No FEAR FALL: What Christian Women Really Need to Fight Fear [Podcast Transcript]

Title: No FEAR FALL: What Christian Women Really Need to Fight Fear [Podcast Transcript]

Podcast Date: October 7, 2025

Description: In this episode of Compared to Who, Heather Creekmore and Erin Kerry explore overthinking, stress physiology, and how Christian women can integrate Scripture with practical strategies for mental and physical well-being. The discussion touches on personal stories, neuroscience, trauma, and actionable practices to calm the mind and body.

Listen Here:

In this special "No Fear Fall" series kickoff episode, Heather Creekmore digs deep into the connection between faith and fear—two powerful forces that shape our daily lives. Have you ever wondered why “faith over fear” doesn’t always seem to work in real life? Are you struggling to connect your big beliefs about God to your everyday worries and anxieties? This episode is for you.

What This Episode Covers:

• Faith vs. Fear: Heather challenges the widely held belief that faith and fear are simply opposites in a tug-of-war. She explores why this dichotomy might not be the most helpful way for Christians to approach their struggles.

• Micro Fears and Mosquito Bites: From perfectionism and the fear of failure to tiny, everyday anxieties (like being the “fattest person in the room” or just being late), Heather shares how these micro-fears sap our joy and confidence.

• Applying Faith to Real Life: Learn why just telling yourself to "have more faith" doesn't always solve the problem—and what true, biblical faith actually looks like in the face of daily struggles.

• The Object of Your Faith: Is your faith in God’s character and goodness, or just in Him delivering the results you want? Heather unpacks the difference and warns against letting new age manifesting ideas creep into our beliefs.

• Practical Biblical Encouragement: Heather references Philippians 4 and the life of Abraham to illustrate that faith can be messy, imperfect, and still deeply meaningful. She offers encouragement to keep trusting, even when God’s answers aren’t what you hoped for.

Takeaways:

• Real, life-changing faith is rooted in the character of God—not in specific outcomes or your own plans.

• It's okay to bring your desires to God, but hold them with open hands, trusting His greater wisdom and love for you.

• Even imperfect faith holds value; God honors hearts that keep coming back to Him.

Resources & Next Steps:

• Join the 40-Day Journey: Struggling with body image or insecurity? Sign up for Heather’s 40-Day Journey at improvebodyimage.com for six weeks of biblical encouragement.

• Free Email Challenges: Grab the “10 Days of Encouragement” or the “5 Day Body Image Challenge” at the same link!

• Connect: If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a review—your feedback encourages us and helps others find hope!

Listener Questions:
What fear are you wrestling with right now? Where have you been disappointed with “faith not working”? Reflect on the true object of your faith and consider how you can trust Jesus with your big and small anxieties this week.

Subscribe & Share:
Don’t miss the rest of the "No Fear Fall" series! Subscribe and follow Compared to Who? on your favorite podcast player. Share this episode with a friend who could use some real hope.

Related Episode:
Last Friday’s episode with Erin Kerry on overthinking and spiraling micro-fears. Check it out for even more ways to process daily anxieties. 

For more Christ-centered encouragement, visit lifeaudio.com.

Keywords: faith and fear, biblical faith, anxiety, Christian women, overcoming worry, perfectionism, body image, Heather Creekmore, No Fear Fall, faith over fear, daily encouragement, trust God, manifesting vs. faith

Thank you for listening! Heather hopes today’s episode helps you stop comparing and start living.

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

Transcript

Heather Creekmore [00:00:02]:
Life Audio. Hey. Hey, friend. Heather Creekmore here. You're listening to the Compared to who Podcast. This is a podcast for you if you're a Christian woman, period. I should just say period at the end of that and just end it there. Because we talk about so many different topics on this show, I know there's going to be something that we cover that's gonna hopefully hit you right where you need it to hit.

Heather Creekmore [00:00:27]:
But today, this month, we're starting a new series called no Fear Fall. So every Tuesday, we're going to tackle a new area of struggle and we're going to see how fear is often the underlying issue under a lot of these things we struggle with. So we're going to talk about things like perfectionism, which is the fear of really messing up, right? That's what we mean when we say we're a perfectionist. We never like to get things wrong or never mess up. We're going to talk about the fear of failure, what's behind our drive for achievement and success. There's fear that's hiding there. And some of us, oh, I've done this. We use busyness to mask our fears there.

Heather Creekmore [00:01:12]:
We're going to also talk this month about fears of being alone, fear of rejection, and what's under the surface of those two. But today we're going to start with the basics. The basics for most Christians, like we've learned, there's this dichotomy we've learned it's faith versus fear. Like, that's the tug of war match going on. You've got to have more faith than you have fear. You gotta have faith to trounce your fear. Some of you may have even heard that you can't have faith when you have fear like that. Fear eliminates faith.

Heather Creekmore [00:01:43]:
Maybe you've learned the opposite. Maybe you learned it's okay to have both because it's healthy to have fear. But you still have your faith, right? It's so confusing. And I have a feeling a lot of you have been trying to just fear not, right? That's what scripture commands, fear not. And you're trying to muster up more faith or maybe find faith like a mustard seed and you're not really sure. Does that mean I need more faith or just little faith? Or do I need better faith or do I need stronger faith? Oh, it's so messy, isn't it? And that's where the series is going to start. So I'm so glad that you're here today for it. Hey, our 40 day journey does start today.

Heather Creekmore [00:02:17]:
You're not too late. Go ahead. Go to improvebodyimage.com, look at the 40 day journey. Join us for six weeks of encouragement, especially if you have body image issues. But even if you just struggle with insecurity and just wondering, am I okay? What does the Bible really say about who I am and who God created me to be? Friend, this 40 day journey could just change everything for you. So go to improvebodymitch.com and hey, if we're not email friends already, go to improvebodymitch.com and sign up for the 10 Days of Encouragement or the 5 Day Body Image challenge. I got a lot of free stuff there. We would love to connect with you.

Heather Creekmore [00:02:54]:
Now let's get to today's episode. Okay, so today we're going to talk about faith versus fear. And many of you may have learned these as opposites. And there's probably some truth to that, but we're going to test whether or not that's actually the whole story. And we're going to look at why that dichotomy, that faith versus fear might not be the most helpful way for us to, to frame things. Now, don't get me wrong, right? We are in a battle, and that battle is between good and evil. We talked about this on the show a few weeks ago. I think it's time for us to see that battle and to understand that our faith is more important than ever.

Heather Creekmore [00:03:48]:
I mean, arguably, it's always been important, right? But we have to be all in. We have to live as people who follow Jesus, who Christ. We have to live what we say we believe. We can't just keep it inside. We have to live it out loud. And so part of that should inspire a boldness, a bravery. It should inspire us to look at evil or fear that comes from Satan in the face and say, no, my God's got this right? So there is that aspect to this faith versus fear dichotomy. We should live more bravely because of what Jesus has done for us.

Heather Creekmore [00:04:32]:
Because isn't that actually the bottom line here, friend? Like we say, we believe big things, right? We believe Jesus died on the cross. We believe that we can access God, the God of the universe, the God who created everything and everything around us. We actually believe we can pray to that God and that he hears us and that he knows how many hairs are on my head and that collects my tears, that he actually cares about me. And we believe that someday, thanks to Jesus, we're going to get to go be with God for eternity. Eternity. That's that's a long time. But yet what regularly happens to us is that we have this, and I talked about this a couple months ago, we have this big faith, right? We, we have this faith that's good for later. We've got this faith that encompasses what some people might call religious beliefs, but these are the beliefs that we hold dearly as Christians.

Heather Creekmore [00:05:34]:
We call that our faith. And then we've got these fears, these nagging little fears, like mosquitoes. All day long they're biting. They're sucking the life right out of us, right? And we're not really sure how to make this big faith that's about God and Jesus and resurrections and eternity in heaven. And like, how does that actually apply to these things? I'm just scared about, right? These fears I have about maybe losing my job or losing my health or losing a child or divorce or being cheated on or financial ruin, right? Like when we're pressed, there's some pretty big things that many of us would say deep down we're afraid of. We'd rather not think about them because there's fear there. But then on top of that, it's not just these big fears that we hold, right? We've got these little tiny fears. And those are the mosquitoes that nag at us all day long, right? Those are what I would call micro fears.

Heather Creekmore [00:06:41]:
I'm afraid I'm going to be late. I'm afraid I'm going to be the fattest person in the room. I'm afraid my kid is not going to get into the college that I want him to get into or he wants to get into. I'm afraid my kid is going to get exposed to something at school that's going to be damaging. I'm afraid if I don't say the right thing in this meeting, I'm going to get fired. I'm afraid that no one takes me seriously. I'm afraid my husband is looking at other women. I'm afraid my friend is talking behind my back.

Heather Creekmore [00:07:05]:
Like I could go on and on and on and on and on. And we don't always see these as fears. In fact, the episode I did last Friday was with my friend Erin Carey, where we talked about overthinking and worrying and spiraling. And for some of us, this is like a serious mental health issue because we live in these spiraling micro fears, these anxieties, these worries all the time. For others of us, it's just more like the mosquito bites, right? Maybe we have 10 a day, maybe we have one an hour. But we don't always identify these worries we have as fears. And honestly, I wonder if we don't call them fears, if we call them worries. Because somehow maybe it feels more appropriate as a Christian to worry instead of fear.

Heather Creekmore [00:07:54]:
Because we've been told our whole lives, fear not. You just need faith, not fear. Now of course, scripture does tell us not to worry, not to be anxious for anything, right? But maybe not calling them fears is somehow a mind trick we're playing with ourselves and we verbalize these fears or these worries out loud. I mean, sometimes we hear from super well intentioned people like, oh, don't worry, just have faith. Just, you know, you just need more faith. You just need more faith. Not to worry. But as I've met with women and talk to women and counseled women and coached women over the last several decades, I've realized there's this big disconnect, right? It's like, okay, I just need more faith.

Heather Creekmore [00:08:34]:
I just, like, how do I muster up more faith? It's like I already said, I believe God, you know, sent Jesus to die on the cross for me. I already believe God created everything. I already know I'm gonna spend eternity in heaven with like, how do I get more faith? Like, I believe all those things and I feel like I believe them at a great level, right? What, like, what does it really mean to have a kind of faith that we can apply to our daily little fears? Because frankly, I think most of us never learned how to apply our faith to those little fears. We only learned that God told Joshua to fear not. And we try to tell ourselves that, right? Look in the mirror and we say, fear not, don't worry, be anxious for nothing. Take those thoughts captive. We try to do all the Bible things, but something doesn't work. Something's missing.

Heather Creekmore [00:09:30]:
It's like, maybe we can like hype ourselves up with that for a little bit, but then it falls flat. There's a missing piece to having the kind of faith that applies to every aspect of our daily life. And that's what we're going to dig into right after this quick break. So that missing piece is what I'm going to call little faith, right? So you have big faith that applies to knowing that you are saved and spending eternity in heaven. What you actually need more of is a little faith that applies to the dozens, if not hundreds of fears and worries and concerns and anxieties that you have every single day. And like I said in the intro, through this no Fear Fall series, we're going to examine these fears. But today, I kind of just want to give you a sample of what the punchline is going to be in every episode, right? Every time, it's going to be the same. We're going to go back to the gospel.

Heather Creekmore [00:10:28]:
We're going to see how the gospel speaks to each of these fears we have. We're going to see what the gospel tells us about having real faith. That is a faith we can live by. And that's why I think it's a struggle to just try to tell ourselves we need to have more faith. And faith over fear, like a coffee mug, catchphrase kind of faith, that's not enough. That's not what real faith is about. So let me illustrate for you how and why I think that this doesn't work for most of us. So here's a scenario.

Heather Creekmore [00:11:04]:
You have just moved to a new town, or perhaps you've changed to a new church, and you are going to be brave, and you are going to go visit a women's Bible study, or maybe it's a MOPS group. You're going to go to a new group, a meeting of all women at a new place where, you know, no one. Now, what would you feel like going into that meeting? Right? Well, like, if you're like me, you're going to wonder, like, am I going to be dressed right? Are people going to like me? Are people going to judge me before they get to know me? Or are they going to just judge me on what I look like? Are people going to be nice? Am I going to have to sit by myself? Because people already have their friends? Is anyone going to reach out to me? And if someone does reach out and, you know, tries to befriend me, is that person going to be nice? Is that person going to be normal? Is that going to be the person that everyone else avoids? And she's going to find me like a target because I don't know about her strange things. I don't know. But there's so many of these little fears that I would have going into a new scenario. Perhaps you've thought of some of your own. And so before going into that scenario, I would pray something like, okay, Lord, I'm really afraid that none of these women in this new group are going to like me. And then what you do is you try to apply your faith, and maybe you end up saying or praying something like this, right? But I believe, Lord, that I'm gonna be liked.

Heather Creekmore [00:12:38]:
Or maybe you say something like, you know, I've got faith. God, I know I Have faith that you can find me friends or God, you can find someone to talk to me today. God, I have faith that you can do this. Now let me be clear. God is sovereign and we can ask him for those things he wants us to ask him for those things he wants us to pray and say, Lord, please send a friend to send next to me. Lord, please send someone just to say hi. Like, let the nice person come and say hello to me. So I feel welco.

Heather Creekmore [00:13:07]:
Let me know that I'm seen in this new group, Lord, like, you know, I need friends. Send someone. It's totally okay to pray that again. I believe God wants us to come to him with these kinds of requests. And then as we pray, we know God can move and he can work. He can work in ways that others aren't even conscious of, right? Like he can stir the heart of a woman sitting all the way across the room and she doesn't even know why, but she gets up and she just feels like she's supposed to come sit down next to you and start a conversation just because she felt like she should, right? God can and does do that all the time. But here's the nuance, here's the distinction, my friend. You cannot put your faith in God doing that specific thing.

Heather Creekmore [00:13:55]:
You cannot put your faith in God acting the way you want him to act in God, stirring the heart of that woman in God, sending someone to say hi to you, right? That is not where you put your faith. Your faith isn't in what God will do for you. Your faith needs to be in who God is and what God's already done for you. And I think what happens too often, right, is we have these fears. Like my fear of being alone at this women's group, right? And I try to put faith on it. And the faith on it is faith that God's going to do what I want him to do. My faith is not in God. My faith is that God is going to send me someone to sit beside me at this event I'm attending.

Heather Creekmore [00:14:47]:
And when my faith is in God doing what I've asked him to do, then God is nothing more than my magic genie. He's my Aladdin. I've rubbed the lamp and I'm like, God, do this for me and he does it. It's like, thank you, God. That's not faith, in fact, friend, that's really faith in myself, right? That's not faith in God doing something. That's faith in me having the ability to make requests and have God snap to and do what I've asked him to do. It's really faith in my ability to get God to do what I want or need him to do. But then what happens? Like, what happens if no one comes and sits beside me, right? That faith lets me down.

Heather Creekmore [00:15:39]:
And because it didn't quote, unquote, work, right, the next time I face a scenario, a similar scenario, I might not even pray about it, right? I'm like, whatever didn't work last time to pray and ask God for help. So why would I try it this time, right? And we think our faith failed us. We're more afraid next time because our so called faith, quote, unquote, didn't work. But friend, that is not biblical faith. That is not faith in the God of the universe. In fact, it's actually a little bit more New Age than it is biblical. You see, real faith requires us to submit to God's sovereignty, to ask for what we want. But hold it loosely because we know that God is good and he is perfect and he is faithful to us.

Heather Creekmore [00:16:33]:
He is true to his promises, to his character, to his nature. But that doesn't mean he always gives me what I want. Because He's a good father. And if you're a parent, you know, being a good parent means a lot of times you say no, but nope, not gonna give you that. Nope. We're not gonna do that. Nope. Yep, you have a great idea, my toddler.

Heather Creekmore [00:16:54]:
That's a fantastic idea, toddler. But no, that's not a good idea. We're not doing that. You know how this works. And that's why I think we get into a lot of trouble a lot of the time when we try to just trounce our fears with faith. Because too often what we're doing is instead of saying, I have faith that God is good, that I am safe in the shelter of his arms, even if I have to endure this whole event alone. What we do is we subtly twist it just a bit and we say, I have faith that God will come through for me and the way I want him to come through for me. I have faith that God is going to send a friend to sit next to me.

Heather Creekmore [00:17:33]:
And that kind of faith doesn't trounce fear because it's faith in my own plan. It's faith in my will. It's my will be done, not God's will be done. And it's faith that says, I know what would be best for me or I know what's good for me in this scenario. So I'm saying God I just need to show up and do what I believe is best. And there's no ability for me in that to really trust God to provide what he believes is best for me. Instead, it's really trusting in my own plan. Because, let's face it, we all believe our own plans are what's best for us.

Heather Creekmore [00:18:15]:
Now hear me again, please. I want to be clear about this. There is nothing wrong with praying to have a friend or praying to not be alone. You can pray for those things specifically, but while praying for those things, you have to remember who the object of your faith is. Your faith can't be in God doing the thing you want him to do, because, like the scenario we're talking about, what if what's best for you is being alone? What if God really wants to minister to you at this event you're attending? Maybe through the words of the speaker or through the worship music or whatever it would be. And God knows you need to be alone so you're not distracted. Maybe if someone came and sat beside you, you wouldn't fully enter in because you'd be worried about what that person would think, what your new friend might think of you. Maybe God knows you need to be by yourself so that you can clearly hear from him.

Heather Creekmore [00:19:14]:
He wants to speak to you. Maybe this is the only time he thinks he can get you alone or knows he can get you alone or get your attention. And what if you view this scenario of not having anyone come say hi or sit with you as God letting you down or as God failing you, but what's actually happening is God's just trying to communicate to you in that moment of aloneness how loved and valued and safe you are in Him. Or what if he's trying to grow you up and show you that you can be okay going places by yourself, that it's okay even if no one talks to you? Like, what if you are never going to go back to this group again, but this experience is just preparation for that next place he wants you to go. Try and visit where you may have to visit alone again. You see, real faith isn't looking at what I've decided should come of things. It's looking at the God who knows all things. And this has become so confusing in our culture.

Heather Creekmore [00:20:24]:
Friends. New Age philosophies have suddenly woven their way in everywhere. I mean, I've heard Christians talk about manifesting things. Oh, it's dangerous if you're not familiar with manifesting. It's this idea that through believing, we can think a goal into being it's like, if I just believe hard enough, I can make it happen. And that's what some have done to this concept of biblical faith. They've put the goal as the object of their faith. I have faith that God can send a friend.

Heather Creekmore [00:20:58]:
I have faith that God will send someone to sit next to me. It's the object of their faith instead of the object of their faith being Jesus. And they're praying and they're asking God and they're believing for the goal. But that's not a biblical way to exercise faith. That's actually a New Age way to manifest. I mean, there's directions, instructions on how to manifest. Like, it will not take you more than one Google search to find thousands of different articles, blog posts, podcast episodes on how to manifest even. I just want to call this one out.

Heather Creekmore [00:21:28]:
Mel Robbins, she wrote a book called Let Them Theory. Like, she's become pretty popular. Like, hundreds of thousands of people are following her. But she did a whole series on manifesting. And so I just want you to know, like, this is a New Age concept that's creeping into places where it's like, yeah, well, she talks about menopause and she talks about some helpful things. No, like she believes in manifesting. And in this series she talks about, you just declare what you want, you write down what you want, you visualize what you want. You do like brain tricks to rewire your brain to get what you want.

Heather Creekmore [00:21:57]:
Then you act like it's going to happen. Right? And some of it sounds super innocent. And there is some good science around this that like, you can get things done if you write down your goals and set your goals and you know, know that you can do your goals. Like, like some of that is okay and it has a place, but we have to be super careful not to confuse that with faith and not to subtly let these New Age philosophies weave into what we are considering faith. Because what happens with manifesting and really the New Age philosophy aligns with this, is we begin to believe we are our own gods. Maslow's hierarchy of needs, the very tip top of it, is self actualization. And Maslow believed that as we met our other needs, we could eventually become kind of more and more godlike because we could take care of all of our needs and provide things for ourselves. And this just kind of blends right into this whole concept of manifesting.

Heather Creekmore [00:23:01]:
Right. Like I get to a certain place with my self actualization and understanding who I am and that I can just decide what's best for me. And then make it happen, friend. Like, go read your Bible. That is not how the disciples acted. That is not how any of the folks from Old Testament stories who were following the one true God acted, right? Their faith, their trust was not in their own decision making, their own abilities, really, even in their own plans. It was always in God. It was in Yahweh.

Heather Creekmore [00:23:41]:
It was in I am. They looked to him. They followed him. It wasn't like, hey, God, hop in the driver's seat. We're going to go this way. Here's my plan. Here's what I want to accomplish. It was no God.

Heather Creekmore [00:23:54]:
You tell me, what do you have for me? Show me where to go. Lead me, friend. That's why faith is hard, because we'd all rather lead ourselves. We'd all rather believe we know what's best. We'd all rather believe that our plans are good. And maybe if God would go along with our plans and I could believe he's good, too. But that's just not what faith is about. Now, I think the good news is, like, oh, God knows how he made us, right? He knows we're not going to exercise our faith perfectly.

Heather Creekmore [00:24:27]:
Look at old Abraham. Okay, so in the book of Hebrews, he's admired for his faith. But I just think we need to pause and remember the antics of Abraham. Okay? The guy got scared that Pharaoh was going to kill him, and so he said his beautiful wife was his sister, and his wife ended up becoming a concubine of Pharaoh. And, like, the guy did this twice, right? Because he was scared. Like, where was his faith in that? Why didn't he say, oh, God, I believe that you will protect me when Pharaoh tries to steal my wife and potentially wants to kill me so that he can make my wife his own because she's so beautiful. No, no, no, no. He was just like, yeah, she's my sister.

Heather Creekmore [00:25:08]:
Take her. Are you kidding me? I mean, Abraham struggled to trust God's will after God promised him a son. Okay, so God promises him you're going to have, like, more descendants than there are stars in the sky. He knows he's going to have a son, and then he starts looking at his watch or sundial or whatever, and he's like, I don't know, God. Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick. Time sticking away. And so he takes things into his own hands. He sleeps with Sarah's maid, Hagar.

Heather Creekmore [00:25:39]:
He has a baby. He tried to make God's promise happen, and it didn't work out so well. Like, there was a price for this that wasn't God's plan. God's plan was for Isaac, but Abraham's plan created an Ishmael. And literally hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of generations have struggled because Abraham's plan created an Ishmael. And there was big tension, still is big tension between the descendants of Ishmael and the descendants of Isaac. And yet, and yet scripture applauds Abraham's faith. So friend, be encouraged.

Heather Creekmore [00:26:12]:
Real faith is messy and it's scary and it's imperfect, but it always goes back to the object of faith, not outcomes or results of faith. This is one area that really upsets me in the Christian diet and fitness industry. I read a lot of things about, like having faith that you're going to meet your weight loss goal or having faith that you're going to meet your gym goals, right? And the faith is always about this objective, right? The faith is I, I have found faith. I can lose 20 pounds and God will help me. I have faith. I can get back into the regular habit of working out and God will help me, right? You're putting faith in your goals. You might as well be manifesting your faith has to be in Jesus in order for it to be biblical faith. He is the object of your faith.

Heather Creekmore [00:27:05]:
So what do you do with your goals? Right? I think you just give them to him. You say, okay, God, you know, the desire of my heart is to work out more, get healthier, and then you get to let him speak to you. Right? And you gotta be prepared for what he's gonna say. Because for me, his response was, oh, Heather, you've made that an idol. You're worshiping those goals more than you're worshiping me. You've let that come between me and you. Right? And then I'm reminded of what it says in Matthew. Right? Seek ye first the kingdom of God.

Heather Creekmore [00:27:40]:
Right? It's not seek ye first my goal. It's seek ye first his kingdom. When I am all in with the only object of my faith being Jesus, think about the freedom that allots me, right? Because my heart posture has to be okay. Again, not my will, but your will be done. And then what really has to come in and help me, right? Is knowing who Jesus is, knowing the character of God. If I don't know the character of God, I have no chance at trusting him. I just don't. Right? You don't trust someone whose character you don't know.

Heather Creekmore [00:28:18]:
You wouldn't leave your kid to be babysat by some random person you met on the street. Why? Because you don't Know their character. Similarly, you're not going to hop into a car with a stranger. Okay, maybe except for your Uber driver, but you're not going to hop into a car with a random stranger because you don't know their character. You're not going to let the random stranger lead you someplace. And so if you're not spending time studying the character of God and reminding yourself of who God is and how good he is and how much he loves you and what he's done for you through Jesus, right, you can't follow him. It's impossible. You're not wired that way.

Heather Creekmore [00:28:55]:
You're not wired to follow someone you don't trust. But when you determine, okay, the object of my faith is Jesus, I can live my life every day knowing that my faith is ultimately in him. No matter what happens at a micro level, no matter what these little things are that bother me every day, I can answer them. Not by saying, oh, God's going to take care of that. God's going to find me a parking space. God's going to find me a friend. God's going to make sure that I don't lose my job. God's going to make sure I get an A on this paper.

Heather Creekmore [00:29:23]:
Right? No, that's. That's not faith. Faith is, I know God's got me no matter what circumstances I face. We've. We've talked about that verse in Philippians, Philippians 4:13. We've talked about that on the show before. I did a whole episode on it. Right? But Paul saying, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me is not like I can give a great speech before a crowd.

Heather Creekmore [00:29:49]:
Because God strengthens me, I can go introduce myself to new ones, someone new. Because God strengthens me, I can meet my fitness goals because God strengthens me. No, Paul is suffering when he writes this, right? And what he's saying in Philippians 4:13 is that he's learned how to be content in any circumstances because he can do that through Christ who strengthens him. And so I want to close today just by reading Philippians 4. And the subtitle in my Bible says, be anxious for nothing. Think these thoughts and I'll read verse one through 13. Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for my joy and crowns, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved, I entreat Yodia and I entreat Syndicate to agree in the Lord. Yes, I ask you also, true companion, help these women who have labored side by side with me in the Gospel, together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers whose names are in the book of life.

Heather Creekmore [00:30:50]:
Here's where it starts to get familiar. Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always. And again I say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God. Let the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, the think about these things, what you've learned and received and heard and seen in me.

Heather Creekmore [00:31:33]:
Practice these things and the peace excuse me, and the God of peace will be with you. Verse 10 I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. Not that I'm speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound in any and every circumstance. I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. Friend, that's the kind of faith we need.

Heather Creekmore [00:32:16]:
It's faith that's not in circumstances going my way. It's faith in not me saying God, I want to go this way and going this way and then I've got more faith. No, it's faith in a God who is always faithful and can give us peace and strength and joy and even supernatural contentment even when things are hard, even when things don't go the way we prayed that they would or hoped that they would. So what are you struggling with today? What, have you kind of come to your wits end over where you're like? Man, I've been praying about that for so long. I thought I had faith. I don't know. My faith doesn't seem to do me any good. I'm still really scared that this is going to happen or this is going to happen or this is going to happen.

Heather Creekmore [00:33:06]:
What is that thing for you? Think about it. And then I want you to ask yourself, what is the object of my faith? Have I put my faith in God providing in the specific way that I expect or want him to provide? Or is a time that I had a little faith, a faith that takes my big God and Jesus fraternity, faith and puts it on this small situation, but then actually expands my view of the situation to see, wow, God's solutions, God's ideas. God's goodness is so much bigger than my little tiny mind could ever try to figure out. My faith is in Jesus alone, and so I know I can trust Him. I know I can trust Him. I know I can trust him to strengthen me, that I can be content even if it doesn't go my way, even if it doesn't go the way I planned or hoped it would. He's still good. And that's what Paul showed us.

Heather Creekmore [00:34:03]:
Paul showed us the kind of faith that still praises, still worships, even from prison. Even when maybe it doesn't seem like this is a good plan from God, but Paul knows it is. Because Paul knows where his trust is. He knows everything from God is going to be good for him and that's why he keeps his faith even in prison. He knows who his faith is in. Friend, I hope this has encouraged you. Come back and join us as we talk about other fears and ways that we can apply faith to those fears throughout the rest of this month. And hey, if you haven't let left a review yet, that would bless us so much.

Heather Creekmore [00:34:44]:
We don't have very many reviews in relation to how many listeners I know we have, so would you just stop and leave us a review right now? That would just be the kindest way that you could just say thank you if this show has touched you. Well, thanks for listening today. I hope something today has helped you stop comparing and start living. Bye Bye. The Compare do podcast is proud to be part of the Life Audio Podcast Network. For more great Christian podcasts, go to lifeaudio.com.

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