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Do you doubt if you can really handle it all? The headlines are disheartening; routines we just set seem like they'll be disrupted (again) at any moment and life seems so very unpredictable.
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!
Kaley Olson: Hello friends. Thanks for joining us today on the Proverbs 31 Ministries Podcast where we share biblical truth for any girl in any season. I'm your host, Kaley Olson, and I'm here with my friend and co-host, Ashley Jackson.
Ashley Jackson: Hi, Kaley.
Kaley Olson: Hey, Ashley. You're making your debut today as a guest co-host —
Ashley Jackson: I'm very excited.
Kaley Olson: — for the first time on the podcast. I'm so grateful that you're here —
Ashley Jackson: I’m grateful to be here!
Kaley Olson: — and that you're joining us. You're one of the most fun people to work with and you look fabulous today. That's one thing about the podcast that other people don’t get to see, is when we're having really good hair days.
Ashley Jackson: Yeah, so true.
Kaley Olson: So, I just commend you for your effort today, Ashley, great job in this season of still kind of remote working.
Ashley Jackson: Yeah, thank you. You’ve got to do it sometimes, right?
Kaley Olson: Yeah. So, Ashley is a wife and a mom of two boys, and she serves on our Social Media Team here at Proverbs 31 Ministries. So, if you've ever connected with us on Facebook or Instagram or maybe sent us a message or something like that, Ashley is one of the gals behind the scenes there. And so, Ashley, I would love to know, what's your favorite part about doing social media for Proverbs 31?
Ashley Jackson: You know, I am kind of a social media nerd.
Kaley Olson: You really are.
Ashley Jackson: I love every aspect of it. But I think one of my favorite things is really the messages from women and the feedback that we get from certain posts and realizing what their needs are and then creating content around meeting those needs. I really do love that part so much. It's awesome.
Kaley Olson: Yeah, I mean, honestly, if you guys aren't connected with us on social media, what are you doing?
Ashley Jackson: Yeah, come on.
Kaley Olson: What are you waiting for? We've got a whole team of people who write incredible content that you can engage with on a daily basis. It can, I don't know, bring your spirits up whenever your spirits are down because social media can be such a downer sometimes. But at Proverbs we make it really fun and really encouraging and so, I'm grateful for what you do and for what all the other Social Media Team members do. But enough about that for right now. I am so pumped to tell our listeners who we've got with us on the show today; none other than our dear friend and pastor and bestselling author, Max Lucado! He's got an incredible message for you guys about how to uncomplicate the calling to stand out and stand up as believers when our circumstances tell us to hide. I think in today's culture, the circumstances of the world just feel so overwhelming, that it's really tempting to just stay hunkered down —
Ashley Jackson: Yeah, yeah.
Kaley Olson: — and hide behind a bubble and not go out and do the things that we know that we're called to do by God. And so, Max is going to encourage us and lovingly challenge us in the way that only he can today, and we're excited for you to hear his teaching.
Ashley Jackson: Yeah. All right, friends, get your notes and pens ready because here's our conversation with Max.
Kaley Olson: We are so excited and honored today to be joined by our friend, Max Lucado. And guys, if you've been listening to the podcast for a while, then you know that Max is no stranger to the Proverbs 31 Ministries Podcast. This I think might be his third, maybe his fourth, time to appear on the show and he's honestly like family to us. About once a year we get the honor of having him teach us something new and something fresh that God has laid on his heart. Max, word on the street is that you have released a new book, and I would love for you to tell us a little bit about it.
Max Lucado: I'm really excited about it and before I tell you about it, let me just say thank you. You know, I love P31. I love the ministry. I love the focus. I'm a huge admirer of Lysa. I'm just so very, very grateful, I really am, beyond words. My only regret is that I'm not in person with you as we've been able to do in years past. I don't know when and if that day will come back. I miss seeing everybody's faces.
Kaley Olson: I know.
Max Lucado: At least we can talk and share voices so thank y’all for having me on.
Kaley Olson: Of course, it's an honor to have you here, Max. So, tell us about the new book!
Max Lucado: Yeah, I have written a new book. Yeah, believe it or not, Lucado writes a new book. So, here's the deal. When COVID-19 began rearing her ugly head in, what was that March of 2020? I was actually scheduled to preach a sermon series at the church on the theme of stewardship and all of a sudden, the idea of money and managing money seemed a little tone deaf in comparison to what everyone was facing. We were just … the air was sucked out … I mean, people wearing masks, people standing in lines, people using the word pandemic. I mean, it was a new thing. And so, I did a pivot. I went to our church leaders and said, “This doesn't seem right for us to be talking about, you know, managing money in a time like this.” And so, I prayed, and I thought and said, “Lord, what is an opportunity, what is a teaching lesson for us in the theme of a global calamity?” And the idea came to my mind to teach on the book of Esther because that is a story of a global crisis, and it's also a story of faith. And so, our church spent the entire COVID-19 season working through these nine chapters that are kind of tucked away in the book of Esther. So that's what this new book is about and that's what, if it's OK with you, I'll start talking about. Is that all right?
Ashley Jackson: I’d love that.
Kaley Olson: Yes, just jump in, Max. That sounds great.
Max Lucado: Well, God bless you and God bless this message and all of our thoughts, in Jesus’ name. You know, when I was 12 years old, I took on a summer responsibility of managing the houses of some vacationing neighbors. It was their idea, mind you, it was not mine. These three families that lived side by side were going to be out of town for a month and they needed somebody to cut their lawns and to feed their pets and water their gardens and make sure that all their properties were cared for. And they asked me to take the job; more accurately, they asked my dad to ask me to take the job. And he did not ask me, for the record, he did not ask me. He told me, and I told him I did not want to do so. After all, I had Little League games to play and … and … and … and I couldn't come up with anything else. The only thing I had to do all summer was play Little League and that got me no traction, those excuses of mine because before I knew it, I was sitting down with each of the families making a list of everything I needed to manage on their behalf. And I recall walking home from their houses feeling something that I had never felt before. I felt overwhelmed. Now forgive me, those of you who are listening and shaking your head and saying, “Lucado, you don't know anything about the word overwhelmed.” But please keep in mind, I was only 12 years old. I was whiskerless. I was clueless. I was just a kid and to manage three households for a month? I mean, one family had a goldfish. I'd never taken care of a goldfish! I kept envisioning the little fella floating on his side, dead from being under or overfed. But there was no getting out now. And on the first day of my unsolicited career, I hurried home from baseball practice, jumped on my bike and pedaled like crazy to the three residences: three lawns that needed mowing, three houses that needed attending, three sets of locks that needed checking, three families whose pets needed feeding, three gardens needed watering. I mean, don't you agree? This was too much for any single human being.
Kaley Olson: That's a lot for a 12-year-old. I do agree.
Max Lucado: But just when I was about to get acquainted with the phrase “panic attack”, guess what I saw. Parked in front of the middle house, white and wide and fresh off a day in the oil field was my dad's pickup. He was there! The garage door was open, and the lawn mower was on the driveway, and he just said, “You start cutting the grass, and I'll water the plants.” And with those words, everything changed. The clouds began to lift, and I could face the task because my father was facing it with me. I believe, dear friend, that your heavenly Father wants to say the same to you. I know I'm talking to some people who are facing some heavy tasks; you have responsibilities that seem too big for your capacity. Could I tell you that your heavenly Father is waiting for you? And when God gives you a call, He will give you the capacity to fulfill it.
Now, we can say that safely because of many, many passages and stories in the Bible, but my new proof and illustration of this is an Old Testament book that has a very relevant story for our age. It’s the story of Esther, Esther. Now, to understand the story of Esther, in your mind you need to go to fifth century Persia. Keep in mind that Persia was the world power of the day. We don't have anything like it in our day and age. It was immense. It was twice the size of the United States. It was simply huge. And embedded within this massive population was a small minority of God's people who had ended up in Persia after the destruction of Jerusalem. So, we're three generations into the time of exile and the heroes and stories, the main Jewish characters, they know nothing of Jerusalem. They know nothing of the temple. They are three generations out from living in the holy city. And so, they have adapted, they have adjusted to a life in which they have incorporated themselves into the Persian culture.
Now, here are the four main characters, you're really going to love this. There are four main characters in the story of Esther. Oh, I wish I had an hour a week to unpack this with you, but maybe this will whet your appetite. First, there was King Xerxes. By the time we meet King Xerxes in the book of Esther, he's about 33 years old. He's rich beyond imagination and, at least in the story of Esther, he's really more of a drinker than he is a thinker. He really says nothing profound, but he's always seen with a goblet of wine in his hand, and we picture him with his arm around yet another member of his concubine. Catch him in the right mood, and he will declare a national holocaust. At least that's what character number two discovered. Character number two is named Haman, H-a-m-a-n. It rhymes with hangman because he is a man of death. And for whatever reason, he decided to declare a holocaust against the Jewish people, and he also declared that every time he passed everyone who saw him needed to bow. Enter characters number three and four. Character number three was a Jew by the name of Mordecai. He was a high ranking official in the court of King Xerxes. It would be the equivalent of, I don't know, maybe secretary of state, he had access to the Oval Office. He was highly ranked among the Persian people in the Persian government. He was regarded with great respect. But here's the deal, and this is important, no one knew he was a Jew. He kept his spiritual and genealogical ancestry a secret. For some reason, he decided that he would, rather than stand out, he would blend in, he would assimilate, and he told his niece, Esther, to do the same. OK, here she is, Esther, the main character of the story, a Hollywood head turner, this girl. She must have been beautiful because she won the equivalent of a “Persia’s Got Talent” or “Bachelorette” contest, in which she was selected to be the wife of King Xerxes.
And so now we're set up. We've got a king who's clueless. We've got Haman who's heartless. We've got Mordecai who's a high ranking official. And then through God's providence, He selects Esther to be queen. Speaking of providence, do we know the unusual characteristic of the book of Esther? It's one of only two books in the Bible in which the name of God is not mentioned … the name of God. And in no way is the Torah mentioned nor is the temple mentioned. Really, the story of Esther is a story of people who were placed in a secular society and called to live out their faith. Now you tell me something that doesn't sound more relevant than that.
Kaley Olson: So true.
Max Lucado: We, like Esther, we, like Mordecai, find ourselves far from home surrounded by people who do not believe like we believe, increasingly more so. And we find ourselves having to make a decision. Do we disclose our faith or do we blend in? Do we stand out or do we blur? So, Mordecai and Esther, incredibly, had become so Persian in dress, so Persian in language, so Persian in lifestyle, that they could live near the king, and one could sleep with the king and never be discovered. So, this is our story. Well, guess what happens! Haman, who comes from a long history of Jew haters, convinces the king to annihilate, to destroy, all of the Jews. They cast the dice. They come up with the date, nine months henceforth, in which they are going to destroy the Jews. And then it is declared that everybody who sees Haman has to bow. Mordecai will not do it. Mordecai will not bow.
Now the story begins to take on some courage when he discloses that he himself is a Jew. He begins walking up and down the streets of Susa, the capital city, and he's weeping, he's crying, he's tearing his clothing. Word gets to Queen Xerxes that her uncle, Mordecai, is just behaving like a madman. She responds, and she says, “Get your act together. Everybody's going to figure out who we are.” And he responds with some of the most famous words in the Bible. Is everybody with me? As I look at Esther 4:14, here's what Mordecai said, “… if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” (NIV). My goodness! Only pages earlier, Mordecai was hiding his faith. Now he has become the theologian of Esther and look what he says. He makes two points and boy do we need these two points today. Number one, he says, “Relief will come.” He didn't say how it's going to come. But somehow deep in his heart, he has come to the conviction that relief is going to come his way.
Dear daughter of God, can I tell you the same? Relief is going to come; it's going to come. We will all get through this. I know these 18 months have been brutal. We're so tired of masks and tired of talking about masks. We’re weary of loved ones in hospital rooms. I received a text right before I went to bed last night, a text right when I woke up this morning, yet of two more people whose lives are in the balance because of COVID-19. And then add to that the racial tension, the political turmoil, we wonder, we actually begin to wonder, if we're going to be OK. Hey, my friend, God has you listening to this message today because what Mordecai said to Esther, God is saying to us, “Relief will come.” He is bigger than this. He is the Father who is waiting on us at the summer job. Remember what the Lord said to Abraham after He told Abraham and Sarah that they were going to have a child and Sarah laughed. The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child, now that I am old?’” And then God said, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” (Genesis 18:13-14). There's the question, folks. Is anything too hard for God? Does He ever give up because the problem is too great? Does He ever throw up His hands and quit? Does He ever shake His head at the sound of a prayer and say, “Hey, I can't handle that problem”? And the answer is, “No, nothing is too hard for the Lord!”
So, my friend, start here. Don't measure the height of the mountain; ponder the One who made it. Don't tell God how big your storm is; tell your storm how big your God is. Your problem is not your problem; your problem is that you're looking at the problem without first looking at God. I know how hard this is. I know what a challenge it is. But faith invites us to accept the invitation of the psalmist who said, “Oh magnify the LORD with me. And let us exalt his name together” (Psalm 34:3 KJV). Apparently, Mordecai had done that. We are not given the details, but something happened in Mordecai — a light switch flipped in his heart — and he remembered that he came from a heritage in which Moses had walked through the Red Sea on dry ground, in which David had stood before the giant and was still standing after the giant went down. He began remembering all these occasions in which God had proven faithful. Would you do the same today, dear friend? I know you're facing challenges but remember, face first your heavenly Father, the One who emptied the tomb. Remember that the Lord Jesus is on the the throne in the celestials right now, overseeing the details of your life. Sometimes I think we forget how big God is, I really do. You know, on a given Sunday, we gather and we're in a comfortable church auditorium in a comfortable pew, listening to a preacher who feels like it's his job or her job to make us comfortable. Folks, that's not it. We gather before a God who is so mighty, He has never not been. Do we understand that demons fear and flee in His name, that angels have been singing, “Holy, Holy, Holy” since the beginning of creation and still haven't sung it often enough? That's how big our God is. And He is able to help you, He is able to help me, make it through this tough time. Relief will come. That's what Mordecai told Esther.
And then message number two is, Do you want to be a part of it? Relief was guaranteed. What was at question was, was Esther going to take advantage of her position as a queen and intervene on behalf of her people? Again, what Mordecai said to her, “…who knows, but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” I'm speaking right now to an audience of Esthers and to you I say, “Who knows, but that God has placed you in your neighborhood for such a time as this? Who knows, but that God has placed you in your community for such a time as this … in your family for such a time as this … in your home group for such a time as this?” My dear friend, daughter of God, believe me when I say, “It was God's idea that you and I live in this generation. It was God's idea that we live to face these crises and He will give us what it takes to face them. What we need is simply the faith of Esther.” She resolved, “OK, if God's going to get us through this, I'm going to go talk to King Xerxes, even though he could have my head for showing up unrequested.” She had initially said, “… if I perish, I perish” (Esther 4:16 NIV). And then she changed and said, “I'm going to go even if I perish.” Oh, may the Lord rise up many Esthers among us. May He raise up many women of God who realize that the call of God is on their heart. We need you. We need that quorum of leaders. We need a quorum of sisters who will stand up in the middle of a world gone wacko and say, “I still believe in a good and faithful God.”
I know my time is about up so I'm going to wrap up with a fun story that happened in our family this summer. Denalyn, my wife, and I enjoy the presence of two grandchildren every Wednesday. Wednesday is called DeDe day in our house. DeDe, my wife, is in charge of watching Max and Rosie; Rosie is six and Max is three. And so, when I found out that they were going to be at our house all day on Wednesdays, I began clearing my schedule so I could be there too. And so last month, on DeDe day, Jenna, my daughter, came to pick up her two kids. The two kids were out in the back — we have kind of a pasture out back — and they were out collecting rocks. They love to collect rocks. And Denalyn and Jenna and I were just in the kitchen having a conversation, when we heard the six-year-old, Rosie, come bursting through the back door. She was yelling, “Emergency, emergency 911.” I don't know where… she must have gotten that off a cartoon. But she was yelling, “911!” So, we said, “What's wrong?” And she said, “Max cannot get up. He’s stuck.” Well, I assumed the worst. I thought rattlesnake bite, or he had fallen in a ravine. We ran out the back door and we said to Rosie, “Rosie, what happened?” And she said, as we're running, “Max put so many rocks in his pockets that his pants fell to his ankles, and he can't get up.” So, of course we did what you're doing, we started laughing. My wife and I just celebrated 40 years by the way.
Kaley Olson and Ashley Jackson: Wow! Congratulations!
ML: My wife said to me, “Max, here's a sermon illustration in the making.” And I said, “You're right.” I'm using it right now. And so, we got there and sure enough, there was little Max. He’s just the cutest kid, with cotton-blond hair and such a sweet spirit. We have a path that we use to drive out from our house onto the street, a long driveway, and he was stuck. He was squatting down and the only thing separating his bare bottom from the asphalt was a pair of Spider Man underwear. And he could not get up because sure enough, every pocket, all four pockets of his pants, were loaded with rocks. And I said, “Max, can you get up?” And he said, “No.” I said, “Well, Max, do you want some help?” And he said, “Yes.” And so, I went over and one by one, we took all the rocks out of his pockets and next thing you know, he had his britches up and was running down the street.
I'd like to close by asking a question to everybody today and that is, what weighs you down? What keeps you from rising up? What entangles your feet? What prevents you from moving forward? What load is robbing your peace? My word to Max was, “You don't have to carry all those stones.” God's word to you is, “You don't have to carry all those burdens; relief will come.” This is the promise of the book of Esther, relief will come. And in the story of Esther, what was intended to be a declared holocaust upon the Jewish people actually became a holiday in which the Jews themselves were victorious. And Esther became the queen of moral courage for her people. Everything was turned around. What was a certain disaster, became a certain deliverance. It will happen to you, my friend, relief will come. The question is, will you be a part of it? To be a part of it, you’ve got to let God take some of those loads out of your pockets. You’ve got to let God give you the courage to do whatever He calls you to do, like Esther did. And I pray that the Lord will do just that. Turn your attention to your heavenly Father, turn your Bible to the book of Esther, find courage, find strength; relief will come. I just want you and me to be a part of it. Amen.
Ashley Jackson: Wow, Max, that was good.
Kaley Olson: It was so good. And I feel like, personally for me, so challenging because at the time that we're recording this, there's obviously COVID-19 happening; it is still happening. We talked about earlier how nice it would be if it would just stop, but it won't, it hasn't. And then it's August, as we're recording this right now, and there's a lot going on in the Middle East that we're finding out about, and I’ve listened a lot to the news and what's happening to believers over there. And Max, your teaching just reminded me of what's happening — the faith that people over there have in the Lord and how it looks like they're being challenged but they're rising to the challenge, while a lot of us over here in America, myself included, have things that are so trivial that make us feel overwhelmed. At the very beginning of your teaching, you said we just feel overwhelmed when things are thrown at us. But I kind of have this feeling that people like me who are kind of comfortable or maybe are far removed from those, you know, pressing challenges that are truly life-threatening. And so, I would love to know from you, what is it that you think makes us want to stay so comfortable? And what's your challenge to us to really get out of that? Because I'm like you, I believe that God's called me to live in this day and time. Ashley, I believe that God's called you. Max, God has called you to live here. But what are we doing with that calling and how can we rise to the occasion where we are now instead of live comfortably?
Max Lucado: Yeah. Well, it's a very real question and I'm living with it even today. Just about four days ago, my doctor called me into the office. He’s a dear friend of mine, a very established cardiac surgeon, heart surgeon and I knew something was going on; I won't go into all the details. But he revealed to me that I have an ascending … it’s so hard for me to say these words, an ascending aneurysm on my aorta, an ascending aneurysm on my aorta. And I looked at John, my friend, my doctor, actually my golf buddy, and I said, “John, this isn't that bad of a deal, right? You can take care of it.” And he said, “Max, we're talking about something pretty serious here.” And his tone changed. What I thought was going to be a real fun trip to the doctor to see my buddy, turned out to be something really heavy duty. And can I confess, I'm not real proud of the way I'm processing this in my head right now. I'm not real proud of it. I wanted to do better. I'll be OK, but all of a sudden, in addition to COVID-19, in addition to the news from Afghanistan or Haiti, we get these personal challenges that we have to do something with. And so, nobody needs the story of Esther more than Lucado today. I was preaching to myself, reminding myself that God is bigger than any aneurysm. God is bigger than any COVID-19. God is bigger than any challenge. So, we just, we just need that.
Now, if your question was a little bit different, if you’d said, “Well, what do we do about it?” I think the tendency is to hide out, to cloister. Now that's exactly what the temptation for Esther was. In her situation, as bizarre as it sounds to us, she could have stayed hidden within the castle walls. In fact, it seems to me, she didn't know about the holocaust declaration because you know, Mordecai had to tell her. He had to tell her what was going on. So, she had insulated herself. And I think we have the temptation to do that, just insulate ourselves, you know, rather than try to help or love or reach out, we hunker down, and we stay safe. And everything about COVID-19 has said, “Don't reach out to people,” you know, “just cut yourself off.” So, to those who are saying, “OK, I want to be more like Esther.” Then I would say to you, “To whom can you go today? Who can you call? Who can you text? Who can you feed? Who needs your money? Who needs your encouragement? Do something, do something. Relief is gonna come.” Let's let the church, let's let God's people, be the people who lead out and say, “OK, we'll make sure that our community has food; we'll make sure that our doctors and our nurses are encouraged. Let's do what we can in our school systems to be a voice of hope and love and life and not a voice of contention and anger and bitterness and divisiveness. Let's be people who do good!” And I believe that every person, if we were to say, “Lord, what can I do today to help bring about the deliverance?”, I believe within short order we'd all have our assignment.
Kaley Olson: Max, that's so good and I feel like we read stories like Esther, and, you know, it kind of feels like a hero story in a way, where this one person … really Esther and Mordecai were two people, who saved up a people. And that almost makes us want to hunker down too, because it feels like too much. I could never do what they did. But hearing you say, “Just do the next thing that God says for you to do in your community.” That makes it feel like, of course it's still a challenge, but it makes it simple in knowing that God is working in the everyday moments.
Max Lucado: You know what Esther did? Her first thing was prayer. I know we make a huge deal, and well we should, out of the fact that she had the courage to appear uninvited in front of King Xerxes and begin asking for his help. But before she did that, she spent three days in prayer and fasting, inviting the entire Hebrew nation, or the diaspora (the people who were spread, scattered around Persia), to pray with her. Now, you know what, we can do that. We can all say, “OK, Lord, I'm going to pray more. I'm weak. I'm going to be on my knees more. Maybe I'm not the queen, maybe I don't have access to the so and so. But I can pray.” And so, I would encourage all of us to take seriously this great privilege to pray and follow the example of Esther.
Kaley Olson: So good. I was just thinking too, this is an overwhelming time for so many of us, whether it's personally or we're looking at the world or what have you. I love the quote that you said, “Don't measure the heights of the mountain, but the one who made it.” And I think it's so easy to look at how big everything is in our lives and think that this is, it's obviously impossible for us, but we lose sight so quickly that it's not impossible for God. This is not something that He was unaware was going to happen, that He has lost control in some way. And so, even as you're facing your own difficulty, as I'm sure you've faced things in the past, for that woman that's feeling overwhelmed on the other side of this, listening, what are some things that she can do to help her focus more on God when these things are overwhelming?
Max Lucado: Well, one reason I love P31, is that you call all of us to spend time in God's Word. Right? I mean, that's your calling. And because of you, millions of, primarily women but I’m some men have snuck into the story, millions of women have opened their Bibles and received God's Word. That's what I need to do. That's what I need to do today. I need to hear His voice over the voice of my doctor, to be faithful. I need to remember what God said to Abraham, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” Now, I won't remember that if I don't open my Bible and read that. So, I would urge all of us to keep that Bible open. I would urge all of us to keep our knees bent in prayer, and then I would urge all of us to keep our eyes toward heaven. In times of difficulty, I just leave worship music going on all the time. I just do, and my wife really champions this. You know, I love listening to The Golden Oldies because I've gotten so gold and old. But we live in a day in which there's such great worship music, beautiful worship music, whatever style you like, so let that be a part of your world every day. And so, I would say those three things: just keep your Bible open, keep your knees bent, keep your eyes up in worship and we’ll be OK, we'll get through this. There is a devil, and he sure does want to steal all of our joy. But he can't have it, he can't have it. And because God is big, and God is good, and God is here, He's going to get us through this.
Kaley Olson: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Well, Max, thank you so much for coming on the show today. I wish we had an hour more to keep talking about this because this is the encouragement that I know my soul needed today. And just kind of what we're facing, everybody personally and collectively as the body of Christ and so, I just so much appreciate your teaching. Friends, I don't know about you, but I know I'm excited about Max's book. It's called You Were Made for This Moment: Courage for Today, Hope for Tomorrow. This is going to be such a good resource for you to dig into and read as you really just use the time that you have to deepen your relationship with the Lord to grow stronger in your faith and your courage, to reach more and do more for the Kingdom. And so, we've linked the book for you in our show notes on proverbs31.org/listen, so grab one for you and a friend today.
Ashley Jackson: Yeah, I love that. Can't wait to check it out. And, before we let you go, I have to pop back in to remind our friends about everything that we do offer on social media. Like Max said, we like to point you all the time to God's biblical Truth. It's a day and a time where the world feels noisy and dark a lot and we exist to be a light in the middle of your day when you're checking your social media feeds. So, be sure to follow us on Instagram or like us on Facebook and request to join one of our groups — especially our 20-somethings group, our mamas’ group or our wives’ group — and we would love to have you join there and build our community. We don't want you to miss out.
Kaley Olson: Yeah, absolutely. It's a way, as we were talking about earlier, where you can obviously engage with content that is light and encouraging and you can also engage with others to make you feel like you're not alone in a world where it's really easy to feel alone with everything that's going on. Well, that's all we have time for today, friends. Thank you so much for tuning into the show. At Proverbs 31 Ministries, we believe when you know the truth and live the truth, it changes everything.