Struggling Well
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Identity & the Inner Life

Who God longs for you to be, over what you do

Some of the most searching episodes turn inward, to who God longs for us to be rather than what we can do for him. Jimmy and Suzi talk about trading information for transformation, about the trap of comparison and the one comparison that is actually worth making, and about being shaped by our stories without being defined by them. The through-line: saying yes to the Designer instead of wishing we had been made like someone else.

In their words

“It is easier sometimes to focus in on the things that I can do for God, as opposed to going, no, who does he long for me to be. God really wants me to focus on who I am, not on what I do.”

— Jimmy, Ep 152

“Words become sources of information, so the Bible becomes just another book about more information to gather. So I listen to a sermon or I do a Bible study for what purpose? For information — as opposed to transformation of the heart.”

— Jimmy, Ep 175

“If I want to compare something, compare myself to: how am I doing with looking like Jesus? That's the one place that's legitimate to compare. All the other comparisons are just saying, I don't like the path you've chosen to refine me. I wish my path looked more like — and I named another person.”

— Jimmy, Ep 176

“There's a difference between something that influences or something that shapes and something that defines. I can't ignore them, they're there, but I've got to let something else define me. And that I believe should be the Spirit of God.”

— Jimmy, Ep 029

“What if instead of comparing and wishing I was like this person or had what this person has, instead I say yes to the designer. This is how you made me. Now, use me in whatever way you can. That to me would be a thrilling choice.”

— Suzi, Ep 176

“You would follow a rabbi so closely that you would literally have the dust of his shoes that he would kick up as he would walk. Do I have his dust on me that people would say, ‘Oh, she follows Jesus’? Or do they just think, ‘Oh, she's a Christian, a nice person, she goes to church’?”

— Suzi, Ep 188

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