What Does It Mean to Abide?

What Does It Mean to Abide?

Jesus tells us to abide in Him—but what does that actually look like in an ordinary life?

In this episode of Wine Into Water, we turn to the image of the vine and the branches in John 15 and wrestle with a word many Christians have heard their entire lives without ever fully understanding. We know we are supposed to abide, or remain, in Christ. But is abiding something we do? Is it a discipline we master? Is it more prayer, more Scripture, more obedience, or more effort?

Jen begins with a simple image from her garden. She can water the plants, improve the soil, protect them from insects, and create the right conditions for growth. But she cannot make a plant grow or force it to produce fruit. The life within the plant does that on its own.

That image opens a deeper conversation about the Christian life and our instinct to manufacture spiritual growth. So often, when we do not see enough love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, or self-control in ourselves, we respond by trying harder. We treat the fruit of the Spirit like a spiritual scorecard and assume that if we were better Christians, our lives would look more impressive.

But Jesus does not tell the branch to manufacture fruit.

He tells it to remain connected to the vine.

Together, Jen and Lydia explore why that invitation can be so difficult to accept. Lydia reflects on the struggle to receive grace as a genuinely free gift and the part of us that still believes we must earn love, forgiveness, and belonging. Jen shares the image of a child whose crib railing has been removed but who continues to stay in bed and cry for help, unable to believe that freedom has already been given.

They talk about the prisons we continue living in even after Jesus has opened the door: fear, shame, control, performance, and the belief that everything depends on us. They consider why we often behave as though we are still separated from God, even though Scripture tells us that His Spirit already lives within us.

The conversation also moves toward surrender. Abiding is not simply spending ten minutes with God in the morning or attending church once a week. It is a continual posture of dependence. It means trusting that His timing is better than ours, His provision is enough, and His presence matters more than the outcomes we are trying to control.

Drawing from Romans 7, Psalm 23, Mary Magdalene at the empty tomb, and the table God prepares in the presence of our enemies, Jen and Lydia reflect on what happens when we stop staring at the problem and turn toward the One who has been beside us all along.

This episode is for anyone who has ever tried to fix themselves, force spiritual growth, or earn what God has already freely given. It is a reminder that fruit is not proof that we are trying hard enough.

Fruit is evidence that we are connected to the source of life.

Because maybe abiding is not another thing to accomplish.

Maybe it is finally believing that Jesus is already near—and choosing to remain.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Sometimes we pray for the miracles. We wait for the breakthrough, the healing, the answered prayer. And when it doesn't come, when life feels ordinary, heavy, or quiet, we wonder if something is wrong. We read about water turning into wine, but most of us are living in seasons where it feels like the opposite. Where the celebration fades and the glass feels empty. Where faith isn't traumatic, it's dishes in the sink, laundry that never ends, prayers whispered into the silence. But what if the miracle was never the point? What if what we're really longing for isn't the wine, but the living water? The presence of Jesus in the middle of the mundane. The abundance that doesn't depend on circumstances. This is a podcast for seasons that feel unmiraculous. For the questions we carry quietly. For the faith that keeps showing up, even when nothing. Welcome to Wine in to Water. I'm your co-host, Jen Asklin. And I'm your other co-host, Lydia Rosenfrage. We're two women who have been asking questions, nobody seems to be answering. Questions about faith and seasons when life can feel unmiraculous.

SPEAKER_03 1:22

And we kept having these conversations, just the two of us, and we realized we can't be the only ones who are asking these questions.

SPEAKER_02 1:30

So we decided to invite you into the conversation. We're so glad you're here.

SPEAKER_03 1:38

So Jen, um, our question for today is what does it mean to abide? So Jesus talks in John 15 about the branches and the vine. And he says that he is the vine and we are the branches. Um and he says several times to abide, or um, some translations say remain, right? It's King James says abide, and and a lot of the other more modern translations use the word remain um in me. Abide in me, remain in me. And it's one of those things that I think if you're raised in the church or if you've been in the church for a while, it's like, oh, okay. You know, we just we read past it and it's like, yep, yep, we should definitely do that. We should absolutely abide, we should remain. And Jen, I don't know that I've given a whole lot of thought to exactly what that looks like. What does that mean? And it's not something that I can just like it now that we've asked it, I realize I don't know. I don't have an answer to that. I don't think anybody's ever taught me what that means. So when we say that, um, what's coming up for you?

SPEAKER_02 3:09

Um, like the well, there's two things. One, um, at one point when we were in Dallas, we had a church, and that was like their central theology was this verse about the vine and the branches. And they had this beautiful mural of a vine and branches. And um the head pastor at the time, like the most frequent line I remember him saying is like, hey, all Jesus is saying to you in this passage is come closer. Just come closer. And so I think of that often when I think of this. And then the other thing that comes up for me because it's early summer in Iowa right now, and I I garden. I have a large, beautiful, lovely garden that is right now producing a lot of greens, um, which are good and bad, I suppose. Saued kale, very good. Arugula pesto with sauteed spinach, not as good. Not so good. Um, not so good. This not so good. Um, but when I think about this and reflect on my faith a lot, I can't make the plants grow. I I can treat the soil, I can spray them for bugs and caterpillars, but there's nothing that I do that makes them grow. Like they just do it. I just like create the conditions, if that makes sense. Like I make sure they have water, I make sure they have food, I make sure the soil is good, I go visit them. Um, I try to pick the fruit when it's ripe. But I think I think about this verse, and it feels like there's two things. One, if the vine's not healthy, the fruit never comes. And two, like there's nothing that I can do to make them produce fruit. And so for me, I guess part of it is there's nothing that I can do to be connected to the vine. Like I already am, and I can't like force myself to produce fruit.

SPEAKER_03 5:45

Oh, that's so rich, Jen. Um that what you said about I can't connect myself to the vine. Um, I think that that is a pivotal piece to the answer to the question, right? Because um so many of us as women, we are doers. We're doers, right? If if we don't know the answer, we'll figure it out. If we don't, if there's a problem, we're gonna find the solution. We are gonna fix things, we're gonna make it happen. Um, and that there's so much good in that. Like I don't wanna make it sound like that's a bad thing because I think that that is a God-given desire of our hearts to fix things and make things better. And um, I think it's beautiful. Oftentimes it goes awry, though. Right. And so there's a part of me that when you say that I can't make it happen, I often I want to reject that a little bit. Like, well, what wait a minute. If I can't make it happen, then how you know what happens? How do I, you know, what how do I trust that it's gonna happen if I'm not the one who's making it happen? Um, so there's a in everything that you just said, Jen, I feel like the root is trust. And so often that's where I fall short, I think, is in my ability to trust that God will make it happen and he does not need my help.

SPEAKER_01 7:40

The other thing that I thought about maybe like I don't know, two things.

SPEAKER_02 7:52

But like when you became a believer and the Holy Spirit entered you, I read that line, and it John 15, right, literally says, abide in me and I in you. And so I think you're right on this trust thing, in that if if you are a believer, you are connected to the vine. Like you are a branch connected to the vine. Like that's how it works. But I don't know that we always behave as if that's true.

SPEAKER_01 8:46

Oh my gosh, no. No.

SPEAKER_03 8:56

And I think that there I'm sure there's a lot of different reasons for that, Jen. Um I know personally for me there are times where I I'm not even sure how to put this into words exactly. Um it's almost like I reject the the amazing grace that has been given me, right? Um, because everything that you just said, it's the f it's a free gift. I I couldn't earn it, I don't deserve it. All I had to do was believe, and Jesus deposited the Holy Spirit within me. Like, and now I can abide, and now He will produce fruit through me. And there's I don't know if it's the peace that got broken and the fall and the shame set in. And it's like even with all of my knowledge of God, and I've been a believer all my life, there's something in me that just there's the voice that's like, you don't deserve this, you need to do something to earn his love, his grace. Um, and it completely contradicts the gospel, right? The gospel is it's a free gift. And then the fruit is gonna grow. Like I am gonna do good works, I am going to be the light. I, you know, all of those things that he tells us to do, it's gonna happen because I have the Holy Spirit living inside of me now. Um, but there's a piece of me somewhere, a brokenness, Jen, that just wants to hide in the garden because I know that I'm naked now and I know that I don't deserve this, and I don't want God to see my broken, as if he doesn't already know it all, right? But I I want to hide away and not let him see it. Um I want to get really busy and start trying to earn it. And both are both are direct contradictions to his command to abide.

SPEAKER_02 11:39

It's interesting earlier when I said that there was nothing we could like do to connect to the vine, we control that or the fruits we provide, and that it's just like this free gift. The word you used in both scenarios was rejected. I want to reject that, or how often I reject that. What does that look like?

SPEAKER_01 12:16

I think it looks like unbelief or disbelief that God could be that good.

SPEAKER_03 12:24

That I really can trust him completely. Um because I don't trust myself. Right? I know that I'm not good. I know, I know where I fall short, I know where my weaknesses are. I know how I fail to love fully and completely and unconditionally. And so I think there are times where I put my own weaknesses on God and think maybe he's not completely trustworthy, maybe he's not completely good. I mean, I can sing all day long. God is good all the time. God, you know, God is it. We, you know, I'll raise my hands in church and sing that, but do I always believe it deep down? Do I always act like I believe it? No. There are absolutely times that I reject um that I honestly, it's a rejection of grace. Uh if I feel like it's a rejection of the good news, like that it could really, really be that good, Jen. That despite my brokenness, because of my brokenness, because of my weakness, God wants to heal me, be with me, love me, abide in me.

SPEAKER_01 13:58

Um, but there is a part of me that struggles to believe that the good news is really as good as it is. Uh I have a good friend that calls it like the ridiculous, the ridiculous kindness of God. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 14:21

Um I contemplate often, like, if if we truly believe the gospel, not just that like we are forgiven for all of our sins, which uh listeners, before we get on, we were talking about the fruits of the spirit and how far short we are of living those in our day-to-day lives. Um but if you really, really believe the gospel, it's not just that like our imperfection is expected and forgiven, but we literally have eternal life. Like we will never die.

SPEAKER_03 15:15

Never.

SPEAKER_02 15:16

We might we won't always be in these earthly bodies, right? But we will, we will never die. And it's just maybe another example of how hard it is to live as if you really believed that. And it um it reminds me, you've done this more times than I have. But at some point with each of my children, they went from sleeping in a crib to sleeping in a toddler bed. And the way that we did that is literally like the front railing of the crib just like comes off and it turns into like this little three-sided crib that they are free to get in and out of. And I always worried the first night that we did it that they were gonna be like a nightmare and up, like roaming around and playing with their toys and wandering the house and like all the crazy things, right? Yes. And every time for like months, if they needed me, they would stay in their bed and they would cry for me. They wouldn't leave it. It's like they acted like the fourth railing was still there, even though it was not, because they couldn't believe that I trusted them enough to remove it. And I just like it reminds me of we've been given everything. Like he lives within us. We will live forever. And we are like no different than toddlers, and like, no, I'm good. I'll just stay in the toddler bed. I'll live the way that I lived before I knew that to be true, before I had been granted eternal life, before you like infiltrated my heart and got to like be with me all the time. Because surely, like, surely you didn't mean that for me.

SPEAKER_03 17:28

Jen, God has gifted you um with such a unique ability to find spiritual lessons in the smallest little everyday things. I love it so much. I mean, every time you come on with a story, and I'm like, I'll I'm gonna remember, you know, and I remember what you were trying to come, what you were trying to get across because I remember the story, and that's such a gift. Um, so thank you for sharing that with me and with our listeners every time. It's just such a blessing. But yes, it reminds me, I was reading this thing about elephant, like it was an elephant, and as a baby, they would put a rope around its foot. Um, and then as the elephant got bigger, they took the rope off, but the elephant didn't go anywhere, right? And so it's the exact same thing. We we we develop prisons in our minds. And you're absolutely right. It's like when we believe Jesus comes and he he has the keys to sin and death. He got those. When he when he rose up out of the grave, he got the keys to sin and death. And he comes and he unlocks our prison. And how many of us just stay in the cell? Just like your toddlers in their little toddler bed, even when that four side was taken off. I mean, that's absolutely true. Um I often wonder why we as Christians look, don't look more different than the world that we live in. And I think that's probably a really good answer to part of it is maybe not completely, but partially, we have stayed in the same place we were, even though Jesus has flung that door wide open.

SPEAKER_01 19:31

I think that's right.

SPEAKER_02 19:32

So then I like go back to like the origin verse, right? John 15 Abide in me and I in you. And I like the other thing that has crept into my mind on this is like I don't think he meant go to church once a week and sing. Yeah, I don't even think he meant for 10 minutes in the morning, read my word. Like the verse to me conveys something, something like larger or grander than that. Because it's not just like hang out with me sometimes. Come see me on the weekend, right? Or in the morning, but I think about like abide, there is this like constantness to that, yeah. And it's always there, like he tells us that he is the vine and we are the branches, and we just need to like abide in that. And I think what you said earlier around like it's a trust thing. Like, do we trust that that's enough? That he will guide us on what needs to get done, he will give ours, give us what uh is ours to do, he will provide our provision, and if we just abide in him, then we will produce these fruits that if I think back to like the last episode, it is like the spiritual equivalent to Proverbs 31.

SPEAKER_03 21:32

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 21:34

But like he will do that if we can just abide in him.

SPEAKER_01 21:41

And I think like we just don't trust that that's gonna be enough. Nope.

SPEAKER_03 21:51

We absolutely try to manufacture the fruits on our own, um, as Christian women, right? Like in a I think even some cr you know, women who are not from our faith tradition. Um, I mean, there's a lot of people out there who are not Christians who are trying to practice self-control and trying to be kind. Um the one fruit, you know, I've been thinking about this for a bit. And I think for a while we, or to at least to a certain extent, we can manufacture or we can produce some facsimile of fruit. Um, we can be kind and we can love and we can do those things apart from Jesus. Jen, the one that I cannot, and I have tried, I think, not on purpose, maybe, but um the one fruit that I just cannot produce on my own, that I cannot manufacture, is joy.

SPEAKER_01 23:01

I can fake it, and I have done that, but I don't know how to produce joy.

SPEAKER_03 23:15

That is a gift, a fruit that that for me only comes from abiding.

SPEAKER_01 23:32

I feel like that's a fortunate position to be in. Because I look at the list.

SPEAKER_02 23:39

I love well, and I can find joy in things. Like those, like I I can do peace, patience, gentleness, self-control, like even goodness, right? Like I think about the root meaning of those things, and I am so far. Oh, absolutely, so far, like I know what love is, and I can do that well when I choose to do that well. Same with joy. I find joy and laughter in like all sorts of things. Um, but some of these others, like I am helpless and hopeless on. Um like even so, y'all. If like you've not checked it out, Lydia is doing a great job with the social media to support this podcast on like all of the social platforms. But I am not on them regularly. Like I might have accounts, but I don't go on them because I have no self-control when it comes to social media. Literally, like cannot have them on my phone. Um, and so Lydia's graciously like done that for me because in my, I guess, efforts to abide. I lack self-control to the point where like I just have to like not have it in the house. The same goes for cookies. Um, like we don't have cookies in our house. My poor children will grow up never experiencing homemade cookies from me other than Christmas, because like we cannot have them in our house or we eat them all very quickly. And so like I look at the fruits of the spirit and I maybe see what you saw in Proverbs 31, which is I don't measure up to any of this.

SPEAKER_03 25:52

Oh gosh, no.

SPEAKER_02 25:53

But what happens in me is I'm like, well, maybe I just need to try harder. Like, I should just do things differently or do more things or do different things, but like I must manufacture these fruits for myself. And my sense is like that's probably not what Jesus meant.

SPEAKER_01 26:16

That's not what he had for me. No. And I think that's so interesting, Jen. A couple of things that you said.

SPEAKER_03 26:27

One, obviously, our personalities, the the the different strengths and weaknesses that we have that in this the gifts that he has given us, um mean that for a while we can put there's things that we can produce on our own, and there are things that we're really gonna struggle with, right? And so it's interesting, even just the two of us, the ones that um like I could have I could be wall-to-wall cookies here, and I would that wouldn't, I couldn't care less. I don't really like sweets all that much. So, so that's not my thing, right? Like it's it's interesting how um, but the joy, like I'm never gonna be able to produce that on my own. So it's interesting how that dynamic plays into it, but I think what you said at the end is absolutely like the the trying harder is absolutely counter to the abiding. Um, and yet when things aren't happening, when we're not as good as we think we should be, when we're we don't feel like we are the Christian woman that you know God has called us to be, our go-to is not abiding. It's oh my gosh, what can I do to make this happen? Do I need to read five more minutes in my Bible today? Do I need to, you know, what do I need to volunteer for this ministry? Do I, you know, what do I need to do?

SPEAKER_01 28:17

And instead, the you know, the question should be, where do I need to be? Right? What and where do I need, where, where is my heart right now?

SPEAKER_03 28:34

Um it reminds me a few episodes ago, I talked about Mary Magdalene at the tomb, and the stone, you know, she was she all she was thinking about is how am I going to get that stone out of the way so that I can properly take care of Jesus' body? And she gets there and the stone's actually rolled, and he's not there. And so all she's thinking about is well, I had a goal and I can't do it now. And all she's doing is staring at the stone, right? And all she had to do was turn around and Jesus was right there, but she couldn't see him because she was so focused on the problem that she missed him. Um, Jen, that's me so much of the time. Is Jesus is standing right there and all I have to do is turn around.

SPEAKER_01 29:30

And I get so focused on what do I need to do that I miss that all I need to do is turn and just be with him. It sounds so simple and abiding.

SPEAKER_03 29:55

I mean, just it gave us one thing, right? Just all you gotta do. One thing. Abide. It sounds so simple. Why is it so hard?

SPEAKER_02 30:07

You know what was coming up for me as you talked about that, it's almost like we use the fruits of the spirit as like a spiritual scorecard. Like, no different than what we talked about in Proverbs 31, right? Um I think this is the scorecard. And I almost like judge myself on if I was really a follower of Christ, these things would be abundant and overflowing in my life. And when they're not, because I'm human and life happens, it's almost like I try to manufacture them for myself instead of remembering the command, which is you're already attached to me. Like I'm right here. I'm already here. We're already attached. I am inside of you. You are with me, and I am with you. Like you don't have to do that, but it's almost as if we try to treat the symptoms instead of address the root cause, because the root cause seems too simple and easy to be true.

SPEAKER_01 31:35

Oh my gosh. Yes. And yet it is also the the hardest thing to do, right? Which it goes back to trust.

SPEAKER_03 31:54

Um at the root of it, I have to trust that God is enough.

SPEAKER_01 32:05

That He loves me enough that He will take care of it. That I don't have to hustle or scrounge or use my own willpower to make the fruit grow. That he is enough. Why do I still struggle with that, Jen?

SPEAKER_03 32:40

Um, fifty-five years of knowing God.

SPEAKER_01 32:47

Why do I still struggle to trust him completely?

SPEAKER_02 33:00

I um tellers, I'm writing a book right now, and one of the things that I explore in it is this dynamic between fear and faith. And how, like, we know from our training that our brains were wired to perceive things as threat first, to try to control, to try to manufacture, to try to avoid whatever risk we believe is out there. And it's like this conscious choice to trust him and see the opportunity and figure out where he's asking us to go and trust that like he will walk with us as we get there. And there is a part that we play in this story that we are a part of that he has designed on purpose. But that's counter to the way that our brains are wired. And so I think part of it is like, is it Mark where he talks about like, I know the things I should do and I don't do those, and I know the things I shouldn't do and I do those. Yeah, Paul in Romans 7. And I think that it is this acknowledgement of the brokenness of who we are, yeah, because like we're wired to perceive threats and avoid risk. And that inherently puts us in a space where we cannot trust or hope or have faith because we're like stuck in this dumb default loop that runs in our head. Yes. And I think it is one of the enemy's greatest tools, right? Is to make you afraid and turn you inward and try to have you control a thing. And it's like the opposite of the freedom offered to us, but it requires like so much of faith, this choice to believe something different.

SPEAKER_01 35:30

It was very beautifully put, Jen. Um and Romans 7 actually gives me so much hope.

SPEAKER_03 35:46

Because like Paul is like a spiritual giant, right? Like we, I mean, he wrote half the New Testament. We wouldn't probably none of us would be here as believing Christians if he hadn't done what he did against incredible odds. And yet he was so vulnerable in that chapter. I think out of all the chapters that he wrote, I feel like Romans 7 was Paul at his most vulnerable. And he realized he was so broken and he was so wretched. And he, you know, he's just you can almost hear him just wanting to just tear something apart and just he's just crying out, what is wrong with me and why can't I get it right? But he ends that chapter with Thanks be to Jesus, our savior. Like he comes to the end of himself and realizes he can't do anything, and Jesus has to do it, and he's already done it.

SPEAKER_01 36:56

He's already done it. And I feel like that's abiding, right?

SPEAKER_03 37:07

Is when I come to the end of myself and I realize I can't fix it. And Jesus is right there. He's right, it's like I turn, turn away from the stone, and I turn to him. Paul turned away from himself and he turned to Jesus, and it's like that's it. He's the only, he's the only answer. There is no other way. I can't buy my way out of it, I can't perform my way out of it, I can't earn my way out of it, I can't fix my way out of it, I can't control my way out of it. At the bottom of my well of depravity and brokenness, I find Jesus.

SPEAKER_01 37:58

And he is the only answer. And I feel like somewhere in there, Jen, we're getting closer to what abiding really means.

SPEAKER_02 38:25

Um, as you were talking about that, I don't know if you've read, have you ever read Louis Giglio's book, Don't Give the Enemy a Seat at Your Table?

SPEAKER_03 38:37

I have.

SPEAKER_02 38:39

So, um, listeners who haven't read it, he links it to Psalm 23 that just says, like, God prepares a banquet, a table for us in the presence of our enemies. And the moral of his story is to your point about Paul, like Jesus is right there, sitting at the table with us with this glorious feast in front of us. And he didn't promise that the enemies would be gone. He didn't promise that fear and control and busyness and life and disease and in this humanly realm death. Like he didn't promise that none of those things would be there. He says that he like prepares a table for us in the presence of all of that. And the mental image he gives is like all Jesus is saying is like, keep your eyes on me. Like, just keep your eyes on me. Um, and I think about both like playing sports when I was young, watching my kids do that now, and how it's always like, keep your eye on the ball. Just like forget everything else that is going around, keep your eye on the ball. I think that's what he's saying to us here is like, hey, I got you right here. Keep your eye on me. And when we're able to do that, when like all of the swirl can be happening around us, and we're just like, okay, like, Laura, I'm just gonna keep my eyes on you. And in moments and in seasons where I do that, suddenly I have these fruits that I desire.

SPEAKER_00 40:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 40:39

Suddenly I'm doing the work that I feel like I'm meant to do.

unknown 40:43

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 40:44

And it's been um interesting as I've tried to wrap up the writing of this book, is I like don't feel that connection to the degree that I did when I started writing it because there was a swirl of all this other stuff that I gotta get done, right? And I think what I'm taking away today is oh my gosh, he's right there. Like all I needed to do was direct my gaze to the giver of life and forget about all of the rest of it. Forget about the fruits. Like I can't produce them anyway, like my sweet tomato plants at the bottom of the yard. Like it just like I'm already connected.

SPEAKER_01 41:45

All I have to do is like look at him. And the fruits will like appear. I think all of that is right, Jen.

SPEAKER_03 42:06

And I think about what I have to let go of in order to do that, right? And and the word that comes into my mind is surrender. And I think surrender goes with abiding. I think I d I don't know how to abide with if I'm not surrendered. Because I was thinking about what you were saying about your book or about the tomato plants or whatever. And my guess is you'd really like to be finished with the book.

SPEAKER_01 42:35

And get it out there into people's hands. You've worked really hard. But it's God's timing.

SPEAKER_03 42:46

It's not yours. I mean, you could go ahead and send it now, knowing that it's not finished, right? You could do that. You could you get you get that choice. Um but instead you're surrendering to his timing for it, knowing that it'll when it's fully mature fruit, it'll be out there. And so for me to literally be sitting at a table, and my enemies, and my and I think we need to remember that the it doesn't say the enemies are like sitting down and being quiet like little kindergartners on a circle on a mat, waiting for you to finish eating. They're attacking the entire time that you're sitting there enjoying your feast with Jesus, right? Like they're attacking. And it could literally just be the deadline. It doesn't have to be Satan that's an enemy. It could be you wanting that book to go out today, or the publisher putting pressure on you to have it done, or whatever it is. But all I'm trying to say is, in order for me to do what you said, and I think it's right, is I have to surrender. I have to surrender my timelines. I have to surrender my judgments of what's right and wrong for myself and for everybody else in my life, I can't abide when I am focused on what I want, what I think is right, what I think God should do.

SPEAKER_01 44:47

And so before I can abide, I have to surrender. Yeah, I mean, I think the point is dependence, right? Yeah. And I look back and it always works out. And even when it feels like there is no way forward, suddenly, like, oh there is. I'm surrendering everything the way that I think it should be done. I'm trading that for him. And he is enough. He's more than enough. He is overflowing and exceedingly enough. And I have it all, Jen. I already have it all.

SPEAKER_03 46:44

I don't have to. I don't have to do anything. I don't have to be better. Um, I don't have to make it happen. I have everything that I could possibly need or want and more.

SPEAKER_01 47:05

But I gotta step out of the toddler bed.

SPEAKER_02 47:25

You um not on the podcast, but in one of our prior conversations. I don't know what we were talking about.

SPEAKER_01 47:34

But you said, we are daughters of the King of Kings, and all he has is available to us.

SPEAKER_02 47:46

All and I think about that sometimes when I get worried about really small things here, and maybe it's because we're both hyperachievers, but it feels like the lesson is the the fruits are evidence of abiding, not proof that we're like trying hard enough.

SPEAKER_01 48:35

He's so good. He's so good. Alright, shall I pray over our listeners? I mean, I'm lappling. Ah, Lord, thank you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 49:00

Thank you for your free gift, God, that I sometimes am unwilling to accept or feel like I have to earn. Or it everybody everyone else should get it, but not me.

SPEAKER_01 49:20

Um thank you for the reminder today that it is free. It is free, and we get to abide in you.

SPEAKER_03 49:42

We get that. It's not something we have to do, it is a beautiful, an amazing gift that the God who created the entire universe wants to be connected with me, wants to be connected with me all the time, and to actually live inside of me.

SPEAKER_01 50:10

The treasure that we have in these earthen vessels, Lord. We forget.

SPEAKER_03 50:21

So thank you for the reminder today. And Lord, I don't know that we go away from these conversations with definitive answers. I don't think that I've done that yet because these questions we're bringing are not yes or no, true or false, multiple choice type questions. They're difficult questions that we as women of faith grapple with. But Lord, you show up every time and you take us just a little further down the path towards you. And so thank you for that. Lord, I pray for your blessing and favor on all of our listeners, that you would meet them exactly where they are, God. And I pray that you would keep us safe and bring us all back together again. In Jesus' name we ask these thanks.

SPEAKER_00 51:24

Amen. Amen.