What Does It REALLY Mean to Trust God with All Your Heart? || Victory Church [Cafe Convos #8]

Young. Yes. What's up, my friend? Good to see you, KB. Good to see you, man. Thank you for coming here to my cafe. Of course. I heard you guys are filming Rush Hour 5, and I was like, I gotta be here. You're the perfect candidate. I'm Chris Tucker, you're Jackie Chan. Let's do it. So I would love to know what we have here in this cup. So this is iced oat vanilla latte. Iced oat vanilla latte. I feel confident in the vanilla. I feel confident maybe in the, what was the second word? Oat. Oat. I like oat milk. Yeah. So we're 50% right now. Cheers. Cheers. Okay. Oh, hit it. Yo, this is actually not bad. Fire. I will say this. I usually drink it with soy

because all Asians are lactose intolerant, but this is good. I think most black people are lactose intolerant too. We just don't care. And we all like fried chicken. How about that? And we do. Cheers to that. Can you think about a time or a situation, I'm sure you got plenty, where you were going through something trying to figure it out, and at the end of it you were like, dang God, you had this under control the whole time. Why didn't I just trust in that? So last year I got laid off from a great job, like great corporate job, like very, very well-known consulting company. And I was high performer, a lot of sleepless nights, right? I was like producing and all that stuff, producing like projects and all that. And I got let go in April, and I was like, okay, Lord, all right. And I remember like people around me, like small group members saying like, hey, just take this break, like jot down what God is desiring for you for next steps. And I was like, nah, man, I'm trying to get a job right now.

Like I need to do something. I got bills to pay. And I remember just going straight in, right? Not really consulting God and like what he desired for me, and just go straight into like applying for jobs, and just getting rejected. My small group member just two days ago shared with our group that like, our trust in the Lord really dictates the amount of peace that we will get, right? The more we trust in God, the more we receive peace, right? And I think because I didn't take time to consult or even trust God, there was no peace like in my personal life. Like I was like second guessing myself as a husband, as like a, just as an individual, I felt like a failure because I was getting rejected left and right. And yeah, it was like the six months of applying and not getting anything. And really, it's even kind of crazy, like even how I even landed a role at here at Victory as staff, or doing small groups, just like how God opened that opportunity for me. And really, really what came down to it was like, it was either this other company that I was interviewing for, or it was this ministry job here at Victory. Yeah.

And- Had you ever like worked in ministry before? No, I mean, we kind of like, I've done like children's ministry when I was like younger, but like not at to this level. Yeah, not like actually on staff. Exactly. Like working for a church, yeah. Exactly, and this is like another ballgame too. It's different, bro. Yeah. It's different. And like getting to lead people, younger, older, all types of background right now are like different for me, and it has been like, was like daunting at first, but I think God has been good. And yeah. Have you like, since coming through like that story, like, do you feel like, all right, God, I'm not gonna doubt you anymore. Like my trust is fully, totally in you every single time. Like have you played yourself like that? So I trust God when things are going well. Talk about it, dog. Yeah, but like when things are happening,

and I'm like- It's hard. And I'm continually fighting for, like fighting myself to like, to trust him each and every time. And I'm like, my prayer always is like, Lord, like remind me of the things that you've done. Yeah. Remind me of the things that like, I've heard about, like testimonies I've heard from friends in my own life. And like, so that way I get to like rest in your trust and rest in that peace. But yeah, it's a progress. Yeah. Yeah, like me and my wife are having this conversation. She was talking about a friend of hers who has been struggling like with faith. And really because she couldn't reconcile this thought of like, why do good things, bad things happen to like good people, right? And it comes down to, we don't know God's plans. We don't know God's ultimate story that goes well beyond our current situation. situation, and it's like, but the proverb like talks about trusting the Lord with all your heart, you do not lean to your own understanding, but in all the ways and everything you do,

kind of like you said, consult, acknowledge Him, and then He'll kind of guide you through it. But it has to start with the trust. Like that whole passage starts with the word trust. And if we don't trust it, then we're constantly questioning what's going on, what's happening. And I still think, you know, I can trust in God and what He's doing, not understand what He's doing and ask a question. I'm not necessarily questioning Him. I'm just like, how long does this go last? If you can give me a hint, you know what I'm saying? That'd be helpful. But if you don't tell me, that's fine too. No, I think like what you said hits home, like when you said too, like, why do bad things happen to good people? I think it seems bad in the season, right? Even like going back to the story of me being laid off during that six months, like that was a period where I had to like unlearn a lot of stuff. Like case in point, like I remember I was interviewing for a well-known chicken place in Atlanta. The Holy Chicken? The Holy Chicken. Like went through multiple rounds and I didn't get the job. And like we have the saying, right? Like, oh, man's rejection is God's protection. But like what I realized now is that like God was not protecting me from the chicken place. God was protecting the chicken place for me, right? Because in that corporate mega consulting job that I had, I developed a lot of bad habits. A lot of like performance mindset, like a lot of like, I was nice, but I was also very straightforward. Were you cutthroat? Yeah, pretty like, very like, like I didn't really sugarcoat things. I was a very nice person. But for the sake of performance and speed and efficiency, I was like, like to the point. And not every organization culture is like set up for that. And like, that was not normal. And like, I had to unlearn a lot of that, like during that six months. And like, even now I felt like I'm unlearning a lot of those, like here at, even as a staff here. Because I just want to be a better steward of people, right? And not just the project overall. So that six months I think was necessary for me, for God to put me in so I can be ready for this role that I have now. If I had this role in May or like the following month that I got laid off, I would not. Not been ready. Yeah, not been ready. And I think I would have hurt a lot of people. Yeah. You know what? That, that is so good, man. Cause timing and being ready for what God takes us to is so, so important. And it's like you said, it's just trusting his path, trusting how it goes. I think like about marriage. Yeah. Like I love my wife. I've been married for 17 years, you know, this past June, let's go, let's go, let's go. You know what I'm saying? And, but, you know, before her, I had, I was in other relationships, you know,

other relationships that may have, could have led to marriage, but I wasn't ready. Even if that other person was ready, I wasn't ready in my heart. I wasn't ready in my mind. And if I had taken that step prematurely, immaturely, like it, I can only imagine the type of damage that it could have caused. Not only me, that other person or whatever children we may have had, but when we are trusting in his timing, his path, and we allow ourselves to be open to the lessons like you learned and just allow that time to just shape us, it only betters us. And it just instills our trust in him. Like you said, we're able to kind of look back and be like, okay, yeah, you knew what you was doing the whole, whole time. How do you think we balance trusting ourselves, trusting our intuition with trusting the Lord? Yeah. I think if it's tagged with like anxiety and like the absence of peace, right. I think oftentimes just me personally, it's a show tell that like, I'm just doing it on my own. Right. And like, it's like me producing and me trying to push for things rather than like allowing God to like work it and allowing God to like move hearts and doing all that. I think that's like the key thing for me. It's like, if I just trust God and submit whatever my ideas that I may have, whether it be good or bad, I'm like, Lord, like if it's not it, like close the door in my face right now. And if it's you, like I leave the rest up to you and just give me the peace to live with whatever the outcome may be. So yeah, even right now, as we're talking, my brain is just processing again, like that first verse, uh, just trusting the Lord, lean not into your own understanding. Right. But it's like, Lord, you, you, you've given me thoughts, like you give me ideas, like they, they come out, you give me the will to, to think of these things. Um, but. Ultimately, I wanna submit it to you. You know, ultimately, whatever thought or idea, even if it's coming straight from me, I wanna line it up with you. And if it doesn't line up with, you know, what you are feeling or guiding me to, then I need to trust you enough to let it go. Trust you more than I trust myself, you know? Because the older we get, the new experiences we come against,

the new trials we come against, it's always an opportunity for us to feel like we gotta jump in and fix it and do it. Kind of like what you said. It's like, when you gotta lay it off, it's like, no, I have to do this. It's like, you remember that movie, John Q? And- And- Wait, that's Elle? Yeah, yeah. I didn't know that one. And the wife is like, do something, John. It's like, that's like that vibe we get. It's like when tragedy or like craziness starts to happen in our lives, especially as husbands or fathers or just men, it's like, okay, it's my responsibility to fix this. It's my responsibility to get it done. But the truth of the matter is, it's really not. Yeah. It's really not. We gotta, I have to pause in that moment. And I've been telling some of my friends not to just react, but to just pause and respond. Like, let God speak into it, consult him, acknowledge him in all the ways that I'm trying to do, and then let him speak into it. No, I agree with that. I think for me personally, it's like,

not just how quickly can I react to things. That's good. To your point, how quickly can I respond in submission to whatever's happening? And I am terrible. I am terrible. Every time I'm like, something's happening? Okay, because I'm such a problem solver, right? I'm such a solution-oriented person. And I will spend weeks or even days just doing it on my own. Then I'm like, Lord, I am stressed. Clearly, I did not submit things to you. And I think it's like that reframing constant readjustment, constant having really grace for ourselves too, right? That over time, our hope is that we are getting better and better at submitting things. So, resonate hard. Well, what I can say is getting better and better is the coffees that I'm drinking, because this one is probably one of the best ones that I've had, bro. So, like, kudos to you. Like, I probably won't finish it because I feel the caffeine already making me go like this. But taste-wise, it's good. Yo, bro, I appreciate you coming to hang out with me, dude. Good to talk to you.

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