I'll Just Let Myself In

Let A Dead Thing Be Dead - Into Transitions

• Lish Speaks

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Change showed up with its own timeline and dared me to loosen my grip. I thought Atlanta was the plan—family nearby, a ministry role I fought to earn, momentum building, and a life that finally felt settled. Then a work policy shift pulled us back to the Northeast, and I had to face the hardest truth of transition: if I refuse the shift, I choose to stall my destiny. What followed is a story about grief, obedience, and a surprising wave of new opportunities that proved fear can blind you to blessings standing right in front of you.

I go deep on the heart-work behind moving from abundance rather than scarcity, and how “let a dead thing be dead” became a necessary mantra. We talk about supporting a spouse without manipulation, setting down the need to understand before trusting, and why consistency travels—do the last thing God told you to do until He clearly changes the assignment. Along the way, I share the scriptures that steadied my steps: Isaiah 43:19 for rivers in deserts, Jeremiah 29:11 for plans and peace, Romans 8:28 for the slow weave of good, Proverbs 3:5–6 to stop leaning on my logic, and Deuteronomy 31 for courage in the unknown. The theme is simple and stubborn: no transition, no destiny.

If you’re navigating a move, a job change, a breakup, or a new calling, this conversation will help you release what ended, bless who can’t go with you, and walk forward with clear eyes. We unpack practical rhythms for staying grounded—doubling down on the Word, widening context beyond a verse of the day, and measuring fruit instead of familiarity. Favor isn’t tied to a zip code; it’s tied to obedience. Lean in with me, and let’s watch God make straight paths out of roads that looked impossible yesterday.

If this resonated, subscribe, leave a review, and share it with a friend who’s in transition. Then tell me what you’re letting go of—and what new doors you’re ready to walk through.

Send us a text with your thoughts, feedback, or questions for the host!

SPEAKER_01:

If you're going to embrace transition, you gotta let a dead thing be dead. You gotta let a dead thing be dead. When you think you know how your life is supposed to go, when you think you know how things are supposed to work out, when you think you know, it is very humbling when God says, We're gonna do something else. Fear will blind you to the new opportunities in the new space. Because this is the thing. And I don't like it, but it is what it is. I'll just let myself in. It's the podcast, but we don't wait for an imaginary permission slip or some seat at an imaginary table. We let ourselves into our God-given doors. I'm excited because for the first time in a long time, I am doing a solo episode. You guys, you've been on my back. When are we gonna get a solo? We love the guests, we love the guests, but I miss your solo episodes. And you know, your wishes about come in sometime, sometime. Um, and today is the day that I'm doing a solo episode. And, you know, I still have some guest interviews in the can. As you guys know, I do batch records, so I record several episodes um at a time, sometimes three or four a day when we are in a recording uh mode. And so I have some guest episodes in the can, but I really felt the need to do a solo episode uh this week because the truth is I am in a time of transition. So today's episode is gonna be entitled Into Transition. But before we do that, you know I gotta bring you the dopest segment on podcasting, which is called What I'm Stepping In. It's where I tell you what sneakers I have on for the day. If you're new around here, I am a sneakerhead, been a sneakerhead before that was a thing all over the place. Uh love sneakers, love shoes. Today I have on a very popular shoe amongst my compadres, amongst my people. Uh, it's the Nike Tom Sacks, uh, Nike Craft Collaboration that came out several years ago. Uh, I have this shoe in two colorways. Today I'm wearing the yellow and orange colorway. This sneaker is super comfortable. It's really like all purpose, which is in the name. It's something that you wear just to walk around, to be comfortable. I love this shoe because it is simple, but it still makes a statement. I also have it in the brown, which you guys have seen me wear on here before. I'm trying to get the gray, white, and blue colorway. Um, but every pair that I find, I don't want to pay the resale price for. Um today I have on the Nike Tom Sacks general purpose shoe. And you know what we say here. If you like them, go get you some. All right. So today's episode entitled Into Transition is really just, I feel like a diary entry for me. Because I'm in a season where so much has changed so quickly in my life. And so much so that even if I think about January, it feels like two years ago. Like so much has happened that I'm like, that was this year. Wow, that that was also this year. Um, and I'm learning very quickly that if you do not embrace the seasons of transition that God allows you to go through, you'll be stuck and you won't be able to see the benefits of the changes that he's making in your life. So just to give you guys uh some background, if you've been watching for some time, you probably realize I am in a different space. Um, I have moved and we are in transition, even as we speak, moving into a new place. My husband and I moved recently from Atlanta um back to the Northeast. And it is something that when I tell y'all, you know how people say, tell God your plans if you want to make him laugh. Baby, I would have never thought I was leaving Atlanta at all. Like you could not have told me I was leaving Atlanta. Um, and when things started to shift with my husband's work, I've talked about this on another episode. Uh, but if you're new here, things started to shift in my husband's work where they were ending any remote work contracts. And so his job was based in New York, and he moved to Atlanta to propose to and marry me. And so I really thought, well, I'm all, we all sold up, baby. I got my man, I got Atlanta, we ready to buy a house, my family's in Atlanta, uh, the church that I was a minister, full-time minister at, associate minister, excuse me, at in Georgia. I just felt like I'm good. My life is settled. And then one day my husband texts me that, hey, this is what's happening. I don't know exactly how it's gonna affect me. Just pray. And I pray I did. I prayed and prayed and fasted and had other people praying. And the long and short of it is that God said, thank you for your suggestions. Thank you. Thank you for sharing what you want and what you think is best for your life, but I have something else in mind and you will be moving. And so it has been humbling and also very, it's been emotionally, it's been it's been tugging at me. It's even hard for me to find the words, which y'all know, as chatty as I am, I it's very rare that I don't know how to express myself. But this is like that's how much it has been so transformative, you know, of a thing. Because when you think you know how your life is supposed to go, when you think you know how things are supposed to work out, when you think you know, it is very humbling when God says, we're gonna do something else. And the temptation in a season of transition is to worry, it's to give way to fear, and it is often to long for what you're leaving more than you long for where God is taking you. And I just know that I'm not the only person in this season. So I figured I would use what I'm learning, not just to help myself, but to help you guys also. So I recently watched a sermon, and I've watched this sermon, it's such a full circle moment because I watched this sermon when I was transitioning out of my living in New York. I was working for a church and that didn't work out, and I was trying to do my thing in the music industry, and that wasn't working out, and I was struggling, and God was making it very clear that it was time for me to leave New York, but I didn't want to accept that. And I remember watching this sermon then, nine years ago, uh, and it was called The Protocols for Transitions by Pastor Tore Roberts. And I watched the sermon, and so recently I went back and watched it again because I just remembered it being something that helped me to transform my mindset around what was happening in that season. And although this move is completely different, like I moved from New York in duress, honey. Financial distress, emotional distress, um, spiritual distress, you know, struggling with my relationships with people. I felt like people had betrayed me, had turned on me. Uh, I felt like I only had a very few friends, going from somebody who was always surrounded by a bunch of people to realizing who was really in my corner for real. Again, struggling financially, struggling in my health. I moved from New York to Atlanta in that season. Leaving Atlanta to come back to the Northeast, I was in a season of abundance. So it really felt like, Lord, what are you doing? Everything is going excellently. I had just gotten a great promotion. I mean, things were going well so well. And it just felt like, why are you doing this? And the temptation for me was to fear that what he was bringing me to was somehow less than what he was telling me to walk away from. In this sermon, Pastor Toray says a couple of different things, but one of them that really sticks with me or stuck with me was this: if you reject transition, you will be stuck. No transition, no destiny. When I think about the destiny that I believe God has for my life, I don't know all the details, and neither do you, right? None of us know all the details, but I believe it's a beautiful destiny. I believe that God's desire and design for my life is better than anything that I could come up with. So if I believe that, the question for me was why are you struggling so much to walk into said destiny? You can't walk into that destiny if you don't embrace this transition or any transition to come. Because this is the thing. And and and and and I don't like it, but it is what it is. This ain't gonna be my last transition. That's the crazy part. There will be a time where I'm transitioning from this time. And so, man, I'm finally getting my groove. And then God will transition me into some other season. That's the nature of life. That's the nature of progression. That's the nature of a father who loves you, right? If your earthly parents let you stay in the same season, didn't potty train you, and then you 15 still using a potty instead of the toilet. And that's not love. That's actually neglect, right? So God takes us through transitions because that's how you facilitate growth. And I feel very convicted because maybe I'm not, I'm not over it. It's not like I'm not telling you guys from a place of victory. Uh every day I'd be like, now, Lord, I had a lot going on in it, Lena. You know, so I'm telling you from every day, every day I have to correct my thinking when fear and worry comes to remind myself that walking into this destiny requires me to fully embrace this transition so that I can actually see the things that God has for me. Because here's the thing, here's what fear will do fear will blind you to the new opportunities in the new space. You'll be so fearful of what you lost or what you think you lost. You'll be so fearful that things are not gonna be the same or things are not gonna be better that you won't even see all the beautiful things happening in front of you. I moved, and within one month I had interview Charlemagne, Jonathan McReynolds, Angela Rye, Dottie People, in one month of me moving. And some of that happened back in Atlanta. God took me back and forth for opportunities, which let me know, girl, ain't nothing but a plane ride. You can you can get back to them opportunities anytime you want. And more names in one month. God said, ain't nothing, listen, the program is the program, okay? There is nothing for you to fear. But I had to learn, am learning, to embrace the transition so that I would not miss the opportunities. The truth of the matter is, where I'm at right now, God is doing some cool things that were not happening for me in Atlanta. They just weren't. And if I was so bent on looking back, right, and not being able to embrace what is forward, what is for me, if I was so worried about things that I miss, because that's the thing, right? In any state in this country of ours, every weekend there's some conference, some event, some concert, some red carpet, you're not gonna be able to be at all of them anyway. So if I was so worried about everything I was missing back, you know, in Atlanta, I wouldn't be able to see the things that God is doing for me here. And it has been so encouraging, so moving, because what I realized, and I put this on threads a couple of days ago, God is consistent. I just have to be consistent. I have to just do the very things that I was doing in the last season that worked. If he has not told me to stop doing it, because sometimes he tells you to stop doing stuff. Sometime when you go to through a transition, you got to stop doing some things. And that's a thing too. We'll get to that. But the things that I'm doing that that he has continued to allow me to do and encourage me to do, he's showing me, listen, if you do them here, Georgia, Kalamazoo, Nairobi, Kanye, whatever you do them, I'ma show up. You just gotta do your part. And I've been seeing that so much. Um, another thing that Pastor Torrey said is if you're going to embrace transition, you gotta let a dead thing be dead. You gotta let a dead thing be dead. And this for me was more prevalent when I had to actually embrace the idea that we were moving, but we were still in Georgia. You know, there was so, and I've talked about this, but this there were so many people invested in me staying in Georgia. Um, family, church family, friends. People took it really personally that I was moving. And I get it. It was really difficult for me. I felt like I was letting people down. I felt like I was disappointing people. I felt like I was letting my church down. I felt like I was letting the women in my church down. It was hard. It was really, really hard. But once my husband and I made a decision that, hey, this is what we're doing, right? We we explored all the options we could explore. He applied for all the jobs, we prayed, we fast, all the things that I talked about. Once Georgia was a dead thing, it was a dead thing. And I had to really accept that we were moving. I had to accept that the plans that we made for even the rest of this year in Georgia were not happening. I had to accept that we needed to go to another place to look for a place to live. I had to accept that a dead thing was dead. And the thing about it with death is it comes with grief. It doesn't mean you can't grieve. I grieved some of this transition because I understood that I wasn't gonna be as close to my sister and my mom and my brother and my nephews as I wanted to be. I wasn't gonna be in the same role spiritually, which I feel like it was a hard, fought battle to even become an associate minister as a woman in a church that traditionally had never had a woman be an associate minister, had never had a woman preach a sermon. I was the first woman to preach a sermon in that church. Walking away from that felt like, okay. But I had to accept that God said it is time to move forward. And there were things that really helped me to accept these things because I knew that my obedience to God and my trust in his serenity was in the, was in the balance. I knew that the devil was trying, but he's a bald-headed liar, to get me not to trust my father. I knew that the enemy was trying to get me to feel like uh I knew better. And that's a dangerous place to be. When you think you know better, think about it. When a child, a child thinks they know better than their parent, it's a dangerous place. When a teenager thinks they know better than their teachers and their parents and their administrators and their church leaders, it's rough. They usually go through a very rough period because they thought they knew better than the person who actually sees the full picture, who's been there and done that, right? And so I had to really get myself in check and understand that, baby, you you ain't big in the program, okay? The Lord had designed the days of my life before they came to be. While I was in my mother's womb, he knew that I would marry the person that I was gonna marry. He knew that this job would do what it was gonna do. He knew. And he ain't making no mistakes. So what I had to do was get myself in line. And there's only one way for me to do that. Now, I don't know about y'all, but the way that I do that is through the word, it's through the Bible. Because people will tell you all sorts of things about what God is doing, what he's not doing, what you should be doing. And not all the advice is bad. Some people gave me great insight, great advice, but some people also said some things that didn't make no sense. And so, to balance all of that out, because even when people give you great advice, it might not be the advice that you need, right? It may not be what you need to do in the circumstance. And so for me, I had to just go to the word. And there's a couple of scriptures that have really been anchoring me. And so I want to share them with you. I hope that my hope and sharing the scriptures is that we really see the power of trusting God, of listening to God, of resting and surrendering to God in difficult times. The first one is very, very, oh, first of all, all these scriptures, if you are an avid Bible reader, if you're a Christian, these scriptures are not gonna be anything new to you. If you are new to the Bible, I pray that they encourage you and enlighten you in some ways and that you go back and read the full chapters for context because it's just great, great scripture, great word. But the first scripture that I've been holding on to is Isaiah 43, 19. You guys know this. It says, Behold, I am doing a new thing. Now it springs forth. Do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. I did a whole podcast on this. I forgot what episode it is, but I will um link it somewhere. I'll link it in the in the in the description. But this scripture always gets me because it says, I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. Another version says streams in the wasteland, right? This scripture gets me because away in the wilderness, this is completely counter-productive. This counter, um, what's the word I'm looking for? It doesn't make sense, right? Away in the wilderness, there's no way in the wilderness. That's the point. A river in the desert, there's no river in the desert. That's that's the the that's the point of a desert. A desert is dry. Wilderness, there's no way. It's chaos. But God says, no matter what it looks like to you and your humanity, and your limited perception, and then your limited ability to change things, I, God, who has no limits, can make a river in a dry place and a straight path in a chaotic place. And I believe that so intensely in this time because the truth is, I've seen it. Sometimes when God is doing a new thing, we are so busy stressing about what we think needs to happen that we cannot perceive it. We cannot perceive the way that's being made in the wilderness and the river that that's being made in the desert. We we just can't even see it. And so my determination in this season is to see it. My determination in this season is to say, all right, Lord, this ain't what I thought it was gonna be. And this don't look like what I thought it was gonna look like, but that's your favorite place to be. That's the Lord's favorite place. That's that's his place. His place is when you don't think it makes sense. He's like, all right, perfect. Because his ways are so far above our ways, and his thoughts are so far above our thoughts, that there's nothing that we can understand that that he could do anyway, for real. So when we're when I'm in a place where I don't get it, I'm like, okay, you in a good space because you ain't supposed to get it. You ain't supposed to, the the amazing supernatural things that God does, I've never gotten it. Even opportunities that I've gotten that seem so far beyond where I'm at and what I'm doing, it's always baffling when God does a thing. So when if you're baffled right now about what God is doing, let me give you some encouragement. That's a good thing. That means he is moving in a way that won't make sense to you, but makes perfect sense to him. Another scripture that I've grown up reading and that really always gives me the ability to take a deep breath is Jeremiah 29, 11. And it's it's something that if you don't know this scripture, you should commit it to memory. You should commit it, uh, write it on your heart, write it on your mirror, you know, because this scripture for me, it just helps me to calm down. It says, For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Other versions say, plans for welfare and not for evil. I love this scripture because it's nothing like knowing somebody has a plan. You know, um I happen to be married to a man who loves a plan. Loves a plan, loves a spreadsheet, loves it. Okay. I am the least planiness person in the world. I don't got the plan for nothing. What are we doing? I don't know. We'll figure it out. Uh, I'm visiting my sister soon and she keeps asking me, Did you buy your flight? Did you buy your flight? Because I will buy a flight two days before I and I know I'm going somewhere and don't buy the flight until the week of. Just I'm working on it, y'all. I'm getting better. My husband helps. But when he says he has planned something for me, I don't worry about it. I don't think about it. I don't question him on it. I don't ask him a million times because he has proven to me that he has plans. And his plans often, always, so far, it's only been two years, but work out, work out. His plans work out. He has planned even this transition to a T. He has planned this transition where I won't tell y'all my business, but baby, my life and my lifestyle is better than it was in Atlanta. By far. By far. His planning, his planning. So listen, he told me our lifestyle will not, your lifestyle will not change. Unless it's for the better, I will make sure everything that you have, that you will continue to have, you will continue to be able to do that. Planning. His planning allowed for that. So if I could trust this man who is great but is not perfect, who is a sinner, who is a mere mortal, if I could trust him with my life, how dare I not trust God who sent his son Jesus to die for me, who has been looking after me, like I said, since I was being knit together in my mother's womb. How dare I not trust him? Understanding that his plans are to give me hope and a future. I don't care how much planning my husband does for me, he cannot guarantee a hopeful future. Only God can do that. Because God has seen it. He understands what I actually need. He understands what I actually want. To be honest, since coming here, since coming back home, I've realized, oh, there's some things I thought I wanted that I actually did not want. Would have never realized that if I didn't have the time to sit down and say, okay, let's let's really walk this thing out. What do you actually want out of this thing? You know, there's some things that in this time I've been able to sit down and really work through and wrestle through spiritually that I didn't have time to do before because I was just running and doing and doing and doing and doing. God knows what you actually need. So when he starts moving around them pieces on the chessboard, baby, let him move them because you don't know. You don't know the next four moves that the opponent has. God knows. And sometimes he's setting you up to win. He's not sometimes he's always setting you up to win. When we don't win, is when we start trying to take, mm, child, when we start trying to take control of the game, when we start trying to move the pieces, when we start questioning, you know how hard it is to help somebody when they're questioning you every second? Think about it. Have you ever tried to help somebody do something? And if they're questioning you, questioning you at every turn, it's like, listen, do you want to just do it? I I can go. You know, if you're trying to do somebody's hair, my my best friend is a barber, you know, you can't be looking back at the mirror every five seconds when she's cutting your hair. You're gonna get messed up. When you're trying to help a child do something and they keep trying to take things, take it over, it does not go well. Trusting God for me was really taking my hands off of things. And I'll be I'll be gut level honest with you. You know, as a wife, this transition was rough because I knew that if I really wanted to manipulate my husband into staying in Atlanta, I probably could have. But I knew that that was not God's design for a wife. And so there was a level of submission. Now I did share with him my thoughts and feelings and desires. And luckily, gratefully, we were on the same page. We both wanted to stay in Atlanta. So I knew that when that didn't work out, it wasn't for lack of effort on either one of our parts. He did all his due diligence to try to get a new, try to do everything. You know, it wasn't his desire to not be at his job. He loves his job, but he also was building a life in Atlanta. And so I knew that if I made this about me and my family and my job and my this and my that, it would have made this transition extremely difficult for him. It would have made it difficult for him to lead his family, both emotionally, spiritually, and financially, the way that God has ordained for him to do. I had to trust God to even say, your plans, you will change, you will turn this around if you want to turn it around. And if you don't, we will be on our way. And I allowed God to do that. So it allowed this to be a peaceful thing, even in my home. My husband always tells people, he says something like, uh, at no point did I ever feel like Lish wasn't like on my side with this. And I, let me tell you something. There's no, I I take so much pride in not being a burden to my husband. He is already making difficult decisions as an employee, but as a man, as a man of God. I don't want to be because I don't trust God trying to manipulate him every five seconds, asking him unnecessary questions, manipulating unnecessary situations because I don't trust God. Because let me tell you something. Y'all be thinking y'all don't trust your husband. You don't trust God. I know for a fact I could take something to God and God could change something like that. I don't gotta manipulate this man or no other person on earth. I don't gotta manipulate no situation. I don't gotta manipulate no deal. I ain't gotta manipulate no contract because I trust God. And I really did have to employ that trust in my relationship with him in this situation. Another scripture that I love, um, that's really been helping me to just again rest and and find joy in all this. It's my favorite scripture. It's Romans 8.28. And we know that in all things, God works together for the good of those who love him and have been called according to his purpose. This is my favorite scripture. I love this scripture because all things, the big and the small things, right? Like all things, everything that happens to me is working together for my good. See, the thing about me is I'm very sure that I'm called. Very sure that I'm called according to his purpose. Very sure that I listen for the Holy Spirit to lead and guide my life every day, not some days, every day. I pray for wisdom every day, multiple times a day. Almost every time I pray, I ask God for wisdom. So I know that when I'm moving in a certain thing, God is in that thing, whether it makes sense to me or not. And see, that's where we get tripped up because we feel like God is not in the things that we that we don't want. We feel like if the answer is no, then that's not God. No, God can say no. God can say I have something better in mind. And it's up to us to decide that, hey, the all thing, even the thing I don't like, even the thing that hurts my feelings, even the thing that takes me away from something that I love, even the thing that's hard, even the thing that's scary, even the thing I didn't ask for, is still God working together for my good. The humbling thing about that is that my good is not always what I feel good about. My good sometimes is what will give God the most glory, is what will bring God the most glory, is what will magnify his name the most. And let me tell you, it's humbling because we're prideful and we think that our good is the best thing. It's the best look, it's the best opportunity, it's the best fill in the blank. And God says, actually, what's working out for your good is what works out for our greater good. It's been real humbling. It's been real humbling. If you're in a season of transition, I want to encourage you, get in your word. Because the truth is the enemy, your friends, your family, people who love you can get in your head with all sorts of things that don't help you see the manifestation of God's plan for your life in this season. When you're in transition, it's a very delicate time. It's a very delicate time. When people are in transition, they lose wallets, they lose keys, it's easier to get robbed, it's easier to get swindled because you're moving. You're in transition, you're doing something, right? It's easy to get swindled spiritually by the enemy when you're in transition. It's easy when you're in grief, which comes with transition. It's a very vulnerable time. So you gotta be in your word. If you usually read your Bible for five minutes, let's try 15. If you usually read it for an hour, let's try two. If you only read in a scripture of the day on the app, let's try going to that scripture of the day and reading the full chapter for context. That's actually something that the Bible app suggests. It's a you just gotta tap it. You can read full scripture, read full chapter. I encourage you to do that if you're only looking at scripture of the day and you're in a time of transition, because you need more spiritual food in this time. Don't think that you can just get by in a time of transition. Don't think you could just get by on the same old stuff you've been doing. That's how you get got. I'm telling you. I have had to lock in, and I'm a person who really enjoys reading and studying my word and listening to sermons and the deep things of God, so much so that sometimes I don't even like talking to the people of my life about it because I think they think I'm a little weird and I'm going off the deep end. But I enjoy this. It's my thing. And I have doubled down and locked in even deeper because I know that the enemy is trying to get me and I'm just not having it. Um, the last scripture that I'll share, at least I think it's the last, Holy Spirit might lead me into something else. But it is a scripture that I have talked about countless times, and it just moves my heart and puts me right where I belong at the feet of God. And it's Proverbs 3, verse 5. It says, Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding in all your ways, submit to him, and he will make your path straight. I've talked about this scripture so many times, and I always think about it in this context. If you are leaning on something, you are depending on that thing to hold you up. And in a time of transition, the reason a lot of us struggle, trust me, I'm talking to myself too, is because we just can't understand. I just don't understand why I didn't get that job. I just don't understand why this person left me. I just don't understand why we have to move. I just don't understand why. And you are letting the fact that you can't understand why a thing happened rob you of your peace, your stability, and ultimately your trust and relationship with the Father. Bible says do not lean on your own understanding. Do not lean on it. Doesn't mean you can't acknowledge it. Because that's another, see, we go to the in the body of Christ, we like to go to extremes. We like to just ignore all feelings. You can't ignore your feelings. That's why you're jacked up now and need therapy because you've been ignoring ignoring your feelings for 20 years. Ignoring the things you don't understand. Doesn't mean you ignore it, but you don't lean on it, which means you don't need it. I did not need to understand why God said no. You know, and I and I, my husband, maybe you can cut this if you feel like it's too much, but he is very qualified. Very qualified. I cannot understand why he didn't get some of the other jobs. I can understand it. Again, this might get cut. I cannot understand why he needed to come back to New York to do a job he was doing very well at in Atlanta. The job was going very well. He was not doing it poorly. I could not understand why God would allow us to save so aggressively for a house that he knew we weren't gonna be able to buy at the end of this year. I cannot understand why he would allow me to finally be an associate minister at a church and finally get the opportunity to preach on a Sunday just for me to not be at that church anymore. I can understand it. The good news is I didn't need to. I didn't need to understand it to support my husband 1,000%. I didn't need to understand it to have joy. I was joyful in this season, happy, loving, excited even at times. I didn't need to understand it, to trust that God was doing a new thing that would indeed benefit my life. When you need to understand in order to worship, when you need to understand in order to pray, when you need to understand in order to trust God, baby, you're gonna be in trouble. Because his ways are not our ways. His thoughts are not our thoughts. There's no way that you can think you have to understand God in order to be a follower of his in this life. You won't understand everything. You won't understand most things. You know, there's a song that talks about us understanding it better by and by. When the morning comes, there's some questions I'm gonna ask the Lord. Some things I'm gonna ask. And this little transition ain't nothing. As I've talked about this summer, I also lost a friend to cancer. Quick. It happens so quick, y'all. I think about her every day because when I tell you a couple of months ago, we were talking at lunch about the rest of this year. And then boom, by j by uh July, she was gone. I got some questions, but I know I don't understand. And I don't have to understand to still worship God. I don't have to understand to still be obedient to his call. I just don't have to understand. You know, it says, acknowledge him in all your ways and he will make your path straight. Another version says, submit to him and he will make your path straight. I'm seeing that in real time, y'all. If you are in a season of transition, please submit. Submit. Surrender. Put your hands up and say, Lord, have your way. And when I tell you he will make your path straight, things that you felt like, I don't know how I'm gonna do this in this new place, the way I used to do it in this old place, God'll make it make sense. He'll make it work. He'll set you up in the right situations, in the right relationships, in the right church, in the right, he will set you up to win. That's what he's in the business of doing. The whole world is his. You worried about connections? Baby. Ain't nobody more connected than the father. And not only does he have all the connections, he actually knows what those people need, want, and are looking for better than you do, and better than anybody that could connect you to them does. So he could actually put you in the perfect position to fulfill a need for somebody. Somebody, sometime it won't be spirit, sometime it will be spiritual. It won't be financial, it won't be an opportunity. But God will put you in a room with somebody where you will say something, you will smile, you will share something that will help them. And that will be the way that they remember you and want to work with you. He knows, he will make your path straight. You just gotta trust him. You've got to trust him. You know, this season of transition has really taught me that I should steward what God has given me well, but I should not hoard it. These spaces, places, relationships, churches, jobs, they don't belong to us. Every opportunity that God gives us is for his glory. So when he's ready to remove, when he's ready to move, when he's ready to adjust, it would behoove us to just get with the program. Because it was all his plan anyway. Can you imagine if you loan somebody something? Let's say you loan somebody your car, right? And then it's time for you to take your car back, or you allow somebody to stay in your apartment. And then you say, All right, it's time for something different. But not only are you taking something back, you're setting them up for something better. You're saying, all right, time to give my keys back to my car, but I got a better car for you. Or I got a new car for you, or hey, time to give my keys back to my apartment, but hey, I also got a hotel for you to stay in until you get on your feet. Or I also got you, here's a here's a house. That's what God does to us. Not only does He change opportunities and change situations and take things away, he replaces things with something better. How silly would it be for that person to be annoyed with you or frustrated with you? Because one, you're taking back what's yours. Clock that T. But two, you're actually giving them something better. We will look at that person like they're crazy. Sometimes we look crazy. We look crazy not trusting God in a season of transition. God is with you. He knows what you're feeling, he cares what you're feeling, but he cares more that you are leaning on him. Lean not on your own understanding is so important. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. I've talked about this before. What have you ever done with all your heart? Trust in the Lord that way. The way you love that man with all your heart and will do anything for him, even if it ain't good. Trust God that way. You lose something that you really, really need and you tearing your house up looking for it because you can't leave without it. You done done something with all your heart in that moment. Love God that way. Trust God with reckless abandon where it doesn't make sense to others, where others want you to be stressed and questioning and confused and worried, and you're calm because you trust God and you lean not on your own understanding. I hope that this really helps someone. You know, I think that there is so much beauty in transition. There's so much that is to be gained in transition. There's so much that God can use to change your life in a season of transition. If you allow yourself to be changed, if you allow yourself to be carried. Guys, I'm just letting God carry me in this season. Show me different things, show me new people, show me new opportunities, show me new ways of dissecting my faith. Show me new ways of digging deep with him. Show me new ways of worship and fellowship. I'm just letting God carry me. You know, I think about the scripture in Deuteronomy 31. Um, and it says, be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or terrified because of them. For the Lord your God goes with you. He will never leave you or forsake you. This scripture has been getting me through. The Lord your God goes with you. There's no place that I could ever go, be moved to, be transitioned into, that God won't be with me. That enough.

unknown:

That's enough.

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That is enough. You know, I remember as a child, I would never feel afraid when I was with my dad. Just never felt afraid if I was with my dad. If I was with my dad and we were in Brooklyn or Arlem or wherever, I always felt like I'm good. And it's not because he was some raging gangster. He just is a protector. He's a protector. I don't, I don't, I don't feel afraid when I'm with my husband. I don't feel afraid when I'm with my best male friends. You know what I mean? I don't feel afraid because I know that they are with me and that they will do everything in their earthly power to make sure that I'm good. How much more, God? If you're in a season of transition right now, you're tempted to be fearful, you're tempted to be worried, you're tempted to be, Lord, I don't know what's gonna happen. I never thought I would be single again. Here I am. Lord, I never thought I'd have to move back home. Here I am. Lord, I never thought, fill in the blank. I'd have to change churches. I never thought this job that I've given all these years to would find me. You're in a good space because you are in the space to trust God with all your heart. You're in the space to know that you can be strong and courageous and not be terrified because the Lord your God is with you, that He will never leave you or forsake you. You're in a good space. And I'm speaking to myself. I'm in a good space of transition. Things are not exactly as I would have them, you know. There are friendships that I miss. People who I thought would show up for me in this season that have completely let me down, you know? And other people who I didn't really expect who have shown up greatly. These are the things that come with transition. And I've had to learn that no matter who comes or goes, God will never leave me or forsake me. So I hope that this episode encouraged you. If you're in a season of transition, I want to hear from you. Let me know what's going on. Let me know the things that you're learning, the ways that God is speaking to you. Uh, I would definitely love to encourage you personally. So if there's something that I could pray for, please don't hesitate to let me know. You can email us at speakers, S-P-E-A-K-E-R-S at lish speaks.com. Would love to hear from you there. You can always drop a comment under the video on YouTube or even hit me up on Instagram. I'd love to hear from you guys. Listen, I'm letting myself into transition in this season. And the declaration of letting myself into transition is really one where I tell myself, you're not gonna fight this. You're gonna lean all the way into it because God has something great for you in this season of your life. I ask a question to end off the show. And that question is, what do you want your legacy to be? And for me, when it comes to this topic, I want my legacy to be that I went where God wanted me to go. That I did not run ahead of him and that I was not lagging behind him, but that I walked with him into each transitional season of my life. I believe that that is where the oil is. I believe that that is where the power is. I believe that there's a true um grace over people who decide that no matter how difficult it is, they are going to walk with God. And I am determined to be one of those people. I hope this episode helped you and encouraged you. If you're listening on Holy Culture Sirius XM channel 140 at 8 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on a Monday night, we thank you so much for listening there. If you're watching on Holy Culture's YouTube, we thank you so much for watching there. And if you are watching on my YouTube, Lish Speaks, please subscribe. Again, we'd love to hear from you in the comment section. Make sure that you're subscribed and your notification bell is hit so that you can see anytime I upload content. I upload videos like this one. Uh, sometimes they're podcasts, sometimes they're just encouraging videos and things that are going on in my life. And I like to keep you guys uh encouraged and informed. So subscribe, subscribe, subscribe. We'll be back same time, same place next week. I just let myself in with your girlish speaks. Peace.