Mrs. PIE

Enduring Gracefully: Navigating November's Final Hurdles with Hope and Balance

• Shelley Jeffcoat • Season 3 • Episode 81

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What if this holiday season could be marked by peace and purpose instead of stress? Explore the challenging months of November and December with us as we navigate the pressures of year-end objectives and festive preparations. In this episode, we emphasize the power of hope and gratitude amidst chaos. Drawing from personal stories, I share encounters with God's miraculous interventions in seemingly impossible situations. Let these narratives inspire resilience and hope in your own life.

Listen and learn how to chase your dreams gracefully, avoiding burnout. We delve into the balance between ambition and self-care, highlighted by insights from Philippians 3:13-14, discussing the importance of pushing forward while knowing when to rest or adjust your goals. This isn't just about enduring tough times; it's about living with authenticity, seeking divine wisdom, and maintaining balance. Join us to gain insights on managing deadlines, holiday stress, and personal growth with faith and grace.

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Speaker 1:

no-transcript. Friends, family, co-workers, colleagues, business partners, strangers, everybody. Good morning, especially a quick shout out and thank you for those. Good morning, faithful Dr Tracy. She's saying I thank God for a brand new day and brand new mercies. Thank you all for waking up with me. Thank you so much for all of the awesome support. I do hope that this series for the month of November is called Run, as you know, and I do hope that it's encouraging you to push through this month, the month of December. Our series is called Hope, and so I'm also excited about that one too. But we are in week three, and this week we're talking about navigating challenges.

Speaker 1:

I do have a scripture that I want to share. I think I might be able to just drop this on my screen, because it's two verses, but before we go further, lord, I just thank you for this morning. I thank you for your blessings today. I thank you for those who are here watching live, those who are going to watch the replay, whether they're seeing it on video, they're listening to it wherever they are. I just thank you, lord, for giving us the opportunity to hear from you. I ask that now you will take over this podcast, lord. God, this is your platform. Do as you will and speak to each of our hearts. Encourage all of us, lord God, as we're straining towards the goal and the assignments that you've given us, whether it's as a business person or as a parent, a grandparent, auntie, whatever the assignment is. Help us to reach the goals and, for those who are in a season of waiting to hear from you, that you'll even show them, lord God, what it is that they need to do in this moment, in this season. Build us all up, lord God. Help us to encourage each other, those of us who don't know what to say, even put it on our heart what to pray for, so that we can support each other, so we can win together. All of these things and all of your mercies and your favor, I ask in Jesus' name Amen, some of y'all, if you came for just a prayer, there you go. So it's another Thursday this month.

Speaker 1:

Y'all is crazy, the month of November, as most of you guys know, especially if you're in a corporate space, and it doesn't matter what level you are in the corporate space Okay, anybody from security guard to staff, hotel staff, whatever, it is right. You're kind of feeling the burn because businesses small business, large business, whatever starts straining towards their own goals of closing out the year successfully. And that's important, you know, as you know, so that we need the profits so that obviously we can all have jobs, right. But this is very exhausting. It's an exhausting time mentally for a lot of people, because some, some of us, have been pushing hard since January, right, and so you get to a point now where we're trying to get past the goal. We're trying to get you to try to close out the month in November.

Speaker 1:

But November, also in the US, brings other challenges. Maybe your challenge is, oh no, I'm the person hosting Thanksgiving this year, maybe that's your challenge and preparing for that as a big holiday. And then also, you know, even, things like preparing for Christmas, and you know, when I think about these holiday seasons, there's a lot of strain also on families, financially and the emotional attachment with that, right, because that's for some people that's a burden y'all. It's not so easy to get the Christmas list and go get the things, if you know what I'm saying. So so this is also a challenge, right. Maybe it's a health challenge and you're going into, you know, the doctor. Some of us are doing our end of year checkup.

Speaker 1:

There's a time of year, you know, we're trying to make sure everything is up and working for us physically. So there are people who are being notified, you know, during this time of year, and they're losing their jobs. So there's a lot of things physically, emotionally, spiritually, spiritually you know that are happening. Spiritually even, you know, maybe you've been praying all year for this thing and you haven't seen it come true in your life yet, and so you're still, you know, on the edge. You know you're still trying to strain towards that hope that this thing you prayed for is still going to happen. Some of us are praying for our kids, our spouses, our partners, you know, our people, we work, all the things. So there's a lot of things that cause a different level of stress, if you will, at this particular time of year. And yet I am so encouraged by it.

Speaker 1:

Maybe I'm crazy in thinking that way, because it is for me, when things seem like the most impossible is when God operates, and then, when I see him work for me, I need him in the most chance. Listen, if it's a problem that I could solve myself, I don't need God, right. If I could do it myself, I would do it myself. Right, I'm just saying good morning, ricky Price. But these challenges that we're going through, you know, when I think about the challenges that we're going through, I appreciate it, appreciated. Here's why it's because it always gives me an opportunity, builds up my hope, because I get to see the Lord operate in these challenges in miraculous and crazy ways, ways that I would never have imagined. And so when I'm in the midst of challenge and I'm going to show you the scripture that I'm coming from this morning when I'm in the midst of challenges where I tend to see him work things out in a different way.

Speaker 1:

So earlier this week, on Monday and Tuesday for those of y'all on the YouTube channel, please go back and watch the live prayers because this will make more sense to you we talked about eye to eye and heart to heart earlier this week. We started off Monday asking to get the Lord's perspective in the way that we see each other, the way that we see situations, our challenges, the way that we show up. And on Tuesday night we prayed about our heart, posture, things that are on our hearts, understanding how to connect with other people and understanding what's on other people's heart and what's on the Lord's heart. When you have that perspective, when you have his perspective, then challenges look a little bit differently. Right? You don't see things the same way. You know that maybe you did last week. You don't connect with people the same way, so today you know, we're going into Philippians 3, verse 13 through 14.

Speaker 1:

I'm going to drop this on my screen, like I said. I think it's short enough. I don't have to share my screen 14. I'm going to drop this on my screen, like I said, I think it's short enough. I don't have to share my screen. But this is Philippians. This is the A Shelley version, okay, the ESV version.

Speaker 1:

And it reads brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. Okay, and I read my Bible like I'm talking to my friend. But one thing I do forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Now, I'm going to try to put this in relatable. I'm going to say relatable terms because it's one thing listen, I know a lot of people that know the Bible back and forth, but they don't know the word. You have to understand what the Lord is teaching you regarding your situation, right. You got to be able to absorb that so you can do something. You can act on the word right Faith without acts, thank you, lord.

Speaker 1:

So the first part where it talks about, I do not consider that I have made it on my own. Now, the first thing is our perspective, which we're focusing this week on pushing through the challenges, how we overcome if you're feeling a little bit unstuck right now. Last week we talked about endurance and keeping faith even when you can't see the finish line. We started out the first week was redoing our focus, so we were already setting our mindset, renewing our commitment, but this week is mainly around overcoming the obstacles that are going to come up right, obstacles in our lives, our decision, all the things. So that's the context.

Speaker 1:

So, brothers, I do not consider that I've made my own. The first thing is listen y'all, I am not ever going to say that I've made it on my own. I know that and this is true for you. Okay, this is something I tell my mentees all the time. I do not believe what's not true about me. What's true about me is I know what the word says about me, that I serve a God who's faithful, that I walk in favor. I have new mercies of the day to what Tracy dropped in the chat y'all that I am blessed and highly favored. These are the things that I know that are true about me. But I also know that there is nothing that I'm doing, that I'm doing outside of the grace on my life.

Speaker 1:

So I do not consider that I've made it on my own. And this is really important because, as you're going through the challenges this week, even if you're in tough conversation, listen, we're not doing this by ourselves. When you understand that you're going in fully armed, I don't mean like, okay, we're putting on the armor of God, and then you get in a situation and the whole armor falls off. I don't consider meaning, I'm not even thinking. My mindset, my mental, my thoughts, I don't consider, I don't harbor, I don't think of it, that I'm doing it by myself. I have not made it on my own. I'm doing everything under the grace of God and I hope, as I'm saying this, that this is reminding you that you're not in this alone. You're not by yourself, you are not alone. The Lord is sending you divine helpers, prayer partners. He'll drop somebody in your path to send you an encouraging word. You don't have to feel like you're by yourself. Even in the situations where you feel like I'm just alone, nobody understands. You know the Lord understands. So don't ever consider or think that you made it on your own. And for those of us who have had a successful year and I speak it, I receive it, I believe it you know, we talked a lot last month on being focused, but we don't consider that we made it on our own. We're not doing this by ourselves. We are actually doing it under his grace, and then he is sending help right. So that's just a little bit of encouragement.

Speaker 1:

Now the other part I want to point out, where it says one thing I do. This is what I do. I forget what lies behind and strain forward to what lies ahead. The best way I can think about this is pretend you're a runner. I'm not a runner, I'm not an athletic person. I run on my treadmill for 20 minutes and I'm out of breath, okay. But if you think about yourself as a runner, someone who's pushing towards the goal, and whatever your goal is, maybe your goal is something that's job related or family, whatever it is health, whatever it is Right, but as you're. If you're a runner, you're not going to have time to look and see who's running, chasing you, coming behind you. You're focused on that goal. So I want y'all listen, forget what lies behind, forget who did you wrong and who said what, and what your boss did or didn't do, what your family did or didn't do, and focus.

Speaker 1:

Straining it says straining towards. When you're straining towards something, that means you're putting in work right. It's not you manifesting and creating something, a reality in your mind. And then, when you manifest, it means that you're creating it in your mind and then you actually through your thoughts your thoughts become your words and the words become your actions you actually start creating and doing those things. That's how manifestation works, right. So you got to forget what lies behind.

Speaker 1:

At this point of the year, in the month of November, it's still not too late for us to meet the goals that we have set out at the beginning of the year, and if you feel like I'm not going to make it some of the things that I really wanted to do at this point of the year, then maybe that's going to be your 2025 thing. So I don't want you to lose hope just because you didn't get to where you thought you would be in the month of November. But forget, don't drag that carcass of regret into December, right, forget what lies behind and strain forward. So focus on what lies ahead. And there's this sense of hope and encouragement because, again, when you know in your heart that, listen, I'm not making it on my own, god's got me, I'm under his favor, I'm under his, I'm just telling y'all this is how I think God's got me, I'm under his favor. I'm seeing him work things out because of my perspective. I see the blessings, I know that he's opening doors to me. So these are things I'm telling myself. Right To get to push myself as I'm straining forward.

Speaker 1:

I know, lord, there's only certain amount of hours during this day, but I thank you, god, that you're sending your supernatural help to help me. I thank you for the friends, I thank you for the colleagues, I thank you for the blessing, thank you for giving me a clear mind so that I know what to do with the information you give me. God, I thank you for the new ideas. I thank you for removing the roadblocks, whether it's people, places or things, even if it's my own mindset. Remove from my mind anything that's going to hold me back. That's what. Forgetting what lies behind Anything that's going to hold me back, anything that anyone has said that makes you feel some kind of way Y'all we're going to forget me back. Anything that anyone has said, you know that that makes you feel some kind of what y'all we're going to forget about those things. We don't have time for that.

Speaker 1:

It says in verse 14, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. So pressing on towards the goal. Now let me just talk a little bit really quickly. I'm going to stop sharing this from my screen and talk about exhaustion. Okay, let me just talk about exhaustion, because some of us have pressed and pressed and we press beyond our capacity and that is not what the word is telling you to do. If you've taken on more than you should have and then you go back to the Lord and say give me strength, I need to press to this goal. Shelly said press to the goal. Please don't hear what I'm not saying, because you're not meant to be exhausted.

Speaker 1:

I get questions all the time about time management, how I do many things. There's literally people running jokes about literally. I say this too, like I'm everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Right, and it looks like I'm everywhere and nowhere at the same time. But I'm operating within the grace that God has on me and my life. So I can teach four or five times a week, but I can't go anywhere beyond that. If you ask me to show up to something to teach or preach anything beyond that and he hasn't willed it for me listen, he hasn't prepared me for that then I will absolutely fail at it. So I can't go beyond the grace unless he stretches me and prepares me and says divine help on all the things. I can't go beyond the grace that he's given to me. Does that make sense? In the same way that he's giving you your particular assignments, some of y'all have been asking for the promotions demanding. I've heard people demanding the promotion because they've been at the company for 27 years and blah, blah, blah and they're demanding. But God is going to grace you and he's not.

Speaker 1:

You don't want to go beyond the grace that you have on your life, because then you run into exhaustion. Then you're trying to um, then you're trying to figure out how you know to make it. You're trying to figure out how to make it and then you, and then you're then you're burning, kind of burning your way through things. You know you'll end up losing relationships because you're trying to force or manifest your way into some kind of solution. So don't burn out.

Speaker 1:

When we're talking about running and staying focused, we're talking about what were the things that at the beginning of the year, that this is what you align to Lord. This is what I see for myself. Is this an agreement with you? Yes, okay. So help me finish this thing out. So if there's something that you started that you need to finish, let's finish it out this month, in December. That's where we take our rest. December is rest, okay, so that's really important.

Speaker 1:

And burnout is for real. So I do not want you to strain towards a goal that goes beyond your capacity and then you burn out. It's not listen, it is not worth it for you to do that, just to be real. So please don't look at me as an example. It's not a, I would say, an honest reflection, because you don't understand the grace of my life.

Speaker 1:

I'm built to do many, many things very well. I'm not built to do one thing. If I had to do just one thing, I would be miserable, right? So you got to understand the grace that's on your life. So ask the Lord, is this something that I need to hold off till next year, or is this something that I need to let go? And that's okay to do that. We're not trying to impress nobody with our lives. We each get one. We each get the one life right, and so we're not trying to impress anybody with it. But we've got to finish what we start. But I promise you it's okay.

Speaker 1:

If you're looking at I got to this far, lord, I don't think I can go any further. For you to take a rest, there is zero judgment Now. If you have judgment in your heart, that's on you. But don't let other people try to dictate what you're doing with the grace on your life. Don't let other people tell you you should be doing more than what your grace because you will burn out. So I just wanted to share that really quickly be doing more than what your grace because you will burn out. So I just wanted to share that really quickly.

Speaker 1:

Straining towards the goal doesn't mean that, listen, we're doing things that's burning ourselves out. So that's the message this morning, right? So we came in from Philippians 3, verses 13 and 14. I was in the ESV, like I always am, and again I'm just going to read it. It says brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own, but one thing I do forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the price of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Speaker 1:

So, lord, I thank you for bringing us together. I thank you for your word this morning. I pray that this is encouraging someone to push through their goal, but not more. Not try to overtake you in your grace, not try to go beyond the grace that you've given us. I thank you for restoring us this morning, our minds and our hearts and our souls, and helping us to get through this day and this week. Bless every family represented, every person, every business analyst, every engineer, every writer, every doctor, lawyer, minister, anyone.

Speaker 1:

Lord, god, who's been listening to this teaching this morning. I pray that you will give them what they need today, lord, the manna of the day. And for those who are in the job market, lord, I ask that you open doors and, as they're completing those applications, that you'll just even give them a seed of hope this season, that you've never left them, that they're not alone, that you're opening doors for them. So I thank you, lord, that even they will forget what lies behind, forget any sense of rejection or depression or anything like that, lord God, and be focused on what's to come, a better and brighter future in the next opportunity. So we thank you, lord, for even the jobs that you're going to give to those who are standing in need this morning, those who are waiting for a good health report this morning, that you're going to show up in such a mighty powerful way, ways that we never expected. Because, lord, if we could do it ourselves, we would. But we don't consider that we're doing this by ourselves and we thank you for the grace that is on this prayer ministry, lord, that they have tapped into and that you will increase in their lives through your favor and your blessings. In your holy name, lord Jesus, we pray Amen, amen.

Speaker 1:

Oh, yes, ricky, I will tell you. Ricky Price is now I'm on the social media street telling people's business, but he's a close family friend. And yes, I will tell my hubby, who's Tyrone. Hello, from Texas. I absolutely will, y'all, as Tracy dropped the thing I love when God shows up in my impossible situations and shows out in such a way that even those around me know I had nothing to do with it, with my own strength.

Speaker 1:

That is the kind of listen, that's the kind of prayers I have. Do it so big, lord, god, that they absolutely know that it had nothing to do with me. Because I want to be an ambassador, I want to be a living witness. So that's the kind of prayer. I don't listen, don't just bless me. Bless me so much that I'm blessing millions. That's the kind of prayers I'm praying, so that when people see me, when I come into any environment, they know I'm coming with heaven, I'm coming with angels, I'm coming with the Lord, I'm filled with the spirit. That's how I'm showing up. Give me the kind of favor, lord, this month, or the rest of this month as we're pushing through. Oh God, give us the kind of favor that people know that we are blessed and whose we are, and that's that right. And people know like it is all him, all right, just catching the other chat. Amen, santa, say hallelujah, and I'm just saying thank you, lord, amen, and good morning, jessica, and she's agreed, all right, I hope this blessed y'all. I will be back. Yes, oh, thank you, sir. He said you're a blessing to those. I appreciate it. Thank you, I receive it. Thank you so much. I will be back next Thursday. A Thursday is a Thursday, whether it's Thanksgiving or Christmas y'all, we come back. So I will be back next Thursday.

Speaker 1:

For those of you who are traveling next week, monday and Tuesday we are still praying, but I definitely for the Thursday. Today are one o'clock and seven o'clock. You can call in again. It's free as a phone line, but if you have a prayer request, please do that. We're still praying our theme for this month. We're focusing on those who have addiction or even health issues, but if you have a prayer request, just call in y'all. Especially, I know a lot of folks watch me on LinkedIn and they're going through some job situations right now. It's private, we're not asking for your business or your name. Just call in and share your prayer request and we've got you covered. That's that's what we're supposed to do. That's how we're going to close out this year, ok, serving hundreds of people through this prayer line. Thank you, three praying Sisters. All right, I love y'all. Jesus loves you more and I will be back next week, take care.