Giving Your Best Life
Join Stephanie Jones aka Giving Gal, as she chats about “Giving Your Best Life"! In each episode, she shares intentional ways to give to yourself and others, how giving and gratitude changes your life and ways to go after living your big dreams and accomplishing goals.
Giving Your Best Life
Living Boldly: The Cost of Following Jesus (and Going Against Those That Love You)
Have you ever had to make a life-changing decision that went against the advice of your loved ones? Join me, Stephanie, as I share my journey of leaving a career in law enforcement and choosing not to return to corporate America after a layoff, all in pursuit of following Jesus. Reflecting on Luke 15:25-27, we'll explore the emotional and relational costs of true discipleship and discuss why prioritizing our commitment to Christ over the approval of our family and friends is crucial, even when it leads to discomfort and tension.
In the second half of the episode, we’ll dive into 2 Timothy 1:7 and uncover the empowering truth that God has given us a spirit of power, love, and self-discipline, not fear. I'll share how this scripture has encouraged me to overcome my own fears and step out in faith. We’ll talk about identifying and confronting the fears and challenges that hold us back, whether they lead to anxiety, depression, or physical health issues. Through personal insights and supportive coaching, I aim to inspire you to embrace the strength God provides and live your best life.
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Hey friends, it's Stephanie here with episode number 120 of Giving your Best Life, and I wanted to pop in here today and have a conversation about the cost of following Jesus. And I'm going to narrow in or zoom in on one specific area of this because there could be a lot to cover in this topic. But recent conversations with a couple of friends, a couple of girls that I mentor, a client, this topic seems to keep coming up and I think it's a stumbling block for us to follow and do what God is calling us to do. And the stumbling block are people in our lives. And I'm not talking about bad people, I'm talking about the people that love us the most. I'm talking about our friends, and they might even be our best friends. I'm talking about your mother, your father, your brother, your sister, maybe aunts, uncles, grandparents, a mentor, a teacher, your bot, like fill in the blank of somebody, that one you love a lot. They love you, they want the best for you, they have provided good guidance to you over the years. You get my point. I just say that because a lot of times in our lives and I even think about people that I mentor is they might not have a mom or a dad, but there's other people that are influencing them, that are really close. So fill in the blank or think about that.
Speaker 1:Who it is for you, and within this topic of knowing through prayer, through studying the word, through your relationship with Christ, is you are being called to do something that is very uncomfortable, not only for yourself but for those that are around you. You might be called to do something that is a 180 from where you are at right now. So maybe it's the college that you want to go to, maybe it's what you're studying in college, it's your career that you're in right now and maybe you've got a lot of schooling or you've got a lot of time in and God is asking you to walk away from a job, to pivot, to go somewhere else, and I can speak of this from experience. I mean, I left law enforcement where I had spent a lot of time. It took me a lot to become a police officer. Most recently, if you've been listening, I got laid off from my corporate job back in April and I have not went back into corporate America, even though it would have been very easy to me to do that, and a lot of people don't understand of why I haven't went back into having this, you know, like nine to five plus job and a good salary and all that comes with that.
Speaker 1:And so I just was reminded today of this scripture, as I was thinking about this, of, like you know, how do we, or not even how do we, but what does the Bible say about going against those people that love us and may have our best interest? And I came to it's Luke 15, 25 through 27. And it says a large crowd was following Jesus. So I love the start of this is they're already following him. There's already people that are following him. So if you are a follower of Christ, I want you to put yourself in that crowd and just think about like you're already following Christ, you're walking behind him. And it says he turned around and said to them if pay attention to those words in the Bible.
Speaker 1:I talk about that a lot is, pay attention to those little words. If you want to be my disciple, you must. By comparison, and I think that those two words, I've read other translations and it doesn't have that in there, but my Bible, which is the New Living Translation, has that in there and to me it seems very important to say by comparison. So I'll start over. If you want to be my disciple, you must, by comparison, hate everyone else. Which hate is such a strong word? I don't like that word, but that's what it says. It says hate everyone else. Which hate is such a strong word? I don't like that word, but that's what it says. It says hate everyone else your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, even your own life. Otherwise you cannot be my disciple. And if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple. And like within those two verses there's so much in there, but it's like you can either follow me or you can follow what people in your life are saying. And if you do that, then you can't follow me.
Speaker 1:And I see that every day, even in my own life, or I see it with the people that I coach and the young women that I mentor just friends or people that I've worked with is we get so much input from the outside world that it prevents us from doing what God has called us to do and we stay stuck of where we're at, because where we're at is more comfortable. Where we're at doesn't rock the boat. Where we're at doesn't disappoint the people that are around us, because a lot of times us making decisions that go against what people want for us, that goes against what God is calling us to do, and there's friction. And what I've learned a lot of times is those people that whatever they want for us, it's not because they want something bad for us. It's because a lot of times they are living in fear. Maybe they've made mistakes, maybe they don't want you to have mistakes or pain or suffering, or you know, like following the path that God has for us is not easy, like you will go through hard times. The Bible tells us that is, we'll go through hard times, and so sometimes those people that love us the most are trying to protect us, they're trying to be in control, and you can't have it both ways.
Speaker 1:At some point you have to say is I am a follower of Christ. First, and look at your priorities and be in prayer, be in word and going. I'm going to take a step of faith of knowing I'm going to disappoint people, I'm going to go against what the world is saying to be a disciple of Christ and follow the path and do what he is calling me to do so. I feel like there's a thousand other ways that I could go, but today I'm just going to stop there and have a short episode is just to really think about is there this desire in your heart that you believe is put there by God? And the only reason you are not following that, or at least even taking the first step or the next step, is because what people in your life are quipping in your ear and I really challenge you, you know is that's doubt. That's the spirit of fear which Christ does not give us, the spirit of fear that does not come from our heavenly father, and you know we have to live.
Speaker 1:If you go to 2 Timothy 1, 7, which this is one of my favorite verses, um, and actually that whole section of uh, first timothy is talking about encouragement to be faithful.
Speaker 1:But um, verse seven, says for god has not given us a spirit of fear and timity, but of power, love and self-discipline, the power to do what he is calling us to do. And so, okay, friends, I'm gonna end that there, but I would love to hear from you of what God's calling you to do. And what do you think is scary and what are you battling with and that was my Bible that I dropped. Sorry about that, and I coach in this area. So if you're needing help of like, hey, stephanie, I'm stuck and I need to step out in faith, I need to. I can no longer live how I am living, which this is what causes, I believe, a lot of anxiety and depression and even health, physical stuff is because we're sitting in these emotions that goes against of how we are called to live. So feel free to reach out to me on any of my social media platforms or stephanie at givinggalcom, and friends. This whole episode is just another way of you can get to giving your best life.