Choosing to Break Free

What if the long-term issues you’ve accepted as part of your life didn’t have to define you? In this episode of Demo with Mo, I share my personal journey of breaking free from the chains of health challenges. With the help of doctors, I've discovered that a healthier, more fulfilling life is possible, and I’m taking the steps to achieve it. Through the lens of my experience, I invite you to recognize that God provides us with ways to escape suffering and embrace a new normal. This isn’t just about physical health—it’s about transforming any area of your life where dysfunction has been the norm.

Embracing a new normal also means taking up your cross and following a spiritual path with unwavering commitment. In our discussion, I talk about the sacrifices and challenges that come with choosing God over worldly desires and relationships. We delve into what it truly means to take up one's cross, bearing burdens with faith and humility. Join me as I encourage you to find joy, peace, and a strong spiritual foundation, highlighting that these blessings are available right here, right now. This episode is a powerful reminder of the transformative power of faith and the unwavering support from God and loved ones on our journey.

Chapters

• 0:06 Embracing a New Normal
• 9:37 Taking Up Your Cross

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:06

What's up guys? Welcome to Demo with Mo. I'm your host, monique Simmons. We'll be discussing dating, engaged and married objectives from a young Christian's perspective. Are you guys ready? Let's dive in. Hey, what's up guys? Welcome to a new episode of Demo with Mo. I am your host, monique Simmons, and today is going to be a quick and sweet one. I want to update you guys on a few things.

Speaker 1: 0:38

About six weeks ago or so, I did an episode called Embracing a New Normal and if you have not listened to that episode, I highly encourage you to go back and listen to that episode. I think it was a pretty good one and I may be a little biased you know I may be a little biased but I encourage you to have some context on what I'm getting ready to say to seriously go back and listen to that episode. That was episode four from this season, embracing a new normal, but on that episode I talked to you guys about going in for an annual and some things, coming back and having to go see a specialist and a specialist telling me how he could treat certain things, but how I would need to fix the root cause that was causing the issue that he needed to treat and how I was eventually going to go about doing it and how I had been living with these issues for basically years. And it wasn't because I wanted to live with the issues and the things that were going on, it was because I thought it was normal. I thought it was because I was a woman and being a woman of color that the things that I was dealing with and the things that I was experiencing and facing these were things that were going to have to be a part of my life. I think things that were going to just have to be my normal, things that I was just going to have to learn to live with and deal with. And after seeing my doctors and seeing the specialists, I learned that I didn't have to live that way and that I could have a new normal, that I didn't have to live that way and that I could have a new normal. And this is just me summarizing everything that happened.

Speaker 1: 2:30

But you really to get the just and to get deep in detail of that whole experience and all of the conversations that I had with my doctors and all of that, you really have to go back and listen to that episode and how sometimes we think something is normal, even if it's something that's hurting us, even if it's something that we're suffering through, even if it's something that's to our detriment, because we've been dealing with it for so long. We've figured out a way of how to just go through it and push through it and smile through it, even though it's hurting us. We think we have to live this way. This has to be our normal. We have to function through this and we don't. God has given us a way out. He has provided us a way out. He has provided us a way of escape. We don't have to live this way. We don't have to go through these things, but we choose to because we think we have to, because it's always been this way. But we can have a new normal, because that's what that specialist that I saw, which I talked about in that previous episode. He told me this didn't have to be my normal. I didn't have to live that way anymore. And I came here today to update you guys because I didn't share a lot of personal, intricate details and I'm still not sharing a lot of personal, intricate details, and one day I will but I'm coming to update you because I'm preparing to get ready to go into fixing those things.

Speaker 1: 4:08

I'm getting ready to walk into my new normal when it comes to my physical health and well-being. I've taken the necessary steps with my doctors and the support of my husband and going through all of the necessary things and much prayer and research. I'm going through the necessary things to get on the other side of this and not suffering through anymore and not living in what had been normal for me for so many years and just dealing with it and smiling through and pushing through and in the midst of suffering Because I was suffering. I will just be honest. I was suffering through and I didn't have to. There was a way of escape for me. There was a way out of that. There was something better on the other side and I hope y'all not letting this go over your head dealt with something better on the other side and I hope y'all not letting this go over your head. I really hope you're not letting this go over your head. But I'm preparing for my new normal. So I am getting ready to do the things to come out of this to take care of my physical health and again, I'm really not sharing a lot because I'm not going into my personal intimate business at this moment, but I just want you guys to know, and I want you to be encouraged, that you don't have to stay in what has been normal for you for so long, what has been coming, what has been what you've suffered through and lived through, because you've been in it for years, because you've learned how to deal with it, because you've put up with it, because it's been all you've ever known. It's something better for you. On the other side, there's a new normal for you, there's something better, there's a way of escape. God has something so much better for you, and right now I'm talking about my physical health.

Speaker 1: 6:25

But there have been so many other areas of my life the past few years oh, my goodness, the past few years. It has been so many things in my life where this has applied for me and especially for this year 2024, I have seen this being on the other side, on the healthy side, in so many areas of my life. For so long years ago, I was so used to being in dysfunction Dysfunctional relationships, dysfunction in my finances, dysfunctional relationships, dysfunction in my finances, dysfunction with mindsets, dysfunction on my perspective, on not wanting to let go of certain thought processes because of how I was raised and so many things. But now to be here on the other side, what God had provided for me and had waiting for me, and all I had to do was accept what he already had for me, to walk into what he already had for me. And the choice is yours. He won't make you do anything, he won't force it on you, but it's yours. Just like when it came to my physical health.

Speaker 1: 7:52

The doctors and the resources were there, but I had to ask the questions. I had to communicate what was going on with my body and the things that I was going through. I had to go to the appointments and the visits. I had to do the research and decide which way did I want to go. I had to agree. I had to say yes. I had to make the necessary steps of what it took to go through with the processes and agree and talk to my husband and have conversations with my children on what we're doing next and where we're going from here. I had to do those things.

Speaker 1: 8:30

There are some steps that we're going to have to take, that you're going to have to take with any area of your life If you want to come out, if you want things to be different. If you want to do something different, there are some things that you're going to have to do. It's not just going to fall on your lap. God is not just going to do everything for you. There is some work for you to be. There is some work to be done. There are some choices to be made. There are some things that you're going to have to come out of. There are some people you're going to have to stop dealing with. There are some things you're going to have to let go of. There are some forgiveness that you're going to have to give. There are some resentment that you're going to have to let go of. There are some choices that you're going to have to make. There are some things you're going to have to begin to walk in an obedience to some sacrifices, some things you're going to have to say some sacrifices, some things you're going to have to say yes to. Some things you're going to have to say no to. Some things you're going to have to walk in and walk out of. There are some choices to be made, and I'm not saying this from a person that don't understand.

Speaker 1: 9:37

I'm not saying this from a person who does not get it. I'm not saying this from a person or a place, of somebody who has not had to sacrifice, who has not had to give up, who has not had to lose anything. I have lost relationships. I have lost relationships with people that I love. I'm talking about people that I love. But if it ever comes between my relationship with God and having to walk away or choosing something else, even if it's something or somebody that I love, and it hinders my walk with God, my relationship with God, I have to choose God, and everybody is not ready to make that choice. Everybody is not ready for that.

Speaker 1: 10:20

The word of God says you have to take up your cross and follow me. Everybody don't want to take up a cross. You like to call yourself a Christian. You like to say you're a believer. You know you want to wear that title, but do you really know what that means? Do you really understand what that comes with? Do you really understand the burden that you will bear? Do you really know what it means to have to take up your cross? I want you to picture Jesus Christ when he had to carry his own cross to die and suffer on. So imagine the cross that you have to bear when he says you have to take up your cross and follow me when you following after Jesus Christ.

Speaker 1: 11:01

There are some things that you're going to have to bear and carry that won't feel good. There's going to be some people that don't like you just because they don't like you. They don't like the light that shines through you. They don't like Jesus glory shining from your life. There's going to be some things you have to through you. They don't like Jesus' glory shining from your life. There's going to be some things you have to give up that you don't want to give up because your flesh loves it and desires it, but you're going to have to give it up. There's going to be some times you have to humble yourself before people you don't want to humble yourself to because your pride says don't let it go, they ain't right, you didn't do anything wrong. But God says to humble yourself. There are going to be some things that you just don't want to do. There are going to be some things you want to do that you can't do or you shouldn't do.

Speaker 1: 11:48

Take up your cross and follow me.

Speaker 1: 11:50

Are you ready for that? Do you love him that much? His word says if you love him that much. His word says if you love me, keep my commandments. I love you, lord, but I don't know about keeping no commandments. You know we like to fix it and we like to justify, but God's word is true. God's word is clear. God means what he said. So are you ready for that? Are you ready for that, this new normal? It's available to you. You don't have to keep doing things the same way. You don't have to stay where you've been. You don't have to keep doing things the same way. You don't have to stay where you've been. You don't have to keep suffering through. There is something better on the other side. I promise you it is something better on the other side, and I'm not talking about waiting to get to heaven, waiting to get the glory. You know People say that, but people that say that they don't have a full understanding, even though heaven is going to be a beautiful place to get to. I can't wait to meet Jesus, I can't wait to meet my father, but God has so much available for us on this side, you don't have to wait. It's available on this side. So do you want that? And if so, it's available to you.

Speaker 1: 13:27

Joy, peace, good relationships, peace of mind. You can't buy that kind of stuff with money. You know money is good to have, it's a great resource, don't get me wrong. But you can't buy that stuff with money. I wouldn't trade any of that stuff. When you get that kind of stuff, you wouldn't trade it Because if you've ever been without it, when you get it you don't want to lose it. You don't want to be without it. And I've been on the other side. I've been without peace and I've been without joy and I've been without a peace of mind and I've been where I've been worried about everything and wondering how things are going to work out, and I've been there.

Speaker 1: 14:20

So if you're ready for your new normal, you want that new normal. You're tired of being where you thought that was normal and you thought that was the way your life had to be. And this is the only way it can be and it can't get no better than this. This side was for my mama, my daddy, my grandparents and generations and generations before I'm. I'm a, I'm a witness, a living example. Things can change with you. Things can change with you. Things can change with you. You can make the choice that it's going to be different with me, but you have to make that choice. Nobody else can make it for you. God won't force it on you. You have to make that choice. It won't always be easy. It won't always feel good. Everybody won't like you, everybody won't agree with you. It may be rocky sometimes. Sometimes you may feel lonely. You may feel like you all out there, by yourself, and I'm telling you, it feels that way, it just feels that way. But you keep going. You're not alone. God is with you. The people that really love you, that really rise for you, they're with you. So I say this is gonna be quick and sweet. I hope it was sweet. I don't know if it was quick, but y'all, I'm ready to get to the other side when it comes to my physical health and I'm almost there. So hopefully I can update you guys soon on everything. Thank you for rocking with me, for supporting me.

Speaker 1: 16:04

If you are a praying person, if you are a Christian and believer, and call on the name of Jesus Christ. If you are a praying person, please call my name. Just, god already knows, he already knows, he already knows about his child. Just call my name. Sincere prayers. Please just call my name, and I appreciate you. I hope you enjoyed today's episode. Remember I love you, but God loves you so much more and I'll see you guys next week. Bye, I hope you guys have enjoyed. Follow me on Facebook at Demo with Mo. If you have anyE-M-O-W-I-T-H-M-O at gmailcom.