Karen and Jodie discuss the intersection of faith and purpose. Jodie is a pastor by training, and author of Bible studies who hosts a podcast called 'So Much More: Creating Space for God'. She has since stepped away from formal church ministry positions and is now helping people create space for God through her podcast, writing, and other discipleship ministries. Karen shares that when her kids were young, her faith was shallow and she didn't think about being an intentional Christian witness. She was inspired by a woman in the Middle East with a bold and mighty faith, which she hungers to have too.
Jodie and Karen also discuss how to cultivate a deeper relationship with God and how to share a faith worth sharing. In order to accomplish this, they both agree that slowing down is essential. Jodie shares her own experience of feeling like she had to show up to church every Sunday, but not knowing where to start. She then found an opportunity of accountability through a spiritual friendship and a Bible study. Finally, she realized that faith does not have to be overly complicated. She encourages others to find support in order to grow in their faith.
Later in this conversation, Jodie and Karen discuss Jesus' teaching that believers should love the Lord their God with all of their heart, soul, mind, and strength and love their neighbor as themselves. Jodie explains that this is the primary calling for believers, and that other callings may come and go, but this one remains a constant. In order to discern God's will, Jodie suggests getting to know Him better by reading scripture, and listening for His voice. Karen adds that in doing so, believers will bear much fruit and find joy in life. Overall, the conversation emphasizes the importance of loving the Lord and loving our neighbors as key components of following God.
Jodie and Karen also identify the importance of following the spirit's prompting to love and act compassionately toward others. They likened this to a big V and small V, with the big V being our vocation to love God and our neighbors, and the small V being our career and raising our families. Karen then raised the issue of lack of time, which many women face in juggling their responsibilities. She mentioned that some women had difficulty finding the time to build relationships with nonbelievers and share their faith. Jodie and Karen concluded that it is important to trust our inner promptings and to act on them despite how busy we may be.
TIMESTAMPS
00:00:00 Heading: Exploring Faith and Purpose with Jodie Niznick
00:04:00 Cultivating a Deeper Relationship with God
00:05:00 Loving God and Loving Our Neighbors
00:10:00 Loving Our Neighbors and Finding Time to Do So
00:11:00 Practicing the Big V Vocation of Loving God and Our Neighbors
00:15:00 Living an Unhurried Life with Jesus as an Example
00:17:00 Building Relationship with God and our Neighbor in Busy Seasons
00:22:00 Abiding in Christ and Bearing Fruit
00:24:00 Conversation Summary: Jodie's Advice on Following God's Calling
00:26:00 Closing: Reflection on Our Big V Vocation and Little V Vocation
HIGHLIGHTS
Whoever abides in Me and I in him, bears much fruit, and apart from Him, we can bear nothing. When we know we should be sharing our faith, but don't have a rich, vibrant relationship with the Lord, we're separate from Him and we can't bear fruit.
Loving God and our neighbor are the two greatest commandments. Are those in alignment? When we put our own life up against the word and we figure out what's not working, It helps us identify where we need to readjust? And then bringing that to the Lord and saying, “help me in this.”
Ask the Lord, “are there people you want me to love today? Is there a relationship I can start building?” One of the things that we've talked about is loving our neighbor as ourselves and I know to share Jesus with a neighbor really depends on relationship.
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