I needed this reminder of God's Goodness

Have you ever found yourself wondering where God's goodness is in the middle of a painful season?

In this special episode of Hey Tabi, Tabitha Westbrook shares a devotional originally presented at a women's retreat centered around one powerful verse from Psalm 27: "Yet I am confident I will see the Lord's goodness while I am here in the land of the living."

Rather than looking at the verse in isolation, Tabitha walks through the entire Psalm, exploring how David wrestled with fear, enemies, uncertainty, and waiting on God while still choosing confidence. Through personal stories, biblical insight, and practical encouragement, this message offers hope for anyone navigating trauma, grief, coercive control, difficult relationships, anxiety, or spiritual exhaustion.

If you've struggled to trust God's presence in hard seasons, you'll be reminded that God is near, that He holds His children close, and that even in the midst of suffering there are still pockets of beauty, delight, and evidence of His goodness.

In this video, you'll learn:
• What Psalm 27 teaches about fear and courage
• How to recognize God's goodness during difficult seasons
• Why waiting on the Lord requires courage
• Practical ways to focus on what is good, lovely, and true
• Encouragement for trauma survivors and those healing from difficult relationships

 This book is for every Christian woman who has been harmed sexually, whether that happened in childhood, adulthood, or even within your coercive controlling marriage, and you're longing to feel safe in your body again. We talk about the hard stuff, shame, desire, faith, and even questions like, is this sin or is this trauma?

You don't have to untangle it alone. Body & Soul, Healed & Whole is for you. Get a copy here today - https://a.co/d/8Jo3Z4V

👍 If this episode resonated with you, please like, subscribe, and share to help others who need this information!

📖 Order Body & Soul, Healed & Whole: An Invitational Guide to Healthy Sexuality After Trauma, Abuse, and Coercive Control

Wanna support Hey Tabi? Buy me a coffee here - https://buymeacoffee.com/heytabi

📩 Connect with Tabitha & The Journey and The Process:
💻 Tabitha's Website - www.tabithawestbrook.com
📲 Tabitha's Instagram - www.instagram.com/tabithathecounselor
🎙️ Podcast Homepage - https://heytabi.buzzsprout.com

💻 The Journey & The Process Website - www.thejourneyandtheprocess.com

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🚨 Disclaimer: This podcast is not therapy and is intended for educational purposes only. If you're in crisis or need therapy, please reach out to a licensed mental health professional.

Need to know how to find a great therapist? Read this blog post here.

Transcript

A Different Kind Of Episode

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey there. This week's episode of Hayes Habby is going to be a little bit different. As you can see, I don't look like I normally look. I'm looking totally different actually. And that is because I am on the road. But what I'm going to share with you this week is a devotional that I did for a recent retreat. And I hope that it blesses your heart and helps you to maybe just feel a little bit of encouragement. We'll be back to more normal Hey Tabby stuff next time, but I did want to share this with you this week. Welcome to Hey Tabby, the podcast where we talk about the hard things out loud with our actual lips. We'll cover all kinds of topics across the mental health spectrum, including how it intersects with the Christian faith. Nothing is off limits here, and we are not take two verses and call me in the morning. I'm Tabitha Westbrook, and I'm a licensed trauma therapist, but I'm not your trauma therapist. I'm an expert in domestic abuse and coercive control and how complex trauma impacts our health and well-being. Our focus here is knowledge and healing. Trauma doesn't have to eat your lunch forever. There is hope. Now, let's get going.

Settle Into Your Body

SPEAKER_00 1:05

Good morning. So I want to start by just inviting us to be in this space. There are a million other things to think about. And you might already be thinking about lunch, even though we just had breakfast, or you might be thinking about, do you want to do diamond art or do you want to do fill in the blank, right? There's a million different things that can be running through our minds. You might be thinking about home or thinking about what might be happening at home. And I just want to invite you to come into this place and to just notice your body in this place, to notice your back against the chair, your bottom on the seat, your feet on the floor or wherever your feet are in space. Just be here. Now give us just a second to take a breath and allow ourselves to just come into this space. So I'm going to talk about a statement that I think we could call a coffee cup verse if we wanted to. But it's so much more than that. And it would be a really dense coffee cup if we tried to put it all on a mug. But that verse is from Psalm 27. Yet I am confident I will see the Lord's goodness while I am here in the land of the living. So you're probably really familiar with that verse, and you might be like, okay, I'm not so sure about that some days. Some days I'm not unsure that I'm in the land of the living, though I'm still breathing, and I am not confident in God's goodness. And I think

Psalm 27 Beyond The Coffee Cup

SPEAKER_00 2:47

that that verse can lose so much of its punch if we don't read the whole psalm. So I'm gonna just quickly walk us through that this morning and talk about it. So it's kind of gonna be like a living commentary. You may get a little of the NTT or the new tabby translation as we do this, but I want to just kind of pull us into this psalm. And so that's one of the reasons I want us to be here, especially when we hear these familiar verses. Sometimes we're like, yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. But I want you to use your imagination if you're willing to do that, to really let's put ourselves inside of this psalm today. So I'm just gonna start at the beginning and like kind of walk and talk through. So it's kind of like watching a YouTube channel with commentary. The Lord is my light and salvation, so why should I be afraid? Now we're all gonna go. I mean, there's a lot of reasons, right? Um, but the psalmist is calling back to the Lord and remembering for himself what is going on in this place. The Lord is my fortress, protecting me from danger, so why should I tremble? So Psalm was written by David. We know that he was being chased down by Saul and bad things were happening, but he is reminding himself in this moment. He's kind of grounding himself in I can trust God here. Like things, you know, like God is my light and salvation, and he protects me from danger. I don't have to be super scared. When evil people come to devour me, when my enemies and foes attack me, they will stumble and fall. That is really good news. But it also reminds us that the enemies do come to attack. And so David is saying, like, I see all this stuff, but I'm gonna remember what will happen to them when they attempt to harm me. Now, look, as a survivor myself, I know that we're like, they do not look stumbly if your coercive controller is attacking you in this moment. You're like, I'd like them to stumble. That'd be amazing. You know, and and so sometimes we have to look at like the the broader view of it from the light of eternity. And one of the things that we know from the New Testament is that our trials are light and momentary. And as a human, I go, and they don't feel that way at all. But we, when we reorient our minds to what is true, it can help us get through those really hard moments. Though a mighty army surrounds

Confidence While Under Attack

SPEAKER_00 5:18

me, my heart will not be afraid. Even if I am attacked, I will remain confident. The first time I read this psalm, I was still married. I was at a women's retreat and I was feeling really heavy and burdened. And I didn't know why. I still didn't know that I was in a coercively controlling relationship at the time. So I'm sitting on the floor of this Airbnb in Newburn, North Carolina, and I read this psalm. And I'm like, God's like, here's your life chapter. And I was like, is my life gonna be one that needs a whole chapter? The answer was yes. I needed more than just a life verse. But I see how God in my life has ordered that. I know some of you here, and I see how the Lord has ordered that. That when you are attacked, even when it's really hard, I have seen so many of you rise up and be confident. Sometimes you do it scared. There's a little, um, I forget which table it's on, but it says, do it scared. And like I love that because I'm an Enneagram 6. I don't know if you know anything about the Enneagram, but that means that I am ready for the zombie apocalypse and I'm slightly anxious, right? So I'm a counterphobic Enneagram 6, which means I will punch fear in the face, but that's the move of the Lord in my life. So like I get that. Like when you're like, I don't feel confident, but my confidence doesn't have to be in me, it's in God. And the psalmist is reminding us. So he starts off with, I don't have to be afraid and I don't have to tremble, and I can be confident, but it's not because of what he can do. It's because of what God can do. The one thing I ask of the Lord, the thing I seek most, is to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, delighting in the Lord's perfections and meditating in his temple. That to me feels like such a safe passage, right? Like I just want to be in the house

Safety In The House Of The Lord

SPEAKER_00 7:11

of the Lord because where else would you be the most safe? And I feel like, although ultimately that means heaven, right? Like when all the sin has passed away and you has come and the new heavens and new earth are there, we get a little bit of the house of the Lord in here. And even though we have Wi-Fi, which is great and I love that, it is kind of nice to tell your family that the cell service here is terrible and that you can't be get, you can't get they can't get hold of you. So feel free to use that because it's still a true statement because the cell service is in fact terrible. You just don't have to say the other part that we have Wi-Fi. So I just want to give you permission to have terrible cell service this year. And being in the house of the Lord and meditating in his temple, we are called the temple of God. Our bodies are in the New Testament. So we can say also, like, I am here present with my sisters, I'm here present with the Lord in the temple of the of the Holy Spirit because the Lord lives inside of us. And so while it has a future outcome as well, it has a present moment outcome. For he will conceal me there when troubles come. And just let yourself feel this. Imagine being taken into his arms. If you're able to do that, now look, I know I don't know everybody's story in here. I know that can be a tricky feeling, especially if God's father has been used as harm or your earthly father was very harmful. So I want to recognize that. But imagine a loving father concealing you, taking you into his arms when troubles come. He will hide me in his sanctuary, he will place me out of reach on a high rock. Just imagine that. Like I think about like Scotland. I don't know why. I've never been to Scotland. I'd like to go to Scotland, but I think about those big rocky cliffs over that rough ocean, you know? And I just imagine being taken up and set on a rock far away from the waves and the storms and on those green pastures, which sounds a lot like Psalm 23. And I just imagine sitting there and like in my mind with the green pastures, there are no bugs, and I can sit on the grass without getting itchy. So as we imagine these things, right, we can bring to mind all of the goodness that is there. And I love this next part, right? So David says, You're gonna take me and hold me. I'm gonna be with you. I will hold my head high above my enemies who surround me. At his sanctuary, I will offer sacrifices with shouts of joy, singing and praising the Lord with music. Like what a safe place that is. And I can hold my head high. So all these jokers that are trying to mess with me over here, I'll have to give them the time of day. I can be joyous in the Lord in this place. Hear me as I pray, O Lord, be merciful and answer me. My heart has heard you say, come and talk with me. And my heart responds, Lord, I am coming. I have prayed these verses so many times. One time when I was driving, I was having the worst panic attack. I was like really bad off. And I just remember saying, Jesus, I need a hug. But like I'm in rural Louisiana and I don't know anyone. And so asking strangers for a hug when you're a single traveling woman is a really bad idea. But I needed a hug so bad. And the Lord said, I'll hug you. And I went, That's weird. But I trust him. So I was like, okay. And you know how, like, when your Spotify

A Panic Attack And A Hug

SPEAKER_00 10:44

playlist hits the Holy Spirit shuffle, have you ever had that happen? And like all of the songs are suddenly exactly perfect for the moment that you're in. I'm like, sneaky Jesus. And so I had the Holy Spirit shuffle of a Spotify playlist, and I felt like the Lord said, crawl up in my lap and I will put my arms around you. And I envisioned that I did not close my eyes because driving and I like to be safe. We already discussed NEA Gram six. But I did feel almost physically the Lord put his arms around me. And I cried from Mississippi to Alabama. I'm not kidding. I thought there were no tears left because it was such a tender moment where the Lord said, I see you and I am with you. You may not be able to see me. The veil sometimes feels super thick between what is temporal or sheer on earth and what is in the heavenlies. And it's not nearly as thick as we think. And he is as close as our own breath. And so when I hear the Lord say, Come and talk with me, I want to say, Lord, I am coming. I am coming. And I love this because isn't this so human? Do not turn your back on me. Do not reject your servant in anger. Like I just feel tears welling up in my own body of that, just like, God, please don't be like the the evil people. Please don't be like those who have turned their face away from me in my greatest need or have turned against me because they're wicked. And then he says, You've always been my helper. Don't leave me now. Don't abandon me, oh God of my salvation. How many times have we said that, maybe at three in the morning, possibly during a thunderstorm, depending on where you live and what time of year it is? But please, God, don't abandon me. Please don't be like the others. And I love this moment of humanity in the Psalms where David, in the He said all these wonderful things about God. And then he says, But just in case, please don't abandon me. Don't be like everybody else. And this part, this for me, as someone who has grown up in an abusive household, this, I remember reading this and just sobbing. Even if my father and mother abandoned me, the Lord will hold me close. The first time I read this, and what I'm reading to you today is in the New Living Translation. And I love the way that it says this. Even if my own parents reject me, you, God, will never do that to me. You will hold me close. Teach me how to live, oh Lord. Lead me along the right path for my enemies, are waiting for me. And I know it feels that way, right? If you are involved in custody battles or having to co-parent with someone who's unique, let's look at my Jesus, you know, or you have family that has turned against you, or a church has turned against you and has been a harmer of you, like

Abandonment Fears And God’s Hold

SPEAKER_00 13:46

knowing that the Lord is with you, even when your enemies are waiting for you, is the biggest gift. He says, I'm gonna hold on to you. And if we're talking about the creator of the universe who literally spoke everything into existence, bro said, let there be light, and there was light. Like, that's pretty cool. You know, if we have that person on our side, then all of the enemies in the world cannot harm us in eternal ways. Now, I'm again not saying that on this earth we will not have trouble. In fact, God said that, Jesus said it himself don't be surprised by the fiery trials. Here we are, not being surprised. But that doesn't make them fun and it doesn't make them less painful, but knowing that even though the enemies are there, the Lord will walk with us and he is teaching us along the way, which is incredible.

unknown 14:41

Right.

SPEAKER_00 14:41

When it's like, I don't know what to do. We have this God that we get to ask, right? In James, it says, if any of you lacks wisdom, ask for it and you will be given it liberally and above reproach, which means a lot without being mad at you for it, right? Like we sometimes as survivors think, I'm not allowed to breathe, right? How many of us in here, and you don't actually have to raise your hand, but you can if you want, how many of us in here are like, I am not sure I have permission to actually take a breath? Right? I don't know if I'm allowed to take up space. And God says, Oh, but you are, but you are, my daughter, you are. And I will teach you how to live, I will lead you along the right path. And that is echoed again and again in scripture. And I love this imploration. Is imploration a word? It is today. We have made an adverb. Do not let me fall into their hands these enemies that are waiting for me. For they accuse me of things I've never done. Can I get a witness on how coercive controllers speak to us? Right? They're saying, Well, you're just an unsubmissive woman. Right? Or you're not godly, or fill in the blank, whatever it is they say to us, right? They're accusing us of things we've never done, and with every breath, they threaten me with violence. We have been there, we have seen that, we have felt that. And this is when he says, After all of this, yet I am confident I will see the Lord's goodness while I am here in the land of the living. Right after, don't let me fall into the enemy's hands who are lying about me. But I will see your goodness here in the land of the living. So I'm gonna read the last verse in just a second, but I want to encourage you, where are the pockets of goodness today? When we talk about it in Philippians, it says, whatever is good and right and noble and lovely and all of those things, there's other things, but like set your mind on these things, right? And it can be so easy to set our minds on the things that are super hard and that are painful and tender. But where you can, even if it's teeny tiny, there's a ton of scientific research that shows when you set your mind on the things that are lovely, like nature,

Pockets Of Goodness For Stamina

SPEAKER_00 16:58

like each other's faces, like the good food that we are having. And honestly, this is the best retreat food of any retreat I ever go to, honestly. 10 out of 10, no notes. It's beautiful. Go out and like I can see the plowed field that's growing something. I don't know what grows. I kill all plants. Um, but I can see them and I can appreciate them. I looked out the window a little while earlier and there was a brief rain shower that had come over us, and I was like, oh, it's rainy. Wild. What is better than a summer shower when you can stand outside, especially if there are no mosquitoes, and stand in the rain for just a moment or jump in a puddle, right? Sometimes we lose that ability when we're kids. Like after we're kids and life just gets lifey and we forget the delight that is outside, the beauty of the worship flags in the back. All of these amazing things that we can just go, let me delight for just a moment. The heart is still gonna be there. It's never gonna go away, right? Like we'll always have something we have to deal with. It's called being alive. But there are all of these things that we can take hold of and take a breath with just for a moment. And then after David says that we're confident about seeing the Lord's goodness in the land of the living, the next thing he says is a little bit mind-numbing, slightly frustrating, but also still beautiful. Wait patiently for the Lord. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the Lord. In this room are some of the most courageous women that I know. You're already doing that part. You might not always feel that way and you might not always realize it, but you are. And waiting on the Lord can be really hard because we're like, do I have to keep waiting? Because like this feels like a very long time. But when we delight where we can, when we look for the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living and take those little bite-sized moments, that gives us stamina to keep going. And the Lord will hold you close. And I encourage you as we walk through the teaching the next couple of days and fellowshipping with each other, that you look for those pockets of delight and see if you can feel the Lord giving you a hug, whether it's through the arms of one of your sisters or whether it's supernaturally in

Wait Patiently And Take It Home

SPEAKER_00 19:15

some other way. Sometimes we call them god wings when he shows up. Again, sneaky Jesus. He knows what he's doing. I don't always know what he's doing. That's why he's sneaky. That you just let that envelop you so that you can take it with you and take that practice with you as you leave here at the end of the weekend. Thanks for joining me for today's episode of Hey Tabby. If you're looking for a resource that I mentioned in the show and you want to check out the show notes, head on over to tabithawestbrook.com forward slash hey tabby. That's H-E-Y-T-A-B-I, and you can grab it there. Look forward to seeing you next time.