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Speaker 1: Life Audio.

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Speaker 2: This episode contains content that may be triggering for some listeners.

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Speaker 3: Walk through the season of Lent with an intentional focus

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Speaker 3: on your savior and prepare for the joy and victory

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Speaker 3: of his resurrection with Jesus Listens for Lent and Easter.

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Speaker 3: This book offers seasonally themed devotions from Sarah Young's New

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Speaker 3: York Times bestseller Jesus Listens. Inside you'll find prayers, reflections,

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Speaker 3: and Bible verses based on Jesus life and sacrifice, plus

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Speaker 3: stunning Spring and Easter illustrations, making this a holiday treasure

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Speaker 3: to cherish for years to come. Find Jesus Listens for

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Speaker 3: Lent and Easter today at your favorite retailer.

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Speaker 2: If you want to grow, then be connected to the body.

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Speaker 2: I found that God created us to be unified as

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Speaker 2: one body. And maybe you're a toe, or maybe you're

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Speaker 2: a foot, or whatever it is that you are. If

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Speaker 2: you're disconnected from the body, there's no way for you

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Speaker 2: to grow and receive nouragement. So be connected to the body,

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Speaker 2: be connected to the vine.

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Speaker 3: Welcome to the Jesus Calling Podcast. This week, we welcome

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Speaker 3: Robert Anthony Cruz, known to many as Coach Rack. Robert

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Speaker 3: Anthony as a professional baseball player with the Savannah Bananas,

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Speaker 3: a former minor league athlete, and a mentor to thousands

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Speaker 3: of young people through sports camps and social media. But

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Speaker 3: beyond the flips on the field and the pack, stadium's

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Speaker 3: coach Rack has wrestled with anxiety, fear of failure, and

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Speaker 3: the pressure to prove himself. Today, he shares how learning

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Speaker 3: to root his identity in God's unchanging love rather than

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Speaker 3: outcomes or approval, has transformed the way he competes, meets,

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Speaker 3: and lives. Later in the episode, we'll hear from Christine

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Speaker 3: to Claudio, who takes us behind the music and the

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Speaker 3: platform into the hidden places of her story. From a

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Speaker 3: childhood shaped by unspoken trauma, with years of learning how

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Speaker 3: to hide pain in the name of faith, Christine shares

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Speaker 3: how postpartum depression became the breaking point that forced her

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Speaker 3: to confront what she had carried for far too long.

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Speaker 3: Let's begin with Coach Rack's story.

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Speaker 2: My name is Robert Anthony Cruz, but I often go

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Speaker 2: by coach Rack. They didn't make the connection. Those are

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Speaker 2: my initials. Currently play baseball for the Savannah Bananas. Before that,

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Speaker 2: I was in the Washington Nationals organization. Played in college

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Speaker 2: a little bit. I make videos on social media. It

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Speaker 2: started as baseball coaching videos, so that's why I go

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Speaker 2: buy coach rack, but now it's kind of evolved to

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Speaker 2: just everything in my life. It's my goal to be

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Speaker 2: the most impactful voice in youth sports. I want people

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Speaker 2: to be able to play the game that they love,

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Speaker 2: free from the fear of failure, because their identity is

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Speaker 2: in something greater. I grew up in Riverside, California, did

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Speaker 2: gymnastics growing up. That was my initial first dream. I

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Speaker 2: wanted to be an Olympic gymnast and did that for

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Speaker 2: a couple of years. Used to watch VHS tapes of

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Speaker 2: the Olympics in my free time and study their form.

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Speaker 2: When I was like four years old, it was great,

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Speaker 2: and I didn't know anything about baseball, but started playing

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Speaker 2: ball when I was eight years old turning nine and

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Speaker 2: fell in love with it immediately. Very quickly, that became

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Speaker 2: my new goal was to be a professional baseball player,

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Speaker 2: and never went a million years what I've anticipated merging

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Speaker 2: the two. Now I'm doing flips on a baseball field.

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Speaker 2: It's kind of crazy how things work out, but yeah,

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Speaker 2: very quickly, baseball became my new dream, and I wanted

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Speaker 2: to be a professional ballplayer. When I got signed by

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Speaker 2: the Nationals, I had a lot of imposter syndrome, like, man,

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Speaker 2: these guys are so good, Like do I really belong

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Speaker 2: playing on this team? I had so many anxious thoughts

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Speaker 2: that came with that, What would happen if I made

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Speaker 2: an error? What will my coach think of me? And

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Speaker 2: I realized that I was people pleasing. I was so

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Speaker 2: worried about what other people thought of me and not

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Speaker 2: what God thought of me. And so something that I

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Speaker 2: would do is when I was playing third base and

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Speaker 2: maybe a little nervous or anxious about what was next,

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Speaker 2: I would just repeat the world words I fear you

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Speaker 2: alone talking to God, and I fear you alone. I

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Speaker 2: fear you alone. I started just repeating those words, I

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Speaker 2: fear you alone, I fear you alone. And rather than

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Speaker 2: positive visualization, I would actually do the opposite. I would

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Speaker 2: visualize myself making an error, and I would visualize myself

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Speaker 2: striking out, and I would visualize all my teammates thinking

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Speaker 2: that I'm a terrible ballplayer, and visualize my coaches thinking

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Speaker 2: that I'm not good at baseball. And all the fears

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Speaker 2: that I had that were causing this anxiousness, I would

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Speaker 2: picture them in great detail, and then on the other

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Speaker 2: side of that, I would picture God still seeing me

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Speaker 2: the same, because I'm his son and he created me,

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Speaker 2: and he loves me regardless of how I play. And

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Speaker 2: my wife still sees me the same, regardless of how

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Speaker 2: I play. She doesn't expect me to make no errors,

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Speaker 2: and my parents the same thing. And so through repeating

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Speaker 2: those words I fear you alone and not being afraid

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Speaker 2: to explore my fears, that took away so much of

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Speaker 2: the anxiety that I have. And you know, I'm not

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Speaker 2: going to say that it's perfectly solved all of that

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Speaker 2: or anything. I'm not going to claim that I'm perfect

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Speaker 2: at that. I'm certainly not. But now when I play

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Speaker 2: for the Bananas and you know, we're in front of

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Speaker 2: ridiculous amounts of people and I'm up to the plate

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Speaker 2: and there's eighty thousand people watching, and I'm on ESPN,

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Speaker 2: and he'say, well, regardless of what happens here, I can

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Speaker 2: have an embarrassing moment, I can strike out, whatever happens,

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Speaker 2: God still sees me the same. He still loves me

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Speaker 2: even when I fail at this game. And I know

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Speaker 2: that to be true. He's not gonna hold it against

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Speaker 2: me if I don't play well, and so knowing that

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Speaker 2: takes a little bit of pressure off me, and I'm

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Speaker 2: able to handle those times of failure so much better now.

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Speaker 2: Savannah Bananas are twist on baseball that started as a

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Speaker 2: collegiate summer baseball team. This guy, Jesse Cole, bought the

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Speaker 2: Savannah San Natz, which was the name of the team

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Speaker 2: in Savannah, Georgia, and bought the team and tried to

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Speaker 2: make a collegiate summer baseball team and did so. They

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Speaker 2: were in the Coastal Plains League. And for those of

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Speaker 2: you not familiar with baseball, every summer college baseball players,

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Speaker 2: rather than taking the summer off, they will often go

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Speaker 2: play in these collegiate summer leagues. So they don't get

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Speaker 2: paid in these leagues or anything like that, but they'll

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Speaker 2: play games at a semi professional level. And it's often

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Speaker 2: in these cities that don't have baseball teams. And the owner,

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Speaker 2: Jesse Cole, started doing things differently. He started having players

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Speaker 2: pass out roses to little girls in the stands during

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Speaker 2: the in between innings and do choreographed dances on the sidelines.

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Speaker 2: And they hired a dancing first base coach and they

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Speaker 2: started doing a bunch of stuff that no one ever does.

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Speaker 2: Instead of having cheerleaders, they had the Banana Nanas, who

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Speaker 2: is the elderly cheerleading squad. So they just started doing

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Speaker 2: some really fun stuff and they quickly became popular online.

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Speaker 2: When I joined the team, we were going to Fenway Park,

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Speaker 2: We're going to Minute Made Park in Houston, all these

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Speaker 2: different big league stadiums that I always dreamed of playing in,

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Speaker 2: And sure enough, every game that year we sold out.

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Speaker 2: And this past year we've now started going to football stadiums.

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Speaker 2: Now it is more than just the bananas. It is

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Speaker 2: this sport of banana ball. I feel very blessed to

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Speaker 2: be part of the organization, but it is unprecedented. I've

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Speaker 2: never seen anything like this. It's really the birth of

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Speaker 2: a new sport. And the owners, Jesse and Emily Cole,

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Speaker 2: I've done an amazing job building this thing. God created

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Speaker 2: us to be part of the body, and so we're

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Speaker 2: supposed to be connected to each other, and when you

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Speaker 2: can experience competition while being deeply connected to your teammates,

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Speaker 2: it ends up being such a beautiful and a fun thing.

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Speaker 2: We've had a team Bible study that's meant for yeah,

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Speaker 2: the past two years and what we've met every week

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Speaker 2: and that time has grown us so much closer together.

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Speaker 2: And it makes the wins even more exciting because you

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Speaker 2: know your teammates better, and then it makes the failures

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Speaker 2: a little less bad because you can be there for

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Speaker 2: each other. It's such a beautiful thing when you can

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Speaker 2: compete to the best of your ability from a place

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Speaker 2: of gratitude, not from a place of I'm trying to

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Speaker 2: earn favor in the side of other people. It's really

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Speaker 2: that verse, like work hardily unto the Lord and not

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Speaker 2: unto man. I think that that's the goal, Like, how

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Speaker 2: can we work hard out of gratitude because God has

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Speaker 2: given us able bodies, So how do we work out

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Speaker 2: of gratitude and then learn to serve our teammates rather

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Speaker 2: than serve ourselves. And I think we can still strive

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Speaker 2: for excellence and play to the best of our abilities

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Speaker 2: while not making it about us. And I think that

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Speaker 2: that's the best way that we can compete. I think

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Speaker 2: you wear yourself out when you focus on yourself so much,

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Speaker 2: especially in sports. It's so easy to find your identity

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Speaker 2: and your sense of purpose and how you're performing. You

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Speaker 2: go two for four, you got a couple of hits. Great,

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Speaker 2: you had a great day. Now you're happy. Oh you

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Speaker 2: an zero for four, you struck out three times. Oh

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Speaker 2: you're down in the dumps now for a few days.

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Speaker 2: It's so easy to allow the game to dictate your

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Speaker 2: feeling of worth and purpose, and it weighs on athletes

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Speaker 2: seeing how you can serve your teammates asking yourself the question,

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Speaker 2: how can I serve my teammates? Well, today, some of

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Speaker 2: that power that was otherwise out of your hands is

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Speaker 2: now back in your hands. You have the power to

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Speaker 2: do exactly what you set out to do that day,

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Speaker 2: which maybe it's not going for for four, although obviously

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Speaker 2: you're trying to do that. But when you make it

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Speaker 2: your aim to serve your teammates and do that, it

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Speaker 2: becomes such a beautiful thing and you find so much

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Speaker 2: more fulfillment in it. You're a better teammate, and then

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Speaker 2: you put less pressure on yourself to succeed and to perform.

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Speaker 2: So I think that for me, at least over the

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Speaker 2: past two years, I've had to learn to detach my

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Speaker 2: sense of peace and joy from the results and instead

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Speaker 2: play from a place of gratitude and see how I

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Speaker 2: can serve my teammates well. And when I do that,

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Speaker 2: I find that I even play better. Not only am

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Speaker 2: I more enjoyable person to be around, I also play

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Speaker 2: better because I'm not putting as much pressure on myself.

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Speaker 2: The older I get, the more I realize that God

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Speaker 2: is our friend. He wants relationship with us, and a

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Speaker 2: healthy relationship requires spending of time. And I think that

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Speaker 2: having daily rituals and prayer time are so important for

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Speaker 2: you to cultivate this relationship with God. And someone it says,

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Speaker 2: blessed is the man who walks not in the council

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Speaker 2: of the wicked, nor stands in the whib sentners, nor

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Speaker 2: sits in the seat of scoffers. But who's still light

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Speaker 2: is in the law of the Lord, and on it

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Speaker 2: he meditates day and night. He will be like a

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Speaker 2: tree planted by streams of water that will yield fruit

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Speaker 2: in its due season. Those streams of water. Like plant

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Speaker 2: yourself by it, and then you will bear fruit in

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Speaker 2: your due season. You'll flourish, But you have to be

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Speaker 2: planted by streams of water. And I feel like that

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Speaker 2: relationship that we have with God. By having those daily

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Speaker 2: devotionals and that intentional time with Him built into our

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Speaker 2: daily routine, it makes it so that we're not going

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Speaker 2: without spiritual nourishment for too long. And I think that again,

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Speaker 2: I say this as someone who doesn't have it figured out.

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Speaker 2: I just feel like it's a constant battle and struggle

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Speaker 2: to build a healthy routine and to spend time with

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Speaker 2: God intentionally. But I have found that there's been so

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Speaker 2: much joy and blessing and fruit in my life when

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Speaker 2: I do have that intentional time with God and Jesus

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Speaker 2: calling specifically, my mentor Mike DeVito would always send me

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Speaker 2: August fifth. I believe it says. I'll probably misquote it

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Speaker 2: to some degree, but the premise of it is make

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Speaker 2: your mind like a still pool of water. I will

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Speaker 2: not lay anything too heavy or ill fitting on you.

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Speaker 2: So his idea of just resting in God's sufficiency, knowing

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Speaker 2: that the things that He brings your way will not

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Speaker 2: be too much for you to handle, and that if

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Speaker 2: you rest in the sufficiency of God, you can handle

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Speaker 2: whatever the day has for you, and there's no need

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Speaker 2: to carry the burdens of life without God. You can

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Speaker 2: do it. Walking in step with him. If you want

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Speaker 2: to grow, then be connected to the body. I found

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Speaker 2: that God created us to be unified as one body.

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Speaker 2: And maybe you're a toe, or maybe you're a foot,

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Speaker 2: or whatever it is that you are, you're disconnected from

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Speaker 2: the body. There's no way for you to grow and

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Speaker 2: receive nouragement. So be connected to the body, be connected

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Speaker 2: to the vine.

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Speaker 3: To learn more about Robert Anthony, visit coachrace dot com.

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Speaker 3: To find a Savannah Bananas game near you, visit their

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Speaker 3: website and also check out our interview with the president

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Speaker 3: of the Savannah Bananas Jared Orton, and our interview with

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Speaker 3: play Christian Deerman. Stay tuned to Christine to Claudio's story

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Speaker 3: after a brief message.

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Speaker 1: Looking for a.

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Speaker 3: Source of daily encouragement and peace, The Jesus Calling App

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Speaker 3: brings you closer to God with daily devotionals right on

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Speaker 3: your phone. Explore features like personalized daily devotionals and soothing

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Speaker 3: audio readings. You can bookmark your favorite passages, set reminders

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Speaker 3: for your devotional time, and even share inspirational messages with

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Speaker 3: loved ones. Now, the Jesus Calling App brings even more

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Speaker 3: comfort and connection with the introduction of Spanish devotions from

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Speaker 3: author Sarah Young. Whether you start your day with a

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Speaker 3: quiet moment of reflection or use it to end your

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Speaker 3: evening in gratitude, the Jesus Calling App offers comfort, guidance,

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Speaker 3: and a deeper connection to God at your fingertips. Get

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Speaker 3: started today for free. The Jesus Calling App is available

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Speaker 3: in both the Apple and Google Play stores. Our next

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Speaker 3: guest is Christine de Claudio, a worship leader, recording artist,

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Speaker 3: author and speaker who has been marked by both profound

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Speaker 3: creativity and deep personal pain. After enduring childhood trauma, loss,

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Speaker 3: and a season of severe postpartum depression, Christine came face

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Speaker 3: to face with the limits of spiritual performance and the

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Speaker 3: healing power of honesty. She shares how she encountered a

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Speaker 3: God who stayed with her in the darkness, and how

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Speaker 3: that unwavering love led her towards wholeness and freedom.

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Speaker 1: My name is Christine de Clario. I for over twenty

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Speaker 1: one years have been known around for being a worship

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Speaker 1: leader and a recording artist and producer, and it's been

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Speaker 1: a beautiful journey. My mom from Afro Caribbean descent, grew

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Speaker 1: up in the Dominican Republic from Puerto Rican and Italian

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Speaker 1: background was, you know, the spicy Latina living in New

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Speaker 1: York where I was born, and my father, on the

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Speaker 1: other hand, was American but with a very heavy Italian background.

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Speaker 1: And there was just so much going on in my

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Speaker 1: home when I was a little kid. Two different languages

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Speaker 1: all the time, different styles and music, different kinds of

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Speaker 1: literature and film, and so many different artistic tastes going

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Speaker 1: on at home. And on that same note, as it

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Speaker 1: was artistically and culturally varied, it was also filled with

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Speaker 1: lots of emotional experiences. Unfortunately, many of those were experiences

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Speaker 1: of brokenness. At the age of five, was sexually abused.

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Speaker 1: At the age of six, my father, who had been

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Speaker 1: in and out of addictive cycles, actually succumbed to some

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Speaker 1: of the illnesses that came with his addictions, and he

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Speaker 1: passed away when I was six. At the age of seven,

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Speaker 1: my mom had already remarried and had transferred us from

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Speaker 1: New York and everything and everyone I knew to the

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Speaker 1: island of Puerto Rico, that is beautiful paradise. So it

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Speaker 1: was a constant juggling of There's so much richness going

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Speaker 1: on in my life. There's so much richness of art

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Speaker 1: and culture and music and locations that are just beautiful.

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Speaker 1: And at the same time, there was a deep, deep,

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Speaker 1: intense pain happening inside of me because of all the

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Speaker 1: trauma that I had to endure at a very early age.

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Speaker 1: So it was kind of a mixture of ups and

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Speaker 1: downs every single day. It came from my childhood because

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Speaker 1: my mom, who was a very fervent Christian, spirit filled,

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Speaker 1: spirit led woman of God, and my dad, who up

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Speaker 1: until two days before he passed away, was that he

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Speaker 1: actually had his encounter with Christ and gave his life

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Speaker 1: to him. I had that wrestle between let's call it

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Speaker 1: the things of the world and the things of God.

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Speaker 1: As years passed, I did notice at an early age,

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Speaker 1: with all the pain and the grief that was inside

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Speaker 1: my heart because of all the trauma, that something wasn't right. However,

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Speaker 1: though I grew up in a good spiritual atmosphere because

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Speaker 1: lots of prayer, the Word of God, a good home church,

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Speaker 1: we didn't have back then the tools that we have today,

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Speaker 1: in the sense that when somebody is going through grief,

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Speaker 1: we call it what it is. That person is grieving

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Speaker 1: because they lost someone. When somebody is broken or acting

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Speaker 1: out or lashing out because they've been through trauma. Back then,

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Speaker 1: it was well, okay, stop crying, because the joy of

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Speaker 1: the Lord is our strength, and you just have to

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Speaker 1: keep going, and we can't let this get to us.

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Speaker 1: We just have to be bright eyed and bushy tailed

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Speaker 1: and preach Jesus all the time, which is in a

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Speaker 1: sense of good attitude to have. However, I learned to

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Speaker 1: placate my pain and hide the pain behind. I want

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Speaker 1: to be careful and delicate the way I say this

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Speaker 1: because I don't want anybody to feel condemned, but honor

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Speaker 1: to truth a pseudo spirituality that wasn't necessarily the truth.

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Speaker 1: It was kind of a warm blanket effect to quiet

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Speaker 1: down the difficult or misunderstood pain that I, as a

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Speaker 1: young child, was going through. There's a saying that we

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Speaker 1: all know. It's like a half truth is a lie.

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Speaker 1: So if we take the truth of the Lord and

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Speaker 1: we give it in a half kind of way in

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Speaker 1: order to manipulate people to our own will and submit

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Speaker 1: them to what we want above what God wants and

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Speaker 1: what he actually said, in essence, we're lying to them

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Speaker 1: using the truth. And it's not fair. It's not fair

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Speaker 1: for the people that we're doing it too, and it's

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Speaker 1: not fair for Jesus because he shed his blood so

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Speaker 1: that we can spread his entire truth. So I learned

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Speaker 1: that I needed help in more ways than one, not

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Speaker 1: just spiritually, which I had done extensive work in my

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Speaker 1: spiritual healing when I had my encounter with the Lord

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Speaker 1: for salvation, but all the other stuff. There's the spirit,

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Speaker 1: but there's also the emotions, and there's the mind, and

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Speaker 1: there's the body. So it took me a really long

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Speaker 1: time because of the way I was formed to kind

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Speaker 1: of quiet it down in the name of being a Christian.

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Speaker 1: It took me, being one hundred percent disregulated in my

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Speaker 1: body and my emotions in my mind to understand that

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Speaker 1: the spirit alone cannot carry the weight of all the

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Speaker 1: other areas. And postpartum depression was like it was the

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Speaker 1: needle that got stuck into this balloon I had called

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Speaker 1: my life, which was nothing other than like a bubble.

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Speaker 1: It wasn't true. There was a lot of reality going on,

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Speaker 1: but it wasn't true. So when I hit postpartum depression,

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Speaker 1: and one of the most aggressive symptoms that I had

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Speaker 1: in my postpartum depression was suicide. Also, in the words

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Speaker 1: of my therapist. When I finally sat with one, she says, well,

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Speaker 1: you're on a border of postpartum psychosis. And I'm like, well,

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Speaker 1: that sounds like a strong word. It's's like yeah, And

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Speaker 1: I said, why do you say that? He said, well,

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Speaker 1: you just told me that there are days that went

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Speaker 1: by and you don't remember them, like I was losing

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Speaker 1: time because my brain was in such a state of

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Speaker 1: shock from all the trauma that I had been pulling

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Speaker 1: through the years and not healing, that my nervous system

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Speaker 1: was actually backfiring and hurting me. My hormones were completely

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Speaker 1: at a whack. After having two precious babies one after

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Speaker 1: the other, I had a traumatic birth the first time.

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Speaker 1: The second was redeeming, but I was still carrying the

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Speaker 1: trauma of that birth where I nearly died, my son

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Speaker 1: nearly died, and it was chaotic, and so there was

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Speaker 1: just so much compounded on each other that when I

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Speaker 1: reached the moments of deep despair, I couldn't understand that

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Speaker 1: God was actually extending me an opportunity to look inward

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Speaker 1: and fix those things that needed healing. I'd been ignoring it.

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Speaker 1: I'd been, you know, hiding behind scriptures like the Joy

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Speaker 1: of the Lord is my strength. Hiding behind scriptures, be

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Speaker 1: anxious for nothing, hiding behind those misquoted, out of context scriptures,

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Speaker 1: and not really taking deep looks at the broader picture,

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Speaker 1: which is, yeah, in the world you will have trouble,

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Speaker 1: But take heart, I have overcome the world. But how

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Speaker 1: do you overcome by staying close to me and listening

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Speaker 1: to the words I say. It's the greatest commandment I

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Speaker 1: ever gave. Well, then come to love me with all

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Speaker 1: the areas of yourself. Well you can't do that, Well,

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Speaker 1: let's find out why. Chances are there's some healing and

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Speaker 1: some baggage inside of those areas that need to be healed.

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Speaker 1: It was hard for me to reconcile within myself that

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Speaker 1: I was on a platform week after week in a

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Speaker 1: different nation of the world, preaching and proclaiming the life

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Speaker 1: of Christ that I had already experienced, that I believed

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Speaker 1: wholeheartedly in, and then getting to the green room and

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Speaker 1: having all these thoughts of death and being afraid because

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Speaker 1: there were days, like I said, that I was losing

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Speaker 1: time and I was so afraid that I was going

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Speaker 1: to commit something atrocious, either against me or someone else.

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Speaker 1: As a leader in the Church of Christ. I was

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Speaker 1: too afraid to confess things about myself that I felt

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Speaker 1: ashamed of, one of them being I don't have a

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Speaker 1: good grip on my mental health and on my health

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Speaker 1: in general, and I'm dying because of it. There was

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Speaker 1: so much shame attached to it that I was too

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Speaker 1: afraid to ask for help because I thought that all

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Speaker 1: this that was built around it, meaning the work, was

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Speaker 1: going to crumble. And then how was I going to

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Speaker 1: feed these babies that God had given to me so graciously?

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Speaker 1: And so it took one person, one single person, who

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Speaker 1: had been through what I was going through. And I

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Speaker 1: want you guys to pay close attention to this. It

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Speaker 1: took that one person, who was my midwife, who coincidentally

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Speaker 1: her name is Angela and she was an angel in

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Speaker 1: my life, to see in me what she could recognize.

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Speaker 1: She had been through in her own desert when she

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Speaker 1: birthed their children, which was a severe post part of depression.

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Speaker 1: It matched her profile, She recognized it, and she was

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Speaker 1: able to call me out of it, and she asked me,

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Speaker 1: what is going on in your heart? What's happening inside

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Speaker 1: of you? Tell me now, And it was that question

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Speaker 1: that brought me freedom. Because the Lord knows I was

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Speaker 1: too afraid to ask anybody for help. I would have

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Speaker 1: probably ended up seven feet under because of that fear

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Speaker 1: and that shame. It took someone opening the space, because

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Speaker 1: she recognized that I carried signs of the place that

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Speaker 1: she had been through, the desert that she had walked through,

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Speaker 1: to be able to call me out of it and

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Speaker 1: serve as a guide post on my way to be

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Speaker 1: able to get my healing in my freedom. Had that

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Speaker 1: not happened, the story would have been very different, and

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Speaker 1: what would be out there on the news about me

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Speaker 1: would be very, very sad. So I have to be

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Speaker 1: open about this. It takes people who have been through

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Speaker 1: brokenness to have the authority to pull others that are

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Speaker 1: in it out of it when everybody else discards what

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Speaker 1: is broken as garbage. The Lord stays. And if you're

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Speaker 1: in the rut and it's muddy and it's dirty and

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Speaker 1: it's got stink, he'll sit with you in the mud

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Speaker 1: and the dirt and the stink and the rut. He'll stay.

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Speaker 1: He'll hold you, and he will patiently wait with his

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Speaker 1: inviting arms for the moment that we feel strong enough

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Speaker 1: to take the step of faith, get up and start healing.

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Speaker 1: He will never ever push you, or judge you, or

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Speaker 1: a guilt you into doing anything. He is so kind.

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Speaker 1: He knows the rhythms of our life and how we function,

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Speaker 1: and he is so gracious to just go with the

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Speaker 1: flow of how we function and how we heal. And

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Speaker 1: I had never, in any circumstance in my life seen

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Speaker 1: how steadfast and persistent and great company his love can

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Speaker 1: be when we're going through the absolute worst. I love devotionals,

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Speaker 1: and I do love a daily snippet type devotional that

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Speaker 1: I can kickstart my day with something that starts feeling

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Speaker 1: my spirit and opens me up to a mindset and

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00:25:29,377 --> 00:25:33,137
Speaker 1: a spirit set of being open to blessing throughout the day.

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Speaker 1: It helps to set my perspective. And Jesus calling does

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Speaker 1: that for me. So when I have a day like

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Speaker 1: today's day and I can read it and it's something

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00:25:41,537 --> 00:25:44,936
Speaker 1: that's life giving to me, it's wonderful. It's a staple

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Speaker 1: on the night stand. I would like to read from

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Speaker 1: Sarah Young's prayer devotional Jesus Listens for March seventh. Compassionate Jesus,

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Speaker 1: I need to tell you about the things that have

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Speaker 1: been weighing me down. I realize you already know all

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Speaker 1: about them, but voicing them to you provides relief from

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Speaker 1: the heavy load I've been carrying. Whenever I'm feeling discouraged,

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Speaker 1: it's essential for me to spend time remembering you. Thinking

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Speaker 1: about who you are, my Lord and my God, my

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00:26:22,897 --> 00:26:26,257
Speaker 1: savior and shepherd, the friend who will never leave me

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00:26:26,817 --> 00:26:31,257
Speaker 1: lifts me up and brightens my perspective. I'm grateful that

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Speaker 1: you are fully aware of every aspect of my life,

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Speaker 1: including all my thoughts and feelings. Everything about me is

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00:26:40,457 --> 00:26:43,817
Speaker 1: important to you. As I relax in your loving presence,

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Speaker 1: help me recall the many ways you've taken care of me,

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00:26:49,617 --> 00:26:52,537
Speaker 1: providing just what I need. I'll try to thank you

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Speaker 1: for each blessing that comes to mind. In the light

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Speaker 1: of your presence, I can see things more clearly and

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Speaker 1: sort out what is important and what is not. As

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Speaker 1: I linger with you, your face shines upon me, blessing,

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00:27:07,217 --> 00:27:12,216
Speaker 1: encouraging and comforting me. I will again praise you for

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Speaker 1: the help of your presence in your mighty name.

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Speaker 3: To learn more about Christine, visit Christine de Claudio dot

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Speaker 3: com slash e n. Also be sure to check out

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Speaker 3: her new book Healing in the Desert, Finding Your Voice

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00:27:28,097 --> 00:27:30,936
Speaker 3: on the Journey from Brokenness to Freedom, available at your

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00:27:30,937 --> 00:27:34,057
Speaker 3: favorite retailer. If you'd like to hear more stories about

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00:27:34,057 --> 00:27:36,936
Speaker 3: discovering your identity in God, check out our interview with

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Speaker 3: doctor Sasha Shilcut. Next time on the Jesus Calling podcast,

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00:27:46,297 --> 00:27:49,177
Speaker 3: we'll hear from Jonathan M. Sidel, a writer who opens

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Speaker 3: up about his struggle with alcoholism and the raw, honest

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Speaker 3: path that led him to healing.

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Speaker 4: How are you the Christian that becomes an alcoholic and

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00:27:58,177 --> 00:28:01,097
Speaker 4: out the other way around? And I think in some

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Speaker 4: ways I'm still peeling back layers of that onion. We

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00:28:05,977 --> 00:28:09,777
Speaker 4: can follow Jesus and know what's right and yet still

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Speaker 4: struggle to do it. And that's Roman seven, that's Paul.

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Speaker 2: So we're in good company.

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Speaker 3: Thanks for listening to the Jesus Calling Stories of Faith

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Speaker 3: podcast on the Life Audio Network. Every week we'll bring

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Speaker 3: you stories from people who share their journeys of faith

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Speaker 3: and how prayer and a relationship with God transformed their lives.

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Speaker 3: Be sure to follow us on Apple, Spotify, iHeart, or

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00:28:36,657 --> 00:28:39,977
Speaker 3: wherever you listen to podcasts, and leave us at reviews

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Speaker 3: so others can be inspired. Weekly by these stories of faith. Finally,

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Speaker 3: you can find encouragement resources and more on the Jesus

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Speaker 3: Calling website at jesuscalling dot com