Hearing the Voice of God, Dr. Dinah Thompson’s Story

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Hey friends, welcome to the Her God Story podcast where you will always hear a good story to encourage and inspire you in your walk of the Lord.

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I'm your host, Jodie Chiricosta, ministry leader at Somebody Cares America, an international author and traveler on this journey of faith, and I am so glad you tuned in today.

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I've been thinking about Moses this week.

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He talked with God on a regular basis.

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Note that I said with God and not just to God.

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When you read the book of Exodus, you see over and over again God speaking to Moses.

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God talked to him about a wide variety of things.

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If you're anything like me, I bet you desire to hear God's voice too.

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In John 10, 27, Jesus said,

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My sheep listen to my voice. I know them and they follow me.

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So hearing God is possible, even imperative.

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Brethren Lawrence, a French monk that live in the 1600s, wrote,

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There is not in the world a kind of life more sweet and delightful than that of a continual conversation with God.

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Those only can comprehend it who practice and experience it.

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Being in a continual conversation with God, that is truly something to aspire to.

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I hear God's voice from time to time, but not as often as I want or should.

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So I'm excited to learn a little from my guest today.

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Dr. Diana Thompson, a family practice doctor who truly desires that continual conversation with God as well.

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She has been on many medical mission trips and seen God do miracles.

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As she has practiced listening to God, she's learning to hear his voice more clearly day by day.

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Diana lives in Virginia with her husband Michael and their three children.

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She's got some practical encouragement for all of us.

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Welcome, Diana.

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Thank you, Jody. It's a pleasure and honor to be here.

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Diana, tell us a little about your early years and when you gave your life to Christ.

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Well, I grew up in a small Pennsylvania town and we were going to a Christian Baterian church every Sunday.

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I was a good little girl.

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By the time I hit junior high, I was getting tired of that.

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So I had a little season of rebellion and I got depressed and thought I needed a boyfriend.

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But what I needed was Jesus.

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And so a gospel team came to our church on a Sunday night.

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And the thing that he said that really struck me was that our righteousness is filthy rags before the Lord in Isaiah 64.

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And I realized I was a sinner, so I got saved when I was 15 years old.

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Wow. And once you committed your life to Christ, there was no turning back.

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What are some of the ways and things that God used to help you grow in your faith even at that young age?

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So of course, going to church every week and then reading the Daily Bread devotional, that was like a lifeline for me.

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And then when I went to Penn State, I got involved with the University of Christian Fellowship and I discovered there was more than just the King James version of the Bible.

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I was like, wow, I can understand the Bible when I read the NIV.

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And then as far as Christian music, I learned that there was more than just hymns, there was contemporary Christian music and that just opened up a whole new avenue of influence in my life.

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Because I noticed if I was listening to secular music, I would be thinking, oh, you know, I get lovesick or you know, that kind of thing.

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But when I'm listening to Christian music, it's like I'm just thinking about the Lord.

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And that kind of stuff is how I grew in the Lord. And then I got introduced to missions. I didn't know anything about missions and realized there was such a need out there.

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And since I was looking into medicine, medical missions, and when I went to Urbana, there was a medical missionary who spoke.

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And she's, that really challenged me to pursue that.

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And for those people who don't know what Urbana is.

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It's a huge student convention, very mission oriented.

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And there was probably 10, 20,000 kids there, all college kids. And my husband, Michael, was actually there. We didn't meet because there were so many people, but it's kind of neat that we were both there at the same time.

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Yeah. And it's held only once every four years, I think, right?

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I don't know what just, I don't know right now.

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Yeah, I know.

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Yeah.

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Yeah, if you're out there listening and you're a college student, check out when Urbana is. It's well worth going.

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So after graduating from with your bachelor's degree at Penn State, you did go to medical school.

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Initially, you were at Oral Roberts University. So what took you there? And what did God have in store for you?

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Okay, so they had a medical mission scholarship where you go four years and then you do missions for four years. And so that was to cover the medical school.

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But that ended up falling through.

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But I was already accepted there. So I'm like, I'm going to go anyways. And it was cool to me, all these people who were willing to do medical missions. And that's where I met Michael.

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And yeah, we started dating, we started studying together, then we started dating.

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And this is also where I got introduced to the Holy Spirit. So when I was in a Presbyterian church, we just sang about, you know, Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

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That's what I knew about the Holy Spirit.

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So when I learned that Holy Spirit wants to fill us and the gifts of the spirit at first it was kind of scary.

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But, you know, Michael told me about how he got filled with the Holy Spirit and we were going to a church where they, you know, they operated in the gifts but decently in an order.

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So I realized, you know, I just want more of the Lord. And if the Holy Spirit is part of that, then I want the Holy Spirit. And so, yeah, I got blessed getting filled with the Holy Spirit.

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Yeah. And how did that happen? You just pray in your dorm room or?

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Michael prayed for me and nothing really happened at that time. But when I was worshiping, when I was in worship, the Lord gave me the gift of tongues.

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And yeah, and then I started hearing him the first time I remember hearing his voice.

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And I was running and it was really windy and it was like, I was thinking about all these things about med school and then, and then this, I heard this, I got this impression, be still and know that I'm God, like, whoa, okay, so,

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so I quieted my mind and then there's rainbow appeared in the sky and the Lord was like, I'm here, I'm faithful, just trust me.

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And so that was like my first time hearing God's voice. And that was, I'll never forget that. That was a real job.

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Yeah. And it came right from scriptures.

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Yes.

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You knew God's voice. There was no question in your mind.

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Right. Right.

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So you were learning a lot both at school about medicine and in your faith walk. But then you got some huge news that made life a little chaotic for a time. Share what that was and where it led you.

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So we are at the beginning of our second year of medical school and we find out that the medical school is going to close.

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Oh, gosh.

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Yeah. So we were like, oh, okay. So at first they said, you've got till the end of the year.

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And, and that's when we're going to close. Well, then the accreditation people said, no, we can't, we can't say it's going to, we're going to credit the school.

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So we'll give you to the end of the calendar year or not the end of the school year. So everybody scrambled to find a place to go.

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And I was going to go to, I was going to go to Pennsylvania where I'm from and my husband was going to go to Virginia.

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Well, we weren't married yet. So anyways, he said, West Virginia opened up.

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So he said, would you go to West Virginia with me?

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I'm like, okay. And then he says, well, I can't let you do that without a commitment.

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So then he said, will you marry me?

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And I said, we're going to get married each other, but it seemed to come out of the blue to me. So I was like, have you prayed about this?

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And he's like, no. I said, well, why don't you pray about it?

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So anyway, so we knew this was, we were, we were going to finish that one semester through the calendar year.

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And he died in a car accident, he was hit by a drunk driver. And I didn't know if he knew the Lord. So that was tragic. That was like the worst funeral I'd ever done or been a part of.

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But I did get reassurance later from one of his coworkers that he, he did believe in the Lord and that gave me hope.

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So, and then, then we moved to West Virginia, our folks met.

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And Michael says, I think we're gonna, I think we're gonna get married sooner rather than later. And my parents were in the Philippines and we were like, you need, we were looking at the third year of med school and realizing that we're not going to see each other unless we live together because it's going to be so crazy.

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And so we should get married. So he asked my mom for my mom and dad for permission and we got married that May.

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But that was a whirlwind year. Yeah. But somehow the Lord carried you through it. And, you know, you went on, you actually completed your medical degree and then went into your residency.

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And that's when you took your first mission trip. Yes. Tell us about that and what it did to your faith and even your life.

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So we went to Papua New Guinea and it was really cool because, you know, we didn't have much money that time. Michael was a medical student. I was a resident. And so we were praying, Lord, you know, how are we going to pay for this?

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And the Lord laughed and he took care of it all.

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So, but anyway, so the Lord provided and it was a wonderful cultural experience. We got to work with new tribes mission. We, we spent the first week in their compound and, and we were taking care of the Papua New Guinea people.

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And then we got to go to a more remote area. And it was just a lot of fun working with the missionaries and the people that they work with.

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So, yeah, we knew that's what we're supposed to do. We're enjoying. So at that point, did you just think that you were going to go full time on to the mission field as medical missionaries?

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There was a time we were thinking of doing that. And we were thinking that from the beginning. But, you know, when people would prophesy over some stuff, they would say nations.

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They always said plural nations, nations and condue the nations. And when we were seriously considering where are we going to go? What are we going to do? We were approached by different people who were experienced in missions.

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And one was experienced in short term missions. The other had already done long term missions. And both of them said, have you considered just doing short term missions with medical because it has such an impact?

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And we were like, what? So we thought about it and we prayed about it. And yeah, that's what we've been doing the short term medical mission trips.

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Yeah, so you have. You've continued to do medical mission trips as often as you can. Share about some of the other trips that you've been on and what you've seen God do because you've seen God do miracles.

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Yes. You know, you're there doing medical doctors, which is so helpful. But occasionally God would intervene too, didn't he?

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Yes, yes. And part of that. Okay, so like our first trip, we went to Brazil and I was a little nervous because this was as a doctor. So I wasn't working under a doctor like I had the other times.

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So, but the medical, the medical school was on strikes. So there were medical students who were interpreting for us. So it was so wonderful to have people who knew what the Brazilian medical diseases would be.

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So that was, that was reassuring. And it was interesting how the Lord broke my prejudices. Like, we were taking care of mostly poor people, but there was a guy came in, he was well dressed.

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And he had a sexual transmitted disease. So I'm like, oh, great. So this guy, he's well dressed. You don't need to see me. But I'll share, we'll share Jesus with us.

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I'll share the gospel with him. And he's like, coming to me with arguments, he's like arguing with me and he knows scripture. He's and so I'm like, okay, you know what, we're done.

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Like, go to counseling or get your medicine. And then he's like, what, wait, I want to know the Lord, I want to get saved. And I was shocked and surprised and we got to lead him to the Lord.

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And then other ways, it's I've seen him move with physical healings. I've seen him heal shoulders. I've seen him lengthen legs.

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And it's just a thrill to see.

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So I know that you've been to Mongolia quite a few times. Yes. Share why Mongolia and and kind of what you've seen God do there.

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Yeah, well, Mongolia is one of our favorite places, my favorite places to go. I mean, we've only been there twice. But what I love is, we like to go to the unreached.

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We like to go where people haven't heard about Jesus. And a lot of times, when where we go, I ask, you know, who's Jesus to you and they don't even know his name.

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They're like, I don't know who is he, but they've never heard of him. So it's interesting. One time we went there and we went to visit the temple.

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And then I, I saw how they had their incense before their idols and their prayer wheels and all this. And afterward asked Lord, well, what do you want to, what do you want to tell me about this.

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And he said, they're my children and I'm their father and I want a relationship with them. And he said, tell them. So that's what I did.

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So when, when we were at the clinic and so I'd say, Hey, who's Jesus to you? And they're like, Oh, no, I've never heard of him before.

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So then I tell him, you know, God created the world. He created you and me. He's our father. He wants to have a relationship with us, but he can't because we're sinners.

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And so he sent us some Jesus to, to pay for our sins so we can have relationship with him. Do you want to have relationship with him?

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And almost all would say, yes. And so it was so easy. And I mean, I share the gospel with people. They're 60 years old.

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And, and they're like, yes, like, of course, why would I say no, you know, it's just amazing to me.

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Yeah, I went to Mongolia once on a prayer journey years ago. And we went to visit this woman who she was probably, I don't know, 80s, 90s years old.

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She lived in a yurt out in the middle of, seemed like nowhere to me. Right. Right. But we went to visit her just to encourage her in her faith because she couldn't get to church.

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Right. And she had very little fellowship with other believers. Well, there weren't at the time many believers in Mongolia.

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There have been quite a move of God there since then. Yes. But I remember Mongolia fondly and just the sweet people and their love for those who knew God, loved God so much.

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Yeah. So it's a wonderful place that God is working. It seems like, you know, farther, we used to say, oh, if you're going to go to farther Mongolia, it's like the farthest place in the world from us.

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But God's moving even there. Amen. Amen.

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So soon after you became a doctor, you had your first child. Yes. So, you know, as a doctor, how have you balanced having and raising a family while maintaining your career?

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I mean, that's a big career. Right. Right. The biggest thing is working part time. I was working after I had Jasmine. I worked like three or four days a week.

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And after I had Caleb, I took a whole six months off and then I was just working like one day a week for a while and then picked it up from there.

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So the biggest thing is working part time. And then my parents helped with childcare early on and then finding good childcare.

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And then Michael would work part time too. So we kind of alternate days with the kids kind of thing.

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And having children hasn't always been easy for you, has it? No, no, it's the hardest job in the world.

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Hardest job in the world, but prayer makes a huge difference. That's for sure.

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And you saw God do a miracle for you in regards to having children.

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So we didn't have any problem with Jasmine, but then between Jasmine and Caleb, we lost two babies. One was at 20 weeks and the other was at 12.

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And there was no, you know, they do a work up. They didn't find anything wrong.

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So I remember wondering whether I could carry anymore after that.

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So I was at a Bible study and there is these young gals that wanted, they all wanted to get pregnant.

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So they said, oh, you want to get pregnant too, right? Come join us. We're going to have the older ladies pray for us.

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I was like, well, okay, I knew I could get pregnant. I just didn't know if I could stay pregnant.

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I went there and this woman, she said, a miscarrying womb is not of God.

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And she spoke very clearly and it really, it did something in me.

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And I got pregnant months, within months after that.

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And carried him to full term? Yes.

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Seeing God move on the mission field and experiencing his intervention in your own life

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really has given you a hunger to hear him more and to know more innomently.

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Yes.

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So share about your journey to be in that conversational, continual conversational relationship with the Lord that Brother Lawrence talks about.

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Yeah. When I used to hear God's voice, it was an occasion, you know, like, I don't know, every, once every several months, you know, and then it, then as I was worshiping the Lord more

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and I took this class called How to Hear God's Voice by Mark Verkler.

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And I learned that God does speak to, I mean, he's a daddy, he wants to speak to his kids.

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So I can trust what I'm hearing. If I'm, you know, so I see the Lord and pray, I listen, I love asking God questions.

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Like one of my most common questions, Lord, what do you want to share with me today?

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And then I write down what he says. And then if there's any question, I just run it by people that are mature in the Lord

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and know the Lord and know the word. And they're like, yeah, that's God, you know.

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And so that's a good way to, when you're learning to confirm, yeah, that's the Lord.

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Yeah. So, and of course, one of the things that we know is if what you're hearing is opposite to what the Bible teaches, then we know for sure that's not God.

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Right.

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Some things we hear aren't real clear.

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Right.

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So it's like you said, very important to have mature, godly people around you can help discern in those cases where it really is the Lord and God.

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Amen. Amen.

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Don, I know you believe in the power of prayer. And in the past few years, God has given you some faithful prayer partners.

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Yes.

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Tell us about your group, how it started and what God's done through it.

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So it's called a prayer band.

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And what we do, there's four of us, we meet together weekly. It doesn't have to be weekly, but we like to do it that way.

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We share our prayer requests and we pray for one another.

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In first Corinthians, it talks about we have the mind of Christ and together we not I, we have the mind of Christ.

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So as we're praying for each other, the Lord gives us words for each other.

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And not only do we have that prayer time, well, then it breaks through into other things. We've seen breakthrough in our kids lives.

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One girl's husband was near death and we prayed them through that and we've helped each other through surgeries as far as like, you know, meals.

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And one of the girls helped us move, you know, it's just that we, we've helped clean each other's houses, just that camaraderie just has somebody.

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And then, and then we have this text string so that when things are bad, it's like, oh, we just had a fight when you just text each other.

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And we know, we know we're praying for each other. It's just a wonderful thing. I think everybody should have one.

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Yeah, and you, we do have some information on prayer bands in the show notes. You can go look there if you want the information, but just share a little bit about, you know, how did you first come in contact with the whole concept?

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And did you feel comfortable right away with these women you knew?

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Yeah, so a friend of mine, her daughter had been part of prayer band. And so she introduced her to it. She was like, this is amazing.

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So she had a prayer group that she was already part of and, and they started following more of the guidelines of the prayer band.

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And then one of the girls in our group was like, well, I need something like that.

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So my friend just said, okay, who you want to be in there. And so we, we already knew each other and had been a part of a church together.

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And, and so we just went deeper. It's just, it's a deep dive, a deeper dive as far as relationships are concerned.

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Yeah, just for our listeners, why don't you just give a, you know, just kind of an outline of what you do, you know, how do you prepare to go and what do you do in your prayer band?

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And I, now we're not always following as strictly as the, as the guidelines that you'll see there, which we probably need to get back to.

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But we asked the Lord, what do you want us to share? What do you want me to share? Lord, what do you want me to share this time?

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So we usually come with two prayer requests, and then we give an update.

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So we give a little update about things that have been prayed for before what God's been doing.

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And then, and then we share our request and one personal share, and then the others will pray, pray for that person and their requests.

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And then, and then we go around so that everybody shares.

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Yeah. And it is, you know, talk about your practicing hearing the Lord, the voice of God for others.

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Right.

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That too, aren't you?

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Right. Yes. Yes. That's been, and they, I mean, they pray, they pray for my work, you know, and, and they even pray, like, we went on vacation.

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And they pray for the vacation. You know, how many people pray for your vacation?

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So when good things are happening, I'd be like, that's because my friends are praying.

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That's right. Yeah.

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God, there's a scripture that says that God directs the steps of the righteous and delights in every detail of their lives.

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Amen.

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And I love that scripture because, you know, sometimes we think he's not really all that interested in the mundane things that we do.

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But that tells us he delights in every detail.

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Yes.

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Every little detail.

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Amen.

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Not just the broad strokes, but everything.

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Yeah.

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And not that we, not that he's going to give us direction for every little detail.

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He does allow us free will.

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Right.

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Within the confines of his general will.

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But he delights in it.

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He delights in seeing what we'll do.

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And he delights us in, he delights in blessing us in the midst of it.

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Amen.

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Amen.

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So, Diana, you and your husband recently started a ministry.

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Yes.

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About that.

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Okay.

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So it's called Christian Medical Fellowship Foundation.

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We've only had like one big meeting and that was just this summer.

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But the idea is that the purpose is to encourage each other to partner with Holy Spirit in the daily practice of medicine.

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Our goal is, is to fellowship and encourage each other to listen and have intimacy with Holy Spirit to spur one another on to love and good works, you know, what's God done and, and, and how, how would you like to see God move and, and that kind of thing.

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So, yeah, so we're excited about it.

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Have you found receptivity to the whole concept?

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Yes.

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Yes.

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Yes.

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We had folks and we had some speakers and people were very, I think it was well received and we even commissioned them because, you know, you go to med school, you, a lot of people have to do the Hippocratic oath and then you're, you're done.

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But as far as Christians and having a Christian mindset and interacting with Holy Spirit, I mean, we don't get taught that.

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So, so we want to, you know, get together and encourage each other to do that.

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Yeah.

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And we have a lot of outside, outside pressures, even on medical professionals these days to maybe let go of their personal beliefs and conscience, right, about certain things.

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So really being led by the Holy Spirit is important.

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Yes, very much so.

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Very much so.

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Yeah.

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Well, as we close down, would you share about a woman of the Bible whose story is inspired or encouraged or taught you something.

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Okay, so the woman I thought of was Leah.

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Now, Leah, I used to feel sorry for her.

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I used to think, wow, she, she had a bum deal.

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She had such a bad rap because in Genesis 29, we hear about Leah.

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We all know, we know she had weak eyes and we know she was a sister of Rachel and that Jacob loved Rachel.

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But, you know, Leib and her dad decides after Jacob's work seven years for, for the sister Rachel that he's going to give, going to give him Leah.

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So even on her wedding night, Jacob doesn't even know who it is, who she is.

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He discovers in the morning, oh, this is Leah and he's not happy.

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So, so, Leib and says, finish the, finish the week with her and then you can have Rachel.

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So, you know, Leah was basically second fiddle.

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I mean, it even said in the scripture that Jacob loved Rachel more.

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So, but what I love about Leah is, well, in verse 31, it says, when the Lord saw that Leah was not loved, he opened her womb and he gave her children.

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Even though she was in a bad situation, God blessed her and she, through her son, she revealed how she honored the Lord.

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So, first one was Reuben.

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She said, he, Reuben sounds like he has seen my misery, but it means see a son.

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And then the next one was Simeon, which means one who hears because she said, God has heard me in my misery.

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And then the next one was Levi attached.

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She was hoping that Jacob would be attached to her after she bore third son.

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And then the fourth one was Judah and he, and she said, this time I'll praise the Lord and she named him Judah.

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And through Judah, we got David.

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I mean, the whole lineage of Judah, we've got King David and we've got Jesus.

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So she was, they were of her descendants, not Rachel's.

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Let's see, the next one was Isacar, which means reward.

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The next one was Zebulin, which means honor.

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And then she bore a daughter named Dinah.

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So, yeah, that's my name.

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So I like her.

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And she was in competition with her sister Rachel until Rachel died.

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But in the end, when Jacob was old and he was instructing them where to bury him, he said, bury me with Abraham and Sarah and Isaac and Rebecca.

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And that's where I buried Leah.

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So he wanted to be buried with Leah at the end.

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So she ended up winning his heart at the end.

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So anyways, I like Leah because she made the most of a difficult situation and the Lord blessed her, even beyond just her life, but in the generations beyond.

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Yeah, it's interesting as I'm thinking about those names.

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You know, initially she was naming her sons.

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The naming of her sons was all about her.

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But by the time she got to Judah, it was about God.

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Amen.

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And her prayer had turned to worshiping God.

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So we see God working in that just in the naming of her children.

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Yeah, yeah.

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We see the work he'd done in her.

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Amen.

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Yeah, amen.

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We're going to Psalm 119-105 says to the Lord, your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

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This is referencing the spoken word of God, if you look at the Hebrew word.

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And the Psalmist had clearly experienced God leading him and guiding him along the way, just as the Lord wants to lead and guide us.

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Let's take time today to listen for the voice of the Lord in our lives.

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Joyce Myers says, when you take time with God and listen to his voice, he renews your strength and enables you to handle life.

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Amen.

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Dinah, would you take a moment, pray for our listeners?

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Yes.

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Lord, thank you.

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Thank you for your love.

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And Lord, I bless the spirit of every listener.

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I bless their spirit to be prominent, to lead their souls and bodies.

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And I bless their spirits to receive the love that you have for them.

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Let them experience your unconditional love.

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Let them be overwhelmed by your love today.

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And Lord, I pray for purpose for their lives.

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I pray, Lord, that you would make clear to them what your purpose is for them.

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I pray that they would press on to take hold of that for which you took a hold of them.

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And lastly, Lord, I pray that you would bless them with a band, bless them with believers who can encourage them in their walk, where they can lift one another up,

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where they can reflect the trinity, just reflect the Holy Spirit, the love that you have, Father, Son, and Spirit.

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And I pray the soul in the name of Jesus.

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Amen.

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Amen.

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Well, thank you for tuning in.

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Check out the show notes at hergodstory.org for Chris scriptures and other information we talked about, like information on the prayer bands.

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And remember to get your free six-week to week devotional on women of the Bible.

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

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So just give us a call or text anytime at 855-459-CARE or email us at prayer at somebodycares.org.

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And now dear friends, I leave you with a blessing adapted from Psalm 86 verse 11.

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May the Lord teach you His ways that you may walk according to His truth.

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May He grant you purity of heart so that you will honor Him in all that you do.

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

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