S4 Episode #22- Jes Biondo
ANOTHER ONE WITH YOUR HOST, JES BIONDO
This week Jes celebrates the completion of her condo renovations (Woo hoo!) and shares some important lessons that God taught her throughout the whole process of recovering from the flood.
She takes a look at three women in the Bible who also had to wait on God for the fulfillment of a promise– even when it felt long or confusing.
Some things in life cannot be rushed, but we can always find God in the process!
LISTEN
READ
My condo is done!! So many times along the way I had a problem with the process– it seemed so inefficient and slow when I wanted to be in a hurry. However, over and over God reminded me that the journey of life takes time. This week I was reminded of a sermon entitled, “Birthing God’s Plan” that I heard years ago. I’ll dive into the message of the sermon later, but as I reread the sermon notes, God brought to mind the analogy of pregnancy to the past season of my life. It’s not a perfect analogy, but stick with me here…
Some things in life– like growing a baby– cannot be rushed. If I was pregnant, I wouldn’t start pushing at 4 months simply because I was so excited to meet my baby. That would be absurd. Even if I could will my body to push the baby out, it would be disastrous– the baby is not done growing and being formed. When I think about it in this way, it seems so silly, and yet this is exactly what I have tried to do in so many other areas of my life. I’ve tried to push out the metaphorical “baby” before it’s done growing into what it needs to become in order to be healthy and thrive.
Let’s take a look at some famous pregnancies in the Bible and see what we can learn from the lives of the women who lived through them!
SARAH
Genesis 18:9-15
Sarah laughs at God when he tells her she will have a baby. YET, in Hebrews 11:11, Sarah is in the hall of faith. She laughed at God in a moment of unbelief, but that was only one moment in her life. We cannot judge people based on a single moment.
Sarah still considered God faithful!
The power is not in our abilities, but rather in God’s Word. God is always faithful to finish what He starts.
HANNAH
1 Samuel 1:9-20
Hannah cried out to God in a raw and authentic way. She was honest.
Even when we don’t get what we want, we must still trust God. There will be hardship because this earth is not our Heaven. This earth is fallen, at best… but we are promised more!
Hannah looked drunk for a season because she was pouring out her heart to God– that’s where the healing comes… when we stop worrying about how we look to the world and solely focus on how we look before God.
MARY
Luke 1:26-38
Mary was highly favored by the Lord, but the world saw her as the woman with the illegitimate child. She is called to greatness, but there were surely many moments of grief and confusion. BUT, even though she didn’t fully understand the scope of the plan, she still says, “Let it be done.”
Mary surrendered!
Being “highly favored” by God didn’t mean that Mary’s life (or your life) will always go according to your plan or be easy.
RECAP
Sarah considered God faithful.
Hannah was honest with God about her pain and went to Him for healing.
Mary surrendered despite all of the unknowns in her life.
WATCH
Sorry, no video this week! We will be back with our normally scheduled programming next time. :)
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The Collected Podcast is a production of Collected Ministries, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping disciples of Jesus discover and live from their true identity in Christ, recognize and walk in their divine purpose within the Kingdom of God, and experience growth in their capacity for mature, healthy relationships.
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The Collected Podcast is produced by Jes Biondo and edited by Jacob Early. Cover art designed by Ben Biondo.