This Is Your Wake-Up Call: 3 Steps to Live Fully Today When Life Feels Uncertain

Hey.

Hey, beautiful friends.

And welcome back to Faith Fueled Woman.

This is your host, Kristen.

Today we are going to talk about spending our time well, I'm talking about our lifetime, I'm talking about today, and I'm talking about our gifts.

And this is really out of my heart because sadly I had a friend pass away the beginning of this week.

And it's just another reminder that we aren't promised, you know, decades or a lifetime or not even promised next week.

We don't know how long we have.

And that is why today I had something else planned.

But that's why I want to talk about this today.

I have shared before my dad passed away in February.

We've had some other friends pass away soon after that.

And, you know, it's just heavy on my heart because I think so many of us get caught up in the day to day grind of the things that don't truly matter for eternity or for the legacy we're building or for even putting out our gifts and talents into the world that God's given us.

And for doing things that matter, that point people back to Christ.

And so this is what I want to share with you today.

I hope I'm going to give you a couple questions that you can reflect on and think about.

And I hope also it'll just encourage you, you know, to live fully, to live with faith and to stop worrying about things that, that really don't have a great impact.

It might in our mind think that they do, but it, but it really doesn't.

So let's dive in.

Hey friend.

Are you craving deeper faith, renewed purpose and more joy in your everyday life?

Welcome to Faith Fueled Woman podcast that helps Christian women grow spiritually pursue God's calling and embrace the abundant life he has for you.

I'm Kristen, an encourager, mentor, entrepreneur, wife and mom, here to uplift, equip and inspire you with faith filled conversations and biblical wisdom.

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Okay, the first thing that I want to share with you today is something that Pastor Chuck Swindle said.

He is the pastor of Stonebriar Community Church and I must, I think I follow him on Instagram.

Here's what he says and it really hit home for me.

Each morning God deposits 86,400 seconds into our bank of time, but nothing carries over to the next day.

Spend it well.

And that's really what today's episode is about.

How can we spend well the moments of our life?

How can we spend well, the time we have and our gifts and just pour out into the people around us, into our communities, into the work and gifts that we have.

And here is what I think.

I think one, we're called to share our gifts and talents with people.

Two, we are really called to create a legacy.

We are called to think about how we're contributing, right, in our communities, in our homes, in the world.

And then fourth is, are we actually delighting and enjoying the world in everything God's created?

Connection, connection with him, connection with others.

The beauty of.

In the amazing miracles all around us, Are we praising him and giving him?

Are we grateful for those things?

And so that's what I want to dive into.

All right, I want to share with you this verse, Bible verse, it says each person is given something to do that shows who God is.

Everyone gets in on it, everyone benefits.

And that's 1 Corinthians 12, 7 from the message.

So it is obviously written in a different way.

It's not one of the traditional Bible verses, but it's really clear, right?

It just kind of hits home.

Each person is giving something, given something to do that shows who God is, and everyone gets in on it.

Everyone benefits.

How beautiful is that?

And so I was actually reading today's devotional in Catching Whimsy by Bob Goff, which I've shared a little bit about before, but today's.

Today he's talking about this children's story, Stone Soup, which is basically where someone in the forest has a pot of water, and there's not much in it boiling.

And as different villagers come through, they say, they.

He offers them a taste, and they say, oh, you know, it would be great in this.

And then they say, cabbage.

And they say, oh, I know where I can get some cabbage.

And they add it.

And the next person does the same thing, but they add carrots.

So by the end, they have this beautiful soup that they've all participated in creating and share this soup.

And so Bob's basically talking about, let's see here.

He says the concept is beautiful.

We all need to throw in what we've got and it will be enough.

And then he says, let's see, God has created us to come together and form a beautiful community that highlights what we have been given and can contribute.

And, you know, he just asks, what are you good at?

And what lights you up and makes you spring out of bed?

Because that's what we should be doing.

And what I want to add to that is these questions.

So here's my first question for you, what are you?

Or can you contribute to this day, to your community, when you're going to something, maybe to your church and to the world?

And so I think it's a question we should regularly be asking ourselves, because some of us might regularly be contributing skills and gifts, our time, our money.

But in some cases, it feels like we get busy and we forget that that's actually the assignment or one of the assignments.

We get busy with whatever job we have, right?

With administrative things, with carpooling, whatever it might be.

And we forget that it's our contribution that matters.

And then the next question that I would ask you is, what legacy are you building?

What are you leaving behind for the next generations?

And this is going to be different for everyone.

And I'm not saying that it has to be a book or anything like that.

So for some people, it might be writing down stories or memories to share with your family.

For others, it might be sharing recipes that have been passed down to you.

Your legacy likely is what you're putting into the people in your life.

So that could be your children or grandchildren.

It could be people that you mentor, people that you work with at a church.

But the legacy is, what are we doing in the world, right, to impact the generations that come after us.

So it can be with things you write down.

It could be that you love music, that you've written a song, that you just share your love of music.

But we do need to know, are we leaving a legacy?

Are we building people up and letting them know who they are becoming and who are they becoming in Christ?

It's so important.

Okay, the next thing that I want to share with you is this is more of a paraphrase of Exodus 4.

2.

And I read this and I thought it was really good, though.

It says, you do not need more.

You.

You just need to use what's in your hand.

And I thought that was really important.

We don't need more gifts, more talents.

We don't even need more time.

What we need is we need to use what's in our hand.

And the actually story in the Bible is talking about when God appeared to Moses.

And God basically asked Moses, what's in your hand?

And it was a staff.

And so basically God, he says, throw the.

Throw the staff down.

And God turns it into a snake, and then he turns it back.

But the reason he did that is because Moses said, what if they don't believe me?

That God came to him, right, and gave him the commandments.

And God basically says, you can use this, right?

But the point is, is what you already have available to you, use it.

And remember, God is with us, in us doing these things.

He is with us, he is providing.

And so I just thought that was really good.

So I'm going to say it again.

And like I said, the actual scripture is obviously different.

It says, the Lord said, oh, sorry, I'm further down.

Then the Lord said to him, what is in your hand?

He said, a staff.

And that's the very beginning of Exodus 4, 2.

And then it goes on.

And then it says, the Lord said, throw it on the ground.

Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake and he ran from it.

Then the Lord said to him, reach out your hand and take it by the tail.

So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and turned it back into the staff in his hand.

This said the Lord is so that they may believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob has appeared to you.

But imagine that, you guys, you do not need more.

You just need to use what's in your hand and God is with us in it.

I love that.

Okay, so here's the next thing.

So, right, the first thing is, how are you contributing in the world and what has God given you that will help shine a light back to him, that will help us show up in the world and serve?

And then the next question is, what are you doing?

Or are you using your gifts to show others who God is?

Remember we in that it's not that we're going to do something and say, see, look, it's because I'm a Christian, right?

That's not the point.

It's when we show up Christ, like when we show up ready to serve, when we show up giving of ourselves through our gifts, whether we can cook or bake or sit with someone, hold them, whether we can, you know, mentor someone, whether we can sing, whatever the things are that we're good at.

And then especially that light us up, right?

And make us want to get out of bed when we share those things and we do it with a Christ like spirit, the Holy Spirit within us.

When we do that, people will know who Christ is.

They will know who God is.

They will see that little glimmer and want to know more, right?

Over time, it's not about pushing down, you know, scripture or, you know, saying, I'm a Christian down people's throat.

It is about showing up in the world and being like Christ in the world.

But we partly do that by the gifts we have, right?

And so that's just something else we should ask ourselves.

Are we using our gifts to show others who God is?

But it's because we are coming with the right intention, we're coming with the right heart.

Right?

We are set on the right things and not on the outcome, not on, you know, if we will be recognized for it.

It's about showing up for the right reasons and doing it with that open heart.

All right, but here's the thing.

So while that's so important, the things I just brought up, and I would say in the scheme of things, for eternal, for eternity, those, these are the things that I just talked about, they absolutely matter.

But it also matters how we're living in our day to day and are we truly embracing and enjoying our lives?

Because as I shared at the beginning of this episode, we aren't promised tomorrow, we aren't promised next year, ten years from now.

I mean, of course, I hope we all have a really long time to experience the beauty, to experience God working in the world, God working in our lives to experience each other.

But what I do know is that we shouldn't wait for tomorrow.

We shouldn't wait for retirement to go do the thing we want to do.

We shouldn't wait for, for retirement or for when our kids are grown to do the things that are on our hearts to do, to go after the dreams we have, to go to the places we want to go.

I think we're called to do those things now or soon.

In other words, let's make plans.

Let's not put off for another day, another decade the things that we yearn to do.

I think God designed us, right, right for adventure.

He designed us to step into things, to experience new things.

Because when we experience new things, we, our heart is more full.

But we also encounter things and, and we may be a blessing in those experiences.

We meet someone, right?

That we're able to do something for them.

We meet someone that has a word of encouragement for us, we have a word of encouragement for them.

A place allows us to rest and reset so that when we come back to our day in and day out lives, we are rested and ready to be of more service.

So you see, I think we are called to do things.

Now I'm not saying that means we're going to go on vacation every week, but what it does mean is if we feel like, you know, I really want to get out in nature, I've wanted to see this, you know, mountain or ocean or whatever it is like There's a reason we're called to see beauty.

We're called to live and experience God's greatness in the world.

But I also want to share this with you.

So there is a professor and author, Michael Easter, and he shared a really.

I think it's from his.

One of his books, but he shared something recently that I really kind of hit me.

He says, modern life is quietly killing your sense of aliveness, the antidote, adventure.

And then he goes on to say, most people live in loops.

Wake up, work, scroll and sleep.

You're not in danger, you're not in crisis, but you're also not fully alive.

Everything feels predictable, controlled, comfortable.

Even your stress is digitized notifications, deadlines, inbox, overload.

And he said, movement without meaning.

But he says the cure is to step into the unknown.

And actually God calls us to that.

God tells us he's not going to eliminate our path, right?

He's going to show us just a tiny bit of it when we're on the right path.

But he isn't going to say, oh, go over here or have this adventure.

But he is calling us into the unknown.

He's calling us into places we've never been or to conversations we've never been.

And so Michael Easter says, put yourself in a place that demands your full attention.

Challenge your body.

Test your mind.

Do something that scares you just a little.

And he says this.

He.

He shares what Joseph Campbell says.

Follow your bliss isn't about comfort.

It's about feeling the rapture of being alive.

That rapture comes when things are unscripted, when you don't know what's next, when you have to figure out as you go.

And let's see.

He says, I feel most alive when I'm dropped into an unfamiliar place with a mission.

And then he.

He goes on.

He says, start smaller.

Take a solo trip.

Sign up for something that intimidates you.

Learn a new skill in the wild.

Go somewhere with no cell signal.

Just exit the pattern, even briefly.

And he basically explains that when we do that, we collect tools, skills, and stories that make you more resilient.

In normal life, the adventure doesn't just wake you up, it upgrades you.

The adventure won't schedule itself.

He says, go looking for it, and when you find it, go all in.

It'll give you what routine never could.

Presence, clean verity, and the rapture of being alive and friends.

One thing I keep feeling, or feeling like I'm realizing more, is we aren't meant to live in these.

These days, where we're Exhausted and overwhelmed and overworked.

We are meant to slow down and to live in community, to connect with people, really connect with them.

And we were, as I said, we were meant to delight and to.

To find joy in the things we're doing.

And yes, we were meant to stretch ourselves to grow.

And we will never grow when we are comfortable.

We will never grow when we go from work to home, work to home.

And that's where we stay in our safe place construct.

And in that ecosystem they had plants and trees and everything they would need kind of in a big bubble, if you will.

But what they found is that the trees grew really tall and fast, but they ended up falling over and dying.

Because when the root, when the trees don't have resistance, when they don't have tension, when they don't have a change in their environment, which is the winds pushing and moving, they do not grow strong and they do not grow deep roots.

The same is true for us.

If we don't have adversity, if we don't go to new places, have uncomfortable conversations, if we don't have trials and tribulations of some sort, we do not become more resilient.

We do not appreciate the beauty in our own lives if we do not walk through something else right, it's much like light and dark, day and night, without the tension, without resistance.

We stop appreciating every little thing, every little good thing in our lives.

We stop appreciating how big and mighty and great our God is.

We stop appreciating that we got to talk to our son or our mom or our spouse.

And I'm just here to say we have got to snap out of it.

We have got to step into the unknown.

And we've also got to have to embrace life now.

Not wait, stop delaying doing hard things, but also delaying doing things that scare you or that you think, I would love to fill in the blank, but then something's holding you back.

What is holding you back?

And can you move that obstacle out of the way so that you can actually go have that experience?

I.

My friend that just passed away, I saw her about, let's see, nine or 10 days ago, we actually ended up meeting at the beach and we went on a really long walk on the boardwalk about two and a half hours.

And we were supposed to actually go to the beach that morning with another friend, but she ended up having to cancel.

She wasn't feeling well.

And so we almost scrapped meeting that day.

But then we said, what about walking?

And I'd already walked that morning, so I could have easily said, let's just plan another day.

But I said, no, let's let me do it.

I would love to get down to the beach.

And I haven't seen her in some time.

So we walked and we caught up and we enjoyed that, you know, solo time together.

But it's much like that.

It would have been easy for me to say, you know, I have too many things to do.

I could have been, you know, cleaning up.

I could have been working on the podcast or my website or a million other things, but I said, no, this is important of my time.

And for a long time I've known that putting people in moments ahead of my to do list is so important.

And it actually reminds me, I remember my dad has said more than one time when he was alive, still, we were having family over, you know, because I often host family and I must have made a comment like, oh, the yard is, you know, is a mess or something like, you know, it just.

It doesn't look like this beautiful manu cured lawn.

And he said, that can wait.

You're busy living life and raising your sons.

And I think that's the message that some of us forget.

We.

We think we have to get the laundry done or get dinner, hot dinner on the table, or we have to finish some email, you know, for work or whatever it might be.

But in that moment, we are picking a task over a connection, either time with God to let him refresh us, getting in the word we are picking.

Maybe not connecting with a friend, going on a walk, connecting with our spouse, whatever it might be.

But I would challenge each of us, including myself, to ask throughout the day, is this important?

Like, in my lifetime, is me picking this over the other thing important?

And this doesn't mean that we don't still have to get the laundry done or eat, but what it does mean is, can it be delayed or deferred till later tonight or first thing in the morning?

Or can it wait three days?

Or can you eat leftovers?

Can you eat a lighter snack and you don't have to make dinner tonight so that you can prioritize people and going places that will both stretch you, grow you, and also allow you to remember who God is and what all he's created because when we remember, it's just so powerful.

And then also, I think we just have to remember what is our holy assignment.

And I think there's a multitude of those.

1.

One is just showing up and being present in our day because there's going to be conversations, there's going to be ways we help people, big or small.

We are points on the path for people as they come across us.

We are here to serve.

How can I serve people today in loving ways?

My family, my community, right?

Maybe remembering someone and sending them a note, it could be in volunteering or be of service.

It could be that when in your job, you're.

You're lifting someone up, you're supporting them, you're giving them the resource they need.

And then also our holy assignment is absolutely continuing to deepen our relationship, our faith relationship with God.

And then showing up in the world to be that little tiny light, that little example to other people of who he is and how, in what it's like to have a relationship and walk with him in faith.

And so I just.

I just want to come on and say, I think it's both things.

One, that we show up and we figure out, how can we contribute?

How can we be present?

How can we love people better?

What legacy are we leaving?

Are we using our gifts to contribute right, to our communities, to our group of friends, to our family?

And then are we actually stretching ourselves?

Are we growing?

Are we thriving both in our faith, but also in a lot of different parts of our life, right?

Physically or in our health, mentally learning skills that are going to benefit us or maybe generations to come?

Much like planting seeds now, right, of trees.

People often plant seeds if they have property or whatnot.

Those little seeds might not grow if it's a big, huge fruit tree and give them the produce, right?

Produce the fruit.

Now, it may be years or in some cases, certain trees take decades, but they're doing it for the next generation.

And so I think we do need to be mindful and think about those things.

What are we planting today for our kids, our grandkids, generations, the next generations?

And then also, are we actually delighting in life?

Are we?

God did not create us to just work, work, work, right?

He created the Sabbath for us both to rest and get refreshed, but also to connect.

He created it for us to delight and to have joy when we're not toiling, when we're not working.

And so while we're.

We're called to take a Sabbath every week, and it's for our benefit.

It's not a punishment.

But also throughout the year, the week, we are called into that same idea, but in bigger ways, I believe.

And so my question to you is, are you spending your time well and moving forward, would you spend it differently?

And are you willing to take a little time and to reflect on these questions, to reflect on your life and, and ask yourself, am I living the way that I want to be living, or do I need to make some changes?

And I'll share this with you.

I wasn't planning on it, but Bob Goff also says this, and I love this idea.

I'll probably do a bigger episode on this.

But he says on Thursdays he quits things.

So every Thursday the entire year, he quits something.

And what do I mean by that?

He quits something.

Even good things.

So let's say he's on, I don't know, many different boards, right.

Of companies or nonprofits, but he will quit one, right?

Because either the time isn't right anymore or it's just taking too much time and he has too many other things to do and going on.

They can all be good things, but he quits something.

So my call to both me and you is, what are we going to quit this Thursday?

What can we let go of this Thursday?

And what else, if anything, can we invite into our lives that could be shifting, that we're going to make a priority of spending another, you know, going out on date night with our spouse.

If we're not doing it regularly, it could be meeting a friend for coffee.

Maybe we haven't seen them in a while, or maybe we're just finding it.

Weeks and months pass before we talk to that person.

Or maybe we're not prioritizing doing something that just lets us be in awe of God's creation.

Or we keep putting off a trip that we know in our heart we're being called onto.

Not because it's to be of service always, but because we're longing to see the old towns of Italy or the coast of Greece, because those things will fill us up in ways that I don't think going to and from living in our day in and day out will do.

For us, it's about stepping into the unknown, finding that next adventure, both big and small.

And so this is what I wanted to come on and share with you today.

This is what was on my heart.

And if this connects with you, I also want to encourage you.

I have revised my Reignite youe Passion guide or workbook.

I now have a five Day Reignite youe Passion Guide it's just five simple ways and just quick prompts or exercises you can do each day to really reignite your passion.

To reignite your or reconnect with your soul to just understand what it is you want from life that aligns with your values and your priorities and the purpose God has for you here.

But it's just done in a more concise, really beautiful way.

So if that's of interest to you to kind of get started.

It also has a reflection area and a daily gratitude sheet.

Head over to my website KristinFitch.com and and join my email list.

But it's on my freebie section and it's at the top.

It says reading out your Passion five Day Guide.

Grab that.

Even if you grab my old workbook, this is different.

It's more concise and I literally just finished it a couple days ago.

So go grab that.

Or if you just want to join my email newsletter because you haven't already, go join.

Let me encourage you via email as well.

And if you haven't grabbed it, I also have on that same page a Joyful Living devotional.

It's a 15 day devotional to just put you to help you shift your perspective and let you tap more into the fruit of the Spirit.

All right, so until next time, I hope you have a beautiful and blessed week and I would love it if you would leave us a rating review on Apple Podcast if this episode or others have helped you or helped encourage you in any way that helps more people discover us and us get found so that we can connect with more people.

Thanks again for listening to the show and if you enjoyed today's episode, we would love it if you could take a minute to leave a rating and review on Apple Podcast because it helps our show get discovered by more people.