Nikki Humphrey (00:00)
was hard to prepare for this. I didn't prepare a lot, it was just like, it's hard to do an episode on waiting when you're waiting.
Hope Mangiafico (00:11)
Right. I know. It's very interesting too and I mean it's kind of how we opened up where I was like you're going from waiting to waiting to unknown to unknown. I think I said unknown to unknown because it's true. ⁓ And it does make it difficult and that's why like at first so I texted you like okay I think I got the topic. I literally told you like I ain't got nothing. It was like 20 minutes later. Hey I got something.
Nikki Humphrey (00:12)
Hahaha!
Hope Mangiafico (00:37)
And I kept wanting to change the phrasing in my mind because I'm thinking, ooh, podcast teaching. It was like, how to wait well. Well, no, you and I are still in the middle of it and we don't know exactly how to do it well. We have to get the answer from the one that created us because there's no book on that.
Nikki Humphrey (00:57)
Right. Yeah.
And I want it to be so simple. And I love how the podcast, like how we partnered together and made it so simple.
Hope Mangiafico (01:12)
So simple.
Nikki Humphrey (01:14)
And that's what I need in this season. I don't need anything more complicated than what I'm already dealing with on a daily basis. Like I need those quick tools to be like, come at me, I'm ready.
Hope Mangiafico (01:29)
Well,
yeah, because like, not only is the unknown often like very emotionally taxing, sometimes for people and I mean, this is me for sure, it's physically taxing. Well, you can't actually separate emotional and physical because the emotions take its whole physically, which
I'm learning I still have a lot of that that's weighing on me physically, but like you don't have the energy to be warring and like you and I both have been seasons of like.
And that's where it's like, going back to the podcast episode we just recorded, that target shrinking. feel like as you focus on him and keep it simple, that target shrinking, you no longer feel like you have to gear up and, ugh, yeah, come fight. Like, you are still fighting. You're still fighting a battle, but you're handing over your personal weapons.
Nikki Humphrey (02:22)
Right.
Hope Mangiafico (02:37)
That's the best way I can think of it. Yeah. ⁓ But this has blessed me immensely because my energy has been so crappy for so long. And to be honest, Nikki, I'm looking at my Bible over here. This is slight change of subject. But people are reading the Bible in a year and they're spending maybe 20 minutes a day. And I'm trying to figure out how they're spending 20 minutes a day reading.
Nikki Humphrey (03:03)
They're lying. They have to be lying.
Hope Mangiafico (03:09)
Google like is it possible because our readings are so like some days are really quick, admitting like some days are really short. But I mean we are reading chunks at a time and it's either our format is different than these people. I don't know. But I, I, I was shocked. And I say that because...
Nikki Humphrey (03:29)
I'm spending about,
let's say 45 minutes to an hour almost every day and I'm still behind. So, and some are hard. Like Ezekiel hard. Hard.
Hope Mangiafico (03:38)
Yeah.
It's so interesting too because it's a temple that was never built and it's like, God, why did you keep this in the- like there's something here but I can't, yeah. This is my first time reading through that and so it is a read through, I'll revisit later kind of thing. But it's like we're reading for 45 minutes to an hour and we're not even deep diving. Like we're not going off and like doing a word study or something.
Nikki Humphrey (04:11)
No. No.
Hope Mangiafico (04:13)
I share that because like it was really heavy on my heart to read the Bible in a year and I'm like, God, we're obeying, we're doing this, we're prioritizing you. But outside of that and doing life, like yeah, I don't have the ability to overcomplicate overcoming in other areas. ⁓
Nikki Humphrey (04:30)
Right,
because reading the Bible in the year, like that has taken up my time when I journal with God. And you and I had talked about that before, not on the podcast, but I'm just like, but that's okay. Because I, not I need, but for me, it's always been a desire to read the Bible in a year and to read everything that's in there because I tend to only to choose things to read.
Hope Mangiafico (04:35)
Yeah. Yeah.
Nikki Humphrey (05:00)
that are exciting to me or like I think I'm going to get a nugget from it. I don't think if I would ever chose to read Ezekiel on my own because of all the cubits and the linen and I was, what was I reading today? It had to be linen because you couldn't sweat in the.
Hope Mangiafico (05:04)
yeah,
yeah, not wear anything that makes you sweat. I had already thought about that. I was like, Lord, we don't even have.
Women have a really hard time even getting materials that are legit. We have all these fake materials. We would have been screwed. Everything makes me sweat more.
Nikki Humphrey (05:37)
Hope knows my house is so hot today and I'm like, it don't matter what I'm wearing today, Lord, I'm gonna sweat through it. It could be linen, it could be cotton, we sweating through it.
Hope Mangiafico (05:50)
Yeah, it's so interesting how thorough that is. And so there's actually a teaching series. It's over a year old. And I actually, I saw it and it was called Ezekiel, the mysteries of Ezekiel's temple. And it's a church that I follow. And I was like, I'm not gonna, it's not the season for that. And funny enough, like I get to this point and I'm like, there's a temple in Ezekiel. That's what,
like, whole study was about. So I like downloaded the YouTube videos to like listen passively to see where those are connecting because literally like you said, the pastor was like, he said the first time I read through Ezekiel, he was like, I couldn't make any sense of it. He's like, give me the stuff about Jesus. I don't get this stuff. And he said, I read it two or three more times. So I really, you know, understanding stuff around it. Still didn't understand a thing about it.
And it's hard to open yourself up to that, but I think there's no, all that said, and I'm actually very excited now to like passively, I think it's supposed to be passively listen to these teachings. ⁓ As hard as that is, it's like you and I know that we could not have orchestrated reading the Bible in a year being this year, because it's been a desire on my heart forever too, but I never could quite get it to stick.
I never could, maybe because I didn't want to sacrifice my journaling. Like who knows, right? Or maybe life, I let life take the reins on things. Like I'm not really sure, but how cool that before the podcast ever became a thing or a conversation, we already committed to reading the Bible in a year and understanding, like you said, you're okay not journaling. God's ever evolving and changing how he wants to communicate with us. And we're in a season where this is how he wants to communicate with us.
And even when we don't understand all of it, it will come, like I said, this was a year ago where I came across this teaching and we're reading it I'm like, okay, God, now can I listen to it? Because I would have no clue what it's talking about, all the qubits and all the measurements and all, I would have no clue. But now we can listen to probably anything, not yet, we're not done reading the Bible yet, but listen to anything that people have to say and we can make reference a little bit and pull from our memory bank. That's really exciting.
So, it's just really funny about Ezekiel.
man, that's wild. But yeah, it's all really, we're in exciting times, ⁓ I feel. You've mentioned before too, whether it's podcasts or people on social media, Jesus folks are, you can kind of almost sense taking over.
Nikki Humphrey (08:39)
Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, has to do with our algorithm, right? Cause we're, we're, we're falling into the Jesus algorithm, but I just, I don't know. I feel like there's this freedom now and being able to express your faith in a, in a way that I would have been guarded about before. And it's probably part of my process, you know, with God maturing me, we're just like, I'm okay if you're not okay with what I believe.
Hope Mangiafico (08:46)
Right.
Nikki Humphrey (09:08)
Right? Like I'm, that's okay, but I'm just going to be me and I'm going to be a light for the Lord and I'm on heaven's hype squad and I'm just, I'm just, this is me. So, you know, a couple of years ago I did this post about if you invite me, Jesus is coming. Sorry. Sorry, not sorry. Like that's just, if you invite me, you know who you're inviting to. Yeah, the interlocking with Jesus. I choose Jesus.
Hope Mangiafico (09:10)
you
That's that interlocking. I'm choosing.
Nikki Humphrey (09:38)
you know, where before I would put Jesus in my pocket for a little bit, you know, and just like tuck him away. And now he's just like, I'm here.
Hope Mangiafico (09:38)
That's still.
And let me ask you a question. Has, not easy, but has life gotten more exciting?
Nikki Humphrey (09:52)
Not easy.
My life has been exciting, more exciting, but I do get invited to less things.
Hope Mangiafico (10:03)
Well, you know, that's understandable to an extent too, but hopefully the less has been better than having a bunch of mediocre.
Nikki Humphrey (10:13)
Right, yes, yes. And I don't want to be put in those positions where I am going to be, you know, not my authentic self.
Hope Mangiafico (10:23)
Yeah, that is so uncomfortable. And that creates this tension that often can put you in the place of, again, talking about the habits you've had, right? So the enemy knows in those moments what he can throw at you, words he can say that just throw you off the frequency and then you add to the frequency mess as we were talking about in the episode that we recorded for today with the
waiting in the unknowns. as lonely as it seems like it can feel. It's such a beautiful way to protect ourselves. Like he knows that it's a protection, but he knows it's hard to feel isolated sometimes. And that's why community is so important. I've been wondering if we were gonna record an episode about community. I don't really know how because
I think you and I both are still having that evolve.
Nikki Humphrey (11:21)
Yeah.
Hope Mangiafico (11:22)
But it's an important topic and I think outside of even talking about just like godly community, but talking about like how you go through that lonely season and that tension and all of that,
Nikki Humphrey (11:35)
Yeah, for sure.
