The Family Disciple Me Podcast // Discipleship Starts With a Conversation

ADVENTure | Convo #3: Do You See the Mystery?

• Tosha Williams for FDM • Season 6 • Episode 21

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What if the most meaningful moments are waiting just beyond your comfort zone? A quiet nudge to get up turned a routine morning into a sky on fire, and a slow evening into a backyard Aurora. That jolt of beauty opened a bigger question we explore together: how does God reveal holy mystery in ordinary life, and how do we respond when He does?

We start with the practice of attention, which may be as simple as coffee in hand, Bible open, and ears tuned for a whisper that interrupts the familiar. From there, we trace a line to the shepherds in Luke 2, who moved from routine to revelation when the heavens lit up and an angel announced good news. Deuteronomy 29:29 frames the moment: some things remain hidden with God, yet the revealed things are ours to steward. The shepherds didn’t sit and analyze; they ran toward Bethlehem, found the Child, and then carried the story. That movement from awe to action is the pattern we unpack: Seek Him, then Speak Him.

Along the way, we reflect on Colossians 1:27 - "Christ in you, the hope of glory" - as the center of Christian mystery. We talk about how to cultivate this posture at home with a devotion-driven conversation guide that asks what, why, and how, and we introduce the Mystery Manger Hunt, a Scripture-led activity that turns the nativity into a step-by-step journey. The goal isn’t to solve God like a puzzle; it’s to participate in His revelation with open eyes, willing feet, and a voice that shares what we’ve seen.

If your week feels ordinary or overloaded, consider this your invitation to take one step toward wonder. Listen, reflect, and then try the guide with someone you love. If it moves you, share the episode with a friend, subscribe for more devotion-driven conversations, and leave a review to help others find the journey. Where are you seeing clues of Christ today?

Find the coordinating devotion-driven discipleship guide HERE.

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The Family Disciple Me ministry exists to catalyze devotion driven discipleship in our homes and around the world. We believe that discipleship starts with a conversation, and FDM provides free, easily-accessible, biblical resources to encourage these meaningful conversations along life's way. Sign up through our website to be "the first to know" about upcoming releases and resources (including the FDM App - coming soon!!!) You can also follow Family Disciple Me on social media.

Family Disciple Me is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit ministry, and all donations are tax deductible. More information, blogs, statement of faith and contact info can be found at familydiscipleme.org

SPEAKER_00:

A few weeks ago, I had a day that began with a gentle but urgent whisper to my spirit. I heard God say, get up, get up, get up. To be honest with you, I didn't want to get up. I was quite warm and comfortable in my bed. But I heard God say again, get up. I want to show you something. And so I got out of bed. Honestly, I wasn't expecting anything special. Nothing in my life felt particularly inspiring or hopeful that week. Everything felt just ordinary. Normal every day. Maybe even a little bit more broken than usual. But I got up and I began my day. I grabbed my Bible, I got my coffee, and I stepped outside where I loved to do my devotions. And when I did, I saw the entire sky lit up in the most beautiful sunrise. It wasn't just pretty, it was spectacular. And I took my phone and I just kept taking pictures of it because it was so, so pretty. I felt the Lord say, pay attention, I'm showing you something here. I took it in and I praised him all day long. Honestly, it was so spectacular, I thought that that was the moment for the day. The one that God had wanted to show me, and it was enough. And yet, turns out God wasn't finished yet. Later that evening, after the day had wound down, I stepped outside again. This time I got warm, I got comfortable, I was relaxed, I was in the hot tub. I wasn't planning to move at all for a bit. And then suddenly I looked through the trees and I saw a red sky. And then in that moment, I heard God say it again. Get up. I want to show you something. Again, I deliberated for a moment because I had just gotten warm and comfortable, but I felt like he said, This is your chance. I want to show you something. So I got out and I went over to the edge of my yard and I looked where the tree line opened up. And there from my backyard, I saw the northern lights dancing across the sky. In Colorado, from my very own house. The sky started out as red and then it became purple and then it became fuchsia and pink. It was gorgeous. It was so beautiful. My heart was exploding with joy and with worship. I had always wanted to see the northern lights. I thought I would have to go to Alaska or Iceland or at least Canada to see them. And yet God brought the mystery and the beauty to me right there in my backyard. He invited me into this sacred holy moment, which I could have missed so easily. A sacred, holy moment where he was showing me the mystery of himself in the skies. He brings his mystery, his glorious, exploding mystery into our ordinary spaces and places when we look for him. I felt so undeserving. Even now I can feel the emotion that I felt on that glorious night. God invited me to brush up against something holy. He invited me to look upon something bigger than myself, something so glorious and mysterious. He invites all of us into that if we're willing to move toward him. And so with that, welcome to the Family Disciple Me Ministry. My name's Tasha Williams. And this week in our Adventure collection of conversations, we continue to talk about the theme, do you see what I see? And this week, we're specifically talking about do you see the mystery? With this, we're not talking about mysteries that are in neat little packages or mysteries that are like murder mystery dinners. We're talking about the kind of mystery that God reveals piece by piece to those who are willing to look. And you know, as I stood out in my backyard looking at the mystery of God painted across the sky, I couldn't help but think of the shepherds as they were invited into the holy mystery through a spectacular show in the skies one long ago night when Christ was born. As ordinary as my life was when I got to see the northern lights, I believe that, well, the shepherds' lives were probably pretty ordinary that night as well. They were just doing their jobs. Maybe they were tired, maybe they were cold, maybe they were just in the midst of routine, but suddenly the heavens split open and the glory just exploded in ways that I'm sure they never expected. God revealed something so breathtaking in the middle of their ordinary night. And well, it changed everything about their lives. So let's go there with them. Let's see what they saw. Let's look at the mystery that God revealed to them and through them for us. Deuteronomy chapter 29, verse 29 says, The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever. Thing is, God has always had mysteries in his glorious wisdom, but he always reveals them at the exact right time. And Luke chapter 2 tells us about the shepherds who were just going about their everyday, ordinary lives when suddenly the heavens opened and they heard an angel deliver the message saying, The Christ is born, Messiah has come, he's in Bethlehem, you're invited to go see him. And then suddenly, as they were listening to the angel, and I imagine just being so overwhelmed by that, all of a sudden the heavens exploded with a multitude of angels singing and praising God and glorifying him. What a moment that must have been. As much as my heart was exploding with joy when I saw the Aurora Borealis, I can only imagine that that was just a little, a little glimpse into what the shepherds were experiencing that night. Well, eventually, just like the Aurora Borealis colors faded into just the darkness of a starry night for me, well, the darkness returned for the shepherds. And scripture picks up with the story, Luke chapter 2, verse 15, where it says, When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about. Thing is, the shepherds, they didn't wait. They didn't debate, they didn't sit around just replaying the moment and wondering what it meant or talking about it, regurgitating it over and over. No, the shepherds, when they were given that message and given that invitation, along with the signs in the sky, well, they began to move toward the mystery. They began to run toward the Messiah. I love what Colossians chapter 1, verse 27 says, which really is an echo of what they did and what they experienced. It says to them, God has chosen to make known the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. This is the greatest mystery. Jesus, the Christ, the Messiah, come to earth, and not just born in a stable, placed in a manger, but Christ among us and Christ in us. The Lord woke me up that morning of that glorious sunrise a few weeks ago with a gentle, urgent nudge. And then when I sat down, he gave me the same invitation. But the shepherds experience, well, they got heaven's full symphony. It was amazing. I think it's really important to look at their response and to consider it because when God revealed, they responded. When God showed them something, they stepped into it. They didn't treat his mystery like just another circumstance or occasion or interesting thing to ponder. They received his mystery as an invitation to see more. Come, look, see the Messiah. The heavens gave them the invitation to examine the mystery closely. And friends, I believe that's what took them to Bethlehem, and that's what I believe we're invited to see through their eyes. When God gives us the invitation to know him better, we receive this invitation as do you see the mystery? We're not just to admire that mystery from a distance, as amazing as glorious heavens are. We're meant to enter into that mystery, just like the shepherds did. Now we know from the nativity story that the shepherds did go and find the Christ child and they worshiped him. But there's something about their story that is really important for us to remember. You see, the shepherds, they didn't just seek him, they didn't just go and see, they also let seek him drive them to speak him. The Bible tells us exactly what happened next. Luke chapter 2, verse 17 says, When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child. Oh, friend, that seek him, speak him, lived out. That is, meet with God, make him known, put into action. You see, those shepherds, they spoke about Jesus, they told others, they passed on the mystery. Did they understand it all? No, could they explain it all? Not a chance, but they still shared what God had revealed to them. And I believe this is such an amazing example of discipleship because seek him should always lead us to speak him. This is devotion-driven discipleship. This is the heartbeat of family disciple me. We don't just stop with seeing, as important as it is for us to see God in a new way, as important as it is for us to see the mystery like we're talking about this week, we don't just stop there with the revelation, with the mystery, with the let's figure this out. We want to share with those that God has entrusted to us what we have seen, what we've heard, and what we've experienced with Him. And so I encourage you to spend some time in this week's devotion-driven discipleship conversation. We're going to look at the scriptures that we've talked about in this podcast episode. And this conversation guide is going to take you into a deeper dive into those scriptures, asking the questions what, why, and how. It gives follow-up questions, helping lead you from seek him into speak him. That very same discipleship conversation guide is something that you can use to talk your family through this theme. Do you see the mystery? And as you spend time with the Lord, as you seek him, then you're going to be able to speak him together with those that he's entrusted to you. And that leads us to this week's adventure activity, which we're calling the mystery manger hunt. Now, I'm going to tell you up front, this adventure activity is going to take a little more effort than the last couple activities, but really that's intentional because mysteries require effort. They do require an intentionality, a willingness. They require us to follow clues, to slow down, to stop what we're doing, to look deeper, to wander, to wander, to look and to see. Honestly, just like I had to get up and walk across my backyard, which actually wasn't that much effort, but it was some effort. Just like the shepherds had to get up and walk to Bethlehem, mystery requires participation. This week's Mystery Manger hunt is going to lead you and your family or whoever you do this with through scripture-based clues, step by step, until you arrive at the manger where the mystery is revealed. I think it's kind of fun. I think it's meaningful. And I know that it will invite your family to experience the Christmas mystery, not just by hearing about it, but by entering into it in a new way. You can find the link to the mystery manger hunt information in the show notes that goes along with this episode. Because here's the thing mystery isn't something we want to just observe. Mystery is something that we want to follow and enter into. So as you go through this week, whether your skies are clear or they're cloudy, whether your life feels ordinary or overloaded, whatever is happening in your life this week and here in the holidays, remember this. God still reveals mysteries. We're never going to understand everything until we're with him in eternity. And yet, right now, God is still inviting us to move toward him. And if you're willing to accept his invitation, if you're willing to move even a little, you might find something like the shepherd's found. You might discover that you see just another clue in the mystery where we find Christ Himself and know him like never before. Christ in you, the greatest mystery, the hope of glory. So, friend, do you see the mystery? Urge you to fix your eyes on Christ, keep your ears open to what the Lord is saying to you, and go seek him. Let him lead you to his mystery, and then turn around and speak him to someone that he's entrusted to you. God bless you, friend.