet after you say it. Y'all know what we do? We be like, we pray, God, I'm asking you for, I'm asking you for whatever y'all asking for. Then y'all declare, you know, God, I declare and decree that this is this, I need you, Lord. I need you, and I'm gonna do right. And then we say we believe, Lord, I believe, I believe that you're gonna do this for me. I'm believing that you will and believing that you can. But guess what we don't always do? We don't always follow through with the work that is attached to the faith. Because faith comes with work, and belief without participation doesn't produce growth. Okay, faith requires movement, not frantic movement, not anxious movement, but intentional participation. You can't just say you trust God, you must act like you trust him. Because what we do, we be like, okay, God, I trust you. And then in the back of our head and and everything else, we like, all right, but um, let me see, let me see what I can do with this. Let me let me let me tweak this right here, and and let me let me let me let me add this right here. Get your hand out that pot right now. Let it alone, let it long. Because saying, Okay, let me add some real life examples to that. I can say all day long, all year long, God, I want to get healthier. But if I never get up and move my body, if I never adjust my habits, that's my eating habits, that's my portion sizes, or I never follow through with what I said, nothing changes. The desire alone doesn't transform you. I know we like to be like, oh yeah, I want to be healthier, God, make me healthier. And then we think we just gonna sit there on the couch and we just gonna automatically lose our gut. No ma'am. Discipline is what transforms you. And let me say this slow and let me say this clear. Discipline is not punishment, it's alignment. Oh, you didn't pause and rewind that. Okay, I'll say it again. Discipline is not punishment, it's alignment. Okay, so another example would be in relationships. You know, we can ask God to strengthen our relationship, but if we don't make any moves to change, it's not going to happen. We can pray for a healthier relationship, we can pray, God, change this man so I don't have to knock him upside the head. But if you avoid hard conversations, if you refuse to communicate, that's walking around the house with your arms folded, tooting up your nose every time you see him, smell him, or hear him breathe. Y'all know how we do. And if we keep repeating the same patterns, you're gonna keep getting the same results, and that relationship cannot grow. So prayer invites God in. Participation shows you are serious. When y'all gonna learn to pause the episode and write it down. I'm gonna say it again. Prayer invites God in. Participation shows you are serious. So another example is we God helped me with my finances, bless me with a good job that pay good, but then we don't budget, we eat out three times a day, and then we buying all this stuff that sit in the closet or on the couch. And what good is it to pray that prayer and not do your part? Increase without discipline becomes waste. Blessing without stewardship becomes burden. And faith without responsibility becomes fantasy. Saying it doesn't make it happen, doing it does, and obedience that's the doing. One more for y'all, and that's with your calling. You can say, God use me to minister to these people, God use my dance move to help somebody, but if you never study, if you never prepare, never show up, never apply yourself, and never start, how can God elevate what you won't even exercise? Somebody put me in a pulpit because I'm preaching right now. Nah, not for real. Don't put me in a pulpit. I'm just playing, y'all. Please don't. Sometimes we think obedience means everything will flow smoothly. Nope. Sometimes obedience looks like staying steady while everything around you is buffering. Sometimes obedience looks like controlling your responses when you can't control the situation. And y'all know we like to control the situation, and we know I know it's some crash outside. Y'all, y'all can't crash out all the time because crashing out gonna lead you down a path that's not good, y'all. Control them responses, and sometimes the enemy tries to peck at you by pecking at your insecurities in the middle of pressure because them insecurities, he know that's what's gonna bring you down every time. And it it is not always loud lies that he pecks at, it's those subtle thoughts. Like, what if this doesn't work? What if this is a sign to quit? What if you're not supposed to be doing this? But opposition does not automatically mean disobedience. Sometimes opposition is confirmation. Sometimes what feels like spiritual warfare is just life happening while you're growing. So for me, when I was recording the second episode, actually, I had already recorded this second episode and edited and was ready to release that Wednesday at 8 p.m. But I had received some feedback, and I thought to myself, okay, let me see what I can change and do with this feedback that I've received. So I came home and I went to try to redo, not even redo the second episode. I just tried to I recorded it again to. Could see what I got out of it and if there was a difference. And when I went to do that, my microphone was not working. Every time I hit record, I got an error message. And for me, I'm a three times thing person. So I'm like, okay. One time I'm like, all right, look here now. The second time, I was like, okay, well, maybe this is God telling me to not touch that episode and leave it alone. But I continued to work through and push through, and that gave us the episode two that you guys heard. But the one thing that is different is how you respond in pressure, how you respond when you're frustrated, how you respond when you feel like you're behind or you're missing out or you're at a standstill. So when I chose to speak faith instead of panic, something shifted. Not the system, me. I'm gonna say that again so y'all can hear me. When I chose to speak faith instead of panic, something shifted. The system didn't shift, I did. And faith doesn't remove pressure, it stabilizes you in it. And you know, sometimes you get little soft touches from God when you respond in different ways, because when I kept repeating those words over and over again instead of clicking my pen or being frustrated out loud, the system moved just a little bit faster, and that to me felt like a little like, all right, I see you, daughter, let me give you some relief, you know. So are you waiting for clarity before you act? Or are you willing to act while clarity unfolds? Something else that God has been showing me is that your obedience is not just about you, it's attached to somebody else. So, my friend, she started her podcast a year ago, and her obedience helped me start mine, and me starting my podcast will potentially help someone else set up their podcast. So her yes affected me, and my yes affects someone else, and it just keeps going because it's a domino effect, but let me tell y'all, delaying your obedience can delay someone else's healing, someone else's help, someone else's breakthrough. And I don't know about y'all, but for me, I do not want to be responsible for nobody's nothing being delayed, not they help, not they breakthrough, not they healing. Because you don't know who is waiting on the other side of your yes. Think about it. Who might be waiting on the other side of your yes? So here's what I want you guys to sit with. Can I say guys? Y'all know I don't mean no harm by it, okay? But here's what I want y'all to sit with. Where in your life are you experiencing frustration but still being asked to trust? Another one. Where are you being stretched but still being called to stay steady? And if you haven't taken notes this whole time, do so right now. Grab your phone, a sticky note. You can write it on a napkin for all I care. But I want y'all to remember these three things. One, you don't need all the details to obey. You just take that first step and move forward. And I promise you, God is going to provide you every step after, as long as you continue to move when He says move. Number two, faith grows while you are walking. While you're walking, not before your faith is not going to grow because it doesn't have a reason to go grow. You have to go through trials and tribulations for your faith to grow, right? Take that step and walk with God, He is there the whole time. You just have to stay focused on Him. And number three, obedience is bigger than you. So if you're like me and you don't want to delay somebody else receiving what the Lord has for them, be obedient and say yes to God. God doesn't need perfection because the only perfect was Jesus. He just needs willingness. So if you're in the middle of something that feels frustrating, don't assume it means stop. It might just mean grow. It could be slow down. Let's reassess. But don't assume it means stop. Thank y'all so much for listening to today's episode and spending time with me because you could have been doing something completely different, and it means the most to me that you chose to be here with me. If this message connected with you in real life, I would love to hear from you. Please leave a review and share what stood out to you or what God spoke to you in your heart. Also, make sure you're following the podcast and following Gospel Girlies on Instagram at GospelGirlies. That's where we continue the conversation during the week with encouragement, reflections, and reminders that obedience is a journey, not a one-time decision. So remember, girlies, choose obedience even when the road doesn't make sense. As always, adventure and faith begin today. Remember to walk boldly, live faithfully, and step into God's plan for you because it is greater than anything you could ever imagine. I'll see you on the next episode of Gospel Girlies Wednesday at eight PM Eastern Standard Time. Bye.