After the Message: No Fear

Thank you for joining us for After the Message.

To learn more about Celebration Church here in Orlando, you can follow us on social media under the handle at CelebrationORL or visit our website at celebrationorl.org.

You know, it's not before the message.

It's not during the message.

It's after the message.

What's up, everybody?

Welcome to After the Message.

If uh you're stumbling upon this podcast, this is the Celebration Church Orlando podcast, and this is a segment we like to refer to as after the message.

Uh it's just simply a conversation about the previous Sunday sermon.

Yeah.

And we hope that uh it encourages you to do the same thing in your community.

Today, I am joined by our lead pastor, Pastor Megan Pittman.

Yes, I'm so excited to be here.

Long overdue.

Yes.

How are you?

I'm wonderful.

I'm glad to be here.

You know, it's always out of my comfort zone, but uh you make it easy.

You make it fun, and so um I'm here stepping out and doing things in boldness.

There you go.

There you go.

Yeah, I uh I think uh I think first before we kind of get going into it, you were you before we came on live air, I guess you could say you were kind of talking about your your group that you have and like how you've seen you know the great things going on with your group and you know we're we're building kind of a sisterhood ministry here in Celebration Orlando and just the community that you've seen, can you kind of touch on like how important that is for us to be involved in community?

Yeah, I think it's really important to be involved in community.

I know a lot of people feel alone and isolated and on their own island.

If you're not like a hundred-person church, uh it can feel like much more intimate with a hundred people versus more than a hundred people, and so when you get involved in a group, it makes the church less smaller.

Um, it allows you to find people that you have commonality with, but also sometimes you share the same pain, and sometimes you are wanting to go in a direction um of following God's ways, and you're both on those that same journey.

And so I'm just thankful for the women who have joined together to do that and seeing their lives being changed, seeing them uh sacrifice their time for Jesus because that's so important too.

As women, we have so many things that we juggle on our plates as far as wives and mothers and just daughters and sons and um not sons but daughters.

And there's so much that you juggle and you never take time out for yourself because it's always a do-do.

If you don't do a lot as a woman, it's like, oh, you're a lazy person or you're not uh motivated and those type of things, but God does call us to rest and to slow down, and I I I'm thankful for uh women who take the time to slow down to uh prioritize Jesus with other sisters.

Yeah, I think the great thing about groups is it's a place too where you can you can be involved uh without necessarily having it's it's let me let me put it this way it breaks down barriers for the church, right?

So maybe you're haven't been to church in a really long time and you're uncomfortable about stepping through the doors of a church on a Sunday.

Yeah.

I think groups are a cool place to just to be able to learn like, oh, these are just normal people like me who experience the same things that I experience and we're just talking about it, and but the the common the common denominators were actually inviting God into the mix as well.

You know what I mean?

Yes, and that's what I've been finding also in our groups is that uh ladies are inviting their co-workers, they're even inviting people to come online who have never been a part of Celebration Church.

So that is that's exciting when they can say, Hey, you need to be a part of this.

Like this is just a thing where we can hang out, we can learn about Jesus, and it's a low atmosphere.

Yeah, you don't have to you can participate as little as you want, or you can participate as much as you want to.

But even when you're there, you'll feel like it's a place of safety.

Yeah, for sure.

Because uh one of the things that we often you know say at Celebration Church is the church just isn't the four walls, you know.

It's something outside of it, and kind of leading into that, something that's really exciting that's happening in November's unique November.

November is upon us, which is crazy.

I can't believe it.

I can't believe it.

First week in November, it's awesome though.

You know, we get a little seasons change uh for for what it's worth in in Orlando, not too much, but we'll take what we can get, right?

But as a church, we got some opportunities to do some really cool things.

Yeah.

Um starting on November 14th, we've got our evening service at Orlando Museum of Art that we're really excited about.

And you know, it's it's an opportunity maybe for some people who watch online because they work on Sunday mornings, for them to come out and and like worship, you know what I mean.

I don't know if you've interacted with people like that, but I know there's a couple people I know specifically I'm thinking of right now, like, man, it's a great opportunity for them to get out and worship on Sunday night.

Yeah, absolutely.

You you have people who are in the medical field who work those crazy shifts.

You have people in the service industry who don't get a chance to come to church on a Sunday.

And what I've been hearing from from people who have been watching online is that when they show up in person, oh my gosh, it's so much more better.

God reaches me online, but man, being in the presence of the Lord in his house with his people has been so amazing.

Yeah, and what and you know, outside of that as well, we also have on the 21st our Serve Sunday where we're partnering with U.S.

Hunger to to pack over 15,000 meals that's gonna be distributed to our community.

I mean, that's that's just something that I'm really looking forward to.

And then on the 28th, we have church at home for our entire church, which is a great opportunity uh to kind of take a step back and just spend time with family, but at the same time gather simultaneously with people across uh wherever you may be.

If you're traveling, you can you know watch it with your family.

I I know for me church at home has been a nice um breath of fresh air in some of these seasons where it's like, okay, I'm still worshiping.

I know people around my church are worshiping with me, even though they may not be in the same room.

But I'm also next to the people that I love and and and get a little time away from that.

You know what I mean?

Yes, brunch in Jesus.

Let's go.

I love it.

Let's go.

Um We're we're in a s a series right now that has been, to say the least, impactful.

Yeah.

And and I think it's been uh and we'll we'll look back on this as like that was a bookmark in our church.

That was a milestone in our church.

At least that's what we're believing for.

And I and I think it's I think it's gonna ring true.

But um, you know, we're in this series called Signs, and we're and we're talking about we're going through the Gospel of John, and along with that is is is a key component uh of the journal that we've had.

I don't know like um if you out there have been able to to download the journal or to be involved in the journal, but uh it's been huge and and it's revealed a lot of things to me, you know.

I feel like when you write it out, yeah, when you have to think about what you're actually saying in your mind and you put it on paper, it's like it makes a lot more sense.

Yes.

And I think you have to think about it more.

Like what you're comprehending has to then uh transfer onto a paper.

And so then it makes you think about that, but then other things, as you're doing it, I feel like God continues to reveal Himself through that.

And then it's something that you can go back and look on.

I think that is what this journal is all about, is not to just shut the the book after this is all said and done, it's to reflect back on that so it's a reminder of the things that God has spoken to us and an encouragement for where uh we may need it in the future.

Absolutely.

I know Danira is a journaler.

Your daughter Deneira did she pick that from either one of the the Pittmans, or is that kind of her own deal?

That is her own deal.

Like uh the Pittmans don't like the journal.

Keith likes to do stuff in like bulk where he reflects on things from time.

Um I I'm a starter and stopper, so you know I start things and then stop them.

Yeah, I'll have them in my head.

What I did love about she got me a gent uh like a journal, it's like a gratitude journal.

Yeah.

What I loved about that is it only has three lines, so you have to write three things.

And when I look back on what Jesus had done, I was like, why am I not doing this more?

I can even do it in that aspect.

Um, but with this journal, I have been seeing so much of what God has been revealing to me.

But definitely Daenerys, she writes those things out and she goes back to it and even brings it up to our family where it's an encouragement for us as well.

That's that's cool.

That that's probably uh refreshing at times, you know.

And speaking of that, like you you mentioned being able to look back and see like what are some things throughout this series, you know, whether it be the journal or Sunday experience, but maybe some highlights that that maybe God's even spoken to you or some conversations that you may have throughout the science series that that have been impactful for you.

Uh the no excuses for sure.

Um, I think because um oftentimes I can make excuses for the things that I'm doing, but I am also held accountable to his word and following his word.

And sometimes, like when you're going through certain things, you can say, Oh, I'm not doing this because of this situation, oh, I'll do this later.

But at the same time, it's like, no, God is not second, he's first in your life.

And if you put him first in all those things that you're going through, you're able to get through it a little bit more easier when you have that hope.

Your faith is being stretched more, your faith is being strengthened.

Um, all of those things that go with that.

Um, I think with a journal, it's allowing me to personally see where um God is giving me my own personal revelation instead of receiving my revelation from other people, which could be my husband, which could be from a podcast, which could be from uh a message, my own personal revelation that God is giving me and giving me.

And so that's what I'm learning throughout this whole uh journey is that man, if we can follow the ways of Christ, our life could be so much better.

And we can be whole from the inside out.

So when we're leading out, we're leading out from a pace place of wholeness and not from a place of brokenness.

Yeah, and so that's what I'm learning throughout this season.

Um, I'm also learning that hey, to to be in silence, I don't always have to have worship um before I come into the presence of God.

Sometimes sitting in silence and allowing the Lord to speak to me allows him to show me areas that I can get better in.

And I that has been I think what I love about this season is those areas where you as a as a Christian, as a follower of Christ, can get better.

Um showing up for church, hey, that's cool.

Reading your word, hey, that's cool.

But truly following and being an imager of Christ, he wants us to be that first, you know, before we receive all of this stuff.

Like start imaging him first.

And um as you're walking that out, because you know, you don't change overnight, as you're walking that out, you'll be transformed through his word.

You'll be transformed by when you're in worship, you'll be transformed as you're walking it out.

And so sitting in silence is so key that I'm realizing for myself that I need more of because I feel like he speaks to me more in silence.

Yeah, that's good.

And and I think even it's hard in our society today because there's so there are so many ways that we can be distracted, intentionally or unintentionally, right?

Like we have so many different avenues that we could walk down that could be easier voices to listen to or more more catering to what we want to hear, right?

And so I think I think uh it's a it's a true discipline.

I think it always has been a true discipline to to be in silence, but uh even now so more than ever, I think it's it's difficult.

And and it kind of actually leads into the beginning of Pastor Keith's message where he he he referenced Jesus getting away into silence, right?

Yeah.

And and he referenced telling his disciples, hey, why don't you go on ahead?

Because he had just learned about his cousin John the Baptist, his death, and and he had just you know finished uh uh a a miracle, so and and a lot of teaching in that moment to thousands of people.

So I think if Jesus can uh take a few moments to get away, to be with God in silence, don't you think it's probably a good idea for us to do the same thing as well?

Absolutely, absolutely.

Um, and I I in this season, this is what I have learned.

There's so many distractions.

I'm talking about, like personally for me, I've had death, I've had uh you have a child who's in football that takes on its own, he's about to go to college, you have uh managing your family, you're trying to get your own downtime.

We're um overseeing two churches at this moment, and it's like when is the time to get in silence?

When do you create that space?

And you have to be intentional about doing that.

If you don't do it, it doesn't happen.

Yeah.

I think that's the important word is you have to create it, right?

You have to be intentional with it because waiting for the opportunity to come, it's never gonna come.

Yeah.

So you have to you have to set aside the time, and and I think you know, having the tangible journal too is another, it's it's another like indicator, it's another reminder, like, you know what, I actually need to set this time aside.

And so uh one and and speak going back to Jesus, what something that was interesting that I hadn't really thought about before was uh the importance of him telling his disciples to go ahead and and and keep going, right?

To move forward.

As a leader, when you're faced with difficulty, how do you continue to have the people that you're leading move forward without it affecting them, right?

Because it's it's gotta be difficult to go through a death in the family while at the same time feel the responsibility of we still got a church to pastor, and we still got people that that are looking to us.

Like, how do you send the proverbial disciples forward knowing that you need time away?

Does that make sense?

Yeah.

Um you have to first lead by example.

Um, and when you're leading by example, it it means that as shepherds, we we are responsible for leading the flock, uh, no matter what.

You you're that's your responsibility that God has placed on you.

So even in those moments, the cares, the fears, all the things that you experience, you have to cast that to the Lord.

Surround yourself around people that can help pray with you and help lift up your arms, keeping God first and through it all, and submitting those things that you you feel like can be in burden, but at the same time pouring into others, I think sometimes, I won't say sometimes, when you're leading others and you're pushing them into what God has for them, I feel like it it strengthens you as a person.

Um, when you're walking through it and you're seeing, oh my gosh, like I see the fruits of what God is doing in our lives, and even in the midst of it all, this life is not our own.

Our life is to serve others, you know.

So whatever I'm going through, I know, I know without a shadow of a doubt that God is going to strengthen me to walk me through it.

Yeah.

So if He's gonna strengthen me to walk me through it, He's gonna give me the strength to lead others in the right directions that they need to go.

Yeah.

You mentioned fear, something that we're needing to cast on the Lord.

And um this past Sunday, that was the message.

No fear, right?

We we should have no fear.

I'm thinking about those old bumper stickers that used to say that.

I have no idea what they were.

I just remember as a kid it just said no fear.

I don't remember what it was, but um and and Pastor Keith mentioned that there's over 500 verses in scripture that refer to uh to fear and and refer to how we should uh respond to fear, right, in in a godly way.

Is there any are there any verses, maybe there's one verse, a couple verses that you kind of cling to in moments like that, or any any scripture that that has encouraged you when you're facing moments of fear?

Absolutely.

Um I we had a song like I'm not gonna sing it.

We had come on.

We had a song and um uh I when I went to an African American church, all about African American church, and it was God has not given us a spirit of fear.

God has not given us a spirit of fear, and then it says, God has not given us a spirit of fear, but power of love and a sound mind.

And you just repeated it over and over again.

And I felt like man, he hasn't given us that that that spirit.

However, we do carry it sometimes, and so what do we do with that when we're carrying it?

We're not meant to carry it, we're supposed to cast it at his feet.

He can hold all of that and transform um the fear into peace.

And so when we allow him to um handle that or shoulder the load for that, I feel like we're able to get that spirit of peace that we desire in our hearts.

But that was one of the scriptures that um encouraged me.

I think there was another scripture that I had.

Um I can't remember it.

That's okay.

Um But I did learn like fear will try to grip me personally in my personal life with like even a fear of speaking.

Like, I don't like the microphone in my face.

I don't like being in front of a hundred people, but get me in a room with just people.

I love that.

And so because he's calling me to do more, I have to walk it out.

Like, it doesn't mean that when he delivers you from fear that that those type of fears won't come back up.

I have to arrest those fears and change my mentality on no, I I don't receive that today.

I'm gonna allow the scriptures to speak and dictate the power of God that is in me.

Um and greater is he greater is he um that's in me than he that's in the world.

And I have to take on those scriptures and take those thoughts captive and continue to walk that out because even someone who's been um healed from addiction, like, yeah, you're healed, but that doesn't mean that those temptations are not going to come back after time.

It'll try to come back, but you have a responsibility to A, get accountable to your group, B, make sure you're not um in that environment, or if you see an environment is like that, out like that, then you walk yourself out of that environment.

That environment is not for you.

So even for myself, when I have the fear of not doing this, I'm like, God wouldn't call me to do something if he wasn't gonna walk me through it.

Yeah, absolutely.

And and it's such a it's such a valid point and and something that we don't talk about enough is you know the perseverance to to continue to walk these things out, right?

To continue to, yeah, you may have the victory, but that doesn't mean that there's not gonna be more battles, right?

So I I think that that is something that is missing because a lot of times we hear the the high faith sermon, but we romanticize it to be like, oh well it's it's one and done.

You know, and that's just not life.

Yeah and and and we know that, but for for whatever reason it doesn't compute sometimes, right?

Yeah.

And and so like you said, we have to continue uh to walk that out.

Um I I thought an incredible uh an incredible quote was that fear is processing scenarios without God as the variable.

Yes and that's exactly what it is when you when you think uh at the root of fear, it's just it's a neglect of God's presence in your life.

When whenever you do face face those fears that are reoccurring, like do you often realize it off the bat, or does it take time for you to realize, like, oh my goodness, I've been fearful this whole time, and or how do you realize it?

Are there people that speak to you?

Are there are there moments where God speaks to you?

Like how do we know?

Because sometimes we don't even realize that we're being that we're living in fear.

Does that make sense?

Yeah, I think um our our reactions to it, like our actions and our behavior.

So a lot of times when fear comes over us, we either shrink back, we either respond sharply, quick, which I can do.

Like when I feel overwhelmed with like doing something, I can uh I can be a little sharp, and my family knows like, oh my gosh, then she's probably nervous.

Um for me, I realize it right away.

I know for other people, they not may not realize it until after time.

Um and they're looking back on the patterns and God shows them that.

But for me, I realize it right away.

Uh I become overwhelmed with like um nervousness, anxiety, like right away.

And so my family pretty much knows that okay, if she's tense on this moment, I'm going to A, talk to her.

About it.

And then as I talk it out, then I'm able to like reconcile it.

And other times when I'm by myself, I literally have to recruit like quote scriptures over and over again.

This is not the reality of what it is.

I have to tell myself that I'm assuming either the worst.

Um, and if it's if I mess up, it's okay.

Like, I think in fear, a lot of times we think we have to be perfect in walking things out.

We're not perfect.

And so, okay, speak I'm gonna talk about speaking because speaking is like my one of my greatest fears.

It's top, it's number one on the list.

Um, but when it comes to speaking, I'm like, I'm not good as anybody else.

I'm not that they they look they make it look easy.

They make it look easy.

And when I talk to people, they're saying, oh no, I had I was nervous when I went up there.

Oh, you didn't see how I was struggling with this message before this.

And I think we can assume, based on what we see in front of us, um, that it is reality, you know, like uh it's perfect, it's going well, but they're walking it out.

And when they're walking it out, Jesus strengthened them, and that is the part that you see.

You don't see the nervousness, you don't see the other things.

You see how God has strengthened them because they walked it out.

Yeah, absolutely.

And and again, it's a perception, right?

Sometimes we view perception as reality when in reality it's not, and and so I think, you know, just kind of circling back to it, just remembering remembering the fact that that God is with you, God, God is with us, that's difficult.

And and so I think the more that we can exercise our minds and and like you said, reminding that God is with us, the more we can mitigate fear in our lives.

Yeah.

And so I I definitely commend you for continuing to to be honest about that and to to walk in it, right?

Because, you know, that's difficult to do.

Like none of us want to face our fears.

For sure.

Um, it's it's not an easy task, but I have a good support group.

Like my family, my husband definitely shows me that God, God has a gift on your life.

And even when I beat myself up down about those things, I don't even remember or I don't even focus on that person that that message helped.

I don't focus on how they were encouraged, how that message was for them.

That message that God gave me to deliver was for them.

Yeah, and I don't remember that.

All I think about is how I felt, you know, and so I have to change my perspective on that if I want to continue to walk it out.

If I continue to rehearse those negative things that the enemy kits continues to put in my ear, then I'm gonna continue to repeat the cycle.

Yeah.

The first point from uh Sunday was that Jesus sees you, and you know, it's it's easy to kind of look back on the scripture and see, well, yeah, obviously, you know, he was there in person.

Uh at this moment in time, we don't have that luxury.

One day we will.

He will be with us in person.

But how do how how would you tell somebody that maybe has no frame of reference and is searching for what it what that actually means?

Like, how would you explain that to someone like Jesus sees me?

I can't see him.

You know what I mean?

And a lot of times I feel like we can act like a toddler.

Well, if he if I can't see them, he can't see me, right?

Yeah.

But we have to we have to have that understanding that he is all seeing, he's all knowing.

How would you explain that to someone who's struggling with that?

Well, faith is the substance of the evidence of things that are not seen.

So for a person who, if you believe in Jesus, you're not always going to see him, but he sees you.

He hears you, he's working things out on your behalf, even when you don't see it.

And I think a lot of times when we um are trying to tell someone that, they're not always going to get it.

So our responsibility is to point them into the text so that they can learn how to discern Jesus for themselves.

As much as we want to say over the stage to encourage people, until it's their reality or the thing that Jesus like it resonates with them, it's just gonna be a thing that they hear.

We have to train them to be able to get into the word for like walk alongside them.

I I would never want to throw someone and say, hey, just read your Bible.

Come on, that is that is a recipe for disaster for the new believer, okay?

Um, but we want to walk alongside them through the word and give them the resources so that they're able to hear it for themselves.

So even if you don't see it right now, what if you as you train yourself and you start to hear from the Lord and you pray, because prayer is the relationship that you have with God, you're gonna know that he sees you by how he um works out your situations.

You're gonna know how uh he sees you by him giving you peace or working those things out for the good.

You'll know that um as you continue to hear from him.

So I would tell someone, you may not feel him right now.

As believers, we don't always feel him all the time, but just know that God is always working on your behalf.

He died on the Christ, the cross because he loves you that much.

He sees you, yeah, he sees you for sure.

And then you can even give them scriptures um where uh in John where God saw Peter off in the distance, where he saw the disciples struggling, you know, in the boat, you can point them to those things because I think examples are gonna help them.

Yeah.

And your own personal personal testimonies can also help as well.

Yeah, absolutely.

The uh the the tough part again is um just the the perseverance to to continue to walk it out even even when you don't see it.

Yeah.

Are there any like m moments in your life where or seasons even in your life or or long periods of time in your life where maybe you felt like that, but for whatever reason you had the knowledge that God was gonna get you through it?

Or um are there any are there any tips maybe that you would share with someone who's like, I that's me.

I'm in that right now, where I don't believe that God sees me.

Like what are some things um you know, you mentioned scriptures or anything else that that you kind of had had to walk through in order to get on the other side of it?

Um Yeah, I I've shared this with the church before, but it is such a pivotal part of my life where I feel like it it changed the trajectory of my life and how I viewed my faith.

So when I was under a boss, and of course it was in ministry, the worst kind, um she was very mean, and and when I was walking through it, I didn't understand how a person who was called by God who clearly had favor on their life, how they could treat me in that way.

And even when I complained and said, Hey, I think this person is treating me unfairly, because that person has so much favor and woo and all that kind of stuff, and I was a new person, it was like, oh man, but I don't know, we haven't built that trust up yet.

Okay, and for me, I was like, nobody sees me, nobody sees me struggling through this situation.

I'm here, God praising you every day, giving 100 but 10%.

I'm working all kinds of awkward hours, and she's calling and harassing me, and no one sees it, you know?

And so for me, what I did was I sought help.

So I went over to a pastor's office who I knew and trusted, and I knew she wasn't gonna be biased to anything.

I knew she was gonna point me to Jesus, and she literally gave me some worship songs to listen to and gave me a scripture to pray over my boss every single day.

And so when I prayed over my boss every single day, even though I didn't want to, I would get to my desk in the morning, I'd be like, I do not want to do this.

This person doesn't deserve these prayers.

These prayers are like a blessing and all this stuff, and um, and so I began to pray that every day.

And though that didn't change her heart, I found out that it changed my heart.

And I was like, no, no, God, this is this this is the reverse way.

Why is it changing me?

And so I started to see her as a daughter of Christ that was broken, and so no matter what she did to me, I still continued to love her like Jesus would love her.

I still continue to respect her, even though I could have talked back.

I still continued to do what she asked me to do, even if it was crazy and it was like, man, this is not ethical.

You know, and lo and behold, God removed that situation out of removed her away from the church.

And I and God said, This is why I tell you, I fought your I fight your battles.

You don't have to fight your battles on your own.

But if you do what I'm calling you to do, which is to love people no matter, He said, pray for those who despitefully use you, you know, and that's what I did with no malice in my heart.

I had some reserve, but after a while, that reserve, because I continued to walk it out, changed into God changing me and having a filter, my eyes filtered through the eyes of Jesus, seeing her as a daughter, as a child of God.

And that was different for me.

And now that's why I even when people do the craziest stuff, I try to still love them hard as I can because I know that if I don't, what can take place in my heart is bitterness and unforgiveness, and that is not of the Lord, and that filters into every aspect of your life, whether you know it or not.

Yeah, I've heard unforgiveness um put like this it unforgiveness is almost like swallowing poison and hoping the other person dies from it.

You know, it's all all it's doing.

It's hurting you, it's corrupting you.

Yeah.

I think there's a common theme throughout this conversation, and uh, you know, beautifully summed up that that w from the the previous sermon was um nothing's wasted, right?

And Jesus asked the disciples to to to pick up the leftovers and carry it with them, and and Pastor Keith beautifully kind of uh painted this picture of the leftovers from the previous miracle were already in the boat.

Yeah.

And yet the storm that that was brought upon uh the disciples scared them, and right behind them is evidence of a miracle that God got them through the previous rough patch, right?

Mm-hmm.

So A, it's encouraging because it's like, okay, if the disciples struggled, I'm not doing so bad.

Yeah.

But B, again, it's just another reminder, just like we talked about at the beginning with the journaling.

We talked also about the the importance of community being around us to remind us of those things.

The importance of being able to have some, you know, someone that you look up to and you trust, like that pastor that you mentioned that you went into their office and knew that's another thing too.

You knew that they were gonna point you in a in a godly direction.

Yes.

Because a lot of times we can go to people and we want regurgitated what we want to hear, right?

Or we want them to to To validate where we are.

Exactly.

Yes.

So to be able to go to somebody, no, this may not be what I want to hear, but it's what I need to hear.

Yeah.

So I I just think that it it's so key, and it's been popping up that that reminders of God's goodness.

And it's even been one of the the themes throughout the series as Pastor Keith's been saying, if he did it for them, he can and will do it for them.

Yes, he said he would never leave us or forsake us.

Yeah, and that's in every single situation.

And like you said, I when I look back at that, it's a reminder.

When I look back at the season of the past two years, it's a reminder of God's faithfulness that even when we stick through it, even if we have to walk through it, a lot of times we want to walk over it.

Um, but God wants us to walk through it and walk over it like Jesus did.

Jesus walked over those, those, the, the chaos and all that stuff, calm the seas.

We have to walk through it.

And oftentimes that's not easy, but it's how we walk through it is how we're gonna get on the other side.

Absolutely.

What are some, you know, if any h I guess what I'm asking is how do we prevent other people's fears from becoming ours, right?

Because I I often and this is a uh a difficult tension to manage, caring for people, right?

Uh wanting to to be there for people, but but not carrying what they're carrying.

Does that make sense?

And yeah, and that's really tricky because you know the Bible speaks about like we're supposed to bear one another's burdens.

But at the same time, I can't carry your fear for you, right?

Like only God can do that.

Like how do we mitigate the chances or avoid altogether their fears becoming ours?

I guess is what I'm asking.

I think um even for me, uh, empathy is like my number one, is one of my strength finders.

So I am very empathetic.

I can cry on a dime, I can do all those things.

I end up taking on people's burdens.

So I would be the one that you're talking about.

So a lot of times I have to get alone with God and pray about it and release it to him because otherwise I end up carrying it.

And I may carry it for one or two days and then realize, oh my gosh, like I feel very, very heavy about this.

And what is the problem?

The problem is I did not give it to God.

I'm holding it like I can fix it.

I can't fix it.

There's only one that can fix this issue, or he may not fix it, and they have to just walk through it, and I have to trust and know.

And I think a key component to that is trusting and believing that God loves them more than you do, and that as he takes care of the birds and the bees and people, that he's gonna take care of them.

I have to trust in in that process, and I think that's where we get it mixed up is that lack of trust or that lack of faith that God can fix it, you know, or that he's gonna walk them out.

We wanna fix it, and that is not our job.

Our job is to pray, our job is to help uplift, but our job is not to carry, it's to lay it at his feet.

He died on the cross for all of that.

So when we begin to release that, then we can walk in a freedom and knowing, God, I I know I can't fix it, but you can.

That's where the trust is.

Yeah, I think we lack trust, and uh, we have to strengthen our faith, and that faith can only be strengthened by praying and reading his word.

Yeah, that's good.

What is one, maybe two, Thanksgiving traditions in the pit in household?

What do you guys like to do?

It's coming up soon.

It's one of my favorites.

Oh God.

And I love hearing about other people what other people like to do on Thanksgiving.

It's always it's always fun for me.

Um, we always do a turkey.

Uh one year though, we did left we left all the insides in, which was a bad which is uh a bad thing.

Okay.

You're supposed to remove it out.

It was inside of a bag, and it's like, no, that's not supposed to go in there.

But we do a traditional turkey, but now that Keith has like the Traeger, this is gonna be the second year, year number two, that we are smoking a turkey on a Traeger, and we're gonna do an even bigger one this year because his mom and dad are coming down, his aunt and then my cousins are coming down, so we're gonna have a house full of people, and then Keith Jr.

and all of them are coming, so it's gonna be something big.

So that is something that we do.

Um, we always have to have in a Jamaican household, this is for my parents.

Okay, but I won't be doing this, but I would love to do it.

We used to do carrot juice, and carrot juice has like uh, I mean, this drink is like the bomb because it has like soda in it, it has all this stuff.

They have nutmeg and all this, and it's a real cool drink.

Um, not like alcoholic drink or anything like that, but it is so good.

It's called carrot juice.

You make it from literally scratch.

So um I love that.

But one of the things that we do make sure that we have for Thanksgiving is stuffing.

We love stuffing, we love mashed potatoes, and Daenerys loves to bake.

So she is right now about to experiment with several different desserts to make sure it's on point for everybody else to get it.

I like that.

I like that.

Working ahead.

Yes.

She's like, she doesn't want to experiment on the day of and people talk about her dish.

That's wisdom.

That's wisdom.

Yes.

Thanks so much for coming on.

This is awesome.

Really appreciate it.

And uh I can't believe that we're almost done with the sign series we got next week, and then the week after is last news.

So it's been good.

But uh make sure you guys stay tuned.

Uh, and we'll be back next week to talk about the next sign in our series.

Thank you for joining us for After the Message.

To learn more about Celebration Church here in Orlando, you can follow us on social media under the handle at celebrationorl or visit our website at celebrationorl.org.