Are you feeling stuck? Paralyzed and weighed down by your dreams and hopes for the future? Maybe you're longing to birth something beautiful, but you're hitting a wall? If so, this episode is for you: The achiever. The one longing to build something significant but feeling shut down in the process. It may surprise you, but you're not creating treasure; however, you are created to reveal treasure. Understanding the difference between those two statements is crucial for freedom in creativity. Give this episode a listen to discover why.
In this episode: Let's unlearn pressure and discover freedom together!
Scriptures:
The entire universe is standing on tiptoe, yearning to see the unveiling of God’s glorious Romans 8:19 TPT
The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Matthew 13:44 ESV
Letter from the host:
Dear Beloveds,
Reflecting on and responding to the faithful and intelligent love of God has been therapeutic to my mind, heart, and body! I vulnerably share because I want you to experience the joy of authentic connection with Jesus, yourself, and others.
Growth happens at the point of connection. Thank you for trusting me with this connection! I'm glad to be with you!
With joy,
Gabrielle Michelle
New episodes onWednesdays! Bi-weekly!
Thanks for subscribing and leaving a review! Please feel free to share with your family and friends.
Are you feeling stuck? Paralyzed and weighed down by your dreams and hopes for the future? Maybe you're longing to birth something beautiful, but you're hitting a wall? If so, this episode is for you: The achiever. The one longing to build something significant but feeling shut down in the process. It may surprise you, but you're not creating treasure; however, you are created to reveal treasure. Understanding the difference between those two statements is crucial for freedom in creativity. Give this episode a listen to discover why.
In this episode: Let's unlearn pressure and discover freedom together!
Scriptures:
The entire universe is standing on tiptoe, yearning to see the unveiling of God’s glorious Romans 8:19 TPT
The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Matthew 13:44 ESV
Letter from the host:
Dear Beloveds,
Reflecting on and responding to the faithful and intelligent love of God has been therapeutic to my mind, heart, and body! I vulnerably share because I want you to experience the joy of authentic connection with Jesus, yourself, and others.
Growth happens at the point of connection. Thank you for trusting me with this connection! I'm glad to be with you!
With joy,
Gabrielle Michelle
New episodes onWednesdays! Bi-weekly!
Thanks for subscribing and leaving a review! Please feel free to share with your family and friends.
Welcome to the return to joy podcast. I'm your host, Gabrielle Michel Leonard. Here, we're leading people to cultivate joy through storytelling. We hope listening will reveal pathways to unlocking the healing power of connection, so that you can see your relationships and the world around you transformed from fractured into flourishing. You are not creating treasure, I intentionally am saying that coming out quite direct with it, because that's how it came and hit me. That's how it hit me when the Lord used a friend to speak and say that. And there was this part of me that was a little bit resistant to that. But then there was this other part of me that felt like, wait a minute, there's some truth to this, something about this actually, is bearing witness with my spirit. And something about this is actually quite freeing already. Like, I can feel it, I can feel that if I grasp onto this truth, that this is actually trying to release me from performance, release me from pressure, release me from striving. And I totally believe that that is what grabbing hold to that truth has been actually doing for me in my life. And I'm hoping that as I share, just my process, the the thought process has been in my head in these last couple of weeks that it would also do the same and be the same for you. I think this is a timely discussion, because there's always a little bit of pressure around a new year, right? Whether it's external pressures from just the culture, your job, you know, your your, you know, just what you see other people are doing, and how you see other people are moving in the world or internal pressures based on expectations you have for yourself thoughts you have about where you would be by now, or where you're trying to go. And I just think that it's time that we get aligned with what is true. Because getting in alignment with what is true is actually going to make sure that when we're out here, moving living and breathing and being we actually are doing so from the place of being connected to the truth of who Jesus is and who he is for us and not connected to any falsehoods around who we are. And, and or who we're not or what we're so what we're to create or what pressure is on us to create or do. So let me backtrack a little bit and explain where this is even coming from. Beginning of our maybe like towards the end of, you know, 2021, it's the clock is ticking down, we're winding down, we're about to roll into 2022 There's just a couple of days left. And actually on this particular day, there was just one more day left, it was December 31. And there were things that I still had yet to do that I wanted to accomplish and put out there and they hadn't been done yet and it seemed like everything was getting in the way of that actually taking place. Even just starting back up this podcast was a one of those things that I had thought man by necessarily by now, I would have already done this. And and if it hadn't happened, and then even with the couple tasks or things that I felt like I was still supposed to get done and they're they're good things or things that I'm like, Okay, I feel like these are things that Floyd's called me to fill out these are even just things that are just me showing up and being Gabrielle and why does it seem like even that is so hard? Why is it seem like I'm constantly hitting a roadblock and a wall like I literally told that to the Lord? I was like God like I feel like I'm constantly hitting a wall. Like I know there's permission and freedom from you to run. You're not holding me back and you've given courage to do these things that seems scary. They seem risky, but to rely on you and trust but yet I keep hitting this wall. I even went as far to tell him like man I feel sometimes even feel like lost in the all the things that I could do all the possibilities of they're all good things, all these things that could that could take place and I'm just and I feel like I'm kind of grasping and reaching Seeing and not quite landing anywhere. There's just this wrestle. And I, I was so done. And so when, you know, this last day of the year rolls over and there's like minimal things that I'm thinking, okay, surely I'm gonna least do this. And even. And when even those minimal things do not happen because of just different circumstances that came came up, I could feel the I could feel this anxiety, or not even necessarily just anxiety, but just the shame and the pressure surmount. And you would think I would already know have learned the lesson. But no, not really, because this conversation around God has been having a conversation with me about pressure for a couple months now. But it's still it was still there. So the early evening rolls around, and I'm driving out to this house that I'm going to be staying at for the weekend. And I hit a deer. No, not joking. I hit a deer, there was obviously it's the 31st. So people are someone starts popping a firework. Huge one really early songs not even completely down yet, but they pop a firework, I'm in route driving, and I guess it spooks this deer. And this book pops out at my car, hits tank slug on my car. But um, and I was just done. I was just done at that point. And what's funny about it now in hindsight, is the is the reality that literally I just had a conversation with the Lord right earlier that day saying, I feel like I keep hitting a wall, and then you know, are hitting something. And then literally, I hit a deer. But that brought up a lot of that just brought, I think that was like a breaking point for me in a lot of ways. And something that I remember a mentor telling me a while back is that break down can lead to break through those points when we those times, when we finally come to a position where like where it's okay, the way I'm moving the way I'm going about doing things, it is not benefiting me anymore, I actually keep hitting a wall, the way I've been moving how I've known to live, how I've known to function is not going to be I can't function in the same way that I have, if I'm going to keep moving forward. I think that's what that wall that before I was frustrated with that block that I kept hitting that before I was just wanting the Lord to just move out of the way and I was annoyed because I'm like, I just want to keep going forward, I just want to keep going. And this is what's not allowing me to go not realizing that this wall had a name. I was just frustrated and wanted to be gone. But the reality is that now I'm realizing it had a name. And it was the way I was going about doing things thus far. And I couldn't keep going forward moving forward, growing and moving in the direction which the Lord was calling me to move with carrying the same mindset, the same font, doing the same things and, and moving in the same way that I was, This wall was really an opportunity for break down, which would lead to break through where I could move forward in a way that was sustainable for the future. I'm realizing now that I couldn't keep going with the same mentality. It wasn't going to be sustainable. So I'm at this house, things you know, get figured out with me Lee's getting to driving the rest of the couple miles to the house. And I'm there. And I remember I think it was later that night maybe that I'm on the phone with a friend. And I'm talking with this friend and sister of mines and I'm, I'm telling her some of the same things. I had recently vocalized to the Lord saying, Man, I feel like I'm, I'm hitting this wall, I'm stuck, I feel kind of paralyzed. Just all these different things. And she's and she's like, Man, I feel you I'm on the same. I'm building the same way right now. And so we just spend some time in prayer together. And we're encouraging one another end. And towards the end of the prayer, something that comes back on my mind. That is a reminder from the Lord, I believe is he reminds me of something he told me back in college. And I remember I actually don't remember the context of of when he told me this, but just remember you know those things that just kind of stand out to you and they're forever nuggets and this was one of them. But I just remember a conversation with the lawyer that I was having in prayer and him saying it Few Am, Am I your treasure? And I said, of course, Lord, you're my treasure. And so then he challenged me with this, then live as if you've already found the treasure, and not as if you're still looking for it. I'm gonna say that again, live as if you've already found the treasure, and not as if you're still looking for it. I realized in that moment, as I was repeating this statement to my friend, I was saying it out loud to her. But I was also knowing that the Holy Spirit was saying it to me. Because I became aware in that moment, that man, in no way have I been moving. Like I already have the treasure in these last couple of months. And in anticipation for this new year, I've been acting like I'm still searching for treasure. Like, I'm still searching, like, I'm still trying to get it. Not as if I have it. And now I'm just living in response to what I already have to what's already minds. And so I in that moment, realizing, wow, okay, Lord, that's a reset moment for me, that convicts me, helped me to repeat, re align myself in my heart, my mind and my heart to the reality that the treasure I've longed for, is a treasure that I now have in you. And that does look like something practically, that's not just like a good positive statement that looks like something. And that's something that you know, we you in your time in the Word and in your time with the Lord that you discover of how to walk that out. But as we continued, I said that and as we continued in this kind of prayerful conversation, my friend and I, she'd made a statement where she said, wow, we're not even creating treasure. And when she said that, I stopped her because I knew may you don't even realize what you just said, girl. And I knew like, man, like the Lord just said that through you. And I repeated it back to her. And she was like, dang, thank you for repeating that I did not realize what I just said. And we were both like, whoa, something about that. There's a little part of me that resist it. But then there's a huge part of me that's like, we got to get this, we got to understand this. We're not even creating treasure when she said that it was like, wow, I've been having all this pressure. Put upon myself, not other people around the things I'm trying to create that I believe would be beneficial. They're not they're not selfish things. And I do believe for you, there may be things that you're like, Man, I really want to do this. And you're like, it's not selfish. It's not anything selfish. It's not selfish things. It's good things. But even good things can apply undue pressure, if the if the way we're going about trying to produce them is unhealthy. And our x and our and our expectations are misplaced. It just was like this reality of not creating treasure. The treasure is available and widely accessible. Jesus is the treasure and he's been made himself available. He's made himself accessible to people. What we're doing in the way that we live in the way that we speak in what we create and what we do, and how we show up day to day and how we love the people around us is we are revealing the treasure we are revealing treasure not creating it the pressure is not on you beloved. The pressure is and will always be upon Jesus it's on God I was just thinking about I was telling this to another friend of mines and because I was like because I was you know still wrestling through this of like, man, is that sound true to you? Mike I'm like I'm you know, digging it I'm trying to dig in the word like does this sound true? And she gave me this analogy had made it resonate all the more she was like, you know when people mined diamonds. When people you know what if a jeweler sells a diamond, or even one I don't know what their name is. I'm pretty sure there's some type of special name for him. Whoever you know, cuts and you know, does all the making pretty room for diamonds. When they do that? Did they create that diamond? No. No man has created a diamond no man has created gold man has found gold man has revealed the beauty and intricacies of a diamond. But no one's created it. The treasure is already available. It's there. I mean in Asana, it may not necessarily be accessible to everyone. But it is there to be mined, it is there to be revealed it is there to be discovered to be unlocked. But if I just told you, you got to create a diamond, that pressure isn't put in the right place. It's not applied in the right place, and that applying pressure to the wrong place does damage. It does damage in your heart, it does damage in your mind, it does damage in your body. But when we apply pressure to the right place, apply pressure to Jesus, apply the demand upon him for him to reveal what he is doing in our lives in the world. Apply pressure for him to show up in this new year for us apply pressure for him to accomplish the things that he says spoken over your life and apply pressure to Jesus for him to be who you have, are longing and hoping and needing for him to be the truths and in the word that that speak to you that you say, Man, I need God to be this, I need God to show up in my family I need God to provide for for us, I need God to restore hope. Where there has been deep anxiety and depression and fear. When the pressure is upon Jesus, and we rely upon him, there is access to hope. When pressure is applied to the right place. The blockade the wall comes down the one we're applying the pressure to ourselves, the demand upon ourselves. Maybe you'll get maybe you'll get five maybe you'll get a little it'll get a little ways maybe shoot I know a lot of people get pretty far, applying pressure to themselves. But it's not sustainable. I believe it creates bitterness, anxiety, depression, fear, hopelessness, because you weren't built for that. But you were designed. What you do have capacity for is relying and trusting upon the strength of Jesus and relying upon his promise that he would reveal you. Even in the world, you Christ in you is the hope of glory, Christ in you is a treasure, you are his prized possession. One of my favorite verses right now is Romans 819, where it's talking about the whole earth groaning with this eager expectation for the revealing of the sons and daughters of God. I'm committed, I'm committed this year, to place pressure in the right place. And not upon myself. I wasn't it wasn't meant to be applied to me. I know there's gonna be a lot of times where I'm going to get where I'm going to stumble back in that. I'm going to have little grace upon myself. And I'm going to, you know, crack the whip. And then we're gonna be right back right at the right another little block where I'm like, okay, I get what's the issue is and the Lord and His kindness and be like, Nope, I'm, I'm, I'm placing this wall right here, girl, because you ain't moving no further with that mentality, with that burden with that lie carrying you forward because it can't carry you forward. You got to let that go. If you want to continue forward, I'm not going to allow in my grace, I'm not going to allow it. And so I share this with you hoping that it challenges you. Maybe that doesn't sit right with you still. And that's okay. I'm okay with that. wrestle with the Lord in prayer. Dig through Scripture. I do know that it's there it is. realigning my focus to who Jesus wants to be for me and less Miss placing my focus on who I feel like I got to be and what I feel like I got to do or should do or should be able to do and it's it's leaving me in a place that feels sustainable for the future. It feels to step bills at rest in the present. And that is it some And I could deep I would deeply hope for for you to have as well. Happy New Year super excited to be back doing these podcast episodes. It is. Is is is refreshing for me is refreshing for your girl. So I'm excited to be with you, weekly and I will see you again next week. If you're hearing this message, you've listened to the entire episode. And for that I am deeply grateful. I hope this episode resonated with you and if it did help us out by sharing this episode and leaving a review on Apple podcasts, and Spotify. Most importantly, reach out to let me know how you're engaging with this episode, and what topics you'd like to see covered in the future. You can connect with us on social media, or get in touch with me directly at Gabrielle at returning to joy.com to share your heart. I'll see you in two weeks for a new episode.