Balancing Expectations and Identity in Faith with Rose Ward

In this episode of Steps to Trusting, Erin Michele and guest Rose Ward explore letting go of societal and self-imposed expectations, and finding true identity in what God says about us. Rose shares her ministry journey helping Christian women overcome spiritual stagnation, practical steps for deepening one's relationship with God, and setting healthy boundaries. They discuss the ACTS prayer model, the importance of listening to the Holy Spirit, and the significance of maintaining joy and peace even in challenging times. Biblical references such as Philippians 4 and Psalm 143:8 are highlighted, along with information about Rose’s ministry and upcoming book release.

We would love to hear from you.  

Connect with Erin Michele Smith at www.erinmichele.net

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stepstotrusting/ 

Connect with Rose you can go to her personal blog www.ministrymoms.org to access her free content.

If you love clean fiction reading and would like to be a part of Rose’s current Author Journey, you can join her by going to www.roseward.org and subscribe to find out more about her latest fiction book “Prophecy Changer." The book is for both youth and adults.

 Time stamps

00:00 Welcome to Steps to Trusting

00:41 Introducing Rose Ward and Her Ministry

01:14 Finding Balance in Ministry and Life

02:58 Heart Checks and Identity in Christ

04:51 Listening to the Holy Spirit

05:17 Practical Steps to Deepen Your Relationship with God

06:35 Managing Expectations and Boundaries

13:40 The Power of Joy and Overcoming Hardships

16:52 ACTS Prayer Guide and Spiritual Growth

28:41 Final Thoughts and Resources

29:34 Closing Prayer and Farewell

Transcript

[00:00:00] Erin: I'm Erin Michele You found yourself at Steps to Trusting, where it's our goal to meet you where you are in your faith journey and to encourage you to transfer your trust from yourself and your actions to the God who is enough. If you are like me and you need to be reminded over and over that you don't have to do it all, you never needed to be enough because we trust a God who is

[00:00:19] then you found yourself in the right place. 

[00:00:22] On this episode, we're going to be discussing letting go of expectations and doing heart checks, turning to God and finding our identity in what He says of us, not in the pressures to achieve. If you have ever felt overwhelmed by pressures or expectations of others or yourself, then this episode is for you. I'm joined today by Rose Ward. Rose helps Christian women in ministry overcome spiritual stagnation so that they can walk effectively in their calling. Her ministry is called living seeds where she does multiple things, helping moms, serving authors. Rose, one of the things that really hit me in your bio was that it's your hope that your content will help women find grace filled balance between everyday life, health, and ministry. Can you tell me a little bit more about that and how you go about doing that?

[00:01:14] Rose: Well, I started noticing things about this life balance. Women in ministry they support a lot of others, but then. Do not, they don't always get the support they need to keep walking in their calling effectively.

[00:01:27] But no matter what season it is I felt like I needed something that they could hold onto, that they could have heart checks, understand where they're at move forward in their spiritual life.

[00:01:39] Because if, if they stay stagnant in that, they're not gonna walk effectively in their calling that's why I started ministry moments a place where I could provide balance between the health and the heart and the home.

[00:01:50] But also. Working on keeping an understanding joy and understanding, God is outside of time.

[00:01:57] We look at time so much in a constraint and stress and all of these things, but he's outside of time and he can help us with the time we have. 

[00:02:06] And, and I'm on that journey too. I mean, I've been on that journey for quite some time, and so I understand it with chronic health issues, different things, and but God is good and he's moving and he can work through you even if you have those things in your life. 

[00:02:20] Erin: As you're talking, I hear you, like you're using the word balance. I often kind of think of that as a tention. Like when you have these These polls, right? And so I love the idea. You're, you say it probably a lot nicer and kinder. Like, let's find balance. But I think I sometimes feel it as that pull, right? Being pulled in all the different directions. And, and so how do you find that when you have those tensions to find, find that balance in the middle? How are you encouraging women to find a balance that doesn't feel like you have to chase all those pulls and be in that tension?

[00:02:58] Rose: You don't have to be everything your identity isn't him. But Hard truth in some ways. We create the conflict so many times, I create the conflict so many times and I end up feeling completely stretched out, completely overwhelmed, completely stuck.

[00:03:15] I do a heart check is what I call a heart check. I ask the hard questions. Did I really stop and ask God or put him first in this season? What he wants me to do?

[00:03:26] There are people in different stages and for example, okay, I've had issues with chronic pain. Okay. There are some things that I'm not able to do that society or growing up. It's like you should do as a mom, you've got to do this because this looks bad or you've got to be like this. We're not what the world says we are. That's not our identity. And it's not about What people are saying and that's hard for me because I care about what people think a lot of us women do we care about what others think but the world doesn't define who we are our feelings don't define who we are Jesus does so if we can take a moment and back up and get in our quiet time and Leave our agenda at the door and just spend time with him Forget about everything that's happening, world far back, heart full of praise, no matter what's happening because he wants to spend time with us, just be with him.

[00:04:21] Things start to change. Our mindset starts to change. Our heart posture. And you shift your heart posture and that shifts your mindset and, and you also, it kind of works together

[00:04:32] and you want to make your flesh realize, Hey, it's, it's not just what you want to do. It's like, let's look at what God is saying to do 

[00:04:41] Erin: Yeah. I just so appreciate what you're saying. Because it's so much about our hearts.

[00:04:45] Rose: it really is. It really is. And, we don't know how to do that unless we get closer to him.

[00:04:50] Erin: Yeah. And I think one of the other things is listening to the Holy Spirit, listening to his leading. And I think that's another huge question that we all have. Even when I feel like I know what I'm supposed to step into. I'm constantly questioning, am I hearing right?

[00:05:05] Am I doing right? Is that the thing that I should be doing right now? And I think that's actually I'd love to just kind of dig into that

[00:05:12] Rose: I love that. I love that question. I love that because those are all my questions as well. I have practical things for this cause it's easy to doubt. So there's four things that are absolutely essential, to deepen the relationship with God in order to hear him really clear. One of them is worship. I have a actually print out if they want, it's all free. They can go to the website and print it out. So it's, but I'll do an overview. So it's worship and then talking to God, reading his word and listening to his voice. Those four things, deepen the relationship. And you know, I know that there's that time question again and people are like, well, I don't really have time to do.

[00:05:50] Do we, do we not have time for him? If we are going to have a relationship with him, if, okay. All right. Okay. We'll back it up a little bit. If we have a relationship with our husband, we'll If we just say hi for five minutes a day and we don't spend time with him, are we going to build that relationship?

[00:06:08] If we have a relationship with our children and we don't spend time with them and don't make time for them, are we going to have a deeper relationship? No. So I know that's a hard thing, but because seasons can be hard, but if we get in front of him first, I found that I have to get rid of some things.

[00:06:24] So that I can spend more time you know, ask I have to constantly check my heart. But God is saying, Hey, slow down, come here, come spend time with me.

[00:06:33] Erin: So good. But one of the things as you were talking that I was thinking about was kind of the expectations of the voices that the other voices and pulls in our life. Right. And I think earlier on in our conversation, you kind of said like, I care what people think.

[00:06:50] And I think a lot, most of us do. And it's hard to let go of the, like, mom's life should look like this. A friend's life should look like this. This is how much time you should spend here. And this is what you should do there. One of the things I like to say is letting God's voice be loudest in my life, right? and I guess I was just kind of thinking about expectations. And

[00:07:14] I think sometimes there's other voices. That, and sometimes it's myself, it's the own, like, you should be doing this. You should be able to do this. Right. But how, how have you practiced his voice to be the loudest, allowing it to be the one that is. impacts you. And And I think you shared a little bit of like those four things speak to that, but maybe on that opposite side of inputs, you're saying like, these are the inputs that help his voice be like this.

[00:07:46] What are the other ways that you kind of turn your, your attention away from the other loud voices? 

[00:07:54] Rose: What is it Philippians 4 think on things that are lovely think on things that are good I said a piece that surpasses understanding. That's God. That's a kingdom of love Okay, so it is literally Philippians 4 In, in, in therapeutically shifting your thought process, renewing your mind, be like, wait a minute, recognizing it.

[00:08:14] Okay. I'm processing that. I'm feeling that right now, but that is a feeling that is not the truth. That is something from, not from God. That's from the opposite kingdom, turning your head and be like, Oh, kingdom of love. What is the kingdom of love? If you have Christ and you understand who he is and he's defeated, defeated death and you've accepted him and you have Holy Spirit you are now. in a kingdom of love. God, he loves me unconditionally Philippians. verses in my head start running through them.

[00:08:42] Wait a minute. And the other stuff will go. Okay. So if, if we can turn and shift our focus and think on things that are lovely, think on things that are good, not always easy, especially when kids are screaming or whatever's happening. It's simple yet complex. And we create, mind shift, heart shift, remind yourself, remind yourself, remind you, put it in front of you, put it in front of you. When you wake up in the morning, have a verse I have it here, Psalm 143, eight, let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love.

[00:09:08] For I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go for you to you. I trust my life every morning, every morning, just say the word, you know, keep scripture in your mind. Remember that you're in a kingdom of love. Not a fear and that all it is is an attack or a trigger to make your flesh jump and say, Oh, no, and then like build up this construct and I'm horrible person.

[00:09:31] Cancel those lies.

[00:09:32] All the other falls out the window. You might have to do it a lot. I have to do it a lot, you know, but being willing to do that, it changes everything changes in atmosphere. It changes like your kids attitudes you do it until it changes things. You keep doing it.

[00:09:49] Erin: So I have a couple of thought processes on that and I think I'm gonna, I'm going to go one way and then I have another one I want to come back to, but I love what you're saying. It changes things. And I think it takes pointing out to say what it changes, right? Because I think it goes back to what you're saying, that heart position, that heart check, all of that.

[00:10:08] It's changing those things. And I think sometimes when we do those. Heart checks, and we have those changes in our relationship with God because we're focused on him. We're we're seeking him or trying to honor him. There's a very positive change in our spiritual lives and within our hearts and hopefully within our homes.

[00:10:31] But there also is sometimes these expectations of people that you are letting down and change for the negative on the outside. And so I guess I am just, I, I totally agree with how positive it is and how wonderful it is to step into those beautiful places. And I also don't want to discount that people who are listening may be.

[00:10:59] Feeling the tension of the other side. And so I guess I'm going to start with that and saying like, okay, there's potentially a very large positive thing happening within you and in your home. But there's also potentially this very hard negative thing that is happening on the outside And I don't know, I, I guess one of the things I've really been trying to figure out how to talk about is, is that in my life is expectations from other people that have been laid on me that I have to seek out what is God calling me to?

[00:11:37] What is he asking He need to do, how is he want me to spend my time? Right? And that is negatively affected my relationship with people because I have let them down 

[00:11:48] I was kind of thinking about this idea of our true, like being true to ourself.

[00:11:53] And I want to kind of define that a little bit because I think sometimes our culture will say, be true to yourself, be who you are, don't let anybody change you. I want to kind of dig into that a little bit, but, but even to define it, to say like, Your true self of who God made you to be right.

[00:12:09] Not just who you want to be or like, Oh, I don't want to change this bad habit because that's just who I am. Right. Like, you know, being true to who God made you to be and what you're called to.

[00:12:22] Rose: And not everybody's going to like that.

[00:12:25] Erin: And not everybody's gonna like

[00:12:27] Rose: And that's okay.

[00:12:28] That's hmm.

[00:12:29] Because we're not here to obey them. We're here to obey God.

[00:12:33] Erin: Right.

[00:12:34] Rose: And, but that doesn't make it not hard when you have those expectations on you and you have, Oh, she's not doing this right or this right.

[00:12:44] But we do have to have healthy boundaries.

[00:12:45] I I've had a hard time with boundaries.

[00:12:48] Erin: What about boundaries? I love let's go. Let's

[00:12:50] Rose: Yeah. So like when we don't have healthy boundaries. It can affect us so much that we can't even, we can't get out of bed or, cause that's how badly unhealthy boundaries can affect us.

[00:13:08] Erin: Mm Um, if you think about how even like Jesus, it was hard to live his life.

[00:13:16] Rose: As Christians, I It's not some easy as pie thing. It's commitment. It's change. It's fighting the flesh. It's crazy, you know, and people will be people and we live in a fallen world and there's going to be misunderstanding. There's going to be judgment. There's going to be all of these things and it can't define us.

[00:13:38] We can't let it define us. Just really quick as a segue, remember that happiness is circumstantial. Okay, it's like a, a smile. It's like a, it's a reaction, but joy, it waits to be discovered. No one can steal our joy.

[00:13:55] I know that sounds funny, but you know, Oh, they stole my joy. No, can't be stolen. The only person that gets in the way of it is ourselves. As far as joy. and it's limitless and you're allowed to have now, even though you're at a fetal position on the bed crying. Okay. At some points, because I've been there many times.

[00:14:13] Okay. There's space for that. And still having joy. Okay. I lost a little boy named Aaron. Okay. One of the hardest things, right? But I really discovered what joy was like his story, which is for another time, but his story actually brought somebody to Christ. And I was astounded. That joy could be there even when there's absolute heartache. Okay. Like God works things together for good for those who love him. So you never know what God's going to do with your situation. And the hard story, like Brian Dixon from Hope Writers says, is your hope story for others.

[00:14:56] Right? So all of these, these things coming in and these people saying things. You know, if you listen to them and you do their expectations, it might make you like, I'll feel better about yourself or I'm happy because I'm doing this because they expect this, but that's fleeting and that's not real and we have to be real with ourselves.

[00:15:17] We have to be real with what God wants and be completely sold out to him. Even if it's someone close, you know it's okay that they don't understand.

[00:15:26] It's okay that they judge or they whatever. And you know, it's funny though, it doesn't make it less hard, but it is less hard if we can worship God even in that fetal position. If we can just be like world, far back, heart full of praise, even in that position. And it does shift. It shifts, heart shift.

[00:15:48] And it changes how you view the people who are talking. Well, you might look at them and say, okay, what, you know, not judging them. I think we say, okay, well, they don't understand. They don't see it. They don't know what I know. And that's okay. So I don't know if I'm answering the question or not, but it's even in that hard place, it's really not about them.

[00:16:11] And it's not about how we feel. I can feel angry. It doesn't make me an angry person. Feelings are not our identity. What the world says is not our identity. We have to keep coming back to identity in Jesus because if we don't, we get lost. 

[00:16:25] Erin: Thinking about our identity of who God says we are and who God is. What are some specific characteristics either? You can go both directions, but of who God is or of the identity that he's given you. That are your go to in those moments of challenge and trying to figure out what you're supposed to do, because who are you right?

[00:16:49] Rose: so what I do, I literally do my own prayer guide.

[00:16:52] So there's called the ACTS, A C T S. It's just a guide, a training wheel, so to speak. The acronym A CTS is something that I don't even know who made that up a, a long time ago. And it's used in prayer time. So, A stands for adoration, C is for confession, T is for Thanksgiving, and S is supplication.

[00:17:14] But you can go deeper with just just the level that it says. So if it's adoration and you go into adoration, you really look at Jesus. You really look at God, see who he is and just adore him with that. And let your heart, let your be moved. I really adore him.

[00:17:33] Okay. And then for the C for confession, yes, yes. Ask for forgiveness is there's stuff that we always need, you know, forgiveness for, whether it's an attitude or an action, whatever it is. I confess that. But you also move into confessing who you are in Christ who he is to you.

[00:17:52] And so you confess that and you speak it out and it shifts your mindset, your heart Posture changes your focus changes. And it really, really edifies, it really helps you understand him more, helps you understand yourself more. confession. God, you are amazing. You are my identity. And you, you start praying into that. You start confessing these things because. It gets it from here. It makes us listen. It lines it up. And when you're confessing that your Holy Spirit moves, and then there's Thanksgiving, which is being thankful, grateful, and we, we all need that to be thankful for a roof over our heads, for our life, for thanking God for who he is. Thank you for your mercy. Thank you for, for everything you've done. Thank you know, just that thankfulness and that gratefulness is really important.

[00:18:45] And then supplication is usually when people think of supplication, they're asking God for things. Hey, I would like this really big ministry that has a million people. I would like a red car that's a convertible, you know, it's more than that. So supplication, you're supplicating God, you're asking God.

[00:19:03] To help you walk in his footsteps, to help you know his character, to, to have that type of character, like, and his wisdom and his grace and his mercy, help me be merciful, show me how to be patient, show me the fruit of the spirit, it's like supplication is like, God, I want your character. I love your wisdom.

[00:19:25] Wrap me in it. I wanna think like you, I wanna, have the mind of Christ. He's in me. I, I wanna know you. I wanna do the things and take the steps that you took. to spread your light, to spread the truth, to speak in truth, to understand, 

[00:19:42] It moves you, it moves your heart, it shifts it.

[00:19:44] God molds you. It's like, you know, clay it is. And those jars that feel empty, he refills, he refills them and refills them. And the oil does not run dry. It's transformational.

[00:19:59] It's there. It's always available. It's, hope and joy run together. Like if you have hope, you have joy. If you have joy, you have hope. 

[00:20:07] Erin: of the things I'm really hearing is this idea of God is our source and, and also at the opposite end of it is we are in need of a source, right? And

[00:20:20] Rose: yes,

[00:20:20] Erin: that realization that we just need him so much and he is so much. And. And often I know for myself, I'm often I'm off trying to do things by myself

[00:20:33] Rose: Yes.

[00:20:33] Erin: and I need to be connected to the source.

[00:20:36] Right. He says I am the vine and you are the branches apart from me. You can do nothing. Right. And it's like just needing that constant turning back of saying, like, I can do this in you. I can do what you call me to. Even I, I, I Like, I can know what you want me to do, right? You know, being connected.

[00:20:57] Rose: He gives us desires in our hearts for a reason.

[00:21:00] And when we're in him, you know, those desires, it matches up, you know? And even if you have someone in your life, you know how you're talking about people saying things and judging and all these. Okay. Say the verse about honoring your parents. Okay. We're to honor our parents and obey them. Okay. What if Your parents are way off base? What if they're not following God's will? How do you honor them? The best way to honor your parents, to honor anyone is to get close to God. But that honoring comes from us being close to the Savior, that honoring them, truly honoring others is being as close to Jesus as we possibly can get. And it's just reminding ourselves, you know, every day, okay, I forgot again, where am I at? What am I doing? I am really stressed out right now.

[00:21:49] Okay, I'm going to give that stress right now. to Jesus and just replace it with your peace God I know i can access it and you just have to continually do that but I'm just saying like that. It's hard. It can be hard. And even in the, the, you know, family or church family or ministries or all of it's really the same.

[00:22:11] Erin: Yeah.

[00:22:12] Rose: Whatever it is, it's just us not, you know, we cannot live in a kingdom of fear. We have to live in a kingdom of love.

[00:22:19] We are in the kingdom of love and just recognizing it for what it is. Yes,

[00:22:26] Erin: the borders of maybe the label, you know, of, of whether it's friendship or whether it's like church family or family or kids, I think there's still like that deep longing in us. That it's, it's wanting of validation, it's wanting to approve, maybe make our own name instead of receiving the identity in the name that God has, has given us.

[00:22:50] I mean, that's what I find for myself, right? I find that I need to let go of trying to prove my own identity and prove my own heart. Instead, I need to turn to God and say, who do you say I am? And how can I live out of that as my source? Instead of trying to earn something that I think is my end goal, like I already have something that that is also my end goal that God has given me, right, that I can live out of with him as the source, instead of trying to prove myself into an identity, I need to turn the other direction and realize the identity I already live in.

[00:23:30] Rose: that's right. And we need to warrior up. We gotta be battle ready, you know, and how do you do that? You know who you are in Christ, and it's a process. It's a work. It's a, it's a transformation.

[00:23:41] It's it's a turning over. It's a, it's a You know, embracing who you are in Christ and understanding that authority and walking in it. Let's shift some things. I'm going to go into prayer right now and we're going to change some things. But God he answers you always. So like, yes, no, wait, he always knows what's better and his picture is always more beautiful than I can create think of.

[00:24:05] But in prayer and as I'm learning and as I'm growing I'm starting to appreciate the yes's the no's, the waits, In the waiting, and it feels like you're in the desert. It's the stretchy places. It's like, but if you can glorify God in the stretchy places, that's amazing, and that's good. And it's sometimes the stretchy places end up being the most significant, you know?

[00:24:28] Erin: So too. I think those places where we feel like we're being stretched the most that we realize how much we need God, in the places where everything's going easy and it seems comfortable, I think we look so much to ourselves. And then when it doesn't go the way that we want or hope or plan, and we have to wait for God, we really look to him and even cry out like, God, what am I supposed to do?

[00:24:51] What's next? 

[00:24:52] And I think there's so many times I wouldn't want to wish on anyone like for them to go through some of those hard things that I felt I've had to go through. And yet I remember coming to the end starting healing and feeling better and being afraid. Because my God, am I going to forget who you were to me when I knew that I needed you every single day when every single day I woke up and I knew that what I need is you. I going to draw near to you in that same way?

[00:25:22] Rose: It is interesting to think about it like that cause I mean, and let endurance have its perfect result, right? 

[00:25:27] Erin: But I think we often say we want it to stop, but in looking back, I'm like, yeah, I did want it to stop, but I don't want what it did to my heart to stop

[00:25:38] Rose: That's right.

[00:25:38] Erin: that

[00:25:39] Rose: Yeah. and, and he can make it all weave together beautifully, 

[00:25:44] Erin: I wanted to kind of. Go back to the idea of boundaries and, and what you were just saying in there, it just made me think of like knowing who we are in Christ is one of our boundaries, right? And it's one of the safeguards and the armor that we put on. But I guess one of the thoughts I have too, is like, I think sometimes we don't know we need boundaries

[00:26:06] Rose: Oh yes.

[00:26:06] Erin: Until we've know that, well, the boundary should have been here and it wasn't. And so I guess I'm just thinking about that, that preparedness, that putting on the armor, that setting up our boundaries of who we are in Christ, the, the directions that we will walk and the directions we will not walk, like setting up those boundaries before we come to that crossroad 

[00:26:30] Rose: When you're sometimes they're like, Oh, I should have had a boundary there. And it's like, like, Oh my goodness, I'm right here now. 

[00:26:38] Erin: Yeah, like even just taking it back to this idea of like, let's go with friendship. And thinking about times where you have all the time in the world before you have kids and you hang out with people there's no boundaries as far as getting together and you don't need boundaries.

[00:26:57] And then all of a sudden, you know, like if you have kids or your life changes or a job or whatever it is, that boundary that you'd haven't set up, you have to go back and you have to set up a boundary and I'm trying to think like this isn't specifically related to who you are in Christ, but it is protecting.

[00:27:15] Like I'm protecting time with my family. There's a protection that you have to learn. And, and I think we sometimes don't learn it until we've already made sacrifices in a way that we shouldn't have. We've given up time with our family because, Oh, well we always used to do it this way.

[00:27:34] And like that, that expectation. Expectation and that stepping into yeah, just how, how God has made the things he calls us to.

[00:27:43] Rose: So stepping into that and understanding that it's okay to mess up because, Hey, God is going to help me get out of this and set a healthy boundary. The power of the the armor of God, so one of the things we were doing, which I want to start back is I had it on the wall and it was just confessing the armor over you and, I find that it, bolsters you. It helps your posture change, you know, that heart posture, and it just really is it always seems to come back to that heart posture and, and being able to shift things and move through and navigate well through those things.

[00:28:20] And I mean, it's okay. When things don't go perfectly, you know that's going to happen. And people don't understand and they won't always understand your boundaries you put in place.

[00:28:32] But just listening to God and understanding those boundaries, even with friends and with family, with church and with, you know, all of these things with ministry, it is a balance 

[00:28:41] Erin: Could you tell us where that we could find those resources? If anybody wants to download any of those options you talked about today and see what other options you have, where would they do that?

[00:28:52] Rose: For sure it's we're a nonprofit, and so you can go to ministry moms. org. There's a free membership portal. and do have a book coming out and it's a fiction series. It's clean fiction. And if anybody likes the fantasy world, it's fantasy, you know, fantastic adventure.

[00:29:11] But with. Biblical inspired by biblical truth. So this book will be coming out. It's called prophecy changer That's going to be a trilogy. There is a thing on there if you want to subscribe to know more about the book You can subscribe for updates for the author journey. This is the first book. There's going to be two more after this one, 

[00:29:28] Erin: I love that. Thank you. I was wondering, would you also just be willing to close this in prayer?

[00:29:34] Rose: definitely. Yes. Thank you, Jesus Thank you so much for this podcast. May it be blessed May it bless whoever listens to it that Lord you will have something for their heart right now in this moment Let them receive it in Jesus name the very thing that you have for them to hear Give them understanding.

[00:29:54] Bless them with wisdom. Wrap them in your wisdom. Wrap this podcast in your favor. God bless Erin bless her heart to serve you. Thank you thank you that she's reaching out to help others and those on the receiving end. I just, I pray that they will just be, they will have an anointing. upon them from the words that are spoken.

[00:30:19] Thank you for using us and thank you for those that are listening and what they're going to be doing for you, God, that they can come to you with the world far back without the agenda, with a heart full of praise, no matter where they are, that those things in life do not take them down. But because of you, they find the joy, they receive the joy, they receive the peace that is available for them. Every day. Bless them, God. Bless their hearts. Bless their ministries. Bless their families. Be with them, God. Keep them protected and safe in you, God. The way that you do your armor on them. Help them to get close to you and understand your heart for them.

[00:31:05] In your name we pray. Amen.

[00:31:06] Erin: Amen. Thank you so much, Rose. It was great to have a conversation with you today.

[00:31:12] Rose: So nice to be on. Thank you so much.

[00:31:14] Erin: Thank you so much for joining us today. If you are 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 can find links to my social as well as sign up and receive my free gift, What's My Next Step.

[00:31:31] It's a Bible journaling resource to encourage you to look at places in your life where you could transfer your trust in deepening ways to the God who is enough. 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.

[00:31:51] Friends, I'm praying for you as you keep on stepping, see you next time.