Episode 17 - When You Feel Far from God

 Have you ever found yourself feeling distant from God—not because you stopped loving Him, but because life became too heavy?

In this episode, Val Mitchell explores the story of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus to reveal how grief, disappointment, and unanswered prayers can quietly pull us away from God's presence. Through a personal testimony and biblical insight, she reminds us that even when we withdraw, Jesus still knows where we are and lovingly calls us back.

If you've been carrying a burden that's left you emotionally exhausted or spiritually disconnected, this episode is an invitation to return to the One who can restore your strength and renew your hope.

Key Scriptures:
• Luke 10:38-42
• John 11
• Matthew 26:6-13

💜 Key Takeaway:
You don't have to carry your pain alone. Jesus is still asking for you. 

Welcome to Valetha's Greatest Moments with God, a podcast for women who desire to hear God's voice, find healing, and grow closer to Him.

Each week, Val Mitchell shares personal stories, biblical insights, and powerful revelations from her own walk with God. Through real-life experiences and practical faith lessons, you'll discover how God speaks in everyday moments, guides us through difficult seasons, and invites us into a deeper relationship with Him.

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Thank you for joining me for today's episode of Valetha's Greatest Moments with God.

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Thank you for listening to Valetha's Greatest Moments with God.

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Until next time,

Hear God's Voice.
Find Healing.
Build Intimacy and Trust.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:34

That you're single or married, but you work a corporate job, you have a demanding family, you have a household you got to run, you got so many things that you're trying to deal with. And because we've been trying to carry the weight of that for so long, a lot of times at you get to the end of your rope where you're just exhausted all the time. You're either exhausted mentally, physically, emotionally. Well, the new book I wrote is called I Quit. And what I'm doing in these next five sessions, if you count today, we're gonna be talking about specific things that are hopefully you can relate to in terms of exhaustion. And then you know I can't just leave you out there. We're gonna talk about it, we're gonna deal with it head on, right? And then I'm gonna provide you with hopefully some good solutions that can carry you through and help take that burden off, right? When I first sat down to write this book, one thing God told me was, you were never meant to be superwoman. He never called us to be a superwoman. That's a worldly thing. Saying I could take this, take this, take this, take this, oh by the way, take this and give me that. And I carry it, and it's fine when you first carry it off. You probably actually feel good. But over time it gets heavy and heavy and heavy. Well, let's talk about that. But if you recall when we met last week, we talked about how to deal with some of the things, and I gave you a homework assignment. How many of it did that homework assignment? If you recall quickly, a recap from last week, we were talking about the burden of just carrying too much. And if you recall, I even used an example of a person or carries a big, big purse. Like me, I love big purses because you can put just about anything in those purses, right? You'll never be without because it's always on you in that purse. Well, sometimes when we have those big purses and we put in more than what it's capacity to do, so the straps get thinner and thinner and eventually break. So I left you with a homework assignment that asked, What are you carrying? What is it that you are carrying that's becoming too heavy for you to bear? And I asked you to take those things and write it down and then sit with God. So I really, really hope you did that homework assignment. But if you didn't, or if you don't even know what I'm talking about, that's okay too. Just tune in to last week's service on my page and you can walk through the specifics of it. But in the meantime, what are we talking about this week? This week we're going to talk about being present, but you're not really there. What do I mean by that? Have you ever found yourself participating in family functions and group activities, being at work among colleagues, and everyone around you is is talking, having a good time, they're fellowshipping real well, but you are distant. I've had those situations in the past. Even when I got caught when I'm going to a child's game, one of my son's football games, the older ones played band in the um, and I was the one that was sitting in the in the stadium. But instead of being active and being engaged and being participant, my mind was elsewhere. And I was in such a heavy funk that I just couldn't break out of it. Now, last week we talked about some reasons people go through that is just because they're carrying too much weight. This week I want to shift it a little bit. What if it's a case where you are dealing with a traumatic experience? It could be a loss of a loved one, it could be circumstance that just hit so hard that you don't know how to break yourself out of that, but you know you got to get up. For me, it was hearing some very, very bad news from a loved one. Life was good, life was perfect. I wouldn't call it perfect, but it was good. It was manageable. You know, we were having a good time. And then one day I was presented with some news of my loved one that shook me to my core. And I could not break out of it. I couldn't break out of it mainly because I couldn't do anything to help or help them get out of that situation. And it was more, it was so hard, like, how could this happen to someone that I care about the most? That was a life-changing thing for me that I just I didn't know how to, I didn't know how to deal with it. Amen. And so because of that, I could not really function. I was here, but I wasn't here. I was still really trying to one process the news, but at the same time feeling guilty and shameful because I couldn't do anything about it. And when the information came, I knew I still had to try to be strong for this loved one. But at the same time, I was fighting within just to make it day by day, just to try so hard to bring a smile about. I think the only times I could really even get out of bed during that time was I had a little one. And the little one would come in my room bright and early, you know, mom, I'm hungry, mom, I need this, mom, I need that. And little did he know it, or even I knew it at the time. But that was my lifeline, just to really get out of the bed and to really just go through the day. Well, if I continue on with this story, I think a week had passed and I could not shake that heaviness, the weight of that that I was dealing with. That I had a girlfriend, really good, you know, she was, she's a woman of faith. And she just called one day. Now, I couldn't, I didn't tell anyone what was going on with me. But good friends knew there was a shift in what I was dealing with. So she called one day and said, Hey, you know, I'm having prayer at my house tonight. You know, you can uh you know, come on over, and then we're gonna sit and chat, have some dinner and stuff like that. Just have some good girl time. Come on over, and it'll help you feel better. Now, mind you, during the time I got the bad news, up until that point, I think it might have been about two weeks, and I had only gone out of the house to go to work, pick my son up from school, and come on. Before that, I was deep with my church, I was going to Bible study, um, after church activities, Sunday worship. I was in church like crazy. I was having a good time with friends, but during that period, I stopped going to church. And it wasn't necessarily that I was running away from God, but it was a big understanding where I didn't know why it happened and what was going on. And I just wanted to be by myself. I was too hurt to just deal with anything, even God. So reluctantly, my girlfriend got me over to her house. And when I got to her house, sat down on the couch, and I just slummed back in a chair there physically, but not mentally or anything else. She put on a service where the ministered man of God was started preaching. I to this day still don't know who that was. When I tell you, when she turned on the volume and the man of God started ministering through the microphone, the power of God came into that room so strong that I was swept up, overtaken, filled with the spirit, and I just broke. I started crying. I was all over the place, all from just that man ministering. It was as if God came through that man's voice, came into my spirit and removed that huge burden that was placed on me and refilled me with his love. When I left my girlfriend's house, I had such a weight that was lifted. I was strengthened, I was refreshed, and I was able to go back to that loved one and be that strong figure that they needed in their time to help them pull themselves out of what they were going. That was such a powerful encounter with me that there is no way I know I would never have shaken that off of me. I would have figured out how to take it and lock it and try to press forward, but still damaged on the inside.

SPEAKER_01 11:09

But God, He got a hold of me and He made certain that I was able to press forward. Amen. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 11:21

So when I was looking at writing the book and talking about exhaustion, this was one key topic that I definitely had to deal with. And so when I prayed about it this week, saying, God, you know, what are we gonna talk about? What do you want me to tell the people? And he pointed me to the story of Mary, Martha's sister. We know the story of Mary and Martha is found in Luke 10, where Jesus, when he would come to town, he would stop and see his buddy Lazarus, and Lazarus' sisters were Mary and Martha. So he would be able to come over, stay a couple days with them, and they would be able to have a good time, socializing and just, you know, having a having a good time. So Jesus loved this family. He loved Lazarus, he loved Mary, and he loved Martha. And they were always so excited every time he came to town. And we learned that in Luke 10 because Martha, as we learned, was upset because she was all busy trying to make sure everything was right. Because Jesus is in my home. You know, I got to make sure the table's good, the food is right, the temperature is set, you know, all the things. And then what Mary would all would do every time he would come, she was so excited he was there, but she wasn't in, let me make sure he's comfortable. She would always be at his feet and listening to whatever he had to say, whatever teachings that came out of. She was always, I gotta sit and be with Jesus. The story that I really want to get into, and I'm gonna read a little bit out of the Bible, if you don't mind, and we're gonna talk more about what's found in John, and I got my Bible here, so if you see me looking down, that's why. We got in John, starting with chapter 11, and I'm always in the NIV version. We're gonna talk about when Lazarus, this is Jesus' good friend, he becomes sick. And when he becomes sick, what do we do as even Christians today when we have a loved one that is sick? The first thing we do, you know, you take him to the doctor and you get the diagnosis and all that, but we go to God. We start praying for healing and we start quoting scriptures and we saying we believe him by faith that he's already healed. You take your request of your loved one who's sick, and you give that to God. You send it up to God. Lord, we're asking for healing for this person. Well, in chapter 11, that's exactly what Mary and Martha did. When Lazarus got sick, they instantly sent word to Jesus. Jesus, our brother, your friend, the one you love, has fallen sick. We need you to come to make him well. Because they already knew he was the Messiah. And they already knew that if he came into the picture, there would be no question Lazarus will be well. So Mary and Martha did what we do today is they sent up a repair request. They sent out the word to Jesus, hey, come, come see about your friend, our brother, who is sick. So that's what we're gonna read right quick. And I'm starting with verse one. Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, a village of Mary and her sister Martha. This was Martha whose brother Lazarus now lay sick and was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair. We're gonna talk about that later. So the sisters sent word to Jesus, Lord, the one you love is sick. Now, this is the interesting part. When he heard this, Jesus said, The sickness will not end in death, nor is for glory, it is for God's glory, so that God's Son may be glorified through it. Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was for two more days, and then he told his disciples, let's get back to Judea. Now that part is really, really interesting because you would think, if this is someone that is close to Jesus, and Jesus just confirmed, I love them. But when you hear they're sick, he stayed back before he went out. He didn't instantly run out. He sat down for two days and then he went out. Now, Jesus already gave us a hint to the picture saying, I already know what is going on, I know why he's sick, and I know what comes after it. This whole thing with Lazarus being sick is going to be for the glory of God. Now, he didn't tell Mary and Martha that. So they don't know why Jesus is taking as long as he's taken. So keep moving on, and I want to go to verse still in chapter 11. We're going to just jump down to 17. On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days. Now we just learned Jesus learned about it. He sat back two additional days, but then when he went out, he learned Lazarus was already dead. He was already buried in the tomb, and four days had passed. Now Bethany was less than two miles away from Jerusalem, and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. So when Mary heard, when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home. So now we have Jesus has come to town. It's been four days since their brother passed. Instead of Martha and Mary running out to Jesus when he arrives, Mary stays home, but Martha goes to see about Jesus. And she says, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now, God will give you whatever you ask. So Jesus talks to Martha, and I'm not going to read that. But one thing he did come back and say, he said, your brother will rise again. And from there, he looked around and noticed, where's Mary? Jesus knows that Mary is always at his feet, no matter when he shows up. It's like, where's Mary? Where's Mary?

SPEAKER_01 18:54

So he sent Martha and told her to go get your sister.

SPEAKER_00 19:04

After she said this, she went back and called for her sister Mary's side. The teacher is here, and he is asking for you. So when Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to see him. When Mary, and I'm down at verse 32, when Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, Lord, if you would have been here, my brother would not have died. When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and in trouble. And then in verse 40, Jesus said, Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God? So I want to look at Mary's story in that situation and kind of line it up to my story. And then I'm hoping you can take both stories and then line it up to what you're dealing with yourself. So we know in the beginning, before Lazarus was sick, Mary was devoted to Jesus. She loved Jesus. Every time he came to town, she stayed at his feet.

SPEAKER_01 20:29

He loved her and her sister and Lazarus, and he and she loved him. Then Lazarus falls sick.

SPEAKER_00 20:42

And Martha and Mary are so distraught because it took Jesus four days to arrive after he has passed away and been already placed in the tomb. If you look at my story, I still and then was a faithful Christian. I loved church. I love praying. I love going to God. I got hit with some hard news and I pulled back and I stopped going to church. I stopped seeing friends. I just went to work, picked my son up, and came home.

SPEAKER_01 21:27

When Jesus arrived in town, he noticed that Mary was not there.

SPEAKER_00 21:37

So he sent Martha out to go see about her and tell her to come here. God sent my girlfriend out, invited me to her house for prayer. She said prayer, and then we'll probably have dinner and just chit-chat. That word went out. And how do I know it was God that used my friend to call me to her place? It's because when she turned on that minister on the radio, the power of God just came through that room like a flood. That was God's invitation that was sent out to me personally to come in to a space where he was. Mary had the chance to lay at God's feet and be honest with him. And tell him, Lord, why did you come? You could have been here way before he died. But now he's dead. All hope is lost. It's all gone. And what did God tell her? Did I not tell you that if you believe, even if it looks like this, even since he's been dead for four days and he's locked in a tomb, if you believe, you will see the glory of God.

SPEAKER_01 23:11

After that experience, we all know the story what happened.

SPEAKER_00 23:15

God went to the tomb, he said a prayer to God to the Heavenly Father. He called Lazarus forward. Lazarus became alive and literally walked out of the tombs. What happened to me in that whole experience that night? The weight was lifted off of me. I no longer felt sad, depressed, exhausted, but I was strengthened and I was refreshed, and I was able to go strengthen my love.

SPEAKER_01 23:54

What is carrying you today?

SPEAKER_00 23:58

Is it something traumatic that happened in your life that has got you lots where you are present but not really here? Where you are still trying to just make it through a day, but you are weighed down so heavily because of whatever that experience was, loss of job, someone passing away. You're no longer in a relationship, you had a bad breakup, divorce or you know, breakups are real. You get into a relationship with someone, and you really think that's for the rest of your life. And to have it suddenly in for whatever the reason could be, there's various reasons why.

SPEAKER_01 24:52

That takes something out of you where you're just barely hanging on and you're barely pressing.

SPEAKER_00 25:08

Martha was Mary's messenger when she said, the teacher is looking for you, and he said, Come here. My friend was my messenger. Hey, I've got prayer going on at my house tonight. We're gonna have some dinner. I would really love for you to come here. Well, I'm your messenger, and God has sent me to come to you saying, Hey, where are you? Come see the Father and allow him to refresh you, allow him to be able to take that burden, to grab that grief and take it from you. But one thing we do have to realize is that when you get in that moment with God, all you have to do is be honest.

SPEAKER_01 26:09

Mary was honest in that moment. God, why didn't you show up?

SPEAKER_00 26:18

We sent for you. I know you love me. I know you love my brother Lazarus. And you know I love you. So if anything, I should have been put at the top of the list just because of those factors right there. God, why didn't you show up? Jesus was so moved by compassion. But we have to remember at the very beginning of the story, he already knew that when he got word about Lazarus' death, I mean sickness, he knew it was going to end in death, but he knew what was going to come after that because that whole ordeal had to allow him glorified so everyone can see that he was God's son. He was a son of God.

SPEAKER_01 27:17

That's why he stayed intentionally to allow the process to go through.

SPEAKER_00 27:25

So in my situation, and what God did with me and my loved one and that tragic news we got, today I can see how God got the glory. I can see how God got in the midst of the whole situation and was able to be glorified in that moment while I was in it, I saw none of that.

SPEAKER_01 27:56

I didn't experience any of that.

SPEAKER_00 28:02

Is it possible that the experience that you have encountered that you prayed about but it didn't get answered? God did not answer that prayer, and you were forced to still press through, even though you went through what you went through.

SPEAKER_01 28:26

Is it possible that now God is calling you to come to Him so you can understand how the glory of God is going to come out of it?

SPEAKER_00 28:47

You may not be able to get the full answer as to the what, who, where, why, and how. I still don't have all of it with my own personal. But I see the after part of it, I see the God getting this glory out of it. I see the circumstance with that loved one I had and what came through that and came out of that. I'm because I'm on the other side. Know that if you're going through and you accept God's invitation to come on back, go see him, even in this, that you're going to be able to see on the other, once you get to the other side, you'll see the glory that comes out of it. Amen. So I'm going to one thing that God wanted to also say because Mary came back and she allowed her and him to have that conversation. And then she was able to witness the miracle of her brother Lazarus getting resurrected, coming out of the tombstone, and being able to take the grave clothes off and be a living man. When Mary was caught up with that whole ordeal of, oh my gosh, my brother, he's alive. He is back with us. Jesus, do love us. We're gonna jump to Matthew 26, and I'm gonna start with verse 6. While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of Simon the leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of a very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head, and he was reclining at the table. When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. Why this waste? They asked, this perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor. Aware of this, Jesus said to them, Why are you bothered by this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me. When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. Truly I tell you, whatever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her. She was just so, so thankful to God that she went and had this very expensive bottle perfume. And she anointed God's head and anointed his body with this perfume. So I had to dig into that because God told me that Mary was blessed for two reasons. One reason was she was handpicked to anoint Jesus' body. And two, Jesus said, because of her faithfulness, whenever the gospel of that particular story was going to be preached, her name was going to be mentioned. And that Mary will always be known. Just think about it. When you think about people in the past from the Bible, or even just regular people, there's only a few names that you can talk about that say, oh, I remember that person. I know that person. God marked her name that no matter when we talked about that story, we're going to always know who Mary is. Amen. But I wanted to look at the oil, the oil, and anointing the body, and everything. So when I did some homework on that one, back in that era, they didn't have funeral homes that embalm the bodies that allowed them to last so people can actually, you know, go visit your loved ones before you put them in the ground. It was Jewish custom really to prepare the body. They would wash the body, they would wrap it with linen, and then they would get fresh incense, fragrance, myrrh. It was more of a fragrance thing, and they would put that over the body. All this was to honor that individual, and they would put all of that on the body, and then they would lay it in the tomb. When you think about it, it wasn't just anybody that can come and do that. So in Jesus' case, we have to know this is Jesus. So Jesus already knew eventually he was going to have to go to the cross. He knew he was going to die, but he also knew that he was going to be risen and going back up to heaven. So at the time of his death, when he was his body was taken, he knew he was going to be prepped, but he knew because he was going into death that he had to still have that anointing over his body. So when Mary came in with a sacrifice of this very expensive perfume, it was already predestined that she would be the one to anoint him and prepare his flesh, his body for the death that was to come. That nobody at the time but Jesus knew was going to take place. Amen. So that was a blessing for Mary to have that honor, to have that privilege to be able to prepare Jesus' body by anointing him with that.

SPEAKER_01 34:38

I was really like, wow. So to say all of that, what God was pretty much saying is that she was blessed.

SPEAKER_00 34:51

She was blessed to be able to have that privilege of anointing him with that nard, the very expensive perfume. And she was also blessed because he marked her name that no matter when the story was told, her name would always be known for generations, generations. And even like us today, we're talking about Mary.

SPEAKER_01 35:22

So I ask you today, and I'm going to wrap this up.

SPEAKER_00 35:27

If you fall into that category where you are exhausted, and you're present, but you're not really there. And the reason being, if you trace it back, is because you had a traumatic experience that occurred. Like I said, it could be the loss of a loved one, it could be sickness, it could be death, it could be you got divorced or you're out of a long-term relationship, whatever it is that hit really, really hard, and you can't move. Well, you did like me, and you even stopped going to church, you stopped praying, you just didn't want to be bothered with anything. Or like Mary when Jesus came to town and she she stayed where she was at. She let everyone else go to Jesus, but she stayed at home.

SPEAKER_01 36:27

Allow me to be your messenger. It says, God said he wants to see you.

SPEAKER_00 36:36

He wants you to come to him and spend some time with him. Amen. And how do we do that? I want you to just seriously be honest with yourself. Ask yourself one question. If I used to go to church and I used to love Bible study, I used to pray a lot, I used to read my word, and today I don't find myself doing it because I'm tired. I can't shake whatever it is I'm feeling. Can you put your finger on what happened that caused you to be that way? Is it a traumatic experience? What is that experience? What was that encounter? Be honest with yourself first. And then I want you to take that and take it to God. Take it in prayer. Go, I always tell you, find that space where only you and God can meet uninterrupted. It could be at the church altar. Me, I find myself at the altar all the time. They used to talk about me at church, but I didn't care. Every Sunday, I was on that altar because I needed God during that time. I really needed God. Or you have a prayer closet. Wherever it is, I have a prayer closet where I go and I pray. I used to pray in my car a lot because I was the Uber mom, like I told you. I was constantly taking my kids' places. So I was in my car all the time. So that was the best spot in between drop-offs. I can sit and have some good time with God. Wherever your space is, take that hurt, take that pain. God is calling you. He wants to sit with you. And he's gonna do you just like he did me. Where as soon as I got in that presence and my girlfriend turned on that ministering song, the power of God came in that room and lifted that burden I was carrying. My prayer for you today is when you go spend time with God, when you make it a point to go sit down with that hurt, with that burden, I pray in the name of Jesus that the power of God comes in and ministers directly to your heart and allow you to leave that space renewed and refreshed. I thank you today for joining me. This one was a tough one. I hope this blessed you. I hope this encouraged you. I hope it allowed you to really think about what that one thing is and that you can take it to God. Amen. He's not scared of whatever you got. He just misses you and he wants you to come back and he wants you to realize he is there through the good, through the bad, and even through the ugly. All right, my name is Val Mitchell. I am so excited to join. Remember, I still do lives on Saturday. So join me this Saturday at 10 a.m. on my Facebook page where we're gonna switch and talk about a whole different subject. And I look forward to seeing you then. All right. In the meantime, I'll talk to you soon.

SPEAKER_01 40:00

Bye bye.