GROVE WOMEN LIVE // Summer Song Vol. 3 // Week 3

Good morning, gals.

Wow, what a beautiful Tuesday we have on tap today.

And it feels good to see that sunshine after all the rain yesterday, right?

So welcome.

Welcome to Grove Women Live.

Welcome to a brand new day.

Welcome to week three of our summer song series.

We are going to talk about a song that I don't know, may or may not be known by many of you.

We talked about it.

Brother Bill talked about it on Sunday.

And um, and and I don't know, this song, I love it.

It's a beautiful song, but it also is I'm gonna share the different perspective um that I have on it.

Um so I'm trying to get my computer going.

It always takes a minute to get that going, but here we go.

All right, so hey, pop on, say hi.

If you are joining us today, I would love to know who is uh in the comment section.

Good morning.

Welcome, welcome, welcome.

Uh, I'm gonna start us off in prayer and then we're gonna dive into um not just the song Miracle Child by Brandon Lake, which by the way, if you didn't get a chance to listen to it, I posted it last night.

Take some time to listen to it.

It is such a good song.

And I'm hoping um that today, after we kind of have this conversation, that maybe the words and lyrics of the song shift for you uh like they did for me.

So let me start us off in prayer and then we're gonna dive right in.

Father God, you are good.

You love us so much.

I know that there is awful bad things uh in the world every single day, but I know that you are um you're above all that.

And if we will allow you to speak into our hearts and uh permeate our minds and and um be everything in our being, then then you will help us face each and every day and whatever life throws at us.

Lord, I know how much you love me.

I know how much you love these women, and so I just ask that you speak um your word to them this this morning.

Let them hear what their heart needs, Lord.

Thank you for loving us.

Thank you for Jesus.

It's in his name I pray, amen.

All right, whoo, got choked up a little bit.

Um, so this song, it's it's by Brandon Lake.

It's I would say it's probably a newer song.

And I'm gonna be really honest with you.

I'm gonna read a couple of the lyrics to it, and I'm just gonna share kind of my perspective and the perspective shift that happened uh for me over the last couple of days with this song.

But um the the let me see, the chorus of this song is probably um probably the most famous uh parts of it.

But um the the chorus goes like this death, where is your sting?

Because my savior's word is final.

I'm a resurrected, blood protected, I am a miracle child.

Oh, death, where is your sting?

And it repeats that.

Um, you're the living, breathing God of glory.

I'm a living, breathing testimony.

You're the one who turns a dead end story to a living, breathing testimony.

Um, and and there's just these words that go throughout that just talk about man, how it's a miracle that any of us are here, right?

And and I kind of want to lean into that a little bit because here's the truth.

Here's here's the perspective shift for me on this song.

Every time I hear this song, I immediately think about the miracle of life of my children, uh, you know, each of their births, or I think of my grandchildren and the miracle of each of their births, and I think of all many, several babies that we have been praying for um over the last, I don't know, year.

Miracles of babies born that shouldn't have been born, and miracles of babies that have survived that shouldn't survive.

And so immediately when I think of this song, my brain goes to all of these miracles um of life that I see around me that I have experienced myself.

And if you're a mom, I would bet that when you think of miracle child, the first thing you think of is your child.

You think of, or or children that you're praying for, or children that you have seen um outdo ridiculous odds to be alive, right?

And and just seeing a few people that are popping on this morning, like you have experienced miracle children, you've experienced rainbow children, you've experienced children that that have been born that are defying odds every single day.

So our women's brains, especially if we're moms, I feel like that is where we focus when we think of miracle children or miracle child.

And and that's good.

There's nothing wrong with that.

But here's the perspective shift that happened within me over the last 24 hours in preparing for this.

I all the time think about those children in my life, around my life that I'm praying for, but I don't take time to think about the miracle that I am, my life.

And I would bet that most of us as women do not stop and think about us as that miracle child.

Now, that's not to say some of you may have amazing miracle birth stories.

Maybe, maybe you are a miracle, maybe you've survived or beaten, or um, and those stories are every single day.

But for me, I skip over the miracle that he says I am.

And that's kind of where I want to park this morning is just yes, we have had miracle babies, yes, there are miracle babies in each of our lives.

Yes, God is showing off in so many little bitty teeny tiny bodies and stories.

But I want to pause for just a minute and allow him to keep working on that while we think for just a few minutes about the miracle that our you and I, sister, our lives is our.

Okay.

So I want to um start off by reading a couple of verses in the book of Acts, chapter 17.

Acts 17 · chapter mention

And this is just confirming, affirming, reaffirming that God made it all, that it all has a plan and a purpose, and that you are part of that.

So I'm gonna read, uh, let's see, I want to read verses 24 through 20 um 28.

All right, so here's here, let's read that.

Acts chapter 17, verses 24 through 28.

Acts 17:24–28

Here's what it says The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man.

You you can find Jesus in church, but Jesus is all around you right here.

Okay, all right.

Nor is he served by human hands as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.

And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him.

He is actually not far from each one of us.

I absolutely love that phrase, and perhaps that they should seek God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him, yet he is actually not far from each one of us.

Man, I don't know about you, cows, but there have been a lot of moments in my life where I feel like I am clawing to get to him.

Have you ever felt that way?

Have you ever felt like you have to like claw through so many things to get to where he is?

And I don't know, maybe that's maybe sometimes we do have to fight through things to get to him, but this verse says that even though that's the way that we feel, even though perhaps we, you know, like, but that they should seek God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him, yet he is actually not far from each of us.

What that says to me is even though I may work really, really hard to get to him, he's right here.

He's right here, next to me, in it with me, um, going before me, standing beside me, like he's he's right here.

So I want to think about that for just a couple of minutes.

I want to think about two miracles.

Um, the miracle of life, yours, and the miracle of his nearness.

It's not as hard to get to as we think it is sometimes.

Okay, I want to talk about those two miracles.

So let's talk about for just a minute, and I want to blow your mind.

And I know, like a woman's mind, and actually I'm gonna give you some stats on a woman's mind here in just a minute, but I know that it's gonna be really hard to blow your mind today because we are constantly taking in information and swirling it around and thinking about things, but I'm gonna try really hard to blow your mind this morning, okay?

All right, because it blew my mind.

I'm like, wow.

All right, I want you to think about you becoming a human being, your birth, okay?

Play with me for just a minute.

All right, in order for that to happen, your mom and dad had to find each other, right?

And maybe they were high school sweethearts, maybe whatever.

But when you like zoom out and you think that not only did your mom and dad have to find each other, but your grandparents had to find each other.

Your your spouses or husband or boyfriend, whatever, had to find each other so that you two could be together.

And it goes back all the way generation upon generation upon generation.

Now, think about this.

These are stats today.

In the US, there are 342 million people.

Okay.

So you and your person, your mom and dad, your mom and dad found each other out of 342 million people on just here in this country.

Then in Kentucky, and because you're most of you are from Kentucky, some of you are not, but whatever your state is, I only did Kentucky, not only did they have to, your parents find their way to each other out of 342 million people here in this country, but then in Kentucky, if you were born here or if they found each other here, they had to find each other from 4.6 million people that live in Kentucky.

Okay?

So many people.

Go down even further.

Let's say that you're a hometown girl.

I'm independence.

I grew up in Boone County.

I didn't look at Boone County numbers because I've been in independence now for almost 30 years.

In independence, let's say that you've always been here.

You are born and raised in Independence, Kentucky.

Your parents had to find each other out of 30,000 people.

Like, just sit in that for a second.

It took millions of connections.

Like the board established those steps so that out of all those people, those tens of thousands of people, your mom, your dad, your grandparents came together so that you could be born.

You now, on top of that, in between my two middle children, I had a miscarriage.

A lot of women suffer through miscarriage.

And one of the things that the doctor said to me after that miscarriage, and I will never forget it, he said, Missy, I just want you to know that for a woman to give birth to a baby, three million things have to go right.

I'm gonna say that again.

Three million things have to go right.

Three million little steps and and and like have to go right for a baby to be born.

Guys, millions of people in this country and God chose your parents.

Three million things had to go right for you to be born.

And all those things he made happen so that you could be here in this time, in this moment, in this place, all of that is by divine making.

Doesn't that blow your mind?

Like, I know as women, we're constantly thinking about you know how he's working and people all around us, and and like I said before, like in our children.

Like I'm constantly focused on how he's working in my children and my grandchildren and how that's all working out.

But just to sit and pause for one second and realize all the millions of steps, all the millions of people that he that had to come together to form me, that that impacts me and the life that I am living.

And I hope that it impacts you and the life that you are living too.

So let's let's think about that for just a minute.

Let's think about the miracle that your life is.

And I'm gonna ask this question again later on when we're finished here today, but what are we doing with the miracle?

What are we doing with it?

That's the question I hope you leave with today.

Now, second part of this, because I only have 30 minutes with y'all.

Second part of this is not only is it a miracle that you are even sitting and breathing in this space right now, today, the second part of this miracle is how close he is to us.

And yet he is actually not far from each of us.

Okay, the creator of the universe created all things, including you and me.

He created a divine pathway for generations of people to come together so that you could be born.

He created all of nature, all of the creatures, all of the things.

He created our human bodies and angels, like he created it all.

Every single part of it.

And what he wants most is to re you to realize how near he is and how involved he wants to be in your life today.

Like of all the things that he has created, he says in Ephesians 2.10, you are his masterpiece, and he wants to be near to you.

He wants you to come close to him so that he can come close to you.

James 4.7.

All right.

So why do we go about our lives, gals, feeling like he's so far from us?

Why do we do that?

Well, I'm gonna tell you why.

Okay?

I told you I was gonna blow your mind today.

All right.

Us women, here's some things about what I know about women.

Okay, we are intuitive, we feel things, we know things, like, and you know, your mom knew, right?

So, like you knew when your kids were up to something they shouldn't be up to.

You knew you could read it on their faces.

In fact, I tease my boys all the time.

If they're not telling me the truth, I can see it.

They have different ticks.

Some of their jaws move, some of them get shifty eyes.

Like, I know, you know, right?

And your mom knew.

Like your mom, she knew the things.

Your grandmother probably knew the things.

We are intuitive, we have a different level sometimes of understanding, which makes it so cool when he reveals himself to us in scripture or um as we talk to him or in print.

Because, like, we we will take it to heart.

And I'm not saying that men can't do this, I'm just saying that men are wired differently than us.

And it's beautiful the way that God has wired us as women.

Okay, but we feel a lot of times, yes, Jennifer Blair, I just happen to see your comment.

My kids say I'm psychic.

We are, right?

We know the things.

All right, here we go.

We're gonna blow your mind again.

A lot of times we as women we walk through life and we're like, I don't feel God.

I don't, where is he?

Why don't I feel him?

I feel so distant from him.

Could it have something to do with this?

All right, here you go, guys.

Now listen, I Googled this and I know that there's a lot of sources that come into this, but I'm gonna trust this source because it actually um gave me a legit source.

Okay, so I think we can trust this stuff.

Here we go.

Here's the question I asked Google this morning.

How many thoughts on average does a woman have?

Are you ready for this?

You're not, you are not ready for this.

Here it is assessed in September 26, 2024, according to the Laboratory of Neuroimaging at the University of Southern California.

That's a legit source, the average female brain generates, hold on to your socks, ladies, 48.6 thoughts per minute per minute, amounting to about 70,000 thoughts per day.

70,000 thoughts per day.

What are we thinking about?

Well, let me tell you what Google had to say about it.

All right, a woman's daily stream of consciousness, consciousness is a dynamic, complex web.

Yeah, they I didn't need Google to tell me that.

Like, what's going on in here?

It's a mess.

How about you?

Yeah, I'm sure it is.

Now, throughout a single day, 70,000 thoughts throughout a single day, the mind constantly shifts between practical logistics, personal well-being, social dynamics, and broader life goals, all operating in a continuous loop.

Does that sound familiar?

Is the stuff looping nonstop in your brain?

Okay, so let's dig into what these are practical logistics.

You are 70,000, a fourth of your 70,000 thoughts are task management management, replaying, running the to-do list, planning meals, coordinating schedules for the family, work, and personal obligations.

It the mind often jumps between unrelated chores such as planning a grocery list while unloading the dishwasher and suddenly remembering a missed email.

Is that your brain?

That's my brain.

That's one-fourth of your 70 thoughts.

A second fourth of your 70,000 thoughts per day is physical and self-image.

Girls, you would think we would grow out of this.

Guess what?

We don't.

A fourth of our 70,000 thoughts per day is about our health and appearance.

I don't know.

I think a lot about protein in my 50s.

Anybody else?

Because everybody's telling me I need to think about protein and get more steps.

Anyway, health and appearance.

We think our thoughts frequently touch upon personal health, clothing choices, dietary tracking.

What will I eat today?

Is there time for a workout?

Body image.

For many, the mind also processes fleeting or recurring thoughts about body confidence and physical appearance.

Ah!

One-fourth of 70,000.

I don't know what that is.

I'm not a math person, but that is a lot of thoughts wrapped up in our physical and self-image.

And we do it.

I do it, you do it, you know you do.

Here's the third area that we women, 70,000 of our thoughts, are going to social dynamics and professional confidence.

Analyzing previous interactions.

Oh my word.

How many of you have had a conversation, sent a text, did an email, and you replayed it a million times?

Actually, a fourth of 70,000 times in your brain, wondering if you said the right thing, did the right thing, was the interaction okay?

Oh my goodness.

One-fourth of our thoughts, ladies, are thrown into analyzing previous interactions, anticipating upcoming social commitments.

Oh man, my introverted heart just leaped for joy because yes! Imposter syndrome, ladies, reflecting on how one is perceived by others, worrying, oh man, worrying about making mistakes or questioning if they are handling professional and personal responsibilities perfectly.

I've got one more, one more section, ladies.

And the fourth.

Fourth section of our 70,000 thoughts per day are aspirations, carving out mental space to ponder, long-term career goals, future adventures, life meaning, mental mental wandering, taking brief, necessary pauses to think about our pets, our favorite hobbies, or simple relaxing daydreams.

That is what our brain thinks about, rolls around in our head.

70,000 thoughts per day, 48 per minute.

Guys, you know what wasn't mentioned?

Jesus.

Jesus was not mentioned.

Now I know some of you love Jesus.

I know you do.

But I want you to think of what is competing in your brain for attention.

Think of all those things.

And then hear this verse again.

He created you that they should seek God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him, yet he is actually not far from each one of us.

We think he's distant because we're clouding our brain with so many things that don't matter tomorrow.

They don't matter.

And if we're being truthful and honest with it, if he was more of those 70,000 thoughts per day, if he was more of those, we would know he's not distant.

We would know peace.

We would know that our interactions were okay because he was a part of them.

We would know what to anticipate, we would know not to worry about our future.

We would know how to respond to people, we would know how to order our tasks and our days.

Like if we would give him more of these 70,000 thoughts per day, how could that change us and the mental gymnastics that our mind constantly does?

What are we doing with the miracle?

The miracle of life that he's given us, and the miracle that he wants to be a part of it all.

Guys, I'm not kidding.

Like I'm looking over this list and I'm like, what if I was thinking about him?

20,000 thoughts per day.

10,000 thoughts per day.

I I promise you this.

My brain would feel a whole lot less hectic.

A whole lot less hectic.

I would trust him more.

I would know that he loves me so much that he's got a plan prepared and it's gonna be okay.

I would trust that he is working in my kids and I would let him do his work and not meddle in that.

I don't know, guys.

There are so many beautiful things about being a woman and our sensitive hearts, minds, and spirits.

But if we are letting all of these 70,000 thoughts per day control our day, and we're not giving him any of those thoughts, then my goodness sakes, no wonder we feel like he is distant from us in what we're going through, right?

So what does that look like?

Guys, 70,000 thoughts are already happening.

So, how can we just take some of them and shift them to be thinking about him and having conversation with him?

Well, here's I'm just gonna tell you what I do, and and I don't feel like it's enough, but you know what?

Some of the things that I do help me think of him more uh throughout the day than just in the moment that I do them.

Okay, so first of all, and I can I can link all of these.

First of all, Jennifer Blair, I know you're on here.

Uh I can't remember.

I think you're the one that sent me the worship initiative.

I have shared it over and over and over and over again.

And what it is, is it's a text that you get every morning, and you open that text up and it's just a devotional with a song.

Like you sing the song and they give you a quick devotion, and it's so good.

Like every day I listen to it while I'm getting ready for work, and I'm telling you, it shifts my mind, it shifts my focus so that I'm not worried about things that haven't happened yet because I'm focused in on whatever encouragement I got from that devotional.

It's so good.

I do that every morning when I'm getting ready for work.

I try, and listen, summer has made it difficult, but I try every day in the morning to be in his word.

Like his words give life, the world's thoughts don't.

It's as simple as that.

His words give you life.

The world does not give you life.

Okay, so if we can shift some of those thoughts to his words, what he's wanting to say to us, I think that could make a huge difference.

It does for me.

It teaches me how to respond to people, it teaches me what to keep my mind focused on, it teaches me how to pray and talk to him and the access I have to him and his spirit, the power I have in that.

So get in his word.

Listen, 70,000 thoughts per day.

What if you're at church for a whole hour and you have all those thoughts filling you up for the week?

Go to church, guys.

I don't care where you go, you don't have to go to Hickory Grove, but go to church.

Worship with his people, sing the songs, hear the prayers, hear the message, get filled up.

I promise you it will transform some of those 70,000 thoughts.

Another thing, talk to him.

And guys, I don't know who taught us this.

I don't know who taught us that all we need, I mean, prayer has to be like on our knees, at our bedside, at a certain point in the day.

Like, I don't know.

Like, no, prayer is an ongoing conversation with your creator, and he promises that he will be near to us.

But how are we tapping into that?

One of the ways to tap into that is just to talk to him.

Just talk to him, Lord.

Listen, I can't tell you how many words I say to him before I get on one of these lives and do them with you.

Because the truth of the matter is, Missy cannot do this.

Missy is not equipped to do this, but if he will speak through me, wow, what he will do.

Talk to him.

Spend time with him.

Spend time to him.

Today, I wanted you to think about two miracles.

And it may be the first time in your life you've ever thought about things this way, but you are a miracle.

What are you doing with the miracle that is your life?

And second, the miracle that the Creator wants to spend time with us, wants to, he's already near.

He just wants us to tap into all those things that he is: grace, mercy, love, peace, joy, goodness, kindness, self-control, like all those things are who he is.

Tap into those today and let him, let him show you that he is physically present in what you are going through, what you are dealing with.

I don't know about you guys, but that 70,000 thoughts per day is gonna stick with me today.

And hopefully this week, because man, I don't want them filled with garbage.

I don't want wasted thoughts.

He's given me this one life.

It's a miracle that I was ever even born.

And so I have to transform my mind so that I'm thinking about him and doing what it is he created me to do.

And the same is true for you.

No spirals today, friends.

Don't let it happen.

Capture it.

When you start to spiral, capture it and either sing a worship song, open the Bible, or just talk to him and let him transform it and unravel the spiral.

All right, what are you doing with your miracle today?

The miracle of your life, the miracle that he is close to you.

Let's do something good with it.

Okay?

All right, I'm gonna pray us out and then we're gonna go and we're going to live out the miracles today that he has given us.

Father God, you are awesome.

You are amazing.

And I pray that you whisper into every woman's heart in this moment.

I am here, and you are special.

Let's do something with that.

Thank you for loving me, Lord.

Thank you for Jesus.

It's in his name I pray.

Amen.

Go make it an awesome Tuesday.

And Lori, we'll see you back here next week.

Bye.