Joyce Meyer - What To Do When You're Feeling Stuck
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Ginger Stache: Hi gorgeous friends. You are just in time because we're going to Talk It Out today. And we're going to talk about being stuck in the middle. Have you ever felt that way? Like, you're just stuck, and you need to move, but God's not doing what you thought he was gonna do. And it doesn't feel, it doesn't feel good. We have a wonderful friend here with us that we want to introduce you to, because we know you all are gonna love her. This is our beautiful friend, Kim Poe.
Kim Poe: Hi! I'm so happy to be here.
Erin Cluley: We love you so much!
Kim Poe: This is so exciting. Thanks for having me.
Jai Williams: We love you.
Ginger Stache: We love just talking to Kim about anything.
Erin Cluley: Anything!
Ginger Stache: We can sit and talk about anything.
Erin Cluley: Like, let's talk about her pants for just a moment.
Ginger Stache: They are great.
Jai Williams: They are pretty great.
Erin Cluley: Look how cute she is.
Kim Poe: She recommend, e recommend that I wear these.
Erin Cluley: I did.
Kim Poe: I came in with something totally different on, and she's like, "No. Wear those". Her face,it was her face.
Jai Williams: When you're serious, it's a serious face.
Erin Cluley: "No, not those. Those".
Jai Williams: You're really serious when you're telling me not to wear something. You're like, "No, not those".
Kim Poe: It works both ways, huh?
Jai Williams: Yes.
Ginger Stache: Well, Kim has a lot to share today as we all do, of course, because we've all been stuck in the middle. But do you care if we start with you? Because you're,you are our special guest today.
Kim Poe: Man, I have been at a place in life where I have totally felt stuck. It's just like,it seems like, it's just the way of God, you know what I'm saying? But it benefits us in the long run. You know, I remember when I was,it was four years ago, maybe, the Lord had put up on my heart to go and be a stay-at-home mom. Now, I had been here at the ministry for close to ten years. And to go serve my family, be a stay-at-home mom, and I didn't know what that was, for real. Because, I mean, I come from a line of women that work. I mean, like three, four jobs, grand-mama, sister, whatever it was, you know, they worked. And so, to not be doing that particular thing that I just always knew of, it was just weird to me. But I knew it was God, because along the lines, I had been building my relationship with him, just being able to discern his voice. And our relationship was just being groomed and it was just so beautiful. So, I knew that he was saying this, but I didn't know why at first. And ultimately, you know, I would find out that the Lord wanted me to take this faith step. And I got excited about it because I felt like he was telling me, "Ok, this is the time," you know, and making this promise, "Your family is going to be saved and you are gonna go into the desire of your heart," which was, I just love communicating, being a communicator to women. Just, you know, helping them, listening to them or whatever it was. And so, this wasn't an easy journey. I'm gonna tell you. It wasn't like, cuz sometimes, you'll see on television where people are like, you know, couples are saying, and we're doing this together. The hard thing was, is that, you know, my, you know, now, ex-husband, we were not of the same belief system. So, I took this faith step prayerfully. I'm telling you all. I was in the Word of God, crying, tears some days, but I was walking through with the Word of God. And I know that he was speaking to me saying, you know, to do this. And so, it wasn't easy, but I did it, took this faith step.
Ginger Stache: Did you kinda have this vision of how it would go?
Kim Poe: Absolutely.
Ginger Stache: Like...
Kim Poe: I did, you know what? I thought everything, I thought this was the time in my life that everything was just,the doors were gonna open. You know, I thought that he was going to be saved. Yes, all of that. I thought he would be saved. I thought that my family would immediately look different. But I'm gonna tell you, what happened is the Lord told me, "It's not gonna be easy, but you'll know that I'm there".
Ginger Stache: Well, what we want to do, because there's so much more to Kim's story that we wanna hear, and what it was like in that waiting and the disappointments and what God did through it all, cuz that's really what it's all about is what God's doing in our lives, that are so hard to see, sometimes. So, we're gonna start now with Joyce talking a little bit about what it is to wait. And my big question is, what do you do while you're waiting? Let's see what she says about that.
Joyce Meyer: You know, patience is not waiting. Patience is how we act while we're waiting. So, let's just have a little selah moment, pause and think about that. How do you act while you're waiting? "Well, can we just go on, Joyce, and see what your next point is"? And part of this training is to get us to that point, where we can wait and stay in the rest of God. 40 years Moses waited, 13 years for Joseph, Abraham waited 20 years to see God's promise come to pass, and in the process, he took matters into his own hands and got himself into a lot of trouble. And when we do that, when we decide to try to do what only God can do, then we always just put God's answer off longer. Amen? David waited 20 years, he was anointed to be king and didn't wear the crown for 20 years after that. I received the call to preach the gospel 43 years ago, in February of 1976. And I was doing something all throughout those 43 years, but it started so little, and it changed so slowly. That it almost seems like nothing is happening. Although, when you get on the other side of things, and you have what you've been waiting for, you can look back and see that you were making progress. And what we really need to learn how to do, is to celebrate our little victories. Come on, all along the way. One piece of advice I can give you, and if you don't get anything but this, it'll be worth you coming. Stop looking at how far you have to go and start celebrating how far you've come. Amen? And just a word to my TV audience, wanna make sure you know that, I know that you're out there. And this is for you, too. Stop thinking about how far you have to go, and everything that's still wrong with you, and everything that's wrong in your life, and everything that's wrong with your kids, and everything that's wrong with your job and just learn to celebrate the good things, the positive things. The more you make out of the good things, the smaller the bad things will become. And don't we tend to focus on the bad stuff? We shouldn't do that. So, celebrate your little victories. I didn't know how to do that when I was waiting for God to do what he was gonna do in my life. But when God put,the day that God spoke to me... And I didn't hear audible words, but it just came so strong in my heart, "You're gonna go all over the world and preach the gospel". Well, I was nobody from nowhere, and I hadn't been to seminary, I hadn't been to Bible college. I had a 12th grade education, what,you know. Almost failed English. "Oh, sure. I'm gonna speak all over the world". But you know what? When... Here's the interesting thing. When God speaks something to your heart, as crazy as it may sound, you believe it.
Ginger Stache: That's kinda where you were, isn't it?
Kim Poe: Oh, my goodness. Absolutely. That gives,i,he spoke it, and I just believed it. I just believed it. And so, that caused me to just posture myself for whatever was coming. I was ready for it. I knew it wasn't gonna be easy, but I knew that God had spoken it. And I knew that he was gonna be with me.
Ginger Stache: Now, wait a minute, wait a minute. Wait a minute. So,
Erin Cluley: Stop right here.
Kim Poe: Ok.
Ginger Stache: Was there not a time that you questioned it at all? "Did I hear God wrong? Did I miss something? Because this is not going the way that I thought it would".
Kim Poe: Yeah, especially, during the times, Ginger, when I felt like the people in my life that I thought would be there and would be able to speak into my life, they were the ones that were questioning it. And I mean, like people that were in church and that I thought would be there and say, "Yeah, God, this is the character of God. He'll cause you to leap. And, you know, he's standing there with his arms open wide to catch you". And it wasn't that. It was people that were saying, "I don't think God, you think that's God? You know, you and your husband are not gonna be together on this". You know, so, I knew that I was gonna be like,it was just gonna be me and God. This vertical relationship, it was just gonna be me and God walking through this. I was gonna be scared. But like I said, I had postured myself because I knew God had spoken, and that he keeps his promises. And it wasn't easy to walk through. Like, Joyce was saying, like I felt like I did the same thing, the same thing over and over every day. And so, we're walking through this, and like I said, it was it was hard. And I have my two girls, and just trying to explain to them what God's doing along the way. And so, after so many years of doing the same thing, I'd go and I'd run, I'd have my Bible in my hand. I there were days where i...
Ginger Stache: You ran with your Bible and your hand?
Kim Poe: Yes, I did, Ginger. I was desperate. Seriously.
Jai Williams: Wow.
Kim Poe: Because I was at a place, I had, I did this little thing where me and God...
Ginger Stache: Wow.
Jai Williams: Not only did you run, but you ran with a Bible, girl.
Erin Cluley: Did you like, alternate arms.
Kim Poe: I'm serious. I started, I even had a name for it. It was called walk, run, read. Where I would walk a little bit, and then I would run, and then I would read, because it was at a time where I really needed to have that constant feeling of God's presence, because it was that hard. Like there were days where I would want to pick up the phone and call my old boss and be like, "I just gotta come back because I don't like the way this is making me feel. I'm scared all the time. You know, I feel like people are against me. Nobody understands". You know, it's crazy like when no,when God calls you to do something that nobody gets it. And, you know, I felt by myself in this, but I was doing the things, I knew still, that I was doing the things that God told me to do. So, fast forward, like now, it doesn't look like I thought it would look because, you know, my marriage is not anymore. And not because of that. It's just over time, you know, just things just shifted, you know? And so, I'm here. I have my two girls, you know, with me. I have a,how old are them children? Eleven, ok, and that was important to me, communicating to them as well. You know, just talking them through how God can, you know, just maneuver your life. And how you have to stay in his word. It's not just church talk. You know, you have to. You have to because that stuff in the word, it's supposed to work for us.
Erin Cluley: Can I ask you a question? Because you're so pretty. You're just, you're just beautiful inside and out, and you ran with your Bible. And so, you are,you are so well put together. And like, when I feel stuck, I feel like I'm in the bathroom floor crying and I'm a mess. Did you ever get to that place, too?
Kim Poe: I got to that place. You know, there were times where I didn't even wanna go home because I knew, you know, it was gonna be hard there. And I would sit sometimes, I spent a lot of time at the library. I would sit, and one day the library closed. I remember sitting outside of the library. Everybody was gone. And I was just crying in my car, telling God it was hard. And at that moment, my Godmother,God love her. That was, see, God will send people, though, even if it's not the ones that you would really, really want to be there. I'm gonna tell you, he sent my Godmother. She walked through this with me, and she was the woman of God. She was that older woman, you know, that could help nurture this younger woman coming along. You know, I remember she sent me a scripture in that moment, and it spoke to what I was feeling. It was in Psalms, so you know, David was being real about everything, and it spoke to everything I was feeling. But it also gave me this tenacity to say, "You know what? I gotta, I really, I gotta keep going to see what the end is gonna be. I've come too far". You know, so I did. I had those moments where I just, I cried. I did. But it's something about, you know, just having God's word with you. And just knowing that you know, he made this promise, and it's not going to change because my emotions are changing. Like, he still has that in front. And so, it was more important for me to follow the voice of the Lord than to fall prey to what I was feeling at the time. Even though it was difficult, even though, you know, it was,it was complicated. I had a lot of questions.
Ginger Stache: Can I ask,because I love what you're saying that God was there through it with you even when it was so hard. But even now, as you said, it doesn't look like you thought it would look, when you got to the other side. So, how did you find that peace in that, "Yeah, this is what God told me to do, wasn't exactly my vision for it, it was his. How you come to terms with that? And the fact that, that doesn't mean it was a failure. That meant that God was just doing something different. How did you figure all that out?
Kim Poe: Man, I tell you, just as spending a lot of time with God. And I got to the place where I realized that, ok, like, he knows the plot, he knows how it's gonna turn out. And because I had this vision in my head of how it was gonna be, he's gonna get saved, my kids, and we're gonna be in ministry or whatever it was, just because it didn't go that way, doesn't mean that God doesn't have another better, beautiful way. You know, his way is always better. And I just got to that place because God,just spending time in his presence, listening for him, and his compassion and kindness is so wonderful.
Ginger Stache: But some people would say because it didn't happen the way you thought it was going to happen.
Jai Williams: And here's the thing. I've known Kim for some time. And I've watched her and these past few years, and I'm like, your positivity through the whole thing is different than mine. You know, like my perspective on things was a lot different. And primarily because like, the beginning of my situation, it just felt like the rug was pulled from up under me, and it caught me so off guard, where I just felt like God didn't protect me. Like, I was kind of like, "Where were you in that moment? Like, why didn't you protect me a little bit more"? But then, also, I remember being at the beginning, I when I first found out about the affair and I first found out about him leaving me, all this stuff, I was in my word like nobody's business because that was primarily because I was believing that God was going to restore my family. I thought that my ex was gonna come back home and we were gonna keep doing ministry together. Because my husband was saved. You know, we did ministry together. And so, I remember writing scriptures and quoting scriptures, and doing the walks, and, I wasn't running with my Bible. That "Battlefield of the mind" Bible,that Bible's too big to be runnin'.
Ginger Stache: That's a workout.
Jai Williams: But I did have, at some points, I would write scriptures and put 'em in my shoes, say, "I'm standing on the word". I was super Christian, you know. But then, I think something pivoted in me once I got the divorce papers. When I got served divorce papers, it was like, it didn't work, like.
Ginger Stache: "This is not the picture I saw".
Jai Williams: "This is not what I saw. This is what,this isn't what, I thought God was showing me". And so, it made me doubt hearing God. It made me doubt knowing what I was doing and believing like I was believing. And it just made me so uncertain to, when I was,and I'm still, I feel like I'm still in the middle, and I'm slowly seeing the sunshine again, and seeing some purpose in it. But man, this middle part has caused so,like, I not envy, but I mean, of course, at points I wish I was able to just be like, "I believe". You know, but I'm like, "I believed, and it didn't work". You know, and I've been a believer for a long time. But to have this,this thing happened so unexpectedly cause me to be at a place where I was just like, "God, I don't know, I don't even, I don't know what your picture is for me. I don't know what your plan is for me". So, I do admire you for that, but I speak for those of us that were like "God, I don't know. I don't know. I'm trying to believe your word is true, but I don't know," you know, so.
Kim Poe: Yeah, yeah.
Jai Williams: That was mine.
Erin Cluley: Being with you again, now, and having worked with you years ago, and you always been so wonderful. But to see, there is, there is a peace over you that is hard to explain. Like, we know what that is because we know what the peace of God is. But it is tangible whatever he has done inside of you. And it's so beautiful to me because as you're sharing your story, all I can see is like, God's goodness all over you, because he loves you so much. You can see the transformation he's had in you. Even though you had to go through all that.
Ginger Stache: And still going through it. I mean, that's the thing. It never stops for any of us. There is a reason that God has us wait.
Jai Williams: Yeah.
Ginger Stache: There is a purpose that we don't see in the waiting. So, let's check back in with Joyce teaching about the purpose in the waiting.
Joyce Meyer: Well, what kind of problems would it create if we knew when everything was gonna take place? Well, first of all, life would be very boring because we need a little mystery. I like to watch mysteries. And we wouldn't have to trust God to bring things to pass in our life if we knew when everything was gonna happen. And that wouldn't be good because trusting God is one of the main things that we need to be doing. That's a large part of our relationship with him. Not knowing keeps us from getting spiritually lazy. Hello? Not knowing keeps us from getting spiritually lazy. It keeps us pursuing God, and seeking God, and praying, and learning, and wanting to grow. But if you knew everything, and you knew when everything was gonna happen, you wouldn't want any of that. Guess what? God knows what he's doing. And if we knew when, we might be tempted to live in sin until the time got close. "No," you say. Yes... God withholds knowledge from us on purpose and we need to believe that our times are in his hands, and that when the time is right, no devil in hell and no person on earth can stop God from moving in your life. Did you hear me? "Well, if the devil would just get out of the way". No, no. The devil can aggravate you but he can't stop God. You keep your eyes on God, and when the right, when the time is right, God will do in your life what he wants to do in your life, and nobody will stop him. Amen? John 13:7, "Jesus answered him, 'what I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand'". How many of you had some, went through some things that you just did not understand at all, spent a few years being totally confused, and miserable, and almost lost your faith a number of times, and now, you look back and you know now, why that had to happen?
Ginger Stache: I do love that when we have the experience, where we can see the whys. Sometimes, we don't get that. You know, sometimes we don't have that whole picture of the why yet, and then, it does come down to trusting that God knows why, and he is still good in our life. But there's so much to learn through all that. And I think there's something beautiful in how different all of our experiences are. We handle things very differently. I'm a why person, which is not always a healthy thing. And yet, what the word says is that no devil in hell is gonna stop what God wants to do in our life. So, we all have that. We all have that, that we can hold on.
Erin Cluley: Isn't that crazy? When you feel like God has told you something that he's calling you to do, or to not do, or whatever, and then, it feels like then, he suddenly, decides to not say anything, for seemingly, years. And but then, all of a sudden, when he's ready, then you can't stop that train. You cannot get in the way of what God is calling you to do. He just builds so much in that process. But he just stops talking.
Kim Poe: Yeah, he wastes nothing.
Jai Williams: Nothing.
Kim Poe: He doesn't, he's not gonna waste it. It's gonna be used. Everything is gonna be used. Everything that we've gone through. Even the stuff that we might forget about. You know, because I'm at a place in life, right now, that I still feel like, I'm kind of like, I'm resting. You know, just from, some of everything that has gone on. Because it was so crazy when I left the house, I gotta say, when I left the house, when I was separating from my husband, I thought that God was going to, the way that he was gonna show me this time that he was with me is that he was just gonna get me the house, or the whatever, the house, the living arrangements that I wanted. But I ended up y'all, for like, almost two years living with somebody. And I ain't never done that.
Jai Williams: Jesus.
Kim Poe: Like, the Lord opened the door for that. And it was totally a God thing at how it all came about. But it was still, one of those, what I felt like what Joyce says, "One more time around the mountain". You know, one more time around the mountain because I can see, you know, that, I can see what you still need in order to maintain longevity up here. You know...
Ginger Stache: Because he cares about that more than anything.
Kim Poe: Yeah.
Ginger Stache: He cares about our relationship with him more, more than anything. And we all have so much to learn.
Kim Poe: Yeah, so much. 'Cause he knows that he's gonna do it, but he's like, "Where's your faith? I want," you know, "I need the faith".
Jai Williams: And the faith is really activated in the process.
Kim Poe: Yes.
Ginger Stache: You know, what I find as a creative, ok, we,we can hear something that God is speaking into our spirit, right? The Holy Spirit's kind of nudging us, leading us somewhere. And I can take that, and I can run with it. I can think of this vision and all these things that can happen with it and what I need to do to get there. And I start this path and I'm so excited. And because, at some point, I begin to realize, I took a seed that God planted, but instead of allowing that seed to grow, I kinda dug it up and I made it my own vision instead of what God's vision ever was. So, then, at the end, when I look back and I say, "Wait a minute, that, this was not my vision". And I felt that so strongly before, God saying, "No, it was never that," you know. "It was my vision, it wasn't yours". And so, that, I hate being in that place. That, I mean, that hurts. 'Cause you feel like a failure, and you feel like all those things that you tried so hard on, just fell flat. "God wasn't listening. And I failed," and all the different people I can blame, that I can blame, "So-and-so didn't help me," whatever it may be. And it comes back around to that quiet voice of God saying, "No, I had something better for you than that, and you hijacked it with your own lame vision".
Erin Cluley: You know, what that reminds me of? It's kind of a funny-ish story, but when I was like, I had just gotten out of college. I was positive God had told me this cute boy in the youth group was who I was gonna marry. I was positive that's, "The Lord had come and spoken this to me". Well, did you know he got engaged to somebody else?
Jai Williams: How dare he?
Erin Cluley: I know! Now, it's not like we'd ever gone on a date, but...
Ginger Stache: I'm sorry. That just made this story so much better.
Jai Williams: You skipped a lot of steps, baby girl.
Erin Cluley: We had spoken occasionally. But I was, I thought for sure the Lord had put this on my heart. So, silly example, but you'll get the idea.
Ginger Stache: No, but it's still real for you.
Erin Cluley: It was so real to me. And so, I thought somehow God's gonna bring us together because I have faith and God works things out, even this. And so, he got married, and it destroyed me. Because I was so positive, this is what I heard God tell me. This is the dream he had for me was, for some reason, that guy. And it didn't happen. So, I remember being crushed, like, "Do I not hear your voice"? And having to go on this whole journey of: "Was that my voice or was God putting a seed in there for something else? And that's how I interpreted it because that's what I wanted". And that, I mean, I had some hard conversations with God, "Like, why would you tell me something and take it away"? Maybe it wasn't it.
Jai Williams: That one thing I was thinking about when you said about the seed, I got this vision of like, what I probably do to God. Like, when he makes the, you know, the whole pot puts the seed in there, whatever...
Erin Cluley: You, little gardener, you.
Jai Williams: But not me, no, no. 'Cause what I'm about to say is what I do. I go to the dollar store, and I go get some artificial plants. I get some artificial plants and make it pretty, faster.
Ginger Stache: Just stick 'em right in there. "Looks good, let's move on".
Jai Williams: Don't have to water it, don't have to prune it, don't have to do anything. It's quick, it's fast, it's cheap, it's easy. While the seed is still down there germinating and doing what it needed to do, I'm trying to speed up the process by getting the pretty flowers now.
Ginger Stache: So, God had this beautiful flowering vine in mind, and we end up with a plastic daisy.
Jai Williams: A plastic daisy. It looks cute, though. It has no life. No life, but looks beautiful. And that's a lot of times, what I believe we do, because we want that quick fix. We wanna get through the pain faster. We don't wanna go through the process of growing and letting that seed grow, that we just rush it and go by the fake ones 'cause they're easier to maintain.
Ginger Stache: Yeah.
Jai Williams: That's what, I mean, I know that, that's a part of it, and that's one of the biggest things that God's teaching me in this season of waiting, 'cause that's, I even said something earlier today about like, on the process of healing or waiting for anything, like you have to allow time. That's what it,like, that was like, the hardest thing for me to accept in counseling, is what, it's like, "I wanna a pill or a remedy. Or lead me to the scripture to tell me what'll make me not feel this way, anymore. I don't wanna feel it anymore". But my coun, "You gotta feel it, baby girl. And the only thing that's gonna heal you is time". So, that, and I'm learning that. More than getting to the other side, I need the process. It's how I go through the journey that really matters. It's that process because that's when faith is activated. I think Joyce said this, like when the goal is reached, or when the prayer has been answered, you no longer need faith. You no longer need faith because it's realized. It's there. So, like, faith is activated in the waiting period, in the process.
Ginger Stache: Because the growth stops at that point. And it'll take us to another place of waiting so we can grow some more.
Jai Williams: So much fun!
Ginger Stache: But I think we should go with like, hashtag #NoMorePlasticFlowers.
Jai Williams: No more dollar tree, no more plastic flowers! That's me.
Ginger Stache: Yeah, 'cause I love to rush things. I love to just get it done and I think I know how to get it there. And, boy, that can be, it can be painful.
Jai Williams: But the plastic flowers are so pretty.
Ginger Stache: You think so?!
Jai Williams: To me they are because they don't give me allergies.They're already fully bloomed, they're perfectly colored, pigmented.
Ginger Stache: Well, if you enjoy them, that's good.
Jai Williams: I mean, I'm learning not to because clearly, I need to go through the process.
Kim Poe: But you know what Jai? I was thinking when you were talking about, I think that's what's so important to expound upon, the feeling part of it, that, that's a part of the process. Because I remember just a few days ago, sometime,last week, I'll say that I got that notice, ok, the divorce is final. And so, in that moment, it's still like, ok, sometimes we think that because we're feeling something like, that doesn't feel good, that God is not there. You know what I'm saying? And so, in that moment, like, my whole body just tensed up. I'm looking at this, you know, message from my lawyer. My whole body tensed up, and my heart starts picking up the beats or what have you. So, I sat in that moment, and I was just looking at it, and I said, I had to make a choice. You have to make a choice in those moments, you know. And I said, "Ok, God, you know, just not leaning to my own understanding, I'm gonna,I'm just gonna default to you all the time". You know, and I said, "Ok, ok, what am I supposed to feel here? What's going on? What's happening"? Everything, everything to God in prayer. Communicating to him about it. Because remember, you know, all the other people they weren't there when I needed 'em. He was. He was my stability. So, I'm still going to him. And I said, "What am I supposed to feel here"? So, I get up and I walk through my condo, back and forth and, you know, then, like, anger started coming out. What didn't happen? You know, what I wished could have happened? "It would have been easy if he, like, I wished he could have," all that. And in that moment, after I got done with all of that, I literally felt like God just kinda took my hands and said, "Ok, ok, yeah". And then said, "You were a good wife". I know he said, "You were a good wife. Girl, you were. You were a good wife, and not because you did everything right, but because you sought after me. You wanted my way". And so, I felt in that moment, like, I experienced everything in that moment. I sat, and I dealt with it. I felt it. The tension, you know, just the pain, but also the comfort from God. He,the thing is, is that he continuously shows up. You know, when we give him a chance. When y'all don't be digging in the ground and stuff like that.
Jai Williams: Puttin' fake plants in there, I got you.
Kim Poe: But he does. He's going to show up. We have to wait and...
Erin Cluley: That's so true.
Kim Poe: Yes, we do.
Ginger Stache: And in all honesty, Kim, it very likely might come up again for you. You know, it doesn't mean that it's finished. It doesn't mean that we're done with those feelings.
Kim Poe: Yeah.
Ginger Stache: But you know now, how to cope and we learn how to do it differently when we have those feelings. There is no rushing the process. So, one final time, let's see what Joyce has to say about that.
Joyce Meyer: What about when God only shows you part of something? Kinda like the appetizer? You know what? Act on what you know but don't worry about what you don't know. See, a lot of people won't act until they know everything, and so they never know everything because they won't act on the little bit that they do know. Take whatever opportunity's in front of you, be faithful over little things, come on... Be faithful over little things. Be faithful over little things. "Well, I'll tell you what, sister Joyce, if I had a million dollars I'd give it to you". No, you wouldn't. 'Cause if you got ten and you wouldn't even give that... Here it is, Psalm 31:14-15, "But I trust in you, o Lord. I say, 'you are my God'. My times are in your hands: rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from my persecutors". Habakkuk 2:3, "For still the vision awaits its appointed time: it hastens to the end, it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it: it will surely come: it will not delay". Every one of you, who have a dream in your heart and you've been waiting a long time, I want you to close your eyes and just listen to this: "If it seems slow, wait for it: it will surely come: it will not delay". One more time. "If it seems slow, wait for it: it will surely come: it will not delay". Everybody say, "At the right time". Now, your journey may be long but you can decide tonight, to enjoy it. You can enjoy the time that you're waiting on God if you'll make up your mind to do it. Don't be moved emotionally. Jesus refused to be moved emotionally. Don't try to birth something premature. Ecclesiastes 3 says, "Everything is beautiful in its time". But it's not so beautiful out of its time. And the devil will provide opportunities for you. When I was so, like, so strongly wanting my ministry to grow and be bigger, oh, my gosh, it was just like... All I could think about... Big, big, we just, we're addicted to big. Everything's gotta be big. And a promoter, yes, they have promoters for preachers, too. I was out in California and he contacted us and said, "If you'll sign on with me and let me be your agent, I can get you all kinds of engagements and make you famous". Well, temptation... "We can work around God's plan and get things moving here". Come on, you know what I'm talkin' about. But that afternoon, I laid on my bed and was praying before I went to do the meeting that night, and I knew in the pit of my gut that was not what God wanted me to do. And so, I finally, just said, "Well, God, either you'll promote me or I'll never get promoted because I'm not gonna do it in the flesh". Come on, don't make the mistake of trying to do what Abraham and Sarah did and get something going yourself because God's not moving fast enough to suit you.
Ginger Stache: Not jumping on emotions. That's such a big thing, isn't it? Erin that's so hard...
Kim Poe: 'cause they are real.
Erin Cluley: They're so real. I was gonna share, not too long ago, I told Ginger about this a few weeks ago, but Mike and I had gotten, I got really frustrated with him for something. And I don't remember the situation, but I was really angry. And we didn't talk about it then. But I just remember like, being so upset. And the Holy Spirit is so good to meet you. And he helped me kinda like figure out what is it that I'm feeling right now? Like, put words to my emotions, 'cause I was so overwhelmed with these emotions, and I didn't know how to even explain it to Mike. And so, he helped me kinda pinpoint things. And then, I felt so strongly, like, in my spirit, "You need to talk to him," but like a rational conversation. And so, I set up a babysitter and we went to dinner. And so, I, God was so good to be with me, and I was able to say to him, "I feel really stuck. I feel stuck in my marriage with you. I feel stuck in these areas, and I don't, I don't know what to do". And so, [crying] he was, it was such a great conversation. And Mike was shocked by what I was telling him. So, it was really healthy, and we got to a good place through it all. But the takeaway, I had from that moment, was in my feeling of being stuck, the Holy Spirit was so close to me. And it didn't make my experience go faster. Like, it's not like, it's all perfect and over now, and everything's great, but I'm not alone. And it's part of the process, part of the journey is us walking this out, but he's right there with me. And so, my emotions didn't get a hold of me. I was able to stop and not have that conversation then, because the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart, "Wait. Now, speak". And gave me the words. So, then, it was able to be a healthy conversation. But those feelings of being stuck are so real. And I just keep thinking of all of our friends who feel stuck. And like, you feel hopeless, and you don't know how to get out of it, but he wants to be so near to us. Like, you said, in our brokenness, he is right there. So, I just think that is really good.
Ginger Stache: And all those wonderful scriptures, and it's not like, you said Jai, because I can do that too, where I just want, I just want one. "Tell me what one".
Jai Williams: Yeah, "Just give me the one".
Ginger Stache: And I'll run with that. It's not that, it is who God is, it's his character. It's a life with him, that is so much more than just one scripture that is the answer to everything. And you're right, so many, so many times in our lives, it changes. And then, something happens and we're so excited about it. But then, maybe, ten years later, we're feeling stuck again. Because we just all go through those things. But it is a part of the process because God knows what we need. And I'm so grateful that when it's so hard that it really isn't dependent on me trying to fix it.
Erin Cluley: Absolutely.
Jai Williams: But I'm also super proud of you, though, for, first of all, obeying the voice of the Lord telling you not to speak at that moment. But also, not being so stuck that you didn't have the conversation. Like, you know, so like, even what you said, is like, "I got a sitter, and we went to a dinner," like in a safe space, so maybe, not at home. It was good that you had this conversation that might have been a tough convo, like making a date of it, making it something that could balance out. So, I'm super proud of you of that.
Erin Cluley: Thank you.
Jai Williams: Like, that's not easy.
Erin Cluley: It,another thing that stood out to me in that was saying it out loud made a huge difference because in my mind, I built this thing up really big. And it's not that it wasn't. My feelings are valid, but when I said them out loud, it took some of that power away. We talked about that, you know, before. But I appreciate you saying that.
Jai Williams: No, it's something, like Joyce just said in that in the last clip was like, what you choose to do and how you choose to do in that stuck season, it's a choice. It was a choice for you to make that decision to say, like, "Let's still talk about it. Not now, but let's talk about it". But I know, even with me, with my journey, and like you, like we're still kinda in the middle of it, even though the divorces are final, it's still like figuring out, "Ok, well, what's next"? I've made a decision, and a choice. Like, even though, I talk about,you know, people, you know, get upset because they're like, "Why do you keep talking about it"? I'm not,honestly, the more I talk about it, like, in these kind of forums, it loses its power over me. I don't cry about it anymore. I don't, I really don't too much. And so, but I've chosen to have fun, in the process. Like, at first, I wasn't. Like, my first year of it. But like, I made a choice. Like, while you're waiting, you don't have to be miserable. You can make a choice, even if you're uncertain, even if you don't like it, even if it really stinks, you know, to make a choice to say, "I'm gonna still find times to have those conversations. I'm still gonna find time to have fun, too.
Kim Poe: Yeah, I wake up every day, like, sometimes, people think that it is easy because of what they see on the outside. They think it's easy for you. But I wake up every day and I make a choice. I am choosing to say, you know, like, "This is the day, like, for real, that the Lord has made. I will,ok, I'm feeling a little cranky, but I will rejoice and I'm going to be glad in it". You know, and just thinking back where he's brought me from, I don't know what's ahead, but I do know, like the hills and the valleys that he brought me over. You know, and how he's kept me and how I'm not like, crazy. You know, like, this stuff can take you outta here. 'Cause there were moments where I felt like,you know, that, I run to the word because I felt like my feet were slipping. And I'd just sit there with it, you know, and I would cry, and I would say, "Show me something. Say something". But that's all a part of it, you know what I'm saying? Just because it was a hard moment doesn't mean that God's not gonna do it. And I think that's where our mind goes, sometimes. "I'm having a hard time, right here, he's never gonna do it". No, this is just a part of the process, so we can have a moment like this, and we can help people.
Ginger Stache: And it is amazing, sometimes. I don't know why God chooses to act this way, but it is like that a-ha moment. It's like a boom, you know, God just opens the floodgate, and your situation may change, or you get the answer to the prayer that you've been waiting for. Or maybe none of that happens, but something in your spirit breaks open, and you're like, "I'm gonna make it. I'm ok". And the healing really begins to happen. So, God does so many wonderful things, what has to change is me, it's my heart, along the way. We have some stuff to help all of you. Wherever you are in this whole pathway that we're talking about, right now, and if you're like me, you don't wanna get this, ok? I don't wanna get this. It's called "Developing patience".
Erin Cluley: No, thank you.
Ginger Stache: But I need it. I need it. So, we have a digital download for you called "Developing patience". It's what the waiting is all about. It's all the things that he has to teach us. So, you can get that at joycemeyer.org/talkitout where you can get all the information about the podcast, too. And if you are in a place where you're just really hurting, where you're just having those thoughts that maybe you never thought that you would have, we want you to know about another place that we have for you to check out. It is joycemeyer.org/hopeforlife, because whatever it is that feels so big that life feels unimportant to you, right now, that's not how God sees it. And God loves you so much, and he has value in you, and there is hope for your life. So, if you need to go there, we encourage you to do it, and God will meet you right where you are. Thank you, Kim. Thank you so much for being with us.
Kim Poe: Thank y'all. It was so much fun to be a part of the Talk It Out, girl talk.
Erin Cluley: We love you.
Kim Poe: This was good. Thanks for having me.
Ginger Stache: And thanks all of you, for being here with us again. We'll see you next time.