5 Minutes with Jesus” is a daily devotional series for people in the midst of real life, whether facing anxiety, grief, questions of purpose, or simply needing encouragement and connection. Hosted by Sheila Walsh, each five-minute episode offers Biblical truth, honest reflections on faith and emotions, and closes with a moment of prayer.
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| Sheila Walsh: How to Be Honest with God | 5 Minutes with Jesus | September 23, 2025
- Honestly, it took me years to open up to god.
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- I'd lived much of my life filled with shame,
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- With the profound sense that no matter what i did,
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- I would never be good enough for god or for anyone else.
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- Clinging to that falsehood,
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- I kept a wall around my heart so that no one could hurt me.
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- Well, the wall kept me safe,
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- But it also kept me lonely.
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- David writes this in psalm 62, verse six.
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- Let all that i am.
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- Wait quietly before god.
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- For my hope is in him.
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- He alone is my rock and my salvation.
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- My fortress, where i will not be shaken.
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- And he adds in verse eight, all my people
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- Trust in him at all times.
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- Pour out your heart to him.
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- For god is our refuge.
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- Do you ever struggle
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- To be really honest with god?
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- Does it feel as if it would be
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- Disrespectful to tell him exactly what's weighing
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- You down?
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- I remember a conversation
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- I had with a woman who was stuck in that very place.
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- I'm angry, she said to me.
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- Strange way to start a conversation,
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- But i could tell that her emotions were overwhelming her.
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- I had just finished teaching at a conference
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- And i was signing a book for someone.
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- When this woman stepped in between us.
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- And that's what she said.
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- I am so angry.
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- So i asked her to wait just a second.
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- I finished signing the book and handed it back to the lady
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- In front of me, who was now looking a little concerned.
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- So i turned to my angry friend and i said, let's walk
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- For a bit.
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- When we were finally alone, i quietly asked her,
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- What happened to you?
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- For half a second i thought she might slap me,
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- But as i watched, the ice in her eyes melted
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- From anger into intense pain, she fell into my arms
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- And rivers of tears streamed down her face.
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- I buried two sons, she said,
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- When she could speak.
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- She told me this
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- Every time i hear you talk about your son.
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- It's like a knife in my heart.
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- We talked for a long time that night as we wept together.
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- At one point, i asked her if she'd let god see her rage,
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- And she seemed horrified by that suggestion.
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- I can't talk to god like that, she said.
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- Don't you think he already knows?
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- I asked, holding her tight.
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- He knows. and he loves you.
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- He knows, and he wants you to trust him enough
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- To tell him the whole truth about what you're feeling.
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- He wants you to pour out your heart to him.
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- Have you ever done that?
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- Have you ever simply gotten alone with god and
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- Let him have it all?
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- The good, the bad, and the downright ugly.
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- Whatever it is you're thinking and feeling.
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- Doing so will change your life.
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- Trust me.
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- I speak from experience,
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- But honestly, it took me years to open up to god.
- 00:03:03.606 --> 00:03:07.010
- I'd lived much of my life filled with shame,
- 00:03:07.010 --> 00:03:10.013
- With the profound sense that no matter what i did,
- 00:03:10.013 --> 00:03:12.315
- I would never be good enough for god or for anyone else.
- 00:03:12.315 --> 00:03:16.653
- Clinging to that falsehood,
- 00:03:16.653 --> 00:03:18.621
- I kept a wall around my heart so that no one could hurt me.
- 00:03:18.621 --> 00:03:22.258
- Well, the wall kept me safe,
- 00:03:22.258 --> 00:03:25.228
- But it also kept me lonely.
- 00:03:25.228 --> 00:03:27.563
- I remember the day
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- When i was finally, brutally honest with god.
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- I was alone in my room in a psychiatric hospital.
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- When i finally broke, i told god everything.
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- I told him everything i felt.
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- I told him about the sadness
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- And confusion of my father's death by suicide.
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- The pain that carried for years.
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- It wasn't pretty,
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- But i was struck by lightning
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- So that i actually felt closer to him than ever before.
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- Truth does that.
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- Truth destroys walls.
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- So are you willing to take that risk today?
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- Will you fall at the feet of jesus
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- And tell him the whole truth
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- About what you're thinking and feeling,
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- And then let him love you back to life?
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- God knows your whole story and he loves you.
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- I love this verse from psalm 145.
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- The lord is close to all who call on him.
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- Yes, to all who call on him in truth.
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- Let me pray for you.
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- Father, i want to thank you that you invite us
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- To come as we are, not as we wish we were.
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- Thank you that you are a safe place,
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- A safe harbor, where we can tell you the whole truth.
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- And you will love us back to life in jesus name.
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- Amen.
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