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Speaker 1: Life audio.

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Speaker 3: The first time that I actually saw the planet from above,

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Speaker 3: it was during the Ascent. I looked out my window

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Speaker 3: and I saw up the coastline of the eastern seaboard

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Speaker 3: of the United States, and you can see the vibrancy,

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Speaker 3: you can see the life just in the colors, and

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Speaker 3: just understanding and knowing that that the atmosphere protects the

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Speaker 3: planet and enables us to have the air debris that

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Speaker 3: we need in all of that, and that is a

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Speaker 3: special thing to view from that bandage point.

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Speaker 2: Welcome to the Jesus Calling Podcast. This week, we're talking

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Speaker 2: with astronaut Butch Wilmore, who has spent four hundred and

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Speaker 2: sixty five days off planet, giving him a literally out

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Speaker 2: of this world perspective on God's creation. From fighter jet

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Speaker 2: pilot to space shuttle, commander, Wilmore's career was a testament

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Speaker 2: of preparation and discipline. However, his faith was truly tested

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Speaker 2: when a spacecraft Wilmore was manning began losing thrusters, and

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Speaker 2: he was just a prayer away from spiraling toward potential disaster.

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Speaker 2: Next up, we speak with Brooke Envic, a veteran dean

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Speaker 2: in higher education who recounts how achieving every professional milestone

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Speaker 2: left her feeling empty. She discusses combining lessons from neuroscience

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Speaker 2: with practices like gratitude and prayer, revealing how a sudden,

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Speaker 2: debilitating health crisis forced her into a necessary stillness that

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Speaker 2: ultimately paid the war for profound, lasting internal change. Let's

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Speaker 2: begin with Butcher's story.

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Speaker 3: The progression of this life my life, as far as

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Speaker 3: how things transpired, it all started with my parents. They

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Speaker 3: said you will go to college. It wasn't like if

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Speaker 3: you might go or not go. There was not a question.

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Speaker 3: You're going. And so into college and always trying to

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Speaker 3: do the best of what the Lord gave me. I

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Speaker 3: went into electrical engineering and majored in that. I also

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Speaker 3: played football at the same time. That was very difficult.

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Speaker 3: Those two things don't go together well. Both of them

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Speaker 3: are full time jobs and being able to manage both

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Speaker 3: was very difficult as far as balance and focus and

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Speaker 3: timing and discipline to get everything done. You got to

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Speaker 3: get done, and I learned a great deal during that

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Speaker 3: time frame. Nearing the end of that with electrical engineering degree,

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Speaker 3: I had that patriotic pull do my part for my country.

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Speaker 3: Fortunate enough, the Lord orchestrated events where I did two

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Speaker 3: deployments basically back to back, which was common, and I

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Speaker 3: had a unique resume at that point. It's a very

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Speaker 3: junior officer with two deployments under his belt, including combat,

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Speaker 3: and I was selected the first try and the test

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Speaker 3: pilot program. Through that process, finished a couple of master's

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Speaker 3: degrees electrical engineering and aviation systems, and had all the

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Speaker 3: requirements you needed to be an astronaut. Not that I

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Speaker 3: was doing it for that necessarily, but it certainly worked

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Speaker 3: out that way. I had the requirements that was needed,

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Speaker 3: made the application. You can't fly any higher than faster

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Speaker 3: than the Space Shuttle. That's what we were flying at

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Speaker 3: the time when I applied, and I thought that might

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Speaker 3: be the next logical step Lord Willing, and so I

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Speaker 3: made application, and it took several applications, but it finally

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Speaker 3: finally wore Nassa down and they took me. I was

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Speaker 3: in the Astronaut Corps for twenty five years, which I

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Speaker 3: never even fathomed that I would do that, But flew

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Speaker 3: into space three times, my last time, commanded the Boeing

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Speaker 3: star Liner, and just experiences that I never dreamed of,

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Speaker 3: never even imagined. Just grateful for every step of the way.

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Speaker 3: It's all credit to my Lord and how he providentially

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Speaker 3: directed every single step. I've been off the planet literally

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Speaker 3: for four hundred and sixty five total days. How would

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Speaker 3: that shape someone traveling to space, viewing the planet from

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Speaker 3: that vantage point, actually being there in that environment, understanding

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Speaker 3: that it's because He has allowed us to gain this

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Speaker 3: knowledge and understanding of these capabilities over the course of

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Speaker 3: decades and centuries. The first time that I actually saw

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Speaker 3: the planet from above, it was during the Ascent. I

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Speaker 3: saw the clouds from above, from way above for the

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Speaker 3: first time. It was amazing. As we rolled because of

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Speaker 3: the orientation of the Space Shuttle, I looked out my

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Speaker 3: window and I saw up the coastline of the eastern

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Speaker 3: seaboard of the United States, and it was just amazing.

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Speaker 3: I had to make myself come back in and refocus

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Speaker 3: on my tasks because it was just mesmerizing. In my minds.

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Speaker 3: I can see the planet and my memory, and that's

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Speaker 3: something that I'll always have with me, and that is

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Speaker 3: special in that as I gazed back at the planet

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Speaker 3: and I see those visions in my mind, I'm constantly

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Speaker 3: reminded of Isaiah forty five eighteen where Isaiah told us

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Speaker 3: through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, that God created this

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Speaker 3: planet to be inhabited. And you can see the vibrance

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Speaker 3: that you can see, the life and the colors, and

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Speaker 3: understanding and knowing that the atmosphere protects the planet and

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Speaker 3: enables us to have the air debris that we need

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Speaker 3: and all of that, and it's all supplied by our

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Speaker 3: Lord and Savior, our God, the creator of all things,

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Speaker 3: and that is a special thing to view from that

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Speaker 3: vantage point. That was my third time to leave the planet,

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Speaker 3: and it was very special this time because I was

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Speaker 3: the guy in the left seat. I was the commander

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Speaker 3: on this one. And you do all the preparation, years

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Speaker 3: of delays and all the testing that had gone into it, blood,

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Speaker 3: sweat and tears literally going through this whole process, and

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Speaker 3: finally you get to the launch day and you get

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Speaker 3: in the astro van, you drive out to the pad

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Speaker 3: and you see this rocket that you're about to literally

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Speaker 3: leave the planet on, and there's steam coming out in

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Speaker 3: places you haven't seen before because it's fueled, and so

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Speaker 3: it seems like it's alive, and it's it's humbling, honestly

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Speaker 3: when you consider all of that, and you know that

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Speaker 3: it's your Lord that has put you there, and feeling unworthy,

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Speaker 3: yet focused on the.

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Speaker 1: Task, godspeedbushers Sonny.

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Speaker 4: Three two one ignition, and then off we go and

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Speaker 4: lift off the starliner Atlas five carry two American heroes,

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Speaker 4: drawing a line to the starts for all of us.

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Speaker 3: And it was an amazing day, truly amazing leaving the

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Speaker 3: planet in that fashion. Spacecraft perform perfectly that first day.

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Speaker 3: It did not the second day. We started to loose

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Speaker 3: some thrusters. Going to all the gory details, but let's

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Speaker 3: just say that we eventually lost four thrusters that fired

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Speaker 3: in the same direction eventually lost a fifth one. We

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Speaker 3: only have eight at firing thrusters, and five of the

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Speaker 3: eight failed, and during that process we lost the ability

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Speaker 3: to fully control the spacecraft. I did pray the brief prayer,

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Speaker 3: Lord help us, about all I had time for. There

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Speaker 3: were thoughts that, well, man, we might die, yes, because

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Speaker 3: thoughts of just drifting through space because at the time,

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Speaker 3: again we're losing thrusters. I'm assuming the other thrusters are

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Speaker 3: going to get sick too, And I was okay with

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Speaker 3: that because I know my Lord and Savior. I have

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Speaker 3: eternal hope. Nothing could take that away, and there's comfort

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Speaker 3: in that alone. We didn't have full control, but we

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Speaker 3: had enough control to keep the attitude where it needed

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Speaker 3: to be, to keep the position where it needed to be.

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Speaker 3: And the only reason I was able to do it

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Speaker 3: was because of again God's providence in positioning me to

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Speaker 3: be the guy. I had had an immense amount of

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Speaker 3: experience over the previous couple of decades like no else

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Speaker 3: in the astronaut Corps and rendezvous and docking going back

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Speaker 3: to the Shuttle error, and I was the only astronaut

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Speaker 3: in the Astronaut Corps at the time that had ever

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Speaker 3: already manually controlled the spacecraft in space, and that put

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Speaker 3: me in a unique position. My thoughts was, we have

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Speaker 3: to dock because if we don't connect and dock with

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Speaker 3: a space station in the situation we were at the time,

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Speaker 3: I don't know what our options truly are. I don't

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Speaker 3: think I'll be able to control the spacecraft enough sufficiently

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Speaker 3: to do a deorbit burn. I'm not sure we can

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Speaker 3: get there, and that's why it was imperative that we docked.

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Speaker 3: And so also in that thought process, it went through

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Speaker 3: my mind, if we're able to dock, I don't see

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Speaker 3: as coming home in spacecraft. At that point culminated in

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Speaker 3: me on the controls in space with a spacecraft that

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Speaker 3: was not controllable. But because of all that experience that

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Speaker 3: the Lord had positioned me in, we were able to

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Speaker 3: maintain control the ground teams working together with them, Eventually

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Speaker 3: we're able to get enough thrusters back to where we

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Speaker 3: could dock safely.

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Speaker 5: At twelve thirty four pm Central Time, above the Southern

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Speaker 5: Indian Ocean, we have confirmation of contact and capture of

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Speaker 5: nass boeing a crew flight test and Starliner aboard the

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Speaker 5: International Space Station. Butch and Sonny have made their arrival.

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Speaker 3: In all types of strenuous situations that we come through

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Speaker 3: in life to where realizing the lords and control, he

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Speaker 3: is sovereign, working providentially for his glory and our ultimate

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Speaker 3: good if we believe, and that is the mainstay of

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Speaker 3: who I am. But what I understand, what I know,

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Speaker 3: guys were to say, and again, even in those moments,

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Speaker 3: it brings intense comfort and intense hope. There's always eternal

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Speaker 3: hope regards to what takes place. Certain aspects of the

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Speaker 3: things that I have been associated with, flying aircraft, off

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Speaker 3: aircraft carriers in the combat, and certainly flying space flights.

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Speaker 3: Things don't always go as planned, and knowing your systems,

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Speaker 3: you've got to be completely committed, all in, and that

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Speaker 3: commitments breeds the preparation that is required for whatever the

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Speaker 3: tasks are that you're undertaking, because the responsibility is great,

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Speaker 3: sometimes greater in certain areas than others. And weaving all

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Speaker 3: that together, the Lord's given us capabilities, give us understanding

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Speaker 3: and our responsibility to learn and to grow. I don't

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Speaker 3: understand how it all works together, how it all fits together,

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Speaker 3: but I know that I see that in scripture, and

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Speaker 3: so I have to come at whatever task is with

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Speaker 3: a complete mindset of being prepared, disciplined in that preparation,

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Speaker 3: because that's what it takes, and in those extremest situations,

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Speaker 3: maintaining the focus that's required to do the task, whatever

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Speaker 3: that might be. In the case of Starliner losing some

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Speaker 3: thrusters and the task of flying the spacecraft and maintaining control,

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Speaker 3: maintaining attitude at this station, those type of things, was

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Speaker 3: only able to do it because it prepared to do so,

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Speaker 3: not preparing for that failure scenario because we hadn't, but

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Speaker 3: that was kind of beyond the realm of consideration, if

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Speaker 3: you will. But being able to handle because of the

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Speaker 3: preparation that had taken place in all the other aspects,

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Speaker 3: and not just preparing for various tasks, but knowing the systems,

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Speaker 3: knowing the capability, understanding the integration of all the various

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Speaker 3: systems coming together. All of that well did and coming together.

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Speaker 3: It's just a testament to the Lord giving us the

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Speaker 3: ability John three twenty seven. A person cannot receive even

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Speaker 3: one thing unless it is given to him from heaven.

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Speaker 3: And I believe that, I know that because that's God's

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Speaker 3: word and it is true. And so anything that we have,

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Speaker 3: everything that we are capable of doing, with everything that

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Speaker 3: we are tasked with doing, He's given us the ability

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Speaker 3: and to him be the glory. Life is tough and

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Speaker 3: you got to want it, just to put two phrases

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Speaker 3: on it. Because life is tough, and in every situation,

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Speaker 3: everything in life, you got to want. Whatever it is,

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Speaker 3: it's going forward, and you got to want it. You

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Speaker 3: got to be committed, you got to prepare because the

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Speaker 3: responsibility is great that God requires of us in all

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Speaker 3: aspects of our lives. I have the distinct honor here

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Speaker 3: to read a passage from Jesus listens from April thirtieth,

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Speaker 3: and here's what it says. My Great God, you are

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Speaker 3: my strength and my shield. I'm grateful that you're continually

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Speaker 3: at work in my life, sometimes in wondrous ways, to

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Speaker 3: strengthen and protect me. I'm finding that the more fully

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Speaker 3: I trust you, the more my heart leaps for joy.

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Speaker 3: Help me to trust you wholeheartedly, resting in your sovereign

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Speaker 3: control over the universe. When circumstances seem to be spinning

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Speaker 3: out of control, I need to grab onto you, clinging

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Speaker 3: to the truth that you know what you are doing

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Speaker 3: while I'm in the throes of adversity. My greatest challenge

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Speaker 3: is to keep trusting that you are both sovereign and good.

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Speaker 3: But I realize I can't expect to understand your ways,

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Speaker 3: for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so

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Speaker 3: are your ways higher than mine. I want to please

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Speaker 3: you by responding to trouble with thanksgiving that you can

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Speaker 3: bring good out of the most difficult situations. When I

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Speaker 3: respond in this way, you are glorified and I am strengthened.

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Speaker 3: Oh Lord, I give thanks to you in song and

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Speaker 3: your joyful name, Jesus Amen.

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Speaker 2: To learn more about Butch Wilmore, visit his website at

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Speaker 2: Butchwillmore dot com. Stay tuned to Brooke vicstory after a

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Speaker 2: brief message. These uncertain times bring anxiety and fear. But

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Speaker 2: Jesus Listens Prayers for Every Season gives you daily prayers

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Speaker 2: of comfort with seasonally inspired illustrations. This beautiful book includes

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Speaker 2: prayers that speak to your situation, whether it's a time

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Speaker 2: of stress or strength. Look for Jesus Listens Prayers for

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Speaker 2: every wherever you buy books. Our next guest is Brooke Envic,

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Speaker 2: a dean and professor of organizational Behavior at the University

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Speaker 2: of Nebraska at Kearney. After achieving professional success but still

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Speaker 2: feeling unfulfilled, Brooke started investigating how insights from neuroscience, combined

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Speaker 2: with gratitude and prayer can transform our lives and thoughts.

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Speaker 2: She discusses how a sudden health crisis and a season

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Speaker 2: of loss unexpectedly slowed her down and caused her to

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Speaker 2: look at life differently.

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Speaker 1: My name is Brooke Envic and I am currently the

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Speaker 1: dean in the College of Business and Technology at the

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Speaker 1: University of Nebraska Carney, and that's in Nebraska. I have

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Speaker 1: spent over thirty years in higher education and I got

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Speaker 1: my PhD in organizational behavior, which is studying the people

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Speaker 1: side of management, and so I was always interested in

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Speaker 1: what motivated people to achieve, how people worked in teams well,

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Speaker 1: what different communications styles were best in the workplace. I

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Speaker 1: grew up in the Panhandle of Texas in a family

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Speaker 1: full of educators. My dad was a professor, my grandfather

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Speaker 1: was a professor. In fact, they were both professors at

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Speaker 1: the university i'm at now, and so I'm a third

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Speaker 1: generation professor at this university. And then moved into the

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Speaker 1: dean's role. As a child, I was painfully shy. I

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Speaker 1: was very quiet, very shy. But interestingly, I always liked

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Speaker 1: to play teacher, so even after school, I would want

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Speaker 1: to come home and play school and be the teacher.

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Speaker 1: About fifteen years into my career, I realized that I

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Speaker 1: had achieved a lot, but I really wasn't making an

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Speaker 1: impact if you looked at my achievements on paper. I

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Speaker 1: had a PhD by the time I was twenty five,

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Speaker 1: took the standard was six years. I was a full

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Speaker 1: professor by the time I was thirty eight. I had

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Speaker 1: a plethora of research awards, teaching awards, and I remember

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Speaker 1: just sitting there going okay, kind of just feeling unfulfilled

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Speaker 1: and wondering what is that all about? And then I

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Speaker 1: realized that achievement was not about me. What I really

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Speaker 1: needed to focus on was impacting other people. And I

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Speaker 1: didn't regret anything I did, and I was still very

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Speaker 1: proud of all my achievements, but I realized that life

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Speaker 1: is about impacting other people and helping other people realize

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Speaker 1: their potential, and it wasn't just all about what I

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Speaker 1: so that's when I started to really start looking inward

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Speaker 1: and trying to figure out how to make that happen.

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Speaker 1: There was a very specific season I can think of.

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Speaker 1: I had experienced some loss and some traumas and dissatisfaction

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Speaker 1: in my career, and that's when I decided to uproot

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Speaker 1: everything in Texas restart my life in Nebraska. And so

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Speaker 1: I thought, you know, physically leaving that place where I

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Speaker 1: experienced so much stress, anxiety and loss was what I

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Speaker 1: needed to start over, rediscover my purpose, and begin making

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Speaker 1: the kind of impact that I thought I could make.

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Speaker 1: And so in many ways, I thought that move itself

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Speaker 1: was the solution, that I had done what I needed

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Speaker 1: to do. But within a year, I had a serious

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Speaker 1: health crisis that stopped me in my tracks and I

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Speaker 1: was literally forced into stillness where I couldn't even leave

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Speaker 1: the house. I was living with my parents, who were

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Speaker 1: taking care of me for several weeks. And so I

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Speaker 1: realized during that season that God was saying, no, you're

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Speaker 1: not quite ready to do what he seeks to you

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Speaker 1: want to do, and he was inviting me to do

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Speaker 1: some deeper internal work and he was asking me to

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Speaker 1: slow down and become more intentional, and so I was

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Speaker 1: never frustrated about it, but I was just very thoughtful.

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Speaker 1: Those months of being sick helped give me some space

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Speaker 1: where my truest sent and mindset really took shape. So

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Speaker 1: that mattered a lot, because I still trusted God was

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Speaker 1: preparing you for something very meaningful ahead. It just wasn't

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Speaker 1: going to happen right away, and I became more certain

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Speaker 1: about the direction. I realized He needed me to be deeper, steadier,

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Speaker 1: more truly central, and not just something that I returned

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Speaker 1: to in a moment of crisis, but something that functioned

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Speaker 1: daily as my north star as I moved forward. So

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Speaker 1: I started practicing faith a little differently by swallowing my thoughts,

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Speaker 1: surrendering control, staying present. God was still shaping me in

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Speaker 1: that moment, and it taught me that real change doesn't

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Speaker 1: always come from moving faster or starting over, that sometimes

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Speaker 1: it actually happens from stopping and listening and allowing God

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Speaker 1: to align your inner life before sending you forward again.

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Speaker 1: One of the first practices that I started to do

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Speaker 1: on a regular basis was gratitude. I remember seeing a

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Speaker 1: quote that talked about having an attitude of gratitude and

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Speaker 1: your life will get better, and so I thought, well,

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Speaker 1: you know, that makes a lot of sense. And so

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Speaker 1: I started to practice gratitude every day, and I started

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Speaker 1: in the morning with what I was grateful for when

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Speaker 1: I woke up, practice gratitude throughout the day, and then

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Speaker 1: ended the day with gratitude. And it did start to

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Speaker 1: really reshape how I was feeling, how I looked at

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Speaker 1: the world, my relationships with others. And I thought, Okay,

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Speaker 1: there's this one simple practice. What else could I do?

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Speaker 1: And so I started to think about how I could

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Speaker 1: combine things, and so I started to combine scripture, prayer,

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Speaker 1: and meditation together. And I found that scripture gave me

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Speaker 1: a lot of insight into broader wisdom and lessons from

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Speaker 1: the Bible, and prayer gave me a connection and ongoing

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Speaker 1: conversation with God, and that meditation brought alignment to my life.

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Speaker 1: It helped me slow down and focus my thoughts and

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Speaker 1: become more intentional about how I was responding to lies

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Speaker 1: instead of simply reacting to it. And I found those

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Speaker 1: three things working together really helped shift how I was

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Speaker 1: thinking about the world, how I was thinking about others

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Speaker 1: and thinking about my life. What I really appreciate about

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Speaker 1: Jesus Calling is that it invites people into daily connection

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Speaker 1: rather than occasional reflection. And so from a neuroscience perspective,

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Speaker 1: that daily connection really matters. Because the brain is shaped

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Speaker 1: by repetition and attention. What we return to consistently is

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Speaker 1: what begins to shape our thought patterns, emotional response is

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Speaker 1: and also our sense of peace. So when we connect

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Speaker 1: with God daily, we reinforce those neural pathways associated with calm, trust,

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Speaker 1: and meaning. And so devotionals like Jesus Calling help us

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Speaker 1: create space for that daily attunement in moments when we

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Speaker 1: need to pause and mosten and realign our thoughts with

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Speaker 1: truth and with trust. So what I've seen in my

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Speaker 1: own life is that daily connection doesn't remove challenges, but

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Speaker 1: it changes how we move through them, and Jesus Calling

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Speaker 1: is a good way for people to start practicing that

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Speaker 1: daily connection and those reflections that they need to do

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Speaker 1: on a more regular basis and throughout the rhythm of

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Speaker 1: everyday life. I remember seeing an image of a man

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Speaker 1: leaning on a shovel and the caption said, God doesn't

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Speaker 1: hand us a shovel and expect us to lean on

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Speaker 1: it and pray for a whole. That stopped me in

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Speaker 1: my tracks, and it made me realize that faith isn't

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Speaker 1: meant to be passive. That God gives us direction, purpose

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Speaker 1: and trust, but he expects us to use the tools

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Speaker 1: he gives us to make progress. I started thinking about

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Speaker 1: that fairly close to the time where I started learning

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Speaker 1: about neuroscience. And when I started studying neuroscience and neuroplasticity,

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Speaker 1: I realized that, Wow, God designed our brains with the

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Speaker 1: capacity to change. We're not fixed, we're not stuck. Our thoughts, habits,

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Speaker 1: and responses can actually be reshaped. That's when it became

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Speaker 1: clear to me that this integration was not optional. Faith

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Speaker 1: shapes the why, which is our meaning, our purpose and

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Speaker 1: our trust in God, and neuroscience reveals the how, and

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Speaker 1: that's something where we're responsible for engaging in. So God

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Speaker 1: does give us the tools, but we have to use them.

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Speaker 1: And I think when I understood that, that's when everything

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Speaker 1: really started to roll forward and real transformation began to

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Speaker 1: happen because I wasn't waiting for change to happen, and

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Speaker 1: I started engaging in these ongoing things. Like I mentioned before,

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Speaker 1: the gratitude practices, scripture, meditation, prayer, and that it needs

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Speaker 1: to be practiced daily and throughout your day. So by

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Speaker 1: does give this the direction and neuroscience is a great

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Speaker 1: method and together they can allow for lasting change.

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Speaker 2: Check out Brookenvic's new book True Ascension, Unlocking Greatness through Faith, Fortitude,

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Speaker 2: and Foresight at your favorite retailer. If you'd like to

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Speaker 2: hear more stories about alignment, check out our interview with

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Speaker 2: Niki DeLoach. Next time on the Jesus Calling Podcast, we'll

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Speaker 2: hear from author, speaker, and recovery advocate Carolyn Bieler about

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Speaker 2: the importance of community connection and holding onto hope in

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Speaker 2: the midst of a diction recovery.

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Speaker 1: What we know from the.

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Speaker 5: Research is that when our loved ones have hope for us,

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Speaker 5: have hope that.

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Speaker 1: We will heal and find addiction recovery, we.

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Speaker 2: Are more likely to Thanks for listening to the Jesus

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Speaker 2: Calling Podcast. Every week, we'll bring you stories from people

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Speaker 2: who share their journeys of faith and how prayer and

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Speaker 2: a relationship with God transform their lives. Be sure to

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Speaker 2: follow us on Apple Music, Spotify, iHeart, or wherever you

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Speaker 2: listen to podcasts, and leave us a review so others

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Speaker 2: can be inspired weekly by these stories of faith. Finally,

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Speaker 2: you can find encouragement resources and more on the Jesus

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Speaker 2: Calling website at Jesuscalling dot com