The Purpose Myth That's Keeping You Stuck Ep. 353

Welcome to the Rock Solid Families Podcast! In this podcast, Linda Hutchinson and Andy Dalton introduce the new theme of the month of August - Purpose! This month's theme builds off the theme from last month, which was all about our identity in Christ. If you haven't had a chance to go check those episodes out, we encourage you to do so! 

Linda and Andy go into detail for WHAT exactly our purpose is on this earth. It's clearly stated in scripture but they also use real life examples to help solidify God's plan for our lives. This episode is also full of laughter - we think you'll really enjoy this episode! If you do, please share it with your friends and rate our show as well. 

If you want to learn more about Rock Solid Families, then go check out their website https://www.rocksolidfamilies.org/. Or you can check them out on social media platforms. Thanks for listening and have a blessed week!

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:00

Welcome back to the Rock Solid Families Podcast. I'm Andy. I'm here with Linda, and uh we've got some funny kid stories we are telling you today.

SPEAKER_01 0:09

I don't know how we got onto puke, but you know, it's uh yeah, it was interesting.

SPEAKER_03 0:14

That is not the topic of what we're talking about. This podcast is not about vomit. No, no. We're talking about the purpose that each one of us has while we're here on this earth and how we can walk within that purpose, confidently building upon our identity and freedom in Christ that we finished our last monthly theme with. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 0:32

So what does that have to do with vomit? You'll just have to stay tuned and check it out.

SPEAKER_00 0:41

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SPEAKER_01 1:37

Welcome to the Rock Solid Families Podcast. I am Linda Hutchinson here with Andy. A new month, Andy.

SPEAKER_03 1:43

We are in a new month coming into August.

SPEAKER_01 1:45

Yes. Last month we unpacked the idea of our identity in Christ and the freedom that we experience when we truly know whose we are.

SPEAKER_02 1:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:54

But if you didn't have a chance to check that out, Andy, it's it's some of our most important shows, honestly.

SPEAKER_03 2:00

It is. I especially the first one we did that introduced it and the strongholds of what that can look like for us and the freedom we get when we walk in who we've were created to be. Uh it's game changing. It's life-changing. So yeah, I agree, guys. Please, if you get a chance, go listen to those episodes. They are powerful.

SPEAKER_01 2:15

And every month we do a Women on Mission podcast and a Strong Dad podcast. And Man Our Wish Women on Mission Podcast talked about those strongholds. We had a special guest. So, oh, so good, so good. So please, please tune in. You can go and check out everything on our website or on anywhere you get your podcast platform. But now that we know who we are in Christ, Andy, this month we're going to tackle the question is what is our purpose? Like, why are we here?

SPEAKER_02 2:42

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 2:42

And then how do we walk that out in our everyday life? And so, what is God calling us to do in our lives? And so there is this, Andy, this purpose crisis, really this myth that we have.

SPEAKER_03 2:54

Do you understand the myth? I think so. It's funny only because of you guys and uh, you know, going back before, I think, um uh Charlie's dinner. One of our many dinners we did together as couples. I like food a lot. And so if you say there's food, I'm probably gonna be angry. Yeah, we just kept feeding them. And Merle had said this so well. Like, Andy, a lot of people nowadays think if they make this transition or they choose this career path, it's either I'm jumping off a cliff or I'm soaring out to what the Lord has created for me. It's not always that way. You know, we take these steps, it's not always sink or swim, it's not always I'm gonna be great or I'm gonna die.

SPEAKER_01 3:32

Like, and so I think pleasing the Lord or or displeasing the Lord, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 3:37

Am I doing what he called me to do? Is this what my purpose is on this earth?

SPEAKER_01 3:40

Yeah, I I I crunch numbers all day or I, you know, clean floors all day. Like, could I be possibly living God's calling on my life? And so this is the myth that really confuses a lot of believers and probably a lot of our listeners. It creates this crisis in our lives. We often confuse our career and our role with our purpose. And so when we lose a job, when we retire, or maybe our kids leave the nest or we lose our husband, like I have. Like, does that create this identity crisis of like, that was my identity, that's who I was? And so we've already um talked about the who, yeah, but sometimes we hitch our who to the what purpose.

SPEAKER_03 4:19

Oh, I am an electrician. Yes, I do. I am, yeah, and and so that identity piece of what we do for a living, it's to be like I had this, I literally had this, I am Coach Dalton. I had this identity crisis for years as a college football coach, went to a high school football coach. I had to re-like, oh, okay, Lord, maybe I'm more than just Coach Dalton.

SPEAKER_01 4:40

Yes, yeah. So, really, this episode is all gonna be about uh differentiating the what, our purpose, yes, to the how we fulfill that purpose. Okay, and they're very different things. And so the myth is sometimes that they're the one and the same, and they're not. They're two very different things. And so, because that tension exists, we find believers really having struggles in life transitions when the children leave the nest, or you do lose a spouse, or you lose a job. And so it's like, who am I and what do I do now? And so we're gonna really kind of talk about that.

SPEAKER_03 5:11

This is gonna be huge. It's gonna be uh freeing, talking about our last month of freedom and identity. I think this this pairs so well together. Yep. Um, and the Lord knew what he was doing when he put those uh themes together when we were talking about it a year ago. And so before we dive into this though, we want to go and thank our sponsors. We want to thank Casey's Outdoor Solutions, Hoosier's Ice House, and Maxwell Construction for their support of Rock Sawed Families, this podcast. Um, and if you guys don't know who we are, we encourage you guys to go to our website, check us out at rocksawedfamilies.org or reach out to us. We'd love to sit down and explain, you know, the mission of Rock Sawed Families, what our goal is here, and how we feel like you know we are joining with God to strengthen our community communities through families one at a time.

SPEAKER_01 5:56

Yeah. And so we got some exciting things coming up in this August. We have our new website launching really soon. Excited about that. And on our new website, we're gonna be announcing some new coaches. We're expanding. The team is expanding. Actually, we're doubling in size, more than doubling in size. And so um at the end of the month, we will have seven coaches, Andy, that men and women who are gonna be walking alongside clients, working in areas of addiction, codependency, anxiety, infidelity, uh, whatever the case may be. And so we're really excited, and so we hope that you'll keep tuning in to hear more. And, you know, I've actually been talking to some of those coaches about being guests on the podcast. Some of them like the the blood drains out of their face in fear.

SPEAKER_03 6:40

Isn't that what you did to Kim and I? We were. Yeah, we kind of did that.

SPEAKER_01 6:43

We're kind of like three to the wolves, right? We just kind of like, you know, sink or swim. But you guys did great, and uh, that's what we're gonna be talking about in the month of August and introducing you some new people. So keep staying tuned in August. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 6:56

So now let's talk about the what, right? What is our purpose here on earth? And so every single follower of Christ shares the exact same primary purpose in life.

SPEAKER_01 7:06

We all have the same purpose.

SPEAKER_03 7:07

Every single one of us.

SPEAKER_01 7:08

What?

SPEAKER_03 7:09

Everyone, and what was the last thing that Jesus said, Matthew 28? Uh go and make disciples of all nations, right? So the what, which is what we're going to be talking about, uh, along with the how later on, but the how looks different for each one of us, the what does not. And so the the the scripture that we want to go and point out that we're anchoring this from in God's word and his truth, Colossians 3.23, whatever you do, whatever, whatever, do it all with your heart as working for the Lord, not for human masters.

SPEAKER_01 7:38

Colossians 3.23. It's one of those verses that you really need to memorize because it is life-changing. You know, um, Andy, before you came on board a couple years ago, we did uh a theme, a whole month theme in Synergy, our before school Bible study, which by the way is gonna start in the Summon Dearborn schools as well as the uh the gathering at Harrison Jr. High. Yeah, so we're in the Harrison schools and some and Dearborn schools. But anyway, um, we did a whole month on our one identity and our one purpose. And and the identity is, you know, when we become a follower of Christ, we are a child of his, we're a child of God no matter where we came from or what we look like, and our one purpose is to bring him glory, is to make his name known, is to praise him and worship him and to to lead others to Christ. Like that is our one purpose. And so if you notice, um, when Paul writes this in Colossians, he doesn't restrict our purpose to pastors or ministers or people that are on stage in a pulpit. Yep, yeah, whatever means things like changing diapers, cleaning toilets, yeah, you know, driving a truck, running a business, parenting teenagers, whatever you do, Colossians 3.23 says. Do it all for the Lord. Do it all for the Lord.

SPEAKER_03 8:54

There's a really, really cool book. If you guys are readers, uh if you want to look this up, could Jesus Have Been a CPA? Is the book. Huh. It's it was phenomenal, really good read. And the guy just basically writes stories. So he was a CPA. Okay, came to know Christ, and thought he's like, Well, Lord, if I'm giving my life to you, he thought he had to be a missionary. Like one of the things, you restricted me, I'm a father of Christ, I have to go be a missionary. And then he said he felt like really vividly, God said, I called you into this world of CPA. You don't have to go on to Africa to be on mission for my people. You could do it within this business of CPA and and tax accounting. And so really cool book, short read, easy. Could Jesus Minute CPA talks just about this? Wow, and it shifts us for the Lord in Colossians. It says, Paul says this not for human masters. Yeah, our primary audience is always Jesus. And what is cool about that is when our ultimate boss boss is Christ, no task is small, no work is meaningless. Every day has something that I can glorify him with.

SPEAKER_01 9:56

No. You know, I had a client years ago who um uh she couldn't hold down a job for very long. And um, she came in and she had just quit a job at Burger King and they had asked her to to mop the floor twice in one day. And she said, That's it. They were just making that floor dirty just because. And I was like, you know, that's your job. Yeah you know, and do it with joy in your heart and with you know, peace and and loving people through that instead of like begrudgingly, angrily, bitterly, resentfully not wanting to do it, and she just keeps quitting, waiting for that right moment, that right job. And it's like, no, whatever you're doing right now, do it for the Lord. And the focus of our heart is not on our resume or our 401k or the trophies on our shelf or your title behind your name, Andy. The different different letters that you can put it's really about the posture of your heart, and that's what God is work working on and wanting from us is that surrendered heart to him.

SPEAKER_03 10:59

Yeah, that's really good. Right. So, all right, the what versus the how, which we've kind of shared this, all right? The singular what, our shared purpose, right? To bring him glory in. And I think of Romans chapter 12, verse 1. We offer our bodies as living sacrifices, and our bodies different than you, the different than me, then different than you guys listening. All of us have this different singular thing that we bring him glory in whatever we do. Yeah, right. And so we do this by pointing our eyes towards Jesus, yeah, living as uh, you know, like, hey Lord, you are the one who gets all this. I am only able to do this because of you. I talked to so many people about this this last week recently, and I don't know where I came from, but you know, the moon um is only bright because of the sun. Yeah. And so if the moon shines brighter, does that mean the moon somehow got better? It it got whiter. No, no, no, no. If the moon shines any brighter, it's only because of the sun. Yeah. And so if we were like the moon, like I want to stand as bright and as tall as I can because if I do anything good, it's only because of Jesus. So as I point back to him, he gets all the glory. That is our shared purpose.

SPEAKER_01 12:04

Yeah, I mean, Romans 12, 1 does say that we're we're to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice and that that is our spiritual form of worship. Yeah, like that's worship to the Lord when we offer that toilet cleaning, you know, or the pick uh Andy, I'm just gonna call you out here. Um, have you ever had a cleanup like vomit? Like if one of your kids like got sick or like changed a nasty, nasty diaper, you know? I have I won't call out which son, but I have a son who like dry heaves at those things. Like he can't do it. And he's not saying, like, I'm better than you, honey. He's literally like, I my stomach can't handle it. And so, but that's part of being a dad, right? Yep. Is cleaning up puke. And, you know, those midnight uh sicknesses and stuff. And so, like, the Lord is saying, I want you to do it for my glory. I want you to honor me in those moments where no one else sees it. Yep that's how we do our worship, okay? And so the purpose is the same to whatever we do. And so here's the some supporting scripture for the what? First Corinthians 10 31 says, so whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God, right? Whatever's used twice. That's the second time we've heard whatever you do, huh? Whatever you do. Okay, yeah. In Matthew 5, 6, here's where your moon and sun come in. In the same way, let your light shine before others that they may see your good deeds and glorify your God. It's not that you get the praise. Nope. Nope. That it's glorifying the Lord. That's why the Bible talks about don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. Yes. And sometimes in our giving, we're like, hey, look at us. We're giving all this money to the church or to the poor, or hey, I'm doing this for you, and we want the glory ourselves. And God's like, nope, uh, I'm a jealous God. Yep, yep. I don't want you to steal my glory.

SPEAKER_03 13:53

No, and I I love this one too, Matthew 6, 33. But seek first the kingdom and his righteousness, and then and all these things. You know what's cool about this? What is all these things? Hint, you got to go back a couple of verses, and you'll see what all these things he tells you. If you seek me first, all of these things I preceded this verse with will be given to you. And it's really cool. And so he's referring to you know, the things that we worry about, the things that we have like, am I doing what we do, yeah. Am I doing what is right, Lord? Am I? Trust me, keep your eyes on me, focus on my righteousness, and all of these things, all these worries will melt away because you'll know that you're in my will.

SPEAKER_01 14:31

You know, I had to throw this verse in here, Andy, because as I was preparing for this uh message, this verse came up about three or four times, and I kind of thought, All right, Lord, I hear you. Because when Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was, right? Like, how do we want to be obedient and follow Christ? He says, Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, and soul, and love your neighbor as yourself, which he was referring to in old testament teaching in Deuteronomy, where that was what believers were to call and and to do and to teach their kids, right? The Shema, yeah. The Shema. And so here we are, Jesus is saying, Hey, I've already told you what I'm looking for. You know, I want you to love me with all your heart, mind, and soul, and I want you to love other people like you would yourself. And so, man, that's Matthew 22, verse 37. So I felt like he was saying, Hey, if you're gonna talk about this, could you include that one? Because I think that one's a pretty important one. So I had to throw it in there.

SPEAKER_03 15:23

Oh, absolutely. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So okay, we've got we've got the what, we've got our singular purpose when we become adopted into his family, we know we are trying to give him glory by doing whatever. Okay. So the diverse trap of the how, uh, that's where we get this label tied into like, well, am I doing this via uh carpentry? Am I doing this via electrical work? Am I doing it via teaching and coaching? Right, and the trap is when we compare it to somebody else. That is, I think that is this the the trap of the enemy. He does it so well. Social media, we talked about this the last uh you know podcast that we dropped. Uh when we compare ourselves to other people, and then we don't think we're as successful. That comparison is a thief of our joy.

SPEAKER_01 16:08

Yeah, and that's what we're gonna be talking about when we come back from this commercial break. Like, what do we do? How do we live out our purpose, that calling that God has on our life? And so hopefully you'll stay tuned for more.

SPEAKER_00 16:26

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SPEAKER_03 17:18

When we talked about throwing up, you know what the thing that is most frustrating with kids in throw up? And if you don't know what I'm talking about, you're like, what are you? Why are you speaking about throw up? We talked about that before the break.

SPEAKER_01 17:27

We did, we did.

SPEAKER_03 17:29

They just don't understand. They feel it, and they don't go to the bathroom. They're they're wherever they're at, they're just like, like you didn't think you could just go to the bathroom and they're just in the middle of their bed on the floor.

SPEAKER_01 17:41

Wherever it comes, they just go like that's so funny you bring that up because I just spent a week with our grand our oldest grandkids, and they love stories about their dad. Oh. And so, of course, I I brought one up about him vomiting and him having like a blue slushie, and I think it was brought up because we I gave him blue slushies. And they said, Oh, yeah. I said, Have you ever heard remember the story of your dad? And he did that before he went to bed, blue slushie all over the carpet. It doesn't come out very easily. No, it does not. But anyway, do it to the Lord, right? Bring him glory, even cleaning up the blue slushie on the carpet. So yeah, but anyway, let's get back to I cannot believe you brought up vomit, Andy. Gross. Um, but God does create um us with different unique gifts, personalities, and different seasons. Like what you do in your 30s, Andy, may not be what you're doing in your 60s. And so God is gonna call us in different seasons for different reasons to reach different people. Yeah, yeah. And so there's a lot of scripture to support this. This isn't just you know, Linda and Andy speaking. What's what's what's God's word say about it?

SPEAKER_03 18:44

Yeah, if we go like um, you know, 1 Peter uh chapter 4, verse 10, each of you should use whatever gift. Man, that whatever word is coming up. Whatever gift you have received to serve others as faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms, right? Uh we got Ephesians chapter 2, verse 10, for we are God's handiwork created in Christ to do good works which he prepared in advance for us to do. And and so all these different giftings and unique abilities and traits, some people are talkers, some people have this engineer mind where they can solve puzzles like this, and and all of that is unique for us to do his will and his way in our but if you're looking at Ephesians 2, I want you to back up to verses eight and nine because it talks about how this is actually grace is a free gift.

SPEAKER_01 19:29

That none of us earn it or deserve it. Yeah, and so in that so no one can boast. So the purpose that he's got for us and our identity is found in him. It's not in what we do, it's not how many deeds or how many things we check off the box. So we want to make sure we're we're real putting that in the framework of Ephesians 2, 8 through 10, because then the last part of that is hey, you're God's handiwork. Yes, and I got things for you to do. Yep.

SPEAKER_03 19:53

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 19:53

And so how do we do that? How do we do that that pleases him? Because we are all part of the body of Christ. And some may be the hand, some may be the foot.

SPEAKER_02 20:02

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 20:02

And and what we can't do is look at pride of, oh, like I'm the feet, you can't stand without me, you know, and then the hand's like, well, you can't do anything without me, you know. And so we we got to stop comparing our roles and realize that we're all different parts. That comparison comes right back up.

SPEAKER_03 20:18

We it is all equal to that. Yeah, that is so good. Yep. And I think too, when we talk about practical applications of this, how we go and perform God's will. I think before we even get to that, like the first thing is you've got to desire this. You've got to within your heart. And you said your heart posture, heart, the heart posture, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, is what is important. And I think that is, because I look in my life when we talk about where the Lord's taken us, college football coach, uh, teacher, high school football coach, uh, was gonna go into residency and ministry. Now I'm here at Rock Sword Family, is like, where did it stem from? Like, Lord, I just want to be obedient to you. Yep. And then he just takes me to places that I didn't know, and then it's like, okay, it's so much better every single time and every transition. But that is the first and foremost. So, like, hey, how do I do this? How do I know? You gotta want it, you gotta want to be obedient, and you gotta trust that. What does he say? Um, if you, if your son says, Can I have a fish? You're gonna give him a snake. No, you won't. You're a good father, you're not gonna do that. Yeah, if you're a good father and you're a broken human, what do you think the creator of the universe who loves us so much, he sent his son for diaper, like, you don't think I've got good plans for you?

SPEAKER_01 21:26

Oh yeah. Andy, I mean, I cannot tell you, you know, if you you'll see this more and more as you go on because you are still in your 30s and you're a young dad and a husband. But, you know, I look back on my life and I think of God's call on my life and how He has used every single season, every single role that I had. You know, when I was a child, I wanted to teach. That's all I wanted to do. I wanted to be a teacher. And honestly, I wanted to teach about God. I didn't want to teach about math. I didn't I I I hated calculus. I I I didn't want to teach about science because I hated labs, you know, and I was afraid of fire. And so all of These things, and and I didn't want to teach English because I didn't like to read. And so here I am. Like, I just want to be a teacher, but I want to teach about you, God. But the only people I knew that taught about God when I was growing up were nuns.

SPEAKER_02 22:10

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:12

And so being raised Catholic, honestly, I thought, okay, I don't want to be a nun, but I I do want to teach the word. I want to teach about God. And so isn't this crazy?

SPEAKER_02 22:20

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 22:21

That I would have never ever guessed that this would be my calling today. But God had planted those seeds in my heart years and years and years ago. I just didn't know what they were going to look like and how he was going to, you know, answer that call in my life. So yeah.

SPEAKER_03 22:34

That's so good. So that's the first step. Do I want this in my heart? Do I want to be obedient to whatever he has for me? Because I trust him and he has good plans for me. If that's so, like, okay, now let's break it down a little more practically. Yeah. In the marriage, right? So we'll talk bring it home, like marriage, parenting, daily life, but in the marriage, right? How can we as spouses support each other's unique how without feeling like one person is more spiritually significant than the other? Now, let me say this. I hear helpmate, right? And I don't know if this is just maybe the way that I hear it from other people that, like, oh, I am the husband and I have a helpmate. Flip the roll too. I am also my wife's helpmate. Yeah. Right. It is both of us help each other to become the best version of ourselves to support our how and what the Lord says. And so I am different than my wife. I know this. I've got different giftings in what she does. And I also see she has got way more discernment than what I have. And she gets to, she listens and asks a really good question. So I need to support her so that she can fulfill her how.

SPEAKER_01 23:37

And again, different seasons, you know, and different things, you know. Maybe you go back to school and your wife kind of holds down the fort while you're going back to school. And then you get this job, and then she decides, well, I I feel this calling to go back to school. Or I feel this calling to go back to work. And and so whatever that is, like to prayerfully discern, okay, is this God or is this me? Am I getting in the way or am I feeling called to this? And we're gonna be talking about that the rest of this month of really just how do we answer that call? How do we discern if it's me selfishly, greedily, wanting more money or wanting more fame, or is it of the Lord and if this is the calling he has on my life? And so in marriage, that looks about looks like supporting one another, right? You know, the Bible says submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Yes. And so if you're doing that in decision making and support, then that's the how. That's the how you glorify God in your marriage by creating this oneness, right? This unique oneness where God is the center of everything we do.

SPEAKER_03 24:42

Yeah, absolutely. I I love thinking about that too, because the better and stronger she is, the better it's gonna make me, and the better and stronger than I am, the better it makes her. Like it's just that positive feedback loop that pours into each other.

SPEAKER_01 24:53

So, what about parenting, right? You know, because our kids are watching. Oh, this one's this one's hard. Yeah, yeah. And so, how do we help our kids discover their unique gifts without putting that pressure on them to measure up what to what the world says is success.

SPEAKER_03 25:08

What happens when your kids' unique gifts is different than the ones that we were getting? Oh man. This is where my struggle is because my wife and I both played college sports. We were both, and right now some of our kids want nothing to do with sports. And so I'm struggling a little bit here. I'm like, oh, but but what is but and so we joked at the beginning, you know, when we have kids, they're gonna be artists, they're gonna be drum or band majors, they're gonna be like just things that I know nothing about. And and they are, they have such different giftings that I have to talk about pride and humbling yourself. Oh, yeah. All right, Lord, how do I uh continue to help my son and daughters get the best out of them when I have no clue what I'm doing here?

SPEAKER_01 25:46

I'll never forget our oldest son. Um, he was very bright, and and he was athletic, but he he kind of went toward this media fair thing where they were doing computer competitions, and my husband and I are kind of like, holy cow, we do not know anything about this. Like, this is so foreign to us. But we weren't gonna like stifle him in his interests based on what we are used to, right? That's his gifting, and so we definitely have to kind of sometimes swallow our opinions and our input to really allow them to discover what is those, what are those unique gifts and skills that God has gifted them with? How is God gonna use them for his glory?

SPEAKER_03 26:25

I see it all the time with people who again uh I had success in the athletics world. And then you see when I was a coach too, like, oh, your son's gonna come and be athletic and he's gonna be successful. What if you didn't even play football?

SPEAKER_01 26:37

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_03 26:38

If you don't even wrestle, he didn't even do the things that I did. Does that mean I'm a failure? I see it all like parents try to force, I was great at this, I know that I can lead you to be great. Who is that for?

SPEAKER_01 26:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 26:48

Is that for you or is that for your son?

SPEAKER_01 26:49

That's a lot what we do here at Rock Solid Families. So in marriage and parenting, the the how is gonna look different, but we need to constantly put God back into the purpose of it behind it. But you know, the same thing happens at work and at school, right?

SPEAKER_03 27:05

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 27:05

And so, you know, what changes when you walk into the workplace tomorrow, or knowing that the boss, you know, is not your ultimate audience, you know, Jesus is. We work for an audience of one, Colossians 3.23 says it says, whatever we do, right? Work for the glory of God, not your boss. Yes. Okay. And students, not the principal, we're not the coach. Now we have to be careful because the Bible still asks us to respect authority, okay, and honor our father and mother. So we're not talking about being disrespectful or disobedient to the rules of school and you know, our workplace. But when push comes to shove, and if there's a a kind of a uh crossroads, is this gonna glorify God or not?

SPEAKER_03 27:53

Yep. And there's a video Simon Sinek does and kind of talks about this when it's about work with some young um uh you know, kids right out of college, get into work, and after a couple years, I'm just not being fulfilled. And I'm gonna quit this career and this job and go somewhere else. And he's like, You're two years into it, you're not being fulfilled? What do you mean? Because you and so I I would you know ask you, like Linda, like let's say somebody comes up and says, Yeah, but I don't think I'm in the right career. I'm not feeling fulfilled. What would you say to somebody who comes up and says those things?

SPEAKER_01 28:22

That's a great question. You know, um Merle, my husband, used to say that people would kind of use, I'm gonna pray about it as an excuse to do nothing. And so I would still say though, we need to pray about it. We need to invite the Holy Spirit in and allow him to be the lead and really to search our hearts and minds. Like, why, why am I disappointed? Why am I frustrated? What am I looking for? Is it of God? You know, uh, you know, our son, you talk about football. Um, our oldest son played football all the way through, but our second oldest, Finnett, uh, stopped playing after his freshman year. And and I was kind of disappointed because I love football. I love being a football mom. I love Friday night lights, you know, I love being on the boosters. And then all of a sudden that ended. And I was like, but but why? And he said, Mom, you don't want me to be around the environment that I was around. Like the group of guys that he was around was not healthy, was not God honoring. And that that really uh uh really bothered him. Yeah, and so he went to a different sport and it was a whole different atmosphere and he enjoyed it and he was successful. Not you know, he wasn't the greatest, he was a cross-country runner. Yeah, but the the point is that he wanted to go into a healthy place, and I needed to honor that. Yes, you know, and I'm thankful that he was aware of that.

SPEAKER_03 29:40

That is that is really mature, yeah. And that's a really good point to have that sort of prayer where you're saying, Lord, I'm doing this for you today. And so what does that look like? Yeah, yeah. So I think that's some of the next action steps as we're going through. And and so if we wanted to give you guys a couple takeaways for this night, practical axe uh action steps, what to do. Yeah, we've said it before already, we're shifting our audience. Yeah, and and our master, Jesus, I'm looking at you, not our worldly boss, not definition of success in this world, but you and you alone. And when we pray, I think we have directions within our prayer, Lord, I'm doing this for you. Is this where you want me? Yep. And if that's your heart posture and your obedience, he might take you out of there and go somewhere else. I know this, I've been in that. Yeah, but of his timing, because I thought three years ago I'd be done with teaching. Man, no, and so of his timing, it all works out perfectly. And so we shift that.

SPEAKER_01 30:30

And I think about that in the book of Acts, um, Paul thought he was gonna be going to, and I can't remember, Asia Minor.

SPEAKER_02 30:37

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:38

Um, and the door, and it says there in Acts that the door closed. Yes. And I'm always fascinated, like, what did that look like that the door closed? And so he ended up going over here instead. And so I think it was vice versa, I can't remember. But my point is that if you are wanting to be obedient and you are mindful and inviting the Holy Spirit into that sacred space, he will guide and direct your steps. Yes. Whether it be open and closed doors, whether it be discernment, right, wisdom, maybe it's God's people, God's word, oh yeah. He will show you. We're gonna be talking about more of that this month. I'm excited about that. But what's the second takeaway for today? So we're shifting the audience to the audience of one. Yes. What's the next one?

SPEAKER_03 31:17

We are stop the comparison game. We had said before, uh comparison is a thief of joy. But if we reframe our daily routine, right? Um, and we think about it too, like whether that is waiting in the checkout line, sharing for our kids in certain ways, and traffic, cleaning the toilet we've said before, mopping the floors, cutting the grass, right? What could it look like for you to look behind and say, they've got a little bit less than I do waiting in the line? Yeah, you guys can go ahead. Yeah. You look a little uh like you're in you're in a rush, yeah, go ahead, right?

SPEAKER_01 31:48

You know, I'm not boasting on myself at all. I'm just kind of um mentioning how the Holy Spirit works. But the other day um I had someone who had this little flower farm and um she was selling flowers, and I thought, oh gosh, I just I want to bless her, I want to support her. And so I'm gonna buy some flowers. I didn't even know who I was buying flowers for. Okay. And then I asked the Lord to show me who needed flowers, okay. And then all of a sudden, uh God put three women on my heart. And so I bought enough flowers to bless three women. By the way, I did buy myself some flowers too. So beautiful.

SPEAKER_03 32:23

So were you the fourth woman you blessed?

SPEAKER_01 32:24

Yes, I was myself. And so I um bought these flowers and then I went to go take them to this person, and I found out that she wasn't there where I thought she'd be, but she'd be there the next day at work. And here I found out the next day at work, guess what? It was her birthday.

SPEAKER_03 32:38

Oh, look at that.

SPEAKER_01 32:39

And I was like, thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord, for guiding my steps, not in the day I thought, in the way I thought, but in the way that you wanted me to bless her. Yes. And so it was just so cool to feel that Holy Spirit guiding and direct. And and I don't know what he'll do with that. And it's not about me, it's about how can I help point others' eyes to the Lord? Yeah, how can I bless others and glorify him in my purpose, right? And and whatever that looks like. Yes. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 33:05

And I think too, that comparison, like, and if we start to shift to that comparison game, like my wife and I, my wife stays home, um, stays home with raise our three kids, and we tell our kids this all the time: like, we are so rich from what the Lord has blessed us with. And and and our comparison, are we full of love? Are we full of joy? Is our house a welcoming place for others and our children? Like in that way, as we switch our comparison, because some rich could be like, well, you don't have a uh Land Rover, you don't got a wagoneer, you don't have, you know, all the like if you start switching that comparison, and I'm not comparing our love to somebody else, but like I know that we are rich because of what the Lord's like, okay. I'm not comparing ourselves to somebody else because I know I'm we are where God has us.

SPEAKER_01 33:50

So I'm gonna leave you with this really important question that I want you to think about as you go through your day and your week, okay? Whatever you come across, whether it be the traffic jam, whether it be the job loss, whether it be the big bill or the the defeat on the field, you know, whatever it is. How can I point people's eyes to Jesus? How can I respond to that that would bring God glory and magnify his name? That's our job, and that's what I'm challenging you to do today. And whatever the Lord puts in front of you, your response is your responsibility.

SPEAKER_03 34:29

That's so good. Yeah. And go back to our collective purpose here on this earth. What does Jesus say? Like, I'm about my father's business.

SPEAKER_01 34:36

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's where they found him, right? In the temple. I'm about my father's business.

SPEAKER_03 34:41

And so however we are on this earth and he has called us to, uh, however long that might be, are we pointing people's eyes to Jesus? Are we glorifying him? Going back, shine bright, stand tall. There's a right before you get to Ephesians, uh, when they talk about putting on the full arm full armor of God, if you read right before it tells you the armor to put on, it says three times to stand. Stand, therefore, when the day of evil comes to do everything and stand, stand firm, stand, stand, stand, stand, because the brighter we shine, the more glory he gets. And so if we give him the King of Kings, Lord of Lords, bring him glory, then we are doing our purpose.

SPEAKER_01 35:19

So now that you know what the what is, we'll be unpacking the rest of the month, the how specifically through strong dads, through women on mission. Um we're gonna take a little different look at each of us and and really what causes believers a lot of confusion and stress, I think. How do you recognize your calling? What's of God, what's of not, um, how do we discern that? Not that we have all the answers, but we're gonna kind of point you to God's word that kind of shows us. And so that's gonna be a whole nother topic. Hopefully you'll stay tuned. But you know, as we close, we just want to thank you so much for listening. Um, if we can be of help, our entire team, which by the way, like we said, is expanding, um, is ready to walk alongside you, men and women who don't have all the answers, but we'll walk alongside you and point to the one who does. And so um, we just want to thank you for listening. And we also want to thank our sponsors, right?

SPEAKER_03 36:07

Yep, absolutely. We want to thank Maxwell Construction. We want to thank Casey's Outdoor Solution and Hoosier Icehouse for their support. And we want to thank you guys for listening. Yeah. Uh, you know, if you put out a podcast all the time and nobody listens to it, we're just talking ourselves, you know. For you guys who do, uh, we really greatly appreciate it. And the more that we can share this and get God's word out there, not because of what Rock Salt Families is doing, no, not because of what we're doing, but for him. And so thank you guys. Thank you for your support.

SPEAKER_01 36:32

And Andy, I just want to say this because I I don't want you to get the idea that we do have all the answers or that we think we're right all the time. If there's something that we've said on this show or another show that you don't agree with or you want to push back on, we would love to have a conversation with you. Yeah. Uh we would appreciate it. You don't do it like a public like condemnation. Yes. But um, you know, email us, contact us, you can go to rockseledfamilies.org and hit the contact button, and and we promise that we will treat your comment or your questions with dignity and respect. And we're just asking you to be with dignity and respect as well. And uh, we're just all along this path and this journey trying to glorify his name, magnify his name in all we say and do. And so we hope that you will just continue to listen to the Rock Sell of Families Podcast, building a stronger community, one family at a time. Make it a great day.

SPEAKER_00 37:26

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