I Learned To Stand On God's Word, Laura Mineau's Story (cont.)

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Hey friends, I love a good story, especially when it's a God's story that will encourage

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and inspire you in your walk with God.

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We're going to continue an incredible story today.

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And I'm your host, Jodie Chiriosta, ministry leader at Somebody Cares America, an international

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author and traveler on this journey of faith.

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If you can take a moment to like or follow this podcast on your favorite streaming platform

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so you won't miss the stories of any of my amazing guests.

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In Psalm 71:14 -15, the psalmist writes,

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As for me, I will always have hope.

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I will praise you more and more.

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My mouth will tell all of your righteous deeds, of your saving acts all day long, though I

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know not how to relate them all.

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If you listened to our last episode, you heard how God saved Lura Mineau and some of his saving

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acts in her life during her years as an Air Force wife and mom.

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She has learned to place her hope in the Lord during times of both blessing and struggle.

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When her husband Kris was suddenly selected for early retirement, it could have been a

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fearful time.

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But because her hope is in the Lord, she had a different perspective.

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She quickly saw that God had unique plans for them.

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And in this episode, we'll hear how God directed them and how he has shown himself faithful.

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Welcome back, Lura.

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Thank you, Jodie.

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It's good to be with you again.

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So Lura, when Kris retired, you did not have a plan for what was next, but you had

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peace about it and God opened a unique door.

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Share what you can about that.

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Right.

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Well, as I mentioned, Kris was selected for early retirement.

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So we were in England and we thought we would have one last assignment back in the States,

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but that wasn't to be.

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We had worked suddenly and he had prepared us because of our missions trip into Russia

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December 91, January 92, right in that time frame.

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And so we came back from Russia with just a real, a greater heart for other people around

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the world and what a lot of people would call a mission's heart.

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And so we actually were excited when our assignment came to retire and an opportunity opened up

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for us to go to the Middle East for two years.

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And I really am so grateful for that time, you know, different culture, different smells,

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different scenery, camels, spice, soaks, gold soaks, everything so different than here in America or we'd seen in England and other places.

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And it reminded me of in Revelation where it says that every tongue and every tribe

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and every nation will be worshiping the Lord around his throne.

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And so this was an opportunity for us to get to know and love a different group of people

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with a very different culture.

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So it was an exciting time and you know, you find Christians wherever you go around the world.

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And it's exciting to fellowship with them and see the difference in their, the way that

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they worship the Lord and pray and just it's just a blessing.

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And someday we will all experience that together.

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Yeah, I was going to say, as you were saying that, I have loved the opportunities I've had in my life to travel around the world

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and worship with believers in Africa and in Asia and in Latin America.

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And, you know, it is different.

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I don't know the songs necessarily or the language, but the heart song is the same.

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The heart worship is the same.

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And it is a little glimpse of heaven when we have the opportunity to do that.

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And it's been a joy for me to experience that a few times in my life.

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So, you know, Laura, after those couple of years overseas, God made it clear that it was time to return to the States.

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And Chris went to seminary and then he started working at a couple of Christian organizations.

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But God also started opening ministry doors and opportunities for you.

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And after all the things you had done before, you were really equipped to be an equiper.

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So what did he have you doing?

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My giftedness is encouraging.

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I love to encourage people come alongside and encourage them.

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So I think it was a natural fit for me.

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I was I got involved right away in Lady's Bible study and the senior pastor and I started a pastor's wife, excuse me,

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started sharing responsibilities and teaching.

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And then her responsibilities increased at the church.

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And she finally said, you're going to have to take over.

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So I suddenly found myself being responsible for the Lady's Bible study.

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We had a wonderful group, probably a good 35 to 50 women involved in Lady's Bible study.

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And they were serious in studying the word of God, which was which was exciting.

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And eventually I was also teaching at a Christian school, six through eighth graders, and I was teaching Bible.

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And finally, it reached the point that I couldn't juggle the both responsibilities.

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And my both Chris and our senior pastor sat me down and said, we really feel that God is calling you to be full time at the church.

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And that's what I did. And I served in that capacity for 20 years.

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I can't believe it. We'd never Jodie.

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I was 18 when I went off to college.

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I'd never lived any place for 20 years in my life straight through, although I was back in my hometown and actually in the very same church that had prayed for us when Kris had his accident.

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So a lot of the older people had known me when I was a child and school and and whatnot.

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And probably some of them had prayed for me in some of my my wilder days of youth.

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But anyhow, so Bible study began and then I saw a need for us to start having outreaches.

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And so we had once a month we had an outreach where we would invite a speaker in and we'd have coffee and dessert and people would share their testimonies.

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And and it was at that time that I began to realize how important it was for all of us to write out our testimony.

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And so I started about every two or three years in Bible study.

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We take a period of time and we discuss how we would share our faith and write testimonies.

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And I always encourage people to have a three minute and a five minute testimony, because if if you only have three minutes with someone,

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you want to get right to the point of Jesus dying on the cross for their sins and that we've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

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So we started doing that. And then I had a number of ladies that were really had a powerful story to share on our outreach nights.

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And many of them had never done public speaking.

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So I kind of chuckled because I remember my senior year in high school taking my only speech class.

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And I suddenly found myself sounding like Mrs. Delaney teaching us how to speak.

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It was it's really amazing the things that you'll remember your teachers sharing with you and preparing you.

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And so there are a lot of young gals that had the opportunity to share their story in in a comfortable setting,

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probably that never would have had that opportunity if we hadn't had that outreach.

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And it was very successful. And I was really proud of especially the younger gals that that had never really done any speaking before.

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And how they just stood up and because of their passion for Jesus and their and their testimony,

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they were able to bring a powerful message. And I'm reminded in Revelation where it talks about they overcame the enemy by the blood of the lamb,

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the shed blood of Jesus Christ and their testimony of what the blood of Jesus has done in their lives.

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And they love not their lives unto the death. And that has become one of my passages of scripture that I go back to and I encourage people,

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let's be ready, let's have that testimony and know the power of the shed blood of Jesus and not care so much about will they like us?

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Will they not like us? Will they reject us or accept us?

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It's really just being available and taking that stand for Jesus.

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You know, if someone out there is saying, gosh, I've never thought about how I would share my testimony.

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Are there some tips or are there is there a website or something that people can't or, you know,

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maybe three steps of putting that together if someone's thinking, gosh, I should do that?

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There's a lot of material out there on how to share the gospel.

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One of the ones I like is the Roman Road.

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They're all scriptures and Romans and I can't pull them up the top of my head right now.

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But we've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

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It starts out there. And so you can start out by just sharing.

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You know, I was at a place in my life when I suddenly realized that I had a lot of things in my life that I wanted to see change or I wasn't happy with.

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And then you can gently talk about sin and that everybody has sins.

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We fall short of what we know we should be doing, whether it's telling a fib or or being jealous and envious of someone else and being consumed or maybe sharing lies about someone.

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You know, and just that's just so sexual promiscuity and just a myriad of things.

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And really, they're all sin. And we just have to reach that point.

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So you you start out that way. You maybe share a struggle.

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I I often will start out talking about how I struggled with fear.

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And that kept me from really doing things that I should have should have been doing.

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And then how once I surrendered my life to Jesus and I talk about Jesus dying on the cross for our sins and simply surrendering and accepting what he did for you.

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And then I talk about the change that I've had in my life since then.

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So it's everybody's story because it's their own story.

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There's no exactly. Yes.

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And as long as they have those those key truths about Jesus and, you know, leading him, leading people to him and surrendering their lives.

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Yes. Yeah. Just understanding really the the Easter story that we've just celebrated.

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And I think right now is a wonderful time to look for opportunities because a lot of people go to church on Easter and their hearts have maybe been pricked.

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And so I always encourage people pray before you go out to the grocery store or to to the mall or bookstore or coffee shop.

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Just pray and ask the Lord, is there anybody you want me to talk to today and share your your love, your truth, my story with them?

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You know, so often in churches, people have an expectation that the paid staff, the pastors,

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they're the ones who should do all the work of evangelism and all the work of the ministry.

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But really, they're supposed to equip the believers to do the work of the ministry.

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So how did you correct that mindset really in the women you were working with and and guide them into their calling?

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I mean, not everyone is called to be a pastor. Right.

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But we're all called the some work of ministry.

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It it varies greatly because there's so many ways that God wants to express himself in the world.

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So how did you guide women and help them find that calling for their own lives?

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There's a real nugget in Ephesians, the fourth chapter, where it talks about that God gave raises up some to be apostles,

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some to be prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry.

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So in other words, the pastoral staff is supposed to equip we, the lay people, for us to go out and do the work of the ministry.

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We're the ones that are out in the workforce and we're rubbing elbows and shoulders with people that don't know about Jesus and don't want to go to church.

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And so we bring church, the truth of Jesus, to them in our workplace or or wherever we may find ourselves.

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So I find that interesting. So the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry so that the body of Christ will be encouraged.

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So I thought, OK, we as ladies, we need to be equipped here to go out and do the work of the ministry.

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So I already talked about developing their their testimony.

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But then if you go to the 12th chapter of Romans, it talks about motivational gifts.

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And one is just motivated to be a teacher.

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One is motivated to be a giver. One is motivated to be an exorter.

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So we spent every three or four years, we'd go through a Bible study and spend about four weeks where we would study that passage of scripture and what was the meaning of these different motivational gifts.

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They're a little different than I think than the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the tongues and interpretation of tongues, prophecy, healings, deliverances, discerning of spirits.

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There are nine of them and different than the fruit of the spirit.

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But there it's kind of like they're in our DNA. We're born and you and I have four children.

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They're all different. They're motivated differently to respond in any given situation.

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And I always like to say someone that has a heart of compassion is always one of go in and encourage and love and say it's going to be OK.

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And if you have someone that's a an administrator, he's going to go well, come in and say, well, look, you need to get your life in order.

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This needs to be done X, Y and Z. And it's like they have different lenses in their glasses.

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They're approaching. But they both want the same thing.

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They both want the good of the person, but they approach it differently based on how God has wired.

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Yes. And so it's wonderful when you have friends and you go and visit someone and pray with someone maybe that doesn't know the Lord and you work together synergistically and you start bringing in these different facets.

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And truths of Jesus and and then the person gets a more complete picture and understanding of of a situation.

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So that was always something important to to equip the ladies with as well, because once you know and understand how you're motivated,

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because, you know, everybody likes someone that has a heart of compassion when they want to feel good. But the downside or flip side of a person with a heart of compassion is that they can easily be hurt because they take on the burdens of the world.

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And really, Jesus said we're to cast all of our cares and burdens upon him because he cares for us.

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So all of these areas where we're gifted, they also have a side that's a weakness that we have to be careful with.

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Yeah. And the Holy Spirit allows us to bring that on to balance when we submit our lives to him.

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Yes. What would do you have any books or Bible studies in particular that that have been helpful in in people walking in their motivational gift?

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There's one that I've used, but it's out of print now.

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But I know that there are other sources available.

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There there are a lot. Another one is getting to know your love language, you know, the five love languages again and in how you relate to your spouse, to your children, to your friends.

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You know, if they are a if they have a heart to give gifts, then you don't want to come up and just give them hugs all the time.

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You might want to bring a little gift. And it doesn't have to be very expensive.

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A gift giver loves even just like some some gum that's their flavor, you know, something like that.

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We don't have to spend a lot of money to to encourage people that are gift givers and enjoy giving.

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And and then others are touch. And if someone isn't a touchy person, then you need to make sure you honor their their space and not, you know, lavish them with hugs too much.

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But so that's another resource is getting to know your love language and those of you around, you know, just really educating yourself to begin to know the people that you do life with so that you can encourage them in a way that is that will be received as an encouragement.

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So share some testimonies of women who stepped out to evangelize or stepped out into their into their calling, really, after after you helped them and maybe what God's done in and through their lives that you've seen.

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When you run Bible studies, you're always looking for good teachers to raise up in the word.

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And so you have you start looking for teachers. And what I like about like in a in a church, a small women's Bible study is a wonderful place after someone has maybe taught in with the children and they've had a little experience teaching the word.

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Then you start giving them some responsibility and perhaps teaching one lesson or doing a wrap up of a teaching session. And so I I I enjoy helping women raise be raised up to use their teaching gifts.

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And one of my dear friends that actually replaced me as the women's pastor at church, she is now in another state and she attended a Bible study not very long when they began to recognize that she had an area of giftedness.

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And so she now is teaching women's Bible study at her church.

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And so a lot of times you don't see the immediate fruit. But I know a lot of women that did write their testimonies and they weren't always happy campers when we when I would say this is what we're doing today.

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But many of them today are out and they're sharing their testimony and praying for people.

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That's another thing on prayer, Jodi, just really encouraging people to learn how to pray the word of God.

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I was I shared earlier that I struggled with fear.

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And so I had to start praying scriptures when I didn't eat.

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There weren't any books written at that point, but it was just something I had to do to overcome this.

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This tremendous bondage that I had with fear and praying the word of God really, really helped.

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And I I it was just amazing.

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And what I noticed, I have a prayer partner.

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We've prayed together for 25 years now.

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We first met in Germany when our husbands were stationed there and we got involved in youth work.

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And then when we came back, both of us came back to the States, we started praying the first Thursday of the month.

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And we found out that that was too difficult to do because we'd forget which was the first Thursday.

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So we now pray every Thursday morning, almost for 24 years.

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We've prayed every Thursday morning. And it's interesting from our backgrounds.

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I came to know the Lord through the Jesus movement and the charismatic movement.

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It was loud, it was boisterous, you know, and she came from a very much of a liturgical setting.

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And so she brought in the reverence and the adoration and the awesomeness of being in the presence of the Lord, the holiness of the Lord.

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And I brought let's pray the scripture and the word.

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And it's interesting because what my friend Nancy was bringing to our prayer time wore off on me.

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And I started softening and just spending more time and adoration in the presence of the Lord.

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And now you should hear my friend Nancy pray the word. She's powerful.

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So, you know, there's an example of just in friendships as well, we can encourage one another, we can grow together.

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And again, that iron sharpening iron.

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But I always encourage women to, no matter where you are at church, get in a ladies Bible study or get in a couples Bible study if you're married so that you can grow in the word.

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I mean, you were in women's ministry for 20 years. What are some of the key biblical truths?

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You've named, you know, praying the word and but what else have you seen that we really need to embrace to realize all God has for us?

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I think we need to be open and transparent if we're struggling in an area.

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I'm involved in ladies Bible study at our church now, and I and there are a group of 10 of us that sit around a table every week and go over our homework.

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And we have the agreement, whatever we share at that table, it stays amongst the 10 of us.

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And we've become really great prayer partners and encouragers as we go through different phases and struggles in life.

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And we've got a couple of moms that have toddlers, we have moms with teenagers and we have two grandmothers, mine be included.

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So we're a real nice cross section of ages and experiences, and it's really it's been very helpful to me to have that support.

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And I know it has for the others. So I would say fellowship as well as studying the word is it's vital.

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You know, you can that that picture of the campfire, you take a blazing log and you take it out of the fire and set it aside and it's going to go out.

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It needs the other logs touching it to remain vibrant and and and burning.

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And that's what we need as well. So I would just add it to the importance of studying the word and the importance of prayer, the importance of fellowship.

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And finding a prayer partner or a prayer group where you know that you can trust one another.

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And and there's a tremendous responsibility that comes when someone shares with you not to share that with other people.

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Oh, yeah, yeah. You know, I mean, we I think I was thinking just in the past, you know, during covid and coming out of covid, there was so much separation.

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And even, you know, even people attending online church instead of going to church now.

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And, you know, there's many, many different reasons for that.

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I mean, there's health reasons and there's other things that there are seasons when you need to do that.

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But overall, God calls us to be a body and joining together with other believers, whether it's in a formal church service or whether it's in a home group.

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But being around other believers is so critical for our health, our spiritual health, because we can we can start going off track thinking crazy things when we're alone and we're not we're not laying it down before the fellowship of believers and really getting to the word of God together.

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Be aware when you're praying for someone, because oftentimes I'll find out that I've prayed something and I'll go, oh, my goodness.

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The Lord just, you know, just the Holy Spirit takes over and you hear yourself praying something.

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Wow, I need to remember that.

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And I had I have a wonderful example.

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I was praying with a woman and she was really, really struggling with poor self-esteem and a lot and a lot of shame.

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And so we were praying and I felt like the Lord said, go get your Bible and read from Isaiah 61.

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I just that was just impressed in my memory.

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So I thought, gosh, all right, I will.

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And I went and got it. And my eyes fell on verse seven.

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That's one of my favorite passages.

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But I'd never seen this before.

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And it said that God took our shame and replaced it with a double portion of honor.

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Well, I almost jumped out of my skin.

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I was so excited. This was exactly what she needed to hear.

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And it was in a passage that I was so familiar with, but for some reason, I guess I hadn't really zeroed in on verse seven.

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And I cannot tell you, Jodi, to this day, how many people I have shared that with and prayed over them and seen shame broken off of women from things of their past.

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And that's just like the love of God.

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He just wants to lavish his love and his forgiveness and his goodness and his acceptance upon upon us.

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So that's the other thing I would say.

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Listen and always be learning, hearing from the Holy Spirit, things that he prompts you to do.

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And one of the meanings of testimony is to do it again.

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And so when you see experiences like when you have an experience or you see someone set free from something or, you know,

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it's like, Lord, do it again, please do for this lady what you did for my friend.

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So we're never too old to learn.

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We don't we never know enough that we can stop hearing new things from the Lord and having great expectation in God.

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You know, in our last episode, we were talking about, you know, sometimes we have suspicions.

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You know, God, gosh, if I if I ask you for for patience, you're going to really be mean to me and really make me miserable.

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And that's the suspicion that we lay down because God is a good and wonderful God.

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But, you know, beyond that, we we can expect great things from God, not just should we not suspect bad from God,

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but we should expect great things from God because he's a great and awesome God.

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And he loves us so much as we've we've been saying a few times after 20 years of living in Massachusetts.

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You and Chris realized it was time to move again.

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This time you were going to be moving to be closer to family without the military help, which is a big undertaking.

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But what prompted that move and how did you see God's hand in the midst of it?

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You know, uprooting again when you're, you know, after you've been really settled somewhere and have friends and deep relationships can be very challenging and disconcerting.

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Right. So we lived in an old farmhouse built in in 1789 and there were two barns, a garage, garage and our and the home.

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And so there were lots of roof peaks that you had to get the snow off of and gutters to clean, et cetera.

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And so Chris had to go up and shovel snow off of a semi flat roof.

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And it was very icy. And he fell off the ladder and he broke,

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he cracked some ribs and he cracked something in his arm.

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And anyhow, that's when the kids put their their feet down and they said, Mom, Dad, you have got to move,

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sell this place, which was going to be a big undertaking, and move to be closer to one of us because we can't keep, you know, flying back and helping you as you get older.

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And so we made the decision to come here to Oklahoma. And.

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All I can tell you, Jodi, is when you pray and ask the Lord for help, he really does.

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It was a miracle that we were able to empty two barns, the garage and the house,

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and and move, move out of that location and come here to Oklahoma.

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It was just well, you can't we couldn't have done it without the Lord's help and our friends helping the kids flew in and helped us, you know.

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And we were able to make the move and the transition.

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And I we purchased land a year before we moved out here.

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And that Sunday we attended church with our with our daughter, Carrie and her husband, Danny, and the pastor.

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I don't remember what the sermon was about, only that he said, if you don't cross over the Jordan River, you'll never know what's on the other side in the promised land.

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And I thought, well, to move from Boston to Oklahoma, you have to cross the Mississippi.

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And and and it was like God used that as a testimony to me, just a confirmation you're doing the right you're doing the right thing.

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And actually, that's the church that we now attend. And so we moved here and I learned from military life, you can't look back.

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You you know, you you serve the Lord well until he moves you on.

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And then you have to say, OK, Lord, I did everything that I could do.

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Forgive me for anything that I didn't get done or didn't, you know, and then no regrets.

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Don't look back. Be be present where where God has you now so that you don't miss the opportunities and what he wants to do in your life.

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And that's what you were saying that I was. Yeah, you were saying that I was thinking, well, the children of Israel, when they left Egypt, they kept looking back and grumbling and wanting the leaks of Egypt and and lots wife.

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You know, when when God led them out of Sodom and Gomorrah, she looked back.

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She she didn't want to go where they were going and such a good lesson that when God moves us on to, yeah, be present.

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Don't don't I mean, certainly we can be thankful for all God did, but don't you know, for those former things, if God's moved us on.

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Right. Yes. So we came here to Oklahoma and it was really interesting because there are a lot of Christians out here.

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And Chris just everywhere we went, he'd he'd say, oh, before I leave, can we end in prayer?

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It's like this. He just it was like a butterfly had been released from its cocoon, so to speak, a different culture.

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And and then, of course, it didn't take long for us to figure out that not everybody here knows the Lord.

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But it is amazing when you offer to pray a blessing.

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It's rare that someone will say no to you. That's one thing that we have found out since we've been here.

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And then again, getting involved in church, Jodi, and we started a prayer meeting in our home.

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Which later down the road became such a source of support for us.

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Little did we know. Yeah, you had really learned during your military moves

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how to make a new city your home, like starting to get involved right away in that in that church, in that home fellowship.

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And and you you did say, I mean, that just became essential.

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Because you weren't timid to get involved, you jumped right in with with two feet and you're the community of friends that God gave you,

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really turned into something essential in that next season that you had to walk through.

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So tell us what happened. I mean, since you've been there. Right.

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Yes. So we were involved. Chris was involved in foreign student ministry down at Tulsa University.

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We were involved in our church, men's prayer, ladies Bible study.

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We had the prayer group in our home and and we were full and we had our daughter and son in law next door, which was such a treat.

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We'd never lived next door to any of our kids, which is typical in a military family.

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And then Chris actually had two speaking engagements.

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We were up in Seattle, Washington, and he spoke on Veterans Day Sunday and great message.

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And the next week we were down in Houston and Chris was speaking.

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And that night he said to me, gosh, I had a hard time pronouncing a few words.

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So in that short period of 10 days.

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Suddenly, he was experiencing some difficulty speaking.

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And, you know, Chris was never at a loss for words.

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And so eventually it progressed more.

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And then Covid hit. Hospital shut down.

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You couldn't get an appointment.

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And eventually we went up to.

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We went up to a hospital and.

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We were seen the first week that they opened up to see new patients and they diagnosed Chris with ALS.

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Which was just such a shock to us, that something that we had never.

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Well, you don't ever anticipate or think about, gee, I wonder if I'll ever get ALS or, you know, something else.

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And and so that became a.

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About a two and a half year journey, actually, from the time he was officially diagnosed, it was about two, two years and three months.

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And Laura, for those who don't know what ALS is, just briefly, what what is what is that disease?

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Well, it's some people know it is Lou Gehrig's disease and it can affect your muscles.

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Chris had the type of ALS called Bulbar, so it starts in the throat and you begin to lose your ability to speak.

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And then eventually he lost the strength in his arms and legs.

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And in the last six months, he was in an electric wheelchair that he drove like he was flying a plane.

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We have dings around the house to prove it.

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So it's a very debilitating disease and there's no cure.

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And so it was it it had the potential of being a very sad time.

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But again, we chose to go to the word.

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And I, Jodi, I a number of years ago when Chris was in grad school,

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we knew a family and the mother of those five, a husband and five children died of cancer.

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And we were all praying for her to be healed.

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And after she died, I was so angry.

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I said, God, I'm never going to pray for anybody to be healed again.

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I just felt so I felt like God had not heard our prayers.

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I was I was angry.

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And I knew I couldn't remain in that.

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Mentality, I had to confess to the Lord, ask for forgiveness for being angry and resentful to him.

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And and, of course, immediately, I started finding myself praying for people again that were sick, of course.

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So I Chris and I had decided that we were going to really stand firm on God's word,

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that by Jesus's stripes, Chris was healed and that God heals all of our diseases.

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So we started listening to healing scriptures.

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We wrote down scriptures, read scriptures every day.

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But the passage that became our mainstay, like a life.

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Savor to us was Romans five, one through five.

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We glory in tribulation or trials, knowing that the tribulations produces perseverance

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and perseverance produces character and character produces hope.

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And hope does not disappoint because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.

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And, Joey, that had been a passage that I had avoided like the plague.

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It was like, no, I don't want suffering. I don't want to go there.

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I don't want to think all of us. Yeah, right.

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I think all of us want to avoid that. Right.

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Yes. And that became one of my favorite passages to pray with Chris.

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We prayed that passage probably five or six times a day.

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As well as others. And so even though the end results were not what I had expected,

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I had already said, Lord, if we're going to take this strong stand for healing and we're not entertaining.

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But if not, I need to know that I can trust you with my heart because I had been I reacted so strongly.

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Years ago, I didn't want to go back to that place again.

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And so I really kind of submitted my heart to the Lord and I said, Lord, please protect my heart.

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I don't want to get angry. I don't want to get bitter. I don't want to be resentful.

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And God was faithful. And I'll fast forward and then I'll come back.

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Two days before Chris passed away, I felt I just felt led every once in a while.

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I'd say, do you still want to stand firm and healing?

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And he'd always raise his hand. Absolutely.

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And two days prior, I said, Chris, what's your gut feeling?

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And he pointed to heaven. And one thing that Chris and I had learned very early,

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actually in Tampa, was that husbands and wives needed to be in agreement.

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And if you're not in agreement, don't move forward until you are.

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And and I recognized right away that that was that was Chris's that's what he was feeling from the Lord,

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that God was getting ready to call him. And I had to come alongside and agree with him.

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And I did. And the moment I did, my heart was at peace. My heart was hopeful.

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I didn't have any bitterness or resentment. It was it was supernatural.

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It was natural. And we had the the last two days were saturated with praise and worship and the peace of the Lord.

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But going back to the two year journey, Jody, we could not have done it without prayer.

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And I, you know, I'd never been on the receiving end of so much prayer.

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And you hear people say that they just were buoyed up.

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They really could feel the prayers of other people.

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And I hadn't really experienced that like I did those two to almost two and a half years, as did Chris.

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We we walked in hope. We didn't walk in hopelessness.

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I didn't hear Chris grumbling and complaining.

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And he was a perfectionist. And things weren't perfect, weren't going perfect.

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It was just it was a it was an amazing time. And our Monday night prayer group covered us faithfully.

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They continued to meet with us either here in our home or on Zoom during covid.

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We had military friends that prayed on Mondays.

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They prayed. And then I had, of course, my my prayer partner.

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She sent Chris a card every week without failure for two and a half years with scripture in it.

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The kids were amazing. The three kids that lived on the East Coast were coming very frequently for visits.

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And I would say to Chris, your kids are spoiling you.

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It's just amazing. And and I did say to our children when Chris had passed away, I said, look, you have no regrets.

388
00:43:20,360 --> 00:43:25,480
Please, no regrets. You honored your dad well.

389
00:43:25,480 --> 00:43:34,040
And not only was that a blessing to us, but you honored your dad in such a way that our ten grandchildren,

390
00:43:34,040 --> 00:43:37,840
now eleven, because our oldest, Luke, is married.

391
00:43:37,840 --> 00:43:44,720
You were such a godly example to them of how to honor your parents in later life.

392
00:43:44,720 --> 00:43:55,240
Being a caregiver for someone with long term health issues can be very, very draining, oftentimes demoralizing.

393
00:43:55,240 --> 00:44:01,280
And while I'm sure there were times when you were exhausted physically, it's amazing.

394
00:44:01,280 --> 00:44:08,080
I mean, it is miraculous that you never lost hope, that you never spiraled down into despair.

395
00:44:08,080 --> 00:44:12,960
And that can only be the goodness of God.

396
00:44:12,960 --> 00:44:23,360
And the fact that you had been so intentional about building that fellowship, that support,

397
00:44:23,360 --> 00:44:33,600
that Christian body that came around you during that time of need and just can't express enough

398
00:44:33,600 --> 00:44:42,360
how critical that is for all of us to find that body of believers that we can call family.

399
00:44:42,360 --> 00:44:50,560
You know, I mean, I, you know, I consider you and your family family from 50 years ago

400
00:44:50,560 --> 00:44:57,720
when we were in that fellowship group so close together for many years and all the years since.

401
00:44:57,720 --> 00:45:05,320
So, you know, the people listening, if you don't have that, ask the Lord where to plug in

402
00:45:05,320 --> 00:45:08,160
and be intentional about developing those relationships.

403
00:45:08,160 --> 00:45:12,320
You never know when they're going to need you and when you're going to need them.

404
00:45:12,320 --> 00:45:19,120
That's right. And if people do find themselves in a place of despair,

405
00:45:19,120 --> 00:45:25,000
again, look to the Lord, cry out to the Lord and say, Lord, please help me.

406
00:45:25,000 --> 00:45:30,400
And I would encourage people if they find themselves discouraged and in despair,

407
00:45:30,400 --> 00:45:35,400
grab a hold of that Romans 5, 1 through 5 passage and just really let,

408
00:45:35,400 --> 00:45:43,600
because it's a progression of God building up perseverance for you to walk through that trial.

409
00:45:43,600 --> 00:45:50,200
And I saw that God gave me, I could, in the past, I could easily become discouraged

410
00:45:50,200 --> 00:45:57,920
if I didn't see results. And I was amazed at the endurance that God gave me.

411
00:45:57,920 --> 00:46:08,600
And it was a direct result of embracing that trial of of faith that God allowed us to walk through.

412
00:46:08,600 --> 00:46:11,240
Of course, you mentioned Chris did actually go to be with the Lord.

413
00:46:11,240 --> 00:46:14,720
And I know you miss him terribly.

414
00:46:14,720 --> 00:46:21,520
But God has shown you, given you some truths to hold on to that allow you to still walk in hope.

415
00:46:21,520 --> 00:46:32,280
Yes, yes. You know, we we know as believers, when we when we die, we go to be with the Lord in heaven.

416
00:46:32,280 --> 00:46:44,040
And I know that Chris is completely full, overflowing with joy and and reverence

417
00:46:44,040 --> 00:46:47,000
and worshipping the Lord at the top of his lungs.

418
00:46:47,000 --> 00:46:50,200
And and Chris loved to look up to the stars.

419
00:46:50,200 --> 00:46:55,520
And he always knew when there was going to be a Passover moon or a harvest moon or, you know,

420
00:46:55,520 --> 00:46:57,680
and we'd go out and look at various things.

421
00:46:57,680 --> 00:47:00,800
And I thought, oh, my gosh, one of the first things I thought of.

422
00:47:00,800 --> 00:47:07,160
Oh, my gosh, he sees all of the galaxies, all of the universe that is created,

423
00:47:07,160 --> 00:47:12,880
the stars that have been hung in place. And it's just it's it's.

424
00:47:12,880 --> 00:47:21,280
Why would I? Resent the fact that he's there, you know, he was he was the love of my life.

425
00:47:21,280 --> 00:47:27,720
And I do miss him, but I'm so grateful for what he's experiencing now.

426
00:47:27,720 --> 00:47:31,680
And the other thing, Jodi, that I found, I.

427
00:47:31,680 --> 00:47:38,080
I just because Chris couldn't speak the last six months and it was laborious to write things out,

428
00:47:38,080 --> 00:47:47,520
I know he prayed a lot of prayers for me, knowing that I would be left behind,

429
00:47:47,520 --> 00:47:55,520
not permanently left behind and for our children and our grandchildren and for the nations, et cetera.

430
00:47:55,520 --> 00:48:08,000
But I just have this feeling in my heart that I'm walking in his answered prayers for me.

431
00:48:08,000 --> 00:48:12,680
And that gives me great hope and strength.

432
00:48:12,680 --> 00:48:24,440
And and also, I mean, I just feel we're living in really challenging times now.

433
00:48:24,440 --> 00:48:28,200
And. I still have God has left me here.

434
00:48:28,200 --> 00:48:32,560
I always wanted to go before Chris, but he God saw differently.

435
00:48:32,560 --> 00:48:35,440
And I still I still have work to do.

436
00:48:35,440 --> 00:48:42,600
I still can be in a bearer of good news to people that need to hear of the love of Jesus.

437
00:48:42,600 --> 00:48:48,280
So, Jodi, Chris never missed an opportunity to share Jesus with people.

438
00:48:48,280 --> 00:48:53,440
And I would ask him, how do you always see that opportunity?

439
00:48:53,440 --> 00:48:58,880
And he said, I don't know, I just kind of see a little opening and I just dive in there.

440
00:48:58,880 --> 00:49:02,360
Well, I have become like that.

441
00:49:02,360 --> 00:49:05,000
And it's and I wasn't that way before.

442
00:49:05,000 --> 00:49:06,640
It's really kind of comical.

443
00:49:06,640 --> 00:49:09,880
I said, Lord, you just you have a sense of humor.

444
00:49:09,880 --> 00:49:19,080
But I I have experienced God giving or me recognizing the openings that probably were there before

445
00:49:19,080 --> 00:49:26,480
that I either didn't see or I was too embarrassed or shy to respond to.

446
00:49:26,480 --> 00:49:33,320
And I'm just grateful for that, that I that I have that I still have purpose.

447
00:49:33,320 --> 00:49:37,800
Yeah. And Laura, you've walked with the Lord over 50 years now.

448
00:49:37,800 --> 00:49:46,320
And as you look at what God has done over the past five decades and what he's doing now,

449
00:49:46,320 --> 00:49:48,560
what do you see and what do you sense?

450
00:49:48,560 --> 00:49:55,080
Chris and I got saved in the Jesus movement early on in the charismatic renewal.

451
00:49:55,080 --> 00:50:03,640
And I'm hearing testimonies from pastors that say they're there maybe in their 50s.

452
00:50:03,640 --> 00:50:11,160
And they said, I've never seen such a hunger in my congregation as I'm seeing now.

453
00:50:11,160 --> 00:50:17,240
And and then just having greater opportunity to witness.

454
00:50:17,240 --> 00:50:20,280
People are in despair now.

455
00:50:20,280 --> 00:50:29,720
There's a tremendous lack of faith, of hope, a lot of hopelessness and discouragement and

456
00:50:29,720 --> 00:50:31,920
depression and anxiety.

457
00:50:31,920 --> 00:50:35,320
And of course, Jesus is the answer for all of that.

458
00:50:35,320 --> 00:50:44,400
And so I just I just see that God is giving us tremendous opportunities to be influences

459
00:50:44,400 --> 00:50:47,600
for him to be his hands and feet extended.

460
00:50:47,600 --> 00:50:55,720
And I think having a grateful heart helps so much being grateful that we are living

461
00:50:55,720 --> 00:50:56,840
in this day and age.

462
00:50:56,840 --> 00:51:03,360
They're hard times, but we need to be grateful that God is giving us opportunities to make

463
00:51:03,360 --> 00:51:05,440
a difference.

464
00:51:05,440 --> 00:51:11,800
And so I just really want to encourage women.

465
00:51:11,800 --> 00:51:16,360
Women are the heart of the home and they set the tone in the home.

466
00:51:16,360 --> 00:51:22,440
And so put on that worship music, dance around when you're home alone, worship the Lord,

467
00:51:22,440 --> 00:51:28,500
create an atmosphere of joy and faith in your home.

468
00:51:28,500 --> 00:51:33,840
And then, you know, be available for your children, be available for your for your spouse

469
00:51:33,840 --> 00:51:39,440
if you if you have one, be available for your neighbors to just encourage them and maybe

470
00:51:39,440 --> 00:51:43,000
surprise them with some homemade cookies every once in a while, you know, something like

471
00:51:43,000 --> 00:51:45,560
that, whatever, however God directs you.

472
00:51:45,560 --> 00:51:51,400
But be looking for those opportunities to serve the Lord.

473
00:51:51,400 --> 00:51:54,640
It's going to look very different than we've seen it before.

474
00:51:54,640 --> 00:51:57,920
We don't have to be in the walls of the church to serve the Lord.

475
00:51:57,920 --> 00:52:03,320
Well as we close, would you share about another woman maybe who has of the Bible who's inspired

476
00:52:03,320 --> 00:52:05,360
or encouraged or taught you something?

477
00:52:05,360 --> 00:52:09,680
Yes, you know, it's funny because I shared first about Ruth and now I'm going to share

478
00:52:09,680 --> 00:52:10,680
about Esther.

479
00:52:10,680 --> 00:52:15,640
They're both Old Testament books of the Bible.

480
00:52:15,640 --> 00:52:23,280
But I love the the book of Esther as well, because here Esther has lost her parents.

481
00:52:23,280 --> 00:52:32,360
She's been orphaned and and her her older cousin Mordecai takes her in and raises her.

482
00:52:32,360 --> 00:52:39,120
And when you read about Esther, you see that she she was very beautiful and she had favor

483
00:52:39,120 --> 00:52:43,600
with a lot of people, but she had an obedient heart.

484
00:52:43,600 --> 00:52:47,560
And obviously she and I call him Uncle Mordecai.

485
00:52:47,560 --> 00:52:53,520
He was really her cousin, but was an uncle type figure in her life.

486
00:52:53,520 --> 00:52:59,060
Obviously they studied scripture because she knew she knew God.

487
00:52:59,060 --> 00:53:00,060
She knew the Lord.

488
00:53:00,060 --> 00:53:01,180
She had faith in the Lord.

489
00:53:01,180 --> 00:53:06,160
And then, of course, as you read the story, the king is looking for a new beautiful wife

490
00:53:06,160 --> 00:53:09,120
and she's taken to the palace.

491
00:53:09,120 --> 00:53:18,200
But that obedient spirit that she has causes her to find favor with the right people.

492
00:53:18,200 --> 00:53:23,160
And eventually she finds favor with the king and becomes the queen.

493
00:53:23,160 --> 00:53:24,380
She is Jewish.

494
00:53:24,380 --> 00:53:29,040
And this is this is in Persia, which is modern day Iran.

495
00:53:29,040 --> 00:53:34,640
And so she hides the fact that she's Jewish.

496
00:53:34,640 --> 00:53:42,240
And then there is a plot to to kill all of the Jewish people in the land.

497
00:53:42,240 --> 00:53:47,960
And Mordecai hears of this plot and tells Esther that she needs to do something about

498
00:53:47,960 --> 00:53:49,800
about that.

499
00:53:49,800 --> 00:53:52,440
And of course, she says she responds back to Mordecai.

500
00:53:52,440 --> 00:53:56,600
Well, first of all, she's embarrassed about him because he's in sackcloth.

501
00:53:56,600 --> 00:53:59,680
He's not properly dressed and she tries to send clothes out to him.

502
00:53:59,680 --> 00:54:00,680
He says no.

503
00:54:00,680 --> 00:54:05,000
And he finally lets her know what's going on and says, you need you need to do something.

504
00:54:05,000 --> 00:54:10,800
And she said, I can't because she said, I have not been summoned by the king.

505
00:54:10,800 --> 00:54:14,800
And if I'm not summoned by the king, then I could die.

506
00:54:14,800 --> 00:54:21,640
And I want to read from the fourth chapter of Esther what Mordecai responds, responds

507
00:54:21,640 --> 00:54:22,640
back to her.

508
00:54:22,640 --> 00:54:26,840
And it gives her a little bit of a loving rebuke.

509
00:54:26,840 --> 00:54:32,640
And he said, Do not think in your heart that you will escape in the king's palace any more

510
00:54:32,640 --> 00:54:38,600
than all the other Jews, for if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and

511
00:54:38,600 --> 00:54:42,000
deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place.

512
00:54:42,000 --> 00:54:45,760
But you and your father's house will perish.

513
00:54:45,760 --> 00:54:50,360
Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this.

514
00:54:50,360 --> 00:54:53,040
And we've heard that so many times.

515
00:54:53,040 --> 00:55:00,800
And and Esther, because she had a teachable heart, she did.

516
00:55:00,800 --> 00:55:06,080
She said, OK, gather all the Jewish people together and fast for me for three days.

517
00:55:06,080 --> 00:55:08,960
And then she said, and then I'll go into the king.

518
00:55:08,960 --> 00:55:12,520
And if I perish, I perish.

519
00:55:12,520 --> 00:55:20,720
And that sums up to me the character that she has, and we need that same kind of character

520
00:55:20,720 --> 00:55:21,880
today.

521
00:55:21,880 --> 00:55:24,000
We can't be ashamed of the gospel.

522
00:55:24,000 --> 00:55:27,040
We have to go and share with people.

523
00:55:27,040 --> 00:55:33,440
And you know, Jody, the people the people that moved into our apartment house and prayed

524
00:55:33,440 --> 00:55:38,500
for everybody, we were on base housing, the family that they had the least amount of faith

525
00:55:38,500 --> 00:55:45,760
for was the Minos, because we have the appearance of having everything together other than Chris's

526
00:55:45,760 --> 00:55:53,120
broken limbs, you know, and we were the family that they were able to share Jesus with.

527
00:55:53,120 --> 00:55:56,240
So you you never know.

528
00:55:56,240 --> 00:56:00,320
You can't judge people by just what they look like on the outside, the outward appearance.

529
00:56:00,320 --> 00:56:03,120
We don't know what God is doing in their hearts.

530
00:56:03,120 --> 00:56:04,560
That's why we have to be ready.

531
00:56:04,560 --> 00:56:12,360
And we have to have this mindset, and I think I said it earlier, if they reject it, it so

532
00:56:12,360 --> 00:56:14,240
what?

533
00:56:14,240 --> 00:56:21,160
You know, we have to be if I may I say this, we have to put our our big girl pants on.

534
00:56:21,160 --> 00:56:22,820
And we have to be brave.

535
00:56:22,820 --> 00:56:24,000
We have to be courageous.

536
00:56:24,000 --> 00:56:25,000
We have to be bold.

537
00:56:25,000 --> 00:56:27,680
We have to allow the Holy Spirit to lead us.

538
00:56:27,680 --> 00:56:29,560
And that's what I'm doing.

539
00:56:29,560 --> 00:56:30,840
I'm learning to do that.

540
00:56:30,840 --> 00:56:35,680
I'm learning to be more bold than I ever have been before.

541
00:56:35,680 --> 00:56:40,640
And and it's it's amazing the opportunities that God is giving me.

542
00:56:40,640 --> 00:56:42,800
And I'm very grateful for that.

543
00:56:42,800 --> 00:56:47,040
So Esther is another one of my heroes from scripture.

544
00:56:47,040 --> 00:56:52,720
And of course, we know that the Jewish people celebrate to this day the feast of Purim.

545
00:56:52,720 --> 00:56:53,800
And that's from the Book of Esther.

546
00:56:53,800 --> 00:56:57,880
And they read the entire Book of Esther during Purim.

547
00:56:57,880 --> 00:57:02,080
And they they do it with great revelry and rejoicing.

548
00:57:02,080 --> 00:57:04,760
And so I highly recommend it's another wonderful.

549
00:57:04,760 --> 00:57:08,120
Well, all of the books in the Bible are worth reading.

550
00:57:08,120 --> 00:57:14,760
But Esther is another one that just gives an encouragement of when things look desperate.

551
00:57:14,760 --> 00:57:21,800
And here's an here's an example of a book where God is moving behind the scenes, but

552
00:57:21,800 --> 00:57:27,840
he's also calling his people to be responsible and to act and to do.

553
00:57:27,840 --> 00:57:34,280
And I think that's that's the tension between it's God is moving supernaturally, but he's

554
00:57:34,280 --> 00:57:39,640
also using us in a natural way and expects and expects us to be obedient.

555
00:57:39,640 --> 00:57:45,320
Well, Isaiah 40 verse 31 is a verse that is probably familiar to many of you.

556
00:57:45,320 --> 00:57:51,160
And the NIV says it this way, but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.

557
00:57:51,160 --> 00:57:53,000
They will soar on wings like eagles.

558
00:57:53,000 --> 00:57:54,620
They will run and not grow weary.

559
00:57:54,620 --> 00:57:56,560
They will walk and not faint.

560
00:57:56,560 --> 00:58:01,840
Some translations say those who wait on the Lord and when we're waiting on something,

561
00:58:01,840 --> 00:58:06,120
you know, we're really hopeful and believing that it's going to come.

562
00:58:06,120 --> 00:58:10,640
We can hope in a lot of things or a lot of people that will let us down.

563
00:58:10,640 --> 00:58:18,460
But when we hope in the Lord, like Laura has, like Esther did, God renews us for his purposes

564
00:58:18,460 --> 00:58:23,280
to walk alongside others, to run our race in a way that glorifies him.

565
00:58:23,280 --> 00:58:27,200
Laura, would you take a moment and pray for all of our listeners?

566
00:58:27,200 --> 00:58:28,200
I will.

567
00:58:28,200 --> 00:58:30,680
Yes, Father, we thank you.

568
00:58:30,680 --> 00:58:34,120
You are our good God.

569
00:58:34,120 --> 00:58:41,380
And Lord, we don't always understand the trials and tribulations that we might walk through,

570
00:58:41,380 --> 00:58:44,360
but we know that you are there with us always.

571
00:58:44,360 --> 00:58:47,860
And so we give you praise today, Lord.

572
00:58:47,860 --> 00:58:53,520
We lift up our hearts and praise and adoration and say thank you, Lord.

573
00:58:53,520 --> 00:59:02,320
We are so grateful for you revealing your son Jesus to us and sending him on the cross,

574
00:59:02,320 --> 00:59:03,320
Lord.

575
00:59:03,320 --> 00:59:10,080
And Lord, we are reminded that that veil that separated the common people from your presence

576
00:59:10,080 --> 00:59:12,880
was torn from top to bottom.

577
00:59:12,880 --> 00:59:17,360
And we have access to you through the shed blood of Jesus Christ.

578
00:59:17,360 --> 00:59:23,320
And so, Lord, I lift up every person that is listening to this podcast, Lord.

579
00:59:23,320 --> 00:59:25,120
You know their needs.

580
00:59:25,120 --> 00:59:27,040
You know their struggles.

581
00:59:27,040 --> 00:59:28,160
You know their fears.

582
00:59:28,160 --> 00:59:29,520
You know their joys.

583
00:59:29,520 --> 00:59:36,720
Lord, we just ask that you would be with them and that they would experience you in a fresh

584
00:59:36,720 --> 00:59:37,880
and new way.

585
00:59:37,880 --> 00:59:44,180
Lord, we want to be used by you for your glory, Lord.

586
00:59:44,180 --> 00:59:51,040
And as we're surrounded in times of hopelessness, we cast all of our cares upon you because

587
00:59:51,040 --> 00:59:53,060
you care for us.

588
00:59:53,060 --> 00:59:58,820
Thank you, Lord, for listening and hearing us when we cry out to you.

589
00:59:58,820 --> 01:00:03,200
And just we bless you, Lord, in Jesus' name.

590
01:00:03,200 --> 01:00:04,200
Amen.

591
01:00:04,200 --> 01:00:05,200
Amen.

592
01:00:05,200 --> 01:00:08,720
Friends, there are widows as well as orphans all over the world who need to experience

593
01:00:08,720 --> 01:00:13,320
the tangible expression of God's love right now.

594
01:00:13,320 --> 01:00:17,480
Many have special needs that we as a company of women can meet together.

595
01:00:17,480 --> 01:00:20,560
Would you consider joining us with a special gift to help?

596
01:00:20,560 --> 01:00:25,120
Just go to hergodstory.org and click on the widow and orphan tab at the top of the page.

597
01:00:25,120 --> 01:00:27,280
And thank you for tuning in.

598
01:00:27,280 --> 01:00:32,400
In our show notes at hergodstory.org, you'll find scriptures and other information we talked

599
01:00:32,400 --> 01:00:33,400
about.

600
01:00:33,400 --> 01:00:37,700
And don't forget to sign up for our emails and get a six-week devotional book you can

601
01:00:37,700 --> 01:00:44,160
download for free, or you may want to purchase a 12-week devotional book on women's stories

602
01:00:44,160 --> 01:00:50,080
of the Bible for just $12, knowing that all the proceeds go to our Widow and Orphan Fund.

603
01:00:50,080 --> 01:00:54,880
We'd also love to pray for you on our 24-7 prayer or text line.

604
01:00:54,880 --> 01:01:01,960
You can give us a call or text anytime at 855-459-CARE or email us at prayer@somebodycares.org.

605
01:01:01,960 --> 01:01:06,720
And now, dear friends, I bless you with Isaiah 40:31.

606
01:01:06,720 --> 01:01:10,240
May God teach you how to put your hope in Him.

607
01:01:10,240 --> 01:01:16,720
May He renew your strength so you can run and not be weary, so you can walk and not

608
01:01:16,720 --> 01:01:17,720
faint.

609
01:01:17,720 --> 01:01:21,760
Her God Story is a ministry of Somebody Cares America and international.

610
01:01:21,760 --> 01:01:39,960
To find out more about or support the ministry, go to somebodycares.org.