Join Jenn Schultz and I as we explore the hard question, “Whose kingdom am I building?”

We have felt the temptation along the way to make our actions and lives about us and not about God.  Have you?  Come and hear about the grace that is ours as we turn back to him over and over. 

Verses mentioned in the episode:

• 1 Corinthians 3
• 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
• Ephesians 2:8-10
• Psalm 16
• Phillipians 3:7

“God sent Jesus so I could rest in Him From my works” – Jen Schultz

Journaling Questions:

• Do you feel like you have to live up to a certain standard?
• Jen discussed 3 places where she felt temptation to build for her own kingdom…

                  1-Building a life I think people will be impressed by

                  2- Building the life I thought God wanted for me

                  3- Building the life I thought I wanted

      Have you felt the pull to build for yourself in these places?

• Where else have you felt this temptation?
• What is your next step to trusting God more fully in this area?

Sign up here to receive your free, 5 day journaling tool to help explore your next step to of trust. 

See below for a full transcript of the show.

[00:00:00] Erin: Hi, this is Erin. Welcome to steps to trusting. At steps to trusting it is our goal to meet you where you are in your faith journey and encourage you to continue to take steps to trusting the Lord more fully. Today. I’m chatting with Jen Schultz.

[00:00:21] Jen and I have planned this conversation today to be focusing in on the kingdom of God and building God’s kingdom. You can find Jen at the, what you make it blog at whatyoumakeitblog.com. You can also find her on Instagram at that same handle. @Whatyoumakeitblog.

[00:00:38] Jen is a writer, a blogger, and a person who was pointing people to look to God. I’m so excited to welcome to the show. Jen Schultz.

[00:00:48] Jen, thank you so much for coming and having this conversation with me.

[00:00:52] As we continue on, I’m sure we’re going to get to know more and more about your story, but I wanted to start with a question. What is something that you’re passionate about?

[00:01:02] Jenn: That’s a great question. I think usually the first thing on my list, when people ask that question is being able to connect with people, to be able to see people and really hear them. So. I like to say that Mr. Rogers is one of my heroes because I just love how he really took the time to, see deeply into who people were and to really make them feel appreciated and make them feel loved.

[00:01:33] There’s a quote somewhere that he says, and of course I’m going to butcher it. So I’ll try to be careful with it. But he said something about how to really appreciate somebody and see them and appreciate their feelings in their hearts. That’s, that’s something holy that’s holy work, right there. Something along those lines that is not a direct quote, but I just loved that, that was his mission. And that’s how I feel about people. I want to make sure that they feel seen, feel heard and that they know how loved and worthy they are to God. I think that is so important to be able to express to people and put on their hearts. So yeah, I would say I’m passionate about that and I don’t know how to summarize that in a nutshell, but that’s, that’s

[00:02:12] Erin: all

[00:02:13] right. Yeah. That’s a beautiful passion maybe the nutshell is you care about people and how to love them well. So Jen and I are going to be jumping into a conversation about God’s kingdom. So Jen, as we jump in, how is God teaching you about his kingdom in your life currently?

[00:02:32] Jenn: Yeah. Well, I tend to just sit on a, on a subject for awhile. Thinking about the scriptures that go with it and thinking about how to apply it to my life. and

[00:02:42] . I’ve had the thought come into my mind recently about whose kingdom are you building?

[00:02:50] And Yes. We’re all building something, I’ve been thinking about how God has put it on our hearts while we’re here on this earth to fulfill some kind of purpose for his glory.

[00:03:01] I think about in first Corinthians three, Paul talks about we who are in Christ build on Christ’s foundation.

[00:03:09] And what we build is going to be tested someday.

[00:03:13] The amazing thing about that is that Christ is the foundation. If we’re in him, He’s our solid from foundation.

[00:03:21] But we’re all building something we’re all here for a reason. We’re all mostly scrambling trying to figure out what that reason is. And I believe we’re trying to build some kind of a legacy. And I think lately I’ve been wondering, you know, whose legacy my building.

[00:03:34] Am I building my legacy or am I building God’s legacy? As I think about it more, I’m realizing more and more how this has been a question over my whole life. Is it going to be about me or is it going to be about him? I think it just kind of is taking me constant moments of pause and moments of let me pivot back to God.

[00:03:54] Let me pivot back to it, being about him and not about me.

[00:03:58] Erin: in those moments of pause, is that something that you’re facing on a daily basis or where are you seeing that in your life?

[00:04:04] Jenn: Yeah. Sometimes daily sometimes moment by moment sometimes with the big decisions of, what am I going to do next? Or, what is God’s will next for me? This big decision I have to make, as about a move or about a career, or sometimes it’s just moment by moment. I’m know, trying to decide how I’m best going to respond to my kids in the moment or something like that.

[00:04:30] Is it going to be about God or is it going to be about me? And it’s not like I’m constantly thinking this is not like I am that spiritually aware of a person that I’m constantly thinking this, but I feel like it’s been on my heart more because I’ve been asking this question. It’s been a lot more pivoting lately, I think, which has been encouraging for me that God doesn’t expect me to be perfect, but to be in the constant, moving back to him and centering myself on him.

[00:04:58] Erin: I love that. I read through the Bible, I guess last year when I was reading through, I kept seeing the word turn, turn over and over and just realizing how often We’re invited to turn back to the Lord.

[00:05:11] We’re invited to recenter on him, like you’re saying, and I agree with you. It’s not like every time I make a decision with my kids, am I deciding , oh, is this for my kingdom or God’s kingdom? But I think, when we sit down and look back at those situations, I can see in myself the times that I’m looking for my kingdom to have it’s quiet or it’s peace or whatever, instead of actually realizing how can I build into this child, into this person in front of me for God’s kingdom and give them what they need to, instead of just taking whatever I want in that moment.

[00:05:46] Jenn: yeah, exactly. For sure.

[00:05:48] Erin : I think it’s important to look at all aspects because there are little ways where we’re building our own kingdom, but there are also bigger ways where we are, building our kingdom.

[00:05:58] Can you think of some of those larger ways in your life where they’re not necessarily the repetition ones, but where you’ve had to focus your life in a different way and make a turn?

[00:06:10] Jenn: Yeah, absolutely. I I’ve spent a lot of time building for myself. I think it kind of comes down to three categories for me, one is building a life that I think people are going to be impressed by. So in my career in my social media, curated life, both for career and kind of for my own reputation.

[00:06:33] And I think even when I was younger, before social media became a thing, I really believed that if I was good, I was building something great for myself. I grew up going to church I grew up believing in God. So there was also an aspect of, well, if I’m being good and I’m doing good things, then I’m good for God too.

[00:06:55] So I kind of get a little bit of both here, right? Like God’s happy with me and people are happy with me and I’m building up good things for myself. And it just had this whole faulty perspective that it all depended on on me and what I was doing and who I was. And I think that, it’s carried over to so much of, my life.

[00:07:14] I’ve really had to reevaluate that in the past few years, especially. Just having to consider this whole idea of how good I am and how perfect I am and all of the work that I put into that. It’s really, for me, it’s not really for God that’s, it’s really more about my own reputation and my own standing and how good I feel about myself. When God actually sent Jesus so that I could rest in him from my works.

[00:07:43] And a another category, I feel like I’ve noticed this in is building the life that I thought God wanted for me. Particularly with ministry. I really used to believe that the best possible Christians were in the ministry. So that was the goal. That was the end all be all. And the year that my husband and I were actually trying to be in the ministry not for a paid role, but for a position that would have been a lot of responsibility for the ministry and felt really, it made me feel very puffed up to think that we would be there. God closed all those doors so clearly. And I just felt devastated because I put so much worth on that. I put so much of, this is what God wants for me. And if, if I’m good enough, God will put me in this position.

[00:08:31] And again, God made it clear, that’s your kingdom. That’s not my kingdom. You’re not here to build my kingdom. And he closed those doors. And I think that was a huge realization for me of, okay, so what, what do I do now and who am I, if this is not going to be part of my identity. Just realizing that God’s plans were so much greater, so much better than I could have imagined, but at the, at the time it felt like I had put so much effort into it and so much work into it and God shut those doors.

[00:09:02] It felt so terrible.

[00:09:04] Erin : Listening to what you were saying,

[00:09:05] there’s often this hurt and being like that, door’s not gonna look the way I want it to look sometimes it’s going to close God often allows us to Have that pain as that realization of like, no, this is me working in you, or this is me, you know, planning your path.

[00:09:21] I’m just always encouraged by that afterwards. Not when I’m in

[00:09:26] the pain.

[00:09:27] Jenn: right? Absolutely. Yeah.

[00:09:30] I felt that way with motherhood too.

[00:09:32] Going back to the category is the third category for me was building the life I thought I wanted, and I know relationships fit a lot into that. And motherhood fit a lot into that for me,

[00:09:44] It was hard to get pregnant and it took a long time for me. I think some, some have experienced far more in that area than I ever did. Because I did eventually become a mom. But it was one of those areas where this is not happening, the way that I expected it to, or planned it to.

[00:10:02] And that became about how does God see me and what is my worth in God? That area was never in question, but it became in question because things weren’t working out the way that I thought that they were going to. And so you know, now I can look back on that time and see how it, it drove me to be close to God.

[00:10:22] And it’s so much more amazing of a story because of the ways that he filled in the gaps and the ways that he came near to me, the ways that he provided the right people in my life for the right time. But then it just felt like things aren’t happening the way that I thought they were going to.

[00:10:37] And that that hurts and that’s hard. And I want to figure out, what to do next or how to make it all happen. And I just can’t. Being able to release that, being able to trust instead that God had a better plan in mind instead of what I could build or what I could do in that moment.

[00:10:53] Okay.

[00:10:53] Erin : Thanks for sharing that about motherhood, Jen because I think a lot of people do struggle with all parts of motherhood. And I think it is often taboo to talk about. It’s taboo to talk about the struggle in getting pregnant.

[00:11:07] It’s taboo to talk about now, I’ve I have kids and this is hard and I’m, you know, building my own kingdom and with them, I think it is hard often to just be honest in the fact that there are struggles, even when we get what we wanted. Right.

[00:11:21] Jenn: Yeah. And I, I think it’s so important to say that there’s no shame in wanting to be a mom. There’s no shame in wanting to be the best mom you can be. There’s really no shame in any of these desires that we want to build. Whether it’s a career or being in the ministry, there’s really no shame there. But they’re nothing if God isn’t first in them. just think we can pursue these things and think that they’re going to complete us and think that they’re going to leave us feeling fulfilled.

[00:11:51] And they don’t when God’s not at the center of them when we’re not trusting in his plan. If we can get to that point where we do trust him, which again goes back to like taking those constant turns back to God. We can trust that his outcomes he’s always working for our good even if it doesn’t look like what we wanted it to look like, God’s got the best in mind for us.

[00:12:15] Erin : Jen. I know you just went through those three categories of where you were trying to do the building of your own kingdom. Can you give us those things again? As a little recap?

[00:12:29] Jenn: Yeah. So building a life, people would be impressed by building the life. I thought God wanted me to have, or building the life. I thought I wanted.

[00:12:37] Erin : So how would you say, looking at those things that you’ve trying to build and shifting back to God, how would you describe those you know, steps to trusting, might you say that you had to take to really focus back and shift back to the Lord?

[00:12:53] Jenn: Well, I thought of a couple of scriptures that have been helpful for me. And then I have some practicals too, if that helps. But I know Psalm 16 has been on my heart a lot lately. There’s a part of it where it says I have nothing good besides you. It’s David talking to God. And then later on it says, Lord, you are my portion.

[00:13:16] And I think that helps me in remembering that God is at the center of it, whatever my desire is, which he’s probably put that desire on my heart anyway, but God is at the center of it and he is going to work out that desire for good and for his glory.

[00:13:34] And I also was considering Philippians three verse seven, where Paul is talking about having all kinds of trophies in, in his world and in his time in his society.

[00:13:46] But he considered them all worthless compared to knowing Jesus. Those scriptures continue to be good reminders to me that the real treasure is God. The real thing that I am seeking it’s not my desires, those are not the outcome that God has prepared for me.

[00:14:05] The outcome is that he wants me to be close to him. The outcome is that he wants my good, he wants the good of others around me and he wants his glory. And going back to your question, I think that those verses have been helping me to realize where the real treasure is.

[00:14:22] Erin : I was just thinking as you were talking, but I think you said something about how the desires that you have are probably something that God put on your heart anyway.

[00:14:31] And I think I sometimes do struggle with that and struggle with, you know, I have this strong desire and then starting to seek that end as my desire. Right. And I think you were kind of talking about that. But, but also how. Those are good desires, but when we let them take the place of our deepest, our deepest longing should be for the Lord.

[00:14:58] And that’s where I think we get ourselves into trouble when we take something good that God has given us or put in us and see that as the end, instead of see that as a gift that he’s placed in our hearts, you know? I think that’s a struggle for me.

[00:15:14] It’s, it’s a struggle to go, okay. You gave me this desire, I think, do I pursue this desire, but how do I pursue this desire while pursuing you. How do I not let this desire become part of something I’m building by myself, but to pursue you and use this desire as a way to do that?

[00:15:31] Jenn: It’s funny. I was thinking about that. I feel like something that I’ve learned over the years is being able to kind of cast out lines and see what you catch. In the sense of I’m going to try stuff. I’m going to go out on faith and if God continues to move forward with it, then awesome.

[00:15:52] Let’s keep going with it. And if not, I don’t have to always wonder what if, if that makes sense, like, I think God wants us to take chances when it comes to our desires or things He puts on our heart. I think he wants us to try things and go after them in faith. And if they don’t happen, I think that’s where we have to be centering it back on God. I think that’s where we make sure that it is about God and not about us, but saying, I’m going to go after this and give you a chance to work God, instead of I’m going to go after this and I’m going to work really hard and I’m going to make it happen. I think that’s where I can get caught up, but I really do believe that God wants us to go out on faith and wants us to try things .

[00:16:37] When we don’t know the outcome, that’s where he, that’s such an opportunity for him to be glorified . I’m not quite ready and I’m not sure. And I’m going to try it anyway. And now I can look back and tell people this story and be like, that was God. If you’re looking for an example of where he was working, that was it.

[00:16:57] Erin : I think that’s awesome.

[00:16:58] I know you had mentioned you had some practical things you’ve been doing recently. Would you share some of that with us too?

[00:17:04] Jenn: Yeah. I’ve been doing a few things to kind of, again, go back to like pivoting my heart back to God, making it about him and not about me. It’s interesting. I feel like some people who have gone to church for a long time do this naturally, but this is not something that came naturally to me.

[00:17:23] It’s holding my hands open in prayer before God. And it’s not something like you would think, oh, that’s, those are some really wise words of wisdom or anything, you know, like that’s not something that you would think would be a really huge practical. But I think for me in the moment of it in the moment that I’m praying for something, the act of actually opening my hands and leaving them face up to God, gives me a chance to remember that it’s in his hands and not in mine.

[00:17:53] Okay. Just something where I’m off on a roll and I’m praying and. It really does become about me. I can stop and release and kind of give it back to God, give back control of whatever I’m praying for. And that’s been helpful for me in the moment in my prayers. The physical act of opening my hands is like a mental reminder of, oh yeah, this is God’s and not mine. Let me open it up and leave it up to him.

[00:18:20] Erin : I’ve actually heard you say In regards to that, how you bring your nothingness to God,

[00:18:25] and you , open handedly, give him your nothing, you know? And that’s encouraging to me, that reminder of even when I think I’m coming to him with like, look what I did, God look at all these things, you should be proud of me over.

[00:18:39] I actually have to remember, I have nothing to give him, but what he’s already given to me.

[00:18:45] Jenn: absolutely.

[00:18:46] Erin : And, just even thinking about that idea of stewardship that really, what I have to give him is to say, like, I have used what you’ve given me, and I’ve tried to do that to the best of my ability.

[00:18:59] And even in that, I only have the ability because you gave it to me, you know, and I think that’s one of the things that God has been teaching me. Over and over I’ve thought , I guess maybe to put it in the words we’ve been using today, look at what I’ve built. Look at the good friendships I’ve built because I’ve been a good friend.

[00:19:17] Look at the nice family I’ve built because I’ve been a good wife, you know, look at that. And it’s all this things that I’ve wanted to look at myself when the reality of it is , God gave me the qualities, like the fruit of the spirit that maybe I could be kind and peaceful person in people’s lives or and really what I actually bring is the problems that may break those things, you know?

[00:19:43] And, and, and I really Tried in my own strength to say look what I’ve built. And this reminder of saying , no, I don’t have anything in my hands to offer him what I’ve built, but to say like, look at the gifts that I have. And I think part of that for me a practical has been thankfulness. Seeing those things with the thanks that like the things that are in my hands are from him.

[00:20:09] Yeah. Yeah.

[00:20:10] Jenn: That was actually going to be another one of the

[00:20:12] practicals.

[00:20:13] Erin : let’s hear

[00:20:13] it.

[00:20:14] Jenn: me. Yeah. It’s. been practicing gratitude, remembrance and celebration because we’re such forgetful people. We forget all the ways that God has intervened for us. Well, maybe not all the ways, but we can forget in the moment when things are hard.

[00:20:31] We can, we can just be forgetful of how God’s already worked for us. There are just so many times in the Bible that God calls his people to remember to stop and remember him and celebrate what he’s done. And there’s so many verses on gratitude and how gratitude makes a difference. It changes things.

[00:20:53] It really impacts every other area and helps us to be centered on even like what you were saying centered on that. It’s not about my work and my efforts. It’s about the gifts God gave me. It’s about the opportunities God gave me. It’s about the people God put in my life. If we can stop and remember those things, it really gives us a chance to have faith for the future, for what God is working out for us, even in the face of closed doors or in the face of uncertainty.

[00:21:22] I really believe that the gratitude and the remembrance and the celebration really equip us to be able to move forward.

[00:21:28] Erin : I would agree with that. It’s like a heart check. Yeah. I should know where this versus found, but but where it talks about like we should rejoice always. Right. And, and pray without ceasing. And,

[00:21:42] Jenn: Hmm.

[00:21:42] Erin : and I think that really flows into thankfulness. Right? Like we’re rejoicing because we’re thankful, but it’s, sometimes it starts as a discipline.

[00:21:51] It starts as you were told to rejoice, so, sitting back and going, what do I have to rejoice over right now? It does flow right into that remembrance. We should remember what happened this morning. We should remember what happened yesterday this year, you know, like all these things to look back.

[00:22:10] And I think so often we forget to do that. So I think that’s so important of a reminder. Yeah

[00:22:17] Jenn: I think it’s that practice of it that keeps it from becoming like a toxic positivity, you know, like let me just grab for anything I can get to make myself feel happy in the moment when it’s hard. I think that’s been a hot topic lately. Is this toxic positivity that we can sometimes say, well, just rejoice.

[00:22:36] Just, just be happy. It just be glad be grateful. But when it’s a constant ongoing practice, you’re not just doing that. That’s something that you’re, you always do that is going back to your practice. And that means that , it’s just a continuation of that as you go through hard things. So you’re already in a place of, I know this is hard, but God has provided for me in the past.

[00:22:59] So I can, I can continue to trust because I know what he’s done. If that makes sense.

[00:23:03] So there’s in the, and the whole concept of building in Ephesians two verse 10, it says we are God’s handiwork created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

[00:23:17] And it’s important get ahead of that scripture because it verses eight through nine, remind us that we aren’t saved by our works. It’s grace and it’s not us, but I love that verse because it does remind me that we are building and we are here for a purpose. And so when I feel I’m getting too lost.

[00:23:38] I should just the course or God doesn’t want me to do great things. And I start thinking smaller than the plans that he has for me. I can go back to this first and say, no, God does have incredible plans for me. And I should be building, I should be stepping in faith. Because, who knows, but that God has put me in a position for this moment.

[00:23:59] Erin : I don’t know if you know, but that’s my theme verse for the podcast. It is.

[00:24:05] Jenn: Oh my

[00:24:05] gosh.

[00:24:06] I should have by now, but that’s amazing.

[00:24:09] Erin : But I love that verse two and the version that I know it in, he prepared the good works for us to walk in them and just thinking of taking steps to trusting. There’s a reality that he is building in us.

[00:24:26] He has done the work. He has saved us. He is sanctifying us. There’s this reality that he is doing in us, but there is also this reality that he’s prepared in place things in front of us. And he tells us walk in it, I’ve prepared it for you, you know? And there’s this participation that Yeah, I could probably, I’ll probably link the other podcast.

[00:24:46] I tried to talk about this because it’s something that I think about a lot. This tension of the fact that we do live in this tension, and I think the reality of it is we aren’t building anything without God’s strength, but we also are to trust and walk and take active steps to participation.

[00:25:07] Right. And I think it’s such a hard way to describe that. And I was even thinking like earlier on, when you were talking, there’s just this little something that’s different in our hearts. When we look at the outside thing, you know, it might look so very similar whether we’re building it for ourselves or whether we’re building it for the Lord, but God knows our hearts and he knows a for seeking after him. there’s so much more peace and just rest, like you said, that comes when we get to sit back and really trust in him and trust that he is working in us and he is using us. But we don’t have to do it in our own strength. Yeah.

[00:25:47] Jenn: Yeah, I agree. I think that’s where this whole conversation lies. Is where do we find the balance between trusting God building for him and kind of releasing our power of building our efforts towards him . We want to build and we want to do it for God’s glory, but then it kind of takes on its own life of itself. And then we’re suddenly building for ourselves and we didn’t realize it’s become about us.

[00:26:14] It’s not about him anymore, you know?

[00:26:16] Erin : Yeah, And I think that’s where you talked about already.

[00:26:19] There’s that constant turning back. There’s the constant refocusing, right? Because I think any time that we see God working in us, there’s that temptation of the pride to go look at what I did. I think in those moments, we have to say , I don’t want to let the enemy use that

[00:26:35] to stop me from my work, but I don’t want to continue on in my own strength and thinking it’s about me.

[00:26:42] Jenn: It’s subtle how we can turn to a different direction. We just continually turn back to God and it’s an ongoing practice. It’s not something God expects us to do perfectly, which encourages me to. He’s not expecting me to have it all figured out and see his blueprints for everything and just be building according to his blueprint.

[00:27:02] And he expects me to do it my own way and probably fail and mess up so many times, but he’s, he’s working with me and keeps kind of guiding me back to where I needed to be. And it’s also my responsibility to keep checking on my heart and keep turning back to him as well.

[00:27:18] Erin : Thats a struggle that I find I have. Even in just doing podcasting , I’m doing this for the Lord. And then I sit back and I want to go, wow. That was a really great conversation. Look at me, you know?

[00:27:31] And, and the reality, and that is like over and over, there’s this constant… I don’t want to stop from doing what God has put on my heart because of my own sin. I instead want to confess my sin and to turn back to him and go, I screwed up this time, but I’m going to keep trying. And ask God to still use me. Yeah.

[00:27:53] Jenn: yeah, it’s messy. I think he knows that. I think he expects that from us and I appreciate that about him. I’m a born perfectionist, so it’s very easy for me to want to do things the right way and have it all figured out and even being able to trust that it’s okay. It’s okay to be the mess that I am. He expects it that way and he welcomes me that way.

[00:28:18] Erin : I spent some time this morning, just kind of scrolling through your wall and Instagram I’ve followed you for a while, but I just was kind of scrolling back and just looking at I love that you share that on there. When I first started following you.

[00:28:30] I’m not sure that that’s something that you shared as readily.  Maybe it’s a shift in what you’re building.

[00:28:36] One of the posts I came across this morning you said, I’m not that girl. And you went on to say, I’m not the girl who’s sitting at the cool table or with the contract. But I just found it so encouraging. And you saying , I don’t have to be that girl, you know, God created you to be who he made you to be. I felt that in the past for myself to be like, I’m just Erin, I want to be consistent in . Who I am and not be a person who is just building the blog or the podcast and I think it’s a hard balance. I’m watching you right now doing it in an authentic way and it’s encouraging.

[00:29:14] So yeah.

[00:29:15] Jenn: That’s great to hear. Thank you. I think it frees me up to be able to be myself when it’s not about me. Whereas when it is about me, it’s like, is that the perfect picture of me? You know, literally or figuratively. Is this post making me sound good or is it making me sound like the mess that I am?

[00:29:39] And it’s very freeing to be able to say, this is about God. And if God is glorified in this, then I can be a mess and it’s okay because it’s not about me. But that again, just going back to all the pivots back to God and making it centered on him, it’s not easy to always be there and it’s not my nature to always be there.

[00:30:00] So I get that’s what this whole conversation

[00:30:02] Erin : Yeah.

[00:30:04] Well, and in doing that and just being real with people, like you’re saying letting people see your mess. I think it’s not seen as a mess it’s if from my eyes, you know, I think it’s seen as she’s someone who’s real that I can engage with and to trust more than if what you portrayed was that perfect? Just wanted to make

[00:30:24] sure to encourage you. Yeah.

[00:30:27] Jenn: Thank you. That it does mean a lot.

[00:30:29] Erin : Good. I was wondering if you would close us in prayer.

[00:30:33] Jenn: Absolutely. God, thank you so much for today. Thank you for this conversation and this chance to talk with Erin and just be able to consider how you made us, who you made us to be, God. Just the thought that you have a plan and a purpose for me, the creator of the universe who calls out the stars by name.

[00:30:57] Has a plan and a purpose for me and for every single one of us. What an incredible thing that you want to use us for your glory. And that you’re always working for our good as well. God, it just is a Testament to who you are. And I’m so grateful that we can have these kinds of real conversations with each other because you know that it is hard for them not to get caught up in ourselves in our own goals and our missions and our own kingdoms.

[00:31:26] Even when we really feel like we’re doing it for you, we can still get kind of caught up and tripped up along the way. And I’m just grateful to have this conversation to be able to remember how to center back on you when we can get lost in other kingdoms that we’re building. I pray so much for the people listening to this podcast that they can leave encouraged and that they would

[00:31:48] Look into their own lives and in what they’re building. And remember that it’s about you and because it’s about you and your glory that you fill in the gaps for us, that we can be messes and come before you imperfect. And it’s okay because we’re still wholly loved by you. And that any story that we’ll be able to tell in the end, won’t be credited to ourselves, but it will be credited to you.

[00:32:12] God, we love you. And we pray in Jesus’s name. Amen.

[00:32:16] Erin : amen. Thank you so much.

[00:32:19] Thank you all for joining us. If you enjoyed the show, please like, and subscribe. I would love if you left me a comment too, they’re always encouraging to me and they do help people to find the show by knowing more about it.

[00:32:32] As I said, in the beginning, you can connect with jen@whatyoumakeatblog.com or @whatyoumakeitblog on Instagram.

[00:32:40] If you want to connect with me, you can find me over at steps to trusting on Instagram and Facebook.

[00:32:46] You can also find me at Erinmichelle.net, where you find the transcript to this conversation and many others.

[00:32:53] Erin: You can also find

[00:32:54] Erin : My free five-day journaling resource to help you consider what’s my next step to trusting God more fully. I’m so thankful to have you here, and I hope you join us back here next time. But until then, I wanted to leave you with this reminder from Ephesians two 10 for we are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

[00:33:16] Friends. I’m praying for you as you keep on stepping.

[00:33:19]