4:13 Podcast: Can I Rest in God’s Goodness When My Story Shifts? With Sarah Frazer [Episode 311]

Sarah Frazer: It was a time of just frustration in my faith because I felt like I was doing everything right. I was going to church, I was praying, I tried to read my Bible, and I still felt depressed. And wrestling with that idea of what is God's goodness has been a complete journey for me, really the last ten years especially, just wrestling with that idea of when our story shifts, where is God's goodness? And maybe our definition of God's goodness is not what we think it is.

Jennifer Rothschild: This wasn't part of the plan. My story was not supposed to turn out this way. I didn't sign up for this. If you've ever had any of these thoughts, chances are your story has shifted in some unexpected way. Well, if that's true for you, you are not alone, my friend. Today Author Sarah Frazer is going to take you through all of the unexpected plot twists in the story of Moses, and it's going to help you see clearly that God is right in the middle of your story.

Moses' story reminds us that even with a life that feels crushed by disappointment, God's plan will still go forth, God's presence is always going to provide, and God's promise will remain personal, and God's purpose will never be stopped. So get ready to get encouraged. The podcast is about to begin.

K.C. Wright: Welcome to the 4:13 Podcast, where practical encouragement and biblical wisdom set you up to live the "I Can" life, because you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you.

Now, welcome your host, Jennifer Rothschild.

Jennifer Rothschild: Well, hello, our people. We're so glad you're here. We really wish that you could be in this closet with us because -- I'm going to brag just for a moment.

K.C. Wright: Please.

Jennifer Rothschild: It smells really good in here.

K.C. Wright: It does.

Jennifer Rothschild: And there is a reason.

K.C. Wright: I want to smell it again.

Jennifer Rothschild: Because I brought a gift for K.C. And when he opened it, I told him, "This is something I made." And it is called --

K.C. Wright: Yes.

Jennifer Rothschild: -- Coffee In The Library. It is my own candle scent.

K.C. Wright: I wish you could smell this.

Jennifer Rothschild: Okay. Can you tell what the fragrance notes are?

K.C. Wright: Leather?

Jennifer Rothschild: Leather.

K.C. Wright: There's a little -- is there a little bit of a berry in there?

Jennifer Rothschild: It's a sweet tobacco.

K.C. Wright: A sweet tobacco.

Jennifer Rothschild: Imagine you're having pipes and coffee surrounded by leather books.

K.C. Wright: I literally cannot wait to have my Bible study by my fireplace, with this candle lit --

Jennifer Rothschild: Right?

K.C. Wright: -- sipping coffee.

Jennifer Rothschild: Now, I am still working on my formulation. I need to add a little more coffee fragrance. It's a little more tobacco. People need to smoke less and drink more coffee in that coffee -- in that candle blend. Yeah, but you can smell the leather, the tobacco, and the coffee.

K.C. Wright: Can I ask you, where are you finding time to make candles?

Jennifer Rothschild: I know. Isn't that crazy?

K.C. Wright: You've turned into a candle maker.

Jennifer Rothschild: I am a candle maker.

K.C. Wright: You live life on warped speed. I don't know when you're knocking candles out.

Jennifer Rothschild: Okay, here's what I want to tell you. This is why I started making candles. Well, it's relational because I need help, right?

K.C. Wright: Please tell us.

Jennifer Rothschild: So Kenzie helps me make candles. Back at Christmas, Chloe, Connor's girlfriend, and Connor were home. They helped me make candles. So it's very relational, so that's important.

K.C. Wright: I love that.

Jennifer Rothschild: But you have to slow down. You cannot do fast when you do candles. Because you have to wait for the max to -- I can't even talk. You have to wait for the wax to melt. You have to stir in the color. You have to wait for it to be a certain temperature before you put in the fragrance, then you have to blend. Blah, blah, blah. So it's all very slow and methodical, and that's very healthy.

So I do it whenever I can, you know, when I'm not traveling, and I just love it. But I knock them out when I do it because it's a big project, so I make, like, five or six at one time. But, yeah, that's my favorite signature --

K.C. Wright: Well, this is so you. Because when you come to the Rothschild Homestead, you are always greeted. Your nose hairs do a break dance, when you walk in, because of the aroma that's always in this home. I'm telling you, every floor there is a sweet-smelling sacrifice of praise.

Jennifer Rothschild: That's right. I call my house a fragrance library. Every room has a different fragrance.

K.C. Wright: I love it.

Jennifer Rothschild: Yeah. So anyway, there you go, K.C. You know I love you if I'll give you one of my candles, because it's not perfect yet.

K.C. Wright: I will treasure this.

Jennifer Rothschild: But it's got a wood wick, so you can also listen to it. Anyway...

All right. So that has nothing to do with anything except -- I just thought I would brag about my -- now, I don't sell them. Don't ask. I'm not that good. You don't want to spend your money on them.

K.C. Wright: I know. I was going to say, we are going to start getting emails and messages on how can I buy a Jennifer Rothschild candle --

Jennifer Rothschild: No, you don't want one.

K.C. Wright: -- to light our world. Trust me, I could run with this.

Jennifer Rothschild: You do not want one of my candles. I mean, you do, I get it, but you don't want to spend money on it. All right. Anyway...

Let's get into Sarah. I think we're going to love this conversation.

K.C. Wright: Sarah Frazer is a writer, a Bible study mentor, wife of Jason, and mother of five. With a background in missionary work and Bible teaching, her passion is to encourage women to start today with a Bible reading and prayer habit. So let's get this conversation started. Here is Jennifer and Sarah.

Jennifer Rothschild: All right, Sarah. The title of your book, "I Didn't Sign Up For This," is very relatable. In fact, lots of us have said -- or even if we haven't said it out loud, we have felt that way. So the first question I've got to ask is, have you? I mean, because I feel like you probably have or you wouldn't have written the book with that title. So let's hear a little bit of your story.

Sarah Frazer: Yeah. So there's been minor -- I would say minor things in my life that I looked and I thought, oh, I didn't really sign up for this. And they're not minor at the time, just things that you just don't see coming, but you kind of work through and that sort of thing. But there's also moments that I've had in my life -- and maybe those listening too -- where they just feel really big and you can think about life before that event and after that event. And those big things -- one of the major things is when my husband and I adopted our daughter, her special needs were much more severe than what we had been maybe led to believe or made aware of.

My husband and I, we just felt the call for adoption. We just had that sense that that was going to be a part of our family's story. We had three biological children at the time and we decided we wanted to adopt from China. And I could go on a long, long story about how that came to be, and it was definitely God leading us in that direction.

We fly all the way to China. All we've had is a little picture of a little girl. And we get to this government office, and I'll never forget that room and all those families. There was a bunch of families that were getting their children that same day. And she was placed in my arms and she felt so heavy. And she just kind of fell into my arms and I thought, I got to sit down, I'm going to drop her. She was two years old, but she only weighed 18 pounds. And she had probably about five layers of clothes on. And we sat there in the chair, and my husband and I looked each other and we thought, okay, yeah, there's something here. And we didn't know what that was going to look like for our life.

I remember going back to the hotel room there in China. I'm away from my other children and my family, our support system, it was just me and my husband. We feel like -- we were literally around the world. And we're sitting there and I remember calling my mom on the phone and telling her, I don't know what this means. Like, is she going to need lifelong care? Is she going to be able to -- she couldn't walk, she couldn't talk. She just kind of gazed off. And a lot of that was shock. A lot of that was her own processing in that moment. You know, I look back and see that.

But we just stepped into this special needs parenting path, and it wasn't one that I really signed up for. And I don't think -- I think the majority of parents who have children with special needs, they didn't set out on their life thinking, I'm going to have children with special needs, and it's going to be hard and it's going to be difficult and we're just going to walk this path. We don't really often choose that. I think parents that do adopt children with special needs, they usually have had experience with that sort of, you know, disability. But we had no experience. And we were actually not even expecting it. We were told one thing, and she had another, and we felt really blindsided by it.

And so we brought her home, and it's been a journey. It's been a journey the Lord has taken me on over several years, especially that first year learning to navigate this path. We're 100% sure that God had led us to adopt. 100% sure. He had opened so many doors, answered so many prayers, direct prayers for paperwork and timeline. And then we get her and it's almost like, Wait. Did we hear something wrong? Like, what is God doing? And it was very disorienting for my faith especially.

Jennifer Rothschild: Yeah. Well, Sarah, I just -- I mean, it's such a compelling story that you're telling. It's so difficult. I want to ask you more about it, but what is the situation now? What is your daughter's -- what are her capabilities? Is she verbal? I mean, what is the level of her need?

Sarah Frazer: So it was about two years of testing and doctors and driving all over trying to figure out a name, a diagnosis. And two years after that we had one little name of a muscle disorder, but other than that, everything was normal. But she has very low muscle tone and she is nonverbal. And what is amazing is that she understands everything.

And she is even -- this year we put the other children in Christian school. I usually home -- I've always homeschooled, and this year I decided just to homeschool her. And I thought we need a year of just you and me. Let's see how far we can take you. And she is excelling. And it's only been about -- you know, the first nine weeks ended a few weeks ago, and I just am amazed at her progress. She's super intelligent. I tell her she's, like, a genius speller. She's learned to spell, she's learned to read, but she can't speak. And so other than that, she's progressed.

She gets, you know, therapy every week, and we've always taken her to speech, but there's just some kind of disconnect that no doctors can find to explain it. There's no explanation for it. It's called apraxia. A lot of children have it, but there's usually an underlying cause, and a lot of children do learn to speak or can go to speech. And so I actually had a conversation with a speech therapist last week and we talked for an hour about possibilities for devices. Her fine motor skills have been in progress and so she's kind of getting to the point where she might be able to use a device.

So she's progressing and she's my little miracle. I mean, I just see her and -- there's so many things I could say. There's so many things I could say about what she has taught me, what her life has taught me. And her middle name -- we picked out her name before we adopted her -- or before we brought her home. And her name is Liana Joy. And she is the definition -- like, the embodiment of joy. And I told my husband, I said, "We are so blessed to have a child that is so joyful and easy going." And she gets frustrated, like we all do. She's ten now, and I just see so much blossoming in her and I just -- her future is still unknown. I don't know what her future is going to look like. But back eight years ago when we adopted her, that was very scary for me to think about. I don't know what your future's going to be like, what my future's going to be like with you, but now that we've come this far, I've seen that the Lord has been so incredibly faithful and so incredibly loving and good through all of this. Even though I still don't know the future, I definitely have such a different attitude and peace about the whole situation.

Jennifer Rothschild: What a story. And what I love is how God intersected your story with Liana's story, and he's creating this beautiful picture of his rescue, his kindness, his grace. But it definitely for you -- I mean, what an aptly named book, because this was not what you signed up -- this is not what you expected. I think of sweet little baby girl that you adopted too. It's not what she expected. If she had had the capacity to futurecast, I don't think her future would have been one of hope. But thank the Lord that he shifted your story.

In fact, in your book you use that phrase "story shifts." Okay? So you just gave us a huge example of a story shift. But let's say someone has, you know, a little less dramatic story shift. Give us some examples of, like, what -- what would a story shift look like in other people's lives?

Sarah Frazer: Well, I talk about some of this in my book too, that there are other things that I remember walking through that I felt like I didn't sign up for. And one of the major things for me that I struggled with as a new mom, when I gave birth to my first two children, was I dealt a lot with postpartum depression. And you read all the books and you know it's possible, but until you're in the thick of it, you just don't know how to navigate it. And I didn't know how to navigate it, and I just remember thinking, Lord, where are you in the middle of this?

And the postpartum depression kind of gave me an opportunity to look and see that maybe I've been battling depression for a long time. And even in high school and college, I think that I had those tendencies towards depression, but I was very much a Type A personality. I would -- you know, high achiever, got all A's in college, you know, just kind of pushed it all aside. When I became a new mom, I had to face it. I was home with a toddler and a newborn and I had to face these emotions, and I wasn't prepared. And so I didn't sign up for that.

And I don't know if maybe the listeners can relate to this or not, but I kind of grew up in -- I grew up in church and I grew up knowing Jesus since I was eight, and knowing the Bible and hearing the Word, but somehow those little seeds of untruth kind of get into your heart where I've got to earn God's love. And if I'm good, then good things will happen. It's that idea that -- that is not in the Bible --

Jennifer Rothschild: Right, right.

Sarah Frazer: -- and the Bible addresses those things and says, actually, that's not how things work. But in our performance, sort of our self-pride, we say, well, I can be good and then I can control.

I did everything right. I quit my job to stay at home with my kids, and now I'm facing depression, and I just -- it was a time of just frustration in my faith because I felt like I was doing everything right. I was going to church, I was praying, I tried to read my Bible, and I still felt depressed. And wrestling with that idea of what is God's goodness has been a complete journey for me, really the last ten years especially, just wrestling with that idea of when our story shifts, where is God's goodness? And maybe our definition of God's goodness is not what we think it is.

Jennifer Rothschild: That's a good statement. Because I think you're right, we define -- we want to set our story up and we want to define what goodness looks like and God's goodness looks like. So that's one of the things I appreciate about what you're doing in your book, because you take us between the story of Moses and our own unexpected shifts. So I'm curious what parts of Moses' story helped you the most or do you think could help us the most when our stories shift?

Sarah Frazer: I was drawn to the story of Moses initially because he was also adopted. Adoption is a part of Moses' story. He was adopted by Pharaoh's daughter, and that kind of drew me in.

But I began to see that Moses made plans. He was going to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, he was going to be the savior, and God completely derailed his plans. And, of course, there is the tension of making of our own choices and God's sovereignty. And Moses made a bad choice in that moment to kill an Egyptian, but God used that in Moses' life to put him where he wanted Moses, and it was in the wilderness. And I was really drawn to that idea of Moses being in the wilderness for 40 years. That's almost like a generation. I mean, that's the majority of your life. And I thought to myself, Moses was done. Before the burning bush and God met him, he was finished. He was like, This is where I'm going to be. This is where God has me. And God just kind of shows up and says, No, you're going to do this thing and this thing.

And what I love about Moses' story is that -- the whole picture of Moses' story, it's not neatly tied up with a bow, because he never finds this idea of a true home. And I remember first coming across this idea when I was reading through the psalms. And Psalm 90 was written by Moses, and I thought, oh, I didn't know that Moses wrote a psalm. So I was reading Psalm 90, and the very first verse says, "Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations." And I began to think about Moses' life, and I thought, he never really had a dwelling place. He never had that place where everything was safe and secure and this is where I belong and I feel good here. He never belonged anywhere. Not with the Hebrews, not with the Egyptians, not with the Midianites.

And then as he led people -- and then at the end of his life, they think -- a lot of scholars believe Psalm 90 was written at the end of Moses' life. As they're about to go into the Promised Land, he knows he's not going. He's not going to this land that he's heard about, that he's dreamed about, that he's worked so hard to get the people here. And he stands up on that mountain and God says, I'm going to show it to you, but you're not going to step foot in your earthly life here on this land.

And so I resonated with Moses' story because I felt like maybe my story isn't going to end the way I thought it was at the beginning. But I can still say, like Moses, that God has been my dwelling place. And I can still learn from Moses' life and from the Word of God and my relationship with God that he can satisfy me. Psalm 90 talks about being satisfied with God.

And what I think is so amazing about Moses' story -- and I didn't put this in the book because I read this later. But I was reading and someone pointed out -- I can't remember if it was a -- it was probably a pastor or some teacher. And they said, you know, Moses got to step foot in the Promised Land with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration. And I remember weeping. Because here I'd studied this man for at least two years, and dove into his story, and I just felt so, like, compassion for this humble leader of God. And I just thought to myself, that's the key, right? Jesus. Jesus is the answer. He's the one that brings us to where we're going to be. And it was Jesus that brought Moses to the Promised Land and he stood there. And, of course, that moment wasn't about Moses or Elijah or the disciples; it was about Jesus.

Jennifer Rothschild: Yeah.

Sarah Frazer: And Moses was able to stand there. And I just think about him standing there and looking and thinking, I did make it. I did get to see it. But it wasn't about me. It wasn't about Moses. It was about Jesus. And I want my life to look like that. I want to get to heaven and I want to say everything was for you, Jesus. Everything was for you. And so that's what really has just touched my heart about Moses' story.

Jennifer Rothschild: Well, gosh, that's so moving and beautiful. And I love the fact that you started talking about Moses and it ended up being about Jesus. And really when you look through Moses' whole story plus ours, it is all about Jesus.

Sarah Frazer: It is.

Jennifer Rothschild: Ooh, good, Sarah.

All right. So let's still talk more about your book. Because in your book you talk about how God often uses interruptions -- which I personally don't prefer -- to show us more about himself. So give us some really good advice here. Like, how can we see interruptions as actual revelations of God instead of just being irritating?

Sarah Frazer: So one of the things that has been really comforting to me as I've navigated life, especially life in the past couple of years, our family has gone through some really hard transitions and I have wrestled with this idea of God's -- I had someone comment to me once, they said, you know, "God's sovereignty isn't really comforting to me." And I thought, hmm, I wonder why that is. And I began to think about how sometimes we separate God being in control and we think, well, if you're in control and these interruptions are happening, then, hmm, can I really trust you? Like, I don't -- I don't really know. But what I think we miss is that God's sovereignty is always connected to his goodness. And if we see these interruptions as part of God's plan for our life, then we know that all things work together for good. And that's not -- now, I will say this. That is not a verse to tell someone at a funeral home.

Jennifer Rothschild: Right. Good word. Yeah.

Sarah Frazer: That is not a verse that you tell someone who is in deep grief or it's just happened or -- you know, we had people say something similar to that when we first brought our daughter home, and that was not helpful for me because I was still in the grieving process. I think that that is a verse that the Lord could bring to someone's life and the Lord has brought to my own life. Through the Holy Spirit I think the Lord uses that verse.

But what I love about that verse is it doesn't end in Romans 8:28, it goes on to 8:29, and it's how is God working all these things for our good? What's the good in that? And the good in Romans 8:29 says that we're being conformed to the image of his Son. And so it shifted my perspective when I realized that these interruptions came from a loving, sovereign hand of God for a purpose. And the purpose is to become more like Christ. And so that has been something that has challenged my heart, it's challenging to think about, but also encouraging that God isn't going to waste those interruptions and he's going to reveal areas in my life that I need to change.

But also in the same breath, I've seen those interruptions reveal characteristics of God that I needed at the time. And with my daughter and her special needs, God showed himself faithful. It was almost like everything had already worked out. This doctor was there, and that therapist was there, and that person said this, and this was provided, and this was free, and God just said, I'm going to be faithful. I'm going to be faithful in this situation.

A little bit more of our family's story. In January of 2020, we moved to the mission field. And we moved to Central America, and sold all of our belongings, moved. And then everyone knows what happens in March of 2020.

Jennifer Rothschild: Yeah.

Sarah Frazer: And so life is completely interrupted. And I remember the Lord showing up during that time of pandemic. We were new to the country, we didn't know the language. We barely -- we knew one grocery store to shop at, and that one was closed. And so we were like, where are we going to get our food, where are we going -- you know, we couldn't go to church, we couldn't -- you know, there were other missionaries, but they lived on the other side of town. And so we were in our house, and I just remember -- I could tell you story after story how God provided for us. I could tell you miraculous ways that God showed up with physical things for us.

And so that complete interruption has solidified in my mind that we will never go without a need. My husband and I were discussing some things and I told him, I said, "If we need this, if this is a need" -- there's a difference --

Jennifer Rothschild: That's right.

Sarah Frazer: -- between wants and needs. "If this is a need, the Lord will provide."

Jennifer Rothschild: Amen.

Sarah Frazer: And the Lord's character is revealed in those situations. I think if we're looking for them and seeking his face and really trying to say, okay, Lord, what do you want to teach me about yourself during this season?

Jennifer Rothschild: That's a good word. You know, I've said the same thing, Sarah. If it's a need, God provides it. If there is a lack of provision, it must not have been a need --

Sarah Frazer: Exactly.

Jennifer Rothschild: -- because God keeps his word.

You know what else I was thinking as you were describing that, not only do interruptions reveal God's character, but they can reveal our own. So if we see them as just irritations or we get upset with God or we don't trust him, that's a good merciful revelation of our own character, that I think God is kind to allow us to see so that we can be more conformed to his. But I'm with you, girl. Many years ago when I made the shift to just trust in God's sovereignty, you can grasp it all a little looser, and that's such a gift.

Sarah Frazer: Yes.

Jennifer Rothschild: You know, I want to go back to something you mentioned, that Moses wrote Psalm 90. Okay? And I love that you deal with this concept within Psalm 90 of numbering our days and cultivating wisdom. So give us some practical steps to develop this kind of Moses mindset, you know, of numbering our days and having a heart of wisdom.

Sarah Frazer: Yeah. What I love about that verse is as I was studying that verse -- I've always heard it in the context of, you know, your days are numbered. You know, you better shape up or you better get your life right, your days are numbered. But it's actually -- your days are already numbered, so God knows how many each day counts. Today counts. And so I think we get bogged down in the mundane and, oh, I'm just doing the same thing, I'm talking to the same people, I'm driving the same route or I just vacuum that same spot in the carpet and think about that stain, you know, and we just get really bogged down with the mundane.

And if we take a step back and say, okay, Lord, this is a whole day that you have given me that I won't get back. Let me serve you. Let me serve others. Who can I send a message to that needs encouragement? Do I need to reach out to a friend and schedule lunch with them? Is there a ministry at church that maybe I need to get involved in? Or maybe I need to increase my prayer life. Maybe I need to say, you know, 30 minutes of scrolling on my phone can be replaced by 30 minutes of prayer for my pastor. Or maybe I can spend some more time in Your Word, or maybe I can listen to Your Word on the way to work. There's so many different practical things that we can add to our life that will draw us closer to God and give us wisdom.

And as we are leaning into prayer, leaning into Bible reading and study, and maybe listening to sermons -- I've gotten to where -- my husband always liked to listen to sermons online, and I just thought that was so boring. I mean, I do it on Sunday, and the person's in front of me and I can kind of engage with that person. But, you know, just audio, I just couldn't connect. But I've started to listen to sermons, and keeps my mind focused on truth of God's Word and keeping those -- and that wisdom for that difficult situation that might be around the corner is going to be there.

There's been many times with my daughter -- being nonverbal, she isn't non-communicative. And that's what I tell people. She can communicate, you just have to know how she does it. And so I think the Lord has given me wisdom in all areas of her, not because I think of myself. It's because I needed his wisdom and I needed to know how to make choices. But what I do practically every day is how you have that wisdom. And I think that staying close to God and listening to what other Christian leaders -- listening to podcasts like yours and being encouraged to think about God and His Word really grants that day-to-day wisdom that we need.

Jennifer Rothschild: Well, we need each other, don't we?

Sarah Frazer: Yes, we do.

Jennifer Rothschild: But it's clear, just your responses to the questions I've asked, that God has given you a heart of wisdom. And, you know, y'all listening, he does that for all of us.

Sarah Frazer: Yes.

Jennifer Rothschild: James -- if we ask him, he doesn't say, well, sorry, Sarah has been more faithful, she gets wisdom. You just have to work a little harder. No. He's given it liberally if you ask him.

Sarah Frazer: I pray that prayer every day, not because it's a spiritual thing to do, but because I feel such a lack in my heart.

Jennifer Rothschild: Right. We need it. Yeah.

Sarah Frazer: The more I pray for wisdom, the more I feel like I need to pray for wisdom, because I feel such -- there's just such a lack there. I am not that spiritual person and I am like, Lord, give generously because I am empty.

Jennifer Rothschild: Well, it's so easy for us to depend on our own strength, our own intellect, and those always come up short.

You know, one of the things -- we're about to get to our last question here, Sarah, but I got to just say one thing that I've been thinking as you shared that too. One prayer that I've been praying lately -- it's so interesting how it applies to absolutely everything -- is the prayer that Jesus prayed -- and if I quote this wrong or get the reference wrong, I'll correct it in the outro. But I think it's John 12:28. 12:28. I'm almost positive that's right. Anyway, Jesus, he's just come to Jerusalem. He knows he's facing the Cross. He said, you know, the seed has to drop before it comes to life, that kind of thing. And then he faces his own feelings in verse 27 and he says, "My soul is troubled, and what should I say of these things? Lord, save me from this hour? No, it's for this hour I came." And then he says in 12:28 of John, "Father, glorify your name."

And I've thought about those four words. Jesus could have prayed anything when he's facing his story shift, though he knew it was coming. Still, oh, my goodness. And he says, "Father, glorify your name." And I think no matter what we're facing, Sarah, that is a wise prayer to pray, "Father, glorify your name." In the situation I don't like, in the deliverance I'm longing for, in the unanswered prayer, in my stewardship of my story, Father, glorify your name. And he'll be like, Yep, on it, because he will. He will glorify himself in our stories if we give him our stories. And I think that's what I have seen in what you have shared and in what you've written. You've given him your story, and he's made it a beautiful story. And he does it for all of us. Okay. So enough about that from me. I just wanted to affirm so much what you have shared.

So let's get to our last question. All right, the subtitle of your book, "How to Rest, Rest, Rest in God's Goodness When Your Story Shifts." Okay? So resting can feel hard, especially when there's stress. Because even if you're giving him your story, you can feel stress. So, you know, with your precious daughter, this story does not have an ending that you're like, well, if I could just hold on until, then it gets better. You don't know that it'll ever get different or better, but clearly you've gotten better within it. So give us a very practical way to rest in God's goodness when our stories aren't what we wanted them to be.

Sarah Frazer: That phrase "resting in God's goodness" came from a part of Moses' story where Moses is up on the mountain getting the Ten Commandments for the second time because of the people's rebellion and sin. And so he was angry at sin and he had to go back up and talk to God.

And one of the most comforting passages are those two or three chapters, I think it's Exodus starting in 31, 32. But 33 is an interchange between Moses and God. And Moses is getting ready -- you know, God says, I'm going to go -- let you go to the Promised Land. God says, And you can have success -- and it's so interesting, God says, But I'm not going to go with you. And Moses immediately responds, which is so interesting because -- you know, I was thinking about that and thinking, you know, how much of us would like to have God say, I'm going to give you success, you know, and you don't have to worry about me? And I think the world would, like, jump on that.

Jennifer Rothschild: Yeah, right. Yeah.

Sarah Frazer: But Moses knew. Moses knew and we know, we know, that that's not really our desire -- or that's not going to work out for us. And so Moses said, No, we can't go up without your presence, and God says, Okay, my presence will go with you. And Moses immediately after that says, "Show me your glory." Such a bold statement.

But you were talking about having Jesus ask that the Father be glorified. He just wanted to see a glimpse of that glory. And so God says, Okay, I'm going to hide you in the rock because you couldn't handle all of me. And so I've got to hide you and you can see the back side of my glory. And he said -- and this is what he said about his glory. He said, "I will have my goodness pass over you." And that really struck me when I thought about in our life, we want to glorify God. And I think one of the really practical things we can do is know that, A, God is with us. His presence is there.

And what I love about God, too, is he gave Moses a plan. He said you're going to go here and you're going to go here. But he didn't give Moses the whole plan, right? God has a plan for our life. And God knew all the details, but sometimes we don't. And then God -- so God has a -- his presence will go with us. He has a plan. And there's a purpose in all of it. And I think that's how we rest in God and his goodness, knowing that those three things are not dependent on us.

And that was the thing. God's glory is not dependent on us. It's something we rest in. We rest in his presence, we rest in his plan, and his purpose. Those are not things we muster up. Those are things that we say -- you know, when I look at my daughter, I think, okay, Lord, you're going to be with us. You have a plan for her life and you have a purpose for her life and for mine, and your presence has never left her.

I remember bemoaning the fact that I wasn't witness to her birth. Right? I was at all the other births of my three biological children, but with her birth, you know, I wasn't present. But I remember one day God just kind of whispered to my heart, he said, "I was there. I was there."

Jennifer Rothschild: Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Sarah Frazer: And he goes, When she gets to heaven and her voice is restored, you know, I'll tell her the missing pieces of her story, because I was there. And I'll be there after you're gone. I think that was my fear too. And still when I think about what's going to happen to her when I'm gone -- I think all special needs parents feel that kind of underlying fear. And he -- "I'll be with her. I'll be there." But that's for all of us. That's not just for her or me, that's for everyone, God's presence and his plan and his purpose.

Jennifer Rothschild: Presence, plan, and purpose. That's how we rest, knowing that those three things don't depend on us. Thank you, Jesus. So rest in God's goodness, my friend. He holds you, he holds the people you love, and he holds the future.

K.C. Wright: I like that Sarah pointed out that God gave Moses the plan, but it wasn't the whole plan. And isn't that what we experience too?

Jennifer Rothschild: Yeah.

K.C. Wright: But we can trust God with the whole thing and just rest in his goodness. So once again, just good stuff today on The 4:13.

Hey, guess what? Winner, winner, chicken dinner. We're giving away one of Sarah's books. You can enter to win one right now on Jennifer's Insta @jennrothschild, or you can go to the Show Notes to get one and to read a transcript. Show Notes are simply found at 413podcast.com/311.

Jennifer Rothschild: All right, our people. We love you. So until next week, you can trust God when your story shifts, because you can do all things through Christ who gives you strength. I can.

K.C. Wright: I can.

Jennifer Rothschild: And you can.

K.C. Wright: You can.

Jennifer Rothschild: (Singing) You can.

K.C. Wright: Cue your friend Kathy Troccoli. Remember her song?

Jennifer Rothschild: What?

K.C. Wright: (Singing) There is a candle --

Jennifer Rothschild: Ooh.

K.C. Wright: -- in every soul.

Jennifer Rothschild: I don't remember that.

K.C. Wright: (Singing) Some brightly burning, some dark, and some cold. Anyway, she sings "Go Light Your World."

Jennifer Rothschild: Go Light Your World.

K.C. Wright: I'm holding Jennifer's candle in my left hand, singing that song. You just can't see it.

Jennifer Rothschild: Oh, that was beautiful. That was a moment.

K.C. Wright: I know, that was a moment.

Jennifer Rothschild: That was such a moment.

K.C. Wright: Okay, thank you.