Podcast Transcripts

Please enjoy this episode of Hanging Out With Jesus Podcast #28 on your favorite podcast platform. Although efforts were made in editing, this transcript may include a few typos. It’s difficult to catch some minor errors. Enjoy!

Prayer: God almighty. Thank you. Thank you for your blessings. Thank you for being here with us. Thank you for the podcast for the blog. Thank you, father God for listeners for the saints. And thank you. Then my best friend is here to cheer us all on. Thank you for all that, you have done all the technology difficulties we have learned from thank you from all the guests that you have provided us with. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, father God, being in all of our lives for choosing us to be an opportunity. For you to bring forth [00:03:00] an increase. Thank you, father God in Jesus name. We pray amen and amen.

I'd just like to thank everyone for joining me and celebrating our one year anniversary. This is a blessing!

Lori: Um, excuse me. Uh, Lyvita. Remember it is your one-year anniversary. I’m the host.

Lyvita: That is correct. So I'll, I'll stop talking

Lori: Welcome to Hanging Out With Jesus Podcast where we help you identify what's hindering you from growing in love with God, your neighbor and yourself. I am Lori Billingsley.  Lyvita’s best friend. And I have the honor of interviewing [00:04:00] her on this one-year anniversary of all the amazingness that's happened over this past year and let her share her thoughts on some specific topics.

Lori:Yeah. I know what you all want to know. So that's what I'm going to ask her. Lyvita are you?

Lyvita: Yes, I am.

Lori: Is there anything that you'd like to say before we get started?

Lyvita: Well, I'm enjoying this already.

Lori: Awesome. Awesome. I had the privilege of joining one of the sessions,  earlier on in the podcast. And so I've been waiting to be invited back and I love the fact that I get to ask the questions. Here we go. What do you do to keep yourself focused when you get tired? Feel overwhelmed [00:05:00] or seem to be stuck on where to move forward.

Lyvita: One, you got to get up from whatever it is. You're doing. Take a wall, then come back and you just got to say, Lord, is this what you want me to finish or to do. I need the strength. I need the Holy spirit to give me the strength to do it because right now my eyes are falling down. So I need your help. So you just gotta pray. You know, get up, come back, talk to the Lord. And if it's what he wants you to do, I'm telling you, He, He will give you the strength to do it, or He'll let you just take your little five, 10 minute nap because I'm telling you, if you take a 20 minute nap. I'm sorry, let's just say 15. Cause I've done 15 too. But if you take a 15 to a 20 minute nap a day or, just go somewhere and sit and it's quiet and you [00:06:00] don't move just, you just sit there. I'm telling you that's rejuvenation.

Lori: Yeah, I like that. That reminds me of your very first podcast. Practicing silence.

Lyvita: Oh, show. Right.

Lori: So we're at the one year anniversary and look you are already referencing something from the very first podcast. I like that. So practicing Silence can help us get our mojo.

Lyvita: (laughing – mojo) It's interesting since I'm thinking about it, but Lord, you know, this podcast, started out as an idea. When I really look back on it, it really didn’t start as an idea but just knowing that such a thing as a podcast existed. Then the idea to do it came later. I want to say.probably around March, February, [00:07:00] March of 2019, where I was trying to clear some memory off my phone, cause if you remember, I had a different phone than I had now, and it was blacking out on me. So, I didn't want to buy a new phone. So. I was trying to delete apps off of it in  order to say some memory. And I came across this purple and white thing and it said podcasts. So I said, well, what is it, and I’m not using it so might as well delete it. Well instead I clicked on it and that's really, when I found out that there was even such a thing as podcast and from there, the Lord just started everything. 

I just started enjoying listening to it. And then when I did my regular 21 day fast, which He turned into 40 day fast, [00:08:00] it was like, He was just teaching me about what it is He wanted me to do and giving me the courage to do it. Because, you know, education where I came from and podcasting, which deals with the internet and this computer full time, which have nothing to do with each, except that, you know, I still get to teach, but still I'm just saying, I don't know any of this stuff.

I'm on, uh, uh, a recording system. Come on seriously. I don't even know what that is, but now I do.

Lori:Of course you do well and all of it. Yeah.

Lyvita: And it's all because I put my trust in the Lord and He has brought this podcast to where it is today, because all I've been doing, is learning stuff and enjoying it.

All it is is just. Listening to the Lord and saying, okay, Lord, I'm available. What's next?

Lori:[00:09:00] Trust in God. I love that. I love that. And you have been faithful with this, so it's been a year. So what have you learned this past year? Especially during the pandemic.

Lyvita: You can't give up. You just, you just can't give up. I remember when the Lord said I wanted you to add speakers to the podcast. Okay. Seriously, who knows me? Nobody out there in the world. Except, in my circle that knows me. And He wants me to reach out to people who have no idea who I am. First of all, who are these people, He wants me to reach out to and where do I get them?

How is it that he thinks I can do this, but see, that's the kind of God we serve. We know He puts stuff in us [00:10:00] that we have no idea is in us. And when you start spending your time with the Lord, the Holy Spirit starts stirring up stuff, in you. 

Lori:You right.

Lyvita: The first person that was on the podcast was Jewel. And when did I meet Jewel? 2019 August at a Christian Writers Fellowship. Seriously, you know what I'm saying? It was,there that we just started talking, you know, then every once in a while we just started talking over the phone to each other. It was like no big deal, but it was a big deal because when I start asking all these questions is like the Lord already had someone in place for me, Jewel.  [00:11:00] if it were not for her, encouraging me during the time we were recording the episdoe, g-i-r-l things were happening during that recording now, but I mean, she just kept encourageing me  And it was like, okay, we got this Lord, we got this. We, isn’t just me and Jewel, I'm talking about the Holy spirit. And it was like, a highlighted blessing. And then from that, it was like, okay, Lord, Whoa! Peggy remember Peggy Ruth.

Lori: Oh, I remember. Oh my goodness.

Lyvita: And then starting up with Psalm 91. Come on. And the Lord leading me to go downstairs. Till this day I don't know why I went downstairs to dig in that box. And there was Psalm 91 [00:12:00], it like it was saying, yes, I'm what you're looking for. And I just picked it up, and stopped, and Psalm 91 just blew up. And Peggy Ruth just, I mean, it's like, yes, she will be there. So, yeah. And, Lately, I emailed her to check up on her, she's doing fine, and then, Don Whitney, he was the first male that I interviewed, you know, and then, Soul Shepherding with Kristi Gaultiere and, Oh, Adele Calhoun, her book was the first one that I learned about spiritual disciplines.

As you know, one of the things I did ask was so now that we will do this podcast. What do I had to say [00:13:00] because I'm pretty sure everybody has everything covered. That’s when God just remind me, what have you been doing? A lot of, uh, yeah practicing, spiritual disciplines. So that's how all this came about.

Lori: Wow. Interesting. It's super interesting. And I think one of the themes that's coming out in sort of everything that you've been answering is, extended times of prayer, you know, trusting God and being disciplined. Right, because being consistent is what bears fruit. So I love how you've kind of been very disciplined and very, well, you're like the super organizer anyway, very [00:14:00] organized and deliberate and intentional.

Lyvita: Whoa!

Lori: What one or two takeaways you want your amazing listeners to run with that will help them to maintain their focus because it's so, I mean, in this technologically, you know, overemphasize culture, there's so many distractions that can break your focus. So what are some things that you can help us?

Lyvita: Remember to do two big principles, Bible study and praying.  Bible study. Not reading your Bible. I mean, you can read your Bible, but I'm just saying you got to study the word of God.

Lori: Say that again. I said, please read your Bible.

Lyvita: Yes. Please read your Bible. But I'm talking about it's [00:15:00] time to go deeper than that. It's time to spend time in the word of God. I'm not talking about, get your daily word, you read your verse and then you just read what they're saying. Praise the Lord. The pray and go on about your day. No, I'm talking about take God's word. Start at the beginning. It could be 1 John, Matthew, Romans, Joshua, whatever. Just start at the beginning of a chapter and you read it until something highlights. I don't care if it's the word “to be”. Stop. Lord. why are you highlighting this “to be”, what does that mean?  I'm talking about studying it, finding out about your God, who He is, His different interactions with didn’t characters? How does that relate to you? How do you share that with others? [00:16:00] How do you apply that to your life? Find out who your God is. That’s Bible study and praying. And when I say you stop when things are highlighted. That's talking to God when I say praying, that's talking to God. And matter of fact, my next episode is going to be talking about talking to God. Cause I got Sarah Bowling coming back and she has a book out called, Hey God, can we talk?

Lori: So my next question was, what did you have coming up?

Lyvita: You have to do those two things. Those are critical. Cause you, you have accepted Christ as your personal Savior. And that means you have given your life to Christ. That means you had to do some talking. Some kind of words came out your mouth, [00:17:00] something, it wasn't, you know, in your head, but something came out cause you had to confess.

Therefore, if you did that continue the conversation. Don't stop. Continue. In other words, talk to God without ceasing. That means talk to him, just like you talk to your friends. You're on the telephone. How you talk to them, you know? Talk to God. Or, washing the dishes you can talk to God. Lord. Don't you remember when such and such happened? Well, I'm really disturbed by that. Is there some something I need to do in order to help someone out? You know, talk to God. He will be there for you. He will answer you because you are developing a relationship. Bible study and talking to God, Bible study and praying, digging deep in God's word and prayer.

[00:18:00] That's developing relationship because then you know how to approach him to ask things, you know, how to approach him too, and to see for different. Sicknesses and you know how to, you know, just truly give him praise and honor glory from the heart. And, you begin to develop a relationship and that's the whole, that's what sustained you as a believer in Christ, your relationship with Christ.

Lori: Let me ask you, cause you've said a lot and it's all really, really good. And I think the main thing, that you can take away is the importance of your relationship with God. Can you talk a little bit? Cause sometimes, you know, we know our relationship with God is super important. We have relationships with people that we can see every day. Can you talk about the [00:19:00] importance of having an accountability partner, because that is a relationship that will help you deepen your relationship with God. Talk a little bit about that. Now that was episode. 23. I believe it is about Accountability Partners.

Lyvita:Yes Accountabity partners. God has always blessed me with people that I could, and I don't want to say look up to. Because I don't want you to think I'm idolizing them, but He’ss always blessed me with relationships that have been so supportive and it's not just them supporting me, but me supporting them and, and it's, and it's like, us.Truly enjoy being around each other's [00:20:00] company. We truly enjoy learning from each other and learning about the Lord and we don't have a problem of telling each other, excuse me, you know, that's wrong. You know, that sound like sin?

Lori:Yeah. I'm very familiar with  it

Lyvita: Yeah and we don’t get offended. You know, we may look at each other and say, But we, we sit there and sit and our minds are just, Oh, Oh, she might be right. Let me, let me take another look. So, He has always blessed me from the time I accepted Christ back in Philadelphia. I, you know, I can think of Ruth Matter of fact, you have not medt Ruth.

Lori:Um, No.

Lyvita: The Lord blessed with me growing up in Christ with Ruth and Darlene and others when I was in Philly. God has just been with me all the way through. I love that.

Lori: So last question. I know I said that we were, you know, it sounded like the last question I asked was really the last question I would love to hear more about your one year anniversary, on your amazing podcast. What is your favorite podcasts that you've done so far. Now I know that's hard because so I'll let you say like your top three or you can even do it thematically. What were the themes that you covered that you found the best? So I'll give you some wiggle room with your answer.

Lyvita: I think Lori, [00:22:00] that's a question we have to ask at the second anniversary, because every podcast is my favorite, because I've overcome a challenge during that time. Every podcast, there has not been a podcast that has not had some kind of challenge that God has blessed. It's just a blessing in itself. Yeah. Cause even the one we had for Holy communion, that one, I learned about a new tool because I was having some sound issues. And then I had to do a podcast on zoom. That was, and then I did a matter of [00:23:00] fact with Don Whitney, it took us. Maybe about 20 minutes before we could actually record because nothing was working zoom, which I never knew how to work, but that didn't work. Same with the other software I was using, didn't work, trying to put it through the phone and all, nothing was working. So everyone was a challenge that propell me to a place where I feel more comfortable. Well, you know what, let me tell you what's coming up, because this is going to be interesting that the Lord is leading me to ask other podcasters to be interviewed on their podcast. So far I have one, yes and I’ve sent out about 25 emails requesting to be interviewed. 

The first couple of days I did this, nobody, nobody responded. You understand what I'm saying? Nobody responded. I [00:24:00] went back and talked to the Lord. Okay, so obviously I'm doing something wrong.  And when I mentioned it to you you acted like it was no big deal. Okay. Well, I know you're going to keep on doing it. Is basically what you said. And it's like, okay. So then I just started praying more. And when I say praying more is that I prayed before each one of the emails. And then next thing you know, I had one to three pop up requesting to talk to me. Then the fear of, well Lord what am I suppose to talk about. (laughing) I knew what to talk about, I just became fearful knowing that God has my back. That didn’t last long. It came just as fast as it went, quickly.

So, when I thought about it , the Lord really did put stuff in me to talk about.  [00:25:00] Yeah. So, I'm going to be doing that. And also I'm trying to write a Bible study so I can put that online. 

Lori:Oh, this is exciting. It's exciting. Cause you never, you, you never know what God has in store for you. If you don't step out.

Lyvita: If  you never step out, you never know what step two has to offer. Oh, this is it. It's a blessing to, get this far. I have to give God all the praise. I'm serious. He designs us for [00:27:00] different missions, for example, everybody can't preach. Everybody can't sing, everybody can't dance. But what we can do is what He's placed in us.

And we will never know what it is until we study His word and talk to Him. Then the Holy Spirit will stir it up. Praise God. Hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus.

Lori: So I hope that everyone was able to glean something from this, you know, any sort of inspiration to get started, doing what God's called you [00:28:00] to do a commitment, to be more consistent and disciplined about what you do. You know, the things that the Holy Spirit's highlighting as you're listening and laughing and going over the things that we're talking about, that, you know, the ability that Lyvita had to step out on faith and do what God called her to do. And now we're here a year later. And guess what? If she hadn't done what God told her to do, He would raise somebody else up too. And so don't miss your moment or your blessing. We hope that, you know, that it's time. To just step out on faith and the things that God's told you to do, practicing the things that Lyvita talked about, fasting and [00:29:00] prayer and discipline, and being consistent and having accountability partners and, and remembering it is never too late. Never, never too late.

Lyvita: I'm sorry. What'd you say?

Lori:I said never too early and never too late right now. I'm going to let you have the last word. I'm the host for this being your one year anniversary. So I will let you close it out.

Lyvita: All I have to say is Hallelujah. Jesus Glory! Hallelujah! Bringing us this fall.

Lori:Yeah, well, on that note, then we're gonna go out, praising God with a glory, Hallelujah, and thanking him for all that He's done and all that he's going to continue to do. Cause He's the same today and [00:30:00] yesterday,

Lyvita,  Well Saints until we meet again over the airwaves, continue to daily and intentionally hang out with Jesus.  Shalom!