November 27, 2023 • 29 mins
Today we talk all about Prioritizing your Purpose and how Grace plays a big part in the carrying out of your purpose. In today's culture often what is left out on the purpose journey is Grace's Provision. Purpose is the assignment and there is help along the way. This journey isn't a smooth ride, but will pave the way to personal growth, joy, and impact. We'll dissect the prevailing culture of instant gratification, and emphasize on the need for patience and persistence, even when it involves discomfort. Remember, true purpose might not always feel comfortable, but it is a calling that demands your commitment and resilience. So, buckle up, and let's learn to embrace discomfort in our pursuit of a purposeful life!
In the next part of our discourse, we'll probe deeper into the various facets of purpose - provision, protection, prevention, and most importantly, persistence. Through personal anecdotes, we'll illustrate how staying true to our purpose often requires counterintuitive choices and prioritizing it above our comfort. We'll also delve into our motives, encouraging you to identify what drives you and not let fear or negativity be the compass.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Grace Among Us, the podcast where we
unearth the many faces andplaces of grace and share
stories of the power of grace inour human lives.
Our desire is that this willinspire you to see grace in your
own life and share it withothers.
Carri Richard (00:22):
Hello, hello, good morning, afternoon, evening
, Whenever you're hearing this,my name's Carri Richard.
I am a mindset coach.
I help people make space andenjoy the ride, especially those
high achievers out there, and Iam here today with my dear
friend, ebony Gilbert, and I betyou all can guess what we're
(00:43):
going to talk about.
So hi, Ebony.
Ebony Gilbert (00:46):
Hello Carri, how are you?
Carri Richard (00:48):
I'm great.
How are you?
Ebony Gilbert (00:51):
I'm good, I'm ready to talk about grace.
Let's talk about it.
Carri Richard (00:54):
Awesome.
Who are you Ebony?
Ebony Gilbert (00:57):
I am Ebony C Gilbert.
I'm from a small town inFlorida, north Florida, called
Fernadina Beach.
I live in Charlotte, NorthCarolina.
I work in the healthcareindustry and then I try to find
time to talk about grace as muchas possible.
Carri Richard (01:11):
I love it.
I love it.
So, ebony, we had started thisconversation before we hit
record and we're talking aboutpurpose and it's kind of a
buzzword these days Find yourpurpose.
Do you know your purpose?
Are you living your purpose?
(01:32):
And there's many schools ofthought around purpose of like,
"if I'm living my purpose, likeeverything is unicorns and
rainbows, or doors are flyingopen or it's.
You know, if it's not a I hearthis if it's not a hell, yes,
it's a hell no.
And there's a lot of, there's alot of focus on how to be
(02:01):
intentional, I think, is anotherway of saying it.
Here's this other school of howto be intentional, and it's.
We're in the middle.
I'm going to say a lot of wordsfor a minute.
We're in the middle of a verynoisy existence with cell phones
and notifications.
(02:22):
When I started work, we typedletters on a typewriter, we put
it in an envelope and we put itin the mail and then we waited,
and now we get thousands ofthese messages a day.
So I think there there's a lotof need, or a lot of hunger, or
(02:44):
a lot of desire for thisgroundedness of purpose.
Ebony Gilbert (02:51):
So Groundedness of purpose.
I agree with you.
Carri Richard (03:01):
So I'll tee up, a question for you.
So, let's look through graceglasses at purpose.
I find that purpose is notcomfortable.
(03:25):
It doesn't always feel good, soI'd love to talk about that and
see what your thoughts are.
Ebony Gilbert (03:40):
I agree.
I agree that it doesn't alwaysfeel good, and you know, the
first not the first, butsomewhere near number one.
First thing you want to do is,once you get really
uncomfortable is, "I don'tbelong here, this isn't the
right place I'm supposed to bein, the right space I'm supposed
to be in, because I shouldn'tfeel this way.
I think, at this point in mylife, I know, at this point in
(04:05):
my life, I know enough and I'veseen enough to know that that
doesn't.
It's not congruent with reallife at all and it's easier.
So there's focus in thispriority, right, we're talking
about this at work right now.
It's easy to focus on a thingthat feels good or, in some
(04:26):
situations, the thing that feelsthe worst.
You go to the extreme, you goto the extreme thing, the
outlier, right, and you makethat the priority.
But what is the thing youshould be making the priority is
purpose at all times, whetherit feels good, doesn't feel good
, whether it's uncomfortable,comfortable, and I don't see
that as being your choice.
(04:46):
That's what you're called to do, and we take it upon ourselves
to choose where we want to focusour attention on, based on how
we feel.
And that was a lot of words, Ijust use.
We've got to use a lot of wordstoday, so we're circling the
wagons, I think we're gettingthe mandate.
(05:08):
Purpose is the mandate.
That is the default priority.
Everything else we may or maynot choose, based on where we
want to place our focus, basedon how we feel in the moment.
I dare to say that Jesus waspretty uncomfortable on the
cross.
Carri Richard (05:29):
I don't think he was.
I know he wasn't real happyabout it.
Ebony Gilbert (05:33):
He didn't feel good, so what greater purpose.
Carri Richard (05:42):
I like what you said about um, it's not, it's,
it's a calling, like my purposehere.
I didn't make up, I didn't makeup, you didn't do it.
(06:04):
No, and it found me, but I haveto listen for it.
And uh, you know, we are in theworld of instant gratification,
ultimate convenience.
I can sit here and I can orderpretty much anything I want, and
(06:26):
I live in the country, anythingI want and at some point in the
next day or two it'll besitting at my doorstep (Ebony -
and if you pay a premium, youcould probably get it in two
hours).
I'm not.
I'm in the country, but I'velived in those places.
I have lived in those placeswhere I could get it immediately
(06:47):
, right.
So we'r, "e in this landscapeof hey, if it doesn't feel good
or if it's not working like skibattle, get moving do go through
something else, and whathappens is we get so scattered
that there's there, we're notbeing persistent with our
(07:07):
purpose and that shifting thepriority and, and although being
on on purpose can beuncomfortable, the discomfort
comes from the growth within itand it also is like uh, uh,
(07:28):
directly in proportion to thejoy that can come with it.
And so for anybody who know whattheir purpose is or they're
getting real familiar with whatthey're being called to do, and
it gets uncomfortable.
Please stick around, (Ebony -don't run) like stay for the
rest of the show.
(07:49):
Uh, literally, stay for therest of the podcast.
But also in a biggerperspective stay, stay on
purpose.
So, uh, you brought up someother, like two other " that
were interesting.
So protection and provision,and we can get really caught up
(08:18):
in trying to do those thingsourselves, like protecting,
protecting ourselves from thingsthat are uncomfortable, and
provision meaning I gotta go outget it, gotta go get mine.
(08:41):
I gotta make it happen exactlyand the grace is remembering
that it's not all you, it's notabout you.
This isn't, I do it myself now.
That's not to say that youdon't put feet on your faith and
move.
Take action, guided steps wetalk about that too all the time
(09:05):
yeah, but Ebony had aninteresting story about.
Well, do you want to tell thestory?
Ebony Gilbert (09:19):
About the sheep.
Yeah, sure, and this you know,this isn't, it's not an original
story, okay, but they're not.
They're not taking credit forthe story.
It is real life and I've heardothers talk about it before, but
it came to my mind this weekend.
Sheep have shepherds becausesheep are not known to be the
(09:42):
smartest animals.
Their followers they follow,they're not leaders.
Okay, this is common knowledge.
But sheep on the hillside offarming villages in the Middle
East and throughout the world,they will wander off into things
that don't make a lot of sense,that's not intuitive to the
(10:03):
well-being of the animal, suchas they will stick their head in
a hole where snakes live.
That's right now, and there'snot a sheep community where they
have counsel and say, hey,don't do that anymore.
They don't do that, and thatmay sound strange, but there are
actually some animals who learnfrom other animals.
(10:25):
Right, we're sparse with theanimals and they say, oh, don't
go over there.
Elephants are notorious forhaving this kind of behavior
chimps, things of that sort.
Well, sheep don't do any ofthat.
So sheep will stick their headin a hole with a snake.
So the shepherd knows this.
The shepherd has observed thebehavior of his sheep and he
(10:46):
knows that it's his job toprotect and provide for his
sheep.
So what he does is he puts oil,a certain type of oil, on the
face of the sheep, and this oilClevers the face of the sheep.
And then, when the sheep stickshis head in the hole to see
(11:09):
what's in the hole, we knowwhat's in the hole.
We know how this story ends thesnake doesn't come near the
sheep because the snake isrepelled by the oil on the face
of the sheep.
So now the shepherd has createda situation in which he is
(11:30):
taking his observation of hisflock of sheep, who he knows are
going to behave in a way that'scounter to their well-being.
Carri Richard (11:41):
But in their nature.
Ebony Gilbert (11:43):
In their nature.
It's in their nature.
They're not trying, they're notsuicidal.
The sheep are not suicidal.
It's in their nature to do thisthing, this behavior Shepherd
knows this.
He puts the oil on their face.
They put their head in.
The sheep goes and knowsexactly what he knows it's going
to do.
It Sticks his head in his hole.
The snake is repelled and nowthe sheep is not harmed, even
(12:04):
though it's doing behavior thatwould justifiably harm it.
So the sheep has a purpose tofollow.
It's his job to follow theshepherd.
It's going to do some otherthings along the way, because
it's in its nature.
The shepherd has a job toprovide and protect, which it
(12:31):
did by putting the oil on theface of the sheep.
So go with me here.
We are the sheep.
We are the sheep and we'regoing to do things that are
counterintuitive and we're goingto do things that could
potentially be harmful, that weknow is harmful.
Maybe we don't know, we don't.
Who knows it's harmful one wayor another.
(12:52):
And we have a shepherd whograces us with oil and this oil
protects us and this oil keepsus out of trouble when we should
give what we deserve by puttingour head in that situation to
begin with, and I was thinkingabout this and I was
uncomfortable with the fact that, are we just as simple minded
(13:16):
as sheep?
And I thought, if we're talkingabout how we compare to the
great shepherd, yes, we are.
Yes, we are, and it is our jobto follow the shepherd.
And he does his job byprotecting us and gracing us in
situations where we should getwhat we deserve.
And he graces us to, not, hegives us mercy and grace and
(13:37):
protects us.
So we do our job and follow himto do his part and grace us
through it.
So, no matter what hole youstick your head in, no matter
what crap you get yourself into,the anointing, that anointing
oil on your face, the presenceof the shepherd will protect you
through it.
And you and I were talkingabout this before the call,
(13:59):
because there's situations inboth of our lives.
Right, and we're not going toget any given moment in time,
we're doing something Mexican,right here at home.
Carri Richard (14:06):
Yes, because it's our nature.
Ebony Gilbert (14:09):
It's our nature, yes, curiosity we're trying to
be the one who's providing andmaking it work or we're trying
to be the protector and it's ourjob to stay on path and follow
and stay in that purpose andthen let him do the rest.
And it helped me becausethere's a lot of pressure to
protect and provide when that'snot the role you're supposed to
(14:30):
be in.
Carri Richard (14:32):
Yes, and that is like, if I'm doing those things,
I am in doubt.
I'm in doubt of what I'm doing,where I'm at, what's going to
happen, what the future lookslike.
I'm sticking my head in a hole.
I had no idea that they didthat with sheep, with the oil,
(15:00):
and what came to mind is thesheep don't know the purpose of
that oil, nor do they need to?
which is the exact same thing.
Like I don't have to understand, I don't have to understand how
I'm being provided for, whatthe protection is, and most of
the time, I can't understand.
Ebony Gilbert (15:20):
Me too.
Carri Richard (15:21):
There are things going on that I can't see, I
can't understand, and when I amin my right place in the process
, in the whole picture, then allthat protection, all that
provision is available to me andmy place is to be on purpose
(15:44):
and have faith that I am not,that I am not at the helm here.
I want to add another P, youready?
Ebony Gilbert (16:00):
Let's do it.
Carri Richard (16:01):
Prevention.
Ebony Gilbert (16:04):
Talk about it.
Carri Richard (16:09):
I stick my head in a hole when I try to prevent
something.
I think it's a form ofprotection.
We could really they could gotogether, but there are times
fewer than there used to be, butI find myself saying something
(16:31):
or acting something or not doingsomething, in the hopes of
preventing something fromhappening in the future.
Ebony Gilbert (16:45):
How does that work out?
Carri Richard (16:46):
It never works out and often I'm trying to
think of an example because Ihave a feeling.
You may say what's an example?
Oh yeah, it's coming.
An example is saying somethingin the hopes that somebody's
feelings aren't hurt, trying toprotect them or prevent them
(17:13):
from being hurt by some action,event, and I'm actually robbing
them of their experience.
I'm also trying to play God,which it's not my job.
Ebony Gilbert (17:30):
Can I ask you a question?
Carri Richard (17:32):
Oh, please.
Ebony Gilbert (17:33):
How do you know when it's appropriate to say
that thing or not to say it?
Like, how do you differentiatebetween I just got to get this
off my chest and I'm being toldto speak?
Carri Richard (17:46):
The difference is the motive, and I can feel it
these days.
Ebony Gilbert (17:54):
Okay.
Carri Richard (17:56):
If my motive is really, I just don't want this
person to be mad at me, I needto keep my mouth shut.
If it's hey, I was hurt by thatstatement.
Or just to say, just to speak,what's so, it's different.
Does that, does that help?
Ebony Gilbert (18:20):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely Makes sense.
So we have purpose provision,protection, prevention.
Carri Richard (18:43):
Yeah.
Ebony Gilbert (18:44):
Priority.
We got a lot of peas today.
You want to add another one in?
You got another one.
Carri Richard (18:50):
I do Persistence.
Ebony Gilbert (18:52):
Persistence.
I knew you had another one.
Carri Richard (18:55):
So the priority is to be persistent on our
purpose and to not get intoprotection provision or
prevention.
Ebony Gilbert (19:06):
That's good, that's good.
Carri Richard (19:09):
That felt good to say.
Ebony Gilbert (19:11):
That's good.
You know, it's so easy to sithere and have a conversation on
a podcast.
I don't think either of us areimplying that this is easy or
that there's some magic wandthat just makes it happen all of
a sudden.
I think it's something thatwe're actively learning every
day and we practice it.
Practice, now the thing, issomething you have to practice.
(19:33):
You have to practice being onpurpose.
Practice being on purpose.
Okay, practice of being onpurpose.
Yeah, it's not automatic.
It's not a light bulb switch.
Carri Richard (19:50):
No, no, it's not, and awareness of it is the
beginning of the journey.
With it, I'm still going tostick my head in a hole.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
I'm going to do it because it's my nature.
Carri Richard (20:05):
I'm human.
That's another thing.
I got to let myself be humanand when I'm aware of all of
this, of where my place is,there's number eight in my
purpose.
I become aware of when I stickmy head in a hole a lot faster
(20:27):
and I give myself grace.
Ebony Gilbert (20:30):
Absolutely the sticking your head in the hole
might be sticking your foot inyour mouth.
It could be a number of thingsyou know whatever the sticking
your head in the hole is for you, whatever counterintuitive
behavior that you're doing onany given day, I know what mine
are.
You know what yours are.
Carri Richard (20:47):
Oh, I want to list some for a second.
Ebony Gilbert (20:52):
Transparent moment let's give it.
Carri Richard (20:54):
Yes, Complicating things.
When I think I have to do extrathe words that come out of my
mouth, I might say something.
If I'm in fear, anger any ofthat, the things that come out
of my mouth usually aren't thebest choice of words.
Yeah, I just went blank.
(21:16):
Oh, I got one.
Ebony Gilbert (21:18):
Avoidance, the literal sense of sticking your
head in the hole.
Carri Richard (21:21):
Yes, la, la, la, la la.
It's not happening.
You're going to put your handup.
Ebony Gilbert (21:25):
Is this happening ?
When you ignore this and thisis going to go away, today is
Thursday.
By Saturday, it won't be anissue.
People will forget and willmove on.
No, it doesn't work.
Carri Richard (21:35):
These are not the droids you're looking for.
Ebony Gilbert (21:40):
It doesn't work.
It doesn't have to be.
You know, oh, I cussed outsomebody at the grocery store.
It doesn't have to be somethinghorribly egregious.
It could be.
It could be the things that wedo and make excuses for that
aren't as big as other things,you know.
You know what they are, I knowwhat they are.
Carri Richard (22:00):
Yeah, another thing could be being stingy.
Ebony Gilbert (22:13):
With your time, with your gifts, with your
resources, with your attention,with your money with any
resource and with your time.
Absolutely With your gifts.
Carri Richard (22:31):
Yes, please and thank you.
Yes, don't hide that lightunder a bushel.
Ebony Gilbert (22:39):
Ah, you got to let your light shine, so,
whatever it may be, however,you're sticking your head in the
hole.
Thank God for the oil.
Yes, it keeps my enemies away.
Carri Richard (22:54):
And that's the grace, that grace of seeing that
you're being carried throughthings, that there are resources
, that are things that arehappening around you that are
outside of your orchestrationfor your good, and they're
always there and it's it'sputting the glasses on to be
(23:18):
able to see it, believing thatit's true and staying on purpose
and letting the other stuff notbe your focus.
Ebony Gilbert (23:33):
That's good.
Prioritize your purpose.
Carri Richard (23:36):
Yes.
Ebony Gilbert (23:37):
That's good, all right, did I?
Did we answer the question,Carri?
Carri Richard (23:44):
I think we answered the question.
Do you have would you like towrap us up?
Ebony Gilbert (23:50):
Oh, it's so much.
It's so much, it's good.
I almost had a part two.
There's so many things goingthrough my head.
I'll say this.
I'll just make it personal.
I find myself in situations thatare very uncomfortable and I I
won't go into detail I findmyself in situations that are
uncomfortable where I'm thinkingit's time for me to move on.
(24:12):
It's time for me to move onbecause this, this would not
feel this awful if this is whereI was supposed to be.
And I had to challenge myselfand say that's?
Who is that talking?
Is that Ebony?
Or is that me hearing from God?
Because he never promised mecomfort, he never said you'll
(24:33):
know it's me if it's comfortable.
I can't find that scriptureanywhere.
So I had to challenge myselfand realize that it takes more
than just my comfort level orhow I feel to discern if this is
purpose.
So I would encourage everyoneto dig a little bit deeper, just
a little bit deeper, just alittle bit beneath the surface.
If you're feeling yourself whereI find myself all the time and
(24:56):
saying that it wouldn't feelthis way if it was right and
I've heard people say that to meif it was right, I wouldn't
feel this way.
And what way is that?
Because there are some thingsthat are just uncomfortable
sometimes and you got to gothrough it.
Persist, persist.
The greater the reward, thegreater the purpose and
(25:18):
sometimes the greater thediscomfort Persist, and that's
helped me.
That's not always the case.
It's not a band aid, it's not ablanket prescription for how to
get through life, none of thatstuff.
But there are moments for me inmy experience where I've known
that part of the plan.
The purpose for me was topersist in spite of the
(25:39):
discomfort, in spite of thepresent feeling, and leave the
provision and the protection ofme throughout that uncomfortable
space to God, and there has notbeen a time or situation where
he has not protected me andprovided for me when I remained
on the purpose.
So that's.
I hope that encourages someone,because I have to remind myself
of that sometimes when I forgetwhich is Thursday today.
(26:03):
But let Him grace you throughit, let Him carry you through it
, provide for you.
He is the protector, he willprovide you.
Stay where you're supposed tobe.
Carri Richard (26:14):
Absolutely.
I got one last thing and I gota dog barking , so excuse me,
Buster.
Yes, that's Buster.
Ebony Gilbert (26:26):
Buster wants to talk about protection and
provision.
Carri Richard (26:31):
I think he's trying to protect the house as a
herd dog.
Ebony Gilbert (26:35):
That's his purpose.
Carri Richard (26:36):
Exactly, and when I'm on purpose, I'm growing,
and growth is uncomfortable.
So I like often I will say toclients that resistance is
uncomfortable.
If you're growing, If you're onpurpose, you're in that the
(26:57):
resistance is in proportion toyour purpose.
So if you were meeting with alot of resistance, often it
means you're right on track.
Ebony Gilbert (27:08):
What's the thing you say?
Oh, I've heard you say itDivine discontent.
Carri Richard (27:14):
Yes, yeah, that's the one Think.
Ebony Gilbert (27:22):
That's the thing.
So, guys, tell us what youthink.
What are your thoughts?
Feel free to disagree.
You have to know what you thinkabout it.
How does purpose make you feel?
How do you connect with it?
How do you react when you'rejust miserably uncomfortable but
you think you're in the rightplace?
What next?
Carri Richard (27:46):
Yes.
Ebony Gilbert (27:48):
Persist yes.
Carri Richard (27:50):
That's what's next Persist.
Well, ebony, again, thank you,this has been good.
We got eight peas out of it.
I think there probably is apart two.
Ebony Gilbert (28:05):
What are the P's?
Carri Richard (28:07):
Purpose.
Ebony Gilbert (28:08):
Purpose.
Carri Richard (28:09):
Protection.
Ebony Gilbert (28:10):
Protection Provision.
Carri Richard (28:14):
Prevention.
Ebony Gilbert (28:16):
Prevention, persistence.
Carri Richard (28:17):
Persistence Priority.
Ebony Gilbert (28:18):
Priority.
There was one more.
Okay, I think that's it.
Well, if you guys think of it,put it in the comments.
Carri Richard (28:39):
That's the test for the day.
Ebony Gilbert (28:41):
Or if you think of other great Ps, let us know.
We'll put them in our littleword map with all the P's
relating to this.
Carri Richard (28:46):
Okay, all right.
Ebony Gilbert (28:49):
Thank you, my friend, thank you too All right
Grace out.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
Thank you so much for joining us.
If you enjoyed this episode,please let us know.
We love to hear from you andshare it with a friend.
Also, please be sure tosubscribe so you're notified
when a new episode is posted.
We hope you're leaving withanother pointer to grace, a new
perspective that will light itup in your own life.
Until next time, be well, bebold, be kind to yourself and be
(29:19):
on the lookout.
Welcome to Grace Among Us, the podcast where we
unearth the many faces andplaces of grace and share
stories of the power of grace inour human lives.
Our desire is that this willinspire you to see grace in your
own life and share it withothers.
Carri Richard (00:22):
Hello, hello, good morning, afternoon, evening
, Whenever you're hearing this,my name's Carri Richard.
I am a mindset coach.
I help people make space andenjoy the ride, especially those
high achievers out there, and Iam here today with my dear
friend, ebony Gilbert, and I betyou all can guess what we're
(00:43):
going to talk about.
So hi, Ebony.
Ebony Gilbert (00:46):
Hello Carri, how are you?
Carri Richard (00:48):
I'm great.
How are you?
Ebony Gilbert (00:51):
I'm good, I'm ready to talk about grace.
Let's talk about it.
Carri Richard (00:54):
Awesome.
Who are you Ebony?
Ebony Gilbert (00:57):
I am Ebony C Gilbert.
I'm from a small town inFlorida, north Florida, called
Fernadina Beach.
I live in Charlotte, NorthCarolina.
I work in the healthcareindustry and then I try to find
time to talk about grace as muchas possible.
Carri Richard (01:11):
I love it.
I love it.
So, ebony, we had started thisconversation before we hit
record and we're talking aboutpurpose and it's kind of a
buzzword these days Find yourpurpose.
Do you know your purpose?
Are you living your purpose?
(01:32):
And there's many schools ofthought around purpose of like,
"if I'm living my purpose, likeeverything is unicorns and
rainbows, or doors are flyingopen or it's.
You know, if it's not a I hearthis if it's not a hell, yes,
it's a hell no.
And there's a lot of, there's alot of focus on how to be
(02:01):
intentional, I think, is anotherway of saying it.
Here's this other school of howto be intentional, and it's.
We're in the middle.
I'm going to say a lot of wordsfor a minute.
We're in the middle of a verynoisy existence with cell phones
and notifications.
(02:22):
When I started work, we typedletters on a typewriter, we put
it in an envelope and we put itin the mail and then we waited,
and now we get thousands ofthese messages a day.
So I think there there's a lotof need, or a lot of hunger, or
(02:44):
a lot of desire for thisgroundedness of purpose.
Ebony Gilbert (02:51):
So Groundedness of purpose.
I agree with you.
Carri Richard (03:01):
So I'll tee up, a question for you.
So, let's look through graceglasses at purpose.
I find that purpose is notcomfortable.
(03:25):
It doesn't always feel good, soI'd love to talk about that and
see what your thoughts are.
Ebony Gilbert (03:40):
I agree.
I agree that it doesn't alwaysfeel good, and you know, the
first not the first, butsomewhere near number one.
First thing you want to do is,once you get really
uncomfortable is, "I don'tbelong here, this isn't the
right place I'm supposed to bein, the right space I'm supposed
to be in, because I shouldn'tfeel this way.
I think, at this point in mylife, I know, at this point in
(04:05):
my life, I know enough and I'veseen enough to know that that
doesn't.
It's not congruent with reallife at all and it's easier.
So there's focus in thispriority, right, we're talking
about this at work right now.
It's easy to focus on a thingthat feels good or, in some
(04:26):
situations, the thing that feelsthe worst.
You go to the extreme, you goto the extreme thing, the
outlier, right, and you makethat the priority.
But what is the thing youshould be making the priority is
purpose at all times, whetherit feels good, doesn't feel good
, whether it's uncomfortable,comfortable, and I don't see
that as being your choice.
(04:46):
That's what you're called to do, and we take it upon ourselves
to choose where we want to focusour attention on, based on how
we feel.
And that was a lot of words, Ijust use.
We've got to use a lot of wordstoday, so we're circling the
wagons, I think we're gettingthe mandate.
(05:08):
Purpose is the mandate.
That is the default priority.
Everything else we may or maynot choose, based on where we
want to place our focus, basedon how we feel in the moment.
I dare to say that Jesus waspretty uncomfortable on the
cross.
Carri Richard (05:29):
I don't think he was.
I know he wasn't real happyabout it.
Ebony Gilbert (05:33):
He didn't feel good, so what greater purpose.
Carri Richard (05:42):
I like what you said about um, it's not, it's,
it's a calling, like my purposehere.
I didn't make up, I didn't makeup, you didn't do it.
(06:04):
No, and it found me, but I haveto listen for it.
And uh, you know, we are in theworld of instant gratification,
ultimate convenience.
I can sit here and I can orderpretty much anything I want, and
(06:26):
I live in the country, anythingI want and at some point in the
next day or two it'll besitting at my doorstep (Ebony -
and if you pay a premium, youcould probably get it in two
hours).
I'm not.
I'm in the country, but I'velived in those places.
I have lived in those placeswhere I could get it immediately
(06:47):
, right.
So we'r, "e in this landscapeof hey, if it doesn't feel good
or if it's not working like skibattle, get moving do go through
something else, and whathappens is we get so scattered
that there's there, we're notbeing persistent with our
(07:07):
purpose and that shifting thepriority and, and although being
on on purpose can beuncomfortable, the discomfort
comes from the growth within itand it also is like uh, uh,
(07:28):
directly in proportion to thejoy that can come with it.
And so for anybody who know whattheir purpose is or they're
getting real familiar with whatthey're being called to do, and
it gets uncomfortable.
Please stick around, (Ebony -don't run) like stay for the
rest of the show.
(07:49):
Uh, literally, stay for therest of the podcast.
But also in a biggerperspective stay, stay on
purpose.
So, uh, you brought up someother, like two other " that
were interesting.
So protection and provision,and we can get really caught up
(08:18):
in trying to do those thingsourselves, like protecting,
protecting ourselves from thingsthat are uncomfortable, and
provision meaning I gotta go outget it, gotta go get mine.
(08:41):
I gotta make it happen exactlyand the grace is remembering
that it's not all you, it's notabout you.
This isn't, I do it myself now.
That's not to say that youdon't put feet on your faith and
move.
Take action, guided steps wetalk about that too all the time
(09:05):
yeah, but Ebony had aninteresting story about.
Well, do you want to tell thestory?
Ebony Gilbert (09:19):
About the sheep.
Yeah, sure, and this you know,this isn't, it's not an original
story, okay, but they're not.
They're not taking credit forthe story.
It is real life and I've heardothers talk about it before, but
it came to my mind this weekend.
Sheep have shepherds becausesheep are not known to be the
(09:42):
smartest animals.
Their followers they follow,they're not leaders.
Okay, this is common knowledge.
But sheep on the hillside offarming villages in the Middle
East and throughout the world,they will wander off into things
that don't make a lot of sense,that's not intuitive to the
(10:03):
well-being of the animal, suchas they will stick their head in
a hole where snakes live.
That's right now, and there'snot a sheep community where they
have counsel and say, hey,don't do that anymore.
They don't do that, and thatmay sound strange, but there are
actually some animals who learnfrom other animals.
(10:25):
Right, we're sparse with theanimals and they say, oh, don't
go over there.
Elephants are notorious forhaving this kind of behavior
chimps, things of that sort.
Well, sheep don't do any ofthat.
So sheep will stick their headin a hole with a snake.
So the shepherd knows this.
The shepherd has observed thebehavior of his sheep and he
(10:46):
knows that it's his job toprotect and provide for his
sheep.
So what he does is he puts oil,a certain type of oil, on the
face of the sheep, and this oilClevers the face of the sheep.
And then, when the sheep stickshis head in the hole to see
(11:09):
what's in the hole, we knowwhat's in the hole.
We know how this story ends thesnake doesn't come near the
sheep because the snake isrepelled by the oil on the face
of the sheep.
So now the shepherd has createda situation in which he is
(11:30):
taking his observation of hisflock of sheep, who he knows are
going to behave in a way that'scounter to their well-being.
Carri Richard (11:41):
But in their nature.
Ebony Gilbert (11:43):
In their nature.
It's in their nature.
They're not trying, they're notsuicidal.
The sheep are not suicidal.
It's in their nature to do thisthing, this behavior Shepherd
knows this.
He puts the oil on their face.
They put their head in.
The sheep goes and knowsexactly what he knows it's going
to do.
It Sticks his head in his hole.
The snake is repelled and nowthe sheep is not harmed, even
(12:04):
though it's doing behavior thatwould justifiably harm it.
So the sheep has a purpose tofollow.
It's his job to follow theshepherd.
It's going to do some otherthings along the way, because
it's in its nature.
The shepherd has a job toprovide and protect, which it
(12:31):
did by putting the oil on theface of the sheep.
So go with me here.
We are the sheep.
We are the sheep and we'regoing to do things that are
counterintuitive and we're goingto do things that could
potentially be harmful, that weknow is harmful.
Maybe we don't know, we don't.
Who knows it's harmful one wayor another.
(12:52):
And we have a shepherd whograces us with oil and this oil
protects us and this oil keepsus out of trouble when we should
give what we deserve by puttingour head in that situation to
begin with, and I was thinkingabout this and I was
uncomfortable with the fact that, are we just as simple minded
(13:16):
as sheep?
And I thought, if we're talkingabout how we compare to the
great shepherd, yes, we are.
Yes, we are, and it is our jobto follow the shepherd.
And he does his job byprotecting us and gracing us in
situations where we should getwhat we deserve.
And he graces us to, not, hegives us mercy and grace and
(13:37):
protects us.
So we do our job and follow himto do his part and grace us
through it.
So, no matter what hole youstick your head in, no matter
what crap you get yourself into,the anointing, that anointing
oil on your face, the presenceof the shepherd will protect you
through it.
And you and I were talkingabout this before the call,
(13:59):
because there's situations inboth of our lives.
Right, and we're not going toget any given moment in time,
we're doing something Mexican,right here at home.
Carri Richard (14:06):
Yes, because it's our nature.
Ebony Gilbert (14:09):
It's our nature, yes, curiosity we're trying to
be the one who's providing andmaking it work or we're trying
to be the protector and it's ourjob to stay on path and follow
and stay in that purpose andthen let him do the rest.
And it helped me becausethere's a lot of pressure to
protect and provide when that'snot the role you're supposed to
(14:30):
be in.
Carri Richard (14:32):
Yes, and that is like, if I'm doing those things,
I am in doubt.
I'm in doubt of what I'm doing,where I'm at, what's going to
happen, what the future lookslike.
I'm sticking my head in a hole.
I had no idea that they didthat with sheep, with the oil,
(15:00):
and what came to mind is thesheep don't know the purpose of
that oil, nor do they need to?
which is the exact same thing.
Like I don't have to understand, I don't have to understand how
I'm being provided for, whatthe protection is, and most of
the time, I can't understand.
Ebony Gilbert (15:20):
Me too.
Carri Richard (15:21):
There are things going on that I can't see, I
can't understand, and when I amin my right place in the process
, in the whole picture, then allthat protection, all that
provision is available to me andmy place is to be on purpose
(15:44):
and have faith that I am not,that I am not at the helm here.
I want to add another P, youready?
Ebony Gilbert (16:00):
Let's do it.
Carri Richard (16:01):
Prevention.
Ebony Gilbert (16:04):
Talk about it.
Carri Richard (16:09):
I stick my head in a hole when I try to prevent
something.
I think it's a form ofprotection.
We could really they could gotogether, but there are times
fewer than there used to be, butI find myself saying something
(16:31):
or acting something or not doingsomething, in the hopes of
preventing something fromhappening in the future.
Ebony Gilbert (16:45):
How does that work out?
Carri Richard (16:46):
It never works out and often I'm trying to
think of an example because Ihave a feeling.
You may say what's an example?
Oh yeah, it's coming.
An example is saying somethingin the hopes that somebody's
feelings aren't hurt, trying toprotect them or prevent them
(17:13):
from being hurt by some action,event, and I'm actually robbing
them of their experience.
I'm also trying to play God,which it's not my job.
Ebony Gilbert (17:30):
Can I ask you a question?
Carri Richard (17:32):
Oh, please.
Ebony Gilbert (17:33):
How do you know when it's appropriate to say
that thing or not to say it?
Like, how do you differentiatebetween I just got to get this
off my chest and I'm being toldto speak?
Carri Richard (17:46):
The difference is the motive, and I can feel it
these days.
Ebony Gilbert (17:54):
Okay.
Carri Richard (17:56):
If my motive is really, I just don't want this
person to be mad at me, I needto keep my mouth shut.
If it's hey, I was hurt by thatstatement.
Or just to say, just to speak,what's so, it's different.
Does that, does that help?
Ebony Gilbert (18:20):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely Makes sense.
So we have purpose provision,protection, prevention.
Carri Richard (18:43):
Yeah.
Ebony Gilbert (18:44):
Priority.
We got a lot of peas today.
You want to add another one in?
You got another one.
Carri Richard (18:50):
I do Persistence.
Ebony Gilbert (18:52):
Persistence.
I knew you had another one.
Carri Richard (18:55):
So the priority is to be persistent on our
purpose and to not get intoprotection provision or
prevention.
Ebony Gilbert (19:06):
That's good, that's good.
Carri Richard (19:09):
That felt good to say.
Ebony Gilbert (19:11):
That's good.
You know, it's so easy to sithere and have a conversation on
a podcast.
I don't think either of us areimplying that this is easy or
that there's some magic wandthat just makes it happen all of
a sudden.
I think it's something thatwe're actively learning every
day and we practice it.
Practice, now the thing, issomething you have to practice.
(19:33):
You have to practice being onpurpose.
Practice being on purpose.
Okay, practice of being onpurpose.
Yeah, it's not automatic.
It's not a light bulb switch.
Carri Richard (19:50):
No, no, it's not, and awareness of it is the
beginning of the journey.
With it, I'm still going tostick my head in a hole.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
I'm going to do it because it's my nature.
Carri Richard (20:05):
I'm human.
That's another thing.
I got to let myself be humanand when I'm aware of all of
this, of where my place is,there's number eight in my
purpose.
I become aware of when I stickmy head in a hole a lot faster
(20:27):
and I give myself grace.
Ebony Gilbert (20:30):
Absolutely the sticking your head in the hole
might be sticking your foot inyour mouth.
It could be a number of thingsyou know whatever the sticking
your head in the hole is for you, whatever counterintuitive
behavior that you're doing onany given day, I know what mine
are.
You know what yours are.
Carri Richard (20:47):
Oh, I want to list some for a second.
Ebony Gilbert (20:52):
Transparent moment let's give it.
Carri Richard (20:54):
Yes, Complicating things.
When I think I have to do extrathe words that come out of my
mouth, I might say something.
If I'm in fear, anger any ofthat, the things that come out
of my mouth usually aren't thebest choice of words.
Yeah, I just went blank.
(21:16):
Oh, I got one.
Ebony Gilbert (21:18):
Avoidance, the literal sense of sticking your
head in the hole.
Carri Richard (21:21):
Yes, la, la, la, la la.
It's not happening.
You're going to put your handup.
Ebony Gilbert (21:25):
Is this happening ?
When you ignore this and thisis going to go away, today is
Thursday.
By Saturday, it won't be anissue.
People will forget and willmove on.
No, it doesn't work.
Carri Richard (21:35):
These are not the droids you're looking for.
Ebony Gilbert (21:40):
It doesn't work.
It doesn't have to be.
You know, oh, I cussed outsomebody at the grocery store.
It doesn't have to be somethinghorribly egregious.
It could be.
It could be the things that wedo and make excuses for that
aren't as big as other things,you know.
You know what they are, I knowwhat they are.
Carri Richard (22:00):
Yeah, another thing could be being stingy.
Ebony Gilbert (22:13):
With your time, with your gifts, with your
resources, with your attention,with your money with any
resource and with your time.
Absolutely With your gifts.
Carri Richard (22:31):
Yes, please and thank you.
Yes, don't hide that lightunder a bushel.
Ebony Gilbert (22:39):
Ah, you got to let your light shine, so,
whatever it may be, however,you're sticking your head in the
hole.
Thank God for the oil.
Yes, it keeps my enemies away.
Carri Richard (22:54):
And that's the grace, that grace of seeing that
you're being carried throughthings, that there are resources
, that are things that arehappening around you that are
outside of your orchestrationfor your good, and they're
always there and it's it'sputting the glasses on to be
(23:18):
able to see it, believing thatit's true and staying on purpose
and letting the other stuff notbe your focus.
Ebony Gilbert (23:33):
That's good.
Prioritize your purpose.
Carri Richard (23:36):
Yes.
Ebony Gilbert (23:37):
That's good, all right, did I?
Did we answer the question,Carri?
Carri Richard (23:44):
I think we answered the question.
Do you have would you like towrap us up?
Ebony Gilbert (23:50):
Oh, it's so much.
It's so much, it's good.
I almost had a part two.
There's so many things goingthrough my head.
I'll say this.
I'll just make it personal.
I find myself in situations thatare very uncomfortable and I I
won't go into detail I findmyself in situations that are
uncomfortable where I'm thinkingit's time for me to move on.
(24:12):
It's time for me to move onbecause this, this would not
feel this awful if this is whereI was supposed to be.
And I had to challenge myselfand say that's?
Who is that talking?
Is that Ebony?
Or is that me hearing from God?
Because he never promised mecomfort, he never said you'll
(24:33):
know it's me if it's comfortable.
I can't find that scriptureanywhere.
So I had to challenge myselfand realize that it takes more
than just my comfort level orhow I feel to discern if this is
purpose.
So I would encourage everyoneto dig a little bit deeper, just
a little bit deeper, just alittle bit beneath the surface.
If you're feeling yourself whereI find myself all the time and
(24:56):
saying that it wouldn't feelthis way if it was right and
I've heard people say that to meif it was right, I wouldn't
feel this way.
And what way is that?
Because there are some thingsthat are just uncomfortable
sometimes and you got to gothrough it.
Persist, persist.
The greater the reward, thegreater the purpose and
(25:18):
sometimes the greater thediscomfort Persist, and that's
helped me.
That's not always the case.
It's not a band aid, it's not ablanket prescription for how to
get through life, none of thatstuff.
But there are moments for me inmy experience where I've known
that part of the plan.
The purpose for me was topersist in spite of the
(25:39):
discomfort, in spite of thepresent feeling, and leave the
provision and the protection ofme throughout that uncomfortable
space to God, and there has notbeen a time or situation where
he has not protected me andprovided for me when I remained
on the purpose.
So that's.
I hope that encourages someone,because I have to remind myself
of that sometimes when I forgetwhich is Thursday today.
(26:03):
But let Him grace you throughit, let Him carry you through it
, provide for you.
He is the protector, he willprovide you.
Stay where you're supposed tobe.
Carri Richard (26:14):
Absolutely.
I got one last thing and I gota dog barking , so excuse me,
Buster.
Yes, that's Buster.
Ebony Gilbert (26:26):
Buster wants to talk about protection and
provision.
Carri Richard (26:31):
I think he's trying to protect the house as a
herd dog.
Ebony Gilbert (26:35):
That's his purpose.
Carri Richard (26:36):
Exactly, and when I'm on purpose, I'm growing,
and growth is uncomfortable.
So I like often I will say toclients that resistance is
uncomfortable.
If you're growing, If you're onpurpose, you're in that the
(26:57):
resistance is in proportion toyour purpose.
So if you were meeting with alot of resistance, often it
means you're right on track.
Ebony Gilbert (27:08):
What's the thing you say?
Oh, I've heard you say itDivine discontent.
Carri Richard (27:14):
Yes, yeah, that's the one Think.
Ebony Gilbert (27:22):
That's the thing.
So, guys, tell us what youthink.
What are your thoughts?
Feel free to disagree.
You have to know what you thinkabout it.
How does purpose make you feel?
How do you connect with it?
How do you react when you'rejust miserably uncomfortable but
you think you're in the rightplace?
What next?
Carri Richard (27:46):
Yes.
Ebony Gilbert (27:48):
Persist yes.
Carri Richard (27:50):
That's what's next Persist.
Well, ebony, again, thank you,this has been good.
We got eight peas out of it.
I think there probably is apart two.
Ebony Gilbert (28:05):
What are the P's?
Carri Richard (28:07):
Purpose.
Ebony Gilbert (28:08):
Purpose.
Carri Richard (28:09):
Protection.
Ebony Gilbert (28:10):
Protection Provision.
Carri Richard (28:14):
Prevention.
Ebony Gilbert (28:16):
Prevention, persistence.
Carri Richard (28:17):
Persistence Priority.
Ebony Gilbert (28:18):
Priority.
There was one more.
Okay, I think that's it.
Well, if you guys think of it,put it in the comments.
Carri Richard (28:39):
That's the test for the day.
Ebony Gilbert (28:41):
Or if you think of other great Ps, let us know.
We'll put them in our littleword map with all the P's
relating to this.
Carri Richard (28:46):
Okay, all right.
Ebony Gilbert (28:49):
Thank you, my friend, thank you too All right
Grace out.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
Thank you so much for joining us.
If you enjoyed this episode,please let us know.
We love to hear from you andshare it with a friend.
Also, please be sure tosubscribe so you're notified
when a new episode is posted.
We hope you're leaving withanother pointer to grace, a new
perspective that will light itup in your own life.
Until next time, be well, bebold, be kind to yourself and be
(29:19):
on the lookout.
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