Friendship is a Powerful Ministry, Cassy Smith’s Story

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

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encourage, inspire, 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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When I think of today's guest, Psalm 89 verse 1 leaps to mind.

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The new King James Version says, I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever.

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With my mouth I will make known your faithfulness to all generations.

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Cassie Smith is the perfect blend of that verse.

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As a longtime worship leader, songwriter, and recording artist, she definitely sings

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of God's mercy.

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We have links to her EPs, There is Hope, and Lay a Hold in our show notes.

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As an ordained minister and discipler, she shares God's faithfulness to younger as well

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as more seasoned generations.

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In 2009, Cassie founded Vision Academy at the church where she was serving, and the

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program trained believers to be leaders wherever God places them.

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She also co-founded the Houston worship community.

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Cassie served with Somebody Cares America for several years, helping with disaster response

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efforts, supporting our chapters around the country, and helping produce our other podcast,

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A Word in Season with Doug Stringer and Friends.

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She also shared a few messages on that, so you should check her out on that podcast as

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well.

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Then, God called her to Freedom Church as a worship director, but her favorite role

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has been surrogate mom for her niece and her nephew.

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Welcome Cassie.

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Hey Jody, it's so good to be here today with you, and thank you for having me.

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Cassie, the first thing I heard about you before we even got to know one another was

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that you were a girl who storms castles.

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That was such great imagery.

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I was thinking, I want to meet this woman who says she storms castles.

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So what was that all about?

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Yes, I've loved that phrase and have used it in my life for the last probably 12, 15

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years now.

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It came about at a time when I was just reflecting on my life as a woman, as a leader.

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I would have been in ministry about a decade at that point.

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Youth pastoring and worship leading, really co-pastoring alongside my parents.

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We didn't necessarily call it that, but that's what I was doing.

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I was a single woman and I'd read a book at that time called Captivating by John and Stacey

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Eldridge.

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I was a young leader, single.

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The subtitle of that book is Unveiling the Mystery of a Woman's Soul.

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That really captivated me as the title of the book does.

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It stated that a woman wants to be an irreplaceable role in a great adventure.

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Meaning she doesn't just want to be the damsel in distress.

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She wants to be part of the adventure along.

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She doesn't want to be the adventure, the man capturing the woman's heart and rescuing

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her.

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She wants to be part of it and play a role alongside that.

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I've seen how God has used the woman and the role of a woman as an intricate part of building

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the church and building the kingdom of God.

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Now in 2022, we see tons of films that has the girl and the woman as the heroine, as

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the hero of the story.

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She's wielding the sword.

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She's saving others.

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For so long, we didn't see that.

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Then at the time that God had really dropped that phrase, girls who storm castles in my

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heart, you didn't see that on the screen or in the books.

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It captured me in the season of thinking I was needing to wait on something, but I didn't

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feel like I needed rescuing.

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I had a savior who had rescued me.

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I have a wonderful family.

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I didn't feel lost or feel like I was missing anything.

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So I'm thinking, why am I waiting?

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What am I waiting for?

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What does that mean to wait?

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I realized I wasn't a damsel in a tower under lock and key and that I had a job to do.

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I was already doing that within my family role with, like you mentioned at the beginning,

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with my niece and nephew.

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I was already seeing myself as this girl with the sword who was going.

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I hadn't really even left home at that point.

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I was probably my mid-twenties and hadn't really ventured outside of the four walls

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of my church.

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But I'd seen just in a spiritual sense that I had a sword and that I was going and I was

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storming castles.

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Those castles are the gates of hell and I was going and rescuing.

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That's been something that I've loved, maybe just a theme of my life.

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That's awesome that that's the first thing you heard about me.

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Yeah, well, you know, the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, is powerful.

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It's not only for men to use.

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Women use it all the time in prayer, in teaching, are raising up children.

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It is powerful to pull down strongholds.

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I love that imagery and it's a good one for us to all keep in mind that we are all women

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who can storm castles.

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Amen.

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Well, Cassie, it's clear that you've been following the Lord wholeheartedly.

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When did Jesus first become real to you?

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Yes, I would go right back.

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You know, when we talk about go back to that first love, I'd go right back to a five-year-old

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little girl standing in an altar in church.

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I don't remember what compelled me to move from my seat into that altar area.

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I can think back.

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You know, there's people around, there's people praying, worship music's going on.

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My grandmother and my parents would have been on the platform leading worship at that time.

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But I can't remember what part of service it was at.

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I don't remember if a message was preached.

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I just remember being so consumed and overwhelmed with the love of God.

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I didn't have all the verbiage and being able to really articulate what I was feeling or

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what I was experiencing.

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But I knew what love was from my father, from my grandfather, from my parents.

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I knew what that was.

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And so I had no trouble knowing that what I was feeling was the love of God.

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And did you ever doubt it growing up?

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I mean, you know, you accepted Jesus when you were five.

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I mean, as you started learning, did it seem strange to you or just seem this is right?

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I think because that encounter was so real and it wasn't prodded by any adults in my

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life in that moment.

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It literally just happened on its own with work of the meeting me.

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Now people created that atmosphere.

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We were in a church service.

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There was worship going on.

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There was a setting, you know, that invited the presence of God to come in.

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But I think because it was such a real moment of me personally experiencing, I could feel

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it.

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I could sense it.

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I had some, you know, from Sunday school and children's church, I had some knowledge of

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Jesus died for me.

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So I had heard those stories even at five years old.

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So I think because of that and then that relationship progressed, I was baptized in water at 12.

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I remember experiencing the gifts of the Holy Spirit at nine years old because those happen

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so young and they were so real and adults were around adults helped cultivate.

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But nobody said this is what you have to do.

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Yeah.

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And there was no no hanging me over the pits of hell.

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I was just a little kid.

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But it was just the Doug talks about it.

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We talk about somebody cares a lot.

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Just the presence of God and Bill, you know, setting a table for God to come and meet people.

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And so I had that real encounter.

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So I do not remember Jody.

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I'm 40 years old this year and I do not remember one time that I ever doubted the reality of

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God of Jesus and of the Holy Spirit.

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I've just I've never questioned whether or not he's real.

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Amen.

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Well, your father and your grandfather and was it even your great grandfather were all

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pastors.

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So you grew up in and around the church.

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I mean, you know, you were part of that family church family is your family was kind of all

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one.

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So what did you want to be when you grew up?

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Did you want to be a pastor?

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What was the dream or vision for your life?

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Absolutely not.

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I called I teased about it in my teen years about it being the family business, even though

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it definitely wasn't set up like a business.

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But just the stage scared me.

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Microphone scared me.

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I remember one time I was in junior high and my grandfather wanted us to read the Christmas

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story in Luke two.

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And it was five of the grandkids.

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They had seven, but five of us were there.

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And he wanted us to share portions of the story.

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And he knew me and one of my cousins, Natalie, are very shy kids.

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So he knew he was going to have to do a lot of probably he probably bribed us with some

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treats.

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I don't know.

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But he really worked with us and I did it.

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But I just remember even now that I'm talking about it, I feel that like, oh, because I

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just remember the absolute terror of the moment.

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And if we had a really broke down and cried, he wouldn't have made us do it.

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But no, to answer your question, I did not dream of following in their footsteps.

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Although I knew by 14 that that was what God was calling me to do and to enter into full

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time ministry in the area of church ministry.

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But I did it.

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I didn't dream of that.

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The long term kind of running dream that I've always had, I probably wanted to be a vet

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when I was in kindergarten.

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That's kind of classic kindergarten five year old.

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I wanted to be a teacher at one point.

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I thought about that.

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I was a teacher's aide in my senior year of high school and I enjoyed that.

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But the one that just stayed with me my entire life as far back as I can remember was just

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the dreams of being a mother and wanting to have and raise babies.

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And I just dreamed of that dreamed of what that would look like and watching my grandmothers

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and my mom and even my sister, you know, carrying babies and that just that's always been a

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dream.

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Yeah, I know growing up I was the one who wanted a big family and my older sister, she

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wanted to be a business woman and you know, didn't want to have to give up that.

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Of course, the Lord changed all of that when we grew up and I ended up, you know, serving

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in ministry for many, many years as a single woman.

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And I eventually married and God gave me a family, an immediate family of six children,

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which is a whole nother story, which we won't go there right now.

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But you know, I know, I mean, you know, God, God tends to not deny us our desires, but

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fill, fulfill them in other ways that are better than we could have imagined because

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they're bigger than we could have imagined.

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Just a happy note onto that and you saying it's even bigger than what we could even imagine.

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There was one year I was doing something called Vision Academy and in our church and had been

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in ministry for probably 15 years at that point.

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And there was a Mother's Day and that's usually a hard day, especially when that's been your

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dream your whole life.

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And I had this prolonged season of singleness.

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I'm 40, still single, never been married.

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But the students, the Vision Academy students who ranged in ages from we had 17 and 18 year

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olds all the way to in their 60s and 70s as part of this group of visionaries.

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And they presented me with a bouquet of flowers and just gave a little speech about me being

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their spiritual mama.

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And that moment was so, it was completely unexpected.

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And I definitely was holding back tears.

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And I just felt the Lord say, I gave you more than you know, you even knew you wanted.

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And this is a family and this is what like you're a mother with without ever bearing

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a child.

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And this is what that looks like.

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And so, you know, that's not bone in my bone and flesh in my flesh.

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But I knew what the Lord was saying.

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And it really was in that moment just a salve to my soul of healing and just knowing God's

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got this.

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He's got my life.

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Yeah.

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Well, you're during your senior year of high school, you had been living what in Tennessee,

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right?

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And during your senior year of high school, your parents made a huge move.

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And I know, I mean, your senior year is kind of sacred to young people.

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And you know, rightly so it's the rite of passage, year of passage.

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But what did that do to you and your plans and your dreams and your vision?

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Yeah.

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So we were living in Texarkana.

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It's right on the border of Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas.

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And had lived there my whole life.

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I was 17 on the verge of 18.

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Little bit of a backstory to that is my parents had left the ministry when I was a young child,

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probably six or seven years old.

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They weren't walking with the Lord all during, you know, my adolescence and into my high

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school years.

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And just had an encounter with God and overnight transformation.

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I think I was probably a junior in high school at that time.

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And they got back into full time ministry.

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And during that time frame, I was probably 15, 14.

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I'd gotten into a really relationship that went real serious.

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You know how teenage puppy love can be.

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It turns real serious, real fast.

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And so I just, I had all of the notions that this was it for me and I'd be married before

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I got out of high school, which is so great, you know, typical teenage years.

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And so my parents' overnight transformation led to them taking a position at a church

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across town.

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And so this is a year before the big move.

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They had just moved us across town and I was utterly devastated.

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They were moving me from my home church.

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My grandparents were pastoring there.

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My boyfriend attended that church.

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And here we had, you know, I had the right to say when I went to church and when I didn't

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go to church, because my parents weren't in.

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And so it was really an independent thing that I got up and went to church or that I

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attended youth on Wednesday nights.

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And so here now they're saying, we're back in, we're going to serve God as a family and

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we're taking this position and we all want to go to church together.

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And they were gracious about it, but you know, being a parent to teenagers, you could be

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as eloquent as possible and kids are going to flip out.

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And so that's all leading up to this big move and moving five hours south to Houston.

247
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And that was during my senior year.

248
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I had six months left of school.

249
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I don't know, Jodi, if I was really concerned with my friends or walking with my class.

250
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I don't know that that was really my big hang up.

251
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It was this boyfriend I'd had all through high school.

252
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This idea we're going to get married, very serious.

253
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We weren't keeping it holy.

254
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None of those, you know, it was a mess.

255
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And so I'd worked out this deal.

256
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My dad said, okay, we'll let you stay with your grandparents, finish high school, but

257
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you're going to give us that six months back.

258
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And so I had absolutely no intention of moving to Houston or Baytown is where we landed ever.

259
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Yeah.

260
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But as most teenagers do, I talked out of both sides of my cheek and I'm like, okay,

261
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I'll do that.

262
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But I fully intended to, I'd find a way to be married right after graduation.

263
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Whatever I had to do.

264
00:16:00,680 --> 00:16:02,760
You didn't get married, obviously.

265
00:16:02,760 --> 00:16:04,520
I did not get married, obviously.

266
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So what happened?

267
00:16:06,620 --> 00:16:11,600
So kicking and screaming a little bit, I came to Baytown.

268
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My parents really, you know, I'm that personality that when I give my word, even if I'm half

269
00:16:17,160 --> 00:16:23,000
hearted in it, if you hold me to that and you don't let me off and you're like, Cassie,

270
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you said this.

271
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And that's what my dad did.

272
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He had a conversation with me.

273
00:16:28,120 --> 00:16:31,200
It was a couple of weeks after graduation.

274
00:16:31,200 --> 00:16:33,680
He calls and he's like, Hey, why aren't you here yet?

275
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You know, we, we left you after graduation.

276
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You're going to pack up your stuff, get in your car and head to Houston and you're not

277
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here yet.

278
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And I said, well, I don't have any intention of coming.

279
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And that didn't go well.

280
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That long story short, that didn't go well, but he held me to my word and he kept putting

281
00:16:51,320 --> 00:16:52,480
that before me.

282
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Cassie, you promised you said you give us back the six months and six months to the

283
00:16:57,600 --> 00:16:58,600
day.

284
00:16:58,600 --> 00:17:04,840
Jodi, I was on re I was acting like such a child and trying to profess my adulthood and

285
00:17:04,840 --> 00:17:07,400
my right to choose to be a grownup.

286
00:17:07,400 --> 00:17:09,040
But I had no job.

287
00:17:09,040 --> 00:17:10,040
I had no money.

288
00:17:10,040 --> 00:17:14,360
I just had, you know, the money that, that you get when graduation and everybody sends

289
00:17:14,360 --> 00:17:17,400
cards, you know, that wouldn't, that wouldn't last me long.

290
00:17:17,400 --> 00:17:24,160
No, that's all I had had no car except the one they gave me, you know, to use for school.

291
00:17:24,160 --> 00:17:25,160
Yeah.

292
00:17:25,160 --> 00:17:30,240
So I kinda, I've always been even in my rebellion, pretty responsible.

293
00:17:30,240 --> 00:17:32,120
And I just kind of put two and two together.

294
00:17:32,120 --> 00:17:37,080
This isn't going to work out staying here and got in the car, went with them, stayed

295
00:17:37,080 --> 00:17:41,240
here for six months and right down to the day.

296
00:17:41,240 --> 00:17:44,720
The Lord just, he met me in that six months period.

297
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I wasn't seeking him.

298
00:17:47,040 --> 00:17:50,200
I didn't really think I needed to change anything.

299
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I thought I was a good person.

300
00:17:51,480 --> 00:17:54,160
Like I said, I was even rebelling responsibly.

301
00:17:54,160 --> 00:17:57,520
I wasn't, you know, messing up my life or anything like that.

302
00:17:57,520 --> 00:18:02,240
I do in kind of the normal things to the progression of life.

303
00:18:02,240 --> 00:18:05,600
But God, like we talked about, had bigger and better plans.

304
00:18:05,600 --> 00:18:09,560
And right down to that six month period, long story short, still to this day, I'm in

305
00:18:09,560 --> 00:18:15,360
Baytown, I never left and God just transformed my life.

306
00:18:15,360 --> 00:18:16,520
Yeah.

307
00:18:16,520 --> 00:18:22,320
So you know, a lot of times people who receive Jesus, I know I did when I was young, when

308
00:18:22,320 --> 00:18:27,640
they get into their young adult years, they kind of have an aha moment with God, another

309
00:18:27,640 --> 00:18:29,200
revelation of who God is.

310
00:18:29,200 --> 00:18:33,520
And I think it's because our brains, this is what Pastor Robert Morris says from Gateway

311
00:18:33,520 --> 00:18:40,880
Church, you know, our brains get to a place where we have a deeper and more complete understanding

312
00:18:40,880 --> 00:18:49,000
and that revelation of God becomes not real, but almost real again.

313
00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:52,120
Did you have something like that happen to you?

314
00:18:52,120 --> 00:18:53,400
Absolutely.

315
00:18:53,400 --> 00:19:00,640
And I can't tell you the date or the time, but I would say it would be in between that.

316
00:19:00,640 --> 00:19:08,360
Once I made that decision, I wasn't leaving Baytown and really began to kind of reevaluate

317
00:19:08,360 --> 00:19:09,720
where I was with God.

318
00:19:09,720 --> 00:19:15,000
I knew that, like we talked about a little bit earlier, that experience I had when I

319
00:19:15,000 --> 00:19:19,280
was younger created this tether to the anchor that is Jesus Christ.

320
00:19:19,280 --> 00:19:21,160
He's the hope of my salvation.

321
00:19:21,160 --> 00:19:25,940
And even though I had a lot of slack in that tether, I could feel, I could feel when he

322
00:19:25,940 --> 00:19:29,880
would pull it and kind of pull me back in.

323
00:19:29,880 --> 00:19:32,640
And during that six month time, that's what he was really doing.

324
00:19:32,640 --> 00:19:34,520
He was tightening up that slack.

325
00:19:34,520 --> 00:19:36,720
So I would have been 18 at this time.

326
00:19:36,720 --> 00:19:43,520
And really over that course of the next two years, 18 to 20, I just feel like he took

327
00:19:43,520 --> 00:19:47,880
all that slack and just drew me so close to him.

328
00:19:47,880 --> 00:19:56,240
And he became real in a whole other way where it was much more, like I think the difference

329
00:19:56,240 --> 00:20:02,400
of as a parent to a young child, we're talking about your grandbaby earlier, just learning

330
00:20:02,400 --> 00:20:05,400
to walk.

331
00:20:05,400 --> 00:20:09,280
And so that hovering that we do, we jump out of our seats when they start moving across

332
00:20:09,280 --> 00:20:14,000
the room and we're kind of watching them and making sure they don't fall and hurt themselves.

333
00:20:14,000 --> 00:20:17,240
And that we don't do that to a teenager.

334
00:20:17,240 --> 00:20:19,240
We don't do that to a young adult.

335
00:20:19,240 --> 00:20:24,000
When they get up and move across the room, we just kind of, if we even notice, we may

336
00:20:24,000 --> 00:20:28,360
say, hey, there's milk in the fridge, but there's not that hovering.

337
00:20:28,360 --> 00:20:33,160
And I think the Lord, our relationship with him progresses much like that, in maturity.

338
00:20:33,160 --> 00:20:35,960
And there's actual conversations that are taking place.

339
00:20:35,960 --> 00:20:40,840
And so I think in that two year period, it was more just, I was given a book, I believe

340
00:20:40,840 --> 00:20:42,840
it's by Joy Dawson.

341
00:20:42,840 --> 00:20:45,440
And an older woman in our church gave it to me.

342
00:20:45,440 --> 00:20:48,140
It's called Intimate Friendship with God.

343
00:20:48,140 --> 00:20:52,000
And that was during that 18 to 20 year old, Cassie.

344
00:20:52,000 --> 00:20:59,320
I read that book and it just awakened that intimate friendship with God that I didn't

345
00:20:59,320 --> 00:21:04,920
have as a five year old or a 12 year old or even a 16 year old, began to really develop

346
00:21:04,920 --> 00:21:05,920
that.

347
00:21:05,920 --> 00:21:10,520
And I would say over the last 20 years of my life, I've watched that deepen.

348
00:21:10,520 --> 00:21:16,600
So you stayed in Baytown and obviously didn't get married to your high school sweetheart.

349
00:21:16,600 --> 00:21:17,600
I did not.

350
00:21:17,600 --> 00:21:20,720
He's doing well, has a beautiful family.

351
00:21:20,720 --> 00:21:26,600
But, you know, by the time you reach your mid 20s, you still weren't married.

352
00:21:26,600 --> 00:21:29,360
And I mean, I know I got there too.

353
00:21:29,360 --> 00:21:33,840
And I was struggling with the Lord about it, you know, throwing my temper tantrums.

354
00:21:33,840 --> 00:21:40,680
I think that's why I've always just really loved our friendship and loved our chats.

355
00:21:40,680 --> 00:21:46,640
Jodi is because I've been able to glean a lot of wisdom because you've gone before me,

356
00:21:46,640 --> 00:21:49,000
not very much farther before me.

357
00:21:49,000 --> 00:21:53,040
You're young as well.

358
00:21:53,040 --> 00:21:56,960
But even just a few years down the line is something to glean from.

359
00:21:56,960 --> 00:22:01,200
And so I appreciate that you've always been really honest and open with your story.

360
00:22:01,200 --> 00:22:06,120
Yeah, but you know, disappointment when we're disappointed in life about something that

361
00:22:06,120 --> 00:22:09,040
we thought was from God.

362
00:22:09,040 --> 00:22:13,240
I mean, obviously marriage and family are from the Lord.

363
00:22:13,240 --> 00:22:16,100
He created them in the first place.

364
00:22:16,100 --> 00:22:21,440
And so when we think and whether it's about that or something else, when we have a deep

365
00:22:21,440 --> 00:22:26,560
disappointment in our life, it can really drive us away from the Lord if we let it.

366
00:22:26,560 --> 00:22:32,360
But you didn't let it do that because you had a revelation from the Lord about that.

367
00:22:32,360 --> 00:22:33,360
What was that?

368
00:22:33,360 --> 00:22:35,920
I think it's a wonderful revelation.

369
00:22:35,920 --> 00:22:36,920
Thank you.

370
00:22:36,920 --> 00:22:44,080
Yes, I began to understand what disappointment really is, that it's an emotion, that it's

371
00:22:44,080 --> 00:22:45,080
a feeling.

372
00:22:45,080 --> 00:22:47,200
It used to lay me out.

373
00:22:47,200 --> 00:22:52,080
It used to cause me to go into anxiety and depression and sometimes a weird combo of

374
00:22:52,080 --> 00:22:57,440
the two things and just really hurt my feelings of why wouldn't God let me do this?

375
00:22:57,440 --> 00:22:59,840
Why wouldn't he give me this?

376
00:22:59,840 --> 00:23:04,200
The word says he doesn't withhold any good gifts from his children.

377
00:23:04,200 --> 00:23:09,920
So why am I seeming to be the only kid without the good gifts?

378
00:23:09,920 --> 00:23:10,920
Which is just a lie.

379
00:23:10,920 --> 00:23:11,920
It wasn't true.

380
00:23:11,920 --> 00:23:15,000
God wasn't withholding anything good from me.

381
00:23:15,000 --> 00:23:21,880
But I began to understand that word disappointment was, at first I learned my emotions are not

382
00:23:21,880 --> 00:23:27,280
evil and that they're indicators just like we have pain in our body that's an indication

383
00:23:27,280 --> 00:23:30,240
something is going on and we need to pay attention.

384
00:23:30,240 --> 00:23:33,680
My emotions were God given and they do the same thing.

385
00:23:33,680 --> 00:23:39,480
And so when I began to look and understand what the word disappointment really means,

386
00:23:39,480 --> 00:23:45,680
the prefix dis means not and the word appointment means a set or appointed time.

387
00:23:45,680 --> 00:23:52,040
And my mind when I realized that and kind of saw that picture of disappointment, not

388
00:23:52,040 --> 00:23:58,300
the appointed or set time, my mind went to Psalms 37 23 and the Amplified Bible says

389
00:23:58,300 --> 00:23:59,300
it this way.

390
00:23:59,300 --> 00:24:04,960
It says the steps of a good and righteous man are directed and established by the Lord

391
00:24:04,960 --> 00:24:09,520
and he delights in his ways and he blesses his path.

392
00:24:09,520 --> 00:24:14,120
And so when I've felt disappointed in life and I've definitely allowed my heart to grieve

393
00:24:14,120 --> 00:24:19,560
in those moments because most of the time moments, those big moments in life are attached

394
00:24:19,560 --> 00:24:20,560
to people.

395
00:24:20,560 --> 00:24:25,800
Yeah, it's really when it comes down to it, people have disappointed us or I've disappointed

396
00:24:25,800 --> 00:24:26,800
myself.

397
00:24:26,800 --> 00:24:29,440
And so I've allowed time for grief.

398
00:24:29,440 --> 00:24:35,280
When a relationship comes to an end or as pastoring people and they leave your church,

399
00:24:35,280 --> 00:24:36,560
you lose touch with a friend.

400
00:24:36,560 --> 00:24:40,200
Maybe it's a job loss promotion you didn't get.

401
00:24:40,200 --> 00:24:41,440
People disappoint people.

402
00:24:41,440 --> 00:24:47,880
And I've chosen to lean on and choose to trust the sovereignty of God in those moments that

403
00:24:47,880 --> 00:24:50,140
he has appointed my steps.

404
00:24:50,140 --> 00:24:56,120
He is establishing, making firm every place that my foot will land.

405
00:24:56,120 --> 00:25:01,080
And I have to get up and keep running the race if I give in to disappointment and I'm

406
00:25:01,080 --> 00:25:06,540
only at mile 10 and I stall out and I just sit there for 20 years, then I miss what God

407
00:25:06,540 --> 00:25:09,780
has at mile marker 15 and mile 20.

408
00:25:09,780 --> 00:25:14,760
And maybe that promise is at 25 and I'm still sitting back here at 10 disappointed.

409
00:25:14,760 --> 00:25:18,680
And so I've watched disappointment rob the years off of people.

410
00:25:18,680 --> 00:25:19,680
Yeah.

411
00:25:19,680 --> 00:25:22,440
So I've chosen not to allow that to happen in my own life.

412
00:25:22,440 --> 00:25:23,440
Amen.

413
00:25:23,440 --> 00:25:27,320
And once you abandon your plan for God's plan, I mean, not saying it would never happen,

414
00:25:27,320 --> 00:25:32,560
but saying, all right, I'm not going to set my expectation.

415
00:25:32,560 --> 00:25:37,600
And once you abandon that to God, he started revealing things to you about yourself that

416
00:25:37,600 --> 00:25:38,600
you didn't even realize.

417
00:25:38,600 --> 00:25:43,920
I like to say that God knows me better than I know myself.

418
00:25:43,920 --> 00:25:48,320
And if I trust him and follow him, I'm going to find joy and fulfillment in ways I could

419
00:25:48,320 --> 00:25:49,320
never have expected.

420
00:25:49,320 --> 00:25:53,360
And it has been true in my life over and over and over again.

421
00:25:53,360 --> 00:25:59,360
So what are some of those surprising things that he showed you about yourself?

422
00:25:59,360 --> 00:26:02,660
I was a really shy and timid kid.

423
00:26:02,660 --> 00:26:06,200
And through the course of my life, I would say over the last 20 years, nobody who has

424
00:26:06,200 --> 00:26:09,480
known me in this season believes that about me.

425
00:26:09,480 --> 00:26:12,720
And they always kind of roll their eyes and I have to get my phone out and call my mom

426
00:26:12,720 --> 00:26:18,520
and like, mom, tell them how scared and how timid and how shy I used to be.

427
00:26:18,520 --> 00:26:23,800
And my mom, my mama says it, she'll sign our cards to my girl who storms castles because

428
00:26:23,800 --> 00:26:26,440
that means so much more.

429
00:26:26,440 --> 00:26:32,000
I get my personality from my mother and she knows what it's like to be timid and shy and

430
00:26:32,000 --> 00:26:33,440
afraid to talk to people.

431
00:26:33,440 --> 00:26:40,860
But I've learned the surprising thing that I have a voice and that I have confidence

432
00:26:40,860 --> 00:26:42,060
in God.

433
00:26:42,060 --> 00:26:47,400
And so all the things that would cause me to shy away and to back away, I pushed through

434
00:26:47,400 --> 00:26:51,760
those because of the firm belief I have confidence in God and I have a voice.

435
00:26:51,760 --> 00:26:53,640
He gave me a voice.

436
00:26:53,640 --> 00:26:56,240
And so that's been the most surprising thing.

437
00:26:56,240 --> 00:26:57,240
Amen.

438
00:26:57,240 --> 00:26:59,360
And I'm really not that shy.

439
00:26:59,360 --> 00:27:04,960
No, but he's given you a voice in more ways than one.

440
00:27:04,960 --> 00:27:12,000
He's given you a voice in worship and he's given you a voice in teaching.

441
00:27:12,000 --> 00:27:15,960
And you know, actually, it would have been very difficult probably if you had been married

442
00:27:15,960 --> 00:27:25,720
young and started having children young, for God to bring those things out in you at this

443
00:27:25,720 --> 00:27:26,720
part of your life.

444
00:27:26,720 --> 00:27:29,880
It may have taken many, many more years.

445
00:27:29,880 --> 00:27:31,880
I wholeheartedly agree.

446
00:27:31,880 --> 00:27:38,360
And I see that in any relationship I've ever been in that, you know, I don't just take

447
00:27:38,360 --> 00:27:39,360
the backseat.

448
00:27:39,360 --> 00:27:43,280
I kind of wind up in the trunk somewhere, maybe hanging on for dear life on the hood.

449
00:27:43,280 --> 00:27:44,280
I don't know.

450
00:27:44,280 --> 00:27:49,160
I just never, when I entered those those season where I've been in relationships and it was,

451
00:27:49,160 --> 00:27:53,400
you know, maybe progressing or we were considering what the future could look like.

452
00:27:53,400 --> 00:27:56,400
I just always went side.

453
00:27:56,400 --> 00:27:58,400
I never spoke up.

454
00:27:58,400 --> 00:28:04,440
I think back on one time, Jodi, we went and had dinner and you said, what do you enjoy

455
00:28:04,440 --> 00:28:05,440
doing?

456
00:28:05,440 --> 00:28:06,440
Yeah.

457
00:28:06,440 --> 00:28:07,440
What are your hobbies?

458
00:28:07,440 --> 00:28:12,200
You know, and I'd gotten so kind of tied up in fulfilling everybody else's dreams and

459
00:28:12,200 --> 00:28:16,880
helping everybody else that I kind of forgotten and lost myself in the process.

460
00:28:16,880 --> 00:28:20,040
And I couldn't even remember what I enjoyed.

461
00:28:20,040 --> 00:28:25,400
And it was such a good question because it challenged me to get back to, okay, don't

462
00:28:25,400 --> 00:28:26,400
do that.

463
00:28:26,400 --> 00:28:27,640
Don't take a backseat.

464
00:28:27,640 --> 00:28:29,960
And so I know that doesn't happen.

465
00:28:29,960 --> 00:28:33,640
You know, that's not what happens to everyone.

466
00:28:33,640 --> 00:28:34,920
You know, marriage is not a bad thing.

467
00:28:34,920 --> 00:28:36,640
We said that a while ago.

468
00:28:36,640 --> 00:28:38,800
People do grow and can find their voice.

469
00:28:38,800 --> 00:28:45,320
But I feel like I was a personality and a person that really needed to, to be along

470
00:28:45,320 --> 00:28:51,760
with God and really take that singleness to develop and understand who I am and what I

471
00:28:51,760 --> 00:28:53,320
was created to do.

472
00:28:53,320 --> 00:28:54,320
Yeah.

473
00:28:54,320 --> 00:29:01,960
So working in a church, you often hear, I'm sure you do, people wondering what God's plan

474
00:29:01,960 --> 00:29:02,960
is for their life.

475
00:29:02,960 --> 00:29:04,640
You know, that's a big question.

476
00:29:04,640 --> 00:29:08,600
I mean, all of us really when we're young, what God's plan for my life, when we become

477
00:29:08,600 --> 00:29:11,880
new believers, what's God's plan for my life.

478
00:29:11,880 --> 00:29:18,840
And God gave you an idea for the Vision Academy, which you referenced earlier, that to help

479
00:29:18,840 --> 00:29:24,720
people discover exactly what God's plan is for their life, their unique plan.

480
00:29:24,720 --> 00:29:29,200
So what did you see God do through that ministry?

481
00:29:29,200 --> 00:29:30,920
Absolutely.

482
00:29:30,920 --> 00:29:34,520
That was such a special time in my life.

483
00:29:34,520 --> 00:29:41,920
I went over a course of five years, we had 56 students that last year.

484
00:29:41,920 --> 00:29:43,500
And so many stories.

485
00:29:43,500 --> 00:29:47,560
Every single one of those students were my friends, were people that, you know, I was

486
00:29:47,560 --> 00:29:49,520
there when their babies were being born.

487
00:29:49,520 --> 00:29:53,480
I was there when they were going through stuff, at their house for dinner.

488
00:29:53,480 --> 00:29:57,960
So it's so much different than, you know, your typical kind of academy or leadership

489
00:29:57,960 --> 00:29:58,960
school.

490
00:29:58,960 --> 00:30:03,720
It was really a lot of friends just got together and said, we want to know why we're here on

491
00:30:03,720 --> 00:30:04,720
this earth.

492
00:30:04,720 --> 00:30:06,720
What did God design us to do?

493
00:30:06,720 --> 00:30:12,680
And so through a vision that I had, actually, I was washing my hair and God showed me a

494
00:30:12,680 --> 00:30:18,820
vision of, he said, there's going to be a time when, during service, people are going

495
00:30:18,820 --> 00:30:21,920
to respond to the call of full-time ministry.

496
00:30:21,920 --> 00:30:23,480
And I knew the exact number.

497
00:30:23,480 --> 00:30:28,840
I knew there was 17 people that would come forward and you're going to tell them, Tuesday

498
00:30:28,840 --> 00:30:31,400
night, 7pm, show up.

499
00:30:31,400 --> 00:30:32,400
It's called Vision Academy.

500
00:30:32,400 --> 00:30:35,120
Jodi, between you and me, that's all I had.

501
00:30:35,120 --> 00:30:37,320
That's all the information I had.

502
00:30:37,320 --> 00:30:41,440
But that very next Sunday, honestly, when I had the vision, I thought, okay, yeah.

503
00:30:41,440 --> 00:30:43,920
And I thought it was going to be so far in advance.

504
00:30:43,920 --> 00:30:45,360
It was two days later.

505
00:30:45,360 --> 00:30:46,360
Wow.

506
00:30:46,360 --> 00:30:50,240
My dad was wrapping up the church service and we always did kind of a soft close because

507
00:30:50,240 --> 00:30:51,820
people were praying.

508
00:30:51,820 --> 00:30:57,460
And so he'd say, you know, if you need to leave today, you're blessed, be, you know,

509
00:30:57,460 --> 00:30:58,680
be blessed out.

510
00:30:58,680 --> 00:31:02,920
And but he stopped his, his kind of closing prayer and called it.

511
00:31:02,920 --> 00:31:04,960
I just feel like there's people in here.

512
00:31:04,960 --> 00:31:08,760
You fill this full-time ministry and you don't know what it looks like or how it's going

513
00:31:08,760 --> 00:31:09,760
to happen.

514
00:31:09,760 --> 00:31:11,120
I want to come out, you to come forward.

515
00:31:11,120 --> 00:31:12,120
I want to pray for you.

516
00:31:12,120 --> 00:31:18,880
And I was at the keyboard and I just stopped just kind of hung on a note of like, oh my,

517
00:31:18,880 --> 00:31:21,620
that means Tuesday, we're starting Vision Academy.

518
00:31:21,620 --> 00:31:26,620
And I haven't even talked to my dad or any of the leadership about this.

519
00:31:26,620 --> 00:31:29,000
But I knew that I knew that I had that vision.

520
00:31:29,000 --> 00:31:31,360
I knew that that was what God was doing.

521
00:31:31,360 --> 00:31:41,120
And so through that I watched 56 people go through this and the first year is about finding

522
00:31:41,120 --> 00:31:42,120
your vision.

523
00:31:42,120 --> 00:31:47,160
What is the unique calling that God has written upon your heart?

524
00:31:47,160 --> 00:31:51,960
What are, what are you, what are you passionate about?

525
00:31:51,960 --> 00:31:56,220
It just became, begin to uncover, you know, so many people go to prayer lines and they

526
00:31:56,220 --> 00:32:01,500
want something prayed on them so that they have the boldness to go and preach.

527
00:32:01,500 --> 00:32:07,120
And it's not that Jodie is unlocking what's already, what was written in those nine months

528
00:32:07,120 --> 00:32:09,840
as you were being woven together in your mother's womb.

529
00:32:09,840 --> 00:32:11,040
What was God writing?

530
00:32:11,040 --> 00:32:12,400
What was that story?

531
00:32:12,400 --> 00:32:14,080
What was he putting on the inside of you?

532
00:32:14,080 --> 00:32:16,140
This was about just uncovering that.

533
00:32:16,140 --> 00:32:18,840
And so I think one of my favorite stories was Miss Betty.

534
00:32:18,840 --> 00:32:24,640
Miss Betty had been in church a lot longer than I knew her and I knew her 15 years, but

535
00:32:24,640 --> 00:32:28,560
she had been, had a history with God far longer than that.

536
00:32:28,560 --> 00:32:31,720
And a precious, precious friend of our families.

537
00:32:31,720 --> 00:32:36,480
She probably was in her late sixties, early seventies when she entered Vision Academy

538
00:32:36,480 --> 00:32:40,920
and she entered kind of in this mode of, I don't think this is for me.

539
00:32:40,920 --> 00:32:43,600
And that was a lot of people's first day story.

540
00:32:43,600 --> 00:32:48,440
I don't think this is for me because they didn't see them fitting into a pastoral or

541
00:32:48,440 --> 00:32:54,600
an evangel, evangelistic role, which was kind of the two main, when you go to Bible college,

542
00:32:54,600 --> 00:32:56,280
that's kind of what you're thinking.

543
00:32:56,280 --> 00:33:00,000
You're going to pastor a church or you're going to be an evangelist on the road, some

544
00:33:00,000 --> 00:33:02,440
sort of on the road ministry.

545
00:33:02,440 --> 00:33:07,120
But Miss Betty came, she participated, she did all three years.

546
00:33:07,120 --> 00:33:12,600
One of the most beautiful things is she revolutionized how we did Sunday mornings.

547
00:33:12,600 --> 00:33:18,440
She was so, she had a gift of hospitality and she began to prepare these breakfasts

548
00:33:18,440 --> 00:33:19,600
that we would serve.

549
00:33:19,600 --> 00:33:23,800
And at a time when our church had maybe seven people showing up to Sunday school and five

550
00:33:23,800 --> 00:33:27,560
of those were my family members.

551
00:33:27,560 --> 00:33:33,840
She took this idea that her and I sat down together and we'd begin to do breakfast and

552
00:33:33,840 --> 00:33:39,680
80% of our church was showing up early, we're having breakfast as a family and we would

553
00:33:39,680 --> 00:33:45,160
have our Vision Academy students kind of stealthy doing Bible studies in the midst of this.

554
00:33:45,160 --> 00:33:48,160
They didn't stand up at a podium or anything like that.

555
00:33:48,160 --> 00:33:52,120
They would literally be sitting at tables and saying, hey, you know what, Ephesians

556
00:33:52,120 --> 00:33:57,400
four was on my heart this week and they'll kind of give a little excerpt of Ephesians

557
00:33:57,400 --> 00:34:00,200
and what that was meaning to them.

558
00:34:00,200 --> 00:34:04,640
But watching Miss Betty, who didn't think she was capable of being a leader and didn't

559
00:34:04,640 --> 00:34:10,320
see her role in the church, she was such a pivotal shifting kind of an old, out of an

560
00:34:10,320 --> 00:34:16,040
old traditional style of doing church into more family and community minded.

561
00:34:16,040 --> 00:34:22,080
And she had men showing up an hour or two hours early to cook bacon and sausage and

562
00:34:22,080 --> 00:34:24,520
eggs and they're all in there and that's community.

563
00:34:24,520 --> 00:34:28,720
They're talking, they're having a good time and it just set up for such a great Sunday

564
00:34:28,720 --> 00:34:32,880
morning through Miss Betty and through her hospitality gift.

565
00:34:32,880 --> 00:34:37,120
And she was such a, she was more of a leader than she ever saw herself.

566
00:34:37,120 --> 00:34:39,720
And she didn't know that she didn't know that that was needed.

567
00:34:39,720 --> 00:34:43,000
I mean, hospitality actually is in the Bible.

568
00:34:43,000 --> 00:34:45,400
It says be hospitable.

569
00:34:45,400 --> 00:34:51,720
I mean, that's one of our commands of the Lord is to, you know, and it's so often overlooked

570
00:34:51,720 --> 00:34:54,000
as being important, but it's not.

571
00:34:54,000 --> 00:34:55,000
Absolutely.

572
00:34:55,000 --> 00:34:59,440
I mean, I think of Mary and Martha, I mean, gosh, how many times did they open their home

573
00:34:59,440 --> 00:35:04,760
to Jesus and the disciples and just being hospitable.

574
00:35:04,760 --> 00:35:09,000
Leading all those groups and that program, did it help you define the mission and vision

575
00:35:09,000 --> 00:35:10,960
for your life?

576
00:35:10,960 --> 00:35:16,840
It is why I have the mission and the vision for my life.

577
00:35:16,840 --> 00:35:23,280
Had I not done that and really came alongside, yes, I was leading, you know, in charge, so

578
00:35:23,280 --> 00:35:28,160
to speak, but it was really just coming alongside people right where they are and just having

579
00:35:28,160 --> 00:35:29,160
conversations.

580
00:35:29,160 --> 00:35:35,600
My grandmother, one of the things she's taught and I picked up on and hung onto is if you

581
00:35:35,600 --> 00:35:39,440
let someone talk long enough, they'll answer their own questions.

582
00:35:39,440 --> 00:35:46,800
So really being a good friend is being able to ask the right questions and then so vital

583
00:35:46,800 --> 00:35:51,600
that we listen and don't interject, but just go ahead.

584
00:35:51,600 --> 00:35:57,720
I was going to say, so what is your mission or vision in life?

585
00:35:57,720 --> 00:36:00,480
I would say it is I'm a friend.

586
00:36:00,480 --> 00:36:01,960
I'm a friend of the local church.

587
00:36:01,960 --> 00:36:02,960
I'm a friend of my neighbor.

588
00:36:02,960 --> 00:36:07,240
I'm a friend of my family and being a friend just means I'm available.

589
00:36:07,240 --> 00:36:13,360
I'm a listening ear and all for the purpose that the kingdom of God would advance, that

590
00:36:13,360 --> 00:36:17,360
the gospel would be preached, that people would find peace, that they would find their

591
00:36:17,360 --> 00:36:20,240
hope in Christ.

592
00:36:20,240 --> 00:36:25,680
That's the mission in anything that I do, whether it's leading worship, teaching or

593
00:36:25,680 --> 00:36:31,400
training or a homeschool to my niece and nephew for a 10-year period.

594
00:36:31,400 --> 00:36:35,400
I've mothered them over the course of that 10 years.

595
00:36:35,400 --> 00:36:41,200
Even in those things, even in the daily, doing the laundry and washing the dishes, all of

596
00:36:41,200 --> 00:36:43,920
those things, that's my mindset.

597
00:36:43,920 --> 00:36:44,960
I want to be a friend.

598
00:36:44,960 --> 00:36:47,080
When people come into my home, I want it clean.

599
00:36:47,080 --> 00:36:52,640
So part of the motivation of getting up and cleaning it and taking care of the home is

600
00:36:52,640 --> 00:36:57,400
a gratefulness that I have it, but also is that I want it to be a welcoming and a safe

601
00:36:57,400 --> 00:36:58,400
place.

602
00:36:58,400 --> 00:37:01,000
And that's really what I want my life to represent.

603
00:37:01,000 --> 00:37:02,400
Yeah, I love that.

604
00:37:02,400 --> 00:37:03,400
I love that.

605
00:37:03,400 --> 00:37:06,840
Abraham, it says in the Bible that he was a friend of God.

606
00:37:06,840 --> 00:37:13,480
And I know you're a friend of God, but you're also inviting other people through your friendship

607
00:37:13,480 --> 00:37:17,480
to also be his friend, which is powerful in everything that you do.

608
00:37:17,480 --> 00:37:22,340
And it happens in different ways, a lot of different ways in a lot of different places.

609
00:37:22,340 --> 00:37:28,440
But when that's your underlying mission that God's given you, it does give you a different

610
00:37:28,440 --> 00:37:33,520
perspective on all the little mundane things that you do in your day.

611
00:37:33,520 --> 00:37:34,520
Absolutely.

612
00:37:34,520 --> 00:37:38,680
And I think we can get so hung up on, and I saw it in my own life.

613
00:37:38,680 --> 00:37:41,440
I'm human in my younger years.

614
00:37:41,440 --> 00:37:48,800
You get hung up on some dream being fulfilled and some big picture, whether it's a task

615
00:37:48,800 --> 00:37:51,960
oriented kind of thing or it's a relational thing.

616
00:37:51,960 --> 00:37:56,840
We get this picture in mind of kind of the destination we're going in and we think if

617
00:37:56,840 --> 00:38:01,680
we don't get to that destination, we haven't arrived, we're not successful.

618
00:38:01,680 --> 00:38:08,820
And sometimes when you put an actual, I'm a pastor or I'm a worship leader, if I'd pigeon

619
00:38:08,820 --> 00:38:13,040
hold myself into just those things, I would have missed out.

620
00:38:13,040 --> 00:38:17,400
If I just said I'm a singer songwriter and I'm not doing anything else because it doesn't

621
00:38:17,400 --> 00:38:22,720
fit into that bracket, look, I would have missed out on being a part of the Somebody

622
00:38:22,720 --> 00:38:30,120
Cares family through disaster relief and through then that moved into producing and helping

623
00:38:30,120 --> 00:38:33,560
record and do all the things behind the scenes of Doug's podcast.

624
00:38:33,560 --> 00:38:36,140
And I just would have missed out on so many things.

625
00:38:36,140 --> 00:38:41,400
And so that's why I really, it seems like such a broad thing to say I'm a friend, but

626
00:38:41,400 --> 00:38:48,360
it helps me to just be open and flexible and available to wherever God moves me and whatever

627
00:38:48,360 --> 00:38:50,600
task he puts me to do.

628
00:38:50,600 --> 00:38:54,600
I can do that because I'm a friend and that fits into being a friend.

629
00:38:54,600 --> 00:38:57,800
Yeah, I love that.

630
00:38:57,800 --> 00:39:04,160
As part of your being a friend, you eventually did start writing and recording music, which

631
00:39:04,160 --> 00:39:10,600
was a huge step of faith because prior to that you had really no musical training, right?

632
00:39:10,600 --> 00:39:11,960
That's correct.

633
00:39:11,960 --> 00:39:15,480
So how and why did that all come about?

634
00:39:15,480 --> 00:39:22,520
Well, writing I've always, I don't remember a time where I didn't keep some sort of journals

635
00:39:22,520 --> 00:39:25,960
or I always wrote stories even as a kid.

636
00:39:25,960 --> 00:39:33,960
A lot of times those journal entries would kind of follow a poetic style.

637
00:39:33,960 --> 00:39:38,480
My brother picked up the guitar when he was 16, 17.

638
00:39:38,480 --> 00:39:44,960
So me being in Baytown that six month period and trying to be miserable, but God was actually

639
00:39:44,960 --> 00:39:51,140
getting a hold of me and my misery was lessening and lessening and I was more excited about

640
00:39:51,140 --> 00:39:57,400
being there and being with Mike, my brother, we're very close, 11 months age difference,

641
00:39:57,400 --> 00:39:59,080
so very close all of our lives.

642
00:39:59,080 --> 00:40:04,040
But he picked up the guitar and started playing and we would take these journal entries and

643
00:40:04,040 --> 00:40:09,400
little poems that I was writing and just begin to build melodies and songs around those.

644
00:40:09,400 --> 00:40:11,320
But that is one area, Jodi.

645
00:40:11,320 --> 00:40:16,400
I'm still incredibly, I fight that shy kid.

646
00:40:16,400 --> 00:40:22,640
That shy kid, if she still lives, she lives in those kinds of things in showing people

647
00:40:22,640 --> 00:40:30,920
my work or singing my songs I wrote in front of people, which is odd because when I first

648
00:40:30,920 --> 00:40:37,960
started leading worship for my dad's church, Baytown church, most of the stuff we sang

649
00:40:37,960 --> 00:40:39,560
was stuff I'd written.

650
00:40:39,560 --> 00:40:40,560
Really?

651
00:40:40,560 --> 00:40:45,320
And the majority of the songs we were singing as a church were stuff that I'd written and

652
00:40:45,320 --> 00:40:47,120
I had no problem doing that.

653
00:40:47,120 --> 00:40:52,720
So I don't know what's happened between then and now that's caused that like timidity to

654
00:40:52,720 --> 00:40:59,560
want to return, but I still write and it's still a passion I love.

655
00:40:59,560 --> 00:41:05,200
I write every day and just work on that.

656
00:41:05,200 --> 00:41:08,000
So you overcame still an area I'm shy in.

657
00:41:08,000 --> 00:41:12,360
Yeah, well you overcame some of that shyness when you start selling some of the EPs and

658
00:41:12,360 --> 00:41:16,520
why, I mean that obviously there was a reason for that.

659
00:41:16,520 --> 00:41:22,800
It wasn't to glorify yourself or to get on American Idol.

660
00:41:22,800 --> 00:41:23,800
Not at all.

661
00:41:23,800 --> 00:41:26,960
That's never been an ambition of mine.

662
00:41:26,960 --> 00:41:29,040
It really was out of necessity.

663
00:41:29,040 --> 00:41:31,120
I was doing a lot of mission trips.

664
00:41:31,120 --> 00:41:33,920
I was taking teams around.

665
00:41:33,920 --> 00:41:40,880
We went to Oklahoma and Arkansas and different places kind of regional to this area, Texas,

666
00:41:40,880 --> 00:41:43,880
Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma.

667
00:41:43,880 --> 00:41:48,920
And we were going and doing nights of revival, nights of worship and I was taking teams of

668
00:41:48,920 --> 00:41:55,840
10 or more people and was really just needing to help finance those trips so that the churches

669
00:41:55,840 --> 00:41:57,800
it didn't matter their budget.

670
00:41:57,800 --> 00:42:03,440
We were coming if we were asked to come and then also taking big trips and went to somebody

671
00:42:03,440 --> 00:42:06,600
cares Scotland on several occasions.

672
00:42:06,600 --> 00:42:10,880
Really over the eight year period I went about eight times.

673
00:42:10,880 --> 00:42:14,520
And so it was all those EPs were fundraisers.

674
00:42:14,520 --> 00:42:18,080
And so I was willing to put myself out there for the greater good.

675
00:42:18,080 --> 00:42:20,440
Yeah, yeah to see.

676
00:42:20,440 --> 00:42:21,440
Well that's great.

677
00:42:21,440 --> 00:42:25,440
Now I know Cassie that James 127 is near and dear to you.

678
00:42:25,440 --> 00:42:30,320
We've talked about that before and where we're told to look after orphans and widows and

679
00:42:30,320 --> 00:42:36,160
their distress and it's also something that somebody cares is deeply committed to as well,

680
00:42:36,160 --> 00:42:38,280
which is why we started the widows and orphan fund.

681
00:42:38,280 --> 00:42:43,120
And we have partners around the world that are entrusted with the care of orphans and

682
00:42:43,120 --> 00:42:47,800
we hear of widows have given a lifetime of service to the Lord and are now in need.

683
00:42:47,800 --> 00:42:52,340
So as a company of women, we can come together and meet needs that we could not possibly

684
00:42:52,340 --> 00:42:54,060
do alone.

685
00:42:54,060 --> 00:42:59,360
So I invite you, dear listener, please to pray about joining our company of women with

686
00:42:59,360 --> 00:43:05,200
a gift at her God story dot org to help widows and orphans that are in need.

687
00:43:05,200 --> 00:43:11,040
Now Cassie in the midst of the ministry, all the ministry you were doing, all the ministry

688
00:43:11,040 --> 00:43:17,680
your parents were doing, your family went through some tough times and God had you step

689
00:43:17,680 --> 00:43:22,880
up in a pretty unique and big way for your niece and nephew.

690
00:43:22,880 --> 00:43:24,360
Can you tell us about that?

691
00:43:24,360 --> 00:43:32,160
Yeah, I mentioned a little bit earlier about stepping in as a surrogate mother and yeah,

692
00:43:32,160 --> 00:43:39,120
my sister has just gone through some hard, hard times and sometimes we compound those

693
00:43:39,120 --> 00:43:44,880
with choices we make and she had just found herself in those those seasons of not being

694
00:43:44,880 --> 00:43:48,080
present and not being available.

695
00:43:48,080 --> 00:43:55,440
And I was and you know, thankfully I was there and had stepped in at different times that

696
00:43:55,440 --> 00:43:56,600
they really needed me.

697
00:43:56,600 --> 00:44:02,720
And then it it did shift to being a full time thing, you know, full time mothering them

698
00:44:02,720 --> 00:44:04,000
through their teen years.

699
00:44:04,000 --> 00:44:08,320
And now as young adults, they're 20 and 22.

700
00:44:08,320 --> 00:44:09,320
It's heartbreaking.

701
00:44:09,320 --> 00:44:14,360
And so many things have happened.

702
00:44:14,360 --> 00:44:18,320
Many members that have gone through health crisis.

703
00:44:18,320 --> 00:44:25,720
My sister even over the last year, she had had a really bad car wreck, was unable to

704
00:44:25,720 --> 00:44:26,720
bend her knees.

705
00:44:26,720 --> 00:44:28,680
So she was needing full time care.

706
00:44:28,680 --> 00:44:33,300
And that's something that was so beautiful to watch and just part of this restoration

707
00:44:33,300 --> 00:44:38,240
theme that was happening between her and my mom, myself and my niece.

708
00:44:38,240 --> 00:44:43,360
I would think are the four and what's beautiful is as women, you know, we're we're we're

709
00:44:43,360 --> 00:44:50,240
pillars in our family and as women watching the four of us, just got to repair.

710
00:44:50,240 --> 00:44:53,920
And he taught me so much about you so many times we can.

711
00:44:53,920 --> 00:44:59,200
I really saw myself as the older brother in the prodigal story.

712
00:44:59,200 --> 00:45:07,680
You know, and God really in his sweet, merciful way, really disciplined me through my relationship

713
00:45:07,680 --> 00:45:12,240
with my sister because she is one and she knows this.

714
00:45:12,240 --> 00:45:14,360
She's listening, she knows this is true.

715
00:45:14,360 --> 00:45:17,680
She is one who can who can hurt and cut me the deepest.

716
00:45:17,680 --> 00:45:23,320
But as sisters do, because they know the real you, they know the truth.

717
00:45:23,320 --> 00:45:31,200
And so the beautiful thing about that is she would say things to me that and I'll tell

718
00:45:31,200 --> 00:45:32,200
this one story.

719
00:45:32,200 --> 00:45:37,480
One time we were in the midst of a little a little battle and it was not going well

720
00:45:37,480 --> 00:45:39,800
for her and didn't feel well for me.

721
00:45:39,800 --> 00:45:45,600
Because she said this and she said, you just set yourself up as a martyr.

722
00:45:45,600 --> 00:45:49,800
So you open up a fight and then you back away because you don't want to really get into

723
00:45:49,800 --> 00:45:51,280
it anymore.

724
00:45:51,280 --> 00:45:57,880
And then we're all left kind of in the aftermath of this.

725
00:45:57,880 --> 00:46:03,640
And instead of just finishing out the conversation or the fight, then everybody is protecting

726
00:46:03,640 --> 00:46:10,240
you because you're the one who has this picture perfect life talking about myself and she's

727
00:46:10,240 --> 00:46:11,800
the one with the struggles going on.

728
00:46:11,800 --> 00:46:13,520
The truth is we all have our struggles.

729
00:46:13,520 --> 00:46:14,960
We all have our pain.

730
00:46:14,960 --> 00:46:17,400
We've all made bad decisions in life.

731
00:46:17,400 --> 00:46:20,040
Hers are just more evident than mine.

732
00:46:20,040 --> 00:46:24,600
And as and she's since we've worked that out and apologize.

733
00:46:24,600 --> 00:46:29,360
But the thing is, Jodie, that was really helpful is I really was doing that.

734
00:46:29,360 --> 00:46:35,840
I throw out a little dig and then I back away and everyone would come to my rescue because

735
00:46:35,840 --> 00:46:40,480
it looked like my sister was being the one that was causing the problem.

736
00:46:40,480 --> 00:46:42,160
And so it really did.

737
00:46:42,160 --> 00:46:47,800
Reading that prodigal story again and the Lord really just dealing with my heart and

738
00:46:47,800 --> 00:46:55,160
me humbling myself and recognizing the areas that I was causing her pain.

739
00:46:55,160 --> 00:47:00,760
I was causing my parents pain cause this reconciliation to really just over the last year.

740
00:47:00,760 --> 00:47:08,760
It's been beautiful to watch my sister come out of a destructive behavior and come out

741
00:47:08,760 --> 00:47:14,760
of addiction and come out of relationships that were unhealthy and that ultimately and

742
00:47:14,760 --> 00:47:19,120
she gave this testimony a couple of Sundays ago, it would have led to her death.

743
00:47:19,120 --> 00:47:21,000
It would have led to her death.

744
00:47:21,000 --> 00:47:27,040
And one of the things she said on Sunday is I'm just so grateful my family never gave

745
00:47:27,040 --> 00:47:28,040
up.

746
00:47:28,040 --> 00:47:34,200
And that is kind of goes to be in the friendship thing too, because a true friend, a true friend

747
00:47:34,200 --> 00:47:36,120
sticks by you.

748
00:47:36,120 --> 00:47:37,120
Yeah.

749
00:47:37,120 --> 00:47:38,840
No matter what's going on.

750
00:47:38,840 --> 00:47:45,360
Well it is really difficult when you when someone you love is making those destructive

751
00:47:45,360 --> 00:47:56,000
life choices over a long period of time and you hope and you help and they don't make

752
00:47:56,000 --> 00:47:57,000
those changes.

753
00:47:57,000 --> 00:48:04,400
I mean we've seen that in our family as well to stick it out and to persevere and to not

754
00:48:04,400 --> 00:48:08,520
give up and to not judge.

755
00:48:08,520 --> 00:48:14,360
Sometimes I have found in my own life that the Lord has convicted this, me of this, that

756
00:48:14,360 --> 00:48:21,680
even though I'm doing the right thing and maybe somebody else isn't, I'm judging their

757
00:48:21,680 --> 00:48:24,800
actions based on what God's telling me to do.

758
00:48:24,800 --> 00:48:26,280
And that's also sin.

759
00:48:26,280 --> 00:48:27,400
And I've had to repent of that.

760
00:48:27,400 --> 00:48:33,200
It's one of those internal sins that nobody can see, but it's sin nonetheless.

761
00:48:33,200 --> 00:48:39,120
But when you see someone that you love going through those destructive life choices for

762
00:48:39,120 --> 00:48:41,940
so long, it's hard not to give up.

763
00:48:41,940 --> 00:48:46,340
So how did you persevere and how did you deal with that and how did you help your niece

764
00:48:46,340 --> 00:48:50,640
and you nephew deal with that who were much younger when all of this was going through

765
00:48:50,640 --> 00:48:54,800
when they were going through all of this?

766
00:48:54,800 --> 00:49:00,680
I think especially when they were younger, I was used a lot to be the shield.

767
00:49:00,680 --> 00:49:05,920
And so when things were going on at home, we'd load up myself and Mason and Abigail

768
00:49:05,920 --> 00:49:11,320
and we'd go get a treat somewhere, a Dairy Queen or something, have a little ice cream

769
00:49:11,320 --> 00:49:15,960
and just remove them from the situation.

770
00:49:15,960 --> 00:49:20,440
And then the more that they got older and asked questions, it was really because I'd

771
00:49:20,440 --> 00:49:30,160
had this relationship with them that was one of open conversation, one of really, if anything,

772
00:49:30,160 --> 00:49:38,280
that's where I learned to lighten up on my judgmental ways and to grow in a compassionate,

773
00:49:38,280 --> 00:49:42,360
understanding heart is in parenting them.

774
00:49:42,360 --> 00:49:49,840
I think helping them has just been being a place, a beautiful thing that I've seen woven

775
00:49:49,840 --> 00:49:56,080
through our whole family is no matter what we're going through, we have a laugh and we

776
00:49:56,080 --> 00:49:57,480
find a moment of joy.

777
00:49:57,480 --> 00:50:04,120
And sometimes we're the only one in the moment trying to like, hey guys, let's take a moment,

778
00:50:04,120 --> 00:50:05,120
let's take a breather.

779
00:50:05,120 --> 00:50:10,600
You know, that could lead to you being jumped on, but most of the time there is this, it's

780
00:50:10,600 --> 00:50:12,440
joy that comes from the Lord.

781
00:50:12,440 --> 00:50:17,600
It's not a hilarity and like, let's just forget about our problems, but it's just, hey guys,

782
00:50:17,600 --> 00:50:20,120
the joy of the Lord is our strength.

783
00:50:20,120 --> 00:50:22,020
Let's just reflect on.

784
00:50:22,020 --> 00:50:27,720
So one of the ways of persevering is you reflect on what is working, what is going good and

785
00:50:27,720 --> 00:50:33,840
what, in those troubling times, we've gone through seasons of, you know, my uncle passed

786
00:50:33,840 --> 00:50:40,640
away suddenly in 2018 and that was a devastating time for our family.

787
00:50:40,640 --> 00:50:51,840
But it's in the moments of crisis that you see an opportunity for compassion, for selflessness.

788
00:50:51,840 --> 00:50:55,480
In seasons where you've just been comfortable, you're not usually looking out for anyone

789
00:50:55,480 --> 00:50:56,480
else.

790
00:50:56,480 --> 00:51:00,400
You're just comfortable and you're just not really alert to what's going on.

791
00:51:00,400 --> 00:51:05,880
The crisis gives an opportunity to respond in a Christ-like manner.

792
00:51:05,880 --> 00:51:11,440
And so in those times of feeling like I can't do this anymore, and I've definitely had those

793
00:51:11,440 --> 00:51:16,680
involving my sister or just family things that have gone on, had those moments of like,

794
00:51:16,680 --> 00:51:19,820
maybe this is just not going to work out.

795
00:51:19,820 --> 00:51:24,440
And I heard the Lord say one time, are you okay with that?

796
00:51:24,440 --> 00:51:30,200
Because what he was really doing in me is stopping me from trying to strategize and

797
00:51:30,200 --> 00:51:37,560
plan out her redemption or anybody else's redemption and really trust God is big enough

798
00:51:37,560 --> 00:51:40,920
to speak to her and to love on her.

799
00:51:40,920 --> 00:51:46,040
And it says his kindness draws us to repentance.

800
00:51:46,040 --> 00:51:47,820
His kindness draws us to repentance.

801
00:51:47,820 --> 00:51:54,120
And so it really taught me in those times of how to really let go because I'm a little

802
00:51:54,120 --> 00:51:55,960
bit of a control freak.

803
00:51:55,960 --> 00:51:56,960
Yeah.

804
00:51:56,960 --> 00:52:01,760
It's that love without expectation, love with no strings.

805
00:52:01,760 --> 00:52:06,800
That is God's kind of love, but it's so hard for us, particularly when we really do love

806
00:52:06,800 --> 00:52:07,800
someone.

807
00:52:07,800 --> 00:52:14,920
We want the best for them, but not expecting them to appreciate it or even acknowledge

808
00:52:14,920 --> 00:52:17,440
that love is hard.

809
00:52:17,440 --> 00:52:22,960
It's the kind of love God gives everyone in the world, some accepted and some don't, but

810
00:52:22,960 --> 00:52:28,000
he wants us to have that compassion too for everyone because that's how we become.

811
00:52:28,000 --> 00:52:31,520
Like you said, that's how we become Christ-like.

812
00:52:31,520 --> 00:52:40,720
And I think for me, another way of just persevering in that is that I released her from being

813
00:52:40,720 --> 00:52:43,040
anything, doing anything.

814
00:52:43,040 --> 00:52:46,640
And I really begin to focus on my relationship with the Lord.

815
00:52:46,640 --> 00:52:48,840
How am I responding in this moment?

816
00:52:48,840 --> 00:52:52,320
And is this really, like you said, is this really Christ's love?

817
00:52:52,320 --> 00:52:54,840
Is this really Godly love?

818
00:52:54,840 --> 00:52:57,480
And am I really displaying that?

819
00:52:57,480 --> 00:53:01,200
And if I wasn't, then I need to get along with God and let him work on me.

820
00:53:01,200 --> 00:53:04,440
So I really turned it back inward.

821
00:53:04,440 --> 00:53:10,240
Anger that leads us to sin is not Godly, but righteous anger, instead of pointing the finger

822
00:53:10,240 --> 00:53:14,120
at everyone else and what they should be doing, righteous anger looks in and goes, what do

823
00:53:14,120 --> 00:53:15,120
I need to do?

824
00:53:15,120 --> 00:53:19,560
God, what are the areas in my life that need to be pruned?

825
00:53:19,560 --> 00:53:21,440
What are the areas that need growth?

826
00:53:21,440 --> 00:53:26,360
And so letting God really come in and just tend the garden of my heart helped me to persevere

827
00:53:26,360 --> 00:53:29,640
and have that second wind of, okay, I can do this.

828
00:53:29,640 --> 00:53:36,760
Especially in the days when we're full on having to care after a wreck from my sister,

829
00:53:36,760 --> 00:53:40,520
you need the second wind and endurance.

830
00:53:40,520 --> 00:53:45,280
And that only comes when you really know who you are and what you're created to do and

831
00:53:45,280 --> 00:53:46,640
who you're created to be.

832
00:53:46,640 --> 00:53:54,360
Yeah, it's interesting that God kind of cleared your calendar a little bit before that happened

833
00:53:54,360 --> 00:54:01,880
even to give you personal room to be able to respond in that way.

834
00:54:01,880 --> 00:54:06,480
Not everybody is able to do that because of other responsibilities, but God kind of cleared

835
00:54:06,480 --> 00:54:12,680
your schedule prior to give you that space to respond.

836
00:54:12,680 --> 00:54:13,680
Absolutely.

837
00:54:13,680 --> 00:54:19,280
Well, you came and worked for Somebody Cares for a while, which was a real departure from

838
00:54:19,280 --> 00:54:23,800
being at the church and leading worship.

839
00:54:23,800 --> 00:54:30,960
And how do you see, I mean, there's twists and turns in the road with God, but how did

840
00:54:30,960 --> 00:54:36,680
you see that kind of as part of your life and as your next step in what He was asking

841
00:54:36,680 --> 00:54:38,280
you to do?

842
00:54:38,280 --> 00:54:44,520
Yeah, I have to do that looking back because in the moment, Jodi, and just kind of like

843
00:54:44,520 --> 00:54:50,480
every, I mean, it would take us multiple podcasts to explain all of the different things that

844
00:54:50,480 --> 00:54:53,160
are on my resume of experiences.

845
00:54:53,160 --> 00:54:55,920
All of them were just things I happened upon.

846
00:54:55,920 --> 00:55:00,840
I wasn't pursuing any certain thing through my friendships.

847
00:55:00,840 --> 00:55:02,540
These opportunities came.

848
00:55:02,540 --> 00:55:09,880
And I'd actually just landed back in Texas from Baltimore in August, I think it was the

849
00:55:09,880 --> 00:55:14,840
24th, 25th, something like that of 2017.

850
00:55:14,840 --> 00:55:19,240
And it was a day or so before the hurricane hit that I'd landed.

851
00:55:19,240 --> 00:55:23,680
I'd seen it at the terminal on the screens.

852
00:55:23,680 --> 00:55:27,160
They were talking about Houston bracing for Hurricane Harvey.

853
00:55:27,160 --> 00:55:29,640
And that was kind of the first I'd heard about.

854
00:55:29,640 --> 00:55:35,520
Nowadays, I can hear about it months in advance because my mind is thinking of the time I've

855
00:55:35,520 --> 00:55:36,520
served it.

856
00:55:36,520 --> 00:55:38,980
Somebody cares, you hear hurricane and you immediately start.

857
00:55:38,980 --> 00:55:43,080
Back then, I didn't have that kind of mind.

858
00:55:43,080 --> 00:55:44,080
My mind didn't go.

859
00:55:44,080 --> 00:55:47,320
I was kind of hit out of the blue with Hurricane Harvey.

860
00:55:47,320 --> 00:55:53,640
And I had planned to get my visa to go back to Scotland September of 2017.

861
00:55:53,640 --> 00:55:58,080
And I felt the Lord just saying, wait, and I didn't know why.

862
00:55:58,080 --> 00:56:02,400
And then Harvey happened end of August 2017.

863
00:56:02,400 --> 00:56:05,560
And coming alongside, I think I just made a phone call.

864
00:56:05,560 --> 00:56:06,560
Hey, I'm available.

865
00:56:06,560 --> 00:56:07,760
I'm here in Houston.

866
00:56:07,760 --> 00:56:10,560
Let me know the next day you took me up on that.

867
00:56:10,560 --> 00:56:16,400
And I began to get the phones forwarded to my cell phone because we couldn't leave our

868
00:56:16,400 --> 00:56:18,320
little quadrants of greater Houston.

869
00:56:18,320 --> 00:56:21,280
Houston was totally flooded.

870
00:56:21,280 --> 00:56:24,040
Rain for days, we had forgotten what the sun looked like.

871
00:56:24,040 --> 00:56:26,400
And that seems very dramatic, but it was really true.

872
00:56:26,400 --> 00:56:31,560
I remember when the sun was out and the rain stopped after like a four day period, everybody

873
00:56:31,560 --> 00:56:35,800
was out in the street, assessing kind of what was happening.

874
00:56:35,800 --> 00:56:38,280
Could we get out of our neighborhoods?

875
00:56:38,280 --> 00:56:44,840
Because literally everywhere in greater Houston was flooded and you're flooded in.

876
00:56:44,840 --> 00:56:51,320
But I immediately jumped in, began to organize teams, began to talk to churches about hosting

877
00:56:51,320 --> 00:56:59,680
and just really under yours and Matt Stevens and Mark Roy Doug's tutelage, I just became

878
00:56:59,680 --> 00:57:05,360
a sponge and learning about disaster relief and what did it mean to kind of put all of

879
00:57:05,360 --> 00:57:06,360
the pieces together.

880
00:57:06,360 --> 00:57:13,560
And I loved one of the things that Somebody Cares does is to leverage the local church

881
00:57:13,560 --> 00:57:14,980
during times of crisis.

882
00:57:14,980 --> 00:57:22,840
And so I think I just got to really exercise a administrative leadership arm that I'd seen

883
00:57:22,840 --> 00:57:23,840
a little bit.

884
00:57:23,840 --> 00:57:27,760
But, you know, being a pastor's kid, you can kind of just go, well, this is because my

885
00:57:27,760 --> 00:57:30,280
dad's the pastor, he's the guy in charge.

886
00:57:30,280 --> 00:57:32,280
I'm his kid.

887
00:57:32,280 --> 00:57:35,240
So maybe that's why this is working well in my life.

888
00:57:35,240 --> 00:57:40,880
But coming over and serving Somebody Cares in that way, I realized, no, this is a gift.

889
00:57:40,880 --> 00:57:44,760
You know, I have a gift of administrative talents.

890
00:57:44,760 --> 00:57:46,640
And so I need to exercise that more.

891
00:57:46,640 --> 00:57:48,680
And a lot of things I didn't know I could do.

892
00:57:48,680 --> 00:57:52,920
I didn't know I could learn how to produce a podcast and write show notes.

893
00:57:52,920 --> 00:57:59,540
And I mean, just all of the behind the scenes things that just there's so many people that

894
00:57:59,540 --> 00:58:04,260
dream about and have aspirations to do the things that I just stumbled into.

895
00:58:04,260 --> 00:58:06,480
And I don't know.

896
00:58:06,480 --> 00:58:07,980
I'm grateful for that.

897
00:58:07,980 --> 00:58:13,160
And I want to keep my mind and my eyes peeled for anybody who's, you know, really desiring

898
00:58:13,160 --> 00:58:18,800
to be in those places that I can help them, you know, step into those roles.

899
00:58:18,800 --> 00:58:21,320
But I've stumbled into them.

900
00:58:21,320 --> 00:58:22,320
But God had a plan.

901
00:58:22,320 --> 00:58:24,760
Well, you stumbled into them sort of.

902
00:58:24,760 --> 00:58:26,560
I mean, you were being obedient to the Lord.

903
00:58:26,560 --> 00:58:33,800
And when you follow God and just say, yes, you make yourself available.

904
00:58:33,800 --> 00:58:37,960
He leads you places you never would have been able to go or find yourself if you had been

905
00:58:37,960 --> 00:58:40,520
seeking on your own.

906
00:58:40,520 --> 00:58:42,440
And that's the beauty about obedience to the Lord.

907
00:58:42,440 --> 00:58:48,440
You know, I was thinking about obedience a few months ago and the Lord just started speaking

908
00:58:48,440 --> 00:58:51,920
to me and saying obedience is really just walking with me.

909
00:58:51,920 --> 00:58:56,440
You know, we we say the word obedience and all of us get this dreaded feel.

910
00:58:56,440 --> 00:59:00,640
Oh, my, if I'm not obedient, we're going to get a spank, you know, on the behind or something

911
00:59:00,640 --> 00:59:01,760
from when we were little.

912
00:59:01,760 --> 00:59:03,240
You better obey.

913
00:59:03,240 --> 00:59:06,800
But obedience to the Lord is walking with him.

914
00:59:06,800 --> 00:59:07,800
So true.

915
00:59:07,800 --> 00:59:12,520
But staying close to him and just turning when he turns and moving when he moves.

916
00:59:12,520 --> 00:59:16,560
That's that's obedience, which isn't.

917
00:59:16,560 --> 00:59:20,640
Scary or hard or.

918
00:59:20,640 --> 00:59:22,480
Bad in any way.

919
00:59:22,480 --> 00:59:24,640
It's a delight and a joy to walk with God.

920
00:59:24,640 --> 00:59:31,040
Yeah, I mean, I need to remind myself of that often, but, you know, if we look at obedience

921
00:59:31,040 --> 00:59:34,840
differently, it changes our perception.

922
00:59:34,840 --> 00:59:35,840
That's so true.

923
00:59:35,840 --> 00:59:36,840
Yeah.

924
00:59:36,840 --> 00:59:40,360
So while you were at Somebody Cares and even before you had done that, you and your brother

925
00:59:40,360 --> 00:59:45,680
started something called the Houston Worship Community, which is kind of a whole nother

926
00:59:45,680 --> 00:59:47,920
aspect of ministry that you've been involved in.

927
00:59:47,920 --> 00:59:48,920
And why?

928
00:59:48,920 --> 00:59:49,920
Why?

929
00:59:49,920 --> 00:59:52,480
Why did Houston need a worship community?

930
00:59:52,480 --> 00:59:55,920
OK, you know, there's churches all over the place in Houston.

931
00:59:55,920 --> 01:00:00,080
So what was that about?

932
01:00:00,080 --> 01:00:02,340
That was about a group of friends.

933
01:00:02,340 --> 01:00:04,920
It's always going to come back to friends, I think, in my life.

934
01:00:04,920 --> 01:00:11,800
But that was a group of friends that Greater Houston can take an hour or two sometimes,

935
01:00:11,800 --> 01:00:14,880
depending on where you're headed to get across.

936
01:00:14,880 --> 01:00:21,520
So people to have friendships over the entire scope of Greater Houston, that's pretty difficult

937
01:00:21,520 --> 01:00:22,520
to do.

938
01:00:22,520 --> 01:00:28,840
And so it's really these pockets of friendships that we had that we saw here in Houston.

939
01:00:28,840 --> 01:00:35,640
I don't know if it's like this outside of Houston or outside of Texas, but we have a

940
01:00:35,640 --> 01:00:40,820
culture that hires worship teams, hires musicians.

941
01:00:40,820 --> 01:00:45,740
People are not necessarily planted in that church and then take on that role.

942
01:00:45,740 --> 01:00:47,400
They are hired out.

943
01:00:47,400 --> 01:00:52,620
And some of them can be a part of four or five different churches on a weekend.

944
01:00:52,620 --> 01:00:58,920
And they're getting paid very well to play the guitar, play drums, to maybe sing.

945
01:00:58,920 --> 01:01:07,080
And so what we saw was a lot of hirelings and very few people being discipled, very few

946
01:01:07,080 --> 01:01:10,680
people having pastoral care.

947
01:01:10,680 --> 01:01:14,320
Most of the times the leadership didn't even know the people's names.

948
01:01:14,320 --> 01:01:16,280
And this is a young crowd.

949
01:01:16,280 --> 01:01:21,220
This is a lot of people that are, you know, teenagers and 20 somethings.

950
01:01:21,220 --> 01:01:26,960
That this is their first experience in ministry looks like being paid a hefty.

951
01:01:26,960 --> 01:01:34,760
I mean, they're paid very well in most churches, especially the mega church culture and just

952
01:01:34,760 --> 01:01:36,200
not really cared for.

953
01:01:36,200 --> 01:01:42,380
And so my brother and I, through our friendships, begin to see that and just begin to really

954
01:01:42,380 --> 01:01:48,460
invite people to dinner, invite people to coffee and just be very intentional in connecting

955
01:01:48,460 --> 01:01:55,660
our friends across the city to know that you're not alone, know that you have a sounding board.

956
01:01:55,660 --> 01:02:01,440
Our very first meetup was in the South side in a town here called Pearland.

957
01:02:01,440 --> 01:02:05,560
And we were just kind of expressing our heart and hey, you know, at times you're feeling

958
01:02:05,560 --> 01:02:08,760
burned out and you don't know who to reach out to.

959
01:02:08,760 --> 01:02:15,440
And that seems really, especially as a pastor's kid, that seems really hard to comprehend.

960
01:02:15,440 --> 01:02:19,540
You don't, you couldn't reach out to your pastor or to your leadership.

961
01:02:19,540 --> 01:02:23,960
But a lot of these guys that are hired on or girls that are hired on feel like if I

962
01:02:23,960 --> 01:02:27,960
reach out, I'm reaching out to my boss, my employer.

963
01:02:27,960 --> 01:02:31,560
And if I tell them I'm struggling, they're going to tell me to take a week or two or

964
01:02:31,560 --> 01:02:32,840
a month off.

965
01:02:32,840 --> 01:02:35,260
They may or may not have me come back.

966
01:02:35,260 --> 01:02:36,580
And this is my livelihood.

967
01:02:36,580 --> 01:02:40,800
This is how for good or bad, this is how they make money.

968
01:02:40,800 --> 01:02:42,480
This is their career.

969
01:02:42,480 --> 01:02:48,760
And so we just became that bridge of, of, hey, we'll, we'll be there for you.

970
01:02:48,760 --> 01:02:54,480
If you're struggling on a Sunday morning, text, call, we'll step in, walk you through

971
01:02:54,480 --> 01:03:00,180
it, help you through it as best we can and just being available.

972
01:03:00,180 --> 01:03:04,120
And like I said a minute ago, being a friend is what that community became.

973
01:03:04,120 --> 01:03:05,120
Yeah.

974
01:03:05,120 --> 01:03:08,360
And encouraging one another in the Lord, not just, hey, if you're struggling, but really

975
01:03:08,360 --> 01:03:11,080
leading them back to Jesus because, yes.

976
01:03:11,080 --> 01:03:15,440
Yeah, if you're, if you're in four or five churches on a weekend, you might not even

977
01:03:15,440 --> 01:03:16,440
hear the sermons.

978
01:03:16,440 --> 01:03:21,220
You might just go there and play the music and you're not being fed yourself necessarily.

979
01:03:21,220 --> 01:03:27,600
So that was a really unique ministry that God had you in and kind of still has you in.

980
01:03:27,600 --> 01:03:31,840
Although you said it's kind of morphed into regional groups now.

981
01:03:31,840 --> 01:03:33,080
Right.

982
01:03:33,080 --> 01:03:39,560
But such a unique way to be a friend, leading people to friendship with God.

983
01:03:39,560 --> 01:03:40,560
Yes.

984
01:03:40,560 --> 01:03:43,680
That's a good way of putting it.

985
01:03:43,680 --> 01:03:47,920
So those who've listened to a few episodes of this podcast know that one of my favorite

986
01:03:47,920 --> 01:03:56,160
verses right now is Psalm 1, 1968 that says God is good and everything he does is good.

987
01:03:56,160 --> 01:04:01,200
So how have you seen and experienced the goodness of God in your life?

988
01:04:01,200 --> 01:04:06,120
Just looking back over his fingerprints on your life, give us a couple of examples of

989
01:04:06,120 --> 01:04:08,920
his goodness to you, Cassie.

990
01:04:08,920 --> 01:04:16,800
The family I was born into, you know, I know that that's not across the board how everybody's

991
01:04:16,800 --> 01:04:18,240
raised and brought up.

992
01:04:18,240 --> 01:04:23,240
And even the times that my parents were out of church, not serving God, they didn't feed

993
01:04:23,240 --> 01:04:25,200
us that bitterness.

994
01:04:25,200 --> 01:04:28,360
We still maintained a love for God, a love for the church.

995
01:04:28,360 --> 01:04:30,520
And I mean, they were, they were not happy.

996
01:04:30,520 --> 01:04:36,080
They were angry at some things that had gone down and they could have easily fed that to

997
01:04:36,080 --> 01:04:37,080
us.

998
01:04:37,080 --> 01:04:41,440
And we didn't know the whole story because they just never fed us that.

999
01:04:41,440 --> 01:04:44,500
And we always maintained a love for the church.

1000
01:04:44,500 --> 01:04:52,380
And I see that as being just part of the goodness of God in keeping, you know, everything I've

1001
01:04:52,380 --> 01:04:54,400
gone through.

1002
01:04:54,400 --> 01:05:01,920
I can't remember a time that an unbeliever or a worldly person hurt me, abused me, manipulated

1003
01:05:01,920 --> 01:05:02,920
me.

1004
01:05:02,920 --> 01:05:06,760
It's always been a church person, you know, person, a person who professes their faith

1005
01:05:06,760 --> 01:05:08,240
in Christ.

1006
01:05:08,240 --> 01:05:14,320
And yet I've always maintained a love for people in general and especially for the church.

1007
01:05:14,320 --> 01:05:16,760
And I feel like that that's the goodness of God.

1008
01:05:16,760 --> 01:05:26,480
If just, I just don't allow what other people do to affect how I view God or see God.

1009
01:05:26,480 --> 01:05:32,080
And through that, He is able to show me His goodness even in the midst of all of that.

1010
01:05:32,080 --> 01:05:36,640
And so, yeah, I've seen that in the family I was born into.

1011
01:05:36,640 --> 01:05:38,760
I've seen that in the opportunities.

1012
01:05:38,760 --> 01:05:44,840
I've been allowed to be a part of watching gatherings of people come together and pray

1013
01:05:44,840 --> 01:05:46,480
and lift up the name of Jesus.

1014
01:05:46,480 --> 01:05:48,320
I've seen that in health.

1015
01:05:48,320 --> 01:05:55,160
You know, there's, most people don't know this, but I've had chronic pain, undiagnosed.

1016
01:05:55,160 --> 01:06:01,180
They did every test known to man, started in about 2010, 2011, and it's progressed.

1017
01:06:01,180 --> 01:06:04,720
And some years are better than others.

1018
01:06:04,720 --> 01:06:11,000
But even in that and struggling with health and yes, there's definitely things we can

1019
01:06:11,000 --> 01:06:18,840
do to help benefit eating healthy, exercising, getting enough sleep, doing all those things

1020
01:06:18,840 --> 01:06:20,240
and allowing our body to heal.

1021
01:06:20,240 --> 01:06:25,280
But through even my own health struggles, I've watched just the goodness of God and

1022
01:06:25,280 --> 01:06:32,320
that He's provided and taking care of me and has led me to rest when I need to rest and

1023
01:06:32,320 --> 01:06:35,040
to get up and go when I need to get up and go.

1024
01:06:35,040 --> 01:06:41,960
Yeah, I think that's kind of how I've seen His goodness play out in my life.

1025
01:06:41,960 --> 01:06:47,520
And I love that, you know, God restored a home to you.

1026
01:06:47,520 --> 01:06:54,600
After Harvey, all of your possessions were in storage and they were all flooded.

1027
01:06:54,600 --> 01:07:04,320
And after serving so many during Harvey, while you had lost everything yourself, God restored

1028
01:07:04,320 --> 01:07:05,840
and gave you a home.

1029
01:07:05,840 --> 01:07:11,160
You know, as a single woman, you were able to buy a house that actually others from your

1030
01:07:11,160 --> 01:07:15,560
family have lived in in their transitions for periods of time.

1031
01:07:15,560 --> 01:07:16,560
Yes, yes.

1032
01:07:16,560 --> 01:07:18,480
It's such a good, I had it written.

1033
01:07:18,480 --> 01:07:21,940
I think I wrote this goal thing for my grandmother.

1034
01:07:21,940 --> 01:07:22,940
She had it on her refrigerator.

1035
01:07:22,940 --> 01:07:28,040
I was probably 21 at the time and listed on there was a house.

1036
01:07:28,040 --> 01:07:30,440
And as I was nearing, I think I was 30.

1037
01:07:30,440 --> 01:07:32,600
This was two years ago, 38.

1038
01:07:32,600 --> 01:07:36,960
I was thinking there's just no way because I've been in ministry all my life.

1039
01:07:36,960 --> 01:07:38,320
I've had other jobs as well.

1040
01:07:38,320 --> 01:07:43,080
I've worked for a record service and I was medical records director at a nursing home.

1041
01:07:43,080 --> 01:07:45,560
So I've had, you know, quote unquote, real jobs.

1042
01:07:45,560 --> 01:07:48,320
But most of my stuff, I've lived a missionary lifestyle.

1043
01:07:48,320 --> 01:07:55,140
I've lived a ministry kid life and just didn't think that was ever going to be possible.

1044
01:07:55,140 --> 01:07:58,440
And I walk, I was looking for a rental house.

1045
01:07:58,440 --> 01:08:01,740
Long story short, my nephew was going through cancer.

1046
01:08:01,740 --> 01:08:03,840
I was an hour and a half away.

1047
01:08:03,840 --> 01:08:09,800
My family really needed me to be here and help my sister in law and my brother.

1048
01:08:09,800 --> 01:08:13,860
And just made sense for me to move and be back in Baytown.

1049
01:08:13,860 --> 01:08:17,920
And this was in 2020 pandemic time is going on.

1050
01:08:17,920 --> 01:08:24,520
I came looking for a rental place and the realtor that was working with me said, dear

1051
01:08:24,520 --> 01:08:27,580
Horton is offering this incredible deal.

1052
01:08:27,580 --> 01:08:30,040
Would you like to just take a look at some of their new builds?

1053
01:08:30,040 --> 01:08:32,880
And when I walked in here, Jodi, I just immediately knew.

1054
01:08:32,880 --> 01:08:34,200
I mean, there's no walls.

1055
01:08:34,200 --> 01:08:35,200
There's no flooring.

1056
01:08:35,200 --> 01:08:37,800
It's a shell of a home.

1057
01:08:37,800 --> 01:08:39,740
And I just felt the peace of God.

1058
01:08:39,740 --> 01:08:42,160
And I looked, my mother was in town and looked at her.

1059
01:08:42,160 --> 01:08:44,000
I said, mom, this is it.

1060
01:08:44,000 --> 01:08:45,360
I don't even know how.

1061
01:08:45,360 --> 01:08:46,920
Like how do I buy a house?

1062
01:08:46,920 --> 01:08:48,400
I have no money.

1063
01:08:48,400 --> 01:08:49,400
I had not.

1064
01:08:49,400 --> 01:08:51,800
All my savings had gone to helping others.

1065
01:08:51,800 --> 01:08:56,640
I'd given money away to putting transmissions and missionaries cars.

1066
01:08:56,640 --> 01:08:57,640
And I don't say that brightly.

1067
01:08:57,640 --> 01:08:59,720
I just say I had not saved.

1068
01:08:59,720 --> 01:09:02,160
Yeah, I had given it away.

1069
01:09:02,160 --> 01:09:06,320
And just crazy.

1070
01:09:06,320 --> 01:09:08,000
Earnest money was $99.

1071
01:09:08,000 --> 01:09:13,320
And that was legitimately what I had left over after paying bills and such.

1072
01:09:13,320 --> 01:09:19,280
And so I did it, I signed that day intent to purchase, not knowing how.

1073
01:09:19,280 --> 01:09:21,920
I was given a really low down payment.

1074
01:09:21,920 --> 01:09:26,080
It was under 10,000 and it was given to me.

1075
01:09:26,080 --> 01:09:30,760
The interest rate on this home is 2.67%.

1076
01:09:30,760 --> 01:09:33,280
My family's locked in for 30 years.

1077
01:09:33,280 --> 01:09:34,440
My family's in real estate.

1078
01:09:34,440 --> 01:09:39,160
They've never seen even in the 80s and in times of like, you know, things are going

1079
01:09:39,160 --> 01:09:40,160
really great.

1080
01:09:40,160 --> 01:09:41,440
They've never seen interest rates like that.

1081
01:09:41,440 --> 01:09:43,920
And so it was from start to finish.

1082
01:09:43,920 --> 01:09:46,640
Now there was times I thought I was going to lose all my hair.

1083
01:09:46,640 --> 01:09:49,240
And as you're doing the loan process, right.

1084
01:09:49,240 --> 01:09:50,240
And like, what am I doing?

1085
01:09:50,240 --> 01:09:51,240
Am I crazy?

1086
01:09:51,240 --> 01:09:54,960
I think I said that many times to everybody working with me through it.

1087
01:09:54,960 --> 01:09:56,320
Like, am I crazy?

1088
01:09:56,320 --> 01:09:57,880
Is this really going to happen?

1089
01:09:57,880 --> 01:10:03,080
And the loan officer working through me for me, who we only spoke on the phone constantly,

1090
01:10:03,080 --> 01:10:05,680
he was more encouraging to me than I was to myself.

1091
01:10:05,680 --> 01:10:07,520
He's like, it's going to be fine.

1092
01:10:07,520 --> 01:10:08,920
We're working it out.

1093
01:10:08,920 --> 01:10:12,040
And I just thought, just tell me because I don't want to get my hopes up.

1094
01:10:12,040 --> 01:10:13,680
Just tell me it's not going to work.

1095
01:10:13,680 --> 01:10:19,360
And so literally right into the day of putting my key in the door, I'm thinking, I don't

1096
01:10:19,360 --> 01:10:21,240
think this is real.

1097
01:10:21,240 --> 01:10:25,320
And it took me even a while to like put stuff up on the walls and really set up in a home

1098
01:10:25,320 --> 01:10:28,400
because I'm thinking, this isn't real.

1099
01:10:28,400 --> 01:10:33,760
And you mentioned in Hari, I think it was about 75% of our stuff was underwater.

1100
01:10:33,760 --> 01:10:35,100
It was all in a storage unit.

1101
01:10:35,100 --> 01:10:39,880
We were in between my family and I, my parents were sharing a storage unit.

1102
01:10:39,880 --> 01:10:45,720
We were in between living spaces and it was all under the water.

1103
01:10:45,720 --> 01:10:51,920
And we didn't know because we were far away from Baytown at the time of Harvey.

1104
01:10:51,920 --> 01:10:53,800
We didn't know for several weeks.

1105
01:10:53,800 --> 01:10:58,680
So water goes up furniture and it was bad.

1106
01:10:58,680 --> 01:11:01,640
It was bad when we opened the container.

1107
01:11:01,640 --> 01:11:06,440
But I had a church that we were serving during Harvey that had teamed up with a furniture

1108
01:11:06,440 --> 01:11:08,000
store.

1109
01:11:08,000 --> 01:11:11,600
And when I walked in, I thought I was just picking out a couple of end tables.

1110
01:11:11,600 --> 01:11:13,960
They had given me a shopping spree.

1111
01:11:13,960 --> 01:11:21,000
And so almost 90% of what's in my home today came from that shopping spree where I had

1112
01:11:21,000 --> 01:11:26,280
a couple of camo, outdoor chairs and a little TV set up.

1113
01:11:26,280 --> 01:11:31,620
My home looks like a home now, two years later, thanks to generous people that I met through

1114
01:11:31,620 --> 01:11:33,680
disaster relief.

1115
01:11:33,680 --> 01:11:37,160
Such the goodness of God, but he repays those.

1116
01:11:37,160 --> 01:11:40,440
He takes care of those who take care of his business.

1117
01:11:40,440 --> 01:11:43,040
He's going to make sure they're taken care of too.

1118
01:11:43,040 --> 01:11:44,040
Friends of God.

1119
01:11:44,040 --> 01:11:45,040
So good.

1120
01:11:45,040 --> 01:11:46,040
It's good to be a friend of God.

1121
01:11:46,040 --> 01:11:48,200
It's really good to be a friend of God.

1122
01:11:48,200 --> 01:11:53,720
Well, I love to ask my guests to share if there's a woman in the Bible whose story inspired,

1123
01:11:53,720 --> 01:11:57,240
encouraged, or taught you something and how your story relates to hers.

1124
01:11:57,240 --> 01:11:59,760
So how about it?

1125
01:11:59,760 --> 01:12:01,080
Yes.

1126
01:12:01,080 --> 01:12:08,360
I love this woman in the Bible and most would probably think I'm going to say her daughter-in-law's

1127
01:12:08,360 --> 01:12:12,120
name, but it's Naomi.

1128
01:12:12,120 --> 01:12:16,320
Naomi has always been just a story.

1129
01:12:16,320 --> 01:12:23,020
I love reading her story and through her eyes, as I've read her story, Naomi's life illustrates

1130
01:12:23,020 --> 01:12:27,960
the power of God to bring something good out of bitter circumstances.

1131
01:12:27,960 --> 01:12:35,200
Being single and in the ministry, even through my, as recently as in my thirties, the classic

1132
01:12:35,200 --> 01:12:40,600
thing would be to give me a book about Ruth and I'm in the prayer line and they're telling

1133
01:12:40,600 --> 01:12:43,840
me God's going to send me my Boaz or any of those things.

1134
01:12:43,840 --> 01:12:44,840
That's beautiful.

1135
01:12:44,840 --> 01:12:45,840
That's encouragement.

1136
01:12:45,840 --> 01:12:52,840
I'm not saying don't do that, but as I studied her life as a young leader, I kept seeing

1137
01:12:52,840 --> 01:12:56,400
it from Naomi's perspective.

1138
01:12:56,400 --> 01:13:02,720
I was even teaching on the story of Ruth and in the middle of teaching, God was talking

1139
01:13:02,720 --> 01:13:05,440
and speaking to my heart saying, this isn't Ruth's story.

1140
01:13:05,440 --> 01:13:09,880
Yes, her name's the title of the book and she's a big part of the story.

1141
01:13:09,880 --> 01:13:15,200
She ends up in the lineage of Jesus, but this from start to finish is Naomi's journey to

1142
01:13:15,200 --> 01:13:24,920
redemption from famine to tragedy, bitter grief, to God giving her family through Ruth

1143
01:13:24,920 --> 01:13:28,760
and through her grandson.

1144
01:13:28,760 --> 01:13:35,020
Her story has been one that has just encouraged me and probably the most interesting part

1145
01:13:35,020 --> 01:13:39,560
of it is when she returns and I won't preach the whole lesson, but when she returns to

1146
01:13:39,560 --> 01:13:45,840
Bethlehem, she returns during a season, she's returning saying, don't call me Naomi, which

1147
01:13:45,840 --> 01:13:46,840
means pleasant.

1148
01:13:46,840 --> 01:13:48,760
Call me Mara for I'm bitter.

1149
01:13:48,760 --> 01:13:52,720
The Lord is dealt a bitter blow, which we know it's not the Lord.

1150
01:13:52,720 --> 01:13:53,900
It's our choices.

1151
01:13:53,900 --> 01:13:58,080
She made the choice to leave in a time of famine and her and her husband were going

1152
01:13:58,080 --> 01:14:03,440
to go out and find their own way, but she comes back and she comes back in the beginning

1153
01:14:03,440 --> 01:14:10,560
of the barley season and the barley harvest is one that represents the overcomer because

1154
01:14:10,560 --> 01:14:14,360
it's a hearty grain that can withstand the harsh winter.

1155
01:14:14,360 --> 01:14:22,040
It represents those of us that refuse to doubt God, refuse to do anything but trust God.

1156
01:14:22,040 --> 01:14:26,200
I'm going to trust God and don't hold anything against God.

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And I think of the story when John the Baptist disciples go to Jesus and say, John's in prison.

1158
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Are you the Messiah?

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Are we waiting for someone else?

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And one of the things that Jesus says after he says, are the lame walking, the blind they're

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01:14:44,200 --> 01:14:46,660
seeing, look around, see what's going on.

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He says, blessed is the one who doesn't lose heart on account of me.

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And I think about that in concept to us as believers.

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There's so many things, so many circumstances that are out of our control and that could

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cause us to turn bitter.

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It could cause us to lose out with God and sever that tether that I was talking about

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earlier and just go, you know what, I'm just going to drift.

1168
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And if a rock takes me out, a rock takes me out, but have caused us not to.

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We've clung tighter to our salvation and clung tighter to the anchor that is Jesus.

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01:15:22,960 --> 01:15:30,880
And that barley represents that crop that can withstand anything, any storm.

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01:15:30,880 --> 01:15:36,440
And so God was saying as she's coming back to Bethlehem saying, I'm bitter, I've had

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a hard life.

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God's saying, no, you're an overcomer.

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And so I think that that's why her story's spoken so much to me.

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01:15:43,600 --> 01:15:47,840
There's so many beautiful women in the Bible, but Naomi's one that I keep coming back to

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01:15:47,840 --> 01:15:52,200
of everything can go on and can go wrong.

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01:15:52,200 --> 01:15:59,320
Your decisions or just God's overall plan for your life can always feel good or look

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01:15:59,320 --> 01:16:00,320
right.

1179
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But if you'll hold tight and hold, she held tight to her faith in God.

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And she's the one who showed Ruth what it meant to be a follower.

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He was for Ruth, he was the God of Naomi before he became her God.

1182
01:16:15,360 --> 01:16:19,600
And so she held tight to her faith no matter what she was going through.

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01:16:19,600 --> 01:16:24,280
And so I see her a lot of myself in that story.

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01:16:24,280 --> 01:16:26,200
Yeah, that's good.

1185
01:16:26,200 --> 01:16:33,740
Well Proverbs 17 17 says a friend loves at all times and a brother is born for a time

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01:16:33,740 --> 01:16:35,100
of adversity.

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And when you lay down your life for your family like Cassie did or for a friend, God is able

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01:16:41,680 --> 01:16:44,860
to work wonders in their lives and in yours.

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01:16:44,860 --> 01:16:49,340
As you empty yourself for the sake of God's glory, nothing is impossible.

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01:16:49,340 --> 01:16:53,520
When you make yourself a friend of God, he makes himself a friend of you.

1191
01:16:53,520 --> 01:16:57,720
Cassie, could you take a moment and just pray for everyone of our listeners?

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01:16:57,720 --> 01:17:04,380
Father, we thank you today, God, that we have the privilege to gather together even over

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01:17:04,380 --> 01:17:05,380
a podcast.

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01:17:05,380 --> 01:17:08,300
God, we reflect on your goodness.

1195
01:17:08,300 --> 01:17:13,460
We reflect on your friendship to us before we ever chose you.

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01:17:13,460 --> 01:17:16,220
You chose us, God, and we thank you for that.

1197
01:17:16,220 --> 01:17:17,220
We thank you for that.

1198
01:17:17,220 --> 01:17:23,040
God, I pray that each of the listeners, the ladies, maybe gentlemen that have stumbled

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01:17:23,040 --> 01:17:28,760
upon this podcast today, God, that they would know your goodness, that they would be able

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01:17:28,760 --> 01:17:37,220
to reflect today back over their lives and see your hand and your kindness that has led,

1201
01:17:37,220 --> 01:17:38,700
that has guided them.

1202
01:17:38,700 --> 01:17:46,900
God, and I thank you that they would see themselves as overcomers, that they would see themselves,

1203
01:17:46,900 --> 01:17:47,900
God even as leaders.

1204
01:17:47,900 --> 01:17:52,240
Like we talked about Miss Betty, maybe not, they don't see themselves as leaders right

1205
01:17:52,240 --> 01:17:57,460
at this moment, but through listening today, they begin to think, I could do that.

1206
01:17:57,460 --> 01:17:58,460
I can be a leader.

1207
01:17:58,460 --> 01:18:01,300
I can use the gifts that you've given me.

1208
01:18:01,300 --> 01:18:06,060
God, we pray over them that you would strengthen them, that you would encourage them, that

1209
01:18:06,060 --> 01:18:12,060
you would send friends along their way, God, that would just come alongside them.

1210
01:18:12,060 --> 01:18:21,260
God, we thank you just for this platform, God, for people to hear our God stories, to

1211
01:18:21,260 --> 01:18:25,420
hear and know that you are good.

1212
01:18:25,420 --> 01:18:28,900
We lift you up, we lift up the name of Jesus today.

1213
01:18:28,900 --> 01:18:34,620
We thank you for each of these listeners and we bless them in Jesus' name.

1214
01:18:34,620 --> 01:18:35,620
Amen.

1215
01:18:35,620 --> 01:18:36,620
Amen.

1216
01:18:36,620 --> 01:18:37,720
Well, thank you for tuning in.

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01:18:37,720 --> 01:18:42,220
Links to Cassie's music as well as the scriptures and other helpful information is in our show

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01:18:42,220 --> 01:18:45,100
notes at hergodstory.org.

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01:18:45,100 --> 01:18:50,660
There you can also sign up for periodic emails and get a free devotional download on Women

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01:18:50,660 --> 01:18:51,660
of the Bible.

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01:18:51,660 --> 01:18:56,020
We'd love for you to share Cassie's story with friends, so please do that and be sure

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01:18:56,020 --> 01:19:00,060
to follow the podcast on whatever your favorite streaming service is so you don't miss an

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01:19:00,060 --> 01:19:01,060
episode.

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01:19:01,060 --> 01:19:07,980
Now, dear friends, I leave you with the prayer of blessing from 3 John 1 verse 2.

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01:19:07,980 --> 01:19:15,260
I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health just as your soul prospers.

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01:19:15,260 --> 01:19:19,300
Her God Story is a ministry of Somebody Cares America and International.

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01:19:19,300 --> 01:19:23,460
To find out more about or support the ministry, go to somebodycares.org.