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Hey guys, welcome back to another Way UK podcast. I'm your host Zoe and I'm joined by my wonderful, lovely, gorgeous friend, Ella. Ella. Welcome. Welcome to The Way. Thank you. Thank you very much. Guys, Ella is a friend of The Way. Tell us a little bit about who you are, what do you do, why are you here? Yeah. So my name is Ella and I am 21.

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okay okay and i currently help at a discipleship year i'm there kind of basically full-time um which is helping young people grow in their faith uh and it's just a beautiful space and i just love it i actually did it last year and then this we did it together yeah that's actually where we became best friends

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best year ever and yeah so this year I do that and I also am a singer she's got the best voice ever yeah but yeah I dilly dally here and there

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Today, Ella's coming on because she's going to help answer some of the questions that you guys are sending. Yeah, let's see what happens. Let's see what happens. Let's see what happens. Before we get into it, though, you guys know the drill. Please, can you like, subscribe, comment if you're watching on YouTube? And if you're listening on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, give us a follow, give us a rating, because you know our mission here at The Way is to share the gospel far and wide online. And so you doing that really helps us. And also, send this podcast to a friend if you think that it will be helpful to them. But anyways, roll the credits. Let's get into it.

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All right, Ella, do you want to read the first question? I'd love to. So the first question is, do you ever feel unmotivated to spend time with God? If so, any advice? Yeah, for sure. I think...

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I do feel unmotivated to spend time with God sometimes. Well, faith kind of is you go through the motions. It's an ebb and a flow. And like sometimes I'll feel so like on fire and be like, do you know what? I'm going to wake up at 6.30 in the morning and I'm going to read my Bible for an hour and I'm going to like all before I've obviously gone to work.

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but like and then other days i'll be like oh i just i'm so tired i i don't have the energy to do this um my advice would be give yourself grace because i think what what is something that i can tend to do is really um

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like i don't know be quite hard on myself and be like this isn't good enough i'm not good enough like i'm not being a good christian or things like that and god has more grace than we can ever comprehend and he looks at us with such love and like care and compassion and

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And, of course, it's really good to spend time with God. I think it's necessary for our lives. You know, he's literally our source of life, source of joy, source of, like, everything good. Everything good comes from God. But I just think give yourself grace in those moments. And also, like, if you're putting pressure on yourself, try and remove it.

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which is easier said than done but it's like we're spending time with god because we want we want to grow in relationship with him yeah um and he sees your heart and he knows like he knows that you love him yeah so yeah like take the pressure off give yourself grace yeah um you're not you're not an awful christian yeah um yeah i don't know what would you say

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I think everyone struggles with feeling motivated at points to spend time with God. It can be kind of weird because you're spending time with someone that you can't see. And so sometimes it feels like maybe a bit harder. You're like, OK, or sometimes you're waiting or you don't feel anything or like.

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I don't know. It's just different times and we feel tired or whatever it is. But I mean, for me, something that has, has helped me practically has been like setting routine. There's going to be days where you wake up and you're like, I just don't want to do this. I can't be bothered. I don't even know how to approach God. Yeah. That's so normal. And I think like, as you're saying, we have to have grace for ourselves. We are human and we have weak flesh and we,

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The world pulls us one way. Our minds are racing and it's like sometimes hard to just settle down. Yeah. But I have found that setting just a routine, like knowing that there's going to be a certain time in my day that I set apart for God. Yeah. Whether I feel like it or not.

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it's there and I'm like um it's almost like a scheduled calendar it's like in your calendar you know that there's going to be you're going to be doing that meeting or that it's like almost setting something like that in place if you really do struggle with um like finding time or wanting to yeah I find that that's like helpful and and there'll be times we're excited to do it and there'll also be times where you're feeling like

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i don't want to but then you know that it's there yeah and if you don't know how to spend time with god i find just reading the word is a great place to start it's just great reading the word because it's actually word that god's word to us literally and can speak to us whether we are i don't know feeling it yeah feeling it or not literally but that's like a practical thing that has helped me

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that's literally happened to me before where i felt so unmotivated to read and then i just felt like a nudge from the holy spirit be like just just just read the bible yeah and i read like john and after i was like

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this is lit. It's like, take the pressure off. I think sometimes, if you just take the pressure off, you're like, wait, wait, there's actually, even if you just read that, the tiniest bit, like, you're still, you're reading God's word. Literally. Yeah. Oh, saturate, saturate, fill the heart. Yeah, it pisses through.

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What does it say? Marrow and flesh. I don't know. It pisses through. Oh, it's... Yeah. Cool! What is it? We'll find it. Which one? What verse are you talking about? It like... Pisses through... The sword is... The sword is the... The sword of the spirit. The sword is the word. Yeah, anyway. Yeah, I get it. I get it. Maybe Ephesians, maybe. Maybe not. No, I don't think it is. We'll have a look. Hebrews. It's Hebrews. It's Hebrews from Jesus. Yeah.

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you bruise it that is so good it's just lovely thanks okay i think i think we answered that question i think so i don't know i hope that was helpful yeah hopefully that's helpful um okay second one would you like to ask me because i actually have no idea yeah okay how do you guys prepare your bible study videos

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Ooh. Ella, do you want to answer? Just kidding. Yeah, show her. Wake up at 5am every day. Revise for 20 hours. Fast for 50 days.

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Yeah, so I try and do that. But when I don't, yeah, I just go into a few different websites. So like Blue Letter Bible or Enduring Word or what's it? Oh, the English Standard Version of the Bible, their website. They sometimes have notes or like commentaries. What else? Just Google sometimes.

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Sometimes I also will use Google Scholar, which is like another search engine, but it kind of like takes you straight to like different academic papers. But like that's only if I have enough time because it's quite time consuming. And I don't read the whole paper, but I'll like maybe read little excerpts of it.

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one line later but um so yeah i like kind of go on a few different websites as well as like obviously reading the bible for myself and seeing what i'm taking away from it and then what i feel like the holy spirit is highlighting to me as well yeah um but something i really like is looking at the original like the hebrew well technically it's obviously sometimes it's hebrew sometimes greek

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different um but i like looking at the original meanings of like words and they do that in blue letter bible which is yeah like you can see like how it's written in the original script and all of this so anyways basically that

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um and then me and whoever is doing the bible study together will kind of like um chat before the podcast go through our notes like a little bit what we have to say how we want to structure it um like do we want to go section by section line by line kind of depends on how long um the excerpt of text is

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excerpt um part of the day yeah what does accept mean don't know anyways but yeah so it's basically just research and chatting and then praying and reading

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So I hope that's helpful. A little bit of a bag story going on. Yeah, you can know now. No problem. It's actually Ella that sent that question in. It's me I wanted to know. Okay, next question. Will you be at Big Church Fest again this year?

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drum roll why yes we will yeah yeah we will i think i don't know how long we'll be there for but we will be present at big church fest i think we're doing a podcast with a very very exciting guest but that's all i'm gonna say that's so cool yeah okay i can't wait basically i'm excited basically and it's gonna be good the lineup looks really good

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got bethel music you actually got abby gamboa abby gamboa they've got aiden king he's been on they've both been on the pod they're on the pod last year aiden king was yeah see there you know no no no aiden king was on a pod like ages ago in the studio and then abby gamboa and cory miller we did a podcast with them last summer at big church fest so check that out if you want to i actually can't wait yeah and i don't know i'm gonna be in the worst at 10 i think i'm

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Yeah, I'll be in the worship tent too. Me and you. Me and you. Sheet our hearts out. Whoa. Hallelujah. It was so good. That was what she asked last year. I love Abby last year. Yeah, Abby's so good. Ella, what's Big Church Fest? Big Church Fest is a massive festival where lots of Christian artists, worship leaders, whatever, come and they like sing...

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lead worship perform i don't really know well it's really fun it's so fun it's like it is just really good vibes and there's uh even they've got a mini like ferris wheel yeah they've got ferris wheel they've got feral wheel feral get feral yeah they've they've got lots of food they've got loads of food loads of food trucks kind of expensive low-key so expensive you might want to bring some baked beans

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bring you some baked beans and some toast but if you don't want to spend money being broke bring you some the white liquid beans yeah but it's really fun it is it's just like a good place to go with friends yes it is like a festival it's like a Christian festival it's actually a Christian festival and you can also invite non-Christian friends and I think it's quite a good place to bring it's not too intense no it is like it is very much kind of like it's just very fun it's very fun

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very chill very good and you can get a bit of both like if you want like just like deep reverent worship time then you can go to the worship 10 or if you want to but then then you go to the main stage yeah but it's lit and you get like some really good small artists too

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yeah like people that who are um kind of just starting to release and it's like some amazing people create creating amazing things that you can see yeah so it's pretty cool i'm excited okay yeah so we will be at big church fest again we will okay okay next question is a little bit of a more serious one how do you cope with the fact that close friends leave your life when your walk with god gets more serious

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That is a tough question. Yeah, I've been there. Yeah, me too, in certain ways. I guess I'm assuming that context might be losing friends that maybe aren't Christians. I'm assuming. Well, that's what it sounds like. But I think I've definitely experienced that.

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even if it's not like I'm not friends with them anymore it's the distance or like I don't know there's it just over time um definitely have found that a little shift yeah a little shift like you've actually I've spoken to you a bit about it before it can be really hard because they're people that you've walked with in life like I know I've had friends who I've been friends with for like eight years or something and then yeah

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And then actually when I became a Christian or like actually started to follow Jesus, I went away to like YWAM and then did a discipleship year. And so it was very much like not really around or seeing them much and found when I would see them that there would be like a kind of.

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I don't know, just, I was like, oh, what do we even talk about now? A little disconnect. Yeah, a bit disconnect. But, like, I do think, first of all, I do think it's really good to have friends that aren't Christians. But I think that it's learning how to, or I don't know, learning how to kind of...

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I don't know it's kind of weird isn't it yeah I don't really know it's definitely an adjustment like I think sometimes it's natural like like well not always thing is I think this is very subjective I think it's an experience that maybe a lot of Christians will share but like probably not to the same extent

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I've also experienced this, but I think it's not necessarily, it doesn't have to be a bad thing because I think I'm still kind of, I'm still friends with those people, but it's just a different level of closeness. I think that can be really hard initially because it's like, oh, what do I do? I've, I've been walking and like tracking with these people for so long. And then now that I'm really like all out for my faith, it seems like they, this is what I'm assuming from the question, like,

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It seems like they don't want to be as close with me anymore. And I'm really sorry to whoever this is because that is really hard and that's really sad. But what I would say as an encouragement is that I pray that God will place people in your life.

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like close friends who are also walking with God so that you can experience that community because you know I do think that church community and just Christian community is so important because well we can build each other up and encourage one another and obviously connect on like the foundation that is Jesus and that we both love God and yeah I don't know yeah how do

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yeah and speaking to like other trusted like maybe parents or like your youth worker and mentors mentors like because they'll probably have better advice than we can give you yeah yeah I'm still figuring it out I'm still figuring it out I don't think there is like a perfect um yeah method but I

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I agree. You are in this. Yeah. I guess coping with it is like, is exactly what you said. I think just you speaking to people about it and also like accepting that there are just different times in our lives and we will naturally, like distance can happen. Even with Christian friends, like it doesn't just have to be, it's like life happens and maybe you don't see them as often or maybe...

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I don't know. And even interests change. Yeah. And that is okay. That is okay. I think like we can sometimes be really scared. We're like, oh, we're losing friends or like, oh no, you know, I really care about this person. Yeah. But it happens and it's as sad as it is, like it is part of life. And there'll be people that come and go, unfortunately. Yeah. But there will be people that come. There'll be people that come and stay. And stay. We walk with for a long time. Yeah. Yeah.

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Exhibit A. A. Hopefully. Two years in, five million to go. Can't wait. Soon in eternity. Heaven will be prancing around the throne together. All right. Next question.

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Your daily routine? Daily routine. Come on, YouTuber. Wow. What's your daily routine, Ella? Wake up. Wake up's a good start, isn't it? I'm doing all my makeup. I wake up. I make an iced oat latte with honey. What type of milk? Oats. Oats? No, I know. No, you don't. No, you don't. No, I said iced oat.

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That is so embarrassing. No, it's not, it's not. It's not, I'm okay. It's all right. And then I, linking back to what we spoke about in the beginning, I have my kind of set time to spend time with God in the morning. I find that for me that works best because I...

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My mind gets you a little bit distracted throughout the day. Or just find that in the morning when I'm actually my most still, I find it easiest to just go enter in with God and spend time with him. So I kind of have that as a set time. As I said, the calendar thing kind of helps. And then...

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Oh, maybe have a shower. Maybe. Depends on what I'm feeling. I didn't do it today though, did you? Have a shower once a month. And then put on some dirty clothes from five days ago. Smells great in here. Smells so good in there. Yeah. Smells good in that room. That's true. I watch that now. And then just go about my day. It depends what I'm doing. Each day kind of feels a bit different. Like maybe I'll go to church. Maybe I'll come here. Maybe I'll go to...

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Maybe I'll go on holiday. Maybe she will. I do my makeup and then the day is my oyster. Oh, man. What about you? What about me? So I wake up in the morning.

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I look out my window. Expose yourself to sunlight. Expose myself to sunlight. Do my best. Then maybe turn my fan off. I'm not a fan of that. In this heat. Anyways, then I, okay, what I need to get better at is having a scheduled time. But what I try and do is I try and read a psalm.

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i shed off all the bad stuff i shed off all the yule the yule and i try basically i try and re-disarm every day um every morning um but sometimes i don't yeah so that's right um and then i go have a shower put on an outfit pack my bag and run out the house to my job yeah which is this

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anyways that's my daily routine yeah sick okay okay next question okay um why don't we as christians always have peace

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um that's a good that was a good question that's a good question wow i every day have moments where i don't feel definitely don't feel peace or anxious or just like oh i don't know you just feel a bit like weird yeah i have that every day definitely

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Um, and, um, but I think that it's, it's normal. Like we live in a world where there is a lot of noise, there is a lot going on. Um, and that just happens to kind of impact us and like, um, and even Jesus, um,

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sweat blood even Jesus was anxious before he went on the cross that she says in the garden of Gethsemane yeah that he was literally anxious and and so I think it's a feeling that we although we have the Holy Spirit living in us uh it's something that we still have to face um and but I think we can work on the Holy Spirit and and ask him like we'll just go to God and see I feel so anxious or I feel like this like um but it doesn't always mean that we won't

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feel or that we always have peace i guess yeah i don't know yeah no that's so that's so good and that it kind of reminds me of um this verse i used to have memorized but for some reason i didn't have the whole thing memorized this time but first peter chapter five verse seven which is

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cast all your anxiety on him him being god because he cares for you and i think it's so interesting how in scripture there's literally like this i guess you could say prescription that when you do feel anxiety it's not like a

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if you feel it but it's like like cast all your anxieties like we probably will feel it at some point but when you do it's there's like an invitation from god to come to him not to like go away from him yeah and it's i think you know it's it's god's

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Like he wants to do that because he loves you. So that's so true. Yeah. I think when you're in those moments, when you are feeling that anxiety and that hardship, or just when you're not feeling peace, even if it's not anxiety that you're experiencing, like know that God wants you to come to him in that. Like God always wants you to,

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uh come to him and bring your emotions to him because he loves you yeah and he cares for you and you know jesus is the prince of peace and he can give us peace um but also as well he can be like um a source of comfort in those times and although peace might not come straight away like i know that it will eventually

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yeah i think just trusting trusting in god's character and that he is who he says he is and knowing that that doesn't invalidate your anxiety yeah and your whatever it is that you're kind of struggling with um but yeah god god wants to meet you in that and like he loves you and wants to just like embrace you because you're his child

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Wow, that's so good. And lastly, quickly, I'm just as well thinking, there's a translation of Psalm 61 where it says, when my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the rock that is higher than I. And I think that, again, it's just in Scripture, it's like repeated that we will feel anxiety and we will feel overwhelmed. But what it tells us to do is go to God and cast our anxieties onto him or whatever.

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or like lead us to the rock which is of like jesus which is god um in that like he he is i don't know he's the one he's the prince of peace and um yeah so so no you don't that's great that's amazing i don't think i've read that psalm before that's really beautiful beautiful verse what verse is it it's verse two but it's this translation is a bit different what translation is it this is niv but i don't know what the other one is that i

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oh that you usually read nlt question mark maybe nlt maybe nlt um but yeah yeah it's great really good wow wow

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That was great. That went by so quick. That actually went by so quickly. Is it over ready? That's crazy. I know. Maybe not for these guys. But it was great for them. Not for you guys. Oh, wow. Okay. There's so many great questions. I know. We didn't get to answer all of them. But, you know, maybe we can do another Q&A podcast again. Guys, comment down below if you would like another one. And we can answer them. Yeah. So, yeah, guys, thank you so much for tuning in. Thank you for watching. Leave a comment of what should I comment?

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yeah just like that all caps with the pointing finger and um guys we love you very much god bless you uh have a lovely day thanks for having me oh yeah thanks for having me thanks for listening to ella thanks thanks for listening to me that was so fun that was very fun we hope you have a lovely fun day have a good day have a good day goodbye