Hard things are a part of life. Yet they don’t have to have the final word. They can become the keys to our greatest usability in the kingdom of God—that is, if we let God make good of them, rather than running away and refusing the growth we truly crave.
Lisa Whittle is on the show today discussing her new book The Hard Good. In today’s episode, Lisa guides us on a powerful path to progress as we learn to:
- accept things we wish were different,
- apologize and forgive first,
- cheer for someone who gets what we want,
- open our hearts again when we’ve been hurt,
- find joy in the waiting,
- and show up when we want to shut down.
Written for those who desperately want to move forward, The Hard Good gives voice to the hard places we all have lived and Lisa’s clear directions as to where to go next. We pray through this episode you realize your hard place is never too hard for God. Allow it to change you, help you, and ready you for the greatest comeback you have ever known.
Quotes:
“Acceptance was the missing piece. Accepting things brings freedom.”
“You have to be willing to believe two things can be true at the same time.”
“If we don’t have the good life that someone else does, we feel like we must have done something wrong.”
“Good is an actual characteristic of God.”
“The feeling of wanting to shut down is normal.”
“A part of showing up is to listen to each of the components—your heart, mind, body, and soul.”
“We need to take the pressure off because showing up is clumsy, imperfect progress. It is really a commitment to presence.”
“The three words that have been helping me the most in thinking about showing up is I am here.”
“We’ve all gone through hard things and we will all go through hard things. This is the unifier of life.”
“What if I, what if they, and what if God are stifling questions that are a dead-end street. We need to shift to what is now.”
“All of the hardships we experience remind us that this is not the best life. But we are here. The best life is a life to come. If we didn’t have that we might get too attached down here.”
“God may show us why, but He may never. I think there’s some beauty in that.”
“There is a difference between acceptance and preference. I don’t have to prefer it in order to accept it.”
“When feelings are operating in a God-given place they are a gauge. They give you information you need to pay attention to. If we don’t properly address our feelings they can become God-like.”
“We can’t stuff our feelings, they will come out. You can defer an emotion with the help of God.”
“The phrase we can do hard things isn’t true without the Lord.”
“I am a person who is seen as strong but I don’t like things that make me uncomfortable. So when things do become uncomfortable I have historically run away.”
“I like the me controlled by the Holy Spirit so much better.”
“Purpose has become an unknown destination with a hidden map that you were unfortunate enough not to get the directions to. We all have the purpose to go and make disciples.”
“King Saul was anointed and appointed like King David, but he never became a man after God’s own heart. Why? Because he thwarted his own useability.”
“Am I running away from the very thing that God has put in my life to make me Kingdom usable?”
This week’s love offering is to remember that “You can’t fix it so don’t try. We try to offer our story as help, but sometimes we need to just listen. Don’t be afraid to let silence sit. Sit in the grief.”
“If you don’t love Jesus you can’t love people. If it doesn’t come from an overflow of our hearts eventually it will become service that in some way serves us.”
Connect with Lisa:
Lisa Whittle | Author, Speaker & Teacher | Put Your Warrior Boots On (Book)
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