Singleness, Unfulfilled Longings, & Navigating Trials with Grace with Bethany Beal
On this week’s episode of The About Her Podcast, I chatted with Bethany Beal. Bethany and her sister Kristen Clark are the founders of Girl Defined Ministries, a ministry founded in 2014 to help modern girls understand and live out God’s timeless truth for womanhood. Bethany and Kristin firmly believe that the only one who can rightly define women is the one who created women, and they have made it their goal to correct the conflicting messages we often hear from the world regarding our identity, value, and purpose. They seek to communicate God’s timeless truth for womanhood through their blog, Youtube channel, podcast, books, conferences, and online webinars.
Bethany and I specifically chat about their recent book, Not Part of the Plan: Trusting God with the Twists and Turns of your Story.
Show Notes
You recently released a book titled Not Part of the Plan. Can you tell us a little bit about this new book?
Do you have a favorite chapter in the book?
Throughout the book, you graciously share bits and pieces of your own story and your journey through disappointment or unexpected/unwanted seasons of life. Would you mind briefly sharing your story with us today?
As you look back at these seasons of waiting and trusting and wrestling, are there any specific aspects of God’s character that you clung to or that grew more and more beautiful in your eyes as the seasons progressed and passed?
In what ways has the Lord used the particular seasons of waiting that you experienced to grow you, to shape you, and to make you more like Himself?
What encouragement or challenge would you offer the woman who is walking out of a trial? Are there any particular passages of Scripture you recommend meditating upon as a woman in this season? How can other women support a woman in this season?
What encouragement or challenge would you offer the woman who is walking into a trial? Are there any particular passages of Scripture you recommend meditating upon as a woman in this season?
What encouragement or challenge would you offer the woman who is smack dab in the middle of a trial? Are there any particular passages of Scripture you recommend meditating upon as a woman in this season?
How should women handle unfulfilled longings when we long for good gifts and aren’t receiving them?
Even if a woman listening to this podcast episode is not experiencing a particular trial or temptation, how can she prepare her heart now (in a season of rejoicing) for any trials or unexpected seasons she may face in the future?
How should women think about the possibility of future trials or unexpected seasons?
Singleness is a topic you often address on your podcast and in your writing. What encouragement would you offer single women listening to this podcast episode?
In what ways did you intentionally and practically seek to make the most of your singleness?
Are there any resources you recommend for women walking through a difficult or unexpected season of life, or who will inevitably walk through such a season in the future?
Notable Quotations
“The only one who can define you is the one who designed you.”
“It’s ok to have emotion and it’s ok to say, ‘God I really want this.’ But we can’t allow those things to become an idol or to allow those desires to control us.”
“Even when we get married, our circumstances might change as we take on the roles of wife and mother, but our purpose is still the same, to know God and to glorify Him.”
“Our circumstances don’t have to change in order for us to fully live for God or live out the reason he put us here.”
“God doesn’t change when I feel a certain way.”
“God is able to use even hard circumstances for good.”
“God graciously uses us, and he is so patient with us. That is so encouraging to me!”
“When you understand the steadfastness, perfection, and graciousness of God, it should draw you into a deeper relationship with him and should drive you to love others in that same way through the help and the power of the Holy Spirit.”
“True joy and suffering can coexist at the same time.”
“God created emotions so you don’t have to stifle them down.”
“We have to come to the realization that it’s not about us. Life is about living to serve God and that’s truly where life is found. When we lose our lives for Christ’s sake then we will find it.”
“Instead of being fearful of the ‘what if’s’ focus on the joy and the delight of what we have right now.”
“The more life is just about us and our eyes are on us, that’s when we are most miserable.”
Recommended Resources
Not Part of the Plan by Kristen Clark & Bethany Beal
Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth (Author)
The Elisabeth Elliot Foundation
Humility by Andrew Murray
Finding the Hero in your Husband by Juli Slattery
Scripture References
Proverbs 3:5-6
The Life of Jesus in the Gospel’s
The Psalms
Philippians 2
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