Learning to Win in Spiritual Warfare, Beverly Burchett’s Story

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Hey friends, thanks for tuning in to this episode of Her God's Story, where you will

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always hear a good story to encourage, inspire, 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 and International,

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author and traveler on this journey of faith.

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My guest, Beverly Burchette, is a sought after photographer and pastor's wife.

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Even before she married her husband, Charles, she began teaching in Sunday school in her

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church.

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Beverly is a pastor's wife, she served as youth director, women's Bible study leader,

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and worship leader, including flag and banner and dance teams in the church, which is a

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new way that people are worshiping in the past decade or two.

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She also founded Women at War for the City, which is an effort to facilitate prayer for

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her city and the land and the church in that part of Texas.

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Beverly wrote a prayer booklet for the Call Texas in 2003 and has been on the board of

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Pray Texas as well as the Texas directors for the United States Global Apostolic Prayer

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Network.

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In 2005, when Hurricane Rita's Eye came directly through Kirbyville, she jumped in to help

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run a point of distribution at the church, which was the start of involvement in other

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disaster relief ministries as well.

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But in addition to ministry, Beverly homeschooled her children, she gave piano lessons for 20

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years, and now she runs her own professional photography business.

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Her joy has always been her husband Charles, her two children, and their families, which

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include seven very special grandchildren.

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Beverly's heart is to worship the Lord Jesus, her King and her master, and to walk in daily

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obedience to him.

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Now Beverly's story in some ways is reminiscent to me, to Frank Peretti's book, This Present

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Darkness.

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Beverly's learned the reality of spiritual warfare and knows that John 1.15 is true,

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and that verse says, the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome

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it.

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Welcome, Beverly.

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Hi, I'm so glad to be here, Jody, and share my story.

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I got tired thinking about it all.

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You have some doozy, you have some doozies in there.

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So Beverly, God sent you and your family into some challenging situations, but he didn't

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do it without giving you the tools to handle them.

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For you, that preparation started pretty young.

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So what was your life like growing up, and how did you come to faith in Christ?

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Well first of all, probably a very significant thing in my early life was that my father

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was an alcoholic, and during the week he was a hard working man, but on the weekends he

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would visit bars and get drunk, come home, and abuse my mother.

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And there came a point in this cycle where one night he brought some of his drunk friends

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home with him to show off his brand new two month old son, who was my brother, and he

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got him out of the baby bed, it was like after midnight, and said, you know, put him down

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on the linoleum floor and ask him to crawl, and all he could do was bump his little chin

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on the hard floor and cry, and my mother was beside herself.

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So the next day, my aunt showed up, and we were packed and ready, and we left with her.

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My mom, she would have taken the abuse to try to maintain a family, but she was not

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going to allow the children to be abused.

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In those days, that was the 50s, it was kind of rare, divorce was.

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Not very common, was it?

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No.

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But I saw in my mom, she never had a victim spirit, she took a lot of attention to us,

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she didn't try to go out and meet other men or anything like that, she was a very good

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mother, and I think I have some of my feistiness and drive from her, and I've never looked

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at my life and my circumstances like I was a victim, or poor me, I just felt like it

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could move me on to the next thing, or next level.

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So did your mom get you involved in church?

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We were very active in church.

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And at 10 years old, I was at vacation Bible school, and I memorized John 3.16, and really

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I did it because I wanted that pretty little pink Bible that they were giving, if you've

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memorized it.

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You know how God's Word is, it was convicting, and even at 10 years old, I didn't know the

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scope of my sin, but I did, I was brokenhearted, you know, that I had sinned and broken God's

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heart.

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So I received Jesus as my Lord and my Savior, and then a week later, my best friend and

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I were baptized together.

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And so that kind of began my walk with the Lord, I had known about God, really as a kid,

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loved God, but then I had that personal relationship.

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People really didn't teach a lot about growth at that time, and so you just kind of go to

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church and hear the Sunday school stories and so forth, but some of the things that

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you encounter later in life, I wasn't that prepared for.

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Well, you know, it's interesting that you said you loved God, but you hadn't actually

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made that decision to follow Christ.

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And that's, I think, where a lot of people are.

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They know there's God, they know Jesus loves them, but they haven't committed to fully

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following Jesus and accepting his forgiveness of sins and making a change in their life.

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And that's what it takes, you know, Christianity is not just saying, yeah, Jesus is alive and

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he's a great guy, but it's actually declaring him as Lord and Savior and making that turn

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and following him.

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And then we enter into, gosh, we're children of the King of Kings, and we enter into an

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inheritance that even people who've been saved for 50, 60 years don't understand all of the

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inheritance we have in God.

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You've learned a little bit of that, which we're going to talk about along the way.

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So after you accepted the Lord personally, you know, there wasn't these discipleship

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programs in churches.

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So how did your faith get nurtured through those years?

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You know, you started teaching Sunday school when you were 19.

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So what happened in those nine years that brought you to a place where you felt confident

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enough to actually teach?

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You know, not having an earthly father invested in your life and leading you, because I believe

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that our relationship with our heavenly father hinges on our earthly father.

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I don't think fathers realize the importance they have in their children's lives and how

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the children see them is often how they will carry that on and see their own, their heavenly

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father.

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So not having that, I loved God.

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I read and prayed.

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I never felt a real closeness.

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It was like God was somewhere out there, but not just right there with me.

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Through time though, I had to cultivate that.

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And like I said, you weren't taught a lot on it.

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I think God had his hand on me from the moment I was born, really.

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I just believe that some of the things I went through and also some of the things I escaped

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during my life were God.

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And he was preparing me for my destiny.

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And I believe the scripture that Reese says that he has a destiny for all of us and it's

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for our good.

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And so I believe he was.

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I was a moral young lady as a teenager.

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And again, that I think sometimes we confuse being moral with having a relationship with

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God or being godly.

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My mother taught me those things about morality and I wanted to be thought of as someone who

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was a good person.

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And in those days, we're talking about 50s and 60s, you wanted to have a good reputation.

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In those days, it wasn't as it is today.

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I'll tell you about how I actually got to teach third grade girls.

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My mom remarried and married a man that loved her and loved me and my brother just as his

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own.

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Not only did I have a new father figure in my life, but we moved to a new town, new church,

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new friends, started kind of all over.

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And we again went to church there in Jacksonville, Texas.

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And I will say, I'll just interject here, that was definitely a God thing because in

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Dallas, Texas, he was preparing a young teenage boy to eventually come to Jacksonville six

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years later.

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And I know we're not there yet and we'll get to that, but he brought me from Decatur, Texas

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to Jacksonville and he will six years later bring the man that I married.

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So we'll talk about that in a little bit.

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Everything was new, but again, like I said, I felt still didn't have that closeness with

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God that I really desired and wanted.

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Lady in church came to me and said, I think you're exactly who we need in the third grade

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for these girls.

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I thought me?

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I just was it really, really, and I had been to junior college and my dad had said, I want

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you to study something so that you'll have something to fall back on in case you need

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it in life.

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And he was very logical when it came to things like that.

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So I had come back, was working at First National Bank in Jacksonville and going to church obviously.

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And when this little lady asked me to take that position, yeah, it scared me because

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I thought, am I capable?

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Do I know how to do this?

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But she assured me you're exactly what we need.

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And God told me you're the one.

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So I thought, okay, if God said it, that's, you know, and it was probably the most wonderful

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experience of my life to get to be with those girls every week and share with them, you

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know, the Bible and and more and not just Bible stories, but how they relate and how

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they're applicable and even their lives at nine years old.

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And they ended in my wedding party.

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My Sunday school class did when Charles and I finally met.

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So wow.

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You know, I find that whenever the Lord asked me to step out in faith to do something like

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teach or write or I always learn.

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I mean, he's doing it as much to teach me something as it is to teach someone else something

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because you have to know it.

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You have to experience something in yourself before you can communicate it and share it

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with others.

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I mean, just stepping out to do that is discipleship in itself, growing in the Lord right in itself.

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And you have to be, I know discipleship, that's kind of scary because you're in essence telling

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someone, follow me, you know, and do what I do.

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And so you're going, really?

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The Lord taught us about that as when Charles and I were married and in Virginia.

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And the key is to be one step ahead.

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That's all.

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Just one step ahead.

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It doesn't mean you have to be the most knowledgeable and perfect person walking with Jesus every

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day, making no mistakes.

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It just means you've got to be one step ahead so you can lead someone else to that next

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step.

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And when I learned that, that I didn't have to be perfect to be a leader, I just had to

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walk daily in the steps God had for me.

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And that's a great relief to know that.

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Well, it is.

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It is a great relief and it ends up being an exciting adventure.

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Absolutely.

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And it spurs you on to keep walking forward and keep learning, keep following, keep listening

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and obeying.

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So you've mentioned that Charles, the Lord brought Charles from Dallas there to Jacksonville.

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So how did that happen?

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Did he enter the picture and was it love at first sight?

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For him, I think he saw me in the bank first.

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And that was okay.

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And so he, I saw him playing basketball because he came on a basketball scholarship to Jacksonville

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Baptist College.

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He was a basketball star in Dallas.

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They had gone to state.

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He was sought after by several D1 colleges or universities even.

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And finally, one of the calls he was on to one of these coaches in these big schools,

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the coach said, I need to know today if you're coming.

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And if you knew Charles, this, this would not shock you, but it's not normal for people.

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But he says, well, wait a minute, I'll have to pray.

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I have to ask the Lord first.

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And the Lord said, no, you're going to Jacksonville Baptist College.

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And he's going, Lord, are you serious?

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Little junior high, I mean, junior college in a small town versus West Point and some

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different other schools that had offered him.

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He made the decision then he didn't know why, but God knew because he had brought me there

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six years earlier.

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And so he brought Charles there.

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Charles said when he drove into town, he said, Lord, what have you done to me?

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And so anyway, he began playing for them and he would come in the bank to do his little

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bit of business and see me.

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But then I saw him when he became our youth pastor.

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He was youth college and career.

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And so I passed him in the hallway when Sunday morning and I just greeted him, said hello.

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He didn't speak to me.

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I thought, well, how how stuck up are you?

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But now that I know him, he is so purpose driven.

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And he had his mindset on his job that morning of ministry with those youth.

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And he did see anything else around.

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But I went on a hayride with him shortly after that.

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And he sang Blue Moon to me and that was it.

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I had thought I was going to marry my high school sweetheart.

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And he was at A&M at the time.

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But it was it was obvious there was something there.

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And within three months, we were engaged.

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And three months after we were married.

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Yes, that was a whirlwind romance.

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It was a whirlwind romance.

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Honestly, I never imagined being I knew his God had called him to be a pastor.

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Not a preacher, by the way, but a pastor.

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That's very significant in our life because it God got got that message as a teenager

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from the Lord.

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I think it's been the foundation of the rest of our lives because God has never changed

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his mind on that.

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Anyway, I never thought about that.

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And I thought, how in the world do I be a pastor's wife?

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You have these conjured up ideas of what they should be in their job.

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Oh, I needed to play the piano.

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And thank God, my mother gave me lessons in third grade and all of that.

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But of course, as time went by, I realized there's no formula.

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There's no set thing.

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It's just not everybody has expectations of their past life, don't they?

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And you have they do.

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And you have you have them of yourself as well, too.

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But definitely the congregation does.

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That's for sure.

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But our beginning years, I think, really set us up well for ministry time as youth pastor.

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We just did so much in our community.

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And Charles and I had a teenage hangout in Jacksonville during that summer of 69.

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After we had married in June, and it was called his place.

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And so I thought, oh, so this has been a kind of a pastor's wife.

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You cook pizza, you sweep floors, you figure out games to play, you counsel these poor

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teenagers, you know, going through all their things.

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And then you witness, though, the best part.

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And they get you get I get saved.

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And one thing I'd like to mention here, because I think it was set the course and it was the

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very first time that I as I look back on it, that I entered into spiritual warfare.

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I had no clue what that was or that it was even happening.

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But that summer, Charles asked Sammy Tippett, do you know him?

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He's an evangelist.

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And oh, my goodness.

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I need to check on who he is.

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He's amazing.

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He's been all over the world.

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His wife is named Tex.

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And so he's from Louisiana and she was from Texas.

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So that's how she got that.

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Anyway, we had what George Otis Jr. would call a transformation of a city that summer

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in Jacksonville.

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Yes.

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And people still talk about it.

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We had a youth revival in the football stadium and before the revival was over, every church

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in the area was wanting to give toward it or participate in some way because it was

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so huge.

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Kids were getting saved just walking down the sidewalks.

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And one evening after we had met in the tomato bowl for the meeting, Sammy said, let's go

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to the housing project.

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And that was in kind of it was in the black community.

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In those days, we weren't real segregated.

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God's not a white God and for a white community is for everybody loves everybody.

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And so Sammy said, let's go.

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So we did.

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And it was like high rises that encircled a kind of a courtyard.

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We stepped out into that courtyard and all of a sudden from those apartments came hordes

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of young people and teenagers.

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They weren't real excited to see us.

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They had bats.

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They had chains.

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I never saw a gun.

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They were hollering, cussing, yelling at us.

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And Sammy was trying to share the gospel, but he's so good at it and he's so relational.

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Charles and Sammy told Texan.

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We needed to get out of there fast.

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They said, we'll meet you soon as we can at the all night restaurant in town.

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So we did.

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We got in the car and we went to that restaurant and we stayed in the parking lot facing it.

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We could see through the windows.

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That I think was the first time in my life I experienced intercession and spiritual warfare

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because we honestly wondered if our husbands would come back alive or be in the hospital,

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you know, the next word we got.

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And so for several hours we cried out to God nonstop in that car.

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And like after two hours we looked up and saw our husband sitting in a booth in the

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restaurant and they were laughing.

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And we looked at each other and we said, what in the world?

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Why didn't they tell us?

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Here we are crying and going on, you know, because we're so worried and we're asking

295
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God to save them and help them.

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And there they are enjoying the hamburger.

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We got out, went in and they said that after we had that, it calmed down.

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And Sammy was able to share the gospel and hundreds of these young people got saved.

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And he said they would hug Sammy and him, Charles was telling me, and they were crying

300
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in a way.

301
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Wish I had not left.

302
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I would have loved to have seen that.

303
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But I really think Tex and I had our job to do.

304
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I think our intercession, our warfare was standing in the gap for that situation.

305
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And so the whole town received people.

306
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I know our church had 700 people give their lives to Jesus or have a turnaround.

307
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And that was just our church.

308
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This is a town of 15,000 people and we had 700 decisions.

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And then the other churches had had decisions and it was, like I said, I didn't realize

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at the time how huge that was.

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And looking back, I think that was a transformation because it wasn't just one church having a

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revival and a few kids getting saved.

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It was the city, all the churches coming together and each church getting a harvest.

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I think that was my real first experience and I have no idea what God had for us in

315
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the future.

316
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But I think that was a good foundational start of it.

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Yeah I gave you a glimpse of what he wants to do in every community really.

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Even before you knew you were seeing or experiencing.

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After Jacksonville, I mean young pastors, they move around quite a bit until they find

320
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where they are, where God has called them.

321
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Where did God call you next?

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We went to Newport News, Virginia.

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I remember Dr. Jimmy Draper called Charles.

324
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He had been Charles' pastor since he was born into the church.

325
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He was his parents' pastor.

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He married his parents.

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He called and he said, I have a place, because Charles had just been graduated from seminary,

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and he said I have a place I believe that I would like for you to consider.

329
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It is to be a co-pastor, help the pastor that has been there a good while to retire.

330
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And so he said, are y'all willing to go anywhere or what you're in?

331
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I said to him, because Charles went home and I talked to him, I said anywhere but New York.

332
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And of course, I would have gone anywhere.

333
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But anyway, we ended up going to Virginia.

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And I think what we experienced there, one was that we were really Texan, because Virginia

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was nothing like Texas, and the people were nothing like what we had been used to.

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The church was nothing like we had been used to.

337
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Very high church.

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And if you know Charles and me, especially Charles, we just kind of don't fit into that

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type of thing.

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I think what God did was just kind of show us more of who we were.

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And we were away from family for the first time, away from friends, because he grew up

342
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in Dallas.

343
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I was in the Jacksonville, Dallas area through my life.

344
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We were without anybody, and Hunter had been born in 74.

345
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And so we took him, he was a toddler at the time, and we were on our own and had to rely

346
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on each other.

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We couldn't call mom or, you know, I could call her, but she for sure can come over and

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help me.

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Of course, we met some wonderful people that we still communicate from time to time with

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now.

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But still, I think he just drew us closer, and we were going to need that.

352
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We were going to need to be close with each other.

353
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We were going to need, we would need to know that we could trust each other, and that I

354
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could trust God was speaking to Charles and he was leading our family in the right way.

355
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He could trust me to be where God needed me to be and to be what he needed.

356
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And so I think that was established then.

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In 77, then Carice was born, and at one month old, we made the decision when she was one

358
00:26:20,640 --> 00:26:22,640
month old, we would go to Florida.

359
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We were asked to come be the pastor of a mission church, a large church in Clearwater, Florida

360
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that had started this mission.

361
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And so it had been going on for probably six months or maybe close to a year, and they

362
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needed a pastor because it was starting to grow.

363
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And so a month later, Carice was two months old.

364
00:26:48,940 --> 00:26:54,960
So we had a little boy, three and a little girl, two months old, and we packed up and

365
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we headed to Florida and right before that, because it was a mission church, Charles and

366
00:27:02,960 --> 00:27:10,040
I were commissioned as Southern Baptist Home Mission Board missionaries.

367
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And in fact, it was at a huge service where Billy Graham led it and actually commissioned

368
00:27:18,360 --> 00:27:20,400
us along with others.

369
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Wow.

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So we went to Florida.

371
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That must have given you some confidence to go forward into Florida.

372
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It really did.

373
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And again, missionaries, I really, each step you're going, Lord, is this you're calling

374
00:27:36,840 --> 00:27:39,840
me to do this?

375
00:27:39,840 --> 00:27:45,040
A new adventure, a new look at ministry.

376
00:27:45,040 --> 00:27:52,440
And of course, it wasn't a foreign missionary or what you think of necessarily as a missionary,

377
00:27:52,440 --> 00:27:58,600
but in essence, we were in a new community, new neighborhood where they're in Florida

378
00:27:58,600 --> 00:28:04,840
at that time anyway, mission churches were starting to pop up, not just in Florida, but

379
00:28:04,840 --> 00:28:09,360
other states too, because there were neighborhoods unreached.

380
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And in this area of Clearwater, it was growing by leaps and bounds.

381
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The housing was just booming.

382
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And so you would have thousands of people living in these housing, in these communities,

383
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but no church anywhere around.

384
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So we went and excited, new adventure, and we knew we were not to stay in Virginia, but

385
00:28:35,120 --> 00:28:43,160
just we were there to help the pastor to make an ease into his retirement and the church.

386
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And so we were very excited.

387
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Soon enough, the church began to grow.

388
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We were busting, if you will, at the same.

389
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People were getting saved.

390
00:28:56,880 --> 00:29:02,360
Weekly, we were having baptisms, in fact, we had to have them in people's swimming pools

391
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because our little building didn't have a baptistery yet.

392
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And also many, we baptized in Tampa Bay.

393
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It was just a fun, exciting time.

394
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But then all hell broke loose and it really did.

395
00:29:25,920 --> 00:29:28,560
Well explain, just stop for a minute and explain.

396
00:29:28,560 --> 00:29:33,720
You mentioned earlier that Charles was called to be a pastor, not a preacher.

397
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And I think that kind of plays in here where he really stepped in as a pastor to pastor

398
00:29:40,200 --> 00:29:41,200
people.

399
00:29:41,200 --> 00:29:46,640
Well, for people who might not really understand the difference, explain what is that pastor's

400
00:29:46,640 --> 00:29:47,640
heart?

401
00:29:47,640 --> 00:29:58,200
Well, a pastor's heart is to equip his followers, equip his congregation, the sheepent that

402
00:29:58,200 --> 00:30:02,360
he's responsible for, for the work of the ministry.

403
00:30:02,360 --> 00:30:06,400
It's not that the pastor does the work of the ministry.

404
00:30:06,400 --> 00:30:18,200
Yes, he does, but he's responsible to God to prepare those that are following him and

405
00:30:18,200 --> 00:30:20,160
for the work of the ministry.

406
00:30:20,160 --> 00:30:23,120
We are all supposed to do it.

407
00:30:23,120 --> 00:30:28,720
And so discipleship was huge for us, as I had mentioned earlier.

408
00:30:28,720 --> 00:30:31,560
And we have been trained in Virginia.

409
00:30:31,560 --> 00:30:35,240
That was another reason probably the Lord had us there.

410
00:30:35,240 --> 00:30:44,320
We were trained to begin to disciple and that was new because you would take a new Christian

411
00:30:44,320 --> 00:30:50,320
or sometimes a Christian who had been saved many years before, but they didn't understand

412
00:30:50,320 --> 00:30:51,320
how to go deeper.

413
00:30:51,320 --> 00:30:59,440
They didn't understand about scripture and memory and about having a quiet time and about

414
00:30:59,440 --> 00:31:05,120
hearing the word and applying it and meditating on it.

415
00:31:05,120 --> 00:31:06,800
They just didn't understand that.

416
00:31:06,800 --> 00:31:08,320
I didn't understand that.

417
00:31:08,320 --> 00:31:15,640
So we would take either a small group or we'd take individual, like I might take some women,

418
00:31:15,640 --> 00:31:22,680
Charles would take some men, and we would disciple them to help them get a good start

419
00:31:22,680 --> 00:31:24,180
in their Christian walk.

420
00:31:24,180 --> 00:31:25,440
How do you have a quiet time?

421
00:31:25,440 --> 00:31:30,440
And I know for us, you and me, we're thinking, boy, that's awful easy.

422
00:31:30,440 --> 00:31:34,560
You just go in there and read your Bible, you know, but honestly, there's more to it.

423
00:31:34,560 --> 00:31:37,320
There's not even, I mean, there is more to it.

424
00:31:37,320 --> 00:31:39,560
And it's a learning process.

425
00:31:39,560 --> 00:31:45,760
I mean, gosh, if you don't invite the Holy Spirit to make the word alive to you, it's

426
00:31:45,760 --> 00:31:46,760
drudgery.

427
00:31:46,760 --> 00:31:52,600
It can be drudgery, especially if you're reading the prophets or some of these books that are

428
00:31:52,600 --> 00:31:53,600
hard to understand.

429
00:31:53,600 --> 00:31:54,600
Yes, and the begets.

430
00:31:54,600 --> 00:31:56,960
I mean, so-and-so had so-and-so and had so-and-so.

431
00:31:56,960 --> 00:32:01,000
So, you know, Holy Spirit, help me know what that means.

432
00:32:01,000 --> 00:32:02,000
You know, how did that happen?

433
00:32:02,000 --> 00:32:04,800
Why did you put this in the Bible, Lord?

434
00:32:04,800 --> 00:32:05,800
He does.

435
00:32:05,800 --> 00:32:06,800
He does do that.

436
00:32:06,800 --> 00:32:09,320
That's that is so amazing.

437
00:32:09,320 --> 00:32:17,800
But so Satan definitely, Satan definitely does not want the average, you know, Christian

438
00:32:17,800 --> 00:32:22,840
growing in the faith and being equipped to do works of service.

439
00:32:22,840 --> 00:32:28,000
So when you came into this new community, this community that was growing and this church

440
00:32:28,000 --> 00:32:34,080
that was, you know, being established there to equip people to do works of service, he

441
00:32:34,080 --> 00:32:35,680
didn't like that too much.

442
00:32:35,680 --> 00:32:41,040
No, because the enemy cannot defeat you as well.

443
00:32:41,040 --> 00:32:48,600
I mean, you're more discerning and aware because you're, the Lord's ordering your steps every

444
00:32:48,600 --> 00:32:53,640
day and you're learning how to follow and obey and be in his word.

445
00:32:53,640 --> 00:32:57,760
And so he can't, it's harder on him.

446
00:32:57,760 --> 00:32:58,760
Yeah.

447
00:32:58,760 --> 00:33:02,680
To lead you down the wrong path and way.

448
00:33:02,680 --> 00:33:15,040
But I think the, there was a epiphany, I guess, or a day that Charles was in his office and

449
00:33:15,040 --> 00:33:19,320
like I said, we had a fairly small church, but it was just a building.

450
00:33:19,320 --> 00:33:21,720
It didn't look like a church really.

451
00:33:21,720 --> 00:33:29,720
And we started adding some mobile units until we could build to house like the youth group

452
00:33:29,720 --> 00:33:30,720
and different things.

453
00:33:30,720 --> 00:33:35,640
And his office was in one of them and he was there studying and praying.

454
00:33:35,640 --> 00:33:42,480
And he says his testimony on this is he kind of looked down and he saw the feet of Jesus

455
00:33:42,480 --> 00:33:44,640
stand by him.

456
00:33:44,640 --> 00:33:51,880
And then as time progressed, the Lord began to speak to him and said, Charles, I want

457
00:33:51,880 --> 00:33:54,560
to show you something.

458
00:33:54,560 --> 00:34:03,920
And he put his arm around Charles and we know that Charles felt it was as if he was really

459
00:34:03,920 --> 00:34:05,680
a person and right there.

460
00:34:05,680 --> 00:34:12,200
We're not saying that a person really can't, but it was as if.

461
00:34:12,200 --> 00:34:16,120
And it was of course, the vision of some Lord.

462
00:34:16,120 --> 00:34:17,120
Yes.

463
00:34:17,120 --> 00:34:24,960
And so he showed, he walked Charles, knew it was Egypt and he heard the scream of the

464
00:34:24,960 --> 00:34:33,400
distorier and he knew it was the destroyer as he was going from house to house, killing

465
00:34:33,400 --> 00:34:34,880
the first one.

466
00:34:34,880 --> 00:34:40,760
And of course, thank God there were some, he couldn't because of the blood over the

467
00:34:40,760 --> 00:34:41,760
doorpost.

468
00:34:41,760 --> 00:34:48,920
There were many, especially Egyptian children too, that he was able to take.

469
00:34:48,920 --> 00:35:02,920
And the Lord said to Charles, if you will let me for my glory, I want to let this thing

470
00:35:02,920 --> 00:35:07,960
that's destroyer loose in your life.

471
00:35:07,960 --> 00:35:12,560
Just for my glory and you can trust me in it.

472
00:35:12,560 --> 00:35:13,720
You don't have to do it.

473
00:35:13,720 --> 00:35:16,240
You don't have to say yes.

474
00:35:16,240 --> 00:35:20,720
And Charles said, well, you know, Beverly and her increase are involved.

475
00:35:20,720 --> 00:35:24,180
I need to go home and talk to Beverly.

476
00:35:24,180 --> 00:35:27,640
So he called me and he said, get a babysitter.

477
00:35:27,640 --> 00:35:28,640
So he came home.

478
00:35:28,640 --> 00:35:37,200
I had taken the kids somewhere and to be watched and he shared with me what he had, what the

479
00:35:37,200 --> 00:35:39,280
word had told him.

480
00:35:39,280 --> 00:35:44,240
And I don't remember anything from that point.

481
00:35:44,240 --> 00:35:48,920
He says I was out for four hours.

482
00:35:48,920 --> 00:35:50,960
I have no, I don't know.

483
00:35:50,960 --> 00:35:56,000
I can't tell you what happened to me or what I was experiencing.

484
00:35:56,000 --> 00:36:03,480
All I know is when I woke up, it was as if Charles had just asked me the question, you

485
00:36:03,480 --> 00:36:11,040
know, told me the situation and said the word asked and I want, we have to both the, we

486
00:36:11,040 --> 00:36:13,160
have to both say yes or no.

487
00:36:13,160 --> 00:36:18,040
And I said, well, of course, yes.

488
00:36:18,040 --> 00:36:22,280
And of course it's coming out of my mouth and I'm going, what am I saying?

489
00:36:22,280 --> 00:36:28,680
You know, your mind is saying no, but your spirit is saying, okay, yes.

490
00:36:28,680 --> 00:36:33,960
But I think this goes all the way back to my early childhood days.

491
00:36:33,960 --> 00:36:42,040
I just, there's something that rises up in me to a challenge, especially that the Holy

492
00:36:42,040 --> 00:36:47,520
Spirit would give us, you know, it's like, of course we'll do that because it's for your

493
00:36:47,520 --> 00:36:49,560
glory.

494
00:36:49,560 --> 00:36:55,960
And if I had known what all would happen, I might not, but in a good, God does something

495
00:36:55,960 --> 00:37:00,640
that is to know the future all the time and doesn't, we don't know what the next steps

496
00:37:00,640 --> 00:37:04,720
are going to be, or we probably would go lock ourselves in a bathroom and say, no, thank

497
00:37:04,720 --> 00:37:05,720
you.

498
00:37:05,720 --> 00:37:06,720
I'm safe here.

499
00:37:06,720 --> 00:37:08,720
But he, anyway,

500
00:37:08,720 --> 00:37:16,400
So what did you, I mean, as, as a, you know, as a mom, as a woman, as the pastor's wife,

501
00:37:16,400 --> 00:37:20,920
I mean, spiritual warfare, we hear that and it's hard to put our arms around what that

502
00:37:20,920 --> 00:37:21,920
actually means.

503
00:37:21,920 --> 00:37:25,200
I mean, it actually comes, can affect the natural realm.

504
00:37:25,200 --> 00:37:31,840
So what are some of the things that you began experiencing and how did you practically go

505
00:37:31,840 --> 00:37:38,240
about, you know, standing in faith or combating that in, in whatever way?

506
00:37:38,240 --> 00:37:44,240
I mean, what was that spiritual warfare practically that you began encountering?

507
00:37:44,240 --> 00:37:45,240
Right.

508
00:37:45,240 --> 00:37:51,140
Well, sadly, the enemy comes at us through people.

509
00:37:51,140 --> 00:37:57,600
We know, you know, the Lord has said that it's the warfare is not with people.

510
00:37:57,600 --> 00:38:00,680
It's with principalities and powers and have places.

511
00:38:00,680 --> 00:38:09,520
And so that's something we, it's so important to learn because that helps us as we deal with

512
00:38:09,520 --> 00:38:15,600
people who are not very nice and that the devil is able to use to get at us.

513
00:38:15,600 --> 00:38:21,120
And even though we have to confront them sometimes and stand against a person, we have to be

514
00:38:21,120 --> 00:38:27,000
able to always remember that it's the enemy, not that person.

515
00:38:27,000 --> 00:38:29,840
And so I think that's been the most important thing.

516
00:38:29,840 --> 00:38:37,600
And I didn't, I, I did share with you at one time about a stronghold that was in me and

517
00:38:37,600 --> 00:38:46,080
that was anger and it stemmed from unforgiveness of my father because of, I thought I had not

518
00:38:46,080 --> 00:38:53,080
thought it was nothing, I thought he was just out of sight, out of mind.

519
00:38:53,080 --> 00:38:58,280
I didn't think about him at all, but later in life I realized and I was ministered to

520
00:38:58,280 --> 00:39:05,200
for it that I had horrible outburst of anger and it was because of unforgiveness.

521
00:39:05,200 --> 00:39:08,800
So that I had to get that straight.

522
00:39:08,800 --> 00:39:15,320
And of course that didn't, that deliverance and freedom come to really, when we moved

523
00:39:15,320 --> 00:39:16,320
to Kirbyville.

524
00:39:16,320 --> 00:39:24,640
But I just say that because a part of spiritual warfare is we have to walk in freedom and

525
00:39:24,640 --> 00:39:32,840
we have to, I, to me in my years of ministry and experience with deliverance and counseling,

526
00:39:32,840 --> 00:39:41,760
unforgiveness is probably the biggest thing that keeps us from having all of God and being

527
00:39:41,760 --> 00:39:45,200
able to, to deal with the enemy.

528
00:39:45,200 --> 00:39:50,200
It's hard to deal in spiritual warfare if you've got any of this in your life.

529
00:39:50,200 --> 00:39:56,480
But again, we didn't have training in it at that age.

530
00:39:56,480 --> 00:40:01,920
We didn't, you know, we were 30, not even 30 years old yet.

531
00:40:01,920 --> 00:40:12,360
And I really didn't know what spiritual warfare was, but I knew that we were being attacked.

532
00:40:12,360 --> 00:40:23,160
And so almost immediately after we said, yes, I went into the mission committee chairman's

533
00:40:23,160 --> 00:40:30,520
office because the mother church had sent a missions committee to take leadership positions

534
00:40:30,520 --> 00:40:32,640
because these were new.

535
00:40:32,640 --> 00:40:35,520
And they were there before we got there.

536
00:40:35,520 --> 00:40:41,520
And so I went into his office, I was leading youth and I needed a check to do a youth event.

537
00:40:41,520 --> 00:40:43,240
And he, he said, Oh, well come in.

538
00:40:43,240 --> 00:40:50,920
I want you to sit down because I have something I want you to take back and tell your husband.

539
00:40:50,920 --> 00:40:56,960
And as I'm telling you this, I'm again thinking it, you want to think it's people, but it's

540
00:40:56,960 --> 00:41:01,160
really the enemy, but yet he uses people so, so well.

541
00:41:01,160 --> 00:41:03,680
But he said three things.

542
00:41:03,680 --> 00:41:11,120
I want you to tell him one is I can leave, go back to the mother church and just let

543
00:41:11,120 --> 00:41:16,040
y'all have this and him be the pastor and just you go your merry way.

544
00:41:16,040 --> 00:41:18,320
But I'm not said.

545
00:41:18,320 --> 00:41:25,880
Secondly, I could knuckle under Charles and just do whatever he wants to do.

546
00:41:25,880 --> 00:41:31,840
Not, you know, just let him have full brain.

547
00:41:31,840 --> 00:41:34,240
But I'm not.

548
00:41:34,240 --> 00:41:36,320
Here's the third thing that I want.

549
00:41:36,320 --> 00:41:40,240
He said he must knuckle under me.

550
00:41:40,240 --> 00:41:46,040
Do what I say, lead that church how I say, preach what I say.

551
00:41:46,040 --> 00:41:51,720
And he said, if you don't, he said, you know, I have the money.

552
00:41:51,720 --> 00:41:57,840
A lot of the mission committee members have the money.

553
00:41:57,840 --> 00:42:00,760
We will fire you.

554
00:42:00,760 --> 00:42:04,720
We will ruin your life, your wife, your life talking to me.

555
00:42:04,720 --> 00:42:12,520
You saw I ran Charles's life, I ran yours, your two children, you will never preach or

556
00:42:12,520 --> 00:42:15,960
have pastor ever anywhere again.

557
00:42:15,960 --> 00:42:18,960
If you don't do what I said.

558
00:42:18,960 --> 00:42:23,840
And so this is, I mean, this is supposed to be somebody who's working alongside you serving

559
00:42:23,840 --> 00:42:26,760
in the ministry, serving the Lord.

560
00:42:26,760 --> 00:42:29,000
And this was a nasty thing.

561
00:42:29,000 --> 00:42:30,600
Oh, and I mean, and frightening.

562
00:42:30,600 --> 00:42:32,280
I mean, I'm sure he was much older.

563
00:42:32,280 --> 00:42:33,840
Yes, much older.

564
00:42:33,840 --> 00:42:36,440
He had worked for the Rand Corporation.

565
00:42:36,440 --> 00:42:38,440
He was very smart, brilliant.

566
00:42:38,440 --> 00:42:43,840
And he had his own company, electronics and different things and brilliant man.

567
00:42:43,840 --> 00:42:51,680
He was a controller and the pastor of the mother church later on told us, I sent them

568
00:42:51,680 --> 00:42:57,240
out because to to countryside because I wanted to get rid of them on myself.

569
00:42:57,240 --> 00:43:00,320
And so they were the same there as well.

570
00:43:00,320 --> 00:43:06,760
I thought, man, why did you stick them on a young couple that had no clue of what our

571
00:43:06,760 --> 00:43:09,400
first real senior pastor at?

572
00:43:09,400 --> 00:43:13,840
And so I went if it were me today, he had gotten an earful.

573
00:43:13,840 --> 00:43:23,320
But I came home, I told Charles that and that really kind of started the huge warfare that

574
00:43:23,320 --> 00:43:29,560
we encompass or encounter, I should say.

575
00:43:29,560 --> 00:43:37,960
We had our phone tapped lies were told about us to everybody to make them think we were

576
00:43:37,960 --> 00:43:40,040
different than we were.

577
00:43:40,040 --> 00:43:42,320
Discipleship became a dirty word.

578
00:43:42,320 --> 00:43:48,840
I was verbally and almost physically attacked at church in the hallway by one of the missions

579
00:43:48,840 --> 00:43:51,880
committing members of the woman.

580
00:43:51,880 --> 00:43:56,040
And she was part of the she part of leadership was a nursery.

581
00:43:56,040 --> 00:44:00,320
And she told me she would never keep my children again in the nursery.

582
00:44:00,320 --> 00:44:02,640
I'm thinking, okay, how do I teach Sunday school?

583
00:44:02,640 --> 00:44:05,160
How do I, you know, do these things?

584
00:44:05,160 --> 00:44:07,520
And you're not going to keep my children.

585
00:44:07,520 --> 00:44:13,200
But it was because of lies she had been told and the culmination and I mean, a lot of things

586
00:44:13,200 --> 00:44:16,560
went on that were very hurtful, painful.

587
00:44:16,560 --> 00:44:20,960
And Charles and I again, I told you we needed to know we could trust each other and have

588
00:44:20,960 --> 00:44:22,840
that we had each other.

589
00:44:22,840 --> 00:44:24,320
We prayed together.

590
00:44:24,320 --> 00:44:26,280
We strategized together.

591
00:44:26,280 --> 00:44:36,360
And the final straw was the Florida General Convention had he called us and took us out

592
00:44:36,360 --> 00:44:40,640
in his wife to dinner on our anniversary.

593
00:44:40,640 --> 00:44:47,440
And at that dinner, before we could even eat all our food, he said that he was told when

594
00:44:47,440 --> 00:44:56,160
the church was ready to be self sufficient, and, you know, a was constituted as a church

595
00:44:56,160 --> 00:45:01,720
and broke away, you know, from the Mother Church that we were going to lead it out of

596
00:45:01,720 --> 00:45:08,280
the Southern Baptist Convention, and we were going to start a new domination called discipleship

597
00:45:08,280 --> 00:45:12,200
that just shows the ignorance and also how deceptive the devil can be.

598
00:45:12,200 --> 00:45:13,200
Oh, yeah.

599
00:45:13,200 --> 00:45:14,200
Oh, yeah.

600
00:45:14,200 --> 00:45:19,560
And he says we're all supposed to be disciples, you know, and disciples.

601
00:45:19,560 --> 00:45:22,960
It was totally crazy, really.

602
00:45:22,960 --> 00:45:26,080
And I couldn't eat the rest of my meal.

603
00:45:26,080 --> 00:45:31,840
And because he said we would be fired, we would never pastor in Florida again.

604
00:45:31,840 --> 00:45:35,960
Charles said I'd never had prime rib before, so I was going to finish my meal.

605
00:45:35,960 --> 00:45:38,880
You know, I'm the mother of these two little kids.

606
00:45:38,880 --> 00:45:41,960
I'm thinking, Lord, what are we going to do?

607
00:45:41,960 --> 00:45:43,860
Are we going to live?

608
00:45:43,860 --> 00:45:45,520
We're away from home.

609
00:45:45,520 --> 00:45:47,400
God is God.

610
00:45:47,400 --> 00:45:50,080
He sold our house within a week.

611
00:45:50,080 --> 00:45:54,000
He had us in Kirbyville probably in two months.

612
00:45:54,000 --> 00:45:55,160
Did they fire you?

613
00:45:55,160 --> 00:45:57,040
Did you guys make a decision to step away?

614
00:45:57,040 --> 00:45:58,800
I mean, what?

615
00:45:58,800 --> 00:46:03,800
They said we they wanted us to resign.

616
00:46:03,800 --> 00:46:10,480
And so we did because God didn't tell us to do differently.

617
00:46:10,480 --> 00:46:12,440
Yeah.

618
00:46:12,440 --> 00:46:17,160
There has been a time here in Kirbyville where we've had to make that choice also.

619
00:46:17,160 --> 00:46:20,520
But God said, stay, stand and fight.

620
00:46:20,520 --> 00:46:22,600
And we did it because it was right.

621
00:46:22,600 --> 00:46:25,880
But then he didn't tell us to do that.

622
00:46:25,880 --> 00:46:28,920
The church, like I said, it had grown.

623
00:46:28,920 --> 00:46:31,440
We were discipling so many of these people.

624
00:46:31,440 --> 00:46:33,360
They didn't accept it.

625
00:46:33,360 --> 00:46:38,480
And they begged us to stay and start a church down the street.

626
00:46:38,480 --> 00:46:42,320
Well, we're not that kind of person.

627
00:46:42,320 --> 00:46:48,640
We're not going to start a new because that wasn't us.

628
00:46:48,640 --> 00:46:52,440
They thought we were like that, but we weren't.

629
00:46:52,440 --> 00:46:55,120
And so we said, no, it wasn't God's plan.

630
00:46:55,120 --> 00:46:59,960
And we told them to pray about staying there and seeing who God might bring because we

631
00:46:59,960 --> 00:47:03,960
knew God was going to bring judgment.

632
00:47:03,960 --> 00:47:04,960
And he did.

633
00:47:04,960 --> 00:47:06,400
He really did.

634
00:47:06,400 --> 00:47:09,680
We walked in obedience and forgave.

635
00:47:09,680 --> 00:47:10,680
But he brought judgment.

636
00:47:10,680 --> 00:47:13,120
It was death.

637
00:47:13,120 --> 00:47:16,120
There was sickness.

638
00:47:16,120 --> 00:47:20,680
There were two admissions committee.

639
00:47:20,680 --> 00:47:28,880
And the chairman who gave me those ultimatums to tell Charles, I can't remember exactly

640
00:47:28,880 --> 00:47:33,400
the timeline, but he died of a heart attack.

641
00:47:33,400 --> 00:47:35,720
We don't take things in our own hands.

642
00:47:35,720 --> 00:47:40,480
We obey God and do what he says and leave it with him.

643
00:47:40,480 --> 00:47:45,160
And he said, yeah, I mean, you left blessing, basically blessing that church.

644
00:47:45,160 --> 00:47:46,160
You didn't leave.

645
00:47:46,160 --> 00:47:47,160
We did.

646
00:47:47,160 --> 00:47:49,960
You know, I'm sure it was hurtful, but you chose to forgive.

647
00:47:49,960 --> 00:47:51,320
You chose to trust God.

648
00:47:51,320 --> 00:47:54,960
You chose to walk in humility.

649
00:47:54,960 --> 00:47:59,840
You know, you were basically under the authority of, you know, the denomination.

650
00:47:59,840 --> 00:48:04,600
And you chose to say, OK, you know, we're going to we're going to be obedient here because

651
00:48:04,600 --> 00:48:07,000
this is where God's called us.

652
00:48:07,000 --> 00:48:10,800
And sometimes, you know, sometimes God, he shows us what battles to fight and what battles

653
00:48:10,800 --> 00:48:11,800
not to fight.

654
00:48:11,800 --> 00:48:12,800
Exactly.

655
00:48:12,800 --> 00:48:16,800
I mean, you could have you could have tried to take up arms there, but that wasn't your

656
00:48:16,800 --> 00:48:17,800
fight.

657
00:48:17,800 --> 00:48:18,800
No.

658
00:48:18,800 --> 00:48:20,560
And again, what did God say?

659
00:48:20,560 --> 00:48:22,000
It's for my glory.

660
00:48:22,000 --> 00:48:23,000
Yeah.

661
00:48:23,000 --> 00:48:28,960
So we had to consider, all right, what steps what do we do for God's glory?

662
00:48:28,960 --> 00:48:29,960
Of course.

663
00:48:29,960 --> 00:48:32,120
And he he said to leave.

664
00:48:32,120 --> 00:48:35,120
He did not say to stay to stand and fight.

665
00:48:35,120 --> 00:48:38,040
And there are times he does, but he did.

666
00:48:38,040 --> 00:48:39,040
Yeah.

667
00:48:39,040 --> 00:48:40,040
So we did.

668
00:48:40,040 --> 00:48:42,040
We left and we left.

669
00:48:42,040 --> 00:48:44,360
And you hear you are.

670
00:48:44,360 --> 00:48:47,960
Here you are, a mom with two children and a husband with no job.

671
00:48:47,960 --> 00:48:51,480
And how did God provide during that that during that season?

672
00:48:51,480 --> 00:49:01,920
Well, I told you that our house sold in a week and the building boom there was so, so

673
00:49:01,920 --> 00:49:03,040
good.

674
00:49:03,040 --> 00:49:09,360
And we had bought a new house and that was just in there were lots of houses to choose

675
00:49:09,360 --> 00:49:10,360
from.

676
00:49:10,360 --> 00:49:15,840
So it was an economical time as far as for you to buy a house.

677
00:49:15,840 --> 00:49:19,560
It was good because you're getting in on the ground floor.

678
00:49:19,560 --> 00:49:29,000
And so also a church member actually on this missions committee had let us borrow six thousand

679
00:49:29,000 --> 00:49:34,360
dollars to pay on a down payment for this house, because like we didn't have we were

680
00:49:34,360 --> 00:49:35,360
just out of seminary.

681
00:49:35,360 --> 00:49:40,600
We had been in the news for a year and a half and we had had a house there.

682
00:49:40,600 --> 00:49:41,600
So we owed him.

683
00:49:41,600 --> 00:49:43,600
He wanted his money.

684
00:49:43,600 --> 00:49:47,840
He sent us a registered letter and said, I want my money in a week.

685
00:49:47,840 --> 00:49:52,520
I thought, OK, six thousand bucks in a week.

686
00:49:52,520 --> 00:49:58,160
And I always say it was my Oprah that was cooking because somebody came to see the house

687
00:49:58,160 --> 00:50:02,120
and I was cooking over that evening and they bought it the next day.

688
00:50:02,120 --> 00:50:09,360
So in one week we had closed on the house and we had made actually closed in a week.

689
00:50:09,360 --> 00:50:16,600
Well, I may be not close, but we'd signed all the papers, done everything, you know,

690
00:50:16,600 --> 00:50:18,640
going back in time, we were not yet 30.

691
00:50:18,640 --> 00:50:20,800
I'll be 74 next month.

692
00:50:20,800 --> 00:50:22,680
So that's been a while.

693
00:50:22,680 --> 00:50:28,600
I can't remember the the crossing of the money, but we were able to give that man back his

694
00:50:28,600 --> 00:50:31,800
six thousand by the time he had requested.

695
00:50:31,800 --> 00:50:34,760
And he probably gave us a little longer than a week.

696
00:50:34,760 --> 00:50:41,880
But yeah, but the house sold sold in a week and we had our money not too long after it

697
00:50:41,880 --> 00:50:52,640
closed and gave him back his and had an equity that we were able to eat on, you know, and

698
00:50:52,640 --> 00:50:57,160
we knew we wouldn't go hungry for a few months anyway.

699
00:50:57,160 --> 00:51:02,600
So yeah, so God provided he provided in a huge, huge way.

700
00:51:02,600 --> 00:51:10,080
And friends from the church that we had led to the Lord had a house in Florida that we

701
00:51:10,080 --> 00:51:14,360
could live in free until we moved to Kirbyville.

702
00:51:14,360 --> 00:51:17,520
So God just provided he provided.

703
00:51:17,520 --> 00:51:18,520
He did.

704
00:51:18,520 --> 00:51:23,560
Walking with God can sometimes be uncomfortable and it's he's doing it for our good.

705
00:51:23,560 --> 00:51:28,680
And he asked us to do things, you know, oftentimes that don't necessarily come natural, like

706
00:51:28,680 --> 00:51:31,960
taking care of the needs of people we don't know.

707
00:51:31,960 --> 00:51:35,800
James one twenty seven tells us to look after orphans and widows in their distress.

708
00:51:35,800 --> 00:51:39,260
And this can be hard to do if we don't know any of them.

709
00:51:39,260 --> 00:51:42,440
But that's why somebody cares started the Widows and Orphan Fund.

710
00:51:42,440 --> 00:51:47,920
We have partners in places like Haiti, Colombia, Botswana and other parts of the world that

711
00:51:47,920 --> 00:51:49,640
are caring for orphans.

712
00:51:49,640 --> 00:51:54,320
We hear of widows who've given a lifetime of service to the Lord and are in need as

713
00:51:54,320 --> 00:51:56,600
a company of women together.

714
00:51:56,600 --> 00:51:59,820
We can meet those needs that we could not possibly do alone.

715
00:51:59,820 --> 00:52:05,960
So we invite you listeners to join our company with a gift at her God story dot org to help

716
00:52:05,960 --> 00:52:08,680
widows and orphans around the world.

717
00:52:08,680 --> 00:52:13,080
So Beverly, after Florida, you you got a call to Kirbyville.

718
00:52:13,080 --> 00:52:15,840
You were kind of going home back to Texas.

719
00:52:15,840 --> 00:52:20,880
Kirbyville, though, was a bit rural, whereas growing up in the Dallas area, of course,

720
00:52:20,880 --> 00:52:21,880
that's a metropolis.

721
00:52:21,880 --> 00:52:26,600
So tell us a little bit about Kirbyville and the surrounding area.

722
00:52:26,600 --> 00:52:29,120
What did you encounter when you moved there?

723
00:52:29,120 --> 00:52:35,640
Kirbyville is just 15 minutes from the border of Louisiana.

724
00:52:35,640 --> 00:52:41,120
And it's very rural, very deep East Texas.

725
00:52:41,120 --> 00:52:46,040
And with that comes a culture that is definitely different.

726
00:52:46,040 --> 00:52:52,280
But as we said, as I said earlier, we definitely when we were in Virginia, knew we were Texans.

727
00:52:52,280 --> 00:53:02,720
The culture we found to be very traditional and religious and witchcraft, open witchcraft

728
00:53:02,720 --> 00:53:07,360
as well, where you would see signs of it.

729
00:53:07,360 --> 00:53:13,200
They were not silent about it or hiding it in any way.

730
00:53:13,200 --> 00:53:22,120
We just we just didn't know the battles we would get into here that Florida prepared

731
00:53:22,120 --> 00:53:23,600
us for.

732
00:53:23,600 --> 00:53:33,080
But our our our goal here, and we've been here 43 years, was to prepare a place for

733
00:53:33,080 --> 00:53:38,280
God's kingdom and for him to rule in rain.

734
00:53:38,280 --> 00:53:48,200
And I did a study of the redemptive gifts and of the area, too.

735
00:53:48,200 --> 00:53:56,920
And I some of our ladies at church, we met for probably two years once a week and studied

736
00:53:56,920 --> 00:54:06,000
and prayed together and determined that Kirbyville itself has a giving a redemptive gift and

737
00:54:06,000 --> 00:54:09,240
East Texas as a whole does as well.

738
00:54:09,240 --> 00:54:16,840
So that kind of it made sense because we recognize, OK, you're some of the strongholds.

739
00:54:16,840 --> 00:54:18,500
We've been seeing this.

740
00:54:18,500 --> 00:54:24,840
We've been seeing these principalities work and that they're very indicative of the redemptive

741
00:54:24,840 --> 00:54:27,640
gift that our area has.

742
00:54:27,640 --> 00:54:31,960
So and when we're talking about a redemptive gift, that's that's really the same list

743
00:54:31,960 --> 00:54:41,440
as the gifts of the spirit in the Bible and where God says he's given these to people,

744
00:54:41,440 --> 00:54:45,060
but he also gives them to regions and cities.

745
00:54:45,060 --> 00:54:51,480
And that's what you're talking about, that Kirbyville and East Texas really you you researched

746
00:54:51,480 --> 00:54:58,200
and found that there was a gift of giving in that area that the Lord wants to use for

747
00:54:58,200 --> 00:54:59,720
his greater glory.

748
00:54:59,720 --> 00:55:04,600
But Satan really had done everything he could to strip that away from that area.

749
00:55:04,600 --> 00:55:08,360
And really what you found was a lot of poverty.

750
00:55:08,360 --> 00:55:09,360
That is true.

751
00:55:09,360 --> 00:55:16,080
The county, the land of Jasper, we consider it's Jasper County and Newton County because

752
00:55:16,080 --> 00:55:24,560
they were one at one time and then many in the 18 late 1800s, they were split.

753
00:55:24,560 --> 00:55:31,120
And but Newton County is probably the poorest county in the whole state of Texas.

754
00:55:31,120 --> 00:55:38,200
And with that being said, also probably has a lot of child abuse.

755
00:55:38,200 --> 00:55:43,000
We learned that there was a place in Newton County just across.

756
00:55:43,000 --> 00:55:47,800
Like I said, you would you hardly know when you pass from Jasper County or Kirbyville

757
00:55:47,800 --> 00:55:55,000
even to Newton County because it's just kind of we're one one community large.

758
00:55:55,000 --> 00:56:03,600
Yeah, they would send the black girls who were becoming teenagers.

759
00:56:03,600 --> 00:56:08,600
And when you say they you mean their families, their parents, their families would send them

760
00:56:08,600 --> 00:56:17,600
there to this place and they would stay the weekend and the girls would become what was

761
00:56:17,600 --> 00:56:18,960
called a woman.

762
00:56:18,960 --> 00:56:24,600
The families would take and sometimes, you know, they didn't have a mother and a father.

763
00:56:24,600 --> 00:56:31,080
Maybe it was just a mother and they would take the child there and leave for the weekend

764
00:56:31,080 --> 00:56:35,000
and men would go and she would become a woman.

765
00:56:35,000 --> 00:56:42,000
And we know this, I mean, we one of our church members and intercessors was PE teacher at

766
00:56:42,000 --> 00:56:43,480
the elementary school.

767
00:56:43,480 --> 00:56:51,520
And she came crying to us one day and said, I'm so upset because one of the little girls

768
00:56:51,520 --> 00:56:55,960
came to me and said and was spoiled.

769
00:56:55,960 --> 00:56:58,400
And she questioned her.

770
00:56:58,400 --> 00:56:59,400
Why?

771
00:56:59,400 --> 00:57:00,400
What is wrong?

772
00:57:00,400 --> 00:57:08,400
And she said, they are going to take me to and she named the place this weekend and I

773
00:57:08,400 --> 00:57:09,400
don't want to.

774
00:57:09,400 --> 00:57:12,440
I know what happens and I'm afraid.

775
00:57:12,440 --> 00:57:13,440
And she was bought.

776
00:57:13,440 --> 00:57:21,040
I mean bought and so Georgine, our person was she thought, what can I do?

777
00:57:21,040 --> 00:57:22,040
What can I do?

778
00:57:22,040 --> 00:57:26,080
Because it wasn't you just didn't interfere.

779
00:57:26,080 --> 00:57:29,240
And we're talking that was in the seven.

780
00:57:29,240 --> 00:57:31,040
Well we came here in 79.

781
00:57:31,040 --> 00:57:40,160
So early 80s, Charles and I, we got in our vehicle and we drove out there, sat for hours

782
00:57:40,160 --> 00:57:43,840
one evening, praying and interceding.

783
00:57:43,840 --> 00:57:48,960
And again, the warfare, it was, and that was before we even knew what the principalities

784
00:57:48,960 --> 00:57:53,960
were here that were ruling over our city and our area.

785
00:57:53,960 --> 00:57:56,440
And we, it was several hours.

786
00:57:56,440 --> 00:58:01,840
We went home with bed when we woke up the news all over the news that this place had

787
00:58:01,840 --> 00:58:05,480
burned down in the middle of the night.

788
00:58:05,480 --> 00:58:07,680
And we didn't do it.

789
00:58:07,680 --> 00:58:12,680
No, no one was killed, but it was gone.

790
00:58:12,680 --> 00:58:16,640
I mean, burned to the ground.

791
00:58:16,640 --> 00:58:24,880
And from our knowledge that it never was resurrected or it never, now I'm not saying that there

792
00:58:24,880 --> 00:58:33,600
weren't times that this maybe went on, but it wasn't a place that everybody knew about

793
00:58:33,600 --> 00:58:36,360
that these girls were going to anymore.

794
00:58:36,360 --> 00:58:44,120
So God rescued a whole generation, generations of young girls from sexual abuse.

795
00:58:44,120 --> 00:58:45,600
That was horrific.

796
00:58:45,600 --> 00:58:49,920
I mean, it was, it was like codified into their tradition.

797
00:58:49,920 --> 00:58:52,800
And God released them from that.

798
00:58:52,800 --> 00:58:59,020
With that, we, I think prayer walking, prayer journeys.

799
00:58:59,020 --> 00:59:06,640
We just finished with this last Monday, the 25th year, think about it, a quarter of a

800
00:59:06,640 --> 00:59:09,800
century praying for a school district.

801
00:59:09,800 --> 00:59:13,480
And I don't mean just gathering at a church and praying for them.

802
00:59:13,480 --> 00:59:20,720
Our administration gives us full rein to go on the property, walk the halls, go in the

803
00:59:20,720 --> 00:59:24,400
rooms, pray for teachers that want us to.

804
00:59:24,400 --> 00:59:27,040
We do not impose ourselves on anybody.

805
00:59:27,040 --> 00:59:33,560
We're very quiet and just, you know, walk through praying and declaring.

806
00:59:33,560 --> 00:59:36,560
And we do it on all three campuses.

807
00:59:36,560 --> 00:59:40,680
We pray through the administration building and even the superintendent's office.

808
00:59:40,680 --> 00:59:44,640
If they're there, they beg us to pray for them.

809
00:59:44,640 --> 00:59:46,720
They desire it.

810
00:59:46,720 --> 00:59:54,320
The bus barn, the sporting fields, we cover all of it in prayer.

811
00:59:54,320 --> 00:59:57,720
And we've been doing it for 25 years.

812
00:59:57,720 --> 00:59:58,720
Now at first-

813
00:59:58,720 --> 01:00:00,720
And you do this at the beginning of every school year, right?

814
01:00:00,720 --> 01:00:03,000
Yes, the beginning of every school year.

815
01:00:03,000 --> 01:00:05,520
I'll go talk to the superintendent.

816
01:00:05,520 --> 01:00:07,640
They'll give me the time and date.

817
01:00:07,640 --> 01:00:13,360
It didn't just all of a sudden happen, you know, that we were on all of the campuses.

818
01:00:13,360 --> 01:00:15,080
It started small.

819
01:00:15,080 --> 01:00:21,960
And as we showed faithfulness and as we were persistent and consistent, we were given more

820
01:00:21,960 --> 01:00:25,360
responsibility and trust.

821
01:00:25,360 --> 01:00:33,240
That's kind of what we do mainly is, besides the disaster really, there was a busload of

822
01:00:33,240 --> 01:00:37,560
student athletes coming from a town nearby.

823
01:00:37,560 --> 01:00:49,080
And right before they got to the gateway, the bus slid and started going in circles.

824
01:00:49,080 --> 01:00:56,760
And then it broke through a fence and turned over several times and then landed right side

825
01:00:56,760 --> 01:00:57,760
up.

826
01:00:57,760 --> 01:01:03,360
And so of course, we have a scanner at home so that we're able to hear when things like

827
01:01:03,360 --> 01:01:10,840
that happen and immediately we send teams to either the accident site or fire or whatever

828
01:01:10,840 --> 01:01:11,840
it is.

829
01:01:11,840 --> 01:01:21,160
And so we sent a team and myself and Charles went to this area to pray and all of the police,

830
01:01:21,160 --> 01:01:31,240
the firemen, whom most we know well, and the EMTs, they could not believe that no one died.

831
01:01:31,240 --> 01:01:36,560
They could not believe that the bus righted itself.

832
01:01:36,560 --> 01:01:41,680
And there were a couple of kids that did go to be checked out, but they were fine, not

833
01:01:41,680 --> 01:01:45,240
hardly a scratch on any child.

834
01:01:45,240 --> 01:01:53,720
And I am convinced that praying does that.

835
01:01:53,720 --> 01:01:58,200
And one of the things we pray is life.

836
01:01:58,200 --> 01:01:59,400
God is life.

837
01:01:59,400 --> 01:02:04,920
And that's what he created life and he wants life.

838
01:02:04,920 --> 01:02:07,400
He put us here for a purpose in the region.

839
01:02:07,400 --> 01:02:13,680
He put these kids here and he wants life in our communities, not death.

840
01:02:13,680 --> 01:02:22,280
And so that's one thing we often pray because we do know that the spirit of death, which

841
01:02:22,280 --> 01:02:31,560
we encountered in Florida, is also here and wants to kill, steal, and destroy a person's

842
01:02:31,560 --> 01:02:42,280
physical, their body, or their soul, and especially prevent them from being born again and their

843
01:02:42,280 --> 01:02:45,880
spirit being brought to life.

844
01:02:45,880 --> 01:02:49,080
We've seen people be healed.

845
01:02:49,080 --> 01:02:55,900
We had a little boy in our church who had cancer and we went to bat for him, had spiritual

846
01:02:55,900 --> 01:03:01,440
warfare and prayer for him, and he's alive today and was on my worship team.

847
01:03:01,440 --> 01:03:05,640
So even though you've had some fierce spiritual battles over the years, God has opened doors

848
01:03:05,640 --> 01:03:11,660
for the creative gifts in you to flourish, things that bring you life and joy.

849
01:03:11,660 --> 01:03:13,960
One has even become a prosperous business.

850
01:03:13,960 --> 01:03:14,960
Yes.

851
01:03:14,960 --> 01:03:20,080
I still have the camera from when I was 10 years old.

852
01:03:20,080 --> 01:03:21,920
I have the box even.

853
01:03:21,920 --> 01:03:28,040
I would make my brother sit for hours and pose.

854
01:03:28,040 --> 01:03:37,240
So I love photography from a kid and I think it's part of my mercy gifting is the creative

855
01:03:37,240 --> 01:03:45,360
aspects of it, which the Holy Spirit gives, and it shows up in my photography business.

856
01:03:45,360 --> 01:03:54,120
It shows up in my worship and then the dance team where we're not operating the dance team

857
01:03:54,120 --> 01:03:58,600
right at this moment because some of us are kind of getting old, but we're training up

858
01:03:58,600 --> 01:03:59,600
the younger ones.

859
01:03:59,600 --> 01:04:04,560
We've got some younger little girls coming up and of course boys too with the flags.

860
01:04:04,560 --> 01:04:06,440
So we will train them up.

861
01:04:06,440 --> 01:04:07,440
Yes.

862
01:04:07,440 --> 01:04:14,040
And of course my children, I am grandchildren and the photography has really been so great.

863
01:04:14,040 --> 01:04:20,120
I take pictures of all their sporting events and I publish them on Facebook and their friends

864
01:04:20,120 --> 01:04:21,120
love it.

865
01:04:21,120 --> 01:04:30,920
And it does satisfy this part of me, you know, the way God made me and I in my byline for

866
01:04:30,920 --> 01:04:37,200
it, it's Beverly Burchette photographer, but the byline was from the beginning, every generation

867
01:04:37,200 --> 01:04:42,600
is to be remembered and God is a generational God.

868
01:04:42,600 --> 01:04:48,120
And so that kind of was in my thought and to bless people.

869
01:04:48,120 --> 01:04:53,920
I wanted to bless people, give them a good product that maybe they couldn't otherwise

870
01:04:53,920 --> 01:04:54,920
afford.

871
01:04:54,920 --> 01:05:02,560
So I kept my prices really low and I do a lot of free things in order to bless.

872
01:05:02,560 --> 01:05:03,560
It's life giving.

873
01:05:03,560 --> 01:05:10,200
And again, that's God has put us here to be life givers and represent him.

874
01:05:10,200 --> 01:05:11,680
So, yeah.

875
01:05:11,680 --> 01:05:16,080
So he pours that life back into you and you know, we've been talking about spiritual warfare

876
01:05:16,080 --> 01:05:21,120
this whole time and that's, that's a hard thing and you've gone through some hard things,

877
01:05:21,120 --> 01:05:27,920
but I just wanted to bring it back that God also filled you back up with joy and allowed

878
01:05:27,920 --> 01:05:32,000
your creativity to flourish in the midst of calling you to do some hard things.

879
01:05:32,000 --> 01:05:34,240
Oh yes, absolutely.

880
01:05:34,240 --> 01:05:39,720
And I do have my moments that the kids, I didn't know this till recently, but they would

881
01:05:39,720 --> 01:05:40,720
tease.

882
01:05:40,720 --> 01:05:46,080
They didn't tell me, but they would say, Oh, mom's in a robe again.

883
01:05:46,080 --> 01:05:49,640
There were days that I would keep my robe on all day.

884
01:05:49,640 --> 01:05:53,520
I just had to be alone, be with God.

885
01:05:53,520 --> 01:05:59,720
And like you said, let him work some of these things out and fill me back up again.

886
01:05:59,720 --> 01:06:01,720
And then I take my robe off and go home.

887
01:06:01,720 --> 01:06:08,920
I think everybody has those points when they have to step back and just have their alone

888
01:06:08,920 --> 01:06:15,400
time with the Lord to regroup and hear from him again, you know, as well.

889
01:06:15,400 --> 01:06:21,880
So kind of as we wrap up, what do you think are some of the keys to being successful in

890
01:06:21,880 --> 01:06:23,600
spiritual warfare?

891
01:06:23,600 --> 01:06:28,200
You've mentioned a few, but just recap them again for us.

892
01:06:28,200 --> 01:06:31,120
Well for, for sure.

893
01:06:31,120 --> 01:06:34,120
Walk in the river of forgiveness.

894
01:06:34,120 --> 01:06:39,680
You can not have that in your life and be successful.

895
01:06:39,680 --> 01:06:41,660
It just, it won't happen.

896
01:06:41,660 --> 01:06:46,840
You cannot accomplish the purpose that God has for you in spiritual warfare.

897
01:06:46,840 --> 01:06:52,520
If you have bitterness, the other would be to make sure if there's anything between you

898
01:06:52,520 --> 01:06:57,480
and God or people that you have it cleared up as best as you can.

899
01:06:57,480 --> 01:07:02,480
Now there are times when others will hold grudges.

900
01:07:02,480 --> 01:07:07,400
They will be mad at you for some reason, but if you've tried what you can to make things

901
01:07:07,400 --> 01:07:17,200
right, then you have freedom in the Lord and be in the word, be in the word daily.

902
01:07:17,200 --> 01:07:22,020
You cannot make it without being in the word daily.

903
01:07:22,020 --> 01:07:29,200
The Lord showed me a long time ago that my success was not on what I could see, but it

904
01:07:29,200 --> 01:07:32,280
was my obedience.

905
01:07:32,280 --> 01:07:38,720
I was successful when I did what God told me to do, regardless of the outcome.

906
01:07:38,720 --> 01:07:40,400
And that is so freeing.

907
01:07:40,400 --> 01:07:46,160
Yes, we don't have to, we're not responsible, you know, for the outcomes.

908
01:07:46,160 --> 01:07:47,840
Isn't that great?

909
01:07:47,840 --> 01:07:49,360
So many of us think we are.

910
01:07:49,360 --> 01:07:51,200
Yeah, so many of us think that.

911
01:07:51,200 --> 01:07:52,840
Yes, and that's a great burden.

912
01:07:52,840 --> 01:07:56,360
That is a great burden.

913
01:07:56,360 --> 01:08:04,840
And also, I think allowing God to give you a strategy, you can't just go into warfare

914
01:08:04,840 --> 01:08:10,600
without knowing the captain of the host and the strategy.

915
01:08:10,600 --> 01:08:14,800
And I've learned there are very few times I address the enemy.

916
01:08:14,800 --> 01:08:16,920
God does it so much better.

917
01:08:16,920 --> 01:08:24,800
Now occasionally he'll lead me to review or to, you know, say something, but my part usually

918
01:08:24,800 --> 01:08:33,080
is to worship, lift God high, and to obey him and pray the things on his heart that

919
01:08:33,080 --> 01:08:35,320
he's taught in his word.

920
01:08:35,320 --> 01:08:37,560
I think we're just a lot better off.

921
01:08:37,560 --> 01:08:40,080
We think of spiritual warfare as fighting the devil.

922
01:08:40,080 --> 01:08:46,480
Well, it is in combat with the devil, but I'm not, I'm just following the captain of

923
01:08:46,480 --> 01:08:52,480
the host and getting my orders from him and doing what he says.

924
01:08:52,480 --> 01:08:57,280
I think of so many of the stories of the Israelites when they went to battle.

925
01:08:57,280 --> 01:09:00,120
You know, God said, send the worshippers first.

926
01:09:00,120 --> 01:09:05,680
And by the time that the Israelites actually encountered the enemy, the enemy had already

927
01:09:05,680 --> 01:09:07,160
been defeated.

928
01:09:07,160 --> 01:09:08,280
Exactly.

929
01:09:08,280 --> 01:09:15,360
For several years when Susan Weddington was the chairman of the Republican Party of Texas,

930
01:09:15,360 --> 01:09:23,400
she asked Charles and me along with the Texas board members to man a prayer room.

931
01:09:23,400 --> 01:09:26,520
And all we did was worship.

932
01:09:26,520 --> 01:09:27,520
That's all we did.

933
01:09:27,520 --> 01:09:29,480
Occasionally they would bring back a prayer request.

934
01:09:29,480 --> 01:09:34,040
Now there were those who prayer walked too, but all we did was worship.

935
01:09:34,040 --> 01:09:42,360
And I really found that truth that you just mentioned there because in worshiping him,

936
01:09:42,360 --> 01:09:45,720
God accomplished so many things we didn't even know about.

937
01:09:45,720 --> 01:09:51,840
Beverly, is there a woman in the Bible whose story has inspired or encouraged or taught

938
01:09:51,840 --> 01:09:55,960
you something and, and how has her story related to yours?

939
01:09:55,960 --> 01:10:01,680
You asked for one, but can I be disobedient and mentioned too?

940
01:10:01,680 --> 01:10:04,520
I think you'll understand why.

941
01:10:04,520 --> 01:10:11,720
One is I've learned a lot concerning Jezebel, how she operates, who she is.

942
01:10:11,720 --> 01:10:13,520
I don't respect her, of course.

943
01:10:13,520 --> 01:10:20,120
I'm not inspired by her, but because I've seen her tactics and how she works and because

944
01:10:20,120 --> 01:10:24,400
the Lord says in Revelation, do not tolerate her in the church.

945
01:10:24,400 --> 01:10:29,960
I've learned a whole lot concerning spiritual worker and praying for pastors because that's

946
01:10:29,960 --> 01:10:34,560
one of the things on my heart is praying for pastors.

947
01:10:34,560 --> 01:10:38,240
The one, though, the positive is Esther.

948
01:10:38,240 --> 01:10:44,720
Esther shows us how to minister to the King and intercede for a nation.

949
01:10:44,720 --> 01:10:47,160
So she inspires me.

950
01:10:47,160 --> 01:10:51,000
She shows me how to minister to King Jesus.

951
01:10:51,000 --> 01:10:55,320
You know, she prepared for a whole year to go in before the King.

952
01:10:55,320 --> 01:11:03,480
And so we prepare ourselves and we go in to the presence of our King and we minister to

953
01:11:03,480 --> 01:11:06,800
him through worship and adoration.

954
01:11:06,800 --> 01:11:12,680
And then we intercede as Esther did, which is a go between.

955
01:11:12,680 --> 01:11:18,920
We intercede for the things and people that are on God's heart so they can reach their

956
01:11:18,920 --> 01:11:20,640
destiny and have freedom.

957
01:11:20,640 --> 01:11:29,680
And of course, we know Israel was what Esther did in the nation for the nation of Israel.

958
01:11:29,680 --> 01:11:38,960
So she has to be the one I really relate to and connect with out of all the others.

959
01:11:38,960 --> 01:11:44,160
Well, dear listener, wherever God places us, he wants us to be salt and light, pushing

960
01:11:44,160 --> 01:11:49,680
back the darkness and sharing the good news of Jesus in our words and in our deeds.

961
01:11:49,680 --> 01:11:52,000
Every believer is called to this.

962
01:11:52,000 --> 01:11:57,120
All of us are able to pray for our families, our churches, our communities, schools and

963
01:11:57,120 --> 01:12:00,480
businesses and to get involved as the Lord directs us.

964
01:12:00,480 --> 01:12:06,280
James 5 16 B in the New Living Translation says the earnest prayer of a righteous person

965
01:12:06,280 --> 01:12:10,400
has a great power and produces wonderful results.

966
01:12:10,400 --> 01:12:13,440
Over the past couple of years, I've been praying for my own community and I'm seeing

967
01:12:13,440 --> 01:12:14,440
results.

968
01:12:14,440 --> 01:12:18,520
For instance, there was a huge gaming corporation looking at setting up a casino right here

969
01:12:18,520 --> 01:12:20,120
in my little community.

970
01:12:20,120 --> 01:12:24,220
And after much prayer by me, and I'm sure many, many others, that corporation decided

971
01:12:24,220 --> 01:12:26,560
not to stay set up in my city.

972
01:12:26,560 --> 01:12:31,120
The spiritual darkness that would have come with gambling was kept out.

973
01:12:31,120 --> 01:12:34,900
And dear friends, you can see results to your prayers as well.

974
01:12:34,900 --> 01:12:38,120
God has put you where you are for a reason.

975
01:12:38,120 --> 01:12:41,920
Beverly, would you take a moment and pray for all of our listeners?

976
01:12:41,920 --> 01:12:49,600
Heavenly Father, I thank you that you have shown us that you hear that you're waiting

977
01:12:49,600 --> 01:12:54,200
to hear from us that that our prayers move you.

978
01:12:54,200 --> 01:12:55,800
And so I'm lifting up today.

979
01:12:55,800 --> 01:13:02,240
I was thinking of this and in my mind's eye, I could see that young pastor's wife that

980
01:13:02,240 --> 01:13:07,400
was like me didn't have a clue what what she was going to be or do.

981
01:13:07,400 --> 01:13:14,600
And possibly she's been disappointed and heartbroken maybe because sometimes church work is very

982
01:13:14,600 --> 01:13:15,680
hard.

983
01:13:15,680 --> 01:13:18,680
People in the church are very hard.

984
01:13:18,680 --> 01:13:20,960
So I lift her up to you today.

985
01:13:20,960 --> 01:13:26,960
And I said earlier, as I said, Lord, I pray she will turn to you, look to you, be in the

986
01:13:26,960 --> 01:13:29,560
Word and Lord, she'll forgive.

987
01:13:29,560 --> 01:13:30,800
She'll forgive.

988
01:13:30,800 --> 01:13:36,440
And Father, for that, maybe that pastor's wife who has been like me in the battle for

989
01:13:36,440 --> 01:13:42,800
a long time, and maybe she's wondering, have I made a difference?

990
01:13:42,800 --> 01:13:45,320
Have I done anything?

991
01:13:45,320 --> 01:13:52,680
I thank you, Lord, that as I again said earlier, her obedience is what you look at.

992
01:13:52,680 --> 01:13:58,920
And she can know that as she's walked with you and obeyed you throughout these years

993
01:13:58,920 --> 01:14:04,120
and she's honored her husband, she's raised her children in the nurture and admonition

994
01:14:04,120 --> 01:14:08,240
of the Lord that you love her and bless her.

995
01:14:08,240 --> 01:14:18,120
And you are grateful for the input and the investment she's made in your bride, the church.

996
01:14:18,120 --> 01:14:20,280
So Father, I thank you for Jodi.

997
01:14:20,280 --> 01:14:25,040
I thank you for the huge difference she's made in our lives.

998
01:14:25,040 --> 01:14:29,760
I thank you for our relationship, Lord, for knowing her.

999
01:14:29,760 --> 01:14:35,200
And in all these years of knowing her and doing disaster relief work with her, that

1000
01:14:35,200 --> 01:14:41,480
she was a call away and how you used her and worked through her to provide, not just for

1001
01:14:41,480 --> 01:14:47,880
us here in Kirbyville, Lord, but for people all over the world.

1002
01:14:47,880 --> 01:14:56,280
She has been, as well as somebody cares, Doug Stringer, a conduit for your provision and

1003
01:14:56,280 --> 01:14:57,760
your blessing and your love.

1004
01:14:57,760 --> 01:15:00,360
And Father, for many to come to know you.

1005
01:15:00,360 --> 01:15:01,920
I just thank you for her.

1006
01:15:01,920 --> 01:15:02,920
I thank you for Doug.

1007
01:15:02,920 --> 01:15:06,040
I thank you for somebody cares.

1008
01:15:06,040 --> 01:15:12,120
And just, I thank you for this opportunity to share my story, Lord.

1009
01:15:12,120 --> 01:15:18,200
And it's not about all the things, the bad things that I can remember and talk about.

1010
01:15:18,200 --> 01:15:22,720
It's about you and all the good things you did through it.

1011
01:15:22,720 --> 01:15:26,520
You were strong and you made me strong through it.

1012
01:15:26,520 --> 01:15:28,920
I couldn't have made it without your grace.

1013
01:15:28,920 --> 01:15:30,760
Your grace is our hope.

1014
01:15:30,760 --> 01:15:33,600
I thank you, Jesus.

1015
01:15:33,600 --> 01:15:36,440
And thank you for this day and this opportunity.

1016
01:15:36,440 --> 01:15:39,200
In your name, Jesus, I pray.

1017
01:15:39,200 --> 01:15:40,200
Amen.

1018
01:15:40,200 --> 01:15:42,000
Thank you, dear listener, for tuning in.

1019
01:15:42,000 --> 01:15:45,880
Links to the scriptures and other helpful information can be found in our show notes

1020
01:15:45,880 --> 01:15:47,360
at hergodstory.org.

1021
01:15:47,360 --> 01:15:51,160
There, you can also sign up for periodic emails.

1022
01:15:51,160 --> 01:15:54,560
You can get a free devotional on Women of the Bible.

1023
01:15:54,560 --> 01:15:58,520
And you can find out about the Somebody Cares Women's Widows and Orphan Fund.

1024
01:15:58,520 --> 01:16:06,960
If you need prayer, feel free to call or text the Somebody Cares 24-7 prayer line at 855-459-CARE

1025
01:16:06,960 --> 01:16:10,560
or email us at prayer at somebody cares.org.

1026
01:16:10,560 --> 01:16:14,800
We'd love for you to share Beverly's story with friends and be sure to follow the podcast

1027
01:16:14,800 --> 01:16:16,960
as you so you don't miss an episode.

1028
01:16:16,960 --> 01:16:21,480
And now, dear friends, I leave you with a blessing from Colossians 1 verses 9 through

1029
01:16:21,480 --> 01:16:22,480
12.

1030
01:16:22,480 --> 01:16:28,040
May God give you complete knowledge of His will and give you spiritual wisdom and understanding.

1031
01:16:28,040 --> 01:16:32,580
May you live in a way that always honors and pleases the Lord so your life will produce

1032
01:16:32,580 --> 01:16:34,640
every kind of good fruit.

1033
01:16:34,640 --> 01:16:38,480
And may you grow as you learn to know God better and better.

1034
01:16:38,480 --> 01:16:43,560
May you also be strengthened with all His glorious power so you will have all the endurance

1035
01:16:43,560 --> 01:16:46,560
and patience you need and be filled with joy.

1036
01:16:46,560 --> 01:16:51,360
Always thanking the Father, for He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs

1037
01:16:51,360 --> 01:16:54,720
to His people who live in the light.

1038
01:16:54,720 --> 01:16:58,720
Your God Story is a ministry of Somebody Cares America and international.

1039
01:16:58,720 --> 01:17:25,720
To find out more about or support the ministry, go to somebodycares.org.