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Today, before we jump into our episode, we are going to meet our newest and probably

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youngest member of our posture community, Ms. Hannah Lee.

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Do you want to say hello to everyone out there?

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We just want to say thank you so much to this community for all of your prayer and encouragement

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during my pregnancy with Hannah, the labor and delivery, and just our soaking up the

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early days of her life during my maternity leave.

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We have felt every prayer.

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You guys are such a treasure to us, so thank you.

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I'm excited to be back from maternity leave this week, coming out with new episodes for

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Posture Season 6.

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And don't you worry, this is probably not the last you're going to see of Ms. Hannah

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during Season 6.

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So let's go ahead and jump into today's episode.

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Posture is a short, audible fist bump to remind you God is with you in everything.

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Together, we're going to be emboldened to take a daily posture of perfect peace.

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Today, we are going to take a posture of peace by pointing our imaginations in the right direction.

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Philippians chapter 4, verses 6 through 9 says this.

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Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving,

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let your requests be made known to God.

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And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and

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your minds in Christ Jesus.

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That sounds like a very safe space.

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Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just,

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whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence,

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if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

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What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and

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the peace of God will be with you.

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I love Philippians 4.

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You know, throughout our lives, we're going to experience a lot of new seasons.

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As you know, I have entered a new season called motherhood.

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Maybe you're in this new season with me.

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Maybe your new season has to do with a career or a relationship or perhaps you've moved

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to a new place.

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And these new seasons are wonderful and full of excitement, but often there is a lot of

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unknown in our new seasons because we've never been here before, right?

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We just don't know.

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And because it's unknown, there is a lot of opportunity to utilize our imaginations.

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We think about, what is this going to be like?

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How will this change affect me?

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What might never be the same about my life again?

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We might think about all that we loved in the old season and wonder if we're going to

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have the same amount of goodness in the new season moving forward.

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We may think about all we hated in the old season and wonder, is that negativity going

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to continue on and follow me into this new season?

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There's so much to think about.

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There's a ton of opportunity in transition, in new seasons, in transformation to exercise

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our imaginations.

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And our imaginations, by the way, are a gift from God.

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They're not a dirty thing.

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They're a holy thing.

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Now, do you find that your imagination often heads down the path of all that could go wrong

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in the new season, especially when you maybe come up against a hard circumstance in the

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new season?

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You might think, oh shoot, here we go again, or where is this going to lead?

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I definitely have experienced that.

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And for me, I found that often it wasn't the hard thing in front of me, it wasn't the circumstance

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I was facing right then that was causing the anxiety or the panic or the stress.

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It was instead where I was allowing my imagination to go that was causing the panic and the anxiety,

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the stress, the fear.

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I was thinking about where is this hard circumstance going to potentially lead?

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And I realized I was pointing my imagination in the wrong direction.

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I was allowing what could potentially go wrong to prophesy to me about what would go wrong.

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And in some cases, I was allowing what did go wrong in past seasons, what I had experienced

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in past seasons, dictate how I would move forward in the new season.

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And as sons and daughters of the Most High God, you and I have been promised a much better

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way.

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And Philippians 4 gives us some really helpful encouragement about how we can use our God-given

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imaginations.

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You know, it talks about bringing all of our requests to God.

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Don't hold anything back.

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Tell Him about everything in your life.

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That's what I'm practicing doing.

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right now. I'm actually practicing bringing things to the Lord before I bring it to anyone else.

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And then Philippians 4 encourages thanksgiving, gratitude. I believe thanksgiving protects our

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imaginations, especially when we feel vulnerable to the unknown. And then it gives specifics here

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in Philippians 4 about what specifically to think about. You know, David wrote in Psalm 27 13, he

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said, I would have lost heart unless I had believed I would see the goodness of the Lord

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and the land of the living. And later, David writes in Psalm 145 7, he says, they shall

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utter the memory of your great goodness and sing of your righteousness. One version says they shall

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bubble up with the memory of your great goodness. Speaking of God's goodness, when you feel pressed

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by circumstances, when you feel pressured by the pain of the past, you know, you get to choose

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what am I going to be overwhelmed by in this new season and this hard thing? Will it be the hard

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thing? Or will I be overwhelmed by the goodness of God? What will you allow to bubble up inside of

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you in those moments? Will it be the memories of God's goodness? Will it be thoughts of his

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goodness in your future? Or will it be fear or worry or trauma? You know, God's goodness is

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present with us in every situation, good, bad, or ugly, because he is present in every situation.

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The Bible says he will never leave us nor forsake us. So we can always carry a healthy expectation

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of his goodness. We can always be looking for his goodness in every season of our lives. It's

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healthy to carry that expectation in our hearts always. Now take note of what it says in Philippians

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4 verse 9. It says, practice these things. And I find that so encouraging that I don't have to

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execute this perfectly today, but I get to practice it over and over again until it becomes permanent

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in my life. So that's what I want to encourage you to do today. Start practicing this truth.

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Start pointing your imagination in the direction of God's goodness. And here's the promise, you

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know, in verse 7 it says that the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, is going to

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guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus. And in verse 9 it promises that the peace of God

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will be with you in the practice. So remember today, even if our circumstances don't change

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immediately, even if we continue to have to face the unknown in this new season, you know, things

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might not change immediately, but we will. We are going to be transformed from glory to glory.