God Speaks! Mary Beth Gilbert ’s Story

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Hey friends, welcome to this episode of Her God Story, where you will always hear a good

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story, a God story, to build up your faith and equip you in your walk with the Lord.

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

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and traveler on this journey of faith.

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We have planes flying overhead today, so hopefully they won't be too disruptive, but if you hear

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a plane, no, that's the sound of freedom.

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You know, when someone is walking with the Lord, there are so many tales of his kindness,

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faithfulness, and goodness in our lives, and it is impossible to relate them all in one

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telling.

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My guest Mary Beth Gilbert and I met for dinner recently and spent hours catching up on all

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that God had been doing in our lives.

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I know you will enjoy her as much as I do.

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Like me, Mary Beth Gilbert is passionate about encouraging women to fulfill their destiny

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in the Lord.

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She desires to come alongside women to help them grow in different areas of their lives.

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Caring for over 36 years, she uses her knowledge and wisdom to help other women like you and

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me walk through different seasons of their lives.

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And she loves to encourage mothers in biblical and practical ways of caring for their children,

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including how to balance work and motherhood.

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Mary Beth has served in various aspects of ministry for over 32 years, even while working

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in the business and academic worlds.

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She's co-founder of Empowered Living International with her husband Daniel, and is a national

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and international Christian women's speaker and Bible teacher.

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Her favorite roles though are wife to Daniel and mother to Maria, who is now in college.

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Mary Beth, you were the director of financial aid at Regent University when I was there

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working on my master's degree, and that's where we met.

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That was quite a few years ago.

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We won't talk about that, but God has done so much in and for and through you since then,

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and I'm excited for our listeners to hear your God story.

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So welcome.

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Thank you.

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Thank you, Jody.

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It's great to be here.

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I'm so glad God has brought us back together and reconnected after all these years and

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living on different posts.

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Amen.

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So glad to be here.

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About a week or so ago, I was scrolling through Facebook and I saw that your beloved dog,

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Joy, had gone missing.

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Yes.

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Oh my goodness.

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Yes, she was gone for about four days.

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It was a dog sitting accident.

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We had four nights and four days she spent in the woods on Virginia Wesleyan University,

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and just nothing but a miracle of God that he returned her to us, and we're so thankful.

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There was a lot of learning and life lessons that came out of that story, which I hope

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to share at some time, too.

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I bet.

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Well, my husband, Ron and I, we love dogs and we were just heartbroken, so we joined

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a lot of others to pray she'd be found.

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And when I saw you post that she was there, we were rejoicing with you.

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Yeah.

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And you know, the thing is, as I think about a couple of things from that experience, she

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was lost.

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She was completely lost and she could not save herself.

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Does that sound like something?

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Yeah.

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About us and the Lord?

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Yes.

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How lost we are and we really can't save ourselves.

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We need a savior.

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And in her situation, when she was found and she managed to come out of the woods and come

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towards our older border collie and my husband, Daniel, when she got to them, she was one

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big, filthy, dirty, stinky mess.

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I bet.

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And he didn't care.

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She just loved on him.

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He hugged her, totally accepted her.

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And I think just kind of isn't God like that with us?

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We can come to him in our mess and in our spilt and in our stinking mess and he doesn't

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care.

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He loves us so much and welcomes us.

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And that was just one of the things in the return of her that I realized the next day.

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Wow, Lord, that was a good example of how you just love us.

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You don't tell us to go get cleaned up first.

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You don't say save yourself.

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And when you get it together, then come.

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And how so much of really her story, which, like I said, I'll share another time, really,

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really opened my eyes to see the Father's love for us.

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He speaks to us through just about everything, doesn't he?

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Oh, boy, he does.

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He really does.

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Yes.

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Well, let's go back to the beginning for you, really.

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Tell us your salvation story.

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And you know, when did Jesus become real to you and change your life?

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Well, really, it started I was a miracle baby because my mother had lost miscarried a couple

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babies before me and three after me.

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So when she found out she was pregnant with me, she went and the doctor gave her a drug.

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It was a D.E.S. drug.

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And she took that.

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But even so, obviously, I survived.

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But she I was stuck behind her pelvic bone.

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And in those days, they didn't like just go get you in two weeks.

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You know, I was stuck.

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I was four weeks late.

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Wow.

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And then the umbilical cord was all wrapped around my neck.

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And the doctor's like, oh, wow.

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You know, it's amazing that she came out.

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OK.

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Yeah.

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And so that was the first salvation.

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He saved me where I could be born and live.

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But I sensed God's hand on me as a young child.

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And so I was raised in a nominal Christian home.

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Jesus was not the topic of our dinner conversations.

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My mom and dad took us to church often.

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We moved a lot.

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So sometimes it would take a little bit of time when you move to a new area to find a

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church.

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And so so there were some seasons where we weren't going.

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But when I was about 10 years old, I remember we had just moved back from the Bahamas.

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We lived in the Bahamas three years when I was young.

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And so we moved back to Miami and we started going to this church.

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It was an Episcopal church.

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And one Sunday, you know, I noticed nobody in the family was up.

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I woke up.

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I had a younger sister, five years younger than me, and then an older sister and older

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brother.

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So I couldn't boss them around.

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But the younger one, I could.

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So I woke up, got her ready, got a cereal, got a stress, and then went in and woke up

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my dad and said, take us to church, please.

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And so after that, he started calling me his holy child.

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I was the only one up and getting ready for church.

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But anyway, he talked with me about that.

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But I remember even young, young, young, I would lay in bed and the only prayer I knew

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at night was now I lay me down to sleep.

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I pray the Lord my soul to keep if I should die before I wake.

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I prayed the Lord my soul to take.

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But tears would run down.

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Tears would run down.

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I remember one time my dad did come in and my mom came too.

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But I remember my dad saying, why are you crying?

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I said, oh, I just am.

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I didn't say why.

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And at that point, we had a three bedroom house.

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So my two sisters were in the other room in bunks.

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And then my brother and I were in the second bedroom.

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So he said, are you scared about something?

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Are you afraid?

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And before I could really say anything, he said, don't worry.

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If there's a boogie monster in here, your brother would just roll out of bed and smash

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him and you'll be just fine.

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So go to sleep.

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But I never really had a chance to say I'm praying.

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So I think that the Lord just had had me at that point in my life beginning to work sensitively

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in my heart towards the things of God.

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At 14 years old, we had moved from Miami up to near West Palm Beach area.

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And my sister's best friend from Miami came up to visit and she shared the gospel with

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me and my older sister.

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And we came to know the Lord then.

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However, I was still in an Episcopal church and they didn't really have too much going

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on in that church.

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But there was a Sunday school class that I went to.

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And I remember one story the leader talked about, like, never get mad if you get a flat

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tire on the side of the road because God could be saving you from an accident.

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And I like something like that thing, lessons like that would stick to me.

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Yeah, you know, so I was always mindful of maybe God is doing things and working in our

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lives even through stuff like that.

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But I didn't really have any discipleship training or anything like that.

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I would read out of Proverbs and Psalms.

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I could relate to them a lot.

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I remember I was 15, 16 years old.

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And then I kind of just kind of wandered.

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And it was night when I was 19, I rededicated my life to the Lord.

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And then the rest are going to a Baptist church and rededicated my life.

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So that's pretty young in life.

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I mean, you were, you know, you came to the Lord when you were 14, but without a lot of

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family influence, you just trying to hear from the Lord.

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But he was speaking to you even in the midst of that he was speaking to you and in your

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young little heart, giving you little bits of truth along the way that was formative,

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I'm sure.

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Yes, they're still I still remember them to this day.

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And it's always ministered to me that God really does work in the day to day.

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Yeah, things of life.

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You know, you're young, you're launching out in life.

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I'm sure you had plans for your life.

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And you know, how did God direct your steps?

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Had he given you those plans?

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Or did he change him along the way?

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Well, I was seeking him my late teens, early 20s, once I rededicated my life.

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There were some, you know, lessons I know even in high school, after I came to know

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the Lord, I would just pray a little bit like, sometimes we like just protect me or show

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me something.

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But I, again, I was I didn't have a plan, plan, plan.

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It's not like I felt at that point.

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I remember, you know, and this kind of off topic a little bit when I was in high school,

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I was on the homecoming court.

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I remember my senior year when that happened, I had some girls pull me aside and say, look,

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if you'll go to all the parties on Friday night, then more people will get to know you.

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We had a large high school, it was like 2500 students.

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More people will get to know you.

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Come on, come on.

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And they were like every week almost like, come on, come on.

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And I really had no desire.

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And I don't know if that was just because I had said, you know, a simple prayer like,

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Lord, protect me.

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Or, or I just wanted to know his will for my life.

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I wasn't really sure, but I just had no interest at all to do that.

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Yeah.

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When I was in, when I was in high school, I was, I got saved when I was six.

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But, you know, when I was in high school, I dabbled with friends and parties.

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And I can think of many experiences where I was foolish.

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I was a foolish young woman and could have gotten in a lot of trouble.

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But the Lord's protection was around me even then, even in my foolishness, my sin and my

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disobedience.

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Right.

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And I was, you know, sneaking out when my parents thought I was tucked away in bed.

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But the Lord protected me from all sorts of things.

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Exactly.

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Same here.

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The Lord protected me from a lot too.

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And so anyway, I ended up winning.

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I said to the Lord, you know, the point wasn't that I ended up winning and becoming the Home

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Grooming Queen.

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What it was was that I said, Lord, thank you that I had enough strength where I didn't

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have to go out and do things that weren't me to try and get votes or to try and be liked.

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Or you know, and I, that was a big lesson for me.

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And like I said, it wasn't the winning.

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It was the fact that was it a test?

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In my young age, even are you and I tell young girls this all the time, never, never, never

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compromise who you are just to get something or just to be popular because you will be

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blessed if you don't succumb to that and later you'll be thankful.

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But yeah, I did other stupid things.

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And I think that the Lord again, His protection as I look back, I'm like, oh, wow, saved

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me from that one more.

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Yeah, exactly.

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But it was in those later years of my teens when I began to really think, okay, okay,

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Father, I rededicate my life now.

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What is really the purpose and the plan here that you have for me?

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And He led me.

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I was going to Baptist Church and then He led me up to Mars Hill College, which is where

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I did meet my husband.

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But the thing there was my brother kept saying, go to University of Florida.

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I'm there.

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He was there and he loved it.

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And I visited him several times.

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I loved it too.

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00:12:35,600 --> 00:12:42,960
But I just sensed God was not leading me there and that I wanted to go to a smaller college.

242
00:12:42,960 --> 00:12:44,680
And then we know why.

243
00:12:44,680 --> 00:12:46,880
You met Daniel there.

244
00:12:46,880 --> 00:12:49,800
But you weren't all that enthralled with him at first.

245
00:12:49,800 --> 00:12:53,720
I mean, it took quite a while for him to win you over.

246
00:12:53,720 --> 00:12:54,720
Yes.

247
00:12:54,720 --> 00:12:59,000
Now that is a whole long story, but I'll try and make it short here.

248
00:12:59,000 --> 00:13:02,480
He was a wonderful young man.

249
00:13:02,480 --> 00:13:06,360
And I think the one thing that did attract me that I noticed about him even before we

250
00:13:06,360 --> 00:13:08,960
were dating, I was new to that college.

251
00:13:08,960 --> 00:13:09,960
So I had transferred up.

252
00:13:09,960 --> 00:13:16,320
I had gotten my AA degree at Palm Beach State and then I transferred up to Mars Hill College,

253
00:13:16,320 --> 00:13:17,920
now University.

254
00:13:17,920 --> 00:13:23,520
And my boyfriend went with me up there for initial visit.

255
00:13:23,520 --> 00:13:27,040
I wasn't too thrilled because I really didn't think this relationship was going to last.

256
00:13:27,040 --> 00:13:28,040
But anyway, he was there.

257
00:13:28,040 --> 00:13:32,880
But I noticed that Daniel took such interest in helping him because he wanted to try out

258
00:13:32,880 --> 00:13:36,720
for the football team and Daniel was already on the team.

259
00:13:36,720 --> 00:13:39,760
And so I just noticed his kindness.

260
00:13:39,760 --> 00:13:44,960
And then once I got there on campus, and of course, the boyfriend and I broke up like

261
00:13:44,960 --> 00:13:50,040
two or three weeks after we were there, I noticed I would still see Daniel like in the

262
00:13:50,040 --> 00:13:52,160
cafeteria and around campus.

263
00:13:52,160 --> 00:13:55,120
I noticed that he was just kind to people.

264
00:13:55,120 --> 00:13:57,160
And I just loved that.

265
00:13:57,160 --> 00:13:59,080
Like I was drawn to that.

266
00:13:59,080 --> 00:14:03,400
Like he's not a typical, you know, prideful.

267
00:14:03,400 --> 00:14:07,400
When he was driving, yeah, he wasn't quite so gracious.

268
00:14:07,400 --> 00:14:09,400
Not so gracious when he was behind the wheel, huh?

269
00:14:09,400 --> 00:14:11,400
Yes, and a couple things like that.

270
00:14:11,400 --> 00:14:13,440
But for the most part, I really...

271
00:14:13,440 --> 00:14:16,920
Yeah, so I just watched him at a distance.

272
00:14:16,920 --> 00:14:22,040
And then it was probably about six months later, we began, we were in a little prayer

273
00:14:22,040 --> 00:14:24,160
meeting together and got to know each other.

274
00:14:24,160 --> 00:14:26,920
And then, you know, he asked me out.

275
00:14:26,920 --> 00:14:30,200
When you started going out, did you just rush to the altar after that?

276
00:14:30,200 --> 00:14:31,920
Oh, no, no, no.

277
00:14:31,920 --> 00:14:33,400
So we had quite a journey.

278
00:14:33,400 --> 00:14:37,280
We dated for about two years and broke up about seven times within the two years.

279
00:14:37,280 --> 00:14:38,840
And he kept coming back for more.

280
00:14:38,840 --> 00:14:40,240
Oh, God bless his heart.

281
00:14:40,240 --> 00:14:41,240
He was steadfast.

282
00:14:41,240 --> 00:14:42,240
He was immovable.

283
00:14:42,240 --> 00:14:47,000
He was waiting for me to work things out because he knew I had to work a couple of things out.

284
00:14:47,000 --> 00:14:49,360
So he was very, very patient.

285
00:14:49,360 --> 00:14:57,640
I think part of my problem was, unfortunately, my parents divorced when I was 14.

286
00:14:57,640 --> 00:15:04,200
I remember shortly after that thinking, wow, I don't know that I'll be able to really get

287
00:15:04,200 --> 00:15:05,200
married.

288
00:15:05,200 --> 00:15:09,080
My parents, there was nothing obvious in our house that would say this was going to happen.

289
00:15:09,080 --> 00:15:11,840
It's not like, you know, they were fighting all the time.

290
00:15:11,840 --> 00:15:15,160
It's not like we were all wreck or anything like that.

291
00:15:15,160 --> 00:15:20,240
Now as a married woman looking back, I can see where some of the breakdown probably occurred.

292
00:15:20,240 --> 00:15:25,480
But at that time, as a young teenage girl, I thought even my best friend said, wow, if

293
00:15:25,480 --> 00:15:27,120
your parents can't make it, who can?

294
00:15:27,120 --> 00:15:28,120
That's why it was so shocking.

295
00:15:28,120 --> 00:15:31,880
And fear, I think, began to set in on me.

296
00:15:31,880 --> 00:15:38,800
Fear commitment, fear of being able to be married and follow that out and, you know,

297
00:15:38,800 --> 00:15:40,660
not always live selfishly.

298
00:15:40,660 --> 00:15:45,400
That was in me and then also my older sister had been engaged and that didn't work out

299
00:15:45,400 --> 00:15:48,360
and then was called off a couple of months before the wedding.

300
00:15:48,360 --> 00:15:50,880
And then I thought, oh, that doesn't sound good either.

301
00:15:50,880 --> 00:15:54,040
So that just kind of played into it a little bit.

302
00:15:54,040 --> 00:15:57,040
So I had to wrestle with all of this.

303
00:15:57,040 --> 00:16:02,520
And the thing about it was, it was during that time, at the same time I began to sense

304
00:16:02,520 --> 00:16:05,560
that I was going to be called into full-time ministry.

305
00:16:05,560 --> 00:16:08,360
So I'm like, well, how am I going to be called in full-time ministry?

306
00:16:08,360 --> 00:16:13,200
And I'm battling these fears and, you know, I was anxious about commitments and stuff

307
00:16:13,200 --> 00:16:14,200
like that.

308
00:16:14,200 --> 00:16:17,200
But he, Daniel was, he was my best friend.

309
00:16:17,200 --> 00:16:19,360
He became my best friend through all that.

310
00:16:19,360 --> 00:16:25,600
We talked about certain stuff and he was just strong and steadfast, good looking, very driven,

311
00:16:25,600 --> 00:16:26,600
very authentic.

312
00:16:26,600 --> 00:16:27,600
I think that was the other thing.

313
00:16:27,600 --> 00:16:31,240
Not only was kindness, but I saw his authenticity.

314
00:16:31,240 --> 00:16:36,200
And I just, those qualities I just began to fall in love with, but I was still battling

315
00:16:36,200 --> 00:16:37,320
that.

316
00:16:37,320 --> 00:16:41,480
You graduated from college and then, and so did Daniel.

317
00:16:41,480 --> 00:16:48,800
And he joined the staff of Fellowship of Christian Athletes and you went back to Florida, which

318
00:16:48,800 --> 00:16:51,960
is actually where he was, but not to the same city.

319
00:16:51,960 --> 00:16:53,920
That was interesting how we both ended up in Orlando.

320
00:16:53,920 --> 00:16:54,920
So he got that job.

321
00:16:54,920 --> 00:16:57,080
I went back to West Palm Beach.

322
00:16:57,080 --> 00:17:00,720
So he said, well, if you want our relationship to work, you're really going to have to,

323
00:17:00,720 --> 00:17:01,720
you know, make it to Orlando.

324
00:17:01,720 --> 00:17:06,720
And I said, well, God's going to have to just put me there because I just really didn't

325
00:17:06,720 --> 00:17:09,680
have any desire to go to Orlando.

326
00:17:09,680 --> 00:17:16,080
And so I, my brother said, well, come to Tampa and why don't you look for a job here?

327
00:17:16,080 --> 00:17:18,600
And you know, one thing led to another.

328
00:17:18,600 --> 00:17:21,800
And I ended up, I don't know how I ended up in the state office.

329
00:17:21,800 --> 00:17:23,920
Yeah, the state employment office.

330
00:17:23,920 --> 00:17:24,920
Yes.

331
00:17:24,920 --> 00:17:28,040
And talking with this man and I looked around his office.

332
00:17:28,040 --> 00:17:30,280
He had scriptures everywhere.

333
00:17:30,280 --> 00:17:33,040
And I wonder how many times now today you'll see that.

334
00:17:33,040 --> 00:17:34,040
Yeah.

335
00:17:34,040 --> 00:17:35,040
But he did.

336
00:17:35,040 --> 00:17:36,040
And I was like, wow.

337
00:17:36,040 --> 00:17:37,840
He's a Christian with all these wonderful scriptures.

338
00:17:37,840 --> 00:17:38,840
And he said, yes.

339
00:17:38,840 --> 00:17:40,720
And then we got talking about the Lord.

340
00:17:40,720 --> 00:17:48,720
And after a while he said, you know, I just don't think that you should be here in Tampa.

341
00:17:48,720 --> 00:17:50,880
And I was like, whoa, okay.

342
00:17:50,880 --> 00:17:55,680
I'm here looking for a job and you tell me I'm not supposed to be in the city.

343
00:17:55,680 --> 00:18:00,560
Anyway, I did end up having, getting a job interview in Lakeland at a big church.

344
00:18:00,560 --> 00:18:04,640
And then I ended up getting a job interview in Orlando.

345
00:18:04,640 --> 00:18:08,720
And so the one in Lakeland on my way there, they canceled the meeting.

346
00:18:08,720 --> 00:18:14,080
And so I kept on going, got to Orlando, had an interview there, was offered the job, had

347
00:18:14,080 --> 00:18:17,160
a place to live in two days and it just all fell right into place.

348
00:18:17,160 --> 00:18:20,960
So that's how we both got to Orlando.

349
00:18:20,960 --> 00:18:25,720
And then you still, I mean, even with God putting you in the same city, you still hesitated

350
00:18:25,720 --> 00:18:30,640
and weren't quite sure that marriage was for you.

351
00:18:30,640 --> 00:18:31,920
Right, right.

352
00:18:31,920 --> 00:18:33,680
But God actually spoke to you.

353
00:18:33,680 --> 00:18:34,680
He did.

354
00:18:34,680 --> 00:18:37,320
So I get to Orlando, we're dating again.

355
00:18:37,320 --> 00:18:40,640
Again, we broke up maybe one or two more times during that stretch.

356
00:18:40,640 --> 00:18:41,640
Poor guy.

357
00:18:41,640 --> 00:18:42,640
I feel so bad.

358
00:18:42,640 --> 00:18:43,640
I've asked him to forgive me.

359
00:18:43,640 --> 00:18:44,640
Which he has.

360
00:18:44,640 --> 00:18:51,960
You know, I just was thinking, Lord, you know, this probably isn't supposed to be this way.

361
00:18:51,960 --> 00:18:53,760
Am I making this bigger than it should be?

362
00:18:53,760 --> 00:18:54,760
What's going on?

363
00:18:54,760 --> 00:18:58,800
And God began to reveal, you know, the fear in my heart.

364
00:18:58,800 --> 00:19:03,120
Then it got to the point I knew that he was the one for me.

365
00:19:03,120 --> 00:19:08,000
I had gone to our youth, not our youth pastor, he was like a young adult pastor at our church.

366
00:19:08,000 --> 00:19:10,560
God led us to the same church.

367
00:19:10,560 --> 00:19:11,560
I ended up going on staff.

368
00:19:11,560 --> 00:19:12,560
Separately.

369
00:19:12,560 --> 00:19:13,560
Yeah, separately.

370
00:19:13,560 --> 00:19:18,480
And then I ended up going on staff at that church and one of the pastors there over young

371
00:19:18,480 --> 00:19:22,640
adult, he was close with Daniel, I'm getting close with him.

372
00:19:22,640 --> 00:19:25,320
And then of course he knew me from work.

373
00:19:25,320 --> 00:19:27,720
And then we got into the same group.

374
00:19:27,720 --> 00:19:29,880
I was just really upset about it all one day.

375
00:19:29,880 --> 00:19:31,120
Like, Lord, what is my problem?

376
00:19:31,120 --> 00:19:32,760
Why am I, you know, just...

377
00:19:32,760 --> 00:19:33,760
Why is this hard for me?

378
00:19:33,760 --> 00:19:38,880
And most girls, it's fairy tale, you know, Hollywood love and they run off and get married

379
00:19:38,880 --> 00:19:41,800
and I was just overthinking things.

380
00:19:41,800 --> 00:19:46,840
And it wasn't so much I was overthinking things, it was more of that fear was still in there.

381
00:19:46,840 --> 00:19:52,160
So I went to, I was walking after our morning opening prayer and I was walking back to my

382
00:19:52,160 --> 00:19:55,880
office and I was at church and I was hoping I would not see, his name was Ron, I was hoping

383
00:19:55,880 --> 00:19:59,880
I would not see him because I knew he would ask me how I was doing and I knew I would flood

384
00:19:59,880 --> 00:20:01,360
open tears.

385
00:20:01,360 --> 00:20:03,560
So I was just hoping nobody was around.

386
00:20:03,560 --> 00:20:07,760
Well, of course, nobody but Ron was around and he asked me how I was doing and I just

387
00:20:07,760 --> 00:20:08,760
lost it.

388
00:20:08,760 --> 00:20:12,880
So he said, come in my office and we got talking about the whole relationship thing and what

389
00:20:12,880 --> 00:20:13,880
are you looking for?

390
00:20:13,880 --> 00:20:17,400
And I went through it and he said, Daniel's got that, Daniel's got this, Daniel's got

391
00:20:17,400 --> 00:20:18,400
that.

392
00:20:18,400 --> 00:20:22,200
And it's not that he had to convince me, it's just that, you know, fear just really plays

393
00:20:22,200 --> 00:20:28,360
havoc with you if you give it time and if you give it energy and thought.

394
00:20:28,360 --> 00:20:31,920
And so Ron helped me just kind of get that out of the way.

395
00:20:31,920 --> 00:20:32,920
So there we have it.

396
00:20:32,920 --> 00:20:37,400
And then we're dating and it's time where, okay, it gets to the point though where Daniel

397
00:20:37,400 --> 00:20:44,840
says, look, he comes over and he says, I want you to know I am called to full time ministry

398
00:20:44,840 --> 00:20:48,280
and I believe you're supposed to be with me.

399
00:20:48,280 --> 00:20:56,320
But if not, I must go on and I must serve the Lord with or without you.

400
00:20:56,320 --> 00:20:59,200
And that was powerful.

401
00:20:59,200 --> 00:21:02,280
And then I knew that's the one I want to be with.

402
00:21:02,280 --> 00:21:08,600
That he was willing at that point to say, you know what, I've waited, I've been patient,

403
00:21:08,600 --> 00:21:11,880
I've helped you, but I've got to serve the Lord with or without you.

404
00:21:11,880 --> 00:21:12,880
But I want you with me.

405
00:21:12,880 --> 00:21:19,040
And you know, that is so powerful because how many people, men or women will say, I'm

406
00:21:19,040 --> 00:21:20,760
going to follow God regardless.

407
00:21:20,760 --> 00:21:22,960
I'm going to do what God wants me to do regardless.

408
00:21:22,960 --> 00:21:27,800
I love you, but I'm going to put God first.

409
00:21:27,800 --> 00:21:33,440
And you know, when we're with those people or we see those people or we can really trust

410
00:21:33,440 --> 00:21:39,760
them because I mean, not that they will never fail, but we can, you know, if they are willing

411
00:21:39,760 --> 00:21:45,080
to lay everything on the line for the Lord, you know, we can really trust them.

412
00:21:45,080 --> 00:21:46,080
Right.

413
00:21:46,080 --> 00:21:49,520
And he felt that God had told him I was to be his wife like a couple of years before

414
00:21:49,520 --> 00:21:50,520
that.

415
00:21:50,520 --> 00:21:53,120
And this whole thing tested his faith and his trust.

416
00:21:53,120 --> 00:21:55,280
And he had people praying all over the place.

417
00:21:55,280 --> 00:21:57,120
One guy, Louis said, you know what, I'm tired of praying.

418
00:21:57,120 --> 00:21:59,080
I've been praying for a long time for her.

419
00:21:59,080 --> 00:22:00,080
She's just not coming around.

420
00:22:00,080 --> 00:22:04,120
I was like, thank God Danny didn't give up on me and the Lord of course.

421
00:22:04,120 --> 00:22:09,240
He was there where that steadfast came in and he was willing to sacrifice me to fulfill

422
00:22:09,240 --> 00:22:10,880
his call to the Lord.

423
00:22:10,880 --> 00:22:15,480
But the Lord knew that he built up his faith and his trust.

424
00:22:15,480 --> 00:22:17,080
And then he delivered me.

425
00:22:17,080 --> 00:22:22,800
But I did get engaged in a sense in faith, which I could never tell young girls because

426
00:22:22,800 --> 00:22:24,800
I never want them to go out and do this.

427
00:22:24,800 --> 00:22:25,800
Right.

428
00:22:25,800 --> 00:22:29,800
It was just me wrestling with this whole thing with the Lord and laying down the fear and

429
00:22:29,800 --> 00:22:35,840
trusting because I, I don't think I ever said this to the Lord, but I know I felt it.

430
00:22:35,840 --> 00:22:38,640
Like I wanted him to write it on the wall.

431
00:22:38,640 --> 00:22:40,320
Mary, Daniel, Gilbert.

432
00:22:40,320 --> 00:22:41,320
Yeah.

433
00:22:41,320 --> 00:22:44,560
And he just would not do that.

434
00:22:44,560 --> 00:22:52,920
And so I, I, but getting over that a little bit, he said, I think it's time that I speak

435
00:22:52,920 --> 00:22:53,920
with your father.

436
00:22:53,920 --> 00:22:57,080
He wanted to ask my dad for my hand in marriage.

437
00:22:57,080 --> 00:22:58,800
You want to be sure he had that blessing.

438
00:22:58,800 --> 00:22:59,800
Yeah.

439
00:22:59,800 --> 00:23:05,840
And of course I just blew up all his wonderful plans and romanticism that he had and how

440
00:23:05,840 --> 00:23:08,440
it proposed to me and everything else.

441
00:23:08,440 --> 00:23:10,240
Poor guy.

442
00:23:10,240 --> 00:23:16,440
Anyway, so one time I called him, but then my dad was like, yeah, come on.

443
00:23:16,440 --> 00:23:21,040
And then we ended up canceling and I just said, you know, just take me to the park.

444
00:23:21,040 --> 00:23:22,760
And I went and I just read scripture.

445
00:23:22,760 --> 00:23:26,600
He went to church and again, I was still wrestling.

446
00:23:26,600 --> 00:23:30,760
And so then the next time, okay, ready this time.

447
00:23:30,760 --> 00:23:38,840
So he said, I called my dad and I said, dad, I said, Daniel wants to come see you or you

448
00:23:38,840 --> 00:23:39,840
come here.

449
00:23:39,840 --> 00:23:41,400
And I said, okay, I'll come there.

450
00:23:41,400 --> 00:23:45,640
And he said, and he knew what it was about, but he said, what does he want?

451
00:23:45,640 --> 00:23:50,640
And I said, well, I think he wants to ask you for my hand in marriage.

452
00:23:50,640 --> 00:23:57,640
And so my dad, knowing what I had been through, but loved him, he was out of the guys I dated.

453
00:23:57,640 --> 00:23:58,640
He liked him the best.

454
00:23:58,640 --> 00:23:59,880
He had told me that.

455
00:23:59,880 --> 00:24:04,440
But he said to me, when I said he wants to ask you for my hand in marriage, he said,

456
00:24:04,440 --> 00:24:06,640
sweetheart, what do you want me to say?

457
00:24:06,640 --> 00:24:12,760
And I thought that was so sweet because he loved him, you know, but yet he was just willing

458
00:24:12,760 --> 00:24:15,640
to do whatever he felt I needed at that moment.

459
00:24:15,640 --> 00:24:16,640
And I was like, it's good.

460
00:24:16,640 --> 00:24:17,640
It's good.

461
00:24:17,640 --> 00:24:20,040
So he came over to the house and got that approval.

462
00:24:20,040 --> 00:24:24,400
And of course, my dad's advice was just get life insurance because if anything happens

463
00:24:24,400 --> 00:24:28,640
to you, I want my daughter taking care of, which he did.

464
00:24:28,640 --> 00:24:30,080
It's a good dad.

465
00:24:30,080 --> 00:24:32,080
So the proposal came.

466
00:24:32,080 --> 00:24:33,080
It was nothing exciting.

467
00:24:33,080 --> 00:24:34,680
He just showed up at my house.

468
00:24:34,680 --> 00:24:39,000
He was getting ready to go to North Carolina for FCA camp.

469
00:24:39,000 --> 00:24:40,000
And he just came over.

470
00:24:40,000 --> 00:24:41,000
He said, can I make you breakfast?

471
00:24:41,000 --> 00:24:42,000
I was like, yeah.

472
00:24:42,000 --> 00:24:45,880
And I went back to my room while he was making breakfast.

473
00:24:45,880 --> 00:24:48,760
And I thought, Lord, is he here to ask me to marry him?

474
00:24:48,760 --> 00:24:53,160
But like he didn't give me any any heads up about the Lord say yes.

475
00:24:53,160 --> 00:24:59,400
And I said, well, you just need to say yes right through me then if he's the one.

476
00:24:59,400 --> 00:25:05,800
And the Lord said out of Hebrews 11, without faith, it's impossible to please me.

477
00:25:05,800 --> 00:25:06,800
And then I was like, what?

478
00:25:06,800 --> 00:25:07,800
What?

479
00:25:07,800 --> 00:25:11,600
God, you want me to do this in faith as I wrestled with the Lord?

480
00:25:11,600 --> 00:25:12,600
Are you kidding me?

481
00:25:12,600 --> 00:25:13,600
Like nobody does this in faith.

482
00:25:13,600 --> 00:25:16,760
Like, why are you having this is the biggest decision in my life next to accepting yours

483
00:25:16,760 --> 00:25:18,440
and I'm going on and on.

484
00:25:18,440 --> 00:25:19,760
But you loved him.

485
00:25:19,760 --> 00:25:20,760
But I loved him.

486
00:25:20,760 --> 00:25:23,960
And I knew he was he was polity.

487
00:25:23,960 --> 00:25:25,080
And I did want to marry him.

488
00:25:25,080 --> 00:25:26,800
So I calmed down from that.

489
00:25:26,800 --> 00:25:31,480
So I go out and we eat breakfast and afterwards he got on one knee and he asked me to marry

490
00:25:31,480 --> 00:25:32,480
him.

491
00:25:32,480 --> 00:25:35,920
And I said, yes, as if I'd been waiting like all this time.

492
00:25:35,920 --> 00:25:36,920
No hesitation.

493
00:25:36,920 --> 00:25:37,920
Sure.

494
00:25:37,920 --> 00:25:40,040
I was like, yes.

495
00:25:40,040 --> 00:25:45,760
And then one key point before we move to the next thing is I remember then praying, Lord,

496
00:25:45,760 --> 00:25:52,600
after he left to go on a strip, I prayed, Father, if this is your perfect will, I pray

497
00:25:52,600 --> 00:25:54,880
for the peace that passes on understanding.

498
00:25:54,880 --> 00:25:58,280
And if it is not, I pray for turmoil.

499
00:25:58,280 --> 00:25:59,760
I've never asked God for turmoil.

500
00:25:59,760 --> 00:26:01,120
You don't ask for turmoil.

501
00:26:01,120 --> 00:26:02,120
Right.

502
00:26:02,120 --> 00:26:04,440
But I felt like I just needed that confirmation.

503
00:26:04,440 --> 00:26:07,280
And I always kid people I'm the confirmation child of God.

504
00:26:07,280 --> 00:26:09,560
I need confirmations all the time.

505
00:26:09,560 --> 00:26:16,400
So about 45 minutes later, and I've never had this since, a peace came upon me.

506
00:26:16,400 --> 00:26:22,120
Like it just fell slowly and gradually on the top of my head, all the way down my body,

507
00:26:22,120 --> 00:26:25,160
my whole body relaxed all the way down to my toes.

508
00:26:25,160 --> 00:26:28,880
And it was a peace that I just never experienced.

509
00:26:28,880 --> 00:26:33,680
Like all that fear, like everything was being washed away.

510
00:26:33,680 --> 00:26:37,200
And it's been smooth sailing ever since.

511
00:26:37,200 --> 00:26:38,200
I never looked back.

512
00:26:38,200 --> 00:26:40,880
Well, that is a good story.

513
00:26:40,880 --> 00:26:43,080
And you got married.

514
00:26:43,080 --> 00:26:48,640
And not long after that, Daniel felt led to go to seminary full time.

515
00:26:48,640 --> 00:26:50,800
So what was that conversation decision making like?

516
00:26:50,800 --> 00:26:52,720
I mean, how did God provide for you in that?

517
00:26:52,720 --> 00:26:58,040
Here you are, young couple and sort of kind of getting established.

518
00:26:58,040 --> 00:27:00,000
And now you have to uproot and move.

519
00:27:00,000 --> 00:27:01,000
Right.

520
00:27:01,000 --> 00:27:05,720
Well, a couple of things I mentioned earlier, how I felt God calling me into full time ministry.

521
00:27:05,720 --> 00:27:10,280
So once we did get engaged, he said, oh, I think I need to tell you something.

522
00:27:10,280 --> 00:27:12,600
And I said, okay, what is that?

523
00:27:12,600 --> 00:27:18,600
And he said, I feel called to pastor at some point in my life.

524
00:27:18,600 --> 00:27:22,080
I knew he'd probably teach to me, was already teaching.

525
00:27:22,080 --> 00:27:25,680
And I said, oh, well, let me go get something for you.

526
00:27:25,680 --> 00:27:31,040
When I was in college and I was seeking the Lord, I felt the Lord tell me that I was going

527
00:27:31,040 --> 00:27:33,320
to marry a pastor.

528
00:27:33,320 --> 00:27:34,960
I didn't tell anybody.

529
00:27:34,960 --> 00:27:38,160
In fact, in my prayer book, it says future husband.

530
00:27:38,160 --> 00:27:44,920
And in parentheses, it's got capital P period, capital W period for pastor's wife for me.

531
00:27:44,920 --> 00:27:48,320
But I thought if anybody found that they wouldn't know what that stood for.

532
00:27:48,320 --> 00:27:49,320
Right.

533
00:27:49,320 --> 00:27:55,640
So I went and I got that prayer book and I showed him because I'd written out my prayers

534
00:27:55,640 --> 00:27:57,720
and I showed him that.

535
00:27:57,720 --> 00:27:59,600
And he was like, oh, wow.

536
00:27:59,600 --> 00:28:02,040
And I said, that's just perfectly fine for me.

537
00:28:02,040 --> 00:28:04,600
So the Paul seminary then wasn't a shock.

538
00:28:04,600 --> 00:28:08,320
You know, one thing my mother had told me when I'm in my late teens, when all this was

539
00:28:08,320 --> 00:28:13,440
going on and I realized now it wasn't for me, it was for the man I was going to marry.

540
00:28:13,440 --> 00:28:18,760
She said, you know, Marybeth, without risk, you'll never get anywhere in life.

541
00:28:18,760 --> 00:28:20,480
And I thought, wow.

542
00:28:20,480 --> 00:28:22,640
So when Daniel started, we've moved a lot.

543
00:28:22,640 --> 00:28:25,840
And as we progress through the story, our listeners will hear it.

544
00:28:25,840 --> 00:28:30,800
But that was, you know, that was, okay, let's go.

545
00:28:30,800 --> 00:28:36,840
And then God's provision that we were church service before we moved here in Orlando, we're

546
00:28:36,840 --> 00:28:41,280
getting ready to move up to Virginia Beach in about two months.

547
00:28:41,280 --> 00:28:48,480
And so we had this ministering healing team come through and they were sharing and the

548
00:28:48,480 --> 00:28:49,480
worship was wonderful.

549
00:28:49,480 --> 00:28:52,640
They started praying for people, all kinds of healings.

550
00:28:52,640 --> 00:28:54,840
It was just a real dynamic time.

551
00:28:54,840 --> 00:28:58,040
And I felt like we were to give to their ministry.

552
00:28:58,040 --> 00:28:59,600
And Daniel felt the same thing, too.

553
00:28:59,600 --> 00:29:04,680
So he leaned over to me and said, what do you think God's telling you to give?

554
00:29:04,680 --> 00:29:09,320
And I said, well, and a number popped into my mind immediately.

555
00:29:09,320 --> 00:29:11,400
And I said, well, what do you know, it was big.

556
00:29:11,400 --> 00:29:14,600
I said, what do you think he's telling us to give?

557
00:29:14,600 --> 00:29:16,480
And he said, what do you think?

558
00:29:16,480 --> 00:29:18,160
And then I knew I needed to tell him.

559
00:29:18,160 --> 00:29:23,880
So I told him, which was about a third of our savings, which we were going up to seminary.

560
00:29:23,880 --> 00:29:25,840
We didn't have no scholarship at that point.

561
00:29:25,840 --> 00:29:27,040
No promise of a job.

562
00:29:27,040 --> 00:29:28,700
No promise of a job.

563
00:29:28,700 --> 00:29:33,200
So he goes, well, I'm going to have to pray about that.

564
00:29:33,200 --> 00:29:34,720
I said, okay, it was off of me.

565
00:29:34,720 --> 00:29:38,920
I told him what I thought, you know, he could think about it and yeah, you're not it.

566
00:29:38,920 --> 00:29:43,520
That night he couldn't sleep all night long, kept him up all night long.

567
00:29:43,520 --> 00:29:44,960
He kept thinking about and thinking about him.

568
00:29:44,960 --> 00:29:47,960
Finally, he was like, okay, Lord, this just doesn't make sense.

569
00:29:47,960 --> 00:29:52,080
But he got up at five something in the morning, wrote a check and about seven he was at the

570
00:29:52,080 --> 00:29:54,760
hotel where they were staying, gave him the money.

571
00:29:54,760 --> 00:29:56,880
And then we moved up here.

572
00:29:56,880 --> 00:30:01,160
I got a job where he got seventy five percent off of his tuition.

573
00:30:01,160 --> 00:30:02,160
Wow.

574
00:30:02,160 --> 00:30:05,720
And then later he ended up getting a twenty five dollar academic scholarship.

575
00:30:05,720 --> 00:30:06,920
So the whole thing is paid.

576
00:30:06,920 --> 00:30:11,560
You know, that is a very similar story to mine because I graduated from college.

577
00:30:11,560 --> 00:30:15,360
I wasn't married, but the Lord told me to go to graduate school and I had no.

578
00:30:15,360 --> 00:30:17,920
I mean, I I went to college out of obedience.

579
00:30:17,920 --> 00:30:19,480
I wanted to be a hairdresser.

580
00:30:19,480 --> 00:30:21,760
So then when I graduated, he told me to go to graduate school.

581
00:30:21,760 --> 00:30:22,840
So I went to graduate school.

582
00:30:22,840 --> 00:30:25,680
I got a job there as well.

583
00:30:25,680 --> 00:30:28,900
And I got that seventy five percent tuition remission.

584
00:30:28,900 --> 00:30:31,820
And then I got a twenty five percent academic scholarship.

585
00:30:31,820 --> 00:30:33,440
So I was going for free as well.

586
00:30:33,440 --> 00:30:35,400
It's a great story how God provides.

587
00:30:35,400 --> 00:30:37,320
But, you know, he tested us in obedience.

588
00:30:37,320 --> 00:30:38,320
Yes, wasn't it?

589
00:30:38,320 --> 00:30:42,080
You know, it was for us to give the obedience for you just to go anyway when you didn't

590
00:30:42,080 --> 00:30:43,920
have the money to to do it.

591
00:30:43,920 --> 00:30:44,920
Yeah, yeah.

592
00:30:44,920 --> 00:30:45,920
And I'm thinking of God.

593
00:30:45,920 --> 00:30:46,920
I did.

594
00:30:46,920 --> 00:30:47,920
I ended up getting two degrees up there.

595
00:30:47,920 --> 00:30:49,160
But, you know, God is faithful.

596
00:30:49,160 --> 00:30:52,800
He doesn't provide for everybody the same way, but he always provides.

597
00:30:52,800 --> 00:30:56,040
And I worked in financial aid and I saw that it wasn't the same for everybody.

598
00:30:56,040 --> 00:30:57,040
But he did.

599
00:30:57,040 --> 00:30:59,440
He would provide after his master's degree.

600
00:30:59,440 --> 00:31:01,440
He wanted to get a doctorate.

601
00:31:01,440 --> 00:31:02,920
And this time it was in Scotland.

602
00:31:02,920 --> 00:31:07,200
So your faith had been built up through the whole graduate degree scenario.

603
00:31:07,200 --> 00:31:08,200
Yes.

604
00:31:08,200 --> 00:31:11,480
But Scotland, that's a bigger step of faith.

605
00:31:11,480 --> 00:31:13,400
It sure is.

606
00:31:13,400 --> 00:31:17,160
And so he tells me this about when he's got about a year left.

607
00:31:17,160 --> 00:31:20,320
And, you know, it's one of these can we sit down and talk moments?

608
00:31:20,320 --> 00:31:23,280
And again, I go back to my mom.

609
00:31:23,280 --> 00:31:25,520
If you don't take a risk, you're never going to get anywhere.

610
00:31:25,520 --> 00:31:28,480
You know, that wasn't that was for me because of him.

611
00:31:28,480 --> 00:31:31,520
Yeah, he was always that risk taker.

612
00:31:31,520 --> 00:31:34,560
And so he shared with me everything.

613
00:31:34,560 --> 00:31:36,240
It was on his heart.

614
00:31:36,240 --> 00:31:40,360
And he said, I believe this is what the Lord wants, you know, and he big decisions.

615
00:31:40,360 --> 00:31:43,400
He was always respectful of my input.

616
00:31:43,400 --> 00:31:45,920
And so he said, what do you think?

617
00:31:45,920 --> 00:31:46,920
And it just came out of me.

618
00:31:46,920 --> 00:31:49,520
I just the table and said, let's go.

619
00:31:49,520 --> 00:31:50,520
And he was like, really?

620
00:31:50,520 --> 00:31:51,520
I'm like, yeah.

621
00:31:51,520 --> 00:31:54,520
And then it was like, oh, well, how are we going to manage there?

622
00:31:54,520 --> 00:31:56,760
How are we going to pay for things with the tuition?

623
00:31:56,760 --> 00:31:59,080
All of a sudden, I went into my business mode.

624
00:31:59,080 --> 00:32:00,080
Yeah.

625
00:32:00,080 --> 00:32:01,960
And I thought, God will provide.

626
00:32:01,960 --> 00:32:03,760
And he's provided, you know, now.

627
00:32:03,760 --> 00:32:09,320
And it's a funny story is when we did leave Orlando to go to seminary up in Virginia Beach,

628
00:32:09,320 --> 00:32:12,080
my father-in-law said, well, son, how are you going to pay for it?

629
00:32:12,080 --> 00:32:14,960
And he said, well, dad, the Lord will provide.

630
00:32:14,960 --> 00:32:20,720
And his dad said, yes, he will just remember, I'm not the Lord.

631
00:32:20,720 --> 00:32:21,720
Yeah.

632
00:32:21,720 --> 00:32:25,120
The other father, the other father will provide.

633
00:32:25,120 --> 00:32:26,120
So here we are.

634
00:32:26,120 --> 00:32:31,080
We resigned from regent and we're packing up and we're getting ready.

635
00:32:31,080 --> 00:32:33,040
Flying out the beginning of August.

636
00:32:33,040 --> 00:32:35,160
Now he had gotten a pastorate job over there.

637
00:32:35,160 --> 00:32:39,140
So we knew we were going to have a place to live and the church was going to help supply

638
00:32:39,140 --> 00:32:45,360
some of our basic needs, household items, but we still did not have tuition.

639
00:32:45,360 --> 00:32:49,480
And so we needed $10,000 like in a month.

640
00:32:49,480 --> 00:32:52,920
Daniel wrote a letter to a prominent figure in our area.

641
00:32:52,920 --> 00:33:00,440
And then we prayed like crazy that the actual letter would get to him.

642
00:33:00,440 --> 00:33:01,440
Finally it did.

643
00:33:01,440 --> 00:33:06,760
And like two weeks later we have the answer and it's like, yes, when do you need the check?

644
00:33:06,760 --> 00:33:07,760
Wow.

645
00:33:07,760 --> 00:33:08,760
And I was like, oh, wow.

646
00:33:08,760 --> 00:33:10,560
So that really leaked my faith.

647
00:33:10,560 --> 00:33:11,560
Like, okay.

648
00:33:11,560 --> 00:33:12,920
So that was the first year.

649
00:33:12,920 --> 00:33:17,680
And then the same individual provided for year two, year three and year four.

650
00:33:17,680 --> 00:33:21,760
And so he graduated with his PhD from the University of Aberdeen.

651
00:33:21,760 --> 00:33:23,080
Wow.

652
00:33:23,080 --> 00:33:24,440
Depth free as well.

653
00:33:24,440 --> 00:33:26,480
And your first pastor's job.

654
00:33:26,480 --> 00:33:27,480
Yes.

655
00:33:27,480 --> 00:33:31,280
His first pastor's job, which really, the wife is part of that team.

656
00:33:31,280 --> 00:33:32,280
That was in Scotland.

657
00:33:32,280 --> 00:33:33,280
Right.

658
00:33:33,280 --> 00:33:34,480
Kind of different culture even.

659
00:33:34,480 --> 00:33:36,400
Totally different culture.

660
00:33:36,400 --> 00:33:37,400
Love the people.

661
00:33:37,400 --> 00:33:40,600
You know, once they really get to know you, they're like family.

662
00:33:40,600 --> 00:33:46,560
But it was interesting at first because when we first got there, I was tired from working

663
00:33:46,560 --> 00:33:51,280
at Regent for four years and putting you through school and all that.

664
00:33:51,280 --> 00:33:53,320
So I thought I'm just going to take a little time off.

665
00:33:53,320 --> 00:33:55,480
Well, that doesn't always happen with the Lord.

666
00:33:55,480 --> 00:33:59,720
So I went over there and I brought some Bible study books with me.

667
00:33:59,720 --> 00:34:06,720
And so some of the women, two women in particular in the church heard that I had some experience

668
00:34:06,720 --> 00:34:09,120
with working with women in Bible studies and that kind of thing.

669
00:34:09,120 --> 00:34:13,520
So they said, Marybeth, we'd like for you to start a Bible study.

670
00:34:13,520 --> 00:34:14,520
And I said, oh, really?

671
00:34:14,520 --> 00:34:15,520
And they said, yes.

672
00:34:15,520 --> 00:34:16,520
And I said, look, I said, thank you.

673
00:34:16,520 --> 00:34:17,520
I said, just give me some time.

674
00:34:17,520 --> 00:34:18,520
I'm just really tired.

675
00:34:18,520 --> 00:34:26,120
I'm just going to, you know, and really I was thinking I wanted to just learn myself.

676
00:34:26,120 --> 00:34:30,080
I just wanted to be in the presence of the Lord myself and take that time myself and

677
00:34:30,080 --> 00:34:32,160
not have to prepare anything.

678
00:34:32,160 --> 00:34:34,440
And they there was some prayer meeting going on at church.

679
00:34:34,440 --> 00:34:38,640
And every time I went to the prayer meeting, the same two women would say the same thing.

680
00:34:38,640 --> 00:34:42,800
And then they say, well, there she goes trying to get out of it again.

681
00:34:42,800 --> 00:34:44,120
So finally, I said, you know what?

682
00:34:44,120 --> 00:34:45,760
I will pray about it.

683
00:34:45,760 --> 00:34:46,960
I hadn't even prayed about it.

684
00:34:46,960 --> 00:34:49,960
I said, okay, I will at least pray about it.

685
00:34:49,960 --> 00:34:53,520
And so when I went to the Lord in prayer, I was like, Lord, you know, you know what's

686
00:34:53,520 --> 00:34:54,520
going on.

687
00:34:54,520 --> 00:34:55,520
What do you want me to do?

688
00:34:55,520 --> 00:34:56,520
You really want me to do it?

689
00:34:56,520 --> 00:34:57,520
And I just had—

690
00:34:57,520 --> 00:34:58,520
I really don't want to do this, Lord.

691
00:34:58,520 --> 00:34:59,520
That's okay, right?

692
00:34:59,520 --> 00:35:00,520
It's okay.

693
00:35:00,520 --> 00:35:01,520
Give me permission.

694
00:35:01,520 --> 00:35:02,520
And you know how I'm feeling right now with that.

695
00:35:02,520 --> 00:35:05,520
And I just felt like the Lord say, do it.

696
00:35:05,520 --> 00:35:06,520
And that was it.

697
00:35:06,520 --> 00:35:07,520
It was two words.

698
00:35:07,520 --> 00:35:08,520
Like, do it.

699
00:35:08,520 --> 00:35:09,520
I said, okay, done.

700
00:35:09,520 --> 00:35:10,520
So then I started putting out little flyers.

701
00:35:10,520 --> 00:35:17,320
And the church at that time had like a real women's social group.

702
00:35:17,320 --> 00:35:19,160
Like they did a lot of social outings.

703
00:35:19,160 --> 00:35:22,400
So when they found out this was going to be a Bible study, the closure was different.

704
00:35:22,400 --> 00:35:25,320
They were like, well, you know, that doesn't work here like it does in America.

705
00:35:25,320 --> 00:35:28,680
And I said, well, we never know unless we try.

706
00:35:28,680 --> 00:35:30,680
So let's just put it out there and see.

707
00:35:30,680 --> 00:35:32,400
And you know, God did amazing things.

708
00:35:32,400 --> 00:35:33,960
The group just took off.

709
00:35:33,960 --> 00:35:37,000
People were starving for the word of God.

710
00:35:37,000 --> 00:35:41,640
And other people around the country started asking me like, how did you do that?

711
00:35:41,640 --> 00:35:43,440
We want to do that in our church.

712
00:35:43,440 --> 00:35:46,240
And it grew to all over Scotland.

713
00:35:46,240 --> 00:35:50,240
And until this day, it is still going our little heart to heart groups.

714
00:35:50,240 --> 00:35:51,240
Wow.

715
00:35:51,240 --> 00:35:52,240
And Scotland is still doing that.

716
00:35:52,240 --> 00:35:53,240
Wow.

717
00:35:53,240 --> 00:35:58,240
God uses you to really start a whole nationwide discipleship program for women just by saying,

718
00:35:58,240 --> 00:35:59,240
do it.

719
00:35:59,240 --> 00:36:00,240
Yeah, do it.

720
00:36:00,240 --> 00:36:01,240
That was it.

721
00:36:01,240 --> 00:36:02,240
That was the two words.

722
00:36:02,240 --> 00:36:03,240
Do it.

723
00:36:03,240 --> 00:36:04,240
Wow.

724
00:36:04,240 --> 00:36:05,240
Okay.

725
00:36:05,240 --> 00:36:10,240
And you know, in our small, still voice, you just do it.

726
00:36:10,240 --> 00:36:11,240
Yeah.

727
00:36:11,240 --> 00:36:15,320
And you know, what I've found is God usually says those do it things when it's bigger than

728
00:36:15,320 --> 00:36:18,000
we can do ourself and we have to rely on him.

729
00:36:18,000 --> 00:36:21,520
It has to be full dependence on him because if we can do it in our own strength, we're

730
00:36:21,520 --> 00:36:22,800
going to do it on our own strength.

731
00:36:22,800 --> 00:36:24,920
And then God's not going to get the glory.

732
00:36:24,920 --> 00:36:25,920
And I was tired.

733
00:36:25,920 --> 00:36:28,880
I didn't have the strength at that time, but he and it revived me.

734
00:36:28,880 --> 00:36:29,880
Yeah.

735
00:36:29,880 --> 00:36:31,200
I mean, as well.

736
00:36:31,200 --> 00:36:32,200
So you were there for what?

737
00:36:32,200 --> 00:36:33,280
Two or three years?

738
00:36:33,280 --> 00:36:34,280
Four years.

739
00:36:34,280 --> 00:36:35,280
Okay.

740
00:36:35,280 --> 00:36:40,520
And then you moved back to the States and you did a church plant.

741
00:36:40,520 --> 00:36:41,520
Yes.

742
00:36:41,520 --> 00:36:42,520
Yes.

743
00:36:42,520 --> 00:36:46,800
And we do not advise ever coming back and finishing a PhD and trying to start a church

744
00:36:46,800 --> 00:36:47,800
at the same time.

745
00:36:47,800 --> 00:36:49,920
We life lessons, you learn the hard way.

746
00:36:49,920 --> 00:36:52,320
And that was one of them for us.

747
00:36:52,320 --> 00:36:53,320
That's right.

748
00:36:53,320 --> 00:36:58,440
But we did see God do a lot of wonderful things in our church that we had in Chesapeake, great

749
00:36:58,440 --> 00:37:04,920
staff, great, you know, salvation, healings, financial miracles, unchurched people were

750
00:37:04,920 --> 00:37:08,000
coming, which we absolutely loved.

751
00:37:08,000 --> 00:37:09,160
Discipleship programs.

752
00:37:09,160 --> 00:37:10,640
We had a lot of kids at one time.

753
00:37:10,640 --> 00:37:13,440
We joked that we had as many kids as we did adults.

754
00:37:13,440 --> 00:37:17,200
And we joked that we were the Catholic church, really.

755
00:37:17,200 --> 00:37:21,040
But a big lesson came out of one Sunday service there.

756
00:37:21,040 --> 00:37:22,040
Yeah.

757
00:37:22,040 --> 00:37:26,680
And that was things just, we met at a school.

758
00:37:26,680 --> 00:37:28,280
Things just went off that day.

759
00:37:28,280 --> 00:37:32,680
I mean, like my husband didn't feel like the sermon went well.

760
00:37:32,680 --> 00:37:39,120
Our worship leader was perturbed about technical difficulties with, you know, going on with

761
00:37:39,120 --> 00:37:43,480
the equipment and felt like the worship was off.

762
00:37:43,480 --> 00:37:44,800
It was just one thing after another.

763
00:37:44,800 --> 00:37:47,120
It was just one of those days.

764
00:37:47,120 --> 00:37:49,640
We're trying to do everything right.

765
00:37:49,640 --> 00:37:54,920
You know, because it's a new church plan, you want to attract people to come.

766
00:37:54,920 --> 00:37:56,600
And everything was off this day.

767
00:37:56,600 --> 00:38:02,640
So at the end, thank God, Daniel still had the wherewithal to say, hey, do you need the

768
00:38:02,640 --> 00:38:03,640
Lord?

769
00:38:03,640 --> 00:38:07,760
He just put out the gospel and put out an altar call.

770
00:38:07,760 --> 00:38:12,800
And lo and behold, a whole group of people came up and got saved.

771
00:38:12,800 --> 00:38:13,800
Wow.

772
00:38:13,800 --> 00:38:20,360
And the big lesson, as I reflected on that later, I thought everything was so imperfect.

773
00:38:20,360 --> 00:38:21,360
Yeah.

774
00:38:21,360 --> 00:38:24,160
Like we did not do perfect.

775
00:38:24,160 --> 00:38:25,560
I still don't do perfect.

776
00:38:25,560 --> 00:38:29,360
My family, we don't do perfect in our home.

777
00:38:29,360 --> 00:38:31,200
God moves in the imperfect.

778
00:38:31,200 --> 00:38:36,680
And his lesson to me after that Sunday service when everything went wrong and he saved all

779
00:38:36,680 --> 00:38:43,800
these people was like, he doesn't need everything to go perfect to move and accomplish his purposes.

780
00:38:43,800 --> 00:38:45,880
Boy, we need to hear that today, don't we?

781
00:38:45,880 --> 00:38:46,880
Because don't do perfect.

782
00:38:46,880 --> 00:38:47,880
Yeah.

783
00:38:47,880 --> 00:38:54,080
I mean, so many, so many of us and so many people think God can only move through perfection.

784
00:38:54,080 --> 00:38:58,560
The scripture says be holy, be perfect, be holy, be perfect because I am perfect and

785
00:38:58,560 --> 00:38:59,560
I am holy.

786
00:38:59,560 --> 00:39:03,360
But that doesn't mean the same thing as we think.

787
00:39:03,360 --> 00:39:08,000
We think perfection is all of our ducks in a row and he thinks perfection is hearts after

788
00:39:08,000 --> 00:39:09,000
him.

789
00:39:09,000 --> 00:39:10,840
Yes, that's right.

790
00:39:10,840 --> 00:39:12,840
And willingness and obedience.

791
00:39:12,840 --> 00:39:14,120
And now we're all about excellence.

792
00:39:14,120 --> 00:39:17,360
My husband and I, we strive to do everything we do with excellence.

793
00:39:17,360 --> 00:39:22,960
We're faithful wherever we're working or what we're doing, all of that.

794
00:39:22,960 --> 00:39:29,360
But that whole thing of perfect, you know, it relaxed me to the point where, okay, Lord,

795
00:39:29,360 --> 00:39:31,000
what are you going to do in this situation?

796
00:39:31,000 --> 00:39:36,840
Because it's a mess and he uses our he brings messages out of our messiness.

797
00:39:36,840 --> 00:39:38,600
Yeah, he does.

798
00:39:38,600 --> 00:39:39,600
That's when we learn the most.

799
00:39:39,600 --> 00:39:40,600
Yeah.

800
00:39:40,600 --> 00:39:48,040
When we think we're doing everything right, we kind of don't really think we were there.

801
00:39:48,040 --> 00:39:53,200
So along the way, you and Daniel started talking about having a family and we start talking

802
00:39:53,200 --> 00:39:57,880
about children, but a decade or so later, it still hadn't happened.

803
00:39:57,880 --> 00:40:01,680
How did you cope with that disappointment and what were you feeling and what did you

804
00:40:01,680 --> 00:40:02,680
do?

805
00:40:02,680 --> 00:40:03,680
What was that journey like?

806
00:40:03,680 --> 00:40:04,680
Wow.

807
00:40:04,680 --> 00:40:13,120
Well, that is a loaded question because we had infertility for 17 years before God placed

808
00:40:13,120 --> 00:40:15,560
a baby in our arms.

809
00:40:15,560 --> 00:40:20,720
We started testing and doing infertility treatments when we were here at Regent.

810
00:40:20,720 --> 00:40:24,920
He was working on his Masters of Divinity because at Regent I had the insurance and

811
00:40:24,920 --> 00:40:26,680
it covered some of that.

812
00:40:26,680 --> 00:40:28,480
So we went ahead and thought, well, why not?

813
00:40:28,480 --> 00:40:30,320
It just wasn't happening.

814
00:40:30,320 --> 00:40:32,280
So we went through all the testing.

815
00:40:32,280 --> 00:40:34,160
I had several surgeries.

816
00:40:34,160 --> 00:40:38,960
I ended up having some endometriosis, which they thought was part of the problem, but

817
00:40:38,960 --> 00:40:41,560
I had surgery for that three times.

818
00:40:41,560 --> 00:40:45,920
Then you have a certain window of time after that where you should be able to conceive

819
00:40:45,920 --> 00:40:47,800
and I still wasn't.

820
00:40:47,800 --> 00:40:54,800
I also was thinking my mother took that DES drug back in the 60s and 70s.

821
00:40:54,800 --> 00:40:55,800
They were giving women.

822
00:40:55,800 --> 00:40:58,800
And of course she didn't know.

823
00:40:58,800 --> 00:41:05,200
I was the only child she took it with and she had had two children, then lost two, then

824
00:41:05,200 --> 00:41:09,840
had me, then lost three, and then had my sister.

825
00:41:09,840 --> 00:41:11,920
So my parents married very young.

826
00:41:11,920 --> 00:41:16,920
They were 18, 19, and my mother was pregnant from age 20 to 29 every year.

827
00:41:16,920 --> 00:41:17,920
Oh my gosh.

828
00:41:17,920 --> 00:41:22,560
So this was a real shock to me to be having infertility problems because I thought, knowing

829
00:41:22,560 --> 00:41:27,360
that, I thought, wow, he's going to look at me and I'm going to get pregnant.

830
00:41:27,360 --> 00:41:30,560
It was just going to be crazy simple.

831
00:41:30,560 --> 00:41:34,520
It wasn't, but I remember when I was 15, my mom sat me down and she said, I want to

832
00:41:34,520 --> 00:41:37,760
tell you that there's an article that's come out about this drug.

833
00:41:37,760 --> 00:41:40,440
I believe it was the one that I took with you.

834
00:41:40,440 --> 00:41:47,600
And I contacted the doctor's office back over in Port Charlotte in Florida.

835
00:41:47,600 --> 00:41:52,840
She said, I can't get the definite confirmation, but I'm pretty sure this was it.

836
00:41:52,840 --> 00:41:53,840
And it was that DES drug.

837
00:41:53,840 --> 00:42:00,280
And there was an article in the newspaper about women that produce female offspring.

838
00:42:00,280 --> 00:42:04,720
Those women were having problems getting pregnant and there were some other things going on.

839
00:42:04,720 --> 00:42:10,400
So she said, as soon as you turn 18, go to the gynecologist and get things checked out

840
00:42:10,400 --> 00:42:12,160
and tell them and all that.

841
00:42:12,160 --> 00:42:14,240
So all of this was going through my head.

842
00:42:14,240 --> 00:42:20,720
So maybe it was that drug, maybe it was the metriosis, what's going on here.

843
00:42:20,720 --> 00:42:25,320
About five years into the infertility, I called a friend of mine who was a pastor's wife

844
00:42:25,320 --> 00:42:26,860
down in North Carolina.

845
00:42:26,860 --> 00:42:30,180
She had had some infertility, but then ended up conceiving.

846
00:42:30,180 --> 00:42:32,540
And I called her, Daniel was actually out of the country.

847
00:42:32,540 --> 00:42:34,280
He was in South Korea.

848
00:42:34,280 --> 00:42:35,280
Okay.

849
00:42:35,280 --> 00:42:36,280
For a conference.

850
00:42:36,280 --> 00:42:37,280
I called Marilyn.

851
00:42:37,280 --> 00:42:39,160
I said, look, I come home from regent, from work.

852
00:42:39,160 --> 00:42:40,640
I closed the blinds.

853
00:42:40,640 --> 00:42:44,440
I just, I was just, I had, you know, it was that time of the month.

854
00:42:44,440 --> 00:42:45,440
It was like, oh, great.

855
00:42:45,440 --> 00:42:46,440
Okay.

856
00:42:46,440 --> 00:42:47,440
So I called Marilyn.

857
00:42:47,440 --> 00:42:48,440
It's like, how did you get through this?

858
00:42:48,440 --> 00:42:53,080
Like, I am just, you know, I'm really tired, you know, we're on year five.

859
00:42:53,080 --> 00:42:56,000
Little did I know how many points we had to go.

860
00:42:56,000 --> 00:43:00,240
So she said, she was very wise, but she said, you know what?

861
00:43:00,240 --> 00:43:01,440
I think we better hang up.

862
00:43:01,440 --> 00:43:03,800
Now I was calling to get some consolation.

863
00:43:03,800 --> 00:43:07,920
She's telling me, I think we better hang up because I want you to go and talk to the Lord.

864
00:43:07,920 --> 00:43:11,600
I want you to spend the night with the Lord and just get in his presence.

865
00:43:11,600 --> 00:43:14,960
I was like, okay, goodbye.

866
00:43:14,960 --> 00:43:17,880
You know, thanks for nothing.

867
00:43:17,880 --> 00:43:22,120
That's when really I closed the blinds and, and I just got my Bible and I just prayed

868
00:43:22,120 --> 00:43:23,120
in that night.

869
00:43:23,120 --> 00:43:24,120
I was led to take communion.

870
00:43:24,120 --> 00:43:25,120
Something happened.

871
00:43:25,120 --> 00:43:27,600
I can't even tell you the scriptures I read.

872
00:43:27,600 --> 00:43:33,080
I can't even tell you the prayers I prayed, but something happened where I felt led to

873
00:43:33,080 --> 00:43:44,640
take communion by myself in my home that I would serve the Lord with or without children.

874
00:43:44,640 --> 00:43:51,240
That he brought me to that place that will you serve me with or without children, whether

875
00:43:51,240 --> 00:43:55,360
I give you what you're asking for or not, will you serve me?

876
00:43:55,360 --> 00:44:00,400
And of course I said yes and took communion.

877
00:44:00,400 --> 00:44:04,720
And I pretty much was like, you know, Lord, it's all up to you now.

878
00:44:04,720 --> 00:44:10,600
Now my plan, you know how you have our own plans sometimes in our head.

879
00:44:10,600 --> 00:44:11,600
Sure.

880
00:44:11,600 --> 00:44:14,040
So my plan was I was one of four children.

881
00:44:14,040 --> 00:44:15,040
Daniel's one of four children.

882
00:44:15,040 --> 00:44:17,000
I thought, Hey, four children are great.

883
00:44:17,000 --> 00:44:18,400
We had a lot of fun.

884
00:44:18,400 --> 00:44:23,400
I would like four children, Lord, and I would like three biological and I would like one

885
00:44:23,400 --> 00:44:27,560
adopted and I, we had been to South Korea.

886
00:44:27,560 --> 00:44:29,720
We've been to Asia back in 1988.

887
00:44:29,720 --> 00:44:32,800
My mom had airline tickets that she gave us to go anywhere in the world.

888
00:44:32,800 --> 00:44:42,280
And so we went to Asia and we visited missionaries in South Korea and China, Hong Kong and Japan.

889
00:44:42,280 --> 00:44:49,360
And so on the way back from that trip, I remember saying to Daniel, you know what?

890
00:44:49,360 --> 00:44:51,240
God's really touched my heart.

891
00:44:51,240 --> 00:44:56,160
If he ever calls us to adopt this was back in 88, we'd only been married three years.

892
00:44:56,160 --> 00:44:57,160
Okay.

893
00:44:57,160 --> 00:44:58,880
Long before you even started trying.

894
00:44:58,880 --> 00:44:59,880
Yes.

895
00:44:59,880 --> 00:45:06,400
So I said, if he ever called us to adopt, I would like to adopt from South Korea.

896
00:45:06,400 --> 00:45:08,800
And he was like, yeah.

897
00:45:08,800 --> 00:45:09,800
And that was it.

898
00:45:09,800 --> 00:45:10,800
Tucked away.

899
00:45:10,800 --> 00:45:11,880
Never thought anything about it.

900
00:45:11,880 --> 00:45:13,960
Just went on our, our journey.

901
00:45:13,960 --> 00:45:18,960
But that was my plan that I had told the Lord about.

902
00:45:18,960 --> 00:45:19,960
I didn't ask him.

903
00:45:19,960 --> 00:45:23,880
I just said that would be my plan if I could make it.

904
00:45:23,880 --> 00:45:24,880
Yes.

905
00:45:24,880 --> 00:45:31,680
But as we know, the biological ones never came to pass.

906
00:45:31,680 --> 00:45:37,180
I'm sure you've heard James 1 27 before it says pure and genuine religion in the side

907
00:45:37,180 --> 00:45:38,180
of God.

908
00:45:38,180 --> 00:45:42,280
The father means caring for orphans and widows and their distress and refusing to let the

909
00:45:42,280 --> 00:45:44,120
world corrupt you.

910
00:45:44,120 --> 00:45:48,920
You only have to glance at global news to see the level of distress brought on by wars,

911
00:45:48,920 --> 00:45:53,240
disasters, persecution and trafficking are horrendous.

912
00:45:53,240 --> 00:45:58,660
That is why somebody cares created the widows and orphan fund as a company of women.

913
00:45:58,660 --> 00:46:03,560
We can do so much together to take care of the special needs and cultivate the special

914
00:46:03,560 --> 00:46:04,760
gifts of children.

915
00:46:04,760 --> 00:46:10,240
He has put in the care of our ministry partners around the world, as well as widows who serve

916
00:46:10,240 --> 00:46:14,320
the Lord faithfully in ministry and are now in need.

917
00:46:14,320 --> 00:46:20,200
Pray about joining our number with a gift at her God story.org and click on help now.

918
00:46:20,200 --> 00:46:28,840
If you have cryptocurrency, we even accept that and thank you for caring.

919
00:46:28,840 --> 00:46:35,040
So 17 years later, I mean, you kind of had resolved that pregnancy was not going to happen

920
00:46:35,040 --> 00:46:43,360
and maybe even resolved that you were going to be without children until a big until until

921
00:46:43,360 --> 00:46:51,120
we were at our denominational conference in Denver, and this is 2001 and I got on the

922
00:46:51,120 --> 00:46:52,120
plane was a busy week.

923
00:46:52,120 --> 00:46:54,120
So I was kind of behind on my devotions and all that.

924
00:46:54,120 --> 00:46:55,120
And I got on the plane.

925
00:46:55,120 --> 00:46:56,120
I was going to Florida.

926
00:46:56,120 --> 00:46:57,760
I was going to visit my mom.

927
00:46:57,760 --> 00:47:00,800
I would go down there every summer and stay with her a week or two.

928
00:47:00,800 --> 00:47:02,000
So I was on the plane.

929
00:47:02,000 --> 00:47:08,260
I was getting caught up my devotions and the devotion was on Elisha and the Shunammite

930
00:47:08,260 --> 00:47:13,720
woman and Elisha would travel and minister, you know, God used him to do miracles.

931
00:47:13,720 --> 00:47:20,080
So I'm reading the story and this Shunammite woman, she was a woman of means.

932
00:47:20,080 --> 00:47:25,200
So she and her husband had money and every time Elisha was coming through, they would

933
00:47:25,200 --> 00:47:27,480
offer him food and help.

934
00:47:27,480 --> 00:47:31,360
And so she finally said to her husband, you know, we should make and build an upper room

935
00:47:31,360 --> 00:47:36,200
for him because he comes through a lot and let's just make a room and he can rest here

936
00:47:36,200 --> 00:47:39,880
and, you know, it'd be a place for him.

937
00:47:39,880 --> 00:47:47,680
And so he was so blessed by that, that he wanted to do something for her.

938
00:47:47,680 --> 00:47:51,760
So he said to his servant, go ask the Shunammite woman.

939
00:47:51,760 --> 00:47:56,400
He says, ask her what she wants or what she needs.

940
00:47:56,400 --> 00:48:00,920
And then I'll just read the scripture said, then he said to his servant, call the Shunammite

941
00:48:00,920 --> 00:48:05,160
woman when he had called her, she stood before him.

942
00:48:05,160 --> 00:48:07,000
Well, let me back up.

943
00:48:07,000 --> 00:48:10,240
Actually he, the servant told her, you know, she doesn't have children.

944
00:48:10,240 --> 00:48:12,280
She doesn't have a son.

945
00:48:12,280 --> 00:48:15,720
And so, so he calls for the woman.

946
00:48:15,720 --> 00:48:21,440
And so she's at the door and he said to her, now look, you have been concerned with us

947
00:48:21,440 --> 00:48:24,840
in providing all this care for us as I'm traveling.

948
00:48:24,840 --> 00:48:26,000
What can I do for you?

949
00:48:26,000 --> 00:48:29,600
Do you want me to speak on your behalf to the king or commander of the army?

950
00:48:29,600 --> 00:48:31,920
And she answered, I dwell among my own people.

951
00:48:31,920 --> 00:48:35,560
So he said, what then is to be done for her?

952
00:48:35,560 --> 00:48:40,680
And the servant answered, actually she has no son and her husband's old.

953
00:48:40,680 --> 00:48:44,720
So basically it's kind of like, she's not gonna have one.

954
00:48:44,720 --> 00:48:49,640
So then he said, call her when he had called her, she stood in the doorway.

955
00:48:49,640 --> 00:48:54,960
Then he said about this time next year, you shall embrace a son.

956
00:48:54,960 --> 00:48:58,120
And she said, and this is key because this is what hit me.

957
00:48:58,120 --> 00:49:03,560
Two things hit me, the timing and they know my Lord, man of God, do not lie to your maids.

958
00:49:03,560 --> 00:49:04,560
Okay.

959
00:49:04,560 --> 00:49:06,880
So basically, and I was, I was so into the story.

960
00:49:06,880 --> 00:49:10,640
I'm like, oh yeah, don't you dare say something like that.

961
00:49:10,640 --> 00:49:14,800
When you got a woman that's been through infertility that long, you better watch your words.

962
00:49:14,800 --> 00:49:20,720
Don't say, says the Lord, unless you know for sure, because that's too close.

963
00:49:20,720 --> 00:49:22,920
It's too sensitive.

964
00:49:22,920 --> 00:49:27,520
And so I was like, like really into this story, but the Lord ground my attention and took

965
00:49:27,520 --> 00:49:32,920
me back up to the verse before when it said about this time next year, you shall embrace

966
00:49:32,920 --> 00:49:33,920
a son.

967
00:49:33,920 --> 00:49:37,520
And it hit me within a year, you will have a child.

968
00:49:37,520 --> 00:49:39,920
And I thought, wow.

969
00:49:39,920 --> 00:49:42,680
So then what do we do when we get a word from the Lord sometimes?

970
00:49:42,680 --> 00:49:46,440
Oh, well then it must gonna happen this way.

971
00:49:46,440 --> 00:49:47,440
So I started counting the months.

972
00:49:47,440 --> 00:49:48,440
Okay.

973
00:49:48,440 --> 00:49:51,280
If it's going to be 12 months, that means I've got three months to get pregnant.

974
00:49:51,280 --> 00:49:52,280
Yeah.

975
00:49:52,280 --> 00:49:53,280
Nope.

976
00:49:53,280 --> 00:49:54,280
Didn't happen.

977
00:49:54,280 --> 00:49:55,280
Month one, two, three, didn't happen.

978
00:49:55,280 --> 00:50:01,560
But I was called on a mission trip to speak to women in Gran Ceres, Argentina.

979
00:50:01,560 --> 00:50:05,880
And when we were down there a few months later, cause I thought, well, I guess I missed God.

980
00:50:05,880 --> 00:50:06,880
I just missed God.

981
00:50:06,880 --> 00:50:07,880
Yeah.

982
00:50:07,880 --> 00:50:08,880
And it's okay.

983
00:50:08,880 --> 00:50:12,080
Go on with life and just keep serving them.

984
00:50:12,080 --> 00:50:16,600
So I was down there speaking and there was one woman, poor woman, and she had a baby

985
00:50:16,600 --> 00:50:19,960
in her arms and she kept following us around the team.

986
00:50:19,960 --> 00:50:22,240
And she would say, this is my third baby.

987
00:50:22,240 --> 00:50:24,680
I can't afford to feed him.

988
00:50:24,680 --> 00:50:30,320
I want an American mommy for my son so that he will have a better life.

989
00:50:30,320 --> 00:50:33,240
He will have a better life with an American mommy.

990
00:50:33,240 --> 00:50:37,800
Our hearts were all breaking and in particular, like she was following me.

991
00:50:37,800 --> 00:50:42,000
So I was like, this was two weeks after 9-11 had happened.

992
00:50:42,000 --> 00:50:44,200
So security and everything's very heightened.

993
00:50:44,200 --> 00:50:47,880
And I was thinking, what would Daniel think if I came home with a baby?

994
00:50:47,880 --> 00:50:49,880
Then we didn't have phones and texting.

995
00:50:49,880 --> 00:50:50,880
Hey.

996
00:50:50,880 --> 00:50:51,880
Right.

997
00:50:51,880 --> 00:50:52,880
Right.

998
00:50:52,880 --> 00:50:58,920
And my heart opened to the whole, I realized I could love this child as my own.

999
00:50:58,920 --> 00:50:59,920
Yeah.

1000
00:50:59,920 --> 00:51:01,920
And my heart began to open.

1001
00:51:01,920 --> 00:51:07,160
Meanwhile, Daniel was back here and the Lord was showing him the same thing.

1002
00:51:07,160 --> 00:51:10,800
So when I got off the plane, he's like, Lord, how do I tell Mary Beth?

1003
00:51:10,800 --> 00:51:11,800
How do I tell her?

1004
00:51:11,800 --> 00:51:12,800
How do I tell her?

1005
00:51:12,800 --> 00:51:16,400
And then I said, well, let me tell you what happened when I was down there and I told

1006
00:51:16,400 --> 00:51:17,400
him this story.

1007
00:51:17,400 --> 00:51:20,400
I said, I wonder if the Lord is leading us now to adopt.

1008
00:51:20,400 --> 00:51:22,400
And he was like, ah, and he told me what happened to him.

1009
00:51:22,400 --> 00:51:23,720
God had showed him.

1010
00:51:23,720 --> 00:51:25,200
So you're on the same page with adoption.

1011
00:51:25,200 --> 00:51:27,240
I mean, you thought it was never going to happen.

1012
00:51:27,240 --> 00:51:30,040
And now the Lord was leading you into adoption.

1013
00:51:30,040 --> 00:51:33,400
And I mean, that can also take years.

1014
00:51:33,400 --> 00:51:36,400
Adoption can be a very long process.

1015
00:51:36,400 --> 00:51:38,400
But that wasn't your story.

1016
00:51:38,400 --> 00:51:42,480
I mean, when God turned you on to adoption, it happened quickly, which you knew had to

1017
00:51:42,480 --> 00:51:43,480
be God.

1018
00:51:43,480 --> 00:51:44,480
It was.

1019
00:51:44,480 --> 00:51:49,640
And, you know, again, I, you know, I've shared that I've wrestled with fear during the year.

1020
00:51:49,640 --> 00:51:53,720
So even after I believe God was leading us in that direction, I remember I had one conversation

1021
00:51:53,720 --> 00:52:00,680
with my mom and I said, if we adopt, you know, what if she hates me when she's a teenager

1022
00:52:00,680 --> 00:52:01,680
or something?

1023
00:52:01,680 --> 00:52:06,400
And my mom said, well, one of your sisters, you know, hated me for a little while as a

1024
00:52:06,400 --> 00:52:07,400
teenager.

1025
00:52:07,400 --> 00:52:10,360
And I said, oh, I said, well, what if she rebels?

1026
00:52:10,360 --> 00:52:14,680
And she said, well, one of my kids did, you know, a couple of my kids did a little bit

1027
00:52:14,680 --> 00:52:15,680
of that, too.

1028
00:52:15,680 --> 00:52:16,680
It's like, oh, OK.

1029
00:52:16,680 --> 00:52:21,560
And I said, well, what if she's just mad at me because I took her out of her country

1030
00:52:21,560 --> 00:52:23,760
thinking my mom can't answer that one.

1031
00:52:23,760 --> 00:52:24,760
Yeah.

1032
00:52:24,760 --> 00:52:28,840
And she said, well, they were mad at me, too, for a little while over some other things.

1033
00:52:28,840 --> 00:52:31,880
So it doesn't matter if it's biological or adopted.

1034
00:52:31,880 --> 00:52:35,320
Your kids can rebel, hate you, be mad at you, love you.

1035
00:52:35,320 --> 00:52:37,080
All in one package.

1036
00:52:37,080 --> 00:52:40,800
And so that kind of all right, that took care of that.

1037
00:52:40,800 --> 00:52:44,640
But I really, really began to seek the Lord.

1038
00:52:44,640 --> 00:52:48,320
And again, I prayed fervently on this one.

1039
00:52:48,320 --> 00:52:52,000
It wasn't a OK, God, just, you know, toss up a prayer and go on.

1040
00:52:52,000 --> 00:52:53,000
I was on my face.

1041
00:52:53,000 --> 00:52:54,000
Yeah.

1042
00:52:54,000 --> 00:52:55,000
This was like serious.

1043
00:52:55,000 --> 00:52:58,400
It's like, OK, first, accepting the Lord.

1044
00:52:58,400 --> 00:52:59,920
The next was the marriage.

1045
00:52:59,920 --> 00:53:03,720
Now the next thing was adopting a child.

1046
00:53:03,720 --> 00:53:07,280
I want it to be a good fit of the Lord.

1047
00:53:07,280 --> 00:53:12,360
And so I knew that my heart was so open for that.

1048
00:53:12,360 --> 00:53:15,880
But I prayed and prayed and prayed fervently.

1049
00:53:15,880 --> 00:53:20,880
I was working at CBN part time at that time because we had our church in Chesapeake.

1050
00:53:20,880 --> 00:53:28,800
You know, when I was asking God to reveal his will to me in this area, I try or any

1051
00:53:28,800 --> 00:53:33,400
area, I try not to limit how he's going to tell me.

1052
00:53:33,400 --> 00:53:40,280
Like it has to be in the word or it has to be through a person or it has to be in a dream.

1053
00:53:40,280 --> 00:53:46,360
I never wanted to give God the parameters of how he was to reveal to me his will.

1054
00:53:46,360 --> 00:53:47,760
So I left it.

1055
00:53:47,760 --> 00:53:53,200
I was praying literally on my face, prostrate before him every morning for like two weeks.

1056
00:53:53,200 --> 00:53:58,560
And I was at work one day and I had signed up for the emails of the day and scriptures

1057
00:53:58,560 --> 00:54:01,400
of the day and up popped this scripture.

1058
00:54:01,400 --> 00:54:03,600
This is the first thing I looked at when I went into work.

1059
00:54:03,600 --> 00:54:05,800
I looked to see what the scripture of the day was.

1060
00:54:05,800 --> 00:54:11,560
And the scripture was from Isaiah 58, starting with verse seven, it said, I want you to share

1061
00:54:11,560 --> 00:54:14,240
your food with the hungry.

1062
00:54:14,240 --> 00:54:16,880
Give clothes to those who need them.

1063
00:54:16,880 --> 00:54:21,440
If you do these things and there's more to it, your salvation will come like the dawn.

1064
00:54:21,440 --> 00:54:23,040
Yes, your healing will come quickly.

1065
00:54:23,040 --> 00:54:28,760
Your godliness will lead you forward and the glory of the Lord will protect you from behind.

1066
00:54:28,760 --> 00:54:31,800
But that first verse seven is what really got my attention.

1067
00:54:31,800 --> 00:54:36,040
I want you to share your food and to provide clothing.

1068
00:54:36,040 --> 00:54:38,920
And I thought, oh my gosh, that must be so.

1069
00:54:38,920 --> 00:54:42,320
I thought I'm going to have to read it in my version because I didn't know what version

1070
00:54:42,320 --> 00:54:43,320
that was.

1071
00:54:43,320 --> 00:54:48,360
I thought, okay, all right, I'll get my version and see what it really says.

1072
00:54:48,360 --> 00:54:53,840
So and then I looked in my version and it says that I read out of every day and it said,

1073
00:54:53,840 --> 00:55:00,680
is it not to share your bread with the hungry in that you bring to your house the poor who

1074
00:55:00,680 --> 00:55:08,480
are cast out when you see the naked that you cover him and not hide yourself from your

1075
00:55:08,480 --> 00:55:10,120
own flesh?

1076
00:55:10,120 --> 00:55:14,160
As you are aware, there are times a Bible verse will jump off the page and into your

1077
00:55:14,160 --> 00:55:19,000
heart by the Holy Spirit during a particular moment or situation you're going through in

1078
00:55:19,000 --> 00:55:20,000
your life.

1079
00:55:20,000 --> 00:55:24,960
And as you may know, that is referred to as a Rhema word versus teaching that particular

1080
00:55:24,960 --> 00:55:28,040
Bible verse in its historical context.

1081
00:55:28,040 --> 00:55:32,840
So what I'm sharing through my testimony are scriptures that the Holy Spirit spoke to me

1082
00:55:32,840 --> 00:55:36,880
during these particular situations that I have faced in my life.

1083
00:55:36,880 --> 00:55:39,540
So hide yourself from your own flesh.

1084
00:55:39,540 --> 00:55:41,440
So this is what's interesting.

1085
00:55:41,440 --> 00:55:46,240
When you adopt a child, after a while, you don't even think they're adopted.

1086
00:55:46,240 --> 00:55:48,240
It's like they're just so you.

1087
00:55:48,240 --> 00:55:49,640
It's like they're your own flesh.

1088
00:55:49,640 --> 00:55:51,120
There's just really no difference.

1089
00:55:51,120 --> 00:55:52,120
You're left for them.

1090
00:55:52,120 --> 00:55:53,120
You're raised for them.

1091
00:55:53,120 --> 00:55:54,120
All of that.

1092
00:55:54,120 --> 00:55:55,120
Yeah.

1093
00:55:55,120 --> 00:55:59,720
So it was like my own flesh, these key words like jumped out to me.

1094
00:55:59,720 --> 00:56:04,680
So I immediately was like, oh, wow, I must call Danny and tell him.

1095
00:56:04,680 --> 00:56:09,520
Well, the Lord said, no, do not tell him now.

1096
00:56:09,520 --> 00:56:10,960
I was like, well, okay.

1097
00:56:10,960 --> 00:56:14,160
So I minimized it and then I would maximize it and read the scripture again.

1098
00:56:14,160 --> 00:56:15,160
And I'd minimize it.

1099
00:56:15,160 --> 00:56:16,640
And throughout the morning, I kept doing that.

1100
00:56:16,640 --> 00:56:18,360
So I thought, okay, it's noon now.

1101
00:56:18,360 --> 00:56:19,760
So maybe I can call.

1102
00:56:19,760 --> 00:56:24,320
I called and his admin assistant was like, I don't know where he is.

1103
00:56:24,320 --> 00:56:25,320
I can't find him.

1104
00:56:25,320 --> 00:56:26,320
You know, usually he tells me he leaves or whatever.

1105
00:56:26,320 --> 00:56:27,320
Anyway, he was nowhere to be found.

1106
00:56:27,320 --> 00:56:31,520
So I thought, okay, the Lord's telling me no still.

1107
00:56:31,520 --> 00:56:36,200
So I waited later on that night when I got home, I did share with him.

1108
00:56:36,200 --> 00:56:40,800
But back and up when the Lord gave me that first, you know, back in 2001, that message

1109
00:56:40,800 --> 00:56:46,160
out of Second Kings about Elisha and the Shunammite woman, I hid that in my heart for a week.

1110
00:56:46,160 --> 00:56:47,160
I didn't even tell Daniel.

1111
00:56:47,160 --> 00:56:48,160
Yeah.

1112
00:56:48,160 --> 00:56:50,200
I kept it in my heart for a whole week and I was down with my mom.

1113
00:56:50,200 --> 00:56:52,480
I just prayed about it and prayed about it and prayed about it.

1114
00:56:52,480 --> 00:56:53,480
And the same thing with this.

1115
00:56:53,480 --> 00:56:56,800
I felt like the Lord was saying, there's some time where I need, when I give you a word,

1116
00:56:56,800 --> 00:57:00,680
Mary Beth, I need to incubate it in you for a while.

1117
00:57:00,680 --> 00:57:04,400
And I don't need you to run out and tell anyone for a while.

1118
00:57:04,400 --> 00:57:08,000
I need you to sit on it and to absorb it.

1119
00:57:08,000 --> 00:57:09,000
And so that's what I did.

1120
00:57:09,000 --> 00:57:12,000
And fortunately I was released to tell him that night.

1121
00:57:12,000 --> 00:57:14,000
Because you were bursting.

1122
00:57:14,000 --> 00:57:16,640
Like a long day.

1123
00:57:16,640 --> 00:57:22,720
But the other thing about this though, was we at the right time, we began to share with

1124
00:57:22,720 --> 00:57:27,000
other people, closest friends and family, godly people.

1125
00:57:27,000 --> 00:57:28,000
Everybody was on board.

1126
00:57:28,000 --> 00:57:29,000
Yeah.

1127
00:57:29,000 --> 00:57:30,000
Everybody.

1128
00:57:30,000 --> 00:57:33,000
Except this one couple and they were like our spiritual parents.

1129
00:57:33,000 --> 00:57:35,200
And it's not that they weren't on board with adoption.

1130
00:57:35,200 --> 00:57:36,200
They love adoption.

1131
00:57:36,200 --> 00:57:37,200
Yeah.

1132
00:57:37,200 --> 00:57:40,640
But they were just concerned that we were adopting internationally.

1133
00:57:40,640 --> 00:57:43,200
And would that be best for the child?

1134
00:57:43,200 --> 00:57:49,160
So I went back to the Lord because I'm like, okay, it's a go every way around except them.

1135
00:57:49,160 --> 00:57:51,000
And I highly respect their opinion.

1136
00:57:51,000 --> 00:57:52,000
Okay.

1137
00:57:52,000 --> 00:57:53,000
So I come back to you.

1138
00:57:53,000 --> 00:57:54,480
You have to show me again.

1139
00:57:54,480 --> 00:57:55,480
Yeah.

1140
00:57:55,480 --> 00:57:57,000
I just have to, I just have to know.

1141
00:57:57,000 --> 00:57:58,760
I remember I'm the confirmation child.

1142
00:57:58,760 --> 00:58:01,760
So I need another confirmation.

1143
00:58:01,760 --> 00:58:05,040
And again, it was probably about two weeks later.

1144
00:58:05,040 --> 00:58:08,840
And again, I was at work in the scripture of the day was this.

1145
00:58:08,840 --> 00:58:10,480
Adam Micah 6, 8.

1146
00:58:10,480 --> 00:58:17,280
No, O people, the Lord has already told you what is good.

1147
00:58:17,280 --> 00:58:23,360
And this is what he requires to do what is right to love mercy and to walk humbly with

1148
00:58:23,360 --> 00:58:24,440
your God.

1149
00:58:24,440 --> 00:58:31,240
But what jumped out to me was I have the Lord has already told you what, and this is what

1150
00:58:31,240 --> 00:58:32,240
he requires.

1151
00:58:32,240 --> 00:58:35,200
And then from then on, I was like, wow, it's a go.

1152
00:58:35,200 --> 00:58:36,200
Yeah.

1153
00:58:36,200 --> 00:58:37,200
It's just a go.

1154
00:58:37,200 --> 00:58:38,480
And so the journey began.

1155
00:58:38,480 --> 00:58:40,360
It only took nine months.

1156
00:58:40,360 --> 00:58:41,360
Wow.

1157
00:58:41,360 --> 00:58:42,360
Start.

1158
00:58:42,360 --> 00:58:44,240
That's very quick for an international adoption, especially.

1159
00:58:44,240 --> 00:58:45,240
Yes.

1160
00:58:45,240 --> 00:58:48,960
And so they've taken about 18 months about that time.

1161
00:58:48,960 --> 00:58:54,120
Even some could be about a year, but that time 18 months.

1162
00:58:54,120 --> 00:59:01,000
But they thought South Korea was very good in giving the papers to us and as much information

1163
00:59:01,000 --> 00:59:02,000
as they could.

1164
00:59:02,000 --> 00:59:06,520
And so they thought there was a problem with her feet and they sent pictures.

1165
00:59:06,520 --> 00:59:13,880
I took it to pediatricians here and orthopedic pediatrician and they said, no, we don't think

1166
00:59:13,880 --> 00:59:15,200
we think she'll be okay.

1167
00:59:15,200 --> 00:59:19,080
It doesn't look like there's really going to be a problem.

1168
00:59:19,080 --> 00:59:23,680
But I said, well, would you mind writing a letter so we can get her home early to get

1169
00:59:23,680 --> 00:59:24,680
it checked out?

1170
00:59:24,680 --> 00:59:25,680
And they said, yes.

1171
00:59:25,680 --> 00:59:28,120
And so she got moved to the top of the list.

1172
00:59:28,120 --> 00:59:34,180
So you were able to go get her and bring her home almost a full year.

1173
00:59:34,180 --> 00:59:39,120
So the timing of this, when we got her home, it was some months later, I was looking back

1174
00:59:39,120 --> 00:59:43,520
at her adoption papers and it had the number of weeks.

1175
00:59:43,520 --> 00:59:44,520
This is important.

1176
00:59:44,520 --> 00:59:50,320
Had the number of weeks that her birth mother carried her to term.

1177
00:59:50,320 --> 00:59:57,980
I happen to just count back and do you not know that that the week she was conceived

1178
00:59:57,980 --> 01:00:02,000
was the week I got that word out of second Kings.

1179
01:00:02,000 --> 01:00:03,000
Wow.

1180
01:00:03,000 --> 01:00:04,760
That was within a year.

1181
01:00:04,760 --> 01:00:06,440
You'll have a child in your home.

1182
01:00:06,440 --> 01:00:09,760
She was conceived the week the Lord gave me that scripture.

1183
01:00:09,760 --> 01:00:10,760
Wow.

1184
01:00:10,760 --> 01:00:12,880
Just blew me away.

1185
01:00:12,880 --> 01:00:20,240
We had already preordained that Maria was yours.

1186
01:00:20,240 --> 01:00:23,560
We ended up getting that beautiful little girl home.

1187
01:00:23,560 --> 01:00:27,800
She was four months old and we got her home and we went over there.

1188
01:00:27,800 --> 01:00:31,960
They would escort the children over, but we wanted to go because I wanted to get other

1189
01:00:31,960 --> 01:00:33,480
pieces of the chapter for her.

1190
01:00:33,480 --> 01:00:40,520
I wanted to hopefully be able to go and see where she lived and that kind of thing, which

1191
01:00:40,520 --> 01:00:41,520
we did.

1192
01:00:41,520 --> 01:00:42,520
Yeah.

1193
01:00:42,520 --> 01:00:52,400
I think also you mentioned that you met the foster mom and you asked her what songs she

1194
01:00:52,400 --> 01:00:56,160
would sing so you could help Maria feel comfortable.

1195
01:00:56,160 --> 01:00:58,840
What did she tell you?

1196
01:00:58,840 --> 01:01:00,360
That was so special.

1197
01:01:00,360 --> 01:01:06,080
We wanted to make the transition for Maria back here as smooth as possible so we got

1198
01:01:06,080 --> 01:01:08,920
the same formula to use for a little while.

1199
01:01:08,920 --> 01:01:16,600
We asked the foster mom, what did you play any lullabies or what music at nighttime before

1200
01:01:16,600 --> 01:01:20,560
bed would you use so we could maybe try and find that and play it.

1201
01:01:20,560 --> 01:01:26,000
It would be something familiar to her as she's adjusting to our culture.

1202
01:01:26,000 --> 01:01:30,520
She just said, oh, through the interpreter, she said, oh, I'm so sorry.

1203
01:01:30,520 --> 01:01:34,680
All I did was read Bible to her every night.

1204
01:01:34,680 --> 01:01:41,360
We were like, no apologies needed, that's perfect.

1205
01:01:41,360 --> 01:01:50,960
She already had the word of God spoken to her, read to her as an infant.

1206
01:01:50,960 --> 01:01:55,400
Yeah, God was preparing her in advance to be a theologian's daughter.

1207
01:01:55,400 --> 01:02:04,640
We're going to talk more about Maria's story and Mary Beth's story, but we're going to

1208
01:02:04,640 --> 01:02:08,560
wrap this particular episode up here in a minute.

1209
01:02:08,560 --> 01:02:12,040
What are some of the non-negotiables in your life, things that kept you grounded in your

1210
01:02:12,040 --> 01:02:18,520
faith through some of the hurt and disappointment and moves that you've done?

1211
01:02:18,520 --> 01:02:23,520
What are a couple of those things that women today can apply right now, wherever they are,

1212
01:02:23,520 --> 01:02:25,720
whatever situation or circumstance they're in?

1213
01:02:25,720 --> 01:02:28,880
Yes, that's a very good one.

1214
01:02:28,880 --> 01:02:35,840
I had to resolve early on that God was God and I'm not, and that he works in providential

1215
01:02:35,840 --> 01:02:40,280
ways that he may make me privy to and he may not.

1216
01:02:40,280 --> 01:02:45,320
He may tell me things on this side of heaven and he may not.

1217
01:02:45,320 --> 01:02:50,840
It all boils down to that one big word, trust.

1218
01:02:50,840 --> 01:02:53,200
That has really been my whole life.

1219
01:02:53,200 --> 01:02:56,440
I have just had to trust him.

1220
01:02:56,440 --> 01:03:04,680
That word is so overused, but you really experience it when you're in situations, like with some

1221
01:03:04,680 --> 01:03:07,240
things you've been through and what I've been through.

1222
01:03:07,240 --> 01:03:12,800
It's that level of trust that takes you from, okay, I'm not going to worry.

1223
01:03:12,800 --> 01:03:13,800
I'm not going to fret.

1224
01:03:13,800 --> 01:03:14,800
I'm not going to rebel.

1225
01:03:14,800 --> 01:03:15,800
I'm not going to go my own way.

1226
01:03:15,800 --> 01:03:16,800
I'm not going to curse God.

1227
01:03:16,800 --> 01:03:23,000
I'm not going to do any of those things because sovereignly he is working and we'll learn

1228
01:03:23,000 --> 01:03:25,400
more about that later as we talk.

1229
01:03:25,400 --> 01:03:30,960
One thing that kept, a word that came to me early on in the whole infertility thing, I

1230
01:03:30,960 --> 01:03:31,960
was doing a Bible study.

1231
01:03:31,960 --> 01:03:34,880
It was one of Kay author's Bible studies.

1232
01:03:34,880 --> 01:03:41,240
In there we read some scriptures in Genesis and I learned through that book that God opens

1233
01:03:41,240 --> 01:03:45,080
the womb and God closes the womb.

1234
01:03:45,080 --> 01:03:48,400
That was very freeing for me because then I realized it wasn't me.

1235
01:03:48,400 --> 01:03:49,840
I wasn't doing things wrong.

1236
01:03:49,840 --> 01:03:52,600
It wasn't that I didn't have enough faith.

1237
01:03:52,600 --> 01:03:54,440
It wasn't anything on me.

1238
01:03:54,440 --> 01:03:59,440
This was God's doing for his purposes.

1239
01:03:59,440 --> 01:04:04,740
You were mature enough to not take offense at that and to not think God was punishing

1240
01:04:04,740 --> 01:04:11,760
you by closing your womb because I think a lot of women can feel like it's a punishment.

1241
01:04:11,760 --> 01:04:15,760
Yes, especially when you read other scriptures and it's like be fruitful and multiply and

1242
01:04:15,760 --> 01:04:18,200
you think, okay, I'm trying, I'm trying and it's not happening.

1243
01:04:18,200 --> 01:04:25,160
I realized that my biggest, one of my biggest disappointments became one of God's biggest

1244
01:04:25,160 --> 01:04:26,160
divine appointments.

1245
01:04:26,160 --> 01:04:27,160
That's amazing.

1246
01:04:27,160 --> 01:04:29,000
In bringing Maria to us.

1247
01:04:29,000 --> 01:04:32,640
As we wrap up this particular episode, Mary Beth, is there a woman in the Bible whose

1248
01:04:32,640 --> 01:04:38,040
story inspired, encouraged or taught you something during those years of waiting and how does

1249
01:04:38,040 --> 01:04:40,160
her story relate to yours?

1250
01:04:40,160 --> 01:04:43,360
I particularly love the book of Ruth.

1251
01:04:43,360 --> 01:04:45,100
I love Ruth.

1252
01:04:45,100 --> 01:04:47,560
She was bold.

1253
01:04:47,560 --> 01:04:49,680
She was loyal.

1254
01:04:49,680 --> 01:04:56,920
I mean, unimaginably loyal given her circumstances and I could relate to her because she had

1255
01:04:56,920 --> 01:04:58,200
lost her husband.

1256
01:04:58,200 --> 01:05:00,720
She dealt with a great loss.

1257
01:05:00,720 --> 01:05:02,720
Talk about a great disappointment.

1258
01:05:02,720 --> 01:05:13,440
Her story, how God ended up using her to show us that he is involved in every single day

1259
01:05:13,440 --> 01:05:14,440
circumstances.

1260
01:05:14,440 --> 01:05:20,280
Naomi and her husband, her mother-in-law Naomi and her husband had left Israel because it

1261
01:05:20,280 --> 01:05:21,280
was in famine.

1262
01:05:21,280 --> 01:05:22,280
Yeah.

1263
01:05:22,280 --> 01:05:27,720
When they left and they went to Moab, then their two sons of course married Moab women

1264
01:05:27,720 --> 01:05:28,720
and the sons.

1265
01:05:28,720 --> 01:05:31,720
Naomi's husband died.

1266
01:05:31,720 --> 01:05:34,640
Then the two sons died.

1267
01:05:34,640 --> 01:05:40,640
Naomi was left with her two daughters-in-law, Ruth and Oprah.

1268
01:05:40,640 --> 01:05:45,360
She said to them, just you stay, I'm going to go back to my land.

1269
01:05:45,360 --> 01:05:51,160
You go back to your families and basically have a happy life as much as you can.

1270
01:05:51,160 --> 01:05:52,160
I can't provide for you.

1271
01:05:52,160 --> 01:05:53,160
Right.

1272
01:05:53,160 --> 01:05:54,160
I have nothing to offer.

1273
01:05:54,160 --> 01:05:58,960
The one daughter-in-law did, but Ruth just said no.

1274
01:05:58,960 --> 01:06:07,200
Something must have risen up in Ruth where she was compelled to be that support and to

1275
01:06:07,200 --> 01:06:09,240
be loyal to Naomi.

1276
01:06:09,240 --> 01:06:12,120
She refused to stay, so she left her own country.

1277
01:06:12,120 --> 01:06:15,380
She left her own familiar surroundings.

1278
01:06:15,380 --> 01:06:21,200
She left her own way of life to follow this woman, go into a land where foreign women

1279
01:06:21,200 --> 01:06:24,240
single were not very well accepted.

1280
01:06:24,240 --> 01:06:28,280
They get over there and of course Naomi and Ruth have this wonderful relationship.

1281
01:06:28,280 --> 01:06:29,280
They have no money.

1282
01:06:29,280 --> 01:06:30,280
They have nothing.

1283
01:06:30,280 --> 01:06:36,240
Then they try to work out, how can you go find food for us?

1284
01:06:36,240 --> 01:06:43,760
She just so happens, God's providence so happens to end up in, which was Boaz's, which was

1285
01:06:43,760 --> 01:06:48,960
a relative of Naomi's husband that had died, his field.

1286
01:06:48,960 --> 01:06:53,160
He was a wealthy man and he had a lot of field.

1287
01:06:53,160 --> 01:06:56,840
There were reapers there and she was there picking up the crumbs hoping she could get

1288
01:06:56,840 --> 01:06:59,040
some to take back to Naomi.

1289
01:06:59,040 --> 01:07:08,200
Then Boaz learns about her, calls her a virtuous woman, was amazed at her loyalty to Naomi.

1290
01:07:08,200 --> 01:07:09,200
The story unfolds.

1291
01:07:09,200 --> 01:07:13,680
They end up falling in love and getting married.

1292
01:07:13,680 --> 01:07:20,420
Their child, the son that they had, ended up being the grandfather of King David, which

1293
01:07:20,420 --> 01:07:23,880
then was the lineager of the Messiah.

1294
01:07:23,880 --> 01:07:24,880
Wow.

1295
01:07:24,880 --> 01:07:25,880
Coming.

1296
01:07:25,880 --> 01:07:35,920
In death and destruction in a sense and famine and how God worked in the day to day circumstances

1297
01:07:35,920 --> 01:07:41,920
and that, she's just been a real inspiration to me as I contemplate her story.

1298
01:07:41,920 --> 01:07:47,360
Yeah, God's faithfulness in the day to day aspects of our lives.

1299
01:07:47,360 --> 01:07:48,360
She didn't give up.

1300
01:07:48,360 --> 01:07:49,360
Yeah.

1301
01:07:49,360 --> 01:07:50,360
She wasn't bitter.

1302
01:07:50,360 --> 01:07:54,360
I don't see anything in the scripture where it says she was bitter of her circumstances.

1303
01:07:54,360 --> 01:07:56,720
She was still principled in her character.

1304
01:07:56,720 --> 01:07:58,720
Naomi was bitter for a while, but not Ruth.

1305
01:07:58,720 --> 01:08:00,720
Naomi was, but not Ruth.

1306
01:08:00,720 --> 01:08:03,720
Yeah, but Naomi wanted to change her name.

1307
01:08:03,720 --> 01:08:04,720
Yeah.

1308
01:08:04,720 --> 01:08:05,720
She said bitter.

1309
01:08:05,720 --> 01:08:06,720
Yeah.

1310
01:08:06,720 --> 01:08:09,720
She's still, Ruth was still principled and did a very remarkable thing.

1311
01:08:09,720 --> 01:08:12,840
Yeah, and God ended up using her.

1312
01:08:12,840 --> 01:08:18,240
Well, we've talked a lot today about hearing God, how God speaks to us in various ways through

1313
01:08:18,240 --> 01:08:22,680
his word, through other trusted and mature Christians in a still small voice, through

1314
01:08:22,680 --> 01:08:25,080
dreams and visions.

1315
01:08:25,080 --> 01:08:26,920
He wants us to hear him.

1316
01:08:26,920 --> 01:08:27,920
He's ready to lead us.

1317
01:08:27,920 --> 01:08:29,720
He's ready to guide us in the way we should go.

1318
01:08:29,720 --> 01:08:34,920
When I was in my 30s, I found myself in a place of disappointment.

1319
01:08:34,920 --> 01:08:39,360
I had always wanted a big family, but I wasn't married and I had just gone through a very

1320
01:08:39,360 --> 01:08:42,900
painful breakup with someone I was sure was going to be my husband.

1321
01:08:42,900 --> 01:08:48,280
In my devotions, I went to the Lord, like Mary Beth has said, go to the Lord with your

1322
01:08:48,280 --> 01:08:49,720
disappointments.

1323
01:08:49,720 --> 01:08:50,720
So I went to the Lord.

1324
01:08:50,720 --> 01:08:52,480
I was reading my devotions.

1325
01:08:52,480 --> 01:08:54,720
I was in Isaiah as well.

1326
01:08:54,720 --> 01:09:00,360
And I read Isaiah 54, one, the contemporary English version says, sing and shout, even

1327
01:09:00,360 --> 01:09:06,440
though you have never had children, the Lord has promised that you will have more children

1328
01:09:06,440 --> 01:09:08,600
than someone married for a long time.

1329
01:09:08,600 --> 01:09:09,600
Wow.

1330
01:09:09,600 --> 01:09:14,160
You know, I was in my thirties, there was no prospects in sight, but that was a Rhema

1331
01:09:14,160 --> 01:09:16,000
word for me, a living word for me.

1332
01:09:16,000 --> 01:09:17,400
Like we've talked about a Rhema word.

1333
01:09:17,400 --> 01:09:19,000
It came alive to me.

1334
01:09:19,000 --> 01:09:21,560
You know, the Holy Spirit spoke to me and said, that could be true for me.

1335
01:09:21,560 --> 01:09:27,400
And it sure didn't look possible, but not too many years later, I met and married my

1336
01:09:27,400 --> 01:09:31,800
husband who was a widower with six children.

1337
01:09:31,800 --> 01:09:35,280
I went from being single to having six kids overnight.

1338
01:09:35,280 --> 01:09:40,160
There's a lot of stories that could go into with that, but I won't.

1339
01:09:40,160 --> 01:09:45,480
My point is God is faithful to fulfill the desires he puts in your heart.

1340
01:09:45,480 --> 01:09:48,840
If you're in a place of disappointment or hurt, don't pull away from the Lord.

1341
01:09:48,840 --> 01:09:54,220
Take extra time reading his word, sit in his presence, pour out your heart for him.

1342
01:09:54,220 --> 01:09:57,680
He will meet you there and he will lead you to a better place.

1343
01:09:57,680 --> 01:10:01,440
So Marybeth, would you take a moment and pray for everyone who listens to this?

1344
01:10:01,440 --> 01:10:02,440
Sure.

1345
01:10:02,440 --> 01:10:03,440
I'd love to.

1346
01:10:03,440 --> 01:10:08,600
Lord, I just pray for the women and even men if there's men that are listening.

1347
01:10:08,600 --> 01:10:15,920
Father, sometimes our walk in this life can be difficult and hard and seem treacherous.

1348
01:10:15,920 --> 01:10:18,520
We wonder, are you there?

1349
01:10:18,520 --> 01:10:21,000
We wonder, why are you being silent, God?

1350
01:10:21,000 --> 01:10:23,360
It seems to us that you're being silent.

1351
01:10:23,360 --> 01:10:29,880
But Lord, we also know that you do work all things together, that you work behind the

1352
01:10:29,880 --> 01:10:35,720
scenes when we don't even see it happening at times and that you are accomplishing your

1353
01:10:35,720 --> 01:10:36,720
will and your purpose.

1354
01:10:36,720 --> 01:10:42,560
And so I just pray for every person that's listening that you would flood them with that

1355
01:10:42,560 --> 01:10:45,120
peace that passes all understanding.

1356
01:10:45,120 --> 01:10:53,520
Father, I pray that you would draw them into a deeper, closer fellowship with you, that

1357
01:10:53,520 --> 01:11:01,360
they will never run from you, but run to you in walking out our call here on earth.

1358
01:11:01,360 --> 01:11:03,760
Bless them, I pray.

1359
01:11:03,760 --> 01:11:06,280
Do miracles for them.

1360
01:11:06,280 --> 01:11:08,560
Meet their every need.

1361
01:11:08,560 --> 01:11:13,440
For their good and your glory, I pray in Jesus' name.

1362
01:11:13,440 --> 01:11:14,440
Amen.

1363
01:11:14,440 --> 01:11:15,520
Thanks for tuning in.

1364
01:11:15,520 --> 01:11:19,880
Remember to listen to the rest of Mary Beth's God Story in the next episode, and please

1365
01:11:19,880 --> 01:11:26,120
like or follow Her God Story on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite streaming service

1366
01:11:26,120 --> 01:11:29,320
so you don't miss it or any others.

1367
01:11:29,320 --> 01:11:31,320
Check out our website at hergodstory.org.

1368
01:11:31,320 --> 01:11:35,320
There you can find show notes with scriptures and other information we talked about today.

1369
01:11:35,320 --> 01:11:39,240
You can sign up for periodic emails and get a free downloadable devotional book.

1370
01:11:39,240 --> 01:11:43,760
I also encourage you to check out our other ministry podcast, A Word in Season with Doug

1371
01:11:43,760 --> 01:11:45,000
Stringer and friends.

1372
01:11:45,000 --> 01:11:50,680
There you'll hear teaching that will challenge and equip you as well as interviews with Christian

1373
01:11:50,680 --> 01:11:52,000
leaders that will inspire you.

1374
01:11:52,000 --> 01:11:57,640
And now, dear friends, I leave you with a blessing from Deuteronomy 1.11.

1375
01:11:57,640 --> 01:12:04,720
May the Lord, the God of your ancestors, increase you a thousand times and bless you as he has

1376
01:12:04,720 --> 01:12:05,920
promised.

1377
01:12:05,920 --> 01:12:09,940
Her God Story is a ministry of Somebody Cares America and international.

1378
01:12:09,940 --> 01:12:14,040
To find out more about or support the ministry, go to somebodycares.org.