Ep. 72: Connecting Faith and Real Life
God Hears Her Podcast
Episode 72 - Connecting Faith and Real Life
Elisa Morgan and Eryn Eddy with Daniel Ryan Day
Daniel: So, if you actually look at the use of the word “calling,” it’s these very everyday, mundane, ordinary moments of life where God is inviting us into relationship with Him.
[Introduction]: Your listening to God Hears Her a podcast for women where we explore the stunning truth that God hears you, He sees you, and He loves you because you are His. Find out how these realities free you, today on God Hears Her.
Eryn: Welcome to God Hears Her. I’m Eryn Eddy.
Elisa: And I’m Elisa Morgan. When was the last time you felt a disconnect between your faith and everyday life? Yeah, do you ever wonder what your purpose is while washing the dishes or folding the laundry or going through the everyday things that need to get done over, and over, and over again?
Eryn: Well, you’re not alone. Today we’re talking to one of the God Hears Her producers about how God is present in our real, everyday, ordinary lives. Daniel Ryan Day is the author of What’s Next: Your Dream Job, God’s call, and a life that sets you free. He’s also a content producer and writer for Reclaim today, and a co-host for Our Daily Bread’s Discover the Word’s podcast. Daniel holds a master’s degree from Fuller Theological Seminary and is an ordained minister in the Anglican Church of North America. He is married to his high school sweetheart and has three kiddos.
Elisa: Wow. Daniel served a lot from his walk with God that we’re excited to hear more about on this episode of God Hears Her.
Eryn: Okay, so this guess that we have today, Elisa, I remember my first interaction with him. He emailed me about the God Hears Her podcasts…
Elisa: Whaaat!
Eryn: And it was in regards to settin us up on a date between you and I!
Elisa: You and me! He’s a matchmaker.
[laughter]
Eryn: He’s a matchmaker! So that’s what he’s kind of always been in my mind. And then I learned, oh wait, he’s gonna help us produce this thing.
Elisa: Yeah.
Eryn: He has seen it all. He has seen us tired. He has seen us resist vulnerability…
Elisa: Oh yeah there’s that.
Eryn: …Ohhh. He’s seen our relationship grow.
Elisa: Yeah.
Eryn: And I’m really excited to have you Daniel on our show.
Daniel: Oh, thanks. It’s been pretty fun to watch. I remember that day because we used to film recordings in the studio that we first recorded in, and as a result, there was this little track that had been placed…
Elisa: That’s right.
Daniel: …to keep the chairs from getting in from of the cameras.
[laughter]
Eryn: That’s right!
Elisa: Especially mine because I always move around [laughs].
Daniel: Yep. And… and here we’re in this interview and Elisa basically grabs your chair and pulls you next to her over the track so that the two of you could be next to each other.
Elisa: That’s right, and we sat next to each other ever since.
Eryn: That’s right.
Daniel: Yup.
Eryn: We did.
Daniel: Until COVID, and then we all sit in different places.
Eryn: What was your first impression of us?
Elisa: Of us? Let’s talk about us.
Eryn: Yes, let’s talk about us.
Elisa: What do you think about us?
Eryn: I know we’re going to get into talking about you for the whole show, but let’s just go ahead and air it all… what did you really think? [laughs]
Daniel: We’ll I…you know, I would invite our listeners, you know, I’m not the only producer on this show now, we have Mary Jo as well.
Eryn: Yeah.
Elisa: Yes, we do.
Daniel: But I was the only producer for a little while, and people would ask me…,
Elisa: What is that like?
Daniel: …how are you, as a guy, the only producer on a female-driven podcast?
Elisa: It is counterintuitive.
Eryn: It is.
Daniel: And that was, yeah… it was pretty fun, and … but… but if people really wanna know who you all are, they can reach out to Mary Jo and I. Just… just contact us through the God Hears Her website, and we’ll… we’ll tell them all the truth. No, it was… it was fun to watch the two of you. People can meet, and it can be awkward the whole time, and then people can meet and hate each other. And people can meet and fall in love [laughs].
Eryn: That’s right, yup.
Daniel: And the two of you had a bond so early on it was so fun to watch.
Eryn: [Squeals] That’s so true.
Elisa: Daniel and I knew each other a little bit longer.
Eryn: How long did y’all know each other?
Elisa: Couple years, cause we… we worked on Discover the Word, a different radio/ podcast program at Our Daily Bread Ministries, co- hosting with two other folks and guest and stuff. And so, we’d gotten… so my first time meeting you was when I picked you up at the airport and was tryna do a gig with him, you wanna come join us in this thing. So, it’s kinda funny, and… and then we… we got to know each other that way for a long time, and then Daniel had this idea. So, but, you know, it… it begs the question, now that were talking about how you met us, how did you in… in your story, how did you end up in a place where you might be selected to be the producer of a women’s podcast? Because there’s significant milestones, you know, along the way to that.
Daniel: Yeah, for sure. Well, you know, for me, I was actually in a conversation with someone the other day, and she was sharing her story and mentioned that she grew up with five brothers, and as a result, she looks back on that and realizes part of God’s preparation with her in her job now, which is with all men, was growing up with five brothers.
Elisa: Yes.
Daniel: I grew up with three sisters.
Elisa: Ahhhh.
Daniel: [Laughs] So, I think part of the preparation, for not only this show but even working on teams at Our Daily Bread that happen to be all women as well, have… part of that comes from just growing up with three sisters and…. There’s a lot of topics that some men would be really uncomfortable hearing about, and I heard em all growin up.
[laughter]
Elisa: That’s right.
Eryn: That is so accurate, I feel bad for my dad.
[Laughter]
Elisa: Yeah, cause you’re all-girl family.
Eryn: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Daniel, tell everybody that’s listening, where did you come from? Where did you grow up?
Elisa: WhereYaFrom?
Daniel: Yeah, that’s right… [Laughs]
Eryn: Where were these…
Daniel: which is another podcast we do here, WhereYaFrom?
Elisa: Yeah. Where are these three sisters at that you grew up in?
Daniel: Yeah, so I grew up in North Carolina, in the mountains of North Carolina. People were probably surprised hearing that because people often say, you don’t have the accent to back up growing up at North Carolina. But I can pull it out if I need to.
Eryn: I wanna hear it later on in this podcast.
Daniel: Yeah, that’s right. But grew up in North Carolina, grew up in a pretty great family for the most part. Christian home, Christian school, Christian church, tight Christian bubble, that’s all I knew. But those country roots are still in me. Here in… I live in near Grand Rapids now, and we live in the countryside of Grand Rapids cause I like gettin out of the city and breathing some fresh air.
Elisa: And animals.
Daniel: And having animals…
Elisa: He’s got a lot of animals.
Daniel: Yep. Yeah, that’s where I’m from is North Carolina. And been quite on a journey cause we haven’t always lived in North Carolina we’ve lived in Colorado, now we live here and stuff like that. But that’s where we started.
Elisa: And you married really young.
Daniel: I married my high school, my Cuban, high school sweetheart.
Eryn: Awww.
Daniel: Her family’s Cuban. They moved up to North Carolina just for a few years, and we happen to meet in high school youth group. And fell in love pretty quick, not right away because she was in middle school when they moved here, and I was in high school.
Elisa: You naughty boy.
Daniel: That would’ve been weird, yeah. But she became… she became…
Elisa: [Laughs]
Daniel: … best friends with my sister. My… the oldest of my three younger sisters.
Eryn: So many advantages to having sisters.
Daniel: Yup, that’s right. And, when they got to high school, I was talking to my youth pastor and was like, have you noticed Rebecca? And she was my sister’s friend, so I hadn’t really paid too much attention, and then I noticed her. And pretty soon after that we were dating and then we got married halfway through college, which is pretty cool, so.
Elisa: And you’ve got several kids?
Daniel: Three kids, yeah 12, 10, and eight. So, two boys and then a little girl. They’re amazing.
Elisa: Yeah, they are. It’s quite a journey, and… and you’re broadcasting career has been varied along with other things that you do. You… you’ve got a lot of stuff on your… your plate, so, you know, share a little bit about that and…
Daniel: Sure, yeah, so much of I think my story can be boiled down to growing up in a very tight Christian bubble, but then having experiences that made me realize that tight Christian bubble was not relating to the world in a way that made sense for the world that we live in. So what I mean by that is, when I graduated high school, I ended up in Romania for three months, working with an organization that basically put on these really cool summer camps for orphans that were in orphanages. So, they would come out to this camp, and we would do all the camp stuff so activities and games and play music and talks and all that. In fact, I helped lead worship at this camp, and I can’t remember much of the Romanian that I learned. But I remember this kid son very, very well. It’s [speaks Romanian].
Elisa: Wow.
Eryn: [Laughs]
Daniel: Yeah really… it’s a really deep spiritual song it basically says…
Eryn: I love that.
Daniel: …an ostrich an ostrich, a very big ostrich.
[Laughter]
Elisa: I love it.
Eryn: Very cute.
Daniel: And, yeah, so, the kids… the kids love that song though, and it was… it was so much fun. And so, as you can see it’s still a part of me. But being in Romania and seeing kids that grew up as opposite from me, as they could have, right. Not only did they not have parents, not have traditional home in the way that I thought it was supposed to be or what it looked like, but they also hadn’t grown up in a Christian culture or a Christian… with a Christian background. It was in eastern Europe instead. And then, not only that, but the brokenness that you see in orphanages with the, I remember at one point, noticing, probably like 12 or so locks on this door from the inside. And I had looked at one of the translators and I was like, what are those locks? It’s almost like a prison in here. And he said, actually those are pretty important because all these young kids in this room, it’s very common in these orphanages for older kids to break in at night and abuse the younger kids.
Elisa: Oh my god.
Eryn: Wow.
Daniel: And so, these locks are there so they can protect themselves inside the orphanage. Like as a 18 year old, coming out of a Christian… tight Christian bubble that the worst experience I had was forgetting my Bible when I went to youth group. Right, going into that it just shattered my world view in some ways and seeing their true brokenness of the world. From that point on it was hard for me to be in that Christian bubble again, if that makes sense because I was like, this faith in Jesus if it’s real, it’s gotta impact how we interact with orphans. It’s gotta make a difference in these bigger issues.
Elisa: So, you grew up with Jesus so to speak but this is a time of crossroads for you. A time of… of applying differently and discovering and…
Eryn: And questioning.
Elisa: … and questioning…
Eryn: Lots of questions yeah.
Elisa: …which is risky.
Daniel: Yeah.
Elisa: Yeah, and I … I know other things about you but maybe just kinda highlight the ten years or so between… a little bit more… 10-15 years between there and now. In terms of ho… I think especially how your faith has been shaped.
Daniel: Yeah. It’s almost 20 years now, but we don’t have to say that…
Elisa: Is it really? I’m gonna start counting.
[Laughs]
Elisa: Sorry about that.
Eryn: How young do you think he is?
Daniel: Yeah, so the highlights would be coming back… almost not coming back, but then going to college, and I ended up at a secular university, which was a good thing for me because it forced me to see Christians in secular settings versus my tight Christian bubble. So, ending up in classes with professors that push back on my traditional understandings of how the world worked, and that, yeah, was very good for me. I remember sociology class in particular where the representation of Christians that they put was certain church in Kansas that talks about homosexuals as going to hell, and I… I don’t know if you remember all those signs that we see on the internet that are very, very non- loving signs. That was the representation of Christianity that the professor gave. And so, I just remember just being like, what is this, you know. And then graduating, there was a couple things I said I didn’t want to do after school. One, was I didn’t want to finish with a degree in business or work for my dad after school, so I did both. And…
[Laughter]
Eryn: So, I did both…
Daniel: Yup. And it… it was important because Rebecca and I… she got pregnant with our first son after… at the end of school, and so it was time to get a job and pay bills. And so, it was good for me to step into that job. But so much of the job felt like just doing marketing stuff and stuff like that. I’m like, I feel like my faith should be, you know, that Romania experience that I had is still at the back of my mind, how does this faith impact real life? And I struggled to find that answer working at a hotel on a family entertainment center, which is like go- carts and laser tag and stuff like that. And so, joined a ministry, thought maybe that’s where you find the answers to what’s God’s calling on your life.
Elisa: A lot of people do… so a non- profit ministry.
Daniel: Yup, non- profit Christian ministry, and that was good for a season. But my role there was doing content marketing and feeling like, okay now the marketing just has a Christian label.
Eryn: Right, and you still don’t…
Daniel: But my life’s not really that different right.
Eryn: Right.
Daniel: And… and so I started a… a blog project called “10 days without” that later became my first book. And it was basically going 10 days without a necessity like wearing shoes, or using my legs, or 10 days without speach, connected with a real issue in the world and then raising money to help provide for people that had those very real-world experiences. And that was good, that was life giving…
Elisa: You’re seeing a grace in there and with your faith in what you’re doing.
Daniel: Yup, but it was still a pretty unsustainable way, right. And it was a burden on my family to go 10 days without legs. “Hey, Rebecca, I’m going to do this, and I need you to drive me around for 10 days,” right.
[Laughter]
Daniel: So, so it’s still…
Eryn: I love… you… and you did that.
Daniel: Yeah…and so did she…
Elisa: And so did she. That’s right. [laughs].
Eryn: Yeah, and she did that too. We need to go ahead and affirm that that actually did happen, yeah.
Daniel: Yeah, it did.
[Laughter]
Eryn: We can’t race past. Ten…that’s amazing.
Daniel: And so, it was a beautiful… it was such a beautiful, good experience. And, in fact, so many things I learned in that experience is I interacted with what human trafficking looks like in the world. So, hence 10 days without speech to represent those who don’t have a voice, or who have a voice but that it’s not listened to.
Eryn: Yeah.
Daniel: 10 days without legs for those affected by disabilities that live in our world and who are often overlooked. 10 days without furniture for those who live in homeless settings and don’t have a home or don’t have furniture. Each one of those experiences opened me up as I was doing research to what those real issues are in the world. But it was an unsustainable approach to making a difference, and that was… it was good, we raised some money, raised some awareness. Those are good things.
Elisa: And it shaped you…
Daniel: And it shaped me big time, yeah.
Elisa: … And that’s… that’s really what the point is right now.
Daniel: Yup.
Eryn: Yeah.
Daniel: So, that ministry job came to a painful end, a very painful end, very unexpected. And that threw me for a loop for a little while, and then I got a job as a producer of a nationally syndicated radio show because I had written a book. I had no production experience. No radio experience other than doing interviews for the book and got that job. And I met so many amazing people during that experience. And that it continued to, again, just shape my world view a little bit more.
Eryn: Yeah.
Daniel: But I was still struggling with those questions of how does faith in real life… where do they meet? And, specifically, as it relates to my calling and my job in the world, what does a calling look like? What does a job look like? And, ultimately, I ended up resigning from that position, but it opened up the door for another book, which was on calling. And vocation, and specifically how in the scriptures the picture of calling is very different than what we tend to talk about. We tend to talk about calling as if God’s going to give you a specific assignment of something to do, and that has happened in the Bible. But the use of the word calling in the scriptures most often refers to callings like seeking justice, love mercy, walking humbly with God. So humbly or giving thanks in all circumstances. So, if you actual look at the use of the word calling, it’s these very every day, mundane, ordinary moments of life where God is inviting us into relationship with Him. There are those moments where God’s shows up and says, Elijah, I have a job for you. Or, Paul, I have a… who was Saul, I have a job for you. But those are very rare in the Bible. And the most common story even in the scriptures, is a faithful, everyday people walking with Jesus.
[Musical interlude]
Eryn: When we come back, Daniel Ryan Day will share with us about one of the most important lessons he’s learned about what it looks like to make a difference in the lives of others. That’s coming up on God Hears Her.
[Music]
Eryn: If you’re a fan of this podcast, sign up for our God Hears Her email newsletter and find even more inspiration and encouragement from women, just like you. These weekly emails are filled with stories you can relate to and other fun goodies that will brighten up your walk with Jesus. Go to godhearsher.org and sign up today, that’s godhearsher.org. let’s return back to our conversation with Daniel Ryan Day on this episode of God Hears Her.
Elisa: So, you’re… you’re in this again, metamorphosis, this change… we all are. You know, and… and I’ve always said that, now that I’m old…. [laughter] I always said, you know, that they… the 20s and the 30s are the real transformational decades for us really being shaped from how we grew up, what we thought we were going to be, who we thought we were going to be, and to discovering the reality of us. So… so as you continued this journey of understanding who is Daniel, and… and why has God put you on this planet, what next turn did God take you in? And have you arrived yet at a place where you… you now sense His pleasure in integrating your faith with your everyday, or… what’s that like?
Daniel: To answer the arrived part, we don’t arrive is part of what I guess I’m learning. It is a journey that continues. In fact, it’s looking back at some of those experiences even in 10 days without where I thought I learned something about an issue. So, for example, human trafficking, of course, led into conversations about abuse, and much later even, I was in seminary learning about women and specifically how uncommon it is for a woman who’s been abused to share that she has been. And so statistically, it’s like 98% of women that share that something to them, it’s true, and yet our default is not to believe it.
Eryn: Yeah.
Daniel: So, part of another one of those shaping stories for me…. A few years later, so I was working at this nationally syndicated radio show beginning to process somebodies calling pieces, my sister called and shared a story with me that she had experienced some things that I found to be unbelievable. And I remember in that just struggling so much to hear… truly hear her.
Eryn: Yeah.
Elisa: Because you didn’t think it was true?
Daniel: I… I didn’t know how to process what she was saying yet because I hadn’t had that class in seminary yet, but I had had the experience of like dealing with what human trafficking, sex trafficking, was looking like in the world.
Elisa: And there’s probably an element of disbelief that this could’ve happened to her…
Daniel: An element of disbelief… yup, and all that…
Eryn: Feels like a twilight zone in some ways that it would happen to somebody you know that you’re so close with…
Daniel: Yeah, exactly. Yeah, and in this particular story that doesn’t have a good ending, this was my sister who right when she turned 18, she disappeared for a few years. We had no idea where she went. She came back for a little season. In the middle of that, she shared some of that with us. Pretty soon after that, she left again, and we haven’t heard from her since. And one of my regrets that I live with, speaking of being on a journey, is I wish I had listened differently in that conversation. I don’t… I don’t know that it would’ve necessarily changed her leaving again, and it would be amazing if she was listening to this and could hear me say that I’m sorry…
Elisa: Your regrets…
Daniel: …for not hearing her in the way that she needed to be heard because whatever happened to her, something probably did happen. And I believe her now. And so hopefully she’ll hear this, right, and hear that, Heather, I believe you.
Eryn: Yeah.
Daniel: So, that is how I would answer the journey question, we’re still on a journey. In my own story where that goes is I actually started seminary while I was at the radio show and ended up finishing a few years ago. But it was through that next book that I met you, Elisa, and met the Discover the Word team. And then from that point forward, the Lord just orchestrated my steps in such beautiful ways to lead me to here today, but the one place that I stopped in between… those two was working for my dad again. And that ended up being one of the most rewarding experiences because it was the first time that I looked at that role in a quote- on- quote “secular” job as an opportunity to spend time with people. And of course, I can’t talk about Jesus the whole time, like we can right now, but in that setting just being present in their lives.
Eryn: Yeah.
Daniel: And it was right before I move back to work for my dad, I had the opportunity to go to Rwanda and spend some time with some church leaders there. And one of the church leaders, every week, he spent his time “walking the hills”. He’s a pastor there. And what he means by “walking the hills” is Rwanda’s literally “the land of a thousand hills”, so he’s literally walking hills. And he’s just visiting with people, so meeting needs, his sermons, all of that comes out of real relationship with people.
Eryn: Yeah.
Daniel: Connected to that is a resource that, since I’m the producer I can say this, we’ll have a link to the show notes… [laughs]
Elisa: He knows.
Daniel: …is a… a video called “Live Godspeed.” And it’s this documentary about a pastor who’s learning to spend more time out in the community for people than prepping even a sermon because it’s with people that real ministry happens. With that, a friend of mine, his names Dan, he and I were spending some time together and I asked him what does success look like in this context? And he talked about how hard that is to define because, especially in American culture, success is connected to numbers, and in Rwanda ministry was really slow. And so, how do you tell all the people that are sending money to support you that their money’s being spent well when you don’t have these big numbers?
Elisa: Yes.
Eryn: Yeah.
Daniel: And the Lord helped redefine for him. Dan, success for you is faithfulness, to walk with me, and to have eyes to see and ears to hear whatever I have for you to do today. So, when I got back to my dad’s business, I realized for the first time that I am in a perish, I’m in a group of people… surrounded by people that I see every day that I have the opportunity to talk with and spend time with. And I’ve had more spiritual, hard questions that came out of that time with people that weren’t in a church than I’ve ever had.
Elisa: In your every day.
Daniel: Yup, it was in the everyday.
Elisa: In your work. That’s amazing.
Eryn: That’s what I… I loved when you were talking about defining what calling is cause I think that it’s easy to misinterpret it as career.
Daniel: Yeah.
Eryn: But it’s ever- changing, like your career has ever changed…,
Daniel: Oh yeah it has.
Eryn: …you know…
[Laughter]
Daniel: Re… Rebecca would be agreeing with you 100%, my wife.
Elisa: [Laughs]
Eryn: I mean, it’s taken every pivot, right. And so, if your calling was wrapped up in your first career opportunity, you would feel like you were purposeless or had no calling anymore over your life. Would you speak on that a little bit more about calling and purpose and how that is integrated into the everyday versus what we like to slot it for?
Elisa: Like a shingle or a… a… a… resume or…
Daniel: So, I would say that may answer to that has even changed since writing the book, of course, Elisa, right? That’s how it happens. You write a book so you can change your mind.
Elisa: Absolutely. You get it published and… next! Yup.
[Laughter]
Eryn: That’s what the second books for.
Elisa: Right, right, Eryn.
Eryn: That’s what I keep telling myself.
Daniel: I… I would say that’s changed recently just because I have been so overwhelmed by the first chapter of the Bible and specifically what happens when God creates men and women. He creates them in the garden. It’s the first time that He says something is very good, and He places them in the garden as His co-stewards to work with Him in caring for creation. So, not only does He say that we are very good at the beginning of time before sin comes in and does break somethings, He says we’re very good, but then His invitation is for us to be His image bearers. And as an image bearer, as a representative of the King, we are co- workers with Him. In ancient cultures, the most common explanation of why humans existed was to be slaves of the gods, to do all the things the gods didn’t want to do, to be there servants. In the biblical story, we get a picture of being co- laborers with God. We’re not His servants, we’re not His slaves, we’re in relationship with Him, invited into everything that we do, being a part of this relationship with Him. And so, I think, first and foremost above anything else, that is our purpose, that’s our identity, that’s our calling. It’s all right there at the end of Genesis chapter one. We are so… we are God’s very good creations who He wants to be in relationship with, who He is empowered to be His ambassadors and representatives in the world. And that includes anything that we do, whether we’re in a conversation, like we are right now, or whether we’re at a coffee shop, or whether we’re in any type of job, whether we’re in school. Regardless of what we are doing at the grocery store, whatever, truly every single one of those spaces is a sacred space where God is not only inviting us into deep relationship with Him, but, hopefully, we have eyes to see an ears to hear how we are His ambassadors in those places, as very good creations…
Eryn: And that’s what are calling is.
Daniel: …yeah, and that’s our calling.
Elisa: It’s almost as if we’ve gotten it upside down, that we’re always looking for this slot to fit in, this corner office, this career, this place to make a difference, when the reality is it is within the context of our creation, of our relationships that we make the biggest difference. And we think to ourselves… we’ll we diminish that, and… and think, what if it’s gonna tread water if you will until we get to the big thing. But what the Lord’s doing is shaping you to understand that this is the thing that really matters. I remember reading a book, and the title says it all, it’s called Everything Belongs. And it… it’s so true, you know, we’re… we’re always going well that’s not important or that’s not important or this isn’t important. The… all these things that we’re enmeshed in, that we live in. whether it’s doing the wash, or whether it’s, you know, mowing the lawn, or whether it’s carpooling, or whether it’s making a cup of coffee, or whatever, we always think well those don’t count. The big stuff is giving a talk, or going to seminary, or having a podcast, or writing a book, or, you know, having a child, or…. And what I’m hearing is your discovery of people, of relationships, and just the… the… the true collateral of life, doing life together.
Daniel: Yup, absolutely. And, you know, it’s interesting because we talk about the books, we talk about the speeches, and all those things that we put so much weight in, but in reality, those are what Ecclesiastes calls hevel. It’s passing, it’s fleeting, it’s like smoke in the wind that moves, it’s like a cloud. And I’ve thought of that as a pastor in my sermons, that I will like pour my heart into at times, won’t be remembered. Most of what I say is not going to be remembered, but what will be remembered is the relationships that I have. And I realize that even one of my roles at Our Daily Bread is not only in podcasting but in a part of our ministry Effort for those in our 20s and 30s, called Reclaim Today. And I think about this all the time cause I … I write a lot for that ministry, Effort. But the true ministry happens in the relationship that I build with my team here. That’s actually where it starts and where the majority of it happens. Everything that we write and publish, or whatever, an overflow out of our first ministry context. Whether if you have a family, first ministry context. If you have a church community, that’s your first ministry context. If you have a job and you’re surrounded by people, that’s your ministry context. If you’re in school, that’s your ministry context. That’s where the ministry context happens. That’s where the relationships happen. And out of that overflow, maybe we write something that sticks, or maybe we say something that someone remembers. But most likely, it’s gonna be the relationship that actually makes a difference in someone’s life.
Elisa: So, help us, you know, and… and all of us who are listening, how do we embrace this? It’s not a formula…
Daniel: No, it’s not.
Elisa: …it… it… it’s a way of life…. But how do we practice this understanding of the value of the ordinary, of the everyday, how do we grow in that?
Daniel: I think it starts in a really uncomfortable place…
Elisa: Ow, well never mind…
Eryn: I thought he was gonna tell us somethin felt good. [Laughs]
Daniel: I think…
Elisa: Back… back up that question, yeah.
Daniel: I think it starts with the realization that God is at work. And God is going to accomplish His work, regardless of what role we play in it. So, for us where it actually begins is in quiet, solitude time, doesn’t have to be like fancy prayer or anything like that.
Elisa: 4 in the morning.
Daniel: 4 in the morning, anything. But it… it is amazing how… how much time Jesus spent going alone.
Eryn: Yeah.
Daniel: And just spending time with the Father. For us, that is, we cannot underestimate that, just getting alone and being quiet with God and realizing that He is accomplishing His work, His very good work in the world. He invites me into it, and I have a role to play as a result of that. But He’s accomplishing that work, so I can feel free to say yes to things and I can feel free to say no to things. I think that’s where it starts is in that relational piece. I think the second part of it is realizing… in one of my favorite versus in the Bible, is in Acts chapter 17 and it’s verse 28 that says, “in him, we live and move and have our being; […]” At our core, that is our calling of what it looks like. “In Him we live and move and have our being; […].” It’s kind of an abstract idea, but it’s the idea that you’re walking in relationship with God in such a way that you have eyes to see and ears to hear what He would have for you to do each day. I think that’s where it starts. And if you truly hear those words, if I truly hear those words, then all of a sudden, the mundane truly has meaning. The ordinary all of a sudden has meaning because then when I do dishes, which I hate to do, and one of my pet peeves is when I’m almost done, and someone puts one more thing in the sink.
[Laughter]
Eryn: Or spread sheets.
Daniel: Or whether, yeah, or spread sheets.
Eryn: Oh, I hate those.
Daniel: Or email, right.
Eryn: Right, yeah, absolutely.
Daniel: Or I mean even recording gets mundane sometimes. Let’s be real, right.
Eryn: Yeah.
Daniel: Even in those mundane moments we can realize that God has us where He wants us to be.
Eryn: Yeah.
Daniel: He can give us eyes to see and ears to hear through His spirit. We can follow where He leads, and then all of a sudden, the mundane has meaning, the ordinary has meaning. And I … I really do think those are some of the simple places that it starts. It’s just uncomfortable because we want to be more important than that, right.
Elisa: Yeah, and we wanna make it harder… then it is.
Eryn: Well, even…even in quiet time, I think sometimes, the temptation is to work for quiet time. Instead of being still and just present in what the Lord wants to speak over you, that you have to perform and work.
Daniel: You know, we think of like quiet time as like a certain amount of time, 30 minutes whatever.
Eryn: 4 hours…
[Laughter]
Daniel: Yeah, right. And at a certain time of day… in the morning, right, like it has to be in the morning to be real or whatever. But when God beings to shape up to see all of these invitations in the every moment to connect with Him, suddenly, space, we find it in different times of the day. Or even just the minute before we start a recording praying, or the minute before we walk into a meeting taking a moment and saying, you know Lord, I… I don’t know if I’m prepared for this conversation. Will you walk with me into this meeting, or whatever? In fact, one of the things we do with Reclaim Today is we write prayers specifically for these everyday moments. And so, we’ve written prayers for like when your kids are at school, and which was one of my favorites cause our kids go to a co-op on Wednesdays. And I’ve… I’m typically the one that drops them off and picks them up. And it was just this like, Lord what do I want you to do with them while they’re away from me? What does it look like for them to be prepared in this setting, to know your voice, and to follow where you lead, and to be able to, again, begin to pray that? Or, one of the things I’m sure, Eryn, you would connect with because I do, is our generation is very focused on like social justice things. One of the prayers we wrote was a prayer for social justice burnout because that’s something that we can get overwhelmed by the number of different things we could try. Hence, 10 days without, right, unsustainable.
Eryn: Yes.
Elisa: Right.
Daniel: And so, what is a prayer for us when we want to make a difference in the world, but we are starting to grow tired and weary of doing good? And so, here’s a prayer for that, or here’s a prayer for going into a meeting for your boss that you’re nervous about. Or here’s a prayer for whatever. And I brought one with me that we could pray.
Elisa: I’d love for you to read it.
Daniel: This is a prayer for today, and I hope that as we’ve been talking the invitation is for all of us to think about those everyday moments and to think about how God meets us in those. In fact, just a quick outline of how I write many of these, I start with what is the characteristic of God that He meets me in this thing? So, let’s say I’m feeling lonely. What is a prayer for loneliness? Well, Jesus… His name means Immanuel, God with us. So, let’s start there with the truth even if I don’t feel the truth right now. Let’s start with the truth. I’m praying to Immanuel, God with us and then begin to pour out my heart to God. So, this prayer is a prayer for today, and it begins with who God is and why today exists.
[Music]
Daniel: It says “Creator God who took what was formless and void and gave it shape and meaning. The one who filled emptiness with beauty and gave all creatures their purpose…” [Whispers] that includes us. “…Reclaim Today, and these small seemingly insignificant moments, help me discover meaning in the mundane. Ordain the very ordinary- ness of these tasks or my current lack of them. For your glory, the good of the world, and my good, Amen.
[Musical interlude]
Elisa: What a lovely prayer for us to close with. When we think about time with God, we think that we need to hide away and create a quiet space, but thanks to Daniel, we learn that we can spend time with God all day, throughout the day.
Eryn: Yes, what a new way to think about our relationship with God. Before we close out today’s episode of God Hears Her, we want to remind you that the show notes are available in the podcast description. The show notes not only contain the talking points for today’s episode, but they also have links to connect with Elisa and me on social and a link to check out Reclaim Today on Instagram. You can visit our website at godhearsher.org, that’s godhearsher.org.
Elisa: Thanks for joining us, and don’t forget, God hears you, He sees you, and He loves you because you are His.
[Music]
Eryn: Today’s episode was engineered by Anne Stevens and produced by Mary Jo Clark, Daniel Ryan Day, and Jade Gustafson. Today we also want to recognize Rebecca and Candance. Thank you.
[Music]
Elisa: God Hears Her is a production of Our Daily Bread Ministries.
