📍 📍 I think waiting is hard on the best of days, but it's almost impossible if you believe that waiting is a waste. And so I think waiting can actually be a wonderful season where we experience new aspects of God and who He is, but we have to believe that there's purpose in the wait Have you ever found yourself struggling through life's unexpected twists, wondering, "This isn't what I planned or hoped for?" If so, you're not alone. Life rarely goes as expected, even when we think we've mapped it all out. Welcome to the Redeemed Podcast, a place of encouragement and hope. Through honest conversations , we'll explore stories of transformation and resilience, . I'm Lauren Burns, your host, and I'm so glad you are here. Allen from Lubbock, Texas. Paige, thank you for taking time out of your celebratory day. This is your book launch day, and we're going to get into your book. Do you have one, a copy with you? I hope you do. I, do. I actually have it right here, Lauren. I can't wait for you to share. you, before we really get, dive in and I introduce you, give us a little bit of my favorite chapter that I got to read was about waiting. So give us a little bit of what does that mean to you? Yeah. You know, I think waiting is hard on the best of days, but it's almost impossible if you believe that waiting is a waste. And so I think waiting can actually be a wonderful season where we experience new aspects of God and who He is, but we have to believe that there's purpose in the wait Especially in the days that we live in, in our Amazon and DoorDash Absolutely. Yes. We don't ... I mean, who likes to wait? Nobody likes to wait. I was telling someone the other day, even when my husband and I go to the grocery store, he actually will ask me to stand in a line, and then he'll get in another line just to see which one gets to the cashier first, you know? Because we just are conditioned to hate waiting, but waiting can be really beautiful when we see that God is at work. Mm-hmm that often with me, but my boys understand. Well, Paige Allen is a mom and a wife, and she does ministry at her church and has the Bloom podcast. And how many books have you written, Paige? is my second traditionally published book. I have a Bible study that I wrote on my own first, but really this is my second, my second full book, yeah I am at Church on the Rock in Lubbock, Texas. My dad actually founded the church 40 years ago in our living room, , when I was a little girl. And, it's just been fun to watch it in all of its ... I, it kind of feels like one of my siblings that grew up next to me. Although I thought I wanted to stay far away from working in that church, here I am, and I, and I love it so much decide to work in the ministry and at church? So I actually, I have been on staff for over 20 years. I left for college, swore I was never coming back home, and, , a couple years after graduation, they asked me to come on and, work administratively. And so over 20 years I have worn a lot of hats, most hats that you could wear at a church. But I, I love it, I really do So don't ever say never. That's what I'm hearing Exactly. Don't tell God, , what your plans are because , he may just tell you you have it wrong. Now the title of your book is Matriarchs: What the Women of Genesis Teaches Us About Our Past and God's Story, and you dive into the Book of Genesis with certain stories of women, we're going to get into the theme of waiting, but that is not the only theme , for your book. That's just one that I chose selfishly because I want you to teach me today as well. , What did you learn as you were diving in? And you also talk about Bible Recap. I've been going through the Bible this year with Bible Recap. I love it, and you talk about the more you read the Bible, you pick up different things of, of the Bible and of stories. What were some of the things that you were grabbing a hold of as you were diving in through your research? Yeah. So I, I really did get the idea for this book when I was doing the Bible recap. I'm reading through Genesis, and, you know, God calls himself the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, which is really beautiful, and it's something... You know, I was kind of really trying to listen to how God describes himself. So the fact that what God would choose to describe himself by being connected to these people tells us a lot, that God is a God of covenant, and of promise, and of family, and of generations. But the more I started thinking about it, I thought, "Well, the only way you can have generations is not just the men. The men are great, but you gotta have some women in there, too to have those babies." Yeah. And, and I just kind of felt this invitation from the Lord of, you know, what if I actually study, , the four feisty wives of those three men, Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah. And as I dove in, what I saw, kind of the thread that I look at in my book and that I just felt God inviting me to visit, was this whole idea of promise. , God comes to Abraham, and he gives him this beautiful promise that he's gonna be a father of nations, and he and Sarah both. And yet, then, they had to go from promise all the way to really seeing that come about, and that's a process. As I started really studying them, and especially looking at these women who... What I love so much about the Bible, you're probably seeing this too as you're reading through the Bible, is God does not just give us, , the perfect cleaned-up version of their stories. He shows us the mess. I mean, these women, they lament, and they scheme, and they manipulate, and they try to control, and they make some really bad decisions. They also do some good things, they also believe and serve their families so beautifully. But what I saw was in each generation, they get this promise from God, and then they have to, go through the process. And I, I really broke the book down into, what I'm calling five stages of birthing a promise of God. So receiving the promise, waiting well, which is what we're gonna talk about. The third stage I call leaning into pain, which I really was trying to find a better, a better... Who wants to lean into pain? Nobody wants to, but I think it's part of the process. And then we also see these women nurture and ultimately release. 'Cause I think most things that God asks, asks us to be a part of, we are only a part of it for a season, and then we have to release it, whether it's our children or maybe a business idea or a ministry. That's what I gleaned from them. So many both, um, cautions, things to learn along the process, but also almost a sense of also some almost like colleagues of what they did do right. And so just learning from them as we walk through promise with God as well. I was listening to a, I think it was a podcast that you did, and you had some beta readers, and you had three friends read. Mm-hmm. your friends, after reading, I think, did one go back to school? One wrote a book. Yes stirring in their spirit. How cool is that for you to hear It was, it was like this the best feedback I possibly could have. There were only three. I asked three. They were in three different stages. Yeah, one of them went back and got her doctorate. , She has like one semester left. One had this dream in her heart. , She's a domestic violence survivor herself, and so she had started kind of just mentoring women in that, and it, it has now turned into a full-blown ministry, Awesome the process of getting a home for them. And then, my oldest friend that was reading it, who's retired, and she was like, "I'm gonna just live the good life," she she ended up writing her own Bible study on prayer. And so that's what I think... When I say promise, it can look like a l- We- it looks different for each of us based on who we are and what God's called us to do. , But just discovering we can partner with him and say yes and, and do something bold and brave. Yes, and so bu- so buckle up, y'all, as you're listening today, and you grab Paige's book. And don't be scared, because it is hard, right? We're not gonna sugarcoat it. It's hard to step out in faith. It's hard to get out of your comfort zone and do something new. But man, the reward on the other side, the obedience, is Mm-hmm. It's worth it all. Some things that you talked about, and, and I jotted some notes down, that your wait is not a waste. So talk to us, and if you want to use some of the things that you learned as you were re- reading through Genesis, but talk to Mm-hmm. do you mean by that? That Because that's what It feels like, sometimes, Yes am I doing? I'm wasting time," like you said earlier. "I don't have time, God. I've, I'm busy. Mm-hmm away here." And I, you know, I don't want to be in that mindset all the time. Right. Right. I d- I don't either, but you are exactly right. I ... This is, this is how we all feel when we are in the middle of a wait. It just feels like the days are going by. You know, it's like the images you see on movies where people are like, you know, crossing off each day on the calendar, waiting and hoping. And if we look up, , those days, which are gifts from God, we've just kind of wasted them, honestly. But, um, what I really learned from these women, first of all, they all waited, and I thought that was really interesting. Sarah, I feel like if you grew up in church, you've probably heard about Sarah waiting. She ends up waiting 25 years before she gets to have her son, Isaac. But the next two generations also wait. Rebecca waits 20 years. Rachel waits somewhere between 7 and 14 years. Leah doesn't wait to have children, but really what her heart wanted was the love of her husband, and she waits for a lifetime for that. What we have to do is we really have to be on guard against, , what maybe is our propensity to do in waiting seasons. I think for some of us, we are naturally wired to wanna try to control. Like, "Okay, Lord, you're not doing it in my timeline, so let me, let me just help you out, and I'm gonna give you some options here." That's what we see Sarah do when she goes and she says, "Okay, listen, I have a plan. You're gonna sleep with my servant Hagar." , , I don't talk a ton about this in the book. It's actually kind of in the Bible study portion. But, what I realized with Sarah that I think is so interesting is in the day and age of Abraham and Sarah, there were two great powers in the earth. , There was, Mesopotamia and Egypt. And Mesopotamia was known to have the intellect, the wisdom, and Egypt was known to have the power. , , You can actually do studies. The code of Hammurabi, which we probably heard about when we were little kids in school and learning about stuff, that is from Mesopotamia. And it actually says in the code of Hammurabi, "If you've been married for two years and you don't have kids, then the legal thing to do is to give your servant, and then that child can be your own." So her idea is not just her own. It's not just one day, "Hey, you know, , I've gotta, I've gotta come up with this plan and give him Hagar." I know, right? And you know, I realized for years I'd heard this story about Abraham and Sarah, and I kinda discounted it because I was like, "I'm not gonna suggest that my husband takes, I'm not gonna do a sister wife situation" . , So I just didn't think it pertained to me. But when I realized what she actually was doing was she was borrowing from the wisdom of one superpower of the world, and then Hagar is Egyptian, which represented the other superpower of the world, which was the power, and she used the idea of one and a person from the other. It's ... In essence, the Lord was showing the people that she was using basically the tools of her time, what, what worked for her. You know, I think about the world we live in now of, "Okay, I'm gonna use AI, and I, and, Hey, I use AI some, a little bit, you know, but like- But to interrupt the plans of God with, "I don't wanna wait on your strength and your power. I'm gonna reach for something that my world has to offer me," I think that's a real caution because I think so many of us, myself included, are guilty of that, you know? You asked how many books I wrote, and, with my first book, it's called,, He Knows Your Name, , I had this idea from God. It's all, it's about there's seven nameless women that Jesus has encounters with in the Gospels, and it's a study of those seven stories, and I felt like it was a look at I think most women feel at some point in their life overlooked,, over, , looked, passed over, all that. absolutely yes. So I had this idea, and I did all the things I could in my power to try to make this book happen. I went to the conferences. I, , did all the things that the researchers and the gurus tell you to do. And,, I went to one conference and pitched the book to a publisher, and they actually were like, "We're very, we're very interested. We like you. We like this idea. We think it's so great." And we started talking. And Lauren, I, I was so excited because writing books has been a dream in my heart. Since I was a little girl, I always wanted to write books. And I was like, "Lauren, you're gonna do it. This is, this is amazing." Let me say this. I didn't tell you this part. This was in 2014 , everything was just coming together, and then all of a sudden they came back and they said, ", yeah, we still really like you. We still really like this idea. But you don't have a platform." They literally said, "Nobody knows your name." Yep ... Which I was like, "That's kind of like the whole point of the book, actually." And so they, you know, rightfully so, they were like, "We're gonna pass." Right. I don't ...Like, exactly. , And, and so for seven years Hmm. And in those seven years, I, I kind of did all the things. There was a season where I still tried to make it happen. I kn- I knocked on a lot of other doors, and I tried to be a little more forceful. Then there was a season where I. i was like, "I'm done. I'm done. I did, I did all the things. I'm done." You know? And, , there was a season where I was really sad. All, all of these things. And, , And it felt like a waste. Those seven years, for a season, they just felt like, "Lord, okay, I'll get busy doing other stuff." And in 2020, during COVID, when the world kind of got quieter, Shut I was literally on social media and, , I happened to follow someone. They were like, "I have more time because, everything's shut down, and I'm gonna open this one time, work with five writers." And I felt like the Lord just... I was in a coffee shop, masked up, and I really felt like He was like, "Apply for that right now." And I thought, "Lord- This is ridiculous. , I've already done all of that seven years ago, but . It just felt different. And I did, and that, I got a yes to that, and that led to an agent. It just trickled. Mhm. Sometimes I tell that story and, and here's the thing, is I have heard people's stories like that before, and I'm like, "Okay, great. Then I'm going to do that exact same thing for myself." You know what I mean? But it was really, in hindsight, I realized the book I would have written seven years prior was a different book than actually ended up coming out of me when I actually did write it, and that was the book that needed to come. So the seven years, although they were frustrating, although I pounded on the doors, although I got mad, they weren't a waste because I didn't know it at the time, but I was learning some actually real things about feeling overlooked and unseen that needed to go in that final book. And so that's just one little personal story. Um, but I think all of us, we feel that when we're in the waiting season of just, "Lord, come on. I'm gonna help you out. You know? Get on with the show." I know how to do this. Just ask me Yes. Yes. Uh-huh I, that's a fantastic example because seven years is a long time to wait, and many of us know what that's like. If it's waiting to have a child, if it's waiting for a child to come back to Jesus or to come back to the family, if it's, you know, waiting on a, on healing in your marriage, a lot of us can relate to that and that frustration and the pounding on the door, and, "God, do you hear me?" And, "God, are you good?" You write about, um, hope as well. So what does hope look like when we do start to question God? You know, when we do think, "Okay, God, I feel like you called me to write this book, but I can't hear your voice. I don't see you. I'm doing all the things I think I should be doing." So what does that look like, Paige? Yeah. You know, I think this is where it gets in that real, like, just the real nitty-gritty of our faith walk. And, um, I think hope looks like, it actually looks like making an intentional choice every single day, and sometimes it's more than every day. It's, for a lot of us, moment by moment, hour by hour of, okay, I'm going to put my hope in the Lord. , a lot of us are tempted to put our hope in something else, in a person or in a situation or in an opportunity, and all of those things, they may not be bad things, but they're not actually going to give us hope. , , , as I was studying these women, I realized they all kind of did that, and yet they each kind of had a moment where something shifted and they went from looking to a man or looking to their own strength to really coming to a place of, okay, I am going to put my hope in God. I wish I had a beautiful formula of how you do that. I think sometimes it literally is just telling God, "God, I don't feel it today. I don't even know how to do this. Would you help me?" I think it's Eugene Peterson has a quote that says, "I can't always force my heart to hope, but I can force my hands to raise towards heaven." And so sometimes it's even just that, like, okay, what can I do? , I can still show up and read , one verse of one psalm if that's all I can get through, and just say, "God, , can you make this real for me today?" I just think He shows up for us in those moments, , even when we're still cry- we're still crying on the bathroom floor. , He shows up for us. He really does. Mm-hmm. And there's times where I can't quite raise my hands because I don't want to 'cause I'm angry, but I can turn on the Mm-hmm. Yeah in my car or in my home when the kids are yelling and everybody's upset. , And he meets you in that even obedient- that's even obedience, Right. Just to switch on the worship music Absolutely. Absolutely. Um, and, and it's just reminding ourselves, in Hebrews it talks about that Jesus is the anchor. He's like the anchor of our soul, and He is that anchor of hope., We went through a season, where my husband lost a business, and so we were in a lot of financial turmoil. There were some days where literally all I could just say was just like, "Jesus. Jesus, I need you." I think, I think sometimes ladies just need to hear that. Like, you don't have to have this perfect prayer it's literally just being honest of this is where I am. I don't have any superficial hope, that's actually a great thing. Yeah, Like, to, to be really honest and real, and that's where hope becomes more real for us. Mm-hmm. I Yeah. I've been in some ugly cry, angry moments before, and God's met me in those places. Yes He already knows your mind. He created you. He knows what you're going through, so we don't have to hide it. You talk about, expectancy and what that looks like. So me see. It... What is the... How do you put Yeah. I talk it, about the difference between expectancy and expectations. Expectancy is almost another word for hope. I do think God wants us to get our hope, faith, , "Okay, God, I don't know how you're gonna do this, but I'm gonna choose to believe you, if you gave me this desire and you put this, promise in my heart, that it's gonna come about." The fine line between expectancy and false expectations are when we move from that idea of hope and I've got this idea from God, as women what we love to do, is we love to then craft out in our brains exactly what that's going to look like, and that's when expectation comes in, and especially it becomes false expectation. Because did God actually promise that, or is that just your definition of what He promised? And you can talk about this, even in marriage, we get into more arguments over expectations. You know, maybe he said one thing, and I then create an expectation around that thing that . We do this with the Lord, too, all the time. And so I think sometimes even when we're struggling with hope, even kind of taking a step back and taking an inventory of ourselves of, "Okay, Lord, did you actually say this thing to me, or is this just me taking one idea and one promise from you and creating false expectations with that?" And when we kind of realize that, "Oh, okay, Lord, forgive me, I, I stepped out," it just helps us to realize it's not Him disappointing you, it's you creating, you know, a scenario that was never His to begin with , As I'm listening, one, I feel like you were talking to my husband about the whole expectation. I'm like, "How many times has he said that to me?" , But two, even we'll use your example as writing your first book, and God gave that to you. When you're writing a book, , people want to come and help, which is amazing. We need the help, we need the encouragement. And then all these other ideas come along, like we talked about earlier, starting a podcast. And, and a lot of Mm-hmm. that those go hand-in-hand. But did God Call you to do that? Mm-hmm. then do you do a newsletter? Did God tell you to do that? Like, Mm-hmm. other things that could pile on with the one thing that you feel like God called you to do. And I've learned to stop and pray, God, is that where you want my time to be?" Mm-hmm. about time in this fast pace. We do need the time to do the things that God's called us to do. It's always stopping and asking, "Do you want me to do this?" Even though Lauren's like, "That's a great idea. Let me go up on this track." Hearing His voice and leaning in all the time, and I'm sure, Paige, with all that you've walked through in your ministry, that you can relate to those things. How do you make sure that you're still on the path of where God's wanting you to be, and you're not going off on the Paige path? That's, that's a really good question. For me, it, it's a few things. One, it is am I actually getting quiet and listening to the Lord and not just doing all the talking or just, , I have been guilty before of just telling the Lord my plans and asking him to bless my plans versus asking him, "God, what are your plans for me?" And so really making sure that there is space where I'm just being quiet sometimes and just like, "Lord, I just really..." You know? Almost, I almost had this vision of like sometimes I just will lay everything at His feet. I'm in a season right now, actually, where there's a couple of things I'm doing and I'm like, "Lord," and it's not even necessarily that I started it, I think maybe just the season for it has ended. It's just being sensitive to those things. I think, too, we, that's where even inviting two or three people that we really trust into our lives that have a lot of wisdom and that hear from the voice of the Lord as well and saying, "Okay, listen, if you see me running 100 miles an hour, Yes. I give you permission to be like, 'Hey, I wanna remind you about what you were called to do.'" Hmm. Getting defensive about that, but really trusting, okay, , God has surrounded me with really wise people who love me and wanna help me fulfill all the things He's placed on my life. You know? So I think that, I think that that is, that's a real key, too Mm-hmm So finding time to be quiet enough to hear God's voice, and then Mm-hmm having your people that you trust to give you that Yes. And I think too, I think if, if someone listening has never actually sat down and written out what you feel like, big picture, God has called you to do, that looks like looking at what are the gifts and talents He's placed in your life. You know, what is, what is the history? He has all of these different parts of us that He weaves together, and, , my husband and I, we have, like, just, like, three things, and a lot of things can fit underneath those three things. , But if something comes across our path and it does not fit in those three things, it just makes it easier to clearly know and say, "Nope, that's, that's not, that's not for us to run in." So even just intentionally, Writing that down and making it clear. Mm-hmm. That's very wise. Write it down, and I don't know where the scripture is of make a plan, write it on a, on your tablet, Yes. Yes. . I think it's in Habakkuk. Yeah, exactly. That's a good one. Thank you, Yes. Yes, you're come in fi- help I actually " was just studying it, so that's the only reason why. Yeah. Um, you talk about, uh, Romans 8:23 through 25. I should probably look it up. Um, expectations, plans, measurements, and blueprints. Let's Hmm. Let me find it , Romans 8:23 23. Romans chapter eight, verse through 25. "Not Ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently." Hopefully we wait for it patiently. Hopefully, yeah. Yes And, "For in the hope we were saved, but hope that is seen is no hope at all." That makes sense, Right. Like, if we could Right. if we could see the If we could see the outcome, we don't have to walk by faith. We don't need God, To lead Exactly and to direct us Yeah. Hope, hope is the substance of thing... Uh, uh, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. And, you know, if, if you don't need faith or hope, you really don't need the Lord, then, then you can do everything in your own strength. That's the other thing, too, that I learned about waiting as I was studying these women's lives, is ultimately, God wants the glory. He wants the glory in all of our stories. And, and so, and I don't say that in a way of, like, He's being cruel and trying to make you, like, jump through all of these hoops. But I think He does delight in building something inside of us where we really become so dependent upon Him for His strength and His grace. And then when we see the fruition of that promise, then we're not prideful or boastful or, "Look at what I've done." We can just absolutely say, "It was all Him. He's, He's so great." And that ultimately then draws people to Him. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I can't thank you enough for sharing this day. I don't know when people are listening, so I better tell you guys. , August 11th is the day that Paige's beautiful book came out, Matriarchs, and I'm going to link it in the show notes. You can find it everywhere. Amazon, right. Yep all the places. And then how can people find you, Paige, if they wanna reach out to you on social media or your webpage? Yeah, they can find me, my website is just paigeallen.net, or they can find me on all the socials, it's PaigeAllenTexas. , I'm really not that cra- I mean, I do love being a Texan. I just chose it, many moons ago. So yeah. It grabbed my attention, so it's Okay, good. Okay, great. Good you, and you, have your podcast as well, Bloom I do. Yes, I have a podcast, Called Bloom Talks, and,, it is the women's podcast of our church here. And, and you know what I love about my podcast is I really invite very, ordinary women to tell their stories, because what I love is God is working in all of our lives. And even women who think they don't have a story to tell, they always have a story to tell, because God is good to all of us You're right. Well, thank you so much for sharing this special day with us and being a guest on the Redeem Podcast Thank you for having me You're welcome Psalms 37 verse seven says, "Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him." Paige talked about being still. I am not good at that, y'all, especially in the last three years of, multitasking as much as I do. And so I need to find time to get off my hamster wheel, is what I call it, and f- and be still. Now, I do take breaks from social media. I do fast, , certain days of the week, especially going into ... If I'm going to be speaking in, at a conference or doing w- women's ministry, that is how I am intentional. I take time to fast and to spend time with God. So I take it back. I do find time to wait, and I just have to carve it out and be intentional and say no to certain things. For me, it's social media and podcasting, editing, doing computer stuff, because that's been a lot of what I've been doing the last three years. And so for you, carving out that waiting time may look different. Maybe it is sitting in a coffee shop, if you're able to do that. Maybe it's going on a walk without music and without listening to a podcast. Maybe it's literally driving without anything going on in your car or radio, and that is a silent time. It's weird when silence is awkward, because we're so used to noise all the time. But I would love to stop and wait for the person ... I would love to stop and pray for the person that is in a waiting season. You've been praying and longing, and you're frustrated, and you don't feel like God is answering your prayers or hearing you. Or maybe you have this desire in your heart, and you need God to give you guidance on what's the next step. 📍 Father God, I thank You, Jesus, for Paige and her wisdom and the book that You have given her to share with the world, and the, and the Scripture verses and the stories in Genesis and these women that we get to learn from. God, help us, especially now in the world that we live in. Teach us how to wait. Teach us how to turn off the noise. Teach us how to sit with You and hear Your words, God, and hear Your voice in the middle of our bu- busy day. And God, for the person that has a desire to start a new job, to use different creative talents that You've given them, to s- reach out into a new relationship, to volunteer, whatever is on their mind, God, would Help them sense You, and help them have the faith to walk it out, even without knowing the outcome. God, would You renew their hope and their strength, Jesus, and teach them how to see You in Your Word as they read Your Word. Let it be fresh on their mind. In Jesus' name, amen. 📍 Thank you so much for listening to The Redeemed Podcast. Y'all are amazing. I, I've done over 100 episodes, which is so crazy for me to say, and it is a true joy to meet people like Paige and so many others that have redemption stories, that have written amazing books, that just love to tell people about Jesus and the things that they've learned while they walk out their own stories. 📍 If you have enjoyed the Redeem podcast, please share these episodes with a friend. Subscribe to YouTube if you haven't done that yet. I have a YouTube channel. I don't usually talk about it that much, but if you want to watch any of these episodes, go there. I've got lots of things on grief, father wounds, addiction, miracle stories, adoption, you name it. And I also have a lot of my own stories of my rescue. 📍 📍 And if you want to find out more about Stolen, , True Story, Kidnapped, Rescued, Redeemed, you can find everything where I'm speaking, where I'm doing book signings, any kind of events at laurenburns.net. Until next time, I hope you know that God sees you, He loves you, and He calls you redeemed.
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