Choosing Gratitude Through Life's Challenges

This episode revolves around finding strength and gratitude amidst life's trials, sharing personal stories of hardship and resilience. We discuss how to practice gratitude and faith in difficult times, emphasizing that challenges can serve as opportunities for growth.

• Personal stories of trials and hardships
• Importance of practicing gratitude during tough seasons
• Experiences surrounding the birth of our premature daughter
• Navigating challenges during the pandemic
• Building faith and endurance through struggles
• Life lessons from difficult moments
• Embracing joy in adversity
• Importance of supportive relationships during tough times
• Faith as a sustaining strength in trials

Buzzsprout - Let's get your podcast launched! 
Start for FREE

Chapters

• 0:00 Overcoming Hardships & Dry Seasons
• 3:17 Conscious Decision Through Tough Season
• 8:06 Navigating Tough Times in Marriage
• 13:01 The Power of Gratitude Through Trials
• 18:19 Building Endurance Through Life's Trials
• 23:21 Endurance Through Trials and Gratitude

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hey, what's up everyone? Hey, today's conversation is for anybody that's going through any tough trials. You may be in trouble right now. You may be in a dry season. You may be in a hard relationship that feels like there's no way out. You may be going through some financial hardship. You may be in some situations right now where you think there is just no way out.

Speaker 1: 0:19

And I know, for us, as the Airstills, we've gone through a lot of hardship in the last 20 years, the last five years since the pandemic. You know, financially speaking, physically speaking, in our relationships, like with our children, we've lost loved ones. You know we've had to rediscover our purpose and find ourselves and really determine God, where are you calling us to go in life? You know, really finding our identity, and we've gone through some really dry seasons, yeah, gone through some really dry seasons where we just thought there was no way out. And so if you resonate, if any of that is resonating with you, this conversation, I do believe it is for you. We're still here today, we're still smiling, we still have joy, that's right we still have peace, and what we want to do is today, we want to share with you all the things that we have done in our household to make it through the valley, to make it through tough and dry seasons. We're going to talk about that here in a minute.

Speaker 2: 1:14

Yeah, so if you are excited for this conversation, hit that like button. You guys know why we're already here. We are here to help you grow a deeper relationship with God, others and yourself, so you can hit that heart button show us some love. We got one of our followers and he shows us love every episode and it is just so like grateful for us to feel that support and love. So if this is something that's added value to your life, that's a way that you can add value to ours and just to encourage us to keep going.

Speaker 2: 1:46

So, hit that heart button, hit that like button. Make sure you're subscribed so that you see our new episode every week. But we love y'all. Let's dig crew.

Speaker 1: 1:54

So if you're ready, let's dig, let's dig, let's dig.

Speaker 2: 1:57

So I, when we were talking about these moments in our marriage, moments in our life together, um, that have been some of the most difficult seasons. I truly think that when we had Brooklyn, our daughter, uh, in January of 2020, she came nine weeks early Um, she was premature. It was just literally chaos. Honestly, we never had had that experience before. We didn't have a name picked out, we didn't have a crib. We didn't have baby shower. We didn't have nothing.

Speaker 1: 2:32

Exactly so, if anyone can remember the pandemic days.

Speaker 2: 2:36

Well prior, like before, pandemic days, yeah, pandemic days.

Speaker 1: 2:39

So this baby girl. We were planning in 2019 that we were finally going to get pregnant again. We moved around so long and this time we were like we're ready to have a baby. So January 2020 comes and Danley has had a few complications right, the doctor put her on bed rest, pelvic rest we're not going to talk about the pelvic rest, this episode. But you went on rest yes, at the beginning, and then you got preeclampsia yes, and that hit home really hard for us. And then I'm traveling, I'm in other countries, going through all this stuff, and the doctors tell you okay, there's a risk. You know you're at high risk. All these type of things. You have this stuff to take. Your blood pressure was hard to really control, to get it under control. Well, one night I come back home from like Africa or something like that.

Speaker 2: 3:25

Yeah, I feel like.

Speaker 1: 3:26

South Africa. Over the weekend you weren't feeling good, something was really off on you, so we decided to take you to the ER, take you to actually to go see your doctors to see what's going on. They ran some tests here and there and they're like we're actually going to keep you the night. This is January 2020, which is interesting. We're actually going to keep you the night. This is January 2020, which is interesting because we're still planning trying to plan baby showers, all these things. We don't have a name for this baby girl and they say you're staying the night.

Speaker 1: 3:52

The next day your results come back and it blows our mind what's going on? High risk, your blood pressure, it's hard to get it controlled. It was wild how it all happened. I actually, a couple of days before that, heard that my grandmother passed away and I remember someone knocking on my door in the middle of the night Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Someone's knocking on my door, boom, boom, boom. I thought it was in my dreams. I heard knocking in my dreams and I'm like what's going on? I get up it probably is what 5 am in the morning, yeah, so maybe 4 or something like that, I don't remember and I get to the door and it's one of our friends, jackie.

Speaker 2: 4:29

Shout out to Jackie. Shout out.

Speaker 1: 4:31

Shout out to Jackie. She's been rocking with us.

Speaker 2: 4:32

We can never tell this story without giving a shout out to Jackie.

Speaker 1: 4:35

Let's go Shout out to Jackie knocking on my door. She's like Daniley's having a baby. I'm like what are you talking about? No one's called me. I went to my phone and turned out I had about 30, 40 missed calls.

Speaker 2: 4:47

Million missed calls.

Speaker 1: 4:49

Missed calls, and I still actually have your voice memos from that day. Five years later, really, I still have them.

Speaker 2: 4:53

I've never listened to them.

Speaker 1: 4:54

I never listened to them either. Actually, I didn't know you had them. I, this baby girl, and Brooklyn comes nine weeks early, three pounds, three ounces, living in the NICU for six weeks. We have this baby that didn't come home with us, which was tough because our first son, he, was a NICU baby too. So we're two for two, both kids, and I remember you feeling so much like shame. I remember you feeling like you failed. I remember you being disappointed in yourself and your body frustrated with God. Why would this happen? Our baby didn't even have a name.

Speaker 1: 5:33

We had to cancel baby showers. None of it made sense. All the while, we had no idea. Literally two months later, a month later, that the pandemic was coming in.

Speaker 2: 5:42

March.

Speaker 1: 5:42

So crazy, yeah, and I remember us going through a really hard time, you crying every single night.

Speaker 2: 5:48

Y'all. My face was literally raw from the tears, like I just had tears pouring down my face all day, every day. Like going from our apartment to the hospital going to feed Brooklyn. They'd only let like she would feed every four hours but you couldn't hold her like two feedings back to back because it was too much stimulation for her. Like all these things that like only NICU families kind of resonate with and know. Um, but it is so unnatural for a mother to be separated from her newborn baby that early period. It's just not natural and so it feels like the worst ripping apart you could imagine. It feels completely heart-wrenching to just go home with empty hands.

Speaker 1: 6:36

How did we make it through that season?

Speaker 2: 6:38

Tough season of having I remember specifically, like sitting in our bedroom my face is soaked with tears.

Speaker 1: 6:47

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 6:47

We were about to go pick up Jordan from kinder I think he was in kindergarten at that time and I I remember you looking at me and you were like babe, like she's good, she's fine, like she's not in any life threatening danger, she's with the best nurses that could take care of her. And you were just saying like let's make the best of this time, like let's go on day dates, let's go walk around and shop, let's go do this, let's go do that, let's take Jordan here and there. And I remember sitting there thinking that all sounds amazing. I'd love to.

Speaker 2: 7:26

I just don't know that I can, and it truly was a conscious decision of like. Okay, I guess I can try to walk around the mall tomorrow. I guess I could try to go to lunch with you the next day I guess.

Speaker 2: 7:40

I could try to take Jordan to the park, even though that feels super painful. But it was one foot in front of the other of just making a conscious decision of okay, I'm going to make the best of this time and know that my daughter is safe and she's being taken care of in the best way possible.

Speaker 1: 7:57

That's literally it. You nailed it. It's making a conscious decision to get out of the hole, to get out of the pit, to get out of the valley. Some people like to have these little pity parties and I know it was hard right, you just had a baby that came nine weeks early To be clear, and most of the time when people feel that way and get stuck, it's completely validated.

Speaker 1: 8:17

And that's why I said I know it was hard. You just rightfully so. Your baby came nine weeks early. We had no baby shower, we had no name for her for three days it was hard.

Speaker 2: 8:31

It's not what you expected, it's not what you planned. You came home babyless. I had to like mourn that I was walking around my apartment complex pregnant and then, all of a sudden, I wasn't pregnant but I didn't have a baby with me. Like people were confused. I had to mourn so much about that. Like that I wasn't so pregnant and got miserable. Like that my stomach was gone. Or like there were so many things that I truly had to grieve and let go of, but I had to literally let go of it.

Speaker 1: 8:58

So that I could move forward, and I think some people forget that at the bottom of a mountain there's a valley, or the other way around. People forget that at the top of a valley there's a mountain, meaning like you don't, like you didn't have to stay there. I know there's a season that we went through there, but my job as your husband was to say hey, babe, there's a mountain that we're about to go over. There's a way to see it, like the sun is coming out. Our baby girl is healthy. She made it to 31 weeks, to where her brain was already developed, to the point where there was no risk. Yeah.

Speaker 1: 9:38

There was no risk for brain damage or anything like that, right? Wow, and here's how we did it, me as your husband. I decided to start counting all the blessings. Yeah. Counting what we have. I think so many people. They just want mountaintops, they just want all the blessings, but don't realize that life is a blessing. Yeah, and our baby girl was alive.

Speaker 2: 10:03

Yeah, and healthy.

Speaker 2: 10:04

She's what they call a feeder and a grower Like she genuinely just needed to eat and grow, and that there were other moms in the room that didn't have that, that peace and that safety of knowing your baby's not going to pass while you're gone, like that was genuinely something I had to hold on to. I remember there was this moment. One of the things that NICU babies have to go through a lot is their brain is not fused together where it reminds them to breathe, and so Brooklyn had moments where in the NICU she would just stop breathing, and the first time she did it to me, she turned blue. The alarm started going off. The nurses told me like sit her up, rub her back to stimulate her, to remind her body to breathe, and it was a really scary moment. I don't think you were there with me at that time and I remember leaving that day and I told the doctor like it was crazy. I just wanted to like throw her up in the air and freak out. And I remember him saying but you did it.

Speaker 2: 11:05

He was like there are moms that genuinely do that, they freak out. He was like you handled it like a pro and it was such a light bulb moment of like. It doesn't exactly mean what I'm feeling was the problem. It was my reaction and my choice of staying calm and handling situations. So the same thing of this of I can have the feelings of this is unfair. I I'm frustrated, I'm angry, I'm sad, I'm grieving, but it was my choice in this situation to say that I'm going to choose that it's a beautiful day. I'm going to go walk with my, with my six-year-old that I have here with me. I'm going to choose to go walk with my husband and have lunch with him. Like there was so much. It was such a light bulb moment of like. Yes, your feelings are all valid. So in these hard seasons, in these tough seasons, what you're going through is probably very valid, but you get the choice to choose something different than what your emotions are telling you in this season, and that's what I had to do.

Speaker 1: 12:08

That year, 2020, was a hard year for us because that was the year our marriage was on the line. Yeah. We considered divorce, we considered separation, we started entertaining the idea of what would it look like if you were to take one kid, I was to take one kid.

Speaker 1: 12:24

What we're going to do with the car? Sort of entertaining all these thoughts. Who's going to stay in California? Who's going to move where? Are you going to move to Indiana? We're going to move to florida. Am I going to stay there?

Speaker 1: 12:32

We started considering that and that year was so hard because it felt like all the walls were closing in on us. It felt like we were trying to quarantine for 14 days, which, off the record, we never did. But there's that. All right, don't come for me. All y'all doesn't. Oh my gosh, you're the reason why it spread. Okay, relax.

Speaker 1: 12:49

What I'm saying is like it was a hard year for us. Yeah, every single one of us have a choice and I could sit here and say my marriage is hard. We're considering divorce, we're considering separation. This is not working out and I found still a little slither in the relationship to be able to find gratitude, and I really think for people that really want to get out of dry seasons, or maybe not even getting out of it. If you have a desire to make it through a dry season, if you have the desire to make it through your trials, what you have to do is you have to find a posture and a position of gratitude, find something to be grateful for. So for us, I'm like man. Okay, this is wild, our marriage isn't working out. And you know what I said, I am grateful. Why am I grateful? Because you and I both agreed on marriage therapy. We still found something to be grateful for, and I remember that night, thinking like man I'm grateful because wifey, I'm grateful because wifey wants to do therapy. I want to do therapy.

Speaker 2: 13:57

Some couples can't even get to that point Very true, a lot of them get stuck at that point.

Speaker 1: 14:02

They get stuck. And so, like practicing gratitude, I want to challenge everybody like learn to start practicing gratitude. You're going through a hard time. I remember that one time, yo, when you know, early on in our marriage, like money was so tight and you went to the cheapest grocery store to get groceries and you had no money. You didn't have enough money and the person behind you paid for your groceries.

Speaker 2: 14:28

It was like Valentine's day weekend. I thought I had exactly enough money in the account for just what I needed to get us to pay day, and then when I went to use my card, I guess a bill had gone out that morning and so I didn't have any of it. Um, and so the lady behind me she was like oh, I'll get it for you. It was like happy Valentine's day, and I was so humbled and embarrassed but I literally had to go to my car and just cry out and say, okay, thank you, god for blessing us with just a little bit.

Speaker 1: 15:02

Some people decide to give their fist to God and say God, you're the one that did this. God, you're the one that caused this. Why God? Why God? Why Versus? Thank you God, I ate today. Yeah, thank you Lord, I still have a place to sleep. Yeah. Like for you, it was thank you God, you still provided I didn't have enough and the person behind me covered me. Like you said, it's humbling.

Speaker 2: 15:23

It's humbling, it's embarrassing.

Speaker 1: 15:25

It's embarrassing, it checks your pride but you have a decision to make. Yeah, how do you want to see this? Do you want to see this through eyes of anger, frustration, pride or just humbly?

Speaker 2: 15:37

grateful, grateful, even in this season. Recently, I've shared that we've taught the kids to be thankful for every single day. Like Lord, we've ended our day of saying, God, thank you that you gave us everything we needed for today. There are lots of other things we're like private school and sports and cars and all these other things that we have that wrap our minds around the need, but today, thank you that you gave us everything that we needed for today.

Speaker 1: 16:11

You remember that time I had to shift the thinking of our son when he was started, like starting to pray dear God, help us do this, dear God, help us do this, help me do it, you will, you will, you do it. And I said and I remember one time finally stopping I said, son, when you pray, don't ever start your praise like that, ever again. And he's like how should I start my praise? I said you start every single prayer with thanksgiving, a posture of gratitude, every time you go to pray. Lord, thank you for today, thank you for everything that you've done, thank you for providing, thank you for never letting us go, thank you that we're always on your mind. Like it starts to change the posture of your heart when you start practicing gratitude. Even while being in the middle of a dry season tough trials, hardship, financial hardship, marital problems, relationship issues you can still count it all joy. I want to read this Hold on.

Speaker 2: 17:10

Don't mind my fancy cup, guys, because someone blessed me with a fancy cup for my sparkling water and I love it, so don't mind my fancy cup, let's go, Okay.

Speaker 1: 17:17

Um, still again, if you're liking this conversation, hit that like button. Um, I want to read this. So, James, chapter one. It says this brothers and sisters, he says, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy, For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. I love how I said like consider it an opportunity.

Speaker 1: 17:43

Consideration is big because you can look at your situation, you can look at your problems and you have a choice. How do you choose to see this? He says there's an opportunity for your faith to grow. So he said consider it an opportunity for great joy. Your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, For when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.

Speaker 1: 18:10

So how do we go through hard times? How do we go through trials? How do we go through hardship? How do we go through hardship? It's considering it an opportunity for great joy. So we sit here and we count our blessings. We count all of our blessings. The Bible says in order to be a ruler of much things, you want a lot of blessings. Start counting your little blessings While you're in that valley, while your bank account doesn't look the way you want it to look, while your relationship is in need of restoration, while you're still trying to find yourself, while you're lost out there and you don't know your identity. Consider this an opportunity to count your blessings, count your joy, because in time, in endurance time, your faith will be tested. And when you become complete, it says right here, you'll actually need nothing. I love that.

Speaker 2: 18:57

I think it's important, too, to mention that, even when you have struggle and you get through one struggle, that does not mean that struggles end. And so for us walking through all of these instances, number one, they build our faith for the next one, so that we know, god, you, you came through this time when you uh, we had our only car break down and needed a whole rebuild of the what part we.

Speaker 1: 19:23

We had to get a transition or transmission rebuild. We had to get a transmission rebuilt on our jeep and we was the only car we had.

Speaker 2: 19:30

Yeah, so we had to rely on our, our community to give us rides to work and here and there and and then that day we had someone walk money to our door to like help pay for it. So things like that build our faith for the next one. But it truly is a skill and that's what I like about that scripture. It said that your endurance has a chance to grow, because now that we're going through different difficult seasons as life doesn't stop being difficult you just learn to handle it better. We've learned to make adjustments in those tough seasons of slowing down, finding the moment. So sometimes, when it's an emotionally heavy season, we will make the choice of okay, let's take the kids to the park for an hour or two and leave our phones at home. Or, hey, let's do this so that we could just have a little breath. Or let's change up our routine for the kids. Like there's little things that we have learned to do.

Speaker 2: 20:31

Like a few weeks ago on a Saturday, I had just gotten home from working doing some client's hair and the kids were here. We were going to go do something that night I don't remember, but you literally came in and we're like, do you want to walk to the gas station? And I was like, actually I want to take a nap. I was tired, I was exhausted and I was like, but yes, and we got up and we just went for a three block walk. But, man, it made the time slow down. It made you realize that it was a beautiful day, the sun was setting, the birds were chirping, literally all of those things, and it completely shifted my focus from being exhausted that day to I'm really glad we did this, and me and you just got to have a conversation for 20 minutes while we got some steps in.

Speaker 1: 21:11

That's crazy. I want to challenge somebody. So you're probably in a relationship right now, you're probably in a situation, you're probably in a bind, you're probably in a tough trial right now. You're probably going through a test and you know your faith is being tested right now and what this is saying, what this is saying right here. Really consider how to look at this. We have an option. The Bible says to take thoughts captive. So if you have a thought in your trial, in your troubled moments right now, if you have a thought, you have a decision to make. You want to go left or do you want to go right? So many people are led by their feelings. You might be in a hard time right now and I'm not trying to sit here and discredit it. I'm not trying to sit here and say, man, what you're going through is not hard when you had that baby nine weeks early.

Speaker 1: 22:05

I'm not going to say, babe, forget about it, it's nothing, it was hard, but we have a conscious decision to make. You can consider this an opportunity to grow your faith, or you can just go ahead and say you know what this sucks. Woe is me. This is a failure. I don't want to live again and some people meditate on those thoughts and I really want to challenge people like the trial that you're in right now. I like to call them trials because you're being tested, you're going through something, and here's what you're being tested in it's in your endurance level. Because the thing is, if you go to the gym right now and you pick up a 35 pound or 50 pound and you keep picking it up every single day next week, that weight did not get lighter, you got stronger.

Speaker 1: 22:47

Yeah, that's right. People think, oh, this is getting easy. No, the level of it is still the same. You're getting stronger and that's why he said like you have a chance for your endurance to grow and fully be developed. So he says in verse four so let it grow and you'll be complete, needing nothing Next time you go to the gym and you pick up a weight that you feel like yo, this is really heavy. It's heavy right now. It doesn't get lighter next week. You get stronger and that's what we did. We got stronger in our marriage. Our endurance was just being tested and we were just letting it grow. Letting grow. I said it to people all the time in leadership. So whenever you go through something so most people consider it an L for loss, I consider it an L for lesson Right.

Speaker 2: 23:31

You say it all the time.

Speaker 1: 23:32

I say it all the time I say, well, enjoy the L. Well, that's messed up. P, no, no, no, I'm talking about L for lesson. You're being tested, right now, it's true.

Speaker 1: 23:39

And your endurance have an opportunity to grow, so let it grow. I'm being tested right now, man. I'm being tested in so many situations right now in my life, and I have an option, I have an opportunity. It's a chance to count all my joys, count all the blessing, count, everything that God has done. And I realized like, oh my gosh, I am in need of nothing. You know what I'm saying? Crazy huh.

Speaker 2: 24:02

It is crazy. I would also encourage you if you're going through a challenging season, whether it is like we talked a little bit about my hands and I went through a really hard season where I had something to like psoriasis, eczema type stuff breakout on my hands and it was so bad I couldn't even do hair, I couldn't work. Um, it went start. It started to have one part where it was going sepsis on my finger, like it could have gotten really, really bad. Um and so since then it's been a little bit over a year now and I will still have some flare ups. But when I think about the option of I can live my life how I need to, there were times I couldn't do the dishes, I couldn't do my kid's hair.

Speaker 2: 24:46

Now I can do my kid's hair, but I have to wear gloves, like I have can do the dishes, but I have to choose when, like, I have to make conscious decisions. But I'm so grateful that I can still work and that I can still do my day-to-day things, and so what I've chosen to do is literally stand on the promises of healing for my hands. So a few nights ago it woke me up. I was scratching and I got up and first I prayed for my hands before I got up and then I felt I needed to anoint my hands with oil. So I got up and I got the anointing oil and I put it on my hands and I prayed for it.

Speaker 2: 25:20

And then I got up and I got the anointing oil and I put it on my hands and I prayed for it, and then I ended up not being able to go back to sleep that night, and so I'd continue to read about communion and how the Lord truly gives us full healing because of his body being broken for us and that in the blood of Jesus we can be healed.

Speaker 2: 25:36

And so I'm still walking in that healing. I haven't received it completely. Sometimes you'll see my hands are super red, sometimes you'll see me scratching while we're on video. So it is a conscious thing that I'm still choosing to walk through. But I'm standing on his promises of healing to know that my healing will come. And so if you are in a hard season, if you're going through a challenge whether it's relationship, healing, emotional, whatever it is stand on the promises that are in the word, because the Bible says his word can never return void. He cannot lie. He is a man that cannot lie. He is a God that cannot lie. So if you said that my body will be healed, my body will be healed. If you said that every need that I have will be met, then every need that I have will be healed. If you said that every need that I have will be met, then every need that I have will be met. And so I want to read this scripture from Matthew 6. And I think I've actually even chosen to read the scripture before because it's one of my favorites. But it says Matthew 6, verse 28,.

Speaker 2: 26:35

And why do you worry about clothes. See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon, in all his splendor, was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes, the grass of the field which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, you of little faith? So do not worry saying what shall we eat or what shall we drink or what shall we wear, for the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly father knows that you need them. I love that part. He knows that you need them, but seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. So for wait, hold on.

Speaker 1: 27:24

Oh, you still reading scripture.

Speaker 2: 27:26

Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow We'll worry about itself. Each day has enough of trouble of its own. I just what is worry going to do to you? What is worry going to add to you, literally, except stress and wrinkles? Y'all?

Speaker 1: 27:41

Yup, and y'all can see right here on my face, ain't got not one wrinkle.

Speaker 2: 27:45

I sleep like a baby.

Speaker 1: 27:46

That's not fair. That's because black don't crack.

Speaker 2: 27:48

Thank you for saying it. And.

Speaker 1: 27:49

I wear a lot of cocoa butter, Cocoa butter. And yeah, there's a new shipment from P Diddy's Baby Pierre oh my word, you cannot make that joke.

Speaker 2: 27:59

We're going to get flagged. That's it, y'all, we're going to get flagged.

Speaker 1: 28:02

Look, all I'm saying is we all have a decision to make. How do you want to see your trial right now? How do you want to see your valley right now? How do you want to see the troubles that you're in right now? It's either an L for loss or it's actually an L for lesson, like let your endurance grow, stand on God's word, stand on his truth, seek for God's kingdom and what he wants for you, and everything else will be added. That's what we just read right there. It's one of our favorite scriptures in our household Seek God first you make a decision.

Speaker 1: 28:37

Don't meditate on those negative thoughts, all the negative thoughts that keeps coming in your mind and thinking like I'm nothing, I'm never going to get out of this. This situation sucks like. Renew your mind and say you know what? No, god, you're in control and god, you have plans for me and god, you want to see me succeed. If you can take care of the birds and the lilies, the grass, why would you not take care of your children? I know you love me. I know you have plans for me to prosper. Stand on those words, meditate on those words. Get yourself some better friends. Get yourself some people that aren't miserable, comforts, that can actually walk alongside you and help you meditate on the truth. Count every single one of your blessings right now. If things are hard for you right now in your relationship, thank God that you're in a relationship. Start praying for that person that you're with right now. If you can't stand your job and you want to be out of your job, thank God for giving you a job Like. Stop giving complaints and start giving thanks, and I guarantee you, family, you'll see your situation change and most of the time, it'll be your perspective of the situation that changed and your endurance will be tested. It'll grow. It'll grow. Give it a chance to grow, and you'll be in a situation where you actually are needing nothing.

Speaker 1: 29:46

I love how Paul says in the Bible that he's learned to live with anything. He's learned to live with much and nothing. Wow, what a man who's been able to stand in positions where he allowed his endurance to grow, his faith to be tested so true, and living in a situation where you actually need nothing. This is how, family, this is how we've been able to come out of our situations. This is how we've been able to trust God, practicing gratitude, thanksgiving, while being in a valley, while being in a tough situation, everything that you go through is not just for you, it's for someone else to hear too. So you have an opportunity to walk out a story that can change somebody else's life. So that's all I got for today, man.

Speaker 2: 30:28

All right, y'all. So I hope that this encouraged you. That was really what we wanted to do today was to encourage someone to keep going, to keep walking, but to walk in gratefulness, walk in thankfulness, and that is exactly how you walk out of that troubling season and that challenging season and know that you will be better for it, because the endurance will be built, the faith will be built. And now, then, the next time there's challenging seasons, it won't be the same. It's just like Pierre said, that weight will feel lighter, not because the weight was lighter, but because you were stronger.

Speaker 2: 31:00

Yeah man, we love y'all, let's dig.

Speaker 1: 31:02

Wait, hold up, now Hold up. Leave a comment.

Speaker 2: 31:04

Oh my gosh, leave a comment.

Speaker 1: 31:06

I'm playing Yo leave a comment. Danley didn't mention this earlier. If you're listening to this on Spotify, you're listening to this on Apple, be sure to leave comment, subscribe to the page to send it to somebody. Hit us up on Instagram, hit us up on TikTok. Facebook not so much. Send us an email we want to hear from you guys but more importantly, like, send us a little comment. Let us know if these conversations have been a blessing to you. It allows us to know, like okay, we're on track. We don't want to be backtracking and we don't want to be off track. We want to make sure that we are giving you guys value to your lives. You know, while we're here, we're here to help you grow a deeper relationship with God, others and yourself. So let's dig, crew. Keep on digging and we will see y'all next time.

Speaker 2: 31:46

I don't trust you. Now I'm like bye.