In the School of Faith, Belinda Thacker's Story

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Hey friends, welcome to the Her God Story podcast where you will always hear a good story to build your faith and equip you in your walk with the Lord.

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I'm your host Jodie Chiricosta, ministry leader at Somebody Cares America International, author and traveler on this journey of faith.

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Hebrews 11, 1-3 in the New Living Translation says,

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Now faith is confident of what we hope for and assurance of what we do not see.

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This is what the ancients were commended for.

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My guest Belinda Facker is a woman who can be commended for her faith.

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Trained in public relations and communication, Belinda is the director of communications for Somebody Cares America and oversees our web and social media presence as well as our newsletters, magazines and other printed materials.

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Over the years, she has worked in business as well as other various churches and ministries. She served on short-term mission teams and became the legal guardian and mom to two nieces and a nephew when their mom went into crisis.

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Belinda has learned to trust the Lord and lean on him in all things. Welcome Belinda.

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Hey Jody, thank you so much for having me.

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Tell us a little of your background, where you were born, how you were raised, all that stuff.

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My dad was in the Air Force and military and I was born in a military base in Ankara, Turkey.

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I was only there for a few months before we came back to the States and we traveled around some in the States while he was in the military and sometimes he was overseas.

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But then when I was six, he left the military and we settled in Kentucky where he and my mom were both from and we moved around a little bit here, but stayed here with me even throughout college and I went to University of Kentucky.

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I was raised in a very biblically moral home. My parents didn't go to church while I was growing up, but we kids did.

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We often went to church. We went with friends and whatever church they went to in the neighborhood, it didn't matter if it was Methodist or Baptist, as long as it was a Bible teaching church, my parents were okay with us going.

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Again, it was a very biblically moral home that I grew up in.

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Yeah, so when did you first encounter Christ and put your faith in him?

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I had an encounter with the Lord when I was about 10 years old. We lived in a house that was kind of an older house and had lots of strange noises in it sometimes, which was not unusual.

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But for some reason, it was one night there were some noises in my bedroom and I was just terrified. I don't know if I had watched a scary movie or something that day or what, but I was just laying in bed and I was just terrified.

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I remember saying, God, I'm so scared. As soon as I said those words, it was like the peace of God just flooded me from the inside out. I felt his presence. I felt his arms around me and it was just an instantaneous peace.

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From that day on, nobody could ever tell me that God wasn't real because I had experienced it and I knew it.

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Then later, when I was in high school, that was about 10 years old, so then when I was 14 and we were going to a small country church near our house in Kentucky.

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It was there that I answered an altar call and got baptized and gave my life to Christ.

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It's so wonderful how God reveals himself to us when we just, you know, he knows when we're seeking him, whether we have the right words or not to say it, he responds because he hears our heart, doesn't he?

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Right, right, absolutely.

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A lot of people who accept Jesus' gift of salvation when they're young, they don't really understand that fostering that growing relationship with the Lord and following him is really important.

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As they move into their adult years, they kind of drift a little bit. How about you?

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That's exactly what happened. The church I went to, as I said, it was a small country church. Most of the people in it were older. They really loved Jesus. They were wonderful, wonderful people.

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But shortly after I made that decision for Christ, the pastor who led me to the Lord was let go and moved on somewhere else.

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And he had been really investing in the handful of young people there were in the church. So after that, there really wasn't anybody investing in us.

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And I just eventually quit going, and then I went off to college and started just kind of doing my own thing.

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I never stopped loving God, never stopped having a heart for God, and was even drawn to other people who had a heart for God, but had not really learned that God's parameters were something that would benefit me.

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I had only been taught what I wasn't supposed to do, but never a why or never a why I should do things a certain way and didn't really understand that for many years.

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I just carried that lifestyle through college and for a few years afterward until the time that I moved down to Florida.

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Yeah, I love that you said you didn't really understand why God's parameters were good for you, because I think that's so true.

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People hear the do's and the don'ts. We tend to, as Christians sometimes, say, well, you can't do this and you must do that.

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And it comes across as being really, really legalistic. And so we balk at that. We don't want to be in a legalistic relationship that seems almost abusive.

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That's not what it is. You were living your life. You were being a good person, you know, with those moral parameters, and you were following your own plan in your own way.

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So what changed? Well, I moved to Fort Lauderdale. I had gotten a job with a savings and loan, a large savings and loan there, and working in their public relations department.

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We were in the middle of the savings and loan crisis, which I don't know if you remember that, but there were some several savings and loans that were exposed as having fraudulent activities and for not being ethical in their practices.

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And even though we were a really good company and wasn't involved in that, all the savings and loans as a whole got affected by that, and people started taking their money out and putting them in banks instead of savings and loans.

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Because of that, we had to start making cutbacks. And my job was one of the jobs that got cut. I was devastated. I had found that in my life, my career was the one thing that I could pour myself into and get back out of it.

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What I put into it was the one thing I felt like I could really depend on. So now that didn't happen this time. And this is what I had moved to Florida for.

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And I had also had a couple of relationship breakups during that time, and one of them was very painful. So I was sitting in my, I remember plain as day, like it was yesterday, sitting in my living room.

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And I said, God, I need your help. I'm not doing too good on my own down here. I'm not doing too well. I'm doing it very well myself. And I interrupted myself and I said, Belinda, why should God even listen to you? The only time you even talk to him is when you need something.

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You don't even do anything for him. So that night I just committed to doing the one thing that I knew how to do. And that was start going back to church. That was a church that I had went to sometimes with holidays, with friends. And so that night I just committed, I'm going to start going back to church again. And I did.

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It really was God's mercy then in your life that allowed you to experience those minor crises. I mean, I know they felt major at the time. When we look back on things, when we're older, we have a bit more perspective. So those minor crises, because it turned you back to him.

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And I've heard you say that you fell in love with Jesus, which is a little bit different than loving him. Of course, that always changes everything when he becomes our all in all. So how did that happen for you?

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It was actually a process when I started going back to church and I had some friends, a couple of friends who would go with me. One of them actually would ride together because we live close to each other. And we were going to church and God just started very gently convicting us of our lifestyle.

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And we would be driving home from church and we would say, I guess we better watch our language or, you know, I guess we better do this or do that. Or, you know, we probably shouldn't go out on Saturday nights if we're going to get up and go to church Sunday morning.

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It was like we were little kindergartners almost. Learning all this, learning all this. It was just amazing how God was doing that. And especially since he was doing it, you know, with us on a journey together as friends who could support each other.

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But then we started our church was encouraging everyone to go through the daily chronological Bible. And so we started reading that together. And for the first time in my life, I was understanding the word of God and it was just making sense.

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And we would call each other up and did you read about Joseph today? Yeah, I read three chapters ahead, you know, and all this. And it was just very exciting to see that God's word come to life and understanding how for the first time, like it did apply to me and why he was saying these things.

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And understanding his love through his word. So then we started serving at church. And I remember there was one Sunday night when I just really wanted to be with God's people and to be in the church.

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And our church didn't have a Sunday night service, but I had met some people from another church from Calvary Chapel for Lauderdale, which was still relatively small at the time.

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And I knew that they had a Sunday night service. So I went to that service. And I remember sitting there and looking around and I saw people with their eyes shut during worship and they had their hands raised and they were really singing to the Lord.

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I had never, ever seen that before. So that night, I remember the closing song, the closing song was an old worship song called In Moments Like These. And it says, In moments like these, I sing out a song, I sing out a love song to Jesus.

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In moments like these, I lift up my hands to the Lord saying, I love you Lord. And so I shut my eyes, I lifted my hands and I sang for the first time in my life, I sang to Jesus. And in that moment, I just fell in love.

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That's beautiful. When we just abandon ourselves, he floods in. And by this time, you were working again at another bank. And then a merger happened.

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It was announced. That typically means a lot of layoffs, which I'm sure kind of rattled your world a little bit. But what happened in your case?

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It's funny because I had been, I had been having a desire to work in ministry or feel like God might be changing something. But this time, instead of my job getting like cut, I was the only one who didn't leave.

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I worked in a large high rise in downtown Fort Lauderdale.

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My floor was the marketing PR department and a lot of people left, not because they got cut, but they just didn't want to get cut or afraid of getting cut. So they found other jobs.

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Some people have been transferred to one of the bank's other headquarters. And some had gotten laid off. And I was honestly the only person still on my floor, which was kind of a strange experience to have going to work every day.

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I did get offered a transfer and a promotion to the bank's state headquarters in Tampa. And I love Tampa. I love the West Coast. I had friends there. And so that all sounded good.

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And I went over. They flew me over to meet the staff there and get a lay of the land there. And I just did not have peace about it at all. And I just prayed.

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And I just felt like the Lord said, Belinda, the corporate ladder is not the path that I have for you.

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I came back and I called and I said, you know, I'm turning down the transfer, which obviously meant I was quitting the job because I wasn't accepting the transfer.

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And they didn't have a place for me where I was. They weren't keeping my position where I was. So in effect, I quit my job with nothing else to go to, which didn't make sense at all, except that I had such peace about it.

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I had peace. I had joy. I was driving home that night. Actually, I was so excited about what God was going to do, but I had to come back down to earth a little bit.

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But I was just very excited about what God had. And I didn't know what that was at the time.

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So as you were seeking him about what that was, what did he say to you?

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He started speaking to me about going to school. And I thought, oh, perfect. You know, I've wanted to get my master's degree and this is the perfect time to do it.

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And so I immediately started applying for graduate schools, journalism graduate schools and and sending in my my test scores and my transcripts and writing the essays that I needed to write.

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And and I was just very diligent about all that. So back to school you went, but it wasn't what you expected, was it?

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The timing was just off, it seemed, for everything. I applied to these schools. These are some of the best graduate schools in the country for journalism.

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When I started getting the replies back, I was accepted to two of them. I was accepted to University of Missouri and to Northwestern, which are both amazing schools.

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But one of them I was accepted for the January semester, and this was in the summer, and I knew that God wanted me to go now.

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I knew that school was something he wanted for me now. And the other one wasn't until a year later because they only did fall admissions.

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So then I was like, Lord, what does that mean? You know, I heard you say it's time to go to school now. I don't think you wanted me to wait all this time.

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And what am I? What would I be doing this whole time if I wasn't?

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And it just started becoming apparent to me that maybe he wanted me to start applying for jobs again.

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But also during this time, since I had all this time, I was serving at my church. I was doing the church newsletter Hurricane Andrew hit at the time I was available to go the first day that the roads were open.

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I was able to go with a group from my church down and serve in Hurricane Andrew relief. But I was also going to three different Bible studies.

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I was going to a women's study at somebody's house in the mornings. I was going to a study at the church once a week, and I was doing another evening study.

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I would get up in the morning and I would ride my bike and have prayer time with the Lord, and I would come home and listen to worship music.

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And then I would get out my book, my Bible and my Bible study books and do my homework. And one day I sat down to do that and I'm like, I feel like I'm in school again.

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And it hit me a little bit then that maybe this is what God was talking about. But around that same time, it may have even been the same day. I can't say that for sure, but I know it was in the in that few day stretch that I got a David Wilkerson newsletter in the mail and he was talking about Joseph and how God had given Joseph

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dreams and promises, but he found himself as a slave and then in prison. And there was a rain of word in that newsletter just jumped off the page and it said, first Joseph had to go to God's school.

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And it was just boom, like that was just the confirmation God you have me in school right now you have me here and this is what you were talking about.

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Yeah, so you were there without really do without a job you hadn't gotten severance package because you quit.

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So in that school of faith, God was planning really deep seeds of trust in you that I can see have served you well over the course of your life.

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But what did he reveal to you about himself during that time and how I'm sure he came through with you in ways that were really unexpected.

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He did, you know, they're not whole time yeah, my only income was a unemployment check which as you know was a fraction of what a normal salary is.

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But I never missed a bill I had a roommate who was depending on me to pay my share and I paid everything I don't even honestly don't even know how.

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I think what I saw aside from just the general concept of God's faithfulness was that he really sees us in our specific needs, and I'll give you an example of that I was heading out to a ladies Bible study one of my latest Bible studies one morning.

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And while I was getting ready, they use the last of my toothpaste, I got in my car and my car had a lot of miles on it by then it was pretty old, and it was going through oil, a lot I had to put oil in it a lot.

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So I before I left I put a quart of oil in the car, and it was my last quarter of oil, so I'm driving to the Bible study and I just kind of said Lord, you're gonna have to help me out because I have any money to get my next unemployment check in and I running out of things.

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So go to the Bible study and I get back home and there's a, when I get home there's this big plastic Crayola crayon penny bank sitting on the counter.

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And there was a voice message on the answering machine from my roommate and she said, blended during my quiet time this morning I felt like the Lord told me to give you this and she said it's, it's got, it's full of coins she said I don't know what's in it she said I don't know if there's $5 or $50 but she said whatever's in there is yours

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and you can use it for toothpaste you can use it to buy oil for your car you can use it for whatever you need and I had not talked to her that morning she had no idea that those were the two things that I specifically needed that morning so I just saw in that, just like I said just God's faithfulness

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that he sees, even our smallest, our smallest needs and he he knows what's going on in detail, our lives and he cares.

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Yeah, he does there's that scripture in Matthew I think that talks about you know God feeding the sparrows and clothing the lilies of the field. And so why would he not also help us.

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Right.

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So that's a sweet story. Eventually God did lead you to another job but this time it was in ministry which is had kind of been your heart's desire.

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Right. And that was another season of learning for you. I mean, when you're single, like you were, making big decisions by yourself can be a little bit intimidating, but you saw God's care in so many ways I love the story of when you bought your first condo.

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Tell us that. I had been applying for jobs and I had been applying for anything I've been applying for things like Jews for Jesus in San Francisco and teaching English in China and, and all these things and the funny thing is I ended up

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getting a job in ministry right in Fort Lauderdale and I am got offered a job with D. James Kennedy and coral ridge ministries as their public relations and media relations person, I remember that I got the offer on a Wednesday because I know remember going to church that

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Wednesday night.

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And I was sitting in worship and realizing God's faithfulness throughout the whole journey that he had called me to walk through a difficult time of faith built faith testing and faith building, but he had been so faithful.

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And I just started weeping during worship I just was just the tears just wouldn't stop you know my nose was running and I was just wanted to crawl under the chair but I just couldn't stop because I was at such an overwhelming gratitude for God and his faithfulness to not just to lead me to something,

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but that he was with me going through it through the path the whole way there so I did get the job at coral ridge and started my career in ministry, but there was some condos that I used to drive past on the way to church every time I would go to church and, and I could see it was a

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large complex but I could see a couple of the taller buildings from the road and and I would always say Lord I would like to live there someday and I'd like to have a top floor corner unit and one of those buildings and I thought well yeah but those are the most expensive ones

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those are like the prime property so I just kind of thought I'll never have that. So eventually though I was in a position where I had a lease running out and was needing to move and I thought well just see if I could qualify for mortgage not expecting to but I did.

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My friends parents who were realtors and they were like, you know, second parents to me started helping me look at condos in that one complex because I knew that's where I wanted to live.

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Like I said it was very large and had been built in phases so there was a variety of different ages and styles and so we looked quite a bit we looked quite a bit and then we found one that that I liked it was it was like the best one I'd seen so I was

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looking so I just said okay let's put an offer in on this one and they ended up calling me that same afternoon and saying we haven't put in the offer yet because there's another one that just came on the market today and we feel like you need to look at it.

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And we've arranged for you to see it today at you know 430 and so I said okay and the truth was I really didn't want to because I'd already made a decision I didn't want to get more confused, but out of respect for them because they were so so good to me that I agreed and I went

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and looked at it and it was beautiful. I just loved it. It was just so much better than the other one and you know I called them up and I said yes you know put the offer on this one. I was the first person to look at it.

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They took the offer and ended up getting the condo but when I was leaving that day that I looked at it.

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The Lord knocked on my heart and said, Blinda did you notice where this one's located and it was a top floor corner unit, which is what I had wanted and didn't think I could ever get and yet that's what that's what he had for me.

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God is so good you know I had a similar experience. I was in my late 20s when I bought my first house it was actually a townhouse but I've been looking and I fell in love with this neighborhood.

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It was a new new neighborhood that the town you know the builder was building not too far from where I was working but by the time I was ready to buy all the units had already been sold and I went back several times to just plead my case but you know I mean when there's nothing there's nothing so the salesperson she said well you know we're starting a new a new build it's a little further out but it's the same units which I really liked.

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I like the style I like the floor plans and so I went to the sales office I was going to pick a lot so my unit could be built but I just knew I wanted that original location I knew that's where I was supposed to be so I asked one more time I said are you sure there's nothing available are you really sure.

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And just that morning, one of the owners had come into the office to let her know she wanted to sell her unit. Just that morning. So I called right away and I ran over to see it she was home for lunch you know and she let me in to see it.

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I went into the unit it was the exact one that I liked but she had made an improvement I didn't even know was available I mean the original unit had a fireplace in a column in the middle of the room which you know I was like well I could live with that but it's not my favorite but she had had it moved over to the corner against the wall which is, you know, made much more sense to me.

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So I loved it I made her an offer I got it. And you know she had lived there for less than a year, and to me, it was better than new, because all the window coverings were up, they were, she had been the daughter of a builder so she knew all the upgrades to ask for.

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You know it was just God's grace and God's provision for me just like he did for you I mean I love that. Yeah, he led us right to the right place and at just the right time, so we could get it for just the right price.

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I mean it was scary signing my name, signing my name on that mortgage the first time but you know I knew if God had given it to me that it was mine and he was going to provide.

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I know you saw God work in other ways for you too so share some of those in particular saw him work in leading me in my ministry career.

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I had been at Coral Ridge for a few years and I remember our offices were on the second floor of a four story building second and third floor and on the first floor was Dr. Kennedy seminary.

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And she got some mail put in my box that was for the wrong person it was actually for somebody in the, who worked at the seminary and so I walked down to the first floor and took her mail to her and she was the development director there and I said oh

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hey how are you doing and she said, terrible she said, I feel like I'm building a house and I'm doing it all by myself. She said I need prayer and she said but we've got to prove for somebody to help me so pray about somebody to who God has to have that position.

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And I felt kind of a tug in my heart and I said well what would that person be doing she said, I need somebody to do newsletters I need somebody to write fundraising appeals I need somebody to help me plan events I need.

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And I was just like, Lord that's me.

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stirring in me that and went upstairs and I prayed about it and I said God am I supposed to apply for that and I felt like I was so I sent my resume down to her.

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And the next day I was walking, walking from the parking lot into the lobby to get on the elevator and she happened to be standing with my resume with the seminary president right when I walked past their window.

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And he actually came running out to the to the lobby to meet me and say, oh we're so excited that you are interested in this and we never thought that you would be interested in this and he said we really want to talk to you and anyway so I ended up getting that job and

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it's unusual that university president comes running after you.

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You know you're supposed to be there right.

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Exactly, exactly. So I was there for a few years and really got to see God use my obedience, a lot and we didn't have a recruiter and I just started recruiting I didn't have a background in recruiting but since there was nobody doing it and I did have the PR and

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the background I just started doing what I knew how to do. I wasn't from a sales background or anything I just started publicizing advertising doing mailings that planning events and different things and getting people involved in some of the staff involved in

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following up with potential students and we really saw God bless it and wasn't just me it was a group effort but we just really saw God bless that time and our enrollment went up from like 70 to 200 and three years and it was just a wonderful experience

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and we got some amazing people and was very content there wasn't looking for anything but then when they got a call from our administrative pastor at Calvary Chapel where I had been attending church and he said,

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we've just bought a property we had been meeting in storefronts and warehouses for as long as I had been there. And he said we just bought our own property, he said it's a huge, really big property it's a really big deal.

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We're going to have to start a building campaign and a fundraising campaign and the communications campaign for this and our church didn't collect offerings we didn't talk about money except when it was in the Bible and we were going through the scriptures

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and it happened to be in the Bible but you know we didn't take offerings we didn't ask for money so it was going to be like a challenging thing for somebody to come in and do that and he said we think you're the person for the job.

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So it's not like they came up with a job and put an ad out and I applied for it, you know they said, we've got this job and we think you're the person for it.

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I said well I'm really kind of content where I am, I'm not really looking and he said well that's good, he said because I'd rather not hire somebody who's discontent where they are.

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And so I went over and had lunch with he and the senior pastor and the person who would be my supervisor and we visited the new property and I prayed about it and I thought they're right, I think that is the job for me.

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So again God led me into that job as well and that was another wonderful and challenging experience.

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At this point your life and your career seemed like they were really on track and they were, but God was working on the desires of your heart and eventually spoke to you about some things that took great faith.

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Well I had been in my condo probably a little less than two years and I was reading in my Bible one night and I was reading about Elijah and the widow and the miracle of the oil.

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And she filled the vats and sold the oil and paid off the debtors who were who were going to take her son if she didn't pay the debt.

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When I was reading that, when I read the words she sold her oil and when Elijah told her sell your oil and pay off your debt I heard the Lord say you're going to sell your condo and pay off your debt.

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And I was like what? I was like I don't want to sell my condo I just got it and it was such a sanctuary for me and I had you know Bible studies there and I had parties and potlucks and I had a two bedroom so I always had, it seemed there was different

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young women who were in different times of transition in their life and needed a place to stay temporarily so I was, God gave me the privilege of opening up my home to some of those wonderful women and I said why would you want me to, why would you want me to sell it?

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So I said but you know if that's what you want then that's what I'll do but after I gave in after I surrendered then the Lord said well good but it's not for now so I was like oh good.

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But that was always in the back of my mind that someday you know that that he was going to ask me to do that. Anyway so it was about in the summer, I think it was the summer or fall, it was not long after that in the summer or fall of 2000.

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I was in a women's conference and I heard the Lord speak to me about a change coming, a change of seasons. And he was speaking about springtime and new seasons and and he actually even gave me a date of March 1.

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And I knew that he was going to do something else again and I felt like it had to do with you know another job or another job move or something. I began praying about it and praying about it and I knew I started getting scripture confirmations.

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And I knew that I was going to be leaving that job that I loved on March 1 of the following year. And so it started getting closer and I began sharing that with my supervisor with my senior pastor and I tell him the scriptures and all the ways that God had

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confirmed this and they released me with their blessing. And again, I didn't know what there was. There were some people who thought I was crazy. And I wouldn't recommend.

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I never ever recommend leaving your job when you don't have anything. You know as a matter of fact I have vocally said that to people before don't leave until you have something else, unless God says do it.

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So if I was certain God said do it. So once again I left my job and I think it was what made it easier was knowing that it happened before but under other circumstances it had happened before and I had seen his faithfulness.

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So I knew it was him and I ended up you know leaving my job again.

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Where did he take you? What did you do? What did he show you after you left your job? I mean did he leave you for a while or what?

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I had another friend who moved in with me her and her young son they moved in with me and she was managing a beach store down on Fort Lauderdale Beach that was owned by a man in our church.

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And just one night she said to me, hey do you want to work here? She said I need some more help. Do you want to work here? And I said okay.

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So that wasn't the same level or the same pay or anything as what I had just left but God was providing. I can't explain it. He was just providing.

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Once again he was taking my fishes and loaves and stretching them. So I was working down there and we didn't work the same shifts we worked opposite but it was just such an incredible time of ministry.

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It was a mission field. It was like a beacon that people would just get drawn to. We had so many people come in. Tourists some of them, some of them were people who lived in that area and came in every day and because we also sold dollar ice cream cones.

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So that was a big draw for all of them. And we had homeless people who came in. We had we had prostitutes who came in.

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We had people who had come there to Fort Lauderdale thinking it was the answer to all their dreams and then they would get there and couldn't find work and they were down and out.

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And so we had the wealthy to the very poorest who would come in those doors and God would just give us divine appointments for conversations and to share his love.

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And sometimes we were driving people to homeless shelters and it was really like I said it was really a mission field. And then my friend who got me the job she ended up going into missions herself and I actually helped her find YWAM.

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My brother had had gone to YWAM so I was familiar with it and she started talking about missions and I said well check into YWAM. And she went to YWAM in Tyler, Texas for her DTS.

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She and her son left and moved up there and then I became the manager of the beach stores and she was gone. And also I had sold my condo about that time.

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So I sold my condo and as the Lord said paid off my debt and and I moved into a ministry house that the church had where I was discipling some young women there.

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How did you get called to YWAM?

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I was working at the beach store and I was managing the beach store now. I was there when 9-11 happened.

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And when that happened I just wanted to go. I wanted to go so badly and help. But as you know not just anybody could go.

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I wasn't a trained counselor. I wasn't a trained first responder. But I just had such a heart to go and help.

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And the same thing had happened a few years earlier when there was the earthquake in Turkey. I haven't been born in Turkey when that earthquake happened.

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Like I wanted to go help so badly. But again I knew I wasn't trained or qualified for that. And at that time it motivated me to take the missions training classes at my church and get my certifications in that through my church.

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So now when 9-11 happened and again I just wanted to go help. God reminded me of that heart that he had given me for missions years earlier.

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And this time I thought there's no reason I can't go. I sold my condo. I don't have property. I've paid off my debt. I don't have any bills.

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I've done the missions training already at my church. So there's no reason why I can't go.

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And my friend had been calling me and telling me about YWAM and about her school and how great it was.

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And so I knew from talking to her that it was a wonderful opportunity. And anyway I knew that it was time, this time I could go. So I applied for YWAM and went to their next session.

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So often you went to Youth with a Mission, which is YWAM. And the name suggests that it's for youth. And you were further along in life than that of course.

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But it wasn't necessarily the case. It wasn't for youth. But why do you think God took you there? I mean what did he show you there?

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One of the reasons I chose the Tyler base was because I knew from helping my friend do her research that they offered the Crossroads training, which is for people who are mid-career as opposed to just out of high school or college.

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So that appealed to me because as you said I wasn't, you know, young like that anymore.

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When I got there, even though I went for missions training and I got missions training, one of the things I didn't realize about YWAM, but that I love about YWAM is that they also during that discipleship training school, that first phase of your training,

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they focus a lot on the Father heart of God and making sure that everyone in their classes knows that and has received it because obviously we can't give out what we don't have. For me, in addition to the missions experience and the missions training,

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it was a time of tremendous, tremendous healing. And the whole area of Lindale and Garden Valley, Texas is just saturated with such a rich history of ministry with YWAM, with David Wilkerson and Teen Mania, with Keith Green, Leonard Ravenhill.

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But there was just something about being in that environment that God would just orchestrate circumstances and orchestrate, put people in your life and just orchestrate things where sometimes it was kind of uncomfortable and painful because things would come to the surface that needed to be healed.

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I can remember a couple instances when something would happen and my reaction would be so out of proportion with what happened and I would just want to get in my car and leave, but I didn't have a car.

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I would just want to go and I would find myself alone with God and say, God, why did I act that way? Why did I overreact and why were my emotions so strong with that incident that seemed so petty?

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And he would faithfully, every single time, show me some incident in my own life that was a point of hurt or there was something that needed healing or a rejection or just something that had happened in my life that he wanted to heal.

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So for me, like I said, in addition to the missions training, which was the desire in my heart, that it was also a tremendous time of healing and a tremendous time of just wonderful lifelong friendships throughout that time as well.

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So YWAM is a short thing and after you did that, you went back to Florida, probably searching for what God had for you next, but you weren't in Florida for long. Why?

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When I finished up at Tyler, I went and I served in New Orleans for a season. And so after the YWAM in New Orleans finished, I did go back to Florida and I was just seeking the Lord.

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Like you said, I knew it wasn't where I was supposed to return to and move back to and pick up where I left off. I knew that there was something new out there.

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I didn't know what. So I went back to the beach store just a few couple days a week and worked there while I was there.

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This was really seeking the Lord on what was next. At one point, he began speaking to me about moving back to Texas, which I really didn't want to do that either.

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And I went to a church service, not my home church, but another church I would visit sometimes. And there was a couple there that had prayed over me before I left for YWAM.

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They were praying over me again and the husband had a strong prophetic gift and he's praying. And the last thing he said was, you know what, I just see you in Texas.

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And I was like, I don't want to go back to Texas. But then like within the next few days, that was the first confirmation.

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I had two more confirmations that came in and one was just, you know, where one of my sister who lived in Houston called and said, you know, you're kind of trying to figure out what to do now.

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And my roommate is moving out and I travel a lot. And so I'd like to have another roommate. So you're welcome to come to Houston and live with me if you want to.

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And I'm like, okay, I'll think about it. And then right after that, I had a there's a Christian businessman that does sporting event related work.

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And I had met him through YWAM when I was doing missions and did a lot of work for him off and on at different sporting events at Final Four's and Super Bowls and College World Series, things like that.

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And he called me up and he said, well, as you know, the Super Bowl's in Houston next year, next spring. And I'm trying to get a storefront that I can keep for a few months, open up for a few months.

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And I need somebody to run it for me. Would you be willing to come to Houston and run that for me?

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I was like, that was three confirmations in less than a week. And it was probably actually even less than a week. I just said, okay, Lord, I guess I'm going to Texas.

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So in Houston, I mean, a lot happened, but God eventually brought you to work with Somebody Cares.

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Now, of course, you're the director of communication and you had been the director of communication for a couple ministries in Florida.

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But you initially agreed to come to Somebody Cares as an executive assistant, which isn't really the normal direction a career goes, of course.

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So what made that appealing to you and what was God doing in and even through you during that season?

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Obviously, God had done so much in you up to that point, but there was still more he was doing for another calling he had for you.

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Well, when I arrived in Houston, the Super Bowl job actually didn't even ended up not even panning out because he didn't get the property that he wanted.

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So I came now without even a job and I connected, but I connected with YWAM Houston right away, like probably on my first or second day there.

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I hunted them down and found them and they happened to have a team in town. I think that team was from Tyler, Texas, too.

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But they said, well, you know, you're welcome to hang out with our team this week and go on outreaches with us.

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So I did. And it was a wonderful introduction to the city. We went on, you know, helped them with different outreaches, service projects,

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got to see a lot of the city. And one place that we went was the somebody cares office because somebody cares was letting them use part of their facility for their ministry.

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And we went there on a Saturday just to help with some setup that they needed and also do some prayer time for their ministry.

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And while I was there, I was looking at newsletters and brochures about this ministry. Somebody cares.

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And I was like, wow, this sounds really amazing. And it was a lot of things that had always been in my heart, like crossing racial denominational lines and different outreach and prayer and compassion.

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And it really caught my attention. And so I was like, I'm going to have to check this out a little more.

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Well, we came back a few days later because YWAM always likes to have Doug with these available speak to their teams when they come in for their outreaches.

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So we went to see Doug speak and I wasn't familiar with Doug or the ministry, but he ministered to us.

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And afterward he was talking to some of us. And I remember saying, well, I'm not really with the team.

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I'm hanging out with them. But I just moved to Houston and I don't really have any idea why.

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Anyway, through YWAM, YWAM was involved in different projects with somebody cares.

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And so because of my connection there, I started coming to events and meetings with them and getting even more familiar with the ministry.

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And Doug, of course, had given all the, when he was speaking to the team that day, he had given us books.

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So I've been reading some of his books, the Somebody Cares book and timed across the Jordan.

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I had actually had a commitment to work in New Orleans for a couple of months.

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So during that time was still in touch with Somebody Cares about different projects I'd been helping with. And I was still reading the books.

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And I remember the day that I got back, I was sitting in my backyard and I was reading It's Time to Cross the Jordan.

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And I finished it up and God had just been speaking to me so much that there was the new thing was coming.

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The new, the Jordan was coming, you know, and that I was getting ready to cross it.

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And it was like not even five minutes after I put the book down and finished reading it that Doug called up and said, hey, can you have lunch with our staff today?

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And so I met them for lunch. And then after lunch, he says, he says, well, you know, you're probably way overqualified for this.

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But my, my, the woman who was serving, she was volunteering as an assistant for me and she had to leave for some family obligations.

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And so I don't have an assistant. Would you pray about coming on as my assistant?

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So like I said, I did pray about it and I had already felt that nudging from God that something was coming next.

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And I like I knew that's what it was. And so that's how I ended up.

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But as far as the title goes, like it didn't really even bother me about the title.

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I was never big on new titles, but what mattered more to me was that I was going to be serving somewhere where I was making a contribution.

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And that it was those making a contribution to an organization that was really impacting people and changing lives for the kingdom.

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So that is why it didn't make sense in the natural, but it resonated in my spirit.

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And as you know, that it was a very big job with a lot of responsibility anyway, so what the title was.

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Well, that's right. That's right. And God's ways are not our ways. His thoughts are not our thoughts, but his ways and his thoughts are always better.

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So when we follow him, even when we don't think it makes sense, he brings it all around for our good, which you saw over and over again.

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And we're not going to go into the years that you were there in Houston serving because there's so much more I want to get into about the next step God had for you.

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There was another big shift that was really quite life altering. Right. Share share about that.

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Well, it was in 2009 in the beginning of 2009, my oldest sister came to Houston to to visit.

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And she had been diagnosed with cancer about six years earlier and wasn't given a good prognosis at all, but was had been doing very, very well.

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Really, really well. She felt strongly she was supposed to come and see me in Texas and at a certain time period.

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And so she came down and right before she came, like the day she was leaving or the day before her youngest daughter had gotten arrested for an old drug related charge.

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So her three grandchildren went into foster care. So that was heavy on her heart. And she shared that with me.

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And while she was visiting me that week, she was visiting me. I was at work and came home from work and she had taken a fall that day.

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So I took her to the emergency room to get some x-rays and an MRI and the cancer had come back.

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And this time it was wrapped around the base of her spine. So it was inoperable.

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I got her back home and just had a heaviness in my heart of everything that was going on with my family.

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And you may remember I took a one month leave of absence to come up and see what was going on.

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And at that point, I was still thinking, you know, God could still heal my sister.

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God, you know, maybe the thing with my niece and her kids will work out and they can go back home.

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And as I was there, you know, I knew that God was calling me to go to come back home. So I came back to work and I spent the next month packing and getting things in order and at work to so that I can make the move back to Kentucky, which I did.

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Yeah. So you move back and you actually became the legal guardian to your nieces and your nephew.

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And, you know, a lot of us might think that when we're willing to sacrifice so much, God will just let us ride in easily and save the day.

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Was it like that for you?

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One thing I want to say is that for me, when I was making the decision to come, I wasn't thinking of it as a sacrifice or anything, any noble decision or anything.

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It was just the right thing to do. It was like a no brainer. Like it didn't even occur to me that I was sacrificing and later, you know, God reminds you of things or maybe not even God just life reminds you of what you've sacrificed.

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But, but at the time, I wasn't thinking that way. It wasn't a sacrifice. It was my family and they needed me and I was working for a ministry called somebody cares and my family needed to know somebody cares.

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So it was just the right thing to do. But you're right though, I did have think that I would just come in and things would just be wonderful. And I had these visions of me taking these three kids, you know, a little happy family to church every Sunday and our devotions at night, you know, and it didn't happen that way.

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And I remember the first time I took them to church, I was exhausted. I they were three different ages and on three different sides of the building and and my nephew, we didn't know it at the time, but he had Asperger's and sensory issues and I went to pick him up and he was in a heap of tears on the floor because he'd gotten over excited during one of the kids activities and kicked somebody and, and was crying because now nobody would like him and want to play with them.

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So that was my first first experience. So then I thought, well, we'll try this again. So the next time I take him in and I guess he had memories of that bad experience and he just started screaming in the lobby at the top of his lungs, get me out of the death zone.

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We're at church and he's crying in a death zone. We didn't go obviously that day I just had to get him back to the car and and so it was very difficult. It was it was very difficult and challenging for me needing connection and needing church and needing a spiritual and with the challenges of having the kids that I would learn had their own ways of dealing with the trauma that they've been through because, and this was something I knew in my head like I knew from work that I had done in

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supporting different ministries who worked with children and foster care and adoption and I knew that there was always trauma involved, that they wouldn't be with me if things had gone the way they were supposed to go.

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But I had to learn firsthand what each of these children was going through and what they how they were going to deal with it. The oldest one later on started going through anxiety attacks and the youngest one is just deals a lot with the rejection from her mom and not knowing

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who her dad is and I had to learn what they were thinking and get God's heart for them and and not focus so much on me and what what I was missing out on.

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Well you know James 127 tells us all to look after orphans and widows in their distress and you really took that to heart when you were, you know, have been caring for your sister who eventually passed away as well as your nieces and nephews.

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And unfortunately there's still so many widows and orphans around the globe that need help which is why somebody cares started the widows and orphan fund. We have partners around the world that care for orphans as well as widows who've given a lifetime of service to the Lord and who are in need.

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And as a company of women, we can do so much together to help care for them. So we invite you, dear listener, to join our company with a gift at her god story.org.

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And see what God wants to do through you. Belinda, you've been mom now to your kids for about 13 years.

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What are some of the things that you've learned and how have you seen God work. One thing I've learned a lot about my own shortcomings.

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Kids have an amazing way of reflecting to you what your own shortcomings are sometimes I hear things come out of their mouth or see them do things I think, what are you doing, why would you do that now I realized that they got it for me and I'm like, oh,

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I don't know if I like that too much. But, but God, God does use that he uses it to show his unconditional love for his children, he uses it as reflection of areas that we need to grow you know they see your kids see the good and the bad and the ugly in you.

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I think for me though one of the ironically, one of the most challenging things that I've dealt with in being a parent is having faith for others.

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When I've always had it so strong for myself. And it's easy for me to do it's easy for me to leave my job if I'm the only person that's going to affect.

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But, and God has not asked me to do that so fortunately, but you know that's easy but I find would find myself like taking up suddenly which I hadn't done in years of my walk with the Lord taking like a tight rein on finances you know and making sure that we had enough

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money and that it lasted you know to the next paycheck and so that they, they would have food on the table and realizing that I was probably taking that to an extreme and perhaps making them see God is a God who's not providing and, and I didn't want to do that so I would have to

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like give those things to the Lord and to say Lord, help me show them my faith help them tell me adequately reflect you as the God that I know you are and that you've been to me and help them grow up that too and you have that tension of always like

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you know, for example, teaching to be good stewards of what God gives but yet not making it look like God's stingy and he's not going to, he's not giving enough and so I think that those have been some of the most challenging things that I've learned in my own walk through

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this through this journey with them.

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Yeah.

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I think a single mom can be very challenging. Now like you've said you, he showed himself faithful to you over and over again. Right. And I remember even you know, praying as a staff for some of the challenges that the kids were having, you know, and God did show such faithfulness

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in their lives as well.

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Share some of those joys those victories. Well, all three of these kids are amazing kids and they've all had a lot to overcome and but there's a story in particular about my nephew.

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As I said, we didn't know that he had Asperger's until he had been with me for a little while and he had a day he was in, I guess, fourth grade and fourth or fifth grade and he had run from school and was trying to run home and so I had to come and get him and they said

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you know you really need to take him to the Children's Mental Health Hospital and get his medications evaluated or different things and I was just heartbroken but I did take him. So over the next few years though.

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And that's when he was diagnosed with Asperger's. And so, which I wasn't even familiar with it's a high functioning autism and I had never heard of it, but it just, I started researching and reading about it like that's definitely what he has so fast forward a couple

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of years ago. And I started always having behavioral problems at school.

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Just having meltdowns with them, not knowing how to deal with emotions with frustrations, and you would might throw things or you might turn a desk over throw a book or, or just like I said just have a meltdown.

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And I would do that for almost three days a week. And I praise God the church that I was working for at the time was very supportive of families, extra supportive of mine I think because they, they allowed me to leave when I needed to and make up my work or my

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hours whenever I could and, but it was, it was hard to be a single parent and you're the only one who can leave and then he gets suspended from school and you're the only one who can stay with them and.

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And so I was just working, I was just doing my best work and it was stressful for me and it was, plus it was, it was hard just knowing what he was going through and not knowing how to help.

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One day, when he was in seventh grade, I took a personal day off work and with the intention of getting some personal errands done in the morning and spend in the afternoon in prayer for the kids I was that oil it was going to anoint their rooms with oil and just

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while I was out doing my errands, my friend Emily from the office called and I just shared with her some of the difficulties I was having and that I was going to spend time in prayer and she said to me, the Linda she said, you have authority over these children

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God has given you authority and you need to stand in that and you need to take that and, and we prayed, like, on the spot, you know, she and I started praying and I remember I was in the mall and we're like, I'm praying you know, on the phone with her for the kids and

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I was praying for Jimmy because at the time he was the one who was who was dealing with the most struggles. So I got home from that, and was getting ready to go into my own prayer time for them.

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And the phone rang and it was the school.

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And I thought, Oh no, what's happened now. And I said, Satan, you're not going to pull me away from this prayer time. So I didn't pick up the phone, and I didn't call back until I went to battle and to war for these kids and anointed their rooms with oil and spent time

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with prayer in prayer and then when I felt like I finished what I was supposed to do, then I called the school and sure enough.

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They said I needed to come pick up Jimmy. When I got there they told me what happened was that he had run from the school, he had run out the doors started down the street towards towards home, the school's police officer went after him.

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And they said that the police officer said at one point he stopped in his tracks, he turned around with tears streaming down his face and went and and grabbed on and hug the police officer and went back to school.

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And all that happened.

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What happened about the time that Emily and I were praying for him, never had a problem with him at school. After that it was like that was that turning around was like a real turning around a literal and spiritual and emotional turning around for him.

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And that was in the middle of seventh grade, and by the January of eighth grade he was named student of the month at the school.

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And even his principal said he's a real miracle story.

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Then he went on to high school, and his last three years of high school he went half a day to a technical school.

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And the last two years he was at the technical school he was named outstanding student of the year at those two schools so he went from a child who was constantly getting suspended because of the dealing with the trauma and the Asperger's and the sensory issues

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and everything to outstanding student of the year.

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So now he's working, he's got a job that he part time job and he loves it and they love him and, and I'm just so grateful I just see God's hand so much in that when people would say well what happened to the prayer, you know, was the Lord it was prayer there's

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no other explanation for it.

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God just is so faithful. Well Belinda in the journey of faith that God has had you on. What are really some of those foundational truths that have kept you moving forward and having a vibrant relationship with him.

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For one thing, I am so grateful for the 12 years that I had at a church that taught the Bible verse by verse and chapter by chapter. That's been my foundation just having the word of God so ingrained in me and I'm grateful for that.

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And I would say though that as far as specific foundations or specific scriptures Proverbs three five and six is one of the first scriptures that I ever learned which is probably true for a lot of people.

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Most everybody knows it's who's been walking with the Lord for any time trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding and all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your path.

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You know that's just what I think about that scripture and I think about my life is that that is exactly what I see you know, trust in him you know he's our good shepherd it's his job to get us from point A to B, you know it's it's sometimes I'm scared that

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I'm scared that I not heard his voice or, or that I'm going to make the wrong choice but but that's his job you know when I'm submitted to him when I'm his sheep and I'm following him then that's the shepherd's job to get me to where I'm going so that's given me

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this relief and help me with that trust in him and lean not on your understanding you were just saying that just a few minutes ago even when it doesn't make sense. The things that God has had me to do so many times just don't make sense, but they don't have to if he's the one

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telling me then he's his ways are higher like you said, yeah, so they don't have to make sense and I think that that verse has been kind of a cornerstone for me.

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Linda you know you say if when you know it's God and sometimes our own heads can get in the way and tell us things that confuse us. Right. How do you know that it's God when he's speaking to you, rather than your own thoughts.

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It's just something that you have to cultivate, you know we know his voice, you know after years of hearing it. No, we just know when we have that piece you know I can tell I have that deep, deep abiding peace, especially if it's something that doesn't make sense.

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If it's God saying something that doesn't make sense and you have that deep abiding peace then then you know it's God and then you know he'll confirm it, you know he's he's faithful he's so faithful to confirm what we need to know, and it's

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always okay to ask God, it's okay you know I found over and over again that my God, you know, is that really you. And sometimes the thought vanishes, it leaves there's no more, you know there's no more thinking about it there's no more, you know drawing to that line of thinking.

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And other times, there are confirmations whether it's in his word, and if you're really in the Word of God like you said you are. He brings scriptures out that just right firm I mean I'll be reading through the scriptures and thinking about something and God will, like, what I'm reading

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that day what I've been scheduled to read that day for you know ever in a day is exactly what I need to hear from the Lord to confirm something that I've heard him say so.

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Yeah, and I think that peace is also so important. Yeah, and he's, he's, he's faithful, we can trust him. Yeah, I know one thing that he's been speaking to me a lot lately is that from some 2713 where David tells us I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

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You know I think as long as we have breath in our body and in life in our bones, you know, we can expect his goodness, you can expect it we can expect him to guide us and lead us and, you know, life is hard you know there's mountains there's valleys there's just places

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that are so boring and mundane, but I mean I know, you know, things I've been talking about today have been a lot of the highlights and a lot of the mountain tops but you know there's always, there's also been disappointments and there's been heartbreaks and I've made mistakes and there's been times when I've missed it and I haven't

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obeyed and fallen short I've hurt people I've been hurt, you know, but none of that changes God's goodness, you know, and it's all, it's all around us and he's so faithful to show it to us.

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And so it's the glory of God to conceal the matter when it's the glory of Kings to seek it out. And sometimes this goodness is like so easy and so much in plain sight and then other times, we have to look for it, you know, when we're in the middle of a crisis was a personal crisis

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or even things we see going on in the world and sometimes we have to look for God's goodness but you know it's there it's there if we seek it out.

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Well as we wrap up Belinda can you share about a woman in the Bible whose story has inspired you or encouraged you or taught you something and maybe how her story relates to yours.

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I always love the story of Abigail. I always wanted to be strong like Abigail, you know I love how something comes to her attention that that's going to harm her family, she doesn't hesitate, she calls on her resources she uses her, her

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intelligence and she physically takes it upon herself to go and stand in the gap between her family and David's army that was coming to destroy it. I just have always admired that so much and I've wanted to be like that I've wanted to be somebody who comes and stands in the gap and isn't afraid to say,

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hey no more. And I think about her you know we might not see her though as a what we would call a woman of faith but you know she had to be you know we know from what the Bible tells us about her husband that her life had to be hard, her life had to be challenging and there had to be times when she said

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God why do you have me here? You know why do you have me here? I love you and I'm serving you and I don't understand why you're having me here but I'm going to obey, I'm going to be faithful, I'm going to follow you and I'm going to trust you that you're going to work all things for the good and he did.

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He did that in her life because of her obedience. Well I started at the beginning saying that you are a woman of great faith and you did what God asked you to do. James 2 verses 14 through 17 and 20 through 26 says,

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What good is it my dear brothers and sisters if someone claims to have faith that has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothing or daily food. If one of you says to him go in peace keep warm well fed but does nothing about their physical needs what good is it?

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In the same way faith by itself if it's not accompanied by action is dead. Do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?

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You see that his faith and his actions they were working together and his faith was made complete by what he did and the scripture says Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness and he was called God's friend.

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You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone. Rahab the prostitute she's another example she was shown to be right with God by her actions when she hid the messengers and sent them safely away by a different road.

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Just as a body is dead without breath so also faith is dead without good deeds. And if you listen to Belinda's life over and over again she acted on her faith.

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Belinda would you take a moment and pray that we may all be people of active faith.

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Father God we just thank you so much that you're a God who loves us Lord and you're a God who guides us and you're a God who wants us to seek you out Father and Lord I just pray for each person listening today Father God that they would be encouraged to look back at the landmarks in their own life and be encouraged in their faith

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and be encouraged to walk with you and the times that you have shown up for them and the times that you have been faithful and Lord I just pray that you would give us all opportunities to have faith to act on that you would speak to us that you would speak to each person Lord and if there's things you're already saying to people that they've been hesitant about

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that you would give courage that you would just remind that that you're a God that we can depend on you can walk us through those hard places that you call us to and you'll bless us with them desires of our hearts things that we didn't even ask for.

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But you're a good father and you long to bless us Lord Father we just love you so much and we just want to be people who are who please you with our faith and who please you with them following through on it we love you Lord we praise you in Jesus name.

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Amen.

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Thank you for tuning in links to the scriptures and other helpful information can be found in our show notes at her God story.org there you can also sign up for periodic emails get a free her God story devotional and find out about the somebody cares widows and orphan fund.

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If you need prayer please call or text the somebody cares 24 seven prayer line at 855-459 care or email us at prayer at somebody cares.org we would love to pray for you.

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We'd also love for you to share Belinda story with friends, be sure to follow the podcast, so you don't miss an episode.

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And now dear friends I leave you with a blessing from second Thessalonians one 11. May God give you the power to accomplish all the good things, your faith prompts you to do her God story is a ministry of somebody cares America and international to find out more about or support the ministry, go to somebody cares.org.