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Speaker 1: Life Audio.

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Speaker 2: Welcome to the Untangling Prayer Podcast. I'm Rachel Woto, and

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Speaker 2: each week we unravel lifesnots through prayer. Here you'll find

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Speaker 2: practical wisdom and prayer encouragement to guide you through life's

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Speaker 2: hardest seasons. Join me as we untangle life's messes together,

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Speaker 2: one prayer at a time. Hey there, welcome to the

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Speaker 2: Untangling Prayer Podcast. I am so glad to have you today,

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Speaker 2: and I'm honored to have with me a friend this week.

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Speaker 2: Her name is Mary Boswell, and we go way back. Mary,

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Speaker 2: thank you so much for being here today. Thank you

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Speaker 2: Rachel so much for inviting me. I am honored and

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Speaker 2: just excited to be here with you and sharing all

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Speaker 2: that God is talk mean. Yeah, well, I was thinking

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Speaker 2: about those many years ago and trying to remember exactly

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Speaker 2: what year it was. I want to say it was

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Speaker 2: twenty thirteen. Maybe first met at at least it's hercased event.

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Speaker 2: It wasn't even at a conference. It was at one

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Speaker 2: of her book launch events. I believe right it was.

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Speaker 1: It was. And it's hard to think, you know, so

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Speaker 1: far ago, just and how we have kept up our

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Speaker 1: friendship and our relationship, and just how God works even

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Speaker 1: so long ago and then brings it to fruition. Now.

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Speaker 2: I know, it's pretty cool. And I'm so excited about

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Speaker 2: this brand new Bible study that you have. That is

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Speaker 2: it's called come to Me and the subtitle is an

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Speaker 2: invitation from Jesus to find rest for your soul, and

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Speaker 2: I love that so much for so many reasons. I

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Speaker 2: think the world is a hectic place. You and I

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Speaker 2: were just talking off camera before we started about the

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Speaker 2: crazyiness of life and raising children, raising a family, trying

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Speaker 2: to just serve the Lord well in them, and keep

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Speaker 2: up with our families and our work and our income

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Speaker 2: all of those things. So I'm just excited to have

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Speaker 2: this conversation with you. I was hoping that you would

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Speaker 2: be honest, and I just wondered if you think most

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Speaker 2: Christian women believe that Jesus can truly give them rest

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Speaker 2: or is this just something that's nice and theological?

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Speaker 1: You know, Rachel, I do think that most women theologically

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Speaker 1: believe that God can give them rest, But when it

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Speaker 1: comes to our daily lives, I think most of the

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Speaker 1: time it doesn't even cross our minds because we get

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Speaker 1: so busy with all of our responsibilities, all of the

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Speaker 1: things that we need to do, running our kids around,

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Speaker 1: doing errands, taking care of the household, working and trying

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Speaker 1: to keep up with all that, plus just the things

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Speaker 1: that weigh us down, the worries that we have, the concerns,

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Speaker 1: whether it's financially or the health of the loved one

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Speaker 1: or work stress, just all of that. We focus on

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Speaker 1: that and we don't even think about the fact that, hey,

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Speaker 1: the Lord is here and he wants to take that

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Speaker 1: on himself, he wants to help walk through that with us,

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Speaker 1: and we just you know, I've done this many times.

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Speaker 1: I put my big girl pants on, I get up

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Speaker 1: in the morning, and I go throughout my day just

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Speaker 1: checking one box off of the other, and I don't

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Speaker 1: necessarily think about taking it to the Lord when he

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Speaker 1: really wants to carry that burden for me.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I couldn't agree with you more. I'm guilty of

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Speaker 2: it myself, just diving in. I was sharing this yesterday

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Speaker 2: with some friends, how it's so easy to wake up

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Speaker 2: in the morning and set yourself up for success. You know,

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Speaker 2: you know you want to spend some time at the Lord.

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Speaker 2: You want to wake up with turning your thoughts towards

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Speaker 2: him and praying, and you might be successful at that,

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Speaker 2: But then as the day goes on, you lose sight

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Speaker 2: of what you just shared, that the fact that he

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Speaker 2: is with us, that he's asking for us to turn

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Speaker 2: every burden over to him, to seek him in all things.

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Speaker 2: Was there a season in your own life when you

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Speaker 2: weren't accepting his invitation to rest?

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Speaker 1: There was about seven years or so ago. I started

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Speaker 1: walking through a really hard season, and it just it

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Speaker 1: kind of happened all of a sudden. My mom was

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Speaker 1: diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and I became her caregiver for

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Speaker 1: three years. My husband was in a doctoral program, anaesthesia

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Speaker 1: DO program while also managing an anesthesia department full time.

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Speaker 1: We had teenagers and one of whom was walking through

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Speaker 1: a really hard season. And then COVID hit and so

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Speaker 1: our lives kind of turned upside down. And trying to

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Speaker 1: juggle all of that and everything at home, and then

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Speaker 1: supporting my husband through his career and just the struggles

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Speaker 1: that came about with him in health care and COVID.

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Speaker 1: I was trying to do it all alone. Like I

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Speaker 1: said earlier, I put my big girl pants on and

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Speaker 1: I said, Okay, I've got this. I've got to be

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Speaker 1: strong and I've got to help everybody through all of this,

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Speaker 1: and I didn't even realize that that's what I was doing. Yes,

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Speaker 1: I prayed, and yes I spent time with the Lord,

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Speaker 1: but I didn't realize that I was carrying it all

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Speaker 1: on my shoulders. And when we started exiting some of

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Speaker 1: those stressful times. My mom lived for about three years,

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Speaker 1: I cared for her, and when she passed away and

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Speaker 1: COVID kind of we started clearing out of that COVID timeframe,

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Speaker 1: and child that was having issues kind of found their

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Speaker 1: way and kind of started turning things back around. That

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Speaker 1: stress subsided, but I was still carrying the weight of

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Speaker 1: all those years, and I couldn't understand why I felt

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Speaker 1: the way that I felt. My health was in awful shape,

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Speaker 1: and I couldn't figure out why I just felt life

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Speaker 1: felt heavy. And it wasn't until then that it was

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Speaker 1: an early morning quiet time. The Lord led me to

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Speaker 1: Matthew eleven through thirty, and I realized that he was

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Speaker 1: inviting me to come to him and to relieve my

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Speaker 1: burdens and to allow him to take that on his

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Speaker 1: shoulders and to come alongside me with his yoke and

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Speaker 1: give me his lighter yoke instead of me carrying it

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Speaker 1: all on myself.

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Speaker 2: So good letting him bear that weight. I think that

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Speaker 2: is such a beautiful picture. A lot of people, though,

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Speaker 2: I'll just be honest, so I'm going to give you

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Speaker 2: a little pushback here. A lot of people would say

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Speaker 2: that they've tried this before, They've tried giving it to Jesus,

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Speaker 2: and they still still feel very exhausted. So why do

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Speaker 2: you think that is.

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Speaker 1: I think it's very easy to hand things over to

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Speaker 1: the Lord. And I have done this myself. I have said, okay, Lord,

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Speaker 1: I need you to carry this because I can't do it,

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Speaker 1: and I hand it over to him. I have my

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Speaker 1: hands open and I give it over to him, and

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Speaker 1: things are okay for a little bit, and then I slowly,

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Speaker 1: without even realizing it, I slowly start taking it back.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: And I'm thinking, but I gave it over to him.

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Speaker 1: Why why don't I feel lighter, Why don't I feel better?

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Speaker 1: Why am I still struggling with the worry and the anxiety?

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Speaker 1: And then I realized, wait a minute, yeah, I did

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Speaker 1: hand it over to him, but then I started taking

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Speaker 1: it back. I am somebody who I always thought that

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Speaker 1: I was not a control freak, but I realized that

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Speaker 1: I am. Especially when you have teenagers, you realize what

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Speaker 1: a control freak you know you are in terms of

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Speaker 1: feeling like I've got to have everything just right and

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Speaker 1: handling it all, and you know, just as they get older,

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Speaker 1: we have to release that control. And that's one of

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Speaker 1: those things that I had learned and that the Lord

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Speaker 1: taught me through this process, is that sometimes I do

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Speaker 1: have to hand it over to him multiple times, and

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Speaker 1: each time I do, I get stronger. One of the

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Speaker 1: things that I shared in I Believe It's Week two

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Speaker 1: is a story about my son who worked at a

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Speaker 1: hay and feed store, and when he first started working there,

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Speaker 1: he was not very strong and he was having to

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Speaker 1: lift these huge heavy bales of feed or bags of

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Speaker 1: feed and bales of hay and place them on pallets.

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Speaker 1: And he struggled initially, but each time he picked it

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Speaker 1: up and laid it back down, he got stronger. He

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Speaker 1: built up those muscles. And that's one of the things

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Speaker 1: that as we each time we hand our worries and

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Speaker 1: our concerns over Lord, we get a little bit stronger.

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Speaker 1: He's able to take that anxiety, He's able to take

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Speaker 1: that worry, and we're able to feel that lighter load,

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Speaker 1: feel that lightness. But each time we do it, we

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Speaker 1: grow stronger and we're able to hand harder things over

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Speaker 1: to him.

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Speaker 2: I also think we're increasing our muscle memory when we

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Speaker 2: do that as well, and the repetition of it it

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Speaker 2: makes it the go to to naturally turn it over

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Speaker 2: to the Lord. To remember to do that, to be

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Speaker 2: focused on doing that, because we're so prone to just forget,

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Speaker 2: maybe not purposefully pull back, but just not be focused

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Speaker 2: and recognize that we want to do that first. We

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Speaker 2: want to give him the release first and rest in

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Speaker 2: him first. I think it's sometimes hard to understand what

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Speaker 2: is the rest that Jesus actually provides, because you know,

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Speaker 2: rest can come in a lot of different forms mentally, emotionally, spiritually, physically,

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Speaker 2: and so I would love for you to share with

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Speaker 2: us what the rest is that Jesus truly provides. That

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Speaker 2: that rest that he wants to provide first comes with

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Speaker 2: his presence, because when we allow him to come alongside

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Speaker 2: us and we experience his presence, he is then able

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Speaker 2: to come and give us that peace because there's peace

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Speaker 2: with his preserence and that's what that rest is.

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Speaker 1: I mean, you know, life is busy. Like we were

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Speaker 1: talking earlier, life is busy, and rest doesn't always look

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Speaker 1: like being able to start my mornings off in my warm,

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Speaker 1: brown leather chair and have hours on end to read

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Speaker 1: my Bible and journal, and oh I would love to

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Speaker 1: do that, But that's not always what it looks like you.

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Speaker 1: Sometimes it looks like this morning, my dog waking me

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Speaker 1: up early, having an accident, and me spending twenty minutes

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Speaker 1: cleaning up, and that's the start of my day, and

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Speaker 1: then from there it's go, go go. But while the

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Speaker 1: day is busy, I still have that piece of his presence.

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Speaker 1: And so it's that internal calming presence that gives us

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Speaker 1: that rest, even in the midst of taking kids to

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Speaker 1: volleyball tournaments or running medicine to a college age child,

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Speaker 1: you know, an hour or two away. Their life can

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Speaker 1: be busy, but we can go through our day just

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Speaker 1: experiencing that rest and that piece that comes with his presence.

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Speaker 1: You address something really specific about when we start taking

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Speaker 1: our burdens back, and you talk about these early warnings

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Speaker 1: that can help us recognize Okay, wait a minute, I'm

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Speaker 1: doing it again. And so I wondered if you could

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Speaker 1: share what those are. I think for me, that is

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Speaker 1: just a sense of something's not right. You know, there's

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Speaker 1: that little something's not right, a meter that I like

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Speaker 1: to say that I struggled through the day. I've got

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Speaker 1: this little bit of underlying anxiety and a little bit

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Speaker 1: more worry. Then I feel like I should and I

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Speaker 1: don't know why. And then, you know, as I kind

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Speaker 1: of question, Okay, why am I feeling this way? Why

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Speaker 1: am I just struggling with the worry and the anxiety

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Speaker 1: that comes with financial insecurity or job stress. And then

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Speaker 1: the Lord just kind of impresses on my heart. You

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Speaker 1: know why, because you've taken it back and you need

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Speaker 1: to hand it back over to me. And that's when

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Speaker 1: I realize You're right, Lord, I have and I have

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Speaker 1: to take and sometimes it's just taking just a few

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Speaker 1: minutes to.

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Speaker 2: Say, Okay, here it is. I'm placing it at the

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Speaker 2: foot of.

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Speaker 1: Your cross, yes, and allowing you to take it back.

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Speaker 2: So good you, I think, kind of talk about how

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Speaker 2: we quietly pick that up. And I like that you

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Speaker 2: use that word because most of us are not overtly

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Speaker 2: trying to rebel against the Lord and finding ourselves in

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Speaker 2: a season of unrest as a result at least, you know,

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Speaker 2: most of the women who are listening to this podcast

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Speaker 2: probably are wanting to figure out how to rest in

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Speaker 2: the Lord and how to really rely on his word

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Speaker 2: and his promises and find the peace that he offers

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Speaker 2: and walk in it. Think many of us find that peace,

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Speaker 2: but then instead of walking in it, we do walk

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Speaker 2: away from it and we don't even realize. As you said, so,

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Speaker 2: how do you think prayer? You know, this is the

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Speaker 2: Untangling Prayer Podcast, and how do you think prayer specifically

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Speaker 2: changes the weight of what we're carrying? Because I know

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Speaker 2: there's an emotional element and spiritual element, and I would

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Speaker 2: just love to hear your thoughts as you studied this

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Speaker 2: particular passage.

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Speaker 1: How do you.

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Speaker 2: Feel that prayer changes the weight of what we carry?

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Speaker 1: I think prayer puts us in a posture of surrender.

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Speaker 1: It gives us that time to really share with the

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Speaker 1: Lord what's on our heart. I mean, there's sometimes prayers

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Speaker 1: not doesn't always have to be this quiet, am peaceful.

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Speaker 1: There have been times in my life life where prayer

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Speaker 1: has looked not pretty, it's looked ugly. It's been hard

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Speaker 1: because that's been times when I've really released hurt and pain,

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Speaker 1: and I've gotten very honest with the Lord. I share

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Speaker 1: a story about there was a night, and this was

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Speaker 1: many years ago. Both of my husband's parents were very ill.

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Speaker 1: I was actually pregnant with our daughter, and they were

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Speaker 1: in different hospitals in different parts of the state. And

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Speaker 1: life was hard as we tried to juggle all of that,

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Speaker 1: and I did not understand why we were going through this,

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Speaker 1: what was going on. And one night I was driving

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Speaker 1: home late, it was storming outside. I could barely see

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Speaker 1: out the window, and my heart hurt so much that

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Speaker 1: I couldn't keep it in any longer, and I just

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Speaker 1: cried out to the Lord and I said, Lord, I

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Speaker 1: don't know what you're doing. I don't understand. And I

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Speaker 1: was gut wrenching honest with him. I mean tears, sweat, truthfully,

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Speaker 1: and some people might find this heartedly, but there were

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Speaker 1: times that I was actually punching the ceiling of my

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Speaker 1: car because I was just hurting so much. But in

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Speaker 1: that I was releasing all that to the Lord. It

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Speaker 1: didn't look pretty. It was quite ugly when it was

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Speaker 1: all said and done. And when I pulled into my

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Speaker 1: garage as the rain was settling down and it was

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Speaker 1: just at a little bit of a drizzle and I

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Speaker 1: sat in the car and I was sweaty and tears,

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Speaker 1: I mean just had were down my face. But in

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Speaker 1: that I felt actually lighter. I was able to share

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Speaker 1: with the Lord because he knew what I was going through.

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Speaker 1: He knew exactly why we were hurting as much as

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Speaker 1: we were, but he needed me to share that with him.

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Speaker 1: I needed to share that with him in order to

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Speaker 1: be able to allow him to come in close and

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Speaker 1: to walk that with me in all of that hardship,

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Speaker 1: and through that prayer that put my heart in a

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Speaker 1: place of surrender. It gave me a way to be

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Speaker 1: able to change the way that I saw what we

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Speaker 1: were going through, to change my perspective and to see

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Speaker 1: it a little bit more in how the Lord saw

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Speaker 1: what we were walking through. And that's what that does.

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Speaker 1: Prayer changes our perspective. It takes our eyes off of

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Speaker 1: ourselves and places it on the Lord.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's so good. And obviously this is a topic

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Speaker 2: that is so near and dear to my heart because

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Speaker 2: I truly believe in embracing the power of prayer when

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Speaker 2: life is dark. My book Desperate Prayers addresses that topic

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Speaker 2: fully and how we don't have to have ourselves all

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Speaker 2: tidied up in order to go to God in prayer.

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Speaker 2: It's actually the opposite prayer. Perfectionism is not something that

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Speaker 2: He's interested in it all. He just wants us to

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Speaker 2: come to Him. And I love the heart behind your

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Speaker 2: Bible study. Come to me finding rest in the Lord.

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Speaker 2: I appreciate you so much. I was wondering if you

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Speaker 2: could share with us if there's one thing maybe that

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Speaker 2: this study taught you that you didn't expect to learn

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Speaker 2: as you were working through it.

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Speaker 1: You know, one of the things that I learned and

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Speaker 1: was just that God was taking me on a journey

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Speaker 1: because midway through writing the study developed some very significant

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Speaker 1: Helpthisha Jews and I knew that the Lord was inviting

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Speaker 1: me to release my worries and release my fears and

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Speaker 1: anxieties to him through as I was writing the story,

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Speaker 1: but I lived it out daily as I had to

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Speaker 1: trust him. I mean daily, My prayer was, Lord, give

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Speaker 1: me clarity of mine, clarity of your message. And it

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Speaker 1: was one of those things where I did. I had

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Speaker 1: to trust Him with this each and every time that

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Speaker 1: I sat down to write. And you know, I share

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Speaker 1: in the final word that writing the study was part

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Speaker 1: of my own exploration of God named Jesus's rest, accepting

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Speaker 1: his invitation, and it truly was. I daily lived it out.

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Speaker 2: I appreciate you sharing that and just the honesty. I

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Speaker 2: wanted to make sure that everyone knows where they can

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Speaker 2: find you, Mary, Where can they find you in this

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Speaker 2: amazing Bible study?

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Speaker 1: Well, come to me. An invitation from Jesus to find

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Speaker 1: rest for your soul is available on Amazon. They can

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Speaker 1: find it on there. And then I am on Instagram

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Speaker 1: at Mary in his Calm, and then on Facebook the

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Speaker 1: Comma of His Presence. And then I also have a

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Speaker 1: website blog It's called the Kalma of His Presence, and

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Speaker 1: they can go on www dot the Kalma off his

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Speaker 1: Presence dot com.

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Speaker 2: All right, we'll be sure to share all of those

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Speaker 2: links in the show notes. Mary, thank you so much

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Speaker 2: for being with us today. Would you pray us out

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Speaker 2: just a prayer of rest over everyone listening, that the

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Speaker 2: Lord would give them peace and they would see and

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Speaker 2: find his presence and experience him in a fuller way.

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Speaker 1: Now, well, thank you, oh heavenly bather. I thank you

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Speaker 1: for this time that we've had together. Thank you, for

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Speaker 1: the friends who are listening, who feel your invitation, who

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Speaker 1: hear your invitation, to be able to release their burdens

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Speaker 1: to you. Lord, I pray that you will give them

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Speaker 1: that strength, that you will strengthen those faith muscles so

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Speaker 1: that they can release their burdens and their worries and

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Speaker 1: their concerns. Lord, you know exactly what each person is facing.

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Speaker 1: You know what they woke up to this morning, you

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Speaker 1: know what they will go to bed to this evening.

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Speaker 1: And I just pray that you will be with them,

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Speaker 1: that you will give them that peace and that passes

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Speaker 1: all understanding, that you will give them the calmness that

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Speaker 1: their hearts desire, and just the relief and the rest

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Speaker 1: that their souls need. Lord, thank you for this time

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Speaker 1: name we pray. Amen.

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Speaker 2: Amen, Thank you so much for listening in today. Until

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Speaker 2: next time, Remember God sees you and knows your need.

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Speaker 2: Thanks for joining me on the Untangling Prayer Podcast. If

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Speaker 2: this episode resonated with you, share it with someone who

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Speaker 2: could use a little hope, and be sure to subscribe

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Speaker 2: for more. Until next time, keep seeking, keep trusting, and

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Speaker 2: keep praying.