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Chances are, your life hasn't turned out the way you thought it would. Maybe you've gone through seasons of brokenness that made you scratch your head and wonder, Why is this happening to me?
For over 25 years Proverbs 31 Ministries' mission has been to intersect God's Word in the real, hard places we all struggle with. That's why we started this podcast. Every episode will feature a variety of teachings from president Lysa TerKeurst, staff members or friends of the ministry who can teach you something valuable from their vantage point. We hope that regardless of your age, background or stage of life, it's something you look forward to listening to each month!
Lysa TerKeurst: What a joy it is to just take a few minutes and wrap this up. And I want to encourage you also that, when you get into ministry, I think you're going to make certain assumptions about what ministry is and is not. I think you're gonna assume that the more good you do in ministry, the more “right” your life will be. And I've actually experienced the opposite of that. I've really dedicated my life and my heart and my passion to being obedient. And I want the equation to be one plus two equals three. And sometimes it does, and I'm grateful when that happens. But there are a lot of times when it doesn't.
Sometimes you can do all that you feel like you're supposed to do, and you can serve and give and love and lead as good of a life as you possibly can ... and then it's like you wake up one day, and you just kind of think, Wow, how did all of that add up to this present reality? And it's not just for those of you who are going into ministry. Certainly many of you are already knee-deep in ministry, and maybe you're experiencing that. Maybe it's because you've experienced quite a bit of rejection. You've put in the time; you’ve put in the passion. You've given it all you've got, and you see your other friends succeeding in their areas of passion. And even though you're equally as talented and you're connected, and you are giving it all you’ve got, things just aren't panning out for you like they have for your friends. Or maybe your struggle is in parenting. You know, you can give and love and serve and have all the family devotions and “family night” dinners and it doesn't always equal exactly the way that you thought that everyone you raise was going to turn out. Sometimes it's more wonderful. But then other times, it's more difficult. And you can lean back and scratch your head and just think, What is going on? Maybe it's in other relationships that you've given everything you have to. And you think it really should have added up to this, but you feel like it's now going in the direction of that. And it's hard. So here's something that God has been teaching me, and maybe this will help you as well.
When you get into ministry or maybe when you're knee-deep in ministry — really, I should say, “when you get into life, and you're knee deep in life” — I think we would do well to remember that things in eternity are going to be upside down from what things look like here on Earth. In other words, what is big here, I think is going to be small in eternity. I think what is popular here is going to be kind of insignificant in eternity. I think success here is actually not going to be counted as a big success in eternity. And the flip side is true. I think sometimes the smallest thing that you do here, that feels so insignificant and, like, “I had a passion to change the world, and this is what I accomplished,” I think in eternity that's going to be so flipped upside down. It is going to be mind-blowing how big of a win that was in eternity. And so I say all of that because I want us to set our sights on really understanding what it is that we're pursuing. If we're pursuing changing the world, that is incredible. But don't always be chasing the success of changing the world, thinking that is what will please God. I think we need to look right in front of us and say, “Hmm, who is the person — not crowd, not people, not stadium full or arena full. Who is the person that God has assigned me today to give a little bit of my time to, a little bit of my charisma to or a little bit of my money to?” And when you do that, that changes the world. I just wonder if maybe 365 days from right now, if we all did that, then there would be 365 people touched in the name of Jesus, just by each one of us. And there's thousands of us that are listening to this right now. So just imagine how world-changing that could be.
But sometimes we miss what's right in front of us because we're chasing what's far from us. We're chasing this big, epic opportunity. We're chasing, like, “In order to be a successful writer, I've got to get this book contract.” And then it's not going to be enough if you get a book contract because then you've got to sell a certain number of books. And then it's not even enough to sell a certain number of books. And then you've got to write another book and another message and try to reach more people and do speaking engagements and get on social media. And all of that is amazing. And I've done it all. But I feel overly convinced, more than ever, that when I get to heaven I don't think Jesus is gonna say, Wow, Lysa, you sold millions of books. Well done, good and faithful servant. I don't think that's it. I think it's actually going to be more like:
Hey, Lysa, remember when you encountered backstage that camera guy? And he walked in there and he was hurting. He was pretty devastated about something that happened in his life. And you remember when you just gave him a slightest little bit of encouragement? Well done, good and faithful servant. Or remember, you had that opportunity to do something so big, and you said “no” so you could stay home and play Legos, and you looked at your little kids and you just thought, “I love them. But there's some days I don't like them very much. And how is this gonna change the world, when I get down on the floor and play Legos?” But you did it anyway. Well done, good and faithful servant.
Or remember that time that everybody said, “Giving money to homeless people is just a terrible idea because surely they're addicted to drugs, and surely they're just going to use the money in chaotic ways.”? And remember what you thought, Lysa? You thought, Well, my responsibility is just to be obedient to God, and what they do with the money — that's on them. And you remember when you gave? And you know what? That homeless person, they actually weren't addicted to drugs. They actually had really horrible things happen to them. They'd been abused and abandoned and hurt. And they'd hit too many rough patches. And that money you gave them ... Wow. It was the evidence that they needed that God still exists and that there are good people that still live in this world. Well done, good and faithful servant, well done.
And remember that time, Lysa, that you knew something about somebody, and that person was hurting you and hurting you and hurting you and hurting you? And instead of putting them on blast, you chose to just hold that information private so that you could leave room for Me to still move in their heart? Remember when you did that, Lysa? Well done, good and faithful servant. You are blessed. Yours is the Kingdom of heaven. You will inherit the earth. You have made your Father proud. You lived a life. You weren't perfect. Heaven knows, Lysa, when you turned up Taylor Swift way too loud and you were just rocking out and thinking there was a praise song, and you were lifting your hands and praising as if T-Swift were really singing to the Lord ... and maybe she was. You didn't get it all perfect, Lysa. You certainly did not.
But when your heart was purely seeking Me, and you weren't chasing, in the name of “Christianity,” the big things of the earth that were just really kind of a cover ... Like, “I want to change the world for Jesus, but please make me popular in the process.” When you fought against that? That was: Well done, good and faithful servant.
When you just saw in the quietness of your heart that, before doing things for Me, your greatest passion was being with Me ... Well done, good and faithful servant.
Tonight's passage that I want to read is from Matthew Chapter 5. And I've been looking at these scriptures in a little bit of a different way. So when I read them, even if you know some of the scriptures really, really well, don't let your brain race to information you already have. But I want you to sit in this moment. And I want you to hear these verses as if you're hearing them for the very first time. Matthew Chapter 5, starting in verse 3. This is Jesus speaking. And it's under the section of my Bible called “the Beatitudes”: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Bless those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” (Matthew 5:3-12, NIV) So when I look at these verses, and I start with the very first thing, I'm already sensing this upside-down nature that what’s small here is big in eternity, and what's big here will be small in eternity. And what feels like a curse here could actually be a blessing for eternity. This upside-down nature of really understanding what's being taught here, though, can't be void of how hard it is to apply this when you're actually persecuted. When you're actually insulted. When you're actually grieving, to the point where you're pouring your heart out wondering if it's ever going to be better because it certainly doesn't feel better at all. And so what comforts me is I think about ... this is Jesus who is teaching us this, and Jesus, though He was absolutely perfect in his divinity, the Scriptures tell us that He learned obedience through His suffering.
And so when I think about Jesus, I think, What do you mean He needed to learn obedience? Because wasn't He absolutely perfect? Yes, Jesus was absolutely perfect in His divinity and sinless in His humanity, but never miss the reality: He was human, made human, to be like us. Now, without sin, yes. But did He hurt immensely when He dared to trade the perfection of eternity to don the skin of humanity? Oh, you bet He did.
All you have to do is look at Mark Chapter 14, right as Jesus is in the garden of Gethsemane, right? Before He goes to the cross. I think about these verses every single day of my life. In Mark Chapter 14, Jesus says, "‘My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death’" (Mark 5:34a, NIV). How in the world could Jesus get to a place where He was overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death?
Because in His perfection ... Like, if answers would have made it better, He had all the answers. If success would have made it better, well, He could do anything. He could have been as successful as He wanted to be. And yet He chose so many times to not let the success run ahead of His time with God. If praying the perfect prayers would have fixed it, well, He always writes the perfect prayer. If always doing the right things would fix it, He was without sin. He always did the right things. And yet there was something in His humanity that still made Him cry out, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.” I relate to those words of Jesus so much. He goes on to say, then, “[God] ... everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me” (Mark 14:36a-b, NIV). In other words, “God, You can change the plan. And I really want You to change the plan. And I'm asking You to change the plan.” But then He utters those nine earth-shaking, hell-shattering words: “Yet not what I will, but what you will” be done (Mark 14:36c, NIV). And so because I know that about Jesus, and setting the context for reading these verses, I know Jesus hurt like I hurt. He was overwhelmed with sorrow sometimes. He knew what it felt like to want the plan to be changed, and to know that God is absolutely capable of doing anything, and yet be in a place of trust when God chose not to answer. Because I know that about Jesus, I can read these words of Jesus and trust that there's something for me here too. This isn't just for someone who is absolutely perfect like Jesus was.
This is for someone who is dared to try to be a human in this really scary and hurting world. So with that in mind, and knowing that, Jesus is a merciful and faithful High Priest, so He's speaking these words to us not to just have this beautiful little quote to put in your kitchen, or some verses to memorize, but He is giving us this for some reason. Not just because He knew it was possible for Him but because He knew we would need this.
So what part of this do we need? Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are those who mourn. Blessed are the meek. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Blessed are the merciful. Blessed are the pure in heart. Blessed are the peacemakers. Blessed are those who are persecuted. “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad,” Jesus says (Matthew 5:12b, NIV, emphasis added). And so as I'm reading this, I'm like, “OK, something here is for me. But I just have to be honest. When people persecute me and falsely say all kinds of things against me and insult me, my first reaction isn’t to go, Wow, I feel so blessed. I mean, what a blessing. They just said that about me. I mean, never have I felt more blessed in my whole life. Wow. I mean, that is what just made my day. I mean, I'm gonna just wind up telling everyone how blessed I am because I got insulted today. That's amazing, right?”
I wish that was my first reaction, but sis, that ain’t it. I think, Why are You not protecting me? And I think sometimes God is saying back to me, “I am. I am.” So what is in this set of scriptures for me? As I read them over and over and over and over, I started to see a connection that kind of blew my mind. I don't think these are just individual groups of people, or different seasons of our life that aren't connected. Like, in other words: “Blessed, are you, Anna, if you happen to be poor in spirit today, and I just want to tell you that yours is the Kingdom of heaven. Oh, and then Lysa, blessed are you when you mourn because you're a different category over here; you're going to be comforted. And let's see, Jeannie over here, blessed are you when you're in a season where you're kind of meek; you're going to inherit the earth. And Taylor, blessed are you when you hunger and thirst for righteousness, for you'll be filled.”
That's the way I used to think of these verses, like they're separate categories of people or different seasons in someone's life. But then I started to see the connection. This is one person who's going through brokenness. And I think Jesus is giving us the stages of brokenness so that we won't get lost when we get so very hurt. So listen to the connections here.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit ...” (Matthew 5:3, NIV). Now, this isn't just somebody who's physically poor, although it can be that. But this is also someone who is in so much pain ... It’s pain to the point of exhaustion, and it can be emotionally, physically and spiritually. So blessed are you when you are broken. Blessed are you when you're broken, and from that brokenness, look what the next one is: “Blessed are those who mourn ...” (Matthew 5:4, NIV). You will mourn. Because there is a grief attached to brokenness.
And, you know, sometimes, I feel like we're really good in the United States with understanding what to do when people are grieving a loved one that passes away. Like, there's a whole protocol. We know what to wear. We know who to call. We know what to do. And we know to bring the casserole, right? And so there's, like, this whole protocol of what to do. And I think that's good.
But what about the millions of other funerals that we're having for the disappointments and disillusionments and devastations of life? And ain't nobody bringing a casserole. There's just a deep grief and a deep mourning when we have a broken heart. And it's not just when someone dies. Maybe it's someone who's very much still alive, and they've shoved you away or they walked away. Or they just didn't care enough to stay emotionally connected. That's a funeral, too. And I think each of us has lots of funerals all throughout our life. But we don't really understand that there's something on the other side of mourning. So blessed is this poor-in-spirit person. Blessed am I when I'm broken and I am mourning, and the very next verse (v. 5) says, “Blessed are the meek ...” (Matthew 5:5, NIV). Because you see, our brokenness is actually something that works for us if we will let it because there's nothing that can make us more humble than when we realize, when we absolutely realize, a desperation that we have inside of us for God, and that desperation is good. Because if lesser loves always completely satisfied us, we would have no need for God and humility.
Humility is kind of a funny thing. Like, if you raise your hand at Bible study this week, and you go, “You know, I'm really killing it because I've been so humble this week, but it's just really going well for me in that area.” I mean, do you see how ridiculous that sounds? Or even like telling a friend, “Hey, I'm really working on humility. So can you kind of keep me in check with that?” I think that's kind of a hard thing to pursue. Well, you don't have to pursue it when you've got a broken heart — because that brokenness will lead you to humility, and that can be such a beautiful gift.
I think we are all called to be humble before the Lord and we're all supposed to wind up on our face before the Lord. It's just that some of us will choose the path of humility, and some of us will choose the path of humiliation. The only difference is one chose to follow while the other tripped and fell there, but we both wound up on our faces before the Lord. So blessed are you when you have this brokenness in your life, and you're letting it work for you, and you're not denying your feelings. Oh, absolutely not.
And you're not denying you need to pursue healing. Oh, absolutely not. And you know when to go to a counselor and get some good Christian counsel, absolutely. Blessed are you, brokenhearted person, because you are in touch with the feelings you need to be in touch with, so you can mourn and grieve and do what you need to do to get on the other side of this, and in the process you will become more meek; you will become more humble. And then, look at verse 6: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness ...” (Matthew 5:6, NIV).
Oh yeah, that is definitely the next step. It's this next phase you go through when you're brokenhearted and you're mourning and you're becoming more humble, and you have a different desperation for God.
People don't care to know about your Jesus until they know that they can touch and see and feel the reality of Jesus when they encounter you. And it's those people who are hungry and thirsting — not for success, not for a book deal, not for the biggest speaking contract, not for this awesome career ... None of those things are bad, and if you have those, then those are blessings from God, but that's not what we're supposed to hunger and thirst for. That's not what we're supposed to chase. Our job is to be obedient to God. God's job is everything else. And the best prayer to pray is: God, do not ever let my calling be more developed than my character. God please develop my character to match my calling so that my primary hunger in this world is for You, and doing what pleases You. And brokenness helps us have that kind of hunger and thirst for God like never before.
So, blessed are you when you're broken and you're mourning and you're becoming more humble, and you're hungry and thirsting for God and for righteousness. And then it says, “Blessed are the merciful …” (Matthew 5:7, NIV). Because isn't it true you will become more merciful when you yourself have been absolutely desperate for God's mercy? And when you have never been through brokenness and you have never desperately needed God's mercy, if you've only received a tiny little bit, you'll only think it's appropriate to give a tiny little bit. But when you have been desperate for the mercy of God, and you have received truckloads of it … that's a person I want to be around.
I remember one time I was having a conversation with Ron Blue. He's a brilliant financial advisor and he has a company called the Ron Blue company. And he's just an absolutely fascinating, beautiful human soul. And I asked him, I said, “Ronnie, of all these people working for you, how do you know, in the short span of an interview, that that's the right person to hire?” And he said, “Lysa, if I can't tell that they've ever been broken, I will not hire them — because it's the broken person who approaches life, once they've been healed, with the right kind of humility and desire to please God and willingness to love other people and not use them. If they haven't been broken, I will not hire them.” That stuck with me. There's beauty in the breaking.
Blessed are you who are brokenhearted and need to be comforted because you're mourning, and you're becoming more humble, and you're hungry and thirsting after righteousness, and you're becoming more merciful because you realize how desperately you need grace, so you're so much more willing to give grace and marry it with the truth that is necessary to hold hands with grace. Remember, Jesus came in truth and grace. It is grace that can lead people in and draw them to the kindness and the mercy of God, but it's only the Truth that will set them free.
So that combination is doing something so beautiful. And that leads right to the next part: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” (Matthew 5:8, NIV). I think the “pure in heart” here is not the perfect person, not at all the perfect person. I think it's that person who desires to see God, and then they will. I have this prayer that I've been praying each day when I wake up. It's: God, I want to see You. God, I want to hear You. God, I want to know You. God, I want to follow hard after You. And then I go on and I try to not make so many suggestions to God — I still have not perfected that part, I'll be honest — but I still make lots of suggestions to God. I'm just getting a little better about it, OK? Side note: I don't charge extra for those tips. OK, thank you.
So, but what I do is, instead of spending so much time, like, asking God for things and suggesting how God can fix this and arrange this, I simply say: God, You know best. God, You are good. You are good to me. God, You are good at being God. So therefore, I'm going to trade my will for Your will because I'm so confident that You will lead me from here.
And then the very last part of the prayer, I ask the Lord: God, show me someone to forgive. Show me someone to bless, and show me evidence all around me of Your goodness and faithfulness, Lord. And I promise You I will look for You all day today. And then I get up from that prayer and I recognize I just invited the divine God almighty to do life with me, and I expect to experience Him. I expect to encounter someone who I need to forgive. I expect to encounter someone who I need to bless, and I expect to encounter evidence of God's goodness and God's faithfulness, and when I do, I don't call it “luck.” I call it what it is: the hand of God.
And it's kind of like today if you are going to go buy a red Honda, OK, and you think, Wow, this is so super unique, like, I don't ever see anybody driving a red Honda, and so I'm going to get a red Honda because I'm going to zip around town. I'm going to feel so special. And then you go and you buy a red Honda, and all of a sudden you pull into the coffee line, the drive thru line, and there's two other red Hondas. And you're like, Wait — did they also get the memo today to go get a red Honda? And then you pull into the church parking lot and there's four red Hondas, and you pull into the Target parking lot and there's 10 Red Hondas, and you're just wondering like, Did a message fall from the sky and tell everybody to go buy red Hondas today? No, those red Hondas have always been all around, but because you weren't looking for them, you didn't notice. And that's the way it is with God. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” (Matthew 5:8, NIV) Why? Because they're looking for Him. That's why.
So, blessed is this broken person who's gone through a season of mourning, and then out of that mourning they've become more humble and they have a different passion of hunger and thirsting for God and for righteousness, and they've become more merciful, and they’ve become more pure in heart, and they’ve become peacemakers. Jesus said, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33, NIV). And so the peace is what He gives us. He says, “[My] Peace I leave with you …” (John 14:27a, NIV). And it's not just if your circumstances line up, then you can have peace. No, Jesus says in the midst of the circumstances you’re walking through, it is possible for you to bring His peace into that atmosphere. And someone who has been broken, they know how to bring some peace into the atmosphere. If they've gone through these stages where they're broken, this has worked for them because they've been broken, and they took time to mourn and heal, and they became more humble, and they're hungry and thirsting for God, and they become more merciful and they have such a desire to see God and pursue God, they start to bring peace into the atmosphere that they step in. And they walk into a room, and they don't expect other people to bring peace to them, but rather they step into that room and they are determined to bring the peace of Jesus from inside of them out of them, and to all who desperately need it.
Now, don't you at this point want to go, Yay, cue the band; let's sing it out, right? This is amazing. Tie a little bow on it. Now you've been through all these stages of brokenness and you finally hit this place where you are becoming a peacemaker. Let's “ta-da!” and let it end there.
Look what happens right after this. Right after “blessed are the peacemakers” (v. 9). The next stage of brokenness is: “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness … when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad …” (Matthew 5:10-12, NIV). What? Like, let me get this straight. So I'm gonna pursue getting healed and be more humble and hungry and thirsty for righteousness, and seeing God ... I'm gonna do all that. And I'm going to be bringing peace with me. And then I'm going to be greeted with persecution.
OK, I don't want to sign up for that. That doesn't sound like what I want right now.
OK. But here's the reality. Do you see what's happening to this person? They are getting more and more and more and more like Jesus. They are getting more and more and more and more and more healed. They are getting more and more and more and more and more like the light on the hill that shines the love of Jesus. Health can't bond with unhealth no more than light can bond with darkness. So it only makes sense if you're going to be bringing healing, and you're going to be bringing light into this world, you will offend the unhealth and the darkness in other people.
So of course you're going to be persecuted and insulted and have people falsely say all kinds of crazy stuff about you. I know this happens to me on the daily. And yet when I open up God’s Word I'm reminded of the realities of the upside-down nature of an insult here on earth because of me serving Jesus, which is going to be a great praise in heaven. That probably sounds a lot like, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” Oh, if we can only remember … “Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets ...” (Matthew 5:12, NIV) and, might I add, Jesus too.
They will persecute you. They will hurt you. They will insult you. They will say all kinds of evil against you because of Jesus, because of the light that's offensive to the darkness around you. I wrote something that I think is very appropriate. It says, “Leadership, speaking and writing means that people love you — until they don't. But if they betray you, leave you, say things about you and take from you, don't willingly hand over your integrity as well. Don't waste your energy on simmering resentments and don't prove them right by now acting wrong. Remember, their insult or their criticism might have just given you the very things needed to usher in your greatest ministry idea ever. Innovation requires necessity and resistance. So let that resistance work for you and not against you. Forgive them, and maybe even thank them and wish them well. They didn't stop you. They propelled you.”
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven ...” (Matthew 5:3-12, NIV)
These are the stages of brokenness, and maybe, in God's mercy, Jesus gave us these so when we feel so hurt and broken and beaten-down in the middle of ministry, or just in the middle of life, we won't lose our way. And we can see it's not all bad, this brokenness that we're going through. There is good ahead. There is character that's being developed. There is a purpose to your pain. So embrace it and be glad, even though it hurts. And remember, what is devastating, here on earth, could be such an epic win in the spiritual realm, when we get to heaven. And when we see it, I don't think we're going to ask so many “why” questions. Like, “Why did You let this happen to me, God?” Or, “Why did I have to walk through that?” I don't think the “why” questions are going to be what we ask Jesus. I think we might lean in and say, “Jesus, how come You didn't trust me with more?”
Let me pray. God, help us to carry this message into the hard, hurting places that we will all walk through. For those, Lord, that are going through devastating seasons right now, will You help them to find their place in the stages of brokenness and help them to keep walking forward toward healing and wholeness and mercy and grace and truth? Let this work for them, not against them. And, Lord, those of us who are scared to step into ministry because we think, Oh no, I'm not going to step into ministry because that's just going to put a big target on my back and I don't want to be attacked ... Lord, would You comfort them? Would You infuse them, like in Paula [Faris’] message today, and would You command them to be strong and courageous? Would You remind them that it's in Your grace You're placing them in ministry? Because You see what's coming. It's not so much that the devil attacks us because we're in ministry; I think it's in God's grace He places us in ministry so that we're knee-deep in living His Word, moment by moment, day by day. God, help us to remember that.
And for those of us who have broken people in our life, and we’ve started to feel aggravated because they don't seem to be healing fast enough, God, will You give us unusual measures of mercy? We may have to draw boundaries with them. We may even have to change the kind of relationship we have with them. But, God, help us to remember not to get so frustrated that our frustration turns into hate. God, let the broken realities of our life work for us and draw us ever closer to You. Let us be people with humble hearts and willing spirits, eager to see You and to know You and to follow hard after You, and help us to never, ever, ever forget to seek You in the small places that probably will be the biggest places when we get to eternity. In Your holy name we pray — we love You so much — amen.
Kaley Olson: Well, what an incredible message, Meredith, right? I mean, how challenging is it to look at the Beatitudes in a fresh way. I think, it’s easy to look at a message like this and hear the word Beatitudes and think, oh I mean, I know that story, do I really need to hear it again? I know what the Beatitudes are. But this message is proof that as believers, there’s no limit to how much we can absorb from Scripture.
Meredith Brock: Absolutely. And it’s important to always be learning. That’s why we have this podcast for you to listen to monthly and be challenged to grow in your faith. Don’t grow stale. But you know what Kaley? Sometimes it’s nice to get away to learn in a new setting with friends so we’ve got some really cool opportunities to learn from Lysa TerKeurst that we want to tell our listeners about. Now first, if you’re a cruise person, and you are ready for some adventure out on the open waters — I love this because it’s going to one of my favorite places in all of the world. It is my daughter’s middle name. And that is, y’all, Lysa is going to be going on — we hope you will join her — an Alaskan cruise. It’s July 25 through August 1, 2022 and we are so excited about this one because I think we’re gonna hear, Lysa’s gonna unpack Scripture in a fresh way. She’s going to be joined by her personal counselor, as well as Jaime and Erin Ivy. It’s going to be really, really powerful.
Kaley Olson: I mean, it sounds like the best time, the best time to go. First of all, in July in Alaska? Like, North Carolina it’s hot here all the time. Hopping on a boat, up there to see the whales. Hanging out with Lysa and Jim and the Ivy’s. That sounds awesome!
Meredith Brock: I know, it’s going to be incredible. Here’s another opportunity though. Are you ready for this one? I don’t know if you’re ready.
Kaley Olson: I don’t know if I am.
Meredith Brock: Well that is, the next opportunity is October 25 through November 4 of 2022. And get this you guys, Lysa and Joel Muddamalle, our Director of Theological Research, will be leading a trip to Israel. And it is going to be incredible. They will be going to over 40 different iconic Biblical locations and unpacking what happened in Scripture. There’s so much to learn in both opportunities. And we don’t want you to miss out! So go check those out. You can learn more about those opportunities if you go to proverbs31.org/listen on the show notes page and we will link out to both of those opportunities.
Kaley Olson: Absolutely. Well and you know what? We just heard from Lysa on the Beatitudes, but on a trip like this, you get to go and experience the places where Jesus stood and taught.
Meredith Brock: Isn’t that wild?
Kaley Olson: It’s so wild! And I have heard from everybody who’s gone —I haven’t been, but you’ve been a couple of times – that it just changes the way you look at Scripture and read Scripture because it becomes like a real-life view, a 3D view. So I really encourage you guys to go and sign up if you are able to. And one last reminder for those of you interested in She Speaks Online conference pass, so much valuable training on writing, speaking, and leading can be yours for only $65. Visit shespeaksconference.com to get yours today. And that’s all we have time for today my friends. At Proverbs 31 Ministries, our goal is to help you know the truth and live the truth because we believe it changes everything.