A Divine Detour: From Task Oriented Faith to Experiential Spirituality | Ep 8

Our spiritual journey isn't about ticking off boxes or meeting quotas; it's about experiencing a genuine connection with God.  In this episode, Tiffany talks about moving away from a checklist approach and embracing a more organic relationship with the divine. We share our struggles, our moments of clarity, and how we've learned to trust in God's plan. We celebrate the realization that spirituality is not a set of tasks to complete, but a series of moments in which we feel God's presence.

Also in this episode, Mary shares how an unexpected detour led to a divine realization. An amusing anecdote about finding herself in the Disneyland parking lot, and the brightly colored 'Exit' sign she received, gave way to a poignant discussion about divine guidance and the permission to leave situations that no longer serve us. 

 So, do look for your sign, and remember, we're all in His hands. Tune in for an enlightening conversation that might just change your perspective on spirituality.

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Episode Transcript

Announcer (00:00):
Welcome to In His Hands podcast from women for
women.
We're here to help you findpeace in knowing you are in
God's hands.
Our goal is sharing the Word ofGod in simple conversations.
We're here to help you thriveevery day.
And now, here are your hosts.

Tiffany (00:18):
Good morning.
I'm Tiffany Windsor and I'mMary.
I have another message to sharewith you, mary.
When I was in church takingnotes, I was making side notes
and, as I've been working on thePerry Winkle pomegranate in His
Hands website, I had posted onthe home page about we check all

(00:39):
the boxes.
We have creativity, wellness andGod.
And today the message was soclear no, we don't want to check
all the boxes because then thatbecomes way too routine.
So I came back and it becamevery clear to me what I wanted
to write, which should be thewebsite home page that everybody
sees.
Now I am so grateful for thatmessage because I knew the

(01:02):
message wasn't complete.
I knew God was trying to tellme something else to write and I
hadn't listened.
So I'm very grateful that Itook my journal with me and I
was able to hear that messageand know that this whole journey
is not about checking the boxes.
It's not about how many days amI going to church this month.
This is not about I'm going toset certain amount of time to

(01:25):
pray every day.
This is about how God speaks toyou in your life and what
action that you take.

Mary (01:32):
And that resonates with me quite a bit because my prayer
time is very consistent, butit's been very dry and a lot of
me talking to God and talking atGod, not accessing.
His power and His presence.
Not wat all.
It's really not working, and soin my mind it's a checklist.

(01:55):
I checked it off.
I did that.
A powerful thing for me is tolook back at all my journals and
how close God was to me duringdark times and to remember that
he is still there with me nowonly I'm so busy in my head
telling him all the things anddescribing to him how he should
do things, and doesn't he needmy help in answering my prayers
and how come he's not doing itmy way?

(02:17):
I need to return to that faithof a child, which is I don't
know how to do this, I don'tknow what it's going to look
like and I don't know what'shappening in the next five
minutes, but I trust you, godTrust.

Tiffany (02:29):
Trust.
That is a big one, because wethink we want to try and work
everything out in our head andin our minds and in our fretting
and in our fears and in ouranxieties.
I've used both of those words alot lately, and that's not what
it's about.
This is not about us scriptinghow things are going to be.

(02:49):
This is about us praying andlistening for the guidance.
And that's what was so clear tome when I am in church and I am
listening and I am focused andlistening for the guidance, and
it's like, oh my gosh, that wasso simple.
I didn't need to spend hoursfretting about that yesterday.
Look at the clear answer I gottoday when I just sat quietly

(03:13):
with God.

Mary (03:14):
Well, tiffany, I think you're a very good listener, so
it encourages me to know thatyou sometimes struggle with that
too, but I am not a goodlistener to the Lord.
I'm a good talker at or at theLord, and it's not working for
me.
There's no peace in it.
I'm wondering why, and so theanswer that just occurred to me
was I don't think I'm going tolike the answer that he's going

(03:34):
to give me.
It might be too hard or itmight be something I really
don't want to do Really when I'mfaced with.
What are my options here?
Whatever he has in mind has gotto be better than what this
feels like.
You know this talking at himand no peace, and so I think I
should give that a try.
The listening I see a signsitting on the table.

Tiffany (03:56):
Is that something you want to talk about today?
I would love to talk about that.

Mary (04:00):
It's a bright pink exit sign and it's a little piece of
paper.
And the story behind that is Iwas going to a convention at
Anaheim Convention Center andmaps led me right into the
Disneyland parking lot and I'mpulling up going.
Oh no, it was stressful enoughto try and go to this convention
.
You know, I much rather go toDisneyland anyway.

(04:20):
So I pull up to the kiosk and Isaid you're going to laugh.
And he's like, would you liketo leave?
And I'm like yes, I'd like toleave.
So he gave me this bright pinkexit sign under my windshield
wiper and they just waved methrough the line so I was able
to exit.
Now I call it my sign of shamebecause I couldn't reach your
request.
I couldn't reach around fromthe inside to take the sign off
from the outside.

(04:41):
I had to drive to where I wasgoing until I could get the exit
sign off.
But now to me it's not my signof shame, it's my sign of God is
making a way, he's making a way, and it might not be parking at
Disneyland, maybe it has to besome helpers waving me through
to the exit and then drivingaround with a big pink sign on

(05:03):
my car until I can get where Ineed to go.

Tiffany (05:05):
There was blessing in that, and when I saw this
sitting here before justlistening to you, I thought it's
a permission to exit.
It's a permission slip, and soyou can exit places you don't
want to be.
So we need to make permissionto exit signs.
I like that even better.
Because I love the story thatyou have and how you're using

(05:29):
that, but we have permission toexit, and to me, permission to
exit thoughts and circumstancesthat we don't want to be in
where we want to invite God in.
So it's a directional sign.

Mary (05:43):
I've kept the sign.
I took it off the windshieldwiper and I put it in the back
of the car and I was going tothrow it away and I'm like, no,
you know, that's a testament tome, maybe listening more I'm,
I'm proud of myself and so Ikept the sign and I thought
about what the sign meant to meand I love the permission.
I need to hear that more.
As a rule follower, I needpermission to not follow the

(06:04):
rules all the time and to exitwhen I need to, and especially
if the loudest voice has beenabout work related things and
job and paycheck kind of things.
And the Lord isn't limited bythat, but me and my limited site
I am.
And so permission to exit whatisn't a blessing, what isn't
using my gifts, what isn'tserving God how he maybe wants

(06:27):
me to serve.
I need that permission.
I need to remember that.

Tiffany (06:30):
So a reminder to everyone to look for their sign.
And now we're going to exittoday's chat.
Thanks, Mary.

Announcer (06:38):
Be blessed.
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