You Are Set Apart By God, Jo White's Story

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Hey friends, welcome to the Her God Story podcast where you will always hear a good

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story to encourage and inspire you in your walk with the Lord.

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I am so glad you tuned in.

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

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and traveler on this journey with Jesus.

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Did you know you can download a free six-week devotional on women of the Bible at hergodstory.org?

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I know God will use it to minister to you in so many ways, so check it out.

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We also have a 12-week devotional on women of the Bible that you can purchase for just

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$12 and all the proceeds will go to our Widow and Orphan Fund.

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You know, throughout time, God has taken seemingly ordinary people and done extraordinary things

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in and through them.

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First Peter 2, 9 in the New Living Translation tells us, you are a chosen people.

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You are royal priests, a holy nation, God's very own possession.

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As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for He called you out of darkness

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into His wonderful light.

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So if you have confessed Jesus as Lord and believe God raised Him from the dead, you

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are royalty, God's own possession.

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There is nothing ordinary about that.

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We are also part of the body of Christ.

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The Apostle Paul tells us in Ephesians 4, 16 that God makes the whole body fit together

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perfectly, as each part does its own special work, it helps to the other parts grow, so

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that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.

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Each of us as the body of Christ, as royal priests and part of a holy nation, have our

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own special work, extraordinary things that God wants to do through us.

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But how do you find out what those things are?

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How do you discover the special work God has for you?

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My guest, Jo Ann White, has a few things to share about that.

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I've known Jo since I was a little girl.

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My family was involved in the same Christian fellowship as Jo and her husband for many

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years and we have had the privilege of traveling on a small team together to Mongolia, the

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other side of the earth, on a prayer journey some years ago.

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God has also taken her other places to minister and help believers grow in their faith.

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After raising a family, God opened the door for Jo to fulfill a dream of pursuing art,

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which has become unexpectedly more than a hobby.

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More about that later.

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Jo Ann is a wife, mother, grandmother, budding artist, and most of all a lover of God.

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Welcome Jo.

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Thank you.

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Jo, there's a big difference between knowing about God and knowing God.

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What's your experience with that?

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As a child at three years old, my parents became Christians and they knew God and they

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began taking us to church and we pretty much lived in the church for most of the time that

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I was living with them.

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The problem with my situation was that I knew everything about Jesus.

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I could quote the Bible and I could tell you all about him.

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I could witness, but the problem was that I didn't really know him.

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I was very frightful of dying.

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I was very scared to death that I was going to die.

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Every time I come across a bridge, I was afraid that that bridge was going to collapse and

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I would die.

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That was my story of living in fear, although everybody at church thought I was the good

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girl, I was a quiet, sweet girl, and I did everything properly.

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The looks of it was that I knew Jesus.

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I even demonstrated in our little Baptist church that I knew the scripture because we

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would have what they called Bible drills back then and I would participate in the Bible

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drill and I always won.

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But that was pretty much finding where the word of God was.

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It wasn't going to the word or telling about the word, but it was just finding the scriptures,

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which was a facade pretty much of who I really was.

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When I moved to, when I graduated and I moved to the big town of Charlotte, I lived in a

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small town called Kings Mountain in North Carolina, I moved to the big town of Charlotte

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and there were much more important things to do, like going out to the clubs and meeting

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with my friends and dancing and stuff like that than going to church.

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I pretty much left the church.

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Yeah, and that's the story of so many people who grow up in church.

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If they don't encounter God in a real way, they lose interest.

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So what changed for you?

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I met a man called Don White.

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Don White is a character.

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At the time, you wouldn't think that was a good influence because back then, in 66, from

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my hometown, we had all pretty much Baptist churches.

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So that's what I was raised in and that's what I knew and everybody else was shocked

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when the Catholic Church moved to town.

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We just didn't know.

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We didn't know about the Catholic Church.

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So it was something different for us.

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And so here I am getting involved with actually a drunk Catholic guy.

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He met my parents and my parents, because he was funny.

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He was always so hilarious.

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He had such a great personality.

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So they accepted him and we got married at the Justice of the Peace in South Carolina.

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A lot of things involved with that, why we didn't get married in the church, because

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I had already had invitations printed and just things were just not working out.

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People weren't cooperating.

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So we got married at Justice of the Peace in South Carolina and came home and began

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our lives.

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We moved to Charlotte and set up our home.

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But then we got transferred.

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I got transferred to Florida.

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And so we moved down there, much to my family's chagrin, again, starting a life down there.

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And we were living in these little apartments and we had to go out of town.

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So we asked one of our neighbors that we had said hi to several times if they would pick

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up our mail.

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So they say that if you ask somebody to do something for you, then you get a friend.

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They're asking you, but it's the other way around.

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You ask them and they want to help.

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So this guy, once we got back, brought our mail to us.

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And when he did, he asked us to go to church with him and then have lunch with him.

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Well, we declined church, but we went to lunch with him.

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When we did, his wife and I were in the back of the kitchen and in the meantime, he and

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Don were talking in the living room and he was giving Don the plan of salvation.

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And I would hear a case of thinking, oh, no, Don's not going to be nice to him.

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That's so weird.

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But anyway, of course, Don was nice to him.

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And Don, he would say, well, hell.

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And Don said, oh, I don't believe in hell.

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And he would say something else.

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And Don said, I wouldn't believe in that.

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And the guy said, that's okay.

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That's not a problem.

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And finally, he presented salvation to Don.

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And because of Don's experiences in his lifetime, three different times, God rescued him and

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saved him from dying.

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And he had an encounter with God, but he didn't know what to do with it.

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So when this guy was telling Don about salvation, God was speaking to him and said, this is

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what I've always wanted you to do.

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So Don, to my great surprise, accepted Jesus as his savior.

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And so the guy took us to church that night.

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You told Don you wanted him to meet the pastor.

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Well, as a matter of fact, the funny thing is, once he accepted Jesus, the guy said,

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I don't know what to do now.

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He called his pastor and said, bring him to church.

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So we went to church and the pastor talked to him and said, you know, now that you're

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going to join the church, you need to start reading your Bible.

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And Don said, wait a minute, I didn't say anything about joining the church.

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And he said, well, why wouldn't you want to join the church?

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And he said, well, because I've heard that the Baptist church doesn't allow you to drink.

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And I was an alcoholic when I was younger and God healed me.

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And I feel like that's telling God, you know, he gave me a gift that I have to be able to

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drink because of saying thank you to God, because he gave me the ability to quay the

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alcoholism, but he gave me the ability to drink without getting drunk or without having

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an issue.

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And the pastor said, oh, that's no problem.

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You can have this dispensation.

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You don't have to worry about it.

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So we went to the Baptist church and it wasn't, it was within six months, Don decided he wanted

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to be a minister.

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Yeah.

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Within six months, when Don decided that God was going to be a part of his life, he threw

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himself totally into it.

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He started studying the scriptures and reading the scriptures.

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And I was just befuddled because this was not the husband I married.

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But it was nice.

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You know, I really liked it and all.

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At that point, you know, I knew that I wasn't born again.

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Finally, I told Don.

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I know he was talking about scriptures and I was saying, I don't know how you can know

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for sure.

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How can you know for sure that, you know, that you're saved?

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And so he gave me some, actually, he says some obscure scripture, and rest of the moment

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I can't remember what it was, which said, what possibly can you do to be saved?

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What can you do to earn salvation?

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It's, you know, God intended it to be a free gift.

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You just accept it.

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For some reason, I was able to believe it and accept it.

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And so that, you know, began our journey with the Lord.

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You were back in church, but it was different this time.

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This time, it was about knowing God and having a relationship with him rather than just going

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to church to know.

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You and Don both began growing in your faith.

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Share about that season.

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How did you grow?

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What did you, you know, how was it different?

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In the Baptist Church, we, you know, he started actually preaching and he started studying

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the scriptures.

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And of course he shares all this with me.

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And so, you know, and I'm listening to him because he really is a, God's gifted him

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as a teacher.

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And so he began teaching and there was something that came up that we decided that we'd like

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to work with the drug addicts.

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And so there was a group down south of us in Tepa, Sarasota or someplace that was a

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Christian college group, a group, you know, college students that was working within drug

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addicts.

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And so we got in contact with them and got together with them.

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And first of all, they were saying, you know, really, you need the power of the Holy Spirit

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to work with them.

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You need to be able to have, you know, that knowledge and that influence from the Holy

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Spirit of knowing how to deal with them.

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And of course we had no idea what baptism in the Holy Spirit was.

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So they told us and Don was, yes, that sounds right.

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And so he received the Holy Spirit and prayed in a new tongue.

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As that was happening, I was running out the back door.

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I was still a good Baptist girl, you know, this is just not right.

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You don't do this.

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But as time went on and as Don grew and grew and studied the scriptures and found out that

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it truly was in the scriptures, he would share with me and he would encourage me.

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So one night I decided, okay, I'm going for it.

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And so I just was in the living room, praying, just, you know, talking to God.

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I was just by myself and had my eyes closed and asking the Holy Spirit to come in and

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feel me.

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And I felt Don come into the room behind me and that was fine.

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And all of a sudden I received the Holy Spirit.

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I felt his presence strongly and also had a word or a syllable that came out to, you

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know, to let me know that, you know, I had actually received him.

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And that syllable was caw.

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And I was like caw, caw, caw.

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And as I used that syllable, I just felt the Holy Spirit so strongly.

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I felt his presence.

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It was just really fantastic.

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And I, and Don actually comes into the room and I realized that presence I had felt was

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not Don's spirit.

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It was really a really strong presence there, which encouraged me greatly.

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But eventually I did get my prayer language more than caw.

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It's always been my comfort, my great comfort.

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Jo, your encounter with the Holy Spirit, you received spiritual gifts that he had for you

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and they empowered you for the special work God had in store for you.

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During that time, and maybe even now, there's some confusion and disagreement about the

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gifts of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

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So I think it's important to read some scripture about it, right?

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First Corinthians 12, 4 through 12 in the NIV gives us a biblical foundation for what

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you experienced.

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It says there are different kinds of gifts, but the same spirit distributes them.

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There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord.

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There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone, it is the

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same God at work.

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Now to each one, the manifestation of the spirit is given for the common good.

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To one, there's given the spirit a message of wisdom.

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To another, a message of knowledge by the same spirit.

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To another, faith by the same spirit.

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To another, gifts of healing by that one spirit.

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To another, miraculous powers.

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To another, prophecy.

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To another, distinguishing between spirits.

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To another, speaking in different kinds of tongues.

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And to still another, the interpretation of tongues.

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All these are the work of one and the same spirit, and he distributes them to each one

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just as he determines.

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Just as a body, though one has many parts, but all of its parts form one body, so it

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is with Christ.

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Jo, God clearly gave you wonderful spiritual gifts for the common good, as First Corinthians

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says.

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So how did that affect you, and how did you know what to do with them?

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You know, we had decided to go to seminary, or Don was going to go to seminary, and as

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we made plans for that, the doors clearly closed for us to do that.

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But he sent us to several fellowships, and the first one was fantastic.

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It was a very small church, and the pastor was really gifted in teaching.

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And he would have us meet as a group of people who were interested in growing in the Holy

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Spirit and learning about the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

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So we would meet at his home, and we would practice the presence of God.

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Practice operating in the gift, which sounds really crazy, but it was God's sin for us.

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It was just, I don't know what floundering we would have done without this specific direction.

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It was a safe place for us if we made a mistake.

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It was okay.

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We just learned, and we did.

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We just practiced the gifts.

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You know, and when I say practice, that means God was giving us gifts, and he wanted us

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to use them.

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And because it was a safe place, it was okay to speak out in what we thought God was saying.

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And sometimes what we thought God was saying wasn't right.

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And so we did learn how to hear him and what, you know.

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And then after that time, there was a Christian fellowship at a home that we had heard about,

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and we, Harold and Joe Kent.

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And so we started going to that fellowship, and that was also a great time to learn and

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to use the gifts.

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And in a safe place, it was families coming in and worshiping the Lord.

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And the meetings were, again, it was a safe place that people were willing to hear what

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you have to say and willing to correct you if necessary.

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I think we grew immensely.

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We got some lifelong friends from that.

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As a matter of fact, I think that's where we met you guys.

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That is, that's where we met.

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Yeah.

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I was quite young, but I grew so much in those meetings.

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I learned so much.

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And you know, the thing about, you know, you said it was a safe place to make mistakes

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because when correction came, it wasn't condemnation.

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It was in love, wasn't it?

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It was very loving.

269
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You know, I hardly saw anybody get corrected.

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If there was, you know, some, it was privately, you know, again, being safe.

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And there was times, you know, and sometimes we were, we were a fun, loving group.

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You know, we really liked to laugh and stuff, and sometimes we got carried away with some

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of the joking and stuff.

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But it was okay because God, you know, God loves us.

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He's not a harsh God like that.

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He likes humor.

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Yeah.

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And we did.

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And we, especially Dawn at that time, really grew in the Lord and just encouraged us to

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use our giftings.

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So as you were learning and growing in the Lord, He also set you free from a childhood

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trauma that had even affected your personality.

283
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So will you, will you tell us about that?

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Yes.

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It's a difficult story.

286
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So you can pray for me as you're listening to this.

287
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My mother tells the story of me being a very precocious child.

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And when I, and I changed when I turned three, and she didn't know why, you know, I just

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wasn't, I was very, very quiet and inward and wasn't the outgoing little girl I was.

290
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And unbeknownst to her, what was happening was my dad was abusing me sexually.

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I guess that, you know, I don't remember that particular age myself because it was kind

292
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of a blur, but I know it was a lot of times.

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Throughout my time with them, I remember the last time that he, well, he tried to touch

294
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me, I was 16.

295
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And, you know, he was very aware of a girl's anatomy and stuff, and he didn't want to,

296
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he never penetrated so that I, you know, wouldn't mess up the hymen in the girl.

297
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That's why he told me later that, I mean, he didn't ever, he never confessed to that

298
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doing it or talked about it to me, but he was trying to give me encouragement for when

299
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I was going to get married.

300
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And so that, I surmised by that, just why he never actually entered me.

301
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But what he did, you know, affected my life and made me very shy and very inward, and

302
00:20:32,880 --> 00:20:37,000
I couldn't lick anybody in the ice when I talked to them.

303
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Eventually, you know, especially after I became a Christian, you know, it would come up and

304
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the enemy used it, you know, he used it for me to be angry and to be hurt.

305
00:20:49,600 --> 00:20:55,800
And you know, when I, after I received the Holy Spirit, you know, through all the teachings,

306
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I learned that I need to forgive.

307
00:20:58,040 --> 00:20:59,760
That's a hard one to forgive.

308
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I was obedient to God and I would forgive.

309
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And then later on, the enemy would bring it up again and I would be angry and upset and

310
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I had to forgive again.

311
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And I knew that was what God wanted me to do because I wanted to grow in the Lord and

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I didn't want, I wanted to become closer to him and I didn't want anything in the way

313
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of that.

314
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And so I knew that, you know, he wouldn't, he didn't know I was forgiving him and it

315
00:21:28,560 --> 00:21:32,880
didn't matter because it was between me and the Lord at that point.

316
00:21:32,880 --> 00:21:39,160
It was, you know, I wanted that relationship with him that I finally, you know, after,

317
00:21:39,160 --> 00:21:43,980
you know, having to do it many times of forgiving that I let it go.

318
00:21:43,980 --> 00:21:46,160
It was no longer a hold on me.

319
00:21:46,160 --> 00:21:54,440
I know I minister to enough women and enough people that hurt and unforgiveness causes

320
00:21:54,440 --> 00:21:56,480
all kinds of problems in your life.

321
00:21:56,480 --> 00:22:03,160
And so I really appreciated God just delivering me from that aspect.

322
00:22:03,160 --> 00:22:07,080
Just because you forgave him doesn't mean that you thought what happened was okay.

323
00:22:07,080 --> 00:22:08,080
It was not okay.

324
00:22:08,080 --> 00:22:09,080
I agree.

325
00:22:09,080 --> 00:22:13,320
But the forgiveness was freeing you from the bondage that Satan was trying to hold you

326
00:22:13,320 --> 00:22:14,320
in.

327
00:22:14,320 --> 00:22:15,320
That's right.

328
00:22:15,320 --> 00:22:22,160
You know, and my relationship with him was so much stronger, my desire for it than...

329
00:22:22,160 --> 00:22:23,160
Your relationship with God.

330
00:22:23,160 --> 00:22:25,680
My relationship with God, yeah.

331
00:22:25,680 --> 00:22:32,200
My dad went to his deathbed never asking forgiveness or we never even talked about it.

332
00:22:32,200 --> 00:22:33,880
My mother never knew.

333
00:22:33,880 --> 00:22:35,440
But God did.

334
00:22:35,440 --> 00:22:36,440
Yeah.

335
00:22:36,440 --> 00:22:42,920
And after you had gotten free of that unforgiveness, your personality started changing.

336
00:22:42,920 --> 00:22:43,920
Yes.

337
00:22:43,920 --> 00:22:45,440
Oh, I've forgotten about that, Jojo.

338
00:22:45,440 --> 00:22:46,760
Thanks for reminding me.

339
00:22:46,760 --> 00:22:53,440
I went to work for a Christian bookstore as shy as I was as a sales clerk.

340
00:22:53,440 --> 00:22:57,200
One day Don and I went to the Christian bookstore in Tampa.

341
00:22:57,200 --> 00:23:01,960
And Don had ordered a book and so we met the owner of the bookstore there and he knew us.

342
00:23:01,960 --> 00:23:04,160
We'd been in there lots of times.

343
00:23:04,160 --> 00:23:12,360
And we were talking to him or Don was talking to him and he said, I need another clerk in

344
00:23:12,360 --> 00:23:13,360
here.

345
00:23:13,360 --> 00:23:14,360
Do you know anybody who'd want a job?

346
00:23:14,360 --> 00:23:20,280
Well, I had just quit my job and I was looking for another job and Don turned around and

347
00:23:20,280 --> 00:23:22,640
pointed to me and said, she does.

348
00:23:22,640 --> 00:23:26,200
So here I am going to be a sales clerk in a Christian bookstore.

349
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You've got to talk to people.

350
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And I'm, you know, I can't look people in the eye.

351
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So working for the Christian bookstore during that time, I decided that this had to go.

352
00:23:40,720 --> 00:23:46,480
I needed to be the kind of person I wanted and that I liked and that I liked around me

353
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and I wanted to be.

354
00:23:48,320 --> 00:23:52,520
So I, with God's help, changed.

355
00:23:52,520 --> 00:23:57,920
I decided to go in person and I decided instead of people coming up to me, I would go up to

356
00:23:57,920 --> 00:24:01,320
them and I would be interested in them.

357
00:24:01,320 --> 00:24:03,640
And I really was interested in them.

358
00:24:03,640 --> 00:24:08,760
And sometimes I got in trouble at the bookstore because I was over in a corner talking to

359
00:24:08,760 --> 00:24:14,500
these people about the Lord selling books.

360
00:24:14,500 --> 00:24:24,040
But it did change me to be a person that could talk about the Lord openly and be able to

361
00:24:24,040 --> 00:24:25,040
speak in public.

362
00:24:25,040 --> 00:24:26,040
Yeah.

363
00:24:26,040 --> 00:24:31,800
And it sounds like God really just restored the personality, the character, who he created

364
00:24:31,800 --> 00:24:32,800
you to be.

365
00:24:32,800 --> 00:24:37,600
That's exactly what he did, which I'm still, you know, sometimes I get in a situation,

366
00:24:37,600 --> 00:24:41,840
I still feel a little shy, you know, but I pushed through it.

367
00:24:41,840 --> 00:24:42,840
Yeah.

368
00:24:42,840 --> 00:24:43,840
Well, that's kind of natural when we're in.

369
00:24:43,840 --> 00:24:44,840
Unfamiliar circumstances.

370
00:24:44,840 --> 00:25:00,120
You instilled your children to the Lord and instilled in them biblical values.

371
00:25:00,120 --> 00:25:01,120
Right.

372
00:25:01,120 --> 00:25:06,760
Debbie, she was like, you know, what my mother described as me before three was she was very

373
00:25:06,760 --> 00:25:07,760
precocious child.

374
00:25:07,760 --> 00:25:12,800
She, she was that very outgoing and she thought everybody loved her when she knew it.

375
00:25:12,800 --> 00:25:19,080
And she just went up to them and just loved on them and on this stuff and performed for

376
00:25:19,080 --> 00:25:20,080
them.

377
00:25:20,080 --> 00:25:26,360
And you know, knowing Debbie's personality, we had moved to Pennsylvania and she was in

378
00:25:26,360 --> 00:25:29,000
a Christian school and that was great.

379
00:25:29,000 --> 00:25:31,560
It was working out very well.

380
00:25:31,560 --> 00:25:34,700
But then we were transferred to Atlanta.

381
00:25:34,700 --> 00:25:39,640
We couldn't afford to send her to a Christian school at that time.

382
00:25:39,640 --> 00:25:44,840
And we were perplexed what we were going to do for her school wise because we had checked

383
00:25:44,840 --> 00:25:46,440
into the Atlanta schools.

384
00:25:46,440 --> 00:25:49,280
Now this was 1984.

385
00:25:49,280 --> 00:25:55,160
I'm not saying the Atlanta schools now are terrible, but at that time we just didn't

386
00:25:55,160 --> 00:25:56,160
feel comfortable.

387
00:25:56,160 --> 00:26:04,280
So we looked into homeschooling and homeschooling was like, oh, I'm not a teacher.

388
00:26:04,280 --> 00:26:06,800
You know, can I possibly homeschool?

389
00:26:06,800 --> 00:26:08,320
How can I teach her?

390
00:26:08,320 --> 00:26:11,520
I'm, you know, I have a high school education.

391
00:26:11,520 --> 00:26:13,920
Don't ask me about math.

392
00:26:13,920 --> 00:26:18,880
But we did, you know, with a lot of prayer and a lot of talking with God and considering

393
00:26:18,880 --> 00:26:23,800
Debbie's personality, we decided to homeschool.

394
00:26:23,800 --> 00:26:29,920
We looked into it and we found a group that we could be under the umbrella of that group.

395
00:26:29,920 --> 00:26:35,200
We found some Christian literature that was built for homeschoolers.

396
00:26:35,200 --> 00:26:45,080
And even though that was, you know, back then there wasn't that much there to have to use.

397
00:26:45,080 --> 00:26:50,520
And one other thing about that is that the first thing people said to me when we were

398
00:26:50,520 --> 00:26:53,960
thinking about homeschooling is, oh, what about her socialization?

399
00:26:53,960 --> 00:26:59,320
You know, she'll just be all with you and nobody else.

400
00:26:59,320 --> 00:27:02,800
And how's she going to know how to act?

401
00:27:02,800 --> 00:27:08,840
So we were very aware of that, so we joined groups of Christians and we would get together.

402
00:27:08,840 --> 00:27:14,080
We could get together for dance and for crafts and for art.

403
00:27:14,080 --> 00:27:17,880
And I made sure that we went to museums.

404
00:27:17,880 --> 00:27:23,920
We used to, matter of fact, we went to England with Debbie and so she had to do a report.

405
00:27:23,920 --> 00:27:26,240
And of course she was very socialized there.

406
00:27:26,240 --> 00:27:30,080
She stayed with this family because we were in on a company trip.

407
00:27:30,080 --> 00:27:34,600
She stayed with a family that we already knew.

408
00:27:34,600 --> 00:27:39,160
And she came back with an English accent.

409
00:27:39,160 --> 00:27:42,760
So she was definitely socialized.

410
00:27:42,760 --> 00:27:47,360
And then, you know, as time went on, we had another child.

411
00:27:47,360 --> 00:27:50,440
We had Stephen after Debbie was eight years old.

412
00:27:50,440 --> 00:27:54,400
As a matter of fact, Debbie said, I'm praying for a brother.

413
00:27:54,400 --> 00:27:57,640
We weren't exactly thinking about having another child.

414
00:27:57,640 --> 00:28:03,040
We did think about it and God did bless us with her brother, it was just Stephen.

415
00:28:03,040 --> 00:28:06,960
And they're about eight years apart, almost nine years apart.

416
00:28:06,960 --> 00:28:11,160
The only issues we ever had was sometimes she would hear Stephen say, you're not my

417
00:28:11,160 --> 00:28:12,160
mother.

418
00:28:12,160 --> 00:28:19,500
Because she took him on as her little brother, God had given him to her.

419
00:28:19,500 --> 00:28:26,760
And their relationship, you know, up until Debbie did pass, was best friends.

420
00:28:26,760 --> 00:28:31,880
They actually had a house together at one point with all the children.

421
00:28:31,880 --> 00:28:33,440
They both divorced.

422
00:28:33,440 --> 00:28:38,880
So neither one were harmed at all by homeschooling.

423
00:28:38,880 --> 00:28:47,480
But with homeschooling, you pray and you pray with them, you discipline, you learn to discipline.

424
00:28:47,480 --> 00:28:51,040
You learn to discipline as God would want you to.

425
00:28:51,040 --> 00:28:56,720
And you prayed with them about all the discipline and all the schooling and their relationship

426
00:28:56,720 --> 00:28:59,160
with other children.

427
00:28:59,160 --> 00:29:04,480
You know, it was a God relationship for them as well.

428
00:29:04,480 --> 00:29:07,200
And sometimes they didn't want to be homeschooled.

429
00:29:07,200 --> 00:29:11,360
And so, you know, we talked about it and we prayed about it.

430
00:29:11,360 --> 00:29:15,880
And Debbie, up until she was homeschooled up until about her 11th grade.

431
00:29:15,880 --> 00:29:19,200
And then she went to public school, which is what she wanted.

432
00:29:19,200 --> 00:29:22,860
And we felt like, yes, that's what she should do.

433
00:29:22,860 --> 00:29:28,960
Through those years and even since, God's used you to help other people grow in the

434
00:29:28,960 --> 00:29:33,400
Lord and in using their spiritual gifts for the special work God's called them to do.

435
00:29:33,400 --> 00:29:34,720
Share about some of those adventures.

436
00:29:34,720 --> 00:29:43,040
Well, first of all, we locally, we had some opportunities to speak in places.

437
00:29:43,040 --> 00:29:49,620
And there was one place that we called the land that people lived on the land.

438
00:29:49,620 --> 00:29:54,320
And then they had this meeting house and we were invited to come in and speak to the,

439
00:29:54,320 --> 00:29:58,600
to any groups that one that they were meeting there.

440
00:29:58,600 --> 00:30:07,200
And so we began there, God just, our calling was to encourage the body of Christ to hear

441
00:30:07,200 --> 00:30:13,280
God's voice and to use the giftings that he had given them.

442
00:30:13,280 --> 00:30:15,560
And so we would speak.

443
00:30:15,560 --> 00:30:19,600
Don, Don is a great teacher and he would teach.

444
00:30:19,600 --> 00:30:26,040
And at the end of the teaching, he would bring people up from the congregation and have them

445
00:30:26,040 --> 00:30:27,640
pray for other people.

446
00:30:27,640 --> 00:30:32,160
And was teaching them how to give you their gifts.

447
00:30:32,160 --> 00:30:37,520
Sometimes they, they pray for healing and sometimes they pray for somebody to receive

448
00:30:37,520 --> 00:30:44,880
the Holy spirit and sometimes for deliverance and, and people would be shocked that people

449
00:30:44,880 --> 00:30:47,960
were responding to their ministry.

450
00:30:47,960 --> 00:30:55,200
And so in that we were teaching them how to operate the gifts and how to reach out and

451
00:30:55,200 --> 00:30:56,200
minister.

452
00:30:56,200 --> 00:30:58,840
We did that all of Rolana.

453
00:30:58,840 --> 00:31:00,680
We even started traveling.

454
00:31:00,680 --> 00:31:10,080
We went to India and we, we prayed for several thousands of people in India.

455
00:31:10,080 --> 00:31:16,760
There was a group there that did not know anything about Christ.

456
00:31:16,760 --> 00:31:22,160
And so we had a meeting, big conference there for them.

457
00:31:22,160 --> 00:31:27,880
And so I can't remember now how many thousands of people was there, two or 3000.

458
00:31:27,880 --> 00:31:33,920
And we would pray for these people, but we'd have to do it in the spirit because we couldn't

459
00:31:33,920 --> 00:31:35,000
understand them.

460
00:31:35,000 --> 00:31:38,560
We couldn't understand what their problem was, except sometimes they would point to

461
00:31:38,560 --> 00:31:39,560
illness.

462
00:31:39,560 --> 00:31:45,040
And sometimes we lay hands on, on them and not know what kind of disease they had.

463
00:31:45,040 --> 00:31:54,160
So we had trust the Holy spirit and we were, you know, just teaching and praying and God

464
00:31:54,160 --> 00:32:01,520
just ministered and he, one point in India, he brought healing to a child.

465
00:32:01,520 --> 00:32:06,280
We were in a bus about to leave this area.

466
00:32:06,280 --> 00:32:11,520
And so this guy comes up to the bus, opens the door and shoves the child in the don's

467
00:32:11,520 --> 00:32:14,520
lap and he said, pray for him.

468
00:32:14,520 --> 00:32:18,960
He's, he's been bitten by a scorpion.

469
00:32:18,960 --> 00:32:22,120
And so over there, you know, scorpions are dangerous.

470
00:32:22,120 --> 00:32:27,080
And so Don and the rest of us all laid hands on him and prayed for him.

471
00:32:27,080 --> 00:32:30,800
And then the guy grabbed him up and took him off to the hospital.

472
00:32:30,800 --> 00:32:36,000
Well we didn't know anything that happened that night, but later on in the trip, we learned

473
00:32:36,000 --> 00:32:41,800
that at the hospital, they had said, oh no, he couldn't be bitten by a scorpion because

474
00:32:41,800 --> 00:32:43,560
there's no, nothing there.

475
00:32:43,560 --> 00:32:44,560
There's no swelling.

476
00:32:44,560 --> 00:32:48,080
There was no puncture mark on him.

477
00:32:48,080 --> 00:32:52,320
And the father was saying, oh no, he was because I saw it.

478
00:32:52,320 --> 00:32:56,200
And I took the scorpion away and I killed it.

479
00:32:56,200 --> 00:32:58,120
So he was definitely bit.

480
00:32:58,120 --> 00:33:02,440
That testimony went out through the whole group and which caused the people want to

481
00:33:02,440 --> 00:33:07,680
get more prayer, you know, they were open to prayer because they saw a miracle.

482
00:33:07,680 --> 00:33:13,160
And God, he did, he raised, I know one child from the dead.

483
00:33:13,160 --> 00:33:15,720
We didn't always know until much, much later.

484
00:33:15,720 --> 00:33:18,160
We just were operating in faith.

485
00:33:18,160 --> 00:33:19,160
Yeah.

486
00:33:19,160 --> 00:33:24,560
So I think that was, you know, most wonderful thing that God did with us in travel.

487
00:33:24,560 --> 00:33:28,760
And you know, when I went with you on the trip, we weren't praying for people, but we

488
00:33:28,760 --> 00:33:33,920
were praying for the country that, you know, that they would become a Christian nation.

489
00:33:33,920 --> 00:33:37,680
And I know that now we've seen results from that when we went to Mongolia.

490
00:33:37,680 --> 00:33:38,680
Yeah.

491
00:33:38,680 --> 00:33:41,320
A lot of people in Mongolia have come to Christ since then.

492
00:33:41,320 --> 00:33:48,320
Before then, when we first, when we went, it was back in the early nineties, I think.

493
00:33:48,320 --> 00:33:49,320
Yes.

494
00:33:49,320 --> 00:33:50,320
Yeah.

495
00:33:50,320 --> 00:33:51,560
And there were very few churches at that point.

496
00:33:51,560 --> 00:33:53,920
It's been a move of God there since then.

497
00:33:53,920 --> 00:33:54,920
That's right.

498
00:33:54,920 --> 00:33:55,920
Yeah.

499
00:33:55,920 --> 00:33:56,920
And still, God's still working.

500
00:33:56,920 --> 00:34:01,320
God's taken you to places and used your ministry while you were just a normal housewife and

501
00:34:01,320 --> 00:34:02,320
mom.

502
00:34:02,320 --> 00:34:03,320
Yes.

503
00:34:03,320 --> 00:34:04,320
Absolutely.

504
00:34:04,320 --> 00:34:05,320
Yeah.

505
00:34:05,320 --> 00:34:08,580
He empowered you to do the things he wanted you to do.

506
00:34:08,580 --> 00:34:14,840
So Jo, there's probably some people listening that are thinking, who am I?

507
00:34:14,840 --> 00:34:15,960
What can God do with me?

508
00:34:15,960 --> 00:34:18,200
How do I hear his voice?

509
00:34:18,200 --> 00:34:19,380
What would you say to them?

510
00:34:19,380 --> 00:34:28,200
First of all, talk to God and listen to him because he really loves you and he really

511
00:34:28,200 --> 00:34:31,500
wants you to know him.

512
00:34:31,500 --> 00:34:33,360
And he has a purpose for us.

513
00:34:33,360 --> 00:34:39,120
It says that he has plans for us and a purpose for us.

514
00:34:39,120 --> 00:34:49,360
And so ask him and watch in your day-to-day life how God uses you.

515
00:34:49,360 --> 00:34:54,620
First of all, probably to your family, your children, to your neighbors.

516
00:34:54,620 --> 00:34:59,640
Just watch what he's doing with that.

517
00:34:59,640 --> 00:35:08,160
And if you have a desire to reach out to people in a certain way, feeding the hungry or praying

518
00:35:08,160 --> 00:35:12,480
for people, then begin doing it.

519
00:35:12,480 --> 00:35:20,000
Asking him how you get started because a lot of ministry comes out of your passions, what

520
00:35:20,000 --> 00:35:22,840
you are already actually doing probably.

521
00:35:22,840 --> 00:35:29,040
And he's not necessarily after you to have a tremendous ministry.

522
00:35:29,040 --> 00:35:36,000
But God really wants to be in your life and he wants you to be in him.

523
00:35:36,000 --> 00:35:38,720
And he wants you seeking his will.

524
00:35:38,720 --> 00:35:42,400
He wants you seeking him first and seeking his will.

525
00:35:42,400 --> 00:35:45,940
And as you listen to him, he will show you.

526
00:35:45,940 --> 00:35:50,760
He will give you signs of, like I said, something that you're passionate about.

527
00:35:50,760 --> 00:35:53,800
It could be the very thing that he wants you to do.

528
00:35:53,800 --> 00:35:57,680
Well, about 10 years ago, God gave you another gift.

529
00:35:57,680 --> 00:35:59,160
Tell me about that.

530
00:35:59,160 --> 00:36:01,560
This one just blows my mind.

531
00:36:01,560 --> 00:36:05,400
In my life, I've had several gifts that I've done.

532
00:36:05,400 --> 00:36:11,120
I ask him for me to, for him to let me be able to have gifts to share with the body

533
00:36:11,120 --> 00:36:12,120
of Christ.

534
00:36:12,120 --> 00:36:19,400
And out of that, he taught me how, or had me learn how to do cake decorating.

535
00:36:19,400 --> 00:36:21,400
Well, I shared that with the body.

536
00:36:21,400 --> 00:36:28,760
And then he had me, had us be just entertain people in our homes.

537
00:36:28,760 --> 00:36:32,080
And he gave us that hospitality gift.

538
00:36:32,080 --> 00:36:37,120
And so on and on, he grew those things and I would do craftings.

539
00:36:37,120 --> 00:36:40,960
And I knew that I was very good at art drawing.

540
00:36:40,960 --> 00:36:46,640
I won when I was 12 years old, I won a blue ribbon for a paint for a drawing that I did

541
00:36:46,640 --> 00:36:49,480
of Abraham Lincoln and one of the county fairs.

542
00:36:49,480 --> 00:36:54,840
I knew I could draw a little bit, but I really wanted to paint, but I knew I couldn't do

543
00:36:54,840 --> 00:36:55,840
that.

544
00:36:55,840 --> 00:36:59,120
So I never tried even all the years.

545
00:36:59,120 --> 00:37:07,120
And so 10 years ago, I was 70 and I saw something I can't remember now that I saw dot art or

546
00:37:07,120 --> 00:37:08,880
pointillism.

547
00:37:08,880 --> 00:37:14,880
And so I started painting everything in sight and don't have to be careful.

548
00:37:14,880 --> 00:37:20,720
I was going to be out to paint him, but dot everything and making designs out of dots

549
00:37:20,720 --> 00:37:22,640
on all these different items.

550
00:37:22,640 --> 00:37:31,720
I got a clock that's got dots all over it and bases and I got one, two plates that I

551
00:37:31,720 --> 00:37:36,680
did a cat and a dog on each one in dot art or pointillism.

552
00:37:36,680 --> 00:37:43,040
Monet did pointillism, but his was minus, you could see the dots plainly, whereas his

553
00:37:43,040 --> 00:37:44,040
blended.

554
00:37:44,040 --> 00:37:46,960
I'm not going to claim on Monet.

555
00:37:46,960 --> 00:37:52,400
But out of that, I did a large canvas with dots.

556
00:37:52,400 --> 00:37:57,480
And I mean, it was a 36 by 48 canvas with dots.

557
00:37:57,480 --> 00:38:03,760
And you imagine all dots and it was a, when a autumn scene, that's my favorite time of

558
00:38:03,760 --> 00:38:05,680
year to paint is autumn.

559
00:38:05,680 --> 00:38:11,680
And it was an autumn scene in the woods and you know, dots all over it.

560
00:38:11,680 --> 00:38:14,760
So people liked it.

561
00:38:14,760 --> 00:38:20,000
And I, and so out of that, I actually tried to paint.

562
00:38:20,000 --> 00:38:25,240
I'm an acrylic artist and I use acrylics because it dries fast.

563
00:38:25,240 --> 00:38:29,880
You don't have to worry about, you know, with oil that dries slowly.

564
00:38:29,880 --> 00:38:31,320
I want to see it right now.

565
00:38:31,320 --> 00:38:32,720
I'm a tight person.

566
00:38:32,720 --> 00:38:34,040
No patience.

567
00:38:34,040 --> 00:38:38,200
So I did acrylics and I started watching videos.

568
00:38:38,200 --> 00:38:39,840
I never had any formal training.

569
00:38:39,840 --> 00:38:45,680
I just never thought that I'd go to a class and be embarrassed by my lack of ability.

570
00:38:45,680 --> 00:38:50,240
So but I just did, you know, videos and I started painting.

571
00:38:50,240 --> 00:38:58,120
And as my talent grew and as my interest grew and as people started liking it, I realized

572
00:38:58,120 --> 00:39:02,960
that this was something I wanted to do for God.

573
00:39:02,960 --> 00:39:03,960
God involved in it.

574
00:39:03,960 --> 00:39:06,120
I wanted to hear his voice.

575
00:39:06,120 --> 00:39:09,960
I want to hear him tell me what to paint.

576
00:39:09,960 --> 00:39:17,880
And I guess the most, the greatest time of painting was at Christmas time.

577
00:39:17,880 --> 00:39:20,120
I wanted to paint the nativity scene.

578
00:39:20,120 --> 00:39:27,400
And I actually, I wanted to do the nativity in the middle and Jesus life all around that

579
00:39:27,400 --> 00:39:28,800
scene.

580
00:39:28,800 --> 00:39:34,960
And as I started painting, this wasn't working out and I started hearing God say, that's

581
00:39:34,960 --> 00:39:36,640
not what I want you to paint.

582
00:39:36,640 --> 00:39:40,160
I want you to paint the Ascension, the end of my life.

583
00:39:40,160 --> 00:39:45,800
So he, you know, and I was hearing this clearly that he wanted me to paint him.

584
00:39:45,800 --> 00:39:52,040
And I said, Oh Lord, you know, I'm not a portrait artist.

585
00:39:52,040 --> 00:39:53,760
One of the most difficult things to do.

586
00:39:53,760 --> 00:39:54,760
I just can't see.

587
00:39:54,760 --> 00:40:00,280
I tried, I tried it on myself and it just was difficult to do.

588
00:40:00,280 --> 00:40:08,920
And as I talked to him, you know, and he talked to me and you can say no to God, but yeah,

589
00:40:08,920 --> 00:40:09,920
that's not going to work.

590
00:40:09,920 --> 00:40:12,160
Not if you want to obey him.

591
00:40:12,160 --> 00:40:18,040
And so I began the portrait artist of Jesus ascending.

592
00:40:18,040 --> 00:40:24,000
And what he wanted me to do and what he wanted me to capture was the joy.

593
00:40:24,000 --> 00:40:32,080
He had been through all of this on this earth and obeying God and being, you know, just

594
00:40:32,080 --> 00:40:36,480
terrorized actually with from people and the church.

595
00:40:36,480 --> 00:40:39,960
And you know, so many people just didn't accept him.

596
00:40:39,960 --> 00:40:43,720
And he really went through a horrendous life here on earth.

597
00:40:43,720 --> 00:40:49,480
I mean, he had all this love and, you know, of course that's what he showed was love.

598
00:40:49,480 --> 00:41:01,360
And so what God was saying to me was with all that went on in Jesus' life, he still

599
00:41:01,360 --> 00:41:10,720
loved, he loved us enough to die for us enough to go through all of that pain.

600
00:41:10,720 --> 00:41:15,880
And he loved the Father enough to go through all that pain.

601
00:41:15,880 --> 00:41:24,120
And so what I was supposed to show was him going to the Father with joy on his face.

602
00:41:24,120 --> 00:41:26,960
And so that's, I feel like I did capture the joy.

603
00:41:26,960 --> 00:41:32,160
I really think the rest of the painting is terrible, but I'm obedient.

604
00:41:32,160 --> 00:41:39,400
And I did, you know, show people this and I felt like the response from people, someone

605
00:41:39,400 --> 00:41:43,800
wanted me to get prints of it, if they could have a copy.

606
00:41:43,800 --> 00:41:47,320
And so from that, you know, it changed my life.

607
00:41:47,320 --> 00:41:51,520
That painting absolutely changed my life.

608
00:41:51,520 --> 00:42:03,960
Join me and Jesus, God together in a deeper relationship, one that, you know, you can't

609
00:42:03,960 --> 00:42:11,160
describe how you feel with God, what your relationship is, but the joy.

610
00:42:11,160 --> 00:42:17,720
And then he took me to another painting with him on the cross and what he wanted me to

611
00:42:17,720 --> 00:42:21,680
show and that one was his love.

612
00:42:21,680 --> 00:42:25,680
He's there with all this pain on his face, but he wanted me to show love.

613
00:42:25,680 --> 00:42:32,480
I'm not sure I captured that, but you do see, you do see love on it and you see the pain,

614
00:42:32,480 --> 00:42:35,600
but you know, it was really for me.

615
00:42:35,600 --> 00:42:37,440
The painting was for me.

616
00:42:37,440 --> 00:42:44,760
You know, I could hear his voice in this new medium in my life, this new adventure in my

617
00:42:44,760 --> 00:42:45,760
life.

618
00:42:45,760 --> 00:42:55,160
I mean, what I really like for people to know is that I'm 77 and I'm still learning and

619
00:42:55,160 --> 00:42:57,240
I'm still relevant.

620
00:42:57,240 --> 00:43:02,200
You know, God is using me and it's a wonderful thing.

621
00:43:02,200 --> 00:43:03,960
I don't feel my age.

622
00:43:03,960 --> 00:43:10,080
I feel that whatever God may have another adventure for me and I'm willing to do it.

623
00:43:10,080 --> 00:43:12,600
You know, I'm giving up at this age.

624
00:43:12,600 --> 00:43:18,360
Well, I love that, you know, in our relationship with God, it's unique.

625
00:43:18,360 --> 00:43:19,640
Yes, it's right.

626
00:43:19,640 --> 00:43:24,800
You know, my relationship with God is unique to how he designed me and your relationship

627
00:43:24,800 --> 00:43:27,320
with God is unique to how he designed you.

628
00:43:27,320 --> 00:43:33,120
And so we express our love back to him and we hear from him in unique ways because he

629
00:43:33,120 --> 00:43:36,680
wants a personal relationship with each one of us.

630
00:43:36,680 --> 00:43:37,680
That's right.

631
00:43:37,680 --> 00:43:41,980
And you know, Joe, I imagine your ability to worship God and hear God in your painting

632
00:43:41,980 --> 00:43:47,040
really helped you through a very difficult time in your life when your daughter passed

633
00:43:47,040 --> 00:43:48,520
away.

634
00:43:48,520 --> 00:43:52,860
Tell us a little about that time and how you were able to stay strong in your faith.

635
00:43:52,860 --> 00:44:03,200
So early in 2021, my daughter, Debbie, was about 44 at that time, found a lump on her

636
00:44:03,200 --> 00:44:06,520
breast that was really getting larger and larger.

637
00:44:06,520 --> 00:44:12,040
And she went to a doctor and they just kind of thought it was nothing.

638
00:44:12,040 --> 00:44:16,880
And so as it got bigger and she went to Moffitt Hospital here in Tampa, which is a cancer

639
00:44:16,880 --> 00:44:24,080
hospital, one of the best known ones, and she found out that it was a rare form of cancer,

640
00:44:24,080 --> 00:44:28,120
breast cancer that there was no, you know, it was terminal.

641
00:44:28,120 --> 00:44:32,260
They gave her about a year and a half to two and a half years.

642
00:44:32,260 --> 00:44:39,320
She found an experimental program that she joined that was, you know, they never offered

643
00:44:39,320 --> 00:44:45,860
any cure, but they offered her more years and or at least they were hoping.

644
00:44:45,860 --> 00:44:51,600
And since it was experimental, you know, they, you know, she was, you know, pretty much a

645
00:44:51,600 --> 00:44:59,600
test and it didn't cost her anything because it was so experimental.

646
00:44:59,600 --> 00:45:06,840
The cancer she had was called inflammatory breast cancer and it was so rare.

647
00:45:06,840 --> 00:45:08,640
They didn't know much about it.

648
00:45:08,640 --> 00:45:12,280
And it's not anything that you could do to prevent it.

649
00:45:12,280 --> 00:45:13,280
It's not hereditary.

650
00:45:13,280 --> 00:45:15,560
It's pretty much a death sentence.

651
00:45:15,560 --> 00:45:23,800
So you know, Chris, we prayed, you know, we prayed and we prayed and we gave her to the

652
00:45:23,800 --> 00:45:25,480
Lord over and over.

653
00:45:25,480 --> 00:45:31,360
And eventually Debbie actually had to move in with us so that we could take care of her.

654
00:45:31,360 --> 00:45:34,240
And at that time she was still working.

655
00:45:34,240 --> 00:45:40,120
So she had the company she worked for was a wonderful company and it was a Christian

656
00:45:40,120 --> 00:45:45,040
company, Christian owned lawyers.

657
00:45:45,040 --> 00:45:49,960
And she was working for them and they allowed her to work from home.

658
00:45:49,960 --> 00:45:55,180
This was before, you know, it was actually when COVID was just beginning and everything.

659
00:45:55,180 --> 00:46:01,480
They were self-insured so they made sure her insurance was paid, that the hospital was

660
00:46:01,480 --> 00:46:02,580
paid.

661
00:46:02,580 --> 00:46:03,580
We prayed.

662
00:46:03,580 --> 00:46:08,560
God's answer was wonderful things like that.

663
00:46:08,560 --> 00:46:16,280
He wanted to take her home, which he did about two years later after being treated.

664
00:46:16,280 --> 00:46:21,360
They finally, you know, she got cancer in her brain and then she got cancer in her spinal

665
00:46:21,360 --> 00:46:22,640
fluid.

666
00:46:22,640 --> 00:46:25,360
And that's when they sent her home.

667
00:46:25,360 --> 00:46:31,440
We had to go to the hospital at one point and they sent her home for hospice care.

668
00:46:31,440 --> 00:46:32,440
We had to watch her.

669
00:46:32,440 --> 00:46:37,920
You know, we moved her bedroom into the living room so that somebody would be with her 24

670
00:46:37,920 --> 00:46:43,360
7 because sometimes she had to have help to get up to go to the bathroom.

671
00:46:43,360 --> 00:46:47,960
She had to be, you know, eventually she had to be bathed, that's me.

672
00:46:47,960 --> 00:46:53,760
And after a while she didn't know most anybody.

673
00:46:53,760 --> 00:46:58,800
She didn't know, she always knew me, which I thought was a blessing.

674
00:46:58,800 --> 00:47:02,840
Most times she knew her dad and she knew her children till the end.

675
00:47:02,840 --> 00:47:10,040
And then with praying for her and lots of people were praying for her, I knew that it

676
00:47:10,040 --> 00:47:17,320
was important that I guard my heart with the Lord, that I wasn't bitter.

677
00:47:17,320 --> 00:47:21,240
I wasn't accusing him that I knew he knew.

678
00:47:21,240 --> 00:47:22,400
He knew Debbie.

679
00:47:22,400 --> 00:47:25,160
He knew what was best for Debbie.

680
00:47:25,160 --> 00:47:27,600
He loved Debbie very much.

681
00:47:27,600 --> 00:47:35,160
He sent Debbie into this world and he had a time and place for her to die.

682
00:47:35,160 --> 00:47:39,840
And that was his will and we, Don and I, trusted that.

683
00:47:39,840 --> 00:47:42,920
We trusted her with him.

684
00:47:42,920 --> 00:47:51,980
And you know, as hard as it is, I mean, I'm not saying it was any easy task there.

685
00:47:51,980 --> 00:47:52,980
She died.

686
00:47:52,980 --> 00:47:57,320
She went into a coma and she passed on.

687
00:47:57,320 --> 00:48:04,560
I think that the testimony from Debbie's life, she was, she made everybody think that they

688
00:48:04,560 --> 00:48:06,360
were her best friend.

689
00:48:06,360 --> 00:48:10,240
She had that personality that she cared about people.

690
00:48:10,240 --> 00:48:12,960
She cared about her children.

691
00:48:12,960 --> 00:48:16,340
Her children all considered her their best friend.

692
00:48:16,340 --> 00:48:19,120
And she cared about her brother.

693
00:48:19,120 --> 00:48:21,720
She cared about just everything.

694
00:48:21,720 --> 00:48:24,360
She cared about all the people that worked with her.

695
00:48:24,360 --> 00:48:25,360
They did.

696
00:48:25,360 --> 00:48:30,760
They gave, they had a memorial service at the company without anybody asking them to.

697
00:48:30,760 --> 00:48:34,720
They just did because they loved her.

698
00:48:34,720 --> 00:48:37,280
And that was God in her.

699
00:48:37,280 --> 00:48:40,640
Thank the Lord for that time with her.

700
00:48:40,640 --> 00:48:45,440
You know, one of your recent paintings, Jo, is about a beautiful silhouette of a woman

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dancing and it has some special meaning for you.

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Can you share what that is?

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The joy of the Lord is very important to me and worship of the Lord is very important

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to me.

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And I love to dance.

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I've always loved to dance.

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And growing up, I didn't dance because I was in the Baptist church.

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So I loved to dance.

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And my sweetie Debbie was a beautiful dancer.

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She you know, and that's one thing we had so much in common is she was, she was a gorgeous

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dancer.

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She, she could hear, she could express the Lord's love and the Lord in her dance, you

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know, would just bring tears to your eyes.

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And to me, dancing before the Lord is one of the most beautiful worships that I can

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give the Lord, I believe.

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And so when I was, when I painted, I was doing a series of silhouettes.

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And this one came to my heart of a woman dancing and worshiping the Lord.

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And it's probably going to be one of my favorites that the Lord has given me.

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And I, you know, and I just, I just truly surprised that what God can do with a 77 year old, I

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mean, I still dance.

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I still dance with him because that is my favorite, my first, my favorite worship.

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So as we close, Jo, would you share about a woman of the Bible who has inspired or encouraged

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or taught you some throughout your life?

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I know there's many.

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I mean, we could all think of so, so many.

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So pick one that, you know, has special meaning.

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Well, this one I actually did in a play.

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I did her, I performed as her.

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And this is Anna, the prophetess that's in, portrayed in Luke.

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And she, she had been in the temple praying for many, many years.

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She was an older lady.

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I've now forgotten.

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She was about 80 something, I believe.

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And she was in the temple and she worshiped and she prayed and she fasted for the coming

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of the redeemer.

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And when Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to the temple, she recognized him of who he was.

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And I think that that's what my calling is, is to help people recognize Jesus.

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And, and yeah, because I think that's one of the biggest prompts that we have nowadays

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in this day and age is recognizing Jesus.

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We think of him as a good man and, you know, sometimes a crazy man, but who was Jesus?

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And Anna proclaimed him as the savior.

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And that's what I want to say is Jesus is savior.

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Amen.

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00:51:50,800 --> 00:51:51,800
Amen.

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He's the savior.

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He came because God loves us and he delights in bringing us joy and giving good gifts to

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his children.

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00:51:58,840 --> 00:52:05,960
You know, Luke 11 is an account of Jesus teaching about, about this in, in verses 11 through

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13, the NIV, Jesus says, which of you fathers, if your son asked for a fish, we'll give him

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a snake instead.

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00:52:12,440 --> 00:52:15,600
Or if he asked for an egg, we'll give him a scorpion.

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00:52:15,600 --> 00:52:19,880
If you then, though you're evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much

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00:52:19,880 --> 00:52:24,440
more will your father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?

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00:52:24,440 --> 00:52:29,680
And Joanne, you've expressed so, expressed so beautifully the relationship we have with

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00:52:29,680 --> 00:52:32,800
God through the Holy Spirit.

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And you know, the Holy Spirit lives in us if we're children of God and he's with us

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00:52:37,100 --> 00:52:42,640
to guide us, to help us understand, to empower us, to give us gifts so we can fulfill the

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special work God calls us to do.

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So Joanne, would you take just a moment and pray for our listeners?

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Father, I love you.

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Thank you so much for what you've done in my life.

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00:52:54,420 --> 00:52:59,520
Thank you for being so real and being there and showing me how much love you have for

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00:52:59,520 --> 00:53:00,520
me.

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And so I just ask you to reach out to the people who are listening now to this, that

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they would know you as Savior, as Lord of their life.

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I just pray you'd help them have a relationship with you, that they would know and hear your

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00:53:18,960 --> 00:53:28,720
voice, that they would know the plans you have for them and that you are on their side,

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00:53:28,720 --> 00:53:34,680
that you can work in their lives and you can be right there with them, blessing them and

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00:53:34,680 --> 00:53:37,960
ministering to them and helping them minister other people.

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00:53:37,960 --> 00:53:39,200
Now thank you for Jody.

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Lord, I pray that you would continue working in her life the way you have so greatly.

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For this podcast, bless them all Lord.

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In Jesus' name, Amen.

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00:53:50,400 --> 00:53:51,400
Amen.

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00:53:51,400 --> 00:53:56,000
Hey, if you have not heard yet, the indoor bathroom for the girls home in Kenya has been

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00:53:56,000 --> 00:53:59,480
completed, dedicated and is now in use.

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00:53:59,480 --> 00:54:03,160
Thank you to all those who donated to our Widow and Orphan Fund.

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00:54:03,160 --> 00:54:05,840
Go to hergodstory.org to see pictures.

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00:54:05,840 --> 00:54:09,580
But you know, there are many other orphans and widows all over the world who also need

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00:54:09,580 --> 00:54:12,000
a tangible expression of God's love.

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00:54:12,000 --> 00:54:17,480
James 127 in the NLT says, pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means

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00:54:17,480 --> 00:54:22,800
caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.

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00:54:22,800 --> 00:54:27,000
We'd love for you to join our growing company of those who are caring for orphans and widows

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00:54:27,000 --> 00:54:28,280
in their distress.

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00:54:28,280 --> 00:54:32,640
You can do that by giving a special gift to help widows and orphans through our fund.

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00:54:32,640 --> 00:54:38,240
Just go to hergodstory.org and click on the Widow and Orphan tab at the top of the page.

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00:54:38,240 --> 00:54:39,780
Thank you for tuning in.

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00:54:39,780 --> 00:54:44,400
Check out our show notes at hergodstory.org for scriptures and other information we talked

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00:54:44,400 --> 00:54:49,960
about and remember to get your free six week devotional on Women of the Bible.

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00:54:49,960 --> 00:54:54,880
We'd also love to pray with you on our 24-7 prayer and text line.

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00:54:54,880 --> 00:55:03,940
You can call or text anytime at 855-459-CARE or email us at prayer at somebodycares.org.

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00:55:03,940 --> 00:55:08,520
And now dear friends, I leave you with a blessing from 2 Chronicles 13-14.

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May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy

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Spirit be with you all.

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00:55:17,040 --> 00:55:21,080
Her God Story is a ministry of Somebody Cares America and International.

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