Speaker 1: 0:00

Hi and welcome to our podcast Revelation Within On the Go. I'm Heidi Biles-Maefferson, one of your hosts and the owner and lead coach of the RevelationWithinorg ministry.

Speaker 2: 0:13

And I'm Christina Motley, your other host, also a Revelation Within coach and Heidi's partner in all things Revelation Within. We're so happy to invite you to join us for this episode of Revelation Within.

Speaker 1: 0:35

And arms up in the air once again. Oh well, hey, today's episode is kind of a launching pad off of what we've been looking at in our online membership, and it's the theme that we've been calling in this very moment, and each week this month and each week every month, we focus on a theme with our RevWithinteam members. Yes, so we've been looking at what it means to abide with God, not in some far off, distant future land, not when things are calm or perfect or healthy, or whatever, but right now you know what's funny, heidi, is that every month I think this is my favorite theme This- is it?

Speaker 2: 1:27

This is the theme that is going to be my favorite. None of the rest are going to compare, because this theme is exactly what I need and it's so good. And then the next one comes, and I think that, again and again, the themes we've had going have been so good, and I've heard that from a lot of people. Today we're going to explore something that might really touch your heart. We're hoping that it will. It certainly has for Heidi and I, and that is what does it really mean? To trust the unfolding. I love this. I love this idea.

Speaker 1: 2:09

Well, and it would be helpful, probably, to say well, what is the unfolding? It sounds so like secret language.

Speaker 2: 2:16

Are you talking about sheets, blankets? What are you talking?

Speaker 1: 2:20

about. Or like a bunch of sheep that are the fold and then they're scattered. Oh, I didn't even think about the sheep. Or like a bunch of sheep that are the fold and then they're scattered.

Speaker 2: 2:25

Oh, I didn't even think about the sheep. All I was thinking about was how I can't fold a fitted sheet.

Speaker 1: 2:30

Oh, I know and I've tried numerous times and people have taught me. Yeah, and I've had three different people teach me.

Speaker 2: 2:38

I think I've just I've let that one go.

Speaker 1: 2:43

That's not the folding or unfolding we're talking about. Let's just start here. The unfolding, or what we're calling the unfolding anyway, is life as it happens. It's that daily unfolding of God's plans in our lives, and sometimes it's slow A day is a thousand years with the Lord and sometimes it's surprising it doesn't happen the way we anticipated or thought we knew it was going to happen.

Speaker 2: 3:13

Right.

Speaker 1: 3:14

Right Rarely, according to our timeline.

Speaker 2: 3:17

Oh my gosh, that is so true, heidi. That is so true. You know, we usually what we really want, what I really want is the blueprint. Give me the blueprint, let me just see the big picture. But what we get instead is an invitation. So we get an invitation from the Lord to take the next step, to release control and I know, I know that's oh man and to believe that, even when we don't see it, god is present and active.

Speaker 1: 3:56

It's that divine whisper, really, of the Lord saying to us will you trust me with what you can't predict?

Speaker 2: 4:05

Oh, that's so hard, that's so so hard. And that's where trust gets real. That's where it gets real right, Not in those mountaintop moments, but in the middle of the unfolding, in the middle of life. I love this idea. This is exactly what I need today.

Speaker 1: 4:26

Let's look at some scripture together. Let's go first to Psalm 37, verse 5. And that says commit your way to the Lord, trust in him and he will act.

Speaker 2: 4:47

Oh wow. It really lays it out for us there, doesn't it? That word commit in Hebrew means to roll your path onto the Lord. It's such a physical visual image, isn't it? I mean not a polite handoff no. A real weight being rolled from your shoulders to his.

Speaker 1: 5:03

Can you just picture that I? Like the idea of okay, I'm rolling this off and laying it on the Lord's shoulders.

Speaker 2: 5:12

Yeah Well, and we've probably all done that physically before, where it's like we're carrying something, we've got something, you know we're moving, you know where you hand something off that's really heavy to someone else and it's like oh, thank God.

Speaker 1: 5:26

That feels so much better. And then you know, referring back to our verse 37.5, which says commit your way to the Lord, trust in him and he will act. That's the promise. He will act. The word for act means he will bring forth, he will move, he will intervene. It's a reminder that God isn't passive in your story. No, he's not watching, hanging out saying let's see what she's going to do next. He's working.

Speaker 2: 5:56

That is so reassuring. Another favorite of ours is Proverbs 16, 9. In their hearts, humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.

Speaker 1: 6:10

Well, god gives us the freedom to plan, of course, but the real security comes in knowing that it's not up to me to figure out how it's supposed to go. He's the one establishing the ground beneath our feet, and this makes me think. This very verse makes me think of a season in my life. It was in 2012, the summer of 2012. And I had been having my quiet time and this verse was part of what I was studying, and I was kind of busy getting ready to take my two dogs across town to somebody who they were going to meet for the first time, who was going to pet sit them.

Speaker 1: 6:50

So, I had everything all figured out and was going to get into my big Suburban, put the dogs in the back and drive across town. I get out to the Suburban and there is a flat tire Like we're talking as flat as a pancake. Oh man, yes. And so I had planned my course, but I couldn't take my car anywhere for a while. So I thought, ok, I'm going to get some of that, fix a flat stuff, stick it in there and take the car to the tire place. Now, the tire place was quite a distance away to the tire place. Now, the tire place was quite a distance away. But I thought, okay, I will go visit my mom, who was nearing the end of her life at that time, and I knew that. So the place was close to mom's. So I went and got my tire fixed. As I was waiting, I wrote a letter that I planned to read to my mom.

Speaker 1: 7:46

It was in and out of consciousness at that time and I hadn't seen her for a few days, so I wasn't sure where she was at. She might have rallied Anyway. So after my car was all ready to go the tire was all repaired and all of that I had my iPad with my letter that I had just written to my mom and drove to her assisted living place where she lived, and she was indeed in a very challenging place. She was clearly near to the end of her life. There was no rallying from this.

Speaker 1: 8:18

But, I chose to read the letter to her. Anyway, she had kind of been languishing for quite a while as though she couldn't let go of life, and I remember just how heartbreaking it was to see her. Just let go, mom, just let go. And so my letter, I read it out loud to her and a lot of it was let go language. It was.

Speaker 1: 8:40

You know, things are going well in this aspect of my life. If that is why you're concerned and don't want to let go, then you're good to go. Things are fine. The kids are all settled and going off to colleges in August. So there we're using the money that you have given us for that, you know. Just told her all that, and then I told her happy things that I remembered from my childhood, things that I, you know, and I had a rough childhood, but there were good things. And so after that I kissed her, not knowing if I was going to see her again or not, this side of heaven. And by the time I had gotten all the way home I had a call waiting for me on my at that time answering machine and it was yeah, your mom passed away right after you left oh my gosh.

Speaker 1: 9:26

And so what's so awesome is this verse, proverbs 16, 9, which you just quoted for us. You know, in their hearts, humans plan their course, but the Lord established their steps. God knew that if I didn't have a flat tire, I was going to be off gallivanting all over the town and I needed to be with my mom that day.

Speaker 1: 9:46

I don't know if she was able to actually let go and pass peacefully, because she heard those words that I had to say. I don't know if that was why, but I know it happened, the timing of it, and would she have passed? All I know is I felt like I was where I needed to be and I wouldn't have been had the Lord not given me a nice big old flat tire. Yeah.

Speaker 2: 10:10

You know, I'll bet those kinds of things happen all the time. Yeah, and we just don't know, we don't realize, we don't see the end result, we're not sure. And then it's like, well, I was interrupted, or this happened and it bothered me and I'm frustrated. But what if God is in those moments?

Speaker 1: 10:31

Right right.

Speaker 2: 10:32

I mean, that's just an amazing thought. I had this image, this visual pop into my mind of taking my little like notebook planner calendar thing to the Lord early in the morning and saying, okay, lord, here's the plan. And then he's checking it. You know, he's going down each one and he's going no, this one only half. Yeah, you might know at all this one, let's switch this to the afternoon. No, this is. I can't even explain it.

Speaker 1: 11:05

And the trick with this, like when I got out to my car that morning and saw the flat tire, I was mad. Yes, of course I was mad. And when we have planned our day or planned our lives or whatever, planned our children's lives or whatever, and something doesn't happen the way we planned it, it's really easy to get mad or get disappointed and trust feels really hard in those moments, you know, for me to say, okay, well, the Lord is establishing my steps.

Speaker 1: 11:35

In that moment I wasn't going to say that, you know. I mean it took me a few moments to connect. This was a verse that I had in my face this morning. You know that God was touching my heart with actually, and so at that point I could choose is trust going to happen here? I'm so glad that he did redirect my steps in that time.

Speaker 2: 11:56

That is such a beautiful, beautiful story, heidi, and you know I mean this is kind of silly in a way, but this is why I started writing my list at the end of the day instead of in the middle of the day or the beginning of the day, because I realized there's all these things that God wants to do today. I don't even know what they are to do today. I don't even know what they are. I want to be open, I want to be ready, I want to be flexible enough to do what he's calling me to. And that's tricky, that's hard. So maybe right now someone listening might be saying but I am trying to trust, I am trying to trust, but everything feels out of control. What do we do with that? We've all felt that way.

Speaker 1: 12:43

Oh friend, we get that for sure. Trusting the unfolding doesn't mean you feel peace every second.

Speaker 1: 12:49

No it means that we keep turning toward God, turning toward God, turning toward God, even when we can't see what's next. Because I have to view it this way, god, even when we can't see what's next, because I have to view it this way, you know, god is unchanging. Life all around me is totally changeable and it's going to change and I won't understand it or see it coming. But if I'm clinging to him, there's a security that comes because he, his character, who he is to me, what he says about me, is unchanging. That is where I get this sense of trust from. Is that he is the rock, and really I lived on Catalina Island and there was a rock jetty and I think of that solid rock jetty. In any weather, any storm, you could cling to that and it was not going to budge. That's what the Lord is for us as well.

Speaker 2: 13:40

Yeah, that's so true. And really, heidi, you wouldn't have even a thought to say that if your mind wasn't renewed all the time about that very thing, you wouldn't have even thought of that, it wouldn't have even come to your mind. But because you renew your mind regularly about who God is and what he does, you renew your mind regularly about who God is and what he does, it's on your mind, it's right there, it's at the tip of your tongue and wow, does that make a difference?

Speaker 2: 14:07

When my mind is renewed and there's a surprise or an interruption or something unexpected and I have no idea what God is doing. But if my mind is renewed, I'm going to view it in a whole different way.

Speaker 1: 14:21

Yeah, I'm going to think God's thoughts about it, because I know he's sovereign and he's good. If he was sovereign and not good, that'd be scary, or if he was good and not sovereign, that'd be impotent, and so I'm really glad that God is both.

Speaker 2: 14:36

I just got back from a mammogram. Okay, so you walk in and you have this appointment and it is for the detection and prevention of something really bad right Of cancer. And so you walk in and that's the first thing you think of is that's why I'm here. It's different than going to the doctor for a different reason, like to check my blood pressure or something. And I was keenly aware of that right away and I thought, lord, I already have a chronic illness. I can't do something else on top of that. And I'm thinking about this as they're doing the procedure. Oh, and I'm thinking, lord, you know, this is why I've put it off for so long. But I felt so clearly. I felt and heard his words in my mind trust me, I've got you. And I don't know what that means exactly, except that he's my rock. You know they could call me next week and say oh, you know, there's something here we need to look at. I don't know, and that's very scary, of course.

Speaker 2: 15:47

God is the same, though, and so when he says trust me, I have a choice, I can be miserable over here on the one side and be full of fear and anxious thoughts, that's not fine.

Speaker 2: 16:00

No, and I've been there plenty of times. Or I can say, yeah, I'm going to be with you over here, lord, it's still hard, but I can trust you because, like you said that rock jetty and I've been there five times. I was there with that rock jetty and it was really solid. Remember that time those huge waves came, nothing moved the rock jetty, nothing moved it and I thought, wow, you know what? That's where I want to be. I want to be hanging on to the rock not consumed in fear.

Speaker 2: 16:37

So Isaiah 43, 19,. I love this verse. See, I'm doing a new thing. Now it springs up. Do you not perceive it? And the answer is no. Most of the time I don't perceive it. Lord, Give me eyes to see it. Give me eyes to see it.

Speaker 1: 16:55

And even when we don't perceive it, that's just it. God is still doing a new thing, because Jesus said that he is always at work and his father is always at work. So we know God is always at work and just like a spring breaking through frozen ground, he's at work and just like a spring breaking through frozen ground, it's happening even when it's not seen at first. And here's the thing If I feel like I'm not seeing what God's doing, it doesn't mean he's not doing it. My feelings, my perceptions do not define what is true. They are real, they are valid and I want to recognize them and honor them. But when push comes to shove, what is the great reality? It's that God is doing a new thing and we may not perceive it.

Speaker 2: 17:42

Well, and I like to think about it this way too this helps me. It's part of God's character to be active all the time. It's part of his character to be at work, to be working things out for good All those you know. We have lists and lists of who God is. That's what we call the God list. But we have all these attributes. It's part of who he is. It's like he can't not do it. You know what I mean. Like he is the healer, he is the redeemer. We can't understand that. We can't fathom being active all the time like that. But he's not human, he's God. So that just helps me. It's like, okay, wait a minute. God is God, no matter what. He is that solid rock that we can cling to. I'd rather be in any situation with him than in any situation without him. So that helps me too. I don't want to be, I want to be as close to him as possible.

Speaker 1: 18:41

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2: 18:42

So I mean honestly, wow, sometimes control feels safer, especially in the moment. Control feels safer, especially in the moment, than trust. You know we get fearful and it's like okay, let me make a list, let me put this together, let me rearrange the pieces of the puzzle. You know this helps. This makes me feel better. But we all know this Control is an illusion. Anything can happen in the next moment. So it's really an illusion. We are really not in control and trusting God, like we were just talking about hanging on to that rock jetty, hanging on to that solid, solid rock. That's where peace is.

Speaker 2: 19:28

what we really want is peace but, we get so frantic I know I do I get frantic and impatient and I go for a counterfeit comfort or I go for I'll fix it, I'll control it. But what I'm really longing for is peace and that's. That's only in one place, trusting God only in one place trusting God.

Speaker 1: 19:50

Yeah, and it's for the very reason that Romans 8, 28 says there's a truth there that does bring us peace. It says we know that in all things, all things God works for the good of those who love him and when we trust him, it's hard, it's hard, nobody's going to tell you it's not Right.

Speaker 2: 20:18

I mean, how has trusting myself worked out for me it?

Speaker 1: 20:20

hasn't. No, it hasn't worked out for me either, no, and I bet it hasn't worked out for the listeners either. And so, knowing that God has promised we know he's sovereign, we know he's good, we know he's loving, and all of these other things that his word discloses about his character, that he is at work putting things together in such a way that it brings about good for those that love him, and that's just awesome. So another translation of that verse Romans 8, 28, is that God works all things together for the good of those who love him.

Speaker 2: 20:57

Okay, so the all things together. That phrase is a word, synergeo in Greek, which means to work together with kind of like weaving, which I love. This picture God's not just cleaning up our messes, he's weaving them into something redemptive. I think of embroidery, I think of crochet, I think of knitting. Yeah, I mean, that's a beautiful image.

Speaker 1: 21:25

Yeah, even what feels wasted, he's not wasting it. No, it's all part of the wonderful, lovely tapestry.

Speaker 2: 21:33

Yes, yes.

Speaker 1: 21:35

Or you know what? I'm married to somebody who was a baker for 30 years and Michael he he said you take the flour, you take the chocolate, the baker's chocolate, whatever that is and you take the butter, you take the eggs, you take the baking soda. Each one of them are going to make you miserable if you eat it by itself, right, yes, but what happens when you put it all together and you're a master chef in the kitchen or a baker?

Speaker 1: 22:01

or something it's going to be lovely. Now, that kind of is nowhere near what we're talking about, because God does even so much more above and beyond that, but that's kind of a cool way of thinking of it.

Speaker 2: 22:15

I like that. Yeah, one of those things by itself. Eggs, raw eggs, yeah, or baking soda, but put them all together in just the right way, just the right amounts, a perfect recipe.

Speaker 1: 22:30

And the right amount of heat too.

Speaker 2: 22:32

Yes, right, and you're going to have this beautiful thing.

Speaker 1: 22:36

Chocolate. Whatever it is, it's chocolate, yeah, so we're good.

Speaker 2: 22:40

So we want to offer you and ourselves a few ways to carry what we've been talking about with you, something that's kind of tangible. You can jump in and do it actually right now with us, or even later if you're driving or whatever. I think we have a lot of people that listen while they're driving.

Speaker 1: 23:00

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 23:01

Okay, so the first one is a breath prayer, and we've done breath prayers in our podcast several times. It's so simple. It's really just breathing deeply and speaking the truth as you breathe. That's all it is. That's all it is. So it calms your body down and it kind of just gives you a place of physical and spiritual peace as you breathe and say God's words, his truth, out loud. It's really so fabulous.

Speaker 2: 23:31

One of my favorite ways to renew my mind. So here's an idea. There are a million different phrases you could use as a breath prayer for this topic, but here's an idea. We're going to inhale and say I trust you with the unknown. And then we're going to exhale and say you are unfolding something good. Oh, should we do it together right now? Yes, I love this. This sounds so good. So we're going to breathe in through our nose, nice and deep, through our nose, nice and deep, and we're going to say I trust you with the unknown. Exhale, you are unfolding something good, beautiful. Should we do one more? I already am. Oh, she's already doing it. Inhale, I trust you with the unknown Exhale, you are unfolding something good. Oh, I love that.

Speaker 2: 24:48

That's a beautiful truth straight from the word of God, beautiful. The second one is a little bit of journaling, a little bit of a journaling prompt here. Where am I being invited to release control? And of course, the invitation is coming from the Lord, although probably people around you will thank you as well when am I being invited to release control? And then, what would it look like to trust God with this moment? What would it look like to trust God with this moment? You might want to just sit down for a few minutes with the Lord, maybe have a conversation, maybe do some journaling about that. And the last one is a visual practice. Imagine a blooming flower and here in Colorado Springs we are all flowers right now we're having spring, spring, spring. Imagine the flower blooming slowly, petal by petal. That's you, that's this season. God is unfolding something new. Oh, I love having a visual. I love that you could do the visual with the breath prayer even I love it. Wonderful.

Speaker 1: 26:07

Well, we don't always see the big picture but, we can surrender this moment, this breath, maybe this choice. And we know that God holds it all, he cherishes it all, he loves us so very much.

Speaker 2: 26:23

Yes. So we want to invite you and we're inviting ourselves as well whatever it is that you're facing and we're all facing into something right now. We want to invite you to trust the unfolding, lay down the burden, pick up peace and remember your life is not random. It is not random, it is being written by love. You are not alone and you are already loved yes, already loved in this very, very moment, and that's how we want to end. We are so glad that you've been here today. Please come back and join us for our next podcast of revelation within. Thanks for being here. Bye.