Today's Living Lesson is called “Creating a Void” because one of the reasons that I really enjoy creating a void is to allow Him, my Husband, to fill it. When I recorded it, the title was longer, but I let go of the "Letting Go."

Creating a void also means inserting and using the principle of waiting. Before I start, I have to say that I live by most, if not all, of the promises and principles in my everyday life. So, I hope you will follow my example, learn them as you go, and use them in your everyday life.

Without a doubt, the best way to remember to live the lessons is to share them with someone. Then, by giving them away, they'll come back to you. This is why I am so blessed to be living so many lessons in my life. I also wanted to say that knowing the lessons— the principles and promises—is essential to knowing when to use them, like using the proper tool.

To get the job done, for instance, my younger sister loves to buy every single kind of gadget, a lot of them for the kitchen, but anything she sees will do something for her, so she buys it. I can't really do that because I'm continuously traveling, which has become much more difficult just this past week.  And because it was difficult, I really wasn't even sure if I had done something wrong.

I think that's naturally the way that we look at things when we live humbly. We think, “What have I done wrong? How did I mess up?” Even when I asked my Husband, He continued to assure me, “You haven't done anything wrong. This isn't a punishment.” And that’s when I really realized that was just one of the benefits of going through difficulties. 

Last week, everything suddenly became difficult. Because I began living in a different environment. I don't need to get into it. But, even though I'm traveling, where I live now isn't as luxurious as it had been. Living in luxury may include difficulties, even as His bride. Like anyone, I can become physically tired and, I would say, a wee bit broken. 

What He said to me today that I'd like to give as a gift to you is when we're fractured a little bit… Ah, maybe that's what it is. I'm not really broken—I'm fractured a little bit, leaving me somewhat frail. 

Yet, His light can shine through us only when we’re fractured. It has to come through those cracks in our facade. That's the only way the lost can see it in the darkness. His light, shining from our fractured self, becomes their beacon to their Lighthouse, guiding them to a safe harbor: Him.

So, let me share my two living lesson examples, my testimonies, to help you understand the principle of “Creating a Void.” The first one I will discuss is spiritual, and then later, I'll move on to the practical one in my everyday life.

Spiritually, just yesterday, I was asked by the lovely person who does my living lessons and takes the podcasts from me after I finish recording them, and then she shares them on YouTube for me: the links, the pictures, everything. Then, she continues until the podcasts and lessons are posted beautifully on our blog.

Then, the other day, she asked me if I had a living lesson, but none had been recorded, and I had no idea. Why? Because He's been busy healing me from being overly structured and organized. Most of you might know my testimony in the Workers at Home book, where I share that I was blessed to be raised by a wonderfully free-spirited mother.

However, since my mother’s gift wasn't organization (but, funny enough, she always loved to say, “Let's get organized.” Bless her heart), I moved to the other extreme. I'm naturally more like my father, who was very organized and disciplined. When this happens, we tend to go from one extreme to another, especially if we are born with certain traits and are raised in opposing situations.

Of course, because I was blessed to have a giant family with seven children like my mother, and given it's in my nature, I became more and more organized with each baby. Raised with no meal times, no bedtimes, and no real structure to our everyday lives, I shifted to the other extreme, and I must say—I have lived there quite happily, quite comfortably for decades. Yet, I don't need to be that organized now since I'm in the harvest season of my life, which is how my Husband describes what most people call “empty nesters.”

Now, I can kick back a little bit, do less, and just do what I love—ministering through writing. Being healed from being overly organized meant that I no longer had a set schedule. To continue to heal, I can't religiously do a podcast every week unless He leads me.  

Let me stop to explain that unless He takes my hand, as He did just a few minutes ago, to record this podcast, I refuse to do anything more. If He doesn't lead me to record, then I'm just not going to do it. I'd rather just step back and wait. And let me say— it's absolutely not like me because I love to be an example. And if I'm saying to everyone I work with, “Let's have one done every week," and for years and years and years, 33 years, I was very diligent in having a system set up like this.

Back then, I'd have scheduled fellowships or written a chapter, for instance, the Abundant Life series. Like clockwork, I wrote a chapter every week until the first book was done and then went on to another and another. But now He wants to do something new again, healing me from the ridged nature I’ve felt secure in. And, of course, the last living lessons about asking Him, asking your Husband, what to say and what to do.

So I did. When she asked where the podcast was, I asked Him, “What should I say?” And He just said, “Just say no,” and I did. My goodness, talk about the impossible. Replying “No” is very difficult because I tend to want to give an example or explain why I'm doing it. But if I had done that, I probably wouldn't have recorded this podcast either. I hope that makes sense.

I trust all of you are listening and reading what I say from your heart and not your head because that's what we, especially as women, are created to do. We were designed uniquely as women, so as mothers, we understand young children who can't articulate what they need. It’s how we understand a baby’s needs. We listen from our hearts, and when we listen to one another from our hearts, we don't have always to say everything perfectly, do we? We simply understand but it's quite different than the way God created a man to be.

Anyway, let me move on. I refused to record something or feel pressure to do it. Instead, I just waited— creating a lovely void. And I have to say, too, even though I'm His bride, I tend to take His hand where I want to go and do what I want to do. But now those days are also in the past. I want something new.

I want to get closer to Him, become more intimate with Him, and become an older, wiser woman so that I can minister to each of you and be an example for my grandchildren, just as my mother and Great-Grandma Brown were to me. I also know when something is totally from Him or if there's maybe too much of me in what I say or write.

Again, I'm just not interested. That's where I am now, and that's my spiritual testimony. I want to let go and leave a void spiritually for Him to fill. 

Now, let me move on to living this lesson practically. As I said earlier, I've traveled consistently for almost two years. And because of that, I don't have cable television. I don't like to watch commercials. I don't like to be bothered with them.

I remember the first time that we got a satellite dish, and we could fast-forward through commercials. I couldn't believe that we were allowed to do that, knowing that commercials are what pays for them to produce television shows. How else would they have paid my father, for instance, because my father worked in television for years?

So it was just incredible for me when that happened, and poof, there were no more commercials to be forced to watch or mute (another unbelievable change from the way it used to be). Anyway, now, because I'm traveling and don't have something like a cable, I need to stream what I watch, and because I'm streaming, each streaming device has different shows, movies, and television series to watch.

At one point, I had several streaming services, but more recently, in the last year, a lot of the newer shows and series began becoming more political and morally offensive. Well, it is to be expected because it will always get darker the closer we are to Him returning, right? And so, I just began to let go of one streaming service after another, after another, until I really had nothing at all. After I let go, I realized, “Okay, I get it. He's creating a void, so I'll just need to wait until He fills it. I would rather sit with nothing to watch than fill the void He purposely created.

For weeks and weeks, I became incredibly bored, just sitting here night after night, evening after evening, when I normally I'd watch something on television just to relax. Again, rather than fill the void that I knew by waiting and leaving it open that my Husband would fill, I was content. 

Then suddenly, “fill,” He did! He blessed me so much. The first thing He led me to do was start watching several of my favorite old black and white movies, some of which I had purchased when they were on sale. I enjoyed them so much! Before I go on, I just have to say something my Husband had me check before I started recording this podcast. I had to wait five weeks of boredom with nothing to watch before He filled it.

After letting go of all these services that I had, He showed me a new service that comes with my phone. Ultimately, I'll be paying only 10 percent of what I was paying even though I don't really care so much about the cost savings because I did break free from the poverty mentality and then watched Him moving mountains of debt dumped on me, living abundantly. 

It's true. I live by these principles because they are beautiful. Nevertheless, I love it when He does things like that because it's a beautiful testimony to share. When I can get something for less, I appreciate it much more. I mean, I was raised like that by parents who raised a large family during the Great Depression. So anyway, as I said, He led me to watch only good things, old movies with good acting.

What I love watching more than anything is good acting. Maybe it's because I grew up in Hollywood and heard my father and mother, even my older siblings, always talk about a good actor and which actors couldn’t act.

Interestingly, this is what the Thiele family did for 10 years, and it’s part of my children being beautifully homegrown for those 10 years. When my earthly husband left, we had no television. We didn't have anything. At one point, we were given a VCR but had only a very few tapes to watch. Then, before my mother passed away, believing Y2K was real and looking to begin living on a farm without a video store to rent movies from (before streaming), my mother recommended dozens of old movies on VHS tapes. So my children could watch these and were totally disconnected from any television from 1991 until 2001. Then 911 happened.

We had no idea what was happening since we didn’t have television. When my sister called and told us, when the news showed the Twin Towers in New York had been attacked, she was beside herself, frantic, screaming, crying because she had four sons in the Navy at the time. One son was stationed on an aircraft carrier just off the coast of New York City, which is when we decided to plug in a TV and get connected, which we watched standing up in the unfinished portion of our basement. That's where our tiny portable television was for almost a year. No one sat. We would stand there to watch.

And what was interesting about that is that (I'm just gonna show how amazing God is) every night on the nightly news, they opened with a B-roll footage, and it was shots of my nephew waving in planes! Bless his heart. He's with the Lord now. Sadly, he was murdered just the month before the Covid lockdown in the US. (If you'd like to read more, it's chapter 5 of my Salvation Stories.) Sorry, once again, I got off the topic.

All I can say is that it's wonderful to let go, to have nothing, and to wait for Him to fill the void.

Another physical testimony is having no groceries at all. Because I move all the time, I might have nothing in the refrigerator or the cupboard by the last two days of the week. But that void means He is the One to fill it every week. And I have to say, too, that now, after beginning to learn this living lesson, since I naturally became anxious about it when I didn’t have any food, during our ministry Zoom meetings, I’d say, “Oh my gosh, I've got nothing to eat.” Though the fact was that I could just order Uber Eats or use some other delivery service, I was determined not to do anything until He filled the void.

It’s true. I'd rather go hungry than to just fill the void myself. I honestly want to live by the many different principles, each living lesson I share with you after He teaches me how to live them. So, for this principle, I will leave every void open and then get so excited whenever He surprises me with things I could never have dreamed or imagined. 

In closing, I hope that you enjoyed this new living lesson. Remember to ask your Husband who He wants you to share it with and then talk about it so you're continuously living it.