The Waiting Season | Girls Gone Bible
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The strength, the confidence, the calmness to speak on you and help people today and comfort people today and bring people peace and show them the way to you. In Jesus' name. Amen. That was a really good one. That's the best I've ever heard you pray. And who taught me that? Why are you being so cute? What?

That is the funniest thing. How could you do that before an episode? Should we tell GGB fam? Should we tell them that we took a... You guys, what is it? Angela comes in the room as we're getting ready for this podcast and she goes, hey, I have something to make our brain more alert and smarter. Do you want one? So of course, my little dummy self goes, yeah! I want to be smarter!

It's because we were saying how we had a little bit of brain fog. And so this, I got it from Sprouts. I got it from the grocery store. It's called Brain Awake. You're supposed to take three. We took one. Ari was... Five minutes later, I'm profusely sweating. She's sitting on the toilet. She's sitting on the toilet. I'm shaking. Okay, don't tell people I'm sitting on the toilet. Okay, sorry.

I'm like, I'm shaking being like, is this normal? And then when I saw her freaking out, I started freaking out. So then Ari pretends that she's okay. She's like, no, no, no, no, no, we're fine. She really has panic attacks. If you tell her, oh, I'm not okay, she'll really get in her head. So I'm trying to, it's like the placebo effect. I just learned that today from you.

No, but so I'm looking at the ingredients and one pill is like drinking like five green teas. Yeah, I didn't want to tell you that. It's okay. Well, this is not the time. Okay, okay. One pill is like drinking three green teas. Five. But anyways, we're good. We're good.

You know what, there's a scripture that says in the Bible that... Are you going to pull that joke again? No, no, no, no, no. Okay, okay. No, I was really going to tell you something. So scripture says that you must be able, you must be willing to lay down your life for your friends. And I just want you to know that I would literally lay down my life for you today. I would die for you. I would die for you, mom. No.

Her mom and her, when they answer the phone, they go, hi, Nana. She's beard. Hi, Nana. And so now we call each other Nana. And I just on our way driving, I was sitting thinking, one day we're going to look back at this point of our life and be like, this is the best time of our lives. Getting to do this together. Not only that, but like having sleepovers every night, like we're 20 years old. Yeah. Or maybe a little bit.

little younger. I don't know if 20 year olds have sleepovers. Can you tell them what you said? What have we been up to? We have been so busy. We're getting ready for this baptism. We're so excited to meet you guys. We're so excited to see your lives get transformed. As of right now, as of today, we had 152 people signed up to get baptized. How insane is that?

I have no words. All we ever wanted since we started this was to do a baptism. That was our only vision. And, you know, people would come to us and be like, you should do an event like this. You should do this. You should charge tickets. Like, do this. Do all this. You can make so much money. And we're like, nah.

We want to watch people get baptized. And then God really brought in every resource that we could need. Mosaic in Hollywood, Mosaic the Church, they are hosting it for us. Their staff, their building. What would we do if we didn't have them? I don't know. They are truly family to us. They are...

God's gift to us. So thank you, Mosaic, Erwin, Pastor Erwin, Erwin. Thank you, Aaron, Pastor Erwin. We love you guys so much. And we'll see you this Sunday because this is coming out Friday. Yes. All right. So what are we talking about today?

The waiting season. The waiting season. Oh, wait, by the way, hi, I'm Angela. Oh, wait, hi, I'm Ariel, aka you can call me Ari or R, you choose. Hey, can you guys write in the comments if you like R or R?

are Ari. My dad always calls me Ari. My mom does, but all my friends call me Ari. What do you, I call you both. I call you Ari. I call you Ari. I call you Areola. I call you Shmara. Sorry, you guys. Sorry for my, sorry for my friends. Um, yeah, but Hey, do me a favor. Don't say the same things that I say when I say it. Do you mind?

Kill one brain. Oh, hey, real quick. What? I know we always do this. Can you tell them what I said in bed the other night? This is so funny. What? When I said resurrection. Oh, yeah.

So we're, we're, cause we're talking about something. Oh, we're talking about how God can give you new memories and how he can like take away memories if you ask him to. So we were talking about specific things from our past and we were both saying like, we don't remember it. We asked God to take the memory away from us and he did. And Ari's like, yes, you see, I have no resurrection of it. And she goes, no,

No, I said resurrection. No, no, you said that second. First you said, I have no resurrection of it. And I was like, no, no, no, recollection. And you're like, no.

no, it's not. When Ari gets this attitude, she's like, no, it's not. And she's like, no, not resurrection, resurrection. I was like, nope, that's what Jesus did. But while we're on that topic, Angela was telling me that she does this and it's honestly game changing. Really, when you want to forget about someone, you want to move on, pray on that. Be like, I don't want any memory of them. Yeah. I truly don't have memory on certain people.

people no I really don't I don't remember what they look like I'm not even kidding there are certain people in my life that I don't remember what they I don't remember I don't remember what they look like

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Thank you Miracle Maid for sponsoring this video. So we're gonna start here. So basically we're gonna talk about the waiting season today and

There's so many things to do with the waiting season. How do you wait? Why do you wait? Why does God make you wait? Yeah, I'm excited for this story. So it's basically, I want to, we're going to go, there's going to be a lot of reading today and it might be,

We're not reading the whole thing, but we're reading little snippets all the way from chapter 15 of Genesis all the way to chapter 18 and a little bit of 21. But it's necessary in the story of Sarah and Abraham. We're going to be talking about the promise that God made to Sarah and Abraham to give them a son who will eventually be called Isaac. And

God promised to multiply Abraham's descendants so much that they couldn't be counted. They promised him a son that would inherit the land, and he promised them a blessing on all the land of the earth. So God promises all of this to Abraham and Sarah. At the time, their names are Abram and Sarai. But they had so much doubt because Abraham was old, he had no children, and Sarah was barren. And that's according to Genesis 11:30, she was barren.

So if we go to chapter 15 in Genesis and start at verse 1, it's the Lord's covenant with Abram.

After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision. Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward. But Abram said, Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless, and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus? And Abram said, You have given me no children, so a servant in my household will be my heir.

Then the word of the Lord came to him, This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and your own blood will be your heir. He took him outside and said, Look up at the skies and count the stars, if indeed you can count them. Then he said to him, So shall your offspring be. Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.

So basically this is God's covenant with Abram. This is the first, this is the first time we see him promise him a son. And it's just so funny to see how much Abram was doubting him from the very beginning. And then, although God gave them this promise and you would think that if God comes down himself and shows you and tells you this promise, you would believe him. They still had so much doubt.

So we're going to move on to Genesis chapter 16. Now Sarah, Abram's wife, had borne him no children, but she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar. So she said to Abram, the Lord has kept me from having children.

Go sleep with my slave. Perhaps I can build a family through her. Abram agreed to what Sarah said. So after Abram had been living in Canaan 10 years, Sarah, his wife, took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. He slept with Hagar and she conceived. Let's just pause really quickly because this is wild. So

Basically, God came, gave Abraham and Sarah a promise that they would conceive a child. They would have a child together, even at their old age. They doubted him. They did not believe God's promise. So they took matters into their own hands and made an absolute mess. So basically here, Sarah takes her maidservant, Hagar, and gives her maidservant to her husband to sleep with him, to have a child. And how do you think that's going to turn out?

Not good. Can you imagine? I'd kill somebody. And so I just, like, we'll talk about it, but I just think of how many times I have taken matters into my own hands instead of waiting on God, thinking I'm doing something right. Yeah. And then when...

When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. Then Sarai said to Abram, you are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me. Your slave is in your hands, Abram said. Do with her whatever you think best. Then Sarai mistreated Hagar, so she fled from her.

The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert. It was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. And he said, "'Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?' "'I am running away from my mistress, Sarai,' she answered. Then the angel of the Lord told her, "'Go back to your mistress and submit to her.' The angel added, "'I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.'

She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her, "'You are the God who sees me.' For she said, "'I have now seen the one who sees me.'"

So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had born. Abram was 86 years old when Hagar bore Ishmael. Wow.

I just, I love this so much because even though Sarai made probably the biggest mistake of her life doing this and she immediately regretted it and there was immediate hostility and a lack of peace because every time that you're walking outside of God's will, you will have a lack of peace. And I just, I love it because it's,

God, so all we're going to talk about today is waiting and then also God's promises because usually God's promises take some time. They don't come right away. And so God promises Hagar that he will establish a people through her child and

this child would not be the child of promise like Isaac eventually would be. He was the original child of promise. But God is still going to bless Ishmael. And it just, for me, it really proves Romans 8, 28 to be true that he truly and genuinely does work all things together for good and for his glory. Because...

He took this mistake, and it was a massive mistake, and he made a miracle out of this mistake. And that's what he does with us constantly. That's also Genesis 50-20 that he uses. He will turn every evil, and he will take every evil and turn it for good. And I just...

This is so encouraging to me personally because I know every time, this is what gets me through my life, is that whenever I make mistakes, I don't hold as much shame as I think other people do because I know that God will use even my biggest mistakes. Yeah, and I think we were talking about this today, how God knows our hearts, but the one thing that we have to do when we're making mistakes, we have to learn from it and not keep repeating it. So true.

But if you keep going out of the will of God and you keep making the same mistake and going down the wrong path and not learning, you know, God will skip a generation and you will go down a path, a very dark path that God did not have, did not intend for you to go down. Yeah. So it's important to know that.

I think about Abraham specifically and his whole story, and I really feel like it's kind of like an intensified version of the cross because the cross represents our faults and our sins and our mistakes and our broken covenants. And then Jesus went up on the cross and took the fault for us.

And we are so lucky because no punishment remains for the ones that are in Jesus. Only the promise remains. Yes, yes. I love that so much. I just, I love this story so much because it's really built around their faith. And in uncertain times, we...

That's what God's building inside of us is faith. Like it says, by faith, Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him. By faith, Sarah followed her husband into unknown places. So above all, God looks at faith, you know, and we can't control the results, but we can control our beliefs and our attitude. Yeah.

So we just have to be faithful while God works out all the details. I feel like one of the number one reasons why God even keeps us in a waiting season is to build that faith. Because if he answers our prayers as soon as we ask them, what would we need faith for? That's right. He's right there. It's instant gratification. We have no reason to build character, to build faith, to build a relationship, to build trust. Mm-hmm.

Yeah, we can move on to, so Genesis 17, the covenant of circumcision. When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, I am God Almighty. Walk before me faithfully and be blameless. Then I will make my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers.

So just to clarify, the name Abram means exalted father. The name Abraham means father of many. And in this situation, God is promising to multiply his descendants and give them the land of Canaan.

And then in Genesis 17, 15, God also said to Abraham,

And then we go to 21.

It says, So in this situation, in Genesis 17, 21, Abraham laughing at God seems really crazy. Like, well, how could you ever laugh in God's face? But at the same time, it's really human because...

My guy is sitting and waiting for 25 years, believing for a miracle from God. And so his laughing is completely understandable. I think if we were in his position, we would also probably laugh and be like, what are you talking about? I literally had a moment where I looked at Angela after we read this story and I was like, is God going to make me laugh?

going to make me reach 90 like Sarah? I don't think so. I don't think so. But, and then one, one other thing that I really want, and he's 99 years old at this point, but I really want to point one more thing out in verse 21. Where is it? Verse 21. He says, but my covenant, I will establish with Isaac whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year. So I want to make it a point that God not only had the name, he had the

time, he probably had the place. He knew exactly. There are so many times in this, just in the story where, where God says by this time, at this time, God has a time. He has a time. He has a place. He has a way. And it is his choice and his way is perfect. And his will is perfect. And I know that it's so hard to be in the waiting and we want to do things like Sarah and go around and make our own way and help God, which I do all the time. Not a good idea. Um,

So, let's go to Genesis 18: "The LORD appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre, while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day."

Then one of them said, I will surely return to you about this time next year. And Sarah, your wife will have a son. Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him. Abraham and Sarah were already old and Sarah was past the age of childbearing. So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, after I am worn out and my Lord is old, I

Then the Lord said to Abraham, Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, But he said, Yes, you did laugh.

I think this is so funny because, first of all, the best thing ever is anything too hard for the Lord. How dare we ever think that there's any—how dare we think that God exists in the way that we do? He literally exists outside of time and space. He can answer prayers today that haven't even been prayed yet because that's just the way in which He exists. And we will never be able to understand Him and His power and His divinity again.

there is nothing too hard for God ever. And I love this point too. It's so funny that Sarah and Abraham both laughed at God. And while yes, it's disrespectful and it's not okay, to me, it's

still so beautifully human. You know what I mean? I take from them laughing too, is I got to that point in my faith journey and my uncertainty where instead of trying to sit there and let the thoughts overbear, when is this going to happen? Why is this happening? When you just put your hands up, and especially when you start really realizing who God is and the nature of him, you are just like...

whatever you want. I have so many of those moments now where I just look up and I just laugh at them. I'm like, have it your way. All the time. I swear all the time. I'm always sitting there being like, it'll things will happen in our lives that are a little weird, a little crazy, a little, not what we want it to happen. And we will genuinely laugh and be like,

All right. OK, well, like, let's go. Whatever you want. I know. And I just I think I really want to get you guys to that point because it took me a long time. But I feel like I'm in this transition now, finally, where I can really look up at God and really laugh. And it's a beautiful experience.

feeling and it's freedom, freedom to not worry and to, and just to, to truly understand that it's on his time, not ours. And we can, when we can really understand that we can be free and we can live. Yeah. We can live, you know? Exactly. Well, we're almost done.

So basically at this point, he, God has told both Abraham, both Sarah, that they will, he changed both, both of their names, which is something that God loves to do in the Bible. When he makes, I feel when God like really reveals himself to you, he will change your name because you cannot stay the same. You can't be the same person after you've had that revelation and that encounter with God. Yeah. And,

And I wonder what my new name is. I love that. When God changes you, you'll never be the same. When you have that encounter with him, you will never be the same. And how do you get that encounter with him? You chase him. Chase him. Chase him. Chase him. Fight for him. So we are at Genesis 21. Genesis 21.

So this is the birth of Isaac. Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah, as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised. Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age at the very time that God had promised him.

Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore him. When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him as God commanded him. Abraham was 100 years old when his son Isaac was born to him. And I love this part so much. Sarah said, God has brought me laughter and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.

And she added, So I want to say really quick that the name Isaac means the one who laughs. And so Sarah laughed. Abraham laughed.

And now it's kind of a full circle moment where it's like everybody's in on the joke. And the joke is that God, no matter how bad things seem, no matter how impossible things seem, it'll always come around and his promise will come to pass when the time is right. And that's what God will do sometimes. He'll be like, oh, that's what you think. Yeah.

So that's sometimes why he makes you, he will make you wait so long. Absolutely. I love that. He will see our doubt and be like, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna give you what you, what you're asking for in the middle of your doubt like that. No, you give me the faith first and then I'll give you the promise. Yeah. You know? And now look at this story. Now they can be vessels to be like, okay, I can, there is nothing God can't do. Exactly. They can testify to the actual goodness of God's grace. That's right.

And I really like, I just want to say in this part where it says, in the New King James Version, it says, And the Lord visited Sarah. And I really love the word visited because I'm such a fan of pregnancy and birth and children and babies. I think that babies are the biggest blessing in the world. And I like that it clarifies that the Lord visited Sarah. So the Lord was...

necessary for conception and that it is God's gift to get pregnant and to have babies and I just think it's such a beautiful thing and I don't know I feel like sometimes in the world we're living in babies and being parents is really it's been twisted a little bit and it's not celebrated like it usually is and I or used to be and I don't like that. Why is that? Oh I don't want to get in a conversation about the enemy but

Yeah. God's greatest blessing. Greatest blessing. I mean, he literally said one of the first things he said to Adam when he gave him Eve was now you guys go be fruitful and multiply. I mean, that is one of the biggest blessings that God has for us is to be fruitful and multiply. So many of his big promises to people were to give them children and to give them generations of children. I mean, it's,

huge like people wanted a Kings Kings would like go and have multiple a million wives just to have kids and if it's not working because that's how important having kids are is and I don't know we just live in a world where that is not celebrated the way it used to be you know I heard a beautiful story I'm I ran into to an acquaintance recently and the last time I had seen her she was trying to have children but she was having infertility problems and

And I saw her recently. It had been probably a year or two. And I said, how are you? Did you and your husband ever had kids? And she said, I wasn't able to have kids, but you know what? I actually was able to adopt kids.

two of the most beautiful brothers and she showed me photos of these two boys and they were just the most precious beautiful boys who needed a home and you could see the love in their faces she said I have never felt more blessed in my life God really really blessed me and I just when I didn't think it was all going to work out he showed me a way so and I know you know with a

A lot of people are going through that. You know, they can't have kids and just know that God will bless you in one way or another. I just know there are so many children that also need homes. And so that's such a blessing, too, if you're going through that. I really see the I really see adoption in your life for real. Really?

I really do. Just the way that you talk about it, and I can see it in you. You just have a heart for adopting and to give. I saw you with the kids at Skid Row. You were about to take those kids. But I just, I really see you have, I know you want to have your own kids too, but I just think that you are such a good person and you are such an, you're such a champion for the underdog. Mm-hmm.

And for the ones who like don't have a lot or aren't doing well, and you have the ability because you're so nurturing and you're so loving that you have the ability to take something that's broken and bring life to it. So I think you'd be really good at that. Thank you. You brought me from a place of brokenness. You brought me together. I know. You do for me every day. I wasn't kidding when I said I'd lay my life down for you. Yeah.

And then one more thing in chapter 21, where does it say? It says right here in the new King James version, it says that the Lord visited Sarah as he had said, the Lord did for Sarah as he had spoken. Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the set time of which God had spoken to him. And in the new international version, it says that

Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age at the very time that God had promised him, at the set time, at the very time that God promised. God's timing is so important and it's so crucial. And I have a million things that I could talk about today of different experiences I've had and different things that God made me wait for.

And we will get into everything. But I promise you, I have gotten to a place in my faith that I, if it is not my time, I don't want it. And I pray in the name of Jesus that you also get to that place. Because why would you want something when it's outside of God's will? Just think about it. It doesn't make any sense. When you realize that God's appointing time is working for you and not against you, like I said earlier, it is literally going to free you.

going to free you. What if you're not ready? Well, you know, think about how many times that we sit there and pray for certain things.

And I'm like, thank God I didn't get what I wanted at the time. Do you know what I mean? There's things that God's doing behind the scenes. He's working it out for you. But we, you know, just know that if it's a no, it's because it's preparation. Exactly. And sometimes, so delay doesn't mean denial. And also a no might be.

It might not mean no, but it could mean not quite or not exactly. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. I do want to just say one more thing about Abraham and his life because he's one of the most influential people of the Old Testament and really important, obviously, in the Bible. And I just want to talk about how Abraham's whole story is proof that we cannot receive through works what God gives to us through grace, right?

Abraham tried through his own efforts to receive God's promise. But it was never going to work because it's not something that he could earn. It was a gift. The grace was given to him by God. We can only become children of the promise when we trust the promise. We can only receive the promise.

the promise from our Father when we believe in that promise. You know what I mean? I've said it before that, you know, doubt will dilute your prayer. Doubt will also really stop you from receiving God's blessings on your life. I don't think that God is going to give you something when you're sitting there being like, okay, God, yeah, okay, we'll see. That is...

God's not about that attitude. He doesn't like that. He loves a heart that is faithful, that is believing, that is hoping, that is living in anticipation for his good to see his goodness. Okay, GGB gang, the holidays are the busiest time of the year. Shipping orders is the last thing we want to worry about. Let ShipStation do the heavy lifting and take care of the logistics.

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And 98% of companies that stick with ShipStation for a year become customers for life. Go to ShipStation.com and use code GGB today and sign up for a free 60-day trial. That's ShipStation.com, code GGB. So tell me about a time where you really had to wait and with uncertainty and you had to learn to really trust God. Yeah, so many times. Sorry, I'm so sorry. Can you just fix your hair? Yes.

Thank you. Yeah, so many times in my life, all throughout my life. I really, I really relate to Sarah because I look at her story and I look at her and what she did, giving her giving her maidservant to her husband to have a kid because she was not believing in God's promise.

And while it's crazy what she did, I also understand her. And she and I both have clearly been in situations where we had to learn the hard way of walking out of God's will because we think that we know better. And it's been, I think, the number one thing that I've had to grow in my relationship with God because, as we know, I...

I struggle a little bit with the spirit of pride sometimes. Sometimes I can be a little bit stubborn. Sometimes I can be a little headstrong and be like, although I mean, I'm very flexible at the same time, but I can also be like, I know this is right. It's like the addict brain. It's like for one minute though. Yeah. Truly. I do come around. I do. But I, I, but I, I'm really passionate in my convictions. And when I believe something to be true, that's why I'm so grateful for the Bible.

That gives me a guideline so that I don't have to go off course. But like when I believe something to be true, I'll like go all in and that has gotten me into trouble sometimes. And the lack of patience, like waiting produces patience. Patience is one of the most important things in life. And we live in a society right now that has absolutely no patience. Our culture is built on instant gratification. We really struggle with delayed gratification.

because of these, because everything is so quick. I can't tell you the last time I went to Target

Why would I go to Target when I can order everything off Amazon? Yeah. Why would I like, why would I take the time to do most things when it's just, it's literally at the, my fingertips. Yeah. You know what I mean? You send a text in an instant. Dating is so quickly. You go on an app, you see a hundred people. You can talk to, why would you wait for the person you love when you have 20 people on hand that can answer you in a second and give you that gratification and that validation? Yeah.

And so it's a really sick thing that we're living in and it's destroying us. Yeah, yeah. You know? Yeah, it absolutely is. And so patience is something that I struggle, used to struggle with and I don't struggle with at all anymore. I'm actually, being close to Jesus has produced a natural and intense patience in my life. Mm-hmm.

And it's truly by the grace of God because I was not always like this at all. Remember, I told you, I think it was in the testimony video where I would go to my pastor, Socrates, and I'd be like,

Like almost like just such an entitled. I just had such an entitlement of being like, I need God to do this, this, this, this, this for me right now. And he looked at me and goes, no, you need to pray for patience. Yeah. Because you like, I don't know. This is not OK. The way that you're asking for things and the way that you're expecting things. And I wasn't like being expectant that God is good. I was being expectant that like I deserve these things and they had to happen. Yeah.

And so I really took a step back in my life. And this was mostly geared towards my career. And so I have worked in acting for the past like eight years. And anybody who knows the business knows that it's a really rocky industry and it can be really tough at times. You could be on top of the world one second and then you don't work for months. And...

work can be really scarce in acting and it's a scary industry to be in, like a lot of them. But I know for me, I used to have such a tight grip on my career and I would pray so hard and it would make me so anxious and I could not wait. I could not wait for anything that God had for me because I would not... I just didn't believe Him. Like I didn't believe that it was on His time. And I...

started praying last night asking God because I couldn't think of specific situations where I didn't believe God or I wasn't waiting for him or I wasn't waiting well. And I asked God, can you reveal to me like a time, a specific time that I can talk about that I wasn't waiting on you well? And he brought to my attention that some acting jobs that I've done

I got on my knees and I prayed and I said, thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. I called my mom and we said, thank you, Jesus. I posted on Instagram. I said, thank you, Jesus. And he literally said to me last night, he's like, that wasn't from me. You're thanking me for something I didn't want you to do. And so that's a situation in which I did not wait well.

And I was accepting things just like Sarah accepted the fact that her maidservant was going to have a kid by her husband. I accepted things that were a counterfeit blessing, that were not from God, that were not real. And then I'm thanking him for it on top of it, which is just a little interesting.

You know, I think that's the beauty of starting a relationship with God and really getting close to him is he will convict you of the things that are not from him. Yeah. Like really quickly. And same with me. I remember being like, I can't believe I booked this. This is it for me. I'm a star. I'm a star. And I'm like looking back and I'm like,

Could I? I know. That was not from him? No. But I didn't have him in my life, and now that I do have him, I, like, I would just, you just, I

I could never. No. And I have no shame. I have zero shame because when I didn't know, I didn't know. Yeah. And so and that's OK. And honestly, it's kind of a beautiful thing. It's actually. Yeah. It's a beautiful thing to have once been in the dark and now I'm able to see the light of the truth. And it's totally OK. And I'm totally OK with everything in my past and everything I've decided to do.

Because I'm actually really proud of you and I for both getting to this place of actually understanding the truth and understanding what he wants from us. And I think that's why God gave Sarah so much grace. Yeah. Because he saw that she really did make a mistake. She was scared and she learned from it and she kept going. Yeah. And I just, I love how he went to Hagar. Hagar runs away and she's being mistreated by Sarai, which is not nice.

And she's just in this whole mess of a situation. And I can't imagine what she was going through. But then God came through for her and said, I need you to go back. So he asked her to go do something she didn't want to do. He said, I need you to go back, but I'm going to give you a promise. Even though it's going to be hard, I'm going to bless your son. Not the same way the other one's getting blessed, but I'm going to bless him. And I'm going to give him his own inheritance and his own thing.

And it's just such a beautiful example of how God works everything together for our good, even our mistakes.

I love him so much. He really does. Cleans up our mess. How many messes of mine he's cleaned up. Oh, big mess. I got myself into a mess. And this is actually another thing I didn't wait for God for. Another counterfeit blessing that I'm sitting there being like, oh, thank you, Jesus. And God's looking at me like, you are way too mature to be acting like this. I don't accept this from you. But you knew.

Yeah. But honestly, but that's also part of the walk. Listen, I'm not saying it's okay to ever walk out of God's will. I don't want to. I do my best not to. But at the same time, you're going to. You are going to. You are going to. But the thing is, is you don't want to. You don't want to. Because you want to just follow along so God can bring you to exactly where he wants you to be. You don't want to go off path because it's going to take a long time. Yeah. I think something else we need to be honest with about...

And since we're on the topic of like counterfeit blessings, your relationship might not be from God. It might not be. And sometimes it may look like it is. Sometimes everything could be right on paper and it's still not from God. And I think in those situations, God is probably... I think it's good to touch on because I know in relationships and dating specifically, I'll speak for myself. I love being in a relationship. Sometimes...

Sometimes I will get out of a relationship and then I have in my life then quickly gotten into another one. And I had no waiting period because I wanted that instant gratification. And it's something to really look at and be honest with yourself and be like, is God actually wanting me to be in this relationship right now? Or is he asking me to wait for what he actually has for me? And as we know,

continuing to get into relationships that aren't from God is going to actually prolong your real one and only relationship, your marriage that he has for you. I say that all the time. That is a really hard lesson I had to learn. Just...

When you get out of a relationship, you take that time. You have to take that time. The worst thing you could ever do is jump into another relationship for gratification. Yeah. Because that is not from God. No, it's not. Because you're not healed. No. If you're in a relationship with someone you really cared about and then you just start talking to someone else right away, you're not a healed person. You're not going to attract the right person. Yeah.

Also, like we said earlier, if God answered all of our prayers right away and brought the promises instantly, what type of life would that be? It'd be so easy. We'd have no reason to trust or have faith. We'd be selfish. We'd be self-centered. Honestly, sometimes God answers everything.

God really do be answering my prayers. He really does. Like I will pray for somebody or for something, not like that he would bless me or do something for me, but for other people. Like I'll ask for somebody to be healed or to have peace or to get over a situation or to, you know, to help in some way. And it'll happen very quickly. So then when he doesn't answer my prayers, I'm like,

I know you can. You've done it before. I know you can. You know what I mean? And if God were to only answer our prayers instantaneously, we would be the most selfish brats ever. We sure would. That's why I always say I'm glad we've been through some stuff. Oh, absolutely. You know? Yeah. And I think, too, living a life where we didn't have Jesus at the forefront of our lives like that kind of creates now this...

of having him in our lives because we know what it's like to not have him and it's dark and it's scary. And so that's why we're so, we're even more like expected of him to move in our lives. But the people that did grow up with Jesus in their lives, amazing. You've been blessed. Oh no, that's amazing. You've been blessed. But yeah. Well, I think of the other stories in the Bible where there was waiting and

And the truth is that if you're waiting in life right now, you're in really good company. You are. There's so many different stories of waiting in the Bible. Abraham and Sarah waited 25 years for their son Isaac. Isaac had to wait 20 years for his children. Joseph had to wait 13 years before he was set free and put on the throne. Moses had a wait of 80 years.

The woman with the issue of blood waited 12 years to be healed. And David waited 20 years to become king after his original anointing. And I think about other times, you know, in it's in John chapter two, where Jesus's mom, they were at the part at the wedding and Jesus's mom wanted him to turn water into wine. Right. And he said to her, woman, why do you involve me? Jesus replied, my hour has not yet come.

So Jesus is Jesus. He's literally God. He's our Savior. He's our Lord and Savior. And even he waited. Even he waited till the time was right. He didn't just move on his own will, free will, and just like whenever he wanted, just based off his flesh and what he wants and what his heart wants in the moment. Like he, there is a structure. There's a time set for everything. There really is. Yeah, he said, my hour has not yet come. I'm not going to do this right now. He ended up doing it because his mom told him to. Yeah. It's a beautiful thing. Yeah.

Part of my, I mean, half of my testimony has been on my waiting season. Yeah. You know, and I had to, I mean, the process with God is, it's not easy. I had to go through a lot of shedding and unlearning from my childhood and just, I had to go through a lot. It was painful, but it was so, it's been so rewarding. Yeah.

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Just go to the Apple or Google store and search for Daily Bible Trivia. Download Daily Bible Trivia for free today and get ready to flex your brain muscles. Thank you, Daily Bible Trivia, for sponsoring this video. I mean, for me, I was in such a long relationship and I had to completely walk away from what was comfortable for me and really just dedicate my life to God because...

I got to a point because what I thought was going to happen with my life, it would be, it was the exact opposite. And so I got to a point where I was just like, I was really lost. And I felt like I had completely lost my identity because I share this a lot. I was putting my identity into everything, men, my, my career, putting everyone before myself, putting everyone before him because I didn't know him.

And so I got to a place where I just like had fell to my knees and I was just like, who am I? Like I knew God needed me to learn about so many depths of my identity. And that's been my journey, learning who I am. And your identity is through him before anything. And I think about it and I'm like,

When I really listen to God, he's just being like, I need to... Like, I needed to be... Truly, this past year, I am so completely transformed. Like, I'm, like, unrecognizable. You know. I am a completely different person from who I was a year ago. And I'm still learning and I'm still growing. But...

In order for God to bring me my best, because I'm in this waiting season where I, you know, you guys know I say it all the time. You know, I desire to be a wife. I desire to be a mother. But in order for him to bring me my best, I need to be my best. And I think that goes for a lot of us. A lot of us is we don't know what God is trying to develop in us. And I'm like...

I am so glad that I have been in this place of just being with Jesus, just me and him. It has been...

I'm not going to lie. It's been agonizing. There's times where it's been agonizing being like, I'm just like completely in this isolation season. But it has been so beautiful to be transformed by him. Because the only way you are going to be transformed is being in the waiting by yourself just with him. It's the only way. And we don't know how long it's going to take. There's been times where I thought I was ready. I wasn't ready.

I wasn't ready. And it's like I was making what I was going through. And my circumstance is bigger than my God. And that was that's where I went wrong. And so, yeah.

I think about it all the time. Thank you for mentioning how you thought you were ready and you weren't. Sometimes God is making you wait because he's waiting on the situation to be ready. Sometimes he's making you wait because he's waiting on you. And in hindsight, you will understand why he made you wait. There have been so many things in my life. For example, when I actually started working and acting, let's take that.

I had spent years and years after going to school and I trained and I studied and I got, I was educated. I went to a conservatory. I did all this. You think you're like one of the best at the school and then you go out there and then nothing. Can't get a job. No one wants to hire you. Nobody cares. You have no credits. Doesn't matter. No social media. It was heartbreaking for me. Absolutely heartbreaking. And I couldn't understand why God wouldn't

give me the desires of my heart. But like, I just went to school, but I put in so much work. You know what I mean? Like, why am I having to wait like this? I'm ready. No, I wasn't. No, I wasn't ready. And I am so grateful. I wasn't ready talent wise. I wasn't ready maturity wise. I wasn't ready in any way ever. And I look back and I remember when I turned, when I turned like 25, which is like literally,

two years ago, whenever I turned 25, I remember that was the first time in my life where I sat back and I had the realization of, oh, if I'm not

in the place to receive this thing, I don't want it because I'm, I can't handle it when it gets to me. You know what I mean? If I'm not ready for success, it's going to crush me when it comes. I don't need it. I don't need that. What's the point of having it? What? So I have a satisfaction for like two seconds. People think I'm cool and then it goes away. And then I, and then it just like comes crumbling around me. You know what I mean? I, he,

We need to thank God when he's making us wait because there's a reason for it. Yeah. You know what I mean? It's true. Yeah. I had so many times where I'm sitting there praying, God, I want to be a vessel for people. I want to help people. Well, he had to bring me through some really dark stuff in order for me to sit here and be a vessel for people. So you just don't know what God's doing and you have to trust him in that. And I also think like...

I sat there for so long, like begging and begging for things. And the truth is, is if you're frustrated about any promise that you are still waiting on, it is evidence that you are not ready for it. You still have a long way to go to emotional maturity. You have to get to the place where if I never sit on here again and talk to you, it's okay. If I'm still...

Like if we're still waiting on something, it's okay. I lack nothing. Like that nothing. It's okay. Because it doesn't define me. And my relationship with him is all that matters. Yeah. It's all that matters. Yeah. I think it pleases God so much. If I could encourage you guys to do anything, I would...

tell you to take a step back in prayer and in your time with God and ask him, like, am I in a waiting season right now? Okay, I am. It looks like I'm in a waiting season. God, help me wait in a way that glorifies you and in a way that's beneficial to me. Because waiting doesn't mean sitting back and doing nothing.

your time of waiting is actually you're waiting for the promise, but the promise itself is your your ability to be able to just wait with Jesus like that should be the promise. You know what I mean? Like a waiting season is like a glorified, beautiful thing, because at the end of it comes the promise and comes the gift and the blessing. But really, but it's so hard during the waiting and it's not beautiful and it's not glamorous and we're all miserable during the waiting and and it's agonizing, as you said.

But like if you can change your perspective, and I know it's so difficult, and I know this is very like, you know, very positive thinking, but if you can change your perspective and be like,

Like, I'm so lucky to be in this waiting season to be close to Jesus because otherwise, if I had everything I wanted, I would be distracted. It is so true. Yeah. You have no idea. I had a moment, actually it was last night, where I was sitting there and like if this was a year ago, I'd be absolutely going crazy. Yeah. Because I'm truly like alone right now. Yeah. Like truly alone just with God. Yeah.

And I can't even tell you the peace that I feel. And like I said earlier, it's truly freedom. It is freedom to be able to know that you are okay because you have a father that you don't need anything else. All we need is him. What else do we need? Do you know what I mean? And to get to that place of being like,

I'm good. I am good. I don't need a man. I like, of course we all, I'll want, we all desire partnership, but it's not what we need. No. When you get to the place where you are okay right here and just with him and you're comfortable and you don't have that, those overbearing thoughts and that anxiety that sits in your chest because you're waiting and wanting something and, and you're trying to control everything on your own. That is freedom. And, and,

Honestly, I thank God he didn't bring... He hasn't brought me what I want. Yes. Because to get to this point where I can sit here and be okay. Yeah. I'm okay. I lack nothing. Yeah. I want everyone to get to that place. Yeah. I really do. I really want everyone to get to that place of just being okay and comforted just by him. Yeah. It's so beautiful. I don't know. I just...

I think we got like, so we did a poll and we got maybe a hundred questions just on how do I wait for my partner? I'm waiting for my husband. I'm waiting for my wife. What do I do when I wait? Why isn't God bringing me my person? It's all I want. It's like the number one most desired thing that everybody wants. And especially if you're living right by God and you're, you know, you're staying pure and you're staying doing things the way that God wants you to do. You especially want that.

you especially want marriage, you want your partner and you want your person. I just really want to tell you guys, and I know you've probably heard this before and I know it can come off a little corny, but it's the absolute truth is that there are two people in this situation, right? You and your, you and your partner, it's you and it's him or her.

you may not be ready. They may not be ready. God's not going to bring you to each other when one of you is not ready. And like, I've heard countless stories about how two people were praying for each other at the exact same time, but for some reason, one of them or both of them weren't ready. God is so good. He loves you so much. He's not about to bring your husband or wife when you're out here acting crazy, doing things you're not supposed to. Like, you know what I mean? You really have to

first pray for your partner pray for your spouse um even if you don't know them you pray for them and you say god please prepare them get them ready whatever they're doing like whatever that might not be right in their lives like reveal yourself to them and help them and help them change get them ready for me and then you turn inwards and you ask god what do i need to change what do i need to get rid of what do i need to lay down that will prepare me for you to bring my husband or my wife um

Because again, God loves you so much. He's not going to bring you what's yours so that you can ruin it. He's not going to bring you what's meant to be yours when you have baggage and trauma and issues and just trust issues. You know what I mean? Like he's going to wait until, until you both are ready. So just prepare yourself and pray for the preparal of your spouse. In my waiting season at times when I thought I was ready and now even right now, I'm like, okay, I'm still waiting. There's still work that you have for me. Yeah. And

I, every single day, I just focus on him. I keep my eyes on him. I study him. I learn him. I know that he is a good God. And when you keep your eyes on him and you just keep going, you have to understand what he has promised you. And it will come. But there are things that I'm telling you, I'm like, thank God you didn't bring it to me because there's...

The one thing that you do if you're in the waiting season is work on yourself. Make yourself the best version of yourself so you can be the best for your partner. I really believe...

that if you are submitted to God now, if you're not submitted to God, it might be a different story. You might get your person in the middle of a mess and all that. But I think if you're truly submitted to God and you've given your life to him and you ask, you pray about these things and you ask him and you've given it to God, he's not going to something that you so desperately

that you freely gave to him, he's not gonna bring it to you in a way that's gonna let it be ruined. - No, he won't at the end of the day.

Yeah, and there's so many things in waiting seasons, too, that God is trying to just like rejection is redirection. Waiting is protection. Like if you want to go somewhere today, but there might be something that's going to hurt you when you get there, God's going to delay it. He's not going to let you go somewhere. You're going to get hurt. I think about one of the most important stories of waiting in the Bible, and that's literally the story of Jesus himself. When the time was right, he sent his son.

Jesus waited 30 years to start his ministry. So imagine God himself came down, made himself human, just like us. He came down as a baby as we're approaching Christmas, and I'm obsessed with nativity scenes.

I love baby Jesus so much. God came down in human form. He came as a baby, which is the most vulnerable position you can be in in life. As a baby, you can't do anything for yourself. So God was a baby and then he was a child and then he was a teenager. And he went all these years knowing that he was God, knowing of his divinity and his sovereignty. And he was humble enough to wait for

to wait in the shadows, to wait without the limelight, to wait not in the public. And when the time was right, when God said it was good, He went. He started His ministry. He started to make... And even when He was doing His ministry, He would tell people, "Hey, I'm going to do this miracle, but don't tell anyone." And so even then the time wasn't right. So if Jesus Himself waited on God's timing, waited for when the timing was perfect and it was good,

We should also wait. And we, it's, it's very humbling to be in the shadows. It's really humbling to wait on the sidelines or in, or in the back or in, you know what I mean? Like it's, it's hard not, sometimes you want to be front and center doing your thing, having the promise that God made to you that you're going to be doing this big thing on the stage in front of the lights. And, and,

But the truth is, God is going to keep you in the shadows until the time is right. And you need to be grateful that he is because he is preparing you during that time. You know, I love that you say that because what is that scripture? My grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in weakness. Hmm.

In my weakness, God is my strength. Yeah. You know, so if God is attracted to weakness, then my weakness is a gift. Yeah. And I think a lot of us will sit there and just feel so weak and like God isn't there. That's when God is so close to you in your weakness because you come to a humble and a humility. Yeah. And it just, and you're saying, God, I can't do this on my own. I need you. Mm-hmm.

There's nothing more that God loves than that. When you humbly come before him in your weakness and say, I need you. Absolutely. I need you through this lonely season of mine, this uncertainty. Please, I need you during this. Yeah.

I love that because I actually was thinking about that today, how I was thinking about that scripture, how when I am weak, I am strong. And it's because God's strength is made perfect in our weakness. And so when we're weak, his strength makes up for the lack that we have. And so if I show up in all of my Angela's glory, in my strength, in my intelligence, in my gifts and talents, I'm limited. That's where I'm at.

But if I have lack and God fills that space for me, He does exceedingly and abundantly more than I could ever do by my own might. You know what I mean? So that's really why it is so true. His strength is made perfect in our weakness. I would rather be less than so God can give me overflow and like do more than what I could instead of me showing up in my own strength to do a limited amount of what can be done. You know? Yeah.

I think one thing that me and you have right now in this season of our lives is we walk around with almost, and not to say that our lives aren't perfect because they are far from it. But one thing I can say about us is we have a natural euphoric Holy Spirit high that we just have this joy because we aren't living in fear. We aren't living in uncertainty.

And because we have and you have actually taught me this. And one of the most grateful things that I'm just so thankful from you is that you really have taught me faith and unshakable faith. I never even had an ounce of it. I even I'm a very joyful person and a very positive person. And I would say that, you know, you're a good time.

I'm a good time. But inside, I don't think I was. I just always had this knot in my belly that was unsettled because I was always so scared of what was going to happen. And seeing everything God has done for me and just how he is there through everything and he works everything out for me. Yeah.

I just, I now can rest and I now can live in peace and joy. And maybe I want something that I don't have yet, but I know it's because he's doing things behind the scenes that I just don't know. Yeah. And it's okay. And we can really rest in that and just, you know. Yeah, absolutely. We have not been given a spirit of fear, but of power, of love and of a sound mind. And don't you forget it. And I think also it's like,

I just we read a lot. We read a lot of your questions and things like that. And people are going through massive breakups where you think you you've really lost out and you lost your person. You haven't lost anything. No. And you feel pressured about time and I'm hitting this certain age. And what am I going to do? You haven't lost anything. Right.

When God says no to something, it's because he's getting you available for a greater yes. And that process can be painful. But I can assure you that it's going to be the most rewarding experience if you just push through and hang on to see what's on the other side to that. Yeah, and wait patiently. I think waiting is you want to wait patiently and you want to wait expectantly. I can honestly say in me and Ari's life that we...

We wait in true anticipation for God to do something incredible. We are constantly believing God for miracles every day. And I'm not just, I'm not coming on here and telling you guys to do something that I don't do myself. I do this. I sit all day long and I believe that God, my God, Jesus Christ, is going to do a miracle in even the most impossible situations. You have the ability to believe that as well. You just have to choose to. And I promise you constantly speak like this and say these things.

sit and say, no, I'm not waiting in fear. I'm not waiting in impatience. I am waiting in anticipation for God to do great things in my life. I love that you say that, Angela. And that's one thing, the gift that Angela has. And it's something she has taught me so much this year. And

I know that you guys are maybe hurting and you're in pain, but you need to get to the point where you are so bold that you are not in fear anymore. We don't need to be in fear. We don't need to be scared. He's got you. You just focus on him. Yeah.

keep seeking him because if you read and that's why and that's why it's so important to read the bible yes yes because when you read the bible you're going to understand his his nature and his consistency and then your prayers aren't going to be requests they're going to turn into declarations yes do you know what i'm saying and that's where i was are you pleased

God. I need God. No, I go, I go to him boldly now. Yeah. Yeah. Do you know what I mean? Absolutely. I love this. I love seeing this boldness on you so much. I think about, um, I think about in a practical sense, when you think of a harvest, I think of the fact that there is always a waiting period between planting and the harvest. There is always a

bit of a delay whether it's short or long between sewing something and then reaping it

In Ecclesiastes chapter 3, verses 1 to 4, it says, "...to everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven, a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to pluck what is planted, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to break down and a time to build up, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance."

There is a place and there's a time and there's a name, just like Isaac had a name. There is a place and a time for absolutely everything. God's place, God's time. There is not one thing in life. Most things in life don't come with instant results. You know what I mean? Thank you for saying that. And so it's just once you understand that and sit back in humility and in expectance that God is going to work, but it's...

Anything worth having usually isn't rushed. Thank you. Nothing in my life that I rushed really, really badly like turned out well. Thank you. This is not, I believe that

In your season of waiting, it's not a season to be impulsive, but it's a season of preparation. And let me tell you what, doing things impulsively, like we can be sitting there, you know, we're guilty of it. We can be like, you know, oh, I want to go back to this person or whatever.

I've never said that. No, I haven't either. Okay, okay. I've never said I want to go back to this person. But sometimes, you know, you'll settle for things. You'll settle for what isn't your best. And that's showing a lack of faith. Oh, absolutely. So it's better to sit alone with him because you're never alone and wait for your best. And I think even...

the times that we do step out of God's will and we do settle for things that aren't his best and we do make mistakes the way that Sarah did. I always think about how like Jesus is so good that he will do everything that he can to save us from ourselves. He'll do everything he can to return us back to him. And I was just talking to a friend and we were talking about how the fact that honestly, Christianity is the only religion in which

It's not just that we pursue God. God pursues us back in almost every... Isn't that beautiful? In every other religion, you have... There are works. There are things you have to do, things you have to accomplish, and you have to go and you have to chase after God. And in our beautiful religion of Christianity and our intimate relationship with Jesus, like...

He pursues us. He pursues us. We literally sit here and spit in his face and say no by and doubt him and reject him and betray him. And he stands there and he would do anything that he can.

to just bring us back to him. That's why I sit and I'm just like, okay, whatever you want, because he's giving me grace over and over again. Exactly. He's forgiven me. He's taken me arms open being like, I'm still right here. That's the beautiful thing about him. He gives us so much grace. So we are going to start wrapping up today's episode. You guys, we love you so much.

We just want to give everyone a chance today. If you've never accepted Jesus and you want to cross that line of faith today, we want to give you the opportunity to do that. We want to do a salvation call. Even if you've said it before, you can say it again. I say it like every day because I love Jesus and I like submitting my life into his hands every day. The absolute truth is that your entire history of sins will be forgiven today.

the other side of this prayer. That's how strong this is. That's how powerful this is. Your life will change dramatically. This is the best thing you could ever do in your life. A life with Jesus is a life of peace and of hope and of love and of actual joy. Joy that's not determined based on your circumstances, but it comes from within and it's something that nobody and nothing can take from you. It's a gift that we get from God.

By the way, we see all the comments of you guys saying, I said this prayer. Yes, I want to say, please, if you guys do, from now on, if you guys say the salvation prayer with us, I want you to type in the comments because we want to talk to you. We want to pray for you guys. So please write in the comments if you guys do. Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner and I ask for your forgiveness.

I believe you died for my sins and rose from the dead. I turn from my sins and I invite you to come into my heart and life. I want to trust and follow you as my Lord and Savior. In your name, amen. Amen, amen, amen. Hallelujah. If you just said that prayer.

Welcome to the family. We love you so much. If you did, if you did give your life to Jesus, I'm not kidding. There is nothing better you could have done for your life. Joy is waiting for you. Peace is waiting for you. You guys, we are so proud of you. Thank you for being on this journey with us, on this walk with us, growing with us, learning. We're learning all together. If you are in a waiting season, guess what? Your sister's there with you. This

sisters here with you. And we're in it together. What a blessing, right? That all of us, GGB family, us too, we're all in this together. We are. Maybe we should touch on really quick. We should touch on the fact that, um,

If you guys follow us on Instagram, you would have seen that we happen to be number one on Girls Gone Bible was number one on Spotify, on the rankings, the chart. I don't even know what it means. Maybe it doesn't mean anything. All I do know is that number one isn't for us. It's literally for you guys. Like it's you guys that did that. It's you guys. You guys are the core. You are the heart. We get on here and talk, but you guys are the reason any of this happens. And we're,

we wrote in the thing but I just want to reiterate it to you guys that like every single one of you even if we're not face to face even if we've never spoke even if I've never seen you and I don't know you I don't know your name God does he does Angela and I truly feel like we have community like you guys are our you guys are our family you we have a community with you it's

It's truly like a blessing from God. You are the core of what we do. You are the reason we do it. We love you so much, like so much. And every single one of you matters. And your walk with Jesus matters to us. Like we care about every single one of you knowing Jesus. And so if you like us, if you care about us,

We ask that you make us happy by going and getting to know Jesus. That's all we care about. That's all we want for you. Seriously. And like, yes. And I just want to say one more thing that's been on my heart a little bit. Listening or watching a podcast is not a substitute for reading your Bible. We can't be a middleman for you guys. Other podcasts can't be a middleman. You guys got to know Jesus for real for yourself. So you go and pursue him. And this is a great way to learn about him. I'm not saying to please watch, but like,

Go get in the word and get to know Jesus for yourself. Be inspired by our walk with him, but then go get it for yourself. You know what I mean? Thank you for saying that, Ange, because that's, yes. Yes, we're just a vessel, but yes, get into the word. That is what changed our lives. Get out there and find community because it truly is the most important thing. Everybody needs community. We are not meant to sit alone in isolation. Okay? Go into church.

Just start talking to people, meet people. Join a group. Join a group. Join a Bible study. Okay? We love you so much. We're here for you. We're praying for you. You matter. And we are so proud of you. So proud of you. All I know is wherever you're at in your walk,

strengthen your own relationship with Jesus. And if I could encourage you to do anything, if you want to get closer to Jesus, go tell other people about Jesus. Go make disciples. You're a disciple now. Go make more. You know what I mean? Go be fishermen of men. Wait, are we all disciples? We are all disciples of Jesus. So...

We love you guys so much. May the Lord bless you and keep you. May he make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. May he turn his face towards you and give you peace. Peace. Peace in the waiting. Peace in whatever season or time of your life that you're in. We love you so, so much. We love you so much.