Ever found yourself struggling to shake off those Monday blues? Well, strap on your 'God goggles' and join me as we kickstart the week with a refreshing encouragement. In today's episode of the EncouragHer Community Podcast, I'm peeling back the layers on how a simple shift in perspective can transform any dreary Monday into a day of opportunity and joy. It's not about waiting for circumstances to change; it's about seeing through a lens of faith and positivity. And yes, even as a self-confessed planner and dreamer, I share my own journey of navigating between my personal ambitions and the profound peace that comes with trusting in God's master plan.
As we unpack the delicate dance between our prayers and the narrative God has written for our lives, I invite you to pause and consider where you've seen this interplay unfold in your own story. Weaving through the comforting scripture of Jeremiah 29:11, this session is a heartfelt reminder that we are wonderfully crafted with a purpose. So whether you're seizing the day with gusto or just trying to get through, let's embrace this week with encouragement and grace, knowing we're part of something far greater than we could imagine. No guests, just me, your host, and a community of encouragHers ready to start the week on a high note. Join us, and let's make this Monday anything but mundane.
Now get out into the world and be a woman who intentionally encourages another!
Ever found yourself struggling to shake off those Monday blues? Well, strap on your 'God goggles' and join me as we kickstart the week with a refreshing encouragement. In today's episode of the EncouragHer Community Podcast, I'm peeling back the layers on how a simple shift in perspective can transform any dreary Monday into a day of opportunity and joy. It's not about waiting for circumstances to change; it's about seeing through a lens of faith and positivity. And yes, even as a self-confessed planner and dreamer, I share my own journey of navigating between my personal ambitions and the profound peace that comes with trusting in God's master plan.
As we unpack the delicate dance between our prayers and the narrative God has written for our lives, I invite you to pause and consider where you've seen this interplay unfold in your own story. Weaving through the comforting scripture of Jeremiah 29:11, this session is a heartfelt reminder that we are wonderfully crafted with a purpose. So whether you're seizing the day with gusto or just trying to get through, let's embrace this week with encouragement and grace, knowing we're part of something far greater than we could imagine. No guests, just me, your host, and a community of encouragHers ready to start the week on a high note. Join us, and let's make this Monday anything but mundane.
Now get out into the world and be a woman who intentionally encourages another!
#women #podcast
Speaker 1:
Good morning encouragers. Welcome back to the Encourage Her Community Podcast. Happy Monday. I love a Monday. So if you're feeling grumps, if you're feeling a case of the moon days, I'm here to tell you Monday can be awesome. I don't know when you're listening to this. If it's first thing in the morning on Monday, if it's still dark in the morning and you're an early riser, you're an early bird gets the worm chick. Or if you're struggling mid-morning just to get going, maybe you're on the way to work, maybe you're listening to this after the day's over. I'm not exactly sure. But I'm just glad you tuned in and I want to remind you that Monday can be awesome.
Speaker 1:
A lot of times it's about our perspective. It's a shift in the way we view something. Our circumstances often don't change quickly, but our perspective and our vision can. So I'd encourage you, if you're having a grumps kind of morning, pray for perspective shifting. Pray for the desire in your heart to change your view, to change. Put on your God goggles. I love that. That's what I encourage you with this morning. If you're having a grumps morning, I get it. I've been there. I'm sure I'll be there at some point this week too. Um, but let's just work hard to ask the Lord first and seek the Lord first for that perspective shift, all right. So this Monday I've just been thinking about a concept that I thought I would bring to the podcast and encourage you to think about also, I'd love to hear your thoughts on it. Always feel free to reach out to me, but let me open us up in prayer before I begin.
Speaker 1:
Today, I'm going to be just talking a little bit about prayers versus plan, prayers versus God's plan. Dear Lord, thank you so much for being with us this morning. Thank you that we get to be in your will. Thank you that you have a plan for us that, long before we knew you, you had written our story. We knew you, you had written our story. You knitted us together in our mother's womb, knowing exactly what you had planned for us. We praise you for that. We lean in to you this morning for wisdom and encouragement, and I pray that the women hear something that's just for them. You know why they tuned in. You know why you placed this on my heart. Lord, you're doing all of it and we are grateful In your name, amen. So, ladies, I was thinking about Jeremiah 29, 11, a scripture that says for I know the plans I have for you, for I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. And I just love this verse. I think it's super encouraging. I find it just like a breath of fresh air, an exhale, a relief.
Speaker 1:
As a planner myself, I can get caught up in my own plans and my own dreams and I do a lot of speculating. I don't know if you relate to that. I live in this posture of expectation. I'm always ready for the next thing, I'm easily excited, I can be visionary and some of these things, you know, many of these aspects of me were purposed by the Lord and can be used by the Lord. I've seen him use this ability in me. I've seen him use my vision for his good. I've seen him use my dreams and my willingness to kind of look past the moment for his good. But I've also seen it harm my posture, meaning my spiritual posture. I've seen it wear me down, overwhelm me, paralyze me, even stress me out. My own plans, dreams and thoughts can kind of take over and I can kind of forget very easily that he knew me.
Speaker 1:
In Jeremiah 1.5, it says I knew you before I formed you in your mother's womb. So he knew all the plans he knows currently, all of the plans that are happening currently and then in the future. He knows them all and somehow, even knowing that in my heart and believing that to be true, I can still be forgetful and I can get caught up in rhythms of praying and preparing and speculating, as I said. And when I say speculating I mean I can very easily look for clues in my life and then kind of project what I think Lord will do with those things. Oh, I see what you're doing here, lord. All right, that means you're going to do this in the future. I see my son has a strong will, he can be a leader. Lord, you're going to make him a boss someday, you know, and I've kind of just already like boxed him into this leadership, boss role. Well, maybe that's not really what God has planned at all and I'm just quick to make that decision almost for the Lord Forgetting, forgetting that he already knows.
Speaker 1:
In Philippians 1.6, it says being confident of this, being confident of this no-transcript the day of Christ. So he's begun a good work is what it's saying, and we can be confident, knowing this promise walking into our lives, knowing that he is the one who's going to bring his plans to completion, not us he. It's a very real truth and because we can become self-reliant and we think we know all things. Maybe I'm just speaking for myself I sure hope you relate to this in some way, but maybe it's just a me thing. I don't want to live that way. I don't want to waste time dreaming, speculating, even envisioning things that he doesn't want for me. I want to be in his will. I want to take steps of faith that lead me to the plan and purpose of my life that he designed before I even knew him. I want to do as it says in Psalm 37, 5, to commit everything you do to the Lord and trust him, and he will help you. I want to commit everything I do to the Lord and say Lord, you already know, so show me the way, help me, stay in step with your spirit. I know he's the helper, I know he'll help me if I can remain in that truth that I can commit everything to him, trusting him and knowing that he has a plan. I can be confident in that.
Speaker 1:
We can forget, ladies, that the Lord's already ahead of us. It says in Deuteronomy 31.8,. The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you. He will never leave you or forsake you. Do not be afraid or discouraged. We don't need to feel overwhelmed, stressed, paralyzed by our plans or our hopes for the future or our speculation. We can be encouraged to know that he's already gone before us. He knows what's coming and that, no matter what's coming, he'll be with us.
Speaker 1:
So maybe you're not like me in the way of like envisioning or planning, but maybe you're like me in a sense that you worry about something before it even happens. Does anyone relate to that? You speculate about the like doom that is to come. You know, you assume things before they occur in a negative way. That can happen too. That can be very real and we have to remember this. Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged to remember that he went before us, he knows what's coming, and I've lived through some hard things, I've lived through some dark things and I've done it with the Lord, knowing that he was with me, and it doesn't mean that my circumstances changed, but it did mean that I had more peace and more comfort and more knowledge and wisdom in the moment on what to do. Certainly not perfect, but in his presence. That's the goal to be in his presence, to plan with him, to dream with him, to envision with him and take steps of faith.
Speaker 1:
Ephesians 2.10,. We are God's masterpiece. He created us anew in Christ Jesus so that we can do good things that he planned for us long ago. So, ladies, this is just an encouragement to not get ahead of yourself. The Lord gave us free will, and that's a beautiful and a tough thing. It's beautiful that we get to choose him. It's beautiful that he allows us freedoms. It's incredible that the Lord has plans for us, already made, already set out before us. We get to be a part of his plan. Just sit in that for a moment. We get to seek his will for our life, and his word provides wisdom and direction for us on what to do and how to do it. We don't need to waste time getting stress, paralyzed.
Speaker 1:
It says in scripture like give us this day our daily bread. That's how Jesus taught us to pray. Give us this day our daily bread. Because it says in scripture, today's got enough worries of its own. Isn't that true? Doesn't this Monday have enough for you. Do you really need to worry about Tuesday? Let's just stay present. Let's stay in the spirit. Let's stay present and let's do today with him, taking steps of faith towards tomorrow.
Speaker 1:
And when we start to get caught up in future vision, future worry, future fear, we need to remember these truths that he's gone before us, that he has a plan and that if we commit to him everything we're doing and we trust him with it, that he will help us, he will bring to completion the things he's planned on purpose, and that he knows us. He knows us guys. He knows everything that we're thinking, that we're worried about. Let's pray today for a desire in our heart to seek Him. We know ultimately it's not about us, but he loves us so much that he wants us to follow the plan that he has for our good and for the good of His kingdom. He has something for you today. He has something for me. We don't need to waste time going on Pinterest and planning and envisioning our future. He already has it. Ladies, we need to get into his word. We need to pray and seek him to find out what that is.
Speaker 1:
Be encouraged today to know that you have a story writer, you have a creator and you have a loving father in our Lord. I wish that you have a wonderful day today. I pray, ladies, that you can be a woman who can flip the script on her perspective If you're having a hard day, if you're having a down day, that you can take some time to pause and say Lord, help me, help me with my vision today. Help me to see the good that you are doing. Help me to see the blessings throughout my day, even despite the hard. Help me to thank and praise you for them. Ladies, also, I pray that you're a woman who encourages. You don't have to look very far to see.
Speaker 1:
The world needs encouragement. Hop on social media. Watch the news. If you're someone who turns, hop on social media. Watch the news If you're someone who turns on TV. Man, turn on the radio. You'll hear about it within a moment, within a minute. The world needs it. The world needs encouragement, and I think you do too, if you signed on to this podcast. That's a little clue to me that you might need some encouragement too. So let's get into the word to find our encouragement. Let's be filled up, and then let's get out into the world and pour it out onto somebody else that we see and we notice might need it too. Love to you all, ladies. Catch you again next Monday. Be a woman who chooses to encourage her. Happy Monday.
