Who Do You Depend On? God is Always Faithful

Show Notes:
I know it’s important to be confident in who we are & to believe in ourselves, but we cannot rely on ourselves more than we rely on God because He needs to be first in our lives.

Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.”

When we believe WE are all we need, we isolate ourselves from everyone else and from God. You might feel like it doesn’t matter because you FEEL like He hasn’t come through for you, but you’re probably wrong on that, too. God comes through for all of us, even when we don’t ask because he’s a loving God. But we often struggle to realize this because what we are BLESSED with doesn’t always look like what we hoped for. And that’s for the better.
How many times have other people let you down? How many times have you let yourself down?

God won’t let you down. The only reason you might THINK he will is when you have expectations of something that doesn’t end up happening. But that’s not his fault. What you wanted just happened to not align with His will and you didn’t have the faith & trust in God to believe He will ALWAYS have your best interests in mind.

Here are 5 reasons you should only rely on God:

1. God Never Changes 
   1. God will ALWAYS be there for you. He is steadfast in character & promises, despite how we might be acting up & allowing our circumstances to dictate our thoughts & actions.
   2. Numbers 23:19, “God is not a man, so he does not lie. He is not human, so he does not change his mind. Has he ever spoken and failed to act? Has he ever promised and not carried it through?”
   3. Hebrews 13:8, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” NLT
2. We Can Do Nothing Significant Without God 
   1. God is everything for us in life. He is the one and only source and without Him, we could do nothing of significance. 
   2. Proverbs 16:3, “Commit your actions to the Lord, and your plans will succeed.”
3. He Provides Protection & Guidance 
   1. He is the one you can call in times of trouble that will ALWAYS answer the call. 
   2. Psalm 46:1, “God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble.”
4. He’s the Perspective We Need 
   1. We can’t get caught up in believing we can be self-sufficient without God because it’s not true. We need Him more than we think.  When we rely on God, we keep the perspective on what’s more important: Him. 
   2. Philippians 4:13, “For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.”
5. It Creates Relationship with Him 
   1. The more we rely on God & trust Him to handle things, the deeper our relationship with Him gets. We need to surrender DAILY to Him everything in our world. 
   2. Psalm 55:22, “Give your burdens to the Lord, and he will take care of you. He will not permit the godly to slip and fall.”
   3. 1 Peter 5:7, “Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.”

Transcript

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This is the Real Positive Girl podcast and I am your host Sabrina. And I'm here chatting with you about your emotions and mental health struggles and how to take those first few steps towards, you know, understanding what the Lord has for you, what you're, how you can be more vulnerable and honest and intimate in that relationship with God. And how to be also be more honest with yourself and more self-aware. And this all ties into how you can become your best self. And we do that two times a week here. So welcome in If you are new, I hope that today's episode and any episodes you decide to listen to from the archives will be like super helpful for you. And if you are not new here, welcome back to the Bardi where you know that things have been kind of shifting in the last few months on the topics that we talk about. But I do hope and pray that they are still really, really beneficial to all of you. Um, so today we are actually gonna be chatting about who do you depend on? And I'm really excited about this topic. I like prayed about it and I just feel like you know, out of my spirit through the Lord you gave me this great topic to talk about. But before we dive into that, as always, I wanted to invite you to go look down into the show notes and see where you can come and visit me on social media. I'm at Sabrina Joy Perso on both Instagram and TikTok. So come over and say hi and let's become friends online. Also, if you look down there, you will see that there's a link to the YouTube channel where you can see a video version of some of the podcast episodes. I am slowly trying to catch up with the current episodes so that they are all live for you guys too. Watch if you prefer our video version. You wanna see my hands go crazy, you wanna see me like get really excited and it's there for you. So I'm slowly trying to get caught up but we're, we're getting close. So take a look at that and then there's so many other things down there you can take a look at like a journal that I created. You can take a look at, uh, anonymous venting or submitting a topic for the podcast anonymously, all those things. So check all those things out when you have a second. But let's go ahead and just jump right into what we're here to chat about today, which is who do you depend on? So just so you know, this is the 500th episode of the podcast and I find it to be really poignant that the topic that we are speaking about today is dependence on God. And so maybe by the title you didn't really connect that, especially if you're new to the podcast, but when I am asking the question, who do you depend on, it's like who are you depending on besides God? Like besides putting him first in your life. And so I personally like spent a better portion of my life depending on myself, even though I thought God was still there in the mix, still like serving him and believing in him and have faith in having faith in him but wrongly thinking like that I still had to do everything in my strength and he was just there like, you know, kind of like watching over me. Um, and so, you know, it wasn't quite the right way and even with this podcast I know. That God told me to do it like back in 2020, in February. He was like, you need to do this. And I was like, okay, great, I can do that. But I didn't quite bring it in, like didn't start it in the direction necessarily that he had in mind. And you know, because it was meant to share like the glory of God and how he can be there for you in managing your mindset and your mental health. And those things are so fantastic and true and I didn't really get that until recently unfortunately. And I still think that I was doing a good work in the Lord, but like not what he asked for and not quite what he wanted me to do. And so, um, you know, and my content has always been about like finding strength and developing resilience, you know, to bounce back and keep going but to also understand like why it's all happening. So understanding like where are we going wrong? What choices are we making that aren't the greatest? You know, where is our mindset at and where are those things deriving from? I think that's all still good and like, you know, all comes together for the point, but I was still kind of like missing the mark slightly. Um, so, but now, now I know it's about finding resilience in him in God and still understanding like what's happening to us but seeking him for refuge, for strength, for grace, for courage, forgiveness for all of these things. And so it's really cool actually and I'm grateful to like be here with you and to serve God and it's finally aligning with his will. And so I am so grateful for that for the 500th episode that it's all just finally just coming together. So I don't know what this means going forward. I think it's just gonna be like straight up God <laugh> and we're gonna talk about him and how he helps us in so many things and is always there despite us maybe not realizing it. Um, but I hope that you continue to, you know, join me on that journey of like, where are we going next? Not that far from where we are, it's just like a shift in the right direction. So I just wanted to share that cuz I thought it was so important to what's happening here. Um, but in regards to like who do we depend on, you know, when I was younger, um, like very comparable to what I kind of just shared with you. I had this mindset that I needed to accomplish everything like in in my own strength on my own, just like, you know, throw it on my back as whatever burden it was and just take care of it. And I prayed and believed in God like as from like a young child and my dad like made sure I was in church because he knew that that would help me to grow and do the best person I could be. And you know, I believe that God was there, you know, like kind of like helping me or just like looking down on me and making sure like really terrible things don't happen. But I still thought that I needed to like do it all on my own because it was the way to become tough and to become strong and capable through anything that I would have to push through. Um, and I knew that God would like get me to the other side of it, but it was like I still felt like I had to, you know, shoulder a majority of the burden, if that makes sense. And you know, I went through so much crap as a child. It was really tough, a lot of like drama and things happened, uh, that, you know, I couldn't be convinced otherwise than what my, where my mindset was was like I have to shoulder all of these burdens and there was no way life was gonna be as hard as it was. And it that like, it wasn't supposed to happen the way that it was happening with me shouldering everything and I didn't need to, you know, I needed to focus on getting stronger. That's what I thought God wanted me to do, figure out how to do it on your own. And I did get strong, I really did, um, really strong, so strong that I was able to isolate myself from everyone and compartmentalize everything happening in my life so that when I was in school or at an event, I did not allow what was happening at home and the trauma and the things that I've dealt with to really seep through. So I still had this like composure about me and I was like, okay, well great, God has given me the the power to be strong and keep it together in front of people without allowing all the crap that just happened at home to kind of bleed through and create me into some sort of victim or someone to feel sorry about, sorry for. And I, that's like, I was like, no, we don't need that. We need to be strong, we need to put on a brave face, right? And it was because I believed that I needed to like only rely on myself. I wasn't depending on anyone else, right? I already knew that I couldn't depend on the adults, the adults in my life like you know, my dad, my mom, and you know, I could depend on them for like very few things but not to, to model the behavior that God is who we need to depend on. Yes, yes, my dad made sure that I went to church and that was like a big priority in my life and to, you know, get saved and um, develop a relationship with God but it wasn't like modeled that he was also gonna do that or that he depended on God or anything like that. And so it's hard for her child to really understand what needs to be done if you're not seeing it modeled by adults that you see all the time. Because I went to church but it was like once a week and then, you know, as I got older went to youth group and did VBS in the summers, but it still wasn't enough. And I'm not saying I'm blaming them, it's just I didn't fully get it. Um, I didn't fully get it, but I was wrong that I needed to like rely on only myself and I didn't get a chance to learn how wrong I was until much later in my life, like much later, like we're talking like college time and even like a little bit through college and, and like leaving that and feel like I'm becoming like a real, a real grownup, a real adult. And so sharing that with you and how I went through so much of my life thinking that, you know, God was like there but also I still had to like do a lot of stuff on my own. I wanted to ask you like, are you putting all your hope in faith in the wrong person in your life? You know, think about all the people that you rely on or you depend on for like whatever it is, whether it's like at work or in your personal life, in your romantic life, your family, whatever it is. Like who are you depending on who are you relying on? And yes, you know, there's gonna be times like especially in work where you have to rely on someone else to do their part so that you can do their, you can do your part, but that's different from who are you relying fully in to help you get through your problems and get through your struggles and to get advice from and to, you know, be there when you fall and to uh, trust when you need someone to talk to and to figure life out, right? Those things happen to us all the time. Um, but again I wanna ask you, are you putting all your hope and faith in the wrong person? Because personally I think many of us are, many of us are. And I think that most of my time growing up that I just shared with you, I was, I was putting my reliance on myself and that was the wrong person. I was not like God was still there in my life working and helping it not be as crappy as it it could have been even worse than it already was. Um, and you know, because if we have more hope and faith in anyone else other than Jesus, we are going about it all wrong. We are going about it the wrong way. And I know that might sound really bold for me to say about everyone, but it's truly how I feel. And yes, even if all your hope and your faith is in yourself, you are looking to the wrong person for all of your answers and all of the help that you need. And I feel like, you know, a lot of times we are taught that, you know, if you can't rely on anyone else, you need to be able to rely on yourself. And you know what, maybe I have also, um, kind of shared a message kind of like that before the, all of my content has shifted more into like, you know, how can we serve God? And it's, it's, it's a really like selfish egotistical outlook to think that you know, we in our own strength are taking care of all of these things and we're not. And so, you know, you are looking towards the wrong, you are looking to the wrong person for all your answers and all the help you need because it can't just be someone else in your life and it can't just be you. And I know it's important to be confident in like who you are and to believe in ourselves, but we cannot like rely on ourselves more than we rely on God because he needs to be the first one in our lives. And yeah, we can, you know, be confident in who we are through Christ and we can believe in ourselves through Christ who strengthens us. Uh, but we can't be like, oh yeah, we're at the top and then God's like somewhere down the list. Now he's at the top, he's there. So in the book of Proverbs, uh, chapter three verses five through six, it says, trust in the Lord with all your heart. Do not depend on your own understanding. Seek His will in all you do and he will show you which path to take. And again, when he says like seek his will in all you do, like seek his will align with what he wants you to do, where he wants you to go. And I, and I was, you know, I thought I was doing that in the podcast and the way that it went, but I was like, oh I was, I was like, I feel like I was parallel with where he wanted me to go but I wasn't quite in line with what his will was dictating. Um, and it's because I didn't really like fully seek that out, um, in completion. You know, that's on me of course. Uh, but if we do seek his well in all, in everything we do, he will show you like where to go, what path to take, what needs to happen next. And when we believe that we ourselves are all that we need, we do isolate ourselves from you know, everyone else. We were just like, oh it's just all in me. That's all I need. So we isolate ourselves from everyone else and from God. And then really the last person that you want to isolate yourself from is God, like literally the last person. And you might feel like it doesn't matter because maybe you feel if you are living your life based on emotions and how you feel and how things like dictate like what, how you're gonna react and respond and things like that. If you feel like he hasn't come through for you, you're probably, you know, wrong on that for sure. <laugh>, uh, wrong on that as well because if you feel like he hasn't come through for through for you and that's why you feel like you have to rely on yourself all the time, you're definitely wrong about that because God comes through for us all the time even when we don't ask because he is loving God, he just loves us so much and he just wants us to foster that relationship with him. But we often struggle to realize that God is coming through for us because we, cuz what we are like blessed with doesn't always look like what we wanted, what we requested, what we hoped for. And really that's for the better because God knows better than us and he knows what we need. He has our best interests in mind all of the time. We just get so hung up on our own control and what we think would be best for us that we can't see past that we're so blinded by our own perspective, we get so caught up, we get so caught up, you know, and we isolate because you know, we isolate ourselves from other people but also from God because we are scared or and or we're hurt from like previous experiences from the past. And that's really tough too because you know how maybe we went through something once five, 10 times and it's just like ugh, when is enough enough? And sometimes God just wants us to continue to push through to persevere. Like if you wanna hear a story about perseverance, read the book of Job, you know, it's hardcore like he went through so much stuff yet he was still steadfast and focused on God and what God wanted him to do. Um, so when we allow ourselves, when we allow ourselves to be isolated because of past experiences, um, you know, we can really start to like come in towards ourselves trust uh, what feels safe and what we think will be okay but we can't let what happen in the past be the reason we don't do something in the future. Even if there were like multiple failures and multiple mistakes all wrapped up in it. And a perfect example like that came to mind when I was writing the notes for this podcast was an influencer that I follow that I love and her name is Laura Belin. And I'm sure that a lot of you actually know who that is. Um, maybe you don't, but if you don't I think that you would really appreciate everything that she's about. She does, she is like a typical influencer where you know, she is sharing things in her life and fashion and stuff like that and like offering discounts and partnering in brands, things like that. But she's also um, very focused on like what God wants for her and her husband and her life and her and her husband have been trying to have a baby for like quite some time. Uh, it seems like a long time now. And you know, they have gone through multiple rounds of fertility treatments and even like changed doctors and are now doing like a different procedure prior to like doing their traditional fertility treatments. I think they're on around like five or six or something like that and it's intense <laugh>, I couldn't even imagine like, you know, it's like having the hope and faith do that time and time again but also like put your body through whatever stress is happening when you're doing all of those things. And you know, they have gone through so many rounds and they still have no baby, no baby and no one can tell them that there's anything wrong with them. It's just not happening for them yet she shares like always how she is trusting God to make their desires true according to his will and his timetable according to what God wants them to have. And while there is so much like, you know, disappointment and discouragement and despite like no baby every single time, she always relies on God, she always acknowledges that God knows the perfect timing, that God knows what needs to happen and when it needs to happen. And I just think that is such an encouraging way to go about life. Uh, like especially if you have a hard time just like entrusting everything to God, like, you know, look for stories, look for people like that that are literally sharing like, yeah we're continuing to go through this and this feels really discouraging but we we're not gonna give up. God wants us for us. We know that he does and she relies on him and you know not everyone in, it's not like she's relying on the people that are, you know, administering the fertility treatments or her husband or like even herself. She is acknowledging that her strength comes from the Lord and she knows, she knows that God is working all things together for good and she will be able to demonstrate like his glory through this whole process, this whole time that feels like darkness, that feels like they're not getting the thing that they want even though they are gaining so many things around them. Like they have a beautiful new home and all kinds of like, you know, changes, upgrades to that and making more money through whatever brand deals and they have a farm now. They're always gaining animals and all of these different things and it's just like they still have a desire burning in their heart and God has not given them to them yet and they are not willing to give up. They're just continuing to persevere in that hope and faith in him. They rely on him. And you know, this is where like our core verse for today's episode comes in and the verse that really spurred this whole episode was from the book of Micah in chapter seven verses seven through eight. And it says, as for me, I look to the Lord for help. I wait confidently for God to save me and my God will certainly hear me do not gloat over me, my enemies for though I fall, I will rise again though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light. And you know, Mike is there, he's the Lord is telling him that he you know, needs to share these things and he's acknowledging that he also like in like the verse that's after that he's acknowledging that he is sinned but that he knows that God will help him rise up again and show him his glory um, after he has been forgiven. And it's just amazing how he's just like he is confidently, you know, waiting for God. He knows that God will come through for him just like Laura be like influencer we're talking about. She knows that God is gonna come through for them with a child, with a family when the time is right and that even though there might be naysayers in her life saying, you know, you just need to give up cuz you've done it too many times. Like even she said that her doctors were telling her like No don't give up, we can still do this, let's keep going. It's like God is just like pouring in his word to them and being like this is what we wanna do. But despite what other people might be telling her of like no give up, it's not worth it anymore. You've spent however much money and it's not happening, why are you still going? She's like, no, I don't care what you say, I'm gonna rely on God and until God tells me that it's time to move on and do something else. And she knows that the darkness that she's current currently going through with her husband right now of not having the child that they desire so much in their heart will still happen. She is just relying fully on God and it encourages me crazily. And so in that scripture though, Micah knew that the Lord will always come through for him no matter what anyone else said in his faith. And God was so steadfast and so he relied in God, he tried to warn Israel to do the same, to follow God to, you know, fall before him and ask for forgiveness. But many of those people didn't listen. So if you wanna know more context about that verse, I do encourage you to write, read the whole book of Micah. It's literally seven chapters, seven chapters so it'll be like very quick for you to be like oh very interesting. And it talks a lot about how Israel fell into this I would say like a slump which a lot of us can fall into where they uh, they were prospering so well and they had so many like riches and glories and all these things and they were you know, becoming really comfortable in those things and kind of like sliding into sin and thinking that it was okay to do that because everything in life just seemed like puppies and sunshine and rainbows and all of that. So I do encourage you to just read it again seven chapters really quick, it'd be great for you. Um, but you know, we often don't listen to things that don't feel like a big deal and I think that's kind of how Israel was acting. It's like oh it's fine if we like, you know, backslide and just in a little bit because it's okay and everything is going well and you know, we feel like we're serving God as best we can, but we often just like, you know, don't feel like it's a big deal that we don't fully rely on God, that we don't fully like, you know, have him be everything that we depend on. And you know, we also don't feel like it's urgent or that, you know, it isn't the popular choice or opinion to do that cuz like if people are like, oh yeah you need to depend on your spouse or you need to depend on your family or like whatever it is, it's like a lot of people wanna just go with a popular vote. We want to celebrate with the majority and the things that they're doing, but we also wanna suffer with the majority. And you know, it's just like this comradery of like we're all in this together when we really need to stand out cuz we need to be relying on God and knowing that he is the only choice that really makes sense. And so again, I wanna ask you a question about who you depend on. How many times have other people let you down? How many times have other people let you down? How many times have you let yourself down? I'm sure that one's higher than maybe other people letting you down. For me, I have let myself down many times, many people in my life have let me down. But it's important like whatever those numbers and those amounts come out to just know that God won't ever let you down. Like he truly won't. The only reason you might think, you might think it's not true but you might think that he he will let you down is when you have expectations in something that doesn't align, uh, that doesn't end up happening. And that's not his fault because what you wanted just didn't happen to align with his will. You know, and you also didn't have the faith and trust in God to believe he will always have your best interest in mind. So you're like, God, I'm believing for this thing to happen and then it doesn't happen and then you think God doesn't come through for you but in reality it's just because like whatever you wanted didn't align with his will and he probably gave you and blessed you with something else. You just didn't recognize it as that blessing because it wasn't what you asked for, it wasn't what you dictated. And so on all of those notes and things that I have shared today, I want to share with you some reasons why it's really, really, really, really, really important to rely on God first and foremost. But first our favorite thing ever, my quick disclaimer. So the tips and advice that I'm about to share with you is all based on my own knowledge and research and experience and the I am able to share with you. I do need to change this disclaimer but it still is based on like experiences in knowledge and research that I'm allowed to share and then I'm if things that I have talked to other people about and I'm allowed to share them with you. So I guess it's kind of still the same but anyway, you know what I mean. Um, but if you feel like it's just not, it's not aligning with you like you don't think this is gonna really help you determine like who you depend on and why that's important to know that I do encourage you to seek a counsel or a therapist and really have a one-on-one opportunity for you to chat with them and figure that out. Also, if you do find that you are following Christ but you just don't really understand what I'm talking about and you don't feel like what I'm saying aligns with you, then I would encourage you to go talk to your own pastor or someone in your church that you align with and that you see as a mentor and they will be able, able to better help you on this topic. This goes for anything I've already said and things I'm going to say soon. Um, if you don't sign that that's helpful for you, then you can still go to your, go to all of our best friend Google and type in like keywords like dependence or who to rely on or who will always be there for you or depending on God, um, like typing the words depending on God to really understand what it means to have a dependence and a reliance in God truly first and foremost. And you'll probably get a lot of articles and videos, uh, social media posts, maybe commentaries on the Bible to really help you understand versus that you know, go and align with the the truth of us needing to rely and depend on God all of the things. So I would just say take those two options and figure out what would be better for you if you just feel like this is just not the way that you're gonna understand like who you're depending on and why it's important for us to rely on God. Okay? So here are five reasons that you should only rely on God first and foremost. So the first one is that God never changes, never ever, ever. I myself have a friend that is a flaky friend and she knows that she is. And so that's why it's okay for me to share that she knows, she knows that she is just like we'll make plans, we'll decide things she doesn't come through or you know, we will decide to do something and then she'll change her mind last minute. It just happens and that's okay. That's like she accepts that that's the type of person that she is. She wishes she wasn't so do a lot of us, but I accept her as she is but God will always be there for us, right? He doesn't flake or cancel had the last minute, thank goodness He more often than not like she swos in at the last minute to help us out when we need it. And he is steadfast in like his character promises despite how we might be acting a fool kind of acting up in allowing our circumstances to dictate our thoughts and actions. So we allow whatever's happening around us in that tornado of craziness in our lives to dictate what we're gonna do and how we're gonna act. God's not like that. He's always the same, always in forever. And so you can depend on him which is why we should depend on him and why we need to depend and rely on him. And so in the book of numbers, which probably is the book of the Bible, that is most difficult for me because it's numbers and measurements and I always get lost and I'm like, oh, I understand the importance of this but I get lost but it's still a book that I can appreciate so much and it's an amazing important part of the Bible in the Pentateuch. So uh, there was a great verse that pertains to what we're talking about. So in the book of numbers chapter 23 verse 19, it says God is not a man so he does not lie, he is not human. So he does not change his mind. Has he ever spoken and failed to act? Has he ever promised and not carried through? And the answer to all those questions is no. Like he is not man, he is God, he is everything he will come through, he will always come through, he will never change. He'll never all of a sudden not be someone you can count on. He will always be the same. And that's why it's easy and the best preferable to rely and depend on God because he's not gonna change. Also in the Book of Heroes chapter 13 verse eight, it says Christ Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. And I'm sure that maybe you actually heard that first report cuz it's very common, but it's true. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. He's not gonna be fickle, he's not gonna change all of a sudden take on a new personality. He's just, he is who he is, which is like part of that Christlike behavior that I'm looking to adopt. Just be who we are in Christ to everyone else in the world and be that light to shine. We are not perfectly Jesus so it's much harder for us to hit that. But if we are, you know, working to do so every single day surrendering to him, then we can get there uh, as close as we're meant to get. So it's important for us to realize that God is not changing. Jesus is always the same and that's why we can rely on him because it is that constant in our life that's always there for us and available. Number two is we can do nothing significant without God. We can do nothing significant about without God. We can none of them are gonna be great <laugh>. None of them are gonna be as best as they could be. None of 'em are gonna be like worth it, you know, God is everything for us in life. Everything. He dictates everything. And so he is the one and only source. And without him like we could do nothing of significance, it would just be this like, you know, mild nothing life and sometimes we end up floundering in life. It's just not worth it. And so our strength and abilities and character and purpose all come from him, all come from God in these things. Like work best when we relo, when we rely on him for him to work through us, you know, and really help us to fulfill everything that was that he had already planned out that is like aligned with his will, that is his will and the truth that's supposed to be actually happening in our lives. And so it's so important for us to really know that yeah, we can try to go out there and shoulder everything in our own strength, but it's gonna be nothing compared nothing at all. Nothing worth of anything compared to what we can do with his strength working through us. And that's relying and depending on him and loving him and having faith and belief that he is everything and anything. And that's what I believe and I hope and pray that that is something that you believe as well. In the book of Proverbs chapter 16 verse three, it says Commit your actions to the Lord and your plans will succeed. Commit your actions to the Lord and your plans will succeed. So you're committing what you would like to do, your heart's desires and your your beliefs and what you want to God, which also means that you are, you know, doing your best to align things with his will from from what you know so far, then your plans are gonna succeed because you are pushing it through God and not out in your own strength into the world to think that you could just, you know, prosper and be the greatest without him. Now you are giving it all to God and you're like here God, this is everything I have and everything I would want and desire. You already know all this but please do amazing works in it. And then he will have your plans succeed. And yes, your, your plans may succeed in a way that you didn't expect because God knows the best way for it to. So he's like, you know, shaping and molding it to better align, to actually align with his will perfectly and then allowing it to succeed. So just keep that in mind like that flexibility of like trusting God, like okay he knows what's best for me, he has my best interest in mine. Number three is he provides protection and guidance. He provides protection and guidance. So he is the one that you can call in times of trouble that will always answer the call always if you're in trouble, if you're struggling, if you're having a time he will always be there to comfort you. And yes you might not immediately feel like you know rainbows and sunshines after like, you know, smiling faces. Um, you might still be sad but you can still like have that joy permeate through the sadness through that what, where you feel like you're in your pit of despair in that darkness. But it can still permeate through you and be like, okay God's with me. He's comforting me. I'm still sad and discouraged but I know I'm gonna be lifted from those things soon. As long as I continue to rely on God to be there for me, to protect me and to guide me and where I need to, what I need to do and where I need to go. And you know, when we trust God and have faith in everything he says he will do, then we have nothing to worry about because there will always be a hedge of protection around us. And so we can continue to believe and know that and believe and know that we have the protection of God and that he is going to guide us in everything we do as long as we are continuing to surrender and come him and rely on Him for everything. Everything. I don't think we could really like depend on God for too many things and you know we still have to take action in having that dependence and having that belief in faith that he will respond and lead us where we need to be. And if we just do that with everything then we will, you know, find the balance of you know, do we need to ask God how much toothpaste to put on our toothbrush? But if we wanna rely on him we can ask him and then he will help us to like balance like everything that need that you know should come to him. But I would just say go overboard with it. He wants that relationship with you, he wants to talk to you. Um, and he will just continue to provide that protection and guidance. So in the book of Psalms, uh, chapter 46 verse one, it says, God is our refuge and strength always ready to help in times of trouble. God is our refuge and strength always ready to help in times of trouble. He is, he is our refuge and strength and he is always ready to help us in times of trouble. Again, it might look different than what we're expecting or thinking should happen, but he knows best and so we just need to rely on him and have trust and faith that he's gonna come through in the best way for us and it's gonna be fantastic. Fantastic. Number four, he's the perspective we need. He's the perspective we need. We can't get caught up in believing that we can be self-sufficient and do it all on our own without God because it's just not true. It's just not true. We might think that we have accomplished so many things on our own and through our own strength when in reality God has actually been, you know, behind the scenes making it all happen and come together. We just don't realize it. You know, we need him more than we think all of the time. And when we get too far from God, you know, we strayed too far in thinking that we got it all on our own. We start to think that we can do it all on our own and begin believing in like temporary resources that and in flawed mindsets that you know, start to develop thinking that we can do it all on our own. We don't need God. God wasn't really helping us. He's not getting us exactly what we want, but in reality we could want things that actually aren't beneficial to us and actually are harmful to us. We just don't see it because we're not seeing it the way that God is. And God knows what we need. He knows where we need to go, he knows what we need to do, he truly does. And so when we, when we rely on God, we keep the perspective on what's more important, which is him, it's him. It's all about him and glorifying him and being a light to shine in the world and having people you know, come and give their life to Jesus because we are showing them how amazing it is to serve the Lord and be a Christian. You know? So also knowing he knows what's best for us, just like really having comfort and trust in that it'll like ease so much worry and anxiety, I promise you. So He's the perspective that we need. We need to have the perspective of God to understand like why it's so important to rely and depend on him and not get caught up in thinking that we can do it all ourselves. In the book of Philip Philippians in the book of Philippians chapter four verse 10, wow guys, wow flub in the book of Philippians chapter four, verse 13. It says that for I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength, I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength. So as long as we are relying on Jesus Christ to give us the strength to help us get through, do whatever it is we were relying on him, we were depending on him, we can do it all. We can do it all that aligns with his will. Isn't that fantastic? Cuz it's just like, wow, surrender it all. He wants to help us. He is there for us. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. Sometimes it's difficult cuz you have people like yelling down at you and saying, you're doing the wrong thing. But as long as you continue to look towards God and give him your whole heart, he as vulnerable and he's got you. He's got you. He is the perspective we need when we are going through our every day life. And number five, it creates relationship with him. It creates relationship with him. When we rely on God, when we depend on God fully first and foremost, it does, it creates that relationship with him. Uh, the more that we let rely on God and trust him to handle things, the deeper that our relationship will end up being. And especially in those times when it feels like it's dark and lonely and we feel like God is distant from us and he's not there with us, he's still there. He's still there. And you have to like remind yourself of that when you feel lonely and you can't really pinpoint anything that you feel like you've done wrong or haven't done enough of. And you have been pouring your heart out to God and having faith and believe in knowing he's gonna be there, but it does feel empty. Just know he's there, he's there and he knows the perfect timing. He knows the perfect way. And it can be really frustrating and suck when you have to like let go of that control of being like, God, where are you? You're not here. But it's like you are here. You're just like he, I mean he is here, but he's just like where he needs to be right now. And we just need to continue to have comfort and faith gonna comfort and, and and be there for us. It just may feel empty right now. But that is a good way for you to just like continue to worship him and praise him and put him first and he will, um, you'll fill yourself drawing closer to him, right? It's so he's still there. Whether you feel like he is or not, he's still there, okay? And you know, we need to surrender daily to him. Everything in our world, just give it all to him. We need to continue to give up control, the control that we think that we have or we rich. We really don't, but the control that we think we have to him and serve him, knowing that he's got it all taken care of. He really, really, really, really, really, really does. So in the book of Psalms chapter 55, verse 22, it says, give your burdens to the Lord and he will take care of you. He will not permit the Godly to slip and fall. Give all your burdens to the Lord, just hand them to him. Be like, please take it on. You're like, yes, please take it all. And God's like, okay. And then you're like, yes, yay. I can just be here serving you, loving you, putting you first and not worrying about things that I don't have any control over. Anyway, I don't have any control over anyway. So just continue to have that moment of daily surrender. God, I give it all to you. I I ask you to help me do what I need to do every single day to surrender all control or thoughts of control and self-sufficiency to you and independence. And know that you are going to lead me and guide me in everything that I need to do and that I would like to aspire to. And the desires of my heart will be fulfilled as long as they online with your perfect will in your perfect way. And you believe in how dress that he will come through and he will tell you what to do and you will serve him in, in the best way. In the book of one Peter chapter five, verse seven, it says, give all your worries and cares to God for he cares about you. God cares about you so much. He's like, yeah, just give it all to me. Continue to believe in me and have faith that I'm gonna come through for you and I will and you will even when you like have stepped away or you're doing whatever cause God's a loving God sure is. And so we just need to continue to believe and have faith and develop that relationship with him. And you know, the biggest like reason why we need to rely on God is not one that I actually like put here. Uh, because it's just the overarching knowledge and truth that God controls everything. You know, we might think that our outcomes are random or we just randomly try something and it works out. But really it's God making those decisions. God like having already having a plan, God already knowing what's going to happen. And so yes, it's important for us to acknowledge that God just knows everything and he's in control everything. He's a sovereign God. But I thought it would be helpful to list these other ones because I feel like we all know that. But I do wanna throw that in there. It's like God knows and is control of everything. So that's why we need to rely and depend on him. Thank you so much for listening to The Real Positive Girl podcast again with me, Sabrina. I really hope that this topic was helpful for you. And thank you so much for joining me for my 500th episode. Absolutely. So freaking fantastic. I'm so excited. Um, but I hope that you come back and listen to more and are excited for the shift that this podcast is making into the direction that actually aligns fully with God's will. So until next time, have a good one and I will see y'all next time. Bye.