Good Desires or Hidden Idols? Spotting the Difference and Learning to Surrender [Podcast Transcript]

Title: Good Desires or Hidden Idols? Spotting the Difference and Learning to Surrender

Podcast Date: August 18, 2025

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If the tension between holding on and letting go feels all too familiar, you’re not alone. This episode is rich with encouragement and real talk about living surrendered, even while navigating hopes and disappointments—rooted in the steady goodness of God. Today Heather welcomes back her friend, author, and fellow pastor’s wife, Rebecca George, for an honest, relatable conversation about the ever-challenging tension between surrender and control.

Episode Highlights:

• Surrender vs. Control: What’s Really at Stake?
  Heather and Rebecca dive headfirst into the push and pull many women feel between wanting to surrender to God and desperately trying to control outcomes—especially around good and godly desires, like marriage, family, health, or career.

  • Heather observes how easy it is for our goals and expectations—even the good ones—to become idols, subtly pulling our hearts away from God.

  • Rebecca shares her personal journey of longing for marriage later than most of her peers, describing the emotional wrestle of watching others get what she deeply wanted and how that desire, while good, could easily take God’s place on the “throne of the heart.”

• Modern Culture Makes Surrender Even Harder
  They reflect on how instant-gratification culture (think Amazon Prime, DoorDash, and Uber) actually conditions us to expect control, which makes real spiritual surrender even harder. Heather likens our current approach to life as having an “Amazon Prime mentality”—believing we can make anything happen if we try hard enough.

• Redefining Surrender
  Rebecca explains that surrender isn’t simply giving up or becoming passive (“I’ll just sit at home and wait for God to drop someone on my windshield!”)—but is more about daily, sometimes moment-by-moment, recognizing where our desires have edged into idolatry, and inviting God to search our hearts (Psalm 139:23-24).

  • True surrender may require us to “lay it down at Jesus’ feet” repeatedly—sometimes a dozen times in a single day.

• Living in the Tension (Not the Black-and-White)
  The conversation unpacks the problematic “black and white thinking” that makes us feel like we have to choose between frantic striving and total resignation. Instead, Heather and Rebecca discuss how the Bible calls us to live under God’s grace, trusting His goodness even in the waiting and uncertainty.

  • Rebecca emphasizes God’s sovereignty and immutability—He is good and in control, regardless of whether we get what we want.

  • Surrender is deeply tied to humility—admitting, “You are God and I am not,” and being okay with that.

• Practical Encouragement
  Rebecca urges listeners not to be discouraged if surrender is a daily (or hourly!) process. The “muscle memory” of waiting and trusting needs to be built, especially in a culture that minimizes waiting or struggle. Heather adds that inviting God to lovingly “press on sore spots” may hurt, but always leads to healing.

• About Rebecca’s New Book
  Rebecca introduces her new book, You’re Not Too Late: Trusting God’s Timing in a Hurry-Up World**, designed for women at any stage who feel “the ache of the almost.” Every chapter includes prompts, prayers, and real-life case studies, plus a free companion video series for small groups or personal study.

Connect with Rebecca:

• Instagram: @rebeccageorgeauthor

• Podcast: Radical Radiance

• Book: You're Not Too Late (available wherever books are sold) **Amazon affiliate link.

Learn more about the In His Image Conference 2025 here.

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Don’t forget to subscribe, share the show, and check out the links above!

Disclaimer: This transcript is AI-generated and has not been edited for accuracy or clarity.

Transcript

Heather Creekmore [00:00:01]:
Rebecca George, welcome to the Compare to podcast.

Rebecca George [00:00:04]:
Oh, Heather, I'm so happy to be back with you. This is so fun.

Heather Creekmore [00:00:07]:
Yeah, I love the fact that we can hang out but also talk about important things.

Rebecca George [00:00:15]:
Yes, me too. Me too. I just love you and I always love catching up with you. It's been a while, so I was. I woke up this morning excited to, like, personally catch up and then, yeah, talk bit business thing. So.

Heather Creekmore [00:00:27]:
Yes, well. And of course, I didn't wear the earrings, but my most important, like, beef I had with you was your Etsy shop with my favorite ever earrings. Like, I just told Rebecca, like, I. I wear those. She makes gorgeous clay earrings.

Rebecca George [00:00:43]:
Thank you.

Heather Creekmore [00:00:44]:
And you change the name of the shop. Say what the shop name is.

Rebecca George [00:00:47]:
Honestly, here's, like, here's how wild my 2025 has been, Heather. I actually don't know what I changed.

Heather Creekmore [00:00:54]:
Well, it was.

Rebecca George [00:00:54]:
It was years ago. It was. And I think it's Clay. Named it Clay by Rebecca. Maybe something like that. Honestly, you guys, don't go there right now because it's the most neglected part of my business. I've been launching a book this year, and it has. It's one of those, like, you can't.

Rebecca George [00:01:13]:
You can't win them all. You can't do it all.

Heather Creekmore [00:01:14]:
You can't do it all.

Rebecca George [00:01:15]:
But.

Heather Creekmore [00:01:15]:
But you guys, these earrings were, like, the best. So I love that you love my earrings. If it ever rejuvenates, like, like, go.

Rebecca George [00:01:23]:
There, Follow me on Instagram and you'll be the first to find out.

Heather Creekmore [00:01:26]:
That's perfect. That's perf the fact. I think I normally try to wear the earrings in our interview, and I just. I failed this morning. But. But today I thought there's just this hot topic for me personally, but I think for all of my listeners, this is always a hot topic. And I thought you would be the perfect person to have a conversation with about this topic. And that's the topic of surrender.

Heather Creekmore [00:01:54]:
And I've approached it a couple different directions. Right. Just like, you know, what does it look like to surrender you? I feel like that's talked about a lot, but there's this kind of push and pull between idolatry and surrender. And you know how I love to talk about idolatry, which is a really.

Rebecca George [00:02:12]:
Weird one of many reasons why I love you.

Heather Creekmore [00:02:15]:
What a weird thing to say.

Rebecca George [00:02:16]:
Thanks for being willing to go there. Yeah, yeah.

Heather Creekmore [00:02:19]:
But I was thinking about, like, this concept that I think it's our idols that make it really hard for us to surrender everything.

Rebecca George [00:02:29]:
Amen. Yeah.

Heather Creekmore [00:02:29]:
Right. Like, because our expectations become idols. Right. Like I write in my one book comparison, Free Life, I talk about how our ideals, which is kind of like your expectations, become idols. Right. There's all these, like, goals are good.

Rebecca George [00:02:47]:
Yeah.

Heather Creekmore [00:02:47]:
But goals can so quickly turn into these ideals and expectations that become idols. And so it kind of becomes this, like, tug of war between idolatry and surrender.

Rebecca George [00:03:02]:
Yeah.

Heather Creekmore [00:03:02]:
And so, like, how have you seen this in your life? Like, what, like, what does this make you think of? Like, story wise or just what have you experienced?

Rebecca George [00:03:10]:
Totally, Heather? Well, I was in my later 20s when I got married, which was. I mean, I'm a Tennessee gal. We get married young, we have babies young. All my people got married before I did, had kids before I did, and I felt like I was the only one. Yeah, right. And I think we, whether you relate to that or not, or your life situation looks completely different than mine, we all know what it feels like to long for something, something that's good. As you just mentioned, we watch other people experience the thing we want. And so many times it's that, like, death by a thousand cuts type of thing.

Rebecca George [00:03:48]:
Like, I was a bridesmaid 12 times, Heather, before I got married. Right. Probably 12 dresses in that closet 10ft away from me that were not white. Right, right. So 12 opportunities where I. I willfully had to choose to cheer for my friend who was getting the thing I want. But wait, sometimes.

Heather Creekmore [00:04:06]:
Did you try to catch the bouquet? How many times did you catch the bouquet?

Rebecca George [00:04:09]:
More than 12. Because I've been to more weddings than I've been in. Right. And so, I mean, end of the story, I did get married to an amazing man. And I am. I'm so grateful for just how God provided in that way. But a couple things that good desire got elevated to a place meant for God alone. So, like, let's define idolatry.

Rebecca George [00:04:32]:
That's it. When we elevate even a good thing, a desire, a goal, a longing in our hearts, whether that's a relational thing to get married, have kids, become a grandparent, if you're later on in life there, it can look a million ways, reconcile a relationship or more of a vocational thing, of, hey, I want to start a business, I want to get involved in a ministry, I want to take that next step on the corporate ladder, whatever it is, we elevate that thing to a place where it occupies the place in our hearts meant for God alone. That's number one. Right. And so then I think what happens, at least in my heart, is I totally miss What God has for me in the present day when I'm so focused on that thing that I want. And so I think that's one example of what it's looked like in my life. But that shift, I love how you called it, attention is so important because I think it's our desire as Christian women to. To live a surrendered life fully.

Rebecca George [00:05:36]:
Just surrender to what God has for us. Our hands open to whatever that is. But our culture moves at such a pace that it's so easy for us to compare. It's so easy for us to idolize things. And then I think we're exposed to other people getting what we want at a pace that, like, didn't happen for my mom or my grandmother or my great grandmother. You just think, like, 1, 2, 3, 4 generations removed from you. And how differently we processed the longings in our hearts and how we surrendered them. So that's interesting to think about, too, but.

Rebecca George [00:06:15]:
But yeah, that's. That's one example of now.

Heather Creekmore [00:06:18]:
Well, I'm just thinking about the reality. Like, you. You pointed out these are good things.

Rebecca George [00:06:23]:
Yeah.

Heather Creekmore [00:06:23]:
Right. I mean, yes. Okay. Some people do struggle with money. Love of money. Right, sure. And so you could kind of be like, oh, that's greedy. Like, that's obviously sin to want to just be filthy rich.

Heather Creekmore [00:06:37]:
Right. But these other things that we desire, like, to desire to be married or to desire children or to desire health.

Rebecca George [00:06:47]:
Yeah.

Heather Creekmore [00:06:48]:
To have a better, healthier body. Right. Like. Like, these are good desires. And I think it's so confusing and maybe even a little, oh, I don't know, like, subtly and insidious. Is that the word? Yeah, I'm looking for it, like, because it's like, well, that couldn't possibly be a bad thing. And then I think, Rebecca, I don't want to go too far here. Right.

Heather Creekmore [00:07:10]:
But you're a pastor's wife. I'm a pastor's wife.

Rebecca George [00:07:13]:
Right.

Heather Creekmore [00:07:13]:
Like, I feel like sometimes, because they're good things, like, what we tend to do is we tend to chase them, thinking we've got God's rubber stamp on them. Right. Because, like.

Rebecca George [00:07:23]:
And we have a blank check. We have a blank check for them to become an idol.

Heather Creekmore [00:07:27]:
Right, right. Right. Like, it's a good thing. I should chase this. Like, it's. It's right to chase this. It's biblical to chase this. I think that's really difficult to wrestle with.

Rebecca George [00:07:39]:
Yeah, I do, too. And honestly, Heather, if I zoom out a little bit and I'll. Again, I want to point the finger right back at myself. If I think about even the insignificant parts of my life where I have to wait on something. Right? Let's say I get sick. Ten years ago, maybe a friend would have made homemade chicken noodle soup and left it on my front door. Today I doordash my favorite soup from Panera and it's on my doorstep in 30 minutes. If I have an early flight, I'm.

Rebecca George [00:08:06]:
I feel icky about inconveniencing a friend. And so I just uber to the airport super early. And I'm not inconveniencing anyone. And. And it's all easy, Right. So even when I'm doing something silly like standing in line at Kroger checking out my groceries, I feel this need to grab my phone and scroll on my phone and entertain myself for the five minutes that I'm waiting to get out the door. So even in the insignificant parts of my life, I live and I. We live in a culture that causes it to be really easy to not have resilience in the waiting.

Rebecca George [00:08:46]:
So then it's no surprise to me, Heather, when I'm thinking about me and Dustin's journey towards becoming parents or other things in our lives that are longings in our hearts. And my heart has to create some muscle memory there of what it feels like to surrender and to trust in God's timing, because I'm not even doing that.

Heather Creekmore [00:09:07]:
I'm not having to do that in.

Rebecca George [00:09:08]:
The daily, like little things that 15 years ago we did. And so I think that's also had a really big effect on our ability to surrender and what it looks like to trust God.

Heather Creekmore [00:09:21]:
We live in it. We have an Amazon prime mentality of life.

Rebecca George [00:09:24]:
Yes.

Heather Creekmore [00:09:25]:
So where I live, very close to Austin, and I don't know if it's this way everywhere. I figured it was just this way because I live close to. To a major city.

Rebecca George [00:09:33]:
Yeah.

Heather Creekmore [00:09:34]:
But like, I can literally order something at 9pm and something like super unique. I'm not talking about something like generic. I'm talking something super unique. And it will be on my doorstep.

Rebecca George [00:09:45]:
At 4am I know.

Heather Creekmore [00:09:48]:
Like what, like, how do you have that in stock, like, everywhere? That's odd to me. And so, but, but you're right, because life is so. Well, you know what? Oh, here's an angle, Rebecca. I feel like I have control. I can make things happen. Right. And I like. So this is a conversation I have with my people all the time, right around health and body image stuff.

Rebecca George [00:10:15]:
Right.

Heather Creekmore [00:10:15]:
Just this grappling with this reality that if I spend too much time on Instagram, I'm going to believe that I have 100% complete control over my health and what my body looks like. Right. And it's like, of course I have some influence sometimes maybe, I don't know, I can't make my thyroid work faster.

Rebecca George [00:10:34]:
Right, Right.

Heather Creekmore [00:10:35]:
Like, there's. There's limitations and.

Rebecca George [00:10:38]:
Yeah.

Heather Creekmore [00:10:39]:
But. But it confuses us into. Oh, I don't want to say it this strongly, but I kind of need to say this strongly, like, into kind of believing that I have, like, more power and control over my life. Like I'm my own little God. Right. Which is idolatry. Like, that's. Again, back to the definition of idolatry.

Heather Creekmore [00:10:58]:
But I. I don't know. Like, what do you think?

Rebecca George [00:11:00]:
I mean, I think you're onto something there. Because in a sense, there are many insignificant things and conveniences in our culture today that do give us control.

Heather Creekmore [00:11:15]:
Right.

Rebecca George [00:11:17]:
I mean, to. I mean, you're not wrong there. Right. And so then anything we do creates muscle memory in our hearts. Right. So when I Amazon prime something and it's there at 4am and I get that dopamine hit of opening my front door to see the package, that's another rep at me, feeling like I have control. Yeah. And then later in the day when I'm fatigued and exhausted and I don't want to cook dinner and I door dash, poke bowls and they're on my doorstep in 30 minutes, that's another dopamine hit.

Rebecca George [00:11:51]:
Right. And so day after day, moment by moment, it's so easy for us to create those moments and create that control. And so then, no wonder my heart feels the way it does when something's occupied a really unhealthy place in my heart and I'm struggling to lay it down and. And give it over to God again for the fifth time that day.

Heather Creekmore [00:12:16]:
Right.

Rebecca George [00:12:16]:
You know, and so, I don't know, Heather, I've found myself almost wanting to push back against that a little bit. Like, not do grocery pickup and walk in the grocery store and go pick out the bell pepper and the onion that I need for the recipe and create an environment where my heart has to slow down.

Heather Creekmore [00:12:41]:
Yeah.

Rebecca George [00:12:41]:
And even the insignificant. And I don't know, it's given me a little bit more muscle memory.

Heather Creekmore [00:12:48]:
Right.

Rebecca George [00:12:48]:
In the bigger things of life. So I don't. I don't think we can change our culture, but I think we can. We can order our lives in such a way that we press back against that a little bit where there is an opportunity to, you know. Yeah.

Heather Creekmore [00:13:06]:
I'm hearing You. I'm feeling convicted. I mean, because I think that the concept is embodiment.

Rebecca George [00:13:11]:
Yeah, right.

Heather Creekmore [00:13:11]:
Like we don't have to live embodied.

Rebecca George [00:13:15]:
Yeah.

Heather Creekmore [00:13:15]:
When I don't have to go shop, when I just get on my screen and things magically happen. I mean, it does feel godlike, right?

Rebecca George [00:13:25]:
Yeah, totally.

Heather Creekmore [00:13:26]:
Yikes.

Rebecca George [00:13:28]:
Yikes. Yeah.

Heather Creekmore [00:13:29]:
I really like grocery pickup though, Rebecca.

Rebecca George [00:13:31]:
I mean, you and me both. And there's nothing wrong with it. There's nothing wrong with it. And there are many days.

Heather Creekmore [00:13:37]:
Yeah.

Rebecca George [00:13:38]:
Yeah. So like, okay, here's maybe the difference. Like Wednesdays for us. We're both pastors wives. Wednesdays are wild. Like, I've got worship practice after work and so I'm managing a lot. That's probably the day that if I need groceries, I'm going to do grocery pickup. Because it didn't.

Rebecca George [00:13:53]:
It enables me to get to the things that. Where I'm serving others and. And the places where God has me and my people faster. So. But I don't have to do that on a Saturday morning.

Heather Creekmore [00:14:07]:
Right.

Rebecca George [00:14:07]:
You know, so maybe it's intentional choices when it works for us that pushes back against that. I don't know. I've not got it all figured out.

Heather Creekmore [00:14:17]:
Oh, it's. It's hard to think about. Okay, but Idolatry versus surrender. Okay, so you've been kind of thinking about this hardcore because you wrote a book about just waiting for God's timing and. Well, let me just share the book with everyone because it's a really great book and it's a beautiful book too.

Rebecca George [00:14:36]:
Oh my goodness. And I was like, this is so pretty.

Heather Creekmore [00:14:40]:
It's called you're not too late trusting God's timing and hurry up world. If you're watching on YouTube, you can see the pretty, pretty cover. But I mean, it's just, it's a beautiful book and I love how it has places. It's not a workbook per se, but it has places to do some work, which I think is super important and super helpful too. But you talked about like the idol of your desire to get married, which. That was mine too.

Rebecca George [00:15:07]:
Yeah, sure.

Heather Creekmore [00:15:07]:
I mean, because we got married. Eric and I met at 30.

Rebecca George [00:15:10]:
Okay.

Heather Creekmore [00:15:11]:
Yeah, one and so, same story there. But how do we surrender? Like, I mean, I know it's not a simple, like, you've got three minutes. Tell me how to surrender, Rebecca. But like, like what, what are some of the principles behind like just learning to surrender those desires or expectations or, or our timing, like you talk about.

Rebecca George [00:15:35]:
Totally. I'll give you a couple things. One, I Think we first have to do the work of. Of what you and I just talked about and recognizing and having a willingness to recognize, oh, this thing has become. It's become an idol. It's, it's. It's that thing on the throne of my heart that, you know is meant for God alone. And so until I'm willing to recognize that that's happened and kind of own that, I.

Rebecca George [00:16:03]:
I don't think I can move forward and surrender. So for me personally, it's that recognition first. But then I love these two verses that are baked into Psalm 139. I mentioned them a lot in the book. I call it our search me God prayer. At the end of every chapter but verses 23 and 24, the Psalmist says, search my heart, O God. Try me and know my anxious thoughts. And if there be a grievous way in me, lead me in the way everlasting.

Rebecca George [00:16:28]:
And Heather, I think, like, that's it. Right. I go back to that passage a lot when I'm struggling in. In some way with my own areas of longing. And I'll just say, God, would you just examine me? Would you examine my heart? Would you search my heart? Would you show me where I'm thinking about this in. In a way that causing this thing to be an idol or maybe my perspective on it is contrary to your truth? And would you point me back to that? Right. And so I think it can be that simple, right. We hear a word like surrender, and.

Rebecca George [00:17:01]:
And even maybe you read that title and you thought, oh, I want to know more about that. But that even feels like big and scary to me in my spiritual life. And, and really it is recognizing that thing's occupying a place in my heart meant for God.

Heather Creekmore [00:17:14]:
Yeah.

Rebecca George [00:17:14]:
God, would you search me, God, would you point me back to truth? Yeah, it can be that simple, you know, and. And the reality, and you said it well a minute ago, is you may do that 15 times tomorrow about the thing that is. Is occupying that place in your heart. And that's okay.

Heather Creekmore [00:17:30]:
Yeah.

Rebecca George [00:17:31]:
You know, like, that is. That is okay as you continue to trust him. Part of that is recognizing when you've picked it back up again and saying, oops, wait. Okay, God, this is yours. I'm laying it at your feet again. Yeah. You know.

Heather Creekmore [00:17:45]:
Yeah. Yeah. Well, I'm thinking, even, like, so I did this. I set up this dichotomy between idolatry and surrender. Right. But I'm thinking so many of us are black and white thinkers.

Rebecca George [00:17:56]:
Yeah.

Heather Creekmore [00:17:57]:
Right. And so I think surrender gets messy. Because it's like, surrender's giving up. Oh, you mean I shouldn't try anymore. Right, Right. Like, so in a dating context, Right? Oh, I'm surrendering it. So, nope, I'm not going to go anywhere. I'm not going to get on any sites.

Heather Creekmore [00:18:15]:
I'm not going to do anything. I'm just. And I remember this is going to totally date me. And I don't know if. No, I'm older than you, Rebecca, but I remember there was this episode when Dr. Phil had a show.

Rebecca George [00:18:27]:
Listen, I love Dr. Phil. I grew up on Dr. Phil. I may be younger than you, but I love some Dr. Phil.

Heather Creekmore [00:18:36]:
So I remember he was talking to the single woman of, like. I don't remember if the episode was, like, called, like, how to Get Married or How to Find a Man or something, but it had some sort of title like that, which drew me in because I was a single woman. I remember him talking to a woman and being like, if a man would have to, like, fall on the windshield of your car in order for you to meet him, like, you are not, like, putting enough effort into your desire to get married. And I remembered thinking, like, well, that's a really good point. Right. Like, of course you got to put yourself out there. But then it's like, oh, wait, but I'm surrendering this to God. And it feels like this.

Heather Creekmore [00:19:15]:
Like, ooh, which is it? Yeah, Is it my work or is it my surrender? Like, how do I trust God and then, like, work as if it's all up to me? Right. Isn't that the Christian cliche? Like, pray as if it's all up to God and work as if it's all up to you. And I don't really know that any of that is good. Good.

Rebecca George [00:19:31]:
No.

Heather Creekmore [00:19:31]:
Right. Like what? Like what? How do we get past that, like, jumbled mental gymnastics of surrender means I give up, or surrender means I just have to, like, white knuckle it. Like, I'm really trusting God, but I'm doing all this work. I'm working really hard. I'm really trying to make this happen. Like, neither one of those are true. Surrender.

Rebecca George [00:19:52]:
I don't think 100%. I think you touched on something really important, and you're right in that we love black and white. Just in our culture, we're not. We're very uncomfortable with gray. However, what you described, I mean, I think theologians have been battling this and writing books and volumes on this for, you know, hundreds of years of, like, human responsibility versus God's sovereignty. Right? That's that's what you're getting at. Right. And so here's what we know.

Rebecca George [00:20:22]:
Do I know? Do I. Does God's word tell me that God is perfectly sovereign, perfectly in control? Yeah. Is that true when I meet the guy? Is that true when I walk through a miscarriage? Is that true when my kid who's trying to conceive, walk through a really long infertility journey? Yeah. Is it true when my coworker gets the promotion or when I get my. The dream job of my life? Yeah.

Heather Creekmore [00:20:50]:
Yeah.

Rebecca George [00:20:50]:
There is no end to this side of the, the spectrum. We like to see it on a spectrum. And I think maybe that's part of the problem. Right, right. So it, I think it's less of a. There's human responsibility on one end and God's sovereignty on the other. And we have to figure out where on that spectrum that we fall versus recognizing that is true of God yesterday, today, forever, despite what my circumstances look like. And so God, how do I see that rightly, in light of who you are, in light of where you've planted my feet? And, and that does include the condition of our hearts about it.

Rebecca George [00:21:31]:
And I think some of the kind of trite statements that you mentioned are part of the reason why that feels so unnatural for us in our culture. And so I think what maybe one of the results of that becomes is we think about that thing we want. Let's just, let's just pick becoming a grandparent because of the demographic of your audience. Maybe some of our friends listening are just their hearts are so longing to become a grandparent. Okay. Is God good when your child is able to conceive and have that baby? Yeah. Is God good when that is more of a difficult journey? Yeah, absolutely. But what tends to happen is we tie his character to getting the thing we want.

Rebecca George [00:22:22]:
But the equation of that, if we, if we work it all the way out to its conclusion, has to also mean that when we don't get the thing we want, well, is God good? Is he in control? Right. And so something that God has really been challenging me with is kind of un. Tying those things. Right. And recognizing like this truth over here is unchanging. And that includes his sovereignty, his in controlness, his grace and mercy towards us, his loving kindness towards us. All those things are true because he's immutable, because he doesn't change. And so that actually is the thing that I stand on in both the mountaintop and the valley.

Rebecca George [00:23:02]:
And that helps me live in the gray a little more comfortably, you know?

Heather Creekmore [00:23:09]:
Yeah, yeah. I've a. I have a chapter in my 40 day body image workbook where I talk about black and white thinking and I talk about. It's not necessarily we have to live in the gray, we have to live in the grace.

Rebecca George [00:23:21]:
Yeah.

Heather Creekmore [00:23:22]:
Right. Like that's. The middle spot is like, it's, it's accepting that God's grace is over everything, even if I don't understand understand it or like wish it was different. It's like, okay, like this is still like part of his sovereign grace in this situation.

Rebecca George [00:23:40]:
And I think part of the control thing from earlier causes us to believe that like, we hold the pen to our lives. Right, Right. So circling all the way back to that, I think it requires a little bit of a perspective shift on our part to recognize like, we're not the eternal one. We're not the one who has all knowledge and wisdom. Right. And so I think when we zoom out and realize who our God is and, and fix our hearts on that, that also helps me recognize my perspective is not, is not perfect. I'm seeing through a mirror very dimly. Right, right.

Rebecca George [00:24:17]:
You know.

Heather Creekmore [00:24:18]:
Well, yeah. And that's, I guess, where surrender meets humility. Yeah.

Rebecca George [00:24:22]:
Like, so good.

Heather Creekmore [00:24:23]:
And, and humility is really like another cure for id. It's like that humble. I hate to use the word to define the word that's not good English grammar there. But you know, it's like, oh, what's another word for humility? But like, it's really like saying you are God and I am not.

Rebecca George [00:24:44]:
Yeah.

Heather Creekmore [00:24:45]:
Right. And, and I've got to be okay with that.

Rebecca George [00:24:48]:
Yeah.

Heather Creekmore [00:24:49]:
And then any place in your life where you can't be okay with that, it's like, oh, oh, oh, maybe there's an idol there. If I'm not okay with saying that around having children or around whether or not my body changes in the way I want it to change or, you know, my job situation or any situation. Oh, it's hard. But then I love what you said, like, right. It's. You have to know that he's good too. You have to believe that he's good. If you can't believe that he's good, it's really hard to have that posture.

Rebecca George [00:25:26]:
Totally. And like, okay, I went to the physical therapist not that long ago about an injury that I had. Right. And so sometimes when we go to the doctor and something's hurting us, something's bothering us, the doctor will press on that thing. Right. And sometimes it's. It's that immediate knee jerk, like, oh, ouch. That, that really Hurt.

Rebecca George [00:25:44]:
And there's a couple reasons for that. One, either the doctor press too hard or there's sensitivity there. Right, right. And I think the same is true with the idols of our hearts. Right. When God presses on that, we know that his perspective is perfect. We know that as his children so many times he will. He will convict us of sin.

Rebecca George [00:26:03]:
He'll. He'll reveal those ways in which we're seeing a situation that's contrary to how he sees it. But we have to be willing to go, ooh, yeah, God, you pressed on that because there's sensitivity there. And so I'm recognizing. Yeah, that's become an idol.

Heather Creekmore [00:26:18]:
That is so good. Right. Because, I mean, I go to the chiropractor and sometimes I get my jaw adjusted. Have you ever had your jaw adjusted?

Rebecca George [00:26:25]:
Okay, here's a hot take. I have never been to a chiropractor, and I think I have trust issues. I can't. I can't do it.

Heather Creekmore [00:26:33]:
Getting your jaw adjusted, that sounds terrifying. Terribly painful thing. Right? And she doesn't naturally adjust your jaw. Like, that's not kind of part of the normal routine. I have to say. There's a problem. Could you please adjust my jaw? And every single time it's like, oh, I don't know if I actually want to acknowledge that because that means, like you said, that means she's going to put pressure on there and it's gonna hurt like the dickens. But then afterwards it's better.

Heather Creekmore [00:27:06]:
It feels better. And so I. I love that illustration.

Rebecca George [00:27:11]:
Right?

Heather Creekmore [00:27:11]:
Like, yeah, like. Like it is gonna hurt if the doctor's pressing on it. If Dr. God, if the Lord's pressing on it, it might hurt for a season. Right. But all discipline, those he loves, and it's gonna be helpful. And so it's like, wow, okay, let it hurt. First season.

Heather Creekmore [00:27:32]:
Walk with Jesus through that, knowing he's with you and then knowing, oh, goodness, it's gonna be better once on the other side. Yeah. Yeah. That's really good. Okay, so you have this beautiful, lovely book that I mentioned.

Rebecca George [00:27:46]:
Yes.

Heather Creekmore [00:27:47]:
Have a couple minutes left. But I just tell us more, like, what's in it? Like, who should get this book? And I don't just have older listeners. I've got listeners of all ages.

Rebecca George [00:27:58]:
So I love it.

Heather Creekmore [00:27:58]:
I know, I know. You are not too late. Is going to apply to women of every age.

Rebecca George [00:28:04]:
Yeah, yeah, I love that. I say in the introduction of the book that this book is for the hopefuls, the almost, but not yet, the crushed in defeat, the stunned by a lack of progress. And the weary woman ready to hang up her jersey. And I think that speaks pretty, pretty loud and clear to who it's for and in some way, shape, form or fashion. Almost every woman I know feels that way in some regard in their lives. And so we kind of take a look at 10 different areas of our lives where there may be a common sin, struggle or challenge that usually accompanies trusting God in some area of our lives and what it looks like to kind of turn towards a biblical narrative, a gospel centered view of that. And so you mentioned earlier, I think really well, this was not a book that I felt like we could just read and just shake our hands off and just move on. And so it is really interactive.

Rebecca George [00:28:58]:
So at the end of every chapter there's some prayer prompts and questions and case studies of like, how this might play out in somebody's life. And so I hope those are helpful. We also did an interactive video series that comes with the book for free. There's an 11 session series where I just give you a little jolt of encouragement if you're going through the book alone or it's a great way to start off your sessions in a small group or book club type of situation. And so we've really done all we could to make it interactive and fun. And so, yeah, you can grab it anywhere books are sold. Love it.

Heather Creekmore [00:29:31]:
Love it. Rebecca. It's called you're not too late Trusting God's Timing in a Hurry Up World by Rebecca George. Rebecca, tell everyone where they can connect with you. You said follow you on Instagram so they can get earring updates. What's your handle? Yes, where can we connect with you?

Rebecca George [00:29:48]:
Totally. I am Rebecca George, author over on Instagram, so I'd love to have you over there. And I have a podcast myself which Heather has been on a couple of times. So look in the archives and you can find those episodes over on Radical Radiance. You can listen wherever you like to download podcasts and I think I said this, but you can grab the book anywhere books are sold. Awesome.

Heather Creekmore [00:30:08]:
Rebecca, thanks so much for being on the show today.

Rebecca George [00:30:10]:
I'm so grateful for you and thank.

Heather Creekmore [00:30:13]:
You for watching or listening today. I hope something today has helped you stop comparing and start living. Bye. Bye.

Disclaimer: This transcript is AI-generated and has not been edited for accuracy or clarity.