MID WEEK MOTIVATION - September 17, 2025 (Marc Lewis & Laura Ullrich)

Oh, we can have a good time with this.

Oh, that needs to be my intro one day.

That whole, oh, You're listening to the Midweek Motivation Podcast from DeSoto Hills Baptist Church in South Haven Mississippi.

Here's your hosts Mark Lewis, david Burgess, laura Ulrich and Pastor Grant Stegall.

Welcome to the Midweek Motivation Podcast for September the 17th, here at DeSoto Hills Baptist Church.

I'm Mark Lewis with Laura Ulrich, laura Ulrich, laura Ulrich.

I had that all set up just in case.

It is a fantastic day.

We hope this programming can encourage folks throughout DeSoto County and beyond.

Be sure to subscribe and share our link on social media.

Last season I didn't really know what the podcast was going to be.

To be fair, we started it back in the late fall, mid-fall, and we were going.

I knew for sure that Grant and David were going to be on it.

I had not talked to you and I made this intro assuming that that was what it was going to be and that whatever.

And you ended up on one episode at the very beginning of the year.

I think that was your first one, it was and, by the way, you did a phenomenal job and we got rave reviews.

You did a phenomenal job, thank you.

And then mentioned several times that Laura Ulrich was missing from the intro.

So with that you had no clue.

But I was working.

It just didn't land in my inbox till like April, May, and we were done with the first season at that point.

So we added Mark Lewis, David Burgess, Laura Ulrich and Pastor Grant Stegall to the intro for this season.

So, yes, you mentioned, she mentioned it, she you, apparently listened to a few of the episodes this season so far.

And you came in this morning you were like oh, my name's on there.

I know I feel like I've arrived, like I have entered into something great, because my name is now in the intro of the podcast.

Now let's not get too fancy For season two.

Yes, let's not get too far ahead of ourselves.

This is a mid-tier podcast at best, but it is fun and you did such an amazing job on season one.

I wanted to tell you that, Thank you, I earned a place on season two.

I wanted to make sure that you got your name at the intro.

It is season two and this is the third episode of season two.

What I wanted to do, as we were talking about you being on last season, is I pulled those episodes.

Okay, were talking about you being on last season is I pulled those episodes.

Okay, you were on january 1st, the 29th, february 12th, april 9th and then may 7th look at that, I know, uh, and I wanted to ask you some questions going back through those episodes to see yes a little bit of a recap like best up I know so, uh, on januaryst we talked about resolutions.

You talked about resolutions that last.

You shared insights on making resolutions stick early in the year.

Since then, has there been a resolution that you've let go of, or one that maybe surprised you that it's actually becoming a part of your daily rhythm?

Oh, that's a loaded question.

Well, I don't know if it's really, if it was a resolution, because that was a long time ago, but, um, I do enjoy listening to like audiobooks in the car and I try to do that every day, and you know what's great about audiobooks is it really can allow you to put reading into a daily routine.

that when you may not have time, that's a great point.

Driving in the car is a great spot to listen to an audio book.

I always have to get a little walk-in to decompress daily.

An audio book is a great thing to do while you're walking, because you can get a little exercise and listen to a book at the same time.

We talked about keeping focus as the year rolled on.

Did you find any creative way to stay motivated with that initial spark if it faded?

Oh, staying focused, I don't know, that's still pretty tough.

I mean that's pretty tough, but I think finding like a routine helps.

But my routines change often.

So I don't really know if they're a routine, but yeah, for me, if I can kind of get in a groove of things, it helps me stay focused a little bit better having kids your age too makes the entire your weeks pivot left and right constantly pretty quick from the trust finding faith in uncertainty episode.

Reflecting on that conversation about trust, what's one moment this season that really stretched your faith but ended up strengthening it?

Oh wow, these are so like deep.

I know I was expecting like table talks or something.

Okay, okay, golly, I would say probably just the craziness of the summer, because I was doing summer things here and I was doing internship this summer An internship is no joke through school and I think just it stretched my faith to see how God was going to orchestrate all of that together and it all worked out and it was a great summer and we had a good time and I got things done.

So it was, it was a success.

But for a moment there it was a little bit, you know, trying All right, here's a little bit of a lighter one.

Thank you From the Love Beyond Valentine's Day episode.

You encouraged us to show love beyond February 14th.

You encouraged us to show love beyond February 14th.

What's been the most unexpected, joyful way you've witnessed or received love in an ordinary moment since then?

Is there one that sticks out?

Our listeners can't see?

Her face is like going crazy.

By the way, we do not rehearse this or send this out.

No, no, no, If I had rehearsed it it would have gotten a little better, it's more fun to do it this way, you, you were getting.

You were getting genuine answers.

Answers um.

I'm sorry, can you repeat the question please?

What's the most?

unexpected, joyful way you've witnessed or received love in just an ordinary moment okay, um, I would say so.

I take my kids to school every morning.

That's something that I enjoy doing and they could ride the bus, but no, thank you.

And, um, I would say, just having moments with them in the car to laugh to.

We always say a prayer in the morning sometimes the kids will take turns praying and just to have a quality time with them I think in the morning and it's about you know 30 minutes by the time I drop off one and then go drop off the other.

Because you've got those separate schools baby Love it.

We talked about Screen boundaries on April 9th.

Okay, had there been any funny challenge or wins where somebody was able to get a device like sneak a device or wreck it?

And I can tell you Keelan has done it multiple times since then.

She's constantly finding creative ways to get screens past us.

Oh, like to get a screen when they're not supposed to have one Mm-hmm.

We have resorted to hiding screens.

At our house it happens.

Screens past us.

Oh, I like to get a screen when they're not supposed to have one.

Uh, we have resorted to hiding screens.

Yes, at our house it happens.

Um, there's one hidden right now.

Um, you can figure out which child it may be?

Um, it might surprise you.

Um I don't.

The kids haven't been crafty enough to to slip one by you no, like we don't really.

We don't allow screens in their bedrooms, right?

So we usually see what they're doing all the time, or they're watching tv, um, like in the guest room.

So I wouldn't really.

No, they don't really try to hide it, they're just all out in front of you.

Know, they may be on it when they're not supposed to be, but they're not being secretive right.

If you could sum up from the may 7th episode, if you could sum up your journey through that entire season of the spring because you were working on a lot of school work, on right and stuff in one word, or even a quirky hashtag, what would it be?

hashtag crazy, but it's going to get worse.

Yes, if only I knew then what I know now.

Right, right, I love it.

Well, that's a good little look back through some of the season one, and we've got much more cool episodes coming here in season two.

We wanted to hit the calendar real quick.

There's not a whole lot coming up.

We do have worship night coming up September 28th.

That's Sunday night at 5 pm.

We will have things for your children and your students that night and we will also have a business meeting.

And then we've got Fall Fest coming up October the 26th.

So worship night the 28th of September, fall Fest on October the 26th.

We are now going to transition to the portion that we call the midweek moment.

I was so not prepared for those questions, but it's kind of fun to go off the cuff a little bit.

Maybe next time it'll be a more lighthearted Q&A.

Yes.

But it's fine.

It's fine.

I was thinking today and kind of as I've thought about my quiet times in the last few days and over the last week or so, about the topic of comparison and over the last week or so about the topic of comparison.

And you know, as adult types, we think, you know, we know we're not supposed to compare ourselves with other people, but in this age of social media and you know Facebook and TikTok, the clock, as some people call it, and Instagram I don't even know I'm kind of behind the times, but in the world of social media it is so easy to compare, to think about man, they look great.

I wish I looked like that.

Or golly, they have the biggest house.

Look at that house.

You know any number of items, any number of wish I had or wish I could, or any other such thing.

And, yes, I see it a lot with the kids that I work with, both here at the church and doing counseling.

You know I have kids come in, teenagers come in, even some adults that talk about how it is, how hard it is to not compare and what trouble that comparing themselves to others has gotten them into.

And, like I said, it's not just a kid thing, it's not just a teenager thing.

I think it's across the board.

And I think it's even worse now that we have all this social media stuff coming at us.

So and I thought well, do I really want to do a podcast on comparison, Because it might just be like a woman thing and this isn't just a women's only podcast.

But I don't think it is.

I think that men struggle with it too, Just maybe in different ways or it might look a little different, but I think definitely compare ourselves to others, especially celebrities.

Probably the same thing women do, sure.

See, there we go.

A little affirmation Thank you very much.

Ok, so you know, and I heard one time that when people, when you compare yourselves and when you wish, and when you think, oh man, I wish I didn't whatever, fill in the blank, or when you think, oh man, I wish I didn't whatever, fill in the blank, that it's kind of like a slap in the face to God, because God's the one that created you and created you in his image, with a purpose and a plan.

And when you criticize that, when you're critical of who you are and who God made you to be, it's kind of like you're saying, god, you didn't do a good enough job and that's kind of scary to look at the creator of the universe and be like, oh, you didn't do good enough.

You know, Absolutely I wouldn't want to do that, right?

So I thought, well, let's go to scripture and see what scripture says about comparison.

We know what's wrong, we know we shouldn't do it, but I think it's important to look at this example of comparison in scripture and to see kind of what happened from that.

So in Exodus, chapter three, at the very beginning of the chapter and really all throughout chapter three, into chapter four, moses is meeting with God at the burning bush and God has told Moses hey, here's what I want you to do.

I want you to go to Pharaoh and lead my people out of Egypt.

Do I want you to go to Pharaoh and lead my people out of Egypt?

And Moses continually comes back at God with, well, I'm not, you know, eloquent of tongue, I'm not a good enough speaker, is what he said I'm not, you know, I'm not the best at X, y or Z.

I'm not, I'm not this, this kind of person, god, how could you use me?

And God keeps saying you know, this is how I planned it for you.

This is a sign, here's a sign that I'm good enough, that you're good enough for me.

And I thought where did Moses come up with the idea that he wasn't good enough?

You know, I don't know.

You know, where did Moses get that thought?

Well, he had to have somebody to compare it to.

And there's Moses, who is this huge, like giant of the faith, comparing himself to somebody we don't know who, but to somebody else, to say that he wasn't good enough or that he wasn't an eloquent speaker.

There was, there was a comparison there, and so God ends up, as we know, using Moses in a great and mighty way.

But then, if you turn, you go to Acts 7.

Stephen, before he dies, in his sermon, talks about how Moses and I'm going to try to read it, if I can find it here In 722, he says for one, let me get to the right chapter, you're fine, all right, here it is.

Moses was educated in the wisdom of the egyptians and was powerful in speech and action, but yet he compared himself right.

I mean so once again, even though we mess up, even though we might struggle with comparison, or we struggle with this or that or the other, god uses us in great ways.

And when you compare yourself to somebody else or you compare what I don't have and what I wish I could have you know it.

I think in a some sort of roundabout way, you're kind of limiting what you're going to do for God.

Like sort of roundabout way.

You're kind of limiting what you're going to do for God Like God created us all in his image.

We know that, you know, we've read it a thousand times, we've studied, you know Psalm 139 about that.

We are fearfully and wonderfully made and we know that.

But when you have all these images coming at you and these through social media or TV or whatever it may be, other people coming at you, it's so hard to remember that God is the one that made you just like you are Now.

Also, that doesn't just give us myself included the right to just not care, because we have to take care of ourselves and be good stewards of what we've been given, but we also have to be careful not to limit ourselves as to what God has planned for us, because we fall into this comparison trap.

I read earlier today.

It says when we're tempted to compare ourselves to others, it would be helpful, I think, for us to turn to God and say God, remind me right in this moment when I'm looking at this image or when I'm scrolling Instagram, whatever, and I see all these things come up.

Or I'm looking at TikTok or Facebook or whatever.

God remind me right now of the great and wonderful qualities that you gave me, and that's not being selfish at all.

That's just being selfish at all.

That's just simply God telling you hey, I made you with these great qualities.

I made that person with those great qualities which, as we see, are probably not as great as they appear to be, but regardless, OK, I made that person with those qualities, I made you with these, and this is the plan I have for you.

I made that person with those qualities, I made you with these, and this is the plan I have for you.

So I think that's just an encouragement, just to remember that when we get stuck in that comparison of I wish I had this, or I wish I had this job, or I wish I lived in this neighborhood like somebody else, or I look like this, or I had as much money as this person, or, you know, kids and teens it's totally still comparison, but different stuff.

You know to remember, god made us as we are and we need to seek out his specific plan for us.

Two things I'll say to wrap this one up, all right.

Two things I'll say to wrap this one up, all right.

Number one I am good friends with two content creators.

I'll not name them, okay.

The stuff that they make and the stuff that all these content creators make are highly staged, highly, highly, highly staged.

Yep, people would be shocked the the image that's being portrayed on those screens.

You get paid for the clicks Mm, hmm, mm, hmm, I can't even say nine times out of 10, 99 times out of 100.

These things are not what they necessarily seem or appear, and they are staged and set up in a way to make you think that this magical moment is happening, when in reality it's a lot of smoke and mirrors designed to get the clicks so that you get paid.

That's how the game is played.

The other thing I found interesting that you said is we compare ourselves constantly and I work with students, you work with students as well, when they come to me down in the dumps about that, I honestly remind them quite frequently that there are a million people who are comparing themselves to you.

That's true, that's true, that is true, and so never forget that there's lots of people who think what you're doing is the best and they really wish they were you.

So don't ever, ever, get down in the dumps like that.

That's a good point.

Just remember, and I work with students.

You know we make a television show every day and they end up being way more popular in school than they think they are because they're on TV all the time.

And even those kids who are on TV are constantly comparing themselves to others and thinking that they're not as good as they should be, so we just always have to remember that.

Thanks for listening.

If you don't have a church home, we'd love to see you here on Sunday mornings.

You can catch our services online at desotahillscom or our YouTube channel at Desota Hills Baptist Church.

For all of our church family.

We love you.

We'll see you back here next week.

Have a great one.

This has been your midweek motivation.

We'd love to have you join us in person on Sunday mornings.

Our services are at 9 and 1030 am.