5 Important Things I Want to Tell You

An honest convo about what's on Teresa's heart these days:
• Finding our identity
• Lament (yet again)
• The significance of our small lives
• The power (and pain) of pruning
• Why I'm taking a “summer sabbath”
• Bonus journaling hack

Sign up here to join Teresa's prayer team or be a beta reader for her next Bible Study! 

Chapters

• 0:00 Walk with Me: Five Things to Share
• 6:31 Lament: Permission to Feel Grief
• 7:29 Identity: More Than Our Accomplishments
• 8:34 The Beauty of Being Small
• 12:10 Rest: Jesus's Invitation to the Weary
• 16:28 Summer Sabbath: Making Space for Growth
• 26:24 Closing Thoughts and Prayer

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

So typically on the podcast we go from series to series, but there are times when I just want to sit down and have a conversation with you. Actually, better yet, I would love for you and I to take a long walk on the beach and talk about all the things, but all those things don't always fit into a podcast series and so once in a while I like to do these episodes called Stuff I Want to Tell you, and today I have five things I want to tell you. Hi, friend, you're listening to Find Hope here. I'm your host, teresa Whiting. Author, speaker, ministry leader, friend and fellow struggler. This is a podcast about the messy, complicated, painful parts of life, but also the beautiful, joy-filled hope that Jesus promises. Each week we dig deep into God's Word together and talk about how His truth impacts our everyday lives. I'm not going to ask you to sit with me and have coffee, because I seem to have my best conversations while I'm just doing life. So I'd love to hang out with you as you walk or fold laundry or drive to work. You're invited to join me in pursuing the hope God promises, no matter where you are or where you've been. I pray you always find hope here. Let's jump in to today's episode.

Speaker 1: 1:31

One of the ways I typically figure out what I want to talk about on the podcast is I go through my journals and I look at the things that I've been wrestling with and struggling with and I think, well, if I'm struggling with these things, maybe you are too. But before I jump into the things that I wanted to talk to you about, I wanted to give you a journaling hack, and this is something I figured out a few years ago. When I get a new journal, I leave the first two pages blank and then, as I fill out my journal throughout the year, I use that to create a table of contents. So when I write something, I'll put the date and what I wrote about and then, when I get to the end of the year, I can look back and I can find all the things that I have written about. I don't know if you've already done that, but to me it was like, oh, what a great idea. So I thought I'd share that with you. So, having said journal table of contents, I see themes that come up over and over again throughout the year. I'll look through my journals and I'll be like, wow, I keep writing about lament, or I keep seeing this theme pop up in my life, and so some of the things that I would talk to you about if we were on a good beach walk is some of the thoughts that keep coming back over and over in my mind, and one of those things is the theme of identity, like that question of what defines me, what defines you, what are the things that we seek out to feel like we're doing the right thing or gaining the approval that we're seeking, or being the person that God wants us to be. Well, I'm going to share with you a short journal entry that I wrote back in November, but, trust me, this theme has come up over and over.

Speaker 1: 3:21

I am not the sum of my accomplishments. I am not the sum of my accomplishments. I am not my subtitles. I am not defined by how many boxes I check or how many tasks I complete. My value does not lie in stats, downloads, audience size or speaking engagements. My worth doesn't rise and fall based on the number, on the scale the size of my jeans, the clarity of my skin, the length of my hair, the beauty I do or don't possess. My life is not measured by this world's metrics. If it were, I'd always be found lacking. More they cry Bigger, better, faster, thinner, prettier. You need to have this and do this, and buy this, and accomplish this and be this, and then you'll be enough. But it's never enough. The bar is always moving, the standard is always changing, and we are so weary of striving.

Speaker 1: 4:22

What defines me, then?

Speaker 1: 4:24

This truth? I have been called friend by God Most High. I've been invited into relationship with the creator of the universe and by the shed blood of his son, jesus Christ. I am now a co-heir in God's kingdom. I am God's daughter, christ's friend and the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. I am chosen, purchased, redeemed and held fast by God's righteous right hand. I'm hidden under the shadow of his wings, held close to his heart, protected by his faithful, perfect love. I'm in the palm of his hand and I can't be snatched out of it. God is for me and I am inseparable from his love. Nothing this world throws at me, demands of me or forces upon me can separate me from this love. What was broken is being restored. What pushed me down cannot hold me there. I have weapons this world can't see, and I live by faith and not by sight. God rides across the heavens to my help, chases me down with steadfast love and faithfulness, restores my soul, strengthens my weak hands and collects my tears in his bottle. His love is more powerful than my fear. His strength is perfected in my weakness. His light shines in my darkness. His righteousness covers my sin. His forgiveness purchases my freedom. As a branch tightly connected to the vine. His life pulses through me. His righteousness is mine. His easy yoke and light burden free me from the oppressive demands of the world. This is who I am and it's whose I am. I am his and he is mine, and that is enough. I don't know if you ever struggle with where your identity comes from, but if you do, I hope that those reminders from scripture are something you can tether your heart to.

Speaker 1: 6:31

The second thing that keeps coming up in my journals and I have actually podcasted on this in the past but is this idea of lament. You know, when you get a new car and all of a sudden it looks like everybody on the road is driving your car. Well, that's how it's been for me in Lament Ever since God has brought this new language to my attention. I just see it cropping up everywhere, over and over, and I see it in Scripture, as I've been reading through Scripture this year. I'm actually in the Psalms right now, as I've been reading through scripture this year. I'm actually in the Psalms right now and I'm just getting to see the freedom that God gives us to express our pain and our grief to him. And the other thing I'm noticing is it seems like everyone I know has something to lament about, whether it's in their personal life or something about the state of our country or something in their extended family. There's just so much grief going around, and so if you're in a season of lament, I want you to know you are not alone. God sees you, he hears you. I want to encourage you to continue to allow yourself to feel those hard feelings and let them out. Give yourself permission to grieve, to cry, to scream, to pound the floor, whatever it is that you need to do Now.

Speaker 1: 7:52

I don't want to keep talking about this because, as I mentioned, I've done a couple podcast episodes already, which I will link in the show notes. I'll be speaking about lament at the Life Conference this June and, as a follow-up to that, my friend Brenda and I are going to be hosting a lament workshop. It was supposed to be held a couple months ago but we had to postpone it. But I want you to know that it is coming June 28th from 10 am to noon. It will be a virtual workshop, but I'll have links to all this stuff in the show notes.

Speaker 1: 8:26

Okay, the third thing that I want to share with you, and this is kind of connected to that idea of identity, but it's being small. This keeps coming up over and over again in my journal because the world is shouting at us constantly, especially now in our social media obsessed culture, that being small equals being insignificant. But when I look at Jesus, he was content with small gatherings and mountainside conversations. He found value in every faithful act, no matter how quote-unquote insignificant it seemed to other people. Often when he preached he turned people away rather than drawing crowds to himself. But I think most of us want, we crave being big over small. We want more over less. We want to be epic, not ordinary. But let the record show that the word of God always flips this script on its head.

Speaker 1: 9:31

I noticed, as I've been reading through scripture this year, this theme coming up over and over again, when God commissioned Moses and said I want you to lead the people out of Israel. Moses was like whoa, hey, not me. Who am I? I'm nobody. When God called Gideon to defeat the Midianites, he said, and I quote I'm the weakest in Manasseh. I'm the least in my family. When Saul was told by Samuel that he was going to be the king of Israel, he said why me? I'm the least of all the tribes and I'm the smallest in Israel.

Speaker 1: 10:07

And in almost every case, the Lord came back to those guys with reassurance. He didn't give them a pep talk, he didn't tell them how awesome they are, he didn't even give them a list of positive affirmations that they could recite every morning. He told them all the same thing I will be with you. The secret to their success was not who they were, it was the fact that God would be with them. It's all about presence, and Jesus continues this theme in the New Testament. He said to his disciples I am the vine, you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit, for apart from me, you can do nothing. And he also said whoever is least among you is the greatest.

Speaker 1: 10:57

I think about the apostle Paul, who called himself the least of all the apostles, and he says I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may rest on me. That is why, for the sake of Christ, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions and in difficulties, for when I am weak, then I am strong. So when we feel small, when we feel insignificant, when we feel like we're not making a big enough impact, I want us to remember the beauty that God calls the small. He uses the insignificant. He doesn't need our numbers, our statistics or our platforms. He longs to be with us, working through us, in all of our smallness, to show his might and his glory.

Speaker 1: 11:56

Okay, fourth thing is Sabbath, and this is a theme that keeps coming up for several years now, and this idea of rest, of putting things down, of putting aside all the striving and the hustle. The other day I was reading scripture and I came back to Matthew 11, 28 to 30, which is one of my favorite passages. It says Come to me all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. If you can identify with some of the things that I've been talking about already, this invitation from Jesus is probably like a breath of fresh air. It's like a drink of cool water, because he is saying the same thing to you. He's saying come to me, let me rest you to me, let me rest you. Let's just put down the striving and the hustle and the feeling like we need to do it all and just be with me, just abide in me.

Speaker 1: 13:10

And you know how I love word studies, so I dug in a little bit to that word weary in Matthew 11, 28, and it is used to describe so interesting the labor involved in ministry and the Christian life, emphasizing dedication and effort required to spread the gospel and live according to God's word. So we, you and I, we are seeking to serve God. I mean you're listening to this podcast because you're a person whose heart longs to walk with God. You want to serve God. I mean you're listening to this podcast because you're a person whose heart longs to walk with God. You want to serve him and you are with your family, with your job, with your ministry. I don't know in what capacity exactly, but God is saying you know what that can be tiring, that can be exhausting. And when your ministry makes you weary, come to me.

Speaker 1: 14:03

It makes me think of a season several years ago when Greg and I were going through some stuff at a church that we were at and we had just come back from vacation and I remember I was literally unpacking my clothes. I should have been really refreshed, I should have been feeling great. And Greg was telling me about some drama and I said, oh, I am just so weary. And you know, in that moment God wasn't like hey, buck up, you just came back from vacation, you should be fine, stop complaining. I literally felt like Jesus whispered to me right in that moment Teresa, come to me, you who are weary and burdened, and just let me rest you. And it's so beautiful that God extends that invitation to us. He doesn't put a whip to our back and say keep going, keep producing, keep striving. He says rest, step off the crazy train, give yourself a minute and just hang out with me.

Speaker 1: 15:11

Oh, my goodness, I have to tell you about a new song. I know this seems kind of random, but it just came into my head. There is a song that I just discovered by Jess Rae, called Lilies and Sparrows. I'll link it in the show notes because I have been playing this song on repeat. It's so beautiful and soothing and calming. But a line from her song says look at the birds they do not sow or reap. Look at the flowers they never toil or spin. That's a quote right out of Matthew, chapter six, and it's like God wants to remind us over and over. What really matters is not all your wheel spinning, all your toiling, all your striving. It's being with me.

Speaker 1: 15:55

Okay, the fourth thing, and I can't believe, it's already May. We're like five months into the year and I think I just realized that I never told you my word of the year, which is less, and that seems like kind of a weird word to choose. But when I said less, this is kind of the things that I had in mind. I want this year to be a year of less clutter, more open space, less busy, more freedom, less fear, more trust, less stuff, more simplicity, less digital noise, more white space, less distraction, more focus. And when it comes to having less or doing less or being less, there's a word that scripture uses and the word is pruning.

Speaker 1: 16:48

Now, that's a gardening term and, as you may or may not know, I am not a gardener. I'm having a hard time even growing this sweet little basil plant that my friend gave me. I asked her the other day I'm like, do you have big leaves or little leaves? And she's like big ones. I'm like well, why are my leaves so small and scrawny? Okay, I digress, let's get back to pruning. Pruning is when a gardener will cut back their plant. By the way, I do prune my basil, so I'm not sure what's happening with it, but they cut back to make room for more.

Speaker 1: 17:26

Well, as I entered 2025, I felt like my life was an overgrown tree. It just felt like there was energy shooting out in every different direction and it felt very chaotic. And I want to tell you about a visual that I had In our last house. We had this big water oak in our front yard Huge, tons of branches, tons of stuff going on. Our neighbors had two water oaks in their front yard and one day this crew came and they trimmed their water oaks, so they cut all these branches off and when it was all done, you could stand back and you could look at my tree in my yard and be like, wow, that tree has a lot going on. And then you would look across the street at my neighbor's pruned trees and you'd be like, oh, now that's what a healthy tree looks like. It was so calm and beautiful and peaceful. Meanwhile my tree that had all this leaves and branches everywhere was less healthy, less attractive, less fruitful. It was completely overgrown. And we know that pruning is what makes a tree healthy.

Speaker 1: 18:46

But here's the thing Pruning is just a nice word for cutting and cutting hurts. We don't like to cut things, we don't like to be hurt, and it costs. Okay, if you're talking about a tree, it costs money to hire an arborist. But if we're talking about our lives, it means cutting back, cutting out, saying no disappointing people maybe and that hurts, we don't want to. So sometimes we let our trees and our lives grow wildly out of control. Maybe we think we're just being productive or responsible for everything and everyone, or maybe we don't have the guts to cut things, or maybe we're just too lazy or pain avoidant and yikes.

Speaker 1: 19:35

Now I feel like I'm stepping on my own toes. I don't know if any of this resonates with you, but this year I have had to look long and hard at the things I'm involved in and say what stays and what goes. And honestly I have been praying about this all year, lord, what stays, what goes? What do I say yes to? What's my best yes and what are my sure no's. And here's the other thing about pruning is it's scary. We don't want to let things go, we don't want to cut things out, because what if they don't come back?

Speaker 1: 20:11

But I was reminded way back when we lived in Ohio, we had this hydrangea bush in front of our house and one year I don't know why you guys don't ask me, I'm not a gardener I cut that thing down to the nubs. It was like fall maybe, and I just was tired of it. It was leaving all these flowers all over the place and it was dried out and I was like I'm done. I'm done with this thing. I cut it down so small, like it was about probably my height, and I just cut it down to my ankles. I was like I'm done with this thing. The next year that hydrangea reached our second story window. It was crazy. I was like what is happening right now? It was cutting it and paring it down that made room for that tree to explode. So there's a lesson for me when I'm, and for you when we're scared of like, oh, but if I cut things out, everything's going to disappear, but maybe when we cut things out, we're actually making room for growth.

Speaker 1: 21:23

Okay, that leads to the fifth thing that I want to tell you Now. As you know, I am multi-passionate, right? I love doing this podcast, I love speaking and writing Bible studies and studying scripture and leading women's ministry and I have just been trained on being a trauma-informed life coach and all the things. I hope you're getting a picture of an overgrown tree in your head right now, because that's kind of what I feel like my life has looked like. So, to stick with this pruning metaphor, that's what I feel like. So this is what God has really been impressing on my heart and guys, it's scary, but I am thinking about taking a summer Sabbath from the podcast.

Speaker 1: 22:11

I am not in any way ending the podcast. I am not saying no to the podcast, but I am saying yes to pulling back and pruning for the summer only, and I don't even know what that means exactly yet. So it may mean like no new episodes coming out. It may mean really simple episodes coming out. It may mean one coming out just only once a month. I'm not sure We'll see. I'm not one of those people who has, like my next six months planned out oh my goodness, I'm jealous of those people. Has, like, my next six months planned out oh my goodness, I'm jealous of those people. Again, I digress, but I have tried to think of different ways. I can take a summer Sabbath without pruning and I just can't.

Speaker 1: 22:55

But I have to make room for the thing that God is really been getting me super excited about, and that is I am starting and working through my next Bible study. I have my outline complete, I have a couple chapters rough drafted, but I am shooting energy in too many different directions, and when you are writing a study, you need to focus. You need that energy, you need the time, you need a lot of white space and the ability to do deep work, and I love doing this podcast so much, but it takes up a lot of brain space, and so, in order to serve you better, I have to step away for a short time so that I can devote that time and energy into the next Bible study. And also, my plan is to come back in the fall and similar to what I did with Grace. So I don't know if you realize this, but this podcast started because I wrote a Bible study called Grace how God Redeems and Restores the Broken, and, like the first 20 episodes, was an introduction to that study. I shared the woman's story and a Psalm and then I interviewed somebody who whose story resonated with that woman in the study. Well, this Bible study is going to have six more women in scripture and it's going to be a different theme than graced was, um, but I am planning to do the same thing. So there will be, in the fall, a whole new podcast series based on the new Bible study that's coming out. So I will be sharing six more stories of women in scripture, six different Psalms and six new women that I'm going to interview that their stories would resonate with the women in scripture.

Speaker 1: 24:48

In order to make space to prepare all of that, to write the study, to have the interviews, to record the podcast, I have to kind of take a little break from what I've been doing, which is week by week, you know, cranking out content. So what does this mean for you? It means this summer content. So what does this mean for you? It means this summer I will not be sending a weekly podcast update. It may mean that things get pretty quiet around here on Find Hope here, but good news is I have over 115 episodes so you can go back and listen to the ones that you've missed or go back and listen to your favorites. I will continue to write my monthly email. So if you are not on my email list, if you want to get on that ASAP, there is a link to join my email list in the show notes, along with everything else that I keep saying.

Speaker 1: 25:39

I'm so excited about this next study. I feel like God is bringing together the women whose stories are going to resonate with yours and mine. I want to tell you who they are, but I don't know if I should let you in on that yet. But if you want to be in the loop, I am looking for prayer partners and I'm looking for beta readers. If you would like to be on my prayer team and if you would like to be a beta reader, I will put a link in the show notes for you to sign up for these things. And then, finally, I just want to say thank you. I feel like we should have once a year like a celebrating you.

Speaker 1: 26:21

Episode where I just spend the whole time thanking you for showing up for listening.

Speaker 1: 26:26

Episode where I just spend the whole time thanking you for showing up, for listening, for sharing Find Hope here with your friends, for rating and reviewing the podcast, which wink, wink.

Speaker 1: 26:35

If you haven't done that yet, please I'm begging you, get on Apple Podcasts. Leave a five-star rating and a review, because that is what helps Apple to tell people about Find Hope here. Well, I hope you enjoyed that walk on the beach as much as I did. I love just getting to talk with you and share with you the things that God has been laying on my heart recently, and I appreciate you listening to them, as always. Thanks for hanging out with me today on Find Hope here. To find everything that I mentioned on the episode, go to TeresaWhitingcom slash listen, which is where you can find all the show notes. Also, I will have links to everything that I mentioned in the condensed show notes underneath this episode. In closing, I want to leave you with this prayer from Romans 15 13. May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that, by the power of the Holy Spirit, you may abound in hope.