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Speaker 1: Life Audio.

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Speaker 2: The hard parts of your story is going to be

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Speaker 2: what connects you to another woman here or another woman

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Speaker 2: not here. The hard parts are what connects us the most,

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Speaker 2: even though they're like the hardest to say and share.

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Speaker 3: We don't have to be afraid of rejection, especially if

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Speaker 3: you start drawing on your community.

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Speaker 4: He says, I recover out loud in Christ so others

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Speaker 4: don't die quietly without him.

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Speaker 2: Welcome to Love Life Sober. I'm your host and your coach,

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Speaker 2: Christy Osborne. This podcast is for the woman who loves

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Speaker 2: Jesus or is longing to reconnect with him and who

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Speaker 2: knows deep down that alcohol is no longer serving her.

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Speaker 2: Here we talk honestly with grace and truth about how

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Speaker 2: stepping away from alcohol opens the door to the love, joy, peace,

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Speaker 2: and connection you've been searching for. Because babe, those things

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Speaker 2: were never meant to be found in a bottle of wine.

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Speaker 2: They're found in Jesus. Through scripture, coaching, and neuroscience, I'll

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Speaker 2: help you make sense of your habits, your nervous system,

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Speaker 2: and what you're really craving so that freedom feels not

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Speaker 2: only possible.

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Speaker 1: But sustainable.

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Speaker 2: You don't have to do this alone, babe.

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Speaker 1: Let's dive in.

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Speaker 2: Hello, my beautiful friend. I have such a special podcast

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Speaker 2: episode for you today. We are going to magically head

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Speaker 2: to Holland, Michigan to hear the live panel discussion that

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Speaker 2: we had on the last day of the conference. A

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Speaker 2: couple of weeks ago, I had the absolute joy and

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Speaker 2: privilege of gathering with a wonderful, incredible group of gals

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Speaker 2: in Michigan for our very first conference, which I co-hosted

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Speaker 2: with my friend Sherry Hoppen, who is the founder of

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Speaker 2: Selah House Recovery. And when I tell you that God

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Speaker 2: showed up, He showed up. We had women from all

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Speaker 2: over the country. Some came with friends. Some came completely alone,

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Speaker 2: not knowing a single person. Some had years of sobriety

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Speaker 2: under their belts. And for some, they were just at

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Speaker 2: the beginning of this journey. But what was so beautiful

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Speaker 2: was it didn't matter where anybody was on their journey

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Speaker 2: or how long they had been alcohol-free because underneath all

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Speaker 2: those different stories was this beautiful one thing that connected

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Speaker 2: all of us in that room.

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Speaker 1: We all want to be known.

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Speaker 2: We don't want to be known as the polished Instagram

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Speaker 2: version of ourselves, not the version that has it all

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Speaker 2: together on Sunday mornings at church, but the real version,

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Speaker 2: the messy version, the version that sometimes still struggles, still doubts,

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Speaker 2: still feels ashamed, and still wonders, if people really knew

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Speaker 2: everything about me, would they still love me? And that,

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Speaker 2: my beautiful friend, is exactly what today's conversation is all about,

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Speaker 2: because this live panel we did is called The Gift

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Speaker 2: of Being Known. Together with my incredible speakers from the conference,

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Speaker 2: Sherri Hoppen, Caroline Beidler, John Seidel, and Erica Anderson, we

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Speaker 2: are going to talk about why we cannot heal by ourselves.

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Speaker 2: We also talk about shame. We talk about why we're

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Speaker 2: so terrified of rejection, why women today are feeling so

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Speaker 2: disconnected from one another, and why so many of us

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Speaker 2: have turned to alcohol to fill a need that was

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Speaker 2: always meant to be filled by something deeper. And we

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Speaker 2: talk about something that I am so, so passionate about,

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Speaker 2: the power of sharing our stories. Because, my beautiful friend,

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Speaker 2: I want you to hear me when I say this.

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Speaker 2: The part of your story that you're ashamed of, the

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Speaker 2: parts you think disqualify you, the parts you're convinced no

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Speaker 2: one else could possibly understand, those might be the part

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Speaker 2: of your story that God wants to use to reach

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Speaker 2: another woman. There are too many women, my friends, sitting

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Speaker 2: in church pews on Sunday, loving Jesus with their whole

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Speaker 2: heart while still secretly struggling and believing like they're the

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Speaker 2: only ones. And we know that that is simply not true.

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Speaker 2: So as you're listening to today's episode, I want you

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Speaker 2: to ask yourself this question. Is there a part of

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Speaker 2: my story that God is inviting me to bring into

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Speaker 2: the light? Because my friend, you were never ever meant

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Speaker 2: to do this alone. All right, let's head to Holland,

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Speaker 2: Michigan for our panel pod discussion, The Gift of Being Known.

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Speaker 5: Panel.

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Speaker 1: Why do we have such.

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Speaker 2: A deep desire to be fully known and have a deep,

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Speaker 2: deep fear of being truly seen?

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Speaker 4: If anyone has read or is familiar with Kurt Thompson,

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Speaker 4: I heard him talk one time and he talked about

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Speaker 4: the four core kind of needs that we come out

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Speaker 4: of the womb with, that it'd be seen, safe, soothed,

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Speaker 4: and secure. So I think what's interesting is, um, we

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Speaker 4: come out with a desire to be seen. And the

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Speaker 4: sin and the brokenness of the world then leads to

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Speaker 4: the fig leaves, right? And I think, at least for me,

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Speaker 4: in the kind of throes of my addiction, even though

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Speaker 4: I'm hiding it, even though all of that is going on,

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Speaker 4: there is a part of me that's like, I mean,

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Speaker 4: if I am found out, it will be freeing. Like,

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Speaker 4: I won't have to hide anymore. You know what I mean?

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Speaker 4: And so I think there always is still that desire

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Speaker 4: to be seen that is present. It's the shame that

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Speaker 4: we've talked about so much that leads to hiding. And

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Speaker 4: I think that's where we feel so much freedom is

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Speaker 4: when we are seen and known. Matt Chandler says to

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Speaker 4: be 99% known is to be unknown. And that 1%

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Speaker 4: is the devil's playground. And so I think so many

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Speaker 4: of us can be 99% known and it's going that

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Speaker 4: extra 1%, which still is like that. It is that

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Speaker 4: desire to be seen. And I think that's why we

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Speaker 4: feel so much freedom when whatever we're doing, is exposed.

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Speaker 4: Like we literally have language for it, right? Like a

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Speaker 4: weight was lifted off, right?

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Speaker 1: I had a thought.

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Speaker 6: I think the reason that we desire to be fully

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Speaker 6: known is because we're made in God's image. And if

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Speaker 6: you think about it, God's desire is to be fully known.

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Speaker 6: And he created us to know him and to be

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Speaker 6: in community with him. And even though we are not God,

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Speaker 6: that that we are made in his image is an

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Speaker 6: honor and we just have those same kinds of desires

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Speaker 6: that he does.

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Speaker 1: But because we're.

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Speaker 6: Human and we're not God, we do want to hide

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Speaker 6: because we know that we are not on the same

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Speaker 6: level as him.

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Speaker 1: And that is, I think, sometimes the.

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Speaker 6: Unbelievable reality of the gospel that is so hard to

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Speaker 6: grasp sometimes, like that grace that we've all talked about

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Speaker 6: so much this weekend that like, no, really, his mercies

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Speaker 6: really are new every morning. We really are forgiven every

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Speaker 6: single time, 70 times 7. It's hard to grasp that

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Speaker 6: and believe that we actually get that gift as believers,

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Speaker 6: but we do get that gift. And it's good that

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Speaker 6: we grasp that we're not on the level of God.

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Speaker 6: You know, we need to grasp that. But to really

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Speaker 6: embody and fully understand the gospel, that's what God wants

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Speaker 6: us to do is to step out of that shame

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Speaker 6: and step into the light.

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Speaker 1: And so I think.

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Speaker 6: Those are sort of two sides of that coin or

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Speaker 6: the answer to that question.

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Speaker 1: So good.

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Speaker 2: My next question was going to be, what are we

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Speaker 2: really afraid of if people know the whole story? And

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Speaker 2: right when I was thinking about asking that question, right

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Speaker 2: before we all popped up here, we were talking about

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Speaker 2: back at Selah House when we were getting to know

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Speaker 2: each other and there was a few of us that

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Speaker 2: kind of We're telling parts of our story that are

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Speaker 2: not in the pink books, at least for me. And

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Speaker 2: one of the gals got up and they left and

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Speaker 2: they were like going to like get a glass of

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Speaker 2: water or something.

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Speaker 1: And I was like spiraling, you guys.

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Speaker 2: I was like, oh my gosh, she knows. Oh my gosh,

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Speaker 2: she's not gonna be my friend anymore. Oh my gosh,

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Speaker 2: this is it. Like I went there like right after.

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Speaker 2: And so I'm gonna, yeah, now ask the question, like

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Speaker 2: what are we really afraid of? What are we afraid of?

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Speaker 3: I was not there that morning. In fact, I got

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Speaker 3: there every day and said, I missed out on really

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Speaker 3: good bonding.

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Speaker 1: That's not fair.

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Speaker 3: But when you were asking that, my first thought was,

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Speaker 3: what was I afraid of? And I believe it's one word,

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Speaker 3: it's rejection. And if you start with what we all

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Speaker 3: know to be true, what we've been saying, start with

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Speaker 3: the one who loves you the most, who will never

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Speaker 3: reject you. We don't have to be afraid of rejection,

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Speaker 3: especially If you start drawing on your community, on the

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Speaker 3: people that you can sit in the room with and say,

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Speaker 3: I do know how you feel. There's no greater power

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Speaker 3: than sitting across the table from someone and saying, I

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Speaker 3: know how you feel. I tell the story often of

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Speaker 3: when I lost my little brother and it was tragic

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Speaker 3: and it was sudden. And four years previous to that,

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Speaker 3: my stepmom had lost her son. So I'd watch my

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Speaker 3: stepsisters cry. grieve the loss of their little brother. And

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Speaker 3: when my little brother was killed, I just wanted to

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Speaker 3: see them because they were going to tell me how

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Speaker 3: I was going to get through this. They were going

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Speaker 3: to tell me how long I was going to hurt,

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Speaker 3: how long it was going to take. They were going

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Speaker 3: to be able to hold me every step of the

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Speaker 3: way because they had been through this. And that's the

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Speaker 3: power of sitting with someone that knows your pain. And

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Speaker 3: it doesn't matter if it's grief, addiction some sort of

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Speaker 3: trauma when you can sit with someone that knows what

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Speaker 3: your pain feels like you're not going to be rejected

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Speaker 3: and they're going to help you ease into the world

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Speaker 3: of where maybe somebody doesn't understand but you're going to

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Speaker 3: be okay with that but it starts with the one

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Speaker 3: who will never reject you where you are seen and

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Speaker 3: known and loved so much.

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Speaker 1: You know, just thinking back to the woman at the

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Speaker 1: well hiding and going at noon so no one else,

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Speaker 1: you know, she knew no one else was there.

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Speaker 4: I agree.

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Speaker 1: I think we fear rejection and it's scary to just

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Speaker 1: be ourselves and to be vulnerable in front of God

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Speaker 1: and in front of other people, you know? And I

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Speaker 1: think that's what's so beautiful about spaces like this because

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Speaker 1: this is the well. But we don't have to be

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Speaker 1: afraid anymore and I think Our freedom in Christ allows

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Speaker 1: us to step into spaces. And you know what? We're

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Speaker 1: going to be rejected. I'm rejected all the time. Like,

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Speaker 1: we're going to feel these things still. And we can

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Speaker 1: still do it even though we're afraid, but we can

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Speaker 1: gather together. And God gives us the strength to be

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Speaker 1: able to do that. All right, ladies, let's open it up.

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Speaker 1: Who has questions?

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Speaker 5: Hello. Hello, my friend.

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Speaker 1: Hello, Christine.

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Speaker 4: I love you, Jalene.

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Speaker 5: Thanks for your love, by the way. I'm with Love

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Speaker 5: Life Sober. So many questions, but we're just going to

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Speaker 5: start with one right here. I was talking to a

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Speaker 5: few of the gals here, and one of them just

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Speaker 5: recently is, I think it was you, Sherry, you opened

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Speaker 5: up talking about the epidemic of women and alcohol. And

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Speaker 5: I look through the Bible and I think about stories

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Speaker 5: I hear from my grandmother when she was with me, when.

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Speaker 1: She was still alive.

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Speaker 7: Just about the community that women had in the past.

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Speaker 5: And maybe that's not true. I don't know.

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Speaker 7: And then I look at the Bible and I see,

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Speaker 7: I read stories of women talking, connected.

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Speaker 5: They have trials.

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Speaker 1: I get it.

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Speaker 7: So what I don't understand is why don't we have

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Speaker 7: that now? Why have we as women gone to alcohol

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Speaker 7: or other substances to fulfill something that, what are we

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Speaker 7: looking for? And where did that disconnect happen? And whose

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Speaker 7: generation disconnected us from each other? And how do we

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Speaker 7: get that back?

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Speaker 1: Well, that's a big question. And I think it's very cultural.

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Speaker 6: And I think it's, yeah, I wrote about this in

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Speaker 6: Christianity Today, if anybody wants to go find that article

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Speaker 6: from a few years ago.

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Speaker 1: It's actually how I met Sherry and Caroline.

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Speaker 6: Is I interviewed them and then we were like, okay,

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Speaker 6: we're going to be best friends forever now because we

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Speaker 6: have found each other.

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Speaker 1: Because at the time, I didn't.

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Speaker 6: Know other Christian women that were doing this work and

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Speaker 6: I had just sort of started it.

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Speaker 1: And I think, I mean, it's so.

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Speaker 6: Much about just the disconnection of society in general. I mean,

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Speaker 6: you see it in men, you also see it in women.

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Speaker 6: I mean, even more so in women, because I think

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Speaker 6: women are more relational.

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Speaker 1: Creatures in that way.

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Speaker 6: And I think it's like so many things, like the

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Speaker 6: breakdown of of generations of families. Families no longer stay

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Speaker 6: in the same place. We're moving across the country. We

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Speaker 6: don't have support systems. We don't have grandmothers and aunts

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Speaker 6: and people that are there for us. And the world

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Speaker 6: is so disembodied with, I mean, it's cliche to say,

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Speaker 6: but apps. It's like you don't ask your next door

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Speaker 6: neighbor for something anymore.

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Speaker 1: You just get it on Uber Eats or whatever.

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Speaker 6: We don't ask people, even us, even at our house,

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Speaker 6: it's like when we go on vacation, my husband doesn't

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Speaker 6: like to ask people to do things. I'm always kind

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Speaker 6: of like, you're supposed to use your neighbors for this

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Speaker 6: kind of thing. I'm like, we can ask them to

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Speaker 6: feed the dog while we're gone. He's like, no, we

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Speaker 6: must take it to the dog place. But it's just

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Speaker 6: become so uncool to have to rely on anyone.

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Speaker 1: We don't want to bother anyone anymore.

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Speaker 6: And unfortunately, there are people that are annoyed when you're at,

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Speaker 6: when you ask them to do things.

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Speaker 1: But I think, so I think that's part of it.

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Speaker 6: And I think there has been specifically with women, you'll,

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Speaker 6: you will find that women have been leaving the church

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Speaker 6: and droves for the past two decades, three decades.

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Speaker 1: We have a loss of faith in this country.

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Speaker 6: The people that identify as Christians in this country, it

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Speaker 6: was something like 85%, 25 years ago. Now it's down

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Speaker 6: to like 62%. So it's like, the loss of faith

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Speaker 6: leads to a loss of community, leads to we're empty

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Speaker 6: and we're looking for something and we're looking for connection

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Speaker 6: and no one is there and we all feel uncomfortable.

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Speaker 6: And so it's not easy to restore that.

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Speaker 1: It's not.

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Speaker 6: But I think these communities, what we're doing, we're talking

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Speaker 6: about it. We are, I mean, it takes a lot.

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Speaker 6: It takes everybody. I mean, it feels overwhelming, but I

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Speaker 6: do believe this kind of thing, this conference, us being

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Speaker 6: involved in these groups, being intentional. It's not easy to

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Speaker 6: go be in groups and do things like this. People

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Speaker 6: would just rather not. They would rather not be uncomfortable.

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Speaker 6: People don't like awkwardness. I hate today you hear the kids,

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Speaker 6: what they say is like, oh, it's cringe.

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Speaker 1: It's awkward. I don't want it to be awkward. It's like, well,

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Speaker 1: awkward is part of life. We need awkwardness. Awkwardness is okay.

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Speaker 6: And I think we need to like make awkward cool again.

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Speaker 1: You know, go out of your way. I don't know. Like,

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Speaker 1: I feel like it's like this is so big.

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Speaker 6: I don't even know how we could potentially possibly combat it,

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Speaker 6: but that's part of it. And when we start doing

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Speaker 6: a little bit at a time within our own communities,

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Speaker 6: like that matters. And as we, you know, part of

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Speaker 6: what I do as a writer, as a journalist is

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Speaker 6: I like want to expose this stuff with the data.

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Speaker 6: And I want to tell people, hey, this is happening

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Speaker 6: and here's why. And like, pay attention so that you

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Speaker 6: can be a part of the solution. So that's a

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Speaker 6: little bit of a big picture answer. I don't know

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Speaker 6: if others have thoughts on other avenues there.

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Speaker 3: That's a great answer. And I want to add to that,

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Speaker 3: that from a different generation, a little older, I hate

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Speaker 3: saying that. I think without meaning to, we become unapproachable

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Speaker 3: because we see what's on the screen first. And Heather,

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Speaker 3: I believe pointed that out with you. She's watching Christy

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Speaker 3: and looking at her life going, that's amazing. Well, Christy's

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Speaker 3: the first to tell you her life was not amazing.

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Speaker 3: It was falling apart. And you're watching all these other

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Speaker 3: women and their lives are not what they're putting out there.

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Speaker 3: And I'm not saying that everybody's life is a lie,

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Speaker 3: but we make sure we look good on what we

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Speaker 3: put out there. And it makes us unapproachable. Your first

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Speaker 3: meetings don't feel authentic because that's not the first impression

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Speaker 3: that you have. And we do need to change that.

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Speaker 3: And I think that That is something that also, I believe,

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Speaker 3: is in the works as we get more real and

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Speaker 3: we're talking about who we are and what we really

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Speaker 3: stand for and sharing our faith and what we're trying

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Speaker 3: to accomplish. Being brave and being here, wow, that's being authentic.

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Speaker 3: I mean, some of you came here without knowing anybody.

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Speaker 3: You didn't have a community. You didn't know any of

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Speaker 3: my people or Christy's Love Life Sober group. You guys

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Speaker 3: are the heroes here. But that's showing up. And that's hard.

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Speaker 1: That's really hard.

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Speaker 3: But those are the kind of brave things we need

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Speaker 3: to do to form these relationships and break those barriers.

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Speaker 4: We need more radical vulnerability. So I think Chuck DeGroat

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Speaker 4: calls it phonability, F-A-U-X. And I think we are so

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Speaker 4: good at faking it. And and so that's why, like

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Speaker 4: when I talk about that and I mean, it's a

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Speaker 4: whole chapter in my book is the adjective there is

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Speaker 4: really important. And so like Brene Brown is great and

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Speaker 4: I love what she's done for vulnerability. And especially as sinners,

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Speaker 4: we know how to fake it. And so I think

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Speaker 4: what we're seeing is plenty of people who not just women, men, too.

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Speaker 4: who have learned what it looks like to pretend to

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Speaker 4: be open and honest and vulnerable and known and yet

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Speaker 4: are really not. And it kind of goes back to

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Speaker 4: that 1% thing. Like, sure, I'm going to open up

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Speaker 4: a little bit or I'm going to open up this much.

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Speaker 4: And it's just, I think it's killing us. So I

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Speaker 4: think going out and being radically vulnerable, is a way

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Speaker 4: to kind of reclaim that territory.

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Speaker 1: That's so good.

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Speaker 2: Raise your hand if you hate small talk. This is why, like,

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Speaker 2: the connections that we've made here over the— we keep saying

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Speaker 2: weekend— over this week are so different, right? It's because when

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Speaker 2: you go deep, that's when it breaks all of the

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Speaker 2: shame that we've been talking about. And for the gals

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Speaker 2: that are thinking about their stories or are still struggling,

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Speaker 2: the hard parts of your story is going to be

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Speaker 2: what connects you to another woman here or another woman

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Speaker 2: not here. When the women got on these stages and shared,

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Speaker 2: you related to a part of their story that related

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Speaker 2: to a part of your story, a hard part of

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Speaker 2: your story. And so I hope that that just encourages

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Speaker 2: you guys a little bit that the hard parts are

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Speaker 2: what connects us the most, even though they're like the

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Speaker 2: hardest to say and share.

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Speaker 1: But I was just thinking of a story. So I

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Speaker 1: was at church and someone came up to me and

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Speaker 1: they're like, how are you doing? you know, hey, how

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Speaker 1: are you?

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Speaker 4: How are you doing?

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Speaker 1: And I've never met her before. And I just look

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Speaker 1: at her and smell it. I'm like, you know what?

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Speaker 1: She didn't know me. I'm like, you know what? I'm

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Speaker 1: really struggling with like body shame stuff. Like I'm really

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Speaker 1: struggling with like my body image. I'm, you know, in

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Speaker 1: recovery from alcoholism and drug addiction. And like this new

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Speaker 1: thing has come back a little bit. And her face.

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Speaker 1: was like priceless. I live for that face. No, but

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Speaker 1: I was like, God has really challenged me to like,

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Speaker 1: you know what? Answer the question, like really answer it.

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Speaker 1: And you know what she did? Do you think she

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Speaker 1: ran away? No, she teared up. She teared up. And

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Speaker 1: then she told me her thing. Boom, just like that.

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Speaker 1: And we can do that. Like we can do that.

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Speaker 1: And I encourage you to try it. Again, that face

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Speaker 1: is priceless. But it is freeing, and I think it's

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Speaker 1: that example that we can share and that we can

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Speaker 1: show in rooms like this, but also in the church lobby,

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Speaker 1: the gas station, the child care drop-off line, wherever we are.

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Speaker 1: So anyways, I just thought of that woman's face.

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Speaker 4: It actually reminds me, we have a friend, her name

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Speaker 4: is Heather Kopp, and she is a pioneer in this space.

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Speaker 4: She wrote what I think is the first like really

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Speaker 4: modern Christian alcoholic story. So it's called Sober Mercies. There's

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Speaker 4: a story that she tells when she's in treatment. They're

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Speaker 4: going around in a circle and she kind of blurts

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Speaker 4: out and she goes like, I drove drunk with my kids.

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Speaker 4: And the woman next to her goes, oh honey, didn't

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Speaker 4: we all? And it's not that we, everyone drove drunk

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Speaker 4: with their kids. It's that we all have that thing.

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Speaker 4: We've all driven drunk with our kids. whatever that looks like, right?

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Speaker 4: And it's like, we think, oh my God, that's the

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Speaker 4: worst thing. If I say that, it's like, everyone's going

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Speaker 4: to leave and hate me, you know? And it's like, oh,

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Speaker 4: we all go drunk with our kids, whatever that looks like.

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Speaker 4: And I think that is where barriers start to fall.

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Speaker 6: Yeah, that just reminds me of one thing that when

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Speaker 6: I first got up the courage to join some meetings,

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Speaker 6: I joined a group six years ago.

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Speaker 1: The second day I was sober, that I'm still sober from, I.

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Speaker 6: Joined a group and it was just always like, oh,

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Speaker 6: you know, and I showed up on these meetings and

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Speaker 6: this was a big group. There was like 75 people

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Speaker 6: in this room. So I had my camera off and

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Speaker 6: I wasn't planning on talking. But I went to these

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Speaker 6: meetings all week and I just by the end of

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Speaker 6: that week and now still say, in a.

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Speaker 1: Good way, you're not special. In a good way, you

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Speaker 1: don't have some, like you're not, you don't have a

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Speaker 1: worse problem. You're not a worse person.

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Speaker 6: Your problem doesn't make you some really special brand of,

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Speaker 6: bad as a woman because everybody, the people in this room,

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Speaker 6: I don't know what I expected, but you know, it

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Speaker 6: was everyone from, I say there's a woman that was

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Speaker 6: always on.

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Speaker 1: She was like a 22 year old single mom. She

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Speaker 1: always had a baby on her hip.

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Speaker 6: And we got this guy that's 72 and 20 years

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Speaker 6: sober and he's there to offer his wisdom. And then

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Speaker 6: we had like teachers and dentists and therapists and everyone

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Speaker 6: in between with kids, with no kids, like all the

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Speaker 6: stories you can imagine. I was like, oh my gosh,

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Speaker 6: like I didn't know this is what it was going

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Speaker 6: to be when I got on here. But finally, I

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Speaker 6: was like, you're not any kind of special because I

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Speaker 6: was so just like, what are people going to think

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Speaker 6: of me if they know that I have this issue?

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Speaker 6: And just so just imagining every single stereotype and every

437
00:23:42,570 --> 00:23:44,430
Speaker 6: single piece of judgment that I was going to get.

438
00:23:44,670 --> 00:23:47,889
Speaker 6: And then I was like, yeah, there are people that

439
00:23:47,910 --> 00:23:50,930
Speaker 6: are going to think those things. But once I met

440
00:23:50,970 --> 00:23:53,730
Speaker 6: all those other people, I realized that actually I know

441
00:23:53,770 --> 00:23:56,880
Speaker 6: that none of those things are true. And I can

442
00:23:57,240 --> 00:23:59,490
Speaker 6: kind of walk out in confidence knowing that there are

443
00:23:59,510 --> 00:24:01,770
Speaker 6: so many other people like me. And by telling my

444
00:24:01,850 --> 00:24:05,970
Speaker 6: story and us all telling our stories, we make it

445
00:24:06,010 --> 00:24:09,370
Speaker 6: that much easier for someone else to realize that their

446
00:24:09,430 --> 00:24:12,040
Speaker 6: problem isn't that special kind of bad either.

447
00:24:12,080 --> 00:24:13,900
Speaker 1: And it's okay for them to tell people.

448
00:24:14,320 --> 00:24:16,040
Speaker 6: I just imagine people just are coming out of the

449
00:24:16,100 --> 00:24:19,280
Speaker 6: shadows because we're telling our stories. And 10 years ago,

450
00:24:19,640 --> 00:24:23,770
Speaker 6: when I was first sober curious and I was exploring online,

451
00:24:23,790 --> 00:24:27,140
Speaker 6: there was almost nothing. especially in the Christian space. There's

452
00:24:27,160 --> 00:24:29,459
Speaker 6: almost nothing. I remember I found a, I mean, this

453
00:24:29,500 --> 00:24:31,910
Speaker 6: was probably 12, 13 years ago. I found a, just

454
00:24:31,950 --> 00:24:36,070
Speaker 6: like this little tiny, like British women's like chat forum.

455
00:24:36,330 --> 00:24:36,850
Speaker 1: And that was it.

456
00:24:37,450 --> 00:24:39,370
Speaker 6: But I still, almost like when I found it though,

457
00:24:39,810 --> 00:24:41,710
Speaker 6: I was like latching onto it. I was like, Oh,

458
00:24:41,750 --> 00:24:43,609
Speaker 6: I've got to like, I'm going to read every post.

459
00:24:43,650 --> 00:24:46,040
Speaker 6: Like I just was so hungry to like find other people.

460
00:24:46,480 --> 00:24:48,739
Speaker 6: And now it's like, Oh my gosh, if I had

461
00:24:48,760 --> 00:24:51,879
Speaker 6: found any of These people, when I was in the

462
00:24:51,900 --> 00:24:54,370
Speaker 6: very beginning, I would have just latched on. And so

463
00:24:54,400 --> 00:24:56,910
Speaker 6: I think we're in a new era. I think we're

464
00:24:56,950 --> 00:24:58,389
Speaker 6: in a better place. And I think we're going to

465
00:24:58,410 --> 00:25:01,070
Speaker 6: see more healing, so much more healing now. I mean,

466
00:25:01,109 --> 00:25:04,190
Speaker 6: for all the bad that social media can be, it

467
00:25:04,230 --> 00:25:05,470
Speaker 6: can also be so good.

468
00:25:05,770 --> 00:25:07,730
Speaker 1: And so, yeah, that's all.

469
00:25:08,230 --> 00:25:10,650
Speaker 2: Sarah, I would love for you to share what happened

470
00:25:10,690 --> 00:25:15,150
Speaker 2: yesterday when you posted on your Instagram.

471
00:25:14,520 --> 00:25:15,600
Speaker 1: A little bit of your story.

472
00:25:16,240 --> 00:25:19,880
Speaker 8: So one thing about me and my struggle with alcohol

473
00:25:19,940 --> 00:25:21,660
Speaker 8: is that I kept it. I'm going to cry.

474
00:25:21,760 --> 00:25:24,199
Speaker 1: Is that okay? Cry.

475
00:25:26,460 --> 00:25:30,200
Speaker 8: I kept it so close. I would not tell anybody

476
00:25:30,940 --> 00:25:33,160
Speaker 8: because I didn't want people to know. Like Dawn was

477
00:25:33,200 --> 00:25:36,700
Speaker 8: just saying. thought people would look at me and instantly

478
00:25:36,740 --> 00:25:39,600
Speaker 8: turn away and I would be left. And yeah, so

479
00:25:39,640 --> 00:25:44,250
Speaker 8: I just hid. I hid from everybody. So God has

480
00:25:44,270 --> 00:25:46,449
Speaker 8: just been redeeming so many things.

481
00:25:46,210 --> 00:25:47,109
Speaker 1: And he's so good.

482
00:25:47,130 --> 00:25:50,110
Speaker 8: And it's through the pain that he does that. But

483
00:25:51,210 --> 00:25:55,470
Speaker 8: one of my pieces of surrender has been talking about it.

484
00:25:56,180 --> 00:25:58,720
Speaker 8: And the first person I told was one of my

485
00:25:58,760 --> 00:26:01,240
Speaker 8: best friends. And I was like, she's going to stop

486
00:26:01,260 --> 00:26:04,000
Speaker 8: being my friend. And It ended up being this awesome

487
00:26:04,040 --> 00:26:07,240
Speaker 8: conversation and she told me something that she was struggling

488
00:26:07,280 --> 00:26:10,280
Speaker 8: with and it just started rippling. I went to the

489
00:26:10,320 --> 00:26:12,260
Speaker 8: worship leader at my church and I was met with

490
00:26:12,320 --> 00:26:14,619
Speaker 8: nothing but grace. I talked to my dad and nothing

491
00:26:14,660 --> 00:26:19,150
Speaker 8: but grace and I just started to see like Satan

492
00:26:19,230 --> 00:26:22,290
Speaker 8: kept me in the dark because he knew that the

493
00:26:22,350 --> 00:26:25,710
Speaker 8: chains would start to break when I came into the light.

494
00:26:26,530 --> 00:26:30,630
Speaker 8: So I couldn't sleep Tuesday night because it was so

495
00:26:30,830 --> 00:26:33,739
Speaker 8: awesome and just meeting everyone and getting to sing with

496
00:26:33,780 --> 00:26:34,240
Speaker 8: you all.

497
00:26:34,920 --> 00:26:36,060
Speaker 1: And so I've been going back.

498
00:26:35,940 --> 00:26:39,790
Speaker 8: And forth about like wanting to post my story on

499
00:26:39,830 --> 00:26:44,070
Speaker 8: the internet, but I actually posted something once and then

500
00:26:44,090 --> 00:26:47,780
Speaker 8: took it down because one person messaged me and I

501
00:26:47,800 --> 00:26:48,880
Speaker 8: was like, nope, I'm not ready.

502
00:26:49,180 --> 00:26:49,780
Speaker 1: I can't do this.

503
00:26:50,000 --> 00:26:52,189
Speaker 8: What if, what if this person thinks different? What if,

504
00:26:52,300 --> 00:26:53,900
Speaker 8: you know, all the things that go through our head.

505
00:26:54,580 --> 00:26:57,600
Speaker 8: But so when I couldn't sleep, I just started typing.

506
00:26:58,080 --> 00:26:59,590
Speaker 8: I didn't know if I was going to post it

507
00:26:59,619 --> 00:27:04,250
Speaker 8: or not, but, um, The words just came and I

508
00:27:04,410 --> 00:27:08,390
Speaker 8: posted it. And the pastor of my church actually reached

509
00:27:08,450 --> 00:27:11,050
Speaker 8: out to me the next day and he said, Sarah,

510
00:27:11,090 --> 00:27:13,750
Speaker 8: I'm proud of you. Which hearing that in the midst

511
00:27:13,790 --> 00:27:15,190
Speaker 8: of your struggle, like what the heck?

512
00:27:15,570 --> 00:27:16,050
Speaker 4: That's God.

513
00:27:16,070 --> 00:27:17,530
Speaker 1: That's God. That's how he sees us.

514
00:27:18,810 --> 00:27:21,100
Speaker 8: But he said, someone just came to me in the

515
00:27:21,170 --> 00:27:25,080
Speaker 8: church and she's been struggling and can I connect you too?

516
00:27:25,100 --> 00:27:27,240
Speaker 7: He's so good, guys.

517
00:27:27,380 --> 00:27:30,880
Speaker 1: He's so good. He uses all of this. He uses

518
00:27:30,920 --> 00:27:35,889
Speaker 1: the most. Messy, broken situations for good. Thank you, my friend.

519
00:27:37,030 --> 00:27:39,910
Speaker 2: We'll be back right after a quick word from our sponsors.

520
00:27:40,750 --> 00:27:42,470
Speaker 1: Babe, can I pause this just for a moment?

521
00:27:43,030 --> 00:27:45,469
Speaker 2: If you're listening to this and thinking, I don't want

522
00:27:45,510 --> 00:27:47,850
Speaker 2: to do this alone anymore, I want to tell you

523
00:27:47,950 --> 00:27:51,060
Speaker 2: about the Love Life Sober community. This is the space

524
00:27:51,119 --> 00:27:54,380
Speaker 2: where the podcast turns into real connection and real support.

525
00:27:54,940 --> 00:27:58,359
Speaker 2: Inside the community, we gather weekly for live connection calls

526
00:27:58,680 --> 00:28:01,359
Speaker 2: where you can listen, share, or simply just be present.

527
00:28:01,910 --> 00:28:04,780
Speaker 2: There's a beautiful leadership team who hold this space with

528
00:28:04,859 --> 00:28:09,900
Speaker 2: wisdom and care, a dedicated prayer request area, regular masterclasses

529
00:28:10,040 --> 00:28:13,200
Speaker 2: led by expert guests, and even a worship music playlist

530
00:28:13,560 --> 00:28:16,199
Speaker 2: to help you reconnect when your nervous system needs it.

531
00:28:16,400 --> 00:28:19,750
Speaker 2: There's also a dedicated coaching space called True Vine for

532
00:28:19,790 --> 00:28:20,550
Speaker 2: women who want.

533
00:28:20,490 --> 00:28:21,469
Speaker 1: Even deeper support.

534
00:28:21,950 --> 00:28:24,350
Speaker 2: The Love Life Sober community is a place to connect

535
00:28:24,369 --> 00:28:26,850
Speaker 2: with like-minded women and open up in a way you

536
00:28:26,930 --> 00:28:29,410
Speaker 2: might not be able to in your church or small group.

537
00:28:29,760 --> 00:28:33,040
Speaker 2: This space was specifically created for women who are questioning

538
00:28:33,080 --> 00:28:35,679
Speaker 2: their relationship with alcohol and who want the kind of

539
00:28:35,720 --> 00:28:38,520
Speaker 2: freedom that only can be found in Jesus. All the

540
00:28:38,560 --> 00:28:40,380
Speaker 2: details to join us are at the link in the

541
00:28:40,420 --> 00:28:43,040
Speaker 2: show notes. I can't wait to meet you. Let's jump

542
00:28:43,080 --> 00:28:43,980
Speaker 2: back into the episode.

543
00:28:44,200 --> 00:28:47,440
Speaker 9: One of our community members was hoping we could talk

544
00:28:47,480 --> 00:28:51,210
Speaker 9: a little bit about talking to your family and your

545
00:28:51,270 --> 00:28:56,730
Speaker 9: church about your sobriety, but also the fact that you

546
00:28:56,770 --> 00:28:59,470
Speaker 9: drank too much and any advice we could have on

547
00:29:00,160 --> 00:29:00,920
Speaker 9: how to do that.

548
00:29:01,420 --> 00:29:01,940
Speaker 1: Caroline?

549
00:29:04,080 --> 00:29:04,400
Speaker 5: Thanks.

550
00:29:05,340 --> 00:29:07,860
Speaker 1: You wrote the book on it. Yeah, no, the book

551
00:29:07,940 --> 00:29:10,260
Speaker 1: is over there. But so one of the things I've

552
00:29:10,280 --> 00:29:12,440
Speaker 1: been really moved and feeling moved to do is to

553
00:29:12,810 --> 00:29:16,170
Speaker 1: help family members understand because I think, you know, a

554
00:29:16,230 --> 00:29:19,070
Speaker 1: lot of folks hear sobriety and they think like a

555
00:29:19,210 --> 00:29:22,410
Speaker 1: meeting in a dark church basement, like with a yucky

556
00:29:22,430 --> 00:29:25,150
Speaker 1: cup of coffee and, you know, smells like old cigarettes

557
00:29:25,210 --> 00:29:28,580
Speaker 1: or something in there. But recovery and what we experienced

558
00:29:29,130 --> 00:29:34,370
Speaker 1: And I think when we share with our loved ones,

559
00:29:34,870 --> 00:29:38,960
Speaker 1: and yes, sharing and confessing those hard parts of our story,

560
00:29:39,340 --> 00:29:43,690
Speaker 1: and as we're becoming free, we need to share with

561
00:29:43,730 --> 00:29:46,890
Speaker 1: them what that is like too. And so being able

562
00:29:46,970 --> 00:29:49,490
Speaker 1: to just be honest and open and then encourage our

563
00:29:49,580 --> 00:29:53,120
Speaker 1: loved ones to get help if they need it. You know,

564
00:29:53,240 --> 00:29:56,860
Speaker 1: I think when you enter, I work for recovery.com. Go

565
00:29:56,900 --> 00:29:58,680
Speaker 1: check us out. You know, it's awesome.

566
00:29:58,860 --> 00:29:59,140
Speaker 3: Love it.

567
00:29:59,870 --> 00:30:02,570
Speaker 1: But there are so many resources for families because sometimes,

568
00:30:02,610 --> 00:30:05,050
Speaker 1: you know, we need help. But guess what? We're not

569
00:30:05,100 --> 00:30:09,280
Speaker 1: the only ones. Addiction is something that impacts the families sometimes,

570
00:30:10,060 --> 00:30:14,340
Speaker 1: oftentimes for generations. And so our loved ones might need support, too.

571
00:30:14,380 --> 00:30:16,920
Speaker 1: They might not want to hear it, especially from us, like, hey,

572
00:30:16,960 --> 00:30:21,200
Speaker 1: you need help. But finding ways to do that, you know,

573
00:30:21,240 --> 00:30:25,520
Speaker 1: you must pastor people that are trusted family friends. I mean,

574
00:30:25,600 --> 00:30:28,440
Speaker 1: bring people into the story with you, not just people

575
00:30:28,480 --> 00:30:31,200
Speaker 1: that have the same experience, but loved ones too. So

576
00:30:31,240 --> 00:30:33,480
Speaker 1: hopefully that answers it. But I would, yeah, definitely encourage

577
00:30:33,500 --> 00:30:35,580
Speaker 1: you to check out the book. If cost is an

578
00:30:35,620 --> 00:30:37,480
Speaker 1: issue for any reason, my husband hates it when I

579
00:30:37,520 --> 00:30:39,880
Speaker 1: say this, but I'm like, tell me, but I want

580
00:30:39,940 --> 00:30:41,830
Speaker 1: to make sure it gets in the hands for you,

581
00:30:41,870 --> 00:30:43,810
Speaker 1: but for your loved one, like it's for your loved

582
00:30:43,870 --> 00:30:47,190
Speaker 1: one to help them understand what you're going through. Yeah,

583
00:30:47,350 --> 00:30:48,310
Speaker 1: I just wanted to comment.

584
00:30:48,370 --> 00:30:51,610
Speaker 6: I love that thought of bringing people into your story.

585
00:30:51,730 --> 00:30:53,880
Speaker 6: I think sometimes people think, well, I should wait for

586
00:30:53,890 --> 00:30:55,640
Speaker 6: a really long time. I should wait till I'm a

587
00:30:55,660 --> 00:31:00,240
Speaker 6: year sober to tell people. And I would encourage you

588
00:31:00,300 --> 00:31:03,400
Speaker 6: not to wait for that. You know, five months into

589
00:31:03,480 --> 00:31:07,680
Speaker 6: my first round of sobriety, my pastor called me and

590
00:31:08,000 --> 00:31:09,580
Speaker 6: he didn't know anything about it. And he said, we're

591
00:31:09,600 --> 00:31:11,770
Speaker 6: looking for people to share some things that God has

592
00:31:11,810 --> 00:31:13,770
Speaker 6: done in their life. Like, would you be willing to

593
00:31:13,810 --> 00:31:14,370
Speaker 6: share something?

594
00:31:14,490 --> 00:31:15,310
Speaker 1: Like, just something.

595
00:31:16,010 --> 00:31:20,380
Speaker 6: And I remember thinking, oh, no. Like, this is what

596
00:31:20,400 --> 00:31:22,860
Speaker 6: God's doing in my life and God's calling me to

597
00:31:22,880 --> 00:31:25,550
Speaker 6: share it. And that's really scary to think about saying

598
00:31:25,570 --> 00:31:30,150
Speaker 6: that in front of my entire church. And so I said, okay,

599
00:31:30,270 --> 00:31:32,430
Speaker 6: I have to tell you something. And so I tell

600
00:31:32,470 --> 00:31:34,530
Speaker 6: him and his wife, they were both our pastors. And

601
00:31:35,230 --> 00:31:36,870
Speaker 6: it was the first time I had like said all

602
00:31:36,890 --> 00:31:39,230
Speaker 6: of this out loud. I'm like sobbing on the phone

603
00:31:39,310 --> 00:31:42,150
Speaker 6: as I share this to them. And they're like, first

604
00:31:42,170 --> 00:31:44,290
Speaker 6: of all, they were amazing. They were like, Erica, this

605
00:31:44,350 --> 00:31:45,950
Speaker 6: is so amazing. Like this is going to help so

606
00:31:45,970 --> 00:31:46,350
Speaker 6: many people.

607
00:31:46,370 --> 00:31:47,550
Speaker 1: I'm like, okay.

608
00:31:48,780 --> 00:31:52,380
Speaker 6: And so Sunday comes, that Sunday comes, and I don't

609
00:31:52,420 --> 00:31:54,180
Speaker 6: have like a massive church. So it wasn't like I

610
00:31:54,200 --> 00:31:55,920
Speaker 6: was talking to thousands of people. I was talking to

611
00:31:55,940 --> 00:32:00,300
Speaker 6: about 200 people. But it was still scary. And they said,

612
00:32:00,320 --> 00:32:03,280
Speaker 6: do you want this to be live streamed like our

613
00:32:03,300 --> 00:32:06,020
Speaker 6: normal services? And at first I said yes. And then

614
00:32:06,040 --> 00:32:08,020
Speaker 6: I was like, nevermind, please take the live stream off.

615
00:32:08,060 --> 00:32:08,220
Speaker 7: No.

616
00:32:09,020 --> 00:32:12,460
Speaker 6: So I shared and I cried through it and it

617
00:32:12,500 --> 00:32:17,910
Speaker 6: was really hard. And then three days later, world shut

618
00:32:17,950 --> 00:32:22,250
Speaker 6: down for COVID. And my biggest fear in sharing with

619
00:32:22,290 --> 00:32:23,990
Speaker 6: my church and anybody.

620
00:32:23,730 --> 00:32:26,790
Speaker 1: Was like, what if I drink again? What if I

621
00:32:26,810 --> 00:32:29,450
Speaker 1: start drinking again? Then what? Then what will people think?

622
00:32:30,030 --> 00:32:30,350
Speaker 4: I don't know.

623
00:32:30,370 --> 00:32:31,830
Speaker 6: I don't know what I thought. I didn't get past

624
00:32:31,850 --> 00:32:35,670
Speaker 6: that thought. And then less than a month later, I think,

625
00:32:36,590 --> 00:32:39,730
Speaker 6: I started drinking again. But the world was shut down.

626
00:32:40,090 --> 00:32:43,490
Speaker 6: So it kind of felt like nobody knew. But long

627
00:32:43,530 --> 00:32:47,250
Speaker 6: story short, ultimately, by the end of that summer, I

628
00:32:47,270 --> 00:32:52,210
Speaker 6: decided to get sober again. And that relapse portion of

629
00:32:52,270 --> 00:32:55,750
Speaker 6: the story, honestly, is so powerful because I was like,

630
00:32:55,890 --> 00:32:57,550
Speaker 6: I did the thing I was scared of. And then

631
00:32:57,570 --> 00:33:00,050
Speaker 6: the worst thing that I thought could happen happened. And

632
00:33:00,130 --> 00:33:03,830
Speaker 6: I still was able to overcome it. And they know

633
00:33:03,870 --> 00:33:07,730
Speaker 6: about the relapse. And still, they came alongside me to

634
00:33:07,750 --> 00:33:11,760
Speaker 6: support me in the aftermath. And so I do think

635
00:33:11,820 --> 00:33:15,100
Speaker 6: that their church's some churches have a long way to go.

636
00:33:15,160 --> 00:33:17,050
Speaker 6: I think there's a lot of education that needs to

637
00:33:17,070 --> 00:33:20,270
Speaker 6: be given to church leadership. And sometimes you maybe need

638
00:33:20,290 --> 00:33:23,690
Speaker 6: to educate them. Sometimes you do. And people have had

639
00:33:23,730 --> 00:33:27,570
Speaker 6: some bad experiences at certain churches, I feel. And I mean,

640
00:33:27,590 --> 00:33:29,860
Speaker 6: I'm not going to say like change churches, but if

641
00:33:29,920 --> 00:33:31,820
Speaker 6: you have a bad reaction where there's a lot of

642
00:33:31,920 --> 00:33:36,720
Speaker 6: judgment and church leadership is condemning you, that's a them problem.

643
00:33:37,700 --> 00:33:42,420
Speaker 6: And that's something to like have a serious conversation with

644
00:33:42,520 --> 00:33:45,200
Speaker 6: church leadership about if that's how they're responding. But my

645
00:33:45,260 --> 00:33:47,840
Speaker 6: experience and the experience of most people I know, that's

646
00:33:47,900 --> 00:33:51,739
Speaker 6: not the reaction they get. Most reaction is going to

647
00:33:51,760 --> 00:33:55,660
Speaker 6: be grace upon grace and just thankful to you for

648
00:33:55,720 --> 00:34:00,110
Speaker 6: admitting your struggle. And I don't know where I'm going

649
00:34:00,150 --> 00:34:01,930
Speaker 6: with this, but real quick, I just wanted to add

650
00:34:02,030 --> 00:34:04,050
Speaker 6: on to your story that you shared about someone from

651
00:34:04,090 --> 00:34:04,470
Speaker 6: your church.

652
00:34:04,510 --> 00:34:07,370
Speaker 1: I had a very similar experience.

653
00:34:07,370 --> 00:34:12,149
Speaker 6: Where earlier this year or last year, someone was going

654
00:34:12,210 --> 00:34:15,720
Speaker 6: through our 21 days of prayer. And it was like,

655
00:34:15,739 --> 00:34:18,800
Speaker 6: whether or not you put your name on the prayer card.

656
00:34:18,900 --> 00:34:22,380
Speaker 6: And she was struggling with addiction to marijuana. And she

657
00:34:22,400 --> 00:34:23,919
Speaker 6: was like, I don't want to tell anyone. And then

658
00:34:24,000 --> 00:34:25,080
Speaker 6: somebody had told her about me.

659
00:34:25,200 --> 00:34:26,990
Speaker 1: We had met. And she was like, you know what?

660
00:34:27,070 --> 00:34:29,970
Speaker 6: If Erica hadn't told her story, I wouldn't be here

661
00:34:30,650 --> 00:34:32,390
Speaker 6: doing this at the church altar. So I'm going to

662
00:34:32,430 --> 00:34:35,210
Speaker 6: put my name on my prayer card and help other people.

663
00:34:35,290 --> 00:34:38,810
Speaker 6: So it's just Putting your name on it matters. And

664
00:34:38,870 --> 00:34:41,790
Speaker 6: it really does have such a powerful effect on what

665
00:34:41,830 --> 00:34:43,780
Speaker 6: God's going to do in the lives of other people.

666
00:34:45,430 --> 00:34:47,279
Speaker 4: I originally was going to write a chapter in my

667
00:34:47,320 --> 00:34:54,460
Speaker 4: book about four loved ones. And I sat down to

668
00:34:54,500 --> 00:34:56,819
Speaker 4: write it. And I was like, I can't write this.

669
00:34:57,739 --> 00:35:04,719
Speaker 4: Because when it comes to family members, it is so.

670
00:35:06,700 --> 00:35:13,540
Speaker 4: Specialized. So I think how a family walks through addiction

671
00:35:13,840 --> 00:35:18,260
Speaker 4: with one person is going to be very different. And similarly,

672
00:35:18,489 --> 00:35:23,510
Speaker 4: how a family reacts to you talking about your struggle

673
00:35:23,969 --> 00:35:28,590
Speaker 4: is going to be very different. In my experience, I

674
00:35:28,630 --> 00:35:33,649
Speaker 4: would rather tell a million people about my struggle than

675
00:35:33,670 --> 00:35:36,009
Speaker 4: the 10 people that I have to see in two weeks.

676
00:35:37,050 --> 00:35:42,009
Speaker 4: Because it's not easy. There are people that have a

677
00:35:42,190 --> 00:35:46,430
Speaker 4: vested interest in me not sharing my story and all

678
00:35:46,469 --> 00:35:51,859
Speaker 4: the details of that story. In fact, in order for

679
00:35:51,910 --> 00:35:55,040
Speaker 4: the book to be published, some of those details had

680
00:35:55,060 --> 00:35:59,219
Speaker 4: to be taken out. That's heavy. I would say the

681
00:35:59,239 --> 00:36:01,660
Speaker 4: closest I ever got to drinking again were those conversations

682
00:36:01,700 --> 00:36:05,660
Speaker 4: before the book came out. And my wife can tell

683
00:36:05,700 --> 00:36:10,719
Speaker 4: you that... That was not licensed minister John in light

684
00:36:10,739 --> 00:36:17,610
Speaker 4: of those conversations. When you start facing the sin in

685
00:36:17,650 --> 00:36:23,069
Speaker 4: your life, it becomes a mirror to other people and

686
00:36:23,110 --> 00:36:26,370
Speaker 4: a lot of people don't like what they see. And

687
00:36:26,510 --> 00:36:29,730
Speaker 4: so I wish I could tell you and the advice

688
00:36:29,750 --> 00:36:31,989
Speaker 4: that I could give you is here's how you do it.

689
00:36:32,860 --> 00:36:36,279
Speaker 4: And here's how you can make sure that the reaction is,

690
00:36:37,550 --> 00:36:43,310
Speaker 4: what you want and need but the reality is you

691
00:36:43,350 --> 00:36:45,930
Speaker 4: have to do it no matter what and no matter

692
00:36:46,010 --> 00:36:50,719
Speaker 4: what reaction you get like you are doing this for

693
00:36:50,800 --> 00:36:54,480
Speaker 4: you and the lord right and you have to hang

694
00:36:54,560 --> 00:36:59,989
Speaker 4: on to that i remember talking about my struggle and

695
00:37:00,030 --> 00:37:05,230
Speaker 4: there was one person uh a relative who said well

696
00:37:05,250 --> 00:37:11,259
Speaker 4: by that definition We all have a problem. And I

697
00:37:11,300 --> 00:37:18,430
Speaker 4: just kept my mouth shut. That family member loves me.

698
00:37:18,610 --> 00:37:21,570
Speaker 4: I love that family member. And I'm just going to

699
00:37:21,610 --> 00:37:24,790
Speaker 4: continue to live out what the Lord has called me

700
00:37:24,830 --> 00:37:29,330
Speaker 4: to live out. There have been painful conversations in light

701
00:37:29,590 --> 00:37:35,660
Speaker 4: of this book. And yet, I would not trade it

702
00:37:35,700 --> 00:37:40,500
Speaker 4: for the world. I am way more secure. I am

703
00:37:40,739 --> 00:37:44,180
Speaker 4: way more free. And so my advice to you is

704
00:37:45,540 --> 00:37:48,980
Speaker 4: you have to be faithful to the Lord. And even

705
00:37:49,040 --> 00:37:52,380
Speaker 4: though that may be difficult, I'll go back to something

706
00:37:52,440 --> 00:37:56,460
Speaker 4: I said yesterday, which is the life I have now

707
00:37:56,780 --> 00:38:00,500
Speaker 4: is better than anything I could imagine. It is not easier.

708
00:38:01,440 --> 00:38:05,040
Speaker 4: In fact, it is harder. You took away my coping mechanism.

709
00:38:05,060 --> 00:38:09,540
Speaker 4: I have to find other ways. But it is better.

710
00:38:09,700 --> 00:38:13,129
Speaker 4: And so despite that, I can still say that.

711
00:38:14,330 --> 00:38:15,109
Speaker 1: So, so good.

712
00:38:15,590 --> 00:38:18,370
Speaker 2: I also think we have to give grace to our

713
00:38:18,410 --> 00:38:22,680
Speaker 2: family members, right? They're probably not going to understand it

714
00:38:22,719 --> 00:38:27,680
Speaker 2: like the women and John in this room, you know? Yes.

715
00:38:28,400 --> 00:38:30,160
Speaker 4: We're finally getting it.

716
00:38:30,180 --> 00:38:31,040
Speaker 1: You can be included.

717
00:38:31,080 --> 00:38:32,400
Speaker 4: Women and John.

718
00:38:32,440 --> 00:38:36,800
Speaker 2: I just remember, Chris, my husband is... my biggest supporter,

719
00:38:36,820 --> 00:38:41,219
Speaker 2: but he doesn't get it. You know, and so we

720
00:38:41,239 --> 00:38:43,420
Speaker 2: also have to give them grace because they just aren't

721
00:38:43,440 --> 00:38:46,600
Speaker 2: going to understand it, which makes this, all of our

722
00:38:46,680 --> 00:38:49,740
Speaker 2: being together in this community, it's why it's so important.

723
00:38:50,640 --> 00:38:51,980
Speaker 1: So give them grace.

724
00:38:52,820 --> 00:38:57,040
Speaker 2: We'll be back right after a quick word from our sponsors. Okay,

725
00:38:57,060 --> 00:38:59,739
Speaker 2: we have time for one last question.

726
00:39:00,260 --> 00:39:02,950
Speaker 10: Okay, so I started writing questions and you kind of

727
00:39:03,739 --> 00:39:07,109
Speaker 10: nailed it on what you just said. How did all

728
00:39:07,150 --> 00:39:08,989
Speaker 10: of you, how did you all know that it was

729
00:39:09,030 --> 00:39:10,790
Speaker 10: the right time to live out loud?

730
00:39:10,810 --> 00:39:15,610
Speaker 4: This is where I, you know, there are people on

731
00:39:15,650 --> 00:39:18,600
Speaker 4: this stage, I think Caroline has probably the most experience

732
00:39:19,260 --> 00:39:24,259
Speaker 4: with traditional recovery methods and culture. But this is one

733
00:39:24,280 --> 00:39:29,759
Speaker 4: of the things that I think makes me resistant to

734
00:39:30,200 --> 00:39:32,700
Speaker 4: things like AA. I was actually just reading the 12

735
00:39:32,700 --> 00:39:37,379
Speaker 4: Traditions again last week. I have a buddy who this

736
00:39:37,460 --> 00:39:40,060
Speaker 4: is his saying, and I love it. He says, I

737
00:39:40,120 --> 00:39:42,819
Speaker 4: recover out loud in Christ so others don't die quietly

738
00:39:42,870 --> 00:39:47,190
Speaker 4: without him. I am not called to be anonymous. And

739
00:39:47,210 --> 00:39:50,910
Speaker 4: I get some of the heart behind that, right? But

740
00:39:52,870 --> 00:39:58,469
Speaker 4: the best lies contain truth. And so I think there

741
00:39:58,550 --> 00:40:05,130
Speaker 4: are times where, man, I think the devil's okay with

742
00:40:05,170 --> 00:40:07,370
Speaker 4: you getting sober as long as you just kind of like,

743
00:40:08,170 --> 00:40:12,410
Speaker 4: you don't tell anyone, you keep it here. Like, great, whatever.

744
00:40:12,840 --> 00:40:15,040
Speaker 4: I've lost that one, but at least I don't lose

745
00:40:15,060 --> 00:40:19,489
Speaker 4: these other ones, right? And so... it wasn't that there

746
00:40:19,550 --> 00:40:23,490
Speaker 4: was like a quote unquote right time as much as,

747
00:40:24,410 --> 00:40:27,080
Speaker 4: because I still fought with the Lord about it. I

748
00:40:27,100 --> 00:40:31,040
Speaker 4: didn't want to. And in some ways I realized the

749
00:40:31,100 --> 00:40:34,060
Speaker 4: hiding that I was doing while drinking is still kind

750
00:40:34,080 --> 00:40:38,300
Speaker 4: of around in that way too. You know, um, that

751
00:40:38,550 --> 00:40:43,830
Speaker 4: if I, if I truly want to be free from

752
00:40:43,950 --> 00:40:47,830
Speaker 4: not just the drinking, right. But all the other stuff

753
00:40:47,850 --> 00:40:52,390
Speaker 4: that led me there, hiding needs to be dealt with.

754
00:40:53,270 --> 00:40:55,670
Speaker 4: And so, I mean, pretty quickly, I felt like the

755
00:40:55,710 --> 00:40:59,970
Speaker 4: Lord leading me to talk about it. And just like drinking,

756
00:40:59,989 --> 00:41:01,950
Speaker 4: I would bargain with him. Well, what about this? What

757
00:41:01,989 --> 00:41:04,650
Speaker 4: if I do this? What if I do that? And

758
00:41:04,690 --> 00:41:08,910
Speaker 4: it was like, no, you got it. And I actually

759
00:41:08,989 --> 00:41:14,660
Speaker 4: had AA people reach out to me and say, You

760
00:41:14,680 --> 00:41:16,700
Speaker 4: need to stop talking about that and putting your name

761
00:41:16,800 --> 00:41:21,219
Speaker 4: on it. And I was like, sorry. Like, that's just

762
00:41:21,239 --> 00:41:24,200
Speaker 4: what the Lord's called me to do. So I think

763
00:41:24,460 --> 00:41:26,299
Speaker 4: Revelation 12 says we overcome by the blood of the

764
00:41:26,320 --> 00:41:30,879
Speaker 4: Lamb and the word of our testimony. And I'm actually

765
00:41:31,040 --> 00:41:34,120
Speaker 4: working on a video series called I Recover Out Loud.

766
00:41:35,160 --> 00:41:39,219
Speaker 4: And I want to encourage you to put your name

767
00:41:39,300 --> 00:41:42,359
Speaker 4: on it. I want to encourage you not to be anonymous.

768
00:41:43,830 --> 00:41:48,430
Speaker 4: Because I think it's what the Lord wants to do

769
00:41:49,469 --> 00:41:54,549
Speaker 4: through the recovery community requires us to be open and

770
00:41:54,590 --> 00:41:55,700
Speaker 4: honest and to put our name on it.

771
00:41:56,790 --> 00:41:59,700
Speaker 3: When I, like I talked about last night, it was

772
00:42:00,080 --> 00:42:02,259
Speaker 3: pretty quiet in the beginning. I didn't tell a whole

773
00:42:02,300 --> 00:42:04,440
Speaker 3: lot of people. I didn't tell very many people at all.

774
00:42:05,360 --> 00:42:07,340
Speaker 3: And I look back and I have some regrets on

775
00:42:07,380 --> 00:42:09,759
Speaker 3: that because I spent a lot of time in the book.

776
00:42:09,820 --> 00:42:12,140
Speaker 3: It's old Rick Warren's what on earth am I here for?

777
00:42:12,239 --> 00:42:15,069
Speaker 3: And Anybody from sale house is like, oh yeah, that book,

778
00:42:15,090 --> 00:42:16,489
Speaker 3: because she talks about it all the time.

779
00:42:17,290 --> 00:42:18,870
Speaker 4: But I was.

780
00:42:18,750 --> 00:42:22,530
Speaker 3: Looking for what is my purpose? Why did this happen

781
00:42:22,570 --> 00:42:25,370
Speaker 3: to me? There's got to be something here. And I

782
00:42:25,410 --> 00:42:29,109
Speaker 3: heard so much about how, yes, God will redeem your

783
00:42:29,150 --> 00:42:32,830
Speaker 3: story and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But I'm like,

784
00:42:33,570 --> 00:42:36,930
Speaker 3: what is it? And little by little, he showed me that.

785
00:42:37,950 --> 00:42:41,350
Speaker 3: But at the end of the day or at some point,

786
00:42:42,410 --> 00:42:46,360
Speaker 3: I didn't like being seen as weak. And to me, drinking, yes,

787
00:42:46,400 --> 00:42:48,920
Speaker 3: it played on it. People looked at me, I figured,

788
00:42:49,060 --> 00:42:52,759
Speaker 3: and were like, she drank. You know, it was a

789
00:42:52,800 --> 00:42:57,060
Speaker 3: negative thing. I wanted people to see my strength. And

790
00:42:57,860 --> 00:43:01,660
Speaker 3: you are a strong woman that comes out of addiction.

791
00:43:02,780 --> 00:43:06,040
Speaker 3: If God is your strength, let him see that.

792
00:43:06,560 --> 00:43:06,930
Speaker 4: Preach it.

793
00:43:07,800 --> 00:43:12,029
Speaker 3: I needed to glorify God in my sobriety. He was

794
00:43:12,140 --> 00:43:16,739
Speaker 3: asking me to do that. So I couldn't hide that.

795
00:43:17,700 --> 00:43:21,140
Speaker 3: And he makes a way to do that. He makes

796
00:43:21,219 --> 00:43:25,799
Speaker 3: a way with small conversations. He makes a way that

797
00:43:26,100 --> 00:43:29,020
Speaker 3: no matter if you're talking about it on stage, it

798
00:43:29,140 --> 00:43:32,629
Speaker 3: still takes bravery to text someone and say, I need

799
00:43:32,650 --> 00:43:36,130
Speaker 3: to see you there. He's asking you to share your story,

800
00:43:36,850 --> 00:43:38,870
Speaker 3: whether it's in a coffee shop or on a stage.

801
00:43:39,710 --> 00:43:44,110
Speaker 3: You'll know. But when you feel that nudge, you've overcome

802
00:43:44,210 --> 00:43:47,650
Speaker 3: one of the hardest things in life. And many people

803
00:43:48,630 --> 00:43:54,150
Speaker 3: never accomplish it. You need to share your strength, his strength.

804
00:43:54,790 --> 00:43:56,610
Speaker 1: Yeah, I just want to follow up with that. So

805
00:43:56,989 --> 00:44:00,730
Speaker 1: I felt the first time God really like pushing me

806
00:44:00,810 --> 00:44:03,710
Speaker 1: to share my story, I was 19. So it was

807
00:44:03,830 --> 00:44:06,750
Speaker 1: a little bit after that picture that I shared of me.

808
00:44:07,350 --> 00:44:11,880
Speaker 1: And my first book came out and I was 41.

809
00:44:11,880 --> 00:44:15,299
Speaker 1: And that's kind of when I started talking more in

810
00:44:15,440 --> 00:44:19,290
Speaker 1: spaces like this and feeling moved. That's a long time, right?

811
00:44:20,170 --> 00:44:22,850
Speaker 1: I think sometimes, you know, God knew that I was

812
00:44:22,950 --> 00:44:28,089
Speaker 1: ready when I could move from sharing my story to

813
00:44:28,150 --> 00:44:31,710
Speaker 1: making sure I was telling his story. Because I think

814
00:44:31,750 --> 00:44:34,890
Speaker 1: in a lot of spaces, especially secular sobriety, or if

815
00:44:34,930 --> 00:44:37,770
Speaker 1: you go online and you see some of the Insta-fluencers

816
00:44:37,870 --> 00:44:42,760
Speaker 1: or whatever, It's about us. It's about what we're doing.

817
00:44:43,640 --> 00:44:47,250
Speaker 1: And God still is very much convicting in all of us.

818
00:44:47,280 --> 00:44:50,140
Speaker 1: That's why we're connected in community because we can't do

819
00:44:50,180 --> 00:44:54,060
Speaker 1: it alone. We still have temptation. I mean, the temptation

820
00:44:54,100 --> 00:44:58,890
Speaker 1: can be, wow, Caroline, you look good in that pink coat, right? Like, wow,

821
00:44:58,930 --> 00:45:02,450
Speaker 1: your story's amazing. Look what you have done with your life.

822
00:45:02,850 --> 00:45:06,109
Speaker 1: And when people tell me that, I shudder a little bit.

823
00:45:06,150 --> 00:45:08,830
Speaker 1: You know why? because I don't want to go back

824
00:45:08,890 --> 00:45:11,950
Speaker 1: into the closet and there's new closets now. So I

825
00:45:11,989 --> 00:45:15,049
Speaker 1: need to make sure that I am right with my

826
00:45:15,130 --> 00:45:18,430
Speaker 1: creator and that I know whose story I'm telling. But

827
00:45:18,469 --> 00:45:21,989
Speaker 1: like Sherry said, if you feel that nudge, listen to

828
00:45:22,070 --> 00:45:27,890
Speaker 1: it and don't be going proclaiming from the mountaintops by yourselves, ladies, right?

829
00:45:28,570 --> 00:45:31,510
Speaker 1: And stay connected in community and just remember whose story

830
00:45:31,530 --> 00:45:31,930
Speaker 1: you're telling.

831
00:45:33,360 --> 00:45:34,980
Speaker 6: Two things I wanted to say, and one of them

832
00:45:35,060 --> 00:45:36,919
Speaker 6: left my brain while I was sitting here, so maybe

833
00:45:36,960 --> 00:45:38,560
Speaker 6: it will come back to me. I just wanted to

834
00:45:38,620 --> 00:45:44,120
Speaker 6: say that, you know, there was a time, I don't know,

835
00:45:44,450 --> 00:45:49,250
Speaker 6: at some point, there was this question in my mind of, like, evangelism. Like, well,

836
00:45:49,310 --> 00:45:51,750
Speaker 6: how do we, you know, it's like as a middle schooler,

837
00:45:51,770 --> 00:45:54,190
Speaker 6: I was like, go tell people.

838
00:45:53,930 --> 00:45:56,049
Speaker 1: About Jesus with the little book, you know, with the

839
00:45:56,070 --> 00:45:58,049
Speaker 1: little book with all the colors, whatever that's called.

840
00:45:58,560 --> 00:46:01,839
Speaker 6: Anyway, but the whole point is that someone said, no, evangelism,

841
00:46:02,200 --> 00:46:04,100
Speaker 6: you don't have to worry about that because that's just

842
00:46:04,120 --> 00:46:07,089
Speaker 6: going to spill out of you. As a believer, what

843
00:46:07,120 --> 00:46:09,850
Speaker 6: God is doing in your life, that is naturally going

844
00:46:09,870 --> 00:46:12,589
Speaker 6: to come up in conversation. It's naturally going to come

845
00:46:12,750 --> 00:46:15,350
Speaker 6: up in the way that you live your life. And

846
00:46:15,410 --> 00:46:18,310
Speaker 6: if someone asks you something, you are just going to

847
00:46:18,410 --> 00:46:22,230
Speaker 6: naturally think and talk about God. And that's kind of

848
00:46:22,270 --> 00:46:24,850
Speaker 6: how it was with sobriety. It was like, well, this

849
00:46:25,130 --> 00:46:28,100
Speaker 6: is what's happening. And we are called to go and

850
00:46:28,160 --> 00:46:30,339
Speaker 6: spread the good news and go and make disciples. And

851
00:46:30,390 --> 00:46:32,450
Speaker 6: it is just a natural thing when God is doing

852
00:46:32,510 --> 00:46:35,210
Speaker 6: something in your life to just talk about it. And

853
00:46:35,270 --> 00:46:38,190
Speaker 6: so if you feel yourself holding back when God is

854
00:46:38,230 --> 00:46:40,969
Speaker 6: doing something in your life, like that's really not being

855
00:46:41,050 --> 00:46:44,040
Speaker 6: obedient because we're called to tell people the good news.

856
00:46:44,280 --> 00:46:47,000
Speaker 6: And when God is doing it in our lives directly,

857
00:46:47,040 --> 00:46:49,359
Speaker 6: like that's the most powerful way to share the good news.

858
00:46:50,060 --> 00:46:51,520
Speaker 6: And so I think for me, it was just a

859
00:46:51,620 --> 00:46:53,420
Speaker 6: natural thing. It was like, I kind of dipped my

860
00:46:53,460 --> 00:46:56,009
Speaker 6: toe in the water on social media with a little

861
00:46:56,030 --> 00:46:56,690
Speaker 6: bit of like.

862
00:46:57,130 --> 00:47:00,110
Speaker 1: Yeah, I've been wondering about my relationship with drinking. I've

863
00:47:00,130 --> 00:47:02,930
Speaker 1: been thinking about alcohol. It's kind of just not fully

864
00:47:02,969 --> 00:47:03,370
Speaker 1: going in.

865
00:47:03,390 --> 00:47:06,230
Speaker 6: But once I got sober and I started to have

866
00:47:06,270 --> 00:47:07,969
Speaker 6: a few days under my belt, a few months under

867
00:47:08,010 --> 00:47:10,729
Speaker 6: my belt, it was like no stopping it because God

868
00:47:10,770 --> 00:47:13,170
Speaker 6: was working so powerfully in my life that it was like,

869
00:47:13,330 --> 00:47:15,510
Speaker 6: all I can do is share that this is happening.

870
00:47:15,950 --> 00:47:18,370
Speaker 6: And the fact that I got to 90 days and

871
00:47:18,410 --> 00:47:20,810
Speaker 6: six months in one year was like, oh my gosh,

872
00:47:20,870 --> 00:47:23,540
Speaker 6: I never thought this would happen. And I have to

873
00:47:23,580 --> 00:47:25,920
Speaker 6: tell people about it because I didn't think it was possible.

874
00:47:25,960 --> 00:47:27,800
Speaker 6: And I want them to know that it is possible.

875
00:47:28,560 --> 00:47:30,700
Speaker 6: Because I always say that anyone on the other side

876
00:47:30,739 --> 00:47:33,580
Speaker 6: of sobriety always thought it was impossible. It always feels

877
00:47:33,640 --> 00:47:37,500
Speaker 6: impossible on the other side. But we're here to say, no,

878
00:47:37,580 --> 00:47:39,880
Speaker 6: I'm telling you, if you get up here, if you

879
00:47:39,900 --> 00:47:42,180
Speaker 6: can just get up to the top of the mountain,

880
00:47:42,540 --> 00:47:44,680
Speaker 6: we'll pull you over. We're going to pull you over

881
00:47:44,719 --> 00:47:47,629
Speaker 6: and you're going to get here. And so I think

882
00:47:48,370 --> 00:47:50,810
Speaker 6: that was it. It was not even really a choice.

883
00:47:50,870 --> 00:47:52,230
Speaker 6: It just started happening to me.

884
00:47:53,020 --> 00:47:54,160
Speaker 1: You know, and the other thing I was just going

885
00:47:54,180 --> 00:47:56,180
Speaker 1: to mention is like, like John was saying, like, there

886
00:47:56,200 --> 00:47:58,860
Speaker 1: are going to be people that don't want to hear it.

887
00:47:59,360 --> 00:48:03,230
Speaker 1: And that's, you, you still are to be obedient to God.

888
00:48:03,410 --> 00:48:06,330
Speaker 1: And when you feel, when you are really connecting with

889
00:48:06,370 --> 00:48:09,230
Speaker 1: God and you're asking for conviction, you're asking for affirmation

890
00:48:09,290 --> 00:48:11,950
Speaker 1: and you feel confident in that, like you can make,

891
00:48:12,170 --> 00:48:15,390
Speaker 1: you can move forward and be free from the chains

892
00:48:15,430 --> 00:48:19,259
Speaker 1: of other people's judgment because you're connected to God and

893
00:48:19,300 --> 00:48:21,980
Speaker 1: he's given you that confidence and that courage. And you

894
00:48:22,020 --> 00:48:24,160
Speaker 1: can know that, like, you are doing the right thing.

895
00:48:24,260 --> 00:48:28,500
Speaker 1: And they may not be enlightened to the calling that

896
00:48:28,540 --> 00:48:30,700
Speaker 1: God has given you, but you can feel confident in that,

897
00:48:31,160 --> 00:48:32,279
Speaker 1: knowing that you've heard from him.

898
00:48:33,340 --> 00:48:35,130
Speaker 2: My answer is kind of a combination of what you

899
00:48:35,150 --> 00:48:39,310
Speaker 2: gals just said. The first time I said out loud

900
00:48:39,350 --> 00:48:42,450
Speaker 2: I was taking a break from alcohol was during COVID, like,

901
00:48:42,590 --> 00:48:45,410
Speaker 2: on Instagram, because I was one of those really annoying,

902
00:48:45,430 --> 00:48:49,050
Speaker 2: I know, yeah, those people, Instafluencers.

903
00:48:49,280 --> 00:48:49,470
Speaker 4: Yeah.

904
00:48:49,920 --> 00:48:53,080
Speaker 2: And so I started talking about like on my walks

905
00:48:53,140 --> 00:48:55,779
Speaker 2: during COVID about like, oh my gosh, I'm trying this

906
00:48:55,820 --> 00:48:59,100
Speaker 2: and I'm feeling better. And the flood of questions that

907
00:48:59,140 --> 00:49:04,000
Speaker 2: I got was like wild because everyone was a captive.

908
00:49:03,739 --> 00:49:04,820
Speaker 1: Audience right at home.

909
00:49:05,420 --> 00:49:07,140
Speaker 2: But it was, what do you mean? And are you

910
00:49:07,160 --> 00:49:09,680
Speaker 2: feeling better? And do you like, are you getting skinnier?

911
00:49:09,800 --> 00:49:11,660
Speaker 2: And like, does your face look better?

912
00:49:11,719 --> 00:49:12,359
Speaker 4: And blah, blah, blah.

913
00:49:12,930 --> 00:49:16,170
Speaker 2: And I was like, wow, people are really interested in this.

914
00:49:16,250 --> 00:49:19,460
Speaker 2: And so it spurred me on to learn more. but

915
00:49:19,500 --> 00:49:23,859
Speaker 2: was actually harder for me because I started out then

916
00:49:24,060 --> 00:49:26,319
Speaker 2: as a, like in the secular space, coaching just for

917
00:49:26,440 --> 00:49:30,080
Speaker 2: alcohol was not talking about Jesus, but I was actually

918
00:49:30,120 --> 00:49:34,060
Speaker 2: more scared to do that. But what happened was as

919
00:49:34,140 --> 00:49:37,360
Speaker 2: time went on, I couldn't talk about the joy and

920
00:49:38,160 --> 00:49:41,770
Speaker 2: I couldn't talk about the peace. without talking about him.

921
00:49:42,830 --> 00:49:45,890
Speaker 2: And like I said, the first night when I spoke,

922
00:49:46,270 --> 00:49:50,670
Speaker 2: it was all about following the Holy Spirit and his prompting,

923
00:49:50,710 --> 00:49:53,050
Speaker 2: like Erica was just saying, it just happened naturally.

924
00:49:53,090 --> 00:49:54,489
Speaker 1: I couldn't not do it.

925
00:49:55,150 --> 00:49:58,150
Speaker 2: It's another beautiful of the many gifts that we get

926
00:49:58,230 --> 00:50:01,670
Speaker 2: at being clear is listening.

927
00:50:01,310 --> 00:50:02,090
Speaker 1: For his voice.

928
00:50:02,850 --> 00:50:04,610
Speaker 2: And so you'll hear it, pal.

929
00:50:04,969 --> 00:50:05,549
Speaker 1: Yeah.

930
00:50:06,520 --> 00:50:09,020
Speaker 2: You will hear it. And yes, you'll be scared. We

931
00:50:09,219 --> 00:50:14,240
Speaker 2: were all so scared. I'm scared right now still. But

932
00:50:14,400 --> 00:50:18,250
Speaker 2: when you follow where he is leading, that is where

933
00:50:18,270 --> 00:50:20,689
Speaker 2: the incredible blessings come from.

934
00:50:21,489 --> 00:50:25,730
Speaker 1: John, Pastor John, you're going to close us out. Want

935
00:50:25,750 --> 00:50:27,149
Speaker 1: to stand? All right.

936
00:50:27,710 --> 00:50:31,190
Speaker 4: Let me do a little prayer and benediction. This comes

937
00:50:31,210 --> 00:50:36,230
Speaker 4: from Colossians 3, 16 to 17. And so I'm going

938
00:50:36,250 --> 00:50:38,810
Speaker 4: to pray, and then I will say this. Lord, thank you.

939
00:50:39,510 --> 00:50:41,610
Speaker 4: Thank you for what you are doing in the hearts

940
00:50:42,670 --> 00:50:47,150
Speaker 4: of those who are here. As we all go forth,

941
00:50:47,210 --> 00:50:50,310
Speaker 4: remind us that we all don't have just one addiction.

942
00:50:51,330 --> 00:50:54,569
Speaker 4: And that as you root those things out, that the

943
00:50:54,650 --> 00:50:58,759
Speaker 4: shame would fall away, that we would boast in our

944
00:50:58,820 --> 00:51:03,259
Speaker 4: weaknesses like Paul tells us to, and that each person

945
00:51:03,380 --> 00:51:09,150
Speaker 4: would be used as a vessel, for your glory. And

946
00:51:09,190 --> 00:51:13,009
Speaker 4: be reminded that all of this, the crud, the crap,

947
00:51:13,050 --> 00:51:17,480
Speaker 4: the whatever, you have promised to use it for our

948
00:51:17,520 --> 00:51:21,540
Speaker 4: good and your glory. And so now let the word

949
00:51:21,719 --> 00:51:27,600
Speaker 4: of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one

950
00:51:27,660 --> 00:51:33,530
Speaker 4: another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.

951
00:51:34,390 --> 00:51:38,489
Speaker 4: with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do,

952
00:51:39,310 --> 00:51:44,090
Speaker 4: in word or deed, do everything in the name of

953
00:51:44,150 --> 00:51:50,469
Speaker 4: the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Amen.

954
00:51:51,930 --> 00:51:53,790
Speaker 2: Thank you for spending this time with me on Love

955
00:51:53,810 --> 00:51:57,200
Speaker 2: Live Sober. If today's conversation stirred something in your heart,

956
00:51:57,520 --> 00:51:58,450
Speaker 2: don't rush past it.

957
00:51:58,700 --> 00:51:59,360
Speaker 3: Take it to prayer.

958
00:51:59,900 --> 00:52:03,060
Speaker 2: If you're feeling ready for deeper connection and support, I'd

959
00:52:03,180 --> 00:52:05,580
Speaker 2: love to invite you into the Love Life Sober community,

960
00:52:05,880 --> 00:52:10,620
Speaker 2: a grace-filled, shame-free space where real connection grows and lasting

961
00:52:10,700 --> 00:52:13,200
Speaker 2: change takes root. You can find the link to join

962
00:52:13,260 --> 00:52:16,969
Speaker 2: us in the show notes. Love Life Sober is part

963
00:52:17,010 --> 00:52:20,969
Speaker 2: of the Life Audio Podcast Network, where faith-centered podcasts help

964
00:52:20,989 --> 00:52:23,390
Speaker 2: you grow deeper in your walk with Christ. You can

965
00:52:23,430 --> 00:52:28,370
Speaker 2: find more faith-centered podcasts at lifeaudio.com. Until next time, be

966
00:52:28,770 --> 00:52:32,750
Speaker 2: gentle with yourself, stay curious, and trust God's promises. He

967
00:52:32,830 --> 00:52:33,980
Speaker 2: has freedom waiting for you.