God Planted You in This Season | Ecclesiastes 3:1 // Hanna Seymour

What do you do when life feels like too much?

In today's episode, Natalie talks with Hanna Seymour about Ecclesiastes 3:1. The busy seasons, the hard seasons, and the comfort of knowing God is in control.

This Month's Memory Verse:
"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens."
📖 Ecclesiastes 3:1

Memorize Scripture with Us:
Discover the easy button for Scripture memory through Dwell Differently's resources - https://dwelldifferently.com/

Resources from Today's Episode:
Women of the Word by Jen Wilkin
All of Me by Cheryl Marshall

Transcript

0:00:00 - (Natalie Abbott): Foreign. Guys. Welcome back to the Dwell Differently podcast. I'm Natalie Abbott, and I have my friend, my new bff, Hannah Seymour, with me. I was just, like. We just talked last week. I was on her podcast, and I was like, you just need to come over and be on my podcast. Because I don't even know, like, why. Why are you the way that you are. You think that I'm funny and that we, like. I just. It was just like this copacetic thing.

0:00:29 - (Hanna Seymour): I was like, can you.

0:00:30 - (Natalie Abbott): Can you be my best friend? You wanna come on my podcast, too? Yeah.

0:00:33 - (Hanna Seymour): Yes, yes, yes, yes.

0:00:35 - (Natalie Abbott): So she's here, and we are talking about this verse from Ecclesiastes. We're talking about, like, seasons of our lives and being satisfied with the season that we're in. Maybe not living in a past season, not trying to, like, live in the future, but, like, in the. In the moment, even in the nitty gritty. Like, how do we, in humility, recognize, like, God is in control of all things? So that's what we're talking about today.

0:01:00 - (Natalie Abbott): And we're talking about Ecclesiastes 3. 1. It says, There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under the heavens. And turn, turn, turn. No. So that's the old 70s song. Sorry.

0:01:17 - (Hanna Seymour): No, I'm not.

0:01:18 - (Natalie Abbott): I was going to make you do that.

0:01:22 - (Hanna Seymour): I didn't warm up the vocal cords.

0:01:24 - (Natalie Abbott): Are you ready? Me, me, me, me.

0:01:25 - (Hanna Seymour): Yeah, I'm ready.

0:01:26 - (Natalie Abbott): Yeah.

0:01:26 - (Hanna Seymour): Yeah.

0:01:28 - (Natalie Abbott): So this verse in Ecclesiastes, though, and the. In the verses following it, you know, there's a time to die, there's a time to be born. There's a. You know, and it kind of goes through, like, all these different things. A time for planting and for tearing up, a time for war, a time for peace. Like, it's this acknowledgment of, like, there are all these things that happen, so many of which, like, we are completely out of control in.

0:01:58 - (Natalie Abbott): And it's. It's this, like, you know, it just kind of makes me, like. It kind of puts us in our place in some ways to be like, yes, that. That this is the. The reality of the world that we live in. And yet there are these other beautiful verses, like, just a few, just a little ways later that says that God has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart. Yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

0:02:29 - (Natalie Abbott): And so there's this idea of God is the one who is in control, and we can actually rest in that we can know that God is making everything beautiful in its time. So even when we are in the season where there is death instead of life or there is war instead of peace, that we can have this solace, that. That the Lord has set eternity in our hearts so that this isn't.

0:02:52 - (Hanna Seymour): This is.

0:02:53 - (Natalie Abbott): This is just a brief moment right now, and that there is a beautiful eternity that is coming and that God will make everything beautiful in its time. So that's. That's kind of the. The anchor I want to have for our conversation, but practically. Hannah, I would love to hear from you how you grapple with this idea of God is the one who is in control, and sometimes I am not happy about it or I feel out of control, you know, so even, like, in the season that you're in right now, what things are good, what things are hard, how are you grappling with, you know, the.

0:03:32 - (Natalie Abbott): The. The actual, real reality that sometimes we. We ignore, I think, as people, that we are not in charge,

0:03:40 - (Hanna Seymour): which is like, dang it. And also, thank you, Jesus. Right? You know, I mean, I think. I think my. My flesh initially is like, no, I want control. I want to be able to control everything. And then if I just take a breath, I realize, wait, I do not want. I do not want any control. First, let me just say we haven't even started talking yet, and just having this on my calendar has been a gift to me because I was like, okay, let me memorize this verse between now and when Natalie and I chat about this verse. And.

0:04:10 - (Hanna Seymour): And so I have an apple watch, and so I made a lock screen. You can't see it now because it's dormant, but I have. There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under the sun on my lock screen. And when you and I talked to Natalie for my podcast last week, you said something that I needed to hear, which was, take it slow. It's okay to just hang on to the first few words of the first phrase. You don't have to just.

0:04:37 - (Hanna Seymour): I am such an achiever. So I. You know, normally I would have been like, I'm gonna have this first memorized front and back. And I. I probably could say it without looking, but I just decided I'm just gonna hang on. There is a time for everything. And every time. I mean, the irony. Every time I would look at my watch to see what time it was. There is a time for everything. And, you know, we're recording this in May, which most moms, you know, know the joke. It's May.

0:05:04 - (Hanna Seymour): There's 8,000 things that I need to get done right now, specifically for my kids, but also for work and other things going on in our lives. And so I. Anxiety. I'm not an anxious person, and I feel like anxiety is up to my nostrils right now. Like, I am just. I'm so worried I'm going to forget something. It's. It's less about. I know all the important stuff will get done, but what am I forgetting or what am I dropping?

0:05:29 - (Hanna Seymour): And so just every time I'm like, there is a time for everything. Not that there's time for everything, but there is a time for everything. This is the season that I'm in, and this is where God has me. And so how do I push away the anxiety and even remember that the to do, yes, we have to do lists, but these to do lists are little pieces pointing to the larger priorities that God has put in my life right now.

0:05:58 - (Hanna Seymour): So. So instead of letting the to do list overwhelm me, praying over that to do list and then going, okay, Lord, the. These are the tiny little pieces of evidence of the stuff that you've called me to do today. The relationships that I'm responsible for, the, you know, jobs, roles, whatever. So all of that, to say it, it really has just hanging on. There's a time for everything. There's a time for everything.

0:06:22 - (Hanna Seymour): God is in control. This is the season we're in just right now, these three days. This is the season and it's gonna be okay. Like, it's just really helped me take a deep breath of, oh, there's a time for everything. It's not always gonna be this crazy, but right now, this is what I need to get done today. So that's not answering your question. You asked me this season of life, I could answer that 5,000 different ways.

0:06:51 - (Hanna Seymour): This is a hard season for my husband and I and our family, our community. We have three very close friends that are going through absolute nightmares right now and just tragedy. And so trying to figure out how to grieve with them and support them. That's one piece. I have three small kids. They're eight, seven and five. And life is very busy. I was reminded today a friend sent me an Elizabeth Elliott quote just about the holiness of motherh.

0:07:23 - (Hanna Seymour): And that like, again, going back to God gave me these things. God gave me these tiny people. This is a role, a job, a relationship he's given me. And therefore, it's holy and it's a privilege to be able to be these kids, moms. But sometimes I look at raising my children as a distraction or an annoyance from these other things that I think are more important, which is wrong. But anyway, so it's like all of that and then just.

0:07:51 - (Hanna Seymour): I just feel like I am head down a farmer, just plowing, preparing the soil, putting down seeds, and just, like, begging God to make it rain and sun and, like, can I please see some seedlings start to, you know, sprout out of the dirt? And right now he's saying, no, no, sis, you are planting and you are working, and I'm in charge. You plant, and I'm in charge of everything else.

0:08:22 - (Natalie Abbott): You know, that reminds me, I read somewhere recently about how long it takes sometimes for, like, I can't remember if it was an oak but some kind of tree seed to, like, actually come alive. And it, it, it's like, it's years and years. It's ins. It's insanity. The amount of time that they can just like, sit there dormant. And I do think that you're right. Like, when we plant, like, I, I plant something and I wanted. I wanted to. I want some miracle grow this.

0:08:52 - (Natalie Abbott): Say, Jesus, please, like, make it, make it sprout up. And I want fruit tomorrow. Yeah, I, I, I feel that. I do feel like this season for me is some of the same, of just a whole lot of like, when you said head down, it's like, yes, head down, nose to the grindstone, just trying to, like, tick off all the boxes. I literally woke up my freshman in high school last night at 10pm Because I was like, he didn't talk to me about, he has a field trip tomorrow to the Capitol, and he's supposed to wear, like, nice clothes, but did he pull them out and do I need to iron them? That's happening really early and blah, blah, blah, blah.

0:09:37 - (Natalie Abbott): It was like one of those things where, like, I forgot the thing and I. Thankfully, I remembered it. And so then I'm like, oh, what do I do? Do I wake him up and do I talk to him about. In the morning, he's gonna have to leave at a different time. I don't even know.

0:09:47 - (Hanna Seymour): So I go in there and I

0:09:48 - (Natalie Abbott): wake him up, and he goes, I decided not to go of a test. And I was like, you could have told me. Okay, you could. Yeah, you could have told me. But fine, Fine. But again, it's. I feel that, like, that, like what you said about, you know, the anxiety. It's like I'm just. My nose is just right above the water sometimes where it's just like. In fact, my husband the other day was like, I don't think there's anything wrong, but, like, are you okay?

0:10:16 - (Natalie Abbott): And I was like, ah. If I check in with myself, like, and feel my feelings in my body, I'm like, I do feel, like, just like a. Like, almost like a buzz in my body of, like, so many things, you know? Like, sometimes you just feel this. Like, it's. It's like, am I acidic? Like, what is. Is. Is it. Am I bubbling? Is it, you know, like, what's happening? So I guess my question for you right now, Hannah, is in this season.

0:10:46 - (Natalie Abbott): I love that you're, you know, thinking about that scripture. There's a time for everything. Um, is there anything else for anybody that's out there, that's hearing this, that's like, yes, I feel like I'm also acidic or I am bubbling over. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What would you say? Like, how are you

0:11:12 - (Hanna Seymour): ground?

0:11:12 - (Natalie Abbott): Are there any other things that you're doing to sort of ground yourself in the season and even, like, appreciating it, you know?

0:11:21 - (Hanna Seymour): So I think one thing is, I struggle with this, and I think a lot of other people do, too, is when we're in a season, it doesn't really matter what it looks like, but it's easy to compare ourselves or our life based on a past season. Not even. Not even comparing myself to my neighbor or my friend, comparing myself to past Hannah and what life looked like or what my spiritual rhythms looked like, or what.

0:11:50 - (Hanna Seymour): And I've been learning probably in the last few years to go, okay, we can't compare today, Hannah, with three tiny children and all these other things going on to single Hannah, no husband, no kids, you know, and the rhythms that I had, the time and the way

0:12:12 - (Natalie Abbott): I was like, there is time for everything. Not just a time, but time for everything.

0:12:17 - (Hanna Seymour): Yeah, that's. That's right. That's right. That's exactly right. Okay, so stop. Stop comparing and remember that God has given you this season. Something I say a lot is God has planted you the soil that you're in on purpose.

0:12:32 - (Natalie Abbott): This.

0:12:33 - (Hanna Seymour): The soil, your environment, your life, your situation. That is the soil that he has planted, planted you in and that he wants you to abide with him in. But it's not on accident. And he has cultivated that soil, and he has left gravel and he's left some stones in there that are going to cause tension in your life and conflict. And it's going to be an opportunity for you to choose to either lean into him and rely on him or to try to do it. Your own way, which, let me just tell you, it doesn't go well.

0:13:04 - (Hanna Seymour): Learn from me. It's so much better to rely on him. But remembering, wow, God gave me this season. And do you know who I think sometimes I believe the lie of? Like, no one understands. No one understands what's going on in my day today and in my life. And do you know who understands better than I do? The Lord, like God is more intimately aware and knowledgeable of everything that I've got going on and my exact situation than even I am.

0:13:37 - (Hanna Seymour): And I take great comfort in that going, okay, all my job is, is to abide in him in this season, and that may look different in this season than it did last season, and it may look different next season. But right now, based on what he's given me, I've got to figure out what, what can I do throughout my day. Small habits that's going to just keep me, bringing me back to him, keep me tethered to Jesus so that I'm not frantically, you know, if, if we lose sight of abiding with Christ in whatever season we're in, we've lost the plot.

0:14:13 - (Hanna Seymour): Like, none of this stuff at the end of the day really matters. The people, relationships matter. But like, what is eternal? Like, very few things I think that we worry about in this life are eternal. But it still matters, right? We want to be good stewards of what God has given us. Again, going back to he's planted you in this soil, so I want to be a good steward of that. But the only way to do that is to abide with Him.

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0:16:16 - (Hanna Seymour): What about you? How do you. What was the question you asked me? Keep me. Keep yourself? Yeah, like, grounded.

0:16:23 - (Natalie Abbott): What did I say? No.

0:16:25 - (Hanna Seymour): Yeah.

0:16:26 - (Natalie Abbott): I. I think when I. When I think about when I kind of catch myself, I. I mean, I liked how what you said about sort of being jealous of a past season, you know, because I think that. That. I think that's more common for me than being jealous of somebody else's current season because it's like, I don't know.

0:16:44 - (Hanna Seymour): I can.

0:16:44 - (Natalie Abbott): I, like, I think I've trained myself enough to be, like, that's just Instagram fake, you know, like, that's not your real life. I don't believe in that. But I do know what my own life has been like. And there are times when I just, like, I don't know. I think. I think I can long for simplicity. I can long for moments that are gone. I can. I can find myself sort of pining away in some ways with that.

0:17:18 - (Natalie Abbott): With that, like, longing that is like. It's not a. It's not a bad thing. I think. We.

0:17:25 - (Hanna Seymour): We have all.

0:17:26 - (Natalie Abbott): We are all created with this. This natural sense of, like, this is what is good, this is what is right. This is what is lovely and true and noble. And these are the things that we're supposed to dwell on, Right? But. So we're. We're. We have this inherent sense of, like, what is just and what is good. And there are times when we can look back on those things and instead of recognizing that those longings and saying, those are good longings, but the thing I am longing for is Christ.

0:17:55 - (Natalie Abbott): The thing that I'm the home that I. That I. That I want, that I had before, that's probably, you know, coated in thick layers of nostalgia, you know?

0:18:06 - (Hanna Seymour): Absolutely.

0:18:08 - (Natalie Abbott): The truest form of that is what is promised to us in Scripture. The truest form of that, even Right now is, you know, the fact that. That I am a home for the Holy Spirit, that I'm the home of the Holy Spirit, that God himself lives in me. That. That piece of homeness and of community and of constant care and love is never not available to me at all times right now. But, like, practically, I think I have to kind of hit my. My teeth on the concrete a lot of times before I recognize it. You know what I mean?

0:18:49 - (Natalie Abbott): Like, I kind of have to, like, face plant and. And then be like, oh, the reason that Mother's Day was disappointing in this way was because this, this, this. And it's like, I have to, like, for me, a huge thing. And I know this isn't everybody, but a huge thing for me is sitting down and, like, vomiting on a piece of paper. Not actually, but kind of. It feels like that.

0:19:12 - (Hanna Seymour): Yeah.

0:19:13 - (Natalie Abbott): Where it's like I am writing out in my journal to the Lord. Lord, I was disappointed. I was. I. I feel this. I know it's not what I want to feel. I know that's not what I should feel, but it's what I feel. And it's sort of this confessional. Like, I mean, if anybody ever. I'm gonna have to burn those at some point before I die because there's just so much in there that's like, do we know that she was saved at all?

0:19:40 - (Hanna Seymour): Maybe.

0:19:40 - (Natalie Abbott): I don't know what was wrong with her, but, you know, I just, like, have to say it all and then come to a place where it's like, oh, the Lord is better. His word is better. His love for me is. Is, you know, as high as the heavens are above the earth. And so I just, like, you know, remind myself of. Of true things. Here's a question, though. Like, thinking about sort of being jealous of the past things in our lives. Like, I know that there are also times when I'm like, future.

0:20:11 - (Natalie Abbott): Like, future driven. Like, when I'm dissatisfied in my right now. That it's like, if only I could just get to the end of May. If only I could just, you know, whatever. And I, like. I would love to talk about the unhealth of that. Not that it is totally unhealthy, but, like, what is it in us that is, I don't know, just, like, grasping, I think, for the future sometimes where it's just like, it'll be better. It'll be great. It'll be whatever.

0:20:42 - (Hanna Seymour): I think we just always think eventually we'll have arrived. So it's whatever we want. You know, you're. You really want to. You really want to be married? You really want to be married? Well, then you get married and you realize that doesn't fix everything. So then I really want to have children. Well, then you have babies and you realize that doesn't fix everything. And then you, you need those babies to be in school five days a week so that you, you know, aren't with them 24 7. Well, then that doesn't make things better.

0:21:04 - (Hanna Seymour): And then you need to be an empty nester. Like, I think we're all, we're. Gosh, I was just reading something about how we are constantly looking to create peace and happiness in our lives and, and I would just go so far. I think we're just desperate for comfort. I think we worship comfort. And you know, God, God is not concerned with our comfort. God, he is the comforter. The Holy Spirit is the comforter.

0:21:32 - (Hanna Seymour): But I don't think for the most part God's plan for us is to be comfortable because we don't grow when we're comfortable. You know, we don't need him when we're comfortable. So I think we're, I think there's just always something and if we can learn to. It's okay to have hopes for things. It's okay to want to be married or to want to have children or to, you know, want this next season. I think there's hope in that.

0:22:00 - (Hanna Seymour): But if we allow that to be the definition of once I'm. Once I'm there, then I'll be happy. Once I'm there, then I'll be the woman God called me to be. Once I, you know, I think I struggle. I am a futuristic visionary. I've got goals, I've got, you know, like. And so I can very much find myself getting caught up in that or on the other side. I, I tease all the time. I fantasize about being an empty nester just so that my home will be clean all the time.

0:22:30 - (Hanna Seymour): I love cleanliness and everything has a home and I love order. And I, I've been a mom for eight and a half years and nothing has been in its place since. You know, it's like, nope, nope, it doesn't. You know, I say the habit. There's a place for stuff. What we, yeah, we have a cleaner come every other week and you know, our house is the cleanest it ever is right after they leave. And if I can be home just for five minutes without my children in the house, I'm like, this is my, I'm the most happy in the, in this five minutes, this is glorious.

0:23:05 - (Hanna Seymour): But anyway, all that to say, I think for me, it's when I find myself doing that I've learned to go, okay, that may be great someday, but again, God has planted me in this. This is the season he's given me. This is the soil he's planted me in. I don't want to miss this, and I don't want to. I'm always going back to kind of the same words. I don't want to not be a good steward of what he's given me. I desperately want to be a faithful steward of what he's given me.

0:23:37 - (Hanna Seymour): And the other thing I've learned is that practicing gratitude is huge in ch and keeping me focused on where I am and making me realize there's so much to be grateful for in this season. So, yes, while I do desperately want a clean home, there's 800 other things that I can say that I'm grateful for right now. Having an 8, 7 and 5 year old, right. And so just learning to. I read a book years ago that talked about her husband.

0:24:06 - (Hanna Seymour): She decided anytime she got annoyed, she would have to practice gratitude and say three things she was grateful for specifically related to whatever she was grumbling about. And one of the examples she gave was her husband would leave anytime he made Sam, you know, lunch or breakfast, whatever, he'd leave crumbs all up, remnants all over the counter. My husband does the same thing, bless him. And, you know, it's like you've got that dark granite. It's easy not to see whatever. I think most women just see things differently, especially in the kitchen, in the house, differently than their husband.

0:24:38 - (Hanna Seymour): And so she'd be annoyed, right? Like, he can't even wipe the sandwich crumbs up off the counter. And then when she started her new practice, she would go, wow, I'm so grateful I have a husband who made lunch for me.

0:24:52 - (Natalie Abbott): He.

0:24:52 - (Hanna Seymour): He didn't just make lunch for himself, he made lunch for me. I'm so grateful that I have a husband who works from home because I get to see him more and spend more time with him. And if, you know, instead of him going somewhere for nine to five, I'm so grateful and shoot something else. But that had a huge impact on me because I'll find myself grumbling or complaining about the laundry or the dishes or the floor that I have swept 18 times in one day or whatever. And it's like, no, no.

0:25:17 - (Hanna Seymour): I'm so grateful that I have three healthy children that can run around and you Know, make a mess. I'm so grateful that. Yeah, like. But anyway, so. So that, for me, has been a habit I've cultivated to keep me focused here and not wishing for future circumstances.

0:25:36 - (Natalie Abbott): I love that. I think kind of dovetailing on that theme of gratitude, I would love to hear about, like, if so in your current season, if you can say, I'm thankful for these things. Like, you know, kind of going back to the idea that God is the one who's in control. And so oftentimes we feel like we're out of control. So maybe in the seasons that are harder where it's just like, why is this happening? What is going on? Thinking about your three different friends who are all going through difficult things.

0:26:09 - (Natalie Abbott): I don't know about you, but I think sometimes, for me, looking back on what God has done with gratitude, you know, sort of pulling on that idea from later in Ecclesiastes, where it talks about how he's made everything beautiful in its time. Like, to be able to say, I've seen, like, these are the ways that I've seen God do something beautiful with something that was really hard. Have you. Like, do you. Have you seen that happen for you where, like, drawing on a past season or looking back, you know, not in that maybe kind of like a sinful, longing type of way or. But more of like, you know, like a biblical practice where it's like, how many times do they talk about the Exodus in the Bible?

0:26:52 - (Natalie Abbott): They just talk about it all the time.

0:26:53 - (Hanna Seymour): They're just like, look what God did.

0:26:55 - (Natalie Abbott): Remember what God did. Look what he did.

0:26:56 - (Hanna Seymour): Remember.

0:26:57 - (Natalie Abbott): You know, and so sort of that, like, looking back and saying, you know, remember, Hannah, what God did? He did this. So in this season, I'm gonna trust him. Do you, like. Do you ever do that? Or do you find ways that you have kind of incorporated that?

0:27:12 - (Hanna Seymour): Years ago, my. I don't remember what we were studying, but my husband and I were both kind of convicted with this idea of exactly what you're just saying. In the Old Testament, not only were they commanded so many times through their prophets to remember what God had done, but when you look at the Levitical law and the celebrations and the feasts and the sacrifices, all of these things were wrapped in remembering stories.

0:27:36 - (Hanna Seymour): And they're. And part of it was because they were commanded to teach it to the next generation and the next generation. Next generation. So they're supposed to celebrate, you know, the. The Feast of Booths, because they've got to remember that God carried them through the wilderness. So anyway, he And I were kind of talking about how remembering and all these annual rhythms that God had commanded them to do were ways that they were always retelling the faithfulness of God.

0:28:05 - (Hanna Seymour): And we were like, we need to kind of start writing that for our own story of, of you and me, you know, and we, we do a little bit of our nuclear families too, but it's like when, when God brought us together and through our marriage. We've been married now 12 years. You know, these are the times that we saw the Lord's faithfulness and, and we're gonna tell them to our kids and we're gonna, you know, make this a thing that we do Fridays.

0:28:32 - (Hanna Seymour): We don't always have dinner together on Friday nights, but nine times out of 10 we do. And whether we have friends over or it's just our family, we try to do celebration Friday. And sometimes it's as simple as, like, everyone goes around and shares one thing that they can celebrate from that week. And, and we all toast with our, you know, waters or whatever the kids are drinking. Look cool. I love that.

0:28:56 - (Hanna Seymour): Yeah. To the goodness and glory of God. Um, but I think so much Hannah too. There have been times that it's like, okay, this was a really hard week. So let's think about when. When was another hard time that we can celebrate. We can toast to the faithfulness of God, to the goodness and glory of God. Because even amidst Shauna Nyquist wrote something about how celebration is the tap dance on the grave of apathy, on the grave of that this is all there is, that our God is no match for like the evil that we see in this world or something like that. And so I think, I think the practice of celebration, of gratitude, remembrance, they're all kind of interwoven. But I think when we are intentional about remembering the times that our backs are against the wall, I'm gonna start crying. And God showed up.

0:29:49 - (Hanna Seymour): We, We, God knows we need to remember. We need to rehearse these stories and remind ourselves because when we're in the thick of it, my friend has, is having a double mastectomy in two weeks and then just found out that her father in law died at the same time. My other friend buried her four year old in December. Another friend's been in the hospital since December. Like we, like we. These, these friends and families that we are just daily interceding for. And just like, lord, what are you doing?

0:30:21 - (Hanna Seymour): They need to be reminded of the faithfulness of God and that even in their darkest times, you know, the psalmist tells us that even darkness is not dark to you. God sees all. He knows all. And so I think that there is. I think it's a really important discipline to just think about what are some ways, what are. You know, again, maybe it's a Friday night dinner that you're. That you and your family just go, hey, let's. Let's think about three times in our family's history that God's really been faithful. Or maybe it's.

0:30:54 - (Hanna Seymour): If you're a planner and you write in your planner, it's the first of every month. And when you are going through your monthly planner, writing everything down, you write down three ways that you saw God faithful just last month, or, you know, like, just thinking about what are some anchor points that you can put in your week or your month or whatever where you're intentionally thinking through. These are ways that I've seen God faithful in my life and in other people's lives, and that encourages us. I think it gives us hope and confidence when we're in really dark, hard seasons.

0:31:32 - (Natalie Abbott): Yeah. Yeah. Well, Hannah, we are sadly out of time. But I just, like, I'm thinking about what you just said and just the. The beauty of how God is pleased to work in our lives, even in those hard things. And, you know, the. The verse that says he's made everything beautiful in its time, it says he has also set eternity in the human heart. Yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

0:32:07 - (Natalie Abbott): And it's just this very clear picture of the God who holds the beginning and the end. He knows the fullness of the story. He's making everything beautiful in his time. Like, in. And so, like, just this idea of there is a time for everything, you know, and in. In our earthly lives, like, we all face hard times. And this acknowledgment of, like, yes, that is true, and yet also God is the one who redeems it all, who makes it beautiful in its time, who is holding the end of the story, you know, that we. We know just a. A sliver of. Of the story.

0:32:46 - (Natalie Abbott): Wow. I just, you know, I'm just thinking about anybody who's listening to this who is going through one of those really hard times. And, you know, we've. We've been there. Hannah's been there. I've been there. We've walked with friends through really difficult things. And that would just be my encouragement to you is to know that as. As changeful and as quickly as maybe this season hit you, and it. It probably knocked you right off your feet.

0:33:13 - (Natalie Abbott): To recall the goodness of God and how you have seen him work out things beautifully in the past and to know that somehow in his timing, he is making all things beautiful. And he will continue to do so, even in this. So. All right, my friend, this was lovely. Thank you for joining me today. So good. Thank you for sharing your wisdom with us. And those of you who don't know Hannah, she. I'm going to have all things Hannah in our show notes so you can find out more about her.

0:33:47 - (Natalie Abbott): Just maybe not all things Hannah. Maybe just.

0:33:49 - (Hanna Seymour): Yeah, that sounds not good.

0:33:51 - (Natalie Abbott): I think you can follow her on Instagram. She's. She's written Bible study. Right. And a book or just Bible study?

0:34:01 - (Hanna Seymour): I have, I did have some self published Bible studies that we have since pulled. But yes, I have two, I have two books out right now.

0:34:08 - (Natalie Abbott): Two books. Just kidding. No Bible studies. They're not for you. You don't want those.

0:34:12 - (Hanna Seymour): Yeah, not, not for you. Not for you. No.

0:34:16 - (Natalie Abbott): Yeah, just, I. You know what, I just appreciate you, Hannah and thanks for joining me today. Thank you again for sharing your wisdom with us. And, and we'll be back here again next week talking about another Bible verse, so hope you guys can join us.