I Needed Perfect Love To Cast Out Fear, Sandra Tracy's Story

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Hey friends, I love a good story, especially when it's a God story.

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I love to hear how God takes ordinary women like you and me and does extraordinary things

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in for and through them.

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

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and traveler on this journey of faith.

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And I've got a story that will equip, inspire and encourage you in your walk with the Lord.

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So welcome.

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I'm so glad you tuned in.

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It's very simple.

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Listen to the same episode, download our prepared episode questions from the heardgodstory.org

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website and then discuss over your favorite refreshments.

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Hey, it's a great way to reach out to friends who don't know Christ yet.

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Include them in the conversation and see what God will do.

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for you as well.

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In this episode, we're going to hear a story about how to apply the word of God in our

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lives and see results.

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James 1 22 through 25 in the NIV says, do not merely listen to the word and so deceive

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yourselves.

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Do what it says.

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Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks

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at his face in a mirror and after looking at himself goes away and immediately forgets

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what he looks like.

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But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom and continues in it,

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not forgetting what they heard, but doing it, they will be blessed in what they do.

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Sandra Tracy believes that lives that and teaches others to live that too.

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Sandra is a vivacious woman that I met in Little Rock, Arkansas recently, and she has

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a passion to help people walk in the freedom and fullness of Christ.

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She worked for the state of Arkansas in numerous capacities for 26 years, including as the

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assistant to the Colonel of the Arkansas State Police.

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So I think she's seen a few things.

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She's married to a pastor.

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So for many of those years, she also served in various ministry roles at the churches

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he led.

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And she is now a lead pastor with John at Life Church in Little Rock, where they have

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been for 27 years.

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Her love for people is evident and contagious.

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Sandra and John have a married son, a daughter-in-law and a granddaughter.

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Welcome, Sandra.

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Thank you, Jody.

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It's so good to be online here with you today.

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Sandra, your journey with the Lord began very early in life.

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Tell us a little about life when you were young and what prompted you to dedicate your

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life to the Lord.

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Well, I come from a very large family and I have three brothers, two sisters, and I

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had a very godly praying mom.

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So all of my life I have been raised in a home of faith and a mom that loved the Lord

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and read her Bible and prayed all the time.

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And so I grew up in that environment.

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And so it became just a natural for us in our home that we were surrounded by prayer.

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And certainly the scriptures were very evident in our home, how that our mom used the word

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every day, applied it in her life.

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So it just became part of our way of life with my mom's faith.

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You know, that is what happens with a lot of people who grow up in those Christian families.

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They're surrounded by it.

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And so they kind of pick it up.

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But when did it really become your decision?

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At some point, each of us has to make that personal decision to follow Christ.

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And what was that for you?

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Well, growing up in a godly home with a mom, although my dad was not in the church, he

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stood behind what my mom led us in faith in her beliefs.

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And so at the age of 17, you know, I think that's probably a lot of the ages when kids

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grow up, they're like, do I really believe what I've been taught?

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And so it becomes a big decision, which way do I go?

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You know, that fork in the road, so to speak.

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And so with that, my mom was always encouraging me to get involved in church.

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And so I attended a church service at a new church she had started.

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Our church had made some transitions.

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And so my mom moved to a church closer to her home.

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And she invited me to come with her on a Sunday night.

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I normally would not go on a Sunday night or a Sunday morning only at that seven, you

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know, that age of 17, thinking I'm at an age to make that decision.

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So I went with her on a Sunday night and it was a young man was preaching and which was

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a little just a seemed like he looked a lot older than me, but he was my age.

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And I thought, well, OK, if there's someone my age that's preaching or someone that loves

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the Lord, I certainly wanted to meet that person.

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So anyway, so when I met when I went to the church that night, this young man that is

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now my husband was preaching and I saw his zeal, his love for God, his love for the Lord,

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the people of the church.

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And besides that, just he was a very tall, dark and handsome young guy.

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However, I really didn't know his age.

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So I thought, you know, he's got to be around my age, but he looked a lot older.

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So anyway, it created such a desire in me that you can be a young person and have such

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a zeal for the Lord.

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So that was the beginning of invoking what I had been raised into realizing that there

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are young people that truly do love the Lord and live for the Lord wholeheartedly.

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Yeah.

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So you made that faith that you'd grown up with.

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You made that your own.

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Right.

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And I knew then there was a, if I would say a spark that sparked to me, not just for him,

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but I was interested in him.

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But also that night when he preached, I seen such a, I guess, a love for young people because

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the church was full of young people that night.

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And so I had to make that decision.

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You know, do I really want to make that commitment to go wholeheartedly and follow the Lord?

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Or was I going to go the ways of my peers in high school?

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You know, so it was a turning point for me.

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So it's my 11th grade year in high school.

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And so anyway, with that, that was the beginning of just someone creating a hunger for me.

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And so soon after that, I went to a church service where he was preaching at another

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church and actually I got saved, redidicated my life in his service.

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So anyway, and I can tell you the spot and the month that that happened in.

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And so with that, it's just been, it's been sweeter every day since that total commitment

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and surrender to the Lord.

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Shortly after that, you started dating and eventually married John, you mentioned he's

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now your husband.

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I'm sure about that.

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I mean, that's, you know, of course you were attracted to him.

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He's tall, dark and handsome, but it was much more than that.

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It was much more than his looks that really attracted you to John.

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Yeah.

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So at 17 years old, we're a junior in high school and he went to a school that was probably

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a good 30 miles from where I lived.

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And so anyway, we just started communicating by phone, the landline.

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I don't know if many people remember those, but it was a wall phone.

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Yeah.

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And everybody in the house could hear.

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Yeah, exactly.

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And so we started just conversing by phone and I found such a unique relationship that

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he had with the Lord.

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And so when we would date, when he asked me out on a date, it was always going to church.

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I mean, that's where we went.

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We were involved in some kind of church service or community outreach or something like that.

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So with that, we dated for two years.

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And so right after high school, we dated a year after high school.

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So when he asked me to marry him back in those days, girls and guys were like either going

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to get married and get a job and start life or you're going to go on to college.

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So we both told with where do we go from here, whether we were going to go to college or

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whether we were going to get married first.

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So we ended up getting married after two years to the day of our first date, which I thought

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was really neat.

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So, and actually yesterday was our 41st wedding anniversary.

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Wow.

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Happy anniversary.

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That is quite a milestone.

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Yeah.

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So 41 years of marriage, two years of dating.

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So we've been together 43 years and it's hard for me to even imagine that these years have

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passed so fast.

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But yeah.

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So we dated two years and married and in that we jumped right into serving in the church

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and ministry.

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So it's been, I mean, we have been in the ministry ever since we've been married.

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Yeah.

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And right after, right after you got married, John was asked to start pastoring a church.

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I mean, that was young.

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He was only 20 years old.

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So he was a bivocational pastor, which means he was working a job and pastoring at the

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same time.

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So that's a little bit of a stretch for particularly for someone that young.

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Tell us about that season in your life.

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I mean, what was God teaching you in that season?

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Your pastor's wife now newly married and that's a lot to handle at a young age.

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So we were 19 when we got married and we, he lived in a community that was a very close

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knit community.

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I lived in the city and so we in the city, we didn't actually know everyone around us,

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but in his little community, everybody was so connected.

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And so he was attending a small church in his community and some of the people in the

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community thought, well, he's a young guy.

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He was, he is still is very talented music wise.

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And so several of them thought, well, we could start a little storefront church plant.

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And so it started out with about 30 people.

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And so with that, he just began to, they rented the building.

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We just went in there, you know, just fresh.

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I mean, had to start with nothing.

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It was a storefront building.

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And so just began to pray and ask God to lead us there.

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And we were there for about two years and actually the church grew.

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We ended up buying property and building our first church.

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And by this time we're about 20, almost 22 years old.

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And so, which was, you know, a lot for 22 year old, but we had a lot of good people

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around us surrounding us and helping us.

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So we, we bought land, we built a building, we furnished a building.

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And a lot of it was a lot of effort and labor among the people.

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So we started this church in the community he grew up in.

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The church grew.

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It was a very good sized church.

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And I learned a lot in that because I was one, not raised in a pastor's home, nor had

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I really had an example of what a church plant was like.

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So we had no model to follow.

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So basically we were winging it by faith and actually God was there with us through it.

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We saw some miraculous testimonies of God's goodness there, some salvations that people

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that got saved in that ministry are still serving the Lord today.

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We have been here at this church 27 years and Sunday, this past Sunday, as I was looking

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on stage, one of the young families in our church when we first started had a little

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son that was seven years old when we started that church.

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And he is still with us in this church today.

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He was playing the bass in Sunday service and his wife and children are here in the

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church with us.

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And I thought, you know, that that's a testimony of God's goodness.

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And you know, we're in a different city now and to see how God has just kept us connected

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to many, many of those same people there.

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But it was a struggle because it was a bio vocational church, meaning the church wasn't

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able to fully support us in full time ministry.

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I didn't even know that was an option.

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So we worked our jobs and we went to church and we served the people, the community.

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We prayed.

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We loved people and God certainly met us there and blessed us.

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While we were there, we had an elder in the neighborhood, elder pastor that came to the

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church and really took a very hard passion for us as a couple.

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He loved the church, but he really, he didn't have a son, but he loved my husband.

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And so he began to mentor my husband and mentor us.

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And so with that, we ended up helping plant a larger church in the community, which was

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it's East End Assembly of God Church and that's in East End, Arkansas.

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So again, a small town, Arkansas.

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So we served with the elder pastor, Marion Ballard, and he became our mentor and just

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a godly pastor and his wife that mentored us for many years.

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So you're going through this season, you're young, you're learning so much.

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You're like, must've been like a spiritual sponge, you know, just kind of taking it all

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in.

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And then a challenge came along.

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I mean, you had your son, Brett, when you were 23, but five years later, he suffered

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a ruptured brain aneurysm like any mother.

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I know you were terrified and heartbroken all at the same time.

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Take us on the journey of that season.

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Tell us about God's faithfulness in the midst of it and what were some of those deep lessons

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that you learned through it?

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Yes.

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So we at 23 had our son, Brett, and was living the American dream.

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You know, we were going to church, working, playing T-ball with our son.

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I had actually decided I wanted to go in the nursing field thinking one day if my husband

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was full-time ministry, then I could have a career in the nursing field that would give

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me flexibility to work as much or little because I knew in the medical field, you know, there

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will always be a need for nurses.

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And so that desire to be a nurse really came from my childhood.

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So I was acting on that desire to be a nurse.

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So anyway, I was in nursing school living the American dream and our son on a Wednesday

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at school, when I went to pick him up at the daycare, the teacher let me know that he had

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a real struggle from waking up from a nap.

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I really didn't think much about it other than asking him if he was tired.

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And he said that, you know, he had felt like he had bombs dropping on his head.

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Well, when a five-year-old tells you something like that, you're thinking, well, you don't

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really play much into that because he's five years old, right?

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And so anyway, that was on Wednesday.

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Thursday, we played T-ball.

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Everything was fine.

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On Friday, he woke up with just not feeling well.

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So it was a rough morning for us to get out the door on Friday morning, going to work

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and getting him to the daycare.

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And so Friday evening when I picked him up from the daycare, they said, you know, something's

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really not well with bread.

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He's not feeling well.

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So I took him home and we just enjoyed a Friday night.

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I still remember having pizza with him and laying him down for bed.

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And then what little I knew about nursing at that time, I was just had only been in

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nursing school for maybe about six or eight months.

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And I remember hearing my son scream out, it was close to midnight and a squeal or a

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holler that was so earth shattering for any mother to hear or father to hear their child

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cry out in the night.

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So when I got to his room, I actually knew something seriously wrong.

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So when we stood him up in the bed, we grabbed him out of the bed.

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He began convulsing and I panicked because I knew that his body had gone into a state

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of shock.

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And so anyway, we lived in the country.

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I called and my doctor, he called back immediately said, you know, get him to the ER.

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So we did that.

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Once we got to the ER, they came in and told us that our son was hemorrhaging in his brain.

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They didn't know what from and possibly that he would not make it through the night.

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So we're 28 at this time.

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You know, God had been faithful all along.

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So to see this was a real pivotal point for our walk of faith to say, God, we've been

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teaching this, preaching this, believing you.

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And now here we're at a moment of, you know, God, are you going to answer our prayer?

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And so with that, we that was on a Friday night that had happened.

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They stabilized our son until Monday.

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And on Monday, our son was in surgery for about seven, about seven hours.

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And when they finished the surgery, they let us know that it was a massive aneurysm.

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And for a five year old to have an aneurysm at that time, and as far as I know now, it's

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very rare.

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They had at the time, our neurosurgeon said they had only known of one surviving five

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year old or child that had survived an aneurysm.

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The journey of walking out the unknowns with a five year old and what we were going to

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be left with is and I was just a waiting seat, obviously terrified of the unknown.

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And so our church family began to walk with us through that and just help us to just take

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it a day at a time at a time with our son, our son being a five year old boy, we were

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we had such dreams and such aspirations for him for the future, even at five years old.

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So anyway, with that, we had to walk through a season of therapy.

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After the surgery, we were in the hospital for about three months with him.

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He had to learn to walk again, he had to learn to talk, use the mobility of his hands.

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So there was just a long season of healing for us.

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And God has been faithful through that.

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Our son is 37 today and God healed him completely.

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Actually very gifted in his thought process.

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He's just recently served for about four years as a vice president of a hospital in Roanoke,

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Virginia.

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And he was the vice president of revenue cycle.

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So that could tell you there from the journey we went to where we are today has been miraculous.

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And so he's actually a father and has a beautiful six year old daughter.

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So yeah, God has been faithful.

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Yeah, it was a stretch of your faith, but God was faithful in the midst of it all.

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Yes.

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And you know, friends, there are children all over the world who are without parents,

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they're orphans who need to experience the tangible expression of God's love even right

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now.

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And many have special needs that we as a company of women can meet together.

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Would you consider joining us with a special gift to help?

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Just go to her God story.org and click on the way to an orphan tab at the top of the

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page.

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So Sandra, you had been working for the state of Arkansas and were able to go back to work

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once your son was doing better.

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Overall, you worked in gosh, various capacities for the state for 26 years, was it?

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Yeah.

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What did you see God do?

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I mean, you're obviously very embedded in the church and all that God is doing in the

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church, but God works in the marketplace too.

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He works in the government too.

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What did you see him do and what did he show you through your time working as a civil servant?

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You know, working in state government is like a world of its own because there are so many

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defining lines in state government.

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And I love working.

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I've always had that desire to be a career driven.

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I was, you know, how do you balance a career with the ministry when your husband has a

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call on his life and you love that call and you want to do all the serve, but then also

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you have this desire to work outside the home, which doesn't always fit the mold of what

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traditionally is thought of as a pastor's wife.

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And so with that in state government, when our son had the aneurysm, I actually was able

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to take a leave of absence and then I was able to go back into my same job for a short

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season and then I was given an opportunity for a promotion shortly after I was back at

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work.

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And so I realized that people around me were seeing how I responded to such a tragic situation

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and it was just a really awesome way how God plays that out.

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There was another lady in our office that had a similar situation with her child.

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So we were both going through this at the same time.

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But the way God used the situation at hand for people to come around you, you know, when

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someone goes through a tragedy when a child is involved, I mean, you really know that

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people really do care.

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I mean, they're going to surround you.

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So it was awesome to see people that profess Christ to come around and to surround us during

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that time, but also those that were not professing Christian, they actually, it brought a realization

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that, you know, tragedy can happen to anyone.

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And it's really how does one respond through that?

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And so with that, God was faithful through it all.

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And so I learned a lot in that.

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And then also, it was not a time that I was able to help anyone.

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Actually, I was in great need of people to surround me at that time.

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And God was faithful through that.

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I loved working with people that served in our state.

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I love the state of Arkansas.

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And so, yeah, I can truly tell you that state employees, their heart is for, for the most

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part, their hardest to serve and to see our jobs build in what we were assigned to do.

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So Sandra, you've been working for the state of Arkansas and you were able to go back to

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work once your son was doing better.

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Overall, you worked in various capacities for the state for about 26 years.

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And you know, you're embedded in the church, you're seeing God move in the church, but

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you're also working in this marketplace, the secular environment.

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What did you see God do?

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Because God works there too.

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He doesn't only work inside the church four walls, right?

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What did you see him do?

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And what did he show you during your time working as a civil servant?

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With the career that I had, you know, at work, I had the best space forward, you know, life

359
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is good, I'm doing well, all along internally, really struggling.

360
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I was struggling with fear.

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I struggled with the fear of death.

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My son who almost died, God was so good to us that, you know, he didn't die.

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But then I lived with this constant fear that what if it, what if that happened?

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I never thought of a five year old or even death for a young, you know, child or anything

365
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like that.

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So when our son seemed to be doing well, school was going well, I was working but internally

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I was really struggling with a constant everyday fear.

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We had only had this one child and our plans were to have three.

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But after we went through what we did with them, I had a great fear that, you know, of

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having a child and it dying or, you know.

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And so it was just a constant struggle which created in me just an over, I don't want to

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call a helicopter mom, but I was very protective.

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I was very fearful.

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And so that struggle of faith and fear became very real.

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And so with that, I started battling depression, not realizing that I had probably had some

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depression as a child that did not really have a way of handling that or recognizing

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00:26:23,160 --> 00:26:24,440
it as such.

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And so when this happened with our son, we were in the best place as a couple.

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We had built a new home.

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We had a very large surrounding community of friendship.

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My husband actually had a great job as an electrician.

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He had been a bi-vocational, so a great job working as an electrician.

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I had a great job.

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So on the outside, people looking in thought, man, this young couple probably really has

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it all together.

386
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We had built a new house.

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So, you know, tangibly looked great, but emotionally was so, I was so deep in a pit that had to

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still perform, still go to my job, still act like all was well, still put on that good

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00:27:09,160 --> 00:27:14,240
face at church, make sure that I'm representing well.

390
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But in the whole scheme of things, I was very in a pit and to the place that almost at times

391
00:27:23,280 --> 00:27:28,040
I didn't even know how I could even make it one day to the next.

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And it was, the deep root was a spirit of fear.

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But you know, it just gave you, I mean, the people around you who did not know Christ,

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I'm sure we're watching very closely how you got through it, how you made it through

395
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and what happened to your son.

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00:27:45,320 --> 00:27:52,680
And just the testimony of God working in your life had to, without you even having to be

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00:27:52,680 --> 00:27:59,560
an outright evangelist, had to impact them as well over the years.

398
00:27:59,560 --> 00:28:05,160
You know, when there's a verse, and I think it's in 1 Peter, it says, you know, always

399
00:28:05,160 --> 00:28:10,960
be ready to give an answer to people for the hope that you have within you.

400
00:28:10,960 --> 00:28:14,840
And people are going to ask, you know, when you're not sitting in a church, you're just

401
00:28:14,840 --> 00:28:22,720
out living your life and you face situations that would really rock someone else's world.

402
00:28:22,720 --> 00:28:25,160
People are going to ask, how did you get through that?

403
00:28:25,160 --> 00:28:28,240
Why didn't you just fall to pieces?

404
00:28:28,240 --> 00:28:33,760
You know, during those years, you also threw yourself into serving at the church and seeing

405
00:28:33,760 --> 00:28:36,160
people set free from sin and oppression.

406
00:28:36,160 --> 00:28:39,600
You know, because you were doing that, you also had some spiritual battles to deal with

407
00:28:39,600 --> 00:28:40,600
personally.

408
00:28:40,600 --> 00:28:44,440
And what were some of those things that you faced and how did you overcome them?

409
00:28:44,440 --> 00:28:48,200
I mean, you were not immune to trouble by any means.

410
00:28:48,200 --> 00:28:50,840
Well, again, you know, I was raised in church all my life.

411
00:28:50,840 --> 00:28:56,480
And so it's almost when a praying mom and you're in church all your life, it becomes

412
00:28:56,480 --> 00:29:00,900
the norm being almost like osmosis.

413
00:29:00,900 --> 00:29:02,320
You just grow up in the church.

414
00:29:02,320 --> 00:29:07,400
I tend to say now it's almost like when you say this is the way we go to church, go to

415
00:29:07,400 --> 00:29:15,320
church, go to church, and we just do it out of rote or routine that it doesn't become

416
00:29:15,320 --> 00:29:22,480
it becomes almost just the norm, not a freshness, not a relationship, but just a duty.

417
00:29:22,480 --> 00:29:27,640
And so with that, I realized I had a lot of performance personality traits.

418
00:29:27,640 --> 00:29:34,760
Although I love the Lord and thought I was really on track, I had not really had that

419
00:29:34,760 --> 00:29:39,080
encounter with the Lord that would bring me out of that pit.

420
00:29:39,080 --> 00:29:40,080
So I just went to the word.

421
00:29:40,080 --> 00:29:42,800
I remember my mom had a scripture for everything.

422
00:29:42,800 --> 00:29:44,400
It didn't matter what we were going through.

423
00:29:44,400 --> 00:29:45,900
She had a scripture.

424
00:29:45,900 --> 00:29:52,040
So again, I had to come to my own come to Jesus moment meeting.

425
00:29:52,040 --> 00:29:57,040
And so with that, I just went before the Lord and I said, God, something's wrong.

426
00:29:57,040 --> 00:29:59,400
I have everything in the world to be happy about.

427
00:29:59,400 --> 00:30:00,400
I'm blessed.

428
00:30:00,400 --> 00:30:03,080
I have a good husband, a good my son's well.

429
00:30:03,080 --> 00:30:08,080
Life is going well, but something's deeply broken in me emotionally.

430
00:30:08,080 --> 00:30:09,800
And so with that, I had a career.

431
00:30:09,800 --> 00:30:12,320
I mean, honestly, I had the career.

432
00:30:12,320 --> 00:30:14,640
I was the colonel of the Arkansas State Police.

433
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I was his assistant.

434
00:30:15,960 --> 00:30:19,640
I had a very wonderful job.

435
00:30:19,640 --> 00:30:25,600
I mean, at all accounts, everything should be fine, you know, and but it wasn't I was

436
00:30:25,600 --> 00:30:26,600
broken.

437
00:30:26,600 --> 00:30:32,280
So with that, I remember just a season that I told my husband, I said, look, I've got

438
00:30:32,280 --> 00:30:33,800
to find out what's wrong.

439
00:30:33,800 --> 00:30:37,520
And so I'd been to the doctor and the doctor is like, well, you know, we can give you a

440
00:30:37,520 --> 00:30:38,840
pill.

441
00:30:38,840 --> 00:30:42,640
And I wasn't opposed to taking something to help me for depression.

442
00:30:42,640 --> 00:30:45,200
But I knew that it was deeper than that.

443
00:30:45,200 --> 00:30:47,960
I'm like, OK, I thank you for that.

444
00:30:47,960 --> 00:30:50,320
And if I need it, I'll certainly take it.

445
00:30:50,320 --> 00:30:54,640
But I really want to find out what is wrong with me.

446
00:30:54,640 --> 00:30:58,040
So I just on a quest to seek God for answers.

447
00:30:58,040 --> 00:31:00,880
So I knew that God didn't give me a spirit of fear.

448
00:31:00,880 --> 00:31:04,400
I knew that's a second Timothy one and seven had good.

449
00:31:04,400 --> 00:31:06,520
We have that scripture to stand on for.

450
00:31:06,520 --> 00:31:09,920
God has not given us a spirit of fear, but a power, love and sound mind.

451
00:31:09,920 --> 00:31:13,840
So I'm like, if God didn't give me the spirit of fear, then where did it come from?

452
00:31:13,840 --> 00:31:14,840
So how did you get rid of it?

453
00:31:14,840 --> 00:31:15,920
How did you get through it?

454
00:31:15,920 --> 00:31:20,840
So I had to recognize there was a point in my life that I had to come to the realization

455
00:31:20,840 --> 00:31:24,840
of what I learned on Sunday and my living it on Monday.

456
00:31:24,840 --> 00:31:26,920
And so that's the big thing.

457
00:31:26,920 --> 00:31:28,560
I think a lot of us go to church.

458
00:31:28,560 --> 00:31:30,360
We hear a good sermon.

459
00:31:30,360 --> 00:31:32,640
We read our Bibles or a devotional.

460
00:31:32,640 --> 00:31:37,760
And we've done our if we want to call it our duty or task or whatever.

461
00:31:37,760 --> 00:31:41,280
But is there a real relationship with the Lord?

462
00:31:41,280 --> 00:31:44,520
Has his word become real and alive to to us?

463
00:31:44,520 --> 00:31:50,640
And so that was the moment that even though things were well, that I had a I say, come

464
00:31:50,640 --> 00:31:56,120
to Jesus meeting, you know, so I thought, OK, I really need to just have a meeting with

465
00:31:56,120 --> 00:31:57,120
me and the Lord.

466
00:31:57,120 --> 00:31:58,120
And I did.

467
00:31:58,120 --> 00:31:59,440
I actually scheduled it.

468
00:31:59,440 --> 00:32:04,520
I told my husband, I said, hey, I'm going to spend some time with the Lord.

469
00:32:04,520 --> 00:32:06,160
And he knew I needed that.

470
00:32:06,160 --> 00:32:09,440
And so I spent one evening with the Lord.

471
00:32:09,440 --> 00:32:15,680
It was about six hours that I just had a come to Jesus meeting and worked through a lot

472
00:32:15,680 --> 00:32:17,680
of things in my life.

473
00:32:17,680 --> 00:32:21,440
And that's really what the Christian faith, you know, when the rubber meets the road,

474
00:32:21,440 --> 00:32:22,440
do we apply?

475
00:32:22,440 --> 00:32:25,840
Do we really believe that Jesus is the answer?

476
00:32:25,840 --> 00:32:29,000
Do we really believe that his word is true?

477
00:32:29,000 --> 00:32:32,880
If we do, then that's where we go when we have problems.

478
00:32:32,880 --> 00:32:35,680
That's where we go when we have issues.

479
00:32:35,680 --> 00:32:39,600
Sometimes we have to, you know, he get the word of God.

480
00:32:39,600 --> 00:32:45,720
The Bible says that all scripture is God breathed and is good for correction and training and

481
00:32:45,720 --> 00:32:49,200
righteousness and rebuke sometimes.

482
00:32:49,200 --> 00:32:52,920
And you know, when we go to the word of God, sometimes it's a very encouraging word.

483
00:32:52,920 --> 00:32:54,760
And sometimes it's a word of correction.

484
00:32:54,760 --> 00:32:58,540
God says, hey, you've got something out of line here.

485
00:32:58,540 --> 00:33:02,440
And then sometimes it's a word of freedom or it's, you know, it's a word that that

486
00:33:02,440 --> 00:33:08,300
we can proclaim as a shield of faith against a satanic attack in our lives.

487
00:33:08,300 --> 00:33:14,120
And it's learning how to hear the word, how to hear God as we read his word, and then

488
00:33:14,120 --> 00:33:15,640
knowing how to apply it.

489
00:33:15,640 --> 00:33:20,120
And that's really, you know, your life has been about learning how to do that and then

490
00:33:20,120 --> 00:33:23,440
teaching others to do it as well.

491
00:33:23,440 --> 00:33:28,320
But you've had some other experiences, you know, that you had to stand on the word of

492
00:33:28,320 --> 00:33:30,120
God too.

493
00:33:30,120 --> 00:33:32,280
Church life isn't all wonderful.

494
00:33:32,280 --> 00:33:36,640
There have been times when there's been some, you know, things that happened in church life

495
00:33:36,640 --> 00:33:42,140
that weren't easy or, you know, a few of your siblings have passed away.

496
00:33:42,140 --> 00:33:45,000
Share how you work through some of that.

497
00:33:45,000 --> 00:33:48,960
Yeah, what God spoke to you from his word in some of those situations as well.

498
00:33:48,960 --> 00:33:54,600
Well, Jodi, you know, in Psalms 139, it says that he knew us before we were ever in our

499
00:33:54,600 --> 00:33:56,060
mother's womb.

500
00:33:56,060 --> 00:34:03,360
And so I, in that meeting I had, my Come to Jesus meeting with him, I began to realize

501
00:34:03,360 --> 00:34:08,240
that God didn't give me that spirit of fear, but he gave me power, love, and a sound mind.

502
00:34:08,240 --> 00:34:11,880
Also the word tells us that perfect love casts out fear.

503
00:34:11,880 --> 00:34:14,160
So I knew I was being tormented by fear.

504
00:34:14,160 --> 00:34:15,160
I knew that.

505
00:34:15,160 --> 00:34:18,160
I was just, there was so many things that had happened in my life.

506
00:34:18,160 --> 00:34:23,920
And I can certainly point those landmarks of something happening in my life and planning

507
00:34:23,920 --> 00:34:25,960
a seed of fear.

508
00:34:25,960 --> 00:34:32,320
And so with that, when I realized perfect love would cast out the fear, I'm like, okay,

509
00:34:32,320 --> 00:34:35,360
I need, I need a whole truckload of perfect love.

510
00:34:35,360 --> 00:34:36,360
How do I get that?

511
00:34:36,360 --> 00:34:37,360
Do you buy that?

512
00:34:37,360 --> 00:34:38,680
How do you get that perfect love?

513
00:34:38,680 --> 00:34:44,320
And so when I realized that it's that maturing love and recognizing that I have a heavenly

514
00:34:44,320 --> 00:34:51,080
father and I had a wonderful biological father, my earthly father was a very good man.

515
00:34:51,080 --> 00:34:54,600
He was a moral man, though he wasn't a Christian, he was a good man.

516
00:34:54,600 --> 00:35:00,720
And so when I went to the word and recognized that perfect love cast out fear and I thought,

517
00:35:00,720 --> 00:35:02,640
okay, where do I get this perfect love?

518
00:35:02,640 --> 00:35:07,920
So I just started doing research on love, what it means to love, you know, love is patient,

519
00:35:07,920 --> 00:35:08,920
love is kind.

520
00:35:08,920 --> 00:35:14,880
I went through all of the scripture in the first Corinthians there, chapter 10.

521
00:35:14,880 --> 00:35:20,600
And so then just trying to apply that in my life, love keeps no record of wrong.

522
00:35:20,600 --> 00:35:23,040
So I was doing all of those things.

523
00:35:23,040 --> 00:35:30,640
And then I started recognizing Psalms 139 when he said, he knew us before we were in

524
00:35:30,640 --> 00:35:36,680
our mother's womb, that I had an ava father, you know, because I became to a realization,

525
00:35:36,680 --> 00:35:38,520
Lord, what am I here on earth for?

526
00:35:38,520 --> 00:35:39,520
What am I here for?

527
00:35:39,520 --> 00:35:43,040
And I recognize that I didn't ask to be born.

528
00:35:43,040 --> 00:35:47,520
Now I didn't want I don't want that sound prideful in any way, but I recognize that

529
00:35:47,520 --> 00:35:49,760
I'm you put me here.

530
00:35:49,760 --> 00:35:53,840
I've gone through a lot, you put me here, but you have a purpose for my life.

531
00:35:53,840 --> 00:35:56,960
I'm here on assignment, you know, you've got me here.

532
00:35:56,960 --> 00:36:02,960
And so with that, if that is to raise a son, to be a pastor's wife, to be a career woman,

533
00:36:02,960 --> 00:36:08,920
to serve my community or serve the state of Arkansas or to love people in church.

534
00:36:08,920 --> 00:36:16,000
God, I want to do that 100% that I know through this brokenness that I had to have some things

535
00:36:16,000 --> 00:36:17,000
healed in my life.

536
00:36:17,000 --> 00:36:19,720
And so with that, I just went on a search with the word.

537
00:36:19,720 --> 00:36:21,400
You know, the word is really simple.

538
00:36:21,400 --> 00:36:25,920
I have a six year old granddaughter and I talked to her all the time about the Lord.

539
00:36:25,920 --> 00:36:29,080
And I tell her, I said, our Bible is our instruction book.

540
00:36:29,080 --> 00:36:31,520
It's just like a cookbook for recipes.

541
00:36:31,520 --> 00:36:34,920
We need that cookbook so that we'll know how to cook a meal.

542
00:36:34,920 --> 00:36:40,400
But this is the instruction book is our way to live our life.

543
00:36:40,400 --> 00:36:45,380
And so when I started just going in to the scripture and like, okay, my mom had a scripture

544
00:36:45,380 --> 00:36:49,760
for everything, then certainly this is what she based her life on.

545
00:36:49,760 --> 00:36:54,880
Then certainly I needed to search and find it for myself.

546
00:36:54,880 --> 00:36:57,160
And so that's been my quest.

547
00:36:57,160 --> 00:37:04,440
I know the Bible tells us the fruit of the spirit, that gentleness, goodness, all of

548
00:37:04,440 --> 00:37:08,720
the fruit of the spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness.

549
00:37:08,720 --> 00:37:15,400
And I remember the Lord showed me one day, I had shut the door at my house and I'd rattled

550
00:37:15,400 --> 00:37:16,400
the door.

551
00:37:16,400 --> 00:37:18,000
My husband said something to me about it.

552
00:37:18,000 --> 00:37:20,360
And I thought, okay, next time I go out, I'll be gentle.

553
00:37:20,360 --> 00:37:23,160
I will not shut that door so hard.

554
00:37:23,160 --> 00:37:25,680
Well, I did it several times after that.

555
00:37:25,680 --> 00:37:31,160
And one particular day I'm walking out and I get into my Jeep and I had just shut that

556
00:37:31,160 --> 00:37:36,400
door and the Holy Spirit said to me, Sandra, go back and shut that door gently.

557
00:37:36,400 --> 00:37:39,120
And I thought, okay, I'm in a hurry.

558
00:37:39,120 --> 00:37:40,360
You know, I've got things to do.

559
00:37:40,360 --> 00:37:42,960
But I'm like, well, my husband's not home.

560
00:37:42,960 --> 00:37:45,040
Nobody heard it but me, you know?

561
00:37:45,040 --> 00:37:49,400
And so it was like the Holy Spirit said, no, go back and shut that door gently.

562
00:37:49,400 --> 00:37:51,080
And so anyway, I'm like, okay.

563
00:37:51,080 --> 00:37:56,800
So I get out and I go back and I shut, open the door, shut it gently.

564
00:37:56,800 --> 00:37:59,440
And it was like such a calmness come over me.

565
00:37:59,440 --> 00:38:04,240
And I felt like the Holy Spirit said, now, that's how you walk it out.

566
00:38:04,240 --> 00:38:05,680
Just do my word.

567
00:38:05,680 --> 00:38:12,160
Be a doer of the word and don't just do it and read your word and then forget what you

568
00:38:12,160 --> 00:38:15,200
read and then move on.

569
00:38:15,200 --> 00:38:17,940
I want you to apply this just that simple.

570
00:38:17,940 --> 00:38:19,840
And so God showed me that day.

571
00:38:19,840 --> 00:38:21,200
My word is simple.

572
00:38:21,200 --> 00:38:23,200
It is the plan for your life.

573
00:38:23,200 --> 00:38:24,720
Gentleness is a fruit of the Spirit.

574
00:38:24,720 --> 00:38:31,320
And I knew that I had His Spirit living in me and I should be producing the fruit, good

575
00:38:31,320 --> 00:38:32,480
fruit at that.

576
00:38:32,480 --> 00:38:37,780
And so that day was such a pivotal time for me to just say, okay, settle down and walk

577
00:38:37,780 --> 00:38:39,000
out in the word.

578
00:38:39,000 --> 00:38:43,680
Not just be a hearer of the word, but let's be a doer of the word.

579
00:38:43,680 --> 00:38:49,360
And since then, I do my best every day to say, okay, God, what is it I need to do today?

580
00:38:49,360 --> 00:38:51,080
How do I handle situations?

581
00:38:51,080 --> 00:38:53,040
And certainly church hasn't been easy.

582
00:38:53,040 --> 00:38:54,560
Pastoring hasn't been easy.

583
00:38:54,560 --> 00:39:00,240
I mean, I took the Holy Spirit, you know, when you tell me perfect love casts out fear,

584
00:39:00,240 --> 00:39:03,320
I was like, okay, so I want that perfect love.

585
00:39:03,320 --> 00:39:08,240
But also I needed to live out love towards people around me.

586
00:39:08,240 --> 00:39:12,120
And I remember praying in the altar one day and the Holy Spirit telling me, just love

587
00:39:12,120 --> 00:39:13,120
people.

588
00:39:13,120 --> 00:39:17,920
And I remember telling the Holy Spirit back talking and saying, yeah, but you know, people

589
00:39:17,920 --> 00:39:20,520
aren't always easy to love.

590
00:39:20,520 --> 00:39:26,360
And it was the Holy Spirit reminded me that that was not my assignment to worry so much

591
00:39:26,360 --> 00:39:27,880
about that, just to love them.

592
00:39:27,880 --> 00:39:34,320
And so through the healing of what I've walked out, God showed me that there's a bigger picture

593
00:39:34,320 --> 00:39:35,320
here.

594
00:39:35,320 --> 00:39:42,640
Yeah, sometimes obedience, working out that is as simple as showing gentleness when you

595
00:39:42,640 --> 00:39:44,120
close the door.

596
00:39:44,120 --> 00:39:50,400
Other times, you know, loving people who've hurt you and wronged you, that can be very,

597
00:39:50,400 --> 00:39:51,400
very difficult.

598
00:39:51,400 --> 00:39:56,800
But in all those experiences, God worked really deep truth in you that you've been able to

599
00:39:56,800 --> 00:40:04,400
draw on to help so many other people share a few stories of lives that you've seen transformed

600
00:40:04,400 --> 00:40:09,920
as you've really been a tangible expression of that love of God to them in some of their

601
00:40:09,920 --> 00:40:11,400
darkest times.

602
00:40:11,400 --> 00:40:19,800
Here in our church, Life Church of Little Rock, we've had so many situations with family

603
00:40:19,800 --> 00:40:26,680
issues, you know, there's so many people struggling with everything from alcoholism to drug addiction

604
00:40:26,680 --> 00:40:33,960
to a child that's, you know, gone and done things that certainly rocked a family's world,

605
00:40:33,960 --> 00:40:34,960
you know.

606
00:40:34,960 --> 00:40:43,000
But through my own struggles of finding God's Word true and real and applicable to my life,

607
00:40:43,000 --> 00:40:51,680
I began on a journey to want to help others to realize that when we apply God's Word,

608
00:40:51,680 --> 00:40:53,400
God's Word works.

609
00:40:53,400 --> 00:40:54,400
It works.

610
00:40:54,400 --> 00:41:01,720
And so with that, I set on a quest to help a friend of mine that's daughter had gotten

611
00:41:01,720 --> 00:41:02,900
into drugs.

612
00:41:02,900 --> 00:41:11,600
And so in my state job, one of the things that I did was I had to look through people

613
00:41:11,600 --> 00:41:18,760
that had been in trouble recently that actually may have been sent to jail.

614
00:41:18,760 --> 00:41:25,440
And so I recognized my one of my best friends, her daughter's mugshot come up on my screen,

615
00:41:25,440 --> 00:41:30,640
which was took me back because as far as I knew, she wasn't aware that her daughter had

616
00:41:30,640 --> 00:41:31,720
been arrested.

617
00:41:31,720 --> 00:41:39,800
And so I called to ask, hey, you know, with my friend, is your daughter okay?

618
00:41:39,800 --> 00:41:41,280
And she had no clue.

619
00:41:41,280 --> 00:41:45,780
So later to come to find out her daughter had been arrested and had several charges

620
00:41:45,780 --> 00:41:46,880
against her.

621
00:41:46,880 --> 00:41:48,360
So again, I thought, how can I help?

622
00:41:48,360 --> 00:41:49,360
What can I do?

623
00:41:49,360 --> 00:41:50,360
How can we fix this?

624
00:41:50,360 --> 00:41:53,640
I guess I've always been this fix it type person.

625
00:41:53,640 --> 00:41:57,620
So with that, we began to pray and God gave us some direction to help her daughter get

626
00:41:57,620 --> 00:42:07,120
into a recovery program team challenge and her daughter ended up had a long list of felonies

627
00:42:07,120 --> 00:42:08,120
against her.

628
00:42:08,120 --> 00:42:12,920
And so we ended up getting her to go into the team challenge program.

629
00:42:12,920 --> 00:42:19,520
With that, when she completed the program, she went for sentencing and actually was sentenced

630
00:42:19,520 --> 00:42:28,680
to prison for I think it was right at 40 year sentence for the felonies that she had.

631
00:42:28,680 --> 00:42:33,920
So with that, I knew we had prayed and I thought, God, I really had prayed that the judge would

632
00:42:33,920 --> 00:42:35,840
be lenient on her.

633
00:42:35,840 --> 00:42:41,840
So overnight after the sentencing, we were all just heartbroken thinking, well, God,

634
00:42:41,840 --> 00:42:47,880
I don't understand why there wasn't such grace given, you know, but knowing truly that she

635
00:42:47,880 --> 00:42:55,200
needed to pay for the crimes and to submit to the process of what the sentence was.

636
00:42:55,200 --> 00:43:04,600
The judge overnight, I guess the Holy Spirit dealt with her and so she overnight re looked

637
00:43:04,600 --> 00:43:07,680
at the file and changed the sentence.

638
00:43:07,680 --> 00:43:10,480
I didn't know you could do that, but she did anyway.

639
00:43:10,480 --> 00:43:20,200
And so she actually on a quest helped our friend's daughter, my friend's daughter to

640
00:43:20,200 --> 00:43:25,840
actually go to drug court and to walk that out and said instead of going to prison.

641
00:43:25,840 --> 00:43:31,460
So I began to mentor this young girl and she and I together wrote a curriculum and we named

642
00:43:31,460 --> 00:43:33,240
it Kairos.

643
00:43:33,240 --> 00:43:39,600
And so through her year at team challenge and then through what I had been through and

644
00:43:39,600 --> 00:43:43,720
the books I had studied and all the material we come together and wrote this curriculum

645
00:43:43,720 --> 00:43:44,720
together.

646
00:43:44,720 --> 00:43:54,360
And so we did a six month just training group of people to teach the material that we had

647
00:43:54,360 --> 00:43:55,840
written together.

648
00:43:55,840 --> 00:44:00,800
And so with that, we started a ministry called Kairos ministry here in our church and it's

649
00:44:00,800 --> 00:44:01,800
a boot camp.

650
00:44:01,800 --> 00:44:03,800
And Kairos means what does Kairos mean?

651
00:44:03,800 --> 00:44:09,160
Kairos means a moment in time when everything shifts or change.

652
00:44:09,160 --> 00:44:13,040
So chronological time is time that just keeps ticking and ticking.

653
00:44:13,040 --> 00:44:19,880
Kairos is almost like a tsunami when the shifting of sand or whatever and everything shifts,

654
00:44:19,880 --> 00:44:20,880
everything changes.

655
00:44:20,880 --> 00:44:23,040
So it's that moment in time.

656
00:44:23,040 --> 00:44:28,160
I look at it in that moment in time when that light bulb goes off or that aha moment of

657
00:44:28,160 --> 00:44:30,040
now I understand.

658
00:44:30,040 --> 00:44:36,520
And so we teach that in our Kairos class about understanding what's going on in the spirit

659
00:44:36,520 --> 00:44:41,600
realm, the spirit war, the things, the spiritual warfare, the struggle that we're going through

660
00:44:41,600 --> 00:44:45,840
and recognizing that there is a battle, there is a spiritual warfare going on.

661
00:44:45,840 --> 00:44:52,440
And most people in the church know of it, but to really understand that there is a war

662
00:44:52,440 --> 00:44:56,840
and that the enemy is out to kill, steal and destroy.

663
00:44:56,840 --> 00:45:01,120
And that if we don't recognize the enemy, most people don't even recognize there is

664
00:45:01,120 --> 00:45:02,320
an enemy.

665
00:45:02,320 --> 00:45:08,840
And so with that, we really hone in on knowing who we are in Christ and then recognize that

666
00:45:08,840 --> 00:45:09,840
there is a battle.

667
00:45:09,840 --> 00:45:16,040
What are some of those key principles that you teach all of the participants in Kairos?

668
00:45:16,040 --> 00:45:20,120
What are some of those principles that our listeners today can apply to their own life

669
00:45:20,120 --> 00:45:21,120
right now?

670
00:45:21,120 --> 00:45:28,880
Well, one of the things is the Kairos ministry, the reason we started this was to help those

671
00:45:28,880 --> 00:45:32,720
who know who they are and to see that there's more.

672
00:45:32,720 --> 00:45:39,120
I'm reading from my little book here and part of our statements here is that know that there

673
00:45:39,120 --> 00:45:41,600
are answers yet.

674
00:45:41,600 --> 00:45:46,400
We see individuals who are perishing and need help of direction to live a cross centered

675
00:45:46,400 --> 00:45:48,020
life of freedom.

676
00:45:48,020 --> 00:45:53,560
We see people in the church that come to church, but yet they're really struggling.

677
00:45:53,560 --> 00:46:00,400
And so the key point here is just to teach, you know, the Bible tells us that we perish

678
00:46:00,400 --> 00:46:02,120
for lack of knowledge.

679
00:46:02,120 --> 00:46:08,040
And I think there are a lot of people in the church that they come, they hear a good sermon,

680
00:46:08,040 --> 00:46:13,440
that they're not in a disciple group, that they really heard something that spoke to

681
00:46:13,440 --> 00:46:18,320
their spirit, that they don't really have someone walking it out beside them to say,

682
00:46:18,320 --> 00:46:24,640
this is what God's word tells us to do and how to walk in forgiveness, how to understand

683
00:46:24,640 --> 00:46:30,640
pride in our life, how to understand that there are doorways that we open to the enemy

684
00:46:30,640 --> 00:46:35,080
that we may not even realize that we've given the devil a foothold in our heart of anger

685
00:46:35,080 --> 00:46:37,560
out of unrepentant sin.

686
00:46:37,560 --> 00:46:43,000
We also deal with generational things that are followed us from our ancestors.

687
00:46:43,000 --> 00:46:50,420
So it's just a whole array of awakening for people to see that you do have authority.

688
00:46:50,420 --> 00:46:55,400
You have the authority to get on the right track and to do what God's words told us to

689
00:46:55,400 --> 00:46:56,400
do.

690
00:46:56,400 --> 00:47:05,400
So it's, it deals with everything from unforgiveness, pride, to knowing who you are in Christ.

691
00:47:05,400 --> 00:47:10,040
When you were talking about people hear a good sermon on Sunday, but then they walk

692
00:47:10,040 --> 00:47:11,720
away and they don't know what to do with it.

693
00:47:11,720 --> 00:47:16,920
It's like that parable, you know, of the, of the soil, the seed is thrown out, but if

694
00:47:16,920 --> 00:47:24,840
we aren't in a place where we can really work that seed into the soil of our lives, boy,

695
00:47:24,840 --> 00:47:28,960
the birds are going to come and steal the seed away or the cares of life are going to

696
00:47:28,960 --> 00:47:32,120
come and choke that seed out.

697
00:47:32,120 --> 00:47:37,480
So working out our faith day by day is critical.

698
00:47:37,480 --> 00:47:44,440
And Jesus shows us how to do it in fellowship, in small groups.

699
00:47:44,440 --> 00:47:48,880
I mean, he drew the disciples around and walked alongside of him day by day.

700
00:47:48,880 --> 00:47:54,700
He didn't say, okay, now you're saved, go off into the desert and be a monk by yourself.

701
00:47:54,700 --> 00:47:57,600
And that's how you're going to be holy.

702
00:47:57,600 --> 00:48:01,080
It's working our faith together as we live together in life.

703
00:48:01,080 --> 00:48:04,040
Sandra, how can people find out more about this class?

704
00:48:04,040 --> 00:48:07,040
I guess if they're in Little Rock and they wanted, they could contact the church.

705
00:48:07,040 --> 00:48:11,760
Is there a way that others can find out about your curriculum as well if they don't live

706
00:48:11,760 --> 00:48:12,760
near you?

707
00:48:12,760 --> 00:48:19,360
Yeah, actually, Jodi, we, for the summer, we just finished up a boot camp this last

708
00:48:19,360 --> 00:48:25,280
Wednesday and so we don't actually have a class this Wednesday night, but in the month

709
00:48:25,280 --> 00:48:31,480
of June, July and August, we will be doing a zoom call where people can get online and

710
00:48:31,480 --> 00:48:36,400
we're going to, it's actually going to be on Tuesday night at 7pm and I can get that

711
00:48:36,400 --> 00:48:37,640
information to you.

712
00:48:37,640 --> 00:48:43,880
We will just have some conversations about walking out in freedom.

713
00:48:43,880 --> 00:48:49,040
Most of the people that attend our classes, this last class, we had about 45 people and

714
00:48:49,040 --> 00:48:54,720
some of them have taken the class several times and we learn something new every time.

715
00:48:54,720 --> 00:48:57,880
We learn about the body, soul and spirit and the warfare.

716
00:48:57,880 --> 00:49:02,880
And so anyway, a lot of them were like, okay, during the summer months, we want to stay

717
00:49:02,880 --> 00:49:07,100
connected because we change up our summer schedule here at the church.

718
00:49:07,100 --> 00:49:13,760
So we decided to do a zoom call every Tuesday night starting in June and what we'll be doing

719
00:49:13,760 --> 00:49:16,840
is just going through the curriculum.

720
00:49:16,840 --> 00:49:22,760
We will actually do a prod test to see if we're operating in prod and we'll walk through

721
00:49:22,760 --> 00:49:29,000
some forgiveness and it'll just be very interactive with people on the zoom call.

722
00:49:29,000 --> 00:49:34,800
So certainly would love for people outside the church to be involved if they want to

723
00:49:34,800 --> 00:49:38,800
get online and actually just, I'll be teaching.

724
00:49:38,800 --> 00:49:42,240
There's a couple others that teach with me that we're pretty excited.

725
00:49:42,240 --> 00:49:45,680
This is our first time to do this for this class.

726
00:49:45,680 --> 00:49:47,600
So that will be going on.

727
00:49:47,600 --> 00:49:54,480
And then our material is actually in the process of being published because we wrote it in

728
00:49:54,480 --> 00:49:55,480
house.

729
00:49:55,480 --> 00:50:01,480
And we actually did the research here and so we have a publisher that is going to publish

730
00:50:01,480 --> 00:50:03,080
this for us.

731
00:50:03,080 --> 00:50:07,640
We just haven't, we're not there yet, but that is our goal to have this available for

732
00:50:07,640 --> 00:50:09,420
other churches to use.

733
00:50:09,420 --> 00:50:15,680
So we'll put a link in our show notes to information about the class and information about Life

734
00:50:15,680 --> 00:50:17,760
Church of Little Rock.

735
00:50:17,760 --> 00:50:22,320
So if you're interested, check out the show notes and you can get a link, even if you

736
00:50:22,320 --> 00:50:27,240
listen to this podcast after the summer, maybe this zoom class will be over.

737
00:50:27,240 --> 00:50:31,240
You can still go to the website and you'll find out more information about how you can

738
00:50:31,240 --> 00:50:35,200
get involved or find out when the book is published.

739
00:50:35,200 --> 00:50:41,720
Sandra, as we close, would you share about a woman in the Bible who's inspired or encouraged

740
00:50:41,720 --> 00:50:42,720
or taught you something?

741
00:50:42,720 --> 00:50:49,800
I just spoke at the church for Mother's Day and I spoke on the Shunammat woman and the

742
00:50:49,800 --> 00:50:54,120
mom and since 2 Kings chapter 4.

743
00:50:54,120 --> 00:50:58,880
And if you read the story of the Shunammat woman, and I was so inspired with her for

744
00:50:58,880 --> 00:51:04,840
her story that, you know, as I was reading through the scripture, it talked about how

745
00:51:04,840 --> 00:51:12,080
that she said to her husband that she wanted to build a room on the house for the man of

746
00:51:12,080 --> 00:51:13,080
God.

747
00:51:13,080 --> 00:51:17,960
And so with that, she, you know, talked her husband into building a room and then she

748
00:51:17,960 --> 00:51:19,960
was able to furnish it.

749
00:51:19,960 --> 00:51:24,560
So, you know, she was actually, I looked at her as probably our first Joanna Gaines, if

750
00:51:24,560 --> 00:51:27,240
you want to say, you know, she was the first one.

751
00:51:27,240 --> 00:51:31,600
And then I thought, well, maybe, maybe it was like an Airbnb, you know, she decided,

752
00:51:31,600 --> 00:51:36,840
you know, before we even, you know, maybe that was her mode of career, you know, I'm

753
00:51:36,840 --> 00:51:40,320
going to build a house, a room onto my house.

754
00:51:40,320 --> 00:51:43,640
And then she was going to furnish it with a bed, a table, chair and a lamp.

755
00:51:43,640 --> 00:51:48,200
And then you, if you read that story, you can, I've really tried to take the Bible and

756
00:51:48,200 --> 00:51:49,200
apply that.

757
00:51:49,200 --> 00:51:50,560
What would that look like today?

758
00:51:50,560 --> 00:51:51,560
You know what?

759
00:51:51,560 --> 00:51:54,920
And it makes me excited when I start reading it, because I can really get carried away

760
00:51:54,920 --> 00:52:00,000
when I read these scriptures, not to add to it, but recognizing their day and time versus

761
00:52:00,000 --> 00:52:01,000
where we're living.

762
00:52:01,000 --> 00:52:04,400
And so I thought about her and I'm like, man, she talked her husband into building a room

763
00:52:04,400 --> 00:52:07,080
on our house and furnishing it.

764
00:52:07,080 --> 00:52:12,680
So she got to shop, you know, and so then recognizing that, you know, her son became

765
00:52:12,680 --> 00:52:16,720
ill and the husband, her husband said, taking to his mom.

766
00:52:16,720 --> 00:52:18,280
Well, I'm like, that's similar.

767
00:52:18,280 --> 00:52:22,480
When my son became ill, my husband was like, what are you going to do?

768
00:52:22,480 --> 00:52:24,600
You know, hear mom taking, you know, what are you going to do?

769
00:52:24,600 --> 00:52:28,520
So the story became really real because he had a headache, you know?

770
00:52:28,520 --> 00:52:34,320
And so with that, I went on to, so the Shunammat woman really inspired me because even if you

771
00:52:34,320 --> 00:52:38,880
read on into the story, I mean, she was very full of faith.

772
00:52:38,880 --> 00:52:43,000
You knew she had to get to the man of God and then also she actually, if you get over

773
00:52:43,000 --> 00:52:51,920
there in her story where she asked for the servant to get her a messenger to send a donkey

774
00:52:51,920 --> 00:52:54,000
to get her to where she's going.

775
00:52:54,000 --> 00:52:58,680
And in that she even told the donkey to go as fast as he could.

776
00:52:58,680 --> 00:53:03,640
And I'm like, even she was talking to her Uber driver, speed up, you know, she was like,

777
00:53:03,640 --> 00:53:04,640
hey.

778
00:53:04,640 --> 00:53:10,040
So I'm like, she was obviously a woman with a plan and was competent to know she had to

779
00:53:10,040 --> 00:53:11,680
get to the man of God.

780
00:53:11,680 --> 00:53:17,000
The beautiful part about that, when you read the story, she created a place for the presence

781
00:53:17,000 --> 00:53:19,500
of God in her home.

782
00:53:19,500 --> 00:53:22,080
And that meant so much to me when I read the story.

783
00:53:22,080 --> 00:53:26,800
So I'm thinking, yeah, Lord, she wanted to host the presence.

784
00:53:26,800 --> 00:53:29,960
She knew the man of God had something on him that she desired.

785
00:53:29,960 --> 00:53:36,160
And so with that, that story has stuck with me forever, but this just a couple of weeks

786
00:53:36,160 --> 00:53:39,280
ago when I spoke on Mother's Day about the Shunammah woman.

787
00:53:39,280 --> 00:53:44,280
So I would think just she doesn't even have a name other than known as a Shunammah woman.

788
00:53:44,280 --> 00:53:49,920
So anyway, I think sometimes we think we have to have a big title or a big name or that

789
00:53:49,920 --> 00:53:54,820
be somebody just be who God's called you to be, you know, and even if your name is never

790
00:53:54,820 --> 00:54:01,740
in lights or, you know, written in history, that's, you know, I know that God has every

791
00:54:01,740 --> 00:54:04,040
one of us an assignment for us.

792
00:54:04,040 --> 00:54:05,520
And so I love her story.

793
00:54:05,520 --> 00:54:07,080
Yeah, that's a great story.

794
00:54:07,080 --> 00:54:08,480
I never thought of it that way.

795
00:54:08,480 --> 00:54:12,600
But now, whenever I read that story, I'm going to be thinking in those terms.

796
00:54:12,600 --> 00:54:14,040
Yeah, read the story.

797
00:54:14,040 --> 00:54:15,040
You'll love it.

798
00:54:15,040 --> 00:54:16,040
Yeah.

799
00:54:16,040 --> 00:54:20,480
As Sandra was sharing, Psalm one came to mind.

800
00:54:20,480 --> 00:54:22,920
It's one of my favorite Psalms and the Good News Translation.

801
00:54:22,920 --> 00:54:27,560
In fact, I even I play the guitar and sing my own private time.

802
00:54:27,560 --> 00:54:30,080
I don't I don't do it for the general public.

803
00:54:30,080 --> 00:54:33,040
But I even wrote a song about this particular Psalm.

804
00:54:33,040 --> 00:54:39,880
But the Good News Translation reads, Happy are those who reject the advice of evil people

805
00:54:39,880 --> 00:54:45,080
who do not follow the example of sinners or join those who have no use for God.

806
00:54:45,080 --> 00:54:51,000
Instead, they find joy in obeying the law of the Lord and they study it day and night.

807
00:54:51,000 --> 00:54:55,940
They are like trees that grow beside a stream that bear fruit at the right time and whose

808
00:54:55,940 --> 00:54:57,840
leaves do not dry up.

809
00:54:57,840 --> 00:55:00,720
They succeed in everything they do.

810
00:55:00,720 --> 00:55:04,120
But evil people are not like this at all.

811
00:55:04,120 --> 00:55:07,480
They are like straw that the wind blows away.

812
00:55:07,480 --> 00:55:10,280
Sinners will be condemned by God and kept apart from God's own people.

813
00:55:10,280 --> 00:55:15,760
The righteous are guided and protected by the Lord, but the evil are on their way to

814
00:55:15,760 --> 00:55:17,240
doom.

815
00:55:17,240 --> 00:55:20,560
Of course, our righteousness is not our own.

816
00:55:20,560 --> 00:55:25,320
We're only righteous when we embrace the saving work of Jesus on the cross.

817
00:55:25,320 --> 00:55:30,520
Even then, though, we can walk a difficult path if we don't read and apply God's Word

818
00:55:30,520 --> 00:55:33,720
in our lives, letting the Holy Spirit renew our minds through it.

819
00:55:33,720 --> 00:55:37,080
Sandra, would you take a moment and pray for our listeners?

820
00:55:37,080 --> 00:55:44,280
And Jodi, I just want to say, ironically, I guess how God does this, but that was the

821
00:55:44,280 --> 00:55:50,880
first chapter our mom had us memorize as a child, the Psalms chapter 1.

822
00:55:50,880 --> 00:55:54,080
And so when I read that as a child, I memorized that.

823
00:55:54,080 --> 00:56:00,960
But you know, he says that we would be like trees planted by the riverbank and that are

824
00:56:00,960 --> 00:56:05,780
bearing fruit each season and that the leaves will never wither and they will prosper in

825
00:56:05,780 --> 00:56:06,780
all they do.

826
00:56:06,780 --> 00:56:11,560
And so I truly believe that this is the Word of God is our source.

827
00:56:11,560 --> 00:56:12,980
I mean, it's our life source.

828
00:56:12,980 --> 00:56:18,360
We can't live a spiritual life, a godly life without the Word of God.

829
00:56:18,360 --> 00:56:22,160
So yeah, so you want me to just pray for the listeners?

830
00:56:22,160 --> 00:56:23,160
Yeah.

831
00:56:23,160 --> 00:56:25,080
Father, God, I come to you today and I thank you.

832
00:56:25,080 --> 00:56:26,720
I thank you for this day.

833
00:56:26,720 --> 00:56:32,720
I thank you for the opportunity, the relationship with Jodi just to be on this podcast.

834
00:56:32,720 --> 00:56:35,200
God, you're a faithful father.

835
00:56:35,200 --> 00:56:39,720
I trust you and I know that, God, you know everyone that will be listening to this podcast.

836
00:56:39,720 --> 00:56:45,280
God, I pray that the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart is acceptable in

837
00:56:45,280 --> 00:56:46,280
your side.

838
00:56:46,280 --> 00:56:50,080
Oh, God, I pray that the words that I spoke would reach out to others that may be going

839
00:56:50,080 --> 00:56:55,440
through a struggle, that may be just in the routine of life, either a pastor's wife or

840
00:56:55,440 --> 00:56:56,900
even a career woman.

841
00:56:56,900 --> 00:57:01,480
Maybe she's going to work every day and she's just so dry because of life struggles.

842
00:57:01,480 --> 00:57:06,920
God, I pray today that there would be a touch in our heart to realize that, Lord, if we

843
00:57:06,920 --> 00:57:11,200
just go back to your word, Lord, that we just apply your word, that we'll just do what you've

844
00:57:11,200 --> 00:57:14,280
told us to do in your word out of obedience, Lord.

845
00:57:14,280 --> 00:57:19,880
And God, not just out of obedience because we have to, but God, because we get to, because

846
00:57:19,880 --> 00:57:21,920
it's in your word that we find life.

847
00:57:21,920 --> 00:57:26,760
You told us in John 10 and 10 that you come to give us life and give us life more abundantly,

848
00:57:26,760 --> 00:57:27,760
Lord.

849
00:57:27,760 --> 00:57:29,840
And God, I know everyone of us want to live a good life.

850
00:57:29,840 --> 00:57:31,200
We want that abundant life.

851
00:57:31,200 --> 00:57:36,720
But in that scripture also, you tell us, Lord, that the thief comes to steal, kill and destroy

852
00:57:36,720 --> 00:57:42,280
so, Father, you've already shown us in your word that your plan and the enemy's plan,

853
00:57:42,280 --> 00:57:46,400
but we know that greater is he that lives in us than he that lives in the world.

854
00:57:46,400 --> 00:57:51,120
So God, we know we have the authority to walk in your word and apply your word.

855
00:57:51,120 --> 00:57:52,600
So I pray for every listener.

856
00:57:52,600 --> 00:57:57,120
I pray that they would grab hold of your word and live it and love it.

857
00:57:57,120 --> 00:58:00,480
And God, that you would show yourself real to everyone.

858
00:58:00,480 --> 00:58:01,480
And we know you will.

859
00:58:01,480 --> 00:58:02,480
You are our Father.

860
00:58:02,480 --> 00:58:05,040
And I thank you in Jesus' name for this day.

861
00:58:05,040 --> 00:58:06,360
Your blessings on my life.

862
00:58:06,360 --> 00:58:09,840
Jodi's life and the connection you have made with us, Lord.

863
00:58:09,840 --> 00:58:12,240
Thank you and forever grateful in Jesus' name.

864
00:58:12,240 --> 00:58:13,240
Amen.

865
00:58:13,240 --> 00:58:14,240
Amen.

866
00:58:14,240 --> 00:58:19,680
Well, thank you for tuning in and check out our show notes at hergodstore.org for links

867
00:58:19,680 --> 00:58:24,280
and scripture and information about the Kairos opportunity.

868
00:58:24,280 --> 00:58:29,440
You can also sign up for our emails and get a free six week downloadable devotional on

869
00:58:29,440 --> 00:58:33,600
Women of the Bible, or you can purchase a 12 week devotional on Women of the Bible for

870
00:58:33,600 --> 00:58:38,360
just $12, knowing that all the proceeds will go to our Widow and Orphan Fund.

871
00:58:38,360 --> 00:58:42,520
If God spoke to you through this episode, think about starting a podcast club.

872
00:58:42,520 --> 00:58:46,240
You can have friends, neighbors, or colleagues listen to it too, and then gather around your

873
00:58:46,240 --> 00:58:49,680
favorite refreshment to discuss what God's saying to each of you.

874
00:58:49,680 --> 00:58:55,920
We have suggested questions online at hergodstore.org under the podcast club section to help you.

875
00:58:55,920 --> 00:58:58,920
And now, dear friends, I bless you from Psalm 1.

876
00:58:58,920 --> 00:59:04,200
May you be blessed and happy as you reject the advice of evil people in the example of

877
00:59:04,200 --> 00:59:05,300
the sinner.

878
00:59:05,300 --> 00:59:11,160
May you find joy in obeying the law of the Lord and delight in studying it day and night.

879
00:59:11,160 --> 00:59:16,220
May you be like a tree growing beside a stream that bears fruit at the right time and whose

880
00:59:16,220 --> 00:59:18,280
leaves do not dry up.

881
00:59:18,280 --> 00:59:23,400
May you succeed in everything you do and be guided and protected by the Lord.

882
00:59:23,400 --> 00:59:27,440
Her God Story is a ministry of Somebody Cares America and International.

883
00:59:27,440 --> 00:59:31,600
To find out more about or support the ministry, go to somebodycares.org.