Janna Faith: Hello there, I’m Jana Faith.

And I’m Anna Faith, and welcome to episode 19 of Faith Talks.

Well, believe it or not, we’re actually at the end of another year of Faith Talks, which is crazy.

I feel like in so many ways this year has just flown by.

It has, definitely.

And of course what you got to do at the end of a year is share all the stats, you know, like how many cups of coffee did you drink?

How many pounds did you lose?

There we go.

Lose, that’s the key.

How many times did you blow your nose?

You know, all the important stats.

How many steps did you take this year?

How many times did you close your rings on your Apple Watch?

Yes, there we go.

I actually have

Anna Faith: that.

I don’t follow it, but it’s fun.

So for Faith Talks podcast, we’re going to share how many listens we had this year.

So for 2022, we had 17,236 listens.

So we just want to thank you all for tuning in and listening.

We definitely appreciate it.

And we just hope that it’s grown your faith journey this year as you’ve just taken steps to follow the Lord in whatever areas he has shown you through the podcast.

And we also this year had our first live podcast back in October, was it?

October for the Thee Generation Youth Summit.

And that was definitely nerve-wracking, but it was very

Janna Faith: good for us to just trust the Lord in it.

So it was exciting to have a live audience once once they were there.

It kind of, it was fun.

And I’ve just been really blessed by each of the episodes this year.

And so we’re just going to kind of go through them.

I know maybe some of you out there haven’t listened to all the ones this year.

So we’re just going to give just a brief, the title of it and just the theme in case any of those would perk your interest.

We started January with The Unseen Hand of God, the story of Greta Bolin.

In this episode, Greta just shares her journey of how God brought her from just a completely unsaved background and family life to himself, just using the birth of her son and so many different other things.

Just a fascinating story if you get a chance to listen to it.

And then in February, Jessica Forrester shared her story.

And the title of that episode was Who Has Your Heart?

And this story just goes

Anna Faith: through how God brought her heart to him and her future husband and just that journey of giving her heart to the Lord and just taking the steps she needed in high school and through college to get

Janna Faith: to that point.

And really April and May have similar themes.

April was waiting, not pushing.

Stephanie Swanson, I was down there in South Carolina with my sister.

And then in May, letting God do it, Mary Jane Mueller.

Both of those just kind of God’s story, the story of how God led them to their husbands.

And then in June, A Miraculous Provision by Emma Reed.

Anna Faith: And her story of just how God brought her and her husband, he’s an evangelist and they travel on the road, just brought them to a truck and trailer that was a complete miracle and just something that was a complete impossibility and how he brought them to the faith to believe him for it before they could see the answer.

And that was encouragement.

Janna Faith: And then I left to camp and Anna Faith did the episode with Sarah Swanson.

And I know that was a huge blessing to many.

Anna Faith: And her story of just how God brought her and her husband safely in Cameroon just through war times and how God worked through their lives there and even physical needs more recently.

Janna Faith: Yes.

And then August, building spiritual backbone with my mom, Rhonda Van Gelderen.

And she just shared a little bit of her testimony.

And I know some of you might, you know, hear different podcasts and think, oh, well, they’ve always been like that.

Or they grew up in a Christian home or different stuff.

But my mom’s testimony just really is a blessing of how God just took her step by step.

She did not come from a fundamental home at all.

But God gave her the steps and brought her to where she is today.

And then in October, we did Overwhelmed Yet Victorious with Brittany Torres.

Anna Faith: Her story is just one of seeing God through many trials, deep trials.

She lost her brother, just her home situations.

And so I’d encourage if you’re going through some big trials, listen to hers because it’s very encouraging.

Janna Faith: And then also in October, the live podcast, Every Choice Matters by Summer Raines.

And she just shared how the choices you make in high school, you might think, oh, these aren’t either not like big, huge life choices.

But every choice really does matter to bring you on that path of where you’re going to be someday.

And we ended with that.

And now we’re on December, our final podcast.

Yes.

Anna Faith: So in the last two podcasts, we shared how we really wanted to hear from our listeners and testimonies of how God’s worked in your life or used faith talks in some way.

So we’re going to share those testimonies now.

Janna Faith: Okay.

And I will say we have a few here.

We don’t have a ton.

So some of you who wanted to but didn’t, you’re still welcome to send them in.

We’d love to hear from you guys.

So here’s this first one.

This listener says, I’ve been wanting for some time to share with you how you’ve impacted me.

I actually started listening because I noticed your episode on insecurity, which is something I’ve struggled with all my life.

And the podcast has been, as a whole, a great tool of humbling in my life.

But the episode that has impacted me most was a recent one with Sarah Swanson.

After listening to that episode, a friend and I were both very stirred for missions.

His fiancée is from the Philippines, and so he and I have set money aside to take, when he gets married, a thousand Tagalog Bibles to churches in a radical Muslim-occupied area in the southern portion of the Philippines.

Anna Faith: Wow.

Talk about a very good action step.

There we go.

Right there.

Another listener just shared with us how she’s been encouraged and how the podcast has just really helped her understand God’s word better.

Janna Faith: This listener says, It has really shown me that no one is perfect.

I am not the only one who struggles with certain things.

Everyone goes through trials in their lives that brings them closer to Jesus, which shows that God has a plan through everything.

Anna Faith: Another one, It has been so encouraging to hear from so many ladies and learn about their faith walk.

I have met most of the ladies who have been in the podcast so far, but I would never have guessed all the things that some of these ladies have gone through.

It is so neat to see how they’ve let God use those difficulties to strengthen them and help them to grow.

I really appreciate their transparency.

It has helped me to see how much it helps others when you share what you have been going through, and they chose not to become bitter, but instead have allowed God to use the trials to purify them, And they have come forth triumphant.

Janna Faith: I think that’s something I’ve really enjoyed about this year, too.

Just the power of a testimony.

I know when people share with me things they’re going through, it’s just so powerful.

Something I’ve really been encouraged by.

Anna Faith: And just that verse of how God works everything together for good to use in others’ lives.

And that’s been very encouraging.

Janna Faith: To see the purpose through your trials is so helpful.

Here’s another one.

I have started listening to Faith Talks this year, and I am almost all cut up.

Each episode has been a big encouragement and a blessing to me.

In fact, I was wondering which specific episode to mention that has helped me the most, but I couldn’t narrow it down to one.

Just hearing the testimonies from each of the ladies that were interviewed has built my faith.

Each lady interviewed went through different trials and experiences, but God brought them all through.

He didn’t let any of them down, and this has helped me realize that he won’t let me down either.

I really appreciate all the topics that the Faith Talks hit on.

They are all so applicable in my life.

Thank you, Jana Faith and Anna Faith, for your willingness to do this podcast.

Anna Faith: You’re welcome.

Janna Faith: Yes.

Anna Faith: Okay, last one that we have here.

The podcast with Mrs.

Raines was very helpful.

Sometimes I can be tempted to think about the choices I make each day or that they’re insignificant and do not matter.

I was reminded that even if those choices do seem small, they do matter and are important.

I need to make sure that each choice in my day today walk with Jesus pleases him.

Thank you all for sharing how God has been working in your journey of faith.

So speaking of how God’s been working in our journey of faith, we just thought we’d finish out the year sharing testimonies that God’s been working or different areas that God’s been working in our heart about faith and just deepening our trust in who God is and how our lives are changed by that.

So I’ll start.

Just recently, God’s just been growing my faith in many areas, but a couple specific things.

Just the aspect of waiting on God and believing Him for different areas that I can’t see the answers to right now.

And I was just thinking how sometimes people look at waiting as a very negative thing and just think, oh, I want to see the answer right now.

God, why aren’t you giving it to me?

Why are you not showing up right now?

But just realizing that God, when God allows us to wait on him for something, that it’s actually an opportunity for us to have faith.

Because if you think of God just put everything in our lap right now, all of our Christian life, we wouldn’t have any opportunity for faith.

And as Christians, that’s one of the biggest things, one of the biggest blessings really that God gives us is putting trials in our life and then giving us that opportunity to have faith and say, okay, God, in this area, I believe you.

So just in the last couple of months, God’s just been really working in my heart about just trusting him to, even though I can’t see it right now, I can actually be really excited right now and just in that journey, in the waiting, in that time where I don’t understand that God’s given me this opportunity.

Janna Faith: And so that’s just been really, really exciting.

You know, that’s a good point about the waiting.

You think about in the world, like you go to an amusement park and you have like the wait time, you know, an hour for this ride.

And we’re like, oh, we have to wait a whole hour to do that.

Or you go, you know, to get your hair cut and it’s like wait time, 20 minutes.

Or even when you’re getting fast food and they’re like, oh, you’re going to have to wait 30 minutes to be able to get in.

And waiting we always view as a negative thing.

Almost that we’re wasting time in the waiting.

And when we actually get to live is when our after the waiting, when the thing is fulfilled.

But just how you shared that actually the waiting period itself is where God wants to work.

And that’s what he wants to use.

It’s that time that’s important.

Anna Faith: Yes.

Janna Faith: That’s a really good point.

Anna Faith: And just one other quick thing that God’s been teaching me about faith specifically.

I’m actually taking a Romans class right now at BCM, and it’s been so encouraging.

But just one aspect, God’s been working my heart today, actually.

And yesterday we were talking about Romans 6 and just the truths there of realizing that our old man is crucified.

We don’t have to serve sin anymore.

We are a new man. and just one aspect that God’s been working my heart was that reckoning it to be true and just taking by faith what God said there even sometimes I can be it’s easy to look at the passage and say wow I don’t even understand that at all but just realizing okay God this is what you said I’m just going to take it by faith and some people might say like when you don’t understand and you just believe it’s blind faith but actually our professor today was just saying actually no it’s not blind faith.

It’s actually wide open faith because here’s God’s promises and you’re just saying, God, I believe, and his truth is real and it’s wide open to me.

And though I don’t see my, though I don’t understand it myself, he’s given me all these promises.

So it’s really not blind faith.

It’s simply believing that God is who he says he is and just trusting him and his promises.

Janna Faith: And really that faith is what pleases God, not what we can do per se, but just that faith of trusting him.

And that’s really what God’s been doing in my heart, especially the past couple of months, just the theme of trusting God.

And it’s been partly from reading this book called The Cure.

And some of you might have read this or heard about it.

But the subtitle is, What If God Isn’t Who You Think He Is and Neither Are You? just kind of on who you are in Christ and who God is.

And it’s a really eye-opening book.

And the first chapter just talks about the difference between trusting God and pleasing God.

And it gives the example of you’re going down a path, and it gives two options of where you can go in the fork in the road.

And one says trusting God, and the other says pleasing God.

Now, when you first read that, you’re like, okay, which one do I pick?

You know, it’s not like selfishness and godly humility.

No, they both seem right.

They both seem right.

And you think about it, okay, am I going to trust God or am I going to try to please God?

And you kind of were like, well, maybe I kind of want to do both.

But actually both of those are opposite in their focuses.

And so just giving a little bit of each side, when you live a life trying to please God, it usually leads you to be striving to want to do all the right things.

You try to work on your sins so that you can have a closer relationship with God.

And they gave this formula that so often we think, okay, more right behavior plus less wrong behavior equals godliness.

If I can just get this down, then I’ll be a godly person.

Anna Faith: And it seems like the focus is really all about you.

Yes.

It’s not about what God thinks you are.

It’s just about you trying to please God and make him think you’re something good.

Janna Faith: And so often don’t we do that in life.

How can I please God?

Or how can I be a better Christian?

Or how can I be closer?

And it’s all focused, like you said, it’s focused on us.

But then the difference is the other path of trusting God.

And that’s living out of who God says you are.

He says he’s given you a new nature.

He’s made you a new creature.

And that’s who you are.

Are you going to live like who you are?

And then the humility to realize I can’t fix myself.

So I’m standing here with this sin and I can’t fix myself.

I can’t try to do better.

And the humility to say I can’t and to admit that.

And then it gives the picture of that Jesus is next to you, God standing with you, viewing your sin, and that you’re working on it together.

Not that you’re trying to do it by yourself to clean up your act before God, but God’s he’s with you inside of you, the Holy Spirit to help you while you’re here on earth and you have that sin.

And it makes the statement, you can’t ever resolve your sin by working on it.

That’s never going to be the answer.

And one illustration that’s really stuck with me that I actually wrote a little poem about is the illustration of a butterfly and a caterpillar.

And so I thought I’d just share this.

If you put a caterpillar underneath a microscope, the little insides of him, it actually shows the DNA of a butterfly.

Well, when you look at that caterpillar, you know, he’s this wrinkled, stubby looking thing.

Doesn’t look like no butterfly to you.

But that’s who he is inside.

He’s a butterfly inside.

And it talks, I was reading up about it because I was just curious.

What they do is they eat and eat and they have to eat almost like twice their body weight, the caterpillar has to, because that’s what’s growing him into being a butterfly.

So he has to eat and eat and eat.

And then eventually they keep growing these skins and then shedding them.

And then eventually they grow like too much skin as it were.

And that’s the cocoon.

Excuse me if there’s any science experts and I’m not doing a very good job.

But the idea is they have to eat a lot.

And I was thinking how that parallels to our lives, to who makes, what’s going to make us like who we are inside, that butterfly inside, God’s word.

And that’s what feeds our true nature of who God has made us to be inside.

So I was just fascinated with this whole picture of how so often I go around life feeling like a stubby little caterpillar who can’t do anything right.

But God’s actually created me as a butterfly inside.

And if I can get a hold of that, it just it makes all the difference.

Anna Faith: Yes.

And kind of going along back to the Romans class, too, which ties directly into this, too.

He was saying it’s so easy to acknowledge your sinfulness.

And we do that all the time.

We’re like, I can’t do this.

I know I’m going to sin all these things.

But he said it takes the same amount of faith to acknowledge that I’m actually new.

I’m a new man and I have Christ’s righteousness right now.

That’s what’s inside of me.

That’s almost harder.

Janna Faith: And it is harder.

Anna Faith: And a lot of times he’s like, how many of you know that you’re sinners?

You know, you struggle.

Everyone raises their hand.

And then he’s like, how many of you know you’re righteous right now?

And all of us are like, oh, yeah, me.

And that goes like directly with this butterfly thing, realizing that I am a butterfly.

Janna Faith: so okay so I thought I would share this poem and it’s called I’m a butterfly inside so it’s from the perspective of here’s this little stubby caterpillar if you can just envision him and he’s talking to you and he’s telling you hey you know you might see this caterpillar but actually in the inside I’m a butterfly so here we go hello there how are you today look down keep going if you may yes I’m a caterpillar on the outside but I’m actually a butterfly inside.

I know I’m stubby and kind of bunched.

I often get ignored or crunched, but really, truly, I confide I am a butterfly inside.

Although you label me in the worm, fam, my creator told me who I am, and so I say with humble pride, I am a butterfly inside.

Now, you might notice what I eat.

More than my weight now, that’s a feat.

I feast upon the bread he supplied to feed my butterfly inside.

Don’t judge the process.

Yes, it’s slow.

Just give me time to mature and grow.

Right now I crawl.

One day I’ll glide because I’m a butterfly inside.

My creator told me I can trust when darkness comes.

I know it must that even when I feel I’ve died, I’m still a butterfly inside.

Sometimes his words just don’t sink in.

Just looking at my wrinkled skin, but DNA, the truth replied, you’re still a butterfly inside.

You need not care what may appear, for I’ve not given you that spirit of fear.

Power, wisdom, love I provide, all found in the butterfly inside.

I could inch about my day, like a worm, the normal way, but what freedom when I abide and truly believe I’m a butterfly inside.

Wow that’s super powerful.

A little so if you listening out there ever feel like a stubby bunched up caterpillar just say out loud I’m a butterfly

Anna Faith: inside.

Yes especially if you feel you know the story the ugly the ugly duckling yes or like the ugly caterpillar.

That is me.

With like the hairiest caterpillar.

Wow.

That’s an encouragement though.

It is.

And realizing that we are that butterfly or Christ inside of us, just realizing that it is true.

You may look at who you are.

You may look at your actions, but those are not what actually says who you are inside.

And just another thing that’s been super helpful to realize is that when we were saved, our old nature is gone.

Our old man is dead.

It’s crucified.

It’s forever gone.

And that old nature was made up of habits of sin.

And now in our new nature, that new, that butterfly, you could say, or just Christ in us, realizing that those little choices that we make are central to making up our new nature of habits of righteousness.

And as we make up those habits of righteousness, we actually become servants or slaves to righteousness.

You know, before you were saved, you were a slave to sin and you felt that way.

But now as a Christian, you make those right decisions, those little decisions that make up your new nature and form those habits of righteousness, and you become a servant to righteousness, which is the most freeing thing you can experience.

It’s so, it’s not hard.

Sometimes we look at the life of the Christian life and we feel like, oh, it’s so hard.

There’s so many things I need to do.

But actually this is where the hope lies.

Once you start making those decisions and Jesus inside of you is enabling you, that spirit filled life is enabling you to make those decisions.

Obviously we can’t do it in our own strength, but just realizing that Jesus is now part of our new DNA.

He’s giving us the strength to make those decisions and just realizing that we actually, as we make the right decisions, and as Jesus, as we understand how to live that spirit-filled life, those decisions will become easier and easier to make, and they’ll become so attractive to you, realizing you make a decision, you see the results of it, and you’re like, wow, that’s powerful.

And that’s how we walk a spirit-filled life, and that faith-filled, just walk with the Lord.

So as we head into our Christmas season and our Christmas breaks, just in light of what we shared with you today, maybe each one of you could just ask God to give you one step to take in your new nature every day.

So our professor was sharing this story with us how when he would go to a restaurant, go through the drive-thru, he hated, absolutely hated if his fries were too cold.

He said they have to be super hot just right out of that fryer.

Janna Faith: you know that’s hard to do I worked at McDonald’s and it seemed like people were always complaining about cold fries but like you would make it and they would be sitting there and the managers be like you have to use those ones not make up fresh ones you know so yeah I was probably part of the

Anna Faith: reason why he was mad at the cold fries so anyways God worked in his heart to just not complain not respond wrong whenever he got cold fries or something that he didn’t like in his order but instead just make that little choice to respond right or not say anything at all and just take it and that and a lot of other tiny little decisions that you may not think are important were the beginning of the journey of how God worked in his life and just thinking of our lives as well just taking those tiny little things that you think oh this this is just part of my personality I don’t like cold fries I don’t like this so that’s just me and realizing okay that’s not a right decision I need to make the right decision.

Okay, God, I’m going to, I’m going to by faith believe that you can help me right now make the right decision.

So this Christmas break, maybe you could just ask God to give you one thing to do every single day, one tiny decision that you know, you don’t even know what the decision is, but you’re going to make one decision.

That may be a tiny little thing.

Maybe your mom always says, let’s put the dishes in the dishwasher.

The dishes, the sink is always full.

And you say, okay, I’m going to do that.

And simply just put your one dish into the dishwasher.

I don’t know.

There may be so many other different little things, but just as you take those little steps, that’s going to become part of that journey that God brings you on, bringing you to himself and seeing in your own life the fruit of your new nature.

Janna Faith: Now, from the forms filled out at the Thee Generation Youth Summit and just different feedback we’ve gotten, a lot of you have asked for more information on relationships.

So we’re announcing our theme for 2023 is going to be on relationships.

And I think this is perfect because girls are so relationship based in so much of how we think and how we’re, how really God made us.

And whether it might be, we’re going to be dealing with parent relationships and sibling relationships, opposite gender, friends, teachers, pastor, and even your relationship with God.

That is obviously the most fundamental relationship in your life, but sometimes it’s hard to know how to grow that just practical ways.

So we’ll be endeavoring to interview different people and just research and talk through different relationships and how you can strengthen those and how does faith look in relationships for 2023?

I’m excited about this.

I think it’s

Anna Faith: super helpful for all of us.

So thank you all, especially those ones who gave us testimonies and those definitely were encouraging for each one of us.

And I just encourage each one of you to ask God to give you that one little thing this Christmas break every single day to realize who you are, that you are a butterfly instead of caterpillar and that Jesus really is inside of you.

You are not your old man.

That’s dead.

That’s gone.

And you actually are that butterfly, even if you may not feel like it or others don’t think you are, you are.

So let’s all remember this break.

Faith doesn’t just talk.

Faith walks.

Guest Speaker: Thanks for joining us for this episode of the Thee Generation Podcast.

If you’ve been blessed or helped in any way by this episode or any other episodes, please consider sharing what God has done in your life.

Your testimony could be exactly what someone else needs to take their own step out of the boat.

To share your testimony, please visit thegeneration.org slash testimony.

Guest Speaker: That’s T-H-E-E generation.org slash testimony. .