152. When God Speaks in the McDonald's Drive-Thru

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Have you ever felt the weight of trying to do it all? That's exactly where I found myself recently—juggling four kids under five, a demanding corporate job, and this podcast while navigating the postpartum journey after my fourth baby.

The first couple months postpartum were actually smooth, but around month three, everything changed. I hit a wall. My body ached, fatigue overwhelmed me, and my nutrition spiraled into a cycle of fast food and processed junk. Despite clear nudges from the Holy Spirit (literally speaking to me in the McDonald's drive-thru!), I kept pushing through on my own strength until I couldn't anymore.

What I've come to recognize is that postpartum isn't just a physical recovery—it's a spiritual battleground. The enemy knows mothers are vulnerable during this season, which explains why postpartum depression, rage, and emotional struggles are so common. I believe he specifically targets those who are working to expose his lies and share God's truth.

The turning point came when I finally stopped suffering in silence. I opened up to my coworkers, made that crucial first step (choosing the grocery store over fast food after our vacation), and implemented an anti-inflammatory diet with regular exercise. I'm already feeling better physically, mentally, and spiritually.

I'm sharing this deeply personal journey because I suspect many of you are in similar situations. The enemy wants us isolated, thinking we're the only ones struggling. Whether you're navigating postpartum, feeling overwhelmed by responsibilities, or just not feeling good in your own body—you are not alone. Remember Matthew 11:28: "Come to me all who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest." Would you pray for me during this season? And if you're going through something similar, know that I'm praying for you too. Let's walk this journey together.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
The hey friends.

(00:33):
Welcome back to the RadiantMission podcast.
This is a little bit of adifferent episode.
This is more of a life updateand if you've been following
along with social media and theCoffee Talk series, you know
that I love teaching and I lovesharing what God's Word says.
But today I just felt the Lordreally pressing me to share a

(00:54):
little bit about what's beengoing on in my life as a person.
So because I you know, I dothink that it's easy for you to
hear from me on here and assumethat I have it all together, but
the truth is I don't, and rightnow I could, honestly, I could
really use your prayers.

(01:15):
So I'm going to talk a littlebit today about kind of some of
those things that I've beengoing through.
If you care to listen to thisepisode, awesome.
If you want to skip tosomething else, that's more your
speed, that's fine too.
But I'm kind of the personbehind what's going on here and
I want to be transparent andhonest always so that you guys

(01:35):
know kind of what's going on.
Postpartum is a spiritualbattleground and so is doing
this podcast.
So that's kind of what I wantto share with you a little bit.
So let's start with postpartum.
Yeah, so I really believe thatbeing postpartum is a spiritual

(01:57):
battleground.
Mothers are especiallyvulnerable in these months and I
believe that the enemy knowsthis.
That is why postpartumdepression, postpartum rage and
all kinds of other emotional andphysical struggles are so
common.
And for me, the first couple ofmonths after having my last

(02:19):
baby were actually really smoothand I had a great postpartum
experience.
But right around months threeso the past two months, months
three through five they havebeen tough Between life's
circumstances, work andmotherhood I have really been

(02:40):
feeling very stretched thin.
So let's talk a little bitabout the weight of doing it all
and what has happened becauseof this.
So you know I'm just beingtransparent.
This is very vulnerable, buthere's a little bit of a glimpse
into what life has looked likefor me lately.
I work full time at a very highlevel corporate role with a lot

(03:04):
of pressure.
I'm blessed.
Yes, I work from home.
That is truly a blessing.
But I am also raising four kidsthat are ages five and under.
I am responsible for planningeverything.
Now, I love doing this stuff.
That's what's hard about it is.
I love planning birthdays, Ilove planning events, vacations,

(03:26):
doing it all, but it's a lotand I also have keeping up with
the house and the laundry or Idon't.
And then there's running thispodcast.
It's planning the episodes,scripting and getting everything
ready and doing my research,recording and then editing,

(03:47):
setting up everything on theblog, on the actual podcast
itself, on YouTube, on socialmedia and really on top of all
of this.
I have not been sleeping muchbecause of it, because it's a
lot, right Like this has kind ofto be honest with you changed,

(04:08):
and giving up sleep has beenwhere I've been able to do it
all.
I always joke and say that Idon't need a lot of sleep and
that's my superpower, but guesswhat?
It has caught up to me and Idefinitely have hit a wall.
So that wall has led to someburnout for me, and I also have

(04:31):
had some convictions around mylifestyle, what I'm eating, my
lack of true exercise.
Yeah, I'm running around withthe kids, but is that truly
enough for what my body needs?
In this season, my diet hasgone totally downhill and it's a
lot of excuses as to why Ican't.
I just say like I don't want tocook, I don't have time, but

(04:54):
somehow we all always find timeto do the things that we need to
do.
I guess I could say so yeah,this turned into a lot of fast
food, a lot of junk food, and itled to a lot of burnout and,
honestly, I was not feeling goodphysically or mentally, and the

(05:18):
Lord was really speaking to me.
And one moment that I willnever forget I was in the
McDonald's drive-thru of allplaces, and I could hear the
Holy Spirit so clearly don't getthis.
This isn't food.
You're going to feel terribleif you eat this.
Don't get this.
You don't need this.
Eat real food.

(05:38):
And what did I do?
I questioned it.
I doubted that I was reallyhearing from God and I got the
food anyway and, sure enough, Ifelt so sick afterwards I did
not feel good and, if that's notenough, I did it again.
It happened again the next timeI went.

(06:02):
I had the same conviction andthe same result and eventually I
realized that the Lord wastelling me it was time to stop
ignoring his nudges and starttaking care of myself and stop
treating fast food like it isactual food, because it's not so
.
When and how did I finallydecide to make a change?

(06:24):
Well, it actually happenedbecause of work I was asked, or
prompted, to make another tripafter having just coming back
from a work trip, and I justfelt totally overwhelmed because
I felt like my body was fallingapart and my mind was falling
apart.
I was getting I'm so.
I have been so tired in theafternoons and throughout the

(06:46):
day my joints have been achingand I was just overwhelmed and
in tears and I knew thatsomething had to change.
So, instead of suffering insilence or just unloading
everything onto my husband, Iopened up to my coworkers and I
just said hey, I'm strugglingand I need to take care of

(07:06):
myself.
And it was really a simplereminder of how powerful
community is and how importantit is, because God didn't design
us to go through our strugglesalone.
He gave us the body of Christand he gave us others for a
reason.
That said, all of this washappening right as we were about

(07:28):
to go on vacation, and so Isaid to my husband like let's
enjoy our trip, but I am makingchanges.
You know, when we get back,this is, this is where my line
in the sand is.
And so, on the way home fromthe airport, literally, I had
Mike stop at the grocery storeand I went in there and I had a

(07:51):
recipe in mind that I knew washealthy and we could eat Like we
are obviously tired from theplane.
It was lunchtime but instead ofsaying go through McDonald's, I
said stop at the grocery storeand I got all this ingredients
to make this really deliciousand healthy salad, and that was

(08:13):
the turning point really.
So since then, which it's notbeen that long it's a little
over a week since we havereturned from our trip I started
following an anti-inflammatorydiet that is all about clean,
whole foods.
So I have cut out all processedfoods, refined sugars, soda

(08:34):
pork, fried foods, and I havenot been eating red meat either.
Now, I'm not necessarilyagainst red meat, but since I'm
following this anti-inflammatoryprotocol, I'm following along
to see how I feel, so I maybring in lean cuts of beef at

(08:54):
some point.
Another thing is my physical,the physical side.
I have started walking 30minutes at a minimum several
days a week, and that has helpeda lot.
I can feel the difference injust throughout the day.
And then I also have startedtaking some supplements that

(09:16):
were recommended by myfunctional medicine doctor, my
chiropractor, that are all aboutsupporting postpartum hormones.
I am nursing, so my estrogen isgoing to be lower and my
progesterone will be lowerbecause of nursing.
Prolactin is higher and I don'tthink that I'm feeling great
because of that balance, forwhatever reason.

(09:37):
So the stuff I'm taking issupporting my hormones.
I also did add in mushroomcoffee, everyday dose, mushroom
coffee.
This is not sponsored, but theyhave asked me to be an
affiliate, so perhaps I willaccept that.
I haven't been taking it longenough to know if it's helping

(10:01):
or anything like that, so I'mjust mentioning it.
Again, this is a transparencylife update episode.
I do have to say I am alreadyfeeling a lot better than I was
physically, mentally andspiritually, and I've dropped a
few pounds.
Obviously, it hasn't been thatlong and it's not necessarily

(10:23):
about that side of things, but Iknow that the Lord has been
speaking to me and telling meyou need to take care of
yourself.
I am a mom of four.
I have to take care of theselittle people and I have a lot
of aging family around me andI'm watching the devastating
effects of them not caring forthemselves.

(10:43):
So that is why I feel that I'vebeen called back on this path
to health that the Lord has beencalling me to.
So, all right, why Like?
Why does this matter?
Why am I sharing this?
I really was motivated to sharethis because I feel like a lot

(11:07):
of you may be in a similar place.
I always tell myself like I'mthe only one or like no one can
relate to what I'm going through.
But that's really probably theenemy, trying to isolate me and
make me feel just alone and beatdown, because I'm sure there
are others out there that feelburned out, overwhelmed.

(11:30):
Maybe you're not feeling goodin your own body, maybe you're
in your post, a postpartumseason, or maybe you're just
juggling a lot ofresponsibilities or just kids,
and you're feeling like you aredrowning too, and I want you to
know you are not alone.
I am right there with you andeven as someone who runs a

(11:56):
podcast about exposing the enemyand walking with Christ, I
still struggle.
In fact, I actually believe thatbecause of this podcast and the
focus on God and what he'scalled me to and exposing these
lies of the enemy, I feel that I, especially, have been facing a

(12:17):
lot of spiritual warfare.
The enemy wants to discourageme.
He wants me down, tired, sothat I'll quit, so that I will
stop sharing what I do sharehere, keep me too exhausted to
keep going, but God, god isfaithful and he has been gently

(12:48):
redirecting me to care for mybody and also to listen to his
Holy Spirit, who has beennudging me this whole time, and
to lean into community.
So this is my call to community, to my other sisters in Christ

(13:10):
I'm asking you, my listeners andmy friends for prayer.
Please pray for my strength,for my health, for clarity and
wisdom as I'm juggling thisseason and this podcast, and
please pray that I keep leaninginto God and not on my own
strength.
And please pray that I keepleaning into God and not on my
own strength.
And if you have been goingthrough a similar season, I
would like to encourage youdon't ignore your nudges from

(13:34):
the Holy Spirit and don't sufferin silence either.
Reach out to me, reach out toyour community and lean into
God's word and take that firstsmall step back towards your
health, even if it's justsomething small.
Make that stop at the grocerystore to get something healthy
for lunch instead of fast food,whatever it might be, the small

(13:58):
things lead to bigger changes.
All right, that kind of sums uptoday's life update.
Thank you so much for listeningto this.
I'm really grateful for you.
Thank you for listening and forwalking through this journey
with me and for being a part ofthe Radiant Mission community.
And if you think of me at all,please lift me up in prayer if

(14:22):
you don't mind.
And if you're in your ownpostpartum or burnout season,
know that I'll be praying foryou too.
And if you're not connectedoutside of the podcast, you can
do so.
Join me on Instagram at theRadiant Mission, or on Facebook
at the Radiant Mission Podcast,and then I also post all of this

(14:45):
on YouTube at the RadiantMission as well, but it is under
my name, rebecca Toomey, and mylast name is T-W-O-M-E-Y.
I always share that part Today.
I'm going to close with Matthew11, 28.
Come to me all who are wearyand burdened and I will give you

(15:09):
rest, wishing you a radiantweek.
See you next time.