Welcome back.
I am so excited to say that we have come to the end of our season one journey.
No worries,
We'll pick up right back where we left off next Wednesday.
But we have accomplished laying a firm foundation with the word SHIFT,
A deep understanding of what the acronym means so that it can be applied to our lives.
S is seeing,
Learning to view life through spiritual lenses.
H is hearing,
Tuning into God's frequency.
I is influencing,
Leading yourself in a way that leads others with your life.
F is fighting,
It's faith over fear.
It's remembering that faith is a function,
Not a feeling.
And T is embracing God's timing,
Remembering to go to neutral before you go to next.
Now,
Some of you may be wondering what could be left.
We've covered every letter in the word SHIFT.
But today,
As we close out,
I want to leave you with one more tool for this foundation,
One more essential practice,
And it is SIFTING.
When I was a little girl,
My grandmother made a dish that I so enjoyed.
It was biscuits,
And get this,
Chocolate gravy.
When I would go to visit,
She would wrap me in an apron that was far too big for my small frame at the time.
And she would hand me a sifter and a bowl that was bigger than my arms,
And I would start to turn the handle.
And the soft flour drifted down like snow,
And the hard clumps stayed on top.
I remember the very first time this happened,
I tried to toss the clumps right back in the flour,
And she stopped.
She said,
No,
Doll baby,
Which was her name for me,
Throw those away.
If you put them back,
The biscuits will not be their best.
They will not rise to their fullest.
That's stuck.
Shifting requires sifting.
We cannot rise into purpose while clutching clumps of fear and shame and grief or pain and regret.
Sifting keeps what was from interfering with what is.
It's the let go so you can grow.
Sifting isn't rejection,
It's direction.
Sifting clears out what's dead weight so you can move lighter.
Imagine running a race with pockets full of rocks.
You'd be exhausted before the first lap.
God says drop it so you can finish strong.
What feels like loss sometimes is a setup for a lift.
What survives the sift carries strength.
God multiplies what's been purified,
Not what's been poisoned.
When you let go of the bitterness and the baggage,
You make space for new vision and fresh fire.
What you release makes room for God and what he wants to reveal in your life.
People can be a part of that sift too.
Some people were just not meant to walk the next stretch of road with you.
When God closes the door,
Don't kick it back open.
Think about the friendship that fizzled or the relationship that drained more than it gave.
When it ended,
It was painful,
But peace walked in.
That wasn't failure,
That was freedom.
Don't chase what God already sifted loose.
And remember this,
Your name is not your past.
Your name is not regret or shame or victim.
It's not comparison to other people's relationships in their life,
Their highlight reels.
Those aren't your labels,
They're leftovers.
Your name is chosen,
Redeemed,
Purpose.
And your name is love.
The sift doesn't erase your story,
It refines it.
So your true identity shines through and legacy isn't just wealth.
Remember this,
Whether you have children of your own or you're influencing another child or person in your life,
The Bible says leave an inheritance for your children's children.
Money is good,
But the deeper inheritance is what you model through prayer,
Forgiveness,
Resilience,
And boundaries.
If you're carrying guilt for where you fell short as a parent,
Sift it.
Your kids don't need perfection,
They need presence.
What you leave in them far outgrows what you leave for them.
Let's talk about some real life connections.
Stop living in reruns.
Your lowest moment doesn't get to be your life soundtrack.
When the old script starts rolling,
Interrupt it.
That's not my headline,
God's writing a new one.
Old scene,
New script.
And clear the clutter.
What habits are cluttering your world right now?
What physical possessions are cluttering your world?
Clear the clutter.
Whether it's physical items that are surrounding you,
Taking up room,
Or Netflix binges.
Endless scrolling,
Numbing escapes.
These look harmless,
But they're muting your spirit.
Trade one mindless habit for a mindful one.
A gratitude journal,
Even if you just write one line a day.
Breath prayer,
Scripture.
One single scripture before bedtime can make a huge difference.
Trade the clutter for soul fuel and audit your circle.
Not everyone deserves a front row seat in your life.
Some people clap for you staying the same,
For you not growing.
Make room for those who push you forward and not hold you back.
Protect your peace.
Check the seats in your audience,
The audience of your life,
Your story.
Is it time for some of them to exit so they can free up those seats for people who are supposed to be in the next scene?
And don't settle for knockoffs.
Some opportunities in your life look shiny,
But they drain your energy for the real thing.
Some people are the same.
If the person,
Or the thing,
Or the action,
Or the job,
Whatever it is,
If it doesn't line up with God,
Let it pass.
Your yes is too valuable to waste.
Remember purpose over popularity.
I want to leave you with some practical tools this week.
Choose any one of them or all of them.
First,
Dump the bowl.
List your clumps,
Fear,
Shame,
Old labels,
Old cycles,
Old ways of doing things.
What are you carrying?
Zift by saying them out loud and then dump the bowl.
The next tool is keep or toss.
Draw two columns,
One listed keep,
One listed toss.
Those things in the keep column are fruitful and they're aligned with God.
Those things in the toss column are heavy and they're hindering.
Be honest,
Be kind,
Especially to yourself,
And be decisive.
Then put it into action.
The next tool is the ritual of release.
Write a short note to what you're releasing.
Whatever it is that you're letting go of,
That you're tossing,
Write a note to it.
Talk about its entry and its place in your life.
Say goodbye and rip it up,
Throw it away,
Burn it safely,
However you need to release it.
And then pray,
Lord,
I release this to you.
Now it's time to rise.
Add one daily lift,
A worship walk,
A breath prayer,
A gratitude line in your journal,
A scripture.
One daily rise.
The last tool is a boundary check.
Choose one boundary to reinforce this week that keeps the clumps from coming back.
A time limit,
A healthy no,
A screen rule,
A money guardrail.
Whatever it is,
Keep the clumps from coming back.
Our anchor scripture for this week is Hebrews 12 verse 1.
I really want to dig deep into this today.
The first part,
Therefore,
Since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses,
The therefore points back to Hebrews 11 and the hall of fame,
The people who have already walked this race.
They're not just spectators,
They're testifiers.
They're examples that it can be done.
You are not stepping into the impossible.
You're walking a proven path with a faithful God.
Next,
Let us throw off everything that hinders.
This stanza is a reminder.
Not every hindrance is a sin,
But it can still suffocate.
Many of us are stuck not by rebellion,
But by residue.
Old habits,
Old hurts,
And inherited patterns bending us low.
But Hebrews says,
Throw it off.
Do not normalize being weighed down.
And the sin that so easily entangles,
Sin does not only stain,
It snares.
Picture vines around your ankles,
Around your body,
Your neck.
You might still move,
But you move slow.
Confession cuts the vines so you can stride again.
Finally,
Let's run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
Heaven designed your course.
Yesterday is not the architect.
You cannot run forward with both arms full of yesterday.
Sifting lightens the load so you can finish the race.
Here are some things to remember as you apply the tools this week.
You cannot heal what you hide,
And you cannot run while you are holding.
God is calling you to be a runner,
Not a prisoner of reruns.
The race forward gets clearer as the weight backward gets lighter.
So ask yourself,
What needs to be sifted so I can fully shift?
As we close,
I love those kitchen memories with my grandmother.
But not everything in my childhood was gentle.
My mother was 14 when she had me.
My grandmother was sometimes physically and verbally abusive to her children.
And when she discovered that her 13-year-old was pregnant with a child of color,
She tried to force an adoption.
With prayer,
Her heart softened.
When I was born,
She said I looked like a little doll baby.
There's my doll baby,
Was the last thing she said to me the day she took her last breath.
My mother had to heal from her wounds while learning to raise a child,
And we walked that road together.
My siblings and I,
We felt the impact,
Deeply.
So I sift.
I keep what's holy and healing.
I release what's heavy and harmful.
Sifting may feel like loss,
But it's really lifting.
The sifted flower rises.
Stay ready.
Shift higher.
This is your shift podcast.
