Count It All Joy with Kelli

Is it possible to find joy and gratitude throughout the process of making lemonade with all the lemons God gives you? Kelli opens up about her faith journey, one marked by both profound hardships and extraordinary revelations. She shares how growing up in a loving Christian household set a strong spiritual foundation, deeply influenced by her mother who brought God's presence into their daily lives. At the heart of her story is a pivotal moment at age 13 when she embraced James 1:2-4 as her guiding scripture, a passage that would carry her through the joy of marriage, the anguish of divorce, and beyond.

 This episode sheds light on the privilege of maintaining faith amidst life's darkest times, and how divine love can provide solace even during battles with anxiety and depression. Kelli's reflections underscore the transformative power of feeling accompanied by God's unwavering kindness and assurance that we are enough in His eyes.

Our conversation then goes deeper into the purpose of suffering and the unique strength it brings to our spiritual journeys. Kelli passionately speaks about seeing trials as opportunities for growth, resilience, and deeper empathy for others. We also celebrate the diversity within the body of Christ, emphasizing that each person's faith journey is uniquely valuable. This episode is a heartfelt reminder that true joy is rooted in hope and God's ever-present love, offering transformative peace and fulfillment no matter the circumstances. Join us for an uplifting exploration of faith, resilience, and the profound impact of remembering Jesus Christ in our personal stories.

Please reach out to me if you are interested in sharing your story! I would LOVE to hear from you. :)

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**Transcripts available on website!

Chapters

• 0:06 Remembering Jesus in Personal Stories
• 7:14 Discovering Hope in Dark Times
• 16:00 Finding Purpose in Suffering
• 28:26 Embracing Diversity in Faith

Transcript

Lily: 0:06

Hello everyone and welcome to. More Than Coincidence Remembering Jesus Christ in your Story as the author and finisher of our faith, our Savior writes personal experiences into each of our lives which can later strengthen, empower and bring us peace upon reflection. This podcast is dedicated to sharing these anchoring memories from everyone's unique stories in order to collectively remember and testify of the reality of Jesus Christ and his presence in our lives. I'm your host, lily, and I'm very excited to share these experiences together. All right, everybody, welcome to the podcast. Tonight we have Kelly. Kelly, how you doing?

Kelli: 0:45

I'm doing so good. I'm so excited to be here. Thank you so much for having me Lily.

Lily: 0:50

Hey, I am so happy that I get to talk to you and we've been able to catch up and this has just been. It's just been so much fun so far.

Kelli: 0:59

So do you mind introducing yourself for the audience? Absolutely Okay. So I'm Kelly, I am 28 years old, I am a mom and I'm a wife. I have two incredible kids. We live in Utah, super great. I grew up in a Christian household, so I was always kind of serving or doing ministry in some kind of aspect, and I'm so lucky that that is my story, because I had parents that love me, I had siblings that loved me and I got to be in churches where I felt loved and taken care of and really was introduced to God from a really, really young age and my mom just really made it a tangible thing for me from early on. So I feel really lucky, so yeah, that's so awesome.

Lily: 1:42

Well, Kelly, I'll ask you the question then what memories do you have in your life that you reflect on, that prick your heart and remembrance of our Savior Jesus Christ and anchor you to him? Oh my gosh Lily.

Kelli: 1:54

I love this question. I love that you're doing this podcast, just in general. Oh, thank you. Love this question specifically because I feel like it's very, it's very open-ended. I feel like the older I've gotten, the more that I've like realized and seen that he's been in everything right, like he's been in it all. It's like it's hard to narrow down just one specific memory or one specific instance, because it's like man, every instance he's been in and everything, all of the hard things, all of the good things he's, he's had his hands in. You know it's, if I'm looking back throughout the duration of my life, it's funny I I will try not to go through each individual of the 28 years. I will try not to do that because we could be here for a while.

Kelli: 2:43

So when I was younger right, we grew up in this Christian household God was always talked about.

Kelli: 2:49

My mom did such a good job, lily, of making God this tangible, real thing and really bringing him into the everyday of our lives, and so I never questioned, you know, if he was real or if he was there or if he heard me or anything, because she just made it so evident that that he was.

Kelli: 3:08

Yeah, yeah, um, so early on in my life I really felt like I kind of had a life verse that was given to me, not not by anybody. I was just reading through the bible and I really felt like this was early on. I was probably 13, 14 when this was when I felt like this really jumped off the page. But it it was James one, two through four, which says counted all joy, my brethren, when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patients, letting patients have its perfect work in you, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing, right. So that was given to me when I'm like 13, 14 years old. Yeah, I'm going to be real honest with you. I had been through nothing at 13 or 14 years.

Kelli: 3:47

I know, compared to now, you're like that was easy, junior high was nothing back then I was like oh, yes, oh, the trials that I'm going through, yes, I'm such an anxious angsty teen little.

Kelli: 4:04

Did I know, man, the scope of impact that that would have throughout the course of my life? Right, it's funny because it's actually. It's even like my instagram handle, like from when I was like 13 or 14 years old. I'm like, oh, this is it, like this is going to be the motto of my life. I did not realize that, um, it was going to be kind of difficult to count it all.

Kelli: 4:23

Joy, that's right, all is a big word and there's a lot that happens in a life to have to count it all joy. So as I got older, met a boy. We were best friends, typical little boy down the street situation. We fell in love. We got married. We got married really young and things just didn't work out and I was so devastated, really Like I was. I was beside myself.

Kelli: 4:53

It was the first time in my life that I really felt like God, where are you? What are you doing? Like, what are you doing? Am I just a joke to you? Like, I really felt like I had heard from him to you, know, accept the proposal and to move forward in marriage. We knew each other from church. Like we served together at church.

Kelli: 5:14

Like this, like I was, like this is, this is all I ever dreamed of. Like, what do you? Like? I felt completely literally like the rug had been ripped out from under me and it was devastating. I was devastated. I didn't know what I was going to do. I didn't know where I was going to go. I didn't know who would. My dream was always to be a wife and a mom and after that I honestly, lily, did not know who was going to want me. I'm like sick. I have a divorce on my record. And who's going to want that of this little like 20 year old girl? Like nobody wants a divorce, say it at 20 years old. Like you, nobody wants this like oh, which is not true.

Lily: 5:51

You can always start over, of course, not true now? I know this.

Kelli: 5:55

Now, the little little baby, 20 year old, kelly didn't know any better.

Lily: 6:00

I'm so sorry. I want to give her a hug.

Kelli: 6:02

Dude, same, same, oh my gosh, same. There's a lot I want to do to her, I swear, but it was crazy, dude, the way that the word met me in that space. So I have distinctive memories of driving around in my car right after everything had come out and like I was so devastated and I was so sad and I was so just brokenhearted. And I'm driving around in my car and, lily, I am screaming at God like a psychopath, like I am cursing him, I'm saying where are you? Why did you do this to me? I've spent my whole life serving you, I've spent my whole life showing up for you, and this is what you do to me. This is what you do to me.

Kelli: 6:41

I've been there you look like a fool, like I just was losing it on him and I, as I'm sitting there and I'm sitting in my car and I'm punching my steering wheel and I'm crying and I'm screaming and I just I'm it's the type of pain that, like you feel at such a level that you think you're never going to come back from, like the soul, soul crushing, body aching right right, just devastation, right, yeah, and as I'm sitting there and I'm so mad at God and I'm so mad at everything, I'm just so sad all of a sudden, like I have.

Kelli: 7:14

I had this one spot in the valley that I would drive to and it just was like this overlook where I could just kind of see the entire Utah valley. And it was night, it was dark and all the lights were on, you know, and I'm just like staring off over there, I, I'm so mad, I'm so upset and all of a sudden, like, just like a still small voice, right, just like he talks about it's almost like I could hear him just be like Kel, look, look out, look at all these, look at all these lights. Think about all those people that are out there. And I started thinking about that. Right, all of these people that are out there living their lives, doing their thing, right, each one of them is going through something, every single one.

Kelli: 7:49

The difference is you get to have hope for this thing that you're going through. You get to have me in this thing that you're going through and immediately, dude, it hit me like a ton of bricks where I was like whoa, you're absolutely like. I get to have hope, like I get to have hope, like I get to have the Lord to walk through. This there's, there's a whole Valley of people out here that might not know him, that might not have him, that have to go through hard things Like I at least I have hope. Like, at least I have the Lord, like I have someone. I'm not alone, I have someone.

Kelli: 8:21

Right, exactly, it was just and it was. It was so mind blowing to me that he met me with such kindness, right, and such such softness when I was so angry, lily, and I was so mad and I was so harsh and mean, and yet he still met, met me with this softness and this kindness and this gentleness. Right, I mean, it's like in the word, right, it talks about how his kindness is what leads us to repentance. Whoa, it was true for me, right? I was like, oh, my gosh, lord, I'm sorry that I've been such a spoiled brat.

Lily: 8:55

Like it's not about me and what I do for you, it's about you and what you've already done for me like just, and what you can do for me in the future, like you know my future and I don't know it and I can still and I think it's still okay for us to to grieve and to feel that pain. But I love how you bring up the hope. It's like I'm grieving and he's sitting here with me, grieving with me, but he says don't worry, kelly.

Lily: 9:26

Don't worry, kelly don't worry, lily, I have a plan for you. You might not know it, but put your faith in me and hope, and let's go together and start again. Exactly how beautiful is that we actually get to have that because of jesus christ oh it's, it's unreal, dude, it's, it's so it feels almost unfair.

Kelli: 9:42

I'm like, oh, oh, my God, like this is so special, like, oh my God, right, it's crazy.

Kelli: 9:50

It's like in that dude. It's been such a journey. This has been the constant theme I feel like throughout my life of like me finding myself in these positions of just deep sadness. I guess, like I said, this life verse was given to me of counted all joy and I wasn't ever expecting my life to be filled with a lot of loss. I feel like even at 28 right now, looking back, my life's been marked with a lot of loss, and that's not something you expect when you're 14 years old and you're being given a life verse about joy, like you know, right, but looking back.

Kelli: 10:29

These benchmarks in my life have been marked with a lot of loss, the divorce being one of them, but there's a lot of other things in addition to that. Yet, every time, the Lord has shown up, every single time, and it hasn't ever been dependent on how I'm doing, like, or what I'm doing, or like where I'm at or or anything. He's just always been there, like it's just, even, even as of recently. So I've struggled with anxiety and depression for a for a long time. Anxiety since I was a teenager, um, teenager. Depression, definitely in the last five years. And these lows that I will go through, lily, are so dark. They're so dark, it's just. I mean, there was situations just a couple years back where I, in all total transparency, total honesty, I did not think I was going to make it.

Kelli: 11:24

I was very ready to end it all. I was very ready to be done. I was very I did not think, I honestly thought that my being here in life on earth made people's lives worse and I needed to be done. And it was totally the depression talking Like it was totally I was. It was spiraling to a place that the things were so dark that that was literally what my, what I was believing. Yeah, even there, even there, as I'm sitting on my bathroom floor and I'm weeping and I'm, and I'm, you know, contemplating this and I'm doing this and whatever, even there, the Lord sat beside me and met me and said I got you. I got you Like I want you, I, you are actually enough. I, I, I do want you Like I, you do actually make things better because I made you like you because I made you.

Lily: 12:19

Because I made you, you are literally divine.

Kelli: 12:21

Like, yes, like that's exactly, dude, like it's just been so insane to me that he's never asked me to be any certain way or come to him in any certain way or show up in my Sunday best with my perkiest attitude and my happiest heart he's just looking for the rose-colored glasses.

Kelli: 12:45

And as long as I come to him with a thankful heart, then he's going to bless me and he's going to meet me. And it's just not been that way, dude. I can be at my very lowest, my very most difficult to be around, and he's still there and he still wants me and he still wants to hang out. Like it's been so spectacularly amazing. I can't even it's hard to put it into words the way that he's been so real to me and so sufficient, like more than sufficient. He's been so good to me even when I don't deserve it, like even when I've done nothing for him, even when I can't do anything for him, even when I can't give anything back. I physically, my depression, my anxiety, whatever is physically causing me to not be able to give him anything. He still wants me, he still wants to be by me. He still wants to hang out Like it's just it's, it's absolutely incredible, yeah, like it's.

Kelli: 13:49

It's mind-blowing and so the to think about. You know the ways that he has. You know areas in my life that he's pricked my heart, memories that I have. It's like god. All of them, all of them, all of them prick my heart. All of them remind me that he's been there. All of them remind me that, like he's shown up, because he's never left, like he's always been there.

Kelli: 14:08

I can't get him to leave. Sometimes I get so stuck in my depravity that it does feel like I'm pushing him away, like it feels like I'm actively being like. You don't want to see I'm unclean, I'm dirty. I'm pushing him away Like it feels like I'm actively being like you don't want to see me like this.

Kelli: 14:28

I'm unclean, I'm dirty, I'm so sinful Like I don't deserve you, like all of yeah, exactly, I feel like it's so easy for me to get stuck in that loop and that spiral of thinking well, I don't want to be around me. I don't think anybody else wants to be around me, right.

Lily: 14:44

Therefore, god does not want to be around me. I don't think anybody else wants to be around me, right? Therefore, god does not want to be around me, right?

Kelli: 14:48

Exactly. And yet he does. And yet there, there it is, and yet there it is, just consistently there, waiting for me to turn around, waiting for me to just open my eyes and just accept it. Right, it's just, it's beautiful.

Lily: 15:03

I love it. So I really, really love how you're bringing up this idea of counting it all joy and I feel like right now it's so I don't want to say impossible to do kind of in life and I just I feel like there are so many things going on in the world and going on in our lives that it is so hard to to feel that joy and to have that and to have that hope you know yeah it is.

Lily: 15:30

And so how do you? I guess my question to you would be, how have you been able to kind of hold on to that and and have that faith and that trust in Christ and in God, to and and hold on to it Like, why is that even something? When you're in your dark, your your lowest of lows and stuff. Why do you, why do you choose him?

Kelli: 15:55

You know, dude, such a good question, such a good question. Thank you so much for asking it. I honestly, it's because he's been the constant, he's been the thing that hasn't left. Yeah, he's been the thing that I know that I can always count on, um, so it makes it easier for me to run to him because he's been the thing that's always been consistent, that hasn't gone anywhere. You know, right, that's always been, it's always been and always will be. So that I mean that's, I know that at the root. That's the reason why, right Now, practically every day in regular life, right, it's super hard, dude, it's super hard to remember those things, because life does get heavy. Trials are hard, like, they're not called trials for nothing, like, like going through difficulties is not fun being refined, is not fun, it's not enjoyable at all.

Kelli: 16:56

Right, it's very difficult to count it joy, right? Yeah, I feel like, even just as a recently right, I mean even in the last like six months this is something that's really been like an eyeopening idea that I've tried to like hold onto. Is that I am tried to like hold on to? Is that I am privileged to suffer, which sounds actually insane? Oh, please no expound on that.

Lily: 17:16

I love that.

Kelli: 17:16

No, expound on that but I am privileged to suffer like. The Lord trusts me enough to stay close to him to, to spread his name, to continue to worship him. He trusts me enough to do that, that he would give me this heart thing, whatever. Whatever the hard thing might be Right, we all have different hard things. But to come at it from a perspective of like, I'm actually blessed that he would trust me enough to carry this hard thing, to carry this heavy thing, like I am honored among saints, that he would trust me enough to carry this, that he would trust me enough to, to, to bear his name and also carry this heavy Right. Right, it's been, it's been pretty game changing for me, dude, to like, think about, actually, I'm privileged to suffer, not just because of like, oh, it's so awesome that he would trust me with it, which is a huge part of it, but also I know that the suffering brings depth. The suffering is where the roots take, like, that's where they go.

Lily: 18:20

Yes, and that's the purpose right.

Kelli: 18:22

Like it gives purpose. Exactly Like he doesn't allow these things for nothing. It's not just. It's not just for nothing, it's not just. It's not just for for nothing, it's not.

Kelli: 18:31

so he can sit back and watch us be in pain and be like oh yikes, or it's not just for these tests or for these, these, whatever, like he's not just a puppet master in the sky watching us suffer and laughing about it. Right, you guys, he is actively involved, he's actively there and it's all so that we can have a deeper relationship with him and a deeper love for other people. Like, because of this suffering, because of these hard things, right, because of my struggle with depression, I now get to minister to people who have depression. Exactly, that's so sick, that's so rad, because they need somebody. Everybody needs somebody right Right.

Kelli: 19:09

So the fact that not only would the lord trust me to to carry this suffering right, but he would also trust me to use it for his glory, that's, that's rad, it's just, it's, it's incredible. I I do honestly and and some days are better than others right yeah, there still days that I'm like God. Why, what are you doing? For sure, days like that. And then there's grace, right, then there's grace to get me through that.

Kelli: 19:37

Then there's grace to hold on to me through that. But I can honestly say that my go-to at least what I always try to plant myself back into is the fact that this is bringing a depth in me that can only come through the suffering, it can only come through the hard things, it can only be brought out through that, you know, and that's encouraging.

Lily: 20:04

Yeah, and it makes me think about when he was in the Garden of Gethsemane and when he was hanging on the cross right, like if we didn't, if we didn't know the good from the bad, if we didn't experience horrible things, how would we know the joy of our redemption? How would we know? How we know how amazing if we didn't know sickness? How could we know health like we wouldn't? We wouldn't truly be able to understand and comprehend. At the end of the day, when we get to see him again and everyone's together again, it's like we won't understand the majesty of the resurrection and the majesty of what he did in Gethsemane until we can feel this Exactly.

Lily: 20:48

And it sucks, but at least at the same time, I love how you say it gives you depth and it gives you roots, because that that is what it is, and I think I and I also love how you bring up though, like we're human and it is okay for us to still kind of be like I'm so angry.

Lily: 21:05

And I, and I'm even even, even anger towards god I think absolutely I think sometimes at least I know for me I get so I beat up on myself a lot and I'm like, oh, if I was like a better, a better disciple of christ, then I wouldn't be angry that this is happening or sad that this is happening or feeling yeah, or feeling like this, but.

Lily: 21:27

But I love how you say like no. Literally in my darkest moments, christ came and sat next to me, even when I was literally in the process of pushing him away. He was like no, worries, I'll be back, I'll just be standing over here if you need something exactly, and that is that's literally him and that's literally his purpose is to be able to minister to us. So in our darkest times, so that we can also have him as that example and minister to others. And I just, I love that man.

Kelli: 21:57

I love that Dude. That's the thing I mean. Like I think it's so beautiful. I love that you bring up like the struggles that Jesus went through right, because it makes him real.

Lily: 22:07

It makes him tangible.

Kelli: 22:08

It shows us so clearly that this is not. We do not serve a God who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses. Right. He has felt the pain, he has felt the suffering. He knows this well. This is not like talking to your friend who doesn't know anything about mental illness or who doesn't know anything, dude. You are talking to someone who has experienced it all and loves you through it. And going back to this right, because I'm just like you, I am the same way, especially, I think being raised in church.

Kelli: 22:40

It's very easy for me to feel incredible amounts of guilt when I do not respond to situations appropriately, when I don't respond to situations with this joy, or when I don't respond to situations appropriately, when I don't respond to situations with this joy, or when I don't respond with this peace or this.

Lily: 22:53

You know this, I feel like it's like there's a right way to Jesus, there's a right way to disciple, exactly, exactly, and we kind of get wrapped up in that sometimes, which I do think that you know he gives us commandments so, yes, keep, you know, like there are right ways in that sense of keep his gospel, live his laws, but there's no right way to come to him. No, you know there's no right way to communicate with him and to sit with him Right.

Kelli: 23:20

He died on the cross for this like, for us. I have to remind myself of that all the time. He didn't die on the cross so that I could be perfect and I could get to heaven and not need him anyway. Like he died on the cross for this specific reason. And I keep coming back to this place of like because I again growing up in church, right, there's kind of this stigma between having negative feelings and negative emotions and negative thoughts. You're kind of expected to be happy and just like woo, the Lord is so good, like we, everything's good, like whatever, all the time.

Lily: 23:54

And.

Kelli: 23:55

I think, as I'm getting older, I'm realizing more and more that he created even the bad feelings too Like these are these. He created those too. He created us as multidimensional humans who feel everything. It's not wrong, it's not bad, like it's not even the anger right, even this frustration, even when it's directed at him, right. We're not talking to a God who is so small that he can't handle that.

Lily: 24:28

Right or he doesn't like want to deal with it no, right.

Kelli: 24:32

No, he's not like that dude, he's just simply not. He wants to pull us in closer during those times, during those times of he. He already knows we're feeling that way, like he knows everything he creates right, he knows better than I know myself he knows how I'm going to respond to things.

Kelli: 24:49

The fact that, like, he just wants us to allow him to be close, isn't that Because he already knows we're going through it anyway, like he already knows, right, right, I'm surprised to him, right? He just wants to be a lot of the opportunity to come close to us and then ultimately be our piece anyway, like he's where it comes from.

Kelli: 25:12

So it's like I have had to really work through in myself even the last couple years, like not making myself feel guilty for feeling sad or for feeling negatively or feeling angry or whatever, because the lord meets you in that spot too, dude. He created you, he already knows, you, knows you're going to. He knows those things. It's not a surprise to him whenever we don't respond to everything exactly the way that we're supposed to or should or whatever. That's what grace is for my man. That's why he did it, that's why he's there, that's why he wants us is because he knows that we're not perfect, like, and he never asked us to be. He never asked us to be. These are quick notions that we put on ourselves, I know and I don't know why we do that.

Lily: 25:54

I feel like that's just kind of one of the devil's like little tricks, right he's like you have you have to be perfect, and I feel like it's even cliche bringing it up because we're like, oh yeah, that's totally something that the devil just does a hundred percent. We don't seriously, because it's like, no, like that, literally, is one of the biggest things that drags us down is we feel so wrapped up in the what, the what. We're not exactly whatever, and whatever flavor that is of whoever that is, and so, and so we allow that to distance to.

Lily: 26:27

I think that in a way, we distance us from him, agreed.

Kelli: 26:32

Agreed, he never walked. Agreed, agreed, he's never pulling away. I completely agree. And that is the thing right. I feel like I at least for me personally, and maybe for you too I get so caught up in this idea that, like you're not enough, you're not enough, I'm not enough, I'm not enough, like I'm not doing enough, I'm not saying enough, I'm not being enough, I'm not loving enough, I'm not what, I'm not whatever, enough Right. And he never asked us to be enough. He said that he's enough. He said that he's me so like I don't know what I'm doing over here, trying to be enough Do all the things and like be a certain way and, and you know, try to try to do whatever.

Kelli: 27:11

It's all for not, dude, because he never asked that of us. Yeah, he asked us to, he asked us to be close to him, like he asked us to let him love us, and that's all I have to do, right right, exactly, and that that literally is.

Lily: 27:26

And it's funny that I think you bring that up, because I've had so many conversations with my husband where I'm just like in my, in the depths of like, oh, I'm such a horrible person, oh, I'm not doing enough, I have to be at this X amount of spiritual level to whatever you know. But. But he asked me. He's like okay, lily, but like, can you actually quantify that? Like, how will you, how will you know when you've arrived?

Kelli: 27:50

can you actually quantify that like? How will you, how will you know when you've arrived exactly, how will you know?

Lily: 27:52

and I'm like I don't know.

Lily: 27:53

I just I just know I'm not there exactly and it's so far away and then he's, and then he's like lily, you're, you're being silly and it's, but it's true, it it really is like, even looking back and in the scriptures and stuff, other like, like we said, other than like the strict commandments and stuff, or and even in our church, you know, we, in our temples, we make covenants, so we make, we make other additional promises with god, you know, and when we but those promises they're not necessarily hard, they're consecrate your life to him. You know there are things that are kind of like already aligned with his laws.

Lily: 28:31

You know and it's all, and it's all based off of how much are you consecrating to me of your soul, of your heart? Do you have a broken heart and a contrite spirit that you're giving to me? There is no line of, okay, you have to do x amount of good deeds and all of this and all of this. There is no hard line that in you know that he says you have to be this tall to get into heaven. Exactly.

Kelli: 28:56

There's none of that, but we put that on ourselves.

Lily: 28:59

And I think that it's important to remember that in this life, through the ups and the downs, we have to count it all joy and just remember that he is, he is there and because he's there we can be happy in this life and it doesn't have to be us. We can be stressed out and we can feel these, these negative emotions because, like we said, it's just a part of life, of course, part of being mortal, right, absolutely we're falling exactly right, we're falling exactly.

Kelli: 29:27

You can't help it, yeah no, this is it.

Lily: 29:29

But it's because of him that we can feel that joy and know like no, my heart is faced, like my heart and my eyes and my soul is towards you and even if I'm just like crawling there which is how it feels he wants that he's there and he's like I'm crawling with you.

Lily: 29:46

Let's just crawl together, or maybe he's like I can help you up if you want, but if you want to keep crawling, like you know, there's so many different flavors of it that I think, yeah, that I think I've at least seen in my life and that and through these interviews that I've seen with everybody else, which is just so encouraging to see, like no matter no matter what, like he literally is there.

Kelli: 30:07

And when we turn, turn to him.

Lily: 30:08

Even in the darkest times, we might not feel like, yay, peppy, it's joy but just like this peace.

Kelli: 30:15

You know there's a piece that passes understanding dude a hundred percent and I feel like joy.

Lily: 30:19

I feel like sometimes we even I don't know even mischaracterize joy, that it does have to be this like super, super peppy, like energetic like but it's not. I think it's. I think joy is just knowing that, that you are enough. It is this calm, quiet thing.

Kelli: 30:39

Joy is rooted in hope. I think joy is rooted in hope. Dude. I think that's where joy comes from is having hope and like so, even when you know life is hard and it sucks and it's whatever, like if you're rooted in hope, you have joy, because there's hope that things will get better, or not even the things will get better. Maybe it won't ever get better, right, but there's hope that you have someone in the fire with you that you're not alone.

Kelli: 31:04

It's huge dude, it's really game changing, I mean, I think. I think I think back on all the times that I've fallen short right, all the times that I haven't lived up to the 10 commandments or lived up to these, these cultural norms that we have in society. There's been so many dudes. There's been so many times that I've fallen short. It's just silly honestly.

Kelli: 31:23

It's just silly in big ways and small ways. I'm like whoa, dude, like, yeah, um, I think back on all those times and then I still come back to the place of the cross, right, I still come back to the place of actually, your grace is enough, yeah, and your grace covers that. Like whoa, your grace covers that too, and I think it's easy to get caught up in this idea of like it has to look a certain way or be a certain way, or we all have to think a certain way. Or, like whoa, your grace covers that too, and I think it's easy to get caught up in this idea of like it has to look a certain way or be a certain way, or we all have to think a certain way. But at the end of the day, dude, it's like being a Christian, being someone who follows Christ, who is in love with Christ, is not one size fits all. It's not. It's going to look different and it's supposed to look different. And it's supposed to look different, like it's good that it looks different.

Kelli: 32:09

Yeah, because one person's way of loving god and following him is going to minister to 10 other people's ways that look like that. My way of loving and serving god is going to minister to 10 other people that look and act and want well, it's the body of christ right.

Lily: 32:22

The body of christ right we can't have. The hand isn't the different than the foot we can't exactly, dude, we can't only what it is exactly.

Kelli: 32:30

We can't all be hands, we can't all be feet, we can't all be whatever. That's. It's the beauty of this diversity. It's the beauty in the way that we all serve and love him differently right they can come together in just this. Oh yeah, it's outstanding what the lord can do with that. When we're just leaning into it and we're just letting him take the reins right, we're letting him lead the way, oh, it's mind blowing what he can do.

Lily: 32:53

It's mind blowing, it'll change everything, it'll change everything. I love it. I totally agree. I love it and, honestly, I actually don't have any other questions or anything for you. Do you have any other final thoughts or things you'd like to bring up? I really I've seriously enjoyed our conversation. This has been. It's been so fun and, honestly, it's been really uplifting, because I feel like I've been really struggling to find joy. You know, and you don't get joy outside of things other than christ.

Lily: 33:21

Right then, it's through christ that it's the focus of our lives and when your life is focused on jesus christ, then that is truly where your joy comes from and I think exactly, I think I've even lost I think I've lost sight of that a little bit too, because I just sit here and I just kind of get. I get caught up in the daily grind of the, of course the running around and yeah, and am I doing enough.

Lily: 33:44

But it is so comforting to hear you testify and say like no, even in the trials and even in the things that you know, you can find that joy and that joy is that hope.

Kelli: 33:55

And I think that's something that.

Lily: 33:56

I've been lacking recently is the hope of the hope of I can be better, the hope of I can change, the hope of you know we can think, good things can happen and it's through him, through this dude, and yeah, exactly, and it's through him that these things can happen.

Kelli: 34:12

So thank you so much for like yeah for bringing that up like that's.

Lily: 34:16

That was powerful and I really appreciate you bringing that up.

Kelli: 34:19

Oh, dude of course I mean it's, it's all the lord, right, it's, it's all the lord, he's. He's the one doing all the work. I just get to be the mouthpiece. But no, dude. I mean God is so ridiculously good, he is so good in everything. Dude, he's going to pull you through the day to day. He's going to pull you through the daily grind. Right, he does all the time. He's got a plan, even in this, even in the day to day.

Lily: 34:45

He's got a plan for it time.

Kelli: 34:46

He's got a plan even in this, Even in the day-to-day. He's got a plan for it. Dude, he's not using it for nothing. He hasn't just left you off to see, to fend for yourself, to do your own thing?

Lily: 34:52

I sure hope so. When I'm raising these rugrats I'm like come on, baby, it feels like that some days right, it feels like it's like hello. Does anyone hear me?

Kelli: 35:11

what is happening? Yeah, right, right, it does feel like that. Yeah, it is a wilderness man it is a wilderness, like if I can, if I can leave you and leave anybody who happens to be listening, with anything, it's that he is with you in the wilderness man. He's with you, even when you don't feel like he is, he's there, he's, he's right there. I guarantee you he has not left you, he hasn't left you and he won't ever Lean into him. Lean into him.

Lily: 35:31

It's worth it 100%. Well thank you so much, Kelly, for your time. I really appreciate it. Oh, Lily, thank you so much.

Kelli: 35:38

I feel so lucky to get to talk about my favorite thing with you this is so cool the word is so good. I just really appreciate it, man. He's just been so good and just thank you for having me on. This has really been a gift.

Lily: 35:51

Hey, no worries, we'll talk to you later.

Kelli: 35:53

Yay, you're awesome. See you later.

Lily: 35:57

Thanks again for tuning into More Than Coincidence, remembering Jesus Christ in your story. Please follow us on social media or share us with a friend. If you have an experience you'd like to share, feel free to reach out to more than coincidence. Dot remember him at gmailcom. I can't wait to hear all of the amazing memories you all have of our savior. See you next time.