Podcast

How Can I Trust God When He Hurts My Feelings? Stacie Snell

[00:00:00] Welcome to the Unshakable Hope Podcast, where real life intersects redeeming love. I’m Kellie Hall, and this is where we wrestle through faith questions, such as how do I trust God’s heart when His ways and delays are breaking mine? We’ll hear from people just like you and me, who have experienced God’s faithfulness when life didn’t unfold as they expected.

My prayer is that God would renew our hope in His Word and His love through these conversations.

Kelly: Hey friends today We are gonna be talking about something that I think is so critical to our walks of faith If there’s ever been a time when God has hurt your feelings or it seems like God’s abandoned you or was just neglecting you Maybe you felt as if he was answering your prayers in other people’s lives rather than your own.

I mean, that’s such a place of heartache. Today my guest [00:01:00] Stacy Snell is sharing about some different times in her life when she felt that way, when she was brokenhearted and really confused by what God was doing. We’re also going to be looking at someone in the Bible who was hurt and confused by events in his life.

Stacy and I are going to lay out some tangible, practical ways that God’s used to rescue us.

when we’re hurt by our unmet expectations and disillusioned by the things God’s allowed in our lives. I hope and pray today that we’ll together discover some truths that stand out to us and help us move forward.

Walk through days and seasons when we’ve been offended by God, and we’ll learn how to sort through those times when God doesn’t come through for us in the way we want him to.​

I’m gonna introduce Stacey to you, but before I do, I just want you to know this woman is so precious to me. We served together in [00:02:00] women’s ministry for many years when our family lived in Colorado, and I was so excited that Stacy was the one God chose to join me as my very first guest on this podcast. Stacy’s a ministry leader, a Bible teacher, a speaker, a former blogger she considers it an undeserved privilege to get to take part in all the things she gets to do for the kingdom.

But it all boils down to her answering God’s call on her life. When God said to her, do you love me? Then feed my sheep. From John 21. I love that so much. I didn’t know that part of your story, Stacey. I didn’t know that part of your call. Stacey lives with her husband, Chad, and their two daughters, Skyler, in Sydney and Pueblo, Colorado.

Stacey, I’m so glad you agreed to join me for this summer series. Welcome, my friend.

Stacie: Thank you so much for having me, Kelly. I’m so excited and love digging into God’s word and especially love digging into [00:03:00] God’s word with you.

 

Kelly: Stacey and I have often taught the Bible together in the past. So this is just a delight for both of us.

Stacy, you’ve always been someone who loves to dive into the Bible like we talked about, but what I love is that you always gravitate toward parts of the Bible that talk about faith over fear and, and because the stories we’re going to talk about over these next two episodes do just that.

I’m wondering if you could kick us off with a story from your life, a personal story. And I love this story. You shared it in our first podcast, but it’s when your precious baby girl was in the ICU and God met her there and you there in a very special way.

Stacie: Yeah. So, a big part of my story And the season of my life that God used to bring me to that place of faith over fear, the most is our journey to become parents.

And then those early years of parenting for us. and I know you said, I shared this in the 1st podcast, but a [00:04:00] little back story. my husband, Chad, and I did have a hard time becoming parents, when we finally did get pregnant, we lost one of the pregnancies, our first one, and then two very complicated high risk pregnancies followed with months of bed rest and complications and all of it went with that.

And second daughter Sydney was born. Um, a freak accident led to a crash C section. Her heart had stopped beating while she was still in the womb and she was 6 minutes without a heartbeat. So technically born dead. And miraculously revived. And then when she was 3 months old, she was, she got sick again or got sick and needed to be intubated and was on a ventilator for 2 weeks in the pediatric ICU.

And. There was a day that I was just really [00:05:00] struggling during that season when she was on the ventilator and just watching our baby just fight for her life. And it was not looking good, you know, um, day after day, just more would arise that wasn’t bringing much hope. And one of our pastors came up with his wife to visit us.

And that day I was brokenhearted over the fact that I couldn’t hold my baby. , you know, as moms, that’s what we do comfort our babies and it was just killing me that I couldn’t pick her up and hold her. 1 of the nurses that day had told me, she’s still aware, even though she’s sedated, she’s aware of what’s going on.

And I think that was meant to comfort me. But it actually just broke my heart that she was aware of what was going on. And, and the fact that I wasn’t holding her, if she was aware of what was going on, so I was crying to our pastor and his wife, he said, Stacy, [00:06:00] we’re just going to pray that she would be held in the arms of Jesus right now and that he would be her comfort.

And so we prayed, he prayed over her. Fast forward two years, Sydney’s miraculously healed. And two years later, she’s just this tiny little toddler. And we were watching the movie miracles from heaven. Mind you, that’s a great movie, but not one that a toddler would sit through. And so she’s sitting there just glued to the TV.

And I remember thinking like, this isn’t normal. She’s a pretty active kid, but she could not take her eyes away from that movie. And so after it was over, I told her, Sydney, do you know that something really similar happened to you when you were a baby? And she said, yeah, I know. And I’m like, you do know?

And she said, yeah, God caught me and he made me fly back down to you. And my husband and I were just like, jaws on the table, like, what, what, how, [00:07:00] what do you mean? And she showed us with her little hands. It was the cutest thing. She said, yep, just like this. He went, you know, and I flew back down to you.

Kelly: I’m going to interrupt for just a minute for those who aren’t watching this.

Sometimes I will put this on our YouTube channel, but. Daisy, why don’t you describe what she did with her hands?

Stacie: She like grabbed her little fist and then made like a flying motion downward. So he caught me, he made me fly back down to you with her tiny little hand. And just so nonchalantly too. She said, yeah.

And another time Jesus was holding me and we were walking on the water.

I truly believe now, mind you, Sydney’s 11 now, and she has no recollection of this story. Like she doesn’t remember telling us that she doesn’t remember it, but I do believe that that was a gift for us and our healing after everything that we had experienced and regaining our trust. In [00:08:00] the living God who is so present and is capable when a baby is aware of what’s going on around her. He’s capable of holding her and comforting her when we can’t. So, it was just a healing thing for us. I wish she remembered it, but I think it was more for us even, you know?

Kelly: Yeah. Oh, that is such a precious story. So powerful. She was miraculously healed of the six minutes without a heartbeat when she was born and miraculously healed when her lung had collapsed and things did not look good. They were, these were life threatening, very scary. Issues that were going on during that time, and it’s just so sweet that God gave her the ability and memory to share that story.

And I’ve seen God do that in other places [00:09:00] and people of different ages where words have come out of their mouth and those words were spoken for the listener and the person who spoke them really doesn’t have any memory of even having said them. It’s so amazing. Yeah. Yeah. I also love what you said that that helped you and your husband regain your trust in God because y’all have been through so many scary life threatening situations.

We know that what happens when people have been through ongoing trauma, your, you know, You’re sitting, you’re kind of walking through life with this underlying tension and anxiety, waiting for the other shoe to drop or bracing for impact in every moment of your life. And if there’s even a hint that something might be going wrong, it triggers these past memories and it’s difficult to regain your trust in God.

Stacie: That’s such a good way to say it, waiting for the other shoe to drop. And I feel like we did live that way for so long, just waiting, you know, for the next thing. It’s a hard [00:10:00] place to, to be.

Kelly: Yeah. So these stories that we’re talking about, they’ve brought hope into your life along the way, along your journey.

And they have for me as well. Today we’re talking about John the Baptist and we’re going to be looking at in Matthew 11. , but the one we’re going to talk about that will be released in the next episode is the story of Jesus walking on the water. And I know that one is even more precious to you because of what you shared.

And. From other things you’ve shared with me, but let’s go ahead and dive into the story of John the Baptist. This is a story that God has used to rescue me from places when God had hurt my feelings when I was offended and didn’t even realize it. And that’s why I really want to share something like this with our listeners, because there are times we don’t even know what’s going on inside of us.

And I think. Stories like this help. So, why don’t we give our listeners a little bit of the background on John [00:11:00] to set up this story. Do you want to share? Sure.

Stacie: So, John the Baptist was the one who was sent to prepare the way. For the coming Messiah, he was a blood relative of Jesus and was the one who had the privilege of baptizing Jesus.

John knew who Jesus was from when he was inside his mother’s womb. Luke 1 41 tells us that when Mary went to stay with her relative Elizabeth during her pregnancy, John the Baptist lept, from within the womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, just at being in the presence of Jesus

Kelly: Yeah, I just think that is so cool. I’m so glad you brought that up. I thought of that this morning that when Mary came, she found out she was pregnant through the angel. Okay, through the Holy Spirit. Now she’s pregnant with God. God is inside of her. Jesus is inside of her.

And, she goes to visit her [00:12:00] relative cause the angel said, Hey, even Elizabeth, your relative, who is very old advanced in years, way too old to be having kids. She suddenly got pregnant with her first child. And when Mary, when Elizabeth heard Mary’s voice, the Holy spirit caused John, even at that moment, and caused him to jump in the womb at the mother of the Messiah. He heard the voice. I just love that God did that. So significant.

Stacie: And even when he baptized Jesus, he saw the spirit descending on him and heard the voice of the Lord proclaiming, this is my beloved son. So John the Baptist knows very well who Jesus is.

Kelly: Yeah.

Stacie: he’s aware of what he’s doing among all the people. He’s aware of all these miracles that he’s performing. So he had full knowledge that Jesus was the Messiah.

Kelly: This is an important point because we’re about to discover That John’s going to ask a question in a minute, and we’re going to [00:13:00] see, he had some times of doubt and wrestling and his feelings are being hurt.

And he was offended. He was confused. And so what you’re setting up is so important for us to realize John knew exactly who Jesus was. Let’s go ahead and read the story. Matthew 11. Start in two. Go ahead and read that story through verse six,

 

Stacie: when John, who was in prison, heard about the deeds of the Messiah, he sent his disciples to ask him, are you the one who is to come or should we expect someone else? Jesus replied, go back and report to John what you hear and see. The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor.

Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.

Kelly: Okay, so I love this passage and it’s so confusing. There’s been tons. I could fill a room probably with [00:14:00] everything that’s been written about speculation. Why did John ask this question? Yeah, John was in prison and prisons back then were pretty harsh. The conditions were harsh. And in some prisons, you didn’t get fed unless you had family members bringing you food. You know, they weren’t paying for you to be there. You didn’t get to go shower every day. You were dirty. You were super uncomfortable. The floor was hard. And you didn’t get food and water unless somebody cared enough for you to bring that to you.

And so it is a really difficult situation. We don’t know exactly his particular conditions, but those are some of the conditions that went on in prison. And we know from our own circumstances that when our physical comforts are assaulted and our. our like daily needs are being assaulted that wears us down.

Right? I mean, we get pretty worn out. And so. [00:15:00] Even though John knew all the things he knew about Jesus, he asked the question. He’s confused. And we’re going to talk more about that in a minute. But jesus was quoting scripture from . Isaiah 61. This was clearly a messianic passage.

So it wasn’t going to be confusing to John when he received this message. He was going to understand Jesus was telling him I am the Messiah.

 1 of the things that was very clear in studying, the writings of these of this day is that people expected Jesus to be a king to overthrow Rome and be an actual political ruler, but , he didn’t come to set up an earthly kingdom. He came to set up a heavenly one, and that’s why he kept saying the kingdom of God is here. This, this is what it looks like. It’s not overthrowing Rome. And so it was confusing for John. I love the way the ESV quotes verse 6. It says, blessed is the 1 who is not offended by [00:16:00] me.

So Jesus is saying, blessed are those who trust me, even when my ways and my delays don’t make sense to them, even when my ways hurt their feelings.

And I just want to talk about all the reasons that John may have been offended during this time and where are we offended and where can we find hope in that? So, what do you see as some of the reasons that John may have been offended?

Stacie: Well, it’s interesting, Kelly, because you did talk about the reason that Jesus would have, would have quoted that, prophecy from Isaiah 61.

It’s interesting to me that he did. He quoted the first part of it, which was, the blind received sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. As I was researching, one of the commentaries that I read noted that he flip flopped the order from Isaiah [00:17:00] 61.

So he read it or quoted it, sorry, forgive me, quoted it. From the bottom up, essentially making the spiritual piece of it, the climax, but then he stopped. Isaiah 61 goes on to say to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners. But Jesus didn’t say that part. And so one of the commentaries that I was reading did say that it was because Jesus was trying to kind of set straight that expectation that they had built up this expectation that he was coming for Political reasons, but his reasons were so much deeper and spiritual than what they even had in mind.

And we see that over and over again in the gospels when people were coming for their physical needs being met. He was doing something so much deeper than that in each of their lives.

Kelly: [00:18:00] Yes, that’s so important because we, we want to ask the why question, you know, we want to say, why didn’t you rescue john?

Why didn’t you get him out of prison? Really? What have really upset some great cosmic plan. If he was released from prison, but. As you were saying, God’s plans for us are so much deeper, so much bigger, so much richer than we can even imagine. And that’s why Isaiah 55 has been a great comfort to me in places of confusion like this, when I felt so hurt by the fact that God was waiting so long to rescue our family.

And Isaiah 55, 8, 9 just reminds us that God’s thoughts and ways are actually beyond our comprehension. we cannot comprehend all that God is doing. If he were to open our eyes to see all that he was doing behind the scenes, how rich and big and complex and good his plan is, like just for a moment, if we could just stand in heaven and we could just get it, we’d come back to earth.

We wouldn’t even be able to put it into words. Like it’s so far beyond our [00:19:00] comprehension.

Stacie: I think that one of the reasons john could have been offended to is that. He was hearing about everything that Jesus was doing. And when you know who God is, when you know what he’s capable of, and you see him doing it all around you, but you’re stuck in this circumstance that you don’t want to be in, then it becomes personal. Then it becomes Well, don’t you care about me? Like, I know you’re capable.

I know you could do anything. I don’t doubt that. But when you’re not doing what I expect you to do, just based on all of these things I’ve built up, based on who I know you to be. Then it starts to feel like, well, it must be me then it’s personal. It’s just because you don’t care or you don’t love me. Or I think that’s where so much of my own personal offense stemmed from.

It, it never once [00:20:00] was doubting the power of God. It was doubting, well, why aren’t you doing what I think you should do then? You know,

Kelly: yes, I think that’s the key to understanding this whole passage. I think that is the key to applying it to our own lives. Suffering is personal.

It’s personal. This was personal. And there’s this beautiful quote. Well, first of all, before I read the quote, I just want to say what happens, what you’re describing is that we’re comparing our situations to other people. We’re so aware of what God is doing and we’re seeing him answer our prayers in somebody else’s life.

And we are doing exactly what you said. Well, what’s wrong with me? This hurts me. Why aren’t you being more supportive? God, I’ve followed you all these years. I’m following you now. I’m, I’m obeying you. And that was John the Baptist’s story. He had spent his whole life. Preparing for ministry and being in ministry. And Jesus says of those born to women, he was the greatest.

He had this calling on his life that [00:21:00] was so hugely significant and important, even from birth, his whole birth story, just, you know, shouts the fact that God’s hand was on him. God’s calling was on him. And yet, If you read some commentaries, they will say his actual ministry only lasted a few years and there he is in prison now.

And so, and he is, and Jesus is a friend, a blood relative. They, they’re not only know each other and friends and in ministry together. I mean, that’s his cousin. There’s this quote I have in my Bible. It’s from Dr. Peter Kreeft, and it’s something that ministered to me. So much over the years because it spoke to what you’re talking about and it spoke to the key of why we get offended in these places and it says the answer to suffering is not an answer at all for no simple answer can tell you what you need to know.

The hope is in the Answerer. It’s Jesus himself. It’s not a bunch of words. It’s [00:22:00] The Word. The answer to suffering cannot just be an abstract idea because suffering isn’t an abstract issue. It’s personal and it requires a personal response. And that’s why I think we find the key to responding to offense right here.

John asks a question instead of wallowing in his self pity, instead of just giving up on God, instead of feeling sorry for himself, instead of continuing to compare and then become bitter. And also he could have discounted his whole life. Like my ministry meant nothing. He could have just been inundated with lies and doubts about God who he and who he personally was to God.

But I think. When he received this answer from Jesus, I think what John heard is. Yes, I am the Messiah. Everyone’s waiting for, but John, it’s deeper than that. [00:23:00] I’m your Messiah. I’m for you. And I think it’s so tender that after the disciples asked the question, after Jesus answered the question, he immediately went on to talk about how valued John was.

He had served him his whole life. He had this significant calling. And I think it was so sweet and tender that he spoke about John’s significance to the kingdom, even though in earthly ways, that seemed pretty insignificant, you know, a year and a half of ministry. And now you’re, you’re about to die.

, what are some ways that, God has helped you when you have taken offense at him, when you’ve been confused or hurt by the things he’s allowed in your life?

Stacie: One of the seasons that, I really struggled with doubt and confusion was when we became pregnant with our first child and I went for my 12 week [00:24:00] ultrasound, like, at the end of our 1st trimester. And they told me that the baby had stopped growing and,, it was so nonchalant again, like just very little compassion, like your baby has stopped growing, but come back in two weeks and we’ll see what happens then.

And so that was just excruciating, but I just happened to be reading through in life journaling, the life journaling plan. I happened to be reading through the gospels at that time. And I was just reading of all these miraculous healings that Jesus did when he was here on this earth. And I was convinced, like.

He’s healing this baby. There’s nothing to worry about. He’s healing this baby. I had complete faith that I was going to go back to that doctor’s appointment two weeks later and they were going to be like, yeah, sorry, false alarm. Your baby’s fine. And so we went to that appointment and again, like, I mean, I can’t [00:25:00] even describe Kelly.

I just, Thought I have nothing to worry about. I felt like God had showed me what he’s capable of. This baby’s going to be healed. And at that appointment, they said, your baby is not growing. This is not a viable pregnancy any longer, and you’re going to lose it. Wow. And I was so disillusioned by that because I was like, God, I thought you were going to heal it.

You know, like I almost could hear your voice saying that because I had read through the gospels and just so happened that’s where I was in my reading plan. And I was just convinced. And so wrestling through that you’re healer, but you didn’t heal. It took me a long time to really Get through that and you were one of the people Kelly who told me and you mentioned this earlier with John You have to bring it to him

He can [00:26:00] heal your doubts in your wrestling’s but you have to bring it to him And I just think about what what if I wouldn’t have what if I wouldn’t have brought it to him and just discounted God At that moment like no everything’s a lie because he didn’t heal And in that wrestling, and it was through time and wrestling through the Word and the Scriptures and theology.

He did show me. He healed that baby.

It wasn’t this side of heaven, but he healed that baby. That baby is in glory, fully alive and well, but my expectation didn’t line up. So, I think, like you said, the key is bringing it to him, just like John did. We have to bring it to him. We can’t shut ourselves off from him.

And I did try at that time. I remember just being so depressed and not wanting to get out of bed. And I’ve [00:27:00] always, not always, but, in our marriage, been the one that’s got my nose in the Bible and all of that. And my husband came to me and brought me my Bible in bed and said, you’ve got to stop, like open your Bible, you’ve got to turn to God in this, you can’t stay here.

So I’m so grateful that he nudged me too. And it, people around me that were. Encouraging me and and allowing me to have the freedom to wrestle and and just bring it to him.

Kelly: Yeah. Yeah. So sorry about that pain. I love how God met you and and that that was the key, right? Brought it to him and he met you, you experienced him and he healed you.

He walked you into a place of wholeness and he healed that offense you had in your heart. And that’s the key we see in John’s story. I feel like asking God questions has been what saved me [00:28:00] for 36 years. And it’s a, it’s a critical place in our life. This is where people turn away from God when they’re, they become disillusioned.

When something like, like what you described happens, uh, they’ve been through a long period of waiting when they’re suffering, when God does not respond in the way they, they should. They think he should. They become disillusioned. They become heartbroken. And the question is, will they allow their disappointments to drive them deeper into God’s heart?

Or will they allow them to drive them away from God? And, um, Steve Atterburn says that the, one of the greatest I’m sorry. One of the greatest epidemics in our church today is unprocessed grief. When we don’t ask the questions with God, we don’t process our grief and it just goes deep down inside and, and it comes out, it’s creating havoc and death and disease deep down in our soul.

But when we just take the time to ask a [00:29:00] question and this is how I’ve worded it to the Lord, I’m so confused. Because I know you’re good and I know you love me and I know you’re right here, but I feel like you’re neglecting us and to me this looks like abandonment. That’s what I see. It looks like you’ve abandoned us.

And that’s how John felt. It looked like he’d been abandoned. Why isn’t his own cousin rescuing him from prison when he’s doing this for everybody else? He’s rescuing everybody else. And so, when we ask questions and we sit with God in that place, His Holy Spirit helps us wrestle it out.

We don’t even know how tangled it is in there. But I would just say, sit with him, listen to praise music, open the Bible, and you can even tell him I’m so mad at you. I don’t want to read your word, but I need to be rescued from this place and continue to just go to him with your hurt and your questions.

Why did you allow this? [00:30:00] Why’s aren’t usually answered. Those questions are not usually answered. So a better question we can ask is what do you want to say to me about this? And that’s what John received. He said, are you the one? He didn’t even explain all of his confusion, but of course, Jesus knows. God knows.

And the response to his heart was, I am your Messiah, I’m with you, I’ve got you. And so it’s crazy important to do this. This is how God rescues us when we’re offended. Yeah.

Stacie: I think that so many times our grief goes unprocessed because we’re afraid. To question God or we’re afraid to come off as irreverent or disrespectful to God when we question or doubt or have those wrestlings.

But we have talked about this. What is God’s heart toward us? When we’re in those moments of doubt and confusion, and [00:31:00] I love the way Psalm 94, 19 says. When doubts filled my mind, your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer. That tells us that God doesn’t sit there and go like, how dare you? How dare you question me?

Or how dare you doubt this? He comforts and brings us to that place of renewed hope and cheer. What an amazing God we have that he’s He knows what he’s doing, just such a heart of compassion.

Kelly: He’s so tender. He’s so merciful. He’s so kind to us. The Bible says that he in one Psalm 147, he draws near to the broken hearted. He saves those who are crushed in spirit. When we’re disillusioned, when we’re heartbroken. We are crushed in spirit and Jesus is on a rescue mission.

He’s pursuing your heart. He’s coming after you. That quiet little voice inside of you that you’re hearing that saying, just talk to me about it. Just talk to me about it. That’s him. That’s [00:32:00] God. If you say you never hear from God, think about those moments. God is pursuing your heart because he wants to heal you.

He wants to help you. He wants to rescue you. He is always on a rescue mission for us. And I would really like to, uh, close with, well, there’s a couple of ways I want to close, but one is this beautiful quote I found in the book Gentle and Lowly by Dane Ortlund. I highly recommend this book and I’ve mentioned it before, but he’s, he writes, when the fallenness of the world closes in on us and makes us want to throw in the towel.

There, right there. We have a friend who knows exactly what such testing feels like, and he sits close to us. He embraces us. He is with us. We are never alone. We’re never alone. The sorrow that we feel that can be so isolating, that feeling that we’ve been abandoned. It was endured by him in the past, and it is [00:33:00] now shouldered by him in the present.

Yes. Let’s read how God closes Matthew 11 because I think it’s a beautiful invitation for us when we’re offended in a place where we can meet with God. So it’s 28 through 30.

Stacie: Yes, it says come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

Kelly: So good. Don’t you feel like that just invites us into the kindness and the tenderness of Jesus?

Stacie: Yes. Yes. As I was just preparing for this podcast, expectation was something that I, focused on a lot, right? Because that’s what leads us to those moments of doubt.

And so even when we’ve seen God work in a way that we didn’t expect one time. [00:34:00] That kind of sets us up for even wrestling in the future. Cause then, you know, like I shared my story with our miscarriage. Well, then when we went through our stuff with Sydney’s birth, it set me up for even more wrestling.

Cause I was like, can I trust him to heal this time? Because he, he didn’t do it in the way I expected last time. And God kept leading me to act 16, which was another prison story when Jesus people were in prison. Paul and Silas are in prison and it says that they were singing hymns and praying. And they weren’t like, they would have been familiar with the story of John the Baptist and what had happened to John in prison.

So they weren’t in prison going, Oh, well, last time someone, someone was in prison for following Jesus, they were beheaded in prison or, or he’s going to do this, or we expect them to do this. They weren’t doing any of that. They were going to him, singing hymns and praying. And that’s [00:35:00] really what Matthew 11, 28 through 30 is telling us.

Come to me in prayer, in, in worship, and let me do the rest. He’s going to do all of this stuff that, that needs to be done in our hearts, as we just saw. sit before him. He’s so good to bring us to that place of rest.

Kelly: Oh, absolutely. That is so beautiful. I love that you pulled that in and how beautifully it relates to what you were talking about waiting for the other shoe to drop.

No, no, sure. you don’t know what’s going to happen, but in the place you’re in, God is with you. And his kingdom is coming and his will is being done right here, right now in beautiful ways. And they praised God. And in that situation, they were rescued. But yes, that’s a beautiful way to illustrate that invitation to come to Jesus.

I love that. Thank you for sharing that.

Stacie: Sure.

Kelly: Well, Stacy, you discovered something really fascinating from the story you were just [00:36:00] describing and how it relates to something very hopeful in Psalm 121, which I just love because this has been an anchor for my heart during times of weariness. Basically there, God is saying, I am your keeper. You don’t have to keep yourself so hopeful.

So why don’t you show us how it connects.

Stacie: We just talked about, Paul and Silas in prison, and I was so curious when I was researching that story. I was wondering what songs were they singing if they were going to to God and song and prayer. And I, I heard a sermon and the pastor described that they would have used the psalms of Ascent as their songs to in times of trouble.

That’s what they would sing. So we’re going to just close this time with Psalm 121, which is something that we can all turn to when we’re in those moments of doubt and confusion. We can turn to [00:37:00] God and not try to figure it out, not try to understand what he’s going to do next, or last time he didn’t do it this way, come to him simply in song and, and prayer and worship.

And Psalm 121 says, I lift my eyes toward the mountains. Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to slip. Your protector will not slumber. Indeed, the protector of Israel does not slumber or sleep. The Lord protects you. The Lord is a shelter right by your side.

The sun will not strike you by day or the moon by night. The Lord will protect you from all harm. He will protect your life. The Lord will protect your coming and going both now and forever.

Kelly: That’s so beautiful. Amen. Thank you. Thank you, [00:38:00] God.

And I just want to encourage our listeners, to go back, when Stacy reads Psalm 121 and that invitation to come to Jesus, that you would just let those words wash over you and minister to those wounded places that you might still be living with.

Thank you so much for joining us. And we are both praying for every single listener that comes that the Lord would meet you in your heartache and rescue you in this place. Stacey, thanks for joining me today. Thank you, Kelly.

If you were encouraged in your faith today, it’d be great if you’d help get the word out by subscribing, sharing with a friend or leaving a review. I’d love to hear from you. You can reach out through my website, kellyhall. org and pick up some free resources while you’re there. Thanks for listening to the Unshakable Hope Podcast.