Hey friends, on today's episode, we're going to talk about how God can use us in our everyday lives.

We're going to talk about why our creativity and work matters in the world.

And we're going to dive into Exodus 31.

Hey friend, are you craving deeper faith renewed purpose and more joy in your everyday life?

Welcome to Faith Fueled Woman podcast that helps Christian women grow spiritually pursue God's calling and embrace the abundant life he has for you.

I'm Kristin.

I, an encourager, mentor, entrepreneur, wife and mom here to uplift, equip and inspire you with faith filled conversations and biblical wisdom.

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Okay, so last week when I was actually planning to record this episode, I came across several things that all spoke to Exodus 31.

Right.

And that's often an indicator that it's something for us to pay attention to.

Okay, so right.

There's a repeat scripture that you keep seeing.

There's a lesson that it seems you want to, you know, you're, you need to learn.

But anyway, so several Christian authors or pastors were talking in different ways about Exodus 31.

And so I want to share that some of what they said with you because it, it really spoke to me and I think it was a really good reminder that I needed and maybe you need as well.

So the first thing is that in Exodus 31, it's the first time it's mentioned that God filled someone with the Holy Spirit.

Now obviously I'm not saying he didn't do that before.

What I'm saying is that's the first reference in the Bible.

And so he filled Bezalel with the Holy Spirit.

And what's really amazing is two things.

One, God wants to use us by partnering with him, right?

So if we welcome right, or accept the Holy Spirit into our day, into our lives, what can we do when we partner with God?

And then the second thing is what does it say in that verse about doing our best work and being creative?

And so that's what we're going to dig into today.

Okay, so the first thing, I'll go back actually.

Let's see.

So the first person that I want to share with you a little bit about what they said is Annie F.

Downs.

And he's talking about Exodus 31.

And she points out that what's so interesting is when he filled him with the Holy Spirit, he was going to work.

He was getting ready to go to work.

And what's interesting about that is it's God is preparing us for what's about to happen, for the work we're about to do or who we're going to encounter.

And so she says something that I really like.

She says, the Holy Spirit hovers, right?

So when we hear that small prompting, that small voice, that thought in our head, or at least it feels like it's in our head saying, just go turn left here, right?

Or go speak to that person.

Go check on this person, right?

We feel that prompting, but it's.

It's a.

He calls it a hovering, right?

It's like we feel this.

I'll just call it an urge, right?

This strong kind of a command.

But it's up to us to do it.

And she explains that she was going to get.

I think it was a blizzard, actually.

And she gets her blizzard.

She had had a tough day and some things had happened, and she's trying to leave the store.

And she gets this prompting, like, you should talk to this woman that came in crying, but she still goes to her car and she tries to leave, right?

She tries to ignore it.

But what happens is she.

As she gets to her car, she just feels this stronger impulse to go and talk to that woman.

And so she finally does, and they have an interaction and they talk briefly.

The woman that was crying basically says she's fine and she doesn't need anything or any help.

But what was really cool about what Annie says about this is, she says, you know, you might be thinking then, well, did it even matter that I talked to that woman?

But she said two things that were important.

First was she didn't have that feeling, right?

That impulse to talk to that woman went away once she talked to her.

And two, it's not our business what happens in that moment.

It's just our business to be obedient and go do the thing.

And so she says that, right?

It could take seven encounters, just like they say it takes seven times for somebody to see a marketing message, for us to often purchase or go learn more about the product or the company.

So she explains the same thing.

God has people lined up, and we just have to do our part.

So that woman, just that short interaction she had with her may not shift.

It may not make her really get to see God, may not make her a believer.

And maybe she already was.

But.

But what it does is it showed her that someone noticed and saw her and paid attention and asked if she's okay.

That is likely all that God was asking Annie to do.

And so we just have to remember as she says obeying the Holy Spirit isn't about the outcomes.

It isn't about the outcomes for us, right?

Our part in it.

God knows what outcomes that are going to happen, but it's down a different timeline.

And so she goes on to say, what we do in our everyday isn't about outcomes.

And we shouldn't tie our obedience to outcomes.

We should just focus on being obedient, focus on partnering with God.

And I think actually that makes it so much, maybe not easy, maybe that's the wrong word, but it makes it so much more doable that we just listen and then we take action.

Another thing she says is that God's really doing, the Holy Spirit's doing two things.

And, well, I should say at least two things which he talks about two things.

One is he hovers over us to preserve what already has been created in and with us.

And the Holy Spirit is there with us to prepare for the future activity of God in us, right?

Like how he's going to partner with us in the world.

And so two things.

One is, I think when we're doing our work, when we're doing our hobbies and when we're just showing up in the world, that is our work, right?

Our work is not just whatever we do, whether we set at a computer or whether we counsel people, whether we make a product.

The work we do is how we show up in the world, loving people, how we show up in the world and do good and how we are kind.

So that could be with a product we're creating, a craft we're doing.

It could be with a conversation.

It could be by blessing somebody.

So we have to remember the work we're doing is actually in the connections.

It's actually in the those intimate spaces.

It's, it's sometimes talking to a stranger.

It's sometimes just being part of our communities and sometimes it's a making of something.

And so I think it's just important, relevant to remind ourselves where we are is often where we're meant to be.

Even when we feel maybe like we're ready to move on from a position or a job or a place and that timing may be coming right soon.

If we start feeling those desires for something different, for something more, for a change, maybe it's a toxic environment, but while we're there, God's still going to use us.

So we need to be present and we need to be open and pay attention who is around us or what is around us that we're meant to be a part of in that day?

Right.

It could be a one minute interaction.

It could be on our way home from the grocery store.

So that's what I want to talk to you about, the work piece and about how the Holy Spirit can partner with us.

Then I was reading some things that Pastor Ian Simkin talked about and he's Talking about Exodus 31 is Exodus 31 as well.

And he, you know, he's kind of paraphrasing Exodus 31 and says right in it, it says he was filled with the Spirit of God, with wisdom.

And then it goes on later to say to make artistic designs, cut stones and engrave wood for the tabernacle.

But what's interesting is that he goes on, Ian goes on to explain it's not just that he cares about her work, which he does.

He doesn't say this part, but he says this.

God cares about creativity.

And he says God invites us to join him in the work.

Creating and cultivating, dreaming and implementing, constructing and ordering.

And there's two other things he says I want to share.

He says every person is made in the image of God, full of dignity, with unique gifts and talents meant to point people back to him.

Right?

So our work, our character, how we show up and love people, the conversations we have, the, the stopping what we're doing to notice somebody, to see somebody, to ask them if they're okay, to say hello, to say, what do you need?

How can I help you?

Right?

That is part of the work.

That is how we point people back to God because we are showing people through us the heart of Christ, right?

The who he is.

And then he says we were created by a creator to create.

And then he shares a quote by N.T.

wright that says, reflecting God's love.

Love, sorry, reflecting God's love for the world through us and giving the world a glimpse of God in his goodness.

How good is that?

But what I love is that so often I think we can just get caught up in our day to day.

We get busy with work, we get busy with our responsibilities that we need to zoom back out, right?

We get, we get really zoomed in on a task at hand, a deadline we have to hit or whatever it might be.

And I'm not saying we don't want to do those things, but what I am saying is we do need to keep zooming back out.

We need to be present, we need to notice who and what's around us.

And we need to listen to that small voice inside of us, prompting us to go care about people in the world, to go care about causes in the world.

And the other thing is we need to care about our work, right?

I know there's a scripture in the Bible.

I can't think of, of what it is or where it is exactly right now, but it's basically about creating the.

Right, the shoes.

But it's actually that God cares even about our workmanship, right?

We're not to make shoddy products.

But in other words, we were created with gifts.

We were created to be creative, to be inventive, to problem solve.

And when we use those gifts and skills on either something that we're passionate about, for some of us, it might be we enjoy gardening.

Or for some of you, maybe you love using your hands to knit or crochet or cook or whatever it might be.

But we should use those to bless people too, right?

We should use those whether we're selling a product or whether we're giving people that experience, right?

Fresh vegetables when we have extra, or we're inviting someone in for dinner, right?

Because it fills their heart in their soul.

Because we're doing it with love and we're inviting them in to be in community and connection with them.

So I just think it's really important to zoom out and remember how we are to partner with God and how the Holy Spirit helps us walk in the world each day and then gives us opportunity to show the world who God is and that he loves them and that we are people of God.

And so I think it's just easy to get busy and caught up in our daily lives and forget that the work we do matters, how we interact with people matters, Being creative, using our hands, connecting to people whether we know them or not, to not isolate, to not get too comfortable.

Right.

Sitting in our homes too often, I know that I can do that as well.

Because let's be honest, especially since COVID we got used to, for a little bit of enjoying our backyards or being in our homes with less people.

And while I am definitely a people girl and I'm around people often, the honest truth is I don't always push myself to do more, to invite people in, to go to more places that maybe I will have encounters that God's calling me into.

So I know for myself I can do a better job with that.

And I have a few things that you can try doing if you're thinking to yourself right now, I.

I don't really know if I feel the Holy Spirit, right, Working with me or coming into my.

Into my life.

So first is that you can welcome the Holy Spirit into your day.

You know, invite him in.

You can, you know, just say, come, Holy Spirit.

You know, I.

Not every day, but I definitely in the mornings, maybe after I read a devotional or maybe when I first get up and I'm sitting in bed, I will say something like that.

The next thing is, is you can just, you know, quietly, or in your mind, or you can say it out loud, whatever you want to do, or you can write it down.

Just say, God, what would you have me notice today?

Who would you have me notice today?

God.

Another thing you can do or say or think, God, how would you like to use me today?

Show me.

Right.

But in other words, what we're doing is starting to create in our minds that idea that we're available and we're open and that we're noticing.

So we're creating a posture that we're ready to kind of hear God speak through us, through either, you know, an urge to move, you know, to help someone, in other words, or to do something.

Or maybe we feel like, gosh, I haven't talked to somebody in a while.

I want to reach out to them.

Could be your own own thinking, but it can also be God prompting you, right, to move in the world.

And also what I would say beyond this is, is this.

I meet a lot of people.

I've worked with people and I talk to, you know, even friends of mine or people in my circles.

And a lot of us get so Busy with our 9 to 5 and then our responsibilities or obligations, you know, making dinner, making sure everyone else is okay, especially us women.

And we pause.

Or we put aside what interests us.

We have put hobbies on hold.

We've put things that make us curious or that we're.

We know we have this.

We like being creative, but maybe we've even pushed that aside.

What I would actually challenge you and say is God meant for us to be creative, to keep trying and learning new things as we're interested in stuff.

He's created us to be curious.

He has created us to have interests and passions.

He's created us to notice things that break our hearts.

And when we push these things aside, when we don't pay attention to our passions or what we feel called into or what we could feel called into, we are actually doing a disservice because I believe God wants to use every part of us, every part of our story, every part of our curiosity, like, or what we used to love.

But maybe we've stopped.

So I created in the last year, and I've shared about this before a Reignite your passion workbook.

But it is.

Forget if it's 1212 different sections, but it's basically a workbook to help you understand what how has God made you to be?

Who has he made you to be?

And what is it that you need to reignite, reclaim and rediscover within yourself that's going to help you show up not only for yourself, but for God and your community and be in a posture where you are healthier, you're happier, you, you're more contented, and you are showing everyone else that when we use our interests and our passions, we can turn it into purpose and we can turn it into serving people even better in the world.

So if that sounds like something that you would love to do a little bit more of, you would like to explore for yourself, head over to KristinFitch.com and either sign up for my email newsletter or if you go to my freebies page, you can click on the Reignite youe Passion Workbook and grab it there as well.

But I'm telling you, if you haven't taken the time to prioritize who you are, what you enjoy, what you want to step into, your life will change as you actually say yes to how God made you, how he wired you, and what things he made you be of interest to.

We all have different interests and passions and hobbies, pastimes.

And I promise it's not on accident.

For instance, I love reading.

I love reading health books.

I love learning about the wellness intersection with faith and with how our bodies work, right?

So the different.

I like cooking, I like learning about gardening.

But I, I have lots of friends that have no interest in reading those, those materials, right?

Or they don't read.

Or they have other interests.

Maybe they love fashion or maybe they love, you know, cooking only or crocheting.

None of them are.

In other words, we all are just designed different because we can all do different work in the world.

And so I'd say do not take it lightly and do not push it aside.

Because the more we grow, the more we discover about ourselves through a Christian lens, the more we're going to show up in different circles and be able to literally be that image of God, give people a glimpse of God and His godliness, of his goodness and of his love.

So go grab that workbook if you haven't already gotten it.

And if you have, I have another.

I have several new freebies.

So go check out my freebies page because I promise they will help you start thinking from, you know, shifting your mindset a new perspective and just understand that we can connect this intersection of our faith journey with the different areas of our lives.

And when I started doing that, it really started changing my life in a big way.

So until next time, I hope you have a great day.

Thanks again for listening to the show and if you enjoyed today's episode, we would love it if you could take a minute to leave a rating and review on Apple podcast because it helps our show get discovered by more people.