April 23, 2025 • 21 mins
In this Beyond Sunday episode, Dena and Kate unpack Pastor Greg’s powerful Easter message that launches the new series, Where’s God?. Together, they explore how to trust God’s presence and care—even when He feels silent—and how faith can anchor us through life’s most difficult seasons.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Dina (00:04):
Welcome to Beyond Sunday, the King of Kings podcast, where
we explore what we're takingbeyond Sunday from our message
series.
My name is Dena Newsome andtoday with me I have Kate.
Kate (00:16):
Solberg, and I'm the Associate Campus Director at our
Northwest Campus.
Dina (00:20):
Yes, I'm so glad you could be with me today.
You know, I don't know if youknow there was a big holiday on
Sunday.
Yes, there was Easter, andEaster is known for a lot of
candy and sweets, you know,commercially.
Also, this week our nation iscelebrating National Jelly Bean
Day.
Jelly beans when I was growingup were like the Easter candy.
(00:43):
That was like what you put inanything.
Do you have a favorite jellybean flavor?
Kate (00:49):
Yes, the entire bag.
I actually can't buy jellybeans because I will be tempted
to make myself ill by eating allof them, so I love jelly beans.
Dina (01:03):
I like jelly beans.
I wouldn't say they're myfavorite.
Now, okay, here.
Do you like the black ones too?
All of them.
Kate (01:09):
Really Every flavor, okay, okay.
Dina (01:11):
Now are you a fan of, like Bertie Botts beans or those?
What are the ones with all thedifferent flavors that they give
you the little spinner andthere's like oh, the bad flavors
.
Kate (01:21):
Yes, yes, no, I don't want any bad flavors.
No, all of those things?
Dina (01:25):
Yeah.
Why would someone pay for that?
Cause you live for theadventure.
Kate (01:28):
No, I just want good tasting jelly beans in my mouth.
Period.
Dina (01:33):
No adventure with it.
No, okay.
Okay, I'm a big fan of orangejelly beans.
They're my favorite.
I'll pick out the orange ones,yeah.
I don't like the white ones.
Yum, I don't even know whatflavor they are, I don't know.
Happiness, happiness, joy.
It's the fruits of the spirit.
There you go, okay, so goingfrom happiness to suffering.
(01:58):
Our Easter message was talkingabout where is God, and this was
the kickoff to a sermon seriesthat we're starting when is God,
and it'll be the next severalweeks that we're kind of diving
into that, and Pastor GregGriffith led us off today or on
Easter, with talking about howGod sees our suffering and
(02:23):
relating that to the sufferingthat Jesus went through at
Easter.
So what was kind of yourbiggest takeaway from this week
that you're taking beyond Sunday?
Kate (02:34):
I think my biggest takeaway was that Jesus sees our
pain and calls us by name.
Dina (02:42):
I wrote that down too.
Great minds think alike.
Yeah, it is very easy to feelisolated when you're suffering
and to know that other peopleare going through that, but to
know that your Savior knows andsees that Right yeah, definitely
.
Yeah, that's a good one, I think, just the idea of that God sees
(03:09):
our suffering, but we all havethat suffering and maybe there's
periods in our life where we'renot going through something.
That's a real low valley or ourquote unquote suffering is
minor in the respect of thegrand scheme of our lives, but
that there's probably a periodcoming where we're going to have
(03:31):
the loss of a spouse or theloss of a parent, or your kids
moving out or things like that,where you're going to go through
those harder times too.
And for me, a lot of what Gregspoke into just reminded me of
this may not be what I needtoday, but these are great
reminders for when I am in thosevalleys.
Yes, I agree.
(03:52):
So when he started talking, hetalked about we need to remember
when we ask where is God, whoour God is like, that he sees us
, that he's with us, like whenyou think about who our God is,
what are the characteristicsthat stand out to you or what
kinds of things.
Kate (04:14):
I love that God is consistent.
I love when scripture talksabout him being the same
yesterday, today and forever.
Same yesterday, today andforever.
There are surprising things onearth, but God doesn't surprise
us with who he is.
He reveals who he is.
He doesn't change and he isreliable.
(04:36):
We can count on that.
Dina (04:38):
Being able to trust that.
That's a big thing, and whatreally stuck out to me in
talking about where is God, orwho our God is, is that
trustworthy peace.
Yes, there, I think a lot ofhuman earthly suffering comes
from unmet expectations ormisuse of trust, and so that
(05:06):
hurt comes when those earthlysins happen, and God's never
going to do that.
He's never going to be lessthan what we expect and he's
never going to misuse our trust.
One thing that I wrote downthat I really liked that Greg
said was when you don't feel Hispresence, he sees your pain.
When you don't see his power,he sees your heartache.
(05:29):
When you're at your lowest, heisn't high up off somewhere, he
is nearby.
What do you think about?
Kate (05:38):
that I wrote that down too , but my wording was a little
different.
Oh, go ahead.
I know, pastor Greg gives,you've heard it probably four
times here, so I just heard itonce.
But when I listened I heardwhen you are at your lowest, god
is on all sides, which Ithought was awesome too.
Dina (06:03):
Yeah, surrounding you, yes .
Kate (06:04):
With the bubble, yeah, surrounding you.
Dina (06:06):
Yes, with a bubble, yep, yeah, one of the other points
that I really liked that Gregtalked about was that we can be
real with God.
How does that come to light inyour life, like, how do you feel
like you've learned to be realwith God?
Kate (06:21):
Yeah, yeah, that was a great point too, where God, when
Pastor Gregory reminded us howGod can handle all of our
emotions, no matter what emotionwe're feeling, and he pointed
us to Psalm 13, when King Davidcries out, you know how long
will you forget me?
Will you forget me forever?
(06:43):
And I think not.
Everyone realizes God wants usto be honest with Him.
He doesn't want us to attemptto clean ourselves up or cover
up things.
He wants us to be completelyhonest because that is who he is
with us and we are.
(07:04):
Most is the word malleableMm-hmm by the Lord when we give
him all of us and that includesall your emotions good, bad,
ugly, and we know they're In allthose categories.
So, yeah, I liked how he youknow, and God intentionally
included that in the scripturewhen King David was lamenting,
(07:28):
and so that's important toremind ourselves Right, and it
is very different.
Dina (07:33):
I liked how he vocally said it differently, because we
do.
When we read scripture it tendsto be in this nice tone of
voice, because we're readingaloud with our study group or
whatever.
But that anger, that despair,that hurt does come through in
that Right.
We may not always remember thatRight.
(07:53):
Yeah, I grew up thinking in myhead not because anyone ever
told me so that my prayers werepolite.
Oh, you know what I mean, thatI was always asking for things
and thanking for things.
And as I learned more about myrelationship with God, I have
angry prayers.
(08:13):
And I can remember I was 21, 22years old when my mom got cancer
and I was so angry at Godbecause here is this woman who,
in my eyes, had followed him allof her life, had raised three
children to love him, had doneso much for the church.
(08:35):
Why, god?
You know why is this?
And I can remember standing inthe shower and yelling at God
and afterward I was thinking Ilived in an apartment at the
time and what did my neighborsthink?
But I just unloading that fromme to him because he can take it
(08:56):
, he's not going to crumbleunder that, and so it's okay to
release that to him and that wasa click for me where I
understood he's not going toturn his back on me and I can be
angry with him, right, and it'sstill going to be okay, right,
and he already knows it anyway.
Yes.
Kate (09:13):
Because he sees in my heart, right, right.
So when you speak it, you'realso saying I'm trusting you
with this.
I, when you speak it, you'realso saying I'm trusting you
with this.
I want to share this with you.
I want you to minister to mewhere I am.
Dina (09:28):
Right here it is Now.
Shape me Right, mold me Right.
Yeah, what can I learn fromthis?
Right, the illustration thatGreg used about our friend Chris
in Fremont going through theexperience of having a brain
tumor and then being cancer-free, and then having a brain tumor
(09:51):
and then being cancer-free andnow facing that again, I think
that's something a lot of peoplecould relate to in their life,
whether it's with cancer oranother medical issue, physical
ailment.
You know.
That's, I think, a strugglethat everyone has gone through
(10:11):
or knows they're going to gothrough.
When we talked about, you know,remembering who God is and that
he sees us at those times, like, what did you take away?
You know, how did that storyrelate to you, either on a
personal level or a broaderlevel?
You know about Chris.
Kate (10:30):
Well, like my heart went out to her.
Of course, Um, it's hard enoughto have cancer once, let alone
go into remission battle again,um, and do it all over again.
But I think it makes us addressthis whole.
(10:50):
We know God is good and we knowthere's terrible things that
happen on this earth, and sohumans are always trying to
rectify those two things.
God is good, he's all powerful,Yet these things happen.
How does my brain put that alltogether?
(11:11):
So I think that's why there'sif you search it up, there's
endless sermons and teachingsand books on where is God,
Because it might be the numberone universal question.
I don't know.
It's up there, but I think whatI thought of was in difficult
(11:34):
times in my life.
That's where I drew closest tothe Lord, because I knew there
was no other answer that wasgoing to satisfy my soul.
There was nothing that wouldgive me comfort other than Him,
and so I know God doesn't giveus difficult things, but he uses
(11:55):
them.
So this earth is full ofdifficulty and strife, and the
Lord allowed that when he gaveus free will.
So he, I feel like in Hisgoodness said I'm going to use
this for good.
Yes, and so I feel like fromwhat Pastor Greg told us, Chris
(12:17):
has drawn close to the Lord.
Close to the Lord, you know shehas.
I'm sure I don't know for sure,but I'm sure because of that
she longs for when her body willbe restored.
It makes us long for heavenwhen all the difficulty is done.
And so while we're on thisearth, you know we keep working,
(12:39):
we press on, we draw to God,knowing these difficulties won't
last forever.
Dina (12:44):
So I think it's when we try to carry them on our own
that then we struggle.
But when we fall to our kneesand release them to him is when
we can turn to him and feel hiscomfort and his power and his
kindness.
More example of that in whatJesus experienced in our broken
(13:16):
human world that he was lowly tocome down and suffer for us to
take that away.
I have my very best friend inmy whole life, who lives very
far away now, but she lost achild very early on her
firstborn and she was neverclose to Jesus in her life and
(13:36):
as we got to know each otherbetter and she understood where
my faith was in my life, shesaid to me at one point I think
you would think differently ifyou had ever lost a child.
You can't go through anexperience like that and still
believe that there's a higherpower.
That's gracious.
And my response to her was Ican't imagine going through an
(14:00):
experience like that and notbelieving in a higher power.
That's gracious, because Idon't know where my comfort
would come from and that likeand I mean again, she's still my
best friend and some of ourfaith discussions are the best
things in my memories of ourrelationship, of just her
perspective.
(14:21):
But how hard is that for peoplethat don't have the comfort of
knowing Jesus died for them to,like you said, reconcile that
faith inside of what's happening.
Kate (14:33):
Right.
Dina (14:33):
Yeah, so giving God all of our emotions, the good, the bad
, celebrating with him.
And then Pastor Greg talkedabout even when you can't see
his hand, you can trust hisheart.
How did that speak to you can?
Kate (14:51):
trust his heart.
How did that speak to you?
I think a lot of what wealready talked about we know
(15:19):
God's ways are higher, histhoughts the two.
I don't know how God works thatout when we see him face to
face, but one of those twothings will happen.
I think It'll either all makesense or it won't matter anymore
.
Dina (15:35):
Right, right.
And then Pastor Greg kind ofwrapped up with his balloon
illustration, and if you werenot able to be in our services
at Easter, I encourage you to gowatch him online.
You can do that on the app, onour website, um, on our Facebook
page, and check out.
(15:55):
Uh, because that was all abouthope and I really liked, um how
he talked about.
We fill ourselves up with a lotof things, um, and when those
things are of the earth and ofour own concerns, we drop just
like the balloon that fell tothe ground.
(16:16):
But when we let God fill us, orwhen we focus on his hope and
the hope that he gives us, wefly right up Like it's just hope
.
Is that hope floats?
Isn't that a saying or a movie?
Kate (16:34):
or a book, or something?
Dina (16:37):
Nope, it does.
Hope floats.
So what else is your likelooking at this and we're
jumping into this series?
What are some things thatyou're hoping for or what are
you excited to learn more aboutas we look at Where's God over
the next month?
Kate (16:53):
I just, I hope every week.
I'm trusting that, you know,people who come and worship and
hear the message will just bereminded of God's goodness and
will be courageous to trust inhis true words with each day and
(17:15):
either in a difficult season orpreparing for a difficult
season, that it will beencouragement, that it will be.
You know what gets us throughthose difficult times.
Yeah.
Dina (17:33):
I'm just excited to hear more, because I think that we
focus a lot on how our faithgives us that hope and the
happiness Same thing that jellybeans give you on a much deeper
level.
Kate (17:47):
So much sugary goodness.
Dina (17:49):
But I think that our faith is tested when we're in those
valleys and when we're suffering, or when we're standing there
asking where is God in thisRight?
Kate (18:03):
Or why did God let this happen?
It also opens a door tominister to people who are going
through it.
When you can relate and sayI've walked that path, I can
walk alongside of you now orencourage you.
So God uses it in that way too,yeah so.
Dina (18:27):
I feel like he's a sit-in-the-mud-with-you God.
Oh yeah, you know what I mean.
He's not going to walk by andthrow you something to get out
of the hole.
He's going to come and climb inthe mud with you.
Kate (18:36):
Yeah.
Dina (18:37):
Yeah.
Kate (18:38):
That's a great image.
Dina (18:39):
Talk you into getting up, can do it, or just lift us up
when we need it.
Kate (18:45):
Oh right, Put it all on him.
It's none of our.
Dina (18:47):
Yeah, Well, he is the best encourager, the strongest
encourager, but, yes, at thosetimes where we've got nothing
left, he's holding us up Rightand I, yeah, I'm very thankful
for those times in my life.
Yes, that's been a struggle,but you're right about how we
use those to minister to eachother.
I know for me personally.
(19:08):
I went through a divorceseveral years ago and with my
not like the public at large Iwasn't posting on social media
or anything but with my circleof friends or the people that I
worked with at the time.
I was pretty open about my ownfaults that were contributing to
struggles in my marriage andwhat I was trying to do about
(19:28):
them, and I had countless numberof people come to me and say
thank you for being vulnerable.
I'm looking at my own marriageand how I can prevent things
like this from happening, orwhat I'm doing to contribute to
our growth as a couple, or ourgrowth as a family.
Whereas, again, I talked aboutisolation that it's easy to
(19:51):
isolate yourself when you'resuffering because you think that
no one else is going throughthis, and it is a time when we
can share and learn from eachother.
Or, like you said, I can walkwith you because I've been there
, right, yeah.
And it may be slightly different, but I got you.
Right, yeah, all right.
Any last thoughts before weclose up for Easter week.
Kate (20:16):
I just jotted down.
When Pastor Greg pointed out,when Mary cried outside the tomb
and Jesus called her name, Ijust thought that was so
precious and just.
Mary's faith was precious andin her disbelief and not
(20:38):
understanding, Jesus was rightthere and once he said her name,
she knew it was him.
So it's just that intimacybetween the Lord and his
children.
I just I love that.
That was a big takeaway for me.
Dina (20:55):
Yeah, and like you said, that line that Greg said of God
knows your pain, he knows yourname, right, and his
encouragement at that point wasare you listening for him, right
?
Yeah, that's a great thing.
That's kind of my all right.
Am I listening?
Am I taking time in mysuffering to listen for how
(21:16):
God's working Well?
Thank you so much for beinghere, kate.
We will continue Beyond Sundaynext week, looking at the next
message in this when Is Godseries, and until then, let's
keep living our faith beyondsunday.
Welcome to Beyond Sunday, the King of Kings podcast, where
we explore what we're takingbeyond Sunday from our message
series.
My name is Dena Newsome andtoday with me I have Kate.
Kate (00:16):
Solberg, and I'm the Associate Campus Director at our
Northwest Campus.
Dina (00:20):
Yes, I'm so glad you could be with me today.
You know, I don't know if youknow there was a big holiday on
Sunday.
Yes, there was Easter, andEaster is known for a lot of
candy and sweets, you know,commercially.
Also, this week our nation iscelebrating National Jelly Bean
Day.
Jelly beans when I was growingup were like the Easter candy.
(00:43):
That was like what you put inanything.
Do you have a favorite jellybean flavor?
Kate (00:49):
Yes, the entire bag.
I actually can't buy jellybeans because I will be tempted
to make myself ill by eating allof them, so I love jelly beans.
Dina (01:03):
I like jelly beans.
I wouldn't say they're myfavorite.
Now, okay, here.
Do you like the black ones too?
All of them.
Kate (01:09):
Really Every flavor, okay, okay.
Dina (01:11):
Now are you a fan of, like Bertie Botts beans or those?
What are the ones with all thedifferent flavors that they give
you the little spinner andthere's like oh, the bad flavors
.
Kate (01:21):
Yes, yes, no, I don't want any bad flavors.
No, all of those things?
Dina (01:25):
Yeah.
Why would someone pay for that?
Cause you live for theadventure.
Kate (01:28):
No, I just want good tasting jelly beans in my mouth.
Period.
Dina (01:33):
No adventure with it.
No, okay.
Okay, I'm a big fan of orangejelly beans.
They're my favorite.
I'll pick out the orange ones,yeah.
I don't like the white ones.
Yum, I don't even know whatflavor they are, I don't know.
Happiness, happiness, joy.
It's the fruits of the spirit.
There you go, okay, so goingfrom happiness to suffering.
(01:58):
Our Easter message was talkingabout where is God, and this was
the kickoff to a sermon seriesthat we're starting when is God,
and it'll be the next severalweeks that we're kind of diving
into that, and Pastor GregGriffith led us off today or on
Easter, with talking about howGod sees our suffering and
(02:23):
relating that to the sufferingthat Jesus went through at
Easter.
So what was kind of yourbiggest takeaway from this week
that you're taking beyond Sunday?
Kate (02:34):
I think my biggest takeaway was that Jesus sees our
pain and calls us by name.
Dina (02:42):
I wrote that down too.
Great minds think alike.
Yeah, it is very easy to feelisolated when you're suffering
and to know that other peopleare going through that, but to
know that your Savior knows andsees that Right yeah, definitely
.
Yeah, that's a good one, I think, just the idea of that God sees
(03:09):
our suffering, but we all havethat suffering and maybe there's
periods in our life where we'renot going through something.
That's a real low valley or ourquote unquote suffering is
minor in the respect of thegrand scheme of our lives, but
that there's probably a periodcoming where we're going to have
(03:31):
the loss of a spouse or theloss of a parent, or your kids
moving out or things like that,where you're going to go through
those harder times too.
And for me, a lot of what Gregspoke into just reminded me of
this may not be what I needtoday, but these are great
reminders for when I am in thosevalleys.
Yes, I agree.
(03:52):
So when he started talking, hetalked about we need to remember
when we ask where is God, whoour God is like, that he sees us
, that he's with us, like whenyou think about who our God is,
what are the characteristicsthat stand out to you or what
kinds of things.
Kate (04:14):
I love that God is consistent.
I love when scripture talksabout him being the same
yesterday, today and forever.
Same yesterday, today andforever.
There are surprising things onearth, but God doesn't surprise
us with who he is.
He reveals who he is.
He doesn't change and he isreliable.
(04:36):
We can count on that.
Dina (04:38):
Being able to trust that.
That's a big thing, and whatreally stuck out to me in
talking about where is God, orwho our God is, is that
trustworthy peace.
Yes, there, I think a lot ofhuman earthly suffering comes
from unmet expectations ormisuse of trust, and so that
(05:06):
hurt comes when those earthlysins happen, and God's never
going to do that.
He's never going to be lessthan what we expect and he's
never going to misuse our trust.
One thing that I wrote downthat I really liked that Greg
said was when you don't feel Hispresence, he sees your pain.
When you don't see his power,he sees your heartache.
(05:29):
When you're at your lowest, heisn't high up off somewhere, he
is nearby.
What do you think about?
Kate (05:38):
that I wrote that down too , but my wording was a little
different.
Oh, go ahead.
I know, pastor Greg gives,you've heard it probably four
times here, so I just heard itonce.
But when I listened I heardwhen you are at your lowest, god
is on all sides, which Ithought was awesome too.
Dina (06:03):
Yeah, surrounding you, yes .
Kate (06:04):
With the bubble, yeah, surrounding you.
Dina (06:06):
Yes, with a bubble, yep, yeah, one of the other points
that I really liked that Gregtalked about was that we can be
real with God.
How does that come to light inyour life, like, how do you feel
like you've learned to be realwith God?
Kate (06:21):
Yeah, yeah, that was a great point too, where God, when
Pastor Gregory reminded us howGod can handle all of our
emotions, no matter what emotionwe're feeling, and he pointed
us to Psalm 13, when King Davidcries out, you know how long
will you forget me?
Will you forget me forever?
(06:43):
And I think not.
Everyone realizes God wants usto be honest with Him.
He doesn't want us to attemptto clean ourselves up or cover
up things.
He wants us to be completelyhonest because that is who he is
with us and we are.
(07:04):
Most is the word malleableMm-hmm by the Lord when we give
him all of us and that includesall your emotions good, bad,
ugly, and we know they're In allthose categories.
So, yeah, I liked how he youknow, and God intentionally
included that in the scripturewhen King David was lamenting,
(07:28):
and so that's important toremind ourselves Right, and it
is very different.
Dina (07:33):
I liked how he vocally said it differently, because we
do.
When we read scripture it tendsto be in this nice tone of
voice, because we're readingaloud with our study group or
whatever.
But that anger, that despair,that hurt does come through in
that Right.
We may not always remember thatRight.
(07:53):
Yeah, I grew up thinking in myhead not because anyone ever
told me so that my prayers werepolite.
Oh, you know what I mean, thatI was always asking for things
and thanking for things.
And as I learned more about myrelationship with God, I have
angry prayers.
(08:13):
And I can remember I was 21, 22years old when my mom got cancer
and I was so angry at Godbecause here is this woman who,
in my eyes, had followed him allof her life, had raised three
children to love him, had doneso much for the church.
(08:35):
Why, god?
You know why is this?
And I can remember standing inthe shower and yelling at God
and afterward I was thinking Ilived in an apartment at the
time and what did my neighborsthink?
But I just unloading that fromme to him because he can take it
(08:56):
, he's not going to crumbleunder that, and so it's okay to
release that to him and that wasa click for me where I
understood he's not going toturn his back on me and I can be
angry with him, right, and it'sstill going to be okay, right,
and he already knows it anyway.
Yes.
Kate (09:13):
Because he sees in my heart, right, right.
So when you speak it, you'realso saying I'm trusting you
with this.
I, when you speak it, you'realso saying I'm trusting you
with this.
I want to share this with you.
I want you to minister to mewhere I am.
Dina (09:28):
Right here it is Now.
Shape me Right, mold me Right.
Yeah, what can I learn fromthis?
Right, the illustration thatGreg used about our friend Chris
in Fremont going through theexperience of having a brain
tumor and then being cancer-free, and then having a brain tumor
(09:51):
and then being cancer-free andnow facing that again, I think
that's something a lot of peoplecould relate to in their life,
whether it's with cancer oranother medical issue, physical
ailment.
You know.
That's, I think, a strugglethat everyone has gone through
(10:11):
or knows they're going to gothrough.
When we talked about, you know,remembering who God is and that
he sees us at those times, like, what did you take away?
You know, how did that storyrelate to you, either on a
personal level or a broaderlevel?
You know about Chris.
Kate (10:30):
Well, like my heart went out to her.
Of course, Um, it's hard enoughto have cancer once, let alone
go into remission battle again,um, and do it all over again.
But I think it makes us addressthis whole.
(10:50):
We know God is good and we knowthere's terrible things that
happen on this earth, and sohumans are always trying to
rectify those two things.
God is good, he's all powerful,Yet these things happen.
How does my brain put that alltogether?
(11:11):
So I think that's why there'sif you search it up, there's
endless sermons and teachingsand books on where is God,
Because it might be the numberone universal question.
I don't know.
It's up there, but I think whatI thought of was in difficult
(11:34):
times in my life.
That's where I drew closest tothe Lord, because I knew there
was no other answer that wasgoing to satisfy my soul.
There was nothing that wouldgive me comfort other than Him,
and so I know God doesn't giveus difficult things, but he uses
(11:55):
them.
So this earth is full ofdifficulty and strife, and the
Lord allowed that when he gaveus free will.
So he, I feel like in Hisgoodness said I'm going to use
this for good.
Yes, and so I feel like fromwhat Pastor Greg told us, Chris
(12:17):
has drawn close to the Lord.
Close to the Lord, you know shehas.
I'm sure I don't know for sure,but I'm sure because of that
she longs for when her body willbe restored.
It makes us long for heavenwhen all the difficulty is done.
And so while we're on thisearth, you know we keep working,
(12:39):
we press on, we draw to God,knowing these difficulties won't
last forever.
Dina (12:44):
So I think it's when we try to carry them on our own
that then we struggle.
But when we fall to our kneesand release them to him is when
we can turn to him and feel hiscomfort and his power and his
kindness.
More example of that in whatJesus experienced in our broken
(13:16):
human world that he was lowly tocome down and suffer for us to
take that away.
I have my very best friend inmy whole life, who lives very
far away now, but she lost achild very early on her
firstborn and she was neverclose to Jesus in her life and
(13:36):
as we got to know each otherbetter and she understood where
my faith was in my life, shesaid to me at one point I think
you would think differently ifyou had ever lost a child.
You can't go through anexperience like that and still
believe that there's a higherpower.
That's gracious.
And my response to her was Ican't imagine going through an
(14:00):
experience like that and notbelieving in a higher power.
That's gracious, because Idon't know where my comfort
would come from and that likeand I mean again, she's still my
best friend and some of ourfaith discussions are the best
things in my memories of ourrelationship, of just her
perspective.
(14:21):
But how hard is that for peoplethat don't have the comfort of
knowing Jesus died for them to,like you said, reconcile that
faith inside of what's happening.
Kate (14:33):
Right.
Dina (14:33):
Yeah, so giving God all of our emotions, the good, the bad
, celebrating with him.
And then Pastor Greg talkedabout even when you can't see
his hand, you can trust hisheart.
How did that speak to you can?
Kate (14:51):
trust his heart.
How did that speak to you?
I think a lot of what wealready talked about we know
(15:19):
God's ways are higher, histhoughts the two.
I don't know how God works thatout when we see him face to
face, but one of those twothings will happen.
I think It'll either all makesense or it won't matter anymore
.
Dina (15:35):
Right, right.
And then Pastor Greg kind ofwrapped up with his balloon
illustration, and if you werenot able to be in our services
at Easter, I encourage you to gowatch him online.
You can do that on the app, onour website, um, on our Facebook
page, and check out.
(15:55):
Uh, because that was all abouthope and I really liked, um how
he talked about.
We fill ourselves up with a lotof things, um, and when those
things are of the earth and ofour own concerns, we drop just
like the balloon that fell tothe ground.
(16:16):
But when we let God fill us, orwhen we focus on his hope and
the hope that he gives us, wefly right up Like it's just hope
.
Is that hope floats?
Isn't that a saying or a movie?
Kate (16:34):
or a book, or something?
Dina (16:37):
Nope, it does.
Hope floats.
So what else is your likelooking at this and we're
jumping into this series?
What are some things thatyou're hoping for or what are
you excited to learn more aboutas we look at Where's God over
the next month?
Kate (16:53):
I just, I hope every week.
I'm trusting that, you know,people who come and worship and
hear the message will just bereminded of God's goodness and
will be courageous to trust inhis true words with each day and
(17:15):
either in a difficult season orpreparing for a difficult
season, that it will beencouragement, that it will be.
You know what gets us throughthose difficult times.
Yeah.
Dina (17:33):
I'm just excited to hear more, because I think that we
focus a lot on how our faithgives us that hope and the
happiness Same thing that jellybeans give you on a much deeper
level.
Kate (17:47):
So much sugary goodness.
Dina (17:49):
But I think that our faith is tested when we're in those
valleys and when we're suffering, or when we're standing there
asking where is God in thisRight?
Kate (18:03):
Or why did God let this happen?
It also opens a door tominister to people who are going
through it.
When you can relate and sayI've walked that path, I can
walk alongside of you now orencourage you.
So God uses it in that way too,yeah so.
Dina (18:27):
I feel like he's a sit-in-the-mud-with-you God.
Oh yeah, you know what I mean.
He's not going to walk by andthrow you something to get out
of the hole.
He's going to come and climb inthe mud with you.
Kate (18:36):
Yeah.
Dina (18:37):
Yeah.
Kate (18:38):
That's a great image.
Dina (18:39):
Talk you into getting up, can do it, or just lift us up
when we need it.
Kate (18:45):
Oh right, Put it all on him.
It's none of our.
Dina (18:47):
Yeah, Well, he is the best encourager, the strongest
encourager, but, yes, at thosetimes where we've got nothing
left, he's holding us up Rightand I, yeah, I'm very thankful
for those times in my life.
Yes, that's been a struggle,but you're right about how we
use those to minister to eachother.
I know for me personally.
(19:08):
I went through a divorceseveral years ago and with my
not like the public at large Iwasn't posting on social media
or anything but with my circleof friends or the people that I
worked with at the time.
I was pretty open about my ownfaults that were contributing to
struggles in my marriage andwhat I was trying to do about
(19:28):
them, and I had countless numberof people come to me and say
thank you for being vulnerable.
I'm looking at my own marriageand how I can prevent things
like this from happening, orwhat I'm doing to contribute to
our growth as a couple, or ourgrowth as a family.
Whereas, again, I talked aboutisolation that it's easy to
(19:51):
isolate yourself when you'resuffering because you think that
no one else is going throughthis, and it is a time when we
can share and learn from eachother.
Or, like you said, I can walkwith you because I've been there
, right, yeah.
And it may be slightly different, but I got you.
Right, yeah, all right.
Any last thoughts before weclose up for Easter week.
Kate (20:16):
I just jotted down.
When Pastor Greg pointed out,when Mary cried outside the tomb
and Jesus called her name, Ijust thought that was so
precious and just.
Mary's faith was precious andin her disbelief and not
(20:38):
understanding, Jesus was rightthere and once he said her name,
she knew it was him.
So it's just that intimacybetween the Lord and his
children.
I just I love that.
That was a big takeaway for me.
Dina (20:55):
Yeah, and like you said, that line that Greg said of God
knows your pain, he knows yourname, right, and his
encouragement at that point wasare you listening for him, right
?
Yeah, that's a great thing.
That's kind of my all right.
Am I listening?
Am I taking time in mysuffering to listen for how
(21:16):
God's working Well?
Thank you so much for beinghere, kate.
We will continue Beyond Sundaynext week, looking at the next
message in this when Is Godseries, and until then, let's
keep living our faith beyondsunday.
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