Candace Nassar
Welcome, everyone. It’s April, and spring has sprung here in Texas. The perennials are popping out of the ground. The trees have blossomed, and the birds are nesting. And if it’s not raining, everyone just wants to be outside. It’s a wonderful season of watching new life revive and grow.
Maybe you have a yard or a garden that you’re busy tending to. But even if you don’t and you just get to enjoy the fruit of someone else’s labor, you know that if something is to reach its full potential, time, and energy has to be invested in it. Whether it’s our yard, our education, our physical fitness, families, careers, whatever, we prioritize growth in many areas of our lives. But what about our spiritual growth? The Bible says we are to mature in our faith. So how do we do that? What does that look like in our culture today? Is our growth up to us, or does God play a role in the process? And is there an end goal for our efforts?
Today, Annie and I hope to address all of these questions and more on our MomQ Mingle, as we discuss the concept of personal revival and spiritual growth. So let’s dive in. Welcome, Annie. It’s so good to have you back.
Annie Mendrala
Good to be here.
Candace Nassar
So the last time that we had a conversation, you were about to head out to Japan with your dad and your sister. So how did it go?
Annie Mendrala
It was a trip of a lifetime for sure. It was a special gift of time together. Some great memories. Every day, we just laughed hysterically about something. So that was just a gift, being together.
Candace Nassar
That’s great. What was your favorite memory over there?
Annie Mendrala
Gosh, there’s so many. I’m still processing because the culture of Japan is so different. The people are just so kind and courteous. There’s a lot of bowing and just respect. There’s no road rage, which is fascinating. But the thing I just… Everything was so different. I found myself in a childlike state the whole time. Everything was like a new adventure. So that was great.
Candace Nassar
You were just a giant sponge lapping it all. Very cool. Yeah. Glad you got to do that. That sounds great. All right. Well, let’s begin by talking about why it’s important to nurture our spiritual lives. What is the point of growing spiritually? What do you think, Annie?
Annie Mendrala
Well, I I thought it’s important today to start our discussion clarifying what we’re talking about when we talk about spiritual growth. We’re talking about the spiritual growth of Christians. I know there’s a lot of talk in the world and in the culture about our emotional growth, our physical growth, and our spiritual growth, and that word is thrown around. But for our audience, to be clear, we’re talking about spiritual growth for a Christian that begins at salvation. This is the point of conversion, the point that we make the decision to believe Jesus and to surrender our life. So let me just explain the process for a second.
Candace Nassar
Please do.
Annie Mendrala
So Jesus said to Nicodemus in John 3โฆhe said that nobody can see God’s Kingdom unless they’re born again. And Nicodemus was really confused. How can a man be born again when you’re already born? That’s not possible.
Candace Nassar
Thatโs reasonable.
Annie Mendrala
Yeah, reasonable. He’s talking about his spiritual birth. In Ephesians, it tells us that we were dead. We were not alive. At some point, we’re born into the world as โdead peopleโ. And like infants, we’re dead in our trespasses and our sins. But Ephesians goes on to tell us that we have been made alive with Christ. Even though we were dead, we were saved by grace. It says you’re saved by grace through faith. It’s not anything we do. It’s not works based. It’s a gift. And so how can we know that we’re alive in Christ is by responding to that gift. That’s what’s been made available to us. And Romans tells us, real simply, if you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, believe in your heart God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. It’s in your heart that you believe and in your mouth that you confess and all of this results in salvation. And it says, โFor everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.โ And the result is eternal life. This spiritual birth of a life that never ends. So that’s where growth begins.
Candace Nassar
Okay. So we’re no longer spiritually dead when we trust in Christ as our salvation, and we then go from there.
Annie Mendrala
Yeah. So we start out. Even though if you’re a 40-year-old woman who comes to faith, you start out as a baby. You don’t start out at your physical age. You start out spiritually as an infant. And 1 Peter 2 tells us, like newborn infants desire the milk of the Word so that by it you may grow up into your salvation, so we start out as babies, and we’re called to grow up by desiring the Word. So growth begins and ends, honestly, through God’s Word. And it’s interesting because as you ask the question, let’s talk about some verses. Honestly, the entire Bible is a book about spiritual growth. It is stories about people who have failed and tried again. It’s stories about God’s redeeming love for us, ultimately. And it’s the transformational life that comes through knowing Christ. As we grow, we know him. We experience him in our everyday lives.
Candace Nassar
Okay. So the reason to become spiritually mature is to become like Christ.
Annie Mendrala
Yeah. It’s to grow up, honestly. We don’t want to stay like babies in our faith, but it is a process, right? So just like humans go through childhood, adolescence, and adulthood, in our faith, we will go through these stages. So if you think about it, as children of the faith, we’re learning the basics. We’re learning what is the gospel. We’re wrestling with the idea of grace versus works. We’re always testing God. Do you really love me? Is it really free? Or what am I not doing to earn this? As an adolescent, we start to take ownership. And the way we do that is through obedience and recognizing that, honestly, there’s nothing that God withholds from us that’s good. We have to learn to trust and obey him. And this often comes through trials and suffering. Our relationship in this phase of our growth often fluctuates with our circumstances. When things get low, we grab on, and then things are going easy, and we tend to go our own way. But mature believers, which we don’t talk about as much because most people stay in the infant and adolescent phases, is where we have regular communion with God.
Annie Mendrala
So this idea that spiritual growth, we’re never fully mature until we die, but we can get to a place where we learn to be in constant communion with God, seeing his glory in everything.
Candace Nassar
That sounds fantastic. I want to get there.
Annie Mendrala
Yeah.
Candace Nassar
Well, so what role does the Holy Spirit play in the process?
Annie Mendrala
So again, because we were dead and made alive, what made us alive was the Spirit of God. Before, he was apart from us. So, now that we have the Holy Spirit, we are able to see the spiritual realm around us. Before we couldn’t. We were blind. So the Holy Spirit continues to speak. We’re never left alone. Once we come to faith, our spiritual life, our spiritual journey is never done alone. God is always with us, always, and through his Holy spirit.
Candace Nassar
And He helps us pursue and persevere in that maturity that He calls us to.
Annie Mendrala
Yes, totally.
Candace Nassar
Which is so amazing. There was this survey that Barna research did a little over a year ago on the state of Christian moms in the US and what it means for the church. One of the questions they asked was about practicing self-care. Big term that we all know today. The top seven results had praying and connecting with God coming in dead last. So let’s talk about why that is. Why do you think that is?
Annie Mendrala
So the research was, was it for moms or just people? Yes, for Christian moms.
Candace Nassar
It was Christian moms. For Christian moms.
Annie Mendrala
And it was dead last praying and connecting with God. So my first instinct is obviously, moms are tired and they’re lacking energy. Being a mom is… It’s an emotionally draining, physically draining, intense time of life. And so our tendency is to nurture what’s right in front of us, which is our children. And so I could see prayer and Connecting with God.
Candace Nassar
We’re less.
Annie Mendrala
Connecting with God, coming less, because we typically tend to put ourselves last as moms.
Candace Nassar
Well, there were other things on that list, though, like eating nourishing foods and spending time outdoors. Those things came in above time with God.
Annie Mendrala
That’s so interesting. I think the obstacle is also this. Faith was meant to be passed down in the family, and families are becoming more and more disconnected. By distance, my mom lives in another state than I live in. So physically we’re apart. And then also, emotionally, families are breaking up. So you don’t have that legacy of faith passing down. So, it’s so important. The Bible is so clear. Older women teach the younger women. Absolutely. And as I move into the older women phase, I look around and I think, What’s going on? We’re supposed to stay in this. We’re supposed to stay in this spiritual journey and pass this down. So these young moms, maybe they’re lacking mentors. Maybe they’re lacking people who are encouraging them to live this out, people who are modeling it for them. That’s so good. I know for me, that was my… The greatest gift I had was older women modeling and encouraging me.
Candace Nassar
Absolutely. For me, I just happened to join a Bible study seeking answers for my strong-willed daughter and became a believer. And those women taught me everything because I didn’t really have role models. So, they poured into me. Absolutely. It was critical, and I received it, and here I am. So thank God for them.
Annie Mendrala
My own mom, when she came to faith, the first thing she did was go to a Bible study fellowship. She would talk about it all the time. So that was one thing I knew, is that, okay, as a woman, I’m supposed to go study the Bible somewhere. And then as I started engaging as a mom, I was like, Man, this is impossible. Where’s a support group? So I was just happy to go. And the compassion I received from the women who mentored and discipled me, it just was so comforting that I longed to reconnect with them. It was a place of hope for me when I was feeling so overwhelmed. And the cool thing is I had my next door neighbor. I was thinking about it as we were preparing for this. Trisha Shea McKeown. She moved in next door to me, and she just loved me. She served me, she encouraged me, and she loved my family. And her actions of love towards me probably have had some of the biggest impact on my life and on my mothering and on my spiritual journey.
Candace Nassar
I have one of those as well. She didn’t move in next to me, but she was leading that Bible study I joined for three years. And her name is Theresa Anderson. We’re still in touch, and I don’t know where I would be without her. And that’s the beauty of MomQ, too, is that we have and offer that mentorship in our community. It is imperative that we, as older women, pour into the young and that the young are seeking the experience and the wisdom of the mom who’s been there.
Annie Mendrala
Yes. I would encourage any mom listening, seek a mentor. And if you don’t find one where you’re at, go somewhere else. They’re available. At our church alone, they have a mentor program, but the The mentees are not coming to seek the mentors.
Candace Nassar
Yeah, it works both ways. So if we’re not cultivating our relationship with God, if we’re not seeking this maturity and discipleship, which is where somebody is just pouring their experience and their faith into us and helping us grow, what do you think could be the results? What are the dangers of that?
Annie Mendrala
Well, the danger is we never grow up. And I I don’t know about you, but if my kids stayed in their infant stage for longer than they were supposed to, that would be a problem.
Candace Nassar
We don’t- Very frustrating. Yeah.
Annie Mendrala
And honestly, live a life that has stunted growth to where you never get to really experience that fullness, that joy of a relationship with the Lord, because we get stuck in our self-centered thinking.
Candace Nassar
Yes. We’re just going to settle for a mediocre faith, like you’re saying. It’s not going to be the rich, abundant life that we’re promised.
Annie Mendrala
And I was listening to a woman who wrote a book recently about people deconstructing their faith. And I think what happens is if you don’t grow in your faith, at some point, you’re just going to abandon it. Because what’s the point of a faith that doesn’t help you grow? And so there is a danger in that. That you will deconstruct your faith, and then you won’t pass it on to your children. And then, at some point, you’re going to come to a crisis and go, what happened? Like, your kid doesn’t believe, and you have deconstructed. And yeah, I could see a collapse of the entire, the whole system, Spiritual foundation of a family.
Candace Nassar
Actually, Peter warns us about that. In 2 Peter 3:17-18, he says, You, therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ. To him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.
Annie Mendrala
Amen.
Candace Nassar
So good, right? God knows.
Annie Mendrala
Yeah. It will be easily swept away, is what that verse is saying. If we don’t keep… Spiritual growth is not an instantaneous thing. It’s not a microwave faith. It is a long term walk.
Candace Nassar
Which we don’t love in our culture. No.
Annie Mendrala
Right. We want instant.
Candace Nassar
So I’m a gardener, and when I hear words like grow and cultivate, I think of the process I go through so that I can enjoy fresh vegetables every summer, particularly tomatoes. It’s a lot of work, but I love it. It’s really worth it. And in the spring, the first thing I do is prepare the soil. And I learned that after a few seasons of failed gardening. It seems like, well, what’s the big deal? You just put in some potting soil and you stick the plant in there and it grows. But that’s not exactly… That’s not how it works. Matter of fact, I spray the soil with a soil activator. I put in the stuff that encourages and feeds the worms, all of those things. Till the soil, it all gets the soil ripe and ready for what I’m going to plant. So how does that apply to our spiritual lives?
Annie Mendrala
And the other thing, when you plant something, say you buy it that it’s already in the pot or whatever, when you take it out, you have to take the bottom of the plant and loosen up those roots. You don’t just take it in its compact form. You have to loosen it up.
Candace Nassar
That’s a good point, too, because it won’t ever grow outside that little bulb.
Annie Mendrala
Right. And so with us, God is constantly coming in. The spirit of God is coming in and messing with our roots, in a sense. Spiritual growth is so similar in that it requires supplementing our faith with the truth constantly, watering it, getting sunlight on it. We have to continue, and we do that through the spiritual disciplines, which are practices in our faith that draw us, connect us, get us out of our comfort and remind us of who God is and how we can connect with him. There’s a saying in gardening, I love this because it does parallel with this idea of spiritual growth. And my grandma taught me this, and my mom says, โWhen you plant something, the first year, it sleeps. So you’re not going to see a lot of action. The second year, it’s going to creep. You’ll see a little more. In the third year, it leaps.โ So it sleeps, it creeps, and it leaps. And that’s similar to how faith goes. We have to be patient as the soil, as everything’s getting settled in that soil. It will slowly creep. But honestly, years down the road, your faith should be leaping. And I don’t know I don’t know about you, but I feel like I’m entering a leap phase.
Annie Mendrala
Sometimes it tries to pull me back to a creep, but yeah.
Candace Nassar
Yeah. Well, and so I think about that. Let’s go back to the soil and what we have to do with our hearts, because you talked about the beginning of our spiritual growth is upon salvation. So what are some things that we could do prior to starting spiritual disciplines or at the same time as we’re implementing those spiritual disciplines, which we’re going to talk about in detail in a second. But what are some things that we can think about just with our heart that we can do there?
Annie Mendrala
Yeah. So I think it’s so important because spiritual growth is about a heart transformation. And so transformationโฆTransformationโฆTransformation happens when we recognize the things that need to be changed, which ultimately is that sin in us. That sin that is still there. And so for me, my growth was delayed because my greatest struggle in my life has been pride. And until I humble myself and recognize areas that I need to change, God can’t grow me onto the next level. He’s very patient. He’s not in any hurry. His time is not like my time. So though I had unwavering faith, I had that soil of faith. I needed to add to that soil of faith Trust. I believed who God was, but I wasn’t necessarily letting him be in control of my life. And so, again, another fertilizer, maybe trust on that soil. But it required me to be reflective and available and let the spirit show me so that I could continue to recognize I continually need to be growing and changing. I love that. Yeah. If at any point we think, well, I’m good. Well, we’ve deceived ourselves.
Candace Nassar
Yeah, I love the term being teachable. I think that’s so important in our spiritual growth that we need to always be seeking God. And there’s a humility in that. We talked about humility last month. And I think of how we just want to put before God, Seek, Search me, Try me, know those anxious ways within me, show me those ways that I need to change. And that’s part of tilling the soil. Yeah. All right.
Annie Mendrala
That’s scary. It’s a scary prayer.
Candace Nassar
Yes, it is a scary prayer. Reach me and know me.
Annie Mendrala
Right.
Candace Nassar
But again, it’s worth it.
Annie Mendrala
It’s effective. Yeah.
Candace Nassar
It’s worth it. So let’s talk now about spiritual disciplines, because this I liken to watering and the sunlight and all those things that make sure that our plants grow. So what are spiritual disciplines, and are there different kinds of them?
Annie Mendrala
Yeah. Well, I have this great article from Dallas Willard, and he talks about the different disciplines. And he says, It is interesting to note that there’s not just one spiritual discipline that we practice. If we have one that we get real comfortable with, we Probably should add something different, do something different, because part of the discipline is learning to be uncomfortable, getting uncomfortable so that God can get our attention. So he puts it into two categories, a category of disciplines of abstinence, doing without something, and then disciplines of engagement, coming together with others or with something. So for the disciplines of abstinence, we have the discipline of solitude, being alone. Jesus modeled that a lot. He went to be alone. But also, what did he do? He was alone, and then he got engaged. He had fellowship. So discipline of engagement would be fellowship with other believers. Again, the spiritual growth that we experience does not happen alone. We have to remember, we have to stay in community. There are times we pull away into abstinence, solitude. The other one that he lists here is silence, which I was like, well, what’s the difference?
Annie Mendrala
It’s literally turning off the noise, turning off music, turning off the ringers, the dingers, everything. And just having silence. So scary in our culture.
Candace Nassar
Why do we want to be silent?
Annie Mendrala
Yeah. Why do we want to be silent?
Candace Nassar
What is our purpose in silence? We want to be able to hear from God.
Annie Mendrala
Yeah. Hear the Spirit of God. Now God’s not going to be an audible voice, but in a sense, sometimes I feel like God says to me, โAnnie, do you trust me?โ But I hear that because I’m really deep in the Word. I’m reading, I’m meditating, I’m thinking, I’m โdoingโ on that word, and I’m processing it. And then these thoughts come up and I’m like, โOh, okay. Do I trust you?โ Of course I do. And then I’m like, โOh, no, maybe I don’t.โ So, that silence is so good-that alone time. And all of us probably tend towards abstinence or the engagement. For me, the disciplines of engagement, I’m like, Oh, okay, yes. I need to go be with people. I need to engage with others. That sometimes for me, is more of a struggle. But, so solitude, silence, and fasting is an interesting one.
Candace Nassar
I don’t like that one, but I’m working on it.
Annie Mendrala
Yes. And fasting has taken… It’s interesting to hear, especially in the season of lent, when people talk about things that they’re fasting from. It doesn’t have to be food. But honestly, fasting from food is very challenging and can really be a great one to practice every once in a while.
Candace Nassar
That’s the one I’m working on.
Annie Mendrala
Yeah, it’s so good. He mentions frugality, I guess, doing without something you don’t really need. But then he says sacrifice. That’s actually giving up something that’s necessary for life. So again, as we do these things, we’re learning to trust God to make him our priority over our comfort and our needs.
Candace Nassar
Yeah, it’s interesting. I have a book that I love called Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life by Donald Whitney. And he does the same thing. He categorizes the spiritual disciplines between personal and interpersonal. So the same thing. But his personal includes also Bible reading, journaling, things like that. So that’s not really abstinence, but I can see those as being very deep, spiritual, from the inside out, God changing us.
Annie Mendrala
Well, and it’s interesting because Dallas Willard says that the discipline of engagement, the first one he has listed is study, studying the Word. And so I guess we’re engaging with the Word of God.
Candace Nassar
Okay.
Annie Mendrala
And I guess we could be studying in a corporate setting. But yeah, I agree. I mean, these aren’t…
Candace Nassar
Yeah, it’s not hard to ask.
Annie Mendrala
Here’s the list, and that’s it. But also engaging in worship and in celebration, engaging in service, prayer. That’s interesting because we’re engaging. I would think that’s part of solitude, but I guess when we get ourselves to a place of solitude, then we engage through worship and prayer.
Candace Nassar
Sure. Sure.
Annie Mendrala
It’s good. Yeah. So there’s a lot of them. And I’m sure you can just Google it and come up with a ton.
Candace Nassar
And the point of all of them is what?
Annie Mendrala
Connection with God.
Candace Nassar
Cultivating our relationship, growing in Godliness. He tells us. What did you start off with saying that we are to grow in our faith, grow in our spiritual maturity?
Annie Mendrala
Yes. I love that word โcultivateโ. In education, classical education, we talk about cultivating the soul, cultivating wisdom and virtue. And that’s what ultimately spiritual growth is, is about a cultivation of our hearts and our souls towards God, cultivating things that grow. And ultimately, what do we know? The evidence of growth is fruit. Those tomatoes that you put on your vine, which are beautiful and amazing. Thank you. When that beautiful red, yummy tomato, all the evidence is there that you have poured in all that was necessary to bear that fruit. And that’s not to say that if we do these disciplines, that we’re going to get the results we want. But I guarantee that we are going to get a fruit from all this that is eternal, everlasting, that far exceeds any reward on Earth that we could hope for.
Candace Nassar
Amen. Okay, so let’s talk about one more thing, one more aspect of the way God works in our lives to grow us closer to him. So to maintain the garden, I want to water at the root level, if possible, because that’s how the roots grow deep. And then I’m going to pull weeds when they come up. But here’s the really big thing. I’m going to prune and trim the plants. And sometimes that means pruning parts that seem to be growing okay in order for other parts to grow stronger. And sometimes I have to spray for insects and even encourage pollination. So how does God do all of this in our lives as our master gardener?
Annie Mendrala
So good. I love how nature really does display the glory of God, because if you want something to grow, a tree to grow, you prune off the bottom branches because they’re taking energy from that tree. And just like what you’re doing with your garden, You have to… Whatever’s on that vine is going to take energy. And so God knows that whatever we’re involved in, whatever is going on in our lives, is pulling energy and time and resources from us. And so in order to grow us, God will prune our lives. He will take away good things. And then he will also allow hard things, storms to come in, pestilence and all of that to rock us. But ultimately, it says that he’s going to remove those things that are holding us back from really enjoying him and investing in the things that matter to God. As we talked about spiritual growth, the first thing that hit my mind in this topic is that the only way to really grow is to suffer. Because suffering draws us. It brings us. It strips us of all our comfort and all the things that we depend on for survival for ourselves, and it draws us into complete dependence on God.
Annie Mendrala
Now, we don’t have to depend on God, and we can choose to go our own way, and there are results from that. But true spiritual growth happens in that suffering, because then all of a sudden we realize we’re going to be okay. As long as we have God, we can weather the storms. James says, this is the verse, Every Christian loves this verse, โConsider it great joy, brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials.โ Now, if I said to a friend who is having a trial, Consider it great joy, she might look at me like, What are you talking about? But he goes on to tell us why, Because you know that the testing of your faith, we know, we all know this, the testing of our faith produces endurance. And when that endurance has its full effect, we may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing. As Christians, if we’re going to grow and be mature and lack nothing, we’re going to have to have our faith tested. And that always comes in the form of suffering.
Candace Nassar
Yeah. I mean, whether it’s financial, physical, God will do what he needs to do to strip away those idles in our life. And we can either lean in or turn away. But when we lean in, That’s what we’re talking about. That’s the sweet stuff, right? Yeah. That’s where we get the really juicy red, ripe tomatoes.
Annie Mendrala
Yeah. And it’s interesting. I’m sitting here having this picture of a toddler throwing a tantrum on the ground. The way we react to our suffering may be a good indicator of where we’re at in our spiritual growth. If we’re experiencing difficult things in our life and we’re having a tantrum, we need to be open to the fact that maybe we need to surrender. Maybe we need to grow up. Maybe we need to quit being toddlers and move towards adulthood.
Candace Nassar
Great point.
Annie Mendrala
So I just think it’s neat. And then that fruit, you’re right. The good fruit comes even after the storm.
Candace Nassar
Yes, it always does. It will help us to see it. Now, sometimes we don’t know why, and most of the time, we don’t know why. But we can trust, like you’re saying, that He is good and that He is working all things for our good, for those who believe and are called according to His purpose. That he is using those circumstances to change us, to mold us, and shape us.
Annie Mendrala
Yeah. It goes back to the whole beginning of our faith journey. We came to faith by believing in the grace of God, that it wasn’t anything we were doing. And so I feel like even as we mature, we always have to return to the gospel. We have to return to this is about our gift of salvation. It is a free gift from Jesus, and it’s nothing that we’re doing to earn it or to lose it, that we just need to abide in him and to enjoy him. I have a really wise professor of mine say, โWe think we know all the answers, or we think we have most of the answers.โ He said, โBut maybe what we haven’t done is ask all the questions.โ And so, in maturity, for me today in my life, I could say, I am at a place where I’m okay with it. I have more questions than I have answers, right?
Candace Nassar
Oh, I love that. I love that.
Annie Mendrala
And it’s so enjoyable because then you can just get curious with God and trust him and enjoy him.
Candace Nassar
Yes. Because really, that’s the ultimate goal. We want to grow into Christ-likeness, but we get to enjoy the Father. We trust him and surrender to him and have that maturity to understand that he is working for our good. And so I think of my goal as a gardener with tomatoes, I love salsa. Matter of fact, I eat chips and salsa almost every day. I bet there’s somebody out there. Really? Oh, yeah. I’m obsessed. I’m literally obsessed. I grow those tomatoes so I can make fresh salsa all summer. And it’s so much work. And sometimes I’m out there and I’m so hot, and all this is just like, why am I doing this? And I remember those tomatoes, and I remember that salsa. And so that’s what we have to do. We have to remember that we all get to enjoy the Father to the fullest as we are pursuing him and the relationship that spiritual maturity will get us. And there’s just nothing better.
Annie Mendrala
It reminds me of the verse in Psalm 34:8. It says, โTaste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.โ
Candace Nassar
Amen.
Annie Mendrala
Yeah. That’s so good. Okay, I’m coming over for some Salsa.
Candace Nassar
Okay. We’ll have a big salsa party. Yeah. Oh, gosh. Well, Annie, this has been a great conversation. Thank you so much for your wisdom and insight, as always. Let me close this in prayer.
Annie Mendrala
Okay.
Candace Nassar
Father, thank you so much that you want a relationship with us and that you call us into a deep, cultivated relationship that you help us pursue and persevere in. We are just so thankful, Lord, that we get to know you and enjoy that relationship. And we just ask that you would help us, Lord, to do what we need to do, to discipline ourselves, to follow those spiritual practices that we know that you have told us in your word that will mature us in our faith. Help us to just stay steadfast through the times when you call us into a time of suffering and pruning and just to trust you in that Lord, help us to get our priorities straight and not let the things of this world distract us, to trust you and prioritize you in every day of our lives. And we thank you for this time, Lord. I just pray that our listeners would be able to put these things into practice. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Annie Mendrala
Amen.