Experience that loss of what you thought you werenna do. Right. But it will open long standing doors to continue to go back.
Well, hello again, and welcome back to the Trim the Wick Podcast. I'm, Dan.
And I'm Becky.
And we are here with you again. And it's, week one of the crazy holiday season.
Can you believe we've already made it to December?
I know. What a year it's been like. It's been crazy. This has been a crazy year. But you know what? It's time. There's actually a cold front moving through. And, you never know, it might be almost a, wintry feeling here in Florida. It is.
I mean, I'm sitting here in my Florida winter outfit, y'all. I've got shorts and a sweatshirt on.
There you go. Because it is the holiday season. And, so we are just, glad to be with you guys again this weekend. Thank you so much for listening with us and being with us here on the Trim theook podcast. Well, the reason why it's kind of important that we're talking during Christmas time and all this of that, because believe it or not, this week we were supposed to be on an airplane flying to Kenya.
That's what we thought.
That's exactly what we thought. And we were kind of preparing for that. And, God had a way of changing that up. And we kind of wanted to talk about that because there are times in our life where we believe something, believe that God's leading us to something, and we move on it, start telling people all about it, but it's not the right time. Or.
Or there are things that are outside of our understanding that are gonna be coming down the road that we're gonna need to be able to address. And God knows those things and we don't. And kind of changes our path to adjust for that before we even realize we have that need.
Yeah, well. And, I mean, sometimes we get really frustrated with it, and we almost feel like failures. But there is some things in the Bible that kind of encourage us on this, that this does happen.
I think of Paul, right's multiple times in his missionary journeys, right? He says, I wanted to go here, but either the spirit hindered me, or there were a couple times where he says that Satan held me up. Know Romans, chapter 15. He's writing to a group and he says, listen, man, I've been wanting to come to you guys for ages, but I had so much work to do here. And now that works s done, and I'm gonna come to y'all But I gotta go back to Jerusalem first. And then after I'm done in Jerusalem,
I'm gonna come see you. I promise I'm gonna stop by and see you. But I'm not staying long. Cause I'm on my way to Spain, actually. Sometimes it's that thing where younna be in a thousand different places at once. And you have to really sit down and listen to God and go, okay, but where's the now? Where am I supposed to be right now? And what am I supposed to be doing right now? And some of y'all may be facing that. I mean, we're coming into the
end of a year. And, we have a way of looking back and going, well, gosh, by now I thought I'd be xyz. Or I really thought that by the end of this year, I'd be in this place. Or this, thing would have happened or that thing would have happened. And I think a lot of us this year are dealing with. We're not where we thought we would.
Be right now, this time of year. It's just because we're coming to the end of the year. There's that just natural of looking back and going, what did I not finish? Or what did I not do? Or what was something that I knew for a sure fact that this was gonna be what it was, and it's not.
So what we're kind of gonna focus on in this episode is learning to reframe your thought process around those things that they're not failures and they're not. Even though they may feel frustrating, it's not frustrations. We need to learn to look at those and go, okay, but where was the Lord changing the plan?
Yes. And for us, that was one of the big things here. Because we were looking at this trip to Kenya. for years now, Becky or myself have been going to Kenya for almost once a year or twice a year now. for about eight years. We were real excited because this was the time of year we were going toa go this year. You know, plan on going in December and stuff. So the fact that we're not going
is a huge thing to us. But we thought that this was kind of the natural progression of what we were doing with Fromim the Wick and, what we had been called to do. And the fact that God kind of a couple months ago opened our eyes to the thing of going, well, you can go if you want.
Right? And he did. We asked some people to pray with us. And we were literally told either way, God's telling you to choose.
Yes. So we could go and we would just have to take all of our resources right now and put it in that pile and go. And it would been amazing trip. And I know it would have been an amazing.
It would haven't. I miss the family that we're not seeing this week. We were going toa spend the next couple of weeks seeing family there and now we're not. And I miss them.
and that is the hard thing of when we don't achieve those goals or so things is that that's some of the loss is that, you know, we're missing out on what we thought this was going to be. Everyone deals with that. You know, if you set up a goal to xyz, I don't know what the, what the goal would be and you're like, oh, God's le lead me to do this. And then you don't
achieve that goal. There is a loss there because the reason why you set that goal was for the benefit that that was going to be in your life, you know, so that's a hard thing to get over and that's a struggle.
But the joy is when you start to look at it and go, okay, like you said, six months ago, we would have told you we were absolutely going to Kenya this week.
Oh yeah, we were having meetings with people.
Right. We were setting up meetings. We were looking at purchasing airline tickets. I mean, we were setting things in place. But then three months ago is when the Lord opened up another door and said, listen, you can still do going to Kenya, but if you do that, it's gonna take everything and this other door that's open to you will be shut to you. Right.
And as we prayed through it, he started to show us that Kenya would be amazing this week, but it would be the only time for the next foreseeable future that we would get to go there.
Yes.
where if we took this other open door opportunity, it would be laying a foundation that would continue to keep the door open to Kenya for years to come. Right. And so our choice that was laid before us was you can do the thing that your heart really longs to do right now and go and see the people you love and do the ministry and pray with people and it's gonna be amazing. But that will be the end of it for
a significant period of time. Or you can miss them and feel the frustration of not being where you want to go and experience that loss of what you thought you were going toa do. Right. But it will open long standing doors to continue to go back. Right. So it's. Do you. Do you gratify what you want in the now, or do you listen to the Lord and have him quietly redirect you to where your path is gonna be? A much longer, more solid path.
Right. And again, this is where I think, for when God puts something before you and then he redirects you, is seeking out, going, okay, God, what is the ultimate goal? What is the ultimate purpose? Because you did put this out in front of us. You know, that was not a lie. That was not a.
no, we do have a heart for Kenya.
We do have a heart for Kenya, and we are gonna go to Kenya. But in the redirect, what was the purpose? And we need to go to that redirect with the same fervor.
Yes.
That we would have gone with the first thing that was in front of us. And, I believe so many believers, so many people when God does that redirect, they get frustrated. They then get more of. Into a depression mode because they re. They're feeling like they're losing out.
Right.
Because they're not achieving that thing, or they deal with the struggle of, oh, I guess you weren't hearing from God the first time. Did I get out over my skis and stuff? and so many times we need to stop and go, okay, God, what was the redirect for? For us. We know now. And it took us a couple weeks of prayer and kind of seeking out, of what was the redirect and what was the purpose of the redirect? Cause at first we were kind of frustrated.
we were disappointed.
Disappointed and sad. And then, you know, the worst part of it was making those phone calls.
I hated those phone calls of, hey, we told you we were coming, but now we're not. It feels like you're letting other people down.
Exactly. But now what we're seeing, and we're now, as we're walking into this with the redirect of what God has for us is now we're starting to see everything coming to focus, and we're now starting to see a bigger picture for Kenya.
Right.
Than what we had six months ago. And that. That's super exciting.
It is.
and this is where I want toa encourage you as you're listening and you're going, okay, God put something in front of me, and I told people about it. I put myself out there, I started going. And then God redirected me. And God's telling me now I need to do this is don't get frustrated. You know, don't throw your hands up and go, well, I guess I'm not hearing from God and I guess I just need to throw this all away. No, you're being redirected for a reason.
Right. He's illuminating the next step in the path. And just because it's not the step that made sense to you at first and that you thought you were gonna step out in, he's still going to take you to those places that he told you about.
Yes. Well, because now we're starting to see some things in Kenya that six months ago we didn't see.
Right.
We're seeing potential and opportunities that have opened up now for us that six months ago weren't there.
Right.
That was because of this redirect. And we were able to transform some of these things in our own thinking, allowing God to open our eyes to some things that we were not looking at before. And you know, I'm looking at now the next opportunity that we get to go, it's going to be more than just going and visiting and teaching and stuff, but it's going to be now teaching to build a foundation of something bigger that's coming.
Right. Because the Lord's gonna have time to pour more into us so that we have more to bring over there. And you know, it is, it's interesting and it's encouraging when you put your plans before the Lord. Right. And when you ask him for his input instead of just barreling ahead with what you feel like younna do and oh man, but I miss them. And inna go see them and inna do these things and I might disappoint them if I say no or if I back
out. Instead of letting all of that emotional stuff make your decisions, if you're able to put your decisions before the Lord and listen and really hear his voice, he does put you on a much firmer foundation that's gonna allow you to do more and do more for longer.
Yes.
Than the plans that you would originally come up with. And it comes to that place of, of really asking him and trusting him with it. And what's been neat is not only have we seen bigger and better now. For Kenya, there were some things, you know, I kind of alluded to earlier that there may be some things that you're not even considering in your decision making process that are coming down the road that God sees and God
knows. And if instead of fighting him on the redirect, if you go into the redirect with a trusting stance and going, okay, Lord, you have never steered me wrong.
Right.
And every step that you illuminate in front of me, even if it's not where I thought I was gonna go, it's always for my good and for my benefit. If you can take the redirect that way, he's going to not only give you bigger and better for that particular thing, but for your overall outlook. we've had some family things that have happened. We've had some health issues with my folks that I wouldn't want toa be out of country right now. Right. you. I kind of want toa be here right now.
It would have been very hard to be preparing, packing all of the things that have to be done to leave the country for a few weeks. because we were also planning on staying the longest we've ever stayed. We were gonna stay for almost a whole month. It would have been very hard to be doing all of the prep work for that and doing doctor's visits and weighing things like that that needed to be done in our extended
family. our eldest son was supposed to have some time that he was gonna get to come spend with us in October. That didn't happen. Now do you know when he's getting to come spend time at home? It's gonna be December, the time that we would have been in Kenya. So we would have completely missed out on it. These are things that God knew was coming in our life and we could have never anticipated.
Yeah, I think one of the things that we always struggle with u is playing the long game. God's playing a long game with us. He sees what we don't see. He sees the future. He sees the things that are, on the horizon that we don't see. And we get a glimpse of that. We get the. Whatever our, the light can just shimmer on that. We get to see in the distance. And so we never fully understand all the implications of when God redirects us or God puts us in a direction and tells us, you know, go
this way. because we don't see the full picture. We don't see it until we walk through it. That's one of the things that I've seen in this last couple weeks and months is that we're starting to see a bigger picture because God's showing us more. We're seeing moreuse. We're walking in it.
Right.
And we're actually playing the long game. We're, actually.
And the more you walk on that, the more you begin to understand. Oh. Oh, wow. That's why it was a protection here. It was a provision here. It's a foundation setting for the long term. Exactly. it's so many different pieces that six months ago, we didn't even have the capacity to consider we're living in. Your ways are higher than my ways. Your thoughts are higher than my thoughts.
Well. And again, the instantaneous thing of you're not doing this. The frustration, though, without understanding the full revelation of what's going to happen to you and what is happening so that you see the future. That's been kind of my idea with this, is that God's gonna redirect you.
Yep.
God's gonna change some things up. And instead of getting frustrated, instead of throwing your arms up and going, oh, I'm not hearing from God, or this was a lie, or I was just chasing the wind or whatever, go. Okay. Why is God redirecting me? What is he showing me? What is the long game that I need to learn from this so that when I fully walk into what he called me to do, I am fully walking into what he has for me.
And I'm prepared. Yeah. Because this is a time right now, you and I are being prepared for the greater work that we're seeing.
Yeah.
And, man, if we had walked into that now, we wouldn't have been ready for it. But we'll be ready because he's preparing us. Yeah. I know. A lot of us, again, like, how we opened, we're taking stock of where we are as another year draws to an end. And we're going. Maybe some of us are in places we never thought we'd be. maybe some of us are sitting looking at goals that just feel
like they're a thousand miles off still. And we started the year with really great intentions, and we're just not all the way to Him. You are where you are, and God has you exactly where you are. He is not somehow not sovereign in this.
Right.
If your circumstances and if the Lord working in your life has seemingly hindered you from going to that destination you thought you were gonna go, remember, he's a good God. Y. He's not holding you back to harm you. He's holding you back because maybe you aren't prepared to be in that place. Maybe that place isn't ready for you yet. Maybe there's more you've got to learn. Maybe there's a foundation that has to be
laid. Maybe there's those pieces of the puzzle that are just outside of your view because you can't know them. Right. Walk in it. Don't get restless. Don't get frustrated. Don't get disappointed or depressed. He's a good God who has good plans. His thoughts are higher than your thoughts. His ways are higher than your ways. Look at where you are and begin to do that. Taking account and that conversation
with him of. Okay, so you've clearly you had different plans for me at this point in the year than I had for me. Would you reveal your plans to me? Yep. Would you help me come to grips with why I am where I am and what's the next step to get me where I'm meant to be, not where I want to be?
That's right. Well, we're gonna leave it there at that. And, we hope that encourages you as we finish 2024 and we get in our last few weeks before Christmas and before the New Year. if you haven't, we wanna encourage you to check out the redone, and revamped, website at matthew257.do.com and you get to see some of the changes and some of the things that God has been working on us over the last, few months. And there's some opportunities there.
I was gonna say gives you guys new opportunities to interact with us too.
So just check that out at matthew257.com. Well, I guess that's it for this week and we'll see you next week.
Love you. Bye.