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Speaker 1: Life Audio.

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Speaker 2: Welcome to the Crosswalk devotional. We're glad to have you

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Speaker 2: listening with us. Today's topic is on stopping gut reactions

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Speaker 2: before we create relational messes. We'll return with a devotional

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Speaker 2: after brief message from our sponsors, Win our Triggers. Encounter

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Speaker 2: Grace written and read by Jennifer Slattery. And he said,

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Speaker 2: hegar slave of Sarai. Where have you come from? And

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Speaker 2: where are you going? I'm running away from my mistress Sarai,

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Speaker 2: she answered, Genesis sixteen eight. God's questions have a way

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Speaker 2: of piercing to the deepest places in our souls, where

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Speaker 2: eyes and insecurities often reside undetected. When anxious and overwhelmed,

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Speaker 2: I have a difficult time demonstrating the love and grace

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Speaker 2: of Christ. Add enough challenges and frustrations to my day,

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Speaker 2: and I can become irritable with the people I most love.

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Speaker 2: But I can rarely, if ever, will myself to respond better.

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Speaker 2: Relying on self control might help momentarily, but eventually the

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Speaker 2: undealt with gonk in my soul bubbles out onto those

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Speaker 2: I hold most dear. That was how I behaved the

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Speaker 2: night my husband and I checked into our VRBO for

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Speaker 2: an escape from Nebraska's bitterly cold winter.

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Speaker 1: We make this journey each January, beginning.

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Speaker 2: With a long road trip in which we see as

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Speaker 2: many grandkids as possible along the way. This is always

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Speaker 2: a lovely and exhausting endeavor that involves hours in our vehicle,

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Speaker 2: standstill traffic, and clamoring in and out of numerous hotels.

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Speaker 2: Our many golden Doodle was not a fan, and alerted

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Speaker 2: us to this by barking all night at other roaming

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Speaker 2: the halls.

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Speaker 1: We have since learned, under no circumstances.

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Speaker 2: Will we allow the hotel clerk to give us a

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Speaker 2: room near the elevators. By the time we reached our destination,

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Speaker 2: where we planned to remain all month, I felt frazzled, anxious,

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Speaker 2: and struggling to untangle my brain swirling mess of half

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Speaker 2: tos and a series of new problems that felt insurmountable.

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Speaker 2: In short, I didn't handle the situation well more accurately.

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Speaker 2: I behaved more like a temper tantrumy toddler without a

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Speaker 2: nap than the spear empowered reflection of Christ to which

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Speaker 2: I'm called. Initially, this evoked latent shame. Had this occurred

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Speaker 2: a few years ago, I might have stayed in that

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Speaker 2: place of self condemnation that only would have added to

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Speaker 2: my stress. But God is teaching me to go deeper

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Speaker 2: in myself and with him to move past surface level

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Speaker 2: attempts at holiness to consider the roots of my reactions,

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Speaker 2: and He used today's verse to do so. The morning

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Speaker 2: after my unngracious re response to my very gracious husband,

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Speaker 2: I sensed God's whisper, where have you come from? Where

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Speaker 2: are you going? He wasn't asking about my present location.

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Speaker 2: He wanted me to prayerfully consider how past experiences were

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Speaker 2: impacting my present. What wounds distorted my perception and challenged

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Speaker 2: my trust? What lies lurked in my subconscious and wreaked

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Speaker 2: habit on my present? And where was I going?

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Speaker 1: First? Where did I want to go?

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Speaker 2: Did I want to stay stuck in disregulated responses? Or

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Speaker 2: did I want to become healthier and holier? Did I

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Speaker 2: want to follow God's lead moment by moment and day

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Speaker 2: by day? In my times of overwhelm, included these questions

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Speaker 2: evoked others such as do I trust the direction in

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Speaker 2: which God is leading me enough to follow? Finally, I

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Speaker 2: sensed him inviting me to consider where he's taking me,

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Speaker 2: and this is something he's been reiterating to me for

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Speaker 2: some time. Often, when obedience feels difficult, he reminds me

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Speaker 2: of his heart and plans for me and those I love.

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Speaker 2: This helps steady me by assuring me that he remains

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Speaker 2: faithfully in control, regardless of how out of control I

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Speaker 2: might feel in that moment. The Lord spoke a similar

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Speaker 2: message to an Egyptian slave named Hagar. If you're familiar

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Speaker 2: with Old Testament history, you might know her story. Scholars

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Speaker 2: suggest she might have been part of the gifts given

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Speaker 2: Abram by the Pharaoh in Genesis twelve. This alone must

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Speaker 2: have felt traumatic to be treated as property, torn from

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Speaker 2: her homeland, and forced to live in servitude with a

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Speaker 2: clan she knew little about then. Around a decade later,

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Speaker 2: she experienced an abuse that must have cut deep into

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Speaker 2: her soul. Sai gave her to Abraham, Sirai's husband, to impregnate.

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Speaker 2: You can imagine how traumatic this must have been, and

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Speaker 2: the bitterness and fear that might have invaded her soul.

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Speaker 2: Once she can things became so tense between her and Sarah,

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Speaker 2: Hagar fled. Perhaps she intended to return to Egypt. Maybe

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Speaker 2: she simply reacted from fear and overwhelmed that triggered a

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Speaker 2: flight response. Regardless, she soon found herself pregnant, vulnerable, and

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Speaker 2: defenseless in the wilderness there beneath the intense Middle Eastern son.

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Speaker 2: She might have died if not for the Angel of

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Speaker 2: the Lord, who many scholars believe was pre incarnate Jesus.

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Speaker 2: According to Genesis sixteen seven, he found her. I love

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Speaker 2: that phrasing, as it implies that he intentionally went looking

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Speaker 2: for her. He found her nearest spring in the desert

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Speaker 2: beside the road to sher and he asked her the

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Speaker 2: same two questions. He asked me, where have you come from?

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Speaker 2: And where are you going?

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Speaker 1: I read this.

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Speaker 2: As an invitation for a holy pause, an opportunity for

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Speaker 2: her to re engage rational thinking and consider where her

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Speaker 2: panicked reaction led her. And where are you going?

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Speaker 3: Is in?

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Speaker 2: Is this the direction you really want to head? Further

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Speaker 2: into the wilderness to raise your baby alone? I must

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Speaker 2: acknowledge this account feels uncomfortable. I don't like to think

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Speaker 2: that the Lord told her to return to the place

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Speaker 2: in which she'd been abused. But I also see how

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Speaker 2: this was an act of care, love, and provision by

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Speaker 2: his grace, he brought Hagar back under his covenantal blessing

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Speaker 2: and allowed her to raise her son with direct access

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Speaker 2: to his father, who came to love him deeply. Then,

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Speaker 2: when that child became older, he released him and his

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Speaker 2: mother again with his blessing. Unprocessed wounds, fears, and catastrophic

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Speaker 2: thinking can lead to self sabotage, intersecting life and faith.

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Speaker 2: Unprocessed wounds, fear, and catastrophic thinking can lead to self

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Speaker 2: sabotaging decisions. When experiencing pain and injustice, often all we

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Speaker 2: want is relief. But what happens when our desire for

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Speaker 2: relief leads us to greater danger. Thankfully, God meets us

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Speaker 2: in our place of overwhelm and invites us to consider

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Speaker 2: where we've come from and where we're going. The more

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Speaker 2: we learn to do so, the greater our peace and

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Speaker 2: the less our shame and regret, and eventually, standing on

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Speaker 2: the other side of obedience, we recognize that God truly

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Speaker 2: knows best. His love was leading the entire time.

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Speaker 4: Thanks for listening to today's devotional. If you liked what

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