What if you are not spiritually stuck because your faith is weak, but because you're waiting to feel ready before you obey? Today, Jessica D. Young will help us recognize the next faithful step God may already be placing before us. As we practice faith, little by little, we become better prepared to guide our children ages 8 to 12 to walk with God. Jessica is a Christian author, speaker, and founder of the Made Whole Movement. She helps women move from knowing God's truth to living it through practical disciplehip and everyday obedience. Jessica, welcome. I am so glad you're here on the Faith Mom Mentor. Thank you so much for having me. I am I'm honored to be here and I'm excited to dive in about all this goodness we're about to talk about. Yes. I love it. I'm ready to I just want to set us up with many Christian moms love God deeply but quietly think I need to feel stronger, more confident or even more certain before I move forward. And the question I want to ask you is, Jessica, from your experience discipling women, why do we confuse feeling ready with being ready to obey God? That's that's a really really great question and I think that it is something that we struggle with a lot and it's not always talked about because I feel like as Christian women, we talk about, you know, obeying the Lord and and doing all of the right things. But to answer this question, I really think that it's kind of twofold. But the first part is that we wait for confidence, right? So we the Lord asks us to do something and we're like, well, when I feel ready, I can do it. We we we assume that the readiness part of that is what it will feel like to be confident or to be at peace at something or to have certainty or courage. But sometimes that obedience that we're supposed to just say yes comes when we're still scared. I don't you've probably heard people say like do it scared, right? Like that really is sometimes I think we expect that God makes us feel ready and then we'll obey. Like that that needs to come first. That feeling needs to come first before the obedience. But so often in my own life, I've I've experienced that when I obey first that God grows me in the going, in the obedience, in the next step. And so we don't need to know how everything's going to work, even though we would love to know it. I am a planner by nature, and I love to know where everything is going to go, when everything's going to happen, and to see far into the future, into the calendars. But news flash, we don't need to know how everything's going to work to be obedient. We just have to trust his his calling and to trust our next step that we take to do that next right thing. And just like it says in Proverbs, it says, "Trust the Lord with all your heart and lean not unto your own understanding, but acknowledge him in all your ways." Right? So I love this because we understanding everything and then trust is not what that says, right? It doesn't say, "Well, once you understand it, then then it will all make sense and it will all just come." But trust comes when our understanding is incomplete. And that is something that I'm continuing to walk through. If you've ever seen, one of my my huge things that I'm so big on is being open, transparent, and vulnerable about my own life. Because how can I teach from a place of not sharing what I go through, right? Because that's that's where disciplehip comes from is is walking with someone shouldertoshoulder, hand in hand. And so I'm always sharing my downfalls and my my struggles with this because I would love to understand everything and then to trust him, but that's not what it says. If you remember in uh Hebrews, Abraham Abraham obeyed and then he went, right? He didn't go, "Well, Lord, maybe if you could just tell me what I'm going to be doing with Isaac when I get up there." No. Right? He says, "Okay, Lord, I trust you and I'm going to do what you said even though I'm scared. Even though I don't know what's next." And I feel like that is just such a beautiful a beautiful picture of faith that we need to we need to lean on that we don't have to have all the answers. We just have to trust in the one that does, and that's the Lord, and walk into that next step. So, it sounds like what you're saying is like we sometimes wait for the perfect faith. Waiting for perfect faith can cost us though. Can you just help us understand what that cost of delaying um waiting for that perfect faith looks like when it comes to wisdom and just waiting on God? What what does waiting for the perfect faith cost us? Yeah, it really can cost us a lot of missed opportunities truly. Like to love, to serve, to reconcile a relationship, to speak life into someone, to forgive. I mean, there's so many missed opportunities that we can miss if we we're waiting for that. We're waiting for that next answer. We're waiting for the confidence to do it. We're waiting for our faith to be just right. And a lot of times I see that fear will disguise itself as wisdom. It seems like, oh well, and maybe you've said this, well, I'm praying about it, right? Or I'm waiting for confirmation or um well, I just don't have peace about it. And those things might all completely be true and legitimate. However, what I have found, especially in my own life, is that I will find myself saying those things because I'm waiting for things to work out better. I'm waiting for God to answer maybe in a different way, but he's already answered and he just needs us to make that decision. So, waiting sometimes becomes that decision. So uh I love to say that obedience disobedience is sorry waiting is also disobedience right because if he says I need you to go and talk to that person and you don't go and talk to that person because you're like oh I don't know if I want to offend them or I don't know how I feel or maybe that's not exactly what he said now you're waiting for that. Now, the Lord, that doesn't mean that the Lord's not going to be working on that other person, but he might have been trying to bless you through that as well. And so, your waiting has now become a decision of disobedience and not being obedient when he's asked you to. And you know, in James, it tells us that when he asks us to do something, if if we know what's good for us, we need to do it, right? And so, that's that's very direct. That's that's very God said this do it and I am not telling you this from a place of perfection and I hope that as you're hearing this you're hearing like yeah she doesn't have it all together because I don't but I have been working on this and so even though I know the answers I still I still struggle with this because sometimes the on the other side of that is is moving too slow is also moving too quickly. And that has a cost too because if we move too quickly, if we are afraid of missing God or or trying to get to every every opportunity without, you know, instruction first or trying to go through every door and knock on all the doors, right? That moving too fast also can cost us in getting ahead of what the Lord wants us to do. And so we just have to stay in line with his word, stay in line with his voice, and then we will step into his will in whatever that is. Yeah, that is so true. Our children do not need to see flawless faith. They just need to see a mom who continues just turning toward God. Yes. Yes. And faith mom. For more encouragement from Jessica, please visit her website perspectives intopractice.com. And there is a link in the description. You will find resources to help you move from spiritual inspiration into everyday obedience. And some women, Jessica, are not deliberately resisting God. They are just tired. and they are just emotionally stressed, stretched, uncertain, or afraid of making the wrong decision. What would you say to the mom who sincerely wants to obey God but feels just overwhelmed by unanswered questions and just everyday life responsibilities? Yeah, I I'm going to tell you this from where I am currently at right now because there is a lot of decisions that need to be made in my ministry, in my in the family, in you know, relationships, in our travels because we travel full-time. So, we need to know there's a lot of questions that I have the Lord I have asked the Lord that are unanswered. And so what I'm telling you right now, you faith moms listening also, I'm telling myself, okay, stop trying to figure out the next six months, right? Stop trying to figure out what it's going to look like months or days or even weeks from now, but ask yourself, what is faithfulness look like today? What can I do today that the Lord has asked me to do or that is going to lead me to that? because I know I know that I want to obey what the Lord has, but I have so many questions and I'm so overwhelmed by all of the possibilities that could be there that it's really hard to go, okay, what does today look like? And so, maybe that is apologizing to your child. Maybe that's making a phone call that you didn't know uh or that you know that the Lord's asked you to make. Maybe that's just sitting down and opening your Bible or asking for help. I know this is this can be this is hard for me, but I know that it's hard for moms, especially when you're overwhelmed, is because you want to ask for help, but you don't even know what to ask. Maybe you've been there. Maybe you've been there. But I what I know is that you can have unanswered questions and still take the next faithful step because remember what Matthew 6:34 tells us. It says, "Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow has enough worries of its own. Each day will bring on its own." Right? So if we just keep trying to live tomorrow's faith today, like we're we're missing out what is right now. And so what I can tell you and what I'm telling myself is that don't worry about tomorrow, next week, in the next six months. Do the things that you know to do right now. And maybe you're listening and you're like, "Girl, I don't need one more thing on my plate." I hear you. Okay? I hear you. And so maybe that thing that maybe what you're hearing is that you need to take the next faithful step, but really the next faithful step for you may be receiving. It may be rest. It may be letting someone help you. It may be saying no to some things on your list. I know that when I had I was in the crux of growing all of my baby children's, they're still grow uh babies, but they're teenagers now. But when I was in the the throws of it, it was so hard for me to rest and to say no to things and I had such a big calendar. But we we really have to be careful that we don't turn obedience into another burden that we have to carry, right? And so I don't want you to hear me say, "Oh, just do the next thing." And and what what you hear me saying is, "Well, you're not even listening to me because I'm overwhelmed." I hear you, sweet sister. I hear you. So maybe the thing that God is asking you to carry is truly rest. You know in Matthew it says to come to me all who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. Jesus is saying even when there's so much to do out there, he's inviting us to rest with him. And sometimes that's the only thing that we need to do. Yeah, you're so right. And sometimes rest is the thing to do. I know that we like to talk about the scripture where the Lord instructed the prophet to take a nap and eat something and sometimes moms just need to take a nap and eat something. So, if you have ever delayed a step because you did not feel ready and sometimes we're not ready to lay down and take a nap and eat something because they got so much to do. But I want you to write one fateful step in the comments. If you have ever delayed a step because you did not feel ready, whether it's to take a nap or do do the next thing, write one faithful step in the comments. Your response may encourage another mom who feels as though she is the only one struggling. And sometimes we feel that way. We feel like we are the only ones, Jessica. Um, and also if you would take a second to like this video because it helps more Christian mom find encouragement like this for strengthening their faith and guiding their children to walk with God. Jessica, you teach that transformation rarely happens only because we learn something new. It happens when we practice what God is already teaching us. And you spoke about that just in the last question. I think um but I want you to help us to understand what does putting faith into practice actually look like during an ordinary week. Yeah. Yeah. So we homeschool our kids. We've I think we're going on to our 10th year of homeschooling and we teach our kids classically and one of the the models that we teach them is easy plus one. So if you know to do something then once you're that feels easy then you can add one more step. And so what I would tell you in in that aspect as we're we're teaching, right, is that I would tell you that to practice what you already know and when that feels easy, then you can add one more thing because the last thing I'm sure that that you faith moms want to hear is, "Oh, now I have to do all of these other things and put all of I don't even have time for me." I hear you. I hear you. What I'm saying is that when when one thing feels easy, then add one more. So when maybe it might be just rest in this season. And when rest feels easy and you feel like, okay, I think I'm getting the hang of this. I can do this without putting shame on myself of there's so many things that need to be done, but actually I just need to rest. Right? Maybe you are reading about patience and your child is over there testing your patience. Right? Now we get to actually put our faith into practice in that aspect, right? Or if you know you've we we read all throughout the scriptures about forgiveness. And so maybe someone has hurt you and you have the opportunity to now practice forgiveness in your own life in that way. And you know the practice the practice part of your faith happens in that in that little space between what you know is true and then what you need to do next. And so easy plus one. Just put that in your brace. Easy plus one. What that biblical truth comes becomes lived faith when we are putting together one thing in the in into the next. And I think it's in in John that it says don't don't don't merely in James it says don't merely listen to the word but do what it says. And it's not saying to do everything all at once. Cuz I don't know about you, but I'm an all or nothing girl. And so when someone tells me to do something, I'm taking all the notes and I'm like, "Okay, great. I got to do all of these things." And now I am more overwhelmed than when I began because now there's all of these things that I need to do, but I don't even have time for the first one. Right. Yeah. And speaking of the first one, how can a mom know when she's genuinely waiting on God and distinguish that wait genuinely waiting on God from just avoiding taking the next thing that she knows God wants her to do? Yeah. Well, I love this question because I get I get stuck here often and I am a huge proponent of asking questions because if you don't ask questions, you don't get answers. And so I have to ask myself these hard questions is like what has God already made very clear? Or maybe what was the last thing that I remember the Lord told me to do? And I am in that place right now where there's so many things that I know that are needing to be done, but I feel stuck. I feel paralyzed in that and I don't know what to do next because I have been heard. And so I am taking my own advice. And I sat down the other day and I was like, "All right, Lord, what is it that you told me to do last?" And that was right. And so I've just been been writing and there's been so much beautiful wisdom that's come out from the writing because I sat down and I went back to the last thing um and asking what looking back at the scripture. The things that I will always talk about is talking to the Lord and reading your Bible. If you're doing those two things, everything else follows, right? But what does the scripture say about where you are? And so ask questions. Ask the hard questions to yourself and to the Lord and also to the community around you because the community that you are in, it matters. It matters to be with mature believers that can help you to, you know, with iron. Iron sharpens iron and to lovingly tell help us with these decisions and discern the differences between what it what did the Lord tell me to do? The discernment of that and am I just afraid to walk into the next thing? Because sometimes that's what it is. But if we have a trusted friend that can sit with us and go, "Girl, I think you're just scared." Right? Like, "Okay, all right. I needed that spanking. So now what? Right. Yeah. So that's that's what I would say is ask the hard questions. Okay. And the goal is not rushed spiritual growth. It's just a responsive faithfulness. We're just responding to what we see and hear in the Bible and in our Bible reading. The small acts of obedience shape us. And it actually gives our children like a living picture of what what God is walking us through. and what walking with God actually looks like. In fact, Mom, Jessica's resources help women close that gap between biblical knowledge and daily life. So, use the link in the description to explore her perspectives into practice podcast, her articles, story haven, community retreats, and practical tools. Um, I encourage you do get that link in the in the um description. Many women, Jessica, become discouraged because spiritual growth feels so much slower than they expected. Why does lasting transformation take time? And how can we remain faithful when our progress feels small, repetitive, or even unnoticed? Yeah, I I love nature. And this this question makes me think about nature. And if you've ever watched a river or a waterfall, what has happened underneath even an ocean? Water is very it can be very dangerous, right? It can be very it can dig into rocks. I mean the Grand Canyon, right? Repetition is formation. And so we want we want these huge breakthrough stories. We want to say yes to the Lord and just have everything to fall into place. But the disc disciplehip the the most disciplehip that we can do it isn't just it isn't just like exploded into it. It's practicing the same thing, the same truth, the same task over and over and over and over. That's it's trust and surrender and obedience and forgiveness and prayer and coming back to the Lord when we mess up. And it doesn't it's it's not an overnight situation. And I know that that can be very frustrating. That's probably not what you wanted to hear. You're like, "Oh, well, you're just doing it wrong. This is what you need to do. Here's this fivestep step." Nope. It really is to slow down, to keep doing the practice over and over and over. And I would encourage you to stop stop measuring yourself constantly. Why am I not growing enough here? Why why can't I be look like her? And why does, you know, why does my fruit not grow as fast? We are all on our own journey. So friend, what I can tell you right now is stay in your own lane because we God has us all on our own paths and our own paths will all eventually as Christians we will make it to heaven but yours might look different than mine and hers and over there. Don't don't measure yourself against other people. Measure yourself against the Lord. He says remain in me and I will remain in you. And that's the answer right there. Yes. Yes, that is so good. Remain in me and I will remain. Is that abiding? It's that just being there like a tree. We are the branch of that tree and we just we just remain. And as we remain in that faithful Bible study and that faithful prayer and our faithful time with the Lord that enables us to get the nourishment day by day, to get the encouragement day by day, and to just keep growing. A lot of times when my kids were growing, um, I look at them one morning and I'm like, "You look different than you did yesterday." But it wasn't that they had changed overnight. It's just that that that there was a recognition of the growth. And sometimes it I mean, they went days and weeks looking like the same and then all of a sudden you saw that. And that's the way it is sometimes even with fruit trees or or I know we have blueberry trees. is like you go look one day it's like none are ready and the next say oh they are all just perfect and so and so it does but it's that faithful abiding and so please faith mom subscribe to the faith mom mentor for biblical conversations like this that strengthen your walk with God so you can guide your child ages 8 to 12 with greater clarity and confidence. This is not about becoming a perfect mother. It's about responding to God today and returning again. Returning to him again tomorrow and the next day and the next day. It's that faithful stepbystep walk. When a mom stops waiting for perfect faith and begins taking faithful steps, her trust in God becomes steadier and more visible within her home. Jessica, I'd like for you to answer. How can a mother's imperfect but consistent obedience influence the way her child learns to trust God? Yeah. Let them watch you. Let them watch you practice. Let them watch you fail. Let them watch you succeed. Don't try to hide all of your your growth. Maybe you you're like, "Oh, I can only do my quiet time when I'm in my closet away from everyone else. I remember I tried to do that and it did not work. I have at this time I I have four kids but they're ages uh 10, 13, 15, and 16 right now, but they were two years apart. So I had littles in diapers for forever. And so I I I knew that if I was going to teach them, even if they didn't couldn't hear me or they or they couldn't understand or they couldn't read, they could watch me. And so um you know, we don't always get it right as moms. We don't always get it right, but we can let them see us pray. We can let them see us talk to the Lord and we can we can show them what he is teaching us and you know watch let them watch us trusting him and watch us taking that step of obedience even when it's hard. So everything that we've been talking about here, those are the things that they can can watch from you because because we don't learn we don't just learn faith from talking about it, right? We learn faith by watching what we by them watching what we do. Even when life isn't isn't what we expected. And sometimes that's just how it goes. And so if they're watching you fail, let them see you asking for forgiveness. Let them see you walking that out. Let them say see you seeing, you know what, I don't know what this is, but the Lord does. And then what do they do in that? And I can tell you that again, I am not perfect at this, but what I have seen through my children is that I can hear them having conversations with their friends about things that they have heard me say, not to them directly, but what they have witnessed and observed in my walk with the Lord, in my relationship, in my putting those perspectives into practice, right? And they are they are talking about these things and sharing them. And so what uh what's the there's a saying that more is caught than taught. That's exactly what your kids need to know is is to let them watch you live out your relationship with the Lord. That is so good. So beautiful. What a wonderful details that you have given us today. Just the practical way to just walk with God step by step. How can the faith mom mentor community connect with you? So the easiest place is going to be perspectives into practice.com. You can also find my podcast anywhere they are they are streaming and we have this beautiful community called the story haven and it's really special to me because it's a place that it's a place that we can we can walk with other women in their in their faith and you can share honest conversations and you can talk about what God is doing in your life right now through it. And you can find that at the storyhaven.net. It's also on Android and iPhone apps which is super fun. That is that is so do not faith mom let this become just another encouraging conversation you hear but never take any action on and never applied. Go ahead and visit that perspectives into practice.com through the link in the description and choose one resource that will help you act on what God is teaching you. One faithful response today can become the beginning of lasting spiritual growth. Jessica, thank you for reminding us that we do not need perfect faith before we begin practicing what God is teaching us. Your next step may feel quiet or small, and your spiritual growth may also take longer than you expected, but I assure you that each faithful act of obedience can strengthen your relationship with God and help your child see what it looks like to walk with him in everyday life. Please share this conversation with your spouse or a trusted mentor and talk together about the next step God may be placing before you. We were never meant to grow alone and honest faithfilled conversations can help you remain steady and consistent. And if one of the biggest obstacles to spending regular time in God's word is an overwhelming schedule, watch my conversation with Chelsea Joe, founder of Systemize Your Life. She shares practical ways to create simple systems that can help you make room for what matters most. I've linked the video for you here on the screen. You do not need to see the entire road before you begin. Take the next faithful step and trust God to meet you there.
