Real Stories of Life with God

Ep 22 | A School Teacher Learns How Peace Can Be Fought For

February 16, 2022 Episode 22
Real Stories of Life with God
Ep 22 | A School Teacher Learns How Peace Can Be Fought For
Show Notes Transcript

The episode is gooddddd. Bethany Fox is a wife, mom and a teacher of 15 years. She and Sean have been mentors of mine since college and are dear to me. In this episode, Bethany talks about peace, worry and God's faithfulness and it is sure to encourage you in your faith as it did mine. 

Speaker 1:

Hey friends, welcome to real stories of life with God, a podcast with a pretty explanatory title, because that's what we're here for a conversation with real people about their unique life with God. I'm your host, Chelsea UBank. And I'm so glad you're here. Let's jump into today's episode, right? Bethany, give us a little context about you.

Speaker 2:

Um, I am a wife to Sean. We've been married for almost 15 years, which is crazy. Um,

Speaker 1:

15 years,

Speaker 2:

We're getting old. We met in college and you know, the rest is history. Um, live in states for Georgia. Sean was born and raised here. I came here for school at Georgia Southern and we've never left. I am mommy. Two, three kiddos. Sienna is 12 now. Um, and in her first year, middle school, London is eight and in third grade in Paron is six and in first grade and I'm a teacher. So this is my 15th year teaching as well, which is crazy.

Speaker 1:

That's cool. That's cool. Let's see. Jesus is asked, which is the greatest commandment in the law and he responds, love the Lord, your God, with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind, this is the first and greatest commandment and the second is like, it love your neighbor as yourself. So my first question is what currently stirs your love for God.

Speaker 2:

Hmm. Um, I think that one of the things that God's really just been teaching me a lot about over the last few years really is, um, is peace. And so I think that, I guess what stirs my love for him the most right now is that piece that I know that I have in him and that I can find in him, um, and in his word and in through worship and just being in his presence. Um, that piece is definitely what stirs my love for him the most.

Speaker 1:

Hmm. Do you have like a, I mean, you have three kids, they're a little bit older, you're a full-time job. You know how sometimes we know that God is with us always. Mm I'm really thankful that whether I'm doing laundry or driving, I can still cultivate that relationship with him, but then we need a lot of those like habits. What does yours look like right now?

Speaker 2:

Yeah. So I've struggled a lot with that, honestly, just, um, with the way life changes, you know, I used to be a every morning get up first thing in the morning, and that was when I had my quiet time. Um, and honestly, a lot of it has shifted a little bit to like the only time that I'm really alone, like alone, alone is on my way to work. And so, um, a lot of times I've had to shift like my, my prayer time and my, you know, whether I'm listening to a devotional or a sermon or whatever, a podcast, um, I'll do that a lot of times on the way to work. And then like my actual Bible reading time is more, you know, at night before I go to bed and things like that,

Speaker 1:

I, um, I think there's a good word in there for allowing it to change and not feeling guilty that it looks different. I think I wrestled with that for a long time, but being okay, being okay that it changes and believing that it's not necessarily found in the ritual kind of. Right.

Speaker 2:

I remember that same exact thoughts, like after we had SIE, you know, which was 12 years ago and I was like over, you know, I'm never gonna be able to spend time with the Lord again. I'm never gonna, it does. It just changes, you know, and yeah, honestly, like God speaks to me, kids so much, you know, like just something that they say and I'll laugh about it. And then the Lord, you know, immediately drops something in my heart, um, in a relationship I, you know, and that this is kind of how our relationships look now, too. I don't necessarily plot out time to spend with each of my friends, you know, like this is our 30 minutes that we're gonna spend together And this, this is our time, you know? Um, but I'll text them throughout the day or I'll, you know, like we communicate on a regular basis and I mean, that's what our relationships are supposed to look like. I'm not saying don't mark off time in your day to spend with the Lord, But think that relationships are supposed to be ongoing in that way. And it doesn't have to be confined to, you know, a 30 minute time of day or however long that you, that you sit and spend with the Lord. So good. I, I think that grace,

Speaker 1:

Yes. Oh my goodness. Yes. You know,

Speaker 2:

I struggle with that with the being consistent sometimes. So I need that grace to, um, to know that the Lord is gonna speak to me and other times throughout my day as well.

Speaker 1:

OK. On the other hand, is there anything that's currently stifling your love for God?

Speaker 2:

So I think that, um, honestly it all goes together. The, the thing that probably stifles my love for the most would be fear and getting caught up in, you know, anxiety and worry. And one of the things, you know, like that he's been teaching me that peace, isn't something that just happens naturally. You know, like it's something that we actually have to fight for. And that's something that he's been teaching me, you know, for the last couple of years really. Um, and honestly it started one Sunday when Brandon was up there preaching and he said, what does, um, what does like a consistent faith look like was basically the gist of what he was saying. And immediately I was like, that means that you don't get swayed by whatever your way, you know, like you're just, you're consistent. You're faithful. That's what, that's what it looks like. And that was like in October of 2019. And then I feel like just a myriad of things happened after that. That just honestly, like my faith was swaying. Um, I was eating my own words, I guess you could say, but, um, from, and it's like the smallest silliest stuff, but it completely like threw me off track. Um, like it started with my middle child getting head. And I know that, that sounds ridiculous, but I really thought I really wanted Sean to go check me into a hospital and like leave me there until it was all fine. I was like, I can't deal with this. I can't deal with this. And Sean was like, Bethany is fine. It's just headlights. And I'm like, I can't, I can't, I feel like things are problem me. I can't feel dirty. Like, this is horrible. This is like the worst I've been through in my life. And then, you know, like looking back now, I'm like, okay, was that really the worst thing that could have possibly? No, but that's like where I was. And then when the, when the world shut down in 2020, that was just a completely other form of just fear and anxiety and, you know, the what ifs and, and all of that. And, um, and honestly those three months of teaching March, April and may were probably the most difficult months that I've ever had as a teacher. You know, I think a lot of people thought well, oh, that all those teachers are just sitting at home doing nothing with their kids. No, I was working at least 10 hours a day. Um, and not to mention that I had three children who I was supposed to be teaching as well. It, it was really, really rough, like on my mental health, it was really rough. And so, but one of the best things that came out of that is that, um, you know, normally I would've said I don't have time for this. I, I can't, I can't commit to doing that. But, um, a lady that I worked with asked me to, um, join a Bible study that she, it was a book study that they were doing and the book study was, um, Jenny Allens get out of your head. I'm not sure if you, it was great. And it was exactly what I needed, um, at the moment because it, I guess put a different perspective on not only what I was going through, but how I needed to be dealing with it, how I could better, you know, how I could be more equipped, um, with the weapons that the Lord has given us to fight, you know, these things that I was feeling and going through. Um, and so in the same way that like the, you know, piece is what draws me to him, I think my fear is what, like stifles me sometimes. And I think that I've, I'm not saying that I'm not saying that it's all gone away and that it's all, you know, completely gone, but I will say that I don't let it linger for as long now. You know, I've gotten, picking up my weapons and I've created a playlist for when I needed to fight, you know, when I needed to fight for peace. And just knowing that that shift, um, can and does take place when we take our eyes off of ourselves and the what ifs and you know, all of that. And, you know, one of my favorite sayings, one of my best friends from, um, from high school says this all the time. She was like, you know, God takes our, what ifs and turns'em into, even if, you know, and even if these things happened, he's still faithful, you know? Um, and so I think that's a lot about what that's a really long answer to your question, but I think that's a lot about what both stifles and draws me to'em like, they're very much connected.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, no, I think it was a, a beautiful answer.

Speaker 2:

So, yeah.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. That's good. A okay. Fill in the blank, the truth that God is blank means a lot to you because blank,

Speaker 2:

I think I'm gonna say faithful, the truth that God is faithful means a lot to me because, and I think that this kind of goes back to my worries, but, you know, as a, a parent, you know, you worry about your kids. I think that some of that is come completely natural, but I think that what, one of the things that I can rest in is knowing how faithful God has been to me only proves that he's gonna be that faithful to my children as well. Cuz he's cared for me so well, I know that he's gonna care for them as well. And that gives me, you know, like that that's something that I can lay my head on the pillow at night and go to sleep, just knowing that because he's cared for me because he's been so faithful because I can look back throughout my life and see his hand, um, in every area I know that he can and will do that for them as well. Um, you know, and it's our job. Yes. As parents to point them to the Lord and to, and to show them his goodness and his faithfulness in our own lives and to use the testimony that we have to, to encourage them to, to live for Jesus as well. But just knowing how good he's been to me and how good and, and sovereign he is. I know that I can trust him to be that for them as well.

Speaker 1:

Cause you're right. It's if he never changes, then he's always the same. Then no matter what they're going through, no even matter how strong or weak their faith is or wherever they are, he's going to be that no matter what for them, you know, if they like open themselves up to that, there he is being that same, that same way. Yeah. I love that.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. Hmm.

Speaker 1:

I never really confessed that. People always would say that, you know, they're like, look, um, okay, the last question is what is something you're looking forward to?

Speaker 2:

Hmm. What is something I'm looking forward to? You know, I think one of my favorite things just about the Lord and salvation in general is just that his mercies are new every morning. And that, you know, I, I think a lot of times we as just, you know, human nature, we put things off, um, until, well, I'll start that on Monday. Or, you know, I'll start again on Monday. I'll, I'll go to the gym Monday. I think the, one of the best things about the Lord and having a relationship with him is that you can continually be renewed and we're supposed to continually be renewed. I do think that the new year just reminds me of that and the fact that I can start again. Um, so I, I just wanna say that I'm excited about, you know, there's, there's always things in my life or in my heart that I'm like, oh, I need to work on that. Or, uh, this is not glorifying to, or, you know, thought life, whatever it is. Um, there are always things that I need to continue to be renewed, um, in. And I think that that's what I'm looking forward to is the fact, like there's so much hope in that, that he never gives up on us and that we're never too far gone and he's always ready to forgive and always ready to cleanse our hearts, our minds, you know, whatever it is. And so I guess just being on the cusp of a new year is just reminding me of renewal and the fact that that's available to me, not just, um, that I need it. And, um, so yeah, I think that that's what I'm looking forward to.

Speaker 1:

That's great. That is so true. One of my favorite, um,

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

Well, thank you very much for taking the time. Great.

Speaker 2:

You're so welcome. That was good. I enjoyed it.

Speaker 1:

Listening friends. It means a lot that you added us to your day today. Thank you so much wherever you find yourself on your journey with Jesus. I hope you finished this episode with your faith cheered, refreshed or strengthened until next time.