The Best of God Hears Her – Faith and Feelings

God Hears Her Podcast

Episode 43 – The Best of God Hears Her – Faith and Felings
Eryn Eddy and Elisa Morgan

Eryn: She just looks at me and she goes, “You’re doing a really good job,” and I just…I didn’t even have tears, I didn’t have anything by that point of the day. You know how you just sometimes keep taking a beating?

Elisa: Mm hmm.

Eryn: And you just don’t even know how to feel?

Elisa: Mm hmm.

Eryn: But you know you got Him.

Elisa: Right.

Eryn: And I just said, “I’m trying.”

Elisa: Yeah, you are.

Eryn: And she goes, “You’re doing a really good job trying.”

Elisa: That’s so sweet.

Eryn: And it was what I needed.

Elisa: Mm hmm.

Eryn: And so in that moment, you know, it was a season of my life where I feel like God brought and spoke through her,…

Elisa: Mm hmm.

Eryn: …because He knew that I needed to be told, “You’re doing a good job no matter your circumstances and no matter what you’re feeling right now.”

[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.

Eryn: Welcome to God Hears Her. I’m Eryn Eddy.

Elisa: And I’m Elisa Morgan. When’s the last time you had one of those days? Or maybe one of those weeks, or maybe a year or maybe two years?

Eryn: Ugh.

Elisa: 2020 and 2021, anyone? Maybe you’re in a time full of emotional burden or physical pain and everything feels like it’s just building up.

Eryn: Today, we are going to revisit an episode from Season 1 where we look at how to deal with those things called feelings, indicators, or mourning lights. We look at the difference between those of us who wear our emotions on our sleeves and those of us who share our feelings with cautions. For both groups, feelings matter, and today, we’re going to look at the importance of feelings and how those emotions matter to God. This is God Hears Her.

Have you ever had one of those weeks, Elisa, where you’re like “I’m just done”?

Elisa: One of those weeks?

Eryn: Yeah.

Elisa: Yeah, like right now. [Laughing] I’ve had a lot of those weeks.

Eryn: Yeah

Elisa: But haven’t we all?

Eryn: When you’re just like exhausted.

Elisa: Mm hmm.

Eryn: Like you feel like…you feel like…

Elisa: Mm hmm.

Eryn: …you’re feelings…

Elisa: Mm hmm. Mm hmm.

Eryn: …are just overcoming you.

Elisa: Mm hmm. I’m not great at leading with my feelings. I’m good at identifying them…

Eryn: Okay.

Elisa: …and compartmentalizing them.

Eryn: Got it.

Elisa: Just saying.

Eryn: That…that’s so good.

Elisa: Well I’m a survivor of an alcoholic home, you know, an adult child and alcoholic, and so one of the things I learned really quickly was to compartmentalize, so I can go from room to room to room in my being or in my world…

Eryn: Yeah.

Elisa: …and keep my feelings and I don’t always do the best job of processing them or emoting them.

Eryn: That makes total sense. That makes sense for me.

Elisa: Sense it thinks.

Eryn: There you go sense. It sounds like you thought about that.

Elisa: Mm hmm. I thought about my feelings. [Laughing]

Eryn: Well, can I share a story with you…

Elisa: Yeah.

Eryn: …that happened. It was one of those weeks. I remember it was October 2017, so this was a little while ago, but it was like an ah ha moment. It was like um lots of pressure. I thought I was going to explode and then I had like an ah ha moment.

Elisa: Wow!

Eryn: I know, that’s right!

Elisa: Okay. Okay.

Eryn: So I had a brick and mortar store. It was about 2300 square feet.

Elisa: And some people don’t know what brick and mortar means.

Eryn: So brick and mortar means it’s a store, like a physical building that I rented…I had a landlord.

Elisa: Okay.

Eryn: So 2300 square feet. We had retail in the front and then we did all of our fulfillment, which means shipping out orders in the back.

Elisa: And what kind of product?

Eryn: T-shirts.

Elisa: A whole store of t-shirts, wow!

Eryn: Yeah. T-shirts.

Elisa: Cool. Okay.

Eryn: So t-shirts and accessories like keychains…

Elisa: Mm hmm.

Eryn: …and bags and things like that.

Elisa: And this is a part of your brand, your work called So Worth Loving.

Eryn: So Worth Loving. Yes, exactly.

Elisa: Okay. Okay.

Eryn: So it was our very first building that I ever rented. It was like the first big girl business [Laughing], buildings…

Elisa: Not that big you’re 4’ 11” okay.

Eryn: …choice. Right? [Laughing]

Elisa: Okay, I get ya. Grown up.

Eryn: The building was big.

Elisa: Grown up. Yeah.

Eryn: Yeah, exactly.

Elisa: Mm hmm.

Eryn: It was just a special season of my life to make that commitment for 3 years to have this building, and it was just…yeah, it was symbolic to, you know, the next adventure of our company.

Elisa: Hmm.

Eryn: There were a lot of firsts in this building, so it was really special.

Elisa: Oh yeah.

Eryn: Then I was renting out desks to people in the co-working space, so I had a co-working space, which is like other graphic designers that don’t want to work from home, they could come and rent out of our space.

Elisa: Hmm.

Eryn: It was a little bit of a staple in the community.

Elisa: Nice! A gathering place.

Eryn: It was a gathering place, yeah. So it came to an end…

Elisa: Okay, by your choice or?

Eryn: By my choice.

Elisa: Or by the rent, the lease wearing out?

Eryn: Lease situation. Some circumstances within the business to lease to my personal stuff that was going on and my divorce, so it came to an end and I had to close it and pack everything up, and then I had also tell everybody, “Hey, we’re closing up.”

Elisa: Mmm.

Eryn: So that day, packing up my last boxes, and it was about 11:00 that night, 3 hours before I was leaving the office, um I found out that a friend passed away.

Elisa: Ooh.

Eryn: So…

Elisa: Mmm.

Eryn: …that happened, so it was closing an era, friend passing away, I get in my car to go home and I run out of gas.

Elisa: Oh my goodness. Literally, emotionally, all. [Laughing] Oh gosh!

Eryn: Literally and figuratively.

Elisa: Every way you can run out of gas…

Eryn: Every way.

Elisa: …you did it.

Eryn: I did it. And I remember calling a girlfriend and I called her and she sounded sleepy, because it was 11:00 at night, and she’s like, “Hey!” I’m like, “Hey, what are you up to?” [Laughing]

Elisa: Well I guess she’s sleeping at 11:00 at night.

Eryn: Yeah. Yeah.

Elisa: Yeah.

Eryn: She’s like, “I’m just getting ready for bed. What’s going on?” I said, “Well, ahh, I ran out of gas.” No 29-year-old should be running out of gas just like let’s go and preface that in the middle of downtown Atlanta. Like I’m…

Elisa: At night. At 11:00 at night.

Eryn: …I’m a big girl. I should know better.

Elisa: Mm hmm. Mm hmm.

Eryn: I’ve never run out of gas before. So she’s like, “Okay, I’ll…I’ll come get you.” And I said, “Are you sure?” And she’s like, “Yeah.” So she comes and gets me and we go to the gas station and go…I have never bought gas before, so I guy a tiny little one-gallon tank thing, like the little container.

Elisa: Without your car.

Eryn: Did you know they have different sizes.

Elisa: Yeah, without your car, you haven’t bought gas before. So, here…

Eryn: Yeah.

Elisa: …you are. No car, what are you going to put in. You have to carry it in something, so…no, I didn’t know they had different sizes.

Eryn: They have different sizes.

Elisa: Cool.

Eryn: They have like gal…I don’t know how many. I don’t know what the sizes are, but they have…

Elisa: Okay.

Eryn: …small, medium, large.

Elisa: Well, you’ve got to carry the thing, so it can’t be too heavy, okay.

Eryn: So we drive over there, I go into the gas station, I buy the smallest one, cause I’m like “I have a small car. It’s a Fiat, it’s probably a small gallon.” I don’t know. [Laughing] That’s literally what I’m thinking.

Elisa: Gallons are different sizes, right? [Laughing]

Eryn: Exactly. [Laughing]

Elisa: Okay.

Eryn: So I go in, buy it. I asked them to put $20.00 on a gallon tank… [Laughing] …that I buy.

Elisa: Oh, that’s high octane stuff, isn’t it? Yeah.

Eryn: High octane stuff, and then I go to the pump and I fill up and I go, “Oh my gosh, it only fills up like $5.00, I need to go get $16…$16 returned. Or whatever. [Laughing] So…

Elisa: Yes.

Eryn: …as I’m going in…back into the gas station, my phone flies out of my hands and it falls and it shatters…

Elisa: Oh no!

Eryn: …and breaks. In the interim of that, I get harassed by some people at the gas station, at the pump.

Elisa: Oh my goodness.

Eryn: So literally, this is the day of like…

Elisa: Worse…

Eryn: …just boom…

Elisa: …and worse.

Eryn: …boom, just kept…keeps…

Elisa: Terrible, awful, horrible, very bad day.

Eryn: …just keeps getting worse. So I go back in the gas station line to get some money back, because I spent way too much money on the tiny gallon, and you know what she does?

Elisa: Your friend.

Eryn: Yeah.

Elisa: What?

Eryn: She just looks at me and she goes, “You’re doing a really good job.”

Elisa: Oh.

Eryn: And I just…I didn’t even have tears, I didn’t have anything by that point of the day. You know how you just sometimes keep taking a beating?

Elisa: Mm hmm.

Eryn: And you just don’t even know how to feel?

Elisa: Mm hmm.

Eryn: But you know you got Him.

Elisa: Right.

Eryn: And I just said, “I’m trying.”

Elisa: Yeah, you are.

Eryn: And she goes, “You’re doing a really good job trying.”

Elisa: That’s so sweet.

Eryn: And it was what I needed.

Elisa: Mm hmm.

Eryn: And so in that moment, you know, it was a season of my life where I feel like God brought and spoke through her,…

Elisa: Mm hmm.

Eryn: …because He knew that I needed to be told, “You’re doing a good job no matter your circumstances and no matter what you’re feeling right now.”

Elisa: Hmm.

Eryn: Have you ever had moments like that where God has used somebody in your life…

Elisa: Yeah.

Eryn: …when you have felt like the feelings or you don’t even know how to process the feelings and then they feel like they’re coming to a point?

Elisa: Yeah. Yeah, and this goes back to me compartmentalizing. I have a good friend who, you know, on the Myers Briggs, she’s an F and I’m a T. Okay, she’s a feeling-oriented and I’m a thinking-oriented, and, you know, for gosh it’s been 35-40 years we’ve known each other and early on in our…in our relationship, especially, she would cry my feelings. She would cry my tears.

Eryn: Wow.

Elisa: And it annoyed me to heck at first, because I felt like it just felt weird. That kind of out of body, but the more I got to know her and me, and the more I came to understand who I am and how I’m made, I’ve become grateful for her ability. She has an easy access to expression of feelings.

Eryn: Mm hmm.

Elisa: She doesn’t just cry. She’ll emote and be joyous and wonderful! And all of that as well, and I can definitely do that,…

Eryn: Yeah.

Elisa: …but she’s like me on steroids, and when she does that, Eryn, sometimes it helps me see me…

Eryn: Mmm.

Elisa: …in a way that I haven’t been able to access it, so I kind of understand what you’re talking about.

Eryn: And so by her friendship and you being able to see yourself through her,..

Elisa: Mm hmm. Yeah, yeah…

Eryn: ..see yourself, yeah.

Elisa: …yes, and myself through her.

Eryn: See yourself through her and the emotions that she’s feeling.

Elisa: Mm hmm. Mm hmm.

Eryn: How does that connect with your relationship with God as He uses another person?

Elisa: I really think we are windows to God…

Eryn: Mmm.

Elisa: …, you know, ourselves. You know, I think there’s a proverb that says the eye is the window of the soul, and the reality is that when we look into other people’s eyes and we see kind of a more clear reflection of ourselves back at us, it helps us notice more. I think it was Ann Voskamp who wrote at some point that feelings are neither right or wrong.

Eryn: Mmm.

Elisa: Feelings inform us.

Eryn: Mmm. They’re indicators.

Elisa: That’s a good way to put it too.

Eryn: They’re like a check engine light. [Laughing]

Elisa: I like that! I like that!

Eryn: They’re like ding, ding, ding.

Elisa: Yeah.

Eryn: Need attention.

Elisa: So…so when somebody else reflects back to me my feelings, or like your friend did to you, “You’re doing a really good job,” she could watch and see and mirror if you will…

Eryn: Mm hmm.

Elisa: …through her presence that this was hard and you were handling it. That really validates, informs, indicates…

Eryn: Yeah.

Elisa: …what we maybe want to look at. What we maybe want to process it.

Eryn: Hmm.

Elisa: What have you learned?

Eryn: Hmm. Hmm. Like after that day, actually it was the next day, I remember laying in bed, staring ate the ceiling, the TV wasn’t on, I was just like, buh.

Elisa: Mm hmm.

Eryn: And at that point, I was very distant from God, but He was there. I was just distant to talk about what I was going through with Him.

Elisa: Mmm.

Eryn: And I just remember like putting my hand on my heart and literally saying like, “God, this hurts.”

Elisa: Mmm.

Eryn: Like this week, hurts and there was almost like this impression to read this verse, “Are you tired? Are you worn out? Are you burned out on religion? Come to Me. Get away with Me, and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with Me and work with Me. Watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with Me and you’ll learn how to live freely and lightly.”

Elisa: That’s from Matthew.

Eryn: Matthew…

Elisa: Chapter 11, right?

Eryn: …11:28.

Elisa: 28 and 29 in there, yeah.

Eryn: Mm hmm. Yeah.

Elisa: In…in regular translations like the NIV, I think you’re reading from the Message, which is beautiful, that paraphrase by Eugene Peterson, but in like the NIV it will say, “Come to Me all you who are weary and burdened…

Eryn: That’s right.

Elisa: …and I’ll give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Eryn: Mm hmm.

Elisa: And Peterson expresses that as the unforced what?

Eryn: Rhythms of grace.

Elisa: Mm hmm.

Eryn: And I think that’s what we want with our feelings is to know that I can come to Him or I can’t. I get to choose that, right?

Elisa: Mm hmm.

Eryn: But grace is always there.

Elisa: Mm hmm.

Eryn: It’s always present. It’s not force upon, it’s just there.

Elisa: You know what’s beautiful about that too, Eryn, um I’ve read this and thought about that passage as well and the verses that come just before that…

Eryn: Mmm.

Elisa: ….before He says, “Come,” He talks about the relationship Jesus has with His Father.

Eryn: Mmm.

Elisa: And I think there’s a way He’s modeling…

Eryn: Yeah.

Elisa: …what we can have with Him.

Eryn: Yeah. Yeah. Explain that more to me. What are those ways?

Elisa: Well, you know, He’s…Jesus doesn’t do life alone.

Eryn: Yeah.

Elisa: Jesus is in tandem/Trinity with…

Eryn: Yeah.

Elisa: …with the godhead—the Holy Spirit, the Father, and Jesus are one.

Eryn: Yeah.

Elisa: The only time they were ever separated was on the cross…

Eryn: Hmm.

Elisa: …at His death. And so they are united. They’re as one. They were united. They’re as one, and there’s a modeling of community almost this beautiful reflection of who they are to each other all the time that makes them who they are…

Eryn: Yeah.

Elisa: …and…and there’s a way in which, you know, as His image is in each of us, you know, we remind ourselves who we are…

Eryn: Yeah.

Elisa: …but also who’s image we’re made in.

Eryn: Hmm.

Elisa: So we hold up a mirror and it’s like “Tough day, Eryn, you’re doing a really good job,” but it’s not just your friend telling you, you know, there’s a way in which your friend’s voice gives you encouragement that God sees you…

Eryn: Yeah, that’s right.

Elisa: …and God is pleased with you, even though, you know, dropped your phone, even though you ran out of gas,…

Eryn: Right.

Elisa: …even though it’s hard.

Eryn: Have you ever felt like your feelings were too heavy to bring to Him?

Elisa: Yeah. I can’t pick them up sometimes.

Eryn: Yeah.

Elisa: I can’t carry them sometimes.

Eryn: Yeah.

Elisa: I have a neck issue, and I’ve noticed sometimes that if I get really stressed out or anxious, I have a hard time functioning, and there…

Eryn: Really?

Elisa: …have been times…yeah, there have been times when I’ve been praying and if you think about different places in your body where you feel pain or tension or whatever,…

Eryn: Yeah.

Elisa: …I…I was doing that and I went straight to my neck and I sensed God actually putting His hand on my shoulder…

Eryn: Mmm.

Elisa: …and just physically lifting that stuff I was trying to carry. It was like He was inviting me, “Come to Me.”

Eryn: Yeah.

Elisa: “Come to Me.” And I…I sometimes I can’t identify it or I can’t lift it…

Eryn: Yeah.

Elisa: …to bring it,…

Eryn: Yeah.

Elisa: …and I think He’s willing to come to us and lift it.

Eryn: Do you ever feel like there’s a circumstance that He…He wouldn’t do that for you?

Elisa: Mmm. Do you?

Eryn: No.

Elisa: No. I…yeah.

Eryn: But I think that I get wrapped up in lies in thinking that.

Elisa: That’s true.

Eryn: I think that I sometimes struggle with feeling like I have to be put together in order to come to Him, you know, if…if it’s something like for me that moment I was so distant…

Elisa: Yeah.

Eryn: …and I always had a relationship in conversation and prayer life with Him to some level, but that was a really shallow level at that point of my life, but I felt like I found myself…I mean, that circumstance was that…I mean, there were so many circumstances that were honestly out of my control, but I think sometimes we find ourselves in circumstances we could control…

Elisa: Mm hmm.

Eryn: …and we chose to make decisions that were unhealthy for us…

Elisa: Mm hmm.

Eryn: …and so that pain, that shame, those feelings of regret are so heavy that we feel like we can’t bring them because we were a part of making them.

Elisa: And that we listen to the lies.

Eryn: Yeah.

Elisa: And I think that the real thing that…that happens there too is we are the ones pushing Him away. I think He’s there. I think He wants to be there…

Eryn: Yeah.

Elisa: …in those embarrassing, shameful feelings, but I think we push Him away.

Eryn: We push Him away.

Elisa: Do you?

Eryn: Absolutely. I mean, I think, you know, whether your feelings are a result of to something you’ve chosen to do…

Elisa: Mm hmm. Mm hmm.

Eryn: …or maybe your feelings have felt too heavy…

Elisa: Mm hmm.

Eryn: …God is still there. He’s still…He can handle either one.

[music]

Elisa: Okay, just a question, are there any that are really hard for you to identify?

Eryn: Oh, for sure.

Elisa: Like…like which ones can you quickly identify? Which ones take longer for you to go, “Oh that’s what this is.”

Eryn: Things that are my fault. [Laughing]

Elisa: There you go. I figured. I figured. [Laughing] That was good.

Eryn: You know, cried maybe. There you go. Identified it.

Elisa: Uh huh. Ah bing. Yeah. [Laughing]

[music]

Eryn: Okay, when we come back, we will get into some tangible ways to both identify our feelings, identify the lies that hitchhike on our feelings, and discover a way forward to using even our emotions to draw near to God. That’s coming up right here on God Hears Her.

[music]

Elisa: If you’re a fan of this podcast, sign up for our God Hears Her email newsletter and find even more inspiration and encouragement from women like you. These weekly emails are filled with stories you can relate to and other fun goodies that will brighten your walk with Jesus. Go to godhearsher.org and sign up today. That’s godhearsher.org. Now back to the show.

Elisa: All right, Eryn, you’re the one who gets this next part started by discussing what you do to process your feelings.

Eryn: I write them down. By doing that I can understand what’s a lie and maybe something that I was a part of choosing…

Elisa: Mm hmm.

Eryn: …what is maybe true, but I might be amplifying it more…

Elisa: Mm hmm. Mmm.

Eryn: …than it actually deserves.

Elisa: Okay.

Eryn: So writing it down, I get to actually look at the full picture.

Elisa: That’s interesting.

Eryn: So I write down my feelings. Just writing them down, no shame, no guilt, nothing, just write what…what am I feeling.

Elisa: On a journal.

Eryn: On a journal.

Elisa: On a whiteboard, you know.

Eryn: On a whiteboard. Whatever’s your…

Elisa: On Facebook.

Eryn: …whatever’s your thing. Right. [Laughing] Not on Facebook.

Elisa: Not on Instagram.

Eryn: Try not to make it an Instagram caption.

Elisa: Okay. Not yet.

Eryn: Yeah.

Elisa: Process it first.

Eryn: Make it a sacred moment. [Laughing] Ah then I admit and I accept that that’s where I’m at, and then I surrender them to God. So accept and admit. Um I love what it says in Psalm 116. It says, “He protects the unweary, the simple-hearted.”

Elisa: Mmm.

Eryn: He protects the simple-hearted and so I looked up the definition of simple-hearted and that’s to be honest and straightforward.

Elisa: Wow. I like that.

Eryn: And I think that I need to be honest and straightforward with my feelings and my thoughts.

Elisa: There’s a protection that comes when we are, and that’s very counterintuitive.

Eryn: Yeah.

Elisa: We think that we’re risking…

Eryn: Yeah.

Elisa: …and revealing and putting ourselves in danger and yet when we’re honest and straightforward is when and confession whether it’s something…

Eryn: Yeah.

Elisa: …we did or something we simply feel, that’s when God can actually meet our need because we’ve stated it.

Eryn: Yes, exactly.

Elisa: Huh.

Eryn: Because He already knows.

Elisa: Yeah.

Eryn: He sees it all.

Elisa: Yeah, He does.

Eryn: You know, and so it’s like well, if you see it all, I need to see it all.

Elisa: Mm hmm. [Laughing] That’s good. Mm hmm. Mm hmm.

Eryn: Right? So I admit and I accept and I know that God is going to be my protector in my simple-heartedness in me being straightforward and honest. He’s going to still love me.

Elisa: Mm hmm.

Eryn: It’s not conditional.

Elisa: That’s so good.

Eryn: I’m not going to be punished.

Elisa: Mm hmm.

Eryn: Then I evaluate my life choices after I admit and I accept, so…

Elisa: Around these feelings?

Eryn: Around these feelings.

Elisa: What these feelings have led you to choose?

Eryn: Exactly. Are these choices in my life making things better or worse? Are these choices bringing me closer in intimacy with Him or further away? So I identify them, I admit and accept and am honest with them. Then I evaluate what are my life choices that are being attached right now to some of these feelings that I have. And then I set reminders on my phone that bring me closer because to start to understand that God is for me and He loves me even in the midst of my feelings. I have to be reminded that He’s…He’s for me.

Elisa: Right.

Eryn: I think that’s the biggest thing with feelings and faith is that sometimes we feel like they can’t be in tandem.

Elisa: Right.

Eryn: Right?

Elisa: Right.

Eryn: They can’t live together.

Elisa: I mean, the reality is, Eryn, you’re a feeling person.

Eryn: Yeah.

Elisa: And the reality is I’m a thinking person.

Eryn: Yeah.

Elisa: But you have thoughts and I have feelings.

Eryn: Yeah.

Elisa: So, you know, and that connects to faith…

Eryn: Yeah.

Elisa: …you know, and faith is in all of those, and I’m kind of thinking back to applying what you’ve just suggested. You know, I told you I…I compartmentalize.

Eryn: Yeah.

Elisa: I know what I’m feeling.

Eryn: Hmm.

Elisa: I…I’ve done some work to pay attention. I don’t stuff…

Eryn: Yeah.

Elisa: …so there’s a difference between compartmentalizing and…

Eryn: Yeah.

Elisa: …denying…

Eryn: Right.

Elisa: …so I know…

Eryn: Right. That’s a good point.

Elisa: …I’m walking from this room of feelings into this room of feelings…

Eryn: Mm hmm

Elisa: …when I do it, but what you’ve just suggested in terms of a tool, and I’m going to ask you to repeat it again,…

Eryn: Yeah.

Elisa: …is that I could take those steps or principles into each compartment as a thinking-oriented person…

Eryn: Yes.

Elisa: …and let myself look at my feelings and let them indicate to me or inform me what’s going on with me…

Eryn: Exactly.

Elisa: …as I welcome Jesus into each of those compartments.

Eryn: Yes.

Elisa: I…I picture right now…

Eryn: Yes.

Elisa: …a beehive, you know…

Eryn: That’s so good.

Elisa: …with all those little cells, you know, and…and I live in all those little cells. I kind of run between compartments, you know, but they’re all part of me.

Eryn: Mmm.

Elisa: So what are the ideas you’ve come up with to help yourself again? To admit them…

Eryn: So I identify them.

Elisa: There you go.

Eryn: I admit and accept. I evaluate my life choices, and I set reminders on my phone to help me live in the truth of how God sees me, how He loves me, what He thinks about me, how He feels about me, that I’m seen by Him, I’m heard by Him, because I think that our feelings can overcome the truth of how…

Elisa: Yeah.

Eryn: …He sees and feels and thinks, because that’s always there.

Elisa: Mm hmm.

Eryn: Um can I share like…

Elisa: Please.

Eryn: …a few of my little reminders that I did…

Elisa: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Eryn: …because if you’re kind of like, “Okay, I set reminders, like what does that even…” What does that even mean? And I feel

Elisa: It’s like an alarm going off.

Eryn: …yeah, it is.

Elisa: Okay.

Eryn: So I set it up…so I have, you can see here, they can’t…

Elisa: Let me get my glasses.

Eryn: …somebody listening can’t see it, but they can…

Elisa: Should I read one of them?

Eryn: Yeah, read…read the first one.

Elisa: Okay. This is on your phone, okay.

Eryn: Right here…

Elisa: A little reminder so like it comes up and it…

Eryn: It’s a reminder so you can set different times.

Elisa: Comes across your…

Eryn: Yeah. So let’s…

Elisa: You might have to in the show notes how to set reminders on your cell phone. Okay. [Laughing] Okay. All right.

Eryn: So you could call them breath prayers. Prayers like things that you want to say under your breath quickly when you feel just like you’re trying to reprogram the way your mind is going, the way you’re feeling about yourself.

Elisa: Okay. “Lord guide me to the wise path that protects my heart for the purpose you have for me. Use me to honor what you want us all to know, that we are loved, need work, but are called to a greater purpose you have for us. That we’re not to be scared of our messy, but know what it is and give it over to you. I love you, Jesus. Amen.” Would you send that to me every day?

Eryn: Yes, I would. [Laughing]

Elisa: A little text message. I think it would be awesome.

Eryn: Okay, sounds good. I’ll be your reminder.

Elisa: Okay.

Eryn: And sometimes…sometimes we actually do need to do that for our friends…

Elisa: Mm hmm.

Eryn: …that are in seasons of life or they’ve had a bad week to just send them a reminder, a prayer.

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Eryn: Like anytime I get a girlfriend that will…she’ll text me and she’ll say like, “It’s just been one.” [Laughing] Um that’s all she needs to say.

Elisa: All that’s it.

Eryn: Right?

Elisa: Yeah.

Eryn: I’m like immediately prayer, cause I think that depending on where we are and our feelings and if they’re negative, they’re not doing us any good. Telling somebody about it is so important because we can lean in on their faith when our faith isn’t there.

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Elisa: As I listened to the last part of that show, you know, I was thinking we mentioned sending notes to our friends who are having a rough week, you know, but maybe we should send encouragements like the breath prayer you just read all the time. Whether those we care about are having a good week or a bad week. Even if we don’t know what type of week they’re having.

Eryn: Absolutely. Let’s focus on asking God each day to bring people to our minds who need encouragement. There’s something so powerful about receiving a timely text message or a note with encouragement at just the right time that let’s that person know they are on God’s mind and our mind too.

Elisa: Mm hmm. And before we close out today’s episode, 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 you’ll also find a link to connect with Eryn and me on social. So check out the show notes on our website godhearsher.org.

Eryn: Thanks for listening and joining us, and don’t forget God hears you, He sees you, He loves you because you are His.

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Elisa: Today’s episode was engineered by Anne Stevens and produced by Daniel Ryan Day and Mary Jo Clark. We also want to give a quick shout out to Steve and Sharon for their help in creating and promoting the God Hears Her podcast. Thanks, y’all.

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