Trusting God When It Still Hurts with Tim Timberlake

Summary

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Stay True with Madison Prewett Troutt

Episode: Trusting God When It Still Hurts with Tim Timberlake

Release Date: October 20, 2025
Host: Madison Prewett Troutt
Guests: Tim Timberlake (pastor, author), Grant Trout

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Overview

This heartful episode centers on the powerful theme of trusting God through pain, disappointment, and long seasons of unanswered prayers. Madison ("Maddie") Pruitt Trout and her husband Grant host Pastor Tim Timberlake, who shares his profound family legacy, testimony, and the story behind his new book The Bumpy Road to Better. Together, they get real about faith "in the middle" of messiness—why embracing our struggles, pain, and questions can be an act of worship and hope.

Tim’s honest, vulnerable storytelling offers wisdom for anyone wrestling with their faith, dealing with setbacks, or feeling unseen in their suffering. The conversation is rich with spiritual insight, practical encouragement, and reminders of God's constant presence, even when the road is bumpy.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Tim Timberlake’s Family Legacy and Personal Journey

[06:35–14:43]

• Tim shares the profound impact of his family’s faith heritage, beginning with his grandfather’s transformation from a sharecropper to a church planter after a miraculous healing in response to prayer.
• He details his father's battle with throat cancer, Tim’s own anger and rebellion towards God as a youth, and ultimately, his supernatural call into ministry—a prophetic dream of blood on his hands, which exactly matched a dream his father had years before.
• The importance of documenting legacy: Tim treasures his late father’s saved sermon notebooks (the only possessions salvaged from a house fire) and leaves audio and written messages for his own son:

  “I want him to still hear my voice, hear my perspective, hear my fathering, my approach to Scripture, so that I can lead him even when I’m physically not here.” —Tim ([14:00])

Notable Moment:

• The generational dream: Both Tim and his father were called to ministry through the same vivid vision.

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2. Meeting His Wife & Their Story of Resilience

[19:10–24:53]

• Tim met his wife in New York, both drawn together by divine timing amidst her devastating brain injury and recovery.

  “She was a double bachelor’s, Master’s, the art director for the largest sports marketing agency in America … [after her accident] was knocked back to a second grade learning level.” —Tim

• He narrates their patient, faith-filled courtship—deliberately waiting for God’s timing, supporting her through ongoing struggles, and FaceTiming every day until marriage.
• Grant remarks on how this personal bumpy road gives depth to Tim’s new book:

  “Just hearing that part of your story makes this book title super real, for sure.” —Grant ([25:00])

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3. The Painful Road of Leadership & The Message of "Bumpy Road to Better"

[25:35–30:50]; [34:44–38:01]

• Tim describes leading the family church at age 20, facing skepticism, rejection, and the pain of leading people who "don't want to be led by you."
• He frames humility as the “fruit of pain”—explaining that the deepest attributes of God are often learned in valleys, not on the mountaintop:

  “Humility, for me, is the fruit of pain. It comes as a result of stewarding hardship, stewarding pain, stewarding breakdowns ... very well.” —Tim ([26:36])

• The book is a “real-time journal” through the middle of suffering—a rarity in Christian leadership literature.
• On God’s trust:

  “It’s one thing to be trusted with blessings. It’s something completely different to be trusted with pain.” —Tim ([27:40]) “Have you considered my servant?... not for blessings... for pain. Because God knew that he trusts me enough... that even in hardship, he won’t turn his back on me.” —Tim ([28:08])

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4. Wrestling Honestly with God & Navigating Doubt

[34:44–39:47]

• Tim and Maddie discuss the reality of faith and doubt coexisting for sincere believers, especially leaders.
• Tim encourages honesty in bringing questions and frustration to God, insisting that true faith walks “hand in hand with my doubt to the feet of Jesus.”

  “Wrestling is one of the greatest signs that we have not been overtaken by the enemy. When there is no more fight ... that means we’ve given up. So, just like Jacob did in the Old Testament, wrestle with it until God changes the way you walk.” —Tim ([35:23])

• The opposite of faith is not doubt, but what we see:

  “The opposite of faith is what we see, because it does not take faith to see what we already see.” —Tim ([37:13])

• He shares practical advice for speaking God’s Word louder than the voices of doubt.

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5. The Interplay of Hope and Disappointment

[42:19–45:50]

• Candid reflections on how hope and frustration can coexist for the believer.
• Tim likens spiritual endurance to going to the gym—you suffer through temporary pain for the image of who you’ll become. In spiritual life, pain is meant to mold us:

  “If God does not remove it, if God does not change it, it’s because God is changing you and he’s molding you and shaping you.” —Tim ([44:05])

• “Don’t deliver me until you’ve developed me”: a prayer for suffering to finish its good work (brought up by Grant, [42:02]).
• Tim’s mature approach:

  “I don’t want pain to leave my life until it produces the fruit it’s supposed to produce...” ([45:00])

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6. Wisdom for the Church & Dealing with Division

[47:15–51:32]

• Tim addresses confusion and division in today’s culture, calling leaders and believers back to the foundational call of unity in Acts 4:32:

  “There’s a difference between agreement and unity. We don’t have to agree on everything to be unified ... let’s put a priority on what does Jesus want for us right now.” —Tim ([48:00], [49:45])

• On loving those who are hard to love:

  “When God wants to bless you, he sends you people. When the devil wants to curse you, he sends you people...” —Tim ([51:32])

• Guarding your heart from public opinion and focusing on the love and opinions of those closest to you.

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7. Practicing Humility and Forgiveness in Real Time

[55:53–64:57]

• Tim’s real-time struggle: Currently enduring three lawsuits and online attacks, Tim shares how the Holy Spirit is instructing him to “be silent” instead of defending himself, trusting God to be his defender.
• He emphasizes keeping a pure heart, daily naming and processing any anger or bitterness, and “not going to sleep frustrated or angry.”

  “Being patient enough to see God work through the things that he’s working through in a way that honors Him is one of the greatest things I could ever do in a season where I’m like, ‘okay God, like, this is crazy.’” —Tim ([56:20])

• On forgiving enemies:

  “God says, nope, I want you to pray for them. I want you to pray that I will bless them. … Pray it again, and I want you to mean it this time.” —Tim ([63:24]) “We judge people based upon what they do and judge ourselves based off what we intended to do.” —Tim ([64:23])

• The daily cycle: offering grace, giving the Word rather than opinion, and remembering that “Each scar is a testimony that what tried to kill me did not succeed, but God prevailed.” ([30:24])

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On Pain and Stewardship:

  “One of the greatest things that God could ever entrust us with is pain. And if we steward pain well, it opens up doors for us to steward the various seasons of joy, peace, happiness well.” —Tim ([28:05])

• On Real Faith:

  “If my faith is alive, then my faith walks with my doubt hand in hand to the feet of Jesus.” —Tim ([35:23])

• On Spiritual Endurance:

  “I don’t want pain to leave my life until it produces the fruit it’s supposed to produce … because every test that we take is only supposed to be taken one time. The only time we have to retake it is if we fail.” —Tim ([45:00])

• On Forgiveness:

  “Don’t just respond like me, react like me. When it’s fresh, react like me. When it’s real time, react like me. ... Pray that I will bless them. ... Pray it again, and I want you to mean it this time.” —Tim ([62:40])

• On Legacy:

  “Write the journey you’re on and write it to your kids, because one day they’ll find them.” —Tim ([14:00])

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Timestamped Key Segments

• [06:35–14:43]: Tim’s family history; the generational dream and legacy
• [19:10–24:53]: Love story and resilience through his wife’s illness and recovery
• [25:35–30:50]: Pastoral hardship, spiritual pain, and the roots of humility
• [34:44–39:47]: Wrestling with God, normalizing doubt, and spiritual authenticity
• [42:02]: Grant’s prayer “Don’t deliver me until you’ve developed me.”
• [43:03–45:50]: Can hope and disappointment coexist? Joy in pain
• [47:15–51:32]: Unity in the church, loving difficult people
• [55:53–64:57]: Real-time example of humility under attack, forgiveness practices
• [66:49–68:27]: Tim’s closing prayer for listeners

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Final Takeaways

• Suffering is not wasted: When stewarded in faith, pain does Kingdom work—molding, pruning, and producing fruit in the believer.
• God wants our honesty: Doubt, frustration, and wrestling can be an act of faith when brought sincerely to Jesus.
• Spiritual disciplines matter: Staying rooted in scripture, prayer, and worship are “basic,” but supernatural in their power to transform and sustain.
• Unity, humility, and love are non-negotiables—especially in a divided world.
• Leave a legacy: Share your faith and struggles authentically for those who will come after you.

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"Although the road may be bumpy, it is leading you to better. And better does not always mean that it will be the same as someone else’s journey, but it does mean that it is better than where you were."
—Tim Timberlake ([64:58])

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Transcript

[Maddie Pruitt Trout]

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[Tim Timberlake]

Morning Zoe. Got donuts.

[Maddie Pruitt Trout]

Jeff Bridges why are you still living above our garage?

[Tim Timberlake]

Well, I dig the mattress and I want to be in a T mobile commercial like you teach me.

[Maddie Pruitt Trout]

So Dana oh no, I'm not really prepared. I couldn't possibly at T Mobile get the new iPhone 17 Pro on them. It's designed to be the most powerful iPhone yet and has the ultimate pro camera system.

[Tim Timberlake]

Wow, impressive. Let me try. T mobile is the best place to get iPhone 17 Pro because they've got the best network.

[Maddie Pruitt Trout]

Nice. Jeffrey, you heard them.

[Tim Timberlake]

T mobile is the best place to get the new iPhone 17 Pro on.

[Grant Trout]

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[Tim Timberlake]

So what are we having for launch?

[Maddie Pruitt Trout]

Dud work here is done.

[Grant Trout]

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[Tim Timberlake]

Thing to be trusted with blessings. It's something completely different to be trusted with pain.

[Maddie Pruitt Trout]

Is it okay to wrestle? Is okay to have questions for God.

[Tim Timberlake]

If God does not remove it, if God does not change it, it's because God is changing you.

[Grant Trout]

Lord, don't deliver me until you've developed me. And don't take me out of this until you've done what you need to do.

[Tim Timberlake]

Just like Jacob did in the Old Testament. Wrestle with it until God changes the way you walk.

[Maddie Pruitt Trout]

Can I be very frustrated with what I'm struggling with and that I haven't received what I desire from God? At the same time, how do I maintain that faith and that hope?

[Tim Timberlake]

I think we do ourselves a disservice when we try to hide or suppress what we actually feel. As if Jesus doesn't already know it. Didn't ask her what her digits was. Didn't ask her what her Instagram was. I didn't say, hey, what's your Snapchat? I didn't ask it in because I just had. I had a resolve. If this is from God, he will make it happen.

[Maddie Pruitt Trout]

What's up, guys? Welcome back to another episode of Stay True podcast. I'm your host, Madison Pruitt Trout. We got Grant Trout in the podcast studio with our new friend, Tim Timberlake. Welcome to Stay True podcast. So excited that you're here. And we have his new book with us, the Bumpy Road to Better. And we're going to be talking a lot about this because this is a powerful message that honestly is so relevant to even what we're all feeling right now. We're culturally, but also internally. So I'm really excited to dive in to that. But I have to tell y', all, I'm going to be turning towards him a lot because we're. And we're going to be talking about some setbacks, you know, and so it feels really relevant because right before I started, we started recording this podcast. I'm so excited. I grabbed my coffee cup, I grabbed the almond milk creamer, and I give it a good little shake, except the lid wasn't on, Tim, so it just completely drenched me. So I have soaking wet hair on one side. If you're watching this video and. And dry here on Something Better, Something Better is coming.

[Grant Trout]

It's a bonus chapter.

[Tim Timberlake]

It is.

[Maddie Pruitt Trout]

It's, you know, next. We're so excited that you're on stage, your podcast. So thank you for coming on.

[Tim Timberlake]

Thank you both for having me on. I'm excited about our conversation today.

[Maddie Pruitt Trout]

Yeah, come on. And you're repping Street Preachers, which is a new podcast that you and Philip Anthony started.

[Tim Timberlake]

Yes.

[Maddie Pruitt Trout]

So that's so exciting.

[Grant Trout]

It is so amazing. How did that. Real quick, how did that start? How did y'.

[Tim Timberlake]

All. Yeah, so me and Phil, we were kind of just talking about, you know, some of the difficulties of navigating various places that we had been. And for a while, we just talked about, man, we need to do something together. And we just kind of prayed through it, and then finally it kind of dropped on us. For the last two years, I've had a podcast chair. Nobody to fill it. He had a podcast chair, nobody to fill it. No way. And then. And so, you know, we believe God has no coincidences, makes no mistakes. And so we just like, let's do a podcast together. Let's interject and inject biblical narratives around what we see happening in culture and society today. And so that's how it kind of got started. And we took a season to pray through it and fast through it. And we met in Jacksonville, Florida, with this video, Vision from God to create something special that we just haven't seen two pastors kind of running in a similar lane to collaborate and work together to see the lost found, to see those that follow Jesus become disciples, and to see those that are broken get healed so good. So it's been a great journey.

[Maddie Pruitt Trout]

I love it. I love unity, too, because there's just. We live in such a time where everybody wants to promote their own name and kingdom, and it's like, oh, no, no. If I have this gifting and if I have this platform, I'm going to go do my thing. So other people see me. And I just. That you're both coming. I mean, you both have platforms, influence, giftings, callings, and it's like you're coming together and creating a place of, of what you just said where, you know, people can come wherever they're from and whatever they've been through. And. And you guys are so, like, real and relatable, the things you walked through, but you just point people back to Jesus, which is so cool. I mean, we've. We just started listening to like a couple of the episodes, just.

[Tim Timberlake]

My next.

[Grant Trout]

Two weeks block off.

[Maddie Pruitt Trout]

He's like, I'm. I'm hooked.

[Tim Timberlake]

I'm hooked, man.

[Maddie Pruitt Trout]

Like, when's the next one dropping?

[Grant Trout]

And there, man, there's such a humility that you carry that is so attractive, man, and so beautiful. I was telling her, I've known you for a couple years just through online.

[Tim Timberlake]

Yeah.

[Grant Trout]

And. And you're so well spoken. But, bro, you're so humble. It's like this meekness you carry that is so beautiful. And I remember Zach telling me, Zach Clinton, our friend, was just like, I don't know if there's anybody I've ever met like Tim Timberlake. The way you communicate with such power, but such meekness. And it's cool to see God blessing what you're doing, man. So.

[Tim Timberlake]

You're too kind.

[Maddie Pruitt Trout]

We. We. I'd love for you to just let my audience know, kind of bring us into even parts of our. Your story that we haven't even heard. And just like, how did you get to where you're at today? You know, you've got this, this podcast that's blown up. You got. This is your fourth book. Your. Your lead pastor of Celebration Church in Florida, happily married. So get us into just how you got here.

[Tim Timberlake]

Yeah, I mean, where do we start? I think the best place to start, my whole life is shaped from the perspective of I just want to Be a good son to God. I wasn't a great son to my father before he transitioned from this life to heaven. I'm a great son to my mom now, But I wasn't a great son growing up. I was very angry with God. My dad got terminally ill with throat cancer when I was 12 years old. Doctors gave him two weeks to live. They gave him the option to have an experimental surgery, which had about a 70% success rate, 30% death rate. And so it was a very risky procedure. But if he didn't get it, he only had two weeks left. And so he opted for the surgery. They ended up cutting him from the back of one ear, opening up his entire throat. Left the incision on the back of the left ear, removed the tumor from his throat the size of a chipmunk. When they did so, they had to remove a quarter of his tongue so he was no longer able to eat, drink, or swallow. So he was fed through a G tube for the remainder of his life. Both my mom and dad pastored, were pioneers in the faith for many, many years. The second African Americans on global television preaching the gospel. My mom was the first African American woman to stand alongside of her husband and proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. And so just saw them do some incredible things and in the 70s, 80s, 90s, early 2000s, and never saw them do anything outside of carry themselves to godly character and integrity. And so my faith was not strong enough on my own. So my faith was built off of their backs. And my perspective of God was, if this is the way that you treat your son, I don't know if I can serve a God like that. And so I was so angry with God that I wanted God to be angry with me. And so I completely turned away from everything that my parents had taught, everything that they had stood for, everything that they had modeled in front of us, and started to live a life contrary to everything that I knew they believe, just so I could make God angry the way I was angry with him. And no matter what I did, he still loved me. No matter what I did, he still drew me back into his presence. And a big part of that was just the prayers of my parents. And so my dad spent the remainder of his life fighting for his life in and out of hospitals. And with the strength that he had, he would go from the hospital to church, he would speak, and then go right back to the hospital. And so he could still speak.

[Grant Trout]

Well, he could still.

[Tim Timberlake]

He could still speak. And it was. It was so strange because doctors Couldn't explain it. Wow. They couldn't explain how he could speak without the ability to swallow. And so he had this machine that was kind of a suction machine machine. You plug it into a wall and it had a tube on it. And every so often, about every hour, he would have to utilize it just to get all of the excess spit and saliva out of his mouth. It was. It was wild. But he was still able to speak and communicate and teach and preach and love on people. And it would wear him out so much that his clothes would be completely soaked and he would go right back to the hospital for more treatment. And so after five years of that, I remember on my 18th birthday, he sat me down and he just really spoke into me, loved me, and did not talk about the things I was doing wrong. He talked about the things that he knew were in me, that God was calling me into. And he did this for five hours. And then after five hours, he patted me on my leg. He went upstairs to his room. And 2:00am that next morning, my mom knocks on the door. She says, I need to you to help me get your dad out of bed. He's not responding. And so I go into his room, I pull him out of the bed, and we fall onto the floor. And he's already gone. He's already transitioned from this life to the next. And I remember thinking to myself, I wish I had more time. If I would have known this would be the last conversation, I would have leaned in a little bit more intently. I would have listened a lot more intentionally, and I would have paid closer attention just to the demeanor, to the body language, to the things he was saying. And so from that moment, it really kind of sparked something in me where I wanted to be hyper aware of every conversation that I was having and make sure that I was where my feet were planted so that I never had to live again in regret and wish I could go back and do something over again. And so that moment really shaped me. It. It really molded me into becoming who. Who I am right now. But it wasn't enough to really change my life. It wasn't enough to really allow me to follow Jesus Christ the way I know Jesus desired me to. And it wasn't until I went to college at Hampton University and I was in my apartment and I fell asleep. I thought that I woke up. And when I did, I was standing in front of a sea full of people. And when I noticed the people, I noticed there was blood smudged on my hands. And when I noticed it was Blood. I heard the voice of God for the first time, said, the longer you run from what I've called you to do, everyone you could have influenced, their blood will be held to your account. And I woke up freaked out of my mind, like, just scared. Three o' clock in the morning, I called my mom, and I'm expecting her to, like, be empathetic, like, oh, baby. Oh, my gosh, that's. That's crazy. So I'm explaining it to her, and she just burst out laughing, like, hysterically. So much so I was like, what the heck are you laughing at? And she said, that's the exact dream your father had when God called him into ministry. Wow. And that was it. That was like the light bulb. That was the jarring moment. That was the God touch I needed to change my life. I transferred from Hampton University to a Bible college in Detroit, Michigan. Finished up there, moved back to North Carolina, start pastoring, and haven't turned back since. That was 21 years ago.

[Grant Trout]

Oh, my goodness.

[Maddie Pruitt Trout]

That is wild. The same dream.

[Grant Trout]

I don't know if I've ever heard the generational same call.

[Tim Timberlake]

Same thing, same thing.

[Grant Trout]

Wow.

[Tim Timberlake]

And so. And so now it's pretty cool. One of the greatest gifts I have is my father's notebooks. And so our house burned down in 2011, and my. My mom was doing something. I had flew in early from New York. I was speaking there, and Holy Spirit was just like, get back home. And so I canceled the second day that I was supposed to be speaking, went back home, and as soon as I walked through her door, a propane tank exploded, threw fire to the top of her house, and the entire house burned down in less than 10 minutes. Fire got in the vents, and so we weren't able to save anything except for his notebooks.

[Maddie Pruitt Trout]

Wow.

[Tim Timberlake]

And so now, going through his notebooks, I discover him writing in great detail the exact dream that God gave me.

[Maddie Pruitt Trout]

Oh, my goodness.

[Tim Timberlake]

And so it's one of the greatest things that I. That I have are those notebooks. And so something I started doing, and I encourage all of the young parents out there to do this, is write down the journey that you're on and write it to your kids, because one day they'll find them. And so all of my messages now, all of my sermons in my iPad. I'll leave an audio note for my son because I know someday he's going to find my notes. And I want to walk him through scripture, although I'm not here, although I won't be with him, I want him to still hear my voice, hear my perspective, hear my fathering, my approach to Scripture, so that I can lead him even when I'm physically not here. Because that's what my dad's notebooks do for me, that is.

[Grant Trout]

So what's your dad's name?

[Tim Timberlake]

His name was Mac. Yeah, Mac.

[Grant Trout]

Pastor Mac.

[Tim Timberlake]

That's wild.

[Grant Trout]

Unreal.

[Maddie Pruitt Trout]

How did he get started in ministry?

[Tim Timberlake]

That's a great question. And so he got started. My grandfather was a sharecropper. Okay. So a sharecropper for our audience that may not know is one step removed from a slave. Okay. Sharecroppers were given property to work, the land of the landowners. And so when slavery was abolished, it was only abolished in certain regions, in certain states. And the states that slavery was abolished in, certain slave masters would then have what they call sharecroppers to continue to do and fulfill the work, but not be as abusive. And they would give them small wages for their labor. And so my grandfather was a sharecropper. And so he and my grandmother had eight kids. They raised them in a one room, ten roof house, and in the middle was a pot belly stove. My grandmother got deathly ill and had to be rushed to the hospital. They had to remove 1:4 lungs, and they had to take half of her existing lung. And so she was on a breathing machine and life support. And so they were going to pull off life support. My grandfather asked the doctors before they did that, would they give him time to go and pray? He goes to the lobby of this hospital, drops down on his knees, he prays, God, if you spare my wife, me and everyone that comes through my lineage will serve you. Gets up, goes back into the hospital room. They pull her off the ventilator, pull off life support. She lives through the night. She lives two nights. She lives three nights. She ended up living till she was 93 years old.

[Maddie Pruitt Trout]

No, I have chills and tears.

[Tim Timberlake]

Yeah. And so. And so she. She ended up living. But my grandfather had a promise to keep to God. So as a sharecropper, he started pastoring other sharecropper. Stop. And he started a church in Butner, North Carolina. And back then, because resources and money was so limited, particularly for minorities, they could only afford to go to church on first and third Sundays. And so the church that he started was on first and third Sundays. And there was such demand in the region for what God had placed in him, he started a second church that met on second and fourth Sundays. And so he was pastoring every single Sunday while being a sharecropper. For many years, my dad played piano in Oregon for Come on Mac. And so he started off playing for his father. And all of my uncles and aunts served in ministry. All of their kids serve in ministry. I am the byproduct of a prayer. My grandfather prayed in the lobby of a hospital.

[Maddie Pruitt Trout]

Come on.

[Tim Timberlake]

To save my grandmother's life.

[Maddie Pruitt Trout]

Wow.

[Tim Timberlake]

Yes.

[Maddie Pruitt Trout]

Surprise. I have really exciting news. Stay True Podcast is going live. Mark your calendars for Saturday, November 8th at Rocket Town in Nashville, Tennessee. It is going to be an incredible night filled with worship, special guests, and yes, a live recording of the Stay True podcast right in the room with you. I have been wanting to do this for so long and I'm truly so excited to see how the Lord is going to move. This is more than just a podcast event. It is a night to gather, talk about God's truth, worship, be a part of something bigger than yourself, and dive deep into conversations that matter. I cannot wait to see so many of your faces, meet you in person, and experience this night together. So grab your friends, get your tickets with the link in my bio, and join me in Nashville on November 8th for Stay True Podcast Live. I'll see you guys there.

[Grant Trout]

There's so much legacy with you.

[Tim Timberlake]

Yeah.

[Maddie Pruitt Trout]

Yeah.

[Grant Trout]

That's unbelievable.

[Tim Timberlake]

Wow.

[Grant Trout]

Okay.

[Maddie Pruitt Trout]

Truly unreal, man. Yeah. I mean, I think about James 5, the prayer of a righteous person. Powerful and effective.

[Grant Trout]

Yes.

[Maddie Pruitt Trout]

I mean, just the power not only to save her life in that moment, but the lineage and the. The fruit and the salvations and the blessings that came. I mean, that's just. That's unbelievable.

[Tim Timberlake]

Wow.

[Grant Trout]

Wow.

[Maddie Pruitt Trout]

So, okay, fast forward to you. How do you meet your wife, man? How did that story.

[Tim Timberlake]

That's another great question.

[Maddie Pruitt Trout]

Today we are really. I have shed a few tears.

[Grant Trout]

I know I'm ready to crown this one, too. Gosh.

[Tim Timberlake]

So, my wife, my best friend, the most incredible blessing God has given me outside of salvation. I met her in New York. She's from Vancouver, Canada, and she's a white Canadian girl. I'm a black Southern boy. And God bought us from two different parts of the world to ironically meet in New York around this Christian conference. Big shout out to my brother Chris Jerso, who was running a conference back in the day called Misfits.

[Maddie Pruitt Trout]

Misfits.

[Tim Timberlake]

And it was Misfits Conference. She was there as kind of a. A project to see if she could be around people. The year prior to that, she had a traumatic brain injury and she had damaged completely. Her pituitary gland was knocked back to a second grade learning level. She was a double bachelor's Masters, was the art director for the largest sports marketing agency in America. She created the look and feel for every major sporting event from the Olympics to the NCAA Final Four. And what happened? She was at the super bowl in New Orleans, and she was creating a space there. One of her clients, who I won't name for legal purposes, gave her a bicycle to get to another one of her clients across town. She ended up getting struck by a car and hitting her head on the pavement and suffering a traumatic brain injury. And so a part of her neurotherapy was she had to see if she could be around people. And so her mentality, her perspective was, if I have to be around people who I want to be around, God's people. I was in New York meeting with my publicist at the time for my first book. And so our mutual friend invited about 20 of his friends together to dinner the night before the conference started. And so we ended up meeting through an introduction. She's an identical twin. So our mutual friend ended up introducing me to both her and her sister and shook hands. And immediately I was like, man, it is something special about this girl here. Didn't pursue it, didn't exchange information, didn't ask her what her digits was, didn't ask her what her Instagram was. I didn't say, hey, what's your Snapchat? I didn't ask any because I just had. I had a resolve that if this is from God, he will make it happen. And so I saw her kind of around the conference for the next two days. Didn't pursue her anything. I just knew I had to know it. I'll see her again. And so we were all on this massive group text, all of the people that were there as guests of the conference host. And so conference ends, and somebody in the group text asks, are you all coming back to New York for another conference? Well, I had to do. I had to speak at the luncheon of this conference. And so I was going to be there. And lo and behold, her and her sister were going to be back in New York. And so all of us ended up getting back together again, going out for pizza the night before this conference and just hanging. And I knew, man, she's special. Did not push it, did not go after her, anything like that. I just had a resolve in my spirit, if this is from God, he will make it happen. And so we leave that conference, and one night she texts me, hey, can I give you a call? And I responded, yes. Never spoke to her on the phone didn't know what was going on. Unbeknownst to me, she had text her family. She had called her best friend, she had called her past boyfriend. Nobody picked up. And she was going through one of the roughest moments of her life. And she had just been denied all of her medical care and was trying to navigate, okay, where do I go from here? Lost her job, lost everything because of this accident and just needed a moment and someone to encourage her. And I was the last resort. And I responded to her texts. God told her to call me when she texts me. And so there was partial obedience there. But she still got her blessing, you know, impartial obedience. She still got it. And she called me. I picked up the phone, she was crying. Three hours later, she gets off the phone laughing. And I told her, hey, tomorrow I want to FaceTime you because if I'm going to go on a journey with you, I want to be able to see you on this journey. Hearing you is one thing. Seeing you is something completely different. And we FaceTime every single day until we got married. Wow. Yeah.

[Grant Trout]

Oh, my goodness. How many years has it been now since you've been married?

[Tim Timberlake]

10 years. 10 years.

[Libsyn Ads Host]

Praise God.

[Tim Timberlake]

Yeah.

[Grant Trout]

And she is doing well.

[Tim Timberlake]

She's doing. She's doing so much better. So we're still believing God for full. Yeah. And complete healing. Yeah. She still has some complications, still deals with difficulty every single day, but she's a stormtrooper man. And she's incredibly resilient and strong. Wow. And stubborn in the best way possible. It just won't give up.

[Grant Trout]

Who are you describing right now? I got one of those.

[Tim Timberlake]

Absolutely.

[Grant Trout]

That's amazing. Praise the Lord, man. Wow. So it's been a. I mean, just hearing that part of your story makes this book title super real, for sure. And then I've heard bits of your story. A quote we heard today was, at no part in your leadership journey has it been easy.

[Tim Timberlake]

Yeah.

[Grant Trout]

Or without pain.

[Tim Timberlake]

Yeah.

[Grant Trout]

You get that call from God, you go to Bible college, you come start taking over for your parents, for your mom. I'd love for you to get into a little bit now of now a young pastor, get us into some of the journey that maybe some tears that built this book. Like, what are some of those moments?

[Tim Timberlake]

So. So the book is comprised of just years and years and years of hardship and years of bumps. And a lot of times we don't get disappointed by what happens to us. We get disappointed by what we expect it not to happen to us. And we get something I call faith Fatigue, where we believe in God for something for so long and it doesn't happen the way we anticipate it and expect it, that it begins to leak our faith tank, and we begin to get weary, and we get tired and we get drained, and we confess that we believe, but in our heart, we were really like, I don't know if I still believe to the same magnitude and the same degree that I once did. And so stepping into leadership at 20 years old, serving our community faithfully, and the difficulty about pastoring a church that you grew up in. You have two types of people that you pastor. You have people that will never receive you in a leadership capacity because they saw you grow up. And then you have other types of people that are like, this kid is 20 years old. What is he gonna teach me? And so for years, you have to lead people who don't want to be led by you. Wow. You have to help people discover. Navigate the various tensions and nuances of life with Jesus who don't want to receive from you. And so that was a joy. I mean, that was beautiful. You're talking about character, molding, humbling. Oh, my gosh. And so a lot of those years created just beautiful fruit in my life. And, you know, when people remember anything I do or remember anything that I have done, I pray it through the lens of humility. And humility, for me, is the fruit of pain. It comes as a result of stewarding hardship, stewarding pain, stewarding breakdowns, stewarding breakups, stewarding those moments very, very well. And it's in those moments that we discover some of the greatest characteristics and attributes of God that we could never experience and discover on the mountaintop. And so lead for 15 years before moving to Jacksonville. And this book was birthed in the Middle of Pain, Great pain. One of the worst seasons of pain in my leadership journey I've ever been through. And I would like to say that now everything is better and everything. The book came out and the pain is gone, but still in the middle of that battle. And I don't want to be the type of person that talks about how God delivered me back then. I want to be the person that says, no, God is still delivering me. He's still showing up every single day. He's still providing. He's still performing. He still does miracles, even in the middle of whatever difficulty, whatever hardship, whatever circumstance that we may be navigating. And so what I endeavored to do with the bumpy road to better is just keep a real time journal of the hard things and how God has helped me navigate those hard things, whether they are hard relationships, heart, seasons, hard questions, whatever the hardship is, I want a real time journal. And if it blesses and impacts me, I pray that it blesses and impacts the reader. And so that's what the bumpy road to better is. It helps us to navigate the various hard things of this life. And, you know, we got a lot of books out there that talk about victory from hindsight, but there's not many titles out there that talk about how to navigate and how to steward pain. Well, one of the things that I honor and I thank God for, it's one thing to be trusted with blessings. It's something completely different to be trusted with pain. And God asks Satan this question as it pertains to Job. Have you considered my servant? And he wasn't talking about considering him for blessings. He wasn't talking about considering him for breakthrough, for promotion, for elevation. Have you considered him for pain? Because God knew that he trusts me enough, and I trust him enough that even in hardship, he won't turn his back on me. And that's one of the greatest things that God could ever entrust us with, is pain. And if we steward pain well, I'm telling you, you. It opens up doors for us to steward the various seasons of joy, various seasons of peace, various seasons of happiness well. And so that's where I am right now, just trying to navigate and steward this pain well and suffer well and go through this season of valley and wilderness and hardship and pain and do so showing people the scars along the way. And each scar is a testimony that what tried to kill me did not succeed, but God prevailed.

[Maddie Pruitt Trout]

I cannot wait to tell you about this coffee brand my husband Grant and I are absolutely hooked on. It's called Seven weeks Coffee, and it has quickly become the only coffee we drink in our house. But it's not just about the taste. This coffee stands for something we deeply believe in. Seven weeks coffee is America's Pro life coffee company on a mission to fund the pro life movement one cup of coffee at a time. Why are they called seven weeks? Because at seven weeks, a baby is the size of a coffee bean. And it's the same time a heartbeat is clearly detected on an ultrasound. As a mom, that just hits differently. They've built their business around saving lives by donating 10% of every sale to pregnancy centers and pro life organizations nationwide. They've now raised over $1 million and have saved thousands of lives. Now, let me tell you about the coffee, because I'M very picky about what I put into my body. It's mold free, pesticide free, shade grown and low acid and it's organically farmed. It checks all the boxes so go to seven weeks coffee.com and save 15% forever when you subscribe. Plus get a free gift with your order and exclusively for my listeners. Use Code Stay true for an extra 10 off your first order. That's a 25 off total savings on your first order plus a free gift. Just use Code Stay True at checkout. This episode is sponsored by Function Health. Something I've learned is that you can't take care of what you don't understand. And that's why I love what Function Health is doing. I chose Function because it is the only health platform that gives you data most people never get and the insights to actually do something about it. Inside Function, you can test over 100 biomarkers, from hormones to inflammation to heart health and stress, and even add things like MRI or chest CT scans, all tracked in one place over time. It's like getting a 360 view of what's really happening inside your body. And this month we're talking about autoimmunity, when your immune system starts attacking your own tissues, sometimes years before you even realize it. Function lets you see early signs through tests like thyroid antibodies or inflammation markers, so you can take action before it becomes something bigger. If I needed this, it's what I'd use. Learn more and join Using my link Function is a near 360 view to see what's happening in your body. And my first 1000 listeners get a $100 credit toward their membership. Visit www.functionhealth.com stay true or use gift code stay true100 to sign up to own your health. Amen. Come on. That's so powerful and I love to just your vulnerability and bringing people along the journey because like you said, it is so easy. Used to be the queen of doing this, of only opening up about things that I've been delivered from and that I'm healed from and I'm good. I'm like hey, let me tell you about that thing 20 years ago and, and, and it's a lot harder to be really vulnerable about. Here's what I'm like wrestling with right now. Like here, here's the doubts in my mind. Here are the lies I'm believing. Here's the, you know, like here are the things that I'm dealing with right now. And I also think that a lot of times when we think through like, leadership. I mean, there's just this idea of just like, oh, that person's got it together. Like, oh, a pastor. He's got a platform. He's got a podcast. Like, he's got it books. Like, he's got it made. Right. And I'm so grateful that you're bringing people into, like, what has made this is pain and. And suffering. Well, and being obedient in the midst of having moments of, like, God, what in the world is going on? And. And I think that's so real because so many of us have those moments of wrestling, and we don't know if that's okay. Like, is it okay to wrestle? Is okay to have questions for God? Is it okay to have moments of God? I'm disappointed. Like, I. I know you're God, but, like, I'm pretty mad right now. Like, I'm pretty disappointed. And I. I'd love for you to speak into that, too, because. And I've heard you talk about this, but having a moment where you didn't necessarily doubt in God, but you doubted his goodness.

[Tim Timberlake]

Yeah.

[Maddie Pruitt Trout]

And I think that's true for a lot of people, even people that I know, even moments that I've walked through of God. I know you are God, and I maybe even know that you're good to some people, but I don't feel like you're good to me right now. And I've seen you do it for other people, but I don't see you doing it for me. And whether it's someone who they're in a season where they've been waiting to get married for a really long time, and, you know, they're in their 30s, and they're like, why hasn't this happened for me? But it's happened for other people, whether it's infertility, whether it's a sickness and disease, you know, whatever it may be, I'd love for you to speak into that. Like, what is that? What was that wrestle like for you? And how would you encourage those who are feeling that?

[Tim Timberlake]

Yeah, so my. My greatest wrestle right now is with doubt. And I say that, and people are like, well, how can you, Pastor, and how can you. It's just the reality of my life. And when we read the Word of God, we read great men and women that walk with God also had great doubt. And so if my faith is alive, then my faith walks with my doubt hand in hand to the feet of Jesus. And I think we do ourselves a disservice when we try to hide or suppress what we actually feel as if Jesus doesn't already know it. So Jesus is not intimidated nor put off by my questions or my concerns or my doubts. He wants us to bring those things to him. And so, you know, wrestling is one of the greatest signs that we have not been overtaken by the enemy. When there is no more fight, when there is no more struggle, when there is no more wrestling, that means we've given up. And so, just like Jacob did in the Old Testament, wrestle with it until God changes the way you walk. And that's what I have to do every single day. And as you mentioned, it's not that I doubt God's existence. It's not that I even doubt God's goodness. I oftentimes doubt, can God be good for me in the situation and circumstance? And oftentimes that doubt lingers and those questions get really, really loud because of what I see. And so oftentimes people believe that the opposite of faith is doubt. No, it's not true. The opposite of faith is what we see because it does not take faith to see what we already see. So Hebrews chapter 11, verse 1 says, and now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. And so, in order for me to see the hand of God at work, sometimes I have to close my eyes and I have to stop seeing what I currently see so that I can see what God said. And that helps to silence the voices of doubt, that scream that are loud. And I've just started putting into practice, you know, when those voices of doubt and those voices of insignificance and those voices of worry and fear shout loud, I have to get louder than those voices. And the way that I get louder than those voices is just repeat and echo what God says.

[Maddie Pruitt Trout]

Amen.

[Tim Timberlake]

And so, yeah, some days are better than others. But again, this is a journey. And it is one that is a beautiful journey of ebbs and flows. And the beauty of this life is that you win and then you learn, but you never lose as long as you learn. Yeah. And so just navigating with Jesus and presenting to him the things that I know that he values, cherishes, and the things that I know he can teach me and give me godly wisdom and clarity in. And so, you know, it's been a beautiful journey and one that I'm so thankful I don't have to navigate on my own. He's right there, every single step of the way. Even when he feels distant, even when it feels like I'm in a wilderness or a dry season. That is one of the greatest blessings that God could ever allow me to steward because it allows my flesh to know that my spirit and my soul are desperate for something that I cannot provide for it. And so often we have this tendency of serving the only thing that we can't take with us into eternity, and that's our flesh. And so we think and we process what we're going to feed it. We think and we process what are we going to put on it. We think and we process how am I going to make this flesh feel? And we spend very little time making sure that our spirit, man, is fed, making sure our soul is nourished. Then when we do those things, your flesh may be shouting, your flesh may be screaming, but man, it is being led by your spirit. And it is reminding you every single day that as long as we make daily deposits, man, we can make spiritual withdrawals from it.

[Grant Trout]

Yeah.

[Tim Timberlake]

That lead us closer to the feet of Jesus.

[Grant Trout]

So good man, the word stewardship in a season of pain is what we don't. We don't think about that word. And there's so many people right now that I want you to hear that, like God's allowing you to steward that.

[Tim Timberlake]

Yep.

[Grant Trout]

Not just suffer through it or get through it. And I remember I played college basketball for one year, Santa Barbara, California, and I get a career ending injury and I can never play again. And the why, why, why, why do you hate me? The spiral. Drugs, alcohol, find myself in jail and I'm just like, I can't understand why he would allow that. Well, then I meet Jesus in 2018 and everything's awesome, awesome, awesome because it promises life, peace, which he does. Panic attacks and anxiety start to cripple me. And I remember being in my closet, I read Matthew 6, 6. And it's, you know when you're reading things for the very first time, when you pray, go into your room, close the door.

[Tim Timberlake]

That's right.

[Grant Trout]

So I'm doing it and I'm going in my closet, double doors. And I'm just doing what God says to do. And I remember crying because the panic attacks got so bad. I couldn't leave my house because I was so afraid to not be in a safe place. And. But I had never been this all in with Jesus and I was in this like crazy wrestle with. I thought that you promised me this stuff and I, it affected my public speaking. And so if I was in a room full of 10 people and they said, grant, what do you think? I'd start to stutter. And I couldn't catch my breath. And anyways, Jesus met me in that closet, and he said, if this is it for the rest of the rest of the rest, me and you in this closet, am I enough? And I just remember this crossroads moment where I was just like, yes, because he is. And he was. And walking through that stuff, which is small pain compared to a lot of people's stories, but it's my pain. And I look back and I'm like, had it not been for those tears, who Jesus is to me today would not even be close. And someone gave me a prayer in the middle of those panic attacks that I'll never forget. They said, pray this grant, Lord. Don't deliver me until you've developed me, and don't take me out of this until you've done what you need to do.

[Tim Timberlake]

Yeah.

[Grant Trout]

And that has been just a anchor in the midst of my pain, where for the world, suffering is just suffering. For Christians, man, it's producing.

[Tim Timberlake]

Absolutely.

[Grant Trout]

I'm stewarding something, whether it's in this life or the life.

[Tim Timberlake]

That's right.

[Grant Trout]

So eternal mindset is something that's really big, too.

[Maddie Pruitt Trout]

So good.

[Tim Timberlake]

Absolutely.

[Maddie Pruitt Trout]

And you were talking about joy, too, which is. It's a crazy thought and ability to talk about joy in the midst of pain. But Scripture is so clear that we can consider it pure joy whenever we face trials of many kinds, because of what it's producing and because of what our prize is like, because of what we're running for, knowing that we're citizens of heaven, knowing that heaven is our home, that this life is not all there is. And I'd love for you to speak into that right now. For the person who we were kind of talking about this a second ago, that's like, wait, so can hope and disappointment coexist? Can I be very frustrated with what I'm struggling with and that I received what I desire from God? At the same time, how do I maintain that faith and that hope?

[Tim Timberlake]

Yeah, I think if our perspective is rooted in the hope of Jesus, then we endure pain. If our hope is rooted in our ability, then we crumble under pain. And so we have a perspective that views pain differently, depending on what the outlet is. And so we were just talking, you know, right before the podcast about the gym and about working out. And we have a perspective of working out in the gym that's completely different than most of our outlooks on life. We will endure pain because we have an image of what we want to become in our mind. And so we'll sit under the weight we'll go through the run, we'll finish the workout because there's an image in our mind of who it is and what it is that we want to become. And so when it comes to a six pack, we'll go through the pain of an ab workout. When it goes through quads and glutes, we'll go through the pain of Pilates. When it goes through all these different biceps and triceps, we'll go through the various pains and routines and rhythms of what that entails. Because we have a visual image of who we want to become. If we ever get a visual image of who God desires for us to become and how he utilizes pain to mold us and shape us, then it will change our perspective and our approach to pain. Instead of man, this is breaking me to man. This is molding me. A reminder of what Paul asked God, he asked God on a number of different occasions, remove this thorn from my flesh. And God says no. He asked me again, remove this storm from my flesh. No. He asked me again, remove this storm from my flesh. No. My grace is sufficient for you. And if God does not remove it, if God does not change it, it's because God is changing you and he's molding you and he's shaping you. And so I just have this. This mentality now that I don't want pain to leave my life. And I know that sounds weird. I don't want pain to leave my life until it produces the fruit it's supposed to produce. Because if I push it, if I allow it to leave, if I allow it to escape, without it producing, it will reappear in another area of my life. Because every test that we take is only supposed to be taken one time. The only time we have to retake it is if we fail. And so I want it to stay. I want it to produce, I want it to push, I want it to promote, I want it to do its purpose, and then I want it to last. Leave. I don't want it to leave prematurely. I want it to stay as long as it needs to to produce in me who it is that God desires for me to be. And if it remains, then that means God is still working in me something that he desires to see as fruit in my life that does not exist yet. Wow.

[Maddie Pruitt Trout]

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[Grant Trout]

I love it. There's so many directions to go because pain, there's a lot of people in pain right now.

[Tim Timberlake]

Yeah.

[Grant Trout]

I would even say in our world, man, like, there's just some stuff since COVID I mean, it's just. What would you say practically right now? I'd love to hear what the Lord's been speaking to your spirit as a leader of the church, the big C church. Like, it just feels confusing. It feels like, what am I supposed to believe? What am I supposed to feel about this stuff? Like, not even just the recent death, but all of it. Like, I would love for you to pastor us for a moment in this pain because there's a lot of people that feel pain and division. And I just like, I trust your voice for the Big C church. Like, what is the Lord speaking to you right now?

[Tim Timberlake]

And there's a lot of different narratives going on, specifically in today's culture and society. And we have a tendency to lean and follow the loudest voices. Doesn't mean that they're necessarily true, but because they are the loudest, they must be true. And so what I've tried to do for the people that I walk with and for the people that I'm leading right now is remind them of Acts, chapter 4, verse 32. Where it says, those who love Jesus operate in unity. And so there's a difference between agreement and unity. We don't have to agree on everything to be unified. We don't have to believe all of the things that we hear are true. We don't have to agree on everything, but we do have to be unified. And so when we understand that there's significance, there's supernatural resolve in unity, it's a very beautiful thing. And so we look at our differences, we look at. At the things that we can't agree on. We also need to look at the things that we disagree on and then bring the unifying bond and bonding agent of Jesus Christ into the equation. And when we do that, what it does is it prioritizes his presence over our priority. It prioritizes his power over my perspective. It prioritizes his person over my politics.

[Grant Trout]

Yeah.

[Tim Timberlake]

And when we do that, man, we become the body of Christ and we model something that the world will marvel at. Yeah. Because right now, when the world is looking at the body of Christ, they see something very similar to what they're doing. Arguing, bickering, fighting. If you don't do it this way, you're wrong. If you don't do it this way, you're wrong. When in fact, let's just do it God's way.

[Grant Trout]

Yeah.

[Tim Timberlake]

Let's just follow what Scripture teaches us. Right is right, wrong is wrong. Let's not become lovers of ourselves, lovers of our politics over the presence of Jesus Christ, lovers of what we desire to see. But let's put a priority on what does Jesus want for us right now so that we can pursue, we can follow, we can become disciples of the things that he has instructed us to become. Yeah. So that's what I've endeavored to do. And you think about Jesus on the cross. He had a person to his right, he had a person to his left. Right. And Jesus was in the middle. And he tried to pull both of them closer to himself. And that's what we need to do.

[Grant Trout]

Yeah.

[Tim Timberlake]

You know, be a bonding agent. Point people to Jesus, try to pull people in, not try to be divisive. Not this or that. Yeah. It's us. And we are in pursuit of a holy savior who desires to redeem, to restore, and to renew everyone that will follow.

[Grant Trout]

Amen.

[Maddie Pruitt Trout]

Amen. I love that because it's. It's all about Jesus. And our call is unity. And I love that. That of the last prayers, Jesus prayed for the body. Right, is. Is for a prayer of unity. And even in thinking about the book of Acts, how it's talking about. They were one in mind, you know, and like, came together in one voice to worship one God. And, and that's been one of our biggest prayers is just for. For the unity of this nation, for the unity of this world. And I. And I love that we're talking about this too, because you talk about in your book, like, how. How do you deal with hard people, hard relationships, hard tensions in relationships, and how. How do you love people that are hard to love? You do. And maybe those are people close to you or maybe those are people that are coming at you online. You know those people? You know those people? You don't know, but. Yeah, what. What would you say you've learned? And what would be your advice on how do you love those that are hardest to love?

[Tim Timberlake]

Yeah, I think when God wants to bless you, he sends you people. When the devil wants to curse you, he sends you people. And we just have to know who our people are. And everyone that has an opinion does not necessarily get an audience with what you think about yourself unless you allow them to. And we have to guard our minds, we have to guard our ears, we have to guard our eyes and just not retain a lot of the stuff that we consume, because that's an attempt of the Enemy to sow seeds of insignificance and insecurity and all these different things into your mind to get you thinking about those things all the time. I read something just today that was so powerful and profound, and it was. One of the greatest tools that the enemy uses is not to try to get us to talk about God in a negative way and not to highlight a lot of things that the enemy is doing, doing in a positive way, but to get us so distracted what's happening around us that we don't pay attention to the voice of God at work in us. And I think that's where we are as a culture and society. We're having all these conversations and they're stirring all these narratives around us, but there is a small collective of people that are still shouting their voice and saying, hey, let's focus on Jesus. Jesus. Let's keep the main thing. The main thing, the minor things, the minor things. Let's love each other. Doesn't mean I have to like everybody totally, but I do have to love everybody. And my desire is that the people closest to me will love me the most at the end of my life. It's not going to be the people that post and talk about me and have the blogs and have all these different opinions by my bedside, it's going to be my family by my bedside. And so I want to spend the bulk of my time making sure that the people that are closest to me love me the most, because that's what matters. At the end of it, everyone will have an opinion, everyone will have a perspective, Everyone will have something to say. And that's just the reality of it. And I. I just have to make sure that I'm not distracted by what other people say about me more than I am. Focus on what the people that love me the most are saying about me.

[Maddie Pruitt Trout]

Yeah, I love that it's. We're bringing it back to just love, because that is the, the foundation of everything. I mean, even scripture tells us, yeah, like, stand firm in your faith, speak the truth. But it all has to be done in love. And thinking about 1 Corinthians 13, it's like, oh, yeah, you can do all these heroic big things, but if it's not done in love and it's just noise, that's pointless, it's meaningless. And I think that's what is missing. I mean, I know that's what's missing in, in our world is, of course, course, the God solution, but we've just, we've stripped love. There's so much focus on self. There's so much division and, and just like hatred and violence and all the things that we're seeing in our culture today. And, and we're just, we're missing that component of love. Like you said, you don't have to like everybody. You don't have to agree with everybody. But having the heart of love, it says in scripture that they will know you belong to me by the way you love one another. And that being our greatest command is to love God with all of our heart, mind, soul and strength and to love our neighbor. Like, those are. That is how they know we are believers. It's by the way, we love. And so I love that you're bringing it back to that. Just the, the simplicity of the gospel.

[Grant Trout]

Yeah, to love. And, and humility is missing right now. You know, coming back to that, it's like, where's the humility? Humility will actually bring us to a place of like, hey, we gotta own this. Yeah, let's own and, and that. That, man, people are afraid because if you walk in humility, you think the other person get an upper hand. And she's crazy, man. It's crazy. I, I would love to hear, man, give us like something real time, that maybe you're walking through and the practical things you're doing with the Lord to walk through pain? Because I think sometimes just practicals are helpful. And is it like, hey, I read the Bible, I sit with God. God, what does the Holy Spirit led you to do that are practicals for people that are like, I need help walking through this pain, man?

[Tim Timberlake]

Real time right now, currently in the middle of three lawsuits, being sued for just complete garbage. And one of the things that the Holy Spirit instructed me to do. Don't try to combat or defend yourself in the public work. Let me do it. Let me fight the battle for you. Let me be your voice. Let me be the one who goes before you, who speaks on your behalf. And that's very hard for me because I know the truth, I know what's happening. I know the conversations behind closed doors. And so being patient enough to see God work through the things that he's working through in a way that honors him is one of the greatest things I could ever do in a season where I'm like, okay, God, like, this is crazy. Yeah, just, you know, the same people that are suing us online weekly, calling us all types of crazy names, just demonic things. And the Lord is like, nope, don't get in the back and forth with us. Them. Nope, don't post that. Nope, don't go on Instagram live. And I'm like, well, crap God, what in the world do you want me to do? Like, what? What? Yeah. And he's like, he's like, I want you to trust me. And so patiently waiting and watching God work together all things for his good. And when you process things like that in difficulty, you really have to lean on God. You really have to wait on the Lord and be of good courage. And my flesh is like, oh, no, I wanna, I wanna let, I want to let people know I want to talk about it. And God is like, no, no, no, no, no, hush. Let me speak on your behalf. Yeah, I fight the battles for you. Yeah, vengeance is mine, saith the Lord. And so just sitting back and watching God do these things and keeping my hands clean, keeping my heart pure, making sure that my spirit is refreshed and revived through the word of God. Not holding any bitterness or resentment, but making sure if I am frustrated or if I am angry, those things are fleshed out before I go to sleep every single night. And talking more about what God is doing than I am, what the enemy is attempting. Something.

[Maddie Pruitt Trout]

Wow.

[Tim Timberlake]

And so those are the practical things. Those things only happen by staying in the word of God. Allowing your mind to be renewed by the word of God. Scripture says that faith comes by hearing and hearing and hearing and hearing the Word of God. And so if my faith comes by hearing the word of God, then my doubt, my fear, my worry, my anxiety comes from me not hearing the word of God. God. And so a very practical thing.

[Grant Trout]

Yeah.

[Tim Timberlake]

Is just to stay in the word worship, pray. Listen, I know it sounds simplistic. I know it sounds basic, but those spiritual rhythms and practices have supernatural ramifications that go well beyond anything that we can plan, expect, or anticipate.

[Maddie Pruitt Trout]

Yeah, man.

[Grant Trout]

Yeah.

[Maddie Pruitt Trout]

Hey, friends, it's Maddie. If you've read my new book, Dare to Be True, I would love to hear what you think your reviews mean so they help more people discover the message and the heart behind this book. So if this book has encouraged you, challenged you, or reminded you to live with bold faith and honesty, would you just take a minute to leave a review? It truly makes such a difference. And if you haven't gotten my new book yet, Dare to Be True, you can go and find it anywhere books are sold. Thank you so much for being a part of this journey and for daring to be true right alongside me. And I just want to say you are blessed for that, because I think about Matthew 5. Blessed are those who are persecuted, falsely accused, insulted for my name's sake. I just. I think about that, and I think about Ephesians 6. Like, our struggle is not against flesh and blood. And what the enemy wants is for us to be fighting the wrong battle so that we're not fighting the right one, which is putting him in his place and walking in our spiritual authority and coming together in unity. And I just think too many of us are wasting our energy fighting the wrong battles so that we don't have enough energy to fight the right one. And I love that you're just walking in humility, saying, no, no, no. I realize who the real enemy is, and I'm not going to give him a foothold. So I'm going to let the Lord be my defender. We can so relate on that in a lot of different ways of just being attacked online and falsely accused and people having lots to say about our life and our decisions and our voice and our families and all kinds of different things. And we felt the same thing from the Lord and just, I'm your defender. I'm your protector. And do. Do you just. Do you want to be right or. Or do you. Or do you want people to see me? And. And I think that's where it's so hard because when you feel misunderstood, it's just such a. A place where you're like, man. So where have I actually put, like, my confidence and my hope? Is it in what other people think about me and what they think about my relationship with God and my. The way that I live my life, or is it really in what God thinks about me?

[Tim Timberlake]

That's right.

[Maddie Pruitt Trout]

And my relationship with him in the way that I live my life. Because at the end of the day, we're going to be face to face with him. We're gonna have to give an account for our life.

[Tim Timberlake]

That's right.

[Maddie Pruitt Trout]

Which means we're gonna have to give an account for how we responded when people mistreated us, how we, what we allowed to happen in our heart. You know, when that person wronged us, did we hold on to the bitterness and unforgiveness? Did we hold on to anger? And, and so I love that you're. You're going there because, you know, maybe it's not online attacks for some people, but they've been mist treated, they've been abused, they've been rejected, they've been really hurt and let down by people that maybe they should have been able to trust. And, and I think what is so where the enemy has gotten so many of us is we blame. We even can blame a lot on the devil while we're also holding on to our own sin and not letting it go. Like, we're like, so mad at the devil or another person and we're continuing to have a relationship with bitterness and unforgiveness and all of these things. Things. I'd love for you to talk about that just a little bit as we, as we start wrapping up. Like, what has that. That been like for you practically to not hold on to bitterness or unforgiveness? And I know you're kind of talking about this word worship, but even just like, how do you be honest and real with those struggles in, in the midst of all of that? And, and what are you, like, how are you processing with other people in a way that's not like, gossipy in a way that's not like, yeah, just what is that? What does that look like for you?

[Tim Timberlake]

Yeah, one of the things that God really kind of instructed both me and my wife to do, which was profound for us because responding is one thing. So we like to respond like, Jesus, when something is fresh, you react. And so his instructions to us was, don't just respond like me, react like me. And so when it's Fresh. React like me. When it's real time, react like me. When they are calling you out of your name, react like me. I mean, just horrible things being said in real time. And God says, nope, I want you to pray for me. I want you to pray that I will bless him. No, I don't want to do that.

[Maddie Pruitt Trout]

Yeah, no, no.

[Tim Timberlake]

How do I know that you belong to me? Okay, God, Lord, I pray that you would bless them. No, I want you to pray it again and I want you to mean it this time. Well, crap God, but I don't want to do that. No, but this is why you do it. And God always reminds me, I know you. I know you. I know what's in your heart. And I know that he knows and I know me. And we have a tendency of judging people based upon what they do and judging ourselves based off of what we intended to do. And so when we are reminded that God knows us and he still extends grace to us and he tells us his grace is sufficient for us, then we have to extend grace to even our enemies as well and pray for them and pray that God would capture their heart, turn hearts of stone into hearts of flesh again, again. And I've just tried my best to do that every single day. Not go to sleep frustrated or angry, not go to sleep worried or concerned about anything anyone else said except for him. Because at the end of my night, when I lay my head on that pillow, it's him. Yeah, that's it. And it's either well done, thy good and faithful servant, or he could have did this a little bit better today. You gave them opinion. Last time I checked, your opinion does not move him. Your opinion does not heal the sick. Your opinion does not raise the dead.

[Maddie Pruitt Trout]

Come on.

[Tim Timberlake]

My word does. Yeah, so don't give them your opinion. Yeah, give them the word of God.

[Maddie Pruitt Trout]

Come on.

[Tim Timberlake]

And wake up the next morning like, okay, God, let's try it again. And so, you know, for. For our family that's on this journey with us and that are listening, you know, you're going to have days where you get it right. You're going to have days where you get it wrong. But, man, do it hand in hand with Jesus. Go on the journey with them. Although the road may be bumpy, it is leading you to better. And better does not always mean that it will be the same as someone else's journey, but it does mean that it is better than where you were. As long as we can do that, as long as we can continue to go on this journey with Jesus, I promise you, it won't disappoint you.

[Maddie Pruitt Trout]

So good.

[Grant Trout]

So many good things. The Bumpy road to Better Unlocking the Hidden Power and Hard things. Can't wait to read this. I'm excited to read it, man.

[Maddie Pruitt Trout]

I know. I was like, flipping through it and I was just like, this is, this is a powerful message. And again, we talk, we've talked about it a little bit in this podcast, but it just feels so relevant and timely. A lot of us feel like we're on bumpy roads in our own minds and our own relationships in our world, you know, fighting for hope, fighting for peace, asking God, how can you make good of this situation? And what is my responsibility and role in the midst of this mess? And, and, and that is a really good question. And Russell and I really do believe this book is, is going to help a lot of you who feel that way. And so, so grateful for, for your message, grateful for your voice, grateful for your obedience and just your faithfulness, you know, that you, you've been able to not only endure, but endear, still continue to delight in the Lord, still continue to be intimate with him. And, and you see that in the way that you talk about him and the way that you talk about what he's done in your life. And, and I'm. I'm really grateful for that. And so we're so thankful you came on this podcast. I'd love for you to just close us out in prayer and pray over those who are listening.

[Tim Timberlake]

Yeah. Yeah. So dearly, Father, I just thank you for our brothers and our sisters that are watching, that are listening, that are leaning into this moment. You know where they are, are, you know the difficulties that they are faced with right now. You know the hurdles that are in front of them, the giants that are screaming at them right now. I just thank youk that yout would infuse them with courage, infuse them with peace that surpasses all of their natural understanding, and give them a Godfidence that goes well beyond their ability, well beyond their rationale, well beyond God, their reasoning. God, allow this to resonate in their spirit. Man, and I ask right now, in Jesus name, that you remind them of what your Word says in Ephesians, chapter 3, verse 20. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we could ask or think according to the power that's at work in us. Thank you that you're at work in us. We thank you that you are exceeding our expectations. And although we may be in seasons of pain and difficulty and challenges and circumstances beyond our ability. You're right there with us. And so we thank you for your presence. We thank you for your power. And we thank you, God, for this purpose that you placed on the inside of us that you're still unfolding and peeling away. We give you all the glory, the honor and the praise. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

[Maddie Pruitt Trout]

Amen. Amen. So good. So good. Well, thank you for coming on podcast. We were blessed by this. I want to know what you guys took away, how this blessed you, and what God spoke to you. So be sure to DM us and let us know. Follow Tim we'll include the link to this book and his podcast and social media so you guys can go and check it out. But I as always guys, be sure to stay you and stay true. We love you.

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