Episode Details

Welcome to the Gospel Reverb podcast. Gospel Reverb is an audio gathering for preachers, teachers, and Bible thrill seekers. Each month our host, Anthony Mullins, will interview a new guest to gain insights and preaching nuggets mined from select passages of Scripture in that month’s Revised Common Lectionary. The podcast’s passion is to proclaim and boast in Jesus Christ, the one who reveals the heart of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And now onto the episode.

Anthony: Hello friends, and welcome to the latest episode of Gospel Reverb. Gospel Reverb is a podcast devoted to bringing you insights from Scripture found in the Revised Common Lectionary and sharing commentary from a Christ-centered and Trinitarian view.

I’m your host, Anthony Mullins, and it’s my delight to welcome our guest, Dr. Catherine Toon. Catherine is a Christian author, speaker, and coach who shows you how to experience God so that you can confidently live out your God-breathed purpose. She’s the author of the book Marked by Love and several others. And she has her own podcast called Perspectives with Catherine Toon, which you can find on YouTube, and I encourage you to do.

Catherine, thanks for being with us and welcome to the pod. And since this is your first time here, we’d like to get to know you a little bit, your story, and especially what has you experiencing delight these days.

[00:01:30] Catherine: Thank you so much. This is a joy and an honor, and I’m so happy to be here. And I love that question.

I don’t get that question. What is giving you delight these days? And I think. Probably how to answer that is just in our communion with this gorgeous God that is so wild about us and experiencing his delight over us. He is delighted in his kids. And I know early on when I wrote the book, the Lord said, “Catherine, you’re the fabric of my delight.”

And this is how he sees us. This is not just me. And this is how he feels about us. So, his delight is our delight. And he’s such good Father, such a good Son, such a — the Holy Spirit in us, through us, moving around us — is such a — the person of God is delightful. And just experiencing his delight is my delight.

And when we’re able to slow down, we’re able to see that in small things. We’re able to see that all around, every day. When we’re frantic and driven and fearful, we miss out. So, one of the things he’s been doing is slowing me down, which takes some doing by the way. And that’s been a work in progress and I’m doing pretty good, I have to say.

And he’s telling me I’m doing pretty good, so I can actually say that. But with that, I’ve been able to savor things that I’ve missed. And so that’s been a joy. That’s been something beautiful that comes to bear in the midst of life, which is life in all its variegated flavors.

[00:03:34] Anthony: Yeah, it’s so wonderful to hear you talk about God delighting in us. I grew up with unfortunately this misconstrued idea of who God was and I just felt he was constantly, at least had a low-grade disappointment in me. So, to think of a God who delights, it’s just it felt too wonderful to imagine back then and so to come into this apprehension. I don’t fully comprehend it, but this apprehension of the goodness of God revealed in Jesus Christ. It changes everything, doesn’t it, Catherine? And you find delight, like you said, in the small things.

I’m fascinated by your background, if this is correct. I read that you were a board-certified internal medicine medical doctor, and I’d love if you’re willing to share to know the backstory of how you left behind that vocation of internal medicine to practice another kind of internal medicine that God has prescribed to us, and that’s God’s love revealed in Jesus Christ. Would you mind sharing?

[00:04:37] Catherine: