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Speaker 1: Life Audio. Yeah. Look, I think this is the crazy

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Speaker 1: part of it. Like, obedience really does release blessing, but

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Speaker 1: it doesn't often release it immediately. And I think this

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Speaker 1: is where we get discouraged because you kind of go, well,

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Speaker 1: I did that, and I tried that, and I bah

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Speaker 1: blah blah blah, and the Lord's like, no, it's consistent

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Speaker 1: obedience over time. That's actually to reveal a life that

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Speaker 1: you have been wishing for and believing for.

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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,

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Speaker 2: peace and connection you've been searching for. Because, Babe, those

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Speaker 2: things were never meant to be found in a bottle

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

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Speaker 2: I'll 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, but sustainable. You don't have to do this alone, babe,

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Speaker 2: let's dive in. Hi, my beautiful friend, Welcome back to

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Speaker 2: the podcast. I am so so excited for you to

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Speaker 2: hear this conversation with Pastor Alex Seeley. This is probably

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Speaker 2: one of my favorite interviews I've ever done. Heard Pastor

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Speaker 2: Alex on another podcast talking about do you really want

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Speaker 2: to be well? And it just hit me that that

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Speaker 2: is a question that so many of us in this

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Speaker 2: community wrestle with, is like do we really want this

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Speaker 2: life that God is calling us to, whether that is

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Speaker 2: sobriety or whatever else that you're struggling with, do you

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Speaker 2: really want to overcome it? So her book is called

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Speaker 2: The Divine Counselor, and it's all about the Holy Spirit.

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Speaker 2: Probably my favorite book that I have read this year,

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Speaker 2: next to dot Com Lee's self brain surgery book. So

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Speaker 2: I love the way that Alex talks about the Holy

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Speaker 2: Spirit not as this like mysterious part of our faith

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Speaker 2: that we're somehow supposed to kind of like figure out,

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Speaker 2: but actually as our counselor, our helper, our teacher, and

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Speaker 2: our friend, someone who is with us, who speaks to

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Speaker 2: us and guides us in truth and who wants to

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Speaker 2: be invited into these places that we are struggling, like

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Speaker 2: alcohol or whatever else you're struggling with, And that is

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Speaker 2: all the work that we are doing here it together.

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Speaker 2: One of the questions I hear all the time is,

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Speaker 2: if I love Jesus, why am I still struggling with alcohol?

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Speaker 2: Why do I keep reaching for this thing that I

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Speaker 2: know isn't serving me anymore? Why hasn't God just taken

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Speaker 2: away the desire? Why does everyone else seem to hear

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Speaker 2: the Holy Spirit and I don't? And I just relate

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Speaker 2: to so many of these questions, And so we talk

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Speaker 2: about all of this on the podcast. In this episode,

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Speaker 2: she talks about her own twenty years struggle with an

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Speaker 2: eating disorder and control and while loving Jesus deeply and

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Speaker 2: being involved in the church. We talk about surrender and

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Speaker 2: obedience and this idea that freedom doesn't always happen the

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Speaker 2: second that we obey sometimes and you gals will relate

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Speaker 2: to this, it's consistent obedience over time that leads us

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Speaker 2: into the life we can't even imagine when we're still

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Speaker 2: holding so tightly to the thing God is asking us

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Speaker 2: to release. As you can probably tell by this intro

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Speaker 2: I love this book so so much, and so we

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Speaker 2: are going to be diving into the Divine Counselor in

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Speaker 2: the Love Life Sober community in our September October book club.

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Speaker 2: There are so many things going on in the community

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Speaker 2: right now, but I wanted to take two months to

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Speaker 2: slowly look at this book. So we have added a

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Speaker 2: weekly call. Our resident biblical scholar m Tyler is going

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Speaker 2: to be hosting these calls. They'll be recorded if you

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Speaker 2: can't make them live after you listen to this episode.

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Speaker 2: If you want more of this book and this conversation,

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Speaker 2: head to the link in the show notes and get

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Speaker 2: your copy of the book. Jump in the community with us.

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Speaker 2: I am I'm going to read it again with you.

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Speaker 2: I am so excited to see how God is going

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Speaker 2: to move as we look at the Divine Counselor together.

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Speaker 2: All right, my beautiful friend, Pastor Alex Seeley. Hi, Pastor Alex,

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Speaker 2: thank you so much for being here. I appreciate you

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Speaker 2: so much. So I heard you on Christopher Cook's podcast.

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Speaker 2: The title of that podcast was do you want to

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Speaker 2: Be Well? And I was like, ooh, I need to

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Speaker 2: listen to that, and I did, and then I quickly

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Speaker 2: listened to your book. I am so excited for you

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Speaker 2: to encourage the women of the love life sober community today.

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Speaker 2: Just your book is so encouraging and for the woman

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Speaker 2: who maybe is not as familiar with how incredible the

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Speaker 2: power of the Holy Spirit is who lives in us,

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Speaker 2: it is just it's a must read. And so I

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Speaker 2: I would just love to start by asking you are

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Speaker 2: an author and speaker and pastor. You talk in the

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Speaker 2: beginning of the book about how you were saved at

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Speaker 2: eleven and so can you just talk a little bit

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Speaker 2: about that, because I hear from women a lot that

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Speaker 2: they are confused, like why they're struggling, for example, with alcohol,

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Speaker 2: Like if they love Jesus and are saved.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it's such a great question, and I think this

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Speaker 1: was why I started writing books actually, because I've been

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Speaker 1: in ministry for over thirty years and my own life

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Speaker 1: struggled with issues of the heart. And this is where

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Speaker 1: the tension lies, is that when we get saved, our

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Speaker 1: sin is forgiven right, so our separation from God has

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Speaker 1: been removed and so now we're one with Jesus. But

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Speaker 1: it doesn't mean it erases your past and the memories

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Speaker 1: of what has been done to you, and what it

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Speaker 1: should do is that it gives you the key of

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Speaker 1: knowing how to tap into a higher power, which is Father, Sun,

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Speaker 1: Holy Spirit, to help us walk through life. And doesn't

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Speaker 1: mean we are exempt from problems. It doesn't mean we

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Speaker 1: don't have to walk through adversity, but the one that

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Speaker 1: we're walking through helps us overcome. And so for me,

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Speaker 1: I get saved at eleven and I have a radical transformation,

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Speaker 1: but I'm growing up in a home where there's verbal

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Speaker 1: and physical abuse, and so that's a very real thing

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Speaker 1: that is happening to me as a child, and I

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Speaker 1: don't know how to resolve too. I love Jesus. I'm

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Speaker 1: going to church. My parents are Christian, you know, but

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Speaker 1: my mum was struggling. She had had two nervous breakdowns,

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Speaker 1: you know, by the time she was forty. So she

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Speaker 1: and this is in the seventies and the early eighties

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Speaker 1: where you don't really talk about your mental health. You

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Speaker 1: go to church and everything looks good on the outside,

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Speaker 1: but internally you're struggling. And so this is why I'm

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Speaker 1: so grateful to God for resources now and for the

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Speaker 1: ability to be able to go into people's lives because

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Speaker 1: I had issues, but I didn't know where to bring them,

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Speaker 1: what to do with them. And therefore my addiction wasn't

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Speaker 1: alcohol or drugs. It was an eating disorder. My addiction

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Speaker 1: was the need to control. And you know, I think

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Speaker 1: about all of us that when we've gone through something,

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Speaker 1: we'll often go to advice that gives us something, yep.

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Speaker 1: When the truth is is that Jesus Christ is the

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Speaker 1: one that is the only one that can heal us.

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Speaker 1: But for me, control was what I felt safe. If

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Speaker 1: I could build a world that I knew exactly what

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Speaker 1: was happening when it was happening, that was the root

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Speaker 1: of my pain. And so being an alcoholic, being an

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Speaker 1: r SEC, they're just the symptoms to our pain. But

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Speaker 1: the root cause is often rejection, abuse, neglect, you know,

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Speaker 1: whatever it is that's actually happened. And for me, it

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Speaker 1: was deep rejection, it was deep abuse, and so I

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Speaker 1: didn't know what to do with that. And that's why

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Speaker 1: I've written these books because I found that the Holy

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Speaker 1: Spirit was the one who would guide me to go. Actually,

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Speaker 1: the reason why you are like this is because this happened,

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Speaker 1: but now you have to give that to Jesus. And

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Speaker 1: so that work of sanctification takes time, but you've got

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Speaker 1: to understand that you have the Father, Son and Holy

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Speaker 1: Spirit that will help you and guide you into all

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Speaker 1: truths so that you can actually experience freedom.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's so true for the woman who's listening right

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Speaker 2: now and is maybe grew up in church and is like, okay,

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Speaker 2: Pastor Alex, I hear you, but what does that actually mean?

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Speaker 2: And I'd love to dive in. I have a question

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Speaker 2: about like hearing his voice, but can you just say

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Speaker 2: maybe a little bit about how I love so much

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Speaker 2: about how you write how he is your best friend,

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Speaker 2: So maybe just shed a little bit of light on

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Speaker 2: what that's looked like for you being so close to him.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. I think this is the thing. We have a disconnect.

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Speaker 1: I see this in a lot of believers. Actually, we

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Speaker 1: read the Word and we detach it like we read

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Speaker 1: it like a textbook, but we don't read it like

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Speaker 1: it's him speaking to us. And so the way that

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Speaker 1: it helped me as a young person and still to

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Speaker 1: this day, is when I read his word, I almost

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Speaker 1: imagine us being at coffee together and so I'm He's

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Speaker 1: talking to me, and then I'm listening, and then I'm

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Speaker 1: asking him questions, and so you know, I learned very

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Speaker 1: young to develop a relationship with the Holy Spirit because

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Speaker 1: when I got baptized in Holy Spirit, I had a

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Speaker 1: supernatural experience and my prayer language got unlocked. And so

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Speaker 1: I found myself in my little prayer times and my

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Speaker 1: reading times wanting this best friend because I used to

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Speaker 1: have this imaginary friend. And so I thought, well, you

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Speaker 1: know what that was imaginary? You know, Lisa was not real.

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Speaker 1: Spirit is because he is God, and if I can

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Speaker 1: connect to him as a person, then I can actually

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Speaker 1: sit and listen. And his voice sounds like his words.

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Speaker 1: So the way to get to know his voice before

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Speaker 1: you hear him personally is read his word. Because the

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Speaker 1: Holy Spirit his whole role is to reveal Jesus and

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Speaker 1: lead us into truth, to bring conviction. He's that inner

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Speaker 1: voice inside of us. He's a conscience if you like,

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Speaker 1: he's the you know, when you're submitted to Jesus. Now

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Speaker 1: you've yielded yourself over to go speak to me Holy Spirit,

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Speaker 1: so that little voice, you know. People will often say

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Speaker 1: there's the Angel on one shoulder, and then there's the

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Speaker 1: devil on one shoulder. Well, technically there is there's your flesh,

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Speaker 1: and there's your spirit, and your flesh is saying, do

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Speaker 1: what feels good in the moment, and then Holy Spirit

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Speaker 1: is saying, hey, why don't we sit here for a

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Speaker 1: minute and actually see what's truly going on. And so

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Speaker 1: I would learn to just relate to him as a friend.

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Speaker 1: And so when I would sit in my room, I

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Speaker 1: would pray and I would talk to him out loud,

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Speaker 1: and I'd be like, hey, Holy Spirit, I don't know

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Speaker 1: what to do today. I feel so broken, I feel

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Speaker 1: so down, I'm so angry. You know, this has happened,

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Speaker 1: and this has happened. And then I would read my

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Speaker 1: word and then I would read things and he would go,

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Speaker 1: you know, you need to apply that, and I'd be like, okay,

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Speaker 1: well how do I apply that? You know, right now

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Speaker 1: you need to forgive your mum or you need to

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Speaker 1: let that go. And it sounds easy, it's not. But

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Speaker 1: your choice of do you want to be well or

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Speaker 1: not is a choice. You can stay stuck in pain

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Speaker 1: or you can do a little bit of work and

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Speaker 1: get free. And that's the bottom line with it all.

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Speaker 1: And I just had to get to the place where

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Speaker 1: I went do I trust that what God says in

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Speaker 1: his word is real, then I must apply this and

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Speaker 1: he's just going to help me. Now. Did I do

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Speaker 1: it perfectly? Absolutely not. Did I do it in a

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Speaker 1: linear fashion, absolutely not. Was I up and down and

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Speaker 1: around for years? Absolutely? I had this eating disorder. My

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Speaker 1: addiction stayed with me for twenty years. Even though I

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Speaker 1: loved Jesus, even though I went to church. It was

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Speaker 1: this one part of my heart that I did not

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Speaker 1: relinquish control in. And that's where I feel like all

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Speaker 1: of us live, we love God, we function in life,

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Speaker 1: but there's that one part that we say, God, you

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Speaker 1: can't have it. And that's where once we get to

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Speaker 1: know the person of the Holy Spirit as a friend,

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Speaker 1: he's going to, bit by bit allow us to give

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Speaker 1: it back to him because it's the only way we'll

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Speaker 1: get healed.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, And I think so many women listening right

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Speaker 2: now can relate to that and maybe are in that

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Speaker 2: place of I'm not ready to give that thing up,

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Speaker 2: which we're obviously talking about alcohol. We'll be back right

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Speaker 2: after a quick word from our sponsors. Can you maybe

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Speaker 2: encourage that woman who's, like, for example, in your story,

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Speaker 2: like in the middle of the twenty year struggle, like

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Speaker 2: what would you say to her.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I would say it is going to be painful

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Speaker 1: because you have to allow the root issue to be revealed.

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Speaker 1: And that's painful, like a surgeon has to go in

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Speaker 1: and take out the gangreene before you can heal, you know.

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Speaker 1: And I think that for me was frightening. It was

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Speaker 1: frightening because of two things. One, I was like, well,

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Speaker 1: will it really work? And am I going to go

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Speaker 1: through all of this for nothing? And I didn't trust

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Speaker 1: that God was big enough for me. Yeah, And I

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Speaker 1: think this is where we've got to get to know

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Speaker 1: the fact that he loves us more than anything, and

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Speaker 1: he's not ashamed of us, he's not angry at us.

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Speaker 1: He actually won, but he will not force us. We

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Speaker 1: have to give it to him. Just like the woman

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Speaker 1: with that issue of blood in the Bible for twelve years,

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Speaker 1: she's hemorrhaging. Now I always look at it. Now, I'm

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Speaker 1: not hemorrhaging in the natural, but my heart is hemorrhaging.

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Speaker 1: Every woman listening, your heart is hemorrhaging. Pain. And so

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Speaker 1: the Bible says that she did everything that she knew

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Speaker 1: to do. She spent all the money, went to all

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Speaker 1: the doctors, and we do this, We go to therapy,

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Speaker 1: we read the books, we do what we think is

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Speaker 1: right in it just took a moment where she went,

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Speaker 1: I'm at the end of myself, and I think that's

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Speaker 1: where you have to get to. You've got to get

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Speaker 1: to the place where you go, I'm tired of maintaining

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Speaker 1: this addiction because it's actually while it was giving me

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Speaker 1: momentary highs, if you like. And that's the thing. Addiction

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Speaker 1: is such a crazy thing because it actually does give

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Speaker 1: you something in the immediate It's why you keep doing

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Speaker 1: it right, you know, to blight out a memory when

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Speaker 1: you're drinking, or to just numb the pain, or just

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Speaker 1: to have fun that gives you a momentary rush. But

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Speaker 1: then you feel like junk the next day, and then

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Speaker 1: you feel ashamed that you realize, what on earth did

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Speaker 1: I do while I was drunk? And it's all this,

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Speaker 1: It's this vicious circle. So I had to get to

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Speaker 1: a place where it was like, well, in the middle

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Speaker 1: of it, there was fear, and I had to go, well,

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Speaker 1: what am I afraid of? And I'm afraid that God's

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Speaker 1: actually not going to heal me. And I'm afraid that

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Speaker 1: at the end of it, I'm still going to feel

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Speaker 1: the same because I can't change the past. But that's

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Speaker 1: where the lie was so severe, and I had to

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Speaker 1: get to the place where I had enough. I was exhausted,

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Speaker 1: and when I did, I just went, God, I give

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Speaker 1: you all of me. The other part is that I actually,

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Speaker 1: I actually loved my addiction because it gave me a

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Speaker 1: sense of validation. So the thinner I was for me,

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Speaker 1: the more validation I got from people. And that was

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Speaker 1: the thing I was starved of. I was such a

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Speaker 1: rejacked that if you told me I looked beautiful because

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Speaker 1: I'm a side zero, then it gave me this hit,

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Speaker 1: this dopamine hit. So the thin I was and then

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Speaker 1: I thought, well, what happens when I'm free of this?

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Speaker 1: What about if I'm not finn anymore and therefore not validation.

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Speaker 1: But see I'm I was always looking for validation in

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Speaker 1: the wrong places, and so this has had to get

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Speaker 1: to the place where I said, oh God, I actually

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Speaker 1: love myself more than you, even though I despised myself.

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Speaker 1: But I made the eating disorder and the control my God.

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Speaker 1: And I think this is at the end of the day,

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Speaker 1: the reality. This is what Holy Spirit is talking to

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Speaker 1: me all these times and I'm either ignoring it or

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Speaker 1: just shoving it away. And he's like, you love this

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Speaker 1: more than me, because anything takes up more thought, more action,

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Speaker 1: more time, money spent, all the things over me is

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Speaker 1: an idol. And I defended by that. When the Holy

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Speaker 1: Spirit revealed that to me, I was like what. And

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Speaker 1: he's like, you've made yourself an idol because you know better.

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Speaker 1: And that when I repented of that man feeling be caned,

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Speaker 1: and then I was able to he was able to

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Speaker 1: go to the root and go, it's time to forgive

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Speaker 1: your mother. It's time to forgive this person. It's time

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Speaker 1: to let go of this. And then as I unraveled

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Speaker 1: that tight bowl that was locked up inside the deep,

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Speaker 1: deepest part of my heart, that's when the love of

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Speaker 1: Jesus could come in and I walked out my freedom

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Speaker 1: in all of that, and it would come in waves.

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Speaker 1: But then at thirty one years of age, I had

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Speaker 1: had enough. I gave it to Jesus and then I honestly,

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Speaker 1: I haven't looked back since I've been free since.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I love that so much. I relate to that

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Speaker 2: so much. I struggled with disordered eating as well, and

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Speaker 2: I remember I finally got to the goal weight. I

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Speaker 2: was really then and I posted the picture and all

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Speaker 2: the fire emojis, and I was just like, oh, but

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Speaker 2: I want to even be thinner.

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Speaker 1: That's right.

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Speaker 2: It's just like you know, it wouldn't stop. So many

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Speaker 2: of the gals I talk to too, they're intertwined with

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Speaker 2: alcohol and eating disorders because of the control aspect of it. Right,

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Speaker 2: It's it's the like, I know I should not be

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Speaker 2: doing this, but I also should be able to moderate

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Speaker 2: this really addictive substance and somehow be able to fit

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Speaker 2: it into my life in a way that works. And

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Speaker 2: I've just seen time after time where the Holy Spirit

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Speaker 2: says over and over no, like I have so much

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Speaker 2: more for you, the abundance on the other side of obedience.

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Speaker 2: And that's the thing too, I've heard you talk about.

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Speaker 2: Maybe we can talk about a little bit here, because

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Speaker 2: those trusting that those blessings are going to come, I

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Speaker 2: think is sometimes hard. But also the difference between God

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Speaker 2: just loving us as daughters of Him but allowing us

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Speaker 2: to step into that fullness because we're not obeying what

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Speaker 2: his last word is telling us.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, look, I think this is the crazy part

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Speaker 1: of it, Like obedience really does relase blessing, but it

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Speaker 1: doesn't often release it immediately. And I think this where

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Speaker 1: we get discouraged because you kind of go, well, I

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Speaker 1: did that, and I tried that, and I blah blah

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Speaker 1: blah blah, and I and the Lord's like, no, it's

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Speaker 1: consistent obedience over time. That's actually to reveal a life

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Speaker 1: that you have been wishing for and believing for. Because

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Speaker 1: if I look at my life now, I look at

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Speaker 1: my life and I go, oh, my goodness, the blessings

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Speaker 1: now doesn't mean that I've stopped having any kind of

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Speaker 1: issue or problem in life. No, I've had to I've

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Speaker 1: had sickness in my body. I've had family situations, We've

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Speaker 1: had financial situations like that, people have betrayed and people

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Speaker 1: have let us down. So life happens. But if I

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Speaker 1: look at the sum of my life now, it is blessed.

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Speaker 1: I have a beautiful marriage, I have amazing kids. I

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Speaker 1: have peace. I think that for me, I go to

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Speaker 1: bed at night, put my head on the pillow, and

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Speaker 1: I'm full of peace. Now that didn't happen overnight, but

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Speaker 1: over season of life I just watched I would because

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Speaker 1: what happens is you start making decisions that obey God.

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Speaker 1: And when you obey God, he promises blessing. And I

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Speaker 1: think we've got to get into the moment of going.

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Speaker 1: I have to trust God at his work or this

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Speaker 1: doesn't work. And that's where I feel like I was

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Speaker 1: wavering over the years, where I would trust him and

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Speaker 1: then I wouldn't, and then I would trust him and

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Speaker 1: then I wouldn't, and that inconsistency would always lead me

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Speaker 1: back to addictionary, would always lead me back to problems.

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Speaker 1: But I had to get the resolve. You are who

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Speaker 1: you say you are. You love me regardless. Shame and

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Speaker 1: guilt does not belong with Jesus, but conviction and correction does.

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Speaker 1: And I have trust that if he brings some correction

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Speaker 1: or if he brings some conviction, it's for my benefit

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Speaker 1: and I my job is to obey. And it's not

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Speaker 1: a head knowledge, it's yielding your heart. Yes.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, And it's so encouraging listening to you speak because

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Speaker 2: it's the years of the push pull and the struggle

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Speaker 2: and then not wanting. Like I think of your when

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Speaker 2: you talk about the toxic boyfriend, right, and like it's

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Speaker 2: like he's not the one, and you're like I'm gonna

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Speaker 2: love him anyway. Yeah, which, by the way, when you

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Speaker 2: were when I was listening to you on the audiobook,

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Speaker 2: I was like, it also sounds very much like alcohol, right, Like,

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Speaker 2: I know you want me to put him down. I'm

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Speaker 2: not going to. He gives me something that's.

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Speaker 1: Exactly right, and honestly that that's the part of it.

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Speaker 1: And I don't think God is looking at us getting

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Speaker 1: angry with us, like you said before, He's just crying

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Speaker 1: out going I've got something better for you. And that's

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Speaker 1: where you've got to believe him. Because if I look

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Speaker 1: at the man that I'm married compared to the man

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Speaker 1: I could have married, I never could see this. I

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Speaker 1: couldn't see it in it. But then when I yielded that,

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Speaker 1: that was my first act of obedi its break up

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Speaker 1: with this boy, because he's not right for you. And

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Speaker 1: he was so wonderful in so many ways, but I

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Speaker 1: knew that my life calling could not be aligned with him.

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Speaker 1: And then when Henry came along, I couldn't even understand

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Speaker 1: how good he was. I was like, how did I

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Speaker 1: get this? But because each day I was making these

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Speaker 1: small wins of obedience, obedience, obedience, and so when you're

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Speaker 1: in it. You're like, I can't imagine anything better right now.

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Speaker 1: You know, alcohol is giving me life, but it's not.

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Speaker 1: It's a counterfeit life. God promised life and life abundantly.

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Speaker 1: The thief comes to still kill and destroy, but he

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Speaker 1: comes to give your life abundantly, and that you have

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Speaker 1: to believe, because alcohol is going to destroy you. I've

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Speaker 1: watched people that I love do the same, and I

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Speaker 1: I really you know, I've steered cleared of any kind

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Speaker 1: of substance abuse because I know that that's not the

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Speaker 1: answer because I've watched it. But then again, I have

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Speaker 1: a different addiction. You know, people have pornography, people have

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Speaker 1: shopping addictions. Like every addiction is fulfilling a need of

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Speaker 1: deaficet And that's where you've just got to get to

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Speaker 1: the place where God, you are enough, your love is

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Speaker 1: in us, and I'm going to get through with you.

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Speaker 1: And I promise you, if you can tap into surrender

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Speaker 1: and obedience but also the understanding of how much he

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Speaker 1: loved you, you won't want this anymore.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, one hundred percent. I love that. So beautiful and

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Speaker 2: so encouraging. We'll be back right after a quick word

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Speaker 2: from our sponsors. Hey, babe, I just wanted to pause

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Speaker 2: us for one second to remind you that this September,

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Speaker 2: we are gathering in Holland, Michigan for the Aligned Conference.

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Speaker 2: This is going to be the first ever Christian women's

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Speaker 2: alcohol free conference, and I am so excited to be

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Speaker 2: partnering with my friend Sherry Hoppin of Sala House Recovery.

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Speaker 2: If you've ever wished there was a place where you

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00:24:07,160 --> 00:24:11,400
Speaker 2: could talk openly about freedom from alcohol, growing closer to Jesus,

431
00:24:11,440 --> 00:24:15,000
Speaker 2: and building genuine friendships with women who understand the journey,

432
00:24:15,400 --> 00:24:19,480
Speaker 2: then this is your opportunity. We're bringing together incredible speakers,

433
00:24:19,800 --> 00:24:25,320
Speaker 2: meaningful conversations, worship, prayer, practical tools, and plenty of opportunities

434
00:24:25,320 --> 00:24:28,119
Speaker 2: to connect with women who are pursuing freedom and living

435
00:24:28,160 --> 00:24:31,240
Speaker 2: aligned with God's best for their lives. One of the

436
00:24:31,240 --> 00:24:33,800
Speaker 2: things I'm most excited about is that so many women

437
00:24:33,840 --> 00:24:36,880
Speaker 2: from the Love Life Sober community are already coming. If

438
00:24:36,880 --> 00:24:39,160
Speaker 2: you've ever wanted to meet some of those amazing women

439
00:24:39,200 --> 00:24:42,760
Speaker 2: in real life and get an in person hug and

440
00:24:42,840 --> 00:24:45,880
Speaker 2: spend a few days just hanging out with women who

441
00:24:45,960 --> 00:24:50,680
Speaker 2: are alcohol free or sober, curious and love Jesus, then

442
00:24:51,000 --> 00:24:54,720
Speaker 2: this is your chance. It doesn't matter how long you've

443
00:24:54,880 --> 00:24:57,480
Speaker 2: been free from alcohol, if you are just at the

444
00:24:57,520 --> 00:25:00,840
Speaker 2: beginning of this journey or years in, we don't mind.

445
00:25:01,000 --> 00:25:02,600
Speaker 2: We just want to get in a room with you.

446
00:25:02,640 --> 00:25:06,000
Speaker 2: And we are so so excited. All of the details

447
00:25:06,080 --> 00:25:08,919
Speaker 2: and the ticket information is all at the link in

448
00:25:09,000 --> 00:25:13,800
Speaker 2: the show notes. I am so so excited to get

449
00:25:13,840 --> 00:25:19,080
Speaker 2: to hug some of you beautiful women in person this September. Okay,

450
00:25:19,200 --> 00:25:21,760
Speaker 2: let's get back to today's episode. I just see kind

451
00:25:21,760 --> 00:25:25,560
Speaker 2: of in the secular sober verse, right, the sobriety self

452
00:25:25,600 --> 00:25:29,960
Speaker 2: help space, a lot of almost making the world. I

453
00:25:29,960 --> 00:25:32,040
Speaker 2: don't like the you like. I've never used the word

454
00:25:32,080 --> 00:25:33,760
Speaker 2: alcoholic because I'm a daughter of the king and it

455
00:25:33,800 --> 00:25:37,560
Speaker 2: never felt good. I never identified with it. Yeah, but

456
00:25:37,680 --> 00:25:41,119
Speaker 2: I see and I hear a lot of making that

457
00:25:41,320 --> 00:25:44,359
Speaker 2: your identity. And in the book you talk about depression

458
00:25:44,400 --> 00:25:47,400
Speaker 2: and anxiety kind of and people taking on this label

459
00:25:47,560 --> 00:25:49,320
Speaker 2: and can you can you speak a little bit to

460
00:25:49,440 --> 00:25:52,280
Speaker 2: that about yes, this is something maybe that you now

461
00:25:52,359 --> 00:25:54,400
Speaker 2: know you have this as a thing. The Holy Spirits

462
00:25:54,400 --> 00:25:56,960
Speaker 2: tapped you on the shoulder, most most women always say,

463
00:25:57,080 --> 00:25:59,160
Speaker 2: he hasn't tapped me, He's grabbed me by the shoulders

464
00:25:59,200 --> 00:26:01,159
Speaker 2: and he's shaking me and say's put down the wine glass.

465
00:26:01,280 --> 00:26:03,040
Speaker 2: Can you talk a little bit about that.

466
00:26:03,320 --> 00:26:08,520
Speaker 1: Yeah, our words have power and we are created creative beings, right,

467
00:26:08,600 --> 00:26:11,080
Speaker 1: so we are made in the image of God. So

468
00:26:11,200 --> 00:26:14,720
Speaker 1: everything we speak has power. And this is why the

469
00:26:15,200 --> 00:26:17,920
Speaker 1: you know, the New Age movement have tapped into something

470
00:26:18,080 --> 00:26:21,560
Speaker 1: even though it's a God principle that what we declare

471
00:26:21,840 --> 00:26:26,280
Speaker 1: and what we speak it manifests right. And so just

472
00:26:26,359 --> 00:26:29,400
Speaker 1: like that in the natural can do that, we can

473
00:26:29,440 --> 00:26:32,840
Speaker 1: do that in the spirit realm. So when you're calling yourself,

474
00:26:32,880 --> 00:26:38,880
Speaker 1: you're labeling yourself. I am an alcoholic, I am an anorexic,

475
00:26:39,280 --> 00:26:44,320
Speaker 1: I am an addict. You are now solidifying that your

476
00:26:44,440 --> 00:26:48,400
Speaker 1: identity is in your issue and your problem, and that

477
00:26:48,600 --> 00:26:52,920
Speaker 1: is not correct. And the world has you know, I'm

478
00:26:52,960 --> 00:26:57,560
Speaker 1: a recovering alcoholic. Well, yeah, you are recovering from an addiction.

479
00:26:57,680 --> 00:27:01,960
Speaker 1: But that's not your identity in anything apart from being

480
00:27:02,000 --> 00:27:06,399
Speaker 1: a son or daughter of God is not your identity.

481
00:27:06,880 --> 00:27:10,280
Speaker 1: Even me being a mother, a wife, a pastor, that's

482
00:27:10,359 --> 00:27:14,600
Speaker 1: not my identity. My identity comes from who I am

483
00:27:14,800 --> 00:27:19,399
Speaker 1: in Christ. Therefore He made me a new creation. The

484
00:27:19,560 --> 00:27:24,560
Speaker 1: old has gone, the new is alive. Therefore, I can't

485
00:27:24,640 --> 00:27:29,520
Speaker 1: identify with my struggle. When my daughter was going through

486
00:27:29,560 --> 00:27:32,000
Speaker 1: some mental health I took her to a counselor. She

487
00:27:32,119 --> 00:27:35,159
Speaker 1: was under age, you know, she's bound sixteen, And I

488
00:27:35,160 --> 00:27:37,840
Speaker 1: remember going to the counselor and I said, because she's

489
00:27:37,880 --> 00:27:40,840
Speaker 1: a minor, I was allowed to kind of have some

490
00:27:41,000 --> 00:27:43,800
Speaker 1: say in how she was counseled. And I said, you know,

491
00:27:44,040 --> 00:27:49,040
Speaker 1: I will not have you diagnose her with depression or anxiety,

492
00:27:49,760 --> 00:27:53,360
Speaker 1: because at the minute you diagnose her and give her

493
00:27:53,400 --> 00:27:56,240
Speaker 1: that label, she's going to attach that to herself and

494
00:27:56,280 --> 00:27:59,400
Speaker 1: that's what she'll live by. But what you can say

495
00:27:59,440 --> 00:28:03,359
Speaker 1: to her is, yeah, you're walking through anxiety right now,

496
00:28:03,760 --> 00:28:07,880
Speaker 1: you're walking through season of depression. But that's not who

497
00:28:07,960 --> 00:28:11,400
Speaker 1: you are. And it is amazing to see how God

498
00:28:11,480 --> 00:28:14,639
Speaker 1: delivered her and saved her out of that because she

499
00:28:14,840 --> 00:28:18,600
Speaker 1: never took on the label of oh I have anxiety,

500
00:28:18,720 --> 00:28:22,919
Speaker 1: I am depressed, and therefore this is who I am now. No,

501
00:28:23,200 --> 00:28:27,080
Speaker 1: she was walking through anxious moments, she was walking through

502
00:28:27,160 --> 00:28:30,800
Speaker 1: sad and depressive thoughts. That's not who she is. And

503
00:28:30,840 --> 00:28:33,080
Speaker 1: if you see her today, she's a bundle of joy.

504
00:28:33,640 --> 00:28:37,280
Speaker 1: But imagine if she'd been diagnosed at a young age,

505
00:28:37,800 --> 00:28:42,680
Speaker 1: already now stamped I'm anxiety, I'm depression. And that's why

506
00:28:42,680 --> 00:28:46,240
Speaker 1: I believe that labels are very damaging because the minute

507
00:28:46,240 --> 00:28:50,720
Speaker 1: you attach your problem to who you're becoming, you're always

508
00:28:50,800 --> 00:28:54,320
Speaker 1: going to live behind that label. So when you do fall,

509
00:28:54,320 --> 00:28:56,920
Speaker 1: you're like, well, I'm an alcoholic, because you know that's

510
00:28:56,920 --> 00:29:00,240
Speaker 1: what alcoholics do. We go back to drinking. It's a disease. No,

511
00:29:00,520 --> 00:29:05,200
Speaker 1: sin is the disease that Jesus came to annihilate. Right,

512
00:29:05,280 --> 00:29:08,680
Speaker 1: So all of these deeds of the flesh, they're just

513
00:29:08,800 --> 00:29:12,959
Speaker 1: the result of us not submitting to the lordship of

514
00:29:13,040 --> 00:29:17,080
Speaker 1: Christ in an area of our lives. And so that's

515
00:29:17,240 --> 00:29:19,480
Speaker 1: where we've got to get to this place. Don't call

516
00:29:19,560 --> 00:29:24,200
Speaker 1: yourself an alcoholic. Say hey, yeah, I have struggled with alcoholism.

517
00:29:24,560 --> 00:29:27,760
Speaker 1: I have struggled with addiction one hundred percent. Let's call

518
00:29:27,760 --> 00:29:30,600
Speaker 1: it what it is. But do not identify with it,

519
00:29:30,720 --> 00:29:34,959
Speaker 1: because that is dangerous. Start speaking over yourself. I am

520
00:29:35,040 --> 00:29:39,320
Speaker 1: an overcomer, I am a new creation, I am beloved,

521
00:29:39,480 --> 00:29:44,640
Speaker 1: I am healed, I am a whole. Start speaking those

522
00:29:44,720 --> 00:29:48,360
Speaker 1: words until it becomes reality. And I tell you I

523
00:29:49,160 --> 00:29:51,760
Speaker 1: was not just an anorexic. I was just a girl

524
00:29:52,240 --> 00:29:56,560
Speaker 1: who was struggling with rejection, a girl struggling with pain.

525
00:29:57,200 --> 00:30:00,200
Speaker 1: But that's not who I was. Who I am today

526
00:30:00,360 --> 00:30:03,240
Speaker 1: is a daughter of the King, and that's what exudes

527
00:30:03,280 --> 00:30:07,200
Speaker 1: out of my life. And so labels are really really important.

528
00:30:07,400 --> 00:30:12,440
Speaker 1: Stop declaring over yourself that the issue and the struggle.

529
00:30:12,960 --> 00:30:15,200
Speaker 1: Start declaring who Jesus says you are.

530
00:30:15,880 --> 00:30:18,840
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you talk so beautifully in the book about

531
00:30:18,880 --> 00:30:23,000
Speaker 2: the woman with the issue of blood and how Jesus

532
00:30:23,040 --> 00:30:25,640
Speaker 2: renamed her. And I was driving when I was listening

533
00:30:25,680 --> 00:30:28,840
Speaker 2: to that, like weeping, I was just like, yes, that

534
00:30:29,000 --> 00:30:30,360
Speaker 2: is so true.

535
00:30:30,520 --> 00:30:33,480
Speaker 1: True, But she had to tell the whole truth that

536
00:30:33,680 --> 00:30:37,120
Speaker 1: part where you know, she thought to herself, if I

537
00:30:37,120 --> 00:30:40,680
Speaker 1: could just touch the hem of his garment, I'll be healed. Well,

538
00:30:40,880 --> 00:30:45,360
Speaker 1: if all she needed was physical healing, Jesus would have

539
00:30:45,400 --> 00:30:47,760
Speaker 1: kept walking towards the other girl that he had to

540
00:30:47,800 --> 00:30:51,360
Speaker 1: go heal. But see, Jesus is never just satisfied with

541
00:30:51,400 --> 00:30:56,440
Speaker 1: our physical healing. He's wanting to change our identity because

542
00:30:56,480 --> 00:30:58,400
Speaker 1: all her life she would have been known as the

543
00:30:58,400 --> 00:31:02,400
Speaker 1: woman with the issue, and it was banished from society

544
00:31:02,400 --> 00:31:05,600
Speaker 1: because she was seen as unclean. So what Jesus was

545
00:31:05,640 --> 00:31:08,840
Speaker 1: wanting to do was rename her so that she wasn't

546
00:31:08,960 --> 00:31:12,600
Speaker 1: tied to that issue anymore. So when he goes I felt,

547
00:31:12,800 --> 00:31:15,280
Speaker 1: I felt healing come out of my body. Who touched me?

548
00:31:15,880 --> 00:31:19,400
Speaker 1: And everything's quiet, and he's not moving until that girl

549
00:31:19,920 --> 00:31:22,640
Speaker 1: opens up her mouth because he waits for you to

550
00:31:22,640 --> 00:31:24,360
Speaker 1: do it. He's not doing all the work for you.

551
00:31:24,440 --> 00:31:27,600
Speaker 1: He healed her, but now he's like, OK, I've got

552
00:31:27,640 --> 00:31:31,080
Speaker 1: to do more. And she could have run away and

553
00:31:31,240 --> 00:31:35,040
Speaker 1: just got her physical healing, but she came to him

554
00:31:35,240 --> 00:31:40,240
Speaker 1: in fear and trembling. Please hear this, guys, fear and trembling,

555
00:31:40,360 --> 00:31:44,600
Speaker 1: and she told Jesus the whole truth. And when she

556
00:31:44,880 --> 00:31:50,240
Speaker 1: confessed the whole truth, everything about who she is, he says, daughter,

557
00:31:51,520 --> 00:31:55,560
Speaker 1: your faith has healed you. Everyone around in that moment

558
00:31:55,600 --> 00:31:58,480
Speaker 1: would have gone, oh, that's the first time he ever

559
00:31:58,520 --> 00:32:03,080
Speaker 1: called anyone daughter. And she was renamed so that she

560
00:32:03,120 --> 00:32:06,040
Speaker 1: could go into society, not just physically healed of her bleeding,

561
00:32:06,640 --> 00:32:09,440
Speaker 1: but now she can hold her head high, going, I'm

562
00:32:09,440 --> 00:32:12,760
Speaker 1: a daughter of the King. That's my identity. My identity

563
00:32:12,800 --> 00:32:16,480
Speaker 1: is no longer my issue and my struggle, but it's

564
00:32:16,720 --> 00:32:21,040
Speaker 1: who Jesus named me to be, and that is the

565
00:32:21,080 --> 00:32:22,920
Speaker 1: freedom that we all want.

566
00:32:24,160 --> 00:32:27,200
Speaker 2: Yeah, one hundred percent. And I think that you bring

567
00:32:27,280 --> 00:32:29,680
Speaker 2: up such a beautiful point because I also hear a

568
00:32:29,760 --> 00:32:32,480
Speaker 2: lot women say like, why won't he just take this away?

569
00:32:33,000 --> 00:32:35,840
Speaker 2: Why won't he just take away the desire to drink?

570
00:32:36,040 --> 00:32:36,240
Speaker 1: Right?

571
00:32:36,400 --> 00:32:38,960
Speaker 2: And it goes to what you just said about he's

572
00:32:39,000 --> 00:32:41,680
Speaker 2: more concerned about your heart and your faith than your

573
00:32:41,720 --> 00:32:44,520
Speaker 2: actual physical healings.

574
00:32:44,640 --> 00:32:48,160
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I think about that with so many people.

575
00:32:48,520 --> 00:32:50,320
Speaker 1: I used to say that about that guy that I

576
00:32:50,400 --> 00:32:52,959
Speaker 1: dated for three years. Just take away the desire. But

577
00:32:53,360 --> 00:32:57,360
Speaker 1: the Lord's not take away what he created. Right. We

578
00:32:57,640 --> 00:33:01,720
Speaker 1: desire things. Things I moder are great, So he's never

579
00:33:01,760 --> 00:33:05,360
Speaker 1: going to take away that desire. He wants to heal

580
00:33:06,280 --> 00:33:10,520
Speaker 1: the reason why you want to get to that. He's

581
00:33:10,600 --> 00:33:14,800
Speaker 1: not going to take away your love for men or

582
00:33:14,840 --> 00:33:19,400
Speaker 1: your love for whatever. He wants to reposition it in

583
00:33:19,480 --> 00:33:23,600
Speaker 1: a healthy position, because that's the place for me. It

584
00:33:23,640 --> 00:33:28,040
Speaker 1: wasn't that loving someone was wrong. It was who I

585
00:33:28,160 --> 00:33:31,480
Speaker 1: chosen and why. And so God say no, no, let

586
00:33:31,520 --> 00:33:37,000
Speaker 1: me rearient your heart so that you actually submit to

587
00:33:37,080 --> 00:33:41,520
Speaker 1: my way. When you submit to his way by obedience,

588
00:33:41,720 --> 00:33:46,280
Speaker 1: he's going to actually bring immense healing as you take

589
00:33:46,360 --> 00:33:50,040
Speaker 1: that step of faith, because then you've got other story

590
00:33:50,120 --> 00:33:54,479
Speaker 1: in that chapter of the Man at the Pool, and

591
00:33:54,520 --> 00:33:57,520
Speaker 1: he's making all the excuses. Well, no one will take

592
00:33:57,560 --> 00:33:59,600
Speaker 1: me and no one will do this, and I've been

593
00:33:59,640 --> 00:34:01,480
Speaker 1: like this for thirty eight years and blah blah blah

594
00:34:01,480 --> 00:34:03,920
Speaker 1: blah blah blah blah blah, and Jesus like, I didn't

595
00:34:04,040 --> 00:34:07,120
Speaker 1: ask you or to give me excuses. I told you

596
00:34:07,160 --> 00:34:10,319
Speaker 1: to pick up your mat. So you'll have to do

597
00:34:10,480 --> 00:34:17,520
Speaker 1: something that requires a joined action. I had to repent,

598
00:34:17,760 --> 00:34:22,040
Speaker 1: I had to let go. I had to say, yeah,

599
00:34:22,080 --> 00:34:25,919
Speaker 1: you're right. This has been lord of my life. Like alcohols.

600
00:34:25,920 --> 00:34:28,840
Speaker 1: For these ladies, that's the lord of their life because

601
00:34:29,040 --> 00:34:32,520
Speaker 1: that's submitted to and God says, I'm a God. I

602
00:34:32,640 --> 00:34:36,319
Speaker 1: need to be lord, not the substance. And so you're

603
00:34:36,360 --> 00:34:39,680
Speaker 1: going to have to do something and I will come

604
00:34:39,800 --> 00:34:43,680
Speaker 1: meet you right at base and we'll do this together.

605
00:34:44,440 --> 00:34:48,160
Speaker 2: Yeah, and he has right, like and you're yes, feel

606
00:34:48,160 --> 00:34:50,040
Speaker 2: evident in the book that that he's met you and

607
00:34:50,160 --> 00:34:52,560
Speaker 2: he's met me, even though like maybe it's not what

608
00:34:52,680 --> 00:34:55,680
Speaker 2: we wanted. You talk so beautifully as well about taking

609
00:34:55,719 --> 00:34:59,759
Speaker 2: a responsibility and not playing the victim. And you know,

610
00:34:59,840 --> 00:35:02,200
Speaker 2: I I hear that a lot, especially into the summer,

611
00:35:02,200 --> 00:35:03,520
Speaker 2: and I hear a lot about the triggers and the

612
00:35:03,520 --> 00:35:06,759
Speaker 2: triggers are the problem. And so let's talk a little

613
00:35:06,800 --> 00:35:09,279
Speaker 2: bit about taking responsibility, not playing the victim, and not

614
00:35:09,320 --> 00:35:10,280
Speaker 2: blaming the triggers.

615
00:35:10,840 --> 00:35:14,440
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, no one else is responsible for your triggers.

616
00:35:14,719 --> 00:35:18,320
Speaker 1: You are because no one knows what they are except

617
00:35:18,320 --> 00:35:22,160
Speaker 1: for you. And when a pressure point has been pushed on,

618
00:35:23,040 --> 00:35:25,600
Speaker 1: you've got to do the work of going why did

619
00:35:25,680 --> 00:35:28,920
Speaker 1: that make me so react? So like, for me, if

620
00:35:28,920 --> 00:35:32,560
Speaker 1: I was on a phone call and someone started, you know,

621
00:35:32,640 --> 00:35:35,399
Speaker 1: yelling or getting mad at me or what. Of course

622
00:35:35,440 --> 00:35:38,400
Speaker 1: that would trigger me, right, So then what what would

623
00:35:38,400 --> 00:35:40,319
Speaker 1: I do? I'd want The first thing I'd want to

624
00:35:40,320 --> 00:35:43,440
Speaker 1: do is starve myself and then go clean the house

625
00:35:43,520 --> 00:35:46,080
Speaker 1: because I was an OCD freak of like, if I

626
00:35:46,080 --> 00:35:50,560
Speaker 1: can control my house being clean and me being skinny,

627
00:35:50,640 --> 00:35:55,319
Speaker 1: then that gives me a reference if I'm okay. But

628
00:35:55,520 --> 00:35:59,120
Speaker 1: you know that was not their fault, that they're not

629
00:35:59,280 --> 00:36:02,840
Speaker 1: responsible for my triggers. So any time I got triggered,

630
00:36:03,080 --> 00:36:06,880
Speaker 1: I have to take responsibility. I have to go why

631
00:36:06,920 --> 00:36:10,920
Speaker 1: has that affected me? Clearly I haven't dealt with that

632
00:36:11,200 --> 00:36:14,719
Speaker 1: root issue that makes me want to react instead of respond.

633
00:36:15,120 --> 00:36:18,040
Speaker 1: That's where the Holy Spirit is key, because what you

634
00:36:18,080 --> 00:36:19,680
Speaker 1: need to do is you need to take yourself out

635
00:36:19,719 --> 00:36:22,880
Speaker 1: of that situation, sit by yourself and just go, Holy Spirit,

636
00:36:23,160 --> 00:36:26,480
Speaker 1: why do I react like that? Why does that push

637
00:36:26,480 --> 00:36:29,919
Speaker 1: a button in me? Where's the route to that? And

638
00:36:29,960 --> 00:36:33,600
Speaker 1: he will give it to you, and then he will

639
00:36:33,640 --> 00:36:36,759
Speaker 1: give you an instruction of how to reverse it or

640
00:36:36,760 --> 00:36:39,319
Speaker 1: to let it go, And you're not going to like it.

641
00:36:39,400 --> 00:36:42,680
Speaker 1: He's going to ask you to do something and I'm

642
00:36:42,760 --> 00:36:46,040
Speaker 1: telling you trust me in it because when you do it,

643
00:36:46,719 --> 00:36:50,240
Speaker 1: you will feel a sense of relief. Now the situation

644
00:36:50,400 --> 00:36:55,040
Speaker 1: might not change that moment, but you're changing and that's

645
00:36:55,080 --> 00:36:59,080
Speaker 1: the goal. It's not about everybody else. Please stop blaming,

646
00:36:59,440 --> 00:37:03,759
Speaker 1: you know. I write that story of the psychologist who

647
00:37:03,800 --> 00:37:06,200
Speaker 1: I heard his wife went to that seminar and she'd

648
00:37:06,200 --> 00:37:10,120
Speaker 1: got cancer and it was a mental health seminar, and

649
00:37:10,320 --> 00:37:14,880
Speaker 1: so she's talking to this guy and he's like, are

650
00:37:14,920 --> 00:37:17,160
Speaker 1: you going to take responsibility for your cancer? And she

651
00:37:17,440 --> 00:37:20,880
Speaker 1: was so offended. She's like me, it's not my fault.

652
00:37:21,080 --> 00:37:24,600
Speaker 1: I didn't give myself cancer. He goes, I didn't ask

653
00:37:24,640 --> 00:37:27,600
Speaker 1: whose fault it was. I asked, what are you going

654
00:37:27,640 --> 00:37:30,400
Speaker 1: to do about it, because now it's your problem, And

655
00:37:30,440 --> 00:37:34,040
Speaker 1: I think that is such a in your face man.

656
00:37:34,160 --> 00:37:36,520
Speaker 1: I would have been offended too. But at the end

657
00:37:36,520 --> 00:37:40,640
Speaker 1: of the day, what happens to us is not our fault,

658
00:37:41,080 --> 00:37:44,000
Speaker 1: but it is now our problem because now we're living

659
00:37:44,680 --> 00:37:47,520
Speaker 1: in something that broke us. But it's not up to

660
00:37:47,560 --> 00:37:50,680
Speaker 1: that person who broke us to fix us. It's up

661
00:37:50,719 --> 00:37:53,680
Speaker 1: to the Lord to come fix us, and we have

662
00:37:53,840 --> 00:37:57,960
Speaker 1: to allow him in. It is not fair that you

663
00:37:58,120 --> 00:38:00,719
Speaker 1: had someone had an affair on you, fair that you

664
00:38:00,760 --> 00:38:03,120
Speaker 1: were sexually It is not fair that you were physically.

665
00:38:03,200 --> 00:38:05,400
Speaker 1: It is not fair that your parents divorced. It is

666
00:38:05,440 --> 00:38:09,200
Speaker 1: not fair that you were left for dead or it

667
00:38:09,320 --> 00:38:12,640
Speaker 1: is not fair. And God is not saying it's your problem,

668
00:38:12,920 --> 00:38:16,600
Speaker 1: but now it is a problem, and the only person

669
00:38:16,640 --> 00:38:19,480
Speaker 1: that can fix that is Jesus. And the only person

670
00:38:19,480 --> 00:38:22,200
Speaker 1: that's going to heal you is the Lord. And so

671
00:38:22,360 --> 00:38:25,480
Speaker 1: you've got to go all right, Jesus, I give you

672
00:38:26,000 --> 00:38:29,440
Speaker 1: this issue. Otherwise it is going to torment you, it

673
00:38:29,520 --> 00:38:32,520
Speaker 1: is going to rob you, It is going to poison

674
00:38:32,560 --> 00:38:33,640
Speaker 1: you for the rest of your life.

675
00:38:33,719 --> 00:38:36,200
Speaker 2: That is so so true. We'll be back right after

676
00:38:36,239 --> 00:38:39,640
Speaker 2: a quick word from our sponsors, my friend and mentor,

677
00:38:39,719 --> 00:38:41,680
Speaker 2: doctor Lee Warren. I don't know if you're familiar with

678
00:38:41,719 --> 00:38:44,120
Speaker 2: his self Brain Surgery book, but he talks about like

679
00:38:44,400 --> 00:38:46,920
Speaker 2: a trigger on a gun that's sitting on the table,

680
00:38:47,160 --> 00:38:48,680
Speaker 2: is a trigger on a gun. You're the one that

681
00:38:49,120 --> 00:38:52,640
Speaker 2: chooses to pick it up and pull it right and exactly.

682
00:38:53,120 --> 00:38:55,799
Speaker 2: Will you just speak a little bit about that you

683
00:38:55,800 --> 00:38:58,560
Speaker 2: were praying for something for seven years I think it was,

684
00:38:59,239 --> 00:39:00,880
Speaker 2: and what God said to you when you were on

685
00:39:00,920 --> 00:39:03,239
Speaker 2: the floor, because that was so powerful.

686
00:39:03,600 --> 00:39:07,560
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, And honestly this was seven years ago when

687
00:39:08,080 --> 00:39:12,440
Speaker 1: all of this started. But you know, again, your relationship

688
00:39:12,480 --> 00:39:16,719
Speaker 1: with God and how you trust him, I think grows right.

689
00:39:16,880 --> 00:39:21,160
Speaker 1: I can trust God for healing, I can trust God

690
00:39:21,320 --> 00:39:24,719
Speaker 1: for finances. I can trust God. So we can have

691
00:39:24,800 --> 00:39:27,840
Speaker 1: different compartments in our life where we really have great faith,

692
00:39:28,280 --> 00:39:29,920
Speaker 1: and this is where it trips us up. But then

693
00:39:29,960 --> 00:39:33,080
Speaker 1: there's always one area, and it's normally very personal that

694
00:39:33,280 --> 00:39:36,160
Speaker 1: we struggle to trust God in because at the end

695
00:39:36,239 --> 00:39:39,840
Speaker 1: of the day, our view of the nature of God

696
00:39:40,239 --> 00:39:44,000
Speaker 1: is so dependent on maybe how we viewed our parents' relationship,

697
00:39:44,320 --> 00:39:48,640
Speaker 1: our spouse relationship, whatever that is. So for me, this

698
00:39:48,800 --> 00:39:51,080
Speaker 1: area was personal. It was a family member that was

699
00:39:51,080 --> 00:39:55,840
Speaker 1: actually struggling and going through something, and I was blaming

700
00:39:55,880 --> 00:39:59,800
Speaker 1: God like he wasn't fixing the issue. And I'm like, hole, minute,

701
00:40:00,000 --> 00:40:02,080
Speaker 1: and I've kind of made this deal with God, like

702
00:40:02,480 --> 00:40:04,680
Speaker 1: you need to take care of them because I'm taking

703
00:40:04,719 --> 00:40:07,680
Speaker 1: care of the church, and which just don't ever make

704
00:40:07,719 --> 00:40:11,239
Speaker 1: deals with God because he is God, and just learn

705
00:40:11,320 --> 00:40:14,759
Speaker 1: that from my mistake. But when something went really really

706
00:40:14,800 --> 00:40:18,239
Speaker 1: wrong and I thought, okay, I can't see light at

707
00:40:18,280 --> 00:40:20,440
Speaker 1: the end of the tunnel, I believe the lie that

708
00:40:20,520 --> 00:40:24,760
Speaker 1: God was an unfaithful God because I couldn't see him working.

709
00:40:25,040 --> 00:40:27,880
Speaker 1: Even though he was working behind the scenes, I couldn't

710
00:40:27,920 --> 00:40:30,839
Speaker 1: see it. It just looked worse. So I'm on that

711
00:40:30,880 --> 00:40:34,319
Speaker 1: bathroom floor. My poor husband who has to deal with

712
00:40:34,400 --> 00:40:38,239
Speaker 1: all my you know, like emotional outbursts. I was on

713
00:40:38,280 --> 00:40:41,399
Speaker 1: that bathroom floor just putting my fist up at God

714
00:40:41,480 --> 00:40:45,680
Speaker 1: saying You're unfaithful. You're so unfaithful because I have been

715
00:40:45,760 --> 00:40:48,600
Speaker 1: praying for this for seven years. I have been praying

716
00:40:48,719 --> 00:40:51,920
Speaker 1: and I'm not seeing I'm seeing it get worse. Where

717
00:40:52,000 --> 00:40:55,879
Speaker 1: are you? And I'll never get that still small inner

718
00:40:55,960 --> 00:40:59,960
Speaker 1: voice where the holy spiritual said you can't call me unfaithful.

719
00:41:00,560 --> 00:41:02,840
Speaker 1: And I'm like, but why because it feels like that,

720
00:41:02,960 --> 00:41:05,919
Speaker 1: and he said, because I'm not finished yet. And when

721
00:41:05,920 --> 00:41:09,200
Speaker 1: he said that, I just fell on the crath, just wept,

722
00:41:09,880 --> 00:41:12,360
Speaker 1: and I knew he was right. And then I had

723
00:41:12,440 --> 00:41:14,840
Speaker 1: to go call a friend. I felt the Lord just

724
00:41:14,880 --> 00:41:17,719
Speaker 1: for go call Debbie and go talk to her about this.

725
00:41:17,880 --> 00:41:20,759
Speaker 1: And I went and talked to my friend and she

726
00:41:20,960 --> 00:41:23,480
Speaker 1: wasn't patting me on the back and consoling me. She

727
00:41:23,640 --> 00:41:27,520
Speaker 1: actually reprimanded me. And she said, Alex, the issue here

728
00:41:27,640 --> 00:41:31,400
Speaker 1: is you're praying from fear and not faith. And when

729
00:41:31,440 --> 00:41:34,719
Speaker 1: you pray from fear, all of hell breaks open over

730
00:41:34,760 --> 00:41:37,200
Speaker 1: your life because you can't have fear and faith in

731
00:41:37,239 --> 00:41:41,080
Speaker 1: the same breath. It's either you believe God or you don't.

732
00:41:41,760 --> 00:41:44,520
Speaker 1: And she was so right. Even though I was so offended.

733
00:41:45,400 --> 00:41:48,480
Speaker 1: I had to repent of my fear because what I

734
00:41:48,560 --> 00:41:52,000
Speaker 1: was doing was saying I don't trust you God, You're

735
00:41:52,080 --> 00:41:55,359
Speaker 1: not faithful. Therefore I've got to come in and fix it.

736
00:41:56,120 --> 00:41:59,919
Speaker 1: And those three things are basically me saying I'm God,

737
00:42:00,080 --> 00:42:03,319
Speaker 1: you're not And God was like, can you please get

738
00:42:03,320 --> 00:42:06,680
Speaker 1: out of the driver's seat because you are going completely

739
00:42:06,719 --> 00:42:09,120
Speaker 1: the wrong way in this. But if you can just

740
00:42:09,160 --> 00:42:13,239
Speaker 1: trust me and let me go to the worst case scenario,

741
00:42:13,400 --> 00:42:16,520
Speaker 1: and am I still good even if that happened? I

742
00:42:16,560 --> 00:42:19,680
Speaker 1: think if we can get to that place, because I

743
00:42:19,760 --> 00:42:22,799
Speaker 1: think so much of our disappointment with God is well,

744
00:42:22,920 --> 00:42:26,360
Speaker 1: he didn't do the outcome I was expecting. But you know,

745
00:42:26,400 --> 00:42:29,399
Speaker 1: God is not our genie. He is our father, and

746
00:42:29,760 --> 00:42:32,959
Speaker 1: he knows best and he knows us, and he knew

747
00:42:33,000 --> 00:42:36,400
Speaker 1: he was going to see this thing through. But I

748
00:42:36,520 --> 00:42:40,279
Speaker 1: had to shift my posture of where I trusted and

749
00:42:40,480 --> 00:42:45,440
Speaker 1: that changed everything. I repented of my fear, I repented

750
00:42:45,480 --> 00:42:48,120
Speaker 1: of my judgment against God, and then I began to

751
00:42:48,200 --> 00:42:52,960
Speaker 1: pray in faith. And four months later that whole thing

752
00:42:53,040 --> 00:42:55,759
Speaker 1: turns around and I'm thinking, my gosh, if I'd just

753
00:42:55,840 --> 00:42:58,799
Speaker 1: done that seven years ago, we wouldn't be here. But

754
00:42:59,480 --> 00:43:02,960
Speaker 1: that's the beauty of learning in God, and it's the

755
00:43:03,000 --> 00:43:05,719
Speaker 1: beauty of God just being patient with us. And so

756
00:43:06,640 --> 00:43:10,080
Speaker 1: I just hope that my stories I try to be

757
00:43:10,080 --> 00:43:13,120
Speaker 1: as vulnerable as possible because I want people to know that, hey,

758
00:43:13,440 --> 00:43:15,680
Speaker 1: I am a pastor of a church, I'm somebody who

759
00:43:15,800 --> 00:43:19,200
Speaker 1: loves Jesus with my whole heart. But we still go

760
00:43:19,360 --> 00:43:23,360
Speaker 1: through things, and it's okay to bring all of that

761
00:43:23,560 --> 00:43:26,480
Speaker 1: angst and pain and frustration to the Lord. He can

762
00:43:26,520 --> 00:43:27,040
Speaker 1: handle it.

763
00:43:27,600 --> 00:43:30,480
Speaker 2: I just as you were just speaking, I was just

764
00:43:30,520 --> 00:43:34,360
Speaker 2: thinking about the woman who's hearing this and thinking to themselves, Okay,

765
00:43:34,560 --> 00:43:36,400
Speaker 2: this is something that I actually need to repent of

766
00:43:36,520 --> 00:43:39,440
Speaker 2: because I haven't been trusting him, because I have been

767
00:43:39,480 --> 00:43:45,120
Speaker 2: controlling in fear, because I haven't fully surrendered this. And

768
00:43:45,200 --> 00:43:48,400
Speaker 2: so what would be like a first small step for

769
00:43:49,040 --> 00:43:51,120
Speaker 2: her who for the first time is like I've been

770
00:43:51,160 --> 00:43:54,399
Speaker 2: actually not trusting him.

771
00:43:54,760 --> 00:43:59,520
Speaker 1: Yeah, just that, Just be yourself. There's no lofty prayer

772
00:43:59,520 --> 00:44:02,240
Speaker 1: that you need to know. You just have to actually

773
00:44:02,280 --> 00:44:07,800
Speaker 1: come before Jesus with a broken heart and say, my gosh,

774
00:44:08,000 --> 00:44:12,840
Speaker 1: acknowledge Like that's such a beautiful thing when we acknowledge

775
00:44:12,960 --> 00:44:16,480
Speaker 1: the error in us. That's all God needs. He doesn't

776
00:44:16,560 --> 00:44:20,200
Speaker 1: need some five hour prayer. He just needs us to

777
00:44:20,200 --> 00:44:24,080
Speaker 1: come before him and go, I think I don't trust you,

778
00:44:25,840 --> 00:44:29,960
Speaker 1: see that vulnerability. God's like, great, Now I've got you

779
00:44:30,000 --> 00:44:32,319
Speaker 1: where I want you because now I can come in

780
00:44:32,360 --> 00:44:36,000
Speaker 1: and heal you. And then I would say, when you repent,

781
00:44:36,040 --> 00:44:39,160
Speaker 1: because that's what it is. It's saying I'm turning I'm

782
00:44:39,360 --> 00:44:42,799
Speaker 1: changing my mind from how I thought here to go here.

783
00:44:43,400 --> 00:44:46,359
Speaker 1: I'm turning from going left to going right. You know,

784
00:44:46,920 --> 00:44:50,560
Speaker 1: that's what repentance is. It's just saying I am sorry

785
00:44:50,600 --> 00:44:52,080
Speaker 1: that I got it wrong, and now I want to

786
00:44:52,080 --> 00:44:56,400
Speaker 1: follow you because I know you're right. Then listen, listen,

787
00:44:56,800 --> 00:44:58,799
Speaker 1: don't just go, oh, I repent. And if your go

788
00:44:59,320 --> 00:45:03,200
Speaker 1: repent and then go what do you need from me Jesus?

789
00:45:03,200 --> 00:45:05,520
Speaker 1: Like what do I need to do? He'll either say

790
00:45:05,600 --> 00:45:09,279
Speaker 1: forgive or let go or just receive his love, Like

791
00:45:09,960 --> 00:45:13,560
Speaker 1: whatever is, He's going to speak to you. And trust

792
00:45:13,840 --> 00:45:17,919
Speaker 1: that if you're positioning yourself to talk to God, he's

793
00:45:17,960 --> 00:45:20,160
Speaker 1: going to speak to you. He really does want to

794
00:45:20,200 --> 00:45:23,320
Speaker 1: speak to you. If it's something positive, if it's something kind,

795
00:45:23,520 --> 00:45:26,520
Speaker 1: if it's something even challenging, but you know he's right,

796
00:45:26,920 --> 00:45:30,440
Speaker 1: listen to that and that is your first step of

797
00:45:30,520 --> 00:45:34,560
Speaker 1: going okay, I can do this with the Lord. And

798
00:45:34,640 --> 00:45:37,400
Speaker 1: he's so patient with us, he's so kind with us.

799
00:45:37,440 --> 00:45:41,440
Speaker 1: He's not there reprimanding, he just it's it's like if

800
00:45:41,480 --> 00:45:44,520
Speaker 1: you're a parent and your child comes in with a

801
00:45:44,800 --> 00:45:50,320
Speaker 1: broken you know, ankle or a grazed knee. You tend

802
00:45:50,360 --> 00:45:53,440
Speaker 1: to the wound before you ask sometimes what happened? Like

803
00:45:53,480 --> 00:45:55,399
Speaker 1: I know for me, it's like, oh quick, let's get

804
00:45:55,840 --> 00:45:58,239
Speaker 1: let's get that sort and then like what happened? You know,

805
00:45:58,480 --> 00:46:01,440
Speaker 1: I'm not really sitting there promiding what happened? Why did

806
00:46:01,440 --> 00:46:04,839
Speaker 1: you fall over it? I'm just tending that wound and

807
00:46:04,880 --> 00:46:07,440
Speaker 1: then we'll talk about, you know, how you got that

808
00:46:07,480 --> 00:46:09,960
Speaker 1: wound later. And I think that's what Jesus is wanting

809
00:46:10,000 --> 00:46:13,399
Speaker 1: to do to every single woman who's listening. He wants

810
00:46:13,440 --> 00:46:18,640
Speaker 1: to tend to the deep wound of why you choose

811
00:46:18,680 --> 00:46:21,960
Speaker 1: to go to alcohol. He wants to heal that deep wound.

812
00:46:22,160 --> 00:46:24,480
Speaker 1: And don't be afraid of him. You may be afraid

813
00:46:24,520 --> 00:46:27,160
Speaker 1: of a male, You may be afraid of an authority.

814
00:46:27,320 --> 00:46:30,440
Speaker 1: You may be afraid. He is not a man who lies,

815
00:46:31,000 --> 00:46:33,600
Speaker 1: and he is not going to tease you and not

816
00:46:33,680 --> 00:46:36,680
Speaker 1: follow through. He is faithful.

817
00:46:37,360 --> 00:46:41,120
Speaker 2: And you're just talking that chapter that of Mother Heart

818
00:46:41,200 --> 00:46:44,600
Speaker 2: of Father God. Oh my gosh. I copied and wrote

819
00:46:44,600 --> 00:46:47,000
Speaker 2: that on Mother's Day in our community because it was

820
00:46:47,120 --> 00:46:50,600
Speaker 2: so powerful of this I never thought about it that way.

821
00:46:50,640 --> 00:46:53,840
Speaker 2: And as someone who lost my mom to alcohol, like

822
00:46:54,000 --> 00:47:00,160
Speaker 2: remembering how she loved me, and it's different obviously as mothers.

823
00:47:00,400 --> 00:47:03,359
Speaker 1: Yeah, it is, and really, we would not be the

824
00:47:03,400 --> 00:47:06,319
Speaker 1: women that we are if our God did not have

825
00:47:06,400 --> 00:47:10,239
Speaker 1: those female attributes in him. And I think that's the

826
00:47:10,320 --> 00:47:13,360
Speaker 1: power of the fact that he's not a man. You know,

827
00:47:13,440 --> 00:47:18,560
Speaker 1: he's not a biological male. He is spirit, and in

828
00:47:18,760 --> 00:47:22,759
Speaker 1: him the essence of both male and female reside in

829
00:47:22,880 --> 00:47:26,400
Speaker 1: the nature of God. Otherwise, if we were made in

830
00:47:26,440 --> 00:47:30,080
Speaker 1: his image, there is a nurture in him, there is

831
00:47:30,120 --> 00:47:33,000
Speaker 1: a comforter in him. And that's why the Holy Spirit

832
00:47:33,120 --> 00:47:38,759
Speaker 1: is often the pronouns throughout like Hebrew, in the feminine

833
00:47:39,280 --> 00:47:42,400
Speaker 1: like metaphors. So it's like, you have to understand that

834
00:47:42,440 --> 00:47:47,160
Speaker 1: there is a female attribute in our Father. And so

835
00:47:47,239 --> 00:47:50,360
Speaker 1: if you have problems, you know, with the mother on earth,

836
00:47:50,560 --> 00:47:53,840
Speaker 1: or you've got dad issues and you're just longing for

837
00:47:53,960 --> 00:47:58,319
Speaker 1: a mother in God, he's both. He's both, and we

838
00:47:58,480 --> 00:48:02,920
Speaker 1: can access that beautiful tenderness. And you know, I love

839
00:48:02,960 --> 00:48:05,400
Speaker 1: that scripture in Isaiah forty nine where he says, you know,

840
00:48:05,840 --> 00:48:09,280
Speaker 1: how can a mother forget the baby nursing at her breast?

841
00:48:09,800 --> 00:48:12,799
Speaker 1: But even though a mother can forget, I will never

842
00:48:12,880 --> 00:48:14,920
Speaker 1: forget you, for I've engraved you in the palm of

843
00:48:15,000 --> 00:48:19,040
Speaker 1: my hands. And that scripture for me. Was very liberating

844
00:48:19,239 --> 00:48:22,040
Speaker 1: because while I felt like my mother failed me in

845
00:48:22,120 --> 00:48:25,440
Speaker 1: some areas, I realized I was looking for a mother

846
00:48:25,600 --> 00:48:29,640
Speaker 1: who was perfect, but no mother is perfect. And yet

847
00:48:29,719 --> 00:48:33,480
Speaker 1: I've found it in Jesus because he said, I'm everything

848
00:48:33,560 --> 00:48:36,000
Speaker 1: you need. You just have to trust me, because I've

849
00:48:36,080 --> 00:48:39,960
Speaker 1: left my scars in my hands as a resurrected God,

850
00:48:40,440 --> 00:48:43,359
Speaker 1: because I want you to never forget that I did

851
00:48:43,440 --> 00:48:48,200
Speaker 1: this for you. And so that's that comforter and nurture

852
00:48:48,239 --> 00:48:50,439
Speaker 1: that I long for. When I need a soft place

853
00:48:50,480 --> 00:48:54,560
Speaker 1: to fall, I go straight to the father who has

854
00:48:54,600 --> 00:48:57,200
Speaker 1: a mother heart. And so I hope that really helps

855
00:48:57,320 --> 00:49:00,360
Speaker 1: a lot of listeners that I here today.

856
00:49:00,440 --> 00:49:03,360
Speaker 2: Yeah, everybody has to go get the book and fully

857
00:49:03,400 --> 00:49:06,440
Speaker 2: read the child, like the chapter on breaking strongholds is amazing.

858
00:49:07,280 --> 00:49:10,440
Speaker 2: But I would just love to end on hearing his

859
00:49:10,560 --> 00:49:13,600
Speaker 2: voice and how we do that. Before we hit record,

860
00:49:13,640 --> 00:49:16,440
Speaker 2: we were reminded we have a mutual friend and my

861
00:49:16,640 --> 00:49:20,240
Speaker 2: friend shout out to Juliet Mayhew. She used to host

862
00:49:20,280 --> 00:49:22,759
Speaker 2: our Bible study when I was in London. But I

863
00:49:22,800 --> 00:49:25,320
Speaker 2: would listen to all the women in that group hearing

864
00:49:25,320 --> 00:49:27,480
Speaker 2: from the Holy Spirit, and I was like, well, this

865
00:49:27,640 --> 00:49:31,880
Speaker 2: is ridiculous because he's not talking to me. And I

866
00:49:32,600 --> 00:49:34,880
Speaker 2: talk in my book about I had to remove alcohol

867
00:49:35,000 --> 00:49:37,879
Speaker 2: and actually quiet and learn who is who he is

868
00:49:38,000 --> 00:49:40,840
Speaker 2: and read the Bible and all of the things that

869
00:49:40,840 --> 00:49:43,480
Speaker 2: you talk about. So can you just say a little bit,

870
00:49:43,560 --> 00:49:46,520
Speaker 2: and again everyone please go read the full chapter. But yeah,

871
00:49:46,520 --> 00:49:49,680
Speaker 2: the woman who's like, he's not talking to me, or

872
00:49:49,719 --> 00:49:52,479
Speaker 2: how do I hear him? What would you say to her?

873
00:49:53,000 --> 00:49:55,680
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's it's so funny. It's the biggest question I

874
00:49:55,760 --> 00:49:58,719
Speaker 1: get through pastoring, like still to this day, you know,

875
00:49:58,840 --> 00:50:01,239
Speaker 1: like is it God? Is it me? Is it you know?

876
00:50:01,360 --> 00:50:03,560
Speaker 1: And I think this is where we're learning. We're learning

877
00:50:03,560 --> 00:50:05,239
Speaker 1: to hear his voice. It's like if I were to

878
00:50:05,239 --> 00:50:09,120
Speaker 1: call out to my children in a crowd, they would

879
00:50:09,360 --> 00:50:13,080
Speaker 1: know I'm calling them because they're so used to hearing

880
00:50:13,360 --> 00:50:17,840
Speaker 1: my voice day to day that now that frequency is

881
00:50:17,960 --> 00:50:21,120
Speaker 1: locked in. They know my voice because they're with me

882
00:50:21,840 --> 00:50:25,120
Speaker 1: all day, every day. And that is how we get

883
00:50:25,160 --> 00:50:28,360
Speaker 1: to know the voice of a holy spirit. His word

884
00:50:29,760 --> 00:50:32,680
Speaker 1: sounds like his voice, and so if we don't know

885
00:50:32,840 --> 00:50:34,960
Speaker 1: any of his word, we're not going to have a

886
00:50:35,000 --> 00:50:39,280
Speaker 1: reference point of his voice. But often when you position

887
00:50:39,480 --> 00:50:42,480
Speaker 1: yourself and this is what unlocked something for me. When

888
00:50:42,520 --> 00:50:45,440
Speaker 1: I was young, someone had said to me, it's like

889
00:50:45,520 --> 00:50:47,640
Speaker 1: He waits for you every day at the edge of

890
00:50:47,680 --> 00:50:50,120
Speaker 1: your bed when you wake up, so excited to speak

891
00:50:50,160 --> 00:50:52,400
Speaker 1: with you. And I was like, really, God wants to

892
00:50:52,440 --> 00:50:55,239
Speaker 1: speak with me. It's like every day he longs and

893
00:50:55,280 --> 00:50:57,839
Speaker 1: we ignore him. We go about our day, We don't

894
00:50:57,840 --> 00:51:00,880
Speaker 1: even think about him until we're in crisis. And so

895
00:51:00,960 --> 00:51:04,239
Speaker 1: the Lord started to challenge me and be like, why

896
00:51:04,239 --> 00:51:06,520
Speaker 1: don't you Why don't you say good morning to me

897
00:51:07,000 --> 00:51:13,279
Speaker 1: first every morning, so you're you're positioning yourself to acknowledge

898
00:51:13,320 --> 00:51:15,880
Speaker 1: that my presence is near. And so I wake up

899
00:51:15,960 --> 00:51:18,680
Speaker 1: still to this day, did it the sporting good morning,

900
00:51:18,719 --> 00:51:23,560
Speaker 1: Holy Spirit, good morning, good morning. Like I'm thinking straight

901
00:51:23,560 --> 00:51:26,400
Speaker 1: away good morning. And then the first thing I do

902
00:51:26,520 --> 00:51:30,080
Speaker 1: is pick up and read, read a scripture or read

903
00:51:30,120 --> 00:51:34,359
Speaker 1: something where I'm putting myself in that mindset to here.

904
00:51:34,960 --> 00:51:39,000
Speaker 1: But then being still journaling is a great way to

905
00:51:39,200 --> 00:51:42,279
Speaker 1: hear God's voice, because sometimes you start writing things you're like, man,

906
00:51:42,640 --> 00:51:45,920
Speaker 1: I wasn't thinking about that. I thought. Will come in

907
00:51:46,080 --> 00:51:48,680
Speaker 1: and you'll be like, I have never thought about that,

908
00:51:48,840 --> 00:51:51,520
Speaker 1: or I haven't thought about that in a long time, yeah,

909
00:51:51,560 --> 00:51:54,160
Speaker 1: like I said, or if it's condemning. If it's gilt,

910
00:51:54,920 --> 00:51:59,000
Speaker 1: guilt written, if it brings shame, if it brings condemnation,

911
00:51:59,320 --> 00:52:01,840
Speaker 1: it is not God. You're very tuned to hear the

912
00:52:01,960 --> 00:52:04,880
Speaker 1: enemy's voice. And this is why you have to understand.

913
00:52:04,920 --> 00:52:08,040
Speaker 1: The enemy is speaking to you just as clearly, but

914
00:52:08,160 --> 00:52:12,960
Speaker 1: you're tuning into that frequency because you're talking badly about yourself.

915
00:52:13,000 --> 00:52:16,920
Speaker 1: You're going to the worst case scenario. That's the enemy's voice.

916
00:52:17,239 --> 00:52:20,240
Speaker 1: So now you've got to position yourself and then just say, hey, Lord,

917
00:52:21,120 --> 00:52:24,560
Speaker 1: I want to hear you this morning. He's going to stay.

918
00:52:24,760 --> 00:52:27,879
Speaker 1: Maybe he'll just drop in I love you. Maybe, hey,

919
00:52:28,120 --> 00:52:31,520
Speaker 1: today is going to be okay, you've got this. Don't

920
00:52:31,560 --> 00:52:34,759
Speaker 1: discard that. Oh that's just my thoughts. He speaks through

921
00:52:34,880 --> 00:52:39,120
Speaker 1: your thoughts, just like the enemy speaks to your thoughts.

922
00:52:39,560 --> 00:52:43,600
Speaker 1: So that's why you have to shift your antenna to

923
00:52:43,680 --> 00:52:46,719
Speaker 1: get into the frequency of hearing his voice. And so

924
00:52:46,800 --> 00:52:49,480
Speaker 1: the more you read, the more you position yourself, put

925
00:52:49,520 --> 00:52:53,520
Speaker 1: worship on. Let him sing over you so that when

926
00:52:53,560 --> 00:52:57,719
Speaker 1: you're just sitting meditating, he starts dropping thoughts in. This

927
00:52:57,800 --> 00:53:00,960
Speaker 1: is why your prayer language is so important, because when

928
00:53:00,960 --> 00:53:03,560
Speaker 1: you speak in tongues, I know that's a whole other

929
00:53:03,920 --> 00:53:07,040
Speaker 1: thing that we could open up about the whole episode.

930
00:53:07,080 --> 00:53:09,640
Speaker 1: But when you speak in your prayer language, he'll often

931
00:53:09,880 --> 00:53:13,480
Speaker 1: drop thoughts in your native language in English, right, so

932
00:53:14,120 --> 00:53:16,680
Speaker 1: you're praying according to the spirit, and then he'll just

933
00:53:16,760 --> 00:53:20,640
Speaker 1: drop these thoughts in. So just trial it, like, just

934
00:53:21,360 --> 00:53:24,320
Speaker 1: take one day where just say one thing to me God,

935
00:53:24,440 --> 00:53:26,960
Speaker 1: and then build on that and not make it this

936
00:53:27,480 --> 00:53:29,440
Speaker 1: he's going to give you a whole paragraph, or he's

937
00:53:29,440 --> 00:53:32,200
Speaker 1: going to talk about all of this stuff. But reading

938
00:53:32,280 --> 00:53:36,480
Speaker 1: his word. And I remember my a man of God

939
00:53:36,480 --> 00:53:40,880
Speaker 1: said once read the word until something clips. Now what

940
00:53:40,920 --> 00:53:43,400
Speaker 1: do I mean by that? I like that because there

941
00:53:43,400 --> 00:53:45,319
Speaker 1: would be days I'd pick up the word and I'd

942
00:53:45,320 --> 00:53:48,719
Speaker 1: be like, this is like chewing glass. This is my

943
00:53:48,960 --> 00:53:51,880
Speaker 1: thoughts are a million miles away. So I'd start reading

944
00:53:51,880 --> 00:53:55,480
Speaker 1: out loud and I would read out loud until a

945
00:53:55,800 --> 00:53:59,719
Speaker 1: line would hit me. I'd either start crying or it

946
00:53:59,719 --> 00:54:03,880
Speaker 1: would be like I needed this, and I would part.

947
00:54:04,200 --> 00:54:07,200
Speaker 1: And that's where you let God speak to you, and

948
00:54:07,760 --> 00:54:10,200
Speaker 1: that you're going to learn that over time. And so

949
00:54:10,320 --> 00:54:12,719
Speaker 1: it is a discipline. It's a muscle that maybe you're

950
00:54:12,800 --> 00:54:15,839
Speaker 1: not using that you have to get activated. And so

951
00:54:16,600 --> 00:54:19,640
Speaker 1: just start small and watch way he'll take you because

952
00:54:19,640 --> 00:54:22,279
Speaker 1: he's dying to speak with you every single day.

953
00:54:22,840 --> 00:54:26,480
Speaker 2: Yeah. I had a really cool one recently where I

954
00:54:26,560 --> 00:54:28,840
Speaker 2: was on a walk and I was praying out loud

955
00:54:28,880 --> 00:54:31,600
Speaker 2: and I was like, oh God, you know, your burden

956
00:54:31,719 --> 00:54:34,400
Speaker 2: does not feel late this week. It feels really really

957
00:54:34,440 --> 00:54:37,120
Speaker 2: heavy and I'm not loving where you're taking me and

958
00:54:37,200 --> 00:54:39,759
Speaker 2: da dah, dah dah. And I literally just felt him

959
00:54:39,800 --> 00:54:43,200
Speaker 2: say I am not the one making it heavy, and

960
00:54:43,239 --> 00:54:48,680
Speaker 2: I was like, oh, yeah, it's me, I'm doing that.

961
00:54:48,680 --> 00:54:52,920
Speaker 3: That In fact, that was I literally highlighted that this morning,

962
00:54:52,960 --> 00:54:57,239
Speaker 3: that your yoke is easy, your burden is light, and

963
00:54:57,440 --> 00:55:00,600
Speaker 3: because he's compassionate and kind, he says, and so it's like,

964
00:55:00,960 --> 00:55:02,040
Speaker 3: clearly I'm.

965
00:55:01,960 --> 00:55:06,320
Speaker 1: Piling the crap all right by Yeah, it's so funny.

966
00:55:06,520 --> 00:55:09,400
Speaker 1: That's just a gentle nudge, right right. And so it

967
00:55:10,000 --> 00:55:13,640
Speaker 1: reoriented your thoughts to not think God's putting this on you,

968
00:55:13,680 --> 00:55:16,480
Speaker 1: but hey, and then it goes further where you go, well,

969
00:55:16,480 --> 00:55:18,880
Speaker 1: what do I need to shed? What baggage do I

970
00:55:18,920 --> 00:55:21,640
Speaker 1: need to go today? You know? So it's that simple.

971
00:55:22,280 --> 00:55:25,439
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, but it does take practice, but it does.

972
00:55:25,880 --> 00:55:28,840
Speaker 2: The book is Divine counselor it is so so good.

973
00:55:29,040 --> 00:55:30,719
Speaker 2: You gals were going to do it in a book

974
00:55:30,719 --> 00:55:33,399
Speaker 2: club in the community at some point, Pastor Alex, can

975
00:55:33,440 --> 00:55:35,879
Speaker 2: you tell the gals where they canfide you and learn

976
00:55:35,880 --> 00:55:36,480
Speaker 2: more about you.

977
00:55:37,120 --> 00:55:40,360
Speaker 1: Yeah, so you can go to Amazon. You can go

978
00:55:40,400 --> 00:55:43,799
Speaker 1: to my website alexeai dot com. Amazon is really the

979
00:55:43,880 --> 00:55:46,239
Speaker 1: easiest way to get it, and so you can do

980
00:55:46,280 --> 00:55:49,600
Speaker 1: it on audio, you can do it on digital, and

981
00:55:50,440 --> 00:55:53,120
Speaker 1: you can buy the paperback. But it really is I

982
00:55:53,160 --> 00:55:56,839
Speaker 1: think a very very very important book for everyone who

983
00:55:57,360 --> 00:56:00,879
Speaker 1: you know needs to get free, which is all of.

984
00:56:00,880 --> 00:56:04,440
Speaker 2: Us, which is all rus. Thank you was so lovely

985
00:56:04,560 --> 00:56:06,919
Speaker 2: to speak to you, and I appreciate you so so much.

986
00:56:07,000 --> 00:56:09,080
Speaker 2: We'll put the link for the book in the show

987
00:56:09,120 --> 00:56:12,040
Speaker 2: notes as well as where to follow. Pastor Alex, thank you.

988
00:56:12,360 --> 00:56:13,680
Speaker 2: I really appreciate you.

989
00:56:13,880 --> 00:56:15,960
Speaker 1: It was awesome being maybe take care. I hope to

990
00:56:16,000 --> 00:56:18,160
Speaker 1: see you one day. Thanks.

991
00:56:18,800 --> 00:56:20,680
Speaker 2: Thank you for spending this time with me on Love

992
00:56:20,719 --> 00:56:24,240
Speaker 2: Life Sober. If today's conversation stirred something in your heart,

993
00:56:24,360 --> 00:56:27,040
Speaker 2: don't rush past it, take it to prayer. If you're

994
00:56:27,040 --> 00:56:30,440
Speaker 2: feeling ready for deeper connection and support, I'd love to

995
00:56:30,480 --> 00:56:33,680
Speaker 2: invite you into the Love Life Sober community. A grace filled,

996
00:56:33,920 --> 00:56:38,000
Speaker 2: shame free space where real connection grows and lasting change

997
00:56:38,040 --> 00:56:40,439
Speaker 2: takes root. You can find the link to join us

998
00:56:40,480 --> 00:56:43,960
Speaker 2: in the show notes. Love Life Sober is part of

999
00:56:44,000 --> 00:56:47,879
Speaker 2: the Life Audio podcast Network, where faith centered podcasts help

1000
00:56:47,920 --> 00:56:50,279
Speaker 2: you grow deeper in your walk with Christ. You can

1001
00:56:50,320 --> 00:56:54,680
Speaker 2: find more faith centered podcasts at lifeaudio dot com. Until

1002
00:56:54,719 --> 00:56:58,200
Speaker 2: next time, be gentle with yourself, stay curious, and trust

1003
00:56:58,200 --> 00:57:01,240
Speaker 2: God's promises. He has to freedom waiting for you