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Mar 23, 2026
Episode 4_Embracing Seasons of Faith
Episode 4_Embracing Seasons of Faith
00:00
55:42
Transcript
0:00
Hi everyone. I am Fernie, one of the hosts of the Walking The Narrow Path podcast. We are so grateful to have you as part of our community. If you're finding value in these conversations, I have a small favor to ask.
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Please hit the follow or subscribe button in your podcast app right now. It's the best way to support the show and make sure you never miss an episode.
0:24
For more resources and show notes, you can also visit us at our website at walkingthenarrowpath.org. Now, let's get back to the show. [upbeat music] Real faith is forged in the trenches,
0:42
not on a highlight reel. Welcome to Walking the Narrow Path. We're trading religious PR spin for everyday authentic faith. Let's get into it.
0:59
[upbeat music] 6:00 AM, the world is loud, selling a shiny rebrand. But putting a coat of paint on the wall won't help the house to stand. We check the vanity metrics,
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looking for something real. But the truth ain't found in a marketing pitch or a polished-up appeal. We're everyday men in the daily grind, trying to lead the home team right.
1:33
Trading the cheap grace of the crowd for the cause, walking in the light. Yeah, we're walking the narrow path, through the fire and the aftermath.
1:46
When the game plan shifts and the audible calls, we trust the Maker through it all. Hello, hello, hello everybody, and welcome back to the Walking The Narrow Path with Edin and Fernie.
2:01
This is our fourth episode, so we'd like to start off by saying thank you to everyone that's downloaded the podcast.
2:10
We've gotten some pretty good reaction based on the metrics that I've seen, so hopefully they're not lying to us. [laughs] No, no, I don't think they are, man.
2:17
Honestly, people keep approaching me and telling me that they're enjoying it and that they're being blessed by it, so honestly, just I'm so grateful to the Lord for the fact that people are actually reacting well to it.
2:29
So that's always a good thing. It's hard to believe that it's already four episodes, man. Yeah. Before you know it, we'll be on 400. [laughs] God willing, right? Yeah, absolutely. All right.
2:39
I think today, one of the things that I wanted to cover today is holding plans with open hands and being open to what God is trying to do in your life.
2:50
Basically, trusting God's sovereignty and to maintain the peace in your life when things shift, when things come unexpectedly, and focusing on the biblical truth that God is the author of your story.
3:03
And that was something that I had a hard time, and once I learned to just give things to God, it's, it was... It, it helped me.
3:11
And so that's why I figured this would be a good topic for us to cover today, 'cause I know that a lot of people that I've talked to recently have, are going through seasonal changes.
3:21
We're going through from, into spring, so I figured why not?
3:25
Seasons are changing, that's not only in the outside, in people's lives and- It's funny that you say that because honestly, just yesterday I was thinking, "I wish I lived in a place where I could actually experience all four seasons."
3:35
[laughs] Right? 'Cause in Texas, you don't have fall and spring. You just have summer and- Wind. [laughs]... especially in El Paso, right? You have heat and less heat. That, that's all you have.
3:47
Our, our seasons are different, right? Yeah, sure. We have a small stint of cold. We have a windy season. We have a warm season and a hot season. That's pretty much it.
3:58
Look, the way I see it is, if you can be wearing flip-flops and shorts on Christmas Day, then- [laughs]... that doesn't count as winter. I know, man. This year's been crazy. Yeah.
4:08
90-something degrees and we're not even in the middle of... We're barely in the middle... I don't know, more than halfway through March, but in March, 95 degrees? That's just insane. Yeah.
4:16
Earlier in the month, there were some places in the country that were still experiencing snowstorms- Yeah... and we were already, like, at 80-something degrees. And I'm like, "Man, that's crazy." Yeah.
4:27
I had coworkers that were from the northeast that were going through snowstorms and I was like, "Oh, it's 90 degrees here."
4:32
But to your point, it's all about seasons, and we go through different seasons in life, and that's something that you brought something up right now that you've spoken to a lot of people that are going through seasonal changes in their life.
4:45
My wife and I are actually experiencing that ourselves. We're going through a lot of seasonal changes. Where is it all going to come out? How is it all going to end?
4:55
What is it gonna look like in a year from now, two years from now, five years from now? I don't know. Yeah. I don't know what my life is gonna look like at that point in time.
5:03
But you mentioned sovereignty a moment ago, and that's something that, as children of God, we need to learn how to trust, that because God is sovereign, we can trust Him that we're going to come out on top at the end of these seasons or through these seasons or these changes that we're talking about.
5:25
And that's something that's, a lot of times, really hard to do, is just put our trust in God. Yeah.
5:31
I, I 100% agree, and I think even those of us, and again, I don't think that I'm, like, the poster child of Christianity, but even those of us that have, are more dependent or lean more on our faith, even we have a tr- struggle with this, right?
5:49
One of the things that I wrote down is, why do we crave predictability and control? As human beings, we're wired to seek stability and plan for our futures. Since we're children, it's like, "What are you gonna be?"
6:02
I'm five. I'm gonna go-Get my hands dirty [laughs] Right. Yeah, I'm gonna crawl on the floor.
6:08
Ah-yeah, so it's, it's crazy 'cause I think it's programmed in ours, in our lives that we need to know what our future's gonna be and that draws in us needing that constant answer. Okay, what's coming next?
6:23
Us wanting to be in control of what's coming next and I think we lose track of the major transitions or disruptions in our life, right?
6:32
And we have plans and the thing is that while our plans are going good, we're not worried. But as soon as we get that plan that gets disrupted and we're like, "Whoa," and then we start to panic.
6:43
And so it's easy to feel like we're falling and losing control or losing grip of our world and our reality, and it's the discouragement that comes from that, the anxiety, the, the, the hundred emotions that come through.
6:57
And I'm gonna tell you, I don't think one of those emotions, if it, or very few of them, are any positive.
7:02
And I don't think those emotions are coming from our Lord, Christ, and Savior that's saying, "Hey, I want you to feel this way." I, I honestly do think that the struggle is part of the journey, but I...
7:14
It's all those other things, right? It's a moment of weakness that I think the enemy uses to put that doubt and that fear in your eyes and...
7:22
Just earlier today we were at church and pastor was speaking, and he said something that has been coming up for me quite repeatedly in these past few weeks, is that it's through the hardship and it's through the struggle that we grow as people.
7:39
Amen. When we're comfortable, we're not growing. No, of course not. God... The feelings of stress and anxiety don't necessarily come from God, but God allows that to help us grow and to teach us how to trust in Him.
7:56
Because, look, whe- when life is going smooth, if you never have hardship, if you never have these seasons of change- Yeah... if you're never...
8:04
If a wrench is never thrown into your plans that just comes and disrupts, uh, uh, everything or anything, then we're never going to be... We're never going to come to a place where we're going to be forced to trust God.
8:19
Yeah.
8:20
And it's funny because I had already had this planned as far as what I wanted to talk about, and yesterday we were driving with Melissa's uncle and aunt and that we're pretty close with, and I don't know where the c- discussion came from, but we started having this discussion about trusting God and how we need to lean on Him more.
8:36
And I, I found myself saying my own testimony of, for me, the last year has been nothing but storms and disruptions. And whatever plan I thought I had, it was... I'll say it again, we make plans and God just laughs.
8:53
He's, "All right, thank you for the comedy show and see you next week." I've gone through a severe change in my career, for the good, but still, it's a major change. It's something new.
9:07
Something old, but new at the same time.
9:09
I've had three very close members of my family, to include my brother, which we've spoken about that already several times, and I've gone through all those disruptions, but what I found myself telling them yesterday was, if it wasn't for me leaning on God and God's Word and having people of faith around me, I don't know how I would've...
9:34
I don't think I would've survived it. And I'm not talking about in the literal sense, like I would've died physically and left this world. Mentally, however, and emotionally, that would've destroyed me 10 years ago.
9:46
That would've destroyed me six years ago because I would've let it consume me. And instead, a lot of people in that same situation would lean on other things, other forms of anecdotal concepts, right?
10:00
Drinking, drugs, smoking, whatever the case may be. Partaking in not healthy habits or whatever the case may be. And for me, it was the opposite.
10:11
I actually, going through it with my brother, instead of me leaning on the, on alcohol, I cut it completely off because I knew that if I didn't, then I would lean more on that than leaning on God and God's guidance.
10:28
And it's funny that I use my brother a lot, and I really miss him, and I'm missing him right now, but I find it very interesting that I use his journey and the journey that I went through with him, with him on this podcast, and it comes out just so natural.
10:42
You know, I think- Yeah... part of that is the fact that it was just so recent, but also because it had such a huge impact- Yep... emotionally and spiritually.
10:53
Because as difficult as that journey was, you grew a lot as a person, but you grew also in your relationship and your faith in God.
11:04
Yeah, and that's what we were talking about yesterday, too, was you said something that stuck with me last time about it's not about a religion, it's about a relationship. And I... We were having that discussion, right?
11:16
About different denominations. And I said, "You know what? It really doesn't matter. God is God re- regardless of how you go about it."
11:23
And I shared some of my experiences and I'm not gonna cover it 'cause I think it's a little bit political. It was a good testimony for, in that instance, but it is...
11:32
it can be a little political and a little bit sensitive, and that's not the point of this podcast. But at the end of the day, what I, I told them, I said, "It really doesn't matter. It's your relationship."
11:42
I don't have to follow all these rules. There's only one rule that I gotta follow, and the rules that I gotta follow is what s- what scripture says. And I...
11:50
And again, this is why we're doing this, is so that people understand that concept and we were talking about all these rules that we've, that we hear throughout growing up, and you need to do it this way, you need to do it that way.
12:02
And my first question was, where does it say that in the Bible? And that's the key question. Yeah. Because you might interpret it this way, you might think that, you might...
12:12
What does scripture say?You have your, e- every, no matter who you ask, they're gonna have an opinion. Correct. But it's like, what does the Bible say regarding whatever it is that you're dealing with- Mm-hmm...
12:22
or going through or talking about? And what you said right now really bring, it, it, it brought a passage to mind in scripture because you said, "Doesn't matter, it's your relationship with God," and that is so true.
12:35
In scripture, in scripture we see a passage where Jesus is speaking with his disciples, and he says, "Who do people say that I am?"
12:46
And the disciples start to answer, and they say, "Well, some, they say that you're Elijah. Some say that you're a prophet. Some say this, some say that." And then Jesus says, "Who do you say that I am?" Okay.
12:58
And that's, and that's the, where we get that famous quote, right, or that famous passage where Peter responds and he says, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
13:09
And Jesus answers and tells him, "Blessed are you because it wasn't revealed to you by flesh, but by my Father that is in heaven."
13:18
And he says, "And upon this rock, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church." And different people and different religions, whatever, have their own interpretation about what Jesus says there.
13:27
But the point is, the point that I'm trying to make is, who do you say Jesus is? Because ultimately, when we stand before God, as one day everyone will, we are being judged by Him. That's really the ultimate question.
13:44
That's really what's going to determine our eternal destiny. Who Jesus is for us and what we did with that. Yeah, and yeah, that makes a lot of sense. The only, the, the other thing that I...
13:56
And I read this when I was doing some research and it said, "How are your hands? Are you, are your hands open or are they clenched?"
14:04
And while I was reading that, it referenced Proverbs 16:9 and James 4:13-15, and I'm trying to get to the... So Proverbs 16:9 says, "The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps."
14:21
And but what really got me there is the heart of man plans his way. So it goes back to what I started with, right? We plan, and it's fine that we have our plans.
14:32
No one's saying that m- making your plans and trying to make sense of things is not the, is not the correct way of doing it. But the second part is the important part. It's, but the Lord establishes your steps, right?
14:47
It's you can make your plan, but you need to allow God to illuminate the path to get to that plan and be willing to have, and not have your fist so clenched that you set yourself, that it becomes so painful for God to open up those hands, for you to receive the steps and the guidance that He's trying to give you.
15:11
And then James th- 4:13-15 says, "Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow, we will go into such and such town,' yet y- yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring.
15:24
Instead, you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.'" So that's a huge differentiation. Yeah. So here's what I'm hearing. When you read those passages, is it good to have plans?
15:39
Yes, absolutely. However, we need to be willing to allow God to take control and switch things around sometimes if He needs to do. Yeah. You brought up a, you, you brought up... So earlier, right- Yeah...
15:54
a moment ago, you mentioned a word. You mentioned the word sovereignty. Mm-hmm. Or sovereign. And I want to go ahead and touch base on that just for a couple of minutes- Let's do it...
16:03
because it's important for us to understand what we're talking about because when you move within Christian circles and church and so on and so forth, you hear a lot of people talk about God's sovereignty, and we mentioned that God is sovereign, but a lot of times we don't fully understand what that means or what people are talking about when we mention God's sovereignty.
16:21
So what exactly is God's sovereignty? A perfect or a simple way to understand it, and I was actually doing a little bit of research before we started this, and I was just Googling- [laughs]... famous Google. Google.
16:34
[laughs] Got to cheat sometimes, right? Hey. So- Gotta use the resources that are given to you. So here it is.
16:40
When we're talking about God's sovereignty, we're talking about God's absolute power and authority over all creation, ruling and controlling all events according to His purpose.
16:51
Now you mentioned Proverbs 16:9 a moment ago. Yes. The mind of man, or your version says the heart of man, plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps, and that's exactly what it is. We have plans. Yeah, we have plans.
17:03
But if the Lord says, "Hey, your plans are good, but I want you to go this route. I want you to do this," right? Or, "I want you to change something within those plans.
17:14
Change, tweak it a little bit so that it could work this way or whatnot", then we need to be willing, understanding that He is sovereign, we need to be willing to make those changes. Yeah. They, correct.
17:27
Going back to the example that I was giving, right? That, about me and my brother and all these storms and tri- trials and tribulations that helped build me and grow.
17:38
When you're going through those, you don't understand it, but I was, I made the choice to listen to what He was, the guidance He was giving me. I allowed Him to use me in the way that I was able to plant seeds.
17:54
I wasn't trying to preach to my brother, but I was planting seeds of God's love and God's grace and sovereignty and the whole nine yards.
18:04
And by His grace and His grace only, my brother came back to Him before he passed, and that was probably one of the joyous parts of the whole, of my whole-...
18:15
experience with him but I allowed myself to listen, and I could have gone the other way. I could have, again, indulged in other things to cope but instead I didn't. I told God, "You know what? Use me as your tool.
18:29
Use me in the best way that I can to be of service, not for me, but for my brother and for my family." And it might sound arrogant because you might...
18:42
Some people might say that, "Oh, were you really doing it for them or were you doing it for yourself?" And I wrote that down. The, uh, the trap is the arrogance of assuming that our plans are final and the only...
18:55
There is no final. Like, God's story and book is final, the one he has written for you, and how he wants to guide you, but you have to choose how long you stay in each chapter.
19:07
That is arrogant when you talk ab- when, when you put it that way. Us assuming, right, or believing that our plans are final- Yeah... that is arrogance. That is pride.
19:18
What you describe about your journey with your brother, I don't see that as arrogance because you chose to listen to God. You asked God to use you for a specific purpose, and God did, right? Yeah.
19:34
And ultimately, you got to enjoy, a- as difficult as the process was, you got to enjoy some really good quality time with your brother before his passing, but the best part of this all, the best part of all of this I should say, is that God used you to bring your brother back to Him.
19:55
Yeah. And I'll forever be grateful to Him for that and for allowing me to be a part of that journey for him to come back. But I think that's... I was willing to... And going back to the fist analogy, right?
20:08
I could have clenched my fist even harder and God's always gonna open up your hands. Let me make that very clear. However, the harder you clench, the harder He has to pull on your fingers to open those up.
20:20
And the harder you clench, the harder He has to pull, the more it's gonna hurt. So again, we were saying this before that there is no journey without struggles, pain, hurt. It, it's all meant for preparation.
20:36
And I said at the last podcast where God's journey wasn't perfect, and it sure as heck wasn't easy or... It was... He struggled for the most of everything- Well-... that He went through...
20:49
to correct you, and I apologize, but it was perfect in the sense that God's mission- Yes... His purpose was fulfilled. Yes. So it was perfect in that sense. From that sense, yes.
20:59
But to clarify your point, it wasn't without its struggles. Correct, and that's what I meant. Yeah. It was just like he went through trials and tribulations. The experience wasn't perfect. The outcome was the perfection.
21:11
And so yeah, I completely understand that. And what I find absolutely amazing is that even though obviously God, knowing all things, knew the struggles- Mm-hmm... the temptations, the hurt, the pain, the...
21:25
E- e- everything that entails, and He still chose to do that. Yeah. A- and that is something that just...
21:34
I know it, and it's something that I've been hearing since I was a kid, but every single time I stop to think about that, it just blows my mind. Yeah. Really think about it.
21:44
If you told me that I was gonna walk out the door today and get taken out of this world, and I knew exactly how and I knew exactly what I was gonna feel and the whole nine yards, yeah, no. [laughs] I'll stay in bed.
21:57
I'll stay in bed. Thanks. [laughs] Think about it tomorrow. I'll... Yeah, I think I'll procrastinate that till tomorrow, thanks. But you're right. It's...
22:04
I don't think we really sit down to really think about, whoa, think of it that way. It's... Would you? I wouldn't, but that's why He was God, and that's why He knew what he had to do.
22:16
And today pastor was talking about love and that it takes sacri- true love comes with sacrifice. It comes with... It's not just that butterfly feeling in your stomach. It's all of it, right?
22:28
It's giving up things and sacrificing yourself in many ways, emotionally, physically, and, and every way possible. When you truly sha- show love, it's not about you. It's not about the feelings that you get.
22:44
It's about the other person. Absolutely. And- Absolutely... that, that kind of really stuck with me today that we're talking about that because everybody...
22:55
And there was a story today, and I'm not gonna repeat it 'cause I don't think I have the right to, but one of the stories from the youth when they came back from their trip, they said that a door was closed for one of the, of the teenagers that the youth that went, right?
23:08
They went through a trial, a big trial, but it was something that was asked for on her behalf. She asked for c- clarity and for what was good and for God to intervene, and that resulted in being...
23:26
going through a heartache, something that was super painful and something that was... that is very hard to dif- to deal with at that, at something at that age. Actually, any age.
23:37
So my point to that is open doors are beautiful to walk through, and everybody sees that and all that. But when something closes, when you're...
23:46
When there's a door that closes, we harp on that closed door because of the... It was painful to imagine having something on the other side that you could see, but as you were going towards it, it closed. Why?
24:00
'Cause God knew that wasn't for you, but we fail to realize that concept.
24:05
And again, that goes back to what I was saying earlier, the arrogance of thinking that your plan was better than His, but when He guides you, it, it's gonna come with some hurt. Why?
24:16
Because He loves you, and if you trust God and we actually love...
24:22
We put our love and God in our heart-We should expect to sacrifice what we think should happen for what He sees and knows should happen, and be able to acknowledge that pain and that lesson.
24:38
To me, it's not even pain anymore, they're lessons. It's like I, I go through something and I'm like, "Okay, what... Okay, God, what is... what's the lesson that you want me to learn?"
24:45
And that's what I've taught the young- the kids that, that we teach. I said, "You know what?
24:49
When you think you're having a hard time, you're going through a storm, ask yourself, 'God, what lesson do you want me to learn from this?'" And that's the key, right?
24:58
And everything that you're talking about right now, it really brings one thing to mind, and it is self-denial and submitting my wants, my desires, my will- Yeah... to God's will. Yeah. And it's so difficult to do. It is.
25:15
It's so difficult to do. And right now you said you don't even see it as pain anymore, you see it as lessons. I heard it said once, a few months ago, that hardship doesn't happen to you, it happens for you.
25:28
That's a good one. And honestly, it's something that I struggled with, and I, I struggled with it for a long time. But when you start to actually submit yourself to God's will, it's not gonna be easy.
25:42
It's not gonna be easy. Self-denial is never easy because it's a dying of oneself. But when you lean into that instead of resisting it, it hurts less. Yeah. It's the courage, right?
25:55
It's the courage to step into what is unknown. We've all heard the phrase, "Take a leap of faith." It's one of those, going back to what we said in other podcasts, a cliché.
26:07
But is it really a cliché, or have we just taken the value of that saying and bec- made it common, and just made it a phrase that people say? But think about it if you really break it down. Take a leap of faith.
26:23
Isn't that what God's asking us to do every single time He tells us to go left when you think you should go right? If you... In one of the scriptures that I use to remind myself that is the...
26:35
is Joshua 1:9 that says, "Have I not commanded you: be strong and courageous. Be not..." I'm sorry, "Do not be frightened and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go."
26:51
Do not be frightened and do not be dismayed. Be strong and courageous. Be strong and courageous.
26:58
That is, you know, the way God commands it, when you read that passage carefully, the way God is speaking, you come to realize that being strong and courageous is a choice. Yeah.
27:10
We can choose, right, to be strong and courageous, or we can choose to go the easy route or to be... What's the opposite of being courageous? A coward? Coward. And courage is not... Let me...
27:26
I'm, I'm just gonna say this. Courage is not the absence of fear, it's the willingness to act in spite of fear. Yeah, exactly. And but if we think about it, Joshua in... for that verse, right?
27:39
So it's a verse that a lot of people use. Lot of... It's a verse that I've heard multiple times for many things. But how many times have we actually talked about the story of it? You know, what, what does that mean?
27:52
Why did... Why was Joshua told that? And what I wrote down, and you can correct me and expand on it by all means, but Joshua had to step into some massive shoes, right?
28:05
He had to lead a nation into unknown, hostile territory. Yeah, no, thank you. Thanks for the promotion, God, but yeah, I don't think I have the right equipment for that journey. But see, here's the thing.
28:20
God has prepared him. He didn't just prepare him because he was Moses' successor and Moses' disciple. Yeah. But God prepared him throughout 40 years in the wilderness.
28:33
That entire 40-year journey was preparation to be able to actually trust God enough to say, "Okay, I'm gonna move.
28:45
Even though I don't know how this is gonna happen, I don't know the detail as to how it's gonna play out, but I'm gonna trust that God is going to move. He's going to be faithful to His promises.
28:56
He's going to be faithful to His word. He's going to be faithful to us, and He's not gonna let us fall. He's not gonna let us fail. He's going to show up when we need Him."
29:06
And that's something that a lot of times, you know... Or earlier I was talking about the fact that we need to learn how to trust God more, and that's exactly what it is. It's trusting that God is gonna show up.
29:19
It's moving sometimes. You were talking about taking a leap of faith. Scripture says that we live not, right, that we live not by sight, that we move not by sight but by faith. Faith. So it's like, what is that?
29:31
It's that exactly.
29:32
It's the fact that you are going to walk, move in the direction that God is leading you to, even though you don't know or understand every single detail about it, but you know that God is gonna show up when He needs to.
29:46
He's gonna do His part so that ultimately things turn out good for you according to His purpose and His will- Yeah... but not necessarily according to the plans that we originally had. Yeah.
30:02
He didn't tell Joshua, "Hey, go ahead and don't worry. The transition's gonna be easy." He... I don't think he's...
30:09
Whenever He's put someone to go do something that's of great significance, I don't think He ever said, "Don't worry, it's gonna be a piece of cake." You know what I mean? It's, "Just do it.
30:19
It's g- you got nothing to worry about." Heck no. Even Elijah, when he made the enemy, he was outnumbered and he made the enemy think that there were 300 times more and bigger than what they were. You know what I mean?
30:29
It's I...Can you imagine? It's like the movie 300, right? It's they're outnumbered and you just... It's strategic. God's plan is always strategic. We're just not willing to look at what the strategy is or listen to it.
30:46
And you know what? Even if you don't understand it, it's trusting it. And that's the key word right there. It's trusting it. It's trusting God because it is strategic, but He doesn't always reveal the strategy to you.
30:59
As a matter of fact, I think, and right or wrong, I don't know, it's just the way that I... It's what's talking to my heart. I think that when it seems intimidating, that's when you should go more into it.
31:11
I think when it's intimidating, when it's- I- Because He said it right there, "Don't be afraid. Don't be dismayed." He's... It... That tells me that whatever I'm gonna walk into is super intimidating, right?
31:23
But if it's intimidating, why am I running away from it? Because it's intimidating. We run because of that fact that it is intimidating, because it is scary.
31:35
Because it is unknown, and it is such a daunting task that we feel like we could never accomplish it. And in fact, we can't if it wasn't for the fact that God is the one doing things for us. That's the key.
31:52
That's the key. That's the key, is making... Is rem- remembering that He says... 'Cause even in the passage, He says, "I am..." That He is with him, right? He's...
32:00
He tells him, "Be strong, courageous, for I am with you." We forget that concept that God is with us. He's not gonna tell me to go into something that He's not gonna either prepare me for or equip me with.
32:12
And that's what I think take a leap of faith is really about. You know what? Right now that you're saying that, I'm remembering when my wife and I got married, we...
32:24
My mother-in-law gave us a frame, and we have it hanging in our living room. And right now that you're saying that, it just came to mind. And I've seen it in other places as well.
32:33
But it says, "The will of God will never take you where the grace of God will not protect you." Amen. I love that. And that is so powerful. It's so powerful. And I've seen it in other places.
32:45
I've even seen it, like, on coffee mugs and stuff, and honestly, I hate it. I, I hate to see it so- in so many places because I feel like it's starting to become a little bit of a cliché. But it's so powerful.
32:57
When you stop to think about truly what that means, the will of God will never take you where the grace of God will not protect you. It is such a powerful concept.
33:11
In the past few weeks, I've had this passage that just keeps coming to mind, and I even posted a little something on it on my social media page, and it's found in the Book of Psalms, chapter 27.
33:24
Towards the end of the chapter, King David writes something that I find absolutely amazing. He says, "I would have dismayed if I would not have believed that I would see the goodness of God in the land of the living."
33:40
We have to believe that when we are following God's plan and following God's will, and leaning into and denying ourself, like we've been talking about all this time, denying ourself and submitting our will to His will, we have to trust and believe that we will see God's goodness.
34:01
And that's... And you're 100% correct. And we forget what... The trouble is now, but the reward, you, you just don't know what that reward's gonna be.
34:12
And I will tell you, when I reflect back in the times that I've been obedient, and I was... I don't know. I don't know if this is... And I'm like, do I do it? Do I not? Do I jump? Do I stay? Do I...
34:25
I don't think there's been a time where I've taken a leap of faith where the reward or the outcome wasn't bigger than I even imagined. Even... Yeah, I... That's... It takes my breath away.
34:38
When you really think about it, it... The trial, the preparation, there's nothing that comes easy. A football player doesn't just wake up one day and say, "Oh, I'm an NFL player," right?
34:49
They go through years of preparation, and isn't that what our life is about is working through all this so that we can learn, right? We do it for the kids, right? We do it for kids. And He's our father.
35:00
He's gonna teach us. He's gonna do whatever. What do we do with our kids? "Don't touch the stove. It's hot." And what happens? You wait for the kid to touch the stove, and then you're like, "Te dije.
35:09
I told you" for those of you that don't speak Spanish. [laughs] Right. And here's the thing. As a parent- Right... as a good parent- Yeah...
35:15
if you are a good parent, then you're going to pull his hand away from the stove, but kids are stubborn, and they're gonna keep reaching for it, and they're gonna keep reaching for it, and they're gonna keep reaching for it, and it comes to a point where you're just like, "All right."
35:30
But don't we, even good parents, right, don't we as parents, sometimes you can only tell your child so many times, and then you're like, "You know what? Fine.
35:42
I'm tired of telling you, so I'm gonna let you learn the hard way." And I think that's what happens sometimes when we... I'll go back to the clenched fist, right?
35:50
You want me to open up your hand so that I can put something great in it. I can't put nothing into your hand if you have it solidly closed. So I'm gonna peel every single finger open.
36:04
You can either open it gently and let me do it, or I... It's gonna hurt, but I'm gonna... You know what I mean? You wanna do it the easy way or the [laughs] hard way?
36:13
I've often said, when I've been teaching, I have often said that if we were a little bit more humble and we were a little bit more teachable, then a lot of times we would avoid so much heartache because the hardships that God allows in our life sometimes are to humble us and to teach us and to guide us, and yeah, we grow through that.
36:35
But if we're a little bit more willing-To just let God move and to listen to His guidance and to just lean into that instead of resisting that there might be pain but it won't be as bad Correct It won't be as painful but sometimes because we're resisting it God has to break us first Yeah.
36:56
It's what do you do to a lemon sometimes? What happens when you get a lemon from the store and it's super hard? What's the first thing that we do? Or at least that's what I do.
37:04
[laughs] I don't know if you do it or if anybody else does. I grab it, squeeze it, and roll it until it softens up so that I can, what, squeeze the most juice out of it. I need to teach you how to choose lemons, bro.
37:18
Bro, you know what? I'm in a hurry sometimes. [laughs] Give me a break. [laughs] Maybe I like the struggle. [laughs] That's what it is, right? But... And you know what? Ironically, I think sometimes that's it.
37:29
Sometimes we... Some people just like to struggle. I... And you know what? Everybody learns different ways.
37:35
Some people learn by other people's experiences, some people learn by their own experiences, and some people learn the hard way, and that's okay.
37:43
The key there is that we learn, and sometimes when we don't listen to God's guidance, I don't think you ever learn. We go back to walking the narrow path. You keep yourself in the ditch.
37:55
You veered left or you veered right, you got yourself in the ditch, but it's again, God's throwing you the chains, and you fail to see them, and instead you sit in self-pity about, "Oh, I'm stuck.
38:12
I don't know what to do." Easy. Feeling sorry for yourself. Yeah. Making excuses about why you can't come out of it.
38:20
Let's turn the excuses on why I can't into reasons of why I can, and it's very simple, and I said it earlier, be courageous. Why? 'Cause God is with you. And it's simple to say.
38:36
And we can sit here behind mics and go- Yeah, just trust God. It's not that easy. It's not that easy. And I- Yeah. But the thing is... Okay, so something that happened to me recently- Yeah...
38:46
because as I've been saying, and I've mentioned this in previous podcasts, we're... my wife and I, we're going through a season- Mm-hmm...
38:52
a very difficult season, a challenging season, but we are learning to trust God in a deeper way, and that's something that my wife called me out on the other day.
39:01
She goes, "You, you preach and you teach about trusting God. Where is your trust?" Bingo. And she called me out on it, and honestly, it really made me reflect because it's true.
39:14
When you're standing behind a mic, whether it be on a podcast or whether it be behind a pulpit in front of a congregation, it's easy to tell other people, or even when you're ministering to somebody one-on-one- Yeah...
39:24
it's easy to tell somebody else, "Hey, just don't worry. Everything's gonna be fine. Just trust God." But when you're the one that has to walk through the fire, wow, that is- Yeah... a whole other ballgame. Yeah.
39:37
It's the... Oh, man, I just had it in my head and it just went away. It's the... I'll get back to it. I just lost it. Old age. Sorry, guys. It, it, it, it hits you every once in a while. But it's about how we handle it.
39:49
It's that how do we handle that storm? How do we handle that transition? And I can honestly tell you from personal experience, it's not easy. It's taken me...
39:59
This has been a five-year training [laughs] that God put me through to get to where I'm standing behind this mic trying to guide other people on how to lean on God's Word through these trials and tribulations, through these moments, and I haven't had it easy, and I know a lot of people don't.
40:19
Nobody really does, but it's how we handle it. And the way we can handle it, again, it's what I said earlier. Do you wanna s- stay stuck in the mud and be like, "My, my shoes are dirty. They're full of mud.
40:33
I, I don't know if I can climb the one-foot barricade that's there. How am I gonna do it?" You know what I mean? It's, "Okay. I'm stuck in this trench.
40:45
What tools do I have to get me out of this mud, and what approaches can I take to climb o- back onto the road? Oh, look."
40:57
All of a sudden when you lean on God and you start looking for God's grace, that's always around by the way, all of a sudden the chains appear. All of a sudden, oh, that hill isn't as big as I thought it was.
41:11
I thought it was gonna take 100 steps. It only took me three. So that's the key. How do we handle that transition? How do we handle that? It's not... It's plain and simply easy said by saying, "Talk to God.
41:25
Get into the Bible. Use the verses that we just spoke about," right? It's really finding those verses that speak to you and that can guide you and that ha- and that... Like I said earlier, the light for me, right?
41:37
And we were talking about this yesterday. The only way to get out of the dark is to look for the light, and to me, God is my light. And like I said earlier, the light, the lighthouse to me is...
41:47
I just keep the lighthouse in front. I don't care what storm I'm in. Can I sometimes take my eyes off of God like Peter did and drown a little bit? Yeah. Do I panic a little bit? Yeah.
41:59
But then when I put- bring my eyes back up and I focus back on the light, I know I'm gonna be okay. It's not gonna be immediate. Now, now, one of the things I wanna make clear, this is not an overnight fix. All right?
42:12
It takes patience, and I'm gonna go back to that arrogance word. Sometimes we're very arrogant to think that God's gonna fix things overnight, and that if it's not, "He abandoned me." No. He's giving you the tools.
42:26
Are you looking for them? It's... I said it earlier. This is a five-year journey that I've been on, and I am nowhere near being done. I am, I am blessed. My heart is...
42:39
cries in a good way.Me doing this because if I look back at five years ago, there's no way I would've been guiding anybody The thing is, we're never going to be done. You said it, I'm nowhere near being done.
42:53
We're never going to be. Life itself is the journey. Life itself is a journey. God is molding us- Mm... when we allow it. When we allow it, God is constantly working in us and around us to shape us and mold us.
43:10
The, the purpose is what? Our goal is what? To be like Christ. To be Christ-like. Guess what? We know already that in this earth it's never gonna happen.
43:21
He was perfect, and we're never going to achieve that level of perfection. Yeah. We know that.
43:26
But it's the journey, and it's the striving, and it's the submission, and it's the obedience, and it's the, all these things that we've been talking about that play a factor into that journey that we are walking to grow.
43:43
Right. Because even though, even though we know that we will never achieve the perfection of Christ in this life, that doesn't mean that we are excused to stop growing. Oh, yeah. God is expecting that from us.
43:59
He has called us to that. Knowledge is power. A- and that's just basically it, right?
44:04
He gave knowledge to every single person in scripture that needed to do something outlandish or that he had, "You're gonna do some great things that they're gonna write about in the Bible."
44:17
Again, like I said last time, I said, "You don't have to do something for you to end up in the next version of the Bible when God comes back, and he's gonna be like, 'All right, this is book number two.'"
44:26
But still, the other thing that you for- that people forget, I was listening to a song, and it was... It's... I think the title of it is this, is I Wanna Be More Like Jesus For Her.
44:38
And when I first heard that, I was like, "Man, I really..." That song. But then I started getting upset at it, and I was like... And you're probably like, "Why?"
44:45
Like, because it said that I wanna be like Jesus, not for himself, but for somebody else. But then I really thought about it more, and I even wrote this down 'cause I'm like, "You're dumb, Fernie."
44:56
Yes, I did just call myself dumb, people. Sorry. I, I have self-reflection. I'm not the smartest guy sometimes. Maybe all the time. That makes two of us. Yeah. You can know me, um... Join the club, buddy.
45:06
[laughs] Absolutely. I'm trying to find where I wrote it. Jesus, help me. Oh, so I, I read this, right? How you handle your transition also determines, can affect how you lead a family, right?
45:22
How you support a friend or a group of friends, or your church, or your work environment. If you're projecting panic, anger, all of the negative things, you're going to foster that same environment, right?
45:39
So learning how to handle those transitions and those storms isn't just for your future. It's about your present, about how your environment is affected, right? You're not... It's... What do they say?
45:54
Misery loves company, right? I don't believe that. Misery... The miserable people want company, but nobody wants to be around the miserable people.
46:02
Nobody wants to be around the miserable people, but here's the thing, misery loves company. The miserable people, because they're miserable, they wanna make everybody else miserable. Correct.
46:11
And they can't stand to see somebody who isn't- Yep... because they're miserable. But you said something right now. It's the present. It's not about what's gonna happen tomorrow. What are you gonna do about it today?
46:22
Today. And when you're leading a family, my kids are learning from me. Yeah. Am I gonna stress out? Am I gonna be full of anxiety and worry every time hardship comes?
46:36
Because if that's all they see, then that's h- how they're going to grow up to be. You cannot leave a godly legacy if you don't live a godly life. You said it earlier, right?
46:51
It's easy to tell someone to do it, but are... How about you? Exactly. You cannot leave a godly legacy if you don't live a godly life. It's as simple as that.
47:02
If you truly want to be able to leave your children, your family, the generations that come after you, if you want to leave them a godly life, or, I'm sorry, a godly legacy, then you need to live, you need to set the example and live that godly life yourself.
47:19
We mentioned at one point having strong roots so that your fruit can be abundant and all that. I think a lot of times we look at that as success, financial and all that, but it's not.
47:33
The fruit of the spirit is what God stood for. Love, joy, peace, patience, compassion. When that's part of your routine, it's hard to have a negative environment.
47:46
And if you practice that for the majority, 'cause we're not gonna be... You're not gonna be able to do this 24/7. No. There's no way that you're gonna be able to do that 24/7. I wanted to change something. Yeah.
47:57
Go ahead. The environments can be negative. I wanna touch base on what you just said. Mm. 'Cause you said you can't have a negative environment. The environment is what surrounds you.
48:05
But here's the thing, are you going to allow the environment to have an impact on you, or are you going to impact your environment? Impact the environment. Yep. Right? That's exactly where I was going.
48:13
Man, you read my mind. And that's the key.
48:16
Because the environment could be negative, but when you are being led by the Spirit, and you actually live by the Spirit, and you allow the Holy Spirit to develop the fruit of the Spirit within you, within me, then instead of allowing the environment, the circumstances, the hardship to have an effect on us, we are going to have an effect on those things, and that makes all the difference.That makes all the difference, because if we allow that to affect us, then we're all, excuse my language here, but we're screwed.
48:55
Yeah, absolutely. And I think that's also... And one of the other things that we need to remind ourselves and everybody else is make sure t- to give people the grace when they are going through it.
49:10
And when someone is projecting out that love, peace, joy, and compassion, that, that commercial, Colgate, smile at someone so they can smile back, you'd be surprised how much someone's character will change, how much their demeanor will change when you give them just a little bit of compassion and grace, right?
49:30
We expect it from God, we expect it from others, but I don't think we're always keen to give it to others.
49:38
And so I think those are good points to, to close up for today, unless you think that there's more to kinda run in. And I hope this kinda helped everybody.
49:49
It is a difficult thing to go through, I understand, and I know everybody has different variations of trials, tribulations, storms, and transitions, but they're all come down to the same thing that we were talking about.
50:03
It's can you find a way to trust God?
50:06
I'm not gonna say just put your trust in God, 'cause I think it's finding the way to trust God to guide you, and for you to be more obedient and not hold on too tight to the things that you think should happen, and allow God to open up your hands that he can give you those rewards that he wants to give you and bless you.
50:30
And in wrapping, I just wanna say this also. There's nothing wrong with asking God to help you trust more in him. Yep, absolutely. There's nothing wrong with that. As a matter of fact, he expects it. He expects it.
50:45
Because everything that we've been talking about... Look, John chapter 15- Mm-hmm... Jesus says, "Without me, you can do nothing."
50:53
Everything that we're talking about, everything that we mentioned, is contrary to human nature, and it's impossible to do without His help. Yep.
51:04
So we need to help Him, or I should say, I'm sorry, not help Him, we need to ask Him to help us to learn to trust Him, to help us with our doubt, to help us with our unbelief, to develop that faith within us. The...
51:21
It's vital. Mm-hmm. We need to reach out to Him. He's willing to do it. Yep.
51:26
He's promised never to leave us and never to forsake us, and the reason why He's promised that, and let me tell you something, He's faithful to that promise. Amen.
51:37
But the reason why He's promised that is because He knows that what He is demanding of us, the Christian walk, look, walking the narrow path, we can't walk the narrow path in our own strength. We will not get anywhere.
51:54
It is impossible. It is all through Him strengthening us and Him working in us and through us. Yep. 100%. Yeah. That was very well said.
52:10
So just as a final reminder, just remember that transitions aren't just obstacles to survive.
52:16
They might be the exact season that God has for you to mature you and to teach you to rely on Him instead of yourself or other people or th- other things. Man, this was fun. I like the subject. I thought it was...
52:29
It's a struggle that everybody has and we will continue to have, but we'd love to hear from you. So if you're listening to us on Spotify, there is a comments and Q&A section there.
52:40
Please feel free to go in there and let us know what your struggles are and how, and if we've helped you in any way, God, we would love to, to get that feedback in.
52:52
Where, where do you, in your life, you need to endure and get patience, and allow God to either slowly transition you, but again, mine's been a five-year journey and it's probably gonna be a five more years, 100 more years, I don't know, but the journey is the journey.
53:10
Yeah, leave us comments on Spotify. You can also go onto our website at walkingthenarrowpath.org. There is a comment section there. And you can also find us on Facebook, Walking the Narrow Path, if you search us.
53:25
Drop us a line there. We'd love to hear from you. We'll- we want to respond. We wanna be able to take your experiences into this podcast and discuss it.
53:32
What are you struggling with that we can maybe shine the light in how, what scriptures we can bring to that situation? If you're struggling, then other people might be, too. Let me- Be, be a light. Absolutely.
53:43
Let me encourage you guys, for everybody listening to this, to leave us comments.
53:49
It's not just great feedback for us, but you never know the other people that are reading those comments that are actually, that, that are perhaps needing to know how God is working in your life, how this is blessing your life.
54:05
That can be encouraging for them as well, right? So we shouldn't be selfish.
54:11
It's great to actually get good feedback in person, because I've come across some people who will tell me face to face, "Hey, I'm enjoying this. I'm liking it. It's great," and I appreciate that, I truly do.
54:23
It's very encouraging, but feel free to actually leave those comments a- and that feedback online as well, so that could actually encourage others and be a blessing to others as well. Yeah. We say leave comments.
54:35
Leave us your testimonials. That way it can be a testimonial not for us, but for everybody out there that- Absolutely... that, that takes the time to, to read those.
54:43
And with that being said, I wanna thank everybody for listening. Again, this is our fourth episode, and I'm glad that we're getting feedback, that people are enjoying it. Spread the word.
54:53
If you are enjoying it, share it with other people. We... You... That might be the message that they need to hear. It might be just that one episode, or it might be all the episodes.
55:00
We don't know how God's gonna speak to someone through these podcasts or through these episodes, but we know that He is.
55:06
And so I just wanna leave everybody with a tease of what we're probably going to talk about on our next podcast, and I wanted to talk about our spiritual vision and growing into that trust concept.
55:23
And so if you have something that you want us to cover in regards to that, let us know. But again, thank you. We're enjoying this, guys. It's been a blast. I look forward to recording every week.
55:37
But yeah, leave us your feedback, and until we see you the next time. God bless.
Walking The Narrow Path
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