Hope Mangiafico (00:00)
Have you ever noticed how one tiny word can change everything? One word can take a story from hopelessness to hope, from failure to redemption, from defeat to victory. That word is but. The doctor gave a difficult diagnosis, but God. I felt abandoned, but God. I made mistakes, but God. Today we're going.
We're talking about the power of the buts in Scripture and how God uses this tiny word to rewrite stories including yours. Hi, I'm Hope.
Nikki (00:41)
Hi, I'm Nikki. Welcome to Equip Fellowship, where friends become family through Christ. We're two Jesus loving friends on a mission to share personal stories, resources, and real talk about our triumphs, breakthroughs, struggles, and setbacks. Why? Because we believe you are called to live victoriously, and we're here to equip you with Holy Spirit-led tools and strategies to strengthen your faith, transform your mindset, and walk.
Boldly in God's promises. Because here's the truth. You have been given great and precious promises by God. So grab your coffee, lean in, and let's grow together. It's time to step into everything God has for you.
Hope Mangiafico (01:28)
As you were reading the intro just now and we're gonna be talking about the power of this tiny word, but that's all in the Bible, I like feel it really heavy on my heart that like this is gonna be such an encouragement for so many people and I'm a already like a little bit wet eyed. I've never used that term before. But ⁓ you know, the conversation we're having before we hit record and just something else that
was happening to me earlier today, I feel that we're in but moments. Is that that might be the best way to say it? I feel that. ⁓ I feel the application, the hopefulness of it. ⁓ and just yeah, sitting in that tension right now. And so if you're listening to this right now, you are meant to hear this right now because you're in that tension and we are gonna dive in today about how the father shows up because but
God.
is transformative. Everything that comes after that is sweetness and victory by the power of Jesus. So I'm so excited for this.
Nikki (02:37)
I am too.
Hope Mangiafico (02:38)
Really make me be emotional.
Nikki (02:39)
I've been emotional all day, so yes.
Hope Mangiafico (02:44)
Like, I just can't wait to see what the Lord I will say that when I was diving into this, something that was so fascinating to me was when I was just doing like a quick I use like this tool, ⁓ and I searched the word but in the Bible. I think there were so many that it couldn't give me how many there are, but majority of
Nikki (03:03)
I know, I have like
pages of just but yeah.
Hope Mangiafico (03:05)
It's insane.
And I found it so interesting that majority were in the Old Testament, which had to do with like the law and showing the contrast of the blessings from God and when like when the law is followed, the blessings that come, but if you do not follow the law, the fruit's not great. And so I thought that was so cool because we're New Testament folks. We have the blood of Jesus and we get to see these amazing buts of God showing us.
the richness of his character and his glory, his redemption, his healing, his power. ⁓ so the point is it changes everything, right?
Nikki (03:45)
It really does.
It really does. And that's what I wrote. I'm like, God's buts changes everything in our lives. And one of my favorite verses, and I'm sure lots of you listening use this as an anchor scripture, probably at some point in your life. It's Genesis 5020. It says, You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good.
If that isn't my anchor verse right now, what I've been going through today and all week, like it's so true. And let's pause when when this was originally said, let's just appreciate Joseph's perspective here for a moment. You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good. So the context here is Joseph wasn't speaking from a comfortable life.
Hope Mangiafico (04:24)
Yeah.
Nikki (04:42)
He wasn't from speaking from a place of ease. He'd been betrayed by his brother, he'd been sold into slavery, he'd been falsely accused, he'd been thrown into prison, he forgotten by people who promised to help him, and yet after all of that, Joseph could look back and say, You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good. Joseph, he didn't deny the pain.
Hope Mangiafico (05:02)
Yeah.
Nikki (05:12)
He didn't pretend that stuff didn't happen. He didn't sugarcoat his suffering. He simply recognized that God's purpose was greater than what people had done to him. And that is so hard. It is so hard.
But that's the God's powerful promise. Because some of us, me included, are still living in the you intended to harm me.
Part of the story. And as I was thinking about that, you could replace it with anything that you're going through currently in your life. Like depression, you intended to harm me. This person you intended to harm me. This disease, you intended to harm me, the gossip that you said about me intended to harm me. My job, the family, my sickness, all of that.
Lots of us are living with currently. We're focused on the betrayal, the rejection, the disappointment, the loss, the diagnosis, the sickness. And trust me, those things do matter. But Joseph reminds us not to stop reading the sentence too soon. Because God may be working in things that we cannot.
See yet. This chapter may be painful because of what you're going through or what was done to you. We might not see God's purpose in the middle of the story, but we can trust Him with the ending. So don't forget that God's buts changes everything.
And if you are going through something right now, remember the comma but is coming. And that's what we're gonna dive into today is what comes after the buts.
Hope Mangiafico (07:22)
and again I
I am bringing this up because I think it's so fascinating that a lot of the what happens after the buts are New Testament or like psalm type scriptures. And I wanna like Nikki and I Nikki got the download for this, like the idea for the topic, and then we go, Holy Spirit, do our thing. And I am emphasizing that as a point of conversation because funny enough, when I
sat with the Lord on this, I got a lot of the buts from the Old Testament hint why hints like why I planted that seed earlier. And it was really kind of cool though, before we move forward to to that next point, is everything the Old Testament was like the Lord said to do something and you had all this freedom to do it. But if you didn't, this is what would happen.
And ⁓ even in the Old Testament as well, in Genesis 17, this is a really cool identity part, which I think is gonna segue really nice to the next point. Genesis seventeen is where
Abram becomes Abraham and Sarai becomes Sarah, and you get this new identity. And if you do your own study of the buts, you'll find it's powerful in all parts of the Bible. And you'll find too that going again, Old Testament is law, New Testament is Jesus. In the Old Testament, the buts.
really depended on our response that to to the law to things that we really couldn't hold right withhold the law basically whereas all this New Testament reference is all because of Christ God can show up and do these things and interrupt he did it in the Old Testament you'll read it but you'll see the buts was more about like rebellion or
there would be redemption after rebellion. Like it just really ugly. And I wanna just put that on because I would encourage anyone to like continue diving into the power of the really important to realize like the the power of but started actually in the very beginning with Genesis two, sixteen through seventeen, where God said, You have freedom, you can eat of any tree but one.
And they ate of the buts one. And here we are, all these years later, dealing with that. And that that was like the first show up of the buts. And the the next the next one in the old testament, again, sin, but Noah had favor. You know? ⁓ so I just really wanted to emphasize that it's really powerful in that we have Christ now, and so now we can go into the fact that.
We got Christ who covered our sins, so there is a but that interrupts our sin story.
So there is a but that interrupts our sin story. And a good example is in Ephesians 2, 4 through 5. And this scripture says, But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ. Exactly what I was just saying about the Old Testament scriptures.
And so with this, Paul starts by describing humanity's brokenness, which again is why Jesus had to come and just be like, you had all this freedom. You could eat of all the fruit in the garden, but you chose the one. And Paul did such a good job in the New Testament reminding us of the power of Christ instead of our sin and why we need to overcome the sin by letting the buts.
Take a hold of our life, right? So we were lost. We were spiritually dead. We were separated from God. Again, Old Testament scriptures highlight that. Then comes one of the most beautiful interruptions in scripture. But because of his great love, everything changes. Not because we earned it.
Not because we cleaned ourselves up. Again, Old Testament will show you there was no successful cleanup job. Even another story in the old testament that the Lord highlighted to me was you probably know the story too, Nikki. People reference it a lot. Lot's wife turning into a pillar of salt. In Genesis nineteen, twenty-five through twenty-six, it says, So God overthrew those cities, all the plains, all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on this ground. But Lot's wife looked back.
behind him and she became a pillar of salt.
We needed help. We needed help a lot. ⁓ and so that shows that it's his great love. It has nothing to do with us becoming perfect. We look back to our sin oftentimes. ⁓ and because of his him being rich in mercy. And many of us still define ourselves by the first half of our story. So again, we're New Testament believers, old Testament matters.
But we can't live like we live in the old testament. I'm gonna put it in the scriptural context with what I got here. The same is true in everyday life. We all have pasts. Nikki has shared her story. I think her story is so beautiful in regard of just how she came to where she is now with her closeness with the Father. I have a past. We all do, and we still are growing and going glory to glory by redefining and aligning ourselves with who Jesus says we are, who we are in Christ.
So we have to be careful of holding on again, like Lot, turning around, Lot's wife, and resisting where God is leading us. We can stay stuck. She literally became a pillar of salt and could no longer move. That's wild, guys. We can't let ourselves look back to the past, the first half of our story, and think, I failed, I messed up, I made poor choices, I wasted years. Ooh, that's a hard one for me. but God is not defining you by your worst moments.
Because his mercy gets the final word.
Nikki (13:56)
That's right. And just like we referenced it in our last episode, the cassette tape. We're not rewinding, we're not looking back. God has pulled that out. That story that we keep telling ourselves that what we keep turning back to, God's already if we went to him, he's already forgiven us for that. We don't need to keep replaying it over and over and over again. Because if we do, we're we're no better than Lot's wife. We crumble.
Hope Mangiafico (14:03)
Yeah.
Yeah, exactly.
Nikki (14:25)
We crumble.
She might have been a pillar of salt and crumbled, but we still crumble. It's still true today.
Hope Mangiafico (14:31)
It looks different, right. It's gonna look different. So don't think just like the Old Testament, right, Nikki? They talk about building the idol. They're like, We don't have those Yeah, we do. They just don't look the same, right?
This is fun.
Nikki (14:43)
Amen.
They're everywhere. ⁓
So now we're gonna talk about the buts fear. I mean, there's so many buts I mean, and I keep giggling every time we say it. We were we were we were talking about those last week. We're like, we're gonna title it Bible got buts. There's so many different kinds for so many things, but they're all applicable to our life now. And Psalm 73, 26 says.
Hope Mangiafico (14:58)
I do too.
And we are. So if you're listening.
Nikki (15:19)
My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. This verse, y'all, is so honest. The psalmist doesn't say, My heart never fails. My faith is always strong. I never struggle. It doesn't say that at all. No.
Hope Mangiafico (15:29)
Amen.
Nikki (15:45)
This psalmist acknowledges the reality. My heart may fail. I may mess up. My faith may be wonky. And then he follows it with truth. But God.
But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Let's just talk about that for a moment. Because sometimes faith isn't pretending we're strong. Faith is admitting we're weak and remembering who isn't. I had a moment today where I just like completely broke down emotionally with what I'm dealing with.
And then I had to remember who's who's right there with me? Who's strong in this moment? Even when I can't be, God is covering me in this moment, in his strength. And that just washed a whole different level of peace over me. Because sometimes we think being a strong Christian.
Means never struggling, you're never gonna face everything, everything's gonna work out. It's rainbows and unicorns over here, y'all. But scripture shows us something different. Faith says, I am weak, like today, I was weak, but God is strong. I am tired, but God sustains me. I'm afraid, but God is with me. I don't have enough, but God provides.
I don't understand. But God is trustworthy. This shifts everything. Not because our circumstances instantly change. My circumstance wasn't instantly changed. But our perspective does. And when our perspective changes, our mind, our body, and spirit follow.
Hope Mangiafico (17:52)
Yeah.
We have talked about that so much. ⁓ it's so powerful. It's so so good. I'm just resting in that for a second. Amen. We all receive it. And the people of God said Amen. Fell that.
Now, that said, you have that perspective change that reaches all the areas of you, right? All the layers of you, if you will. And that leads to the buts that brings resurrection. Hmm. And the scripture for that, or really the chapter that's pulling from, is Matthew 28, where Jesus was crucified. The stone was rolled into place.
That was massive. No human can move that. Hope seemed lost. And I think it's always really great to read. I mean, people read it for Easter. ⁓ but it's always good to like revisit this and put yourself in the shoes of like the disciples, Mary, Magdalene, the people that are falling so closely at the foot of Jesus. You know, they are witnessing that. The most hope-filled people became the hopeless.
Nikki (19:11)
Yes.
Hope Mangiafico (19:12)
And that's hard to wrap your mind around. It really is. ⁓ because you would think there would be nothing to be able to shake something from someone that was able to be right there with Jesus.
But that's not true because they literally saw the savior of the world die and they're like questioning everything. I just it's so hard to wrap your mind around. So then imagine going, putting being put away in the tomb, the massive rock. It's like literally sealed game over. Man. By God. The amazing part of the story with the angels and the stone just poop.
Moved, God brings forth the resurrection. He raises Jesus from the dead. And of course, if we claim to be followers of Christ, we would say this is the greatest buts in all of history. Which again, we planted that seed in the beginning, and I did not plan for that, to be honest, emphasizing the old testament so much versus the New Testament. If this buts didn't exist.
We wouldn't be talking today. We wouldn't be communicating. This podcast wouldn't exist. Nikki and I wouldn't be friends because it's the one thread that brought us together.
So we don't take this buts lightly, that's for sure. It's a big buts.
Nikki (20:29)
No.
It's a big buts.
Hope Mangiafico (20:34)
And what looked like defeat became victory. And here's my favorite part of this as a reminder for all of us, what looked like an ending became a beginning.
I would be lying if I didn't say it didn't feel like on a weekly basis for one reason or another felt like something was ending.
Nikki (20:55)
Yes.
Hope Mangiafico (20:55)
He shows up.
and there's a new beginning. And I'm like Hope, why were you so upset?
I'm human, I guess. It's like he proves himself time and time again, and we're still learning to hold that closer to our hearts than like you said in the beginning, Nikki, focusing on what's in front of us. It is so much easier said than done to focus on the history. We've given lots of tips on our many episodes of this podcast, but as we're being transparent, we know it's hard and we still have a hard time too, and we're granted with new
Nikki (21:03)
Yes.
Hope Mangiafico (21:31)
Endings hoping for a beginning despite him saying, Hey, I got new beginnings. And even even what we would deem as the worst ending has the best beginning, because we would say death is the worst ending, but it's actually the best beginning.
How we how we get that to stick in our brains, Nikki? How do we like grasp this concept? Tell me.
Nikki (21:52)
I don't know. Well, I think a lot of times when we're hit with this stuff right away, and correct me if I'm wrong, Hope, we try to fix it. Right away. We can dig big dig big dig big quick easy and and God's like there's a comma, which means there needs to be a pause before the buts can come in.
Hope Mangiafico (22:01)
no. You are right. Speed.
Nikki (22:18)
So if you want God's buts in this situation, you have to pause. Or I you don't leave room for me to come in.
Hope Mangiafico (22:26)
Here's a question, Nikki. That was so good about the comma. But let me tell you something. Y girl thinks she pauses. I define how long I think a pause, and then there's where I really have a problem. I'm like, two-second pause. What are you saying, Lord? Okay, cool. Let me go. Like, it's fascinating how we we've talked about pauses so many times on the podcast.
Nikki (22:43)
Middle!
Hope Mangiafico (22:53)
But I still get tripped up in defining a pause differently than the father.
Nikki (23:00)
Because think of it this way too, Hope. If Jesus would have just died and then like resurrected on the spot, it wouldn't have had its impact.
Hope Mangiafico (23:11)
⁓ shoot no.
Nikki (23:12)
He needed that complete pause. Like he is number two. Like you said, so great. It was sealed. It was said and done. There were guards in front. Like you needed that.
Hope Mangiafico (23:15)
Amen. Mm.
Nikki (23:25)
in order for his resurrection to have such impact because they could have made every excuse like he wasn't really dead or this or that or the other thing excuse that
Hope Mangiafico (23:28)
Amen.
That's true.
Hmm. Yeah, that's so this is funny with what you're sharing about how we rushed to fix things and he we needed that long time for him to like basically prove like the amazing power. And I'm sure there's so much into why it was as long as it was. But one of the notes that I had about the New Testament is this is funny. I ha I wrote in the Gospels, specifically at the cross,
That there's a lot of but Jesus said nothing or Jesus received nothing. And I thought that was so amazing that we were talking about but gods, but gods, but when we're talking about at the cross, it was but Jesus said nothing. Jesus didn't fight, he didn't push through, he didn't prove. And I thought that was so amazing, and it complements what you're saying so well. He let it happen. Lord, your will be done. Not mine. And you're perfect timing.
And I thought that was really cool because you can almost put the buts gods and the but Jesus together, but God will show up, but Jesus didn't talk. So he depended on the buts god to show up, so Jesus didn't talk. It's so cool. I ⁓ man. my gosh. So it's very evident, obviously, that this story at the cross, Matthew 28, that
Nikki (24:43)
Yes. Right.
Hope Mangiafico (24:58)
God can breathe life and new beginnings and resurrection power. Think about that. That resurrection power lives in us. If you said yes to Christ, you've received the Holy Spirit, it is in you. There is nothing but beyond repair, and truly, you have resurrection power inside of you. Try and wrap your head around that for the next 45 years, but make that a goal of yours.
That's good.
Nikki (25:30)
Yeah. It's yeah, it's so good. And so what we want to talk about now how to cultivate the but god mindset. And if we reference past podcast, we can think of it as a holy exchange of our thoughts here.
Hope Mangiafico (25:44)
Amen.
Nikki (25:54)
Because in order to practically add the but God to our thoughts, we have to give something over to him. And if we think about what we're dealing with, that's what we need to get over. So instead of I'm overwhelmed, try, I am overwhelmed, but God is my peace. So you the holy exchange is overwhelmed.
for his peace. Instead of I don't know what to do, you could try, I don't know what to do, but God promises wisdom and God knows what he's doing.
Hope Mangiafico (26:37)
Amen.
Amen.
Nikki (26:42)
So instead of I'm afraid, I'm afraid, you know, of my sickness, my depression, this relationship, my current situation, but God has not given me a spirit of fear.
But God has the power to heal. But God has already
Squashed the devil on his face and stomped him out. God has won. The devil has lost. Whatever it is, make it a holy exchange. Don't just say the words, but really think of it as an exchange. Like come to the Father and be like, I mean, I did this in a doctor's office today. I'm like, God, this is what is going on. I'm this, that.
Hope Mangiafico (27:10)
Amen. Amen, yeah.
Nikki (27:32)
And the other thing, I gave it over. And I had a long time to wait today, y'all. So now we're just sitting in that chair waiting for my comma button.
And he shows up. And you have to believe that anything that comes in is from him and not question it. Anchor anchor onto what comes after the comma buts for you.
Hope Mangiafico (27:42)
Yeah.
You know, this 'cause you're talking about the comma so much and I had not put a lot of thought into it to like edify what you're saying for me. And I don't know if this will help with like, you how we all kind of process things differently, learn diff I mean, you know that you have a teaching background. I almost think I'm gonna catch this more by asking myself, like noticing I guess, because you know how punctuations you how you s end your sentence, right?
Nikki (28:15)
Mm. yeah.
Hope Mangiafico (28:27)
Noticing when I've ended in a period.
Which means I've left no room for God. Which is exactly all the examples you gave. but it makes you pause and think, like, dude, where have I put periods? And lost all hope. Yeah, I love that you've emphasized the the comma and punctuation because you could even
Nikki (28:39)
Everywhere. I I have everywhere.
Hope Mangiafico (28:50)
Carry that into other areas of your life when you're in the dumps, you're like, Where can I put some more exclamation points in my life? You know what I mean?
Nikki (28:56)
Yeah.
Hope Mangiafico (28:58)
Because he's the joy of the Lord is your strength.
Nikki (29:00)
Right.
Hope Mangiafico (29:02)
So it just I don't know, for me that really the of course the holy exchange, 'cause I'm always a big advocate of that. But sometimes I'm like, well how do I what's another way for me to catch myself, you know, 'cause we almost need I always need multiple ways to like catch because it's so ingrained in us to put the period.
Nikki (29:18)
Yeah.
Right. And ⁓ do going back to another couple dozen episodes, a period is a victim mindset.
Hope Mangiafico (29:32)
Yeah. Not a child of God, yeah.
Nikki (29:34)
Because it's all
in our strength, all in our power, everything. I'm a victim. This person did that. It's just statement after statement after statement after statement. And you're just taking it in more and more and like feeding the beast of that victim mentality. But a comma changes the whole structure of what you just said. Because something has to come after it.
Hope Mangiafico (29:57)
Yeah, exactly. The literally, like you said, the pause. There's a blank space now. It's a it's an underline that has to get filled out, right? Yeah, anyways, that was really cool and I'm I'm gonna be more mindful of of being able to catch that because I'm an animated person. So punctuation's really great and easy for me to tell with how I'm acting.
My words may not say it, but my face sure will.
Nikki (30:22)
Yeah.
Hope Mangiafico (30:24)
So that's really, really good.
Nikki (30:26)
So all of this, the holy exchange, the but, the pause this isn't positive thinking. This isn't magic eight balling the situation. This isn't writing a happy end ending. Folks, this is biblical thinking. We're not denying reality. We're anchoring in the reality of God's truth.
Hope Mangiafico (30:34)
No.
Nikki (30:52)
We're choosing not to stop at the problem or what the person, the situation, the diagnosis. We're choosing not to stop there. We're choosing to remember God's character because faith doesn't ignore the facts of the situation. Faith remembers that God is bigger than the facts.
Hope Mangiafico (31:12)
Hmm. Yes. And he's bigger than anything, period.
By you sharing, Nikki, that God is bigger than the facts, it brings to mind the last scripture that was highlighted to me was the rich young ruler in Matthew 16, 19 through 22. I'm not gonna read it all because it's quite long, but basically the rich young ruler wanted to know how eternal life. And Jesus answers and tells him all of like the commandments that he needed to keep. And the young man's like, ⁓ I've done all those.
So why do I still lack? And Jesus asked this rich and ruler to sell everything he had, and the man walked away sorrowful because he had great possessions. And as Nikki said, God is greater than the facts. It also made me think and want to encourage anyone that anything when you do that holy exchange, the father asks you to get rid of, we know that the but is always great.
Nikki (32:14)
Yes.
Hope Mangiafico (32:15)
No matter how much you already have, or you're so attached to how little you have, because it's all you've ever known, and you're afraid of what the new is. This poor, rich young ruler had so much worldly things that he could not release it to receive the eternal life that Christ had. Jesus was the biggest but that no longer Old Testament law mattered. So Jesus gave him, you gotta keep those commandments. young rulers like, cool, did it, but why am I still lacking?
There's this one thing left, my friend. And he didn't get to enter into that but, at least in this moment that we're aware of, right? Enter into that but Jesus aspect of the story. And so just remember that he is greater than facts, what doctor says, everything Nikia said, and also anything that he may ask you to surrender. Mm.
That'll do it for me.
Nikki (33:10)
That'll do it for me too.
Hope Mangiafico (33:13)
Ha ha ha.
Nikki (33:15)
So, friends, we want to encourage you this week to identify the sentence you're currently living in. Maybe it sounds like I feel forgotten. I am grieving. I'm afraid. I am disappointed. I don't see a way forward. I don't understand why this is happening to me. Now add, do your holy exchange. Comma, but God, not as wishful thinking.
Not as an denial, but as a declaration of who God has always been. Because throughout scripture, whenever God enters a sentence, the story changes. The obstacle may still exist. The pain may still be present. The waiting may continue. But God remains faithful and changes everything.
Hope Mangiafico (34:14)
Thank you so much for joining us today. If this episode encourages you, share it with someone who needs a reminder that their story is not over yet. And this week, yes, amen. And this week, whenever you find yourself focusing on the first half of the sentence, the first part of your life, the last action that you did, remember to pause and ask, what comes after the buts God Because there's always a buts God.
Nikki (34:23)
Amen.
Hope Mangiafico (34:41)
Because your circumstances may be speaking loudly, but God speaks louder. And that is so important. So until next time, keep leaning into his love, walking in his truth, and remembering that God always has the final word. We'll see you in the overflow.
