[Amy]

I would like to welcome Tana Johnson to the show today! Tana, thank you for joining us.

[Tana]

Hi, everyone! Thanks for having me.

[Amy]

Well, it is an honor to have you here, and I’m super excited for everyone to hear our conversation. Let me tell you just a little bit about Tana and her background.

I want to brag on her for a moment. Years ago, when Shaun and I first started our church that the Lord had directed us to plant, Tana was our personal executive assistant. Tana, how long were you in that role? Was it six years?

[Tana]

Almost six.

[Amy]

Almost six years.

That was an awesome time. Tana was a major pillar in our life, and just amazing! Super efficient at everything she did, and always did everything with a spirit of excellence. One of the things that I love the most about Tana is that she was very much the wind beneath my wings in women’s ministry. She had such a heart for that, and every month we did that ministry, she was like the whole event planner for it, and she was always so excited about it. This was something I said to people with staff members and friends or relatives, whoever it may be, when problems happen. There are people that carry gasoline and throw gasoline on a fire, or there are people that carry a water bucket and put the fire out.

Tana has always been the kind of person that carries around two water buckets, and she would make sure fires got out, whether it was strife, a problem happening, or whatever. She was so great at taking care of challenges that happened, often before they even got to me, and just putting the fires out. I have always appreciated that about you so much. You were such a huge support in women’s ministry! It was just absolutely amazing, your heart for that, and the events that you put on for us. It was just beautiful, the stuff she did. She’s a very talented woman.

Then after about six years, Tana ended up moving out of state, and so we didn’t get the joy of her presence anymore, but we stayed in touch during that time. One of the reasons I’m so excited to have Tana with us today is so all of you can hear this conversation about confidence. When you were working with us I would say you were confident in your role, Tana, but you weren’t confident as a person. Would you agree with that?

[Tana]

I would very much agree with that. I had the anointing to do the position at the church, but I did not have the confidence in me as a person, for sure.

[Amy]

If you look at different facets of confidence, we can have confidence to do a specific thing, like our career, or maybe we’re good at a sport, or good at playing an instrument. We can have confidence in different areas, but confidence in one specific area really is different than having a confidence of who we are in Christ. In the last year since you’ve moved away, there has been such a change in you. We actually got together last summer, so about eight months ago now, and when I saw you in person, I thought, “wow, has she changed!” You have made one of the most drastic changes in growth in a short period of time I’ve ever known, and so let’s talk about that. tell us what happened in your life in childhood, teen years. and then tell us about your growth process, just whatever you want to share right now.

[Tana]

Okay, as a kid, I grew up in a family that was Christian. We went to church. We knew God.

We knew to have God in our heart. I knew my parents loved me. I knew I was loved and taken care of.

There wasn’t a whole lot of hugs and verbal “I love you’s”. It was just kind of an underlying knowing. I was also independent and self-sufficient, because, like I said, I knew my parents loved me, but there wasn’t a whole lot of showing it or hearing it. That did make me question whether I was love sometimes. Am I being, you know, loved by my mom and dad in a deeper sense? So, I was always trying to strive and please people, because I was seeking after the verbal affirmation that I was good enough.

[Amy]

What is your love language? Are you words of affirmation?

[Tana]

I would actually like to take it again, but when I took it the first time, it was acts of service.

[Amy]

Okay.

[Tana]

I always just enjoyed if people just did something for me so I didn’t always have to do everything. I don’t even know if words of affirmation were my top two or three. But I would really add, actually, as I’ve grown into who I am now it’s been on my heart to retake that test because I wonder how much different it would be. Maybe not, but maybe. I have always been seeking after confirmation that I was good enough, and so I would just strive and strive and strive to be good enough and would always fall short. I never felt like I was ever good enough, because nothing could ever really fulfill that. Then I got married while still doing the striving after and striving after to just be approved and still couldn’t ever be fulfilled in that area. I had the Lord in my heart since I was 14. Knew of the Lord, appreciated the Lord, knew His ways. Can’t say I always walked in them.

You know, there’s times I veered off. I ended up having a daughter when I was 22, and that got me right back on the road to knowing the Lord again, and that was better, but then again it was still the lack of confidence, I guess, which I always thought I was a strong person in just being able to do and do what I needed to do to just continue with life and just keep going and make things work, but I didn’t realize at the same time that I was lacking in the confidence of me.

I think it took me quite a while to actually realize that was an underlying thing in me that was causing other issues to come up, such as the lack of confidence, because when you are striving to please others I don’t know that you’re really confident in who you are. You’re thinking, “well, maybe I really am not good enough.” I think you come to maybe start to realize that as you grow and mature as a person.

[Amy]

Tana, if you don’t mind me asking, you went through an unwanted divorce how many years ago?

[Tana]

Two years ago.

[Amy]

That was around when I really started noticing changes in you. You’ve always been a great person, but you initially were very broken, I remember. But through it you really chose to get better and not bitter. What can you share with someone who maybe is going through an unwanted divorce right now? When they feel the brokenness, the fear, the rejection, whatever feelings may be coming with that, how do they choose to go to the better place instead of the bitter place?

What did you do specifically?

[Tana]

Yes, I really made the Lord my source. I always spent time with the Lord in the morning for years upon years upon years, and so that never changed. What changed probably was that then I would come home after work, and I’d go and just release my feelings to the Lord, and then before I went to bed, I would spend time with the Lord. So I spent a whole lot of time with the Lord, and I have to say that was probably the best thing ever, though I didn’t realize it at the time. I’d later had people that had been through divorce, and even leaders and coaches of people that go through this tell me that it’s good to process feelings often. Well, I didn’t ever even know that, but I would go and come home after work, I’d spend time with Him, and then I’d go outside on my back porch, and I would just sit out there by myself, and I would process everything I was feeling, and then I had to determine whether it was truth or a lie. If it’s truth but it’s something I need to work on, then I had to recognize that’s either a growth spot for me or maybe it’s not my issue, and I just have to let that go.

So I would just sit out there for an undetermined amount of time. Whatever it took for the day to process whatever I was feeling for the day. I just would sit there and let the Lord help guide me through it, and He would always give me wisdom. “That is not yours to deal with. That is yours to deal with. That issue right there, we need to work on this.” And it wasn’t always easy, but I knew I needed it. In order to heal, I knew I needed to do work on me, and I needed to let Him show me where I needed the work, and it was definitely an onion. It had so many layers, and I feel like you’re working through one layer, and then you’re like, “okay, that feels good,” and then, “awesome! There’s another layer,” and so you work through all of that. So there’s a lot of pruning and a lot of fine-tuning that the Lord puts you through, but it’s all for the best. 

The other thing He had mentioned to me in prayer once was, “make Me your soul source.” And you know, I thought I was until I said, “okay, Lord, then show me what that means, because I thought You were my soul source.” Then He just started showing me in every area where I wasn’t making Him my soul source. And I think one time what helped maybe snap some of it into my brain so I could process it better was when He said, “even when you’re married, I will still be number one, right? And I said, “of course,” but He said, “then make Me number one now, so that when you get remarried, there’s no difference.” For me, it just made sense, and so I would work on making Him my soul source in everything.

When I had to refinance my house I was very overwhelmed by that, but He said, “that’s okay, I got it.” He would send resource people all of the time, people I knew, people I didn’t know, just resources again and again and again and again to help me with everything that I needed to get through it. There were so many things that I had on my plate that had me like, “oh, I don’t want to go through that. It’s going to hurt.” But He’d be like, “that’s okay. I’m here with you.” And there would be times where I would go in my master closet (my prayer closet), and I would feel Him supporting my raised hands when I prayed, and He’d tell me, “l’ve got you. I’ve got you. There’s nothing that you can’t get through when I’m here with you.” And it’s not like it’s going to be always easy or feel good, but when you have the Lord, you’re going to get through it. He has you.

There’s just such an immense love that He has for you. He’s not going to leave you. He’s not going to forsake you. He’s going to hold you up with His strong, capable hands, and He already knows the outcome. I would always tell myself that He has good plans for me. He has good plans for me, and He told me one time in prayer, “I will never do anything but My best for you,” and I wrote that down because it astonished me so much. It just spoke to me, and I literally cried when He told me that because I thought, “He loves me that much, and He cares for me that much that He’s going to give me His best.” And I want God’s best because it’s better than what I can think of on my own.

He had me with His strength. He fought every battle for me. He never left me. He never forsaked me. He was always with me. I would talk to Him throughout my day.

I never missed a day of work because I was going to come home and cry anyway, so I might as well go to work, occupy my mind, and find strength by not letting this overtake me, and I think that helped. Now, there were times at work where I had to excuse myself and go to the restroom and maybe let out a little bit of sorrow, but I would do that, and then I would always follow it up in prayer, thanking the Lord, and every time I would go to the restroom, I would just thank the Lord. “Thank you, Lord, for the good plans that you have for me.” I’d find anything I could thank the Lord for.

If I was in the building by myself I’d get up and walk into a different room and just thank the Lord, so there was a lot of time with the Lord and knowing His ability and capability that I really just relied on. I also dove into trying to discover the depths of His love for me, and I think that maybe one of the biggest things that changed my life was knowing His love for me. There’s nothing like it, and you can’t outdo it. You can’t find the end of it, and He just continues to be good and better and better and better. A lot of it came through praise, and a lot of it came through worship, and a lot of it just came from letting Him into my life, asking Him to speak into me.

“Show me how to do this. Show me who I am. Show me how to do life, because I, for the last 18 years, became someone that I don’t recognize anymore.” When I came out from under that divorce, I had to find myself again, which was a journey in itself, and I have to say it probably took about two years to rediscover me.

[Amy]

I would add to what you’re saying that anytime someone has been married for a season, especially that many years, and they go through that, it isn’t even just rediscovering yourself, even though that’s part of it. It’s also discovering the new you in that new setting, because you become so used to being the couple, and like the Bible says, “the two become one flesh,” and that isn’t meant to be split apart. When that split happens, it’s a whole huge healing process that the Lord needs to bring someone through, discovering your new identity in Christ in kind of a different way, don’t you think?

[Tana]

Absolutely. Absolutely. I had to find who I was in Christ.

I can be on my own, and it’s okay, but definitely there is a change from being married where you have the support of another person, the company of another person. I went through a time where I didn’t want to be alone. I was not used to being alone. I didn’t even want the divorce, so it wasn’t like I was seeking to be alone, you know? That was a big change, and it was quite hard. I went and found that I was running from being alone, and alone to me meant in the house without having someone around, because I was so used to there always being someone here. Then when the kids were away, the house was very quiet I would just run. I couldn’t even be in the house for more than probably two hours by myself.

It was very hard to adjust to that, and I found myself running for quite a while, and the Lord started working on that with me, and my sister played a very key role in this. You have to have someone in your life that you can just be real with. Someone that supports you. And she would say, “Tana, you might be in the house by yourself, but you’re not alone. You’re never alone. You always have friends. You have your sister. You have your family. You have God. You’re just in the house by yourself. That’s all. It’s no big deal.” 

But that was very hard to get through, because in my mind, I was seeing myself as alone as being a loser. “Oh, look at you. You’re all by yourself. You don’t have anyone,” and all these little lies that kind of try to sneak in. “See? Maybe it was you. Maybe you are the one with all the issues and the deficiencies that you aren’t loved anymore.” I had to come to the point where I took all those feelings when they would come and say, “no, I don’t believe them. I don’t believe that lie. Now, get out in the name of Jesus!” 

It’s a constant, constant battle, because in a divorce, at least in my case, it wasn’t one of mutual consent, and so there’s a lot of lies that would try to come in and steal your joy, and steal your family. There was a lot of spiritual warfare, because the enemy did come in and steal the family. You know, he came in to steal and break us apart, so part of that is also trying to keep your family together during all that as well. Doing that while you’re very hurt is extremely hard, and I don’t know how people that don’t know the Lord get through this, because it is so hard, and there’s so much spiritual warfare that comes along with it.

You just really need to ground yourself in the Word. You need to put it in your ears. You need to put it in your eyes. You need to just turn the TV off. Just listen to messages that are truth and are speaking the Word all the time. Do something that fills your soul with the right things, because that’s the only thing you need in these moments. You can’t let anything else in. You have to have a gate up that says, “no. I know who I am. God has certain things for me. I am not letting anything in that’s not of Christ.” And I was very intentional about that.

I don’t have cable (though I sometimes watch cooking shows). I choose to listen to messages, and praise and worship music, and read the Word of God. I go on runs where I listen to things. I was also taking my real estate courses during that time, and the Lord told me that He’s going to expand my circle of friends, and I became friends with so many people so fast, and all of them are faith-based.

My girl groups would just go out and have game nights, we’d go walk around the town or a shopping center, or we would just go to a girlfriend’s house and just chit-chat. I filled my time with the right stuff and kept myself where I could be at peace and find joy, and also have the Word of God in almost everything I did.

[Amy]

Was there anything specific that especially helped with discovering God’s love for you? Obviously being around the right people that are building you up, and listening to the right teachings like you’re talking about is a huge part of it, but is there any specific thing or book or anything at all that was a big pillar in helping you get that revelation of God’s love for you, and your value?

[Tana]

Yes, so I read the book, The Bride. It’s the book of Solomon, but it’s done in a way where it shows the Lord seeking after you, and as I read that book it was so synchronized with me. I was this person the Lord was seeking after. The whole time I read it I was thinking, “this is me. This is everything I’m going through.” Like every trial and every little step this person took in the book, this girl, was me. It was just so strange, I was like, this is everything I’m feeling. The Lord was seeking after me, and it was just in perfect harmony and timing with what I was going through, and I think that book in itself made me realize the Lord is seeking after me. He loves me so much, and everything He did for that person in that book, He was doing for me, and it was amazing! I would recommend reading that if you are going through anything like this, through a divorce or anything similar, and you are needing to know the love of God for you. There were times I just stopped reading the book and bawled because God loves me so much, and He was making it known to me through this book, and through spending time with Him, but it was almost like He was just speaking it to me personally.

There were also times where He would say, “I need you to work on forgiveness.” I think it was maybe like 11 or 12 o’clock at night, and I was listening to a Keith Moore message on forgiveness on YouTube. It came up and I couldn’t get past it, because the Spirit kept prompting that I should listen to it, and I said, “oh, I don’t really want to listen to that,” but He said, “no, I want you to listen to that.” 

So I listened to it, and then at the very end of the message the person speaking said the standard “if you need prayer, call this number” thing. I called the number, and some gal on the other side prayed with me, and it was no sissy prayer.  She really prayed, and when I was on the phone, I felt this wind just almost like blowing my hair, like I felt it on my face, and I knew it was the Holy Spirit. I believe it was a supernatural healing, and that God was giving me the ability to start the healing process of everything that went on, and through the divorce, the healing of the divorce itself, the healing of all the sorrows, the pains, and the healing of my acts. Forgiveness is actually what it was, and so I believe that was the supernatural ability to release some of that stuff through the Holy Spirit, but I think the way I was able to receive that healing and have the Holy Spirit manifest itself like that was because I was willing to let it. I was willing to let God do whatever He needed in me, and I remember just saying that all the time. 

Having a willing heart was a big part of all of it. The willingness to let it go and not manifest bitterness or hatred in me. There were times where there would be certain things that were said to me, or texted to me, or emailed to me, and it hurt. I remember talking with my boss one day at work, and I was having a hard moment, and he saw that I was having a hard moment, and he sat down with me. I said, “I really am working hard right now at not being bitter and mad, because I know I can’t be. I know that’s not good for me, and so I’m just working at not letting it manifest and fester in me.” There were so many times where I had to make that choice to not be bitter, not hold on to it. I still had to stand up for myself and stand up for what I knew I needed to do, but still let it go and let the healing and the forgiveness come, even if I didn’t want to. That makes a big difference when you’re willing to do that, not that I had it right every time. 

There were times I would forgive, but then there were times where I would fall and not be what I wanted to, you know? I wouldn’t react, though, and I’d get up and I’d say, “well, the next time it’s not going to get me,” and then the next time it wouldn’t. So I gained strength, and then maybe the next time after that I would fall a little bit, and I’d be like, “nope! Next time I’m going to go even further in my forgiveness and healing!” I just kept telling myself to get back up, and next time don’t let it affect me. So then, you know, you’re exercising that muscle of forgiveness, you’re exercising that muscle of having the heart of God, you’re exercising the way that God would want you to handle situations. You get stronger, and you increase your ability to do more than what you could do on your own. You get that ability to be more like Christ and handle things the way He would want you to. There’s still a few times where I fall, but I go right back to the Lord, because I’ve found that if I just go right to the Lord, to the source, He fills me with what I need to get through it.

[Amy]

Now, you mentioned getting better and not bitter, and in the forgiveness, has that made it easier, just that thought of, you know what, if I’m holding this, my hands aren’t in a posture of receiving, and I want the future God has for me, even when someone’s tempted to hold bitterness around forgiveness, if they really stop and think about it, God has a great future for us, no matter what the enemy throws at us, no matter what other people throw at us, you know, and that whole posture of keeping your hands open, letting go of the unforgiveness and bitterness, keeping your hands open, because we don’t want to miss the future God has for us, because He can still make it great.

[Tana]

That’s absolutely what I always would keep in mind. I don’t want to miss out on what He has for me, and so it just kept me going, and when He told me at the very beginning, I will never do anything other than my best for you, those words are so implanted in me that I still hear them today, like I don’t want to miss what He has for me, because that best is so good, and He is fully capable of accomplishing that which concerns me today, that’s another one that always comes to me, and so He’s got my back, and sometimes I see it as if they want to get to me, they have to go through God first, and so go ahead, God, you know, go ahead and take that, so you just fight that battle for me. I’m going to believe it.

I’m going to do what I need to do back here behind the scenes and keep my faith connected to you, so it’s His ability that I say, I give you my faith, Father, I take my faith, and I connect it to you and let you do all the rest in me, and that’s all He wants is my faith. He wants my heart, and He can take that and do a zillion things with it. There’s also another time where He told me He like put a platter out in front of me, and He said, okay, take out everything in you that you don’t want, and so I literally saw myself kind of just taking my hand like down from my intestines up through up my throat and just kind of out, you know, and I’d say, okay, take out the bitterness, and I set it on the plate. I take out the unforgiveness. I take out, you know, whatever it was. I think there was maybe like six or seven things.

I was a little surprised, but I took it all out, and I put it on the plate, and He goes, now, do you want any of that back, and I said, no, I don’t. I don’t want any of it back, and He goes, okay, it’s your choice if you take it back, and I said, true. That is very true, and so there was all these little things that God would say to me along the way, visual things, encouragements.

I would write them all down that just helped along the way, but I wouldn’t have had any of that if I hadn’t been spending time with the Lord. That really truly is the core of it all was the time with the Lord, and I have noticed lately that probably in the last couple months, I got away from spending time with the Lord in the evening, and I noticed then I was starting to carry a little bit more weight. I graduated off of coming home and spending time with Him, but I always did it in the evening still, but then I started to even separate myself from that, and then I started feeling the weight of things coming back on me, just indifferent things, not anything to do with the divorce, but just in life.

[Amy]

It was a graduation you gave yourself that you shouldn’t have. Yes, and I noticed.

[Tana]

I was like, what has changed, and I sat and reflected on it for a little bit, and I was like, you know, I’m not spending time with the Lord in the evenings, and when I started spending time with the Lord in the evenings again, it all kind of just shifted back to good where I wasn’t carrying the weight of all that again. So, even when things are going better or good, it’s not the time to let up on your faith. It’s not the time to let up on spending time with the Lord, because He truly wants to seek after you.

He wants your heart. He wants your time, and He just wants to bless you. There’s times I just come in there.

I go in my room, in my prayer room, and He’s like waiting there for me, and we just kind of start in and like, hi, God, and there’s times He said, what do you want, and I’m like, I don’t know, and so it’s just, you know, He really truly just loves you and just wants to care for you, and He’s got every answer you need. There’s times where it’s quiet, and I don’t maybe hear from Him, but I don’t pick it up and try to just carry that. I just kind of wait.

I’ve learned to just maybe wait, not in all things, but I’m learning more and more to just be patient for a minute and just hold off. You know, I don’t need to hurry up and try to do it on my own, because when I do, it just doesn’t work out, so I’ve learned to just try to be patient and wait.

[Amy]

Are you referring to like in hearing God’s voice, or you’re wanting direction for something or things like that, and if you don’t get that direction of a prompting in your heart of which way to go with something, that you don’t rush and try to make the decision on your own, but you just wait longer. Maybe it takes a few days, a few weeks, a few months before you even get an answer from God on a specific thing. Is that what you’re referring to?

[Tana]

Yes, that’s exactly it, and I’ve learned to just wait. Not always easy, but I’ve noticed it’s the right thing because it’s in His perfect timing, and even in finding a spouse for the future and just holding off and waiting. You know, there was a time where He said, I don’t want you to date, and I had to wrap my head around that one for a little bit.

I have to say that probably took me about two days, but I did. I stopped dating for probably about nine months until I felt like it was right again, and then there was more of a peace about it in this time instead of an urgency because I had taken that time to let the Lord grow in me even more, and there’s a confidence that has risen up in me of who I am because of my time with the Lord and who He says I am. You know, He started to put that in me like He wanted me to get my real estate license again, and I said, Okay, I’m going to go do it, and so I did that, and then one day in prayer, He goes, Are you going to accept the will that I have for your life?

And I said, Well, I thought I was, but when I dug into that more, it made me wonder why did He ask me that when I’m doing what He asked of me, and I find that it was more of what was in me of like, Okay, well, I’m going to get my license, and then I’m going to do this and this and this and this, and He says, No, let me lead you, and it’s not that I’m still not supposed to do what I need to do on the outward, but it’s He leading me on the inside to go do those things.

You know, He might say, Today, go do this. I’ve noticed over these last several years, He can open doors of opportunity and provide resources that I would not have on my own. I would not have had the perfect timing.

I would not have known who to reach out to. There was contacts I’ve made over the last 15 years that have come into play, and all along, the Lord has been providing, not that I needed these resources at the time for what was down the future, maybe, but they were all there. Everything I needed just kind of lined up into place, but I was open and willing to let the Lord speak to me, to let Him, to like Amy said, have my hands open to just do what you need to do in my life, Lord, and with that has come the ability to become more like Him.

Yeah. They’ll strive for that more and more, but I’ve never been in a place where I have been so healed on the inside and not striving to please people anymore because of His love for me, and it has made me whole. His loving me has made me complete.

[Amy]

And you know, that describes it. You have become a whole person. When I talk with you now and when we met together last time you have this look of fulfillment on your face that I had never seen in you years ago. You have a look of knowing who you are—I guess that would be a good way to say it—and just a solidness on the inside that I hadn’t seen in you before. You know, your whole story and everything we’ve been talking about today reminds me a lot of Psalm 112:7-8, which says (and I’ll personalize this as I say it), I need not fear a bad report for my heart is unshaken since I trust in the Lord. And it goes on to say my heart is established and steady.

I will not be afraid while I wait to see my desire established. When a bad report comes, are we going to choose to be that unshakable person that just confidently trusts the Lord to care for us? And even as we go through the pain process, the healing process, walking out that whole trust in the Lord that He can even take the attacks, the challenges, and the calamities that try to come upon our life. We can confidently trust in Him as we walk out those hard places to come through with the victory on the other side.

As we wrap up today, do you have any specific verse or maybe a couple of verses that you especially stood on during this time to help bring you that confident heart, that heart of trusting the Lord?

[Tana]

There are three verses that I have on my board that I say every day. One (Exodus 3:21) was about restoring. Thank you, Father, that you’re restoring to me everything that has been stolen.

That just brought a peace to me. And this year, the Lord has said, you know, there’s new beginnings now. I spoke that over me and my kids that thank you, Father, that you’re restoring everything that was stolen from us.

The second one is Ephesians 3:20. It’s so beautiful. It’s that our Father can do anything beyond what I can dream of on my own.

And that comes into play, not just with things that you’re desiring and wanting, but even within you. And the other one is, I believe it’s 1 Peter 5.10. “For the God of all grace, who has called me into his eternal glory, will He Himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish me.”

And those three together, I say every morning over myself and my kids. And they have been a very firm foundation for me. I’ve asked the Lord, “are there other verses you would like me to put up here with these, or can I move off of these?” and I haven’t received anything yet. Not that there aren’t other great ones out there. But those three were a foundation for me that I still say every day.

[Amy]

If you were to be talking to someone who is going through what you were before, just got a bad report of some sort, it may be with a marriage, their health, or just going through a hard time, what would you say to that person right now?

[Tana]

I would tell them there is hope in the Lord. There is deep hope and trust in Him. Take the time to discover Him, to talk to Him, to just dig in and just let Him have His perfect way. There’s nothing that God doesn’t know you’re going through. There’s nothing that He can’t fix. There’s nothing He can’t handle.

And He loves you so much. He cares about every little care that’s on your heart. So if you have a physical condition in your body, He can handle it. He can take care of it. He can get you through it. 

It may still hurt. It may still cause pain. But He’s there with you through it. And He never said that He’s going to relinquish us of the pain of going through things, but He’s always said, “I am there with you in it.” He’s the light into your path. So just let Him lead you. Let Him guide you. He’s the best guide out there. He knows every step to take. He knows when to turn, when to take a step over here. He knows when to go forward. He knows when to go backwards.

He just knows it all, and He cares so much for you. So just lean in, listen, give Him your heart, show him your ability to just let Him into your heart and into your life. He will do amazing things more than you can imagine or think. Let it take its time, and don’t rush it.

A lot of times we try to say, “yeah, but I already know that.” Maybe even we don’t even say that, but we just try to take back control. When you notice you’re trying to take back control, repent of it and give it back. And sometimes we have to do that often. But that’s, again, another muscle that you can grow.

But to seek the Lord in all His glory is to find health and wholeness and strength in your body for whatever you’re going through. And it will change you. It will transform you. You will be pruned and you will be sharpened along the way. But there is such goodness in all of that, that you will become someone you may not recognize or someone you have always wanted to be. You will find this joy and this strength that you had never had before, and life can be so good and so much happier. You’ll be able to just forgive. You’ll be able to just move on and things can roll off your back. It just becomes easier and easier and more enjoyable. He’s also going to put you in places where you can help other people through it. And you kind of turn the tables on what was trying to harm you. And you can dive in and help someone else, even if you’re in the midst of it yourself.

So just seek after the Lord, seek His goodness, seek His kindness, and seek His face. Try to find the end of His love. You will not find it, but you’re going to love seeking after it! Just have fun with that. I guess that’s a long answer, but in essence, just dive into the Lord. Just spend that time with Him and make the time of the day.

People say we don’t have time. You do. Make the time because you’re going to want it. You’re going to need it.

[Amy]

Well, thank you so much for sharing that. That is awesome. It is a great word of encouragement. We all receive that with joy. That is a great bit of advice there. And thank you so much, Tana, for sharing your journey with us and just being open.

I believe this is going to help a lot of people. It has really blessed me to hear about this. And just a reminder, there’s a you inside that’s greater than what you realize.

There’s a person deep down inside of each one of us that God has put there, and He is just wanting to help us bloom into the fullness of that person that He has gifted us and created us to be. He’s planted so much goodness inside of us through His spirit, through His love, and the amazing gifts that He puts in us. 

I want to thank all of you who have been listening with us today and sharing this journey. I pray that this blesses you like it has me and believe that whatever you are going through in life, God is getting you through to the victory.

I love Psalm 65:11. It says, “even the hard places, the hard paths will now overflow with abundance.” And so, Tana and I just set ourselves in agreement with that for you, that you are making it through those hard places, and difficult things. You are making it through all the pain points, and you are getting to a place on the other side with victory where God’s goodness is overflowing on your life in ways that you never dreamed possible. So, remember to have joy for the journey, even in the hard places. We can have joy through each day.

Ask God even, “Lord, show me joy in this day. Show me something I can smile at,” whether it’s a flower you look at outside or the sunshine or maybe even fun clouds floating in the sky. Find something to be joyful about, even when you’re at those hard places, because there’s just something about looking for joy when it’s hard to find and leaning into the little things that God puts in our life to show his love for us.

So, friend, thank you so much again for being with us. We pray God blesses you and that you have a wonderful week. We’ll talk to you soon!