You were fine. Then you looked sideways.

Comparison isn't only "she has something I want." It's loving your marriage until you see someone's anniversary reel. It's feeling good about your pace until someone your age hits a milestone first. In this episode we talk about the sneaky ways comparison sets deadlines God never gave you, moves the finish line called "enough," and hands us goals that were never ours. We also go back to the beach in John 21, where Jesus says to Peter, "What is that to you? You follow Me."

📖 Scriptures in this episode:

• John 21:15–22: Peter's restoration and "What is that to you? You follow Me."
• 1 Samuel 18:6–9: Saul, David, and the song that turned a win into a threat
• Galatians 6:4–5: Test your own work and carry your own load

💭 Questions to sit with this week:

• Was this goal born out of prayer, conviction, or something God placed in me, or did seeing it just make me want it?
• Is this inspiration or comparison? Does it make me curious and grateful, or does it make me look down on what I've already been given?
• Did God actually tell me something needs to change, or did someone else's life convince me mine wasn't enough?
• Am I where God has asked me to be?
• What has Jesus asked me to do?
• What would faithfulness look like here?

✨ Your faithful shift this week: Find one place you've been looking sideways. Instead of "why don't I have that," pray "God, thank You for what You're doing in their life," and then ask, "What have You asked me to do with mine?"

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Next week: What are you actually trying to prove, and who are you trying to prove it to?

If this one landed somewhere real, share it with a friend who needs it and subscribe so you don't miss an episode. Keep making faithful shifts. 💛

Last week you named the thing. This week Kendall asks you to look at the direction you're actually moving — because your life isn't built by what you intend to do, it's built by what you repeatedly do. Using Haggai's "consider your ways," Martha's kitchen in Luke 10, and a three-year thought experiment that gets uncomfortable fast, this episode is a gut-check on the gap between your stated priorities and your practiced ones. Not shame — information. And one small, repeated choice that could start bending your trajectory.

Scriptures Referenced:

• Galatians 6:7, 9 — "Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap" / "Let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up"
• Haggai 1:5–7 — "Consider your ways" (planted much, harvested little; wages earned into a bag with holes)
• Luke 10:38–42 — Martha and Mary ("Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary")

Questions From the Episode:

The Three-Year Question (the core exercise):

• If nothing changes for three years, where does this take me?
• If I keep spending this way — where am I?
• If I keep treating my marriage this way — where are we?
• If I keep giving my phone this much of my attention — what does that do to me?
• If I keep saying yes at this rate — what does my capacity look like?
• If I keep avoiding this one conversation — what happens to this relationship?
• If I keep relating to God exactly the way I am right now — what kind of roots am I actually growing?

Now Flip It:

• What small, repeated choice could start bending that trajectory?

The Inventory (eight areas to "consider your ways" through):

• Calendar: Where are you chronically overcommitted? What keeps getting bumped because everything else feels more urgent? Do the people you say matter most actually get meaningful access to you, or the leftovers?
• Money: What does it repeatedly make possible? Are your spending patterns building the financial life you say you want, or is Future You constantly footing the bill for decisions Today You made?
• Attention: Where does your attention keep going? When someone you love is talking, where's your mind? When you're praying, how long before your brain wanders off?
• Relationships: Who's actually getting the healthiest version of you, and who's getting whatever's left at 9pm? Are there relationships you say matter deeply that have quietly gone on autopilot?
• Habits: What do you do without thinking?
• Rest: Do you actually believe it's necessary, or do you treat it like a reward you'll collect once everything else is finished? When exactly is everything finished?
• Spiritual rhythms: Are you abiding, or is prayer mostly an emergency response system you activate when things go sideways?
• Commitments: How much of your life did you intentionally choose, and how much did you just agree to without ever deciding whether it belonged?

Your Faithful Shift This Week:

• What do I say I want? What am I actually, repeatedly choosing? Where's that trajectory taking me? And finally — what would faithfulness look like here?

Links:

• Join The Shift Collective: www.faithfulshift.com
• The Wellness Store: https://mymelaleuca.com/KendallAppleton

Sometimes the problem isn't that we don't know what God's asking of us — it's that we don't like the answer. In this Season 3 opener, Kendall walks through Jonah, the rich young ruler, and James 1 to draw the line between genuinely not knowing and dressing disobedience up as discernment. If something's been surfacing for months and you keep praying for more clarity instead of taking the next step, this one's for you. Four questions to help you sort it out, and the courage to actually move.

Scriptures Referenced:

• Jonah 4 (Jonah quoting God's words back at Him)
• Exodus 34:6 — "gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love"
• Mark 10:17–22 — The Rich Young Ruler ("Jesus looked at him and loved him," v. 21)
• James 1:22–24 — "Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves"

Questions From the Episode:

The Four Questions to Sort It Out:

1. Has Scripture already spoken clearly on this?
2. Does the same conviction keep coming back?
3. Am I genuinely seeking wisdom, or hoping someone hands me permission to do what I already wanted?
4. If I couldn't get one more piece of information — ever — what would I already know to do?

The core question of the season: What would faithfulness look like here?

The main challenge question: What's the shift you already know you need to make?

Links:

• Join The Shift Collective: www.faithfulshift.com
• The Wellness Store: https://mymelaleuca.com/KendallAppleton