Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - April 12, 2022


Ep 598 ｜ Prepping for the Apocalypse？ ｜ Q&A


Episode Stats

Length

31 minutes

Words per Minute

192.91689

Word Count

6,159

Sentence Count

428

Misogynist Sentences

1

Hate Speech Sentences

7


Summary


Transcript

00:00:00.000 Hey y'all, welcome to Relatable. Happy Tuesday. This episode is brought to you by our friends
00:00:04.700 at Good Ranchers. Go to goodranchers.com slash Allie. That's goodranchers.com slash Allie.
00:00:19.580 Okay, today we are doing a fun question and answer episode. Sometimes we do these. We'll
00:00:25.160 keep this one on the short side, you know, which is good because some of our episodes get really
00:00:30.400 long and I understand they get really heavy because we're talking about really big, important
00:00:35.180 stuff. Like low key, if you listen to Relatable, you really know what's going on in the world.
00:00:41.920 Not every single news story because we're not necessarily a news show. We stop and we pause
00:00:47.860 and we talk about a story or a trend that's happening that may have been in headlines a
00:00:52.880 couple weeks ago, but is especially pertinent to us right now as Christians. And we talk about
00:00:58.820 why we should think about this and how we should think about this and how we should approach it.
00:01:03.700 And we really try to peel back the layers on everything that's going on, not just telling
00:01:08.060 you what's happening, but why what's happening matters. Sometimes I think about that. I'm like,
00:01:12.420 wow, the guests we have and the stories that we talk about are really, really important. If I do say
00:01:18.040 so myself, I don't think that's patting myself on the back. It takes a whole village to do this
00:01:22.660 whole thing. And plus, as I like to say, you guys really are the executive producers. And so you
00:01:27.620 guys tell me what you want to talk about. So we're all in this. We're all in this together,
00:01:31.420 but I'm just, I'm just thankful and I'm proud of Relatable for the stories that we give, but we
00:01:36.420 can't do that every single day because we kind of get burnt out on it, which is why we do strictly
00:01:42.080 theological episodes. Sometimes we do some more like evergreen episodes and then we do these fun Q&A
00:01:47.620 episodes. We will talk about serious stuff. I am getting asked serious questions as I always am,
00:01:52.840 but there's some fun stuff too. And there's some, some lighter stuff that's not quite so topical
00:01:58.640 and so news heavy or so even theologically heavy. And so I'm going to go through as many questions
00:02:04.580 as I can. Sometimes I get carried away and I take too long on answering a question. I'm going to try
00:02:09.740 not to do that. I'm going to try not to do that today. One of the reasons also though, we are not
00:02:13.460 in a news episode today is because I'm traveling. Yesterday I was in Ann Arbor, Michigan, speaking
00:02:18.620 to some high school students. So I'm traveling today. I recorded this last week as you're listening
00:02:23.880 to it. It'll be last week. But then we'll be back tomorrow with all the new and news stuff.
00:02:29.920 All right. First question I'm going to answer. Is it biblical to pray before meals? I think that's
00:02:35.360 a great question. My opinion is that it is not necessary, biblically necessary to pray before
00:02:41.180 meals, but there is a biblical foundation for it. One example, Acts 27 35 ESV. That's the version I
00:02:48.800 use. And when he had said these things, he took bread and giving thanks to God in the presence of
00:02:53.680 all, he broke it and began to eat. And so that is just one example of the breaking of bread by
00:03:03.020 Christians in order to give thanks to God or the praying of Christians before breaking bread to give
00:03:13.420 thanks to God for what he has done for us and what he has provided for us. And that of course was Paul
00:03:20.100 in that Acts chapter. And then there's also Ephesians 6 18, praying at all times in the spirit with all
00:03:26.600 prayer and supplication to that end. Keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the
00:03:31.760 saints. That's not meal specific, but that basically says just pray at all times. We should be praying
00:03:39.260 before we do lots of things, not just eating. But I do think that there is a biblical precedent
00:03:44.400 for praying before meals. It definitely couldn't hurt. And so I think that's kind of how we determine
00:03:49.200 what we do is not just what does the Bible say to do or not to do, but what based on biblical
00:03:53.640 principles glorifies God the most. I also think it sets a good example for the people around you and
00:03:58.460 in particular your children. Here's a question that I get a lot. And that is, how are you so bold in
00:04:05.080 the things that you talk about when people are so brutal today? Yes, people are brutal. You guys know
00:04:11.260 if you follow me on Instagram that I get plenty of mean messages. I get really nasty messages from
00:04:17.000 people who consider themselves much more empathetic and loving and tolerant than I am, of course.
00:04:21.040 You know, they wish me death. They wish they wish me awful things that would happen to me
00:04:26.180 and my family, all while saying it is I am the one that is being hateful simply because I said
00:04:32.840 something they don't know how to intellectually actually refute. And so they just go on the attack.
00:04:38.340 That's what emotional, unintellectual people do. And so I try to remember that. I try to remember that
00:04:43.480 they're coming from a place of insecurity. If they were actually able to refute anything that I say,
00:04:47.760 they would try to do so in some kind of logical manner. But when you are so frustrated by your
00:04:52.840 lack of capacity to actually be able to articulate anything in a way that makes sense, then of course
00:04:57.600 you are going to lash out emotionally. You know, we see that with, you see that in one sense that I
00:05:05.180 mean this in like the most compassionate way, but you see that with a young child who is just learning
00:05:10.480 to speak when they aren't able to articulate what they want. Sometimes that erupts in a temper tantrum.
00:05:16.180 And we have a lot of understanding and patience for toddlers because they are just learning how
00:05:20.440 to talk. There's not a whole lot of excuse. There's not a whole lot of excuses for adults
00:05:24.500 who are unable to articulate their disagreement or their desires or their thoughts. And so they
00:05:29.460 erupt in a temper tantrum that concludes in them sending you threats via DM on Instagram. I don't
00:05:35.460 have a whole lot of patience for that. So, but I do try to remember that those people are just
00:05:39.940 apparently intellectually stunted. And so I try to have some kind of compassion for them there.
00:05:44.900 And I also have to remember that if they are sending that kind of threat or they're sending
00:05:48.860 that kind of mean message that they also, they just need Christ, that they're probably not actually
00:05:54.840 stupid. They probably don't actually really lack the capacity, but they lack the heart, the soft heart
00:06:03.420 to be able to communicate in a way that is not only logical, but also is sympathetic and makes any kind
00:06:13.060 of moral sense either. And so I just try to, I don't always do this well, but I try to respond
00:06:19.220 kindly. A kind word can turn away wrath. Doesn't always, but it can. And, or I just block them. I do a lot
00:06:27.080 of blocking. I do a lot of blocking of trolls. And also when it comes to speaking things that are
00:06:32.520 unpopular, once you say it, once you say that thing that you're like, oh, I could never say that.
00:06:37.060 That's too scary. I'm going to get pushback. I'm going to get backlash. And you just say it.
00:06:42.620 You get a lot braver after that. We talk about how courage begets courage. Someone stands up and
00:06:48.340 does something courageous, goes against the grain, how that courage is infectious, that it spreads to
00:06:54.720 other people. And then other people stand up and say, you know what? Me too. I believe that unpopular
00:06:59.720 thing. I'm going to take this unpopular, but right stance. But it's also contagious within yourself,
00:07:05.860 if that makes sense. So you're courageous in one instance, and that reminds you that you can do it
00:07:12.040 again. It's just like with any kind of physical challenge. If you, the reason that you train for
00:07:19.340 a marathon or train, I've never run a marathon, but I ran a half marathon many moons ago. And you
00:07:24.660 don't have to run the full 13 miles before you actually race in a half marathon. You train every
00:07:32.680 week a little bit more. Maybe you add a mile, two miles, whatever it is. I don't remember. And every
00:07:38.020 week that you add another mile, the fact that you had previously run almost that far helps you get to
00:07:45.180 the finish line because you remind yourself, I've done this before. I've done almost this exact same
00:07:50.280 thing before. And I ran almost this many miles last week. And I only have to run one more mile in
00:07:57.000 addition to what I ran last week. And I know I can run one more mile. It's the same thing with anything
00:08:01.840 you do, with any challenge you face, any obstacle you face. Once you practice, once you practice
00:08:08.200 bravery, and you practice being outspoken, and you manage the backlash that you get for saying something
00:08:15.340 that you know is right and true and necessary, then you realize, okay, you can do it again. Yeah, that was
00:08:21.720 hard. Yeah, no one likes bullies. No one likes me messages. No one likes being trolled. And even worse
00:08:26.620 than that, no one likes your friends turning their back on you or people at your church or whatever it
00:08:31.600 is. But their response is not your indicator of whether or not you should say something or whether
00:08:38.500 or not you're being obedient to God. Their response is their responsibility. It's not yours. Your indicator
00:08:46.300 of whether or not something is necessary and right is whether or not it aligns with God's word. That is your
00:08:54.220 standard. That is your indicator of whether or not you should say something. You can say it kindly. Yes, you can
00:09:00.720 say it with compassion. But if something is true, if God's word says that it is true, and you see a lot of
00:09:06.940 people believing lies, then it is your responsibility to say something. And look, they're going to be
00:09:12.020 Christians. This is the worst. This is worse than the trolls in a lot of ways. They're going to be
00:09:16.240 Christians that if you say, hey, man is a man, woman is a woman. Hey, abortion is murder. Hey,
00:09:22.260 the government is not God or our caretaker, whatever unpopular stance it is, you're going to
00:09:27.940 get tone policed by social justice Christians. They're going to tell you it's your tone. That's
00:09:33.120 why the world hates you. It's your tone. If you were just nicer, if you're just sweeter, if you just
00:09:38.220 didn't use such harsh language, which I'm not saying that we should be purposely inflammatory or brutal
00:09:44.000 in what we say. I'm not saying that at all. But just realize that the world hates you, Christian.
00:09:50.960 The world hates what you're saying, Christian, not because of your tone, but because they hate the
00:09:55.200 truth. They don't hate your tone. They hate the truth. Okay? We remember Jesus, who was full of
00:10:00.700 grace and truth. We remember Stephen, maybe a better example, full of grace and truth because Stephen
00:10:05.900 wasn't fully man, fully God. He wasn't culminating the prophecies of redemption and all of that.
00:10:11.440 He was just a man, but he was full of grace and truth. And what was the response when he shared
00:10:16.140 the gospel? It was hate. It was vitriol. It was rejection. He was stoned to death. Okay? So any
00:10:23.460 Christian who says, well, if your tone were nicer, if you just use the right pronouns, like if you just
00:10:28.340 said, if you just raised your fist and said black lives matter, and you forgot about the fact that
00:10:32.420 it's a totally corrupt organization that has never done anything for black lives. If you just like
00:10:36.940 give a little bit to the world, if you're just a little bit sweeter, then the world will love you and
00:10:41.220 you'll win more people to Christ. What precedent do we have for that in the Bible?
00:10:46.220 So just be aware that you're going to get tone policed and you're going to get people who say,
00:10:50.200 Matthew 7, 1, you shouldn't judge as if that means that we shouldn't discern good from evil,
00:10:55.040 right from wrong. We are supposed to be innocent as doves and as wise as serpents. Of course,
00:10:59.420 we're supposed to discern right from wrong. What do you think Paul was doing when he was writing the
00:11:03.820 letters to the churches and calling them to repentance and not to sin? Was he violating Matthew 7,
00:11:09.520 1? Of course not. As Christians, we are to discern humbly what is right, what is wrong,
00:11:14.080 and admonish one another who are in the faith. And yes, speak the truth in love because we are
00:11:18.880 supposed to be sources of clarity in an age of chaos. And you're going to get people who say,
00:11:23.880 oh, you're supposed to love people. As we often say, God is love. 1 John 4, 8, whatever he says is
00:11:28.860 right and wrong, good and evil, true and false, he says from love, the most loving thing that we can do
00:11:32.540 is agree with him. So withstand the unpopularity, withstand the backlash. If what you are saying
00:11:39.540 is necessary and right and true according to the God who authors truth and who is love, then say it
00:11:46.280 and come what may. All right. Someone asks, how was your day today? I hope it is a happy one. Well,
00:11:53.500 that's very sweet. That is not a mean message from someone who disagrees with me. Let's see my day
00:12:00.300 today. Well, as I am recording this, it is only, it is 1257 Eastern time. And so it hasn't, I've been
00:12:08.660 basically recording all morning because I had to stow away some episodes since I am traveling. And so
00:12:16.020 it's been a good day. I mean, I love recording. I love talking about the things that we talk about.
00:12:21.300 It's always an early morning in the Stucky household with two babies running around. That's just the way it
00:12:26.440 is. But it's very sunny where I am and it's warm where I am. And I love that. And I'm about to also,
00:12:33.100 as I'm recording this, go into the weekend, which is pretty exciting. I hope your day is wonderful too.
00:12:38.440 Makeup routine. This is something that you guys ask me about a lot. And I have gotten a lot of
00:12:44.120 requests, even though this is not like my brand because I'm not a lifestyle influencer and I don't
00:12:48.820 pretend to be. I've gotten a lot of requests to do a video of my makeup routine. I'm not going to do
00:12:54.940 that because honestly, I, I'm not, I shouldn't say I'm insecure about like doing my makeup. It's
00:13:01.260 just that I'm not an expert. You know, some things that you do and you're confident enough to do it
00:13:06.040 yourself, but you wouldn't be confident enough to teach someone else how to do it because you're
00:13:09.520 not confident that how you do it is correct. I just feel like I would do it. And people would be
00:13:13.740 like, why are you putting that on first? Why are you using that brush? Why are you doing it that way?
00:13:18.700 And, you know, I get plenty of criticism about other things. I don't know if I want to subject
00:13:24.760 myself to that criticism. So this is just not necessary. I have talked about the, the different
00:13:31.400 things that I use. I mean, I use Adele Natural Cosmetics a lot for, for a lot of the stuff that
00:13:37.120 I put on my face. Um, I don't know. I've used some of the same brands since like 10th grade,
00:13:42.680 which is probably not great. I just use foundation and bronzer and, um, I do swear by Tarte Cosmetics
00:13:52.540 Shape Tape under my eyes. I love that stuff. As I have said before, I don't care what it's made of.
00:13:59.960 I don't care if it is made from the saliva of Jezebel. I will keep using that because it works
00:14:06.780 so well and it is so effective. So that's like the one thing that I would say, one of the things that I
00:14:12.380 would say that I like really recommend just because I really like it, but I don't do anything
00:14:17.420 special. I don't do any special like contouring. Sometimes I'll randomly get into like maybe
00:14:22.900 watching YouTube videos about it, but really I don't, or mostly Instagram videos because they're
00:14:27.600 quicker. I just, I've never been like a brands gal and I've never been like a designer gal when it
00:14:33.180 comes to anything. I've never known about designers or different places to shop or different places to
00:14:39.020 get your makeup. I've only recently started doing a good skincare routine through Adele Cosmetics.
00:14:44.540 And so that's just me. I'm probably not the best person to ask about the makeup routine, but I'm
00:14:50.220 flattered. I appreciate you asking because I guess that means that you like my makeup. So
00:14:55.460 I appreciate that. What is my take on Elon Musk and being Twitter's largest shareholder? I think it's
00:15:01.880 a great thing. Now, do I think he's going to have that much influence? Maybe, possibly, although I do
00:15:07.440 think the people on the board of Twitter, the people running Twitter are just ideologically on
00:15:11.100 the left. And so they're just not probably going to be swayed by Elon Musk. Elon Musk is not a
00:15:17.160 conservative himself. I would call him heterodox and moderate in a lot of ways. And he questions a
00:15:22.400 lot of mainstream left-wing narratives, which I think is really important to do, even if we don't agree
00:15:27.120 on everything. He has talked about the birth rate being low. He's talked about the dangers of
00:15:32.420 censorship. I think he disagrees with just like dystopian wokeness in general and the denial of
00:15:39.560 truth. But I mean, he acquiesces to like the CCP. And so I don't think he's like completely on our
00:15:45.840 side. I do think it's cool how the richest man in the world does have heterodox views and does have
00:15:51.440 that much influence. And I think it's cool that he bought the majority of shares in Twitter. He is the
00:15:59.160 largest shareholder in Twitter. I think that that is really cool. And I hope that he does have
00:16:03.420 influence, even if it's just less censorship, even if it's just that the leadership is now less woke.
00:16:09.520 Let's hope that this leads to some kind of accountability. I think it's kind of cool.
00:16:14.080 Why can't our party, I'm guessing you mean the Republican Party, feature more electrifying
00:16:18.340 candidates that register with party youth? So I think that's coming. Okay. I mean, I don't know.
00:16:25.060 I don't think the intention is necessarily to electrify the youth when you've got like J.D.
00:16:31.580 Vance and Blake Masters. I don't know if like their intention is necessarily to bring in all
00:16:36.120 the young voters, but I do think that they could accomplish that. And I think that one mistake
00:16:40.820 that the GOP establishment makes is thinking, or even just like conservative activists in general,
00:16:47.200 Republican organizations, they think that the only way you're going to win young people is by being
00:16:51.700 socially liberal or by being libertarian, that you can't care about marriage. You can't care about
00:16:56.220 the family. You can't really care about abortion. You can't care about those things. You can only
00:17:00.340 care about like capitalism and being able to go to Starbucks. I think that's so stupid because
00:17:05.340 you're not going to get conservatism if you're not preserving the building blocks of any free society,
00:17:11.160 which is the family, which then goes back to the more like existential reality of human beings,
00:17:17.800 which is the definition of male and female. And so I think that it's really important that we are
00:17:23.040 socially conservative because I actually don't think it's possible to get economic conservatism
00:17:27.120 without social conservatism. Conservatism is based on the idea that our rights come from God,
00:17:32.700 that we come from a creator. That is why we believe that we have rights that supersede, that transcend
00:17:38.040 the power of the government. And so if you're letting go of any biblical principles, if you're letting go
00:17:44.260 of the belief in God is where our rights come from, you don't get the rest of conservatism.
00:17:49.100 You just don't. And I've explained this many times. And so I know I'm not telling you guys anything that
00:17:53.680 you don't already know, but I think that it's a mistake for conservatives to abandon that, to try to
00:17:58.580 make, you know, Republicans a big tent party. No, why don't you educate young people, educate young
00:18:05.740 people in what conservatism is, why having rights that come from God rather than the government is
00:18:11.820 important, why the family is important. Why don't we educate rather than acquiescing to the views of
00:18:17.080 people who don't even have developed frontal lobes? That's stupid. I do say, however, that people like
00:18:26.040 J.D. Vance and like Blake Masters and this new crop of, I wouldn't necessarily, because I don't know if
00:18:30.920 they would call themselves populist per se, but this new crop of anti-establishment type
00:18:38.740 conservatives, I think just their personalities can attract young people in the same way that
00:18:46.460 Trump kind of did. And DeSantis, by the way, I would put DeSantis in this group too, that this kind
00:18:55.560 of like anti-authority, I don't care what the media says. I don't care what Joe Biden says. I don't care
00:19:01.780 what these activist groups say. I don't care what Disney says. I don't care what these corporations say.
00:19:05.760 I care about what the people say. I care about doing what's right. And I'm not just going to be,
00:19:11.000 oh, free market, yay, capitalism type Republican. I mean, capitalism is good. The free market is good.
00:19:18.740 But let's use the power of the government that we have to accomplish policies that are going to help
00:19:26.780 American families and the American worker. And look, I want a culture warrior. I'm a young person,
00:19:32.240 and I want these politicians to be culture warriors, and I want them to not care what the
00:19:37.880 corporations and what the activist left says. That's what I want. I mean, I'm not an 18-year-old,
00:19:43.780 but I'm a 30-year-old. I think that still counts as relatively young. And I like Ron DeSantis.
00:19:49.360 I like these politicians that do not care what the media and other establishment types say,
00:19:55.600 and they just do what we, the voters and conservatives, want them to do.
00:19:58.840 So I think if Republicans wake up to that, then they will. They will hopefully
00:20:04.360 bring more young people into the fold. But it also takes you and me educating young people
00:20:10.420 against the propaganda that they are learning in school and from the media and on social media.
00:20:17.020 Someone asks, is it a bad idea to listen to true crime podcasts? And I think maybe I've answered this
00:20:22.580 before. I think I've talked about it. Maybe I talked about it on Instagram. I don't remember.
00:20:25.740 But it's a good question. I think that it can be. I think that it can be. We are told in Philippians
00:20:33.200 4 that we are to focus only on that which is pure and lovely and commendable and excellent and worthy
00:20:41.180 of praise. We're to think about these things. And God understands that when we don't think about
00:20:46.900 these things, when we are dwelling on the bad, when we are dwelling on the dark, when we are dwelling on
00:20:53.480 the corrupt, then our minds get very anxious. Now, I have heard from people that listening to
00:21:00.140 true crime podcasts has made you more prepared. It's made you more equipped. It's made you more
00:21:04.360 of a critical thinker. Maybe that's possible. Maybe it's possible for you to listen to some kinds
00:21:10.940 of true crime podcasts that are really just interesting. It's like unsolved mysteries. And of
00:21:15.300 course, all of us who like to ask questions, we all like mysteries. We all like a story. I think
00:21:19.380 that's part of human nature. Maybe it's possible to do that. But I think you have to be really,
00:21:24.340 really careful about what we're consuming, no matter what the content is, and to make sure that
00:21:30.380 it is not making us more anxious and more fearful and making us dwell on that which is only dark.
00:21:37.880 We have to talk about hard stuff. We have to know about difficult things that are going on,
00:21:43.300 corrupt things that are going on. We talk a lot about that kind of stuff on this podcast. But
00:21:48.240 we also have to be reminded of God's sovereignty, that not a hair can fall from our head apart from
00:21:53.800 the Father's will. Unless you are renewing your mind in that, I do think listening to true crime
00:21:58.940 podcasts or any kind of dark content has the ability to really corrupt your mind and make you really sad
00:22:06.460 and depressed and anxious. And you don't want that. Yeah, I mean, I think that doesn't help. That
00:22:11.740 doesn't draw you more towards God. So I think it's just something to consider.
00:22:17.720 Random things that are giving me joy. The weather gives me joy when it's warm outside.
00:22:22.760 It's about to be blazing, blazing hot to where I won't want to go outside. And I'll
00:22:28.020 be trying not to complain about that on this podcast in a couple months. But right now it's warm. It's been
00:22:34.000 in like the 70s and 80s. And I just love being in our backyard, hanging out with our family.
00:22:39.160 That is just like a simple thing that really gives me joy. Someone asked, being prepared for
00:22:47.420 food shortages versus relying on faith. So I don't think that those things are mutually exclusive
00:22:54.300 at all. I mean, we have faith that, like I said, as Matthew 10 tells us, that nothing can happen to
00:22:59.200 us apart from the Father's will. And so, of course, we have faith in God. But at the same time,
00:23:05.780 we are supposed to be working. We are supposed to be working hard so that we can give to those who
00:23:13.660 are in need and also to provide for our families. And actually, Scripture also says that those who
00:23:18.220 fail to provide for their families are worse than an unbeliever. And Proverbs 31 also tells us what a
00:23:25.700 good woman and a good wife and a good mom looks like. It has to do with preparing her home,
00:23:31.360 with making sure her home is prepared for the winter months and prepared for the hard times so
00:23:38.100 that her family has something to eat. So faith is not stupidity. Faith is not recklessness.
00:23:44.440 Faith is not just throwing caution to the wind and not using the intellectual capacity that God has
00:23:51.040 given us to be able to think through things and to prepare and to think about consequences.
00:23:58.640 And so I think it's both. I don't think we should be paranoid. I don't think that we should lose our
00:24:03.380 presence and our joy and our contentment in this moment by preparing. But I absolutely think that
00:24:08.600 we can have joy and we can have faith and we can have peace while also making sure that we are
00:24:14.080 providing for our families as prudently as we possibly can. Oh, this is a good one that kind of goes
00:24:20.960 along with that. If you could pick one special apocalypse skill or trade, what would it be?
00:24:28.340 Oh, goodness, this is hard because I have none. And so I often think about this. I'm like, oh,
00:24:34.100 if what what do I need to learn to do? Well, I don't really prepare. And so like I'm not really a
00:24:41.960 prepper as much as I talk about that it's important to you. So I keep telling myself that I'm going to.
00:24:46.560 I well, I don't know how to sew. I think it would be probably good to know how to sew to make clothes
00:24:52.640 because you could not just make clothes for your family, but you could also sell those things.
00:24:57.660 But I would love to be like a super skilled gardener or know anything about agriculture
00:25:02.000 at all, which I really don't. I'm a suburb gal through and through. I love the idea of the country.
00:25:09.000 I love the idea of, you know, being out in the middle of nowhere and like living on a farm
00:25:14.620 with some animals. I think a lot of us have that fantasy and have over the past couple of years.
00:25:20.140 It used to be that I would fantasize about like living in New York and just like loving that life.
00:25:24.520 My husband and I used to think we wanted to do that. And then all millennials after 2020 were like,
00:25:29.420 yeah, I need to learn how to make cheese curds using my own goats. I don't know why,
00:25:33.900 but we just like I guess with COVID and everything, we just thought that it would be amazing to no longer
00:25:38.320 live in the cities and to live as far out as we possibly can. The fact of the matter is,
00:25:42.920 I don't know how to do any of that. I think probably I should say the most important thing
00:25:47.140 would be to make food. That's probably most, most important. So make food, sewing. If y'all know
00:25:53.920 how to do that, send me a step-by-step guide. That would be really helpful. So someone who follows
00:26:02.320 me asked, and this is a great question. I think it's a question that a lot of us have right now.
00:26:06.460 Well, she asks about friends, like how many people are in your circle of close friends?
00:26:13.200 She said she's had a hard time keeping up with college friends now that she is a mom. Man,
00:26:19.080 I can totally, totally relate to this. It can be really hard to keep up with the different friends
00:26:26.480 from the different stages of life and to make sure that you're being a good friend, that you know what's
00:26:30.760 going on in their life, that you text them back. That's my downfall. I just have a hard time texting
00:26:35.440 people back. And I'm not trying to scoff at that, or I'm not trying to belittle that. I actually think
00:26:41.420 that routinely not texting people back is a really bad thing. Like I really do. I think that's a bad
00:26:47.180 thing. And I am someone who is guilty of that. I love when people are responsive. Although I give,
00:26:53.980 I have absolutely no judgment or condemnation ever for people who don't text me back right away,
00:27:00.780 or even like within a week, because I am continually that person. But I think it's awesome
00:27:05.620 when people are like super responsive when I know that they're busy. So who, how many people? I don't
00:27:12.200 really know. Like we have church, we have a small group. So we have some couples there and we are still
00:27:19.020 learning. Like we are still cultivating those relationships. We are still in the process right
00:27:24.220 now. We are in this stage of finding our people. Like I have friends from different stages of life,
00:27:29.540 from different areas of my life that I keep in touch with. I do the best that I can.
00:27:34.880 But we are still in the process right now of like cultivating our close godly friendships. It's hard
00:27:42.920 and it takes effort. It's not how it was in college when, okay, you just step out of your dorm room or
00:27:48.100 your apartment. And then you've got like 10 friends who you can go to lunch with and you
00:27:52.720 can just like do life with. That's the thing. That's what creates friendships is really doing
00:27:56.780 day-to-day life with someone and just the casual stuff. It's not, okay, necessarily having to plan
00:28:03.120 three weeks in advance to have like a long drawn out conversation with someone. Although I think that
00:28:07.720 can be great, but that's not really what builds the true edifying friendships and the friendships that
00:28:13.160 I think that a lot of us at this stage in our lives are yearning for. It's really just the casual
00:28:18.700 stuff. It's like the, hey, what are you doing right now? Do you want to go get coffee? Or hey,
00:28:23.800 what are you doing right now? Can you watch my kids? Or hey, can I bring you this? Or do you want
00:28:29.120 to like borrow this book? I think so much of our lives now are so segmented between work and church
00:28:34.660 and personal life that we feel like every single part of our lives, including our friendships,
00:28:39.260 have to be scheduled. And that can actually be somewhat of a detriment to real organic
00:28:44.200 friendships. And I, just to be completely transparent, like I find that really difficult
00:28:49.540 myself because I'm just like the rest of you. I'm busy. I'm really busy doing this. This is not,
00:28:54.960 this podcast is one of the jobs that I do in addition to writing and speaking and other things.
00:29:01.300 And then I've got my kids and my family. That's my first priority. And then of course you want to
00:29:06.700 spend one-on-one time with your husband and then, okay, well, you've got small group or you've got
00:29:11.540 church or you want to volunteer. It can be really hard to have those organic everyday life on life.
00:29:18.100 That's Christianese terminology. Friendships. And so I can't give you all of the, I can't give you all
00:29:26.660 of the advice on that or even put a number on that. I do my best to maintain the friendships that I have
00:29:32.220 to like be a good friend and to listen to people and to talk to people. I have tried, one thing I've
00:29:36.920 tried to do is get more comfortable with having other people bear my burdens, like explaining the
00:29:44.820 things that are going on in my life, the true like concerns and anxieties and fears that I have.
00:29:49.300 That's hard for me. I don't like to, I don't like to do that. I like to be the one that are,
00:29:54.120 that's bearing another person's burdens, giving advice, giving wisdom. I don't like to be in the
00:29:59.040 vulnerable position of telling someone what I'm struggling with. And that can be difficult. I
00:30:05.000 think a lot of us feel that way. So if this is like a struggle for you, if you're still looking
00:30:10.460 to like find your group of Christian people, I am with you. I understand that. And I think churches,
00:30:16.980 they do, a lot of churches do the best they can. A lot of churches don't though. A lot of churches
00:30:21.120 don't cultivate good friendships and they don't even really know how. And a lot of people within the
00:30:25.520 church, maybe me included, we're not good at cultivating those friendships. And so I don't
00:30:31.160 know if that's necessarily like a good thing to end on, but maybe we should do a podcast like on
00:30:37.360 friends and on friendships and on, is it necessary to have that group? Or is it okay to just have like
00:30:43.180 a bunch of different friends from different areas of your life? What is true accountability
00:30:47.340 and Christian friendship and Christian discipleship and Christian community? What does that really look
00:30:51.600 like? How do we really cultivate that? It seems like a lot of us are in the process of really,
00:30:56.500 really trying to solidify that right now. So I feel you, girl. I feel you. Last question is just a
00:31:03.020 fun one. What sauce at Chick-fil-A? What kind of question is that? What kind of question is that?
00:31:08.160 It is obviously Chick-fil-A sauce. I used to be a Polynesian sauce. That's the old me. That was when I
00:31:13.400 was like little. A Polynesian sauce. And I like, I'm a ranch gal, love ranch, but it's Chick-fil-A sauce.
00:31:20.740 Obviously, that is the sauce that you get at Chick-fil-A. Come on. I might have to go get
00:31:24.580 some right now. You've reminded me. Okay. That's all we've got for today. As I'm recording this,
00:31:32.780 I think that tomorrow we have an interview talking about something really important and really big.
00:31:39.540 So I think things can change. But regardless, tomorrow will be a great episode. I just know that
00:31:44.900 if you love this podcast, please leave us a five-star review. That would mean so much. And please
00:31:49.220 subscribe on YouTube, follow on Instagram, and all that good stuff. I will see you guys back here
00:31:55.200 tomorrow.