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Hey, friend. Are you searching for a podcast that partners faith and entrepreneurship? A toolkit of tactical how tos to start or grow your online business God's way, hop over and check out the Stephanie Gas Show, a top 0.5% podcast for women who are ready to create impact and income without sacrificing family or their faith. Listen in to over 500 episodes on biblical business training, clarity on your niche, podcasting, monetizing, and so much more. That's s t e f a n I e gas s, the Stephanie Gascio.
Speaker 1:I pray it blesses you.
Speaker 2:Good morning, friend. Hope you're doing well. It is going to be a beautiful and super hot day here in Nebraska. My goodness. It's been hot.
Speaker 2:It was a 105 or a 106 yesterday, and it's really hot. Got out of my office yesterday after surgery and went to the car. It was like a dutch oven in my vehicle. It's crazy, so I hope you're well. Listen.
Speaker 2:I wanna kind of apologize to you. I feel like I haven't been serving you very well this month. We had this just crazy virus thing that's gone through our house and, just haven't, first of all, had any energy, stamina. I've been coughing and sneezing, and it's just lingered forever. And so, you've had a little bit more, old content than usual and a little fewer new episodes, and I haven't done my, patron only episode for this month yet.
Speaker 2:That's coming tomorrow. Lord willing, so I just I just want you to know that it's been a a tough month for us. We've had, somebody that we dearly love, dearly love, as I shared with you a couple days ago that that just told us that for the last over a year, has been struggling with a really deeply problematic situation in their life, and, and it's just devastating and and didn't feel like they could share it. There was shame and anxiety and fear and pain. And so I wanna I wanna talk a little bit today about 2 2 ideas.
Speaker 2:I'm gonna give you some some concepts about monuments and footprints. This was inspired by, William Faulkner. He was quoted in Eugene Peterson's amazing book, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction. That that's a book that you need to read. And it was based on the Psalms of Ascent, the little section in the middle of the book of Psalms, that they used when they were on their journeys.
Speaker 2:That the the people would use these songs to to kinda pass the times they've made their pilgrimages every year. And so in that book, along obedience in the same direction, Eugene Peterson quotes William Faulkner. And the quote is this. He's talking about those Psalms, but the quote is they are not monuments but footprints. A monument says, at least I got this far.
Speaker 2:While a footprint says, this is where I was when I moved again. A monument says, this is where I got. But at least I got this far. A footprint says, this is where I was when I moved again. That's maybe strange for you right now to think about what in the world is Lee gonna talk about that about today.
Speaker 2:How is that relevant to my life? Well, trust me. I know you will. Let me read Psalm 121 to you. A song of ascents.
Speaker 2:I lift up my eyes to the mountains. Where does my help come from? My help comes from the lord, the maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip. He who watches over you will not slumber.
Speaker 2:Indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The lord watches over you. The lord is your shade at your right hand. The sun will not harm you by day nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all harm.
Speaker 2:He will watch over your life. He will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore. Okay. We're gonna talk about monuments and footprints. We're gonna talk about looking up to where health comes from.
Speaker 2:And we're gonna remind ourselves today, my friend, that what we don't need from God, no matter how impossible the situation feels, what we don't need is for God to do a miracle. What we need is for God to just be who he is because we have a God who makes a way where there is no way. We have a God who is routinely doing impossible things because they are not impossible for him. And so when it feels like it's impossible, that's when we need God to show up and just be who he is. So we're gonna learn a little bit about what Psalm 121 monuments and footprints have to do with the God who makes a way when there is no way.
Speaker 2:And it's gonna be a good talk about how to get your brain back on track so you can make progress again when everything seems so hard. And the most important thing, my friend, is that the good news is always there for you that you can start today.
Speaker 3:Hey. Are you ready to change your life? If the answer is yes, there's only one rule. You have to change your mind first. And my friend, there's a place where the neuroscience of how your mind works smashes together with faith and everything starts to make sense.
Speaker 3:That place is called self brain surgery. You can learn it, and it will help you become healthier, feel better, and be happier. And the good news is you can start today.
Speaker 4:Thanks, Lisa. Hey. So glad to have you listening today. I'm doctor Lee Warren, and I live in Nebraska in the United States of America with my incredible wife, Lisa, my father-in-law, Tata, and the super pups, Harvey and Lewis. I'm a neurosurgeon and an author, and I'm here to help you harness neuroscience, the power of your brain, faith, the power of your spirit, and good old common sense to help you lead a healthier, better, happier life.
Speaker 4:Listen, friend. You can't change your life until you change your mind, and I'm here to help you learn the art of self brain surgery. To get it done, you can get the show notes and more at doctorleawarren.podbean.com. That's doctorleawarren.podbean.com. And if you like the show, please subscribe so you never miss an episode and tell your friends about it.
Speaker 4:If you tell 2 or 3 friends this podcast was helpful to you, imagine how much good we can all do around the world together. I'm doctor Lee Warren, and I'm here to help you change your mind so you can change your life. Let's get after it.
Speaker 2:Hey. Listen, friend. Put yourself in the situation of of the person that we're that we're with, and struggling there. Our friend who's struggling right now. Just put yourself in this situation.
Speaker 2:You're feeling abandoned. You're feeling crushed in spirit, broken, betrayed, lost, afraid, grieved, hurting so much. You you never thought this could happen to you. You tried hard. You've done the right things.
Speaker 2:You tried to be a good person, but the biopsy is bad. He cheated. She left. It's just not working. The money's run out.
Speaker 2:How did you get to this place? And what happens now? What will happen to my family, my child, my future? Will there be enough money? Will I survive?
Speaker 2:What will become of me? What will my legacy be? What if the tumor comes back? What if we can't save this relationship? Will I always be alone?
Speaker 2:What if? What's gonna happen? Why me? That's a bad place to be. But the reality is all of us have been there, and many of us are there right now.
Speaker 2:We're in that place where it feels impossible. It feels desperate. It feels like we can't possibly go on from here. We just need to hide in the bunker and wait for the war to pass or maybe just give up and let the bombs come blow us up and take us out. But let's just, for a minute, let's change trains.
Speaker 2:I I told you I've been doing these, little spots on the radio, on My Bridge Radio in Nebraska. It's a beautiful Christian radio network across Nebraska. A 155,000 daily listeners, and and they've been, very gracious to ask me to write some content for them. And one of them is called Change Trains. Let me play you that spot real quick.
Speaker 2:You you've heard it before. Here it is. Those changing trains for MyBridge Radio.
Speaker 4:This is neurosurgeon and author, doctor Lee Warren of the doctor Lee Warren podcast on MyBridge Radio, helping keep you connected. Imagine riding a subway in a big city. At every stop, you have a choice. Keep riding and go wherever that train will end up or change trains to go where you want to go. And guess what?
Speaker 4:You can do the same thing with your thought life. Thanks to our perfectly designed brains, we have the ability to stop thinking about one thing and direct our attention to something else. Philippians 4 gives us several things to think about to reduce anxiety and change our own minds. Fix your thoughts on what is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.
Speaker 4:This, my friend, is self brain surgery. And you can do it whenever and wherever you are. It's how we change trains from automatic or reactive thinking to more positive, helpful thoughts that get us where we need to go. We have a choice between letting our circumstances or other people determine our mood, train
Speaker 2:of thought, and our actions.
Speaker 4:We're letting God teach us self brain surgery to change our minds, change trains, and get to where we need to go. Self brain surgery to think about your thinking is a superpower for your life, my friend. It helps you take charge of your thoughts, change trains, and wind up in the right place every time. I'm doctor Lee Warren. Remember, you can't change your life until you change your mind.
Speaker 4:The good news is you can start today.
Speaker 2:Okay. So the first move, if you wanna change trains, if you wanna get this brain fog storm thing that's happening to you, where all you can see is the is the bad and the impossible and the negative and the hurtful and the pain. If you wanna get that under control, here's what we're gonna do. I want you to think about the fact that you're at a crossroads. Okay?
Speaker 2:And the crossroads that you're at when you're facing this situation is is this moment that I'm in, is it going to be a monument, a tombstone, a roadside marker that this place is where it needed for me? Is it gonna be is this situation gonna be the monument? Think about monuments for a minute. Monuments say that we come upon when we're walking through life. We see a sign.
Speaker 2:We see a statue. We see a cross on the roadside. The monument says, she made it this far and then she gave up. He tried really hard, but this is the spot where he retreated. The battle was mighty and it happened right here on this ground, but no more progress was made.
Speaker 2:The crash happened here. The end of their journey was right here on this ground. On this day, Lee gave up. On this day, Brian made it as far as he could make it. On this day, Sally retreated.
Speaker 2:That's those are monuments. Okay? They're markers of things that occurred. They're they're markers of the place where something ended or something reached its apex or something occurred and then no more. Monuments tell a story of how something ended or occurred.
Speaker 2:But I wanna tell you a story about beaches for a second. So back in, 2020, we went to Kiawah Island. And Kiawah Island's in South Carolina. There's a house that stayed at, and and Lisa and I and, Kimber and Jason and Bryce were able to come down. And and, Kalyn and Noah came down, and, that's all we could get of our of our kids, for that Christmas, but we had a beautiful few days on the beach there.
Speaker 2:And the reason we went to Kiawah is because several years before, we had taken a family vacation there. And and Lisa's mom, nanny was there, but when she was still healthy and and Mitch was there, and all the kids were there except Katie couldn't come. She had to work. But we had our family there on the on the beach, and and nanny and Tata were there. And and we we were all walking and running and playing on the beach, and and and we had just this beautiful time.
Speaker 2:And so in 2020, we decided we were gonna go back, and Lisa was able to rent the same house that we'd stayed in. And I had somehow had built it up in my mind that I was gonna be able to go to that beach and make some kind of peace with the place that I had spent some time with Mitch. That maybe maybe I could find him again somehow on that beach. And and dad, Tata, didn't go. He he couldn't bring himself to go because he thought that was the last place that we went on a family vacation when nanny was still healthy.
Speaker 2:And and for in his mind, it was insurmountable that the pain and the memory and and the grief was gonna be there. It was gonna be too big, and he couldn't he couldn't make himself go. So he didn't go because he he he wanted to avoid feeling, something that he had felt in that place. And I went thinking I could find something that I left in that place. And what we figured out what I figured out as I walked the beach is is the tide turns over twice a day, friend.
Speaker 2:And there are no old beaches, and Mitch's footprints aren't there anymore. And those memories are just memories, and they're there with me wherever I am. I don't have to go to the beach to find them. But something remarkable did happen. Little j said I've never seen the ocean before.
Speaker 2:My little grandson, who was 2 at the time, almost 2 at the time. He'd never seen the ocean. And he played on the beach and we and we held hands and we walked in the surf and we played and splashed and laughed, and they built a sand castle. And and then one day, Lisa and I were walking, and and we were heading up to the boardwalk to go back the house where everybody was waiting, and they were gonna play games, and we were gonna have some good time for Christmas Eve. And we saw little Jason's footprints leading up to the up to the boardwalk.
Speaker 2:And I realized that that, yeah, there's no old beaches and the tide turns over, and nanny wasn't there. So the things that Dennis was trying to avoid weren't there, and Mitch wasn't there. And And and the things that I was trying to reconnect with weren't there because they're everywhere. But what was there was Jason's little footprint saying, hey, I'm walking forward up to the house and and and I may have lost my son and we may have lost nanny, but we still have this beautiful family that's waiting up there in that house for us. And so I could change trains of thought from the loss and the pain and whatever it was I was trying to find again to fall in Jess' footprints into the future and the reality that we actually have this incredible beautiful family now.
Speaker 2:So the thing is, I sort of made a monument to the last time I felt happy and it had my son. That that's why I went there. But what I found was Jace's footprints leading up to the house where we still had this growing lovely family and it wasn't a monument to the end. It was footprints saying, hey. I decided to move again.
Speaker 2:See, when you find footprints, it's telling you a story of somebody that didn't stop walking. Somebody that decided I'm gonna take another step, and then I'm gonna take another step. And so footprints tell a story of forward progress. The monuments tell a story of where it stopped, where it ended, where it finished. And so I want you to change trains.
Speaker 2:Here's what I want you to know about Psalm 121. In those days, it was common for people to build temples to their idols, their false gods, up on the mountain tops in the high places the Bible called. And over and over, we read in the Old Testament about people who succumb to this to the seduction of the high places, these these temples where they would try to do things to connect with these false gods. And what the psalmist here is saying is I lift up my eyes to the hills, but I know where my health comes from. It doesn't come from the hill.
Speaker 2:I'm looking past that false thing, that bottle that that I thought I needed, that habit, that relationship, that that person that I've thought I needed to to make my life work, that that financial situation that I thought that extra money that I thought I had to have it. But God says, look past all that and look to me, and I'll show you where your health comes from. Psalm 121 is just a little bit of self brain surgery that he does. I lift up my eyes to the help to the hills. Where does my eyes come where does my health come from?
Speaker 2:My health comes from the Lord. He won't let my foot slip. He watches over me. He won't sleep. He watches over me.
Speaker 2:He's at my he's my shade when the sun is hot. He keeps me from harming. He watches over my life. He watches over my coming and my going both now and forevermore. You see, he's reminding himself.
Speaker 2:He's doing he's remembering the prehab. He's using memory and movement to find hope again, to flex the muscles of hope, and he's saying, I'm not going to let this spot be where they put up a monument and say this is where Lee finished it all. I'm gonna I'm gonna leave a trail of footprints behind to say, God's with me. I'm gonna keep moving. See, the thing about God is he is commonly up to things that feel and seem impossible to us.
Speaker 2:Remember I did an episode a while back called impossible, possible things just to remind us that god is not limited by what we think is possible. He's not. He's over and over throughout history done things to rescue people, help those in need, save those who are lost, raise those who are dead. Here's a few of the things the scripture says God can do that seem impossible to us. It says he whistles and bees come.
Speaker 2:Zechariah 108, Isaiah 526, Isaiah 718. Different times that God whistles and and creation response. Flies come at his command. Bees come. People come.
Speaker 2:He calls for a bird of prey and it comes at his command. Those are impossible to us, but not to God. He roars like a lion, Hosea 11:10. He gets up out of his chair when you need help, Isaiah 3018. He roams the earth looking for those who need his assistance, 2nd Chronicles 16:9.
Speaker 2:He sees the ends from the beginning so he's not surprised at what we're going through. Isaiah 4810 sorry, 4610. He finishes what he starts and he ends like he says it will. He knows before he takes the shot what's gonna happen. God calls his shots.
Speaker 2:Isaiah 4611. He can make an axe head float. When his when his servant dropped the axe that we needed to make his livelihood, God made it float. 2nd Kings 6 1 through 7. He sends bears to do justice.
Speaker 2:2nd Kings 22325 is a story about when God sent a bear to help somebody, a whole bunch of bears to help somebody. He parts waters. He makes a way in the desert. He does all these things. There's there's tons more.
Speaker 2:I'll copy and paste that list into the into the show notes for you. But he does that because he can make a way when your brain tells you there is not a way. When you finally get to that place where you say, this is not possible for me. I can't do this. I need to give up.
Speaker 2:When you say that, God says, hey. Isaiah 43. Behold, I'm doing a new thing and now it springs forth. Didn't you perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness.
Speaker 2:I will make rivers in the desert. He goes on to say, but now thus says the Lord, he who created you for I have redeemed you. Fear not. I have called you by name. You are mine.
Speaker 2:When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. And through the rivers, they will not overwhelm you. When you walk through fire, you won't be burned and the flame will not consume you for I am the lord your God, the holy one of Israel, your savior, Brian. Your savior. Scarlet, your savior.
Speaker 2:Dennis, Your savior, Lola. Your savior, Juliana. Your savior, Kimber. I am the Lord your God, the holy one of Israel, your savior. I give you this because you are precious in my eyes.
Speaker 2:You are honored and I love you. Fear not for I am with you. I will bring your offering. I will gather you, he says. Down in verse 16, thus says the lord who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters.
Speaker 2:Listen. God will make a way when your eyes tell you that there is no way. When when your brain says there is no way for this to happen. Let's change trains. The diagnosis that this is a hard situation has produced pain, and our brains are not our friends here.
Speaker 2:Because your brain is wired to cause your out of control thoughts to trigger limbic responses and the emotional deep survival parts of your brain to trigger that fight or flight response, to trigger that hide and wait it out and and avoid the pain response. We start reacting to the chemical signals that our brain is triggering to tell us that we need to hide, run, fight, curl up in a ball, give up, and die. And if we don't get that under control, friend, and start using our prefrontal cortex to bring some executive leadership to the situation, then that storm of neurotransmitter fueled terror will cause your train to crash. So let's change trains. Listen.
Speaker 2:Remember that you're at a crossroads right now. This difficult situation that you're in is producing a crossroads, and you have a choice today. On this beautiful day, you have a choice. Is this gonna be a monument to where it all ended, to where you gave up, to where you finally quit fighting, or is it gonna be a trail of footprints that somebody can follow to see how your story kept going from today.
Speaker 1:Hey, friend. Are you searching for a podcast that partners faith and entrepreneurship? A toolkit of tactical how tos to start or grow your online business God's way, hop over and check out The Stephanie Gas Show, a top 0.5% podcast for women who are ready to create impact and income without sacrificing family or their faith. Listen in to over 500 episodes on biblical business training, clarity on your niche, podcasting, monetizing, and so much more. That's s t e f aniegas, the Stephanie Gashow.
Speaker 1:I pray it blesses you.
Speaker 2:Don't forget. You don't need God to do some impossible miracle. You just need him to be who he is. You need to rely on him because it's in his nature to help you when you're hurting. That's the change of train of thought that I want you to have.
Speaker 2:This feels impossible to me. It's not to you. This feels unsurvivable, god, but I know you're with me. I feel abandoned. He hurt me.
Speaker 2:He left me. I don't know what's gonna happen in the future, but you do. You know the end from the beginning. You called this shot already. You tell you told me in in Jeremiah 29:11, you have a plan for me, a plan to prosper me and not to harm me, a plan to give me hope in the future.
Speaker 2:See, that's how you change the train, friend. That's how you do it. That's how I have to do it. That there are no old beaches. There can either be a monument on the beach with a cross where you quit, or you can find that little trail of footprints that leads back to the life that you can have and still do have.
Speaker 2:And people love you, and god is with you, and it's not impossible. It's his nature. There's a Carrie Job song that just came out called It's Your Nature, and it's long. It's one of those those, worship events where they they sing the song a thousand times. It's 11 minutes long, but there's not yet a commercial version of it.
Speaker 2:So I'm gonna play that. So it's a good way to spend some time worshiping on and thinking about this idea and praying and gaining courage and hope from the idea that it is in God's nature. It is not in his nature. It is his nature to save and rescue and bring hope and restore and heal and repair and give you opportunity for it not to feel like it feels right now all the time because it can feel better because you changed trains and you decided this is not gonna be the monument that marks the end of my my journey. I'm gonna follow I'm gonna leave behind a trail of footsteps, and I'm gonna find the path that god has for me because he makes a way where there is no way.
Speaker 2:Here's Kari Jobe to finish out. My friend, it's gonna be okay. You just have to change trains. You have to decide. I'm not leaving a monument here.
Speaker 2:I'm leaving a trail of footprints. And my friend, the good news about that is that you can start today.
Speaker 5:You bring life to the barren places light, He's a man of his work. Oh, he's a god
Speaker 4:Hey. Thanks for listening. The doctor Lee Warren podcast is listener supported. Check out patreon.podbean.com/doctorleewarren. That's patron.podbean.com/doctorleewarren.
Speaker 4:Patrons and partners get free books, transcripts, special patron only episodes, and more. And partners like you allow us to stay ad free and keep growing. Please subscribe to the show so you automatically get every episode. And if you like the show, you'll love my weekly letter. Check out my writing at doctorleewarren.
Speaker 4:Substack.com. Doctorleewarren. Substack dotcom. Get the free newsletter every week for my best prescriptions for becoming healthier, feeling better, and being happier through the power of faith and neuroscience smashing together via self brain surgery. Doctorlewarren.substack.com.
Speaker 4:And if you need prayer, go to the prayer wall at wleonemd.com/prayer. The theme music for the show is make us 1 by Tommy Walker, graciously provided for free by the great folks over at tommywalkerministries.org. Check it out and consider supporting them, tommywalkerministries.org. Remember, you can't change your life until you change your mind, and the good news is you can start today. I'm doctor Lee Warren.
Speaker 4:I'll talk to you soon. God bless you, friend. Have a great day.
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