September 4, 2025 • 13 mins
In this heartfelt conversation of Culture Raises Us, Marquita Moore of How I Grew Today reminds us that ambition and independence often push us to act fast—but without asking God first. She opens up about the moments when she moved without His guidance, the painful consequences that followed, and the profound lessons learned about trust, surrender, and grace.
Marquita shares her own story of missteps, including the dangers of leaning on the wrong voices, and how God used even those moments to draw her closer. Together, we explore why many of us hesitate to pray before making decisions, how childhood wounds can shape how we view God, and why His “wait” or “no” is never rejection but always protection and redirection.
This episode is a call to slow down, ask before you act, and see dependence on God not as weakness—but as the ultimate form of strength.
#CultureRaisesUs #MarquitaMoore #TrustGod #FaithOverFear #GodsPlan #BringGodIntoIt #SurrenderToGod #GraceAndFaith #PurposeDrivenLife #SpiritualGrowth #FaithJourney
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Most of us were raised to be independent, you know,
make it happen and figure it out. We also live
in this culture that rewards speed and ambition. But in
all of that moving, how often do we actually stop
to ask God first? Like if we're being honest, Sometimes
we don't ask because we're kind of afraid of the
answer that might be to wait or no. Today's guests
(00:24):
Marquita Moore of How I Grew Today is back to
talk about being honest about where our decisions are really
coming from and really learning how to ask before we act. So,
when you think back, Marquito on some of the biggest
decisions in your life, whether it was career, relationships, money,
were many of those made like with prayer or asking
(00:45):
God first, versus like the impulse or ambition of it all.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
So this is a layered answer a little bit.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
I'm gonna say yes and yes, okay, okay, I'm moved
without guidance.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
I asked him in.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
Some of the biggest decisions in my life.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
I did not include him in it at all.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
And then there were times where I asked, but I
still doubt it and I still took it back. It
was kind of like I halfway asked him, right, But
I didn't truly like now, I didn't truly move guided
by him guiding me until I really surrendered my life
to him, right, All the various times I felt like
(01:32):
I did, but I was still dipping my hand back
in the pot. So there was the shift that needed
to happen in me where I understood what it meant
to be in relationship with him and I needed to
learn I had to learn how to trust him.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Yeah, with those scenarios, I'm sure there were consequences, but
you probably felt like you could have avoided or at
least handled differently. Is that fair? You have some examples?
How about that? Do you have some examples of what
that looked like?
Speaker 2 (02:05):
I mean, yeah, I mean it.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
There's so many different examples of that in my life
where I have just moved and leaned to my own
understanding of things. And it was a dream wreck in hindbach,
in hindsight, you know, I look back on it, and.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
I it was.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
I mean, I can't even tell you, but he uses
everything right, so nothing was wasted, but in the in
the as it was happening, it was just awful.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
No, I'm sure. Yeah, And I agree, you know, that.
We had another guest on my man Bobby, who said,
you know that the lessons are really blessings, right, They're blessed,
not blessings. Blessing right, Yeah, because you learn from all
these things, as you just said. But it makes me
then ask why do you think we avoid asking God
(03:12):
before before we do things? Because we're afraid he'll say
you know again, whether it's slow us down or even
tell us something we don't want to hear. But what
does that mean about our faith in our relationship with him?
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Yeah, it means that we are looking at him like
we look at humans. I feel like, and I'm gonna
say this as it relates to Let's say if you
don't have a good relationship with your parents, okay, and
(03:50):
you're looking at at or any authority figure, and so you're.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Looking at God in this way of can I trust you?
Can I can I be obedient to you? What will you?
Will you judge me?
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Because let's say the relationship that you've had with authority
or your parents askewed, and you're looking at God in
the same way. So we have to redefine the relationship
between First of all, we need to go back and
heal that, yeah, right, so that we can then approach
(04:32):
God in a clear way, so that we don't have
all these hinderances that prevent us from actually hearing Him
in the in the right way, so that we can
really objectively say, Okay, I'm gonna do what it is
that you're asking me to do. I'm going to go
(04:53):
back to that one example that you asked me about
a time in my life.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
There was one time in particular.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
Where I got caught up with the wrong therapist, was
definitely sent on assignment. Wow, that's something that was not
God to delay and wreak havoc in my life. And
I didn't ask God during that time, if this is
something that I should do, if this is someone I
(05:22):
should should see, or any of those things. And it
really could have jacked me up and damaged me spiritually,
you know. But like I said, even in that, he'll
use it because he knew I would be here and
use that experience to free me and to teach me
that there are people who mean you no good, even
(05:43):
if they say under the guise of being good.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
And he also used that to show me that I
need to trust Him for everything.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
And not man and not man.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
And what I was, what I saw in that situation
was I was so dependent on that person leading me
that the nurturing that I needed from God to train
my ear, to attune my spirit to be able to
hear him was taken away.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
But again that's a strategy so that that I don't
learn what it is to wait when I ask him
a question, Right, I want to ask, I want to quick,
I want the answer, and so that will prompt us
to go and make decisions like seeing therapists or going
to a psychic or eating all these things. Right, we
don't know the We don't understand the how necessary it
(06:42):
is to be able to go to God and wait
for him to respond versus forcing his hand, like trust
that he's teaching you something even in the weight you know.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
And it's it's this level of dependency that I think
we I don't want to say the gloss, but we
don't really fully commit to in God. And I think
if we can reframe this dependency on God as not
a weakness, right, I think that's the other thing where
it's looked at as a weakness when really that isn't
but rather the ultimate form of strength right right, what's
(07:17):
that process like? And it sounds like you've gone and
you're going through the process.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
Yeah, It's like we have to remember we are His creation,
so dependent on God. Is alignment with the one who
created everything. How could that be weakness? How how could
that be weakness? It's like you have to take him
at his word. You got to first read the word
to know what he's saying. You have to believe that
(07:46):
what he's saying applies to you, and you have to
believe who he is and his attributes, right, Like he's Yahweh,
He's Lord, he's Yelohan, he's Jehovah, Jirah, He's the Provider,
he's our Jove, a rapper, Like do we believe that?
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Do we believe that?
Speaker 1 (08:04):
You know what I mean?
Speaker 3 (08:05):
And it's really taking what you've been taught, what you
think you know, and really connecting to the heart of
God and saying what you're saying and your word applies
to me too. I remember one night going on my balcony.
This was like maybe three years ago, and I was
(08:25):
just in a really bad place and I was outside
and I was looking at the sky and I was like, wait,
you you created the sky the stars, the moon, the
water that's in front of me, the trees that's surrounding me.
Why would I think that I don't belong to you too?
(08:47):
Why would I think that? And it did something in
that moment that just kind of brought us together even
more so I'm like, Okay, I can trust you. It's
I think we get caught up in feeling like his self.
I have to figure this out, and I have to
do that because that's how we've been programmed, you know,
like a lot about we're doing all these things. And
(09:10):
I created this opportunity and I connected myself with this
person and we're like, yeah, until God is like, until
you pay attention to me, this.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Grace is covering you. Grace even realize you can ignore me.
You've been ignoring me.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
I had been like, I'm sorry. I had to repent
and say I'm sorry. God, I had been ignoring you.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
But you've been carrying me and protecting me this whole time,
even when I didn't pay attention to you.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
And that's the power of grace and the beauty God
of his grace. And you know MARKI do. We have
so many instances where we can look back and we
can see how great he was in moving us through.
Because you're right, this is not us who have done
all these things. Like I always tell people, even with
my career to date, people were like, oh, you worked there,
you did that, you work with this person. I want
(09:59):
to say, yeah, but I'm not smart enough to have
put all that together. That was all God's divine plan
because He's utilizing me to be a vessel so that
I can use all these things that are you know,
the shiny objects to many to gain their attention, to
be able to deliver his message and hopefully be a
vessel of whatever he's trying to show or highlight or
(10:24):
you know, bring to the forefront. Yeah. And as I
listened to you and in that moment that you had
on your deck, that sound, that sound like the one
of those moments like yoa, this this is all your magic,
Like this is I'm nothing. I'm nothing. I'm literally a vessel. Yeah,
(10:44):
little vessel. So I think within that, you know, the
other work that we have to do is how do
we learn to kind of embrace God's weight or know
as protection and direction instead of rejection because it's so
easy again in our human mind and how we're programmed
to think that if something doesn't happen the way that
(11:05):
we want it, going back again thinking we're putting this
thing together, that it's a rejection or a bad thing,
when actually he's obviously protecting us or keeping us in
track with where he needs us to be be.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
Yeah, it all in it And from my experience, it
always makes sense why something didn't happen or something like
thank you for not answering my prayer, because prayer And
you know what, sometimes I have to ask myself, did
you just give me this one? Or is this something
that you wanted me to have right like? Or did
(11:38):
you just allow it to be? Or did I just
you say, Okay, I'm gonna give this to you. Right
But I know that we have to trust him more,
and I know that people throw that word around you
gotta trust, you gotta trust It is a big word
and a big thing to do.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Trusting and surrendering to him in that requestires us to
heal and look at what's in the way of us
doing that.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
We have to believe that he is concerned about us,
and that he cares about us, and that he wants
the best for us, and he has a plan for us,
and so we have to be able to see him
through that lens. And that goes back to if we
have fractures in our relationships and we view God through
that lens, we have to deal with that and realize
(12:27):
that that's the strategy of the enemy to keep us
from embracing God's weight and trusting his.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
No like, listen the truth is listen the truth. Let
me tell you something. The truth is, God isn't trying
to keep us from living. He's trying to guide us
into life at its fullest. And every time we pause
to ask before we move, we're showing him that we
(12:54):
trust him, we trust his wisdom more than our own impulses.
And yes, sometimes answer is weight or even know but
those answers aren't punishments. They are protection, direction, and preparation
for something better that we could see that we couldn't
see in that moment, for sure. And so you might
(13:16):
be surprised how much lighter the journey feels when you're
not carrying it all alone. That's right, Marquita. Once again,
I thank you, thank you, good seeing you too.
Most of us were raised to be independent, you know,
make it happen and figure it out. We also live
in this culture that rewards speed and ambition. But in
all of that moving, how often do we actually stop
to ask God first? Like if we're being honest, Sometimes
we don't ask because we're kind of afraid of the
answer that might be to wait or no. Today's guests
(00:24):
Marquita Moore of How I Grew Today is back to
talk about being honest about where our decisions are really
coming from and really learning how to ask before we act. So,
when you think back, Marquito on some of the biggest
decisions in your life, whether it was career, relationships, money,
were many of those made like with prayer or asking
(00:45):
God first, versus like the impulse or ambition of it all.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
So this is a layered answer a little bit.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
I'm gonna say yes and yes, okay, okay, I'm moved
without guidance.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
I asked him in.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
Some of the biggest decisions in my life.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
I did not include him in it at all.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
And then there were times where I asked, but I
still doubt it and I still took it back. It
was kind of like I halfway asked him, right, But
I didn't truly like now, I didn't truly move guided
by him guiding me until I really surrendered my life
to him, right, All the various times I felt like
(01:32):
I did, but I was still dipping my hand back
in the pot. So there was the shift that needed
to happen in me where I understood what it meant
to be in relationship with him and I needed to
learn I had to learn how to trust him.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Yeah, with those scenarios, I'm sure there were consequences, but
you probably felt like you could have avoided or at
least handled differently. Is that fair? You have some examples?
How about that? Do you have some examples of what
that looked like?
Speaker 2 (02:05):
I mean, yeah, I mean it.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
There's so many different examples of that in my life
where I have just moved and leaned to my own
understanding of things. And it was a dream wreck in hindbach,
in hindsight, you know, I look back on it, and.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
I it was.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
I mean, I can't even tell you, but he uses
everything right, so nothing was wasted, but in the in
the as it was happening, it was just awful.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
No, I'm sure. Yeah, And I agree, you know, that.
We had another guest on my man Bobby, who said,
you know that the lessons are really blessings, right, They're blessed,
not blessings. Blessing right, Yeah, because you learn from all
these things, as you just said. But it makes me
then ask why do you think we avoid asking God
(03:12):
before before we do things? Because we're afraid he'll say
you know again, whether it's slow us down or even
tell us something we don't want to hear. But what
does that mean about our faith in our relationship with him?
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Yeah, it means that we are looking at him like
we look at humans. I feel like, and I'm gonna
say this as it relates to Let's say if you
don't have a good relationship with your parents, okay, and
(03:50):
you're looking at at or any authority figure, and so you're.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Looking at God in this way of can I trust you?
Can I can I be obedient to you? What will you?
Will you judge me?
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Because let's say the relationship that you've had with authority
or your parents askewed, and you're looking at God in
the same way. So we have to redefine the relationship
between First of all, we need to go back and
heal that, yeah, right, so that we can then approach
(04:32):
God in a clear way, so that we don't have
all these hinderances that prevent us from actually hearing Him
in the in the right way, so that we can
really objectively say, Okay, I'm gonna do what it is
that you're asking me to do. I'm going to go
(04:53):
back to that one example that you asked me about
a time in my life.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
There was one time in particular.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
Where I got caught up with the wrong therapist, was
definitely sent on assignment. Wow, that's something that was not
God to delay and wreak havoc in my life. And
I didn't ask God during that time, if this is
something that I should do, if this is someone I
(05:22):
should should see, or any of those things. And it
really could have jacked me up and damaged me spiritually,
you know. But like I said, even in that, he'll
use it because he knew I would be here and
use that experience to free me and to teach me
that there are people who mean you no good, even
(05:43):
if they say under the guise of being good.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
And he also used that to show me that I
need to trust Him for everything.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
And not man and not man.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
And what I was, what I saw in that situation
was I was so dependent on that person leading me
that the nurturing that I needed from God to train
my ear, to attune my spirit to be able to
hear him was taken away.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
But again that's a strategy so that that I don't
learn what it is to wait when I ask him
a question, Right, I want to ask, I want to quick,
I want the answer, and so that will prompt us
to go and make decisions like seeing therapists or going
to a psychic or eating all these things. Right, we
don't know the We don't understand the how necessary it
(06:42):
is to be able to go to God and wait
for him to respond versus forcing his hand, like trust
that he's teaching you something even in the weight you know.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
And it's it's this level of dependency that I think
we I don't want to say the gloss, but we
don't really fully commit to in God. And I think
if we can reframe this dependency on God as not
a weakness, right, I think that's the other thing where
it's looked at as a weakness when really that isn't
but rather the ultimate form of strength right right, what's
(07:17):
that process like? And it sounds like you've gone and
you're going through the process.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
Yeah, It's like we have to remember we are His creation,
so dependent on God. Is alignment with the one who
created everything. How could that be weakness? How how could
that be weakness? It's like you have to take him
at his word. You got to first read the word
to know what he's saying. You have to believe that
(07:46):
what he's saying applies to you, and you have to
believe who he is and his attributes, right, Like he's Yahweh,
He's Lord, he's Yelohan, he's Jehovah, Jirah, He's the Provider,
he's our Jove, a rapper, Like do we believe that?
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Do we believe that?
Speaker 1 (08:04):
You know what I mean?
Speaker 3 (08:05):
And it's really taking what you've been taught, what you
think you know, and really connecting to the heart of
God and saying what you're saying and your word applies
to me too. I remember one night going on my balcony.
This was like maybe three years ago, and I was
(08:25):
just in a really bad place and I was outside
and I was looking at the sky and I was like, wait,
you you created the sky the stars, the moon, the
water that's in front of me, the trees that's surrounding me.
Why would I think that I don't belong to you too?
(08:47):
Why would I think that? And it did something in
that moment that just kind of brought us together even
more so I'm like, Okay, I can trust you. It's
I think we get caught up in feeling like his self.
I have to figure this out, and I have to
do that because that's how we've been programmed, you know,
like a lot about we're doing all these things. And
(09:10):
I created this opportunity and I connected myself with this
person and we're like, yeah, until God is like, until
you pay attention to me, this.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Grace is covering you. Grace even realize you can ignore me.
You've been ignoring me.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
I had been like, I'm sorry. I had to repent
and say I'm sorry. God, I had been ignoring you.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
But you've been carrying me and protecting me this whole time,
even when I didn't pay attention to you.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
And that's the power of grace and the beauty God
of his grace. And you know MARKI do. We have
so many instances where we can look back and we
can see how great he was in moving us through.
Because you're right, this is not us who have done
all these things. Like I always tell people, even with
my career to date, people were like, oh, you worked there,
you did that, you work with this person. I want
(09:59):
to say, yeah, but I'm not smart enough to have
put all that together. That was all God's divine plan
because He's utilizing me to be a vessel so that
I can use all these things that are you know,
the shiny objects to many to gain their attention, to
be able to deliver his message and hopefully be a
vessel of whatever he's trying to show or highlight or
(10:24):
you know, bring to the forefront. Yeah. And as I
listened to you and in that moment that you had
on your deck, that sound, that sound like the one
of those moments like yoa, this this is all your magic,
Like this is I'm nothing. I'm nothing. I'm literally a vessel. Yeah,
(10:44):
little vessel. So I think within that, you know, the
other work that we have to do is how do
we learn to kind of embrace God's weight or know
as protection and direction instead of rejection because it's so
easy again in our human mind and how we're programmed
to think that if something doesn't happen the way that
(11:05):
we want it, going back again thinking we're putting this
thing together, that it's a rejection or a bad thing,
when actually he's obviously protecting us or keeping us in
track with where he needs us to be be.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
Yeah, it all in it And from my experience, it
always makes sense why something didn't happen or something like
thank you for not answering my prayer, because prayer And
you know what, sometimes I have to ask myself, did
you just give me this one? Or is this something
that you wanted me to have right like? Or did
(11:38):
you just allow it to be? Or did I just
you say, Okay, I'm gonna give this to you. Right
But I know that we have to trust him more,
and I know that people throw that word around you
gotta trust, you gotta trust It is a big word
and a big thing to do.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Trusting and surrendering to him in that requestires us to
heal and look at what's in the way of us
doing that.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
We have to believe that he is concerned about us,
and that he cares about us, and that he wants
the best for us, and he has a plan for us,
and so we have to be able to see him
through that lens. And that goes back to if we
have fractures in our relationships and we view God through
that lens, we have to deal with that and realize
(12:27):
that that's the strategy of the enemy to keep us
from embracing God's weight and trusting his.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
No like, listen the truth is listen the truth. Let
me tell you something. The truth is, God isn't trying
to keep us from living. He's trying to guide us
into life at its fullest. And every time we pause
to ask before we move, we're showing him that we
(12:54):
trust him, we trust his wisdom more than our own impulses.
And yes, sometimes answer is weight or even know but
those answers aren't punishments. They are protection, direction, and preparation
for something better that we could see that we couldn't
see in that moment, for sure. And so you might
(13:16):
be surprised how much lighter the journey feels when you're
not carrying it all alone. That's right, Marquita. Once again,
I thank you, thank you, good seeing you too.
Host
Astor Chamber
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