Finding Joy and Trust in Unexpected Circumstances with Andrea Schmidt

In this episode of Steps to Trusting, host Erin Michele is joined by Andrea Schmidt, a farm wife, new homeschool mom, and fiction writer from central Kansas. Andrea shares her journey of trusting God's plan and finding joy in unexpected places, despite initial resistance and struggles. The conversation touches on themes from Andrea's novels, the challenges of shifting life plans, and the importance of letting go of societal pressures to be 'enough.' Bible verses mentioned include Isaiah 43:18-19 and 2 Corinthians 7:6. Andrea discusses the value of focusing on God's calling, setting realistic expectations, and finding daily comfort and guidance through scripture.

You can Find Andrea at https://andreadschmidt.com/
You can connect with me at https://erinmichele.net/

00:00 Introduction and Purpose

00:30 Guest Introduction: Andrea Schmidt

01:42 Andrea's Journey: From Teaching to Writing

03:47 Finding Joy in Unexpected Places

08:33 Balancing Expectations and Trusting God

16:08 Practical Steps and Daily Trust

24:54 Conclusion and Prayer

Transcript

 56-Finding Joy and Trust in Unexpected Circumstances with Andrea Schmidt

[00:00:00] Hi, I'm Erin Michele. You found yourself at Steps to Trusting, where it is our goal to encourage one another to transfer our trust from ourself and our actions to the God who is enough.

[00:00:11] If you are like me, and you need to be reminded over and over that you never needed to be enough because we trust a God who is, then you are in the right place. On this episode, we're going to be talking about finding joy in unexpected circumstances. if you've ever found yourself struggling in a place you didn't expect to be, then this episode is for you. 

[00:00:30] audio1847573602: I'm joined by Andrea Schmidt today. Andrea is actually the first fiction writer that I've had on the podcast ever, so I'm kind of excited about that.

[00:00:39] And it's going to be really interesting. I'm actually excited about it because I just started writing fiction within the last year and I haven't really told anyone about that. So I think that's the first time the listeners are hearing about that as well. One of the things that I find that's going to be really interesting about our conversation today is that in fiction, you're not necessarily a topic specifically, but through your characters, you're following, the lessons that they learn and the themes in their lives.

[00:01:04] And so Andrea, first I just want to say thank you for coming and welcome to the show. 

[00:01:09] Andrea: Thank you. 

[00:01:10] Erin: Andrea, can you just tell us a little bit about yourself?

[00:01:12] Andrea: I'm Andrea and I live in central Kansas and I'm a farm wife and a newly homeschool mom and I teach a writing class at the local homeschool co op and we love to be involved in our church and serving others 

[00:01:29] Erin: thank you. And then, also I just wanted to ask you kind of about those themes that run through your characters. Can you kind of describe some of the, lessons that you touch on as you write those fiction characters?

[00:01:42] Andrea: Yes. So, throughout my novels, all my characters find themselves someplace else, like someplace they never expected to be, or someplace they didn't plan to be. Or someplace they felt the Lord leading them, but they didn't want to go or didn't want to be. And then finding the joy in that someplace else, like finding the joy in the place they never thought they would be.

[00:02:05] Erin: Yeah. I love that theme because a lot of us find us in that reality that we're not where we expected to be or life is not going how we expected it to be. I was wondering if you could share a little bit about why you write that theme and how you learned the lesson of joy that kind of started you writing on that theme for your characters.

[00:02:28] Andrea: Right. So I grew up in Michigan and my whole life I thought I was going to be a teacher. And so I studied to be a teacher. I went to school to be a teacher and then I graduated from college and spent three years in the wilderness trying to find a job. I felt like I was hitting my head against. A brick wall.

[00:02:48] I had a huge stack of rejection letters. And I kept wondering like, God, if this is what you call me to do, why is everything a no? Like, why do I keep getting rejected? And I remember going to a, maybe they called it like a teacher fair at the time.

[00:03:04] And, I remember standing in line, there was a huge line of potential teachers. And we were all waiting to get in, to have our interviews at the different tables. And all the interviews I had, there was no response, and I remember visiting with my stepdad, he said, hey, didn't you go to a teacher fair?

[00:03:21] He said, well, there was 400 applicants and only two available positions. And I just thought, what? And he said, yeah, they had to hold the fair because it was required, but there was no hope, I guess, for any of us to find a job. And so most of my colleagues that I graduated with, they had to move out of state.

[00:03:41] And I just remember one night wrestling with the Lord and thinking, God, why do you have me here? And the idea to be a resident director popped into my head, and I never, like, thought of that before, but I'd been an RA, a resident advisor, for two years in college and absolutely loved it.

[00:03:57] Like, I loved ministering to the girls and getting to know them and planning activities and, just having Bible studies and pouring into them. I thought, huh, I can be a resident director, sure. And so I started applying all over the United States. And, I had. Listed out all the places I applied to, and I had on campus interviews, in Tennessee, and I was hearing from colleges all over, and ended up in Kansas, it was the last place on my list, and I remember putting a little tornado by it and saying, nope, nope, I'm not going to Kansas, 

[00:04:30] and that's where he sent me. I worked for the college for three years and absolutely loved it, but then ended up meeting my farmer husband. And so we married and it just got to be too much trying to embrace the farm life and work in the college. So I did. Move out to the farm and, yeah, I never thought I'd be a farm wife and, or work for a college or move to Kansas but, the Lord, brought so much joy into my life by following that place.

[00:04:58] I didn't want to go the place. I never thought I would be my life plan that I had planned. Wasn't his plan his plan was way better than what I had planned. You know, I could have ever expected. 

[00:05:08] Erin: Was that an easy transition for you? What was going on in your heart and, Yeah. Was that an easy transition or was that a lengthy one? 

[00:05:16] Andrea: It was really hard. And it was terrifying too, because I was 24 and, I'd never been out of, the circle of my family before, but to move halfway past the country to a town I've never heard of, to college I've never been to.

[00:05:30] And it was so scary, but also I just had this sense of peace, like knowing that that's where the Lord wanted me. And just, even the simplest things of Finding where the grocery store is and finding where to do the banking. Things were different back then. It wasn't all online and like even figuring out how to make friends again, it was hard.

[00:05:49] He had to start all over again. And, but you know, the Lord brought me through that. Even though I couldn't see. Why he brought me there at the time, but just to know that I had that peace that that's where he wanted me.

[00:05:59] Erin: I find that looking back on those situations is so much easier than when you're looking into it and you have no idea where you're going. When you're like securely in your next spot that God brought you to, it's like, okay, that makes sense. I can see it. But just even, I think the, that it comes with grief and loss.

[00:06:19] And letting go of the things that you expected, the things that you don't get to have that you thought was the plan for your life. So how do you think that you dealt with that loss of your expectation in that time? And how do you think God met you in that place of losing what you thought was going to be a path for you?

[00:06:42] Andrea: I think it helped just knowing I was following what he had for me, but still taking the time to grieve and be sad that, oh, I'm not teaching, but that's okay. Yeah. And so I realized he could still use me to teach, like to teach the girls in the Bible study or to teach in small ways, like at a vacation Bible school. But I did have to grieve how I thought it was going to look like in, you know, a classroom setting.

[00:07:11] But what he had for me was, you know, so much better. So I kind of had to hold the grief in one hand, but the excitement of what he was currently doing in my life in the other. 

[00:07:21] Erin: Yeah. I love that how it kind of coexists. And just thinking about, I mean, I hear the trust that you're kind of sharing as you're saying that as I was letting go of one, I just, I know the character of who God is.

[00:07:34] And that he was trustworthy in taking me somewhere. Is there any verses that come to mind for someone who might be in that situation of just trying to trust God and not knowing. If he's trustworthy or not knowing what about him makes it easy to follow this other direction.

[00:07:52] Andrea: Yeah. The one I cling to is in Isaiah 43 and especially the verses 18 through 19, it says, forget the former things do not dwell on the past. See I'm doing a new thing. Now it springs up. Do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland. 

[00:08:13] Erin: I love that verse. 

[00:08:14] Andrea: So that I had to cling to, many times throughout my life, not just then, but when I don't understand what God is doing, and then I just started to read that verse and remember, he's doing something, even if I can't perceive it, even if I don't see it, I have to forget what I thought was going to happen and cling to what he's trying to do.

[00:08:32] Just follow him. 

[00:08:33] Erin: Yeah, I think I mean we've been talking about where you were in the past and You know, and I think it's still something that we face daily That things don't always go as we expect right and that it's still we still have to take those steps of trusting God when you feel like you're not There are things that you need to do in your life to make things go the way that you expect or let go of those expectations. How do you kind of act in that situation? What is the steps that you would take? 

[00:09:09] Andrea: Well, practically speaking, I had a friend who each morning she would pray each day, Lord, please. You know, help me get through this day, help me accomplish what I need to accomplish and have everything else fall away. And that just stuck with me because lately things have not been going well to where I have my list and I can barely get, two things done a day and we've had so many changes in our life that I wasn't expecting.

[00:09:35] Even like the daily things, I get so frustrated that I'm failing at the simplest things like making my son a grilled cheese sandwich, four days in a row I can't remember the last time my kitchen floor has been mobbed. Like just the simple, practical things. I'm like, Lord, why am I failing at everything?

[00:09:52] But then he reminds me that, Hey, you just started homeschooling. Hey, you just started teaching a writing class. Like, Hey, you just started a new church in a small group. And, you know, it's okay. These things aren't you, like you are my child. And so it's hard to remember who I am in Christ is not.

[00:10:10] What I'm doing or what I'm getting done or not getting done. 

[00:10:13] Erin: Yeah, I love that, too. You're not the things that you do, right. It's not just oh I have to do all these things so that I can be I know even in there, you said, you're his child, it's okay.

[00:10:26] You don't have to earn all these, positions, but, that we don't receive value by what we do. Can you speak to that a little bit about the value that you find from your relationship with God? 

[00:10:40] Andrea: Yeah. I mean, it's. everything because it's beyond seeing that pile of dirty clothes and thinking, Oh no, I didn't fold that.

[00:10:47] But it's like, no, you know, you're here to spend time with me and to, just have that relationship with him so that I can minister to others and, be a good mom to my son and be a good wife and just be, you know, loving because he loves me. 

[00:11:03] It's more important than, you know, feeling like, Oh, I have to get this done. You don't have time to do my divos. Like it's more like having a relationship with him and spending time with him. Did I answer your question? 

[00:11:15] Erin: That's good. Because I'm just thinking how it affects our relationship with God, but it also affects our relationships with our family when we realize that our value is not in the things that we do.

[00:11:27] Right. And so even, you know, you saying, I don't want to put a label of like good on being a good wife or a good mom, I think it's really easy to slip into that place of saying, like, I am a good mom. Or a good friend or a good wife, because I can do this for my friend. I can be there when they need me.

[00:11:47] I can make the grilled cheese sandwich. I can make sure laundry is done right. If that we could slip into that false mindset of that, that is what, where our value and identity and all of that comes from. And so I think, you know, one of the things I really would love to dive into, is that sometimes those expectations that we put on other people, but they put on us that we feel that expectation of like, this is good, or this is enough, right?

[00:12:17] And we just like know the standard that really is just kind of more arbitrary. Because value, Like we already said, value is already from who God says we are. Like he made us in his image. He loved us. He died for us. Like that value is there. Right. And yet we're off trying to put this line of like, if I get all this done, if I can act as this person at this standard, then that is good.

[00:12:46] Right. And. I just, I'm struggling to get the right question, but I think just trying to figure out how does that expectation when we put it on others and when they put it on us, how does that affect our relationships? Do 

[00:13:00] Andrea: yeah, I think, just because we're expected to do it all doesn't mean we're meant to do it all.

[00:13:06] Like, if we were all singers, there'd be no one left in the audience to watch. I feel like we're all a part of the body, and we need to focus on what the Lord has called us to do of that part. And, it can't all be, the perfect healthy cooking mamas with the elaborate meal plans and the monthly all planned out.

[00:13:29] We can't all have, the perfect clean house, but if the Lord's called us to minister in small groups in hospitality, and then focus on that, if the Lord's called you to minister in singing, then maybe you don't focus on your house. Focus on preparing for that Sunday morning worship service.

[00:13:49] I think I'm speaking more to women. We're expected to do it all. And I don't think we were meant to. I think we're meant to follow, what God has called us to do. For some seasons like that, it has to be our focus and to be at peace with that. 

[00:14:04] Erin: And I guess I'm just, you know, even just thinking practically when I think it's, it's felt more for me when other people have expectations of me that I feel like I'm letting them down. Right. And instead of taking on their expectations and saying, this is the standard I'm going to hold, like trying to figure out.

[00:14:24] video1847573602: I think

[00:14:24] Erin: in just what you were saying, you know, that what is God calling me to? Am I good at doing small groups? Am I good at doing, you know, what is uniquely like built into who I am and the character or

[00:14:36] the talents and all of that built into who God has made me to be. And then to kind of figure out also where my limits are and to be able to make that a boundary of saying like, I wish I could do this for you.

[00:14:49] I think it almost can be a gift to other people admitting our limits, admitting our weaknesses and if we give them that reality picture instead of saying, like, Look at me, I have it all together.

[00:15:02] And I do all the things to get all the places I think I want to go. You know, if we actually have that clear view of saying, I'm just thinking of your words that God is taking me someplace else and I just want to follow to that place where he's taking me and be faithful in that place instead of looking at all the needs of all the people around me and thinking That I'm the one that I have to do that, right, instead of trusting God that, that he's his provision is enough when, when we can't run all those places, 

[00:15:36] Andrea: Totally. Like, I feel like that's so hard to do. Like if a friend comes over, like, Oh, I'm sorry, it's a mess. You know, it's hard to say, Oh, I'm sorry, it's a mess. I've been working on my book 

[00:15:47] Erin: or, 

[00:15:47] Andrea: you know, I'm sorry, husband, that there's still dishes everywhere, but I've been playing with my son all day. Like, it's hard to.

[00:15:53] Say that out loud or to say, because I did this, you know, this may not be getting accomplished and that's okay. Like that's, yeah, it's hard to say that, like to verbalize that to others that they know. Oh, okay. Like, I can accept that. 

[00:16:07] Erin: Yeah. So if, when we think about the shift in Accepting our limitations, kind of even like, as you were saying a minute ago, just kind of choosing to follow where God is leading us, how would you kind of describe that attitude shift in seeing what your calling is or seeing what that next right step might be for you?

[00:16:29] Is there kind of like a shift in your thought process or your attitude to get there? 

[00:16:35] Andrea: Yeah, there was. It's, this season, I felt like I almost had to choose. I choose to fail in some areas so that I could focus on others or choose to do it wrong, like totally wrong so that I could, you know, focus on what, God has called me to do, which is so hard because it's different than I have done, you know, my whole life.

[00:16:57] Like everyone wants to be a success and do it right and do it the right way. And especially being, you know, first born type a, like choosing to fail is hard. Like choosing to do it wrong. It's not my. Not how I do things, but lately it's, it's my only option. I'm going to do this wrong because I have to do this other thing for the Lord.

[00:17:18] Erin: Can you describe a little bit more about that choosing to fail? Like, I mean, obviously I think we don't set up and go like, I'm going to totally do this wrong. And I'm really excited about it. You know, I, I'm just thinking kind of more about, what does that look like for you when you're saying I choose to fail?

[00:17:36] Andrea: That's just really stuck with me in that just because it looks like I'm doing things wrong, or it looks like I'm failing in some areas, like maybe I'm not, do it your way. it still doesn't mean that things are going to be perfect like maybe this is just the season of letting things go and, seeing where the Lord takes me.

[00:17:54] Erin: Yeah. I love that because it's kind of like saying there's a different standard. There's a standard that you felt like you had to achieve. And then to realize of saying, like, I'm going to lower or change. And maybe it doesn't even have to be lower the bar, but change the bar. So instead of doing it like everyone else, I can do it way I feel God leading me to do it and the way that he's made me and with the, Limitations and maybe even just like other things on your plate, right?

[00:18:20] Sometimes it's not, you know, Oh, I can't do this specific thing, but I can't do these five things, you know, well, maybe if I had time for that one thing, I could do it better. I've had to stop saying that there's not enough time because I feel like I've kind of idolized, like, if I had time, I would do this.

[00:18:37] And it was kind of like this expectation that, that there should be enough time to do it. And I had to have a mind shift to say, I have time to do the things that God calls me to do. So now I need to figure out what are the things he's calling me to do because he gives me enough time to do it.

[00:18:52] I just have to figure it out. And sometimes I, it's the bar of like, I can't do it is because I'm wanting it done now, instead of saying like, I can faithfully take these little steps towards something that I think God is leading me towards, but I can't have it done this week or this month, or maybe not even this year, 

[00:19:10] and I think that's hard to let go. Again, Kind of takes us back to what we were saying before. It's hard to let go of those expectations and those desires and just be content with the slow pace. I think sometimes that the Lord has us walking instead of trying to run ahead of him. 

[00:19:25] Andrea: It's so hard to follow his timeline. Time means nothing to him and it's so important to us. 

[00:19:31] Erin: Time is like a whole other topic. No, I love it. 

[00:19:34] Andrea: Yeah, it's so true though. I 

[00:19:37] Erin: struggle with time. I feel like it just can be a challenge to try and figure out.

[00:19:41] Okay. So thinking about that idea of choosing to let it look like failure, from the outside, but knowing we can only do what, what we have the abilities to do. Where do you find that confidence? I think maybe to just kind of let go of, of those expectations. 

[00:20:01] Andrea: I think

[00:20:02] practically speaking, like I have to tell myself who I am in Christ is not.

[00:20:07] What I'm doing or what I'm getting done or not getting done. 

[00:20:10] Erin: One of the things I've been talking about on the podcast is, Lately, it is this idea of trying to be enough and, as we're looking at this idea of being enough, I think sometimes in our culture, we don't really define what enough is, sometimes I think we're telling people like you are enough and, and what we mean is value. Like, you have enough value to be loved and 

[00:20:32] these type of things. And, and yet, we're also expecting something from them that's more like enough would look like me like we said before, making the sandwiches and the dinner and cleaning the laundry. And so I think that we sometimes don't define what enough looks like in our lives. Is this a tension that you feel like On the, on the side of having to live up to a standard of enough.

[00:20:57] Andrea: Oh, yeah. And I think that's part of why the season that I'm in is because I physically and mentally can't be what our culture would classify as enough. Like I can't fulfill all those boxes. And so I've had to realize like, okay, if I can't do this, then I'm going To choose to fail and just choose to be a child of God.

[00:21:20] In Christ. We are enough, but everything the world has called us to be in to do, I don't think we can be enough in every area. 

[00:21:29] Erin: I like how you just said that. Yeah, I'm not going to be able to repeat it back, but I really like it. So, how do you feel like, you walk out that faith and that trust in knowing that in Christ we are enough, 

[00:21:43] Andrea: I mean, it's really hard for me to do that if I don't spend those quiet moments with him in the morning.

[00:21:51] First thing I do is, open up my blinds and crack the window if I can, depending on the weather, just so I can hear the birds and sit in silence with him so I can feel his love wash over me. And then, It's been a little bit of time just reading the scripture and I try to read through the Bible.

[00:22:08] I don't always make it in a year, but I try to read through and just take my time, you know, reading each passage and just letting him day. And then of course, usually by breakfast time, you know, there's a little spat or something goes wrong or something. I keep reminding myself of that time I spent with him in the morning to help me walk through each day, knowing that he's enough.

[00:22:30] And then he's the one that fills me and leads me and guides me and, gives me the confidence to get through each day. 

[00:22:37] Erin: Are there any verses that come to mind when you think of that, that being fed in the morning, right, I think is so important and I feel like every day there's like new verses that come and you're just like, wow, just meet me right where I am. Like, I don't know how God does that, right? Are there any verses maybe even that just come to mind right now that God is using in your life?

[00:22:56] Andrea: The one I keep reading over and over again,

[00:22:59] says, but God who comforts the downcast comforted us by the coming of Titus. And it is in second Corinthians seven, verse six. And then when it just keeps sticking out to me, but God, The comforts, the downcast and not that I'm feeling downcast lately, but I just remember the but God, like how awesome is that?

[00:23:25] Like he even comforts us who are downcast and comforts us who are maybe having a hard time and like the God who created the universe cares about us. I've been reading over and over again, and it's just so encouraging to know that he, he cares even about the simplest things.

[00:23:42] Erin: Yeah. Did you say that that last part says through Titus, like he comforted them through Titus? Is that what it said? 

[00:23:48] Andrea: Yeah. Through the coming of Titus. 

[00:23:49] Erin: Cause that really strikes me, as well, just kind of, I think the tension between, knowing that we don't have to do it all, but knowing that God uses us and like that piece of, of God comforting them through Titus is just.

[00:24:04] So encouraging to me to think about like, God used Titus to do this, but the comfort was from God. And it just takes the pressure off of just being like, show up as who you are, like be Titus to somebody, you know, just show up as who you are and be content in that. And I think the opposite then becomes true that.

[00:24:26] We have to learn to be content of who people are to us. And not have that expectation on them that they need to live up to a certain standard, but to receive what God has to give us through people and to pour back what, we have to offer from him instead of, these expectations that I think can kind of just escalate and change the relationship.

[00:24:51] I'm just really, blessed that that's the verse that you picked. I love that. 

[00:24:54] Before we go, I wanted to ask you a little bit about your books and your novels and where people could find them, how they could connect with you.

[00:25:02] Andrea: They can still find me on Facebook at Andrea Schmidt, the books are about, my characters who find themselves in someplace else. The first will be a three book series, and each book focuses on, a different character, who three characters meet in the most unlikely place and become friends. And on my website, you can sign up for my emails and find out when my books will be released. 

[00:25:26] Erin: Would you be willing to close us in prayer? 

[00:25:29] Andrea: Dear Lord, we thank you for this day and we thank you for who might hear this Lord and that you will just.

[00:25:38] Bless them and encourage them to know that they are enough, Lord. Not in the things they do, or the things they have, Lord, but the things that you are going to call them. And that you'll lead them to what you want them to do, Lord. And we just ask that you will take away any burdens that they have to feel like they're not enough.

[00:25:59] And to let them know that it's okay to fail. That it's okay not to have everything right, Lord. We thank you for what you're going to do. And we thank you for who you are, in Jesus name, Amen. 

[00:26:12] Erin: Thank you for joining us today. If you were encouraged, please like, subscribe, and share with a friend. If you want to connect with me, you can do that over at ErinMichele. net. That's Michele with one L. There you'll find links to my socials as well as my gift to you, A Bible journaling resource to help you discover what your next step may be. I hope you'll join us back here next time, but until then, I wanted to leave you with this reminder from Ephesians 2. 10. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

[00:26:44] Friend, I'm praying for you as you keep on stepping. See you next time.