Ep 37 | A Dad Surrendering Busyness and Control

Will and his wife Lindsay just celebrated their only son's first birthday.  Will shares a lot about how becoming a dad changed his understanding and relationship to God as Father in the best of ways. We talk about busyness, trusting God with the tasks of our day, God's sovereignty and so much more.

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@realstoriesoflifewithGod

Transcript

Chelsea Eubank: 0:00

Our faith journey is a story unique to each individual and is constantly being written. No two people are identical. No two days are alike, but God is the same. This is the real stories of life with God podcast a place for honest conversations about life and faith. I'm your host Chelsea Eubank. And I'm really glad you're here. Let's jump into today's episode.

Will Garner: 0:22

So my name is Will Garner. I am married to Lindsey married for five years. We play had Levi, he turned one in May. And yeah, I been in Augusta for we moved here four years ago now. Seems kind of crazy. But yeah. Four years. Can you believe that? No. That was a very recent move. But yeah, we've been here that long. But yeah, Lindsay and I met at school, we went to Kennesaw State University and married shortly after graduation. And then we've been here ever since. I work for ADP. ADP. I often have to explain. Payroll? Not a security company. Yeah. Versus ADP.

Chelsea Eubank: 1:23

Oh, so great. Okay, I think we should jump right in. My first question for you is what currently stirs your love for God

Will Garner: 1:35

currently stars my love for God, probably my son. Life has obviously changed drastically, since he joined us a year ago. But just seeing it's a weird, it's a weird feeling to you know, love something that much you always hear like, you'll understand it when when you become a parent. And you know, it doesn't make sense until you do, but to just look at him and see that he's ours, and we have the opportunity to be his best parents is sometimes kind of an overwhelming thought, but also such a blessing. And, you know, seeing God's favor and you know, that we we have him and it's been a wild year of adjustments to parenthood and all of those uncertainties, but through blessing. So I would say that, you know, it's more of a way that God shows His love for us. And you feel that in the in, in a whole new sense when you think about Christ and you know, in relationship son to father, and now having a son, you feel the weight of that a lot more. So I would say that is what serves me currently.

Chelsea Eubank: 2:48

Oh, yeah, I can totally relate to that. Some things become a lot more tangibly real things that were kind of in my head, but have taken a lot more weight to them. Yeah. Yeah. And I'm sure you can relate to things that I'm like, I thought I prayed a lot. And now I pray a lot more 100%. Yes. I love that. I can relate to that too much. Yes. Yes. I was about to say I having a second one has stretched me in ways that I did not know. And I feel like the biggest thing though, having a second one is teaching me is that when I think I'm empty, God can still help me do things. Like I don't have to, you know, like you should happen to think like, I have to be rested to do a good job. And now granted, rest is really important, and very valuable. And I need to make good wise choices with my priorities. Because a lot of people depend, you know, I have a lot of people who need me, but I can also pour from an empty cup. 100% Yeah, you know? Yes, yeah. Yes.

Will Garner: 3:59

And, like, there is an element that's been for me of just, you know, complete trust, because I recognize I don't know what I'm doing. So like, Lindsey is much more of a natural parent than I am. She's just like, she was, it was complete, like, flipped a switch. And she was just mom. And it was, you know, that was also amazing thing. But like, it was like she immediately just knew, you know what to do, how to respond. I did not feel that way. So I was like, more of the guy that was like, what do we do? You know, what is what does this mean? So, so there will be an element of complete trust, complete surrender. So yeah, that's been a very big lesson for sure.

Chelsea Eubank: 4:42

My next question is, is there anything currently stifles your love for God?

Will Garner: 4:49

Um, probably probably fall into the trap of busy and I would say that can be stifling at times just because already touching on New parents, but that brings a whole new level of commitments like we're not just managing not that he's at an age where he's, you know, getting into extracurriculars and stuff, but like, we now have to get him to daycare, and he has his own doctor's appointments. And we have, you know, all those types of things, in addition to the all of the work stuff, and Lindsey works and all the other outside of commitments, like we have gone out of our life, for church, we church on Sundays, and all of those things. So just the added level, especially with work, taking on additional responsibilities, air, which is sometimes lead to it could be longer hours, you know, it could be something additional, maybe out of town trip or something like that. I think I have a tendency to let my Sunday service, you know, attending on Sunday be my Okay, I'll fill up here, and I will, I'll use this to, you know, reset, and then approach the rest of the week. So as opposed to set aside a time alone with God, I think that I have to, that's something that I have to diligently work at, just because of my natural tendency is to want to, you know, plan, and let's control as much as possible, which is, you know, a joke, but so, I think that's probably a trap that I fall into pretty often that I have to work at.

Chelsea Eubank: 6:23

Hmm, I can definitely relate to that, too. Have you found anything, any small habits or reminders are ways of keeping God in front of you?

Will Garner: 6:35

Yeah, like, I think like, part of like I said, My personality is like, want to plan and I have found in the moments that I do plan to, okay, we're gonna start the day with, you know, I might get up and get in the Word and make that, you know, the way that I started today, rather than hitting the ground running baby is to get dressed, you know, we have to get out the door, everybody's gotta go to work and caught up in that level of when I do set aside time, and I do make the conscious effort. Everything still gets done. You're like, oh, look, it's possible. And it's not that it happened. And you found like, whatever I was reading through, or whatever I was praying through, you often tend to see, maybe not tangibly or immediately but there's typically a lesson in the course of the day, or shortly thereafter of like, Yes, I connected with that this morning, and saw that in real life in the course of my day. But I think that those are the, like small victories of, hey, look, it's possible, it can be done, you know, it can be part of my daily routine, it can be a norm. So I think it's just getting outside of my own head. And don't make the excuse and recognize the priority and recognize the importance. So I have I've, I've had success with it, it's just something that it's conscious to be conscious of,

Chelsea Eubank: 7:58

I think that it's so good. I love what you're saying too, it's like it, all the things will happen, because I'm going to make that happen, my posture about going about it will just probably feel a little differently. Because I will have taken some time and put some really good encouraging truth or really worship the Lord or something like I will feel differently and doing all the things,

Will Garner: 8:17

even if you just approach it from the stance of Lord, help me to put this on my heart to prioritize time with you. And then you do so you find the time you start your day and whatever that looks like whether it be in the word prayer, you know, whatever. And then all of those things you were worried about, not being able to get done or accomplish. And then those things happen. And those needs are met. And you say, when Thank You, Lord, for meeting that need for answering me for recognizing, you know, so it's, it's small steps. But then when you look up and you're like, Hey, I've been doing this for a week for a month, and everybody's still here. Everybody's still doing it. You know,

Chelsea Eubank: 9:01

right. I think growing up in church, I sometimes get tempted by like, it has to look this way, or it's not good enough. And I'm kind of making it more about me than I am about Yeah, paying attention to the Lord. And so I think that allowing my season of life to be my season of life and trusting that God can lead me in it. Yeah, makes him more about him. I'm depending on him. You know, you talked about dependence and trust. Earlier, so I think that's a good reminder.

Will Garner: 9:32

And there's just a reminder to like he can meet me in the car. I don't have to be like in my living room and Pacific chair at this, like at 730 in the morning. He can like it can be wherever he's not confined to a specific space. Like, that's just, that's just, I think, a very human way of looking at it of like, Oh, I didn't. If it didn't fit into this time slot in my day at this point, then it's just not going to happen. So we have to actively work at it.

Chelsea Eubank: 10:00

Yes, thanks. Great. Okay, the truth that God is blank means a lot to you because blank

Will Garner: 10:08

the truth that God is sovereign means a lot to me, because I'm not. And I mean that in going back to the, what I was saying earlier about, like, my natural, like personality is to, you know, it's type A, it's controlled, you know, some sort of plan, like uncertainty is, you know, I started to twitch a little. But I think that Joking aside, that element of trust, has, again, looking back over my entire life. Or even you can use the last year of being a parent in the moments of like, I don't know, you know, I, I don't know why this particular event happened, or I don't know why he's crying, or I don't know why this did not work out the way that I expected to the element of complete trust and surrender, knowing that he's sovereign is enough. And it goes to, you know, obviously, in Scripture, you know, we, His love for us surpasses our knowledge and understanding. And that's something I have to lean on quite often. Because I want it to make sense, I want to be able to see, you know, the reasoning behind steps taken or things that occurred and what that end result is going to be or what it should be. And we don't get that. And that's okay, because he is sovereign, he is good, and can be trusted. So it's a continual truth that I have to go back to it's a human element that I have to fight against and be aware of, but it's always whenever I look back on it, it's always been helpful. Yeah, it's been, it's been a real blessing.

Chelsea Eubank: 11:51

So good. I love what you just said, you said, He's sovereign, and he's good. And He can be trusted. And like, I think that's where a lot of the temptation to be anxious and fearful comes in, we just like, forget his nature, a lot of time. Do you think sovereignty like one of the one of the struggles was stop? Or do is like, well, he's gonna allow things that I'm not going to want, I wanted it get like, you gave examples with kids, because it has, I mean, everything's out of your control a lot. It's in your control, but a lot is out of your control. But we forget that like, in the same vein, well, he's powerful and sovereign, he's also good and is trustworthy.

Will Garner: 12:27

Right? And like, yeah, even in even going into parenting, you know, that unexpected will occur, or even just in life, like, outside of that unexpected outside of your plan, or what you thought would happen is going to occur. So you know, that like innately, but even when it happens, we act surprised by it, and we're off by and we're like, you know, this is completely thrown me for a loop. And but, you know, obviously, in the moment it does, but it's kind of this weird dynamic of like, but should we really been suppressed? You know, did we really gonna go exactly the way we want it to? Or thought I thought it would. So yeah, it's, it's just been a, it's an ongoing lesson. It's something that I need to come back to something I continue to be reminded of. And again, like, same example of looking back on things that you deal with or have gone through, it's, you know, why wouldn't he be? Why wouldn't he meet me in this circumstance, he's met every other stance, and even if it's not in the timeframe that I wanted it to be or wanted it to be. In every other circumstance. It's been perfect. And it's been better than what I had expected or had wanted. So it's, it's a continual lesson, but it's been really beneficial is huge. That goes back to that same thing that we were talking about earlier about just busyness. Like, how often like I think the times that we that we do or like that we do feel surprised by the unexpected is because we have let ourselves get so caught up in the busy and we have not priority been falls to the backburner and we've put all the other things in front of where as had we been making the effort, continually prioritizing making sure that we set time alone, like what whether it be in Word, or in prayer, now just time with God. It's those times that we are caught off by the unexpected because then you really your world is rocked and you're not steady, you're not you're not centered, then it's it's everything. Everything's connected, you know, it's it's not. It's not new, so,

Chelsea Eubank: 14:46

so true and so good. Okay, my last question is what is something you're looking forward to?

Will Garner: 14:52

I'm looking forward to continuing to watch Levi grow just this last year and How much has changed the things that he gravitates towards, you know, his curious nature, his the things that we find funny. You know, it's just parenting has been such a incredible, incredible journey for me over the last year, but also a sanctifying one. I think this being on that continual walk, but I've loved it as as sometimes scary and sometimes uncertain, but it's been, I've loved every minute of it. And I look forward to, you know, his next milestones and his next seasons and getting to have types of conversations of faith based and Christ centered and those type of things and letting that curious nature of his, you know, expand to faith based conversations and so I'm looking forward to it.

Chelsea Eubank: 15:58

Listening friends, it means a lot that you added us to your day today. Thank you. Wherever you find yourself on your journey with Jesus, I hope you finished this episode with your faith inspired, refreshed or strengthened