Trust God’s Purpose For Your Life, Ellie Anderson’s Story

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Welcome friends. You are listening to the Her God Story podcast where you will always hear

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a good story to encourage and inspire you in your walk with the Lord. I am so glad you tuned in.

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

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and traveler on this journey with Jesus. Would you take a moment and review this podcast on

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your favorite streaming platform or by clicking on the review this show in our show description?

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It will help others find our show so they can be encouraged in their faith too. And have you gotten

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your free six-week devotional on Women of the Bible yet? If not, just go to hergodstory.org

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where you can get a free download. God will use it to minister to you in so many ways.

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So that's hergodstory.org for your free devotional. When you were young, did you have dreams of what

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your life would be like? I sure did. But my life did not go exactly as I hoped. Even though I have

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experienced some disappointment and heartache along the way, even though my earthly expectations

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were not met in every area, God has taken me and made my life fuller, more exciting, and richer than

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I could ever have imagined. Proverbs 3, 5, and 6 in the New International Version tells us,

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trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways,

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submit to him and he will make your path straight. Then further down in verses 13 through 18,

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we are assured, blessed are those who find wisdom, those who gain understanding. For she is more

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profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold. She's more precious than rubies.

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Nothing you desire can compare with her. Long life are in her right hand, in her left hand are

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riches and honor. Her ways are pleasant ways and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to

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those who take hold of her. Those who hold her fast will be blessed. When we trust in the Lord

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and submit our ways to him, that is an example of fearing the Lord, holding him in awe, which is the

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beginning of wisdom. And when we find wisdom and hold fast, God makes our paths straight. He gives

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us peace and we are blessed. My guest, Ellie Anderson, has learned this. She has had to trust

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God when life did not go as she expected, when she's experienced heartbreak, when the way ahead

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looked uncertain, and she's found Proverbs 3 to be true. Ellie now serves as a patient advocate for

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the Crisis Pregnancy Center of Hampton Roads, but has also served as a nurse, a pastor's wife,

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and a homeschooling mom. Ellie and her husband Bruce have four adult children and six grandchildren.

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As you listen to Ellie, you will learn how to trust God with your life and your family. Welcome, Ellie.

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Thank you, Jodie. It's great to be here. Ellie, you grew up in small town Iowa. Tell us a little

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about yourself and what life was like and how you met Jesus. I just want to go back to what you said

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earlier though, just about the wisdom of God, yielding a better return than gold. It is just

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so true and I hope as I share my life with all of you, you'll see that, you know, my life yielded a

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ton of stuff I never expected, but it was truly better than I expected. So, yeah, I grew up in a very

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small town in Iowa, 5,000 people. You know, my mom was a stay-at-home mom. My dad was the publisher of

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the newspaper in that small town. I was the youngest of four girls. It was a nominally Christian home.

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I would say we went to the Methodist church, but often we were dropped off for Sunday school, so

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we didn't read the Bible together in our home. The only time we prayed for our meals was on Sunday.

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My dad would say the same prayer every Sunday, but he did pray and I appreciate that because that

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did impact me. You know, my picture of life was very simple. You know, thankfully, you know, my oldest

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sister was 10 years older than me and she shared Jesus with me when I was 12, so that's when I came

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to know the Lord, felt the weight of my sin lift, and for many years, you know, she was my spiritual

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mother and guided me so much to be thankful for. But yeah, I didn't have a lot of large ambitions,

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even as I got into high school, but you know, I believe God uses all of our personal circumstances

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to prepare us. You know, as a young believer, you were young both physically and spiritually, right?

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How did you grow in your understanding of God and in your faith? Where did you turn

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to learn about God after you felt the weight of your sins rolled off of you?

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First of all, my sister Stephanie, who led me to the Lord, she was amazing. She would write me

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letters about Jesus. She bought me my very first Bible, but she was in Dallas, Texas, and I was

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in Iowa, and so, you know, we didn't have a lot of, you know, time together.

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So, you know, in high school, I got involved in a young Christian group, had some awesome Christian

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leaders that really showed what being a Christian truly meant. I was part of a small group in high

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school called Campus Life. I got involved in a small Bible study with a precious woman named

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Charmaine, who, you know, attempted to disciple me and a few of my friends. We called it our Lug

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Group, which stood for Living Under God. I'm so thankful as I look back at that. My sister Sarah,

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who was just two years older than me, we were kind of walking this early walk with Christ together,

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and so that was sweet to have Sarah there. So, you know, we attended church together,

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sought out a good Bible-believing church in college, and so that's kind of how we, you know,

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started to grow closer to the Lord. Yeah, so in college, you actually pursued nursing,

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and life was proceeding pretty much as you planned when you met your future husband. Sure about that,

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and how that was the beginning of really learning how to trust God. So, I really didn't know what a

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truly submitted Christian marriage looked like until I began to meet some married couples in

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my campus church. Yeah, I was in nursing school. My mom was a nurse. My grandmother was a nurse. I

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always wanted to be a nurse from the time I was a little girl, and they bought me the dress-up

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nursing outfit, you know, that I have my picture taken of, you know, when I was probably eight or

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ten years old. So, I pursued that, but as soon as I got to college, got in a Bible-believing church,

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I met my husband my sophomore year. We actually attended the same church one day. He had been

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invited by a friend, and we ended up all having lunch together. There were all kinds of funny,

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interesting connections that I won't go into in that whole thing, but it was pretty neat to look

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back on. But we started dating, and eventually, I particularly felt convicted that I just wasn't

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sure that Bruce was to be my husband, and I had been encouraged to be patient, to wait,

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to not spend a lot of time dating all kinds of people, you know, trying to figure that out.

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And so, we broke up for a time, and you know, we were encouraged in our church to just pray for our

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future spouse. And so, I did that, you know, but I could not get Bruce off my mind for the next year.

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He had so particular, even in just those early few months of dating,

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he actually had newly recommitted his life to the Lord when I met him,

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but he was passionate, and I was so impressed with his wisdom and his strong conviction.

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And, you know, I just began to, you know, desire a truly godly man to walk beside in marriage.

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And just again, this was not my experience as a child, this, my dad,

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was not a spiritual leader in our home. He was a wonderful dad, and I want to honor him today,

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because he, I believe he was influenced by the word of God, even though he didn't totally know it.

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There was a lot of Judeo-Christian tradition that came, you know, down through generations at that

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time that definitely were part of our family and our growing up. So I'm grateful for that. But

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anyway, I began to pray and of course, eventually, I went and just talked to my pastor's wife and

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told her, you know what, I'm just praying about my husband and I just can't get Bruce off my mind.

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So I'm just submitting that to you and just asking you to pray with me. And so, you know,

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and just asking you to pray with me. And she did, and it was interesting about the exact same time

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Bruce had gone to talk to her husband, our pastor, and shared basically the same thing with him. He

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had been praying for his future wife and was thinking of me. So eventually he proposed,

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and we actually got married while we were still in school, which is crazy. May 24th, 1986, so we're

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about to celebrate our 38th anniversary. Congratulations. That's amazing. Thank you.

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So you didn't know each other real well when you got married because you hadn't dated all that long

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and you were in college. So, you know, how did you get to know one another? But after college,

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you went into nursing and Bruce went into campus ministry. But then he started having a desire

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to go for future seminary. And you talked about it, decided you would trust the Lord,

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and you packed up and moved to Virginia, which was a little out of your comfort zone, I think, right?

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Absolutely out of my comfort zone. I always say Bruce is the risk taker and I am the

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stay in my safe box Iowa girl. So, you know, little did I know God was going to stretch me and

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shape me through much often through my husband and what he brought to me through him. So, yeah,

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I was a little shocked when he said he wanted to move to Virginia clear across the United States.

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But, you know, I just again, I trusted his wisdom. I trusted his gifts. Actually, to tell you the

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truth, though, our parents were a bit shocked. Both our parents' families were in Iowa, though

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they were a bit shocked. I think they felt like, okay, this is more legitimate, you know,

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because Bruce was in campus ministry. He did have some training, but it wasn't a degree.

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You know, they supported us. Yeah. So it was a stretch for you moving out of your comfort zone.

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But what did God have in store for you in Virginia? So much. Yeah, we landed here. Neither one of us

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had a job when we got here. We already had two small children when we arrived. We took this

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gigantic U-Haul, pulling our one little car behind it. The four of us, because we had a three-year-old

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daughter and a one-year-old son, almost three, almost one, drove, you know, from the middle of

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the country to the East Coast. It was like the biggest adventure I'd ever taken in.

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And, you know, Hampton Roads, we were moving actually to Chesapeake because he was going to

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go to Regent University in Virginia Beach. But our apartment that we had found was in Chesapeake.

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But, you know, it's a big area, a lot of highways, very different than a college town. We had been

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living in Iowa City where we both went to college. I got a job right after I got out of college.

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I got a job right away at Maryview Hospital at the time I was a postpartum nurse. I worked three to

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11 shift. Bruce worked at Regent in admissions. He worked during the day, so we were just tag

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teaming it with the kids. We didn't really have to have, only once did we have to actually get a

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babysitter for the kids when he had a night class. Yeah, the Lord was with us, but it was definitely

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new. How did you connect when you got there with others? Certainly at a university, you can find

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connections, but for you who weren't a student, where did you find that group and how did God

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connect you and how did you grow in that time when Bruce was immersed, of course, in seminary

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training, but what was God doing in you and how did he do it? Well, you know, it's funny. We were

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part of a non-denominational church in Iowa and before we moved out here, Bruce, you know, got a

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list probably from Regent of all the churches in the area and he was focusing in on this large

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church, Kempsville Presbyterian Church. I was like, seriously, Presbyterian? He goes, yeah,

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because I just really think this is a good church. We did visit a couple of churches. I think we only

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visited three, but as soon as we landed in KPC, actually there was a missionary family, a couple

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up there sharing that week and they truly impressed us and we just knew we were home

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and so we got very, we just, you know, joined Kempsville Presbyterian Church. It was a large

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church. There were a lot of young families, a lot of young homeschooling families, although, you

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know, I hadn't started that journey yet, but I just was meeting a lot of other women, older women

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who had walked a little bit further along the road than I had and they mentored me and it was just a

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wonderful place to connect and we did connect. I got involved in a group called MOPS, which stood

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for Mothers of Preschoolers, and that was a really incredible place for me to connect with other young

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mothers, meet other young mothers, and so it was just a gradual process. Of course, it's never easy

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to make friends, but I felt like it happened pretty naturally and quickly and so I really felt God's

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grace. Once you started feeling safe again, comfortable and at home, God asked you to take

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another big step of faith when you and Bruce decided to actually homeschool your kids. Now,

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you were around some moms who were homeschooling, but that was outside your comfort zone. Tell us

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about that and tell us how you all intentionally taught your children biblical principles throughout

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the day because you started homeschooling before there was a huge wave of homeschoolers. It was

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growing certainly, but it was in still early days. It was early days. It was 1992. Mary, our oldest,

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was five and she was definitely ready. She was colored out. She was done with coloring books and

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I mean she still loved to color. She was very artistic, but she was definitely wanting more.

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Bruce actually had started talking about homeschooling when she was a baby and I was

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pretty freaked out by it because I was like, I'm a nurse. I'm not a teacher,

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but thankfully he was patient with me and just kept sowing the seeds and giving me the vision.

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Eventually, thankfully by that time, there were several curriculums available that you could order

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and so being brand new at it, I really wanted something to follow. We actually purchased a

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curriculum called Covenant Home Curriculum. It was a great stepping stone for me and it didn't take

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long for me to just begin to love it. Truly, I can say after homeschooling for many, many years,

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at all levels, teaching my kids to read was probably the greatest delight of that homeschooling

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journey. You have this picture of what it's supposed to look like and it's, you know,

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you're in the nitty-gritty of homeschooling. It's like, you know, things don't land perfectly all

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the time, but it's a goal. You know, there's a goal out there and you just walk it little by little

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and you learn little by little. Bruce would always, you know, he would, in the very beginning,

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he was sharing Deuteronomy 6 with me and the verse about, you know, you shall teach your children

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diligently. You shall talk about the scriptures, you know, when you're with your children,

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when you sit in your house and when you walk along the way and when you lie down and when you rise

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up. And I just began to have such a thrill and a desire for that. And I began to understand

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why homeschooling could be just not just a way to educate our children, but just to disciple them

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and to have an incredible relationship with our children. So just, you know, subjects, you know,

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I had a decent schooling, I would say, but not stellar. You know, I feel like I came out of

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school with a lot of gaps, but subjects began to take on a whole new delight from home.

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As I was teaching them to my kids, I was relearning everything and it was so exciting for me.

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And I began to just see God's purpose in history and in math and in the order of language

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and all of these things. And we talked about the Lord in every subject. And so, you know, and how,

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you know, all of the information of the world, you know, that it points to who God is and his order

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and his beauty. So it was really such a special gift to me that when Bruce first announced it,

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I had a lot of skepticism about. So that was, yeah, that was, you know, I guess, aside from

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moving across the country, that was one of the early big challenges for me to come alongside

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with Bruce's vision. And you ended up actually homeschooling for 27 years and all. So that's

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amazing for someone who was very hesitant to step into it to really have a career as a teacher.

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Yes, yes, yes. Very unexpected. When Bruce graduated from seminary, you and he was ordained

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and he was ordained, you were really expecting to move back to Iowa. But God had other plans

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didn't he share about where he took you? He had hoped to go back to Iowa. Of course,

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we told our parents we're coming back. But you know, God just didn't open that door.

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And Bruce had been filling the pulpit a couple times down in a church in North Carolina,

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in the mountains, very rural mountain country people, very, I would say it was our first

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cross cultural experience, so to speak. Really God even preparing us for future missions and

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things like that. But yeah, doors weren't opening in Iowa. And they wanted, they wanted Bruce to

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come and be their pastor. And we had fallen in love with them, just the few times that we had

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visited. And it just felt right. We're like, we were pinching ourselves, you know, saying,

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are we actually doing this? Are we actually moving to the mountains of North Carolina?

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We just felt drawn. It was again, exciting and crazy and unknown to us. It turned out to be a

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very incredible, beautiful experience. So eventually, God did lead you back to Virginia

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to serve actually at the same church you had attended when Bruce was in school.

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And at the same time, you were, your family was growing, you know, you wanted to fulfill your

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dream family of four kids. But things didn't really go as planned. Share about that season and the

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disappointments, the heartache and how you got through it. Yeah, so actually this started when

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we were still in North Carolina. My mom had had two girls and then she had like a six year gap and

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then had a couple more. And I always loved, you know, that aspect of our family. And so that was

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kind of always my dream to kind of do it like mom did, but not have quite the big gap. But anyway,

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so we wanted to have more children. We still only had the two. And eventually I got pregnant.

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Actually, it was much later because we'd been on some mission trips and had to take medicine and

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different things that, you know, made us wait. But, you know, eventually I had our third child

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in while we were still in North Carolina. So Daniel, our third was seven years younger than his

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older brother, David. So they were seven and nine when Daniel was born. And so again, you know,

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I thought two years apart was perfect. Mary and David were exactly two years apart. That's what

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I wanted to do with my next two because I just wanted them to be friends. I wanted them to have

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each other. I didn't want them to be too far apart. You know, you come up with all these

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perfect scenarios sometimes. And so, you know, we wanted another child. I got pregnant while we were

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still in North Carolina. His baby was going to be due exactly two years after Daniel, but I lost that

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baby pretty early on. So I was like, okay, Lord, you know, I just trust you. So I was like, okay,

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Lord, you know, I just trust you. So eventually I got pregnant again. I guess there was going to be

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maybe three years between them and I lost that baby. Pregnant a third time. By this time we had

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been asked to come to Virginia and Bruce had accepted a position to pastor there. We drove

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here to look for a home. And while we were in the hotel, I miscarried a third time. And I was

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heartbroken and confused, very confused. Even being a nurse, I seriously just did not have a clue of

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what was going on. I was so, just very upset and bewildered. You know, why did I have three,

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you know, successful pregnancies? Why is this happening to me now? I never actually thought

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about the fact that I was quite a bit older, which I should have thought about. So we came to KPC.

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They just welcomed us so lovingly. And it was wonderful to be back in a church that we had

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had history with, had been a part of and already had some good friends there. You know, I had to

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surrender my expectations, Jody, my plans, my perfect picture. You know, part of the processing

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of the grief, we did it in a lot of different ways, but we planted a perennial flower bush,

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sometimes a rose bush, sometimes it wasn't always rose bushes. But every time we lost a baby, we

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would plant a beautiful plant. And, you know, I truly believe that I would see my those children

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someday. And I don't know how that works in God's economy. I'm trusting him. But, you know,

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before we got married, Bruce and I had picked out seven names for our children, you know, which

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just sounds crazy to think about, you know, we did event, you know, actually have seven pregnancies

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in the end, eventually I did get pregnant again. And God gave us Samuel. And he is such a gift. And

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he's named Samuel because like Hannah, I cried out to God and prayed for him. And, and that's

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what Samuel means asked of God or heard of God. And so, but you know, God was present in my grief.

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And he taught me a lot through that grief. And I had to decide, you know, what I was going to focus

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on, was I going to focus on my loss? Or was I going to trust God and believe that through loss,

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you know, I could have gain, you know, by just believing him, it definitely took faith to hope

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for another child. And I just believe God, God gave me that faith. I know that's not everybody's

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story. I know there's many women out there, you know, that that's where their story ended. And so

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I definitely just acknowledge that that pain for sure. I just believe that God is at work in

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everything. That's where I had to land, you know, in that grief and in that loss. And, you know,

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I think the other beautiful part about it is that I was able to minister because I had that

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experience. I was able to minister to other young women going through that. I really hadn't

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I really hadn't met a lot of women or at least women hadn't shared with me that they've had in

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this parish. I hadn't until I was in it personally, I really didn't have a lot of

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knowledge or experience of it personally with other, even with friends or anything.

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But, you know, I love that verse in 2 Corinthians where it talks about how,

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you know, blessed be God who comforts us in our affliction so that we may be able to comfort those

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who are in affliction with the comfort that we ourselves receive from God. And that is so true.

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I'm just thankful. I have learned over the years, be thankful for whatever God brings me.

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He doesn't waste anything, you know, not even loss, you know. We can always trust him.

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Yeah, and you talked about how the Lord started opening doors for you to minister to other women

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who were experiencing the grief of miscarriage. And he was opening other doors for you, other

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opportunities for you to minister to moms, not just women who suffered miscarriage, but also moms.

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And you were able to draw on your experiences as a nurse, as a mom yourself, as, you know, in

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homeschooling. How did you see God working through you in that way as you were, you know, integrating

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into this, back into this church and kind of taking on a new role there? Yeah, so, you know, it's just,

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I think God uses every experience of our life, every season of our life to mold us, shape us,

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teach us. And, you know, being a nurse was a wonderful vocation and it taught me so much,

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and in many ways it prepared me for motherhood. But, you know, when I became a mother, I really

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began to see that as my forever job. And I really wanted to embrace it, embrace it as a mother.

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And I really wanted to embrace it to its fullest. And just, you know, as I experienced different

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things and learned, you know, fell on my face and had to pick myself back up, had to cry out to God,

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had to read his word. I love how David preaches to himself in the Psalms, you know, when he's

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grieving, but then he preaches to himself the truth of who God is and God's faithfulness.

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And really that's, I think, you know, there's so many experiences in a mom. Being a mom is very

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dynamic. It's always changing, you know, there are always new seasons, new, you know, hurdles to jump

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over and things to figure out. And so, you know, by God's grace, you know, I walked through that,

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not without, you know, tripping over the hurdle for sure and skinning my knees. I definitely,

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you know, had scars. But as I went through and just continued to grow, I got involved in some

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young mothers groups. The first one was called Nurturing a Mother's Heart, led by our pastor's

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wife Helen Atwood. But it was such a large group that she needed small group leaders.

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And so I was one of six or eight of those small group leaders. And so we had a small, smaller

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group of maybe six women that we sort of, you know, got to love and mentor and just be there to

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process life with. So that was an opportunity after Helen left our church, me and a couple other

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women, Donna Gorman and Kelly Florence, started a similar group, but we called it Inspired Moms.

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And so again, the whole purpose was to encourage young mothers, wives, women,

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as their walk in all of those roles, and just give, you know, help them to cling to Jesus and

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the hope of God's word and the truth of God's word. So yeah, you know, and part of that was just,

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you know, not just motherhood, but marriage, you know. I think the longer I was married,

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the greater I understood God's design for marriage and the needs of my husband, which I had often

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misunderstood. You know, I didn't grow up with any brothers. Seriously, when I got married, I thought

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Bruce would think just like I did. And when he didn't, I just did not understand. So,

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you know, God opened lots of doors to just share my failings and, you know, my new understanding

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that the Lord had given me and the, you know, the fruit of the Spirit that he was bringing into my

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life through the things that I didn't always understand or didn't feel comfortable for me.

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And in your, in your and Bruce's marriage, and you're learning about the way men think and

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the relationship between husband and wife and parents and children. One of the ways God used

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that to teach you was through family retreats that you started having. And the goal of it was

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really intentionally to guide your, to guide your children in their faith. But God was using that

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in your life as well to reveal some deep-seated fears that you had to deal with. Explain a little

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bit about what those retreats were even like and, and what God was working at you. Just in line with

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that, what God was teaching me about marriage and, and, and mothering and all of those things. Just

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that Titus two verse has always been, especially as I got into ministry with young mothers, just

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that, you know, the older women are to be reverent and behavior, not slanders or slaves too much wine

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they are to teach what is good. And so training young women to love their husbands and children,

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to be self-controlled. If you're working at home, kind and submissive to their husbands. And then

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this is the kicker, which is the end of that verse. So that the word of God may not be reviled.

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And, you know, that's what it's all about. You know, why do we, why do we love our husbands?

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Why do we want to serve them? Why do we want to come alongside them and support them? Why do we

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want to teach our children and train them in the Lord, you know, so that the word of God may not

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be reviled. So that others will look and see and want to know that Jesus that you rely on every day.

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So that's just really, you know, dear, dear to my heart and my experience.

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Well, Elias, you look back over your journey. What is a key principle or key truth that you want to

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share with others that could help them as they're struggling through the challenges that face us

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every day? You know, Bruce is a, always has been a movershaker kind of guy. He early in, well,

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I think this was when we were in North Carolina, he went to a conference called the inheritance of

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the heart. And he was just so impressed with the teaching there. And, you know, what he was learning

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was just that, you know, we're passing the inheritance of our relationship with God onto

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our children, that we want to share that heart love, that heart, just desire with our children.

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And so when he came home from that conference, he decided that we were going to start having family

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retreats, yearly family retreats to intentionally, you know, guide our children. And so, you know,

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we, he would plan it all out. He would, he would make a notebook. He would, you know, make it just

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like a conference. You know, everybody had their own notebook. You know, we had an agenda with even

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the fun things. Okay. Now we get to go play putt-putt golf or whatever it was, you know, that he would,

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but we would definitely have times of just talking about the Lord, praying together,

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reading God's word. But, you know, he, he started out with teaching us about our identity.

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And so it was really beautiful. So he had sort of a lettering, knowing plater for each of us. So for

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me, it was CCAE. So the first C, standing for I'm a creation of God. So he, we focused on that,

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just the fact that we are creations of God. Then the second C was I'm a Christian. You know, that

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was a decision that, obviously not without the guidance of the Holy spirit, but that, you know,

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we, we gave our lives to Christ and became Christians. And then third one, the A was I'm

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an Anderson. That's part of my identity, even though I married into that name, you know, by,

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by God's divine purpose, I became Ellen Anderson instead of Ellen Strasburg. So that's, that became

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part of my identity. And then the last one was the E and that's I'm Ellie, you know, who did God

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really, you know, what did God instill in Ellie, particularly, you know, he did this with each of us,

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each of the kids had, we made t-shirts with CCAE CCAM. So it was really sweet time, but we also

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developed a family mission statement, personal mission statements, we created a family coat of

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arms together. And in our family coat of arms, I don't know if any of you familiar with coats of

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arms, but often there's a hand coming out of the top of the helmet. And our hand was holding four

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arrows, which stood for our four children. Actually, our, our first family retreat was before

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Sam was born. So I had three arrows, but we, you know, we had to add an arrow. So the challenging

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thing for me in the beginning, I think, I think overall, the challenging thing was, you know,

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just that we went on these retreats every year, and they were a little overwhelming to me. We

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always went in December, early December, which was an over, I was always like, why do we have to go

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right before Christmas when I'm just trying to do all these, get ready for Christmas, you know,

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I'm just thinking practically, not spiritually. And the Lord really just had to humble me and teach

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me and, you know, teach me to submit and ultimately to be so thankful for a husband and a father that

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would lead us in this. The other part of the struggle was some of the things that Bruce would

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have us do. And often he, in the very beginning, he was having us, even the children look out at

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our lives years down the road. And, you know, we had to even write out like what we wanted people

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to say about us after we had passed away. He wanted me to picture what was I going to be doing

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in 25 years. And seriously, Jodi, that was very intimidating to me because I was an all in it mom.

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This was my dream. This was my, you know, I was, I won't say it was my life because God was my life,

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but, you know, God had given me the gift of motherhood and I was pouring a lot into it.

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And it was of course a huge part of my everyday existence. And even more so as a homeschooling

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mother, because it wasn't like they went away for the day. You know, we were together all the time.

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So, you know, he challenged me to think about that, to think what would I be doing,

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you know, when my kids were grown. And I seriously, it was terrifying to me to think about that because

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I had laid down nursing. I was full on in homeschooling. The thought of having to go

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back into nursing was a little scary to me because things in the medical world change,

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you know, frequently. And, you know, it's exponential, you know, if you look at the

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medical world, you know, even someone that's not in that can see how much it's, you know,

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how quickly it advances. So, you know, just there was fear of maybe having to go back into that world

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after, you know, potentially being out for 20 some years. I just, I could not picture what

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fruitful anything I could be doing after my kids were grown and out of the house.

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So, yeah, that was a challenge for me. And it was something I definitely had to pray through.

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Our youngest finally, you know, went to college. He graduated in 2019. And actually, that was right

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on the cusp of COVID. So, actually ended up staying home and doing community college just here at home.

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But in his latter high school years, I started branching out a little bit. We were involved in

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a homeschooling, a classical homeschooling organization called Classical Conversations.

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So, I started being a tutor within that. And then at one point, I became a support representative

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for that where I oversaw different communities. So, I did a few things within that organization

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that paid very little, but paid a little. I also started

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aiding and substitute teaching a little bit here and there at a Christian school out here in Suffolk,

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called Suffolk Christian Academy, which was, you know, a great experience. And I loved the people

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that I worked with there. So, I was doing a few things, you know, while Samuel finished high school.

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But once he was truly done and actually getting ready to go off to Virginia Tech, I was no longer

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working for Classical Conversations. I was still substitute teaching. It was wonderful being in a

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Christian school, but it's just a different experience than homeschooling your kids.

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And you don't feel like as a substitute teacher that you can make much of an impact. So, I just

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wasn't feeling like that was my future. And so, I was praying about, you know, nursing and different

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things. It was interesting. I was just checking my email. I saw an email from the Crisis Pregnancy

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Center that said they were hiring. And, you know, we had always known about the Crisis Pregnancy

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Center. Our churches had already supported it. We had supported it by doing the, you know, the fill

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the baby bottle drives and the baby showers and different things like that. But I truly did not

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know what they did in the background other than supporting young people. And so, I was

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young, you know, mothers that maybe didn't have a lot of resources. So, but I saw this email that

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they were hiring and it just caught my attention. And so, I pulled up the email, started looking at

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it, and I was reading a job description for a patient advocate. I was just kind of taken aback

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by it because I actually was, you know, reading the job description and it was saying, you know,

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do you like to meet with women one-on-one, which is really what I was doing a lot in the mothers

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groups. I'm not really an upfront speaker. I did do that a couple times as a pastor's wife and I

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probably should have declined the invitation because it's definitely not my strength. But I

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do love one-on-one. You know, would you like to reinforce the humanity of the unborn

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child with patience? Would you like to show compassion and be able to share Jesus Christ

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with young women who are in a crisis pregnancy and counsel them toward a life-giving decision?

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And, you know, and then also thinking back to my, you know, my experience as a postpartum

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and newborn nursery nurse, it was just kind of all coming together as I was reading this job

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description. And I was just kind of very surprised, you know, because when I tried really hard, like

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when Bruce was asking me, what are you going to do 25 years later or 30 years later? I couldn't think

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of anything. And all of a sudden I'm reading this job description and I'm like, oh my goodness, Lord,

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could you have something like this for me? I was just so amazed and yet, you know, just

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hesitant. But I brought it to Bruce and I said, honey, will you please pray about this with me?

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Because I'm feeling really just drawn to this. And so we prayed and he said, yeah, yeah, I think

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you should, you know, apply. Let's see what happens. So I did apply and I actually got hired three

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years ago in, it'll be June 1st, will be my third year anniversary of my first day on the job.

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It was really one of those times in your life where you see that God was taking care of you all along

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and he had things figured out before you had to figure them out. Again, just solidifying

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my trust in our gracious father, such a gift to me. And I am still there after three years and

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still love it. Life as a wife and a mother is so dynamic. There's so much change and there is so

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much to learn. But, you know, it's such a wonderful journey. And I guess I just want to say, don't

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feel like you have to figure it out ahead of time. God is directing you. And the fear that I had

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about each season really was not worth it. You know, God had it planned all along. And I think

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a lot of women fear that if they, for instance, marry someone, and particularly maybe someone with

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a strong personality or a strong vision like my husband had, and if they let him lead, that they

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won't be fulfilled, that they'll lose their footing, lose their independence and feel worthless.

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You know, but God's purpose in salvation, first of all, is to free us of that independence.

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You know, that independence is really not of God. We need to be dependent on him. You know, we are

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dead in ourselves. So that's the first truth, you know. But marriage also, in marriage also,

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God is freeing us from independence. But I just want to say to you, young women, if you're in the

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early part of your marriage or you're not married yet, you know, marriage is not about loss. It is

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about gain. You know, we have to rely on God as he makes us one. And that's what he does in marriage.

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It's something spiritually happens on that altar. You know, this is as you make your vows to one

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another. It's incredible. It's spiritual. And, you know, we can't have too late leaders, or at least

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not too trying to lead in the exact same areas, I will say. And, you know, when we trust God's word

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and we trust the man that he's given us, we can know that God will in all of our serving, submitting,

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obeying, following, you know, following your husband halfway across the country,

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following your husband when he says you should homeschool, and all kinds of things, you know,

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and in all your growing in God, that he is going to form in us and accomplish in us his desires.

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And we will be far more fulfilled than if we did things our own way and in our own strength.

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And really, you know, isn't that what we want? Isn't, you know, what we want is for God to make

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us into what he planned all along. I could have never written out my life the way that it has

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transpired. Ahead of time, I could have never imagined the gifts and the joy and the fulfillment

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that I have now. I've done so many things, you know, married to Bruce, that I never would have

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initiated on my own, you know, moving across the country with two small children in my early 20s,

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you know, homeschooling my kids, buying houses, you know, that was terrifying to me, buying houses

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that were way more expensive than I thought we should be purchasing. Traveling, you know,

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I've traveled with Bruce to countries and places that are not really considered vacation destinations.

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I'll just say that. Once we close, Ellie, would you share about a woman in the Bible who's inspired

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or encouraged or taught you something? Yes, you know, well, I always think of Hannah

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because she cried out to the Lord for a child. And of course I did as well. But, you know, really,

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I think my favorite woman of the Bible is Ruth. Ruth had everything against her. But even in her

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heartbroken life, she chose to take a hard and difficult and even harder and more difficult road

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to follow Naomi to a country and a nation and a people that she did not know. She must have

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seen something in Naomi that spoke about Naomi's God to make her want to do that.

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And it's incredible when we think of how she left everything, everything that she knew and

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what she was most definitely probably comfortable with in her life, including her own family,

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her own family to choose to follow God. And of course, we know that God had an amazing plan for

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how she became one of the great grandmothers of Jesus. So I really do just love that story of Ruth.

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You know, if I can, I just want to share a final song, which I just love this song. And I guess it

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kind of summarizes hopefully what I shared today in sharing my life. And it's out of Psalm 143,

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verse 8, let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love for I put my trust in you.

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Show me the way I should go for to you I entrust my life. You know, listening to your story also

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brings me back to a Psalm, someone we used to sing actually out of the New King James Version,

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it's Psalm 20, verses seven and eight, the King James Version says, some trust in chariots and

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some in horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God. We are brought down and fallen,

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but we are risen and stand upright. New International Version reads, some trust in

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chariots and some in horses, but we will trust in the name of the Lord our God. They are brought

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to their knees and fall, but we rise up and stand firm. You know, it's okay to have dreams and plans

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as we move forward in life. I did, Ellie did, it gets us moving, but we have to remember Proverbs

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19, 21 says, you can make many plans, but the Lord's purposes will prevail. So as we make our plans,

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as we make our dreams, if we hold them loosely and allow God to shift and change them, we'll see how

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loving and good God is and that he has our best in mind. We can trust him with our expectations

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when our expectations are not met or when our plans seem to fall apart, because his plans for us are

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better than our plans for us. He knows us better than we know ourselves because he created us.

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Ellie, would you take a moment, pray for our listeners? Father, we're so grateful

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that we can put our trust in you, God,

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that your unfailing love is always there for us and that our identity is in you and that

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your purposes are beyond our understanding, God, but we can trust you to bring them forth

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as we seek your face and as we put our hope in you alone, God, and in your word. So help us, God,

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help us to be obedient to what you teach us and to take those steps of faith, God, however you might

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be leading us, whether it's through an older mother, an older woman, our husbands, just our

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our pastor, Lord, or different circumstances in life, however you're leading us, Lord,

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we just pray that you will, I pray that you will give these women courage, Father, courage and faith

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and hope in you. You are our ultimate hope and our fulfillment and we thank you for that, Lord,

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in Jesus' name. If you have not heard, the Somebody Cares Widow and Orphan Fund was developed to help

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00:55:33,600 --> 00:55:40,720
widows as well as unaccompanied children who have special needs. James 1-27 tells us that pure and

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undefiled religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their

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distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you. You can do that in part by joining the growing

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00:55:51,840 --> 00:55:58,800
number of others who give to our Widow and Orphan Fund. Together we can be a tangible expression of

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00:55:58,800 --> 00:56:03,600
God's love to those with special needs like helping a young widow with two children relocate

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00:56:03,600 --> 00:56:10,000
to a safer place after war broke out in her country or building an indoor bathroom facility for

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orphaned girls in Kenya. If you haven't joined us yet, would you consider giving a special gift to

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help? Just go to the hergodstory.org website and click on the Widow and Orphan tab at the top of

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the page. And thank you for tuning in. Check out the show notes at hergodstory.org for scriptures

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and other information we talked about. And remember to get your free six-week or devotional on Women

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00:56:34,960 --> 00:56:41,200
of the Bible or purchase a 12-week devotional for just $12 knowing that all the proceeds go to

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00:56:41,200 --> 00:56:48,000
support our Widow and Orphan Fund. We would also love to pray with you on our 24-7 prayer and text

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line. So give us a call or text anytime at 855-459-CARE or email us at prayer at somebodycares.org.

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And now dear friends, I leave you with a blessing adapted from Psalm 125 verse 1. Because you trust

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in the Lord, you are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever. Her God Story is a

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ministry of Somebody Cares America and international. To find out more about or support the ministry,

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go to somebodycares.org.