S2 EP13. What Does God's Voice Sound Like? ft. Ashley Hetherington 57:12

Hello, everybody. Welcome to another episode of Christ with Coffee on Ice. I am your host, Allie Yost, and this week's episode is so exciting because I have another friend with me. We have another Ashley, y'all. We have Ashley Hetherington here. Yay!

I'm freaking out. I'm so excited to have you. I feel like half of my listeners have to know who Ashley is. And if you don't, I've brought you up at least like a million times on the podcast already. I talk about you all the time. I'm just so grateful. I'm going to cry. This is one of my most incredible friends that I've made here in Nashville. And she's like so unbelievably inspiring. If you guys don't follow her, you need to follow her. But Ash, do you want to just introduce yourself and tell everybody who you are and what you do? Stop. Like I'm already crying.

That just like made me so emotional. That's what we do here too. We can get emo here. I love you so much. It's just wild being here with Allie because I mean, we were just connecting like a couple months ago and then to be here and to have experienced like so much life in the last couple months.

Like crazy. God has just blown our minds and we're so excited to share like what God's been doing. Like he has been going to another level with us. Like he has been taking us deeper in friendship. He has been like providing the sweetest community in Nashville. Like the amount of times I just leave hanging out with us as a group, I'm like. Every time in the group chat. That was the best night of my life. And I'm like, we did nothing. We did nothing. We did nothing.

We have this thing that we do. We just have like movie nights and half the time we don't even really watch the movie. We just talk through the

It's so fun. It's so much fun. So I didn't even answer your question, but I just am so grateful to be here and to just share what God's been doing in our lives. But my name is Ashley. I'm so grateful to be here with y'all. I am a author. I'm a content creator. I'm on YouTube. And I literally love this sister so much. And I love Jesus. We're so excited to talk about the Lord. Yeah, we are. We are so excited to talk about the Lord.

talk about Jesus but it is actually crazy because I feel like all that we've done in the last couple months I'm like wait we've only actually been friends for a few months it feels like it's low-key been years yeah like it actually feels like just how much the Lord has done for us in our friendship and just all the things that we've stayed busy with like we're doing something like every day and it's just so much fun it's really fun yeah so I think that the biggest thing obviously Ashley led with that she said she's an author so Ash will you tell us about something really exciting that's happening for you in the next couple months

No, next month. Literally next month. Next month, I am writing, well, this is my second book, but my first published book I'm so excited to share with you guys. It's all about waiting on God's timing. So if you're in a waiting season, I'm going to raise my hand because I'm in a waiting season. I'm still in a waiting season, but we're going to learn how to trust God in a waiting season. We're not going to be just surviving. We're not going to be just surviving.

on God. We're going to be thriving. Okay. I love that. And the book is called The Joy of the Inbetween. It'll be out March 26. If it's already out right now, you better get it. What are you doing? And I'm so excited. So excited.

Okay, wait, I love that. So I think that if a single person did not raise their hand when they said that they, when Ashley had said who's in a waiting period, I feel like you could be lying. Because if you really think about it, I feel like there's just, there cannot be one single person that's walking this planet that's not going through a waiting season. Mm-hmm.

Or isn't waiting on something. Like we're waiting on a phone call. We're waiting on a relationship. We're waiting on an opportunity. We're waiting for finances. We're waiting for, you know, those test results. Like whatever it is, like we're all waiting for something. And so I think that's what makes your, what you're doing so awesome because I find it hard to believe that anyone could read that and not relate to that. You know, like we're all,

currently waiting on something or we've waited for something and the Lord has come through for us like he always will but waiting is like a true testimony and test of our faith you know I think that waiting in anything is what strengthens our faith what do you think Ash well I agree I I think it's the biggest test of faith because like what is faith without it like

Yes, exactly. You get this picture from God, vision from God, maybe a word from God, maybe you get a prophetic word that's just like continually repeated, right? And what your current circumstance looks like looks nothing like that. Yeah. And you can just look at that and go, okay, Lord, I know you want me to believe you for the impossible. I know your word says if I have a tiny mustard seed of faith, you can make it happen. Right. But this looks it.

literally like it's never going to happen. Or maybe like that's the area that the enemy has attacked you in the most is the area that God is actually challenging you to believe him for, but you've just been knocked out.

down and disappointed but if you believe in that space if you believe god there i am telling you mountains will move like i've seen it in my own life yeah have you yeah absolutely i think that sometimes though it feels like i don't know it feels like you're like i don't even want to like face these mountains though i don't want to tell these mountains to move lord like just do it for me like sometimes it just gets really discouraging because you feel like you have to find the faith you

in god in those waiting seasons on your own does that make sense like sometimes when you're in a waiting season you're like i just gotta trust in my god and i just gotta muster up this trust and this this like this faith that i have in god wait this is a word but honestly i think the biggest thing that the lord has taught me in waiting seasons because i'm currently in one we're all in a waiting season of one font or another is asking him for that faith yeah like there is nothing that we can't like get

on our own without him. So if you're lacking having faith, if you're lacking having patience in the Lord, where you're like, you know what? The Lord actually deserves a lot more faith from me right now and I can't give it to him. Ask him for it and he will provide you that faith, you know? Like I think too many times we're in this waiting season, we're like, you just gotta like be the one to have the faith, right? And it's like, of course, we need to be the ones to have the faith, but we also have to ask our Father for that faith,

which is then going to strengthen our faith even more to have that patience with him and continue to be in that waiting period to the point where I don't want to say that the waiting gets easier, but it does, you know? And then you're almost like, you're not obsessing over it as much. You're not thinking about it as much because you have that faith and that comfort. Like,

that faith also comes hand in hand with peace and you get this sense of peace where you're just like, you know what? I know that he's got it. So I'm just going to continue to wait. I'm going to continue to enjoy all these other aspects of my life that are so fruitful. Like, can we also acknowledge that, that we might be waiting in this one season and it's really, you know, it's easy for us to kind of like just focus on that.

But then we forget about all the fruit that we just talked about this. Like we're literally in a garden full of all these other fruits. Like we're sitting here waiting for this pear tree to sprout. But then you got your strawberries. You got your kiwis. You got your watermelons. You've got your lemons. You've got your freaking avocados fruit. Yeah. Yes. Correct. Tomatoes. Avocados. Whatever.

All of it over here. You have avocados there for sure. And they're there, okay? But it's like, it's so real, you know? It's just like finding that faith. But if you don't have it, ask the Lord for more. Like one of the coolest things that Ashley Jones did for me one time was like, I don't know what we were talking about, but I was like talking about how I wish that I had something, whatever. Maybe it was a gift. Maybe it was a certain amount of faith, whatever. And she was like,

you can pray for that. And like, why is it so hard for us to remember that you can actually just pray for it? Like, think your heart desires. It says it in the Bible, the Lord will give you. If you just have faith and you ask him for it, he'll deliver. And that's a promise. It's in black and white and red sometimes in the Bible saying, like, ask for it and I will give it to you. Amen.

not always look like the way that you want it. That could go for timing. That could even be the way it looks. Let's say we all have this like image in our head of what we think our husband is even going to look like. And sometimes the Lord is like plot twist. He actually looks like this. Like you never know, you know? And so I don't think- He's actually cuter. Yeah. That's my God. Yeah, that's God. He's cuter.

you thought please no but it's so true I think that sometimes you know obviously the Lord promised us but he didn't promise us that it would be on our terms it has to be on his terms and so I just love that like if you feel like you're lacking in whatever it is but especially a season of waiting whatever it is that you feel like you're lacking in

you can ask the Lord for that, you know? If you're, like, in a feeling of, and this is sent straight from the enemy, is, like, eagerness, like, that, like, it needs to happen right now. When we feel that, that is straight from the pits of hell. Like, that is the enemy wanting us to be in a rush about everything. One, so that we never really truly get to experience, like, life where we're at, you know? And I think that whenever we're in a rush for things...

I mean, even when you're like rushing your mornings, don't you kind of wish like, okay, I really should have given myself more time. One, it would have saved me from the stress. But two, I would have been able to actually enjoy my morning. You know what I mean? Like anytime that you think that you were in a rush about something, were you loving it? Were you thriving in that? We thrive in rushing, you know? And the enemy knows that and he puts it in this cute little bow promising us that, you know, if we rush or we get it right now, we'll be happier. But what God knows is that there needs to be so much growth in us. Like we think we're also ready for these things. Yeah.

And then you turn around and you're like, Lord, you were right. Okay, maybe my heart needed to grow a little bit in that aspect or another, you know? Yes. And it's just like, he just knows best. And I know that we all know that, but sometimes we need that reminder of like, he truly knows best. And he doesn't like to see us hurt.

hurting you know like if we're in this season of waiting and we're hurting and we're like lord I'm like I'm in pain like I need this thing you know why haven't you given it to me but he doesn't thrive in that like the lord wants the best for us so if anything we need to see all of it as love like it's love the waiting is love because it's for our best you know okay ash I've been talking long enough how do you feel what do you think well one I want to go back to when you said that we can ask god for

for faith um because that made me think about how i think it's in when gyrus gyrus is i forget which gospel it's in but gyrus this man's um he's a dad and his daughter dies i think it might actually be in why am i thinking john why am i thinking i think it's john let's see mark

Okay, fam. And Matthew. Yes. So Matthew and Mark, Jairus has a daughter and his daughter dies. And basically he is very upset because his daughter is literally dead. And he goes and he gets Jesus and he asked Jesus to heal his daughter. And in the midst of all of that,

I think he asked. Does he ask? Well, so how it happened was it was when, and I literally only know it like this because obviously I read it in the Bible, but I also saw it in the chosen. Oh, bless the Lord. Yes. Okay. So she was dying and his only hope was Jesus. Cause he had heard that Jesus had performed all these other miracles. Right? So he goes out of his way. He goes and finds Jesus. He says, Jesus, my daughter is dying. She's 12 years old. She's literally going to die. I need you. Right. And on his way,

to gyrus's house was the woman who touched his cloak in the crowd right so jesus was like pushing through this like all his disciples were helping him get through this crowd he ends up healing this woman because this woman taught the woman that was bleeding for 12 years so then he heals her right but in that time of that happening gyrus's daughter had died so then when jesus went back sorry i didn't mean to overpower you here no no when jesus went back to gyrus's house

everyone was like, you might as well just turn around, Jesus. Like, sorry, but you're too late. Yes. Right? Yes. Like, she already died. If you had come here sooner, this wouldn't have happened, right? Yes. No, you're absolutely right. Yes, that did happen. And that can be such a testimony to us, too, where we're like, Jesus, you're too late. Yes. It's like, he's Jesus. It ain't too late for him. Well, and I kind of did mess this up. So it wasn't Jairus and the daughter. I'm really glad I looked this up. I don't know.

Praise God. That's just so real. You need to just go back to the source. You can always just look it up, fam. So there was a father of a boy who was under a spirit. He was possessed. Yeah, he was possessed by an impure spirit. And this is what happened. This is Mark 9, fam.

And verse 20, it says, so they brought him when the spirit saw Jesus and immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around foaming at the mouth. Jesus asked the boy's father, how long has he been like this? From childhood, he answered, it is often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.

And verse 23 says, if you can, said Jesus, everything is possible for the one who believes. Verse 24 says, immediately the boy's father exclaimed, I do believe. Help me overcome my unbelief. So when you were talking about

like how he can pray. It is so beautiful that we see that in scripture too. Like this dad has had his son be going through it. He's probably lost complete faith that Jesus could, that anything could be healed, that this could be out of his son. And he goes, Lord, I believe, but help my unbelief. So there can be so many things in our own life where it's like,

We're like, God, I believe. Like, God, I believe. God, I believe. But can you help me believe? Like, send a word of encouragement. Like, you're allowed to pray and ask those things. God, encourage me through my time with you. Give me a word of encouragement. Give me a sign. You're allowed to ask God for a sign. Yeah. Like, you're allowed to do all of this. And he could, like, operate through another person. Like, that could be a simple phone call where somebody calls you and they're like, hey.

I just like had you on my heart for a second you know what I mean and that's why I think it's so cool like have people that are in your community who also love Jesus like it's it is wild like some of the conversations we'll have are confirmations like times where you've come to me and you're like hey I don't know why I'm feeling this but I feel like the Lord's told me to tell you this and I'm like that's just crazy but like those are signs you know those are maybe we're not looking for angel numbers but like the Lord can speak to you through other people other things like

So I think that that's really important too is like you don't have to feel guilty if you need a sign or if you need help in your faith from the Lord you know like obviously does he deserve better from us for sure for sure he does and sometimes I feel like we get that guilt you know to where you're like I should believe in him so much more than this but I'm having a really hard time but he knows that.

Like he knows that you're gonna, like you're not always gonna have the biggest faith and that's okay. That's what he's there for. To like help provide that faith. Yeah. Yeah. Amen. Just being honest. Being honest with the Lord. Saying God I don't believe. Be honest with him. God I'm upset. God I'm disappointed. The amount of times I've been on my bathroom floor. I'm frustrated with you.

Yeah. Crying. Yeah. Because I'm like, Lord, I thought the waiting would be over. I thought you would deliver on this promise that I know you said. Yeah. And you're just like unwell. Yeah. But why do so many of us feel like we cannot come to God like that?

What religious spirit are we under? We don't believe that we can come to God as we are. Like completely real. Like he's our dad. Like dad, I am upset. Dad, I don't understand. Like that's a relation. That's a real relationship. Yeah.

Like there's that like actual intimacy when you've allowed him, well, he's going to see every part of you because he does anyway. And that's what kind of makes it silly sometimes too when we feel like we got to come to God as like this version where I think it really just comes from like wanting to respect him, obviously. Like you don't want to like,

You don't want to go to God and be like, God, I'm PO'd at you a little bit. Like, I'm actually, like, really frustrated with what you're doing. I know it's got to be for my good, but I'm frustrated right now. You know? Like, that feels like it could be a form of disrespect. But if anything, I think that that is a real intimate relationship, though. Like, anything that you're feeling, especially, you know, whether it's your earthly parents or your best friends or whatever, if there's anything that you feel frustrated about with

with anyone, I think the healthiest thing to do is to express that frustration. You don't keep it bottled up and you don't show up to those relationships as like this version that you think they need you to show up as because that's just not real, you know? And also I think that eventually that would catch up to you, you know, where maybe one day you just freaking explode and you don't know where it's coming from.

from and then you realize it's because you haven't been honest and real with the lord or you haven't felt his presence in a long time actually let's take it there maybe you haven't felt like you felt him in the room in a long time it's like well when was the last time that you were actually truly vulnerable with the lord when was the last time that you actually showed up and you said you know what god this is actually how i'm feeling you know because the thing is like you

He sees it. He knows it. Even if you come to him and you're like, I'm grateful, God. No, it's fine. I'm good. No, like, I'm good. I love you and I know you're good. He's like, babe. He's like, I love the effort. But I'm literally... He's like, so what's really going... But it's kind of like if you have that friend or like maybe you're dating someone and they're like... You can see it. You're like, hey, so how are you? And they're like, fine. I'm good. And it's just like...

God is good. Life is good. You just lie to me. And you almost have to be like, okay, so tell me what's really happening. And then that's so real. We do the same thing with the Lord. We do. We're like, it's fine. Like, I'm really okay. And he's like, he's like, bless her heart.

funny. I think we forget how well he knows us. How personable he is, man. And he's not afraid of our emotions. He's not afraid of our disappointment or our grief or our crying on the bathroom floor. You invite, invite God into that. Cause if you don't, I think if we don't invite the Lord into those moments, we actually get more distant from him. Yep.

If you do not bring God into those moments of disappointment, he's actually pushed away more. Yeah. You are pushing him away in that. Yeah. Whether you realize it or not. Whoa. You're pushing him away. And also, I think that might even push away your promises a little further. Not saying that the promises aren't there, but he might be like, she's not ready. I need her to be in a place where...

Or he. I need them to be in a place. Where they feel like. They finally. Have given over. Every freaking emotion to me. And trusted him. And trusting me. Yes. In it. There is no way. The Lord is going to bless you. With that thing. Or that one. Promise. That you.

It's still a promise, y'all. He's not taking it back. He's not like revoking you from it. But he's definitely not going to bless you with that promise while you're in the midst of not truly fully having faith in him. Because what does that like subconsciously tell us? That it's okay. That we don't have to have full faith and he'll still deliver, you know? It's like the only agreement that the Lord needs with us is I just need your faith.

And I will deliver, you know? So if you're not, if you're not giving him that, he's not going to like reward that. Does that make sense? You know, like I think that, yeah, it's just like, it doesn't, it wouldn't make sense for him to like grant us that blessing while we're still kind of hanging on to these emotions and these feelings or these moments or these things, you know? Yeah. Bitterness. Yeah.

Grief, like, which are all real. He can't fully heal you if you keep those things to yourself. Yeah. No, it's true. It's like what we went to last night with, I don't remember his name, that freaking incredible pastor last night. Something Phillips? What's his name?

It's a unique first name, I think. Lyle. Lyle. Lyle Phillip? The legacy pastor. Bro. Lyle. He's incredible. Yeah, he's great. I hope he has a podcast. Does he have a podcast? He should. He should. He's amazing. He was on fire. But literally, like, I mean, even what you were saying, like, all to move the mountain, to move a mountain. Mm-hmm.

Jesus says, I need a tiny mustard seed of faith. I don't need. Even when it doesn't feel like that's enough. Yeah. It's like, how big is a tiny mustard seed? It's literally the size of a, no, dude, it's literally, yeah, smaller actually. Get a magnifying glass. Like what? It's literally the size of like a, um, what are they called? On hot dog buns. Not hot dog buns. Burger buns. Sesame seed. Dude, they're that big. Do you also know how big, I've talked about this on the podcast already. Do you know how big a tree can grow from the mustard seed? Yeah.

Tell me. Ash, give me the rundown. So from a tiny little mustard seed, okay? We're talking sesame seed, babe. A 40 to 50 foot tree can grow from a mustard seed. Is the Lord not strategic? He said, give me the smallest seed ever and I'll make the biggest thing to come out of it. Wow. 40 to 50 foot tree is what they can grow to be. And their branches can come out to a span of 20 feet around. From a freaking mustard seed. From a sesame seed on a burger. Yeah.

that's the one thing i think about but okay god bro and it's and it's nice because it's like all right you might have like no faith you might have been you might be like what do i do with this mustard seed i have no faith enough but even you having a little yeah just a little that's all he needs that's all he needs to move the mountain that's all he needs to grow the tree yeah and so i think like we could talk also about like how to have even a little yeah how do you do like how do you have even a little faith i like that ash how do you have a little bit of faith

Because there could be people that are listening right now where they're like, I actually don't have any more. Like, I have none. I'm out. I'm out. Right.

I want to say I totally get it. Like. We've all been there. It is hard. Yeah. Like when God gives you a crazy big vision. Can we just say that following the Lord is hard? It's so hard. I like had that moment with him. Sorry. Sidetracking for just a minute. I had that moment with the Lord like yesterday where I was like, you know what? I think I saw something online where somebody was like people who follow God. What do they say there? They were like, it's just an easy way out because it's like, oh, you just put everything on the Lord. I'm like, excuse me. It is.

It's so hard. I actually believe that if you can follow Jesus, you are one of the few strong people of this world. Like believing in Jesus and following him and being patient with him and being obedient to him and going against your flesh and going against what your heart wants. You can't go for what your heart wants because even what pastor had said last night, he goes, yeah, people are following their hearts right to hell. I said, but it's true. It's literally true. It is so hard.

to go against everything that you want, like your flesh and your spirit, just literally being at war every day. It is so hard to follow the Lord. So also there is no guilt in feeling like, why can't I have faith in God right now? Like I literally have none, you know? Because it's hard.

It's not easy. Well, and people have more faith in what they can do in the work of their own hands because what's crazy is you are trusting your future to a God you can't see. You haven't physically seen him. You don't see him. Nope. That's crazy. Like, you're trusting God to bring you a job. You're trusting God to bring you a job. No.

You've never seen God and you are believing that he is going to do it because you've been praying. You have a vision from the Lord about this, this job that he's going to put you in and he's going to do it. You're going to apply for the application. You're going to, you're going to apply for the, you know, the jobs. You're going to do what you can, but you are ultimately literally trusting God with this. And you're also saying no. Yeah.

To things that aren't the vision. Like it is. Let's just talk about this for a second. The fact that God, he gives us these visions. He gives us these random dreams. Like we all know it. Everyone listening to me, you have a dream that's crazy random and it's different. It is different than your friends. It's different. It's big. Yeah. And it's from the Lord. And you don't have to just wait and believe God is going to do it. I actually don't blame people who like don't get it.

to look at that and be like, geez, nuts. Like crazy. Like you are insane that you believe that God is going to do this thing. He's going to fulfill his promise. Like every character in the Bible was like that where they got this dream from God and then they're set into a waiting season. I don't know who I was talking about Moses with lately, but like even Moses, bro, he literally was building. What age was he? Like 70. He's like this old man. I think he was old. Wait, I should Bible check that. Was he old?

don't call me y'all don't call me um but like how did it take him to build that ark and it was oh wait noah building yes noah can you imagine yeah noah building an ark let's talk about it let's talk about it noah built a gigantist ark imagine his neighbors walking their dog and going by and being like in the middle of like totally fine like everything's fine no like there's no water for miles like what do you mean there's gonna be a flood we haven't even seen water

That's having faith in the Lord. But like sometimes it looks, actually every single believer will just look crazy to the world. There is no avoiding that. So if you've also been struggling with this feeling of like, I don't want people to think I'm crazy or I don't want to like, I don't know. I don't want to be another one of those crazy Christians. Well, newsflash, if you're a Christian, you're just going to look crazy. What?

it's just a part of the freaking job. Maybe we just look crazy. Okay. Because if you've never felt the Holy Spirit, the thing is about the Lord is that it's so true. It's not a sight thing. It's a feeling thing, you know? Yeah. And Ashley Jones was even talking to me about how she was speaking to somebody about how the Lord, you know, works. And she was like, do you have to see the wind to know that it exists? No. Well, then how can you say that the wind exists? Because of the effect

the effect that it has on things, right? You think about like tornadoes and stuff. Can you physically see the wind? No, but you can see the effect that it has. You can see the way that it moves things. You can feel it on your skin, you know? So that's like the best way to describe who God is, is that we don't see him, but we see the effects that he has in our life. Oh, we've seen the way he's moved in our life. We've seen how he's gone and

Like that's who he is, you know? But yeah, I think to somebody who hasn't experienced that or felt it or allowed Jesus to show himself to them, it sounds crazy. You'd be like, yeah, I'm just going to have faith. Like the fact that I moved out here to Nashville and people are like, why did you move out to Nashville? And I'm like, yeah, I just felt it from the Lord. Like you literally...

crazy Allie you sound insane you sound nuts being just like I don't know the Lord just told me to come here and sometimes when you hear a word from the Lord you don't even really know all of it yet

You don't even really know all of it yet. He's just saying, I just need you to trust me with this. Okay. And then that's what I want to, we need to talk about. How do you hear a word from the Lord? Oh my gosh. I get that on my social media all the time. I bet you do too. People say, or the biggest one is, I love it. I love it too. Let's talk about it. Like it's not a mystery. How do you hear a word from the Lord or how do you know that it's God or it's just yourself? I get that all the time. And honestly, y'all like I, for real, sometimes I love it. Is that me? Like,

I have several ways that I discern. Okay, tell. One is through prayer. I will pray and I'll ask God for confirmation. And he will literally give it to me. I'm not even kidding you guys. There's been so many times where like, and God knows how to reach you. God knows how to speak to you. So it could be you seeing a billboard. It could be you watching a movie and there's that like same kind of theme coming up. You're watching a sermon. It doesn't even need to be you in your Bible that God speaks to you. It can actually be

through a conversation with a friend. Because all of this is his, by the way. So he can do whatever. He breathes through everything. Yeah. But also, especially through his words. So, but that's one thing. Like, he just brings confirmation as I pray and I say, God, like, I put Gideon, it's like Gideon the fleece. Like, he, like, puts the fleece out. He's like, all right, I pray that there's going to be rain. Like, I just am like, God, if this is from you, please confirm it.

fasting really expedites that process. If y'all have ever done prayer plus fasting, you will know if something is from God because he will, just by his Holy Spirit, he will encourage you. But I think also just praying, like being alone with the Lord and just like, honestly, like being in a state of just like,

meditating on God, asking him to just come and meet you there, asking the Lord to clear any of your own thoughts, any of the devil's thoughts, like entering into his, his presence, which is like nothing. Be like, God, I pray that you would speak. Um,

And then quieting your mind and listening and seeing what comes up, what's coming up, what ideas are coming up, what thoughts are coming up. Are there any scriptures coming up? Like, and then it's just you having faith. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. What would you say? Is that, is that like, that makes sense? Yeah, it's good sister. I think the biggest thing is just quieting. Like you said, like truly just quieting the noise. And if you're having a hard time doing that, ask the Lord to

to do it. What? That's another thing. Like, that's kind of like what I was saying before where it's like, oh, I just can't give him the faith. Ask him for it. I can't turn off the noise. Ask him to do it. Like, he will turn off the noise. If you're sitting in your quiet space and you're just like, I cannot keep my mind from going this way and the next and the... Ask him. Ask him and he will stop it. You know what I mean? Like...

So I think quieting the noise. And if you can't do it, ask the Lord to quiet the noise and he will do it. Like he wants you in that quiet space with him, right? So ask him to quiet the noise. But I think that's the biggest thing is being like, Lord,

confirm if this is from you or honestly if like let's say there's certain people or opportunities that have come into your life and you're like is this from you god yeah i don't know circumstances that's so good like if you hear a word from god and then like a circumstance comes up like was that you it's like wow maybe that literally was because something we also have to remember is that the enemy loves to mimic the lord everything he operates in is mimicking and off-branding god so

If you're saying a prayer out loud, I actually just learned this also through Ashley Jones. Is this another Ashley Jones episode? She's awesome. But she had said on her TikTok that obviously Satan can hear everything we say out loud, but he can't read your thoughts. Like he can't hear your prayers in your head. He can send things into your mind, but he can't be in your head. Right. So I think that obviously it's important to pray to God out loud. I actually find it

the most powerful to pray to the Lord out loud. But if you want something to kind of be on the low between you and the Lord, you can pray in your head and Satan can't reach it. But let's say that you do pray something out loud to the Lord. I just prefer to talk to God out loud. So Satan's gonna hear it. I'm an external processor. And also it's good for Satan to hear. Satan hears all my thoughts, prayers, struggles. As he should, because it literally, all I can see is like the Wicked Witch of the West where she gets water on her and she sizzles away. That is how I think

Like, prayer affects Satan. So he needs to hear all our prayers. He hates when we pray. But he needs to hear it. Like, honestly... He needs to hear it. He needs to hear it. And especially when he hates when we use the word of God. Yeah. Out loud. Say it out loud, y'all. It's like a sword. Say it out loud. He hates it. I love it. I love it. So if you're praying and you're reading scripture and you're saying scripture out loud over your situation... He can't stand to be in the... I mean, by... By double. No, he can't stand to be there. He's literally like...

No, it's literally like wicked. That's a vision from the Lord. That's just what I always get in my head. No, it's literally like shrieking. It burns his skin. Yes. Like it literally burns his skin to hear it. So I also don't say that for people to be like, oh gosh, I should never pray out loud then. No.

What is he going to do about your prayers? He's not going to do anything. The only thing he can try to do is convince you by sending maybe something into your life, right? So he hears your prayers. Let's say you're like, Lord, I really want a really wonderful, faithful bestie, right? And then all of a sudden you get this person in your life and it all looks great and it feels like it's pretty good, but you aren't totally sure if it's sent from the Lord or it could be a decoy sent into your life by the enemy because he also knows the desires of your heart, especially if you're speaking out loud to the Lord. So...

The only thing that you can really do, and it's so cool, and it's so easy, is say, "Hey, Lauren, if this isn't from you, reveal it.

oh, remove it from my life. God, if this was not sent into my life by you, take it out because he has the power to do that. He has the power to do that. Any decoy that could be sent into your life by the enemy, the Lord has more power to take it out. So don't be afraid that if, you know, because the enemy knows the desires of our hearts, because he knows these things, he knows our relationship with the Lord because we speak it out loud and, you know, he has to hear it all the time is not anything to be afraid of because God can remove anything from your life that's not. You have to ask him though.

Yeah. You gotta say God double portion. Please. On this one.

remove this man's if he's not the best for me. Or feelings. I've even asked the Lord. I feel like with dating, that's huge. Like you're praying for your future spouse and then this man comes in, he looks very promising and you're like... So does the enemy. I was just praying about this. And then it's not the real thing. But the only way to discern that is praying for the discernment and asking that that person would be removed. I just think there is no...

in bringing every single thing to God. Literally every single thing. What are you struggling with in this moment? Ask the Lord. Like, literally bring every single thing to God. Why not? Like, it's not too much for him to handle. That's for sure. If you're struggling with, like, anything.

anything y'all i don't even know like anything motivation that day you're feeling fatigued like ask the lord to speak to you and reveal to you what you need in that moment maybe it's just him maybe it's just being in the presence of the lord but like ask like in everything everything everything because that's how much he cares you know oh it's so real it's so real so how to have a little faith

Just ask God for it and be in the presence of the Lord, you know? And I think that even goes for just strengthening your faith. And wait, is that on another level? Hearing God's voice, did you feel like...

Is there anything I missed with that? So the only other thing I would say, how do I hear God's voice? I feel like I hear his voice the most though. I don't always, I don't know. I hear him all the time, which is so fun. But like, again, I feel like that happens the more you just strengthen your relationship with him. Like the more time that you spend with him, the more you just hear him and everything. Like even while I was going on my run and my walk, I was like, Lord, I can't do it. I'm really, right. I haven't worked out in like three months. God, I'm struggling so bad.

felt jesus say don't push yourself too hard but also if you want to you can run more right now like i literally hear him in my head all the time where he's like listen i know you feel like you're gonna collapse right now but you're also young and you're more equipped than you think you could run for a couple more minutes and then i'm like are you sure like it's literally he's literally such a dad and i

And I love it. And so it's... Especially when you hear that fatherly voice, like fatherly wisdom, that's the Lord. Yeah, it is. And I can't describe it like in any other way other than it's just peace. Like when you hear from him and when he's in your head and you hear him talking to you and you're like in your head having a conversation with the Lord. It's like it just is peace. Like you don't feel anxious about it, you know? Yeah.

Like, how do you know if it's God's voice or if it's just you talking to yourself? Sometimes I'll ask God. I'll be like, God, is this just me? And then immediately, immediately I'll hear a, no. No, chill. Jesus. He'll be like, is this just me talking to myself right now? And he's like, no.

though like the amount because you can hear it's like oh get a word from god like god will speak to you it's like no sometimes you literally just don't know though sometimes or sometimes you do know low-key and you're just like i don't know sometimes i freak myself out and i'm like sometimes if it's a crazy thought or a crazy word it's like oh that requires insane faith you're like oh

okay, that has to be my thought. I must be just losing my mind right now. But then you keep praying it. What I'll do is I'll pray into it more and I'll just like meditate on that more like with the Lord and it won't go away. Yeah. I'm like, oh. And then not only a night where I'm doing that, it's like, oh no, the next week it didn't go away. Right. Oh, the next month it didn't go away. I have something on my heart that I've told you about that I won't reveal on here. Yeah. But there's been something that God planted a seed of faith for it in September. Yeah.

my sisters who are listening and brothers in September and I said Lord that's crazy that's crazy it's been five months but it's never gone away God has literally like he's just watered the seed he's like no you're good this is gonna happen yeah and I think it's really I just learned how to pray for this too like let's say you have certain feelings about a dream or a thing or a person or whatever and you're like is this just me like am I just doing this right now like is this just a

feel like I know that I'm supposed to have this dream but like are these feelings even real like I think also like being like hey God remove this like whatever desires that are not aligned with what you want in my life like remove that from my heart in the name of Jesus and if it still doesn't go away like you said like that dream or whatever is on your heart this is probably from the Lord then because it's that easy for him to remove it and I've asked him to remove certain desires of my heart certain temptations whatever and it is like he said okay I just needed you to give me the okay I got you and I

I no longer desire it anymore.

Like certain conversations, certain people from my past that I always was like, I just can't get rid of it. I can't stop talking to this person. And I know that it's no good, right? You know exactly what I'm talking about. Because I prayed it to the Lord and I fully surrendered it. And I said, you know what, Lord? I know that you don't want this for me. I know that these feelings can't be good for me. Lord, I give it to you. Take it out. Like I never actually fully asked the Lord to remove that desire from my heart to begin with. Instead of being like, God, take this thing out.

It's also like, actually, I need you to just remove everything that's attaching me to that thing. Yes, yes. And he'll do it. Yeah. But if he doesn't, then it's serving a purpose. Then there's a reason it's there. Yeah. You know? Amen. But that's like such a good way. Like, that's what I mean when I say bring literally everything.

Every single little thing that you can think of, even if it's a feeling, even if it's a dream, even if it's an inkling, like bring every single thing to him because we are unsure if sometimes it's sent from the Lord because we realize that we have our own selfish desires or we have our own kind of things that may not always align with what the Lord has for us. And we also have the things that Satan tries to send into our hearts too or into our minds. And so it's really important to bring every little thing

to the Lord because he will sort it out and if it stays then it's from him if it leaves it's not from the Lord yeah he's so good yeah he's so good and he'll do it he cares that much it's not too much no you're not too needy no there's nothing too small for him no there's nothing too big for him he'll

He'll do it because he cares that much. Yeah. Yeah. And also I feel like sometimes we're like, oh, he can't nearly handle all. Don't put him in that box. Yeah, he can. He knew exactly what he was getting into when he made you. Yes, he can. He can deal with every little feeling and every little thing that you're going through in your day because he's God. Because he's God. Well, and if something stays, it reminds me of the scripture in John 15 where it talks about abiding. Mm-hmm.

Like if you abide in me, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you. It literally says that as you're abiding in Christ, he's going to put desires on your heart. Yes. That are aligned with his will. And what you need to do is you need to start asking God about those things. You start praying into those things. And he says that when we pray into these desires that he's given us, like,

he actually gets glory because like it's, he says, my father in heaven is glorified. Like I delight in giving you a good Christian friend group after you prayed, because when, when it happens, I am glorified. Like God is glorified when crazy things happen in our lives that we pray for, because it's like, we have nothing to take credit for. It's like, that was the Lord. That was God. Okay. Uh, I cannot believe you don't know the Lord. Yeah.

I can't believe you don't even want to because it's really fun and exciting. This is real. This happened in my life. Like we actually share Jesus through our testimonies. And when you believe God for something, you pray into that thing. It happens. That's a testimony. And that is literally how people get saved. Yes. That's literally how people like the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimonies, how the enemies actually defend.

Feed it. So he wants you to pray about that desire on your heart. He wants to come through for that desire. Then he wants to get glory. He wants to get glory when you're sharing on it. Because then that creates new believers or strengthens other people's faith. Like, that's what's so cool about our God is that he doesn't just like check off one little box. I said this too in a prior episode, but he really doesn't. He doesn't just check off one box with a blessing. He checks off like five boxes with...

lot more than that actually that was disrespectful like a million boxes with one blessing and it's true it's like yes this is to strengthen your faith and yes I want to bless your life but also it brings glory to me which then translates to people looking at your life and going wt heck yeah and then it also translates to people being like maybe I should try it strengthens faith it creates new believers it literally

It just serves so many purposes, way more than we probably can even comprehend. And we think that it's selfish to want these things. But in reality, like him blessing our lives also can bless other people. It will. No, that's a promise. Actually, it will bless other people's lives and it blesses him. Yeah. Amen. It's a win, win, win. Even when I didn't know Jesus, I remember looking at Christians and being like, there's something different there. Like, would you also kind of look at Christians like they just had it together from the beginning?

from the beginning. No, like they just carried a joy. Their life was put together. But they were just born that way. You're like, well, they just have that. I don't.

at least that's the way i felt i was like i don't know they just they're just on a different level i love that for them but i don't think i could ever do that yeah and then i literally feel like people have even looked at my social media in this past year and you see the way the lord can transform us so like we are completely like even you were sharing your testimony the other night completely different our lifestyles are so different of what they you know yeah but i look at you actually i'm like there's just no way that that actually ever existed yeah but

I just feel like when you're in the world and you look at the Christians, you know, you're like, they've just had it together their whole life. That is so not true. They were born perfect. That is so not true. Yeah. Like that is the result of the Lord. So that's how we have to share our testimony even more. And that's why it's so important. We have to share the really rough spots that God got us out of more than we share the glory stories. Yeah. We have to share our testimony. Right. Because you're right. People don't relate to perfect. No. No.

they actually run away from perfect. They actually, that, that makes them, that's not a magnet to bring people to the gospel. No, it makes them feel like more shame. Like it doesn't make anyone feel welcomed. It doesn't make them feel like they could be a part of that, you know? And I think that's really important to mention too, is that there's nothing more perfect about being a Christian than a non-Christian. You know what I mean? We're still flawed human beings. It's just, now we just have the Lord like helping us through it. And the only, like the

the places of my life that he swept clean is not of my own doings. That's of the Lord. Like the things that I used to value in the world before and the things that I value now and the way that I even carry myself and the way that I like take care of myself now, that is all the Lord. That is not who I was from the beginning. No,

No way. You know? But I interrupted. You were saying something. No, that was facts. Was that it? That was so good. That was flames. Flames. One thing that Allie does is she teaches me what the current words are of the generation. I didn't teach you that. I don't know where you got that from. Maybe William. I don't know who's saying flames. Flames has been a recent addition to my vocabulary. I like flames. Yeah. You said it. You're like, it's going to be flames. I said, wait, you are so cool. And I was like, wait, I'm cool. Wait, I think that's cool. I think that's cool.

I think that's a cool thing to say. Deny-nye is my other favorite. Deny-nye is not. Sorry, I made that up literally. It's Delulu. But if you want to say you're in denial, you can say Deny-nye. It's just not smooth. Delulu's cute because it's like Delulu. But Deny-nye. Deny-nye is like not smooth at all. It's too many letters.

Cheers, Allie. Cheers, Ash. We just, that was a flames conversation. That was flames. I know we've already been talking for a while, but I really want you, and I don't know if you can make like a more like summarized version, but we're just talking about testimonies. Yes. And I want to like, I want my audience to kind of know yours. Yeah, absolutely. Are you able to touch on your testimony like in a debrief way? I can touch on it super quick. Basically, I was a psycho. Because I think it is.

It's really easy. Like if people were to look at your social media, I did. I was like, oh, so she just been knowing Jesus. Perfect. Yeah. Right. It's crazy. So I was a psycho person. I know you were not. She's like, I was out committing crimes. I was a lukewarm of the lukewarm girl. That was me. And when my parents got a divorce,

And my boyfriend and I, we had been dating for four years. When we broke up. Was that your only serious relationship? It was my only like, actually no, I had a few. Okay. But that was like my longest one. Yeah. And so we broke up at the same time as my parents divorced. And that sent me all the way from lukewarm to cold.

I imagine that. I was like, God, why on earth would you allow these things to happen at the same time? Like, do you hate me, Lord? Like, I was so confused. So I just got really into the just party scene and like finding validation from men. And Ashley was showing me videos of her. There's videos, fam. She's literally drinking alcohol.

And not only that, but like a lot of it. No, she's like on her knee, like chugging a Corona. I said, who is this? No, what? Like, I would not believe that was you. That was me. And that was like, not even like bad. That was like, not even a bat. Like that was like on a team night. Like I would, you know, go to sleep.

just completely unwell with the lights on. I'd wake up with like the lights on. Like I wouldn't, I would be so drunk that I wouldn't even turn off the lights. Yeah. I've been there. Like, you know, it's just there and you're in the clothes from the night before you have all your jewelry still on. It's just rough. It's awful. You know, I did that for actually like a year. I was just in that, you know, I was so cold from the Lord and I was running away from the Lord for a year until I remember just being at rock bottom. I was in this really low spot and,

And I was like, I didn't even recognize myself anymore. And like all the, like I was trying to find healing in all the wrong places of what had just happened in my life. And then God was so kind. He met me in my childhood bedroom. I was literally home from winter break and I felt the Lord just be like, hey.

Was it like out of the blue or were you kind of already trying to talk to him? No. I was just looking at my life. I was like so unwell. I was just in my bed. I couldn't even get out of bed this day. I was home for winter break from college and I just was having a moment by myself in my room. I couldn't get out of bed and I just like I remember the curtains were drawn. I remember it was dark in my room. It was like the middle of the day and I just felt the Lord like extend his hand out to me and be like...

I want you to heal, but I want you to heal with me. Right. And I was like,

whoa and it was one of those moments where it marked me like I yeah it's like okay so I get back to school I cut it all out I literally didn't go to a single party I was like I mean I went to a few but I just was I hated it like yeah I I was like because I was part of a sorority so I would go the guys wasn't talking to anybody more I just cut it out yeah I like cut it all out then 2020 happened with

corona we went home and that's when i dug into my bible for like a year and a half and i just like became obsessed with jesus like so then i went from cold to hot like on fire for the lord and i've been on fire since i haven't gone back and i don't want to like i i think that's why i'm so passionate about getting people out of lukewarm but you honestly to be out of lukewarm you've got to like

you've got to kind of hit a moment you've got to hit kind of rock bottom to be like this isn't working for me anymore like I have to decide I have to choose do I want to be cold or do I want to be hot yeah

that's my testimony I love that and I honestly like I I don't want to say I hate but I do sometimes I hate that it's like I mean it's the reason we're all here with these relationships that we have with Jesus but it does it's pretty awful that we always got to get to our rock bottom you know it's always like we got to get to the worst part ever of our life like I was rock bottom as well and then the Lord was like yeah you're done like you need to take me seriously now like

you've been through enough ally you've been through enough pain you've been through enough hurt you've been through enough betrayal you've been through enough of just allowing the enemy to speak into my head like every day it just sucks that it has to get to the point of rock bottom but sometimes it's like that i think actually more times than not it's like that where we're just like we're just at the bottom and we're like all right lord fine yeah we're like we like forfeit because we're like all right i'm done trying to like do everything on my own i obviously i can't it's not working

And literally, I think in any change that you need to make in your life, you're just talking about this, is like you get sick and tired of being sick and tired. Right. You just reach a point where you're like, why do I keep doing this to myself? It's not working. Like I'm sick of doing this every day. And you just get, you get mad. There's like a fire in you. And then you're like, I am done. Yeah, it's like anger too. You're like, I'm actually like really over this. Like whether it's a relationship you go back to that's like completely toxic, whether it's a...

a sin struggle, an unhealthy habit, like, or if it's just you being lukewarm to the lukewarm and you're just done, like, you have to reach a point where you're fed up. You're over it. It's okay to get to that point because I think that's actually what you need to change. That's what the Lord can work with. Yeah. Yeah.

Because then there's like actual motivation where you're like, you know what? No, I want like you're choosing him. And that's what he needs. He needs you to choose him because he's already chosen you. He chose you before you were even born, you know. But it's about also choosing him like genuinely and being like, you know what? I'm like, I want Jesus. It's so cool. I want. Yeah, I want Jesus. And then he will literally just change your life radically. You'll never be the same. You will never be the same. It's so cool. It's really fun.

I love you so much. I love you too. Thanks for asking my testimony. Yeah, thanks for sharing it. I was getting nervous because I know we've already been like filming for an hour. But this was so sweet. This was so sweet. I love it. I love it so much. Thanks for coming, Ash. Is there anything else that you would want to add? I think we really covered all ground. We covered a lot of ground today. I'm going to have you on...

all the time. We need to do more. Because there's more things I want to talk about. Like, I even would love to talk about, like, if we could touch on one day finding community, right? Because I think the biggest thing that people have asked me, especially with seeing, like, us hanging out so much in our friend group that we have is, like, how did you find them? And I think that would be a really great episode is how to find community. But if I can sum it up really quickly, at least I'll just testify for what the Lord has done for introducing you and everybody into my life. But

Literally you like actually it started with you It was only with you first because like all my other friends have come through you like the fact that we even have this community It's because the lord literally plopped ashley into my life. I wasn't looking for it You know what? I mean like it was as if this is how I believe the lord brings anything into your life though It is when we're least expecting it. It's when you're not looking for it and

Obviously, it's good to put yourself in a position where he can give it to you. But what did I do? All I did was...

I shared the Lord on the internet. You saw my content. I saw yours. We said, love what you're doing. And now like, what were the odds that now I'm living in the same city as you, which we did not know when we first connected. Like I had no idea where Ashley lived, by the way. I was like, I don't know. She could be living in Florida. She doesn't have it in her bio or anything. And so I had come to Nashville to tour some homes and it was just two days after she had felt the Lord

Speak to her and say, you need to reach out to Allie. You send me a voicemail on Instagram. We connected. Two days later, I'm in Nashville because I'm touring homes to move here. And you're like, dude, I live here. But that was the Lord. Yeah, that was God. I'm not saying that you should be just cooped up in your home and just be like, okay, the Lord will just give me community. I think...

putting yourself out there and me talking about Jesus online is that in a way where I did I put myself out there I said hey this is what I love this is who I love yeah you know and then he connected us but I think the biggest thing is just having that faithfulness in the Lord and again I know this could be a waiting season for someone

where, you know, you're like, I just haven't found a community yet, but the Lord will give it to you. I've been praying for good friends for so long, but I think the biggest thing that God had told, like truly has taught me through all of this is that I was not in a place where I would have been able to provide a good friendship for you or anyone else. Like, I don't

think that the version of who I was even a year ago, even eight months ago would have been able to be in this friendship and deliver what y'all also deserved, you know? So sometimes we pray for this thing and we want this thing, but maybe you really aren't in a place when it comes to your heart or whatever, where you can actually deliver in the way that the Lord has the other person plan to. Does that make sense? Yeah.

And I'm like, the more I'm like, I was not near the friendship that I'm grateful that the Lord has molded me to be now. But the version that I was then would not have been able. I probably wouldn't have even had that much in common with y'all. You know what I mean? His timing is just so good. So anyway, I kind of talked a lot about that, but I think we should talk about community and friendships and stuff. Let us know in the comments if you'd want to.

hear that actually yeah or if there's any other topics that you'd like to hear from me and ash because yes we'll hit it you're local we're really local to each other i can just like drive over six minutes it's literally a six minute drive so maybe ash will just be on the podcast all the time i would love that but ashley will you tell everybody where they can find you because i know that you said she does everything but just what is that where are you so you can find me on instagram at ashley hetherington also on youtube and if you want to get this book

you can go to thehoneyescape.com slash book and you will get not only the book, but you'll get a free bonus Bible study on what to do while you wait on God because we're going to be digging into our Bibles as well as digging into this devotional together. I love that. Come March 26th. Where is the book available? It's available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Target, just a bunch of booksellers, but you can get all the info on the book website. That is so funny.

freaking exciting so exciting it is so exciting she's also on instagram and tiktok and snapchat she didn't mention we're also on snapchat ali and i are a snapchat era well i think you're really in your snapchat era i'm trying but y'all it's hard it's right there's too many platforms there's too many there's a lot of platforms yeah there's a lot of platforms but ashley's on all of them pretty much we're still not satisfied we're still not satisfied

Isn't that just what humans do? No, it's so true. It is. But guys, Allie's incredible. You guys are blessed to have this amazing woman speaking into your life every week. And she's an amazing friend. No.

You're an amazing friend. Thank you. I could literally sob. Stop. That's how I feel about you. Like, you are an amazing friend. Like, when something is going on, the Lord's like, tell Allie, tell Allie, tell Allie, tell Allie. Like, ask Allie for prayer. Like, you are there. You are a consistent, consistent friend. Thank you. That's, like, all I ever want to be. I'm so grateful for you and for our life. Me too.

Okay, guys, we love you so much. Hey, guys, why don't we do something? Why don't we just show somebody why Jesus is so cool today? Happy Friday. Have a great weekend. Show someone why Jesus is so cool today. Show somebody some compassion, some love, some empathy, something that Jesus would give. You know, you can't go wrong with that. I love y'all so much. I'll see you next week. And thanks for tuning in.

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