Awaken Delight: Noticing God’s Presence in Little Things | with Andi Ashworth and Charlie Peacock | Episode 453

Stephanie Rousselle welcomes returning guests Andi Ashworth and Charlie Peacock for a reflective and practical exploration of what it means to delight in God—especially in the ordinary and difficult seasons of life.

Delighting in God is a daily discipline rooted in noticing, gratitude, humility, and relational engagement. Andi Ashworth and Charlie Peacock illustrate that wonder and joy can be found at “the molecular level” of life, as we learn to see reality with the eyes of heaven.

Listen here: https://www.podcastics.com/episode/416247/link/ 
Watch the conversation on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/gospelspice 

Ready to awaken your delight in God through "Awaken Delight" the book? Purchase it here: https://a.co/d/0625K1AZ  

Cultivating delight in God starts with intentional attention—slowing down to observe and appreciate even the small gifts in daily life. Andi Ashworth describes how, after a busy season promoting their book, she cultivated a new practice: sitting quietly in her small perennial garden, reading Scripture, praying, and simply noticing the details of creation—birdsong, blooming flowers, the work of bees. Over time, this intentional noticing awakened deeper gratitude and joy in the presence of God, even as life’s hardships persisted.

Delight is a daily practice, a choice to “step into reality” and seek God’s presence even in suffering. This deliberate practice transforms pain into moments of worship and gratitude. Charlie Peacock shares that delight in God is not dependent on favorable circumstances or feelings of happiness. Suffering—including his chronic headache of nearly ten years—taught him to seek and experience God’s presence regardless of pain. He emphasizes that true delight must be able to exist within difficulty, or it is not truly delight.

Intimacy and delight with God are relational and participatory. God invites us to pursue Him, and as we do, He meets us. Sometimes we wait passively for God to manifest delight, and other times we strive to create it in our own strength. In reality, pursuing delight is a “dance”—God initiates and leads, but we must actively respond and show up, especially when delight seems elusive.

Hardships, while unwelcome, often become ministers of grace, rooting us in humility and expanding our capacity for love and presence. Through chronic pain and other challenges, both Andi Ashworth and Charlie Peacock have experienced God’s grace and a deepening humility. Charlie Peacock notes how his “thorn” limits self-reliance and ambition, drawing him toward greater dependence on Christ and shaping him into Christ’s likeness. Andi Ashworth observes that their limitations have expanded their hearts and increased their compassion for others.

Never outgrow asking your good Father for small joys. Delight in God blossoms in those who cultivate grateful, attentive hearts. Both guests encourage maintaining childlike wonder and gratitude—even for small blessings like a hot shower, a well-timed parking space, or serendipitous tickets to an event. These moments, prayed for and received as gifts, reinforce God’s goodness and nearness.

Practices to Foster Delight

• Start each day with gratitude for basic abilities and provisions.
• Notice small joys—in nature, family, daily routines—and thank God specifically.
• Pray about “matters of mutual concern”: what matters to God, matters to us.
• Accept and embrace limitations as invitations to deeper dependence and presence.

Reflection question: What small gift might God be inviting you to notice—and delight in—today?