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Welcome to From My Father with Tangie Callahan.
Take your shoes off + stay awhile.
Grab a cup of coffee—or a matcha—and join Tangie for honest conversations about faith, life, healing, purpose + everything in between. Through real stories, real questions + biblical truth, you’ll discover the Father’s heart for every season.
Whether you’re navigating a difficult season, searching for answers, growing in your faith, or simply longing for more of God, this is a place where you can pull up a chair, be encouraged + be reminded that you’re not walking alone.
New episodes feature heartfelt conversations, practical wisdom, personal experiences + the timeless truth of God’s Word—all designed to point you back to the Father.
Real life. Real questions. The Father’s heart.
The conversations begin THIS AUGUST. 🤍
Welcome to From My Father Podcast.
I'm your host, Tangie Callahan, and I'm so grateful you're here.
My prayer is that every conversation points you to the heart of the Father, reminding you that every good and perfect gift comes from Him.
So whether you're driving, taking a walk, or taking some quiet time for yourself, I pray you leave every episode knowing Him more and experiencing His love in a deeper way.
Now take off your shoes and stay a while.
Let's get started.
Hello friends and welcome back to From My Father.
Today I have my girls again.
Are you surprised?
She can't get enough.
I'm beginning to see a trend.
Nah, it's just been so... I told them, I was like, I don't want to end this yet.
I want y'all to still be a part of the conversation.
We're here, Mom.
We're so thankful that you're here today.
Today we're going to dive into a different subject than...
we've talked about and i'm excited about it but before we do that you guys know i like to start with the blessing and the burden i love it uh you don't have to go deep guys what is your blessing and what is your burden just little things my burden is that i i'm starving right now yes unfortunately i went dinner but my blessing is that mommy said she would take me out to
Yes, that's true.
Wow.
She asked y'all too.
Y'all are on a calorie deficit.
If I hear calorie deficit one more time.
I know.
You go, Rhay.
My burden is the laundry that's piled up at my house that I know I have to tackle when I get home.
Wait, did I say blessing?
No, you said burden.
I said burden.
Party.
Party.
My blessing is...
I'm beginning.
Oh, I have my blessing.
Okay, go ahead.
I cannot wait for football season.
That is her blessing.
And it is coming up.
I think we're two weeks away and I'm feeling the fall in the air.
Like going home from church and putting it on the TV.
Yes.
Ordering wings.
And eating.
I want wings.
I'm so hungry.
It's just the fall vibes with the football.
I feel it coming.
There's no better time of year.
I'm very excited for fall.
My blessing is on Saturday, I got to wake up with my husband for the first time in a long time.
And I cooked breakfast for us both.
And we had a slow morning and a slow day.
We didn't do a thing.
Don't you love those days?
It was wonderful.
That is amazing.
I cooked bacon, eggs, pancakes.
I could eat it right now.
My mouth is watering.
And avocado toast.
Oh, you went deep.
I needed to.
Then my burden is, so I sleep most of the time on my left side.
But right now on my left side is a window and the street light has been on bright all throughout the night.
And so when I roll over to my good side, I get awoken.
Awakened.
Awakened.
By the light.
Get blackout curtains.
That's what I need to do is get blackout curtains.
But the budget is a little tight right now.
You might have to dip in the savings.
I might have to pin a blanket up there for a little while.
Oh my goodness.
Y'all are crazy.
Y'all are crazy.
Today, we are going to dive into a brand new subject that I'm excited about because we've had some listeners to write in about a few things.
And if I had a title for this episode today, I would call it The Mean Time.
what you do in the waiting seasons.
And I know that this can really, I think it can affect a lot of women, whether they're waiting for babies, maybe they're waiting for that, like you're a young adult and you don't know when you're going to get married or, you know, you're waiting for, I don't know, a financial promotion.
Any problems.
Or, you know, we could go in any area.
But what do you do?
I think I want to dive in to what do we do in the waiting season.
And first of all, I just want to say that waiting doesn't mean nothing is happening.
That's right.
Sometimes we interpret silence as inactivity or what we don't see as God not moving.
That's so good.
But some of God's deepest work happens when we can't see it, which is so true.
And in my life...
I think, you know, I don't know where the scripture reference is, but it says without faith, you can't please the Lord.
If my life, when I'm in a waiting season, which has happened in many, I can name many times, in the pastoral world, in ministry world, in motherhood world, that I've had to wait, I would probably say that
The way that the enemy got me the most was when what I was praying for, the opposite happened.
And you feel like God's not hearing you.
You feel like God's not listening.
You know He listens to you.
You know that you come to Him in faith.
But nothing in the natural is lining up.
Mm-hmm.
And that's when you have to completely depend on the Holy Spirit saying, OK, it's faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Hebrews 11.
So we have to focus on number one.
not the natural realm because the natural realm can throw you all the time.
I think an important thing in a waiting process, no matter what is happening is like, no matter what you're waiting for is taking it inward and saying like, what am I supposed to be getting out of this season?
And if you're waiting for a husband, like how or what can I be doing in this season to become the wife that I'm called to be?
Because the Bible says he who finds a wife finds a good thing.
And so that means that whenever that person finds you, you are supposed to be wife material, you know.
And so that's just one example of that.
if you're waiting for a husband, like what you can be doing in this season to prepare you for that promise.
Or if you're wanting to become a mom and you're not seeing that promise, what can you be doing to steward your body and things that you can be doing?
Like, don't always think that, well, I'm doing everything I can do and I still haven't seen anything.
or I still haven't received what I feel like I've been promised from the Lord.
But it's taking it inward and every day, okay, Lord, what can I be learning?
And what can you be teaching me in this season?
And what knowledge can I be gaining in this season to help me get through this waiting process?
And I literally have that right here, that sometimes we ask God when, when God is saying, who are you becoming?
Yeah.
So often I think one of the biggest temptations in the waiting season is to look at it as this is a stepping stone to where I'm finally going to arrive.
Right.
Where the promise is the finish line.
And this is just how I get to the good thing.
But actually, if you look at, you know, your life.
uh as a whole like from the day you're born to the day you die most of your life is waiting for something you have yes like so true most of your life is going to be the journey the arrival you have different like places where you arrive or where your promises come to pass in your life but then starts another waiting for a different thing and so like the thing that we call you know
The celebration time, the promise, the arriving is little time periods of your life.
Most of it is the waiting.
And so you're not just going to you shouldn't just waste the waiting time because that's most of your life.
And so for us, we have to figure out, OK, this season has just as much purpose as me arriving to the promise does.
Like where I'm at now, if not more.
If not more, if where I'm at now is not by accident, it has just as much meaning and purpose as arriving or the Lord finally giving you the promise does.
Yeah, and I think with Addie, a lot of people look at probably all three of you girls and would say, well, look at them, like talking about relational rise, like finding your spouse or whatever.
They all found their spouse very quickly.
You know, God gave it to them so quickly.
But when I think about you specifically right now, they didn't see that year or two years of the Lord saying, wait.
Can you talk about that for just a second?
Yeah.
So when it was 2023, I think it was, I had just met Caleb.
So he's my now husband, but I had just met him and I'd figured out I liked him.
And immediately the Lord had told me to not date for two years.
I was like... Wait, it happened right as you met Caleb or like... So I had met him.
We had hung out for like maybe six to eight months, probably six months.
Oh, so there was some time there that you got to know him.
I got to know him, but I hadn't admitted to myself that I liked him yet.
So the Lord in July had asked me to not date for two years.
I admitted I liked him a month later.
And so it was like, I was like, I just started this two years.
Like I can't, there's nothing I can do.
And so I didn't date him for two years.
It was a long, long, long journey.
Two years.
That sounds like it's a short amount of time, but when you're in the middle of it.
It was a long time.
And all your friends were dating around you.
It was tough.
Well, it was just like, the thing is, is the Lord told me, he's like, I'm not,
I'm not doing this.
Like, I'm not making you do this.
He said, this is an invitation.
And so that's when I knew.
If that don't make you want to jump in with the Lord.
Because I was getting mad at the Lord.
I was like, I finally got what I want.
I finally know what I want.
And now you're taking it away from me.
And he was like, I'm not making you do it.
He clocked me.
He said, I'm not making you do anything.
This is an invitation.
If you want to take it, take it.
If you don't, don't.
But that in itself shows you that there's significance in those waiting seasons because he specifically invited me to that place of waiting.
Like Jesus is not at the finish line.
He's with you along the journey of the waiting every step of the way.
And if we truly believe that Jesus is the reward, then we believe that the promise is not the finish line.
Jesus being with you, if he's the reward, he's walking with you every step of the day.
That's right.
So every day is like...
a celebration when you're walking with the Lord.
But so I waited two years and July of last year, I started dating Caleb and obviously I got 2025.
Yes, 2025.
And then I started or I got married this March, but it was a long it felt long and it was hard.
And the biggest thing for me during that time was fear.
That was the biggest thing.
It was fear of the unknown, fear of the future.
Is this really going to happen?
Am I going to end up like where I'm supposed to be?
And one of the biggest fears I think that plagued me was, can I do something to where God's going to take this promise away from me?
Like, is this promise conditional on my actions?
Like,
That was a big fear of mine of like, if I mess up, is Caleb just out of the picture for me?
And so there was so much fear that the enemy placed on me that it's like, if I don't get this waiting season perfectly, then this promise is gone.
Which isn't true, but the Lord was teaching me that
Your waiting season doesn't have to be perfect, but it does have to be intentional.
That's really good.
And so being intentional with what you're doing, how you're preparing yourself, the wounds you're healing from, the character development.
All these things are so important because I believe if I would have started dating Caleb before those two years, we would have ended in destruction.
Both of us were unhealed in places that needed to be healed before it could be a fruitful relationship.
And so I believe that the waiting season is just another picture of the mercy of God.
Yeah.
It's the mercy of God that he doesn't give you what you want right now.
Because it's your character that will sustain you when you finally receive the promise.
So what do you feel like God was the biggest thing that God did in you for those two years?
Like what are the big staple things that you know God did in you?
I believe he healed childhood wounds of rejection, of just...
feeling not good enough.
I believe those were two big things.
But he also worked out in me the fear of failure.
I believe if I would have started dating Caleb, then I would have let the fear of failure rule me of like,
if this relationship ends, then it's over.
Just the fear of the outward eye, like what people think of me, like what y'all, what my parents would think of me if this relationship didn't go rightly.
And this fear of failure that I could...
ruin God's view of me.
And that's not true.
And that's not true, yeah.
There's nothing you can do to ruin or skew or taint God's view of you.
And he had to work that out in me or my whole life I would be ruled by my actions instead of the lordship of Jesus in my life.
And so I had to work through fear of failure and just...
That was another thing with this tattoo.
I talked about it last episode of just putting the oars down and stop white knuckling my life.
And Romans 8 says the children of God are moved by the impulses of the Holy Spirit.
In our culture, it's wrong to be impulsive.
It's like if you're impulsive, you're destructive.
You're just making decisions off the whim.
You're not wise.
But the Bible literally says the children of God are moved.
The mature children of God is what it says.
The mature children of God are moved by the impulses of the Holy Spirit.
That's Romans 8.
Romans 8.
It's when it's talking about that we receive the spirit of adoption that has caused us to not enter into the fear of slavery anymore.
And it says the mature children of God are moved by the impulses of the Holy Spirit.
And so that is powerful.
When I take my hands off the oars of my own boat and I let the wind take me wherever it needs me to go, I might be afraid of the unknown, but I know it's the Lord that's moving me.
And so if I have trust and faith in who is guiding me, then there's no fear because I know he's got me.
I know he works out everything for the good of those who love him.
Fear leaves when he's in my boat.
And so that was the biggest thing that the Lord taught me is just to literally just trust in his word, trust who he is, and do not let fear rule my decisions, my actions.
Don't let failure rule me.
And to stay faithful.
How do we stay faithful in that?
Trust that he's faithful.
And we continue to act in that from that revelation.
Wow.
Just because I love this story.
Can you share the dream?
Cause I was also wanting to touch on like the waiting is for other people as well.
So like sometimes the Lord will ask you to wait, but like he's impacting other people, other people, other situations around you.
So can you share that dream that Caleb had?
Do you know what I'm talking about?
I don't remember it like super, but it was like right when he found out that I might not know this or the Lord had asked you to wait, I think like winter ramp around December.
Yes.
So I,
When I had started the two years,
I obviously liked Caleb, and our intention was to date after the two years.
And so automatically my vow became his vow because he knew he was waiting for me.
But he was wrestling with God because he was upset.
Yes.
Just like being honest, he was upset that he would have—he's like, is it going to be worth it if I wait?
Because I had cut him off.
So that was on me.
I cut him off, honestly, in that time because of fear.
I felt like if I even was friends with him, I was disobedient to God.
So I cut him off.
So you wouldn't even hang out with him?
I wouldn't even look in his direction.
And we lived in a small town of 6,000 people.
So I would see him every day, but I wouldn't look at that man.
So he was wrestling with God because he was like... He felt rejected.
He felt rejected.
He was like, are we even going to end up together?
And so he had a dream one night.
And are you talking about the wedding one?
I think so.
Yeah.
Where he had a dream and he was at our wedding.
It was a wedding of me and Jesus.
Jesus was my groom and I was the bride and Caleb was the best man.
But in the wedding, I was looking at Caleb, Jesus's best man.
And so Jesus told him in the dream, he said, my bride is looking at you in my own wedding.
So that was like kind of a piece of it.
And then he woke up from the dream, and Jesus said to him, the Holy Spirit said to him when he woke up was, if you give her to me now, I'll give her back in two years.
But if you date her now, I'll take her in two years.
I don't put the fear of the Lord out.
Basically, like, if you let me have her now, you can have her later.
But if you want her now, then, like, that's just going to be that.
And I didn't know anything about that.
You have never shared that.
I didn't know you didn't know that.
But he didn't share that with me, obviously, until much later.
Like, when we were engaged.
That's incredible.
And so...
That gave him peace that the Lord was in the process.
And that's how you know you do not have to put your hands on things.
I didn't have to tell Caleb, please stick around for these two years.
Because if you don't, it won't work out how I think.
You don't have to put your hands and your flesh into things to make things work out.
If it's the Lord's will...
He'll open doors that no man can shut and he'll close doors that no man can open.
And so you do not have to put your hands on anything.
The only job you have is to trust and to be obedient.
That's literally it.
I know when I was like, when dad and I had first got married, I wanted to be mamas and daddies within the first two weeks.
And Archie Rhay was not in it.
He's like, listen, it is way too early.
I want to enjoy our marriage.
He goes, let's practice a lot.
And I was like, oh, my goodness.
But I wanted to be a mom so bad.
I wanted to be a mom so, so bad.
And I remember going through all kinds of like treatments with the doctor.
Like they had said all of these things like I'm not ovulating.
I'm not.
You know, my body wasn't functioning.
I had gained 50 pounds in three months when we first got married.
I was so unhealed.
I was so broken.
Not in a good way.
There's a brokenness that's good.
But I was so broken on the inside, and God was trying to heal me.
And I remember going to the doctor, and they told me,
I think I said this, was it our first episode maybe, that I talked about how the doctor said go and lose 20 pounds and then you'll have a baby or whatever.
It was always about my weight.
Anyway, long story short, that waiting period where I didn't even have my husband on the same page with me and I wanted to be a mama so bad.
And it was just...
how one day I was watching Joyce Meyer and her episode came on.
I watched it every day and she began to talk about how when we're waiting on the promises of God, you know, what do we do in the meantime season or in the waiting?
And she used this illustration of her kids and she said, if my kids need new shoes and I'm God,
No, wait, I'm their mom.
Wait, I got ahead of myself.
She's like, I'm their mom.
My kids come to me and they go, mom, I need a new pair of shoes.
Now go, okay, we'll go Friday when you get home from school.
The next day they come and they say, mom, I need a new pair of shoes.
I told you, baby, on Friday, we will go get you some shoes.
Come back the next day.
Mom, I need a new pair of shoes.
Can you get me a new pair of shoes?
Mom, you know how bad I need a new pair of shoes.
And she says, baby, I'm going to take you.
You know, and she says the time or whatever.
At the time, I was asking God every single day, begging him to be a mom, begging him literally to be a mom.
And I didn't want to hear it.
If anybody that was a naysayer, like I wanted to be a mom.
And I remember listening to her story and a revelation and wisdom came through her through the TV.
God can use ministers to speak to you.
And so I was sitting on my couch and it was like the Holy Spirit said, begin thanking me.
Just thank me.
I'm healing you, Tangie.
I'm working things out in your life.
But thank but thank me for the gift.
And from that day forward, I never asked the Lord again to be a mom.
I thanked him.
And then Joyce Meyer said this.
She said, she said, now, if my kids were to come to me and say, Mom, I just want to thank you for getting me those shoes on Friday.
How much would it make me want to run out the door and get those babies them shoes?
And so that revelation happened to me in that moment where I just began to go into a season of Thanksgiving.
And I didn't get pregnant right away.
It was still a year and a half after that.
But God was working in me and through me.
Yeah.
And but I never asked him again.
And that taught me a lesson.
When there's a promise that God has promised you and he says in his word to be fruitful and to multiply.
Then when I come to him, I begin to thank him for that promise.
And I put scripture to it.
I put that seed to where I put it out there that, Lord, you said in your word, remind him of his word of what's going on.
And then wait for the promise to happen.
Peyton, how is this whole subject matter related to you?
Anything?
I think it's easy for us to do the waiting period wrong.
I had this pulled up, Isaiah 40, 31, they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.
They shall mount up on wings as eagles.
They shall run and not be weary.
They shall walk and not faint.
And when you look up that scripture, it says they that wait upon the Lord means actively trusting, hoping in and depending on God rather than sinning passively.
And so it makes me think,
If people are in a waiting season and they don't feel their strength being renewed, maybe they're not waiting on the Lord.
Maybe they're waiting on, I think we word it wrong.
They were waiting on a future husband.
We're waiting on a new job.
We're waiting on whatever the thing is.
But the scripture tells us to wait on the Lord, not to wait on somebody else.
Then we're going to find ourselves depending on our future husband.
And we don't even know who he is for them to give us something.
And then we get disappointed.
It's not just a future husband.
I think it's any promise.
On anything.
And it's easy for us to get disappointed.
But it says if we wait upon the Lord, then he'll renew our strength.
We don't feel strong.
We don't feel like we can go through the waiting period because we're not depending on the Lord.
We're not waiting on the Lord.
We're waiting on something fleshly to give us something that only the Lord can give us.
Yeah, that's so good.
I thought about, obviously, I love talking about waiting on your future husband because I feel like we all have stories, even though we didn't have to wait a long time.
you know, duration wise, but like we still have time where we were praying and seeking the Lord on that.
But I also was thinking about how waiting has to do with like when we're trying to rush one season and enter a next.
And like there's always something that the Lord wants to get out of your current season.
And I was thinking about back when I was at school and ministry school and I had told myself before I even left to go to the ramp that I was only going to do one year at the ramp and I was going to come home.
and so it's always funny how we tell the Lord what we're gonna do and why do we do that but I don't and I don't know if I said that because I definitely didn't feel it from him I just was saying like this is gonna be my gap year this is what I'm gonna do all of that so that was like I packed up to move home after my first year at the ramp and I just remember being home for like the first couple weeks and just feeling this like
Just not peace.
Like I did not have peace being home.
Your attitude was so bad.
Remember we were on vacation.
Wait, mom, I'm getting to this part in the story.
But I felt like it was coming out like in the relationships like with my family, but it was all because of like this inner turmoil of me feeling like I didn't have direction on where I was supposed to be or what I was supposed to be doing.
And I had felt like, OK, I'm going to move home the whole like I felt like in my mind, in my spirit, I was going to move home, jump into ministry.
Like I felt like I got everything out of that season that I needed to get.
Like I'm going to, you know, come on staff at a church and do what he's called me to do.
That was like in my mind, but I didn't feel my spirit at peace with that.
And so anyway, I was going back and forth.
I'm like, what am I supposed to do?
All of these things.
And so we were on vacation and we were in Myrtle Beach.
And I just remember like having just arguments left and right, left and right, left and right.
And I remember going to bed one night on vacation.
I'm like, okay, Lord, I need some type of like clarity, direction, like what I'm supposed to be doing.
Do I go back to the ramp?
Do I stay here?
Do I go do something else like unattached to either of those things?
Like what am I doing?
And so I remember going to sleep that night.
I don't even know if you've ever heard this dream.
I probably haven't.
I'm learning things lately.
Well, I had been asking the Lord.
I always ask for a dream or some type of something to hang on to.
And so I went to bed asking Him to reveal Himself.
And so...
I go to sleep and in the dream, it's like my wedding day and I have a wedding dress on and I'm in this building.
So like the wedding, the ceremony is taking place in this building.
And like I remember the guests are walking in and I'm, you know, like the side doors, we have side doors on our auditorium and that where you can look into the auditorium.
And so I remember standing on the side door.
I already had my wedding dress on.
My veil was on.
I was set.
I was ready to go.
I saw like a man at the altar, like dad was at the altar, like I saw everybody in there.
And the last thing for to happen in the dream was to be for me to walk down the aisle and to get married.
And for some reason, I was just like at a wrestle in the dream.
I'm like, do I go?
What is like happening?
But I don't know why, but I felt like I was in a wrestle.
And immediately the dream shifts and I'm running out the door and I got in my car and I left.
And that was the dream.
And when I woke up from the dream at like 3 a.m., I felt the Holy Spirit say to me, you're about to be in covenant with a ministry that I haven't called you to yet.
Granted.
Meaning like you're moving home and trying to be a part of something out of my timing.
And so you're going to be an inner turmoil because you're trying to take things into your own hands and do something that I haven't called you to do.
And so I still had to trust the Lord because I felt like, okay, I'm supposed to go back to the ramp.
I'm supposed to do a second year.
But applications and everything had already been over for months.
Like that ended in April and this is July.
Like there's no way I can go back there.
Like we were supposed to be moving back to go to school in like two weeks.
And I just emailed like the student activities director, whatever, whoever does all that.
And all they replied was like, we knew that you were supposed to come back here.
We've just been waiting for you to make that decision.
And like sent me the application.
I did everything that day and like just literally came home and moved and went back.
and then in hindsight like everything that the lord did in me my second year and like the opportunities that he gave me in my second year and the things that he was teaching me it's so clear and obvious as to why i wasn't ready to step out of that season and why i needed to be in that season so
all of that to say is like sometimes we're rushing what the Lord wants to do in your current season and trying to get to another season when he's like there's still things that I need you to get around these people in this place and like just be open and willing and obedient and sometimes like I could have ignored that right and I could have disobeyed what I knew the Lord was saying and just said no it's easier for me to be here I've already moved home and just like committed to that
And I believe that eventually, you know, there would have been for whatever.
But I had to be obedient in that season and say yes to the Lord and better because of it.
Yeah, that's incredible.
I remember that so well, how you were so like, I don't know, you weren't yourself.
And I went and told dad, I'm like, something is wrong.
I don't know everything I say to her.
She's biting my head off.
And, you know, we were just trying to figure out what was wrong with you.
And as soon as I looked at you, I remember I was sitting.
Remember there were two twin beds in there?
I remember.
It was either two fours or two twins.
I can't remember.
But I was sitting on one bed and Rhay was laying down on the other.
And I said to her.
you want to go back to the ramp, don't you?
Cause you hadn't told us anything yet.
And that was also kind of confirmation because even though I had that dream, it still wasn't like a dream where it was like, you're supposed to go back to the ramp.
But like, I knew that's what God was saying, but I also wasn't cause you know, I could have, he could have been saying no here and it could have been anywhere else.
But then when you said that, I'm like, I feel like that's what I'm supposed to do.
You want to go back to the ramp, don't you?
She busted out crying.
I would too.
It doesn't take much for me.
Because it wasn't like I wanted to go back to the ramp.
And like, if you've been to the ramp, you know, like it's small town.
Like, you know, it's just, it's a hard, it's a hard place to be.
But I knew that's where I was.
I had to be in that season and where the Lord needed me to be.
So that's incredible.
Yeah.
yeah Bishop Tony Miller always would say this "God is preparing you for what he has prepared for you" the preparation season and the waiting season is never ever wasted it's never wasted and God has a plan yeah with all of it and
I just want to take a few minutes and encourage someone who's in a waiting season and say to you that this isn't time wasted.
It's not a time where you're just twiddling your thumbs and you're waiting.
No, there are things that you need to be doing.
What are some practical things that we should be doing in the waiting season?
Hanging around people who are going to encourage you and not just be like, it's so easy to sit in your emotions of like, man, I just wish I was already there.
You need people in your life who are going to encourage you and speak truth and speak scripture to you and say, no, this is where you're supposed to be right now.
I think the waiting season in itself feels isolating because you can feel like I'm the only one going through this.
I'm the only one feeling this.
And everyone else around me, it can look like everyone's getting their promise and everyone's seeing the promises fulfilled and it feels isolating.
And so the enemy wants you to be alone in your thoughts.
And so it's important to be vulnerable with the people around you of like, this is what I'm believing for.
Yeah.
Because it can be like even me, like married with kids and like it can look like, oh, everything she's ever wanted is coming to pass.
But there are still things where I'm seeking answers and clarity.
There's always something that we're waiting on from the Lord.
It's not just like these big things.
But even if I'm asking for something specific and I haven't heard a clear answer.
Right.
That's a waiting season.
Right.
We're fasting and praying for the Lord to give clarity on something.
Everybody's in some sort of season of waiting.
So having the right community around you to share that with and be vulnerable with about these are what we're seeking and having people link arms with you and praying with you and standing in the gap.
Because there's going to be some days where you don't have the strength to pray and you don't have the strength to...
even trust the Lord like just to be honest like Lord I'm having a hard time trusting you today and being honest about that with people around you and them praying for you and like not even with you but like standing in the gap with the Lord and interceding on your behalf and I believe the Lord honors that and uses that I see a picture don't lose your thought I see a picture of
someone or people holding your arms up like they did Moses.
Because sometimes it's very hard to pray.
Sometimes you don't have the words to pray.
Sometimes you're mentally, physically, and spiritually exhausted.
Emotionally.
Yeah, your emotions are exhausted, and you don't even know what to say.
And I love the picture that you get with them lifting up the arms of Moses.
Yeah.
And sometimes you need the right relationships.
Well, you do in every season, but especially in hard times where people will lift your arms.
Right.
Yes.
And go ahead, Ad.
I was just going to go off Rhay.
Be careful not to compare your story to someone else's.
Because especially for women, we so easily overthink in our emotions.
And if there's any empty spaces or any gaps, we tend to fill them with what ifs.
So true.
Will this happen or this?
And it causes anxiety and it's just overwhelming.
And so...
Just don't compare your story to other people's story.
And don't be afraid of the unknown.
Like the Lord has it.
He has all your days written down in the book of life.
Like he knows your steps before you even take them.
So don't fear the unknown.
Also.
In the waiting, like they said, there is such a temptation to isolate.
But it's almost like the enemy perverts it because a lot of times in the waiting time, the Lord is calling you into a place with him that is secluded and deeper.
But the enemy can so easily pervert it to isolating yourself from other people.
Being in a season where you're just secluded with the Lord is not the same as isolation.
You still have your people that you can go to and your community that you stay accountable to.
But there is a place that I went with the Lord in my waiting season that I had never gone before that was going into wounds in places that I—in deep places that I never—
processed before there's a lot of tears a lot of weeping a lot of processing and the lord counts and holds all of your tears in a bottle yeah and he's right there with you and so good that was a big thing for me i would say in the waiting season a practical is
Do not hide your doubt from God.
Do not hide your emotions from God.
Do not hide anything you're feeling from God, your questions.
Go to him with every single one of them.
Every single one of them.
Because then if not, you'll tend to try to answer them on your own, and we do not have the answers.
Right.
And so go to God with all those things because even if you don't get an answer, even if it's just silence, you said something at the beginning of the episode that we tend to think when there's silence that nothing's happening.
Right.
When Jesus died on the cross, there were three days of silence.
And that was the most anything.
He went down to hell.
That was the most profound waiting moment.
Yeah, that was the most anything had happened, yet it was silent.
He went down to hell to get the keys to death, hell, and the grave.
And then suddenly, on the third day, he rose, right?
We tend to think that silence, nothing's happening when...
That is so good.
Things are going on behind the scenes that we could not even imagine.
And so not taking his silence as his disapproval for what you're doing.
Or his absence.
Yeah.
Well, the thing is, is the Lord will never leave you.
Right.
But.
Sometimes we're like, where are you, God?
It feels like that.
I mean, obviously, that doesn't line with Scripture, but there's other things we're doing that doesn't line with Scripture.
So I'm saying sometimes we feel like His silence is His absence, but the enemy is a liar.
And the truth is, He will never leave you.
He will never forsake you.
And the promise, oh, I felt a preacher come on.
Well, oftentimes when we think he's absent, it's because I think I said this one time out of Song of Solomon, like he doesn't hide without the intention for you to find him.
It's like hide and seek.
It's like he hides with the very intention that you'll come and find him.
And that's what going deeper with God looks like in the waiting.
It's he goes and hides in this place so that you pursue him.
Yes.
to that place of this deeper encounter with God, of this deeper connection and communion with God.
That is the waiting season of
I would say the biggest thing I got out of it is that the promise isn't my reward.
Jesus is my reward.
Jesus is your reward.
Yes.
And we talked about it this week in small group about when God is talking to Abraham in Genesis, and he is doubting how he can be a father to many nations.
Yes.
To outnumber the stars, outnumber the grains of sand on the earth.
And he's doubting that because he doesn't even have one son yet.
His wife is barren and they're getting old in age.
Like nothing looks like that could ever come true.
And what God tells him is, Abram, I am your exceedingly great reward.
Yes.
And it's like, we cannot hold on to this.
We cannot put our hope in the promise.
We have to put our hope in Jesus because he is our reward.
Yes.
Like that thing will not, even if I do get this thing, it will not satisfy me the way that Jesus does.
And so I have to learn in the waiting that Jesus is my reward.
And this is just a gift that he's given me that he's just because he's a good father.
Remember when your two year mark,
was getting ready to come, like I think you only had a few weeks left, and I don't think you would mind me saying, but I remember you came down and you were like, will you and dad pray for me?
Because I am feeling such anxiety.
And in the natural, I was like, ah, why?
Like your promise is getting ready to, like it's getting ready to happen.
But what, can you just expound on what actually was going on right then and like your thoughts and your spirit?
If I go back to that time, it was just so much turmoil.
One, I think there was a lot of spiritual warfare because this thing that I had been contending for was about to pass.
And so I think the enemy was trying to throw everything at me to try to ruin it in the last few weeks that he could get a hold of me.
So I think it was a lot of warfare, which will happen soon.
Spiritual warfare isn't fake.
Some people use it as a cop out, but it is not fake.
It is not real.
Um, the enemy will do anything he can to try to snatch the promise from you to try to take it or even just destroy your hope.
Um, so that's what I feel like the Lord or the enemy was trying to do was take my hope away and just to try to ruin anything in those last few weeks.
But also it's like,
As humans, it's like I feel like all I've known these past two years is waiting for something.
What do I do when it's finally here?
Because you're like, I feel like I've got this waiting down.
It was the unknown.
It was the unknown.
It was the unknown.
It was like I feel like I've got this waiting thing down, not in a prideful way.
I just had become so content.
You were in a good season with that.
Really, and with the Lord, he felt so close to me.
I could pray, and I felt like he was right there.
So there was a lot of fear of like, when I get what I have been waiting for, what will it be like with me and him after this, with me and the Lord?
Like, I honestly felt like I was grieving this relationship I had gained with the Lord.
And the anxiety of it was like, what, what is it braving and unknown, but it's a good thing.
But it's also like what my relationship with the Lord looked like, just the anxiety of the unknown.
And,
That's going to happen.
We are not going to know how to navigate every new season we walk into.
We wouldn't need the Holy Spirit if we did.
And so what did he teach me during that season?
To follow the impulses of the Holy Spirit.
So that doesn't change from season to season.
That's right.
In the waiting, I follow his impulses.
In the promise, I follow his impulses.
Whatever it is.
Because even when Abraham had received the promise of his son Isaac,
He still had to walk in obedience of Isaac's old now and God saying, come sacrifice him.
He still had to walk in these places of obedience.
Our heart, just like Abraham, there's a word.
What's the word when it's like?
There's like this Greek or Hebrew word that they say, but it's a word that Abraham said when God asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac.
It was like and what it means is yes, before you even ask.
It's I'm going to say yes, because he said Abraham and Abraham replied back in the Hebrew.
Yes, before you even ask.
He didn't even know what God was about to ask him before he said yes.
That's how he was just obedient.
He was just obedient.
That's our heart posture that we need to gain during the waiting season is even after I enter the promise, if God says anything, it's yes before he even asks.
Because in the waiting, we're like this, hands open.
In the promise, we're like this, hands open.
Yes.
Like we said, we are not the creators of the promise.
We are the stewards of the promise.
So our hands should be open.
And the waiting is about becoming that person who's going to be a good steward of what the Lord is giving me.
And I would say specifically to the young person waiting and like a person who's single, whether that be in college or, you know, end of high school, whatever that is, you're never going to have this much time again to just spend with the Lord and develop that relationship with him.
Yeah.
Like I remember being in my dorm room and just spending like four to five hours with him and like seeking him and his what he had to say about my season while also like believing for a husband, believing for whatever I felt like I wanted in this that current season.
But like looking at that now, I'm like the history that I made with him during that season is what sustains me now where I can get 30 minutes to an hour with him on a good day, you know, like in the mornings.
But like drawing from the well that you are creating with him in that season where it's like you are only, you're seeking him and like that's his desire for that season is that you would seek him and create that relationship with him and that history with him so that when you enter into a season that's busy with being a wife and having kids and being a mom or whatever that looks like, the season of the promise that he has that
Like Addie was saying, he is the reward.
Yeah, he is.
And so having that on your mind is like, I want to be developing that relationship with him while it's easy, so to speak.
And while you have a lot of time and you'll be drawing from that this season, the current season that you're in for a long time.
Hey, what about you?
What would you encourage someone to do in the waiting?
I know for me practically I remember I had just gotten engaged and I was so excited I was at a really high high and then my fiance left and he moved 13 hours away and I went through I mean it didn't on the out it was only two months but I didn't see him for two months and after being at like that really high high those two months were that was like the hard you moved away not him
Yeah.
But like he.
Yeah, that's what I meant.
Anyways, we were separated.
We were separated 13 hours away.
And I kind of like Addie's season.
I just had so much anxiety.
I had fear of the unknown.
I had anxiety.
fear of doing the wrong thing of not communicating correctly I mean we were only getting to talk for like 15 minutes a day and my love language is quality time and so I just felt like I was like who am I even about to marry I don't even know this person anymore whatever but I had to
Because if something's going to be filling your mind either way, whether it's scripture, whether it's your own thoughts, whether it's what other people are saying, I literally had to write down scripture and I put it in my car so I could see every time I was driving.
And I wrote down different scriptures about fear and the waiting and your thoughts.
And I literally had to speak them over my mind every single day.
So I was being filled with scripture and not my own thoughts of anxiety and doubt and fear.
and when you say something out loud like whether or not you mean it it's it's going to start to affect you there's power in it and you'll soon start to believe it and so like the first few days it was hard and then I started to keep saying and I started repeating it and I could feel like the actual power of the word come over me and actually like wow incredible but yeah I want to
And by saying a prayer for those that are in the waiting season, that there would be encouragement, that there would be almost like a revelation that God would just show up and begin to speak to them.
They have to posture themselves to be in the right place and put yourself in the presence of God.
If I'm running constantly...
but I'm believing for a promise, but I never settle down to sit in the presence of God.
He can't speak to me, you know.
And I want us to pray over women or men, whoever are watching this, listening, that God would give them the strength.
You know, Isaiah 40, 31, Pay mentioned it.
They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.
Psalm 27, 14 says, wait on the Lord.
Be of good courage and he shall strengthen your heart.
And then Habakkuk 2, 3 says, Though it tarry, wait for it because it will surely come.
Do you mind if I share a scripture to you that helped me?
In Psalm 25, 3, it says, those who wait on the Lord will not be disgraced.
And disgraced in that context is, it says, facing ultimate disappointment, defeat, or being proven a fool for trusting God.
Good night.
Those who wait on the Lord will not be disgraced.
And I think other versions say will not be ashamed.
It's like he was not going to leave you high and dry.
That is so good.
Mm hmm.
So good.
I don't know where it is, but the scripture that's just talking about pray until like pray until you see it come to pass.
And like even if you're a mom believing for a prodigal to come home like that way and like you feel like the Lord has promised you that your children will serve the Lord.
Like pray until you see.
Man, that's a whole week.
That could be another episode because I have so much on that.
But just praying until you see.
We can't just pray for a few days and then expect the Lord to do a crazy work.
We have to pray and pray and pray.
And that's our call in the way is to just pray until we see it.
And there's a scripture in Hebrews that says, For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way just as we are, yet he did not sin.
And so I think even just praying into the revelation that we understand that the Lord is going through this with us.
We're not left high and dry.
We're not on our own.
He is walking through this with us.
So good.
Hey, will you start us off in the prayer?
And if anybody wants to add anything, you can.
Lord, we thank you.
God, we thank you for every single person, every single woman, every single man who is listening to this episode.
Lord, I pray, God, that you would fill them with fresh faith and fresh strength today, God, as they're in this waiting period.
Lord, I ask that you would give them fresh revelation of your word, Jesus.
Lord, thank you, God, that you go before us and you go behind us and you see every single area in our lives, Jesus.
Lord, we ask...
that you would give us strength in this waiting season.
Thank you, Lord, that there's purpose for every season, God.
There is a purpose and a reason for every single season, God.
So I pray for every single woman, and I ask that you would just be with them, God, that they would see you in new ways, that you would reveal yourself to them in ways that they've never seen.
In Jesus' name.
Yes, Lord.
And for those who have grown weary, God, I just pray, Lord, that you would restore hope to each listener, Lord, that we would have hope as we wait, Lord, that we would be encouraged and have faith, Lord, that the best is yet to come, Lord, that their story isn't over, Lord, but the promises that you have for them would come to pass in Jesus' name.
God, I just pray, Lord, that even if it's a scripture that you speak to them, Lord, even as they're listening, Lord, or just
something that we say lord that they can hang on to lord to give them hope lord to keep praying and to keep seeking you lord and to just rest to be still and know that you are working it out lord for their good and for your glory lord i just pray lord that you would restore lord just for people to have patience lord and endurance for the race lord that you would give them strength lord that they would just rest in who you are lord and rest and your promises lord
And Lord, I thank you, God, just in your word that you said, you have put my tears in your bottle, Lord.
Yes.
That they are in your book, God.
You've written every single one down, Father, that we have cried, Lord, for every woman out there, God, who has wept over their promise, whether it's a prodigal, whether it's their spouse, Lord, or just something they're waiting for, Father.
I thank you, God, that you said those who wait on the Lord will not be disgraced, God.
Lord, you count their tears, God, and you value each one of them, Father.
You see each one of them, God.
You know the matters of their heart, Lord.
You know how much this means to them.
And, Father, I thank you, Lord.
that you are right there in the dirt with them, Father.
You are right there in the low places with them.
And so, God, I thank you, Lord, that you even said that if there's one thing we can hold fast to, it's that you are for us and you are not against us.
So God, I thank you, Lord, that you even want this promise for us more than we want it for ourselves.
And you're a good father who gives good gifts to his children.
And so, Lord, I even pray just for women out there who have lost sight of the true character of God.
and and who have uh believed the lies of the enemy that he is not a good father that he he doesn't want to give you good gifts lord i thank you God that your character that you their care your character is being restored in their hearts yes and in their minds that any deception or lie that the enemy has told them against your character thank you would fall flat on its face on the ground in the mighty name of Jesus that that your word would remain true in their hearts God
that they can hold fast to your character and your word, and to believe that you alone are faithful.
Yes, Lord.
You alone are faithful and true, God.
Yes, Lord.
And I thank you for that.
Thank you, Father.
We thank you, Lord, that your voice is strong, Lord, in our hearts, in our minds, in our spirit.
Yes, Lord.
God, in our emotions, Lord, I feel to come against the spirit of fear that would try to attach itself to our thinking.
God, some of the people listening could be right on the brink of receiving the promise, Lord.
But they're battling fear, Lord.
They're battling, God, the unknown.
And, Lord, I just come against that spirit of fear.
And I declare that they have a spirit of power, a spirit of a sound mind, Lord.
I thank you for it, God, that they would not grow weary in well-doing, but, God, that they would rest in your promise.
You are the reward.
And so, Lord, we thank you for it today.
In Jesus' name, amen.
Thank you guys so much.
We're going to take a listener question really quick before we end.
This is from Angel.
She says, what are some ways we can remind ourselves of our identity in Christ when faced with adversity?
What's the first thing that comes up in your mind?
The most practical thing, believe Scripture.
The Word is alive and active and sharper than any double-edged sword.
You're seeing the division between your soul and spirit.
So when lies come, when things try to attach themselves to you, go straight to Scripture.
Don't leave room for overthinking.
Don't leave room in your mind.
Right there in that moment, pull out your phone, pull out your Bible, whatever it is, or memorize it and quote Scripture over yourself out loud, not in your head.
out loud because you can't think and speak no something different yeah at the same time that's good yeah so my quick answer is scripture whenever i start believing the lies i like to take inventory of like what i've been letting in and normally that means silencing the noise whether that be social media anything that you feel like like influences in your life friend groups that aren't healthy
And so if you need to delete the social media apps, you know, separate yourself from the wrong voices and get alone with God and obviously read and believe the scripture and just see what he says rather than all the different things that are speaking.
That's good.
Mine's kind of like Rhalyn's.
I'd say just get alone with God and ask him what he says about you because he knows us all uniquely and he speaks to us individually.
So ask him what he personally says about you and ask him what you need to hear that day from him.
Mm hmm.
Remember when you guys would get ready to walk out the door and I'd say, remember, you're a Callahan.
You know who you are.
You know who you are.
And I would say that to you guys when you would walk out the door.
I'd go, don't forget.
You know who you are.
You know who you are and who you are.
And I would just encourage a listener, Angel, I just...
Thank you for asking this, but don't ever forget who you are.
Do not ever forget who you are.
God's called you.
There's purpose.
There's a plan.
All right.
This has been so good.
Thank you guys so much.
I enjoyed the conversation.
Excited about it.
And I believe it's going to touch a lot of people.
So thank you guys.
We can't wait to see you next time.
Thanks for joining me for today's episode of From My Father.
I encourage you to every day ask the Father, what is it that you want me to receive from you today?
If you enjoyed today's conversation, I'd love for you to subscribe, leave a review and share this episode with someone who needs to hear it.
Remember, every good and perfect gift comes from our Father.
That's all for today, friends.
Until next time, keep leaning in to the Father's voice.