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What's up? What's up, my friend? Happy to be back here for another week, a new episode for you. So let me just get right into it. And I'm going to start it off by asking you a question. Could God be trying to get your attention? Just think about it. Marinate on that question for a minute. And as you think about that for a sec, What area of your life do you feel like God is trying to get your attention in? Just think about it. Now, here's the thing, I normally come ready in my podcast episodes with notes. I have some research, some Bible verses. I got tons of thoughts to back it all up with, just so I can give you like a very in depth intuitive episode to listen to that hopefully can inspire you, that can make you think and grow you into the amazing person that I know God is calling you to be. I'm gonna be honest. In this episode, I have no notes ready. I have no notes. I have nothing. I don't even have my phone or a piece of paper nearby like I normally do with my notes on it. Nope. When I was planning for my episode this week, I was like, all right, this topic is top of mind for me. Is God trying to get your attention? Is God trying to get my attention? And because this topic can go in so many different ways, I was just like, you know what, let me just Show up authentically and honestly Let me just freestyle this by sharing what I feel like God is putting on my heart in that exact moment. No notes No preparation like I normally do Let me just talk And my hope is that through this short episode, what I share with you today just makes you think deeply and it helps to change your perspective on a lot of things. So I want to talk about why this topic is top of mind for me and why I feel it should be top of mind for you right now. Last week, and honestly, the past few weeks have been really tough for me. I have been personally struggling mentally. I have been feeling overwhelmed. I feel like God has been challenging me with new responsibilities that I'm not sure how to handle. And although I'm blessed by them, They're also very challenging. There's also certain choices and decisions and things happening in my personal life that are making me feel very doubtful about some things. So over the past few weeks, with all of these feelings, emotions, and thoughts, I really had to work on getting better at taking it to God rather than internalizing it all and just keeping it to myself and remaining in this, depressive state. So one morning. I went to the park. I was talking to God about all this stuff. Just talking, talking, talking, talking. And then I had this thought that came to my mind where I was like, out of everything that I'm talking to God about right now, all the areas of my life that I'm sharing with him that are on my heart, that feel hard, that feel so complex, that I just don't understand, that feel so heavy. Could God be trying to show me something? Could he be trying to teach me something? Is he trying to get my attention? And why is he trying to get my attention in these specific areas? Right then and there, I stopped complaining because I'm not going to lie in that moment when I was talking to God about all these emotions and thoughts and things that feel so complex, it was borderline complaining. You know what I mean? Like, God will let you talk to him about anything, and that's a beautiful thing about him. But I noticed that it was borderline complaining about what felt so problematic in my life, in my business, within my own mind. when I asked myself that question of, could God be trying to get my attention in a certain way? I pivoted. Instead of complaining to God about things that felt problematic, I pivoted and I said, okay, in the areas of my life, my business, my mind that feel problematic, why or how could God be trying to get my attention in those areas? What is standing out in those areas? And I want to bring that to your attention. I want to highlight this as something that you could think through today. This very week journal on it, reflect on it, the areas of your life that feel so problematic. Why could God be trying to use that problem, not just to grow you, to equip you, to challenge you, to strengthen you, but to get your attention, to bring you closer to him, to rely more on him, to depend more on him. So. I want to talk through the specific problematic areas that are very common that have happened in my life that could be happening in your life right now. And I just want to challenge you with some things to think about in regards to how God could be trying to get your attention in that area of your life. First thing, I want to talk about your creative ambitions, your business, Your creative projects, your career stuff, goals, things in your life that you're trying to chase after but can't seem to get there. You're trying. You're working through figuring it out. You're trying to find success in it. You're working through a timeline. You're wanting to reach a specific deadline, a specific destination, but you just can't get there if it's been years for you in this cycle, maybe it's just been a few months and it's already starting to frustrate you. Ask yourself, is God trying to get my attention? Because a lot of times when it comes to creative ambitions and goals, us as humans are so controlling over the goals that we want to accomplish for ourselves. And many times we don't even realize that it gets to the point where we decide to take lead. We decide to say, you know what, I got this. I'm going to chase after this goal in the way that I want it to because I so desperately want it to happen. I so desperately wanted to get there. And we unintentionally snatch that dream out of God's hands and we put it in our own and we say, you know what? I don't care. I got this, but when things don't seem to be working, when we're burning out, when things feel confusing, when we can't seem to find success, when things just feel like they are constantly overwhelming and difficult and there's no way out. There could be many reasons for that, but I can almost guarantee that the deeply rooted reason as to why those confusing and hard and difficult, impossible things are happening in the area of your creative ambitions is because you're not standing on a godly foundation. You're not giving God control over the results of your creative ambitions. You see, I've learned that when it comes to our goals, it really is a partnership with God. One, ensuring that it's in alignment with what God is even calling us to do in the first place. And if it's out of alignment, God might want to pivot you. But two, if it is in alignment with God's calling for your life, is it within his timeline? And are you trusting his timeline? I've learned that it's a partnership with God. Your role, when it comes to really anything, but specifically since we're talking about creative ambitions, your role is faith and effort and obedience, faith in God, effort towards what he's calling you to do within that creative ambition and obedience to continue to do it in the way that God is calling you to do it, not in the way that you're calling your own self to do it. God's part Everything else, the results, the outcome, how things work out or not work out. That is all God, because he knows what's best for you. So ask yourself, could God be trying to get my attention in the area of my creative ambitions? Because I am overly obsessing. I am overly controlling over what is supposed to be God's role and not mine. I am obsessing over the results, the outcome, the open doors, the timeline, everything that is in God's control. Am I trying to control that? And because I'm overly obsessing and overly controlling over these things, and I'm seeing that they're not working out and I'm just getting confused, frazzled, or burnt out. Could this be God trying to get my attention and saying, Hey, I need you to give this back to me. I'm not going to force you to give it back to me, but I am going to be right here. watching you, waiting for you to give it back over to me, to trust me again. And that could look different for you. What it looks like for you to retrust God with your creative ambitions and the timeline of those things. It looks different depending on where you're at, what your calling is, ensuring it's an alignment with God's path for your life. It could look different, but I just want you to start with that starter question. Is God trying to get my attention in the area of my creative ambitions? How is he trying to get my attention and how can I bring my attention back to him and work through this with him? The other area that I want to talk about where God could be trying to get your attention, an area that's so common for so many of us, money, finances, That bank account of yours, my friend, money is such a stressor. We stress about it. We worry about it. We wonder what the future holds in regards to it. It stresses us out. That's why God talks about money in the Bible so much. Because it oftentimes is the number one competitor after your heart against God. And maybe God is trying to get your attention in the area of your finances because you don't even realize that's what's sitting on the throne of your heart is money. Not God. That's where it needs to be flipped. It's got to be fixed. Are you going to give God the throne back to the seat of your heart? Or are you going to allow money to sit there forever and ruin you without you even realizing it? You don't even notice that selfishness and greed. And this constant obsession over your financial situation is literally overpowering your mind. It's sitting on the throne of your heart. It is stealing your heart out of God's hands. And you don't even know it. So whatever area in your financial situation that That feels tough. That feels like you just can't catch a break. That feels like you just can't get financial breakthrough. That feels like you just can't get to that next financial status. Ask yourself, could God be trying to get my attention because finances are on the throne of my heart right now and not God himself. And do I need to bring my attention back over to God? Give him back the throne of my heart. And therefore, allow him to put his hands over my financial situation, not my own hands. And yes, we go back to the concept of your role in anything you do, including money, being faith and effort and obedience. But you have to let God's role be the results, the outcome, the timeline. Could God be trying to get your attention financially? Work on that with him, especially if you're struggling when it comes to money. What does that look like? What does it look like for you to give trust back over to God, to not stress so much about money, to look at God as your provider, not the world, not your job, not your clients, not your products or services, God being your provider. And that is a whole different mentality to step into. It takes time to grow into that mentality, especially when we live in a world that is all about hustle, all about money, all about that tax bracket. It's good and it's okay to have financial goals, but are your financial goals superseding your relational goals when it comes to your relationship with God? And if it is, God's trying to get your attention. Let's work through that. You work through that with Him. the next area that I want to talk about when it comes to where God could be trying to get your attention that is common for all of us is your mind. Could God be trying to get your attention when it comes to your mind? And I want to highlight this because mentally we all struggle with anxiety and we all struggle with depression to some degree. In our own way, anxiety and depression, even insecurity can overpower your mind to the point where you don't see God. You don't see a way out. You don't see a joyous life. You don't see a peaceful life. All you see is darkness. All you feel is heaviness. Could God be trying to get your attention? This one I truly feel is the hardest. Because when you are carrying a lot of those mental burdens, and when you feel like it is impossible for you to see God right now, it's so hard to even hear Him or to think, is God trying to get my attention? But where I think, or where I believe that God could be trying to get your attention when it comes to your mind is you making the choice to actively let him help you. The only way that God is able to actively help you is if you allow him to. And the only way that you can allow him to is to go beyond a two second prayer. You know what I mean? I think a lot of times as believers, we just kind of, sometimes we just go with emotions in the day to day. Sometimes we just say a quick morning prayer and then we go about our day. You have to go beyond that. If you want to allow God to help you when it comes to what you're battling mentally, to fight with you, to fight for you, you have to fight. You have to fight to bring the spirit, to bring the drive out of you, to take your connection with God beyond a simple morning prayer. Yeah, a morning prayer is a great start, but are you opening up the word of God? And I know reading the Bible, sometimes it feels boring. Sometimes it's not really sitting with us. Sometimes we feel like we're forcing ourselves to do it. But when you find that drive in you to just say, you know what, I don't feel like doing this, but let me just open up the word of God and let me just read. And maybe you read a couple of sentences and you're like blanking out, or you just don't understand it, or you're getting bored. Read it again. Read it again. Read it again. And as you read, pray for the Holy Spirit to give you focus. to give you understanding. And as the Holy Spirit gives you focus and understanding, you naturally want to keep reading because you start to feel the Spirit fill you up. You start to understand certain things. You start to feel joy and peace coming back into your life supernaturally because you allowed the Holy Spirit to help you. And when you do that, that starts to push away the anxiety, the depression, and the insecurity step by step. Amen. To the point where you would be amazed that after you're done reading and meditating, thinking deeply about what you just read, you would be amazed that when you close your Bible to go about your day, how much anxiety, depression, insecurity, no longer has a hold on you. Because God does. God has a hold on you now. You've allowed him to help you. Same thing goes when it comes to just worship. I've realized that sometimes I just need to throw my hands up and worship God. I need to worship God, whether I'm just singing to myself, whether I'm playing some of my favorite gospel songs, my favorite Christian songs, whether I'm just having my hands raised, just praying around my home, around my desk, around my bed, around the kitchen, touching, praying, inviting the Holy Spirit to come back in. Sometimes this level of competence and this level of power, we need to find that in us. We need to pull that out of us. Even if it feels awkward, even if we feel like we don't want to do it, when you just do it anyway, when you don't feel like it, man, you allow God to help you and you would be amazed at how you feel afterwards. And yeah, anxiety, depression, insecurity, that feeling might come back the next day. So you know what you do? You do it again. You get up and you mentally fight so that God can fight with and for you in that battle. It is a consistency. It is repetition to fully overcome. So think about that. Could God be trying to get your attention when it comes to your mind? Could he be trying to get your attention? Because he's waiting for you to simply invite him in and to allow him to help you. Man, So many things to think about. All right, my friend, as we wrap up this episode, like I mentioned, I wanted to talk about this as a way to give you the motivation to just think deeply. And I pray for you that this spurs up a conversation that you have with God, that this spurs up a drive in your hand to start writing in that journal of yours when it comes to where God could be trying to get your attention, that you fight the right fight and that ultimately you allow God to take leadership in your life again because you finally see that this whole time. He's just been trying to get your attention. He loves you that much. He wants to be in your life that much. He wants to help you with your goals, your finances, your mindset, that much. I love Jesus and I love you. I hope this was helpful for you today, my friend. And if you'd like, feel free to share this episode with anyone that you think could use it, especially any conversations you've had with friends, family members, coworkers recently, where you feel like they could use this boost, send this their way. I would absolutely love for them to get that same inspiration. And Hey, podcast episode recommendation, if there's anything that you would love for us to talk about on these episodes, anything to cover, to give advice on, Please go ahead and text that number that you see in the podcast show notes, or if you're watching this on YouTube in the YouTube description down below, text that number, go ahead and text it an episode title. I would love to hear from you and I would absolutely love to add that to our topic list of upcoming episodes. Thanks so much for tuning in my friend. I'll see you soon.