Light Bearers in Training

This is a listening prayer episode. I'll give you a few short prompts, and after each one I want you to pause this episode and just listen to God. Take as long as you need. There's no rush and no wrong way to do this. I want you to be able to come back to this episode whenever you feel like you need a prompt to listen to Holy Spirit again.

Jesus said in John 10:27, "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me." That means you were made to hear Him. Sometimes His voice comes as a thought, a picture, a Bible verse that pops into your head, or just a sense of peace. Grab a journal or the notes app on your phone and write down whatever comes. And remember, God's voice will always line up with His Word, and it will always sound loving, even when He's correcting you. If something sounds like shame or condemnation, that isn't Him.

Jesus said in John 16 that He would send a helper to teach us these things, that’s the Holy Spirit. Which means Holy Spirit helps us interpret scripture. Scripture is living and active and we can glean more in between readings. Holy Spirit will also brings truths to mind that align with scripture to continue teaching us and drawing us near. Romans 8 says Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, that He intercedes on our behalf. These things happen through relationship and that includes two-way communication. Praying to Him and listening to what He has to say in return.

Find a quiet spot, put your phone on do not disturb, and let's take a few deep breaths together. 

What moves you beyond knowing something is true to actually doing something about it? What takes the faith you carry in your heart and allows it to become visible in the way you live?

Because being a Light Bearer isn't just about what we believe. It's about how those beliefs shape our everyday lives.

We can spend time reading Scripture, listening to sermons, worshiping, and learning more about God. Those things are important. But what happens when we close our Bibles, turn off the podcast, or leave church? Does what we've learned change the way we treat the people around us? Does it influence the choices we make, the words we speak, the way we drive, and the way we respond when life doesn't go according to plan?

In James 1:22, we're told, “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” I love how direct this verse is. It's not enough to hear God's Word. We're called to live it out.

Now, that doesn't mean we have to perform perfectly or turn every moment into some grand spiritual accomplishment. It means allowing the truth we learn about God to shape who we're becoming.

Today, I want to ask you another question. What quickens your heart?

I'm not necessarily talking about what makes your heart physically beat faster. I'm talking about those things that stir something deep within you. The things that awaken your excitement, capture your attention, or remind you why something matters so much to you.

Maybe it's watching the sunrise over the mountains. Maybe it's hearing a song that moves you to tears. Maybe it's watching your children discover something new, seeing someone show unexpected kindness, or finally making progress on something you've been working toward for years. We all have things that stir our hearts.

But here's what I want us to consider today: What is it about God that quickens your heart?

Not just what you know about Him. Not just what you've been taught about Him. But what is it about who He is that causes you to pause, to wonder, to want to draw closer to Him?

And if you're having trouble answering that question, I want you to know that you're not alone.

Today, I want to ask you a question. What gets you out of bed?

Now, I don't mean what makes your alarm go off or what wakes you up in the morning. I mean, what actually gets you out of bed and moving into your day?

Is it your responsibilities? School? Your kids? Your job? The never-ending to-do list that seems to multiply overnight?

Maybe it's the excitement of a new opportunity or something you're looking forward to. Or maybe, if we're being honest, some mornings it's simply the fact that everyone else needs something from us, and we don't really have a choice.

I think it's easy to get caught up in the demands of our lives and forget to ask ourselves a much deeper question: What is the foundation of the way I'm living?

On today’s episode, I have a very special guest, my 15 year old son Cooper. Cooper is my behind the scenes help. He records and edits the podcast as well as the audiobooks. So, while he is always present during the recordings, you don’t get to hear him, but today you do. 

Today, we're going to talk about being a teenage Light Bearer while living life in the world. We're going to talk about friendships. We're going to talk about serving and leadership at church. And we're going to talk about what it looks like to be confident about who you are and what you believe.

I think we sometimes have this idea that experiencing God's wonder has to be something big. A miracle. A huge answered prayer. A life-changing moment. Something so amazing that there's no way you could miss it. And those moments absolutely happen with God. I've experienced them.

But I think we're sometimes so focused on looking for the big things that we miss the wonder that's happening right in front of us.

The ordinary things. The little things. The things that happen every single day. And maybe that's because wonder requires something we don't always have: Attention.

You have to be paying attention to witness something. And you can't pay attention when you're constantly distracted. You can't see what's right in front of you if you're always looking at what's next or picking up your phone.

We talked about how our world is constantly in hurry mode and how that isn't necessarily the speed God created us to live at. We talked about making space for God. And hopefully, if you've been practicing that this week, you've started to notice something.

Maybe you noticed how noisy your mind actually is. Maybe you noticed how difficult it is to sit still. Maybe you noticed the birds outside your window. Maybe you noticed the breeze. Maybe you noticed how beautiful the morning light is in your house.

Or maybe you simply noticed that you have been missing a lot of little things because you've been moving too fast.

And that's what I want to talk about today. Not missing the little things, but witnessing the wonder around you.

I think we sometimes have this idea that experiencing God's wonder has to be something big. A miracle. A huge answered prayer. A life-changing moment. Something so amazing that there's no way you could miss it. And those moments absolutely happen with God. I've experienced them.

But I think we're sometimes so focused on looking for the big things that we miss the wonder that's happening right in front of us.

The ordinary things. The little things. The things that happen every single day. And maybe that's because wonder requires something we don't always have: Attention.

You have to be paying attention to witness something. And you can't pay attention when you're constantly distracted. You can't see what's right in front of you if you're always looking at what's next or picking up your phone.

This season, we're going to spend some time talking about what it really looks like to be a Light Bearer in the real world and have guests come on to talk about how they live it out.

It’s not just what we believe or what we say. But how we actually live on a daily basis.

And I think the place we have to start is surprisingly simple: We have to learn to be still. It’s simple, but not easy.

Today we are talking about embracing the silence, which is not an easy thing to do in our fast paced, constantly doing something, over-stimulated world. Hurry hurry hurry going fast as I can… is the speed we maintain, but it wasn’t the speed we were created to maintain.

Have you ever noticed how uncomfortable silence can be? Not just actual silence—but the kind where there isn't anything demanding your attention. No phone buzzing. No music playing. No podcast in the background. No one asking you a question. No list of things you're supposed to be doing.

Just... silence.

Lately, we’ve been talking about sacred chaos—what it looks like to walk with Jesus when life is full, noisy, and anything but tidy. We’ve talked about new growth in busy seasons, and we’ve talked about building a “trellis” of small rhythms to help that growth last.

On today’s episode, I want to do something a little different. I want you to hear from someone who lives this out in real life—my husband, Jake. He works in corporate America, juggles family life, church responsibilities, friendships, helping edit my new book The Reckoning and he knows what it is to feel stretched and yet still want to walk closely with Jesus.

Today I want to get very practical. If God has been growing something real in you, how do you give that growth a little support so it doesn’t just sprawl all over the ground and get trampled by hurry? Gardeners use something called a trellis—a simple structure that gives a living vine something to climb on. The trellis doesn’t create life, but it helps the life that’s already there grow in the right direction.

 Spiritually, Christians have found success with having a handful of simple rhythms that keep us rooted in Jesus in every season, including the busy ones.

Here’s the thing: most of us already have a pattern or rhythm of life; we’ve just never named it.

For many people, it might look like this: Check phone as soon as you wake up, get caught up in answering messages.Rush all day. Zone out by scrolling or binging TV in the evening. Fall into bed exhausted. That’s a pattern. It’s shaping our souls whether we realize it or not.