God’s Plan For You Is Joy, Alissa Gustafson's Story

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

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

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

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and traveler on this journey of faith.

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Before David became King of Israel, he lived a life on the run.

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His peaceful life as a shepherd was upended when he spent years hiding from his father-in-law

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who wanted to kill him due to no fault of his own.

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The Psalms are filled with his anxious cries to God for help.

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Even as King, he went through dark times that tried his soul.

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But God carried him through each one.

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David is the one who wrote Psalm 18.

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And verses 1-6 and 16-19 in the NIV reads,

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I love you, Lord my strength.

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The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer.

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My God is my rock in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

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I call to the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and I've been saved from my enemies.

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The cords of death entangled me.

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The torrents of destruction overwhelmed me.

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The cords of the grave coiled around me.

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The snares of death confronted me.

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In my distress, I cried to the Lord.

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I cried to my God for help.

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From his temple he heard my voice.

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My cry came from him, before him, into his ears.

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He reached down from on high and took hold of me.

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He drew me out of deep waters.

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He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes who were too strong for me.

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They confronted me in the day of my disaster, but the Lord was my support.

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He brought me out into a spacious place.

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He rescued me because he delighted in me.

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My guest, Alyssa Gustafson, has known dark times in her life too, and has also experienced

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the rescue of the Lord.

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Alyssa serves with us at Somebody Cares America as our development specialist, and she's the

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one who develops the show notes for each podcast.

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A joyful spirit, Alyssa lives in Houston with her husband and son.

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Welcome Alyssa.

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Thank you for having me.

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What were some of the greatest influences in your life?

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Well, I was born and raised in California.

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My father had transferred there to go to a Bible college so he could become a pastor.

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So I grew up basically amongst the Redwoods and spent a lot of my time playing in the

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Redwoods.

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And the area we lived in was basically a very large version of a cul-de-sac for the Bible

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college.

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There was only Bible professors and Bible students in that area, so it was a very safe

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area to grow up in, in beautiful nature.

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So I spent a lot of time there, and my mother was a great reader, so that was another huge

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influence in my life.

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In fact, she kind of made it a game where, you know, when I was five, I could check out

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five books, and when I was six, I could check out six.

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So from there, I expanded, and I won't tell you how many books I can check out now.

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Well, I am, I'm a love to read too.

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I remember in those early days as an elementary school, we'd go home with our, you know, our

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book reading assignment, and we'd have to come back at the beginning of the year with

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a list of all the books we read during the summer.

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And inevitably, I always had the most books because I was an avid reader.

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I loved it.

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I would just sit in the house and read and read and read while, so I understand completely.

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You know, Alyssa, as a pastor's daughter, you heard a lot about God, but when did Jesus

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become real to you personally?

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I remember being saved on an Easter Sunday when I was five years old, and then around

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that couple years later, we ended up moving here to Houston.

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My dad was transferred and came to a church here in Houston, became an associate pastor,

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and we had a little children evangelist come out.

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So at seven years old, I got worried and decided to double check my salvation and said the

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salvation prayer again, because I was like, well, you know, I really want to make sure

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that God and I have a good relationship.

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And so from there on, he stuck around, luckily for me, because I didn't always remember

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to stick around for him.

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So he's faithful, isn't he?

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Yes, he is.

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So what was it like being a pastor's kid?

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Challenging.

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One thing is I grew up learning was that people who know your pastor know he's a pastor and

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they see the spiritual maturity, and then they see you as his daughter and they expect

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you to have the same spiritual maturity that your much older parent has without taking

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into consideration that sometimes you're just still a kid.

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And even as an adult, they still have 20 years worth of maturity time that God's had to work

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in their lives that not worked in yours yet.

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So it was an interesting dynamic because people expected more of you than anyone else around

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you and expected more of you than other kids your own age, especially.

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Yeah, that can put a lot of pressure on you, really undo pressure and really make you,

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I don't know, maybe even afraid to show who you really are.

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Yeah, and there's a lot of that going on.

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You know, you try to put this perfect front up.

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Yeah.

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And even to this day, I still struggle with trying to not be perfect, but just to be in

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God and allow him to be who he is in me and not try to attain that perfectionism because

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you get used to trying to present this perfect facade that others can see so there won't

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be judgment.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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I think about being in Christian ministry and being in church, you know, for many, many

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years.

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I won't mention how many on this podcast.

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And I think that can really be a problem for just the average believer as well, you know,

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trying to, you know, I'm a Christian, so I have to be perfect.

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God doesn't call us to pretend perfection.

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He says be holy because I'm holy, but that's only because of the work of God in us and

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because we are seeking him, not because we are putting on a front and a mask.

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So I would imagine being a pastor's kid would add much more pressure and stress.

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When you were a young teenager, two profound things occurred in your life.

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One was great and the other one was pretty shattering.

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Tell us what those were and how they impacted you.

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I'll actually start with the shattering because it happened first was when I was around 14

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years old, my parents got a divorce and that just wasn't something that was heard of in

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our denomination, you know, especially for a pastor and his wife to go through a divorce.

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And I didn't understand a lot of the dynamics being a young teenager.

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For me, it was devastating because I had been raised where that was something you didn't

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do and they did it.

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And it was very confusing and also very devastating because even though my father was hardly ever

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at home because he was always at church or at ministry or doing something, there was

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always the opportunity that he'd come home.

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And so my mother became basically mostly a single mother.

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My dad was there and he was a vital part of my life, but he wasn't there every day in

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every moment.

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And so that was devastating to me.

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Especially for me, he had the sense to pray that she's going to need more than what I

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can give her.

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And he started praying that I'd be filled with the Holy Spirit.

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And we went off to youth camp that summer, which I had done every summer.

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This was the first summer after the divorce.

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And I went off and was filled with the Holy Spirit while at that youth camp.

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While it was a beautiful camp, I think it was most beautiful that God answered that

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prayer of my father's to fill him with more of himself.

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Yeah.

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And so you're at this youth camp as a teenager.

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And what made you, I mean, I know it was your father's prayers that kind of gave you that,

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the Holy Spirit raised up that awareness of needing you.

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But what was it that kind of triggered in your thoughts that, hey, this is something

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I want now.

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This is something I need now.

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This is something I'm going to ask for.

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I think it was more of wanting more of God.

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In a way, I felt like my parents had turned away from God.

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And at the stage of life as a teenager, usually 14 and 15 year olds, they want to do the exact

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opposite of what their parents are doing.

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And since I felt my parents were going away from God, even though they not necessarily

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were going away from God, I felt that as a teenager.

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So I was running towards God instead.

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It was an opportunity to run even closer to God in a way that I hadn't before.

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Well divorce has such far reaching effects.

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I mean, you talked a little bit about it, but let's go a little bit deeper.

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How did your parents divorce change your life?

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I was angry, I think, partially.

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I didn't think I realized I was angry because in some ways it felt better because my father

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would realize he hadn't seen me in a while.

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And so I would see a little more quality time with him than I had in the past.

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And of course, one of the jokes I made was that I got double Christmas presents and double

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birthday presents.

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Of course, any teenager is going to love that.

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So I kind of disguised the anger for a long time and then started getting really depressed

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about it and became really emotional about it.

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In fact, I started where anything that happened, I had a very emotional response to it.

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Having that happen when I was a teenager and already having hormonal emotions add to that

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the stress of learning and basically a new way of life.

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As you go from a two parent home where you're an only child to being a mostly single parent

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home from day to day and how to adjust to that.

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It was quite an encounter, I think, for me would be a good word to describe it.

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Yeah.

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Well, God cares deeply about hurting children, especially those who have no parent to care

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for them in times of crisis.

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Over and over in scripture, he directs us to care for the orphans and the widows, which

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is why Somebody Cares created the Orphan and Widows Fund.

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As a company of women, we can do so much together to take care of the special needs and cultivate

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the special gifts of children who he's put in the care of our ministry partners around

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the world.

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I just ask you to pray about joining our number with a gift at hergodstory.org.

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You can click on help now and we even accept cryptocurrency right now.

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That's not so great because it's in free fall, but someday when it recovers, that might be

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a way that you want to give.

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Now Alyssa, back to you now, throughout your teens and into your twenties, you struggled

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with more than just anger.

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It was turning into depression, but at the same time you held on to your faith.

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Can you put into words what that struggle was like?

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It was one of those where everything that happened, I looked at it from a negative connotation.

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Everything was dark.

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It just got darker and at one point didn't want to even live because it was just so dark

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that I would literally be in a fetal position on the floor feeling like there was somebody

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sitting on top of me.

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The Holy Spirit would speak to me and say, you know, there are good things in your life.

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There are people who care about you.

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And I would argue, I would say, oh, well that person, they live too far away or that person

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doesn't even notice what I'm dealing with.

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In all honesty, they probably didn't understand because nobody can know the heart of a man

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except God.

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And so it got even darker and darker to a point I was ready to commit suicide at one

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point.

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And luckily somewhere along the line, God had spoken through a youth minister who was

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speaking to youth and teens.

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Suicide was a huge thing at that time that the church was trying to deal with.

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And he came out and he said that suicide is a trick of the devil because he knows God

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has a plan for your life.

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And he is so afraid of what that plan is that he's trying to get you to kill yourself so

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that God can't fulfill his plan in you.

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And luckily that stuck in my spirit.

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So when I did want to commit suicide, I remembered that over and over again.

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And it goes back to Jeremiah 29 where it says for I know the plans I have for you and they're

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good.

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Yeah.

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And God did have good plans and he kept reminding me of that gave me hope in the middle of all

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of that.

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As it went on though, I kept struggling.

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You know, I didn't after that, I didn't have problems with wanting to kill myself because

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I knew there had to be a plan.

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But I sure didn't like the plan that was panning out before me.

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I once heard a pastor talk about the Israelites wandering around in that hot desert and how

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awful it was.

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And I remember sitting there thinking, I'm in that desert.

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In fact, I think I'm under that mountain.

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In fact, I think I'm in a cave on that on the bottom side of that mountain.

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And then I started thinking, you know, I'm not even just in that cave.

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There is a pit in the back of that cave that I have fallen into and someone is spinning

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me around.

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And it's like every once in a while I'd spin and see a very small glimpse of light.

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You said that one message from that pastor pulled you from the brink of suicide.

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But what helped you make it through day to day when you're struggling with the darkness

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that was really trying to overwhelm you?

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I think a lot of it had to do with scriptures.

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One of the scriptures I had ironically during that time was Psalm 18, which you quoted at

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the beginning of this podcast, except part of the verse that stuck out to me at the time

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was one that you didn't say.

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And it was from 10 through 11.

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And it said, he mounted on the cherubim and flew and he soared on the wings of the wind.

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He made darkness is covering his canopy around him, the dark rain clouds of the sky.

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And for some reason, the image of God coming down on these wings of wind stuck in my spirit.

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And when I was rereading it the other day, I noticed it said he made darkness is covering.

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And while I was in the middle of that darkness, I never realized all that scripture was trying

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to speak to me because there was so much darkness around me that I didn't realize God was making

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that darkness his covering to come and rescue me in the middle of that.

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Well, I've never thought of that scripture that way, but it's such a powerful image.

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You know, nothing.

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I mean, you hear this, you know, that we know the scripture, nothing can separate us from

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the love of God, neither height nor depth, nor, you know, anything in all creation, but

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even oppressive darkness cannot separate us from God.

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He surrounds himself with it so he can sneak in on the darkness.

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I always love that image, but I love the fact that he will make that his own covering, you

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know, when we think it's taking us over.

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And during that time, were there friends that came alongside or activities that kind of

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helped you through?

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Luckily, God blessed me with a good group of friends who put up with me even when my

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emotions overtook me.

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They didn't understand the depression, but they were willing to stay my friend through

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the emotional outburst and, you know, seeing things in negative ways.

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They were willing to stay with me through all of that.

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We had a youth group leader who actually was not a official youth group leader.

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She had two teenagers and a younger daughter just underneath teenage years and realized

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that there was no youth group.

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So she decided, well, let's start one, had started with her, her own family, inviting

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friends over and it grew to include our entire church at the time.

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And instead of teaching us, she trained us to teach each other.

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She taught us to dig into the word every week.

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We'd all take turns.

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Everybody got a turn and you would take a turn.

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You would study some topic and then you would come back and present it to your peers.

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And I learned a lot about ministry during that time.

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And mostly that if you ask, God will teach you.

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And I loved teaching and I loved praying for those who were teaching at the time.

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So I really loved the ministry aspect of it.

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And a lot of those have gone on to minister in their own ways.

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And it's funny how many of us, you know, we didn't all become pastors, but we all became

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ministers in one way or other and forms.

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You know, some did it through military, some did it through, you know, being a car mechanic

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and helping on church on the weekends.

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But God trained us through that.

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Yeah, that's really a powerful lesson to learn at a young age that, you know, God can speak

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to you personally through His Word.

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And when you ask, He does answer.

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Yes, He does.

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Well, eventually you actually came to an end of yourself and you cried out in desperation.

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What brought you to that point and how did God respond?

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I think I got to a point where I had done all I could do or all I thought I could do.

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And I really just hated living with the depression.

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And you were in your 20s by now?

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I was in my 20s.

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It started around the age of 14 and now I'm like 26.

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So 12 years, I identified with the woman with the issue of blood who, you know, struggled

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with something for 12 years and was desperate for healing, desperate to do anything.

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And I got to that desperation point.

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I got to the point where I was like, God, I can't live like this anymore.

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It's dark, it's negative, it feels awful.

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I don't want to live like this anymore.

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And while I didn't want to kill myself, I basically challenged God and I said, you've

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got to either fix me or kill me.

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I'm not going to kill myself, but you've got to do something.

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And it was such a cry of desperation of my heart at that time.

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And so I went to church that Sunday and one of the little elderly women who always was

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joyful, you know, even the trials of her family hadn't really dampened her and she stands

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up in church.

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This is the time when we would all give testimonies at church.

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And she stood up and she talked about facing dark depression because she had a grandson

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who was going through very heavy medical problems.

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And she stood up in church and talked about being depressed.

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And my first thought was, she can't be depressed.

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She's too happy to be depressed.

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You know, we didn't talk about that in church.

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You know, you're supposed to be happy, not depressed.

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And she stood up, God bless her, in the middle of church service and said she had been depressed.

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And she said that she had spent 40 days in the Word of God looking up and researching

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what God had to say about joy.

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And I felt the Holy Spirit say to my spirit, this is your answer.

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And I was like, really?

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And God's like 40 days.

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So I got out my Strong's Concordance and I started looking up once a day, I pulled a

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scripture out that seemed to be about joy or rejoicing.

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I would start by writing out the scripture and then I would basically journal what I

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either thought the scripture meant or how I felt about the scripture.

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And I plugged along week after week after week.

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And about that third week, I hit Zephaniah 3, 14 and 17.

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And it says, sing daughter Zion, shout aloud Israel, be glad and rejoice with all your

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heart daughter Jerusalem.

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The Lord your God is with you, the mighty warrior who saves.

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He will take great delight in you.

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In his love, he will no longer rebuke you but will rejoice over you with singing.

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And I read that several times and then I went to journal it and I journaled, God, I don't

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believe you.

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That's a bold confession, but it's okay.

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God's okay with it.

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God's not afraid of our honesty.

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And that's one of the best things about God is that you can be honest with him.

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And I told him, I don't believe you.

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You know, if this is true, you're going to have to prove it to me.

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And for the next 24 hours, I heard every bird in the Houston area singing.

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In areas I didn't know there were birds to sing, there were birds singing.

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It was a beautiful blue sky, no cloudy kind of day.

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And I heard every bird rejoicing in song.

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And God's like, do you hear me singing now?

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Wow.

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And from that moment on, I felt a breaking in my spirit, breaking off of that depression.

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And while I still fought depression, I learned that God won the war that day.

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He won the war against depression.

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There would still be battles, but the war was done.

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God had broken it and was working on fixing me.

334
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Yeah.

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Well, after God healed you from that overwhelming depression, you started sharing your testimony.

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Why and what has been the result of that?

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I heard one time, not long after that, I was listening to a Christian broadcast, which

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wasn't something I normally did at that time in my life, probably not much along those

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lines still today.

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And someone was speaking about being depressed and being healed of depression.

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And it was on a nationally broadcasted Christian show.

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And I'd never heard someone on a nationally broadcast Christian show talk about depression.

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And he made the comment that no one will know God can heal it if we don't talk about it.

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And so that sparked something inside of me.

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And at the time I was doing little solos at church and I would start talking a little

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before the song, which I really enjoyed the talking part, oddly enough.

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And I started sharing.

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I was like, hey, I can share.

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I have an opportunity.

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And so I started sharing before I sang that God had healed me of depression.

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And I had so many women mostly come up to me.

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I had one who had a lovely life and always appeared to be in good mood.

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And she came up to me and she said, I've been on Prozac for the last three years.

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And my spirit said, whoa, because it wasn't something we talked about in church.

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And it basically opened a door.

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And she wasn't the only one that came up to me and said, thank you for saying that because

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I've dealt with depression.

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They had never been told God could heal it.

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And so now it's like, if somebody comes to me and it's like, God can heal it.

360
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You have to believe that.

361
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There is a spiritual oppression that can cause depression.

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It's not the only cause of depression, certainly.

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And we'll talk a little bit more about that later.

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But some depression is caused by spiritual dark forces.

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00:22:39,680 --> 00:22:40,720
Definitely.

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00:22:40,720 --> 00:22:46,460
In your young life, the anger that you felt at that divorce and maybe the betrayal really

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opened a door for that.

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And it grew.

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It grew in you to overwhelm you.

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It grew a lot.

371
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Yeah.

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But God gave you the answer.

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Yes, he did.

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And that spiritual oppression that was causing that depression left.

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So depression is largely misunderstood.

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Definitely.

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And what should we know about it?

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00:23:07,920 --> 00:23:13,320
One of the things that I've learned is that the brain is an organ just like your lungs

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or your liver or any other part of your body that's a vital part of your body.

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And depression is a mental health disease, which basically means it's a disease of

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the brain.

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If we had a lung disease, we would get help.

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And we would pray about it.

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We would seek help.

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We would seek medical attention.

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We haven't as a culture until recently even addressed the fact that mental health is a

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health issue.

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And learning that is vital because we tried to say that you can choose to be happy.

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Trust me when I say you can't always choose to be happy.

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You can make choices that lead you to a joy in the Lord.

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But just saying I'm going to choose to be happy while that will take you a step in the

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right direction won't cure depression.

393
00:24:02,240 --> 00:24:03,240
Yeah.

394
00:24:03,240 --> 00:24:11,800
And you know, I think a lot more people now are struggling with either mild or severe

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depression and other anxieties because of the challenges they face during COVID.

396
00:24:18,120 --> 00:24:19,120
Yes.

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You know, that physical health crisis, as we hear in the news, became kind of a mental

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health crisis.

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And we want to say there's hope for you.

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Jesus is the answer.

401
00:24:30,440 --> 00:24:35,480
And whether the prescription that he gave Alyssa to study joy for 40 days is what he

402
00:24:35,480 --> 00:24:37,600
has for you, ask him.

403
00:24:37,600 --> 00:24:43,360
He knows what will bring about that breakthrough in your life.

404
00:24:43,360 --> 00:24:44,360
Yeah.

405
00:24:44,360 --> 00:24:48,360
I'm a big believer in that there are several ways God can heal you from depression.

406
00:24:48,360 --> 00:24:53,080
He can do it the way he did with me where it was just me and God.

407
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There are medical doctors out there that can help because sometimes it's chemical imbalance

408
00:24:58,560 --> 00:24:59,840
that's causing it.

409
00:24:59,840 --> 00:25:01,800
And then sometimes you need therapy.

410
00:25:01,800 --> 00:25:04,680
You need someone to work through the emotions that led to it.

411
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And sometimes you need a combination of all three.

412
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Right.

413
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I'm, you know, I'm not a one fits all and God knows exactly what each person needs because

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he knows their heart and knows their spirit.

415
00:25:16,800 --> 00:25:17,800
Yeah.

416
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And that is so important that the Lord can give you direction.

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You know, he can say, yeah, you need to go to a doctor and then obedience is going to

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a doctor.

419
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Yep.

420
00:25:28,400 --> 00:25:32,560
And then study, study about joy and obedience is studying about joy.

421
00:25:32,560 --> 00:25:33,560
Right.

422
00:25:33,560 --> 00:25:38,320
He can say, you need some counsel to help you process this and obedience is doing that.

423
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So like you said, there's no one right way to do it except obedience to God.

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And even asking him in the first place, you know, we tend to think we can do it on our

425
00:25:49,200 --> 00:25:50,200
own.

426
00:25:50,200 --> 00:25:51,560
I tried for 12 years to do it on my own.

427
00:25:51,560 --> 00:25:53,760
I asked God into it and within three weeks.

428
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So there's a huge difference of trying to do it on your own and allowing God to do a

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00:25:58,720 --> 00:25:59,720
work.

430
00:25:59,720 --> 00:26:03,120
So God gave you some tools to deal with depression, you know, whenever it tried to creep back

431
00:26:03,120 --> 00:26:04,440
in your life.

432
00:26:04,440 --> 00:26:05,440
Share those.

433
00:26:05,440 --> 00:26:06,440
Will you?

434
00:26:06,440 --> 00:26:08,600
One of them is focus on joy.

435
00:26:08,600 --> 00:26:13,520
You know, Philippians 4, 8 says we, you know, whatever's true, whatever's noble, whatever's

436
00:26:13,520 --> 00:26:15,120
right, you know, think on these things.

437
00:26:15,120 --> 00:26:19,240
And there's a whole lot more in that scripture about what to think on.

438
00:26:19,240 --> 00:26:23,000
But think on the joy because when you think on the negative or look at everything that's

439
00:26:23,000 --> 00:26:26,520
wrong, you're going to start going down the wrong path.

440
00:26:26,520 --> 00:26:30,040
You have to at least start aiming your path the right way.

441
00:26:30,040 --> 00:26:32,040
It's like you can say I choose joy.

442
00:26:32,040 --> 00:26:37,760
But part of that is walking and focusing on the joyful things because, you know, your

443
00:26:37,760 --> 00:26:41,200
car can break down like mine did not too long ago.

444
00:26:41,200 --> 00:26:45,280
And there were happened to be some workers nearby who helped push it out of the way and

445
00:26:45,280 --> 00:26:48,200
someone who had a phone number to a good mechanic.

446
00:26:48,200 --> 00:26:50,200
There were good things in the middle of that.

447
00:26:50,200 --> 00:26:54,880
And everything situation we go through, the best thing is God's with us through it.

448
00:26:54,880 --> 00:26:59,760
And if we focus on that and then second, I would say stay in his word.

449
00:26:59,760 --> 00:27:04,960
I mean, that's how God saved me the first time is he kept bringing scripture after scripture

450
00:27:04,960 --> 00:27:08,960
to bring hope because without hope, you're lost.

451
00:27:08,960 --> 00:27:10,800
And there is hope in Jesus.

452
00:27:10,800 --> 00:27:15,640
And if we keep going back to his word and we see what it says about him and about our

453
00:27:15,640 --> 00:27:21,400
circumstances, there's going to be hope and joy that might not have been there.

454
00:27:21,400 --> 00:27:25,800
Another thing I would say would be to surround yourself with sources that uplift you have

455
00:27:25,800 --> 00:27:33,380
friends have church family that uplift you have books, radio programs, podcasts that

456
00:27:33,380 --> 00:27:35,560
uplift your spirit.

457
00:27:35,560 --> 00:27:40,920
Instead of focusing on the news on what's gone wrong today, focus on those things.

458
00:27:40,920 --> 00:27:44,120
And then God can use those to help bring you to a place of healing.

459
00:27:44,120 --> 00:27:51,480
Yeah, you know, it's so important to guard the gateways of our mind, what we see, what

460
00:27:51,480 --> 00:27:54,840
we hear, what we surround ourselves with.

461
00:27:54,840 --> 00:27:57,440
Gosh, music can change your mood, right?

462
00:27:57,440 --> 00:28:00,960
You can be in a great mood and listen to some depressing music.

463
00:28:00,960 --> 00:28:04,960
And all of a sudden you go, Oh, wow, you know, I'm feeling tired and sluggish today.

464
00:28:04,960 --> 00:28:10,600
Or you can, you can be kind of having a hard day, but you listen to some encouraging, uplifting

465
00:28:10,600 --> 00:28:12,600
music and it can change your whole perspective.

466
00:28:12,600 --> 00:28:18,960
Yeah, I have a playlist that's called despair to dancing that I started not long after God

467
00:28:18,960 --> 00:28:24,480
set me free that just basically led me along a path where it started off quiet, but then

468
00:28:24,480 --> 00:28:30,000
ended up more and more rejoicing and who God is to me and it helped for years.

469
00:28:30,000 --> 00:28:34,140
And you know, I still listen to it lovely because I love the music on it.

470
00:28:34,140 --> 00:28:38,920
But that was a good tool that God used to bring me even into better relationships.

471
00:28:38,920 --> 00:28:40,960
Yeah, that's such a great idea.

472
00:28:40,960 --> 00:28:44,440
And you know, it's really easy now to create those playlists.

473
00:28:44,440 --> 00:28:50,000
You know, you just add them on your MP3 player, your phone or Spotify or Pandora or whichever

474
00:28:50,000 --> 00:28:51,000
one you use.

475
00:28:51,000 --> 00:28:52,360
So that's a great idea.

476
00:28:52,360 --> 00:28:57,400
Well, in your twenties, in your late twenties, you met a wonderful man who became your husband.

477
00:28:57,400 --> 00:28:59,080
Tell us a little bit about that journey.

478
00:28:59,080 --> 00:29:02,800
I actually originally met him before God healed me.

479
00:29:02,800 --> 00:29:04,740
I was going to a small church.

480
00:29:04,740 --> 00:29:09,200
My dad had left the church we were going to and I was kind of wandering churches for a

481
00:29:09,200 --> 00:29:14,260
little bit and ended up going to a church that I had visited because they didn't know

482
00:29:14,260 --> 00:29:15,260
who my dad was.

483
00:29:15,260 --> 00:29:21,120
You know, going back to the expectations of a pastor's child, I went to a church where

484
00:29:21,120 --> 00:29:23,800
they barely knew who my dad was.

485
00:29:23,800 --> 00:29:29,160
And it was a great pastor there who loved encouraging people in what he felt God had

486
00:29:29,160 --> 00:29:30,160
called them to.

487
00:29:30,160 --> 00:29:36,240
Even if you didn't want to be encouraged into that particular ministry, he would practically

488
00:29:36,240 --> 00:29:41,480
push you into it in a loving, you know, enthusiastic way.

489
00:29:41,480 --> 00:29:45,640
And so I ended up going to this really small church that was so small they didn't even

490
00:29:45,640 --> 00:29:50,040
have a singles group because I was at the point where it's like, I'm going to church

491
00:29:50,040 --> 00:29:52,160
for God for my relationship with him.

492
00:29:52,160 --> 00:29:54,200
I'm not there to get married.

493
00:29:54,200 --> 00:29:59,840
There was one other single person at that church my age and spoiler alert, he ended

494
00:29:59,840 --> 00:30:02,160
up becoming my husband.

495
00:30:02,160 --> 00:30:05,560
And for several years, people kept trying to set us up.

496
00:30:05,560 --> 00:30:10,400
He had asked me to minister somewhere and we had this long conversation, probably over

497
00:30:10,400 --> 00:30:11,400
an hour long.

498
00:30:11,400 --> 00:30:15,640
And he said that while we were talking, God told him, this is the girl you're going to

499
00:30:15,640 --> 00:30:16,640
marry.

500
00:30:16,640 --> 00:30:20,840
Meantime, in my mind, it was going if he doesn't stop talking soon, I'm going to miss my TV

501
00:30:20,840 --> 00:30:21,840
show.

502
00:30:21,840 --> 00:30:28,440
So needless to say, God didn't speak the same way to me as he did to my husband.

503
00:30:28,440 --> 00:30:30,880
And everyone kept trying to set us up.

504
00:30:30,880 --> 00:30:33,280
And he kept going, no, if it's God, God will do it.

505
00:30:33,280 --> 00:30:36,760
And God eventually brought us around to where I'm kind of like, he's kind of interesting

506
00:30:36,760 --> 00:30:37,760
to talk to.

507
00:30:37,760 --> 00:30:38,760
I enjoy talking to him.

508
00:30:38,760 --> 00:30:43,320
And the conversations got longer and longer till we ended up going out to lunch for, I

509
00:30:43,320 --> 00:30:45,840
think it was a nine or 10 hour conversation.

510
00:30:45,840 --> 00:30:46,840
Wow.

511
00:30:46,840 --> 00:30:47,840
Okay.

512
00:30:47,840 --> 00:30:52,480
So a couple of weeks later, you know, everyone's going, okay, you're dating her now, so don't

513
00:30:52,480 --> 00:30:53,480
move fast.

514
00:30:53,480 --> 00:30:56,960
And this is our enthusiastic pastor who pushes everybody into anything.

515
00:30:56,960 --> 00:30:58,560
He's not so enthusiastic and fishing.

516
00:30:58,560 --> 00:31:01,920
He's like, okay, you're dating her, move slow.

517
00:31:01,920 --> 00:31:04,160
So what do we do two weeks later on a date?

518
00:31:04,160 --> 00:31:06,800
My husband's like, you know, I've got to be honest with you.

519
00:31:06,800 --> 00:31:08,520
I'm not fooling around.

520
00:31:08,520 --> 00:31:11,760
I'm here because I plan on marrying you.

521
00:31:11,760 --> 00:31:13,960
And I looked at him and thought, hmm.

522
00:31:13,960 --> 00:31:18,680
And I said, well, you've got to go through a whole year with me and see if you still,

523
00:31:18,680 --> 00:31:22,040
you know, every season, because people change throughout the year.

524
00:31:22,040 --> 00:31:26,280
If you still want to marry me after that year, you can ask at the end of the year, but then

525
00:31:26,280 --> 00:31:28,900
you have to give me a year to plan.

526
00:31:28,900 --> 00:31:34,360
So my husband pulled out his planner, looked to see when two years from the date we were

527
00:31:34,360 --> 00:31:39,960
talking on was, and he's like, well, that's kind of, kind of close to Valentine's day.

528
00:31:39,960 --> 00:31:48,600
So we picked out a date for our wedding on our second date and got married on that date.

529
00:31:48,600 --> 00:31:51,880
We didn't tell anyone for six months, we picked out a date.

530
00:31:51,880 --> 00:31:53,360
But he stuck with you at the end of the year.

531
00:31:53,360 --> 00:31:54,360
Yes, he did.

532
00:31:54,360 --> 00:31:56,840
He actually asked a little earlier because it was like Y2K.

533
00:31:56,840 --> 00:32:00,880
And so he's like, can I ask you early so that, you know, it's more special?

534
00:32:00,880 --> 00:32:04,400
All right, I guess so.

535
00:32:04,400 --> 00:32:06,120
Still need that full year to plan.

536
00:32:06,120 --> 00:32:07,120
Yeah.

537
00:32:07,120 --> 00:32:11,920
So a few years later after your son was born, you started feeling depressed again, but it

538
00:32:11,920 --> 00:32:14,880
was a, it was a different kind of depression this time.

539
00:32:14,880 --> 00:32:15,880
So what did you do?

540
00:32:15,880 --> 00:32:17,640
How did you sense that it was different?

541
00:32:17,640 --> 00:32:18,640
And what did you do?

542
00:32:18,640 --> 00:32:21,880
I knew there was a possibility of part of depression.

543
00:32:21,880 --> 00:32:26,020
So when it first started, I started feeling the depression coming on again.

544
00:32:26,020 --> 00:32:31,160
And I thought it doesn't feel as oppressive as it did when I dealt with it for 12 years.

545
00:32:31,160 --> 00:32:32,480
It still was depression.

546
00:32:32,480 --> 00:32:33,480
It was still hard.

547
00:32:33,480 --> 00:32:35,320
And it was still hard.

548
00:32:35,320 --> 00:32:39,280
You know, you're more weepy, you're more, you know, you're still seeing things in a

549
00:32:39,280 --> 00:32:41,480
negative dark way.

550
00:32:41,480 --> 00:32:44,320
And I thought, well, I'm going to go to the doctor.

551
00:32:44,320 --> 00:32:47,240
And luckily for me, God led me to the right doctor.

552
00:32:47,240 --> 00:32:52,560
I walked in, told him my symptoms and he said, well, sounds like postpartum depression, which

553
00:32:52,560 --> 00:32:54,960
I already kind of knew it might be that.

554
00:32:54,960 --> 00:32:56,880
And he's like, well, I'm gonna put you on these pills.

555
00:32:56,880 --> 00:33:01,400
I'm going to give you a sample and then you know, you'll get the whole prescription filled

556
00:33:01,400 --> 00:33:04,760
and then you'll take them for a year and then you'll come off of them.

557
00:33:04,760 --> 00:33:05,760
And so he gave me the sample.

558
00:33:05,760 --> 00:33:06,840
I took the sample.

559
00:33:06,840 --> 00:33:11,720
We finished the exam and then, you know, I checked out, went to my car.

560
00:33:11,720 --> 00:33:15,200
By the time I hit my car, I felt like 180 degree turn had happened.

561
00:33:15,200 --> 00:33:16,200
Wow.

562
00:33:16,200 --> 00:33:17,280
So it like was night and day.

563
00:33:17,280 --> 00:33:20,880
It was night and day in less than 20 minutes.

564
00:33:20,880 --> 00:33:26,400
So definitely a chemical depression that time and it was one of the things God used to show

565
00:33:26,400 --> 00:33:27,400
me.

566
00:33:27,400 --> 00:33:31,600
He's like, sometimes it's oppressive, sometimes it's chemical, but I can still heal.

567
00:33:31,600 --> 00:33:32,600
Yeah.

568
00:33:32,600 --> 00:33:35,880
He gave the doctor's wisdom to create the medicine to help us.

569
00:33:35,880 --> 00:33:39,760
So we need to allow God to heal us in any way he chooses.

570
00:33:39,760 --> 00:33:40,760
Yep.

571
00:33:40,760 --> 00:33:45,680
So when Aiden was born, you quit your job at the bank to be a stay at home mom, but

572
00:33:45,680 --> 00:33:47,320
eventually God called you back into the workforce.

573
00:33:47,320 --> 00:33:49,040
I mean, you loved being a stay at home mom.

574
00:33:49,040 --> 00:33:50,040
Oh, I loved it.

575
00:33:50,040 --> 00:33:55,880
I didn't, I had no desire to go back to the workforce, but God made it clear to you that,

576
00:33:55,880 --> 00:34:01,240
you know, when Aiden started going back to school, he had a new ministry for you.

577
00:34:01,240 --> 00:34:04,600
Explain how that happened and how you've seen God's hand in it all.

578
00:34:04,600 --> 00:34:10,880
I'm an introvert and so I'm staying at home all day with just my books and me sounds like

579
00:34:10,880 --> 00:34:15,320
a perfect little heaven, except for there was a little bit of depression that was coming

580
00:34:15,320 --> 00:34:19,000
in because I wasn't really interacting with people a lot.

581
00:34:19,000 --> 00:34:22,960
And of course, finances were starting to get a little tight because now we had a child,

582
00:34:22,960 --> 00:34:27,040
you know, God had blessed us for a length of time for me to be a stay at home mom, which

583
00:34:27,040 --> 00:34:29,160
was a great, great blessing.

584
00:34:29,160 --> 00:34:30,800
I'm very grateful for.

585
00:34:30,800 --> 00:34:31,800
We were talking about it.

586
00:34:31,800 --> 00:34:37,240
I'm like, I just don't want to go back to the bank, you know, very political type environment

587
00:34:37,240 --> 00:34:41,520
and being an introvert, it was not my favorite place to be for the most part.

588
00:34:41,520 --> 00:34:47,160
You know, I had my favorites and then most people were just mean.

589
00:34:47,160 --> 00:34:49,320
People don't like being told things about their money.

590
00:34:49,320 --> 00:34:53,400
So my husband and I were driving home from church and we lived a long way from our church.

591
00:34:53,400 --> 00:34:57,280
So we had a long time to talk and he's like, describe your perfect job.

592
00:34:57,280 --> 00:35:01,600
And so I start telling him and of course, none of it was anything I could do in banking,

593
00:35:01,600 --> 00:35:05,240
which was my only real experience in the workforce.

594
00:35:05,240 --> 00:35:06,240
And he's like, okay.

595
00:35:06,240 --> 00:35:08,360
And he's like, you know, maybe we'll just pray about it.

596
00:35:08,360 --> 00:35:11,480
And I'm thinking, I don't really want to go back to work.

597
00:35:11,480 --> 00:35:14,800
And it's like, all right, we'll pray about it.

598
00:35:14,800 --> 00:35:22,240
The next day, a friend called him and said, Hey, I know your wife's a stay at home mom,

599
00:35:22,240 --> 00:35:25,520
but is she interested in going back to work?

600
00:35:25,520 --> 00:35:29,040
And my husband being wise didn't say, no, she's not interested.

601
00:35:29,040 --> 00:35:32,480
It said, what does the job entail?

602
00:35:32,480 --> 00:35:35,520
And listened to her and he said, okay, I'm going to talk to her when I get home.

603
00:35:35,520 --> 00:35:40,780
He gets home and he says, she just described the exact same thing you told me yesterday.

604
00:35:40,780 --> 00:35:41,780
And I said, really?

605
00:35:41,780 --> 00:35:42,780
And he's like, yes.

606
00:35:42,780 --> 00:35:44,640
And I was like, all right.

607
00:35:44,640 --> 00:35:48,120
And so I'm like, okay, I'll send them resume.

608
00:35:48,120 --> 00:35:52,120
And so I sent in the resume, had a phone interview with Jodi.

609
00:35:52,120 --> 00:35:56,920
And at the end of the call had a start day, hung up three days later.

610
00:35:56,920 --> 00:36:01,800
I realized I never made the decision to go back to work.

611
00:36:01,800 --> 00:36:02,800
And you had accepted a job.

612
00:36:02,800 --> 00:36:06,280
And I was like, God, you tricked me.

613
00:36:06,280 --> 00:36:13,380
I really was like, in a loving way, God tricked me because he knew I would need it.

614
00:36:13,380 --> 00:36:18,720
At the time I started working here, I really thought that it was because y'all needed me

615
00:36:18,720 --> 00:36:25,120
because I had skills that fit in perfectly with what you were needing at the time.

616
00:36:25,120 --> 00:36:30,240
Probably about a month after I started working here, my dad was diagnosed with leukemia and

617
00:36:30,240 --> 00:36:32,480
my world kind of came to a stop.

618
00:36:32,480 --> 00:36:37,760
And so for the next year of his battle with leukemia, I had was surrounded by a loving

619
00:36:37,760 --> 00:36:39,120
Christian family.

620
00:36:39,120 --> 00:36:46,880
When it came time for about a month before he died, I was praying because he had started,

621
00:36:46,880 --> 00:36:49,400
he had been better and starting going downhill again.

622
00:36:49,400 --> 00:36:53,440
And I was praying for him to be healed on this side of heaven.

623
00:36:53,440 --> 00:36:58,160
And I heard a still small voice say, if the worst happens, can you trust me?

624
00:36:58,160 --> 00:37:02,560
And I was not a big faith kind of built up person.

625
00:37:02,560 --> 00:37:06,640
I was always kind of like, if God asked me to jump, I'd say, okay, are you sure you want

626
00:37:06,640 --> 00:37:07,640
me to jump?

627
00:37:07,640 --> 00:37:09,040
Where are you having me jump?

628
00:37:09,040 --> 00:37:11,800
Why am I jumping in exactly?

629
00:37:11,800 --> 00:37:14,320
What is the meaning of this?

630
00:37:14,320 --> 00:37:17,680
So when he asked me, can you trust me?

631
00:37:17,680 --> 00:37:21,040
That was a huge ask and he knew it.

632
00:37:21,040 --> 00:37:25,920
I was silent for probably about 10 minutes and I was like, okay, I will trust you if

633
00:37:25,920 --> 00:37:27,180
the worst happens.

634
00:37:27,180 --> 00:37:32,360
He did pass about a month later and God was there and was trustworthy and faithful.

635
00:37:32,360 --> 00:37:36,760
But part of what he was faithful in was that he had placed me in this job a year before

636
00:37:36,760 --> 00:37:39,240
I needed the encouragement.

637
00:37:39,240 --> 00:37:44,400
We had a widow who was working here at the time who helped me learn how to grieve properly.

638
00:37:44,400 --> 00:37:47,600
She said, you know, you can grieve and you can be sad, but you can't let it take over

639
00:37:47,600 --> 00:37:48,600
your life.

640
00:37:48,600 --> 00:37:49,600
Yeah.

641
00:37:49,600 --> 00:37:54,520
And so she helped me be in a good spot to grieve and allowed me that time, even here

642
00:37:54,520 --> 00:37:59,960
at work, to grieve when I needed to and to talk when I needed to.

643
00:37:59,960 --> 00:38:02,280
I needed the family that I didn't know I needed.

644
00:38:02,280 --> 00:38:06,800
Yeah, if you had been at home reading your books, it would have possibly spiraled back

645
00:38:06,800 --> 00:38:09,880
into depression and the Lord was really protecting you from that.

646
00:38:09,880 --> 00:38:13,520
Yeah, it would have been devastating to try to handle it on my own and God surrounded

647
00:38:13,520 --> 00:38:17,440
me with loved ones, you know, to help me carry through.

648
00:38:17,440 --> 00:38:20,440
And so I'll be ever forever grateful for that.

649
00:38:20,440 --> 00:38:25,860
And God's grown me through the job emotionally, mentally, faith wise, definitely.

650
00:38:25,860 --> 00:38:30,520
We always laugh around here that if everything's gone, if there's nothing left, Doug will

651
00:38:30,520 --> 00:38:33,480
still try to give it away.

652
00:38:33,480 --> 00:38:36,120
And so, and that was not my personality.

653
00:38:36,120 --> 00:38:41,400
And so being around him and seeing the times God's provided faithfully has built up my

654
00:38:41,400 --> 00:38:45,480
faith to a point where when it did come time, say, yes, God, I can trust you through the

655
00:38:45,480 --> 00:38:46,480
worst.

656
00:38:46,480 --> 00:38:50,680
So what are some of the unshakable truths you've learned in your walk with the Lord

657
00:38:50,680 --> 00:38:54,600
that can help other people who are listening to your story right now?

658
00:38:54,600 --> 00:38:56,360
There's always hope.

659
00:38:56,360 --> 00:38:59,360
Even when it feels hopeless, there's always hope.

660
00:38:59,360 --> 00:39:03,240
God always has a way of bringing us through footsteps.

661
00:39:03,240 --> 00:39:07,520
You know, we always talk about that and used to be really popular to talk about it.

662
00:39:07,520 --> 00:39:10,240
But I was always one where it's like God wouldn't have had footsteps.

663
00:39:10,240 --> 00:39:13,800
There would be like drag marks of him dragging me along.

664
00:39:13,800 --> 00:39:15,200
But he's always been there.

665
00:39:15,200 --> 00:39:19,280
And you have to realize that even if it feels like you're being dragged, he's still there

666
00:39:19,280 --> 00:39:20,280
in the midst of it.

667
00:39:20,280 --> 00:39:21,760
He's always faithful.

668
00:39:21,760 --> 00:39:26,120
He's always there to bring you joy and hope, no matter what he brings you to, he'll bring

669
00:39:26,120 --> 00:39:27,120
you through it.

670
00:39:27,120 --> 00:39:31,840
I had a pastor's wife once who said, God is never taken by surprise.

671
00:39:31,840 --> 00:39:37,320
And that's been a key thought that I've built my life on since then, because it never occurred

672
00:39:37,320 --> 00:39:42,480
to me because I was always so surprised when these horrible things happen that God wasn't

673
00:39:42,480 --> 00:39:46,680
and that he had prepared and that he had a good plan and that he was going to be faithful

674
00:39:46,680 --> 00:39:47,680
through the midst of it.

675
00:39:47,680 --> 00:39:52,520
I remember you telling me, you know, one time that you believe God is good.

676
00:39:52,520 --> 00:39:58,200
And that's one of those things, those bedrocks in my life that I learned at a young age that

677
00:39:58,200 --> 00:39:59,840
God is good.

678
00:39:59,840 --> 00:40:02,800
I have a good father, a wonderful father.

679
00:40:02,800 --> 00:40:07,080
So it was easy for me to believe that God is good.

680
00:40:07,080 --> 00:40:12,760
But we have to all come to that unshakable belief that God is good so that when those

681
00:40:12,760 --> 00:40:20,120
surprising things to us happen, we can trust that we have a good God who's taking care

682
00:40:20,120 --> 00:40:21,120
of it.

683
00:40:21,120 --> 00:40:23,040
So we can think, well, he wasn't surprised.

684
00:40:23,040 --> 00:40:25,040
He could have prevented that from happening.

685
00:40:25,040 --> 00:40:26,040
Right?

686
00:40:26,040 --> 00:40:27,320
But he loves us.

687
00:40:27,320 --> 00:40:31,640
And sometimes life is not perfect and life is not heaven.

688
00:40:31,640 --> 00:40:33,600
The life on this earth isn't heaven.

689
00:40:33,600 --> 00:40:36,000
And what he does is for his glory.

690
00:40:36,000 --> 00:40:37,000
And he loves us.

691
00:40:37,000 --> 00:40:38,920
He's not doing it to hurt us.

692
00:40:38,920 --> 00:40:44,240
And I think we get that image in our heads that God is trying to punish us or hurt us

693
00:40:44,240 --> 00:40:45,240
when he's not.

694
00:40:45,240 --> 00:40:47,840
He's loving us and trying to hold us close to him.

695
00:40:47,840 --> 00:40:50,580
And God doesn't cause the tragedy to happen.

696
00:40:50,580 --> 00:40:56,240
He allows us free will in this earth, which is, you know, unfortunately back to Adam and

697
00:40:56,240 --> 00:41:01,280
Eve, they chose wrongly that allowed sin and corruption into the world, that we are living

698
00:41:01,280 --> 00:41:03,840
the consequences of that some.

699
00:41:03,840 --> 00:41:07,520
But through it all, God's redeeming us and redeeming the earth.

700
00:41:07,520 --> 00:41:11,480
And we will have a new heaven and a new earth someday where all of the terrible things are

701
00:41:11,480 --> 00:41:12,480
gone.

702
00:41:12,480 --> 00:41:13,480
Yep.

703
00:41:13,480 --> 00:41:18,560
And he'll redeem everything, even the hard times, the, you know, the deaths, the depression,

704
00:41:18,560 --> 00:41:24,000
everything that is feel so awful in the moment, God can redeem it and will love us through

705
00:41:24,000 --> 00:41:25,880
it even when we're facing it.

706
00:41:25,880 --> 00:41:31,760
Well, I love to ask my guests if there's a woman in the Bible whose story inspired, encouraged

707
00:41:31,760 --> 00:41:34,360
or taught you something and how her story relates to yours.

708
00:41:34,360 --> 00:41:37,520
I know you mentioned the woman with the issue of blood earlier.

709
00:41:37,520 --> 00:41:38,520
Maybe that's her.

710
00:41:38,520 --> 00:41:39,520
Maybe there's somebody else.

711
00:41:39,520 --> 00:41:42,120
Martha of Mary and Martha.

712
00:41:42,120 --> 00:41:45,240
I am such a Martha.

713
00:41:45,240 --> 00:41:50,720
I have my to do list and my planners and everything that needs to be done going back to that,

714
00:41:50,720 --> 00:41:54,600
you know, image of perfection, all these things that need to be done perfectly and well and

715
00:41:54,600 --> 00:41:55,600
with excellence.

716
00:41:55,600 --> 00:42:00,800
And while God wants us to do things with excellence, he does want us to have a relationship and

717
00:42:00,800 --> 00:42:05,440
remember the biggest reason why we're even in relationship with him.

718
00:42:05,440 --> 00:42:08,480
And it's not about the doing, it's about the being.

719
00:42:08,480 --> 00:42:12,080
It still always annoyed me though, when people were like, oh, Martha should be more like

720
00:42:12,080 --> 00:42:17,000
Mary and it's like, but God created Martha the way she was people.

721
00:42:17,000 --> 00:42:22,600
He just wanted her to remember that he was the number one reason for what she was doing

722
00:42:22,600 --> 00:42:28,120
in that spending that time with him was the number one reason and that she was trying

723
00:42:28,120 --> 00:42:31,720
to make everything perfect for him when he was perfect.

724
00:42:31,720 --> 00:42:34,280
And he just wanted her.

725
00:42:34,280 --> 00:42:39,120
And so she can be Martha and not be Mary and still be loved by God.

726
00:42:39,120 --> 00:42:44,440
And I love the fact that the next time you see them at their home, Martha's still serving.

727
00:42:44,440 --> 00:42:45,880
She's still cooking dinner.

728
00:42:45,880 --> 00:42:51,880
Mary's still there at his feet, worshiping him, but there's a peace in the home.

729
00:42:51,880 --> 00:42:52,920
There's no strife.

730
00:42:52,920 --> 00:42:57,680
There's no God, you should be making her help me do my to do list to make things perfect

731
00:42:57,680 --> 00:42:59,080
for you.

732
00:42:59,080 --> 00:43:03,480
There's some more of an identity of who she knows, who she is in her relationship with

733
00:43:03,480 --> 00:43:04,480
God at that point.

734
00:43:04,480 --> 00:43:05,480
That's good.

735
00:43:05,480 --> 00:43:06,480
That's very good.

736
00:43:06,480 --> 00:43:13,960
Well, Alyssa talked about Jeremiah 29 11 earlier in the podcast, and I'm just going to read

737
00:43:13,960 --> 00:43:18,840
verses 11 through 13 because I think it's so important to remember this.

738
00:43:18,840 --> 00:43:22,960
And the Lord says, for I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord plans to prosper

739
00:43:22,960 --> 00:43:27,760
you and not to harm you plans to give you a hope and a future.

740
00:43:27,760 --> 00:43:31,720
Then you will call on me and come and pray to me and I will listen to you.

741
00:43:31,720 --> 00:43:36,220
You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

742
00:43:36,220 --> 00:43:41,720
Those words, of course, were written to encourage the Israelites who were in exile in Babylon.

743
00:43:41,720 --> 00:43:44,820
But that is God's heart for every one of us today.

744
00:43:44,820 --> 00:43:48,960
If we call on him like Alyssa did, he is quick to respond.

745
00:43:48,960 --> 00:43:54,320
Alyssa, would you take a moment, pray for everyone who listens to your amazing God story?

746
00:43:54,320 --> 00:43:59,740
Father, we just thank you that you're a loving, loving father, Lord, that you love us even

747
00:43:59,740 --> 00:44:01,760
when we're not so lovable.

748
00:44:01,760 --> 00:44:07,480
Lord, we just thank you that you are the ultimate healer, no matter what we're facing, whether

749
00:44:07,480 --> 00:44:14,080
it's a healing in the body or healing in the mind, Lord, you know the exact treatment and

750
00:44:14,080 --> 00:44:16,800
touch from you that we need, Lord.

751
00:44:16,800 --> 00:44:21,280
Thank you for answering my call and my desperation, Lord.

752
00:44:21,280 --> 00:44:26,160
And for anyone who's listening, who's in that place of desperation, Lord, where they literally

753
00:44:26,160 --> 00:44:31,240
want you to fix them or kill them, Lord, I just pray that you will give them life.

754
00:44:31,240 --> 00:44:34,320
Give them life more abundantly in you, Lord.

755
00:44:34,320 --> 00:44:38,360
And we thank you that you have the ability to do that and that you want to do that, that

756
00:44:38,360 --> 00:44:39,360
you love them.

757
00:44:39,360 --> 00:44:41,700
You want to take them into your loving arms.

758
00:44:41,700 --> 00:44:46,740
You want to take that darkness that's been covering them and take it on yourself, Father,

759
00:44:46,740 --> 00:44:48,880
so that they don't have to deal with it anymore.

760
00:44:48,880 --> 00:44:54,600
Lord, we thank you that you are a rescuer, that you rescue from depression, Lord.

761
00:44:54,600 --> 00:45:00,600
We thank you that you are touching hearts and spirits that are listening to this podcast.

762
00:45:00,600 --> 00:45:05,560
We pray that you will speak to their hearts and give them directions on which direction

763
00:45:05,560 --> 00:45:09,520
they need to go that follows your path, Lord.

764
00:45:09,520 --> 00:45:14,720
And Father, we thank you that we can always choose joy and we love you in Jesus' name.

765
00:45:14,720 --> 00:45:15,720
Amen.

766
00:45:15,720 --> 00:45:16,720
Amen.

767
00:45:16,720 --> 00:45:18,320
Well, thank you for tuning in.

768
00:45:18,320 --> 00:45:22,860
In our show notes at hergodstory.org, you will find links to the scriptures and other

769
00:45:22,860 --> 00:45:24,520
helpful information.

770
00:45:24,520 --> 00:45:28,720
And when you go to the website, you can get a free six-week devotional on Women of the

771
00:45:28,720 --> 00:45:33,860
Bible and I've written a chapter or actually two and so has Alyssa.

772
00:45:33,860 --> 00:45:36,040
So we hope it helps you in your walk with the Lord.

773
00:45:36,040 --> 00:45:38,440
Don't forget to sign up for periodic emails as well.

774
00:45:38,440 --> 00:45:43,000
We'd love to pray with you on our 24-7 prayer or text line.

775
00:45:43,000 --> 00:45:50,660
Give us a call anytime at 855-459-CARE or email us at prayer at somebodycares.org.

776
00:45:50,660 --> 00:45:55,260
If you've enjoyed this podcast, please rate and review it on your favorite streaming service.

777
00:45:55,260 --> 00:45:59,040
And we'd love for you to share this story with friends who might enjoy it or might need

778
00:45:59,040 --> 00:46:00,040
it.

779
00:46:00,040 --> 00:46:03,040
Be sure to like or follow the podcast so you don't miss an episode.

780
00:46:03,040 --> 00:46:08,720
And now, dear friends, I leave you with a blessing adapted from Psalm 5 verses 11 and

781
00:46:08,720 --> 00:46:09,720
12.

782
00:46:09,720 --> 00:46:14,160
May you who take refuge in God be glad and sing for joy.

783
00:46:14,160 --> 00:46:18,900
May He spread His protection over you so you may rejoice in Him.

784
00:46:18,900 --> 00:46:23,320
May God bless you and surround you with favor as with a shield.

785
00:46:23,320 --> 00:46:27,360
Your God Story is a ministry of Somebody Cares America and international.

786
00:46:27,360 --> 00:46:54,360
To find out more about or support the ministry, go to somebodycares.org.