Enjoying Freedom in Christ, Leah Austin's Story

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Hey friends, welcome to the Her God Story podcast where you will always hear a good story to encourage and inspire you in your walk with the Lord.

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I'm your host, Jodie Chiricosta, Ministry Leader at Somebody Cares America and International, author and traveler on this journey of faith, and I am so glad you tuned in.

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Hey, have you heard of the Her God Story podcast clubs? You can start one. It's very easy.

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Just gather together a few friends, neighbors, or colleagues to talk and encourage each other in your walk of faith.

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It's very simple. Listen to the same episode, download our prepared podcast questions from hergodstory.org, and then discuss over your favorite refreshments.

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It's also a great way to reach out to friends who don't know Christ yet. Include them in the conversation and see what God will do.

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Gather some friends and try it out. When you do, email us at prayer at somebodycares.org to let us know so we can be praying for you.

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1st Timothy 2:5 in the New Living Translation tells us there's one God and one mediator who can reconcile God and humanity, the man Christ Jesus.

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He gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone.

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But what does that freedom look like? The Apostle Paul goes to great length in the book of Galatians talking about the freedom we have in Christ,

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and summarizes the reason in Galatians 5 verses 13 and 14, which in the New Living Translation reads,

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for you have been called to live in freedom. My brothers and sisters, but don't use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature.

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Instead, use your freedom to serve one another, for the whole law can be summed up in this one command. Love your neighbor as yourself.

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When we come to Christ, we have that freedom. But just like a baby learning to walk, it can take time to learn to walk in that freedom and then serve out of that freedom.

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My guest, Leah Austin, has a story of freedom. I've recently gotten to know Leah and am inspired by her love of people and her zeal for the Lord.

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First and foremost, Leah is a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. She loves being a wife of an amazing husband, mother of five beautiful adult children.

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Yes, ladies, she's very busy and a me-me. As a certified Christian counselor, leadership, life, and financial coach, Leah helps those looking to walk in the freedom for which Christ has set us free.

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She also has a master's degree in business from Liberty University, serves as discipleship director of small groups and a worship leader at Bridge Church in Virginia,

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works as a business manager for an insurance company, and owns and operates a catering business called Wesley's Catering LLC.

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And she has just come out with a book entitled, Freed, Walking Out of Broken Places, which is a collection of women's testimonies.

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We'll have a link in our show notes to Leah's blog where you can find information out about that book. Leah, thank you so much for taking time out of your very busy schedule to be on this podcast.

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Welcome.

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Thank you. Thank you for having me.

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Leah, share a little bit about where and how you grew up.

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Well, I grew up in Fort Smith, Virginia. So I've lived here in this area all of my life, with my both of my parents who are still living today.

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Really good home. I grew up going to church. It was a, you know, we grew up in a Baptist church. So it was a traditional kind of Baptist church growing up.

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My grandmother was a big influence in my life when it came to church and God. I mean, she just loved reading her Bible.

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I love that the fact that she was always reading her Bible or quoting scriptures and things.

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So, you know, again, a very good home, you know, wasn't too bad at all. We were very close. I'm very close with my dad.

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So again, it was, you know, just a great time, you know, to grow up with my friends and things like that. So it was pretty normal childhood, I would say.

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So you were, you know, going to church familiar with who Jesus was and is.

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But you didn't really know him. Even though you'd gotten baptized when you're in your teens, it was more of a heart cry really than a commitment to follow him.

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Of course, the Lord heard that heart cry and pursued you right into your college years when something changed everything. Can you explain?

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When I was 14 years old, I did get baptized. But when I turned 15, my parents, you know, kind of gave me that choice. So by the time I was in college, I really hadn't, you know, continued going to church.

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I really hadn't continued, you know, you know, being a part of the church at all.

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But by the time I came to get to college, because my parents at that, you know, had told me I didn't have to go to church. So I really didn't. And so in that time in that season of, you know, being in college, I met this guy.

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You know, we were dating and everything and it kind of turned from bad to worse. He was not a good person. I had gotten pregnant around that time.

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And in the midst of that, God just really began to surround me with with Christian friends at the time that I didn't know realized that was happening in my life that he was doing that he was surrounding me with Christian believers and everything.

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And so but again, I was in this relationship that was not God centered. He was abusive. It was not a good place. And so I realized that I needed help. I know I needed, I needed God.

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And the only thing I could reach back was to, you know, the things that I've heard in church and the things that I heard from my grandmother. I mean, she was a big impact in my life at that time, and to get to know God.

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And that was the only thing I knew at that time to go back to, because I was really spiraling out of control at that point. And I needed help. You know, here I was in abusive relationship and I was pregnant.

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That was not, you know, a good place to be, you know, in my life at that time. And so God really put a conviction in my heart to get saved. And I remember going to my apartment and really crying to God and saying, God, if you send my friends, I will get saved.

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And I remember looking out my window and here they come running up the walkway. And I got saved right in my apartment. My best friends, a wand and a leader, they prayed for me to receive Christ.

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And I was like, in my life just began to change at that moment, everything I felt, the fear that I felt, everything that I felt, and literally like felt off of my life at that point. And I felt such a freedom that I didn't expect to happen at that time, even though I was sitting there, I was pregnant.

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There was still this peace that came over me that I could not even explain. And even when I had told, you know, my friend who was abusive that I was no longer going to live with him, no longer going to be with him, you know, it was intent when he had came to my apartment, the, you know, a few weeks later,

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that he, his intent was he was going to kill me. But he didn't. I mean, God really stepped in and he just, you know, I let him know that the new man in my life was Jesus.

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And I felt like I had no fears at that point standing there talking with him. And I felt like God removed that fear out of my life to really stand boldly, even though he said that that was his intent coming there.

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But then he left. I mean, the conviction of what what God did in my life.

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Words cannot express it was not me. I knew it was totally God that changed my life at that point. And so, again, that was a really a turning point in my life is when when Jesus entered that day.

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It was a new start for me. And I couldn't think of me any more than I could right now because I think about that today and I still remember that moment.

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And it's still fresh in my mind because that's the grace and mercy of God.

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Wow, that is, I mean, he's so faithful, so good. He's just amazing.

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The way he surrounded you with people who were there for you at just the right moment to lead you to Jesus who Colossians one 13 and 14 says he rescues us from the kingdom of darkness and transfers us into the kingdom of the dear son of his dear son who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.

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So you're able to move forward free from fear, which is incredible that you're standing there facing a man who's intention was to kill you.

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Yeah, even though, you know, I mean, that could have been very unsettling and then you move forward as a pregnant young college woman that can be unsettling, you know, pressure, pressure to say, you don't need to do that, right?

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How did God see you through that? I think it's really it's just grace. I mean, God knows where we are and he meets us right where we are.

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And so taking us to that, you know, to bringing me out of that broken place is started with dealing with me wasn't dealing with the person.

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It was really knowing and discovering who I was. I lost my identity. And so he really began to help redefine that for me. Who I was in him. I was his child.

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You know, Bible says we are fearfully and wonderfully made. And sometimes we forget that we forget that God is fearfully and one wonderfully made us.

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He set up a purpose in our heart and continues to order and direct our steps. I mean, I cannot think of a life without him, you know, walking without him, because of where he how far he's brought me.

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And I just, I know it was only by his grace. It's only by his love, even in that moment to know that he was with me the whole time.

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Sometimes we go through so many different things in our own lives. And that realizing that God is right there. If we just open up our hands and just reach out, he's right there.

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If we just call on him, he answers and at that moment he when I called on him on that day, he answered and he answered right away. I mean, my friends were there right away and I didn't know that they were coming up the walkway.

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Only God would have known that. And so that's when you know that God is right there with you to do no matter what when you call upon him, he will answer.

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So, I mean, now you're trying to finish college, got great friends around you. But you had to tell mom and dad what was going on and family members. You had a close family so that probably wasn't too easy, was it?

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It was not. Telling my parents probably was the hardest thing I ever had to do. Because again, we're close knit. And at that moment to sit on the phone and I told my mom first, she was kind of silent, what do you want to do?

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You know, she even asked me that I wanted to get an abortion and you know that was, you know, in my mind, I didn't think about that. And even when she said it, it was like, no.

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You know, it was not even a thought for me. Because why would I do that as a human being. And, you know, I've always thought that way.

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And for my dad, because we were very close, like my dad and I were very close. I mean, where he went, I was like, no matter where he would go, I would be in the car already. We would drive off.

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So, and anytime I got in trouble, I knew he always had to answer a solution. And so when I had to tell him, it was very, very hard. And so usually, any problems that I have, he always has a solution.

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And that day when I told him I was pregnant, it was very silent.

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There was no words.

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It was nothing. And it threw me for a loop because he always had, you know, some wise word to say it's going to be alright or, you know, we're going to get through this or whatever and it was none of that.

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It was very quiet and I even had to say, are you on the phone? And it was very, very silent. The only thing I say was, you know, should I leave school? And he was like, no, you're not going to leave school.

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We're figuring something out when you get home. And just his tone and everything had changed. And so there were some things that that really had transpired between us.

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And it really did a wedge between us that I never thought could ever happen. And it was the first sense of, and I didn't recognize it and probably tell about five years ago that I was dealing with rejection.

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And, you know, God took me back to that moment where that was the first time I had felt rejection. And that was a hard place. And I didn't know the word or what it was at the time.

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I just felt like my dad wasn't answering. He didn't have an answer for me. And it just began this journey, you know, in our relationship that we're much better today than we were.

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Because God, you know, let me realize that. And I think about that scripture in Isaiah 53, where he says, you know, Jesus said I was despised and rejected and acquainted with grief.

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And I think about that. And I remembered that scripture that God knows. And he's been despised. He's been rejected. And further on in that Isaiah 53 in verse 11, it says, after he suffered, he will see the light of life.

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And I think about that because when we continue to seek God, when we continue to press into him, no matter what we're going through, he is that light.

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And we always talk about the light at the end of the tunnel. There's a light. He is the light. And he's been, you know, that continuous light through that whole process of just, you know, finding who I am in Christ and discovering who I am in Christ.

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Because that there was a whole new world for me being being a Christian. I went to church, but we really didn't talk about salvation much. So when I got and save, you know, it was a whole new world for me.

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So again, that my walk with Christ has always kind of been kind of that sort of new kind of thing, getting into the word and a new discovery for me. And so that that to me was well worth it.

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So how did you walk into that? I mean, you're a new believer, you're in college away from home, you know, pregnant and then a new mom.

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And but you were growing in Christ. And how did that happen? I mean, where did you connect so that you really were getting fed and growing in the Lord?

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And I connected with my one my roommates. My college roommates were new Mo Uno, a leader Butler and Wanda Walker. These were the two sisters who helped me to grow in Christ.

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And they can they connected me to Wellington boom ministries. And we would go to church and we would get in the car and go to church at that time he was in Richmond, Virginia, which was about probably 3045 minutes away from our campus.

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And so it was an experience to really go to a church where they really taught the word and he was a man of God who who taught you taught us the word he taught us to get in the word for ourselves to seek God to pray every day to develop and have a prayer life.

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And then we had prayer groups and prayer ministries on campus. And we had a Wednesday Bible studies where some of the leaders from his church would come to our campus and do Bible studies.

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And so we would learn about the Lord we would we even learn how to evangelize like we would literally go outside and they would show us how to talk to people about Jesus.

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And so that that was pretty cool, but it was scary at the same time when you're new in Christ you barely know anything in the Bible.

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But as you know the Holy Spirit is so faithful because all you need to know is your testimony and that that was where you started.

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And so, you know, that's how I grew. I mean, my, my friends, we kept each other accountable.

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We prayed together. We were very close and we are close today. And so it's just, you know, having that those connections is so important.

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Having the right people in your life praying to God and asking God for the right people in your life.

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I remember when I got saved. I remember one of the things I asked I told the Lord I said, OK, I'm saved now.

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I don't know really what all that means. So I'm going to need your help, you know, to show me how to live this life because I don't know how.

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And he has been faithful to that very, you know, statement that I said to him.

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It wasn't even a prayer was just my talk with him. And that's all I needed.

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And he literally has been surrounding me with amazing, amazing people just like you.

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And so I'm just, you know, it's so great to know that there are people out there that you can lean on and that support you and pray with you.

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And that's what, you know, my friends did for me. Pray with me, supported me, corrected me, corrected me.

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We need that every once in a while, don't we? Yeah.

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Absolutely.

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Yeah. So after college, you move back to the Hampton Roads area to be near family and God started showing you his purpose for you.

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Now, this is a whole new thing. I mean, you were growing in Christ before, but now he's like, I have a purpose, Leah.

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You weren't just created for no reason. I've got a purpose for you. And he starts showing you that. Share, share how he did that. Share what that was about.

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Before I left college, I met some friends who lived in the area at one of the conferences we had.

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And so it was a great way to connect. And because when I came back home, I was like, what church do I go to that?

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I go back to my original church or do I go to a new church? And so meeting those guys at that time was like God's perfect timing and really getting connected into a ministry again that teaches the word of God, who trains in the word of God.

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And so I got plugged into that church at that time. It was called Agape International. And it was a great church, great pastor.

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And I learned how to lead worship. It was the first time I've ever led worship. It was the first time I ever did a solo. I never used to sing a solo. I always just sing in the choir, but never a solo at all.

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And so here I was learning how to lead worship, developing as a kind of a leader in the church, just helping out whether I was ushering or greeting or, you know, you just join the church.

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You just kind of sign up for everything when you're a young adult. So when you're when you're kind of young single adult, you sign up for everything, whether you're usher, greeter or accounting money or leading worship, you just want it to be involved in church.

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And so just, you know, finding yourself finding your way, being learning how to be humble and learning how to be submissive and learning how to study the study the Bible.

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And so that was my way of being able to learn and grow again, connecting to ministries and and people in the ministry that'll help you grow and fellowship.

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And during that time, you actually met your husband. I'm sure you must have been a little wary of allowing just any man into your life because you had a son to protect.

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So what was different about Wes?

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Wesley and my son actually met before we met. And it's funny because I have a cousin that was attending the church while I was in college, and he was taking my son to church and I did not know that.

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And when I got to church with my son and people were saying hello to him, I was like, how do these people know my son?

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No, my son in church. So my it so I mean, God directed and God directed did not know that he was going to that particular church and how God arranged it that I would go to that same church.

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And literally, the guy that I met that invited me to come to this church was Wesley's brother.

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And so his brother had invited me to church. And so I met Wesley through. They had a big young adults ministry.

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All of us were friends and we had fellowship for about a couple of years. So I've known Wes for two years, we were all friends.

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And so we always got along. And so meeting him and, you know, with other friends and stuff when we were all hanging out, we just we connected. And so we had, you know, he asked me out.

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And, you know, we just really just hit it off. I mean, we talked about the Lord, we talked about politics, we talked about everything.

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And there was nothing off off off the table. And then my son was another. My son really liked him. You know, my son is, you know, we're a package deal.

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And so, you know, my son did not like you. Then there's something wrong with you. He was very discerning with at that age. But he really liked Wes.

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He he loved playing with him. He loved just getting to know him and wasn't him really connected very well. They had a really good relationship.

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When they talk to each other, they, they really hit it off. And so to me, when I saw that that that made a huge difference to me.

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You know, how my son feels about the person that I'm around and I didn't bring a lot of people around my son at all. The West is probably the second person that's been his life out of three years after college.

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So, you know, I make sure that, you know, again, you know, my son was protected and and God made sure to.

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So after you and Wes got married, you went through a bit of a rough patch, a bit of a rough season of financial problems.

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And what was the root of that? What did you and what did you go through and ultimately how did you get free from it? Financial troubles can be difficult.

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Oh, yeah. If anybody wants to talk about financial ups and downs in a marriage, you will find ups and downs because you have two different people with two different personalities about how money is to be handled.

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And so everybody can, a lot of people can probably relate to the fact that, you know, there's somebody who's out there who handles money one way and they look at it a different way.

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And so for us, you know, it was very, very different. And so we didn't realize how different it was because we want to hurt money.

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I didn't, I wasn't raised, you know, anybody ever sat down and said, this is a budget like what is a budget? Nobody ever, you know, so neither one of us had that experience.

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It was just like you have money is in the bank, you have money to pay to build. This is what you do.

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Nothing about a budget. So we were just living by the skin of our teeth. And so it God blessed us. I mean, but there were times where we really struggled. I mean, we really struggled hard just to make ends meet, especially at the time when I had lost my job and everything was kind of on him.

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So we really relied on God a lot. And so through those, through that season, we had bought a house.

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And which was the wrong season. So it was around the 2008 recession, the debacle, you know, everything that happened at that time, it became a mess and a blessing at the same time and I explained it because even in that, even in the midst of, of, you know, buying the house at the wrong time or whatever it was,

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at the wrong time or whatever came about. I mean, God was still in it. I mean, I just remember when we started going to the church, we go to now bridge. And it was, it was the first time we were there. We just felt the presence of God.

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And so the second time we were there, we were there. We, it was a time of giving and at that time, we had $20 in our pocket, $20, only 20 bucks.

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And I remember both of us sitting there saying, God speaking to us saying, I want you to sell that $20. And believe it or not, it was hard. I mean, we've had some hard times in our finances.

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So that $20 was all we had. When I tell you was all we had, we had no money to bank. Z grow. $20 was all we had. And we was thinking about ramen noodles and how we can break this up to last for the next week or so.

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And sure enough, God said, sell that $20. And my husband looked at me and say, God told you to sell that $20. Like God didn't tell him.

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And I'm like, okay. Yeah, God didn't tell you that. But he told me that. And so we in faith, so that $20. And at the end of church, one of our pastors came up to us and he came across the other side of the room.

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So I don't know who on the other side of the room knew we needed money. But literally he brought us an envelope of cash and it was $200.

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Before we left the church, we was just literally still in the auditorium. And when I tell you, God moves that day, it was, it was, it was definitely a miracle that God did that for us.

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And, and I cannot think him enough. God is always in the midst of the details, no matter what financial problems we go through or what we face.

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God was always there, even when we had our time of being homeless for about six months, we were homeless.

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And even though we were homeless, you know, our kids were still strong. And our kids were were probably more of our saving grace because they thought we were just, you know, you know, going to, you know, family houses to, to just have a sleepover.

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And so they would think we was doing a bunch of sleepovers, because they were young. And so they were, they were loving it being in the cousin's house or the grandparents house they were, they were just loving it at the time.

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And I think that was our God's way of saying it's going to be okay, because your kids are okay. And so we kind of leaned on our kids, I think at that moment, because they were, they were doing well.

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And, and I felt like, you know, when, like any parent, you feel like you're just not doing your full best, especially when you become homeless and you feel like, you know, everything you did was wrong.

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And so you have to trust in the Lord and your finances with everything you have to trust in the Lord. And so we found ourselves trusting in God and depending on him, and knowing that everything that he gives us.

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You know, he is for a reason we were always hiding we never stopped hiding even when we were homeless. We never stopped hiding because God was always still faithful.

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And sometimes you feel like you tie them. And nothing happens, but you don't stop because God is still in the midst of what you're doing so we didn't stop tithing we didn't stop giving.

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Just because we were homeless. We continue to do that, because we always believed in tithing we always believing in giving, and even in soaring to other people, even when we were homeless, we were still giving someone bread or or milk if they needed a next door neighbor or whoever.

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We will always give us and so we never stopped doing that, even in the midst of all of that that we were going through. And so when our church had introduced us to financial peace.

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That was the game changer. And this was like our last ditch effort to say how do we turn this around. And we had to make a commitment to say we're going to turn this around.

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And we love through this program through Dave Ramsey that they had these steps that we could use to really get us a momentum going in our finances and gave us permission to say no to some of the debts that we couldn't pay and say yes to some of the things that we couldn't.

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And that was that was that was such a game changer for us to be able to say you know what we're taking our finances back we understood what a budget was how to use it how to manage a budget.

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And so it became, you know, something that we use today so we automatically do a budget every month.

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And we never we haven't stopped since. And so it's been such a turnaround for us. And it gave us permission to spend it gave us permission to save it gave us permission to know where our money was going and knowing that God has called us to be stewards over what he's

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given us, you know, no matter what, no matter what amount of money you have, God has called us to be stewards over it. So little or big doesn't matter.

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You were telling me that as you were going through this you were modeling this good stewardship for your kids who were growing, of course, you know, they're in those formative years, and you really instilled in them good stewardship.

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And they're all doing great now as adults as young adults aren't they tell tell us a little about how you instilled those principles in your kids. And I mean, that's what parents are supposed to do right equip our kids for success in the world, particularly with God.

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But that includes every area of our life, including finances.

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That's absolutely. It sure does. And I'm telling you when when we were going through this, this change for us, we literally set our kids down and told them what we were doing and told them, you know, we're, we're, you know, we're going to be tightening up.

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We're on a budget, but we're going to be doing some things but it may not we may not be able to do everything that we want to do. I remember sitting down with our kids and Wesley and I told the kids that we were not giving them Christmas gifts on Christmas.

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And that was the hardest thing we ever had to do. But I love their response.

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And they said, it's okay.

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You give to us all year round. And that to me made me cry. I was, I was done for because, you know, I think about, you know, we think about our kids are going to suffer if they don't get a Christmas gift.

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Or like, you know, they're just going to be heartbroken because they didn't get that doll or that that new game or whatever the case may be.

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But I love it when we really sat down and told our kids where we were, what we were trying to accomplish, what we were doing, how we got here.

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And we apologized to them for the time we were homeless for those times we repented before them and let them know that we're going to do better.

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And so, you know, even in that, they saw how we were moving forward and what we were trying to accomplish. And they were a part of that. We didn't exclude them from that.

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We made them a part of that. So even when we went shopping, they was like, is that in the budget?

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You know, is that in the budget. And so I remember as they got older, we sent them through financial piece.

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We sent them through the adult class. The first class, my husband, I coordinated, my kids were in it.

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My kids were in it. They were front and center. And my kids been walking through the baby steps and literally living debt free.

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They have never had any debt at all. They bought their cars, cash, everything they do, they pay cash for it, or they saved through a sinking fund, vacations, all of that.

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And it's never too late. It's never too late to sit down and teach your kids how to do a budget. It's never too late to apologize and say, let's do it. Let's start over.

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Let's have a do over. It's never too late to get them involved in your finances and sitting down with your husband and you guys working together and making a conscious effort to work together.

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It takes time. It was not it was not an easy walk. It is never an easy walk when it comes to getting financial free or even breaking breaking through freedom is a process.

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It's not just an event. It is a process.

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Well, you know, friends, there are widows as well as orphans all over the world with financial and other needs that we as a company of women can meet together.

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So if you want to consider joining us with a special gift to help, just go to her god story dot org and click on the widow and orphan tab at the top of the page.

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So Leah, you're growing in Christ, you're serving in the church, you're free from fear. Now you're free from financial bondage.

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But rejection. That was something you mentioned earlier. You still felt from, you know, that that time when your dad didn't have the right answer for you.

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First of all, how is it reinforced in your life because this is many years later now.

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How did it impact your thoughts and your actions and then how did you finally break free.

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Well, it impacted me in a way that everything, you know, they in me make it will make everything seem a rejection.

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When you feel like you're not being asked to go out to lunch or you feel like you're not being asked to go out to dinner or you feel like you're not good enough.

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And sometimes when you feel like you're not not good enough, you have to walk in this perfection.

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You have this perfectionist attitude like everything has to be right. Everything has to be in its place.

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You feel like you can't you can't make a mistake because you feel like, you know, you made a mistake years ago and you, you got pregnant out of wedlock and you made this mistake and you can't get over it because it's the biggest.

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You feel like this is the biggest mistake in my life. So I can't make any more mistakes.

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So everything you feel like is, you know, if you did one thing wrong for me, if I did one thing wrong, then I didn't do it right. There's a rejection there.

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It wasn't right. It wasn't good enough. And sometimes you feel like you're not good enough. And it's so not true. It is so not true.

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And it was, it did take a long time for me to kind of walk through that.

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I remember people telling me, and I didn't recognize it until later on when people would say, it'd be my coworkers or whatever, say you are such a perfectionist.

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You're such a perfectionist. And I didn't understand that or really knew what it meant and sometimes I would brush it off.

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But I knew that the Holy Spirit was really bringing that up into my life and said you need to really deal with that.

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And it's something you need to deal with. And sometimes we don't even realize it, that perfectionism comes sometimes from the areas of rejection because we feel like we have to have it all together.

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And we don't have to have it all together. I discovered that we really don't have to have it all together.

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That God's grace is sufficient. And that, you know, when he created us, he didn't create us to be perfect because if we were perfect, we wouldn't need Jesus.

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He wouldn't need to come if we can walk in our own perfection. But I needed him.

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And discovering that I realized that, you know, I know how God has made me. So I had to redefine who I am in Christ, knowing that I'm a woman of faith, knowing that I'm a woman of integrity, knowing that I'm a woman of courage and God has not given me the spirit of fear.

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And knowing that in his word, and I had to continue to remind myself through his word and continue to read scripture, hear messages, passages or reading books.

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Again, to hear other people's story, that to me made a world of difference in knowing who I am. And then I had to forgive myself. And then I had to forgive those that I felt that hurt me.

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The Bible says to forgive those who trespass against you, forgiving others, forgiving yourself.

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And knowing that you don't have to be perfect. You're not perfect because there was only one who's perfect and that's Jesus. And so since I can't be perfect, why try?

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So I found that, you know, there's freedom in that. There's freedom in knowing that you don't have to, it doesn't have to be all right. It doesn't have to be all boxed in this perfect little bow gift.

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It doesn't have to be that way. Just be willing. Just be available. Just be open. Be authentic of who you are. And God will bless you. I mean, God will be with you.

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And then you'll find the freedom in that. You'll find that peace and walk in that. Because then you'll know that you're not doing it out of your own power.

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You're doing it because you just love people. You love where people, where people are. You love helping people and you find yourself like, I rather want to see people grow and better in themselves at their own pace.

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Not at my pace, not at somebody else's pace, but being able to trust themselves in their decisions and being able to trust who they are and how God created them and your unique self.

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Everybody's unique. No one has the same thumbprint and fingerprint for a reason because we are all unique. And that's what God wants. Our uniqueness.

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Yeah, he does. I mean, God created, God is such a creative God and he loves all of his creation.

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Yes, he does.

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Every unique, every little unique piece of it is, and he did it for a purpose.

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So, you know, you lived under that cloud of rejection for such a long time, but now you are free from that too. And as you've been walking into greater and greater levels of freedom, God's been doing more through you as well.

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Share a little about all he has you doing now.

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So right now, it's a lot of things. One, again, continue to strengthen my relationship with my kids. I mean, as they're growing adults and they're all, you know, living outside of the house now.

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So we come up with an eye empty nesters as of two years ago. That was a change. That was a huge change life for us. I miss them so but I'm so glad that they're doing well and and God is definitely building our relationship in a whole new way.

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I work more with our worship team. I love working and helping to lead our worship team and our church.

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I'm director of small groups out of my church and I love doing that because I love to see people connecting and community and coming together in community.

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Weston Weston at times, you know, we counsel people and and we want to continue to do that.

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Continue to grow in that. I just finished.

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As you mentioned earlier, this is my first anthology. I was a part of another anthology. My sister helped me heal under Shavon and that who's also my mentor and coach.

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And it's amazing and into again for God to do that and to put that on my heart and people just to say yes, yes, I'm willing to share my story. Yes, I'm willing to share my testimony.

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Because that was amazing to hear other men and women share their testimony of what God has done in their life and reading those stories just encouraged me and I know that it will encourage others.

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So again, for God, God gets all the glory for everything that he's doing in my life and I can't wait to see many more things that that is happening and even to do this podcast.

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This is amazing. I mean, I've never done a podcast before.

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The first of many.

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Oh, so.

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Yeah, so Leah, as you ponder all the God has done in your life and he's done so, so much. What encouragement would you give our listeners?

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I would say, you know, be your authentic self, whatever God is calling you to do. Trust him. Trust him what God is speaking in your heart to do, even when you don't feel equipped or prepared or feel like you have all the degrees or all the skills necessary.

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He's telling you to do something. Just do it because that means that he's equipped you and he'll put the people around you to help you fulfill whatever he's calling you to do.

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And so all of us, you know, feel like we're not adequate in doing what God is telling us to do. But sometimes we just trust him in what he's telling us in in where we're at, and just move on that.

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And trust he'll bring everything we need to fulfill whatever he's calling us to do. So trust in that.

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Well, as we close, Leah, would you share about a woman in the Bible who has inspired encouraged or taught you something?

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That's good. You know, there's been so many women in the Bible that has inspired me. I think Esther has inspired me in a sense where I feel like I'm coming into such a time as this to be able to encourage other women and even including men to be the best selves and to step up to what God is calling to do.

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And at times I feel like that the woman with the alabaster box, I just need to lay everything down at Jesus feet. I'm just, I need to lay everything out to him.

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And then there are times I think about the woman who gave her two pennies, all she had to God. And because I feel like financially, God, there's not enough money that I can give you to say thank you enough for all that he has ever done for me.

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So it's hard to just narrow down to one woman because I think throughout there have been so many women who've inspired me over the years.

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And so I'm just so thankful when I when I think about the women in the Bible, there are some with no name, and even them, they have changed my life.

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And so, yeah, that's good.

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Well, Philippians one six in the NIV assures us that God who began a good work will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

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As we journey with the Lord, and we listen to his voice, being careful to do what he says, even if the world's wisdom says otherwise, God's perfect work of freedom in every area of our lives will be complete.

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Leah, would you take a moment and pray for our listeners?

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Father, I just thank you, Father, for every single person listening to this podcast.

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I thank you that you know where each and every person is today.

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I thank you that you are with them.

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I thank you that when they call upon you, God, that you answer.

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I thank you that they would know that you are near and dear to their heart, that God that whatever you laid within their heart that they're able to overcome.

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God, did you have given us more than enough to overcome?

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I thank you, Father God, for every single heart that they would continue to surrender and humble themselves before you.

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That God that we would be forgive ourselves as Lord that you've already forgiven us.

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God, we thank you, Lord, that you are God of second chances.

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And we thank you for those waking up this today to a second chance.

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We thank you, Father, for those who didn't have hope will have hope today because they have you and those who don't have you today that they would get to know you.

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God, I thank you, Lord God, for every listener, Father God will continue to be inspired.

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And I pray, Lord God, that they have been encouraged today.

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In Jesus' name, amen.

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Amen.

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Well, thank you for tuning in.

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In our show notes at hergodstory.org, you'll find scriptures and the other information we talked about.

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And don't forget to sign up for our emails and get a six-week devotional on women of the Bible that you can download for free.

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Or you may want to purchase a 12-week Her God Story devotional for just $12 knowing that all the proceeds will go to our Witte-Winorfen fund.

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And if you enjoyed this episode, consider starting a Her God Story podcast club.

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You can find more information at hergodstory.org.

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We'd love to pray with you on our 24-7 prayer and text line.

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Give us a call anytime at 855-459-CARE or email us at prayer@somebodycares.org.

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And now, dear friends, I bless you from Colossians 1 verses 11 through 14.

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May you be strengthened with all God's glorious power so you have all the endurance and patience you need.

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May you be filled with joy, always thanking the Father.

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May you understand that God has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to His people who live in the light.

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For He has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of His dear Son,

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who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.

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May you live in, enjoy, and use that freedom for God's glory.

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Her God Story is a ministry of Somebody Cares America and International.

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To find out more about or support the ministry, go to somebodycares.org.