S9.18 | Finding Freedom Through Obedience: Carla’s Journey of Spiritual Breakthrough
In today's episode, Carla opens up about her recent struggles since returning from Italy, sharing the very real challenges in her spiritual, mental, and physical life. Journey with Carla as she explores the feeling of disconnection from God despite doing all the "right" things, and the powerful call she received to walk in obedience.
Carla dives into the importance of obedience to God’s will, even when it's uncomfortable or downright scary. She recounts past experiences where obedience led to unexpected freedom and growth, and challenges you to reflect on what you might need to release to experience your breakthrough. Packed with wisdom, Biblical insights, and a invitation to trust in God's plan, this episode is a must-listen for anyone seeking to deepen their faith and navigate through personal struggles. Tune in and be inspired to walk in obedience and claim the freedom God has for you. Let's get started!
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
Seeking Wisdom:
Emphasizes the biblical truth from James 1:5 about asking God for wisdom and receiving it generously
Obedience Leads to Breakthrough:
ntegrating scriptural references such as Isaiah 1:19 and John 14:15, Carla discusses how obedience is integral to transformation and living a life that bears good fruit.
Practical Steps Toward Obedience:
Carla encourages listeners to be open-handed and trust in God's goodness, even when it's uncomfortable or frightening. She assures her audience that God desires greater freedom and blessings for them, which often come through obedience.
Connect With Carla:
Foundations to Healing—-> https://www.carlaarges.com/foundations-of-healing
Inquire about 1:1 coaching ---> carlaagreswellness@gmail.com
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.
Carla Arges [00:00:20]:
My hope is that you will leave.
Carla Arges [00:00:21]:
Each episode feeling encouraged in your journey.
Carla Arges [00:00:25]:
Subscribe so you don't miss an episode. And it would mean the world to.
Carla Arges [00:00:28]:
Me if you would leave a review. I am so glad you're here. Let's get started.
Carla Arges [00:00:36]:
Hello, friends. Welcome to this episode of affirming truths. If you are a regular listener, you're going to notice that this episode is coming to you late. And really, today, I just want to share my heart. I want to share what I've been struggling with. I want to share how the Lord is speaking over me, and then I want to share a challenge to you. And I don't have this scripted. I don't have this outlined.
Carla Arges [00:01:10]:
I'm really just speaking from my heart today. I've been struggling. I've been struggling since I got back from Italy. If you heard that episode, you know that that trip was hard, and I don't think I was able to really articulate how hard it was for me mentally, spiritually, and physically. And since I've come back from that trip, I really feel like I've been going through the motions, particularly in my spiritual life. I've been doing the right things. I've been, you know, doing my Bible study. I've been listening to worship.
Carla Arges [00:01:50]:
I've been going to church. I've been active in my faith community. I've been in my prayer journal. Right? I've been. I've been doing the right things, but I have felt really disconnected from God in the process. And maybe you will relate to that. Maybe you've gone through a season where you feel like I'm doing the things, but I don't feel like God's in the room with me. And I thought with prayer journaling yesterday, actually, I really shared my heart with God.
Carla Arges [00:02:27]:
Like, it feels like there's an iron fortress around my spirit, cutting me off from experiencing the fullness of God's presence. I felt like. I feel like I'm still in process, that there's this iron fortress around me that is really blocking me from accessing powerful prayers. Like trying to pray. My mind is blank. I don't know what to say. I don't know how to say it. I'm struggling.
Carla Arges [00:03:03]:
And maybe that will ring familiar to you. And I want to share with you a little bit about how I've been approaching what feels like a drought in my spiritual life, what feels like a distance from God in my spiritual life, one of the things I asked was, Lord, how do I, by the power of your spirit, hold down this iron fortress like Jericho came down, I need this fortress to come down. And here's the thing, my friend. When we ask God for wisdom, he will give it to us. It says in James one five, if any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. I ask God for wisdom. What do I need to do? And can I tell you, he answered in a way that was very uncomfortable for me. God clearly told me what to do.
Carla Arges [00:04:12]:
He told me what he wants me to do. Now, I don't necessarily automatically see the correlation between what he's asked me to do and the tearing down of this fortress, but he called me to do something, and he called me to do something that is scary and, like, really scary. And today marks day one of me doing it. Here's what I know. Where there is obedience, there is breakthrough. You see, I need a breakthrough in my life right now. I need a breakthrough, and God wants to give me that breakthrough, and God wants to take me deeper in relationship with him, and God wants to forge me more into the image of Christ, but I have to be obedient to where he's directing me to go so that the Holy Spirit can do that refining work. So the thing that God asked me to do is go on a social media fast for at least two weeks.
Carla Arges [00:05:08]:
At least two weeks? It could be longer. I don't know. And that's really scary for me. And that may sound silly to you, but my business is built on social media. I don't use social media for my personal life. If you ever look at my grid on Instagram, I don't think you'll see a picture of Terry or Caleb. They show up in my stories sometimes. But really, my Instagram is my business, and I get more clients through Instagram than I even do the podcast, which is surprising to me, but that's just the way it's worked.
Carla Arges [00:05:44]:
And so not showing up scares me. And the thoughts that came through my mind, which are embarrassing, but I'll share with you, is, what if I stop being relevant? What if people forget about me? What if I can never get momentum again? How am I going to get new clients? I have two open spots in October. If I'm not on social media talking about them, how am I going to fill these spots? And the more that I was thinking of this. And the more that I was afraid. And he didn't just ask me to give up posting, he asked me to give up consuming social media. So I have removed the apps from my phone completely. But the more I realized how scared I was of doing this, the more I realized I have to do it. If I'm this scared of getting off of social media, then it has an inappropriate presence and hold in my life.
Carla Arges [00:06:43]:
Because ultimately, what drives my business? Am I putting more trust in the platform than I am putting in Christ? Wow. Hello? Wake up call. And the fear that I was feeling was very familiar. I don't know if you're new here or if you've been around for a while. If you've been around for a while, you know that during COVID God called me to stop dying my hair, that I had made an idol out of my long blonde hair that I didn't even realize. And God called me to stop dyeing my hair. And that same fear that I felt when he said, give up social media is the exact same fear I felt when he said to stop dying my hair. And, guys, I didn't just try to blend it out.
Carla Arges [00:07:34]:
Like, I had to go through huge roots, outgrowing it, cutting it short, like, I grew it out with no, no, trying to hide it. And that was scary. But I'm reminded that when I walked in obedience to God and not dyeing my hair, I gained so much freedom that where I thought I was deeply rooted in my identity in Christ, God took me to a new level, a new depth of being confident in my identity in Christ, not because of what I do, not because of what I look like, but because who he is in me and who he created me to be. You see, I have lived experience that obedience opens the door to blessing and breakthrough. Blessing and breakthrough. In Isaiah 119, it says, if you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land. If you are willing and obedient. Guys, I want to ask you today, where do you need a breakthrough? Where are you struggling? Where do you need chains to be broken off? Where do you need freedom in your life? Where do you need to be obedient to unleash that breakthrough and that new freedom? Have you asked God, God, what would you have me do? Have you gone there with a sincere heart and open hands, Lord, what do you need me to surrender? What do you need me to do? Give me wisdom on how to proceed in getting this breakthrough.
Carla Arges [00:09:28]:
Maybe he's asking you to give something up. Maybe he wants you to stop drinking. Maybe he wants you to go on a social media fast. Maybe he wants you to finally reach out to that therapist or that coach to help guide you in your healing from your trauma and learning how to stabilize from your mental illness. Maybe he's leading you to start a small group for your church. Maybe he's leading you to give up a crutch that you've had in your life, where you've put more faith in that crutch than in Christ. What breakthrough do you want and where do you need to act? In obedience, in obedience to get that? John 1415 Jesus says, if you love me, keep my commands. And those commands are not just the Ten Commandments.
Carla Arges [00:10:26]:
Absolutely they are. But what is he specifically speaking into your life? Where is he calling you to be more like Jesus? Where does he want to do a refining work in you? Where does he want to bring more freedom in your life? Where is he saying, this is the area where you've got to die to self, you got to die to self, to that human flesh, that old sinful man. You got to die to self so that you can live glorified and you're being a new creation. God wants to do a new thing in you, but God is such a gentleman. He doesn't force himself on us. He will reveal, this is where you need to go. This is where you need to diet, to sell. This is where we want to build deeper trust.
Carla Arges [00:11:19]:
But he will not force you down that path. Where do you need to say, yes, God, I'm going to take that step of obedience. It's scary. I don't know what's on the other side, but I trust Lord God, that as I am willing and obedient, the blessing and the breakthrough will come. As I'm willing and obedient, Lord God, you will shape me more into your image, Lord God, as I am willing and obedient, Lord God, my life will bear better fruit. As I'm willing and obedient, Lord God, the fruits of the spirit will overflow in my life. You know, we often ask God for blessing. We often ask God for rescue.
Carla Arges [00:12:10]:
And this is particularly true when we are struggling. And I know many of you are. That's why you listen to this podcast. You struggle. You're struggling through trauma, you're struggling through unforgiveness, you're struggling through pain, you're struggling through broken relationship, you're struggling in your faith because you feel like you've been praying and not getting answers. You're struggling to reconcile a good God with the hardship that you're faced, you're struggling, you need breakthrough. But breakthrough comes of the overflow of our willingness to be obedient. What is God asking you? What are you willing to lay down in order to experience the new freedom he has for you? You have to ask yourself this.
Carla Arges [00:13:07]:
God has the breakthrough for you. He's not withholding it from you. But you need to take those willing steps of obedience in order to experience that new freedom he wants to bring into your life. See, he already bought your freedom for a price at the cross of Calvary. He wants you living in it, but you have to unlock your hands and walk in it. You know, when I was a kid and I can't remember the name of this video, but we had some christian video, and it had little skits and little plays in it. And there was this one skit that has showed this monkey in a jungle. And the monkey, this, this trapper wanted to trap the monkey and capture the monkey.
Carla Arges [00:13:52]:
So he laid a trap out. He put some really good food in a jarved. And this monkey, seeing the good food and like wanting it, puts his hand in the jar and clasps the good food. Now, now that his hand is closed in a fist, he can't get his hand out of the jar. He can't get his hand out of the trap. And the person that wants to take him captive, the poacher, is coming to get him to, and the monkey senses he's in danger. And the monkey wants his freedom. And all the monkey has to do is open his hand and release that good food that he grasps, and he can get his hand out of the jar.
Carla Arges [00:14:38]:
But the monkey refuses to let go. The monkey refuses to let go of what he thinks is good in order to get his freedom. And he's captured and he's taken away. What are you holding on to that is blocking you from your freedom? What are you holding on to that's blocking you from your breakthrough? God is saying, open your hands, release it. Surrender it to me because I have something greater for you. I have a new thing for you, friend. Won't you let it go? Won't you be willing and obedient and experience the freedom and breakthrough God wants to do in your life today? He hasn't forgotten you. He hasn't abandoned you.
Carla Arges [00:15:32]:
He hears your prayer. He sees your struggle, and he's saying, yes, child, I have something better for you. Will you trust me and let go of what you're grasping? What are you grasping that's taking you down to destruction rather than up to freedom. Friend, God has so much more for you. And now is the time to be open handed and trust the goodness of our father. Friend, if you are struggling with this, if you're struggling to discern God's voice, if you are struggling in your struggle on how to move forward, on how to let go, how to practically surrender, I have two open spots for one on one coaching in October. This is personalized. This is where you get breakthrough.
Carla Arges [00:16:34]:
This is where you get healing. This is where you grow in your identity in Christ. This is where you're able to find acceptance and relief of the pain so you can walk more fully in the purpose over your life. You can book a discovery call with me. The link is always in the show notes and you can discover more about what that's like at my website, always carlaarges.com. you can see everything you need to see there. What are you holding on to that you need to let go of? God is saying, today is the day to claim your breakthrough through walking in obedience. I'll talk to you next time.
Carla Arges [00:17:23]:
Thanks for joining me today. I hope we're already friends on social media, but if we're nothing, come find me on Instagram at Carla Arges or at affirming truth. Can't wait to see you back here next week. Bye, friends.