Faith Life is a Beautiful Life, Becky Keenan's Story

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Hey friends, welcome to the Her God Story podcast where you will always hear a good

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story to build your faith and equip you in your walk with the Lord.

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I'm your host, Jodie Chiricosta, ministry leader at Somebody Cares America International, author

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and traveler on this journey of faith.

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Genesis 12 begins the story of Abram.

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Verse 1 says, the Lord said to Abram, go from your country, your people and your father's

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household to the land I will show you.

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And verse 4 says, so Abram went as the Lord had told him.

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As you listen to Becky Keenan's story today, it might remind you a little of Abram.

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From a young age, she's been quick to respond to God's voice.

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Becky is the mother of two and serves as the senior pastor with her husband, Joe, of Gulf

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Meadows Church in Houston, Texas.

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I know you will enjoy her enthusiasm for God.

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Welcome Becky.

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Hello, it's so good to be with you, Jody.

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Thank you.

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Hi, Becky.

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I know you're a woman of action.

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Were you always that way?

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Share a little about your background and where you came from.

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Yeah, I'm the fifth child of loving parents who were married, oh dear, for 50 years.

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As far back as I can remember, I was very active, very bouncy, full of energy.

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Yes, so action is the right word.

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That's the name of the game.

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It is.

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It is.

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I was born that way and I think that my mother used to always tell me, God will sanctify

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you, he will polish you, but God gave you that personality so you treasure it.

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It's something that I've always had.

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I've been a little bit like Maria and the Sound of Music at times where she was singing

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when she shouldn't, skipping, hopping and whatnot.

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But I'm a jolly character.

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Come from a very happy family and siblings, parents and whatnot.

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So that's how I grew up.

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Where did you grow up?

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Well, I was born in Germany in Stuttgart.

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My dad was in the army, US Army for 27 years, served proudly and we all love our military

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and whatnot, all branches.

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Then we moved to New Jersey, to Fort Dix, then to Puerto Rico after my father retired.

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We're five, so we were all born in different places.

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An adventure and a wonderful life really to be able to serve our country.

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Yeah, you know, my dad was at Air Force, so I know that life and it is an exciting, adventurous

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life and it kind of put that spirit in me as well.

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I'm always looking for the next place the Lord's going to send me.

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What adventure is he going to send me on now?

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What led you actually to Jesus?

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How did he become real to you and frankly, your whole family?

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Well, I'm glad you said your whole family because in order to share my story, I have

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to share the background.

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When I was in Germany as a three-month-old baby, there was in the base meningitis went

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around and a child had passed away.

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This is 1963, but we won't tell anybody my age.

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Penicillin was the medicine used to cure meningitis and I am allergic to penicillin.

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When I came down with the touch of meningitis, I had fever and all the symptoms and whatnot.

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It was more than a touch.

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They brought my dad from maneuvers and you know, in the military, they don't do that.

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You're doing something and you're going to finish that.

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When they brought my dad from maneuvers and my mom saw him come into the hospital room,

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she knew it was really, really bad.

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They thought I was not going to make it.

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At that time, my father who had been raised Baptist in Puerto Rico, he had converted to

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Catholicism to get married to my mother.

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They both knelt down by the crib in the hospital and I had come after four children and seven

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years without kids after the fourth one.

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So very much a wanted baby.

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They knelt down and they said, God, you gave us this child.

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You gave us this baby.

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Please, you certainly know how to heal this child.

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So they knew that much.

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They had not read the Bible, but they knew that if God was our creator God, a father

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God, they knew that he could heal and that he would come through, right?

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Sure enough, the next morning I woke up and I was completely healed.

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But I need to say one more interesting detail.

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As they knelt and prayed for my healing, they made a promise to God and they said, if you

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heal her, she will be a nun.

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She will serve you because that was the framework of their faith at the time.

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So they said, we give her to you to be a nun.

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So I wake up the next day, I'm completely healed.

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We live a God-fearing life.

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I grew up all my life with a hunger, a desire that I remember clearly.

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Even as a child, I would read so many biographies of saintly people.

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I just wanted to know how can I know God?

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And that was a very driving passion, a force inside of me and genuine, you know, very genuine.

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So you have this hunger inside of you and you're going to the Catholic Church and you

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know, you're doing what you know to do.

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I'm going to the Catholic Church every single day, going to mass every morning, having communion,

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confessing and trying to live an upright life before God.

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And I did as much as I could.

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But you know, internally, there's stuff that you think about and you don't do, but you

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enjoy it as much as if you were doing it.

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And in your heart, you have evil desires because you're a human being and let's be real, right?

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This podcast is also about being real.

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We have desires, we have our will, we have our thoughts.

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And I had a very strict mother, so my thought life was very developed because that's all

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I had.

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So while everybody thought I was really, really good, and sometimes I believed it as well,

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it wasn't until I had an encounter with Jesus that I really, my suspicions about myself

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were totally confirmed and it broke me.

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Yeah, so I mean, you're hungering for the Lord.

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And of course, you know, with an unregenerate heart, we all have that, you know, mix of

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sin in us.

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Sin is ruling us at that point.

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But God looked at your heart and it kind of, you know, as you're talking, it reminded me

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of Cornelius in the Bible.

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You know, he was doing everything he knew to do to know God.

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And so God sent someone, you know, God said, go get Peter, who's going to tell you about

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me.

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You know, God worked it out so that your family also had an encounter with the Lord.

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How did that happen?

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What did he use to reveal himself to all of you?

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Well, I certainly was like Cornelius.

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I remember I had even walked to the house of this lady that lived a little farther away

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in our neighborhood to learn how to pray the rosary.

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And I did that every single night with 50 lit knees and the whole nine yards.

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And like you say, God saw my heart.

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My oldest sister was living in the United States and she had married an actor and they

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lived a very bohemian life.

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And they were hungry themselves because that's the truth.

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That's the truth of the matter.

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Everyone at some point has a hunger for God.

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And I would say to those listening, if you're at that point right now, give into that hunger

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and cry out to Jesus.

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I was exposed through them to all kinds of philosophies and all kinds of beliefs and

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they were not satisfying.

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And then one day, I remember they came to our house and they gave all of us Bibles.

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Now you need to understand, these are my beloved sister and her husband who you would visit

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and would be sitting under a pyramid meditating in their living room or that we're doing

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civil mind control or that we're doing some kind of Hindu thing or even spiritualism.

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And for those who are of Latin descent, santeria and all this type of stuff, so they were heavy

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into the occult as well.

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Because I will say something to the audience.

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If you start searching for God outside of the Bible, pretty quickly it'll be corrupted

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and you'll find yourself, even if you don't want to, worshiping something that is not

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God.

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And that is the difference between Christianity and every other religion.

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All religions are our effort, man's effort to reach God.

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And that has a certain nobility and value and goodness in that we want to seek God,

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but it's works.

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It's from the bottom up.

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Christianity is the opposite.

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It's God sending his son down to minister to us.

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He became one of us.

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What a mystery.

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Who else did that?

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No one.

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And he rose from the dead on the third day, defeating sin, sickness, curse, every evil

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thing.

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So they had had an experience with the Lord where God healed my brother-in-law miraculously

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from dengue fever.

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And while it's not a popular disease, I will say that healing with Jesus Christ is very

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popular.

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He will do it for you today and he will continue doing it.

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He was healed.

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He gave his heart to the Lord.

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And we saw a genuine change.

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They spoke not of religion, but of repentance.

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They spoke about turning around.

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They spoke about walking into the light, leaving darkness behind them.

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That's true repentance.

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That's true salvation.

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And we saw the fruit of it, joy, peace, love, a release of burdens, a calmness, and even

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an enjoyment of little things I have to say.

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It was just so…we were all so happy they got saved.

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But then they started, like I said, giving us Bibles and talking to us.

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And of course, I had never done any of the wicked stuff they had done, only in my mind,

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right?

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But they invited us to go to church.

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So we would go to mass at 10 a.m., do what we knew was right, and then at 2 p.m. we would

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go to their church, which was just a simple full gospel church, but we were terrified.

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We would sit all the way in the back.

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And while our spirit and we rejoiced and we loved the worship and the testimonies and

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everything, we were just scared to death that we were in this place that was not our religion.

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Then I understood that it's not about religion.

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I understood then that it's not about labels.

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I understood that it's about relationship.

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It's about relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, who is near to you.

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If you cry out to Him from your heart and you speak it, He does hear and He'll answer

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you and forgive.

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It doesn't matter what sin you commit, He can and will forgive.

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So our fear started changing into love.

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We were able to receive more of the Word of God, and after some time I wanted to bury

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my old nature because I had accepted the Lord.

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My mother invited me on a Friday night to this other little Bible study, this harmless

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little home study that she was going to.

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And I remember telling her that I was so bored, and that's the only reason I'm going.

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So remember, I'm listening, I have a Bible, I'm doing all these things, and I feel good,

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but I hadn't taken the step of faith.

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We all have to take the step of faith.

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There's a moment when you have to say, okay, this is me and you, Lord, and this is what's

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happening.

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This is where I'm at.

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So we were in this house meeting.

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I could walk from my house to that house.

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So I said, Mom, I'm going to go because if it's too long, I can walk away.

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And if they pray in the Spirit or some weird thing like that, I can leave.

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And if they should dare pray for me, I can run out of that place.

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And so I had all these preconceived ideas of what a Christian meeting in a home would

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be.

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So I went and you know what?

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The meeting took long.

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They spoke in tongues and they prayed for me and I didn't leave.

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I was glued to the chair.

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But you know why?

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Because I could see the genuine faith and genuine love for God.

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And that's what I had been looking for.

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So how could I leave?

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And it seemed like so simple, really.

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It didn't take me walking on my knees or doing some big sacrifice.

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Anyway, I remember at the end of this meeting, the owner of the house who was a family friend

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said to me, Becky, do you want to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior?

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And of course I said, well, I've always had Jesus in my heart.

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And he said, yes, but you need to acknowledge that you're a sinner.

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You know he's a savior, but do you know you're a sinner?

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And I had like a Tom and Jerry moment there when you watch the cartoons.

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They have a little angel on one shoulder and the devil on the other.

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And I could promise you that that happened to me that night because one little voice

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was telling me in a matter of seconds, if you give your heart to the Lord, your whole

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life is going to change.

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But in a negative tone, what it was saying was true, but it was kind of like in a bad

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way.

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And then on the other shoulder, I could hear like a positive voice, like a little angel

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saying, yeah, and if you give your heart to the Lord, your life is going to change completely.

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And then one little thing was added, and you will serve me.

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And I listened to that voice.

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I remember bowing my head, praying with all my heart.

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He led me in a prayer that I repeated, and I prayed with all my heart.

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And I knew that I knew that I knew, don't ask me why, that I was called to serve God,

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that I would preach, that I would travel, that I would take the gospel all over the

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world.

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And that did not fit my background, you see.

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There was no way that this would really, really make sense.

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My mother was there listening to me pray.

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And while she was very happy, she went home and had a special meeting with my dad with

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the door closed in the master bedroom and said, Becky prayed today, and she gave her

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heart to the Lord.

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And afterwards, she said that she would serve God.

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And that's when the Holy Spirit reminded her of the promise she had made God when I was

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three months old in Germany, that she had forgotten.

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That's why she went home, knocked the door and talked to dad, had one of those mom and

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dad, you know, private meetings that you're not allowed to go into the room.

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And she said to him, what are we going to do?

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Well, my dad wasn't even saved at the time.

243
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And he said, don't do anything, you know.

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So she was happy but terrified that I would serve the Lord, because she had already received

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the Lord before I had.

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You started serving the Lord almost immediately.

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Didn't take you long to start telling others about Jesus.

248
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When I was a little girl, I want to say I thank God and I bless that poor neighborhood

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because I would drag all the children in and anything I had learned, I would teach them.

250
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I had a big blackboard and chalk and this and even seats for them.

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Now, why would I be different when I got saved?

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So I went around, I remember I even made invitations and I went house by house, knocking on the

253
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door telling people I'm saved and I'm preaching and you need to come to this house meeting.

254
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I had no clue what I was doing.

255
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I knew, you know, like John 3.16, I knew like two verses, but I would preach, you know,

256
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with all my heart and I didn't have an interesting testimony.

257
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These people knew me all my life.

258
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I don't even know why they came, but they came and they got saved.

259
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People started getting saved.

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And then this is another crazy Becky story.

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One day this friend of mine, we had a house out in the country.

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These people were Christian across where our house was and they would always witness to

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us, to our irritation.

264
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And one day, I don't know what I said about having a guitar.

265
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I said something like, yeah, I want to have a guitar.

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He came to the city with a guitar.

267
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And this was right about the time after, you know, when I got saved, some months have gone

268
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by, he shows up.

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Wow.

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He didn't know I was saved.

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And he said, Becky, I brought the guitar that you want.

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Well, my mother was furious because right, you don't buy stuff.

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I didn't have a salary.

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You don't put me in this situation.

275
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And she paid, I don't know, a hundred bucks or something.

276
00:16:35,520 --> 00:16:39,520
And suddenly I had a guitar and I would look at that thing in my room and think, I didn't

277
00:16:39,520 --> 00:16:40,520
even want a guitar.

278
00:16:40,520 --> 00:16:43,820
Well, but then I started the house meetings.

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00:16:43,820 --> 00:16:51,760
So I can tell you, I learned D, G, and A. And people with D, G, and A, you can travel

280
00:16:51,760 --> 00:16:52,760
the world.

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00:16:52,760 --> 00:16:59,200
And I sang songs only that started in the key of D that needed a G and an A. And that

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was all the songs.

283
00:17:00,200 --> 00:17:02,480
Well, you know, back then that's what the songs were.

284
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They were three chords.

285
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Now they're much more complicated today.

286
00:17:05,500 --> 00:17:09,840
So I feel for those who are trying to learn today, but I did, you know, I learned the

287
00:17:09,840 --> 00:17:11,240
guitar when I was young too.

288
00:17:11,240 --> 00:17:16,660
And I could play any song, you know, because it was basically three chords with maybe a

289
00:17:16,660 --> 00:17:17,660
minor thrown in.

290
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Right.

291
00:17:18,660 --> 00:17:22,680
So, you know, the Lord was glorified one way or another.

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00:17:22,680 --> 00:17:28,640
I ended up having a Sunday school, what they used to call an extension Sunday school out

293
00:17:28,640 --> 00:17:29,840
in the country.

294
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So they were not, you know, spared my salvation either.

295
00:17:35,080 --> 00:17:38,840
So it started a Bible group out there as well.

296
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You know, when you receive the Lord and he's forgiven you and also giving you a hope and

297
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a future, like the Bible says, and a purpose and a calling.

298
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And even if you don't see all of it, I couldn't see all of it, but I was just so glad and

299
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so grateful.

300
00:17:53,720 --> 00:17:57,320
You immediately want to talk to other people, share it.

301
00:17:57,320 --> 00:17:59,080
And people share it in different ways.

302
00:17:59,080 --> 00:18:03,960
I want to hasten to say that you don't have to be like me.

303
00:18:03,960 --> 00:18:09,840
You might, you know, express that gratitude and that excitement in a different way, because

304
00:18:09,840 --> 00:18:14,040
like my mother said, we each have a different personality and God is-

305
00:18:14,040 --> 00:18:15,040
And different gifts.

306
00:18:15,040 --> 00:18:16,040
Yes.

307
00:18:16,040 --> 00:18:17,040
So different, yeah.

308
00:18:17,040 --> 00:18:19,760
God magnifies his name through us in, you know, many different ways.

309
00:18:19,760 --> 00:18:25,000
I know a lady that makes very tiny paintings.

310
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They're kind of like the size of a matchbox.

311
00:18:28,700 --> 00:18:36,520
If you can imagine a piece of cardboard folded and she paints on the outside, just some kind

312
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of landscape.

313
00:18:37,520 --> 00:18:42,920
And when you open it, it says a tiny little message like, you are forgiven.

314
00:18:42,920 --> 00:18:43,920
Jesus loves you.

315
00:18:43,920 --> 00:18:45,600
It's kind of like three little words.

316
00:18:45,600 --> 00:18:47,640
There is hope.

317
00:18:47,640 --> 00:18:54,880
And while that might seem very simple, that has touched so many people, her art.

318
00:18:54,880 --> 00:18:58,480
But you see, she doesn't speak, but she gives these out.

319
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I mean, she can speak, but she's not a speaker.

320
00:19:00,740 --> 00:19:03,480
So she gives these out and people are blessed by her artwork.

321
00:19:03,480 --> 00:19:07,960
Now you see, if I tried doing that, it would be like kindergarten art.

322
00:19:07,960 --> 00:19:08,960
So it wouldn't work.

323
00:19:08,960 --> 00:19:14,360
Well, you are actually a very brilliant young woman because by the time you were 16, you

324
00:19:14,360 --> 00:19:16,200
were enrolled in college.

325
00:19:16,200 --> 00:19:21,300
You know, you had plans of going on to be a neurosurgeon, but God had a different plan

326
00:19:21,300 --> 00:19:22,300
for you.

327
00:19:22,300 --> 00:19:28,680
How did that all go down with your, you know, as you were figuring out what God had for

328
00:19:28,680 --> 00:19:31,520
your life and talking to your parents about it?

329
00:19:31,520 --> 00:19:38,340
When I was a little kid, I destroyed every possible doll that I had because my room was

330
00:19:38,340 --> 00:19:41,160
like a lab or a hospital.

331
00:19:41,160 --> 00:19:46,840
So they were all hooked up to a straw inside a straw inside a straw and they had an IV

332
00:19:46,840 --> 00:19:50,800
that was like chocolate milk or whatever I found.

333
00:19:50,800 --> 00:19:57,240
I was, I think about it, I was an unusual child, but my parents were very patient, but

334
00:19:57,240 --> 00:20:00,200
they nurtured this desire of me being a doctor.

335
00:20:00,200 --> 00:20:02,260
They went along and I loved it.

336
00:20:02,260 --> 00:20:05,240
So I did well in school as well.

337
00:20:05,240 --> 00:20:09,920
I always was the kid that sat in the front, did extra homework, read an extra book.

338
00:20:09,920 --> 00:20:11,580
I loved school.

339
00:20:11,580 --> 00:20:14,800
They had a fund for me to go to medical school.

340
00:20:14,800 --> 00:20:22,800
I was very sure that I would be a neurosurgeon and I did do surgery on some, you know, helpless

341
00:20:22,800 --> 00:20:29,400
little snails and some lizards and I apologize to the animal kingdom at this point.

342
00:20:29,400 --> 00:20:35,320
But then when I got saved, what happened was together with this calling, I started going

343
00:20:35,320 --> 00:20:42,040
to a church where they prayed for the sick and I saw people getting healed of not, you

344
00:20:42,040 --> 00:20:44,840
know, I have a stomach ache or I have a fever and my toe hurts.

345
00:20:44,840 --> 00:20:53,560
I'm talking cancer or tumors or really terrible diseases, serious, serious stuff.

346
00:20:53,560 --> 00:21:00,440
And I remember sitting in that pew in that church and saying to God, this is not fair

347
00:21:00,440 --> 00:21:05,520
for people that go to medical school because it's so many years and it's so hard and expensive

348
00:21:05,520 --> 00:21:07,600
and whatnot, you know?

349
00:21:07,600 --> 00:21:12,920
And here these people are getting prayed for, all they're using, maybe they anointed them

350
00:21:12,920 --> 00:21:16,280
with oil, maybe they did it, but they prayed in the name of Jesus, you know, whatever,

351
00:21:16,280 --> 00:21:17,880
and they would really get healed.

352
00:21:17,880 --> 00:21:25,220
I'm talking with medical record proof and all this and I was devastated, devastated.

353
00:21:25,220 --> 00:21:31,280
And I remember thinking, you know, God was like renewing my mind and calling me and I

354
00:21:31,280 --> 00:21:32,920
was so in love with the Lord.

355
00:21:32,920 --> 00:21:38,320
I remember being in college and having a big biology book and inside I had the Bible.

356
00:21:38,320 --> 00:21:41,200
I was reading the Bible, you know?

357
00:21:41,200 --> 00:21:46,640
And finally the call of God, I felt it so strong in my life that I told my mom and dad,

358
00:21:46,640 --> 00:21:47,920
there's no point.

359
00:21:47,920 --> 00:21:49,240
There's no point.

360
00:21:49,240 --> 00:21:52,120
I want to go for the ministry.

361
00:21:52,120 --> 00:21:56,400
At this, you need to understand, I had been chosen in a group, it's called the group of

362
00:21:56,400 --> 00:22:00,880
100, where you skip all these years, even in college.

363
00:22:00,880 --> 00:22:06,280
El grupo de los 100, the 100, and mom's like, but you're the group of 100.

364
00:22:06,280 --> 00:22:09,400
I'm like, I know, but I'm miserable, you know?

365
00:22:09,400 --> 00:22:11,580
Wouldn't you want me to be happy?

366
00:22:11,580 --> 00:22:18,040
So that was a big hurdle because I didn't want to stab my parents in the heart in the

367
00:22:18,040 --> 00:22:21,200
name of Jesus and go serve the Lord, you know?

368
00:22:21,200 --> 00:22:24,680
But at the same time, I wanted to do it when God was calling me and there is such a thing

369
00:22:24,680 --> 00:22:27,240
as timing in the kingdom of God.

370
00:22:27,240 --> 00:22:31,480
You know, you should obey God when he's telling you to do it.

371
00:22:31,480 --> 00:22:35,680
So long story short, I just put them in the hands of God.

372
00:22:35,680 --> 00:22:42,520
I prayed, I did my interviews, I did everything that I needed to do on my part, and then God

373
00:22:42,520 --> 00:22:44,160
took care of the rest.

374
00:22:44,160 --> 00:22:50,720
One day my mom and dad, you know, came back and said, okay, we're going to let you go.

375
00:22:50,720 --> 00:22:56,240
By then I had been in college two years, I was finally 18, because I had told them, you

376
00:22:56,240 --> 00:23:02,040
know, look, I can finish college to please you, but the day I graduate, I will give you

377
00:23:02,040 --> 00:23:05,560
that diploma and then I'm off to be trained for the ministry.

378
00:23:05,560 --> 00:23:07,680
I want to serve the Lord.

379
00:23:07,680 --> 00:23:13,920
So when they saw, I guess, how serious I was, I didn't know anything about the secret about

380
00:23:13,920 --> 00:23:18,120
my healing and them dedicating me to the Lord to serve him when I was three months old.

381
00:23:18,120 --> 00:23:19,120
They hadn't told you, huh?

382
00:23:19,120 --> 00:23:20,120
No, no, no, no, no.

383
00:23:20,120 --> 00:23:21,960
They held that to their chest.

384
00:23:21,960 --> 00:23:25,920
That was close to their breast and they were not about to tell me.

385
00:23:25,920 --> 00:23:32,300
So finally when they saw how determined I was, how serious I was, that I was truly serious

386
00:23:32,300 --> 00:23:33,300
about it.

387
00:23:33,300 --> 00:23:36,080
Yeah, that it wasn't just youthful passion.

388
00:23:36,080 --> 00:23:37,720
No, no.

389
00:23:37,720 --> 00:23:42,320
And I was, you know, when I put my hand to do something, I usually did it.

390
00:23:42,320 --> 00:23:49,620
When they saw this was not going away, I remember they were very formal people.

391
00:23:49,620 --> 00:23:54,880
We sat in the formal living room, they called, and you knew that was at another level, you

392
00:23:54,880 --> 00:23:58,080
know, the conversation that was about to ensue.

393
00:23:58,080 --> 00:24:02,840
And they said, Becky, we need to tell you something.

394
00:24:02,840 --> 00:24:04,720
And they told me the story.

395
00:24:04,720 --> 00:24:09,440
They said how they knew that anyway, I didn't belong to them, that I belonged to the Lord

396
00:24:09,440 --> 00:24:13,960
and that they had given me to the Lord and he'd healed me and that they understood this

397
00:24:13,960 --> 00:24:20,160
was God calling me and that the Holy Spirit had been knocking at their door telling them,

398
00:24:20,160 --> 00:24:21,800
let her go.

399
00:24:21,800 --> 00:24:27,000
So I didn't know that, but he was one that convinced them about it.

400
00:24:27,000 --> 00:24:32,240
And I went, I left home, you know, with their blessing, with the blessing of my pastors,

401
00:24:32,240 --> 00:24:35,320
you know, everyone's blessing in the church.

402
00:24:35,320 --> 00:24:39,800
And it was very difficult for me to leave.

403
00:24:39,800 --> 00:24:42,800
The day I left, we went to the airport, everyone was there.

404
00:24:42,800 --> 00:24:44,640
I had a lot of friends and whatnot.

405
00:24:44,640 --> 00:24:51,720
And I remember my mother giving me a hug as if she wanted to push me inside of her chest

406
00:24:51,720 --> 00:24:58,240
wall and her being, you know, and then she pushed me with equal force and said, go and

407
00:24:58,240 --> 00:25:01,680
don't turn back, serve the Lord.

408
00:25:01,680 --> 00:25:05,920
And I was just shocked looking at her when she said that, but I said, yes.

409
00:25:05,920 --> 00:25:11,320
Left a very comfortable home, a loving and supportive family for an unknown future, kind

410
00:25:11,320 --> 00:25:12,400
of like Abram did.

411
00:25:12,400 --> 00:25:16,680
And after some initial training, you were sent out as a missionary.

412
00:25:16,680 --> 00:25:18,740
So where did God send you?

413
00:25:18,740 --> 00:25:19,740
What did you do?

414
00:25:19,740 --> 00:25:25,040
Well, I had the privilege of being sent to a very poor place.

415
00:25:25,040 --> 00:25:30,880
And so I went to, the first place I went was Dominican Republic.

416
00:25:30,880 --> 00:25:35,760
Dominican Republic, for those who don't know, it's an island that is the Espanola and it's

417
00:25:35,760 --> 00:25:39,040
shared with Haiti and Dominican Republic.

418
00:25:39,040 --> 00:25:41,840
So there's extreme poverty.

419
00:25:41,840 --> 00:25:44,320
We don't have electricity all day.

420
00:25:44,320 --> 00:25:47,640
The water is iffy at that time.

421
00:25:47,640 --> 00:25:49,040
It might be better now.

422
00:25:49,040 --> 00:25:54,360
I remember when we traveled, somebody said, take a big garbage bag, one of those big black

423
00:25:54,360 --> 00:25:55,440
garbage bags.

424
00:25:55,440 --> 00:25:56,840
And I thought, why?

425
00:25:56,840 --> 00:25:57,840
But I took it.

426
00:25:57,840 --> 00:26:03,160
And when you landed there at that time, they would just make a salad, toss all your clothes

427
00:26:03,160 --> 00:26:06,300
up in the air on the conveyor belt thing.

428
00:26:06,300 --> 00:26:09,000
And then I got the revelation what the garbage bag was.

429
00:26:09,000 --> 00:26:13,880
You just open that garbage bag and dump it all in the bag and put it back in your suitcase

430
00:26:13,880 --> 00:26:15,440
and close it and take it.

431
00:26:15,440 --> 00:26:18,360
So that was like welcome.

432
00:26:18,360 --> 00:26:19,720
But I loved it.

433
00:26:19,720 --> 00:26:20,820
I loved it.

434
00:26:20,820 --> 00:26:22,240
We walked everywhere.

435
00:26:22,240 --> 00:26:26,040
We were among the people.

436
00:26:26,040 --> 00:26:30,200
It was a very different experience for me.

437
00:26:30,200 --> 00:26:33,540
I had already practiced living by faith.

438
00:26:33,540 --> 00:26:37,820
And let me explain because it might be useful to somebody.

439
00:26:37,820 --> 00:26:41,360
My mother and father gave me everything I wanted.

440
00:26:41,360 --> 00:26:42,840
They were very strict.

441
00:26:42,840 --> 00:26:46,000
They did reward work and completing things.

442
00:26:46,000 --> 00:26:48,120
So they were very good that way.

443
00:26:48,120 --> 00:26:52,240
But at the same time, I'm the youngest and they kind of spoiled me.

444
00:26:52,240 --> 00:26:54,920
So my mother would give me a gift almost every day.

445
00:26:54,920 --> 00:26:56,920
It would be laid on my bed.

446
00:26:56,920 --> 00:27:02,280
So when I got saved and I learned, I started reading about missionaries and you start reading

447
00:27:02,280 --> 00:27:07,440
about Hudson Taylor and you start reading about all kinds of Brother Andrew who used

448
00:27:07,440 --> 00:27:08,760
to smuggle Bibles.

449
00:27:08,760 --> 00:27:09,960
He passed away recently.

450
00:27:09,960 --> 00:27:10,960
Yeah.

451
00:27:10,960 --> 00:27:11,960
What a faithful man of God.

452
00:27:11,960 --> 00:27:12,960
Yeah.

453
00:27:12,960 --> 00:27:13,960
Almost 100 years old.

454
00:27:13,960 --> 00:27:14,960
Yeah.

455
00:27:14,960 --> 00:27:15,960
Yeah.

456
00:27:15,960 --> 00:27:16,960
Reese Howells, the intercessor.

457
00:27:16,960 --> 00:27:22,280
I started reading all these stories I wanted to live by faith too.

458
00:27:22,280 --> 00:27:27,720
And the church I went to, all the pastors and ministers lived by faith, which meant

459
00:27:27,720 --> 00:27:29,240
you only prayed for your needs.

460
00:27:29,240 --> 00:27:30,640
You never told anybody.

461
00:27:30,640 --> 00:27:32,400
So I started practicing that at home.

462
00:27:32,400 --> 00:27:36,320
And I told mom, cut the gifts.

463
00:27:36,320 --> 00:27:37,640
I want to pray.

464
00:27:37,640 --> 00:27:41,480
And if God moves you to give me something, then I'll know if God's answering my prayer.

465
00:27:41,480 --> 00:27:45,320
So I kind of started training myself in a little way that way.

466
00:27:45,320 --> 00:27:50,280
When I left home, my most prized possession were my books, not my clothes really.

467
00:27:50,280 --> 00:27:52,560
So that's what made my suitcase heavy.

468
00:27:52,560 --> 00:27:57,360
I got to DC and started training and it was marvelous.

469
00:27:57,360 --> 00:28:03,040
It was a marvelous thing, but it was completely different to anything I ever experienced in

470
00:28:03,040 --> 00:28:04,040
my life.

471
00:28:04,040 --> 00:28:07,200
My first Christmas, I wanted to eat fruitcake.

472
00:28:07,200 --> 00:28:09,360
I really wanted to eat fruitcake.

473
00:28:09,360 --> 00:28:18,240
And I didn't see any festivity type stuff around, you know, special foods, decor.

474
00:28:18,240 --> 00:28:22,600
And I remember there was another young girl there and she was from Houston.

475
00:28:22,600 --> 00:28:25,700
I told her, why don't we pray for a fruitcake?

476
00:28:25,700 --> 00:28:26,700
And we did.

477
00:28:26,700 --> 00:28:31,540
And that week we got a big fruitcake that was sent.

478
00:28:31,540 --> 00:28:32,860
And that's how you know.

479
00:28:32,860 --> 00:28:34,020
And it's a great life.

480
00:28:34,020 --> 00:28:36,200
Life is a beautiful life.

481
00:28:36,200 --> 00:28:37,580
It's a beautiful life.

482
00:28:37,580 --> 00:28:41,600
It's scary, but you know, the Lord comes through and we are desperate for him.

483
00:28:41,600 --> 00:28:42,600
He is.

484
00:28:42,600 --> 00:28:43,600
Yeah.

485
00:28:43,600 --> 00:28:44,600
He's there.

486
00:28:44,600 --> 00:28:45,600
Yeah.

487
00:28:45,600 --> 00:28:46,600
It's like George Mueller.

488
00:28:46,600 --> 00:28:47,600
I had read that too.

489
00:28:47,600 --> 00:28:51,000
This man had an orphanage and he only prayed.

490
00:28:51,000 --> 00:28:56,680
He prayed in all the sustenance for him and all these hundreds of orphans at a time when

491
00:28:56,680 --> 00:28:59,300
the world was not that wealthy, you know.

492
00:28:59,300 --> 00:29:01,720
So I know God, you know, I knew God was true.

493
00:29:01,720 --> 00:29:04,920
Come in Dominican Republic, that was a very poor place.

494
00:29:04,920 --> 00:29:06,360
We were hungry at times.

495
00:29:06,360 --> 00:29:09,400
I was sick most of the time that I was there.

496
00:29:09,400 --> 00:29:11,400
I was skin and bones.

497
00:29:11,400 --> 00:29:17,160
I might've mentioned this, I used to put a soap bar on the clavicle on one side and the

498
00:29:17,160 --> 00:29:18,160
other.

499
00:29:18,160 --> 00:29:27,080
But it was a place where we learned to witness, to love people, also to move in the supernatural

500
00:29:27,080 --> 00:29:29,400
because Haiti was right there.

501
00:29:29,400 --> 00:29:33,840
And you know, demons don't just respect the frontier, you know.

502
00:29:33,840 --> 00:29:37,880
There's demonic activity everywhere, but there was a lot of stuff happening there.

503
00:29:37,880 --> 00:29:44,080
And we could prove the promises of God for deliverance, for healing.

504
00:29:44,080 --> 00:29:47,840
And the name of Jesus, I will say, works.

505
00:29:47,840 --> 00:29:52,400
Not in a magical formula, but with faith as a promise of God.

506
00:29:52,400 --> 00:29:55,600
We saw many, many miracles and wonderful things happen.

507
00:29:55,600 --> 00:30:02,160
So what were some of your most poignant experiences that God used that taught you and matured

508
00:30:02,160 --> 00:30:03,160
you?

509
00:30:03,160 --> 00:30:08,720
I mean, you said you saw many miracles and you obviously encountered some spiritual warfare.

510
00:30:08,720 --> 00:30:11,160
And you know, you were still fairly young.

511
00:30:11,160 --> 00:30:16,360
I mean, you had been a Christian since 14, but now you're only 20.

512
00:30:16,360 --> 00:30:17,360
So you're still 18.

513
00:30:17,360 --> 00:30:19,160
So you're still learning.

514
00:30:19,160 --> 00:30:23,960
And what were some of those experiences that God used to really teach and train you for

515
00:30:23,960 --> 00:30:24,960
the days ahead?

516
00:30:24,960 --> 00:30:31,000
The first thing I would say that is important is that even if you're very smart and intelligent,

517
00:30:31,000 --> 00:30:38,960
even if you're educated, even if you have past experience, when it comes to maturing,

518
00:30:38,960 --> 00:30:41,640
it's the same for everybody.

519
00:30:41,640 --> 00:30:46,400
It's not a special formula because you're special to your family.

520
00:30:46,400 --> 00:30:49,240
You know, newsflash, everybody feels special.

521
00:30:49,240 --> 00:30:57,680
I was submitted to authority working under people as a young missionary, as a young worker.

522
00:30:57,680 --> 00:31:01,420
This is what we used to call ourselves, a young servant of God.

523
00:31:01,420 --> 00:31:03,640
I was under these other people.

524
00:31:03,640 --> 00:31:09,920
And that's the first lesson I learned was submission because there's great protection

525
00:31:09,920 --> 00:31:11,680
in that place.

526
00:31:11,680 --> 00:31:12,680
You see?

527
00:31:12,680 --> 00:31:13,680
Godly submission, godly submission.

528
00:31:13,680 --> 00:31:16,400
Obviously, yes, godly submission.

529
00:31:16,400 --> 00:31:22,640
There's that kind of like that Paul, Timothy type of relationship, you know, Moses and

530
00:31:22,640 --> 00:31:25,200
Joshua, that biblical type of training.

531
00:31:25,200 --> 00:31:27,760
It's just absolutely wonderful.

532
00:31:27,760 --> 00:31:33,400
So I began to learn to minister in that way.

533
00:31:33,400 --> 00:31:39,320
I remember shortly after that, I was sent to Puerto Rico and then I went to Mexico.

534
00:31:39,320 --> 00:31:45,600
And in Mexico, I had never seen abject poverty as I saw in Mexico.

535
00:31:45,600 --> 00:31:50,440
And something I wanted a remedy in my flesh, but I didn't have enough belongings to give

536
00:31:50,440 --> 00:31:54,360
them, you know, even if I gave everything away, I wasn't going to fix the problem.

537
00:31:54,360 --> 00:31:59,120
They needed the Lord more than my stuff, which we did end up giving away anyway.

538
00:31:59,120 --> 00:32:06,840
But I remember seeing dead people, you know, people dying, people being victims of crime

539
00:32:06,840 --> 00:32:08,360
way back at that time.

540
00:32:08,360 --> 00:32:13,320
I remember seeing demonic possession like I had never, ever seen before.

541
00:32:13,320 --> 00:32:17,480
I mean, I used to read about this stuff, you know, like Derek Prince books and things like

542
00:32:17,480 --> 00:32:18,480
that.

543
00:32:18,480 --> 00:32:21,840
But to be there, I remember one time, I'll give you one example.

544
00:32:21,840 --> 00:32:27,480
There was a few, if you can believe this, there was like the neighborhood demon possessed

545
00:32:27,480 --> 00:32:35,680
guy and he would was tall and would come out at night and he would literally walk a little

546
00:32:35,680 --> 00:32:36,680
bit like Frankenstein.

547
00:32:36,680 --> 00:32:39,440
It was a very crazy thing.

548
00:32:39,440 --> 00:32:47,640
Now I remember being in our church, our church had a floor made of this material called caliche

549
00:32:47,640 --> 00:32:54,160
that we, it's this loose material and then you smash it down with a metal, very heavy

550
00:32:54,160 --> 00:32:57,400
metal thing that people that work in construction wouldn't know the name of.

551
00:32:57,400 --> 00:33:04,600
Well, we had that, we had cylinder, you know, like cement cylinder blocks and wood planks

552
00:33:04,600 --> 00:33:06,280
and plastic walls.

553
00:33:06,280 --> 00:33:09,080
And in the summer we cut windows in it.

554
00:33:09,080 --> 00:33:13,040
That was our sanctuary and it had a little wooden door.

555
00:33:13,040 --> 00:33:19,640
And I remember one person scream out in one of our meetings, we're like having a regular

556
00:33:19,640 --> 00:33:24,840
service and somebody came running and said, here comes Teemo.

557
00:33:24,840 --> 00:33:29,400
And everybody disappeared in a microsecond except for us because we didn't know what

558
00:33:29,400 --> 00:33:31,520
they were talking about.

559
00:33:31,520 --> 00:33:36,200
And lo and behold, this like monster starts coming.

560
00:33:36,200 --> 00:33:37,920
It was terrible.

561
00:33:37,920 --> 00:33:40,840
Kind of like the demoniac that encountered Jesus.

562
00:33:40,840 --> 00:33:41,840
Huh?

563
00:33:41,840 --> 00:33:42,960
Yes, yes ma'am.

564
00:33:42,960 --> 00:33:48,280
And first, you know, well, very quickly we realized we could not engage in a conversation

565
00:33:48,280 --> 00:33:51,320
because the guy was like even growling and everything.

566
00:33:51,320 --> 00:33:52,320
Wow.

567
00:33:52,320 --> 00:33:58,240
We went into the house and the guy was just walking around and then some people, we said,

568
00:33:58,240 --> 00:33:59,240
what is going on?

569
00:33:59,240 --> 00:34:04,200
And they said, he, I don't know, he was into witchcraft and then he never came back from

570
00:34:04,200 --> 00:34:05,600
some thing he did.

571
00:34:05,600 --> 00:34:12,640
I remember we fasted and prayed and prayed for that man to be free and he was set free.

572
00:34:12,640 --> 00:34:18,680
But it was a freakish, crazy, scary, worthy of a movie scene.

573
00:34:18,680 --> 00:34:19,840
Did he come to know the Lord?

574
00:34:19,840 --> 00:34:20,840
Yes.

575
00:34:20,840 --> 00:34:21,840
That's why, how he became free.

576
00:34:21,840 --> 00:34:22,840
Wow.

577
00:34:22,840 --> 00:34:25,640
I bet that was just such a testimony to that whole community.

578
00:34:25,640 --> 00:34:26,640
Yes.

579
00:34:26,640 --> 00:34:29,600
You weren't going and encounter, you know, encountering him and screaming and yelling,

580
00:34:29,600 --> 00:34:32,360
you know, you see in some of these movies about exorcisms.

581
00:34:32,360 --> 00:34:34,160
I mean, it wasn't like that.

582
00:34:34,160 --> 00:34:39,240
It's when the power of God, you prayed and fasted and obeyed God and God set him free.

583
00:34:39,240 --> 00:34:40,240
Oh my God.

584
00:34:40,240 --> 00:34:41,240
Yes.

585
00:34:41,240 --> 00:34:42,240
Yes.

586
00:34:42,240 --> 00:34:49,120
And it was very satisfying to see such an insane thing be turned around really.

587
00:34:49,120 --> 00:34:50,120
Do you have to do that?

588
00:34:50,120 --> 00:34:55,920
You know, you have to do your homework and spend the time and care about the person because

589
00:34:55,920 --> 00:34:59,320
remember a person like that is suffering.

590
00:34:59,320 --> 00:35:03,520
They're not having a great time going about being the neighborhood demoniac, you know,

591
00:35:03,520 --> 00:35:04,520
they're not.

592
00:35:04,520 --> 00:35:06,840
They're suffering and their family.

593
00:35:06,840 --> 00:35:10,280
So this was a great, you know, blessing and healing.

594
00:35:10,280 --> 00:35:12,880
But I'll say a funny thing that happened.

595
00:35:12,880 --> 00:35:19,200
Because we, at that time, we left our door open, people would come in at any time and

596
00:35:19,200 --> 00:35:23,320
they would wake us up and we were happy to do whatever.

597
00:35:23,320 --> 00:35:25,360
And we had one of the few cars in the neighborhood.

598
00:35:25,360 --> 00:35:27,920
So we were the neighborhood ambulance at times as well.

599
00:35:27,920 --> 00:35:32,680
I remember one time we were, I think I was cooking or something.

600
00:35:32,680 --> 00:35:34,280
And these two ladies came in.

601
00:35:34,280 --> 00:35:39,920
Oh, your man, a big, your man, a big, your man, a big sister, Becky, but I was always

602
00:35:39,920 --> 00:35:44,280
Becky, but whatever I said, then they said, I said, what's wrong, what's wrong?

603
00:35:44,280 --> 00:35:45,280
You know, it's like an emergency.

604
00:35:45,280 --> 00:35:49,200
They said, chachi's chachi's isn't doing right.

605
00:35:49,200 --> 00:35:50,200
She's not doing well.

606
00:35:50,200 --> 00:35:52,120
She's going to die.

607
00:35:52,120 --> 00:35:53,120
She can't give birth.

608
00:35:53,120 --> 00:35:54,120
Please come.

609
00:35:54,120 --> 00:35:57,120
Now you need to understand these people were so, so, so poor.

610
00:35:57,120 --> 00:35:58,480
Some couldn't even go to the hospital.

611
00:35:58,480 --> 00:35:59,480
It's not like in America.

612
00:35:59,480 --> 00:36:02,040
Oh, they said that she liked hymns.

613
00:36:02,040 --> 00:36:04,880
So we had an old, a hymnal.

614
00:36:04,880 --> 00:36:10,520
And so I grabbed that, our Bible and the three of us, the brother that was rather in charge,

615
00:36:10,520 --> 00:36:15,560
the other sister, myself, we went running to pray for chachi's who's giving birth and

616
00:36:15,560 --> 00:36:19,840
can't give birth and they're doing it at home and she loves hymns.

617
00:36:19,840 --> 00:36:20,840
Right.

618
00:36:20,840 --> 00:36:23,080
So we just run over there.

619
00:36:23,080 --> 00:36:26,240
When I get there, all of us get there.

620
00:36:26,240 --> 00:36:28,600
We're looking for chachi's and they welcome us.

621
00:36:28,600 --> 00:36:32,720
I mean, like we were, I mean, the most important people on earth.

622
00:36:32,720 --> 00:36:36,240
And the father came out and the mother of the house, cause it was a daughter that went

623
00:36:36,240 --> 00:36:38,680
to get us in another one.

624
00:36:38,680 --> 00:36:43,240
And in a room, there was the biggest pig I've ever seen.

625
00:36:43,240 --> 00:36:44,240
Oh.

626
00:36:44,240 --> 00:36:48,640
On the dirt floor giving birth, but she couldn't.

627
00:36:48,640 --> 00:36:49,640
Yes.

628
00:36:49,640 --> 00:36:52,880
The pig, but very important to the family.

629
00:36:52,880 --> 00:36:53,960
Yes.

630
00:36:53,960 --> 00:36:58,680
The father told us we raised her inside and we love her and everything.

631
00:36:58,680 --> 00:37:00,240
So here we are.

632
00:37:00,240 --> 00:37:05,760
I have forsaken everything, left my country, my education, everything, and I'm singing

633
00:37:05,760 --> 00:37:07,960
hymns to a pig.

634
00:37:07,960 --> 00:37:09,660
But you know what?

635
00:37:09,660 --> 00:37:12,200
It was a great privilege.

636
00:37:12,200 --> 00:37:13,600
It was a great privilege.

637
00:37:13,600 --> 00:37:17,160
And you know that she had all her little pigs healthily.

638
00:37:17,160 --> 00:37:22,240
We were there singing hymns to her, laying hands, praying for her.

639
00:37:22,240 --> 00:37:28,600
And it was to the glory of God that everybody knew that God had helped Chachi's deliver

640
00:37:28,600 --> 00:37:31,760
her little pigs and that family got saved.

641
00:37:31,760 --> 00:37:34,340
And it was just a wonderful thing.

642
00:37:34,340 --> 00:37:38,840
God will use the weak things and the strange things to bring people to himself, won't he?

643
00:37:38,840 --> 00:37:39,840
Yeah.

644
00:37:39,840 --> 00:37:43,640
And you know, I was full of all these great things that missionaries had done, but we

645
00:37:43,640 --> 00:37:46,400
need to be willing to do what's needed.

646
00:37:46,400 --> 00:37:47,400
Yeah.

647
00:37:47,400 --> 00:37:51,880
You know, I didn't need to do anything else but that.

648
00:37:51,880 --> 00:37:58,480
And I think sometimes we have dreams and like illusions of grandeur, religious ones, you

649
00:37:58,480 --> 00:38:00,160
know, spiritual ones, right?

650
00:38:00,160 --> 00:38:01,560
To the glory of God.

651
00:38:01,560 --> 00:38:03,940
But we have to do whatever is needed.

652
00:38:03,940 --> 00:38:09,880
Maybe we need to like wash some dishes for somebody or change somebody's sheets or I

653
00:38:09,880 --> 00:38:12,240
don't know, cook a meal.

654
00:38:12,240 --> 00:38:16,000
And that is as glorious as smuggling Bibles.

655
00:38:16,000 --> 00:38:21,980
It's as glorious as having a platform and some important venue.

656
00:38:21,980 --> 00:38:27,320
So I know these are funny little stories, but how did God train me?

657
00:38:27,320 --> 00:38:30,640
He trained me obeying him in whatever was needed.

658
00:38:30,640 --> 00:38:31,640
Yeah.

659
00:38:31,640 --> 00:38:35,440
And Jesus said he came not to be served, but to serve.

660
00:38:35,440 --> 00:38:37,040
And that's what he calls us to do.

661
00:38:37,040 --> 00:38:39,840
And service can look so many different ways.

662
00:38:39,840 --> 00:38:41,520
Here singing hymns to a pig.

663
00:38:41,520 --> 00:38:42,520
Yeah.

664
00:38:42,520 --> 00:38:43,520
That's service to him.

665
00:38:43,520 --> 00:38:44,520
If he calls us to do it.

666
00:38:44,520 --> 00:38:45,520
Yes.

667
00:38:45,520 --> 00:38:48,720
I mean, I remember they brought me a dead chicken, stuff like that.

668
00:38:48,720 --> 00:38:52,220
But this is what was important really.

669
00:38:52,220 --> 00:38:53,840
This is what's important.

670
00:38:53,840 --> 00:38:58,740
So you just do it in the name of the Lord with joy and respect.

671
00:38:58,740 --> 00:38:59,740
Always respect.

672
00:38:59,740 --> 00:39:02,960
Honoring the poor, respecting people.

673
00:39:02,960 --> 00:39:04,040
That's very, very important.

674
00:39:04,040 --> 00:39:05,920
I loved being in that place.

675
00:39:05,920 --> 00:39:13,760
I loved serving, walking around the neighborhood, meeting all the people.

676
00:39:13,760 --> 00:39:16,200
There were sad things that happened to me through my disobedience.

677
00:39:16,200 --> 00:39:17,780
I'll share a bad one.

678
00:39:17,780 --> 00:39:22,360
One day I was walking in the neighborhood and I felt the Lord tell me, witness to this

679
00:39:22,360 --> 00:39:23,740
house, in this house.

680
00:39:23,740 --> 00:39:26,080
And I remember it was a house where they sold donkeys.

681
00:39:26,080 --> 00:39:29,560
And I always would go by and say hello.

682
00:39:29,560 --> 00:39:35,400
And I might've gone in a few times, but that day I felt the Lord told me, go and share

683
00:39:35,400 --> 00:39:36,400
the gospel.

684
00:39:36,400 --> 00:39:41,440
But that day when I went back home, it was late, it was getting dark and we hadn't done

685
00:39:41,440 --> 00:39:43,080
the grocery shopping.

686
00:39:43,080 --> 00:39:45,360
We only had that day to do the grocery shopping.

687
00:39:45,360 --> 00:39:52,320
I went with the other missionary and we went to the supermarket and we bought the groceries.

688
00:39:52,320 --> 00:39:57,520
And as soon as we came back, a little kid from the neighborhood came and told us to

689
00:39:57,520 --> 00:40:04,040
come that they were asking for me because the elderly gentleman in the house had passed

690
00:40:04,040 --> 00:40:05,040
away.

691
00:40:05,040 --> 00:40:12,000
And I felt, I can't tell you how disappointed I was in myself, but all the more that I felt

692
00:40:12,000 --> 00:40:16,480
God tell me, go and witness to these people.

693
00:40:16,480 --> 00:40:22,440
So you learn through negative experiences as well, because that really hurt me.

694
00:40:22,440 --> 00:40:25,040
I grieved God so badly.

695
00:40:25,040 --> 00:40:27,800
So you learn through the mistakes that you make.

696
00:40:27,800 --> 00:40:31,120
I made a lot of mistakes as well.

697
00:40:31,120 --> 00:40:37,560
Some were funny, some were kind of dumb, some were disappointing like the one I just shared.

698
00:40:37,560 --> 00:40:41,160
But I learned, I learned from them.

699
00:40:41,160 --> 00:40:46,360
As you've been hearing, Becky Keenan has truly walked in obedience to the Lord.

700
00:40:46,360 --> 00:40:51,840
And in Psalm 128 verse 1, it says, blessed are those who fear the Lord who walk in obedience

701
00:40:51,840 --> 00:40:52,840
to him.

702
00:40:52,840 --> 00:40:59,120
Now that word translated obedience is the Hebrew word, Derek, which means way, manner

703
00:40:59,120 --> 00:41:00,120
or journey.

704
00:41:00,120 --> 00:41:05,740
And obeying God is really walking with him, being on a journey with him.

705
00:41:05,740 --> 00:41:09,840
We often have a distorted view of obedience, probably from childhood when our parents told

706
00:41:09,840 --> 00:41:13,760
us to do something we didn't want to do, even though it was for our own good.

707
00:41:13,760 --> 00:41:17,880
So we need a new perspective of what obedience is.

708
00:41:17,880 --> 00:41:23,600
It's joining God in his work, following him, seeing his grace and mercy on full display,

709
00:41:23,600 --> 00:41:28,760
and allowing God to pour out some of that grace and mercy through us.

710
00:41:28,760 --> 00:41:33,220
You know, one way you can do that today is by joining our company of women supporting

711
00:41:33,220 --> 00:41:37,280
the Widows and Orphan Fund through the Somebody Cares Widow and Orphan Fund.

712
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You can do that at hergodstory.org and know God is using you like he's used Becky to help

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women and children living in very difficult situations.

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Now, we're going to hear the rest of Becky's story in our next episode, so be sure to listen

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to that.

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But right now, let me pray for you.

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Father, I thank you for all those who are listening to Becky's story.

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I ask that you will pour out a full measure of faith into every one of their hearts, Lord,

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so they would both will and do your good pleasure, so they can know and walk with you in fullness.

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Lord, I ask that you would touch each one of them right now, heal their hurting hearts,

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minister to the cries of their heart, and Lord, allow them to join you in the wonderful

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work you're doing throughout the world.

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I pray this in Jesus' name.

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Thank you for tuning in.

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In our show notes at hergodstory.org, you'll find links to scriptures and other helpful

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information.

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And don't forget to sign up for periodic emails.

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You can also download a free devotional on Women of the Bible, and it is really great.

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We've had some of our guests and some of our staff write a week of devotional on a woman

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who's inspired them, so I know you'll enjoy it.

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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 at somebodycares.org.

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If you enjoyed this podcast, please rate or review it on your favorite streaming service.

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And we'd love for you to share this story with a friend or a family member who might

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need it.

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Be sure to like or follow the podcast so you won't miss an episode.

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And now, dear friends, I leave you with a blessing adapted from Psalm 119 verses 33

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through 35.

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May God teach you the way of His decrees so you can follow Him.

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May He give you understanding so you can keep His law, obey it with all your heart, and

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live.

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May He direct you in the path of His commands, for there you will find delight.

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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.