Episode 11 - Believing God's promises when they feel impossible

How do we turn our laughter from skeptical unbelief to laughter of joy?

 

In this week's episode, the third from the “Faith Full: Extraordinary Women of the Bible” series, we talk about how much time it requires before Jen goes down a rabbit trail and loses focus. AJ asks the listeners to grade Jen’s focus at the end of the podcast. 

 

Jokes aside… This week we talk about Sarah!

 

Abraham asked Sarah to do some things that were pretty far-fetched, such as asking her to pretend not to be his wife, so another man could take her into his home. 

 

But what we see is Sarah being commended for her faith, not in her husband's ability to protect her, but in God who was able, trustworthy, wise, and capable. Her faith in this strong God allowed her to submit to what Abraham asked her to do, knowing the ability of God to protect her.

 

And protect her He did. 

 

He sent an angel to look out for her, and all of heaven had Sarah’s back as she trusted God. 

 

We discuss how Sarah and Abraham were both imperfect humans and their faith was totally imperfect too.

 

Yet these two imperfect people, with imperfect faith were still given the gift and the blessing of being called the father/mother of the nations.

 

Likewise, when we exercise a little bit of trust, like Sarah did over and over through her story, God is drawn to it. He can't help but step in and do whatever it takes to keep us standing. We don’t know about you, but that fulfillment of faith incredibly encourages us and makes us want to step up with our faith!

 

We also share the role of laughter in Sarah’s story. Sarah first laughs with unbelief and cynicism in the Scriptures. Yet when God’s promise is finally fulfilled later in the story and Sarah gives birth to Isaac, she laughs again. And this time her laughter is one of joy. It's almost like she can laugh with joy because she realizes that God's promises are true.

 

In fact, Isaac means “he who laughs”. The theme of laughter goes throughout Sarah's life and all that she went through, including her disbelief and her belief. 

 

Our question for you this week is: “How do we turn our laughter from skeptical unbelief to a laughter of joy?”

 

Is there a circumstance or situation you are laughing in cynicism over? If so, ask yourself, “How can I turn this unbelief into joy?” 

 

The promises of God are powerful. They're significant. And we need to grip onto them just as much as Abraham and Sarah did. 

 

 

 

Listener question of the week:

 

“What was your first impression of each other?” was the juicy question of the week.

 

We gave our honest answer! And also show how much we really do trust each other and balance each other out! 

 

Thank you for sending in these questions for us to answer on the podcast. If you have a question, we’d love to answer it!  It can be super silly or a little bit deeper. It doesn't matter! Just email us at hello@thesojoacademy.com.

RESOURCES

 

  • Study on Women of the Bible in more depth with a 4-week Bible Study Bundle with a full Bible Study, a printable Bible journaling kit, Scripture reading and writing plan, and BONUS videos FIND IT HERE.

 

 

  • Don’t forget to download the free resource below. It's a 31 Day Scripture Reading and Writing Plan that lists out 31 different women in the Bible and where you can find their stories!
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NOTABLE QUOTES

“Just because the culture or law says it is okay does not mean that God's law says it's okay. So we should not base our behaviors on what is okay in the eyes of the world, but what is okay through the eyes of God and through scripture.” - Arabah Joy

 

“And the thing that draws me into that passage is the whole promise thing because Abraham and Sarah too had to remember the promises… and they had to remember them for a long time because this promise was a long time in coming. For me, it shows the importance of articulating the promises [of God] because sometimes we can get forgetful of them. I personally must remember them in a very deliberate fashion. And it takes a lot of intentionality to say: “Okay, God has promised me this specifically, and I'm going to put a name to it. Instead of it just being vague and general out there somewhere, like a good thought you can't really grab onto.” - Arabah Joy.

 

“This unbelief cannot make me waver from what I know the promises of God are for me and for us, it's way better than anything else, because we have the promise of being united with Christ. We have the promise of one day spending eternity with him. And so even in our moments of unbelief, we can still stand firm in that. And we can grow stronger as we give glory to God for the things he has done and for the things he will do in the future.” - Jen Evangelista.

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Also, If you have a question for us, it could be super silly, it can be a little bit deeper. It doesn’t matter, email us at hello@sojoacademy.com... you may just hear the answer on an upcoming podcast episode!