The Purpose Power Podcast

Michael & Niko Ford (00:56)
Hey family, welcome back to the Purpose Power Podcast. I'm Michael Ford. And I'm Nico Ford. And this is the place where we talk about faith, purpose, and real life wisdom to help you guys and to help you to walk boldly in what God has called you to do. Yes, indeed. Today's episode is called Faith in the Fog. Because let's be real, sometimes God gives you a promise, but the path is cloudy. You can't see how it's going to happen, but you still have to keep walking, right? Yep.

and have to keep walking boldly and have faith. So the scripture for today that we want to use is found in Hebrews chapter 11 verse 1. And that scripture says, now faith is confidence in what we hope for, assurance about what we do not see. So there's lots of times where as believers, we have to still have faith in those things that God has promised us.

things that God has said, even when we can't see it. Because remember, we're called to walk by faith. And not by sight. Yeah. So let me ask you a question,

What does a fog feel like? You know, can feel like a lot of things.

specifically in a believer's life, fog can look like, hey, I asked God for this and I don't see it, or I don't even feel God. There's many times like in my personal life and in my walk with God where, you know, I found it hard because I couldn't hear Him. And there were times where I knew God told me to do something, but everything around me,

was contradicting what God told me to do. And I know I'm not the only person, you know, but in the moment it feels like it's only happening to you. A lot of times it can look like, you know, for instance, you might have asked God for, you know, a new opportunity and maybe you're not specific about that opportunity or whatever it is. And then everything around you starts crumbling.

Like you might lose a job, you might get put out of your home. You know, something- you're saying in instance that fog can be a season here? Yes, exactly. Exactly. It could just simply be seasonal. And we have to understand that as believers that fog doesn't last always. Bad times don't last always. They don't always last.

Now when you're through them, yeah. Exactly. When you're going through it, it seems like forever. And then a lot of times you'll wonder like, God, what did I do? Was there something I did wrong? Something I did wrong? Did I you incorrectly? I'm obeying you. I'm doing everything that I think I should be doing. for me, I can relate to it because as driving a truck.

I've gone through fog and fog is scary when you go through it in, you know, first this might be light fog and you can still, you can still make your way. You can still see ahead of you. So it's kind of, it's, it's, it's uncomfortable, but it's not, it's not like scary yet until you get into that really dense fog. I all of a sudden everything around you disappears.

And now you're traveling on that road and you're not sure if you're going the right way or not. You don't know if the car in front of you is stopped. And I think that's the same thing when our life, when these obstacles come, when we're going through the fog, that it's hard to see out of the fog of what lies ahead. You that the road could be clear. The road is clear, but just to move in the fog, takes, I mean, it takes extreme faith to know how to move when you're not hearing God.

When God goes silent, and sometimes God does go silent. We're shown that in the Bible. For example, it's Abraham. When God didn't talk to Abraham, and Abraham didn't hear God, and that's a scary thing. It's almost like you could be having this love fest with God where you hear Him constantly. You're moving with Him, and He's moving with you, and you're just feeling this complete, like, wow, God just totally loves me.

and then it can just go like nothing. It goes. Now, when that happens, when that fog happens, that silence.

I learned to...

Trust the last thing that God told you. Yeah. And hold on to the last thing he told you. Because sometimes we want, most of the time, let's be honest, we talk more than we listen. Yeah. And sometimes God's waiting for you to do the last thing he told you. Yeah, that's true too. And that goes into why God allows the fog. Yeah. So why did God allow this fog? Why does God allow? And sometimes it seems like a separation.

yeah. It's like you, you, you, you go from everything being on track. ostracized. No, you do. And everything, everything's on track. Everything's going right. You can see the path clearly. Then this heavy fall comes and now you've just lost. Yeah. You're just totally lost. See the purpose is to shift your perspective and that actually, uncertainty builds trust.

Yeah. Because a guy can trust you.

when you're not seeing all of his goodness. Right. So he knows that you're not in it for what he can give you. Right. So you trust him rather than just trusting his hand all the time. why that's important, because you'll have seasons in your life when you just have to trust what God says. Yeah. And don't question it. Yeah. Because sometimes you don't have time to question something if you're going through a battle.

If God tells you to move, you need to move. You don't need to ask why. You just need to do it. But God needs to know that he can trust you.

that you would be obedient. during those fog times...

When you come out of it, it's like, oh my gosh, you can hear God again, everything opens up, and as that feeling comes back, you're like, yes. Yeah, but God also wants you to know that he can be trusted. Exactly. And it's in those seasons, it's in the time of the fog, that you have to trust God the most. And a lot of times we think, okay, when everything's going well, yeah, everything's going great.

And that's sometimes the less time that we, you know, are listening and trusting God because we just see everything's going well. But you have to learn how to trust God through every single season. And the fog season, the season when it's uncertainty, when you cannot see Him, when you cannot hear Him, you have to learn how to trust Him. And you have to learn how to trust Him by, let's say for instance, you have past experiences.

with God, where God has showed up in your life when you didn't think he would, and he showed up. Those are things that you are supposed to use as faith builders, or I just call them moments of remembering God is faithful. God never fails. And he wants to be trusted, but he also wants to know that he can trust you. So whatever it was that he told you, whatever the last thing was that God told you, if he's silent, go back.

to the very last thing he told you and make sure that you're found faithful doing exactly what it was that he told you to do. And I guarantee you that it doesn't feel good. It doesn't even, you know, it just doesn't, it doesn't feel good at all. But trusting and knowing that God, you are with me, you promised to never leave me nor forsake me. You know, that is the promise that we have as believers because of what Jesus did for us, right?

Those are things that we can hold on to. So I'm not at all implying that going through the fog is, it feels good because it doesn't, you know, there's times in our lives that we have gone through the fog a lot. You know, right now I feel like we're in a time of kind of a fog season. Wouldn't you kind of say that we are? I would agree. And I want to say something. Sure, go ahead.

Sometimes we can cause our own fog. That's true too. And I'm saying that because in my personal walk, I can tell you that my faith in God has changed over the years. Yeah. And it has been a roller coaster. It's been, and this is the thing to be very careful of. It went from

When I was homeless, I didn't have anything. My trust in God was strong. Because I needed to see God in every moment, in every circumstance. As your faith progress and your mindset shifts and you become a little more successful, things come a little more regular, I think we stop trusting in God for those little things.

and we put those little things on our back ourselves. Okay, so explain to the people what And we tell God, I don't need you for that anymore, I got it. Yeah. I got it. That's true. And the problem with that is you can go so long doing that. And you're talking to God, but you're not hearing Him like you did before. Because before you needed to hear Him. Right. When I was homeless and living in a van, I needed to hear Him every day. Right.

We're not making six figures. I'm a knowledge him. But do I need you for groceries today? No. You blessed me left alone. don't do that. But in that, our relationship strains. Because God has to remind you, listen, I'm still your source. And in doing that, sometimes we create our own fault because God has to remind you, like, listen, I need to know if I take you here,

You still rocking with me. Yeah. yeah. Too many times that we build our own life and we place God in and we add God to it. But did God really tell us to do it? Yeah. Cause I can tell you now, my faith in for little stuff, I don't think about it as much. And it's because you do take pride in yourself that what you're able to do. Right. So

You kind of tell yourself in a way that you're God. No, you do. You make yourself, you put yourself in that place. And I think in that instance that we do create our own fog. Now I'm talking about there's different, there's different fogs that we're talking about. The fog I'm talking about is the fog of, you know, when everything is going right. Because sometimes, let's be real, we call on God the most when we're in need. Yeah, that's very And, you know, and I'm not saying that they have a relationship with God. I'm just saying that there's a difference in

when you're in the fog of needing him, because I can't see where I'm going, then when I can see where I'm going, I'm ⁓ at the wheel. And now I acknowledge, like, hey, I'm driving good, Like, we're doing good. I'm driving this. We're good, you know what mean? We say Jesus take the wheel, but Jesus, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,

I'm like, I can see fog down there. Like, I'm good. I don't know I want to go down there because I'm comfortable here. I know you're calling me here. Right. But Lord, I don't want to up need my being comfortable, my security that I know you bless me with. Right. But I take some pride that I carry some of it. I do. So, and as humans, know, we take pleasure in knowing that we can control something.

It's a sense of security and knowing you can control something. Yeah, very true. to get back to my point is sometimes I think we create that fog when we let go of God. Yeah. Because God wants us right here. All the time. Sometimes He wants us to here. He us to be here. He wants us be here. He wants us be here. He wants us say, Hey God, we cool. Hey, I know you still did it, but I'm going go over here. Right. And God desires to have relationship with us. He wants to have close fellowship with us. Right. And I think

And I think I've been guilty of creating my own fog. And I think in ways because of that, because of, know, it does take a level of humility, humility, is that right? Humility. constantly humble yourself, especially when things are going great. Yeah. Because reality is most people make plans themselves. Yeah. they- times they don't consult that. No, they add God on. Like, God, go, God bless me with this job.

Did you ever ask God what you're supposed to be doing? Right. Did God tell you to be a plumber? Did God tell you to be a dentist? Right. Or just line a dentist running your family? Yeah. Right. You know what mean? So, I just think the fall I'm talking about is the fall of just, it's the fall of success. The fall of comfortable, being familiarity, know, stuff that us humans in this sinful world crave. Yeah.

I mean, I tell everybody, my life didn't get on track to our side to give to God. Well, get off my track. So I think some of that fog is created by some of our stuff. Now that's one level of fog. But we can talk about the other fogs of different seasons. Because I've been through a lot of fogs. And I think God is stretching your faith in that fog because at some point, this is what God wants to do. He wants you to do this.

And now you just trust in him and he's telling you where to go. And we like, whoa, wait a minute, can we see through it? Wait a minute, I wanna see where I'm going. God's like, no, trust me. And he wants to cover your eyes and walk you through it. And I've been through that fog. And I've been through that fog. And sometimes you don't wanna go back to that fog. Now, your relationship with God is like the strongest. You can't tell me there's no God. But that's just different fogs. And I've been through...

I can say most of them. Oh, let's talk about the fall of when life throws you a curveball. Yeah, a lot of times that... Like with your cancer. Yeah. That was a fall that I never thought that We didn't even see coming. I never thought that I'd be dealing with something like that. I thought I was strong, I can deal with a lot of things and that was something that just caught me off guard. Total curveball. So speak to them a little bit about that fall season and how you overcame that.

Well, was, you know, that type of fog, again, like I said, was uncertain, total uncertainty. Never could have imagined that that would even cross our doorstep at all. And when it did, you know, it totally threw me off track. I mean, for one, I'll talk about in particular, and it might sound a little silly, but it's the thing that I'm hearing to share. So I'm going to share that.

at the time before I had got the diagnosis of getting cancer was 39. So in my mind, I had plans for my 40th. And I told my husband way before like, hey, 40th birthday, we're going to Belfast, Ireland. For those of you who know me, you know what Belfast represents and it represents the Titanic.

the birthplace of Titanic. Like I am in love with anything Titanic. Maybe a borderline obsessed. So what my husband was just talking about a few minutes ago was a lot of times we create, we create our fogs, right? This was a fog that I didn't create, but it happened and had this plan. 40th birthday was going to spend it there.

and then comes knocking cancer. go and, well, I'm having all this pain. I'm having terrible pain. And I understand we've kind of gone off the Richter a little bit, but we gonna come back. Fast forward, get the diagnosis that it is indeed cancer. Initially was just a lump I felt and wasn't even paying any attention to it, but fast forward, find out I have cancer.

And that changes everything because now it's like my plans of going to Belfast, I have to now consider chemotherapy. And now they're telling me on top of that, I'm going to have to have radiation and surgery. And at the time we didn't know what order it was going to go in. But it started with chemo because they were like, Hey, this type of cancer that you have, which was synovial sarcoma.

It's a fast, aggressive type of cancer and we have to get to work immediately. So, and then again, at the timing, I don't think we had the stage either. We just knew the type and we knew that we had to get going. So that was, like I said, that was an uncertain fog that I was not expecting. And in that fog, I had to trust God because my life in a sense was on the line.

You know, my family's life was on the line. It was different. We had to move in a different way and, totally just having to put that trust in God. You know, I spent a lot of nights in a lot of immense pain because where the cancer was, it was located in my, right side, exactly right here, but totally affecting my brachial plexus, basically my arm on down to my hand.

I could not use my hand and even now I still can't really use my hand to its full capacity. So that was a fog that was uncertain in our life. And even now, like yes, the cancer, I'm in total remission. So I thank God for that. But I've had to totally trust him for everything. I've had to totally trust him learning how to relearn how to use my hand again. And then the life that I had before, it's like...

I am not the same woman that I was prior to cancer and I've had to totally lean on God for every step of the way. And when I tell you that a lot of nights I spent crying because I didn't know what it looked like. I didn't know what was ahead of me. I didn't even know if I was gonna be here. You know what mean? I just didn't know. And there was a lot of times during that pain, during that suffering where I couldn't hear.

God's voice clearly, but I had to trust him. I remember before even getting the diagnosis and him telling me that he was going to see me through that he would, you know, see me through this. And I remember hearing those words, but there was nights, like I said, that I couldn't hear him. And because I was in so much pain and I, you know, sometimes when you're in pain and your body,

you know, was hurting, your spirit is hurting, everything hurts. You are trying so hard to make sure that you are hearing God. You have to remember the promise he gave you. And the promise he gave me was that he would see me through this. And I had to remember that. I had to hold on to that because there was nights that I didn't think that I was going to make it. So that's for me was a type of fog that,

I had to see my way through without actually being able to see the end. You know what I mean? Because I didn't see the end. I just saw in the moment and in the moment this sucks. Especially when it's not, it's not meritorious, nothing that you did. Yes, exactly. Because usually we do take comfort in knowing that there's something that we did that we know we can correct it. So it couldn't happen again. the thing like cancer, was like.

Right. Like, Lord, why? Yeah. It's like you feel like Job. Like, Lord, why? Like, why this had come upon my house? And I mean, I remember those times just like talking to God, like, can't, there's nothing I can do and feeling so helpless that she was in pain. There's nothing I can do about it. Yeah. And not at that point, not knowing. And those are fogs that you come through your life that you have to have that faith in God that, listen, faith is a substance of things, hope for the evidence of things you have not seen. Right.

And you know, we play till we win. There is no loss in Christ. There is no loss, whether it's in death or not, the death is the game. But you have to know where you stand when that fog rolls in and it's deep and it's thick. And it's life altering, life changing. That was life altering and changing and it was deep. And you have to just say, out, no matter what, I still trust you. I still believe in you.

I still believe that you still on the throne and you had the best for me. And I don't know why this is happening. Exactly. Why this was allowed to happen. But I trust you. But I trust you. Right. And that's a hard fall to go through. You know, I wasn't the one that had the cancer. My role as a provider was hard for me to actually do my role because at that moment I didn't care about anything else. I was like, all this can...

fall to the ground and these are the last moments I want to make sure I'm there and I'm with you and it definitely wasn't, it definitely was a season, a season of thick fog. And I think it shifted a lot of things. It shifted a lot of things and you realize like God is faithful and his mercy and endurance forever. just by knowing that and standing on that because

I I think we're still, I think we're going through a fog. I think we're in a fog now, because some things, it's not certain. Like, you know, recently we made a move to grow our fleet of trucks. And, you know, it didn't turn out the way... It had before. It had before. It wasn't. It was slow and it was, actually, was very miserable.

And then in the mix of that my older brother died. Yeah, so it was like are you serious like mm-hmm like these last three years has been Been very interesting. Yeah, it's like man like you think like man. thought I thought being homeless was bad Like this is a different level So but in that You have to renew

that faith that God will see me back to basics. You gotta give back to the basics. Give back to the basics. I think, you know, I think when you're called by God and God has a plan for your life, then there's certain things, aspects that he's gonna test you with. I'm not saying everything that happens is because of that, but I'm just saying that.

Many are called with fuel chosen, right? And what I mean by that is everybody has the potential.

to walk out there God given purpose. Now this is a choice. But I think once you make that choice and you wholeheartedly go at it, you come on the enemy's radar. Because Satan loves people playing Christian. He loves it when go to church every Sunday. And I'm not knocking people that go to church every Sunday, please don't. Hear what he's saying. what I'm saying. Satan loves.

you to play the role. He never wants you. He will love for you to play the role, but never walk in the purpose that God has for you. Right. There's a very big difference. Huge difference. Purpose takes sacrifice. Purpose take commitment. I'm not saying going to church every Sunday doesn't take commitment, but when you walk that walk and you become like Peter that you're going to step out on the boat and you're going to walk or you're going to sink. Right. The enemy becomes, you become an enemy.

radar. Yeah. Because there's a lot of people to go to church. I mean, I have an opinion about that, but I think what we lack these days is discipleship.

And when God says, when Jesus says in the Bible, take me to the cross and follow me. Like think about what he's saying. Yeah. The faith it takes to take up your cross and follow him. You to give up everything. Like he carried that cross. That cross was not a easy task to take even before he got crucified. Yeah. So he says take up his cross. That didn't sound like rainbows and fluff fluff and clouds of cotton candy. Yeah. You know what mean? All the disciples were killed besides John.

So I'm just saying it's just when you decide to live for God and you say you know what God I'm all in Opposition is going to happen. Yes, many of the affliction of the righteous, but the Lord delivers off them all You know, so that is going to happen so when you're in that fog That's not caused by your own doing Remember that God is faithful There was a purpose God has a purpose to see you through

He has a purpose to cause change, to bring about change, just not for you, but for a generation to come. Your suffering, your sacrifice is not in vain. It is a reason behind it. There's a bigger purpose behind everything that's going on. Then when you tap into God and you tap into heaven to see what God is saying, you start realizing this life is so...

It's so short. It's so... I mean, me realizing the fog that I was in with my brother, realizing like, you really don't take stuff with you. No. Like, one day you were planning to do this and plan all these plans and next day you're in the ground. Like, you're being buried. Your life is done.

So for those that are out there right now, you guys are going through the fall with no, no, it's nothing, nothing that you did. It's not on your doing.

Take he that God sees you. He's with you. Yes. Even when you're in the fog, he's still there. Yeah. And those of you that going through the fog of your own doing. Right. Get back on track so you can get out the fog. The fog don't last forever. Right. Get close to God. Come back home. Come back home. Right. Because that builds faith. Right. And when it builds faith, it builds character.

And it humbles you because you're being called for a greater purpose than you ever know. And all these lessons have a purpose. it's not just God that's done let things happen for no reason. And we have to let go of our own understanding and lean onto His understanding. And know that just hang on, be faithful, and know that we serve a good daddy. Yeah, keep trusting Him. Keep trusting Him.

Definitely keep trusting them. Yeah, so don't give up. Don't lose hope because there is Beauty on the other side and God has you he knows exactly what he's doing He does so trust him keep believing and You know just know that The bad seasons don't last always they don't know joy comes in the morning so you know before we end this

wrap this podcast up, we're do something little differently. We're gonna pray for those who out there are in the fall.

Dear, father, we thank you father for your word, father. We thank you father for your son Jesus, father. We just thank you father for all you do for us, We thank you father, anybody out there father right now that's going through that fog, father, uncertainty, father, that they don't know why, what's going on, father, they can't feel you, father, they can't hear you right, hear you, father. Let them know father that you're there, father. Show them father that you are closer than you think, father. Let them search their hearts, father, to see what is the last thing that you told them to do, father.

And they just have the faith that passes all understanding, that they just keep going, Father. They just keep pushing on, Father, that you never leave them or you forsake them, Father. That you never seen the righteous forsaken or receive a regret, Father. And we just thank you, Father, for your children that you love, that are called to you, Father, that you draw them closer, Father. And just be with them, Father, that know that you give the peace that passes all understanding, Father. And joy comes in the morning, Father, that the fog don't last forever.

And we just thank you Father for what you're doing in them Father, what you're creating in them Father, and the outcome that you have for them Father that will be fulfilled Father. And that there's clay in the Father's hands and we just thank you Father that anyone's here in this Father that's going through that fall, Father that you just be with them and let them remind them Father that you're still God and you still love them Father. This we ask in your Son Jesus' name, Amen. Amen. Alright y'all.

We're gonna wrap this one up. So this has been Faith in the Fog, Purpose Power Podcast. I'm Michael Ford. And I'm Nico Ford. And we thank you guys for joining us this evening. God bless you guys and peace.