God’s Plan Prevails: Trust the Journey and Let Go

*This transcript was auto-generated*

Kim:

We humans keep brainstorming options and plans, but God's purpose prevails. We plan, we brainstorm, we think. We're all that in a bag of chips. We're trying to figure it out, but his plans always prevail. And so I thought to myself, why the heck am I working so hard? If his plans are going to prevail, don't I just need to follow his plan? God, have I been standing in your way? Have I been missing your plans and purpose for me? Welcome to the Kim Gravel show, y'all. It's your weekly stop for encouragement and laughter. And I'm always here with my ride or die. My producer.

Kim:

You're one of the best producers ever, Zac. My producer, Zac.

Zac:

Thank you, Kim.

Zac:

Hello, everybody.

Kim:

Hello. Okay.

Zac:

Hey. I just remembered I forgot to hit record on my camera, so I messed that up great.

Kim:

Well, maybe not the best producer.

Zac:

Wow. Hold on.

Kim:

All right, well, almost the best producer. Hello. Now I'm here talking to myself, talking to the camera, talking to air. Thin air. Because Zac cannot hear me, and I cannot hear him. It's so funny how we're talking about. The subject we're talking about right now in today's episode is so, so funny. Cause I said, Zac, let's do a.

Kim:

Let's do, like, a little impromptu episode. I've got something outta set. Cause I was reading today, and I read this. Proverbs. Are you there, Zac?

Zac:

I don't know what you're saying, but I don't like any of it. I don't know. I couldn't hear anything you said, but I think it was mean, and I don't like it.

Kim:

It's not mean. Keep rolling. Hopefully you have it. Cause it's so perfect.

Zac:

I actually did. I had myself recording.

Kim:

Yeah, this whole thing is fant. Because we're talking about, like, producers and purpose and a lot of things today. And I love it when we plan nothing, but it always works, like, to perfection. Because I was reading today. It was actually this morning. And so Zac called me, said, can we. Can you pop into the studio? It's a Monday. We normally tape on Thursdays.

Kim:

And he said, can you pop in the studio? Give me an hour. Let's. I've got to read a couple of ads, a couple of, like, you know, cleanup stuff for some of the episodes. Plus let's do a little impromptu interview. I mean, episode. I was like, okay. And so I read this proverbs this morning. It's Proverbs 19:21.

Kim:

And it blew me away because I Know I'm a control freak. You obviously heard Beau's episode. He's telling you, basically, I'm a control freak. Yeah, Zac, you are a control freak.

Zac:

Oh, yes. Huge control freak.

Kim:

I do not think our control freakness, because we are. We have some freakness about our control, is an unhealthy thing. I think sometimes it is just out of necessity. Would you agree with that?

Zac:

Oh, yeah, I totally agree with that. I think it's actually one of our superpowers.

Kim:

It could be. It could be. But I was reading this this morning.

Zac:

And one of our detriments. Like, I won't. I'll give that to you. All right. You were reading this.

Kim:

It could be. It could be. And this is. This is a different version of this. Proverbs. This. Proverbs 19:21. It says, we humans keep brainstorming options and plans.

Kim:

Read that again. We humans keep brainstorming options and plans, but God's purpose prevails. And we'll. Read that again. Read it slow. Okay, okay. We humans keep brainstorming options and plans, but God's purpose prevails. So when I was sitting there thinking to myself, we plan, we brainstorm, we think.

Kim:

We're all that in a bag of chips. We're trying to figure it out, but his plans always prevail. And so I thought to myself, why the heck am I working so hard if his plans are going to prevail, don't I just need to follow his plan? Cause this is what happens. A lot of us follow our plans, and when they don't work, we go to him and ask for his.

Zac:

1000%. For me, I don't go to God first. I spend all my time and energy doing my own thing. And then it's like praying is the afterthought. Praying is the something has gone wrong. And now I need to pray. Now I need to repent. Now I need to think about it. Right? And that.

Zac:

Yeah, okay.

Kim:

Yeah, but hear me. Hear me. Listen to this. We humans keep brainstorming options and plans, but God's purpose prevails. So. You are so right. I'm the same way, Zac. I'm always trying to do my thing, my plan, my, you know, my ideas.

Kim:

But God's plan prevails.

Zac:

Yes.

Kim:

So we're doing all of that. Controlling that, working that, toiling that spinning, when we should just seek his, him and his ways. Because that's going to prevail anyway. We gonna get there eventually. Anyway, Zac, it was the biggest aha moment for me of 2025.

Zac:

Wow. Okay.

Kim:

Yeah.

Zac:

So here's. But here's my question for you, Kim, because you are a person of faith. Like, you are reading scripture every morning. You are. This is part of. So how is it that you, like, how have you messed this up, Kim?

Kim:

I don't know. I mean, because I think that. I'm telling you, I think, and I know this for a fact, the older I get, the stronger my faith gets, but also the more I'm learning about it. The beautiful thing, about over 50 and fabulous and growing in your faith and about to be one down in the house, empty nester. I'm getting ready to launch one little bird out the nest, doing this podcast. Building the businesses, chasing the dreams. What I have learned is it could be so much easier. So I feel like with that scripture and that proverb, God's going.

Kim:

Can you tell somebody then? Because it is so. Sometimes we make it so hard on ourselves. We do. We beat ourselves up, Zac. We have these massive expectations on this humanness that we call, you know, life. We put so much pressure on ourselves. And his plan prevails. Yeah, we brainstorm.

Kim:

I love We. We keep brainstorming options and plans, but God. Purpose reveals. So. So, people.

Zac:

So I guess purpose prevails or God's plan.

Kim:

Yes. Hold on. Let me read it again. Lord help. You know how I can't hardly read Anyway. Hold the line. We humans keep brainstorming options and plans, but God's purpose prevails. God's purpose now.

Kim:

His purpose prevails. His plans prevail. His outcome prevails. What he wants is going to happen. Yeah, but how we get there and what. How we decide to get there and how long it takes us to get there and. And how long we fight it and all that is up to us. But he.

Kim:

His. His purpose will prevail.

Zac:

Yeah.

Kim:

Now, okay, we can go a step deeper. A lot of you sitting here watching this, and you're not doing what you're supposed to be doing. You've got a dream, you've got to go. You got something in your heart. You've got to get something going on in your life that you know you've got to be doing. Maybe it is serving somebody in the community. Maybe it's starting a business. Maybe it's adopting a child.

Kim:

Maybe it's, you know, getting back out in the dating world. Maybe it's taking a step in your finances towards investment. I don't know. Okay, there's something you do. So it's on your heart. He's put it in your Heart. He's given you that desire. You've been brainstorming options.

Kim:

You've been making plans. And if you don't follow his purpose, somebody will, because his purpose is going to prevail. Can I tell you something? I have a lot of regrets. A lot of people say I don't have any regrets. It got me to where I am today. I agree with that. Okay. But there are regrets that I've had in my life.

Kim:

There are opportunities I did not step into and take. I'll give you an example. Yeah, tell us. I don't regret this because my father stepped in. Okay? So my earthly father stepped in and his plan, I mean, his purpose prevailed through this. So I had been chosen at Miss America to be a goodwill ambassador to Japan. Now, keep in mind, I had just turned 20. Total idiot, right? Had no business being at Miss America.

Kim:

I mean, I was 19, competing at Miss America with 27 year old doctors. I mean, I was a dip to. I didn't know about butt from the hole on the ground. Okay? Yeah, like most 19, 20 year olds. Right. So. And I did not understand the magnitude of that opportunity. One, two.

Kim:

When I was chosen as goodwill ambassador to Japan, it was only me and Ms. Alaska. And Ms. Alaska was super smart. I can't remember what she was. She was, I think she was some kind of like sports journalist or something. She was like older than me.

Zac:

Yeah.

Kim:

And I was a theology major, a sophomore, you know, theology student. But I was loud and proud and I thought at the time, did not understand how ridiculous I was. But I guess I had a good personality that I thought, oh, well, these people in Japan are going to be entertained by this one. So it was me and Miss Alaska and I, you know, we're staying a whole summer. It was a great opportunity. And so I came home and I was dating this young man and I was like, I'm not going. I'm not taking the opportunity. I will never forget this.

Zac:

Because you wanted to stay with your boyfriend back home.

Kim:

I didn't, I didn't see the. I did not see the bigness of that. Do you know what I'm saying? I didn't understand the opportunity of it. I didn't know that that was a good thing.

Zac:

Your dad must have kicked your butt.

Kim:

Yeah. So anyway, I. My dad goes, you're going. I'm like, okay, whatever. So I didn't apply for my passport. So I was like, well, if I don't apply for my passport, I can't go.

Zac:

No way. Kim.

Kim:

This is a true story.

Zac:

So you are actually hijacking it. You really are.

Kim:

I'm brainstorming ideas and making plans. Okay.

Zac:

Yeah.

Kim:

Goes right back to this proverb.

Zac:

Okay.

Kim:

So I. About two weeks before we were going to fly to Japan, I said, dad, I don't have my passport. I never applied for it. Oh, my Lord. I thought, lord, I'm gonna get a whipping. I thought, oh, Lord, I'm on restriction at the very least. Of course, I'm 20. Right.

Zac:

20. I was gonna say, I don't know, but yeah. You living at home?

Zac:

Were you living at home?

Kim:

No, I had my own apartment. Had my own apartment.

Zac:

Okay.

Kim:

My dad was like, oh, I don't think so. So he goes down with me to the passport office, and in two weeks, I had a passport and my tail was sitting on that flight to Japan.

Zac:

Yeah, it was. That's great.

Kim:

And so my father's plans and purpose prevailed. I say all that to say this. I would. I would regret that experience so big if I had my father had not made me do it.

Zac:

Yeah.

Kim:

Let me say this. You can regret things in life. And I could have not gone. What if I. What if my father had not made me gone and I'd not gone? Some other young woman would have taken my place, and God's plans and purpose would have prevailed. Somebody would have taken my spot. There's something in your life that you should be doing right now. Do it.

Kim:

Because whether you do it or he go get somebody else to do it, his purpose will prevail. Don't miss out. Don't miss out. Don't get so locked on your plans, your brainstorming all of the things that you think are good for you that you miss his purpose for you? That's what today. When I read that this morning, I thought, God, have I been standing in your way? Have I been dragging my feet? Have I been missing your plans and purpose for me because of all my brainstorming and planning? Sometimes, as a former. Well, no, as a. Hi, my name is Kim. I'm a recovering control freak.

Kim:

As a person who's halfway decently intelligent. No comment. Zac, I don't need the peanut gallery here. Somebody who's lived a little bit of life, I can tell you that we really don't know as much as we think we do. And there's always room for more and for growth. Zac, have you ever felt in your life that you have over planned, overthought, overworked, over brainstormed and missed what it should have been?

Zac:

Yes.

Kim:

Or could have been? Me too.

Zac:

I think that I've done that so many times in so many different contexts in my personal life, in my professional life, in every single facet of my life. And there's actually. So this is something I learned from you, Kim, which is as I literally today, literally earlier today, I was writing out. We always tweak the show a little bit every season to make it fresh and new for the audience. And I literally was writing this document of what you know, the run of show, basically how it's gonna work. And I'm sitting there and I hear your voice in my head being like, you're overcomplicating this. You're overcomplicating it. Why are you over complicating it? That is what I heard.

Zac:

And you're totally right. Like that to me.

Kim:

We do it. We all do it.

Zac:

Yeah. These things go hand in hand for me. The over planning, the over complicating, the trying to make, you know, get every single morsel out of every single moment. The optimization. Yeah.

Kim:

Yeah. But wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. We don't have to do that because his purpose prevails. I know.

Zac:

And that's it for me. I was like, I just need to let go the show. This doesn't matter, right? This thing. These details don't matter because the show is going to be what the show is.

Kim:

It's going to. It's gonna prevail.

Zac:

Yes. I don't get to decide what the audience likes or doesn't like. I don't get to decide what I. How. It's all taken. I don't get to decide.

Kim:

It doesn't really matter. It doesn't really matter.

Zac:

Yeah, but here. Okay, so here's my question then, Kim. How do you know? How do you know? How do you know when you need to plan and push and prep and be ready for the time when you can step into your purpose and God's plan?

Kim:

All of that. Now, it didn't say you don't prepare.

Zac:

Yeah.

Kim:

It just says, let's just read it again so that you'll understand it will understand it. We as humans keep brainstorming options and plans, but God's purpose prevails. It didn't say, don't brainstorm, don't plan, don't prepare. It's just saying, as you're doing that, just keep in mind, don't worry, don't fret, don't control it, because he's in control.

Zac:

Right.

Kim:

His plans and purpose prevails. He's going to have his way. I Wrote a song a long time called what he has for me is for me. What he has for you is for you. Oh, my God. What? Amy was going to remember this. He has for me is for me, and what he has for you is for you. That is so true and applies to this proverb.

Kim:

What he has for you will prevail. Yeah, I'm just saying, are we. Could we be. I know I am delaying it, getting in the way, causing it to be pushed off a little bit. That is 2025 for me. I want to get to his purpose quicker. And sometimes the brainstorming and the planning and the control, it. It's a little bit of a brick around our neck.

Kim:

And. And we're. It's. We're drowning slowly. Right. We keep on. It's taken us a longer time to get to the top because of it. And I am only speaking for myself.

Kim:

Please do not. Please do not say I'm. That. That is you. I'm just saying if it is you, you're in good company because I'm right there with you.

Zac:

Yeah, right.

Kim:

Isn't it good?

Zac:

I think it's so good, Kim. And I think that what I want to leave the audience with or what I want to think about is, okay, we can't control the outcomes. So how do we make our planning and our, like, the things that we can do? How do we make that better? How do we make that feel better? Cause I think I get the sense from you that you're in a moment where it's actually really hard. Like, you're in a hard moment. It sounds like with all of that.

Kim:

It is the brainstorming and the planning and the worrying and the anxiety and the controlling, and all of those things are a lack of trust, not only in God, but. But in our own purpose, in our own abilities. This is what I'm going to do as I'm moving through 2025, when I start feeling that or I start over planning or overthinking and have anxiety about it and what's the outcome to be and how are we going to get there and how are we going to do all this? And I'm going to stop and I'm going to pull out Proverbs 19:21, and I'm going to just take a deep breath and know, regardless of how much I toil and plan and brainstorm and prepare, which is all good stuff. It's not bad stuff. It's not bad stuff to have a little bit of fear. Fear can be your frenemy. It can be a friend to you. It can push you to a place that you normally wouldn't go.

Kim:

But at the end of the day, we do what we can do and let him do the heavy lifting. We cannot heavy lift this life, y'all. We can't. We're humans. And you might be listening to me and say, kim, I don't really have that kind of faith. I know, but can you try it? Can you just say, I can't do this anymore, and I'm going to trust that your purpose prevails in my life. What else are you going. What do we have to lose, y'all? The time is now.

Kim:

I know. There's freedom in that. There's freedom in trusting. That proverb right now, for you today, there's freedom in trusting. But God's purpose prevails. Not and not. Could be, shoulda, woulda. But although we do all this, but God's purpose prevails.

Kim:

So, I mean, we could do a whole nother episode about seeking God's purpose. But I'm just saying, for all of us control freaks out there, for all of us producers of our own lives. Zac.

Zac:

Well, for all of us struggling to get somewhere, struggling for some goal. Right. We're all doing that with something.

Kim:

There's nothing wrong with that. Or just remember, whenever it seems overwhelming or ever seems like none of this is working out, or it's not. It's not performing like I want it to, and I'm not healing as fast as I want. I don't have the savings that I want, and I don't. My kids are not. They're not prodigal sons. They're not coming back quickly as I want. God's purpose prevails.

Zac:

Yeah. And you can't do it for anyone else, either. Like, for the other people in your life who you see struggling, or you're trying to help them or you're trying to change them. Right.

Kim:

Can't do that.

Zac:

That's a whole nother episode. Probably.

Kim:

Yeah. And like, I mean, it's. Zac, I mean, maybe we should do that episode next. You know, you can't control others, and we can't. We can't even control our own outcomes, much less someone else's. But I will tell you, the way you look at your preparation, the way you look at your brainstorming, the way you look at your planning will shift if you remember his purpose prevails. Right? You are planning and brainstorming and working and toiling and all of that with hope. Not.

Kim:

Is it going to work out Whatever is supposed to work out per his purpose, it will.

Zac:

It's gonna work out.

Kim:

But don't miss it, because my grandmother used to tell me this. Lord have mercy. I can't even say this on here. It was in the Bible. She said, if he can use a donkey, an ass. If he can't use a donkey in the Bible to get his will done, he can use anything and anybody. And she was right. Is that.

Kim:

That's a true story. That is a Bible story I used to know. Can you imagine that? I'm sitting with my grandmother, she's reading me, and she says, ass. Okay, But I'm just saying, like, if he can use a donkey to get his purpose done, he can use you and will use you if you allow it. Now, if you fight it, deny it, and say, I'm not doing it. He. His purpose will prevail. So he'll hop on and use somebody else because his purpose will prevail.

Kim:

Go on and let him use you. It's time. It's time. It's time to let go of your plans and your brainstorming and your outcome and let him do the outcome. And you just prepare and work it from that point of view. I'm going to do that. So who's. Who's going to do it with me this year? Hands up.

Zac:

I'm doing it.

Kim:

Everybody, hands up.

Zac:

I'm doing it. I'm letting go. I'm doing it.

Kim:

We're going to do it.

Zac:

This is your faith coming through. This is you expressing your faith, right?

Kim:

Yes. Yeah. Well, honey, you know I'm a woman of faith. I'm crazy about it. I'm a nutbag. And the older I get, the more I know it's real.

Zac:

Yeah.

Kim:

You can't tell me the things I've experienced in my life. Get the book. Collecting confidence and read miracles, healings, craziness. You can never tell me it's not real because I've experienced it. But it's out there for you to experience as well. That's the great thing. He is no respecter of persons. He loves us all.

Kim:

He loves us all. So what would you say this episode is for all the control freaks, all the brainstormers, all the people that are trying to orchestrate, produce stress, anxiety, worry, plan their entire lives? We got hope, y'all, because God's purpose prevails every time.

Zac:

I got it. Wait, wait. I got it. I got it. I got it. We're gonna make all the people that are type A, type G.

Kim:

Oh, drop mic. We're out. Bye, y'all. Zac, you've just become. You've just redeemed yourself as a producer, right?

Zac:

Yeah.

Kim:

Oh, wait.

Zac:

I wasn't rolling this whole time.

Kim:

Are you for real?

Zac:

No, no, no. I was.

Kim:

My God. Oh, my gosh.

Zac:

You were about to lose it.

Kim:

Yeah. My purpose is get ready to prevail.

Zac:

I'm just getting ready to kick my butt. All right. All right.

Kim:

I love you. Okay. Bye, y'all.

Zac:

All right. Bye.

Kim:
The Kim Gravel Show is produced and edited by Zac Miller at Uncommon Audio. Our associate producer is Kathleen Grant from the Brunette Exec. Production help from  Emily Bredin and Sara Noto. Our cover art is designed by Sanaz Huber at Memarian Creative. Our show is edited by Mike Kligerman. Our guest intros are performed by Roxy Reese. Our guest booking is done by Central Talent Booking. Our ads are furnished by True Native Media. And y'all, I want to give a big huge thank you to the entire team at QVC+ and a special thank you to our audience for making this community so strong. If you are still listening then you must have liked a few episodes along the way. So tell somebody about it. Tell somebody about this show and join our mailing list at kimgravelshow.com. I cannot do this show without you and so I thank you from the bottom of my heart for listening. I hope you gain a little bit of encouragement, light and love love from watching and listening to The Kim Gravel Show. I love you all so much. Till next time. Bye.