Prayer for Prodigals on Facebook—Lori Lloyd, episode 128

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If you love a prodigal, you can discover help and hope for your wilderness journey right

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here at the When You Love a Prodigal podcast.

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And also, hope and help for your own life journey.

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And for sure, today you will want to write down where you can go to get some of these

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great resources.

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I am grateful that God has asked me to continue to do this prodigal podcast.

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And I'm grateful that you are listening.

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You may not realize that we have a number of other helps for you on your hard journey,

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not just the podcast.

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You may be familiar, I hope, with the Worldwide Prodigal Prayer Day every June 2nd.

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And we will be doing that again.

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We also have a wonderful, secure Prayer for Prodigals prayer site.

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And if you're not familiar with that or a member there, the link is in the show notes

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so that you can join in there and post prayer requests and others will pray for you.

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It's very secure though, so you can be comfortable talking freely there.

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And today I have with me my friend, my partner in this ministry and our great prodigal lover

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Lori Lloyd.

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Lori manages our Prayer for Prodigals Facebook page.

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And if you haven't been there, you will want to go.

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Welcome Lori.

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I am so glad to introduce our listeners to you.

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Thanks Judy, actually it's really a delight to be here to talk with you about the Prayer

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for Prodigals ministry.

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First let me say, I'm the hand behind the social media pages.

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And many people are a little bit confused or just not sure who's doing the Prayer for

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Prodigals Facebook page and Instagram, many think it's you and I've been very happy with

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them thinking it's you.

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But I want them to know it's you because God is using you on Facebook and on social media

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to touch an awful lot of lives.

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And so I wanted them to get to hear from you, but I want to let them know what's available

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to add to the resources that will help them on their journey.

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Well, there are some great resources and I've got some fun things to share.

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Before you talk about that, why don't you just give us a glimpse of what it was like

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when I said, would you like to do the Facebook page and what that was like and your learning

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curve to be able to do this?

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Well, I procrastinated.

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I dragged my feet because my husband and I, after we got married, we found ourselves adopting

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and we, the Lord provided two adorable little boys.

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And they are delightful.

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And they are delightful and adorable and many of your listeners can relate to parenting.

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You know, children don't come with a manual and we struggle at times.

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And our one of our firstborn son came from an orphanage in Romania and he was 17 months

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old when we adopted him.

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And I'll just leave it there, but you can believe that there were some issues and some

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things that we had to work through and maybe we weren't even all that prepared.

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But then who's really prepared for their first child?

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Well, I thought you could be more prepared than that.

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Yes, probably so.

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So learning to parent was a challenge.

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I think we didn't have the resources available.

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And this is where God, I think, first gave me a heart for loving prodigals.

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So I got connected with Prayer for Prodigals through the Women's Resource Ministries of

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Campus Crusade.

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I've served the Lord through Campus Crusade CRU now.

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I'm in my fourth decade.

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And when I came to your office, there was talk at the beginning that I might take over

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the Prayer for Prodigals Facebook page.

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And I did drag my feet some, but eventually I said yes.

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And I'm so grateful.

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And I had just the Facebook page and that was enough.

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And then eventually we did increase the social media presence to Instagram.

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And there's a growing community also at Instagram.

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But the Facebook page, if you're on Facebook, it is a wonderful page.

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But Judy, you know, I started hearing you talk about your family and your struggles you

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had with Josh and all the various things you did and how God led you through a wilderness

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journey.

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I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't had those experiences and started sharing

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them with the staff, family, a crew.

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Eventually this ministry opened up to be global.

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And that is so exciting.

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That's partly because you've been global for a long time.

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You know, early on, I started reading your blogs and I started noting quotes that you

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would say.

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And I decided that I would make some Facebook posts.

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And one of the ones that was very meaningful to me was God gives mercy for the past, grace

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for the present, and hope for the future.

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I made this into a graphic and I think I share it every couple, oh, every year.

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And it's still, it's very popular.

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Well, it's true.

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It came from living that out and seeing God provide in very special ways.

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So I think the Facebook page has been around for about 13 years.

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Okay.

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Probably when you stepped in, it was pretty simple and not a lot of interaction happening.

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That was very true.

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When I stepped in, even for the first year or two, it was still simple.

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And there wasn't the presence that was encouraging people.

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And then I began to see what other Facebook pages were doing.

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And I really wanted to make the presence on Facebook something that would be encouraging

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and that people would actually have the time to look at.

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Quickly before they moved on and kept scrolling because that's one of the hazards with the

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Facebook Ministry.

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Yes.

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So eventually I came up with like sound bites.

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That's sort of a good word to explain it.

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Phrases, quotes, encouragement that others could grasp behold of.

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And then I would write a little text to go with it.

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And eventually I started adding scripture.

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This is how to make the Facebook page where it's at today, I think, because there's just

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enough.

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It's not like reading a blog on Facebook where it takes you away.

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It takes your time.

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But you can quickly get words of encouragement.

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Do you have examples?

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So like last week there was one of our faithful, frequent followers on the page who shared

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this in the comments and it was just perfect.

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It's a story of changed lives through prayer.

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And we all need to hear this.

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We're encouraged when we hear about how God has changed someone's life after many, many

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years.

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And that is some of the struggles that our Facebook followers have is they prayed for

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years and their loved ones not come to the Lord.

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So I have this story.

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She says, I'm so grateful for our answered prayers over the years.

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I recall praying for my grandmother who for years rejected the Lord and we wept for her.

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We never gave up praying and loving her unconditionally.

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She had suffered much in her younger years and didn't realize how God's love could change

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her life.

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But about six years before she passed, an evangelist came to her nursing home and shared

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the gospel with her.

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And she did pray, I think, probably for the first time she heard it in such a way that

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she knew she needed the Lord.

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So the Lord truly answers prayers.

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And then she shares this verse from 2 Corinthians chapter 1:20, for the promises of God find

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their yes in him.

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I love that verse.

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Yes, I'm sure.

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I've claimed it many times.

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How many followers do we have right now?

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So as of today, almost 5,200 and in October, mid-October, we went over 5,000 and we celebrated

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and we celebrated and we were so excited.

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And one of the things I think happens with Facebook is when you do go over a milestone

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such as 5,000, then I think they might actually start increasing your reach.

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And I think I've seen that because just in two months, the Lord's provided over 200

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new followers to the page.

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And this is really exciting.

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So we'll see what God does.

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It's amazing.

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We're able to share blogs.

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We're able to share encouragement that would not be there if the presence of this ministry

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wasn't there.

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We are very grateful to God for this.

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Why do you think it's grown as much as it has?

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Well, I like to communicate that people are not alone in loving a prodigal.

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Many share that the holidays are just really hard for them or adult children won't come

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home or adult children left a while ago and they have not heard from them since.

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And those are really tragic, sad stories.

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They would breaks my heart every time it does.

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It breaks my heart.

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And yet I offer hope.

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I offer encouragement.

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I offer grace and just allowing them to know that they're not alone.

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And that makes a huge difference.

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I think the page has grown a lot for a number of reasons.

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And partly that we as humans need frequent encouragement and because God answers prayer.

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That's why I think some of the page has grown.

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And also the hope in seeing that they're not alone.

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And I acknowledge everyone as much as I'm able to on the comment.

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I try to create a community.

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And I think you've done a good job of it.

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And that's why it keeps growing.

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And that's why it's community.

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And there are others who are going through the same thing and they're learning from each

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other.

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So I have some statistics.

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OK.

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That might be helpful.

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In the last month, this would be the month of December, the Facebook page gained 76 new

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followers.

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We had a post engagement of 7400.

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That is a lot of post engagement.

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415 comments and 780 people shared various posts throughout the month.

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This is what the analytics has shown.

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And this tells a story, a story of people who are finding hope.

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And that is, I think, the goal.

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I think people come to this page and they're desperate.

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But especially in December is always the hardest month at seeing.

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But they're desperate for help for someone else who has found some hope and some answers.

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It's providing something they aren't able to find.

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Because so often people, if they have a prodigal, they don't want to talk about it to people,

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other people.

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It's only when they find each other that they can open up and they get it.

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Somebody else understands somebody else is going through this.

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And you have been facilitating that.

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And it's no wonder that it's growing.

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You know, it could be looked at as a lot of work or it could be looked at as an opportunity

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to reach and encourage.

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And that's what I really like doing.

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And what I share in the post are things that I find that I need to hear.

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And so this helps many others.

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And I'm grateful for all who are blessed.

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We have become a community and I look forward to the people coming in whenever they have

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the time.

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It's really a blessing.

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And it creates like a family feeling.

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I've actually come to know some of these people just through their dear ones to me, just through

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seeing them show up every day.

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They encourage me and I hope I'm able to encourage them.

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And it is a community.

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God is very kind.

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So there's a comment from a special mom praying for all the parents of prodigals and the prodigals

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themselves, may God remove their hardened hearts and give them hearts of flesh as well

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as a hunger and thirst for all that is of the Lord.

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These are rich prayers.

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They bless others.

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They bless me.

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And I think you've been blessed as well as you've gone to the Facebook page.

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I just like to see that the page continues to grow because there are so many hurting

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people.

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And there really are so many hurting people.

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And this is there.

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We have friends.

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The prodigal community broadly, they get to know each other.

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And like last month, I interviewed another person who has a prodigal ministry and we

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partner a lot with the Hope for Hurting Parents.

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And we get to know each other and encourage each other.

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And so some of them will really help in these people and others would help these.

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But this is going to help an awful lot of people.

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Yes.

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Yes.

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I noticed some ministries concentrate on mental health.

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That is such a good topic to be addressing.

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People find that maybe they don't know where to go for mental health.

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And Hope for Hurting Parents has really blessed and ministered so many people.

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Yes.

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Yes.

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True.

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Do your listeners mostly connect just with you in one-on-one answers or do they actually

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comment in on each other's?

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You know, Judy, the beauty of social media is that the comments are open.

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And in early December, a mom shared that her son had passed away.

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It was just a simple comment.

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I had seen the comment come through, but I wasn't able to get to it immediately.

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And by the later in the afternoon, there were so many comments from others on the page who

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were praying for her and expressing their condolences and that they really cared.

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And I think that mom went away blessed.

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And that's one of the beauties of the social media page.

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One of the things I love about social media, not everything, but one thing that I love

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is that it's a place where people can stop.

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A lot of it is really just scrolling through and a lot of it's negative or it's promoting

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myself kind of stuff.

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And this is a place where people can go and feel secure and safe and understood and learn

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from each other and encourage someone else.

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And so not only are we grateful for what someone else says, but it blesses us to be able to

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minister to someone from our own experience and words from God that have meant something

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to us or if we get to share a really good story about what God has done in our prodigal,

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then that can give others hope.

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You know, I find that I'm sharing in the text that I write that I share from my experiences

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with my son and that is such an encouragement to others.

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They know that I've been there.

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Moms will share some hurtful things that have happened in the family situation and they

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find comfort and hope and we can get beyond.

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But it takes time, it takes prayer and it takes never giving up.

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Yes it does.

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Time, care, never giving up.

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And the relationships that we can build with others just are huge positive encouragements.

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You know, I look at the Facebook page as a safe haven.

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It's a slice cut out from so many crazy things that happen on social media and it's a place

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that's safe and we find that it ministers in such a way that there is the hope.

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One of the blessings of the Prayer for Prodigals ministry has been the Global Day of Prayer

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for Prodigals on June 2nd.

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And I think we start the momentum for that about three months in advance and you know,

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Judy, it's only five months away.

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Is that true?

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In March I start to think about the theme.

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Yes.

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Well, we aren't going to hurry you on that but there are things that I do on the Facebook

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page as well to prepare for the Prayer for Prodigals day.

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One thing is I start letting everyone know that they can add their son or daughter to

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the website.

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People love that.

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In fact, I will get probably into the fall people will still send me names to add to

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the website.

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So on the website at prayerforprodigals.com we have the master prayer list and I refer

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to that from the Facebook page and people will start sending in the comments section

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or sometimes they will put it in the messenger that they have various children, adult children

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and friends of their children that they would like prayer for.

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So we start recording those and this is where Hope for Herding Parents, Dena Yohe joins

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us and she also does a lot of advertising to get new names added to the website.

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But if you've given us your name in the past, there's no need to do it again because their

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names are still there.

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I still see my sons there named there every year.

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Mine too.

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Yes.

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And they need the prayer and we do pray.

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But this is something I'll start advertising on the social media pages, both the Facebook

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prayer for prodigals and the Instagram prayer for prodigals.

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And I know we're mainly talking about the Facebook page today, but for those of you

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who are listening to this podcast today, you may also enjoy doing Instagram.

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And I'm the same person who does the Instagram page and I'm the same person who answers the

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questions and comments and you can also messenger prayer for prodigals if you have something

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private that you would like to say.

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And as you start thinking about your prodigal loved one, maybe a prayer request comes to

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mind that you don't want to leave just in the comments, it may be more personal for

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you.

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You can message the messenger tab and leave a comment in the space there with your prayer

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request.

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And I am the one who prays.

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I will be the one there praying for you.

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You can not worry about it being compromised.

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It's safe and secure on messenger.

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So I imagine maybe we'll be getting some prayer requests.

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Oh, I imagine we will.

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People are, they're looking for a way to engage with somebody that feels safe to them.

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And so that's what the Facebook page provides.

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And again, if you don't want it to be public, you can message.

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And the prayer for prodigals page is secure.

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And so the day of prayer is an incredibly wonderful thing.

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We don't have a clue how many people are praying because we have no control over it.

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We just encourage people to get with somebody else, maybe a small group, maybe a friend,

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or just pray by yourself.

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But here's the list and go as far as you can on it.

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There are those of us who make sure we pray through the whole list, which is 8000 last

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year, I think.

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So it takes a little while.

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We don't always get it done on that day and we keep going.

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But it's such a thought that others are praying for this person I love.

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And that's so encouraging.

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That is so encouraging.

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And you realize that you are not alone.

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You know, Judy, a couple of years ago on the day of prayer, I, on the Facebook page,

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it became quite a prayer day just right there on the Facebook page.

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I invited people to share their prayer requests, to share the names of first names only of

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those that they wanted prayer for.

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And then others would come along and pray for them and leave their own names that they

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would want prayer for their prodigal loved ones.

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By the end of the day, I had over 160 comments.

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There were so many likes, so many shares.

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People were coming to the page that hadn't known about it before, the Facebook page for

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prayer for prodigals.

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It was a wonderful resource and encouragement, I believe.

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And then for several days after I heard from people how they were blessed, how it encouraged

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them and it really helped them to see that they're not alone.

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We need that encouragement that we are not alone.

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Yes, we do.

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Definitely.

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You know, one of the things when we first started this, and I wrote my book on when you

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love a prodigal.

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We were mostly talking about teenagers, maybe young adults, very young.

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And the concerns were addiction kinds of things or getting in trouble and go to JDC or time

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in jail even, or just any things like that.

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But I've noticed that I see a lot more now of your older prodigals who may not be making

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the same destructive choices that we saw, the addictions and the trouble with the law

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and that kind of thing, but are just turning their backs on the Lord and often therefore

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on their parents.

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And so I know many, I know many who their kids don't talk to them or won't let them

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talk to their children.

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You can't talk to your grandchildren.

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And I would imagine that that group has grown on the Facebook page.

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Oh my goodness, yes.

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That is a lot of the stories that I hear that adult children won't let them see their grandchildren.

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And that is so hurtful for the grandparents.

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And the grandchildren.

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And the grandchildren, yes.

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And then others, there's a dear sister in the Lord who does not know where her son

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is.

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And there are many others in that same situation.

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Which is heartbreaking.

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It's very heartbreaking.

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It was a very sad story.

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And each one is a sad story, but there is hope.

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And one of the reasons I continue to do this ministry on social media is to bring hope,

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to remind us to never stop praying.

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God is going to answer.

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He's going to do it in his timing.

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And I think that's the hope I like to offer is that just because we pray today does not

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mean that in a week or two or a month that we're going to see our answer.

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It will be years.

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I shared the story near the beginning of our podcast about a granddaughter who prayed

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for her elderly grandmother, who finally came to the Lord.

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But it was six months before she passed away.

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And they didn't have that experience of her experiencing freedom and hope in her own life

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that she only had.

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It was the last six months of her life.

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Thank God she's in heaven.

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And they will see her again.

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But they never gave up praying.

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And we need to never give up praying.

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That's one of the things that keeps encouraging me to go on.

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The long years that we prayed for my son, and I still pray because they're just like

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for me, they're areas to keep growing.

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But every time I ask him about some new thing we're doing and how he feels about it, because

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he's kind of at the middle of it.

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And his story gets shared.

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And he always responds now.

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He has for quite a few years.

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He says, I hope it helps some people with the person they love.

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It helps so many people.

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And I love Josh's spirit and heart.

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He's not the outgoing person, but he's allowed his story to be shared, to be an encouragement

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to others.

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I think your book, Judy, you talked about when you love a prodigal, 90 days, devotional,

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that has helped so many people.

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And I get comments frequently.

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Even now it's been four years since your book came out.

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People are still being helped by it.

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I'm so grateful.

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And so is Josh grateful because he let me tell the truth about things he was doing and

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the things we were going through.

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So any last thoughts as we wrap up this time?

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I just want to remind anyone who has a prayer request that they can leave it in the comments

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00:30:37,040 --> 00:30:42,200
at Prayer for Prodigals Facebook page or in Messenger.

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00:30:42,200 --> 00:30:49,080
I'm also very grateful for this ministry and that I've had a part in helping someone in

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their prodigal journey with a loved one.

404
00:30:52,800 --> 00:31:00,360
I'm still going through my own prodigal journey and I will be praying for our sons for many

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years to come.

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But that's because we want them to do well once they return to the Lord.

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And this ministry has driven me to prayer.

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Prayer for both the Facebook page and for the followers who come to the page, for the

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content that I share.

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And you do it well.

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It's very creative and beautiful.

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Well thank you, Judy, because one of my prayers is I'll be sitting at my desk and I'll say,

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Lord, help me.

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I can't think of anything.

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I'm not creative right now.

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I don't have any words of wisdom.

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Would you please give me your creativity and words of wisdom?

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No sooner than my having prayed that prayer, I somehow am able to come up with something

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and I think the Lord has blessed.

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And it's really been a privilege to serve in this ministry.

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My vision is to keep on as the Lord leads.

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But with all the craziness of things on social media, I believe that God's created a safe

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place for believers who need help, hope, and prayer.

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This is the mission, prayer for prodigals.

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I want to thank you, Judy, for beginning this ministry.

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Wasn't my plan!

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But God used our son to give me this ministry as well.

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And so it's been a great thing for me to partner with you and get to touch lives.

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Thank you.

430
00:32:44,160 --> 00:32:45,160
Thank you.

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00:32:45,160 --> 00:32:50,680
You know, Judy, I remember you saying at one point, when you first began this ministry

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on social media, there weren't very many other places to go on Facebook to find help and

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hope and encouragement in dealing with the prodigal.

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And look where it has grown now.

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00:33:08,880 --> 00:33:14,360
And I do love how others who are doing it, we really are encouraging each other.

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Yes.

437
00:33:15,360 --> 00:33:16,360
Yes.

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I think pleases the Lord as well.

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00:33:18,480 --> 00:33:19,480
Yes.

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00:33:19,480 --> 00:33:21,440
Thank you, Lori.

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It's a joy to work with you.

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00:33:23,080 --> 00:33:24,080
Thank you.

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00:33:24,080 --> 00:33:26,760
And I'm very grateful for what you're doing.

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00:33:26,760 --> 00:33:30,560
And I'm glad for people to know that it's you doing it.

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And I'm just, I'm so grateful.

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And I hope that many of our listeners will not only be blessed themselves and find more

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00:33:42,160 --> 00:33:46,400
help and hope, but they'll tell others as well.

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00:33:46,400 --> 00:33:49,680
Do you know how they can find our Facebook page?

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00:33:49,680 --> 00:33:52,640
And it will also be in our show notes.

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00:33:52,640 --> 00:33:53,640
Okay, great.

451
00:33:53,640 --> 00:33:54,640
So go ahead.

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00:33:54,640 --> 00:33:55,640
Okay.

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00:33:55,640 --> 00:33:56,640
We'll go to the show notes.

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That way you'll see it written down, but you go on Facebook and you click the search

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button and you type in prayer for prodigals.

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00:34:05,360 --> 00:34:08,080
And four is written out, F-O-R.

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00:34:08,080 --> 00:34:10,200
And you should be able to find us.

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00:34:10,200 --> 00:34:11,200
Okay.

459
00:34:11,200 --> 00:34:16,920
So it doesn't go to the other prayer for prodigals seven, which is a friend of ours.

460
00:34:16,920 --> 00:34:17,920
Yes.

461
00:34:17,920 --> 00:34:18,920
Oh, yeah.

462
00:34:18,920 --> 00:34:19,920
Yeah.

463
00:34:19,920 --> 00:34:20,920
Okay.

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00:34:20,920 --> 00:34:24,480
Well, that's a possibility.

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00:34:24,480 --> 00:34:29,040
So there are other prayer for prodigal ministries.

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They'll find it.

467
00:34:30,040 --> 00:34:31,040
They'll find it.

468
00:34:31,040 --> 00:34:32,040
Yes.

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00:34:32,040 --> 00:34:34,880
So thank you.

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00:34:34,880 --> 00:34:39,920
And next week, I'm starting something new and a little different.

471
00:34:39,920 --> 00:34:47,200
I think that God is always committed to working on us through this journey as much as he is

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00:34:47,200 --> 00:34:49,000
on our prodigals.

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00:34:49,000 --> 00:34:53,760
And so the next three weeks, well, actually it won't, it'll be three weeks and then we'll

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have a special guest and then we'll have several more on what scripture tells us in Colossians

475
00:35:01,080 --> 00:35:09,520
three, how to live and love like Jesus says how we are to be clothed like Jesus.

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And that includes compassion and kindness and humility, which we will cover in the next

477
00:35:16,400 --> 00:35:17,400
few weeks.

478
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So I think it'll help you and your walk with God and becoming the person you want.

479
00:35:22,560 --> 00:35:29,800
But I think it will also help you as you walk through life with your prodigals.

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God bless you.