S8.Bonus 13 | God's Attention to Detail: Lessons from a Last-Minute MOUSTACHE
Join Carla where she explores the intersection of God's meticulous care and our daily lives. In this unique and thought-provoking session, Carla shares a personal anecdote involving her son's last-minute quest for a mustache and unfolds a powerful message about God's attention to even the tiniest details. Whether dealing with the aftermath of trauma, day-to-day anxieties, or the pursuit of faith amidst uncertainty, this episode reassures listeners that no concern is too small for God's love and consideration. Tune in to uncover the profound lessons hidden in life's simplicity and learn to trust in Divine provision for every aspect of your existence.
Did you know that Carla is a Christian Mental Health coach?
See if working with her is what you need in your current season.
Book a discovery call today!
Key Takeaways
God Cares About the Small StufF:
CarlCarla's anecdote about her son needing a mustache for a school presentation serves as a moving reminder that God's provision extends to even the seemingly inconsequential elements of our lives.
Prayer Over Wishful Thinking:
The podcast encourages replacing idle daydreams with active prayer, inviting God into all facets of our experiences, from the mundane to the monumental.
Invitation to Reevaluate Your Prayer Life:
The episode encourages listeners to reflect on whether they've been withholding seemingly minor issues from God and to practice surrendering these to Him in prayer.
Connect With Carla:
Inquire about 1:1 coaching ---> carlaagreswellness@gmail.com
Renewing Hope Course —-> https://www.carlaarges.com/renewing-hope
Come hangout on IG with me @carlaarges
Check out the blog
Resources:
5 Steps to Building Resiliency
Affirming Truths Facebook Community
5 Tips for Overcoming a Negative Body Image
Who You Say I Am Biblical Affirmation Cards
TRANSCRIPT
Carla Arges [00:00:08]:
Hey friends, welcome to affirming truths. I'm your friend and host, Carla Arges. This show is a safe place to share our struggles, grow in faith, and root our identity in Christ. My hope is that you will leave each episode feeling encouraged in your journey. Subscribe so you don't miss an episode and it would mean the world to me if you would leave a review. I am so glad. Here, let's get started.
Carla Arges [00:00:35]:
Hey friends, before we dive into today's episode, I just want to invite you to a webinar series that I'm doing running from April 23, 24th and 25th at 07:00 p.m.. Eastern. It is going to be a powerful series looking at trauma, the brain, and the Bible. It's called trauma, science and scriptures. Day one, we're going to look at what happens to the brain when trauma occurs. Day two, we're going to look at whether or not the Bible is silent on trauma. In day three, we're going to bring the two together. How do you move forward based on the science and the scripture? This is for you if you've experienced trauma in your life, but this is for you even if you haven't, because I guarantee you know someone who has.
Carla Arges [00:01:22]:
The cost is $20 us to reserve your seat and replays are available. If you can't make it live, check out the link in the description for your chance to get your ticket and I hope to see you there.
Carla Arges [00:01:35]:
Hello friends. Welcome to this bonus episode of affirming truths. Now, if you are on my email list, you know what this episode is about. If you're not on my email list, you definitely should be. And you can get on that by logging in and requesting, logging in, signing up for any of my freebies that are in the show notes. So I send out a weekly email with encouragement, reflection, questions, tips for thriving, affirmations, all the goodness. And in this week's email, I shared a story about my son, and I want to go in a little bit more in depth with it here with you now, if that's okay with you. Okay.
Carla Arges [00:02:26]:
My son is in grade ten, and one of the courses he's taking is drama. He loves it. He's good at it. It's been great for building his confidence, great at preparing him to present in front of people. It has just been a great experience, and he takes it very, very seriously. And he had a drama presentation that him and his group were working hard on, doing all the costumes, figuring it all out. And the night before his presentation, he's like, I need a mustache. The night before.
Carla Arges [00:02:58]:
I don't just have mustaches lying around, although I will say when Caleb was young, I did, but I didn't have a mustache lying around. And I asked him, when did you decide you wanted a mustache? And he said, oh, when we were discussing the costumes. And I said, then why did you leave it to the night before? And he said, I forgot. And so he really wanted this mustache. They were doing a scene, a mafioso scene, and one of the guys needed a mustache. And I thought to myself for a moment, this will be a good learning experience for him in leaving things to the last minute. And the consequence of that, which would be doing his presentation without a mustache, probably wouldn't cost him any marks. Not a big deal, but maybe an important lesson.
Carla Arges [00:03:54]:
And then God nudged me that he needed an even more important lesson than that. He needed a lesson in God's goodness and God's love and God's attention to even the smallest details of our lives. And so that morning, the day of the presentation, I went out, scoured party stores until I found a stick on mustache, brought it to school, dropped it off for Caleb so he could have his mustache for his presentation. And it just struck me, the goodness of God. It just really hit home. It wasn't just a lesson for Caleb, which I did explain to him, like, I want you to see that me doing this is a representation of God caring about even the small details of your life and that you can go to God with anything. It was a reminder for me, too. Like, that lesson wasn't just for Caleb.
Carla Arges [00:05:00]:
And maybe you need to hear that today, too. God cares about every detail of your life, even the smallest detail. He wants you to bring it to him. I think sometimes, especially for those of us who struggle with their mental health, who are struggling through trauma, who are just struggling, we seem to bring God these big, heavy, complex problems that take time and effort in our partnership to work through that. We think that the small stuff doesn't matter. Look at how much I'm burdening God with these big requests. No. God cares.
Carla Arges [00:05:45]:
God cares. When you're not feeling well and you need a close parking spot to the pharmacy, he wants you to bring that request to him. God cares. When you've thoughtfully planned out a family photo shoot and you want a sunny day, God cares. God cares. If you're having a difficult conversation and you just need a little bit of confidence and favor, God cares. God cares. And it can be amazing and mind blowing to think the God of the universe that holds the planets in place cares about my small detail.
Carla Arges [00:06:33]:
But Jesus even tells us in Matthew, look at the way God cares for the birds of the sky, the sparrows. They have everything that they need to make a nest, to find food, to have shelter in the storms. They have what they need to ward off predators. God provides them to the smallest detail, everything that they need. How much more does God love us? Think about your own parenting. Don't you care about the small details in your kid's life? Don't you care about who they have a crush on this week? Don't you care if you know, they like their sandwich made one way versus the other? Like you care about the small details in your kid's life. You want them to trust you with the small details of your of their lives. So that builds on relationship and they can trust you with the bigger things.
Carla Arges [00:07:43]:
Don't discount the small things. If you care about the small details of your kid's life, how much more does your heavenly father care about the small details? A heavenly father that has far more infinite capacity for love and compassion and caring than you ever could. He cares. I think sometimes we get stuck in wishful thinking. Rather than taking prayerful action, we have wishful thinking. When it comes to a parking spot, we have wishful thinking. When it comes to a job application, we have wishful thinking. When it comes to returning an item in the store at the daylight, we have wishful thinking.
Carla Arges [00:08:35]:
We daydream about scenarios working out in our favor. But what is our prayer action? Are we taking these things to God in prayer or are we just sitting around daydreaming and wishing? Are we going to the God of heaven and say, this is on my heart, this is on my mind. Would you move in it, please, Lord or Lord, if it's not your will, would you take it off my heart and off my mind? God cares and God will answer those questions. I remember when I first started dating my husband, and this is a little bit more than a small thing, but just to show you that God listens and cares, I started dating my husband while I was still away from the church. And in the early days of my relationship with Terry, God called me back home. I was a prodigal daughter and God called me back home. And I started reestablishing my relationship with God at the same time as I was falling in love with Terry. And I came to the point where I realized I am unequally yoked.
Carla Arges [00:09:49]:
Terry is not a Christian. He's a good guy. He's a great guy, but he's not a christian guy. He's not a guy whose life is devoted to following after Jesus. And I got on my knees and I prayed, I said, lord, I want to be obedient to you. I don't want to be unequally yoked. And yet I have fallen in love with this guy, and I don't have the strength in my own to walk away from it. Lord, I need your intervention.
Carla Arges [00:10:22]:
I need you to either make his heart hot for you, or I need you to make my heart cold for him. And I trust you. With whatever outcome you choose, I trust you. And I laid it down and I offered up my relationship to God, that he would have his will and his way regardless, and that he would give me the strength. And God answered that prayer. He turned Terry's heart hot for him, but I would have been okay if he had taken that relationship from me, too. I was honestly just wanting to be in God's will, take out whatever is in my life that's not according to your will. I want to live in your will.
Carla Arges [00:11:04]:
And God has will for us. Even on the small things. God has a plan. God is so into details. You know, they say the devil is in the details. That expression, uh uh, uh uh. Wrong. God is in the details.
Carla Arges [00:11:22]:
Even if you study the word and you see how detailed he was in Jesus life, like, to the t, the detail. Like it was a tree that led to Eve's sim, and it was a tree in which Jesus would redeem us and free us from sin. That's detail in the levitical system. You had to be 30 years old to start your priesthood. And Jesus is our high priest, and he didn't start his ministry until when he was 30 years old because he is representative of our high priest. Like the detail that Jesus has, the detail that God has woven in, even look at our eyes. Look. Go in the mirror and look at your eyes.
Carla Arges [00:12:15]:
The detail and the color and the like. God is a detailed God. He wants to be in the little details of your life. He wants to be invited in. He wants you to surrender it all, not just the big stuff, but the small stuff. And I want to encourage you today to ask yourself, have I been holding back the small stuff from God? Ask yourself, have I been sitting in wishful thinking and daydreaming, or have I been active in my prayer life? On even the small things. Ask yourself these questions. Search your heart.
Carla Arges [00:12:54]:
Ask the holy spirit to reveal to you where you're holding back from God because you don't think it's big enough or important enough. Because I can tell you the totality of your life is important to God. Who would have thought such a deep lesson and reminder would come from my son looking for a mustache? But God was even in that detail. How incredible is that? Friend? God loves you. God heart is for you. So what are you holding back from him that you think is too small? It's time to give it all over to him. I'll talk to you next time. Thanks for joining me today.
Carla Arges [00:13:46]:
I hope we're already friends on social media, but if we're not, come find me on Instagram, arlaarges or at affirming truth. Can't wait to see you back here next week. Bye friends.