Feb. 6, 2023

God Doesn’t Waste Anything! Bobbi Case's Story

God Doesn’t Waste Anything! Bobbi Case's Story
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Her God Story with Jodie Chiricosta

Nothing is ever wasted in God’s economy. When He’s in the story, it is always to bring about good for us. Through years of betrayal and a divorce, Bobbi Case learned that God would never leave her. He, in fact, sheltered her under His wings. Listen as Bobbi and host, Jodie Chiricosta, share how God has not forgotten you! He is able to redeem your mistakes and set you on the right path so you can share His love with others. He has good plans for you. Hear how trusting in God with gratitude allows blessing to overflow in your life!

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Transcript

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As you probably know by now, I love a good story, especially when it's a God story.

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Some stories awaken our emotions and expose rawness that we've tried to protect, but

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when it's God moving, we can trust exposure is for our healing, to take the sting out

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of the wounds and set us free from hurt.

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You can also trust that if God is in the story, it is always to bring about good for us, in

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us, and through us.

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This episode is such a story.

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

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author and traveler on this journey of faith.

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Before I introduce my guest, I encourage you to take a moment to like or follow this podcast

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on your favorite streaming platform so you won't miss the stories of any of my amazing

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guests.

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I've known my guest, Bobbi Case, for nearly 25 years now.

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She's a woman who loves fiercely.

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She's generous, joyful, and full of gratitude for all God's done throughout her life.

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Bobbi is a court reporter by day and an expert quilter, among other things, by night.

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She and her husband, Rob, serve on the prayer ministry at their church and are gracious

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hosts for all who need a warm welcome.

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A mother of two adult sons, Bobbi's learned the truth about Proverbs 3:5-6, which

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says, trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding, in all

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your ways, submit to him and he will make your path straight.

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Welcome, Bobbi.

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You were raised in the church.

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Your family was as involved as they could be.

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You got saved at a very young age.

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You learned to play the piano using hymn books and you had very little contact with worldly

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things.

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How did that shape your view of God?

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I knew God at a very, very young age.

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I grew up knowing about missionaries.

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I grew up going to church and I've trusted God my whole life.

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Growing up with really a protected environment.

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Yes, very protected.

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I mean, such a blessing from the Lord, you know, when you are protected and you're not

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encountering some of the pain and hurt and tragedy at a young age.

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And that really set your view of who God is.

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Yes.

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I knew God cared for me.

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I prayed to him.

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In your preteen and teenage years, when you were trying, you know, really your self-image

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is defined during those years and that was a struggle for you.

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Explain that a little.

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Yes, it was.

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My dad had a hard time keeping a job.

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He was a mechanical engineer.

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When I was in the middle of the fourth grade, he takes a job in a town in West Virginia.

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Now it's about an hour and a half drive.

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Back then it probably was three hours because there wasn't the interstate.

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And so he got up and moved his family down there.

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So I was about nine years old, give or take.

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Move into a school in a little town that people did not move in and out of.

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So you were a stranger.

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Because you were new and you were a stranger, you kids were very mean.

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They would make fun of you, tease you, say mean things about you.

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And I had been very sheltered.

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That really affected me.

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I had a hard time making friends.

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The children there didn't really want to make friends.

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You were the stranger.

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You were the odd man out.

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It's the typical, they pick a team during gym class and you're not picked.

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Or you're the last one.

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That really affected your sense of self-worth.

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Yes.

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I had no self-worth.

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Words that are sown in our lives for good or for evil can really have long-lasting effect.

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And Satan will use those if we allow him to in our lives.

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And the goodness of God changes that.

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Yes, it does.

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He changes all of that.

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So you continued to move around a little bit.

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Your dad got different jobs.

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And in high school, you were in a new place, in a new city, trying to find friends again.

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And you took a home-ed class in high school.

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And God had a surprise for you there.

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Tell us about that and how that impacted the next few years of your life.

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We moved to Toledo, Ohio.

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One of the first things we did, we went to a church up there.

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This is the beginning of my sophomore year of high school.

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My parents got us right into the youth group.

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And I was in the 10th grade in the home-ed class.

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And the way the rooms were set up, you had your sewing machine face another girl's sewing

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machine or boy.

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But most of my class was all girls.

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We were learning to sew.

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And the girl across from me, her name was Kim.

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And she started talking to me.

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And she said, well, do you go to church?

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I said, yes, I do go to church.

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And she said, well, where do you go?

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And I told her.

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And she said, well, I go to that church.

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And I said, really?

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She goes, yeah.

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I said, well, I've been to the youth group.

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And I haven't seen you.

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And she had been out of town because of summer.

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And Kim, to this day, has been my best friend for 51 years.

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And God is so gracious like that.

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In a time when you were struggling with your self-image and self-worth and friends, God

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gave you a wonderful friend in Kim that ended up being your lifelong friend in high school.

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His loving kindness and his faithfulness never ceases.

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God is such a good God.

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And he really provided for you during those high school years.

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You got involved in that church.

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You had friends there.

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You even started traveling with singing, didn't you?

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Yes.

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My mom led the youth choir.

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She started a youth choir at that church.

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And we traveled around the state of Ohio.

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And my dad would drive the bus.

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We would sing for youth rallies.

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We'd just sing in different churches.

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At least three or four years we did that.

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Well, when you graduated from high school, you didn't really have much direction.

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I mean, your whole focus in life had been wrapped up in church activities, which undoubtedly

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shaped your expectations for life.

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What were your expectations or your hopes for the future at that point?

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I didn't even have a clue about college, which you would think right after high school you

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would be looking for colleges.

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And my parents never talked to me about college.

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When I got out of high school, I didn't know what it was I was supposed to do.

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I got a job for a year working for a chiropractor.

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And then a lot of my friends were going to a school in Lakeland, Florida, Christian College.

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So I said, well, maybe I'll try that.

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So I applied for school and I went down there.

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Was there for two years, met a lot of people.

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In my mind, I just thought, you know, well, I'm supposed to get married and have kids

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and raise those kids to love God.

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And I didn't really have any direction whatsoever, truly, of what to do with my life.

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Just sort of like going, waking up, whatever was there that day.

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That's what I did.

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Yeah.

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So you were at a Christian college for two years.

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I mean, it was really not like a lot of Christian universities today, which actually train you

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up in any number of professions.

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This was really geared to pastors, missionaries, teachers.

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And you didn't really feel called to any of those things.

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No, I'm not a public speaker and I have no teaching qualities in my skill set.

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So after two years, there was only was in a draw for you to go back and your family

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needed some help.

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But once again, my dad was changing jobs and moving from Toledo, Ohio to Virginia Beach,

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Virginia.

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So I just decided to stay in Toledo, work part time, go to school at the University of

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Toledo.

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In this time when you're in college and seeking what to do with your life, kind of with that

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expectation that marriage is it, you met someone who was quite interested in you and you were

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taken by that.

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I met my first husband.

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That started a very tumultuous time in my life.

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I believed in prayer.

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God's direction was important to me.

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You know, God is so faithful that if we have a heart that yearns for God's direction, he

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will not let us miss it.

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He won't if we're willing to be obedient.

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So you know, I think a lot of us can look back on our life and say, gosh, did I miss

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God here?

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Did I miss God there?

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I had a heart to serve God.

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And so even though there are some bumpy times in all of our lives and we wonder, gosh, did

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I miss God on this?

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When we are truly yearning to follow God, he does not let us miss it.

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We might miss step.

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We might go through some hard times that are of our own doing.

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The ultimate destination we don't miss.

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I believe that Jodi, because I'm married now to a wonderful man and God gave me this

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second chance and I have thought the exact same thing because you know, people say that,

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you know, you're looking for the perfect mate, the perfect wife, the perfect husband.

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And then you think, well, I've missed it.

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I missed him somewhere.

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But God in his divine wisdom and in his kindness to us, he gets us back on track somehow.

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He does.

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Or he makes the path we're on somehow get back in with what he originally planned for

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us.

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There are mysteries in God that we will never fully understand or know until we're in heaven.

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Look him back and then we'll see it.

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This man that you met in college, you were smitten with him because he was showing you

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the attention, giving you the words that you need, that you had long to hear.

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That self-worth was being fulfilled from him and that relationship progressed to marriage.

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It did progress to marriage.

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And that really started 14 years of a period of betrayal and confusion.

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You know, I mean, he was really preying on your vulnerable self-image.

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Kind of a nightmare, really a nightmare no bride expects.

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Yeah, it was a nightmare.

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God turns everything for good though.

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My first husband was very deceitful.

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He lied.

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He was a thief.

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He was an abuser.

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I'm not going to go into great detail on that, but all I can figure is his growing up, he

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had some things in his life and he carried them into his adult life.

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He was very good at covering it up.

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Yes.

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There are a lot of things I still don't know and it's been over 25 years.

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I do not know a lot of what was going on.

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Maybe God allowed me to be blind to it.

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I couldn't maybe have handled it at the time.

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When he said he was leaving, it was just out of 14 years, let's say we had two years that

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were good years and you know, maybe the first year and then maybe another year in the middle,

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but I couldn't trust him.

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I couldn't trust him financially.

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I couldn't trust him, I guess sexually.

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He was involved with other women.

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It was very hurtful and I didn't have much of a self-image.

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I didn't think much of myself to begin with and then by the time the marriage ended, it

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was hard.

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Even out of that terrible time, God blessed you with two wonderful sons.

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Yeah, I tell my sons this, that nothing is ever wasted in God's economy.

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When I was in a junior in high school, our house burned down.

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The oil furnace that we had blew up.

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I was at school.

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My two sisters or three sisters had just caught the school bus and it was just my mom and

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my brother and my dad at home, my dad trying to get the furnace working.

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This is in February in Toledo, very cold.

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I have a girlfriend named Esther and her dad was a minister of our church and I went and

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stayed at their house for a few nights.

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And the minister read to me Romans 8:28 where it says, all things work together for good

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to those that love the Lord.

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I just remember that verse as far as this marriage and I think my two boys, that was

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the good that God brought from that marriage.

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My two sons, they're wonderful.

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They love God.

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They trust in God.

225
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My youngest son was born early.

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He was born three or four days after I found out my husband was stealing from my mother.

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When Robbie was born, they didn't expect him to live because he was born with pneumonia.

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He was a sick baby.

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God gave me the verse Hebrews 13 5.

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He said, I will never leave you or forsake you.

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So Robbie was born right.

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It was less than a week that I found out that my dad, my husband was stealing from my mother.

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God took that period of 14 years and he's made good come from it.

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You saw even miracles.

235
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I mean, I saw miracles.

236
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God really saved Robbie.

237
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I mean, Robbie, yes, he did.

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I was amazed when you were telling me the other day about the story.

239
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There was not a neonatal unit at the hospital where you gave birth.

240
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They were opening one, but it wasn't open yet.

241
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No, I had just taken a tour of the hospital nursery that day.

242
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They had walked us through just so when you go in to have your baby, you know where you're

243
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going to go and all that.

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And they showed us this intensive care unit for the babies and they said, you know, we've

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just finished this and we haven't opened it yet.

246
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And then the neck that night, my water broke.

247
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It was snowing.

248
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Robbie was six weeks early.

249
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They couldn't get him across town to the Children's Hospital or to the bigger hospital.

250
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God allowed him to be born there at the hospital.

251
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He was the first baby in the NICU.

252
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That's when he gave me that verse that he would never leave us.

253
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Here I am.

254
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My marriage has fallen apart.

255
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Now I have this brand new infant.

256
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They don't think he's going to live.

257
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Robbie now turns 38 today.

258
00:13:40,620 --> 00:13:44,280
So eventually, your first husband, Mike, he left.

259
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You had two young sons.

260
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He left you with a mountain of debt.

261
00:13:48,160 --> 00:13:49,160
Yes.

262
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Obviously a feeling of great failure.

263
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But you also had a freedom.

264
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I did.

265
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I had a freedom.

266
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Yes, I had a freedom.

267
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I was living with my mom and dad.

268
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They were amazing.

269
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I'm the sole breadwinner.

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00:14:03,040 --> 00:14:09,960
I had a job at one of the local churches, but the minister there treated me as if I

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was one of his sheep.

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00:14:11,320 --> 00:14:15,120
He gave me this book written by friends of his, Jim and Sally Conway.

273
00:14:15,120 --> 00:14:19,160
And in the fly leaf, he put the verse, Jeremiah 29:11.

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I know the plans I have for you, plans for good and not for evil or hurt.

275
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Yes, it gave me a future and a hope.

276
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You didn't want divorce.

277
00:14:28,680 --> 00:14:34,520
You really were praying for reconciliation for Mike to really turn his heart back over

278
00:14:34,520 --> 00:14:35,520
to the Lord.

279
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But he continued to walk in disobedience.

280
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Yes, he did.

281
00:14:38,840 --> 00:14:43,320
And it was God's mercy for him to be removed from your life and the life of your boys.

282
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Yes.

283
00:14:44,320 --> 00:14:46,600
And he was doing things at his job that I found out later.

284
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He was endangering.

285
00:14:47,600 --> 00:14:49,400
Actually, he was endangering you guys.

286
00:14:49,400 --> 00:14:50,940
Yes, he was.

287
00:14:50,940 --> 00:14:52,840
So God came in.

288
00:14:52,840 --> 00:14:57,080
He rescued you from this very harmful situation.

289
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And he started carrying you through.

290
00:14:58,280 --> 00:15:01,880
I mean, you talked about a little bit about the pastor who really came alongside you.

291
00:15:01,880 --> 00:15:06,080
And there were so many other instances of how he provided for you.

292
00:15:06,080 --> 00:15:09,800
And I know you could probably go on and on and on at all the little ways that God came

293
00:15:09,800 --> 00:15:13,760
in and showed his care and that he is Jehovah-Jireh, your provider.

294
00:15:13,760 --> 00:15:18,640
But just give one or two examples of how you saw God working on your behalf.

295
00:15:18,640 --> 00:15:20,840
I had an angel visit.

296
00:15:20,840 --> 00:15:22,520
Maybe people scoff at that.

297
00:15:22,520 --> 00:15:25,200
I was very distraught over this.

298
00:15:25,200 --> 00:15:29,360
I was working four jobs and going to school full time.

299
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And I was exhausted living with my mother and my dad.

300
00:15:32,400 --> 00:15:37,800
Now, if I wasn't with them, I don't know how I would have made it through.

301
00:15:37,800 --> 00:15:39,960
My parents really showed up.

302
00:15:39,960 --> 00:15:44,240
My sisters, my brother-in-laws, my brother, they were there.

303
00:15:44,240 --> 00:15:46,680
I was so tired at some point.

304
00:15:46,680 --> 00:15:48,120
I would be standing up.

305
00:15:48,120 --> 00:15:49,400
My bedroom was upstairs.

306
00:15:49,400 --> 00:15:53,640
I would stand at the top of my stairs and had no idea how I would have the strength

307
00:15:53,640 --> 00:15:55,320
to walk down the stairs.

308
00:15:55,320 --> 00:15:59,760
I remember standing and walking through the grocery store and just literally start to

309
00:15:59,760 --> 00:16:00,760
cry.

310
00:16:00,760 --> 00:16:05,600
So my parents took my boys and I in in June of 1992.

311
00:16:05,600 --> 00:16:10,720
And my dad added shelves in his garage to hold our boxes and stuff.

312
00:16:10,720 --> 00:16:15,400
My mom went and got paint and carpet to fix up two bedrooms for us.

313
00:16:15,400 --> 00:16:17,440
And they never complained.

314
00:16:17,440 --> 00:16:22,560
To me, they were modeling God's love for us, his parental love, how much he loves to be

315
00:16:22,560 --> 00:16:24,720
our Abba father.

316
00:16:24,720 --> 00:16:29,720
They took my boys to their sporting events, music lessons, various camping trips and cook

317
00:16:29,720 --> 00:16:35,200
suppers, helped with homework and let them build a no girls allowed clubhouse in the

318
00:16:35,200 --> 00:16:38,560
backyard where my dad used to keep his boat.

319
00:16:38,560 --> 00:16:41,560
They gave so much time and so much energy.

320
00:16:41,560 --> 00:16:45,960
I realized that they were showing me unconditional love.

321
00:16:45,960 --> 00:16:48,600
Love doesn't keep a record of right and wrongs.

322
00:16:48,600 --> 00:16:51,520
I had realized I had been doing this my whole life.

323
00:16:51,520 --> 00:16:56,400
I learned to ask the Holy Spirit to help me forgive and love.

324
00:16:56,400 --> 00:16:57,440
And guess what?

325
00:16:57,440 --> 00:16:58,440
He did.

326
00:16:58,440 --> 00:17:01,080
And then I had a visit by an angel.

327
00:17:01,080 --> 00:17:02,720
God never left me.

328
00:17:02,720 --> 00:17:08,200
And I'm sitting in choir and this person behind me leans forward and tells me that God is

329
00:17:08,200 --> 00:17:14,600
protecting me like the eagle protects her young, how the eagle puts its wings around

330
00:17:14,600 --> 00:17:18,920
the young and that God is protecting me and going to take care of me.

331
00:17:18,920 --> 00:17:23,560
And I looked around at this person and I didn't know who this person was.

332
00:17:23,560 --> 00:17:25,240
And you had been in choir a long time.

333
00:17:25,240 --> 00:17:26,240
Yes.

334
00:17:26,240 --> 00:17:29,440
I've been there probably 10 years.

335
00:17:29,440 --> 00:17:32,600
And then I didn't really talk to them after.

336
00:17:32,600 --> 00:17:37,400
And I said, well, I'll see them Sunday morning and thank them.

337
00:17:37,400 --> 00:17:40,600
And I cannot say that I saw them Sunday morning.

338
00:17:40,600 --> 00:17:42,360
It was an actual angel.

339
00:17:42,360 --> 00:17:48,280
I had seen this angel one other time in my life that I can't remember the exact circumstance,

340
00:17:48,280 --> 00:17:52,760
but I just remember my gosh, that's my angel.

341
00:17:52,760 --> 00:17:55,200
That's an angel of God leaned over.

342
00:17:55,200 --> 00:18:00,960
Physically, I saw this person tell me God's going to take care of me like the angel or

343
00:18:00,960 --> 00:18:03,520
like the eagles take care of their children.

344
00:18:03,520 --> 00:18:06,320
I'll tell you another, it was Christmas, it was December.

345
00:18:06,320 --> 00:18:12,760
I didn't know where I would get extra money to get my kids gifts for Christmas.

346
00:18:12,760 --> 00:18:15,480
I'm like, Lord, please send me some extra work.

347
00:18:15,480 --> 00:18:17,640
I'll do whatever I need to do.

348
00:18:17,640 --> 00:18:19,360
I just need some extra money.

349
00:18:19,360 --> 00:18:25,320
And I remember saying that, gosh, if you could just give it to me, that would be great too.

350
00:18:25,320 --> 00:18:30,080
And the next morning I went into work, there was an envelope sitting on my desk and I believe

351
00:18:30,080 --> 00:18:34,080
it had opened it up and it was from a friend there at church.

352
00:18:34,080 --> 00:18:37,880
And they said, God told us we had this extra money.

353
00:18:37,880 --> 00:18:39,760
God told us we needed to give it to you.

354
00:18:39,760 --> 00:18:41,880
And it was $600.

355
00:18:41,880 --> 00:18:46,840
And I just remember laughing inside thinking, well, Lord, if I'd have known it was this

356
00:18:46,840 --> 00:18:50,720
easy, I would have just asked you to give me money previously.

357
00:18:50,720 --> 00:18:51,920
A long time ago.

358
00:18:51,920 --> 00:18:52,920
To not work.

359
00:18:52,920 --> 00:18:53,920
Yeah.

360
00:18:53,920 --> 00:18:59,520
I fully believe that if you're faithful to God, and I tithe, and I've tithed since my

361
00:18:59,520 --> 00:19:04,600
very first job babysitting, that God will not let you down.

362
00:19:04,600 --> 00:19:06,120
You know, God gave me money.

363
00:19:06,120 --> 00:19:09,280
Todd wanted to play the trumpet in junior high.

364
00:19:09,280 --> 00:19:11,840
I didn't have money to buy my son a trumpet.

365
00:19:11,840 --> 00:19:16,640
I went ahead and I bought this trumpet, $300, I remember.

366
00:19:16,640 --> 00:19:20,560
My credit card and the trumpet is there, the bill comes in the mail and I'm like, okay,

367
00:19:20,560 --> 00:19:22,320
God, how are we going to pay for this?

368
00:19:22,320 --> 00:19:29,880
And the next day in the mail is a check for $335 for some work that I had done.

369
00:19:29,880 --> 00:19:32,880
Which was enough to pay the bill and to pay tithe.

370
00:19:32,880 --> 00:19:35,000
I try and share that with my kids.

371
00:19:35,000 --> 00:19:39,100
I just, I'm like, we don't need to worry about these things, truly.

372
00:19:39,100 --> 00:19:40,480
We belong to him.

373
00:19:40,480 --> 00:19:43,760
I'll tell you, he inscribed us on the palms of his hands.

374
00:19:43,760 --> 00:19:44,760
That's another verse.

375
00:19:44,760 --> 00:19:51,840
They in 49, 15 and 16, my mother forget her children, her nursing children, even though

376
00:19:51,840 --> 00:19:54,840
the mother may forget, I will never forget you.

377
00:19:54,840 --> 00:19:57,800
I've inscribed you on the palm of my hand.

378
00:19:57,800 --> 00:19:58,800
That's good.

379
00:19:58,800 --> 00:19:59,800
Yeah.

380
00:19:59,800 --> 00:20:04,080
And Bobby, while you were dealing with the fallout of, you know, the divorce and working

381
00:20:04,080 --> 00:20:09,280
hard and trying to raise your sons, you also needed to help them get through really the

382
00:20:09,280 --> 00:20:11,440
loss of their father.

383
00:20:11,440 --> 00:20:17,000
What did you do that really helped them see that God is a good father, even though they

384
00:20:17,000 --> 00:20:19,240
might not have seen an earthly father that was?

385
00:20:19,240 --> 00:20:21,040
Yeah, I prayed with them.

386
00:20:21,040 --> 00:20:23,480
I read them Bible stories.

387
00:20:23,480 --> 00:20:28,920
The two that we read over and over and over with David killing the giant and Jonah in

388
00:20:28,920 --> 00:20:29,920
the whale.

389
00:20:29,920 --> 00:20:33,080
Those were the two stories my sons loved to hear the most.

390
00:20:33,080 --> 00:20:34,400
And I would pray with them.

391
00:20:34,400 --> 00:20:38,680
When my first husband remarried, Mike wanted them in their wedding.

392
00:20:38,680 --> 00:20:41,960
And my oldest son did not want to go and be in his wedding.

393
00:20:41,960 --> 00:20:43,960
And he just sobbed and cried and cried.

394
00:20:43,960 --> 00:20:48,440
And he said, I don't understand, mom, if God loves us so much, why is my dad marrying this

395
00:20:48,440 --> 00:20:51,000
other person, this other woman?

396
00:20:51,000 --> 00:20:55,040
And I just remember hugging and praying with them.

397
00:20:55,040 --> 00:20:59,560
That's all I could do was just hold them and pray for them.

398
00:20:59,560 --> 00:21:05,040
And my youngest son, I had them in private school and I had to take them out, kept them

399
00:21:05,040 --> 00:21:09,160
in as long as I could, but then had to take them out because I couldn't afford it.

400
00:21:09,160 --> 00:21:14,400
And Robbie wasn't going to fourth grade in a new school and he didn't have any friends.

401
00:21:14,400 --> 00:21:16,160
And I knew what that felt like.

402
00:21:16,160 --> 00:21:18,120
And he was so upset.

403
00:21:18,120 --> 00:21:19,600
And I just hugged him.

404
00:21:19,600 --> 00:21:21,720
It was a Sunday night and I prayed.

405
00:21:21,720 --> 00:21:25,880
On Sunday nights, I would make sure we were together and I would have like a little prayer

406
00:21:25,880 --> 00:21:27,960
circle, the three of us.

407
00:21:27,960 --> 00:21:32,760
And so I prayed and said, Robbie, I'm going to pray and we'll have God, trust God to

408
00:21:32,760 --> 00:21:33,760
bring you friends.

409
00:21:33,760 --> 00:21:38,600
And by the end of that week, the teacher had asked him to be in some honorable position

410
00:21:38,600 --> 00:21:40,400
in the class.

411
00:21:40,400 --> 00:21:46,120
And then he's playing some ball, some game in gym or outside.

412
00:21:46,120 --> 00:21:47,840
I don't know what it is.

413
00:21:47,840 --> 00:21:49,580
It's a four square.

414
00:21:49,580 --> 00:21:52,560
And everybody wanted to be in his square.

415
00:21:52,560 --> 00:21:54,980
Everyone wanted to be with Robbie in his square.

416
00:21:54,980 --> 00:21:58,120
So within a week, God answered his prayer.

417
00:21:58,120 --> 00:22:02,760
And little things like that, I think, show children that God cares for them.

418
00:22:02,760 --> 00:22:06,760
You know, when I was growing up, there were some times when there were some specific prayers

419
00:22:06,760 --> 00:22:11,080
that I prayed and my parents prayed with me and God answered.

420
00:22:11,080 --> 00:22:13,560
And that does make such a remarkable difference.

421
00:22:13,560 --> 00:22:17,440
They were things that were important to me that my parents prayed with me about.

422
00:22:17,440 --> 00:22:19,760
And they weren't earth shattering in any way.

423
00:22:19,760 --> 00:22:22,200
But you know, they were a concern of my heart.

424
00:22:22,200 --> 00:22:23,200
God answered those.

425
00:22:23,200 --> 00:22:26,800
And I knew it was God because we had prayed about it together.

426
00:22:26,800 --> 00:22:33,080
And that does seal in our hearts, even at a young age, how God is real.

427
00:22:33,080 --> 00:22:34,680
God cares for us.

428
00:22:34,680 --> 00:22:35,680
God loves us.

429
00:22:35,680 --> 00:22:41,040
And it can help through some tumultuous times, which, you know, I know, you know, children

430
00:22:41,040 --> 00:22:45,840
who have experienced trauma in their lives, they have challenges.

431
00:22:45,840 --> 00:22:49,880
But when they see God moving on their behalf, it helps.

432
00:22:49,880 --> 00:22:52,960
That's all I could do was pray with them.

433
00:22:52,960 --> 00:22:56,000
I wasn't equipped to do anything else.

434
00:22:56,000 --> 00:23:00,440
And I relied on God through prayer my whole life.

435
00:23:00,440 --> 00:23:02,680
It's like conversational prayer.

436
00:23:02,680 --> 00:23:06,720
And it's amazing to me that people don't have conversational prayer with God.

437
00:23:06,720 --> 00:23:13,080
I remember, I don't know, about 15 years ago, I was the office manager I was working with

438
00:23:13,080 --> 00:23:14,080
at the time.

439
00:23:14,080 --> 00:23:16,360
Her husband was dying of cancer.

440
00:23:16,360 --> 00:23:18,500
I went over.

441
00:23:18,500 --> 00:23:22,520
She was having some kind of a party at her house or a Christmas party.

442
00:23:22,520 --> 00:23:28,600
You know, her husband was doing fairly well, and then they, she asked me to pray over,

443
00:23:28,600 --> 00:23:35,480
this is a group of people I didn't know, these people invited to this party, but she asked

444
00:23:35,480 --> 00:23:38,440
me to pray for the food.

445
00:23:38,440 --> 00:23:40,760
I was just astounded at that.

446
00:23:40,760 --> 00:23:43,680
And I had gone over and prayed with her husband.

447
00:23:43,680 --> 00:23:48,840
And she had told me, she said, I've never heard anybody pray like that.

448
00:23:48,840 --> 00:23:49,840
And I'm like, what?

449
00:23:49,840 --> 00:23:52,640
This is how I grew up praying.

450
00:23:52,640 --> 00:23:56,760
It's like having a conversation with God.

451
00:23:56,760 --> 00:24:01,680
And I just realized, see, I didn't grow up in formal church, like a Episcopal church

452
00:24:01,680 --> 00:24:07,800
or Presbyterian church with formal prayers, a prayer book.

453
00:24:07,800 --> 00:24:13,280
I didn't even know such things existed really until I was almost 40 years old.

454
00:24:13,280 --> 00:24:16,400
It's hard to imagine, but it's the truth.

455
00:24:16,400 --> 00:24:20,280
You know, at this point in your life, you're working multiple jobs to make ends meet.

456
00:24:20,280 --> 00:24:24,920
And at one point you already mentioned you had four jobs to support you and the boys,

457
00:24:24,920 --> 00:24:31,680
you know, through all that time, God was starting to repair your self-worth, your understanding

458
00:24:31,680 --> 00:24:37,520
of your self-worth, your worth in God's sight and showing you his love in some really tangible

459
00:24:37,520 --> 00:24:38,520
ways.

460
00:24:38,520 --> 00:24:45,160
You mentioned about, you know, the money that he gave you for Christmas for your boys, but

461
00:24:45,160 --> 00:24:50,520
there were a couple of other things too that really were very personal to you.

462
00:24:50,520 --> 00:24:53,120
God opened up a singles group for me.

463
00:24:53,120 --> 00:24:56,400
That's where I met Jodi and a lot of other friends.

464
00:24:56,400 --> 00:25:02,320
God put these Christian men and women in my life that loved my kids and loved me.

465
00:25:02,320 --> 00:25:09,200
And in Isaiah 55, eight and nine, for my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my

466
00:25:09,200 --> 00:25:10,680
ways says the Lord.

467
00:25:10,680 --> 00:25:15,560
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my

468
00:25:15,560 --> 00:25:17,160
thoughts than your thoughts.

469
00:25:17,160 --> 00:25:20,800
You know, we try and make things happen and work out.

470
00:25:20,800 --> 00:25:22,180
God cares for us.

471
00:25:22,180 --> 00:25:28,600
These silly little things like, show, give me a friend or God for seven years, I went

472
00:25:28,600 --> 00:25:29,600
on trips.

473
00:25:29,600 --> 00:25:32,480
I never thought I, I went on a cruise to Bermuda.

474
00:25:32,480 --> 00:25:35,120
Here I am working four jobs, going to school.

475
00:25:35,120 --> 00:25:41,880
I have two children and God gave me the money to go to Bermuda with a cruise, with 20 some

476
00:25:41,880 --> 00:25:43,400
people and I think you were on that cruise.

477
00:25:43,400 --> 00:25:45,040
I was, I was on that trip.

478
00:25:45,040 --> 00:25:48,040
And I did not incur a debt for that.

479
00:25:48,040 --> 00:25:49,040
Yeah.

480
00:25:49,040 --> 00:25:50,040
It's incredible.

481
00:25:50,040 --> 00:25:51,040
Who would have ever thought?

482
00:25:51,040 --> 00:25:53,040
It's a little, a little kiss from God.

483
00:25:53,040 --> 00:25:54,400
It was a kiss from God.

484
00:25:54,400 --> 00:25:55,400
Yeah.

485
00:25:55,400 --> 00:25:56,400
Something I really needed.

486
00:25:56,400 --> 00:26:01,220
Dear friends, there are widows and orphans all over the world who are in very difficult

487
00:26:01,220 --> 00:26:06,440
situations and they need God to show up for them in a real way, just like Bobby needed

488
00:26:06,440 --> 00:26:09,200
God to show up for her in a real way.

489
00:26:09,200 --> 00:26:13,920
And as a company of women together, we can show them a tangible expression of God's

490
00:26:13,920 --> 00:26:17,920
love in their time of need and change the course of their life.

491
00:26:17,920 --> 00:26:21,040
Would you consider joining us with a special gift to help?

492
00:26:21,040 --> 00:26:25,120
Just go to her God story.org and click on the widow and orphan tab at the top of the

493
00:26:25,120 --> 00:26:26,120
page.

494
00:26:26,120 --> 00:26:31,320
And Bobby, remarriage wasn't a desire or an expectation or even a focus of yours, but

495
00:26:31,320 --> 00:26:36,480
over the course of a few years, God started opening up your heart to that possibility

496
00:26:36,480 --> 00:26:37,480
again.

497
00:26:37,480 --> 00:26:40,600
He even gave you a dream about it, didn't he?

498
00:26:40,600 --> 00:26:41,600
He sure did.

499
00:26:41,600 --> 00:26:47,640
I remember in me was a desire at some point, yes, I would have liked to be married again,

500
00:26:47,640 --> 00:26:51,800
but I wasn't going to marry just to marry like I did the first time.

501
00:26:51,800 --> 00:26:53,560
I'd already done that.

502
00:26:53,560 --> 00:26:56,880
I didn't need to be married to have self fulfillment.

503
00:26:56,880 --> 00:27:03,520
I woke up one morning and realized I had had this dream and not to embarrass anybody, but

504
00:27:03,520 --> 00:27:07,760
I dreamed that this bald man was crawling into bed with me.

505
00:27:07,760 --> 00:27:13,680
And I know that it, I'm like, I didn't know anybody who was bald at that point in time.

506
00:27:13,680 --> 00:27:14,960
And he was a good looking man.

507
00:27:14,960 --> 00:27:19,120
And it wasn't like some kind of a sexual dream or anything.

508
00:27:19,120 --> 00:27:23,840
It was just somebody, this bald guy was getting into bed with me.

509
00:27:23,840 --> 00:27:29,440
And in this space of time, my anniversary, my wedding anniversary came up for my first

510
00:27:29,440 --> 00:27:36,120
husband and I was reading my Bible and this was on June 16th, 1996.

511
00:27:36,120 --> 00:27:40,080
And I had been married on June 16th, 1979.

512
00:27:40,080 --> 00:27:41,580
It was the exact day.

513
00:27:41,580 --> 00:27:48,680
And I read in my Bible in Isaiah 43:18, do not remember the former things or consider

514
00:27:48,680 --> 00:27:50,080
the things of old.

515
00:27:50,080 --> 00:27:53,480
Behold, I will do a new thing.

516
00:27:53,480 --> 00:27:55,440
Now it shall spring forth.

517
00:27:55,440 --> 00:27:56,960
Shall you not know it?

518
00:27:56,960 --> 00:28:00,880
I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.

519
00:28:00,880 --> 00:28:07,680
Here I was mourning in 1996, you know, my marriage, you know, you get lonely and my

520
00:28:07,680 --> 00:28:10,240
marriage, the first marriage was not a good marriage.

521
00:28:10,240 --> 00:28:18,180
I met Rob, my current husband in 1997, I believe it was or 1996.

522
00:28:18,180 --> 00:28:21,840
I think it was 1996 now that I'm talking to you, Jody.

523
00:28:21,840 --> 00:28:23,000
I met him at the beach.

524
00:28:23,000 --> 00:28:24,280
We would go to the beach.

525
00:28:24,280 --> 00:28:28,600
The singles group went on Sunday afternoons, we'd go play volleyball down there at the

526
00:28:28,600 --> 00:28:31,840
beach and I would take my boys with me.

527
00:28:31,840 --> 00:28:38,120
They loved my boys and they loved me and they treated me no judgmental attitude.

528
00:28:38,120 --> 00:28:44,840
And I remember one of my friends, Bob, introduced me to Rob and he said, Rob, Mrs. Bobby or

529
00:28:44,840 --> 00:28:45,840
whatever.

530
00:28:45,840 --> 00:28:46,840
I'm a musician.

531
00:28:46,840 --> 00:28:47,840
I played the piano.

532
00:28:47,840 --> 00:28:52,000
I did the singing, the worship at the adult singles adult thing.

533
00:28:52,000 --> 00:28:55,680
And Rob said to me, he goes, my dad owns a piano store.

534
00:28:55,680 --> 00:29:00,960
That was like the first words he ever said to me because I was a pianist.

535
00:29:00,960 --> 00:29:04,200
And I'm like, oh, that's really, that's nice.

536
00:29:04,200 --> 00:29:09,840
And I didn't really see Rob again or talk to him until a year later.

537
00:29:09,840 --> 00:29:15,480
We were starting small groups and Anne, my friend, was manning the table when people

538
00:29:15,480 --> 00:29:18,080
came in and she assigned them to groups.

539
00:29:18,080 --> 00:29:24,360
I was leading a group along with another friend, Ryan and Anne, bless her heart.

540
00:29:24,360 --> 00:29:27,720
She wanted to be in a group where she knew some of the people in the group.

541
00:29:27,720 --> 00:29:34,480
So she assigned herself to my group and Rob got in the group with me.

542
00:29:34,480 --> 00:29:36,920
And he wanted to sit next to the teacher.

543
00:29:36,920 --> 00:29:39,480
That's what he says.

544
00:29:39,480 --> 00:29:43,680
And from, and he asked me out.

545
00:29:43,680 --> 00:29:49,200
He liked me and for who I was and he was, he's an engineer.

546
00:29:49,200 --> 00:29:54,920
He's had a steady job and he asked me out and I couldn't go out with him.

547
00:29:54,920 --> 00:29:57,320
He took him three times to get a date with me.

548
00:29:57,320 --> 00:30:02,160
Now I wasn't trying to be hold out or anything, but you know, I just would say, you had a

549
00:30:02,160 --> 00:30:03,160
busy life.

550
00:30:03,160 --> 00:30:04,160
Yes, I did.

551
00:30:04,160 --> 00:30:06,160
I had kids and I didn't have jobs.

552
00:30:06,160 --> 00:30:11,840
And then I had to have my, yeah, I had things planned and he asked me out three times.

553
00:30:11,840 --> 00:30:16,800
And our first date, I believe was January 4th, 1998.

554
00:30:16,800 --> 00:30:22,720
So Bobby, what was different about him and the way he pursued you that allowed you to

555
00:30:22,720 --> 00:30:24,680
be able to trust him?

556
00:30:24,680 --> 00:30:26,640
Because there's a lot of mistrust there.

557
00:30:26,640 --> 00:30:30,680
You know, I mean, God had been healing that over the seven years, but you know, when you

558
00:30:30,680 --> 00:30:34,200
come into an intimate personal relationship with somebody, there's, there's a different

559
00:30:34,200 --> 00:30:35,580
level of trust needed.

560
00:30:35,580 --> 00:30:41,800
So what was that about Rob that you saw that allowed you to grow in trust with him?

561
00:30:41,800 --> 00:30:44,240
Rob loved God.

562
00:30:44,240 --> 00:30:47,420
He led the high school boys group at the church he went to.

563
00:30:47,420 --> 00:30:49,280
He went to a different church.

564
00:30:49,280 --> 00:30:53,660
Most of the people in that adult singles group, I would say 50% of them went to different

565
00:30:53,660 --> 00:30:56,280
churches than where we were meeting.

566
00:30:56,280 --> 00:31:04,920
He was very committed to that, to leading those boys, those high school boys.

567
00:31:04,920 --> 00:31:12,480
And I could see that in his heart that he loved and he wasn't fickle in that, you know,

568
00:31:12,480 --> 00:31:18,480
he would give up leading his group just to go do something else with a, you know, fun

569
00:31:18,480 --> 00:31:19,780
thing.

570
00:31:19,780 --> 00:31:20,780
He wasn't like that.

571
00:31:20,780 --> 00:31:22,720
He was very trustworthy.

572
00:31:22,720 --> 00:31:25,240
Whatever he said he would do.

573
00:31:25,240 --> 00:31:26,640
And he had a job.

574
00:31:26,640 --> 00:31:28,400
He could support himself.

575
00:31:28,400 --> 00:31:34,160
And I thought he was a handsome guy, but I wasn't going on looks to be honest with you.

576
00:31:34,160 --> 00:31:35,160
I really...

577
00:31:35,160 --> 00:31:36,400
You were over that.

578
00:31:36,400 --> 00:31:37,400
I was over that.

579
00:31:37,400 --> 00:31:38,400
You realized the shallowness of it.

580
00:31:38,400 --> 00:31:39,400
Yes.

581
00:31:39,400 --> 00:31:42,760
And I didn't, and I wasn't looking to get married.

582
00:31:42,760 --> 00:31:46,860
I had been there and, you know, my marriage was horrible.

583
00:31:46,860 --> 00:31:49,100
My parents' marriage was horrible.

584
00:31:49,100 --> 00:31:52,440
I just was not looking to get married again.

585
00:31:52,440 --> 00:31:54,760
And Rob pursued me.

586
00:31:54,760 --> 00:31:59,880
He wasn't, when he first asked me out, you know, it was six weeks before he asked me

587
00:31:59,880 --> 00:32:05,920
out the second time, which I joke him on this, that he asked my second date with him.

588
00:32:05,920 --> 00:32:11,240
Where we spent the first day was six hours up in one of the little towns from here.

589
00:32:11,240 --> 00:32:16,680
I can't believe a six hour first or eight hour first date, you know, out of town.

590
00:32:16,680 --> 00:32:18,680
I don't know.

591
00:32:18,680 --> 00:32:23,880
He was crazy or I was crazy to think that we, you know, first date could go eight hours.

592
00:32:23,880 --> 00:32:25,500
And we had a great time.

593
00:32:25,500 --> 00:32:31,240
And then six weeks later we went on our second date, which happened to be Valentine's Day.

594
00:32:31,240 --> 00:32:38,080
Now if you're a woman, Valentine's Day has some special connotations to it.

595
00:32:38,080 --> 00:32:42,480
And my, the women I worked with at my office were all excited that I was going out for

596
00:32:42,480 --> 00:32:43,480
Valentine's Day.

597
00:32:43,480 --> 00:32:46,160
And I'm like, he doesn't know it's Valentine's Day.

598
00:32:46,160 --> 00:32:48,540
I'm telling you, he doesn't know.

599
00:32:48,540 --> 00:32:53,560
His secretary at his work, I think asked him what he was doing for Valentine's Day or something.

600
00:32:53,560 --> 00:32:55,840
And he didn't know when Valentine's Day was.

601
00:32:55,840 --> 00:33:00,160
And she told him, she goes, oh, he said, I'm going out with Bobby.

602
00:33:00,160 --> 00:33:01,960
I've had date or something.

603
00:33:01,960 --> 00:33:05,920
So he did not know that his second date was Valentine's Day.

604
00:33:05,920 --> 00:33:10,640
You know, then our next date was a few weeks later and he was on the cruise to Bermuda,

605
00:33:10,640 --> 00:33:11,640
Jodi.

606
00:33:11,640 --> 00:33:16,960
And that's when he says he fell in love with me, was on that cruise to Bermuda.

607
00:33:16,960 --> 00:33:20,600
Over Memorial Day, we went out of town with his family.

608
00:33:20,600 --> 00:33:25,440
And then two days later, we went back where his family was staying.

609
00:33:25,440 --> 00:33:28,880
They have a house on the water and they had a boat.

610
00:33:28,880 --> 00:33:38,920
I took my sons and he spent all day, Memorial Day, 1998, teaching them to ski, water ski.

611
00:33:38,920 --> 00:33:43,840
I just remember thinking he's a keeper because he spent all that time with my sons.

612
00:33:43,840 --> 00:33:45,880
Such a kindhearted man.

613
00:33:45,880 --> 00:33:46,880
You know him.

614
00:33:46,880 --> 00:33:47,880
I do.

615
00:33:47,880 --> 00:33:48,880
He is very kind.

616
00:33:48,880 --> 00:33:54,040
And that's when you say at the beginning when you were saying that God, you know, sometimes

617
00:33:54,040 --> 00:33:56,640
we get off the path or whatever.

618
00:33:56,640 --> 00:33:58,400
And God got me back.

619
00:33:58,400 --> 00:33:59,520
You know, I don't know.

620
00:33:59,520 --> 00:34:02,520
It's amazing how God works.

621
00:34:02,520 --> 00:34:07,160
I don't know how I would have ever met him, Rob, if I hadn't gone through all these other

622
00:34:07,160 --> 00:34:08,160
things.

623
00:34:08,160 --> 00:34:12,640
And you and Rob did get married not long after all of this began.

624
00:34:12,640 --> 00:34:19,120
From then on, God has had you in a wide, beautiful place where your talents and your giftings

625
00:34:19,120 --> 00:34:20,680
have had freedom to blossom.

626
00:34:20,680 --> 00:34:25,440
I mean, you went from having to work four jobs down to just one.

627
00:34:25,440 --> 00:34:29,680
Actually had time to pursue some of those desires that were on your heart.

628
00:34:29,680 --> 00:34:32,960
One of those has even turned into a ministry of sorts.

629
00:34:32,960 --> 00:34:33,960
Sure about your quilting.

630
00:34:33,960 --> 00:34:40,800
I sew, I make quilts and I love getting this fabric and making something of it.

631
00:34:40,800 --> 00:34:45,440
I don't do like huge artistic quilts.

632
00:34:45,440 --> 00:34:51,480
I love to give a quilt to somebody so they can think that God loves them, that they can

633
00:34:51,480 --> 00:34:57,240
wrap themselves in it and they're in a difficult time and they know that God cares for them.

634
00:34:57,240 --> 00:35:00,600
I've had friends go through cancer treatment.

635
00:35:00,600 --> 00:35:02,920
Some survive, some haven't.

636
00:35:02,920 --> 00:35:10,640
Dear friends, I've had people lose husbands or people lose a wife or someone lose a wife.

637
00:35:10,640 --> 00:35:18,240
I've had friends with parents that have died unexpectedly, people that have lost children.

638
00:35:18,240 --> 00:35:24,560
And I just want to show them that God has not forgotten them and that he loves them.

639
00:35:24,560 --> 00:35:29,000
I will make a quilt for them and I put a Bible verse on them.

640
00:35:29,000 --> 00:35:33,040
Usually it's Bible verses that really mean something to me, a scripture.

641
00:35:33,040 --> 00:35:39,520
But I ask God, please give me a verse to put on the back of this quilt for this person.

642
00:35:39,520 --> 00:35:44,800
And I've had so many people say, you know, I love that verse that you put on my quilt.

643
00:35:44,800 --> 00:35:53,120
And I just want them to feel God hugging them in a way that they know God cares about them.

644
00:35:53,120 --> 00:35:54,320
God cares about us.

645
00:35:54,320 --> 00:35:56,060
He created us.

646
00:35:56,060 --> 00:36:01,200
He knit us together in our mother's womb, regardless of what anybody says.

647
00:36:01,200 --> 00:36:04,520
He designed us for a reason and purpose.

648
00:36:04,520 --> 00:36:06,460
He made me a woman.

649
00:36:06,460 --> 00:36:07,920
He made Jodi a woman.

650
00:36:07,920 --> 00:36:13,360
He made my husband a man, made my son's male for a reason.

651
00:36:13,360 --> 00:36:16,240
He created all of us with a purpose.

652
00:36:16,240 --> 00:36:19,280
We all have a purpose in this world.

653
00:36:19,280 --> 00:36:25,120
And I just want people to know that as we walk through life, things do not always turn

654
00:36:25,120 --> 00:36:28,680
out like we think they should have.

655
00:36:28,680 --> 00:36:30,320
And God takes all of that.

656
00:36:30,320 --> 00:36:31,560
Nothing is wasted.

657
00:36:31,560 --> 00:36:33,560
Nothing we go through is wasted.

658
00:36:33,560 --> 00:36:35,040
He uses it all.

659
00:36:35,040 --> 00:36:40,200
And I just want people to know that God hugs them with a quilt.

660
00:36:40,200 --> 00:36:46,800
And over and over again, you've seen the reality of that impressed on the people who've received

661
00:36:46,800 --> 00:36:47,800
these quilts.

662
00:36:47,800 --> 00:36:48,800
Yes.

663
00:36:48,800 --> 00:36:51,480
I remember one of my friends, Barry, I worked with.

664
00:36:51,480 --> 00:36:58,960
He was diagnosed with cancer, just unbeknownst to him that even had this growth.

665
00:36:58,960 --> 00:37:03,640
You know, I think God took him in like the space of, what, eight months or something.

666
00:37:03,640 --> 00:37:05,840
He's a strong Christian man.

667
00:37:05,840 --> 00:37:09,440
But I remember thinking, I really want to make Barry a quilt.

668
00:37:09,440 --> 00:37:14,400
I want him to know how much he means to me and how much he means to God.

669
00:37:14,400 --> 00:37:16,040
Not that I can speak for God.

670
00:37:16,040 --> 00:37:17,200
We do in many ways.

671
00:37:17,200 --> 00:37:19,640
God calls us to be his hands and feet in love.

672
00:37:19,640 --> 00:37:22,320
So, yes, we are.

673
00:37:22,320 --> 00:37:23,880
I made Barry a quilt.

674
00:37:23,880 --> 00:37:28,720
I knew he couldn't have visitors because his immune system was down.

675
00:37:28,720 --> 00:37:33,240
And I didn't really know where he lived exactly because he had moved across the river.

676
00:37:33,240 --> 00:37:36,200
And so I just called and said, listen, I've just got something.

677
00:37:36,200 --> 00:37:38,160
I'm just going to leave it on your porch.

678
00:37:38,160 --> 00:37:41,000
And I got there and I rang the bell and his wife answered the door.

679
00:37:41,000 --> 00:37:44,680
And I said, I know, you know, Barry can't have any visitors.

680
00:37:44,680 --> 00:37:46,280
This is for him.

681
00:37:46,280 --> 00:37:49,320
And he came to the door and he saw and he wrapped it around.

682
00:37:49,320 --> 00:37:51,320
I could still see him standing there.

683
00:37:51,320 --> 00:37:53,720
He said, I was so cold today.

684
00:37:53,720 --> 00:37:57,200
I just can't believe that you brought this today of all days.

685
00:37:57,200 --> 00:37:59,840
I can just still see him wrapped around there.

686
00:37:59,840 --> 00:38:00,840
Yeah.

687
00:38:00,840 --> 00:38:01,840
That's just one example.

688
00:38:01,840 --> 00:38:07,760
But I made four quilts over Christmas and two of one color, two of another.

689
00:38:07,760 --> 00:38:12,760
And I asked God, two friends asked me to make quilts for their friends that were going through

690
00:38:12,760 --> 00:38:13,760
cancer treatment.

691
00:38:13,760 --> 00:38:19,160
And I like, OK, I had enough fabric to make four, two of each color.

692
00:38:19,160 --> 00:38:20,640
And I didn't know what color.

693
00:38:20,640 --> 00:38:22,880
I didn't know which quilt to give to what person.

694
00:38:22,880 --> 00:38:26,960
And I just said a name, you know, just say Mary.

695
00:38:26,960 --> 00:38:29,000
And I pulled a piece of fabric out of the bag.

696
00:38:29,000 --> 00:38:30,920
OK, say this is Mary's quilt.

697
00:38:30,920 --> 00:38:32,000
This is Jane's quilt.

698
00:38:32,000 --> 00:38:33,960
This is Betty's or whoever.

699
00:38:33,960 --> 00:38:35,160
These are made up names.

700
00:38:35,160 --> 00:38:41,480
Those quilts, when the one friend gave it to her friend, she couldn't believe it.

701
00:38:41,480 --> 00:38:43,240
It matched what was in her house.

702
00:38:43,240 --> 00:38:50,000
And it was astounding that God took each of these quilts, the colors.

703
00:38:50,000 --> 00:38:54,920
And the one woman, I never met, husband works with Rob and she's been going through cancer

704
00:38:54,920 --> 00:38:58,440
treatment for several years and she had gotten pretty bad.

705
00:38:58,440 --> 00:39:01,720
And she just was astounded at her quilt.

706
00:39:01,720 --> 00:39:03,440
She'd never received anything.

707
00:39:03,440 --> 00:39:05,440
She said like this ever in her life.

708
00:39:05,440 --> 00:39:09,680
And God's actually worked miracles in her life of healing.

709
00:39:09,680 --> 00:39:11,400
I've been praying for her.

710
00:39:11,400 --> 00:39:12,400
God heals.

711
00:39:12,400 --> 00:39:13,400
Yes.

712
00:39:13,400 --> 00:39:15,960
A year ago, I was in the hospital.

713
00:39:15,960 --> 00:39:16,960
I'd gotten really sick.

714
00:39:16,960 --> 00:39:18,080
I had pneumonia.

715
00:39:18,080 --> 00:39:22,400
I hadn't eaten anything for 10 or 14 days and didn't get out of bed.

716
00:39:22,400 --> 00:39:25,040
And I ended up in the hospital and was told I had pneumonia.

717
00:39:25,040 --> 00:39:28,680
And this is in the middle of COVID.

718
00:39:28,680 --> 00:39:30,720
Never tested positive for COVID.

719
00:39:30,720 --> 00:39:34,560
I went to see my doctor and she was telling me, how did you get here today?

720
00:39:34,560 --> 00:39:38,120
And I told her, she said, well, you need to get your husband to then to take you to the

721
00:39:38,120 --> 00:39:40,600
emergency room because you are in AFib.

722
00:39:40,600 --> 00:39:45,760
I ended up in the hospital with AFib and I'd never had heart problems in my life.

723
00:39:45,760 --> 00:39:48,060
I didn't even know what AFib was.

724
00:39:48,060 --> 00:39:52,600
When I left the hospital, I was in there four days and went and followed up with a heart

725
00:39:52,600 --> 00:39:53,600
doctor.

726
00:39:53,600 --> 00:39:58,760
And that's another thing that God answered prayer before we even speak it.

727
00:39:58,760 --> 00:40:00,760
With COVID, you can't get in to see a doctor.

728
00:40:00,760 --> 00:40:03,840
You can't get in to see a heart doctor for three months.

729
00:40:03,840 --> 00:40:07,160
And I needed to see him, you know, in the next couple of weeks.

730
00:40:07,160 --> 00:40:10,560
And an appointment opened up, two appointments opened up the next day.

731
00:40:10,560 --> 00:40:13,360
The doctor said, well, we need to do a cardioversion.

732
00:40:13,360 --> 00:40:18,640
I think it is where, I think that's what it is when they shock your heart back into rhythm.

733
00:40:18,640 --> 00:40:25,120
So that night I'm laying in bed and I'm like, God, I can handle the cardioversion, but you're

734
00:40:25,120 --> 00:40:28,800
going to have to help me get through the IV because they couldn't find my veins when I

735
00:40:28,800 --> 00:40:29,800
was in the hospital.

736
00:40:29,800 --> 00:40:33,520
And I'm laying in bed that night and you know, please God heal me.

737
00:40:33,520 --> 00:40:37,920
And I don't know that it was instantly, but sometime during that night I was laying there

738
00:40:37,920 --> 00:40:44,880
and I felt this two bumps, two, just like that, two thumps in my heart.

739
00:40:44,880 --> 00:40:45,880
Wow.

740
00:40:45,880 --> 00:40:48,920
And I'm laying there and I'm like, I wonder if God just healed me.

741
00:40:48,920 --> 00:40:51,220
I wonder if God just healed my heart.

742
00:40:51,220 --> 00:40:54,280
And I had really outright prayed take away the AFib.

743
00:40:54,280 --> 00:40:56,360
I just said, help me through this.

744
00:40:56,360 --> 00:41:02,100
So January 4th, I got into the heart hospital area and they hooked me up to all these machines

745
00:41:02,100 --> 00:41:05,760
and the nurses say to me, well, what are you here for?

746
00:41:05,760 --> 00:41:09,360
I said, well, I have AFib and I got to get that cardioversion.

747
00:41:09,360 --> 00:41:11,360
Because I thought, you know, they were just double checking.

748
00:41:11,360 --> 00:41:13,400
They said, you don't have AFib.

749
00:41:13,400 --> 00:41:14,400
There's nothing wrong with you.

750
00:41:14,400 --> 00:41:15,960
And I said, well, are you sure?

751
00:41:15,960 --> 00:41:17,640
Because this is why they put me here.

752
00:41:17,640 --> 00:41:18,840
And she goes, yep.

753
00:41:18,840 --> 00:41:22,560
I said, well, I said this, I said, well, then God's healed me.

754
00:41:22,560 --> 00:41:26,480
And so they went and got the doctor and he couldn't understand it.

755
00:41:26,480 --> 00:41:30,080
I mean, he was all ready to do their little procedure.

756
00:41:30,080 --> 00:41:32,320
And I told him, I said, God's healed me.

757
00:41:32,320 --> 00:41:37,280
And they had me wear a monitor for two weeks and no problems.

758
00:41:37,280 --> 00:41:41,200
And it's a year later and no problems.

759
00:41:41,200 --> 00:41:42,200
Praise God.

760
00:41:42,200 --> 00:41:43,560
God, God heals.

761
00:41:43,560 --> 00:41:44,560
He does heal.

762
00:41:44,560 --> 00:41:45,560
He does heal.

763
00:41:45,560 --> 00:41:49,840
Well, Bobby, you have really gone through the fire in your life and have come out to

764
00:41:49,840 --> 00:41:52,480
tell the tale, but you haven't just come through it.

765
00:41:52,480 --> 00:41:54,720
You have come filled with gratitude.

766
00:41:54,720 --> 00:41:56,920
I love the poem that you shared with me the other day.

767
00:41:56,920 --> 00:41:58,640
I'd never heard it before.

768
00:41:58,640 --> 00:42:03,760
And so I'm going to read it for our listeners and then just ask you to share a little bit

769
00:42:03,760 --> 00:42:06,600
of the overflowing blessings from God that you've seen in your life.

770
00:42:06,600 --> 00:42:09,400
You've been sharing some of them, but maybe just one more.

771
00:42:09,400 --> 00:42:11,980
And this poem will be posted in our show notes.

772
00:42:11,980 --> 00:42:14,640
The poem is entitled, Drinking from My Saucer.

773
00:42:14,640 --> 00:42:19,120
And it was written by a gentleman named John Paul Moore.

774
00:42:19,120 --> 00:42:24,080
It goes, I've never made a fortune and it's probably too late now, but I don't worry about

775
00:42:24,080 --> 00:42:25,080
that much.

776
00:42:25,080 --> 00:42:26,580
I'm happy anyhow.

777
00:42:26,580 --> 00:42:30,000
And as I go along life's way, I'm reaping better than I sow.

778
00:42:30,000 --> 00:42:34,840
I'm drinking from my saucer because my cup has overflowed.

779
00:42:34,840 --> 00:42:39,200
Haven't got a lot of riches and sometimes the going's tough, but I've got loving ones

780
00:42:39,200 --> 00:42:41,600
around me and that makes me rich enough.

781
00:42:41,600 --> 00:42:46,040
I thank God for his blessings and the mercies he's bestowed.

782
00:42:46,040 --> 00:42:50,600
I'm drinking from my saucer because my cup has overflowed.

783
00:42:50,600 --> 00:42:57,480
Oh, remember time, times when things went wrong, my faith wore somewhat thin, but all

784
00:42:57,480 --> 00:43:03,600
at once the dark clouds broke and sun peeped through again.

785
00:43:03,600 --> 00:43:07,840
So Lord, help me not to gripe about the tough rose that I've hoed.

786
00:43:07,840 --> 00:43:13,280
I'm drinking from my saucer because my cup has overflowed.

787
00:43:13,280 --> 00:43:18,560
If God gives me strength and courage when the way grows steep and rough, I'll not ask

788
00:43:18,560 --> 00:43:19,560
for other blessings.

789
00:43:19,560 --> 00:43:26,120
I'm already blessed enough and may I never be too busy to help others bear their loads.

790
00:43:26,120 --> 00:43:31,240
Then I'll keep drinking from my saucer because my cup has overflowed.

791
00:43:31,240 --> 00:43:32,480
I love that poem.

792
00:43:32,480 --> 00:43:36,320
I was riding down the highway in November.

793
00:43:36,320 --> 00:43:42,680
I don't really listen to much Christian teaching on the radio, but I just stopped on one of

794
00:43:42,680 --> 00:43:46,680
the radio stations and this man was given a sermon.

795
00:43:46,680 --> 00:43:48,800
I think it's Dennis Swanberg, I think.

796
00:43:48,800 --> 00:43:50,440
I might have his name wrong.

797
00:43:50,440 --> 00:43:55,800
He refers to himself as a swan or his friends and he was given a sermon about building shade

798
00:43:55,800 --> 00:43:56,800
trees.

799
00:43:56,800 --> 00:44:02,880
I think it was his great grandfather planted trees and he died at a very young age, in

800
00:44:02,880 --> 00:44:07,400
his 20s or 30s, so he never got to enjoy the shade trees.

801
00:44:07,400 --> 00:44:12,440
He was just talking about how it's like a pay it forward type of thing.

802
00:44:12,440 --> 00:44:20,760
We invest and sow in life so that those that come after us will know God, will know God's

803
00:44:20,760 --> 00:44:22,600
blessings to us.

804
00:44:22,600 --> 00:44:23,980
God has blessed me.

805
00:44:23,980 --> 00:44:25,640
That's where I heard this poem.

806
00:44:25,640 --> 00:44:27,880
God has blessed me so much.

807
00:44:27,880 --> 00:44:32,840
We pray, we sing that song, feel my cup, Lord, fill it up, come and quench the thirsty feeling

808
00:44:32,840 --> 00:44:39,080
of my soul, bread of heaven, fill me till I want no more, fill my cup.

809
00:44:39,080 --> 00:44:40,520
God has filled my cup.

810
00:44:40,520 --> 00:44:44,880
My cup is so overflowing that I can't even drink from it.

811
00:44:44,880 --> 00:44:46,960
I can't drink from my cup.

812
00:44:46,960 --> 00:44:48,680
I can only drink from the saucer.

813
00:44:48,680 --> 00:44:54,480
It is overflowing when I think of all that God has done for me and what he's brought

814
00:44:54,480 --> 00:44:55,480
me through.

815
00:44:55,480 --> 00:44:57,280
You know, I feel old.

816
00:44:57,280 --> 00:44:59,280
I'm 65.

817
00:44:59,280 --> 00:45:01,120
That's really not old, really.

818
00:45:01,120 --> 00:45:04,680
And I don't know what direction God has for me for in the future.

819
00:45:04,680 --> 00:45:10,200
But I will tell you, looking in the past, that God has never let me down.

820
00:45:10,200 --> 00:45:13,640
He says not to worry about what you wear, what you eat, what you drink.

821
00:45:13,640 --> 00:45:16,840
I've never gone without a roof over my head.

822
00:45:16,840 --> 00:45:19,000
I've never gone without clothes.

823
00:45:19,000 --> 00:45:20,960
I've never gone without food.

824
00:45:20,960 --> 00:45:23,560
Sometimes I felt like I never had a friend, but that's not true.

825
00:45:23,560 --> 00:45:25,640
I have friends for 50 some years.

826
00:45:25,640 --> 00:45:31,680
I have two friends, Kim and Esther, and I have friend Becky, that all I have to do.

827
00:45:31,680 --> 00:45:35,200
And these are friends that are 50 plus years.

828
00:45:35,200 --> 00:45:41,440
And then I have newer friends that are 25 years, like you, and Ann, and some others.

829
00:45:41,440 --> 00:45:43,320
God has blessed me beyond understanding.

830
00:45:43,320 --> 00:45:44,560
I have a home.

831
00:45:44,560 --> 00:45:47,600
I have two homes, actually.

832
00:45:47,600 --> 00:45:52,040
My husband and I, we built a sort of like a retreat home.

833
00:45:52,040 --> 00:45:58,000
We hope to have people come to and share their going through hard times in their life.

834
00:45:58,000 --> 00:46:00,800
God outfitted that home through COVID.

835
00:46:00,800 --> 00:46:04,440
He had to start that home like a week before COVID started.

836
00:46:04,440 --> 00:46:06,640
So we built this second house.

837
00:46:06,640 --> 00:46:08,880
And you literally built the second house.

838
00:46:08,880 --> 00:46:09,880
We did.

839
00:46:09,880 --> 00:46:10,880
We did.

840
00:46:10,880 --> 00:46:11,880
Once it was-

841
00:46:11,880 --> 00:46:13,240
Your blood, sweat, and tears, but it is a remarkable story.

842
00:46:13,240 --> 00:46:14,240
Yes.

843
00:46:14,240 --> 00:46:16,400
Once it was in the dry, we built this house.

844
00:46:16,400 --> 00:46:18,480
And that's another podcast all to itself.

845
00:46:18,480 --> 00:46:20,480
I believe in tithing.

846
00:46:20,480 --> 00:46:22,120
I just believe in tithing.

847
00:46:22,120 --> 00:46:24,660
I believe you can't out give God.

848
00:46:24,660 --> 00:46:25,920
You just can't.

849
00:46:25,920 --> 00:46:30,160
I'm drinking from a saucer because I can't even get to the cup.

850
00:46:30,160 --> 00:46:35,640
The blessings from God are so much that I can't even get to the cup, Jody.

851
00:46:35,640 --> 00:46:40,040
It's just, it's whatever's overflowing the cup is what I'm living with.

852
00:46:40,040 --> 00:46:43,880
And you know, I think part of that, you know, Bobby, you've learned to have that heart of

853
00:46:43,880 --> 00:46:48,240
gratitude for the little things that God was doing, even in the hard times of your life.

854
00:46:48,240 --> 00:46:53,800
You recognize the hand, you are grateful for it, and you thanked him for it.

855
00:46:53,800 --> 00:46:56,560
And God inhabits the praises of his people.

856
00:46:56,560 --> 00:47:03,760
And when we enter God's courts with thanksgiving and we give him praise, he does come and his

857
00:47:03,760 --> 00:47:06,040
presence changes everything.

858
00:47:06,040 --> 00:47:10,880
And it might not be instantaneous, sometimes is, like healing your heart.

859
00:47:10,880 --> 00:47:14,800
Sometimes it's over time, but God is just so good and faithful.

860
00:47:14,800 --> 00:47:21,520
Bobby, as we close, I love to ask my guests what woman in the Bible is inspired or encouraged

861
00:47:21,520 --> 00:47:25,480
or taught you something and is the one that comes to mind for you and why?

862
00:47:25,480 --> 00:47:29,640
All the women in the Bible, they're in there for a reason.

863
00:47:29,640 --> 00:47:30,880
They loved God.

864
00:47:30,880 --> 00:47:33,840
I find myself in Martha.

865
00:47:33,840 --> 00:47:39,840
She was the sister, Lazarus' sister, that was the busy one, but she loved God and God

866
00:47:39,840 --> 00:47:40,840
loved her.

867
00:47:40,840 --> 00:47:43,320
And God loved Lazarus and he loved Mary.

868
00:47:43,320 --> 00:47:46,480
She asked Martha, who do you think that I am?

869
00:47:46,480 --> 00:47:53,400
Because when Lazarus, her brother, was dying, she had told God if he, Jesus, if he had been

870
00:47:53,400 --> 00:47:56,400
there, Lazarus would not have died.

871
00:47:56,400 --> 00:47:57,440
She told him that.

872
00:47:57,440 --> 00:48:02,400
So she was on a speaking relationship with Jesus.

873
00:48:02,400 --> 00:48:08,680
She was his friend enough to tell him, if he had been here, he wouldn't have died.

874
00:48:08,680 --> 00:48:13,040
Think about how many friends you can say, be blunt with them and say, well, if you had

875
00:48:13,040 --> 00:48:15,120
done this, this wouldn't happen.

876
00:48:15,120 --> 00:48:17,240
And then God asked her, who do you say I am?

877
00:48:17,240 --> 00:48:18,920
And she said, you're Jesus Christ.

878
00:48:18,920 --> 00:48:20,280
You're the Son of God.

879
00:48:20,280 --> 00:48:22,880
She knew who he was.

880
00:48:22,880 --> 00:48:25,520
In the midst of really a painful time in her life.

881
00:48:25,520 --> 00:48:31,480
She tended to be busy and she was a hostess and Mary, her sister, would sit at Jesus'

882
00:48:31,480 --> 00:48:36,480
feet and Martha, I can see myself saying this, why don't you tell her to get up and help

883
00:48:36,480 --> 00:48:37,480
me?

884
00:48:37,480 --> 00:48:39,600
I can see me saying this.

885
00:48:39,600 --> 00:48:43,600
Martha really had a heart that she loved God and she knew who he was.

886
00:48:43,600 --> 00:48:49,760
And so sometimes I think I just get so much into doing that, you know, I just sometimes

887
00:48:49,760 --> 00:48:52,640
need to sit back and listen to God.

888
00:48:52,640 --> 00:48:55,800
And that's sort of how I relate to her.

889
00:48:55,800 --> 00:49:02,920
And I've tried recently to really sit back and especially in the mornings, I just sit

890
00:49:02,920 --> 00:49:09,600
and with my Bible and my devotional stuff and just try and hear God.

891
00:49:09,600 --> 00:49:12,000
That's a good lesson for all of us.

892
00:49:12,000 --> 00:49:18,520
So Bobby referenced Romans 2:28 earlier, the New Living Translation reads, and we know

893
00:49:18,520 --> 00:49:23,320
that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are

894
00:49:23,320 --> 00:49:26,300
called according to his purpose for them.

895
00:49:26,300 --> 00:49:30,320
As she said, nothing you do in God's economy is wasted.

896
00:49:30,320 --> 00:49:32,160
That doesn't mean difficult times don't come.

897
00:49:32,160 --> 00:49:36,200
In fact, James 1:2 says that troubles will come.

898
00:49:36,200 --> 00:49:40,320
God doesn't send the trouble, but because we live in a fallen world, we will encounter

899
00:49:40,320 --> 00:49:41,720
trouble of various kinds.

900
00:49:41,720 --> 00:49:48,080
The beautiful and encouraging thing is though that God will work it all out to shape us

901
00:49:48,080 --> 00:49:50,200
and make us more like him.

902
00:49:50,200 --> 00:49:54,640
If we allow him to do so in the midst of her trouble, Bobby clung to the Lord.

903
00:49:54,640 --> 00:50:01,080
She looked to him as her provider, her protector, her peace for really whatever she needed.

904
00:50:01,080 --> 00:50:02,360
And she still does.

905
00:50:02,360 --> 00:50:08,320
As she has trusted and praised him in spite of her circumstances, God reformed her self-image

906
00:50:08,320 --> 00:50:11,800
and brought her to a wide, beautiful place.

907
00:50:11,800 --> 00:50:17,000
Her cup overflows and dear one, God wants to do the same for you.

908
00:50:17,000 --> 00:50:21,680
Bobby, would you take a moment and pray for everyone who has listened to your amazing

909
00:50:21,680 --> 00:50:22,680
God story?

910
00:50:22,680 --> 00:50:28,360
Yeah, Father God, I thank you for this opportunity to share your story and your testimony, my

911
00:50:28,360 --> 00:50:31,720
testimony of your work in my life.

912
00:50:31,720 --> 00:50:39,080
And I just pray, Holy Spirit, there's somebody out there that needs to hear this.

913
00:50:39,080 --> 00:50:41,600
It's just a regular old story for me.

914
00:50:41,600 --> 00:50:47,960
I am just a regular person and I love God with all my heart and I could not do life

915
00:50:47,960 --> 00:50:50,640
without you, Father God.

916
00:50:50,640 --> 00:50:56,960
And I just pray that you would just be an influence through that someone would be touched

917
00:50:56,960 --> 00:51:04,160
by what I've shared and that your testimony would mean that your word spoken would not

918
00:51:04,160 --> 00:51:05,720
be returned void.

919
00:51:05,720 --> 00:51:09,280
And I just pray a blessing on Jodi and her family.

920
00:51:09,280 --> 00:51:16,120
I pray that you would just expound her boundaries and that her ministry would go far and wide,

921
00:51:16,120 --> 00:51:22,240
that you would anoint those that she speaks to and that her words would be your words

922
00:51:22,240 --> 00:51:28,480
and that she would, that you would just through her love many people.

923
00:51:28,480 --> 00:51:31,680
And I pray for this ministry for the widows and orphans.

924
00:51:31,680 --> 00:51:39,680
Lord God, there's many widows out there and there's orphans that are wondering, then do

925
00:51:39,680 --> 00:51:40,680
you even care?

926
00:51:40,680 --> 00:51:45,200
And they need Heavenly Father and they need to feel you in their presence.

927
00:51:45,200 --> 00:51:51,160
And I just pray for your Holy Spirit to come and anoint these folks and those listening,

928
00:51:51,160 --> 00:51:56,240
and Father, you would bless them that they would come to know you in a personal way,

929
00:51:56,240 --> 00:52:01,480
come to know your word and that you care for them and ask to send your Holy name.

930
00:52:01,480 --> 00:52:02,480
Amen.

931
00:52:02,480 --> 00:52:03,480
Amen.

932
00:52:03,480 --> 00:52:04,920
Thank you for tuning in.

933
00:52:04,920 --> 00:52:09,120
In our show notes at hergodstory.org, you will find scriptures and other information

934
00:52:09,120 --> 00:52:10,280
we talked about.

935
00:52:10,280 --> 00:52:14,360
Don't forget though to sign up for our emails and get a six week devotional book you can

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download for free or you may want to purchase a 12 week devotional for just $12 knowing

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that all the proceeds will go to our widow and orphans fund.

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

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

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And now dear friends, I bless you with an adaptation of Psalm 23.

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May the Lord who is your shepherd be all you need.

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May he give you restful places and renew your strength.

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May you follow him closely along the right paths that bring honor to his name.

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May you feel his protection, provision and comfort at all times, especially when you

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faced the enemy.

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And as his goodness and mercy overtake you, may your cup overflow with blessing too.

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

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