Q&A

God Hears Her Podcast

Episode 94 – Q&A with Elisa Morgan & Eryn Eddy

Jade Gustafson, Eryn Eddy, and Elisa Morgan

[Music]

Voice: You’re listening to God Hears Her, a podcast for women where we explore the stunning truth that God hears you, He sees you, and He loves you because you are His. Find out how these realities free you today on God Hears Her.

Jade: Welcome to God Hears Her. I’m one of the producers, Jade Gustafson, and we are going to do something a little different and super fun today. We’re doing a Q & A with Elisa and Eryn based on questions we’ve collected through engaging with you, our God Hears Her community. God Hears Her has been around for three years now, and a lot has changed. A pandemic, nearly 100 episodes of God Hears Her, so many different guests and topics, and a continuously growing community of people who engage with us through the podcast in the greater God Hears Her community. So, today we want to do two things. First, find out what has changed for Elisa and Eryn since we first aired their stories in May of 2020. And you can still check them out. And secondly, we’ve collected a bunch of your questions over the years, and we thought it would be fun to talk through some of the biggest issues and concerns facing women today. So, let’s do it. Here’s a Q & A with Elisa and Eryn on this episode of God Hears Her. So, we started the show three years ago. We started off just getting to know both of you as our hosts and just having the audience learn about who you are. Since then, three years later, how has life changed for you guys?

Elisa: Yeah. Yeah.

Eryn: Oh man. It has been three years, and something that has changed is you, Jade. You’re on our team.

Elisa: Yes, yes.

Jade: Yes. Yeah.

Eryn: We didn’t have you when we started.

Jade: Yeah. It’s crazy.

Elisa: Yeah. So, we’ve got Jade, we’ve got Mary Jo…

Eryn: That’s right.

Elisa: … we have Anne, I call her Annie.

Eryn: Annie.

Elisa: And the… Annie, the engineer, is in there.

Eryn: Yes.

Elisa: Yeah, it’s a pretty cool time.

Jade: It is.

Elisa: And we’ve got Ryan.

Jade: It is. Growing the team. Yeah.

Eryn: Our team has grown so much.

Elisa: It’s neat.

Eryn: It went from an idea, to you and I brainstorming.

Elisa: Our ministry blind date, we call it.

Jade: Yeah.

Eryn: Our ministry blind date.

Elisa: When we first met each other, and I interviewed Eryn about her story. That was the first time, really, we ever talked, except for like ten minutes…

Eryn: Yeah. Yeah.

Jade: Yeah.

Elisa: … at the Drury Inn over breakfast. It was way so fun.

Eryn: That’s right.

Elisa: But you know how life has changed for me is I’m now officially a senior citizen.

Eryn: Are you really? Was that this… this year?

Elisa: Come on now. No.

Eryn: This year you crossed over?

Elisa: No, in the last three years.

Jade: This year?

Eryn: In the last three?

Elisa: It’s… it’s… it’s been a while. And how about you, Smooch?

Eryn: Oh man, I… so much has changed. I guess I feel like that’s a very big question…

Elisa: Mm-hmm..

Jade: Yeah.

Eryn: … of what’s changed. So, maybe we could unpack it a little bit more.

Elisa: You want to go in slow.

Eryn: Yeah, go in slow. Yeah.

Elisa: Okay.

Eryn: Date me again.

Elisa: Okay. So, I like to characterize Eryn, when I first met her, she was single. That’s how she described herself. And I would, today, three years later, characterize her as between marriages.

Jade: Yeah, there you go.

Elisa: Because… Yes, she’s divorced, she’s been divorced a good while, but now she’s closer to another marriage.

Eryn: With that journey to becoming closer really I… I believe reflects just the healing and the growth that the Lord has done in my life. And I’m not saying that a relationship equates that, like your level of health. But I think that the Lord, He has done so much on my heart in the last three years. And I’ve seen Him do so many great things in my career in the last three years. Where I was three years ago, I was coming out of burn out, I was coming out of wanting to be more vulnerable with my story, and share it so others feel less alone in it, and now I feel like there’s just this… There’s a newness that’s… that I’ve turned. I’ve taken a turn in, and one of the new pieces, the newness pieces I guess, is a relationship that I’m seriously in. And then in… within that, too, I mean I think about my career. Like, I released a book.

Jade: Yeah. Woohoo.

Eryn: I never thought I’d be doing that when we first recorded.

Elisa: You’re more settled.

Eryn: Yeah, that’s it.

Elisa: And, you know, we’re not done. I always say if we were done…

Jade: Yeah.

Elisa: … we’d be dead. But… but… but you’re more settled.

Eryn: Yeah.

Elisa: And there’s still a lot of angst, because you’re in your thirties and that’s what it’s about. But you’re more settled.

Jade: Yeah.

Eryn: Yeah. I feel like we’re always, in some form or another, in a limbo or uncertain season of our life. And I’m in a…

Jade: Yeah.

Eryn: … in a different kind, but the different kind that I’m in I was equipped for with the other type of uncertainty that I was in.

Elisa: Yeah. That’s well said.

Jade: Yeah.

Elisa: I think I’m more settled, too.

Jade: Yeah.

Elisa: But it’s a different kind of settleness. It’s a settling into the offering of an older age.

Jade: Yeah.

Elisa: And I’ve come to understand, I actually took a couple year course on aging and what it means in our lifespan, our growth, and I’m much more clearer that my task at this point in my life is to bless, encourage, and empower the next generations. The next ones and the next ones. And that’s my goal. And I derive so much joy. So, meeting Eryn, working with you, Jade, everybody else, is just a sweet spot feeling for me now.

Jade: Yeah.

Elisa: Now that said, we’ve had some fun challenges in our family. My husband had a return of cancer from when he was 21. He’s doing really well, he just got a clean bill of health that we’re very grateful that he’s cancer free. But that took up a lot of heart space.

Jade: Yeah.

Elisa: My brother is very ill, quite a bit younger than me. But he’s actually waiting for a liver transplant, and I’m his chief caregiver. So, y’all, please be praying for him.

Jade: Yeah, yeah.

Elisa: Cause that’s a long journey. And then we have a new dog [kissing noises]. Mia, my little nine-year-old Jack Russell rough coat terrier that we’ve only had a few months now, but, so, there’s just a lot of life going on, and I’m grateful for it. And I’m really… I’m content in a way. And I’m still, like you just said, Eryn, kind of pushing in a way, too.

Jade: Yeah.

Elisa: Cause we never stop that.

Jade: Yeah. Yeah.

Eryn: That’s good.

Jade: And both of you have touched on, obviously, three years is a long time. And within that time and within those years we’ve always kind of had the theme of seasons on God Hears Her and talking about the seasons that we’re in and the way that God works through different seasons. So, even though you’re both feeling more in a settled space of life, how did you find peace in those troubled times, and how do you feel peace even now with just the craziness of life even when you do feel settled?

Eryn: Hmm, that’s a good question. For me, it’s… I mean, talking about it with other women that are rooted in the Lord…

Jade: Yeah. Yeah.

Eryn: … that have gone through, maybe, not something similar, it doesn’t have to be the same situation, but them going through something uncertain.

Jade: Yeah.

Eryn: And their faith, and their perseverance through it it lent me faith. Jade: Mm-hmm. Eryn: I think that’s why it’s so important to have strong female friendships that are rooted in the Lord. You know… Rhythm and routine is so important. And when I’m not in it, it’s just not good. Because I know that I’m an adventurous sprite that just can get completely off routine…

Jade: Yeah.

Eryn: … and off rhythm, but my best self is when I’m in rhythm and… and routine. And that looks like consistently pursuing the Lord, and as He pursues me, in conversations with Him, in those downtime moments, in those moments of busyness, and, you know, I try to do that every morning. And sometimes it’s not realistic if something happens, or if I wake up with a phone call, and emails, and all this stuff that’s going on that’s wanting my attention and… and distracting me. I have to be so intentional to protect routine and rhythm. So, that’s helped me in the uncertain and unsettled times. What about you Elisa?

Jade: Yeah, yeah.

Elisa: Yup. You know, I… I love the concept of peace. What’s helped me define it is to define it as a Person.

Eryn: Yeah.

Jade: Yeah.

Elisa: It is Jesus.

Jade: Yeah.

Elisa: And, you know, when I try to, you know, look at it instead of circumstances or even setting, it’s kind of… vaporous, you know, vaporous, whatever that word is. Anyway, but… but Jesus is peace so I think about that. And so, in my circumstances I just, full out honesty, I freak when I hit the wall of, like, for instance, I can’t predictably provide what I need to say for my brother…

Jade: Yeah.

Elisa: … because we’re, part of the year, thousands of miles apart and I call him several times a day and check in on him and stuff and… and I forget that peace is a Person. I forget that. It’s all up to me. And then I’ll watch the Person provide. You know, here comes a caregiver on site who’s willing to go by every day and just check on him. You know, here comes a person who’s willing to be a dog walker, you know, and I’m like, and I go, “Wow.” I forget to ask the Person for peace.

Jade: Yeah.

Elisa: So that’s what I’m trying to focus on, is watching for when He provides and remembering to ask for what I need.

Jade: Yeah.

Eryn: I’ll say something that just popped into my mind, and I think it’s also reflecting back on the times that the Lord was so present and kept His promise in the uncertain times, cause that also builds upon itself.

Jade: Yeah.

Eryn: There’s been a few things that have gone on, especially with my family with my dad’s health, and I’m able to look back on when I’ve seen the Lord show up and give me peace like you said, Elisa, and show up and be a Man of Peace in my life.

Elisa: Layer upon layer.

Jade: Yeah. Yeah.

Elisa: You know, it’s our job to remember.

Eryn: Yes.

Elisa: And to watch and to notice.

Eryn: And yes, exactly.

Elisa: Yeah, not flush it.

Eryn: We can choose to see that…

Elisa: Yeah.

Eryn: … or we can choose to not.

Elisa: Yeah.

Eryn: And, man, the days that I choose not to are lonely and exhausting and you feel emotionally crazy.

Jade: Yeah. And with the balance of just life and work and also trying to maintain our relationship with the Lord, we sometimes get caught up in that uncertainty and that craziness. And so, what would you guys say to the women listening who are struggling with balancing work and life and all of those things with their relationship with God?

Eryn: Mmm.

Elisa: Mm-hmm. That’s pretty normal.

Jade: Yeah. Yeah, it is.

Eryn: Yes.

Elisa: It’s kind of the name of the game. I mean, there honestly is, for most women, no time that’s busier than when you’re younger and you are taking on new challenges, whether it’s a new job, or taking care of your parents, or having a new relationship and marriage, or having kids, or whatever, you know, all of that juggling is so stretching. It’s beautiful but it’s so stretching. And then the challenge of the nest empties, or the job changes, or our health diminishes, or we have a separation or a breakage in marriage, you know, on and on. You know, this is what life is.

Jade: Yeah.

Elisa: And again, Jesus was telling the disciples in the upper room, “In this world you will have trouble.” No surprise there!

Jade: Yeah. Yeah

Eryn: Yeah.

Elisa: He’s not going, What?

Jade: Yeah.

Elisa: Oh my gosh, this is so off the rails! You know, He’s like, Yep. “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart, I’ve overcome the world.” And that doesn’t mean it’s going to all line up in color-coded Pinterest shots. You know, it… it means that He will come into it. And, you know, again, stopping long enough to recognize Him. To ask…

Eryn: Yeah.

Jade: Yeah.

Elisa: … for help from Him. To realize pfft, I’m trying to do it all myself right now. Why did… How did I slip back into that puppy? You know? And pausing, you know, it’s pretty much that simple. Kind of a stoppage.

Jade: Yeah.

Eryn: I think about Matthew 11:28, and that’s just been a verse that continues to… You know how you have like a life verse? Like I hear people have life verses and I’m like, “I don’t think I’m old enough to have one yet.”

Elisa: Yeah, you are.

Eryn: Right? But I have a few.

Elisa: You… and you can change it, it’s fine.

Eryn: I’ve got a library that I, like, pull from and that is 100 percent that is it. And it… you know that Scripture talks about how to learn, how to live in the unforced rhythms of God’s grace. And He won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on us. And that He will carry all the weight…

Jade: Yeah.

Eryn: … if we just give it to Him. And we learn how to live in that space. And so, you know, we talk about life and balance. I just remind myself of that verse all the time when I feel weary and I feel unsettled, that, oh my gosh, I have a partner in crime that I can give this to. And sometimes I’m like, I don’t know what to do. This is Yours, Lord. This is going to be yours. It can’t take up any more capacity in my mind, because it’s already making me emotionally stressed out.

Elisa: Yeah.

Eryn: I can’t figure it out, can’t figure out the answers like you’re saying, Elisa. This is Yours to carry. And You’re going to teach me, Father, how to carry it, or how to work with You as you carry it, and what you want to do in me, through me. That sounds all poetic, but at the end of the day when you’ve got your to do lists and you’ve got all the things that, whether you’ve got kiddos that you’re trying to run the ship with and a travelling husband, or you’ve got…you’re learning how to be a bonus mom, or you’re learning how to manage a team of so many people and… and then you’ve got illnesses happening in your family and personal… It’s just hard.

Jade: Yeah.

Eryn: But that’s why that verse gives you a promise.

Elisa: That’s good.

Jade: Mm-hmm.

Eryn: That the Lord will absolutely carry all of that weight…

Jade: Yeah. Yeah.

Eryn: … if you just give it to Him.

Jade: Amen, Eryn. And I think it’s so easy to forget to do that. To just get caught up in the busyness and forget that God is always there. Even if we feel far from Him, He’s still there. There’s also this common theme of issues that we face as women, like, not only getting caught up in the busyness of life, but it’s hard sometimes with our culture and the world that we live in. And so, what do you guys think are some big issues that women are facing today?

Elisa: Well, from listening and then looking in my own life, I think loneliness…

Jade: Yeah.

Elisa: … is a big struggle.

Jade: Yeah.

Elisa: And we grow up thinking we’re going to have a BFF and she’s going to do life with us forever…

Jade: Yeah.

Elisa: And everything we think, we’re going to get married and that person’s going to be our BFF forever, our end all, our be all. And, you know, life really doesn’t work that way.

Jade: Right.

Elisa: You know, I think we have seasonal friends, seasonal BFFs or sort of BFFs or maybe s… a little tiny bit BFFs, you know, we… it… we just have these enormous expectations that nobody can fill.

Jade: Yeah, yeah.

Elisa: And then because we have them, we can overextend the relationships we do have and end up disappointed. Right?

Eryn: Yeah.

Elisa: A therapist that I had one time talked to me about creating islands of intimacy. I like that so much, and he was talking about how, you know, it… it just takes the pressure off from expecting somebody’s going to be everything. Instead, just picture your little sailboat, you know, pulling up to an island. Getting off and doing life there with whoever’s there. And then sailing away until you dock at the next island. And carry the memories of that beautiful relationship with you. And you could go back, you know, and dock in again again. But to me, that’s helped me release what’s probably an inappropriate expectation that one person or a group of people can be everything. We change in lives, you know, and… and everybody has this story of, you know, well, my best friend got married, or my best friend had a baby, or my best friend got divorced, or my best friend, you know, whatever.

Jade: Yup.

Elisa: We change.

Jade: Yup.

Elisa: And that understanding islands of intimacy I think gives us permission to change.

Jade: Yeah. Yeah.

Eryn: I’m curious, Elisa, what you’ve learned, too, in that class that you… you were sharing earlier about age. Does it talk at all about, like, aging physically?

Elisa: Mm-hmm.

Eryn: And how to age gracefully?

Elisa: Mm-hmm.

Eryn: Because I think that women are struggling with accepting that they age physically.

Jade: Yeah. Yeah.

Elisa: Absolutely.

Eryn: And just seeing their body as it gets more wrinkly and it gets, you know, bigger or smaller, here and there, and you’re like, What is happening?

Elisa: Yeah.

Eryn: You know, I think we have a hard time accepting that because there’s this pressure that we should appear and look a certain way and social media absolutely makes it hard for you to think that, Oh my gosh, that woman looks like that? Does she really in real life?

Jade: Yeah.

Eryn: And then you start comparing, so I think there’s this comparison met with discontentment at the way that you’re made. But then also maybe a grievance of aging. A… but… I’m curious…

Elisa: Yeah.

Jade: Yeah.

Eryn: … what would you say that you learned in that class about aging gracefully?

Elisa: Yeah, and you know, what you’re talking about, I think COVID has helped us in some ways take the veil off…

Jade: Yeah.

Elisa: … or the plastic covering off a little bit. I mean, how many women went grey during COVID?

Jade: Yeah.

Elisa: A million.

Eryn: Yes.

Elisa: It was only at home boxed dye that you could use. And how many women grew their hair long because there was nobody to cut it. You know, you can go on and on. And it’s like, I’m not going to wear makeup. I’m just going to put on some cute glasses.

Jade: Yeah. Exactly.

Eryn: That’s so true.

Elisa: You know, we begin to do these things and let ourselves off the hook. But in terms of what I’m learning is I like to use the word diminishment. We have them. You know, whether it’s our hearing, our sight, our lumpy bumpies and cellulite in our bodies, you know, our wrinkles, our age spots, certain things sag and droop. You know, whatever it happens to be, it’s part of the process. And I… I think to learn to love our bodies even as they age is so important. And to tenderly, with respect, look at our diminishments. Even if it’s an illness.

Jade: Yeah.

Elisa: To look at that diminishment as something sacred. You know, our bodies, I like to talk about them… they’re… they’re containers, you know. Every single, if you look around the table or your kitchen cupboard or whatever, you know, I’ve… I can see a coffee cup from where I’m sitting, I see a lipstick tube, because I always have a lipstick tube around, I see a bottle of water. You know, each one of these containers has been created to give us access to the contents that lives within it.

Jade: Yeah.

Elisa: Coffee cup holds hot coffee. Lipstick holds, you know, lipstick. And the same with us. You know, our bodies were created by God to contain Himself, His Holy Spirit. And so, the purpose of this container is to give other people access to His presence. So, it… it… gosh, you know, a wrinkled body still does that.

Jade: Yeah. Yeah.

Elisa: An age-spot body still does that. And can we embrace that and treat that with the tenderness that it deserves.

Eryn: Golly, that’s so beautiful.

Jade: That was beautiful.

Elisa: I’m old. [Laughing]

Eryn: But that is such a beautiful way to look at your body. And if we don’t get ahead of our own thoughts, they will lead us down sa-… filling in the gaps for it. But when you have that perspective, and you think through that filter, instead of putting on a filter. Huh, see what I did there. That does change a lot of things. Even for me, I’m just thinking through, wow, you’re right. We are a container that contains the Holy Spirit. And people can encounter Him by being around my physical body. And I… its… I need to be tender to her. And talk to her differently.

Elisa: I… I think another struggle women have is with disappointment over how life has turned out compared to how they expected it to turn out. And we can end up feeling very frustrated and helpless. Maybe you expected to be a mom and you’re not.

Jade: Yeah.

Elisa: Or you expected to have these perfect children and they’re human. You know, or… or you expected to stay married, and you don’t… you aren’t. Or you expected to be married and… and you’re not. I mean there’s lots and lots and lots of layers of this. You expected to have a career and you felt like you shouldn’t. You know, whatever. I think living with disappointment takes a muscle development. And, you know, probably gratitude is… is the best workout…

Jade: Yeah. Yeah.

Elisa: … to create that muscle. Ugh, I don’t want to be glib about this. Cause we need to grieve those disappointments deeply. But if we can grieve and then learn to be grateful. I mean, scientifically it’s proven that gratitude restores our hearts and our moods and our beings and our health even.

Jade: Yeah.

Eryn: Yeah.

Elisa: So, I just think that’s so normal. Every one of us has something we’re like, Well, I didn’t think this was going to happen…

Jade: Yeah. Yeah.

Eryn: Yeah. Yeah.

Elisa: … and here I am.

Eryn: Grieving and then gratitude. Cause we do have to grieve the expectations that we had to move past them. Jade, how old are you?

Jade: I am 21.

Eryn: So, we got 21, 35 and… You know…

Elisa: 67. [Laughing]

Eryn: I wasn’t going to do it. And I think it’s so beautiful just to see the generations just represented here…

Elisa: Yep.

Jade: Yeah.

Eryn: … because even for you it looks so different than it does for me, Jade.

Jade: Yeah. Yeah.

Elisa: That’s… This is actually one… one of my favorite if not the favorite part of God Hears Her for me.

Eryn: Yeah.

Jade: And I think what’s really cool, too, is there’s the aspect with our show just of mentorship with both of you. And how Eryn can mentor you, Elisa, and vice versa. And how sometimes the guests have things, from any age group, you guys hear or the audience hears, and we’re just in shock at how they know that and how they’ve learned that at whatever age they’re at. And it’s just so interesting that God uses every single one of us wherever we are.

Elisa: That’s right.

Jade: Yeah.

Eryn: Oh, yes. You know, we talked about earlier, like, where are we now three years later. And the God Hears Her community and these interviews that we’ve been able to be a part of have changed me.

Jade: Yeah.

Eryn: Truly. I mean, to be on the other side of somebody else’s learned knowledge about who the Lord is and their own story and what they’ve overcome is like, that’s life changing. And, you know, we get to formally do it, but we can go out and do that outside of a recording booth. You know?

Jade: All over, yeah. Yes. Yeah.

Elisa: Yeah, we’re almost to our hundredth episode.

Jade: Yeah.

Eryn: That’s a while.

Elisa: Just crazy.

Jade: Crazy. So many people that have been on, and that we’ve met, and had the chance to talk to. It’s just incredible. Yeah. So, I guess we’re talking about how we are able to share God as humans on this earth, and how throughout life God’s voice is truly the only voice that matters. We can hear the voice of the world and the people around us, whether it’s hurtful or helpful, but above all God’s voice is the only one that matters. But how do we learn to listen to His voice? I think that’s a common question, and just a common wondering that’s in all of us of how do we truly listen for His voice and hear that voice.

Eryn: Mmm. Well, I think He shows up in different ways in… in different people’s lives. And my experience is going to look a lot different than somebody else. Whether it’s that you’re reading Scripture and it just comes to life that you’re like, What? I’ve read this Scripture over and over and over again and it finally feels like oxygen that I needed. You know? I think that’s one way that He speaks. I think, for me, I’m a huge journaler, and we’ve talked about this like almost probably every episode, sorry. But, I will just journal thoughts. And it… You know, sometimes you wonder like, Is that Him? Is that not Him? Am I being arrogant? Am I not? I don’t know. You know, and then I always filter it through His love for me. It’s not an audible, like it’s not like, Hey Eryn, what’s going on? You know? But there’s a beautiful Holy Spirit. There’s a beautiful Holy Spirit pressing that sometimes has brought me to tears. And I can’t explain it other than experiencing it…

Jade: Yeah.

Eryn: … And it’s because I’ve had a posture to just continue to seek and hear and desire to hear Him that I’ve had those moments. So, I think He does show up in different ways to different people. But those are some ways that I hear His voice. And sometimes it’s through another person. I think He aligns Himself with other people. That’s why I think community is so important, that’s God centered.

Jade: Yeah.

Eryn: When you can have another friend speak something into you that they have no idea you had that prayer in quiet time that you needed, or that text message that you quote on quote randomly get. You know.

Jade: Yeah.

Eryn: I think that He can show up in those ways.

Elisa: Totally.

Eryn: That’s… I mean, what do you think Elisa?

Jade: Yeah. Yeah.

Elisa: No, totally, Eryn. Those are great illustrations. And just, by the way, a little plug, we did an episode on this…

Eryn: Oh yeah.

Elisa: … you know, how do we hear from God, how does He hear from us. So, anybody wants to scroll back…

Jade: Yeah.

Elisa: … and find that towards the beginning of our episodes, I think it’s there. Because it was one of those things that came to mind is, we’re going to do a program called God Hears Her, then we better talk about how we hear Him.

Jade: Yes. Yes.

Elisa: Right? Remember? But, you know, I… I would agree with all of those things and also add, I think we hear Him in church. You know, I think we hear Him in worship. I think we hear Him through a message. I think we hear Him through community. I think we need to be really careful not to platform people…

Jade: Yeah.

Elisa: … as having His voice above His voice, you know. But still, He… He uses all of those things. And then there is this resonance. Just the other night Eryn and I were talking, and I was talking about, you know, I’m just feel kind of stuck. I feel kind of like I’m… I’m in this doldrums of… blah… You know it just, I… I… I’m learning a lot of stuff but it… it feels like it’s all for other people, not for me. And, you know, that kind of thing. And she said someone, and I couldn’t repeat it right this second, but she said something about, “You’re in a quiet place where you’re being prepared for the next.” So, I… It just rang. It resonated. So, I said, “Text that to me, would you?” And she did. And so, I’ve got it on my phone. And I’ve actually read it a couple of times and it still hasn’t completely sunk in. You know what I mean?

Jade: Yeah.

Elisa: It’s still kind of sitting on the top, like water does on a waterproof vest or something. It’s just sitting there. But I know that that… there’s something in that that God’s trying to show me. Again, Eryn’s not the oracle, but you know, it… it… she’s a vessel.

Jade: Yes. Yeah.

Elisa: I’m a vessel. You’re a vessel, Jade. You know, so… You know, if we just really learned to listen and be intentional about it. God, help me. I’m stuck on X, Y, and Z. And then pay attention when X, Y, and Z is spoken about.

Jade: Yeah, I love that. That’s so true, because I think a lot of times we get caught up in the voice of God, and listening to the voice, and I think some of us, we don’t hear God as a voice. Sometimes it’s exactly what you’re saying, people speaking to us. Or even just the quiet moments at what we’re looking at and the blessing and the gratitude of what we’re looking at and where we are in life.

Elisa: Another thing I would say is that I like to read the Bible with an ear to the two authors. The author with the small a, the human instrument, you know, who was Paul, you know, who was Moses, who was David, you know, who was Matthew, and an ear to the Author with the capital A, the Holy Spirit…

Jade: Yeah. Yeah.

Elisa: … You know, and what… what did this Scripture mean in context in the day and how is God using it in my life today.

Eryn: That’s good.

Elisa: That helps me so much.

Jade: Yeah. That’s so good. Eryn, you’re talking about how you journal and that’s really how you feel close to God, and we’re talking about reading the Bible and those practices. But what are some other ways that you connect with God, just in your everyday real life?

Elisa: There are a lot of little nudges that happen. I mean, I pray, but I don’t usually sit down for thirty minutes, you know, and pray in a formula or something. A lot of people do, and that’s fantastic.

Jade: Yeah. Yeah.

Elisa: But, like, I’m working, and I probably know oh I think maybe four women who’ve lost their husbands this year. And their name will come into my heart.

Jade: Yeah.

Elisa: And maybe I’m working on something, and I’ll jot it down on a sticky note, their name. And then the next time I’m taking a break or whatever, I think, Okay, what should I do? You know, and I call them, or I write a note to them, or something. It’s just… It’s those tiny things. And just obeying…

Jade: Yeah.

Elisa: … that little nudge is huge for me. And I think it… it makes a difference when people do that in my life, too.

Jade: Yeah. What about you, Eryn?

Eryn: Journaling, I mean, I talk out loud all the time to Him. I’m like, Lord, you… this is it. This is one of the things I feel like, you know, our faith builds upon itself when you can look back and see where you’ve come from and where He’s held His promise. And I will talk out loud to Him. I make playlists, I know that’s like so practical.

Elisa: I love that.

Eryn: I have different playlists that are based on different things, so…

Jade: Oh, that’s cool.

Eryn: …playlists that are built on surrender, peace, help me with my anxiety when I have it. Like, I’ll just start playing that and I will journal the lyrics of the songs…

Jade: Oh, that’s cool.

Eryn: … when I don’t know what to say. That they are kind of the prayer.

Elisa: That’s neat.

Jade: Yeah.

Elisa: That’s almost like a modern-day psalm practice.

Jade: Yeah. Yeah.

Eryn: Yeah.

Jade: Are all of those worship songs? That’s awesome, I love that.

Eryn: Yeah. All worship songs. I use Spotify so it tells you, “You might like this song,” you know, and then all the sudden my playlist is, like, a hundred songs.

Jade: Yeah. Yeah.

Elisa: Okay.

Eryn: But you know what else you can do is you can go on YouTube and you can search, depending on the worship leader…

Elisa: I do do that. Yeah. And it’s free.

Eryn: … and it will populate…

Jade: It’s free.

Elisa: Yeah.

Eryn: … it’s free. It will populate a playlist of, like…

Elisa: Okay.

Eryn: … sixty songs or something that you can listen to.

Jade: So, what are some resources besides music and journaling, or if you have anything specific that you want to share. But what are just some resources that have benefitted you in your faith and your life overall?

Elisa: All the books I’ve written.

Jade: Yeah. Elisa, Share.

Eryn: Very humble. I mean, I love the Jesus Calling app. So, that’s part of my routine. I… Also, the Bible app has so many resources on there for different things that you’re going through. So, I’ll sometimes do a series…

Jade: Yeah.

Eryn: … with that. But honestly, just conversations with people that I know that are rooted in their faith that I aspire to have that same type of faith.

Jade: Yeah. Yeah.

Elisa: That mentoring thing, modeling after people. I have been reading a couple of books that have popped me. One of them has been very different. It’s called Rembrandt is in the Wind. But it really is on art and s… specific artists and how they grew and how we can discover things about God in art. It’s really stretched me…

Jade: That’s cool. Yeah, yeah.

Elisa: … So, to find, you know, that’s a… a really good technique, is to… to look for God in unexpected places or places you’ve never seen Him before and learn to have eyes to see.

Eryn: That’s good.

Elisa: So that’s been very rewarding to me.

Jade: Yeah. I love that. I think that God can show up in untraditional ways like that. Like, I would never think in painting or drawing that God could show up. But to someone that paints or draws or just feels they have that creative outlet, God can show up in that. And I think that’s so cool, Elisa.

Elisa: I… I think another place is we… and we’ve done this in God Hears Her and it’s been very stretching. Most of the people that Eryn and I have interviewed we’ve never met in person. And most of them are very different from who we are, whether it’s where they come from, the color of their skin, the language that they speak as their first language, their age, whatever, you know, what they spend their time doing. And that mosaic has been so rich…

Jade: Yeah.

Elisa: … to help my understanding of the kingdom and my appreciation.

Jade: That’s so true. We can learn a lot just from each other.

Eryn: Oof, and nature? Sorry…

Jade: Yeah.

Eryn: … I’m just going to admit this list: long.

Elisa: Yeah, long list.

Eryn: Woo, nature, I’m telling you…

Elisa: Totally.

Eryn: … I didn’t realize I… cause I used to be like, I don’t want bugs to bite me, and like, I used to be, like, city girl for a little while…

Elisa: Yeah.

Eryn: … even though I grew up in the country, but man, nature. You get out there and you see the trees, and you leave your phone, and it can be such a beautiful experience to just see the creation… Just be surrounded by God’s creation out in nature, and we don’t do it enough.

Jade: Yeah.

Eryn: I think we disqualify it, and it’s right there. It’s right there where we can just access it if we’re just intentional with it.

Elisa: Some of our interviews, also, have been with kind of everyday women. Which is… You know, who we live with. I’m sorry. Every… all my friends are everyday women. Maybe some of them are well known or whatever, but they’re everyday women. But some of our interviews have intentionally been with people who live, if you will, behind the scenes. Or, you know, they’re not on a platform or they’re not authors or you know. But they’re… they’re growing. And they’re intentionally watching and walking with God. And asking Him to hear them. And that’s been stretching too.

Eryn: Yeah.

Jade: There’s always this pressure to kind of know who we are and to become something, and the expectations that are just on women in general. But what does the Bible say about our identity? How do we know our identity? How do we find our identity?

Eryn: Oof, that’s a loaded question.

Eryn: Elisa, how do we find our identity in Scripture?

Elisa: Let’s see. I… I think we need to have a lot of respect for that question…

Jade: Yeah.

Eryn: Yeah.

Elisa: … because the true answer is that our identity is found in Christ. And when we are in Christ, we are a new creature. The old has passed away and the new has come. So whatever shame and crud that I have been mired in, and have carried around on, and defined myself by, is a lie. And I need to be freed from it, and Jesus died on a cross to free me from it. I may not experience it all today, but it’s truth. But the other reality is that I’m growing constantly into His image. And each developmental stage that I process through shapes me and brings more of who I am forward.

Jade: Yeah.

Elisa: And I’m sharpened by each relationship I have. And at age twenty, I might be in grad school and working in a restaurant and shaping God’s creatures by saying, “What can I get you to drink?” You know, and at age thirty, I may be a young mom and doing a part time job or juggling a full-time job and shaping people by saying, “Did you go potty?” before we get in the car. You know? And at age, you know, forty, I may be patiently putting up with my teen’s talk back, you know, as they figure out who they are now.

Jade: Yeah. Yeah.

Elisa: And at age fifty and age sixty and so to say that our identity is in Christ is absolutely the foundation, but we continue to grow who we are in the giftings that He’s given us and the character that we hope looks like Him. We continue to grow that. For our whole lives. I’m 67 as we’ve said, and I’m still, like, a lot more free to just be me. It’s like, I’m old, whatever. But I also am still asking, What else do You have for me to do? How else to I need to become more like You?

Jade: Yeah. Yeah. That’s beautiful.

Eryn: Remaining curious. 

Elisa: Yeah.

Eryn: That’s… That’s good, Elisa.

Jade: Yeah.

Elisa: What do you think?

Eryn: I just… I say yes. That was so…

Jade: I just say yes.

Eryn: … I say yes to all of that. It’s true, I mean, every season that we walk into, every, whether it’s milestone or circumstance, I think we’re continually learning how He sees us because we’re being challenged…

Jade: Yeah. Yeah.

Elisa: That’s good. That’s good.

Eryn: … by how He sees us. I call it the firsts, the first breakup, the first fire, but then there’s the first birthday, the first of something can challenge the way that we see ourselves and the way that we see our worth and being in conversation with Him is so crucial in the firsts.

Jade: Yeah.

Eryn: And like you said, it’s like the first time you enter into learning how to process your teenager talking back. That is a first. You know? And the first time you start to recognize you’re aging. You’re… All of a sudden, your skin’s not as elastic as it used to be…

Elisa: Anywhere.

Eryn: And what’s your self-talk? You know? Yeah, anywhere. Anywhere. It’s all loosey-goosey. You know? What are you saying to yourself and how are you bringing the Lord in on that?

Jade: Yeah.

Eryn: Or are you handling it by yourself again, and becoming self-sufficient? So, I think that learning your identity in the Lord, what you said, Elisa. Yes, it’s like it… knowing who Christ is is foundational and then bringing Him into those moments help shape and form your identity. Cause you never arrive. You know, you never, just are like, this is all of who… Like no, you’re always learning.

Jade: Yeah. Yeah.

Eryn: Always. And there is a peace about that. It’s like, thank goodness. I can be content with the fact that I’m just going to always be learning. And that I can live in that uncertainty, cause I won’t know you know, what the future holds.

[Music]

Jade: God hears you, He sees you, and He loves you. And we do, too. Thank you so much for being part of the God Hears Her community. Before we go, just a quick reminder that the show notes are available in the podcast description. The show notes not only contain the talking points for today’s episode, but also links to connect with Eryn and Elisa on social, and links to other conversations mentioned on today’s show. You can visit our website at godhearsher.org. That’s godhearsher.org. Thank you for joining us. And don’t forget, God hears you, He sees you, and He loves you because you are His.

[Music]

Elisa: Today’s episode was engineered by Anne Stevens, and produced by Mary Jo Clark, Daniel Ryan Day, and Jade Gustafson. Today we also want to recognize Nicole and Diana for their help in creating the God Hears Her podcast. Thank you.

[Music]

Eryn: God Hears Her is a production of Our Daily Bread Ministries.