Do you enjoy consuming God’s Word as much as you do your favorite food? This week, we welcome blogger and aspiring podcaster, Baylee Dunn, onto the show to share how the Lord has radically transformed her outlook on the complications of her birth, forgiveness, and life itself.
QUESTIONS WE TOUCH ON IN THIS EPISODE:
- Are you being genuine?
- Is there something holding you back?
- Are you growing into your faith?
VERSES FROM PRIDE’S MANY SIDES
Psalms 51:7.
QUOTES FROM PRIDE’S MANY SIDES
“I just want to give you kudos that you’re going to go to the areas where you can get fed and learn more. And at the same time you’re turning around and you’re taking what you just got and you’re feeding it to the younger. It’s so true that God can equip us. Cause you know, your heart’s rejoicing in the salvation that he’s given you, taking everything that you’re getting and you’re turning right back around and blessing somebody else with it.”
Michelle Watson, The Pantry Podcast, S04E10.
“I like hearing the struggles, actually. I really like hearing people’s struggles in, in this relationship because that’s the truth of the matter. You know, we can sit here and say all day that like, Oh, well I see Jesus. I just became all goody-goody in and whatever, but it’s not, we struggle like everyone else does in the same types of things, you know, our flesh is still here.”
Shea Watson, The Pantry Podcast, S04E10.
“I think for a long time, I worked with people who were Christian. So I kind of called myself a Christian I’ve believed in God. So I thought that just that belief was enough for me to be a Christian. I didn’t have to read the Bible. I didn’t have to do draw near to Jesus and pray to Jesus to believe in Jesus scan of what I was thinking. And so the light kinda was turned on for me whenever I started working with Misty because I just, I read her Bible study about a year ago. And then after I read her Bible study, I started having a bunch of questions about faith.”
Bailey Dunn, The Pantry Podcast, S04E10.
Annotated Transcript
Shea: Hey, I’m Shea.
Michelle: And I’m Michelle. And this is The Pantry Podcast and you’re listening to an episode from Season Four, Unnaturally Nourished, where we’re talking about how God nourishes us in ways that the world just can’t understand.
Shea: Shout-out to Warcry Network,
Michelle: The Christian Podcasters Association,
Shea: Eternity Ready Radio,
Michelle: And the Spark Collective. Check out ThePantryPodcast.com to support us by buying our awesome merch, sending in prayer requests, and figuring out how you can connect with us and some of our awesome guests.
Michelle: We want to meet you guys. So go to the pantry podcast.com/assume to sign up for our very first zoom chat happening Wednesday, April 7th in the evening, Eastern standard time. See you there.
Shea: Hi, I’m super excited.
Michelle: He tries so hard to be different y’all but it’s just too true to not say that he’s excited.
Shea: very time we get behind the microphone, we get to talk to either just each other or we get to bring in someone else that we’re talking to. It’s just super exciting because of the dynamic of bringing Christ into the atmosphere and showing people that man, there is a better way, regardless of the circumstances that you’ve been dealt. You know, I think sometimes we sit there and we make our own circumstances and sometimes we, we fall into a circumstance where we have no control over it. Right. But you know, God can always use that for, for his purpose. And when I was thinking about this episode, it brought me to Psalms 51:7. It says, purify me from sins and I will be clean wash me and I will be whiter than snow. Oh, give me back my joy again. You have broken me now. Let me rejoice. Don’t keep looking at my sins. Remove the stain of my guilt. Create in me a clean heart. Oh God renew a loyal spirit within me. Do not banish me from your presence. And don’t take your Holy spirit from me. And today I man, we have that story.
Michelle: Yeah, yeah, we do today. We have blogger Bailey done. She’s our awesome good friend. And she’s she currently assists author and podcaster, Misty Phillip with the spark podcast community and the spark summit as well as a myriad of other things. But you know, we’ve been looking forward to this so much and we just want to jump right into the conversation. So welcome Bailey.
Baylee Dunn: Thank you all so much for having me. I’m so excited to be here.
Shea: I’m telling you, y’all this, isn’t like one of those things where, you know, you just do that one time meet and then you’re like, okay, we’ll interview the next one. This is like, we get Bailey all the time. And if you’ve ever seen her in a zoomy it’s like this big smile, your little squish else to say that it’s like, there’s a Bailey. See y’all might be thinking, man. He weird know everyone in that zoo.
Michelle: Oh, you’d understand. Like she’s like our little sister and she is just huggable and you know, on zoom, we all have just, I guess a zoom face where it’s just your face is just like hanging there when you’re not on. But not Bailey. Bailey’s always smiling. And that’s why we knew we had to bring her on because there’s a reason for that smile and why it’s deeper than just the surface.
Shea: Right. And so, so like we’re, we’re, we’re naming this one, like eating with gladness just because of that. Yeah. Cause, cause you see that fire. And I know that we’re fed, you know, two feasts in life, you know, it’s kind of that worldly feast. And then we have that supernatural, that spiritual feast. The one we can’t we normally don’t, you know, have control over or we’ve put ourselves in a circumstance, but the other one is from God and you know, in Solomon to Forrest, as he’s brought me to the banquet house and his banner over me was love. And right now let’s just look at where you came from.
Baylee Dunn: Okay. So I’m just going to put it in one word would be dark. I was born and I had a stroke at birth and an oxic stroke. So I lost all the oxygen, all the blood, flow, everything to my brain. Then at some point I had to be resuscitated and I was brought back to life for the purpose. But at that time, I didn’t know that purpose. Of course I had just been born. I kind of walked in darkness for a long while. I was very upset about the circumstances that I was in. It was just like, Lord, why would you cause me to lose my peripheral vision? My depth perception, my visual field. Why would you cause me to lose all these things and how are these going to be good and beneficial to me and my wife? Like, how am I going to have vision when I don’t have all of my sight? It was kind of the question that I was asking the Lord. And as I dug deeper into that and learned that the Lord does care for me, that he is here. That’s when I found like the true joy, because you can’t find the joy in a dark circumstance unless you know who the Lord is.
Michelle: Yeah. When we have these circumstance, like what did I do, God, what did I do? Or what did someone do to make me have this hand that I’ve been dealt? Jesus was walking along and there was the blind man and the disciples were like, Jesus, what did he did he sin? Or did his parents sin to make him blind? But what Jesus said is the eye-opener that he was not made blind because of sin. But to give God glory, there was an opportunity there. I think some people can get better about that too. Like, Oh, so I’m going through this for you. God. Okay. Thanks. You know, but I think Bailey, and we’ll learn more about this as we go, but it’s not just at her expense to give him glory it’s for her benefit and to give him glory, you know? And, and I think that that’s the difference
Shea: When you were sitting there saying what you were saying about, you know, your circumstances and what’s going on and how you’re born into this. Right? You said you were asking the Lord, why, what even put the Lord into your mind then
Baylee Dunn: I think it was just kinda like being raised in my family. I great grandparents that are very, very, very devout Christians and my grandparents were the same way. And then my parents would mention God from time to time. And I would just like, I knew God was real when I was younger, but I didn’t have like the heart knowledge of God as my savior. So I knew that God was real. And because I knew he was real, I was thinking, Oh, he must have caused this. Like he did something to me for this to have happened. But then I learned that it wasn’t what God did to me. It was the circumstance that he allowed to happen for his glory.
Shea: I love the crumb idea. I’m sorry. You know, the, the, the lady said, Jesus, she’s like, just give me a crumb. Yeah. So then he throws this crumb, right? And he throws this crumb at you. And now it’s like, you’re learning something. So where was the transition period? You’ve worked for people that were Christian you’ve, you’ve been around Christian, you know, when was the light turned on? When was the transition?
Baylee Dunn: I think for a long time, I worked with people who were Christian. So I kind of called myself a Christian I’ve believed in God. So I thought that just that belief was enough for me to be a Christian. I didn’t have to read the Bible. I didn’t have to do draw near to Jesus and pray to Jesus to believe in Jesus scan of what I was thinking. And so the light kinda was turned on for me whenever I started working with Misty because I just, I read her Bible study about a year ago. And then after I read her Bible study, I started having a bunch of questions about the faith. And then naturally I started asking Misty like, hey, what does this mean in scripture? And what does this mean in scripture? And then I moved churches because the church that I was going to at the time was just really big.
Baylee Dunn: And I wanted something a little smaller. So I moved churches in September of this year. And then I talked to Misty about everything that I was learning in church. And then one day I went to church and there was a sermon on idols. And the pastor was talking about how in life we can be drawn into idolatry. And I was just thinking that the idolatry was just, it could be anything. And then he said, social media can be an idol. Religion can be an idol. And I was like, wait a minute. That describes. So the next day I went to a small group that we had at the church and I just kind of, they were talking about sanctification and I was like, okay, that’s a big word. I’ve heard it before. Don’t quite understand what it means, but I want to know what it means.
Baylee Dunn: So I was talking to them and then I just immediately felt the Lord convicting as we were praying for the salvation of just different people. And I automatically felt him convicting me, Bailey, what about your own salvation? So whenever I felt that conviction, it was just kinda like, Hey, I have been living this life as a Christian who isn’t really a follower of Jesus. So when that light came on, it was just kinda like, Hey, I need to be following Jesus with my whole heart, not with half of my heart. And that’s what I learned.
Michelle: I completely resonate with that. When you become a believer and a follower of Christ, you eat with gladness, you eat the word and you do the stuff with this underlying joy. You can go to church your whole life, but are you eating with gladness? Like that, that joy that cannot be taken or is it that you’re eating because the foods they’re eating because you got to eat.
Shea: Right. That’s good. It’s amazing how we go from this, this head knowledge to a heart knowledge. I really believe that like when we’re in our heads, it’s like, it’s like, that’s when we think that we can get there ourselves, Jesus, God, you know, Holy spirit, you know, in my case, it was like, I’ll never be good enough to stand in front of us. I gave up. But you know, it’s like, but when you start to understand the relational, right?
Shea: We transfer from a head to a relational, which is a heart. Cause we, we understand that the battlefields in the mind anyway. So it’s like, why am I sitting in the battlefield trying to make this work? And then like in the provers where it just says trust in the Lord with all your heart. Right. And do not lean on your own understanding. It’s like, we get to this point of, okay, this is a relationship. There’s nothing I could do. But then we go into a servitude. So have you shifted from just, okay, I’m saved into like now I want to serve.
Baylee Dunn: Definitely. I think that the shift in that area occurred about a week after I was saved. Misty sent me a podcast, which I had never heard this podcast before, but I was like, I’ll listen to this because she texted me. I was like, Hey, this podcast reminds me of you. I was like, okay, cool. So I listened. And it was actually you guys this podcast. And it was the episode on repentance that you guys did, recover. And I listened to that and I’ll never forget it. I was making chicken nuggets in my kitchen. Tears were just running down my face. I was like, God is forgiving me. And so I was just like crying and I couldn’t control it. And then a couple of hours later, I remember I texted Misty and I was like, Hey, I listened, listen to that podcast.
Baylee Dunn: Now I can’t quit crying. She like, she checked on me a couple hours later and she was like, you good? And I was like, I’m still crying. It was just like this instant realization of God has forgiven me. Now I to go do something with this forgiveness and go show it to everyone and share the light of Christ.
Michelle: It’s the story of the debtor that had his debt forgiven and then went out and started forgiving other debts. Right. And the one who didn’t and there was another one where he was forgiving his debt. And so he went out and started collecting on debts and there was, he didn’t end up so well, as well as the other one. But I think that, that that’s been the humbling side of this for us is hearing how God used pastor James Bryson’s words and our words to reach you because we we’ve always done this saying if just one person is reached, then that’s why we did it. You know, that’s the eating with gladness versus gorge on like no more, more, more, we need more people to live in. We need more peoplem metrics and it’s like, that’s all good. That’s great. As Shea would say, that’s the cherry, not the ice cream. Right, right.
Shea: I like, I like that. You know, cause we, you know, an analogy that I use and I’ve used it before. It’s like Jesus is our ice cream. When I go to eat ice cream, I go for Jesus. You know, but when I get there, it’s like, Hey, you want a cherry? Or do you want some sprinkles? You know, that’s just these added joys and bonuses and, and, and blessings that he gives us. I still have Jesus. And that’s a mind frame that we want to. So in that now in this season, you know, now, now we’ve gone from where you were. You know, we have this, this disability, if I can say that, right. And you’re like, okay, God, I’m no longer going to wallow in sorrow. I’m no longer going to be like, why me? I want to be with you. I want to chase you. I want to be in your presence. I want to share your testimony.
Baylee Dunn: Now I am actually going through and reading the whole Bible. So I started this in November. And so it hasn’t been very long and I’m just finding that. I like absolutely cannot put it down to say my wife, like the Bible, what I need all day, every day. And I’ve just realized, but reading the whole Bible was like something that I definitely need to do to store the word of God in my heart and to be able to share it with others. And I’ve also been serving in my church, in the nursery, which I absolutely love. And I’ve also been a member of a discipleship group and a young adult ministry. And I’ve just been pouring myself into the church and into God’s word because I found that it’s like the most important thing in my life. Like that’s what sustains me. And that’s what keeps me from getting to the point where I’m like, why God, why did you do this? Because now I know why he did this. He did it so that he could make himself known. And I love that balance. Like what?
Shea: She just said, children, youth discipleship, you’re turning this, this, this around where your grandparents were discipling. You, you know where they were that focal point. And they’re like, Bailey. They’re the ones who put Lord in your head. You know, it’s like, now you’re like around these younger minds and you know, you’re, you’re teaching them and working with them to show them what you’ve learned. That it’s not just up here, it’s here. And I just like that. I liked that you jumped right in like that
Michelle: It’s a wise balance actually, because it’s not, and there’s nothing wrong if you don’t do it this way. But I just want to give you kudos that you’re going to go to the areas where you can get fed and learn more. And at the same time you’re turning around and you’re taking what you just got and you’re feeding it to the younger. It’s so true that God can equip us. Cause you know, your heart’s rejoicing in the salvation that he’s given you, taking everything that you’re getting and you’re turning right back around and blessing somebody else with it. Man. I want Calia to come to your nursery so she could play with you.
Michelle: No you’re someone who rejoices in that wisdom that God gives. But I also know that wisdom comes with conviction and conviction hurts and is uncomfortable. You know, the proverb says that that is never, it’s not often fun upfront. What did you accept readily? That was convicting. And what’s something that you wrestle with even still that might be convicting. If there’s anything.
Baylee Dunn: I haven’t really forgiven the doctor that caused the stroke that I had because they say it was a doctor’s mistake that caused it. And last week in my quiet time, the Lord was like, Bailey, you have got to forgive this guy. And I’m like, but God, how do I forgive him? And he’s like, the way I forgave you. And I’m like, okay, God, I will forget for right now. So that’s kind of the main one that thorn has been working out in my heart just to forgive that man. And to forgive, I don’t even know that he made the mistake because I don’t know his heart. I don’t know his intentions. I don’t know any of those things. So I’m like, Lord, I forgive him because he forgave me. So letting go of that has just really helped me to just embrace the stage of life I’m in and the situation that I’m dealt with and all this things.
Michelle: No, thank you for sharing that. Cause I think we’re supposed to forgive and there’s fruit in that, but there are some things that it’s like, I think at that level is like, yeah, no one would ever tell you. Yeah, you have to, you know, unless they were following the word we didn’t deserve God’s grace. Right.
Shea: Yeah. I was hearing someone speak the other day and, and they’re like, well, they haven’t come and told me, they’re sorry. And I wasn’t in the position at that moment to really like break it down for him in a way. But you know, the best advice I could give them in that moment was, you know, sometimes to expect that, sorry, holds us back. Istead of just applying the forgive, imagine if God, you know, they said of sending his son to cover all of our sins. Imagine if he just sat there and said, well, I’ll just wait. And it’s like, wow. I mean, for me to go through the list, I’ve heard people say that too. Well, they haven’t said, sorry, for every single action that they’ve done. And I’m like, well, I’d be here all day with a TBI, with a TBI.
Shea: I like hearing the struggles, actually. I really like hearing people’s struggles in, in this relationship because that’s the truth of the matter. You know, we can sit here and say all day that like, Oh, well I see Jesus. I just became all goody-goody in and whatever, but it’s not, we struggle like everyone else does in the same types of things, you know, our flesh is still here. We’re not being removed out of our flesh. Yes. We’re new men. We’re new creations. We’ve been given a new position, but like, we still have to deal it. This nasty flesh that we’ve been given from that fall. And, and it’s like, it’s tough. And I like this though. But see, you’re peeling that onion, you know, you’re taking these layers away. What are you looking for? You know, we have to have goals. We have to have, you know, this momentum to move forward. And, and, you know, that’s where we’re, the apostle Paul is sitting there saying, Hey, we’re gonna, you know, we’re moving, we’re running to finish the race. Right. That means we’re going somewhere. Where is Bailey done going
Baylee Dunn: When my time here on earth is done, Bailey Dunn. We’ll be in heaven at the hand of the father. Amen. Sitting right there up in heaven, looking down
Shea: What a glorified position he’s created us all differently. He’s created us to reach different different people. Groups he’s created us to reach different, you know, cultures and societies. Where are you being guided right now?
Baylee Dunn: I think I’m being guided to people that are kind of my age in a similar season or situation, maybe younger women that have struggled through just any kind of struggle, but really for the ones that have disabilities or for the ones that have struggled in that way, maybe to encourage them that the struggles don’t last forever and that there is an eternal purpose for everything that we’re going through. So I’m being guided to eventually start a podcast. I haven’t thought about it extreme and extreme detail yet, but maybe to do something like that so that people would see Jesus through it. And just understand that in a struggle, we can find our strength if we look to Jesus
Michelle: And what a message it is, because I think there’s something about humans where we always want them to have been in our shoes before we want to accept any wisdom from them in an area we’re hurting in. Right. Unfortunately, because that’s wired into us, I think it’s our stubbornness and our pride. I’m really going to call it out for what it is. It’s our pride that no one could have ever understood as much as I feel for you, but it’s pride. And then also just the stubbornness, because it’s like, if we accept the wisdom without them having the experience, sometimes it’s like, well, now I have to change. And it’s, unfortunately it’s comfortable to be in my hurt and not go through the additional hurt of healing because healing can hurt. So unfortunately, because of that, there’s a lot, I think God allows us to go through because he knows that we can be woken up and then someone will be like, okay, they understand.
Michelle: And so that’s a double suggestion. Y’all like, don’t wait for someone to have understood, to listen to biblical wisdom about the topic. I’m passionate about that. But also it’s because of just flesh stubbornness, right? That like we’re often going through trials because he knows we can take it. Shea actually woke me to this idea about endurance and that like, God’s aware of our capabilities in a way that we aren’t, you know, when we’re raising a child, we know what they’re capable of. They haven’t even imagined it yet. And so we instinctively train them up, knowing what they’re capable of God to an even higher degree than that. So you end up being led through like Bailey is this perfect example of someone he knew could endure and come through and have that story and, and lead people through and encourage them in the same way you can do this.
Baylee Dunn: And endurance is something that I for my whole life has kind of struggled with. I’ve been like, Oh, here’s this challenge now? How is it hard for me? Because I’m visually impaired. I’m like, that’s, that was my immediate first instinct. I was really prone to view what Michelle was talking about. And then whenever I came to Jesus and I embraced him, I learned that that endurance, it doesn’t come from me that I can do it all day long and I’m still gonna fall flat on my face. But Jesus is the one who carries me through that. Endurance
Michelle: Never think, you know, let’s not think of us as, as, as limited in our wisdom, you know, because we have been given everything, right. Everything has been downloaded. So when you say this, man, speak it.
Baylee Dunn: There is absolutely no hope on this earth, unless you have Jesus, go get in the word, study it, know it, find it mentors, embrace the teachings of the Bible and sprays the, that the mentors and the faith that are ahead have taught, go on and lead others in the way that they should go with. That said, I would definitely say, I have to thank you. And Shea, and I would also think Misty because y’all have all three been like huge mentors to me in my faith.
Shea:We are here and are humbled by that. And the girl we, we are here, honestly. That’s just how this works. It’s it’s like and it’s been described several times here. It’s like, we’ve received it, right. We’re being poured into, but we need to pour out. Right. You know, when we get caught into our ourselves and we get in the way of ourselves and we sit there and put it into our own understanding and not into a, a higher understanding, an unnatural understanding, we’re limited. But man, the minute we open our minds to the unnatural and what Jesus Christ, the Holy spirit and God can do for us now, man, we are just flowing with living water, this, this bread of life. And now we’re allowed, man, how do we grow? Pouring out onto others firm believer in that it has been beautiful to hear this, this, this young lady speak so wise about, you know, her position, where she’s come from. Thank you for being here. You know, I think at, out of all of this one thing, that’s not going by, where are you going? Bailey, I’m going to heaven. Praise God, praise.
Michelle: It was a deep answer because I feel about the goals, right? I agree like there’s goals, but that shows a heavenly mindset. And what I said about children inherit the kingdom. It’s because we’ve learned from you and you’ve only been saved a few months, but you, you bring that fresh, pure trust that can get tested over time in the believer. Right. But man, that was a deep answer because focusing on that as the only goal you’re wedded to allows him to reshuffle your life a thousand times, because you know that he will lead you to the goals that matter. And you don’t need to be married to any other goals. It’s fine to have them, but you were married. The first thought that came to your mind was eternity. And that shows spiritual health.
Baylee Dunn: Thank you all for having me.
Michelle: If you feel like you’ve been blown away by this episode, post some encouragement for Bailey and everything that she said in the comments and reviews, ratings, all that stuff that helps us spread this even farther. And we will have ways that you can connect with Bailey’s blog as well in the show notes for anyone who wants to be fed further. So until next time, bye bye.
KEYWORDS: HAVING ENDURANCE, KEEPING THE FAITH, SEEKING STRENGTH, GOD IS YOUR STRENGTH, HOPE IN JESUS, SEEKING SALVATION, WHAT IS CONVICTION, PODCASTS FOR WOMEN, PODCASTS FOR FAITH, PODCASTS FOR CHRISTIANS, CHRISTIAN PODCASTS TO FOLLOW.