God Will Use You In Remarkable Ways, Becky Keenan's Story (cont.)

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

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

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

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author and traveler on this journey of faith.

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If you listened to our last episode, I know you're eager to hear the rest of Becky Keenan's

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story.

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Becky is the mother of two and co-pastors Gulf Meadows Church in Houston, Texas with

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her husband, Joe.

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After leaving behind all her dreams to embrace God's plan, she has had a front row seat

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to see and experience the wonder-working power of our God.

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Isaiah 58 verses 7 through 9 says,

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Share your food with the hungry and give shelter to the homeless.

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Give clothes to those who need them, and do not hide from relatives who need your help.

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Then your salvation will come like the dawn, and your wounds will quickly heal.

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Your godliness will lead you forward, and the glory of the Lord will protect you from

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behind.

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Then, when you call, the Lord will answer.

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Yes, I'm here, he will quickly reply.

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You'll hear living proof in this episode that God is true to his word.

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So let's get back to Becky's story.

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You were fully committed to God's call, not looking to be married, but then suddenly

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of God happened.

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Tell us about your courtship and your marriage.

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Well I was very happy there, and I thought I was going to spend my whole life there,

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to tell you the truth.

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Mexico is a very big place, so I could have spent my whole life there.

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Because they gave us little breaks, I came to Houston on one of those little breaks,

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like a tiny little furlough, and there were special meetings, and there was this brother

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that was our supervisor.

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We had no romantic anything with anybody, honestly and sincerely.

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We were so engaged and full of the Lord, there's no time for anything.

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I remember before we had revival meetings that he had called, there was one telephone

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in the neighborhood that you would go and wait, and then they would call again, because

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they called once to send a little kid to get you, and then the phone call.

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And this brother had called to choose what movie we would see during our convention,

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because showing a movie like a thousand people would show up, it was just amazing.

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And I remember to this day, I said, Raoul Reese, there was a movie about this guy, he

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had a gym and he got saved, and Fury to Freedom, I think it was called.

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The older people will remember, but it was a great evangelistic movie.

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So we're talking about that.

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I mean, this was like, yes brother, no brother, but all I can tell you is I felt a little

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joy in my heart, that's all, like a little joy when I heard his voice, but nothing else,

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because I didn't even like him.

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I couldn't stand him, honestly, and that's a separate testimony, because he was my supervisor

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and there had been some misunderstanding before, and I just thought he had said something about

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me.

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He thought I had said something about him, neither of us did.

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And so we did not like each other a lot for about a year, including that phone call.

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So me feeling that little trickle of joy was very unusual.

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Anyway, we had the meetings, it was great, I came back to Houston, and one night I couldn't

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sleep.

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And there are very strict rules in the missionary home, but I came down after prayer to get

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a little bit of hot milk with sugar.

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Now I don't know if that's a Hispanic thing or a universal belief.

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Pretty universal.

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Yeah, you go to sleep, it makes you sleepy.

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So I went down to do that.

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And then I was almost on my side where I should have been when I heard this voice say, Sister

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Becky.

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Because I was always getting in trouble, I thought, see, here I go again, I'm going to

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get in trouble.

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And I just said to him, I'm going to bed, I'm done, I'm over here.

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And he said, no, I wanted to talk to you.

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And he started he humming and being a little nervous doing that.

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And I thought how odd of this man, this brother.

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And then he said that he had spoken to the elders because he had special feelings for

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me.

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And when he said that, I mean, I could tell you that milk almost curdled in my hand in

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the glass.

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And I said to him, well, you know that if you have special feelings, you're not allowed

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to be here.

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He said, I know I'm leaving tomorrow at 6am back to Chicago.

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He said, but before I leave, I want to ask you a question.

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And I said, what is it?

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I was completely embarrassed.

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Just like why is he having this conversation that I deemed inappropriate with me?

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And he said, well, I want to ask if you will marry me.

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He asked you to marry him when you didn't even like no date, no anything.

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Oh, no, no, no.

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And I just looked down to the floor and I just said, yes, I will.

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And then he said, praise the Lord.

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And I said, praise the Lord.

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And he went his way and I went mine.

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Next morning when we woke up for early prayer, he was gone.

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What were you thinking about after that?

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After you said yes, I mean, did you, were you shocked that came out of your mouth?

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I guess, but I have no recollection.

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I think I went to sleep.

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I think I went to bed.

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You didn't realize what he had done?

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Yes.

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I mean, I was an adult, but yeah.

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And then after that, well, of course, I came two weeks before we got married.

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That's when we actually quote, you know, went out and had a special lunch.

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He was given permission to pick me up at the airport alone and to have a lunch with me.

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And yes.

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Did feelings grow for him over that time?

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Well, we talked on the phone.

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We talked on the phone at that time.

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By then I had gone to Florida to be with my parents.

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So he called and we talked and that sort of thing.

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And that time for the younger folk that might be listening to this, doing a long distance

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phone call was very expensive.

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So the later it was at night, the less expensive it was.

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So we spoke late at night for some minutes, you know, and you had to be careful.

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It wasn't too long because your bill would just blow up.

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It's not like it is now at all.

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Young people, I mean, and what's up and now you can call internationally and it's free.

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But at that time, yeah.

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So it was all phone calls and stuff like that.

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Two weeks before the wedding, I came, stayed in a different home.

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My parents came a week before and they, you know, they got to gel and know him and, you

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know, talk and whatnot.

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He did formally call my dad and ask for my hand.

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When I called my mother to tell her that I was going to get married, she put my dad on

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the other line and she said, Oh, daddy, get on the phone.

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They're sending her to India.

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And I said, no, I'm not being sent to India.

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And she said, well, if it's not that, are you getting married?

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And I thought, how would you know?

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So seven years before that, they had gone to a church convention and this young man

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who was new in the ministry at that time had picked them up.

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That's what you did when you were new, you served.

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So his job during the convention was to pick people up and carry their suitcases, make

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sure they were doing well.

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She had thought I liked this young man for Becky, but because I would not have it, she

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never said anything to me about it, but she had been praying for seven years.

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I think the trickle was connected to the prayer.

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The trickle of joy was connected to her prayers.

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So before I told her who I would marry, fast forwarding these seven years, I'm telling

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her I'm calling, Hey mom, because he wanted to talk to my dad.

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She said, you're marrying Joe Keenan.

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How do you know?

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And she said, because I was praying for seven years for that to happen.

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So that was, I guess a confirmation.

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Wouldn't you call it a confirmation?

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Well, yes, that's a confirmation, but shocking.

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I mean, you know, you hadn't gone on a date or anything.

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I mean, that's, you know, I mean, it's kind of the matchmaker type of a story.

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God was your matchmaker.

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You know, you, you see in some of these old movies, you know, Fiddler on the Roof, the

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matchmaker comes and makes the match and the people hardly know each other.

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But I mean, you did know each other, but it wasn't like long engagements or courtships

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or dating.

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And it was something that you knew in your heart was right, but it was also a step of

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faith.

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Yeah.

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And then it was confirmed afterwards.

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Yeah.

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It's a very interesting, I'm not saying everybody has to do it that way or should do it that

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way at all.

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And you know, I'm not, because I think it's important that you get to know each other,

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but within the boundaries of holiness and the rules of the ministry, to whatever extent

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that was, you know, we did know of each other and had worked a little bit on a few things,

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you know.

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Yeah.

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And of course we did have the same beliefs and the same faith and the same calling and

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the same desires for the future.

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So that really helps.

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If you want to serve God, please marry somebody that wants to serve God.

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Don't marry someone that doesn't thinking you'll convince them.

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It just doesn't work.

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Yeah.

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I was at a mission conference years ago when I was still single and one of the missionaries

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had a quote up there and it said, love is not gazing into each other's eyes, but it's

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looking ahead together in the same direction.

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And that quote just has stuck with me all these years.

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Of course, my husband and I both work in ministry and you know, it was many years after that

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I met my husband and we got married, but that always struck me as, you know, you're right.

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It's not just about a bunch of silly feelings.

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It's working together.

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It's moving together in the same direction.

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It's having those, that same calling so that you can really serve God together as one.

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Right.

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So then after that I moved obviously from Mexico to Houston and that's how come I'm

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here.

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I never thought I'd live in Houston ever.

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If you had asked me when I was younger or living in Puerto Rico, you know, or anything

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like that, Joe's not even from Houston either.

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He's from, you know, up north.

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He's from New York and he grew up in Southern Melbourne.

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It's just, you know, I would say also the single people wait on the Lord and God will,

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you know, move heaven and earth for you.

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You know, you are living in Houston.

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I mean, you moved from Mexico to Houston, but you were still really serving in a poor

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community, starting a church, still working for the same ministry.

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And you saw God provide to you in some remarkable ways, sometimes even miraculous.

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Share some of those stories.

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I mean, you know, the miraculous doesn't just happen overseas.

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That's right.

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Because it happens here too.

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Right.

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And God still moves everywhere.

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That's the thing.

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Well, when we got married, there were other missionaries living with us at the time.

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We were very poor.

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We did not have a lot of food specifically or money or cash or anything, but we continued,

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we were faithful to put the church first, right?

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And then I remember because we had a big home, you know, the saints of God, God bless them.

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Somebody in the church met a music group and it was like four or five people and they said,

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oh, come live with our pastors.

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They'll receive you.

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And, you know, and these people were coming for, you know, about a week or two.

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We had nothing.

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I mean, I was at the end of everything.

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I mean, we just had very little.

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And I remember the last day we had nothing but a old bag of dry black beans that I found

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in the back of the pantry.

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Those things, I don't even know how old they were.

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Thank God seeds are good for a long time, you know.

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And, you know, I know this is a sideline, but in Israel they have found ancient seeds

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of palm dates that did not exist anymore and they've planted them and they've come to life.

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So that's the power of a seed, but anyway, in this case we wanted to cook them and eat

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them.

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I did not want to tell these people that I didn't have any more food to give them.

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So we had a little tiny bit of rice and these beans and one package of pork chops.

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Now growing up, my mother used to always count two pieces of meat per person, you know, and

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I always wanted to feed people a lot.

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It's just a thing.

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You know, you want to feed them until they're full.

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And I remember rinsing those beans, taking the little stones out of them, the dirt, you

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know, and all the little like pieces of debris out of them, rinsing them and all, and then

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cooking them.

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I think I had one little piece of ham or something.

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Oh my God, it was nothing.

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Maybe a little piece of onion, you know.

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Then when I was seasoning the pork chops, I thought, man, I wish I could give everybody

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two.

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And I had a bowl and I had washed them and put them in a bowl and I had seasoned them

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and then I was putting them in this other bowl.

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And as I transferred them, it grew.

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I didn't realize it exactly at the time, but I remember thinking how odd.

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And then I started frying them.

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Uh-huh.

235
00:13:36,560 --> 00:13:40,520
And at the end, I had two pork chops per person.

236
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And you didn't at the beginning.

237
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No, no, no, I did not.

238
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We had one package at the beginning.

239
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This is a real miracle.

240
00:13:48,400 --> 00:13:49,400
Yeah.

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00:13:49,400 --> 00:13:53,200
This was the one like multiplication thing that went through my hands.

242
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And I'm like, oh my God.

243
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The fishes and the loaves right there in your own kitchen.

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Yes.

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Yes.

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And it was just so exciting to see.

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And we had a delicious meal.

248
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The beans tasted great and the rice multiplied, you know, everything grew.

249
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And I remember telling Joe, oh my God, the pork chops multiplied.

250
00:14:15,000 --> 00:14:17,800
I mean, God can even multiply pork.

251
00:14:17,800 --> 00:14:18,800
Yeah.

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You just have to put it in his hands.

253
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And I think that's the lesson at the end of the day.

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In your moment of anxiety, don't look at the supermarket.

255
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Don't look at someone that could give you an offering or something like that.

256
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Our couch was empty.

257
00:14:36,780 --> 00:14:41,080
We had already looked behind all those pillows and cushions for quarters.

258
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There was no change.

259
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No, there was no change.

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We already knew that, but God did it.

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And those people left so happy, they never knew.

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And you know, they never knew.

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And we will one day know in eternity, all the things that God did for us, all the miracles,

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all the prayers people prayed, all the supernatural things that God allowed to happen in order

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for us to just walk through a door.

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But we might not know.

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All the things our angels did for us.

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I want to hear all that.

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I know I've made my angels work over time at times, but we'll know these things.

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We don't know now.

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We don't know it all.

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Wow.

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00:15:25,480 --> 00:15:26,560
So you're working in the ministry.

274
00:15:26,560 --> 00:15:31,040
You planted a church, which has grown exponentially now.

275
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Along the way, you had two children working in ministry.

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Sometimes children can be resentful of that.

277
00:15:37,840 --> 00:15:44,200
So how did you pass your faith onto your kids while you were raising them while you're still

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doing ministry in a difficult, difficult area?

279
00:15:48,320 --> 00:15:49,320
Right.

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Well, I didn't think much about it.

281
00:15:54,160 --> 00:15:58,920
I wasn't nervous about it in the sense of when Joe and I got married, we continued praying

282
00:15:58,920 --> 00:16:04,240
early in the morning, taking a one hour break the way we did when we were trained.

283
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This is a way of life for us.

284
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So we continued doing that.

285
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When the kids came, they saw us praying.

286
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We obviously bought them Bibles and we prayed for them.

287
00:16:15,040 --> 00:16:17,600
Katie received the Holy Spirit when she was four.

288
00:16:17,600 --> 00:16:23,220
I just told her the other day, she's 27, you used to pray on this little, little carpet

289
00:16:23,220 --> 00:16:28,240
that we bought you and we would listen outside of your door because she would kneel down

290
00:16:28,240 --> 00:16:30,960
and really go deep into prayer.

291
00:16:30,960 --> 00:16:38,600
We were outside the door listening and crying and going, just being so pleased.

292
00:16:38,600 --> 00:16:43,560
We taught them, but we took them everywhere we went.

293
00:16:43,560 --> 00:16:47,360
So they saw the miracle working of God.

294
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Oh yeah.

295
00:16:48,360 --> 00:16:55,240
And I mean, they were in little baby carriages on street meetings and good places and not

296
00:16:55,240 --> 00:16:59,600
so good places and nice cars and junky cars.

297
00:16:59,600 --> 00:17:04,720
We just dragged them around everywhere we went.

298
00:17:04,720 --> 00:17:09,760
They would pray and they would participate with their level of faith.

299
00:17:09,760 --> 00:17:17,440
Katie was a holy terror in school, always telling every preaching, praying, and also

300
00:17:17,440 --> 00:17:23,880
going against certain celebrations that not everybody celebrates and she would not.

301
00:17:23,880 --> 00:17:28,000
Then she would really tell all the kids how this is not pleasing to God and you can't

302
00:17:28,000 --> 00:17:32,600
partake of this at four and five because I had to put her in school when she was four.

303
00:17:32,600 --> 00:17:39,640
She was ready to go to school and we'd always get called from the principal and say, can

304
00:17:39,640 --> 00:17:42,200
you tell Katie to not be so passionate?

305
00:17:42,200 --> 00:17:46,480
I'd say, well, she's sharing her faith.

306
00:17:46,480 --> 00:17:52,560
I remember growing up, I received Jesus when I was six and filled with the Spirit.

307
00:17:52,560 --> 00:17:55,880
During those days, we would go to meetings.

308
00:17:55,880 --> 00:17:59,320
I would go with my parents, seven, eight years old.

309
00:17:59,320 --> 00:18:03,880
I would go to these meetings, hear Derek Prince preaching and some of these other men.

310
00:18:03,880 --> 00:18:07,280
I wasn't shuffled off to some children's church.

311
00:18:07,280 --> 00:18:12,520
I was there on the meeting and when prayer happened and healings and miracles happened,

312
00:18:12,520 --> 00:18:15,520
I was there to see it, built my faith.

313
00:18:15,520 --> 00:18:18,720
I remember one time I was out playing with some kids.

314
00:18:18,720 --> 00:18:23,120
We were playing kickball or something and the ball came straight at my face and hit

315
00:18:23,120 --> 00:18:25,880
my thumb and broke it.

316
00:18:25,880 --> 00:18:29,480
Within seconds, it was huge, black and blue.

317
00:18:29,480 --> 00:18:30,480
I couldn't move it.

318
00:18:30,480 --> 00:18:31,480
I was crying.

319
00:18:31,480 --> 00:18:34,360
My parents came rushing out, we need to get you to the emergency room.

320
00:18:34,360 --> 00:18:36,120
I said, no, no, we have to pray first.

321
00:18:36,120 --> 00:18:37,600
God can heal it.

322
00:18:37,600 --> 00:18:42,000
We gathered around and prayed and while we were praying, the swelling went down.

323
00:18:42,000 --> 00:18:44,960
It turned back to normal color and I could move it again.

324
00:18:44,960 --> 00:18:47,760
God did a miraculous healing right there and I was six or seven years old.

325
00:18:47,760 --> 00:18:50,960
But you know, I would probably seven or eight years old, but you know, those experiences,

326
00:18:50,960 --> 00:18:57,680
me experiencing at a young age, seeing and experiencing for myself the power of God.

327
00:18:57,680 --> 00:18:59,200
I mean, he healed my thumb.

328
00:18:59,200 --> 00:19:01,320
You can't take that away from me.

329
00:19:01,320 --> 00:19:02,320
I knew.

330
00:19:02,320 --> 00:19:08,320
There was no question that God isn't who he says he is.

331
00:19:08,320 --> 00:19:13,600
When we raise our kids in that experiencing our faith with us and experiencing the power

332
00:19:13,600 --> 00:19:17,520
of God, it's going to take a lot for them to turn them away.

333
00:19:17,520 --> 00:19:18,520
Exactly.

334
00:19:18,520 --> 00:19:23,800
But sometimes parents make decisions for their kids that are not, in my opinion, this is

335
00:19:23,800 --> 00:19:29,160
my opinion and all that, but they say, should I bring my kids to the prayer meeting?

336
00:19:29,160 --> 00:19:30,160
They don't want to come.

337
00:19:30,160 --> 00:19:33,720
I say, even if your kid just sits there, they're under that cloud.

338
00:19:33,720 --> 00:19:36,480
They're experiencing the presence of God.

339
00:19:36,480 --> 00:19:41,280
They're hearing that holy sound.

340
00:19:41,280 --> 00:19:43,160
Let them be there.

341
00:19:43,160 --> 00:19:48,200
They might have a horrible attitude, but they're learning something by just being in the presence

342
00:19:48,200 --> 00:19:49,200
of God.

343
00:19:49,200 --> 00:19:50,200
There's nothing like it.

344
00:19:50,200 --> 00:19:51,400
You can't teach that.

345
00:19:51,400 --> 00:19:53,120
They can't read it in the book.

346
00:19:53,120 --> 00:19:54,920
They have to be there.

347
00:19:54,920 --> 00:19:56,480
So yeah, bring them.

348
00:19:56,480 --> 00:20:03,400
Recently we had a very beautiful retreat and some of the people that were invited did not

349
00:20:03,400 --> 00:20:06,880
want to come and they came with a terrible attitude.

350
00:20:06,880 --> 00:20:08,960
Long faces, you could step on their faces.

351
00:20:08,960 --> 00:20:10,080
They were so long.

352
00:20:10,080 --> 00:20:14,560
And then when the time of ministry came, by then the Holy Spirit had worked on them.

353
00:20:14,560 --> 00:20:17,800
By then the word of God had worked on them, by then the time of worship.

354
00:20:17,800 --> 00:20:24,640
So do not be that type of parent that takes a litmus test, takes a poll, takes their kids'

355
00:20:24,640 --> 00:20:26,840
temperature and their opinion.

356
00:20:26,840 --> 00:20:32,600
And that parent that's led by the child, I mean, really, that is horrible.

357
00:20:32,600 --> 00:20:34,200
Take your place, be the parent.

358
00:20:34,200 --> 00:20:35,200
Don't be afraid.

359
00:20:35,200 --> 00:20:36,680
You're not going to lose your kid.

360
00:20:36,680 --> 00:20:39,520
You're going to be investing and imparting into them.

361
00:20:39,520 --> 00:20:41,160
Yes, bring them to church.

362
00:20:41,160 --> 00:20:42,760
Yes, bring them to that meeting.

363
00:20:42,760 --> 00:20:47,120
Yes, make them go because things will happen.

364
00:20:47,120 --> 00:20:48,120
Things will happen.

365
00:20:48,120 --> 00:20:51,280
And while they live under your roof, they should do what you tell them.

366
00:20:51,280 --> 00:20:55,080
There were days when my kids didn't want to come to church.

367
00:20:55,080 --> 00:21:00,240
What I did was I never made them come to three meetings back to back.

368
00:21:00,240 --> 00:21:01,600
You have to also have wisdom.

369
00:21:01,600 --> 00:21:04,880
I would let them rest and sleep in.

370
00:21:04,880 --> 00:21:09,360
By the time they were, I don't know, a little older, they wanted to come to all the meetings

371
00:21:09,360 --> 00:21:11,880
and that's what you want.

372
00:21:11,880 --> 00:21:16,640
So if you just have wisdom, listen to them, see and all that sort of thing.

373
00:21:16,640 --> 00:21:19,600
But don't shield them from the power of God because…

374
00:21:19,600 --> 00:21:20,600
No.

375
00:21:20,600 --> 00:21:21,600
I mean…

376
00:21:21,600 --> 00:21:25,080
Act like the church is their enemy or something.

377
00:21:25,080 --> 00:21:27,920
The church is going to eat up all your time and this and that.

378
00:21:27,920 --> 00:21:29,840
I remember, let me tell you a testimony.

379
00:21:29,840 --> 00:21:34,160
When I was in Puerto Rican church, there were two, this is a true story, there were two

380
00:21:34,160 --> 00:21:37,760
young men that were accepted into medical school.

381
00:21:37,760 --> 00:21:42,720
And one of them got up and said a testimony and said, I've been accepted to medical

382
00:21:42,720 --> 00:21:43,720
school.

383
00:21:43,720 --> 00:21:48,280
I'm so happy, but I'm letting everybody know that I won't be able to come to church

384
00:21:48,280 --> 00:21:51,640
and be involved because I'm in medical school.

385
00:21:51,640 --> 00:21:53,240
That's before he started.

386
00:21:53,240 --> 00:21:57,720
The other one never stood up to give a testimony or didn't say anything.

387
00:21:57,720 --> 00:22:00,160
Everybody knew he was into medical school.

388
00:22:00,160 --> 00:22:03,880
He purposed in his heart that he would come as much as he could.

389
00:22:03,880 --> 00:22:07,560
That Sunday was the day of the Lord, that you know, all these things.

390
00:22:07,560 --> 00:22:12,040
And he would miss until the pastor, I'm not coming, I have a special test or you know,

391
00:22:12,040 --> 00:22:13,340
whatever it was.

392
00:22:13,340 --> 00:22:15,680
And he would miss when he had to.

393
00:22:15,680 --> 00:22:20,440
Well, and it's funny because the one that said, oh, I'll have to be dedicated to

394
00:22:20,440 --> 00:22:23,040
medical school, he never graduated.

395
00:22:23,040 --> 00:22:25,080
The Lord didn't bless his studies.

396
00:22:25,080 --> 00:22:26,080
Right.

397
00:22:26,080 --> 00:22:32,640
And what I'm saying is, look, don't decide for God and you know, don't let the people

398
00:22:32,640 --> 00:22:34,640
make the right decisions.

399
00:22:34,640 --> 00:22:37,120
God is the best thing for you.

400
00:22:37,120 --> 00:22:41,960
Church is where your kids are going to grow up and create friends, have friends, learn

401
00:22:41,960 --> 00:22:43,240
the word of God.

402
00:22:43,240 --> 00:22:45,480
Don't go from church to church to church to church.

403
00:22:45,480 --> 00:22:50,320
Be strong and give your strength to somebody because in your day of need, that pastor,

404
00:22:50,320 --> 00:22:51,600
those people, they're going to help you.

405
00:22:51,600 --> 00:22:52,600
And it changes.

406
00:22:52,600 --> 00:22:58,360
I mean, you and I are both testimonies of encountering God when we were young.

407
00:22:58,360 --> 00:23:03,440
I strayed when I was in my teenage years a little bit and my listeners who've listened

408
00:23:03,440 --> 00:23:06,040
to a few of these have heard of that, you know.

409
00:23:06,040 --> 00:23:11,240
But I never ever questioned that God is who he says he was and I always knew that I would

410
00:23:11,240 --> 00:23:12,400
follow his lead.

411
00:23:12,400 --> 00:23:18,640
The wages of sin are horrible and I very little bit of sin would make me feel terrible.

412
00:23:18,640 --> 00:23:21,400
It quickly turned me back to the Lord.

413
00:23:21,400 --> 00:23:26,400
So when we have that encounter with holiness, we're drawn back to it easily because it's

414
00:23:26,400 --> 00:23:27,400
sweet.

415
00:23:27,400 --> 00:23:28,480
It's not legalistic.

416
00:23:28,480 --> 00:23:30,160
It's not condemning.

417
00:23:30,160 --> 00:23:32,720
It's a sweet fragrance.

418
00:23:32,720 --> 00:23:33,860
It's life.

419
00:23:33,860 --> 00:23:38,120
So when kids hear the word of God, when you share with them and all this sort of thing,

420
00:23:38,120 --> 00:23:42,080
we used to pray for our kids every day before they went to school, you know, that can become

421
00:23:42,080 --> 00:23:43,320
tedious for the child.

422
00:23:43,320 --> 00:23:46,240
Oh, here you go again.

423
00:23:46,240 --> 00:23:48,680
And then the day you don't, they're like, hey, you didn't pray.

424
00:23:48,680 --> 00:23:51,360
So you're like sowing into them.

425
00:23:51,360 --> 00:23:53,800
But sometimes we don't know where God is.

426
00:23:53,800 --> 00:23:54,800
Let me tell you a story.

427
00:23:54,800 --> 00:23:56,400
This is a story of a Catholic saint.

428
00:23:56,400 --> 00:23:58,620
I can't remember who it was.

429
00:23:58,620 --> 00:24:03,840
But the story goes that at night she would have these terrible dreams like, like, you

430
00:24:03,840 --> 00:24:05,640
know, like, like carnal dreams.

431
00:24:05,640 --> 00:24:09,360
And she would be so tormented and grieved and this and that say, God, why am I having

432
00:24:09,360 --> 00:24:10,720
these dreams?

433
00:24:10,720 --> 00:24:13,040
And she felt the Holy Spirit say, are you fighting?

434
00:24:13,040 --> 00:24:14,480
Do you enjoy them?

435
00:24:14,480 --> 00:24:16,500
Or are you mortified?

436
00:24:16,500 --> 00:24:18,280
And she said, no, I'm, I'm grieved.

437
00:24:18,280 --> 00:24:19,280
I'm mortified.

438
00:24:19,280 --> 00:24:21,240
Cause she kept saying, where are you?

439
00:24:21,240 --> 00:24:22,240
Where are you?

440
00:24:22,240 --> 00:24:26,080
And God said, I am in that, that rejection of it.

441
00:24:26,080 --> 00:24:31,400
So when we teach our children the word of God or ourselves, and then we go through something,

442
00:24:31,400 --> 00:24:36,320
we sin or, you know, something bad happens, we have that point of reference of, like you

443
00:24:36,320 --> 00:24:39,320
said, the pure sweetness, that holiness of God.

444
00:24:39,320 --> 00:24:40,960
We've experienced that.

445
00:24:40,960 --> 00:24:44,240
And yeah, we might feel rotten, but that's where God is.

446
00:24:44,240 --> 00:24:46,080
He's in that conviction.

447
00:24:46,080 --> 00:24:47,760
He's in that pool.

448
00:24:47,760 --> 00:24:52,680
He's in that rope of love, those cords of love that bring you back.

449
00:24:52,680 --> 00:24:55,360
He is in that feeling, not of condemnation.

450
00:24:55,360 --> 00:24:59,920
But yeah, we might feel some shame and say, Lord, I can't, I can't do this.

451
00:24:59,920 --> 00:25:01,280
I need you.

452
00:25:01,280 --> 00:25:05,560
I'll go back to my father's house, but see, they have that reference.

453
00:25:05,560 --> 00:25:09,560
So parents be encouraged, give your kids that reference.

454
00:25:09,560 --> 00:25:15,040
And, and even proverb says, train up a child in the way he should go when he's older, he

455
00:25:15,040 --> 00:25:16,040
won't depart.

456
00:25:16,040 --> 00:25:19,040
So they'll have that reference.

457
00:25:19,040 --> 00:25:20,040
Yeah.

458
00:25:20,040 --> 00:25:23,520
And I think many, many parents cling to that verse.

459
00:25:23,520 --> 00:25:28,760
I know I've used that in praying, praying for family members that, you know, when they're

460
00:25:28,760 --> 00:25:32,160
trained up in the way they should go, when they're old, they won't depart from.

461
00:25:32,160 --> 00:25:36,000
And it doesn't mean that they'll never stray, but they'll always, like you said, they'll

462
00:25:36,000 --> 00:25:39,920
always come back to the father's house because that's where their life is.

463
00:25:39,920 --> 00:25:41,560
That's where life is.

464
00:25:41,560 --> 00:25:47,160
So over the years, God has taken you to many, many nations, allowed you to minister in all

465
00:25:47,160 --> 00:25:49,480
sorts of different contexts.

466
00:25:49,480 --> 00:25:53,080
Share one or two things that God's done that have been surprising to you.

467
00:25:53,080 --> 00:25:57,560
Well, to me, everything is a surprise because I can't believe I'm doing anything.

468
00:25:57,560 --> 00:26:04,280
I feel like I'm Forrest Gump, you know, like, what am I doing in this movie of my life?

469
00:26:04,280 --> 00:26:09,120
One time I was in Puerto Rico doing a water mission with people from Israel.

470
00:26:09,120 --> 00:26:10,680
It's amazing.

471
00:26:10,680 --> 00:26:11,960
What's a water mission?

472
00:26:11,960 --> 00:26:17,960
It's when you go to a, to a city or a town that doesn't have potable water, drinking

473
00:26:17,960 --> 00:26:18,960
water.

474
00:26:18,960 --> 00:26:25,360
And the mission is to give them drinking water and we are building a sand and gravity type

475
00:26:25,360 --> 00:26:28,760
of a well and purifying system for this particular place.

476
00:26:28,760 --> 00:26:31,080
That's what was best for them.

477
00:26:31,080 --> 00:26:32,320
And that was the investment.

478
00:26:32,320 --> 00:26:36,160
So I was on this mission.

479
00:26:36,160 --> 00:26:41,800
All my clothing was for Tropical Island, was to be out in the countryside, you know, tennis

480
00:26:41,800 --> 00:26:44,800
shoes, jeans, t-shirts, that type of thing.

481
00:26:44,800 --> 00:26:50,840
And the first day it started with a meeting at a restaurant welcoming everybody.

482
00:26:50,840 --> 00:26:51,840
So I was there.

483
00:26:51,840 --> 00:26:56,960
I had gotten early to see my family and I get a phone call and it was from Washington,

484
00:26:56,960 --> 00:26:57,960
DC.

485
00:26:57,960 --> 00:27:03,600
And it said that it was from the White House and that the president wanted, you know, for

486
00:27:03,600 --> 00:27:04,880
me to come to a meeting.

487
00:27:04,880 --> 00:27:06,840
So I immediately hung up.

488
00:27:06,840 --> 00:27:12,760
You're on a mission to dig, basically dig water wells and you get a call from the White

489
00:27:12,760 --> 00:27:13,760
House.

490
00:27:13,760 --> 00:27:16,560
Yeah, but it wasn't that I was at the mission.

491
00:27:16,560 --> 00:27:19,520
It's just that I just thought it was a prank.

492
00:27:19,520 --> 00:27:21,640
So they called again.

493
00:27:21,640 --> 00:27:25,000
And this restaurant happened to be very loud.

494
00:27:25,000 --> 00:27:31,680
So I walked further out to here and I'm just going, nah, I know this is a prank and I hung

495
00:27:31,680 --> 00:27:33,020
up again.

496
00:27:33,020 --> 00:27:39,360
And then on the third time when they called, I thought, let me go outside, put it on speaker

497
00:27:39,360 --> 00:27:45,720
phone and text a friend of mine in Washington and ask her if she thinks it might not be

498
00:27:45,720 --> 00:27:46,720
a prank.

499
00:27:46,720 --> 00:27:49,200
You know, I thought, do they do this?

500
00:27:49,200 --> 00:27:53,520
You know, that they would call and she texted back.

501
00:27:53,520 --> 00:28:00,200
I'm sure it's not a prank answer, the call.

502
00:28:00,200 --> 00:28:03,840
So long story short, it turned out to be the White House.

503
00:28:03,840 --> 00:28:07,480
And it turned out to be an invitation from the president to come to the White House for

504
00:28:07,480 --> 00:28:09,120
some private meetings.

505
00:28:09,120 --> 00:28:17,240
That in and of itself was a testimony because I had no proper clothing to go see our commander

506
00:28:17,240 --> 00:28:22,520
in chief and I was not about to go in there not dressed appropriately.

507
00:28:22,520 --> 00:28:28,640
I was able to fly out that same night at like two o'clock at 2 a.m. flight.

508
00:28:28,640 --> 00:28:34,880
I had to stop a layover in Florida and at the airport I was able to get, I remember

509
00:28:34,880 --> 00:28:36,760
it was cold in D.C.

510
00:28:36,760 --> 00:28:42,800
I was able to buy tights and on the way up I was able to buy, to go to someone's house

511
00:28:42,800 --> 00:28:48,800
that the Lord put in my way and she had a beautiful blazer that went all the way down

512
00:28:48,800 --> 00:28:52,600
to the exact length of the hem of my dress.

513
00:28:52,600 --> 00:28:56,880
It was like custom for me because I told the Lord in the airplane, but I don't want to

514
00:28:56,880 --> 00:28:58,240
go without a blazer.

515
00:28:58,240 --> 00:29:01,640
I want to have a jacket, a blazer.

516
00:29:01,640 --> 00:29:07,240
And as we were walking out of this Christian leaders home she said, oh, on the piano bench,

517
00:29:07,240 --> 00:29:10,000
look there's that, do you want to try it on?

518
00:29:10,000 --> 00:29:13,760
And it was, I'm telling you it was custom made for me.

519
00:29:13,760 --> 00:29:17,880
My size, beautiful, so I felt very confident going into that meeting.

520
00:29:17,880 --> 00:29:23,120
But it was all the Lord, even my suitcase was borrowed, everything was borrowed.

521
00:29:23,120 --> 00:29:30,480
I had another coat on top of that, another friend of mine who was on that water mission,

522
00:29:30,480 --> 00:29:32,780
she's a beautiful Jewish friend of mine.

523
00:29:32,780 --> 00:29:36,720
She said, I have no clue why I brought this to Puerto Rico.

524
00:29:36,720 --> 00:29:38,720
It's a Burberry coat.

525
00:29:38,720 --> 00:29:41,760
It makes no sense.

526
00:29:41,760 --> 00:29:44,080
And she said, well, I was packing it.

527
00:29:44,080 --> 00:29:46,680
I was thinking, why are you bringing this coat?

528
00:29:46,680 --> 00:29:49,760
But she lent it to me and it also fit me perfect.

529
00:29:49,760 --> 00:29:52,760
So I felt like a million bucks, but none of it was mine.

530
00:29:52,760 --> 00:29:55,600
It was all the Lord.

531
00:29:55,600 --> 00:29:58,640
That's one of the crazy things, strange things that's happened to me.

532
00:29:58,640 --> 00:30:03,600
In agricultural mindset or water mindset, and this happened.

533
00:30:03,600 --> 00:30:10,280
So God will use us when we are available to him and submitted to him.

534
00:30:10,280 --> 00:30:13,780
He will use us in remarkable ways that surprise us just like that.

535
00:30:13,780 --> 00:30:14,780
That surprised you.

536
00:30:14,780 --> 00:30:15,780
Wow.

537
00:30:15,780 --> 00:30:16,780
It did.

538
00:30:16,780 --> 00:30:17,780
That is a surprising call.

539
00:30:17,780 --> 00:30:25,440
Yeah, God's been very kind to me, very gentle in his training.

540
00:30:25,440 --> 00:30:30,720
At times he's been very strict and I've even felt the hand of God kind of like squeeze

541
00:30:30,720 --> 00:30:31,920
you a little bit.

542
00:30:31,920 --> 00:30:36,120
But throughout every experience, I think you hit it on the head.

543
00:30:36,120 --> 00:30:38,320
It's about being willing.

544
00:30:38,320 --> 00:30:43,080
And just like Peter, when they're out in that boat, who wants to come out and walk?

545
00:30:43,080 --> 00:30:44,080
I'll come Lord.

546
00:30:44,080 --> 00:30:50,740
I just, just to be adventurous in your faith and say yes to God.

547
00:30:50,740 --> 00:30:58,040
Most recently I went to Guatemala and I'm not for or against anything about this vaccine

548
00:30:58,040 --> 00:31:02,720
that came out recently during the pandemic, but I'm not vaccinated.

549
00:31:02,720 --> 00:31:08,740
And the president of the country wrote a letter so I could go into the country.

550
00:31:08,740 --> 00:31:10,840
Those are my Forrest Gump moments.

551
00:31:10,840 --> 00:31:14,160
You know, when I think, what am I doing?

552
00:31:14,160 --> 00:31:18,600
And I was wondering, what am I even doing here, Lord?

553
00:31:18,600 --> 00:31:20,320
How you're great.

554
00:31:20,320 --> 00:31:27,000
It has to be your grace and all the glory goes to you really, really and truly.

555
00:31:27,000 --> 00:31:33,240
So talking about the vaccine, I mean, COVID, you know, we've all gone through two years

556
00:31:33,240 --> 00:31:36,280
of craziness related to COVID.

557
00:31:36,280 --> 00:31:38,800
It's taken a real toll on people around the world.

558
00:31:38,800 --> 00:31:42,440
I mean, people have died, people have gotten very sick.

559
00:31:42,440 --> 00:31:48,040
Others have been fairly unaffected, but you personally were affected and God intervened.

560
00:31:48,040 --> 00:31:50,720
Can you share that story, that testimony?

561
00:31:50,720 --> 00:31:54,040
I mean, it was, you know, a profound thing in your life.

562
00:31:54,040 --> 00:32:00,880
I was very excited to have amazing guests from Israel come and I came down positive

563
00:32:00,880 --> 00:32:06,000
with the COVID-19 when it was the Delta strain, not the Omicron.

564
00:32:06,000 --> 00:32:11,240
But I was sure being the positive person that I am, that I was going to kick it, you know,

565
00:32:11,240 --> 00:32:15,240
and lick it and I was, you know, going to be fine.

566
00:32:15,240 --> 00:32:17,700
And I wouldn't even cancel these people.

567
00:32:17,700 --> 00:32:21,600
And then I realized I was getting sicker and sicker and sicker.

568
00:32:21,600 --> 00:32:28,480
Long story short, I went to the emergency room here in a very good hospital and I had

569
00:32:28,480 --> 00:32:31,800
to wait so long to even be seen.

570
00:32:31,800 --> 00:32:38,920
They would not give me the monoclonal antibodies, which I did qualify for.

571
00:32:38,920 --> 00:32:43,020
My husband kept saying, you know, but she is within the days and just that the other,

572
00:32:43,020 --> 00:32:48,420
they wouldn't and sent me home with paperwork that I would read only later because we were

573
00:32:48,420 --> 00:32:49,960
exhausted that day.

574
00:32:49,960 --> 00:32:50,960
Exhausted.

575
00:32:50,960 --> 00:32:52,680
I almost walked out.

576
00:32:52,680 --> 00:32:57,360
Sent me home with a double pneumonia, the beginning of pneumonia in both of my lungs

577
00:32:57,360 --> 00:32:58,920
and never told me.

578
00:32:58,920 --> 00:33:05,640
I went home and continued, isolated myself and then continued to decline.

579
00:33:05,640 --> 00:33:11,680
And finally, one day my husband asked me, well, are you going to die at home or are

580
00:33:11,680 --> 00:33:13,440
we doing something else?

581
00:33:13,440 --> 00:33:14,760
You know, is this it?

582
00:33:14,760 --> 00:33:19,420
I really don't like hospitals and I don't like taking medicine.

583
00:33:19,420 --> 00:33:21,880
But that's not pandemic.

584
00:33:21,880 --> 00:33:24,480
That's pre-pandemic and that's been all my life.

585
00:33:24,480 --> 00:33:28,360
And so I really didn't want to go to the hospital or anything like that.

586
00:33:28,360 --> 00:33:34,720
And then I called a spiritual son who's a doctor and he said, well, Pastor Becky, if

587
00:33:34,720 --> 00:33:38,680
you don't go, not just go to the hospital, but go in the ambulance right now, you're

588
00:33:38,680 --> 00:33:44,800
going to die because it's not that your oxygen levels are low.

589
00:33:44,800 --> 00:33:49,160
You've been on an oxygen machine at home and that's not doing it.

590
00:33:49,160 --> 00:33:51,660
So that's it.

591
00:33:51,660 --> 00:33:56,880
So I went by then my legs were completely swollen, my ankles, I couldn't walk.

592
00:33:56,880 --> 00:33:59,560
I could not even take a step without falling.

593
00:33:59,560 --> 00:34:02,120
I was in a real bad condition.

594
00:34:02,120 --> 00:34:04,400
So I get to the hospital, they checked me in.

595
00:34:04,400 --> 00:34:09,800
This is a different hospital where they treated me a little bit better and my husband's parked

596
00:34:09,800 --> 00:34:11,440
outside my daughter's with me.

597
00:34:11,440 --> 00:34:17,240
And he thought, well, thank God she's here and everything's going to be okay.

598
00:34:17,240 --> 00:34:23,480
Well, little did we know that the doctor that was on call in the emergency room that day

599
00:34:23,480 --> 00:34:26,960
had this terrible attitude towards people that were not vaccinated.

600
00:34:26,960 --> 00:34:30,200
There's just no other way I could finesse it.

601
00:34:30,200 --> 00:34:31,680
That's what it was.

602
00:34:31,680 --> 00:34:36,680
And I remember Katie, I was in the hallway and I said, I don't want to be in the hallway.

603
00:34:36,680 --> 00:34:41,200
And I told Katie pray and she prayed very loudly.

604
00:34:41,200 --> 00:34:47,720
And as soon as she said, amen, we got a consult room, like a little examining room.

605
00:34:47,720 --> 00:34:52,760
And I was wheeled in by the guys that had brought me in with the ambulance.

606
00:34:52,760 --> 00:34:59,920
I was so grateful to be in that room because I had a little privacy and I was there.

607
00:34:59,920 --> 00:35:03,080
And anyway, long story short, it was terrible.

608
00:35:03,080 --> 00:35:07,000
I ended up getting, after many hours, I got a CAT scan with contrast.

609
00:35:07,000 --> 00:35:12,480
And when the results came in, the doctor, the same doctor that was in the emergency

610
00:35:12,480 --> 00:35:19,120
room came to the room, crossed his legs, crossed his arms in front of his chest, leaned back

611
00:35:19,120 --> 00:35:23,080
in the most arrogant and wicked way and looked at me and my daughter.

612
00:35:23,080 --> 00:35:31,360
You need to understand, I am on a cot or whatever it is and I have oxygen because that's why

613
00:35:31,360 --> 00:35:34,040
I came in because I can't breathe.

614
00:35:34,040 --> 00:35:39,920
And he said, your lungs are shot with the attitude.

615
00:35:39,920 --> 00:35:45,000
Your lungs are shot and it's going to take, and if you make it, you'll be in rehab for

616
00:35:45,000 --> 00:35:48,480
months at some facility.

617
00:35:48,480 --> 00:35:51,560
What flashed through my mind initially was lung transplant?

618
00:35:51,560 --> 00:35:54,400
Am I going to need a lung transplant?

619
00:35:54,400 --> 00:35:58,600
But his demeanor was just so negative and so bad.

620
00:35:58,600 --> 00:36:05,120
Now this young boy from my church that's a doctor had said, write this down.

621
00:36:05,120 --> 00:36:10,880
I had in a little paper, like five or six things that could have been given to a patient

622
00:36:10,880 --> 00:36:12,200
such as myself, right?

623
00:36:12,200 --> 00:36:13,200
Yeah.

624
00:36:13,200 --> 00:36:16,640
And to each one, he'd say, no, no, no, no, no.

625
00:36:16,640 --> 00:36:23,000
To the point that he left and then the nurse that came in, a Christian nurse from San Antonio,

626
00:36:23,000 --> 00:36:27,080
because remember they were traveling and serving in different hospitals.

627
00:36:27,080 --> 00:36:33,320
She looked at the computer and on my record, this man had given an order of no liquids,

628
00:36:33,320 --> 00:36:36,040
no IV, no food, nothing.

629
00:36:36,040 --> 00:36:37,040
What?

630
00:36:37,040 --> 00:36:38,040
Yes.

631
00:36:38,040 --> 00:36:43,680
And when the nurse brought it to our attention, that's when I realized because from the ambulance

632
00:36:43,680 --> 00:36:49,880
I already had the needle on my hand, but I wasn't hooked up to anything.

633
00:36:49,880 --> 00:36:52,600
By then the guys had left, you know?

634
00:36:52,600 --> 00:36:54,880
And I thought that is so weird.

635
00:36:54,880 --> 00:36:57,080
This guy is horrible.

636
00:36:57,080 --> 00:37:03,360
I told my daughter, call your father and tell him to get Pedialyte and Katie brought it

637
00:37:03,360 --> 00:37:08,560
into my room and I'm chugging Pedialyte between breaths with oxygen.

638
00:37:08,560 --> 00:37:15,420
But before that, when the man had come in, he was so negative and it turned into from

639
00:37:15,420 --> 00:37:22,100
negative to hateful to, it was demonic and it just dawned on me, wait a minute, this

640
00:37:22,100 --> 00:37:25,640
has a spiritual aspect to it.

641
00:37:25,640 --> 00:37:30,640
And I told him, get out of the room, get out, just get out of my room.

642
00:37:30,640 --> 00:37:35,400
And he left and I told Katie, pray and cancel every negative word this man has spoken over

643
00:37:35,400 --> 00:37:36,400
me.

644
00:37:36,400 --> 00:37:39,360
And we prayed and Katie sounded like a little cat.

645
00:37:39,360 --> 00:37:44,800
She was purring and praying and speaking in tongues, you know, and canceling with such

646
00:37:44,800 --> 00:37:50,720
a sense of urgency because I thought I'm under his authority and I'm not going to allow him

647
00:37:50,720 --> 00:37:53,120
to speak death over me basically.

648
00:37:53,120 --> 00:37:55,440
At one point I told him, what do you want me to do?

649
00:37:55,440 --> 00:37:56,920
Check out and die?

650
00:37:56,920 --> 00:37:57,920
What do you want me to do?

651
00:37:57,920 --> 00:38:00,120
But it was a spiritual battle.

652
00:38:00,120 --> 00:38:02,480
So we prayed, canceled at 3 a.m.

653
00:38:02,480 --> 00:38:03,960
Katie had to go.

654
00:38:03,960 --> 00:38:04,960
She left.

655
00:38:04,960 --> 00:38:08,280
I said goodbye to her like it was my last time to see her.

656
00:38:08,280 --> 00:38:10,480
She said goodbye to me as well.

657
00:38:10,480 --> 00:38:11,720
Her father and her drove home.

658
00:38:11,720 --> 00:38:12,720
It was horrible.

659
00:38:12,720 --> 00:38:14,000
My son had COVID.

660
00:38:14,000 --> 00:38:15,520
He was at the house.

661
00:38:15,520 --> 00:38:21,520
But that night in the middle of the darkest night of my life, a lovely lady from my church

662
00:38:21,520 --> 00:38:27,680
had a dream in Columbia, called me through WhatsApp and texted me a whole dream that

663
00:38:27,680 --> 00:38:31,720
she'd had that I was in anguish pacing in a room.

664
00:38:31,720 --> 00:38:36,520
A man dressed in white came in, hugged me, and spoke to my ear and said, everything is

665
00:38:36,520 --> 00:38:38,280
going to be all right.

666
00:38:38,280 --> 00:38:43,960
My husband had gone home thinking he'd become a widow, went into a prayer closet literally

667
00:38:43,960 --> 00:38:49,160
because I found the chair in the closet and said, God, I never come to the place of desperation.

668
00:38:49,160 --> 00:38:50,380
I'm there today.

669
00:38:50,380 --> 00:38:51,380
Give me a word.

670
00:38:51,380 --> 00:38:54,160
Give me a stone that I can hurl at this giant.

671
00:38:54,160 --> 00:38:55,720
Give me something.

672
00:38:55,720 --> 00:39:01,640
And the words to a song that he had heard on the radio, and KSBJ came to him.

673
00:39:01,640 --> 00:39:05,160
And part of the song said, and everything's going to be all right.

674
00:39:05,160 --> 00:39:11,160
At 6 a.m., when they go back to the hospital, my son who's been in the room says, Dad, last

675
00:39:11,160 --> 00:39:16,080
night I went through all my iPhones and on some old iPhone, I found this song that I

676
00:39:16,080 --> 00:39:17,080
wrote.

677
00:39:17,080 --> 00:39:20,600
It says, take me to the river, a place where I could pray, da da da da da, and everything

678
00:39:20,600 --> 00:39:22,160
is going to be okay.

679
00:39:22,160 --> 00:39:24,400
To Joe, it was two confirmations.

680
00:39:24,400 --> 00:39:27,800
By the time they got to the hospital, I had mine, same word.

681
00:39:27,800 --> 00:39:32,720
And when my daughter told me the song my son wrote, and everything's going to be okay,

682
00:39:32,720 --> 00:39:38,120
the rainbow word that my husband got in prayer, everything's going to be okay, and the word

683
00:39:38,120 --> 00:39:42,640
from the dream that this Colombian believer sent me through WhatsApp, everything's going

684
00:39:42,640 --> 00:39:43,880
to be okay.

685
00:39:43,880 --> 00:39:46,960
I knew that I wasn't going to die, and I knew it.

686
00:39:46,960 --> 00:39:52,400
And that night, another thing that had happened was that my spirit had prayed, prayed, prayed,

687
00:39:52,400 --> 00:39:54,280
sang, worshiped.

688
00:39:54,280 --> 00:40:01,160
My memory, my, remember my body's weak, but my spirit remembered every part of every song.

689
00:40:01,160 --> 00:40:04,700
I was just worshiping and praying and interceding.

690
00:40:04,700 --> 00:40:08,560
So I want to say, get filled with the spirit, but get filled with the word of God, because

691
00:40:08,560 --> 00:40:14,680
in your, on your evil day, your spirit will stand up for you and will use every single

692
00:40:14,680 --> 00:40:19,480
scripture that you have inserted into your heart and your mind.

693
00:40:19,480 --> 00:40:25,080
It was just, it was really cool actually, because I was so weak, but my spirit kind

694
00:40:25,080 --> 00:40:26,300
of took over.

695
00:40:26,300 --> 00:40:32,680
So when Katie came that day, something had broken in the atmosphere, you know, like that

696
00:40:32,680 --> 00:40:34,220
darkness.

697
00:40:34,220 --> 00:40:38,040
And then in the morning when the doctors came for their rounds, they were completely different.

698
00:40:38,040 --> 00:40:39,800
They put me in a room.

699
00:40:39,800 --> 00:40:43,680
And after that, it was clubbed, my dear clubbed.

700
00:40:43,680 --> 00:40:46,120
I was on regular diet.

701
00:40:46,120 --> 00:40:50,120
I asked Joe to bring me all the stuff that I always wanted to read and never have time

702
00:40:50,120 --> 00:40:56,840
to, to read, like medieval iconography stuff that I know weird, but I love to read about

703
00:40:56,840 --> 00:41:01,200
stuff like that and all kinds of history and books and Bible and whatnot.

704
00:41:01,200 --> 00:41:04,160
And I had a club med week.

705
00:41:04,160 --> 00:41:11,400
By Friday, I went to the bathroom and I took my oxygen off and I forgot to put it back

706
00:41:11,400 --> 00:41:13,720
on because I was reading something.

707
00:41:13,720 --> 00:41:16,640
And the nurse came in and said, what are you, what are you doing?

708
00:41:16,640 --> 00:41:18,320
You don't have oxygen.

709
00:41:18,320 --> 00:41:19,320
And then I thought, oh my God.

710
00:41:19,320 --> 00:41:21,240
And she said, wait, let me check your levels.

711
00:41:21,240 --> 00:41:23,520
I was perfectly fine.

712
00:41:23,520 --> 00:41:31,140
And I called Joe and I said, Joe, the house better be clean because I am coming home because

713
00:41:31,140 --> 00:41:35,840
I felt the grace of God to be there, go up, off.

714
00:41:35,840 --> 00:41:37,280
It just went boop.

715
00:41:37,280 --> 00:41:40,160
Like I had grace to be there and suddenly I didn't.

716
00:41:40,160 --> 00:41:42,400
It's like boop.

717
00:41:42,400 --> 00:41:43,400
And sure enough.

718
00:41:43,400 --> 00:41:45,200
I mean, he was trying to encourage me.

719
00:41:45,200 --> 00:41:49,280
Oh, Becky, I don't want to put, you know, I want to discourage you, but I know you're

720
00:41:49,280 --> 00:41:51,520
going to be there for more than a week.

721
00:41:51,520 --> 00:41:54,880
And I said, no, no, you better clean, start cleaning the kitchen.

722
00:41:54,880 --> 00:41:56,880
Cause I know you guys.

723
00:41:56,880 --> 00:41:59,000
And sure enough, I went home.

724
00:41:59,000 --> 00:42:00,200
I went home.

725
00:42:00,200 --> 00:42:01,200
It was all God.

726
00:42:01,200 --> 00:42:02,200
It was all God.

727
00:42:02,200 --> 00:42:07,640
I mean, you've had a life of miracles, you know, from the very beginning up until now,

728
00:42:07,640 --> 00:42:12,680
you've seen God working in your life because you have thrown yourself on his mercy.

729
00:42:12,680 --> 00:42:17,800
And he always comes through, you know, Becky, as a pastor and a minister, you encounter

730
00:42:17,800 --> 00:42:20,600
people in every stage of their faith walk.

731
00:42:20,600 --> 00:42:24,680
And what message do you think is most needed by believers today?

732
00:42:24,680 --> 00:42:29,300
What truths have you found necessary in your walk with the Lord that you can pass on to

733
00:42:29,300 --> 00:42:34,920
others who are, you know, going through this, this life today in our crazy world?

734
00:42:34,920 --> 00:42:41,200
I would have to say that in spite of whatever you feel and actually see and are literally

735
00:42:41,200 --> 00:42:45,120
going through, I validate all those things.

736
00:42:45,120 --> 00:42:46,120
It's true.

737
00:42:46,120 --> 00:42:49,720
You're going through a hard time and suffering is a real thing.

738
00:42:49,720 --> 00:42:51,000
But so is God.

739
00:42:51,000 --> 00:42:52,000
So is God.

740
00:42:52,000 --> 00:42:59,480
And in spite of any disappointments, you cannot on your darkest day and your deepest pit, turn

741
00:42:59,480 --> 00:43:02,960
your back against the only one that can get you out of there.

742
00:43:02,960 --> 00:43:08,960
We are so tempted many times to lift up our fist in the face of God when we're in pain.

743
00:43:08,960 --> 00:43:12,920
You know, when a dog is in pain or hurt, whatever, they might bite you.

744
00:43:12,920 --> 00:43:17,240
And there's a lot of people out there that are biting God and that are biting people

745
00:43:17,240 --> 00:43:22,960
of faith and biting, you know, an angry against scripture, angry against anything that has

746
00:43:22,960 --> 00:43:25,980
to do with faith because they've been hurt and disappointed.

747
00:43:25,980 --> 00:43:32,160
But that disappointment and hurt does not take away one bit from who God is.

748
00:43:32,160 --> 00:43:39,640
There's a scripture in Deuteronomy that says the eternal God is our refuge and beneath

749
00:43:39,640 --> 00:43:41,440
are the everlasting arms.

750
00:43:41,440 --> 00:43:47,720
And what I always picture myself as maybe falling deep in a disappointing, you know,

751
00:43:47,720 --> 00:43:52,880
manner, maybe you can't believe you are where you're at.

752
00:43:52,880 --> 00:43:56,480
Maybe you're just so shocked that your life has taken a horrible turn.

753
00:43:56,480 --> 00:43:59,800
But if you look down, God is there with you.

754
00:43:59,800 --> 00:44:04,720
The everlasting arms are even lower than whenever you're at.

755
00:44:04,720 --> 00:44:06,840
Some people think I cannot be forgiven.

756
00:44:06,840 --> 00:44:08,720
I cannot be restored.

757
00:44:08,720 --> 00:44:11,960
I cannot possibly come back to God.

758
00:44:11,960 --> 00:44:17,220
I've just hurt him so much or, you know, like I say, lifted my fist against him.

759
00:44:17,220 --> 00:44:23,960
But you can look further down and his arms are there not for you to keep falling, but

760
00:44:23,960 --> 00:44:26,240
to lift you up.

761
00:44:26,240 --> 00:44:32,360
The eternal God is your refuge and beneath you are the everlasting arms.

762
00:44:32,360 --> 00:44:33,760
It doesn't say if you believe it.

763
00:44:33,760 --> 00:44:35,880
It doesn't say anything like that.

764
00:44:35,880 --> 00:44:37,640
It says they just are.

765
00:44:37,640 --> 00:44:39,040
God just is.

766
00:44:39,040 --> 00:44:44,640
And that's just like Celine Dion says, that's the way it is.

767
00:44:44,640 --> 00:44:45,640
God is God.

768
00:44:45,640 --> 00:44:46,920
And there's no point.

769
00:44:46,920 --> 00:44:49,900
Look, there's another thing I want to say to people.

770
00:44:49,900 --> 00:44:51,920
Life is made up of time.

771
00:44:51,920 --> 00:44:54,020
Quit wasting time.

772
00:44:54,020 --> 00:45:00,720
Quit wasting life and being bitter or trying to enjoy something that'll kill you in the

773
00:45:00,720 --> 00:45:07,120
end or live a life turning your back towards God when one day you're going to die and you're

774
00:45:07,120 --> 00:45:08,680
going to face them.

775
00:45:08,680 --> 00:45:09,680
We're all going to die.

776
00:45:09,680 --> 00:45:10,680
You know, that's true.

777
00:45:10,680 --> 00:45:11,680
Yeah.

778
00:45:11,680 --> 00:45:13,520
We're all going to die.

779
00:45:13,520 --> 00:45:20,400
Don't waste your life not being curious about what plan he has for you because however great

780
00:45:20,400 --> 00:45:24,680
your plan is, God's is mind blowing better.

781
00:45:24,680 --> 00:45:26,080
And I had an idea.

782
00:45:26,080 --> 00:45:27,080
I wanted to be a doctor.

783
00:45:27,080 --> 00:45:28,080
Who doesn't want to be a doctor?

784
00:45:28,080 --> 00:45:29,800
Who doesn't want to make a lot of money?

785
00:45:29,800 --> 00:45:31,840
Who doesn't want to enjoy their career?

786
00:45:31,840 --> 00:45:38,680
I could picture myself doing all those things and yet God's plan was so completely different.

787
00:45:38,680 --> 00:45:40,960
My life, I can say, it took a turn.

788
00:45:40,960 --> 00:45:42,640
Oh, and I couldn't go back.

789
00:45:42,640 --> 00:45:45,800
My parents took all that money for college and gave it to the church.

790
00:45:45,800 --> 00:45:50,700
She said a second insurance for you to stay in the ministry.

791
00:45:50,700 --> 00:45:57,040
We have to make a decision to if you don't know God or you're not church or you're

792
00:45:57,040 --> 00:46:03,760
unreligious or an atheist even or an agnostic, you know, you do need to give God an opportunity

793
00:46:03,760 --> 00:46:06,160
in your life because you're not giving it to God.

794
00:46:06,160 --> 00:46:07,680
You're giving it to yourself.

795
00:46:07,680 --> 00:46:10,240
If you say you don't believe, I'll tell you one thing.

796
00:46:10,240 --> 00:46:11,560
That's not true.

797
00:46:11,560 --> 00:46:14,360
God gives everybody a little measure of faith.

798
00:46:14,360 --> 00:46:18,000
Maybe you're using your faith and applying it to the wrong thing.

799
00:46:18,000 --> 00:46:22,800
Try Jesus with that little measure of faith you have and miracles will happen and you

800
00:46:22,800 --> 00:46:24,760
will see the supernatural.

801
00:46:24,760 --> 00:46:26,760
God is supernatural.

802
00:46:26,760 --> 00:46:28,840
You are an eternal being.

803
00:46:28,840 --> 00:46:33,840
One day you will live forever either in the presence of God or if you choose to turn your

804
00:46:33,840 --> 00:46:39,820
back to him in this life, then it's only fair that you go to a place where you don't get

805
00:46:39,820 --> 00:46:41,080
to live with him.

806
00:46:41,080 --> 00:46:43,400
And that's called fairness.

807
00:46:43,400 --> 00:46:45,520
We live in a society that wants to be fair.

808
00:46:45,520 --> 00:46:47,040
Well, that is fair.

809
00:46:47,040 --> 00:46:48,040
But you have a chance.

810
00:46:48,040 --> 00:46:49,040
You're alive.

811
00:46:49,040 --> 00:46:50,040
You're listening to this.

812
00:46:50,040 --> 00:46:51,280
Somebody sent it to you.

813
00:46:51,280 --> 00:46:55,560
Somebody talked to you about this message, this podcast that this lady has and invites

814
00:46:55,560 --> 00:46:59,320
this other nut lady to talk on her podcast, you know.

815
00:46:59,320 --> 00:47:02,440
Well, let me tell you, God loves you.

816
00:47:02,440 --> 00:47:03,440
He's real.

817
00:47:03,440 --> 00:47:06,840
And go to the one who can untangle you.

818
00:47:06,840 --> 00:47:10,960
Go to the one who loves you unconditionally.

819
00:47:10,960 --> 00:47:12,540
I mean, wow.

820
00:47:12,540 --> 00:47:13,540
Who is that?

821
00:47:13,540 --> 00:47:14,540
That's Jesus.

822
00:47:14,540 --> 00:47:19,560
Well, Becky, as we close, I always ask my guests if there's a woman in the Bible whose

823
00:47:19,560 --> 00:47:23,360
story inspired or encouraged or taught you something.

824
00:47:23,360 --> 00:47:29,200
I'm sure there's many, many, but someone that comes to mind now and how her story relates

825
00:47:29,200 --> 00:47:30,200
to yours.

826
00:47:30,200 --> 00:47:31,200
Can you share that?

827
00:47:31,200 --> 00:47:36,420
Well, in Genesis 24, there's Rebecca and that happens to be my name.

828
00:47:36,420 --> 00:47:41,480
And that was the chapter God used to call me for the ministry whenever I was 14 years

829
00:47:41,480 --> 00:47:42,480
old.

830
00:47:42,480 --> 00:47:48,160
So if you read that chapter, read it, homework, Genesis 24, you'll see that you have a man

831
00:47:48,160 --> 00:47:50,440
that's going out to find a bride.

832
00:47:50,440 --> 00:47:55,360
And when he finds this girl, he doesn't know that's her name, finds her everything she

833
00:47:55,360 --> 00:47:56,400
starts doing.

834
00:47:56,400 --> 00:47:58,160
She does it in haste.

835
00:47:58,160 --> 00:47:59,520
She ran.

836
00:47:59,520 --> 00:48:05,760
She quickly drew the water, which was a lot of water for all these camels.

837
00:48:05,760 --> 00:48:07,760
Camels drink a lot of water.

838
00:48:07,760 --> 00:48:13,240
And this girl was volunteering to do all this for this stranger.

839
00:48:13,240 --> 00:48:18,840
And then God blessed her quickly and she went back and married Isaac.

840
00:48:18,840 --> 00:48:29,360
That chapter really impacted my life because it showed that slow obedience is no obedience.

841
00:48:29,360 --> 00:48:31,980
That's one thing I used to tell my kids too.

842
00:48:31,980 --> 00:48:38,160
When God speaks to you, it's a privilege when the God who created all things speaks to any

843
00:48:38,160 --> 00:48:42,840
of us in your heart, in your mind, through scripture, a song, a time of worship, a retreat,

844
00:48:42,840 --> 00:48:43,840
in your car.

845
00:48:43,840 --> 00:48:48,840
Look, it's a privilege when you feel that presence of God or that little trickle in

846
00:48:48,840 --> 00:48:50,600
your mind.

847
00:48:50,600 --> 00:48:51,720
Respond to the Lord.

848
00:48:51,720 --> 00:48:55,600
And the way we grow is through obedience.

849
00:48:55,600 --> 00:49:00,540
And Rebecca obeyed, obeyed, obeyed, obeyed, and she was blessed.

850
00:49:00,540 --> 00:49:05,920
And the blessing at the end says, may you be the mother of thousands upon thousands

851
00:49:05,920 --> 00:49:08,940
upon thousands, you know, many generations.

852
00:49:08,940 --> 00:49:11,000
And that's what she was.

853
00:49:11,000 --> 00:49:17,800
And I've seen the Lord take my life that is very insignificant.

854
00:49:17,800 --> 00:49:25,140
I'm not special in any way, but God has used me to bless multitudes of people.

855
00:49:25,140 --> 00:49:29,720
And only in heaven will all know what we actually did for him.

856
00:49:29,720 --> 00:49:34,000
I just encourage people to do what Rebecca did.

857
00:49:34,000 --> 00:49:35,900
Listen and hasten.

858
00:49:35,900 --> 00:49:38,200
Be quick to obey.

859
00:49:38,200 --> 00:49:40,160
Some people say, why doesn't God bless me?

860
00:49:40,160 --> 00:49:41,160
I want things fast.

861
00:49:41,160 --> 00:49:44,280
Well, do you obey him fast?

862
00:49:44,280 --> 00:49:48,440
Fast obedience sometimes brings a faster blessing.

863
00:49:48,440 --> 00:49:50,700
And that's what I've seen in my life.

864
00:49:50,700 --> 00:49:54,120
Some things hit me quicker, others are on the way.

865
00:49:54,120 --> 00:49:57,320
And as I believe they're on the way, I bless them with my mouth.

866
00:49:57,320 --> 00:49:58,320
I thank God.

867
00:49:58,320 --> 00:50:00,080
I praise him in faith.

868
00:50:00,080 --> 00:50:01,320
That's the faith life.

869
00:50:01,320 --> 00:50:02,560
It's trusting God completely.

870
00:50:02,560 --> 00:50:09,000
You know, Hebrews 11, 6 says, without faith, it's impossible to believe God because anyone

871
00:50:09,000 --> 00:50:13,400
who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek

872
00:50:13,400 --> 00:50:14,560
him.

873
00:50:14,560 --> 00:50:18,680
And then scripture lists a bunch of examples of people who acted in faith.

874
00:50:18,680 --> 00:50:23,320
In that same chapter, verses 13 through 16, it says, all these people, all the people

875
00:50:23,320 --> 00:50:28,960
that we just read, you know, are in that Hebrews 11, all these people were longing for a better

876
00:50:28,960 --> 00:50:30,840
country, a heavenly one.

877
00:50:30,840 --> 00:50:36,760
Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God for he has prepared a city for them.

878
00:50:36,760 --> 00:50:39,640
And I would say, you know, this earthly life, it's not our destination.

879
00:50:39,640 --> 00:50:43,800
Like, like you've intimated, Becky, we're headed for a heavenly home.

880
00:50:43,800 --> 00:50:47,620
And as believers, we need to embrace that long view.

881
00:50:47,620 --> 00:50:52,980
If we live only for today, we are missing so much.

882
00:50:52,980 --> 00:50:56,800
God can give us a new perspective and he wants to, he wants to give us that heavenly perspective

883
00:50:56,800 --> 00:51:02,180
so that when we're looking around at the challenges, the temporary things that we're going through,

884
00:51:02,180 --> 00:51:04,100
we know it's not the end.

885
00:51:04,100 --> 00:51:08,360
And as believers, we've got to embrace that long view and walk by faith, keeping our eyes

886
00:51:08,360 --> 00:51:09,900
on Jesus.

887
00:51:09,900 --> 00:51:14,880
And then as that old song, turn your eyes upon Jesus declares, the things of this earth

888
00:51:14,880 --> 00:51:19,240
will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace.

889
00:51:19,240 --> 00:51:24,000
The only way we can suffer and go through trials and difficulties is if we have an eternal

890
00:51:24,000 --> 00:51:27,720
vision and suffering is part of life.

891
00:51:27,720 --> 00:51:29,960
This world is not our home, like you said.

892
00:51:29,960 --> 00:51:33,220
And that's a message is not too popular, but it's real.

893
00:51:33,220 --> 00:51:38,120
Think of Richard Wurmbren, tortured for Christ in prison and a terrible gulag.

894
00:51:38,120 --> 00:51:42,600
They have nothing to eat, but this deplorable soup that's nothing but water and who knows

895
00:51:42,600 --> 00:51:43,600
what.

896
00:51:43,600 --> 00:51:47,480
And they had a day of fasting and they would abstain from nutrition, which could have killed

897
00:51:47,480 --> 00:51:50,500
them because they didn't even ingest enough calories.

898
00:51:50,500 --> 00:51:55,960
They suffered serving the Lord because they stood up for him in a communist regime.

899
00:51:55,960 --> 00:51:57,580
They were beaten.

900
00:51:57,580 --> 00:52:01,880
And how could they endure this inhumane, hateful treatment?

901
00:52:01,880 --> 00:52:04,080
Some of them died young in there.

902
00:52:04,080 --> 00:52:11,000
Look at Watchman Nee, because they had a heavenly vision because their home is not down here.

903
00:52:11,000 --> 00:52:17,060
And we ought to preach this from the mountaintops, from the pulpits to our young people who seem

904
00:52:17,060 --> 00:52:19,760
to be so aimless sometimes and hopeless.

905
00:52:19,760 --> 00:52:24,440
We need to give them the true vision, that heavenly vision, that New Jerusalem, that

906
00:52:24,440 --> 00:52:26,600
place where we go, the kingdom of God.

907
00:52:26,600 --> 00:52:27,600
Amen.

908
00:52:27,600 --> 00:52:28,600
Well, I'm excited.

909
00:52:28,600 --> 00:52:29,600
I'm encouraged.

910
00:52:29,600 --> 00:52:35,480
Well, why don't you take a moment and pray for everyone who listens to our podcast here.

911
00:52:35,480 --> 00:52:40,760
Dear heavenly father, thank you for everyone who hears the sound of our voice or who is

912
00:52:40,760 --> 00:52:45,800
going to get this message as a secondary message through someone's mouth that repeats what

913
00:52:45,800 --> 00:52:47,200
we've shared.

914
00:52:47,200 --> 00:52:54,800
Father, open our eyes to real treasures, to reality, the reality of eternity and our place

915
00:52:54,800 --> 00:52:55,800
in it.

916
00:52:55,800 --> 00:53:00,040
Make us very curious and hungry for your purpose and you will.

917
00:53:00,040 --> 00:53:04,680
Psalms 138 verse 8 says, the Lord will fulfill his purpose in me.

918
00:53:04,680 --> 00:53:07,960
Forget not the work of your hands, Lord, in your mercy.

919
00:53:07,960 --> 00:53:14,400
And I thank you for each one because, Father, salvation is for everyone who hears and believes.

920
00:53:14,400 --> 00:53:18,520
And that belief triggers so many things in our life.

921
00:53:18,520 --> 00:53:23,960
Lord, for those who might be stuck on a sin or entangled in a terrible way, thank you

922
00:53:23,960 --> 00:53:25,480
that you are detangler.

923
00:53:25,480 --> 00:53:30,920
Lord, there's no mess that we could have gotten ourselves into that you cannot fix.

924
00:53:30,920 --> 00:53:35,600
So we come to you in humility, in acknowledgement, in repentance.

925
00:53:35,600 --> 00:53:38,020
And we say, Lord, we are sorry.

926
00:53:38,020 --> 00:53:43,560
We turn our back to evil and just turn around and now decide to walk towards you in Jesus

927
00:53:43,560 --> 00:53:48,520
mighty name who died and gave all of us for us, took our place on the cross that we might

928
00:53:48,520 --> 00:53:49,520
live.

929
00:53:49,520 --> 00:53:51,360
Amen and amen.

930
00:53:51,360 --> 00:53:53,160
Well thank you for tuning in.

931
00:53:53,160 --> 00:53:57,440
In our show notes at hergodstory.org, you can find links to the scriptures and other

932
00:53:57,440 --> 00:53:58,560
helpful information.

933
00:53:58,560 --> 00:54:03,560
And don't forget to sign up for periodic emails and download the free devotional that's

934
00:54:03,560 --> 00:54:05,200
on Women of the Bible.

935
00:54:05,200 --> 00:54:08,840
We'd love to pray with you on our 24 seven prayer and text line.

936
00:54:08,840 --> 00:54:16,200
So give us a call anytime at 855-459-CARE or email us at prayer at somebody cares.org.

937
00:54:16,200 --> 00:54:20,640
If you've enjoyed this podcast, please rate it and review it on Apple podcast or whatever

938
00:54:20,640 --> 00:54:22,000
streaming service you use.

939
00:54:22,000 --> 00:54:25,820
And we'd love for you to share the story with friends who might enjoy it.

940
00:54:25,820 --> 00:54:29,000
Be sure to follow the podcast so you don't miss another episode.

941
00:54:29,000 --> 00:54:37,080
And now dear friends, I leave you with a blessing adapted from Psalm 119 verses 33 through 35.

942
00:54:37,080 --> 00:54:41,040
May God teach you the way of his decrees so you can follow them.

943
00:54:41,040 --> 00:54:46,720
May he give you understanding so you can keep his law, obey it with all your heart and live.

944
00:54:46,720 --> 00:54:52,440
May he direct you in the path of his commands for there you will find delight.

945
00:54:52,440 --> 00:54:56,480
Her God Story is a ministry of Somebody Cares America and international.

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