How to Find Faith in the Small Things (w/Tecia Janes & Andra Pape of Choosing Him Ministries)
There are times our faith gets shaken. Whether by personal circumstances or what’s happening in the world, we can find ourselves struggling. If you’re in that space right now or your faith could use some reinforcement, we invite you to look at the little things inside you and around you that can strengthen your resolve and your relationship with God.
Our guests are Tecia Janes & Andra Pape from Choosing Him Ministries. Their organization serves women with Bible studies, devotionals, and a podcast. They are here to remind us that whatever place or season we are in life, we can not only prosper and persevere in our faith walk; but also make an impact in the lives of others. Everyone has something to offer and a story to tell. It may seem insignificant to us, but small things can turn into big things when we involve God.
If you’d like a boost for your faith and your confidence that you are walking in God’s will for your life, click play for some awesome inspiration.
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TRANSCRIPT FOR THIS EPISODE
Sandy Kovach [00:00:00]:
Welcome to Imagine Yourself podcast where we help you imagine your next chapter of life with grace, gratitude, courage and faith.
Lanee Blaise [00:00:09]:
Thank you so much for joining us here at Imagine Yourself. I'm Lanee here with Sandy, and today we are imagining God. God looking at us deep into our souls, our lives, our actions, our thoughts, our words, our hearts. This is so important because often we run around in this world and we try to do all the things, try to be so important, try to be seen by so many other humans, try to please so many other people. And what we really need to do when we get really still, we'll notice that God notices the little things. God wants us to be faithful to Him in ways that we might see as small, others might even see as small, but he sees as big things, important things. The Bible says in First Samuel, God does not see as humans see. Humans look at the outward appearances, but the Lord looks into the heart. So Sandy and I decided to invite two guests today. They are from Choosing Him Ministries, which is a ministry dedicated to connecting women to God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and even to other women. They are Tecia Janes and Andra Pape. They are longtime friends, lovely ladies who love God. They host special events, speaking engagements. They have their own podcast and a wonderful array of Godly inspiration books. They're going to talk to us today about how God is the one who gives us everything, including all our gifts and talents and all these things we think we did ourselves. God is the one who can turn our faithfulness in the little things into big things. He's the one who makes us enough. God's the one we're serving when we try to make a difference in this world. These ladies are here to remind us to involve God as we head out into the world and try to make it a better place. So Sandy and I want to welcome Tisha James and Andra Pape.
Tecia Janes [00:02:12]:
Good morning. Thank you for having us. What a pleasure and a privilege to be able to be here with you today.
Sandy Kovach [00:02:19]:
Ladies, thank you so much. Thank you for all that you're doing. I mean, you have so many resources for choosing Him Ministries, and obviously you have put your heart and soul into serving women and helping them to extract their gifts and talents and what God's will is for them. But I guess my question is, and what I hear from a lot of other people is how do you know when you're on the right path?
Tecia Janes [00:02:41]:
That's a good question. It is because ours has evolved. That's one thing I probably would say is just do it. Whatever God places on your heart, just do it. He will refine it, he will change it. We haven't gotten everything right from the start. And I think as women, we're fearful of doing something because we want it to be perfect. We want it to be right. So when people look at it, they're like, oh, they knew what they were doing. And I think that's probably my greatest advice. If God's placed something on your health, just do it. Because actually the greatest blessing is in the act and the journey, act of obedience and the journey that you take with Him. And sometimes truthfully. We need some humbling to think, I got this. And God's like, no, actually I got this. I just need a vessel. We don't get it right all the time.
Andra Pape [00:03:28]:
But I do feel that when you're headed in the right direction of a way that God's leading you, there's a piece that comes with that where you know that this has to be God's will in your life. Because this podcast is a great example. There's nothing about me that wants to get on and talk to people. It's very like I am very introverted, but God has given me a piece about talking and it's fun and we enjoy it and I think that he blesses that. So I do feel like there is that moment of realizing, okay, this is stepping outside my comfort zone for God, but he is blessing me with assurance and bravery and peace.
Sandy Kovach [00:04:09]:
Couple of questions with that. One, you have a piece about you, but also sometimes when you're doing things like you said, you're stepping outside your comfort zone and you're going to run into obstacles. How do you know when that's like a roadblock that God's putting up or it's something you're supposed to go around. The balance between the peace and the going through the obstacles.
Lanee Blaise [00:04:28]:
Right.
Sandy Kovach [00:04:28]:
Or the easy path. I guess peace and easy path doesn't necessarily mean the same thing.
Tecia Janes [00:04:32]:
Maybe that no, that is a really good question because my personality is to when I hit conflict to run the other direction for me. And my journey with God has been learning perseverance, learning to be humble in the fact that when things don't work out, that that is okay, that there's just some process that God needs to work out with me and being willing to let things go when they're supposed to. Now, that is a great question of how do you know when to let something go and how do you know when to push through it. And truthfully, I think that's just prayer. I think the Holy Spirit will really reveal to you when it's time to know when to hold them. No. When to fold them.
Lanee Blaise [00:05:11]:
Know when to walk away.
Tecia Janes [00:05:12]:
Know.
Lanee Blaise [00:05:13]:
When to walk away.
Tecia Janes [00:05:14]:
That's right.
Sandy Kovach [00:05:15]:
When to count your money.
Andra Pape [00:05:18]:
All dollar of it.
Tecia Janes [00:05:20]:
One for you, one for me. I think probably the greatest advice and the greatest thing I have learned is that if you don't bring the Holy Spirit into what you are doing, if you're not seeking God's will, then you're going to struggle because you might be inviting other things into the scenario that God didn't intend to be there. He tells us, My yoke is lighter. Let me take on your struggles and you take on mine. Oftentimes we make it harder than it's supposed to be. One of the greatest phrases that I have learned that if we can learn to stare at God and glance at our lives, it puts everything into a totally different perspective, because oftentimes we are staring at our lives and asking God to bless it. We're glancing at God like a toddler who's walking, and they're looking at wet, and they're kind of glancing at mom going, am I doing this right? But we need to flip that. When you look just like Jesus and Peter in the water, just long as Peter had his eyes on Jesus, he stayed on top of the water. But when he glanced back, he went down, right? We do that in our lives. We want to watch every step that we take and make sure, am I controlling this? Am I doing this right? And then we glance to God and say, will you bless this? And he's saying, Just stare at me. I got you. I got you, my girl. I got you, my child. I'll bless what you're doing while you're looking at me and you're doing my will. And that has just been the most transforming thing for me, is don't be so focused on my to do and asking God to bless it.
Lanee Blaise [00:06:45]:
That is beautiful. I've definitely thought about fixing my eyes on Jesus and focusing on God, but I'd never thought about that part. Stop staring at my situations, my self. Sometimes we get very self absorbed, which is the other part too, because then that invites in all those feelings of incompetence, not feeling worthy, not feeling enough, because you're overthinking it and you're putting the focus in the wrong place. It needs to be on God. He's the one who has all the competence. He's the one that you'd have the confidence in.
Tecia Janes [00:07:21]:
Well, and as women, we really fight insecurity. That comparison is so real with women, I think more so than even men. And so we want to compare. And God's like, you have your own journey, girl. I gave you your own lane. Let's stay in it and let me work just with you, because I'm working with them in a whole different way.
Lanee Blaise [00:07:39]:
This makes me wonder, how did you two decide to get together and combine forces and start this journey with the podcast and the books and the ministry and the speaking engagements and special events and everything?
Andra Pape [00:07:52]:
Tisha is the one who actually started choosing Him Ministries. I just came along as a blogger. That's how I stepped into it. And so I feel like she is definitely the voice and the vision behind this entire ministry. And then I just luckily got to use some of the gifts that God gave me and then some that God did not give me, like, public speaking where I'm sitting and talking to people. So, yeah, how did we get to this?
Tecia Janes [00:08:22]:
It was a very funny conversation and andra one of my gifts and one of my loves is developing people, is empowering people in their gifts and the things that God has given them and being their cheerleader. I take such great joy in cheering on other women. And I think Andra forgot that one time. So she called and she said, hey, I think we should do a podcast. And I was like, oh, that's fabulous.
Andra Pape [00:08:47]:
That is not what I said. I said, you should do a podcast. There was never a we in there. There was no we. It was Tisha. I think you should do a podcast.
Tecia Janes [00:08:57]:
I think that's a great idea. Why don't you run with it? So, literally, Andrew brings the comic relief. She is so funny and so real and just so relatable. And I was like, let's do it. But you take it and run with it. It was something God put on your heart. I will support you in any way I can. And somehow I ended up sitting next to you every week, which is just a blessing because we get to hear people's stories and we both are very passionate about being vulnerable, being transparent with each other in our struggles and our journeys. And we wanted to be able to pass that on to other women and say, your story matters. Tell us your story. We close every podcast out with whatever your journey is, whatever your story is, own it, share it and let God use it, because that's what brings the purpose to what you've gone through. And we've lived that with each other and with our community. And we want to hear other people's stories. They're so important and it helps combat the lie that Satan wants us to believe that you're alone and you're the only one who's gone through what you're going through. And we bite into that all the time.
Sandy Kovach [00:10:03]:
Absolutely. I believe that hearing other people's testimonies is probably one of the most powerful things. I mean, obviously, reading scripture is first, but hearing people's stories and having them communicate them in real and authentic ways can be absolutely life changing. Some of my biggest AHA moments have come through hearing other people's stories. So that is one of your gifts. You are cheerleader, you provide humor, have a great podcast together because it's hard for people to open up, but apparently you are able to get them to do that. So let me get into this part of the podcast where we were talking about the little things or knowing what gifts you have. Those are two gifts that you wouldn't like on their own, say, oh, this is big, now go on Broadway and use it, or now you're going to get a Nobel Peace Prize. But you're impacting lives in so many ways. So how do we as women appreciate the little things that we can do and know what they are.
Tecia Janes [00:11:02]:
The little things in life often seem the most insignificant in our view, even down to being a mom with little ones at home. I remember a time when my husband was like, thank you for doing all that you do. Like, you make me be able to do what I do at work. And he meant that in the most sincere compliment. And I took such offense to that, and I thought, I'm here cleaning house and changing diapers and you're thanking me because you get to go do all this stuff. And it just didn't mesh with my brain. And I was like, okay. My life feels even more insignificant now. But what I realized lately is the little things are what makes the big things. If you look at Jesus life and how he went through with his disciples and he created relationships one on one, they weren't grand things all the time. Yes, the miracles were, but in the beginning it was one on one relationships. It was, I see you where you're at. I see you in the mess. And he would build that. One of the greatest things I think we can do in our life is when somebody's struggling with something and we say, oh, I'm going to pray for you. Be intentional and pray for that person. Lift them up. That is not insignificant. It's small in the sense that it's not a grand stage, but you've got the grandest audience you could ever have having God, right? So that's the thing I think we struggle with is because especially with social media, and I'm telling you, I hate social media. There's a few things that are good about it, and we have to use it in this world that we're in. There's some great ways to share stories like this, but the competition of who has the best vacation, who looks the best and the great filter is awful.
Lanee Blaise [00:12:44]:
Even who's the most Godly and who's got the best message for God and on fire. It does make it seem like the big things matter more than the small faith filled things. I'm with you.
Andra Pape [00:12:59]:
Nobody really believes in the ripple effect anymore. It just seems like the baby steps, the little things that build to bigger and bigger things. You go on social media and you don't see all the struggles that this person has had to get to where they are. You just say, oh, well, I just discovered her last week and she already has 100,000 followers and she's unboxing stuff from Amazon and praying these elaborate prayers. You don't know what her background was. And nine times out of ten, there's not a lot of influencers that I think it's trending a little differently, but there have not been a lot of influencers who want to be transparent and show behind the scenes just chaos of their lives trying to get that one good shot. But you have to realize it's the consistency of, like you said, praying. It's the consistency of doing those teeny, tiny, small things that ripple out and just have large effects on people. And it's hard to see that in this world.
Tecia Janes [00:14:01]:
And to tag on to that is that if we are not consistently allowing God's word to pour into us a daily habit of posturing ourself before our Heavenly Father and letting Him pour into us through the Holy Spirit, refining us and growing us, our influence is diminished. Our influence is grown out of the overflow of our relationship with Him. And this world is like, okay, take your picture and be an influencer. Well, your influence as a Christian should come from the overflow of your relationship with Christ. Advertising that because, like, when Moses we're studying Moses right now, when he went into the tent meeting, they were building the tabernacle. When he came out, he was glowing and he didn't have to say anything. He was given the Ten Commandments, but they visibly could see the glowing on his face because of the time that he had spent with God. That to me, is the greatest influence we can have on another person is for them to see the overflow of our relationship with Jesus.
Lanee Blaise [00:15:03]:
That's beautiful. To just pray even that others see the light shining from us and know that it's from God and know that it's all about God and really has nothing much to do with us individually. That's that part too, just separating us out of it, just glancing at us instead of staring at us. I'm picking up everything you're putting down, both of you.
Sandy Kovach [00:15:29]:
So your resources and we've kind of alluded to them, but maybe we can get a little bit more specific and find out how to get a hold of I mean, you have a devotional out, I think, some other books. You've got your podcast. What else?
Tecia Janes [00:15:43]:
Like yeah, we have my first Bible study that I wrote back in 2014 called Choices. That one was written out of a journey of my faith, Walk with God. We look at people in the Bible, they were faced with choices that God calls them to do and did they choose to do it or choose not to do it? And then what was the fallout because of their choice? So you're going to look at a lots of people in the Bible. We just partnered with G Six Allies network, and we were able to do videos for our Bible studies and they're publishing and producing them for us. And so that will actually is available so people can find those there and purchase those. Our team, this was our first time this year to write a devotional with all of our writers for choosing Him. Planting seeds is the devotional. And that was one of the greatest joys of watching our team write devotionals, write what God was doing in their life and to give them a platform to do it. So that has just been released this year. That's our newest one. Another one is called Unexpected, and that is the story of the woman at the well, it was written the year before COVID hit and to talk about Unexpected and the irony was not lost on us. So we have those three and then a study journal on Ephesians that can walk you through that. Those are our written resources. Wow.
Sandy Kovach [00:16:59]:
And so your website is what?
Tecia Janes [00:17:02]:
Sandy Kovach [00:17:05]:
Choosinghimministries.org, yeah. And on social.
Tecia Janes [00:17:08]:
We're at Facebook and Instagram, I think.
Sandy Kovach [00:17:10]:
YouTube.
Tecia Janes [00:17:11]:
You can see our podcasts and some of our events as well, but everything goes you can find it on our website.
Lanee Blaise [00:17:16]:
You know, I have to step in here because so I have all of your books, especially the latest one, the Planting Seeds Devotional. I have had the opportunity to do a speaking engagement alongside Tisha, which was wonderful. I've been on your podcast. I just love everything you do that's just like could you all be on our podcast to help inspire especially Easter is right around the corner. We just wanted to infuse more faith into the lives of our listeners, into our own lives, just into the world overall. Because a lot of people, like you said, they think that praying is something that you say, like a little pat answer to everything. And in some respects, people can have that right on the nose. There are people who say, oh, I'm going to pray for you, and they do nothing. They don't have any meaning behind it. But when we sit down and think about the fact that prayer to the God and creator of the universe can be one of the most special, intimate, powerful blessings that we can do and give, even today, there's a neighbor, they're having issues, the whole family is. And God put in my heart and said, do you think there is anyone in this whole world that's praying for anybody in that household? Would you like to be one of the people praying? Would you like to invite there's another neighbor across the street to have her pray for them also? Yes. Why is that important? Because it reminds us how connected we are to God. And it actually does push something beautiful, physically, energetically out into the world and it it touches them. And I don't want people to say thoughts and prayers and not mean it. I want them to get down on their knees, use it, do it. Just like you said you have whatever your journey, whatever your story, own it, share it, and let God use it. I love that quote that you all have at the end of each of your podcasts, because it's true.
Tecia Janes [00:19:23]:
It is true. Jesus tells us that whatever we do for the least of these, that we also do unto Him. And there are times where we are the least of these, whether it's emotional, whether it's physical, financial, whatever. There are times in this life where we are the least. There are also times, like you said, with your neighbor, he's calling us to do for the least of these.
Sandy Kovach [00:19:44]:
Now, you talk about the testimonies you've received from women and what their journeys look like. Is there one that stands out to you that has been the most transformative for either you or your listeners?
Andra Pape [00:20:00]:
For me personally, Sophia Holmes, who is light years younger than I am, just dropped amazing amounts of wisdom on a podcast we did about a month ago. She had such amazing wisdom that just really brought home the idea of kind of biblically staying in your lane, finding your purpose. Sophia said, you find out what your priorities are and anything else that gets in the way of that, you cast.
Tecia Janes [00:20:31]:
It to the side.
Andra Pape [00:20:32]:
And that is amazing, because when your priorities are biblical the way hers are, you're going to block out all the noise that's coming at you, and you're going to focus on what that is. And God can do amazing things.
Tecia Janes [00:20:47]:
Faith it. She was my favorite, and she's a mom of two little kids, so she's a stay at home mom right now with lots of things pulling at her. So that was a very powerful podcast. Another one that stands out with me is Brie Harper, who's actually partnered with us with Choosing Him, and just the wisdom that she reflected on her life. She was adopted at age of two and then later has come to find her family now as an adult in her 40s, just the journey that God revealed to her because she didn't set out going, this is my story. God revealed parts of her story that she had not known. As she began to share her story, she's got stories of sexual abuse in her background that she shared for the first time, and God just gave her the freedom to share it, and he has used that to heal her. And it all started with her stepping out in obedience and being willing to be vulnerable, transparent, and let God use her story. And he's done a number in her because of that.
Lanee Blaise [00:21:45]:
Wow. That's what I'm talking about. Something as, quote unquote little as sharing your personal story. And lots of people say, I don't have any important story. We all were made by God. We all have an important story. It's how willing we are to share it in a way that will bless others, too. And I love that also. That part about staying spiritually, staying in your lane, and listening for what God wants you to do as your priority.
Tecia Janes [00:22:14]:
I love both of those, and there's many more. I've been doing it for a little while now. Those are just probably some that stand out to us. But just being willing to share your story, it's hard to share it for the first time.
Sandy Kovach [00:22:25]:
Yeah, you don't need to make it an elevator pitch.
Tecia Janes [00:22:27]:
Right.
Sandy Kovach [00:22:28]:
I'm always somebody who talks for a living, so if I can't tell you in 45 seconds what I'm saying, I feel like I'm rambling on. Yes. How do you do that? How do you feel comfortable? Do you practice it? How to be vulnerable and polished at the same time? Or maybe I'm barking up the wrong tree and I don't need to be polished.
Tecia Janes [00:22:45]:
I think we feel like we need to be polished because the world tells us we need to do polish is the perfect word, because we need more followers, because we need people to hear it. And it gets out when it's communicated in our elevator pitch. I have a very, very hard time with the elevator pitch. As somebody who talks for a living writing a book, that's the one thing you have to say, what's your elevator pitch? And you're like, oh, I don't know.
Lanee Blaise [00:23:07]:
What I can say in 30 seconds.
Tecia Janes [00:23:09]:
Or to the third floor. You have to be able to get it out before the elevator gets to the third floor. But just getting people talking oftentimes in our events when we've got somebody who's coming to share their testimony, because we do open on the spot testimonies in our events. Yes. So we do prayer and praise and testimonies, and then I back it up with biblical teachings that parallel their testimony so you can see what's going on now. And then you get to hear the same story that happened back when Jesus lives on Earth because there is nothing new under the sun and it is already in that Bible. We just got to be able to see it. But usually they've never shared their story before. So I will start with them months before and have coffee, tell me your story, tell me your journey, and I will help them as they begin to talk about it. Find the thread of God's character through their story. There is a theme that God is working through all of us that he really wants to reveal to us. And so that's really how we do it. We sit down and talk about, oh, this is what I see God working in your life. It might be the theme of forgiveness. It might be the theme of surrender or perseverance. There's so many characters of God and the fruits of the Spirit that are in each of our lives, and sometimes it's hard to find them yourself. Sometimes you need somebody else to point them out for you.
Lanee Blaise [00:24:30]:
I remember because you all had me on your podcast to give my testimony and even to Sandy's answer the way that I worked my way through it. You know, there's a lot in the Bible about thinking like a little child and that's the best way to get into the kingdom of heaven. I went back to the thoughts and the messages and the love that I had for God and that God had for me from a little girl. I think about the purposes that I have, and they started when I was a little girl and something about that little kids usually are kind of like they'll say anything. They're willing to offer up whatever information. And if we could get more like that, it's a humble aspect and it might not be very polished, but it's more authentic, it's more true, even if people just journal it too. I wonder if that's something that people, even listening can just journal or just to make sure that they get it into their brains that they do have a story. They do have a purpose. They do have something to offer. All of us do. I want everyone who's listening to realize it's not just Tisha and andra, and Sandy or Linnae that have these things to offer. I want you to sit and think about ways that you are meant to blossom and deliver some blessings in this world that are uniquely yours. That's my challenge for everyone.
Andra Pape [00:25:56]:
It's a great challenge. And everyone in their life has an inciting incident. It could be inciting in a good way, or it could be trauma, or it could be an event. It could be something. When you ask someone, I bet you have a story. They may say no, but they're thinking about that one incident, and it is a matter of giving them the tools and confidence to get that out and share it to the world.
Tecia Janes [00:26:26]:
And like you all are doing, and all four of us, we're vulnerable. We're telling our struggles and we're sharing the things we've gone through. And like you said, Sandy being polished. Well, I mean, the only thing that's polished is probably our grandmother's silver upstairs, not here. I don't want people to think that they have to be polished for their story to be okay to share. I want them to see us fumble. I want them to see that my story is not eloquent, but it's my story. And I want you to see God through it. And I want you to be able to share your story without you feeling like it has to be whatever this world calls us, perfect. Because there are no perfect stories. There's a perfect God.
Lanee Blaise [00:27:02]:
And I want them to also think about there's somebody who is listening in wherever you happen to be sharing your story, that it's going to benefit them wildly. It's going to touch right into what they were struggling with and help them. They may never tell you. You may never know, not on this side of heaven, but it absolutely ends up being something that carried them through in ways that nobody else, even in their personal life was able to. You may never even know that person. Consider that too. That's why it's important.
Sandy Kovach [00:27:36]:
Yeah, you never know what you say is going to plant a seed. You never know what you. Say is going to make somebody feel like they're not alone. That is so important. When you go through something and you feel like this is so unique and weird, what you're doing is powerful. And I'm glad you said that because I've always felt like I've never been able to put a testimony together. If somebody were to ask me my testimony, I'd be like, rambling, well, there was this and then there was that, and then there was this. But what I'm going to do is I'm going to take both Lane's advice and you guys'advice, I'm going to start writing stuff down and look for the thread and answering, when did God answer my prayer about this and what was God trying to teach me in this situation? Sometimes it's going to be too long ago to remember, but I think the most important things, and especially if you pray for God to bring them to mind, that can happen for sure.
Tecia Janes [00:28:26]:
We lost my grandmother probably almost ten years now, just right before she passed away. I had learned that she had lost her mom about the same time that I had lost my dad age wise and in our teens. And she was an integral part of our healing process. She moved in and helped take care of our family and get us through all that. But I remember the wisdom that she was speaking to me. But it wasn't until she told me in her seventy s that she had lost her mom about that same time, because I never knew that before that all of a sudden the meaning went from here. Her words went from my head like a cinder block down to my heart. It gave legitimacy to everything she had said because she had experienced what she had told me. And I mean, you're talking 30 years later that the words that she had said back then all of a sudden had complete credibility. And not that we don't have credibility to experience everything because God's word is consistent throughout when we're sharing that. But there is something very special about your story that somebody needs to hear. And because you have been through that, you give 100% more credibility than somebody who is telling you what you should do, who's never experienced it before.
Sandy Kovach [00:29:37]:
That's cool. Lanee's testimony is actually available on your podcast, which what we'll do is when we put out our podcast@imagineourselfpodcast.com, we will link up to the one that Lanee is on as well on your podcast because it's all tying together here.
Lanee Blaise [00:29:53]:
So overall we like to ask if there is one thing, and I'm going to ask each of you separately, one thing that you want to make sure that any person listening takes away today that they can use and store up to give them hope and more faith and more encouragement. What would you like to leave them with?
Andra Pape [00:30:17]:
The biggest thing I would want people to know is that God is in every detail of your life. Even when you're walking a valley and you don't think he's there, he is. And if you throw yourself, I mean throw yourself into prayer, he will come alongside you and just ask God, please just let me feel you, let me see you. You will start to see where he is helping you. So many people are in battles right now and you don't have to battle it alone.
Tecia Janes [00:30:45]:
That's my biggest thing.
Lanee Blaise [00:30:47]:
That's beautiful and perfect and true.
Tecia Janes [00:30:51]:
Very much so. I think one of my hearts with choosing Him is for people to realize that you do have a choice. But we're not victims. We may not be able to choose what happens to us, but we can choose what our response is. And our response is that we get to choose Christ or not. And through that everything is filtered. The way we see things, the way that we influence people, the way that we even rise above and through our own circumstances is that you do have a choice. And that's the whole heart of choosing Him is that every day when we wake up, you get to make that choice. We choose Him once for our eternity, but every day we get to choose whether we're going to let his words, his heart flow from us and through us or that we're going to try to do it our own way. And I'm telling you, the days I wake up and be like, I got this. God is going to be one hot mess of a day. Hot mess. But that is when you realize that you have a choice to follow the words of Christ to the heart of Christ and try to become that so he can flow through us. There's an empowerment there of not control because not what we want, but there's a hope and a joy that comes from today, has a purpose and I get to choose to walk in that I love.
Lanee Blaise [00:32:07]:
That's almost a drop the mic. I don't really have anything to add to those two messages. Everyone listening. If you ever find your faith floundering, you find yourself sinking. Of course, there's always to reach out for help in a professional way, but we just want to make sure that hopefully before you get to that really, really hard spot that you take today and you already start reaching out to God, ask for help, just like Andra said. I mean, just fully fall right in the direction of God and let him be the one who lifts you up. Try to surround yourself with people who will be less judgmental, who will be more encouraging and be led to the right people to help you for those things. Also. Sandy, you got anything else to drop on us too before we head out of here?
Sandy Kovach [00:33:00]:
No. I'm so wonderful to hear your words and your inspiration and I guess the one scripture that keeps coming to me is seek first the kingdom of God and then everything else it doesn't say falls into place. But I'm paraphrasing, how does it really go?
Tecia Janes [00:33:21]:
That's a Sandy translation right there. Yeah, that's good.
Lanee Blaise [00:33:24]:
Actually, just holding on to the first part is the most important part, the seek first the kingdom of God aspect. And then all these other things will be added unto you. Yeah. And also seek his righteousness too. We met in there also, but yeah. And again, remember, it's not about getting it perfect. It's not about it being polished. I know when my son was little, he used to pray, dear God and Jesus, you guys are some great guys. I love you so much because you guys always help me. I was just like trying so hard not to laugh. But I just truly believe that God adored that even more than my dear Heavenly Father, we are gathered here today, let that stuff go and get into it and just seek him and love him and be you and be for Him and let Him be for you. Sandy and I thank you both.
Tecia Janes [00:34:19]:
Well, thank you for the honor of being able to share a little bit of our story and hopefully to encourage other person because we leave every day that we do the podcast encouraged by somebody else's story. And absolutely, if ours can do the same for somebody else, then that's great joy.
Lanee Blaise [00:34:35]:
Well, we just want to thank you. We want to say to everyone out here, imagine yourself small. This is a weird one, right? Imagine yourself small and imperfect and stumbling along in this world and then being scooped up by the creator of the universe, lifted up, set on a pathway, a surefooted, beautiful, powerful, impactful loving pathway that God has prepared for you in a way that only you can do. We just ask you to imagine that. Imagine yourself loved, imagine yourself strengthened and encouraged. And please continue to look into all that we have here at Imagine Yourself podcast and at Choosing Him Ministries. Thank you.
Sandy Kovach [00:35:22]:
And the link for Imagine Yourself podcast is in the show notes and it's easy to remember too. It's imagineourselfpodcast.com all our socials are there. We would love to connect with you. We'd really appreciate it too, if you could scroll down and give us a rating or review. It helps us shape the podcast and also helps others find us. In addition, you know, we will put all the links to Choosing Him Ministries and you can find out more about Tshirt and andra as until next time when we have something new to imagine. Here's to your faith and your story.
