53: Obedience Over Hustle
Chapter six of Obedience over Hustle made me cry. It’s about the mommy hustle. Raise your hand if you keep telling your kids “in a little bit” or “later” or “mommy doesn’t have time right now” when they ask you to do something? Raise your hand if you’re often scrolling while they talk to you. The author calls this “gaze aversion.” What does it imply when we look at our screens instead of their eyes? This entire book opened MY eyes to how I’m hustlin’ in business, in health, in social media, in the neighborhood and how it’s clouding the priorities God has for me. Listen in to this week’s podcast as we cover some major spot on takeaways from Obedience over Hustle by Malinda Fuller.
EPISODE 53: Obedience Over Hustle
SHOW NOTES
(0:00) Intro
(0:44) Welcome back to the club!
This episode is about the teaching of the awesome book Obedience Over Hustle by Malinda Fuller
I’ve had so much on my plate lately as we all do—
I feel like I’m always doing the wrong thing at the wrong time - working when I should be paying attention to my kids, exercising when I should be working, studying for my class when I should be paying the bills that have been sitting on the counter for weeks.
I know we all have our own version of this - you’re like yep, yep, yep - work, family, chores, community, personal time - there’s not enough time in the day.
We’re all hustling around and time is flying before our eyes and sometimes it’s just overwhelming. As much as I do try to give it to God and seek His guidance, I get caught up in the hustle hamster wheel and it’s hard to jump off. I know you’re feeling me friend. And it’s what we’re going to talk about today.
I read this book called Obedience Over Hustle that made me hold up a microscope to my hustle, to my intentions and, I have to say, it was uncomfortable at times because it made me stop to examine my priorities versus God’s priorities for me. The question we have to ask ourselves is What is all this hustle about and is it in line with how God would have us living our lives.
I felt like I’d been through a therapy session by the time I finished the book. And even once I’d finished it, I still kept thinking about it and using it as a point of reference for how I’m operating - in hustle or obedience.
(2:54) So let’s start with hustle:
Business/Work - side hustle I know we have a lot of women who have taken on what’s known as a “side hustle” - working on a business in addition to being a mom or the 9-5’er they already have.
Hustle may look like keeping up with the people in your hood, at the gym, online or at church.
I think a lot of us are hustling in life because we’re trying to do better, get ahead, meet goals
(3:35) What is that fine line between hard work and hustle?
Malinda explained the idea of Work ethic vs workaholism (achieving a goal at a cost - that’s where the balance tips)
She gave an example of a mom taking on a side job - maybe at like a direct marketing company something like Beautycounter or Young Living - of which I’m involved with both.
But what she pointed out is that a lot of us start with good intentions: we believe in the product and genuinely want to share, or we want extra money to get out of debt or save for a family vacation or help diffuse the cost of adoption - all really good reasons.
The tip of the balance is when we’re no longer working on it in the fringe hours of our time, but it more and more encroaches on the setting the kids in front of a screen so “mommy can work” or skipping our exercise, or I’m so much more busy now I don’t have time to cook, let’s drive through, again.
It may not even be your side job, it may be your primary job. I know for me that’s the case. There are so many people that I want to reach and serve, I feel this sense of urgency to do that and it has absolutely come with the cost of time with my family. Totally self-induced of course, I just love what I do, don’t have great boundaries but getting better, and I’m figuring out the operations of business.
(7:48) Chapter 6 - The Mommy Hustle:
Malinda used the story of the disciples trying to herd the children away from Jesus to illustrate a really important point. It’s like the disciples were in their own hustle mode, like we ain’t got no time for these lil children to hang out with Jesus, there are people with some serious issues that need His help. So they were like move along move along.
And Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.'” Matthew 19:14
In the book, Melinda asks if we can resonate with any of these questions our children ask us:
Mommy are you almost done with ______ Can you play with me?
You said you were going to ___________
Put down your phone and come read to me.
I was like, check, check, check, check. I will never forget the time my daughter took my face into her chubby little hands and said Mommy, look at me. She was talking to me and I was looking at my phone “working on something.” It breaks my heart to think about it and yet I still do it! I’m more cognizant of it and I’m better about it, but I’m still trying to squeeze in work when they need my full attention.
(10:02) Gaze Aversion:
The idea of gaze aversion and what that implies to our kids or to our spouses: you are not as important as this.
Challenging the chant of the hustling heart - the voice that says your children are the distraction and the other thing demanding your time is more important - because it isn’t.
Relationships are always the more important thing.
(11:17) Jesus was never in a hurry:
It’s true, I hadn’t necessarily thought about it that way, but you don’t get that sense that He’s rushing around. He made time for the children, he gave his full attention to the person in front of him even though he was constantly surrounded my crowds.
Now, on the other side of that, the devil is always in a hurry. You know I read somewhere that urgency comes from fear and we know who the author of fear is. When Satan was tempting Eve, he was like c’mon just do it. He probably knew he only had a few moments to get her to do it before there was interruption from maybe Adam or before she had enough time to think about it. How often have you heard that sense of urgency to just eat it - and you hurry up and do before you can think about it?
We often act impulsively in urgency and it’s not the best choice. So we’ve got to catch ourselves when we’re feeling urgent about something and ask, who and what is driving this.
I mentioned that sense of urgency for me to reach more people with health information. There’s so much misinformation out there and I want to help change that. And I think, I know God is on board with that, but not at the expense of my family. I know I’ve been led by God to do the work I do so I feel like it is sanctioned by Him, but the book made me examine if I’m operating it IN Him.
Just because God deposits a dream, idea or goal in our heart doesn’t mean it’s ours to take off and run with, without continuing to listen in obey about how we proceed.
(13:32) Obedience with Pace:
Doing things in God’s timing and with His instruction.
If our hearts are striving after something other than God’s goal for us, He won’t bless our efforts.
In the book, Malinda talks about how God is into the details of our dreams and goals. He’s a details dude. And sometimes He may give us instructions about the details of our business or children or ministry that seem unnecessary or cumbersome or hard. We may think that we know a better, quicker or easier way. Like, all those details are not necessary God, to make this happen. We can get there more directly.
Malinda uses the example of the healing of Namaan who was an army commander under the king of Aram. This story takes place in 2 Kings 5.
Namaan had leprosy and was instructed by Eilsha, one of the major prophets in the OT, to Go, wash yourself 7 times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed.”
But Naaman went away angry, he was like why can’t you just wave your hand over me and cure me? And plus how about these other rivers which are surely better than Jordan? Couldn’t I wash in them and be cleansed?” So he turned and went off in a rage. He was not liking God’s details. Go to this one specific river and wash 7 times.
Eventually one of his servants convinced him to do it, and he was finally cleansed and restored from his leprosy. But he had to obey the given instructions.
So see this is where obedience comes in. Naaman wanted the hustle way, God wanted his obedience to activate the blessing.
And that is what is so true for us now. There may be a seemingly easier route toward your goal or dream, but the potential of the fullest blessings and miracles within it cannot be activated without obedience.
It was Naaman’s obedience that ultimately activated the miracle of his health.
How long has God been guiding you to direction toward your health and healing? He guides all of us through His provision and instruction of real food, water, rest - but we want the quick way, we want the magic fat loss pill.
(16:56) In the book Malinda asks:
Have you heard direction from the Lord but question it and move on with your own plan. Even though God was clear - you reach for the latest self-help book or gather your friends for prayer on the matter. You sign up for an expensive diet plan when He told you to work on the discipline of eating healthy and walking every day. You pay for another month of counseling sessions even though he told you to forgive and go back to your spouse.
Now, I know the question many of you are asking is - but what if I’ not hearing from God? What if I’m not getting any direction?
She has a whole chapter about this in her book. When people ask her this questions she asks them these questions:
What was the last thing you remember Him asking you to do?
Did you do it?
So I would ask you that - what’s the last thing you felt stirring in your heart, in your gut for God for you to do - and did you?
(19:10) We’re not all called to be doing the same thing as someone else:
“I grew confident in my discovery that God doesn’t call us all to do the same thing at the same time. What is a priority for someone else doesn’t have to be mine. What others are giving to their homes, families, businesses, creatively or online doesn’t have to dictate what I spend my days doing.”
There are seasons for everything and what Malinda talked about was being very clear and committed to what God calls her to do in any given season. In one season of her life Malinda talked about being very clear that God wanted her to focus on 3 things:
Honing skills as a writer
Homeschooling
Loving neighbors well
Whatever didn’t fit into those 3 categories was an easy no. She didn’t volunteer at church, go to business conferences, etc.
“When we’re super confident in what God wants us to do, it’s easy to say no to what we don’t have time or resources for.”
So I would ask you - what are those top categories that God is calling you to focus on? And can you give yourself the permission and grace to let those things go that are not in your season?
(25:25) This is good stuff, right?!
We’ve barely scratched the surface of this book, it is so good y’all, it will really make you think and have that point of reference to ask yourself if you are acting in obedience? Obedience sounds like such a drag when really it’s such a blessing - it’s whats the better for us.
You can get the book on Amazon, and follow Malinda at @malinda.fuller on Instagram and also @thefulleradventure. Go over and tell her you heard me talk about Obedience over Hustle or tell her what you like about it if you already have the book. And I will end on this quote from the book:
“God’s dream for our lives is right now - what are you doing with what you have right now. “
(28:28) Outro & Disclaimer
Thanks for listening! Have a healthy and blessed week!