September 24, 2025 • 39 mins
"Can I say with as much confidence as I'd be able to say at the end of [my hardship], when I get to see the positive outcome...that 'in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who've been called according to his purpose. What man intends for evil, God intends for good. And so today, I will walk with him?'"
— Raechel Myers
Today's Episode: Join us as Raechel Myers (cofounder of She Reads Truth) walks us through the story of God and her own story—helping us consider how God is working all things for the good of his people. She shares biblical insights of how God is at work in the lives of his people. She also shares her own story of a time when God walked with her through a really tough year, and how he even worked good out of so much suffering and hardship. She encourages us that he is right there with us in the dark times, often encouraging us through other people. Tune in and be reminded of God's goodness to his people in every season.
This month's memory verse: "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." —Romans 8:28
Today's guest: Raechel Myers is always on the lookout for beauty, goodness, and truth in everyday life. From a puzzle at her kitchen table to the zucchini growing in her garden, Raechel finds reminders of the gospel everywhere. Founder of She Reads Truth, Raechel leads the community out of her deep love of God's Word and the firm conviction that all of Scripture is good news. Raechel lives in Nashville, Tennessee, with her husband and their two children.
Want to go even deeper in this month's verse? Study along with Natalie in the monthly Bible Study Membership. Get the first month FREE with the code: PODCAST.
If you love this show...support it by leaving us a review.
Links from today's show:
- Find out more about Raechel here.
- Check out She Reads Truth and get 20% off with the code: FORYOU20.
- Someone to Believe In: Embracing the Savior Who Stays the Same When Everything Else Changes, by Courtney Reissig
- Made to Tremble: How Anxiety Became the Best Thing That Ever Happened to My Faith, by Blair Linne
- A Place for You: Reframing Christian Womanhood, by Kendra Dahl
- The Sing! Hymnal, from Keith and Kristyn Getty (get it for 30% off with a free Crossway Plus Account)
- Our best-selling Anxious No More Necklace is back in stock!
Follow Natalie & Vera at DwellDifferently.com and @dwelldifferenly.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Okay, fun fact about me.
I have a couple hymnals that Ioccasionally read like poetry,
and I'm very excited to tell youabout this next thing.
There's a new hymnal called TheSing Hymnal.
It's written by Keith andKristen Getty, who are
award-winning hymn writers.
It's a beautiful collection ofboth classical hymns and
contemporary hymns designed todeepen our worship to foster
(00:22):
unity among God's people andproclaim the hope of Jesus.
Alongside those timeless hymns,you're also going to find
liturgical readings and psalmspaired with songs and also
helpful indexes.
Guys, this is a lasting resourcefor individuals, families, and
churches alike.
Not just people like me who liketo read hymns as if they were
poetry.
(00:43):
And you can get your copy atcrossway.org backslash Getty
Hymnal if you want to get it for30% off or else you can get it
wherever books are sold.
We'll have a link in our shownotes so that you can easily get
it.
Hey, welcome back to the DwellDifferently podcast.
(01:04):
I'm Natalie Abbott.
And today we are talking aboutGod's.
Good plans for us.
In Romans 8, 28, which is whatwe're memorizing and focusing on
all month, it says, and we knowthat in all things, God works
for the good of those who lovehim, who have been called
according to his purpose.
(01:25):
It's an awesome verse.
I love it.
It's this big kind of summarystatement of like, this is what
God has for you.
He has this for us and we canknow it.
And I am super pumped to haveRachel Myers on talking Talking
with this verse about me, withme.
Welcome, Rachel.
Oh my word, I'm so happy to behere.
Love this verse.
(01:46):
I'm so excited to chat about it.
Yes, okay, so I asked you on ourpodcast specifically because of
what you do.
You have this passion for God'sword and for women and men
reading God's word and kids andteaching God's word and talking
about it.
And I don't know that all of ourlisteners are gonna be super
familiar, but even if you arefamiliar with what Rachel does,
(02:09):
Can you give us like theelevator speech of like, why do
you do what you do?
I, well, here's what I do andI'll tell you why.
For the last 13 years, I've beenfounder and other capacities
along the way of a Bible readingministry called She Reads Truth.
(02:29):
Our mission is women in the wordof God every day.
Now, yes, before you ask, thereis also a He Reads Truth.
There's also Kids Read Truth,but She Reads Truth was really
the the beginning of what Iwould call a movement of women
towards really just trulyopening their Bibles, believing
for themselves that the Bible isfor them, that they didn't
(02:51):
necessarily have to watch avideo and watch somebody tell
them about scripture or waituntil Sunday and have a pastor
tell them about what they'rereading in scripture.
Those things are valuable.
The pastor part's actuallycritical.
That's important.
And we are so local churchpeople like we just we are like
(03:12):
biblical literacy betweenSundays and then you find
yourself more biblicallyliterate next Sunday than you
were the last right but what wedo is that we're a community of
women all over the world andevery day we're reading
scripture so if you woke uptoday and you were like I have
not read my Bible in nine monthsnine weeks nine years I don't
(03:34):
even know where to start that'sone of the things that we've set
at our community to answer.
That's a problem that we arehere to solve because every day
we're reading scripture.
I don't know what day this airs,so I don't know what we're
reading today, but we're likelyin the book of John or
Revelation because that's what'scoming this fall.
And so if you today were justlike, I want to be a Bible
reader and I want to be in acommunity of Bible readers, then
(03:57):
come on.
SheReadsTruth.com, the She ReadsTruth app, and we're reading the
Bible together.
And our community is like, Ialmost want to call it like one
of the best kept secrets on theinternet.
Like it is like one of theremaining kind spaces where
people from like we're notdenominational not
denominational affiliated umwe're just you know broadly
(04:20):
evangelical um biblically rootedand so people from like all
backgrounds come and they readthe same text and they look at
it from different angles andthey see that like and then they
talk about it and they're kindabout it and yeah and then the
other thing that we do amanda ismy co-founder and so ever Monday
she and I release an episode ofour podcast and we go first like
(04:44):
we read everything the communityis going to read in the week to
come and we go first usuallywith a guest and we just talk
about it we talk about and bytalk about it I mean we our main
goal is model believers talkingabout what they're reading in
scripture so that means askingquestions not having answers
like drawing connectionsencouraging one another finding
(05:06):
that conviction like that likeyeah if If we're not being truly
convicted or reformed in someway when we read scripture over
time, then we might not be trulyengaging with it, right?
Yeah.
2 Timothy 3.16.
Anyway, so that's what we do.
And the way that it came aboutsimply, the short answer is we
(05:30):
were girls who first found forourselves that we needed God's
word.
And that of all of the thingsthat we see in our lives,
they're all passing in a way andthe only thing that isn't going
to pass away is God's word andwe Amanda discovered that in
ways in her own life andlikewise I did and we really
just became girls who onlyintentionally wanted to read the
(05:52):
Bibles for ourselves but wetalked about it just online on
Twitter in 2012 and thatconversation just kind of
sparked a flame and a movementof women going hey I want that
too I want to be a girl whoreads her Bible every day it is
so cool Cool.
I absolutely love what you guysdo.
And I've kind of dipped my toein the water here and again and
(06:14):
done a couple of your Biblereading plans.
And I just really appreciate it.
I appreciate listening to yourpodcast.
And I feel like in some ways,you all are sort of the zoomed
out version of Bible literacy.
I am going to take in the wholeforest.
(06:34):
And what we do is sort of thezoomed in version where it's
like, you're going to to put onelittle leaf under a microscope
and we are going to just dissectit all month long.
We're going to dwell in it.
We're going to consider it.
We're going to see it in itscontext.
We're going to talk to otherpeople about it.
We're going to help people cometo this understanding of a
(06:56):
crucial understanding of likeone little version just to see
what it does in the lives ofpeople.
And it's so fantastic.
I'm sure you have people who arealways coming to you and saying,
oh my gosh, Rachel, I love whatyou guys are doing.
I've grown in this understandingof the Bible that is just so
broad.
And we get the same kind ofthing from people where it's
(07:17):
like, I've grown in this depth.
I've grown in this personal...
When you dwell on one verse, youstart to consider every single
word in that verse.
And you start to think about,okay, well, what does it say
right before that?
What does it say after that?
But the reason I wanted to haveyou here is because I do feel
(07:38):
like this particular verse isthis big Bible concept right it
is it is that God works good forthose who love him and it's this
beautiful promise but I think ifwe just if we just learn those
words and we don't consider likethe context of the whole Bible
right we're gonna miss somethingthat's right and so that's why
(08:01):
I'm so excited to have you hereand also I got this in the mail
yesterday and I just want to doa little plug a little For your
book.
I did.
It is so amazing.
I was an English major incollege, so I am a word girl and
I love actual books and paper.
And it is, I mean, look at howbeautiful.
(08:24):
You have seen it, but I wanteverybody who's watching this
online to see it's every singlebook of the Bible you've taken
out scripture for each chapter.
I should let you say what You'rethe one who did it.
But I'm like, I went through andI'm like, oh my gosh, I read
what you wrote about Romans andI'm currently reading for myself
(08:46):
in 1 Corinthians and I readthat.
It has like the scriptureitself, other related
scriptures, and then an awesomelittle devotional to be like,
hey, this is what this is about.
Yeah, those are ancient wordsand the Bible is for you today.
Like that actually does connectto your life right now.
Here's one example of how itconnects.
(09:07):
And honestly, like, this is thekind of book that I'm like, I
would pick this up and be like,I have to have that.
I don't even know what's in it,but it's just that gorgeous.
It's amazing.
It's so pretty.
I love it.
They did such a great job withthis.
I'm like, who makes books likethis?
This is like, it's like you cansee the like, you know, that's
like stitched together.
It's just fine.
(09:28):
It lays flat.
It lays perfectly flat withouthaving to do a spiral, which
feels like a big deal.
Yeah.
And then it's yellow, like thatyellow binding.
It's like it's to mimic like ahighlighter like engaging with
scripture like and so you seethe highlighter inside too just
that like hey we're digging inwe're actually scripture is for
us let's dig into it I'm soexcited so we'll have links for
(09:51):
you guys in this so that you canget your own copy and so all of
that kind of this is all theprecursor of the actual
conversation where I really wantto dive into this verse and talk
about it but I'm trying to laythe groundwork here for like if
you spent time reading yourBible, if you spend time knowing
God's word and looking at it inits context, now we get to zoom
(10:14):
back in and be like, okay, thisis what this is saying.
Let's study this.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, what y'all are doing,you're kind of just like
rehearsing the trivium.
Are you familiar with thetrivium?
I thought you said trivia for asecond.
I'm like, what is that?
And you're like, I'm going tosmile and laugh and go ahead
with this, but what is that?
(10:36):
This is maybe like...
So cuckoo.
So in classical education, likemy kids went to a classical
elementary school and theapproach to teaching is the
trivium.
And it would be grammar, logic,rhetoric.
And that really is like looselylike grammar school, middle
school, high school.
But it is like who, what, where,when, and then why and how.
(10:59):
And another way to say it is...
And what you're doing, and thisis why I think it connects kind
of because at first reading,let's say of Romans 8, 28, just
what does it say, right?
And over time in our like, justfundamentally, we never stop
hopefully being in the grammarstage of learning where we're
(11:19):
just kind of like, if we're inBible study, new name, new
place, new timeline, like justthat information, right?
But then in the logic stage,like as we engage with it and
like go deeper, like you said,we're starting to to talk to
people about it or ask questionsor draw connections or go like,
hey, that actually fulfills thisprophecy or that's a connection
(11:42):
that I've seen somewhere else inscripture.
So you're going to logic alittle bit more there, which is
what I imagine you've been doingin Romans 8, 28.
Like in all things, God works tothe good of those who love him
who have been called accordingto his purpose.
Okay, like where can I see thatin scripture?
And then you get to the rhetoricstage, which is the wisdom
(12:02):
stage.
And it's the like, I actuallylive differently because of the
information that I read and theconnections that I made.
Now I'm a different person,right?
I love that.
You take people through thatevery time you go, let's dig
deep on this one.
What does it say?
What are we learning from it?
And how are we now different?
(12:24):
That's so good.
Okay, so let's jump in then to aspecific verse because I think
if this is one of these bigpicture statements, right?
We know that in all things, Godworks for good for those who
love him and who have beencalled according to his purpose.
If that's the big pictureconcept, then won't we see this
(12:45):
in the Bible?
So can you give us an example ofhow we see this principle of God
working for good in the Bibleand for his people?
Everywhere.
I didn't prepare for thisquestion, and yet the first
person that comes to mind, thefirst story would probably be
Ruth like I just think about howtragically that story opens it's
(13:10):
Naomi and Ruth and it's Naomi'shusband and her two sons married
to Orpah and Ruth and all theguys die like the protection of
the like everything goestopsy-turvy and um and it's just
it's All they can see in frontof them is exposure, isolation,
(13:33):
hunger, like there's a famine,right?
And it doesn't feel like goodthings are happening.
And so you ask, where do we seethat to be true in scripture?
But we have the benefit ofknowing the whole of that story.
And it's a long story becausenot only does Ruth eventually
meet Boaz and he becomes thefamily redeemer and he marries
(13:56):
her, but we know that they havethey have baby Obed right Obed
they have Obed right yeah andthen Obed has Jesse and Jesse
has David and what I love aboutthat story is who Boaz's mom is
Boaz's mom is Rahab like theselike really hard stories like
(14:19):
Rahab's story of justdesperation right like even like
in her life choices where shewas the The Bible describes her
as a prostitute.
And I think it would be fair towonder if probably she came to
that profession not out of justeagerness to go on in the world,
(14:39):
but out of desperation for whather options were.
And then you look at Rahab, andyou look at Ruth, and Naomi, and
you just see these stories cometogether.
And they are this beautifuldelta of the family line of
Jesus, the Redeemer, both as ourfamily redeemer in Ruth is in
(15:01):
the family line of David and ofJesus.
And so when I think about whenall things...
Work together for the good ofthose who love him, who have
been called according to hispurpose.
Like, I don't know.
I feel like that's a realDarkest Before Dawn kind of a
story that encourages me.
Yeah.
(15:21):
I couldn't have seen thatcoming.
And they didn't even, you know,Natalie, they didn't get to see
the whole story.
They got a little bit of aglimpse of the restoration of
the good, but they didn't knowthat Jesus was going to come
from their line.
At least they didn't know forsure that, right?
Yeah.
I don't know.
I just think that encourages meto be okay with not knowing the
(15:44):
full ending because the work issuch a trickle down of the work
of the Lord.
I don't know.
What do you think?
Who do you think of?
Oh, you know, I think aboutJoseph and his brothers sell him
into slavery and then he getswrongly accused and then he ends
up in prison and then he ends upsomehow just like there's a And
(16:07):
somebody's like, oh, yeah,Joseph, he knows how to
interpret dreams.
And then he interprets the dreamor the Pharaoh.
And he ends up being like secondin command.
And there's this famine.
And we're talking like years andyears and years and years.
And all of a sudden, hisbrothers, his 10 of his
brothers, 10 of the 11, come toseek food from him.
(16:29):
And he's like, oh, these are theguys.
Those are my brothers.
And he's heartbroken, right?
Because he's like, they...
What they did for me was justdevastating.
So he ends up, long story short,providing for them food.
They don't even recognize him.
They have no idea that this iswho this is.
And he finally reveals himselfto them.
(16:52):
And it's, I think, honestly, thesaddest part of the whole story.
So they all come, and they cometo Egypt, and they're living in
Egypt, and he's providing forall of them.
And his father dies, and hisbrothers come to him.
And they're like, now he's goingto get us.
And he's just heartbrokenbecause he's like, no, I have
(17:14):
forgiven you and what youintended for evil, God intended
for good and for the saving ofhis people.
And to me, that is just such abeautiful story of God's Right.
(17:58):
And in your lives and in thelives of so many people, like, I
mean, what a beautiful pictureof the redemption of God, you
know?
Joseph is such a perfect exampleof that.
Like, just truly, I lovethinking about that because it
is a long play, isn't it?
It's so long.
And it so often is.
(18:21):
What do you do when the thingsthat once held your faith
together start to fall apart?
When your leaders fail, yourdoubts grow louder, or someone
you love walks away from Jesus?
In Someone to Believe In, Bibleteacher Courtney Reisig shares
her own story of deep hurt andhonest questions and how Jesus
met her right there in themiddle of it all.
(18:42):
Through powerful moments in theGospel of John, she shows how
even when everything feelsunstable, Jesus never changes.
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So if you're feeling weary,disappointed, or unsure where to
turn, this book is for you.
Grab your copy atsomeonetobelievein.com and
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We'll have the link in our shownotes.
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And in her new book, Made toTremble, she shares her journey
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Like many of us, she wanted totrust in God, but she didn't
(19:24):
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Guys, this isn't a story full ofquick fixes or simple answers.
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You can get a copy atmadetotremble.com and discover
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book.
Yeah.
So, like, I think that's one ofthe things that when we read our
Bibles, though, you know, we arereading, I mean, how many
(20:08):
chapters is Ruth's story?
Like six?
Four?
It's short.
Yeah.
It's like you can read it in onesitting, right?
Yes, absolutely.
This is her whole story, herwhole life.
And you go from devastation torestoration and redemption in
just a few short pages.
(20:28):
And yet Ruth lived that life.
Like she lived in the midst ofthat.
And so I guess that's myquestion is like, if you put
yourself in Joseph's shoes or ifyou put yourself in Ruth's
shoes, how does a verse likethis or this concept of like God
is going to work this for goodspeak to you in that kind of a
(20:51):
moment?
I'm thinking as we're talkingabout this, both of those
stories are set on the backdropof famine.
Yeah.
Isn't that interesting?
Like that just both of them setand everything we know about God
and like those like through linethemes of scripture.
I know this doesn't answer yourquestion, but I'm just thinking
about it a lot.
Like just that manna, that like,that the bread is like that
(21:14):
source of life, that thing thatyou gotta have every day.
And they were both in a seasonof physical famine.
Right.
And, and somehow they, physicalfamine did not keep them from
spiritual famine or fromspiritual feasting like they
walked with the lord they walkedwith the lord even in their
(21:37):
hunger even in their and theirpain that's just interesting to
me and that's not the questionthat you asked me will you ask
it again i'm so sorry i'm justlike processing that no i this
is great i this so kind of goingback to what you said at the
beginning though it's like whenyou're having these discussions
about scripture like this iswhat a bible study is supposed
to look like like if you'relistening this conversation and
(21:57):
you're like, I want that.
Read the Bible with somebody andtalk about it.
This is how we do it.
That's all you do in real time.
This is what we're doing.
Just like a book club.
It is just like a book club,except for the Holy Spirit.
It changes your life.
Absolutely.
100%.
Yeah.
There's another level to itwhere it's like, I read that
book.
It was really great.
But it's like, I read that book.
(22:18):
It was really great.
Oh my gosh, God is using that.
I met the author.
UNKNOWN (22:22):
Yes.
SPEAKER_00 (22:22):
Yes.
Which as an author, I'm like,well, that feels like Even
still, it's a little, themetaphor falls apart eventually,
(22:45):
doesn't it?
right?
These like long novels aboutlike a biblical fiction kind of
book.
Like if someone wrote the storyof Ruth, which I'm sure probably
somebody has, and you read that,it's going to be 400 pages
(23:06):
instead of four chapters, right?
And so it's going to take youthrough that story and kind of
elaborate on it and embellishand everything.
But the idea is there is like,what does a verse like this or
concept like this?
I mean, like even for Joseph,when he's talking about his life
experience to be like what youintended for evil God intended
(23:28):
for good and for the saving ofmany lives like that thought had
to be something that was deep inhim from that experience like he
has synthesized all of what he'sgone through and all of the
trials and all of the troubleand said God is the one who
saves God is the one who is goodand he intended even this for
(23:51):
good so like how does I meanbecause Ruth and Joseph unlike
us They don't have this versebecause this is a New Testament
verse.
But this concept of God'sgoodness in the moment, in the
gritty, in the my husband died,my brother-in-law died, my
father-in-law died, I amexposed.
I am without help in the world.
(24:13):
And my mother-in-law has renamedherself bitter.
Right.
She literally renames herselfbitter and is like, just leave
me.
I'm out.
Yes.
So How does this concept, Iguess, kind of working from
these logical connections to theapplication of the verse?
(24:36):
But what did lunch look like,right?
Yeah.
Because you think about, I mean,Joseph, for example, he said
that in what, chapter 50, verse20 of a 50-chapter book?
Yeah, it is at the way, way end.
At the very, very, very end.
I might be wrong on the address,but it's right in that zone.
It's right over there, yeah.
(24:57):
But my question is, and I thinkmaybe I could guess at the
answer, is did he say to himselfwhen they threw him in the pit,
they mean this for evil, but Godintends it for good?
Because it's a statement oftrust and glory on the back end,
but in the middle of it, it's astatement of faith.
(25:18):
It's a white knuckle.
I do not know.
We get him saying it when hekind of sees the– the end of the
rainbow of the story arc, right?
Right, yeah.
He's able to reflect and say,and I wonder if he didn't also,
and my guess is that he did insome way or another in prison,
(25:39):
in the pit, in Potiphar's house,if he didn't also say because he
knew who Yahweh was and heunderstood that Yahweh was
faithful.
If through even in the middle ofthe story arc or the story arc
that kind of goes down.
Yeah, yeah.
if he wasn't able to futurehope, say, what man is currently
(26:05):
intending for evil, God isactively using for good in ways
that I will one day see in waysthat I will never see.
And so when you talk about likewhat that looked like for Joseph
or like what that looks like forme, right?
Yeah, yeah.
What that looks like for you ofjust like in the middle, can I
say with as much confidence asI'd be able to say at the end of
(26:28):
it when I get to see thepositive outcome or the like,
oh, I see what you did there.
God.
Can I right now in the middle ofit go...
In all things, God works for thegood of those who love him who
have been called according tohis purpose.
What man intends for evil, Godintends for good.
And so today, I will walk withhim.
(26:50):
I just want to let that hangthere for a second.
That's what I want to be true ofme, and it's not always, right?
Yeah.
And I think that that's whatRomans 8.28 is reminding us.
It's, and we know, right?
Like, hey, you know this.
If you are walking with Jesus,and we We know.
It shouldn't be new information.
(27:11):
If you have been walking withthe Lord, if you've been in
scripture, you see thesestories.
You should have evidence ofthis.
And so why are we not in ourrhetoric of understanding this?
Are we living in the middle ofthe story like we will be able
to live at the end of the story?
It's victory, people.
(27:32):
Yeah, because we know the end ofthe story.
We do.
We know the end of this versealludes to it.
Yes, in all things.
It's just the good.
There's good in the middle, butthe good is coming, and it's
promised, and it's secure forthose who love him and walk
according to his purpose.
Well, and I think about, too,the verses that are directly
(27:55):
above this verse in the text.
It's talking about how we don'teven know what to pray for.
It talks about how all creationis groaning and how we endure
the suffering.
And sometimes we are so like,Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
(28:17):
Yeah.
Yeah.
(28:40):
I'm groaning.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And we're supposed to.
And we're supposed to.
Because it's not all okay.
Yeah.
Like that creation itself isgroaning for the redemption of
God's people and for his return.
Like if we are groaning, if theHoly Spirit who is in us is also
(29:02):
groaning with us.
And we grieve or groan as thosewho have hope.
Like that's the differencebetween us and the world, for
lack of a better way to put it.
We grieve and groan not as thosewho have no hope.
It's not Pollyanna, but I betit's perceived as Pollyanna.
(29:26):
It's an ignorant, it's a naive,everything's going to be fine,
or I'm maybe just refusing totune into what's real and what's
hard.
I'm just putting my head in thesand covering my eyes.
And that's not what we're calledto do.
That's not even what we have todo.
(29:46):
We don't have to do that becausewe have this firm hope, this
anchor for our souls, right?
It doesn't change like theshifting shadows.
It doesn't go.
It's firm.
I just like mishmashed a bunchof Hebrews just then.
No, I heard it.
I was hearing all of it.
(30:09):
I love when I talk to people whoare like speaking God's word
back to me.
I'm like, yes, I hear it inthere.
It's so true.
It's so true.
And so I guess one question Ithink application wise, well,
two questions.
One is, have you ever been in aplace where you you have felt
(30:31):
like you're in that space oflike, I don't know.
I don't know how this is goingto turn out.
And how did God meet you in thatmoment?
And maybe even grow your faithin your not knowing.
Because I think sometimes it'sthe hard times, it's the not
knowing.
And then have you ever alsogotten a glimpse, like a peek
(30:52):
behind the curtain of like, oh,this is how God was at work.
And I see it and it's beautiful.
And it was hard and I don't wantto do it again, but this is how
I saw him do it.
The story that comes to mind isonly partly mine.
So I have to like, kind of likebe careful the way I tell this
story because it's our family'sstory.
(31:13):
But last year on this time, wejust kind of walked through
something deeply heartbreakingand unjust with our son and in
his senior year and justsomething like a, A real, like,
are you okay with people beingwrong about you kind of a deal.
(31:35):
And it hurt our mom and dad gutsto watch what happened happen
and really just to watch himhurt.
And in the midst of it, we hadpeople who loved us so well and
(31:56):
who would just pray for us andjust like, it was a pretty big
deal.
And I remember one friend voicememoed me and she said, you
know, something just like, I'mjust like, I'm praying for you
all.
I love you.
And I just keep wondering ifthis isn't the greatest
protection.
(32:16):
Like what feels like somethingthat's just awful.
If there's just some way thatthe Lord's actually providing
and protecting for your family.
And I was just like, well, Idon't see, I can't see.
Seeing that and I hear you andyou're able to see things a
little more objectively rightnow.
I don't know how this could betrue.
And, you know, here we are ayear later on the other side of
(32:39):
that.
And I can go.
he was protecting us and he wasprotecting our son.
And we didn't know.
And he was really kind ofpreparing him in ways that you
never want to watch your kidsstruggle.
But the way that the Lorddemonstrated his nearness to us
(33:01):
and to our son, the way that heprovided and protected for him
in that season and really justtaught us together how to rely
deeply and daily on the grace ofAnd I'm sorry, it feels like
mysterious to be like, and thatwas the story, but it's true.
You know, that's why I'm saying,like, it's not fully my story.
I can't really share all of thatexcept to say that even a year
(33:25):
later, I can look at that andjust go, she was right.
Like, that's what the Lord wasdoing.
And I didn't, I couldn't see it.
But every day, my husband, Ryan,and I, we, through the whole
thing, we prayed that what washappening would be, like, we
prayed the New Testament.
Yeah.
Just like that suffering wouldproduce perseverance, that it
(33:47):
would produce character, that itwould produce hope in us, in our
kid.
And we just prayed God'spromises back to him.
Like, okay, we're suffering.
Make us people who areperseverers.
Give us character out of this.
The reward we're looking forisn't vindication.
We're just looking forcharacter.
(34:08):
We want you to make us more likeyou.
And would you give us hope outof all of this?
And that was our prayer.
And he was absolutely faithfulin the things that he had
already promised.
That is so beautiful and hardand hard.
Parenting is hard.
Like you just kind of go, Iwould rather take that for
myself.
Can all of this be happening tome?
(34:30):
How many times have I prayedthat actually for my kids?
I'm like, Lord, let it be on me.
Let it be me that has to gothrough this hard thing.
SPEAKER_01 (34:38):
And
SPEAKER_00 (34:39):
you know, it's funny.
I had somebody share with me.
I was going through a reallyhard thing with one of my kids
and somebody said, well, you cannever protect your kid from
their testimony.
And I was like, oh, yeah, thereyou are.
(34:59):
Because then they get to sayRomans 8, 28, and I know that in
all things, God works.
It's not just like y'all know.
Or my parents know.
My parents know, or I've heardit said.
Our scripture says they have toearn it.
And that's the earning it.
It's that I know that in allthings, because I've seen it for
(35:21):
myself with my own eyes and myown life.
And I never would have known Godto be that near had I been that
alone.
Wow.
Rachel, this has been such agood conversation.
I have other thoughts and otherquestions, but I'm going to
honor your time and the time ofour listeners.
I just appreciate so much yourwillingness to come and talk
(35:44):
about this first and kind of gothrough all of the steps.
I feel like I need a title thisepisode, like how to study the
Bible with someone.
With a friend.
With a friend.
Yes.
Do this.
So those of you who arelistening at home, do this.
This is easy.
It's something you can do.
Do it with She Reads Truth.
(36:05):
Listen to their podcast.
Allow them to have thatconversation, but do that
conversation with somebody elsetoo.
That's right.
My husband and I Ben's a pastor.
I've been in the church forever.
We do lots of Bible studies andwhatnot.
And there is something that justhappens where God's word just
comes alive when you talk aboutit with other people.
(36:25):
And it's like, there are storieslike you shared about Ruth.
And I'm like, I would have neverthought of Ruth.
That's a great answer.
And then I get to hear why.
And so it just will open up foryou the Bible, which is God
himself talking to us.
Well, Natalie, I love what youare doing.
I love like the mission and thedrive and the heart of what you
(36:46):
all are doing.
I was just talking with someonethis morning about Bible
memorization and methods andjust thinking like, well, does
it like they're doing it andthey're doing it so well in a
faithful way, like trulyfaithful in a way that just
draws people into God's word,not just to read it, but to
really like know it and thenlive it.
(37:09):
So keep going.
I encourage you.
I'm so thankful for you.
likewise likewise sister you'redoing awesome work over there
and again you guys have got toget you got to get your hands on
this book this is just the mostlovely thing she is amazing
she's a new little tiny baby andyeah you just need to get her
okay well thank you rachel havea great rest of your day i
(37:31):
really appreciate you guys wewill have all the links in the
show notes so that you can getyour own book you can follow she
reads truth you can find outmore about rachel and her sweet
son who just went to college sojust went to college Yeah.
Just flew the nest.
All right.
Thanks, Rachel.
UNKNOWN (37:48):
Bye.
SPEAKER_00 (37:49):
Do you ever feel pulled in different directions
by all the voices inside andoutside the church about what it
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That's why Kendra Dahl wrote APlace for You.
In this book, she offers abiblical framework for women's
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With honesty and conviction, sheinvites women to embrace the
(38:10):
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Nancy Guthrie, who I greatlyadmire, said it best.
Finally, I've been waiting for abook about what it means to be a
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Guys, we all long to be valued,understood, and to contribute in
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Find your copy atmoodypublishers.com We'll have a
(38:52):
link in our show notes for you.
Okay, fun fact about me.
I have a couple hymnals that Ioccasionally read like poetry,
and I'm very excited to tell youabout this next thing.
There's a new hymnal called TheSing Hymnal.
It's written by Keith andKristen Getty, who are
award-winning hymn writers.
It's a beautiful collection ofboth classical hymns and
contemporary hymns designed todeepen our worship to foster
(00:22):
unity among God's people andproclaim the hope of Jesus.
Alongside those timeless hymns,you're also going to find
liturgical readings and psalmspaired with songs and also
helpful indexes.
Guys, this is a lasting resourcefor individuals, families, and
churches alike.
Not just people like me who liketo read hymns as if they were
poetry.
(00:43):
And you can get your copy atcrossway.org backslash Getty
Hymnal if you want to get it for30% off or else you can get it
wherever books are sold.
We'll have a link in our shownotes so that you can easily get
it.
Hey, welcome back to the DwellDifferently podcast.
(01:04):
I'm Natalie Abbott.
And today we are talking aboutGod's.
Good plans for us.
In Romans 8, 28, which is whatwe're memorizing and focusing on
all month, it says, and we knowthat in all things, God works
for the good of those who lovehim, who have been called
according to his purpose.
(01:25):
It's an awesome verse.
I love it.
It's this big kind of summarystatement of like, this is what
God has for you.
He has this for us and we canknow it.
And I am super pumped to haveRachel Myers on talking Talking
with this verse about me, withme.
Welcome, Rachel.
Oh my word, I'm so happy to behere.
Love this verse.
(01:46):
I'm so excited to chat about it.
Yes, okay, so I asked you on ourpodcast specifically because of
what you do.
You have this passion for God'sword and for women and men
reading God's word and kids andteaching God's word and talking
about it.
And I don't know that all of ourlisteners are gonna be super
familiar, but even if you arefamiliar with what Rachel does,
(02:09):
Can you give us like theelevator speech of like, why do
you do what you do?
I, well, here's what I do andI'll tell you why.
For the last 13 years, I've beenfounder and other capacities
along the way of a Bible readingministry called She Reads Truth.
(02:29):
Our mission is women in the wordof God every day.
Now, yes, before you ask, thereis also a He Reads Truth.
There's also Kids Read Truth,but She Reads Truth was really
the the beginning of what Iwould call a movement of women
towards really just trulyopening their Bibles, believing
for themselves that the Bible isfor them, that they didn't
(02:51):
necessarily have to watch avideo and watch somebody tell
them about scripture or waituntil Sunday and have a pastor
tell them about what they'rereading in scripture.
Those things are valuable.
The pastor part's actuallycritical.
That's important.
And we are so local churchpeople like we just we are like
(03:12):
biblical literacy betweenSundays and then you find
yourself more biblicallyliterate next Sunday than you
were the last right but what wedo is that we're a community of
women all over the world andevery day we're reading
scripture so if you woke uptoday and you were like I have
not read my Bible in nine monthsnine weeks nine years I don't
(03:34):
even know where to start that'sone of the things that we've set
at our community to answer.
That's a problem that we arehere to solve because every day
we're reading scripture.
I don't know what day this airs,so I don't know what we're
reading today, but we're likelyin the book of John or
Revelation because that's what'scoming this fall.
And so if you today were justlike, I want to be a Bible
reader and I want to be in acommunity of Bible readers, then
(03:57):
come on.
SheReadsTruth.com, the She ReadsTruth app, and we're reading the
Bible together.
And our community is like, Ialmost want to call it like one
of the best kept secrets on theinternet.
Like it is like one of theremaining kind spaces where
people from like we're notdenominational not
denominational affiliated umwe're just you know broadly
(04:20):
evangelical um biblically rootedand so people from like all
backgrounds come and they readthe same text and they look at
it from different angles andthey see that like and then they
talk about it and they're kindabout it and yeah and then the
other thing that we do amanda ismy co-founder and so ever Monday
she and I release an episode ofour podcast and we go first like
(04:44):
we read everything the communityis going to read in the week to
come and we go first usuallywith a guest and we just talk
about it we talk about and bytalk about it I mean we our main
goal is model believers talkingabout what they're reading in
scripture so that means askingquestions not having answers
like drawing connectionsencouraging one another finding
(05:06):
that conviction like that likeyeah if If we're not being truly
convicted or reformed in someway when we read scripture over
time, then we might not be trulyengaging with it, right?
Yeah.
2 Timothy 3.16.
Anyway, so that's what we do.
And the way that it came aboutsimply, the short answer is we
(05:30):
were girls who first found forourselves that we needed God's
word.
And that of all of the thingsthat we see in our lives,
they're all passing in a way andthe only thing that isn't going
to pass away is God's word andwe Amanda discovered that in
ways in her own life andlikewise I did and we really
just became girls who onlyintentionally wanted to read the
(05:52):
Bibles for ourselves but wetalked about it just online on
Twitter in 2012 and thatconversation just kind of
sparked a flame and a movementof women going hey I want that
too I want to be a girl whoreads her Bible every day it is
so cool Cool.
I absolutely love what you guysdo.
And I've kind of dipped my toein the water here and again and
(06:14):
done a couple of your Biblereading plans.
And I just really appreciate it.
I appreciate listening to yourpodcast.
And I feel like in some ways,you all are sort of the zoomed
out version of Bible literacy.
I am going to take in the wholeforest.
(06:34):
And what we do is sort of thezoomed in version where it's
like, you're going to to put onelittle leaf under a microscope
and we are going to just dissectit all month long.
We're going to dwell in it.
We're going to consider it.
We're going to see it in itscontext.
We're going to talk to otherpeople about it.
We're going to help people cometo this understanding of a
(06:56):
crucial understanding of likeone little version just to see
what it does in the lives ofpeople.
And it's so fantastic.
I'm sure you have people who arealways coming to you and saying,
oh my gosh, Rachel, I love whatyou guys are doing.
I've grown in this understandingof the Bible that is just so
broad.
And we get the same kind ofthing from people where it's
(07:17):
like, I've grown in this depth.
I've grown in this personal...
When you dwell on one verse, youstart to consider every single
word in that verse.
And you start to think about,okay, well, what does it say
right before that?
What does it say after that?
But the reason I wanted to haveyou here is because I do feel
(07:38):
like this particular verse isthis big Bible concept right it
is it is that God works good forthose who love him and it's this
beautiful promise but I think ifwe just if we just learn those
words and we don't consider likethe context of the whole Bible
right we're gonna miss somethingthat's right and so that's why
(08:01):
I'm so excited to have you hereand also I got this in the mail
yesterday and I just want to doa little plug a little For your
book.
I did.
It is so amazing.
I was an English major incollege, so I am a word girl and
I love actual books and paper.
And it is, I mean, look at howbeautiful.
(08:24):
You have seen it, but I wanteverybody who's watching this
online to see it's every singlebook of the Bible you've taken
out scripture for each chapter.
I should let you say what You'rethe one who did it.
But I'm like, I went through andI'm like, oh my gosh, I read
what you wrote about Romans andI'm currently reading for myself
(08:46):
in 1 Corinthians and I readthat.
It has like the scriptureitself, other related
scriptures, and then an awesomelittle devotional to be like,
hey, this is what this is about.
Yeah, those are ancient wordsand the Bible is for you today.
Like that actually does connectto your life right now.
Here's one example of how itconnects.
(09:07):
And honestly, like, this is thekind of book that I'm like, I
would pick this up and be like,I have to have that.
I don't even know what's in it,but it's just that gorgeous.
It's amazing.
It's so pretty.
I love it.
They did such a great job withthis.
I'm like, who makes books likethis?
This is like, it's like you cansee the like, you know, that's
like stitched together.
It's just fine.
(09:28):
It lays flat.
It lays perfectly flat withouthaving to do a spiral, which
feels like a big deal.
Yeah.
And then it's yellow, like thatyellow binding.
It's like it's to mimic like ahighlighter like engaging with
scripture like and so you seethe highlighter inside too just
that like hey we're digging inwe're actually scripture is for
us let's dig into it I'm soexcited so we'll have links for
(09:51):
you guys in this so that you canget your own copy and so all of
that kind of this is all theprecursor of the actual
conversation where I really wantto dive into this verse and talk
about it but I'm trying to laythe groundwork here for like if
you spent time reading yourBible, if you spend time knowing
God's word and looking at it inits context, now we get to zoom
(10:14):
back in and be like, okay, thisis what this is saying.
Let's study this.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, what y'all are doing,you're kind of just like
rehearsing the trivium.
Are you familiar with thetrivium?
I thought you said trivia for asecond.
I'm like, what is that?
And you're like, I'm going tosmile and laugh and go ahead
with this, but what is that?
(10:36):
This is maybe like...
So cuckoo.
So in classical education, likemy kids went to a classical
elementary school and theapproach to teaching is the
trivium.
And it would be grammar, logic,rhetoric.
And that really is like looselylike grammar school, middle
school, high school.
But it is like who, what, where,when, and then why and how.
(10:59):
And another way to say it is...
And what you're doing, and thisis why I think it connects kind
of because at first reading,let's say of Romans 8, 28, just
what does it say, right?
And over time in our like, justfundamentally, we never stop
hopefully being in the grammarstage of learning where we're
(11:19):
just kind of like, if we're inBible study, new name, new
place, new timeline, like justthat information, right?
But then in the logic stage,like as we engage with it and
like go deeper, like you said,we're starting to to talk to
people about it or ask questionsor draw connections or go like,
hey, that actually fulfills thisprophecy or that's a connection
(11:42):
that I've seen somewhere else inscripture.
So you're going to logic alittle bit more there, which is
what I imagine you've been doingin Romans 8, 28.
Like in all things, God works tothe good of those who love him
who have been called accordingto his purpose.
Okay, like where can I see thatin scripture?
And then you get to the rhetoricstage, which is the wisdom
(12:02):
stage.
And it's the like, I actuallylive differently because of the
information that I read and theconnections that I made.
Now I'm a different person,right?
I love that.
You take people through thatevery time you go, let's dig
deep on this one.
What does it say?
What are we learning from it?
And how are we now different?
(12:24):
That's so good.
Okay, so let's jump in then to aspecific verse because I think
if this is one of these bigpicture statements, right?
We know that in all things, Godworks for good for those who
love him and who have beencalled according to his purpose.
If that's the big pictureconcept, then won't we see this
(12:45):
in the Bible?
So can you give us an example ofhow we see this principle of God
working for good in the Bibleand for his people?
Everywhere.
I didn't prepare for thisquestion, and yet the first
person that comes to mind, thefirst story would probably be
Ruth like I just think about howtragically that story opens it's
(13:10):
Naomi and Ruth and it's Naomi'shusband and her two sons married
to Orpah and Ruth and all theguys die like the protection of
the like everything goestopsy-turvy and um and it's just
it's All they can see in frontof them is exposure, isolation,
(13:33):
hunger, like there's a famine,right?
And it doesn't feel like goodthings are happening.
And so you ask, where do we seethat to be true in scripture?
But we have the benefit ofknowing the whole of that story.
And it's a long story becausenot only does Ruth eventually
meet Boaz and he becomes thefamily redeemer and he marries
(13:56):
her, but we know that they havethey have baby Obed right Obed
they have Obed right yeah andthen Obed has Jesse and Jesse
has David and what I love aboutthat story is who Boaz's mom is
Boaz's mom is Rahab like theselike really hard stories like
(14:19):
Rahab's story of justdesperation right like even like
in her life choices where shewas the The Bible describes her
as a prostitute.
And I think it would be fair towonder if probably she came to
that profession not out of justeagerness to go on in the world,
(14:39):
but out of desperation for whather options were.
And then you look at Rahab, andyou look at Ruth, and Naomi, and
you just see these stories cometogether.
And they are this beautifuldelta of the family line of
Jesus, the Redeemer, both as ourfamily redeemer in Ruth is in
(15:01):
the family line of David and ofJesus.
And so when I think about whenall things...
Work together for the good ofthose who love him, who have
been called according to hispurpose.
Like, I don't know.
I feel like that's a realDarkest Before Dawn kind of a
story that encourages me.
Yeah.
(15:21):
I couldn't have seen thatcoming.
And they didn't even, you know,Natalie, they didn't get to see
the whole story.
They got a little bit of aglimpse of the restoration of
the good, but they didn't knowthat Jesus was going to come
from their line.
At least they didn't know forsure that, right?
Yeah.
I don't know.
I just think that encourages meto be okay with not knowing the
(15:44):
full ending because the work issuch a trickle down of the work
of the Lord.
I don't know.
What do you think?
Who do you think of?
Oh, you know, I think aboutJoseph and his brothers sell him
into slavery and then he getswrongly accused and then he ends
up in prison and then he ends upsomehow just like there's a And
(16:07):
somebody's like, oh, yeah,Joseph, he knows how to
interpret dreams.
And then he interprets the dreamor the Pharaoh.
And he ends up being like secondin command.
And there's this famine.
And we're talking like years andyears and years and years.
And all of a sudden, hisbrothers, his 10 of his
brothers, 10 of the 11, come toseek food from him.
(16:29):
And he's like, oh, these are theguys.
Those are my brothers.
And he's heartbroken, right?
Because he's like, they...
What they did for me was justdevastating.
So he ends up, long story short,providing for them food.
They don't even recognize him.
They have no idea that this iswho this is.
And he finally reveals himselfto them.
(16:52):
And it's, I think, honestly, thesaddest part of the whole story.
So they all come, and they cometo Egypt, and they're living in
Egypt, and he's providing forall of them.
And his father dies, and hisbrothers come to him.
And they're like, now he's goingto get us.
And he's just heartbrokenbecause he's like, no, I have
(17:14):
forgiven you and what youintended for evil, God intended
for good and for the saving ofhis people.
And to me, that is just such abeautiful story of God's Right.
(17:58):
And in your lives and in thelives of so many people, like, I
mean, what a beautiful pictureof the redemption of God, you
know?
Joseph is such a perfect exampleof that.
Like, just truly, I lovethinking about that because it
is a long play, isn't it?
It's so long.
And it so often is.
(18:21):
What do you do when the thingsthat once held your faith
together start to fall apart?
When your leaders fail, yourdoubts grow louder, or someone
you love walks away from Jesus?
In Someone to Believe In, Bibleteacher Courtney Reisig shares
her own story of deep hurt andhonest questions and how Jesus
met her right there in themiddle of it all.
(18:42):
Through powerful moments in theGospel of John, she shows how
even when everything feelsunstable, Jesus never changes.
He's steady, He's true, and He'sHe's worth holding on to.
So if you're feeling weary,disappointed, or unsure where to
turn, this book is for you.
Grab your copy atsomeonetobelievein.com and
discover steady faith in anunsteady world.
(19:04):
We'll have the link in our shownotes.
Blair Lynn knows what it's likewhen life falls apart.
And in her new book, Made toTremble, she shares her journey
through crippling anxiety, panicattacks, ER visits, and deep
discouragement.
Like many of us, she wanted totrust in God, but she didn't
(19:24):
know how to in the middle offear.
Guys, this isn't a story full ofquick fixes or simple answers.
It is raw and honest and full ofgrace.
Blair walks through what itreally means to suffer with God
and how his peace can meet Ifyou're feeling anxious or
overwhelmed or alone in yourstruggle, this book is for you.
(19:47):
You can get a copy atmadetotremble.com and discover
the peace of God, even in thetrembling.
We'll have a link in our shownotes so you can easily get this
book.
Yeah.
So, like, I think that's one ofthe things that when we read our
Bibles, though, you know, we arereading, I mean, how many
(20:08):
chapters is Ruth's story?
Like six?
Four?
It's short.
Yeah.
It's like you can read it in onesitting, right?
Yes, absolutely.
This is her whole story, herwhole life.
And you go from devastation torestoration and redemption in
just a few short pages.
(20:28):
And yet Ruth lived that life.
Like she lived in the midst ofthat.
And so I guess that's myquestion is like, if you put
yourself in Joseph's shoes or ifyou put yourself in Ruth's
shoes, how does a verse likethis or this concept of like God
is going to work this for goodspeak to you in that kind of a
(20:51):
moment?
I'm thinking as we're talkingabout this, both of those
stories are set on the backdropof famine.
Yeah.
Isn't that interesting?
Like that just both of them setand everything we know about God
and like those like through linethemes of scripture.
I know this doesn't answer yourquestion, but I'm just thinking
about it a lot.
Like just that manna, that like,that the bread is like that
(21:14):
source of life, that thing thatyou gotta have every day.
And they were both in a seasonof physical famine.
Right.
And, and somehow they, physicalfamine did not keep them from
spiritual famine or fromspiritual feasting like they
walked with the lord they walkedwith the lord even in their
(21:37):
hunger even in their and theirpain that's just interesting to
me and that's not the questionthat you asked me will you ask
it again i'm so sorry i'm justlike processing that no i this
is great i this so kind of goingback to what you said at the
beginning though it's like whenyou're having these discussions
about scripture like this iswhat a bible study is supposed
to look like like if you'relistening this conversation and
(21:57):
you're like, I want that.
Read the Bible with somebody andtalk about it.
This is how we do it.
That's all you do in real time.
This is what we're doing.
Just like a book club.
It is just like a book club,except for the Holy Spirit.
It changes your life.
Absolutely.
100%.
Yeah.
There's another level to itwhere it's like, I read that
book.
It was really great.
But it's like, I read that book.
(22:18):
It was really great.
Oh my gosh, God is using that.
I met the author.
UNKNOWN (22:22):
Yes.
SPEAKER_00 (22:22):
Yes.
Which as an author, I'm like,well, that feels like Even
still, it's a little, themetaphor falls apart eventually,
(22:45):
doesn't it?
right?
These like long novels aboutlike a biblical fiction kind of
book.
Like if someone wrote the storyof Ruth, which I'm sure probably
somebody has, and you read that,it's going to be 400 pages
(23:06):
instead of four chapters, right?
And so it's going to take youthrough that story and kind of
elaborate on it and embellishand everything.
But the idea is there is like,what does a verse like this or
concept like this?
I mean, like even for Joseph,when he's talking about his life
experience to be like what youintended for evil God intended
(23:28):
for good and for the saving ofmany lives like that thought had
to be something that was deep inhim from that experience like he
has synthesized all of what he'sgone through and all of the
trials and all of the troubleand said God is the one who
saves God is the one who is goodand he intended even this for
(23:51):
good so like how does I meanbecause Ruth and Joseph unlike
us They don't have this versebecause this is a New Testament
verse.
But this concept of God'sgoodness in the moment, in the
gritty, in the my husband died,my brother-in-law died, my
father-in-law died, I amexposed.
I am without help in the world.
(24:13):
And my mother-in-law has renamedherself bitter.
Right.
She literally renames herselfbitter and is like, just leave
me.
I'm out.
Yes.
So How does this concept, Iguess, kind of working from
these logical connections to theapplication of the verse?
(24:36):
But what did lunch look like,right?
Yeah.
Because you think about, I mean,Joseph, for example, he said
that in what, chapter 50, verse20 of a 50-chapter book?
Yeah, it is at the way, way end.
At the very, very, very end.
I might be wrong on the address,but it's right in that zone.
It's right over there, yeah.
(24:57):
But my question is, and I thinkmaybe I could guess at the
answer, is did he say to himselfwhen they threw him in the pit,
they mean this for evil, but Godintends it for good?
Because it's a statement oftrust and glory on the back end,
but in the middle of it, it's astatement of faith.
(25:18):
It's a white knuckle.
I do not know.
We get him saying it when hekind of sees the– the end of the
rainbow of the story arc, right?
Right, yeah.
He's able to reflect and say,and I wonder if he didn't also,
and my guess is that he did insome way or another in prison,
(25:39):
in the pit, in Potiphar's house,if he didn't also say because he
knew who Yahweh was and heunderstood that Yahweh was
faithful.
If through even in the middle ofthe story arc or the story arc
that kind of goes down.
Yeah, yeah.
if he wasn't able to futurehope, say, what man is currently
(26:05):
intending for evil, God isactively using for good in ways
that I will one day see in waysthat I will never see.
And so when you talk about likewhat that looked like for Joseph
or like what that looks like forme, right?
Yeah, yeah.
What that looks like for you ofjust like in the middle, can I
say with as much confidence asI'd be able to say at the end of
(26:28):
it when I get to see thepositive outcome or the like,
oh, I see what you did there.
God.
Can I right now in the middle ofit go...
In all things, God works for thegood of those who love him who
have been called according tohis purpose.
What man intends for evil, Godintends for good.
And so today, I will walk withhim.
(26:50):
I just want to let that hangthere for a second.
That's what I want to be true ofme, and it's not always, right?
Yeah.
And I think that that's whatRomans 8.28 is reminding us.
It's, and we know, right?
Like, hey, you know this.
If you are walking with Jesus,and we We know.
It shouldn't be new information.
(27:11):
If you have been walking withthe Lord, if you've been in
scripture, you see thesestories.
You should have evidence ofthis.
And so why are we not in ourrhetoric of understanding this?
Are we living in the middle ofthe story like we will be able
to live at the end of the story?
It's victory, people.
(27:32):
Yeah, because we know the end ofthe story.
We do.
We know the end of this versealludes to it.
Yes, in all things.
It's just the good.
There's good in the middle, butthe good is coming, and it's
promised, and it's secure forthose who love him and walk
according to his purpose.
Well, and I think about, too,the verses that are directly
(27:55):
above this verse in the text.
It's talking about how we don'teven know what to pray for.
It talks about how all creationis groaning and how we endure
the suffering.
And sometimes we are so like,Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
(28:17):
Yeah.
Yeah.
(28:40):
I'm groaning.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And we're supposed to.
And we're supposed to.
Because it's not all okay.
Yeah.
Like that creation itself isgroaning for the redemption of
God's people and for his return.
Like if we are groaning, if theHoly Spirit who is in us is also
(29:02):
groaning with us.
And we grieve or groan as thosewho have hope.
Like that's the differencebetween us and the world, for
lack of a better way to put it.
We grieve and groan not as thosewho have no hope.
It's not Pollyanna, but I betit's perceived as Pollyanna.
(29:26):
It's an ignorant, it's a naive,everything's going to be fine,
or I'm maybe just refusing totune into what's real and what's
hard.
I'm just putting my head in thesand covering my eyes.
And that's not what we're calledto do.
That's not even what we have todo.
(29:46):
We don't have to do that becausewe have this firm hope, this
anchor for our souls, right?
It doesn't change like theshifting shadows.
It doesn't go.
It's firm.
I just like mishmashed a bunchof Hebrews just then.
No, I heard it.
I was hearing all of it.
(30:09):
I love when I talk to people whoare like speaking God's word
back to me.
I'm like, yes, I hear it inthere.
It's so true.
It's so true.
And so I guess one question Ithink application wise, well,
two questions.
One is, have you ever been in aplace where you you have felt
(30:31):
like you're in that space oflike, I don't know.
I don't know how this is goingto turn out.
And how did God meet you in thatmoment?
And maybe even grow your faithin your not knowing.
Because I think sometimes it'sthe hard times, it's the not
knowing.
And then have you ever alsogotten a glimpse, like a peek
(30:52):
behind the curtain of like, oh,this is how God was at work.
And I see it and it's beautiful.
And it was hard and I don't wantto do it again, but this is how
I saw him do it.
The story that comes to mind isonly partly mine.
So I have to like, kind of likebe careful the way I tell this
story because it's our family'sstory.
(31:13):
But last year on this time, wejust kind of walked through
something deeply heartbreakingand unjust with our son and in
his senior year and justsomething like a, A real, like,
are you okay with people beingwrong about you kind of a deal.
(31:35):
And it hurt our mom and dad gutsto watch what happened happen
and really just to watch himhurt.
And in the midst of it, we hadpeople who loved us so well and
(31:56):
who would just pray for us andjust like, it was a pretty big
deal.
And I remember one friend voicememoed me and she said, you
know, something just like, I'mjust like, I'm praying for you
all.
I love you.
And I just keep wondering ifthis isn't the greatest
protection.
(32:16):
Like what feels like somethingthat's just awful.
If there's just some way thatthe Lord's actually providing
and protecting for your family.
And I was just like, well, Idon't see, I can't see.
Seeing that and I hear you andyou're able to see things a
little more objectively rightnow.
I don't know how this could betrue.
And, you know, here we are ayear later on the other side of
(32:39):
that.
And I can go.
he was protecting us and he wasprotecting our son.
And we didn't know.
And he was really kind ofpreparing him in ways that you
never want to watch your kidsstruggle.
But the way that the Lorddemonstrated his nearness to us
(33:01):
and to our son, the way that heprovided and protected for him
in that season and really justtaught us together how to rely
deeply and daily on the grace ofAnd I'm sorry, it feels like
mysterious to be like, and thatwas the story, but it's true.
You know, that's why I'm saying,like, it's not fully my story.
I can't really share all of thatexcept to say that even a year
(33:25):
later, I can look at that andjust go, she was right.
Like, that's what the Lord wasdoing.
And I didn't, I couldn't see it.
But every day, my husband, Ryan,and I, we, through the whole
thing, we prayed that what washappening would be, like, we
prayed the New Testament.
Yeah.
Just like that suffering wouldproduce perseverance, that it
(33:47):
would produce character, that itwould produce hope in us, in our
kid.
And we just prayed God'spromises back to him.
Like, okay, we're suffering.
Make us people who areperseverers.
Give us character out of this.
The reward we're looking forisn't vindication.
We're just looking forcharacter.
(34:08):
We want you to make us more likeyou.
And would you give us hope outof all of this?
And that was our prayer.
And he was absolutely faithfulin the things that he had
already promised.
That is so beautiful and hardand hard.
Parenting is hard.
Like you just kind of go, Iwould rather take that for
myself.
Can all of this be happening tome?
(34:30):
How many times have I prayedthat actually for my kids?
I'm like, Lord, let it be on me.
Let it be me that has to gothrough this hard thing.
SPEAKER_01 (34:38):
And
SPEAKER_00 (34:39):
you know, it's funny.
I had somebody share with me.
I was going through a reallyhard thing with one of my kids
and somebody said, well, you cannever protect your kid from
their testimony.
And I was like, oh, yeah, thereyou are.
(34:59):
Because then they get to sayRomans 8, 28, and I know that in
all things, God works.
It's not just like y'all know.
Or my parents know.
My parents know, or I've heardit said.
Our scripture says they have toearn it.
And that's the earning it.
It's that I know that in allthings, because I've seen it for
(35:21):
myself with my own eyes and myown life.
And I never would have known Godto be that near had I been that
alone.
Wow.
Rachel, this has been such agood conversation.
I have other thoughts and otherquestions, but I'm going to
honor your time and the time ofour listeners.
I just appreciate so much yourwillingness to come and talk
(35:44):
about this first and kind of gothrough all of the steps.
I feel like I need a title thisepisode, like how to study the
Bible with someone.
With a friend.
With a friend.
Yes.
Do this.
So those of you who arelistening at home, do this.
This is easy.
It's something you can do.
Do it with She Reads Truth.
(36:05):
Listen to their podcast.
Allow them to have thatconversation, but do that
conversation with somebody elsetoo.
That's right.
My husband and I Ben's a pastor.
I've been in the church forever.
We do lots of Bible studies andwhatnot.
And there is something that justhappens where God's word just
comes alive when you talk aboutit with other people.
(36:25):
And it's like, there are storieslike you shared about Ruth.
And I'm like, I would have neverthought of Ruth.
That's a great answer.
And then I get to hear why.
And so it just will open up foryou the Bible, which is God
himself talking to us.
Well, Natalie, I love what youare doing.
I love like the mission and thedrive and the heart of what you
(36:46):
all are doing.
I was just talking with someonethis morning about Bible
memorization and methods andjust thinking like, well, does
it like they're doing it andthey're doing it so well in a
faithful way, like trulyfaithful in a way that just
draws people into God's word,not just to read it, but to
really like know it and thenlive it.
(37:09):
So keep going.
I encourage you.
I'm so thankful for you.
likewise likewise sister you'redoing awesome work over there
and again you guys have got toget you got to get your hands on
this book this is just the mostlovely thing she is amazing
she's a new little tiny baby andyeah you just need to get her
okay well thank you rachel havea great rest of your day i
(37:31):
really appreciate you guys wewill have all the links in the
show notes so that you can getyour own book you can follow she
reads truth you can find outmore about rachel and her sweet
son who just went to college sojust went to college Yeah.
Just flew the nest.
All right.
Thanks, Rachel.
UNKNOWN (37:48):
Bye.
SPEAKER_00 (37:49):
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